"FOXTAIL-" Kitsushi's leg started its descent just as a shadow enveloped Kitsushi's body and the soft sound finally grew audible, "EXECUTIONER!"

"aaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!" Something big crashed directly on top of Kitsushi, halting his attack completely.

When the dust cleared, Kitsushi was face-down in the dirt as something sprawled on top of him slowly stood up, rubbing his head in confused pain.

"Where'd all the water go?" asked a bewildered Hammie.

Everyone stared dumbfounded at Hammie, who responded only by knocking some of the water out of his ear, shaking off the dizziness from his fall as he looked at his surroundings in confusion and awe, "This… was definitely not here earlier."

Finally, Jude couldn't help himself and started laughing and applauding, "Wonderful entrance, brother! Perfect dramatic timing!"

"Oh, hey, Jude!" Hammie smiled and waved, "Is everyone okay? You guys look pretty beat up."

Jude shrugged, "I think I might have broken a nail."

Hammie frowned, "Ouch, sounds painful. Maybe the Doc could take a look at it?"

"He's currently paralyzed. Also, the only thing keeping the psychotic chef from splitting into two is a layer of poorly applied bandages," Jude continued straight-faced.

"Oh…" Hammie looked over the group's various injuries, "Um, is everyone going to be okay?"

Doc was the next to snap out of his disbelief, "Uh, yeah, barring any more serious injuries, I think everyone here will heal up just fine."

Hammie sighed with relief, "I'm glad to hear that." As he spoke, the large fishman behind him rumbled as he slowly picked himself back up. Hammie seemed to pay no mind though, "Brody. Wendy. You two all right?"

Wendy was the first to try to warn Hammie, "Look-!" was all she could manage before Hammie cut her off.

"Oh, that's Brody's ring isn't it? I didn't think he'd ask you so soon! I guess close calls like today can change how a guy views things, huh?" Hammie continued, "Oh wait, you did say yes, didn't you?" he asked worriedly.

"No, I-" Wendy shook her head trying to clarify.

"You said no? Aw, man. I'm sorry to hear that, Brody," Hammie bowed apologetically, "I'm sorry to hear that, but if you don't mind, may I ask why not? I mean, if it's too personal, then by all means ignore me."

Jude and Michael stayed silent, as both had a certain respect for the entertainment value of what was about to happen, but for completely different reasons. Doc was in no position to see what was going on, but was just as confused for the others. Takashi was standing, but it wasn't certain just how conscious of his surroundings he was. This left, Wendy and Brody, who, like everyone else, were still trying to wrap their heads around the absurdity of the situation as Kitsushi slowly rose to his feet just behind Hammie.

The large fishman forcefully grabbed hold of Hammie's shoulder, but Hammie annoyingly brushed it aside, "Excuse me, sir, but one of my friends is probably going through a bad personal time. I'll get back to you in a second," Hammie turned back to Brody, "How you holding up Brody? It wasn't the ring, was it? I told you, I'm no good with that kind of thing."

"HAMMIE-!" Wendy cried out, but it was too late as Kitsushi reared back one of his arms and thrust it down at the unsuspecting human.

"Hundred Brick Fist!" Kitsushi's giant arm pummeled Hammie in the back of his skull, and the unsuspecting human quickly fell forward.

But stopped before his knees or hands could touch the ground, barely managing to keep his balance, "Now look, sir, that's just plain RUDE!" Hammie jerked around, his arm rocketing up into an uppercut at Kitsushi's jaw. Kitsushi never saw it coming as he felt a sledgehammer punch his chin, knocking him up in the air and launching the fishman far off into the water where he made a cannonball-sized splash.

Hammie looked at his handiwork and frowned, "Well, crap. I think I was a little too harsh on the guy. I'll have to go apologize to him later." Hammie turned back to Brody and Wendy and smiled apologetically, "Sorry about that, I'm kind of on edge right now. Kind of a bad day. But you don't need to hear about my problems! So are you two still together or is the whole thing over or-"

"HAMMIE!" Brody finally managed to shout loud enough to stop Hammie's rambling, "We're fine. She said yes."

"Oh, that's great! Congratulations!" Hammie rushed forward and gave the two a big bear hug that only made them remember their various strains and injuries. He quickly stopped once he realized the pain they were in, "Heh, sorry about that."

Before either could continue, a plume erupted from the wall of water straight at Hammie, its head forming into the mouth of a giant serpentine dragon. It quickly enveloped Hammie, knocking him off his feet and hurling him into the pagoda wreckage.

The others watched in shock as the water dragon consumed Hammie. From the other end, a large shape quickly swam through the watery serpent, stopping where Hammie was standing moments before. The water finally dissipated, leaving Kitsushi standing and staring hatefully at where the human was presumably crushed. "That's it. I don't know where all these uppity humans keep coming from, but I'm getting rid of all of them. No more Mister Nice Fishman," he softly growled, "But first thing's first," he turned back to Brody and Natalie, raising his leg for another attack, "You've had your share of miracles for one day."

Before he could continue, some metal projectile whizzed in front of his face, "What the-?" he was cut off as three more of the projectiles were shot at him, Kitsushi having to halt his attack to dodge, backing up and turning back to their source at the wreckage, doubly confused because he hadn't heard a gun fire, "You humans are harder to kill than cockroaches!"

Emerging slowly from the wreckage, making his way over the rubble, Hammie stepped out no worse for wear despite shortly before being hit with the force of a tidal wave. He was even excitedly smiling, "Hey guys, I found my tools!" Sure enough, when Hammie finally cleared the wreckage, he was sporting his full tool belt from before, and even had his rope coiled around one shoulder, "Lucky, huh? I thought I'd have to go buy new ones."

"You," Kitsushi's eyes focused on the new arrival, proving to be much harder to kill, "Who the hell are you?"

"Me? I'm Hammie, er… Captain Hammie that is. Nice to meet you," Hammie politely replied, "And you are?"

"Captain Kitsushi of the Tiburones Gemelos, proud Bull Shark, Fox Shark Fishman."

Hammie beamed with understanding, "Oh, I needed to talk to you. See, it seems one of your guys sunk my ship, so I was kind of hoping to get reimbursed."

"Were you now?" Kitsushi was quickly losing patience, "Well, it just so happens I'm a little busy right now, so if you'll kindly just get the hell out of my way, I'll get to you in a second."

"Oh? May I ask what's got you so busy?" Hammie asked innocently.

"I have to execute two traitors, and then decide whether or not to kill you or just beat you to within an inch of your life," Kitsushi scowled, "All in all, I've got a very busy day."

Hammie slowly stepped closer, "Can't let you do that, Shark Fox. Er, whatever combination you said."

Kitsushi twitched, "Why does every human today think they can just order me around?

"Sorry," Hammie calmly apologized, much to the surprise of Kitsushi and everyone watching, "I wasn't trying to be bossy. It's just that Brody and Wendy are my friends, and I can't stand by and let them get hurt," he explained simply.

"Friends?" Kitsushi shouted, nearing his breaking point, "Brody was my comrade! My nakama! My brother! We were together since we were children! We captained the same crew together for over a decade! And just what makes you two friends?"

Hammie thought carefully, "Well, I've known him about a day..."

"Ha! You don't have the right to call a pureblood shark fishman a friend! You don't even know him!"

"Really?" Hammie asked innocently, "Because I'm not the one trying to kill him and his fiancé."

"Don't you dare come down to my ocean and act like you know everything, you damn human! She's a murderer! He's a traitor! They both deserve death and more!"

Hammie's smile vanished, "You shouldn't talk about my friends that way. I might take offense."

As far as Kitsushi was concerned, that was enough of a challenge. Any trace of patience Kitsushi had left vanished as he charged forward, "Let's see how talkative you are in the ocean!" In an instant his arm whipped around as he clotheslined Hammie in the gut, throwing him up into the air towards the ocean wall.

But just as Hammie was nearing the water, where against Kitsushi he'd be dead for sure, something tightened around the fishman's wrist. Kitsushi quickly looked down to see a lasso tightening around his wrist and growing taut, one that Hammie was holding the other end to. Kitsushi, quickly realizing his predicament, lifted his leg up around the rope and slammed it down trying to sever it, but the same kick that shattered steel earlier only pulled the rope down, jerking it back.

The rope contracted like a bungee cord, pulling Hammie back before he could splash in the water. Kitsushi looked up in time to see Hammie holding a large hammer, hurtling towards him. The fishman tried to counterattack, but his leg and arm were now tangled up in the rope. Combined with the disbelief something this absurd was actually happening, he was defenseless.

Hammie's hammer smashed into Kitsushi's skull and for a moment his face was concave. The force easily knocked Kitsushi off his feet, since thanks to the entangling rope he had little balance left. While the fishman was still in the air Hammie landed on his feet, let go of the rope since it was still firmly tethered to his arm, and pulled out a second tool from his belt: a monkey wrench, oversized for any normal human but just the right size for Hammie. Kitsushi felt the metal vice of the wrench tighten around his throat just enough to give Hammie a grip.

Suddenly, Kitsushi was no longer falling, but being slammed directly into the ground. As his body naturally recoiled and bounced he was jerked by the neck again, making an arc as his head smashed against the ocean floor. Hammie slammed Kitsushi a third time, but the angles of his attacks weren't random, as Kitsushi was finally untangled from the rope just as Hammie intended.

Hammie spun around, swinging the concussion-inflicted Kitsushi like a tetherball before he released the wrench's grip on Kitsushi, sending the fishman skipping against the ground until he lay flat on his stomach.

Quickly holstering the wrench, Hammie pulled out a handful of nails with his free hand and tossed them high. Leaping up after them, Hammie worked into the perfect angle midair to slam each nail, point-first downward at the prone Kitsushi, all in a single swing. Still, each nail hit its mark perfectly, piercing the webbing on Kitsushi's hands and feet and pinning him to the ocean floor.

Hammie landed on his feet and twirled the hammer expertly in his hand. The bystanders watched with amazement as their biggest threat was just tossed around like a ragdoll.

"Impossible," muttered Brody of all people, "No one could do that to Kitsushi, human or fishman. I can't do that."

"You aren't Hammie," Jude politely interrupted, "Now, please remain seated and be quiet for the performance. You won't see another like it for a long while."

"Aye, this is gettin' good," Michael grinned, as everyone who knew them recoiled in horror at the thought of Jude and Michael actually agreeing on something.

Hammie stood and watched patiently until the nailed-down Kitsushi started to shake. Suddenly, the nails shot out as Kitsushi erupted back onto his feet.

"Figured that wouldn't keep you down," Hammie nodded.

Kitsushi cracked his neck and knuckles, the piercings in his hands still fresh. Despite this, Kitsushi spoke relatively calmly, "You're crafty. Strong. Cunning. Intelligent. And you don't flinch."

"Why thank you," Hammie smiled at the compliment.

"By all means, with those traits you should be a great warrior on the battlefield."

Hammie shrugged, shaking his head, "Sorry, battlefields aren't really my thing."

"I should be excited to fight you. Proud even. Few men could do that to a fishman, much less me. Instead, I'm just pissed off!" Kitsushi's voice grew louder even as the feral look started to return to his eyes.

"Oh," Hammie's smile vanished, disappointed, "I'm sorry. If you like, we could stop fighting and talk instead."

The fishman twitched even as a red haze started to glaze over his eyes, "First I'm going to kill you. Then I'm going to kill Brody. Then I'm going to kill every damn human I see."

"Geez, you're cranky," Hammie sighed, "I guess there's really no way out of this. After all, after what your guys did to my ship, you still owe me a new one."

Kitsushi charged forward, roaring like the beast that was driving him, "Hundred Brick Fist!" His arm launched at Hammie, who ducked to the side, bring his hammer into Kitsushi's gut.

Before the hammer could connect, Kitsushi's leg shot up, "Rising Thrust Foxtail Kick!" The hammer violently jerked out of Hammie's hand and flew far off. The fishman wasn't finished however, as his outstretched leg bent at the knee to grab hold of Hammie's arm. Finally, Kitsushi's outstretched arm thrust backward into an elbow jab to Hammie's spine.

Hammie was quickly falling to the ground, but still he managed to swing his free arm around and catch Kitsushi's one ankle still on the ground with the monkey wrench, sweeping Kitsushi off his feet. About to hit the ground face-first, Hammie wasn't sure what was about to happen since Kitsushi was directly above and behind him. Before he could swallow a face-full of dirt, two huge forearms wrapped around his shoulders from behind, "Oh this definitely isn't good…"

"Coral Corral!" Suddenly lifted into the air, the fishman started his revenge, "Fishman Karate Secret Technique," Hammie was suplexed skull first into the ground, "Atomic-" Dragged around in the dirt, only seconds after the first, Hammie slammed into the ground again, "Dive Bomb-" Finally, Kitsushi leapt into the air, holding the still disoriented Hammie. From the apex of the leap, Kitsushi squirmed into the air until he and Hammie were ready to slam head-first into the ground from at least twenty feet in the air, "BUSTER!" Kitsushi spun Hammie around as they both slammed into the ground.

The good news for Hammie in all of this was that the pain significantly dulled after the first concussion. After that, everything was a massive blurry headache. All he did know was that it ended with his head being buried in the sand. He struggled to break free, finally popping out like a turnip. "You know what? That honestly could have been worse," he tried to say optimistically, though his speech was still slurred. He looked around for the fishman, a more difficult task than usual since the world apparently wouldn't stop spinning.

His vision finally focused, and he could see Kitsushi near the ocean wall, both of his webbed hands somehow holding spiked spheres of water. "Still trying to figure out how being part fish means you can hold a liquid like a solid," Hammie mused.

"Hydro-ken!" Kitsushi hurled one of the water spheres like a dodgeball.

"I wonder, just how solid are those things? I guess there's really only one way to find out,"Hammie might have been able to avoid it, which was what the second Hydro-ken was meant to counter, but Hammie stood his ground, holding his wrench like a miniature bat. "This is a really bad idea," Hammie took a swing at the water ball, hitting it square on the center, hoping to knock it away.

Instead, the water exploded on contact, hitting Hammie with a giant splash like a burst of grapeshot. Well, at least that answers that question, Hammie thought as he rocketed into the ocean behind him, this time without a tether to save him. Got to make it back to the dome before…

"Right where I want you," came the voice clear as day right above Hammie, "And right where we'll finish this," In that instant, Kitsushi had somehow swam around the entire air dome to right in front of Hammie's eyes. Kitsushi pulled his arms back, seeming to pull the ocean itself into one concentrated spot between his hands, as the ocean currents all around them spiraled into the fishman's hands. Hammie couldn't help but be pulled in by the sweeping currents, "Sharktooth Vortex!" The currents moved so quickly, it felt like being sliced apart by hundreds of tiny blades, but that wasn't all as Hammie was pulled in closer until he was in Kitsushi's grasp. "Fishman Karate Secret Technique: Davy Jones Locker!" It was an unending flurry of punches and kicks, each one hitting with the force of a cannonball in a series of blinding, searing, watery explosions from the sheer force of his strikes.

In the middle of Kitsushi's combo, however, Hammie blindly reached out and grabbed the nearest solid object, which happened to be one of Kitsushi's arms. With something now to brace himself, Hammie's legs clumsily spun around into the fishman's side. He wasn't a martial artist like his opponent, but grabbing hold of Kitsushi made it impossible for him to escape. His legs kicked into the fishman's side hard, breaking the attack and kicking the fishman back into the air dome.

Kitsushi skipped across the dirt before leaping to his feet just as Hammie clumsily emerged from his would-be watery grave, "I told you," he said mildly annoyed, "I'm not going swimming again. Look, I'm already all pruney." Hammie started futilely wringing the seawater out of his clothes.

"Hydro-ken!" Water gathered from the ocean wall nearest to Kitsushi and launched at Hammie. Still soaked, he threw up his arms defensively. It still felt like a cannon impact, but this time Hammie stood his ground.

Kitsushi, having expected to knock Hammie back into the ocean right behind him, stared in disbelief, quickly firing off a few more of the watery attacks from afar.

His arms raised to protect himself as best he could, Hammie slowly stepped forward as if the attacks were nothing more than a strong wind.

"Fishman Karate Secret Technique…" This time instead of rapidly firing off, the water currents started entwining like pieces of rope, creating a large, long serpentine figure of coursing rapids, ending in the formation of a repitilian head, "WATER DRAGON!" The sea serpent rushed forward at Kitsushi's will, snaking along the ground, racing to devour Hammie back into the ocean where Kitsushi was king.

Hammie blinked a few times and tilted his head to the side, staring at the water serpent with curiosity instead of any sense of urgency. "I wonder..." Hammie stood his ground and pulled out a large screwdriver from his belt and carefully eyed the dragon about to steamroll him. "If this has any chance of working, it's got to be dead center." If anyone was shouting for Hammie to get out of the way, the literally roaring waters made it impossible for him to hear. The water dragon made one final lunge and Hammie thrusted the screwdriver in the center of the serpent's gaping maw. He barely stood his ground, but his legs were quickly giving. His arm felt like a typhoon was personally tearing it apart, but only when his arm was completely submerged, the screwdriver imbedded deep into swirling waters, did he act.

Hammie suddenly jerked the screwdriver and his entire arm with as much force he could muster counterclockwise, the reverse of the spiraling waters. Immediately, the dragon started to unravel from the head, all of the swirling waters keeping it solid having stopped. This continued all the way down the length of the waters, everything harmlessly dissipating. Kitsushi stood completely stunned by what just happened, "My clan's secret technique… In an instant…"

"Yeah, I wasn't sure that would work either," Hammie calmly responded as he inspected his tools for damage, "It's hard to find tools like this these days. All that force and yet not even a single scratch. Definitely a sound investment."

"HRRAAAAGGGHH!" Veins were bulging, muscles were involuntarily flexing, and several parts of Kitsushi's body were violently twitching as he let out a bloodthirsty roar. His leg suddenly lashed out as a disjointed, misshapen shockwave sliced through the ground towards Hammie, "FOXTAIL GUILLOTINE!"

Pretty sure he wasn't about to block this one, Hammie dove to the left as the shockwave cut into the ocean behind him. He turned to see the hole linger in the wall of water, the edges of it steaming. The water should have filled in the hole instantly, but the force of Kitsushi's attack evaporated any water that came into contact with its imprint. Hammie wanted to know more about the bizarre physics going on down here, but his curiosity was cut short by Kitsushi letting off another of the same attack at Hammie's new location.

All Hammie could do was leap to his feet and run along the perimeter of the ocean as the wall of water started developing jagged, steaming cracks, further slapping physics and common sense in the face. "They shouldn't compromise the integrity of this air dome, just make it grow a little from the extra air," Hammie started thinking out loud as he ran for his life, "Of course that doesn't help me right now with this."

That's when Hammie's foot hit something unexpected and he tripped forward onto his chest. A horizontal shockwave passed just over his head, singing some of the hairs on the back of his neck. Hammie looked over and saw what he had tripped over: his precious hammer sticking out of the sand. "I'm not sure if you saved my life or killed me," Hammie spoke to his hammer as Kitsushi kicked another shockwave his way, this time low enough that it would slice the prone Hammie and half.

Quickly rolling backwards, picking up the hammer on the way, Hammie leapt to his feet as the shockwave passed right in front of him, the heat burning his eyes. "Okay, so it can slice pretty much anything, hm?" Hammie glanced at his opponent even as he ran back in the opposite direction to dodge the barrage of shockwaves. "Man," Hammie complained to himself, "He just doesn't let up. I guess there's no way to do this without getting hit," he resigned.

Finally, Hammie stopped in his tracks. He had to align this perfectly, and Kitsushi had already kicked the next shockwave his way. Grabbing a handful of nails, Hammie tossed them in the air and knocked them all in one swipe in Kitsushi's direction. The nails and Kitsushi's attack collided and the shockwave sliced them like butter, turning the four nail projectiles into eight smaller shrapnel bullets.

Before he could realize what happened, a hail of shrapnel pierced straight through Kitsushi, stopping his barrage of attacks. At the same time, however, the Foxtail Guillotine collided with Hammie, slicing straight through him.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. Then Hammie's chest erupted in a spray of blood. Somehow his body was still in one piece, but a deep gash poured blood from his shoulder to his waist and Hammie was already feeling faint. He wished he could assure himself that his vitals were missed, but Hammie knew better. He was no doctor, but Hammie could feel the trauma in his heart and lungs, the fractures in his ribs, even if the blood loss made it difficult to feel much else. Yet somehow he was still standing.

As was Kitsushi, but the wounds that pierced straight through the fishman's body were not superficial like before. A few bones were cracked, a few arteries nicked, but he was still the better off. His leg was shot in several areas. Moving it was a chore now. The fishman was more concerned with the fact that he had just supposedly hit his opponent with a lethal execution technique, yet the human was still standing. "I still… have one good leg…" Kitsushi resolved. The human had wounded him, but the advantage was still his, "What have you got?"

Hammie wasn't sure it was healthy to even try to talk back, and he couldn't just rest and try to recover. It wouldn't be long before Kitsushi finished him off. The nails were a good idea, but the tradeoff was too much. He only survived because Kitsushi had let off a shockwave instead of hitting him directly with that monstrous leg. The shockwave had passed through his body only doing significant damage instead of just completely slicing him in half. At this range, the best Hammie could do was fire off a few more nails, but those could only do so much.

"Nothing!" Kitsushi declared through gritted teeth, "The answer is you've got nothing!" Barely standing on his wounded leg, Kitsushi raised his one good one, "SO DIE ALREADY!" Letting off another of his Foxtail Kicks, Hammie didn't so much dodge as he did fall to the left to barely avoid it, only realizing too late that he'd dropped his hammer.

"Oh no you don't!" Not even thinking, Hammie threw the lasso of his rope at the hammer, promising himself not to lose it again, the rope tightening around the grip of the hammer. When he pulled it back, he realized his new invention, "If I can get just a little closer, then I've got a reach weapon with a decent punch behind it to work with!" His excitement reviving his adrenaline, Hammie started spinning the hammer and rope, the lasso having been turned into a deadly weighted weapon. He rushed forward best he could, hoping he'd be able to sidestep any more of Kitsushi's attacks.

But when he did manage to sidestep Kitsushi's next shockwave, it wasn't quite enough, and the rope was easily severed by the heated shockwave. "Or not," Hammie initially thought himself screwed, but the angle and momentum just sent the oversized hammer hurtling at Kitsushi, and by some stroke of luck the hammer slammed into Kitsushi's face. Hammie stared in disbelief, "Or that could happen," he mused at his good fortune.

The hammer fell to the ground along with a row of shattered teeth, leaving a large hammer-shaped indentation in Kitsushi's face.

The fishman trembled in anger even as a new row of teeth grew back, "THIS ENDS NOW! FOXTAIL HARPOON!" Kitsushi threw his leg straight up, but this time, the shockwave soared upward like an arrow, all the way to the top of the dome.

"Um, I think you missed," Hammie watched, confused at the direction of the attack. There was a distant but loud splash, and for a few seconds nothing. Suddenly, Hammie felt a couple drops of water splash on his face and shoulders, "Rain…?" he guessed in confusion before realizing the truth, "You pierced the bubble!"

"I've put up with you long enough!" growled Kitsushi, "Let the ocean rush in here and wipe you all from the face of the earth!" Even as he spoke, the rain turned into a downpour, and a hole in the ceiling of the dome grew wider to reveal the sky above.

"But you have wounded down here!" Hammie pleaded, motioning to the wounded fishmen over with the rest of the spectators, "They're just as screwed if you flood the whole place!" The watery walls lost their solidity and became waterfalls, the area around them quickly flooding.

"If they're worth their species they'll survive," said Kitsushi coldly, "But you and the rest of the humans, you're all done for. I will protect the pride of the fishmen!"

Hammie tried to protest, but was drowned out by the roaring waves as the air dome quickly turned into raging whirlpool that swept everyone up, human and fishman alike.

To be continued…

Author's Notes: Whew, been a while. Work's been crazy, hopefully less crazy so this story can get going again.

I didn't have a Beta reader this chapter, just proofread everything myself. We'll see if that works or if that leaves more errors than before. Reviews as always are welcome.

Next chapter is the conclusion to the fight, promise!