Chapter 4: the 2nd day (couldn't come up with anything good)

Hey guys!!! As soon as I posted that last chapter I realized how forced the love had become. So… I'm going to fix it!!! How, you ask? You'll find out… P.S., I'm going to try to incorporate some more fighting into this fic (mainly because there are so many battling ideas that I couldn't use in the actual game), while still retaining its romance. What do you guys think? I just want to work on fight choreography but if you don't think that would work just tell me…

P.S. I just started reading Impulse by Ellen Hopkins, for a book report that I really should be doing right now. I made it about a fourth of the way through, and I think it's great!

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Joshua turned his Composer-enhanced hearing to the couple. "Shiki, I like you…"

Joshua tsked and shook his head. "Not yet, Neku. Can't have that. Sorry, the romance will have to wait…"

Joshua held his hand out to the two. A white mist floated slowly from his fingertips and engulfed Neku and Shiki. They fell asleep and soon disappeared, whisked away to their next day's starting location.

Joshua flexed his fingers. "Mind-wipe successful. Good luck on tomorrow, Neku…"

The next day… Neku's POV…

I awoke the next morning with the feeling that I had forgotten something important. I looked over at Shiki, still sound asleep a couple of feet over, and got up. We were in the middle of A-East, right outside the concert stage. What did I forget? All I remember yesterday was beating the frog noise with Shiki, and then getting her and me some new clothes. After that… I shook my head, hoping that whatever I missed wasn't important.

I heard Shiki waking up behind me and turned around. "Hey, Shiki. You get the feeling you've forgotten something important?"

Shiki stood up. "Yeah… I wonder what it is…"

Shiki then stood still for some time, trying to get past the wall that was in both of our minds. "Hmm…"

She was interrupted by the pain erupting from our hands. "Urgh… let's check the mission."

Find and answer the riddle hidden in the Shibuya theme park. Hint: Follow the love, and the path will become clear. You have 360 minutes.

Fail, and face erasure.

I read through the text one more time, looking for any hidden clues. This mission seemed pretty straightforward, but you could never be too careful. "There's a theme park in Shibuya?" Amazing how a born-and-bred Shibuya teen could remain so oblivious of his hometown.

"Yeah, it just opened up, actually." Shiki was a life saver in these kinds of situations. "I was going to invite y- the gang to come together." She blushed at the near slip, but I pretended not to hear it.

"All right, I guess the first step's to get there. Where is it?"

"You can get there from the West Exit Bus Terminal." (A/N: right between Shibuya River and Hachiko)

"Okay, let's go!" We ran over to the park, as I clipped on some new pins. I wanted to max out all of my pins in case I needed them… plus, I could sell them for a lot more cash if they evolved (TWEWY fans, let this be a lesson to you). I decided to go for a couple of Noise pins, Wolf and Raven, as well as force rounds and a massive hit pin from Wild Boar. I kept Shockwave on, partly because it was practical overall and partly because I wanted to stay loyal to my favorite brand, Jupiter of the Monkey. To the last slot I endowed my Splish Splash Barrier from Sheep Heavenly. Terrible brand, awesome pin.

Eventually, we came to the first barrier, trying to get past Hachiko to the west exit bus terminal. "Beat two of this area's biggest noise… Where I can see you."

Shiki and I nodded at each other and I opened my mind, letting my consciousness expand outwards in a sea of Blue. In my mind's eye, I spotted two markings, and I willed them both towards me. We could handle a chain battle, especially with my barrier.

Shiki and I were instantly transported to the battlefield. I grinned in the blue light, anticipating the coming battles.

We were suddenly surrounded by grunge wolves, as well as a few BigBanFrogs and some ravens. Shiki was on the other side of the battlefield, and I grinned. No friendly fire, so it's time to go all out! I touched the Massive hit, Shockwave, and Wolf Pins; I had learned to use them all at once the day after Joshua revealed his 'Super Jesus Beams', as Beat had called them. I blazed through the grunge wolves, slashing with my gigantic sword and taking out a couple of the wolves, leaving about 6 more and a couple more frogs and ravens. I felt the green energy leave me and travel towards Shiki. "Get ready, Shiki!"

Shiki intercepted the puck in midair, then literally threw Mr. Mew at a frog. Mr. Mew started whaling away at the frog, Shiki commanding it as it did so. She was completely oblivious at the Frog noise hopping towards her from behind! I jumped up into the air and, just as the light transported from Shiki to me, I used my Raven Psyche to bring a bicycle up into the air, holding me up as I poured force rounds into the frog. The frog quickly disappeared, and Shiki shot me a quick grin of gratitude as our fusion meter hit 5, giving us level one. I felt the pin appear on my side, but hesitated to use it.

'Wait', I mouthed to Shiki, who nodded in understanding.

I suddenly got an idea, grinning. As soon as the puck returned to me, I activated my Massive hit and Shockwave, and used my Raven Psyche to ram through the mass of land-born Noise, Sword in one hand and claw in the other. Whoever managed to avoid becoming roadkill by the bike were either knocked out by the Massive Hit or the Shockwave. I grinned. Too easy. Suddenly, I stopped controlling the bike and fell to the ground, sustaining some serious damage. To make matters worse, most of the wolves and frogs pounced on me, tearing into me as I tried to reach my belt. One wolf bit my arm, making me wince as I felt myself at my limit. I couldn't end it like this…

I found the strength to touch my Splish Slash Barrier, then sighed in relief as the cooling water mended my wounds, literally sewing my skin back together. I saw Shiki perform another finisher, gaining us another 2 points. She quickly followed up with another 2, netting us 9 total fusion points. As I felt the Pin nearing its end, I touched my wolf pin, breaking out of the barrier and the throng of noise trying to get past it. I found a car and began to twirl it, sweeping the entire noise into a corner of the battlefield before they could react. I immediately ran back over, my wolf pin giving me excellent speed, and used my Massive hit pin to finish the lot of them. I walked back to Shiki, mouth open in awe.

"You really missed this, haven't you, Neku?"

I shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah… I guess…"

Shiki was about to reply, probably some words of comfort, but stopped. The second chain was starting. We nodded at each other and were whisked into the next reduction.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXAnd that's it, folks! Hah! Joshua Super Jesus magic is the answer to all my bad writing problems! Expect to see him later, after a particularly bad chapter, to patch things up.

Anyways, sorry I had to split the battle in half like that. Halfway through the battle, I realized that I had already exceeded not only the quota, but the maximum amount of words I've written for a single chapter, period. So yeah, expect to see this continue in the next chapter. Action fics are fun!!!