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It was getting dark. This fact alone was enough for the guards to be edgy. Most of the attacks had been during the night, and the last one had nearly been successful in breaking in. The sheer number of invaders had placed an incredible strain on the Phoenix people. There were a lot of injured soldiers, and the ones responsible for keeping guard were worn out because of the long shifts. All in all, things were bad. The only highlight might be that the mountain was self-sufficient, so they didn't have to worry about supplies or water.
As the sunset took place, the guards started checking their equipment. They were getting low on arrows, and that was bad news. So far they had managed to fend off both Amazon and Musk warriors, but when there were no more arrows they would have to engage in physical combat. That would only mean more casualties. Casualties they couldn't afford.
As the last rays of the Sun created long and creepy shadows, the men and women on the guarding posts could hear the approach of a small group to the line of defense. Most of the attacks had been centered one side of the mountain, the weakest defensive spot. The small group was heard only because of two things. One was that the silence was overwhelming, the tension of being waiting was worse than the heat of battle. Second, and most important, was the fact that the four people were talking among themselves. Their steps made less noise than a soft breeze. Many of the guards felt reassured on their posts at the presence of the four new arrivals. Captain Krain had spent nearly every waking hour preparing the troops to defend from the vicious attacks. With the arrival of Lady Kima and her small group Krain had a chance to rest and organize his thoughts. Neither of them turned, knowing that a moment's distraction could mean their downfall, but they could all hear as Krain and Kima spoke to Nodoka and Mouse. Saotome's mother had been a surprise upon arrival. She learned Chinese incredibly fast, and trained in the arms room with an enthusiasm and dedication that all in general followed her example. A few of them had even taken up the use of the katana instead of the double-edged sword, preferring the speed and subtlety it offered. Lastly came the amazon male. There had been cries of outrage at seeing one of their enemies come into their ground. A soldier in particular had tried to rid the world of his existence. 'Tried' was the key word, though. He hadn't taken a step yet when he was punched in the face with enough force to knock him down his feet and feel dizzy for the next hour. The startled soldier looked up to his attacker, only to find Lady Kima with a scowl on her face. "Mouse is our friend. Either you accept it or..." She left the menace at that, knowing full well that would be enough for now. Saffron accepted Mouse into the lines of winged people, silencing any other demands. There were many people unhappy with it, particularly the nobles who openly treated him as trash, but the former amazon took it in stride. He earned the respect of the front line soldiers with his actions instead of any words. Each night he would stand beside them, fighting against Amazons and Musk alike, showing fierceness they looked up to. It had been a couple of weeks since the arrival of Kima, Nodoka and Mouse and they fit in since the first two days. Mouse fought in the front line. Nodoka trained some of the youngest warriors and gave support in the front line when needed. Kima was a strategist and a superb fighter. They had even seen seven fully trained amazons charge at her only to be repelled with ruthless efficiency. Out of the seven only two saw the next day. The attacks had become more cautious after that.
Mouse assumed his guarding post alongside Silgad. Both young men had discovered they had a lot in common. Kima, Krain and Nodoka walked to the leader of the current guard. "Greetings, Agner. Anything out of the ordinary?" Asked Captain Krain.
"Greetings, Krain." The younger officer shook his head. "Nothing new. It's so peaceful I would swear there would be no attack tonight. The same as yesterday." He looked at his troops. Such determination and courage, even at the brink of exhaustion they seemed as ready to face the enemy as the very first time. "I just wish we had a day or two of rest. They're slowly weakening us." Each attack wore them down a little more. It would only be a matter of time until they couldn't summon the strength to lift a sword.
Kima frowned. "There's nothing we can do. There are not enough soldiers to charge the enemy, much less drive them back. At the moment we can only hope to defend ourselves." The others watched in worry as she looked at the last of the daylight. They exchanged worried glances. Kima had steadily become more impatient and her temper could explode at any moment. Two days ago she charged the Musk soldiers recklessly and on her own. She returned covered in blood, both from the Musk and herself, and fainted as soon as she placed foot on safe ground. And that was only one isolated incident. During the past couple of weeks she had been showing signs of stress for no apparent reason at all. Their fear was that she would do something reckless again. And they feared it because there was nothing they could do to stop her.
A loud battle cry was heard from below. "Silgad, report." Captain Krain commanded with all seriousness.
The young soldier didn't turn from the blackness as he answered. "Nothing I can see, sir. Whatever is happening is down there."
Kima's eyebrow shot up at this. "They're here." She whispered.
Only Nodoka heard the comment, and she had to agree. So far the attacks had been subtle until the enemy was within visual range. "They will have a hard time trying to pass through. There are a lot of Amazons blocking their way."
Wordlessly, Kima made her wings disappear and started running towards what she thought was the battlefield. The troops stood there in shock as once again Kima took the war in her own hands. Their shock only increased when three more shapes followed the protector of Lord Saffron. Nodoka, Mouse and Silgad followed Kima to assure the success of her crazy quest.
Back in he front line, Captain Krain looked at his troops sternly. "Get ready to give some support fire when they return. They'll need it." He inwardly knew they had to do things this way, even if he felt like the attack was a desperate maneuver.
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"YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE!" Bellowed a male voice in the darkness. The sounds of fighting could be heard, as well as general chaos in close proximity.
"What did I do?" Asked another male voice, this one in a cold tone. The cracking of bones was heard, accompanied by a soft moan of pain and a thump.
"THIS IS YOUR GREAT PLAN?!" Taro was seriously considering whether or not Fem-boy had finally lost it. He ducked under a sword slash that would have beheaded him and straightened himself hitting with his head the offending amazon. She was completely unconscious by the time she reached the ground in a heap.
Ranma replied matter of factly. "I'm going to Mount Phoenix and they are in the way." He sported several bruises and cuts, unlike Taro who was still untouched, mainly because he wasn't dodging or blocking. He was fully concentrated on getting rid of the next obstacle. The fact that each injury he received made him more ruthless in dealing with the amazons was also something that scared Genma, who was watching everything from behind.
As soon as they saw the amazons ready to strike, they stopped to consider what to do. Taro suggested waiting for the end of the attack, so when the amazons were retreating they wouldn't pay much attention. Genma said he would prefer to make his way using the Umisen-ken on the other side of the mountain. It would mean climbing quite a lot, but it would be safe. Ranma shook his head and stood up. 'Follow my lead.' He had said. Genma berated himself for now questioning his son. He had simply charged from behind, taking out as many amazons as he could without caring if he got them surrounded. He was advancing in a straight line towards the home of the Phoenix people. Taro had started to give support, though it could be seen he was heavenly pissed with Ranma. Genma was covering their backs, protecting the trio from someone that might try to flank them.
They even made great progress for the first few minutes, making use of the confusion. But the amazons regrouped and fought back as a team. Very soon Ranma, Taro and Genma stopped making any significant progress. What concerned the oldest Saotome the most was what was happening to his son. Ranma received several deep wounds, that in itself wasn't something to worry about, he would recover from them by tomorrow, but he started to deal with his opponents with increasing efficiency. *Too much efficiency.* Genma thought as he jumped over a spear thrust and landed purposely over the weapon, breaking it with his weight. As soon as his feet touched the ground he delivered a quick punch to the neck of his would be attacker. He was gratified with choking noises as he dealt with the next two attackers.
Taro punched hard, employing his most lethal technique. They couldn't take the risk of letting their enemies alive in the field of battle as the battle itself still raged on. The effect of the technique made the amazons that managed to see it think twice about attacking the young man. The unfortunate victim received the blow in the face, right on her cheek, and an explosion of blood and bone was all that was left of her head. The now shorter body was sent flying backward due to the force of the impact, taking four amazon women down. This came as a breather to the pressured group. A breather that didn't last long. "We're not gonna make it." Taro said more calm. He was still angry with his companion, but was starting to cool down to think of a way out of this.
Ranma smiled grimly at those words. "I told you we would make it." He caught a bonbori with his open palm and smashed it on the wielder's face. To say one amazon had a caved in face would be the correct choice of words. This, however, cost Ranma as he received yet another wound now from a spear. The tip of the weapon pierced his right leg. Not by much, and not such a serious wound, but either way there was a lot of blood. "ENOUGH!" He cried as he delivered a spin kick that covered all the terrain in front of him. Several of the amazons were struck down, and the others fell to dodge such a strong looking move. The first to receive it had her left elbow into her ribcage. Ranma turned around and jumped toward the amazons that were pressuring Genma. He flew past his father, somersaulted forward and planted a foot on a different amazon each. He used them to spring board over Genma and Taro, who currently had no enemies close by thanks to Ranma's display. As he passed them, he took their clothing and landed on his feet as he started to pull with all his might.
Genma and Taro watched in awe as Ranma took out five opponents with a single kick, then took out two others on the other side of the circle that was formed by them, making it so that they were momentarily free of any attacks. As Ranma jumped over them, took the back of their clothing and started to pull, they only had one thought in mind. *He wouldn't.* Ranma threw them both over his shoulders, helping himself with the momentum obtained from the jump. They saw as Ranma became a tiny dot in the middle of a wide circle of angry females. *He did.* Was the last coherent thought that passed through their minds as they screamed frantically trying to figure out how the hell they were supposed to land without braking anything.
Ranma smiled widely as he saw two dots getting out of sight. "Now to get out of here." He said looking all around him to the slowly closing amazons. The fight was joined once again.
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"Just how fast can she run?" Asked Silgad as he was now running toward the source of the battle sounds instead of following Kima. She had disappeared from sight after the first few seconds of running.
Mouse answered with a wry smile on his lips. "Not as fast as Saotome."
"Thanks a lot." Silgad replied dryly. Silgad didn't even want to think just what Kima's husband was capable of.
Nodoka, who silently kept up with both of them, frowned at Kima's actions. For some time now she had been reckless and temperamental. Had she acted differently in Nerima to avoid trouble? Was this her real self? She couldn't think about it much more as Mouse stopped abruptly. "Someone's approaching."
Silgad and Nodoka stopped and prepared their weapons as soon as they heard the former amazon make that statement. He was by far the better choice for scouting and fighting in the night. Nodoka faced to their left as Silgad covered their right flank. Mouse, however, faced up. Soon, twin cries of disbelief could be heard coming at an incredible speed. The trio was greeted with the sight of Genma and Taro flying over them at terminal speed. Loud thumps followed by groans of pain could be heard clearly. "Genma!" Nodoka cried as she ran to her husband. Mouse and Silgad followed more carefully.
A few feet away they found a pair of craters on the ground. In each one there was a man moaning softly in pain. Genma was clutching his right arm, which hugged helplessly from his dislocated shoulder. Taro held his ribs in pain as he coughed blood. "Fem-boy, I'm gonna kill you." He managed to say in between coughs.
"Genma!" Said man turned towards the voice as if his life depended on it. In a way, it did.
"No-chan!" He said as he dizzily stood up. He made a great effort not to cry out in pain when Nodoka hugged him fiercely.
Taro silently nodded to Silgad and Mouse as they helped him up, each taking an arm over his shoulders.
Nodoka parted from her husband and asked. "Where's my son?" She felt a huge wave of fear as Genma remained silent.
"The big idiot threw us here and out of the fight. I tell you, he's even more stupid than before." Taro said as he tried to stand on his own. The pain in his chest forbade him to do so as he rested all his weight on his companions. "Kima?"
Nodoka shook her head. "She went ahead of us." As she said these words something started to form in her mind. *Has my son been going through the same thing as Kima?*
As luck would have it, some of the amazons saw the two males fly out of battle and followed them. "We have company." Mouse said as the twelve amazon warriors entered their field of view.
At this time they considered their situation.
There were five of them, two of which couldn't run for it or fight. Rather they would have to be defended. That meant the capable fighters were outnumbered four to one. Things didn't look good on their side.
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Kima right now brandished her blood-dripping sword as she kicked low. The sound of crushing bone gratified her as the amazon placed her hands on her now less than functional knee. That was a small victory, though. She still wasn't able to locate Ranma and was starting to tire from the many to one fight. She could deal with as many amazons as could surround her without receiving too critical injuries. The problem was many others waited their turn to attack, and Kima's strength would eventually be spent in this kind of fighting. Kima leaned back just enough to see a blade pass inches in front of her nose. She also bent her knees a little so that an axe missed making her use her sword as a crutch. As she did this, she threw a fierce pierce with her sword, penetrating another woman's chest and utterly destroying her heart, literally.
As she recovered from the attack, Kima saw a brief flicker of blood. She smirked as she started to advance in that direction.
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A head was separated from the body with a swift slash of his hand. Blood sprayed everywhere, even in the eyes of a few women. Those women had the bad luck of following their companion in death. For a moment's distraction was enough to be defeated at the hands of the warrior. Ranma flowed through enemies as if they were standing still. Swiftly and ruthlessly delivering strikes that were meant to kill. His mind completely on destroying the enemy, on the obliteration of the threat.
In the past few minutes Ranma had managed to receive a minimum amount of damage. Not that he was any faster or stronger then before. Far from it. He was fighting like he was born to do so, as a fluent wisp of smoke. Nearly impossible to touch. He didn't mind fighting alongside Taro and his father, but that kind of fighting restricted his skill. He was better off in his own chaotic way of dealing with the enemy. Jumping and bouncing around, dodging instead of blocking to hold his ground. That was the true menace of Ranma Saotome, his unpredictability. And he had every intention of taking advantage of that.
He jumped into the attack of another amazon. Before she could finish her strike he was already into her defenses and away from the weapon, which served to cover his back. He thanked her by pulling her throat out. More blood gushed everywhere, and more amazon women died because of the momentary blindness.
As he prepared to charge the next, he could see a glimmer of silver not too far away. Weapons were waved around it. Ranma's heart beat in joy as he made a beeline for it.
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Kima's vision was that of a falling amazon as she clutched at her stomach, trying to keep her organs into her open belly. As the last of her hair fell from her field of vision, she was greeted with the sight of Ranma running full speed toward her. Now, Ranma running full speed was something quite out of the ordinary. One second before he was still fifty feet away. The next he was next to her delivering a wicked slash to her neck. Kima barely managed to duck out of its way and out of instinct she countered with an upward slash. Ranma jumped to the side and delivered a kick to her exposed knee. Kima jumped over the leg and used her sword in a return strike diagonally downward. Ranma jumped inside the strike and impaled a woman's body from side to side with his claw strike. Time seemed to freeze as Kima's sword was retrieved from the now dead amazon that was about to attack Ranma from behind. Other soon followed clutching at their mortal wounds if they had any strength left to do so. Ranma smiled as he closed his claw into a tight fist. Kima saw as all the amazon women Ranma had passed fell to the ground in agony at being cut down to pieces or simply exploded then and there. She smiled as it seemed that Ranma had improved that technique. "'I don't think I can take much more.'" Said Ranma in Japanese. And it was the truth. His body was near the point of exhaustion and the lost blood didn't help any.
Kima nodded, feeling just the same. Ranma retrieved his hand from the corpse of the woman that tried to kill his wife from behind and took a low stance. He started to growl fiercely and his muscles started to bulge. Very soon his gi top was ripped to pieces as his muscle mass increased monstrously. "LET'S FINISH THIS!" He bellowed with a rage filled voice. They both jumped high in the air.
The amazons had stopped attacking after seeing so many of their numbers defeated at the hands of a male in a single attack. His physical transformation and jumping out of the way made them widen the circle in fear of becoming the target for a chi blast. They were understandably shocked and humiliated as the woman grew wings and took the man out of sight.
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Kima struggled to keep flying as her vision blurred. She held her unconscious husband's arm with both hands and was ready to join him any second. *Saotome final attack.* She thought with an amused smile.
Kima didn't know when she lost consciousness, but she didn't reach Phoenix Mountain.
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Steel on flesh was the sound that silenced all others. The amazon warriors looked at each other with doubtful expressions. So far they had managed to injure the Phoenix soldier on the shoulder, though he still held his other kodachi protectively. He had been the one to protect the two downed males and had done wonders with his short blades. His defense was like a wall of steel.
The problem wasn't that though. Mutzu they knew was good at hidden weapons, so they refrained from attacking him and waited for his assorted toys to come out. He surprised them cutting down two of their numbers with a pair of swords. They took him more seriously after that.
The main problem was the woman. She had remained cool and collected as the first of the amazons charged, intent on killing the foolish and weak Japanese woman. They didn't even see as the sword left it's scabbard when their companion fell to the ground in two pieces. They didn't see the blade at all for that matter, as it had returned to its cover before they could look at it. So far they had lost four warriors to her, and still they didn't get a glimpse of her steel.
Counting the four Nodoka took down and the four Mouse already dealt with, that left four out of the twelve amazons that initially attacked. They turned tail and ran as fast as they could. Nodoka turned to Mouse and coldly said. "Stop them. They'll call reinforcements if you don't."
Mouse nodded and extended his arms in front of him. Out of his robes several knives, shuriken and chains streaked toward the four fleeing figures. One was struck in the neck by a knife, which immediately killed her. Another one received several shuriken to her legs, making her escape impossible, she was also unlucky enough to fall over the first one's upended sword, killing herself. The third was impaled by a spike pointed chain and fell lifelessly to the ground. That left a fourth amazon left, though. An amazon that would call for help and more of them would attack.
That amazon didn't make it far. Just as she was no more than an unrecognizable blur another figure appeared and delivered an attack that killed the fleeing woman. "That's four." Said Taro quietly as he saw the figure approaching. His eyes narrowed as he recognized her. "You." The very same amazon that had led them to the Musk Citadel. She had obviously followed them.
The amazon stood straight just a few feet away from the group. She had her spear held loosely in her hand as she looked at Mouse directly in the eye. "Come with me, Mutzu."
"What are you talking about?" Taro replied as he stood up. The pain was unbearable, but he either way tried to look menacing.
She didn't pay him any heed as she continued. "Your friends are close by."
Mouse motioned for everyone else to start the journey back to Mount Phoenix. Nodoka nodded to him, understanding the nearly blind man. "Your funeral." Taro said as he was helped by Silgad and turned around. Nodoka helped her husband up and followed close behind.
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Krain felt like pulling his hair out. Nodoka and a wounded Silgad had returned with Taro and Genma Saotome. Both last men were injured but would recover after some rest. What really got to him was that Mouse, Lady Kima and Ranma had yet to return, if they ever did.
As for the front line, things turned out to be peaceful. It seemed like the attack by such a small number of people really had an effect on the morale of the enemy's army.
Just as he thought about this, a sentry notified him that Mouse had returned carrying an unconscious Ranma, while another amazon woman was carrying Lady Kima. "Are things ever boring with Ranma and Kima?" Krain asked to no one in particular. The soldiers that heard his question only nodded their assent.
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Mouse wiped the sweat from his eyebrow as he carried the bigger man. He turned to his side and watched as the amazon woman that helped him carried Kima with as much effort as he placed on carrying his friend. A lot. They were both tired from the day's activities.
Mouse from fighting everyday and now today facing so many amazons at once. He did defeat them untouched, but paid for it in exhaustion. Now carrying Ranma for several miles was just icing on the cake.
The amazon woman had run after Ranma, Taro and Genma for nearly an entire day. Add to that the fact that Kima was a big woman for anyone's standards and she had the right to be tired.
Mouse saw the sentry return to the mountain and knew they almost reached their destination. He smiled and turned to face his companion. "So, what are your plans now, Cousin Pa Fum?"
END PART 9
Author's notes: Another short chapter. I'm seeing this as an easier way to continue with the story. This way I give you something to read more frequently and I feel like the story runs more smoothly, since I don't try to force too many things into a single chapter. Tell me what you think about it.
Either way, how did you like the chapter? I may have rushed through the fighting scenes, but it's very difficult to cover so much. I intend to make the next chapter a little calmer, especially since I have to explain the reason behind Ranma's and Kima's change in character.
Well, that's about it. See you in part 10! |
