("…Gotta get back…back to the past…Samurai Jack.") There's nothing but a black screen.
("I've finally returned to the past and defeated Aku.") The scene then goes down to reveal Jack. His silhouette all white with a white shadow behind him, standing in the dark with his back turned towards the viewer.
("But, I still feared for the future.") Jack is then shown looking out at the horizon from the balcony of his castle, pink Sakura leaves falling all around him and his empire. The scene then changes to show an opening in a snowbound forest with towering trees.
("Though he's gone, his shadow still remains.") The camera turned slowly to the right and stopped when it shows Jack meditating on the snow covered ground, with his right side facing the viewer. There's then a close up of the sheathed Sword, as the blade is pulled from the scabbard.
("Though I will not be around, I will not let the nightmare return.") The scene focuses only on the Sword's blade, as reflection of Jack's eyes was shown in the metal for a moment, before Aku's eyes replaced them.
("With a simple goal, the Sword was passed down to eldest child of the eldest child.") Jack's silhouette, with the sword in hand, stands on top of a hill looking at his home from a distance. But then the scene changes to where there was a woman standing in Jack's place, looking at another city of the in the 19th century.
("To be passed down throughout the times.") The scene fades into another one, this time to a man looking at a city set ablaze in the night, as American bombers fly overhead during World War 2.
("So that if Aku does comes back, there's hope.") Again, the scene changes. But this time shows Kenny's silhouette looking at Kuoh. The city lit by its neon lights in the night atmosphere.
("I've placed my faith in him, and those around him.") Kenny was now sitting on the ground and leaning against a tree while looking up at the silhouette figure a familiar young woman. The screen suddenly goes black.
("His name is Kenny Kurosawa, the Red Dragon Samurai.") Then the title burns itself into the scene, glowing red as it shines in the dark.
The Red Dragon Samurai
Episode IX
"The Machine Feels"
At the workout center and out on the indoor basketball court, moonlight shined though the windows were the only source of light proved. However, it did show the results of the fight taking place. There were many spots on the polished wood floor that were destroyed, with craters formed by a heavy object and some torn up planks littering around them. Stab and cuts in the floor that were caused by a blade were in some places.
The exhaustion induced pants of Tsubaki Shinra were the only sounds to be heard in the silent gym, as she faced the X-Model equipped with the kanabō war club about two meters away. As indicated, the bespectacled vixen was growing exhausted from the fighting and from the beating she's been taking; with cuts on her uniform and the purple bruises on her left arm and right leg, which luckily didn't break with the help of her Queen piece.
Throughout the fight, Tsubaki has tried to keep a minimum distance away from it, but that didn't stop the machine from charging at her. Having to use the Rook strength within her piece's abilities to fight off the X-Model before using her Knight abilities to quickly get away from it. She minimized using her Bishop powers, wanting to save the magic for an emergency.
'What am I going to do?' Tsubaki thought to herself. 'I'm running out of opinions and tactics.' The X-Model began walking towards her. The young woman noticed it and raised up her naginata, ready to defend herself. Running was out of the question, as her loyalty to Sona denied it.
Staring into the red circular eyes of the X-Model that shined brightly at her, Tsubaki's own eyes widened in realization. 'There is that power. But will it work on a robot?' Her thoughts were cut off when the assassin jumped high into the air. As she looked at it in shock, the X-Model raised its weapon up and started falling towards her. Tsubaki reacted quickly and jumped to the left in the nick of time before the robot landed and brought the war club down.
SMASH!
At a safe distance, Tsubaki turned herself around to look back at the right side of the X-Model, as it pulled the heavy weapon out of the destroyed floorboards. "Such brute force," she said with a serious expression. "I guess there's no other option." The Queen placed her naginata on the floor, while the X-Model turned towards her, and stretched out her arms towards it.
"Mirror Alice—Nostalgia Mad Tea Party!"
The Mirror Alice mirror took form before the bespectacled beauty. However, unlike the last time she used it, three balls of light formed on the mirror. These lights shot out of the mirror and stopped a few feet for it, then lowered to the ground and transformed into yellow magic circles. Rising up from the first circle to the right was large rat the size of a small bear, with red eyes, large sharp teeth, and grey mangy fur. The second one in the middle summoned a rabbit standing upright wearing a bright red suit, a monocle on its right eye, and had an umbrella in its hand. The final one summoned was a slender man with a tall hat on its head, a yellow-green suit with green pants and a matching bow.
The X-Model stood still as it scanned the three new comers individually. As it looked at the different looking characters, they all showed as the same label; Demon. "Unusual reinforcements." It spoke before turning its attention back to Tsubaki. "But it's not going to save you."
"Maybe so," Tsubaki admitted as she came out from behind the Mirror Alice and stood in front of it, "but the Tea Party of Nostalgia is one of my most powerful attack. Not only is Mirror Alice able to reflect the attacks of an opponent, but it's able to summon forth demons with special abilities." She twirled the nagainata in front of her for a bit before stopping and pointed the blade end at the robot. "Dormouse!"
The giant rodent obeyed the single-worded command and charged at the X-Model, who raised the war club to bring down on its down. However, Dormouse stops a few feet away from it and opened its jaws, expelling a massive green cloud that spread quickly throughout the gym, engulfing the machine.
The X-Model stood still and lowered the war club, looking around itself as the mist proved to be rather thick to see through. As it observed the area, the assassin scanned the actual cloud itself and the readings said it was a strong form a sleeping gas; able to knock out a normal human from a few hours.
But it was no human. "This form of gas will not work on this unit." The robot said while it turned its head to the right and then to the left. "As a machine, I'm unaffected by it."
"HRAH!" Its sound sensors picked up Tsubaki's voice coming from behind. It quickly turned around with the kanabō swings in with the same direction.
KLANG!
The club parried away the blade of the nagainata, which thrusted out from the mist at the X-Model. After that, spear weapon quickly retreated into the thick mist, as the X-Model pursued it. After about a few seconds of running, the robot stopped and looked around again. The nagainata thrusts at the back of its neck again, but the assassin sidestepped out of the way. The spear retreated back, as the club swung at where it went to.
The spear thrusted again from behind, but was swatted away by the kanabō as the X-Model turned around.
Having had enough, the X-Model's reached behind its back with its left hand and pulled out the light-machine gun. Pointing ahead, it pulled the trigger.
TAKATAKATAKATAKATAKATAKA!
Slowly but gradually, the X-Model turned itself around, continually shooting hundreds of rounds into the green sleeping gas surrounding it. The bullets were able to clear up a bit of the mist, as they ripped through it with ease.
After one rotation, the X-Model felt the gun finish off the last of its ammo. Releasing its grip on the weapon, the machine lets it fall to the ground with a loud clanking thud. The green cloud of gas was cut in two, with wide gap separating the top half from the bottom half. It then started to clear up and vanish. The disappearance soon revealed the destruction done to the walls, with the mattings on some parts torn up by the rounds pumped into them.
The Dormouse lied on its side, bleeding from bullet holes in its body. It twitched with its tongue hanging out of its open mouth. About two seconds later, the rodent disappeared in a flash of light.
The X-Model's attention was soon caught by the sound of small and soft pads hitting the ground repeatedly behind it. Turning around, it found the rabbit hopping up and down. The robot only stared at it before getting ready to destroy it, but was soon seeing the rabbit's movement slowed down at a supernatural rate. The ripples caused by its body as it moved were made and visible.
Suddenly, the words 'ERRROR; system corrupted' flashed in the X-Model's ocular vision, as its eyesight glitches greatly. The robot shook its head to clear the damage, but to no avail.
"I guess the March Rabbit's mind-breaking ability worked." Tsubaki's voice said from somewhere, but the X-Model was unable to locate her as it searched. "You may have defeated my Dormouse, but you still both March Rabbit and Mad Hatter to deal with. As a machine, you rely much on your systems and technology to operate. So I'll have to target those key features."
The assassin just stood there silently, as the March Rabbit hooped around to position itself in front of its line of sight and continued to bounce. "Good plan," the X-Model said.
WHACK!
The kanabō swung and slammed into the right side of the rabbit's head. It was sent flying all the way crashing into the wall in a splatter of blood, before disappearing.
"But not good enough." The red eyes of the X-Model soon was cleared and glowed brighter for a second.
Turning its head to the left, the X-Model saw the Mad Hatter demon standing tall and still a few meters away, with an indifferent expression and its hands behind its back. The robot stared back at it for a moment. A few seconds later, the X-Model started marching towards it. The demon did nothing while the assassin came closer and lifted its war club up a little bit.
That all changed a few seconds later, when the Mad Hatter's eyes started to swirl around in circles; the right pupil went clockwise while the left went counterclockwise.
The X-Model stopped when the gym around them warped and elasticated in a misshapen form. The walls bent, bulged, and explained like it was made from a gummy substance. The basketball hoops curled slightly inwards, with the nets extending downwards. The light coming in from the outside world zigzagged and even curled upwards.
Tsubaki stepped out from behind the Mad Hatter. The X-Model focused on her, while its vision still showed errors. The Queen of Sona started walking towards it, however, a second Tsubaki stepped out from behind her, then a third Tsubaki, then a fourth. The robot just stood there as many Tsubakis appeared and circled around the X-Model, surrounding the assassin like a pack of sharks.
Outside of the illusion, the real Tsubaki circled around the assassin alone, scowling at it. Her grip on the naginata tightened when she remembered what happened to the other two demons. Although they weren't dead and only returned to their plan of existence, Tsubaki wouldn't stand for the violent actions towards them, even if they were the reason she faced isolation from her family for years.
However, she also felt her anxiousness build up. Her plan was to disrupt the visual optics of the robot with the March Rabbit and then trap it in the Mad Hatter's illusion. But with the rabbit out of the picture, Tsubaki had to work fast and speed up the process. With it visual still dysfunctional at the moment and with the multiple copies of herself mimicking her, she hopes to confuse it enough to strike.
Suddenly, to Tsubaki shock, the X-Model's blue metal armor and clothing colors disappear and became transparent, leaving only the outline it and glowing eyes visible, only to have them disappear too.
Tsubaki stopped walking and looked all around her, trying to find out where the robot went. She felt sweat drops running down her face and her heart jackhammering, as her eyes moved all over the place. Was this the cloaking ability Exdor mentioned?
WHAM!
Her head whipped towards the sound and her expression turned to a horrified one. the Mad Hatter was flying backwards in midair, back arched and head thrown back to block its face, with a plentiful trail of blood coming out of its face. It didn't even touch the floor before disappearing.
"No…"
The volume of her voice wasn't mimicked by her copies in fading illusion world.
Danger blared in her senses and made her lift up her naginata a bit, but it was more than enough to save her.
BAM!
A tremendous amount of force hit the pole handle of the spear, sending Tsubaki flying back. Landing on her back with a groan, she snapped her eyes open when the danger came again. After quickly rolling to the left, the section of flooring she was once at cracked and snapped as a dent formed.
Quickly standing to her feet, Tsubaki spread her feet and held the naginata at the ready. She panted a bit from the fighting and for using her Mirror Alice and opening Nostalgia Tea Party in the span of about an hour. There had to be a way to beat it. But, how? As she scanned the gym, the busty young woman noticed the Mirror from the Tea Party still open.
"Could that be—"
POW!
Pain exploded from her right cheek from the force of what felt like a punch, but was more like a train hitting her at full speed. She staggered back a few steps before regaining her balance and looked around herself again, only to see nothing again. Tsubaki's head snapped left with an agonized yelp after another punch.
POW!
Her head jerked right.
POW!
Her head snapped backwards with her nose spewing blood.
POW!
She bent forward after a punch to her stomach, causing her eyes to widen and mouth gaping open.
POW!
Tsubaki with sent flying and twirling in midair.
Hitting the ground, she bounced off the floor, then coming back down again, before sliding to a halt. Lying on her left side, Tsubaki painfully moaned and groan in agony as she curled up. Lifting up her head a bit, she coughs up some blood as with her widened eyes filled with agony. The blows she received were harder than the other times she was hit, but that was because even though she had all other pieces abilities, those powers were limited to balance out having the Bishop, Knight, and Rook all in one.
Tsubaki lifted up her head, with swollen cheeks and a bleeding broken nose, and saw the Mirror Alice a few feet away from her. With shaky and weaken limps, the Vice President of the Student Council raised up and got to her feet. On unstable legs and her back hunched forward a bit, she made her way towards it.
However, she gasped when the back collar of her uniform was grabbed by an invisible hand. Then next thing Tsubaki knew was that she was off her feet, swung around and thrown across the gym.
Life most have decided to cut her some slack, because her back ended up hitting one of the mattings on the wall. Crying out in pain upon impact, Tsubaki leaned against it and slid down to her butt. Looking up while panting heavier than before, she saw nothing at first, until the X-Model reappeared as it walked towards her.
Thinking fast, Tsubaki got to her feet quickly and throw the naginata at. "GRAH!"
The X-Model titled its head to the right, letting the spear pass by.
Tsubaki stared wide-eyed at the robot and step back, only for her to back up into the wall. The assassin continued to walk until stopping about an arm's reach of her. Looking down at the fearful young woman, the X-Model raised the kanabō war club over its head with one arm. Ready to bring it down on her skull.
Death was assured from the Queen, until Tsubaki smirked.
"Checkmate."
STAB!
The X-Model's head snapped upwards, as the naginata's blade pierced through the back of the neck and came popping out the other side. It turned its head to look over its left shoulder. Behind the assassin stood the Mirror Alice, which Tsubaki used to send the spear back to it and into the nape of its neck.
Seeing the eyes flashing yellow and red and tremble, Tsubaki kicked the doomed robot with her Queen piece's strength, sending it meters back from her.
It entered the magic mirror.
KA-BOOM!
Out of the glass came the explosion in a storm of fire and smoke. The shockwave pushed Tsubaki back into the wall, before she brought up her arms to protect herself from the flames as she was engulfed by them and the smoke. Soon the fire alarm went off and blared throughout the gym and the water sprinklers overhead turned on. The showering water came down and with a few seconds the smoke cleared up and the fire was extinguished.
Tsubaki lowered her arms and opened her eyes halfway, then open fully after seeing the results of the battle. Other than destroyed patches of the wood flooring and the a few places where her naginata's blade stabbed or slashed the ground, there was now a large scorched mark on the floor that stretched from the Mirror Alice all the way to wall—with most of the matting behind her back burnt severely.
Scanning the gym's basketball court from left to right, Tsubaki nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw her reflect, which turned out to be the blade of her naginata impaling the wall over her right shoulder; without the long pole. Staring at it while trying to regain a steadier breathing, she soon let out a breath of relief. Grabbing whatever was left of the handle, the bespectacled Queen pulled the naginata out of the and examined its blade
"Well, there goes a perfectly good weapon," she said in her tone serious tone, as the water fall on her began to make her uniform transparent and show her underwear. However, Tsubaki's usual stoic expression with repeated by a more timid and flushed face. "M-Maybe Kiba can help pick out a new one." She shook her head to clear it of any other thoughts off the Gremory Knight, while startled by her sudden romantic thoughts of him. "Pull yourself together, Tsubaki! Why would I even think of Kiba like a girl in love?"
Calming herself with a deep sigh, the soaked Tsubaki turned her attention back to ruined gym. She first consisted repairing the damage done, but decided against it.
"I'll wait unit Lady Sitri and the others finish their fights," she said to herself, before walking towards an exit door and exited the gym.
At the construction site, where Sona fought the flamethrower equipped X-Model, was supposed to be the place of a new hospital for Kuoh. However, the area was more of a place of destruction, as the Sitri Heir and the assassin's elemental powers and abilities tore up most of the site. Where ever there was dirt near or around them, it was scorched black by the flames; and in a few of those places, there were puddles of water. Some metal beams and rods were turned bright orange from the fires and even bent a bit. Some places on the concrete structure of the two buildings, which were still under construction that made up the hospital, had sections missing or had been destroyed by the high pressure of Sona's water attacks.
Standing in an open area of the site, Sona stood there panting from exhaustion with the right lenses of her glasses cracked, her shirk barely hung together by the strap with her panties mostly exposed, the cape praised in a fireball that also her burnt back and exposed it. This was the most painful injury she's sustained in the fight—as she also carried other cuts and bruises on her arms and legs—which caused her to pant through her gritting teeth.
Sona Sitri was renowned in the Underworld as a master tactician and strategists. With no losses in a game of chess and with the ability to dictate the outcome of most Rating Games she's seen. But the X-Model wasn't like anything she ever thought of real fighting. The Sitri heir understood the brutality of real combat and the bloody results of it. She knew that with her inexperience that she wasn't going to be coming out of it without a scratch. However, the robot proved to be unlike anything she's dealt with.
Sona was torn from her thoughts when she saw the X-Model thrusts its hands towards her, and fires a storm of blue flames shot out towards her. Sona quickly opened her wings and launched herself into the air, right before a stone pillar behind her was consumed and destroyed by the flames.
The X-Model stopped the flow of fire and then, with one hand, reached behinds its back and pulled out its light machine gun. Aiming it up, it open fired on Sona, forcing the bespectacled young woman to halt her assent and dodge the bullets to the left. She flew over to another pillar, among some other pillars that are to be used for the secondary building on a tiled floor, and landed behind it. Quickly placing her back against it, Sona panted with her head turned to the right.
Her Devil hearing picked up a clicking sound. Not wanting to waste another second, Sona sprinted away from the pillar, right before the stone piece was torn up by a halt of bullets; sending fragments and shards everywhere. She jumped behind another pillar, only to jump away from it too when it was destroyed by the light machine gun. Moving towards the next one while moving away from the X-Model, but soon jumped over to the one on her left, just as the previous one got destroyed.
Having enough of stopping and going over and over again, Sona started running away from the X-Model, while zigzagging between the pillars for cover against the barrage of silver rounds fired on her. The then gun stopped. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the robot lower the muzzle of its firearm. Then it raised its right arm, opened its hand, and pointed its palms at the Student Council President.
Knowing what was coming, Sona turned her head forward to look for a possible way of escaping. She then saw that only a few feet away, the tile floor came to a drop off into a ditch. Her eyes narrowed. Coming about two feet from it, Sona jumped.
ROAR!
The blue flames roared as they came out of the assassin's hand at incredible speeds. Sona dropped down into the ditch after her jump, just before the fires past over her head. With her feet landing on the ground, the young woman rolled on her back once forward, before stop and lying on her stomach.
"Sona!" Said girl lifted up her head after hearing her name. Looking to her right, she was surprised to see Saji, Tomoe, and Momo racing towards her.
"I thought I instructed you three to stay out of this fight," Sona scolded them when they kneeled down on both sides of her. Saji and Tomoe grabbed her by both arms and helped her to her feet.
"We were hiding," Saji said after letting her go, "but you came to us."
As her pant lightened with sweat flowing down her face, Sona turned around in the direction of where she came from. The stepping sounds of the dress shoes on the tiled floor outside the ditch, mixed with a mechanical sound that was getting louder, indicated the X-Model was coming closer.
Momo took a step back, as her face carried an anxious expression. "What are we going to do?" Sona glanced at the white-haired for a second before looking at the other two with her. She originally wanted them to stay out of the fight to keep them safe, but it looked like Sona was going to have to rely on them to assist her in this fight. With most of her magic stamina drained, the best she was going to was maybe two more water manipulation attacks.
Looking around her frantically, Sona searched for an idea for another attack. Then, when she turned around, she spotted a white tanker that housed a large amount of water. She sighed in relief with a smile.
The only problem was that between them and the tanker was the main building that was still in construction.
"You've got to be kidding me," she groaned with a displeasing, deadpanned expression.
"Lady Sitri, it's getting closer," Tomoe exclaimed, panicking a bit.
"Alright." Sona glanced at the other and gestured with her arm to follow. "Into the building! I have a plan!" Not wasting any time, she and the other quickly climbed out the ditch, right before the X-Model was about five feet from it. Instantly met with gunfire, the small group rushed forward towards the building. Keeping their head low and hands on them as bullets zipped all around them, Sona just ran with an odd sense of determination that was foreign to her. As if the fear of death was pushing her to move forward.
Within half a minute, they arrived at the back of the wall-lacking main building and entered into it, as the assassin stopped firing at them. The robot watched as the color of their bodies, provided by the moonlight, was gone and they became black silhouettes of themselves, as there were no lights inside. They then moved off to the sides and disappeared behind the pillars on both sides.
The X-Model stood there and stared. It then jumped over the ditch and landed on the other side with ease. With the light machine gun in its left hand and its right hand free to unleash its flames, the mafia-dress killing machine started marching towards the main building.
Stopping about two feet before entering the structure, the X-Model turned its head right to look towards the far end of the building. Slowly, it moved its head to the left end, while it scanned the first floor. Looking back forward, the robot began walking again and stepped into the main building.
There was an unnerving silence within the structure, with only the steps of the X-Model being heard. To give itself more light, the robot raised its right hand up with the palm pointing upwards and ignited a small blue flame. Looking to the right, the assassin saw nothing. Looking to the left, the results were same.
It then stopped. Standing still, the X-Model once again looked to its right. No one was in sight. It then looked to its left and again found nothing. Until Saji suddenly stepped out from behind a pillar with a small, cute, black chameleon-like lizard with violet eyes and a deformed face on his left hand. This was Absorption Line of his Vritra's Sacred Gear.
"HYAH!" Saji thrusts the arm at the X-Model, causing the lizard to open its mouth and shot out glowing pale blue line at the machine.
The line wrapped around the barrel of the light machine gun. "Let's see how you like it when your toy's taken away," Saji exclaimed before pulling his arm back and yanked the weapon out of the robot's hand. The gun then slammed into the blonde's chest, catching him off by surprise and made him fall over on his butt.
The X-Model pointed its hands at him, ready to fry the blonde. Suddenly blur came out of nowhere from the left and hit against the machine's hands with a clank, knocking off its aim. Whipping its head to the right, the X-Model saw it was Tomoe, standing a few meters away, who intruded the attack with a small sword in her left hand.
"Sorry buddy," she said cheeringly with a smile to match, "but you're not hurting anyone tonight."
The X-Model stared at her for only a second, before extending its arms towards her and unleashed its flames. Tomoe's eyes widened with shock as blue fires raced her way. However, right before she was cooked alive, Momo jumped in front of her and created a blue magic dome around them. The flames engulfed the dome. The reddish-brown haired girl looked all around them in awe, as the fires passed all around the two girls, with multi shades of blue were displayed for them. It was a beautiful sight to behold for her and even Momo, who was concentrating on keeping the dome up.
Soon the flames stopped. The girls snapped out of their thoughts looked back head of them. To their eye-widening surprise, the X-Model was gone. In her confusion, Momo lower the dome and looked around their surroundings to locate the X-Model. "Where did it go," she asked with a slight pitch of anxiousness in her voice.
"I don't know," responded Tomoe, who was also feeling her own worries.
The two's heads snapped from left to right and back again while looking for the assassin. Right before the X-Model turned off its cloaking device and appeared before them.
The girls gasped in terror. Then Momo's face was suddenly grabbed by the blue metal hand of the robot. Tomoe could only watch in petrified terror as her friend was lifted up into the air, legs kicking and hands pulling at the arm, by the X-Model. The Knight snapped out of her dilemma with a glare. "Got your hands off her!" She leapt into the air at it with the small sword over her head.
However, the robot noticed her incoming and, with its free hand, backhanded her left cheek with a loud smack. Tomoe screamed in pain as she was sent flying back. She then slammed into a pillar back-first and slid to the floor, being knocked unconscious.
"Not cool, tin-man!" Saji exclaimed, while running towards them, before launching the Absorption Line at the X-Model again. The glowing line succeeded in wrapping around the wrist of the arm holding up Momo, however, the robot grabbed the line and pulled it. "AH!" Saji yelped as he was yanked off the ground and sent flying towards the machine.
The line lets go of the X-Model, before the machine reached out with its free hand and grabbed Saji by the neck.
With the both of them in the clutches of the X-Model, Saji and Momo struggled to get themselves out of the hands of it, as they also struggled to breath. The white-haired girl, with her right seeing in between the pointer finger and thumb, bashed her fists on the arm. The blonde tried to free him by pulled at the fingers around his throat. Then, the holes in the palms started to light up as the assassin charged its flamethrowers. The two Devils' eyes whined in fear.
Suddenly, a column of water slammed into the left side of the X-Model, causing it to drop both Momo and Saji, as it was sent flying off its feet and crashed into a stone pillar meters away. The assassin, as it has itself being pulled up against the pillar, looks back over its shoulder to see Sona outside of the building, standing next to the tanker—that had its back end broke open—that was controlling the water with her hands. Her face carried an enraged glare.
The X-Model tried to push itself away from the pillar, while fighting against the strength behind the column of water. Sona sees this and snarls a bit. "Rah!" She clenched her fist and forcefully pulled her arms back. The assassin suddenly found itself being yanked out of the building by the water column at great speeds, zipping past a shocked Momo and Saji and even Tomoe (who regained consciousness).
After bringing the robot out into the night, Sona brought it up a few feet above the ground and manipulated water again, incasing the X-Model in a sphere of water. Smiling victoriously at the results, Sona was above to come up with an idea to finish it off, when she was surprised by what happened next. The machine activated its flamethrowers again, causing bubbles to form as the water began to boil and release a large amount of steam.
Realizing that it was trying evaporate the water to escape, Sona commanded the water upwards towards its head, releasing the legs, body, and arms of the robot. The blue flames to shoot outwards freely and burn also everything on the ground to its left and right. Only its head was still surrounded by a smaller sphere of water.
Sona brings her knuckles pointing towards each other in front of her face, with her fingers curled like they were claws.
The X-Model noticed the freedom of most of its body and looks down at the young woman.
Sona's angered snarl intensified. The X-Model's eyes narrowed at her.
The robot, still shooting out fires, redirects the flames towards her. But they never got to her when the bespectacled young woman screamed and swung her hands way from each other and…
RIP!
The head of the X-Model was ripped in half down the middle.
Sona closed her eyes and braced herself for the fires still coming at her. However, before even an ember could touch her shoulders, the flamethrowers stopped. After a second without feeling anything, she opened her eyes half way and looked at the robot. She let herself relax when she saw the split head of the X-Model and how its body looked like that of a hanged man.
Letting out a heavy sigh of relief, Sona released the water, letting the destroyed X-Model drop hard to the ground. Walking over to it, the Sitri heir stood at its feet and stared down at the robot. She had to admit; the plan worked out a lot better than she thought.
"Lady Sitri!" The voice calling her name caught her attention and she turned her head towards it. She saw Saji, Tomoe, and Momo rushing over to her. "Are you alright, M'lady," asked the white-haired girl.
"Yes, I'm fine," Sona said. She then smiled sincerely at them. "Thanks, you all. And good job on keeping him occupied for me."
"It was no problem!" Tomoe responded in her usual radiant voice.
"Yeah," Saji said, fist pumping. His look turned from confident to curious and pointed down the dead X-Model, a little shocked by the ripped the head of it. "By the way, how did you do that to it?"
"It was simple, really." Sona crossed her arms as she turns her attention back down at the X-Model ripped head. "By trapping its head in the water, I was able to get the water not just into the chip slot, but through any small openings into the skull. I could have easily just crushed his head but…" Her cheeks flushed and formed a bashful expression while looking away from the others. "I-I may h-have gotten a little too emotional."
The others stared at her with wide eyes, then glanced at one another. They couldn't help but let their smiles take form.
Sona soon snapped out of her shyness and said to them; "That's enough of that." She opened her wings, prompting the others to do the same. "Let's get back to Future Robots."
And with that, all four of them flew off.
On an empty street, the last of the X-series stood a few away from Rias.
The X-Model stood perfectly still with its two pistols at its sides. Tears and holes on it clothing were seen, but the armor held up against the redheads attacks. Rias, on the other hand, was panting from exhaustion as she stared at the machine. Her uniform had little to no damage done to it, thanks to her quick thinking that allowed her to dodge the silver bullets.
However, it was clear to her that she was almost on her last legs. Most of the stamina in her magic was gone, leaving her to only do small burst of power to ration what little she had left. This also forced her into retreating down the sheet, while also to prevent anymore caldera damage done to some of the shops and parked cars.
A few meters behind the young woman, behind the corner of a restaurant, Asia peeked her head out from behind to get a better look at the situation. Her bothered expression betrayed the concern she felt for her master, while upset she wasn't able to help her in any way as she fought. Asia wanted to help, but Rias said it was best she didn't get involved. Saying that she wasn't much of a fighter and would've just gotten hurt if she stepped in.
Suddenly, the robot's head peeked upwards, as if a realization came to it. The X-Model then abruptly twisted its body to the right and looked behind itself.
This action left both girls confused. The assassin turned its body completely around and had its back facing towards them.
"What is he doing?" Asia whispered to herself. Although she could hear her, Rias asked the same question in her head. She then notices the X-Model tilted its head down in a grieving motion, surprising her a bit.
"Rias, this is Sona. Come in."
Not taking her eyes off the X-Model, Rias placed two fingers on her right ear and said, "Go ahead, Sona. What's the status?"
"I've just finished my fight and have received word from the others. They've destroyed their opponents. I repeat; they destroyed their X-Models."
This surprised and relieved Rias, causing her to look away from the assassin. She was surprised by the fact that they were able to beat them so quickly, but nonetheless was happy that they—even Xuelan, Karlamine, and Isabella—well safe. However, a new thought pop into her head. Something Exdor had said came back into her mind. She slowly turned her attention back towards the robot, while taking her hand away from her ear. If the others destroyed the other eight X-Models, and if this was the last and ninth one, does that mean…?
X-9 turned his body to where his left shoulder was pointing at Rias, snapped his head to the left to face her, and glare hatefully at her.
"Rias? Rias, are you there? How are you and Asia?"
Rias stared at the enraged robot with wide eyes and shrunken pupils, scared greatly. She brought her fingers to her ears again. "I'll call you back."
X-Model turned his body to completely face her, raised the pistols and started shooting at her.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
The redhead beauty dodged by jumping and sidestepping while moving backwards as the bullets hit the ground at her feet. Rias stopped before sending a blast of her demonic destructive powers at him.
DON!
The crimson and black attack raced towards X-9. However, he turned his body sideways and let the blast zoom right past his chest. Rias was shocked by the sudden dodge. X-9 then charged at her and continued to shoot.
Rias rushed to her right, and rolled forwards behind the front of a parked car. Sitting on the ground with her back against the vehicle, the redhead panted rapidly to keep her panic under control. There was a thud and the car jolted and shuck a bit. Rias quickly turned around to see what it was, only to jump away from the car about X-9, who turned out to have jumped on the hood, open fired.
As for X-9, he didn't know what was happening to him. And he didn't care. This new feeling was alien to him, like the sensation he felt hours ago after run the bus with the Devils off the edge of the cliff and into the water. Just a few minutes ago, he felt another sensation in his programing when his computer brain told him that the other X-Models were dead. But as he continued to shoot at the crimson-haired woman, the urge to kill her greatened from a burning sensation from this burning sensation in his being.
Why was he feeling this way? He didn't know. "All I know is one thing." He said to himself. "This wouldn't be pretty."
While the battle continued, Asia backed away from the corner with scared eyes and her hands over her mouth. She heard what Sona said on her communicator and by the way the X-Model got angry, the blonde girl knew that this was the one Exdor was talking about; X-9. Asia began to worry about Rias and her wellness, when her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of something scratching.
Turning her attention down towards the sounds, Asia nearly jumped out her skin but ended up smiling. Sitting on the ground a few inches away from her leg was a small stray female Pug, who stared up at the girl with an obliviously happy expression with her tongue hanging out as she pants.
"Oh~ aren't you just the cutest!" Asia squealed as she lowered herself down to her knees. The Pug instantly jumped into her arms and started licking her face, making Asia laugh and hug the loving dog.
Their little cute time was cut short when an explosion came from the fighting. Asia looked and saw Rias in the air, as she threw small crimson and black blasts at X-9, who dodged them, causing the attacks to explode on impact with other things. The blonde bishop turned back to the Pug and placed her on the ground. "Please, little one, you can't be here." She said in a pleading tone. "It's too dangerous." The dog's response was a yelping bark.
Unfortunately, the bark caught the attention of X-9. Looking to his left, he spotted the lone Bishop, but didn't notice the Pug. He narrowed his eyes. She was an easy target. The assassin aimed a pistol at her head. However, he was hit in the back with an explosive blast. Staggering a few steps forward, X-9 stopped and looked over his shoulder to see Rias with her hands extended at him, with an intense scowl on her face.
"Don't even think about it!" She exclaimed. The X-Model turned back towards her and began shooting at her. Rias quickly opened a barrier before herself, right before the silver bullets could hit her. As the rounds impacted the barrier, they scattered into sparks, but that didn't stop X-9 from firing at her.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
SHATTER! SHATTER! SHATTER! SHATTER!
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
SHATTER! SHATTER! SHATTER! SHATTER!
BANG! BANG! Click! Click!
The clicking sounds reached the ears of a panting and sweating Rias. As she stood there, she sighed in relief when there were no more gunshots fired. Having the shielding barrier disappear, she saw X-9 examine his pistols with the slides locked back on both of them. They were finally empty.
'Now's my chance.' Rias started to walk towards the X-Model with a confident smile, when it was dropped as she halted in shock by the robots next action. With one hand X-9 reached inside of his trench coat. He then pulled out two new magazine clips, only these had red bullet heads. The old clips slid out of the guns, before X-9 placed the first new one into the left gun, then the right gun. With the flick of its thumbs, the slides ran forward, locking into place.
Simultaneously—as time slowed down—Rias ran to her right, as the X-Model pointed the guns towards her.
BANG!
The bullet flew past her long crimson hair and continued towards a shop to her left. It pierced through the glass window and then…
KA-BOOM!
Rias was thrown off her feet, as an explosion went off within the shop. Landing hard on her stomach, she moaned in pain with her eyes closed, as some steam coming off her back. After about two seconds she lifted herself up and to her knees. Looking over her shoulder, she was left shocked as flames and smoke billowed out of the windows. Turning her attention back to the robot, the two stared at one another for a moment.
X-9 pointed his pistols at her and started shooting again. Rias opened her wings and bolted away from where she was, before it was destroyed. Coming to a skidding halt a few meters away, she then launched herself into the air.
Stopping her accent a few meters off the ground, Rias looks down and watched X-9 as he aimed at her. He soon opens fire. Rias dodged the bullets by diving, climbing, and moving to the side of the incoming rounds. Orange tracers zoomed past her form before vanishing into the night sky.
About a minute later, Rias moved rightwards to avoid a bullet, but her eyes widened when she spotted a second one coming right at her. Out of instinct, she formed a barrier to shield herself.
KA-BOOM!
"PRESIDENT!" Asia screamed as she looked on in terror when the explosion broke the barrier. At first, all she could see was a dust cloud. But then, Rias' body fell headfirst out of the cloud. Most of her uniform was destroyed; the cape, the most of the white shirt, and her bra were gone, exposing her large breast and flat stomach.
"RIAS, WAKE UP!" An unconscious Rias' closed eyes tightened, before she started to crack them open. Her eye snapped open all the way when she saw the ground coming closer. Flipping herself right side up, the redhead beauty flapped with all her might to slow down her fall. Gritting her teeth hard while continuing to try to slow down.
Fortunately, she was able to halt her descent right before her feet touched the ground. Rias stared down at the sheet while hovering an inch from it. She closed her wings and lets herself dropped down to her feet. She then sighed from the close call. But then she grunts before falling to her knees, panting heavily while looking at the ground, sweat dripping down. That was it. She couldn't fight anymore. Her stamina and magic had just ran out.
X-9 watched her from a short distance. He knew that she was not capable of fighting. Not with how long the fight went on and the number of times she used her powers. This was his chance. He ejected the magazine clip from the right handgun while pulling the other one away in his trench coat. He pulled out his left hand with another clip filled with silver bullets in its grasp. He slams the clip into the gun. Cocking the weapon, he makes his way forward.
He knew it was wrong. What he and the others in the X-series were doing was wrong. But was the only thing he ever knew. The mission was the only thing that mattered to him.
Then out of nowhere, Asia charged at X-9 with a steel pipe in her hand and, with a mighty swing, bashed it against the head of the robot. This surprised not only X-9, but Rias as well. The pipe bent back, but she didn't care and took a step back. "You stay away from her!" She shouted at it while waving the pipe.
"Asia, are you crazy!" Rias exclaimed while struggling to stand on her feet. "You're going to get killed."
"I know that!" Asia looked at her with a determined look as tears began to form, leaving the redhead stunned. "But I can't just stand by and let you be killed too." The X-Model stood still for a moment before looking over its right shoulder at her. It scared her to see the red eyes looking at her and she even took a few steps back, but Asia steeled her nerves and stared at it. "If you're going to harm Kenny, then you're going to have to go through me too!"
X-9 was still only for about five seconds before turning his whole body around to face her.
"Asia!" Rias tried to stand up, but her left knee buckled and she fell back down. The assassin was about to take a step towards the young girl to end her life, when it suddenly heard a yelping bark to its left.
Looking in the direction of the bark, he saw nothing but then looked down to find the Pug. Both Rias and Asia froze in place as they held their breaths, afraid of what was going to happen.
As for X-9, something happened. As he stared into her, he felt his sensors become lighter. The burning sensation lifting and easing before being replaced with a bright and calming one. Suddenly the mission to the target Kenny Kurosawa just seemed more wrong that what he thought before. The Devils opposing him were no longer a concern of his. All that mattered was the Pug. The only thing that he could describe this feeling was that he felt…'happy'? Yeah, that's it; happiness.
X-9's red eyes soften and a smile formed on his mouth. The Pug's wagged its tail fast, adding more of this… happiness to his insides and the smile widened. He then kneels down and petted the dog's head before presenting his hand to her, where she starts licking it. The robot then picks up the small Pug and brings her up to his face, where she starts licking it happily too.
As for Rias and Asia—who was helping up the former by having her arm around her shoulder—they could believe what they were seeing. Was the killing machine that was ordered to kill Kenny really being licked by the stray dog? The two shared a glance.
"Happiness." The robot said, startling the girls. "This sensation is what living things call happiness, correct?"
Neither one of them said a word at first and only shared a glance. But then Asia takes Rias' arm off her shoulder and stepped towards X-9. Walking up to him, she looked up smiling at him and the Pug. "You really like her, don't you?" She asked and rubs the dogs back. The dog liked it and jumps down into her arms, making Asia laugh as she was lick in the face.
"Yes." X-9 smiled at the smaller girl. However, his smile dropped and his right hand went to where the heart would be and clenched the trench coat. "Yet why? Why are these sensations happening to this unit? To me? Why does this mission all seem so… wrong?"
"It's because of a second clip inside of you." Rias walked over to join them. She stopped about two feet further from the blue machine out of caution, but nonetheless showed no ill will to him. "When you were still in development, a scientist gave you a prototype clip that was designed to give you emotions."
"Emotions?" He paused as he began to think about it. About three seconds later X-9 lowered his head and said grimly, "yes… that's it."
"You said that as if it's a bad thing."
"For someone like me." X-9 raised up his blue Adamantium hands to stare at them. "To kill Kenny Kurosawa; that is all I know. Yet, for some reason I can't stop the feeling that it's wrong." He closed his hands into tight, trembling fists. "That it's all very wrong. I can't feel this way for the mission, because it's like an obstacle."
"It's your conscience." Asia said, placing a hand on his arm. "It's not an obstacle, it's just you knowing what's right and wrong."
X-9 looked down at her in wonder. Was this true? "Then what do I do," he asked, kneeling down to her height.
Rias looked away and placed a hand on her chin as she thought for a moment. What were they going to do now? Sure, he's after Kenny, but knowing that he's the one with emotions and is able to decide right from wrong made this a difficult decision to make. She now understood why X-9 got mad. When an X-Model was destroyed, the others were alerted. He must have cared for them. So when he was aware of the destruction of the others he got angry. It was something that she could relate to.
But then a thought came up in Rias' head. A thought that formed a smile on her face. She went over to Asia and whispered something in her ear. The blonde looked at her with an expression that said 'are you sure' and Rias nodded.
Asia turned back to X-9 and held out the Pug to him. "We have an idea." She then asked; "Is there a way to remove the mission from you databank?"
The robot took the small Pug in his hands and had his computer brain go to work. X-9 knew what she was asking for and was on board with it. But he needed to know if it was possible. He didn't want to get rid of the killer clip, as it was the only thing that would help him protect the dog, but wanted the orders of killing Kurosawa out. He wanted to be free. To make his own path, and to live out the rest of his days with the Pug.
Soon the result came up; it was possible. His brain began processing the instructions to perform the removable before turning his attention back to Asia. "Yes there is, but we'll have to move quickly. My emotions clip is over powering the mission, but it wouldn't last." X-9 then stood up with the Pug tucked under his right arm. "First, I'll need a data stick."
Luckily they were able to find a computer store near them, and it was undamaged, and open. Asia volunteer to be the one to get the data stick, due to Rias being also naked. She quickly ran in, bought a data stick, and rushed back out to where her master, X-9, and the Pug were waiting. "Okay, I got it." Asia ripped the box open and presented the robot with the device.
"So what are you planning to do?" Rias asked as X-9 grabbed the data stick and stared at it for a second before reaching into his pocket. Pulling back out his hand, it's relieved to be a car key in his grasp. The assassin presses the red button.
Within a split second, one of the three black cars the X-series used that managed to survive, speeded down the street and stopped before stopping in front of them.
"I will remove any and all traces of the mission to kill Kenny Kurosawa from my data bank by transferring it into this data stick," X-9 said as he opened the driver side door and sit down in the seat. "By removing it, I'm able to keep both clips inside and be free of my orders." Leaning back into the drivers chair, taking his hat off and setting it on the passage side chair, he takes the data stick and inserted it into the right side of his head. "I will be forced to shut down during the process and it'll take a while," he said in a grim tone. "Whatever happens after that? I don't know."
Asia looked down with a saddened expression. She couldn't explain it, but she was starting to care deeply about the machine. In a way, X-9 remained her much of herself. He was a tool in a plan that he didn't want a part of. When he gets rid of his orders, the robots going to be lost and alone. Asia was a little surprise when the Pug jumped out of her arms and into the lap of X-9. Okay, maybe not totally alone, but the blonde didn't want to leave the emotional robot on his own.
"Why don't you stay with me at Kenny house?"
The crimson-haired bombshell and robotic assassin looked at her in shock. "Asia. What are you saying," Rias asked both astonished and worried.
"You don't have to be alone in the world." Asia continued with a bright smile. "You can stay with us and be a part of our group. You may not be able to be a Devil like me and Kenny, but that doesn't mean you can't be our friend."
"'Friend'." X-9 repeated the word and lowered his head a bit, trying to grasp the meaning of the word. He knew what the definition of it was, but he didn't think it would be something he could have because of what he is. Nor did he know it was something he would want. He raised his head back up and looked at the blonde Bishop and asked, "What is your name, little girl?"
"Asia. Asia Argento," she responded.
"Asia." X-9 turned his to look forward. "I'd like to be your friend." The response brought a bright expression on Asia face with her eyes tearing up a bit. Rias stared at the smaller girl with a fond smile, very proud of her Bishop's friendship offer. It would be weird for having X-9 around, but she was willing to have him around. Plus, he could be a powerful ally in the future.
She placed a hand on Asia shoulder and gestured with her head for them to be going. She nodded and the both of them turned their backs towards the car, opened their wings, and flew off into the air.
As for X-9, he closed the door and lean back against the chair. Not wanting to waste any more time, he began the process of removing the mission. Before being forced to shut down, the robot looked down at the Pug on his lap, only to find the small dog with sleeping soundly. The sight brought a loving smile to his face. "Lulu," he said before he petting her head lightly. "I'll call you Lulu."
X-9 leans back again. His red eyes turned off as he shuts down.
"Lulu… sweet thing."
The decapitated corpse of the CO of Future Robotics still laid on where it's been found, only with a white blanket covering it. A police investigator came over and kneed to lift up the covers a little bit to see underneath. He cringed in at the horrific scene underneath and stood back up, as his partner wrote down notes in a small journal. As that was going on, many more police officers investigated outside around the busted doors that lead into the CO's office, with many others on the floor beneath them, as they investigated the area where they were alerted by people that an explosion took place in Future Robotics. Not to mention the sounds of gunfire and more explosions, even pink smoke used. Many units were rushed to the scene, with up to twenty cars and an armored trucked parked outside. As investigations happened inside, others officers looked at the remains of two of the X-Models' cars that were destroyed.
They had no leads as to what caused the explosions or who the murderer was.
High up on one of the roof of a two story building a block away from the police scene stood the Devils and Exdor. Everyone one of them was able to be healed by Asia and get replacing cloths from Akeno, who conjured freshly made ones to replace the damaged ones. Unfortunately for the three servants of the House of Phoenix, their torn cloths will have to do for now.
"This is going to be troubling," Rias said with an annoyed sigh as she rubbed her temple.
"That's an understatement," Sona said with her arms crossed, equally annoyed. "I'm surprised that they got here so late."
"So what are we going to do about this," Kenny asked.
"Well," Sona said, walking away from the group, "I don't know about you and your peerage, Rias, but I like to keep things neat and clean. As well as make sure normal humans don't know about it."
"Oh," Rias said in a playfully offended tone, "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that if you aren't going to clean up the mess you made," Sona responded as she stopped and looked over her shoulder, "then don't let someone have to do it."
Kenny stepped towards her a bit. "Why don't you let us help you then?" Sona turned her head to look at him, feeling a little surprised and a small blush on her cheeks. A second later and she smiled before walking up to him and giving him a pat on his left cheek, bringing out a flush from him.
"You're sweat of offering you help Kenny, but I think you should go back. Me and my peerage and more than enough to take care of the damages." Sona retreated her hand to her side and gave him a teasing smirk, while also noticing a pouting Rias scowling at her. "Besides, by the look on your face, I say you need some sleep."
Truth be told, Kenny did have bags under his eyes and looked like he was forcing his eyes to stay open. Tonight wasn't good to him and it clearly showed.
"Then I guess I'm no longer needed." The Devils all turned their attention to Exdors, who was standing a few feet from the group. "With the eight assassins gone, and X-9 deleting the mission from his data bank, I can finally sleep tonight knowing that those things are no longer hurting people."
"What are you going to do," Isabella asked the small scientist.
Exdor shook his head and said, "Don't know. With the money I have, I'll be able to live a decent life. I've been offered multiple jobs, so it's not like I'm going to be helpless. I'll be good."
Kenny stared at him for a moment before smiling. "Then I wish you the best." He bowed his head.
Exdor returned the smile, but instead of bowing too, he raised his hand up. "High five." Kenny looked up at him while his back was still bent forward a bit. Sweat-dropping from the man's quirkiness, he smiled nonetheless, and high fived him.
"WHOOOO!" Exdor cheer and through up his fist. He then reached over his left shoulder and pulled a ripcord. Two wings with rockets on the ends came out of the sides of his back, before they ignited and the scientist blasted off into the night sky.
The others just looked on with sweat-drops at the flying scientist, as he grew smaller and smaller before disappearing. "What a weird man," Asia said.
Isabella, Xuelan, and Karlamine glanced at one another and nodded. They've talked about it while waiting for the others to return from their fights and decided that it was best for them to leave. It was time to return home. Even though they weren't sure of their dilemma, they still had a duty. They then turned back towards the others. "Then we should also be going too," Isabella said, before the three started walking away.
"Hey, wait!" Kenny called out to them, catching their attention, as he approached them with a tiny blush on his cheeks. "I just want to say thank you for all your help. I know we didn't get off to a good start, but I'm happy to have gotten to meet you girls and fight alongside you three."
The three were left astonished by his kindness and sincerity, with bright blushes on their faces. He was a member of Rias Gremory's peerage; he was supposed to be hating them. But yet he doesn't, and looked like he didn't have any intentions to. They smiled and nodded, before opening their wings and flying off in the opposite direction.
A second later, Kenny let out a loud yawn while stretching out his arms. He then felt a hand on his shoulder and looked to see it was Rias smiling kindly at him. "Come on," she said, taking his hand and leading him. "Let's go back to the Clubhouse."
He nodded to her. Akeno then created the teleportation circle and in a red flash of light the members of Rias' group vanished. Sona then glanced at her peerage and they nodded to her, telling her silently they were ready for work. Then they opened their wings and flew off.
0000000000000
The crimson magic circle appeared on the dirt field of Kuoh Academy and the six Devils appeared from it before it vanished.
"That's funny," Akeno said in confusion as she looked around. "I could have sworn that I had it to take us inside the Clubhouse."
"Do you think something could have caused to take us here," Rias asked, before her friend thought about it for a second.
"Not that I can think of." Akeno thought hard about it, but soon just shook her head and smiled at the other in her usual way. "It's probably nothing. Come one, I'll set up some sleeping bags for all of us." She then walked ahead of everyone else towards the Clubhouse.
"She's right." Rias said with her own smile. She turns her head to Kenny and does a 'follow me' gesture with her hand. "Come on. You can even stay here for the night, Kenny."
"Are you sure," he asked, before she nodded. Kenny then smiled and started following Akeno. "Okay, let's go."
"Finally," Kiba said as he yawned while following Kenny and Rias with Asia and Koneko with him. A sense of relief filled them while tired from the fighting and be chased after. "This night is over."
"Ditto," Koneko simply agreed. And so the group headed towards the Clubhouse with Akeno leading ahead of them.
KA-BOOM!
Suddenly an explosion went off where Akeno was, taking her with it. Everyone else was thrown off their feet, sent a few feet back, and land on their backs. Kenny grunted and groaned in pain as the front side of his uniform let off some smoke. He struggled to sit up with his eyes shut tight and his teeth gritted. When he opened his eyes, Kenny was shocked and horrified to see the black-haired beauty lying on the ground naked with smoke billowing off of her and the ground around her.
"AKENO!" Kenny got to his feet and ran over to her. Rias was the next to see her dear friend and raced behind her Pawn. The other three had just gotten to their feet and started to head to them the Queen's aid.
KA-BOOM!
Kenny and Rias whipped their heads around and were met with the awful sight of seeing the explosion's cloud form, as the other three were thrown into the air again and land on the ground. But this time, they weren't moving.
Kenny then looked at Rias, as she looked at him, with a distance of about two meters apart from each other.
"Rias!" He reached for her and started running towards her.
"Kenny…"
KA-BOOM!
The next explosion went off where she was.
Kenny had his arms up and feet apart to brace himself against the shockwave and superheated air pushing against him. When it was all over, he lowered his arms and rushed forward, not bothering to figure out what had just happened. When he stopped, Kenny looked down and gasped in horror at what he saw. Rias' lustful body lying there on the ground; brunt mark all over her body, with only her panties surviving the blast, and her eyes closed.
"No…" Kenny said heartbrokenly fell to his knees and picked up the redhead. "Rias." He quickly placed two fingers on the side of her neck to feel a pulse, praying that she was okay. He sighed in relief when he felt the beating rhyme. She was alive. That must have meant the others survived too.
A moment later and the next thing he knew was the sound of footsteps coming towards him. Looking up from the beautiful young woman in his arms, Kenny saw nothing at first. But then a man dressed in a black cloak with sleeves and the hood over his head appeared out of the shadows of the trees and into the moonlight. The most distinctive part of the man was the red and white kabuki master covering his face.
Kenny glared at the Killer; the same one who—unknowingly to him—killed the CO of Future Robotics. The black-haired teen remembered what Exdor said about the people who wanted the X-series wore kabuki masks. Was this one of them, or someone else? Any questions here could think of didn't matter as he gently set Rias' unconscious body on the ground.
Standing up, he took off the shinai bag and removed the sheathed Sword, before throwing the bag down. Stepping over his master, Kenny walked towards the cloaked man. Passing by Kiba, then Koneko, and finally Asia as they all lay unconscious. Never taking his eyes off the Killer, Kenny then stopped about four meters away for him.
"I'm going to make you pay for what you've done," Kenny said in a resentful tone.
"Come boy." The Killer said before slipping off his cloak and letting it off to the ground, revealing his bare, scarred chest, and short, spiky black hair. His arms, hands, and fingers covered in bandages with black arm bracers, a long pair of black hakama that covered his feet, held in place by a white sash that held two swords at his waist, and neckless with a wooden piece. The Killer grabbed the sword handles. "Your fall will be my ascension in the First Legion of Darkness." He then pulls out the swords.
Kenny's glare narrowed. He pulled out the Sword and tossed the scabbard aside. Then he placed his left hand on the blade and slide it along the length, achieving the Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet; the Boosted Gear.
[Boost!]
The two opponents stood still as they stared intensely at each other. Three seconds later, they charged, running at full speed, before coming to a stop and swung their blades.
CLASH!
To Be Continued…
{Playing Shine by Mr. Big}
[Instrumentals] The opening fades into the inside of a dark room with the moonlight coming from the window. The light moves against the wall, turning the areas that become covered by it a light blue. As it gradually shifts, it soon reveals the handle of the Sword, as the weapon leans up against the wall. The light then touches the unsheathed blade, causing it to reflect and shine off the metal.
[I never really feel quite right] Kenny, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, was out at night standing in an open plain with a few trees behind him. His hair flying in the wind and his hands in his jean's pockets as he looks upwards, the green grass under and around him flowing against the wind as well.
[I don't know why, all I know is there's something wrong] The scene stays like this for a moment, before switching to present a close up of his face. Showing an expression that tells the viewer he was deep in thoughts, as his black eyes weren't focused and his lips were parted a small bit.
[Every time I look at you, you seem so alive] High up on a white balcony in the night time, Rias stands there in a white sundress, with her arms on the railing as she leaned on it while looking up at the moon. She face carries a bright smile as her vixen figure is seen slightly through the dress as it and her elegant crimson hair flies in the wind gracefully while glowing into moonlight.
[Tell me how do you do it, walk me through it] The scene changes to show different images. The first was of Akeno as she smiles sweetly at the viewer in a lovely kimono, holding an umbrella in her arms with her in a bun. The next image is of Kiba as he stands in a gym, wearing Kendo equipment and the mask tucked under his armpit, giving the camera his charming smile, while in the background were many girls smiling at him back with hearts in their eyes.
[I'm following every footstep] Koneko's next shown, sitting on the sofa in the clubhouse with a piece of chocolate in her mouth, looking at the viewer blankly as she holds up her hand in a peace sign. The final image shows Asia in her nun outfit, brushing a few stray hairs behind her right as she smiles brightly, while standing in the park with the playground behind her.
[Baby on your own you take a caution step] Returning back to Rias, the camera shows her up close from the left side, with twinkling stars shining in the background. Her bright expression turned to a sad look as her gaze fell. She placed a hand on her left breast and sighs with her eyes closed.
[Do you wanna give it up?] Her eyes opened, but only half way. Showing that she's hurt in some way and sadden about something.
[But all I want is for you to SHINE~] Rias then turned her head to the left and a surprised expression appeared on her face. The scene changes to a white surrounding and the camera moves upwards, showing Kenny in his average school uniform, with his back facing the camera, the Sword in his right hand, and the scabbard in his left as his long black hair flows in the wind.
[SHINE~ down on me] The camera zoomed out to show Rias, now naked, staring at Kenny's back with her right shoulder facing the viewer and her head turned towards him.
[SHINE~ on this life this life that's burning out] A side angled view, and Kenny now is seen facing Samurai Jack, whose ghost stands a few feet from him. The camera focused on Kenny face for a movement, before switching over to Jack's. The samurai gives him a smile and disappears. Kenny lets out a sigh with his eyes closed, as he was now standing on a cliff as the sky turns orange in the afternoon.
[SHINE~] Rias, now fully dressed in her usual school uniform, walked up to his right and places a hand on his shoulder. Kenny looks at her as she gives him a smile, then Akeno comes up and stand with him too. Then Asia, Kiba, and Koneko.
[SHINE~ down on me] Kenny smiles fondly at them for a moment, before his expression quickly turned serious and he faces forward. The others do the same, readying themselves for battle.
[SHINE~ on this life this life that's burning out] The scene changes to show their backs and zooms out to revival Aku's towering silhouette before them, with the setting sun behind his head.
[SHINE~] The image then changes into a watercolor-like painting. Then everything fades out, as the song comes to an end.
Narrator: "On the next episode of The Red Dragon Samurai…."
The Killer: "Surely this isn't the best you've got."
Kenny: "Stand still and I'll show you more!"
Rias: "Where is he!?"
Kenny: "So this is what you look like?"
Narrator: "The Red Dragon Samurai. Updates coming soon."
Rias: "You deserve this, Kenny. I know you this what you wanted."
Narrator: "Only on Fanfiction."
Finally finished with this one! You guys have no idea what a pain this episode was. With only three battles to go, I had to stretch them out to fine in empty space and not to mention keeping them interesting and worth reading. The part with X-9 was also tricky and hard to have it where he would want to be with the group, so I decided to use one of anime's greatest plot devices without trying to be too lazy with it; the Power of Friendship! But in the end, I finally got to the part of the arc that I've wanted to do since I started it.
Bet you didn't see that ending coming, huh. The last scene of this episode was inspired by another one of Tartakovsky's works; Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003). If you guys haven't seen it, I strongly recommend it. It's a blast to watch.
Thank you guys for being patient with this update. The last few weeks for me were really busy. First was my high school graduation, then a family trip, and then finally college orientation. Not a lot of time to myself and actually to sit down and work on the story.
And so Samurai Jack has finally come to an end. I'm not going to lie; I love the final episode, but would have liked it to be just a little bit longer (You guys are probably tired of hearing the same thing as I am). This was a show I grew up with and to know it has an ending that fits so well with it is fantastic to see. People may not have liked it, but let's not forget how magnificent this season, and the show was and how special it was to many of us.
Thank you, Genndy Tartakovsky for coming back to this series. And goodbye Samurai Jack, we'll miss you.
As for Kenny's familiar, I had totally forgot to include the White Wolf. I do apologize for that, and with three requests for him, I think he'll be the winner. And of those who wanted to see the Creature and Chicken, I think I know of a way to include them without complicating the plot and having Kenny have more than one familiar.
—Kenny will have the White Wolf, that's for a fact. (I personally love this idea. I still can't believe I forgot about him.)
—I could have Creature be Akeno's familiar, insisted of her tiny demon. (Yes or No; You give your own opinion. I don't what to overstep the limits and try to balance out the crossover.)
—Kiba will have the Chicken. (All I know is that his familiar is a small bird and in the English dubbed anime he said his familiar was badass. It's a golden opportunity.)
No harem updates, other than I'll be bringing in maybe two more girls and that's it. I know who they're going to be and I'll add them in when they meet Kenny.
And so that wraps up this episode. The final episode of the Assassin Arc is up next and I plan to tie up a loose end and get ready from the Rating Games. Please feel free to review, favorite, and follow if you like the story and/or episode. Have a good day!