Dizzy casually walked through the steel network of corridors that made
up the May ship, towards the bridge and it’s captain, Johnny. Though
her initial aura was a relaxed one, Dizzy had been jumpy for a short
while. Simply because she was afraid of running into May.
It had been one whole hour since May had attempted to make contact,
but still, to Dizzy, it felt as though it were only three seconds ago.
Everything was just happening so fast these days. And to be honest,
Dizzy hadn’t been coping extremely well. Not to a good standard at
least. The fact that Dizzy was avoiding May rather than talking to her
was showing this. It wasn’t her fault; after all, Dizzy had never
really had many problems of the heart to deal with. What more could
you expect from a three year old? However, below that mark of age,
Dizzy carried a decent sense of right and wrong. Avoiding May wasn’t
necessarily erroneous, but it didn’t fit in with the good side of her
either.
But as much as Dizzy wanted her best friend back, a dominant fear
weighed her down. What could she say? What could May say? Even if they
did rectify the...whole...kiss thing, what then? The Innocent Gear
would never forget how much it hurt for May to run from her like that.
May was the one person she trusted above all else...Dizzy put out all
of her hopes, desires and feelings into that single kiss. Only to have
May reject it so openly. Not even the blind hatred and disdain of the
human surface dwellers could have done as much damage. Not by a long
shot.
Could Dizzy just get over that?
And what about May? If they did manage to reform their friendship,
could May do that, perfectly calm and contented, knowing full well
that Dizzy was head over heels in love with her?
Needless to say, Dizzy doubted that. Especially after...
Dizzy shook her head. Anything to get her first kiss out of her head.
No way did she have the strength to recycle that event in her head
over and over again. Testament had once told her that to get over the
pain of the past crimes he committed under Justice, he had to put all
of those things behind him. And the crimson-eyed Gear started to
seriously believe that was the only way to make herself feel better.
Unfortunately that path meant losing her best friend.
With that sullen thought cast adrift from her brain, Dizzy found
herself at the stern steel door leading into the bridge. Uhr. It
seemed like anywhere she went Dizzy was reminded of her kiss with May.
That Rudder...
Shaking her head again, Dizzy gently pushed the door open and entered
the bridge of the May ship to be greeted to the cheery smile of it’s
more than capable captain.
“Hey, Dizzy!” Johnny said, his smile cast over his shoulder as both of
his hands supported the ship’s rudder.
Dizzy shyly smiled back. “Hello, Mr Johnny.”
Johnny’s hand took a second to adjust his shades while he stared
quizzically at Dizzy. “What’s all this ‘Mr Johnny’ stuff? You’re still
doing that? Come on Dizzy you should just call me Johnny! Or Captain,
whatever you prefer.”
The Innocent Gear bowed politely in apology. “I am sorry...Johnny.”
Johnny grinned. “Heh! Now that’s more like it!”
The captain of the May ship had a second to think about what he was
going to say to Dizzy, he called over one of the other two crewmembers
on the bridge to take control of the rudder. The ship girl did so, and
soon after, Johnny led Dizzy over to a quieter section of the room. A
section of the room not drowned out by the sound of the May ship’s
engines.
“So you called for me, Johnny?”
Johnny nodded. “Yep. Well...you see...you know that we lifted some
gold in Berlin? Well the time has come for us to cash it in. As you
know, we’ll be landing in Fuzhou soon. That’s were we’re gonna cash in
the goods. I’m gonna oversee the whole thing, but some other
crewmembers are coming with me. June’s coming, she wants to visit this
new restaurant, and May’s gonna come.”
Dizzy’s heart clenched. Talk of May again. And it was coming from
Johnny, too. Johnny didn’t threaten her, not even in the least. In
fact Dizzy liked Johnny very much. But a part of her still felt
envious of Johnny for winning May affections.
“Who else is coming?” Dizzy asked.
Hearing that, Johnny rested his hands on both of Dizzy’s shoulders and
gave her a genuine smile of caring. “I want you to come along as
well.”
That came as a shock. It had been a good while since Dizzy had left
the ship, and memories of the last time were still fresh in her mind.
The things those people said to her...Dizzy was still far too young to
understand the full extent of Justice’s legacy, but she knew (from the
books she had read and the stories told to her by Testament) that he
was a bad person. So needless to say, when people called her a ‘Second
Justice’ and the like, it had an after effect on our blue haired
heroine. The hot springs with...May did cheer her up though. That was
the high point of the trip. The second time the ship landed since
Dizzy joined the Jellyfish Pirates was for the mission in Berlin, to
pick up the gold Johnny was presently talking about. Dizzy had wanted
to go, but May had openly objected to getting Dizzy involved in a
heist, so much so that May stayed back. At the time, Dizzy felt that
she could handle it, but May still wasn’t having any of that.
Weird...it seemed as if all of Dizzy’s activities (aside from cooking
with June) involved May somehow. If the brunette wasn’t a part of
Dizzy’s life, did that mean that she had no life on the May ship?
Dizzy tried not to think about it like that. Not now. She was a
Jellyfish Pirate. Upfront and foremost. “You desire me to accompany
you?”
Johnny nodded. “Uh huh. It’s up to you. You can stay if you want, but
I’d really like you to come along with us. Every once in a while
you’re feet need to touch soil, y’know? I promise, nothing will happen
like it did in Spain. You have my word as the captain of the May ship
and the no. 1 chick magnet in the seven skies.”
Accepting that, Dizzy gently smiled. She was ready. “I’ll go, Johnny.”
**********
Five minutes later, in the cafeteria of the May ship, May and April
stood in the cafeteria line, one tray each, waiting for the latest
cuisine June and Dizzy had cooked up. But while April was excited
about getting something to snack on, all May could do was sigh
unhappily. Dizzy wasn’t even prepared to talk to her...and the look of
heartbreak in her scarlet eyes...May had caused that...But was this
how it was going to be? May losing her best friend over a stupid kiss?
Every time May thought about that, it irritated her to no end. Why
would Dizzy let something so insignificant get in between them?
As May chose the food that she wanted, April took note of the dejected
look on her team-mates’ face. Something was really bothering her. And
from that same look, April could tell it was something big.
The two girls picked out their lunches and walked over to their usual
table at the other side of the room. And while April dove in like
there was no tomorrow, May’s head leaned tiredly to one side, propped
up by her arm, and she poked at the food on her tray. The chief
advisor of the May ship took notice of this dejection yet again.
So she brought it up. “So are you gonna tell me what’s bothering you?”
May heaved a melancholy sigh. “What do you mean...?”
“Stop pretending,” April said. “I know when something’s bothering
you.”
The brunette stopped playing with her food long enough to look April
in the eye. “Well...I...”
“Come on! Out with it!” April said playfully.
May looked April in the eye. “Okay! Okay...but...can I just ask you, I
have you ever felt like you didn’t know how much something means to
you unless you think you’ve...lost it?”
April thought for a second. “Yeah sometimes. Why?”
May squirmed internally as a mental image of Dizzy flashed through her
brain. “Well...I...”
Before May could even start he sentence, the Innocent Gear in question
strode into the cafeteria on the other side of the large room. And the
pirate girl could feel her heart beat quickening with every step Dizzy
took.
Why was she feeling this way?
As stated before, April wasn’t oblivious to these things. May was
staring at Dizzy the same way Dizzy used to stare at her. But the
weird thing about it was that May looked desperate. Like she was ready
to do something drastic which wasn’t like her. May was always an
easygoing kinda girl.
Whatever was bothering May involved Dizzy somehow, April could feel
it. So rather than fixate of May, April turned her gaze to Dizzy, and
both April and May watched her get something to eat. After Dizzy was
served lunch by one of the ship girls on duty, she turned around and
looked for a place to sit.
For the past two days, Dizzy ate lunch in the kitchens to avoid seeing
May, but this time she felt like eating in the actual cafeteria. And
as luck (or bad luck as it were) would have it, May was right across
the room from her.
April watched inquisitively as the two merely stared at each other,
neither bothering to say or do anything. Until.
June called out to Dizzy from the table she and a few other girls were
sitting at. “Hey, Dizzy! Over here!”
Taking one last look at May, Dizzy strode over to June’s table and met
the joyful smiling of the cook and her friends.
April blinked fiercely as May’s head lulled into a droop again. Now
she *knew* something was wrong.
April turned sharply to May. “Alright girl, spill! What’s going on
between you two? Dizzy always sits with us.”
May tried her hardest not to stare at Dizzy. “Um...well...it’s...we
sorta...”
April nudged a little harder. “What? What is it?”
May’s eyes looked up to April’s with an indisputable look of worry.
But for what reason should she be worried about Dizzy?
“Um...Dizzy and I...we...kinda...kissed a couple days ago...” May
said.
More obviously then not, April looked...shocked. “Oh my god...you
and...you two kissed? Does that mean the two of you are in-“
May cut off April sharply before she even went there. “No! It’s not
like that...it’s...it’s not...”
{...Looks like I’m not the one she’s trying to convince.} April
thought.
April looked at Dizzy. The blue haired Gear tried to hide it, but she
didn’t look any better than May did. But what was the problem? Kissing
May was a good thing for Dizzy since she liked her, right?
“Well...she’s avoiding you. That can’t be good. Not now at least.”
“I...I miss her, April.” May spoke in earnest. “But she wont even talk
to me...”
“Well...what happened? Who kissed who?” April asked.
That was a no-brainer. “Dizzy kissed me. I panicked and then...I just
sorta ran from her...”
April’s eyes flashed. No wonder Dizzy was avoiding her. “You what? You
walked away from her?”
“Well...she shocked me! What was I supposed to do?”
April shook her head. “Well for starters, you shouldn’t have ran, May.
If Dizzy liked you enough to kiss you then she probably put a lot of
hope in it. By rejecting her like that...well you may have just lost
her friendship as well as her love.”
May’s heart was set on fire. “Dizzy loves me?”
“It was supposed to be a secret, but yeah, she does. Or at least she
did. It’s pretty obvious when you think about it. But I promised her I
wouldn’t say anything.”
Hearing that, May’s ebony black eyes narrowed. “You knew that Dizzy
had a thing for me this whole time and you didn’t bother to say
anything?”
“She told me not to. What was I supposed to say?” April said.
May pushed he tray to one side and let her head slump into her crossed
arms. “I guess so. I just don’t know what I should do. I can’t talk to
Dizzy; she wont even let me near her. Now she and June are thick as
thieves and...”
April smirked quizzically at May. “What are you talking about?”
May’s eyes narrowed as she looked over her shoulder to see June and
Dizzy laughing at their respective table. “June’s been all over her
for the past two days.”
The chief advisor of the May ship tried to stifle her playful giggles.
“Um...May, are you by any chance...jealous?”
The brunette’s cheeks turned a fiery crimson. “What?! Are you insane?”
Again, April tried not to laugh. “I see. Well, if you wanna talk to
her you should do it in a few hours time when we land in Fuzhou.
Johnny did tell you that Dizzy’s coming, right?”
A part of May was still annoyed about that. But, Johnny was the
captain of the May ship and he rarely made a wrong decision. If that
was okay by him and Dizzy then, May wouldn’t stand in the way.
“Yeah...I know. She’ll be okay with me there. I won’t let anyone lay a
finger on her.”
May turned her head around again to look at Dizzy, with the cutest
smile appearing on her face, to accompany her dark blush. And as she
watched May stare at the cerulean haired girl, April couldn’t help but
laugh at the irony of the situation.
The tables hade been reversed...
**********
Jam sighed breathlessly as she first laid eyes upon the former leader
of the Sacred Order of Holy Knights, Ky Kiske. And as her eyes turned
into two little hearts burning for this young man’s body, the waiter
next to Jam sweatdropped.
Jam’s heartbeat quickened with every second spent staring at Ky. “Oh
wow...he’s so dreamy...”
“...Uh...Ma’am?” The waiter said.
Jam took no notice. “Look at his eyes...he’s so cute...”
“...Ma’am?”
“I wonder what his name is...?”
It was then that the waiter got irritated. “Ma’am!”
But Jam had the bluntness to match it. “What!?” She said as her eyes
snaked back to the waiter.
The waiter pointed at the ramen bowl for a little more emphasis. “Do
you want me to tell him about the delay, or-“
Jam cut the waiter off. “No! I’ll do it...a guy as hot as he is needs
the best...”
Taking another glance at her knight in waiting, Jam blindly handed the
waiter the ramen bowl. “Here. Take this and go season it with some
ground pepper.”
The waiter nodded. “Yes Ma’am.”
With that guy out of the way, Jam straightened out her clothes to make
herself look presentable. This man looked to be organized and polite.
It might offend him for Jam to come out of her kitchen and not look
good. Steeling herself with an iron resolve, the Chinese chef pushed
the doors of her kitchen open and sauntered over to the mysterious
blonde man’s table. And beamed the most seductive smile the muscles in
her face could generate.
Before long Jam was standing at Ky’s table. Jam sighed again as she
caught sight of that intense look of distance on Ky’s face. However,
he did look a little troubled. Nevertheless, if Jam had her way...
The Chinese girl coughed into her fist to arouse Ky’s attention. And
she was more than successful as Ky looked up at Jam inquiringly.
“May I help you?” Ky asked.
Jam blushed. {He even sounds cute!}
“Um...My name is Jam Kuradoberi, and I’m the owner of this whole
restaurant. I’m sorry to say that there’ll be a slight delay with the
bowl of ramen that you ordered. I’m really sorry if we have
inconvenienced you in any way.”
Ky smiled and shook his head. “No, not at all. It’s not important. I
have the patience to wait. And I can see that you are rather busy at
this point. Is your establishment always this hectic?”
Jam sat down of the seat adjacent to Ky’s. “Yeah, it really is. I just
wish I had more help in the kitchens...I have to oversee everything to
make sure nobody screws up.” Jam gazed into Ky’s eyes and ran the tip
of her finger along the table absently. “So...what’s your name? You’re
not one of my regulars, so...”
“My name is Ky Kiske. This is my first time sampling the foods of this
nation, as you can imagine I am not familiar with Chinese cuisine.”
Jam blocked out everything Ky said except for his name. “Ky...”
Ky looked back on Jam. “Yes?”
And Jam blinked in response. “Huh?”
“You just said my name. Is there a problem?” Ky asked.
Jam shook her hands. “No, no! I...I was just thinking that...you have
a really beautiful name...Ky...”
Ky scratched his head awkwardly. “Uh...thank you.”
Whilst Jam settled back down into her silent worship of Ky, a large
man from a neighbouring table walked up to Jam from behind, with an
irate expression on his face. For the most part, Jam was completely
oblivious to all that was occurring around her, focussing on the noble
knight that sat before her.
The tall ruffian tapped Jam on the shoulder. “Hey!”
The ring haired girl scowled sharply as she looked back at him. “What
is it, can’t you see I’m talking?”
The ruffian frowned. “I’ve been waiting for my fried rice and wontons
for the past hour! When the hell am I gonna get served?! You think I
give out my hard earned money for nothing?!”
Jam shut her eyes in contempt. “Pipe down, already. My staff will
serve you when they’re able to. Look around and you’ll see that this
isn’t exactly the easiest of days. Just wait a little longer. Unless
you’re allergic to waiting.”
“Obviously you didn’t hear me. I want my order now, or-“
“Or what?” Jam pushed her seat back and rose up incensed by this man’s
demanding tone. She really didn’t want to get in an argument with
someone in front of Ky, but... “I told you to wait. If you don’t like
that, I’ll reimburse you and then you can get the hell out of my
restaurant.”
The ruffian got angry with every word spoken by Jam. “Are talking to
me like *that*, little girl?”
Jam swivelled around to face the ruffian, taking note of the tone of
his voice. The guy was looking for an excuse to throw a punch... “You
don’t really wanna fight with little ol’ me, do ya? They say even the
most beautiful flower can carry the deadliest poison...you ‘aughta
watch yourself, big guy...”
The ruffian cracked his knuckles, at which point the crowds and
customers of Jam’s restaurant had stopped bantering and eating to
watch the scene play out before them.
“You got some spunk for a chick, little girl...” The ruffian said.
Jam chuckled to herself. This big lug actually thought he could take
her on. Narcissistic asshole...
“You really do wanna fight with me, huh? Figures. You macho types are
all alike. You reek of B.O and you can’t dance worth a damn.”
The large ruffian’s anger peaked. “What the hell did you say to me?!”
Instantly the ruffian flung his calloused fist at a cocky (with good
reason to be) Jam. But before it even reached into an inch of Jam
proximity, a second hand shot out from nowhere and caught the man’s
fist in a powerful, iron grip.
That hand belonged to Ky, and the young knight tightened his grip on
the ruffian’s fist. The man fell to one knee to smother the pressure,
it was of no use. After the ruffian let out a yelp of pain, Ky
relinquished a fraction of the strength of the grip.
“I do believe that hitting a woman under such circumstances is not
good etiquette for a gentlemen. So kindly leave before I’m forced to
remove you.”
After letting go of the man’s fist sharply, Ky pointed to the exit
with Thunderseal. And the young ruffian ambled away in humiliation and
defeat. Not prepared to waste another second of thought on that
deadbeat, Ky returned his attentions to Jam.
“Are you okay?” Ky asked.
Jam could have sworn the temperature of the room shot up. “I...I’m
fine.” The Chinese girl swooned.
{I gotta get to know this guy better...I’m gonna make Ky mine...}
**********
While sitting on the bed of her room at the Inn, Millia tightened the
buckles that were strapped to her shirt over her breasts. After making
sure they were tight enough, Millia fastened the band around her head
to prevent her hair from splaying around outside of battle. The last
thing she needed to worry about right now was losing a strand of her
hair. It was one in the morning, but Millia Rage did not have the
capacity to sleep. Things just didn’t allow her to. Maybe it was her
nerves, maybe it was anxiety of facing Zato, but Millia wasn’t at all
tired. The best thing she could think of to do now was to make sure
she was fully prepared for her battle with Zato.
Standing up, Millia took on a fighting pose and contorted her hair
into the form of a dagger. Before long her javelin-like hair stabbed
in and out of the air, in quick, strong lunges. Soon after those
lunges became a blur of blonde stabs, barely visible to the naked eye.
As blind as Zato was, his senses were sharp as a Japanese sword. There
was no way that Millia could fool Zato into believing that her revised
Lust Shaker was invisible. Still, any edge you could get was better
than no edge at all.
With all her Assassin training, Zato could still match it blow for
blow. That would frighten even the toughest of assassins, but not
Millia. Her resolve was strong enough to surpass her fears.
Fears.
Millia could always feel a fear when Zato was near. However, for
whichever reason, Millia was not as worried as she was before.
Something changed after what Baiken had said to her the night before.
Now she was prepared to take on her nemesis and end the war between
she and Zato once and for all.
The time had come to cleanse Zato-ONE’s black soul.
A knock came at the door. With prompt accuracy, the flaying tresses of
Millia’s blonde hair returned to its original composition. And after
signalling for whomever it was to come in, Baiken stepped through the
door with an incredulous smile.
“Something wrong?” Millia asked.
Baiken let out a low chuckle. “Heh, heh, heh...that idiot has left to
take on Zato alone...”
Millia’s eyes flared. “Venom’s gone?”
**********
The English Assassin stepped forwards past two makeshift wooden doors
into the warehouse. Primarily, it was used for training younger
recruits for the Chinese Guild, but had been abandoned since Zato’s
disappearance. Outside of the few old weapons obviously used for
training, there was not much inside the large warehouse. In fact, the
only thing that could be heard by Venom was the sound of his own feet
clattering against the creaky floorboards.
Venom sighed. No sign of Zato. Not at all. Was his informant lying to
him? If word had gotten out in the Organization that Venom had
attempted to make contact with Zato, then this whole thing could have
been a trap.
Even so, with his snooker case in his hand, he was ready. If it meant
his death, Venom would still stand by Zato. His ties to the
Organization were not as strong as the ones that bind two friends.
Just as Venom turned around to leave, Zato’s aide de camp heard the
distinct sound of the materialization of a shadow.
Venom turned around sharply. “What...?!”
Venom looked down to see a dark pool of swarming black shadows, and
from that same pool, a black figure shot up into the air, morphing
into the form of young man.
A man known to the assassins and to the dead, as Zato-ONE.
Venom was near speechless. After one whole year... “Zato-sama...”
Zato’s thin lips moved in the same cold manner as they always did. But
the omnipotent voice that followed was not Zato’s.
Eddie sneered. “What is it that you want? Do you seek purification?”
“Zato...what has happened to you?”
That being said, Zato’s body fell limp, but before it fell to the
ground, a slimy form of shadows slithered up Zato’s living corpse and
morphed into a semi-human shadow form. The form of Eddie.
“So you know the human personally do you?” Eddie said. “You must be
one of his assassin friends come to save him have you? Deluded human.”
Venom’s eyes narrowed. “No...you’re not Zato!”
Eddies’ sub-human shadow form dissolved back into the shadow puddle on
the floor, and with that came the dark and brutal smile of the genuine
commander of the Assassin Organization.
“So. You’ve come...for me, have you Venom?” That was no longer Eddie’s
voice...
Venom’s quick temperament subsided as Zato’s welcomed voice made
itself known. “Commander...” Venom dropped the formalities.
“...Zato...I’ve come to help you...but we must leave.”
Zato chuckled lowly at Venom, eliciting a curious frown from the
selfless assassin. “Zato...?”
The commander of the assassins placed his hands on his shoulders and
sighed mockingly.
“Here you go getting full of yourself again,” Zato started. “I told
you that no darkness exists in light. You didn’t know? You’re really a
child, are you not? It shows, fool. You don’t understand, do you? It’s
simple. And it’s time. The moon is full and my stomach is full of your
blood. Lets have a dance!”
Venom tightened his grip on his snooker case. “What are you talking
about?”
“You should cut your hair you know! It’s silly isn’t it? Do you want
to know what I’m thinking? Lets go to Paris! We could kill people and
eat some fish! You’ll love it. Plus...I think some of these walls are
talking. Don’t ask me what they’re saying, but I know!”
Venom’s eyes widened in realization. Zato had gone insane. His long
time master had lost his mind. Venom couldn’t believe it. The
cool-headed, calculating, sharp as a razor assassin had lost his mind
to the same shadows he thought he had control over. Venom could only
shake his head in pity.
“Zato...” Venom started. “...Not you...”
“What’s wrong? Look over there,” Zato pointed to a small pot at the
other side of the warehouse. Inside of it was a flower. “I finally
understand what they say now! I understand...we are all destined from
birth...to die lonely deaths...the rose said so. And now I’m waiting
for the one who can deliver my death...she’s coming soon...but still,
I’ll do something for you as a thanks for your trouble.”
The English assassin cursed in shock as the shadows around Zato’s
ankles warped into three demon-headed dogs and knocked him clear
across the warehouse. The only thing that slowed Venom down was the
impact of him slamming into a brick wall, with a loud thud, that
echoed into the dark warehouse.
Zato sneered. “I’ll thank you by killing you. It is the greatest gift
I can offer. After all, what greater freedom is there then death?”
Though the force of the blow was immense, Venom had not let go of his
snooker case. Already shaken, Venom stood up with deeply ingrained
vigor. Zato was right. There was no greater freedom then death. And if
meant his freedom, Venom would gladly be the one to bring about Zato’s
demise.
Piercing Zato with a sturdy gaze, Venom opened his carrying case and
brought forth the power of his mighty weapon. Fixing his snooker cue
together in tight formation, Venom then channelled all of his fighting
power into this one battle. Something told Venom that he was in for
the battle of his life.
Venom mumbled under his breath. “I’ll save you...my friend.”
In no time at all, Venom shot out a kinetic ball of spherical power,
one that directed itself straight for Zato’s living corpse. Just as it
neared him, Zato called upon his shadows to defend him, and a black
shield covered the front of his body to protect himself. As the ball
shattered, Zato used his senses to guide him to Venom’s location, but
his head jerked up in confusion when her realized that Venom was in
the air.
Venom yelled a fierce cry of passion as he shot out a second ball from
his aerial position. But rather than block it like he had done with
the previous attack, Zato let his shadows surround him entirely, and
darted forwards like a true to life demon. While he moved, Zato’s
cat-like senses picked up on Venom’s expected landing point and
unluckily for Venom, that prediction was accurate. And as Venom looked
down as he landed, he could quite clearly see a dangerous shadow
forming into a drill. With a scratch of momentum, Venom hurled himself
backwards as far as he could, to avoid the attack. By the forces of
lady luck, Venom escaped the drill, but the forces of gravity gave him
a hard landing on the dusty floorboards of the warehouse. The assassin
had no time to rest though, and quickly scrambled to his feet.
Then Venom looked around. Zato was nowhere to be seen. And he couldn’t
hear anything either. Nothing but the calming yet evocative sound of
dust rustling on the floor. But he was trained assassin. He had the
patience to wait. Rather than search with his eyes, Venom took a
moment to pause and stilled his body. To become aware of the presence
of your target, you have to lose focus of your surroundings and
yourself, and focus on nothing more than the target. In a (delayed)
flash, Venom felt something from...
Right beneath him?
No sooner after that was thought, a shadowy force shaped like a
buzzsaw hacked through the meek floorboards with a maddening,
ripping-like force, and attempted to slice Venom’s body in two. Venom
dove out of the way to avoid Zato’s attack. After taking a second bad
dive, Venom hoisted himself onto his feet using his snooker cue for
leverage.
In spite of the situation, Venom still had the ironic bravery to
slowly chuckle at the situation. Nobody said this was going to be
easy. Zato wasn’t the commander of the Assassin Organization for
nothing. A meagrely short distance away from Venom was Zato, with a
mocking grin on his pale face.
“Not bad. But you’re far too defensive and evadingly inclined. Ironic.
For such a ‘capable’ assassin, you’re very restrained, aren’t you?”
As a show of how ‘restrained’ he was, Venom fired another shot at
Zato, to cause a distraction for a more effective attack. A fact that
Zato didn’t pick up on. But that didn’t matter. In one sleek move,
Zato dove his hands into his symbiotic shadow and pulled out a thin
but protective layer of shadow to act as a shield for a brief period
of time. As soon as Venom’s attack hit the shield, its black energy
reflected the ball to have it thrown right back at Venom. The English
assassin gasped and quickly shot another blast to counter the previous
one. In a bright flash of power, the two balls collided with one and
other, and Venom decided to use that bright flash to his own
advantage.
But the confusion from Zato’s arrival must have clouded Venom’s
judgement, because Zato easily tracked Venom’s movements. Zato sighed.
A foolish mistake for one of his old allies to make. Unbeknownst to
his error, Venom filled with adrenalin made a dash for Zato from his
right. Twirling his fighting stick around and around repeatedly in
cycle of rapid, destructive blows, Venom rushed forwards for a more
blunt attack. Even as Venom neared him, Zato didn’t flinch or move. He
remained as he was. Still. And as his attack reached within inches of
Zato’s actual head, Venom realized the error that he just made. Zato
‘broke the law’ and sunk into his nightmarish pool of shadows, with
Venom’s attack merely flashing past that puddle and this left his back
*wide* open.
The Spanish killer then rose up from the shadow puddle to reassume his
humanoid form once again. And with a clear opening, Zato pulled his
arms up in arc form, his shadow following suit causing a gigantic claw
shaped shadow to rise up in unison.
Venom could only grit his teeth in agony as the shadow claw sliced at
his open and revealed back, rending flesh as easily as a hot knife
through butter. Ignoring the pain he obviously felt, Venom said
nothing as he turned around to face Zato again. But gasped when Zato
appeared right in front of him. Out of reflexive instinct, Venom
raised his snooker cue to shoot out an additional sphere, but there
was little time. In an instant, Zato’s shadow took on the form of a
snapdragon, and it bit wildly at Venom’s stomach, scraping up and
slicing away at Venom’s naked flesh. The English assassin still had
the resolve to fire his attack, and shot out another one of his
trademark moves. This was too close for Zato to deflect or avoid, and
to avoid a sharp blow to the chest, he leaned to the side as fast as
he could. The ball rammed sharply into Zato’s right shoulder, tearing
away at his open skin, as the ball remained intact.
Zato clutched his shoulder by reflex, and slid back, away from Venom
to put a bit of distance between the two. Venom could only stare at
Zato. He was fighting very differently then he used to. He usually
tried to end a fight rather quickly, now Zato appeared to be dragging
this out. But for what? Venom saw no sense in that. Unless...Zato was
taking him lightly. The thought more of Zato than that. If that was so
then Venom would not hold back any of his power. Zato noticed the
change in Venom’s deportment, and as a result, summoned a little
friend...
A small shadow shaped like a demon crawled along the floor towards
Venom from Zato’s shadow. Seeing this, Venom leapt into the air and
gathered all of his strength, resolve and will into one single second.
Then he used that momentum to fire a mid-air stream of spherical
kinetic balls at Zato. In a hailstorm of striking balls, Zato smirked
cockily and sunk back into his pool of shadows. The roar of Venom’s
powered attack fell on deaf ears as each of the balls blasted away at
the ground and all but Zato. As the attack ended, Venom scowled in
frustration and began his decent downwards. But what he didn’t realize
was that the demon shadow that he previously avoided had not
disappeared yet. Rather than that it remained stationary, in a sort of
a landmine shape. A landmine ready to go off.
Then Venom’s eyes widened in pure shock as a HUGE drill materialized
from the shadow landmine. There was absolutely no way Venom could
fully avoid it, but he used every ounce of power within his soul to
avoid the drill from hitting a critical point of his body. Venom
managed roll midair to his side, and the massive drill cut through the
right side of his unprotected stomach. The shadow drill skewered
Zato’s aide de camp, tearing his flesh apart as the drill sunk deeper
and deeper into Venom’s insides. A jolt of searing pain erupted around
Venom’s body and for a blind emphasis, he screamed out in pure
suffering. The assassin lost all focus, so much so that he dropped his
snooker cue to the ground. After a few more seconds of unrivalled
agony, Zato’s blood soaked drill slowly dissolved, pulling itself free
from Venom’s limp body.
Venom fell lifelessly to the ground, in an ugly thud. His hair was now
stained pink from all the blood her had coughed up. Using weak limbs,
Venom placed both hands on the ground and pushed up. Venom tried
desperately to stand with the last reserves of his power, and with all
his might he succeeded in doing so, but his balance was unstable. And
his vision was becoming blurry.
Venom then started to realize that this was it. He’d die unless he did
something. He’d die at the feet of his own benefactor. Unless...he
acted, hard and fast. Slowly, Venom walked towards his cue, and
clasped it weakly in a hand stained by his own blood. The ashen haired
assassin stared at Zato. Venom wasn’t doing this for himself. He was
doing this for Zato. This was his task and a task only he could
perform.
With a desperate but strong resolution, Venom made a wave like motion
with his hand, and cut open a tear into a different dimension. And out
from that momentary rip in space and time came a gargantuan sphere of
burning, crystal red energy, powerful enough to cut through mountains.
Zato merely grinned as the large powerball neared him. There was no
fear on the face of this madman however, only the amusement of a good
challenge. A hors d'oeuvre before the main course. Zato arrogantly
splayed out his arms and openly welcomed the attack. Though it may
have seemed to be foolishness, it was not misplaced as Zato brought
his arms forward and a shadow version of his arms copied him. Then
those same shadow hands placed themselves on Venom’s gigantic ball of
power. The two hands pressed hard against the burning hot power of the
attack, so much power that the floorboards beneath Zato started to
crack. Zato gritted his teeth hard, the Dark Angel was no picnic, but
soon, even though Zato was straining, Venom realized something. Zato’s
shadows were not holding off the massive ball of crimson power...
They were compressing it.
Then, defying all logic, Zato’s shadows hands shattered the Dark Angel
into tiny little pieces of crystallized energy. And those same shards
of crystal disbanded and faded way. Almost as if they had never
existed.
Venom fell to his knees in despair, and agony from his wound. He was
powerless to help Zato now. He really did need Millia’s help after
all. His best attack was defeated so easily...
Zato could only laugh maniacally. “It took me a while to break it!
Sorry I was a little bit rusty this time. Still, I can’t let you go
now.”
Venom closed his eyes and fought back a slight tear. “Zato...I am so
sorry.”
Then Venom saw nothing but black as Zato screamed out the word,
‘Amorphous’.
**********
Millia and Baiken ran to the warehouse that Venom had pointed out to
them in the hopes of catching up with him. As they reached the creaky
wooden doors, Millia pushed them apart and the two women stepped
warily into the warehouse. The musky stink of blood was the first
noticeable attribute to the place, and it was fresh too.
Millia caught sight of something in the middle of the hall. “Baiken,
look.”
Baiken’s eye zoned in on the sight. It was Venom, lying face down in a
small pool of blood that appeared to be his own. And as the two began
to walk over to his inactive body, a small puddle zipped under
Millia’s feet.
“What?!” A shadow fist shot out of the puddle and attempted to hit
Millia. Using her hair as a defence, Millia blocked that attack and
jumped backwards slightly. Then out of the puddle of shadows came the
tormented body of Zato, clutching his head and seething in pain.
“MILLIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”
Millia felt her bones chill to the very marrow. “Zato...”
**********
Kaiser’s Afterthoughts
----------------------
* Sorry! No Sol scenario this chapter.
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