Rising Freedom

Previous Chapter - Prison Sanctum

Introduction
The group consisting of Elligr, Lucas, Theo, and Hogotsu, who were all looking at the guard as he was standing in the doorway, overhearing everything that they had just talked about. "Listen, I know how this may sound but I am not your..." Before he could finish his sentence, Theo had already moved at lightning fat speed, grabbing the guard's neck as he slammed him hard into the wall, gripping him tightly as he continued to glare at him with the intent to kill.

"We cannot take any chances, we gotta kill this guy before he even thinks about killing us...." Theo said in a serious tone as the others looked at him with shock, surprised that the calm one would suddenly rush in to kill someone who overheard them. "Sorry, but I don't really care either way..." He said before attempting to crush his throat only to be stopped by Lucas, who glared at his brother to loosen his grip.

"What do you mean have a better plan?" Lucas said as Theo glared at his brother, surprised that Lucas was even considering something like this.

"Look, you don't have to trust me, I get that I'm not exactly the most worthy at the moment, but I am on your side." He said struggling as Lucas glared at Theo, causing him to growl in aggravation as he let go of the guy who was coughing to regain some of the air back.

Hogotsu let out a sigh, shaking his head. "How about this; instead of killing the poor bastard, and I use that term loosely, we torture him and get some more information out of him? He might just be a grunt or whatever but they tend to hear stuff they aren't supposed to." He suggested, shrugging his shoulders when he finished.

Theo looked at Hogotsu like he had said they should burn down an orphanage and murder puppies. That specific look, nothing else. Just that look. "Are you insane!" Theo said in a hushed tone, not that it was doing him any good. "How would we play this through and even then, what if he gives no info to us? What should we do at that point?"

"God sake, let the man speak." Elligr said, lifting Theo and Hogotsu apart. "Ether he kills us, or we die in that fighting pit. Any way ya slice it, we got nothing to lose by lending an ear."

"I agree, let's just hear what he has to say..." Lucas said as they looked over to the guy who had finally caught his breath, and was trying to keep himself calm.

"Thanks, another second and I thought I was gonna be dead..." He said rubbing his neck as he looked at the group, "My name is Hyde, and well... I remember seeing you and the blue haired girl sneaking down into the tunnels, and when I saw how disgusted you were by the stuff that was happening, it made me start to question if this was right" He said as they tried to understand what he was saying to them.

"Just now, are you questioning whether or not this is right?" Hogotsu asked, letting out a light snort, as though he had heard this sort of thing a million times. "How convenient."

"Aye." Elligr nodded in agreement. "Seems a little too convenient to me."

"Okay yes, I was more than willing to follow Sarin if it meant resurrecting this demon, but I mean.... I just thought..." He was trying to get the words out of his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

"You thought it would mean not having to do anything, that you wouldn't have to get your pathetic hands dirty, that right?" Lucas said glaring down as the guy got on his knees, looking away, "As much as I would enjoy letting Theo rip you to shreds for the abominations you did, you're going to help us get our stuff back, find the keys to these collars, and get us all out of here. Then we're going to throw you in a prison where you can rot for all I care" Lucas said as Hyde nodded without looking at any of them.

Theo and Hogotsu both nodded in agreement, the first time since they had meet. They both knew that it would just turn out badly if they ended up killing him. Best to just stick him in a cell and leave him there. Theo walked over and hauled Hyde up, making sure to keep him in his grasp. "Now then, let's get moving, shall we?" He asked, though his voice told Hyde that it was a demand.

Elligr trailed behind the others as they left, thinking on how they where going to pull this off. Nothing came to mind, so he thought to share his concerns. "So how are we going about doing this then? I mean, We're not exactly the Four Gods of Ishgar here..."

"No, but we don't have the liberty to be picky... Alright here's how we should do this: Elligr, you're with me and Hyde, we're going to go see if we can find any more secret entrances or exits that could help us escape. Theo, I need you to go look into Dina, right now we need all the allies we can get in order to be sure we're prepared. Hogotsu, track down Doris, we'll need her help as well. We need to be sure that they don't figure out what we're up to, otherwise we're all screwed" Lucas said as they all nodded in agreement.

Hogotsu let a small "Oh" sound before he said, "Hey is it okay if I use any method that I have to find Doris-nee-chan?" The gleam in his eyes was pratically screaming that he had something planned and it was incredibly dangerous to boot. A terrifying thought of what this boy could produce inside his mind.

"Boy, if that woman comes after us... Doesn't mater if Sarin finds out, we'll be dead as it is." Elligr said nervously.

"Long as you don't try to grope her, you'll live, but right now, let's split" Lucas said as they all began to hear the horn, indicating it was time for the second match of the day as Hogotsu went running in one direction, Theo in another, and finally Elligr and Lucas along with Hyde began their quick walk down to the lower levels to investigate any other passages they might have missed.

Wrecking Rumble
The sounds of multiple footsteps could be heard as many of the prisoners, minus three, were all standing at attention, except for two as Hogotsu was seen trying to find Doris, searching high and low as he still realized that they were still doing the horn, and had to work fast to get to her.

"Where the hell is that damn woman at?" Hogotsu muttered to himself. How hard was it to find a girl with huge knockers and blue hair? That should make her stick out like a sore thumb, damn it! "Well, time for plan B." Hogotsu said, taking a deep breath before screaming out. "Doris! That Elligir guy said that he has photos of you in the buff and will show them to everyone!"

In that moment, the sky turned dark as everything seemed to have turn into a hell on earth as the sounds of heavy footsteps came afterwords, making Hogotsu turn to see her demon face glaring at him, "If you have copies, only hell will await you...." She said in a dark tone that made the earth beneath her crumble.

Hogotsu simply smiled and respond without a care in the world. "Nah, I just lied to get your attention. It was taking way too long to find you and that was the only thing I could come up with at the moment. By the way, how did you make the sky turn dark?" He finished as he looked up in confusion on how she could preform such a feat.

"Never mind that..." She said calming down before bonking Hogotsu on the head, "What do you want that made you lie about something like that?!" She said with fury as a vein popped in her forehead.

Hogotsu thought for a moment before snapping his fingers in realization. "Oh! Well, strawberry head, that Lucas guy, wanted me to go and get you. We need your help on escaping this place." He said, making sure that no guards heard him.

"Huh, didn't think he would have a plan, so what exactly are we suppose to do..." She said but looked over to see everyone gathering as she knew that her question would get answered later.

"Well, we might as well fall in line. Don't wanna draw any attention to ourselves now." Hogotsu said as he and Doris moved to merge within the line. They were both in what seemed to be the center area and waited for whatever was about to happen.

Sarin strolled by again, this time drinking from a bottle of booze and appearing as if he had lost interest in much of what was going on. "You, shorty with the white hair." He gestured at Hogotsu. "And you, in the combat vest. Pair of you are goin' to kill each other." He turned to leave, but stopped and looked over his shoulder again. "Oh yeah, and no more freebies. I ain't bailing anyone else out because they want to take the moral highroad. You be on your own now."

Both men looked at each other as they were then lead towards their destination, all while Doris looked at Hogotsu with worry, despite his irritating way, she didn't want him to die, and was angry that all she could do was watch as she and the others were lead to their seats, awaiting the combat to begin.

Hogotsu began to stretch, mostly out of boredom, waiting on his opponent. "Man, I've been itching to fight since I got here. It was nice of Crow to pick me to fight." He said, as he was now standing straight up and a grin was plastered on his face.

"Don't count your chicken's yet kid." The other man said, cracking his knuckles in the palm of his hand. "I ain't as nice as that last fatso. Give me a chance and I'll rip you to shreds without a second thought."

"Gosh. Aren't you just the biggest dick in this place?" Hogotsu said nonchalantly, as he and his opponent moved to the center of the arena. "So, are you ready for this, canon fodder?"

The man, a solder given by his apparel, cracked a smile. "Hope your ready brat..." as he spoke, his began to grow, sprouting an array of sharp horns and shaggy white hair all over his body. By the end he resembled a large gorilla with deer horns, long claws, and a dog like snout full of razor sharp teeth. "Take Over: Mountain King!" electricity began sparking between his horns as he snarled at Hogotsu. "Time to die, little man."

Hogotsu simply picked his nose and flicked the booger of his finger, as it landed on the now dog-man's snout. "Huh, so you are a furry. I have heard of this strange phenomenon but never actually seen one in person." He said, clearly not bothered by the deadly creature in front of him.

A vein popped above the solders glowing blue eyes, and electricity sparked down his back. in a bright flash, numerous bolts of lightning jumped from the beast man's horns and buzzed through the air at Hogotsu.

Hogotsu simply raised his own hand, pointed at his opponent, and released his own bolts of lighting that countered the one's that were originally heading towards him. "Tell me something, do you do the ritual that is known as yiffing? 'Cause I've heard about that kinda stuff and it is just wrong but I won't judge you…for like ten minutes, give or take." Hogotsu said as he was now picking his ear, still clearly bored.

As Hogotsu talked, the best solder broke into a gallop, baring down at the boy with his massive horns. At the last moment, he bucked upwards, swiping at Hogotsu with his massive claws accompanied by an animalistic roar.

Hogotsu simply bobbed and weaved his way though the deadly claws, still showing a bored look on his face. "You know, they say getting angry leads to mistakes in life. Is that why you became a furry?" He said as jumping back, twisting his body to where he would land was doing a handstand while at the same grabbing some dirt and threw it at the eyes of his opponent.

The tactic worked, and the beast man's eyes snapped shut. Roaring in anger, he continued to swipe blindly for a moment, then calmed ans sniffed at the air. "I don't need to see ya to gut ya." he spun at Hogotsu again, lunging out with his claws.

"While that may be true, you do need to see what I'm about to do to you" Hogotsu retorted as he jumped over the Beast Man (or Furry Freak as Hogotsu preferred), barely dodging the claws that would surely cut him to shreds. He landed behind him and sent a strong yet swift kick to the back of the beast's right leg.

The solder fell on one knee, but unleashed a powerful pulse of lightning from his back before Hogotsu could follow up.

Hogotsu was sent flying back but he was able to move into a safe landing position as a means to minimize damage. "Listen, are we gonna keep doing this because this is quite boring. I really wanna go and read my Phoenix Heart X manga. Seems more exciting than this." He said, as he was looking at the beast man, waiting to see his response.

"Unless you got another way out'a here." He said sarcastically, raking the ground with his claws, not unlike the actions of a bull. "Now sit still pipsqueak, You can't keep running forever!" With that, he charged. Lowering his head to ram Hogotsu with his electrified horns.

Hogotsu let out a sigh, as he held out his left arm with lightning dancing around it in great vigor. The lightning began slowly but surely, shift into a medium sized sphere, sending sparks out. "I grow tired of this game." Hogotsu said, as he watched his opponent charge at him while at the same time the orb was now complete. "I will end this now. Take this. Beast Hammer. Hogotsu twisted his upper body before snapping it back to the normal position, throwing the orb with incredible speed at his target.

The solder bucked his head upwards, shattering the spell with his horns. The force of the attack was enough to stop him in his tracks, however he remained unharmed. "Get it now boy?" He grinned flashing a row of long jagged teeth. "Lightning don't do shit to me!" With that, he lowered his head and charged again.

"Huh. Well, I will admit that I did not see that coming." Hogotsu said as he ran towards his opponent as his leg began to turn a strange black color. "If I can't use lightning, how about some deadly kicks!" Hogotsu preformed a jump kick towards the head of his target.

The solders head hit the ground hard, but he instantly shot upwards again, launching Hogotsu high into the air. "Eat this kid! Storm Roar!" glairing up at his opponent, the beast solder launched a torrent of lightning from his mouth.

Hogotsu narrowed his eyes and did the only thing he could; cross his arms as he attemped to defend himself from the force of the attack, being consumed in the blast of lightning. Cutting off his own attack, the solder leapt high into the air. Once at Hogotsu's level he swung his massive arm down at him, attempting to knock him back down to earth.

Hogotsu sent out twin blast of lightning that shoot him away from the attack and sent heading back down to the arena, where he landed with a lound thud. He looked over at the solider, who landed on the ground. "Well, I guess that I should take this serously now. I obviosuly won't beat you if I keep playing these games." He said as lightning began to dance around him, and seemd to re-enter his body.

"Games huh?" The solder said with a grin. "Interesting..." Electricity began sparking off of his fur, and he dug his claws into the ground. "Let's see what you got then runt!" With an animalistic roar, the solder charged at Hogotsu again.

Hogotsu did not move from his spot as his hair become spikier, resembaling that of lightning bolts, and lightning seemed to only be exiting from his legs and hands now. "Allow me to show you my personal magic, exclusive to me, at least for now. This is Imperial Embodiment and this is the first form, Jiraiya." Hogotsu dashed foward, a dust cloud formed where he previously was standing to show how fast he moved now. He ran at the solder, moving to deliver a powerful punch towards his chest.

The solder attempted another wide sweep, however was knocked off his feet when Hogotsu's fist collided with his chest. He spit up a bit of blood, but was able to recover quickly. Rolling with the momentum, the solder's long claws closed around Hogotsu's leg, swinging him at the ground with another roll.

Hogotsu toppled to the ground, letting out a grunt noise. He reared his fist back and brought it down on the top of the solder's head, intending on caving it in. The solder cranked his head to the side, opening his jaws wide to bite down on Hogotsu's fist.

Hogotsu did not stop his movement as his fist went into the jaws of the beast and grabbed his tounge, sending high volts of electricty into said appendage and made it clear he was not going to let go.

The solder didn't miss a beat, snapping his jaws closed on Hogotsu's arm. Razor sharp fangs dug into flesh, and the beast man began flailing his head around like a wold who had just caught his prey, trying to inflict as much damage as possible.

Hogotsu let out a sharp yell before he looked at the solder with a great amount of determination. "I'm ending this right now! I will show that I am not just a kid, but a person has gone through hardships and is still able to walk away a new man! Take this, Crushing Fist of Majestic Lightning!" Hogotsu roared as he brought his other fist down on his opponent's head. The moment his fist collided with the target, a burst of lightning shoot out. One after another, it continued for several long moments.

The solder grunted with each impact, but abruptly spun around and loosened his vice grip jaws from Hogotsu's arm. As he skidded along the ground, the solder grinned at him with blood running between his eyes. "I didn't ask for your life story kid. And sorry to say, lightning still won't hurt me in this form." Reaching the end of his explanation, the solder roared and charged again.

Hogotsu jumped back, and began to spin on his left leg, specifically the heel. He continued to spin until his leg was beginning to glow a bright red. "Well, if lightning won't take you down…" Hogotsu began to say as he stopped spinning, his leg illuminating a lot of heat. He gridded his leg into the ground, causing it to ignite into flames. "How about some redhot fire!" Hogotsu charged, intent on finishing this.

Hogotsu dove at the solder, spun out of the way of his claws, and delivered a burning roundhouse kick to the center of his torso. He instantly shot backwards, roaring in agony from a smoldering patch of skin on his chest. He slammed hard into the runes at the edge of the arena, falling to his knees and kicking about to stave off the pain. Though it all he glared at Hogotsu again. "Damn brat! Die already!" He opened his mouth wide, loosing lightning at his opponent again. "Storm Roar!"