Sword of Darkness 16
by J. T. MacLeod

I think we're all in agreement that the last "disclaimer" stunk, despite the
intentions of the author, who will remain unnamed here *cough* Bob! *cough*. 
Anywho, here comes a real one (No offense, Bob):  

I'm not claiming any of the characters within, aside from Mac.  However,
knowing today's business sense, if you would like to assert that I HAVE
claimed any of the other characters, I can deal with that.  HOWEVER, you will
pay the consequences of such stupid actions.  I'll take the "P" out of NetPD,
if you know what I mean.  Then I'll go download a bunch of Metallica mp3s,
print out the bits onto steel plates, shine 'em up real nice, turn them
sideways and...  well, I'm sure you can guess the rest.  

--------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a good shot.  A shot that had sent Shane into orbit from the
recoil, but a good shot nonetheless.  Unfortunately, it hadn't been good
enough.  

I immediately launched myself after Shane to prevent him from flying into
oblivion, but I just had time to see him take a bit of atmosphere with him in
a shield before my ankle was gripped by the odd paws of MewTwo.  

Without hesitation, he flung me torward the ground at a such a great speed
that I couldn't negate my descent.  I had enough time to gather my wits and
tesseract, though.  Suddenly, as planned, I was upright and flying backward
just above the ground, but the momentum was still there, and before I could
stop, Mewtwo had driven me into the ground with a blow I never saw.  

I began to rise, but my vision hadn't completely restored after the blow.  In
the split second that my vision took to clear, I sensed in the distance Ray and
Frag simultaniously rushing Mewtwo, and as they approached, I sensed each of
them pushed back by an energy blast from Mewtwo.  Unhurt, they continued moving
backwards by the blasts, the energy not dissappating.  

Bringing myself completely upright, my vision restored, Mewtwo paid the same
favor to me.  I put everything I had into resisting the blast which I could
neither stop nor redirect to get away from it.  My feet plowing through the
ground, I did the best I could to slow it.  Then, suddenly, all three balls of
energy faded away.  

The purpose became clear.  Katrina, so dear to Shane, was in the air, enclosed
in a sheild of energy by Mewtwo, who hovered near her.  In a vain attempt to
come to her aid, Hogo and Gomisaki, the two of our Jurai ships who would be
first to throw ration to the wind, were in human form attacking Mewtwo, who
apparantly paid no attention at all to their attacks.  

From a portal directly below them appeared Shane.  Excepting Hogo and
Gosmisaki, everything had stopped.  All eyes were on Shane.  He looked first
at the three of us below him, then the presences above him dawned on him.  He
slowly looked up and saw the situation above him that we below him knew would
infuriate him.  

We could feel Shane's anger rising, and he changed to his fighter form, but it
took a different form.  The snap that occured inside of him couldn't be make a
deeper or more obvious impression upon us if it had been audible.  Force power
rose in him like nothing we had seen before aside from master jedi. 
Unfortunately, this is what made my stomache turn.  It was clear that he was
embracing the dark side, and the only person it scared more than me was Ray.  

Uncharacteristically, Shane refrained from speaking, and the rest of us 
remained as silent as we had been.  Tired of waiting, I glanced at Ray and
Frag, looking each in the eye, and we set into action.  

As Frag raised his hands above his head and powered up a shot, Ray flew to
Shane's side and came the closest he could to looking him in the eye.   As
fast as possible, I sped to the trees and scooped each one under my arm, not
stopping until I had distanced myself from the others.  I threw each into a
portal so that they ended up inside of their ship forms that still lay in
orbit and headed back.  

As a massive ball of energy continued to grow above Frag's hands, Ray did his
best to talk Shane down.  

"Shane, I know what you're doing.  I know you're angry, and that we need all
we can get, but this is the last thing we need."  

"I've got it under control," Shane replied almost under his breath, not moving
his eyes from Mewtwo, who held the same gaze upon him.  

I arrived by Shane's side and grabbed one of Shane's arms.  Ray did the same. 
Shane's face twisted, but he did nothing else but flinch.  Frag let his shot
fly, and Mewtwo finally took his eyes off of Shane and braced himself.  

The shot was incredibly powerful and approached at a decent speed, but it
wasn't headed torward Mewtwo.  Shane was held immobile by Ray and myself as
the shot headed straight torward Katrina.  It collided with the sheild and
shook the earth as it slowly overtook the energy around her.  When it was
finished, Frag held a sheild around her, and began to draw her slowly to the
ground.  

Shane closed his eyes and lowered his head.  Once again, everyone's attention
was riveted on him, no one being able to even venture a guess as to what he
would do next.  Too late I realized that Frag was also watching Shane. 
I flew to him, but once I was halfway there Mewtwo guessed my intent.  Between
the sheild and being wary of Shane, Frag was undefended, and with a flick of
his paw Mewtwo sent a wave of energy that knocked Frag back and disappated his
sheild.  Once again, Mewtwo held Katrina as a pawn.  I hurried back to Shane's
side after I was sure that Frag was alright.  

His eyes fixed on Shane, Mewtwo finally spoke again.  

"It's simple.  You give me what I want, and I release this pitiful creature." 
he hissed.  

Shane twitched.  I heard Frag say "Don't get noble now" in the distance.  

I spoke.  "I know what you're going through, but right now you'll have to look
at the big picture.  We can take care of her, but if you give him what he
wants or you give into your anger, we won't be able to help anyone, including
her."

"Shane..." Ray began, but he was cut off.  

"I HAVE IT UNDER CONTROL." spat Shane through gritted teeth.  

I looked at Ray who sadly shrugged and we both descended, leaving Shane to his
judgement.  We really had no other choice, as fighting between us was even
worse than the possibilities that would exist if Shane screwed up by himself.  

"That moron had better have something up his sleeve." said Frag.  

"For once," said Ray, "I don't know."  

Above us, Shane reached a hand torward Mewtwo.  As though he had caught a
flying arrow, the sword of light appeared in his hand.  

"Wise." spoke Mewtwo.  

Mewtwo extended a paw, but in a nearly blinding flash, a gash was laid through
it by the sword.  

"PSYKE!!" yelled Shane, but his face didn't show his happy go lucky attitude. 
Instead, it was twisted with anger.  

"So we see how noble you really are," hissed Mewtwo.  

Shane launched into Mewtwo, and none of us dared get in his way.  Mewtwo
avoided Shane's first three strikes, but then the force power welled up.  It
was like the difference between Shane pushing himself along and being pulled. 
Shane had perfect control over his momentum and used it to his advantage. 
Mewtwo was hit by almost every one of Shane's attacks, his mobilility being
almost beyond belief.  In all of this Shane had apparantly stopped watching
Katrina.  By giving into his anger, the very emotions that had caused him to
look out for her now blinded him of her.  He continued pounding Mewtwo, his
face twisted with rage.  

Shane got in a good hit and knocked Mewtwo to the ground.  He followed and,
with the sword in one hand, he proceeded to stomp Mewtwo in the chest
repeatedly.  Over and over his foot slammed down, and for a moment it seemed
as though he might have the battle close to won by himself.  However, Shane
had lost concentration in his anger and he missed Mewtwo's tail snapping up
and clenching around his leg.  Shane was slammed into the ground and Mewtwo
was immediately on top of him, grasping at the sword.  

Shane put everything he had into fighting, and energy jumped and crackled from
the sword in it's reaction to changing hands, threatening to destroy them both
by it's power alone.  In the end, Mewtwo rose with the sword and quelled the
energy from it.  Shane humbly and tiredly rose with his teeth gritted
together.  

"I will show you just how noble I am compared to you worms." spat Mewtwo.  He
raised a paw and Katrina hurtled to the ground.  Ray was ready and opened a
portal under her, both saving her and relieving us of distraction.  

Shane looked up and rage consumed him again.  After losing the sword and
having the worry of Katrina removed, he lost all control.  He screamed, his
anger rising higher than it had before, and the ground shook as energy shot
out from him.  

Mewtwo released the sword as it disappeared, it's energy being his for
now.  Shane took that time to launch into Mewtwo with his bare hands. 
Receiving a few blows himself, Shane was still coming out on top, but now he
was pushing his limits, and there was no telling what he would do to himself
just by continuing.  

"Shane, please!" shouted Ray "Be careful!"  

Shane just got angrier, more so than any of us could have imagined that could
ever be.  He landed a punch to Mewtwo's face and was granted a moment.  He
forced himself to sigh, and the anger left his face.  So did his force power. 
Immediately, he became visibly weakened.  As Mewtwo approached again, Shane
halfheartedly attempted to attack, but was met by Mewtwo's paw which hit him
with a sickening smack.  

In my worry I was struck with an idea.  Mewtwo began to rush Shane to knock him
to the ground, but he found me under him instead.  Ray quckly retreived the
weakened Shane as Mewtwo pinned me to the ground under a paw as he stood
upright.  

Once again, Mewtwo realized that, unlike the others, there was no reason for
him to be fighting me aside from the fact that I was fighting him.  As we
stared at each other, I gave a "thumbs up" to my friends, and they remained
still.  

"So odd," he said to me.  "The pitiful fool who carries the ultimate force
with him has sympaty for me, yet you do not.  It is you who's 'predicament' is
most like mine...  you who have had humans turn their back upon you multiple
times, no matter your emotions, intentions or actions.  The one with the
ultimate force tried to kill you for your justice, the one who had the sword
of light grants you not even the slightest kindness, and the chosen one
refuses to acknowledge anything of you, leaving you to your own devices.  Why
do YOU not understand?"  With each point he pushed down with his paw into my
chest, and he had no wish for answer.  

"So, the sword of darkness is feeding you information, is it?" I replied.  I
had guessed right, and I had his complete attention, and he watched me,
unwavering.  I continued, hoping to buy enough time for Shane to recover.  

"It didn't tell you everything.  Frag never tried to take my life, and has
preserved it, directly and indirectly, a number of times.  And even if
they remain silent about it, I know that Ray and Shane have done a great
deal for me.  Shane is the one who granted me time and safety by manipulating
the computers at the NCC specifically for my benefit.  Ray has taught some my 
techniques at the guardian academy, and given me credit for me where he could.
 Both of them have lobbied for me at NCC, as well.  Maybe they need to grow
up, but they've never been anything less than friends, even in turmoil.  We
let God guide our hearts, and we forgive and try to understand.  By giving
each other chances to prove themselves, we learn that we are all essentially
good.  The real question is, why can't YOU offer the same to anyone else? 
Why can't YOU understand?"  

Incredibly, I still had his complete attention, but now that I was finished,
he was angered.  He pressed down again, but I refused to even grunt.  As he
raised his foot to crush me, I rolled out from under him, and once again using
a tesseract I hit him with a roundhouse kick to the chin.  

He got up and raised his power.  His attention had never left me.  

"You lost concentration.  You let me make a speech, you gave me a chance to
escape, and you failed to account for a technique I've overused so far. 
You're blinded by your malice."  

I smirked and looked at my friends.  "Hey, guys, maybe you should have just
let me handle the whole battle!"  I saw Shane literally turn green.  

Mewtwo suddenly realized that he had been oblivious to their presence and
turned around to them.  

"NOW!" I yelled, and hit Mewtwo with a blast in the back of the head. 
Immediately after he was hit the others followed suit.  

I rejoined them and we prepared to fight together again.  Mewtwo put a shield
around himself and raised his power.  His head lowered, he let his anger grow.
 
I opened my mouth to speak again, but Ray clapped a hand over my mouth.  

"No matter how powerful you are, if you're controlled by your anger, you can't
win!" he said, almost exactly as I had planned.  He then looked at me and
grinned sheepishly.  "Sorry, I couldn't resist."

Mewtwo raised his head and lowered his sheild.  He called forth both swords
and thrust them into the ground.  Suddenly, the island began to shake with
energy, threatening to rip apart.  

I had no idea what was coming next.  

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OK, I'm done.  Happy?