Legend of the Phoenix Part IV "Even a beautiful flower, if grown with a warped heart, can grow to be ugly." -Tuxedo Kamen, Sailor Moon R Movie ------------------------- A rewrite of an original fic by Christopher Erb Original written by Elizabeth Stephens Concept created by John Talisant ----------------------------- All of a sudden, a bush at one end of the clearing exploded in a blast of silver flame, the resulting charred foliage scattering to the winds and revealing the Neptune Ninja, sabre drawn, mask pulled down, and teeth bared. Mina, eyes growing wide with a combination of relief and dread, tried to shout his name out, although, thanks to the tight gag, it came out as a loud, "GRRRFFfft!" Chris glanced up at her for a moment, then shifted his gaze toward the Phoenix Knight, who had by now turned to face him. "Let her down," said the ninja calmly, "Now." Terra crept in from behind Chris as John spat, "Not on your life. She and I shall be betrothed, and you shan't have any say against the matter." "And why would that be?" replied Chris, narrowing his eyes as he took up a defensive stance. "'Cause you'll be DEAD!!!" cried John, hefting his blade and pounding across the turf in an attempt to slice Chris in two. Chris parried the strike with the Moon Sabre, tossing it to his left hand as his right shot over to his manrikigusari on his left hip, flinging it forward and sending a storm of shuriken in the Knight's general direction. John managed to avoid all of them, but one strayed and slashed through the rope suspending Mina, sending her falling into Terra's arms with a pronounced "mmpht!" After her sister had undone her bonds, Mina took a couple gasps for air, then turned her eyes back to the fight. Currently, Chris, chain secure around his own right wrist, had nabbed John's right wrist as well with the links and the two were whirling about each other, swords clashing. Mina was about to leap out and help the ninja when she felt a voice in her mind and a firm hand holding her shoulder. Sis, let me go!!! There's no time for chat! No. But Chris, he needs my help! This is his fight, not yours. But- Look, he's fighting drugs, injuries, fatigue, and a slew of other problems right now ASIDE from the Phoenix Knight, and he seems to be doing damn well. He'll be fine, alright? Back in the middle of the grove, Chris' chain had been cast aside and it had now evolved into a true duel between the two, enchanted flaming silver clashing against practically indestructible phoenixite in a cacophony of combat. John seemed to be doing the main portion of the attacking, while Chris continued to wear him down by constant dodging and parrying. Unfortunately, he had yet to notice the large, jagged boulder he was rapidly being backed up against. "Watch out!" shouted Terra, blowing her cover. John held off for a second, whipping his head toward the new distraction that had been hiding off in bushes to the side. Chris used the opportunity to flip forward, plant his feet on John's shoulders, then rocket into a backflip that sent him into the foliage of a rather tall tree. The Phoenix Knight spat, cursing. "How dare you drag a lady into a man's fight?" he yelled, backing toward the clearing's center. Terra retorted, "I don't exactly recall Mina ever saying she wanted to be here!" John merely growled in reply, and as his eyes scanned the treetops, called out, "Come out, coward! Or I'll just take this stunt as a declaration of forfeiture, take my bride, and be on my way!" No sooner had he finished than did nine silver throwing daggers shoot from different trees, accompanied by a war cry, that would have hit the Phoenix had he not leapt out of their paths. As Chris slid down a tree trunk and rolled to his feet, the knives embedded themselves in the ground and a nine-pointed star formed from energy between them, burning the sigil into the grass. "SHUT UP!" hollered Chris at the top of his lungs. "What in the HELL makes you think Mina would EVER consent to marriage to you?! FIRST, you practically try to kill me, THEN you drug me and kidnap her, AND NOW YOU'RE TRYING TO KILL ME AGAIN!!!" "Silence, cur," grumbled John, looking quite noticeably irritated. "No," glared the Neptune Ninja, hunching over slightly as if about to pounce. "You have no right, here or elsewhere, in the past, today, or ever again, to say you love her. The way she's been treated, it's as if you were no more than a filthy rapist." That did it. Eyes wild, John hurled himself at Chris like a cannonball. Chris began to prepare himself for the impact when, suddenly, his leg twisted from under him, an evil laugh sounding from the distance. John took his chance and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick to Chris' gut, sending him flying backwards into a tree and severely cutting back on his state of awareness. "Shit!" cursed Terra, "This fight is fixed!!! John, stop this, NOW!" But the Phoenix Knight wasn't listening. As Terra bolted off to find the interloper and Mina looked on in horror, John, heaved his sword up above his head, swinging it downward as if to split Chris down the middle... ----------------- Apollo yawned and smacked his chops a couple times, glancing disinterestedly at Chris' futon, empty as he had predicted. At least it seemed Terra had tagged along to help out. He got up, shaking himself out a bit as he went to look for something to halt the growling of his stomach. ---------------- And he stopped only a couple centimeters above Mina's nose. In those mere seconds, the girl had leapt from her hiding place and slid to her knees in front of Chris' prone form, staring straight up into John's eyes. "JOHN, PLEASE STOP THIS!" "But...w-why? I've been trying so hard! I love you, dammit!" Mina's fists clenched as her blue eyes iced over with rage. "You threaten me and my friends, kidnap me, try to kill the one I love, and you have the balls to say you love me?!" "Mina, I..." "You bastard! I HATE YOU!!!!!!" With that, her right hand flew around and slapped John fiercely across the face. He dropped to his knees with a mighty thump, sword falling at his side. He seemed to drop into some strange form of shock. "She...she hates me....hates me...hates...GOD...WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!?!?!" --------------- Nacrite swore. After all this, after being so close, the pawn had been taken from the game. He looked down at the bio brain box in his hand, and sneered. Concentrating, he began to cause Chris to rapidly convulse, sending waves of pain shooting through the Neptune Ninja's body as his blood slowly boiled. That was it, he'd kill him right here and right now- "You with the box! FREEZE!" He urked, and looked up. Damn, it was that Terra girl. How'd she find him? She leapt at him, sword flashing into her hand- Nacrite teleported out, box dropping to the forest floor. Terra crushed it with a foot, looking at the last place Nacrite had stood. "Who was that guy?" Then she looked at her boot, covered with a sickening green slime of cranial juices. "Ick...." ----------------- Chris groaned as the pain finally stopped shooting through him. The first thing he noticed was John's half-whispered repetition of "She hates me..." The second thing was the fact that Mina was shaking him by the shoulders. "Oy...what the heck was that?" he mumbled. "Chris!" said Mina, eyes spilling a few tears of joy as she locked her arms around him. "You're alright!" "I feel like crap though. Last I can remember, Terra shouted something about a fixed fight, then a heavy boot took residence in my stomach." "She ran off after that. Just before John tried to..." "Where'd she go?" "Right here," said the green-haired one, stepping back in from the trees and dropping a black box to the ground that oozed some green gel. Mina cringed a bit as she helped Chris lean back against the tree he'd fallen in front of. "What's that?" she asked. "A PIR weapon. Goes by the name of Bio Brain. They amplify the will of their users, usually causing a level of control over a given victim." "Which would have happened to be me," Chris frowned. "Get the user?" Terra shook her head, "Nah, he was gone before I could put my sword through him. Definitely doesn't like you though." "She hates me she hates me she HATES ME!!!!" John's ranting caused Chris to turn his head, and he started to feel a little sorry for him even after all the strife he'd caused. "Poor guy." Mina watched as well. "All that was keeping him sane must've shattered when I hit him..." That's when John began to rise slowly to his feet, meekly taking up his sword and dragging it and himself to the center of the clearing. Terra, confused, asked, "What's that he's doing?" John raised his eyes wearily toward the sky, "I can't go on like this. Everything I've lived for....gone....DESTROYED BY MY OWN FOOLISHNESS!!!" "Huh? He can't be..." As his sword began to glow, Mina gasped. Chris slid back a bit. "What are you, nuts?" "IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE!" John screamed, barely able to see through his tear-clouded eyes. "Phoenix...Blaze..." "No, DON'T!" "ENCLOSURE!!!" A fiery dome burst up around John, engulfing him completely and omitting the sickening odor of charred flesh. After the fireball faded, nothing was left behind but a pile of ash. "Oh my Lord..." Mina seemed to be the most shocked. "I...I killed him! If I hadn't hit him then..." "Chris would be dead right now." Terra shook her head, "No, poor John was dead a long time before he showed up on Earth." Chris was suddenly hit with the reason he felt so sorry for the young man who was, for a time, his mortal enemy. If it hadn't been for the girl kneeling next to him, he would have ended up just like the unfortunate Phoenix Knight, a wandering madman, cut off from the world. He looked up at her, "Min..." "Yes, Chris?" "Thank you. For being here for me." Terra ahemed,"Sorry to interrupt, but we're in the middle of nowhere, the sun's on its way up as we speak, and there's school today." Chris cursed her timing, but could only grudgingly agree with her. Just as he was about to leave, Mina tugged on his arm, pointing toward the pile of ash. Or where there used to be a pile of ash, as it had been replaced with a body. "It's John!" He was stark raving nude, but in exactly the same physical shape he'd been in before he died. Terra ran over, grabbing his wrist to check his pulse. "He's alive. Quite alive." Chris marveled, "Just like the legendary phoenix, encasing himself in flame but rising once again from his ashes." John began to stir, "Where am I? Who am I?" As he saw the people standing around him, he asked, "Are you my parents?" Terra looked into the newly conscious nude's eyes, "His memory's a clean slate. He can still speak, and may recall some abilities, but no recollection of his past life whatsoever." "Huh?" Chris chuckled lightly, "Not parents. Friends." At least they were now. "Friends..." "Come on, let's get you home. You can stay at my place until you get your own." John still looked rather dazed. "Who am I?" "Your name is John. I'm Chris, this here is Mina, and her sister, Terra." John picked himself up, shivering. "I'm cold." Chris offered up his cloak, and John took it gratefully, wrapping himself up. Terra herself began to walk off, finding a path that didn't seem to be present only a few minutes ago. "Come on people. We've got school to get to and a very large newborn to reeducate." As everyone else got up and left, Terra stopped to talk to Chris for a moment. "What was that you called my sister? Min?" "Min," Chris nodded in confirmation. "It's a nickname." "Sounds more like a pet name to me," she smiled, "Relax, I only said that because you're the only one who'd use it." "Well I think it's just fine as a name!" "I never said it wasn't!" John, quite confused, merely walked along, following Chris. And Mina smiled at her boyfriend and sister fighting. Everything came out fine in the end after all.