Fan Fiction ❯ Chosen ❯ Spirit ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chosen...
Author: Byakko Rei


Chapter 8
Spirit

"Kuji-in," whispered a gentle voice in the warriors' minds.

"Sha," whispered Yuriko, "gives healing to the body."

"Toh," whispered Midori, "brings balance between a body's solid and liquid states for greater harmony with the universe."

"Rin," whispered Kishi, "brings strength to the mind and body."

"Kai," whispered Mariko, "brings complete control over body functions."

As one the warriors whispered, "Hei uses psychic powers to mask ones presence. Jin increases the mind's telepathic powers to read your opponent. Retsu gives telekinetic powers to stun with a shout or touch. Zai extends harmony gained by merging with the universe. Zen brings enlightenment and understanding."

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The clash of heavy swords rang out in the air as Houmudaijin with his sword of Justice battled Mami Tatsujin with his sword of Deception.

The honored Nin instructed the warriors to encircle the duelists and join their elemental energies together. The five spread out, then outstretched their arms towards one another. Each of them used the their Kuji-in training to focus their minds and bodies on universal harmony, healing, and tranquility. Their energy coalesced in eddies around all of them and increased in strength as the motes of energy became as one force.

The fighters in the center gradually began to fade, then... disappeared completely. In their place gaped the portal to Mami Tatsujin's hell, through which six demons poured out before it winked out of existence. It left all of them standing in a deserted street between some tall buildings in Tokyo.

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Yuriko recovered first and began to blast away at a monster that stood upright on its hind legs. It possessed the head of a bull, had thick man-like arms that ended in blades which dripped with a clear viscous liquid, and from the waist down, it resembled a bull's back end. Yuriko couldn't help but stare. It was *definitely*, um... male!

She blinked as its snakelike tail with an arrow tip whipped towards her. She dodged it and used one of her lasers to slice it off. The beast roared, then slashed at her extended arm with its long double-edged claws. Yuriko was confident her armor would hold as she unleashed another laser bolt at its stomach to back it off, but his claws sliced into the material like they were covered in acid. Her right upper arm was deeply cut in three places and felt like it was on fire.

Yuriko had wounded the beast, which angered it further. She had to get away from it, somehow, to use her more powerful weapons. She couldn't fight the demon in close combat and expect to survive. She leapt away as he slashed at her again and she managed to fire off another shot at his thick hairy wrist. The demon's bull-like nostrils flared as he bellowed his fury. The monster retracted the wounded appendage and pressed it against his chest with his other arm.

Yuriko took advantage of the lapse in action to move away. She grimly depressed the amethyst button at the base of her neck with a free thumb. A titanium helmet slid over her head from behind her collar and a voice commanded, interactive visor covered her eyes. She asked softly for the heat patterns of her foe to be displayed.

There were two hotspots; one was its heart and the other... she sniggered. She aimed one weapon at the target beating in its chest and the other at its head, then fired concentrated plasma beams at them. The decapitated demon dropped with a boneless thud as his blood sprayed out, drenching the armored warrior. Yuriko stared at it for a moment, breathing heavily. Her arm was bleeding profusely and she felt a little dizzy. She quickly refocused and turned her attention onto her other teammates.

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Mariko and Midori raced up to the rooftops of opposite buildings and engaged three aerial attackers that resembled mythological harpies.

Midori used her crossbow to shoot one of them down before it could even get close. The beast screamed and flopped in the throes of death a few feet away from her, but her attention was already on her next attacker. She traded her bow for the ninja-to swords in two fluid motions, then stabbed at the harpy as it raked its talons across her back. The Samurai was relieved when the special material held up.

Meanwhile, Mariko hacked at the other harpy with her iron claws as she spun away from its sharp talons and ducked under the striking spiked tail. The kunoichi was finally able to lop off the harpy's head, then ignoring the splattered blood around her, pulled out the short bow and notched a poisoned arrow into it.

Mariko looked over at the other roof where her teammate fought with the last flying demon. She shot her arrow as it dove for Midori again and impaled the legendary beast through the chest. Mariko grinned when she saw Midori add her sword to the beast's heart for good measure. She saluted Midori smartly, who bowed slightly, then waved back.

Both Samurai and kunoichi then armed themselves with bows and concentrated their vigilance on the battles playing out in the street below them.

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< br> Kishi fought a huge green demon that had the head of a human woman with hissing black snakes for hair, a lobster's body and legs, and a scorpion's tail.

The demon spat a sticky web-like substance at Kishi who evaded most of it, but what stuck, began to burn her. She sucked her breath in sharply through gritted teeth.

The military aficionado took out her revolver and shot one of the faceted ruby eyes out. The creature shrieked horribly as green liquid gushed out. A ball of fire suddenly burst from the scorpion tail, singeing Kishi's short hair as she ducked quickly and rolled under the monster's hard body to avoid it.

Kishi sliced horizontally along a groove in the lobster's abdomen region with her spiked dagger. Kishi choked and sputtered as the green demon's vile smelling entrails spilled out onto her, along with more of the green blood. Gak!

The demon tried valiantly to stuff its guts back in with a couple of its legs. Kishi sneered as she took that opportunity to pull the pin out from one of her grenades. She let it stuff that in, too!

Kishi scrambled out from beneath the struggling monster and hit her feet at a run yelling, "Fire in the hole!"

Nin and Yuriko wasted no time scattering away from a the green demon, whose face registered confusion for an instant... before exploding into a multitude of small green chunks.

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Nin had taken on the largest of the male demons. It was a hairy white humanoid beast, with the wrinkled face of a fanged vampire bat. It had beady black eyes, pointed ears, and a prehensile tail. Its webbed leathery wings had sharp curving talons at the tips of bony-like support spines.

Nin threw a barrage of shurikens and blew a poisoned dart at it... but the weapons bounced harmlessly off of the demon's metal-like hide.

The fiend hissed its laughter and flicked its frog-like tongue out at the ninja.

Nin dodged the threat and took out a collapsible grappling hook. The warrior swung the hook overhead while jumping nimbly out of the way of another tongue flick. The hook snaked out and wrapped rapidly around the giant's hairy ankles.

Unbalanced, the demon's wings flapped hard... which churned up, and re-splattered, the masses of fleshy green debris laying around it. The beast shot his arms out towards the human in an attempt to prevent the inevitable, but his grope met with air as his foe threw its body weight backwards and yanked hard on the rope. The demon whipped its tail out from under itself at the last moment and looped it around the shocked mortal. He effectively pinned the dark clothed arms to the warrior's midriff as he fell heavily onto the asphalt.

Nin struggled mightily, but couldn't break free of the ever-tightening grip. Nin gasped for air as the giant's tongue wrapped around the tender throat area. Tiny spikes protruded out of the tongue and the demon began to pump a numbing venom through them. Nin's body went limp as unconsciousness manifested itself.

The huge monster loosened his holds on the ninja slightly and blinked as it was suddenly pelted with arrows, laser beams and bullets. He tossed Nin's unresponsive body towards the foot of the building where Midori lay in wait on the roof for a clear shot with her cross-bow. The monster then focused its attention on Yuriko's plasma guns. *That* hurt!

Kishi radioed for an ambulance as she ran over to see if there was anything that could be done for their stricken teammate... while Yuriko took on the oversized 'bat-bear'.

Yuriko nailed the giant's tongue with an electrocuting ray as it sped towards her. She smirked in satisfaction as the thing pawed at its face and howled in pain. The blond blasted the beast with the most heavy-duty plasma rays she had, and backed away from its writhing body while she continued to punish it. When the furry white demon appeared to lay still on its back, Yuriko stopped shooting.

Yuriko heard Nin cough and exhaled loudly in relief, then she turned her attention up towards the rooftops to see if her beloved and Mariko were all right. As she did so, Mariko and Kishi both shouted a warning and Midori launched a steel crossbow arrow.

Yuriko's world slowed down and sound distorted the moment her head began to swivel back towards the felled demon when it let out a loud, drawn out, screech. She saw him raise his arm over its head and a blade slowly extend towards her unprotected back. Her cape had billowed away from her body as her torso slowly followed in the direction of her head.

Yuriko formed the word 'no' with her lips when she saw Nin's broken body fall in slow motion between the blade and herself. She heard the 'tat, tat, tat' of Kishi's MP9 before the bullets slowly imbedded into the hairy white torso. She saw Mariko's arrows slowly bounce off an impervious neck. She watched as Midori's precise steel arrow slowly entered a defiant black eye, then continue its travel into the pavement. The carcasses of the six demons gradually faded from view, and all the warriors except Nin, were back in their street clothes.

Time seemed to return to normal, and Nin lay in a spreading puddle of blood. Yuriko dropped to her knees and pressed her palm into the wound to staunch the flow of blood as the ambulance Kishi had called, arrived. The paramedics lay Nin on a gurney and tore the ninja's head wraps away to give their patient some oxygen.

Yuriko then stared into the pale, beautiful face of none other than Yamamoto Kaori. A tattered paper fell from the *kunoichi's* limp fingers and fluttered to the ground. Yuriko bent to pick it up. It was a worn photograph of the team as they posed for Nin in their warrior outfits two years ago. That event seemed like an eternity ago, Yuriko reflected with a sigh.


To be continued....