Within her chambers, Philia read over the letter for what must have been the 100th time. Sighing heavily the priestess' thoughts drifted to Stan and Rutee; she knew they were devastated... and not just from the tear stains on the parchment. Kyle was their treasure, a cheerful young man with so much potential. To be taken away like that was just... As a tear rolled down the priestess' eyelid the foundation of the temple shook. (A...an earthquake?)
"Philia-sama!" Suddenly the door to her chambers burst open; the bearded knight panted upon entering.
"Rolf-taichou, what..." Interrupted by the sound of a large explosion.
"We're evacuating the temple! You must come with me Milady!"
"STONE WALL!" Chaltier's blade took on a brown hue as a section of a nearby wall exploded! Suddenly part of the concrete ceiling about a meter ahead of Judas transformed; becoming a large spiked stalactite. Descending downward, the stalactite spun; the large stone spikes slicing through chunks of broken glass, debris and shrapnel. Judas maintained his concentration as the stalactite penetrated the floor, drilling downward through the ceiling, causing large pieces of plaster to pile up on the floor below.
Sheathing his Swordian, the masked swordsman dropped through the breach, landing in a crouching position; standing he moved away from the pile. "Hurry before it collapses!"
Rimuru dropped down next and remained atop the pile with her arms extended. "Just take it slow mom."
"Alright." The women replied; she sat down, sliding one leg over the edge then the other. As Lilith inched herself forward large cracks formed in the floorboards.
"MOM!" Rimuru cried out as the floor beneath her mother began to crumble.
Lilith shut her eyes letting out a scream as she started to fall then suddenly an arm wrapped around her waist from behind and before the woman knew it she was back on her feet. Opening her eyes Lilith looked over and saw the street fighter hunched over. "Th...thank you."
"Don't thank me, I just wanted a look at YOUR panties." Ryuusei replied with a smirk.
"Bastard! I'll..." He grabbed Rimuru's hand before she unsheathed Excalibur. "Hey let go!"
"Relax it was a joke! I was payin her back for the Tea!" Walking past Lilith he whispered. "But you DO have a nice pair..." Which caused the woman to blush.
"Really this is hardly the time for playing around!"
Everyone's attention turned to the masked swordsman but Ryuusei was the first to speak up. "Really now? Then would you mind telling me why it's Tenchisensou III out there?"
"It looks like our enemy has resur..." Judas was cut off as a hand suddenly grabbed his collar. And with seemingly in-human strength, Ryuusei lifted the masked swordsman into the air.
"So you're sayin that thing's after you guys!?" He asked through clenched teeth. (Shit! Just what did these people drag me into!?)
"That...would be the long and short of it." While struggling to break free of the street fighter's iron grip.
"Well then, I think I can solve your problem for you." Ryuusei replied with a straight face.
"Really?" Lilith gasped.
"Yup!" While walking to a nearby window; with a savage kick Ryuusei kicked the window out then quickly shoved the masked swordsman forward... "Okey Mr. Cosplayer out you go!"
"What the..." Judas gasped.
"Is he really going to do this?"
Excalibur was out! "Hey just what the hell are you doing...or is this another one of your jokes!?"
"Hey you guys drug me into this! And unless you tell me everything he's goin bye-bye and he better pray that cape lets him fly because it's a LONG way down!"
Lilith watched in horror; sure this boy joked about killing them but was he really capable of it? She looked over at her daughter, the girl's fist was clenched then suddenly...
"Yo...you're right."
'Rimuru?"
Swallowing hard. "I chased you down and started that fight..." While resheathing Excalibur, afterwords Lilith's daughter slowly approached the two men. "I was hasty," Her mind flashed back to that moment... "I want to avenge my cousin and his friends so badly that when Judas mentioned you running from the knights I assumed the worst."
Their emerald eyes met and after a long moment his grip on the masked swordsman's collar loosened. "So that thing out there killed your cousin?"
"Something like it..." Judas gasped now able to breathe again. "They appeared in the same manner."
Tossing Judas back into the room, "Alright then..." the street fighter marched back to the pile of plaster and Setsuna'd back up to the floor above.
"And where are you going!?' Rimuru demanded.
"Out there where else? It'll be my goodbye performance! Later!" And with that he was off.
"Just wait a minute!" But he was already gone... Rimuru turned to her masked companion. "What could possibly do alone?"
The masked swordsman shook his head. "Not having seen enjough of his fighting style I can't say what he can or can't do... But I do know that if this building were hit by another volley, it WILL surely collapse, and we are a LONG way from the bottom..."
"...So I guess we'll have to rely on him... Damn!"
"Yes...for now anyway..." Judas quickly unsheathed his partner once again, then fired off a Majinken, blasting the door into the hallway "Let's get going!" He started out the door. "I'll take the lead, Lilith should follow me and Rimuru you bring up the rear."
"Gotcha!" She nodded and followed the masked swordsman and her mother into the hallway.
"Wait.. .Judas-kun!" The masked swordsman stopped and turned to the woman.
"Hurry! We have little time for discussion!"
"I know but, wouldn't it be faster if Chal-chan cast that spell again?"
(Ch...Chal-chan!?)
He rose an eyebrow. "...Yes it would, but I lack the Stamina to continuously use Stone Wall, but we've wasted too much time here! Let's MOVE people!" Then made haste to the nearest fire exit...
--
As he stood on the still in-tact section of the roof Ryuusei removed his tattered red shirt and hung it on an exposed pipe. A few stretches later and the street fighter was ready to go...
Down below on the street was the massive war machine Buer. From the mecha's position Ryuusei assumed it was still locked on the hotel... at least he THOUGHT it was.
Gutri sat with his hands folded. While much of his gaze was on the monitor...a visual transmission of what Buer saw, the rest of his attention was on a rather large Lens embedded into a device with a meter next to a display of the street fighter's data. As the teen channeled energy into his fist the Lens surged with power, the meter rose. "Come on already! Show us the goods!"
"RAIJINKEN!" The street fighter lept forward, somersaulting in midair to boost momentum and dove straight for Buer.
"TARGET APPROACHING!" The Tenjoujin mecha swung one of it's two gargantuan scicle-like legs in the teen's direction. However the street fighter activated Setsuna before the leg could impact him.
Ryuusei reappeared suddenly; his fist aimed at the mecha's eye. "LIGHT'S OUT ASSHOLE!"
...Gutri's monitor suddenly went blank.
"AW FUCK FUCK FUUUUCK!"
The obscenities were loud enough to reach the interior fire exit of the hotel. "Oh my!"
"Maybe that'll teach him." The masked swordsman smirked but hastened his pace knowing the mecha could retaliate at any moment.
The professor bit his finger while starring at a blank screen. (Damn Dish!) "Switch to Secondary Sensory Mode." He wouldn't be able to see the battle but this way Buer wouldn't be totally blind. "Oh, and send down a few more playmates, level the entire city!"
"Yes Administrator. Teleporting 1 Duelist, Healer and Wizard."
Keying in a few commands the Wizard's data was displayed followed by the words 'Visual Mode'. Suddenly the main monitor displayed a first-person view of the moving conveyor belt. Now he could watch the battle.
Buer was momentarily blinded from Ryuusei knocking out it's optical sensor. "SEARCHING TARGET!" The mecha searched the perimeter; it's front claws flailing wildly.
...One actually hit it's target.
Ryuusei was hurled backwards; crashing through a damaged wall at the front of the building. His back slammed into the desk. Groaning he rubbed his back with his left hand, his right bled perfusely... "Nice to know there are heads harder than mine but DAMN that hurt..."
Buer's secondary sensory system kicked in. The mecha immediately locked onto the street fighter's downed form. "TARGET AQUIRED!" Charging it's positron cannon Buer took aim... then suddenly a new target appeared.
A white armored knight stood between the mecha and it's assigned target; then 8 others surrounded it. "Cease this attack metal fiend!" The platoon's captain ordered, his Broadsword drawn.
(Typical...now these pricks show up...) However this intervention gave the street fighter time to recover.
"TERMINATE INTERLOPER!"
...However little it was.
"Taichou!" One of his subordinates cried as the positron laser pierced all the way through the knight captain's armor. The man fell to the ground in a bloody heap.
"Take it down men!" The vice captain ordered. All 8 knights charged Buer from all fronts. Barely damaging the mecha's armor. A knight was tossed in Ryuusei's direction, Buer's front left leg was about to make him two when...
"SHUNRAIJIN!"
...It was consumed by a massive wave of light.
"SEARCHING TARGET!" Buer scanned in the direction Shunraijin appeared from. As the mecha found the Jutsu-Waza's source Lilith's daughter was joined by Judas. Lilith however rushed to the street fighter's side.
"Back away." The vice captain ordered. "This is no place for civilians!"
"If I were in your condition I'd accept all the help I can get." Judas replied, with both Chaltier and his parrying dagger drawn.
The vice captain groaned. "Very well, but I can't guarantee your safety."
Lilith assisted the street fighter to his feet. "Are you alright Ryuu-kun?"
"I'm a fast healer..." He staggered forward; looking back. "...And that's RyuuSEI! That other's too damn common for my taste." Then stumbled a bit, but Lilith caught him.
"Here." Pulling a cloth from her dress Rimuru's mother wrapped the teen's hand.
Ryuusei turned away to hide his blushing face. (If only she was about 15 years younger...)
"Alright Ryuusei! Now you won't lose anymore blood" His hand was all wrapped up with a nice little bow too...
"Eh...thanks... but red's more my color." (Though I guess it'll BE red soon enough...) Distancing himself from her, the street fighter bent backwards over his bent left arm... Lilith cringed at the loud popping noise but it seemed to do the trick. Instantly Ryuusei dashed out of the building to join Rimuru, Judas and the peanut gallery. On sight Lilith's daughter burst into laughter and Ryuusei knew exactly at why...
"That's a nice...bandage...you've got there." She said inbetween fits of laughter.
"Yeah, after we finished makin out moms tied it as a momento of your time together..."
"You son of a...!" She was surrounded by a golden aura and was about to unleash Excalibur's full power upon the street fighter when she felt the glare brom behind the mask.
"Shut up, the BOTH of you! We need to focus on your objective!"
Ryuusei gave Judas a mock sollute "Yes sir! Mr. Cosplayer, sir!"
While Rimuru lowered her gaze. "...Sorry."
"We should focus on disabling the legs and attacking the underbelly; that is where the armor is the weakest." And glanced at Rimuru with a...softer expression. "Rimuru, another Shunraijin at full-power should destory the other front-leg. That will disrupt Buer's mobility and ballance control."
"Gotcha!" And gave the masked swordsman a real sollute.
"And...you," Judas addressed Ryuusei. "you seem quite agile, use that to draw Buer's fire until it's completely off-ballance. Once Buer falls we are free to attack the underbelly."
"I much prefer..."
"Hmph! We don't need the help of this...punk!' The vice captain interjected, two of his subbordiantes rushed to his flank. "In fact, since you're here we should go ahead and take you into custody, men!"
"Gentlemen please!, We can't have a show without the star can we?"
"What the..." Buer suddenly stopped in it's tracks; then suddenly they appeared...
To be continued..
A/N: That concludes this chapter's rewrite. I bet nobody expected me to do that to my hero. And I decided to go for more animosity between Ryuusei and Rimuru.
That's really all I have to say right now, Ja ne!
Review Response: Damn I didn't even think of it that way! But I'm glad I ended their fight the way it did instead of turning it into some long drawn out battle of egos; it was never meant to go that far and doing so would probably compromise the rest of the series.
There isn't a scene of her 'getting' his respect but after the fight with her if you talk to him in the stands he says something about how beautifully her and Kyle fought. He might've said something else about her before the fight but I can't remember.