I do not own anything from Danball Senki Wars.
"I hope that Hikaru will be well enough by War Time to participate." Mia said as she and Arata walked down the hallways. The rain was still pouring outside and it did not look like it would stop for some time.
Arata nodded in slight agreement. A wicked idea came into his head as they approached the infirmary. His smirked and said in a loud voice. "I hope so too, but if he doesn't, he could get into hot water. We cannot defend his LBX all the time."
Mia shot him a glare as they continued to walk, unaware of Arata's prank. "Arata, don't talk like that. I'm sure that he'll want to fight in War Time."
Arata shrugged. "Say all you want. It won't matter if Hikaru actually does get over his…inner conflicts and focus on the mission."
Mia eyed him for a moment. She had to agree with him on that matter but still…
"Arata, are having something in your mind?"
"What makes you say that?" Arata asked innocently.
Mia studied him for a moment and shook her head. "Never mind."
Inside the infirmary, Hikaru clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. He had heard every word from Arata and Mia and knew that Arata had intentionally said them.
'If he thinks that he is better than me, I'll prove him wrong!'
"Alright, please enlighten me on your prank on Hikaru." Mia demanded once they were far from the infirmary.
Arata merely shrugged. "I just wanted to get him out of his wallowing."
Mia shook her head. "I believe that you have the most ridiculous ways of bringing out people from their misery."
"Mia, I thought you should have known me by now." Arata said, shaking his head.
"Yeah, yeah." Mia rolled her eyes. "A serious, academically smart student who everyone thinks is a role model, but is also a sadist at times."
"Yup." Arata nodded proudly as though being a sadist was something good. "I do enjoy torturing someone if they deserve it from time to time."
"I sympathize your next victim." Mia muttered. "But, really, you and Muraku can be very alike in some ways."
Arata raised an eyebrow. "Does this mean that he is a sadist too?"
"No!" Mia exclaimed, horrified at the idea that her brother was just as sadistic as Arata. "What I meant was, you and Muraku give out that serious, calm and collected aura, but on the inside is a very different story. Muraku can be very terrifying when he gets very angry."
"I would love to see it sometimes." Arata chuckled but the dead serious look in her eyes told him that she was not joking.
"I'm serious, Arata. His temper rages can be as bad as yours anytime." She insisted.
Arata frowned. He knew that his temper rages was quite dangerous at times because his mind would only be filled with rage and he would lash out with his powers uncontrollably that even Reika and Mia had a hard time stopping him. If Mia thinks that Muraku's temper rages was just as deadly as his, does this mean that he has powers too?
But as though she knew what he was thinking, Mia shook her head. "No, he is scary in a way because the both of you block out everything and your minds are filled with rage. Also, the both of you tend to attack everyone blindly."
Arata whistled. "Wow, I never knew that we're alike in some ways. I guess that is why we get alone well outside of school."
"Tell me about it." Mia muttered as she rolled her eyes.
That afternoon, all of them climbed into their control pods, including Hikaru who had miraculously recovered in time for War Time.
"Arata, Hikaru, Mia, you understand our roles in today's mission, right?" Haruki asked them before War Time started.
"Yup." Arata replied. "Just leave it to us."
"Got it." Mia gave her own reply. Hikaru said nothing so Mia assumed that he was in deep thought. She decided to do something about it and turned the frequency so that she would be talking to Hikaru. "Hikaru, snap out of it. War Time is about to begin."
"I don't need you to tell me that." Hikaru answered rudely.
Mia felt her temper flare but tried to keep it down. "Fine." She hissed through her clenched teeth. "Get lost in your thoughts and let your LBX become LOST for all I care." With that, she turned off the line and sank back in her seat.
'Lay it off, Mia.' Arata told her. 'He's not worth it.'
Mia grumbled and tensed up as the countdown began.
5...4...3...2…1…War Time Begin
Almost immediately, the four LBX from Jenock jumped into their hiding places as Gunther Yzelphar's back was on them, looking for Bandit.
"There's no sign of Bandit on the radar." Haruki remarked as he checked the area.
"That would mean that they are not within the vicinity." Arata concluded.
"Let's go back up the third platoon. Don't let down your guard." Haruki told them but before their eyes, Val Sparos jumped out of its hiding spot with Orvane and ran towards Gunther Yzelphar.
"Hikaru?!"
"Is he trying to get himself in trouble!?" Mia wondered out loud.
Gunther Yzelphar soon spotted him and slashed Val Sparos away with no effort. Mia grimaced a bit. "That's go to hurt." She said, referring to Hikaru's pride as Val Sparos continued to attack her brother's LBX with no effort but each time he was blocked.
"This is bad." Arata frowned. "Haruki, what should we do?"
"Mia, I need you to lure the Violet Devil's attention so that Hikaru can get away. Arata, back her up." Haruki instructed.
"Got it!"
Phantom Blaze and Dot Phasor jumped out and ran towards them. But one of Bandit's units landed in front of Phantom Blaze and attacked her.
"Arata, go to Hikaru!" Mia told him as she kicked away her enemy. "I can take care of this."
Arata hesitated as he felt the malicious aura around Mia's opponent. It was something that he had never sensed before on Bandit but only on this particular one and it was directed towards Mia. But he relented when he saw her holding up against it, so he jumped at Gunther Yzelphar with his sword and just as he hoped, it had to leap away from Val Sparos to avoid it.
"Think about what you are doing, Hikaru!" Haruki scolded him. Orvane grabbed the break over Gunther's rifle and started shooting at the Violet Devil. Even so, Hikaru still would not back down and continued his attacks.
'I hope that he knows what he's in for or he would end up like the owner of this damned LBX in front of me!' Mia furiously thought as she finally managed to stab it with her katana and as though it knew not to mess with her, it ran away.
'Mia, we'll talk about your usage of language later.' Arata informed her as he quickly pulled Val Sparos away from Gunther Yzelphar and Mia threw her katana in front of it to distract it. They regrouped with Haruki in front of them, still having the rifle.
"Hikaru, what are you doing?" Arata demanded.
"I cannot lose to you!" Val Sparos was at it again and Mia sighed.
"You went overboard, Arata."
"Requesting back up from the First Platoon!" Akito's voice rang, sounding distressed. "We can't hold on much longer."
Hikaru ignored the request and kept up the fight until he was thrown into a nearby building. With him out of the way, Gunther Yzelphar set his sights on Dot Phasor.
"First Platoon where are you!?"
"Haruki, what should we do now?" Mia asked as she eyed her brother's LBX warily.
Haruki gritted his teeth. "Hikaru, Mia, head over to the Third Platoon's position!"
"What? I need to defeat the Violet Devil!" Hikaru protested.
"Don't make me drag you over there!" Mia threatened. "Because I totally can!"
Hikaru tightened his grip on his controls. "But you can go alone!"
"Calm down." Haruki said. "Our highest priority is to capture this point, not defeat the Violet Devil!"
"But, I…"
"This is an order!"
"…Roger." Hikaru finally relented and followed Phantom Blaze to the flag. Halfway there however, they were intercepted by the same unit that Mia was fighting against earlier.
"Go, I'll handle this!" Mia told Hikaru and threw one of her daggers at the Caliper.
"Ah." Val Sparos continued to its destination while Mia was left to fend off opponent.
Inside her control pod, Charlotte Rein smirked triumphantly. "Now I have you where I want you. GET LOST!"
Her caliper shot at Phantom Blaze, but it was too fast for it to have a proper aim. She gritted her teeth. "When you are out of the picture, Atsuya will pay more attention to me." Caliper threw a grenade at Phantom Blaze which clouded its vision. "That's why I cannot let you walk away here!"She cried as Caliper rushed at where Phantom Blaze was only to find nothing there.
"What…!?"
Phantom Blaze suddenly rushed at her from behind and grabbed Caliper's arm. She twisted it hard until Caliper flipped over to the ground.
"Normally I would refrain myself from fighting violently like this, but you leave me no choice." Mia muttered. Phantom Blaze hauled Caliper up roughly and kicked it mercilessly a few times before she swung it into a building. As a finishing blow, Mia stabbed it with her dagger before leaving to catch up with Hikaru.
"Gezz, that was a close call." Reika said to Yuno who was sitting next to her.
Yuno nodded. "I never seen Mia attack that viciously before."
"Believe me, it could have been worse." Reika said without taking her eyes off the screen. "Mia always had trouble with her temper but when she is fighting like that, it is usually because she is positively pissed off."
"And I wonder how she is even related to Hojou Muraku." Catherin muttered.
"You better not say that in front of her." Reika warned. "She doesn't take kindly to people comparing her to him."
"I'm just stating a fact." Catherin protested. "Hojou Muraku's way of fighting is rather cruel and vicious as for Mia…" She trailed off when she realized something. "Come to think about it, she doesn't fight cruelly except for just now, but she can be just as vicious."
Reika nodded. "Yeah. Muraku and Mia have somewhat similar fighting styles which put my Jazz Kung Fu and Arata's collective style to shame. She doesn't realize it though that she can be as strong as Muraku if she wants to, but she is unconsciously holding back all the time."
A hand flew to her mouth when she realized what she had said. Hanako noticed it though. "Unconsciously holding back?"
Reika sighed. "Mia will have my head if she learns that I told you this. Just pretend that I did not say that earlier. Mia would be very upset and mad if she knew that I told you what I did just now."
"Um, ok." Yuno nodded.
As Phantom Blaze ran towards the flag, she smiled when she saw Hikaru fighting normally against Muraku's teammates. "Looks like he came through."
Spotting Rikuya and Akito hiding behind some crates while the guarding LBXs who were not preoccupied with Val Sparos were closing in on them, she smirked and jumped in the middle of the group and threw two throwing knives at two of them, breaking over them at once. Sensing a missile fired at her, she jumped out of the way and quickly stabbed the culprit with her katana.
"That's the last of them." She sighed. A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she glanced over at the flag. At the base, Mikhail and Vanessa's LBXs were tensed as Hikaru slowly approached them. But what caught her attention was the Bandit unit up at the flag sneaking up on the remaining Gunther that was guarding the flag. "Oh no…"
Just as she suspected, it jabbed the core box of the poor Gunther for a few seconds and jumped back as it exploded.
"This is bad." Mia frowned, the adrenaline from defeating the Caliper earlier wearing off, making her unsure of herself again.
But after a few tensed seconds, it left, leaving everyone shocked. But what was more surprising was Mikhail and Vanessa's units soon left after. Mia figured that Muraku had something to do with this. She may not have known Mikhail and Vanessa well, but she knew that the only way to get them to leave was to have Muraku call them off.
"I give you my thanks, First Platoon." Rikuya told them.
"All I did was fulfilling my role." Hikaru answered shortly.
Mia smiled at that and nodded at Rikuya. "You're welcome. Go and take the flag."
"Ah." Rikuya then addressed Akito. "Tanishta-kun, can you recover the Bandit unit?"
"Of course."
Mia sighed in relief that it was over when Hikaru suddenly addressed her. "Mia, I'm sorry for being rude at you before War Time."
Mia smiled at him. "Apology accepted."
It did not take long for the flag to turn and the ownership of Tandem Harbor was theirs.
"It looks like it is over." Arata said in relief but he said it too soon because an explosion came from where the Bandit unit that they were suppose to retrieve.
"What the-!"
"It self-destructed…" Yuno whispered in shock.
Reika frowned. "Does this mean that they are hiding something within the LBXs?"
"It looks like it." Kiyoka commented. "But this was an unforeseen tragedy. Now the Third Platoon is down to two people."
Reika narrowed her eyes. "I better go now. Higurashi-sensei is probably waiting for me at the briefing room."
Yuno nodded at her. "Alright. We'll you at the dorms later."
As Reika passed by Rossius' briefing room, she winced at the angry voices inside. 'Muraku and his platoon are probably in trouble for what happened at Tandem Harbor.'
She shook it off as she entered Harness' briefing room. 'Oh well, these things were bound to happen.'