Sand Masters
By Copper Thrice
Part 3- Desert Miracle
On another mountaintop, not too far away, stood many of the members of the Sand Village Council. Through binoculars, they viewed Gaara's battle with Marko "The Sandman" Flint.
"Perfect," One elderly member said, "Soon Gaara will be no more." The others nodded in agreement.
On the mountainside, Marko unleashed his fury as he focused sand particles into his arm, making it grow in size.
"Why won't you people leave me alone!?" he yelled and threw his huge sand-fist at Gaara.
Gaara's outstretched arms crossed and a shield of sand emerged to block the powerful blow. The impact caused Gaara's shield to shudder.
Marko pulled his fist back and yelled again, his fury a raging sandstorm. He unleashed his sand at Gaara, who responded in kind with his own special sand from his gourd.
The two waves of sand hit each other in mid-air. The battle was unlike anything man has ever seen before. This battle was not fought with fists and kicks, but by individual grains of sand.
Many sand particles were under Gaara's influence, supercharged with his energy. Gaara continuously gatered material from the ground to make more sand to add to the fray, but it did not carry as much strength as his special sand.
Marko, however carried enormous amounts of sand, each with an equal share of power and influence. In order to continue his assault, Marko dissolved into a torrent of sand and joined the fight.
Gaara was hopelessly outnumbered. Everytime, a grain of sand that he had empowered ran out of energy, Marko took it over and it raged against Gaara.
Soon, he was surrounded by Marko's sand. Gaara had to focus more on his shield and whatever grains he possessed, but he was constantly losing ground. In frustration, he did what his mentor had always told him not to do:
Shed his Sand Armor.
Most people said it was impossible, but Gaara had learned how to dissolve his armor as a back-up plan.
The problem was…
If Marko got at least one grain past his Sand Shield…
He would probably kill Gaara.
Gaara performed the hand gestures that released his armor. A new flurry of sand tore off his body. Absorbing Gaara's energy and power since Gaara's birth, it lifted off him and joined the fray.
You see, it had been grafted onto him as a protection when he was born.
With a yell Gaara released his new sand attack…
To no avail.
One by One, Ten by Ten, Hundreds by Hundreds… Gaara's sand grains had fallen to Marko. Gaara looked around to see that his shield was barely holding and his extra sand had already fallen. His shoulders drooped in distress.
The shield began to buckle and Gaara closed his eyes, waiting for the end.
Then it rained.
Gaara could hear it, no, feel it. Rain. Sinking though his shield and dissolving it into mush. Gaara then noticed that the attack had stopped.
He looked around to see that Marko had backed off and was back to human form. He stared at his arms and hands as the dissolved into a dark, sandy mush. He yelled as the rain poured harder and he began to dissolve quicker.
Thinking fast, Gaara took his water gourd and popped the top off it. Quickly, he used his hands to jam Marko's dissolving, sandy head into the gourd.
Marko struggled back, but then Gaara forced the cap of his gourd back on. Marko's body then dissolved into slush and rolled down the mountain.
Gaara breathed a sigh of relief and sat next to a boulder, using string from his multi-purpose kit to keep the cap on the gourd.
Gaara then held out his hand and watched as water flowed across it. He had never felt water on his bare skin before, his armor was always on him. When the rain stopped, it would probably return. Gaara leaned back and let rain fall down his face.
It felt good.
"Time to go home," he thought, "Heh, home. That seems like a good idea."