The Plan of Attack!

Michael went straight to the gym with Elena in his hands. Elena decided that it would be 'less troublesome' for her if Michael carried her. Michael was originally hesitant at first as he highly doubted their two Soul Wavelengths would match up and he would more then likely burn his hands or something of the like, but when he picked her up nothing of the sort happened. He assumed that something should've happened and did happen, but he didn't feel it due to his golem body. Strangely enough Elena hasn't commented even once on Michael's weird circumstance.

They went to the gym because Michael decided that since it was closer he would easily be able to get there even without a weapon or in this case, a weapon he couldn't use. Not to mention that it wasn't closed off from the rest of the school, like Melody's apartment was, so there was a chance of Elena's partner showing up. They got there quickly enough and Michael looked around, but so far it appeared that they were the only ones.

Michael yawned and sat down. He just remembered that it was the middle of the night. Even if someone else was here, they would be asleep and probably not too keen on helping out the guy who woke them up. Michael crouched against the wall, but kept his eye on the door anxiously awaiting the arrival of his teammates and dreading the arrival of a Kishin.

"Michael!" shouted Xander as he appeared from the boys' locker room and walked over to him. Michael stood straight up and went over to greet his friend and reliable ally in this war. "I'm surprised that I met you here. I was expecting to be the only ones here for awhile." Xander looked over at Michael and noticed the lack of a bow. "Couldn't find May, huh?" Michael shook his head. "Whose the sword then?"

Michael lifted Elena up and held her out, "Elena Foxx. A friend of May. She was hoping she could hang out with us and increase our numbers for the upcoming war. The more, the merrier, right?" Xander nodded his head in agreement. "Anyways, how did the fight go and what are you doing here?"

"We won!" shouted Xander proudly, "but was there ever any doubt? I mean, its me!" Xander pointed at the boys locker room. "Ash is currently cleaning himself up as he got a little dirty during our fight and was freaking out about it. We figured since our two options were Melody's apartment or the gym and the gym was closer we'd come here and clean up first. Then we'd just hang out here and wait for you guys to come and get us for an hour or so." Michael nodded understand their view point.

"Michael! Xander!" shouted Melody as she barged in. Michael reacted without even thinking bringing the sword around and down, just as he had seen in the movies. He relaxed when he saw Melody's face running up to him. "Where's Ash and May?" she asked immediately noticing the absence of two of her friends, "and whose the sword?"

"Ash is in the shower, May is god knows where, and the sword is Elena Foxx," replied Xander, who was already getting tired of saying and hearing the same questions and answers over and over again. "Looks like everybody is here who we can count on...so, what's the plan, Michael?" Xander turned his attention over to Michael.

Michael sighed reluctantly, "I believe May was taken by the Kishins. There was a large bite mark taken out of her door, the place was trashed, and I know May. She would've left a message or some kind of sign if she had simply ran away and gone into hiding. There would've been a broken window hinting that she panicked and left trying to escape a Kishin or a peculiar arrangement of items to show that she left in a certain direction. Nothing of that sort was laying around."

"Shit," complained Xander as he knocked down a nearby garbage can, spilling its contents. "So, much for a good start to a war...if that's even possible. So, we go report it to Lord Death or something? See if there's been any messages from the Kishins discussing a negotiation?" Michael shook his head. "Then what do we do? Sit around and do nothing, we've got to do something! And I sure as hell as don't want May to get hurt!"

"This is a prisoner of war situation," stated Michael. He understood a thing or two about war. His father as a war veteran. Michael grew up listening to war stories instead of bedtime stories. "Ordinarily, we may have seen about an exchange, but Kishins don't really care that much for one another. One Kishin for one student wouldn't be a fair exchange. More then likely it would have to be one student for ten Kishins."

Xander muttered something and accepted Michael's explanation. Ash came out of the shower. He was re-dressed in his clothing as he walked over to the group. Xander quickly filled him in on the current situation before he could are ask about where May is and who the sword is. Ash sighed and said, "it looks like we don't have any options. I guess, we'll just sit here and wait it out."

Michael shook his head. "I'm not," he said into his hands, "I'm not going to ask you guys to come with me...but the way I see it is I'm dead without her anyways." Michael clenched Elena a little tighter as he spoke, "I'm going to go bring the fight to the Kishins. Just get and get out as simple as that."

"WHAT?" shouted Melody as she stood up and approached Michael, "are you insane? That won't do you any good! I mean, attacking the Kishins is about as good of an idea as giving Xander the key to the girl's locker room!" Xander glared over at Melody. "I mean I'm all one for saving May! Me and her are great friends, but I mean...its a suicide mission especially if you don't have a weapon!"

"I agree with Melody," said Ash as he leaned backwards and thought about the situation, "but with that being said...I'm going to." Xander looked over at Ash in shock. "Come on, Xander. We're going to be war heroes...if we come back alive. Besides, I think I would do the same thing if I was in Michael's shoes and my partner was May and, hell, I guess if I wouldn't support myself when I'm about to do something crazy, nobody else would." Ash gave Michael a quick high-five.

"Well, looks like I'm going, too," said Xander with a smile as he moved over to Michael's side. "No way in hell I'm going to allow someone like Ash to become a war hero while I stand around looking like a coward." Ash nodded.

Melody sighed as she looked at her friends. Finally, Shi lit up and transformed into a human and joined Michael's side. "Heck yeah! I mean when this war started I wanted to go all commando on the Kishin's butts and sneak into their side and wipe them out without a second thought. I mean, come on! I want a gold medal for participating in this war!" Melody smiled and nodded along with Shi's rather outrageous statement. "Then its decided," began Shi, proudly acting like he was the team leader, "we are all-"

"STOP!" shouted Elena as her weapon transformed into a human, "are you guys crazy? I mean attacking the Kishins is one thing. But there is a rumor that someone of equal level as Lord Death is hanging out over there. What are you going to do when he attacks you? I mean, they probably have cannons and sirens to alert them to your every movement and then blow you up. There is no way you can survive all that. And there is no way I'm going with you just to witness you guys get killed...it'll just be too troublesome."

The gang looked over at Michael for an explanation. Michael scoffed at the idea. "Why would they do something like that? If they really do have someone of equal power as Lord Death why have cannons or sirens? Lord Death can't leave the city and everybody else in the city is weaker then him, so therefore this super powerful person can't be defeated outside of the city limits. Why would they waste money, time, and man-power to protect him? That means no cannons, sirens, or probably even walls will be around to stop us."

"Okay, cool, so you won't have to worry about sirens and cannons, but you'll still have to deal with that person, won't you?" asked Elena calmly, as she looked over at the rest of the group. They just shrugged.

"We'll deal with it when we deal with it," stated Ash as he stood up. "If those rumors are true, if he attacks us, if we can't escape, then we'll deal with it. If you ask me with all of those 'ifs' the odds are in our favor. Either way we still need to go off and rescue May, right?" The rest of the group nodded.

"What are you going to do?" muttered Elena, "what are you going to do? There's thousand of Kishins even if only a third of them find you, you'd still have to fight over three hundred of them. It doesn't make any sense...I mean, wouldn't it be better if you just leave it to the Death Scythes. I mean, if Lord Death only sends one of the three out there we'd still have a better chance of saving her."

"If we aren't too late," said Michael as he stood up. He motioned to the other ones, all of whom quickly stood up alongside him. "And I, for one, don't want to be any later than normal. Best case scenario we have all the time in the world. But over ninety-nine percent of those scenarios state that we don't. So, we'll be leaving now to go save our friend, if you don't mind." The group left behind him, leaving Elena alone in the gym.

"Are you okay?" asked Melody as she tried to keep pace with Michael who was walking as quickly as he could to the walls of the city. "This kind of attitude is common place with someone like Shi or Xander, but ordinarily you are little bit more cool-headed."

"I'm not someone who would turn my back on my partner," said Michael, "especially not May. I wouldn't have a partner if she didn't team up with me." Michael kept his gaze fixed straight ahead at the wall, "I didn't come here right away. I had...some loose ends to tie up at home, so I transferred in halfway through the semester. Since things like that aren't common, there were some complications. Mostly, most of the weapons were already taken...so, I didn't have a weapon for the longest time. I'm sure you heard about our late start in actually getting a mission, that's why. We were off to a late start due to the fact that we were late becoming partners."

(-A little under a year ago-)

"It'll take some time," said Lord Death in a kind and concerned voice to Michael, "you just arrived at school and most of the weapons and meisters are already partnered up. But don't worry eventually a spot will clear up. Sometimes a Meister will transfer out, deciding regular school is a better fit. Or there would be a rupture in a group and a Meister and weapon would stop working together and the two of them would have to get new partners."

"No problem," said Michael with a friendly bow of his head. He was still dressed in a more formal suit. It was his first time being face-to-face with Lord Death since he entered the school. He was a bit worried. He had already been in here for a couple of months and yet, he still didn't have a weapon. Most people would say it was due to his complete lack of training with most traditional weapons. He had no talent with close-ranged weapons, his only option was with guns it looked like and apparently there was a surprising shortage this year. Michael sighed as he left Lord Death's office.

I wanted to do all of their meetings together in three back-to-back chapters. But I think for now it will just be Michael's and May's meeting. It looks like the group will be leading the assault on the Kishin base while the rest of the school remains oblivious to this attack. Five school children are aiming to take down an entire army.