Before Central

by luckyuchiha

A civil war breaks out in the city of CENTRAL, the most technological city on the face of the earth. Capable of power research, CENTRAL wants to crush the rebels that want to stop the city from expanding, and establish a government. However, Yukimura Kiyoshi, and his friend Caractarus have other plans... (Kiyoshi in 3rd person Caractarus in 1st.)

Yukimura Kiyoshi stared out the window on his simple, white colored apartment. His room happened to be located on one of the higher floors, giving him an even greater view of what was happening outside. Right now his apartment was in range of artillery fire currently, it had actually been that way since the rebel progress had moved forward.

He wasn't exactly worried though, the rebels wouldn't want to damage their reputation by killing random civilians. Kiyoshi turned away from his window, running his hands through his thick brown hair. He rubbed his blue eyes and moved to sit down on the corner of his bed.

(I can't really help but worry...)

Even if one shell hit the apartment building there would be major problems for everyone involved.

(I can't really blame them though, it's probably us that they're after.)

Finishing this thought, Kiyoshi turned in the direction of his friend Caractarus.

Him being in Kiyoshi's apartment wasn't exactly coincidence, considering all the rebel activity, many of CENTRAL's forces were grouping around the 'line' in the middle of the city to try and push them all back. Picking up the pistol on the nightstand near the bed leaned backwards. Caractarus and Kiyoshi were both equal in rank, yet he asked anyways.

"When are we supposed to move down to the street? It doesn't really make that much sense, us being up here in this enclosed space I mean. I'm sure that they explained it in the briefing, but I kinda fell asleep."

He smiled, slumping over slightly to show his discomfort.

As I listened to Yukimura, I felt uneasy about being within the artillery fire.I I leaned back, stroking my short black hair and thought about our next mission.I answered him silently, "We move out tomorrow."

TheNextDay

"What am I supposed to be looking for? A signal or something?"

Kiyoshi looked out the window yet again, with the curtains drawn back, the sunlight illuminated much of once dark room.

"When you see the raven in the sky, we move." My green eyes scanned the grey sky for a raven. As I spun my knife between my fingers, time slowed down long enough for me to fall asleep to the sound of a raven.

Kiyoshi walked over, smacking Caractarus over the back of the head.

"You're going to sleep now? We have to go."

Grabbing his pistol, he headed for the door to the apartment. Outside, the door there was a balcony where all the doors to the room lay. Kiyoshi guessed there might have been at least 10 rooms or so on each floor, making this a fairly big complex.

Putting his hand on the door frame Kiyoshi called back to Caractarus.

"Come on."

He turned away seconds later, walking down towards the elevators at the end of the balcony. It was there that they would be able to descend to street level. From there he guessed that they would move along the alleyways, since going out in the middle of the street would be suicide. He smirked to himself.

"I'm not really sure though, since I fell asleep."

I cocked my pistol, walked slowly toward the elevator, holding my head.

"So the target is 5 blocks from our location, we use the alleyways and the shade the whole way. Yukimura you had to the back of the building and flank them, I'll head to the front door and make some noise. Got it?"

Nodding once, Kiyoshi dashed off into an alleyway, trying to give his partner some room so that they wouldn't be seen together by the enemy snipers that were probably down by the apartment that they wanted to capture. He guessed that might have been near where they were launching the artillery from as well.

The dark atmosphere of the alleyway hit Kiyoshi almost instantly, and a growing sense of paranoia began to take hold. Considering all the different intersections and corners there were dozens of places that an enemy might be crouching, waiting for someone to walk by.

He turned the next corner, it was a straight shot to the back of the apartment.

(No reason to keep moving so slow.)

He started running full sprint down to the apartment. That's when he saw it, a square slice of the sun glinting off it from above.

It was razor thin wire laid out to decapitate anyone running fast enough. If it didn't do that, then it would at least cause serious damage to the area around their throat.

He came within a foot of the wire before stopping dead. With his bullet proof vest and all the equipment that he was carrying he was lucky that his momentum hadn't carried him all the way forward.

(So they set up precautions, smart.)

He slipped under the wire, proceeding further. In the alleyway in front of him seemed to get smaller the closer that he got. Kiyoshi pressed himself against the wall, observing the back of the apartment. There was a small service door located on the back. That would have to be his way inside.

(Looks all clear...)

Sure enough, two guards in body armor walked around a different corner, stopping just in front of the service door.

(It's never that easy. Better call up Caractarus, if I get spotted it won't be a surprise~)

Kiyoshi pressed a button on his vest to access his radio.

"Caractarus, how close are you?" he whispered.

As I walked up to the gold framed door of the artillery building, I noticed something. A red dot no bigger then a penny glowed on the back of my hand. "Bullshit if you think something like a sniper could distract me." I traced that line of the dot back to about 1000 meters way, the top of a skyscraper. With my m16a4 in hand I turned the scope toward the the closest building to me. Low and behold The red dot was found as the glare of a scope came from the skyscraper. Pulling the trigger once, the bullet pierced the scope," Well that had better had killed the bastard, now to take care of the building." I pushed the gold door open, slowly so that no one would notice that anyone was entering. Creaking the door, the sound of guns cocking at the same time cried out. I pulled out my knife and my pistol and prepared of the worst. As I peered through the the crack my heart sank. 20 men, loaded, waiting. I threw a smoke out toward the stairs and waited. The room filled and I shot all 12 bullets as fast as I could. " Ok so that got them looking at me, well sounds like 12 cries of death, which means 8 men looking." I slid into the smoked room and grabbed the closest person and used him as a shield. When the smoke past I was there with not 8 but all 20 people. " fuck I hit civilians!" The Blood was everywhere, 12 headshots, no victory. " well you got me, but what's the plan to kill me?" Increasing my grip of the guy,I started to smell smoke. Looking at him where my hand was, he was burned. " HOWTHEFUCKDIDIDOTHAT?" My scream of terror was calmed ounce again but the guns that were pointed at me. " well who else wants to take me on?" My radio went off right as a pushed the man, pulling the pin on his granade, " Yukimura I'm here moving forward with the mission, 12 civilians dead, 20 armed, proceeding to second floor elevator, we will continue from there." the granade wiped out 10 of the guys and I shot 10 times, this time no smoke, no civilians, no distractions, 10 headshots, 10 kills, victory was mine.

Screams and explosions echoed back loudly through the radio. Kiyoshi reached up quickly, turning the device off with his slender hand. One of the men standing guard however, heard the noise and told his partner that he would go and check it out. The second guard nodded, adjusting his rifle, he drew a bottle of water, taking a drink slowly. The first guard moved towards Kiyoshi's hiding spot.

(Bad idea.)

Kiyoshi stretched out his hand toward the second guard. He grabbed at his throat, water fell from his mouth down to the pavement. He collapsed, falling backwards a second later.

The first guard turned around, kneeling down to check on his partner. He wore a grim expression, sweat was falling from his brow slightly. He used his trembling hands to draw a pistol, he turned right as Kiyoshi walked around the corner. His face turning pale, he fell crawling backwards until he was pressed against the door.

"Please move, I have somewhere to be."

Kiyoshi gestured at the man, pointing to the side of the door where he should move.

The sounds of explosions and gun shots continued to echo through the alleyway. He guessed that Caractarus must have found his way into the building.

He sighed, looking down at the pale man in front of him.

"This is the last time I'm going to ask nicely. Please move."

The man raised he shaking hands, aiming the pistol at the boy in front of him. He spoke in a trembling voice.

"H-How did you kill him?"

Kiyoshi cocked his head to the side.

"Who? Ooh, your partner? He chocked on his water didn't you see? Or rather, I suspended the water in his throat and kept it from going down. Sorry that it was such a pathetic way to die, but I was kind of pressed for time, with you coming over to my hiding spot and everything."

Here was the enemy right in from if him apologizing for his actions, it didn't exactly seem right, but then what had the boy meant by "suspended?"

"Ah, I've said too much, see you later~."

Kiyoshi nudged the man aside. He turned the handle to the heavy steel door and pushed. The door slid open slightly on rusty hinges. As he was about to step through he stopped, turning in the direction of the man.

There was now a pistol pointed up to his face.

Kiyoshi frowned, but didn't move for fear of the gun in front of him going off.

"I thought that I said goodbye."

He man tightened his grip on the small gun in front of him. Much to his surprise he found Kiyoshi laying a hand over the barrel. In the next few moments all his muscles tightened up, causing him to drop the gun. Though it was all a bluff, since there wasn't even any bullets in the gun. He fell to the ground a few seconds later, unconscious.

At that moment Kiyoshi moved his hand, and clicked on his radio. He heard the order to move up through use of the elevator.

Instead he looked up at the building above. One could reach the next level if they had something large enough to stand on and then jumped, but Kiyoshi had no use of such things. He placed his palm against the building, then his foot, his other palm, his other foot. He stood there, stuck to the wall through the use if electricity.

(I wonder if...)

He took his hands away, leaving only his feet. Once he was sure that he was steady, he began walking up the side of the apartment complex. He soon reached the next level where the elevator would let off.

There was a guard standing there, looking the other way. Without him noticing, Kiyoshi touched the back of his neck, and he instantly lost consciousness. After this, he pressed the button on the elevator to call it. The red button flashed indicating it was on the way.

(Just have to wait now.)

" Great to see you again Kiyoshi now we must begin the rest of the mission." I walked up to him fists stained with blood and and scar from the burn on my middle finger. " I think my fire ability kicked in when I'm about to be hurt." I thought about it for a bit in the elevator and the fastest way to finish this mission with a satisfying result was a fire bomb inside the building.

"What happened down there in the lobby?" Kiyoshi turned his head towards Caractarus, not leaving his place against the wall.

Caractarus' bloody hands really worried him, since he shouldn't have had to engage at close range if the fight had gone according to plan.

" it's nothing don't worry about it, I'm fine just focus on our mission." I know CQC was not allowed during a mission like this, but if I hadn't I would've been dead." Our next plan is to disarm all the weapons. It's your pick on what area we hit first."

"The cannons will probably be on the rooftop, so you head there and deal with those. I head up just a few floors another way, but you take the elevator. If we get caught in the same spot, then we're both dead."

Finishing his sentence, Kiyoshi sighed heavily, moving to the railing on the balcony. He guessed that there were at least five floor above them, meaning that he would have to work fairly hard clearing them out. And knowing Caractarus' destructive personality, he would have to remove any civilians from the building before something blew up.

He waved goodbye, swinging over the railing before climbing up the sheer surface.

"Well time to start this job for real." I traveled up to the roof where, indeed there was a cannon. The only was to get to it was past some workers. Remembering what had happened earlier, I decided to say in the shadows way in the back of the place. " Fuck I don't like this many people around my place of explosion hunting. Well fuck it ima rush them and find something to distract them." just as I thought this couldn't get worse a man wearing lots of body armor and a LMG. " bullshit ever since I got here, first the civilians then this guy, FUCK THIS SHIT!" I shot my m16 at this pillow man and did nothing but get his attention.

By the time that Kiyoshi heard the gunshots that seemed to come from the rooftop, he had already searched a great deal of rooms, most of them empty, though there were a few people in some. The people that he could find he escorted to the bottom of the apartment where they would be free of danger. After this Kiyoshi went to investigate, climbing up the side of the building to the point where he could just see over the edge of the roof.

There was a man standing in front of Caractarus, or rather, he wasn't even looking towards him. He seemed to not really care whether or not he got shot at all since his thick armor would protect him.

" FUCK YOU AND YOUR ARMOR DICKHEAD!" My rounds did nothing to the pillow man, after 10 clips of m16 being fed into the body armor I ran up to him and made my hand on fire long enough to punch his face in. " EAT FIRE MOTHERFUCKER!" his body fell on fire in less then a minute due to the sudden breeze of the window that Kiyoshi was in. " say nothing about my use of fire Kiyoshi, they can't know I have control over my powers and that I used CQC in this mission."

"Um, yeah, okay."

Kiyoshi was still half hanging out of the window, trying to pull himself inside. As he did so he tumbled over, falling onto his back. Dust from the ground flew up a bit. He lay there on the ground for a little longer.

"So, how's the progress going towards destroying that cannon?"

He brushed the loose dust off his clothes as he got to his feet.

(Honestly, I sometimes wonder why we even wear all his body armor, it just slows us down.)

As he thought about this he loosened the straps on the equipment in question, letting it fall to the floor in a heap. After all his protective equipment was removed, he stretched his arms behind his back, then brushed the extra dust off his T-shirt.

"I got all the civilians out of the building if that makes you satisfied. Though I have a feeling that if things got nasty we would go ahead and blow the whole building anyhow."

After he'd finished talking he nodded towards the door.

"Lead the way."

"Ok now that the civilians are out of the way, we need to find a way to destroy the cannon." The scars and burns on my hand were almost unbearable as I creeped toward the cannon. " Ok there has to be a way to blow it up from here, I don't wanna blow up the building with the condition I'm in." The breeze from before came through again and it felt like the burns pain lessened. " Ok we need to decide how to do all this Kiyoshi, I might be able to use one more fire bomb."

"Mmhmm."

Kiyoshi looked around the room for something to use instead of the fire bomb. Caractarus already had dozens of little blisters lining the backs of his hands from the fire that he had conjured up earlier. There wasn't really anything that he could see though.

"Okay so the cannon is pretty heavy right? I say just push the damn thing out the window, they won't be able to haul it back-wait that won't work..."

After rubbing his chin for a little while longer in thought Kiyoshi walked over, putting his hand on Caractarus' shoulder.

"Just blow the damn thing up."

He smiled slightly, tilting his head to the side.

I smiled back knowing that this could kill me. " Alright let's go toward the window and I'll start the bomb. As soon as this thing hits we need to be away from this place ASAP, on my count." I put my hands together and fire engulfed my hands, " 3...2...1...GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!"

Kiyoshi grabbed onto Caractarus' arm, pulling him away from the cannon and towards the open window that he'd come through.

"Get ready to jump!"

Kiyoshi kept running full speed at the window, then when he was around 3 feet from the open gap in the wall, he let go of his partner, and half lunged, half dove through the open window. Outside the window a side of another building happened to be visible. Kiyoshi clung to the side of it using his powers, then looked backwards to see if Caractarus had made it out safely.

Sure enough he saw him getting ready to dive through the window, behind him sparks from the fire bomb could be seen spraying around the room.

"Shit I need to get out now, hope Kiyoshi can grab me on the way out." The bomb was big enough to crush the building by now but I couldn't feel my hands anymore. " Kiyoshi fucking catch me!" I threw the bomb and back filpped out the window toward Kiyoshi. Grabbing his leg, I thought he had a better grip then he did. " SHITSHITSHITSHIT!" As he lost his grip on the wall, we ending up falling down a good 10 feet into a dumpster full of garbage.

3 hourslater...

Kiyoshi blinked his eyes a couple times and looked around. As he looked he blinked his eyes a couple more times just to be sure that what he was seeing was accurate.

It was completely pitch black in front of his face.

Above him he thought that he could feel something solid like rock. He tapped the surface with his knuckle to see what it was.

"Oh shit, don't tell me."

He looked around desperately, touching all the sides of the dumpster that he was in.

"Yep, it's true then. We're stuck...in a fucking dumpster."

(The debris from the building must have landed on top of where we landed.)

Kiyoshi had landed on his back, but if the garbage had been piled up just a little bit higher it easily would have crushed him. To his left he thought that he could make out the shape of Caractarus, who seemed to be unconcious.

"H-Hey, Caractarus, help a bro out." he whispered, trying not to wake him too fast.

Eventually he just gave up though.

"HEY, RISEANDFUCKINGSHINE GET YOUR ASS MOVING!"

" HOLYFUCKIN... OWWWW" I hit my head on the roof of whatever was above me. " Kiyoshi where the fuck are we?" I rub my head with blistered and scared hands. " I think that I will never do that again, unless I have mastered my powers." Everything was dark and I couldn't tell where I was.

"So..how do we get out of here?"

Kiyoshi mumbled to himself, feeling around the inside of the container for any type of hole that they could enlarge. The inside of the dumpster was unsurprisingly hot in the summer heat, meaning that it would only get more uncomfortable the more time passed.

(Guess It's my turn to do something now isn't it.)

He managed to free his hand from under a pile of garbage, then placed it on his arm and slid it downwards.

A blade of compressed, vibrating water appeared moments later.

"Okay, so I'm going to try and cut through this quickly, try to hold up that debris over our heads while I cut, so it doesn't go and fall down of course."

If Caractarus couldn't do his job well enough then they would definitely be looking at a large piece of the building as it crushed the majority of bones in their bodies.

After finishing his thought, he grit his teeth, placing the blade of water on the side of the container. Making quick swipes he managed to cut out a hole large enough for him to squeeze out of.

"How's it going over there?"

Kiyoshi looked back to his friend who looked like he was struggling to hold the large slab of concrete.

" Fuck Kiyoshi, are you almost through?" My hands were hurting from the base. " Kiyoshi you better pull me out soon!" My muscles were burning and my power kicked in and this time I felt wind push my muscles up and the burning stopped everywhere." What's happening to me? First the burning, then the wind, and now this. Kiyoshi I have control of the wind as well!" Rage and happiness filled my body as I felt stronger then When I started. I pushed the pile off the dumpster and walked out." So what do we do now?"

Kiyoshi brushed the loose dust off his clothes and stood up straighter. He glanced back at the building, around half of which was blown to pieces by the fire bomb that Caractarus had placed earlier. Many of the apartment rooms were now visible, and broken shards of wall and furniture lay all about.

"I'm thinking that we should probably meet up with the other members of our force, command said that they deployed others besides us, maybe we could go and ask them for help. Though, they'll probably be up towards the front lines, so we'll have to fight again within the next 24 hours if we choose to go and do that."

He adjusted his T-shirt, and hot summer weather was doing his mood no favors. A cloud passed overhead, obscuring the alleyway that the two stood in with shade.

There came a distant rumbling slightly later. The sound eventually grew louder and louder until it was a roar in Kiyoshi's ears. After a brief seconds, several tanks and other vehicles rolled by on the road just outside the alleyway.

"HEY, STOP!"

The man without any armor waved down one of the lagging vehicles towards the back. The two men in the driver's and passenger's seat looked exactly the same, though it was most likely due to the standard issue equipment that all the forces of CENTRAL carried around. The driver stopped the vehicle, the passenger hopped out, approaching Kiyoshi.

"Hurry up and get in, we're going to fall behind if you guys don't in the back quick."

He spoke in a lighter voice, though the tone that he possessed was still overwhelmingly commanding. It was the voice of someone who was used to giving orders, but in the past, had also received his fair share as well.

The sunlight glinted off his goggles that he wore to protect his eyes. The eyewear was tinted however, which kept Kiyoshi from seeing his eyes. Since he didn't have any body armor on, Kiyoshi pulled out his ID, handing it to the man. The man checked it over briskly, giving it back seconds later. He pointed to the back of the vehicle.

It looked similar to a jeep, with an open back where about four people could sit. The bed of the jeep also could store several different things if one so wished, and was very large.

KIyoshi climbed aboard, giving Caratarus a hand up into the vehicle. His partner's hands were still seriously damaged from scarring, but he guessed that the wind he had used probably could easy the pain slightly. He turned away from Caractarus, looking towards the driver.

"Where is this convoy headed?"

"Front lines. Something about a disturbance around the middle of the city. We think that the rebels have some sizable forces holding out in an underground mall around there. The tanks that we're bringing should be able to clear them away from the entrance, after that, we go inside and do our jobs."

The man said all this in a fairly monotonous voice, as if he was repeating something. Kiyoshi could guess that it was from a briefing.

(Wait, Caractarus didn't tell me anything about going to an underground mall. Did we accidentally tag along on another mission."

"'Tch, what a pain."

KIyoshi mumbled to himself for a little while longer. He had hoped that he would have been able to rest instead of having to deal with fighting more people. But instead, he got dragged onto another assignment. He looked up at the darkening blue sky, running his hands through his hair.

(Sky's getting dark? W-Wait, smoke?!")

He whirled around to face the front of where they were headed. In front of them a spread out courtyard. The floor of the courtyard was covered in what used to be vibrant white stone, but now, several bodies and remains of weapons and vehicles littered the ground. In the center on the plaza, were the wide stairs that would lead down to the underground mall.

The smoke drifted into Kiyoshi's eyes at the same time the jeep lurched to a stop. He swung over the rail of the automobile, landing softly on the ground. In the same motion he also looked around where the stairs were located.

They were currently coming up from the south to the plaza, there were rows of shops to the east and west. Most of them had broken windows, and were boarded up. At the north side, there loomed a large skyscraper.

(This definitely doesn't look good.)

The smoke had come from the vehicles near the stairs, and it looked as though they were fairly recently destroyed.

(The skyscraper, the vehicles...The enemy led us right into a trap!)

Kiyoshi ran and dove to the side as a stray rocket flew from the middle of the skyscraper, like a beast opening its maw to launch an attack, several other rockets followed.

"CARACTARUS MOVE!"

" Oh fuck you." The missile closed in and was stopped in midair." Kiyoshi, we need to get off the front lines NOW!" My hands still weren't 100% but I could still use my powers. I used my fire to blow up the missile and created an violent wind wall around us. "Kiyoshi we have to run NOW"

Kiyoshi sighed as the rest of the missiles headed towards the wind wall that Caractarus had constructed in front of them.

(This is definitely not our day.)

He held up his right arm next, bracing it from moving by holding it with his left arm as well. If he channeled electricity and attracted the other missiles to each other like a magnet, he thought that they might actually be able to get away in time.

Kiyoshi launched an electric blast that collided with one of the missiles. As the electricity surged over the missile, the others began to slowly close in towards the missile in the lead. All at once they collided together, dangerously close to Kiyoshi and Caractarus. They fell down as the shockwave caused them to lose their balance.

(Ouch. Damn, I thought that we were dead there.)

He got to his feet quickly before another attack could come from the building. Grabbing Caractarus, he ran towards the stairs, the rest of the infantry followed suit behind him. As they got towards the bottom, Kiyoshi saw the security gate being lowered. The iron gate would be extremely hard to pass through if it were allowed to reach the ground.

Kiyoshi lowered his head, then dove head first, barely sliding under the metal shutter. He turned around to look at the infantry and Caractarus. The infantry were too far behind, but Caractarus could still make it under the shutter in time without it closing on him.

"Come on, either stick with the infantry, or come with me, there isn't much time before that shutter closes!"

Kiyoshi climbed to his feet quickly. There was no way that he could hold the metal gate up without being crushed and once it was down there would be no way to get it back up. He didn't think that he had the energy to cut through it again with exhausting himself.

There simply wasn't anything that he could do.

The choice was in Caractarus' hands now.

"Kiyoshi we're a team we stick together, but you and me are a better team." I grabbed the metal gate and tried lifting but my hands were still sore and I slid under." Sorry to all you brave people but I too have a mission."

As soon as the gate slammed shut with a bang, the underground tunnels lost all power. Instead of the regular lights, red emergency lights now came on. While one could still see, it would be a challenge to search the whole area without proper lighting.

(Ugh, I have the worst idea when I'm under pressure.)

Kiyoshi started forward a brisk walking pace. There would definitely be enemies down in the underground mall, they just didn't know where they would come from.

That itself was a huge problem.

(I'm debating on taking a leave of absence from the next few missions after this one.)

He sighed, Caractarus trailed behind him as they walked through the different tunnels. After many minutes, Kiyoshi was starting to develop a sense of paranoia.

(Okay, so if there were a large amount of people down here, wouldn't they have gone ahead and shown themselves right away?")

He was genuinely confused at the situation. He thought about the possibility of the skyscraper being where all the enemies had moved to, but he was starting to have his doubts about the mission as a whole.

(They could have fed us fake information, CENTRAL does believe a lot of the things they get, especially if it has a higher-up's signature on it.)

Eventually, the two stopped in the middle of a circular area, deep underground. There were two floors to the area, on the bottom and top, shops lined all sides of the circular walls. On the second floor there was a railing to keep people from falling off, and on that railing sat a fairly young man.

The lights flashed back on instantly, blinding Caractarus and Kiyoshi temporarily. As the spots in his vision cleared, Kiyoshi looked upwards towards the man that happened to be standing there, leaning on the railing casually.

He wore a black leather coat with a white undershirt. A silver chain hung out of his pocket, attached to what Kiyoshi might have guessed to be a pocket watch. The man sighed, letting his wavy brown hair fall over his eyes slightly.

"Great, I thought that we might have been able to trap more than just two people down here."

He seemed very disappointed with the results of his waiting. Though, on the other hand, he seemed excited, as if he was summing them up, trying to figure out how to beat the two.

He scratched his thick hair with his right hand, pushing off the railing. He stuck both his hands in either pocket as he straightened his posture.

Kiyoshi stared at the man a little while longer. He didn't look all that threatening, but he was giving off the serious vibe of strong killing intent. The reason why he had chose to appear alone was probably because he was seriously confident in his powers.

Or so he thought.

Behind them, Kiyoshi heard a gentle sigh. He whirled around to see a girl standing there, holding a staff about a head smaller than she was.

(Two?!")

Kiyoshi turned back and forth between the two. Seeing Kiyoshi look back and forth so much, the girl stifled a small laugh.

"To be honest, we didexpect there to be more than two people down here."

She didn't seem to be that threatening, but over the years, Kiyoshi had learned not to trust anyone completely by just first impressions.

The man removed a silver pocket watch. He flipped it open, checking something on the small device. It seemed like more of a habit than anything else.

"Let's just go ahead and finish this up really quickly, alright?"

The girl behind the two nodded, jumping down onto the first floor, a fall that would have normally injured someone. She raised the staff slightly, on the end, what looked like an orb spread open into the shape of a lotus petal. In the center of the new design there was an circle like structure. The man also jumped down, slipping the watch back into his pocket, the chain began to swing freely as he approached.

"I'll fight the girl, she's closer to me right now. You get the guy, careful though, they both look equally dangerous."

The comment hung in the air for a few more seconds before Kyoshi charged, running right past the girl, further into the tunnels.

"I'll leave him to you then."

She turned to follow Kiyoshi casually, leaving the two to begin their fight.

" Alright I don't feel like dealing with a lot of shit right now. So kindly die!" I watched his movements and all he did was put his hand up." You're pullin something funny right?" He answered "Damn right and I felt the earth move around only me. All of a sudden I was in the wall." AHKKCKK" not everything hurt. " Shit you are stronger then you look." I made my hand on fire and charged him. I jumped tried to aim for his hand." Let's see you try to dodge this." Yet again he moved his hand and I went flying into the wall."SHIT! Ok so he can move the earth like a shock wave almost, maybe I can counter him with wind. Hands please don't fail." As I dislodged from the wall, I looked at this man. His black coat was the most distracted thing overall. " Fuck you man I can see your tricks and I don't like them." I used my power over wind to create some kind of weapon. The wind swelled near my hand and a sword formed. " now try this BITCH!" My wind sword started on fire" OWWWW SHIT!" My hands burned with the flames starting. He called out " So looks like you don't have control over your powers yet." He was right my powers were fairly new and believe that he had complete control. " well my only hope is to try and kill you." I jumped in the air and flew right down on him, this time I kept my sword closer due to his powers. The next shock wave hit my sword and I managed to block it and I went for the kill. The sword, now a mess of fire and wind, pirced his chest. " FUCK MY HANDS!" I pulled my hand out as soon as possible feeling the blood drip from my hand. " Well I guess I'll start heading towards Kiyoshi after a quick break." I went over to the wall and fell asleep.

Kiyoshi stopped running for a moment to catch his breath, it wasn't due to the fact that the woman happened to be chasing him, but rather the fact that he wanted her as far away from Caractarus as possible. The tunnel that he happened to be resting in contained various stores that lined either wall of the underground tunnel. They happened to range from being super markets, to arcades, to shops that even sold little trinkets.

The girl caught up a little later, she slowly walked into the opening of the tunnel, she pounded her staff on the ground as she entered, suddenly the shutter behind her fell. There wouldn't be anyway that Kiyoshi could get it open during the fight, but if he could defeat her, he might be able to pry it open and go back for Caractarus.

"So, having fun running?"

She said this very casually, almost as if she were talking to a friend.

Kiyoshi's breathing returned to normal a little later. He straightened out his back, standing upright once again.

"Yeah, I was mostly trying to get away from my friend, good thing you followed me. You two probably could have overpowered him together."

The girl spung the staff before placing the end on the ground again. She brushed aside her long hair briefly before laughing slightly. Her hair fell gently onto her outfit, she wore a long coat, and an undershirt that looked like it was made of rubber.

"I chose to let him go, I thought that a more even fight would have been fun."

Kiyoshi tensed up a bit after hearing this comment.

"Well, here we are then. We can start whenever you're ready."

The woman smiled slightly, nodded, and swung the staff horizontally from right to left, hitting a nearby pillar.

Kiyoshi stood for a moment, waiting for something to happen. Suddenly, he was hit in the gut by a strong blow. He doubled over in pain, almost kneeling down on the ground.

(W-What?! I knew there was something special about that staff.)

He struggled to compose himself as the woman swung the staff again, this time top to bottom, striking the ground. Kiyoshi jumped to the side quickly, only to get hit again by a strong force, sending him straight to the ground. The woman chuckled softly.

"You're diving right into my attacks, that's very nice of you, but how is that going to keep you living longer?"

Clenching his teeth, Kiyoshi got up slowly, holding his ribs with one arm. That last attack had felt like a hammer blow.

"Tch."

He let out an annoyed sound, finally getting to his feet. He swayed back and forth for a moment, then steadied himself. Kiyoshi pointed his hand toward the woman, sending a jet of water towards her.

She swung her staff again, breaking through the condensed water right down the middle. She was unmoved as it splashed harmlessly onto her, drenching her.

"God, what is that staff anyways?"

The woman smiled, this time taking a knife out from her waist. She scratched the staff violently. At the same time a terrible screeching noise came from Kiyoshi, forcing him to dive to the ground, avoiding the attack by mere inches. As he fell he launched another water attack towards her legs, only for it to be met with the same fate.

"Are you even trying? I've fought many people strong than you, and they only had guns."

She laughed, swinging the staff into the pillar again.

This time Kiyoshi tried to roll to avoid the blow, only to be hit again.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

He felt the air being squeezed from his lungs as he rolled around in agony. The woman however, stopped attacking for a while, letting Kiyoshi get to his feet.

(...Oh, so she's toying with me now.)

He grit his teeth in annoyance, crouching down low. In the next instant he sprinted towards the woman.

Like expected she swung the staff downwards to try and hit her opponent who was directly in front of her. It would have worked, except for one thing.

Kiyoshi stopped moving.

The blow hit the ground, cracking it slightly. After the attack had faded, Kiyoshi quickly made a blade of water by sliding his left hand down his right arm.

"GOT YOU NOW."

He lunged forward towards the woman. She looked like she was going to raise her staff to block the attack.

But instead, she sidestepped, causing Kiyoshi to crash to the ground. As he fell, he tried launching another blast of water, only for it to hit the ground first, then slide over to the girl, covering her feet in water.

"Well, looks like it's time to stop toying around."

The woman raised her staff high above her head.

"...Y'know."

Kiyoshi barely muttered. The girl stopped looking perplexed.

"What?"

"You realize you're covered in water? You know you're not supposed to mix water and electricity right?"

Kiyoshi touched the water near him a second later. He hadn't aimed the blast of water downwards toward the ground at the last second for nothing. The electricity traveled through the water, and up the girl's legs. She let out a shriek, there was a sound of electricity popping, then she fell to the ground.

(Okay, now to go and check up on Caractarus.)

Kiyoshi walked to the control panel near the metal shutter, placing his palm upon it, he channeled electricity into it, hacking through the code, causing the shutter to rise. He stepped through the opening, and began walking back towards where he left Caractarus and the man.

"Damn, he better not be dead. I mean, he shouldn't be dead. That guy didn't look thatchallenging, but then again, looks can be deceiving."

Within minutes he was to the circular area, Caractarus sat against the wall, asleep. Kiyoshi silently approached him, sliding down the wall next to him. In front of him was the man, his chest pierced.

(Well, he did a thorough job.)

He smirked to himself, the pain from getting hit was back, so he decided to sleep it off.

Several minutes later...

The burning in my hands was gone. All that was left was the blisters, which still hurt, and the scabs from CQC. On my left was Kiyoshi, fast asleep. " so you won your battle too." I looked over to where that man with the black coat was. Only a blood trail was left, " so even he managed to survive, well I do need to be fair and say he survived because of my weakening." I decided to travel out a bit, see if I could find where Kiyoshi had fought. If Kiyoshi had really one and killed her or if she had survived as well. The only thing I'm afraid of is trading off fights.

Kiyoshi's eyes flew open suddenly. He had awoken thanks to what he believed could have been the sounds of fighting, though he was used to hearing fighting all the time, so he didn't know if it was his imagination or not. There was a blood trail in the middle of the room that he sat in where the brown haired man in the black coat had once lain.

(So, Caractarus didn't end up killing him after all.)

He guessed that his friend had gone off to search for a way out, though he wasn't exactly sure if he'd find it, or when he'd return.

('Tch, I'm really getting tired of all these fights that we're getting into today, it's starting to give me a headache.)

Kiyoshi held his head in his hands for a little while longer before slowly getting to his feet. Because of his sore muscles, he was forced to use the fall to support himself while he got up.

(Ow, I shouldn't have let that girl smack me around all that much, my body is really starting to get beat up.)

Placing a palm upon the wall, Kiyoshi stretched, before walking over to the blood stain. The blood was fairly wet still, meaning that the fight had to have happened recently. Though, since Caractarus had stabbed the man through the chest, Kiyoshi doubted that he could have crawled far. The marks of blood ran from the middle of the floor, to a nearby store a few feet to the side.

(He must have gone in there then. No, I'm sure that he did.)

Kiyoshi scratched his brown hair whilst walking over to the store front window. The light was still on, and through the window, Kiyoshi could glimpse the body of the man poking out from around a shelf.

(He doesn't exactly look like he's moving, not that he's probably able to anyways.)

Hesitation blocked Kiyoshi from walking straight up to the man right away, but after a little while, he found himself standing at the man's feet. His black coat was torn up, and he was leaning against a shelf, covering the deep cut in his chest. Kiyoshi stood for a little while longer, looking at the man, then he spoke to the man.

"What are you doing here?"

It wasn't an accusing question, but rather one full of curiosity.

The man glared back at Kiyoshi for a second, then opened his mouth slowly.

"...I thought it to be best...to die somewhere in secret...where no one could see me."

He sounded embarrassed about people seeing his corpse, perhaps it was the shame that came with not being able to accomplish his goals that lead him to say such things.

Kiyoshi removed a bundle of bandages from his pack, setting it next to the man.

"Here, you can use these. They'll stop the bleeding partially, if you wish to prolong your time here."

The man nodded, picking up the bundle with his one free hand. Kiyoshi helped him wrap the wounds. Though the man was his enemy, he really didn't see the threat in someone who didn't even have the energy to stand anymore.

"...Thanks. Why are you fighting us...?"

The man, whose voice was now becoming softer said.

Kiyoshi paused for a second.

They really didn't have any real reason to be fighting these people, except the fact that they were supposed to be rebels.

"We have orders from CENTRAL to."

He said bluntly.

"So, you just follow orders like an obedient-"

"They'd kill us if we didn't."

He interrupted the man.

"I wouldn't expect you to understand, you guys have a cause to fight for. Us guys in CENTRAL, we're just fighting because not fighting means death."

Kiyoshi smirked as he lowered his head slightly.

"It's ironic really. We fight all day, hoping that we don't die. And if we don't fight at all, CENTRAL would kill us anyways. Or do something to us, that's so much like death, that we can't tell the difference."

He wore a grim expression on his face now. He had already considered joining up with the rebels when all of this had started, but CENTRAL had gone and threatened his family, forcing him into joining their forces.

The man was at a loss for words as he opened his mouth to speak. However, he couldn't find anything to say, and instead closed it. After a long silence, Kiyoshi spoke once again.

"You're lucky."

He looked over the man's wounds.

"If you get to a hospital within the next two hours or so, they should be able to fix you up. Though it will take some time, there are some pretty amazing doctors in CENTRAL. I'll leave you to your injuries then, I have to go and look for my friend, something tells me that he might also be needing a hospital very soon if he keeps fighting."

Kiyoshi forced a smile, standing back up. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a radio, handing it to the man.

"Here, I found this on a rebel earlier today, I was going to take it back to command and hack the communications, but I think you'd have some use for it. Wait about a half and hour, then call for someone to come and get you."

The man nodded, taking the radio silently. He turned to Kiyoshi after he'd put the radio by his side.

"Thanks, maybe not all of CENTRAL is so bad."

Kiyoshi accepted the compliment.

"Meh, I wouldn't count on it, there's only a few good eggs. But that's a very optimistic view you have, I like it. Anyways, later, if there's power users involved, I'm fairly certain we'll be seeing each other again someday."

He left after saying this.

After exiting the shop, he sprinted down the hallway towards where Caractarus had gone.

(Hopefully I catch up before he does something drastic.)

I ran into the middle of some shops when I noticed a blood trail. " Kiyoshi..." I walked up slowly to this blood trail and off in the left corner of a shop was a woman. "So he didn't kill you I see." She looked up slowly, grabbing her staff. She called out," don't try anything funny!" I started walking over to her, knowing she's still dangerous. "I'm only here to help lady." As I entered the shop, I could see tiny blisters and burns, not like my fire,but by a different source. "So Kiyoshi managed to burn you, well considering we're both injured..." I knelt next to her and allowed the wind to surround my hands and touched her burns." This will sting a bit, but it's the most I can do for now." She put the staff down and allowed me to heal her. "Now you should be able to walk, I hope I can turn around without getting hurt. I'd hate to see a girl like you get killed for no reason." She looked up asking" then why did you attack us?" "We were ordered to kill you guys, by you living means we didn't listen to them. Now Kiyoshi might have found you partner and helped him, so you can come with me to find my partner or find him and possibly let him die. The choice is yours." She lifted her hand and grabbed her staff in the other. " ok well then you're going to have to piggyback because I don't want to waste time." She wrapped her arms and legs around me. "Kiyoshi hopefully you found him and this wasn't just a waste of time." I ran back with her on my back toward where I entered.

Kiyoshi met up with Caractarus, who was now carrying the woman that he had defeated earlier on his back. She glared at him violently as she passed, causing Kiyoshi to back up a step or two.

(Hmm, so I guess we're not following the orders that we received after all.)

"Kiyoshi, we need to save both the people we tried to kill." I turned my head just enough to see her glaring at Kiyoshi. "Hey now I saved you and Kiyoshi saved that guy, don't stare." Her eyes dropped and I asked where the other man is." I promised that I would bring her to him, and Kiyoshi how do you feel about going though?"

"We're going to join up with the rebels then?"

He looked down at the ground for a moment, thinking. After a few moments, he shook his head.

"CENTRAL still has my family hostage, I can't go and join up with the rebels, otherwise they'll be killed within an instant."

Kiyoshi looked away from the two that were standing there. He didn't like the predicament that CENTRAL had put him in, though nowadays, he didn't like most of what CENTRAL was doing.

"I gave that man a radio so that he can call for help. He'll need a hospital pretty quickly after you guys find him, he kinda got pierced through the chest."

He turned his head, glancing at Caractarus for a brief moment. His blue eyes showed the expression of sadness, but he quickly hid this feeling a moment later.

"Anyways, you two need to get going. I need to go back to the CENTRAL side of the city."

He paused for a little while before continuing.

"Oh yeah, Caractarus, they're going to wonder why you haven't come back with me. I'll need your ID tag, and to be safe, you better get at least a little blood on it."

There was a cool tone in his voice.

It wasn't because he didn't care about the situation at hand.

It was the fact that the government was forcing him to do something he didn't agree with.

If anyone had ever been forced into a similar scenario, they could instantly understand his feelings.

Yukimura Kiyoshi sighed.

"I'll be needing those tags, after that, I'm sure that we'll be seeing each other soon. On the battlefield most likely. Power users like us do seem to get a lot of action."

He put on a fake grin, reaching out for Caractarus' ID tags.

Willingly I handed over my tags, slitting my finger, and wiping blood over my tags." Here you go Kiyoshi I'm going to go find that guy that I pierced. Make sure they think I'm dead, I don't want to be discovered until the next battle."

Kiyoshi took the now bloody tags from his friend and nodded.

"I'll meet up with you at the next battle I guess. Please try not to go and get yourself killed before then."

He smirked before turning to walk away.

There were some stairs nearby that lead back to the surface. As he set foot on the first step he turned around, placing his palm on the surface of the nearby control panel. Kiyoshi issued an electrical charge from his palm, causing the shutter to slowly decent downwards towards the ground. As it closed he walked away, taking a glance back at his friend.

The shutter slammed shut a second later, leaving Caractarus and the girl alone to find the man.

After he'd closed the shutter Kiyoshi walked the rest of the way up the stairs. Outside, it looked like the battle from before had finished for the most part, as both forces were nowhere to be found. There was lingering smoke in the air and there were also a lot more scorch marks all over the ground than Kiyoshi had remembered from before.

(Guess they must've ended up fighting everything out after all.)

He walked over to where the jeeps and tanks had been before the battle, all that remained now was the burnt remains of both sets of vehicles. Fires still burned fairly brightly, and Kiyoshi guessed that the CENTRAL forces must have gone and retreated, while the rebels would most likely still be around.

(How am I going to end up getting back to our side?)

He stared off in the direction that he should go to get back home.

(Hmm, guess I better start walking then.)

The sun was still high in the sky, though some of it was still blocked out by smoke, one could still easily see the blue that lay underneath the grayish-black smoke.

(I just hope that I won't have to end up fighting Caractarus on the next mission. With CENTRAL threatening my family, I wouldn't put it past them to make us fight each other.)

With this thought in his head, he started his long walk back to his apartment, not sure if either side had accomplished anything that day on the battlefront.

I turned around, the woman was starting to get heavy on my back." Well I guess we should go find that guy now." She told me his name was Brock ." So what's your name then?" Her name was Jennifer." Ok then I'm Caractarus, CENTRAL officer in charge of building destruction." We went back to where the blood trail was. I knew that Brock would try to kill me if Jennifer wasn't on my back." So I'm guessing he's still alive, due to the light damage I could do at that point." I soon saw Kiyoshi's box of bandages that he carried with him. There in the dark corner came a low breathing that was deep enough to be a dying man. She called over my back" Brock I've come with help." His face peered out of the darkness," Jen...help..." I put her legs down and made sure she could stand. We slowly walked over to Brock, Jennifer was in front of me. I realized he was in no position to move or stand." I have one idea, but if I do this I could kill him. Is that all right with you?"she nodded and turned around. This time instead of just making fire I wrapped my hand in air first. The pierce through his chest was small. With my free hand I undid the bandages and singed his hole back together. Since he couldn't walk and we need to get out, I picked him up and put him on my shoulder." Jennifer you need to help me, guide us to your base ASAP." I trailed behind her, carrying Brock like a sack, over my back. As we went deeper into the cave, I saw a light. I started to run and I was soon at gunpoint by the rebel soldiers. " I wouldn't do anything funny, I'm on your side, Jennifer and Brock were saved by me. I'm CENTRAL op. A rogue if you will. I'm here to help you guys out." They put this guns down and the leader walked out. He called out, " why are you helping us? We're in the middle of war, how do we know you're not trying to trick us?"

As soon as Kiyoshi arrived back at CENTRAL headquarters he was greeted by the remains of the soldiers that had survived the fight at the underground mall.

Of course, this meant getting stared at, as well as getting blamed for most of the events that had happened.

At the end of the white room Kiyoshi stood in was a pair of double doors leading to a conference room. Being a special power user, Kiyoshi was always expected to give a full summary of the battle and what had happened. To the side of the door was a man in a black suit waiting to escort him inside.

(I'm going to get blamed for everything aren't I?)

The double doors swung open quietly, the new atmosphere of the conference room overtook the old atmosphere of the lobby, filling Kiyoshi will a strong killing intent.

As usual, members sat along each side of the table dressed in fancy business suits. The seat at the end of the table was empty however, indicating that the commander of the CENTRAL forces was absent.

Seeing the empty chair directly across from him, Kiyoshi let his shoulders relax a bit, though not so much that the other members at the table could see.

As he finally took his seat and slid forward, he leaned backwards while the doors swung shut behind him. One of the members along the edge of the table began to speak.

"This meeting is now in session, please give us a summary of the events, and explain what happened to your partner and you over the last mission."

Yukimura Kiyoshi sighed heavily before recounting the battle and how they had fought the other power users in the underground shopping mall. Though, he was careful to leave out some key details that might give away the fact that Caractarus was still alive.

"There was a man and a woman, both of them possessed some sort of strange powers. Caractarus fought the man, while I tried to lure the woman away from him, it was only after the woman's defeat that I came back and saw Caractarus laying there on the ground, dead. I managed to hold my own against the man and his powers, before grabbing the tags off Caractarus and making a run for it, I barely managed to escape with my life."

There was a minute in which all the council members began to murmur. Then a moment of silence.

The same man spoke once again.

"Very well, we'll have to find a replacement partner for you."

He slid an envelop with the next mission's data down to where Kiyoshi sat at the table. As the tan envelope slid, Kiyoshi pegged it to the table with his finger. The man resumed talking again.

"It is very unfortunate that your partner had to die, I'm sure that his sacrifice was not in vain."

Kiyoshi took the remark, though it didn't have any feeling in it. To the members at the table, all the soldiers that fought in the war were expendable. Kiyoshi had thought that power users might be exempt from that, but judging by the man's tone of voice, he didn't seem to care at all.

(Maybe they have some sort of backup plan that they can use?)

He scratched his brown hair softly. At the same time, the double doors to the conference room flew open, and a cold, snake-like voice came from behind Kiyoshi.

"Ara ara, try not to fail us again, eh?"

The comment was laced with sarcasm.

"We wouldn't want anything to happen to your family, now would we?"

Kiyoshi felt a tinge of anger, but suppressed it.

"No, I suppose we wouldn't commander."

The man smiled, winding his way around the table to his seat at the head. He reclined back into the posh chair before spinning around slightly.

"You'll be heading to a school a few days from now, it may or may not be abandoned."He paused, showing a toothy grin before continuing.

"Anyways, clear it out, we need to secure the area around there, we believe that the rebels might be holding it, since they think we wouldn't attack a school full of children. As you can see, they were clearly wrong. The school is fairly large, though that shouldn't be a problem for a power user like you andyour new partner."

The double doors flew open, and there in the doorway now stood a girl.

"Gentlemen, and err... gentlemen! I present to you, Takanashi Emiri!"

He started clapping slowly, while all of the others at the table started joining in with him, except for Kiyoshi.

She looked to be around Kiyoshi's age with long and dark purple hair and purple eyes. The uniform that she wore was one of the default uniforms that were given to the power users of CENTRAL a black jumpsuit with an emblem of a skyscraper on it. The word CENTRAL was underneath the small skyscraper.

She brushed her hair to the side, looking rather bored. The man at the end of the table took note of this immediately.

"Don't look so bored, that's rude to your partner Yukimura Kiyoshi sitting there! You two better get to know each other, since you'll be working together for awhile, or at least until one of you dies."

He let a sinister smile show for a moment, chuckling softly.

"Anyways, you two can go."

He motioned for them to leave like shooing a fly away.

Kiyoshi stood, walking out of the room, past Takanashi Emiri. She barely glanced over at him, as she too walked out not a moment later, trailing in his wake.

At the doors to the command center, Kiyoshi turned around, looking at her.

"Power?"

He asked very bluntly.

She answered back very weakly, looking away.

"They call it [Dark Matter]"

Kiyoshi nodded, holding open the door. Emiri walked out first, and Kiyoshi followed soon after. Outside dusk was falling, turning the once bright sky dark shades of purple.

Emiri walked off in what Kiyoshi guessed was the direction of her dorm or apartment while Kiyoshi walked to his.

(Well, this is certainly going to be an interesting next mission.)

He smiled to himself, looking down at the ground whilst putting his hands in his pockets.

A slight wind caused his brown hair to blow backwards as he faded into the emerging night.

As night fell, I was put in a cell for those who have been captured in war. " could guys give me a break, Jesus I saved two of your men and this is how you thank me?" As I kept yelling the commander of the rebels walked through the door. I stopped for a second to notice his brown eyes staring at a piece of paper. He yelled," Caractarus, it says you wanna join us correct! An ex CENTRAL officer joining us! What trick is this?" " Look I just want out ok, I wanna help. That's all, CENTRAL is evil and I have all the information you need about them." He never looked up from the paper. Jennifer walked through the door with a key in hand." Caractarus calm down, I'm going to let you out and you will join us at the next battle." The commander nodded his head and walked out. Jen let me out and told me that I was in her squad." So then where do I sleep? And where can I train?" She told me everything and apparently I have to sleep with the squad. I walked into their tent, seeing 4 bunk-beds, all with names on the side. I had to sleep under Jen. Brock and someone named Jeremy were on the opposite side." I'm not hungry, show me where the training hall is. Me and Jennifer walked toward their training ground. Their armory was right next door, so I made some weapons and stuff that I could use. It was still dark out when I was finished all my training. By the end I had a pistol, an enhanced version of an ak-47( I called it an AK-50), and a knife. All of this worked with my powers. I went into the tent, slipped into my bunk and fell asleep. In the morning I picked up my weapons, slipped on jeans and some gloves," You guys have an extra shirt anywhere?" I heard nothing but no's as we prepared to move out. Kiyoshi will be at this battle, we were told to move out to a school yard to shut down the area for a bigger base. I stared at the tattoo on the upper part of my bicep, remembering me and Kiyoshi fighting through these rebel forces. Before we left I was told to make myself a sniper rifle. I quickly made it and a pistol made for Kiyoshi," I know I can save him and his family." We headed out for the school yard, my squad hid in some bushes and waited for the CENTRAL men to arrive.

Kiyoshi sat in the back of a jeep once again as he moved down the torn up road in front of the CENTRAL forces. The way that the commander saw it, the power users would go first, paving the way for the other troops that would follow close behind them. Takanashi Emiri sat across from him, she looked bored as she scanned the environment around them.

(She seems so antisocial...)

He looked up in front of the jeep, towards where they were headed.

(Not much further now...Caractarus will probably be there with the others that we met the other day.)

Kiyoshi scratched his head, then adjusted his body armor that they had forced him to wear. Though he disliked the fact of wearing something so bulky and heavy, the higher-ups as forced him to wear it. They had said something about it being much safer.

(Safer? I could avoid the bullets and shrapnel without equipment restricting my movement.)

He slouched down slightly, showing his disappointment. After a few more minutes of looking towards the floor of the jeep, Kiyoshi looked up at Emiri, who was still looking over the side of the jeep at the scenery. He sighed, then opened his mouth to speak.

"Sooo, what can you do with your powers?"

It was a desperate attempt at conversation at best, but it got her attention. She turned back around to face the brown haired boy and said.

"...Killing people, I thought that's what everyone in CENTRAL did with their powers."

(Gah! What a blunt answer!)

"Umm, that's nice, I meant like...specifically...what can you do, besides killing people of course."

Her expression didn't change at all as she answered his next question.

"Please don't talk to me anymore..."

(W-What!? Did I do something to piss her off?)

Kiyoshi looked away quickly, as Emiri did the same.

Glancing up at the skyscrapers around him, Kiyoshi yawned quietly, then adjusted the body armor that he was wearing. With nothing else to do, he turned sideways, laying down in the bed of the jeep, as he closed his eyes, he began to drift off to sleep.

That was, until Emiri kicked him in the side of the head.

"Ahh! What was that for?!"

"No sleeping on the job."

The answer was very blunt, but it got the message through very clearly.

Pouting, Kiyoshi stood up before taking his seat on the rim of the jeep bed again. Up ahead in front of the jeep, a courtyard suddenly came into view as they rounded a sharp corner in the road.

He recognized the building from the intelligence folder that he had received.

It was the public school that they were told to capture.

The school yard out in front was surprisingly empty, making Kiyoshi guess that it had already been cleared out before.

(Did Caractarus tell them to clear out the school, or...?)

He ran his hands through his hair in thought. Across from him, Emiri was also looking ahead towards the school building.

They were closing in on the school now. The main building was fairly big, containing at least three floors, the courtyard out in front encompassed several thousand feet, and there were gates at the front of the school that would normally close after all the students and faculty had left.

The unnatural thing about this though, was that at the moment the gates had been left wide open, almost like the school was welcoming the CENTRAL forces into the courtyard.

The jeep drove up to the front gates and stopped for a brief moment, long enough that Emiri and Kiyoshi could dismount, and head through the gates, up to the glass doors of the school in front of them.

They stopped at the front doors however, looking back at the vehicles that had followed them. The rest of the troops also waited in these vehicles until Kiyoshi and Emiri would clear the way for them.

(I swear to god, if I step through these doors and get shot at...)

Kiyoshi rubbed his temples slightly with each finger. Emiri threw a sideways glace at him before looking inside through the glass.

(Just to be safe...)

Kiyoshi raised one of his hands in the air, then moved it downwards like he was throwing something.

Instantly a giant cloud of mist enveloped the entire front of the school, obscuring the view of the convoy.

(Sorry to make it hard on you Caractarus, but I need to keep up appearances.)

Within that short amount of time, the tanks that had adjusted their aim beforehand fired at the center floor of the school in one fluent volley, shattering most of the windows, concrete and bits of glass and metal flew every which way.

(I hope that didn't kill you.)

Kiyoshi smirked slightly, pushing the front doors open.

I woke from my nap only to hear explosions," break time over?" I yowned and grabbed my sniper. "Kiyoshi you bastard, at least make it so we can kill some people. I blew the mist away and charged for the building. I found a ladder to the roof outside the school," Kiyoshi if I know you then you will be up here soon." I saw a figure of a man and a woman standing there on the roof. The man had brown hair so it had to be Kiyoshi."Kiyoshi is that you?!"

Walking forward a bit, Kiyoshi came into Caractarus' field of view.

"Yeah, it's me. Hey, long time no see, it seems like just yesterday we-oh wait."

He grinned, pointing in back of him to the location where Emiri still stood.

"This girl here is Emiri, supposedly she's supposed to be your replacement."

He turned around the face the direction he was pointing.

"Emiri, this is Caractarus."

Instantly, Emiri's eyes widened in shock. She stepped backwards a bit, drawing a knife from the waist of her black clothes. He held the knife in a reverse grip, ready to fight.

"H-Hey, Emiri settle down there for a second, Caractarus and I aren't finished talking yet."

Kiyoshi smiled, turning back in Caractarus' direction. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the barely audible voice coming from behind him.

"So you're not really dead after all."

There was a blur of motion as Emiri dashed right past Kiyoshi's left shoulder a second later. He stepped backwards in shock while watching Emiri run straight towards Caractarus, who was armed with a rifle, pistol, and a knife. When she had closed half the distance to her target, a giant black arm suddenly appeared in the air behind her back, ready to swing downwards at the black haired man.

Without anything that he could do at the moment, Yukimura Kiyoshi could only watch as he struggled to catch up to the girl in front of him.

The black arm, possessing long, slender fingers, and almost claw-like nails, swung downward seconds later with a brutal, crushing force.

"Well I guess this is what I get for being dead." I jumped over the black arm thing and landed in front of Kiyoshi." Well I'll give you this, she's a lively one." I reached for the pistol that I was going to give to Kiyoshi. His holster was empty and I quickly slipped the gun in the holster." There you go Kiyoshi, one custom made pistol." I backed off as the black arm came down again." Hey I'm trying to talk to my friend here." her emotion toward me was scary as even the knife changed darker." So this will be a long fight if I stay here. Hey Jen, Brock, Jeremy I need back up!" The three emerged from the bushes, snipers aimed at the roof."hey Kiyoshi, you and me, one on one, right now!" I pulled out my knife and made it on fire.

Kiyoshi put out his hand towards Emiri who was getting ready to charge Caractarus from behind.

"Yeah, stop for a second, I can handle this."

She gave Kiyoshi a frustrated look before putting the knife back in its place on her waist and crossing her arms. She brushed back her long, dark purple hair, and waited.

Kiyoshi let out a sigh of relief, turning back to face Caractarus, who still stood at the ready, holding his flaming knife.

"Make sure that your friends don't go off and shoot us or anything."

He slid his left hand down his right arm, forming a blade of water once again.

Adopting a fighting stance, he crouched down low like a spring.

Seconds later, the 'spring' uncoiled.

Kiyoshi flew towards Caractarus, propelled by jets of water from under his feet, the blade of water aimed towards his friend's head.

"Glad to see you want a fight!" I blocked the blade with mine, making a smoke cloud around the school yard." Well Kiyoshi I must be off, I'm going to try and save your family, so that we can fight together once more." I couldn't see him any longer, but I needed to move if I were to save his family. As I ran toward the edge of the building, I was cut off by emiri once I got to the edge." So I can see you're in a bad mood, so I'm just going to be on my way and try to forget all about this." I looked at her dark face, filled with hatred for me, and decided signal Jen, Brock, and Jeramy to fire into the smoke. I landed, looked back up at the cloud, and ran toward the CENTRAL base. As I ran I heard gunshots, no screaming, witch ment that they had opped fire and Kiyoshi was taking care of it.

Kiyoshi waved his hands through the smoke, trying to see in front of him. The thick smoke had come from the combination of water and fire merging together when their blades had connecting, the smoke that was created was thoroughly blinding and disorienting. Moments later, the popping sounding of sniper rifles being shot filled the air, and Kiyoshi struggled to put up an electromagnetic shield, catching the bullets like a spider might use a web to trap prey.

(Shiet, it almost seems like he really wants to kill me.)

Sparks were bouncing off the shield in front of him as the bullets connected with the large barrier in front of them. The shield itself emitted light blue and white sparks in every direction. Kiyoshi turned around to glance behind him, though the smoke blocked his vision, he could still partially see through.

On the other side of the rooftop, Emiri looked over the edge of the rooftop where Caractarus had jumped from. Without any possible way to block the incoming bullets and go after his friend he called to Emiri. It wasn't that he doubted that Caractarus could take on at least part of CENTRAL by himself, but rather that he was worried about what CENTRAL was planning.

"Emiri, stop him!"

She nodded once quickly, summoning the long arm from before. It had the same dark color, slender fingers, and long nails from before. She stood there on the edge of the building, unmoving, as the long arm thrust itself forward at Caractarus.

I jumped off the roof, turning in mid-air,seeing the long black nails coming to kill me." Kiyoshi, stop her!"

The snipers reloaded, giving Kiyoshi the time that he needed to run through the fading smoke towards the other side of the rooftop where Emiri still stood.

(What the hell did I get myself into?)

Without slowing down, Kiyoshi collided with Emiri's back, the two of them flying over the edge of the building. Standing on the side of the edge, there was no possible way for Emiri to regain her balance as they both tumbled over.

Kiyoshi yelled to Caractarus who was already on the ground while grabbing Emiri around the waist so that they didn't get separated in mid air.

"CARACTARUS, A LITTLE HELP?!"

I stood up from falling and looked at the two falling."Kiyoshi, I got you!" I made a wind slide powerful enough to catch the two." Sorry Kiyoshi, I need to save your family. I need my partner back, the rebels are the good guys here." I turned away from the gem and started to run.

Kiyoshi and Emiri flew off the slide made of wind, tumbling along the ground as they dismounted. They lay there for only a few seconds before struggling to get to their feet. Out of the corner of his eye, Kiyoshi saw Caractarus running away from the building.

"CARACTARUS, COME BACK!"

He called to his friend even though he knew that he wouldn't listen to him. Emiri approached him a moment later, drawing her knife from her waist.

"I had him, and you let him get away."

Her brow was furrowed in anger. The knife hung loosely between her fingers, giving the impression that she wasn't exactly in a hurry to attack Kiyoshi.

She sighed, looking off to where Caractarus had ran.

"I can still catch up to him with my power though..."

Caractarus was a great distance down the road by now, causing Kiyoshi to throw a questioning glance at the girl beside him.

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

As if to answer his question, Emiri formed two pitch black wings from her back, spreading them like an eagle. She started running forwards, trying to gain speed.

"H-Hey wait up!"

Kiyoshi ran after her, grabbing onto her back right as she leaped off the ground, flying just a few feet above the asphalt below them.

(Again, what the fuck did I get myself into.)

They flew for a little while, until Caractarus was a few feet in front of them, at which point they collided into him at full speed.

All three were thrown to the ground, rolling off in different directions.

Kiyoshi received several fresh scrapes as he slid to a stop a few meters away from where they had all crashed. To add to this, many of his muscles were giving off a dull pain from the battle yesterday with Jennifer.

Emiri's knife was laying on the ground just a few feet in front of him. Caractarus was to his left, and Emiri lay in front of him.

(This job is starting to seem like too much of a hassle lately...)

Kiyoshi pulled himself to his feet through much effort, and looked around at everyone else who were already on their feet.

Emiri began forming the giant black hand again that she had used several times before.

"We'll take her together Caractarus."

Kiyoshi drew his knife from his belt at his waist, adopting a fight stance. At the same time Emiri's expression changed from one of malice to one of shock as he stepped backward slightly. Instead of backing off for good however, she narrowed her eyes in concentration and then-

A second hand formed from behind her.

(Ah, shiet.)

Looking over at Caractarus, Kiyoshi could clearly see that he didn't really want to fight either, and was in a hurry to get away from Emiri.

"I'll go first then, I guess."

Kiyoshi rushed forward at the same time that one of the arms was flung downwards. He managed to stop just in time for the arm to miss, crushing the pavement right in front of him. Climbing the arm in front of him, he ran along it until he was right above Emiri's head.

But not everything went according to plan.

Using her free hand, Emiri flicked Kiyoshi like a human might flick an annoying insect.

This one simple motion, sent him flying through the air, and then sliding along the pavement. After he had come to a complete stop, he raised his arm in the air from where he lay.

"Don't worry, I'll be up in a minute or so."

Then he rolled over onto his side.

Emiri looked towards Caractarus now, wearing the same emotionless expression as before. The cold calculation expression didn't change, as she swung both of the arms horizontal from either side.

"Well shiet, Kiyoshi, I need to try now don't I?" I took the knife from its sheath and took my fighting position." Fine scary woman! COME AT ME BRO!" I doged both slashes only to be hit by another swing. My body felt heavy after all overexstion of power." So Kiyoshi I'm going to leave now, come after me if you want to help me."

Kiyoshi looked up from where he lay on the ground and slowly got up to his feet. His whole left side had a sharp aching.

(I got hit pretty hard I guess.)

He looked to where Caractarus was, looking back at the two standing there. He ran over quickly, stopped when he got to where Caractarus was standing.

"We should probably get going, huh?"

Emiri looked torn as she debated attacking them both, or going back to help out the rest of the CENTRAL forces that were still busy fighting the rebels at the school. In the distance the sounds of tanks and rifles firing could be heard, as well as the occasional firing of a bolt action sniper rifle.

Kiyoshi turned back over to where Emiri stood, her purple colored hair blowing in the breeze.

"You, couldcome if you wanted, so long as you agree to help us."

Emiri shook her head side to side, indicating that she wasn't interested.

"You know why we're leaving right?"

She again shook her head side to side, causing her hair to sway about.

"I'll give you the short version."

Kiyoshi spent the next few minutes summarizing why the two were leaving the battlefield to go into the heart of CENTRAL.

Though she looked rather concerned at the fact that they had his family, Emiri didn't say anything more as she turned, walking back towards the school building.

As she was about to start down the long street she turned back slightly.

"I'll reevaluate my morals."

Emiri grew the same wings from before, flying into the sky towards the building again.

After she'd disappeared from their line of sight, Kiyoshi turned back over to Caractarus.

"Okay, so, my parents have their own home in CENTRAL, somewhat close to the research district. If they'd be anywhere, they'd be there first, unless someone took them already."

He placed a hand in his pocket, leaning backwards ever so slightly.

"We'll go there first. Though, I'm not exactly good at covering great distances quickly."

He wore a genuine smile now, different from when he'd been pretending earlier that day.

"So...you take the lead?"

I called Brock from my radio," Brock can you bring a truck up near the west side of the building?" I looked over at Kiyoshi," so now we wait, do you have a plan in mind?"

He frowned slightly, scratching his head while thinking.

"I thought that you had that covered, since you were so dead set on rescuing my family and all."

After getting shot at, Kiyoshi wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to Brock, or any of the other rebels for that matter.

(Guess that I'll just have to learn to get along with them, since we'll be working together soon and everything.)

"But anyways, why didn't you use your rifle there when we were fighting Emiri?"

He pointed to the rifle that Caractarus had strung across his back.

"Or that other one there for that matter."

He looked around Caractarus, trying to get a better look.

"Did you put those together in a night? That's pretty good. Why haven't you made anything before."

An seemingly endless stream of questions flew from Kiyoshi's mouth as he poked and prodded at the rifles on his friend's back.

"Jeez Kiyoshi, I..." Brock pulled up next to us, weapon aimed at Kiyoshi." Brock he's cool! Kiyoshi well continue this later." I turned to Brock,nodded toward emiri,and jumped in the truck." Alright let's go Kiyoshi." I jumped into the passenger seat and waited.

Kiyoshi climbed into the back of the truck. It was a truck more suited for battle than actually driving around the city, but he guessed that it'd have to do. After all, they didn't really need a great vehicle to get them to the house his parents stayed at.

After situating himself, Kiyoshi gave Brock the directions that would take them close to the house, but not so much that everyone would notice their arrival. On the way there Kiyoshi looked at all the ruined buildings and debris that littered the street. Brock did his best to swerve out of the way of the objects that were on the road, though they still needed to stop every once and awhile to go around something bigger.

(Someone will probably already notice that we've been gone for awhile now.)

He clasped his hands together, trying to rid himself of the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

They group pulled into an alleyway near the house a few minutes later. Kiyoshi was the first to climb down out of the truck, followed by Brock and Caractarus.

"It'd be weird if they didn't have anyone already coming to take them away."

Kiyoshi was looking up towards the blue slice of sky that could be seen above the alleyway. He turned to look at the two standing behind him.

"That means don't pull anything stupid."

He seemed to look at Brock rather intensely before turning back around, creeping over to the edge of the alley where it met the sidewalk, leaning up against the corner.

"Also, there's a chance there's going to be more than one person coming to take them away. If any of them get injured, I'm blaming it all on you."

Finishing his comment, Kiyoshi turned onto the sidewalk, carefully creeping towards the back of the house.

"well I see how this is going to be, Brock stay with the truck. We need someone to make sure the truck doesn't vanish while we're gone." Kiyoshi and I headed out down the ally toward the house." Kiyoshi I'm rouge now so I'm gonna stick to the shadows." We ran down the ally into a mess of cars." Shit, we need to bob and weave through all this." I slowly moved through cars and watched for guards. We were about less then a block away,I started putting a silencer on my sniper, and looked of a vantage point on the roofs.

Kiyoshi leaned up against the a red car right across the street from his parent's house. From the three guards standing outside the door, he guessed that there was already a stronger power user inside, getting ready to move his family.

He still wore his protective equipment that CENTRAL had given him at the start of the mission, so he figured that he would be fine even if he was hit by a stray bullet.

He flicked his radio on.

"Caractarus, you in position?"

He looked towards the rooftop where his friend was already set up with a sniper rifle.

(Okay, where on earth did he get that from? Was there one in the truck that I didn't see?)

The windows of the small building across from the car had the blinds drawn over them to prevent people from looking in. He thought he heard screaming from inside, and one of the guards turned around to try and sneak a peek at what was going on.

"You can probably take that one out if you have a clear shot, just don't let the other two see that he's been shot."

Kiyoshi was silent for a little while longer, then he suddenly spoke up again.

"Also, be careful up there. I wouldn't put it past CENTRAL special forces to have snipers watching the building already, make sure that they don't see you or anything."

I aimed my scope toward a group of people, 4 men, one on the right, two back to back, and one guarding the door. I changed the air current to where the bullet should curve. Knowing that this shot will get me notice, I aimed for the one on the rights head. The shot rang out toward the right ones head. The bullet pirced his head and continued through the rest of their heads. The bullet was stopped by a wall the popped from the ground. I pressed a button on my radio," Kiyoshi 3 down one with powers spotted."

Looking over the car that Kiyoshi was hiding behind he could clearly see the man in front of him. He was wearing the standard CENTRAL agent uniform with extremely dark tinted sunglasses. His brown hair was slicked back, giving the impression that he like to dress a little more fancy than what other people might dress like. He looked over towards where Caractarus was on the rooftop and smiled slightly.

"If you're going to try and kill me..."

He raised his hand towards the building that Caractarus was laying on. The ground started rumbling slightly as something started to emerge from the earth.

"At least try and put up a fight!"

Finishing his sentence, a giant pillar of earth emerged from the ground, flinging itself at the base of the building in front of it. The whole structure tilted precariously as some of the supports collapsed. Caractarus was rocked to the side as part of the building started leaning, several loose pieces of debris also started to move towards the lower side.

(Shit, this isn't going to end well. Well, if there was a time to use this pistol, it's now.)

He drew the slender gun, pointing it in the direction of the man, and pulled the trigger.

Instead of the normal rounds a gun might fire, the bullets that came out almost exploded out the gun, flying towards the target. But, again they were stopped by another wall appearing from the ground in front of him.

"So, there's the other one."

The man turned his attention to Kiyoshi, who was still taking cover behind the red car.

"I can't say that I didn't realize you were there...it was kinda hard not to sense the vibrations in the ground."

He spread his arms out to the side, then tapped his foot softly on the ground. A sizeable crack appeared with a loud sound, traveling towards Kiyoshi at an alarming rate.

"Oh, shit."

Kiyoshi jumped to the side, avoiding the crack which seemed to spit out spikes as it traveled.

"I have to keep my distance, lest I get impaled."

He ran in between the cars, the crack following him from behind, all the while spitting out more and more spikes. The man in the CENTRAL uniform standing on the sidewalk started to laugh madly.

"That's it, run! It won't do you any good no matter what happens!"

(Shit, this isn't good, I'll get tired out before this shit stops following me!)

"CARACTARUS, A DISTRACTION WOULD BE GOOD RIGHT NOW IF YOU'RE NOT DEAD!"

Kiyoshi leapt over the front of a car as he shouted up the rooftop where Caractarus had been. He jumped from car to car, looking backwards, the cars he'd been on a few seconds earlier had spikes jutting out from the hood.

In contrast, the man on the side of the street looked positively deranged compared Kiyoshi as he stood there, arms spread out to the side, laughing.

He looked like the definition of a psychopath.

after sliding down a couple feet, I looked over the edge at Kiyoshi and that man." Kiyoshi move, I have an idea!" I pulled out my pistol and shot at the mans feet." We'll I must be a horrible shot if you didn't even flinch." I picked up a brick and chucked it at his head. It did nothing but break in the air." Well how am I going to break you?" He slowly looked up to where I was standing and brought the rest of the building down with one scuff of his boot.

(He did that with just one move?!)

Kiyoshi covered his eyes from the dust that floated up from the collapsing building in front of him.

The man on the sidewalk turned his face towards Kiyoshi, pointing his finger at him.

The red car in front of Kiyoshi was suddenly pierced by a pillar of earth. Kiyoshi stepped backwards, trying to get away. At the same moment another pillar flew from his right, smashing into him. He landed in the windshield of another car seconds later.

"...Shit..."

Kiyoshi looked at the man who was now raising his hand in the air, he looked like he was starting to prepare some other type of move.

(Damn.)

Kiyoshi struggled to move, rolling off the side of the car onto the ground, right as another earth pillar passed through where he'd just been.

"You know, this would all be a lot easier if you would just hold still."

The man swung his arm horizontally, a crack appeared in the ground right next to Kiyoshi. This time, instead of an earth pillar, a giant hand appeared, latching onto Yukimura Kiyoshi.

"I can't last much longer like this."

Kiyoshi hung upside down from his right leg by the giant hand. The hand wasn't tightening its grip, but it was still quite uncomfortable to be hanging upside down. Not to mention all the heavy equipment that he was wearing.

The man walked over, a sharpened dagger made of stone in his hand. He stopped less than a foot in front of Kiyoshi and looked him in the eye.

"You were quite annoying, but it would seem that this little skirmish ends now."

He raised the dagger, ready to stab.

Instead of doing this however, the man turned his head to the side, looking at the building that had just collapsed less than a minute before. An odd cracking sound was coming from underneath the rubble as one of the slabs of concrete began to move slightly. It fell down soon, revealing a battered, but still alive Caractarus.

Kiyoshi grinned.

"Hey, could you lead me a hand here, I've already got one to worry about but-you know what? Never mind."

He pointed to the hand that was holding him up and smiled.

After smiling from Kiyoshi's joke, I tried to break through the rock only to rebound off the rock." So, this rock is more solid then I thought. Looks like I'll have to try something else." I compressed air around my fist, thinking of how much power I would have to use." Kiyoshi get ready to land on your head!" I ran and swung at the hand, breaking it and releasing Kiyoshi." so now that you're down we can beat the shit outta this guy!" I picked up Kiyoshi, watching the guy's every movement.

Kiyoshi rubbed his head while being carried away. The man was still standing on the sidewalk, looking over the frames of his dark tinted sun glasses towards the two CENTRAL operatives.

"You're starting to tire out. How much longer are you going to make me wait before I kill the two of you?"

He put one hand in his pocket, leaning hunching over ever so slightly.

Kiyoshi let go of Caractarus, standing on his own. Other than his head aching a small amount from being dropped onto the pavement, and his limbs being sore from the fight with Jennifer yesterday, he wagered that he would be just fine.

"I don't know exactly what you did with the wind there, but get ready to do it again."

Kiyoshi himself made a compressed blade of water again as he glanced over to his friend. The enemy would no doubt have a tough time taking both of them on at the same time, so it only made sense to attack then. However, there still was a warning going off in the back of Kiyoshi's head, telling him not to attack, and a nervous feeling in his stomach.

(This guy really is quite dangerous...)

He looked to the house behind him, he thought he saw a flicker of movement behind the edge of a curtain, only for it to disappear an instant later.

(They're still inside!?)

Kiyoshi crouched down slightly.

(Guess this is for the family then.)

He smirked to himself as he motioned for Caractarus to charge at the same time. Kiyoshi jumped high into the air, descending towards the man in front of the house. He looked unphased as he stared upwards, his sunglasses hiding his eyes from view. Right as Kiyoshi was about to land on the man, he sidestepped, avoiding the attack. At the same time, Caractarus rushed towards him, his fist surrounded in wind.

Kiyoshi's water blade missed.

At that same moment, the man crouched, spinning on the ground, while also sweeping Kiyoshi's leg out from under him. Due to the man ducking, Caractarus passed right over his head, crashing to the ground on the other side. Kiyoshi fell on his back, creating a small cloud of light brown dust.

"You have useful powers, that's for sure."

The man stood up, moving a few feet away from the pair.

"However, you lack sufficient discipline."

He smirked, removing the sunglasses with his left hand. He attached them to a silver chain that hung from his neck.

Kiyoshi rolled over, getting up. There was a faint pain in his back as he let Caractarus use his shoulder to get up.

"You're still outnumbered."

Kiyoshi let go of Caractarus, making sure that he was steady enough.

"And you haven't even seen the full extent of our powers yet."

He held his right hand out, palm facing towards the ground. The longer he held it, tiny black particles started to drift towards the space in front of his hand.

"So, I suppose that you've heard of electromagnets?"

The particles started to form a rod like shape.

"What these are, are tiny particle of iron, bound together, and made to vibrate."

He grasped the beam before his hand, swinging it around to test its weight.

"This can cut through you faster than a chainsaw."

Kiyoshi knew that they couldn't take the man head on, his training was much more advanced than theirs was. He frowned, looking around for anything he could use to his advantage. At the same time the mass of iron particles began to vibrate, making an odd buzzing sound.

(This shouldn't have any problems cutting through the earth pillars and spikes that he's used to attack thus far.)

The man without his sunglasses on looked toward Kiyoshi, interesting in the weapon that he had just formed. Without sunglasses, his eyes cast a criticising glare everywhere he looked. Almost as if to say, "Good job! But I could easily do better."

He tapped his foot on the ground impatiently.

"Are you guys going to try again anytime soon? I have to take care of someone's parents."

He looked over at the small house.

A strange ringing came from the man's pocket a moment later.

"Hang on, I have to take this call."

He walked away a few feet, turning his back on Kiyoshi and Caractarus.

"Yes, mhmm. Oh, I understand. Yup, I'll take care of it, don't you worry."

The call ended relatively quickly, and the man slipped the phone back into his pants pocket.

"So...it looks like I have to go. I have new orders to kill the family now, it seems that their son left the battle and we think that he might have gone to join the rebels."

Kiyoshi felt a tinge of anger deep inside.

"Stay away from them!'

The man raised an eyebrow toward the boy in front of him.

"My, could it be? Are you perhaps Yukimura Kiyoshi? I always thought that you would be stronger."

He tilted his head to the side.

"And taller to be honest."

"FUCK YOU!" I charged the man without hesitain and only ended up getting pushed back by rocks." Kiyoshi, fight!" I charged with wind to get at least a foot away." Try taking this!" With my fist on fire, I aimed for his head only to see his fist. Our fists connented with each others face." FUCK that hurt."

The man flew slid backwards a few feet, eventually stopping a moment later. On the side of his face there was a mark from where the fist had connected. The side of his sunglasses was also bent, causing him to remove them from the chain with the hand he wasn't using to cover his injury.

"Damn, you're really a pain in the ass, you know that?"

He dropped the dark tinted glasses on the ground, crushing them with his right foot. The man ground the glass into powder, before kicking the frames underneath a nearby car.

"I'm beginning to think that I might not have to hold myself back anymore."

He held his jaw, the skin of which was slightly blackened. Then, he adopted a fighting stance.

"Ready for round two then? I could use another workout."

A small grin came to Kiyoshi's mouth.

(God, this guy really is quite the arrogant asshole.)

Kiyoshi looked over at Caractarus who had recovered from the man's attack, and was getting ready to fight.

(Okay let's see if this works.)

Kiyoshi spread his arms out to either side, causing the buildings behind him to shake slightly. There was a great rumbling, and then the sound of breaking rock.

Seconds later, several iron bars, used in the construction of buildings were floating above him, suspended by magnetism.

Kiyoshi lowered one of the bars and motioned for Caractarus to jump on.

"Come on, let's see if this works."

With that sentence, he turned to face the man in the street, who was wearing a puzzled look at the iron bars floating over the boy's head.