Fan Fiction ❯ Black Orchid ❯ Judge Sword vs. Vineguard ( Chapter 16 )

SEGOI!!!: oh yah, fight scene wa kakkoii desne? Y'damn Skippy! This fight scene could be confusing…but it's really, really cool. 'Specially when it gets to a duel… yeah… I'm kind of tired… But I'm happy, cuz I now have solidified most of all my plot twists and theologies. And I have all of (bear man's) powers written out, and all of (thin dude with white hair)'s henchmen written out…Though Adonis still has a lot of plot that's floating around…and Katie hasn't talked to me…I missed her when I took a shower, and she hasn't been on since….Anyway, R&R. FFTA fans, Marche is SO a Paladin/Fighter.

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Marche ran forwards and swung widely with his judge sword, forcing Orchid and Arc to jump back. While he was recovering from the lunge, Orchid took advantage and struck out with Vinegaurd. It connected with Marche's side, but she suddenly had the wind knocked out of her before she could relish drawing first blood. She went flying sideways, skidding to a halt behind Marche.

"How-" started Orchid, getting her breath back and standing.

"-can he swing it so fast, just now?" finished Arc, a new sense of caution instilling itself in him, his eyes nervous behind his yellow lenses. He backed away, giving the boy room, but also giving him time to ready his sword again.

"Counter," said Montblanc, his grip tightening on his rod. "It's a reaction ability that lets him almost instantaneously counter attack if anyone hits him and is within range of him. You're going to have to be very careful when you choose to attack him."

"Yeah," said the boy, his eyes darting from Montblanc, to Arc, to Orchid, then back to the moogle again. "I don't know how judges manage…this sword is heavy; I almost pulled my arm out of its socket, swinging that fast…"

Orchid didn't like what this meant; he had only hit her with one hand. She really didn't want to know what would happen if she took a two handed strike head on. Arc on the other hand, wasn't affected by the same fear.

"Then I'll just have to pound him hard enough so he can't fight back!" he yelled, bringing back his giant stone hand and swinging a punch at Marche. The boy managed to bring up his sword just in time to block. The blow pushed him backwards anyway, but he managed to stay on his feet.

"Fire!" yelled Montblanc and Orchid at the same time. Two fireballs came hurling at Marche from opposite sides, and he took both of them full on. Recovering from the blows, he turned quickly and threw a punch at Orchid, despite her obviously being out of his reach.

"Air Render!" he yelled. Immediately after, more than just comprehension hit Orchid, as she felt some unseen force slam into her gut, as if he really had been close enough to punch her. She staggered back, and when she looked, she saw the boy easily holding his own against Arc, and only earning minor wounds from Montblanc's magic.

"Orchid, get behind him!" yelled Arc, as he batted Marche's judge sword back with his giant stone hand. Orchid nodded, then ran behind the boy. He might be able to take a fireball, but there was no way he could take pummeling from melee attacks on both sides. As soon as she was behind Marche, Arc signaled, and they both struck at the boy from front and back.

There was a loud clang as they struck. But when they looked, Marche had ducked and held the judge blade over him, blocking both attacks; one hand held the handle, the other was pressed against the flat of the blade, giving it the support it needed to hold off the double strike.

"Saint Cross!" yelled Marche loudly. He sprung up with a burst of energy, throwing both of his attackers back and off balance. Before either Arc or Orchid could recover, there was a blinding light, and they were slammed into by the blast of holy magic. Arc was sent sprawling, and Orchid had shot back head over heels. Marche walked forwards to confront Arc, but was interrupted.

"Blizzard!" yelled Montblanc, showering Marche in a blast of ice shards, also slowing him with the frigid cold. The boy winced at the cuts inflicted, but only redoubled his efforts in an attempt to reach Arc and get his muscles warmed up again. Unfortunately for him, Montblanc's attack had given Arc enough time to get up again.

"Cure," said Orchid between clenched teeth, getting up slowly and holding her right arm, which was aching fiercely. As the shining light descended, the ache lessened, but didn't altogether disappear. Not caring, since it didn't inhibit her sword arm anymore, she ignored it and ran forwards, hoping to catch Marche unaware. As she ran to him, he was driving Arc, who was just barely managing to parry all the blows, back and was taking many hits from Montblanc, but holding up. By the time Orchid had almost reached him, he had cornered the stone fisted man; things weren't looking good for Arc.

"Beatdown!" shouted Marche. A shimmer of flames shot from his feet to his head, then he struck savagely at Arc. Arc tried to block, but his hand was knocked out of the way like a toy, and he was struck at full force in a powerful blast, as if he hadn't even resisted. He was slammed and pressed against the magic barrier, the uncomfortable pressure of it forgotten as he lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

"So, brute force won't work," said Orchid, as Marche turned to face her. "Well, Eriks did teach me a few tricks…"

"Come on, sword to sword," challenged Marche, wiping away some blood at the corner of his mouth, then bringing his huge crystalline sword into ready again.

"Montblanc, stay back and save your magic for healing," Orchid addressed the moogle. Then she added grimly, "I'm going to need it."

Marche took the initiative and charge forwards, as Orchid expected. She dodged to the side and struck at his back as he went past, knocking him down onto one hand. The other hand held the judge sword, and had instinctively counter attacked, slamming into Orchid before she could react. Orchid was sent falling away form him once more, but the force of swinging the heavy blade had sent Marche to the tiles too. For a moment, they both just lay there on their stomachs, glaring at each other upside down as their heads hung down, each weakly propping themselves up slightly with one arm. For almost a whole minute, they just lay there, staring at each other. Then as if by some unseen signal, in unison, they both pushed themselves up as fast as they could, then spun around to face each other, judge sword and keyblade ready. Orchid seemed worse off, until Montblanc cast Cure on her. Knowing that his opponent was ready, Marche walked forwards carefully, ready to reengage in combat.

He let Orchid make the first move this time. That was a mistake. She made a strike that she had done many times before with Eriks, and had had done to her even more times. As she predicted, Marche blocked it. She followed with the next strike, which he also blocked. Soon, she was caught up in the flow of the familiar combo of blows and counter blows, to which she knew only two endings; Marche would have to stop it by taking one of the less fatal hits now, or it would be checkmate. She was on the final five maneuvers of the attack, and he had passed the point of no return. She had this match won. Or so she thought.

She hadn't counted on the weight of the judge blade. Marche had noticed this, and took advantage when she had made a strike from above, and he had blocked with a downward swing. The blades locked momentarily, then using the judge sword's enormous mass to his advantage, he slammed down with all his strength, preventing Orchid from making another quick strike and setting both of them slightly off balance. In that instant, both of them shifted their feet to catch themselves, and swung with all their might at the enemy.

Phil couldn't believe the outcome. Neither could Montblanc. Hercules merely grinned. There was total silence, only broken by the sound of heavy breathing.

"Are you going to ask for mercy?" said Marche, his eyes wide and his mouth breaking into a widening smile.

"I was going to ask you that," replied Orchid, her eyes just as crazed with the rushing adrenaline, which was just now starting to leave her, and grinning just as wide.

-!-

"Well, I guess the little punk was useless after all," muttered Hades, turning away from the scene. "Oh, well. I did tell him the rules."

He walked off into the darkness, and snapped his fingers. There was a low, rumbling growl as something enormous stood up in the darkness. Six glowing red eyes looked out hungrily at the sight before them. A grating, scraping noise of metal on metal filled the arena as the bars of the gate began to shudder, then move.

"Anything goes."

-!-

They stood there; blades stayed a mere hairsbreadth away from the other's neck. Grinning like maniacs, if anyone tried anything, they would each take the other out. Almost anyone.

The giant black paw slammed down on top of Marche, almost crushing him under it. Everyone looked up in surprise into the three snarling heads of Cerberus, the Gatekeeper of the Underworld. The enormous, black, three-headed dog let off an ferocious triple howl, then struck down to snap up Orchid in its giant jaws. Orchid could only yell and close her eyes, waiting to feel the tear of the vicious teeth.

It didn't come. When she opened her eyes, Hercules was there, holding back the dog's onslaught. Giving a burst of energy, he shoved the dog back, and ran forwards to wrestle with the titanic leg that was pinning the knocked out Marche down.

"Get out of here!" he yelled as he did his best to wrap his arms around the tree trunk sized limb.

"But, we can help!" Orchid shouted back. She felt someone kick her leg and pull on her sleeve urgently, almost pulling it off.

"I got two words for you, kid: RUN!" screamed Phil. At this, Orchid turned and ran, but not before dragging the now semiconscious Arc out with Montblanc's help. Not daring to look back, the four of them ran through the door and twisting hallways until they were back in the entry room.

They waited around as Phil handed out potions and ethers, to restore their health and magic. With the help of these items, they were soon feeling better; even Arc was ready to fight. Nodding to each other, they walked off towards the door they had come from.

"Hey, kid, where you going?" bleated Phil, staring at them from where he had been pacing.

"Going to fight that monster," replied Orchid, not even turning.

"Hercules has got it covered, okay?" Phil shot back, continuing his pacing.

"Well he would have been back by now if he wasn't in trouble, right?" reasoned Arc, pushing up his tinted shades again. Phil could only grumble.

"Then let's go, kupo!" said Montblanc, walking through the doorway after Orchid, who hadn't even stopped to listen to Phil. Arc stood there for a moment, staring at the satyr, as if daring him to stop them. Phil looked away and went back to pacing, and Arc left without another word.

They came out again in the brightly lit arena to find Hercules still battling with the giant triple headed dog, the unconscious form of Marche slung over his shoulder. When he saw them, he turned and made a run for it towards the door.

"I'll take this guy, you guys get Cerberus," Hercules told them as he passed the trio. Not stopping, he ran across the grounds and into the doorway with his weighty burden.

They looked at the towering form of Hades' hellhound. One of the colossal dog's heads had just spotted them, and the other two soon followed and the whole body began crashing towards them in slow, deliberate footsteps.

"Let's get him," said Orchid. Arc grinned at this, and Montblanc began to wave his rod around. Cerberus roared in response, and the fight had begun.