Well, many of you asked for Yao to kick some butt, so here we go!


Bella looked on in curiosity as Yao stuffed his phone into his pocket.

"Yao, who was that?"

"My teacher. He taught me everything. Gave me everything. Got me where I am today. He needs me. They all need me."

Bella stared at him in shock. "You didn't even say 'aru'."

"I tend not to when I'm pissed off." Yao then left the room.

He ran through the halls, ignoring the older agents yelling at him for doing so.

Not one person asked him if everything was ok. Because none of them cared about anyone but themselves. Yao knew if he ran frantically through the halls like this back in that world of red and black, without bothering to give any sort of explanation, he'd be chased after, answers demanded of him, friends gathering to follow him even if they didn't know where they were following him too.

He heard the click-clack of heels behind him and turned his head slightly to see Bella chasing after him, catching up bit by bit.

Perhaps he still had someone left to follow him.

Yao arrived at the door to his boss's office and pushed it open. "Mr. Baldwin, I need to talk to you, it's urgent."

The man within jumped at Yao's sudden arrival and looked up at him with disapproval written across his face.

"What is it, Wang?"

"I need to go."

Baldwin's eyes bugged.

"Go? Go where? You aren't off until next week, remember? Until then you need to finish all your work."

Yao ground his teeth together.

"My family is in danger, they're all being threatened, I need to go back now."

Baldwin scoffed.

"Well, what do you want me to do about it? Your family can't be in that big of a bind that they can't wait a week to have you home. Besides, what could you do against a threat?"

"I can do a lot more then you know."Yao snapped.

"I am leaving whether you permit me to or not."

Baldwin stood up.

"You may be some sort of rising star in the OEE, but you still haven't gotten yourself enough to be able to walk out on a mission without losing your job."

"What mission? I haven't got one! All I've been doing for the past week is pushing papers, aru! You haven't got any reason to keep me here other then to yell at me!" Yao pointed out, tossing a hand into the air in protest.

"Now I need to know. Who was that damn contact that sent me such a disrespectful spoiled brat!?"

Baldwin stood up, his chair screeched on the tile floor, his face turning red.

Yao knew the man was infamous for his spitfire temper, and Yao himself was no bottomless well of patience either.

"I show respect to those who earn it! What have you done for me to respect you but sit behind your desk and look down on me like I'm worthless!? I've been working hard, I've succeeded in every mission you've given me, and you still treat me like I'm nothing!" Yao roared back, fisting his hands.

Baldwin stalked around from behind the desk, he was taller then Yao, but not by some massive margin.

"That contact must be some sort of lousy, lazy, uncaring teacher if he was the one who trained you." He growled, prodding a finger in Yao's direction.

...you made it to two decades stuck with me as your lousy teacher, huh?

Yao snapped, his eyes darkened.

He's the greatest headmaster, the greatest teacher, the greatest man any of us could have asked for.

"If there is one thing you should never do, it is never to insult my teacher in front of me. That man taught me everything, he gave me a chance when everyone else turned me away." Yao hissed.

Baldwin raised his nose, and Yao was completely through with his infuriating superiority act.

"Why shouldn't I insult a man who's clearly nothing but a spineless coward to let his student behave like this?" Baldwin asked, a smirk playing over his lips.

Yao felt something inside him snap at those hateful words.

His hand shot out without any thought or reasoning, no foresight to what disaster such an act could cause.

He seized Baldwin by the wrist, spun, and hurled with all of his strength, the mans bulk was lifted clean from the ground, flipped over, and sent air born.

Baldwin slammed hard into the rack of awards hung in his office, falling to the ground in a discombobulated heap. Several of the heavy metal plated trophies fell and landed on him, one directly on the head with what Yao thought was a satisfying clang.

"That's why." The young recruit growled.

Baldwin rose to his feet, rubbing at his head, then his watery blue eyes lit afire as he turned on the smaller man, fisting his hands.

"You think I was elected to this office for nothing?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper.

He moved faster then Yao had been expecting and before the chinese could react, he was punched hard across the face.

Yao moved with the blow, dropping his head and swinging up his foot in a roundhouse kick.

Baldwin caught his foot and used his weight against him, flinging him back.

Yao fell back on his hands and pushed back to his feet. He swung another punch at Baldwin, and the man fluidly dodged, his own fist darted out and landed another painful blow across Yao's face, colors danced in front of the chinese mans vision. Yao stumbled backwards a step, gasping. Before any other moves could be made from the former students end, Baldwin seized his shoulders, and brought his knee up hard.

Yao hacked up dry air and a little spittle actually flew from his mouth, forced out from the power of the blow. Baldwin moved quickly after that, a lightning barrage of punches rained down, and Yao struggled to block and dodge. An uppercut lifted him several inches from the ground and sent him flying backwards, he felt himself slam into a rack of awards, and he hit the white tiles so hard the wind was knocked from him.

Yao felt as though he may actually pass out, he couldn't recall ever being hit that hard in his life. No training with Professor Gojosen had ever been this punishing. His knees felt weak and he knew that another blow would finish him.

Letting out a startled yelp, he rolled to one side when Baldwin attempted to crush his chest underfoot. Yao put his arms under him and performed a fluid transition from the ground to a crouch, pushing up to his feet on aching limbs. It was purely instinct and muscle memory, combined with self preservation, that allowed him to dodge a few more punches.

Baldwin reeled back his fist and threw forward again, a rocketing knockout punch was aimed at Yao's head. The golden eyed trainee brought up his forearms in a X shape, catching the fist on the spot where his arms crossed. He felt himself go sliding backwards, blinding whiteness of the office all around him, the room was spinning, so was he. Baldwin was looming above him, and he couldn't seem to find any sort of gap, the mans brute strength was overwhelming.

Yao just wasn't big enough or strong enough to fight him off.

"So, you got your butt kicked again?"

Yao's eyes flew open when he heard that strong, slightly accenting voice in his mind. From that time he'd been lying, exhausted and barely two years into his training at the academy, on the dojo floors, and those words had greeted him.

"Yes, sir, I just wasn't strong enough. I was to small, aru."

Yao flung himself to the side and raced behind Baldwins desk, feeling his legs nearly give out again, it was all he could do to keep himself beyond reach.

"Running away, wheres all that bravado?" Baldwin demanded tauntingly, following after him.

Yao watched as Rome strode into the dojo, a small smile on the older mans his face.

"Remember. There's always a weak point. It doesn't matter that you're small, or short, or not as muscular. What matters is where you aim your punches."

Yao dodged back and forth behind the desk, keeping the thing between him and Baldwin, trying to refocus his still dazed vision. Baldwin suddenly leapt the desk, planting a foot on it and jumping, kicking Yao in the chest and sending him sprawling. Yao didn't think he could make it back to his feet again.

Yao sat up on the mat as he watched Rome walk over to the space a few feet in front of him.

"But sir, I'm almost a foot shorter then most of my opponents! They're all so much stronger then me! How could I ever beat them?"

Rome smiled softly. "Step one? You get up."

Yao gritted his teeth and hurled himself forward again, legs spinning as he came to a stand again, staggering several feet before returning a fighting pose.

Yao got to his feet in front of the Headmaster and watched as the man took a fighting stance.

"What's my weakness?" Rome asked the question.

Yao looked over the mans stand, and frowned.

"I don't see one, aru."

Rome snapped his fingers and he stood up fully again.

"And thats why you're always losing."

Yao ducked and weaved around Baldwin's punches, and the man appeared frustrated that the blows that had once been landing without issue were now being so swiftly avoided.

Yao furrowed his brow, looking up into Rome's golden eyes, which somewhat matched his own.

"I don't understand, Headmaster. You're the best fighter here, other then Professor Gojosen, how can you have a weak point?"

Rome snickered. "Yao, everyone has a weak point. You've just gotta be more creative. Here, let me show you. Take up stance."

Yao did as he was told.

Rome looked him over, then, suddenly, his hand shot out and grabbed Yao's ponytail before Yao could dodge.

Yao yelped in surprise, and his hands instantly flew up in and attempt to free his hair from the grip.

Rome's other hand shot out and flicked Yao in the throat, which had been completely exposed.

The boy winced at how easily he'd been bested.

Rome released Yao's hair and stepped back. "See?" He offered.

Yao rubbed his scalp, trying not to let his irritation show. "That wasn't proper technique, aru."

Rome smiled and winked. "Exactly. If you can't beat someone by the rules, then don't play by them."

Yao blinked when this recollection finished surfacing in his mind.

His eyes raked over Baldwin, taking in his stance and attempting to spot a weakness.

Yao found one.

Narrowing his eyes, took several dancing steps backwards until he had put about two yards of distance between himself and Baldwin.

"Bouncing around won't save you!" Baldwin exclaimed.

Yao screamed as he charged Baldwin head on, the man instinctively widened his stance to defend against the tackle he expected was coming.

Yao dropped to his knees and his freshly laundered slacks slid across the tile as if it were ice. Yao leaned back and his momentum carried him right between Baldwin's widened stance. Yao leaned so far back his ponytail was grazing the tile as he seized both of Baldwin's ankles.

Yao pulled and Baldwin fell face first to the ground with a surprised cry, his face colliding solidly with the cold, hard tiles, a loud thud echoed through the office.

Yao came just as quickly to his feet again, chest heaving, head swimming, heart pumped full of adrenaline, prepared for the fight to continue when he realized this fall had knocked Baldwin unconscious.

Yao was still trying to catch his breath when he recalled the whole reason he'd won that fight.

The best teacher I could have asked for.

He reaffirmed to himself with a small nod.

After looking around at the disaster area that the office had become, Yao shrugged as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his OEE agent I.D.

He stared at it for a few moments, and then something flashed before his eyes.

Just beyond reach was that feeling of belonging, he glanced around and saw them all around him, counting on him, there for him to count on should he ever need too. Camaraderie was unremarkable, it was average for all students to be so closely woven together that even miles upon miles away, Yao still received every ounce of their compassion and care for him.

Something inside his heart had cracked the second he realized it.

Everything was familiar, blissfully commonplace, in that far away world of red and black.

Tossing the I.D onto Baldwin's prone form, Yao turned his back on the man with a roll of his shoulders.

"Looks like I'm fired, aru." He said, rubbing his cheek, honestly, every inch of him felt like it needed an ice pack, but now he had more pressing matters to attend to.

When he pulled his hand away their was blood on his fingertips.

"Yao! You have a bloody nose!"

Bella was there, quick to produce her handkerchief for Yao to stanch the blood up.

"Thanks, aru."

Yao said, voice now a little muffled from his blocked nose.

Bella looked anxiously from Baldwin, lying on the ground, to Yao, who's eyes were still slightly unfocused.

"What are you going to do now?" She asked worriedly.

Yao looked back at the I.D, still up for grabs on Baldwin's unconscious back.

The chinese turned his back and slammed the door to the office shut, hopefully postponing the discovery of the likely concussion bearing Baldwin, among other possible side effects of the brawl.

"I'm going home."

He said before breaking into a run again towards their base, feeling his body coming under is control again as he smoothly lowered himself from the high of combat with breathing techniques and mental tricks that Professor Ancient Egypt had taught.

Yao bursted through the door of the base and scaled the ladder in flash.

The golden eyed boy hurriedly shoved his computer into it's bag and slung it over his shoulder, he didn't have time to waste packing up everything. He tossed the two pictures from his bedside table into his computer bag, shoved in his beloved panda, the super man blanket Alfred had made, the overlarge red scarf Ivan had knitted, and made to leave.

When he recalled something very important.

He reached into the closet and drew out the attire he'd been hiding away.

Just in case, hmm?

He thought to himself, shaking his head as slipped his bag from his shoulder and set it onto the ground.

He began to unbutton his OEE uniform shirt.

I look terrible in khaki anyway.

In the parking garage.

When Yao had left the base, Bella had been gone, he didn't blame her, and he certainly didn't want the girl to lose her job because of him.

He threw his things into the back of a van that he'd used on missions once before. Not bothering with opening the trunk, he merely hurled the single bag over his shoulder into the expanse of the back of the van.

He must have been to distracted by his current mission to notice the soft, stifled, squeak that had been produced when his bag had landed.

Looks like snatching that extra set of keys was a good idea after all.

Yao praised himself as he got into the car.

If I drive at the fastest possible speed without getting pulled over, I should be able to make it there in just under five hours. I just hope those directions Mr. Empire suggested I memorize are correct.

Yao got into the drivers seat and pulled around to the front of the gate, overly long sleeves concealing multiple weapons rolled back in order to grip the wheel of the van.

He approached the single long road that led away from the complex.

No one was coming.

He floored the gas pedal, the van tripling in speed and leaving tread marks behind it as he urged it forward.

It slammed through the small toll gate that cut off the road, the man inside attempted to stop him but Yao was already gone, the van tearing a path down the single road and off onto a branching street.

He didn't even glance into the rear view mirror.

Yao accessed the memory of the carefully read through directions of the fastest possible way back to the academy from the OEE complex.

Yao felt almost relieved when he saw the highway coming into view.

He pulled onto the highway, set the cruise control and let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"So, where are we going?" A chipper voice questioned only inches from his ear.

"AII-YAH!"


Amethyst: Well, theres a fight scene! And a flashback from Yao's earlier days at the academy! He wasn't always this kick butt!

Yao: I learned when I was a first and second year, aru! I started to rise up during my third year, and by my fourth year I was the best in the academy.

Gojosen: Well, you were pretty ok.

Yao: Pretty ok?

Gojosen: Alright...you were so-so.

Amethyst: He reminds me of a proud father that doesn't want to inflate their sons head to much.

Yao and Gojosen: We are NOT father and son!

Amethyst: Ok, ok, calm down, sheesh.

Wisteria: My I ask a quick question?

Amethyst: Please do.

Wisteria: Am I going to be in this story at all?

Amethyst: You already had a story to yourself, you shared with the other micro nations some but it was mostly you.

Wisteria: True *sigh* I just want to help the academy some.

Amethyst: Exactly why I'll give you more of a roll then Alfred!

Alfred: HEY! NO FAIR!

Wisteria: Yay! Ok! Favorite, follow, and review everyone! Thank you all so much for reading!