So, since it is Spring Break for me and probably many of you. I'm going to try and have a new chapter out each day. Don't worry, for those who are looking forward to Dragon's Daughter, that is still being written just at a slower pace since it is not as popular as this one.
Out of Respect
"What's the matter with you!?" Tatsumi asked Leone.
"What? Did I do something wrong?" She asked confused.
Tatsumi looked shocked as Leone scratched her head trying to figure out what he was talking about. When it seemed like she didn't get the idea, Tatsumi sighed and headed over to the flagpole with their dorm's flag attached to it.
"You ready Tatsumi?" Braht asked.
"If my life wasn't part of a gamble I would be." Tatsumi skulked.
"Hey cheer up, we still don't know how this will turn out." Braht winked.
"If you say so." Tatsumi groaned.
"Tatsumi, before we begin put this on." Akame said handing him a metal bracelet.
"What's this?"
"It's a sensor that will be able to tell when you're finished." Akame replied. "Once you've run out of energy and can't move anymore the sensor will go off and the judges can determine who is still active."
"Why can't the judges be down here?"
"Because on top of that large cliff is a bird's eye view." Akame pointed behind him. "Once the event starts they will be able to watch the entire fight."
"Who are the judges exactly?" Tatsumi to afraid to ask.
"The principal and vice-principal." Braht said.
"I also heard that our fearless counselor will be a judge as well this year." Chelsea added, spitting out her lollipop and opening a new one.
"Just remember to hold back fighting against teigu users. You did improve in your training but it won't be enough to win against one of them." Akame warned him.
"Alright." Tatsumi making a fist. "Let's do this!"
"Is everything set?" Honest asked as he crammed a large steak into his mouth.
"Of course." Budo said sitting beside Makoto.
"Welm them yourm majesty," Honest said with meat in his mouth, "startm thm games."
"Attention all dorms!" Makoto shouted. "I welcome you to the 1022nd Spring Break Brawl!"
"Exactly how long has this tournament been around again?" Tatsumi asked Akame.
"Um...a couple of years." Akame attempted to laugh off.
"Today we are proud to have you brave souls pit against one another! So we're clear the rules are simple: The last man standing wins!" Makoto yelled.
The crowd in the stands let out a loud cheer with several whistles and claps echoing throughout the area.
"Also we now have a new objective for you guys! The dorm to hold the dorm member Tatsumi will be granted one wish each member and a large bag of money!"
"What?!" Tatsumi and Akame shouted.
"What?!" Leone and Rabac were stunned.
"That bastard gets to have pretty women come after him." Rabac angrily clenched his fist.
"There goes my chance of getting a life time of boozes." Leone cried.
"It seems word of your Leone's and Esdese's bet reached the judges." Braht said, gearing up for the match.
"Things have just gotten interesting." Chelsea muttered to herself.
"Alright! Get ready to fight in 3...2...1….!"
The sound of a horn and several rifles shots went off.
Tatsumi, Akame, Braht and Chelsea immediately began running through the woods. All around them, Tatsumi could tell that someone could easily take advantage of the environment and knock down several trees; blocking their path.
"Everyone, be ready to protect Tatsumi, we're reaching the danger zone." Akame commanded.
"Danger zone?" Tatsumi wondered.
"The place where it all goes down." Braht answered.
"Ready and flank left!" Akame shouted as she turned right.
"Wait doesn't flank left mean go left?" Tatsumi asked.
"Baka, think of the enemy's perspective." Chelsea scolded him.
"Oh right." Tatsumi said in an apologetic tone. "It seems they must have some sort of plan."
"Look out." Akame said after sensing something.
Suddenly a rush of water came crashing through the trees and smashed the ground where they were standing. Luckily, everyone dodged the attack, as several trees fell on top of where they were just were.
"Three enemies." Akame said, unsheathing her sword.
Soon, a large axe blade came flying out of the trees and nearly struck Tatsumi if it weren't for Braht pushing him out in time.
"Thanks bro."
"Get ready." Braht said as soothing music could be heard.
"Crap it's them." Chelsea said. "Braht you got this?"
"Of course." Braht gave a thumbs up.
"Who is it?" Tatsumi asked.
"Someone we were hoping to not face for awhile." Chelsea replied as she grabbed his wrist.
Akame followed them as several trees exploded from the ground.
Braht slammed his hand into the ground. "Incursio!"
A large flash of light soon emerged and quickly disappeared revealing a white armored man standing ready to fight. Soon, the uprooted trees came crashing down only to be quickly cut away as Braht pulled out a large spear from thin air.
"Cool!" Tatsumi excitedly watched.
"Let's go Tatsumi!" Chelsea shouted.
Tatsumi looked back as Braht was being approached by a single man who looked older than Braht. From both sides two more people rushed out of the trees; striking head first at him.
"Bro!" Tatsumi shouted.
Braht simply smirked from the inside of his arm as he quickly dispatched of the two men attacking him. The younger looking one crashed right into a tree and the sound of a small buzzer went off. The other larger man bounced off some of the standing trees and quickly charged Braht again only to be caught off guard as Braht ran behind him and used the spear to slam the large man into the ground, causing another buzzer to go off.
"It seems our surprise attack didn't work." The lone man said.
"It seems your trick last year won't work again." Braht replied.
"Of course, how could I be so foolish." The lone man bowed. "My apologies."
"Apologizing isn't your thing." Braht scoffed.
"You're right on that. So why don't we get down to business then? We want Tatsumi."
"Not going to happen...Liver." Braht said.
"I should expect no less from someone so loyal." Liver commented as he approached Braht.
"Let me guess, Esdese is having you join her team again. Is that correct?"
"It is and isn't. We simply are putting our fight for Lady Esdese but the boy is for our own gain."
"I see." Brat said as he looked back at Tatsumi disappearing into the green scenery. "Well, if you want him, you'll have to pass me. But seeing as there is no water around, you're at a real disadvantage."
"Am I really?" Liver asked as he managed to raise water in the air.
"What the?" Braht questioned.
"It recently rained yesterday so most of these trees should still contain water. Not to mention the ones we uprooted have several small holding puddles."
Braht gritted his teeth as Liver struck at him with slaps of water only to be deflected by his spear. Then, Braht quickly rushed Liver who only blocked his attack with a wall of water before jumping out of the way from Braht's spin dive.
"Water dragon!" Liver shouted as he formed a dragon from the water.
Braht quickly repelled the water dragon before attacking straight for Liver only for him to summon up three more water dragons and sending him flying into the air.
"This is where it ends, Braht." Liver calmly said.
Swiping his hand to the left, the three water dragons combined forming a large water dragon as it directly lunged straight for Braht. Braht endured the painful attack as he crashed into the ground. His helmet's face guard had broken off exposing his entire face. Some parts of his armor were cracked and the spear he had disappeared.
"I'm surprise you can still fight." Liver said as Braht slowly stood up.
"Then there would be no point in me protecting Tatsumi now would there?" Braht smirked.
"Well, it doesn't seem you have much fight left in you."
"Neither you, your nose and ears are bleeding." Braht pointed out.
Liver looked shocked as Braht grinned. It was true his ears were bleeding but he was surprised he saw it.
"Shall we settle this the old way?" Liver asked as he pulled out a sword from his side.
Braht's armor disappeared into thin air as he pulled out a large key and removed part of the nose revealing a sword.
"I wouldn't want it any other way."
Liver and Braht both charged straight to each other with full force. The two soon collided and began clashing blades; both equally fighting and defending from the other. But as Liver went for a side swing, Braht managed to fling dirt in the air, blinding the man, and elbowed him down to the ground.
Without hesitating, Liver rolled to the side as Braht brought down his sword and smashed it deep into the ground. Liver seemed almost impressed from the force he felt as he rolled next to a down tree and used it as his shield against Braht's attacks.
"If you only stayed Braht." Liver spoke. "We could've been unstoppable and possibly be able to lead her to victory."
Braht chuckled. "I'm not interested in helping someone like her lead me. I care for everyone's safety and own ideals. The way she locks them away is unbearable."
"Such hypocrisy from someone who allows a dorm member to run wild."
"That's the true nature of Night Raid though." Braht commented. "Take that away and we're no better than you people."
Liver seemed shocked before violently swinging at Braht with a flurry of stabs before getting caught off guard as Braht sweeped in for an undercut.
Liver crashed against the tree; dropping his sword and sliding down into the ground.
"She would allow you to be the same; all you had to do is give her your full-fledged support." Liver said weakly.
Braht pointed his sword at Liver; a serious look on his face. "I'll never give my support to Esdese, not in a lifetime."
"Then it's a shame to have you defeated then." Liver smirked.
"Huh?" Braht questioned before dropping to his knees.
"Before my water dragon hit you, I had injected my body with a poison and mixed my blood in. Too bad you didn't see it in time."
"So what do we call this?" Braht asked as he lied down on the ground.
"Let's call this a draw." Liver said as his buzzer went off.
"I'm okay with that." Braht grinned as his buzzer went off as well.
"Braht!" Chelsea shouted.
"I'm fine. Where's Tatsumi and Akame?"
"Safe, for now at least. Come on, let's get back to them." Chelsea tried picking him up.
"Sorry, it looks like I'm out." Braht said.
"Well fire off your flare then and get someone like Leone in." Chelsea demanded.
"Alright." Braht said as he shot a black flare into the sky. "Before you go, give this to Tatsumi and tell him this." Braht stopped Chelsea before she walked away.
"What is that?" Tatsumi asked.
"A substitution flare." Akame replied as she peeked around a large rock.
"Why didn't you tell me this?" Tatsumi asked.
"We were afraid you use it right away."
"That's not fair!"
"Shh. Look." Akame pointed.
Around the large boulder were three men from an unknown dorm to Tatsumi. All three had submachine guns and were laughing as they casually rested by the small pond.
"Maybe I should get a gun too?" He thought to himself.
"Get ready." Akame said as she slowly pulled out her sword.
"Wait." Tatsumi said as he grabbed her shoulder.
The two watched as two people in black cloaks approached the men. All three men prepared to fire their guns, grinning at the thought that this year it would be easy for them. As long as they get Tatsumi and stay safe they should be fine. However, that wasn't the case; before they knew it, the figures revealed themselves to be Sayo and Ieyasu as they attacked the three men; killing them in cold blood.
"Sayo. Ieyasu." Tatsumi saw in horror as Ieyasu finished off the last man.
"Ugh, Ieyasu get rid of these bodies. They reek!" Sayo commanded.
"Hey, you had a part in this two!" Ieyasu angrily shouted.
"But I'm a delicate girl who can't be hurt." Sayo brushed her hair back.
Ieyasu mumbled something before dragging the men's bodies into a bush.
"Come on, the sooner we find Tatsumi the sooner we can be finished." Ieyasu said.
"What about the group Miss Aria mentioned?" Sayo asked.
Ieyasu lifted a large axe in the air with a smile. "We don't need them."
"Is that so?" A voice echoed.
Sayo grabbed her bow from her back and readied it as Ieyasu shrieked and jumped behind a small rock. Soon, Syura appeared from several trees with a samurai looking man and small girl with blonde hair.
"Are you the group Aria was talking about?" Sayo asked.
"Depends, do I see two idiots standing around without Tatsumi with them?" Syura asked.
"Coming from a smart ass who is wanting to help these two idiots." Sayo smirked.
"You're alright." Syura said.
"What exactly are we doing?" The blonde girl asked.
"Saving a friend from a dorm." Sayo answered.
"And what dorm is this?" The blonde asked.
"Night Raid."
A look of curiosity hit the girl as she leaned in more to listen to what Sayo had to say.
"Oh so you want to save your friend from Night Raid? How noble." The blonde said.
"Dorothea, we must respect a client's wish if they pay well." The samurai said.
"It's not like you're one for money in the first place, Izou." Dorothea snickered.
"So what do you have as a plan?" Syura asked intrigued.
"Izou will lure out Akame. You two will take on the others while we grab Tatsumi. This will happen here at this location." Sayo said as she pointed at a small part of the map.
"And what makes you think they'll be there?" Dorothea asked.
"We called in a favor." Sayo smirked.
Tatsumi watched in horror as his former childhood friends planned to kidnap him with the help of Wild Hunt's dorm. He became lost in thought from all the good times he spent with Sayo and Ieyasu that when Akame put her hand on his shoulder it nearly spooked him.
"Come on." She whispered. "Let's head to the rendezvous point."
"Right." Tatsumi replied. "Sayo. Ieyasu. What happened to you two?"
"Need to hurry to the others." Chelsea told herself as she ran through the woods.
Her arms began to get tired as she carried Incursio's key. Each step she took it felt as if the key got heavier.
"Jeez Braht, it's no wonder you're so strong."
"Well lookie at what we got here boys." A man's voice shouted.
Chelsea looked up into the trees to see several guys, probably no older than her, dressed as thugs in the trees.
"I don't have time to deal with wannabe thugs!" Chelsea shouted as she continued to run.
The men looked shocked as she passed them.
"A-After her!" The leader shouted. "We'll show her not to mess with the King Rats."
The men soon jumped off the tree branches with knives and other weapons in hand as they went straight for Chelsea. Chelsea sighed as she grabbed some make-up from her box she carried with her and transformed into a bear.
All the men screamed like women as Chelsea let out a large roar. The men soon began to run away; including the leader who fired up a red flare.
"She's crazy!" One man shouted.
"Get away from me!" Another yelled.
Chelsea changed back into her regular form and smirked at her success.
"Getting weaklings like that to forfeit is too easy."
"Tatsumi. Run!" Akame shouted as she deflected Izou's blade.
Tatsumi sprinted as Syura and Dorothea went straight for Akame, surrounding her but not enough to overpower her as she broke free and ran for the tree branches.
"How did it get like this?" He wondered. "Don't tell me they knew we were there."
Without notice, he soon felt the force of a large object hit him in the back of the head. His eyes slowly blurred out before going black.
"Tatsumi." A voice softly sang. "Tatsumi wake up."
"L-Leone?" He questioned as his eyes started adjusting to the light.
"No silly, it's us, your friends." The voice giggled.
Tatsumi's eyes soon clearly focused as he could see Sayo's face close to his. Behind her watching guard was Ieyasu who seemed pleases that their mission was a success.
"W-Where am I?" Tatsumi asked.
"Safe. Finally you are safe." Sayo smiled.
So Braht is out and Tatsumi has been kidnapped leaving Akame and Chelsea to rescue him. But will Akame be able to defeat all three members of Wild Hunt? Also, who will substitute in for Braht? Again more questions than answers but that's what usually what happens in a story...right? Please leave a review and favorite the story. Heiwa!