Chapter 94

What followed was Chizuru relaying the events she'd been granted a vision of by the power of the Yata Mirror. That in and of itself was interesting, as the Yata Mirror, Yasakani Jewel, and Kusanagi Blade were all divine relics carried into battle by the Grandson of Amaterasu, Ninigi-no-Mikoto, as he attempted to unify the various individual chiefdoms and were supposedly entrusted to three clans that act as direct retainers of the Imperial Family of Japan. I was pretty sure that none of them were named Kagura, and I said so to Chizuru.

"I changed my name a long time ago. My actual name is Yata Chizuru." She answered.

"Why?" Questioned Nightwolf.

"Why else? So that anyone seeking to free the Yamata-No-Orochi would have a harder time finding me to remove me as an obstacle. It's not just this Team New Faces, either. There were others." Informed Chizuru.

"Makes sense to me. Why would there only be one group of crazy people? We aren't that lucky." Grumbled Athena.

"Such as?" I queried.

"There was a Clan of Wolf Demons in Shimane Prefecture near Tataraba City whose ancestor, Moro, gifted them a philosophy during the Warring States Period that claimed that Humanity would only ever kill the natural world and could not be reformed. They attempted to unseal the Yamata-No-Orochi a few years ago, and I was forced to stop them." Informed Chizuru.

"By yourself?" Asked Nightwolf.

"Of course not. I hired help. Hayabusa Jō and his son, Hayabusa Ryu, the head and heir of the Hayabusa Shinobi Clan backed me up." Informed Chizuru.

"The descendants of the Dragon Ninja? That's some pretty good help." I mused.

"Dragon Ninja? Sounds like some pretty powerful guys." Mused Athena.

"Indeed they are. I have heard the Hayabusa Clan is one of the most powerful of the varied Shinobi Clans in Japan, owing to their Dragon Blood." Nodded Nightwolf.

"They certainly proved it. By the end of the fight, none of the Wolf Demons were left alive. There were other, more mundane threats, too, of course. The Kanemitsu Corporation attempted to tap the seal to generate perpetual energy a couple of years back. They had no idea what magic even was, given that they were a robotics and computer technology firm. They had no clue that their tap was weakening the seal. I hired a group of Mercenaries from Gallowmere to drive off the Kanemitsu Operation, and between that and the failed Buyout of Omni-Consumer Products last year, Kanemitsu went bankrupt and has since been bought by Mishima and folded into the Mishima Zaibatsu as a subsidiary." Shrugged Chizuru.

"Fair enough." I nodded.

"Let's get back to the point. What did you see in this vision the Yata Mirror granted you?" Questioned Nightwolf.

"Yeah, that's the reason we're here, after all." Agreed Athena.

"I saw Shermie and the third member of Team New Faces, Nanakase, kill themselves under the effects of the Riot of the Blood to transfer their energies to Chris. It allowed Chris to effectively invite the Spirit of the Yamata-No-Orochi into himself." Answered Chizuru.

"Riot of the Blood?" I queried.

"It's a power that can be activated by anyone with sufficient Orochi Ancestry in them. It overclocks their bodies with power in exchange for inducing a berserk state. Only the Four Heavenly Kings of Orochi can control it with any degree of certainty. Shermie and Nanakase killing themselves to transfer their power into Chris would only be more effective in that state." Informed Chizuru.

"Like a super-powered second boss stage? There's a bunch of video games that have that as a thing. Movies too, I was up for a part in one, but lost out on it." Admitted Athena,

"Sounds like. Blood sacrifice is a nasty business, even without something like the Yamata-No-Orochi involved. How do you think that the Demonic Variety of Vampires got to be such a big problem? They're the only type of Demon that tends to be regularly found in every city of any real size because Blood is just that good a mystical reagent. Most other Demons need to stick to magically active areas. Confluences of Leylines, Hellmouths, that sort of thing." I agreed.

"Regardless of the mechanics of it, we need to know what happened afterward. Did we manage to defeat the Orochi-possessed Chris?" Asked Nightwolf.

"No. No, we did not. Not before too many people were killed, at any rate." Responded Chizuru.

"That sounds bad." Frowned Athena.

"It was bad, just listen." Sighed Chizuru.

The story she told next wasn't exactly the most heartening thing to hear. One of the first things that Orochi Chris, as we were calling the Orochi-Possessed Chris, did was to target and kill those bearing the power of the three sacred treasures. Nightwolf, My Team and I managed to keep Chizuru safe, if battered, but one of the others, but Yagami Iori, the guy who had the power of the Yasakami Jewel had been badly beaten during his last fight and got stuck in the infirmary where he was laid up in bed and unable to fight. Without his powers, and with the person with the powers of the Kusanagi Blade absent, it was down to just Chizuru to try and stop Orochi Chris.

Apparently, Nightwolf, My Team, and I tried to buy time for Chizuru to reseal the Yamata-No-Orochi, but it didn't wind up working long enough to avoid several city blocks in Roppongi and over the border in Shinjuku from being leveled. At one point, Kensou wound up being killed, taking a spear of Necrotic Energy to the chest that killed him and allowed Orochi Chris to absorb his soul. He was replaced by reinforcements from the Azuma and Shiranui Shinobi Clans, who had been in the area. They took heavy casualties, but together, we and they stalled out Orochi Chris for long enough that the tide began to turn as Team Kyokugenryu and Team Hungry Wolf arrived on the to help, as did the Sailor Senshi, who arrived from the opposite side of Minato Ward.

However, by the time that they had, Chizuru had been rendered unable to complete her binding, as Orochi Chris had become too powerful for her, thanks to absorbing the souls of the dead. In the end, a One-Hundred-Fifty Kiloton Nuclear Warhead launched by Captain Phillip Thompson of the USS Dallas was used to kill Orochi Chris, though much of Tokyo was wiped out in the process, and over thirteen million people died in a single forty-eight hour period.

"That can't be allowed to happen." I pointed out the Obvious.

"Yeah, and Kensou dying? No way am I gonna let that happen!" Huffed Athena.

"So how do we stop it?" Questioned Nightwolf.

"I can think of a few ways, the most obvious being preventing Shermie, Nanakase, or both from killing themselves to transfer their powers to Chris." Opined Chizuru.

"Will we prevent this if we only stop one from doing so?" I queried.

"You never know with blood magic, mind you, but it seems like it would be possible." Frowned Nightwolf.

"I mean, it would be nice to have a margin for error." Tried Athena.

"Chris should need both to draw the Spirit of the Yamata-No-Orochi into himself through the seal, but even if he gets one, he can do a lot of damage." Frowned Chizuru.

"I can handle it if it's just a Suped Up Chris without the Yamata-No-Orochi's sheer power behind him." I insisted.

"Right, so try for both, but if we only get one, it should be fine?" Asked Athena.

"Sounds like a plan. We should explore some other possibilities, however." Intoned Nightwolf.

"Well, for starters, I can give Yagami Iori one of my remaining Healing Potions after his match, so he's not stuck in the infirmary as an easy target." I hedged.

"That only helps slightly. I would need the wielder of the Power of the Sword of Kusanagi as well to truly have a chance at sealing off an Orochi-Possessed Chris in an appreciable timeframe." Informed Chizuru.

"And that wielder would be?" Questioned Nightwolf.

"Kusanagi Kyo of Team Japan." Answered Chizuru.

"Ugh, you mean I'm gonna have to make nice with that Nikaido Creep?" Queried Athena.

"Not necessarily. I have to ask just why he wasn't present, though. It seems like something he'd want to be around for, doesn't it?" I asked.

"That would be thanks to you, actually, Ulysses. You beat Nikaido Benimaru extremely badly for harassing your teammate. He had to be rushed to Tokyo General Hospital, and the rest of his team joined him there after losing." Informed Chizuru.

"Aww, you do care about me!" Teased Athena, the small amount of alcohol she had indulged in at this Yakuza Club finally getting to her.

"How are you less sober than I am? You've been drinking light beer and Bepsi this whole time?" I demanded.

"I'll never tell." Sing-songed Athena.

"Regardless, it seems the answer is simple. Hold back against Nikaido and do not beat him badly enough to require a trip to the Hospital." Nodded Nightwolf.

"Right, so if you have Kusanagi and Yagami with you, will sealing a fully possessed Chris work?" I questioned.

"It should only take a couple minutes to do with all three of us, provided Orochi Chris can be kept away from us." Confirmed Chizuru.

"Sounds like we should do both." Offered Athena.

"What about a second contingency?" Queried Nightwolf.

"Do we need a second contingency? Isn't a plan and a contingency plan enough?" I asked.

"I dunno. We might want one." Shrugged Athena.

"Unfortunately, there is no second contingency. We only have these two points of divergence available to prevent the future I saw in my vision from coming to pass. We need to work both of them as much as we can." Insisted Chizuru.

I nodded at that and stood up from our booth. Nightwolf did the same, as did Chizuru. Athena looked between us, confused as to why we were getting up right now. Nightwolf was the one who answered her.

"It's about to start getting crowded in here." He opined.

"Yeah, the Night is about to hit peak club hours." Agreed Chizuru.

"Besides, we need to get a full night's sleep if we want to do our best tomorrow." I added.

"Right, sounds good." Nodded Athena.

"Come on, Drinky Idol, let's get you back to the Hotel." I intoned.

Athena and I made our way through the smaller crowds that had filtered in over the period before ten o'clock at night. There were a few people at the bar, some clustered around tables, and the dance floor was sparsely populated. That wouldn't remain the case for long, though. I paused only long enough to settle our tab with the house, paying for the entire group before exiting the Red Room and heading back toward the Starside Hotel.

When we got back to our rooms, I helped Athena get into bed. She was a comical lightweight if only a bit over an hour of drinking alternating Light Beer and Bepsi could knock her on her ass. Just to be sure, I reached into my Expanded Coat Pocket and pulled out an Alchemical Hangover Cure, placing it on her nightstand, then I headed for my own room to get in some rack time, a similar potion on my own nightstand.

Tomorrow was the day of fate, and it wouldn't do to be too tired to stop the literal city-busting event. If I wanted to fight at my best, I would have to get a full night of sleep. I shucked off my clothes down to my boxers, got into bed, and turned off the lights. I was out shortly afterward, sawing logs. When my alarm woke me up the next morning, I was ready for it, downing my Alchemical Hangover Cure. I was as prepared as I was going to be for this. I had a plan and a full night's sleep. Now, all that remained was to execute that plan.

I could only hope we could pull it off before too many people died. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we get the rest of the meeting with Nightwolf. We get a glimpse of what otherwise would have happened had Chizuru not gotten a vision and Nightwolf and Ulysses not organized a strategy session, and it wasn't pretty. Tokyo is the largest and most populous city in the world. It being destroyed by a nuke to stop Orochi Chris would make the Orochi Fight take the number seven spot of deadliest conflicts in human history, just ahead of the An Lushan Rebellion and just behind the Conquests of Tamerlane. All in the span of a couple of hours.

To avoid that happening, they've hit upon a strategy targeting two key areas where things could have gone differently. Whether it works out for them the way they hope or not will be revealed in the next few chapters. For one thing, stopping Shermie and Nanakase from sacrificing themselves to power up Chris is gonna be easier said than done.

Other nineties stuff in this chapter includes mentions of Bepsi from various anime including Lupin the Third, The Sailor Senshi and Tokyo General Hospital are from Sailor Moon, Nightwolf is from Mortal Kombat, the USS Dallas and Phillip Thompson are from Hunt for the Red October, the Azuma Shinobi Clan is from Tenchu, the Hayabusa Shinobi Clan, Hayabusa Ryu, and Hayabusa Jō are from Ninja Gaiden, Moro the Wolf Demon and Tataraba City are from Princess Mononoke, Demonic Vampires and Hellmouths are from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kanemitsu and Omni-Consumer Products are from Robocop, Gallowmere is from Medievil, and the Mishima Zaibatsu is from Tekken. Everything else is from King of Fighters.

At any rate, the next chapter will cover the first part of the Tournament Semi-Finals.

Stay tuned. . .