Description: The investigations of the Miyama clan have lead them to the Ise Grand Shrine. Unable to claim the shattered Sphere of Sparks that has destroyed Italy, they seek the Flux Sphere of Yang, currently held by Zach Glen. Zach himself wishes to see this battle through to completion, and the sphere itself guides him to this place, deep in the bowels of the earth below the shrine. There the two meet, and they are confronted by a fey-like assassin with a spear. For Saiki, Shion will kill them both here and claim the Sphere of Flux in order to power the Gate. Will their combined might be enough to stop him, or will they fall victim and allow time to be rewritten by Those from His Distant Land?
Welcome to the Ise Grand Shrine, which is not so much a single shrine as it is a collection of smaller ones that cluster around two larger shrines, Naiku and Geku, the inner and outer shrines respectively. Naiku was constructed from Japanese cypress; the wood is pale and bears no marks, not from hail nor tourists. What Geku is made of, I cannot say.
What I do know is that it is peaceful if a bit empty here, the rumoured home of the Yata no Kagami. Even at night, there is only the gentle song of cicadas and rushing water. A cool breeze drifts along the winding path, setting leaves to dance and rustling through the branches of cryptomeria trees. Some ash has made its way from Fuji all the way to this place, but it is largely unaffected. At either side, Shimaji-yama and Kamiji-yama cup the sprawling landmark, one of the holiest and most important shrines of the Shinto religion.
It is at Naiku specifically where a stable wormhole has formed, leading those daring enough to pass through deep below the Earth's crust into an impossible hell of red rock and a looming Door. The Time Gate.
Each man or woman who enters the vortex shall be tested. It is almost time for two more to arrive. The entire planet holds its breath in anticipation, all sound fading. What will these warriors be like? Do they wish to preserve the world as it is now, or watch the rebirth with fava beans and a nice chianti? Come and fight for your future, whatever it is to be. Before the Door that will determine the fate of this universe does an opponent wait, as if chosen by a destiny that was foreordained...
One could say that Zach Glen had been led by fate. Another could say that the pull of the Yang Sphere in his possession brought him here. One more cynical about such things would suggest that he was led here by the coordinates that Ayame had given him.
All three of these ideas would be correct.
The psion had made quick stop at the home of his parents for a change of clothes and some seriously needed time to cleanse himself, both physically and mentally. Metro City was a hellscape. Now, just a ruin. The experience was not kind.
Zach arrives wearing a dark cargo pants, a black t-shirt, combat boots, and a tactical vest bearing a number of pouches and a pair of short swords on his back. Emerald eyes scan the shrine, settling on the Door. That... that shit ain't right, but it'd be par for the course.
Each person who approaches the shrine has their own purpose. Some fight to change the world, others to protect it. Still others want to destroy it. But the Miyama?
They want to save it.
A loose cluster of leaves dances through the air past Zach, then fetches up against a temple wall and flutters there, helpless. As the wind slackens and the leaves start to drift back down toward Earth, a large form steps quietly up beside the psion, having shadowed him along the path to this point.
The new arrival stands nearly a foot taller than the psychic warrior, with shaggy brownish-blond hair and a vicious scar running through his left eye that leaves it blank and white. The black silk half-mask and loose dark-blue coat mark him as a shinobi, but beneath the uniform he is built much more like a wrestler. It seems unlikely that he could sneak up on anyone, but, apparently he can. Perhaps it has something to do with his aura. Where Zach is crammed full of psychic energy, the golden-haired shinobi has no chi or psy signature to speak of. he blends in perfectly with the surrounding energyscape, phantom-like.
"Brace yourself, Zach Glen." Noboru rumbles quietly from his spot at Zach's left shoulder, speaking English for the American's benefit. "This is a fight you do not have the luxury to lose." And with that message delivered, the hulking ninja continues forward toward their shared fait, his remaining icy-blue eye fixed unwaveringly on the time door ahead.
Zach's right hand is up by the short short on that shoulder, an unusual-looking piece, when Noboru speaks. The hilt is fancier, almost exotic compared to pretty much everything else on or about the psion. Zach's left arm is pointing at Noboru, as if he means to menace the much larger man with the stump... which carries a dull yellow glow like sunshine through clouds. He lets out a light sigh. "At least you're not Ayame," he mutters darkly.
Noboru passes by the shorter man, and Zach relaxes only a little bit, and follows Noboru towards the portal as he pulls the Time Sphere from one of the harness pouches. Its pull is unmistakable. "No shit," Zach says in a somewhat forced tone of nonchalance. This is easily the deadliest situation he's ever faced. All the other times: the Jinchuu tournaments, the King of Fighters, the War in China, these events may have helped to prepare Zach.
But the psyhic has to wonder if he's ready for something like this.
Fate...
Choice...
In the end, they might as well be one and the same.
Guided here by will or the divine urging of a sphere that can control time itself, standing just outside the swirling vortex, the Gate beyond the wormhole waits for Zach and Noboru both. If you were to ask Shion what he thought about saving this pitiful world, as the Miyama clan wishes, considering all that has been done to it, the fey-like assassin would laugh. He laugh long and on, perhaps even forever.
Alas, he is not asked.
The effeminate fighter sits on the crimson steps that lead to the Door, working in silence. A groove cut into a stone is used to sharpen the blade of the qiang spear, focusing first on one side until it has regained its deadly splendor, switching to the other. He looks up only for a brief moment, then those orange painted lips curve into a sinister smile. "So, they have arrived."
At those words, the vortex reaches out, tendrils of smoke and energy tentacles wrap around Zach and Noboru, whether they like it or not. It drags them through, violently, pitches both men on the floor at the Chinese assassin's feet. Holding the haft of the spear, the sharpened end is swung down, pointed straight between the eyes of the American. "Good, you have brought it." Shion crosses one leg over the other, striking a strange pose and allowing a dark chuckle to eke out from his mouth, "There is no more use for you, give it to me and I promise you a swift and painless death." His scarlet eyes are almost alive, burning in their sockets. Blue braids frame his soft, feminine features, his length of brown hair disturbed by a sudden warm draft of air.
"You, you are unnecessary. Allow me to flay the skin from your bones until you know nothing but agony, until the warmth drains from your exposed muscles and the light leaves your eyes." The spear-wielding man switches targets, pivoting on the balls of his feet. Extending a leg, he bends gracefully back. His hands move one over the other until they grip the butt of the shaft, and he swings it down, the flexible rod bending at his shoulder. It continues on, the sharpened edge moving to cleave Noboru in twine, or at least skewer him savagely. The furred tassle flutters, caught in the rush of wind. "I can hear the Time Sphere," he says to Zach, "it resonates with the Door, wishing to be returned." Shion will present the orb to Saiki, but only after he finishes hacking these fighters to unrecognizable pieces!
COMBATSYS: Shion has started a fight here on the top side.
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Shion 0|-------|------=
COMBATSYS: Zach has joined the fight here.
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Shion 0|-------|------=
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Zach 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Noboru has joined the fight here.
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Shion 0|-------|------=
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Zach 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Noboru
"I'm thinking no," Zach says. Zach prepares to get even more defiant.
And then that ebullience, that drive to stir things up, to try and bring real /change/ to this dying world just... drains out of him. He looks down at the Sphere in his hand with widened eyes as realization shoots through him like lightning. Then he closes his eyes and smiles bitterly. "So /that's/ how it is," he mutters. He looks back up to Shion, stuffing the sphere back in its pouch.
He pulls the Miraitou free from its sheath, bright motes of sunlight spraying free from the sheath and the blade as it slides over the Ryouhara-made weapon. "If that's how it is," Zach says, steel in his voice harder than the steel in his hand, "Then I guess we'll just have to make a fight of it." Zach Glen, wounded warrior and generally unsung hero, prepares to fight once more for this world.
Charging past Noboru on a bee-line for Shion, Zach throws two lightning fast slashes at Shion's chest. The resulting cuts would not be deep; Zach is testing speed and reactions of the taller man, not trying to bring the hammer down just yet.
COMBATSYS: Zach equips Violet Miraitou.
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Shion 0|-------|------=
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Noboru
COMBATSYS: Noboru just-defends Shion's Sen Tsuki!
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Shion 0|-------|------=
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|======-\-------\0 Noboru
Grabbed and catapulted through space time by a mystical portal, Noboru seems remarkably unruffled once the worm hole has spat him out. The bulky shinobi materializes 3 feet above the red stone floor, twisting about as he falls so that he hits the ground back first rather than greeting it with his face. A smaller, more flippy ninja probably could have done better. But, a smaller and more flippy ninja probably couldn't put its fist through a stone wall. Noboru takes what he can get.
What the Miyama ninja seems to have been given today is an audience with an effeminate Chinese man with a spear. Another gate guardian, this one blood thirsty and...
Shion's monologueing cuts off as the spear is brought down and around in a deadly arc aimed for the downed shinobi's abdomen. The attack is fast, the spear's wooden shaft displacing air with an audible hiss.
'TSWAP!'
Gloved right hand lifting, Noboru catches the descending weapon just behind the blade and brings the weapon to a quivering halt a foot above his tensed stomach. Peering past his hand, the now thoroughly annoyed ninja stares up the length of the spear into Shion's pretty face with icy dispassion.
"Hrrrrrm." Comes the grumbled reply to how Noboru is going to get skinned alive. Perhaps it's something he's been told before.
Then, all at once, the big man is on the move. Bringing the tip of the assassin's spear down, he spikes it into the stone floor with such force that the metal tip is lodged firmly into the stone. That out of the way, he explodes to his feet in one violent forward lunge, seeming to shoulder space time out of his god damned way as he turns the upward lunge into a forward charge.
Taking two long steps, Noboru rushes Shion from the opposite side as Zach, left fist swinging up from the hip and foot planting as he turns his charge into a twisting turn, weight going behind his fist as he attempts to take the small Chinese man's head right off his shoulders.
COMBATSYS: Shion blocks Zach's Light Strike.
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Shion 0|-------|-----==
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Noboru
COMBATSYS: Shion interrupts Strong Punch from Noboru with Kuuchuu Yari Tsukami.
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Shion 0|-------|---====
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Noboru
Trouble is, the spear is not really all that firmly lodged in stone. "Feh." The fey-like assassin moves like water, like a poet's quill on parchment. There's a certain beauty to be found in his near ethereal grace, in the serpentine quality to his actions, slithering out and around the haft. Shion stands upright and looses a soft, twinkling laugh that carries around the chamber. Truth be told, he doesn't NEED to fight with the qiang spear, but nothing in the world will ever compare to the sweet feeling of impaling a man on the blade, watching the blood drain from his face and soak through layers of clothing around the wound. Sneering faintly, his hold is kept strong. One jerk wrenches the shimmering tip free, and just in the nick of time.
Zach, he attacks from the front. "PREDICTABLE!" shouts the beautiful brown-haired Shion; each slash is simply met with an easy block, the delicate assassin shifting and dancing as he maneuvers the staff into the path, allowing it to take the brunt of both strikes. This would mean... that his reactions are quite quick, and here they are about to get even more impressive!
It would seem that Noboru hopes to capitalize on what he might see as a lapse in Shion's attention, but the Chinese fighter is anything but caught unaware. Is that supposed to be a haymaker? Whatever it is, it does bounce off the slender man's forearm. He loves disappointing ninjas. "You're wide open, fool!"
Rocking away from the American, the fey-like assassin lunges for Noboru again, directly into the other man's personal space to turn the tables. The spear becomes a whirl, spun around and around by dexterous, skillful hands. It draws in those stupid enough to stand close, and then the haft collides with skull. One, twice, three times. Shion continues to swing the damn thing with the intention of cracking the burly ninja's head apart like an egg that had done him some great disservice, or maybe he means to pound the man directly through the stone floor, one agonizing hit at a time. The point is, it lasts until Noboru is able to escape, whether by falling or stumbling back, maybe even dying.
His hair cascades down his back, braids against his chest and the front of the yellow outfit he wears. Shion, tucking the rod of the qiang spear into his elbow, shakes his head with a sadistic glint, scarlet eyes bright, "Do whatever you wish," he says to Zach, "stuggle, fight, and writhe in pain. You had your chance to ask for mercy, but no longer." The Chinese assassin sets his weapon asid-- SETS HIS WEAPON ASIDE?
Yes, that's exactly what he does. Never mind what was said earlier in this pose because I changed my mind.
Leg crossing over again, Shion assumes his own stance of Wushu, palms up, elbows tucked in towards his slender form. "Come, both of you." See how his fists can cut as deep as the blade, or perhaps there is a trick up his sleeve, like maybe one that involves whips. He did say he would flay the flesh from Noboru's bones -- how exactly would he do that without a whip?
Zach scowls. "None of the above," Zach answers firmly. He skids to a halt, spinning to face Shion with a scowl. "Seriously," he says, "Ease off the psycho throttle." The glib talk isn't meant to phase Shion, it's meant to help Zach settle his own mind. He brings his left wrist up to the short sword as if he still had a hand to grip the hilt with. Soul Power flares along the blade. The American throws a quick glance at Noboru; the attack the ninja took will probably sting just a bit, but Zach knows the ninja is surprisingly tough.
Zach takes a single step towards the assassin, bringing the blade down in a single sweep. The steel will fall short of the taller man, while the Soul Power might not!
Even as Noboru's balled fist is glancing off of Shion's upraised arm, the big ninja is stepping forward after it. His forward charge has slowed after the whirling haymaker into a steady walk, one that doesn't slow when the pretty Chinese assassin twists away from Zach and sets that spear of his to dancing about. Drawing his fist back, the hulking ninja slowly uncurls the fingers, all the while staring down at his slender opponent past the weapon whipping through the air between them.
"Hrrrm." Rumbles the big man mildly. Clearly he isn't much of a talker.
Continuing his steady advance, Noboru accepts the first lash of the spear butt right between the eyes. The wood lands with a satisfying crack, but doesn't even slow the approaching shinobi. The second and third blows catch him on the right temple and shoulder. The fourth strikes him high on the right side of the head, leaving behind a dark patch in his golden hair where blood starts to ooze from his split scalp.
When Shion finally steps back and sets his spear aside the big ninja follows him. His icy blue eye is calm and implacable and blood drips from his hair to spatter his right shoulder. But, like some sort of stone automaton, Noboru lifts his gloved right hand and lashes out with spread fingers in an attempt to grab Shion full by the face...
Though the ninja is moving sloppily, almost carelessly, there is something in the flatness of his stare that suggests this is his own sort of test. Some fighters have testing jabs at the beginning of a fight. Noboru, apparently, has testing haymakers. If he manages to get this face grab it probably will not be a test.
COMBATSYS: Shion endures Noboru's Spinal Tap!
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Shion 0|-------|---====
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Noboru
COMBATSYS: Shion blocks Zach's Soul Flare.
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Shion 0|-------|--=====
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Noboru
Digging his thick fingertips into Shion's temples, Noboru drags the smaller assassin down a step of the carved stone stairway so that they stand on mostly level ground. That being done, the big ninja twists his thick wrist, forcing the Chinese warrior to turn his back on the shinobi by the one-handed grip on his skull.
Looming quietly behind his smaller opponent, Noboru presses down hard on Shion's face to keep him steady, then drives the stiffened fingers of his left hand into the center of the Chinaman's spine. Only then does the grip on the pretty man's face loosen, the iron fingers starting to pull away.
Psycho... throttle?
"What?"
For one brief moment, Shion is very confused. His thin brows draw together; he squints at the American. The fey-like fighter has given up trying to decipher the human race and how their minds work ever since he encountered that ridiculous Japanese man in Thailand. Yet somehow they still manage to find new ways to baffle him. Maybe one day he'll have seen everything.
Still, psycho throttle. That's lame. So lame.
The effeminate assassin gives a prideful toss of the head, his blue braids bouncing around at their leisure. "As you say." He shrugs, dismissing Zach, then falls silent. It is time to focus, because Noboru advances on him like a bloody faced, wrathful titan, having managed to avoid serious injury due to sheer luck or maybe his skull is made of stone. Who knows! Thrusting a hand at Shion's lovely visage, what does the Chinaman do? Leans right into it, grinning broadly, brimming with confidence. Let this be a test of strength...
Fingers dig deep into his temples and Noboru might believe that he pulls the slender, shorter man off-balance, but Shion steps forward willingly. He cannot see past the large palm covering his eyes and I suppose he's spun around. A sharp jab in the spine later, vertebrae pop and shuffle themselves into alignment all the way up to the base of his neck. The attack probably wasn't meant to do that, but it didn't exactly hurt. Sweeping chestnut coloured hair from thin shoulders, when he is released, the Chinese assassin has the audacity to say, "So, is that all you have to offer? Is that the power you wish to use to save this pathetic world? If you're not going to try, then step aside and wait for your turn to die!"
He leaps back, cat-like, making nary a sound. It puts him directly in the path not of the blade, but of Zach's 'Soul Power'. Being hit by anything involving that does not sound fun. Shion quickly shields his chest and face with his arms, and they are left tingling afterward. "Che." Orange painted lips twist down into a frown. He contemplates the strange sensation, but upon raising his head, fierce determination burns in those crimson eyes. He points first at the ninja, then his finger moves on to indicate the American. Lungs expanding as he draws breath, he shouts, "ENGO KYOUSHA!" and nothing happens...
Until it totally does. Suddenly, a panel snaps open with a clap like thunder and what looks like a multi-bolt crossbow appears. There is no one behind it to pull the trigger; an unseen force does so at Shion's command and the air is black with arrows. They arc overhead, soaring in slow-motion, and come pelting down at Zach. If he cannot get out of the way, well... What happens is entirely up to him. Hopefully it involves being stuck to the ground for all eternity.
COMBATSYS: Zach blocks Shion's Engo Kyousha.
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Shion 0|-------|=======
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Noboru
Zach's eyes go wide at the hail of arrows descending on him. Reactly quickly, he thrusts his left arm forward, spinning up a disc of sunlight that repels some of the arrows. But there are too many, and the shield begins to falter. Instead of letting it crash completely, Zach drops the barrier as he whirls the wakazashi in his right hand in a dizzying display or whirls, arcs, and slashes. Master swordsmen can accomplish an phenomenon referred to as a barrier of blades. Zach is not a master swordsman. His barrier is more like a net. It stops many of the arrows, but not all of them. Several projectiles score his flesh, tear his clothes, and spill his blood. But none of them score a hit on a vital area.
The psion lets out a deep breath as he draws his left arm back before thrusting it once more at Shion's midsection. This time, a sphere of that will-driven energy blooms from the stump, racing towards the spearman at a decent clip. The speed of the projectile may not seem all that impressive, but the sheer intensity of it may brove unnerving.
"Hrrrrr." Rumbles the big ninja mildly, both gloved hands shifting calmly out of the slender assassin's path as he leaps off to confront Zach. The look in the brute's good eye is as icy and calm as ever, utterly in control. The time sphere in Zach's possession must be pulling at him, trying to drag him down, but thus far the ninja shows no sign of any sort of strain. Like the blood trickling down his right shoulder, the extra pressure is ignored.
Then, as Shion lands and shifts his pointing finger to face Zach, Noboru's spread hands drift together with a soft clap. Thick grey smoke explodes outward from between his hands and washes over the big shinobi, thickening and spreading outward until he is just a shadow in the smoke that fades away to obscurity. There is no chi signature to mark him, and no trace of psy for even a master psion to track. For all intents and purposes the ninja vanishes just as the hail of crossbolts start to slice into his ally's shield.
The thick cloud of smoke immediately starts to slide down toward the ground. By the time Zach has finished deflecting the worst of the bolts, the smoke has gathered in a swirling thigh-deep puddle centered on the two remaining fighters. Still, there is no sign of Noboru.
The sword-wielding psion's raging ball of psy has closed half the distance to Shion before a wave of smoke rises up behind the Chinese assassin. The missing shinobi prowls out of the fog like a ghost. There is no sound as he appears, only the sudden sense of a looming presence that the slender assassin can no doubt track effortlessly without having to look around.
As he appears, Noboru's left fist is whipping up from his hip, fingers curled into a half fist with the middle knuckles extended. Stepping forward with the blow, the hulking ninja twists his shoulders, transferring the momentum of his body into his fist as it rises in an arrow-straight line toward the base of Shion's skull.
COMBATSYS: Shion dodges Noboru's Temporary Diplopia.
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Shion 0|-------|=======
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Noboru
COMBATSYS: Shion fails to slow Blast Punch from Zach with Ryuu Tsumu Yasaki.
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Shion 1|------=|=======
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Zach [E] 0/-------/-------|=====--\-------\0 Noboru
Sunlight? Is that more of this 'Soul Power'? Shion's pupils dialate to the size of a pinhead, scrutinizing the American's unique ability and the attempt to shield himself from the hail of arrows. As the screen begins to falter, orange painted lips peel back from white rows of teeth; his cruel smile is chilling. A fool would laugh now and claim victory far too soon, but the fey-like fighter waits to pass his final judgement, for he knows the folly of underestimating his opponent. He will see this through...
The wakazashi joins the fray, and it spins and cuts, the slender blade glinting crimson as it catches what little light the chamber has to offer when the last of the 'Soul Power' protector fades. It carves through the deadly rain, and at the very end, a multitude of arrows lay strewn at the psion's feet. The few that had managed to pierce the barrier have left their mark on clothing and skin, but the damage is negligible. Zach earns a small measure of Shion's respect. "Don't you hear it? This world... cries out for rebirth, and Saiki will lead us into a new age!" He... Well, he has almost completely forgotten about Noboru, no longer able to register the man's chi signature. Uh oh.
His crimson-eyed gaze searches for the ninja, flickering about to the Door and to Zach. "Tch!" Even if the hulking man is weak, to lose sight of him for this long fills the effeminate man with a sense of foreboding and there seems to be far more smoke than he remembers... All at once, realization hits him. Shion reaches to his back and removes the sheng biao rope dart from under his yellow top. How the slender man stashed it there, how it has gone unnoticed, these are questions you really don't want the answers to. Spinning the whip, he knows exactly where Noboru will be: Behind him.
Forget prowling out of the fog and looming, the thin assassin whirls around to face the man, wearing the most unbecoming of sneers. Smoke is pulled in towards him, drawn into the vacuum that the rope dart creates as it is swung in a circle. "Not today!" Shion uses his elbow and foot to manipulate the sheng biao, altering its course to avoid being tangled up with his opponent. He sneaks beneath the extended arm, hops up one step, then releases the hooked end in a high arc over his shoulder. It whistles and shrieks, and is meant to shatter the sphere that is flung in his direction by Zach...
But that doesn't happen.
Hooked end bouncing off the outer shell of the sphere, the Chinaman is so shocked that he cannot recover in time. In the blink of an eye, the energy ball is upon him, smashing into him like some soul-powered wrecking ball. He is flung away, a mess of rope and limbs soaring ass-over-kettle through the air. Shion hits the Door, slumping before it, his precious braids and chestnut coloured hair askew. It feels as though he stood in the midst of an explosion, but instead of burning, it's like he's been electrocuted. His stomach turns over... A strange symbol on the door of the Time Gate begins to glow, as does the orb in Zach's possession... "Time to finish this." Placing a hand upon the smooth surface of the Door, the feminine fighter slowly... pushes it open.
"Yyyyeah," Zach drawls as whips the Miraitou in a swift arc, the point leveled directly at Shion's heart. "You guys are behind the disasters. You're not up to anything approaching good."
More of that sunlight wraps around Zach. Some of it leeches away towards the Time Sphere Zach carries. But there's so /much/ of it, and it lights up the room as if it were midday. Zach's left arm reaches toward the sword, as if to grasp it with the hand that is missing. Slowly at first, but accelerating quickly, the soul power Zach produces forms into a hand. The hand resembles the one he lost in Metro City, if it were constructed out of pure light. The ethereal hand grips the sword, and the energy slides across it.
"But yeah," Zach says. "Let's finish this."
The psion charges Shion, the sword blazing even as motes of sunshine trail from the lethally crafted Ryouhara weapon even as the tip of the blade shifts slightly to get the proper angle. It's not terribly often Zach fights someone his height. The blade's aim is fairly obvious; Zach is looking to end this with a single strike!
Noboru's left fist seems to shimmer faintly at the apex of his strike, the force of the missed blow sending a wave of compressed air rushing outward. All of the smoke that had been drawn in by Shion's rope trick is gathered up by the miniature wind and forced toward the edges of the wide chamber. There the smoke collects in a thin curtain, coating the orange stone of the walls and muting their strange glow.
Left standing on a bare stone step, fist raised in a lazy action pose, the big Ninja watches with mild amusement as his much smaller opponent is sent rag-dolling across the chamber by Zach's psionic power. As the psion hurtles past up the steps, Noboru directs his contemplative gaze down to his own clenched fist. Slowly, with obvious effort, he forces his fingers to uncurl for the second time, a loud series of pops clearly audible from his overstressed knuckle joints. Showing no interest in the Chinese assassin or his words, the shinobi keeps his back turned to the fighters converging further up the stairs. he has done his part to shift the balance. Zach can handle the rest on his own.
Around the edges of the chamber thick grey smoke drips down the walls, glowing the muted orangy-red of hell.
It is the end, but whether this will be the grand finale of Shion or of the two warriors chosen by fate, the Chinese assassin cannot say. Not until the psion has joined him on the steps that lead on into infinity, thrusting the blade of Miraitou through a space between his ribs and piercing his heart. "I see..." He... must leave this world with no regrets...
The essence of the thin man stains his ethnic garb a deep crimson, seeping out gradually from his wound. Wrapping slender digits around the blade, ignoring how the sunlight aura causes his fingers to spasm and twitch, Shion wrenches the wakazashi free. A drop of scarlet descends from the tip and hits the vermilion step with a muted splash. He collapses heavily against the Door of Time itself, the half that has remained closed. His impact jars... everything. Everything shakes and changes. A thrum of energy coming from the Gate spreads outwards.
In a flash, it coalesces into images, memories. Blurry impressions and recollections, such as when Zach awakened to his Soul Power and the destruction it caused.
Or when Noboru embarked on the first of many missions to prove his worth.
They reach back further still, to times lost and thought forgotten. There is an odd colour emphasis on brown and black for no readily discernible reason, as these images linger in the mind for far longer than they are displayed.
Transitioning smoothly to more recent events, they're as recent as Zach's run-in with an explosion that destroyed his hand, or Noboru's frantic search for his clansman only to be blocked by a very confused man wielding a pipe.
Eventually, the luminescent pictures give way to clarity of the present when Shion presses against the other half of the Door. As it starts to give way, the chamber is brilliantly lit, white light far-reaching to all corners. It forms a halo around the fey-like assassin's head, who combs back his hair and closes his eyes in a serene way. He lays a hand against his breast, blood weeping through the cracks between his fingers. If the only way to bring the sphere to Saiki is by sacrificing his life, he'll see it done. Zach may not believe that they mean to do good in this world, and surely others would agree with him, but Those From the Past intend on changing history. It will be flawless. A utopia.
The One who Rules Time will wipe out all imperfections and correct all mistakes. It will be a world where people like Shion and his brethern can live and rule. Truly a madman's dream.
"Just a little... more..." Shion pitches forward into a stumble, but catches himself. He uses the qiang spear for support. When it returned to him, how it was summoned without attracting notice, that is none of your concern. His knees tremble, sweat pours down from his brow. Inertia sees that the Gate is opened further and further. At the very least, the lithe fighter doesn't need to look back to ascertain his success...
He can simply feel it.
Shion smiles, "With this, it... is complete--"
A haughty chortle rings out from... somewhere. "Yes. Now there is no longer any need for a worm like yourself." That voice sneers, tones measured and condescending.
His scarlet eyes snap open, widen to their very limits and stretch even beyond that... Because a hand has gripped him by his crown and the thin Chinaman's body elongates grotesquely. He contorts in agony, pulled upward like taffy and twisting. "... Saiki!" The faithful assassin hisses, surprised and pained, as he is dragged into a nothingness that doesn't seem connected to the Door. A dark and empty Hell. This is... betrayal! "You bas--"
The spear clatters down the stairs to the Time Gate, its owner fed to the void. It is hardly a climactic way to... disappear? Die? Either way, Shion has been treated like a bug on a windshield being wiped off, a trifle, his passing mourned by no one in particular.
"Such ineptitude is unforgivable. Incompetent fool, he wasn't even capable of killing at least one of you..." says this disembodied voice. Is it... Saiki, that the fey-like fighter just mentioned? "Don't keep me waiting."
Zach and Noboru are left to their own devices, to the opened Door... But what will come next?
"Hrrrrm." rumbles the muscular shinobi, the deep bass grumble throwing back muted echo's from the smoky walls. To the laymen it would appear as if he were gazing off into the middle distance, icy blue eye unfocussed as he absently flexes his left hand at chest height. Those who know him better might guess, correctly, that he is studying the world through his other eye.The milky white one that should be sightless.
"It is here that our paths fork, Zach Glen. I wish you luck in the conflict to come." Noboru's quiet voice remains an idle deadpan as he turns to stroll calmly up the steps, adding simply, "Do not fail us."
The big shinobi has always been a man of few words. So, with a faint nod down to the psion as he passes, Noboru tugs his blue silk coat closed around him and prowls past the final step. He does not look back over his shoulder before stepping through the open door and into the brilliant wall of light.
Zach slumps to one knee, his breath coming in ragged gasps before Shion is dragged toward whatever awaits him. He watches Noboru leave, only nodding as the larger man makes his statement. The psion slumps back for a moment, simply sitting at the top of the stairs as he leans back against the wall to regain his breath.
It is a long moment as he tries to reconcile what had just happened. Another before Zach can collect himself enough to clean the Miraitou and sheath the blade. Zach closes his eyes, and that shining hand scatters into motes of light that fade and die, leaving the odd lighting of the cavern to pervade once more.
A seeming eternity passes before Zach Glen, potential savior of the world, stands once more. He takes one last deep breath for stepping through the Doorway, and into destiny.
Log created on 14:58:33 10/18/2014 by GLaDOS, and last modified on 17:56:14 10/24/2014.