Chapter 4: Chapter Četiri
CHAPTER 4–BATTLE OF THE CENTURY—RYOJI'S FIRST COMPLETE SYNCHRONIZATION!!!
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Damnit, first day and I'm already getting in trouble.... I'm supposed to enjoying Surwick—Not fighting this asshole!
The Heart-Bonded protagonist thought as he dodged the swiftest attacks he had ever witnessed in his entire life. Unlike the thugs, this kid is really good at fighting!!
Takeo threw punches and kicks, one punch landed successfully with a result of Ryoji being punched in the face.
BAMF!!
Ryoji spits out blood and executes a perfect drop kick to Takeo' head, but counters it with a strong uppercut which Ryoji was flying across the beige street. Ryoji grabbed Takeo's arm and punched him three times before Takeo head butted him.
Staggering, the demon weasel-fox boy saw this as an opportunity to knee him in the stomach. Ryoji countered it with a fierce helicopter kick, the impact of Takeo turned out to be a Doppelgänger. What?!? He knows Doppelgänger Jutsu?!? I thought that technique was just a myth! Darn, that'll mean that he on top..... Ryoji couldn't finish his analysis as Takeo dropped a large ball of hail on his head, the crowd booed at him; saying vulgar language.
"Be gentle on him, ya asshole!"
"Whoop Naruto' ass, new kid!"
"Git him, Will, Git him!!"
"Cheatah!!"
"You suck d***, Orphan!!"
"Come on, Kishaun!!"
Wait, who the hell is Kishaun?! Ryoji asked himself before Takeo tried to ambush him! He dodged it sluggishly in exchange for a quick punch to Takeo's stomach.
He went back on his feet, he saw the overconfidence of Takeo flowing through his body. "You're decent, Ryoji, but..." The demon lynx-fox boy threw a barrage of shurikens, "I'm better than you, ya fake!!" He shouted as the shurikens were hurdling towards Ryoji, who manifested fire on his arms and feet.
As he swung all of his arms and legs, Takeo took all the hits. Takeo grabbed his foot and threw him across the ground, rolling and hurting his shoulder in the process. Hundreds of students cheered the Heart-Bond and the Coldest Hearted Ninja on as the skirmish continued.
Ryoji's felt he was in a gladiator arena, and he was a gladiator fighting for his life. All the yelling, the cheering, Ryoji had never felt the thrill of the fight. When he fought the Middle East, he only fought for survival, but now; his heart pounding faster and faster as Takeo yelled out; "Wow Ryo, you lasted long than I thought you would!! But I'll end this fight right now!! Behold, my powerful technique that I developed myself!" His very own fist turned blue, his entire arm was shaking from the pure force that he fabricated as Ryoji was too tired from dodging all of Takeo's attacks.
The demon boy rushed at the speed of sound, the eyes of our faithful protagonist couldn't perceive on where his opponent was moving from. About fifteen doppelgängers followed and surrounded him.
Where would he be at?
Is he attacking on the right side or on the left side?
Up or down?
Is he the right one, or a fake?
All of the students saw was Takeo uppercutting Ryoji and jumped vertically, shouting out; "AISUURUFUAPPA!!!" Ryoji flew across the horizon, and finally crashed on the ground. He didn't move.
He was unconscious, not hearing Akina's plea to get up and fight; all of what he saw was pitch darkness. He looks to get out of the blackness, yet couldn't find a way to exit.
"Hello? Anybody there?" Ryoji voice echoed, he facepalmed himself, thinking; of course not, I'm such a dumbass. That boy, I let my guard down. Not only he has incredible strength, he's also cunning; like a fox. No matter how I attack him, I don't know his attack patterns, I don't know if it's a Doppelgänger or the real him. Not just that, it seems that he knows when I pull an arm or two. Ryoji analyzed while he felt a sharp pain in his arm, alas did not show it because it would bring him shame if he did. Assassin never showed how much pain they are: his former guild had taught him this ideology. Damnit, I don't have anything on him. My blades I used while I was an assassin were stored away in a location I cannot really remember: I could easily finish this fight under thirty seconds with them. But I guess I gotta rely on my fighting skills. His fighting skills are really good, what to do. What to do. I don't have a trump card.... He felt as if he drifted into an unexpected slumber.
"You do; its me, asshole." Someone answered, Ryoji turned to see who it was; it was none other than his Heart; a short, bipedal, red-orange Tyrannosaurus Rex with a short stout. His head was big as, if not bigger than his body. He stood about 4'2, and on his head there was feather-like hair of the colors: dark blue, amber yellow, and maroon. His eyes were green as a skin of an avocado, and had a short horn on his nose. He also had spikes running down the spine of his 2 foot long tail. His arms were flattened, with four broad claws on each hand, his pectoral muscle were quite distinctive and a long scar ran across it. He had his arms folded, like an ordinary human would when frustrated about a co-worker; in this case, upset that Ryoji hadn't paid attention to his Heart in so long. His nose flared, he frowned at him as Ryoji looked at him reclusively.
"No way, man! I'm not going to synchronize with you!" Ryoji yelled at his Heart, the reptile responded rudely; "You know what's the irony in this? You want to become the first Heart-Bonded Protector, but you don't want to synchronize with me, your very own goddamn Heart! Why are you so stubborn, huh?!" Ryoji stood there, quite for a while.
"What's wrong? T-Rex got your tongue?"
He's right, how can I become a Protector if I don't get along with my own Heart?
"Fine. Let's synchronize together.." Ryoji hesitated, Igneus's eyes sparkled with such glee as he held his hand out for him to do a handshake, "Then-say my name, and you will feel the power of gods.
"On one condition: You will follow my lead this time! Last time, we merely killed a person!"
"He was a bad guy!"
"I don't care if he was a bad guy or a sleaze bag—We don't kill people. If you try to get control of me or you don't behave while we're in Bonded mode, you won't be able to get out of the mental cage. But if you do follow and be a good boy, then you'll be allowed to see the world for the first time."
"Really? This isn't a trick now, is it?"
Ryoji nodded no and added; "No, but it will be if you're not an asswipe when we're in Bonded mode. You will follow my every command. Understand?"
Igneus gulped and performed a Heart's Release; all handshake in which most Heart-Bond utilize to synchronize one another. The Heart's Release started with a signature fist-bump, which is indescribable as it is complicated to illustrate. Say my name echoed inside Ryoji as he revealed his Heart's true name.
"IGNEUS."
———Meanwhile, In the real world———
Crap! Get up, Ryoji! Get up and fight!! Akina wanted to scream yet could not, she was getting frustrated. She saw this kid, a tween boy beat thugs whose loyalty belonged to Don Sarbello, an accomplished mafia boss with power. She wanted to rush in and help him, but she stopped herself and began ruminating like she usually she did. What if get in his way while he fights Takeo? What if I can't do anything to help him? Maybe...It's best for me to stay here.... Akina ruminated while Takeo was boasting, having this arms up in the air.
"Wow. Just wow. All that hype and you didn't fail to disappoint me! I thought you were a Heart-Bond, that you'd be a challenge and all... Well, I guess you've to do my laundry now." Takeo stated, he turned his back on Ryoji; who was surrounded in a surge of red energy. Takeo's focus shifted once again to Ryoji's, who was now standing up with blood flowing down from his eyes. Takeo grinned at larger than life and said; " I guess you're ready for Round 2, eh, Ryo?"
Ryoji wiped the blood off and answered; "Hell yeah!" His voice was the combination of both as he was entirely consumed by energy as he yelled out; "GRRAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
People were pushed back from the impact that his Aether exerted from Ryoji, Akina had her back faced away from the Aether flowing everywhere.
Meanwhile, in Lino Saon's Office, Cobalt and Sora Minami stood there as Lino was discussed about the fight.
"I think we should intervene the fight right away before Mr.Kazama starts on his bloodshed!" Cobalt proposed, Sora quickly disagreed. "No, it is not our right to do so. Let them fight."
"I agree with Sora, let them fight. They need to do that in order do this in order to settle their differences with another."
Idris didn't like this coming from the Principal. Why is he not listening to me? I know what they can do!! Why are you being so pig-headed about this boy?! "But if things go south quickly, I will stop the fight if I have to." Lino assured Idris, who simply was stricken with distraught.
"I'm not say you couldn't, Principal Saon, but we have guards for that. Why you?"
Lino was quiet for a while."....Go back to your rooms everyone. I'll handle this situation myself."
The faculty needed to his instructions and went back to their rooms, Cobalt complained that none had listened to him.
"Bloody h*ll, no one listens to me. I'm the bloody billionaire here, not Sora. He's just a dumb ninja with fine hair....Am I the only one that has common sense around here? What is it with him and Ryoji Kazama? Are they related or something?" He complained, meanwhile the crowd saw a large ruby cocoon, in place of Ryoji.
Takeo studied the cocoon, thinking that Ryoji's Heart was an insectoid-like. He looked around it, Akina and Marcus was wondering where was Ryoji at. "Hey Aki, where do you think Ryoji went?"
"And this is why I'm the smart one outta us. Ryoji is in that cocoon, it's where—you know—the Heart-Bond synchronize for the first time. Or in Jordyn's case, the first in a while. You get where I'm coming from?"
Marcus realized that this was from that one class they had when they were Fourth-Graders. "Oh yea!"
Inside the cocoon, the two underwent an incredible transformation where they come as one.
There was a large booming sound, Akina covered her eyes from the dust flying.
Why did that cocoon..... She asked herself in her mind as her eyes went bigger than life as a shadow. "Oh my god...."
The synchronization was complete. No longer stood a human boy, but a true Heart-Bond. They were a vaguely dragon-like demon with a red face, their mouth was shaped in a zigzag line horizontally, and with it were two blue tusks like a saber-tooth tiger. Their hands were clawed, sharp as katanas. Is if they could cut through titanium with such ease. Their hide was armored with accents of ruby, aquamarine, blue gray, and dark blue. Their navy blue horns were upwards sideways, like a goat for example. They didn't had no demonic wings on their back, all what was on their back hanged a large scarf made of flames of scorching heat. Their tail was long, with ruby spikes and a golden crown like triangle on the end of the tail. The eyes of the Heart-Bond mirrored that of Igneus, with the determination from Ryoji. They cracked their clawed hands, Takeo's bravery became unwavering high as he cracked his neck slightly.
This energy.... This is my.... No, this is our power, Iggy! Our synchronized strength, mind, as well as your provocative desires.... Now, then; Let's go!!! He stood still as a giantic amount of Aether pushed many individuals passively. "We're ready to whoop your ass. Any last words?" Asked Bonded-Ryoji, it was normal for a synchronized Heart-Bond to refer themselves as "We" than "I", it meant that they were completely together. Divine unity, as they say.
"Is this what Ryoji was hiding this whole time?" Perplexed Akina as Marcus gasped; "Don't know, but this is some cool sh** I'm seeing!"
"I'm impressed, with the new look. I am. But this fight isn't about comparing aesthetics; It's about about how strong you really are!!" Takeo yelled as he lunged at Ryoji, who was stationary and the demon weasel-fox boy swung a powerful haymaker at him. Then, all of a sudden; Ryoji caught his fist, Takeo's face showed fear for the first time in his life. How the h*ll did he catch my attack?! I thought I was moving faster than him?!?
The Heart-Bond looked at him with their green eyes. "You wanna know how we caught your punch? You moved exactly at 3 seconds!! You're way too slow for us to be even in our league!!" Explained Bonded Ryoji as he punched Takeo in the stomach and flew to one of the statues. He took an entire statue and
He splat blood as the statue broke, he landed on the mud and groaned in pain. It did not fall on him, if not—he could have been in serious trouble...
Takeo stood up, ready to fight once again by taking a more tactical approach to this fight. Icicles has formed on his shoulders as a smile lit up on his face. Only in the heat of fighting is Takeo truly at peace. He felt as if he was born in war, then again—his adopted parents found him in a snow forest. "Let's see if your fire powers can be snuffed out by my ice powers...." Tested Takeo, he laid his left hand to cast a large blizzard. It was so large, the radius could have been
He could not control the full extent of his powers, not by summoning blizzards but he could control it by doing snowmen or forging blades out of ice. Alas, everyone living has a limit before their Aether runs out, no one on this Earth has unlimited amount of Aether.
How can he really see in a blizzard where no one else can see? No one can: Not even a Heart-Bond can. He smirked confidently as he summoned another dozen of doppelgängers to do his bidding, which they did by all twelve of them creating hammers to beat the snot of Ryoji. "Clones," Takeo started to commanded his duplicates by them circling around him, "Beat his eyes until his Heart goes out..." All of them ran towards the the flame that could easily been spotted, the clones were a pack of hungry wolves, running after their prey.
"Where do you think they're at, Aki?" Marcus asked Akina, who was trying to cover her eyes from the fast flurry of snow. "I don't know!! I can't really see anything now!" When she could finally see, it was not a glimpse she had hoped for. It was two of his doppelgängers, and they were preparing to strike the sibling duo indiscriminately.
That was before Ryoji defeated them with sound ease by slamming them to the ground.
"Are you alright?" He asked her, she smiled happily
"Yeah! Thank you!!"
"No problem, Ma'am." Bonded-Ryoji said seductively, eve though it was Igneus who said it—not vice versa. That's odd, he never says anything to me with that undertone before.....
"ENOUGH OF THIS CHARADE!!!!" Bonded-Ryoji yelled, summoning a large tornado made from flames so that the large blizzard had disappeared: Leaving him and his opponent: Takeo Fukuazan.
For the first time in his life: Takeo never felt the feeling of horrified, he couldn't get up. His feet were stuck to the ground, he kept crawling away from the Heart-Bond.
"We told you how many times to stand down. Don't be stupid." Bonded-Ryoji warned the demon weasel-fox boy, yet he ignoring by finally getting on his feet and proceed in attacking Ryoji.
He countered Takeo and did a sharp blow to his face, Bonded-Ryoji struck him again by slapping him, then he proceeded his aerial onslaught by throwing him in the air.
In the air, Bonded Ryoji performed an aerial assault of kicks and brutal punches. To finally end it, he flew and Ryoji hammered him to the ground.
"Ugh, he's too fas-" Takeo was interrupted by Ryoji as he grabbed him on the neck, choking him slightly as he was lifted severely.
"We're too fast for you? Remember: Never underestimate your opponent while on the battlefield."Bonded Ryoji asked snobbishly while everyone cheered for the Heart-Bond as Takeo punch him five times on the face. "Really? We are invincible. You're not. Give it up.."
Unfazed, the Heart-Bond let go of the ninja in training. Takeo flew into the sky, spinning his entire body into a vortex and then charged at Bonded Ryoji, shouting out; "Skadi's Fang!!"
Though he came into contact with the Heart-Bond
Withstand such a hit, Ryoji stood there with his armored arms. Swiping Takeo away from him, the demon fox-lynx boy evaded with all his remaining strength. "You have a lot of names for your attacks, don't you? We do not have nicknames for our attacks because we only use it on an enemy once.. What's the purpose of it? What is the story behind this gimmick?"
Takeo could barely stand on his legs now, yet he still had fight in him. Too many people said he could not make it when he was a toddler and look at him now. "What's the story behind it? It makes me feel like a hero."
"We're so confused...Being a hero means you know your wrong from right and sticking to it; not using attacks."
Takep threw a Kunai at him, but was countered by the Heart-Bond throwing it back to Takeo. He moaned in agony, but jumped away from him as the Kunai's flaming tip pierced through his arm. The reason why he jumped away from him so that there was a large distance away from each other.Bonded Ryoji could smell the scent of victory in the air, and oh did he enjoyed it. They smiled in exultance as the flaming scarf had been extinguished.
"Takeo, you're already hurt. Surrender now and we'll inform the nurse peacefully about this." Offered the Heart-Bond, Takeo cackled as he wiped the crimson liquid from his mouth. "Sorry, I don't know the word surrender."
"All right, don't say I didn't warn you.." Said Bonded Ryoji opened his mouth, a sphere of fire was dilating and more. The crowd anxious from the sheer temperature of the fire ball, it increased by the second. However: Ryoji was not ready to unleash its true potential.
"NAPALM BLAST!!" He announced as the ball of fire transformed into a large laser of fire, and came at the ninja-in-training. Takeo tried to block it with his wounded arms. He closed as he was ready to bring into a pile of ashes. But it stopped dead; and it seems that the Principal, Lino Saon, derailed it with his telekinesis. Lino stared at him, "You did well, Mr. Fukuazan..now it is time for you to retreat." Lino admitted as he teleported Takeo to the medical room. His eyes were now sharp, unusual for a dog.
Everyone, including Akina and Marcus, were in awe as the Principal was here; trying to stop this fight. He would normally be in his office, doing his work usually. Why is he here? Akina pondered.
"You can fight extremely well, Mr. Kazama, but I wish to test your abilities." The wiener-dog said doused all of the fire, Bonded Ryoji roared louder than thunder clashing together. He lunged Lino, yet failed to catch him. Lino was bipedal as he was floating in the air, in a fighting stance with Ryoji dashing towards him; more evidence that he was no dog, but another being from another Realm. Another attempt resulted in the Heart-Bond being grounded from his telekinesis, even Igneus said something about it. "His telekinesis is strong, Ryoji!!!"
I know—this feels so good going up against the N0.1 Hero—this adrenaline, this feeling; I can't shake it!!
"You're tough! But we're stronger!" Bonded-Ryoji confessed, Lino chided him for being too vain in battle.
"Too much arrogance can lead to your undoing, boy." He summoned a scepter made of mahogany wood with a pink crescent on the tip, levitated as the Heart Bond was closer and closer. You're indeed tough enough for me to actually rely on my weapon. It's been a while since I last used the Wayfinder's Spirit Heartzschwert.....Lino thought as the Heart-Bond vomited another fire ball, this time at Lino who dodged it with eloquence.
Becoming enraged, the Heart-Bond leaped in the air again like a murderous dog towards Lino, with Lino telekinetically commanding his weapon to throw itself at the forehead of the Heart-Bond. Since he laid on his back, he could not move yet again, a turtle laying on its shell. Lino used his weapon to trap Bonded-Ryoji's left hand, he shook his entire body to get his hand free but to no avail.
"You excel when it comes to combat, and I do not know which one, the one who is the arrogant and hasty: You'll never learn how to fight properly from one battle."
Froggy from the scepter, Ryoji was too dazed to think clearly or even say anything.
Lino used his paws to perform Heart Lock; or the desynchronization for a Heart-Bond returns into a human once again. Ryoji was once again back in his human form. He was put down softly with Lino's telekinesis on the lush, green land. He looked up and saw that all of his students, all in he has a special place in his heart, were still here. His eyes became his usual, soft brown eyes, he almost got into it again. He has summoned ever since she died, he smiled warmly. "Well, the fight has run its course. I hope you all enjoyed it. Go back to your classes, everyone."
"That was an interesting fight, don't you think?" Akina asked her brother, who was simply speechless about the epic battle he had watched from afar. "That. Was. The. Coolest. Thing. Ever." He marveled, the crowd left and went back to their respective classes, they did as well as Lino brought Ryoji with him for unknown purposes.
Huh. Wasn't that a sight to see? The kid even made him use his weapon. Haven't seen that Heartzschwert in a long time. This kid got some spunk. Sora asked himself and analyzed at the same time, leaning on one of the trees in the courtyard, undetected the entire time.
———Track 04 Ended———
CHARACTER PROFILE:
SURWICK FACULTY: SORI MINAMI (26)
THE PSYCHO NINJA
BIRTHDAY: 6-18
HEIGHT: 6'3
LIKES: His friends, Training, Soba
DISLIKES: WORK, Haruka's frequent mental breaks, arguments
THE INSIDE STORY:
Sora is actually the No.17 Hero in the N.U.S.N and strives to get at least in the Top 10, he trains every day for it, too. He is exceptionally amazing when it comes to his Ninjutsu, but more on that little.
He has a few sets of clothes because of his minimalistic approach on life.
Every year on 8/12, Sora and his old buddies of the late Lulu's summoning days and go to her hometown, Epifania in Jupira. There, they would go to her childhood home and light up candles in remembrance of her while enjoying with one another .
He has started dating again, no one knows who is that special someone, but he is extremely hush-hush when it comes to that "life".
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone