Ninja Gaiden III The Fury of the Dragon Written by Jeff Nussbaum deuce@scsn.net --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter Eleven Ryu stared at the humanoid rock which stood before him... he was utterly astounded. How had Foster figured out how to control the power of the Demon Statues? It seemed impossible... and yet here was the evidence. "You see, Ryu," said Foster, grinning his morbid grin, "I've spent many years studying the statues, and learning how to use the power they contain." He held up a hand, and the Dark Statue appeared in it. "You sealed away the Demon, but a portion of its power still resides here. And now, it resides within me." The statue vanished again. "You think this thing can stop me, you maniac?" snapped Ryu. "Not really... but I intend to watch it try." With that, Foster pointed at the ninja, and the rock monster moved forward, its stone hands reaching for Ryu's neck. Irene and Ken stood off to the side, still bound, struggling against the ropes which held them fast. But to no avail. Ryu supposed it was for the best currently, anyway. They couldn't get themselves into any MORE trouble than they already were. And the creature was focused on him, not them, which was good. He sized it up, and it was as slow as it looked. He pondered how best to eliminate it, and wondered if the Dragon Sword's power would be enough to carve solid rock. Somehow, he wasn't so sure. Suddenly, the creature shot its arm forward. Not just to punch, but the ENTIRE arm separated from the body, careening toward Ryu with the speed of a freight train. One hit from that, and it would pulverize his bones. He nimbly stepped to the side and the stony projectile missed him, sailing off the mountain. Perhaps, thought Ryu, it will simply tear itself to pieces if I wait long enough. He turned quickly to look at the creature, and saw that the arm was slowly rebuilding itself by absorbing the rock around it. This could possibly be a lot tougher than previously suspected. After a split-second's thought, he decided to try to make the best use of his speed. The Dragon Sword glowed its now-familiar deep red color, and he dashed forward, directly at the gargantuan creature. He barely came up to its waist, but he had speed and power on his side. The creature was slow, ponderous and unintelligent. With a mighty running leap, the ninja landed on the rockman's shoulder, and drove the magical blade deep into its rocky "flesh." It cut easily, much to Ryu's surprise. With a grunt of effort, he pushed the sword forward, slicing through the rock and opening a great gash in the creature's chest. It did not react to the cut, but it reached an arm up to grab at him. He quickly climbed atop the creature's head to avoid the great hand, and stabbed once more. Again, the blade bit deeply, and again, the rockman did not react in the slightest. Suddenly, Ryu felt a rumbling under his feet... and just as quickly, a blistering shower of stones broke off from the rocky form and shot up at the ninja, knocking the wind from him and sending him tumbling to the ground at the creature's back. Irene screamed his name as he landed. He recovered quickly, however, and slashed at the back of its knee joints. The blade cut, and was immediately followed by another rocky hailstorm. As much as he tried to cover himself, there was no way to totally defend against the onslaught. A truly effective defense mechanism... cut it and it counters instantly. Ryu heard Foster laughing. Perhaps, he thought, distance was the key. He immediately ran around to the front of it, and wandered dangerously near the cliff edge. He pulled a shuriken from his outfit, and concentrated a moment. The rock creature slowly trudged toward him. The metal star in his hand swelled to twice its normal size, and took on a red glow, identical to that of the Dragon Sword. With an incoherent scream, the ninja hurled the shuriken at the rock creature. It spun like a buzzsaw as it flew, and upon reaching its target, cut through the rock as easily as it had cut through the air. It flew completely through the creature's chest, and from the opening, the crack widened after a moment. A split-second later, the star spun around and began a return trip, carving cleanly through the rockman's "stomach." As Ryu suspected, the opening widened, just like the previous one. The star flew closer to him, and he held up a hand to catch it. But it did not return. It sat, spinning, in the air in front of him. He stared at it a moment, confused, then reached for it, thinking of the fact that he needed to draw its power into himself once again, in order to recharge another shuriken in a similar fashion. This monster had to be destroyed. As he completed that thought, the star spun away, back toward its original target, and began whirring around it in ever-tightening circles. Finally, Ryu realized that it was, somehow, responding to his subconscious commands. With a mild burst of concentration, the star flew back into the rock body. The rockman made some strange, unintelligible sound as the star pierced it again and again. Every time the rock was damaged, its own defenses seemed to work against it, causing the damage to triple as the rock split and shattered to fire off the shower of stones. Ryu was amazed at his discreet control over the shuriken, and willed it to cut down the center of its head. It did as commanded, and made a long, thin passageway directly down the rocky body. The rock began to crumble, long faults growing in an intricate meshwork through its body. The damage had been too much for it to absorb from the ground, and it finally split entirely, the rock shattering from the magical forces which had been released. After taking cover for a moment, Ryu could still feel that the shuriken spun in the air where the rock monster had been destroyed. He looked up, saw Foster, and mentally commanded it to attack him. Foster just chuckled as the shuriken drew near, and waved a hand. The glowing metal shattered, and Ryu blinked. "Ryu, you disappoint me," he said. "Did you truly think I would not be prepared for such tricks?" Ryu smirked under his mask and ran his hand through his hair. "There was always the hope," he said. He brought his sword to bear on his old enemy, even though they were at least forty feet away. Foster reached into his robe and pulled out a much more mundane object... a revolver. "I suppose," he said, "that you think you stand a chance, now that you've beaten my little pet." Ryu's heart pounded with fear. "What are you going to do, you son of a bitch?!" he yelled, and stepped forward. "Now, Ryu, you must learn to behave," said the insane man. "If you don't behave, I will have to punish you... like this." He turned the gun on Ken, and fired. The young man slumped over, and Irene screamed in protest. "Ken!" she said, tears streaming down her face. "Ken, please answer me! Please be all right!" She was faced partially away from him, so she couldn't get a good look at him. Ryu's world shattered. He looked at his fallen son. He looked at the woman he loved, screaming incoherently at what had just happened. He looked at Foster... he saw the smoking gun. He saw everything he cared about ripped from him. He had been dropped into the most frightening pit of Hell he could have ever have possibly imagined, and he was unable to scream. "Now, Ryu," said Foster with a mocking tone of voice. "It's time to see if you truly are worthy of the title your clan has bestowed upon you." He tossed aside the gun and held out his hands, in which materialized the two Demon Statues. Now, they glowed with energy... the Dark one with a jet-black aura, the Light with a halo of pure white. Foster's voice rose to a fever pitch. "OBSERVE!" he wailed. And the light and darkness flowed into his body. The power surged through every cell in his body, impregnating it with demonic energy. His muscles rippled and expanded, and his flesh grew hard and armorlike. The eyes bulged slightly, turning blood-red and glowing with an evil light. His hands extended into claws, his arms lengthened, and the robe was torn to pieces as he grew too big for it in the space of a few seconds. In moments, he had transformed from a mutilated, weak shell of a man, to a horrid, humanoid beast... with the power of many men, and of a demonic sorceror. Around his body orbited the two Demon Statues, connected to him via conduits of white and black energy which continuously flowed from the stone sculptures into his magic-infused body. The hideous mouth now held sharpened teeth, and the same grin was still there. "This, Ryu Hayabusa," he said, "is where it ends...." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TO BE CONTINUED --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ninja Gaiden, Ryu Hayabusa, Irene Lew and all characters 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).