Chapter 21-Flint vs Doku, Part Two

A maze of iron walls has risen out of the ground around Flint, segregating him from his two allies, Noah and Khione. And once the iron maze has been set, Flint peers forwards, where he sees Doku again.

"So I'm facing you again, Master?" Flint growls.

"So it seems," Doku replies.

"Well…there's no sense talking now," Flint sighs as he resumes his Charge Stance, and golden-tan sparks of energy burst and swirl around his body, "Both of us have ventured to places where we can't return from. There's no sense talking now."

"I have no words left for you, my Putrid Pupil," Doku replies as he resumes his Charge Stance as well, and violet sparks of energy burst and swirl around his own body, "Let's fight."

Swiftly, Flint launches a rapid-fire flurry of kicks towards Doku, firing off a spear of sand with each kick.

Just as fast, poison gas begins swirling around Doku's shurikens, which he flings towards Flint.

"SAND CHARGE, LEVEL TWO: SAND SPEAR!"

"POISON CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: ACIDIC STAR!"

Flint and Doku's attack continue flying towards one another, then collide, sending sand and poison gas flying everywhere, and clouding both men's vision.

Flint then resumes his Charge Stance. And although Doku can't see, Flint's body turns into sand then falls to the ground, merging with the sand below. A second mound of sand then rises out of the ground behind Doku, and takes the human form of Flint.

"Sand Charge, Level One: Sand Clone!" Flint shouts as he launches a powerful round-house kick towards Doku, and in response, the man brings a singular arm up to block without even looking at Flint, and Flint's shin smashes into Doku's forearm.

"Your senses are as sharp as ever, Master," Flint smirks.

"And your spells are as basic as ever," Doku replies.

Doku then swiftly lowers his forearm, and clutches Flint's leg tightly with his fingers. In a panic, Flint attempts to yank his leg free from Doku's grasp, but his old master holds on tight, and Flint fails to break free.

Doku then spins around and jabs Flint once in the gut with a spear-hand, causing Flint to double over, followed by a second jab to the chest, knocking the wind out of Flint, and finishing off with a final jab to the throat, causing Flint to spit out a glob of blood.

Doku then lets go of Flint's leg and leaps into the air then spins around, slamming his own hook-kick into Flint, and sending the man flying backwards.

As he flies backwards, Flint presses his pointer and middle fingers of his two hands together, as golden-tan sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around his body.

"Sand Charge, Level One-!" Flint begins to shout as he slams into the iron wall behind him, but the second he does, Flint's body turns into sand.

"-Sand Clone!" Flint finishes as the sand making up his body merges with the sand below.

Next, the sand below Doku's feet begins to rumble.

"Hmm?" Doku asks as he peers down at the sand, "What's this?"

The sand below Doku's feet then flies upwards and spirals around him, wrapping Doku up in a mighty, piercing sandstorm.

A mound of sand then rises out of the ground before Doku, and takes the form of Flint.

"Sand Charge, Level Three: Sandstorm!"

After spiraling around for a moment, Flint's sandstorm dissipates, and once it does, Flint finds nothing more than a cloud of violet purple gas hovering in the air where Doku once stood.

Doku grunts in pain as he's pelted by Flint's sand.

"What?!" Flint cries as he frantically looks around, "Where did Master Doku go?!"

Flint's eyes then widen as he peers back over to the poison gas cloud, then raises an eyebrow at it.

"Don't tell me…"

The poison gas cloud then begins flying towards Flint, and in response, Flint sucks in a massive gasp of air and puffs out his cheeks.

As the poison gas cloud continues flying towards Flint, it begins to take a human shape, then reveals itself to be Doku, shuriken in hand.

Flint's eyes widen as he brings his arms up to block, but Doku swings a hand outwards, slashing Flint with one of the bladed edges of his shuriken, creating a huge, bloody gash in Flint's right forearm. Doku's poison gas then floods Flint's body through his arm, causing Flint's eyes to widen in pain as he gasps frantically for air and stumbles backwards.

Flint's right arm begins to turn a dull purple as it limply flops to the ground, blood still dripping from it.

"Damn…" Flint grunts as he peers down at his limp arm.

"You won't be able to use that arm anymore," Doku smirks.

"I won't need to in order to defeat you."

Doku resumes his Charge Stance.

"Poison Charge, Level Two: Death Cloud!" Doku shouts as poison gas begins to fly towards Flint out of every pore on his body.

Flint brings his left arm up and holds his pointer and middle finger out. Flint's right arm then flinches, but doesn't move other than that.

Flint winces as he peers down at his arm.

"Shit…I can't enter my Charge Stance…"

Before Flint can defend, Doku's poison gas blasts into Flint, engulfing him in a cloud of poison.

Flint cries out in pain as Doku's poison gas floods his system, just as before.

"You can't enter your Charge Stance without that other arm," Doku smirks, "And even if you have SOME resistance from my position thanks to my training, NO ONE can survive a fall dose of my poison gas!"

Flint grunts as he drops to the ground on one knee.

"Damn…" he weakly says to himself, "Doku's right. Even if I have a little resistance to his poison, I can't keep taking his attacks like this."

Flint weakly flops face-forwards onto the ground.

"I need to…E-Charge without my Charge Stance…" Flint grunts as he weakly props himself up on his forearms, "If I can't defeat Master Doku…NO ONE can…Khione and Noah won't be able to survive his poisoning…"

Slowly…Flint pushes himself up to his feet at last.

Doku's eyes widen.

"What?!" He cries, "Even YOU shouldn't be able to stand after how much poison filled your body, Flint!"

"You forgot one thing…" Flint weakly smirks back, "The Heroes ALWAYS win."

The sand below Doku begins to rumble again.

"Wh-what?!" Doku cries, "Did you set up a trap beforehand?!"

"Not exactly," Flint smirks as he brings his left hand up and presses his heels together, while leaving his right arm dangling limply at his side. Golden-tan sparks of energy begin to burst and swirl around Flint's body.

Doku's eyes widen even further.

"Your…E-Charging without your Charge Stance…?"

"Have I finally wowed you, Doku?" Flint asks, "Although…I suppose this is just a modified Charge-Stance."

The sand swirling around Doku then flies upwards, wrapping the old man up in another sandstorm.

"SAND CHARGE, LEVEL THREE: SANDSTORM!"

In response, Doku enters his Charge Stance as well, and a moment later, his body turns into poison gas.

"POISON CHARGE, LEVEL THREE: GHOST PHAZE!"

The poison gas making up Doku's body seeps through the cracks in between Flint's sandstorm, then begins flying towards Flint as well.

In response, Flint's body turns into sand as well, then begins flying towards Doku.

"SAND CHARGE, LEVEL ONE: SAND CLONE!"

Flint's sand body and Doku's poison body then fly towards one another and collide in a burst of sand and poison.

At first, the two spells struggle back and forth, but then, Flint's sand pushes past Doku, forcing the old-man back into his human form.

"N-no way…" Doku cries.

"MY PUPIL OVERPOWERED ME?!"

The sand making up Flint's body then slams into Doku one more time, sending the old man crashing to the ground. The sand then reforms back into Flint's body, and Flint limply flops to the ground as well.

"I've finally surpassed you…Master…?" Flint smirks as he weakly peers up at Doku.

"I thought you were finished calling me 'master'?" Doku asks.

"I am," Flint answers, "I have abandoned your teachings then surpassed you, you are no longer my master. But it felt fitting to say, just one last time. You no longer refer to me as your pupil, either."

"Just one last time indeed," Doku replies as he reaches into the folds of his gi and pulls out a short tanto.

Flint's eyes widen. "Master, what are you doing?!"

"I've long-since made a promise to myself, Flint," Doku begins to answer, "That if one of my pupils EVER managed to defeat me in combat…I'd be so ashamed I'd have to kill myself. But…"

Doku's hands begin trembling, and tears form at the edges of his eyes.

"Isn't it strange?" Doku asks, as a sad smile spreads across his lips, "I feel PROUD, instead?"

And then…Doku lifts his tanto up and clutches its hilt tightly between both hands.

"MASTER!" Flint cries as he reaches out to Doku, but then, Flint coughs up a glob of blood, and falls back to the ground, too weak to intervene in Doku's suicide.

"Goodbye…" Doku begins to say as he closes his eyes.

"My putrid pupil."

And then…Doku pierces his stomach.