Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Ginga GIRI GIRI! The Universe is in Danger! ❯ Risen From The Ashes ( Chapter 41 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

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Ginga GIRI GIRI! The Universe is in Danger!
By SSJ Heero (http://animenext.knorf.net)
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---- Recap ----

[Chibi characters of the six appear in the foreground as scenes from the last episode play
in the background. Though, you can't see 'cause this is text. =P]

SSJ: Last time! We met a strange group known as the Hokuten.

Amiko: Though, I wouldn't exactly say "met". Anyhow, we then joined the Ura Buto Satsujin.

Kensou: Rumors of a look-alike of one of us was abound, so we joined in the fight.

TM: We fought through Genjuro's army with little stress.

Davis: And now we have to meet and fight Kurei.

Cindy: What exciting battle awaits?! On with the show!

---- Chapter 41: Risen From the Ashes ----

Kurei looked up at the boy and girl standing upon the stands to his right. The stands were
now empty, and slowly dust and rocks were falling from the cracked ceiling. SSJ had barely
landed for two seconds before Kurei sent flames racing towards his direction.

Immediately, SSJ shoved Fuko out of the way and dodged in the opposite direction, managing
to escape with a tiny burn on his arm. As SSJ flew left, he threw off his cloak and hat,
unwrapping his sword, and leapt at Kurei. There was a high-pitched clang as Kurei blocked
with the bangles on his hand. Kurei grinned as his hand became bathed in a blue flame again.

SSJ swore as he kicked off Kurei, with the flame following. It struck SSJ and bathed him in
a terrible heat, shoving him back and crashing into the wall of the stands. There was a
tremendous boom as stone flew away from the impact. The flames abated, and there was SSJ,
erratically breathing while clenching his teeth. As fast as he could, he threw off his
shirt and chain mail armor. Doing so, he glared at Kurei, as red burns upon his chest were
clearly visible. "Damn it," he swore.

Kurei grinned. Then two arrows dug into his skull. Blood flew about as Amiko stood with
her bow out as if she just fired an arrow. She grinned, but next she saw, the arrows were
in a wooden log. She, too, cursed, "Damn ninjas and their skills!"

Flames suddenly came from above. Amiko barely dodged the flames, but the squelching heat
soon engulfed her. She was forced to take off her jacket as she looked up at Kurei, falling
to the ground from above. Kurei landed and immediately dashed towards SSJ again, planning
to finally defeat him. "Two down...!" he proclaimed.

But suddenly, the man's mask shattered. Its shards tore his face. As he flew back,
revealing his scarred face, he saw Davis in the air, twirling about. Davis landed with the
grace of a cat as Kaoru and Domon came from a crater in the ground. Kurei gripped his face
as he muttered, "How...?!"

"Psh," Davis uttered. "All I did was create a meteor just in time to protect from the flame
and debris."

And Davis cracked his knuckles, ready to rush and pound the snot out of him, but Kensou
leapt into the way. Everyone stopped and shot a glance at him as he stated, "I still
haven't fought yet, so fight him."

SSJ paused for a bit, looking down at Kensou as he took off his cloak and armor. "You gonna
be alright?" he asked.

Kensou smirked with confidence. "Don't worry," he replied, "the Nidachi Nitou Ryuu is a
style that can overcome any obstacle."

With that, SSJ nodded and leapt over to where Fuko was sitting, rubbing her head that hit
the ground when SSJ shoved her away. He scratched his head and clasped his arms together.
"Sorry, yeah?" he muttered.

Fuko continued rubbing the pain away as she got to her feet with SSJ's help. "Don't worry,
I've felt worse," she replied.

SSJ grabbed Fuko and leapt away, towards the Crew, as Domon stomped up to their landing
spot and cursed, "As I said, Fuko's mine!"

Yanagi, with Recca following, went to SSJ's side and looked over the burns on him. "Wow...
You Outlaws go through a lot," she commented.

"Bah, this is nothing compared to whenever Amiko gets mad," SSJ wisecracked. BAM! He was up
in the air, Fuko and Yanagi gasping.

There Amiko was, holding a fan, fanning herself as SSJ slammed into the ground. "You were
saying?!" she demanded.

SSJ twitched a bit with pain as he righted himself sitting up. He felt a sting of pain as
he replied, "Gah... Heh, I was completely right."

A vein appeared on Amiko's forehead as her eye twitched in anger. She fumed and became as
red as a tomato and then some, and then she pulled out another fan from nowhere. "HIT A
BUNCH OF TIMES WITH FANS TECHNIQUE!" she screamed.

As Amiko proceeded to do a one hundred hit combo on SSJ, Tokiya was looking up at Kensou
and Kurei go at each other, blade for flame. Cindy was standing by Tokiya, who was the one
who saved her. He said thoughtfully, "Nidachi Nitou Ryuu... But his weapon only has one
blade..."

Cindy didn't comment on this. She let him find out the surprise for himself. At that
moment, Kensou dug his main blade into the stone ring. He shoved off the ground and
balanced himself on the tip of his weapon, dug into the ground and vertically supporting
him as flames engulfed the bottom part of the ring. He shoved off the ground and flipped
towards Kurei, gripping his weapon by the tip as it ran a vertical arc towards the
opponent.

He yelled his attack name, "Nidachi Nitou Ryuu... Shoki Yumigata!" [Subtitles: "Initial
Arc!"]

The blade came down upon the slower Kurei. He barely had time to move the bangles on his
wrist in the way and avoid a major injury. However, when Kensou, moved away, Kurei noticed
it. There was a tiny cut on the metal. Kurei was completely shocked. He froze as the
realization dawned on him. "That weapon..." he began. "What kind of metal...!" He trailed
off, realizing the only possibility.

Kensou slid away, his weapon slightly smoking. As Kensou slowed, he looked up at Kurei and
smiled. Kensou answered, "Celesium. It's forged from celesium."

Davis nearly fell over after hearing that. In fact, everyone but the Crew minus Davis lost
balance and had to hold onto something. They were short of breath as SSJ, Amiko, TM, and
Cindy looked at them. "No way!" screamed Davis.

Tokiya shouted in disbelief, "It's that powerful?!"

Cindy turned to Tokiya. "What's celesium?" she asked.

The Flame of Recca cast shot Cindy an incredulous glance. Cindy sweatdropped. Tokiya
practically screamed, "You're one of the most wanted people amongst both planets, and you
don't know?!"

"Hey, none of the others no either," Cindy replied, pointing to the others except Davis.

Davis then interrupted and answered the inquiry, "Celesium is only found within the deepest
caves and darkest trenches of the Red Mountains. Mining it is a hell of a job, since it can
withstand even an atom bomb with no difficulty. Since it is so rare and powerful, it was
thought to be a gift from the gods themselves, so hence, Celesium, the celestial metal. I
don't know how the Hell the government managed to get it, let alone forge it!"

And as Kensou unsheathed the second blade of his weapon, he yelled at Davis, "My father had
connections to an alchemist by the name of Hayden Morningwood!"

Davis once again was caught with his mouth dry. He repeated, "Hayden... Morningwood?!"

Kensou dodged away from Kurei's flame. Kurei was now very much disturbed, fearful for his
life, even. Kensou dashed up towards Kurei and loosely gripped his weapon. He yelled,
"Nidachi Nitou Ryuu... Hinekureken!" [Subtitles: "Twirling Blades!"]

Quickly, with perfect form and care, Kensou spun the weapon about his body. The blades
flew this way and that around him, making it near impossible to see it with the speed. The
blades were behind, then in front, then beside, twirling endlessly. It was a wonder to
everyone that Kensou did not cut himself.

But Kurei was ready for any move Kensou had. With a quick hand, he caught a blade of
Kensou's weapon, stopping it directly in place. He grinned. He stopped the attack! How
weak! Kurei began, "What a usele-"

Then he saw Kensou was still spinning about. Kensou caught hold of his weapon and in one
of his turns, leapt off the ground and twirled his foot into Kurei's bloody face. Kurei
flew back in a heap of pain as Kensou landed, his double-bladed weapon in hand. When
friction stopped Kurei's motion, the man shakily got to his feet, bruised and scraped.
"What the Hell was that?!" he demanded.

Kensou simply answered, "That was the attack. If the blades didn't get you, then my
momentum and speed would. It's a double-attack that can not be stopped- Hinekureken! It can
be translated into either Twirling Blades or Twirling Fists."

Kurei swore as he was tired and weakened. That was just a regular person! There was no way
in Hell he could be that powerful! Davis then yelled at Kensou from outside the ring, "Wait
a damn minute! Your dad knows Hayden?!"

Kensou turned to him and replied with astonishment, "It's the same one? Are you sure about
that?!"

"Damn sure considering the Hayden I know is also an alchemist!" Davis shouted back. "How
many alchemists are there in this world?!"

Kensou and Davis stared at each other in mutual surprise. Davis' friend, Hayden, being the
same one as the forger of the twin nidachi! But then a thought came to Kensou. He yelled
back, blocking Kurei's blows, "The one I know should be in his fifties!"

"No way! He's at most thirty!" The two were silent again, wondering what the Hell was going
on.

Kensou was then drawn into battle again with a flame tearing through the ring. Davis fell
to the ground in confusion. It was then that they all heard footsteps. Everyone stopped and
froze, save for Kensou and Kurei, who were still trading blows in their fight. SSJ caught
sight of a group with shoulder guards. The Hokuten were there. SSJ shoved Amiko away as she
stopped her attack. He began to try to move again, but suddenly stopped.

SSJ turned to Yanagi and muttered, "...I can't move from the pain."

Amiko, Fuko, and Yanagi sweatdropped. But Yanagi still approached SSJ. "Who are they?" she
asked.

"Not sure ourselves," SSJ returned.

A white light came from Yanagi's hands as she proceeded to heal SSJ's wounds and burns,
and finally SSJ leapt to his feet and met up with the clan. The rest followed and soon
enough, the Outlaws and Team Hokage were looking at the Hokuten. Anya was smiling amidst
the destruction and fighting going on. She greeted, "Hello, SSJ Heero! Nice to meet again,
huh?"

SSJ glared at the girl as he replied, "You seem cheerful."

"But of course!" Anya replied happily. "Here we are, seeing an amazing fight, Mishima has a
weapon made of celesium, Kurei is on the run, and the Outlaws are sitting around watching
it!"

TM then shoved forward, towering over Anya. His shadow fell upon her as he demanded, "What
did you come for?"

"Oh come on, we came to protect you all!"

TM shot an incredulous look at Anya. "Protect us?! From what?!"

Anya then smiled and pointed to a spot behind TM. "Those."

The Outlaws slowly turned their heads. Then they saw where she was pointing. She was
pointing to the highest row of a set of stands. Upon it were very many very white figures.
Completely white, I might add. Suddenly, another came from the ground, forming itself out
of nowhere.

A sudden chill spread across the room as more and more white figures came forth. Kurei and
Kensou suddenly stopped their fight. "What the-?!" muttered Kensou.

Kurei shouted, "What is this?!"

And suddenly, a voice was heard about the room. It echoed through every crevice, hole,
space, and area of the room. It was deep, yet vaguely familiar. It spoke, "Ice clones.
Destroy them all, why don't you. They're made of the moisture in the air, and if you don't
stop them from forming, the temperature in the room will eventually drop to absolute zero,
killing everyone inside. But hey, no pressure or anything, just show me what you can do."

The Crew looked around for the source of the sound, but the sudden movements of the ice
clones threw them out of their search. Hundreds of ice clones were seen among the stands,
each holding a blade of ice as well. Kurei and Kensou looked up at them. "Feh... They're in
the way of my mission," muttered Kurei.

Kensou added, "What bothers..."

The clones then leapt up from the stands and towards the group of people. TM quickly
gathered energy and slashed his blade at direction of a closely knit group of clones. His
prized red wave shot from the blade and tore through a great many of them, and as they fell
to the ground and melted, the other fighters got ready for action.

Fuko shot a wave of wind at any clone that got near enough. With a crashing noise like that
of glass, each split to pieces and melted upon the ground. Yet she missed one, who was
behind her and in the air still. As she turned about and saw it ready its blade to slash
her, SSJ was seen crashing into the figure, shoving it away with his shoulder. It crashed
and split upon impact with a wall, but SSJ fell to the floor in a heap of pain. He was
screaming as Fuko dashed up to him and saw his shoulder and arm.

They were blackened. Not by flames, but they were frostbitten with cold. Fuko covered her
open mouth as the voice echoed again. The voice came again, "Oh yeah, I forgot to say that
the ice is at absolute zero as well. Kind of hard to touch them directly, huh?"

In a flash of red light, Yuna was beside SSJ and proceeded to heal his wound amidst Fuko's
gasps. SSJ got to his feet and yelled at where he thought the voice was, "Oh, screw off,
damn it!"

Meanwhile, Recca and TM were about Yanagi, fending off clone after clone. Recca was
launching his dragons at many of them, while TM was launching Zero Slash after Zero Slash.

"What the Hell is with this?! Get away from my Princess!" screamed Recca as he formed
fireballs in the air.

"Who the Hell is creating this?! Get away from me!" shouted TM, slashing through the
enemies with the Zero Slash.

"Recca-kun! TM! Over there!" they heard Yanagi yell. They shot her a glance and saw her
pointing her finger. The room suddenly got colder. TM and Recca shivered as their breath
became visible in the cooling room. They followed where the pointed and looked at the top
of the stands again.

An ice clone was forming once again. But now it was bigger than before. TM's eyes twitched
with anger at the giant monster of white before him, taking its first steps in his
direction. TM's red aura burst forth from him as he yelled a war cry, surprising Recca and
Yanagi. Yanagi began, "TM's aura..."

"It's visible?!" Recca exclaimed in wonder.

"I'll show everyone the power of the Blood Sin!" screamed TM in anger. With that, he leapt
forward with his blade before him. Winds flew about his blade and centered about its metal.
A storm of icy chills covered his blade as he yelled his attack, "ZERO-POWERED KUZU RYUU
SEN!"

With amazing speed, TM flew towards the ice clone. It raised its frozen blade in the air,
having it crash into the ceiling and having more rubble drop. An orange light of a setting
sun penetrated through a hole into the darker stadium. And then it swung its weapon down
upon TM. TM then thought of a plan. He put his hands together and shouted, "Kage Bunshin no
Jutsu!"

With a puff of smoke, a shadow clone appeared beside TM. TM kicked off the clone and flew
to his right, barely dodging the blade as it crashed down upon the stands. Wood and stone
were shoved from the impact and the destruction. TM landed upon the stands and leapt
straight at the clone. He screamed again, "As I said! ZERO-POWERED KUZU RYUU SEN!"

The blade struck the clone right on its side. The storm from TM's blade transferred into
the body of ice. Cracks suddenly ripped through the clone with a tremendous crash. Its
pieces were thrown about as the winds abated and eventually stopped.

TM landed upon a puddle of water. Yanagi and Recca were clapping with amazement. TM looked
upon his fans and bowed. He then caught sight of Kaoru, using his Kogon Ankin to fend off
hoards of ice clones on his own using the fourth form. As Kaoru caught the boomerang, TM
whacked him upside the head. Kaoru glared at him and spat, "What the Hell was that for?!"

"Fool, you haven't learned the seventh form, yet?!" TM replied in a wise voice.

Kaoru froze. "What- How do YOU know the form, then?!"

"I'm the author's friend," answered TM. "I have my ways."

With that, he yanked the weapon from Kaoru's grip and started his method of converting it.
He pulled a piece there, disconnected two areas here, changing its shape everywhere. Soon
enough, it was a jumbled mess of conversions as Kaoru glared at him. "What the Hell is
that?" he screamed.

"Shut up!" TM gripped two parts of the weapon, and pulled them apart. A fury of clicking
sounded as many pieces fell in place. Kaoru was taken aback to find that it seemed much
bigger than before. Soon, TM was standing there with a golden tommy gun!

Kaoru's bottom lip nearly hit the ground. He couldn't help but exclaim, "WHAT THE-?!"

"Eat gold!" shouted TM. A furious rat-tat-tat echoed through the room as explosions and
bullets came from the new weapon. There was destruction everywhere that bullets hit, with
none of its opponents spared in its attack. Kaoru facefaulted with embarrassment as TM
laughed and laughed and laughed as the day set slowly into night, very much proud of his
accomplishments.

Kurei, meanwhile, was swearing as more and more as he shot heat from his Phoenix
incarnation of flame. A great many clones more still leapt at the minion of Rantmon, and a
great many became a puddle of water before they even came near him. But there was still a
couple more before the man who was engaged in a battle beside him. He had no time to dodge!

But then Kensou yelled another attack of his as he tightened his grip upon his weapon,
"Nidachi Nitou Ryuu! Futaya!" [Subtitles: "Twin Arrow!"]

With one extremely rapid motion, he pulled his weapon apart, launching the first half of
his weapon forward, straight towards a clone threatening Kurei. He held the other half of
his weapon, pulling it back and throwing it as well at the other clone threatening Kurei.
Both weapons struck their targets right on their heads, and more puddles of water filled
the ring. Kensou leapt forward and retrieved his weapons and connected them into a singular
weapon again. He was panting, and his breath was visible at the ever freezing room. "Why'd
you bother doing that?" Kurei inquired. "You know I'll still need to kill you."

"Yeah, yeah. We can continue after we take care of this problem."

Cindy and Amiko were together, back to back, fending off clone after clone with their
projectile attacks. A seemingly endless supply of clones came forward after each successive
one destroyed, forcing the two to move back, straight towards the crater Davis created
earlier. Now, that wasn't the best place to be, what with it now being flooded from the
water of the clones.

Near them, Tokiya and Domon were taking care of plenty clones, as Domon was armed with the
claw thing he retrieved from the member of the Idiot Trio. As the fighter threw the weapon
that clasped onto a clone, he was quick to send it crashing into another one. Soon, though,
his arms were in a great pain. "What the Hell is this...?" Domon shouted. "The weapon feels
as cold as ice!"

At that, Tokiya slashed through a clone and landed next to Domon. He stuck his blade into
the ground, and soon enough, stalagmites of ice tore from the ground and through the
clones. He then addressed Domon's question during his succession technique, It's made of
metal, so your weapon easily gives up heat. I suggest you not use it any more!"

So Domon didn't, standing by as Tokiya continuously shot icicle after icicle at any clone
that presented itself. Suddenly, there was the sound of cracking ice behind Tokiya. His
area got extremely chilled. He turned around only to see an ice clone directly behind him,
still hardening and forming. A bladed arm formed in the air and slashed down directly upon
the unsuspecting Tokiya.

But it then tore into pieces as an explosion rang through the room, and a bullet was
embedded into the head. A single strand of Tokiya's hair split and fell upon the ground. He
turned to Cindy and Amiko, behind him smiling. "Thanks for getting the clones off us," said
Amiko.

Cindy added, "It was a real help!"

And nearby, Davis was dashing straight on the walls using the ninjutsu he learned from the
Leaf Village. As he sprinted along, his fist met a substantial number of clones, tearing
them to pieces as his hands became surrounded with flames. Whenever a clone was distant, he
formed a meteor straight from the stands and threw it at the clone, which melted on impact.

As he dashed about the domed stadium, he saw something strange. Straight in the center of
the ceiling, on the highest point, a single figure stood there. He looked exactly like the
clones. "Bingo!" shouted Davis.

And Davis rushed ever faster on the ceiling towards the figure. When he got closer, he
realized one of the strangest things, it was a boy no older than he! As he dashed and
finally reached him, he saw that the boy was smiling. He also saw that the boy had aqua
eyes like frozen ice. His hair was a familiar, yet paler shade of brown. Davis recognized
him. "TM's as well?!" he shouted.

But before Davis could react, the TM look-alike’s fist crashed with his gut. His feet and
Chakra suddenly lost grip with the wall, and he tumbled down towards the floor. Everyone
froze. "Davis!" TM screamed.

Amiko yelled, "No!"

And then, the Hokuten, who had a great deal of water about them, paused and looked up at
the falling boy. Risika was ready and pulled out a paper from her shirt. Upon the paper,
there was ink on it, reading as the Japanese symbol for "slug". Risika was just about to
send it flying forward, had not she felt Anya's arm grabbing hers and stopping it.
"Anya-chan!" Risika protested. "Do you want him to die?!"

Anya simply returned, "I see something there."

Risika looked up and noticed it as well. A white speck as floating right under Davis. It
seemed to be flapping its ears to keep afloat. Cindy then recognized it as Mokona and
yelled up at him, amplifying her yells by cupping her hands over her mouth, "Mokona! Help
him!"

Mokona, in the air, simply sounded, "Puu," and grew large enough to catch Davis in its very
fluffy self. As Davis reeled from the powerful punch, he saw Mokona and the pressure he put
upon Mokona's soft body.

Davis then leapt off and onto the stands, glaring up at the figure on the ceiling. He
pointed there. "There's our man!" he announced.

Everyone looked up, barely catching sight of the figure. They then saw something insane.
The boy, too, lost his grip on the ceiling, and he fell down towards the ring. TM yelled in
surprise, "What the-?!"

And as the figure fell, he shifted his position in mid-air. He moved himself so that his
head no longer was aimed at the ground. He righted himself, his feet aimed for the stone
coming up quickly below. With a giant crash, he hit the stone ring, sending debris
everywhere. From such an impact, the Crew was surprised he didn't flatten himself.

But when the dust cleared, it was quite proven that he had lived. In fact, he was standing
upright, very much smiling and not seeming to be in any bit of pain. Everyone faltered save
for the Hokuten. There was no way he could have survived!

And when they got a better look at the boy's face, they were shocked on the realization
that it looked exactly like TM's. The boy then smiled, seeming to be very proud and calm
for a dark side of a character. He was a complete change from Dark SSJ and Black Amiko.

The boy introduced hismelf, "Okay, so let's introduce ourselves, eh? The name's Shadow.
Shadow TM, if you wish for the full name. I am a Libra, my favorite drink is the blood of
my enemies, and my hobbies are slaughter, freezing people to death, crushing them to death,
perhaps even tearing them to pieces with my bare hands, and taking long walks on the beach!"

Everyone sweatdropped as they stared at the smiling Shadow with an air of caution. Even if
he was seemingly to calm and proud of his own good, falling a couple hundred feet without
injury is not a weak task!

TM was the first to charge at Shadow. He was behind Shadow at the time, and prepared to
slash straight at him and possibly dodge any counter attacks. Yet he never even noticed
Shadow pulling the sledgehammer from his back and slamming it straight into his gut. A
tremendous pain shot through him as he coughed out blood and flew back, scraping along the
ground. "What the Hell?!" yelled SSJ.

Kurei charged at him next. "You're in the way of my mission!" he screamed, sending a
torrent of flames straight at Shadow. In an instant, a wall of ice formed between the
flames and the boy. Steam escaped from the impact of water and fire. Everything was
clouded. Kurei grinned in pride, but that was before he saw that the wall was still intact.
He was taken completely aback. And that was when he felt a punch to the face from Shadow.
He was instantly knocked out, crashing into a wall, blood flowing from his nose.

Cindy pointed out, "What amazing strength!"

Shadow smiled with delight, but then he wasn't fast enough to prevent a small piece of
paper to meet with his sledge hammer. All of a sudden, it felt like it weighed as much as
the Earth, and dragged down the boy to the ground. It crashed into the ground as Shadow
pulled his arm away, rubbing it. "Now, that hurt," he muttered.

He then saw Risika, arm extended, for she threw the note that attached to the hammer. She
explained, "The Earth charm. Makes its target extremely heavy, just as heavy as a planet."

And Shadow sighed and grinned. He muttered, "Y'know, this is why I like being me..."

With that, he reached down to the sledgehammer, clasped his fingers around the handle, and
raised it up with ease. Risika was shocked at that development, stuttering as she fell to
her knees, "Eeh?! Tha-That's impossible!"

Shadow replied with a grin, "Oh, nothing is impossible for me, baby. I always enjoy seeing
the look on people's faces when they see how far my power extends."

With that, Shadow tore the note off of the hammer, and it was its regular weight again.
Still, he attached it again to the strap wrapping around his body, and instead unattached
the pick-ax from his belt. Anya walked up and grinned. The rest of the people took the time
to move to TM and have Yanagi heal him as Anya spoke, "A pick-ax? You expect to win with
that?"

Shadow smiled. "Yup."

And as moonlight flooded through the holes in the ceiling, the room suddenly experienced
another chill. Everyone saw it. Ice came from the flat top of the pick-ax. It extended the
top of the weapon, making it longer and longer. Finally, Cindy was the first to finally
realized it wasn't a pick-ax at all! "That's actually a sword?!" she shouted.

Shadow smiled as the ice blade of the weapon lengthen at a frightening speed and tear
straight into Anya's heart. Anya gasped in pain at that. The rest of the Hokuten leapt away
in shock. Anya tried to speak, "N-No... Way..."

Shadow smiled ever wider. "Yep. I carry around just the hilt of my Glacier," said Shadow.
"It's a name I gave to my own weapon, cool, eh? Then, sayonara."

Anya coughed blood as the blade melted and a line of water stretched from Shadow to Anya.
Anya then collapsed to the ground as a puddle of blood flooded from her open wound.
Everyone froze as Shadow turned about to face TM. He yawned, "Yeah, I know I'd enjoy facing
you as well, but quite frankly, it's night and I want to get some sleep. We may meet again
someday... Toodles."

Shadow then waved very casually at TM, and with the sound of forming ice again, a tunnel
of ice formed around Shadow and twisted its way around the room and eventually into a hole
in the roof. A minute or so later, the tunnel melted, its use was done, leaving water and
nothing else upon the ground. TM fell to his knees, absolutely stunned by the turn of
events. He then turned to SSJ. "This is what we get for listening to you," he snapped.

"Aw, shut up," SSJ spat back. "How should I know there's a third?!"

And after a time, everyone was once again where they left their chocobos. SSJ was with
Fuko as she spoke, "You all have interesting lives, isn't that right?"

SSJ sighed, "Yeah... A little too interesting."

Fuko then smiled. "I'll gladly go and help you. The least I can do for saving me from
Kurei."

SSJ smiled and took out a bishie ball, catching Fuko and ignoring Domon's yells, "HEY!
RELEASE FUKO! I swear, if you don't, I'll-"

Suddenly, he turned red and into pure light. He was then stuffed into a bishie ball that
flew towards Cindy, standing next to Tokiya. Cindy muttered, "Man, he gets annoying."

Tokiya then looked away, and muttered something under his breath. Cindy turned to him,
missing the inaudible sounds. "Huh?" she uttered.

Tokiya turned a shade of red and spoke a bit louder, making it barely audible by Cindy,
"Maybe I should go with you and calm him down."

Cindy devilishly grinned and nudged Tokiya, making him turn a deeper shade of red. He was
even redder as he became light and disappeared within a bishie ball. TM and Amiko were then
with Yanagi and Recca, watching them all disappear with light. Yanagi noted, "Tokiya-san
sure... Changed."

"Yeah, but is it for the better?" Recca commented.

Amiko patted Recca on the back. "Now, now," began Amiko, "Don't be so mean."

With that, Amiko caught Recca, and TM caught Yanagi. Amiko had to pull Koganei off of
Davis before catching him as well. Amiko proceeded to tease her friend, "Hey, you have fans
already!"

"And I don't need any!" Davis shouted back. "Give them to SSJ!"

SSJ glared at Davis, but said nothing. He then leapt upon his chocobo, sighing with
fatigue, "All that for nothing."

Amiko then leapt onto her own chocobo, gripping onto Kensou who was before her. "Except for
catching bishies, you mean," she corrected.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

As everyone got to their chocobos and jumped on to their backs, Amiko spoke to Kensou, "How
long have you been practicing kenjutsu, Kensou?"

Kensou paused as a thought crossed his mind. A moment of silence crept over him. Finally,
Amiko inquired again, throwing him from his trance. He answered, "I... I think I've been
fighting all my life..."

Amiko was silent and asked no more. She thought she struck an unpleasant cord of Kensou's
memories. But that mattered little as Kensou kicked their chocobo as it dashed forward.
Everyone else followed suit, for night was deep and they sought much needed rest...

***

Meanwhile, still within the stadium, the Hokuten sat, silent, still, and solemn about the
body of their leader. Anya lay, quiet dead, with the hole in her chest gaping at them all.
It must have been truly painful. For Anya, I mean, for she was the one impaled by a giant
sword.

Slowly, the blood that had been running from her chest stopped its flow. It froze in place.
It then slowly changed direction. It flowed in the opposite path, back into the wound. The
clan smiled as Lee spoke, scratching his back, covered with his baggy shirt, "Right on
time."

Red left the ground, leaving it as if it had never been stained. After a while, the ground
was completely free of blood, and it all flowed back within Anya's veins. Slowly, her wound
shrunk. What once was a mouth of blood and gore became a small speck, and then was gone
completely. Anya opened her eyes to see Orion above her, handing her a bottle of water.
"You should be more careful," said Orion. "Dying is not exactly pleasant, I assume."

Anya took the bottle and took a large gulp of it. She then wiped her mouth with the back
of her hand and replied, "It isn't, but the worst part is being separated from life.
Without that, death is a simple process, nothing to be feared."

Risika then sighed with relief, "I thought you died for real that time."

Anya then patted Risika's hair. The girl looked up at her leader, who was smiling widely.
Anya told her, "Heh, you must not have that much faith if a simple wound was feared. I've
lived through a million deaths. I have yet to face a true death."

And Risika half-heartedly smiled at her friend. The Clan then got to their feet and left
the area, leaving Kurei in the middle of the ring, for he was still there, fatigued and
exhausted from the day. As he looked up at the ceiling, he finally came to a conclusion
after an hour of silence and thought, 'Rantmon... I apologize... I... I have failed...'

With that, Kurei disappeared with a swirl of leaves and apparently was never seen again.
And so was the end of the Council of Rantmon. The terrible force of the Council had passed
from the world with Kurei. The great overlord, Rantmon's, army was gone. The only thing
standing between the Crew and Rantmon were the Enders, just three strong. Darkness
disappeared from the land, a cloud passed the moon, and the full circle of the moon was
shown upon the world.

---- END OF ARC 2 : TO BE CONTINUED ----

- ENDING SONG: ZUTTO KIMI NO SOBA DE -

yume no neji wo maide
hito no kanashiimi mou
tsuyosa wo mita
sonna kimi no soba de
subete wo utsuseru
hito de itai
ashita ni meyouwanai youni
ima mou wasureru youni

hashiru hashiru doko made mou iku
yure de yure de kokoro no mama ni yurarete
donna kurushii mi nante
kimi no ireba doriko 're nareru

---- Preview ----

[Japanese Yu-Gi-Oh! Preview music plays in background. The six appear as chibi style, and
random scenes from the next episode play, though you can't see because this is text. =P]

SSJ: Okay! Here we are with the end of Arc 2!

Amiko: Well, that certainly was interesting...

Kensou: So next, we get very little screen time as the less shown characters have the
spotlight!

TM: Get ready for Rantmon, Jallopsimon, Kino, and... Wait, I think that's all of them.

Davis: And where are we? Well, we come face to face with a far off memory.

Cindy: Or at least, SSJ, Amiko, and TM do.

All: NEXT! On GINGA GIRI GIRI! "Song of an Other World"

----