Battle Phase 1-36: Breaking Secrets

"Well, this is it... wish me luck..." the boy spoke, upon hearing the PA call.

"Now my dear cousin Kotaro..." T thought in full "Let's see if the clues I gave you were enough... and this serves as some sort of revenge on what happened on the elevator, even though we were not supposed to be anyway..."

"Are you ready?" Arisu by her side asked. "I know that I am..."

"I'm ready..." Tamayo replied "I can't wait to tell my cousin who I really am... I'm so excited!"

"Good luck... you'll need it boy..." Rachel reminded "The layer is no place to be distracted or to be foolish..."

"As a fellow male Deus in this stage, do your best..." Yukinari added. "Not only will you be fighting for your spot, but also to please someone..."

"Um... I'll take it to heart..." Kotaro replied, and then motioned to his cousin Shinobu "Let's go..."

"Kotaro..." Misaki thought as she saw him walk towards the arena.

"Finally... for our fourth battle of the first rung of the final stage..." Asuka announced as the screens showed the two contenders.

"Huh? Where's Tamayo?" Miharu asked, now in the stands.

Misaki scanned the stands for her but to no avail.

"She's not here... or anywhere... where could she be?"

"All right crew..." the web broadcast producer readied her crew "these two are special favorites in this circuit, so take good shots of them, ok?"

"Yes 'mam..." the web crew replied.

"You're getting good at this, Ms. Natarle- even better than the time you managed Ringo..." Shoko praised her tact handling.

"You're joking..." Ms. Katoki couldn't help but giggle, to the big sweat drops on Shoko's part. "But really, the dome's new camera systems are really making the broadcasts first-rate- even the individual fights have their own ratings..."

"And in the west corner, securing his spot with one of the easiest matches ever made..." Asuka began to announce "from Tokyo, Kotaro Kobayashi and Wizard!"

"Please give us an autograph!" some female fans cheered, to the sourgraping of Misaki,

"Don't worry..." Miharu assured "at least you were the first one to get his autograph..."

"Yeah..." Misaki replied, but then, a bell sounded in her mind, making her red "Hey! How did you know that I have a letter from him!"

"I did not say anything about a letter..." Miharu replied "Ahh... I get it... Hahaha..."

"Oh my..." Misaki could only cover her mouth as Miharu giggled some more.

"Don't worry, just cheer for him, so he can pull through..." Miharu assured, and then yelled "Win this for Misaki or else, I would and will hang you by your ankles over the lake in Ueno Park!"

"Miharu..." Misaki tried to calm her fellow Deus "you don't have to that drastic..."

"Okay then... If you lose, you will not be able to see, talk to or kiss Misaki for a week!" Miharu then yelled.

"Miharu!"

"There's too much to lose here..." the boy thought as he went to his chair.

"And from the east corner... reaching her place by a rather miraculous feat of bouncing bullets..." Asuka then continued "Tokyo's own mystery lady, Ms. T and Rushina!"

"Please give us an autograph!" this time the male fans called.

T blew them a kiss as she sat on her chair as well.

"Now Mr. Kobayashi..." She began to open a line "or should I say, now my dear Kotaro..."
"Don't call me that! Who are you anyway!"

"Ahh! You're sooo mean!" the girl began to cryingly squirm in her seat, and then refocused on speaking "I was hoping by now that you have figured me out by the clues I gave you..."

"Angel Entry!"

"If you have not figured me out... this is the last clue..." she then spoke while she moved her hood a bit, revealing a tuft of hair that had 3 hairclips- pink, yellow and green. Then, in front of him she took her blue shades off, shocking Kotaro to the bone as she wore her visor. The angels then entered the field, and ready.

"Seconds Ready!"

"No way... you, here! No way!"

"Deuses Ready!"

"Now you know who I really am..."

"Angelic... FIGHT!"

The two drew their melee weapons- Rushina with her batons while Wizard took out his new sword. And as the weapons slammed into each other, the conversation between them was also being heated.

"Why are you here! And what happened to your voice?"

"Its petty revenge on what happened on the elevator... and this choker changes my voice when needed..." she replied, pointing to her choker.

"Even though we were not really supposed to be?"

"I could not hear the two of them- they are talking but... what are they talking about?" Misaki wondered, looking at the fight thru her provided binoculars.

"I know that..." Tamayo replied "but I guess that some sweet revenge is in order..."

Flashback: Just after the elevator incident- Tamayo runs away upon the door opening- crying.

"How could you! How could you? You dummy! Dummy! Dummy! Dummy!"

"Tamayo... wait!" Kotaro tries to run after her but, he was blocked- by his father.

"Father..."

"Kotaro... there is something that the family needs to talk about..." Shigure began to speak. "This concerns about your other relative- your cousin..."

"What do you mean by that?" Tamayo asked the one who blocked her- her mother.

Later, at the Kobayashi residence, with the Tamayo and Kotaro side by side- and in shock.

"The two of us, are cousins!"

"Yes, and it's true..." Shigure replied. "I and your mother are siblings, Tamayo..."

"But that means... I get it..." Tamayo began to sneer "at least, I can now do whatever I want, am I right, cousin?" she then finished her sentence, grappling him and strangling him, to the shock of their parents.

"But besides that- you already had your revenge, what else?"

"I wanted to place a point- not only the fact that I can cheer for Misakichi well, but also in fighting along or against her as well..."

"Are you jealous of Miharu, because before you can only cheer in the stands?" Kotaro answered back "Since Miharu's a fellow Deus; you can't help yourself but to be drawn into the layer as well..."

"Yes, I feel that way sometimes... and it's much better when a friend also does what I love to do... so I decided that I can also be like them- so I would not be left out!"

The two continued in close quarter combat, really taking the interest of some foreign spectators as well.

"This is a close match... I should say..." Nick commented.

"Nice tech... as if those two are..." Miyuki wondered.

"Eh... this is interesting..." Lina commented, with Jyung close by.

"What do you mean by interesting?" the Korean asked.

"So far, the have not used any skills, it's just plain attacks..."

"You're right... unless the female angel already has something that can break thru the shields her foe has..."

"Since I'm your cousin, I can now hurt you again and again... since that is the way things are, I have no choice but to defeat you... please don't be angry at what I'm about to do..." Tamayo stepped back and holstered her batons, then taking out her gun and pointed it at her cousin's angel. "Time to do this, Rushina!"

The angel rushed, leaving her hat behind, shooting shot after shot, all of them being evaded. Wizard could only close in as she reloaded her special light pistol- specially built by Yayoi herself. Rushina did finish her reload but as she aimed her weapon, Wizard attacked. She could only block the high impact energy punches, but she did some good countering as well.

Wizard called his sword and using his shield energy, attacked from a distance (the sword was held by the shield energy, enabling it to be projected far- "the unhanded sword"). Then using his unhanded sword, he also attacked in combination, making Rushina evade not only a sharp blade, but high impact angel punches as well. Then, a punch hits Rushina, sending her aback and into a lock.

"I could not believe that you have excelled in this already..." Kotaro commented.

"Oh really..." Tamayo began to grin "you have not seen the true me yet..."

Rushina then showed her face and once again shocked her cousin- the angel's normally gold eyes are now purple.

"You mean... you can do that as well!" the boy now asked, (in the space which we will now call the nexus) to his cousin.

"Yes, and now... take this!"

And with those words, she pulled away from the lock and braced herself as she fired one of her shockwave pulses, but it was blocked by the guard- but not for long.

"Take this... Shield Breaker!" she then called firing 3 shots that looked like photon torpedoes, hitting the shield and breaking it.

As Wizard tried to recover, that was when Rushina used her batons to great effect, pounding him over and over. Then, as the finishing move, another sucker punch, fainting him on her hands.

"I'm really sorry..."

Soon after, Kotaro found himself apologizing to Misaki, with Miharu and the others looking.

"He can't help it, especially when his foe is me..." T's frosty giggle came from behind her.

"What do you mean by that!" Misaki almost flared "And who are you!"

"Ahh... don't be angry at me, just because he got beaten by me..." T spoke, and then switched off her choker "Mi-sa-ki-chi..."

"Did she just say 'Misakichi'?" Miharu asked "But that means that she's... no way!"

"Impossible... you!" Misaki then asked the hooded one. "Tamayo!"

"It's me alright..." Tamayo spoke, taking off her hood and shades altogether, as Yayoi approached them.

"Eh!"

"Oh dear... this is a good time not to be here..." Yayoi thought as she began to pass the group.

"Mom..." Miharu called, stopping her mother in her tracks "I know that you have something to do with this..."

Yayoi could only joke off with her tongue- she was caught.

"Mom! That's unfair!" Miharu lightly scolded Yayoi "I wanted to help Tamayo in becoming familiar with the layer!"

"I'm sorry dear" Yayoi apologized "before you were here I have been keeping tabs on Tamayo- her potential has earned her a merit and so, I came and offered some help.

"At first, I didn't know what to do but... I decided to do it anyway..."

"What made you decide on being a Deus anyway?" Miharu then asked.

"Well actually, it's partly because of you Miharu... you see before, I was only contented by the fact that I can cheer for her, but since you came and made friends with us- a got a bit jealous of the two of you. So, I decided to do it, and to surprise you as well... Misaki?"

Tamayo turned around to look at her friend, who was looking at Rushina.

"She's a good angel..." Misaki commented, giving Rushina back "And you have made good work on her as well..."

"Well, that's me..." Tamayo shrugged "since I have beaten Kotaro... would you tell them or should I?"

"What is it, Kotaro? What are you going to tell us?" Misaki asked.

"You see..." the boy stammered, but eventually gave out the truth.

"NA! The two of you, cousins!"

"It figures..." Miharu then blew.

"What do you mean by that Miharu?"

"Simple- 'the reaction of blood'. If a person's name is mentioned, people have different reactions to it. I noted that when I said Kotaro's name in front of the two of you, Misaki here blushed while Tamayo acted coolly on it..."

"Hey!" Misaki called "what was that all about?"

"At least no one will interfere with your relationship..."

"Aren't you in a relationship?"

"Guys, guys..." Tamayo tried to calm the two staring girls. "There is no good reason to fight over..."

"You're right... let's enjoy this day, shall we?" Miharu finally gave up.

"Alright! Let's say we enjoy the rest of the day with some feminine bonding!"

"Okay... what about you Miharu?" Misaki then asked.

"Um... Yuki?" Miharu asked her friend.

"Don't worry about me..." he waved a hand of assurance "My new vacuum bolt technique will put holes in even the toughest obstacles... maybe Yukina can go with you guys"

"Okay let's go, I'm in as well!" Rachel added.

Later, after the finished and spectating girls (Misaki, Miharu, Tamayo, Rachel, Yukina, and Maria) went out of the dome, the next match was Rika Seto VS Sai Junoichi. They were already at the 8th minute when Shirahime had managed to freeze Rina's laser bracelet shut- disabling one of her attacks.

"Shirahime... Blizzard Blast!" Sai ordered her angel to make good, wide sweeps with her snow fan. Rina was hit several times, taking her at the 50 percent mark.

"Rina..."

"Hmm... give it up before I freeze you completely... there is no way that you can beat me..."

"No way..." Rika called "Is not my way! Rina... Hypermode!"

Rina turned gold and began to pursue her foe. As she pointed her bracelet...

"I forgot... this end is frozen... got to use this instead..." Rika thought as Rina pointed her blade to Shirahime.

"What are going to do with that, shoot me?" Sai mocked.

Sai was shocked at the next event, for suddenly, the blade parted in two, taking the shape of a small crossbow. Rina fired two shots and retracted her bowgun, the shots missing but enabling the angel to reach her foe. The final shots were quick slashes, made at such a speed that Shirahime never had a chance upon contact.

"I guess I must stop for now..." Sai sighed as the winner was announced. "I'm getting tired by this... and did not expect to win anyway..."

"Don't be like that Sai..." Kaede opposed "you did your best in that match- she was just a bit better than you..."

"I guess so... come on, I'll treat you to dinner..."

The next match, in the 9th minute.

"Ha-ha! You can never hit me behind this concrete wall!" Yukinari's foe mocked as he hid from behind- a wall. The air blasts just bounced off, consuming Teppa's skill energy.

"Oh really?" Yukinari countered "let's see about that... Teppa, Vacuum Bolt!"

The angel braced itself as it fired a powerful shot, hitting and boring a hole clean, striking his foe as well.

"No way..." Yuki's foe muttered as he felt the pain and fainted- the hole made by the blast seen by all- it was a really clean hole.

Much later. Tamayo was getting home from a whole day of girl activites.

"Misakichi... I really wanted to fight you... so I can see the other reason on why I cheer for you... I can't wait for tomorrow!"