Chapter 4: Litra and IL.
As the clouds began to form, and thuder could be heard from the distance, Hybird zig zagged around the trees with ease, using his scythe to cut down anything in his way. When the terrain became too tough for just running Hybird just jumped from spot to spot. The you ninja slowed his rappid pace to a walk as he came to a clearing. The area was basicly a giant rock, hollowed out as if it was once used as an stadium. It was obvious to Hybird that, if it was in fact used as an stadium, it must have bee ages ago, because the giant stone stadium's ground was covered in weeds an grass, trees have broken through the stone, and thorned vines laced in and out the rock's sides. The only opening to get inside was small, but big enough for Hybird to side step his way in. Hybird knew that it was a trap. But for some reason, he felt that the answeres he has been searching for layed inside this old rock.
Hybird closed his eyes and took a deep breath before sighing. The way he breathed was a form of meditation, charging the negative energy in his body as he entered the rock. The grass esily gave way to Hybird's feet, telling him that people were, in fact, here recently. The dark brown birds in the trees watched Hybird carefully as he walked into the middle of the rock, and stoped.
Hybird's hands twitched involuntarily as he felt something extreamly powerful nearby. Hybird quickly dove to the left as he felt something shot at him from behind. As he hit the grass, Hybird rolled up to a single knee kneeling position before twisting around to face his attacker and standing up at the same time. The person before him had a thick brown cloak covering his body, and a thick brown hood covering his whole head making Hybird unable to see the person's facial features, aside from his glowing eyes. His hands were big and puffy, with large bandages wraping around them. The person didn't say a word, as it began to levitate into the air, the green fluid that the Kaze-Kage clan called "Slime's Blood," flowing around him. "He must be the Handler..."
Hybird quickly rolled again as the Handler raised his hand and a small amount of Slime's Blood shot at him. As he stoped rolling and went up to one knee, Hybird tightly gripped the wooden handle of his scythe and hurled it torwards the Handler, but as it came near it, the Handler suddenly disapered, and reapered to behind Hybird. Hybird noticed just in time to turn around and dodge the green blob headed for him. As he stood back on his feet, Hybird pulled out his smallest boomerang, and swung it at the Handler, and as the Handler disapered, Hybird pulled out his second largest boomerang, and tossed it the opposite path. As the Handler reapered, he dodged the larger boomerang, but didn't relise the smaller boomerang headed straight for his head, until it sliced the Handler's neck and head clean off.
Both battle-hawks returned to Hybird's hands before he place the larger of the two back into its holder. He decided to hold the smaller hawk in his hand while he walked over to the corpse. As he came closer to the body, he noticed that only the cloak lied on the ground, soaked in Slime's Blood. "Oh boy..." Hybird slowly turned around and looked at the tree in front of him. "... I'm guessing this was some sort of trap set up by you two?"
Giggles began to fill the area as Hybird tightened his grip on his Hawk.
"I think he figured it out Litra..." One voice said
"He did, he did! He figured it out Il!"
Hybird sighed. The voices were far too familar for Hybird to care. "Litra and Il... Alright! Enough with the cheap mind games! Show yourselfs!"
The giggles continued as the fallen leafs around the fallen Handler began to shift and lift off of the ground. They spun around each other in above, and into the branches. As the leaves stop spinning, two female figure became visable. One looked to be the age of 15. Long, scarlet red hair, greyish blue eyes, and a fairly slender build. The other girl looked to be around eleven or twelve, red-orange hair tied up into pigtails that stuck up, and look bristled, almost like the ends of brooms, only softer. Her dull, bluish grey eyes gave the haunting child feel. Both had had the same atire, thick lavender shaded cotton shirts and baggy purple cotton pants. It was also obvious that they had thin armor under their clothing, since their neck gaurds were showing. Both girls had inocent smiles on their faces, yet this only annoyed Hybird to a further degree.
"The Twins..."
"Gee Hybird, I was expecting for you to be happy to see us," the older of the two called out as she pushed herself off of the tree and disapered half way as she fell to the ground. She then reapered behind Hybird and wraped her arm around his shoulders. "I mean, the last time we ran into each other was when... Your village was bu-"
"SHUT UP!" Hybird Twisted around sharply, swining his small Battle Hawk at the girl, only to cut air as she jumped back and disapered again.
The older of the two reapered back onto the same branch, sitting as she place her chin into proped up heads, giving an inocent frown. "Uh-oh... I think Hybird is in a bad mood Il..."
"Hybird is always in a bad mood Litra" the smaller twin replied.
"I'm only in a bad mood when you two brats act like this!" Hybird thought about his comment. "... Scratch that. You two just annoy the hell out of me!" Hybird chucked his small Hawk out to the left. It began to arch torwards both sisters until it came just inches from Il's head. The two simotainously teleported before the Hawk struck. As the Hawk sliced clean through the tree they were sitting on, and returned to Hybird's hand, the two reapered, Litra on Hybird's left side, and Il on Hybird's right.
"SisterSister! I don't think Hybird wants to play wit us!"
"I think you're on to something Il... Maybe he wants to play with somthing he can cut?"
"SureSure! Maybe he wants to play wit our new toy" Il called out.
"I think that's a great idea sister... Maybe he does want to play with our new toy!"
Hybird snorted. "What toy...?"
Litra's smile turned evil "That toy..."
Hybird's natural instinct snapped in and told him to move, quickly. Hybird, not the type to doubt his instinct, did so and rolled away from the spot he was standing at. As he did so, the ground suddenly broke and shot up, as green ooze shot out of the ground like a broken fire hydrent. As the ooze flow stoped, and the flying green slime made a sick slurp as it landed on the ground, the thick liquid began to reform and combined with each other, and slowly began to rise and shape into a giant humanoid shape. "Oh... This is just... Friggin' great..."
The giant's left arm pulled back and slung forward. As the fist shot for Hybird, it began form into a whip intended to impale Hybird. Hybird quickly bent his knees and side steped to the left, and as the arm impaled the dirt, Hybird jumped onto the arm and ran up, using his speed to stay on top of the thick liquid. As Hybird neared the top, he jumped up and twisted his body so that he was completely upside down when he was directly above the slimy creature. But the ooze's arm suddenly shot up, and grabed Hybird by the waste. The creature made a sudden, and extreamly violent yank, slamming Hybird into the ground hard enough to break rock and kick up a cloud of dust. The ooze beast stood stoic, waiting for some sort of sign that Hybird was alive, so it could crush him to the point of death.
Hybird suddenly shot out of the dust and hurled his sickle Straight for the creature's leg. The Kusari Gama hit dead on, but insted of sinking in, it sliced through and impaled itself into a tree. The blob took hold of the chain atatched to the scythe, and yanked hard pulling Hybird hard. As Hybird was forcefully pulled torwards his opposition, the ninja quickly pulled out his second largest Battle Hawk, and then used the strength of the creature's power to launch himself forward. As he came near the creature, he held his Battle Hawk in front of him and sliced clean through the liquid creature's other leg. He twisted around the tree until the chain he was holding was completely wraped around the tree, and he was standing on the trunk of the tree, using what was left of the chain to hold himself up.
The ooze creature lost his balance and splashed into an puddle, but it suddenly shifted and contorted, before launchin for Hybird. "Damnit" Hybird yelped as he ran in an upward spiral around the tree, unravling the Kusari Gama as he did so. The ooze's vine like body splited to make smaller vines to attempt to hit Hybird and throw him off balance, but it only came so close as a few inches from his feet. Hybird stoped and backflipped off of the tree, yanking the scythe out while he was in mid air. The ooze reformed together and and shot up, grabing Hybird before yanking him down and into the giant puddle. Hybird twisted and struggled hile he was in the ooze. He planted he fet at the bottom of the ooze, and shot up, using his scythe to cut through. As Hybird was in the air, however, he noticed that he had the feeling something was pulling him. He also noticed that his clothing, which should be soak from the ooze, was dry, excluding his back, which was still fairly damp. when he turned his head to check, he noticed that the ooze that clung onto his clothing formed and latched onto the nearby tree. "Oh sh-" Hybird was suddenly yanked back at wind breaking speed into the base of the tree instantly knocking the air clean out of him. Hybird breathed in sharply out of instinct, his lungs felt like they were on fire from having little to no oxygen inside them for the past few seconds. Both Litra and Il bursted out in laughter.
"This is too funny," Litra manage to call out while holding her sides in laughter.
"FunnyFunny," replied Il.
"But Il... I think it's time that we finished this..."
"Ooooooooooh," Il protested, "fiiiine!"
The giant blob suddenly shifted and shot torwards Hybird. Hybird quickly ripped himself away from the ooze that stuck him to the wall, and got out of the way just time. As the ooze slammed into the tree, it reshaped and shot out four vines at the running Hybird's back. Two pierced into his shoulders, one pierced into his lower back, and the other wraped around his neck. Hybird's body suddenly went limp, the thick liquid not only weakening Hybird's body, but making all of his muscles feel like they were on fire. Litra laughed as he pushed herself off of the tree and disapering mid-fall, before reapering in front of the traped Hybird.
"How do you like our toy's little speacial weapon Hybird-kun?" Hybird sneered as he strugled to move. His foot suddenly shot up and tried to kick Litra, but Litra jumped back just enough for him to miss. "Uh uh uuuuh!" The ooze suddenly lifted Hybird up by the throat, and tossed Hybird to the ground with high impact. The impact however, did bring feeling back into Hybird's body, but it also brung feeling back into all of Hybird's injurys from an earlier confrontation. Litra laugh as she teleported to Hybird's side, bending down to look at his pain plastered face. "It's obvious that we somebody needs to teach you a lesson..." Litra suddenly disapered disapered from Hybird's view, what was in Hybird's sight now, was a giant, flying blob, that was splitting itself into hard green shards.
The shards suddenly shot down like a hail storm torwards Hybird, who, out of pure instict, rolled away, to dodge the shards. The Shards quickly reformed, combined, and reshaped into it's humanoid golem form. The ooze then pulled its foot back and swung for Hybird. Hybird quickly got to his feet and jumped out of the way, but due to the violent shake from the streangth and force of the ooze, he lost his balance when he landed, and fell. The ooze however, flowed with the qauke, and quickly took advantage as it swung at Hybird again. Hybird rolled out of the way and stood to his feet, his often calm eyes, now wild with the urge to survive.
Hybird's mind raced with options on how to destroy the thing, but all he thought about was either already done in some way shape or form, or it was too obvious that it wouldn't work. 'I gotta try something,' Hybird thought 'but what...?' Hybird carefully looked at the stoic giant. Looking for some sort of weak spot. 'Wait...' Hybird noticed that the center of the giant ooze golem was a darker green, and looked as if it was shifting and contorting as it stood there. 'Alright... Now... How am I going to get to it...' Hybird didn't have time to think, as the Golem suddenly reformed its arms into whips, and struck at Hybird. Hybird turned and jumped onto the tree behind him, running up and back flipping off. As he was in mid-air, he pulled out his largest Battle Hawk, and hurled it down when he was above the ooze. At full force, the Hawk shot down, slicing the greew beast in half. The Beast shifted, but couldn't combine it self. The ooze suddenly spalshed down, and melting into the ground.
As Hybird landed, both Litra and Il's eyes went wide in shock. "Did he just," Litra started.
"Destroyed our toy," Il asked, finishing Litra's statement. Hybird landed on the ground, and slowly stood to his weary feet. His body was so exhausted, and in so much pain, that he was hunched over, his hair covering his eyes. "Meanie!" Il jumped down to attack Hybird, but as she came near Hybird Litra jumped in front of her.
"Wait sister!" Litra side step a small way, and pointed to Hybird. "Look." Litra pointed directly to Hybird's frantic eyes, wide and sharp, waiting for anyone, or anything to porvoke him. His grip on his large Battle Hawk was so tight, his hand began to bleed. "It's not safe to play with Hybird right now." Litra held out her hand and looked up at the sky "Besids sister, it's about to rain, we should go home..."
"Awwwwwwwww" Il whined. "Ffffine!" Il hoped backwards and disapered. Leaving Litra and Hybird there.
"Bye bye Hybird-kun! Let's play again sometime!" Litra then giggled as she jumped back and disapered, leaving Hybird by himself.
***
"Okay," Psicosis started as the three walked along the path Hybird headed, "so he's injured, but he acts as if he's in good shape."
"All an act, I assume," Ryuu asked Twilight.
"Either that, or he meditated long enough to ignor his wounds."
"Either way, Hybird's still a pretty good fighter... Or... At least that's what I heard, so what's there to worry about?"
The sudden ground shake alarmed all three, as well as the flying slime they saw not too far from them. Twilight gave a short, dark glance at Psicosis. "Does that Answere you question?"
"D'oh!"
All three ran torwards the direction where they saw the flying slime at full speed. They slowed down as they neared what looked like a abandoned stone arena. The destruction around it was freash, which obviously ment something big just recently went down. All three didn't hesistate to enter the battle damaged rock as they crawled through the large hole one by one. Ryuu was the first to enter, and first to see all of the carnage that must have ensued a short time before they arived. He also noticed a lone figure standing not too far from them, but it was hard to notice because of the violent rain storm. But whoever it was, it was obvious that the person wasbreathing heavily, was in seering pain, and had just went through a long and painful battle.
When Twilight noticed the person she also couldn't tell who it was. "Ryuu... Is that-"
"I can't tell..."
Psicosis was the last person to walk through the hole, muttering something about his good pants being ruined.
"Psicosis," Ryuu started "Can you tell who that is over there?"
Psicosis looked torwards the direction Ryuu and Twilight were looking. "Yeah, I can."
Ryuu looked back at Psicosis. "Is it Hybird?"
"What's left of him."
Ryuu sighed and gave Psicosis a sharp look. "That's not funny."
"Who said I was joking? From what I can see, the guy's pretty much standing on his last string... So to speak." Ryuu began to walk torwards Hybird, but Psicosis held out his arm in fron of Ryuu to stop him. "Hold it."
Ryuu pushed his arm away. "What!? It's just Hybird, it's not like he's gonna attack us or anything stupid like that!" Ryuu began to walk again, but Psicosis grabed the back of his shirt and yanked him back.
"Will you listen to me triangle ears?! Take another look out there!" Ryuu and Twilight listened to what Psicosis said and gave Hybird another look. The heat from his breath slowly blew out as if it was smoke, his normally calm eyes were wide, sharp, and extreamly alert, the grip he had on his large Battle Hawk and Kusari Gama was tight, and his hunched over body was poised for an all out attack. "I said the guy was on his last string, not he's near death. Have you ever seen a cornered wolf? The thing goes balistic if it feels that it's a life or death situation. That's exactly what kind of state Hybird's in right now. We go out there while he's like that, and we'll be the main course for hawk-boy over there!"
"So what the hell do we do," Ryuu snapped at Psicosis
Psicosis released Ryuu, walked over to a wall, and ploped down into a sitting position, placing his forearms on his propped up knees. "We wait."
Twilight gave Psicosis an bewildered look. "Wait, wait for what?"
"For either Hybird to snap back into reality, or for him to pass out."
