Fiery Echoes

[Oth]

Ninjutsu: 2009/2000

After his first struggle to find a member, Laxus became more vary of the journey ahead of him. He tried to find an easier target on his brother's list, but each one of these people were monsters. He read back on the conclave, engraved letters on a desk, spelling out 'NOVANUS', possibly his crew's name. According to Nexus, they couldn't handle each other after the leader passed away. Laxus tried to find a file of this leader, but he couldn't even get a name. He believed each one wanted to complete the mission, but it was impossible without each other's help. It was up to Nexus now to lead a new generation of men, to make sure the plan was seen through.

He realized rather than searching at random, he should pick out a name to focus on one person rather than many. He picked the one with the most recent sightings: Kamina Satoh. Last seen locations were on the borders of Fire Country. He was a pyromaniac, an expert of fire. He seemed like a fire counterpart of Laxus, almost.

After a month of asking around and searching around the border, Laxus wasn't getting any results. He found high ground, away from civilization to help himself think. The quiet, fragile sounds of the forest soothed Laxus's mind.

BTOOOOOM.

A blast behind him, just a few minutes out. There were dead animals everywhere and parts of the forest burned down. There was smoke coming out from the center with a man touching the surface with his palm. "Shit, that was bad." The man whispered to himself. Laxus came closer to ask what exactly had happened, but when the man turned his head, Laxus instantly recognized him. His hair was longer, he had a bit of a stumble and he had a cigarette, but it was him, "Kamina." Laxus glanced at him and before he could speak further, Kamina turned around to face him.

"Nexus, you little bitch." He said each word seperately with its own pocket of hate. "I thought I told you to fuck the hell off."

Laxus was ready for anything. Nexus clearly had some beef with this guy. He and his brother shared quite the resemblance so thought best to tread lightly. "My name is not Nexus, I- But before he could finish, Kamina cut him off, "Well, 'Not-Nexus', I'd extend the same thought to you too. Fuck. the hell. off." Kamina wasn't in a talking mood, but luckily for Laxus, and rather, the entire forest and its habitat, he wasn't in a fighting mood either as he simply walked off.

He wasn't just going to let him go, so Laxus followed him. He wasn't going be suspicious about it. He walked just ten feet behind him. The two walked together in silence up a mountain. Kamina looked annoyed but he didn't say anything until half way up reaching a small campsite. "You want one?" He offered him a cigarette. Laxus didn't smoke, but this was Kamina making the first step so he took it. Might as well start. He was more likely to die with a blade to his heart rather than lung cancer.

As the two went inside a strange large tent with no one else inside, Laxus explained why he looked for him. It turned out he and Nexus were rivals back in the day. Along with one other member, the three were the best elemental users the world had to offer at one point. After hearing enough, Kamina stood up saying he understood what he needed to do, but there was something Laxus had to do first. "Prove yourself." With his rivals gone, Kamina had no one to spar with. He knew Laxus was no where near his level and wanted to train him. It was almost as if he had to, as if he was fulfilling a promise. With a promise to follow his every word, Kamina agreed to be his mentor and the two stepped out back into the mountains to find ground to train on.


In mere seconds, the mood intensified. Kamina's aura was completely different. His eyes looked directly into Laxus's. They were penetrating into his. He dropped his cigarette to the floor and his hands lit on fire. He stood there, almost provoking Laxus to go first. Laxus had hundred of tiny electric shards spawn around him.

Laxus didn't move either. He tried to stare him back down. He was a master of an element too. His shards went straight for Kamina. They came from all directions. Kamina stood unphased. The fire from his hands split into wisps, matching exactly the number to Laxus's shards. Each wisp swallowed Laxus's shard, causing a small explosion on each one, collectively making a large one. The explosion was much, much smaller than it should have been. The wisps completely countered the shards. Kamina hadn't moved an inch.

"Try again."

Kamina's voice was different now, somehow. His words seemed more... exact. Laxus wasn't going to kid himself. It was impressive. A single act, and Laxus was impressed. His ninjutsu skill was no where near Kamina despite then both having mastered an element. Laxus had to test him self if wanted to do any damage. He smirked for a second, thinking it was all in his head, then stopped on the ground. The two at this point, still hadn't moved from their original places. Laxus was going to make him move first, or fall first.

The ground beneath Kamina started to crack, and then suddenly, break apart with nothing but a giant gaping hole underneath him. ...But he still hadn't moved. Kamina'sfeet were shining, releasing enough fire to keep him afloat.

"Try again!" He said once more. It was starting to irritate Laxus, but he didn't have to make the next move. Creating a hole on a mountain wasn't the best idea. Giant rocks from higher up started to fall. It was a landslide.

Laxus threw lightning one at a time, but they kept coming. He was fast, but not fast enough. As a last ditch effort, he burst out, releasing a huge orb of lightning around himself, crushing all the debris that came close to himself.

Kamina had a different strategy to get rid of it. He merely glanced at the slide, placed his palm up front and created this ball of... well, Laxus wasn't sure what it was. He hadn't seen it before. It wasn't katon, that was for sure. The rocks around him simply corroded. The slightest touch and they broke. "Oxidation." He said it was 'super' release of his village, of fire.

Kamina was getting hyped himself. He wanted to test Laxus's skills some more. Push his ninjutsu to the limit. He lighting orb was a step up from his previous threatrics. He launched the ball of sankaton into Laxus's thunder palace. Laxus strengthened the field to where the ball was to enter from, given its trajectory. He was confident that his lightning was strong enough to prevent the ball from entering.

However, Kamina didn't mention how special this new trick was. The ball went straight through. Laxus had a split second to recall the lightning around his arms, solidfying it and catching the ball. This lightning was different than the previous one, but the ball was eating it. Laxus's lightning was dissipating along with the ball. It was a close call. An extremely close call.

The solid lightning intrigued Kamina. It was time to get serious. "Very well." The fire at his feet shot him upwards. He folded his hands, then raised his right one and clenched a fist. From the pit, he engulfed a boulder in flames and lifting it up. The cracks within the boulder were filled with katon spilling out. It was going to explode.

Laxus first assumed it was some sort of Doton technique, but it didn't match up with his style. Then he saw the chakra. He knew he had to shield from the impact, but there was nothing to shield with. His thunder palace was gone and there was no place to take cover. It was still part rock wasn't it? Laxus was going to gamble it. He created an electric bow, shooting the bomb before it was to go off. His plan was to destroy it while its trajectory was being defined. He had to be fast, because well, Kamina was fast.

The boulder shot towards Laxus and the arrow caused it to split as it came closer. The explosion was huge, pushing both away. Kamina was much less effected because he was on the other side and floating higher above, but Laxus was in bruises. However, he was still alive.

He was barely making a dent. Kamina was toying with Laxus and Laxus was throwing powerful jutsu one after another. He looked towards Kamina to notice a faint cut on his cheek. It was all he had done. He was ashamed.

"You were impressive." A voice called down. "Take risks more often." He brushed off the blood on his cheek as he approached Laxus. Kamina told Laxus that it wasn't going to be easy and that he did well.

Laxus had mastered an unstable and powerful element, but he was unstable himself. He needed to match the unpredictability of the element with his own actions and instincts. Kamina had a plasmic element as well. Fire wasn't exactly the safest thing either, but his techniques were much more fluid and elegant but when needed to, blunt, aggressive and explosive. He matched the personality of his element and became one with the fire. This was where Laxus was lacking. It was why he was losing the fight.

"Are you ready?" Kamina didn't want to wait. He was still ready to go on. His body was lit up with fire and his chakra was intensifying.

Laxus wasn't going to back down either and did the same. His body started to cover itself with lightning. He was becoming one with the lightning just as Kamina was one of fire. But Laxus was no push over, he wasn't just taking his word for the literal sense, Laxus pushed himself and his mastery a step above that. Using the lighting around him, he spread to expand his arms and even grow a tail. Then, expressing further his feral nature, got on all fours and let the chakra surge his body.

"Now you're getting into it!" Kamina did the same thing. His mastery pushed to create bat-like wings and a tail as well. They were both monsters now.

Kamina made the first move, flying above shooting balls of flame from his fists one after another. Laxus couldn't fly and had to improvise to get close to him. He pounced around like an animal, dodging each blast after another while gaining momentum. In this form, he was much faster and much more agile.

Using the rocks around him, he extended the lighting around his arms to grab them as a lift. Only possible to his solidification though, he pushed himself upward towards Kamina. He had a lot of range, so when he came close, he threw his fist forward for an excessively charged punch.

Kamina's speed was being tested here. At a split second, without even handseals, he had another ball of sankaton gripped at his palms. The ball shot, eating the fist away. However, Laxus kept pushing onward, shifting his left arm's lightning to the repair the right one just in time to push Kamina sacrificing his beast form to destroy Kamina's.

Kamina's body shot the ground, but so did Laxus. Laxus was exhausted for using so much chakra. He instantly fainted. Kamina, however, was still walking. His form was broken and his body was in bruises, but he could last much longer. Regardless, at this point, he still was having a tough time walking. Although he was the one left standing, he wanted to give the win to Laxus, carrying the teal-haired boy back into the tent to rest. "He's tough, Nexus."