Chapter 11: Demon's Tag

It had been one week since Kagura had "transferred" into Neo-DEAVA. Amata thought that the change in everyone since that day was remarkable. Though his fellow students had seemed frightened or even hostile at first, they gradually got used to the wild boy's presence. Even Cayenne, who had been the most openly hostile to the newcomer, limited his displeasure to glares in Kagura's general direction.

The students weren't the only ones that had begun to change. Kagura, who had openly declared his disdain for others on his first day, now tolerated the presence of Amata's friends every afternoon during lunch. He still refused to join in their conversations, but the fact that he no longer avoided their presence was encouraging. During class, he would no longer chase off anyone who approached his desk, but he still ignored them until they went away. Still, it was a bit of an improvement.

Amata knew that much of the change in the other boy was due to their encounter with Mykage in the forest. Although he didn't say anything to anyone about it, choosing to bear the pain by himself as he always had before; Amata knew through the connection between their souls that the other boy was slowly bending under the temptation to take Mykage's proposal. Although the two had been enemies, they now shared the pain of having a loved one taken out of reach. He would not let Kagura face this alone. Nor would he let Kagura open a dimension gate into Altair just to get what he wanted.

Supreme Commander Fudo's voice came over the loudspeaker, "All Element pilots report to the track field for mandatory training."

The announcement interrupted Suomi-sensei as she was describing the history of Neo-DEAVA to the class. Frowning unhappily at being cut off, she excused the students who had piloted the Aquarion before.

"I know Supreme Commander Fudo's training regimes are supposed to be quite effective, but they're almost always dangerous too—take care of yourselves," she called out after them as they left the classroom.

The Supreme Commander, Headmistress Crea, and Instructor Dantes were all waiting for the students when they arrived. Donar looked at a timepiece as the last stragglers were coming in. Everyone present was part of the familiar crowd: Zessica, Andy, MIX, Yunoha, Jin, Cayenne, Shrade, Malloy, and Sazanka. Amata had never really thought about it much, but for a school housing several hundred students, there were very few people who had ever done a mixed-gender Union before. He supposed that the higher-ups found it easier to just deal with about a dozen students rather than the whole student body.

"Still waiting on one more—," Instructor Dantes noted.

Amata looked around, wondering who was missing. His curiosity was answered two minutes later as Suomi-sensei came running towards them, hiking her nun's habit up so that she didn't did not look happy at all.

"Why didn't you tell me in advance that I had to come too?" she shouted at Donar between gasps for air. "The substitute was looking at me like I was out of my mind for still being there in the classroom."

"Never mind that," Headmistress Crea said softly, "we're all here now. Supreme Commander Fudo will now explain to you all what is going on."

Fudo Zen stepped forwards, smiling mysteriously, clearly relishing the moment. He took the time to look each Element in the eye. Amata thought that the man was better suited to be a performer than a commander but, criticism aside, Fudo Zen was an excellent leader. At the very least, he had never led the pilots of the Aquarion astray before.

"This is special training," he declared after a long pause. "As our enemy becomes stronger, you will find it harder to grasp victory. It may even become difficult to survive. SURVIVAL!"

Everyone jumped at the sudden increase in volume of the man's voice.

Fudo Zen smiled, "That, is what you will be learning today."

Amata felt the amusement radiating from Kagura even before he opened his mouth to talk.

"Survival? I've survived on my own well enough," Kagura scoffed. "I don't need any 'special training' to know how to do it."

"How many pilots are there in the Aquarion?" the Supreme Commander asked Kagura in a loud voice.

Kagura looked back at him quizzically. "Three," he answered.

"Correct!" Fudo Zen declared. "That is why—your task will be to survive as a group of three. Now for the rules."

"First rule: Aside from these rules, there are no rules. You may do anything you want, use anything you can find, in order to survive."

Everyone listened intently as the Supreme Commander continued.

"Second rule: If any member of your team is eliminated, the entire team will be given a penalty. Further loss of teammates will result in additional penalties."

There was a groan from the students at this announcement, followed by hushed murmurs about what the penalty might be. Amata tried not to listen to the whispered guesses. Some of them, especially those coming from Sazanka, would probably give him nightmares for a month.

"Third rule: One team will start as the 'hunting team.' The hunting team must tag members of other teams with a hand to eliminate those participants. Eliminated team members will join the 'hunting team.' The hunting team will incur penalties for every Element user not part of their team by the end of the training exercise!"

"Fourth rule: To provide an incentive to hunt down former team members and other teams, members of the hunting team may lower the penalty they receive by tagging others; the more people you eliminate, the more your penalty is reduced."

"Final rule: Element powers are allowed. The hunting team may use them as much as they like. All others are restricted to three usages of their powers during the course of the training exercise. Amata Sora and Kagura Demuri, as you are one, you may only use a total of three of any combination of your powers. This exercise will last three hours. The entire campus is the hunting ground. Survive until the end!"

Although the thought of an unknown and cumulative penalty was daunting, Amata felt a rush of adrenaline coursing through him; whether it originated from Kagura or himself didn't really matter. His fellow Elements looked just as excited.

"I see that you all are treating this as a game," the Supreme Commander noted harshly. "It is anything but that! Now, Sazanka, Cayenne, Shrade, you are team one. Zessica, Andy, Jin, team two. MIX, Kagura, Amata, and Yunoha, team three. Instructor Donar, Suomi-sensei, Malloy, you three will start as the hunting team. The Headmistress will serve as the arbiter. To all others, you have 5 minutes to plan and move out.

The Commander shouted, "Let the training—begin!"

Andy, Jin, and Zessica made a break for the woods as soon as the Supreme Commander had given the signal. They had figured that it would be the best place to hide out for a few hours without getting caught by the hunting team.

"We need to stick together," Andy said. "Find a good spot and dig a few dozen tunnels to confuse the trail while hiding in one of them. Give me enough time, and I'll have a labyrinth they won't be able to navigate."

"Andy—did you forget you're only allowed to use your powers three times? Are you really going to waste it all in the first two or three minutes digging a few pits?" Zessica asked.

"She's right," Jin noted. "It's probably best to save your powers for an emergency, in order to make a quick getaway. Let's try to come up with ways to use our powers more effectively. I can cover our retreats or buy us a good amount of time if we find an area that's narrow enough."

"Since you two won't let me dig a massive hideout, I guess I'm stuck with digging an escape path or a hiding spot if needed," Andy sighed. He had been looking forward to creating the most elaborate tunnel network the world had ever seen.

"Sorry," Zessica apologized. "But my powers are pretty much useless here. Twisting and distorting isn't going to be very useful in stopping pursuit unless you want me to drop a tree down on someone. Let's try not to get that desperate over this training exercise."

"What worries me most is what Element powers Instructor Dantes and Suomi-sensei have," Andy said. "Instructor Dantes used to be a Vector pilot, right? And the Supreme Commander did say that the hunting team could use their powers as much as they want, so it makes sense if Suomi-sensei has some ability as well."

"You know, that was actually pretty good, coming from you, Andy," Zessica said in praise.

"Hey! I'm not an idiot…all of the time at least. Don't believe half of what MIX tells you during your secret girl to girl talks," Andy protested.

"'Secret girl to girl talks?'" Zessica asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are boys always so suspicious when a girl just wants to have a conversation with a friend?"

Andy's face flushed in embarrassment. Hastily changing the subject, he said, "So, would it be possible to find out what their powers are?"

"Give me just a minute," Jin replied, as he pulled out his communicator. Fiddling about with a few buttons, he brought up a holographic screen detailing both teachers.

"Donar Dantes…age 25…Element Ability: Electron Flow Manipulation…Suomi Conebi…age 24…Element Ability: Magnetic Field Displacement."

"So," Jin concluded. "Instructor Dantes can manipulate electric currents and Suomi-sensei can alter magnetic fields. Unfortunately, the data I have doesn't tell me the extent of their abilities, which is troubling. We should assume the worse regarding how much control they have over their powers."

"Way to go Jin!" Andy exclaimed, raising his hand for a high-five. Hesitantly, Jin slapped Andy's hand. "How did you get that information?"

"I still have a direct link to the Neo-DEAVA mainframe from when I hacked in…Everyone just assumed I disconnected from it once I joined up as a student for real," Jin said, abashed. "After all, information is the key to victory."

"So, how does knowing all this about our teachers help us?" Zessica asked. "I can't see how electricity or magnetic fields will help them catch us."

"If Suomi-sensei is sensitive enough to magnetic fields, she might be able to find us even if we're hiding," Jin noted. "The human body generates a weak field on its own, so there is that possibility, no matter how slim. Though, I think it is safe to say that those two will probably go after easier targets first to increase the size of the hunting team before tackling more difficult prey. We are a rather defensive heavy group."

Zessica froze with a thoughtful expression on her face. "Finding us…wait—the Supreme Commander said that there are no rules besides the ones he gave us, right?"

The two boys confirmed her statement.

"So—they don't even have to rely on their powers to find us…Not when they have access to every security camera and microphone in the school!" Zessica exclaimed. "And if I remember correctly, most of the school grounds is under surveillance at all times, including parts of the forest. We need to go back and shut the system down or at least prevent them from accessing it!"

"Going back there now wouldn't work," Andy replied. "We've been heading through the forest for a good three minutes now. By the time we got back to the academy on foot, we'd be completely out of preparation time."

"Jin-kun, is there any chance you could shut down the security cameras with that device of yours?"

Jin shook his head. "That won't work. I need my laptop or some other computer to do it. This device just stores information and works as a communicator. It's not actually connected to the network."

"Well then, let's dig a hole to the boys' dorm so that you can retrieve your laptop," Andy suggested. "That way, we won't run into anyone and you can shut down the cameras to blind the pursuit. Zessica, guard the entrance and let us know if anyone is coming from this end, would you?"

Without waiting for Zessica's answer, Andy tore away at the ground, creating a man-sized tunnel into the earth faster than a mechanical shovel would have been able to.

Team two was ready to start.

Cayenne and Shrade walked briskly through the halls of the school. Sazanka followed behind, watching their every move with interest. Even on a normal day, the pair drew attention to themselves just by existing, but on this day, after having been called out of class by the Supreme Commander, there were hushed whispers following the team everywhere they went.

"What are you planning, my friend?" Shrade asked politely.

"The Supreme Commander said that there are no rules and that the whole academy was open. We're going to the armory to pick up some supplies. The hunting team can't take us down if we take them out with tranquilizers first," Cayenne replied.

"A rather amusing interpretation of what has been set forth," Shrade noted. "I will trust in your instincts, my friend."

"You look like you have something else to say," Cayenne said. He was getting pretty good at reading the expressions on his friend's face.

"Nothing, just that I might not mind whatever punishment the Supreme Commander will hand out if I can share that burden with you, dear friend."

Sazanka gave a squeal of delight; she knew that those two made a good pair. The main question was who the top was. Someone who didn't know them well might think that it had to be Cayenne. With his rough demeanor and façade of apathy, he certainly seemed the type. But Sazanka knew better, Cayenne was always on the defensive when it came to Shrade; aways responding awkwardly to the other boy's advances. She once again thanked the powers that be for putting her in the same group as those two.

Team one reached the armory with several minutes to spare. Surprisingly, the room was unlocked, as if the Supreme Commander had known that someone would try to access the supplies within. Cayenne went over to where the dart rifles were stored and took two out, tossing one to Shrade before checking the scope and the laser sights on his own. Then, as an afterthought, he addressed Sazanka.

"Can you use a weapon at all?"

Sazanka snapped out of her fantasy as soon as she realized that he was talking to her.

"Huh? Um-No, I actually can't," she admitted. She had been meaning to learn ever since that incident fleeing in a car from the graveyard with Kagura in pursuit, but she had never gotten around to actually doing it.

"That's not a problem," he said, tossing her a pair of binoculars. "You can be the lookout. We'll set up on the roof of the school and scout out the enemy movements first. Give me a few more moments to grab a few more items."

Cayenne took a backpack from a locker and began searching through the contents. After two minutes or so, he slung it across his back, apparently satisfied with the contents.

"Alright, let's head off," he stated. "We'll take the stairs closest to here. There usually isn't much traffic in this wing of the school so we shouldn't have to worry about running into anyone else."

As Cayenne had predicted, they didn't encounter anyone on the way up to the roof of the school. Nor was there anyone on the roof when they arrived. Cayenne dropped his pack onto the ground and looked through his rifle scope at the track field, laser sight switched off so that it wouldn't alert anyone to his presence.

"It looks like they just started moving out," Cayenne said, as he lowered the gun.

"You're not going to shoot just yet?" Sazanka asked.

"No sense giving away our plan right from the start. Plus, from this range, the dart guns are unreliable, there's too much wind. We'll wait and see what they do first. Sazanka, you keep an eye out in case they exit the building from the other side. I'll keep track of this end. Shrade, you're in charge of letting us know if they come onto the roof from one of the doors."

Team one had finished their preparations.

"We need to stick together," MIX insisted. She was getting more and more frustrated with Kagura as he continued to refuse to listen to her suggestions. Instead, she had found herself following him, trying to convince him that the only way to make it until the end was to work together.

"Stay out of my way," Kagura growled. "If you want to work together so much, go find another group and join them; I wouldn't mind one bit."

"For the love of—Yunoha, talk some sense into this guy, would you?"

The shy girl had been keeping quiet, trailing after her arguing teammates the entire time. At MIX's urging, she finally spoke out.

"Um, Kagura-kun…it really would be best if you worked with others. What if everyone but you ended up on the hunting team? I'm sure you're strong, but against that many people, even you would have trouble."

"Heh," the boy scoffed, "They wouldn't be able to touch me. I still have my ability of Reversal. Don't lump me in the same category as you two loads."

"Are you an idiot?" MIX screamed at him, finally losing her patience. "You are only allowed to use your ability three times during the whole three hours. There's no way you'd last that long with that limitation."

The trio had been walking deeper and deeper into the forest surrounding the academy the whole time. Kagura paused by a particularly large tree as he thought about what MIX had said.

"Fine," he said. "I'll let you work with me as long as you carry your own weight. But drag me down and I won't hesitate to leave you behind."

Kagura stalked off further into the woods. From the direction of the school, a bell chimed, announcing that the pursuers had begun. Yunoha quietly glided after him, disappearing into the darkness and leaving MIX alone by the large tree.

"Of all the frustrating... Men! He's worse than Andy!" MIX exclaimed. She ran off after Kagura, almost tripping over an exposed tree root in her hurry. Catching up to Yunoha, she placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder and asked, "How long can you make your invisibility last?"

"Um, if I focus hard enough, it should last the whole three hours," she said softly.

"Alright then, can you turn the two of us invisible? I'd hate to have you use two of your three Element power usages this early, but it would help a lot."

"What about Kagura-kun?"

"He'd probably say something along the lines of 'Stop interfering! I can do this alone.' There's no point in worrying about him."

"Damn right there isn't," Kagura stated from a tree branch above the two girls, causing MIX to jump. "That's not a bad idea though. You two go ahead and use your invisibility. Go cower in some hiding spot for the next three hours. I'll go on alone; it's win-win for all of us."

"If you get caught, we all face a penalty," MIX exclaimed, irritation tainting her voice.

"Not my problem, now is it?" Kagura replied apathetically.

The boy leapt from the branch back down to the ground and, dropping to all fours, sprinted off faster than the two girls could possibly hope to run. Looking after him with a bit of sadness in her eyes, Yunoha sighed. MIX couldn't understand why the younger girl was so tolerant of Kagura's behavior.

Turning to MIX, Yunoha concentrated and used her power. MIX looked in surprise as her body and clothes faded from sight. It was disorienting, not being able to see your limbs.

"Take hold of my hand before I use it on myself," Yunoha said, "or else we might not be able to find each other."

Mix complied with her request, still marveling at how she couldn't see herself. Who cared about that jerk Kagura anyways? He could go off and get caught by himself; MIX wouldn't cry one bit over it.

Team three: Total time elapsed before imploding, 345 seconds.

Kagura sniffed at the air, trying to catch wind of the presence of anyone else in the forest. The other two members of his "team" were heading for a rocky cliff-face in search of a hiding spot. Even though they weren't visible, Kagura could find their precise location through scent alone. The wind in the forest shifted a little; he caught a familiar fragrance drifting in on the breeze.

"What is it?" Amata asked him.

"The green-haired girl," Kagura replied. "She's close, but I can't smell the others in her group."

"Zessica? I doubt she'd leave her group behind like you did so easily," Amata said.

"I had no choice but to do that," Kagura responded, somewhat angrily.

Amata sounded puzzled, "Because you think they'd get in your way?"

"Nah," Kagura replied, arrogance creeping into his voice. "Because this is a good chance to see just how strong the ones you call teachers here really are. I'm going to tie down their movements and I'll do it alone to prove that this 'teamwork' nonsense is worthless."

The roar of an engine drew Kagura's attention skywards. A single Vector had just taken off from the Academy's launch-strip and was circling around over the school buildings. There was no way that was fair, Kagura thought…but then he recalled the old man's first rule.

"Still think you can slow them down by yourself?" Amata asked.

"They can't tag us while they're in the machine, so we're safe as long as they're on it," Kagura replied, trying to sound calm. He knew that Amata could probably sense the hesitation he was feeling through their bond.

Luckily, the Vector seemed to be focused on something on the school rooftop for the time being. Kagura jumped down to the forest floor; if it came over the forest on a fly-by, the odds were good that whoever was piloting the thing wouldn't be able to see through the tree cover.

"Let's try to meet up with Zessica's group," Amata suggested. "Or find MIX and Yunoha. No one ever said that two groups couldn't band together."

"The more people in one area, the more likely we are to be found," Kagura answered. "Haven't you ever done an infiltration mission before?"

"Does that mission to Altair count?"

Kagura scoffed, but ran off towards the direction the green-haired girl's scent was coming from. It would be good to know what the other groups were up to so that he could avoid them interfering with his own plans. He hoped the two others assigned to his "team" had the sense to just hide somewhere; if he really was caught, he would hate to have to betray them and tag them out without a fight. Invisibility wouldn't save them from his acute sense of smell.

It wasn't long before he reached where Zessica was. She had her back turned to him and was scanning the surrounding forest nervously. Kagura purposely snapped a twig under his foot as he approached to test her reaction. She gave a small scream and jumped around before dropping to a fighting pose. It took her a moment to realize just who was standing there.

"Amata?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but the weakling's not in control right now," Kagura answered.

"Can you switch over for a few moments? I have something I need to ask him," Zessica said. She had a bit of a pleading expression on her face.

Kagura opened his mouth to say no, but before he could, Amata tried to wrest control of the body from him.

"Damn it, Amata," he thought, "don't be in such a rush. Fine, I'll let you talk with your little girlfriend for a bit…just let me know when you're done. I had the urge to vomit the last time you two had a heart to heart so I'm going to block this one out."

Unfortunately, Kagura found that it was impossible to block out his sense of sight and hearing while occupying the same body as Amata. Yet another inconvenient aspect of sharing a body with his other half; he hoped that this situation could be remedied, and fast.

"What did you want to talk about, Zessica?" Amata asked.

The girl looked down at her feet, fiddling her hands. "It's embarrassing," she said, after a moment, "but can you stay with me for a bit until the others return? I really don't like the forest much. It's kind of dark and scary, and I don't do well with that combination."

Amata started laughing, which cause Zessica to puff up indignantly. She pointed a finger at him accusingly.

"What?" she asked loudly. "I'm completely serious here and you're treating it like a joke?"

"No, that's not it," Amata replied, choking back his mirth. "It's just that you reminded me of that time when we ran into Yunoha at night, back when she was still always invisible."

Kagura had seen that memory before. Amata had floated into the air in a panic and Zessica had grabbed onto him in fright and began running. The two of them had sped through the building, Amata being carried by the girl who was running blindly trying to get away. That little mishap had caused a misunderstanding between Amata and Mik—Sylvia.

Damn, Amata's memories were starting to affect his own perceptions; half the time he found himself thinking of Sylvia as her present self before correcting himself. Altair was behind him, his tentative understanding with Mykage was behind him, he no longer had his Mithra Gnis, the only thing he truly owned were his memories of Sylvia as she had been 12,000 years ago. He now recognized the memories that he originally had as false ones planted by Mykage, but now, they had largely been replaced by Apollo's true memories of the events of his previous incarnation. He couldn't allow himself to think of her as Mikono; he feared that doing so would mean rejecting his love of 12,000 years ago, the only thing he had left.

"-gura…Kagura!"

Amata was calling to him through their connection. Kagura was startled, he hadn't even realized how deep in his own thoughts he had been.

"What is it, weakling?"

"Do you mind if we stay put here with Zessica for a bit? I'll understand if you don't want to, since you had plans and all."

Kagura wanted to say that "yes, he did mind" but he thought better of it. Amata was already on the precipice of falling for the green-haired girl. This bit of time together might be enough to push him over, which would mean that Kagura would have Mikono—no, Sylvia— to himself. After all, Kagura had heard somewhere before that being in a frightening situation with someone of the opposite gender could amplify feelings of adoration. This could well be the opportunity he was waiting for.

"Fine, but you'd better not lose while you're in control of the body," Kagura replied gruffly.

"Thanks a lot, Kagura," Amata said. Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "Is it just me, or are you starting to be more considerate of people other than Mikono-san?"

That shocked Kagura; he had always tried to think of his actions as motivated by self-interest. His very existence was born from the desire to get what he wanted. Kagura told himself that Amata was just imagining things. He was only on Vega because he needed help to fight against Mykage. He only tolerated the presence of Amata's friends because they were the ones who could pilot the Aquarion, which was the only weapon that could possibly oppose Mykage. He had left his team behind because they would slow him down and get in the way of his plans, not because he wanted them somewhere safe and away from the riskier task he had set for himself. Even letting Amata have time with Zessica was motivated by self-interest. Wasn't it?

His thoughts were interrupted by the "old man in red's" voice echoing through the forest.

"Shrade Elan has just been eliminated and has now joined the hunting team. Team one is down to two players. There are 2 hours, 45 minutes left in the training exercise."

*notes: Let the games begin. The inspiration for the training exercise here actually came from a zombie-tag type game that was played one year at my university with a good number of students participating. Alright, time to discuss the plot a bit. This segment and the next will mostly be about developing Kagura's character and setting up a major event that will occur soon (probably 2-3 chapters time from now.) It's also a bit of a break from the seriousness of the Altair/Vega conflict and Mykage's plans.

I gave both Donar and Suomi Element powers which was never a point that was touched on in the show. My reason for doing this is because it'll come into play during the training exercise as well as later on in the show. I also wanted them to have somewhat complementary powers considering their "almost a couple" status by the end of Evol. I also feel that having Donar able to manipulate electric currents would be interesting considering all the exposed metal parts he has. Ok, I'll end the author's notes here but first, I want to thank you all for reading the story so far and especially those of you who have left reviews that have helped me improve the story. Preview of the next chapter title:

Chapter 12: Cliffhanger