We Hope Your Rules And Wisdom Choke You

Chapter 19: We hope your rules-

Suddenly, he charged forward, spear launching like a snake with a powerful thrust between the black and blue ninja. They jump away from the blade, now separated by the weapon, ready to be picked off. Jay falls back on to his yang, and she catches him without a word with a hand on his shoulder.

"That won't do," The voice tutted. So he swung the spear at them in a raging arc, a line cut into the air as they danced to dodge it. Nya grabs Jay's hands with her own, pulling him away from the swipe. She pushes him back once the weapon is drawn back to Lloyds side, and he swallows dryly.

Again, he swipes the spear at them, powerful enough to cut through flesh in an instant, but together they duck to dodge. A jab to Jay's side, but Nya pulls him away. A jab to hers, and Jay does the same. They push and pull each other like dancers, trained to dodge his weapon as one. They rely on each other to miss the spear that aims to stab- slash, incapacitate, anything but miss- but under Lloyds trained eye he could see that Jay was lagging behind, too many close calls, too many mistakes, he was scared, and Lloyd would take advantage of that.

First, he needs to separate them.

He takes a sharp intake of air, allowing his oni powers to flow from his lungs and into his veins to strengthen him, aid him in his mission. They do just that; he feels his muscles twitch under the influence of the still building power.

Quickly, the three get back into their sick dance, Lloyds strikes quick and easily calculated, deadly and fear inducing, stronger than before. One too many times, the spear comes close to skewering the lightning ninja, and every moment of mistakes Lloyd sees that look of pure unbridled emotion that flashes in his eyes, affecting the fight. It pleases the voice in his head as it screams for the boy's blood to be doused on the weapon. It makes Lloyd feel like vomiting.

Nya shoves Jay out of the way of yet another strike, the spear going in between their bodies. The hands still clutch at each other, and Lloyd takes the chance to swipe the spear up like lightning, forcing their hands apart with the body of the spear. They separated.

He feels the corners of his lips tug slightly at the success, but he had hardly won yet.

Jay's knees buckle, and Lloyd recognizes the move. He's going to roll under the spear to get back to Nya, back to safety.

Lloyd swings the spear back in an arch behind him, dissuading whoever it was that he'd felt the presence of, and using the momentum to set himself into a swinging back fist that collides heavily with Jays chest, knocking him down with a thud that resembles thunder.

He hears Jays hiss of pain cut short as his neck tenses, not allowing his head to hit the ground as the rest of him tumbles. It was an instinct, ingrained into their muscle memory by their sensei. It had saved them from many concussions, this time was no different.

Jay was already moving into a kip-up, hands pressed flat either side of his head, so Lloyd jumped forward to kick at his chest again, boot leaning heavily against his ribs. Jay wheezes into a cough, hands clasping at Lloyds leg desperately, shoving and pushing him away, but oni power ran through his muscles and he pushed harder, cringing at the feeling of the ribs almost giving way beneath him.

His heart palpitates in his chest, hands clenching the spear in his hands. He raises it high above his head, ready to answer the voices prayers, and-

A jet of water hurtles into his side, knocking his footing from under him and drenching him in water so hot it may as well be boiling. One foot gave way beneath him, and he toppled to the right of Jay's collapsed body, his leg caught in Jay's painful grip, not letting go despite how Lloyd kicked and swung his leg to be freed.