Authors Note: I've gotta say, for those who stick on to this story despite my extreme slowness, I love you guys. I really am not worth your time because I suck. I started writing this right after I finished the last chapter but forgot about it completely until just now, 2 months later. How bad is that? Hopefully I can pick up the pace and get you guys more enthralled with this. Again, for all my supporters and watchers, THANK YOU.
IMPORTANT!: Chapter 22 (Race Against Time) has been redone with a new story part. Read it if you haven't! If you are reading this story that chapter after 27/07/08 then ignore.
Chapter 25: No Time to Lose
Sora, Victor and Alucard quickly rejoined the others, who had already noticed the guy running away and were giving chase as well. They quickly all caught each other and rejoined. No-one had noticed, however, that Alucard had disappeared, but Victor sensed it and knew. He didn't say anything though, because he knew his father went off to play mind games with their prey.
"What he hell happened in there? And why is this guy running from us?" Riku said to Sora as they ran.
"He's the one that put us in the crosshairs when we got here. Now he's running from us!" Sora smiled at Riku with his trademark goofy smile like it was a normal thing.
Doing this however made something catch Riku's eye. Sora's fangs. They had blood on them. 'What the?' Riku was worried. His usual train of thought made him believe that Victor or Alucard, maybe both, had something to do with it. He focused on catching up with this guy. He also realised that Alucard was gone. But that wasn't important right now.
As if right on cue, Heartless appeared out of nowhere, surprising the group.
"Heartless?! Here?" Riku called out, summoning his keyblade. "Wait! Riku, Cloud, Victor, go! We'll handle these guys!" Sora commanded.
"Ok then, Sora, be careful!" Riku said as they ran off to catch up with the enemy. Sora and Kaine summoned their keyblades, while Sophie got ready to punch out the Heartless (She wouldn't want to waste silver bullets on them).
Meanwhile, Riku, Cloud, and Victor had caught up to the guy. Cornered in a dead end alleyway, he had no way out. Victor could tell his father was nearby.
"You've got nowhere to go! Now just give it up, or face death! Your choice!" Victor declared to the man.
Victor noticed something about this man. He was stronger than he was making out. Was this a trap?
"Hmm. I'm rather disappointed. I would have hoped that Sora would have followed you here. Unfortunately, it appears he has some sense. The name is Simon, and if you think I'm some chump vampire who just chickened out of a fight, then you are dearly mistaken." The man known as Simon told them
Victor stared in shock as he realised who he was "He's Zangyre's son!"
"Guys, get back. Trust me. This isn't your fight." Victor said to his companions. Riku was sceptical of this, but knew that Victor was serious. Cloud and Riku stepped back immediately. Simon drew a double-edged sword from his sheath.
Victor drew his keyblade, not taking his eyes off of his opponent. He knew that this would be a fierce battle.
'Hurry up, Dad. Where did you go? I need your help!'
Sora and co. were having trouble clearing out the Heartless. It was like every time one was killed, two more took its place, and they were starting to get tired.
'Dammit, if this keeps up, I may lose control! I've got to get them clear!' Kaine thought.
"Guys, get back, I'll handle this lot!" Sora and Sophie were reluctant to reverse direction but did as asked. Soon after Kaine felt the changes occur in him. His hair began to spike slightly as his eyes turned yellow. His nails sharpened so they were hard enough to shred bone, his teeth grew into fangs, and his body muscle increased. He had activated his rage.
Without abandon he went right into the pack of Heartless, tearing them apart like paper. They couldn't regenerate fast enough to keep up with him.
'Wow… what is he?' Sora thought, surprised at Kaine's sudden change in pace. Within seconds the Heartless were down from many to few, and the few left retreated, smart enough to leave.
"Man, you tore through them! Just what was that?" Sora asked.
"That was my inner rage. It boosts my power tremendously but at the cost of my sanity during its use. Not a good idea unless you're desperate or no allies nearby. It can activate itself if you don't control your emotions well." Kaine explained as the yellow hue finally disappeared from Kaine's eyes, fully returning him to normal.
"I've heard of that power. I thought the bloodlines that carried it were dead." Sophie asked.
"Well, you've heard of blood transfusions, right? Well a while ago I was in a nasty accident that nearly killed me and my brother (catch that reference, KHfanatic?). To save me, both of us required heavy nanomachine repairs and massive blood transfusions, having lost a lot of our blood. I my self had lost an arm and a leg." Kaine said as he pulled up his left sleeve, where a silver glow could be seen in the nightlight. "However the military had taken great interest in me because of my keyblade, so they gave me a transfusion of that bloodline's blood, thus giving me the power of Rage. At first I felt like I was losing my mind, but they kept me alive, despite me accidentally mauling one of the militants. Eventually I got control of it and I chose to disappear off the military's radar, finding Hellsing and deciding to work for them."
"Sounds like you had a rough life." Sora said.
"Friend, if you think that's depraved, you'll wanna hear the first half of my life sometime." Kaine replied.
"Oi, you two, less talking, more catching up!" Sophie called at the other end of the street. Sora and Kaine ran after Sophie.
Meanwhile, Simon and Victor were duelling it out in the alleyway. They were not using the full of their powers. Both were trying to trick the other into thinking they had reached their limit. The battle was a slow one, neither man barely moving except for when they saw even the slightest defect in the others defence. Victor however had avoided doing this as much, although this was also because Simon's stance was rock solid.
'He knows what I'm not good at and he's taking advantage of that. His defence is nearly flawless; he has rarely made a mistake. I can't afford to show any signs of weakness however. I must make him think that I am at my limit, like him. Then I'll strike.' Victor thought as he was circled slowly by Simon.
"Come on, somebody do som- mmmf!" Riku tried to finish that sentence, but Cloud had muted him by covering his mouth with his hand.
"Quiet, they are concentrating. Even the slightest annoyance for Victor could get him killed, you fool." Cloud whispered into Riku's ear.
Suddenly, Simon's movement halted for a split second, catching Victor's eye immediately.
'Got you!' Victor thrust forward to strike his opponent, but Simon had it scouted… or so he thought.
'Obvious.' He thought as he easily jumped above the attack. But he was surprised by Victor drawing his second keyblade from his other hand and moving it in a semi-circle downward thrust, towards Simons jump trajectory. 'Crap! It was a trap!' He instantly attempted to alter his course, but Victor covered his other side by swinging his other keyblade up towards him, effectively trapping him in a claw like fashion. Simon was able to dodge the first keyblade just barely escaping with a scrape on his cheek, but the other keyblade made full contact with his leg, breaking it there and then. Simon lost his concentration and was thrown by his own force onto the ground, now unable to stand upright. He screamed in pain as he hit the floor head first.
Victor smirked in his cocky fashion as he lowered his keyblades, watching Simon very carefully. Simon, however, didn't get up. He just clutched his leg in agony, which had its bone sticking through the flesh. Victor realised that those rumours he had heard were true. He wasn't as strong as he had originally interpreted.
"So it's true. You are the son of a Nobody. No wonder your defence faltered so badly when it did. You can't heal as fast, so you'll be like that for much longer…"
"Shut up…" Simon uttered in between gasps.
"You're only a half-vampire, battles like this aren't for you. You still have a lot to learn."
"Shut up!" Simon sprung forward on his one good leg but Victor just walked to the side easily evading it, resulting in more agonizing cracks from Simon's landing.
"Just give up and go home, you fool. You can't win. Your blood is weaker than that of your family."
"Shut up! I'm as strong as any of you, and I'll prove it someday!" He suddenly thrust his hand into the ground and the Heartless appeared. He stepped into the portal that they came from, not saying a word as he left.
"We'll take care of-huh?" Riku was about to strike at the Heartless, but they suddenly all disappeared.
"Probably just guards to make sure we didn't stop him from leaving." Cloud uttered as he turned to leave the alleyway, Victor and Riku following him. Just as they were leaving, Sora and co. arrived.
"We missed the fight didn't we?" Sora asked, already having worked out the result.
"He got away, but he's injured. Badly, might I add." Victor said, still smirking.
"Lemme guess, it was a piece of cake for you, wasn't it?" Kaine asked.
"I expected at first more of a challenge, but turns out he is the son of a Nobody."
"You're kidding! It's true?" Kaine was gobsmacked.
"Yep, and I'll tell you all about it as soon as we get back. Speaking of which, you guys haven't my dad, have you?…"
Chapter End