by Holy crap on a stick. Came out to be around just 8 Pgs. Hope you enjoy! Don't worry. I gave Yoyo a gun to shot me for the grammar.
Chapter four:
The sun had not come up yet but the dim light in the sky gave sign to its coming any moment now. Areana pulled along Koorm's body into a ditch and covered it with anything she could trying to hide it, Toshii jumped down with her followed by the limp body of the other Ishi boy who was thrown down by Rakk as he rolled himself into the ditch hitting the ground hard with a grunt. Toshii began to cover both bodies pushing Areana out of the way.
Areana and Rakk pushed themselves as close to the wall as they could and rested for what little time they could.
“How's your leg?” Areana muttered
“Broken.” Rakk kept his answer short, already having trouble with his breathing.
“Keep quiet!” Toshii said in a hushed whisper, she was covered in blood a mix of her own and the boys she now hung over checking their pulse and their breathing. She nodded and signaled to Rakk and Areana to follow her as she ducked as low as she could and moved slowly through the dirt. Overhead the roar of the dragon echoed throughout the forest making it hard to tell just where it came from but it made both of the new bloods shake with fear. They came to the end of the path, Toshii turning around and putting her back to the wall shaking her head at the others.
“We can't take this thing on.” She muttered her voice and tone very weak as she clutched her left side trying to stop a wound from bleeding through the makeshift bandage she had made. The other two just rolled over and dropped to the ground, resting on their backs they knew Toshii was right. The fight had lasted for hours with mostly them doing random hit and runs, but no matter how far they ran, the beast came after them blood hungry. Each of them had several broken bones and blood pouring from one of the many wounds they had suffered that night. It was only a matter of time before they would all bleed out and die with no real treatment to be found other then rags to tie the wounds off.
“Here's the plan.” Toshii whispered “You're going to run as fast as you can back to the village and get the Yamakage.”
“I can't run” Rakk said trying to move his leg
“I can.” Areana pushed herself up “But not with that thing out there!”
“Don't worry about him, I'll create a diversion, I refuse to let another Ishi die before me. Just help me get my left armor off, I can't move my arm anymore with it on.”
Areana nodded as she helped Toshii pull away the armor. “Do you need anything more sensei?”
“No, just give me about ten seconds to get his attention before you go.” Toshii got to her feet and poked her head out to try to look for the dragon as Areana started pulling off her own weapon and anything that could weigh her down.
Toshii looked back at Areana with a nod. “Lesson one about a dragon, always go for the underbelly.”
“This is not the time for a lesson!” Rakk said in disbelieve. Toshii just rolled her eyes as she jumped out of the ditch, a massive roar sounding out a few seconds later. Areana was off rushing as fast as she could to the kage palace.
- - -
Toshii had no desire to kill the dragon or even hurt it, she knew all she had to do was hold off until Bano got there to aid her. With that in mind she dodged and evaded with everything she had, mostly just running away throwing a attack back at the beast every now and then with her fist weapon. Any attack she throw just bounced off the thick scales of the dragon making them pointless. The dragon brought his whole body around fast swinging his tail at Toshii, she reacted just in time plunging herself into the ground to evaded it. It sounded just an inch overhead as it whipped through the air at high speeds with enough force to crush anything it connected with. It came back around with a downward swing, Toshii rolled herself out of the way but was hit with some of the aftershock of the attack as the tail landed next to her. It broke apart the ground and sent her flying, she hit the ground face first causing it to split the right side of her face open with a rather large cut that extended down her to her neck. She pushed herself up getting to her feet just in time to see the next attack coming, her arms and legs shook as the dragon reared back his mouth opening up and fire rushing from it.
“Frick!” she yelled realizing she didn't have the AMP energy left to bring up any stable defense and it was to late to try to evade the flame.
“Sensei!” A wave of relief came over Toshii as she heard Areana call out, Bano appeared in front of her a sword strapped to his back and the Inferno AMP tattoo burned brightly through his shirt. His right arm held out in front of him as the fire came to a crashing stop under his control.
“You look terrible” he said without even looking back at her. Areana rushed out from her hiding spot gasping as she saw Toshii's face. “Sensei!”
“I'll be fine” she tried to say as her arm was pulled over Areana's shoulder, but Toshii did not even notice that she was being dragged off. She was to focused on the sword hanging off Bano's back. It was one of the seven legendary kage weapons and not many had ever seen one, not even her. She was not even sure if Bano had ever used it before this point in time, but she could feel a AMP energy coming off the blade as if it had life of its own. The energy hovered just under Bano's own
“Hang in there, Sensei!” she could hear Areana call out to her, but she could not really make out all the words herself as the blood lose had become to much and her hearing and vision had began to fail her. She passed out in Areana's arms not sure if she would ever wake back up again.
Bano let the fire die away, on the other side the dragon was ready to go head to head with him. The dragon starting to breath fire again but Bano just shook his head and the earth under its head came bursting up smacking it hard under its chin. The attack sent the dragon into a daze of confusion, Bano attacked again, with his speed and the beats confusion, it was over. The sword went up into the dragons jaw, with a yell and a roar it collapsed to the ground. He wiped the blood from the sword and placed it safely on his back again.
“Thats it!?” Areana called out running up to him. “It took you ten seconds!? We were fighting that thing for hours! What did you do!?” She jabbed at his chest with her finger as the questions flowed out of her.
“I took the AMP of the sword and injected it into the dragon, the power was to much for the poor thing. His heart and just about everything else gave out and shut down.”
The young girl stood in shock “R-really?”
Bano just nodded. “It can happen to the human body too. So you need to learn to control it, before you fight with it.” He patted her on the head ruffling her hair. “How's Toshii?”
“Fine, she and the others are being taken back to the village now by the medics.”
“Good, you look tired, maybe you should get some sleep.”
She nodded in agreement holding out her arms to him, and even that action made her look exhausted.
“I'm not going to carry you.” Bano said eying her as if she had lost her mind.
“As my stepfather you have obligations!” She said pouting.
- - -
The two bags fell onto the bed as Bano stuffed his clothes into the one on the right.
“You're really going to pack my bags?” Areana questioned sitting on the far end of the bed, despite how exhausted the day had been for her she was still unable to sleep as she looked down at the note in her hands.
“I have obligations, remember?” he zipped up his bag and throw it on the nightstand next to his bed.
“Well..yeah.” she muttered ripping up the note piece by piece letting them fall to the bed. Bano glared at the mess and her causing her to stop half way through with a apologetic look.
“I want to make sure you take useful things.” He held up a book “Like thi-”
“A book?!” She snatched it out of his hands and flipped past a few pages. “You have to be joking.” She locked eyes with him “You don't read on a vacation!” Bano ignored her and kept on packing without another word. The silence of the room gave him some freedom to think and sink back into his mind, that now seemed focused on the clan wars. He thought he had more time, it had only been about a week since Q had left the mountain village. Bano shook his head as he pushed down the last book into the bag. At the rate the things were going, the new bloods would conceder themselves lucky if they could tie their own shoes by the time he got back. He wanted to make sure at least one of them understood just how important all this was. “I don't think of it as a vacation” He said at last “In fact, I think of it as a time to test yourself.”
“Test myself?” She said having found the time between Bano's thoughts to grab hold of his sword and swing it around like a mindless child.
“You have always been interested in my weapon. On lounge island, you have a vast library of information. Learn the story behind it before we leave and you pass.” He throw both bags over his shoulder. “lets go.”
Areana just nodded following him out, sword in hand.
- - -
Q and the three other kages gathered outside of Saba's room, they stood in wonder as it sounded like the world was ending within the room. Dei's arms crossed across her chest and eyes wide open.
“The cleaning team wont like whatever is going on in there.”
“We have a cleaning team?” Des asked uncertain, the others thought about it and they all came to the conclusion, none of them had seen one maid.
“Maybe that is the cleaning team...” Death shrugged as another loud crash came from the room. Whatever it was, it sounded expensive to them.
“Is Saba in there?” Dei asked Q. “You were here before any of us.” Q just shook his head, still transfixed on the door. Suddenly something banged on the door scaring them all and making them jump back a step or two. Another hit caused the door to crack a bit down the middle, they all looked at each other hoping one of them had the answer as to what to do.
“Run?” Dei asked a bit to late for anyone to add on as the door took the third hit, it shattered unable to take any more.
As the dust cleared away they all saw Saba, her mace slung over her shoulder grinning from ear to ear. “Okay mates!” She said putting a hand on her hip “I figure we have about a day or so before Clair and Bano get here.” She paused when Q gave her a sharp glare reminding her to stop and take a deep breath making sure she talked slowly. She had always talked to fast for everyones liking and Q had made it a lifetime goal of his to make her fix it. “Well! I thought we could play a small game! A free for all death match “
“Without so much death. I would hope” Dei commented.
“Of course!” Saba's grin could not get any bigger, her hand so tight on her mace it started to turn white
- - -
Yoyo stood on the cliff overlooking the Island, expositions and the sounds of weapon on weapon rang in her ear. Q stood on her left, Dei on her right. They had both took the time to explain the whole thing to her, she was still lost as to why the two of them just stood there now but decided it was best to just go with it.
“Who's going to win?”
“Me, of course.” Q said without a doubt.
“You're playing?” She looked at him one eyebrow raised.
“I'm playing smart! Go in last when they are all out of strength!” Q went on like he had just said the smartest thing in the world.
“Erm...” Yoyo faceplamed pointing lazily at Dei. “And her?”
Dei snickered “They ran away from us, Q is trying to lie. He wanted to win it with all of us going after him.”
“And they all ran the other way...amusing.” Yoyo snickered along with Dei. Q on the other hand was so comfortable with his logic that he had dismissed it.
“Well, not that it matters much anyway” Dei said, her face changed to be very indifferent. “I or Q will be the victor. Right now, Saba and Des are down there fighting, Des will try to brute force his way past Saba and-”
“That wont work” Yoyo finished nodding in agreement.
“I know death better then anyone. She will wait for the winner, and then hit em hard.” Dei said pounding her left hand into her right open palm. “Then it will be up to Q or I to fight, she will do the something here. She could win it...if I or Q go all out.”
“Alright!” Q shouted out of nowhere after being lost in his own world for the whole conversation. “We know its going to come down to us, so lets get it over with!” Q sounded like he had not heard anything Dei and Yoyo had been talking about all this time. Surly this idea was his.
- - -
Death hid in the shadows that she had summoned in the very tall tree branch, her teeth sunk into the freshly picked apple. She pushed herself forward hunching her back, her eyes narrowed in disbelieve. Saba was not only struggling with Des, she was outright in trouble as she evaded another attack. His attacks were wild and deadly, Death really did have a fear of one catching Saba in any way. Saba must have had that same fear as she jumped away time and time again. Death was amazed at how well Des was holding up, he had no plan other then to never stop attacking, and it was working.
“Unpredictable.” she muttered to herself. That was it! He was unpredictable, and strong. The kages had always been told to learn the movements of their enemy, but that was impossible here.
Saba was cunning but Death saw that has a weakness now, it held her back in this fight. She spent so much time trying to guess the next attack that by the time it come, she could do nothing but cruse inside as she was wrong and it came from the other way. She would never see the answer Death now saw, the only way Saba would win. She just shook her head and bit into the apple again, she would wait and see how it played out. In truth, she was waiting for Des to open his back to her, she would never dream of fighting him. The only other answer was to make him lose.
- - -
Saba's frustration only grew as she sidestepped the incoming attack, the Axe came crashing down into the earth. The spend and power of the attack caused Des to abandon the weapon as it was now firmly stuck in the ground. Saba showing no mercy for the weaponless Kage as the blunt end of her hammer hit home on his right leg, she could her a large snap of bone. It was to her disbelieve when he did not even flinch and his backhand came at her, it hit her hard and made her fall to the ground. She clutched her face not sure how anyone could just shrug off a broken bone.
Tears formed in her eyes from the pain, she could hear the Axe being forced from the earth. Crippling fear washed over Saba, if just a bare handed attack pushed her to such a state, his weapon would do more then just cut at her skin. It would tear her body apart and surly Des was just trying to scare her.
“Surrender” came his cold harsh voice, he gripped his Axe and looked down at her with uncaring eyes. Saba kept her eyes lowered avoiding his own, her free hand slid backward. To Des it seemed nothing more then her trying to slide away from him as she should have but with her speed, Saba was able to grab just a bit of sand. A old but very efficient trick she had learned from a young age as a thief before she ascended to become a Kage. She avoided his eyes as she pushed herself up from the dirt
“You wouldn't kill a Kage would you?” She asked in a sweet overdone innocent girl tone trying to convince him that she was truly defeated.
“Not if you surrender.”
“That's what I thought.” She replied, Des catching the swift tone change and the upper edge of her mouth moving into a smirk. With all this he was still to slow to stop her, his eyes burned as the sand flew into his face.
- - -
The apple core rested between Death's teeth as she saw Des stubble backwards, crying out in frustration. A thick mist started to come off his body and expand outwards, it consumed everything in all directions. It was only moments before Death could see nothing but herself and a little bit of of the tree that was under her. She slipped from her perch, and entered deeper into the mist ready to take out both Saba and Des in one quick unheard attack.
- - -
Saba held the advantage as she kept Des just in her line of vision as she circled him. More sand in her left hand and her mace in the other. She was pleased to see Des show some sign that he was indeed human as he panicked. He wiped at his eyes for the fourth time, his sight had began to come back to him a bit blurry, but it must have been enough for him as his eyes started to dart all around.
As she took her time and waited for the moment to attack something came over Saba. She could hear a low hum or buzzing in her ears and her thoughts started to cloud up making it very hard to think straight. She felt the urge to lunge on Des and bash his skull in, for whatever reason, she was unsure. She quickly came to the conclusion that it was some outside force that was effecting her, and maybe not just her. Even Des was not as blood thirsty as he seemed today and it could overpowered him long ago. She placed her hand on her head, the sand falling from it. Saba fought back trying to clear her mind, but what ground she gained was only lost a few seconds later. She backed away from Des losing him in the mist hoping it would help if she was overcame all together. She could not help but feel guilt, be it her own feelings or having them pushed on to her by whatever unknown enemy, it was guilt all the same.
How long had it been there?
Had it influenced her actions up until now?
If she felt it, was it just her?
The round of questions rang in her mind as she thought back to how she had the impulse to rush this whole thing along by helping Q. How she had begged him to gather all the Kages in one spot. How it was her idea to start this 'game'. Was any of that really her? In angry and desperation she threw her mace to the ground knowing she would do less damage without it. She started to move away as it clanged on the ground, Des, in all his wonder would come running to it. As she moved away the hold seemed to weaken on her, but with it, came a new attack.
Unbodied voices rang in her ear.
Kill him!
Why do you run?
Submit, like the others.
Kill them and we shall spare you!
They were yelling at her and she could only make out a handful of what was being said. All she knew was the further she got out of the mist, the less she could hear them and the more control she had over herself. But with it the guilt came over her again, 'Like the others' she thought about the voice. She shook her head, if she could fight it so could Q and Dei. She just had to find them.
- - -
Q's staff dug into the ground, he made two long lines parallel to each other, Dei stood in front of the first one, Q, the other. They locked hands and waited for Yoyo to count down so they could start.
“This seems boring you know. I thought you two were going to fight..” She sighed at them.
“If we did that, there will be no telling how much of the Island gets blown up. Trust us. This will be fun!” Q said back at her hurrying her to start. Yoyo shrugged again and counted down, when she got to zero both Q and Dei put all they had into pushing the other over the line.
“No way your this physically strong!” Q struggled to even just hold her back.
“I'm strong, or you're just really weak! Take your pick.” She laughed, Q would have made some kind of comeback but he was to focused on how cold his hands had become from just touching Dei. They started to numb over very quickly and it looked like he would give up from the fear of frostbite before being pushed back. “I'm glad your personality is a lot warmer then your skin.” He smiled at her.
“It wasn't always that way.” She gave one huge push and Q lost a bit of ground.
Q's eyes seem to look past her and he seemed lost in a memory. “Na, you were always nice” he said and out of no where Dei was pushed back to the edge of the line. Her heel of her foot rested just at the mark. “Nice enough to hold back anyway.” He nodded at her as she fall back over the line. She landed on her back as Q let go of her.
“Humph.”
- - -
Bano and Areana stepped off the boat
“I'm going to have a look around!” Areana said happily taking off.
“Stay close!”
“It's an Island! Where am I going to go!?”
Not more then a few moments later Bano walked into the main dining room of the Kage Palace, both Saba and Clair where already in the room. Clair stood over Saba trying to look her over.
“I said get away from me!” Saba yelled at her pulling away from Clair.
“Whats going on?” Bano asked crossing his arms confused.
“I found her out around the Island running around, she looked hurt, I'm trying to help her.”
“I don't trust you!” Saba yelled again. “I said I wanted Q.”
“And thats all she has said to me.” Clair shrugged turning on Bano about to ask him how he was, but before she could Saba jumped up and grabbed her bow from her back and ripped it off. She pushed Clair again and she fell over hitting the floor face first.
“Saba!” Bano shouted at her, but Saba had pulled a arrow out on him ready to shoot.
“Hand over the sword.”
“Whats got into you?” Bano sighed.
There was a sound of a glass shattering from the hallway just outside and Saba freaked even more and made for another exit and vanishing. Arena poked her head into the room.
“Oops! You did it.” She said. Bano ignored her out of habit and checked on Clair, she rubbed her nose with a frown. “What the heck.”
- - -
Death ate another apple as she sat on the rock, Des laying out cold in front of her, her spear stuck into the ground. She exhaled and saw her own breath as her backside became freezing cold, she looked over her shoulder to she Dei taking up the other half of the rock behind her.
“Who's winning?”
“Q has declared himself victory and gone back to the palace to eat. Suns going down anyway, we should do the same.”
Death nodded as she finished her apple. She was not very hungry having spent most of the day eating apples, but she wanted to sleep.
“Hey...” Dei started as she got up and walked several paces and bent down to pick up Saba's mace. “Where is Saba?”
Death shrugged “The last I saw, she was fighting Des and he put up some mist and that was it.”
“Weird, no Kage should just leave a weapon like this laying around.”
Death shrugged again not really sure how to answer Dei.
“Well, come on, lets just go before it gets dark.”
- - -
“Where's Saba?” Q asked looking around the table at the all the Kages, the only one not there was Saba. None of them seemed to worried about it. Even Clair and Bano who seemed more angry with her then anything. They both just ate the food put out for them and drink, each of them finding something they enjoyed the most on their plates. Dei seat next to Q and showed him the weapon under the table. Q knew Dei must have wanted it to be kept somewhat secret.
“I found it, it was just on the ground. Death said she saw her fighting Des, but thats the last she saw.” She passed it to him and he did his best to hide it wrapping it up in whatever he could find.
“Alright, seeing as none of you have seen her.” Q said with a frown. “Just enjoy the food, and get some rest. We are here for a week and after that we can get on with the Clan wars.” He got up and patted Dei's shoulder before disappearing into the hallway. She took a sip of her drink and shook her head, Q was off to find Saba, unable to rest with her missing.
- - -
Areana walked up the stone steps not sure where she was even headed, the air around her seemed to change and she got to the top. Four pillars greeted her at the top, each having it's own flag hanging from them. Shadow, Mist, Storm and none she did not even recognize.
“It's eerie, right?” Yoyo said behind her causing Arena to jump. “They died for us” Yoyo sighed going on.
“Erm...” Arena said with a blank look.
“Don't know the story do ya?”
Areana just shook her head and Yoyo laughed putting a arm around her. “Then you have a long night ahead of ya, kid O.”
- - -
Q entered into his room and was shocked to see Saba on his bed sitting cross legged just glaring at the door.
“We have to talk.”
Chapter four:
The sun had not come up yet but the dim light in the sky gave sign to its coming any moment now. Areana pulled along Koorm's body into a ditch and covered it with anything she could trying to hide it, Toshii jumped down with her followed by the limp body of the other Ishi boy who was thrown down by Rakk as he rolled himself into the ditch hitting the ground hard with a grunt. Toshii began to cover both bodies pushing Areana out of the way.
Areana and Rakk pushed themselves as close to the wall as they could and rested for what little time they could.
“How's your leg?” Areana muttered
“Broken.” Rakk kept his answer short, already having trouble with his breathing.
“Keep quiet!” Toshii said in a hushed whisper, she was covered in blood a mix of her own and the boys she now hung over checking their pulse and their breathing. She nodded and signaled to Rakk and Areana to follow her as she ducked as low as she could and moved slowly through the dirt. Overhead the roar of the dragon echoed throughout the forest making it hard to tell just where it came from but it made both of the new bloods shake with fear. They came to the end of the path, Toshii turning around and putting her back to the wall shaking her head at the others.
“We can't take this thing on.” She muttered her voice and tone very weak as she clutched her left side trying to stop a wound from bleeding through the makeshift bandage she had made. The other two just rolled over and dropped to the ground, resting on their backs they knew Toshii was right. The fight had lasted for hours with mostly them doing random hit and runs, but no matter how far they ran, the beast came after them blood hungry. Each of them had several broken bones and blood pouring from one of the many wounds they had suffered that night. It was only a matter of time before they would all bleed out and die with no real treatment to be found other then rags to tie the wounds off.
“Here's the plan.” Toshii whispered “You're going to run as fast as you can back to the village and get the Yamakage.”
“I can't run” Rakk said trying to move his leg
“I can.” Areana pushed herself up “But not with that thing out there!”
“Don't worry about him, I'll create a diversion, I refuse to let another Ishi die before me. Just help me get my left armor off, I can't move my arm anymore with it on.”
Areana nodded as she helped Toshii pull away the armor. “Do you need anything more sensei?”
“No, just give me about ten seconds to get his attention before you go.” Toshii got to her feet and poked her head out to try to look for the dragon as Areana started pulling off her own weapon and anything that could weigh her down.
Toshii looked back at Areana with a nod. “Lesson one about a dragon, always go for the underbelly.”
“This is not the time for a lesson!” Rakk said in disbelieve. Toshii just rolled her eyes as she jumped out of the ditch, a massive roar sounding out a few seconds later. Areana was off rushing as fast as she could to the kage palace.
- - -
Toshii had no desire to kill the dragon or even hurt it, she knew all she had to do was hold off until Bano got there to aid her. With that in mind she dodged and evaded with everything she had, mostly just running away throwing a attack back at the beast every now and then with her fist weapon. Any attack she throw just bounced off the thick scales of the dragon making them pointless. The dragon brought his whole body around fast swinging his tail at Toshii, she reacted just in time plunging herself into the ground to evaded it. It sounded just an inch overhead as it whipped through the air at high speeds with enough force to crush anything it connected with. It came back around with a downward swing, Toshii rolled herself out of the way but was hit with some of the aftershock of the attack as the tail landed next to her. It broke apart the ground and sent her flying, she hit the ground face first causing it to split the right side of her face open with a rather large cut that extended down her to her neck. She pushed herself up getting to her feet just in time to see the next attack coming, her arms and legs shook as the dragon reared back his mouth opening up and fire rushing from it.
“Frick!” she yelled realizing she didn't have the AMP energy left to bring up any stable defense and it was to late to try to evade the flame.
“Sensei!” A wave of relief came over Toshii as she heard Areana call out, Bano appeared in front of her a sword strapped to his back and the Inferno AMP tattoo burned brightly through his shirt. His right arm held out in front of him as the fire came to a crashing stop under his control.
“You look terrible” he said without even looking back at her. Areana rushed out from her hiding spot gasping as she saw Toshii's face. “Sensei!”
“I'll be fine” she tried to say as her arm was pulled over Areana's shoulder, but Toshii did not even notice that she was being dragged off. She was to focused on the sword hanging off Bano's back. It was one of the seven legendary kage weapons and not many had ever seen one, not even her. She was not even sure if Bano had ever used it before this point in time, but she could feel a AMP energy coming off the blade as if it had life of its own. The energy hovered just under Bano's own
“Hang in there, Sensei!” she could hear Areana call out to her, but she could not really make out all the words herself as the blood lose had become to much and her hearing and vision had began to fail her. She passed out in Areana's arms not sure if she would ever wake back up again.
Bano let the fire die away, on the other side the dragon was ready to go head to head with him. The dragon starting to breath fire again but Bano just shook his head and the earth under its head came bursting up smacking it hard under its chin. The attack sent the dragon into a daze of confusion, Bano attacked again, with his speed and the beats confusion, it was over. The sword went up into the dragons jaw, with a yell and a roar it collapsed to the ground. He wiped the blood from the sword and placed it safely on his back again.
“Thats it!?” Areana called out running up to him. “It took you ten seconds!? We were fighting that thing for hours! What did you do!?” She jabbed at his chest with her finger as the questions flowed out of her.
“I took the AMP of the sword and injected it into the dragon, the power was to much for the poor thing. His heart and just about everything else gave out and shut down.”
The young girl stood in shock “R-really?”
Bano just nodded. “It can happen to the human body too. So you need to learn to control it, before you fight with it.” He patted her on the head ruffling her hair. “How's Toshii?”
“Fine, she and the others are being taken back to the village now by the medics.”
“Good, you look tired, maybe you should get some sleep.”
She nodded in agreement holding out her arms to him, and even that action made her look exhausted.
“I'm not going to carry you.” Bano said eying her as if she had lost her mind.
“As my stepfather you have obligations!” She said pouting.
- - -
The two bags fell onto the bed as Bano stuffed his clothes into the one on the right.
“You're really going to pack my bags?” Areana questioned sitting on the far end of the bed, despite how exhausted the day had been for her she was still unable to sleep as she looked down at the note in her hands.
“I have obligations, remember?” he zipped up his bag and throw it on the nightstand next to his bed.
“Well..yeah.” she muttered ripping up the note piece by piece letting them fall to the bed. Bano glared at the mess and her causing her to stop half way through with a apologetic look.
“I want to make sure you take useful things.” He held up a book “Like thi-”
“A book?!” She snatched it out of his hands and flipped past a few pages. “You have to be joking.” She locked eyes with him “You don't read on a vacation!” Bano ignored her and kept on packing without another word. The silence of the room gave him some freedom to think and sink back into his mind, that now seemed focused on the clan wars. He thought he had more time, it had only been about a week since Q had left the mountain village. Bano shook his head as he pushed down the last book into the bag. At the rate the things were going, the new bloods would conceder themselves lucky if they could tie their own shoes by the time he got back. He wanted to make sure at least one of them understood just how important all this was. “I don't think of it as a vacation” He said at last “In fact, I think of it as a time to test yourself.”
“Test myself?” She said having found the time between Bano's thoughts to grab hold of his sword and swing it around like a mindless child.
“You have always been interested in my weapon. On lounge island, you have a vast library of information. Learn the story behind it before we leave and you pass.” He throw both bags over his shoulder. “lets go.”
Areana just nodded following him out, sword in hand.
- - -
Q and the three other kages gathered outside of Saba's room, they stood in wonder as it sounded like the world was ending within the room. Dei's arms crossed across her chest and eyes wide open.
“The cleaning team wont like whatever is going on in there.”
“We have a cleaning team?” Des asked uncertain, the others thought about it and they all came to the conclusion, none of them had seen one maid.
“Maybe that is the cleaning team...” Death shrugged as another loud crash came from the room. Whatever it was, it sounded expensive to them.
“Is Saba in there?” Dei asked Q. “You were here before any of us.” Q just shook his head, still transfixed on the door. Suddenly something banged on the door scaring them all and making them jump back a step or two. Another hit caused the door to crack a bit down the middle, they all looked at each other hoping one of them had the answer as to what to do.
“Run?” Dei asked a bit to late for anyone to add on as the door took the third hit, it shattered unable to take any more.
As the dust cleared away they all saw Saba, her mace slung over her shoulder grinning from ear to ear. “Okay mates!” She said putting a hand on her hip “I figure we have about a day or so before Clair and Bano get here.” She paused when Q gave her a sharp glare reminding her to stop and take a deep breath making sure she talked slowly. She had always talked to fast for everyones liking and Q had made it a lifetime goal of his to make her fix it. “Well! I thought we could play a small game! A free for all death match “
“Without so much death. I would hope” Dei commented.
“Of course!” Saba's grin could not get any bigger, her hand so tight on her mace it started to turn white
- - -
Yoyo stood on the cliff overlooking the Island, expositions and the sounds of weapon on weapon rang in her ear. Q stood on her left, Dei on her right. They had both took the time to explain the whole thing to her, she was still lost as to why the two of them just stood there now but decided it was best to just go with it.
“Who's going to win?”
“Me, of course.” Q said without a doubt.
“You're playing?” She looked at him one eyebrow raised.
“I'm playing smart! Go in last when they are all out of strength!” Q went on like he had just said the smartest thing in the world.
“Erm...” Yoyo faceplamed pointing lazily at Dei. “And her?”
Dei snickered “They ran away from us, Q is trying to lie. He wanted to win it with all of us going after him.”
“And they all ran the other way...amusing.” Yoyo snickered along with Dei. Q on the other hand was so comfortable with his logic that he had dismissed it.
“Well, not that it matters much anyway” Dei said, her face changed to be very indifferent. “I or Q will be the victor. Right now, Saba and Des are down there fighting, Des will try to brute force his way past Saba and-”
“That wont work” Yoyo finished nodding in agreement.
“I know death better then anyone. She will wait for the winner, and then hit em hard.” Dei said pounding her left hand into her right open palm. “Then it will be up to Q or I to fight, she will do the something here. She could win it...if I or Q go all out.”
“Alright!” Q shouted out of nowhere after being lost in his own world for the whole conversation. “We know its going to come down to us, so lets get it over with!” Q sounded like he had not heard anything Dei and Yoyo had been talking about all this time. Surly this idea was his.
- - -
Death hid in the shadows that she had summoned in the very tall tree branch, her teeth sunk into the freshly picked apple. She pushed herself forward hunching her back, her eyes narrowed in disbelieve. Saba was not only struggling with Des, she was outright in trouble as she evaded another attack. His attacks were wild and deadly, Death really did have a fear of one catching Saba in any way. Saba must have had that same fear as she jumped away time and time again. Death was amazed at how well Des was holding up, he had no plan other then to never stop attacking, and it was working.
“Unpredictable.” she muttered to herself. That was it! He was unpredictable, and strong. The kages had always been told to learn the movements of their enemy, but that was impossible here.
Saba was cunning but Death saw that has a weakness now, it held her back in this fight. She spent so much time trying to guess the next attack that by the time it come, she could do nothing but cruse inside as she was wrong and it came from the other way. She would never see the answer Death now saw, the only way Saba would win. She just shook her head and bit into the apple again, she would wait and see how it played out. In truth, she was waiting for Des to open his back to her, she would never dream of fighting him. The only other answer was to make him lose.
- - -
Saba's frustration only grew as she sidestepped the incoming attack, the Axe came crashing down into the earth. The spend and power of the attack caused Des to abandon the weapon as it was now firmly stuck in the ground. Saba showing no mercy for the weaponless Kage as the blunt end of her hammer hit home on his right leg, she could her a large snap of bone. It was to her disbelieve when he did not even flinch and his backhand came at her, it hit her hard and made her fall to the ground. She clutched her face not sure how anyone could just shrug off a broken bone.
Tears formed in her eyes from the pain, she could hear the Axe being forced from the earth. Crippling fear washed over Saba, if just a bare handed attack pushed her to such a state, his weapon would do more then just cut at her skin. It would tear her body apart and surly Des was just trying to scare her.
“Surrender” came his cold harsh voice, he gripped his Axe and looked down at her with uncaring eyes. Saba kept her eyes lowered avoiding his own, her free hand slid backward. To Des it seemed nothing more then her trying to slide away from him as she should have but with her speed, Saba was able to grab just a bit of sand. A old but very efficient trick she had learned from a young age as a thief before she ascended to become a Kage. She avoided his eyes as she pushed herself up from the dirt
“You wouldn't kill a Kage would you?” She asked in a sweet overdone innocent girl tone trying to convince him that she was truly defeated.
“Not if you surrender.”
“That's what I thought.” She replied, Des catching the swift tone change and the upper edge of her mouth moving into a smirk. With all this he was still to slow to stop her, his eyes burned as the sand flew into his face.
- - -
The apple core rested between Death's teeth as she saw Des stubble backwards, crying out in frustration. A thick mist started to come off his body and expand outwards, it consumed everything in all directions. It was only moments before Death could see nothing but herself and a little bit of of the tree that was under her. She slipped from her perch, and entered deeper into the mist ready to take out both Saba and Des in one quick unheard attack.
- - -
Saba held the advantage as she kept Des just in her line of vision as she circled him. More sand in her left hand and her mace in the other. She was pleased to see Des show some sign that he was indeed human as he panicked. He wiped at his eyes for the fourth time, his sight had began to come back to him a bit blurry, but it must have been enough for him as his eyes started to dart all around.
As she took her time and waited for the moment to attack something came over Saba. She could hear a low hum or buzzing in her ears and her thoughts started to cloud up making it very hard to think straight. She felt the urge to lunge on Des and bash his skull in, for whatever reason, she was unsure. She quickly came to the conclusion that it was some outside force that was effecting her, and maybe not just her. Even Des was not as blood thirsty as he seemed today and it could overpowered him long ago. She placed her hand on her head, the sand falling from it. Saba fought back trying to clear her mind, but what ground she gained was only lost a few seconds later. She backed away from Des losing him in the mist hoping it would help if she was overcame all together. She could not help but feel guilt, be it her own feelings or having them pushed on to her by whatever unknown enemy, it was guilt all the same.
How long had it been there?
Had it influenced her actions up until now?
If she felt it, was it just her?
The round of questions rang in her mind as she thought back to how she had the impulse to rush this whole thing along by helping Q. How she had begged him to gather all the Kages in one spot. How it was her idea to start this 'game'. Was any of that really her? In angry and desperation she threw her mace to the ground knowing she would do less damage without it. She started to move away as it clanged on the ground, Des, in all his wonder would come running to it. As she moved away the hold seemed to weaken on her, but with it, came a new attack.
Unbodied voices rang in her ear.
Kill him!
Why do you run?
Submit, like the others.
Kill them and we shall spare you!
They were yelling at her and she could only make out a handful of what was being said. All she knew was the further she got out of the mist, the less she could hear them and the more control she had over herself. But with it the guilt came over her again, 'Like the others' she thought about the voice. She shook her head, if she could fight it so could Q and Dei. She just had to find them.
- - -
Q's staff dug into the ground, he made two long lines parallel to each other, Dei stood in front of the first one, Q, the other. They locked hands and waited for Yoyo to count down so they could start.
“This seems boring you know. I thought you two were going to fight..” She sighed at them.
“If we did that, there will be no telling how much of the Island gets blown up. Trust us. This will be fun!” Q said back at her hurrying her to start. Yoyo shrugged again and counted down, when she got to zero both Q and Dei put all they had into pushing the other over the line.
“No way your this physically strong!” Q struggled to even just hold her back.
“I'm strong, or you're just really weak! Take your pick.” She laughed, Q would have made some kind of comeback but he was to focused on how cold his hands had become from just touching Dei. They started to numb over very quickly and it looked like he would give up from the fear of frostbite before being pushed back. “I'm glad your personality is a lot warmer then your skin.” He smiled at her.
“It wasn't always that way.” She gave one huge push and Q lost a bit of ground.
Q's eyes seem to look past her and he seemed lost in a memory. “Na, you were always nice” he said and out of no where Dei was pushed back to the edge of the line. Her heel of her foot rested just at the mark. “Nice enough to hold back anyway.” He nodded at her as she fall back over the line. She landed on her back as Q let go of her.
“Humph.”
- - -
Bano and Areana stepped off the boat
“I'm going to have a look around!” Areana said happily taking off.
“Stay close!”
“It's an Island! Where am I going to go!?”
Not more then a few moments later Bano walked into the main dining room of the Kage Palace, both Saba and Clair where already in the room. Clair stood over Saba trying to look her over.
“I said get away from me!” Saba yelled at her pulling away from Clair.
“Whats going on?” Bano asked crossing his arms confused.
“I found her out around the Island running around, she looked hurt, I'm trying to help her.”
“I don't trust you!” Saba yelled again. “I said I wanted Q.”
“And thats all she has said to me.” Clair shrugged turning on Bano about to ask him how he was, but before she could Saba jumped up and grabbed her bow from her back and ripped it off. She pushed Clair again and she fell over hitting the floor face first.
“Saba!” Bano shouted at her, but Saba had pulled a arrow out on him ready to shoot.
“Hand over the sword.”
“Whats got into you?” Bano sighed.
There was a sound of a glass shattering from the hallway just outside and Saba freaked even more and made for another exit and vanishing. Arena poked her head into the room.
“Oops! You did it.” She said. Bano ignored her out of habit and checked on Clair, she rubbed her nose with a frown. “What the heck.”
- - -
Death ate another apple as she sat on the rock, Des laying out cold in front of her, her spear stuck into the ground. She exhaled and saw her own breath as her backside became freezing cold, she looked over her shoulder to she Dei taking up the other half of the rock behind her.
“Who's winning?”
“Q has declared himself victory and gone back to the palace to eat. Suns going down anyway, we should do the same.”
Death nodded as she finished her apple. She was not very hungry having spent most of the day eating apples, but she wanted to sleep.
“Hey...” Dei started as she got up and walked several paces and bent down to pick up Saba's mace. “Where is Saba?”
Death shrugged “The last I saw, she was fighting Des and he put up some mist and that was it.”
“Weird, no Kage should just leave a weapon like this laying around.”
Death shrugged again not really sure how to answer Dei.
“Well, come on, lets just go before it gets dark.”
- - -
“Where's Saba?” Q asked looking around the table at the all the Kages, the only one not there was Saba. None of them seemed to worried about it. Even Clair and Bano who seemed more angry with her then anything. They both just ate the food put out for them and drink, each of them finding something they enjoyed the most on their plates. Dei seat next to Q and showed him the weapon under the table. Q knew Dei must have wanted it to be kept somewhat secret.
“I found it, it was just on the ground. Death said she saw her fighting Des, but thats the last she saw.” She passed it to him and he did his best to hide it wrapping it up in whatever he could find.
“Alright, seeing as none of you have seen her.” Q said with a frown. “Just enjoy the food, and get some rest. We are here for a week and after that we can get on with the Clan wars.” He got up and patted Dei's shoulder before disappearing into the hallway. She took a sip of her drink and shook her head, Q was off to find Saba, unable to rest with her missing.
- - -
Areana walked up the stone steps not sure where she was even headed, the air around her seemed to change and she got to the top. Four pillars greeted her at the top, each having it's own flag hanging from them. Shadow, Mist, Storm and none she did not even recognize.
“It's eerie, right?” Yoyo said behind her causing Arena to jump. “They died for us” Yoyo sighed going on.
“Erm...” Arena said with a blank look.
“Don't know the story do ya?”
Areana just shook her head and Yoyo laughed putting a arm around her. “Then you have a long night ahead of ya, kid O.”
- - -
Q entered into his room and was shocked to see Saba on his bed sitting cross legged just glaring at the door.
“We have to talk.”
Last edited by Banouin on Fri May 28 2010, 15:32; edited 5 times in total
Toshiro~ ^_^ x3
