A Tiger's Pride

Haruo took a brief second to think about Yuki and the sacrifice that he had made for him. The cloud surrounding Yuki persisted. “I’m sorry I was so stubborn. It took your death to open my eyes…” He looked forward to the gang members that were still left. A step from Haruo pressed him closer and making the tigers encircling him let out low roars eager for action.

“I’m not dead yet…” a weak voice from the cloud spoke. The dust around Yuki finally dispersed enough to reveal a burned and badly bleeding, yet still alive Yuki. Calling him worse for wear would have been understating how bad he looked. He let out a shallow cough that he tried to disguise as more casual like it meant nothing to him. “Though the way I’m feeling I think I wish I could be…”

‘Still being so casual after everything that’s happened…’ There was no change in the situation though and Haruo knew that. “Just stay where you are and let me deal with this.”

Yuki became a little annoyed by Haruo's bluntness. “So you’re just going to be a hypocrite… after what you just said… and try to do everything by yourself still?!”

“Hardly…if you could move I’d accept your help, but you’re in no condition to fight them. So just leave it to me.” Haruo marched out to meet Katsu and his gang, determined to keep Yuki safe from anything that they might be planning on doing.

A stream of wind blew out from Yuki’s arm putting up a gale between the two sides, primarily aimed at getting Haruo’s attention. “My mind is the source of my power. I’m not as helpless as you believe.” Yuki gave him a serious stare when he finally looked back at him. Another confident grin appeared on Yuki’s face like he was ready to take on anything. In the next second his expression darkened and changed as a small fountain of blood sprayed out of his wounded shoulder.

No longer convinced by Yuki’s act, Haruo turned to plain disbelief as he faced back at his problem. “You’re not going to be of any help to me.”

“I’m not useless!” Yuki retorted despite another stream of blood spurting out from a wound. “Ack!” He fumbled around trying to patch it up with his energy field.

“They’re coming… Just protect yourself…” Haruo launched his tigers into action seeing the gang starting to come back together from their disjointed formation.

Chapter 85 – A Tiger’s Pride

There was a moment of hesitation from the teens seeing the massive tigers charging towards them. The animals were nearly as tall as Haruo when on all fours. When the animals approached nearer they released a bone rattling roar sending chills down their spines. If their legs had been working they would have all fled, but just stood sweating in fear.

Two of the punks were taken down by a tiger each in a swift motion. It had left the others too stunned to react. The tigers quickly mauled the boys and leapt away. They were left within a thread of death and bleeding out into the earth. The numerous claw marks left in them set the mood for the gang members still standing.

The normal non-special powers members fled the scene immediately, recognizing their mortality. They were chased down by a single tiger while the others turned towards the remaining three.

Katsu stumbled to get back to his feet, still suffering deeply from the effects of what Yuki had done to him. He twitched his eye seeing the broken gang. Looking over at Haruo, he was able to detect a hint of confidence in what he was doing. “Dammit…” He panted heavily trying to keep his body under control.

One of the tigers charged him, having finally begun targeting the last of them. He fought to bend the winds to his will and launch a green crescent at the beast. A lack of control and size compared to the animal left his aim to only take off its legs dropping it to the ground sharply. “Don’t think you’re my better, kid!”

Takaoka summoned up his fire again, presuming that it would be effective. The tiger barreling after him was his first target. The wounds that he took made it difficult for him to move or even stand completely. All he could rely on was his powers to keep him out of danger. However, the fireball only managed to partially engulf the creature as it continued its charge for him. He was barely able to fall over to avoid getting burned by his own flame. “What’s it made of?!”

Akihiro was as much of a target as before and the healthiest of anyone remaining. He had two tigers hunting him coming together at him. “Ya won’t beat mah!” He began running away from the animals and summoning up as many blades as he could manage. His own fear had poured power into his ability creating far more swords than he had ever done before.

A literal jungle of assorted blades stuck out from the ground skewering the two tigers in their place. He stopped to see his success and grinned. Akihiro began to laugh at his victory until he realized that the two animals were still alive and ripping themselves free from their prison. “What’s with these things?!”

The tiger that Katsu had cut down grew its legs back and stepped back up. Another tiger joined becoming a pair of hunters with eyes for Katsu. “You think two will make a difference?!” Katsu formed more wind blades to throw at the tigers. They dodged most of the attacks while closing the distance. A few wind strikes sliced into them, but it restored any injury quickly.

Burning slightly from Takaoka’s flame, the tiger turned about to come to face him once more. All the fire did was create a more menacing appearance for the animal. Takaoka swallowed painfully knowing how little chance he stood against the threat. The fall that he had taken had left him in even worse shape with his leg not willing to respond for him.

There wasn't going to be another chance to dodge. He narrowed his eyes and pulled down his eyebrows in anger trying to steel himself. “Ya want mah!? I won’t go down easy!” The next fireball that he created grew larger and larger as though it was feeding off his own life force to become stronger. It became so powerful that he could feel it burning him a little radiating its bright red light.

The beast snorted and accepted his challenge. It charged for him, blowing out the remaining embers from its neck. Takaoka screamed as he released the fireball, pitting his will against the spirit. The sphere of flame collided with the tiger only a few meters away. It disappeared in the blast as the ball erupted into a massive inferno.

Takaoka stared on watching to see what happened becoming more encouraged. However, the tiger suddenly burst from the flames completely doused in fire charging for him. He tried to turn away for any sort of cover, but the tiger was upon him. The animal slammed into Takaoka blasting him with the flames that buried the tiger. The fires caught Takaoka screaming from the burning skin as the tiger fell over slowly being consumed by the flames.

A flicker of fear seeped deeper into Akihiro seeing Takaoka taken down by the tiger. He slipped up his concentration on his two foes allowing them to break through his array of weapons. One tiger broke out ahead of the other taking a shallow bite at Akihiro’s hand as he tried to pull away. There was only a little blood dripping from a small set of tears and punctures left on his hand.

Akihiro wiped the blood away from his hand and tightened his fists. The toll of his power began to crush his body. His breathing became ragged and heavy as it became more difficult to hold his shoulders up straight. The tigers growled lowly at him sensing the weakness. Akihiro straightened himself up quickly showing his defiance. “Ya won’t beat mah!” More blades shot up from the ground making the tigers leap into action. When it did not work he charged forward for the two beasts.

“I’ll show ya I’ve got mo’ tricks!” There was a brief flash from Akihiro’s arms as he passed between the two animals and ended his run a meter away from them. He tilted his head over his shoulder to see the two tigers. A moment later they split in two shattering into dust. “Told ya!” The fifth step he took a massive shadow hung over him pinning him to the dirt an instant later. The tiger that chased after the runaways had returned and roared into his face with its heavy paw planted on his chest.

The tiger didn’t hesitate in biting down on his shoulders, splattering blood through the earth. Akihiro ground his teeth together screaming in pain trying to move his arms. He was pinned down, but was able to free up his right arm in time to thrust a blade from his palm into the heart of the tiger. It slowly fell to pieces on top of him leaving him heavily fatigued and unable to move. Akihiro passed out within the next second.

Further away, another tiger spirit shattered nearby Katsu. Only one tiger remained. He had been barely holding himself together and keeping the animal at bay with his wind. All he felt was the urge to win and end it all. He had no care for anything else. “Just because you’re bigger doesn’t mean you’re any better!”

He sent out numerous mini-crescents. The tiger dodged most of them, seeming to have begun to learn from the battle. Those few that did manage to break through only left small slices in its outer layers of white fur. It managed to close in enough on Katsu that he tried to fire a wide spread arc. It cleaved a paw before digging partly into his shoulder and arm. Blood trailed through the air as it leapt onward, getting clear as Katsu unleashed a fierce round of wind attacks.

“Bastard! I won’t be beaten!” He clutched his wounded shoulder feeling the blood wrapping around his fingers and down his forearm. He was the boss and they were still beating him. The kid that had been his toy was beating him. It was wrong. “You’re mine! I will see your beautiful AGONY!”

Yuki and Haruo's eyes suddenly widened in shock as they felt what seemed like a semi-truck colliding with them. It blasted away Yuki’s energy armor sending him tumbling backwards. Haruo could only dig his feet in as he was dragged through the earth forcibly. “What’s this force and pressure?”

While he struggled to keep his balance he focused towards Katsu seeing his tiger being flung apart into dust at a swirling mass of wind that surrounded Katsu. In each passing moment it seemed to only get stronger and wilder growing into the sky. A tornado formed around Katsu responding to his rage. It lashed out with tendrils of wind that licked and kicked at the earth. One of the green tendrils grazed passed Haruo and sent him flying through the dirt, dropping him only a few meters away from Yuki.

The gale force winds didn’t cease with Yuki struggling to pull himself up. “His wind’s too strong! He’s been pushed to the limit. His power’s responding to his desperation! His power’s increasing with such force that it’s creating a tornado! I can’t even dampen the force anymore!”

Another surge of wind pushed him back further still holding on to what was left of his armor. “Damn! How’s he getting even stronger?! This isn’t supposed to be the way it works! Villains don’t get new strength in the middle of a fight! How are we supposed to beat him now?!” Yuki paused for a moment as he realized what he was doing. ‘Why am I doing the sideline exposition?! I’m supposed to be the main character aren’t I? Dammit!’

Katsu’s laughter could be heard through the freight train roaring of the wind. It was as though he found the perfect frequency to broadcast his voice to be heard clearly. “So much power! Yes! Nothing can stop me now! I will see your suffering now!” Dirt exploded around the tornado as the wind shot out blasts of compressed wind from outer layers. The tendrils lashed out torturing Haruo with being throwing and tossed about like a doll. “No one can surpass my power!” Katsu began to laugh again, enjoying the sight that he had of Haruo.

“SAKI DROP KICK!!” yelled a voice that nearly ripped the heavens in two.

Yuki couldn’t help but sound embarrassed hearing that, almost unable to believe it. ‘Saki drop kick? Seriously?! Have we lost all credibility already!?’

An instant later there was a streaking blur of color. If paused for a moment, there was someone launched in the middle of a two hundred meter long propelled drop kick. They rampaged through the earth leaving only a trench behind divided with such force to shatter the wind. The tornado exploded into a faint breeze as Katsu was seen flying away with the bone crushing echo of the impact.

Even as the dirt settled down like rain, Saki appeared before Yuki holding an annoyed and disappointed expression. She hauled him up by his robes so that they were face to face. “What do you think you’re doing fighting?! And why didn’t you tell Ayumi and me about it!? Don’t you remember our promise!?”

Yuki lost all of the strength that was in his body. His power quickly faded, restoring the neighborhood. They were fortunate enough to be in the middle of a nearby street a couple blocks from the school. “I-I’m injured right now, Saki…”

She shook him a little, throwing a bit of blood about, frustrated that he wasn’t taking it seriously. “I know you’re injured! You could have been fine if you had told us! I thought you agreed not to do things alone!”

“Slight miscalculation…they were just some normal street punks I thought… If I had known they’d have super powers I would have brought you… But oh…I’m feeling really lightheaded all of a sudden…” Yuki started to go a little limp in Saki’s hold.

“Yuki don’t you run away from me while I’m yelling at you!” Saki was forced to set him back down in the grass as she realized that he was in more danger than she first thought. She turned about and grabbed Ayumi by the back of her dress and held her out in front of Yuki. “Heal him!”

Ayumi flailed about a little taken aback by suddenly being pulled like some tool from a bag. “I’m not a machine! I don’t treat me like one!”

“Come on!” she snapped like she was getting upset with a broken instrument. She absentmindedly jerked Ayumi forward and back trying to figure out how she worked.

“Hey!” Ayumi whimpered, becoming flustered and embarrassed with how she was being treated. “ Stop that! Let me down!” She was dropped on the ground carelessly and nearly on her face. Ayumi rubbed her back side. She focused on Yuki before her and summoned up her field to start the healing.

After a minute of healing Yuki opened his eyes and leaned up to look at the two girls. “Ugh…thanks…Ayumi…”

“…Yuki…” Saki soon interjected into the moment and picked up Ayumi once more. Her arms began to flail once more as Saki started walking with her. “H-Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“You’ve got another person to heal.”

“I can walk on my own! I told you before I’m not a machine to be pointed!”

Yuki couldn’t help but smile a little in embarrassment seeing the two. He forced himself to turn his focus back to what he had to do. A new Field came out with a soothing and healing touch to everyone that needed it. He knew that Ayumi could deal with Haruo, but there were innocents as well as gang members injured. ‘The very least I can do is give you back your health after everything that I’ve done…’

Once everything was settled Yuki joined Haruo standing back on his own feet. They gathered with Saki and Ayumi staring quietly around the circle. Yuki waited for Haruo, but nothing came. He started to return to his usual self. “Want to share some lunch back at school?”

Haruo turned away from Yuki and started walking away. He came to a sudden stop after a few steps. His head tilted back to Yuki. “Perhaps tomorrow…thank you…” The brief words were all that he had for Yuki and then departed down the street.

Saki stepped out in front of Yuki staring down at the disappearing Haruo. Her face narrowed and turned to a bit of a pout. “That was a little rude…”

“It’s alright!” smiled Yuki, “He’s got a lot to think about.”

“Huh? Did something happen?”

“Nothing much!” Yuki started walking back towards the school forcing Ayumi and Saki to catch up on their own. When they reached the school block and the students began to gather around with questions Yuki remained back. He grabbed Ayumi’s wrist to stop her from continuing on. His expression was serious and pensive like a heavy weight was placed upon him. “I’ll have your answer by the end of the week…”