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"The Welcoming Party" (Under Mt. Rakutei)
They fell to the ground one after the other, first Slade's sniper, then Fuma, Slade, Kage, and finally, Zamza. They each hit the new found ground with a resounding *thud*. Zamza and Kage were the first two up, still realizing the danger which was above them. Zamza looked up through the fracture which split the earth. He couldn't see anything yet, but he could hear the rocks coming with a vengeance. "Everybody split!" Zamza shouted. The four men (although Kage already knew) obeyed quickly, and each of the men dove out of the way as the first boulders seeped through the open wound. They came crashing towards the quintet at an insane velocity, giving the men little time to get away. They continued to scatter away from the avalanche of rocks as large clouds of dust arose from the ground. Zamza took off towards a wall, got down on his knees, and covered his head with his arms. He listened to the rumbling of the rocks and waited for the one that was going to crush him. Then, all at once, the roaring stopped, and it was completely silent. Zamza got up slowly, still unsure if it was really over. He tried to fan the dust away from him, but to no avail. It didn't really matter though, it would settle soon enough. "Is everyone alright?" Zamza coughed out, not that it really mattered, he'd prefer to see some of these people as corpses anyway. "Yeah, I'm alright" Fuma spoke up as the five men began to come together in the middle of the cave. "Oh, great" Slade's sniper said as the dust began to clear up and they could see again. The rocks had piled up about halfway back to where the opening was. Only now, there was no opening to speak of, which was the reason the rocks had stopped falling from above them. Above them, where they had been standing not five minutes before, the rocks had covered up the crack, and now they were trapped under it all. Kage, realizing they weren't going to get out that way, began exploring alternative options of escape. They were stuck in a large cave, dimly lit with torches every ten feet or so. The tunnel extended as far as the eye could see, and Kage knew it was going to a long trek. The place, itself, looked almost spiritual in some way. "What are you thinking, Kage?" Zamza asked, breaking the silence and pulling the ninja from his thoughts. "Well, it looks like we're not getting out this way, so I'm trying to figure out another way. This place looks old, and if I had to guess, I'd say it's possibly a Sindar ruin" Kage responded. "Sindar? Is that some sort of civilization? Well, that's great! That means there's got to be a way out, right?" Slade's sniper said, entering the two man conversation. "Presumably. The problem is, that the Sindar usually left some kind of guar-" but Kage didn't get to finish his statement, as a horrible screeching came forth from the darkness. "What the hell was that?" Fuma asked. "That would be the problem I was just describing" Kage said flatly. The five men came together, forming a straight horizontal line, and waited for what was to come. It didn't take long. The monster came out of the darkness that enveloped it and approached the quintet. "What the hell is that thing?" Fuma inquired tentatively. The thing came forward and entered the soft light, exposing itself to the warriors. What they saw was disgusting. The monster looked as though it was a hybrid of some sort, scorpion and cockroach it appeared. Most of it was brown, except for it's back. It had two lobsterlike claws that came out in front of it. It walked on eight legs, and had a segmented tail, which allowed it to curve upward and forward over it's body, and at the end, the tail contained a large and very sharp stinger. Unlike a scorpion, however, it's body was actually fairly wide and rugged, it's back covered with a hard, sleek black shell that extended almost to the back of the tail. "Why do I get a bad feeling about this?" Zamza questioned to no one in particular. It approached a little more, and each man drew his weapons, Zamza lit Tekkan, Fuma, Kage, and Slade's ally all withdrew their swords, and Slade exposed his claws. "Well, let's get to scrappin'" the sniper said, and took off towards the monster, however, no one else moved a monster. Finally, after the over-excited sniper got halfway to the scorpion-roach, they began their bombardment of the hideous creature. Zamza began on the animal's right side, moving in quickly, giving the monster two quick hooks to the midsection. The monster tried to kick Zamza with one of it's four legs on that side, but Zamza easily dodged it, and picked up where he left off. He brought two more crosses down and realized that his punches weren't doing any damage to it. "How the hell do we hurt this thing?" He shouted. "You've got to get under the shell" he heard someone say. Unfortunately,
he never got a chance to try this theory. With his attention diverted,
the monster brought two legs up and kicked Zamza in the gut. Zamza
doubled over, sending him into a vulnerable position. The monster
moved with a quickness that had yet to be shown by the eight legged creature,
and turned
"Damn! He's fast, watch out!" Fuma yelled out as it turned towards
him. He converged on it quickly, striking it's shell with swift cuts
with his blade. The monster then took the initiative and brought
his pincers at Fuma. The ninja ducked the first pincer, which was
meant to decapitate him. The second came across at Fuma's midsection.
He hopped back and the pincer
Stopping his momentum, he brought the sword down underhanded and continued to turn his wrist at an odd angle. When it got where he wanted it, he casually flipped his sword into the air. While the blade was flipping end over end in the air, Fuma pulled out a couple of shurikens and flung them at the animal. The first casually glanced off it's shell, the second hit nothing, and just barely missed hitting Slade, who was attacking on the monster's backside, in the face. Fuma finally caught the blade in his hand, and thrust it at his enemy. The blade went under the shell, and cut through the flesh underneath. It howled in pain, and as Fuma removed the blade, he was picked up by it's pincers, and thrown into the wall of the tunnel. It spun around again, and zipped away from the surrounding party. Kage watched it as it seemingly hovered over the ground. He wrapped around it's left flank, but the creature followed every step of the way. Deciding he wasn't going to outrun it, Kage cut back on a dime, and rushed back to his right. It tried to keep up, but Kage's initiative was too much. The skillful ninja brought his sword across his body, and ran the blade next to his forearm, the edge pointed away from him. He ran straight next to the animal, his sword running under it's shell and through it's skin. The monster fled to it's left, and twirled around to face it's opponent. Kage returned the glare, and carefully examined his enemy. It was bigger, stronger, faster and more evasive than the humans, but it had a weakness and Kage knew what it was, but he wasn't sure how to attack it like that. The ninja sheathed his sword, and closed his eyes. He focused all of his energy in his mind. Suddenly there were four of him, one on each side of the scorpion-roach. It was the same move he had used on Zamza in the Greenhill inn, only this time it wasn't Zamza. As Kage began to 'float' above the ground, circling his enemy, it simply looked at him. It uncurled it's tail, never falling for Kage's illusions, and thrust it out in Kage's pathway. Having to break his rhythm, Kage flipped over the tail, landing on the opposite side. The images all dispersed at once. Kage tried to regain focus, but it was hard. Whenever he put that much energy into something and it didn't work, it backfired, and he would be the one trying to recover. Kage wobbled a little bit, and it looked like there were two of the scorpion-roaches. The creature took advantage of the situation, and moved easily around the shrouded ninja. When it was directly behind Kage, it backed up a few steps, then charged full speed. It hit Kage square in the back, and the mercenary went flying. While he was in the air, the monster let out a huge flame from it's mouth. Kage felt the flame and heat, and suddenly his arm went up. He hit the ground and immediately began to roll on the stony floor, trying to extinguish the fire on his arm. The animal didn't give him much time to breathe, however, and it ran and charged at Kage once again, this time ramming him straight into a wall. Slade came at it next, claws outstretched. He was already dead on his feet, and he had barely thrown two punches. The damn thing just moved to much, it was simply too fast. He brought a fontal assault upon the monster with quick and smooth swings. He threw a right cross at it, but it backed up a step and evaded it easily. Not willing to be outdone, Slade brought his left hand down on it. The claws hit the front of the shell, and broke through the crust, cutting through it's body underneath. The creature let out a horrid wail, and charged at Slade. Slade
spun out of the way and cut at four of it's legs. The shelled animal
spun around to face him again then moved around him. It began to
move forward again, and Slade whipped out two daggers from his belt, throwing
them at the monster. The first flew over it altogether, not hitting
a thing until it landed on
Slade backed up, and raised his right hand. The rune shone brightly, and as Slade attacked, a double appeared behind him. It charged as well, and the creature prepared to defend itself. The two Slades attacked with a fury and soon the scorpion-roach was covered with multiple cuts and gashes. Tired of playing the game, the monster backed up and spun around Slade. It brought it's pincers down to Slade's ankles. It clamped around his ankles, and brought Slade's feet out from under him. He fell to the ground, then was raised back up, only this time upside down, and thrown away like a ragdoll. He was about to get up and back on his feet, when the scorpion-roach uncurled it's tail and pointed the stinger at Slade. Suddenly, without warning, a large bolt of lightning exploded from it and struck Slade in the chest, dropping him to the ground where he stood. Fedyk (Slade's sniper), knowing that each of his comrades before him had been suppressed, tried a different approach. He attacked acutely, and from behind, causing the animal unbearable pain. He sliced at the tail first, ripping the flesh open. He continued his progression without hesitation, moving up the monster's body, cutting up the back of it's shell. Fedyk used the sword with a beautiful, artistic skill, keeping the sword moving at all times, the blade marring the unfortunate creature with every flick of Fedyk's wrist. The scorpion-roach tried to maneuver itself away from the warrior, but
when it dodged to it's left, Fedyk expertly brought his sword down and
took a swing at the monster's leg. The blade went straight through,
severing the leg from the rest of the body. Not losing the momentum,
Fedyk thrust his sword through the fresh wound. He pressed the blade
in, and continued to do
As he snapped the blade out of it's body, a green liquid, presumably the creatures blood, spewed forth from the wound. It cam out in what seemed like gallons, covering Fedyk's face and chest. "Ah! Shit, I can't see!" Fedyk screamed. The fluid began to seep into his skin, and a burning sensation came over his body. "It burns! Someone help me, please!" he continued to yell at the top of his lungs. Suddenly, his body seized up, and his sword clanked to the ground noisily. he felt his muscles tighten, and he started to convulse, giving him no control over his body whatsoever. The creature turned to meet his paralyzed foe. It moved around, either trying to decide the best place to attack Fedyk, or, in an attempt to show it's fighting superiority to the mere humans. Whichever one it was, it didn't really matter, because it went into action all the same. It approached Fedyk slowly, and when it was within distance, it grabbed him with each of his pincers. It rose the unfortunate man as his as his lobsterlike claws would allow, and slowly uncurled his tail, savoring every moment. With the stinger pointed directly at Fedyk, it stretched it's tail back, as though it was the metal wire of a mousetrap, and some pesky rodent just fell for the cheese and was about to have it's neck broken. It came forward at an atrocious speed, and entered Fedyk's chest with an unrelenting force, pushing through the tender flesh, crushing Fedyk's ribcage and decimating the organs underneath. The stinger pressed through his back, releasing an ocean of blood and fragments of intestines. When the creature removed it's tail from Fedyk's torso, Zamza could see straight through him, as though his chest was merely a window. Without a second thought, the scorpion-roach tossed Fedyk's corpse away like it was only a piece of trash. "Oooh," Slade said, a disgusted look on his face, "you know he's dead." "Watch out, it's blood's poisonous" Kage stated, as the three men, minus Fedyk and Fuma, came together. "Where's Fuma?" Zamza asked, the worry not hidden in his voice. "Unconscious, over there" Kage replied, pointing towards the opposite wall of the tunnel. "Well, what do we do now? This thing's already taken out two of us, one of us for good." Zamza questioned. Slade smiled. "Well, it's still got three more to go, and it's not exactly in perfect health either." "I agree" Zamza said, lighting up Tekkan. "What do you think, Kage?" Kage didn't respond, he just stood there, his gaze fixed on the scorpion-roach. "Let's go, Zamza" Slade said, and the two began to charge at the over-sized mutation. When Zamza got less than halfway to it, he turned back to see the stoic ninja still standing in the same spot. Then, all at once, Kage was gone. "KAGE! GET BACK HERE, YOU COWARD!" Zamza yelled. "Forget about him! I need some help." Slade said from up ahead. Zamza sighed, and ran up to enter the fight. He joined Slade, and together they began their assault upon the creature. It looked as though the two were never apart, that all that happened over the years was just some silly childhood nightmare. Sure, each warrior had added more abilities to their repertoire, but their base technique's were still the same, the last two living pupils of Master Forge, the only ones who could carry on his legendary teachings. They continued their pummelling of the monstrosity, their movements perfectly sychronized. It was like there was a mirror between them, their moves a perfect reflection of each other's. They worked as a team, and any time the monster tried to attack one of them, the other would increase their effort ten-fold. The creature pressed an offensive, attacking the two with it's pincers. The two dodged the attack easily, and countered with attacks to the animals claws and shell. By this time, the front of the scorpion-roach's natural shield was pulverized, and every attack directed to that region was able to harm the animal immensely. The duo, still in harmony, all at once stopped their invasion, and performed three smooth backflips to give them some space. They looked at their enemy, then at each other. Suddenly, Slade began to spin in his place, slowly and wobbly at first, it had been a while since he had done this, and eventually began to pick up speed. He crossed his arms over his chest, each wrist connecting with the opposite arm's elbow, and let out his claws. His spin got faster and faster, and eventually, he began to move forward, still spinning at an incredible velocity, towards the scorpion-roach. Zamza lit Tekkan, raised his right hand, and the rune shone. He began to run forward, and than he jumped. His body floated in the air, and he stretched out as far as he could. The rune ignited, and engulfed the human torpedo in flames. He began to spin midair, and the two approached the creature. One man his either of the monster's sides, ripping most of the animals shells to pieces. The two finished their unite attack, and Zamza carefully placed his arms under him. He began to descend, and Zamza placed his arms on the ground, and, going on his momentum, turned the fall into a summersault, popping right back onto his feet. "Heh, been a while since we did that." Slade said matter of factly. "Hmmm..." was all Zamza responded with. The attack itself didn't
do the scorpion-roach any harm, but it diminished it's shield to almost
nothing. Because it didn't actually attack the animal's body, only
it's shell, Zamza knew it wouldn't be stunned or hurting, and when it turned
to come at the two men once again, Zamza knew it indeed was neither of
them, it was just
Kage appeared behind the scorpion-roach almost as soon as he disappeared. In fact, he appeared so far behind it, that it was barely visible, and Zamza and Slade were just specks of dirt. Kage moved over to the closest wall, and began to climb up the crude exterior. Carefully placing his feet, the ninja was flying up the wall in seconds. When he felt he was high enough, he began to make his way back to the lethal creature. he moved expertly, deciding what would be good footholds and what wouldn't be. The images that were once so far in front of him were now getting larger and more distinguishable. Kage cautiously set his foot on one of the edges, only to have it break, and the tiny stones to go tumbling down. With most of his weight on that foot, Kage began to slip and fall with the stones. He quickly found another shelf, and placed his foot there. He gripped the wall as tight as he could, and continued on his way. He was right behind them now (albeit a little higher), and could see
everything going on. He watched Slade and Zamza join in a unite attack,
and pretty much demolish the animal's natural shield. Kage was actually
a little impressed, Slade looked like a human tornado, while Zamza was
like a missile that was on fire, it really was a wonderful sight to behold.
After
Using his legs to propel him, Kage jumped from the wall. He started out in a twirl, but as he got closer to the animal, he turned it into a flip, and landed on his feet, right in the middle of the scorpion-roach's back. It bucked in surprised, and tried to throw Kage off is back. The ninja lost his balance momentarily, but quickly regained it. The creature continued to buck, but Kage held his set, and withdrew his blade. He hastily moved up the animal, and when he reached the front of it's body, be thrust his blade through one of it's eyes. It howled with a sound that was worse that that of a cat when you start your car while it was sleeping of the manifold. The scorpion-roach thrashed about wildly, still trying to remove Kage from on top of him. Kage was relentless, however, and pulled his sword from one eye, and shoved it through the other. The monster continued to cry in it's own foreign way, but this time it planned to do something about it.
Zamza, still amazed and bewildered by Kage's somewhat heroic entrance, saw it happen in slow motion. The creature uncurled it's tail, and pointed the sharp stinger at Kage, who had no idea what was coming. Zamza didn't know if it was just his battle instincts kicking in, or
if he really didn't want to see Kage get hurt, but Zamza found himself
running. He was running at a speed he never known himself possible
of, and when he got close enough, he jumped, seemingly climbing up imaginary
stairs, towards Kage. He tackled the Kage just as the stinger came
down. He got the ninja
Kage was up immediately, scouring through Zamza's satchel for some medicine. Zamza's face had suddenly become very pale, and he was shaking vehemently. He coughed, and blood shot from his mouth, causing his once white teeth to turn a light shade of red. His whole body was sweating profusely, and he was using chain-stokes respiration. Kage finally grabbed some medicine, and looked at Zamza. 'Shit, he doesn't look to good' Kage thought to himself, as he began feeding Zamza the medicine one after the other like an alcoholic popping shots until he passed out. The wound didn't begin to heal until after Zamza had taken down five mega-medicines and three normal medicines. "W-where's the m-m-mons-ster?" Zamza spat out, the pain roaring throughout his body. Kage was clueless. That was a damn good question. Why hadn't it attacked them? The two men were in the most vulnerable position a person could be in. When Kage turned around he got his answer. The scorpion-roach was so set on getting the ninja off his back, it had killed itself. It hadn't even considered the consequences of it's actions. It had brought the stinger down with so much force, that it had gone straight through the creature's body. It had only thought about destroying Kage, and because of this, it had brough itself to ruin. At the time it was caught in a snare, and it was willing to do anything to be free of it. " I-I g-guess it w-wasn't too s-s-smart, eh?" Zamza again struggled to say. "Well, it makes perfect sense actually. Even the fiercest and most intelligent creatures will gnaw off it's own leg when it's caught in a trap. This one just got caught in a trap. "Ha, ha, *cough*. Man, I-I thought y-you l-left us. I-I was s-s-so pissed" Zamza mused. "It was meant to look like that. That creature was a natural predator, big, strong, fast, an ego the size of Toran. It had never come up against anything that could kill it, it was the master of it's domain. It attacked without caution or care, using all of it's strengths and exploiting it's opponents weaknesses. When you fight something like that, you must use it's strengths against it, you pull it in let it inflate it's ego some more by thinking that it's kicking your ass. When the predator finally realizes the prey can bite back, it's too late." Kage stated. "That's a h-hell of an evaluation" Zamza said, grabbing another medicine and taking it hungrily. The wound hurt like hell, and the medicine wasn't exactly doing it's best job. "Hey, Slade" Kage yelled, pulling out a couple of medicines. Slade began to walk over from the carcass he had been looking at (the one of the scorpion-roach)and Kage threw him the two medicines. "Give those to Fuma, he needs to wake up." Zamza looked at Kage curiously. "Are you g-going t-to k-k-kill him now?" he asked. "Do you have a problem with that?" Kage inquired. "N-no, y-y-you gave me m-my f-five minutes, I-I blew it" Zamza eventually replied. "To answer your question, no, I am not. We need to get out of here first and foremost, and Slade is our best bet to do that, he's extremely good at knowing and using his surrounding areas. I will complete my contract when he serves no more use to me. But for now, we need to get out of here." the ninja said, never taking his eyes away from Zamza's. Zamza nodded in approval, and used the rest of his strength to get the next sentence out. " That could be easier said than done" he said, resting himself up against the wall. "Hmmm..." Kage responded. "Heh, now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pass out now" Zamza said, and without another word, he did just that.
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