Hello! Welcome to the story!
First things first, I appreciate all the feedback from the last chapter. A lot of you liked it, so I'm happy I could pull this back together.
I'm not sure if this is a good follow-up from it, but this has been taking way too long to get out, so I hope it appeases.
Thank you again for the follows/favorites!
On to the story.
"Kiana, what the hell is this?"
This was Phillip's question as he looked at a sheet of paper that fell from her bag. Kiana looked to him, chopsticks still in her mouth, with a slightly perplexed expression. He flipped the sheet to give her a look.
Kiana's eyes grew wide as an embarrassed blush flooded her cheeks. She made a lunge for it, only for Phillip to pull it aside and grab her shirt to prevent her from falling down the stairs. This didn't stop her from trying several attempts for the page, each with Phillip snapping it from her grasp.
"Phillip-kun, please give Kiana-chan her paper back," Mei gently ordered. "It must be pretty important if she's acting this way."
Kiana either seemed to remember Mei was there just now or was inspired by the words, as Kiana doubled her attempts with increased vigor. Phillip still managed to evade all attempts, as he tried to hand the paper to Mei.
"No! Don't show it to Mei-senpai!" This was Kiana's battle cry as she flung herself once more for the paper, only to miss by a millimeter. Phillip still managed to catch her before she fell, but also managed to pass the paper to Mei. Mei sighed before she put her chopsticks down on her box to take the page.
"Oh," she stated as she looked at the first words. "It's the progress reports-" Mei dropped her thoughts of this as she read on. "Kiana-chan, these grades are terrible!"
Kiana flinched at the scolding tone Mei took at this. "I-it's not as bad as it looks!"
"You have a whopping 20 points total from 6 different classes, Kiana," Phillip said. "You'll be lucky to come back for next year, much less make it through to graduation."
Kiana glared at him and whispered, "You're not helping."
"Kiana-chan, this is serious!" Mei admonished her. "What is your study schedule?"
Kiana gave a sheepish look in response, looking off to the side.
"Kiana-chan, what is your study schedule?" Mei asked again, more forcibly.
"I... don't really... study," Kiana admitted after a few moments.
Mei gawked at this for a second, before bringing her palm to her face and gave out an exasperated sigh.
Phillip looked over at Kiana. "That's kind of the worse thing someone could do attending school."
"It's not my fault they make textbooks and classes super boring!" Kiana protested in the only way she could: loud and proudly.
"Alright," Mei spoke, pulling Phillip's and Kiana's attention to her, as she gave them an unusually determined look from the normally shy girl. "Then Phillip and I will teach you, Kiana-chan."
Kiana's eyes sparkled at the idea. "A study date with Mei-senpai!"
"I-It's not a date, Kiana-chan!"
"Regardless," Phillip started, preventing Mei's blush from spreading, "it won't do us much good if we don't know Kiana's learning style."
"That's true." Mei brought a finger to her chin as she pondered this. "It doesn't seem to be visual or auditory."
Phillip waved off Mei's concern. "For now, it'll be best if we start with reading and explaining, then learn her style with trial and error."
Mei thought about it for a second before nodding. "I can see how that might be the best option available." She looked over at Kiana, who seemed extremely focused on something. "Kiana-chan, what do you think?"
Kiana didn't answer for a short while, which worried Mei. Afterward, Kiana looked into Mei's eyes and finally spoke.
"Could we leave the third wheel behind? I want the date to be just between you and me, Mei-senpai!"
Phillip brought the thick end of his chopsticks down onto Kiana's head, earning a nice "thwack" sound and a yelp from Kiana for his efforts.
"Don't do that! I'll go stupid!"
Phillip gave a flat gaze at Kiana as she yelled. "You need to start listening when people talk."
Kiana gave a light whimper before crawling over to Mei's side of the stairs. "Mei-senpai, Phillip is being mean to me."
"There, there, Kiana-chan" Mei whispered, hugging Kiana while patting her head, which comforted the white-haired girl. Mei then gave a lightly-pointed gaze at Phillip. "That wasn't really nice of you, Phillip-kun."
"I'll stop," Phillip started, putting Mei slightly at ease, "for now. However, if Kiana keeps it up, I see no reason to restrain myself to get the point across."
Mei gave another exhausted sigh. "What am I going to do with you two?"
"Well, you can stop Kiana's third attempt this week."
Kiana was back on Phillip's side of the staircase a moment later, two steps lower than him, with a comical bump on the top of her head. This was due to Mei's punch when Phillip pointed out Kiana's latest attempt at groping.
"Seriously, Kiana! You need to stop doing that!"
"Congratulations: you made the Japanese girl drop the suffix," Phillip told Kiana, who glared back at him.
"You didn't need to tell her."
"Pretty sure I did."
This was almost the standard at this point. The three would meet up at lunch, Kiana and Phillip would end up in an argument with Mei acting parent to them both before everything simmered down to where the two would finish their lunches.
While Kiana started with hostilities towards Phillip, it seemed to degrade as time pushed forward. The conflicts were smaller in number and often only came up from Kiana's habits rather than Phillip's presence. Today just happened to be more minimal than the others.
Mei sighed to calm her nerves. "Sorry, I shouldn't have gotten so worked up."
"No, you're fine," Phillip said, placing a hand on Kiana's head and channeled some chakra to it, enough to ease the pain but small enough to go unnoticed. "Though, we should get back to the topic at hand."
"Right! So, what do you-"
A loud clap of thunder interrupted Mei from beyond the door. This caused Mei and Kiana to jump slightly as Phillip just looked back at it.
"Sounds like it's really coming down out there," Phillip stated, as he started to unconsciously rub Kiana's head.
"I hope it doesn't continue to after school," Mei hoped, as she slumped against the wall.
The thunderstorm that had hit the school formed during the first classes began. Not wanting to battle the crowds in the cafeteria, the three decided to camp out at the stairs instead. This, however, meant that their chatter was constantly accompanied by the sound of heavy rain against the metal door.
"Can't rule out the possibility," Phillip stated, noticing that Kiana began to lean into his touch, but not the fact she was blushing and turned her head slightly to evade any gazes.
"I know," Mei said sullenly as she brought her attention back to the two, before going wide-eyed. She sat there for a second before her eyes closed and she giggled lightly. "It's nice to see you two being nice to each other."
Kiana shook Phillip's hand off of her and stood up, point accusingly at him. "I knew you were a pervert!"
"I'm starting to question your logic skills, Kiana," Phillip said as he leaned his head into his hand, arm propped up with his knee.
"Why you-"
Mei sighed as she gave up trying to control the raging Kaslana for a second. This was her life now: parenting two children that won't stop arguing.
_After-School_
Unfortunately, the rain didn't let up once school ended. The more cautious students had brought their umbrellas, so they could leave safely, while the others ran for the hills to get to their destinations to minimize how wet they got.
Phillip simply pulled the hood of his jacket over his head and began to exit the school, but stopped when he noticed something.
Mei was standing there just outside the door in her school uniform. She had no coat or umbrella to prevent the rain from getting her. Right now, she was safe thanks to the roof of the entrance, but she wouldn't be when she left.
Walking up to her, Phillip asked the obvious question. "Forgot your umbrella?"
Mei nearly jumped when he spoke, but calmed down enough to grant him a small smile. "It's alright. I'll figure something out."
Not willing to wait until a miracle came by, Phillip unzipped his jacket, pulled it off, and draped it over Mei's shoulders.
"H-Huh?! Wait, Phillip-"
Mei's call for Phillip fell on deaf ears, as he began running.
"Just don't forget to return it tomorrow, okay?" Phillip yelled back, just as he rushed out of the school gates.
End-of-Day
Phillip sat with his legs crossed as he stared down at a book, wearing the blue shirt with the Homu icon and some black, overly large pants. His other clothes are currently being dried, so he had to make due.
Flipping through pages, Phillip tried to remember what was necessary for the first years. While the lessons were fundamental for the next year, it wasn't something he needed to retain when the second year started with a complete review of what they learned in the first.
As his clones were handling other aspects, it left him to either physical recreation or figuring out Kiana's studies. Phillip went with the studies, as he could handle regaining his original physicality later once winter break hit. So, he hit the books, starting with Kiana's worst subject: history.
As he flipped another page, Phillip extended his arm towards his window and his electric spear jolted out from his hand, stopping at the intruder's neck.
"You know, things would be easier if you didn't try to kill us as we come back."
Phillip looked over at the clone. Noting a lack of struggle or damage, he deduced this one to be the library clone.
"Did you manage to get more info this time?"
The last few clones never managed to obtain new information, despite each spending a day in the library. Phillip was hoping that they just didn't comb the place efficiently, instead of the idea that the populace was completely ignorant of the world around them.
The clone sighed, "Nothing much. There really isn't much in the library. Might have to conclude that this is a wild goose chase."
"Not even on the computers?"
"Anything that isn't stomped to oblivion is either irrelevant or useless gossip."
Phillip groaned before staring back down at the book.
"You know you have an easier time with remembering with a clone, right? Give it to me."
Phillip looked up at his clone, who moved to be in front of him after closing the window and blinds. "It's not for me. It's for Kiana."
"Ah, the bimbo." Phillip's stare became a glare. "Hey, I'm calling it how I see it."
"Was the only reason you came here was to insult Kiana? Because I don't see the reason you couldn't have popped back at the library in someplace secret."
The clone flinched at the restricted fury in Phillip's voice but stood tall. "In fact, I do have another reason for being here."
Digging into its pockets, the clone pulled out a seal. The seal, similar to the seal from the hunting clone, had the purple lines moving out of it. Gabriel sent some energy to the clone and it released the seal.
What came out was something he didn't expect.
A body laid face-down in front of him. It was covered in a black dress-like coat with a cut-off top from the bottom and black boots. Flipping it over, the coat showed green highlights at the hood strings, bottom left of the top piece, and a green ring at the metal shoulder piece. The hood stayed up, even after being flipped.
From everything, however, two things stood out. The body had prosthetic arms modeled to be completely human-like. The other part was the mask. The mask only had one eye. The place where the other eye would show was covered by a design of two black knives crossing over one another.
"What happened?"
"This guy was following me," the clone explained. "I was fully transparent, and this guy followed me with every movement. I tried capturing him, but..."
"Cyanide tablet." It wasn't something Phillip was new to. Anbu did far worse to prevent secrets from leaking. "So, were you able to prevent an info leak?"
"Doubt it," the clone revealed with a sigh. "I used a directed EMP to counter any communications, but they were still able to wire in on a partner."
Phillip cursed at this. It was one thing to have somebody watching him. It's another for his powers to be leaked to outside sources. He didn't need someone trying to make him a lab rat, especially as weakened as he was.
"You think this was our uninvited guest from before?"
Phillip shook his head. "Doubtful. They wouldn't have blown cover if they were."
"Bummer," the clone said dejectedly. "So, what do you want to be done with the body?"
Phillip reached down to pull the mask off in hopes of identifying the corpse, but his clone grabbed his wrist to pull it back.
"I wouldn't do that. I already tried, and it's... not good." The pause the clone gave made Phillip slightly suspicious. He turned completely to the clone and dispelled it... and pinched the bridge of his nose at the onslaught of memories.
Well, that's one way to prevent tracking.
"A mask with a hook system that activates post-mortem. Interesting defense."
Phillip called upon another clone. "Burn the body discreetly. Leave the clothes and mask after cleaning them, they might be useful at some point."
"Roger."
"If the clothes do the same thing as the mask, just-" Phillip groaned at the thought. "Just wash it out as best you can."
The clone nodded and took the body, sealed it back up, and rushed through the window. Phillip walked over and closed it.
He then returned to his bed to continue reading, only to be prevented as he stopped a notebook from colliding with his head. Looking at the door, the cleaning clone stood with a towel in hand.
"Your other clothes are done drying." With that, the clone went back downstairs.
Phillip unsealed the warm clothing, folded them for later, placed them at the other end of the bed, and sat back down to read out the book.
"I don't believe this is the correct course of action."
Look, it's not like we have a way to capture that person's partner. Even if we did, we're not at a point where we could scan an entire planet's worth of people to find them.
"Not that. We have some new information on the Honkai, at least a little."
Phillip groaned at this. The new info was simply on forms, with the lowest being something he has dealt with: corrupted. These were beings, living or reanimated, that the Honkai corrupted. Outside of these were Aquatic, Seraph, Knight, Ballista, Chariot, Templar, and Emperor. Similarly, while there is an Emperor class, there were Honkai Emperors that were more powerful versions of each class. Each of them was classed with shape rather than power.
It didn't really matter to Phillip as the info didn't tell of any way of combatting these creatures. Thus, he either needed an expert on the field or personal experience. The corrupted were easy, but nothing could be suggested for the rest.
Considering that he fought many things that didn't die the standard way, he had every reason to be cautious.
Not exactly the information that we needed. Right now, the best kind of news would be the ME Corp extraction, but that's going along poorly.
The clone he sent tried a lot of things, but the defenses were honestly iron thick. Every entrance, including windows, was surrounded by different sensors and scans to counter unlawful entry. Everything was EMP-resistant.
And it's not like we'll get anything from the archive. The case was completely scrubbed clean. It's best if we focus on Kiana and send clones out later.
"Very well, but I wouldn't start with history. Try English, as she seems to have some kind of grip on it."
Having 9 points in English isn't a "grip".
"It's better than the 0 she has in history."
Phillip sighed as he closed the book. Seeing no real reason to continue looking for an answer that won't appear, he started physical training for the rest of the night.
Next-Day: School
Phillip got to school extra early wearing his original clothes, minus the jacket, in time to clean Mei's desk. Because of having no jacket, he had to use paper towels from the restrooms nearby to wipe off the newly crafted insults on it.
"You think these people would give up by now," Phillip muttered as he scrubbed off the third "Criminal!" scrawled on the table.
"You think they'd come up with better insults by now."
Nah, Phillip responded to Gab's retort. That's too much for their pea brains to handle.
Once the insults were cleared and the towels were tossed away, Phillip sat down at his own desk. Which, obviously, meant that he fell asleep, believing he'd wake up when classes began.
As he began to wake up, he felt the weight of a jacket landing onto him, the hood falling directly onto his face. Forcing the last of his sleepiness to dissipate, Phillip yanked the hood from his face and looked around, noting only Mei was nearby, sitting at her desk.
Mei was giggling. "You're always sleeping when I walk in. Maybe you should go to sleep earlier." At this, she turned to face the front of the class.
"Yeah, right," Phillip said distantly, standing up to put on the jacket. "Did you managed to gather enough notes for Kiana?"
Mei nodded. "I have notes for both English and Math."
"I have some on History. Would you like to start, or should I?"
"Oh, no," Mei said, "It might be best to start with the one she's having the hardest time with."
Phillip pulled out the notes he had taken and passed them to Mei. "These are what I have."
Mei began to flip through them, a frown marring her face as she did. As she came to the end, she sighed. "Let me fix some things. They aren't terrible, but there are many things that I believe you missed. That, and I don't think Kiana would be able to read them and absorb the information."
Phillip sighed at this. He knew he wasn't the best cheat-sheet maker due to clones making studying way too easy. It probably would be best to leave it to Mei for notes. He'd be best at explaining through speaking than writing it down.
"I leave it to you."
Mei gleamed at this, before taking her pencil and focused down on the notes, erasing and replacing words. Phillip pulled out his history book in hopes of creating questions for Kiana to answer.
Maybe it wouldn't be too hard a problem to solve.
Lunchtime
"UGH!"
Phillip caught the book Kiana threw in her disgust, opened it back to the page Kiana was at before throwing it, and placed it back in front of her. She glared at Phillip first, then the book as it was pushed towards her, before conceding and picked it back up by both ends.
"Kiana-chan, getting angry at the book isn't going to make this session any easier," Mei said, holding her own book to aid the study session.
"But Mei-senpaiii~" Kiana whined. "It's not my fault all the books are super boring!"
"Well then, are you paying attention to the classes?"
"Those are boringer!"
Phillip facepalmed, not bothering to fix the grammar of Kiana's complaint to Mei. Between Kiana's outright refusal to study and the lack of complete preparation, the session was becoming a remarkable failure.
Phillip knew Kiana wasn't stupid, far beyond that. However, her unwillingness to co-operate seemed to be a bigger pit than either he or Mei was competent enough to overcome. That didn't go into the fact that Kiana didn't seem to absorb any information if the minor quizzes that Mei and Phillip attempted proved anything.
"Kiana, your grades aren't going to fix themselves. So, stop complaining and actually try!"
Kiana flinched at Phillip's yell but remained steadfast. "Kaslana's fight for the weak! What's history or math going to do to help that, huh?!"
Phillip opened his mouth to retort, but something in those words made him rethink.
Kaslana...
It clicked. At almost every point in time, a member of the Kaslana clan appeared. Maybe not within China, but most parts of the world ended up having a Kaslana to protect them.
If Kiana was so proud of her heritage, then maybe...
Phillip grinned, finally forming a decent plan when it comes to Kiana's history lessons.
" Tell me, Kiana," Phillip started, garnering Kiana's and Mei's attention, "what do you know of the Kaslana's history?"
"Huh?" Kiana asked, perplexed. "Well, I know Kaslanas are super awesome warriors, and I'm the best of the best!"
"Right, but how long has Kaslanas been warriors?"
Kiana looked even more confused. "...Huh?"
Phillip shook his head and stood up. Going around the bench Kiana and Mei sat on, he stood right behind Kiana and rest his head on her shoulder. He reached around her to flip a large chunk of pages in the front of the book back over and used a finger to trace down the page he flipped to. Finding the thing he was looking for, he pointed at it and read aloud the name.
"Kallen Kaslana. For her time, she was a hero."
"..."
Phillip gave another sigh. "If you're going to zone out now, then we might as well give up."
"N-No! I'm just surprised, is all."
Phillip glanced over to her, unbelieving, but resigned when he noticed that Kiana started to look interested in the book.
"Well, funny thing: Kaslanas almost litter every point of history."
Mei snapped her fingers. "That's right! A lot of names were lost to time, but 'Kaslana' was a surname that is one of the more common. How silly of me to forget."
"Well, it's not as if all Kaslana were extremely important. The biggest one had been Kallen."
Kiana remained quiet, seemingly absorbed into the book. Suddenly, she reached into her bag, rummaged around, and pulled out a blue notebook. Opening it, she flipped past the first several pages (which were plastered with gibberish or pictures) and started actually writing in it.
Mei's eyes widened at this. "D-Did we just manage to-"
"Seems like it," Phillip stated with a small grin. "I'm glad we managed to get her into studying history."
"Yes!" Mei brightened considerably. "This doesn't mean our job is over, though."
"I know," Phillip said with a nod. "I managed to rid her aversion to history, not to everything else." Phillip rubbed his shoulder and rotated his neck. "Math is going to be a pain."
"True," Mei said, looking over at Kiana. "Though, can I suggest something?"
"What?"
"Don't peer over Kiana-chan's shoulder next time. She seemed pretty out of it when you did."
"What do you mean?"
Phillip caught the flying pencil that Kiana tossed at him with two fingers. He wasn't able to stop the flying shoe, however.
"Pervert!"
"At this point, Kaslana, you're just fishing for an excuse to hit me!"
End-of-Day
Phillip groaned as he rubbed the side of his head, still feeling the effects of the rogue shoe. Now that he was back at the restaurant, his goal was to get the other subjects down for Kiana to learn. However, anything thought of the girl simply brought how violent the girl was to him
For some reason, Kiana always found something he did to be distasteful, whether it was talking with Mei or just breathing. She'd be fine one second, and immediately a pain in the ass the next.
Phillip would have chalked it up as a bad case of tsundere, but most tsunderes he had dealt with never went into this level of the harming department. Hell, Noire's worst offense was a slap and the threat of not talking to him until the end of time. The later part never went through, but he could tell the situation wasn't out of malice. With Kiana, it was a different mess entirely.
Regardless, he needed to latch onto his goal, and figure out an actual method to get Kiana learning. With history decided, 5 other subjects laid in waiting. He wanted math to be next, just for the sake of getting it out of the way.
However, nothing ever seems to work in his favor.
As soon as he sat down on his bed, a clone appeared beside it.
"The trap is set. Ready when you are."
Phillip sighed and pushed the math book away. "Down to the specifics? Rigged where it's needed, and doesn't randomly activate?"
"Trust me, you'd know if it did"
Phillip dispelled the clone and tried to get back to the book, only to hear a tap at his window. Taking a few cautious steps, Phillip looked at the window with only a sideways glance to peer past the blinds.
His own face looked back at him.
I might need to think about diminishing the number of tasks I give my clones. Or just remove a lot of clones.
With this thought, Phillip unlocked the window, something he only just started doing, to let the clone in.
"Which one are you?"
The clone pulled out the flash drive.
Phillip's eyes narrowed at this. "How did you get past the defenses?"
The clone rubbed the back of its head. "Wasn't easy. Literally had to EMP the entire area just to bust the generators."
"Then how did you get the files?"
The clone rose its hand, and electricity coursed through the hand. Phillip accepted the answer but had a new question.
"Did you manage to get a glimpse of our stalker?"
Phillip was alerted from other clones that went to ME Corp that they would notice the feeling of being stared down followed them. If his clone took such drastic action, maybe it managed to pull the cloak off the stalker.
Unfortunately, his answer was a shake of the clone's head.
"Either the person went into hiding, or has better EMP protection than the building."
"Great," Phillip said irritated, as he walked back to his bed and sat down on it. "I have a constant stalker, and I can't send another clone to the library in case someone's there looking for me."
"Not really my problem, is it?" With this, the clone dispersed. Phillip sighed at this and pulled the math book towards him.
"Hey."
"You know, I half-expected another interruption at this point," Phillip said, looking over to the clone that climbed into the room through the window. Once the clone had closed everything, it handed him a piece of paper that had a seal on it. This time, the seal wasn't corrupted by the Honkai energy.
"The body's been burned and the clothes have been washed." Phillip nodded as he took the paper and got ready to dispel, but the clone stopped him. "There was more cybernetics than just his arms."
"Meaning?"
"Ocular prosthetics, neural implants, type of shit you'd find back on Nar Shaddaa. Here," the clone said as he tossed a computer chip at him. "Found that in his wrists."
Phillip analyzed the chip, turning it over a few times. "Anything else?"
"Just one."
Phillip looked back at the clone. "What is it?"
"Tango 2 has changed positions. Get ready for an attack at some point."
Phillip nodded and the clone dispelled. Sitting still and pondering for a second, Phillip formulated a plan for whatever his stalker had in mind. Pulling out some more receipt paper, he began scribbling in it.
His studies with Jiraiya in sealing taught him a lot, which helped Phillip in creating a lot of seals of his own. The one he just drew was one of these. Going to the door of his room, Phillip took the receipt paper and applied it to the left ceiling corner. He pulsed some chakra into it, causing it to fade.
To test the seal, Phillip closed both eyes and concentrated. Immediately, an image appeared in his mind: an image of his room with himself standing right in front of it.
Satisfied, Phillip opened his eyes and went back to his bed. "Maybe now, I can work on Kiana's studies."
"Maybe, or maybe another clone will come in right now!"
Phillip hummed at Gabriel's taunt. Hey, quick question?
"What is it?"
Do you know a decent way to explain trigonometry down to someone who barely knows basic math?
There was a long silence after Phillip asked this before Gabriel gave his own sigh.
"You owe me for this."
Next-Day
It didn't work out. Despite Kiana actually trying to listen, her impatience quickly diminished any attempt to teach her. She would pay attention for a few seconds before either giving up or saying she's got it, only to fail the practice questions and gave up after that.
Boredom setting in, Kiana tried to converse about whatever happened to come to mind: Mei, video games, Mei, good food she ate before, Mei, Mei... the conversations always ended up with a heavy focus on Mei.
Phillip was starting to get aggravated with Kiana's study habits and that the idea Gabriel provided him was fruitless. He needed to take his mind off the failure, and he knew the best way for himself. He simply needed a partner, and Kiana seemed to want something similar.
Which is how their study session transformed into a spar. Mei didn't well enjoy the idea, but Phillip convinced her that he couldn't think without some kind of exercise. Kiana jumped at the chance, though he wasn't sure if it was similar to his own intentions, or if she was happy to have an excuse to hit him again.
"HIYAH!"
Kiana yelled this as she jumped towards him, starting with a jump spin kick to his head. He ducked under it and then moved to the right to dodge the following hook kick.
From here, Kiana used a variety of kicks to try and hit him. All of them he avoided, not bothering to actually block due to both not wanting his powers to be displayed and understanding his frame still wasn't good to handle the impacts.
As the spar moved forward, Phillip started to understand Kiana's stance. From the wind the kicks created, they were more to move the target, not actual harm. The way her arms came back to her side with each kick suggested an extension from them, but she never punched. A tool seemed to be needed, likely the gun she carries.
While he couldn't get a complete understanding from just kicks, the stance seemed to be haphazardly made. The flow was correct, but the actions seemed to be jumbled. He honestly felt like he was fighting a circus acrobat, only it was one that actually wanted to hurt him.
He leaned back hard to avoid a flying kick, causing Kiana to skid to a stop behind him.
"Come on! Fight back! It's no fun when all you're doing is dodging!"
Phillip ignored her request and kept evading Kiana.
It's not that he couldn't, but he wouldn't. Phillip still didn't have enough strength to tank or reflect a hit from Kiana, and using chakra would cause more problems than solutions. Still, if he remained defensive, Kiana would eventually hit him.
Phillip thought up something.
Phillip ducked around another spin kick and threw a punch just as she followed up with a side kick with her right leg. As the attacks passed each other, Phillip turned his punch into a grapple at Kiana's knee, locking it in place with his elbow. Her eyes grew wide as Phillip pushed back enough to cause her to lose balance, fall, and slam her back into the roof.
Propping himself up with a hand over Kiana's shoulder, Phillip stared down at the girl with a smirk, dropping her leg as he did.
"First point goes to me, Kiana. Want to try again?"
Kiana was completely flushed at first, before becoming furious. The next thing Phillip knew was extreme pain, as Kiana utilized her other leg's position to aim at a forbidden area.
This was when Phillip realized that all the places he had been to were far too polite.
Afterward
"Ya know," Phillip looked at Kiana as she spoke, "it's nice having you two around."
Mei had long since left the roof in search of whatever medical supplies to aid in both sides recovering. She had scolded both of them before she left; Phillip for "holding a girl inappropriately" and Kiana for hitting Phillip there. Granted, Kiana was in a roar of laughter, so how much she cared to listen was up to debate.
So, it seemed odd to Phillip that she would say this now.
"I get Mei, but are you sure about me?"
Kiana turned to him with closed eyes and a massive smile.
"Yep!"
Phillip tilted his head at this, honestly confused with the girl in front of him.
"I mean, sure," Kiana started as she turned away, eyes open now, "you're a pervert, but that reminds me of someone."
The sparkle in Kiana's eyes disappeared, replaced with a solemn expression that still expressed some love and remembrance.
Phillip pushed her forward. "Who exactly do I remind you of?"
"My dad," Kiana blurted out before realizing what she said. "No, wait, I-"
"I insisted," Phillip stated, trying to get her to calm down. "Tell me about him."
Kiana looked at him with a critical eye, before resigning to talk about her father. "Well, he's a womanizing, alcoholic pervert, who's super dumb and gives the worst advice possible."
Phillip gave a flat look at this. "I'm glad I paint such an immaculate picture to you."
"Huh?" Kiana looked bewildered. "What the heck does that Emma chick have to do with this?" She then gasped. "Is she some hidden girlfriend of yours that you never told us about?!"
"That's not what I said, and you know it," Phillip said, stomping out the subject before it got out of hand.
Kiana didn't seem happy that Phillip tried avoiding her question, but dropped it. "But my dad isn't all bad. He's strong, nice, sometimes funny, and always helped people." Her face became more miserable at each word. "I miss him sometimes."
Phillip didn't know what he did to be granted the sight of this bundle of energy become so... fragile, broken like she was now.
"What happened to him?"
Kiana flinched at the question and told him. "I don't know. I woke up in a field of snow and he was long gone by then. I've been trying to track him down, but..."
Phillip didn't say anything as he gazed upon the girl. He could tell the girl believed her father abandoned her. However, despite that, Kiana still managed to love her father. She must have a will of steel to still love someone after that.
"I told myself that, the next time I meet my dad, I'd punch him right in the face!" Kiana exclaimed, pulling Phillip from his thoughts before she looked at him again. "Maybe that's why you're so punch-able."
Phillip chuckled at this. In some odd way, it was actually funny to him to be compared to Kiana's dad. Kiana herself, on the other hand, looked at him like he had some screws loose.
Soon, Phillip found himself back in a familiar stance: sitting on the balls of his feet, staring up at the white-haired girl. She stared back at him, wide-eyed. They sat there for a moment, Phillip facing her surprised expression with a calm smile.
Kiana broke the silence first.
"W-What are you-"
Phillip silenced her by bringing her into a hug. Kiana blushed crimson at the action and tried to pull away.
" W-wait! I don't-"
"Kiana..." She stopped as Phillip spoke. "I won't say I'm the best with words. However, if you need me, I'm willing to be here. If I can help in some way, let me know and I'll try."
Phillip then tried to end the hug, only for Kiana to suddenly wrap her arms around him, continuing it. Phillip kept his hands still, allowing the now trembling girl to continue for as long as she needed.
"Alright, I'm good!"
Phillip looked surprised as Kiana immediately jumped out of the hug. Instead of tears, the girl seemed to be suppressing laughter. The amusement that gleamed from her eyes made Phillip's gentle expressions go flat.
"You ruined it."
"Sorry, sorry!" Kiana stifled her laugh as she spoke. "You tried being all nice and everything, so I wanted to put on a show, is all." She eventually calmed down. "Kaslanas are stronger than that! I'm not gonna start crying just because I don't have Dad around. Besides," Kiana brought her right fist to her left palm, "I plan on pummeling him when I see him!"
Phillip brought his palm to his eyes as he sighed. Perfect timing too, as he got hit with multiple assaults on memories from his clones, all Alpha 1 members, and killed from long-range.
His trap had been sprung.
Phillip concentrated, and his room sprung into his mind. A silver-hair girl with drill pigtails entered the room, dropping out of invisibility. She scanned around the room, before shifting through his drawer and looked under his bed. Once his room was considerably trashed, the girl pulled out a hulking robot with one clawed hand, one cannon, and a serpentine tail from nowhere. She used this robot to cling to the ceiling right in front of the door via the claw before disappearing.
"Hey, Phillip? I was only teasing, you know."
Phillip stopped concentrating, bringing his hand away from his face, and poked the worried Kiana's nose, causing the girl to recoil and hold her nose in both hands. She glared at him as he stared at her with amusement.
"I take back what I said."
"Well, I appreciate you being worried for me if that means anything," Phillip said, as he went back to his original seat. Kiana would have said something in response had the door not open.
Mei had come back with a small vial, some wrap bandages, and... an umbrella? She handed said umbrella to Kiana before sitting down.
"Thank you, Kiana-chan, for giving me your umbrella, but you should have walked with me instead of running away."
"I told you, there was not enough room for the both of us."
Phillip looked at Mei at the end of her and Kiana's conversation, hoping for an explanation.
Mei caught on quickly and gave it. "Phillip-kun, after you left me your jacket, Kiana-chan came out and gave me her umbrella before running away. I think what she said was, 'An umbrella beats an ugly jacket any day'."
Kiana gave an "oh" as Mei told her explanation. "That's where I've seen the cruddy jacket before! You wear it all the time!"
Phillip looked Mei in the eyes and said, flatly, "I'm friends with her if you can't tell."
Mei giggled at this, before passing the vial to Phillip. Inside were red and blue pills. He shook two out and put them in his mouth before downing them with some juice. He pushed the vial back to Mei, who began working on the minor head wound that was inflicted at Phillip's stunt.
Phillip saw the event before it could happen. In a flash, he picked up his once disregarded chopsticks, spun them to where the thick side was out, and brought them back down on Kiana's head.
"OW!"
"Don't even think about it."
"I didn't do nothing!"
"Kiana-chan..." the white-haired girl stopped her argument with Phillip to sense the looming threat in Mei's gentle voice. "What were you going to do?"
"U-um... nothing much... just some light... touching."
Kiana received a new lump for her efforts.
Mei back away from Kiana to get to her bag. "Seeing as you've recovered enough to try perverted actions, let's continue your remedial studies."
"Do I have to?"
Both Phillip and Mei responded to Kiana.
"Yes."
Later-that-Day
Phillip stood outside his room's door. From what he got from other glances into the room, the girl has yet to move. So, she should still be just above the door's entrance. However, that was conjecture at best, so he needed to be cautious.
Opening the door, he casually strolled into the room. Immediately, he could feel the stare from above him. Trying to play it cool, he simply grumbled as he reorganized the room back to the way it was, giving grunts and huffs whenever he moved something that seemed heavy even if it really wasn't, thanks to chakra.
After a few minutes of nothing happening, Phillip sat on his bed and closed his eyes, concentrating his hearing as he pondered the girl's search.
She obviously wasn't looking for something human, that's for sure. It might be the data he took, but would that make her an agent for ME Corp or some other company against it? Too many uncertainties, not enough evidence for either.
The creek of moving metal caught his attention.
Showtime.
A dart, filled with a yellow liquid, was fired from above the door. It had pinpoint accuracy, aimed to pierce its target's neck.
Instead, the needle of the dart pierced the wooden frame of the bed.
Phillip was now standing beside the door and made a jump to nab the invisible perpetrator by the leg. With a tug, he brought her and the robot to the ground, landing with a crash and a shockwave that shook the room.
The invisibility wore off and the girl rolled onto her back just in time to find Phillip launching a punch to her head. She was able to evade the punch, which shook the room again, and brought out a knife to take a swing at him. Phillip grabbed her with one hand at the wrist to prevent it from drawing blood.
The robot sprung to action at this, swinging its claw at Phillip, who stopped it with an outstretched palm. He then countered the attack by channeling lightning chakra into it, causing the robot to spasm. With a push, it slammed to the wall next to the bed.
The girl dropped the knife as this happened and caught it with her other hand. Phillip saw this just in time to evade it without losing his hold. Now at her side, he tossed the girl overhead into the other wall. At the recoil, Phillip followed up with a knee to the stomach and then slammed her back into the ground. Phillip finished up by shooting several electric needles from his hands into the robot, pinning it, and grabbing the arms of the girl, and secured them behind her back.
Phillip had to wait a second for the girl to recover from the head trauma before he spoke.
"Name."
The girl didn't answer. Instead, she tried her hardest to wiggle herself out of his grip to avail, before stopping completely. Noting the type of behavior from other encounters, Phillip kept her hands in one of his and quickly leaned over to place his other hand over her mouth, clenching it to keep her mouth open.
"You want to die; you can die on my time. No suicide pills are going to help you. Name, now."
The girl still didn't answer, only began to wiggle more vigorously.
Phillip sighed slightly, before channeling electricity into her, earning both a slight yelp in pain and her complete paralysis. Dragging her to the same wall that her robot was, he propped her up against the bot. The two were then able to glare at each other.
This isn't working. Might as well just kill her.
"You're jumping the gun; again, might I add. Wait until she's not paralyzed, and ask questions then."
We don't know who she works for. If I had my Rinnegan, this would be done by now.
"Then let me help."
One of Phillip's hands glowed white. Understanding the idea, Phillip reached out to touch the girl's forehead.
However, the robot wasn't as finished as he might have thought.
Noticing all too late the white ball in the robot's claw hand, Phillip's eyes were assaulted by a blinding light. Pushing chakra to all other senses, Phillip felt the claw was a millimeter from his face.
Shit.
Dodging last second, Phillip escaped with only a few strands of hair cut. However, the robot managed to force him out of the way enough to not only snag the girl but also bust through the window and the wall.
Cursing, Phillip brought his palm to his eyes and a green light covered it. Within seconds, he could see again. He then gave chase, leaving two clones to handle clean up as he went transparent.
The chase led across buildings, and over many neighborhoods. While the robot did go invisible, Phillip was able to track it thanks to the amount of dust it kicked up going as fast as it was. Phillip could have easily caught up to it but he wanted to know where exactly the two came from.
Soon, it was answered, as the robot swooped down at the end of a line of buildings. Phillip stopped at the edge to stare at the one building in the clearing: ME Corp.
It told him all he needed to know. However, more information was laid right in front of the building.
A familiar woman was walking up to the entrance. A familiar, busty blonde seemed to have felt his gaze and turn towards him.
Cocolia was looking directly at him but turned back around when she couldn't see him. She walked right through security with no resistance from the guards.
This tipped him off that Cocolia might be tied to the case.
Phillip could say one thing to this.
"Shit."
_End-Story_
Cocolia looked down at the girl who laid on a bed. Bronya had just finished receiving minor treatment for damages. In her head, Cocolia was blaming herself for the damage the girl sustained against an unknown. However, her soldier side kicked in and reminded her that she needed the information for either a potential ally or enemy. From what she's seen, it was more than likely going to be an enemy.
Luckily, the damage the girl sustained was minor head trauma, and the paralysis seemed temporary in nature. So, a few minutes passed, and the girl was fit as a fiddle after some over-the-counter meds and some good bandages.
"How do you feel, Bronya?"
"Operations are nominal, Matushka. Project Bunny will require more reparations, however."
Said robot laid across from Bronya's bed, leaking everywhere onto the metallic floors of ME Corp's labs.
"I'm more worried about you. Anyways, how was the mission."
Bronya shook her head. "Secondary mission was a failure. No trace of lost data, nor any hardware was found to contain said data."
"So, it wasn't him."
"Nyet. Only Phillip Idiotka could have stolen the data. He is the only known source of the multiple thermal signatures."
Cocolia rose a brow to the nickname. " 'Idiotka'? What brought that about?"
"The Bronya has reasonable suspicion that Phillip Idiotka has made sacrilege against the Homu."
Cocolia chuckled at the reason. The one way to discern that Bronya was, in fact, a little girl was her obsession for that doll.
"Very well then, what about the primary mission?"
At this, Bronya raised a fist towards Cocolia, who placed a palm underneath it. As Bronya opened her fist, three golden hairs fell, collecting into a pile in Cocolia's hand.
"Primary mission was partially successful. No blood samples were collected, however."
Cocolia stared down at the palm, disappointed. There was far less than what she was hoping. "Why weren't you able to collect more samples, Bronya?"
Bronya stared back up at the woman. "Subject Phillip is strong, Matushka. Strong, fast, and smart. Bronya was lucky to return in one piece, much less alive."
Cocolia was shocked by this but kept her poker face on. If what Bronya said was true, then she both hit a gold mine and disturbed a slumbering dragon.
Which made whatever Bronya got all the more valuable.
"Thank you, Bronya," Cocolia said with a wide, yet loving smile. "Why don't you rest for now. I'll have a different task for you later."
With this, Cocolia walked out of the room, causing the metal doors to slam down behind her. The grin became fierce as she strolled down the corridor, as she began thinking up some sort of revenge.
No one hurts her children and gets away with it.
That's a wrap!
Constructive Criticism is appreciated, especially towards fight scenes, as I have no confidence in making them, but I know I need to for the series.
Thanks for making it this far and have a great life!
_Hidden-Story_
Deep in the forest, there is a waterfall. There, at the waterfall, laid a corpse.
The corpse of a bear. Or what seems to be a bear.
With bug legs sprouted out of its back and elongated fangs, this bear seemed heavily mutated.
What killed it? Somethings pierced it, but only completely through at the throat.
This corpse... didn't stay a corpse for long.
The wounds were healing, more bug legs sprouted: some from the sides and a few more from the back.
The bear's main legs fell off, and its fangs extended even farther, some piercing through its jaw. However, it didn't feel the pain, if it felt pain at all.
This bear has sniffed the honey pot of one energy and transformed into its prior form.
Now it has tasted another, and it's hungry for more.