Another silly one. I'm still getting back into writing after a lengthy hiatus. I needed to progress the story and this was my best idea. Please don't shoot mee too much! D:

Nine days left.

Budget: £500

"Ow..." Dan woke up and rubbed his sore behind. Rose's kick had dealt so much pain that it felt like an ultra combo attack. Still, Dan pulled himself to a seated position. Within a split second he had leaped up in pure pain. Amidst the pain, thoughts began to crowd his mind. He had nine days only to get the money he needed, and no ideas. He started to settle down to think when Sakura burst through the dojo door.

"Hibiki-san! Watashi...what are we going to do?" She cried aloud.

"I don't know, kid. We...we can do this! I won't let this end like this!" A moment of silence passed between them before Sakura's eyes lit up.

"There's the Hibiki-san I know so well!"

"Ok! Got any ideas, kid?"

"Yeah!" Sakura looked really happy for a moment. Dan stared at her expectedly.

"Well?"

"Huh? Oh, my ideas are all crazy. I have them but they'd never work."

"Well, I'm willing to try anything!" Dan pumped his fist into the air, grinning his usual cheesy grin. "Shoot!" A few seconds passed where Sakura reached into her pocket and pulled out a straw. A piece of paper followed. Dan watched as Sakura chewed a small bit of paper and inserted (giggity!) it into the straw. His facial expression fell as Sakura slowly raised the straw to her mouth and sharply blew through it. Dan's eyes crossed as the spit-ball hit him square between the eyes.

"Nice. Just great, kid."

"What?" Sakura shrugged dissmissively. "You said 'shoot.' And I did."

"I meant shoot ideas!"

"Oh. Become a rap star, a pop star, sky diving, a rock star, a male prost-"

"Sky diving?" Dan interrupted. "Yes...yes, that could work!" Dan assumed the presidential stance, looking out of the window in a contemplative manner. His hands met behind his back. "You see, Sakura, sometimes in life we need to appreciate the needs of those around us more than our own. We must consider why we do the things we do," Dan was pacing back and forth, pointing and waggling his finger at the ceiling. "And who we do them for. And I have concluded, Sakura-" Dan turned to face a sleepy Sakura, lying on the floor. Light snores came from her lips, annoying Dan. "Goddammit kid, can't you pay attention to what I say once in a-"

"Well," Sakura cut in, rubbing her eyes, "If you kept it short and sweet I wouldn't fall asleep!"

The two stared at each other. Dan pondered for just a moment and worked out how to motivate Sakura.

"We're going to make money!"

"Now that's what I like to hear! Short, snappy and-HIBIKI-SAN, WAKE UP!"

"Ok, here's how we're going to do this," Dan said, stroking his chin in a contemplative manner. A light shined just below him, lighting his face in a fearful manner. "We advertise our sky dive to crowds of innocents as a charity thing."

"Then," Sakura cut in, her voice breathy, "We take their money." The scene was a table that was in a pitch-black room with a mere torch as their lighting. The beam was passed around the group to create an eerie aura on their faces.

"Finally, we do the sky dive and run off with the money!" Blanka growled in excitement.

"Awesome!" Dan wandered over to the holes in his dojo (referred to as windows, although they couldn't be called that by anyone sane) to take down the blinds. "These blinds really created a spooky atmosphere for anyone who happened to be watching, eh?"

"Meh." Sakura shrugged. "I just thought it was fun." She turned away and rubbed her lip just below her nose. "Let's go and cheat people!"

"Ok!" Dan exclaimed. "Thank you good sir!"

"No problem! Just pay us once your charity sky dive is done." Dan had found a sky-diving shop (because they totally exist) and had made a deal. They would make the arrangements and Dan would pay them out of the earnings.

'Awesome! Now I can start advertising!'

"Come on people! Give to charity! Our charity sky dive will be the best! One man falling twenty-thousand feet! Help the homeless while watching this incredible stunt!" The trio of money-makers were lounging around at the fair.

"Why aren't people donating, Hibiki-san?" Sakura called from her seated position on the floor. The sun was giving her a nice tan, while Blanka remained unaffected by it. A series of pieces on a board lay between the schoolgirl and the beast-man. The game of chess looked unspectacular.

"I'm not sure kid," Dan's sore voice came out. He looked dry. There was no other word for it. Yelling and moving combined with the heat made him dehydrate. Furthermore, they all had to keep an eye out for Rose. She might still be angry. "Maybe it was that business with that Italian girl. I wonder where she is anyway..."

"No Nagisa! Stay with Tamao! No! Nagisa, NO!" Rose was at her shop watching an anime. She had gone through the Strawberry Panic magazines and had started on the anime. She loved it right up until this moment. She watched as a young blue-haired girl pushed a red-haired girl away. The red haired girl ran into the arms of a silver-haired girl after a minute of running through the various grounds of Astrea Hill. As the music reached a crescendo, Rose burst into tears.

"TAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOO!"

"Meh. Doesn't matter where she is. Let's see...guys, what would YOU look for in a sky dive that's special?" Dan's friends pondered for a moment before Blanka piped up.

"How about doing it whilst completing a Rubik's cube?" He was immediately stared down into silence by the other two. "S-sor-sorry..."

"You should be, Jimmy." Dan pointed. "I expected more!" A few moments of more silence passed.

"...How about you don't use a parachute?" Dan and Blanka turned to stare at Sakura. "What?" Sakura shrugged. "We live in a world where Blanka can bite you and shock you for minutes and not leave a mark. Where getting hit by a giant beam doesn't kill you. This should be a piece of cake."

"Sakura...that's brilliant!" Dan exclaimed. He rushed out to the crowd. "Sky diving for charity. Without a parachute! To witness this stunt, simply donate toward this amazing feat for the homeless!" As the crowd took interest in this promise of blood, Sakura and Blanka sighed in contentment and turned back to their game of chess. The board layout had all the power pieces on their starting square and two pawns (one either side) at opposite ends.

"Do you even know how to play this, Blanka?" Sakura watched as Blanka shrugged.

"Just the porn."

"Pawn, Blanka."

"I said that, porn."

"Oi..."

An hour later and Dan had a good six-hundred pounds. He decided that he wasn't going to make any more money here and took out a loudspeaker somebody had donated.

"Ok everyone!" The loudspeaker sounded throughout the whole fair. It was thee in the afternoon. "The charity sky dive will begin in half-an-hour! I will lift off outside the Super Kinetic Youthful Diving In Very Indicative New Greatness shop then!"

The trio set off for the shop. When they reached their destination Dan handed the money over to Sakura.

"Pay them kid, I'm going to suit up!" Immediately, a bloke dressed in a stylish suit and blonde-ish hair appeared.

"You are NOT cool enough to say that!" The man pointed at Dan in disgust. "Suiting-up is Barney Stinson's thing!" Barney looked in the mirror that appeared just for him. "You should never say anything! You're not cool!" He walked off, wolf-whistling at a girl as he did so. Dan stared as the girl clung on to Barney's arm.

Sakura did a very long whistle.

"That's a guy I could almost go straight for." Dan and Blanka turned wide-eyed stares to her. "What?" Sakura waved her arm dismissively. "I said almost!" She started to make her way towards the desk with the men staring dumbly.

"Hey Jimmy."

"Guh?" Blanka grunted in response.

"Social paradigm dictates we simply push past the awkwardness, right?" Dan turned and marched off to the helicopters while Blanka stood there and felt his brain fry.

'Sakura's a lesbian and Dan said "paradigm." The universe isn't blowing up. What's going on? O_O'

"Dan Saikyo Hibiki for a booking please!"

"No problem Mr. Hibiki. We're all set up for you!" Dan jumped onto the helicopter and was strapped to a chair by the pilot. An odd series of vibrations made Dan just a little queasy.

"What?!" Sakura cried out.

"Five hundred pounds please." The receptionist repeated.

"Tch...we...we...argh!" Sakura reluctantly handed over four hundred and prayed that the receptionist wouldn't notice.

"We need one hundred more please."

"Fine!"

"O...k. Kinda scary from up here!" Dan hid his eyes from the sheer horror that was below him.

"Sir, we haven't taken off yet."

"TEN FEET IS A LOT OK!"

"Ok, all set for takeoff!"

"Hibiki-san!" Sakura rushed outside to see the helicopter begin to take off. "Good luck!" She waved in a semi-cheerful manner. If she was honest, she was a bit too busy feeling cheesed about the five hundred to feel any sympathy for Dan.

"Does luck come in the form of WINGS?" He yelled back.

"No!"

"Then wish me a pair of wings!" The helicopter continued to rise.

"Hey! Where's your parachute?" The pilot motioned to Dan's general body.

"I don't have one..."

"We have to land! Oh wait," The pilot laughed. "We scrapped that rule just before you got here! You lucky duck, you must have plot armour or something!" Dan remained silent as the pilot went higher and higher. "Normally we can't go any higher, but thankfully we had new tech put on these before you got here."

"Great! How long until I die-uh, jump?!"

"About ten seconds." Dan stared at the floor from his seat. He slowly undid his strap and stood up. The rushing winds made Dan feel terrified. He stared at the ground below. He breathed deeply and leaned forward.

"FOR SAIKYO!"

"Guys, guys!" Sakura pointed the masses to a spectator area. "The jump will end here!" She pointed to a bowl-type arena. The mud there made sure the fall would be soft...er. The excited masses gathered to see what their hard-earned money cost them.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dan screamed as he fell. He could only hear the roaring wind. He stared at the earth, so far below. "I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" The greens, the blues, the roads, Dan could see it all. And it was coming towards him. Quickly. "FOR THE LOVE OF SAIKYO, SAVE ME SAIKYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tears streamed from Dan's eyes. An unholy amount of water poured from his eyes as he hastened to his death...

The crowd stared upwards. A great silence blanketed them all. Sakura blinked as a single drop of water landed on her nose. She wiped it from her face. She listened as people started to complain about the rain. A quick taste definitely cleared things up. It wasn't rain, but what was it? Sakura couldn't tell. The sheer amount of water in this focused area began to fill up the bowl-like arena. The mud began to soften up.

"Agggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Everybody heard the faint noise steadily grow louder. They stared as a tiny figure grew bigger.

"SAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Dan screamed as he rushed recklessly towards the planet. "Huh? Water?" He cheered as he realised his tears had saved him! "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Everybody cheered as Dan crashed into the muddy water.

"He did it without a parachute!" Sakura cried. Bubbles caught people's attention. Dan popped out of the water, gasping.

"Mud tastes disgusting!" The yell invited only cheers and laughs from the crowd.

"Hibiki-san!" Sakura fist-pumped the air. "You did it!"

"Ugh!" Dan flopped down onto his sleeping bag in exhaustion. "It's over..."

"Yes, we managed to get-ahhhhhhhhh, crap..." Sakura trailed off. She struggled to meet Dan's eyes.

"What?"

"We...only made a hundred. The sky dive...ate all the money." Sakura expected to see devastaion. Imagine her elation when Dan merely smiled.

"It's fine, kiddo. We'll make it. We can't fail. We have plot armour, remember?"

"YES!" Sakura shouted. "We can do it!"

"Now hand over that post, kid." Dan accepted the envelope that Sakura picked up off the floor.

"Dear Mr. Hibiki, your plot armour just dissapeared. I think we need to start making things more realistic. Good luck!"

~~~~~bogey654~~~~~

"...Sakura, does luck come in the form of plot armour?"

"Probably. But it is you...so no."

"...Fuck."

Eight days left.

Budget: £600