resbang 28: giriko and team A

4 months 2 weeks after asura

It was so quiet and still in this part of the forest, he could hear someone else's fight. Kilik wondered what his friends were getting into, if the plan had gone out the window; he was currently taking shelter in a tree, his weapons active. Giriko was lurking around somewhere down there, waiting for him to think he was safe. He shifted slightly on the branch, the bark scratching his exposed upper arm. He inhaled sharply and looked around, waiting for the attack.

They had been at it for hours; playing cat and mouse. Giriko would attack, then disappear. Sometimes he hit Kilik, and sometimes Kilik hit him. Neither of them were hurt badly enough to want to stop; and their pride wouldn't let them slither away from this fight. There was a deafening roar, the branch beside him being shredded. He heard Giriko's voice mixed in, but it was all he could do to dodge the attack - its destruction took out his former perch, and part of the trunk.

He was a powerful opponent who wielded his attacks without consequence. He sometimes even over-did it. Kilik landed on the ground and watched as Giriko briefly considered following suit; but instead the weapon finished destroying the tree before turning his attention back to him.

"So, this is the best the acadamy could muster? No back up, no one who is past the drinking age?" Giriko had been taunting him this whole time as well; Kilik now understood why only Justin Law chose to engage him. He was brash, vulgar, and had no tact - only someone as reserved and powerful as he would be able to take on someone like this.

Giriko was unpredictable, but in a very predictable way. The strength of his attacks varied wildly, and so did the consistency of them. He had been circling Kilik a good majority of the time, and now they were fighting in close-quarters. There were powerful, demolishing kicks that took out trees and cut flesh with ease. The occassional headbutt left his brains feeling scrambled, and his right hook -covered in chains or not- was a force of its own.

But, then again, Kilik was among the top students in close-quarters combat.

His right fist barely missed its target; it scorched Giriko's sleeve, burning the skin beneath it. He absently patted it out while aiming an uppercut punch for Kilik's chin. He shimmied out of the way and brought his fists up to block his face. He was in his element now. He jabbed at the weapon, taking body shots; they were blocked by chains wrapped aroung his torso.

Something hit Kilik then; something that, for some stupid reason, hadn't occurred to him before. Metal was a conductor, and this guy was covered in it.

He threw his weight into his left hook, striking the center of the chains. He focused his wavelength and Thunder responded, the electricity surging around the glove. It struck in the center, where the chains met. He felt the weapon shudder harshly, and he coughed out some blood. He slumped against Kilik's fist, and the meister tossed him aside.

The electricity in the attack did nothing but amplify Giriko's abilities. Kilik couldn't have known that.

Giriko reached up and grabbed Kilik's left hand and he wrapped his chains around Thunder. They began to rev, slowly chipping away at the weapon. While he was distracted, Kilik struck him on the head with Fire, burning his hair. Giriko's attack weakened, allowing Kilik to escape. Thunder transformed back, curled into a ball from the pain. They were bleeding, their stomach suffering the brunt of the attack.

Kilik peeled their hands away from the wound, seeing that it would need stitches, but it wouldn't be fatal. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against theirs, hoping that Giriko wasn't going to get back up.

"Hey, Thunder, you're gonna be alright. You gotta put pressure on it. Listen to me, I have to take this guy out. I'll be right back. Hide here, you're going to be fine." The weapon was silent, but the tears stopped and they shakily nodded their head. Kilik was scared - his weapon was hurt badly, and shaman or not, they were still kids and they didn't need this kind of pain. He hoped with all of his might that his words were true, and he almost believed them.

Giriko was stumbling away, trying to get the fog out of his head. That kid packed a mean punch, for being so young.

"You're name's Giriko, right?"

"Why does it matter what my name is, I'm your opponent."

"Because when I bury you, it would be nice to put something on the headstone." Kilik was throwing everything into this attack - if he didn't kill him now, he wasn't sure if he would make it out of this fight. One of his weapons was injured and probably in shock, and the other one was nervous for their sibling. This fight reaped a heavy toll on them, and he wouldn't allow this guy to take anything else.

"That's pretty confident coming from the guy who just lost one weapon. You really think you can beat me? Buddy, you may be able to throw some sick punches, but I have something detrimental to this fight that you simply lack." Kilik backhanded Giriko's face, but the weapon brought his knee up and into his gut.

"Oh yeah? What could that be?" He ground out before his opponent turned on his heel, extending the leg he already had up, and turned to bring his leg into Kilik's side. He cried out, but cut himself off by biting his lip. Something had to be broken.

"800 years of pure, unadulterated bloodlust and hatred." Giriko's voice came from behind him and he felt the air pressure change behind him. He waited for the pain of being cut in half to come, which it strangely never did. He slowly tilted his head to look behind him; Giriko grunted painfully before using his chains to cut the Earth; this allowed for him to retreat for a moment.

He turned around and saw why Giriko had been in pain - Ox turned his spear upright, fixing his glasses and giving him a smug look. Kim came from the trees behind him, wielding Jackie so the weapon wouldn't have to walk on a sprained ankle. He sighed and wiped his forehead; he had started panicking, he wasn't sure if he could have defeated him.

"You saved my ass, thanks."

"I know, it's kind of what we do." He stuck out his tongue at Kim, who returned the gesture -much more obscenely- before questioning them on the success of their battle. It had gone smoothly - there weren't nearly as many as the first time they had battle Arachnophobia, and they weren't as powerful. There were only two golems, but aside from that they had encountered litte resistence. Kim had mentioned running into Black*Star and Death the Kid - he felt relief; their backup had arrived, they could take a breather for a while.

A strange feeling crept up his back, and not a moment later, Ox hooked Harvar around his leg and he fell backwards; as he began cursing at his team mate, he saw his lightning attack zoom over him and strike Giriko, who had come from his hiding place to engage them again. He grinned when he realized he would be able to take out seven students all at once; he could really cut loose now. He stretched his neck and shook his head before turning up the power of his blades to three.

The ground was more than mangled; trees were flying through the air, uprooted as though they were discarded leaves. Kilik and Kim were working on rubble detail, while Ox began connecting to them for a Resonance Link. Kilik's earlier words had implied to both of them that this guy was stronger than a typical grunt - and if the strongest fighter on their team couldn't handle it, they would need to work together to take him down.

"Kim, Kilik, are you ready!" They didn't have time to answer, feeling the call of his soul for them to all connect. One the link was intiated, they felt power course through them. They felt nearly invincible, and Ox bravely charged forward to initiate the fight. Kim flew off on Jackie, hopping off every now and then to hurl fire at Giriko from the air. As Ox got his attention, Kilik took cover from Jackie's take off, hiding in the woods and waiting for an opening to catch him off guard.

He had underestimated this opponent. With a simple flick of his wrist, the the ground was decimated; it crept towards him, engulfing him in dust and rocks and he felt like he had taken 1000 body shots. He coughed, trying to get breath back in his lungs, only to realize that Giriko was hovering over him. The weapon began to beat Kilik into the ground, merciless and seemingly unstoppable.

To his surprise, he could hear the Pots whispering through their resonance link. They were talking about trying to wield each other; they were upset, their voices shaking as their pitches grew higher. It was strange to hear them.

Giriko paused. He took his chance, bringing up both fists and squishing his head between the Pots. He activated their dual attack, lightning rushing through Giriko's synapses and frying his nerves; the fire scortched some of his hair off, and he growled in anger. His eyes narrowed, and he felt his body get hot. He was absolutely seething; these kids had kicked his ass every chance they got. Kilik was struggling to get up, and as he went to kick the meister, Kim slammed Jackie into his head, knocking him out.

"Kilik, are you okay?" She put his arm over her shoulders, trying to help support him. He had been fighting Giriko for a lot longer than they had - and he just receieved a beating as well. He nodded and gave her a thumbs up; his cheesy smile absent for the fact that his face was starting to swell.

"Excuse me, you're the first group, right? I'm here to back you up." A man with white hair stepped from the shadows, a large case on his back filled with swords. It took them all a few minutes, but when they realized who it was, they relaxed. They had seen him at school, often with a little girl who bossed him around. He had joined them after their final encounter with Asura.

He took Kilik from Kim -which was totally unnecessary- and informed them of a small base of a few volunteers who had offered to care for the students. He also told them that there would be more people arriving shortly to back up the other team.

"Sorry, we didn't catch your name?"

"Sorry about that. I'm Mifune." He held a closed fist out and Kim put her hand under his; he dropped two pieces of candy in it before turning back around and heading west. She gave one to Ox and ate her own while following the samurai, only to scruntch up her face and spit it out in disgust. Ox was savoring the treat happily, and let out a content sigh.

"Ah, seaweed flavor."