Well, this is it… the big scene…
I'll spare the disclaimer and other stuff down at the end of this pretty short chapter.
Without further ado, here does my first one-sided fighting scene. (Chapter name suits it, don't you think?)
Chapter 09: First Fight(s)
Central Park; a place where couples would usually go and enjoy their afternoon; a place where early morning joggers try to increase their stamina; a place where children can play all day without worrying about their parents, except when it's time to eat. Central Park is a place where memories may be born.
"But not this kind of memory…"
Kyon was at the top of a two-storey building with a magical barrier surrounding him. Haruhi was safely in his arms sleeping soundly. He was told that she was put to sleep as to not witness what was going to unfold. Sure enough, Shura and Sarah were there, standing in the middle of the park together with about a hundred espers surrounding them. It seemed an impossible task to defeat them all.
"Maybe this will work."
Koizumi gritted his teeth and held his breath. It was a long and agonizing wait. Kyon watched for any signs of the start of a battle; they had something else planned. Instead of the espers attacking all at once, instead, they cast a barrier similar to the one that was surrounding the area Kyon was in. From the looks of it, it was tad stronger than his. It led him to be baffled by what was going to happen next.
Koizumi started speaking…
"Kyon-kun… if I die, then, tell Suzumiya-san that I enjoyed myself." And with that, without even sparing Kyon a second look and response, he jumped right into the field. Kyon tried his darnest to figure-out the situation without thinking of the obvious.
He was going to face them alone.
He could only watch as, apparently, even sound couldn't pass through the barrier, stunned and rendered helpless. That time, he wished that he could be anything but a normal human and be a part of this strange event, not be some guy on the sidelines.
VWVWVWVWVWV
Landing firmly with his feet, Koizumi took a deep breath before setting his sight on to his targets. He was slightly annoyed by the fact that Shura was sending a message in the middle of his predicament. But he composed himself, telling himself that acting-up might cost him his life. He lowered himself to a normal fighting stance.
Shura smiled, not sadistically, but tenderly and waved his hand for a quick 'hello'.
"Just as I thought; the espers would send you in here with me."
Koizumi left his stance and slightly tilted his head to the right. As it clearly dictates, he was wondering what Shura meant with his words.
"What do you mean, Shura-kun?" he asked curiously. Shura chuckled by his sudden change. Reaching inside his pocket, he got a foreign coin and held it in his hand.
"You'll find-out soon, Koizumi-kun." He tossed the coin into the air and caught it as it fell. It showed a head. "But, I need to make it look as real as possible." He threw the coin at Koizumi. He reached-out his hand to catch it; only missing by a few millimeters as he barely dodged a swipe from Sarah's nail… er… claws; a few strands of his brown hair flew by.
"What the hell!?" he managed to let out. Getting to his feet, he quickly got on a fighting stance again; his eyes focused on his attacker. "That wasn't nice."
As he said the last word on his sentence, he again dodged one of her right-hand slashes by mere inches away from his head. He managed to see a left backhand coming and blocked it. To his surprise, it was a feint. He got hit by a right-foot roundhouse squarely on his face. It sent him reeling to the ground.
He stood-up. He thought of hurling a fireball of decent size towards her, hoping to at least graze her. He did not have the time, however as she quickly lunged at him with her claws. He dodged it again, now knowing full well of her follow-ups and instead, jumped away. She hit a wooden bench and that bench met its demise.
He tried making the first move as she recovered from the graciously deadly impact with a punch. He hid a surprise that goes; if she'd dodge it, she'd be hit with an energy orb lying behind his fist. His guess that she'd dodge it was wrong. Instead, she caught his right hand with her left and made a sweep on his feet and, using the same momentum from her sweep, dropped an elbow on his chest.
Out of simple thought, he used the energy ball from earlier and hit her rib cage. The mere impact sent her rolling away on the ground.
He stood-up a moment after that and, much to his horror, Sarah was up too; with not a single wound nor bruise on her side.
He flew-up into the air encased inside a blue electric ball, thinking that it would buy him some time to cast something at her. He could only depend on ranged attacks as, from what he just experienced; their fighting skills had a large gap between them. Raising his palm, he conjured a fireball and prepared himself to throw it at her. Just then, she suddenly appeared in front of him and punched him in the face; his cheek right cheek to be more precise. Flinching was his mistake whereas she followed her punch with a heel drop to his head that sent him freefalling to the ground where he landed with an audible thud.
He tried to stand-up, only to cringe in pain from his left arm and forehead injuries. He was able to get back on his feet, only to fall down to the ground again. Blood dripped from his forehead to his eyes, reddening his vision a little.
Then, he felt the full effects of all two kicks that connected to his head; he started feeling light-headed and his skull hurt like hell.
"Why'd they send you in here, Koizumi-kun?"
Shura's sudden question brought him back to his senses.
"If they had brains, they'd send all of you espers here with me to die."
"What do you mean?"
Using a nearby post for leverage, he managed to struggle back to his feet. However, his vision was now fluttering around. His head feels like it's going to explode any second. Sarah was now beside Shura again.
"Does our fight look real to you, Koizumi-kun?" he asked while still wearing his usual smile.
"Of cou—"
As he started his answer, again he was interrupted by one of her attacks. But his head hurt too much to think straight, making him forget about her follow-ups. A spinning heel kick was planted on his stomach. By the impact, he was thrown to the far end of the park until he hit a tree. His coughed-up blood splattered on the soil and the wound on his head opened-up even more, releasing more blood. He started to feel weak from all the blood he lost.
"This is definitely NOT good…"
"Hey! Koizumi-kun! How many espers are holding this barrier up; minus the one I knocked-out?"
Koizumi didn't answer him, determined not to be distracted again nor to help him understand anything. That was what he thought. He tried to straighten-up his stance to prepare for any incoming attacks.
"Koizumi-kun! Did the barrier just weaken a bit, or is it my imagination?"
He realized that he was trying to make a point with him. He tried to use the last of his remaining energy to feel around him; indeed, the barrier did weaken a little bit.
His eyes snapped-open as he realized what was happening. He hesitated for a few brief moments before taking up all the courage left in him and turning his head to face Kyon's refuge.
"It can't be…"
VWVWVWVWVWV
Kyon felt his stomach churn as he watched Koizumi get repeatedly beaten-up, especially by seeing his blood spill on the ground. While watching, he reflected on whatever moments may have leaded them to this moment.
"Haruhi wouldn't want this, would she?"
He looked down on her angelic sleeping face. He couldn't help but to admire her sleeping face; it looked so innocent, unlike her true nature.
"She couldn't have wanted this, no way…"
He watched the battle again, just on time to spot Koizumi slam unto a tree. It was like the pain he felt reached Kyon and made him close his eyes, afraid to see him suffer even more. He found refuge in Haruhi's presence and decided to caress her face with utmost care. If she woke-up in the middle of all this, she'd have probably made a Closed-Space the size of Russia due to the pain; at least that was what Kyon thought.
He heard a click beside his head. It was familiar; he could've sworn that he heard it before.
Then he saw a wide-eyed Koizumi look at him. It felt weird. Kyon wished that he'd not look at him like that. It made him feel really uneasy with himself. Then he saw him wave his hand. Kyon thought he was saying hi. Why would he be greeting him in the middle of an epic battle? Then his gesture changed to a finger running through his neck. Cut his neck? What the hell was he going on about?
VWVWVWVWVWV
"Kyon get out of there!!"
"It's no use, Koizumi-kun. There's no way he can hear you," Shura said as he picked his teeth clean with a toothpick he produced from his wallet.
"You mean to say to just sit here and watch him die!?"
Shura chuckled.
"I didn't say that, did I? I promised him that they won't get hurt and I'm not willing to break that promise."
VWVWVWVWVWV
Kyon shook Haruhi to wake her up but to no avail. She slept like a log. He had no urge to shout at her; and hurting her might cost him his head.
He sighed. He felt like the world around him stopped dead in its tracks. He tried to reach Haruhi's forehead to tuck-away some of her brown locks of hair away from her face.
He wasn't just feeling it. His whole world DID stop. As he thought so, he found-out that he couldn't move a muscle; hopefully his heart was still functioning. Not one of his limbs seemed to work. He didn't go numb or anything as he still felt Haruhi's warmth on his leg. He couldn't even blink; but at least his eyes weren't complaining.
It didn't feel like the time when Ryoko Asakura tried to kill him. That time, even if he wanted to, he couldn't move a finger. But, this time, it felt like his brain was denying any attempt of his body to move. It was like mind control.
He heard footsteps coming. He couldn't turn his head nor use his eyes to see who it was.
He found-out that he could at least still use his mouth to speak.
"Who are you?" Kyon demanded. Silence followed soon after before he heard his mystery-man respond to his question.
"By orders of the Agency, I have been tasked to kill you, Kyon."
He was in deep trouble; not because of the fact that even the other espers refer to him by that God-forsaken name; was he really going to just die there? He wanted to ask him why but realized that his mouth had also been sealed. He couldn't even mumble. Now he was totally paralyzed; a sitting duck, waiting to be killed.
Then he remembered where he heard the click from before. It was from a folding knife from a street market just down that particular street the park was in. How about it? He just realized where it came from in such a situation.
"Guess that's the power of desperation…"
"I'll make it quick and painless…"
Kyon felt the man raise the knife over his head, ready for an overhead strike. He braced himself for the pain that was about to come. He felt his brain go dead on him. The last thing he thought was…
"Haruhi, I'm sorry…"
VWVWVWVWVWV
Shura was having trouble picking a sliver between his molar and canine. In frustration, he ended-up using his hand instead of the toothpick, which broke during his conquest. Koizumi looked at him, battered and bruised while sitting beneath the tree.
Shura paused.
"They're here."
VWVWVWVWVWV
A sound like metal clashing with metal echoed through the air. Kyon could finally close his eyes, which he did so, thinking that he was still going to get killed. He didn't realize that he was now able to move his body again.
As his imagination flew to the point where he actually thought he was already stabbed, he let-out a yelp. The yelp brought him back to reality and made him realize that he wasn't stabbed… yet. He held-out his hand in front of him and made a knuckle.
"I can move now…"
He wondered why he wasn't dead yet. Well, it wasn't really a wonder to him. His situation that time was like an exact replication of his experience within Ryoko Asakura's environmental data supervision. So, he expected to see Nagato to be holding the knife at bay with bloody hands… Did Nagato have green hair?
"Long time no see, Kyon-kun."
Apparently, the whole world was used with that nickname of his…
"K…Kimidori-san? What are you doing here?"
To be honest with himself, who Kyon was really good at, he was actually surprised that someone else other than Nagato could enter the fray. And, of all people, it was Kimidori Emiri. Kyon had already thought that she might be one of Nagato's kind but, he never really gave it much importance. To think that she could just appear…
"Kimidori-san, are you…"
"A Human-Purpose Interface?" she finished. Her hands were dripping with blood as she leveled the knife lower. "Yes, I am."
Kyon was stunned. He almost missed the next familiar voice right beside his ear.
"It's been a long time since we've seen each other, right, Kyon-kun?"
"Asakura-san!?"
Again, he was lost for words.
"Oh, goody! You remembered my name! I'm so happy!" She faced away from him and looked at the circle of espers surrounding the park. "My master has decided that the elimination of the espers' leader would be at a higher priority than your death. Lucky you, you now have our support."
"Why are you here now? Didn't Nagato finish you off that time?" Kyon remembered her disintegration when those two aliens fought. Asakura's cold blue eyes looked at him like they were blazing cerulean flames.
"I am not in a position to tell you right now, Kyon-kun. Maybe when things get a little calmer," she replied and winked at him, sending shivers down his spine. It would seem that, no matter how much she wanted to look cute in front of him, his past experience made her seem cold.
"Look there, Kyon-kun. Yuki-chan has just arrived…"
VWVWVWVWVWV
"I told you they'd be okay."
Koizumi was truly amazed.
"How did you get them to help you?"
Shura finally gave-up on the sliver stuck between his teeth. With a sigh, he looked-up and saw Nagato land on top of the barrier. He gave her a nod and the barrier started crumbling.
"I'll answer all your questions once I scare the hell out of your esper friends…"
VWVWVWVWVWV
Misaki: I did it! Two OMGWTF stones!!
Shura: You're playing THAT game again!?
Misaki; I never get tired of those pictures!