Chapter 10: Discovered
*Third person POV*
Takami Sahashi was astounded. Even after more than a decade, the Sekirei continued to baffle her. Akitsu, who was considered a Scrapped Number, was somehow winged. While Takami was astounded, what astounded her even more was the fact that Yume, who was supposed to be DEAD, was somehow back AND winged, and by the same Ashikabi, no less. Of course, now that she thought about it, there had been another thing troubling her. When Homura told her that there may be another Sekirei Guardian, she flipped. In the past week, several Ashikabi were found beaten within an inch of their life.
That didn't bother her at first, as she thought it was just Homura guarding the unwinged Sekirei. Even though he was a Sekirei,Takami could make sure MBI let him get away with hurting a few humans, as long as it was justified. Then they started to find Sekirei beaten in a similar manner. Most were accompanying their Ashikabi. All of these Ashikabi had histories of bad conduct. The Sekirei that were beaten were all known to be terribly violent, suiting their Ashikabis quite well. She thought Homura had possibly stepped up his game. Needless to say, when Homura said that he hadn't been to any of those locations, she had a few stiff ones to fight off the headache she could feel coming.
Upon further investigation, it was discovered that it wasn't a Sekirei. That was for sure. When Sekirei fought, they let a certain energy leak out of their bodies. That energy can stay in the area in small traces for weeks, much longer than it took for MBI to investigate the areas. They had long since learned how to detect this energy. It was one way they made sure that Sekirei didn't harm any humans. But the fact that there was something out there that could beat a Sekirei so badly was honestly terrifying.
Most of the Sekirei were double or triple digits, so they weren't that powerful, but still. Even the weakest Sekirei was stronger than a human could ever hope to be. That was why she was so terrified. Thinking back to her original point, there were a few Sekirei that had something in common. No 2, Matsu, No 84, Yashima, and now No 07, Akitsu, and No 08, Yume. All of them had the same Ashikabi. However, this Ashikabi was not in MBI's records, which once again baffled her. MBI had the most extensive information network in the world. There wasn't a single person on the planet that MBI didn't know about. Either this person was REALLY good at hiding, or there was something bigger than all of them going on here. As much as she didn't like it, she would have to go and see this "Phantom Ashikabi" herself to gather info on them.
-Meanwhile, at Maison Izumo-
Hikaru woke up to find that he could not move. He was also having trouble breathing. It was Yashima on his chest, Matsu on his right arm, Yume on his right leg, and Akitsu on his left leg. After winging his two newest Sekirei, Hikaru's injuries healed almost instantly. This was due to the fact that Yume, surprisingly(not so much from the incantation I gave her last chapter), had healing powers. Injuries that may have taken weeks to heal naturally took Yume about ten minutes. Needless to say, Hikaru was ecstatic at being able to train hard again. 'Jeez, if I get any more Sekirei, I won't be able to move at all.', he thought to himself. He could sense Miya's energy in the kitchen, so, using his free hand, he warped to her using Instant Transmission. She was a little startled, dropping the plate she was holding. Reflexes fast as lightning, Hikaru caught it and its contents before it hit the floor. He sighed in relief.
He looked up at Miya, only for his smile to disappear when he saw hers. It was her 'I'm hiding my anger' smile. Carefully, he put the plate down on the table, then stood up to face Miya. While the demon masks didn't scare him, that overwhelming aura that he had felt from Miya before definitely did. However, it also got his blood boiling, and his Saiyan instincts roaring. He wondered why Miya didn't want to take part in the Sekirei Plan, considering she was so powerful. 'Maybe it has something to do with Takehito.', he thought to himself.
After their little 'discussion' on his teleporting, Hikaru walked out of the kitchen with a decently-sized lump on his head, courtesy of Miya's spoon of doom. With that done, he went to wake up Matsu. He had a task for her.
"So, can you do it?", he asked her, hope in his eyes. Matsu chuckled and adjusted her glasses. "I'll admit, these plans are a little advanced, but it should be no problem for me. Where did you say you wanted it?" "Under the backyard.", he replied. "Are you sure? Miya might not like that.", she said. He nodded. "I'll ask Miya for permission. I just wanted to know if you could build it before I did.", he replied. Matsu sighed. "Look, I can get all the tech for it, but you'll have to get the basic building materials." He agreed, and went to ask Miya's permission. She was very against it at first, until the young Saiyan said that it would help all the Sekirei there get much stronger and that since it would be underground, it wouldn't take away from the inn's beauty at all. With a sigh, she agreed, but asked that he clean up any mess they made. He agreed, and took off to the sky to gather materials.
He landed at a construction site, surprisingly seeing Minato there. He exchanged a few words with the young man, explaining why he was here, then went on to find the supervisor. He was a large, hairy man with a thick mustache. "Eh? What do you want?", he asked. Hikaru looked at the man and smiled. "Sir, I was just wondering if you had any steel you could spare. I'm doing a little project, but I need materials." The man raised an eyebrow, then pointed to a large pile of scrap metal. "That's scrap that was left over from the building that used to be here. It was only a few years old, so all that steel is still good. We were gonna sell it to a scrapyard, but I'll give it to you for, say six hundred sixty thousand yen.", he said. (about $6,000)
*First person POV*
I sighed. "Sir, I'm afraid I don't have any money, but maybe we can work something out?", I said, scratching the back of my head. The man looked me over. "Say, you look like a strong guy. How about this? If you help us get the frame for this building up by the end of the day, I'll give it to you free of charge.", he said, extending his hand. I took it. "Deal.", I said, smiling. I knew what he was trying to do. He just wanted free labor. He thought that there was no way they were getting that frame up by the end of the day. He would get me to work for free, and still keep the steel at the end of the day. Imagine his surprise when I lifted five steel beams at once and welded them in place with an energy beam. I kept working, and in 4 hours, the frame was completed.
Minato, the supervisor, and all the other workers just stared, eyes wide, jaws hanging. I walked up to the supervisor, my arms crossed and smirking. "I believe I've earned that steel, no?", I asked. He stuttered for a bit, then sighed. "That you have, kid. I'll admit, I'm impressed. Plus, you've just saved us weeks of work. I was gonna use the money from that scrap to hire more workers, but I don't need any extra hands now. It's yours. Go ahead. Take it, and thanks for the big help." I smiled, then formed a ki bubble around the scrap metal, picking it up and carrying it back with me to Maison Izumo.
Matsu was pleasantly surprised. I went over the basic layout with her, then began construction. I wanted this done as fast as possible, but I wanted to make sure we did it right, so I went over the plans multiple times with Matsu. It would have taken humans about six weeks to put this together, but with Matsu, Yashima, Yume, Akitsu, and Musubi helping me, we managed to get the initial structure up in just twelve hours. After that, I told the girls to rest, and Matsu and I continued.
By noon the next day, it was complete. Matsu's technopath abilities made everything so much easier. Machines that could have taken days to build were put together in minutes. I hadn't told anyone except Matsu what it was, so they were all eager to see what was in store.
I lifted a tatami mat in the living room, revealing a hatch which I proceeded to open. I led them down the well-lit corridor to a round dome-like room with a large cylindrical machine in the middle. "Hikaru-sensei, what is this place?", Musubi asked. I chuckled. "I'm glad that you asked, Musubi. Everyone, may I present our new gravity chamber!", I said proudly. Yume was the first to speak. "Umm, Hikaru-san? What exactly is a gravity chamber?", she asked. I nodded at the question.
"Well, you know how I've had you all training with those weights?" They nodded. "Well, with the gravity chamber, we don't need them anymore. With this, we can train in enhanced gravity, making everything much easier. Allow me to demonstrate." I walked up to the machine and set it to ten. Immediately, Minato dropped to the ground. The girls were mostly unaffected, excluding Matsu, who was struggling to remain standing. I cranked the dial back down to normal and turned to them. "So I think you can see why this is so beneficial.", I said.
They nodded, with Musubi looking excited, wanting to start training immediately. I agreed, and the others left. That left just me, Yashima, Musubi, Yume, and Akitsu. Since they all were pretty comfortable in ten times gravity, I cranked it up to twenty. I could move with relative ease, while the others were having a bit of trouble. I took a deep breath. "Let's go!", I said, my voice becoming harsh and commanding, surprising the Sekirei. "I've gone easy on you so far, but now that we have this gravity chamber, you can expect training to get a hell of a lot more intense! So let's get to it! Drop and give me 200 pushups! If I catch you slacking off, I'll add more!", I barked. They immediately dropped down and began the exercises. I, meantime, began doing 400 pushups. My goal was to finish before them. I managed, but just barely. "200 sit ups, no breaks!", I barked.
Needless to say, it was a harsh physical session. Afterwards, I trained their reflexes. I fired energy blasts at them, telling them to dodge them. I didn't put enough power into them to cause any serious damage, but they'd still sting like hell. Yashima and Musubi got a taste of that first hand. They had a few bright red welts on their skin, but I had no intention of letting them stop. Yume and Akitsu were doing rather well. They still got hit, but not as often as the others. Afterward, it was time for sparring. I took them on one at a time. First was Musubi.
We adopted a fighting stance and eyed each other. "Musubi, this is a serious fight. Come at me like you're trying to kill me.", I said. Her eyes widened. "But, Hikaru-sensei, I don't want to hurt you. I like you.", she said, carefree as ever. I scowled. "It's that kind of thinking that will get you killed Musubi. Tell me something. Do you have friends among the other Sekirei?" She nodded. "Do you think they're gonna refrain from killing you just because you're friends? They won't. Just like you, they also want to win the Sekirei plan. They're fighting for the ones they love, and they'll kill any Sekirei in their way, even if it's you. You need to be ready to do the same!", I yelled.
Musubi was taken aback for a moment, then nodded and adopted a serious expression. She rushed at me, and our arms collided. I launched a kick at her head, which she dodged quite well. She, in return, launched a kick at my chest, which I caught, swinging her around and slamming her into the wall. I launched a ki blast at her, which she deflected with her hand. I rushed at her and we began clashing, punching and kicking one another in rapid succession, waiting for an opening. She tried to hit me with a low sweep, but I jumped over her and landed behind her, performing one of my own. I formed a ki blade and put it to her throat. "I win.", I said, serious as ever, my eyes cold and emotionless. She gulped and raised her hands in surrender. I helped her up and sent her into the house, telling her that she was done for the day.
I wouldn't fight Yashima or Akitsu. Yashima was only able to fight well with her hammer, and the increased gravity could easily make that hammer destroy the chamber. We'd just have to train her body in the chamber and train her hammer skills outside. As for Akitsu, I hadn't really gotten a good read on her powers yet, so I wanted to focus on training her individually before we fought.
That just left Yume. We adopted a stance, and rushed at one another. Like Musubi, Yume was a fist fighter. Unlike her, however, she also used light based attacks, which can make for a deadly combination. I barely dodged a punch aimed at my head, marveling at the dent it made in the wall behind me. She managed to put me on the offensive, dodging and blocking. She punched at me, and I saw my opening. I sidestepped, grabbed her arm, and flipped her, aiming a ki blast at her face. She rolled out of the way and fired a beam of light from her hands. It hit me in the chest, singing my clothes. "Not bad, Yume.", I said, chuckling. "But don't think I'm done just yet.", I said, powering up. Imagine my surprise when Yume did the same.
She gave me a cheeky smile. "You didn't think I was just sitting around inside Musubi all this time, did you? I watched her train, and practiced ki control within her. I would say I'm doing pretty well, wouldn't you?", she said, giggling. I smirked and shook my head. "Of course you've been watching. I must say, I'm rather impressed. Your energy is much more stable than Musubi's. But enough of that; how about we get back to the fight?", I asked. She nodded, and we charged at one another again. We ran around the chamber, jumping and launching energy blasts at one another.
I was quite surprised when she launched blasts at me. Analyzing them, I figured out that she was combining her light spheres with ki, making them quite volatile. 'If only they were all as creative as her.', I thought to myself. I began to put more energy into my blasts, just to counter. I got her a few times, but she got me a few times as well. In terms of fighting skill, we were roughly even. In terms of ki, however, I had the advantage. My stores of energy were larger, and I was much better at controlling it. Eventually, she ran out of energy, and I saw my chance. I created multiple afterimages, and charged up a ki blast. She couldn't tell which one was me, and began blasting at them randomly.
In reality, I was off in the corner, charging up my energy as she fought the decoys. Once my attack was ready, I jumped in front of her and blasted her at point blank range. "Crimson Blitz!", I shouted, launching a large red energy blast at her. She attempted to block it, but it quickly overcame her defenses, detonating on contact and engulfing her entirely. When the light faded, Yume was unconscious, and I was breathing heavily. We both were sporting quite a few bruises, and I felt blood drip from my nose.
I brought her inside and cleaned myself up, repairing my clothes while I was at it. Once Yume had woken up, I addressed them all. "You all did well today. But, don't let it go to your head. From here on out, training will be utter hell. I want you to understand that. That said, I'm pleased with your improvements. Yume, that was a really good fight. Had your new body been trained to suit your fighting style, I may have been in trouble. I expect everyone to fight with that kind of determination, be it during training or out on the streets. Am I understood?", I asked. They all nodded. We had just sat down to eat, when there was a knock on the door. Miya opened it, to reveal a white-haired woman in a white lab coat. It appeared that Minato recognized her. "M-mom?! What are you doing here?", he asked.
The woman sighed. "It's good to see you, Minato. I'm here on business. You there.", she said, pointing to me. "Are you the Ashikabi of Numbers 02, 07, 08 and 84?", she asked. I nodded. She took out various small machines from her bag. "It is required that all Ashikabi have their info on MBI's database. I'll need your name, your fingerprint, some blood, your age, as well as several other things. If you refuse to cooperate, MBI will terminate your Sekirei.", she said calmly.