Ginga Togyushi Taurus: Chapter 19
A/N: Much like the previous chapter, this chapter contains a lot of canon divergence. I combined the canon of the GDW manga with the change in Toube’s gender for the Zetsu Tenrou Bastards’ GDW English fandub (slight spoiler for the dub, but also not quite since everyone on the dub Discord knows we’ve been planning this change for a long time)
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Chapter 19: The Kinship of Ohu
"I'll knock you down, Tesshin!" Taurus boldly declared as he lowered himself into an attacking position in front of the Koga.
"Careful Taurus," Tesshin warned calmly. "Don't get overconfident!"
Taurus heard Tesshin's advice, but made no indication that he did. All Tesshin got from the Akita was a sharp growl and a harsh blow to his neck as Taurus sharply head-butted him to the ground. As soon as Tesshin was down, in a split second Taurus jumped to his right and rolled out of the way as Jerome attacked from behind. The Shepherd immediately lost his footing as he missed his target, and then all of a sudden felt himself pulled to the ground and flipped onto his back.
"Well, that's something you don't see every day," commented Akame, who was standing next to Weed. Both spitzes carefully kept an eye on Taurus' fighting methods. "The only dogs I've seen with that much agility were the Iga."
"You’re not entirely wrong," Weed continued. "Taurus did mention he trained with some shinobis on the way here."
"Ah, Wakame of the New Iga," Akame concluded. "That explains how Taurus was able to get the better of Jerome so quickly. "
"And he's surprisingly aggressive for his age," Rocket added as he strode over to the two dogs. "Did you see the way he attacked Tesshin?"
"He's gonna need that kind of aggression when he's in the match," Weed replied. "It's the only way he can beat a powerful Tosa like Shilo."
"Come on, get up!" the three dogs shifted their focus back to Taurus' demand at his two defeated opponents. "Stop pretending to be injured just to encourage me! This won't do anything to help!"
"Taurus, enough!" Weed ordered. "You've tired them out enough already."
"I... I did?" Taurus stammered and looked over as Jerome and Tesshin slowly stood back up.
"Not bad at all, Taurus," Tesshin congratulated with a subtle laugh. "You've gotten strong enough that you were able to take down not one, but two experienced Ohu soldiers."
I really managed to do that all on my own? Taurus was still stunned before he broke into an innocent chuckle. "Sorry about that, you two! I didn't know I could finally fight that well."
"Don't be," Jerome responded. "The fact that you were able to overturn adult dogs like us proves taking down Shilo won’t be hard."
"Wow..." Taurus whispered to himself, still astonished by his own success. "So uh, how'd I do today, Weed-sama?"
"Well, Jerome said it himself," the leader replied. "You proved that you've learned a lot over this past week. The only thing I really recommend is that you use your teeth more often."
"My teeth?"
"For someone with a small body like yours, being pinned down by a reckless dog like Shilo would be a bad sign. I see that you focus a lot on using your senses and your muscles, but in the worst case, using your teeth to slice and cut will give you at least some advantage."
"Alright, I get it. Thank you, Weed-sama! Am I dismissed now?"
"Absolutely, Taurus."
---
"Look, Taurus is here!" Bellatrix announced excitedly as the older Akita arrived at the stream.
"What's going on today, guys?" Taurus greeted playfully, trotting over to the edge of the water where the boys were.
"Hey Taurus, check out my cool new attack I came up with!" Orion called over. "I call it The Frog!”
“‘The Frog?’” Taurus questioned amusedly.
“Yeah! It allows me to jump from here all the way to that rock in the water!"
“That’s not exactly an attack, Orion,” Bellatrix corrected. “What kind of enemies could that move kill?”
"Ha, stop showing off Orion!" Rigel scoffed. "There's no way you can clear that distance!"
"Shut up, chump! Grandpa Gin could have done this at an even younger age! Just watch!"
Orion lowered himself a bit, and then launched himself forward. Unfortunately, much to Rigel's prediction he didn't make it two feet before he immediately plummeted below the stream's surface.
"I told you you couldn’t do it, stupidhead!" Rigel ridiculed again as Orion forced himself back up to breathe. "You're only trying to look cool in front of Taurus!"
"SHUT UP, Rigel!" Orion barked. "Stop bein' so mean!"
"Yeah, Rigel!" Bellatrix retaliated. "Just because mom isn't here right now that doesn't mean you can get away with whatever you want!"
"Duhh, look I'm Bella! I'm stupid!" Rigel jested as he stuck his tongue out and crossed his eyes.
"Oh, that does it you little-" Bellatrix found herself unable to get the words out as she sprang forward and tackled Rigel to the ground.
"Hey, quit it!" Taurus shouted as he jumped right between the two siblings. "Stop fighting, you two!"
"What, even you Taurus? But that's not fair!" Rigel pleaded. "We're the sons of the mighty commander of Ohu himself! Why're you allowed to fight but we're not?"
"Rigel, my case is different," Taurus replied more seriously this time. "It's part of my career to fight, but I only fight big and mean dogs who I'm supposed to treat like enemies. But you kids are family. You should know better than constantly arguing with each other. If you guys are anything like me, and if you don't value your time with your siblings now, then you'll forget how important they are to you if you're sent away from Ohu to train or something."
All three of the pups had approached and stopped in front of Taurus as he spoke his surprisingly profound advice.
"So kids, are you going to go apologize to each other?"
Rigel paused hesitantly for a while, and then rolled his eyes with a sigh.
"Fine," he gave in reluctantly. "Bellatrix, Orion, I'm sorry for being such a jerk."
"It's okay," Orion replied as he approached Rigel. "I’m sorry too, and we forgive you, brother."
Rigel nonchalantly placed his paw onto Orion's chest while smiling warmly, suggesting he had taken in Orion's forgiveness in return. And then he pushed.
"Rigel!" Orion cursed as he stumbled backwards into the water. "RIGEL I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"
Rigel immediately lost the smug smile on his face as Orion angrily trudged his way back out of the water, and Rigel unconsciously raised his paw back up in self-defense.
"Hey, I said that was enough, you guys!" Taurus warned as yet again he threw himself in front of Rigel the very second the latter struck his paw at him. Rigel reflexively and regrettingly drew his paw back as the blow was delivered harder than he expected. The pup somehow managed to send Taurus flying a few feet before he landed face-down into the water!
"Oh... crap!" Rigel exclaimed as he rushed into the water. "Taurus? Taurus? Taurus!"
"Uh oh," Orion muttered anxiously as he pressed his front paws onto Taurus' shoulder and repeatedly shook him. "Rigel... he's not moving."
"Shit, oh SHIT!" Rigel raised his front paws to his head in despair.
"Oh my god, you killed Taurus!"
A loud splash suddenly resounded, and Orion and Rigel quickly jumped back in surprise, shocked but relieved to see Taurus laughing loudly with his head now out of the water.
"Man, you scared the hell outta us, Taurus!" Orion blurted. "How did you even hold you breath for that long?"
"You've pups got a lot to learn," Taurus replied with a wink, and soon Rigel and Orion had joined in on the laughter.
"You're so cool, Taurus!" Bellatrix excitedly uttered as she ran to the edge of the stream. "You're just like another big brother!"
"A big brother?" Taurus responded, both surprised and touched by Bellatrix's statement. "Haha... I guess so."
Huh, so this is how Sagittarius must feel like being the oldest brother, Taurus reminisced.
As he did periodically throughout his quest so far, Taurus was reminded of his family back home in Shikoku once more. But for the first time in three months, he no longer felt homesick about it. He was now already on the last stop of his mission, and had to worry no more now that he was only a few steps away from his journey's end.
Mom, everybody. Just hang on a little longer. I promise I'll finally be back home soon.
---
"You've been staring at that sky for a while, son," Taurus whipped his head around, startled as Gin approached from that bush that was just behind him. "What's on your mind?”
Taurus finally spoke up when Gin stopped and sat down beside him.
"My dad's up there," the young canine replied, and soon Gin lifted his head up to the moon that Taurus was so focused on.
"I see. As is mine."
"Oh, you mean Riki?"
Gin nodded, and then gazed back up at the night sky.
"So uh, how was it like when your father... well, you know?" Taurus inquired nervously.
Gin closed his eyes and exhaled.
"I knew my father for much of my childhood, but he barely knew me. On the very day I was born, I had to watch Akakabuto throw my own father off a cliff to his death, or so we thought. He ended up surviving, and he then created the Ohu army. But being thrown off that cliff had erased every memory he had of his life except for his duty to reclaim Ohu back from Akakabuto. And then when he did finally regain his memory, I could only spend one last moment together with him in the final battle against Akakabuto... and then, he was gone."
"I... I'm so sorry Gin-sama," Taurus condoled after a long silence drew out. Though he knew that Gin was still a normal dog like everybody else, he had never expected he'd get this close to a former Supreme Commander to see him so vulnerable before.
"Don't worry about that," Gin replied solemnly. "As all leaders of Ohu pass at some point, I know my father isn't gone forever. And neither is yours."
Taurus lowered his head and stared down at the grassy earth beneath him.
"Well... I'm glad I'm not alone in losing my dad at such a young age. I guess even you Ohu soldiers started off the same way I did."
"Taurus, listen. An Ohu soldier's greatest weapon isn't just his fangs; it's also his heart. The struggles we go through help build our character- fighting dogs like you too."
"Really? Then, Gin-sama. You said you've fought alongside those great fighting dogs like Benizakura before, right? Am I... anything like them?"
Gin nodded with a soft smile.
"As I said, Taurus. You don't look it, but you share the same amount of dignity as they do: Benizakura's determination, Musashi's kindness, Toube's loyalty. And no matter your different breed, your aspiration to bring back honor to your family will surely help you fulfill your mission. Take it from an experienced veteran like myself."
Touched by Gin's encouraging words, Taurus rose to his feet and lowered his head towards the old dog respectfully.
"Thank you, Gin-sama," Taurus said. "It means a lot coming from an Ohu soldier like you."
"There's no need to do that every time, Taurus," Gin placed the back of his front paw under Taurus' chin and slowly raised it. "You know that you've been a welcomed comrade of the Ohu army for a while now, and helping you on your mission is our top priority at the moment."
Taurus nodded. "And I promise I'll keep doing my best as an Ohu warrior."
---
A day later, another arduous training session had been completed. Weed and Gin jumped back in complete surprise as Hiro was thrown onto the ground right below their feet. Both Taurus and the hefty opponent faltered and panted heavily in exhaustion and shock.
"Hiro, darling!" a feminine voice broke through the two fighters' brief recovery period. "Are you alright?!"
"Reika, you know there's no need to worry about me, dear," Hiro said as he nonchalantly rose back to all fours. "But to be defeated by such a young dog like that is extraordinary, haha."
"Did I at least do better this time, Weed-sama?" Taurus asked, wagging his tail excitedly.
"Yes Taurus, you did do better," Weed assured proudly. "I see you've been using your fangs more like I suggested."
"And you've managed to overpower even a hunk like me," Hiro complimented jovially. "I say, Taurus. If I was allowed to participate in the fight, I’d gladly castrate Shilo for you if I could."
"Heh... thanks Hiro-san," Taurus replied. “I wish you could, but they’d automatically disqualify you as a fighting dog if you did that.”
The married couple responded with a slight chuckle at the two dogs’ dark joke. After Hiro and Reika left, Taurus soon did the same to meet up with Weed's four children again, leaving behind the two Supreme Commanders on their own.
"Father," Weed started. "Since it's clear that Taurus has been extremely prodigious in his training so far, do you think maybe we might give a shot at teaching him our family's technique?"
"Which technique?"
"You know, that one."
Weed's blue eyes stared directly into Gin's.
"Ah! Yes... but the only thing I'm skeptical about is how well Taurus could possibly learn it. Though I did teach it to Tesshin once, I'm not sure how many other dogs can master it the same way he did."
"Taurus probably could do without it, but from what he's been telling me about Shilo, this dog seems reckless and completely unpredictable. I don't wanna risk passing up a chance to at least try to teach the Battouga to Taurus."
"Well, I suppose," Gin paused for a moment. "On Taurus' current level, he may learn it a bit faster than Tesshin who was young and inexperienced when I first trained him."
"Taurus might not need a complete Battouga when he's combating against Shilo," Weed said. "Since it's illegal for Taurus to kill him, even just a partial Battouga might do Shilo enough damage, as mine did back when I fought Hougen."
"You aren't wrong, Weed. After all, Taurus is the son of a championship fighting dog, so I doubt that the Battouga might be too challenging to him. Alright then, you'll be the one to teach it to him tonight."
---
Taurus had already made it halfway on his path to meet with Weed’s children at the usual spot near the stream. Unfortunately, the low growl of his stomach rudely interrupted his routine.
The fighting dog groaned in displeasure, cursing himself for not eating anything before his previous training session.
Oh well, Taurus thought. They can wait just a little.
Taurus’ nose twitched as he began to search for his lunch. Finally, his smell led him to a lonely squirrel perched on a tree branch, munching on its own meal. The dog licked his lips in anticipation for his first taste of squirrel as he slowly prowled towards the base of the tree, eyes locked on his completely oblivious prey.
Finally, the crouching pup sprang and zipped right up the tree trunk. Only now did the squirrel realize it was in danger, and consequently took off.
Even for an honorary Iga dog, chasing down the squirrel was not a hunt Taurus was used to. His jaws snapped multiple times but only fell on air. And it seemed Taurus’ misfortune was only here to stay as the squirrel dove headfirst into a safe spot inside its hole in a tree.
Taurus repeated the motion, but predictably ended up crashing headfirst into the trunk, causing him to lose his balance. After a scream and a long fall, Taurus was quite surprised that he didn’t receive the hard landing he expected.
Instead, the soft mound beneath him grunted and shifted its weight before Taurus jumped off.
“Mm? What’s all the ruckus, youngster?”
“Sorry!” Taurus apologized. “I didn’t know you were there, sir.”
The old Tosa Inu shrugged the youngster’s comment off and rose to his feet.
“Ah. You must be that Taurus fellow, I see.”
“How’d you guess?” Taurus badly faked an attempt at modesty.
The compassionate Tosa chuckled, easily seeing through Taurus’ poor facade. “You can’t be too humble about your status. Take it from me, fighting dog to fighting dog.”
“Heh,” Taurus lowered his ears back in mild embarrassment. “I mean it’s still a big responsi- wait, you’re a fighting dog, too?”
“You don’t know me?” the Tosa questioned playfully. “Were the others wrong about you supposedly being Ohu’s biggest fan?”
“Ohu soldier? The only surviving Ohu soldier I know who’s also a fighting dog is… Musashi!”
Musashi gave a gentle laugh and began to silently walk past Taurus, but the younger fighting dog in training didn’t stay in place.
“W-wait!” Taurus pursued and began walking alongside Musashi. “Where are you going?”
“Finding another resting spot.”
“That far away? You’re not gonna stick around with the Ohu army?”
“Oh, I spend plenty of my time with the Ohu army. Just not today.”
“Why not? Don’t you wanna be around your friends? Or even better, maybe you could also-”
“Train you? I knew you’d ask. Sorry kid, not happening.”
“Huh?”
“I get that your cause is a noble one, kid. But my dog fighting days are behind me now. I wish for no part of it anymore.”
“You’re giving up? But you’re a triple-time big-name champion, literally just behind Benizakura! Me and every fighting dog I know looks up to you!”
“Correction. I was everything you just described. If you were in the war against Hougen, you’d understand.”
“The war against Hougen?”
The two fighting dogs stopped at the edge of a pond as Musashi lowered his head for a drink.
“There’s some details your father probably never told you in the stories, son. You wanna know why?”
Taurus shook his head.
“Because there are things that the original tellers never want to recall again. Those certain events are voluntarily never passed down to other folk. The only place those events exist are in your memory, until they’re lost to time forever when you take them with you to the other world.”
“I… I don’t completely understand. But if you don’t wanna talk about it, Musashi-san, then you don’t have to.”
Musashi let out a sad sigh.
“Well… just this once. Only fair that I let another fellow fighting dog know of this.”
“Are you sure, Musashi-san?”
“I don’t suppose you know of a certain twelfth heavyweight champion named Toube, do you?”
“Of course I do…. I know what happened to her in the battle against Hougen.”
“There’s… a bit more to that than what you’re used to being told. See, she and I were opponents in a fighting match once. She was ambitious, fearless, charismatic… as I was losing to her out there in the arena, I knew she had potential. She wanted to win like no other fighting dog I competed against had before.
So, I did what I had never done to any other Tosa before. I let her win on purpose. I thought she would have used that victory to her advantage, but she didn’t.”
“And then what happened?”
“That was just before I joined Gin in the fight to bring down Akakabuto. But while I was away, Toube did the unthinkable. Five years later, she had joined Hougen’s side. Even got promoted to one of his top generals.”
“What?! What kind of fighting dog would join Hougen of all people?!”
“The worst part? She did it only to get back at me. She thought that joining Hougen would give her an opportunity to face me again. To beat me for real.”
“So then, all the stuff about Toube being a hero who sacrificed herself to save Ohu… that was all a lie?”
“Oh no, absolutely not. Fortunately, she managed to get on the right path again. It was then when she had finally given her life fighting against Kamakiri to help Kyoushiro and one of his followers escape. She had earned her real victory through death… but maybe she wouldn’t have joined Hougen’s side in the first place if it weren’t for me.”
“I mean, you can’t be too hard on yourself. You already left. There was nothing more you could do.”
“No, but had I known that she’d taken that match with me so personally, I would have never handed her that free pass in the first place.”
Taurus only looked up at the Ohu veteran sympathetically as he let out another sad exhale.
“But time goes on. There’s no changing that now. I’ve repaid my debts to Toube by retiring from dogfighting.”
“I’m sure she understands, Musashi-san.”
“Oh?”
“I understand that your greatest honor was fighting alongside the Ohu army. It was Toube-san’s too. Dogfighting may be my top priority, but for you Ohu soldiers it’s something way different. I’ve already been getting enough training. You’ve still done plenty of great deeds no matter which cause you were fighting for.”
The Tosa’s jowls curled up into a smile.
“As expected from a true Shikoku fighting dog. I only wish you the best of luck in your future training, Taurus. Word will get out quickly once you defeat Shilo, and we’ll know when you do.”
“Thanks Musashi-san. Like you said, from one fighting dog to another.”
---
Night soon fell. While most of the other Ohu dogs retired for the night, Weed scampered around the woods calling for Taurus' name. After a short search, Weed finally found the young fighting dog chasing fireflies with his three pups in a clearing just near Ohu's border.
"Taurus?" Weed called, and all the pups jumped in surprise at the sound of Taurus’ name being called.
“Daddy!” the trio called out excitedly.
"Oh, hey Weed-sama," Taurus replied, catching his breath. Weed gave a sigh of relief and then strode over to Taurus' side.
"Alright kids,” Weed began. “I hate to cut the fun short, but the big dogs need to talk for a bit. You all head on back to mom and grandpa.”
As expected, the pups groaned in disappointment.
“But dad!” Bellatrix whined.
“Can’t we stay just a little longer?” Rigel pleaded.
“There’ll be plenty of time for you all to play with Taurus tomorrow. But that won’t happen until you all get to bed first.”
“You heard your dad, pups,” Taurus played along.
The siblings gave one last moan before they reluctantly obeyed and toddled on back to the deeper parts of Ohu. Finally, Weed and Taurus were left alone, the only other sound being the crickets chirping in the background.
“Taurus,” Weed started. “You know that your performance in training has been quite stellar so far, don't you?"
"Y-yeah,” said Taurus. “You've told me more than once. Why bring it up again now?"
"Well Taurus, I do believe that at your current level, you may finally be fit enough to learn the next technique I'm about to show you."
"What technique, Weed-sama?"
"It's not something that any dog can learn, but I believe at least learning part of it will do some good in helping you finish off Shilo. This is the signature attack that's been passed through almost every generation of my family's line."
Is that what I think it is..? Taurus thought as he kept his eyes and mouth wide open in anticipation.
"Taurus," Weed began again. "I'm going to teach you the Zetsu Tenrou Battouga."
Taurus' pupils shrunk nearly a third of their normal size and his already open jaw now hung even lower.
I'm... I'm gonna learn the Battouga?! Even in Taurus' thoughts was that impossible to comprehend. An extremely rare and sharp tactic that killed a colossal bear, ended an entire war, and was only mastered by the extremely skilled and experienced Supreme Commanders of Ohu, was now going to be in Taurus' possession.
"The key to the Battouga," Weed continued, "is to strengthen your bite, but also allow yourself to cut through. If you bite too hard or too weak, you won't be able to slice. See that tree branch over there? This is how it's done."
And in a flash, Weed leaped flawlessly off the ground and latched his fangs onto the second lowest tree branch. Taurus continued to watch with great admiration as Weed, still clutching the branch in his jaws, began to repeatedly front-flip until his teeth sawed deeper into the wood. Finally, Taurus heard a snap and saw the splintered end of the now broken tree branch fall on the ground just before Weed landed on his feet.
"You think you can try the same, Taurus?" Weed asked.
"I'll try it!" Taurus declared as he ran forward and sprang himself up to grab hold of the lowest branch. However, only now did Taurus realize that trying to repeat Weed's strategy was easier said than done. It was difficult enough just to power his muscles to flip him forward . After a strenuous effort, Taurus managed, but only managed to spin for two loops until he was back on the ground again.
"Damn it!" Taurus yelled as he noticed that he barely even made a dent. The pup persisted, and once again rushed his way back up to the same tree branch. Only a mere nine attempts later, Taurus had finally managed to snap the branch cleanly off.
"God damn, is this hard," Taurus muttered in frustration, his chest heaving with fatigue.
"Just as I expected, it's a rough start for you," Weed observed. "But don't worry about that; it was the same for me too. A full Battouga is too much for you to have to master as of now, but even half of a Battouga could help you get the better of Shilo."
Still too shaken up to speak, Taurus simply responded with an acknowledging nod.
"Anyway, it's late now Taurus. You don't wanna be in the outskirts of Ohu at this time."
As Taurus followed Weed back to the inside of Ohu, a feeling of relief and satisfaction washed over him even despite his failed efforts just earlier.
If I can learn the Battouga, then I'm really in the right direction to becoming a fighting dog.
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