Ch. 20 A Friend In Need

The news of the amazing magician in town, had already spread to the four locations the fighting mechs had been left by Kusuke. This made things rather easy for the younger Saiki, or at least easy in the sense that he could keep his powers hidden from the public. All he had to do was teleport near by unnoticed, get into a quick dodge for dodge combat with each machine, then finally grab onto a piece of metal after three minutes had passed and bam. A flash of blue light, the crowd goes wild, all the while Saiki had taken the danger far away from the crowds of people, and to a place he didn't expect anyone to come running to anytime soon.

The school.

Ok, so you're probably thinking P.K academy was actually a very stupid place to bring four, inhumanly large fighting machines to, but there are several good explanations for this. The first reason was simple; Saiki was tired and the school was close. He had placed each machine safely in the school gymnasium and tied them down with chains from the automotive classes, but that was only going to buy him so much time. He knew he was still going to have to fight each and every one of these beasts, but he was already sweaty, sore and used from 7 teleportations, and almost constant battery from the fake antenna on his head. In fact looking at him you could almost believe he had been hit by a truck, he was that worn down.

The second reason was it was the weekend. The school students and faculty had just barely returned from a three day trip, everyone was home relaxing after their flights. It was very plausible that he could finish these fights, and repair the damage before anyone heard or saw a thing. Though it would take a lot of effort and skill to do so, and the buzzing in his brain was not helping.

Saiki reached up and plucked the fake antenna out from his skull. It wasn't like it mattered, he thought, crushing them to dust in his palm. Most of the damage had already been done, and Kusuke was nowhere to be seen. He doubted his brother had eyes and ears on his school after all.

"Uh ah ah," Kusuke's voice snickered statically as a flat screen TV lowered itself slowly from the ceiling at the far end of the gym. Saiki whirled around, shocked and irritated. How was his brother getting the one up on his so often in this fight? "I said no taking those off Kusuo or I would do terrible things to your girlfriend. Now look at what you made me do." The older Saiki grinned evilly and flicked a sinister looking switch on the panel behind him, before sliding out of the way of the camera to let his brother get a good look at the monitor there.

There was a man, hidden completely by a cloak walking up to where Teruhashi lay trapped on the tracks. He didn't even hesitate a second before the goddess in chains before he lifted his heavy boot, and sent it stomping down on top of her ankle. Teruhashi's mouth dropped in a scream, tears seeping through her blindfold and down her cheeks. Her ankle very visibly twisted and broken. The man kicked her again before he stepped away and pulled a lever very clearly labeled train. Small pebbles and dirt began to rumble in the distance. Was this it? Was he too late? Panic swept through him, his gaze set on Teruhashi, wriggling in pain. No, he had to think. If she was on train tracks then that must mean she was outside right? And there had to be something in that image that he could use to teleport to her. Saiki focused on the surroundings around his girlfriend. Blue skies, reddish brown dirt, not a tree to be seen, but what looked like mountains in the distance. Teruhashi was tied up and placed on tracks just outside of a large, and dark looking stone tunnel. All very cliche.

A light began to creep closer through the tunnel. Saiki couldn't hear anything, but in his head he could imagine the sound of a train horn.

No! He didn't know where she was, she could be anywhere, what could he-

The man in the black cloak stepped out of the dark tunnel, holding a large flood lamp above his head. The hood previously hiding his face had slipped off, revealing metallic features, and wires protruding from his neck. The android stared, expressionlessly at the camera.

What... The shocked look on Saiki's face sent his older brother into a fit of laughter, which of course only served to make the younger, angrier. Saiki's hands curled into fists as he glared at the screen, the air around him crackling and sparking horribly as his rage built. What the hell?

"Oh man, the look on your face little brother is priceless," Kusuke wiped a tear away from his eye, "But I can still do you one better, check this out." He lifted a remote control with a grin and pointed it at the monitor behind him. The android helper immediately bent, putting down the flood lamp on the ground, before walking over to Teruhashi. It grabbed her by the hair and pulled her roughly to her feet, not caring about the pain of her ankle as it forced her to stand.

Then it ripped off her face.

Saiki was getting very tired of this.

Teruhashi's beautiful skin had simply popped open, revealing more wires, and bolts and metal, and ugh. He had been a little surprised at his brother for torturing another human being, and it was in a way a relief to know that his girlfriend wasn't tied up, on train tracks, being electrocuted and having her bones broken. But, Kusuke still couldn't be trusted, and he still didn't know where Teruhashi was.

Where is she?

"I can't hear you little bro," Kusuke chuckled, amused greatly when Saiki's face appeared zoomed in as he flew up towards the lowered flat screen, anger radiating through him still. "But I assume you want to know where your girlfriend is, right?" Saiki nodded. "Ok, well that's easy. Fight my mechs and figure it out for yourself. Oh and the clock is still ticking."

Great, so he was running out of time. He lifted one arm, not taking his eyes off the screen, and began charging a ray of energy at the first machine, which was about to break free of his binds.

"WAIT!"

Saiki hesitated, just long enough for the machine to burst free from the chains and lurch towards him. The ray of energy shot out where the heart of the machine once was, though not a kill, it was still a hit, grazing the arm of the beast near the wrist and taking the whole hand off with it. The machine fell back from the strike and Saiki took the time to look over at his interrupter.

Auira and Toritsuka stood, panting heavily in the gym doorway. A reminder of betrayal bubbled in his gut, and Saiki turned away, readying another attack, "Wait, Saiki please! Turn on your x-ray vision, Kaido is in there you're going to kill him!"

What?!