Maya Tsukiko 2


"Agent Lee of Tsukiko Squad and Agent Fujisawa of Chano Squad have bailed out!" Shiori said. "Agent Asano of Tsukiko Squad gets the point from Fujisawa, but he managed to get one final point from Agent Lee before bailing out. The current scores are Tsukiko Squad, 1 point; Chano Squad, 1 point and Kakizaki Squad, no points. With the loss of two people, how will this intense battle turn out? Stay tuned to find out!"

"I'm sorry, Shana. I couldn't do it in time," Eri said, running over to back up Maya.

"Hey, hey, no prob, Eri. You did what you could," Shana said, back in the team's operating room. "And that last shot of yours, the one that took out Fujisawa, that was amazing! Was that in the moment?"

"Yeah," Eri replied.

"That was awesome! You've been working on in the moment forever! And you finally got it!" Shana said enthusiastically. "You're more than halfway there to becoming the next Nasu or Izumi!"

Eri smiled. Even though it was her fault Shana had to bail out, she was still her happy self, congratulating Eri on finally getting an in the moment shot.

"Thanks, Shana. Now if you wouldn't mind shutting up, I've got to focus."

"Sure thing, Eri," Shana flicked off the microphone and sat back in one of the chairs.

Back in the battle, Maya was knee deep in a sword fight with Teruya. She managed to slice off one of Teruya's arms, and the wound began leaking Trion.

"I got an arm," Maya announced. "She's disadvantaged. I can get her."

"Roger that, Maya," Kuni said. "Eri, you doing alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just stuck in a pretty big gunfight here," Eri, sarcastically casual, replied.

"I've got you," the operator said. "Just keep it up!"

Back in the stands, Shiori and her commentary were still on full blast.

"And it seems we have a gunfight developing!" Shiori said.

"It's a tricky place to be in, especially with the setting," Izumi said. "Captain Chano, Captain Kakizaki, Agent Tomoe and Agent Asano are all stuck in this large volley of bullets flying around. All are on different levels, so it does make shooting more difficult. Not to mention, everyone except Agent Asano is a gunner, so I do wonder how she will handle that."

"I will say I think I'm rooting for the Tsukiko Squad," Yoneya said. "Even after losing a teammate, those girls have a lot of spirit. It's going to be hard, but I think they have what it takes to win."

"I'd agree that they do have what it takes, but a lot will depend on what happens in this gunfight," Izumi added.

"And let's get back to that!" Shiori said.

Chano already had a small hole from one of Eri's earlier attacks, but she was still shooting away, her fire directed at Tomoe, Kakizaki Squad's gunner. Kakizaki was sending shots two ways, towards Chano and towards Eri. She had a shield up and was trying to deflect as many bullets as she could. Eri used the cage tactic on Tomoe and pockmarked him a little more. One last well placed shot from Chano, and he was down.

"Agent Tomoe has bailed out!" Shiori announced. "Captain Chano has one point, giving her squad a total of two points!"

"They may have the lead now, but with Chano injured and one member down, the squad won't last," Izumi said. "I expect that the next person to go down will be Chano."

And sure enough, Izumi's prediction was right. Eri had moved to cover Maya, and while she did that, Kakizaki landed a final shot, and Chano bailed out.

"Looks like you were right," Yoneya remarked.

"That he was," Shiori said. "Out of the remaining two squads, each has two members remaining. Let's see what happens!"

Back with Maya and Teruya's sword fight, though the two were pretty evenly matched, Maya pulled ahead and lodged a final hit. Teruya bailed out, and Maya got a point.

"Nice job guys!" Kuni said. "Take care of Kakizaki, and this thing's in the bag!"

"Gotcha, Kuni!" Maya replied. "C'mon, Eri. Let's go! I'm all fired up now!"

Eri nodded in silent agreement. She was as fired up as her team leader, though she wouldn't say it.

As you could probably imagine, Kakizaki was tense. He knew he was about to be cornered by the shooter and leader from Tsukiko Squad, and he knew he was in trouble. The first warning sign was when Eri fired her shots. A barrage of small Trion bullets shot towards Kakizaki and filled him with a couple holes. Kakizaki tried to shoot in the direction the bullets came from but got no hits. Another barrage came from the other direction and he tried again. Still, no dice.

"Nice, Eri. Oh man, he's so confused right now!" Maya said. "If I go in from behind, he won't even see it coming!"

"Go ahead."

"You guys have this thing in the bag!" Shana encouraged from the operating room. "Go team!"

"Thanks, Shay," Maya said. "Let's do this thing!"

Maya unsheathed her second Kogetsu, flipped them in her hands, then rushed in. Kakizaki turned around and quickly unsheathed his own Kogetsu, but it was too late. One well-placed hit and Maya had him.

Maya thrust her hand in the air. "Yes! We did it!"

"And that's it!" Shiori said. "The battle is over! Tsukiko Squad has won, with five points, against Chano Squad at two points and Kakizaki Squad at 1 point!"

Maya and Eri were back in the operating room. Shana got up and put her arms on Maya and Eri's shoulders.

"Awesome job guys!" Shana said. "You pulled back the lead, even after losing me. Sorry I'm pretty useless. You seemed to do better without me."

"Don't say that Shay," Maya reassured. "You're part of this team. You're always useful."

Shana smiled. "Thanks, Maya. I'll do better next time!"

Kuni waved the three over. "They're doing final commentary! Get over here!"

"In the end, Tsukiko Squad was able to win even after losing a member because they used the abilities of the remaining agents to the best they could," Izumi said. "Captain Tsukiko works best in close-combat sword fight scenarios, so she focused on that. Agent Asano works best long range, diverting attention and backing up her teammates. Their tag-team strategy was their main reason for winning."

"I'll agree with Izumi that their skills helped," Yoneya said. "But what I think is the thing that helped them most was spirit. I don't think I saw Tsukiko's face without a smile, and Asano seemed incredibly determined. These girls won't give up, no matter what is thrown at them. I knew they were going to win."

Maya smiled. "Well, you know what my blood type is!"

Her three teammates groaned.

"B positive!"

"Not that joke again…"

"Shay!"

Kuni shushed them. "I'm trying to watch here!"

"Sorry Kuni," Maya said. "Let's finish that up."