"Hey! Are you with the Liberation Front? Did you abduct that child there?"
"Don't bother me." the man requested, brushing past her. "I'm in a hurry..."
"Not so fast!" she yelled grabbing his arm. "You haven't answered my questions. And let the kid go!"
"I don't have time for you." he stated coldly, shaking his arm from her grasp and breaking into a run.
"I won't let you leave, villan!" she yelled, rushing after him. Right before she stuck her legs out to trip him he turned to grab the neck of her shirt and he stuck his foot underneath hers, for the second time in her life she put her arms up just before her face touched the ground. There's something too familiar about this, she thought. She scrambled to her feet to stare into the other's eyes. "Do I know you from somewhere?"
"Hm." he squinted his eyes, getting a good look at her. Her recognized the color of her hair and eyes, and the shape of her face, but not much else. The girl had grown into a woman. "You must be Gado's daughter."
"What?!? How could you know..."
"It is simple really. I know Gado... somewhat. Well enough to know that he had a daughter anyway, and you were following him the last time we met, you even accused me of following him."
"Oh I know!" she exclaimed recognising the man before her. "You're that creep I met in these same alleys several years ago. What happened to your glasses?"
"Master Long's not a creep." the girl objected, making a hissing sound at her. Shina ignored the comment, staring curiously at the man. "Hey!" she cried, demanding attention. "I haven't been kidnapped, and I'm not even a kid!" With that she jumped on Shina's head and gave her a good scratch before jumping back to the ground and taking up a fighting stance. Before anyone knew what was happening Shina delivered a strong punch to the girl's stomach, knocking her into the nearest wall.
"That's enough!" Long yelled, getting their attention. "Both of you, stop it!" Shina looked over at what she realized now was a teenage girl.
"I was mistaken." She realized that she wouldn't have liked being called a kid at that age either. "I'm sorry. But what are you doing here?"
"We're looking for the ZLF's hideout." Master Long informed her.
"So it looks like you and I are after the same thing." Shina stated. "I suppose I could tell you roughly where it is."
"You would do that?" Long asked, surprised. He hadn't expected any trust after their last encounter... Then an idea formed in his mind. "Uriko, you said you have seen the ZLF leader before."
"Y-Yes, I have." she responded, thinking back to the event. "Let's see, he looks like you, Master, but his eyes are much colder..;"
"Your father does not resemble me, does he?" Long asked Shina with a joking look in his eye. He knew well enough what Gado looked like.
"You have also heard the rumors then?" she assumed. Nearly everyone knew that her father was rumored to be their leader. "No, not at all." she answered.
"Oh, there's one more thing." Uriko interrupted, realizing that something she knew could effect their conculsions.
"What is it, Uriko?" Long asked.
"The person who pointed out the ZLF leader to me also said that the leader is actually just a puppet." she informed them.
"Using a puppet would be a very good way to avoid assassination." Shina mused. "I don't like to think my father has sunk that low, but I appreciate the information. For that I thank you. I'm sorry for being so rough."
"Don't worry about it." Long said, brushing the matter aside. "We were the ones who started it. Besides, it is a trade of information, we told you all that we know, so now you can tell us where to find this leader of the ZLF."
"I'm bad at giving directions. I am going the same way, so I will take you along. The more of us there are, the more confusion it will create among them." she explained. "If you can handle yourselves that is." She was more than certain that Long could. All of a sudden their ears picked up a whooshing sound and saw a boy wearing ninja gi and a long red scarf. He appeared crouching on top of a gate right in front of the moon.
"An assassin eh?" Long stated, it wasn't a question. Somehow the mysterious man knew... "Tylon's dogs all have the same stench."
"Beware," the young ninja said, the word hissing angrilly out of his mouth. "for I am the bringer of death." Uriko hissed back at the figure and moved to attack, eager to prove herself with her newly aquires fighting skills.
"Stand back, Uriko." Long warned, placing an arm between her and the assassin. "I'll handle this." The young ninja jumped from his perch, transforming in the air and landed claws down on Long's shoulders as a mole beast. He used his legs to propel him into a spin, twisting his claws into Long's chest, slashing through clothing and into his skin and flinging blood into the air. The mole jumped back to the ground as Long slumped painfully to the floor, his blood coating what was left of the white shirt. The other two were so shocked by the sudden attack that they were helpless do anything but sit and gape as the ninja ran back over to finish the man. In a single instant before the mole reached him Long kicked his feet into the air, hitting and stunning the assasin while jumping to his feet.
Long launched a series of fast punches to the mole's chest and the assassin stumbled to the ground. Wow, Shina thought, amazed. I wonder why he never did that to me? Was he holding back last time? Who is this guy anyways? The ninja rolled out of the way and got back to his feet, then he ran up to Long but dissapeared in a puff of smoke that looked like a log right before reaching him, only to appear behind him and slash into his unprotected back. As soon as the slashing stopped Long whirled around to kick the mole so hard he flew into the nearest wall with a resounding crash before losing his beast form and crumpling to the ground.
Long strode casually over to the battered form and kicked at his side a few times before he could get up. Shina watched with some slight interest and Uriko thought, That's cruel Master Long! However the boy did get back up, and just in time to block a powerful blow from Long. However the Martial Arts Master felt that the move had been blocked and kicked the boy's legs out from under him. Just before he hit the wall a second time Long grabbed him by the scarf, choking him for a few seconds. The girl mustered up her strength, trying to change into her beast form. Long heard her movements and slightly losened his grasp.
"You are too young for a job that can only lead to your own death." He warned, looking into the young man's flickering eyes as he went in and out of consciousness. "Turn away from the evil before it's too late... too late for you." Unfortunately the battle had already affected the young lady who gave a feline screech while leaning on a wall for support. Long dropped the now unconscious ninja and ran over to her, Shina also came to look. Uriko had slumped to a sitting position, facing the wall. Pointed feline ears stuck up out of her hair and a tail had sprouted from the bottom of her spine, bursting a hole through her clothing.
"W-What...?" he stuttered upon seeing the ears and tail. "What's happening to you...?"
"Ugh..." she grunted, shivering with fear and uncertainty. "My body... is changing!" Blast! he thought. She's morphing into a zoanthrope! How careless of me! "Help..." she pleaded, her body convulsing with surges of power. "grroowwwlll... Master...Long...ggrrrrr!" Suddenly she jumped up from her corner, unable to control the urge to attack. She scratched several new wounds into his already bloodied chest before he was able to grab her paws, turn her around, and and throw her back into the wall. The impact jarred her back into her human form and he caught her semi-conscious body before it fell to the floor.
"Please, Master!" she muttered, her eyes had been closed and flickered slightly at the words. "Ggrrr." Then her eyes snapped open. "What's going on? What happened to me?"
"You're alright." he assured her, cradling her head in his arms and feeling bad that he had to hurt his student. "Don't worry about anything."
"T-Thank you so much, Master..." she replied hazilly, her eyes fluttering open and shut.
"I guess I was really wrong about you." Shina admitted, seeing the man's affection for his pupil.
"I think Uriko needs a rest." he said, looking at her tired closed eyes. Then a shadow crept over her face. Shina whirled around just in time to see a strange deformed man with blue looking skin, bandages wrapped around his clothes and body. Long turned his head to look at the thing. "A manmade zoanthrope?" Long wondered, rising from the ground and turning the rest of his body towards it. He was still bearing the unconscious girl in his arms. "Go away. I will not fight such a pathetic creature."
"W-What?!" the barely discernable words rolled out of his mouth. I don't need any sympathy! the bandaged form thought. Are you trying to make a fool of me? Long caught the angry look and tried to give the girl to Shina.
"You just said you didn't want to fight him, so I will." Shina insisted, holding her hands up to refuse the girl. Long threw her into Shina's arms just in time to brace himself against the other's attack. Shina growled to herself, wondering when she would get her chance to go into battle. The thing's powerful punches forced Long to back up into the wall until he found a lull in the other creature's attack and pounded his fists fiercly against the thing's discolored flesh, pushing them both several yards from the wall's confinement. However it seemed to have little effect on the monster and as soon as he stopped the thing morphed into a giant bug, rending it's clothing and bandages and sending Long crashing back into the wall right next to Shina. He fell to a sitting position on the ground, ony half conscious as Shina set the girl in his lap and then ran at the bug.
She raced right into the monster and pounded it with her devastating fire attack. Too bad it's not still wearing the bandages, she thought. They would make good kindling. She gave the creature a few fierce kicks. When she stopped the creature tried to start an attack, but he was too slow. Her fists punched dents into his skeletal frame and he fell to the ground, morphing back into his somewhat human form.
"Who are you?" she wondered. There were so many strange people involved in this battle that she knew nothing about...
"Bus..." the thing hissed, apperently still alive. "u..." it strained to continue. Shina listened, wondering what it could be trying to say. "zima." it finished, the raspy sound of it's voice fading from the alley only to be replaced with it's labored breathing.
"Is that a name?" she wondered, then she remembered that she had asked the creature it's name, not that it mattered. "Never mind, I'm too busy to deal with you." She turned from the crippled creature and walked back over to Long and the Uriko who had gotten up and were watching her intently.
"Next time you are wounded let me fight." she commanded. "We had better get going now."
"Wait." Long requested. "He was saying something, right? What was it?"
"Bus...u...zima." she repeated shrugging her disinterest. "I think that's it's name."
"Busuzima? That is not Busuzima. He still works for the ZLF." Long muttered. "If I don't stop him, more will suffer the same fate..."
"Do you mean my mother could end up like..." Uriko began, looking over at the bug's beaten form and dreading the thought that was forming in her mind. "Oh, no!"
"We must hurry." Long stated.
"Follow me." Shina said, darting around the next turn. The girl and the man followed her silently into the growing darkness of the ally. They wound through numerous backstreets and ditches, making their way in a south easternly direction. At times the other two were so quiet that she could have sworn she'd left them behind, but whenever she turned back they were there. The night began to turn cold and a chill ran up their spines. They walked through the moist and sightless world like wraiths in a forgotten dimension untill they came to a white wall.
"So this is their hideout." she explained, raising her hand. "Let's knock on the door. A nice, loud knock." She morphed into her powerful beast form and then barreled into the wall, cracking it like glass. One more well placed punch and down it went, falling to the ground before her as she changed back into a human. The hole revealed an ugly, nervous looking man with green hair and a ridiculous outfit, a frightened look on his face.
"H-Hey! Who the hell are you?!" he demanded. A good sized piece of the wall sung to and for over his head, whatever had held it ther broke and it fell right on top of the ugly man's head. "Ouch!"
"I want to see your boss." Shina hissed, her tone unmistakeably filled with anger. "Take me to him."
"Are you insane?" he raved. "This was an important experiment and you ruined it! Ooh, I'm really mad now!" The ugly man rushed her, but she swatted him away like a fly. He glanced the broken wall and tore a few more chunks away before falling to the floor. She rushed over and jumped on top of his chest.
"Ooh, that hurts." he grumbled, barely able to get the words out of his mouth. She got off his chest, pulling back her fist as if to punch him. "I-I guess I got a little carried away." he chattered nervously. "Silly me! Ha ha ha. My you are ceraintly a skilled fighter. You want to see our leader?" His gaze darted around to look at Long and Uriko who were approaching cautiously. "My, you even look like our leader!" he said to Long. "Hee hee! You must be Long, right?" She dropped her threatening fist, looking up at Long and immediately regretting the action. "Gosh, it's so neat to finally meet the 'original'!" he rose and ran to the other end of the room, opening a door. "Oh, leader! You have company!"
"Wait." Shina commanded, her senses warning her of the dangers ahead. "I sense something strange." Original? Long thought. Abruptly he realized what the deranged scientist was talking about, but at the same time was unable to accept it. Busuzima stumbled wildly through the door, his footsteps echoing away into the distant halls.
"I can sense you..." Long walked towards the door, almost able to feel the presence of the other person behind it. "somewhere nearby."
"M-Master?" Uriko mumbled as she watched him go. Long turned to look Uriko in the face, and then Shina.
"Leave, you two." he commanded. "This is my battle, but you two must see to your parents. Go out that door." he pointed to a door on the south side of the room, away from the direction he was going.
"But Master..." Uriko objected.
"They have cloned me Uriko, this battle is my responsibility." Uriko stubbornly stood in her spot. "You," he said, pointing to Shina, "take her, please!" Long pleaded, his voice rough with emotion and the strain of the impending battle. "Go and find your families."
"It's Shina," she said, giving him a nod and scooping the girl off the ground. She ran over to the wall and pulled the door open. Then she darted through it and slammed it tightly behind her just as a man who looked just like Long, appeared before the surprised Master. His clothing was different of course, he wore a purple shirt with a red and yellow stripe down the center and some black pants. But besides that the only difference between the two was that his eyes were flaming red.
"Is this some sort of joke?" the other growled, studying Long's features. "Attempting to imitate me... Did you think you could create confusion? Imposter!" Angry thoughts swirled around inside his unstable mind. "If you are trying to confuse me, then you are trying in vain!" The two stood face to face, glaring into each other's eyes. "You... You must be Long... Yes, I knew... you would be..."
"coming here about this time." Long finished the other's sentence in a shaky voice. It was almost as if they could read each other's minds and the situation frightened him.
"You... If only you were gone..." the other wished, a wicked gleam in his eye. Long knew instantly what the other was thinking.
"There is no need to panic." Long assured him, holding his hands up in a placating manner. "I know who you really are."
"Who I 'really' am?" The other seemed confused for a minute, but then regained his mind for a short while. "Ha! Impudent fool!"
"You're a clone," Long explained, trying to reason with the mentally unstable man. "put together using my genetic information."
"Stop talking nonsense!" the other roared angrilly.
"You know it's true." Long stated, seeing a wild and desperate look in the other's eye. "You know I'm not talking nonsense. You can sense in your heart that we are made of the same cells."
"No!" the other cried, trying to perserve his fragile ego. "Lies, all lies!" He jumped on top of Long and morphed into a tiger, ripping at his left arm and battered chest. Long's blood painted the ground and he cried out in pain. The clone grabed his arm and, accidentally his hair, while twisting him around so he could attack the man's unprotected back. Long's hair ties got caught in the tiger's claws and as the clone picked him up and threw him past the broken hole in the wall and into another of brick, the hair ties broke and his hair flew out behind him before he hit; and then slumped to the ground. The other changed back into a human, grinning insanely at the sight.
"Ha ha ha ha!" the other laughed wickedly. "I won! Victory is mine! Of course! I never lose!" Long wearilly pulled his face from the wall and turned himself over to look at the man, who simply walked up to him and grabbed his neck, pulling back his fist for what would be the final blow. So this is what it would have felt like to my own victims... Long thought. "I am Shenlong!" he announced his name proudly, as if it guaranteed him an identity, glaring into Long's eyes. "I fight for zoanthrope justice! I am unparalleled! I could never be a clone of a useless weakling like you!"
"You are powerful." Long whispered in agreement. Even when I was an assassin, I did not have this much power. Perhaps because in my heart, I truly did not want to kill... Shenlong did not expect the admission and it drew his attention, he slowly lowered his fist. "I almost envy you," Long continued, his voice only a quiet hiss because of the other's hold on his throat. "for you have done what I cannot. You have completely purged yourself of the very things that are my weaknesses..." The two stared into each other's eyes once more. "Painful memories and a loathing of the zoanthrope blood in my veins." Long finished, fishing inside of his mind for some other way to buy himself time and catch the other off guard.
I will kill you!" the other yelled, raising his fist into the air again. "There's no need for two of me in this world!"
"Do as you wish." Long groaned, realizing that there was nothing he could do and accepting his fate. I will die the same way as all the people I have killed. "That would be a fitting end to an accursed life..." Long closed his eyes and braced himself for the blow, almost glad to be rid of his painful existance, but nothing happened. He looked back up into the confused visage of his clone. "Why do you hesitate?" he demanded, almost angry that he wasn't dead yet.
"You say you are weaker because a part of you makes you weak." the other thought out loud. This man is so angry with himself that he wants to die, and somehow I can feel his emotions in my own mind. "Do you mean that my memories are the scrapes that remain after purging those weaknesses?" Long looked into his eyes once more and saw uncertainty, and perhaps even fear. "I thought I was the perfect zoanthrope, a leader who transcended all others." In fact I was sure of it, but now I'm not. Is that true... or am I wrong? And wait... who am I? Shenlong paused once more, waiting for a response. Long however had nothing more to offer.
"But that perfection was just an illusion," he continued. "a product of amnesia. I did not surpass others. I was merely unencumbered by characteristics that I viewed as a weakness...but which would have made me whole." And how can I be so great if I am not whole? Shenlong's fist fell from it's perch in the air and he finally released his grasp on Long's sore throat. "I am a failure at living." Shenlong admitted. "But everything will end here and now!" To Long's surprise the man did not attack him, but instead turned on himself, using his powerful hands to tear through his own flesh, his blood flying into the air and dripping down on Long, adding to the pool on his already blood soaked chest. "Arrgh!" Shenlong cried. Long stared up in horror at the sight.
"What are you doing?" Long cried. How can you suddenly hate yourself so much? All this just because you are a clone... there are worse things to die for.
"Those characteristics that you say make you weak because you could not purge yourself of them..." Shenlong tried to explain, his voice ragged with pain. "I realize now that they are not a weakness... but a strength."
My weaknesses, strengths? Long thought. How can that be?
"Perhaps only those who are... imperfect..." Shenlong continued, his voice staggering as he caught gasping breaths of air. "are truly alive…" And I am not real, I am a creation... a cheap reproduction of life! How can I live like this? "I thought I shattered a mirror... that was blocking my way... but what I really shattered... was myself."
But... you're wrong. Long thought, he used his arms to try and push himself up into a sitting position, fighting a light headed feeling that was stealing over him. You are not weak, I'm the one who is weak. Unfortunately, he had lost too much blood already that day, and he was going unconscious. “Ugh…” he groaned, his arms giving way as he collapsed to the floor.
After running through the door of the other room Shina put the girl down and grabbed her hand and leading her to the right. They pulled open every door they saw and rushed frantically through halls trying to find their families. If my father is the cause of all this... she thought. It seemed as though endless minutes had passed when she yanked open a door that had the dim figures of people in it. Uriko rushed into the room.
"Mother, Alice!" she screamed gleefully, giving both of the two hugs. Shina saw the lumbering form of the mother and decided that the three could take care of themselves now, so she hastened away, only to hear a wailing scream, laden with pain assail her ears. It's coming from the room I left Long in, she realized, darting back into the halls she had just finished leaveing just moments before. More likely than not, whoever Long is up against is too much for the injured Master. She ran as fast as her legs could take her, the wind whistling past her ears. Percious minutes slipped by as she zigzagged through the exhausting labyrinth of halls, rooms and corridoors leading to the room she was looking for. Two or three times she made a wrong turn in her haste, wasting even more valuable time. Finally she burst through the right door and ran through the hole in the wall.
She spotted him immediately, or rather, all the bright red and rusty dried blood that covered his chest. She ran quickly over the spot where he lay by a brick wall past the building, shocked the amount of blood, and noticing the pale color of his skin. It is too much blood, her mind warned her. He is already dead. You have come too late. She kneeled besides him and grabbed his wrist to check for his pulse, his skin as cold as the humid air which clung to their bodies like the grip of death. Suddenly she felt a faint but steady movement. He is alive! She put her hand over his nose to see if he was breathing and felt a cool, soft breeze blow over her fingers.
"Long?" she asked, gently touching his face, noticing that his hair was spread out behind it. "Long?" she repeated, a little louder. A faint moan escaped his slightly parted lips. "It is a miracle that you're alive." His eyes opened slowly. "You've lost a lot of blood. Long?"
"It's not all mine." he replied weakly, pushing himself into a sitting position. She stared down at all the blood covering his chest. "He bled all over me."
"Was it your clone as you suspected?"
"Yes... did you see him?"
"No." she turned her head around, her gaze searching the shadows for any sign of movement or any bloody forms that didn't belong. As she gazed across the area she spotted a trail of drops and splatteres of blood that seemed to lead away from the injured master.
"He is gone then." Long stated, knowing it to be true without looking.
"What happened?"
"He took me by surprise, morphed into a tiger and shredded my chest and arm. Then he sent me flying over here. He was leaning over me, about to lay his final blow..."
"Then what?" she prompted,
"I turned into a tiger and stuck my claws through him, but it bleed all over me as well." he lied, he was not ready to tell anyone the truth about his encounter.
"And after that?" Shina asked.
"I passed out."
"And he was still here when you passed out?"
"Yes, but he must have run off, or I would be dead."
"I guess he was a coward."
"I guess." Long agreed, his thoughts somewhere else.
"Master Long? Master Long?" Uriko's voice echoed from the building. "I found my mother Master Long!" Long awkwardly pulled himself off the ground, Shina offered a hand to help him stand up.
"Thank you." he said, looking into her sparkling eyes.
"Master Long? I also found my sis... Eek!" Uriko stopped just short of the hole in the wall, staring at the blood covering his chest.
"There is no need to worry Uriko." his calm voice soothing her as he demonstrated his ability to walk by taking a few steps toward her.
"Poor Master Long... you should have let me stay and fight with you." Her mother and Alice also looked over his blood encrusted body.
"It's not all mine." he explained for the second time. "Maybe half or less..."
"We should all be going home now dear." Uriko's mother reminded her, she strode up to long, offering a hand. "I would like to thank you from helping my daughter set us free." They shook. "Although I have no way to repay you."
"It was no trouble." he replied, a slight smile playing at the edges of his lips.
"Mom..." The blue haired girl who was with them whined. "I desperately need to go take a shower!"
"Perhaps we will meet you again sometime." she said turning to leave. Alice and Uriko gathered around her and they started to walked off.
"Bye, bye, Master Long!" Uriko yelled after them, waving her hands in the air. "See you again later." she gave them a sly wink and then dissapeared into the blackness.
"I should go find my father." Shina said, turning towards the building.
"Wait." Long cautioned, sniffing the air. "I think I smell..."
"Smoke!" Shina yelled, catching the smell of ash in the air. "I have to hurry."
"No!" Long yelled, reaching out an arm to stop her as they spotted flames creeping over the roof.
"I have to!" she yelled, shoving his arm out of the way, she tried to go but he got in front of her, barring her advance deeper into the building.
"Listen to me for one moment. Shina, please!" he yelled desperately, grabbing her shoulders and looking into her eyes. She was focused on the raging flames which threatened to cunsume her father's life. "Gado is your father and he would not want you to risk your life for his own!"
"I cannot..." she protested, never would she leave her father to such a fate.
"Then let me go!" Long's sudden declaration surprised her and she turned her face to stare at him. "I do not have time to explain this to you, but... he saved my life once, I owe this to him." Startled by the sudden turn of events she was unable to do anything but stand there, her mouth agape, staring into his eyes. Eyes filled with the fire of his courage and determination.
"But you're in no condition..."
"I promise you that I will lay down my life to save your father." he interrupted. "But you must give me your word that you will stay here, no matter what happens."
"I ca..." she began. Before she knew it there was pressure against her head and she could feel herself losing consciousness. She fell into his arms. I am sorry, he thought as he laid her gently on the ground several yards away from the building. But you gave me no other choice. Then he rushed valiantly into the burning building, thick smoke filling his lungs. He grabbed the neck of his bloodied shirt and put it over his nose in a effort to filter out the air. He raced through burning hallways, anxiously expecting the walls to fall down on him. He proceeded deeper inot the inferno, sighting someone looking around a burning room. The two ran up to each other.
"Have you seen a young man running around in ninja gi?" the other man asked.
"I saw him back in an alley." Long replied, pointing to the area where he'd encountered the mole assassin. "Have you seen a tall blonde haired man?"
"No," the other replied, "but I have searched here and doubt that anyone else is in this part of the building." They gave each other brief nods before turning their own ways and continuing their searches. Just as they left the room the ceiling collapsed. I must hurry, Long thought. Once again he raced through the walls of flame, a ceiling or two collapsing behind him. As he went on the flames receded and he finally entered a wing of the building that wasn't burning. Upon looking through a door way he spied Gado, who was standing in the room with his arms crossed and had obviously seen him first. Long let the neck of his shirt drop back to it's place as Gado walked right up to him.
"So you finally realized that you cannot escape your past merely by closing your eyes to it." he said sternly.
"Gado..." his voice trailed off, remembering tha last time they had met. "Did you come to laugh at me?"
"It's time for you to stop thinking about your past." he answered. "It is wrong to waste time worrying about what cannot be undone. There are people who need your help now."
Long was getting aggravated. I realize that there are people who need my help, I just saved your daughter from coming in here... but he knew better than to brag to Gado of his deeds. "Lecturing others on how they should live is a bad habit of yours." he complained.
"You have the power." Gado argued. "I can't just watch you waste it when there is danger and chaos in the world!"
"What if I told you I didn't care about what's going on in the world?"
"Then I would be forced to change your mind for you." he said as he raised his fists and threw a punch. Long ducked just in time to hear Gado's arm whistle over his head. Why me? he wondered. If only this fool had been knocked out or somehting. He reached up to grab the arm over his head and turned Gado around before shoving him into a wall. It was a cheap move that he had already worn out that night, but he knew that in his current condition he would not even prove a challenge for the seasoned mercenary.
Gado quickly got on his feet and charged the injured master. Long brought his arms up to block just as Gado delivered a powerful punch. Gado's fists crushed and bruised the skin on Long's arms, but he was otherwise unharmed... until Gado delivered a quick kick to his shins. Long fell to the ground with a grunt of pain and Gado walked over to him and put one lage foot on top of his chest.
"I just dislike being told what to do with my life." Long explained. Gado took his foot of of the man's chest and went to lean against a corner of the room. Long shakilly climbed to his feet and turned to leave.
"So you intend to stick to the path of aloofness, eh?" Gado shot after him. Long stopped and turned his head back to look at Gado.
"Don't overestimate me. I am merely a hermit..."
"But living with others," Gado interrupted. "sharing their laughter and their tears... That is the way to atone for one's past."
"I intend to do that without being told."
"Then you..."
"But I will not use my powers. You must know of all the sorrow and misfortune that these powers have caused in the past."
"I thought you had what it takes to lead the zoanthropes away from confusion." Gado offered. Long shook his head.
"I am through running away from myself." he explained. "But neither do I wish to entangle others in my destiny. From now on I will live as a simple human being." With those last words Long walked off into the building. Me? A leader? What was Gado thinking? He supposed he could leave now that he knew Gado was safe... but thinking back on it he decided he had better check on Shina and make sure nothing had happened to her. So he made his way over to the place where he has left her several minutes ago. She was still unconscious and laying in the same spot where he'd set her. She might wake up any minute, he thought. He walked over to a few trash cans sitting in the alley and hid himself from view.
She had no idea how long she had been out, but when she came awake it was to the sound of voices in the distance. She sat up and rubbed her head, wondering how long she'd been out and cursing the fact that she had not been able to get into the building sooner. Most of the portion of the building in front of her had been burnt to the ground, the rest behind it was still burning. She pulled herself to her feet and surveyed the building. Through a dark hallway a long way ahead of her she saw a huge, lumbering, form coming towards her. She got into a fighting stance and waited for it to come closer. When it stepped into the light she realized that it was three people, two on either side of her father, Alan Gado, helping him to walk.
He looked a little beat up, but not in any real trouble. She still had to question him about his involvement with the ZLF so she stood patiently at her spot as they walked over to her.
"What are you doing here?" she questioned him. "You..."
"I don't have to answer that." he interrupted.
"Yes, you do! Because if you answer wrong..."
"What?" he asked, shaking the other two off his arms, crossing them, and glaring at her. "You're going to deal with me? That's a bold statement. Now I have to see if you are qualified to talk like that."
"Hey!" one of the other two cried. "I thought we beat you up!" Gado and Shina ran at each other and met with a clash of fists, Shina used her fire technique and singed Gado's hair. He backed off to try and put the blaze out but she ran at him and gave a powerful kick to his chest right after he'd finished extinguishing it. He fell back several steps at the impact and blocked the rapid punches she threw at him.
With one swipe of his legs he kicked at her feet and she fell to her knees where he gave her a good punch in the face. She rolled backwards and got to her feet just in time to block a ferocious kick. At the first opportunity she landed a punch to his upper jaw that dazed him for a minute while she punched at his chest. He staggered and almost fell to the ground, she rushed him but his feet stuck out to trip her before she could get to him. She fell into him face foreward and he greeted her with a punch that sent her sprawling on her back.
"Yes, magnificent." he said, meaning to praise her.
"You truly are the pride of the Liberation Front." she agreed, misunderstanding the comment.
"Ha! Don't insult me by associating me with that group of murderers and swindlers. At least those unfounded rumors allowed me to see just how capable a warrior you truly are."
"What? You mean you're not..." she jumped to her feet and put all her effort into a punch that sent his backside crashing into the ground. She walked over to him and held up her figner to help prove a point. "How dare you lead me on like that?"
"This isn't an open-book test, girlie!" he said chuckling.
"You're begging for a fat lip, mister!" she yelled angrilly, turning her accusing finger into a fist for another blow.
"We don't have time for this." he complained.
"What?"
"Relations between humans and zoanthropes are deteriorating rapidly," he explained, getting off the ground. "and the evil intentions of the so-called Zoanthrope Liberation Front are making things worse."
"Is that why had me chasing after the Liberation Front?" Shina wondered.
"If you wish to see it that way, you may. At any rate, I have finished what I must do."
"That's a self-centered thing to say."
"I have always been self-centered."
"And you admit it?" one of the other two interrupted. Shina and Gado glared at the person, whom she recognized as Yugo Ohgami, the son of one of her father's friends.
"That's why I became a mercenary. That reminds me. I seem to remember a willful daughter of mine who never did what she was told."
"Is that how you greet your long-lost daughter?" she demanded. "I was a fool for worrying."
"Ha ha. Well, we've destroyed the head of the ZLF serpent, but the tail is still alive. Although it will most likely self-destruct even if left alone..."
"Are you trying to get me to do your clean-up work as well?"
"Don't you believe in the principal of finishing what you started?"
What I started? "You never did have very good people skills, did you?" she complained.
"No, he didn't." Yugo joked.
Gado gave him a mock glare and said, "If you are reffering to the way I pretended to be hurt earlier it was only done to get Kenji out of that building before it collapsed."
"I could've handeled it!" Yugo argued. Shina looked them over, recognizing that Kenji was the mole assassin that had attacked her earlier. She instinctively got into her fighting stance even thought she didn't understand... Yugo caught her look and interrupted her thoughts. "This is my brother Kenji, he was brain washed by those scum bags earlier." Yugo explained. "He's sorry, but he really couldn't help it, he even attacked me..."
"Did I attack you too?" Kenji asked, looking her over and trying to remember.
"Not me," she replied. "Long."
"You met Long while he was here?" Gado asked her.
"At first I thought he was with the ZLF, he had a girl with him, named Uriko, but she turned out to be a pupil of his..."
"What happened?" Gado wondered.
"They told me what the leader looked like and then Kenji attacked Long. Did some pretty serious damage too." Kenji had a strained look on his face, trying to remember. And then it came to him...
"You are too young for a job that can only lead to your own death." he repeated, he had barely heard the words at the time. "Turn away from the evil before it's too late... too late for you."
"Is that what he said?" Shina asked, giving Kenji a curious look. "I knew he said something but..." Kenji had a disturbed look on his face. Yugo gave him a big pat on the back.
"It's okay Kenji, there's no way he could've known that you were being brainwashed."
"After that Uriko turned halfway into a cat," Shina continued. "but Long knocked her out of that. Then a big bug attacked us, but I took care of it. Then I led them here and we found this really ugly guy with green hair..."
"Busuzima, eh?" Yugo assumed. "That limp wristed..."
"That was Busuzima?"
"It would have been." Kenji mumbled.
"The bug guy mentioned him..." Shina remembered. "I shouldn't have let the creep get away."
"Have to agree with you on that one." Yugo said.
"Anyways, he called for the leader and Long told Uriko and I to take off and find our families. Uriko needed a little persuasion so I gave her a lift. We found her mother and someone named Alice, so I left her with them. I was going to look for you dad, but I heard Long screaming and had to go back and see what was happening." She looked at the brick wall behind her, perticularly at the spots of blood.
"By the time I got here Long looked like he was dead, there was so much blood on him. But he turned out to be better off than I had expected. The leader, who had been a clone of him was already gone. Uriko, her mother, and the blue haired girl came to thank us and then left again. Then I wanted to go look for you father, but the building was burning. He told me he would give his life to bring you back to me..." she trailed off, remembering the determined look in his eyes.
"I wouldn't promise to stay here, so he knocked me out, I had just woken up when you three came out of the building."
"He did that?" Gado asked, his eyes widening in surprise. Shina nodded. "When he found me I scholded him for being a hermit and started a fight."
"You did what!?!" Shina yelled. "That's the kind of thanks he gets for saving my life!?!"
"So he was that guy in the bloody shirt who asked where Gado was..." Yugo mumbled.
"Shina..." Gado began, "If I had known..."
"How could you pick a fight with him when he was already so close to death!?!" She was enraged. "Didn't you see all the blood on his shirt!?!"
"Well he was sent to kill me once." Gado explained. "I wasn't sure if I could trust..."
"When did that happen?"
"Years ago, after Yugo, Alice, and I attacked Tylon. They sent some assassins to kill me, he was one of them. I beat him to the ground and then walked away, sparing his life."
"So that's what he was talking about." She finally understood his reason for wanting to save her father. She looked over at the burning building again, hearing sirens in the distance. "He's not still in there is he?"
"He left the building after I was done talking to him." Gado assured her.
"Well I don't know about you two, but I'm getting out of here." Yugo informed then. "Don't want to be caught here when the cops show up. Don't want to run into another of the ZLF's freaks either."
"Yeah." Kenji agreed. "Let's go home, I need a rest." So Kenji and Yugo got up walked off into the darkness, Shina and Gado following suit. Then a lithe form, cloaked in darkness slowly emerged from behind the concealment of the trash cans and watched them dissapear into the night. I had better leave too, he thought. But if I'm not going back to my isolated cave and life as a hermit, then where shall I go?