Chapter 4: Battle in the Water Garden
Marluxia was standing near the fountain when he heard the man. "Congratulations on making it through my garden…" he greeted, taking a quick glance over his shoulder, before his face resumed its absent contemplation of the fountain. "Wolverine, I presume??"
"Some garden punk. Man eating flowers?? Is this a Sci-fi convention or somethin'?" Wolverine treaded farther into the small area, looking around for any more dangerous plants.
"No… just a little deterrent for opponents," Marluxia smirked, waving off the insult. "Didn't take too long to grow them either."
Wolverine was beside him now, a doubting look on his face. "You grew 'em?"
Marluxia glanced over at the man, before turning and starting to exit. "Come, we have much to do and little time to do it in."
Wolverine scowled. "Who put you in charge, bub?" he demanded, quickly following after.
"Why, me of course," Marluxia replied, weaving through the labyrinth that he had turned the hedge maze into. "I presumed that you would want to get out of my garden with less effort than needed to get in…"
Wolverine's scowl deepened, but he followed after the pink haired man. "Where're you headed??"
"The water garden. One of our opponents can't swim. Play to our strengths. You can swim, correct?" Marluxia's pace increased as the duo left the hedge maze.
"No, I sink like a log. Doesn't matter much though. What we're fighting is smaller than me, and I can walk in water that's over their heads, " Wolverine stated, not caring too much about the possibility of water.
"Good point," Marluxia consented, making a left turn at a flower shop. As he passed, Marluxia took a fleeting glance at the flowers, before moving on.
"What's with you and flowers fairy?? Flower power??" Wolverine asked, noticing his partner's slight pause.
Marluxia hid his annoyance with the nickname. "I control the element of Flowers."
Wolverine snorted. "What type of girly power is that?"
"The kind that can create man eating plants," Marluxia snipped back sardonically. Wolverine shrugged it off as Marluxia led him onto a small bridge. They had arrived at the water garden.
The Water Garden was at the nexus of no less than five of the Mall's water ways. The result was a large pool, several feet deep and about forty feet in radius. The designers had put in several wooden bridges and platforms that floated on the water. Only the center platform was unique, being a large concrete column that rose from the bed of the garden. Flowers, however, dominated the landscape. Water lilies, water hyacinths, and innumerable other species flourished in this garden. Fish weaved in and out of the roots of the plants, taking their time to get wherever they were headed.
Marluxia smirked at the sight. "Perfect," he stated simply, walking along the various bridges and platforms as he made his way to the center platform.
"Listen, Bub, I don't know what you're thinking, but whatever it is, could you tell me instead of leading me on a wild goose chase?"
Marluxia looked over at Wolverine. "It's quite simple… but it looks like we won't be able to speak about it now. Our opponents have arrived." He gestured elegantly to the edge of the garden, where two creatures stood, arguing by the looks of it.
"Finally," Wolverine grumbled, his claws coming out with a shink. "You going to depend on the flowers to save you fairy?"
Marluxia laughed. "Not exactly…" He extended his arm, his scythe appearing in a whirl of sakura petals.
"Show off… here they come…" Wolverine slipped into a fighting stance as the two approached, running across the bridges.
A smirk settled on Marluxia's face as he watched the duo of creatures approach. "They're already fighting… and we haven't even started…" Marluxia observed, noting how the pair seemed to be racing to get here first. The red one won, shoving the other creature back and launching himself forward at Wolverine.
"I'll take the strong one. You can have the girl, Stitch!" the red one taunted the other, slashing at Wolverine. The mutant dodged, the creature's attack slicing his arm. The wounds healed almost instantaneously. Wolverine smiled dangerously, before retaliating.
"Girl?" Marluxia questioned in outrage, before moving to attack the blue one. His scythe barely missed the creature.
"Leroy, we're supposed to work together!" Stitch shouted as he dodged the blow, before dashing forward to attack Marluxia.
Leroy made no reply but set upon viciously attacking Wolverine. The man dodged what he could and retaliated with slashes of his own. The two were almost equal in their attacks; Leroy's blows were voided by Wolverine's healing factor, and any strikes landed on Leroy were nullified by the experiment's desire to out-do his counterpart.
Marluxia was struck by the first blow, sent skidding backwards. The little creature hit harder than he had thought. As Stitch came forward to strike again, Marluxia disappeared. Stitch slid to a halt, glancing around quickly for his opponent.
"Behind you," was all the warning Stitch got before a storm of sakura petals swarmed him, opening a flurry of cuts. Stitch growled, charging and leaping up into the air at the pink haired man.
He flew right through him, the form disappearing in a showy shower of sakura petals. Unable to stop himself, Stitch crashed right into Leroy, sending the two sprawling dangerously close to the edge of the platform.
Leroy recovered first, punching Stitch in the head. "What did you do that for, naga?"
"I was going after Pinky!!" Stitch protested.
Leroy had a look of disbelief on his face. "The girl's over on the other side of the platform," he shouted angrily, pointing at Marluxia, who indeed was on the opposite edge of the structure.
"I'm not a girl," Marluxia corrected with a slight scowl, leaning on his scythe.
Leroy made no move to acknowledge Marluxia's correction. He only shoved Stitch closer to the edge. The Nobody took advantage of Stitch's proximity to the water flowers to use several roots to grab Stitch and pull him into the water. Caught off guard, the experiment was easily dragged into the depths.
Leroy made no motion to help him, as he was running full throttle at Wolverine. The mutant slashed before the experiment and sent Leroy reeling. Wolverine quickly took advantage of his enemy, and pressed forward on the offensive.
Marluxia on the other hand, nimbly avoided the fighting to watch and make sure Stitch was out for the count. A short trip to Vexen and a bit of pressure on the blonde, had revealed Stitch's weakness.
Gazing into the water, Marluxia quickly found Stitch. The experiment was still struggling with the roots. They had entwined around his arms and legs, rapidly advancing to start encasing the creature, who fought back with abandon. Marluxia watched with a superior smile, until Stitch began to rip through the roots. The creature slowly managed to rip himself free, before realizing a new problem. The Nobody's grin quickly returned as it dawned on the creature that by ripping the roots and destroying most of the aquatic plant life in the vicinity, he had robbed himself of any possible way to get to the surface.
A crash behind him drew Marluxia's attention from the struggling Stitch. He twisted around, to find Wolverine standing over a heavily bleeding Leroy. The red creature was surrounded by cracks in the platform and was unconscious. Marluxia's gaze shifted over to Wolverine, who shrugged. "The punk was annoying me."
Marluxia 'hmmmed' and turned around to look back at Stitch. "He's still conscious…" he commented.
"The other one?" Wolverine queried, walking over to confirm what Marluxia said. Marluxia made a gesture at the still-struggling Stitch. Wolverine whistled in amazement. "Damn."
"I don't think he needs to breathe…" Marluxia stated. "So I believe I'll just leave him there. He has friends here; they can fish him out." With that closing remark, Marluxia walked away.
"That's pretty cold, fairy. Don't you have a heart?" Wolverine called after his partner.
Marluxia laughed, the counterfeit tone of the laugh resonating throughout the area. "No, I don't," He called back. "You should remember that, when it comes to our fight!" With those parting words, Marluxia disappeared out of sight.
Wolverine stared at the spot where the pink haired man had disappeared. "Damn fairy," he mumbled to himself, turning to look back at Stitch.
The experiment was still struggling to reach the surface, with no luck.
Disclaimer: I own naught but my laptop. Marluxia belongs to Square Enix, Stitch and Leroy are Disney's experiments, and Wolverine… is his own property, but Marvel claims to hold a claim on him.
Author's Note: Another day, another fight. If one wishes to read either my partner's version of the fight, or opponent's version, Wolverine is written by Kohaku Kawa, and Stitch and Leroy are being written by Skipper1313 and kinger810 respectively.
There's not to much to say about this fight either. The idea of the Water Garden was inspired by one of the gardens in the Chicago Botanic Garden, but the design is my own idea.
Many thanks to Kohaku Kawa for allowing me to pick his mind so often. It helped so much.
Moving on… thanks for reading, and reviews are the bread to my butter. I love them so.