Ninja Gaiden III The Fury of the Dragon Written by Jeff Nussbaum deuce@scsn.net --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter Ten With a quick dash to the side, Ryu narrowly avoided the tiny steel lances which flew at him. They had come from above... one of the trees. He looked up at their thrower, and saw another abomination of nature. And this time, he felt certain that Foster had been its creator. Or at least, its mutator. The creature looked and spoke like a man. He stood about five-and- a-half feet tall, and his skin was covered with what appeared to be bark. Where his hair should have been, there were more of the steel needles. He looked like some cross between a tree and a porcupine. From the palms sprang more of the needles... evidently his means of firing them. His eyes glowed a vicious red, and his grin revealed teeth of a similar nature to the quills. "Who the hell are you?!" demanded Ryu as he brought the sword to bear against this new foe. "Who am I?" he asked. "You don't ask WHAT I am? I'm impressed." This would be difficult, thought Ryu. This creature was armed with its body, and it had intelligence, to boot. It could indeed be much more dangerous than the insane derelict in the sewer. "All right then, if you insist. WHAT are you?" The grin widened, revealing even more of the shining steel teeth. "My name is Kulsen. As for what I am, I am soon to be your killer." "We'll see," said Ryu. "Indeed we shall!" screamed Kulsen, and leaped to another tree with blinding speed. "Take this!" Another flurry of needles shot down at the ninja, who again dodged to the side. Ryu wasted no time in finding the nearest low branch and leaping to it, using his superb skill to balance himself. He readied a shuriken for when he saw his enemy. "The much-vaunted Ninja Dragon," said Kulsen's voice, from seemingly nowhere, "is a fool. He willingly fights in his enemy's element." Suddenly, the air in front of Ryu came to life, shimmering to form the tree-man. Almost instinctively, Ryu slashed outward with the sword. Kulsen stepped back along the branch, but the tip of the blade nicked him anyway. Ryu noticed that his skin flaked off like the bark it resembled. Perhaps he would be vulnerable to fire. "And you make the mistake, wood-monster," said Ryu, "of attacking a man who controls the force of fire." The Dragon Sword burst into flame, and he dove at the creature, screaming a battlecry. Kulsen swung down to the side, and Ryu passed him harmlessly. The Ninja Dragon extinguished the flames as he fell and flipped in midair to land on his feet. He looked up and saw his opponent hanging from the branch as if he were a bat. A hollow, rasping sound came from Kulsen. He was laughing. "This cannot be the extent of your ability!" he called out. "I was told you were a much more creative fighter!" "It isn't," said Ryu, "and I am." Then, with the speed and ease of the master he was, he hurled fire from his hands up at Kulsen. It spun through the air in triplets of flame, and caught Kulsen while he still hung from the branch. He screamed in pain, and fell to the ground while attempting to smother the flames. Ryu pressed his advantage. He charged a shuriken with his ki, and hurled it at his enemy. But Kulsen recovered just in time to see it coming and counter. He held up a slightly charred hand, and another blast of needles deflected the shuriken. Kulsen used the moment's distraction to get to his feet and charge at the ninja. "Die, ninja!" he cried as he ran. But Ryu would not die easily. He had not survived his many adventures by being careless. He kept a look of shock on his face, to lure his opponent closer. Kulsen's hands bristled with the quills, and his needle-laden hair stood on end. The ninja summoned all of the spiritual energy he could muster, and began to take on a flaming red aura. Kulsen blinked in surprise. "What the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed. Ryu's eyes began to glow a fiery red, and he shook with energy. This shot would have to count. Every moment wasted increased the chance that Ken and Irene might not be alive when he reached them. Kulsen, however, was not waiting. He resumed his charge and prepared to tackle his opponent, quills-first. "SHININASARE!" screamed Ryu in Japanese, and the fire which surrounded his body shot forth in a white-hot blast at Kulsen. Before the needle-man could wonder at the meaning of the ninja's words, he was completely engulfed in the flames. He felt the bark that made up his skin char and then ignite... and soon, he was consumed. He screamed in pain as his inhuman body turned to ash. Ryu's onslaught of energy continued for a full fifteen seconds, then died away. Ryu fell to his knees, panting for breath. He had never unleashed so much power at one time before. He looked over, and saw that Kulsen was no more. Consumed by Ryu's rage and desperation. As desperately as the ninja wanted and needed to rest, he knew that he could not. Time was of the essence, and he had to hurry. He looked at the gradually darkening sky, and could feel in the air that it would soon rain. The clouds were slowly building. After sitting a moment to catch his breath, he continued toward the semi-steep face of the plateau on which had once stood the Temple of Darkness. It was about fifteen minutes away on foot. He walked toward the plateau, knowing that if he ran, he would only tire himself out and be slowed down... easy pickings for Foster or one of his men. As he got within a mile of the rock formation, he noticed that the sounds of the jungle stopped. No creature seemed willing to come that close to it. Even the plants looked weak and lifeless. There was still plenty of greenery, but it was no longer lush and filled with life. It was a very craggy, porous mountainside, and the climbing would be considerably easier than Ryu had expected. Evidently the erosion of the past years had taken its toll. As he began the climb, he thought reflectively that climbing the outside was only slightly less dangerous than climbing through the inside had been, so long ago. It was only a few hundred feet up, probably no more than the length of a football field. He was thankful for that, as it made the journey easier. It's considerably easier to work toward a goal of the goal is a relatively close one. The climb was relatively uneventful, and due to the odd nature of this place, he was also able to continue unmolested by any passing birds which might have thought him to be a tasty snack. *** Some time later, he finally crawled over the ledge onto the surface. He was immediately greeted by a familiar voice. "Well, well...," said Foster. "Look what the cat dragged in." Ryu glanced around, panting for breath slightly at the exertion. Master ninja or not, he was feeling the onslaught of age. In the split- second he had at his disposal, he saw Ken and Irene, both tied to large stakes which had been rammed into the ground. They both returned his gaze, eyes full of hope. "Ryu!" said Irene. "Dad!" cried Ken. Foster stood in his brown, hooded robes. He looked very much like a monk, particularly with the way he had his arms folded in his sleeves. He looked at Ryu and said, "I figured you'd make it here, Ryu." Ryu drew his sword and prepared himself for battle. He looked around apprehensively, expecting dozens of Foster's henchmen to attack. But the plateau was almost deserted. There were only four people to be seen. "Couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, Foster?" said Ryu. Foster shrugged his shoulders. "As you know, vengeance is a vicious cycle. You got your revenge on me, now it's my turn." "So what's the point of all this, then?" said Ryu. "You could have just sent someone to kill us." He tensed, preparing to leap at his old enemy. He wanted nothing more than to see Foster's lifeblood spilling onto the cold rock. The robed man tilted his head back, and the hood fell back, revealing his ravaged face. "Oh, but simple assassination is so impersonal," he said. "I want to kill you myself, and I'm going to let your family watch." Ryu was finally able to see what his handiwork had wrought on that fateful night. He could see every scar, every distortion of Foster's ravaged face. And his too-wide mouth grinned a truly evil, malicious grin. Thoughts raced through the mind of the Ninja Dragon. Foster was obviously scheming something. He wouldn't be so stupid as to sit here with no form of self-defense. But what was the story? What was he planning? As if in answer, Foster pulled his hands from his sleeves. "These should look quite familiar to you," he said. In each hand was a marble statue, both identical except for the stone from which they had been cut. One was white marble, the other was obsidian. The Demon Statues. "Very useful little things, these are," said Foster. "Once I learned how to use the, I was able to do quite a few interesting things. And I now have more than enough power to kill you." Ryu didn't doubt for a minute that Foster was entirely serious. He could only guess at what he had learned. He figured he had little choice but to get Foster to show his hand. "So what are you waiting for then?" he taunted. "I'm not getting any younger, and you certainly aren't getting any prettier." Foster's brows furrowed, and he chuckled. "Well, I figure I'm going to play with you a bit first. How about Rock-Paper-Scissors?" Ryu blinked in astonishment. "You're mad." "Oh, of course I am... but observe." The two Demon Statues in his hands vanished, and he lightly slammed his fist into his palm three times. He took on a look of mock surprise and held up his fist. "Rock it is," he said. "And rock beats scissors." Ryu kept his guard up, trying to be ready for anything. Foster pointed his fist at the ground, and suddenly it seemed as though the whole mountain began to shake. Before Ryu's eyes, the ground in front of him began to rise and take on a humanoid shape. All of the loose stones nearby rolled toward the expanding form, being absorbed into it and making it grow. Finally, the transformation was complete. A faceless rock-creature stood in front of Ryu, about ten feet away. It was about eight feet tall, and it began slowly walking in the ninja's direction. "Come now, Ryu," said Foster. "This should be easy for you...." And off in the distance, the rumble of thunder began to permeate the darkening night. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO BE CONTINUED --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ninja Gaiden, Ryu Hayabusa, Irene Lew and all characters, with the exception of Kulsen, are the sole copyright of Tecmo. This document is meant for public distribution in its ORIGINAL FORM ONLY, and should not be sold at any price. All events portrayed in this story are the inventions of Deuce, and do not reflect the "proper" story as shown by Tecmo (even though Tecmo screwed the pooch on the NG3 story).