[03] Mountain Sector FIGHT

[DA 2009]

MOUNTAIN SECTOR FIGHT

(1) Belle Hibiki vs. NPC Vale Dura

[Belle Hibiki]

Freshly bandaged and still sore from relocating his shoulder the previous day, Belle set off just as the sun was starting its climb beyond the distant horizon. The sky, once black, was stained with a splash of dull orange. The bunker was feeling a little too crowded with Ashe and Kaden and who knew who else clogging up the beds and bathrooms; he'd need to find other lodgings if he wanted to keep his sanity.

He should have been more annoyed at needing to vacate the premises, but he wasn't. He could only guess that it was the satisfaction of "winning" his fight against Sage that kept his mood buoyant as he began to trek across the uneven ground.

The terrain was rough, but manageable. The tall mountains spread around the sector were broken up by wide, deep valleys practically devoid of plant life. Every so often a low, lone coyote would slink across his field of vision. They gave him passing glances, but seemed to be after easier game. They continued on without pause, vanishing over the sloping hillsides with flicks of their long tails.

The smell rotten eggs was on the air. Probably, Belle thought, coming from the smoking plume rising from a volcano in the far distance. It powerfully reminded him of his visit to Dragon Mountain, and everything that had happened there. That had been his first time on the Maiden's Dream; his first time meeting the old man, Cog. The first time Sayana had helped him.

A strange ache filled the area just below his ribs. It didn't actually hurt, but felt as if someone were gently applying pressure to his midsection. He'd heard of something like it once before, but that explanation couldn't be right. Of course he didn't miss them.

An hour later, Belle stopped at the foot of a long, steep incline and peered up towards a craggy peak silhouetted against the dusky sky. The mountain before him was small, and had several promising age-hewn shelves gouged into its side. A cave resting near one of those would be ideal for a small, private break uninterrupted by anyone of the female persuasion - or anyone, for that matter. Rotating his sore shoulder once, Belle set his feet and began his ascent.

The incline was steeper in some areas than in others. Belle used the lighter grade whenever possible, occasionally able to walk up some of the way as he picked his route through a dark, tangled thicket of sharp-edged rock. He suspected had broken off the mountain not too long ago, given how rough and unpolished the sides were, and made a mental note not to cause an avalanche.

His calloused feet padded lightly across the stone. Once he slipped, and only managed to avoid impaling his head on a rock by slapping his hands around the jutting spike to catch himself. It was times like these, he thought as awkwardly lowered himself to the ground, when he really missed his tail.

The grade got worse the farther he went until, ten minutes later, he finally started climbing. Unlike his race away from the avalanche, there weren't any rocks that he would simply be able to land on if he jumped, and the distance to cross was far too great to cover in a single leap.

He moved slowly. He wasn't exactly happy about it, but he had little choice in the matter. Ever since his final fight with the Construct, he had mysteriously lost the ability to fly; and even though he hated how slow he had to scale the mountainside right now, he liked the idea of falling and landing on his head even less.

The sun was just beginning to peek at the edges of distant hills as he pulled himself onto the first level shelf of land. A stiff, cold wind whipped at his clothes as he panted, laying prone for a few moments before rising and getting his bearings.

Belle frowned. Now that he'd gotten a closer look at it, the shelf didn't seem natural at all. Broken up by steep, almost vertical walls, it was hard to imagine what might have caused the flat breaks to form the way that they had. He had heard of ice carving large sections out of cliffs and even sometimes breaking entire mountains in two, but there wasn't even a handful of snow that he could see.

He mentally put the matter aside. He didn't want to think about ice right now; not after his last fight. He began his search, walking along the cliff wall. There was a crack in the side of the mountain that was about the right shape, but seeing as how it was about a foot tall and maybe half a foot wide, it didn't strike him as the kind of place he'd want to hole up.

Shaking his head, he squared his shoulders, stretched, and started up the cliff face toward the second break. His hand holds grew scarcer the higher he went, gusts of wind strengthening until he felt as if he were going to be plucked right off the rock. He pulled closer to the cliff, trying to minimize the wind's effects and let it slip over him as he scaled the treacherous face.

The second flat was a bust, as was the third. The fourth, far up and almost near the top, was the largest by far, and had exactly what he was looking for - and then some.

"Huh," Belle grunted, staring at a crooked gouge in the cliff that looked about the size of a small building. He took a moment to strip off his tank top and mop his brow. The air was particularly frigid this high up, but felt extremely good against his heated skin. Even so, he'd be glad to get out of the blustering wind, at least for a little while.

Lowering the crumpled bit of clothing, he started towards the crack in the mountain, and then abruptly stopped, peering inside.

~+~+~+~+~

There was a collective squeal from somewhere near the front of the restaurant. Sayana leaned out of the booth she was sharing with Mister Cog and frowned at the noise. "What are they making a big deal about?" she asked. Dante's Abyss was supposed to be playing on the television at the bar; in fact, it had been playing just about everywhere.

"Oh my God!" someone squealed.

"He took off his shirt!"

There was a fit of giggling.

"Why did he go up there, anyway?"

"He should've stayed inside where it was warm - "

" - and there was a bath."

"Maybe next he'll take off his pants."

Another chorus of giggling.

Sayana fought back the urge to slam her glass of water down as she lifted it to her lips and took a sip. She hadn't liked it that Hibiki had headed off to the competition to begin with, but the fact that a good portion of the women watching the show seemed to have taken a liking to him drove her absolutely insane. "Idiots," she muttered. "They don't even know what Hibiki-kun's like."

Mister Cog said nothing, prodding his hors d'oeuvres around his plate with a fork.

Sayana watched him and sighed. Propping her elbows on the table, she rested her cheeks in her hands and stared into space. From what the news people were saying, Dante's Abyss was shaping up to be a real hit - even bigger than the last one. There was a lot of betting and the like going around as usual, but the newest and largest addition to the furor were the followings that the public had spontaneously organized under. Something like a fanclub, there seemed to be one for every fighter, but the two largest groups were unquestionably Kaden's ... and Belle's.

She could understand why Kaden had one, of course. She had only met him briefly, but he seemed like a quiet guy. He was sweet, and kind, and pretty cute. She couldn't understand at all why Belle had one, though. The suspicion that Belle was in fact gay and not simply afraid of women had spread like wildfire through the networks, and she winced at the memory some of the Kaden / Belle "fanfiction" she'd found while sitting at a net cafe.

A sudden gasp from the gaggle of women at the bar broke her train of thought. There was a soft murmur of movement. "Oooooh!" someone whispered. "What's that?"

Sayana squinted at the television, trying to ignore Belle's naked back and look beyond him. That was when she saw him.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stiffened. The bulky shape of a man, shadowed and indistinct, emerged from the cliff-face chasm into the light.

Short, black hair. Black eyes. About the same height as Hibiki, though perhaps not as muscular, he was dressed in a strange set of flexible body armor with flared shoulders and what looked like a loin guard over a black body weave. A text scroll had suddenly burst up from the bottom of the screen. On it were the words "VALE DURA, and under them, in big block letters, were two more:

COMBAT DAY

~+~+~+~+~

A blast of wind cut across the shelf of rock, stirring the stranger's short, spiked hair. "Finally, they let me have a crack," he said, his voice sounded like two paving slabs sliding together. "You don't know how long I've waited for this."

"Who the Hell are you?" Belle demanded. Despite the cold, he felt himself break out in another sweat. Usually he had some kind of warning that someone was around; a smell, a sound, anything. The fact that the man seemed to have just appeared could mean any number of things - and none of them were very good.

"Vale Dura. I'll be your opponent this round," Vale said, and nodded to him. "Don't look so surprised; you were the odd man out this time. You're a threat, and no one wants to be in the same sector as you after the tricks you've pulled. But don't worry." He gestured to himself. "Unlike them, I won't run away from a good fight."

Belle glanced around. If it really was a combat day, he should be able to hear the faint electronic hum of the containment field. He strained his ears ... then remembered that, for the last hour or more, his hearing had been filled with the sound of air rushing past his ear. Not exactly something that was conducive to picking up on the minute sizzle of electricity.

Vale seemed to guess his thoughts. "The field kicked in about the time you started climbing. It covers this entire mountain." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder with a smirk. "Try it, if you don't believe me."

Belle glared at him. Then, making sure to keep his eyes on the armored warrior, he bent at the knees and scooped up a loose bit of rock. Straightening up, he tossed the stone in his hand a few times before turning slightly and hurling it straight off the side of the mountain.

The rock spun through the air, end over end, sailing in a lazy arc out and over the huge drop below. Belle thought for a moment that it would never stop, before it abruptly snapped against something invisible and halted in midflight. A blossom of crimson energy crackled around the projectile before it burst into smoke.

"A fall from this height means way more than a teasing little shocker like you gave that ice witch, see?" Vale grinned. "After that trick you pulled last time, the bosses decided to up the stakes a little bit on your next match."

"Lucky me."

Vale laughed. "Oh, come on, Sourpuss! Even without your tail, you're at least half a saiyan, right? Don't look so down in the dumps when you're about to have the best fight of your entire life."

The saiyan grinned.

The attack came so quick that Belle almost didn't see it in time. Vale's image flickered and, in the same instant, was gone. Belle yanked his head to the side, gritting his teeth as the feeling of something thick and huge rushed by the side of his head and sent a wave of displaced air rippling through his hair.

Belle lifted a hand and slammed it from side to side, crunching against the inside of Vale's arm even as the saiyan warrior was just starting to blur back into view in front of him. The man's eyes widened as his limb suddenly blew out to his side, fist extending to the sky as he fought to break the momentum of Belle's blow and bring his arm around to defend.

Belle didn't give him that chance. Stepping in, he slammed his fist against Vale's exposed side with the force of speeding train.

There was a sharp double crack as the side of the saiyan armor the man was wearing cracked and then shattered outward. Vale's eyes widened, his face going briefly pale as he staggered back, bending at the hips. "Guh," he gasped, mouth hanging open like a fish gasping for air.

Easy.

Pulling back his fist as he pushed the other forward, using the twisting of his body to throw himself behind his punch, Belle aimed the blow at Vale's loose jaw.

But Vale was no longer there. Even as Belle's fist barreled towards his face, the saiyan seemed to recover himself and jerked his head back just in the nick of time. Belle's strike whistled past, completely missing, but with so much force that the ripple from his strike was enough to send the armored saiyan reeling.

Regaining his footing, Vale leaped backward, flipping through the air before landing lightly ten meters away.

He was no longer smiling. "Shit, they really weren't fucking around when they called you the Crimson Hulk, were they?" Vale grunted and brushed his fingers across the fresh gap in his armor, then pointed at it. "If this ablative armor hadn't been here, you probably would have done something serious."

"Yeah, well, you're not bad yourself," Belle said. "I didn't think you'd be able to move that fast with that stupid armor in the way."

"'Stupid armor'?" Vale's face flickered from bemusement to annoyance. "I'll have you know that this is the Saiyan Royal Military's best combat suit! You should be grateful to even touch it, half breed!"

"Oh." Belle titled his head. "So, you're in the military?"

"Well, no, not exactly..."

"But you said that it was a military suit."

Vale twitched. "Are you stupid or something? This isn't twenty questions, this is a fight."

"I know, I know. Jeez, I was just asking because you brought it up," Belle muttered. Nothing wrong with asking a couple questions, was there? "Asshole," he added. "But I am grateful. I mean, not because of getting to touch your armor, but for other stuff."

Vale eyed him cautiously. "Why's that?"

Belle looked up. "Because I get to finally test my full strength. I don't think I need to hold back against you, right? You seem like you're smart enough to keep yer collar workin, and you're obviously not a girl."

The saiyan frowned, then paled slightly, then scowled as some color returned. "Bullshit," he said. "You're bluffing."

"That punch that hit your armor?" Belle nodded towards the damaged garment. "That was about... Oh... Man... I guess maybe... If I had three rocks for all my strength? That was maybe two rock."

Vale's eyes narrowed. "Two rock, huh? That's ... interesting. But I bet, with all that strength, you probably haven't had a lot of chance to build up anything else. You're strong, but I watched your earlier fights; you're slow. And you can't take a punch well."

The saiyan's brows knitted as he shifted his weight, bending his knees slightly and raising his hands in a strange, high stance that Belle didn't recall ever having seen before. "You guessed pretty good where I was going earlier, but I won't make that same mistake again," Vale whispered. "Take a good look at me now, because this is the last you'll see of me! Prepare to taste the fruits of over six decades of experience!" His dark eyes closed... Then snapped open. "SENKOU SENDO!"

Before Belle could react - before he could say anything at all - Vale winked out of sight. He heard a rushing sound, as if of great, far off thunder, before sudden pain exploded across his already sore shoulder. The impact was so fast, so brutal, that he spun on the spot, lost his footing, and started to topple over. But before he could fall, a second hit slammed into his chest and sent him flying in the opposite direction. "Hgaghkh!"

So fast!

A third across his cheek, a fourth crunching into his ribs. His vision blurred. A fifth against the liver.

I can't ... even see him!

That's ... impossible!

Senkou (Flash) Sendo (Death or 'a thousand times').

[DA 2009]

Vale Dura laughed maniacally, as if he were some kind of cheesy arch-villain. Belle was completely helpless, and the full-blooded saiyan was moving at maximum speed. He pounded the immobilized boy with his fists and feet over and over again, making sure that no vulnerability was left untouched. Eventually, Vale backed off, leaving Belle battered and bruised.

“Ha…ha…how…was that?” Dura chuckled breathily.

Belle groaned and slumped to the ground, unable to support himself over his wobbly legs. He slid down a bit on the grade, coming to a stop near some brush that happened to block the rest of his potential descent.

“Wow…” Vale gasped. “Is it…hot up here…or is it just me?”

The lumbering giant’s breathing came unevenly, and his chest heaved in barrel-sized motions. Belle sucked in a deep lungful of air, feeling the temperature to be completely moderate, and the oxygen came readily to his bloodstream.

“Something wrong there, big guy?” the orange-haired youth chortled weakly. He immediately grunted at the pain caused even by this simple motion.

“No…way…I’m…just getting started,” the behemoth insisted, although stars of blue, red, and purple danced in front of his eyes. He just could not catch his breath.

Thought at times being sequestered on the Maiden’s Dream seemed like a curse, today, it became a blessing. At such high altitudes soaring in the skies on a regular basis, Belle’s body had more time to adjust to the thinner oxygen level, and thus, his stamina had not yet even begun to deplete. Taking a punch wasn’t ever easy, but he wasn’t out…not yet. As the youth had previously stated, Vale Dura was a warrior, through and through, and most certainly not a creature towards which he needed to hold reservations. Breaking away from his previous tactic against the insanity of Sage’s beastly cryokinesis, the boy brought himself to a standing position, and trudged upwards until he stood toe-to-toe with the goliath of an opponent.

“Is that the best you got? I’ve seen girls who fought better than you!” Belle taunted, trying his best to rein in the pain from Dura’s assault. While in this day and age it didn’t mean a whole anymore to be called a “girl,” to Belle, that was the highest form of insult possible.

“Think…so? Come on,” Vale retorted, gesturing for his opponent to bring it.

Belle leaped forward with a flying kick that sent a new sensation of ache coursing down through his bones. Dura blocked it, but didn’t counter, and his movements seemed a bit drunken. Belle assailed the eliminator with strike after strike, not once holding back. Eventually, the pureblood could no longer defend, and took hits over and over again, yet still he didn’t fall. However, the youth had backed the opponent precariously against a rather steep grade.

Vale Dura wavered on his feet, and Belle knew just how to finish him off. With a grin, he lightly touched the saiyan on the forehead with his index finger, and Dura fell backwards and went tumbling down the slope until he was nowhere to be seen.

“See ya later!” Belle called after.