• BRAWL


    Shadow, a ninja trained for assassination; currently number six on Interpol’s most wanted list. Only two things could make this assassin run for his life, the crime syndicate he worked for and an uncanny fear of spiders. Unfortunately for Shadow he is now on the syndicate’s hit list for failing to kill an ambassador from Japan. Why didn’t Shadow kill the ambassador; simple Shadow owed the old man a favor for saving him from a giant tarantula a few years back. And now because of his stupid honor street gangs, hit men, and even other ninja were chasing Shadow all over Neos City. Currently, Shadow was hiding out in an old abandoned storehouse. He had been on the move for hours and needed a break. Shadow removed the mask he was wearing and let his long white-silver hair fall into his face. He sighed and stood up to stretch. He had an average build for a sixteen year old, tall and strong; the only unusual thing was that his eyes were gray. He was wearing an all black ninja suit that matched his mask; he also had a pouch on his side, which contained shuriken, throwing stars, and kunai, throwing knives.

    There was a noise outside, the sound of motorcycles and people talking. Shadow looked at the large door that served as the only entrance into his hiding spot. Quickly formulating a plan Shadow jumped up onto the ceiling using his ninjutsu abilities to stick to it with his feet. As he did this the door to the storehouse opened and a group of about fifty men walked in. They were all around twenty and wore the same black leather jacket with the same insignia on it: a yin-yang symbol with a dragon wrapped around it, the symbol of the syndicate. One of the men was shouting at the others and pointing in different directions. Shadow concluded that he was the leader and decided to take him out first.

    “Fools,” Shadow said to him self.

    Grabbing some shuriken from his pouch Shadow jumped down form the ceiling and launched a barrage at the group. The grunts were far too slow to dodge Shadow’s onslaught and most of them were hit. Shadow landed on the floor to see only ten of the would be attackers alive. The men stared in horror at the well-trained shinobi and six of them tried to run for it. With a sigh Shadow ran in front of them with inhuman speed. The men all had faces begging for mercy, but Shadow just shook his head and finished them off. The remaining four tried to run but was soon killed by shuriken.

    The syndicate would start wondering were its grunts were soon, so Shadow decided it was time to abandon the warehouse. With a quick survey of the area Shadow was off. He opened the large door that marked his only means for escape. What Shadow wasn’t expecting was the army of ninja waiting for him. The ninja where wearing the same all black suit he was except they were wearing the mask to match. Standing in front of the army was another ninja, this one female. She had short brown hair that that had a bowl like look to it, her eyes were jade green and showed the utmost seriousness, she wore a black ninja suit like all the others except hers had a hood on the back. Shadow quickly recognized her as Myra Taiki, ranked number three on the most wanted list, his superior in their “organization”, and Shadow’s former partner.

    “Oh Crap!” Shadow proclaimed slapping his self in the head. “I must be in deep if they sent you for me.”

    “Always the joker, Shadow,” She replied.

    “No, just around you”

    This caused a slight blush to come to the girl’s face, which was immediately replaced by a scowl and a glare. Shadow however, was smiling at her embarrassment even though he knew the situation just got ten times worse. Myra lifted her hand and snapped her fingers. One of the ninja behind her came forward with a large brown box that had words written in Japanese on it. He knelled and opened the box to reveal a black gauntlet bound by chains, it was made of steel and the fingers were sharpened into claws. Shadow’s smile faded, he recognized the gauntlet and knew what awesome power it held. Myra took the gauntlet out of the box and placed it on her right hand.

    “What are you thinking?” Shadow asked unable to hide the hint of fear was in his voice. “That weapon is far too dangerous, even for you.”

    “Yes, but it’s the perfect weapon to bring you down,” She replied with a sadistic grin of her face. “After all you are an S-class assignment in the bingo book. I could get a lot for bringing you in.”

    “That’s still no reason to use the gauntlet you idiot! That gauntlet, the Dragon’s Fist, the most dangerous weapon ever created.”

    “So what, I’m the most dangerous warrior ever,” She replied to me her smile becoming more and more twisted. “All I need to activate it is an offering of blood.”

    Myra stabbed the ninja that brought her the Dragon’s Fist in the chest and let his blood run over the weapon. Her fist started shaking violently and Myra started to laugh uncontrollably, not the kind of laugh of some one who just saw Dave Chappell live, but the laugh of a crazy person. Shadow looked on in shock; Myra had never been the kind of person to do something so outlandish; she was the quiet type, the type of person who takes things slow. Myra looked up at Shadow, her expression looking more warped than before. Shadow stepped back while grabbing a few shuriken from his bag.

    “If we fight you know your going to die,” Shadow said, he wore an expression that portrayed no signs that he had ever been in battle before.

    “I’m going to die,” Myra replied with a snicker. “I wield the power of the gods in my right hand.”

    “That power you seem so fond of was meant to be used by the descendants of the god of twilight, Zen-Aku.”

    “Spare me, if I want a religion lesson I’ll go to church. Oh wait! That’s right I burned down all the churches” Myra started cackling again.

    “Fine, since I can’t reason with you, I’ll just have to beat some sense into you.”
    Shadow charged at Myra and launched a barrage of shuriken at her. In spite of Shadow’s speed and power the might granted by the gauntlet was greater. Myra swiped her hand in front of her and created a powerful gust of wind that knocked away Shadow’s shuriken. Cursing under his breath Shadow continued his charge this time taking a scroll out and opening it. He then bit into his thumb to draw blood, which he wiped across the scroll. Shadow stopped and jammed the scroll into the ground; the earth started shaking fiercely.

    “Power of the earth,” Shadow began, “obliterates my enemies. I call upon the seismic crusher.”

    “What’s going on?” Myra asked as the ground shock thunderously.

    A large crack spread out from where Shadow had embedded the scroll and the terrain around him started to give way. The ground benefit a group of Myra’s ninjas gave way and the minions plummeted to their deaths. The other ninjas began to panic and try to run away only to meet the same fate as their comrades. Myra looked on with a mixed expression of horror and amusement.

    “Well that was unexpected,” She said with a sadistic chuckle. “I should have known you’d use some sort of elemental attack.”

    “Too bad your cronies aren’t able to agree,” he replied.

    Myra started laughing uncontrollably. Shadow could tell that the Dragon’s Fist was taking over her and that it wouldn’t be long until she was a slave to its power. There was only one way to get it off of her but Shadow wasn’t sure of the cost.

    “I’m sorry to ruin your fun,” Shadow said stopping Myra’s laughing fit. “But I’m going to have to take that gauntlet away from you now.”

    “Really and how do you propose to do that?” Myra replied seeming more and more interested.

    “Those who are familiar with the Dragon’s Fist in legend know that there are only two ways to remove it from someone’s hand. The first is to cut off the arm the gauntlet is on.”

    “And the second?”

    “The second method is for a descendant of Zen-Aku to remove it through a ritual of blood.”

    “Well I don’t think you are capable of either of those things. So I’d say you’re screwed.”

    “We’ll see about that.”

    Shadow took out a kunai and made a deep cut into his hand. He then retracted the kunai and squeezed to draw some blood. Myra watched the entire process in awe; there was no way he could be a true descendant of the god Zen-Aku, she kept saying in her mind. Shadow made a circle in the air, his blood somehow floated where his hand was. He then drew the Japanese symbol for twilight in the middle of the circle and began to recite the incantation that accompanied the ritual.

    “NO!” Myra screamed out, her voice was rough and no longer human. “I won’t let you take away my power.”

    Myra bent over and started screaming a blood-curdling scream. Her body began to transform and she began to change into a monster, a monster whose mind would be completely controlled by the Dragon’s Fist. The nails on her left hand grew and sharpened into claws, her teeth turned into fangs, a long reptilian tail sprouted from her backside, her eyes turned blood red, two twisted horns grew from the top of her head, and a pair of black, leathery wings grew from her back. Shadow knew his time was limited now that Myra was activating the gauntlet’s full power; he began to recite the words to his incantation faster in hopes of completing it before Myra could complete her transformation. Myra let out one last scream and a powerful wave of energy shot out from her, she stood, no longer human but a demon.

    “Just great,” Shadow said to himself. “She’s turned herself into a monster, guess it’s now or never.”

    Shadow pushed his right hand through the circle he made and it shrunk in around his arm, spinning as it did. Myra sensing that he had found someway to stop her darted toward him. Shadow grabbed his right forearm and attacked at the same time. The two let out mighty battle cries as they clashed. Myra had swiped at Shadows head with her right hand but he dunked down and struck her in the heart with his right hand. The blood covering his hand spread out over Myra’s body and made its way to the Dragon’s Fist. As the blood covered the gauntlet as traces of Myra’s metamorphosis receded and she returned to her normal state. Shadow then grabbed the Dragon’s Fist and pulled it off Myra’s hand. She fell to the floor gasping for breath and holding her right forearm.

    “T-that thing tr-tried to take over my mind,” She looked up at him, tears forming in her eyes. “I couldn’t control my self; the master said that I would be unbeatable with that much power at my disposal.”

    “He lied,” Shadow replied looking down at the Dragon’s Fist with a mixture of sorrow and disgust. “Only one with the blood of a god flowing through their veins can control the Dragon’s Fist.”

    “You were able to remove it. Does that mean–“

    “Yes it does,” Shadow cut her off before she could finish. “I am the last known descendant of Zen-Aku and heir to the power of the Dragon’s Fist.”

    Shadow placed the Dragon’s Fist on his right hand. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back as a white light surrounded him and black angel wings grew from his back. Myra was in awe; she placed her head down and shifted to a bowing position. Shadow reopened his eyes and stared down at Myra, his face was stern but at the same time compassionate.

    “Forgive me,” Myra’s voice was crackling. “I swear eternal loyalty to you my lord.”

    Shadow bent down and picked Myra up by the hand. They gazed into each other’s eyes; Shadow smiled and shook his head no. He stated to lean in toward her until a noise was herd in the background. It came from the roof of the storehouse, which was still in pretty good shape, despite the epic battle that went on. Standing atop the storehouse was a new batch of ninja, this one much bigger than the armada Myra had.

    “Looks to be about two thousand,” Shadow said completely nonchalant.

    “What do we do?” Myra asked looking up into his face. His expression betrayed no signs of worry; if he was afraid he hid it very well.

    “Simple,” He replied smiling. “We brawl.”

    The army leapt from the storehouse Shadow and Myra began yet another grand mêlée of combat.