main index Narrative
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Chapter Four: The Samurai And The Rival.News reports repeated the story on every channel about the battle with the Endeavor and how Captain Lin and her crew held off at great cost. Matsui was watching the details of this latest incident as it came in.“Tis not a good omen” he thought to himself quietly. “Tis not a good omen at all.”He thought for a moment what that might mean and felt a conflicting emotional tide. He knew the way things were couldn’t remain stable forever and feared his son and “adopted” children would have to fight some day. But at the same time, he knew such a war would be the last one for a long, long time and there was no greater honor than victory in battle. Regardless, he knew the choices his children had for their future were in their hands. But as the news continued the details over the incident, Matsui almost couldn’t help to wonder what they thought about what had happened so far away.Mat looked over his new katana with a sense of purpose, knowing full well what he had received from Master Yamanaka. He sat on the bed upstairs with Tenchi only a few feet away when he drew the sword from its sheathe, faced the edge forward and stood it straight up with the hilt down to where he could stare through the blade.“You know what I should call this Tenchi? I should name this sword Blade Zero” He said. He then picked up the sword and pointed up towards the roof with his left arm extended. “Because there is nobody the blade cannot cut!”Tenchi looked amused. “Blade Zero huh? Coming from you that is a surprisingly fitting name!” He said.“(What do you mean by that?!?!?)” Mat burst out.“(I mean that it is a fitting name in a good way! Do we really need to start a fight over that?!?!?)” Tenchi replied.“I guess for once, no.” Mat admitted.“Well good, because you two really need to stop beating on each other so much!” Samantha interjected. “You guys make me wonder, ‘how are you two friends?’”“Easy.” Mat said. “If neither of us were around, there’d be nobody to beat up!” he continued humorously.Mat put his sword away and looked over in Samantha’s direction. “But I suppose we could do with a short vacation from it. Let the bruises heal up at least.”“Well how about this? How about we all go downtown tomorrow and do something fun?” Samantha said.“Fine by me.” Tenchi replied.“I suppose us three shouldn’t be too bad! What’s the worst thing to happen? We walk home?” Mat finished.The next day the three ventured out for a day on the shops and attractions that dotted the streets of downtown San Francisco. They jumped from place to place eagerly seeking out whatever they could find as something to do. As they came out of one shop Samantha jumped up on top of Mat. He staggered around until he could find his balance from the sudden glomping.“This is the best day ever!” Samantha yelled out over the scene.Indeed to her it had been the best day ever because for once, there hadn’t been any fighting between Mat and Tenchi and there was no shortage of fun things to run across. As the trio continued on with their fun, a conversation could be seen brewing up on one of the nearby streets.“They hate us you know that right?” spoke a young Preyaran Lancer walking down the street.Another young Lancer with silvery blue hair spoke back. “It matters not, hatreds come and go like the seasons. Time turns friends to enemies and then back to friends. It may just take longer than you live for it to happen.”“Since when were you so philosophical Anzan?” said the first.“I’ve always known such things. People like you Parus just never seem to listen.” Anzan replied. “Besides, these people hating us is just the natural way of the universe. It won’t last forever. Someday there will be open war between us, and I don’t see any way to avoid that. That’s where warriors like us come in. We seek battle not for selfish glory, but for the preservation of our people and way of life.”“But look at them” Parus spoke. “It took a near miracle for us to even come here on peaceful intentions. Were we in open war, we would be blasted across the stellar winds!”“War may be sooner than we thought. My father Khornan is here with Mistress Bellah doing talks towards the Terran governments, but the incident near that Terran world yesterday may have caused us to come in vain.” Anzan continued.“Then why did we even come to this city?” Parus spoke back.“To see what’s out there to be honest. In the 18 years of my life, I have rarely seen beyond our world of Preyara.” Anzan replied. “It is a rarity that a Lancer such as we see a foreign world while not on a mission of war.”“Consider that the displeasure of being the Swordmaster’s son” Parus barbed.“Being my father’s son means nothing you know that.” Anzan rebuked. “My honor is my own, my exploits are my own, and my rank is my own. If you really think I am some spoiled Councilor’s brat, speak up now so that I may strike you down and right this dishonor!”Anzan reached for his sword, but before he did Parus spoke up. “I mean no disrespect! Really! I am deeply sorry if I offended you.”A small crowd had begun wondering what was happening between the two Preyarans. Anzan backed his hand away from his sword.“Very well, your apology is acceptable.” He said.Murmuring amongst the nearby people began circulating through the growing crowd. The two Lancers quickly broke up the scene they had made and continued down the street.A couple hours later elsewhere Mat, Tenchi and Sam had just come out of a movie theater showing of I Was A Space Marine, laughing their heads off at the intentionally bad style.“That movie was unbelievably cheesy! It’s 100 percent B Movie!” Mat chuckled.“The ending was even better! ‘BUT YOU MUST REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TODAY! TELL THEM BACK HOME! TELL THEM! I WAS A SPACE MARINE!’ Could you get any more ham into the part?” Tenchi said chuckling.“I thought it was a good parody movie!” Sam replied. “I mean after all there is no B in movie. Just be happy it wasn’t horrible!”The three continued on conversing away about the movie until they went around a corner.“So then we had to get the truck out of the water and –oof!” Mat said as he bumped into someone.“I suggest you pay attention to where you walk little Terran.” Anzan spoke up.“Little?” Mat replied. “Look who’s talking skinny!”“Mind your respect human, Anzan here isn’t in the best of moods today. I know.” Parus interrupted.“Then it serves all of you best to just drop this silly little squabble!” Samantha interjected.“Fine by me, this skinny ‘elf’ isn’t worth the trouble of fighting.” Mat said.“Is that a challenge?” Anzan replied.“Only if you make it one.” Mat replied in kind.“Stop it! Just stop it already! Break it up before this gets out of hand!” Sam was growing impatient.“I suggest you wait your turn little girl.” Anzan leaned closer to Samantha. “Why don’t you be a good girl and-.““That’s my sister you’re talking down to, and I won’t stand for you talking to her like that!” Mat interrupted.“And I wouldn’t talk to a Lancer like that!” Parus interrupted.He rose his left arm as if to strike Mathias for the act, but then Tenchi intercepted it with a quick block.“I suggest you back down stranger, if anyone around here has the right to beat Mat up it’s me and only me. Otherwise you will have to go through me first.”“Very well, I suggest we settle this…” Anzan lunged his fist at Mat. In the blink of an eye the punch was caught. Mat waved his finger as if to taunt.“Tsk, tsk, tsk, you don’t open a fight like that! Here, let me show you.”He then immediately countered with a quick jab to the torso. Anzan reeled back, visibly impressed by a show of fighting skill.“Impressive…most impressive.” He said.Parus immediately jumped to action to help Anzan, but Tenchi then grabbed him by the arm and tossed him to the ground.“What did I say?” Tenchi quipped.“Very well…” Parus replied and immediately launched into his own brawl. Samantha backed away from the brewing fights, constantly yelling for the four to stop, but none of them listened. Mat dodged a quick roundhouse kick from Anzan just as Tenchi locked Parus’ arm then immediately countered with his elbow to Parus’ jaw. Tenchi then tripped him up with a leg sweep while Mathias and Anzan engaged in a flurry of dodges and jabs as fast as a humanoid could muster. One left hook by Anzan went sailing by Mat’s head while an immediate counter was blocked by Anzan. Another blow was thrown by Anzan and again by Mat as the two sparred the cycle of blows and dodges continued. However during one exchange Mat got Anzan by the left arm drew him close and headbutted him. Anzan immediately fell over backwards in a daze. As Mat prepared to move in to kick him while he was down, Anzan could only come to one option in his growing frustration. He reached for his belt as Mat came forwards and *Sching* the singing sound of metal immediately filled the air. Mat stumbled back, reeling in pain with his left hand on his left cheek. A sizable sword cut was now visible near Mat’s eye running nearly parallel underneath the bone near it. Blood seeped out over Mat’s cheek as he came to realize what happened. Anzan had just turned a fistfight into a swordfight. The pain was terrible yet he knew it wasn’t too deep, however a rage only came across Mat for that transgression.“I’ll get you for that!” Mat said in anger.He charged Anzan and tackled him before Anzan could swing again. His sword made a metallic clang as it hit the sidewalk after being dropped. In his anger Mat delivered blow after blow against the downed Lancer when suddenly he heard the click of a safety switch.“Alright that’s enough, break it up you two!” a voice said.Mat looked over to his right and above him stood a man with his pistol drawn. Mat immediately scrambled back, Anzan coughed up and then recovered his stance. The man put his pistol away.“I hope you four are finished, because I do not want to get no goddamned police involved in this.”“There is no further problem here.” Anzan said.“Good then you’ll all leave each other alone and go back to being civil.” The man turned back to Mat still bleeding from the sword cut on his face. “I suggest you go home, get a bandage on that.”The man looked back over to Anzan who had sheathed his sword.“And I suggest you keep that put away for however long you’re here ‘elf’. I may not want to get the police involved, but I cannot guarantee someone else here will leave you be.”The man bid the four to mind their business before turning off and leaving.“I suppose we will have to finish this dispute some other day” Anzan said to Mat.“Count on it” he replied.“By the way, the name is Anzan if ever you do decide to follow through”“Likewise the name’s Mathias and don’t forget it.”“Come Parus, it seems we no longer have business to attend to here.” Anzan finished as the two Lancers walked away down the street. Seeing as the fight was now over Sam walked over to Mat and promptly slapped him hard in the face.“What the hell is wrong with you?!? Do you have to pick a fight with everyone?!? Today was supposed to be a day where you could all get along and for once there wouldn’t be any fighting! One of these days you’re going to get yourself killed, and I don’t-…I don’t want to lose you!” she broke down to tears as she buried her face on his chest.The realization of what had happened hit Mathias as if he’d been hit by a hammer. He gave Samantha a firm hug and said “I’m sorry Sam, I don’t know what came over me, what always comes over me in these kinds of things. Maybe it’s…maybe I need to stop being the big brother towards you and start being a better friend.”Samantha looked back up. “You mean that? You really mean that?”“If it makes you happy I can change in that regard.”“Now you know what that means right?” Sam perked up.“Not quite…what do you mean?” Mat replied.“Well first you need to stop bleeding on me and yourself.” She said as she pulled a cloth from a pocket on her dress. Sam pressed it against Mat’s wound and he immediately yelped out in pain.“Relax silly, at least it doesn’t appear to be that bad.” Sam said.“Do you have to press so hard then?”“Yes I do, if anything to keep the point earlier fresh in your head.” Mat looked over at Tenchi who merely nodded and gave a look of understanding. The three finally returned home after bandaging up Mat’s cut to find Master Yamanaka waiting for them.“Fun day?” He said.“Well we didn’t get in a fight if that’s what you’re asking!” Mat said as he walked inside.“I guess that means the bandage was from shaving was it not?” Master Yamanaka acknowledged humorously. “Whatever it was, at least you made it back home safe. That’s what matters anymore these days.”All four went back inside as Tenchi and Mat then went up the stairs.“You know what we need to do now right?” Mat said to Tenchi when the two were out of earshot.“Indeed, indeed I do.”
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