//------------------------------// // Gale Force Winds // Story: Into That Wild Blue Yonder // by CptBrony //------------------------------// Gale Force Winds When the Tong thugs arrived at the village, they were more than a little surprised that none of the villagers chose to run. The last village they came to burn tot eh ground was nearly empty when its time was up, and they had a riveting time hunting them down. They didn’t catch all the villagers, but it was a good time for the Tong. The villagers were lined up in the middle of the village, standing silent. Maybe it was that rainbow shockwave in the sky earlier that inspired them to beg for mercy or something? It was a beautiful, inspiring sight; no one could deny that. Even those as brutal as the Tong could appreciate the beauty of nature’s magic. But that was then, and this was now, and right now, they had to deal with the villagers who had hidden from them the most profitable venture ever to come into their territory. The human was gone, quite possibly for good now, and there had to be a harsh example made to the other villages under Tong control. “What to do, what to do…” the Tong leader wondered. “We can’t just let you off the hook, obviously. This is a pretty serious offense you’ve committed.” “I say kill ‘em all,” one of his thugs suggested casually. “Or string ‘em up,” another suggested. “No,” the leader said. “I want to make sure the message is sent out right. This is unacceptable, and the meaning of what we do needs to be clear; you don’t obey, you suffer.” “Prolonging it, then?” the first thug asked. “I’m sure we an make do with what we can find.” “Do what you will,” Gibbs said suddenly, leaning on his wife in front of the group. “We were only trying to do what was right.” “Really?” the Tong leader said, voice seething with anger at the interruption. He bolted forward, grabbed Gibbs, and threw him to the ground, then kicked Sherry away. “The right thing?” Gibbs coughed violently on the ground. “Yeah,” he said. “We aren’t like you. We try to live good lives.” “And where did that bring you?” the Tong leader asked. “What have you got to show for it, huh? Where is the human to pay back your kindness?” From the crowd, Colm Winds exploded forth and body slammed the Tong leader, sending him flying back into his group of thugs. They caught him collectively and set him right back on his feet, and now, he was in an absolute rage. “Who are you to touch me?!” he demanded. “Colm Winds,” Colm replied. The thugs mobilized and surrounded him, forcing him to separate himself from the group with Gibbs. The villagers stepped back to avoid the violence, hopeless to stop the brutal assault that was about to take place. “You think you’re so tough, so noble,” the Tong leader said. “Now you are going to die; painfully, I will add; and have nothing to show for it but your bloodied corpse.” Colm looked around; he was definitely about to die. There was no way he could fight these guys, his special talent would do nothing for him. The entire village was about to watch the only fighter among them go down in a heap of pain and agony. But then, Colm looked to the sun as it was setting over the houses and saw the most beautiful sight he had ever laid his eyes on. “Got nothing to show for it, eh?” Colm asked. “Yeah,” the Tong leader said. “Then who is that?” Colm asked, nudging his head toward the house. Before the Tong leader or his thugs could look, the young man ran forward and leapt off of the house he had perched on and landed elbow-first onto one of the thug’s necks, smashing his spine within and crumpling him instantly. When he landed, he took a knee and stopped for a moment to catch himself. The group of hapless thugs stumbled away from where the young man landed, drawing their swords and cursing for their fallen comrade. The young man responded by pulling two blades from the body of his fallen foe and stood up. “You came back,” Colm said. “I did,” the young man replied. “Change of heart?” Colm asked. “I saw things in black and white before,” the young man said. “Now I can see all the shades of the rainbow.” “Well, I guess you saved us a whole lot of trouble!” the Tong leader shouted. “I’ll tell you what; you come with us now, and we’ll spare the village.” “No you won’t,” the young man said. “You’ll kill them once I’m in custody.” “Heh, yeah, you’re right,” the Tong leader said. “Which is why I’m here to kill you,” the young man said darkly. “Oh, yeah?” the Tong leader said. “And what makes you think that’s gonna happen?” “Tell me; what’s your special talent?” the young man asked. “I’m a math expert,” the Tong leader said. “Well,” the young man said, taking a Seunchin dachi stance. “I’m not.” The Tong leader growled and ordered, “Get him!” Three of the thugs rushed the young man off the bat, swords up and already slashing away. It wasn’t hard for the young man to parry the first two stallions away, leaving only the third. When the third stallion rushed up to him, the young man blocked the sword and spun off to the side, following with a hack to the back of the stallion’s head. The blade connected, but only enough to just make it far enough to connect with the spine and cut into it just about half an inch, severing most of the spinal cord within and cutting off the central nervous system. The stallion fell to the ground, mostly dead, and dropped his swords. Two more Tong thugs rushed at the young man from the initial group, this time each one taking a side and flanking the young man. The young man responded by charging one, taking him by surprise, and stuffing his sword, then followed with an elbow strike to the throat, crushing the stallion’s wind pipe and cutting off his breathing. The instant that the stallion started to choke, the young man turned his attention to the other. He was nearly upon him already, but the young man simply had to pull the asphyxiating stallion and throw him in between, preventing the assaulting stallion from being able to advance any further. When the stallion tried to catch his falling friend, the young man snaked his arm around the dying one and stabbed the other in the neck, killing him. The original two were just returning from their failed charge for another go, and the young man dropped his blade in the stallion’s neck to make a quick evasion. The first of the two stallions tried to take a swing at him and missed as the young man ducked underneath and followed with a punch to the neck and an elbow to the side. The young man could feel several ribs crack from the force of his elbow and followed it up with a spinning elbow strike to the back of the stallion’s head, at least knocking him out with a severe concussion. His buddy had just watched it all happen and hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, and the young man took advantage of that moment’s hesitation. While the stallion contemplated how to proceed, the young man rushed forward and grabbed his sword arm, then spun it around and stabbed the stallion’s sword into his own back, all while keeping the hoof connected. The shocked stallion fell to the side and writhed in pain on the ground. Before the young man could take the first move, the Tong leader charged at him, forcing him to roll out of the way. On the way, he passed by the swords of the first stallion he took down and picked them up as he rolled to his feet. The Tong leader turned to face him. “You think you can just kill my guys and walk away?” he asked furiously. “Yeah,” the young man said smugly. “I own this region!” the Tong leader said. “You can’t take this from me!” The Tong leader charged and the young man took a low zenkutsu stance. As the Tong brought his blade down vertically at the young man’s shoulder, the young man blocked it with an angled high block, sending the sword crashing into the hand guard of his sword. He then pulled both swords to the side, opening the Tong’s face, and elbowed him in the nose. The Tong fell back and dropped his sword, prompting the young man to throw his away as well. He was going to make a message out of this guy like the Tong was about to make a message out of this village. He wanted all the thugs around to know that crime wouldn’t pay; not any more. And the young man was the one who was going to collect the bill. The young man got low to the ground and lunged forward. The Tong reared up as if to try stepping on the young man as he came down, but the young man was too fast for him, and grabbed him by each side. With a powerful thrust from his left leg, the young man rose up in a knee strike into the Tong’s chest. The Tong fell back again, but as he fell, he grabbed at the young man and pulled away his Gi top, pulling it out from under the black obi and off the young man. The traditional article of clothing fell to the ground in a heap, leaving the young man bare-chested for the fight. The villagers gasped at what they saw; a new marking, one that hadn’t been there previously when he was walking around naked, on his left shoulder. On the right side appeared to be some kind of wavy lettering, probably some other language, but on the right, there was an intricately drawn image of a human (insert link to Megami) in a stormy sea, with a dragon in the sky and a serpent in the water. None of them knew what it meant, though the open hand and closed fist of the human in the image seemed to indicate something about fighting. The young man ran forward after the Tong and leapt into the sky, delivering a sideways knee strike to the Tong’s head and sending him to the ground in a dazed mess. When he landed, he rolled away and took a knee away from the Tong. He was growing exhausted from the exertion and needed a breather. That breather was a fatal error, though; the Tong pulled out a small crossbow from his side and pointed it at the young man, training it straight at the young man’s center of mass. “Crap,” the young man muttered. “Nah so easy now, uh?” the Tong slurred. “Heheh, now yoo’re mine-“ Before he could pull the trigger, Colm Winds came from the sidelines with a death-delivering buck to the Tong’s head. There was a loud crack, and the Tong fell to the ground, the dent in his head painfully obvious. The young man looked to Colm. “Well, I admit I hadn’t seen that coming,” he said. “Don’t know why yah wouldn’t,” Colm said. “Not like Ah was out of the fight.” The young man laughed. “Haha, true enough. I suppose I should have known you would want to get a word in.” “Words can lick mah rump,” Colm said. He looked at the dead Tong. “What now?” The young man looked at the villagers. They were all in shock at what happened; they thought they had been left for dead. There were still Tong thugs, sure, but this was a defeat they would have a hard time recovering from, and if the villages stood together, the Tong would be no more. The young man could see in their eyes that they knew that; his job was done. “Now, I take my leave,” the young man said, standing up. “This place doesn’t need me any more, and I have things to do, places to go, people to see.” “Amen to that,” Colm said, walking up to the young man with a grin. “Of course, it would be foolish to go it alone.” The young man grinned right back. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. He went to his Gi top and picked it up and put it back on. “Shall we go?” Colm looked back to the village and waved goodbye, getting every villager to wave right back at him. The young man chuckled. “Let’s,” Colm said. “But before we go, shouldn’t you at least tell these ponies yer name?” “Nah,” the young man said. “My name isn’t important.” “Alright, man,” Colm said. The duo walked out of the village with applause following them, a fighting Irish stallion and a nameless young man heading off into that wild blue yonder, ready for any adventure that awaited them.