>___________< Screwed up on the thread title. This is chapter 25.
Reina and Raiden both ducked low, and then rolled to opposite sides of the roof as the axe spun over their head and Syrus lunged past them, swinging his bronze hammer vigorously. As soon as he went past, he stopped himself and pivoted 180 degrees on his heel, while bringing his hammer back around in a horizontal chop, sensing that Raiden was rushing back towards him. Raiden ducked low again, but this time, instead of rolling to the side, he kept up with his sprint and in a smooth motion rose up, still running, and pushed his free arm out, grabbing Syrus by the collar and stopping his run when he had the man’s shirt tight in his grip.
Raiden looked as though he were about to say, or more likely ask, something, but had no time as Syrus brought one foot up, kicking Raiden heavily in his waist as Reina rushed in from Syrus’s side. Reina brought her sword diagonally towards Syrus’s shoulder in a feint, retracted the sword as it neared his shoulder, and then brought it forward for the real attack, a stab to Syrus’s chest. Dropping his hammer, he slapped away the sword, but Reina quickly brought her left arm forward, which was holding the dagger, for a stab to Syrus’s abdomen. Just barely, he was able to sidestep the attack, but was slightly cut on the side of his stomach. As soon as he dodged the second attack, he brought his arm around to punch Reina, only to meet thin air as Reina ducked slightly, only enough to avoid being punched squarely in the face, and brought her long sword forward again, forcing Syrus to jump back.
By now, Raiden was back on his feet, and as Syrus jumped back, he quickly brought his free arm forward, which was now encased in lightning. The chidori lunged itself squarely into Syrus’s back, reaching right into his heart, almost allowing Raiden’s arm to fully go through him from one side to the other. Syrus stopped moving as his head slumped over.
Suddenly, though, Syrus exploded into a cluster of small birds that hastily flew away.
“Darn it!” Raiden said. Then he suddenly wondered why Deirous hadn’t joined in.
Looking up, he could see another battle raging. Deirous stood atop his clay bird as Syrus stood on top of a giant, red falcon. The hammer, still on the roof, disappeared and found its way back into the real Syrus’s grip.
~
Riku looked at the blade with astonishment, but knew that he didn’t have enough time to be surprised. He rolled over so that the blade, which was stabbed into the ground, was facing his back. He held his arms out and stretched them apart as much as he could, trying desperately to cut himself loose with the blade, trying not to cut himself as he did it.
The sword was making progress, but it would take a while, due to the rope being strongly chakra imbued. But he had to hurry. He pushed his arms out further behind him and frantically moved them to cut himself free of the bindings.
~
Deirous’s bird moved as quickly as it could around the falcon, swinging its wings to release small gusts of wind, but all of them seemed to only enhance the speed of the deadly falcon. Meanwhile, the clay bird wasn’t aided in such a way by wind, having parts of it already coming off, and one of its wings just barely supporting it.
Syrus looked down for only a moment, noting that his clone was defeated, but planning to take this kid down before going back to fight the more deadly force on the ground.
Suddenly, though, he saw one of them, the oldest of the entire group, including Riku, jump up into the air, making hand seals that seemed to belong to a lightning jutsu.
~
Raiden figured he had only one shot with this, hoping that jumping up would mislead his opponent into believing that the attack would come from below. If this missed, and because he was right under the bird, it would likely mean him being struck down by the lightning, and with no way to move himself in mid air other than another jutsu, which would take too long, there was nothing he could do to stop it. It was at that moment that he cursed himself for not taking the time to angle the jump so that he would be out of the way of the lightning if it missed.
Having no time for regrets, though, he finished the jutsu as a large bolt of lightning formed and struck down onto Syrus and his bird, going too quick for the Syrus and the falcon to dodge.
~
But not too quickly for Syrus to dodge alone. Quickly, as soon as he registered that Raiden’s jump was a simple decoy, Syrus rushed off of the bird and jumped as quickly as possible. Lightning struck heavily on the bird, shooting it down as it plunged down to earth.
Raiden was astounded by the simple cruelty with which this had been done, simply abandoning the animal to take the hit for him. Then he suddenly understood, this wasn’t an actual animal either. As soon as it was struck, the animal reverted back to its true form—the axe that Syrus had thrown earlier.
The axe fell down into Syrus’s hand as he fell down back to the ground, passing Raiden, who was beginning to descend himself, as he went down. Using the axe that he just caught, which was already over his head, he swiped down vertically on Raiden’s head. Thinking quickly and knowing that his small sword wouldn’t do much to block the attack, Raiden grabbed the axe just below the double-sided blade, stopping it as it came down and then quickly pushing his arm forward, throwing Syrus off balance, giving both of them enough time to land back on the ground where Raiden’s hands scurried into a series of seals.
“Chidori!” he roared out, his hand covered in lightning once again, this time, though, he held the jutsu for a long time, using it as a second sword.
Syrus sidestepped Raiden’s first strike, a vertical one with his sword, and then hopped backwards to avoid a stab with the chidori. Just after he finished jumping back, he was forced to duck as the teenage girl came back with her sword to stab near Syrus’s neck, and as he came back up, he grabbed her throat with one hand, just after dropping his hammer once again, while swinging his axe, stopping it short so that it came dangerously close to Raiden’s exposed neck.
“Well this was a very nice bit of fun, but we should really get on with thi-” Syrus started, but was suddenly cut off as a portion of the roof was beginning to break.
Suddenly, Riku burst from under the roof, coming on top of it with Soul Eater tightly in his hands, “Sorry I took so long.”
“How’d you...” Syrus shook his head, “Doesn’t matter; time to finish this.”
Syrus lunged forward directly towards Riku, who was standing by Reina and Raiden in a straight line. Riku moved his blade diagonally in front of him so that it blocked Syrus’s strike with his axe. Meanwhile, he brought is other hand around in a punch squarely into Syrus’s face, sending him reeling backwards and sideways at the same time. While he was distracted, Raiden and Reina both seized the moment, Raiden first kicking him forward so that he’d stumble further to the edge and Reina flipping in mid air and as the flip ended, both of her feet hit cleanly into Syrus’s chest, using him as a spring board, knocking him over the edge of the building and pushing her back up on top of it, jumping off of him.
Meanwhile, Deirous’s bird swooped down quickly as Deirous himself jumped off. The bird slammed directly down into Syrus, but instead of hurting him, it literally melded with the ground, holding him down onto the ground in a large abundance of clay that was sticking to the ground. Deirous landed on the building next to the one the others were standing on as he looked down towards them.
They all exchanged glances, unsure of what to do.
“Should we just... leave?” Deirous asked, looking down to Syrus.
“Well, I did suggest this about two days ago but better late than never,” Raiden said, “There’s no ‘prisons’ here, so we can’t turn him in to anyone.”
Deirous looked around, “Come on, I have a simple solution.”
The four all rushed back to their campsite, and as soon as they were there, Deirous made a single hand seal.
In the distance, they could all see a gigantic explosion occur, damaging almost all houses in the small town. Raiden and Reina suddenly remembered the explosives that Deirous planted earlier, as well as the fact that the clay bird was explosive as well.
Deirous smiled, one of his signature wild smiles, and looked towards Raiden, “See? Told you it was a good plan B.”
~
The four, Riku, Raiden, Deirous, and Reina, left only an hour afterwards, thinking it unwise to linger after they blew up half the town, including part of the tavern, and most of the residents of the town would be angered specifically about that.
Eventually, they were far enough away to walk at a comfortable pace, with no fear of any of the bounty hunters being able to catch up to them, or at least not in a big enough group to be an actual threat.
Raiden suddenly began talking, feeling the need to say something flat out, “Ok, new rule. Next time I say that we should leave, leave.”
The Trapped Hunter
Reina and Raiden both ducked low, and then rolled to opposite sides of the roof as the axe spun over their head and Syrus lunged past them, swinging his bronze hammer vigorously. As soon as he went past, he stopped himself and pivoted 180 degrees on his heel, while bringing his hammer back around in a horizontal chop, sensing that Raiden was rushing back towards him. Raiden ducked low again, but this time, instead of rolling to the side, he kept up with his sprint and in a smooth motion rose up, still running, and pushed his free arm out, grabbing Syrus by the collar and stopping his run when he had the man’s shirt tight in his grip.
Raiden looked as though he were about to say, or more likely ask, something, but had no time as Syrus brought one foot up, kicking Raiden heavily in his waist as Reina rushed in from Syrus’s side. Reina brought her sword diagonally towards Syrus’s shoulder in a feint, retracted the sword as it neared his shoulder, and then brought it forward for the real attack, a stab to Syrus’s chest. Dropping his hammer, he slapped away the sword, but Reina quickly brought her left arm forward, which was holding the dagger, for a stab to Syrus’s abdomen. Just barely, he was able to sidestep the attack, but was slightly cut on the side of his stomach. As soon as he dodged the second attack, he brought his arm around to punch Reina, only to meet thin air as Reina ducked slightly, only enough to avoid being punched squarely in the face, and brought her long sword forward again, forcing Syrus to jump back.
By now, Raiden was back on his feet, and as Syrus jumped back, he quickly brought his free arm forward, which was now encased in lightning. The chidori lunged itself squarely into Syrus’s back, reaching right into his heart, almost allowing Raiden’s arm to fully go through him from one side to the other. Syrus stopped moving as his head slumped over.
Suddenly, though, Syrus exploded into a cluster of small birds that hastily flew away.
“Darn it!” Raiden said. Then he suddenly wondered why Deirous hadn’t joined in.
Looking up, he could see another battle raging. Deirous stood atop his clay bird as Syrus stood on top of a giant, red falcon. The hammer, still on the roof, disappeared and found its way back into the real Syrus’s grip.
~
Riku looked at the blade with astonishment, but knew that he didn’t have enough time to be surprised. He rolled over so that the blade, which was stabbed into the ground, was facing his back. He held his arms out and stretched them apart as much as he could, trying desperately to cut himself loose with the blade, trying not to cut himself as he did it.
The sword was making progress, but it would take a while, due to the rope being strongly chakra imbued. But he had to hurry. He pushed his arms out further behind him and frantically moved them to cut himself free of the bindings.
~
Deirous’s bird moved as quickly as it could around the falcon, swinging its wings to release small gusts of wind, but all of them seemed to only enhance the speed of the deadly falcon. Meanwhile, the clay bird wasn’t aided in such a way by wind, having parts of it already coming off, and one of its wings just barely supporting it.
Syrus looked down for only a moment, noting that his clone was defeated, but planning to take this kid down before going back to fight the more deadly force on the ground.
Suddenly, though, he saw one of them, the oldest of the entire group, including Riku, jump up into the air, making hand seals that seemed to belong to a lightning jutsu.
~
Raiden figured he had only one shot with this, hoping that jumping up would mislead his opponent into believing that the attack would come from below. If this missed, and because he was right under the bird, it would likely mean him being struck down by the lightning, and with no way to move himself in mid air other than another jutsu, which would take too long, there was nothing he could do to stop it. It was at that moment that he cursed himself for not taking the time to angle the jump so that he would be out of the way of the lightning if it missed.
Having no time for regrets, though, he finished the jutsu as a large bolt of lightning formed and struck down onto Syrus and his bird, going too quick for the Syrus and the falcon to dodge.
~
But not too quickly for Syrus to dodge alone. Quickly, as soon as he registered that Raiden’s jump was a simple decoy, Syrus rushed off of the bird and jumped as quickly as possible. Lightning struck heavily on the bird, shooting it down as it plunged down to earth.
Raiden was astounded by the simple cruelty with which this had been done, simply abandoning the animal to take the hit for him. Then he suddenly understood, this wasn’t an actual animal either. As soon as it was struck, the animal reverted back to its true form—the axe that Syrus had thrown earlier.
The axe fell down into Syrus’s hand as he fell down back to the ground, passing Raiden, who was beginning to descend himself, as he went down. Using the axe that he just caught, which was already over his head, he swiped down vertically on Raiden’s head. Thinking quickly and knowing that his small sword wouldn’t do much to block the attack, Raiden grabbed the axe just below the double-sided blade, stopping it as it came down and then quickly pushing his arm forward, throwing Syrus off balance, giving both of them enough time to land back on the ground where Raiden’s hands scurried into a series of seals.
“Chidori!” he roared out, his hand covered in lightning once again, this time, though, he held the jutsu for a long time, using it as a second sword.
Syrus sidestepped Raiden’s first strike, a vertical one with his sword, and then hopped backwards to avoid a stab with the chidori. Just after he finished jumping back, he was forced to duck as the teenage girl came back with her sword to stab near Syrus’s neck, and as he came back up, he grabbed her throat with one hand, just after dropping his hammer once again, while swinging his axe, stopping it short so that it came dangerously close to Raiden’s exposed neck.
“Well this was a very nice bit of fun, but we should really get on with thi-” Syrus started, but was suddenly cut off as a portion of the roof was beginning to break.
Suddenly, Riku burst from under the roof, coming on top of it with Soul Eater tightly in his hands, “Sorry I took so long.”
“How’d you...” Syrus shook his head, “Doesn’t matter; time to finish this.”
Syrus lunged forward directly towards Riku, who was standing by Reina and Raiden in a straight line. Riku moved his blade diagonally in front of him so that it blocked Syrus’s strike with his axe. Meanwhile, he brought is other hand around in a punch squarely into Syrus’s face, sending him reeling backwards and sideways at the same time. While he was distracted, Raiden and Reina both seized the moment, Raiden first kicking him forward so that he’d stumble further to the edge and Reina flipping in mid air and as the flip ended, both of her feet hit cleanly into Syrus’s chest, using him as a spring board, knocking him over the edge of the building and pushing her back up on top of it, jumping off of him.
Meanwhile, Deirous’s bird swooped down quickly as Deirous himself jumped off. The bird slammed directly down into Syrus, but instead of hurting him, it literally melded with the ground, holding him down onto the ground in a large abundance of clay that was sticking to the ground. Deirous landed on the building next to the one the others were standing on as he looked down towards them.
They all exchanged glances, unsure of what to do.
“Should we just... leave?” Deirous asked, looking down to Syrus.
“Well, I did suggest this about two days ago but better late than never,” Raiden said, “There’s no ‘prisons’ here, so we can’t turn him in to anyone.”
Deirous looked around, “Come on, I have a simple solution.”
The four all rushed back to their campsite, and as soon as they were there, Deirous made a single hand seal.
In the distance, they could all see a gigantic explosion occur, damaging almost all houses in the small town. Raiden and Reina suddenly remembered the explosives that Deirous planted earlier, as well as the fact that the clay bird was explosive as well.
Deirous smiled, one of his signature wild smiles, and looked towards Raiden, “See? Told you it was a good plan B.”
~
The four, Riku, Raiden, Deirous, and Reina, left only an hour afterwards, thinking it unwise to linger after they blew up half the town, including part of the tavern, and most of the residents of the town would be angered specifically about that.
Eventually, they were far enough away to walk at a comfortable pace, with no fear of any of the bounty hunters being able to catch up to them, or at least not in a big enough group to be an actual threat.
Raiden suddenly began talking, feeling the need to say something flat out, “Ok, new rule. Next time I say that we should leave, leave.”
