Chapter 9 - Auswirkung:

Author's Note:

Last chapter was our first glimpse of Ruby's descent into the frenzy. And unfortunately, we won't be seeing her this chapter. We won't be seeing Rachel and Val either. There's a lot going on in this story, and we can't see it all in one chapter. But don't you worry, we'll still be seeing something… and this chapter cycles back to Zim and Jor-Kul. Please, enjoy!

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Auswirkung: Impact.

Zim was unable to suppress a shiver as he followed Jor-Kul out of the cave. The Arctic Ridge, as the name implied, was freezing. The cave was heated by those strange crystals, but the further Zim stepped out of the cavern, the colder it got. And without the Apex state active… he was vulnerable to the cold.

Jor-Kul lead the human out of the cave and down the side of the mountain. She was moving rather slow so Zim could keep pace with her, but the hybrid figured she had some ulterior motive. Perhaps she was moving slow just so he would freeze faster. If he died out here, then he would automatically fail the test.

Of course he didn't plan on dying. At any point he felt hypothermia starting to set in, he could just activate his Apex state and save himself. But then he'd automatically fail the test. It seemed like a lose-lose. If he didn't go Apex, he would freeze, and if he did, he would fail the test.

"Alright flesh-mammal… here's good enough," Jor-Kul said, coming to a stop about halfway down the mountain. She had found a nice ledge that, while not particularly large, it gave them plenty of space to spar.

"Don't call me that," Zim growled, rubbing his hands together, hoping the friction would warm him up a bit. It didn't. "I have a name."

"And? You've hardly earned enough respect to be called anything more than you are. A pathetic flesh-mammal," Jor-Kul huffed.

Zim ground his teeth together, but anger wasn't helping him stay warm. "It would be like me calling you 'Rajang' because you haven't earned enough respect for me to call you more than what you are either!" he explained.

"I'll earn your respect soon enough, flesh-mammal. I can't say the same for you," Jor-Kul smirked. Zim muttered a curse that was lost to a gust of frigid wind that whipped across the mountain. "Now then… your second test is an examination of your combat capabilities and training. Without the proper training, there is no reason to believe that you would be able to pass the third and final test."

"So it's just a trial by combat type thing," Zim deadpanned, shivering even harder as the winds whipped around him.

"To put it bluntly, yes. You and I will spar until the two days are up, or you manage to impress me with your skill and strength. But I doubt that'll happen," she snickered. "I assume you've never had any combat training, flesh-mammal?"

"Not the Rajang kind, no," he shook his head stiffly. "But that doesn't mean I can't fight."

"We'll see about that," Jor-Kul growled as she lowered herself in an attack position. Zim barely had the time, or the strength, to do the same before she was on top of him. He managed to throw up his arms defensively to block a vicious punch, but his fragile human body couldn't take the stress.

His arms snapped like twigs and she smashed him across the face, launching him several meters away. He rolled upon landing, trying to get to his feet before the next attack came, but he was still too slow. She rammed into him at full speed with all her weight behind her. He was lucky to avoid her sharp horns, but he was still knocked off his feet, his ribs crushed as he was tossed to the ground again.

All he could do was let out a ragged cough as she quickly caught up to him and brought all her weight down on him in a brutal bodyslam. He felt his flesh rip open as his broken bones tore through his skin, letting the cool air inside of him. Pain was a sensation that he was familiar with, but unaccustomed to… with the Apex state up, he couldn't feel anything. He felt so… defenseless, and for the first time in a very long time, he was worried about actually dying.

Jor-Kul grabbed on of his legs, the force of her grip more than enough to shatter his leg bone, before throwing him towards the edge of the ledge. With what strength he had left, he plunged his arms into the snow the moment he could, preventing himself from sliding face first off the mountain. The Rajang didn't pursue him, however, giving him just a moment of respite to grit his teeth and push himself to his feet.

His bones cracked back into place and repaired themselves while the sizzling sound of his flesh mending itself back together filled the air. Another freezing gust blew across the mountain, but Zim didn't shiver. The amount of adrenaline boiling throughout his blood was tricking his brain into thinking it wasn't cold, but he knew that his body temperature was still rapidly dropping.

"So you can heal yourself," Jor-Kul noted as she watched the damage she had inflicted on the hybrid melt away. "Relatively quickly too… and those were quite serious injuries as well. But I think I can inflict even more serious ones."

Zim shifted into a defensive position just in time to block and counter one of Jor-Kul's punches. His left arm shattered from deflecting the blow, but his right arm managed to give a mean right hook across the Rajang's face. Her head snapped back from the force of the blow, giving Zim time to back up and let his arms heal again. He could tell his right arm had been damaged during the attack as well… it seemed he was hitting too hard for his human body to handle as well.

Jor-Kul let out a roar of frustration as she launched herself at Zim again, clearly not pleased with his counterattack. Instead of a single punch this time, she went for a flurry of blows. Right, left, right, left, right, left, one after another. Zim managed to deflect the first few attacks, but when he tried to counter, it left his guard open and he was quickly overwhelmed.

The Rajang seamlessly transferred into a spinning move, knocking the hybrid's legs out from underneath him. He rolled several meters away, his body already healing his newly broken bones. He was suddenly worried about how long he could keep repairing himself. He knew that all monsters had their limits with their healing… but he had never come anywhere near his limit before. Was he getting close? Or could he take a few more punches?

Jor-Kul leapt into the air and divebombed him, tucking herself into a circle and spinning through the air to gain momentum. But Zim was already getting to his feet. He held his hands up and grabbed the Rajang by her horns right before she smashed into him. Quite a bit of force transferred into his body, he could practically feel his spine groaning from the stress, but he held up just fine.

The same could not be said of Jor-Kul, however. When Zim grabbed her horns, she was forced to stop spinning on a dime, and the torque she had created backlashed onto her. She let out a moan of pain as her muscles screamed, but nothing broke… it would only take a few seconds to heal it off.

Zim kept her suspended in the air for a few seconds, before spinning around and throwing her as hard as he could, gathering as much momentum as possible. The heavy monster flew several meters away, before hitting the show on all fours, much like a Palico might. But Jor-Kul didn't just hit the ground, however.

The moment she hit the ground, she leapt backwards, her black fur turning golden as strands on her back spiked upwards. Ah shit, Zim growled internally, remembering Malakai saying something about how Rajang didn't need feel the need to roar to enter rage mode. They just did. And they could fire off their beam without much warning.

Zim only had time to move mere inches out of the way before the beam ripped into him. He tripped and stumbled in the deep snow, the pure white becoming stained with red. But to his surprise… it didn't hurt. At least not yet. Maybe he hadn't been hit that hard… maybe the beam only grazed him.

"Now that's a real injury," Jor-Kul cackled as she watched Zim drag himself over to the side of the mountain the ledge was jutting off from. He was panting hard and shivering violently, and for good reason too.

Zim finally looked down, only for his eyes to widen in horror. The beam had caught his left shoulder and a decent part of his chest, carving out a circle-shaped hole in his torso. The beam had been wide enough that it also took off his arm, explaining why it didn't seem to be responding to his commands. "Fuck… fuck… fuck…" Zim growled between pants. The damage was absolutely serious.

Had quickly stopped seeping from the wound as another blast of frozen wind chilled the hole in his body, freezing the blood vessels and stopping their flow. But the injury was still severe, even if he wasn't bleeding out. He had no idea how long it would take to grow a new arm… or if he even could.

He could feel his flesh repairing itself, but he wasn't sure if it was just going to cover the wound or if a new arm would sprout from its socket. If there was a socket left to speak of. Just a minute in the Apex state and I could repair all this… I'm positive, he grumbled internally as he turned around and leaned against the side of the mountain, panting hard. The freezing cold, the relentless punches, and now lightning beams… he was positive his highspeed regeneration was reaching its limits.

"Are you done yet? We've only been fighting for five minutes and you've taken more damage than I've ever received in my entire lifetime," Jor-Kul said, relaxing her aggressive stance. The fur on her back began to relax and change from gold to black once more. She was still quite close to the edge of the ledge, but she didn't approach him.

"And that doesn't impress you?" Zim managed a small smirk. He glanced down at his missing arm, but there had been little change in its healing progress.

"You flesh-mammals are notoriously difficult to kill. Even without our healing factor, they've created ways around it. Just because you can take a lot of punishment… doesn't impress me one bit," Jor-Kul shook her head.

"I'm not done yet," Zim growled, gritting his teeth again as he felt a surge of strength race through his core. Bone began sprouting from the empty hole in his torso, repairing his shoulder and the socket where his arm was held.

"An unwise decision," Jor-Kul rolled her eyes. "Face it. You have no chance here. I could spend hours pummeling you into the snow, turning this entire ledge red with your blood. If your spirit won't break, then your body will. Regeneration is a finite resource… how much longer do you think you could heal? Do you think you can take another lightning attack? What about a smashed spine? Is it really worth killing yourself just to fail in the end? You will never impress me."

"And who decided that?" Zim growled as he pushed himself to his feet as more of his arm grew back. It was just plain bone at the moment, but it would soon be covered by muscle and flesh.

Jor-Kul's eyes narrowed as she watched the hybrid strike a new stance, this one much more aggressive. His arm was still healing, but apparently he was planning to fight despite it. "Admirable, but misplaced," she chuckled, the fur on her back spiking up again and turning golden in her rage once more. "So far I've been pulling my punches. But no longer… you'll never get to lay a finger on me."

"I won't be able to touch you? And who decided that? I won't be able to impress you? And who decided that? I'm inferior to you? And who… decided that?" the hybrid hissed as his arm finished healing. A snarl was present on his face as he pointed at Jor-Kul with his newly repaired arm, his eyes flashing a deep red and his white fangs glinting in the occasional flash of sunlight streaming through the thick clouds. "The only one who gets to decide such things… is me."

"Spare me the bravado," the Rajang rolled her eyes as she sucked in a deep breath. "If you want to push yourself to death, that's fine with me. A corpse can't change my mind."

Zim chose not to reply with words, rather, he unleashed a frightening roar, the loudest one he could possibly produce. Jor-Kul flicked an ear, but quickly mimicked him, their cries mixing together, each one trying to outdo the other. But in the end, it seemed to be a draw. The hybrid was just as loud as the full-blooded Rajang, he even sounded one too.

Jor-Kul wasn't about to let him take his 'victory' in stride, however, as she transferred from roaring to firing her beam of lightning nearly instantaneously. Zim was ready, however, predicting that she would try something like that again. It was really her only ranged attack. It was one of the most powerful abilities any monster had access too, but if it was dodged, it left her wide open.

Zim jumped out of the way and raced towards the Rajang, closing the distance between them. Jor-Kul's jaws snapped shut as she prepared to push Zim back with her fists, but the hybrid had gotten too close too quickly. He grabbed onto her horns, and with all his strength, lifted her up, and threw her off the mountain side.

In a matter of seconds he had already proved her prediction wrong. Not only had he been able to lay a finger on her, but he had done so to her horns, one of the most dangerous and well protected parts of her body. And then he threw her off the mountain like she was a piece of meat he didn't like.

She didn't scream as she fell, she quickly and expertly curled into a ball and began summersaulting through the air. Rajang were used to jumping and falling from great heights. They were a bit like felines, always able to land on their feet. And there was quite a bit of snow on the ground, she was sure she was in for a soft landing.

But as she fell through the air, Zim leapt off the cliff right behind her. Unlike her tactic of summersaulting, Zim put both his arms forward and narrowed his body as much as he could, knifing through the air, gaining a tremendous amount of speed, until he hit terminal velocity.

The mountain was tall, giving them both plenty of time to fall. Once Zim felt he had reached enough speed, he cocked one of his fists back, prepared to unleash all that energy and momentum in a single punch that would devastate even Jor-Kul.

The Rajang landed first, confident smirk on her face as she sunk into the snow quite safely. "And what did that accomp-" she started to say as she looked upwards towards the ledge, only to see Zim barreling towards her at a frightening speed. Her eyes widened as she tried to process what was happening, but even if she had started moving right as she landed, she wouldn't have been left with enough time to dodge.

Zim unleashed all the kinetic energy he had gathered through falling in a single punch the very second he was within the optimal range. The resulting release of energy rivaled that of a sizeable cluster of large barrel bomb pluses. An enormous amount of snow flew up into the air from the impact, before lightly raining back down over the course of the next few minutes.

Zim could feel his body take the weight of the impact, nearly half his torso had been completely obliterated. He lost his left arm again, though it was still hanging by a thread, so it would be easier to repair, at least, and he could feel some of his organs bursting. His spine had snapped in a few places, buckling under the pressure… but Jor-Kul was equally worse for wear. Zim had landed right on the middle of her back, ripping her spine apart in the process, and bursting more than a few of her internal organs as well.

He had forced her arms to buckle, though they didn't break, they collapsed under the force of the blow. When Zim rolled off of her to start recovering, she was coughing up blood. Her gorgeous golden pelt was stained red from not just her own blood, but Zim's as well. Luckily, the snow would probably wash it out.

The sound of the collision had turned more than a few heads. Some wisely ran in the opposite direction, fearing something big like an Ukanlos, while some of the other sparring pairs of Rajang took a quick break to investigate what had happened. They made their way carefully over to the area where Jor-Kul and Zim were recovering, their eyes widening when they saw what had happened.

Zim was recovering much quicker than his Rajang opponent, his flesh stitching back together and his bones mending in a matter of minutes. "It seemed all my regeneration needed was a kick in the ass to get moving out here in the cold," he grinned as he hopped to his feet, as good as new. "I'm nowhere near my limit, Jor-Kul… and I will make you respect me."

Jor-Kul was busy gasping for air as a new set of lungs began to fill her chest cavity. The collision had done a number on her… it was the most damage she had ever had to repair at once. And unlike Zim, she was well aware of a Rajang's healing limits. She had never been this close to them before. By the time she stood up and faced the hybrid, there was a look of caution on her face that he definitely noticed.

The other pairs of Rajang that had gathered to see what had happened didn't leave once the two stood up. They stayed, forming a loose ring around them, suddenly invested in how this bout would turn out. They could feel that it was only a matter of time until one of them emerged victorious.

"I'll admit, you took me by surprise… but in the third test, surprise won't be enough," Jor-Kul hissed. "You're strong and you've got a good healing factor, but-"

"What is the third test? You're speaking like you already know what it is! Why not just tell me? Maybe if you tell me, I can assess my chances in succeeding," Zim growled, crossing his arms.

"I'm not supposed to reveal the contents of the final test," Jor-Kul admitted. "But I doubt even if you knew what it was, you would still be too confident in your abilities."

"Then I'll make you believe in me," Zim sighed, rolling his eyes. He cracked his neck, before balling his hands into fists. "I have two days to make you believe… I'll outlast you."

Jor-Kul's eyes widened at that… arrogant remark. Flesh-mammals had an enormous amount of stamina, many, many times more than any monster. Without food or rest, even enraged, they weren't anywhere near a flesh-mammal under the same conditions. If Zim's highspeed regeneration continued to perform admirably… he could easily outlast her.

Deciding to stop messing around, she stood on her hind legs and beat her chest ferociously while letting out a vicious roar. Zim watched the display unimpressed, lowering his stance as he waited for her to make the first move. Jor-Kul's arms glowed red as she hardened the appendages, electricity beginning to bound between the tall spikes of her fur.

She leapt forward, stopping mere inches away from the hybrid. She threw a powerful punch towards his head, but he had already begun his attack at the same time. Zim realized that the only way he could truly impress her, was if he stopped trying to defend against the undefendable assault of the Rajang, and instead focus all his strength towards attacking her directly.

His fist hit her face mere milliseconds before hers hit his face. Her head snapped back from the sheer force of the blow, but Zim spun nearly one hundred and eighty degrees from the strength behind her punch. But he didn't let that momentum go to waist. As he spun, he leapt into the air, brining his fist up as he did. When he came back around, he clocked her right across the jaw, snapping her head in the opposite direction.

She reeled backwards, stumbling as she tried to find her footing. But Zim didn't let up. The fact that he was damaging his arms and hands because of the amount of power behind each blow wasn't even a concern to him. His highspeed regeneration made it so that he barely even noticed he had broken a bone or burst one of his fingers before it was already repaired and he was punching her again.

Almost like he was seeking revenge for the pummeling he had received earlier, he continued his assault with left and right hooks, alternating between the two of them. She took several on the chin, before hopping backwards, breaking the chain of blows and causing Zim to stumble. Seeing her opening, she attempted a bodyslam, raising up on her back legs, before bringing all her weight down on top of him.

The hybrid still wasn't deterred, however, as he readjusted his position just enough to where he was out of range of her body, but between her arms. She had stretched out with her arms so that her relatively small body could cover more space, but it only left her face vulnerable. When she fell forwards, intent on crushing him, he only moved out of the way and kicked upwards, catching her right on her muzzle, causing her head to snap backwards.

It broke his foot too, but it was healed within seconds. It took Jor-Kul much longer to recover from her broken neck. It gave the hybrid time to slip just out of her reach. Unaware that he was no longer close enough to her, she did a spinning move the moment that her head was on right, but even with her entire body used in the spin, she never felt anything connect.

Until right as she stopped, when she ran face first into one of his fists. Her head snapped to the side again as he jumped out of the way of her clumsy counterattack. He was getting faster and more confident. The cold was no longer bothering him and his healing factor was still working in tip-top shape. She was being worn down… but she still had one ace up her sleeve.

Her head cracked back into place, and although she could feel the strain on her highspeed regeneration, she had a feeling this next attack could spell his doom. She spun around, facing him again, and in an instant, fired off another lightning beam. This one aimed at his chest. It was large enough to completely remove his upper torso, maybe even send his head flying.

Unfortunately for her, it never got big enough to do that much damage. She was able to fire off the beam, but before it could grow to full size, Zim raced forward and forced her jaws shut. The beam had hit him, piercing him right through the chest, but he ignored the damage to his heart and lungs and forced her maw closed. The lightning stung her mouth as it continued to try and exit her body, but it didn't do more than burn her lips.

Zim kept a hold of her face, however, keeping her in place as he cocked his spare arm back, clenching his fist hard. The two locked gazes, red against red. Zim's eyes were hardened, aggressive, confident. Jor-Kul's were rage-filled and yet, slightly terrified. The hybrid let his fist fly, letting go of her face right before his blow connected with it.

Jor-Kul's head snapped back yet again, but this time, a different snapping sound filled their air. A huge chunk of Jor-Kul's left horn came free from its base, and with a soft thunk, landed in the snow. The Rajang immediately left her rage mode, the gold hairs on her back turning black and lying flat once more as she stumbled away from Zim.

A Rajang's horns, especially the females', where priceless, precious treasures that each one took enormous pride in. Jor-Kul liked to believe her horns were just a bit thinner and curvier than her fellow females, which set her apart in a sort of vain beauty that she didn't always like to indulge in. But if that horn didn't grow back within the next few minutes… it would be gone for good. And it meant her healing factor was giving out on her.

Zim's wrist cracked back into place as he watched Jor-Kul gently touch the stump jutting out of her head. He waited, and waited, but she never attacked. She just stood there, silently begging for it to come back… but it never did. It was gone for good, and with it, her highspeed regeneration was giving out. "It's over," Zim said plainly after several long minutes had passed without either of them trading blows.

Jor-Kul let out a long sigh as she finally looked back up at him. "Yes… I think it is…" she muttered reluctantly. "You have managed… to impress me. Despite your lack of training, your sheer power and your enormous determination, combined with your better healing factor and stamina pool… it would be a shame to not let you attempt the third trial."

"A shame indeed," Zim managed a grin, suppressing another shiver. Now that the battle was over, he was reminded that he was standing shirtless in a frigid tundra. "Can we go back inside the cave now?"

"I suppose we should," Jor-Kul nodded, before turning back towards the mountain side. The Rajang who had gathered to watch them quickly dispersed, heading back to their own little areas to continue the second test.

Ah… damn it… Zim muttered internally when he realized he would have to climb the mountain again. But he'd rather scale the mountain and sit in a warm cave rather than wait out here in the cold for the third test to begin. Even after his victory in the second trial… things were only going to get harder from here on out.

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Well… that turned out quite a bit longer than I was initially intending. Which is why I'm cutting it here. It's long enough for a good chapter, and I can push Shiro and Malakai's piece to the next chapter without much of a problem. For those of you who actually play Monster Hunter and had fought Rajang before, then you may recognize all of Jor-Kul's moves. They're ripped right from the game, of course. You may see in some places where Zim did his best to try and replicate some of the moves, but might've come up a bit short. Not that it mattered in the end, since he won. But I wonder what the third and final challenge is? You'll just have to stay tuned until next time to find out!