Disclaimer: I do not own the God Eater franchise but I do have control over original characters and storylines.
Clash
Now that he was done with that annoying mission, James headed straight back to the lounge and got his next mission from Hibari. For this mission, they needed to wipe out a few Gboro-Gboro's in the place with the tornado. His first and obvious pick was Kota and his second was Gina Dickinson. He had been on a few missions with Shun, Karel and Gina and was able to understand how the former two operated but had a tough time pegging Gina. The girl got along well with Kanon which meant that she was a sociable type but James wanted to know more about her than just that.
"Don't you think you should take a break before heading out on another mission?" asked Hibari once the team was set.
"Nope, I want to wash away that terrible feeling of the last mission as fast as possible", replied James. It did not take too long for Kota to come to the lounge. The two of them greeted each other and right after him came Gina.
"I heard that we'll be working together on this mission again James", said the sniper with a calming smile that for some reason scared the two boys. While James did his best to hide it, Kota immediately yelped when he saw her.
"This will be a good time to judge your character. I wonder if you're going to be a predator or a prey", she said vaguely then walked away to the other elevator.
"Dude I'm getting goosebumps and not the good kind", said Kota stepping out from behind James.
"She sounds fun", mused James ignoring how scared his teammate was. Kota simply had to grit his teeth when he noticed his words fell on deaf ears and the two headed up the stair case. Once they reached the top, they saw Alisa who took only a few seconds to understand what's going on.
"You're going out on another mission?" she asked sounding surprised
"Yep, Kota, Gina and I are going to cause some more trouble", he said plainly
"Then I'm coming with you", declared the girl
"No you're not", he countered dismissively
"I was told to shadow you till I've learned enough".
"Then you don't need to shadow me because you said yourself that you're better than me", he said mockingly then left with Kota.
The two met up with Gina on the helipad. All three of them were armed and James carried with him a few extra accessories in case the moment called for it.
"HEYYY", called out a voice from behind and James immediately felt a cold sweat run down his spine. He turned around and much to his dismay saw Alisa coming towards them with God arc in hand.
"What the hell is going on?" barked James and marched towards her "I thought I told you that you're not allowed on a mission with us".
"I was lucky enough to meet the director on my way here and he gave me special permission to accompany you on the mission", she stated then walked past him while the helicopter came down.
"James?" asked Kota but the leader of the team said nothing in response.
"Rules of engagement are pretty simple two of them four of us", said James when they arrived "Gina and I are on one team, Kota and Alisa on the other."
"Kota you're the superior of the two so you'll be in charge", he added then turned to Gina "You want to be in charge of our team?"
"I don't like being in the spotlight James", she said smiling politely once again "You're in charge just make sure you put on a good show for me".
"Sure", said James happily but felt a little nervous for no apparent reason.
"Alright everyone heads on a swivel and stay frosty at all times", he declared "You see any kind of trouble send a signal flare and call for back up".
Alisa huffed in annoyance but James did his best to ignore it. With the plan made known, the teams headed off in their respective locations.
They found their targets and begun attacking. James made it a point to try and break the shiny teeth the fish had while Gina aimed for the gun atop its head. It opened its mouth, getting ready to chomp on James' head but the teenager immediately switched to his gun and let off a few fire blasts into its mouth. The fish staggered back and a sniper blast whizzed past James, knocking off the pipe that probably worked as a gun.
Now that it was short its long range weapon, the fish turned around and tried to run away but James was not in the mood for it. He dug into his jacket and threw out a paralysis trap. With its back turned, Gina wasted no time in firing a few shots at the less armoured portion of its body, causing streaks of blood to shoot out in multiple directions.
"Ahhh that paints a very pretty picture", declared Gina on the comm system and James swallowed hard.
The fish turned around in time to see James thrust his charged spear forward and shatter its teeth. The fish was staggered by this and James attacked with multiple spear thrusts to its underside, landing numerous wounds on the aragami's body. The fish opened its mouth again and tried to attack but this time James decided he wanted to end the mission quickly. He looked back and Gina understood what he was aiming for. She fired a fire infused bullet into its eye, partially blinding it. James took advantage of that opportunity by leaping over then thrusting his spear through the already wounded back of the fish.
Gina watched in delight as the spear tore through the fish's back and emerged the other side.
"Oh my such brutality", she said with a calm voice but her expression said the opposite.
"Mission complete", said James pressing his communicator.
"Not just yet", said Hibari "We're getting reports that a Vajra is in your mission area".
"Where is it?"
"Point N"
James turned around and froze when he saw Alisa coming towards them but could not see any sign of Kota. Flashes of Eric's demise went past his mind and his mind went into autopilot. James made a beeline towards the location Hibrai mentioned with Gina following close behind. The sniper understood why James was in a rush and also felt concerned.
They saw Kota flying in the air and the two of them immediately fired a pair of healing bullets towards the gunner. This was able to mitigate the damage that came from crashing into the ground but when James drew closer, he noticed a wound displayed on his chest. He grit his teeth and tightened his grip on the god arc.
"He's still breathing, probably suffering from the shock of such a wound", said Gina snapping him out of his daze.
"James!" barked the girl and the teenager turned around. As he did he was greeted by the Vajra which let out a fearsome roar to try and assert its dominance.
"Gina, contact Hibari and have them send the helicopter here quickly, he said taking a step forward "Could you do me another favour and keep an eye on Kota for me as well?"
"I'll do my best", she said looking at Kota then back to James.
The Vajra roared once more then created five orbs of lightning and fired them at James. He simply stood his ground till the orbs drew closer then swung his spear upwards, cutting the attack in two.
It was at this point he noticed Alisa coming towards him but he was not in the mood to deal with her. When she drew closer he simply turned to her then said "Stay out of my way".
"But.."
She could not finish her sentence because James now pointed his spear threateningly at her and said in a much colder and deadlier voice "Stay… out… of my … way".
All of a sudden rain started to pour and Alisa took a step back, for once listening to James. The teen turned back to the Vajra which attacked with a swipe of its left paw. James easily parried that with his spear then spun it vertically so that it landed a cut on the Vajra's face. James then twirled it around horizontally and landed a cut on its front legs, causing it to go onto the hind legs.
He was about to attack again when he felt a gust of wind coming from behind. He turned around and saw the helicopter had arrived. Gina had already grabbed Kota and placed him inside. Seeing as he no longer needed to prolong this fight, James lobbed a flash grenade at the Vajra and made a hasty retreat.
"Hibari, please prepare a medical unit for when we arrive", said James on the way back
"What happened?" she asked
"Kota sustained a couple of injuries", replied Gina instead of James "It doesn't look that bad but there could be internal injuries so we just want to be safe".
"Alright", she said and silence permeated on their way back.
When they got back Kota was placed on the stretcher and was immediately taken inside. James stood silently on the helipad while the rain continued to pour. Genuinely concerned for him, Gina stepped forward and said "I may not know him as well as you do but I do know that Kota is a pretty good and level headed god eater. I'm sure something like this won't get the better of him."
"Now come on before you catch a cold here", she said pulling him back inside.
"Thanks", he said with half a smile. When he got inside, Gina said something a little more reassuring then headed back to her room. When she was gone, James marched towards Alisa's room without hesitation and practically knocked the door down the way he knocked.
Alisa opened the door looking visibly annoyed for a moment but that expression faded when she saw how angry James looked.
"You, me, 30 minutes, training room", he said then closed the door.
Not wanting to see what happened if she did not show up at the appointed time, Alisa headed to the training room and found James standing in the centre of the room. This time he was dressed in a black sleeveless shirt with a black pair of track pants.
What neither of them knew was that everyone else from the far east had also gathered. They looked on from above wondering what was going to happen.
"You have any idea what's going on here?" asked Sakuya to Lindow
"I think I might but I don't want to comment", he replied with a weak laugh "By the way where's Soma?"
"Not sure", she replied with a shrug "I think he's gone out on another mission. You know he's never interested in these type of things."
"Hey guys", said Tatsumi looking less cheery than normal "I spoke to Gina and found out that Kota got injured during their last mission and it may or may not be Alisa's fault".
"Is he ok?" asked Sakuya worriedly
"Doctors say he had a light concussion but he's going to recover in a day or two at most".
"Now I get it", said Lindow lowering his head "He probably thinks its his fault this happened".
"Before things get started I want to ask you something Alisa", said James when she was close enough "Why did you leave your teammate when you knew another aragami was about to attack your position?"
"Well that was pretty obvious", she said casually "The mission was over so I had no interest in anything else besides going back."
"Alright then… can I take that to mean the only thing you care about is the mission and completing it?"
"Of course that's what I mean", she replied calmly "All that matters is the mission and it's completion".
"And if it's completion means that one of our own gets injured or worse?"
"That's acceptable", she replied coldly "We're at war with the aragami so being sentimental and caring about others cannot be allowed on the battlefield. Out there you need to be pragmatic and should you come to a point where you have to risk your team's safety for just one person then it's better to cut loose and leave them to their fate".
"Alright", he said raising his head and slightly frowning at her "You and I both know what's going to happen next so let me lay down the rules and goals here".
"Fighting dirty is allowed, winner is the one who makes the other submit or knocks their opponent out. If you win, I will step down as acting leader and you can take my place. If I win…"
"Well let's leave that till after I beat you".
"You're pretty cocky if you think you can take me", said Alisa then charged and attacked with a straight jab. James easily stepped to the side and dodged it. She attacked with jab after jab and James only needed to move to the side to avoid all her attacks.
"So who do you think's going to win?" asked Shun to everyone watching.
"James", said Lindow without any hesitation
"You think so? I heard Alisa's a graduate in more than ten forms of marital arts", said Sakuya "If anything I'm worried about James".
"I agree with Lindow on this one", said Brendan "James has this fight beat hands down".
"How are you so sure about that?" asked Shun off handedly "I mean he could slip up and make a mistake".
"Who James?" asked Tatsumi "Not happening."
"You remember when everyone was shocked at how James was able to avoid all of Kanon's shots in his second mission with her?" asked Brendan.
"Brendan and I wanted to find out how he was able to do that when the rest of us weren't so one day we got up real early and watched his training session", said Tatsumi then shook his head "Even now I'm having a tough time believing it."
"We saw James standing in the centre of the training room, standing on top of this spiked pole and balancing on one leg", he said "and if that wasn't enough, the whole room was firing tennis balls at him from all 360 degrees. The scariest part…"
"That wasn't the scariest part?" interrupted Karel
"I'm getting to it, the scariest part was James dodged every single one of them like it was nothing… and he did it while being blind folded".
"It was then we understood that James trained himself to have complete and total awareness of his surroundings at all times", said Brendan "Even if you're adept in an array of martial arts, it won't matter if your opponent can see and counter every move you have".
It was true, Alisa continued to attack James with everything she had but not one strike landed on him. She tried to grab him but he easily freed himself from her grasp. She tried to trip him but he either dodged or blocked her. There were even times when she attacked with a kick to the head and James simply replied by tilting his body at an awkward angel, completely avoiding her.
"Damn it", she yelled as James landed on the ground a few feet away from her "Stop dodging and fight me already".
"You're right", he said smiling a little "I'm ending this".
In a flash, James vanished then appeared only a few centimetres from Alisa. The girl was frozen in shock at how he covered the distance so quickly. In that second James' fist narrowly passed by her face but the force of it was enough that it caused some of the debris behind them to move back a little.
"Understand something clearly here", he said with his fist still close to her cheek. Whatever James said became garbled noise as her mind struggled to process what was happening. She looked at his cold eyes and realized that she could have suffered severe damage had his attack connected. When she was this close, she could almost feel this suffocating aura that he emitted and realized all her hard work, all the time she spent fighting and trying to better herself was nothing compared to him.
In the end, the only thing she could do was slump to her knees in defeat.
"You're not going to last a second here if you keep this up Alisa", he said then turned around and quietly walked away.
'No this can't be it', she thought grabbing the sand in front of her 'All my effort, everything that's happened to me, all that fighting to reach the top and there's someone else already there?'
'Damn it', she said her head shooting up and staring daggers into James' back 'I won't let it end like this. I won't just lie down like I did before.'
With that in mind, Alisa rose to her feet and charged forward, yelling out madly. She drew closer and closer but James did not notice or hear her at all. For a moment she believed that she could get him, it didn't matter that she resorted to something dirty the rules said that fighting dirty was allowed.
Her fist charged forward, intending on hitting James on the back of his head but just before it connected, James suddenly tilted his body to the side. He put his left hand on the ground and used it to lift his body in the air so that he could spin around and attack with a kick to the face.
Instead of connecting though, James' foot stopped once again only a centimetre from her face. Beads of sweat rolled down her head when she saw James slowly return to his feet, turn around and did not say a single word.
He simply left her alone in the training room, the message was clearly received by the young god eater.