Author's Note
Alright! Finally done. I thought about splitting this into two chapters, but I didn't want to, so instead it's about twice as long, page wise, than the other chapters. It's also my first full on fight scenes, so I hope you guys like them and do give me some feed back on them.
Anywho, enjoy chapter 13.
I hadn't planned on giving the yokai three days, but with school and club meetings, I didn't really have the time. However, it's the weekend now and I was able to scout out a good place for us to duel during the week. He was obviously from the fire class of yokai, so I've found a nice empty stretch of river bank so I'll have plenty of water to douse him with. He really is a moron, giving me the complete field advantage like that. I ignore the small doubt that niggles at the back of my mind saying that he might not care because the battle field can offer a negligible difference to his combat capabilities. I've also prepared a couple of traps to keep him from running off once we start the duel.
I check my gear once more and straighten out my uniform, specially made over the past couple of days with fire-proof material and cutaway seams in case he does somehow set it alight. Satisfied that I'm prepared and presentable, I slip out of my apartment and head for the shrine where I can sense him.
After carefully winding through the forest outside the temple, I reach the clearing. The yokai is laying atop the shrine on his back with three fireballs the size of basketballs rotating over his hand in the air. The fireballs are all different colors, one is black edged in red, another is a light blue, and the last is a normal orange. I watch as he juggles them by just moving his fingers, as if they were marbles in his palm, in a bit of fascination. He doesn't seem to realize I'm there, so great is his concentration. I clear my throat and he starts in surprise. The fireballs start to swell up before he fists the hand they were floating over, extinguishing them. "Yo, four-eyes. Come to have that fight?"
My eye twitches at his dismissive way of treating me. "Yes, I have come for that duel. If you will follow me, I'll take you to the venue I've selected for this." I turn on heel and walk away, not checking to see if he follows. I hear the thump as he hits the ground, then the soft swish of cloth and grass as he follows after me. Satisfied that he is following, I set off at a slow hirenkyaku. No point in letting him know my full speed, besides, he may not be able to keep up.
"Any particular reason we're going so slow, four-eyes?" the obnoxious thing asks. "We can go faster, y'know. Unless, of course, this is your top speed." I have half a mind to shoot him now and the other half wants to leave him in the dust for his implied insult.
Instead, I take a fortifying breath and up the speed a bit, I still believe it wise to leave him without knowledge of my true speed. "Better?" I sarcastically reply.
"Not really, but if this is the best you can do, I guess it'll do." he says in a bored tone. This bastard must be a master at goading or have no strategy at all and a complete willingness to show his hand before we even begin. Either way, he is seriously testing my patience and self-control because the urge to just shoot him keeps getting stronger with every word that leaves his mouth.
After upping the pace once again, and I blame him entirely for that, we reach the spot after a few minutes. It's out past the outskirts of town on the banks of the Karasu River. The area is fairly clear, with a couple of big rocks and a pebble beach. I'm sure it would be a favored camping spot if it weren't for the steep, four meter drop off about six meters from the shore. The drop off makes it necessary to be slightly super human to have a hope of getting out of here considering that the river current's too strong to chance swimming and there's a boulder ring around the shoreline that can't be braved by boats. It is perfectly secluded for this duel, no worries about being spotted and no worries about collateral damages to innocent people or structures.
I land in the area and turn to face the yokai who is curiously peering around. "Not a bad spot. Nice and secluded and you even tried to one up me by picking a venue with a water feature." He commentates and I feel a slight shiver run down my spine at how easily he dismisses the river as a hindrance. It seems that niggling feeling was correct and the field offers little advantage.
"Though I'm surprised you didn't pick a better battle ground for yourself. With all this open space, you'll be an easy target, Archer-san ." And I feel that shiver return. I had considered finding a field with more cover, but I figured that would give him more to burn and the river would be a better advantage. "Hope you like up close and personal combat." He says with a feral grin spreading across his lips as flames gather in his right hand, fading away to reveal a pitch black daito that reflects the light like obsidian.
I form my bow and tense in preparation for a fight I may have underestimated. Across from me, the yokai is in a lax stance, the sword pointing down at the ground at his side. "So how're we gonna do this thing? It just crossed my mind that we have no rules or anything set up for this." he questions as he brings the blade up to rest on his shoulder.
"We will fight until one of us is unable to continue or forfeits. If I win you must leave Inoue-san alone and be gone from Karakura, otherwise I'll be within my rights to end you." I glare at him as I deliver my conditions.
"So what do I get if I win?" That question throws me slightly off kilter. What does he get? Hell, what does he even want?
"What do you want?"
He tilts his head to the side and brings he free hand up to his chin, obtaining a look of deep contemplation. "I've heard chocolate cake from ABCookies is to die for. If I win, you have to buy me a whole chocolate cake from there!" I can feel my jaw drop in disbelief. We are fighting a battle that will force him to leave, and in exchange he wants chocolate cake. Is he stupid?! Just what kind of mental deficiency makes a person stake their life on chocolate cake?! I'm not sure whether I should face palm or try and find a mental institute for him.
"A-alright." I weakly reply, this is just so stupid! "If you win I'll get you a chocolate cake."
"From ABCookies." He demands.
"Fr-from ABCookies." I wonder what I have done wrong in a past life to have to deal with such idiocy.
"Alright! Kurosaki Ichigo, pleasure to be kicking your ass." he introduces himself while taking a stance with his sword.
Shaking my head to rid myself of the musings on Kurosaki's intelligence levels, I take my own stance. "Ishida Uryu, by the honor of the Quincy I will defeat you."
He snorts. "Good luck with that." And I finally get to shoot him like I've wanted to since I've met him.
He casually bats the arrow down with his blade as a heat wave rolls off him, bringing the area under a sweltering heat. A strategic move I hadn't expected. This heat will cause me to tire physically much more quickly, giving him an advantage with his immunity to it, possibly a boost, though I doubt that since he's generating the heat. He charges forward, covering the distance between us in an instant, and swings his sword for a horizontal strike. He's fast. I dodge to the right with a roll and bring my bow up to fire on him once more, point blank range. As I release the arrow, his form flickers before disappearing from my sight only to reappear several meters back from me.
"Not bad." he grins. "You've got pretty decent reflexes for a long range fighter." Then he charges in once more. His blade alights with the blue flames I saw earlier as he makes a one-handed overhead strike and I dodge with hirenkyaku, getting distance between us as I fire five bolts at him and watch the result of our attacks. He hits the ground, sending chunks of earth flying into the air around him. He's strong. Then twists, flinging out his left arm in an arcing motion, leaving a wall of those black flames in the path of my arrows. They hit the flames and seem to melt away, none making it past the barrier he's erected. He bursts through the flames with a low to high, right to left diagonal slash. I barely pull back in time and he nicks my cape.
Panting, I stare him down across the gap he's allowed between us, there's no use in deluding myself that it's there for any other reason. He's powerful. Much more so than I gave him credit for. His speed is high, I'm not sure I could out run him. His physical strength is high, one hit when he's going at it and I'd be done for. And his defense is strong, those black flames of his would take a lot of power to penetrate, power that I can only achieve using Seeleschneider, and I'd like to save that for a surprise. The worst part is probably this heat wave he's generated. I need time to properly assess my opponent for weak points, but this heat makes any prolonged fight a bad idea. I doubt Kurosaki is stupid enough to pull something like this if he didn't have the reserves to keep it going long enough to gain significant effect, he strikes me as someone who knows their way around the battlefield.
I need to test his mobility against multiple attacks, though I'm pretty sure he does that well too. The last thing to test would be how good his defensive coverage is. After I have that data, I should be able to get an effective plan to put him in the river so that he's weakened and easy prey.
I straighten up and start hitting him with volleys of a dozen arrows each, carefully watching his reactions as he dodges, slashes, and blocks them. His preference for using the sword and dodging is obvious, so the flames are likely draining on his reserves or hard to maintain, thus the minimal use and why he won't just cloak himself in them. I start to bend the paths of some arrows so that they become less predictable. His reflexes are excellent, but he has trouble in dealing with assault from more than three directions. His favored maneuvers seem to be head-on charges and flash-bys. During my testing he got a few small scratches on my arms, left leg, and side.
I've got his attacks and defense figured out, now to bring him down. I use shots from four directions to get him to bring up his flame barrier, it blinds him for the short moments it's in action. Under that cover I draw a seeleschneider and fire at where the barrier is. I know he knows the shot is coming, but he doesn't realize that this one will pierce his guard. I feel a smirk on my lips as I hear him cry out from the shot connecting and am pleased to see the gash I've landed on his left arm dripping blood down his fingers as the flames die down. He gives me a murderous scowl before charging in, blade alight in blue flames once more. I dodge to the side, but the flames are wilder this time and they catch my sleeve on fire. I quickly discard the sleeve, glad I thought ahead to make this uniform with cutaway seams for easy removal, and throw it towards his face for distraction. He bats it out of the way with his free hand and barely dodges the arrow I launched at him, earning a cut on his right cheek.
He growls and I can see that these strikes are starting to get to him. I push on, moving back to get some space and using a large volley of over two dozen arrows to cover my retreat, throwing another seeleschneider into the mix. I hear him roar in pain again and see that I've managed to put a good gash in his right shoulder. He disappears in a flash of shunpo and I barely dodge the overhead strike, instead feeling the intense heat as his blade swings by and getting hit by the debris caused when the blow hits the ground. Jumping back, I see his attack has left a small burnt crater, as if a meteorite has struck there, and my heart pounds wildly in my chest at the close call with such a strong attack.
I quickly move around with hirenkyaku, firing off shots, and subtly guiding him into position for my next move. When he's at the spot I want, I pull out another seeleshneider, aim, and shoot. He easily dodges it, laughing and calling out, "You gettin' tired already?"
"Hardly, I just think it's time you take a dip. Schleudern!" With the shouted command, Kurosaki is caught in a net of blue energy coming from the three seeleschneider that flings him out over the river, but he twists in the air so that he lands on one of the rocks in the water. I still shoot the arrow I had prepared to get him with once he was in the water, hoping to knock him off balance and put him in the river anyways. He brings out his flames to block it.
"Nice try, Ishida!" he taunts as he jumps back to shore. I curse in my head at the failed trap, but I at least learned that he is cautious of being thrown in the river. It'll be hard to get him in now that he'll be looking for such attempts, but I'll manage, there's a reason I'm the top student in my grade.
Kurosaki is now panting a bit before me, but not as bad as me though, the heat is just killing me. "What'd ya say we finish up here? One final push to see who wins." he suggests. I consider his proposal, but I'm rather wary of it considering how following his suggestions seems to have gone so far.
"And if I say no?" The truth is I'm reaching my limit because of that unbearable heat, but he doesn't know that. I think.
"Well, we'll keep going and I'll kick your ass for sure because I'm ready to end this with a final shot."
"I wouldn't be so confident. I could dodge that 'final shot' of yours and then finish you." He just gives a tired laugh in reply and I narrow my eyes at him.
"It'd only be final 'cause it'd end the damn fight, Ishida, not cause I've only got energy for one last attack. So, we gonna have a final showdown or do you wanna drag this out?"
"Fine. Let's–"
I stop midsentence because I can feel it. A hollow has come to join the brawl.
I hadn't really expected Quincy boy to show up in just three days. I'd figured he would take the time to stalk me or something to try and figure out habits or some shit so he could lay traps or have an idea on how I fight before he came back. I also figured it'd take him longer to find a good place to fight with so many people and buildings around. Guess I was wrong about all of that.
His location wasn't exactly a bad idea, most flame class would be nervous fighting near a river where their flames could be extinguished, doesn't help that most don't know how to swim. Me, I'm fine with water. My black flames can burn in water, only problem is they're about half as effective when wet. The problem with the location is that he's a long range fighter and there's not a lot of cover here, so it's a straight charge to him when I want to bring it in close. But I suppose it's a good field for me right now since it won't require me to use my flames offensively just to hit him. My control's never been good and since I've barely had any time to adjust to being outside again and able to use my powerss, my control's even suckier than usual, which means minimal use is good since I don't particularly want to kill the Quincy, even if he is a prick who bothers people in the middle of the night.
When he asked me what I wanted if I won, I was surprised. I thought he had already figured out the rewards since he proposed this duel. So I thought on it and remembered when Inoue had talked about this really delicious treat she got. I was curious and since it would practically be free, I made this chocolate cake she told me about my prize. If I don't like it, I can give it to Inoue, or possibly use it to bribe Rukia to quit hitting me.
After introductions, we begin the duel. He's not too bad, at least he doesn't falter too much from the heat I've decided to unleash on the area. I'm not in the mood for a long battle and I doubt Ishida can push me to where I need to spend energy on attacking and defending instead of a heat wave. He has good reflexes, dodging most of my attacks with a narrow margin and the ones that do hit are, for the most part, superficial. They'll add up eventually and probably sting like hell, but for now they barely slow him down.
When he actually pierces my flames and hits me with that strange arrow, it burns like a thousand papercuts, and I can't help but cry out and get mad. I charge him, only having enough reason to at least stick with my weaker blue flames instead of just going for annihilation black. I still don't want to kill him, but seriously maiming him is a very open possibility. When I miss, he throws his flaming sleeve in my face and scores a scratch on my cheek when I dodge his arrow. I just growl with frustration and annoyance at the small cut.
He starts another volley and I just place myself behind a shield of black flame, only to get hit by another one of those burning arrows. All I can see is red. Those wounds freaking hurt and I intend to return the pain. Using shunpo to get in above him, I swing my sword down, barely realizing that it is coated in flame. The burnt crater I create leaves me a small amount of satisfaction because I can see the fear flicker across his arrogant face at the sight of my destructive power.
I weave through his next volley and easily dodge when he fires another of those special arrows, taunting him and believing that he's finally starting to succumb to the heat. He proves me wrong when he makes some sort of energy net catapult that flings me towards the river. Shit. It's not like falling in the river will kill me or anything, it'll just be a pain to get out without turning into a pincushion since it's hard to burn when I'm sopping wet. I twist myself around so that I land on one of the boulders in the river that sticks out above the current, bringing out my flames once more to block his shot at me. I quickly jump through the flames and back to the river bank, calling out, "Nice try, Ishida!"
I then try and get him to go for a final shoot out. I want to end this fairly, which it won't be if I'm the only one trying to force an end to the duel. He's reluctant, but his fatigue is showing and I'm sure he'll cave. Just as he begins to give in, a hollow shows up.
Dammit.
It looks like an oversized lion, the shoulder's about 2 meters up, with emerald green flames for its mane and tail tuft. The mask is cat-like with orange striping like whiskers on it. The body is a tan color and the paws sport large claws. It opens its jaw and roars at us before pouncing towards Ishida. I lunge forward, pushing Ishida out of the hollow's path, and roll around to swipe at it with my sword. My blade barely scratches it. Shit. This thing has to be close to or lower menos class. Dammit. These things don't leave the hollow world too often and I doubt Ishida's ever faced one, I know I haven't. I scramble up as it turns, grabbing Ishida by the back of his collar and shunpoing away as its claws rake through the area we just occupied. I quit pouring out heat, no use tiring the Quincy out now and it'd be bad if the heat helped Whiskers.
"C'mon, Ishida! Quit sitting there all shocked and get your ass in gear!" I yell as I toss him, sending him skidding into a large boulder on shore that I've taken refuge behind. He snaps out of it and looks ready to give me some sort of lecture or scolding, but we don't have any damn time for that, so I cut him off. "Don't care what you're gonna say, don't have time for it. That hollow's close to, if not, menos class and I doubt either of us can win alone. So you watch my back, I'll watch yours, and hopefully we can take this sucker down." I don't' have time to get a reply because the hollow's pouncing again and I'm dodging and swinging at it again, this time using blue flame on my blade to increase my attacking power, letting it flow off the blade to increase my range. The results are better this time, but still not good enough, I'll have to use my black flames to get anywhere. Whiskers turns even faster than before and smashes me into the boulder. I can feel the boulder cracking from my impact with it before I pass through the boulder and crash into the ground on the other side.
Everything hurts. I try pulling myself to my feet only for the agony to floor me again. I lay still and start diverting energy to my regeneration abilities. I'm actually quite proficient in regards to my regeneration, lost limbs are nothing, but I try not to use it too much, mostly because Urahara, Yoruichi, and Oyaji beat that sense into me early on in my training. As I work on fixing myself up, Whiskers turns its attention to Ishida with a yowl, probably because of the shining blue arrows I can now see sticking out of its ass. Ishida keeps it occupied by trying to turn it into a pincushion, never staying in the same spot for more than a moment and bending the trajectory of his arrows for better shots. A couple hit the mask, but they lack the force necessary to finish the job, instead leaving small dents and scratches.
Unfortunately, Whiskers gets its claws into Ishida's left leg, causing him to fall on his landing. Then the hollow rears its head back and I can feel the heat gathering for it to breathe fire. Forgoing the slower, more energy efficient healing process, I push myself up and forward to get between Ishida and the flaming kitty. I make it just in time and start absorbing the fire before any of it can get to Ishida. It doesn't take long before Whiskers stops to assess the damage while a small tremor racks through my body. I can't take much more of those flames without getting trouble for it later on, but I'll do what I have to.
"Can you stand, Ishida?" I ask. If he can't I'll have to drag him around, or at least to a safe area. Either way, it won't bode well for this fight.
"Of course." he scoffs as he slowly rises to his feet. I can sense a slight stir in energy around him, so he's probably using some Quincy skill to stand on his busted leg.
Whiskers is done waiting and pounces once more. We both jump back and Whiskers knocks Ishida into a boulder and there's a small cracking noise. He's probably broken a few bones from that, Quincy just aren't that sturdy. It goes for a fireball again and I shunpo into the way and suck it up. Ishida fires several shots over my shoulder while I gather black flames to my blade before launching them at Whiskers. It charges forward, a deep gash in its chest from my attack and arrows sticking out of its shoulders, and hooks me with its claws as I dodge, flinging me away. Ishida gets behind it and fires more arrows into its already bristling hide.
We're not getting anywhere like this. The hollow is good about guarding its mask an when it is vulnerable, neither Ishida nor I have the time to charge an attack with the power required to shatter it. If we're going to bring Whiskers down, one of us has to open it up for the other to attack. It'll be risky, but I'm pretty sure I can give Ishida that chance. I pick myself up from the ground, dismissing my sword, and give an inhuman roar of challenge, gaining the attention of the hollow and startling Ishida. I charge in low and as fast as I can, plowing into the hollow's side and forcing it up and out over the river. As we fall in, I dig the claws of my transformed right hand into Whiskers shoulder and start draining power out of it as best I can, watching as the water and my efforts turn its mane to small flickers and flares. The tremors set in almost immediately and I know it's going to be a damn pain when this is over, but there's no time to worry about it now.
"Shoot it, Ishida!" I roar towards the shore, struggling to stay afloat and attached to Whiskers. I can see him hesitating on the shore line. "Quit your damn sniveling and SHOOT!" he snaps out of it and pulls something from his belt before drawing his bow and shooting. The arrow flies true and hits Whiskers between the eyes, causing the beast to begin its disintegration. I remove my claws from the carcass, allowing my hand to return to human form, before kicking off in a spray of water to land on the shore. At least, try to land. I end up falling down as I land and lay there a few moments, panting hard, before I roll over and get to my feet, struggling to stay steady through the tremors. I walk towards Ishida, acting like nothing's wrong.
"I'd say you owe me that chocolate cake, Ishida– "
Shit. I collapse back to the ground and darkness overtakes me.
We arrive just in time to see that flaming moron tackle a flaming lion hollow into the river. The Quincy, because no one else uses a bow, shoots it in the face and the moron jumps out of the river. I can hear her sigh in relief since he seems to come out unharmed, but sopping wet.
Then he collapses.
She screams his name and goes sliding down the drop off, hitting the ground and sobbing his name the whole run to his side. She falls to her knees beside him and the Quincy is there too, checking his pulse and saying he seems to be fine.
He better be, I still need to kick his ass for making her worry.
The Karasu River is actually in Karakura, just look at the map in the first character book. Schleudern was a word google translate gave me for fling in German, but if one of you has something better, please tell me and I'll consider changing it. Personally, I loved picking Ichigo's reward, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
Any guesses as to what's wrong with Ichigo? I f anyone guesses it right, I'll mention them in the next chapter.
Please review/comment to tell me how I did.