Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Saint Seiya Fan Fiction ❯ The Intense Clash of the Gods ❯ Tale 48 ( Chapter 48 )

"How long's she been out there?" Horoki asked as she, Mana, and Mizuki sat under a pavilion, watching Mina walk around the court with the other people participating in the Relay for Life.

"Five hours," Mizuki answered, "She's got one more, and then I take over for three, then Asuka for three, Mana for three, you for three, and then Mina handles the last six hours."

"So she's doing twelve hours on the track?" Mana asked. Mizuki nodded. "Wow... Yuki sure is pulling out all the stops for this. Incidentally, where's Asuka?"

"Last I checked, playing in an charity poker tournament here and winning every single hand," Mizuki answered before leaning back in her chair and groaning. "Grah... this stupid sun... unbelievable hot for today..."

"Yeah..." Mana answered, "It's going to be a nightmare when we actually have to go out there and walk. But it's for charity, and it certainly means a lot to Mina."

The three girls tried to keep cool before a familiar and cheerful voice spoke up behind them.

"Guess whooooooo!"

Mana brightened up from the voice, spinning around. "Hey, Elly! How's it going?"

The orphanage caretaker sighed and then shrugged. "Couldn't field a team, but I have a little extra spending money and I thought I could put it to good use here."

"Well good for you!" Horoki complimented, "It's nice to know that even those without a lot still donate what they can!"

"Thanks," Elly answered, bowing down in appreciation. "I was thinking of taking a look around, but it seems everybody's down at the charity poker tent... hard to believe that Asuka girl is doing so well."

"That's Asuka for you," Mizuki answered. "As loyal as a friend can be, but can't resist taking advantage of people in games of skill."

"I think, though," Mana said as she stood up, "I might want to take a walk with you though... I'm not going to be doing anything important for a while so."

"Just get back here on time, Mana," Mizuki said. "You'll break Mina's heart otherwise."

"Yeah, but she's not the one that has it, anyways," Horoki said, humorously leaning close to Mizuki, who broke out in a little bit of sweat.

"Uh... you're right... Mana doesn't hold Mina-ojosama's heart..."

"Then who does? That Isaac kid? Or what about Cecil? It's not Julien is it? I never thought he was that interested in Mina as it was..." Elly asked, completely oblivious to the shoujo-ai being referred to right in front of her.

"Uh... no... nothing at all," Mana said as she dragged Elly away. "It's a mystery to us too... yeah..."

As they left, Mizuki turned to Horoki, the class rep suddenly gulping at the imposing figure of the miko staring down at her.
_
"I gotta tell you... Death Queen Island seems so much of a complete joke right now..." Fenrir said as he leaned back, a fishing pole in his right hand.

The ploy had been brilliant... and it was like Minos said. There was life abound near and on the island... you just had to look hard enough.

And by unearthing rather fertile soil, Isaac had dug up a whole multitude of insects... perfect for bait.

After surviving another frigid night and waiting until it was starting to warm up, Chary had doused them in cold sea water with One World so they would have the energy to actually survive the day's labors of tracking down a few small trees and forming fishing poles.

They ate good that night. And with full stomachs, making igloos effective as insulators for the night and conjuring up cooling winds for the day was that much easier. The days became more enjoyable... still hardening and strengthening, but nevertheless manageable.

"Yeah. I mean, our abilities helped out a lot and all, but now this place is gonna be great. I mean... it's still hard and all," Cecil remarked, "But just imagine! Spending another couple of days here and then we're off! Galaxian Wars tournament! Smack down the Goldies, even sans Minos, and we're set!"

"Rather optimistic, but a good point," Isaac answered. "What about you, Chary?"

"What? Oh... just thinking."

"About what?"

"Well..." Charybdis started, leaning back in thought, "I was just thinking about how much of a total idiot that one Cloud guy was in Final Fantasy... I mean, wow... your love interest died. Boo-hoo. Same thing happened to Rolf losing Nei in Phantasy Star II."

"But I mean... he loses her!"

"Shut up, wolf-boy!" Chary humorously shot at him. "He loses what? Some stupid flower-girl? He's still got Miss Buxom in the group... I mean, whatever happened to those good Final Fantasy heroes and all?"

"Squall was decent," Isaac answered. "At least his romance wasn't like a WB angsty teen drama."

"Yeah, Squall was good," Cecil answered. "I liked that guy from Final Fantasy IV though... what was his name again?"

Fenrir, Charybdis, and Isaac turned to him in shock.

"You have got to be kidding me," Fenrir slowly said in complete horror. "THE GUY'S NAME WAS CECIL!!!"

"Hey, I was more a Locke guy myself," Cecil answered. "Great hero, Final Fantasy VI was priceless."

"You're kidding me," Charybdis answered. "Locke wasn't the hero of Final Fantasy VI! Terra was! She convinced the Espers to fight and everything!"

"You're both crazy!" Isaac answered back, pulling back on his line and bringing a large fish in. "Celes was the hero! She's the one that gets the group back together after Kefka destroys the planet!"

"You have a point, Isaac," Fenrir said as he added another fish to Isaac's pile. "But I always was more a Chrono Trigger kinda guy. Ayla was hot."

"Yeah. A cave woman that can't even use proper grammar... REAAAALLLY hot, Volsung." Chary sighed, shaking her head.

"You just have a thing for blondes since Elly, right?" Cecil asked, earning a few lethal stares from the other God Warrior.

"She fights with her bare hands, like us!" Fenrir pointed out. "Besides, what's not to like about a girl that proposes drinking games and stuff!"

"We're seventeen... or at least three of us are, Fenrir," Isaac stated. "And Frog was better than her. I mean, completely cool swordsman."

"He's a frog," Chary and Cecil said, earning lethal glares from Isaac now.

Chary shook her head afterwards, though. "You know... if you listen really closely, I'm sure someone will hear the sounds of the Fourth Wall shattering."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."
_
"Perfect..." one small, reddish-brown haired girl said to another as they looked through the trees to see their quarry walking alone except for a single blonde-haired girl with her. "The first Corona will soon meet her maker."

"Nakoruru, we'll have to be careful though," said the other. The first nodded.

"Very well, Rera. Did you get the Plagas that Salazar brought before his demise?"

Rera nodded, holding up two containers with disgusting parasites inside. "Good. We go after Kirishima."
_
WHOO! Mina thought happily as she checked her watch. Only 30 more minutes and then I can take a break for twelve hours!

Her status as a sun goddess certainly helped with beating the heat, but Mina still felt the blistering Sun getting to her and was looking forward to some rest and relaxation.

... That was, until a much-loathed figure walked up beside her.

"Six hours out here, I'm impressed."

Mina looked over to see Isabeau walking next to her, immediately wishing that the stupid bracelet would come off so she could Prominence her to smithereens.

The Italian smirked as they rounded a bend... she was going to enjoy this. "What do you say? Are in interested in a little race?"

Mina looked at Isabeau while continuing to walk and shrugged. "Why bother? I need to be here in another twelve hours, so it's not like I can afford to run around like some little crazy anime chibi. Oh... wait a second... you probably don't understand that reference since you're nothing but a gaijin."

Gaijin... Isabeau didn't think Mina would have as sharp a tongue as she did. The word itself was a very insulting way to address a foreigner, up there with most of the racial slurs of the western world. It was usually not considered a word "appropriate", especially for a girl to say.

And then Mina just kept on walking.
_
"So you want me to put Fenrir's DNA into Japan's police records?" Mana asked, shocked by the... morbid... nature of Elly's request.

"Why not?" Elly asked. "He sets foot in Japan again and bumbles around, then I'll know where he is. It was a very nice offer, I have to admit. He probably means it."

"Yeah. Fenrir has a way of... following through on various things," Mana commented. "Nice guy, although a bit crazy at times."

"You can't make him guilty for that, Mana. The kid lost his parents at a young age right in front of his eyes! That's bound to have some negative effects on him."

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that." Doesn't justify him beating me within an inch of my friggin' life, if you ask me... "He's-"

"Oh please, somebody help!!!"

Elly and Mana both quickly looked around, seeing a young girl running towards them, her shirt and jeans ripped in several places and tears streaming down her face. She put on an extra burst of speed, surprising both Mana and Elly as she ran up with her agility. "Please! You've got to help me! My sister got in an accident... we were just playing and-"

"Slow down," Mana said, "What's your name, first of all?"

The girl wiped away her tears before continuing. "Nako-Nakoruru. My sister Rera and I were playing and she got injured." Well... that's not true... but...

"That's terrible," Elly said.

"Come on, where is she?" Mana asked.

"This way," Nakoruru said as she grabbed both of the older girls' hands and began leading them, dragging them along before-

"ELLY, DODGE!"

Mana dove sideways, shoving her friend sideways onto the pavement as a figure shot above them that looked similar to Nakoruru. She caught Elly right before she hit the ground, but the girl wasn't moving… the shock of getting shoved like that had fortunately, or unfortunately, knocked her out.

One, this meant that Elly wouldn't see Mana fight. Second, that meant Mana DID have to fight and protect her.

“You work for the Four Symbols, don't you?” Mana asked as she gripped her mirror necklace.

Rera bowed first. “To an extent. In and of itself, we are simply nature spirits that, to an extent, are adversaries of the chaos-bringing Ambrosia. The Four Symbols provided us with means to dispose of you all. A simple call to a Mr. Ramon Salazar to bring a few extra Plagas and all… and the rest to deal with right here.”

“You're the first to die,” Nakoruru continued as they charged, slashing at her. Mana flipped backwards, but immediately realized that left Elly in a dangerous position, and charged back, kicking both of them in the gut.

“Yata Mirror Starstone Crystal Power: Make-up!”

Again donning her Corona garb, Mana still had to get used to seeing the word “Garou” on her shirt… plus she worried if there would be other influences of Fenrir on her fighting abilities.

“The copycat Corona,” Nakoruru smiled. “Too bad you have to fight both of us at the same time. Can't Mirror Dimension one of us away with you, because the other would just kill Elly!”

Dammit! Mana thought. This just makes things crappy! My best ability and I can't even use it! Standing her ground, however, was nearly suicidal, and she didn't have the kind of body strength, either upper-body OR lower-body to carry Elly away from here and get somewhere safe while fending those two off.

The only choice, as suicidal as it was, was simply to fight. Raising her arms up into a defensive stance, she looked between the two girls, who were circling around her.

Okay, Mana thought, keep it cool. When one of them makes a move, just copy it.

She was caught off guard when they both blasted by her like rockets, drawing blood. Mana fell to her knees, her back feeling like it was on fire as she looked at both of them.

“Elly's no importance to us. We just want you dead,” Nakoruru stated, licking her blade clean.

Mana smirked. “Well then…” the smile turned to a grimace… she'd be back to the hospital after this, most likely. “Then you shouldn't be showing me things like that.” She blasted at Nakoruru, but Rera just kicked her out of it, sending Mana skidding on the ground.

“We trained with swords… and you're weaponless. Your ability to copy techniques is useless without one.” Nakoruru jumped in the air as a flurry of swords shot down at Mana, who sprang away as fast as you could. But then a thought crossed her mind, and she reached for one…

Only for it to vanish in front of her.

“Awwwww… such a pity,” Rera said from behind her as she stabbed Mana straight through the heart in the back. “One down.”

Mana collapsed on the ground in a pool of blood. This… she thought, This can't… I can't… die here… can I? Can't even warn anybody… Elly's probably going to die too. Horoki still hasn't figured out her sword yet, and Asuka can't handle
this kind of tag-team on her own… Mizuki'll have a chance… but not against the Four Symbols. I'm… I'm sorry, everyone…

GET ON YOUR FEET, MANA!

She blinked. The world was going dark, she couldn't even believe anything going on around her, yet that voice sounded very familiar. MANA! GET ON YOUR FEET!

She knew that voice well. She was hallucinating… or whatever the sound equivalent of that was. She-

WHAT PART OF STANDING UP DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!

Shut up, I'm imagining you.

The HELL you are! Well, yeah, this is just your memory of me talking to you, not the real Fenrir, but the message stays! You think I just did some lazy job donating my blood for your Mirror's repair! Come on, you idiot! If Cecil's blood altered Horoki's sword, don't you think you got something special too?

Like what?

You'll never find out if you don't stand up.

As Nakoruru and Rera started walking away, they stopped at the sound of a pained groan. They turned, seeing a bloody Mana Kirishima standing there.

“I'm not dead yet,” she said defiantly.

Think, Mana, she told herself, trying to blot out the pain as the two girls charged her. Some kind of ability that Fenrir's lent me? But I can't-

Don't think copying in the usual sense. Think crazy, think of copying yourself.

My… myself? Mana thought as she dove to the side. Only good thing from that would be speeding something up.

Like healing yourself, right?

Mana suddenly realized it. Crouching down into a charge, she lunged at Rera. “Yata form: Reigouki!”

Her fist plowed straight into the shocked girl's face, the younger of Mana's two antagonists staggering back.

“No way… you were…”

Mana looked to her back and smiled. “Wow… I should imagine Fenrir talking to me more often. I just had my cells copy each other in the process of recovering injuries… worked pretty well.”

“New abilities….?” Nakoruru said, confused.

Mana turned back. “I guess so.” I'm betting just my normal copy abilities got improved too… but it's like they said. I can't really match them in fighting without a sword… so what would be ability set number three for me? Copy enemies, copy myself…

What else? Copy me… or at least what you can from my blood.

“Fenrir… you antisocial caregiver,” Mana shook her head as she stared at the two girls. For once, they were wondering what her next move would be. And a good thing too. Charging, Mana spun to the side to dodge Nakoruru's slash and then punched her in the face. She launched herself into a spin kick, knocking Rera away before announcing her next ploy. “Yata form: Shogouki!”

Rera and Nakoruru stabbed at Mana, the Corona clawing at their arms and reducing them to just bloody stumps with simply her bare hands before pummeling both of them with a sequence of punches and kicks. By the end of the assault, Nakoruru's nose was entirely crushed and blood was streaming down Rera's face.

Mana picked up the swords and smiled. “And now back to the Kirishima you all know and love… Yata form: Nigouki.” She picked up the swords, smiling. “You know what? I feel like copying all your acrobatic slashes. And the weird thing is… I feel like I could do it for thirty seconds as many times as I want. So guess what?”

Rera and Nakoruru gulped.

They were as good as dead… but not like that was a bad thing.
_
“Hey, Mana! What happened to you?”

Mana turned, seeing Horoki standing there. “Oh, ran into two more lackeys for the Four Symbols. Killed one, hoping to get info from Asuka for the other.”

“Oh, so that's the little twerp on your shoulder.”

“Actually… no. That's Elly. The twerp is on my back. Here… get her to the first-aid stand.” She handed Elly back, relieved that the incredible stress was finally gone. There was just so much that Reigouki could do, she guessed.

“Sure.”

Horoki started walking away, but the sudden sounds of a scream and blood being spilt caused her to turn around, Mana hunched over…

And a Plagas, leaving Rera's body and killing her in the process… and then going into Mana's body.

 

A/N: For the astute of you, Mana's three “modes” are based off of the names/abilities of the Evangelions in Japanese. The whole game debate between Fenrir and company is really meant for comic relief… since things are going to get hectic again.