This story is dedicated to Rita Arira, aka Ruka, for helping me out. Extra, special thanks! And super apologies if this is bad or OOC, and if it's horrific, I owe you my soul. Ran into a little writer's block on why they would want to fight her…wasn't sure how they were going to get there…Anyway, here it is. Not to mention this is my first The World Ends With You fan fiction…
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A Favor
Neku wasn't listening to anything the two were saying. They were talking about family stuff; money was tight around their household.
Rhyme finally caught his attention, tugging on his sleeve.
"Neku?" She asked.
Neku turned down his earphones, nodding at her. "What's up?"
"Yo, Phones, my sis just asked you a question!" Beat said, crossing his arms and scowling.
Neku shrugged in return. "What was it?"
Rhyme looked around. "I swear I saw someone, he was just over there in the alley."
They were walking home after a day of hanging out, Shiki was at some kind of family thing so it had been the three of them. The alley Rhyme was indicating was dark and filthy.
"Let's go check it out." Beat grunted, walking over to the alley.
Neku followed a little behind, saying sarcastically, "Yes, because walking into dark alleys because you think you saw someone is a very smart thing to do."
Beat paused only to glare at him, and then stuck his head into the alley. "Don't see no one."
"Of course you don't, you never thought to look up. What a surprise."
Neku looked up, narrowing his eyes to see Joshua standing on a fire escape.
"What do you want, Joshua?" He demanded.
Joshua smirked, stepping down the metal steps. Beat stood protectively in front of Rhyme, who poked her head out to the side to see.
The Composer paused, noticing the looks he was getting.
"What kind of welcome is this?" He asked, toying with his hair.
Neku shook his head, lowering his earphones to rest around his neck.
"Well, what do you want? We've got better things to do then stand in an alley."
Joshua nodded. "As do I. It appears I've gotten into a little situation with Mitsuki, you remember her?"
Rhyme asked, "Ms. Konishi?"
Joshua smirked. "The very same. I'm having just the tiniest issue with her, nothing too radical, but I'd like you to take care of it. Just a tiny favor."
Neku almost lost his temper. "What? If it's such a tiny issue, why don't you deal with it?"
Joshua shrugged. "Why should I? I'll make it worth your while."
"How so?" Beat asked in confusion.
The Composer walked a little over to Neku, then paused, his lips pursing before spreading into another grin.
"I've got wind of something that might happen to dear Shiki on her way home…"
Neku grabbed Joshua by his shirt collar. "What?! What did you do with Shiki you creep?!"
Joshua calmly pried Neku's hands off of his shirt.
"I didn't do anything, I've just heard of it. I guarantee her safety if you temporarily go to the UG for me."
"What's going to stop me from calling Shiki right now? Neku asked. Beat and Rhyme agreed, and Joshua shook his head.
"If you want. But I still don't know about her safety. Something else may happen."
"We should just do it." Rhyme blurted out. Everyone stopped to stare at her.
"Whatcha say, sis?" Beat asked.
"I mean…" She looked uneasy. "We beat her before, so…and if we don't, Shiki could be in danger…and…"
Joshua smirked as he saw Neku hesitate, unsure whether or not to bargain Shiki's safety.
"How are you going to get us 'temporarily' into the UG?" He asked at last. The Composer's grin only widened in victory.
"Ah, let's not go into the finer details on that. No reason. If you're ready," He studied his nails casually. "I can do it for you now. Mitsuki should be not far from here. Try not to get totally obliterated on the way there, and when you're done, I'll come find you."
He waved his hands, and before either of them could move, they felt themselves shake violently. Beat hugged onto Rhyme tight, and Neku just gritted his teeth, waiting for it to stop.
When it stopped, Neku paused to straighten his earphones, and then pulled out the pins, studying them.
Were they working again? He closed his eyes, trying to scan people's minds.
I had that for dinner? That was a mistake.
He should totally dump her!
One mind was so perverted, Neku made a mental note to remember his face so he could kick that guy's butt personally tomorrow. He turned around, noticing Rhyme's and Beat's uneasy expression.
"Do you think…he just killed us again, and he'll send us back when he's done?" Rhyme said.
Beat snorted. "I wouldn't be surprised."
Neku shook his head. "Not important. We need to find Mitsuki."
They wandered around the corner, carefully studying everything. Neku had the nagging sensation he was missing something, something really important. He paused, glancing behind him.
Nothing but people.
To the left, a building.
The right, the street.
Below him, the ground.
Above…
"I see he decided to send you. Not an immense surprise, I presume Joshua decided to avoid getting his hands dirty."
Looking down on them, contemptuous sneer in place was Mitsuki. She leaped off the building as easy as one steps down the next stair.
Beat rushed in front of Rhyme, holding his skateboard. Mitsuki noticed and smiled slightly.
"Ah, so the vexatious chimp is still trying to protect his little sibling! Didn't work the last time, I see no reason why it should now." She drawled lazily.
Beat narrowed his eyes, growling dangerously.
"What was that? I don't speak primate. That's quite okay, neither of you will be speaking soon."
"Didn't we defeat you?" Rhyme asked innocently.
Mitsuki chuckled. "Why, I guess so. In that game. This is a new one. And now, I'm afraid our time together has come to an abrupt end. You may want to stand back." She advised with a small bout of laughter.
Wings erupted from her back, encircling her, tinges of gold highlighting the black. The form expanded, transformed, twisted and grew until the wings pulled back and the Tigris Cantus appeared, her eyes flicking from side to side, rising into the sky.
A laser beam promptly left a black spot on the concrete very near Neku, if he hadn't jumped back.
"Well, that's new." Neku noted with an almost casual tone.
Rhyme looked up, noticing something about Tigris Cantus. "Guys?"
Beat pushed Rhyme to the side, hesitating while Neku started trying to attack the Tigris.
"Not now, sis." He said to her.
"Hey, you know, I always wanted to duel a crazy tiger woman by myself!" Neku snapped, dodging some shadow clones that tried to swipe at him.
Beat's mind was working furiously, trying to decide whether or not to leave Rhyme behind. He finally made up his mind, rushing forward to knock some clones away from Neku.
"This is getting out of hand." Neku twisted, quickly dealing damage to the clones, dodging spikes rising out of the ground. They both dived out of the way as three clones closed around the spot they had been previously standing, leaving behind torn concrete.
Neku and Beat performed a quick Fusion, casting a giant wave that crashed onto the scenery. The Noise that had started to gather around began to fade, but if Tigris was bothered she didn't react.
She dived forward, catching Neku just as the Fusion was over, bowling him over and sending him into the concrete wall. He laid there, dazed for a moment, then ended up getting shot with the laser.
Beat attacked, jumping on her back and slamming her head, only to get pulled off and pummeled by the clones.
Rhyme hesitated, unsure what to do. She settled on a different method, summoning her Soul, and generated her Noise. The Noise decimated one of the clones holding down Beat, and he got to his feet, laying waste to the other clones and allowing Neku to stand free.
Mitsuki dodged an attack from Neku, raising spikes and dealing more of the spinning gold laser discs. Neku raced over to the side, ganging up with Beat, and they did a double combo hit to the tiger before she could react.
With a wild cry Tigris grabbed Rhyme before she could react, hauling her into the air before dropping her. Beat ran forward desperately to catch her, and Neku tangled with Mitsuki alone.
She's a lot tougher than last time! He thought, skipping backwards to avoid another disc, only to get slashed in the back.
Beat hauled Rhyme to her feet.
"You okay, sis?"
Rhyme nodded, watching Neku fall flat on his back under the weight of the clones.
"This isn't working. We have to rethink this. Try aiming for her-"
Beat ran off before she could finish, saving Neku from being buried alive in clawing cat clones.
More Noise appeared, and Rhyme got rid of them herself. True, she wasn't an excellent fighter, but she had been Beat's partner, even if it was just for a small time.
Finally, exhausted by the seemingly untiring Mitsuki, they raced to hide in an alley, trying to ignore the happy taunting of the woman…tiger…thing as she tracked them.
"What do we do, Phones?"
"Why are you asking me? This is Joshua's fault! Blackmailing us in here!"
"You called?" A voice asked.
They looked to the left of them to see the Composer reclining in the alley against the wall, looking bored and smug at the same time.
"This is your fault, yo! You have to help us out!" Beat demanded angrily, stepping toward Joshua.
Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Neither of you noticed the shining yellow crystals on her wings, near the bases?"
They stared for a moment before groaning.
"I tried to tell you." Rhyme said unhappily.
Beat grunted something unintelligible, and then nodded toward Neku.
"We need to take those out." Neku said, peering around the corner. "But attacking her wildly isn't going to work."
"I can distract her." Rhyme offered.
Beat shook his head violently. "No way, sis. I can do that!"
"No, we only have two fighters here, let her distract!" Neku argued.
"Are you sayin' my little sis can't fight?"
"Yeah, I am."
Beat glared. "What about Joshua?"
They looked, but the Composer was gone.
Swearing violently to himself, Beat sighed. "We have no choice. But if anything happens to her-"
"I'll be okay." Rhyme promised.
Nodding, Beat and Neku waited for Rhyme to rush out and get Tigris's attention before attacking themselves.
Swirling back and forth, trying to hit both Beat and Neku, Tigris also had to deal with Rhyme. If she stood still too long, the Noise she generated would slice right through her. Every time Mitsuki turned to face Rhyme, the others were attacking her too.
The crystals fell off her wings after some fierce fighting, still glowing brightly. There was a faint white design shaped like stars across their flat surface. Severely weakened, Mitsuki sent out more Noise, clawing and slashing, becoming almost like a blur while she went into an almost berserk state.
She twisted in midair, avoiding Beat, and caught Neku's shoe, unbalancing him. She then slashed at his face before turning to take on Beat, only to get struck in the back by Neku. Using her wings to throw off Beat, Mitsuki raised herself into the air, exposing her chest.
Then, Rhyme sent her Noise out at that exact moment.
It sliced clean through her, and the Tigris collapsed.
Shadow covered her body, the gold turning into silver, and then the black opened like a pair of wings and revealed the human form of Mitsuki Konishi.
She stayed conscious long enough to say, "This…isn't over."
Tired, Neku slumped down on the pavement with everyone else. They turned to the sound of slow clapping.
Joshua walked over, smirking. "Bravo." He picked up the gems, nodding in a satisfied way.
"Can we go home now?" Neku complained.
"Yes, you can." He pocketed the gems. "I will now answer your questions, which you obviously have."
"How did we get here?" Rhyme asked, leaning against Beat's shoulder.
"I killed you." Joshua said simply. "Now I'm going to send you back. No entry fee or anything, since I am the Composer, after all."
Beat stood up. "What?!"
Neku rose too. "So…what about Shiki?"
"I wasn't lying. I think Konishi wanted to do something to her to get back at you. You have successfully averted that disaster. One more question."
"What are those?" Beat asked.
Joshua nodded to himself. "These? Let's just say they're pretty powerful objects. Nothing to worry about, she just stole them and had to be punished." He shook his head in a disgusted way, and then waved his hand.
They vibrated again, but the opposite way this time, and when they stopped, the people were walking around them again, ignoring them almost like they weren't back in the RG.
Just then, Neku's phone rang. He opened it, pressing it to his ear.
"Hey, Neku. I just got back from my family reunion thing. Want to hang out?" Shiki asked cheerily.
Neku sighed, feeling tired. "Okay, but you have to come to my house."
While they rested at Neku's place, Shiki couldn't understand why there were asleep when she came in.
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Oh my gosh that was probably so bad…Review anyway, but don't flame! Advice is infinitely better!