Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Time's Folly; A Bittersweet Symphony ❯ Into the Rip ( Chapter 5 )

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Chap 5*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

“It may rain,” Autumn commented unnecessarily to herself as the roar of thunder shook the darkened gray sky. Despite Asia's initial protests, the three girls had agreed to walk to their destination. On this particular night, Autumn wore a long-sleeved, dark-blue turtleneck, worn over under a black, padded waist-length jacket, with black pants and black gloves, her hair back in a ponytail. Asia had on a pair of black pants and a white, v-necked, long-sleeved turtleneck underneath a hooded, gray zip-up sweater, with a pair of gray gloves, and wore her hair down. Silently following behind them was Azure, wearing dark blue pants, a long-sleeved black shirt, a pair of black gloves, with her hair flowing down her back.

 

“Great,” Asia grumbled, hearing Autumn's observation. “That means we have to walk back in the damn rain.”

 

“Driving a car into this area would have given too much forewarning,” Autumn pointed out. “How often does anyone come around here anyway?”

 

“Almost never, cuz the whole place is too run down.”

 

“A little rain won't hurt you. Besides, we only live a few minutes away.”

 

“Nooo, we'll all just end up dying from exposure to the cold and the damn rain!” Asia complained back. “Besides that, I don't know if this is such a good idea, really.”

 

“I know, Asia, you've been sayin' that all day.”

 

“Well, it's true! I mean, look at the weather; bad weather is always a sign that something bad will happen!”

 

“You watch way too many horror movies!” Autumn said with a little laugh. Asia gave a little frown.

 

The three turned and walked down an alley between some rundown-looking buildings. The agitated ocean could be heard splashing against the pilings underneath the abandoned structures. “Um, which warehouse is it? There's like, three?” Asia inquired aloud.

 

“That one,” Azure said, pointing to a building some feet off and to the right of them.

 

“How do you know?” Asia asked.

 

“I saw one of the girls walk in there”

 

Asia cocked an eyebrow and looked in that direction.

 

“They're already inside,” Azure added. Autumn silently nodded to Asia and the three walked towards the building.

 

When Autumn reached the entrance to the warehouse, she stopped and turned around to face Azure. “No killing,” she said simply.

 

Azure stared at her for a second, and then smirked slightly. “I assure you, I don't want to spend any part of my life in a jail cell, and I'm betting neither does she.”

 

“You're not being serious,” Autumn accused.

 

“But I am,” Azure said, still with the smirk. “I'm anticipating nothing more than a nice, friendly match between us.”

 

“`Nice' and `friendly'? You don't know the meaning of those words,” Asia murmured, rolling her eyes. Azure said nothing else but kept her smirk as a reply to Asia, who sighed with annoyance as the three of them walked into the warehouse.

 

<><><><>

 

Venus sat on the concrete floor Indian-style, dressed in violet sweats and a gray, long-sleeved shirt. Her crew of five girls were dressed in similar fashion; wearing long-sleeved shirts, violet in color, with black pants. They had been milling around the abandoned building for the last hour, but stayed close in vicinity to Venus. The moment they saw Azure, Autumn, and Asia walk into the building, they all looked up, but only Venus smiled.

 

“Ah, welcome all, welcome all!” she declared, rising quickly to her feet. “So glad you could make it!

 

Asia stepped forward. “Azure and Venus, listen up because there are some rules both of you have to follow…”

 

“Okay, mommy!” Venus replied mockingly. After a beat, she added with a smirk, “Go ahead, I'm listening.”

 

“Thanks,” Asia said with equal sarcasm before beginning again. “First, no one but you and Azure are going to be fighting; and second, there is to be no killing!”

 

“Asia, I already told you that I have no intention of killing anyone” Venus interjected calmly with a smile. “Besides, who wants to spend time in jail for murder? I certainly don't. Do you, Azure?”

 

Azure gave Venus a silent, disdainful glare as a reply.

 

Standing next to her, Autumn looked warily from Azure to Venus, then back to Azure.

 

“What?” Azure asked Autumn in a quiet but slightly annoyed, voice.

 

“Nothing.”

 

“Bullshit!” Azure hissed back. “If you have something to say, then fucking say it!”

 

“I don't have anything else to say other than what I said to you before we walked in here”

 

Asia unconsciously looked up when the thunder outside made itself known again. Then she glanced at Autumn, a slightly worried expression crossing her face.

 

“Asia, is that all you have to say?” Venus inquired.

 

“Yeah, that's all. Do you both agree to those rules?

 

“Like I said before, my intent is only to settle the score, but not to kill. Azure, don't you agree?”

 

“Shut up!” Azure replied sharply.

 

“Look, she has already agreed…” Autumn began to say, but Venus raised her hand to cut her off.

 

“Ah, that's great to know, but I want to hear her say it.”

 

“Stop stalling.” Azure stated with eerie calmness.

 

“As you wish. Asia, I suggest that you move back to a safer place,” Venus replied. Asia quickly moved herself a few feet further behind Azure to where Autumn was standing.

 

“So then, Let's do this!” Azure challenged, as her smirk returned to her face.

 

“Here we go,” Asia said worriedly. Autumn just nodded, making a mental note to herself to watch this fight very carefully. The nagging feeling from the night before came back to her, as if it was forewarning for something…..

 

<><><><>

 

Venus and Azure took a few steps towards each other.

 

“Ready, my lady?” Venus asked slyly, crouching into her fighting stance.

 

Azure stopped where she was and eyed her opponent lazily for a moment or two, before reverting to a slightly bored-looking stance with her arms folded across her chest.

 

Venus saw this and cocked an annoyed eyebrow at her. “What the hell?”

 

But Azure just shrugged slightly, turning her head away to look at a couple of Venus' “girls” who had taken their seats atop some old crates several feet behind their leader,.

 

“BITCH!! Pay attention!!”

 

“What the hell for?” Azure asked, turning around to face a very irritated Venus.

 

Hearing that, Venus brows furrowed. “Fuck you!”

 

Azure released a deep, scornful laugh. “After you, my lady!”

 

The furious Venus was the first to strike, extending her leg to aim a kick at Azure's stomach. Azure easily blocked her kick by grabbing the leg. She then threw a kick of her own in return and connected with Venus's midsection, sending her to the floor.

 

Still holding her opponent's leg in one hand, Azure looked down at Venus for a minute before smiling. “Stupid move.” Azure cruelly twisted the leg was holding and drove her elbow into the side of the knee before letting it go. That earned a little yelp from Venus.

 

The girl on the floor ground her teeth in annoyance, but was back up again after a couple seconds. Azure sauntered up to her, smirking. “Want another chance to redeem yourself?”

 

Venus' answer was a grunt and quick swung of her right fist. She connected with the side of Azure's face, the force of the blow sending her spinning around. Azure recovered from the spin, then gave a slight smile at Venus, as she touched the corner of her lip, feeling a wet trickle of blood.

 

“This may actually be interesting,” Azure commented lowly to herself. “Ready to get serious?” she asked aloud, still smirking.

 

“As you wish, my dear,” Venus answered back, but with less bounce than before.

 

Azure made the next move, driving her fist into Venus' gut. As soon as her opponent doubled over from the blow, Azure followed with a driving elbow into her back, which sent Venus sprawling back to the floor. Luckily, Venus rolled out of the way, avoiding another kick, then got to her knees and up again.

 

Next, Azure came at her with high kick towards her head, but Venus was able to dodge that one too. When she came up behind Azure in a move to punch her, Venus was caught off-guard as Azure jabbed her elbow back into her. However, Venus caught it before it could connect and hooked a leg around Azure's, tripping her forward, but instead of falling flat on the ground as she'd hoped, Azure sprung away.

 

<><><><>

 

A rumble of thunder was heard again, followed by the soft, insistent drumming of rain on the metal roof of the building. As the onlookers looked up instinctively at the sound, the two combatants stayed focused on each other. Once Autumn brought her gaze back down towards the fighters, she noticed that the fight had picked up in speed and intensity, though Venus was starting to gain a slight upper hand. The howl of the wind outside started to quicken, as did the fight.

 

Autumn looked over at Asia, whose eyes were no longer fixed upon the fighters, but were staring upwards at the roof. Parts of it had been shaking violently under the onslaught of the driving wind, which had continued to pick up in intensity in just the last few minutes.

 

She forced herself to look back at Azure and Venus and noticed that, as the two exchanged blows and kicks, they would rise slightly off the concrete floor and almost hover for a few seconds before returning to the ground again. Autumn just blinked, not believing what she was seeing; but sure enough, a couple minutes later it happened again.

 

Her attention was broken when Asia suddenly grabbed her arm and started shaking it violently. “Autumn, look!” she shouted, pointing towards something in the air.

 

“Wh- WHAT?!”

 

Within the building, strange black particles were coming from every way and were starting to cluster up into something that looked like a hole, right above where Azure and Venus were battling. The other girls felt rushes of warm air flow past them, pulling forcefully into the ever-expanding black swirl. Then, in the middle of it all, they could see small flashes of light forming, sparking inside the dark swirl.

 

<><><><>

 

Not bothered in the slightest by what was happening above their own heads, the two fighters kept throwing kicks and punches, focused solely on each other.

 

<><><><>

 

“Autumn! They're getting bigger!” Asia cried out in alarm.

 

Autumn looked up to where her friend was pointing, and indeed, the sparks that started out as small were stringing together, becoming strings of lightning that stretched out from the swirl and almost touching the ground. The two of them stepped back instinctively as the swirling wind that had originated within the room started to increase in volume and speed. In addition, the ground started to shake violently, causing windows to crack and shatter, while loosened pieces of the roof started to peel away and break apart.

 

With Asia's terrified grip still on Autumn's arm, the two of them backed farther away from the menacing black swirl, being careful to avoid the falling debris around them.

 

“What about Azure?!” Asia asked, shouting into the wind and pointing urgently towards Azure and Venus, both of whom now happened to be on their backs as a result of blows they had just delivered simultaneously.

 

Azure was the first to jump up, wobbling a little bit due to the strong wind currents. Her hair was partially tied back with her own hair, but some long strands were wildly waving to and fro, driven by the wind's whim. It was amazing to Autumn that, despite all of the fighting thus far, neither one of the combatants had much blood on them; if anything, both were certainly well-bruised.

 

“I don't know!” she yelled back, just as Azure slowly turned her head to look at Autumn.

 

The two girls locked eyes. Azure's expression remained indifferent, containing no emotion, but something about her eyes irked Autumn; they were so dark, so secretive, and most of all, changed. She startled a bit when she saw a flicker of light in Azure's eyes, reflecting the elongated sparks that were now hitting the floor and moving steadily towards…

 

“AUTUMN!!” Asia's scream made Autumn's head instinctively snap around to look at her…

 

Then the world went black.

 

*~*~*~*