Directly in front of him, about 100 feet to be exact, two teenagers, students at the university, Zamza assumed, were occupied in a heated argument.

Zamza watched, and after a few minutes, one of the two students decided he had had enough, and took a swing at the other student.

The second student, caught totally by surprise, took the punch right in the jaw, and went straight to the ground faster than the fiercest rain in the middle of the worst rainstorm imaginable. Boy number one then jumped on top of boy number two and preceded to pummel his face. The onslaught continued until a concerned citizen decided to break it up.

Zamza gave a small smile and began to walk away as the upstanding citizen gave the two boys a proper scolding. The ring of spectators that had come together during the fight now began to break up.

"-It's those damn Highlanders, it's got everyone in a tizzy. No one knows what the hell's going to happen. I've even heard rumors that Teresa is considering a lock down of the city. It's got me worried." Zamza heard one spectator say.

"-Did you see how fast those punches were? That kid is really quick!" he heard another on-looker state.

Zamza disregarded the statements and walked to the inn so he could get a room; he was tired as hell, although inside he felt great. He felt like...himself, for the first time in a long time.

"How much?" Zamza asked as he reached the innkeeper.

"Well, um..." the man began to reply as he looked at Zamza with curious, frantic eyes. He sized Zamza up and shot a quick, awkward glance behind Zamza that said 'Give me some help please?' to whomever was back there.

Zamza, curious as to what was going on, turned around to see three men approaching him.

"Do you men have business with me? If not, go away, a great warrior like me should not be involved in meddlesome and pointless conversation." Zamza said curtly as he once again turned around to talk to the innkeeper.

"Ha, ha, ha. Get a load of this guy!" One of the men behind Zamza said. "A great warrior, ha ha ha! You don't even have a sword! A great warrior indeed!" The man continued, still laughing.

Suddenly, the laughter stopped and the man's tone became serious. "What are you doing here, foreigner?" the man asked heatedly.

Zamza turned back around to address the man. "I do not need a sword, I am also a great magician, one who's power you do not want to test, boy. There is not a greater fighter in all of the City-States, you should feel grateful that I have even decided to grace this city with my wonderful presence."

"Hmph! Let's see just how great you are then." the man said, beginning to unsheath the sword which hung at his side. However, before he could get the sword halfway out of the scabbard, Zamza had lit up Tekkan and threw a punch at the man, stopping the fist just inches from the man's face, Tekkan's flames sizzling the man's eyebrows.

"Um...he's okay." the man said meekly as he then turned and scurried out the door.

Zamza paid for the night and went to his room. He wasn't there for more than a few minuteswhen something was slipped under the door. He went over to the object to find that it was aletter. Zamza wasn't surprised. He picked the letter up and read what was scrawled there.

I'LL MEET YOU IN THE FOREST WALK AROUND. I'LL FIND YOU NOW WOULD BE A GOOD TIME TO PICK UP PRAYING, MY FRIEND.

Feather dreamed sweet dreams of devouring axebunnies. It wasn't much of story, as dreams go, but it made Feather very happy. He rumbled in his sleep, and even kicked his legs and twitched his wings as if chasing after the little morsels. Then a gigantic axebunny appeared, bigger than he was, and Feather quickly clawed his way awake.

Feather hated having bad dreams. Especially good ones that turned bad on him. It just made him cranky when he made himself wake up. Feather noticed the morning sun, and decided to check out the forest, maybe Badeaux was here.

Feather got up, and ambled his way into the forest, making plenty of noise along the way so that Badeaux could hear him. Humans just didn't have the senses of a griffin, Feather noted sadly.

Feather's mood soured the longer and longer he looked and the man still didn't appear. The sun was much higher in the sky by now, and Feather was cranky and hungry. Sadly, these woods appeared to be deserted, although the shadows could be hiding food. This idea intrigued Feather, so he made himself move very very stealthily.

He didn't get very far before he poked his nose into a clearing, and smelled a man. At least, the basic scent was human. The rest of the scent was shot through with so much fury that the owner of the scent was most likely insane. Only insane animals smelled this angry, and Feather reasoned that the same applied to humans.

Feather cautiously crept into the clearing, and saw a man hiding up a tree. Feather was annoyed, and the man didn't look very tough, so Feather decided to scare him a little; blow off some steam. He crept over to the tree the man was in and whacked it with his body, causing the man, caught off guard, to fall to the ground.

Feather got a better look at the guy and amended his previous evaluation. This guy was nuts, and he was really tough! He had a pair of steel claws on his hands, and he carried them like they were part of his body. Feather started to back off, and the man advanced on him, claws out, looking really pissed.

Feather realized he couldn't get away right now - that he'll have to fight this guy. He hoped the man wasn't Badeaux. That would be bad. Feather geared up his body for a fight, and was about to lunge, when another human leapt into the clearing. From the way he moved towards the first human, Feather guessed he was a fighter (who specialized in barefist fighting, as he wore no visible weapons) and that he was intent on at least hurting the clawed human. Feather did not like the whole situation...it boded no good for anyone involved.

Well, now wasn't this a spectacle. Forming a perfect triangle, was Slade, himself, and a huge griffon, whom Zamza believed had no business being here. Slade had his claws out (and Zamza found this extremely ironic, seeing as how he hated Master Forge yet continued to wear the weapon he had given him), and appeared to be getting ready to attack the over-sized animal. The griffon, had already taken a defensive stance, and was awaiting the oncoming strike from Slade.

"Have you sunk so low as to attack a defenseless animal, Slade?" Zamza questioned, announcing his presence.

Slade, a little surprised at the voice, retracted his claws and turned towards Zamza, a wicked smile on his face. As he did this, Zamza was shocked at what stood before him. This man was not the Slade he had remembered. His face was scarred and battered, the tip of his nose missing. His body was larger now, no longer the thief's form he had so many years ago. His biceps were bigger than Zamza's now, and there didn't appear to be anything but muscle on his frame. It was obvious he had been training excruciatingly hard for this moment. After all this however, there remained one constant. His eyes. They were deep oceans of nothingness; not to be mistaken with anyone else in all of the world.

"Well, now it's a party!" Slade rasped excitedly, his voice eerily similar to nails running across a chalkboard. "Oh, how I have waited for this moment, my friend. I was getting a little anxious, figured I'd have a little appetizer with our fine-feathered friend here, but now that you're hear, and let me tell you Zamza, this wasn't exactly the atmosphere I pictured us having our reunion in, I guess we can get started with the main course."

Zamza threw a quick glance over towards the griffon, trying to see what his situation was. It appeared that the griffon didn't really like what was going on here, but Zamza knew that when this fight began , he should have an ally if the animal decided to stay - Zamza was sure that he wasn't too fond of Slade either.

"Listen Slade, you were never good enough then, and you aren't good enough to take me down now. So why don't you do me a favor, and just come over here and let me kill you quickly, that way I can be back at the Greenhill inn for dinner, okay?" Zamza asked, trying to goad Slade on a bit.

"Ha, ha. That's funny, Zamza. But I'll tell you what, since you were a good sport and all by coming here, I've decided to make this a fair fight" Slade answered, removing something from his cloak. After examining it himself, Slade tossed it underhanded over to Zamza.

"A blinking crystal." Zamza stated, more to himself than anyone else.

"That's right. I had it removed just for this fight, now we each have two runes, and it appears that one of mine matches yours. We always did think alike, didn't we Zamza?" Slade said smiling. He lifted each of his palms, and on his left Zamza saw a lightning rune, to match his own. On his right was a rune Zamza had not seen in quite a while. He couldn't place it, but he couldn't remember ever seeing it on anyone in the city-states as of yet.

Zamza didn't like that smile on Slade's face either, something was up. Slade would never give up an advantage in a fight, never. There was something about this blinking crystal. Well, Zamza wasn't waiting to find out what it was. Turning to his left, Zamza hurled the crystal at a nearby tree, his gaze not leaving Slade but for a couple of seconds.

'This must be my lucky day' Slade thought to himself, 'this is better than what I had hoped for'. With Zamza's attention diverted, Slade quickly bent down, removing a dagger fastened around his ankle. While still kneeling, he threw the dagger towards Zamza.

Zamza saw the motion out of the corner of his eye, and reacted quickly, waiting for the object to fly by him. However, instead of flying towards Zamza, the dagger implanted itself in a nearby tree, severing a rope which was there. As if in slow motion, Zamza saw the giant tree stump come flying out of nowhere. He tried to dodge it, but this was something he had not been expecting. The tree struck him in the side, and sent him flying into the massive trunk of a nearby tree.

Zamza tried to get up, but was unable to. His head felt foggy, like nothing was real anymore. His head began to pound unmercifully now, and he watched with glazed eyes as Slade once again turned his attention to the unwelcomed griffon.

Feather regarded the single remaining standing human with no little contempt. Only a coward would stoop so low as to use a constructed trap to catch or disable prey. All caution boiled right out of his head, and he crouched, ready to pounce and reduce the human into little bloody gobbets of flesh.

The human threw another dagger, however, this one hitting another tree, and another tree stump sailed in Feather's direction. Feather's single thought as the stump sailed towards him was that this human must be an idiot - the tree stump trick might work on a human, but not an experienced predator.

Feather reared up onto his hind legs and grabbed the stump, spinning with the swing in order to keep up momentum. He snapped the connecting rope with a quick downward pull, and hurled the stump at the insane human's chest.

The human managed to duck and avoid getting hit full on, but still got clipped on the side of his head and top of his shoulder. The blood started to flow a little. Feather had to hand it to him; this human was quick. But not quick enough! Feather thought, and pounced!

Feather got a few shallow punctures in his right foreleg before he realized what was happening - this human was fighting back, and effectively too! Feather realized he was a little too big to get this guy effectively, so he needed help. Maybe that other human that got knocked down would help!

Feather quickly managed to stun the human with a step on his stomach, then a quick swat at his head. While the human just lay there, moving groggily, Feather went to the other human and helped him up. Feather squawked at him and pointed with a fore-claw at the insane human. He just hoped that this human got the idea that Feather wanted him to help beat up the insane guy. Feather worriedly glanced at the human he had stunned, who was now shaking it off and starting to get up.

Zamza was on his feet now. He whispered a grateful thank you to Feather and glanced back to see Slade on his feet as well; watching the two with a furious contempt. Zamza looked back at the griffon and held up a finger, hoping the animal would understand that he wanted him to wait a minute. With that, each man took his first steps toward one another.

"Okay Fire Dragon Rune, I need your power more than ever" Zamza said to the rune on his right palm. He did this quite often, although this time was different. When Zamza finished speaking, the rune shined and sparkled, as if in approving response to Zamza's request. Zamza thought that it could have just been the abundant rays of the sun beaming down on it, but for some reason he didn't believe this to be the case.

They were closer now, no more than five steps away from one another, Feather following in tow. They were even closer now, just three steps apart, when both men suddenly stopped. They stood there, neither man moving a muscle, staring each other up with their eyes, like the last two great gunslingers in the old, wild west.

"Let's dance" Zamza said, initiating the fight. The next minute saw a flurry of movement, that made the sixty-seconds seem to last an eternity.

Zamza lit up Tekken and brought on a full frontal assult upon Slade. Slade fell back a few steps, blocking the punches as they came, until he finally dropped down and performed a foot sweep that would have made Master Forge proud, knocking Zamza's feet out from under him. Zamza hurredly flipped back up, away from Slade, allowing Feather his first taste of the action. Feather swooped in, dodging the quick, smooth strikes of Slade's claws, and attacked with his own talons. Feather's nails cam across Slade's forehead, opening the soft tender flesh which was there.

Slade let out an exasperated scream of surprise and pain, as he realized things weren't going exactly as he thought they would. He performed a perfect backflip, and as he landed, raised his left hand as though it was part of the execution.

"Thunder Runner!" Slade exclaimed, as the lightning rune shined and large lightning bolts came down from the sky. Zamza dove to his right and dodged the bolt by an eyelash. The griffon in front of him however, wasn't as lucky. The bolt struck him in the wing, sending the animal into a tailspin, and crashing to the ground.

Zamza shot Feather a look, to make sure he was alright, and scurried to his feet. He re-lit Tekken and waited for the attack from Slade. Zamza dodged the ferociously fast swings easily, but marvelled at how fast Slade had become. Zamza retalliated with a punch to the right side of Slade's jaw, and a hearty kick to Slade's kidney. Slade fell back a few steps and hit the ground with a dull *thump*.

The adrenaline was racing throughout Zamza's body now. He hurried forward a few steps and raised his right hand. He felt the extra power right away, and suddenly a roaring flame came out of his rune. Slade dodged to his left quickly, keeping his skin away from the giant fire. He didn't move quick enough however, as the tail end of his cloak was caught, and went up faster than a brush fire in a forest on a hot day.

As Slade struggled to remove his burning cloak, Zamza gaped in disbelief at the rune attached to his right hand. He didn't know what the hell just happened, but he liked it. The amount of power that he had just felt was fantastic, now how the hell had he done it?

"I see you haven't wasted your entire existence in this world" Slade said, his cloak lying on the ground next to him, burning slowly into ashes. His torso was so ravaged by scars, Zamza noticed, that it made his face look pristine by comparison. The most dominate of these scars, was one that came cleanly across his abdomen, a kind gesture of Vandle's scimitars on Tenzen Pass. What amazed Zamza even more though, was the belt Slade had around him. It carried, by Zamza's count, at least 20 razor sharp daggers. With these, and the one's fastened around his ankle's, Zamza thought he carried daggers around like they were nothing.

Zamza scowered the forest with his eyes, trying to find his feathered ally. He finally spotted the animal coming up behind Slade, never making a sound. Zamza was shocked at how stealthy the giant animal could in fact be. Zamza tried to take advantage of the situation and brought another assault upon the demented killer. Zamza brought his fist across the left side of Slade's face, and then, stopping the momentum that carried his arm, brought a vicious backhanded fist across the right side of Slade's face.

Slade took the punches in stride, and started his own bombardment. Zamza easily ducked and dodged Slade's first two attacks, but the thied came a little too fast. Slade's four claws on his right hand came across Zamza's gut, leaving four shallow cuts which now started to spew forth blood. Slade then brought his left hand down across Zamza's leg, and ripped open four new wounds on Zamza's body, forcing him to one knee.

As Slade approached once more, Feather attacked from behind, his nails digging deep into Slade's flesh. Slade turned around , but was greeted with two fiercly quick thrashes on each of his shoulder blades. Feather flew higher up, and brought himself to the perfect trajectory to decapitate the debased human.

He flew in at an incredible speed, but Slade new exactly what to do. He counted to three, so the animal would be close enough, and picked two daggers out of his belt, flung them at the griffon, and dove back to his right, rolling to safety.

Feather tried to dodge, but he was too big to maneuver without the needed timing; the human had impecable timing. The first dagger implanted itself right in the middle of Feather's body, sending tiny rivets of pain throughout his body. The second dagger caused even more pain than the first, even though it only barely hit him. He had nearly dodged the sharp sticker, but it grazed his foot, scraping across the length of one claw.

Zamza grabbed a mega-medicine out of his new satchel, and took it hungrily. He felt the pain in his leg begin to subside at once. Feather landed next to him, and Zamza happily pulled the dagger out of the griffon's body and tossed it to the ground. Zamza watched closely as Slade raised his right hand. The rune shined and Slade came at Zamza at a hurrendous speed, leaving a clone of him behind.

"A clone rune, you bastard" Zamza said simply, as he blocked the first of Slade's invasions. Feather wondered to himself what a 'clone rune' was.

The clone, following Slade's example, charged at Zamza. Feather, confused at the new power exhibited, went after the fake Slade, claws outstretched. The clone simply dodged the attacking passes, and continued on it's journey.

Feather refused to be outdone. He circled around once again, bringing in his wings some to decrease the wind resistance. He was gaining ground quickly, hoping to get the new man before he reached his ally. The man seemed like he didn't even realize Feather was coming. He seemed sort of...dumb. He was very close now, and something struck Feather as rather peculiar. This new man had no scent. Feather had been hunting a long time now, and every living thing had a scent, no matter how small. Everything. This led Feather to one conclusion, that this new man wasn't alive. His thoughts were proved true when he flew through the man, and he dissolved into a light smoke.

Damn, he was getting tired. They had gone back and forth for some time now. Zamza blocked the thrust from Slade and counterattacked. His first two punches struck each of Slade's kidney's, sending horrible pain throughout Slade's body. Zamza took advatage of the stunned Slade and called for the Fire Dragon Rune. This time there was no great excess in power, and Zamza simply gave Slade a three punch combination to the face, finishing with a powerful uppercut that sent Slade sprawling to the grass.

The consequence of the rune was heavy this time, though. It was the first time in a while that he had been hurt significantly by his own rune. Zamza pushed on however, and picked Slade up by the hair, pulling him to his feet. He began to raise his right hand once again, when Slade spoke up.

"If you kill me, you'll never find Vandle" Slade said through bloody lips. Zamza hesitated at the words.

"That's right, it turns out I didn't kill him at Tenzen Pass after all. Who knew?" Zamza couldn't believe what he was hearing...Vandle ALIVE!? "In fact, he and I have even made peace. I mean, I never wanted to kill the poor kid in the first place"

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Zamza challenged, tightening his grip on Slade.

"Well, let's see. He told me you were both saved by a man named Genkaku, and that you went to his parent's house to tell them he was dead, a very sweet gesture, if I do say so myself. He also told me that he told this old man to tell you he was dead because he felt you needed to sever all ties to get on with a new life. Good enough for you?"

Zamza loosened his grip on Slade, as he registered the thoughts. This was all it took. Slade grabbed on to Zamza's arm at the wrist, and twisted it counterclockwise. He then punched Zamza in the face, and turned him around, bringing Zamza's twisted arm painfully around his back. He then put his foot squarely in the middle of Zamza's back, and forced him to the ground.

"All these years you thought you outlived that brat, when in fact, he'll out live you." Slade commented exposing his claws and bringing them over his head. "Goodbye, my friend."

Slade began to bring the claws down on Zamza when something slammed Slade up and to one side, into a tree.

"Oh, damn" Slade said, as he got to his feet and watched as the griffon helped Zamza to his feet once again as well. He knew it was useless now, that damn bird just kept getting in the way. Slade had never been a fool, and wasn't about to start being one now.

"I am going to make a brief stop in Rockaxe, then I am heading for Rakutei Mountain. If you want to find Vandle, meet me there. Until then, ciao." And with that, Slade ran out of the clearing, ducked behind the trees, and ran into one of the very many secret passages he had memorized.

Feather gave chase through the air, but to no avail. He tried to smell the insane man, but the scent came from all over; the man was going to get away. When Feather reached the clearing once again, he found the not-insane man on the ground, unconscious from exhaustion.

Feather poked at the backpack the man was wearing, and pulled out some strange-smelling packages. They smelled like herbs that Feather knew, but they had been altered in some way...oh well. Feather had seen the man use them to heal himself, so he gobbled down one for himself, and used another on the man. It seemed to have a proper effect.

Feather had had enough of this place - Badeaux was obviously not here. That meant his was at the other place that the human had mentioned. Matilda Forest, Feather thought it was. The human still wasn't concious, so Feather used another medicine on him.

The fight had been fierce, and Feather was tired. He wanted to sleep. Mostly, he wanted out of this crazy forest. The human was starting to wake up, so Feather knew he could apply his own medicine if he needed it. He climbed a tree and took off, heading for what he guessed must be Greenhill. Feather rested himself on the top of a sturdy-looking building, and fell asleep.

Zamza got up and looked around. Neither Slade, nor his new winged companion was anywhere to be seen. Zamza felt somewhat refreshed and he had a pretty good idea of why. When he looked into his satchel, he assumptions were proved true. He looked in the air, trying to catch a glimpse of his friend, but couldn’t see him anywhere. Zamza whispered a grateful thank you to the griffon, and fled out of the forest, anxious to get to the comforts of a bed.

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"Feather" and "Zamza" are (C) Konami. This chapter was posted on February 15, 2000 Feather's author is no longer active