Chapter 37
"I'll be going!" Musubi and Tsukiumi said at the same time, the blonde looking angry and the brunette determined.
"Ku wants to fight!" The little girl threw in her own two cents.
"Ah. I'll be fighting." Akitsu said, also with a determined glint in her normal clam eyes. This had been going on for the past few minutes, Dante's Sekirei fighting between themselves on who would go with him to the match in Matsu's room. Since Matsu was a brain type and not that keen on fighting, she didn't participate. The problem was there were four Sekirei who did want to fight and their Ashikabi was only allowed to bring three. Everyone else was watching with slight amusement except for Miya. The purplette looked calmly at the scene with some apprehension
"All of you, just stop arguing!" Dante shouted, getting them to settle down. "Thank you! Now, I'm telling all of you, right now, I'm not bringing any of you with me to this."
"What!?" Tsukiumi shouted, outraged. "Husband, you need us to..."
"Tsukiumi." He interrupted her firmly. "I get that you want to fight and prove yourself. But I'm also much stronger than anybody else in this game and I'm not risking any of you being deactivated during the match. So none of you are coming, and that...is...final."
Musubi and Kusano looked put out by this, and Tsukiumi was angered by this but none of them objected. Akitsu simply accepted this. If Dante didn't want them coming with, then she'd do what he asked.
"What do we know about the location?" Jenny broke the tension in the room. Dante gave this girls one last look before turning his attention to the blonde.
"The Capital Chuuou Junction is in a populated area near the middle of the city. It's very large, basically a meeting place of roads that are stacked and going in different directions. But according to her..." He waved at the monitors to show which "her" he meant. "The area and have been evacuated for minimal loss of life and collateral damage."
"Any ideas on who the other teams are?" Tobias asked.
"None. She won't tell me and we've already modified the timeline so much I'm not sure who will be there."
Tobias nodded. "Let's get going then. How we getting there?"
"TARDIS for part of the way. I have some things I need to grab and something to give you."
The dark haired teen raised an eyebrow. "I'm not going to hate it am I?"
"No, no. Well maybe, I don't know."
"Fine." He sighed. "Let's go, but you two..." He looked at Yahan and Kazehana. "Stay here."
Both girls looked stunned. Then Yahan looked upset. "What? But..." She was stopped by a finger being placed against her lips and Tobias's serious gaze.
"The last time both of you came with us, Kazehana ended up almost being deactivated and I lost control because of it. I'm not risking you both again over something as stupid as a Jinki. No offense." He added, looking at Miya.
"None taken." She smiled.
"So I want you both to stay here, stay safe. Besides..." He smiled slightly. "I've got a few new tricks up my sleeves. I'll be fine."
"And I'll be there to get him out of trouble." Dante added. He got sent a look from Kazehana and Yahan. And Jenny. Plus Miya. "What!?"
Snorting, Tobias gave both Sekirei a hug and quick kiss. "I'll see you when we get back, and I'll keep him out of trouble if I need to, and don't you even start." He warned Dante, who looked offended. "River's told me about the trouble you get into. And I told these two."
Dante growled in his throat. With all the crap he did, would it be too much to ask for some respect!? "Let's just get going. We're wasting time."
"But you have a time machine." Miya pointed out innocently. Uzume laughed particularly hard considering Dante had poked fun at her earlier. Dante didn't even dignify that with a response as he left the room with his hands jammed in his pockets. Tobias followed him into the TARDIS in Dante's room and closed the door as Dante pulled the levers and pressed the buttons, the whirr signaling their departure. Once they were in the Time Vortex, Dante stepped away from the console.
"Come on, I'll give you what I made, it'll be a big help." He started walking down the corridors, Tobias following alongside.
"Am I going to hate it?"
"Considering it's all black and that seems to be your color I doubt it. Here we go." He pushed open the door they stopped at a door and walked through.
"What's all..." Tobias stopped when he saw what was in the room. "What is that?"
"Project I was working on for you. Try it on, it'll be a big help."
Capital Chuuou Junction
The location of the third match was quiet for the time of night and also full of thick white, smoke coming from nowhere that made it hard to see. Currently the only one there was the Ashikabi of the east, Higa Izumi along with two of his strongest fighting Sekirei, Number 16 Toyotama and Number 18 Ichiya. Both Sekirei were also rather bored just standing around.
"How much longer do we have to wait?" Toyotama complained, leaning on her lance with the blade embedded in the pavement. "This is boring." Ichiya was leaning against a storefront with her arms and legs crossed, also anxious for something happen.
"Until the rest of the teams arrive I imagine. Be patient." Higa said, looking at his phone for the time. So far it had been 5 minutes since they arrived, but no sign of the other teams. Just them and this absurdly thick smoke that was hanging around. Then they all heard footsteps coming towards them and reacted. Toyotama yanked her weapon out of the ground and twirled it so the business end was facing forwards, Ichiya standing besides her Ashikabi and ready to fight as a black outline showed up in the white smoke.
"So it's you three. Good, that'll make this interesting."
Higa froze at the sound of the voice, paling slightly as fear crept into his heart.
"You ok there Higa, you look a bit pale." The outline asked before stepping out of the smoke to show it was Dante, with a new attire. Grey sneakers, faded and slightly ragged blue jeans, a red shirt peeking out from a zipped up gray hoodie, and over which was a blue jacket with the sleeves cut off. On the back of it was a red sword pointing downwards over a black shield and wrapped around his right wrist was a thick chain,The teen also looked very comfortable with the atmosphere. "Still, good to see you took my advice and canceled those bounties out on me, Tobias, and the rest of my friends."
"Where is the Airbender and your Sekirei?" Ichiya inquired. Higa might've been nervous but she was slightly excited that Dante was here. She wanted a rematch from their fight at the hospital so long ago.
"I left my girls at home, as for Tobias... he's keeping a lookout." He answered, smirking slightly. Higa noticed and he felt his fear slightly increase, but he had more attention on the first part of Dante's sentence.
"Why are you here without any Sekirei? The rules said you can bring three with you." Toyomata asked.
"Can being the key word, the rules didn't say we had to bring three Sekirei, so I just came here with Tobias. So, including me, you, and him, that's three teams, and number four should arriving soon..." He stopped when the sound of helicopters, all of them looking towards the sound. Two white, MBI helicopters were flying towards them before one set down on top of a taller building. "MBI, so that must mean the fourth team is the Disciplinary Squad." Dante mused. Looks like giving Tobias that project he had been working on was the right call. He just hoped Karasuba wasn't there, otherwise this would get very dangerous, but he doubted she was. The Black Sekirei seemed to do her own thing and if she hadn't know who was attending in advanced, which he assumed she didn't, then an event like this wouldn't be of any interest to her.
"They're all yours buddy." Dante muttered under his breath before turning his attention back to the others. "Since it's just me here, I'll be fighting both of you."
Toyotama laughed. "Ha! You think you can take us both!? Last time we met, it was two on two and we drove you both away!"
Dante's smile turned sinister. "No. Last time we met I was downplaying my strength and focused on getting Chiho out of that hospital. Now..." Dante shook his wrist and the chain uncoiled until it was hanging from his wrist, showing it was at least 8 feet long. Higa noticed the dark brown iron started to glow red in spots on the links while Dante's arms were starting glow orangish like an ember and give off a black smoke that swirled around them. "...I'm not holding back."
MBI helicopters
On the top of the building, one helicopter landed first and it's passenger slid open the door, keeping his head down. The man was older, in his late twenties, normal sized with brown hair that went past his jaw line in the back, wearing an elaborate suit with a white shirt underneath and a black tie. His helicopter took off and the second one landed, this one letting out Haihane and Benitsubasa. The latter looked at the smoke that reached all the way up here even as their helicopter left, the smoke taking its place again.
"The director must've went to a lot of trouble to add this smoke. He's enjoying himself too much."
Haihane took in the scenery and noticed something. "They blocked off both ends of the expressways."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"He wants to show MBI is still powerful, or maybe he just finds it amusing." The man in the suit said as he looked at his MBI issued flip phone. "Actually I don't even want to try to figure out what goes on in his head." Benitsubasa giggled at the jab at Minaka. "But his orders are for us to participate and it can't be helped. So let's enjoy ourselves shall we?" He finished with a slight smile as he flipped the phone shut.
Benitsubasa smiled hungrily as she looked down at the streets. "I wonder who came to die tonight?" She stopped as she heard something from above before said something smashed into the roof where their ride had left. Bensithbasa and Haihane both got into fighting stances, keeping their eyes on the dark outline that stood in the smoke.
"So you two are here. I've been wanting to talk to you for a while." Both Sekirei widened at the the voice before Bensitubasa's own narrowed in anger.
"You!" She snarled, charging forwards and punching towards the head with the intent of taking it off. The figure snapped their right hand up and caught the fist, stopping it dead. "What the...!?"
The wind picked up and cleared the smoke to show Tobias. Like Dante, his own clothes were different than earlier. A black, short sleeve t-shirt that looked like his regular ones, but with some differences. The fabric looked smoother than most cloth, looser, and it had a white wolf head looking to his right and snarling on his chest with a silver left eye similar to his. His jeans were now black and looked made for heavy duty wear. His face looked slightly amused.
"Yeah, things are going a bit differently this time." Tobias dropped the fist and the pinkette attempted to punch again but was blown backwards by a small shockwave. She skidded backwards and stopped besides Haihane. The claw user eyed the teen, wary of any attacks.
"Nice look." She made small talk to gain some time to think.
Tobias looked at his shirt. "Yeah, it's something new." He looked at the man. "You must be their Ashikabi."
"Indeed. My name is Natsuo Ichinomi, I'm a clerk in MBI's pharmaceutical department. It's a pleasure to meet you." Natsuo said with a pleasant smile and bow of his head. Tobias grunted.
"I'd say it's nice too but I'll see if you deserve that. In the mean time..." He looked at Benitsubasa and Haihane. "...I want to talk to you two."
"How about I just..." Benitsubasa didn't finish her sentence as Tobias blurred and stopped in between both Sekirei. They looked at him, surprised at the speed as he grabbed their forearms.
"Alone." He took off with both Sekirei in tow, leaving behind their Ashikabi who watched with interest as Tobias flew towards the topmost expressway. He had heard that Tobias and Dante Price were interesting and that the former could apparently fly, but seeing it in person was different. Tobias threw both Sekirei when he was low enough that they landed with ease, twenty feet away from where he landed. The teen flexed his hands.
'Dante knew what he was doing when he made this thing.' Tobias thought. 'Not that I'm telling him that, his egos big enough.'
Flashback
"Project I was working on for you. Try it on, it'll be a big help." Dante said. Tobias gave him a look.
"How is a new shirt and jeans going to be a big help?" He asked, looking back at the mini room that Dante had opened. In the center was a stand with a black shirt and jeans on them, a white wolf head on the first article of clothing. He walked towards it as Dante explained.
"It's not just a pair of new clothes, I made of out of a very volatile and temperamental material." Tobias stopped his hand from touching the shirt.
"Um, how volatile and temperamental?" He asked, having some very bad stories about how dangerous this could be from stories told by River.
"Oh don't worry, it's stable now but making it was a pain. Go ahead, touch it." To prove his point, Dante touched the shoulder of the shirt and showed his unharmed hand. Still cautious, Tobias touched the fabric. First thing he noticed it was smooth, almost like woven water. The second thing was a very intense tingle run up his arm, making his hand jerk away. "What's wrong?"
"I just got a tingle up my arm. What the hell is this made off?" Tobias asked, rubbing his hand to alleviate a numb feeling.
"Special fabric, made by me and based off of a kryptonian design."
"What? You made this based off of..."
"A material from Superman's home world, yeah. I know, I'm good."
"You're arrogant is what you are." Tobias said under his breath. "Ok, but why make this for me? What's it supposed to do?"
"Glad you asked. You see, the material I made these out of absorbs solar energy, refines it, then sends the energy into your cells to strengthen them, that's most likely what that tingle you felt was. Now, If I've calculated everything right, then this outfit will help boost your endurance, strength, speed, and reflexes to the same level as...say, Benitsubasa." Tobias looked at Dante.
"And if you've calculated wrong?" He wouldn't say it, but that did sound pretty cool. Tobias's body were stronger than a regular humans and his speed and strength could be enhanced by his wind powers helping, but if this suit apparently did all of that without any help from him, that could be very helpful.
"Uh, you may spontaneously combust from the energy being sent into your cells and end up as a pile of ash." Tobias took a step back. "But there's only a one in twenty billion chance of that occurring."
"Really?! Only a one in twenty billion chance of me dying and ending up as a pile of ash!? What the hell is wrong with you, I'm not touching that thing now!"
"Oh come on, it's a slight chance, it won't actually happen."
"A slight chance means it can still happen! No, no no no no no, I'm not risking it. Thanks and all, but I'll take my chances fighting without it." He turned with the intent of leaving the room. "Oh for the love of Gallifrey..." What happened was his right hand being grabbed and pulled, firmly touching the alien material. Tobias's arm seized up as a violent and almost painful tingle shot through his body. He gritted his teeth and attempted to move his hand but his seized muscles combined with Dante's grip made it impossible. The tingle somehow grew even more intense feeling like he was being electrocuted then burned before the sensations all vanished at once. He took a explosive breath and started panting, yanking his arm away from the shirt.
"A...are you crazy!?" Tobias demanded as he tried to get his breath back, sweat beading on his brow and his heart pounding.
"No, I'm rational." Dante said lightly. "Look, you had the odds in your favor, plus you seem to have forgotten your half Thal. They've got a remarkable high tolerance for any kind of radiation, including refined solar radiation, which means so do you. Now go ahead and change, I'll be waiting in the console room." He left the room, closing the door to Tobias and the suit. After a few minutes he got his breath back and the numbness left his body so he could feel again. He looked at the shirt and sighed. He'd gone through all that pain, might as well use the stupid thing. He got undressed and put on the shirt and pants. The shirt was lightweight and loose, but felt warm. The pants fit snugly but still allowed a full range of motion.
Tobias rolled his shoulders. Other than a barely noticeable tingle now, he didn't feel any different. Looking at the plastic chest that had held the shirt, he held his middle finger against his thumb, lifted, then flicked the mannequin. The plastic shattered inwards and through the back, leaving a grapefruit sized hole punched all the way through. Tobias looked at his hand in surprise before whistling.
"Maybe he's not crazy. Much." Tobias left the room, his other clothes under his arm, and took the short walk back to the console room. He heard Dante on the opposite side of the rotor, out of view.
"Just set your clothes on the seat, we'll change before we go back to the inn." Dante's voice said. Tobias walked around and stopped when he saw Dante's new, and extremely familiar, outfit.
"You're using those powers?" Tobias asked, dropping his luggage. Dante looked up and smirked.
"Only Smoke and Neon if I need it, I don't have any need for Concrete or Video. How's the suit?"
"Surprisingly comfortable. How did you..."
"I didn't, the material automatically molds itself to your body type. And the heats coming from the refined solar radiation inside the material, like a battery. And don't worry, even at night there's enough radiation in the air to power that thing for several decades with how efficient it is. Now... Shall we?"
"Might as well."
Dante pulled the last lever, landing them. Opening the door and both teenagers stepping out, they were street level and in a alley at the junction. Dante made sure to put the TARDIS in cloaking mode before saying, "Ok, the other teams shouldn't be here yet but they will be soon. Let's see who shows up and we'll take whoever we feel has the best chance against them."
"Sounds good. I'm going up." Tobias crouched and flew upwards, vanishing through the smoke. Dante started walking then stopped when he came to a camera set above the street. Looking up, he saw the camera had a red light glowing in the top right corner. He smiled and gave a two fingered salute.
"Wish us luck girls." He kept walking, looking for one of the other teams.
Flashback end
Tobias was snapped from his thoughts by the sudden loud noise of laughing that shook the air while Dante and Higa's group stopped to listen.
"It seems all the contestants have arrived!"Minaka's eager voice announced, seemingly coming from everywhere. Dante guessed this entire place had been rigged with speakers so he could speak. It was also annoyingly loud and everyone's ears were ringing. "And now, we'll begin the third match! The rules are simple. The participants are to fight until only one team is left standing, and the remaining team will receive the third Jinki."
Tobias looked at the Disciplinary Squad and Dante at Higa's Sekirei, both their eyes narrowing as they saw what that idiot was doing.
"That's right, this match is a battle royale! Now let the battles...begin!"
Back at the inn
"Damn it!" Jenny swore she heard what had been said. Everyone was crowded in Matsu's room watching the monitors while The Machine was hacked into every possible camera so they could see what was going on. They had seen Dante's wish for luck, followed by him running into Higa's group on the ground level while Tobias had ambushed and grabbed the Disciplinary Squad, setting them up to fight on the highest road. "He's just using the third match as an excuse to take out some of the strongest players!"
"It's not surprising when you think about it." Matsu said, pushing up her glasses. "Dante has shown he can hack MBI's secure systems, Tobias that he can easily destroy the Disciplinary Squad, and Higa for opposing the plan in the first place. Benitsubasa and Haihane just have the bad luck of being the strongest Sekirei MBI has under their thumb."
"Big brother/Dante will win!" Ku and Musubi cheered, confident that Dante would do fine. Tsukiumi huffed.
"Of course he'll win. Dante is too strong to be taken down by the likes of those two." She said with pride in her voice, Akitsu nodding slightly to show she agreed. Jenny knew they were right, but like Kagari, she didn't like it. Yahan and Kazehana we're watching the monitor that showed a satellite view of their Ashikabi standing twenty feet away from Benitsubasa and Haihane, both rather nervous. Tobias was strong, they had both been trained in some ways by him, but the last time he had encountered them he had been forced to cross his limits into something neither of them wanted to see again. They just hoped he'd be ok. Miya just watched the scenes unfold, keeping her opinions to herself.
Tobias's fight
"Let's go!" Benitsubasa charged the second the battles were due learned started, intent on beating the silver eyed Ashikabi in front of her to a pulp. Tobias simply let her approach and start her attack when she was close enough.
The first thing she tried was a left roundhouse kick towards his head, but missed as Tobias leaned back like a tree in the wind. She braced her left foot and tried to spin into another kick, aiming for his legs this time. He grabbed the foot and spun, using her own momentum against her to do a full 360 before throwing her the same direction she had come from easily. Gritting her teeth in frustration at being played so easily, the pinkette righted herself and landed effortlessly.
"Fight me already!" She shouted at him. Tobias shook his head.
"Before I do, I wanted to ask you two a question. Answer it, then I'll fight you seriously." He crossed his arms to show if she wanted a chance at payback, she had to do something for him first. She gritted her teeth but slowly lowered her fists so they were at her sides. Haihane relaxed her stance as well, but remained ready to defend herself if needed.
"Fine. What?" She hissed angrily.
Tobias uncrossed his arms and looked between both the Blue and Red Sekirei's. This question had been something that had been eating away at him ever since he had grown as close as possible with Yahan and Kazehana, then seen how Yashima and Kuruse had been treated by Junichi and Keigo last night. Seeing both Sekirei treated by horrible people but unable to leave because they were their Ashikabi's had made him think of this question, and a theory to how forcibly winged Sekirei acted that he had yet to tell anyone.
"Are you two happy with your Ashikabi?" The girls blinked, not expecting that kind of question. Then Benitsubasa got angry.
"Of course we're happy with Natsuo! He's our Ashikabi, why wouldn't we be!?"
"For the same reason forcibly winged Sekirei aren't happy with their Ashikabi's. Because they weren't winged and bonded with the person they were meant to be and abused while doing anything they're told. Did you both react to him or were you just winged once your adjustments were over?"
"T-that doesn't matter!" The way she had stuttered told him the answer. "We would've reacted to Natsuo anyways! Why do you even care anyways!?"
Tobias let a small genuine smile creep out. "Because you two actually ended up helping me before." That stopped the angry rant and made both Sekirei look surprised. "I lost it on that bridge when you deactivated Kazehana, and that ended up forcing a lot of bad stuff out of me later. I had to reveal what I was raised to be to people I hadn't wanted to reveal it to for fear of being rejected. Instead, I ended growing closer than ever with everyone and my Sekirei. Now I've got real love towards two people who know all my sides, good and bad, that stick by me with the same feelings. So I guess since you two indirectly caused it, I'm a bit more concerned about your own happiness and treatment as a result." He shrugged. "Weird maybe, but there you have it."
Haihane reminded silent while Benitsubasa looked angry. "Well screw you and your concern! We're both perfectly happy with Natsuo!"
"Mm-hmm. Tell me one last thing then, and then we'll get down to the fighting you're so anxious for."
"What?" She snarled.
"Has Natsuo ever given you a hug, or kiss, and said he loved you for no reason other than he wanted to? Even once?" Tobias tilted his head and waited for an answer. Neither girl reacted, other than Benitsubasa looking furious while Haihane seemed to have turned introspective. Hhmm, maybe she would listen to reason. "Didn't think so. But since I've spoken my peace..." Tobias got into a stance. "...let's go." He and Benitsubasa vanished, fists colliding in the center and resulting in a shockwave that cracked the bridge underneath. Tobias gathered the air around his free left fist.
"Divine Punishment!" He slammed the fist into the girls chest and sent her flying upwards, feeling like she had been hit by a semi from below. Tobias then used his flight and broke the sound barrier to appear above Benitsubasa, right fist pulled back again to deliver a punch to her back. This time when he punched though, it was using pure physical strength.
CRACK
The pink haired girl rocketed back to the bridge faster than she had left it and made a crater 15 feet wide with her embedded face down. Haihane's mouth was dropped open as she looked at her comrade, but she closed it when the girl shifted and started getting up, holding her head.
"Oh, what hit me?" She groaned.
"That would've been me." Tobias set down just outside the crater, looking at them calmly. "I've gotten a bit stronger since last time." 'But I didn't think it was this much.' He thought to himself privately. He had just wanted to knock her back down to the road, not smash her into a crater. He'd had to be careful with this, he didn't want these two deactivated. Just have the crap beaten out of them enough they'd go away or stay down.
And his thoughts cost him since Haihane saw her chance and took it, blurring to existence in front of him while slashing with her right claws at his chest. Tobias jumped back and started dodging through a web of steel as the grey haired Sekirei tried to land a hit, but thanks to Dante's gift enhancing Tobias's reflexes and speed, he was moving just as fast as Haihane without any other help.
"You've gotten faster." She noted as she jabbed at his head, fingers straight. He tilted his head right so the tips missed his right ear and grabbed the arm with his left hand. She tried stabbing his chest with her other hand but felt something grab it, stopping the points from entering it. Only one problem...Tobias hadn't grabbed it with his free hand. "What?"
"Sorry, I've also picked up a new power." Tobias said, smirking. "Little ability I like to call Air Hand, and it's very, very useful." He dropped the arm he had been holding and crouched quickly, spinning to knock the Sekirei's legs out from under but she jumped back, not letting her surprise trip her up as she put distance between them. Benitsubasa had had enough time to pick herself up and get her wits back, but her clothes were torn and dirtied from the attack earlier with some blood coming from the corners of her mouth and a thin cut on her right cheek.
She also looked pissed as all hell.
"THATS IT! NOW YOU'VE REALLY PISSED ME OFF!" The girl screamed as a red aura formed around her to showcase her anger and power. Tobias braced himself while also grabbing his sword and sheath from his bracelet. This was going to get violent and he'd need all his tools for this as she lunged for him, right fist glowing brightly and pulled back.
Dante's fight
Dante cracked his neck as Minaka said to begin the fights and smirked. "Shall we begin?"
His answer was Toyotama grabbing her lance in both hands and charging, swinging the bladed end towards his chest so fast it whistled through the air. Dante swung out his chain and wrapped it around the hilt, jumping over the swing and pulling to yank the lance and by extension Toyotama backwards and off balance. He ran and slid like a runner into home, knocking the Sekirei off her feet and into her back. He shook his wrist and the chain unraveled from the lance as Toyotama flipped up onto her feet so her back was to him and swung around her lance to her left, Dante blocking as he grabbed his chain in both hands and pulled it taut, stopping the swing midway. Both fighters arms trembled from the stalemate.
"Not bad." Dante complimented. "But you gotta be faster than that." Toyotama smirked.
"And you should be smarter!" She twisted the lance and therefore the angle before stabbing Dante in the shoulder, expecting him to cry out in pain and lose his grip. Instead, Dante winced slightly and moved quickly, let go of of the chain and swung it, the chain suddenly giving off the same smoke and ember like glow as his arms. It nailed the weapon Sekirei directly in the right ribs and knocked her away from him, taking out the lance too. The green haired Sekirei hit the ground and slid a bit before stopping. She got up but hissed as she felt a slight burn where the chain had hit her.
Looking at the spot she saw a fairly red and raised mark like a impression of the chain, the injury similar to burns. She looked at Dante or more specifically his shoulder which showed no signs of being hurt. There wasn't even any blood on her weapon.
"I see you're a bit confused on this." Dante jerked a thumb at his shoulder. "Tell you what, since I'm feeling a bit generous this evening, I'll give you a free shot." He twirled the chain back around his wrist and put both hands in his hoodie pockets. He waited. "Go ahead. I promise, I won't do a thing."
Higa nervously watched the battle take place but kept his poker face up to not show any weakness. So far the teen had just been trading light blows with Toyotama while he and Ichiya watched, but one thing many different fights he had seen or heard of involving Dante had taught him one thing. Expect the unexpected and impossible to happen, and offering up a "free shot" just showed how utterly confident he was.
Toyotama looked over the body language and eye, but nothing she saw indicated he was lying or worried about this. Knowing it was a trap but deciding to risk it, the Sekirei tensed her legs and ran as fast as possible to reappear in front of Dante, thrusting forwards to stab him through the chest where his heart should be and out the back. Her eyes flicked upwards at his face to see his reaction.
Other than a grimace and looking down at his chest, the teen didn't seem disturbed. "Good pick, stab most people through the heart and they'll go down every time. Two problems with using that on me though. One, I'm not most people, and two..." He looked into Toyotama's shocked face and pulled out his right hand, smoke swirling and a brighter glow coming from it. "...I don't bleed that easy." He aimed the palm at her chest a few inches from touching. "Cinder Rocket." A point blank explosion sent both fighters flying backwards, smoke trailing from the Sekirei as she hit the ground and skidded on her back twenty feet and Dante through a small store front.
"Toyotama!" Ichiya rushed to her sister's side and helped her sit up. "Are you ok?"
"No." She winced as she tried to stand, holding her right hand to the injury. "I think he broke a rib, maybe two." She looked at it and saw the injury was burned like her earlier one and her clothes scorched, but most of the damage felt like it had come from blunt force trauma rather than heat
"Point blank explosion and I only broke two ribs? Wow, you're tougher than I thought you would be." The pair looked at the storefront to see the hybrid walking out, clothes dirty and a lance still sticking out of his chest. He grabbed it and slowly pulled the weapon out until it was free, showing a hole the width of the lance straight through it and the edges glowing orangish red. Smoke sprouted from his torso and centered on the wound but didn't make an see-able difference. Dante noticed and grunted, resting the lance on his shoulder. "Good thing Minaka provided this lovely smoke, it'll make a big difference." He reached to the air with his left arm and black smoke swirled around it while the white stuff Minaka had covered the area in started being sucked into his arm. The hole was covered by more smoke from him before it vanished, showing an newly repaired chest and undamaged clothing. "Ah, that's better." He sighed before turning his attention back to the shocked fighters and smiling evilly.
"Now then, shall we..."
"EXTREME QUAKE!" His question was interrupted by the female cry followed by a ground shaking rumble and crack from above. They all looked up to see the uppermost street had thick and numerous cracks running through it that all converged on a central point. After a second of silence, there was a rumble and the road started breaking into large, jagged, and very heavy chunks heading straight for them. Dante scowled but turned and started running/jumping away while Toyotama, who could now stand on her own, and Ichiya ran the opposite direction, the latter carrying Higa under her arm. After a few minutes of crashing and cracking sounds that were punctured by shakes and clouds of dust intermingling with the smoke all the loose debris had fallen to the ground and settled. Somewhere inside the cloud, a black figure coughed and stood from among the destruction. The wind picked up, the smoke and dust clearing to show Tobias with his sheathed sword and covered in stone dust.
He hadn't gotten away unscathed, he had three cuts on his head. One near his hairline, another above his right eyebrow that was also starting to turn red with a bruise and his left cheek scratched enough to draw small amounts of blood. His arms had many small ones and varying bruises but his clothes, made out of a super-strong material, weren't even ripped.
Coughing again into his right fist, the teen took quick inventory. Aside from the cuts on his arms and head, he also had several bruises on his chest that stung and two in particular that hurt when he put weight on his right leg, but other then that he seemed fine since he had dodged the rather extreme attack. Unfortunately he had gotten hit by a rock hard enough it broke his concentration while giving him the cut above his eye so he had fallen once the bridge had started breaking. Now, the only question was where had those two disappeared to? He heard something closing in behind him followed by a high pitched whine.
"Claws of Execution!" Tobias turned and blocked the underhand swing with his sheath, a loud clang and ear grinding screech filling the air as the two metals scrapped against each other.
"Nice try. Divine Roar!" Tobias took a breath and, as the name suggested, roared out a shock wave that sent his attacker tumbling head over heels from the close range attack. She came to a stop on all fours and slowly got to her feet.
"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" Haihane asked as she licked away some blood from her lips. The Sekirei looked to be in the same condition that Tobias was, clothes cut and ragged (not that most people could tell since they always looked like that) cuts and bruises showing up here and there on her body, but none seemingly hindering her.
"I'm only limited by two things, three if you count the laws of reality. My strength and my imagination, that leaves a lot of room for growth." Tobias explained, lowering his arms. "Why are you fighting? I saw your face earlier, and you may be projected as a fighter by MBI but you don't want to do this do you?" Haihane didn't respond. She just lifted her claws in preparation to attack again, face blank. Tobias sighed and drew his sword, holding the sheath forwards in his left hand. "Fine, but just know, I don't like doing this either."
"Haaaaaaaaa!" Tobias looked up at the female scream of fury and, eyes widening, quickly brought up both his sheath and sword up in a X to block the axe kick from above. The force behind the attack caused the ground to buckle but thanks to the suit reinforcing him, Tobias managed to take the kick without any significant damage. "What the fuck does it take to hit you!?" Benitsubasa shouted in anger.
"Considering I've got two girlfriends to get back to, more than you can do." Tobias pushed her up and stabbed his sword into the ground to hold it in place. Crouching, he vanished with the ground buckling under him, re-appearing in front of Benitsubasa and thrusting a fist at her head, which she blocked with both arms. She smirked.
"You're slow!" She grabbed his arm and flipped, intending to throw him at the ground until he...stopped, standing on a midair platform. She saw his smirk.
"No...I'm smart." He once again used her own momentum against the Sekirei and threw her towards the ground to make a crater, this time with her face up. Her face was twisted in a snarl as she pulled herself out.
"You're pissing me off, you-!" She didn't get a chance to say what she wanted because a small ball of light and smoke landed in front of her. She looked down at it confused, but Tobias recognized the object and grabbed his sword with an air hand, pulling it into his real right one before making a air barrier around himself.
The small ball exploded in a large dome of smoke then concentrated around the pinkette's head, blinding and stinging her eyes and throat with foul fumes as she coughed violently. Thanks to the barrier, Tobias was spared from the attack.
"Sorry, but I had enough of her mouth." Tobias looked to the right to see Dante jumping from debris to debris but had his left in his pockets like he was taking a stroll. He was still holding the lance in his other hand. "What did you do to piss her off?"
"I just asked her and Haihane a few questions. I'm guessing she didn't like the questions."
"Ya think?" Dante raised his free hand and pointed the palm at Haihane, who had been tensing in preparation to attack. "Don't...even...think about it." He warned, gathering smoke in the palm of his hand to charge a Cinder Rocket. Haihane wisely decided to not move. "How's the suit working out?"
"It's ok." Tobias answered while keeping an eye on Benitsubasa. The smoke was starting to go away.
"Any problems so far?"
"Just wondering how freakishly strong this material is. It didn't even get torn when I fell, and my strength is through the roof."
"Sounds good. Need any help here?"
Tobias looked between the Blue and Red Sekirei's, the latter finally able to breath normally again as the smoke dissipated completely, but her still watery eyes looked murderous. So, one calm, collected Sekirei whom he had no idea what was going through her mind and one impulsive violent Sekirei who wanted to smash him into a pulp for asking some simple questions.
"Nah, I'm good. I've been holding back so far anyways." Tobias answered.
"Then I'm off to find Higa. Just...don't deactivate them, otherwise it'll be a pain later."
"Never planned to."
"Good. Then I bid you three good bye." The Timelords body then broke down in a swirling mass of smoke and embers before snaking off and up, leaving the group alone again. Tobias lifted his sword.
"So...shall we continue?"
Benitsubasa gritted her teeth, but if she applied much more pressure on her molars they'd end up cracking under her anger. Her knuckles popped as she clenched her hands, her aura flaring into existence again and brighter than before.
"Don't...mock...us!" She screamed, the ground cracking like an eggshell under her feet as she went back on the offensive. Tobias bent backwards, a red glove covered fist passing through the space his head had previously occupied. That was then followed by a right jab, left kick, left hook, right axe kick and left turning leg sweep. The response to the attacks was deflect, dodge, block, sidestep, and jump over followed by a mini Divine Punishment that sent Benitsubasa skipping across the ground again.
"I'm not mocking, I'm just asking. You're the only one who's taking it as a insult Benitsubasa." The teen told her as she got back up. Haihane hadn't made any attempt to attack. "Mocking you would be me asking if you think you can really beat me."
"We did last time." Benitsubasa snarled. "What makes this time any different?"
"This time, we're in a completely deserted area, I'm not hiding my past, and I'm thinking rationally this time. And even without those differences, I nearly killed you last time without even being aware of it. So..." Tobias quickly whipped the air into a whirlwind, kicking up dust to obscure the two Sekirei's vision of him. "...who's really in trouble here?" His voice came from everywhere as the dust settled to show he had vanished. Benitsubasa and Haihane went back to back, slowly turning on the spot to search. Then froze as they felt two taps to the head.
The Sekirei separated, spinning on heel to fight...nobody? There was nothing above them at all. They both shared a confused look until Haihane was suddenly sent skidding back, feeling like she had been kicked in the chest. Benitsubasa then felt something punch her in the stomach, hunching her over before getting another unseen punch to her ribs. Growling, she swiped her arm in attempt to counter attack but she failed to hit anything and got her legs knocked out from under her for her troubles.
"What the hell is this?" She demanded, getting up. They weren't able to see or hit whatever was attacking them but it had enough force behind it to knock them both back.
"That's a new trick I came up with!" Looking up at the shout, Tobias waved his hand from the top of the 30 story building edge he was sitting on. "Like it? It's my own unique twist on close and long range combat combining my Air Hand ability and new control over my powers!"
The Red Sekirei's answer was tensing her legs and crouching, before blurring with the ground cracking violently under her. He was pissing her off.
Higa and his Sekirei
"Are you all right?" Ichiya asked as Higa straightened the wrinkles out of his suit. She and Toyotama were facing him in a small alley, the fist fighter on his left and the weapon user on his right.
"I'm fine." He said shortly. They had gone a block away from the junction after it had started collapsing. Now that the rumble and crashing hd stopped, they needed to figure out a plan or retreat and forfeit their chance to get the Jinki. The latter option wasn't appealing, but things simply weren't in their favor as it was. Dante Price had shown he could take a lance through the heart and somehow simply heal himself while using the smoke provided by Minaka to accelerate the process apparently, and use similar smoke-based abilities to cause some sort of explosion nicknamed Cinder Rocket. He guessed he had used it at close range because he could simply heal from the damage, but the mere name meant it could be used long range as well. And he had said Tobias the Airbender had been there, but they hadn't seen either him or the Disciplinary Squad, meaning they had been fighting each other on the overpass. It would explain why it had collapsed.
The point was there was too many variables and not enough constants in this equation to make an effective plan.
"We're going home." He said simply. "Otherwise we're liable to end up weakened." The two Sekirei nodded, but Toyotama scowled slightly since she'd have to request a new weapon from MBI. Stupid Dante P-
"You're forgetting this." Said lance that she had just been thinking about was held in front of her face, a inch from her nose. The group of three snapped their heads to look at a bored Dante standing six feet away. "You really shouldn't hide in an alley, it's just too easy to find you."
'How the hell did we not notice him!?' Ichiya thought while snapping into action. She pushed aside Toyotama and attempted to punch Dante in the head. He tilted his head while kicking her left leg, knocking her off balance so she overextended herself. He slammed a fist into her solar plexus and she fell to her knees, hacking from the force behind it. The hybrid looked at Toyotama who had a stance, but it was purely defensive in nature. He tossed her her lance and she caught it in both hands, looking wary and wondering why he was giving her weapon back.
"I don't have any need for something like that." He answered the unspoken question. "Plus I've already proven you can't hurt me, but if you want to try again..." He waited and Toyotama slowly relaxed. "Thought so."
"How did you approach us without us knowing?" Higa asked calmly, keeping his poker face on. Inside though, he was very, very afraid and Dante small smirk just added to that fear.
"People never really notice everything. You don't notice a crack in the sidewalk, a bug on a wall, a background noise, or every single blade of grass in a field. You never see anything your subconscious mind deems unimportant, so I did just that. I became part of the background and therefore of no interest to you at that moment." He shrugged. "It's easy if you have enough experience in fighting." He turned around and started walking away.
"W-wait." Dante stopped and looked back at Ichiya. She was starting to get her breath back, but she was still breathing heavier than normal. "Why didn't you just deactivate us?"
Dante snorted and looked forwards again. "Because I don't need to deactivate you to win. And I refuse to play by Minaka's rules any longer." He started walking again. "Go home, things should be just about done here anyways." His body broke down into black smoke again and vanished into the white smoke again, leaving the trio alone. A few seconds later, Higa sighed.
"Let's go." The group gathered themselves and left, heading back towards their home.
Tobias's fight
"GRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Benitsubasa attempted yet again to attack Tobias, who hadn't moved from the rooftop he was sitting on. In fact, he was resting his head on his right hand and had his eyes closed until he heard the scream of frustration. Sighing, he opened his eyes and, like the last ten times, knocked Benitsubasa back to the ground with his Air Hand smashing into her stomach to send her rocketing to the ground again.
"That's eleven now..." Tobias said idly, closing his eyes again. This was getting boring, but he wanted to see if she could figure out the weak point of his current attacks. It was easy if you just looked at him when he was being attacked, but apparently the pinkette was too blinded by rage and determination to see his head reduced to a bloody mess. He opened one eye to look at Haihane as Benitsubasa picked herself up. The Blue Sekirei was sitting on one of the blocks of debris, legs crossed and arms resting at her side while she studied him with narrowed eyes. He still couldn't figure out what was going on inside her head, but called down, "You want to try or offer any advice to her!?"
Eyes narrowing further, Haihane got off her seat and approached Bensitubasa. Before she could charge again, the grey haired woman grabbed her shoulder but was careful not to cut her as she got the attention she wanted.
"I need you to pick up and throw the rock behind us at him." She whispered, covering her lips so Tobias couldn't read them. Benitsubasa was confused and looked at the boulder in question. It was large, easily fifteen to twenty feet across and a couple tons heavy, but nothing she couldn't handle. But she was nothing if not stubborn and scowled at Haihane.
"Why should I?"
"Because otherwise you'll be getting nowhere with just rushing him head on. Now do it." Haihane said in a tone that could cut steel. Benitsubasa was surprised at the tone since her teammate was normally soft spoken or quite, and when she did talk it was usually just to complain, but this...this was something new. So with a grumble, she nodded.
Tobias watched with interest as the two separated and Haihane turned to face him with Benitsubasa started walking towards a chunk of debris, wondering what plan they had decided on. He soon got his answer as the boulder in question was grabbed and lifted by the fist type Sekirei. With a growl, she pulled back then launched the enormous formation of concrete towards him at high velocity.
"Interesting..." He muttered before lifting his head and aiming his now free fist at the rock. "Divine Punishment!" The shockwave hit the rock head on, forcing it back towards the ground until...
"Claws of Execution!" It was split into crude cubes by Haihane who had jumped behind the boulder the second Benitsubasa had thrown it and followed the same path. Now she was flying towards Tobias whose eyes widened before he grabbed his sword with a smirk.
"About time!" He said before sliding off the edge and pushing off the building, unsheathing his sword and clashing with Haihane in the middle of her path. The two stopped in midair for a second as the others speed stopped their own, claws scraping against steel and arms trembling. "How long did it take to come up with that plan?" He asked as they started falling quickly.
"After try seven, but I had to be sure. Now I know how that ability of yours works!" They separated in midair and landed harshly with the ground cracking under them.
"Finally!" Benitsubasa vanished in a blur until Tobias eyed her, tripping her with his ability so she went skidding. He then had to block an overhead slash from Haihane's left claws and twist out of the way of her right stab. He spun low and swung the flat of his sword at her right knee only to be blocked and get retaliation in the form of a left kick to the ribs that sent him skidding away on his back with a ringing head. He had to blink a few times until he stopped seeing double and when he did, his first sight was Haihane stabbing towards his throat.
'Crap!' He was about to stopped the claws when they did that on their own, the middle and longest claw a bare inch from his Adam's apple. Tobias blinked, wondering what happened and looked at Haihane's face. Her normal mask was in place, but her eyes looked...hesitant, and unsure. She also started to slowly pull back her claws until Bensitubasa shouted.
"Haihane, what are you doing!?"
Tobias saw her eyes flicker towards the shout and took the opening. He grabbed both arms with his own Air Hands, pulling her up and getting his legs tucked against his chest before kicking the female in the chest to send her flying away. He held back but she most likely had broken two ribs and several fractured ones since he had some adrenaline pumping through his blood from a near death experience. Haihane crashed into a building and the stone fractured in a spider web until she slid down, coughing up some blood while her chest ached terribly.
Tobias forced himself to sit up so he wouldn't be caught off guard and saw that it was the right call since Bensitubasa was charging him again. His temper flared and he gritted his teeth.
"Enough!" He reached his hand and clenched it. "Air Lock!" The Sekirei stopped dead as the air around her body turned to stone that she couldn't escape from.
'How long has it been since I used this?' Tobias tried to remember and the last time he had used this particular move had been months ago, back before Matsu had been winged by Dante. A lot had changed since then.
"Let me go!" Bensitubasa shouted, snapping the teen from his thoughts as she struggled, or attempted to struggle since she didn't move a muscle in her prison besides her head.
"Under one condition." Tobias got to his feet and slowly approached the Sekirei while keeping his fist pointed at her. "You take Haihane, and your Ashikabi, and you all leave here. Now." He hardened his eyes when she opened her mouth, thickening the air inside so she couldn't talk. "Or I can suffocate you right now, resulting in deactivation, and you never get to see the man who forciably winged you again. You decide." That made her eyes go wide and start sweating. Clearly the second option was not appealing to her and he let her have a few seconds to think about it before he relaxed his hand, freeing her.
"Go find Natsuo, help Haihane up, and then go back to MBI. Try anything..." Tobias's eyes brightened slightly as he let a drop of killing intent out. "...and I'll show you how dangerous I can be." He waited a minute to make sure the point was made, then released the Red Sekirei. She glared at him but she went to her teammate and helped her stand, one arm over her shoulders for support. She then jumped, heading back towards the building where Natsuo had last been.
"You handled that rather well." Tobias looked as Dante's smoke form whirled towards him before coalescing into the teen.
"Thanks." Tobias said, rubbing his neck. He felt tired because while he might've only used his bare physical strength, his mental stamina was taxed from using his powers in the intricate ways he had. It was a good thing there was to any other enemies to fight. "So what now?"
"Well," Dante looked around. "Higa and his Sekirei are gone, Bensitubasa and Haihane will be going back to MBI, meaning the only people left in this round is you and...me." And Minaka being Minaka, he would make them try to fight for the Jinki. Unless...
Tobias snorted on amusement before bowing his head. "I withdraw from this 'battle royal'" he said, heavy on the amusement as he sheathed his sword. "Therefore, you are the last 'team' standing." He just finished the sentence when a loud and familiar voice took over.
"The third match is over!" Minaka said in an announcers voice over the loudspeakers. "Winner, Dante Price! Please forgive us but due to circumstances the other three teams withdrew." The time and universe travelers shared a look before hearing a helicopter getting closer before it appeared over a building. It had a rope ladder down and a white figure on it that was getting larger and clearer as the helicopter approached. "But more importantly, the prize is yours!"
Tobias squinted. "Is that..."
"Yep."
"He can't be that stupid can he?"
"That's up for debate."
Because the figure on the rope ladder was clearly Minaka, holding a Jinki in his right hand with he held the ladder with his left. He also had a very large and very stupid smile on his face.
"Please come and claim this Jinki!" He said with his voice still coming from the loudspeakers. Dante's response was to lift his right arm, smoke swirling around it, then firing two quick shot of smoke that burned through the parts of the rope ladder that held it to the helicopter, resulting in the president of MBI falling to the ground with a crash and dust cloud kicked up a few yards from them.
"There any particular reason you apparently killed him?" Tobias asked. Dante was a lot of things, but killing the head of a major corporation seemingly on a whim was not one of them.
"Yeah, if the director wants his face shown then he should've actually shown up in person. That thing was just a robot." The dust cloud settled to show the head of MBI's body. Both legs and a arm had snapped off like clay, and the head was bobbing up and down on a spring. The chest was still intact.
"Whoops! Good thing I didn't go there myself, I would've ended up dying!"
"You would've ended up dying from your own stupidity, we wouldn't have needed to do a thing." Dante said while walking to the robot. "Now..." He smashed a fist through the chest region, grabbing what was inside and pulling it out. He cut himself on the jagged metal so he bled slightly until the cuts were healed over by his smoke abilities. "...thanks for the Jinki."
The Jinki in his hand was the same as the others they had gotten, but it had the number 3 carved into the side.
"So that's four down." Tobias commented. "Four to go."
"Indeed. The Jinki, or 'weapons of the gods'. If..." The start of the speech was interrupted by Dante pointing his arm.
"Cinder Rocket." He fired the attack and the doll instantly blew in a mini explosion. He sighed. "Oh, finally it's quite. That idiot was about to go off on some rant about the Jinki and I couldn't stand listening to him anymore."
Tobias shrugged. "I don't care. I just want to go home, I've got a headache starting to form." And due to that his control over any of his powers besides flight was going to be shot until it went away.
"Well, let's get going then." Dante pocketed the Jinki as they started walking away. "But are you sure you don't want to get home just to sleep with your Sekirei?" He teased, but Tobias only seemed amused.
"You sound jealous Dante."
"What? No, I'm not..."
Buzz buzz buzz
Both their phones vibrated with a text. They checked and the message came from a unknown number, reading: Above you.
"What the-?" Dante looked up to see what the heck the text meant. His eyes widened. "Move!" He grabbed Tobias's shirt and jumped, pulling him with as something crash landed where they had just been standing. Both fighters got ready, Tobias's sword in his hands and Dante's arms swirling with smoke until the dust settled to show...
"Karasuba." Dante snarled. "What are you doing here, the third round is over."
The Black Sekirei smiled evilly as she stood from her knelt. Her sword was in her right hand and she looked ready to tear someone apart.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here for a battle..." Her eyes slowly drifted to Tobias. "...with him."
Dante's eyes hardened. "No deal. If you're here for a fight, you'll fight me." He growled, the glow around his arms brightening with his anger
Karasuba's hand twitched before she frowned. She wanted to fight Dante much more then Tobias, but while she was a battle maniac that got off on the rush of life and death situations, she wasn't stupid. She understood that if he wanted, Dante could crush her without lifting a finger in a fight. She wanted a tough fight against a enemy stronger then here, not to be demolished by a fighter that was in a entirely different universe of strength.
"Much as I would love to fight you, I'm not interested in you this time. I came here for him." Her evil smile came back as she looked at the Airbender. "I saw how you handled Haihane and Bensitubasa. Very impressive."
Tobias and Dante shared a quick look. If she had seen everything he had been doing, then she would've figured out the ins and outs of his abilites while all they really knew was she good with a sword. Plus, she was rested and raring to go when Tobias had been using his wind powers a lot, draining his mental stamina and control. If they fought, it wouldn't be good for Tobias.
"Karasuba," Dante tried to reason. "From what I little I know about you, you prefer fighting when your oppentent is at full strength. Tobias is tired from fighting your teammates, so maybe we can..."
The Sekirei didn't blur, didn't make a sound. One second she was standing a few yards away from them, the next she was kicking Dante in the ribs and through the side of a building with several loud crashes showing when he went through a wall. The reason Karasuba's kick didn't pass through him was because Dante hadn't had time to dissolve his body structure into smoke. Once he was gone, Karasuba lowered her leg and turned her attention to Tobias. He shivered as he saw the bloodlust in her eyes.
"Now, shall we start?"
His instincts screamed at him and he lifted his sword to block a overhead slash that made his arms shake violently.
'Holy shit!' If Tobias's suit hadn't been enforcing his body, his bones in his arms would've been reduced to shards from the force behind the attack. As it was they started going numb and hard to move as Karasuba started on the offensive.
Dante
The teen crashed through the last wall and rolled to a stop while coughing violently.
"Ow..." He rasped. His ribs were beyond shattered, they were crushed into grains where he had been kicked, the lung had been mashed to a paste, his spine had several fractures in it from being sent through at least two or three buildings and thirty walls faster then a race car back first, and his skull had some hairline fractures. If it wasn't for his smoke powers rapidly repairing the damage as it had come, he would've be dead and forced to regenerate by the time he had arrived to where he was. As it was, he was just in an ungodly amount of pain. "That could've gone better." He grunted, hunching over as his ribs reformed and shifted into place, along with his spine. He coughed up some blood from his lungs before they were treated next. It took thirty seconds but finally his body was back in working order so he could get up on his feet. He tested his legs and aside from a weak feeling, they were ok.
"All right, all right. Think think think, think fast." He could already hear sounds of fighting from here and if Karasuba was going seriously then Tobias was going to need some extremely powerful help and fast, but he needed to figure why Karasuba was attacking them now. He started pacing as he talked. "Ok, we're not at the inn, not in the north, we're in MBI territory. But she fights alone, that's her own way. She was watching most likely, high building far enough away to be safe and unnoticed but close enough to see everything. She wants a fight, but she only fights people that are stronger but not too strong for her to even consider seriously beating like me. So, she gets rid of me, fights a tired and worn out Tobias. But why, why why why, why fight him when he's tired and not when he's stronger, that's how she works, she fights them at full power, not when they're exhausted. Wait." He stopped pacing. "Wait, full power, full power would mean all his strength, but he only has access to all his strength when he's..." Dante's eyes widened before he smacked his head. "Oh, stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid!" He chanted, smacking himself with every repetition. Ok, he needed to go help Tobias, but first he needed a camera hooked up to a network. A quick look up and down the street and he spotted a traffic camera mounted on street lights.
"Ok, that'll work." He Smoke Dashed towards the camera and stopped right in its field of view. It had a right light in the corner like he knew it would. "Ok, Matsu, everyone, I know you can hear me! Stay there, do not come down here, it's going to get to very very dangerous and I don't want you caught in the crossfire! Just stay at the inn, I'll take care of everything!" Twitch that done, he look at the Ultramatrix and decided to change powers. "Neon."
The Ultramatrix beeped and his arms erupted in smoke again before changing. The black smoke shifted to bright and twisting blue, purple, and pink neon steaks that twirled around both arms quickly while purple balls of light formed in his palms. The energy faded back into his arms while his eyes started glowing the same color.
'I'm going to need speed and long distance over power and regneration against her.' He thought before turning. His body exploded into pure neon energy before running off, leaving after images like a strobe light and rivers of neon colors that faded away as he ran back towards the fight.
At the inn
"We can't just stay here!" Yahan shouted at the monitor like Dante could hear them through it, despite the fact he was long gone. She wasn't the only one that was agitated, but she was certainly the most verbal at the moment. Everyone else was too stunned at what was happening to actually react or say anything, various levels of shock plastered across their faces.
She turned away from the screen and started walking towards the shadows in the room, intent on disregarding his request to shadow teleport towards the fight. At least until a certain landlady got in her way, and for once she was smiling cheerful or looking concerned, or acting like the Miya they all knew. Now her eyes were colder then ice and her face a mask that demanded obedience. Now she was the former leader of the First Generation Disiplinary Squad.
"You heard him, you are not going there to fight Karasuba." She said in a tone that would take no arguement. Yahan faltered for a minute, her eyes widening at the tone that stirred some primal fear in her. But her determination helped over ride it enough to speak.
"But Tobias..."
"Yahan," Jenny was more rational as she put a hand on the Sekirei's shoulder. "You can't do anything against her. You saw what happened, she caught Dante by surprise and injured him badly before he healed. You might mean well, but going to fight her will just complicate things for Tobias and Dante." She said soothingly, but she was just as worried as she was.
Kazehana was clenching her fists hard enough her nails had drawn blood that dripped steadily as they shook while her anger was a white hot inferno threatening to burn the world to a cinder. She kept her face blank as she got up her spot against the walls.
"They're both right Yahan, Karasuba wouldn't even look before killing you. The best thing we can do right now is let them take care of her." 'But the next time I see her, that bitch is going to pay for attacking my Ashikabi.' She vowed silently.
Yahan's determination drained away and her shoulders slumped. They were all right, but she felt sick to her stomach as they watched the fight play out on the screens.
Tobias
"Guh!" His back was slammed against and through a wall as Karasuba's swing lifted his body up and threw him. It was absurd. He knew she was physically stronger then him, but her swings were getting stronger and faster until it was like trying to stop a meteor. The best he could do was block and that caused his arms to feel like acid had been replaced the bones and the recoil sent him flying. Any dodges were impossible since she' dust adjust her swing, seemingly before he had even started moving.
"Come on, I expected better then this!" The grey haired Sekirei's voice came through the hole before she appeared in it, watching so he tried to get up. His strength was fading fast and he needed a breather to try and get some back, which he would not be getting. Tobias glared at Karasuba as he tried to use a Air Hand to punch her head, but her sword arm blurred, slicing the condensed air to shreds before it could get close. "Or is parlor tricks all you have? We haven't even fought for two minutes and now look at you."
In less time then it took to watch an advertisement on TV, Karasuba had been pushing Tobias to and past his physical limits, not being gentle along the way. Tobias's arms were shaking almost too much to hold his sword, feeling dead and on fire with tens of cuts on both that only sapped his strength even more. He had sweat covering his body and slicking his hair in clumps while dust stuck to the layer of moisture. He also he more bruises then he could count. The only reason he didn't have broken bones or torn muscles was because of his enhanced durability.
"What...do...you...want?" Tobias managed to get out while trying to breath through his exhaustion, on his knees and his sword point down to be used as a support.
Karasuba smirked and slowly started walking towards him. "A interesting question." She stuck the tip of her blade under his chin and lifted his head to look at him as he looked back. "I want to see that look in your eyes from before. I want to see how strong you really are and if you're worthy of killing. So... bring out that look again, and we'll see if you are."
Now it clicked what she wanted. Karasuba didn't want to fight him, she wanted to fight Black Wolf. And she was going to keep pushing Tobias until he brought him out.
He growled and, without any finesse or any thought of it, fired a shockwave that launched Karasuba out of the room and into the first building that got in her way, crashing through it and two other rooms. The attack cost him even more strength and he could barely stand when he managed to.
"No...way...in hell." The teen managed to get to the hole and jump out to the street a few stories below, but he landed in a knelt. He couldn't even gather enough strength to use his flight power to get away anymore, the first few times he had tried that Karasuba had been there attacking him before he could go supersonic. Speaking of her, the grey haired Sekirei reappeared in the hole she had made, clothes torn and hair a mess but otherwise looking uninjured and slightly bored.
"Decent, but I've taken stronger."
"Take this." Dante's steel cold voice said behind her. The Sekirei whirled around to see him standing there, right palm glowing brightly and his eyes shining just as bright. Behind him was a hole in the far wall that had some suspiciously straight edges that were also glowing neon colors. "Neon Blast!" The palm fired a beam of energy that was a foot thick and hit Karasuba in the head before exploding like a light bomb, yet again sending her soaring and through another building.
He didn't pay her any attention, the attack wouldn't do much more then cause some pain and disorientation from the sudden light burst, so he'd have twenty seconds at most. He decided to use those to Neon Run to Tobias and kneel next to his friend.
"What...took you?" Tobias asked, getting his breath back but still panting heavily.
"Took longer than I thought it would to run here, now where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere. Can't feel my arms."
Dante's hands glowed brightly. "Hold still." He pressed them on Tobias's sword arm, sending the energy into his body to heal and replenish the Airbender's body. A few seconds later, Tobias looked like he had never been injured and he was breathing easier than before as he stood up.
"Thanks." Tobias welcomed the new strength that was saturating his body, feeling rested and alive again. "So what now, run?"
Dante shook his head. "We do that and she'll just follow us back to the inn. No, she's determined to get what she wants, and she'll do anything to get it right now."
"You better have a really good plan then." Tobias said as Karasuba had apparently recovered since she jumped from the hole she had made and landed in the street. Her hair and the right side of her face where the attack had hit looked slightly blackened but otherwise she was fine.
"Fraid not." Dante uncoiled his chain and channeled his power into it as he did. The chain started glowing and straightened until it was pointing outwards, eight feet of interlinked energy infused metal. "Just don't tap into your rage, cause that won't be pretty, and don't get close, leave that to me."
"Got it." Tobias readied himself while Karasuba started walking and Dante did the same, both slowly picked up the pace until Karasuba blurred and Dante's body turned to the strobing Neon Run, the two clashing in the middle with a explosion of light, her sword meeting his chain.
"You never run out of tricks do you?" Karasuba asked with a laugh in her voice as they maintained a stalemate.
"Nope. Like this one." Dante shoved her back and threw a small grenade made of his neon energy. Karasuba tried to knock it aside but the contact just caused the small ball to explode, surrounding Karasuba's body and making her unable to move for a split second before her brute forced her way out of the trap. Dante backed up while firing beam after beam of neon energy, the sword wielding Sekirei blocking each attack with the flat of her sword as she moved at seemingly the speed of light. She sensed something above and spared a glance upwards to see Tobias had gotten above her, right fist ready.
"Divine Punishment!" He fired a larger than normal attack with the intent of crushing the Sekirei into the pavement, but she seemed to take that as a challenge. With a delighted smile, Karasuba blocked one more beam before jumping upwards, slicing through the shock wave with a high speed slash of her sword and heading towards Tobias.
Eyes widening, the teen blocked a side slash and skidded along a air platform he made out of instinct. Karasuba grabbed the edge of it and flipped herself onto it, landing get first and taking off like a runner out of the gates as she reached him and started trading blows. Or rather, Tobias blocking one out of ten slashes while being forced to take the other nine that he could move fast enough to block. The only good think was the attacks were focused on his arms since Karasuba had tried, and failed, to cut through the material his shirt and jeans had been made out of and she avoiding the head entirely. Apparently she didn't want to risk killing Tobias until he brought out his full strength.
"Come on, show me that look already!" Karasuba shouted as she slashed a particularly deep cut into his left arm, making him since as fresh blood started coating his arms again. He scowled deeply as he stopped one attack.
"I am not bringing him out!" He snarled. "Ever again! Divine Roar!" The close range shockwave hit Karasuba like a car and flung her backwards. Dante saw his opening and took it, jumping up and swinging down when she came into range, sending her towards the pavement. Karasuba straightened herself in midair and landed on her feet, cracking the pavement before pushing off, slamming into Dante before he could even start falling.
'Damn it she's strong!' Dante blocked a slash from her. He had hundreds of years of experience in fighting but Karasuba lived and breathed battle, bloodlust, life and death. He wouldn't be surprised if she slept with her sword like it was her own version of a teddy bear.
"You're annoying. Get lost!" Karasuba grabbed Dante's wrist and used it as leverage to get behind him in mid air and ruthlessly kick the back of skull. The force and pain overload caused him to lose consciousness and go flying towards ground. Tobias 'caught' him with a air hand and set him down while dropping to the ground himself.
"Don't you dare be dead!" Tobias checked his pulse and was relieved to find it was beating strong, but Dante had a nasty and bleeding welt forming back of his head before his Neon powers, like Smoke, started to automatically heal him, but since Neon wasn't as strong as Smoke for healing, it would take more time. At least thirty seconds more.
"That's good, I don't fancy Musubi being deactivated yet." Karasuba said as she landed lightly on her feet. The rather odd statement made Tobias look up.
"What do you mean?" He asked, getting up and stepping away from Dante so he wouldn't be caught in the crossfire.
"You didn't know?" Karasuba asked. "I'm surprised, I thought Matsu would've told you by now."
"Told us what?" Tobias didn't like the games but if it bought him time to think of something he'd play along.
The Sekirei's evil smile came back into play. "Are you aware of what happens when an Ashikabi is killed?" Tobias slightly shook his head no. "When a Sekirei is deactivated, the Ashikabi is left unharmed, but if an Ashikabi is killed...all the Sekirei he's connected to are instantly deactivated."
He stiffened for a split second. If he was killed, then Kazehana and Yahan were deactivated? That was the whole reason he had forced them to stay at home, so they would be deactivated or killed. Now it...
Karasuba took advantage of Tobias's inner struggle and instantly got in close, sweeping his legs out from under him and stabbing down at a slow enough speed Tobias's body acted on instinct. He let go of his sword and caught the sword between both palms, stopping it a few inches from his throat.
"So, now you understand what happens if you don't give me what...I...want." Karasuba pressed down slightly on her blade and it slid between Tobias's palms, cutting them and creeping the tip a few millimeters closer as she slowly kept pushing.
'Crap crap crap crap!' Tobias chanted in his head while trying to stop the sword point from slowly moving closer to his Adam's apple. He couldn't use any of his powers because he was focusing ever fiber of his being on trying to stop the sword tip from creeping closer, but the blood from the cuts on his hands combined with Karasuba's strength made it impossible. Dante was still out cold but he should come to in at least a few minutes, which he did not have. And both Kazehana and Yahan were still at home, but they wouldn't have been able to help much anyways. 'CRAP!'
He didn't have any other choice. He just hoped Dante woke up in time to stop him from killing anybody. Tobias closed his eyes, reaching from the 'cage' where his true killer intent and bloodlust, then...opened it.
Karasuba's instincts suddenly screamed at her to get away and reacted in an instant, jumping away while the air suddenly built up to hurricane force gales, spinning around the form of her previous prey. Her smile widened and her eyes sharpened as she felt intent to kill and power flood the air from the mini twister, shaking with slight excitement at having the challange she had wanted.
The tornado blew outwards to show Tobias was standing now, sword pointed the ground in his right hand and eyes closed. He took a deep shuddering breath that turned into a sigh before slowly opening his eyes to show off glowing white eyes.
Black Wolf was out, and ready to play.
A/N from lostsoldierS636: Well folks wasn't that exciting? Well hope you enjoyed it because my ass of a cowriter thinks this would be a god place to stop the story for awhile. That's right, we're going on hiatus from Sekirei and going back to our other projects such as Rosario + Vampire Season 1 and the Winter War Arc. Hopefully we'll come back to Sekirei after we complete those and after it we can get on to Season 2 of R+V and the Quicny War Arc and finally Naruto. Take it away...Ero-senin.
A/N from Jason Grace son of zues: (Deadpan stare. Slowly raises right fist) I suggest you start running. Fast.
lostsoldierS636: (Whips out Star Trek communicator) Beam me up.
(Telltale sound of teleportation sounds off as lostsoldierS636 disappears in a flurry of light)
Jason Grace son of zues: Ok, now that he's gone, I can talk without feeling the need to smash him into a grease spot like last time. Yeah, I did that. Who knew dead things were that squishy?
lostsoldierS636(hologram): Yeah right you ass. I won that time and you know it.
Jason Grace son of zues: Using a hologram is cheating. If you want to say something, you can stand here and say it instead of using a virtual image. Or are you...chicken?
lostsoldierS636(hologram looking over shoulder): Fire photon torpedoes.
(Red light appears and increasingly gets closer towards Jason Grace)
Jason Grace son of zues: Chicken! (lifts up and vanished with sonic boom. 100 miles away and 10 minutes later, touches down while previous location is destroyed in explosions. Brushing off dust from shirt) Now, where was I? Oh right, the cliff hanger. Yeah I'll admit that was my idea. LostsoldierS636 wanted to really drag out this chapter...
lostsoldierS636(hologram): It's gonna be your fault when they start yelling at me.
Jason Grace son of zues: Says the guy currently hiding on a starship because one guy threatened him. I'd love to see what you'd do against angry followers.
lostsoldierS636: At least I have a space ship!
Jason Grace son of zues: Big freaking whoop. Anyways, yeah, we're taking a break from Sekirei to go back to the ones that we haven't touched in a while. Now, before you all get angry, let us explain. Rosario Vampire could be finished with another 10 or so chapters, so that shouldn't take too long. Bleach we're just wrapping up Ichigo going hollow then we have the battle at the fake Karukara town, so maybe 15 long chapter for that. Once those are done, we can come back to Sekirei and wrap it up. Um, what else, what else? lostsoldierS636 We missing anything?
lostsoldierS636: Well I did say we were doing a Naruto story didn't I?
Jason Grace son of zues: Right, right, right almost forgot about that, we'll be doing that too. I'm actually looking forward to that one. Also, do you think we should tell them about season 2 of Rosario?
lostsoldierS636: I don't see why not as long you explain.
Jason Grace son of zues: Ok then. I won't give any big spoilers, but I will say that Tobias will not be making a one story only appearance.
lostsoldierS636: In fact we'll be adding in more things from Doctor Who in season 2. A couple creatures, maybe a certain villain or two...but that'll be spoiling it now wouldn't it?
Jason Grace son of zues: Yes, yes it would. But in any case, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if you have any anger to take out, feel free to blame me. But, in the meantime, I have a cowriter to go kick the crap out of for calling me Ero-senin. It was one scene, for Galifrey's sake, that doesn't warrant Jiraya's nickname.
lostsoldierS636: Go to warp speed. And see you next time. (Starship blasts out of orbit and into deep space)
Jason Grace son of zues: Aw, it's almost cute how he thinks he can run when I've got this. (Starts typing on wrist TARDIS.) Well, see you guys next time! (Vanishes with crackle of electricity)
Side A/N from lostsoldierS636: Ok readers this is very important. If you follow my stories or me, please notice that one of my stories have not been updated. The Familiar Incident, a story that I've been wanting to do for a long time. Unfortunately, I lost my original co-writer due to lack of interest. I beg you, my readers, please if any one of you know Familiar of Zero either through the anime or manga, and if you would like to help please let me know. I've been dying to get back onto it for months now and I desperately need help.