Ark 4 Episode 14: Teach Me to Bare My Fangs Part 2

"Into The Forest"
Ginsukei would lean down, cupping his right hand as he dipped it into a small stream which he figured wouldn’t stay with his path. He had been traveling for what had seemed like an hour or more. He raised the stream water to his lips, tilting his hand so the water that had rested in his hand would spill into his mouth.. It was cool and satisfied him for the moment. He grabbed the sword that the Chairman had granted him to fight with, his main survival tool for the moment. He then let loose a small sigh, glancing towards his goal point which he could faintly see through the trees that surrounded him. He checked his surroundings, wondering how quickly this team that was following him could comb a forest. He started moving again, his mind turning, he had no idea how to survive in the forest though he figured he’d learn soon enough. He knew that he needed the essentials, food, water, and somewhere to sleep... If he could in this situation. He doubted the possibility to rest was little to none even though he would need some to keep going.. And to fight the Chairman at the end. He still felt a faint version of the feeling he had felt earlier when he had struck down the last few Ligers. He continued on, glancing towards the sky, seeing that now, the sun was beginning to set. “The end of the first day..” Ginsukei thought to himself. He remembered that the soldiers were most likely still ten or less minutes behind him. He felt that he had no time to stop moving. Before long, he looked around, seeing the darkness that had now taken over the sky. He would have to navigate the best he could during the night but he wasn’t sure how well he would be able to do this. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dark though it didn’t seem to help him much at all. He moved the best he could, but he felt that he hadn’t gone very far. He was truly having trouble navigating in the dark, and he knew he would have to get the hang of it if he were to survive for at least a week. Before he knew it, the first night had ended and the sun began to rise, blinding him momentarily while his eyes adjusted to the light.

"Day Two.. The Black Beast"
“Day two..” He told himself quietly, continuing to move through this forest that seemed to wind and twist and run in circles. He felt like a wild animal with wolves behind him and that’s exactly what he was with vicious wolves at his back. He hoped to make a lot of progress today though he really had no idea how he well he would be able to move. He felt hunger sinking in which agitated him, he hated that hunger would try to get in his way here as well. He wondered if there was something that grew around in the area, he began to grow frustrated because he wasn’t sure at all. He gritted his teeth a little as he moved yet something stopped him in his tracks. He glanced around, a low growling reaching his ears. “Dammit..” He cursed to himself, remembering that wild animals and creatures also resided in this forsaken forest. He slowly gripped the hilt of the sword yet continued to move, keeping wary of his surroundings now, ready to fight whatever jumped out at him. Strangely enough, after traveling for a while longer, the growling had died down which surprised him a little. He had thought that he would have to fight some murderous beast. Hunger soon started to take over his thoughts, he had to find food soon or else he wouldn’t be able to keep moving. “No..” He thought to himself, he wasn’t going to let hunger try to beat him. He had gone a lot longer than this being hungry. He shook his head, refocusing on the task ahead, starting to move and work his way through the forest more diligently than before. Through the day and into the evening he walked, having waves of hunger every now and then, though he seemed to be able to keep his mind off of it most of the time. He stopped when he heard a small rushing noise, hopefully a stream or small river. He followed the sound to the best of his abilities and soon as if his hopes had been heard, he saw a very small river. He crouched down, cupping his right hand to dip it into the water. He had just raised his hand to his mouth, letting the water drain from his palm into his mouth when he heard a a noise.. “What was that?..” He asked himself, glancing around him. It had sounded like some kind of growl, yet it wasn’t much of one. It sounded louder.. Drawn out.. It sounded quite close but he wasn’t able to see anything. He gripped the hilt of the sword once more, slowly raising to his feet. He would turn around and what he saw in front of him was something big.. Covered in black fur. “Fuck..” He grumbled to out loud, watching the beasts dark brown eyes stare back at him. Just what he needed, a bear that seemed rather large,  even for how big he figured a bear was. The bear made it’s noise once more, as if.. Challenging him? He cursed silently to himself as he gripped the hilt of the sword seemingly even tighter than he already had been. He growled a little before the bear rushed him, raising on it’s hind legs to bring down it’s powerful claws down onto his head. He jumped to his right, about five feet, just enough to dodge the bear. It was fast.. Really fast which caused him to hate this bear more and more by the second. “Let’s go then..” He spoke with a harsh tone in his voice. He would kill this bear and be on his way, this wasn’t going to stop him. He charged at the bear who in turn charged as well. He leaped in, swinging the blade in a vertical fashion which only connected with the Bear’s right cheek, splitting it open. This seemed to utterly piss the bear off because he now opened his mouth, showing his sharp yet somewhat jagged teeth. The bear charged in and raised up again with a surprising bit of speed. He towards his right but he wasn’t quite fast enough, one of the Bear’s claws connected with his left cheek. It dragged it’s way down his cheek to his jaw, tearing his skin apart. His face began to bleed from the open wound. It wasn’t terribly deep, nor was it very shallow. “You’re gonna pay for that...” He growled, the stinging and partial burning feeling on his face almost drove him crazy, the pain was intense. He thought the claws would be like a knife.. That sort of wound he could handle no problem, but a bear’s claws were sharp yet slightly curved and chipped which tore skin even harder than a sharp blade would. “You fucking bastard..” He spoke harshly as he charged in towards his feral opponent with a new found murderous intent upon this bear. It raised up once more and as if not caring about it’s claws Ginsukei would rush in, pushing his blade forward, the tip piercing the Bear’s left side, under it’s ribs. He would quickly rip the blade out of the Bear’s side as it roared in anger and pain. “Eat dirt.” He said as he thrust the word forward but just as he did, the bear would swing, knocking the sword from his hand, causing it to flip out of his hand, falling to the ground. He watched the weapon fall, feeling an overwhelming feeling of being utterly screwed. “Hell no..” He reared back with his right fist, swinging it with a small arch as hard as he could, his knuckles soon connecting with and sinking into the wound, the force of his blow seemed to have widened the wound, giving his fist room to enter. He pulled his fist from the wound as the Bear roared out in pain once more. His right fist, now covered from his finger tips to the base of his thumb in blood. He took this opportunity to run off to the right, reaching down he’d quickly take hold of the hilt of the sword, covering it in the bear’s blood as he did so. He rushed forward, leaping into the air. He reared back with the sword in mid air. It looked as if he were going to do a super man punch but instead, he thrust the blade forward, almost shoving it into the neck of the bear, tearing into it’s throat. It fell onto it’s side in which he ended up crouched on top of. He released a deep breath, feeling the stinging once more on his face from the open wound. He slowly released the blade from it’s resting spot in the bear’s neck, laying it on the ground afterwards. He would slowly walk over to the stream, cupping both of his hands together he would lean down and dip them into the river, raising them out again after filling them with water. He raised his hands to his face in which he would then splash his face with water, cleaning it off slightly as well as his wound. He dipped his hands into the water once more, raising them out after being filled, to his lips this time so he could take a good drink of the water. He had wasted time here on the bear but he couldn’t help but feel tired after having to fight it. He laid down beside the corpse of the bear as blood slowly soaked it’s fur. He slowly fell asleep, unsure of how much rest he would actually be able to get. He slept in a very disturbed state that night, dreams of blood and fighting banged around in his head. The last image he saw before he awoke was the image of his fist, slamming through someone’s skull which caused him to sit up abruptly. He looked around, noticing the sun was just now coming up. He quickly grabbed his sword, running off, deeper into the forest to try and gain a steady traveling pace again. “I need to get moving.” He told himself multiple times as he continued to swiftly move through the forest. He felt as if he were slowly turning from a wild animal into a feral one, as if he were slowly becoming a wolf himself. That was what this was for right? To become stronger, to bare his fangs for new found brothers.

"Day Three.. The Natives"
He felt that today.. Day three he had to remind himself, something bad would happen, like soldiers attacking him, or something else, just like yesterday with the bear. The thought of the soldiers catching up to him made him grumble. He started moving faster than he had been a bit ago yet he soon stopped, something small and round had caught his eyes. Upon closely examining these round objects he realized they were some sort of berries, but none he had ever seen before. “Could I even eat these?.. Should I take the chance?” He plucked once from it’s bush, raising it to his nose. He sniffed at it a couple of times, sighing softly. He plopped it into his mouth, slowly biting into it. It had a slightly sweet flavor though there was a slight.. Sour kick to it. He took a handful of these berries and began eating them as he continued on. If he died from some sort of messed up berries, he was going to be unbelievably pissed off. He soon finished his handful of berries, feeling slightly better with his hunger issue. “This shit sucks..” He was speaking of his face, which still throbbed a bit. He really hoped that some sort of fucked up infection wasn’t setting in. “Damn bear.” He shook his head a little as he leaped over a branch that lay in his path. He glanced up through a small part in the trees, noticing the mountain seemed to be getting closer which spurred him on, keeping his confidence in tact. By this point in his journey, he was able to navigate the forest better than when he had first started out, becoming used to having to dodge limbs and jump over branches. He heard a very small rustling noise before the next thing he knew, some sort of spear like weapon was slashing down his left cheek which would cause an X shape to form on his cheek from now two sustained wounds. “Fuck!” He would yell out as he slashed wildly and forcefully in a horizontal motion in front of him, the edge of the blade connecting with whoever had attacked him. He felt the blade catch and tear through skin and upon getting a good look at his attacker, he realized that it must have been one of the tribesmen that Chairman Tasanagi had mentioned. He stared down at the wound he had caused his attacker, a deep cut through the throat from which blood was spilling out. “There’s probably more..” He reached down, taking the pole like weapon with a blade attached to the end in his left hand and just as he did he heard someone yell out. He glanced upwards, towards his right, seeing another strange dark skinned man leap out from behind a tree. Ginsukei swung the spear like a bat though with one hand, the shaft of the spear would slam against the man’s chest, sending him falling back against a tree. He would then rush forward, thrusting the blade that was attached to the pole into the man’s chest, piercing his heart, pinning him to the tree. At this point in his journey, he felt more deadly, and more willing and almost.. Excited to spill blood. He was becoming ruthless, stronger, he could feel it. He noticed a knife like weapon in the hand of the tribesman he had just killed. He reached down, taking hold of the handle in his left hand, examining the blade. “It could come in handy.” Just as he finished speaking he felt a sharp pain on his side and glancing down he noticed a cut through his right side. He looked up some, seeing an arrow with blood on it stabbed into a tree in front of him.. His blood. He turned, seeing one of the strange men with a bow and a quiver of arrows. Ginsukei growled and rushed forward, another arrow being loosed as he charged forward, the arrow sliced just below his left shoulder as it shot past. Ginsukei roared out, hacking his sword into the man’s bow, knocking it from his hands. He raised the knife he had just picked up, twisting it so that the blade was underneath his hands, holding the knife ‘backwards’. He yelled out once more, bringing the knife down several times into his opponents chest. Blood splashed up onto Ginsukei’s chest and face but he didn’t seem to care as he let the tribesman fall with five stab wounds in his chest. He felt that he had been taking way too much damage, now having two cuts across his face and now a fresh wound on his right side and left arm from the arrow. He gave his best attempt to shake off the pain as he started walking, still holding the sword in his right hand and the knife in his left. Soon the sun began to set once more.. The day was coming to an end already? Damn.. He had endured too many distractions. The Maru Jietai that was sure closing in on him would be able to attack him soon. He growled some, quickening his pace in an attempt to keep them off of him for just a bit longer. He traveled most of the night, but around dawn he sat down to rest, falling asleep for a short time before he leaped to his feet. The sun had risen, though it seemed to still be sort of low.. Still morning.

"The Camp"
“Day four.. Let’s see what you hold for me.” He headed out and made his way through the forest for about an hour when he felt as if someone was watching him. He glanced around as if he were just looking at the trees and bushes. “Come on out..” He whispered to himself as he continued walking, wondering who’s presence he felt. He noticed that his senses were becoming sharper, just being out here was helping his mental state as well as his physical state. He continued moving until he noticed some form of movement going on near him. “What is that?..” He glanced around a rather large tree, spotting what looked like a big camp.. Or a small village of sorts. “Food.” He thought to himself as he crouched down, sneaking through the bushes and into the camp. He glanced around, not seeing many people.. But there were people there. Other tribesmen and women. These didn’t look like hunters or fighters though.. More like the normal people of the tribe. He soon spotted what he wanted, food. A bit of what looked like animal meat that looked like it had been prepared hours ago. He rushed forward, getting to the food quickly. He took it up in his hands, setting his weapons down just before. He tore into the meat, the flavor was still good, the meat was a little tough, but he tore into the meat. He soon heard a lot of yelling and screaming. He took hold of his weapons once more, turning around just as a spear slashed his left hip. “You fucker!” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2BEBq1vr_4) He thrust his sword up into his attacker’s throat. He watched as one of the tribes warrior’s fell to the ground, his blood spilling onto Ginsukei’s side. He dropped the knife he had been carrying to pick up the spear dropped by the warrior that he had just dropped. He leaped forward, thrusting the spear through the stomach of another who was standing to his left, close to attacking. He pulled back, ripping the spear from tribesman’s stomach, blood spilling harshly from the wound. He then turned to his right, swinging the spear as hard as he could, cracking it across the face of one more tribesman, dragging it downwards so that the blade of the spear would dig into and tear through the face of his victim with a harsh sort of roar escaping from his own throat. He then stabbed the spear into the ground, gripping the handle of his sword in his right hand as he turned, facing two more tribesmen which were both holding axe like weapons in their hands. Ginsukei growled, holding his blood stained sword tightly in his right hand. He charged towards them, still growling a vicious sort of growl, feeling an intense burning feeling.. a feeling that was thirsty for blood. He leaped into the air, raising the sword high over his head. He would bring the sword down in a vertical slash with all of his might, slamming the blade of the sword into the tribesman on the right’s skull, dropping him instantly. He suddenly roared out, feeling a sharp pain flood through his right shoulder. He turned swiftly, coming face to face with the last warrior that was in his way. He realized the warrior was without a weapon and instantly realized what the pain plaguing his shoulder was. He roared out, leaving his sword in the previous tribesman’s skull. He reared back with his left hand, clenching it into a fist just before thrusting it forward, slamming his fist against the last warrior’s face, sending his sprawling backwards. Ginsukei would then reach back with his left hand, gripping the axe that was in his shoulder. He ripped it out, tossing it to the side just before he leaped onto the last warrior. He would grip the tribesman’s neck with his left hand, biting through pain as he reared back his right arm, clenching his hand into a fist. He would slam his fist down against his victim’s face once, twice, three, four times. The utter beating continued for a minute, the face of the tribesman was covered in blood and severely battered. Ginsukei stood, picking up the of the animal pelt of the fallen warrior he had just beaten to death. He would drape the black furred animal skin over his shoulders, blood from his fresh wounds would start to wet the bottom of the pelt as well as the top of the pelt from his new shoulder wound. He would then turn, taking hold of his sword’s hilt, ripping it from the skull of the tribesman that it had been resting in. He then released a deep breath before sprinting off into the forest, heading towards the mountain. He felt that he was getting really close to the mountain, a grin slowly crossing his face. He reached the base of the mountains just as a bullet shot into a tree that was in front of him, the bullet having sliced the side of his ear. “Dammit.. they caught up..” He stared ahead of him, seeing a huge case of steep stairs. “You have to be kidding me..”  He glanced back, seeing the Maru Jietai. “Fuck..” He took off running, beginning to run up the stairs as fast as he could which was difficult considering how steep they were.

"Journey's End"
Ginsukei rushed up the stairs, knowing that the Maru Jietai soldiers were right on his tail. He ran and ran, feeling that this staircase was going to go on forever. He pushed ahead when a Maru Jietai soldier slipped out onto the stairs in front of him. “Hell no, not now, I’m too... Fucking.. Close!” He roared out, feeling a huge force well up inside of him and without really realizing what he was doing, he dropped the knife he had been carrying, clenching his left hand into a tight fist. A faint red aura formed around his fist, up to his wrist as he reared back. He thrust his fist forward just as the soldier attempted to slam his gun against Ginsukei’s right side wound, slamming his fist through the soldier’s defense, causing his fist to slam into the solder’s helmet, sending him against the higher steps. He would raise his fist up once again, slamming it down against the soldier’s helmet again. This happened a couple more times causing the soldier’s head, cracked helmet and all, to slam into the steps, making sure the soldier was down. He rushed forward once more, realizing what he had just done. He had just conjured what the Chairman had called “Dark Hadou” and honestly, he loved the feeling. He began utterly sprinting up the stairs, taking them two, three steps at a time. The soldiers were closing in on him and he knew it. The sun began to set as Ginsukei sprinted up the steps, soon, he would reach the top. He felt that he was getting closer, he could feel the Chairman’s energy which pushed him harder and faster. After a few more minutes of his head long rush, he reached the top, stopping.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElEIfWPvBH4 Background music continues into fight)

He stared at what was before him, dropping the sword that he had been carrying all through his survival journey. It clanged against the top step, laying there, looking ragged and covered with blood which was much like him, ragged, dirty, covered in blood and slashed all over with a bloody animal pelt draped over his shoulders. His hair was soaked with blood, and over the past few days had grown longer. Blood was caked on his face and torso, giving him the look of a rabid beast. Ginsukei felt the Chairman’s energy instantly and knew that it was time to face his final challenge.. Facing the Chairman...