Copyright, Aviatrix8, 2021. Kill la Kill and all related characters are property of Trigger, and are used without permission.

xXxXx

Kill la Kill fanfic:

"Threads of Fate"

by Avi

Chapter 4: "Fall Out Boy"

"Africa? You're going to Africa?"

Ryuko paused, with a bowl of rice in her hand, her chopsticks halfway to her mouth, and her cellphone cradled against one shoulder. At the dinner table in front of her, the rest of the Mankanshoku family was busily scarfing down breakfast.

"That's right," replied Satsuki's voice, somewhat drowned out by the sounds of eating. "Rei and I are boarding REVOCS' private jet, as we speak. We're following a lead we found in Ragyo's old files; hopefully, it will lead us to a cure for the Life Fiber mutations."

"Well, good luck with that, sis," said Ryuko sincerely. "Anything that might be able to cure those mutated students, is bound to help."

"I certainly hope so," replied Satsuki, with a sigh.

There was a pause. Ryuko could almost sense the slight frown creasing Satsuki's face.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Ryuko.

"Are you sure that you'll be able to handle everything by yourself, Ryuko?" asked Satsuki, rather hesitantly. "You know I trust you and the Elite Four to protect everyone from the mutations, but..." Her voice trailed off.

Ryuko airily waved her chopsticks in the air.

"Don't worry, sis! You're only going to be gone for like a week, right?" She then started to shovel rice into her own mouth. "Like you said, me and the Elite Four can take anything those Life Fiber mutants can throw at us," she continued on, with her mouth full. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

xXx

"Outta my way, you jerk!" snapped Ryuko, clad in Hellion Regalia.

"Me? You're in my way!" retorted Sanageyama, who was also powered up. The sides of their heads banged together with an audible klonk.

The rest of the Elite Four glared at them in annoyance, while also trying to keep an eye on the life fiber mutant that had turned up at the public park. Although all five of them were fully transformed into battle mode, only three of them seemed intent on fighting the life fiber mutation, at the moment...

"Ugh! Are they at it again?" asked Jakuzure, in disgust.

"Sure sounds like it," muttered Inumuta, as he kept a wary eye on the mutant that was half-greenish zombie in a tattered lab coat, half-muscular structure traced out in life fibers. He then hastily leaned out of the way, as a set of bloody scalpels whizzed past his chest and thunked into a nearby tree.

"Will you two knock it off already?" snapped Gamagori, to Ryuko and Sanageyama. "We're in the middle of a battle, here!"

"I would, if this asshole would just get his fat head outta the way, so I could attack!" growled Ryuko, who was still shoving Sanageyama.

"My head? You're the one who got in the way of my attack!" he shot back.

"Would you two stop having a pissing contest, and help out with this monster already?!" yelled Jakuzure, her voice cracking.

Just then, Gamagori managed to land a lucky blow on the life fiber mutant with his flail, slicing its uniform cleanly in half. The former Biology club president then collapsed to the ground, completely naked. With the mutant defeated, Gamagori spun to face Ryuko and Sanageyama, who were still glaring daggers at each other.

"Fat lot of help you two were!" Gamagori retorted. "We would've defeated that mutant a lot sooner, if you two weren't so busy arguing!"

Ryuko and Sanageyama pointed a finger at each other.

"He started it!"

"She stared it!"

Inumuta covered his face mask with his hand. "Some superhero team we are..." he muttered.

"It doesn't matter who started it, both of you should've put your differences aside and fought together!" said Gamagori sternly.

Sanageyama crossed his arms. "I only take orders from Satsuki herself!"

"Oh yeah? Well, Satsuki asked me to handle things, so you should listen to me!" Ryuko retorted.

Sanageyama snorted. "Yeah, right! As if Satsuki would ever let you lead the Elite Four!"

As the two continued to bicker, Jakuzure sulked and crossed her arms. "Hmph. Satsuki should've left me in charge..."

Inumuta raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Just because you wear that crown on your head, you think you're fit to lead us?"

Jakuzure glared at him. "Does that mean you want to be in charge, smart guy?"

Inumuta shook his head. "Oh, no. I want no part of that argument."

Gamagori then slammed an armoured foot onto the ground, suddenly grabbing all of their attention.

"Who cares who's in charge?" he growled. "As long as we all work as a team!"

"Why should I have to listen to anyone else's orders?" muttered Sanageyama, to himself. "With my Mind's Eye, I could've handled that Life Fiber mutant all by myself!"

"Hah!" retorted Ryuko. "You couldn't even beat Satsuki in a sword fight!"

At this, Sanageyama's expression darkened. "It occurs to me, Matoi," he began coldly, "that we never finished our duel during Naturals Election week..."

Ryuko grinned wickedly. "Oh? So you wanna settle the score now, do ya?"

Sanageyama pointed his crystal sword at her. "You got it! Right here, right now!"

"Hold on! Are you sure that's such a good idea?" said Gamagori worriedly, as the rest of the Elite Four looked equally dismayed.

"It's as good a time as any!" snapped Sanageyama. "We're both transformed, which puts us on equal footing... Now, we'll see which is stronger, once and for all: me, with my perfected Mind's Eye, or Ryuko with her Life Fibers!"

As Sanageyama and Ryuko glared at each other, their blades drawn, Gamagori balled his fists and made a move to step forward... When a hand held him back.

"There's no way to talk them out of it, big guy," sighed Inumuta. "Just let them get it out of their system."

"But-"

"The dog is right, unfortunately," agreed Jakuzure grumpily. "Maybe they can beat some sense into each other."

Sanageyama and Ryuko now stood far apart, facing each other grimly. As they both stared each other down, they gripped each of their own blades tightly... Then both charged at each other, at the same time.

It was all over in a moment. Suddenly, Sanageyama was flung back uncontrollably by Ryuko's attack; nothing was able to stop his momentum until he finally hit the thick trunk of a tall tree. As Sanageyama slumped over at its base, the tree cracked from the impact, and slowly, toppled over behind him.

The rest of the Elite Four could only watch this in mute shock. Even Ryuko looked dismayed, as she realized she might've gone too far.

Quickly, Ryuko ran over to Sanageyama, and placed a hand gingerly on his shoulder. "Geez, are you okay? Look man, I am so sorry, I didn't think I hit you so hard-"

A hand suddenly slapped hers away. "Lay off, Ryuko! That doesn't count!" snarled Sanageyama.

The concern in Ryuko's expression drained away, leaving anger in its wake.

"What do you mean that doesn't count?" she snapped back. "That friggin' tree broke in half when you hit it! To think I felt sorry for you for a sec, when I thought I had beat you too hard!"

But Sanageyama wasn't even looking at Ryuko; he was staring at his hands in bewilderment.

"It wasn't my fault!" he muttered to himself. "It was my Blade Regalia; I could feel the strength draining away from it!"

Ryuko frowned. "Look, I understand if you don't want to admit that I beat you Sanageyama, but you don't have to lie about it-"

"I'm not lying!" snapped Sanageyama. "You don't know what it felt like, having your powers suddenly leave you! It's as if... the Life Fibers in my suit stopped working..."

His gaze then fell on the transformation ring on his middle finger, and he clenched his hand into a fist.

"This damn ring is defective!" Sanageyama snarled. "I'm gonna have Iori fix it, right now!" He then pointed at Ryuko angrily. "And the next time we see each other, we can finish our fight for real!" Sanageyama got to his feet with a grunt, and then stomped off.

Ryuko watched him go, with a worried look on her face. She then glanced at the rest of the Elite Four, who could only shrug in sympathy.

xXx

At the research laboratory at REVOCS, Sanageyama leaned against the wall impatiently, as Iori sat at a lab table and examined Sanageyama's transformation ring.

Wearing a jeweller's lens over his usual glasses, Iori used thin metal picks to carefully pry the green gem from Sanageyama's ring. Having done so, it opened up like a locket, revealing the gem to be hollow inside. Iori then took a pair of tweezers and reached inside of the ring, slowly pulling out a long, glowing red thread. As he held the ring's life fiber up to the light, he closely examined the entire length of it, with the eyeglass.

"Well? What's wrong with it?" asked Sanageyama testily.

Iori leaned back, and removed the jeweler's lens from his glasses. "Nothing. It's in perfect working order." He then released the life fiber from the tweezers, and it snapped back inside the ring, like a fishing line to a reel.

Sanageyama looked taken aback. "What do you mean, nothing?" He banged a fist on the wall. "I know my Blade Regalia stopped working. I felt it happen!"

"Sanageyama," said Iori quietly, as he closed the ring with the tweezers. "Do you remember what I told you when I first gave you this transformation ring?"

"Not really. I figured it was the usual warnings and stuff: 'Don't break it, don't lose it, if you do, I'm gonna sew your eyes shut again...'"

Iori groaned, and pushed up his glasses. "Then let me repeat myself," he said irritably.

"As you just saw, this ring only has a single life fiber in it; unlike your previous versions of Blade Regalia, which were composed of 30% Life Fibers. And as you know, life fibers are living, alien beings that can make us humans stronger when they come in contact with us... However, they can also sense our emotions, as well."

"If a wearer of life fibers craves strength, the life fibers can sense this, and will try to give their host what they want; to make them stronger, as a form of evolution. However, if the life fibers sense uncertainty or doubt in their host, they will regard it as weakness and refuse to help them; survival of the fittest, as it were. And this effect is even more noticable depending on how little or few life fibers a piece of clothing might have... Do you understand, now?"

"Oh, I understand," said Sanageyama coldly. "You're sayin' I'm weak, am I?"

"I never said that," replied Iori calmly. "I only said that your emotions are affecting your Blade Regalia, and that's why it failed to work when it did."

"But that's pretty much the same thing, isn't it?" snapped Sanageyama.

"That doesn't mean that you yourself are weak," said Iori irritably. "I'm merely saying that you need to resolve whatever self-doubt is in your mind at the moment, before Blade Regalia works at full capacity again."

"So it's all my fault, then? That's a load of bullshit! I feel as strong as I've ever been!" Sanageyama than snatched his ring from the lab table. "And I'll prove to you that there's something wrong with this dumb ring, and not me!" He then stormed out of the lab.

Iori just shook his head. "Stubborn fool. He can be so blind to the truth sometimes," he muttered.

Just then, a phone rang. Iori pulled his phone out of his lab coat pocket, and answered it.

"Iori here. What's up, Inumuta?"

"Is Sanageyama still over there?"

"I'm afraid he just left." Iori frowned slightly. "If you wanted to talk to him, why didn't you call him first?"

"I just wanted to make sure the repairs to Sanageyama's ring were done, before contacting him. He seemed pretty pissed off about it."

Iori snorted. "Yeah, no kidding."

"So, have you finished fixing it yet?"

"Not... exactly."

"Oh dear. And I was hoping that it would be ready by now..."

Iori's eyes narrowed at Inumuta's concerned tone. "Has another life fiber mutation turned up?"

"Yes, and it's a nasty one, too. We're going to need the whole team for this one... And that includes Sanageyama."

Iori sighed. "Then I've got some bad news for you, Inumuta..."

xXx

Sanageyama strode out of REVOCS building, with his hands jammed into his pockets. His seething hot anger had simmered down to a dull rage, and he found himself muttering under his breath.

"I'm strong. I know I am. That dumb Iori doesn't know what he's talking about..." Pulling a hand out of his pocket, he glared resentfully at the ring clutched in his palm. "Damn thing doesn't even work properly!"

A stray thought then crossed his mind. 'You may be strong, but you're not the strongest, are you? And you haven't been for a while now...'

Sanageyama stopped in his tracks, but the unwanted train of thought continued on.

'You've been defeated by Satsuki, Ryuko and Nui Harime. You're far from being the strongest one around.'

'But... It's okay if Satsuki beats me in a fight,' he thought to himself, sullenly. She was the queen to his knight, after all. But the others? Sanageyama had to admit, that did hurt his pride... Quite a lot, actually.

Now, he respected Ryuko as an opponent; she was the whole reason why he had developed his Mind's Eye to its ultimate form. Still, as Sanageyama fought side-by-side with her, and saw how powerful she really was, it was just a stinging reminder of how, even with all of his training, he wasn't the best fighter out there.

Sanageyama shook his head. When did he start caring about being the strongest, anyways? Sure, he was the strongest fighter in North Kanto when he led his gang of delinquents... Or maybe it was when he became a member of the Hounouji Academy student council? Granted, things were different then; he was far more cutthroat and ruthless because he had to be, but Sanageyama thought he had moved past that point. Yet even back then, every battle he fought, had made him even stronger and better than before...

'Wait a sec. What I used to care about most... Was becoming strong*er*,' Sanageyama realized. 'And I became stronger, by fighting every opponent that came my way... Even those that were way more powerful than me.'

It didn't matter that they were better than him; it was all about the challenge, the thrill of the fight. That was the reason he had joined Satsuki in the first place; she had given him an arena to test his skills, and hone them.

And it wasn't like he had to be the strongest to defeat his opponents... He wasn't alone. He knew that the rest of the Elite Four had his back, and would help him out in a pinch... And now, Ryuko as well. With his friends on his side, he knew he could face down anything. How could he have forgotten that, after everything that they had been through together?

Just then, his phone rang. With his free hand, Sanageyama pulled it out, and answered it.

"Sanageyama here. What's up?"

"Listen, Sanageyama," said Inumuta's voice, sounding serious. "The thing is, a really powerful life fiber mutant has shown up, and we're going to need as much help as possible in fighting it. Do you think you feel up to it, right now?"

"Another one? So soon?" Sanageyama then felt a tiny bit of resentment, from Inumuta's worried tone. "Are you sure you need my help?" he asked sullenly. "You've got Ryuko with you, don't you?"

"Of course they need your help! We all need your help!"

Sanageyama was startled, as a girl's voice had suddenly boomed from his phone.

"Matoi?"

"Yeah, it's me," replied Ryuko, and sighed. "Look, Sanageyama. I'm sorry about what happened earlier. I didn't mean to give you such a hard time about Satsuki, the fight, everything. Sorry I was such a massive jerk to you."

"Nah. I was also being an ass, so I should apologize too. To be honest, I'm still getting used to having someone new on the team, and definitely not one was strong as you are; it kind of hurt my pride."

"Sorry about that."

"Don't be, that one was on me."

Ryuko cleared her throat. "Anyways, we really need you over here, right now. Do you think you can help out?"

Sanageyama grinned. "Sure, I'm always up for a challenge!"

"Thanks, pal." Ryuko sounded relieved.

"Oh, and give Inumuta back his phone. He gets really pissy about people touching his tech stuff."

"Oh. Er, right." Sanageyama heard a faint "sorry about that", followed by "don't let it happen again", then Inumuta's voice came back on.

"I'm sending you the location right now, Sanageyama. Please get here as soon as you can."

"I'll head over there, right away," replied Sanageyama firmly.

Sanageyama hung up, checked the location Inumuta had sent to his phone, then put it in his pocket. He then opened his other hand, which had been gripping his transformation ring very tightly.

"I'm strong," he repeated to himself. "I know I am. Just because I'm not the strongest, doesn't mean I'm weak." He could feel the conviction behind his own words.

He put the ring on the middle finger of his right hand. Sanageyama then blinked; did the green gem in his ring gleam more brightly now? Well, it didn't matter. He burst into a sprint. What was more important, was that his friends needed his help in battle, and he needed to get to their side, so they could all fight together.

xXx

When Sanageyama finally arrived at the location of the latest life fiber mutation, he was taken aback for a moment. It looked like it had once been a playground, but there were long life fibers strung across everywhere, and the ground itself was littered with blades and other pointy objects.

"Geez, this place has been trashed..." he muttered.

Just then, someone backflipped out of the air, and landed beside him.

"So you've finally arrived," said Inumuta, clad in Probe Regalia.

Sanageyama nodded grimly. "What can you tell me about this life fiber mutant?"

"Why don't you see for yourself?" replied Inumuta, pointing up in the air.

Sanageyama looked up. Even though the fight was far above them, he could still see it clearly with his Mind's Eye.

He was again taken aback, this time at the sight of the latest life fiber monster: a hideous, green-skinned, three-headed, many-limbed abomination, balanced precariously upon one of the life fiber ropes high above. None of its heads looked the same, and all of its limbs looked mismatched. Two of its chubby arms held what appeared to be a long barbell which it spun around itself, while the other misshapen limbs threw blades and other sharp objects at Ryuko and the others. On top of that, the mutation seemed to have a cluster of rough life fibers wrapped around its torso.

Sanageyama eyes then widened, as recognition dawned on him. "That isn't... All three of them, is it?"

Inumuta nodded. "I'm afraid you are correct, Sanageyama. That monstrosity is actually the three former members of the Honouji Academy Acrobatics Club: Jack Naito, Kagesaburo Kagero, and Masuyo Watari. According to my battle data, they appear to bound together by the Nanjing Lily Club president's uniform; but I deduce that if we can cut it off, their mutation will subside."

"Yeah, but that's easier said than done," said a voice above them. Ryuko then landed between the two.

"Glad you could make it, Sanageyama," she told him, without a trace of sarcasm. Sanageyama nodded.

Ryuko then pointed a thumb up at the mutant. "Anyways, since that thing has three heads, it can see every move we make," she explained irritably. "That, along with the long range of its weapon, and all the crap it throws, we haven't been able get close enough to slice off its uniform... Not even me," she added quietly.

"We've been trying to overwhelm the life fiber mutant with our sheer numbers so far, but that just seems to present it with more targets," explained Inumuta. "That's why I asked you to come, Sanageyama; I was hoping your presence would tip the scales in our favour."

Meanwhile, Sanageyama had been intently watching Gamagori and Jakuzure fighting the Acrobatics mutant, high above him. "Say, Matoi. Have you ever heard about the time when Satsuki and I first met?" he asked.

"Sure, but what does that have to do with anyth-" She then blinked. "Oh. You're gonna try that, are you?"

"Yup," he replied, with a cocky grin. "Can I trust you to have my back?"

"Sure thing, pal!" replied Ryuko, with a grin of her own.

"Then let's do this thing!" Sanageyama waved his right hand over his eyes. "Life Fiber Transformation: 4-Star General!" A glowing green thread shot out of his ring and swirled around, as green armour plates formed around him, and stacked themselves on his nude body. "4-Star Blade Regalia!" Now transformed, Sanageyama drew out his crystal sword.

"Are you certain you're up for this right now, Sanageyama?" asked Inumuta, concerned. "This would be a bad time for your transformation ring to fail you."

"No doubt in my mind!" replied Sanageyama with a confident smirk, and leapt into the air. Landing upon one of the life fiber ropes, Sanageyama swiftly ran up it until he was close enough to Gamagori and Jakuzure.

"You two, stand down!" Sanageyama barked at them. "I'll take it from here!"

They both looked back at him, startled.

"Sanageyama?" said Gamagori.

"Are you nuts, you monkey?" exclaimed Jakuzure.

"Do what he says!" yelled out Ryuko, from down below. "Sanageyama can handle it!"

Casting worried glances at each other, both Gamagori and Jakuzure pulled back from the fight. The Acrobatics mutant tried to pursue them down the tightrope, but Sanageyama blocked its path.

"Your opponent is me, now!" declared Sanageyama, with his sword held before him. "You should keep your eyes on me!"

The largest head looked up at him, with a twisted grin on its face. Its two large arms swiftly spun its long pole around itself, while the other arms fanned out knives and straws in its hands.

Quickly, Sanageyama lunged at his opponent; however, his blade was immediately parried by the Acrobatics mutant's spinning pole. As he increased his attacks, he was surprised to see that the mutant was actually managing to block his blows, with its long weapon.

'Huh. This thing is faster than I thought,' thought Sanageyama. His eyes then narrowed, as he suddenly sensed the incoming projectiles heading for him.

Sanageyama managed to to deflect all the knives and straws that were being thrown at him... At first. But between the mutant's whirling pole, and the constant flurry of projectiles, not only was Sanageyama having difficulty landing a body blow, some of the thrown weapons were beginning to penetrate his defenses, as well. Scratches and dents began to appear on his armour, as well as cuts into his skin, causing him to grimace visibly.

Down below, Ryuko and the rest of the Elite Four watched the battle with growing concern.

"You dumb monkey," muttered Jakuzure. "Don't kill yourself because of your stupid pride..."

"Strange as it seems, I think he has a plan," said Inumuta.

"You gotta have have faith in him," said Ryuko. "I know he can do it." She then gritted her teeth. 'C'mon, you idiot. Don't prove me wrong!' she thought.

At the sound of the voices, some of the mutant's eyes glanced briefly to the group down below. However, three simultaneous strikes on each of its three chins, tilted its heads back to look at Sanageyama, who was now glaring at the mutation with a furious expression.

"I said, keep your eyes on me!" he shouted, and launched into his familliar pattern of attacks. "MEN! DOU! KOTE! MEN! DOU! KOTE! MEN! DOU! KOTE! MEN! DOU! KOTE!"

As he called out the target of each attack, Sanageyama was now hitting all three heads, the creature's torso, and all six of its hands, at the same time. Slowly but surely, the Acrobatics mutant was now being pushed back on the tightrope by the ferocity of Sanageyama's blows; it was now just barely able to to keep up with parrying his sword. Because of that, it was now watching every move he made intently: All three of the mutant's heads were now turned towards Sanageyama, and all six of its yellow eyes glared balefully at him.

"So, you finally have all of your eyes on me, huh?" Sanageyama then slowly grinned. "Well too bad, because you should've had your eyes on her."

The Acrobatics mutant blinked oddly, and began to turn all three heads behind itself, where Sanageyama was was staring. But it was too late; Ryuko had already come up behind it like an avenging hell's angel, and with an upward motion, sliced off its uniform with her Scarf Blade. Straws scattered everywhere, and the three former Acrobatics Club members were sent tumbling in the air, nude; however, each one was caught by a member of the Elite Four, who landed safely on the ground.

With the battle finally won, Sanageyama staggered suddenly, and he stumbled on the tightrope. Just as he was about to fall, Ryuko supported his weight, and helped him to land on the ground.

"Thanks, Matoi."

"Don't mention it. You know, you're a real dumbass, taking on that mutant all by yourself," rebuked Ryuko.

"But it worked," Sanageyama grinned wearily. "Besides, I wasn't alone, was I?"

Ryuko sighed. "Can't complain about that, I suppose."

xXx

The former Acrobatics Club sat huddled together, as Gamagori handed them blankets to cover themselves with. Ryuko then walked up to the group, followed by the rest of the Elite Four, who had all changed back to civilian clothes.

"Can you guys tell us what happened here, and how you all transformed?" asked Ryuko, in a quiet voice.

The two male members looked away sullenly, while the girl looked up, with tears in her eyes.

"They were having an argument," she explained, in a high-pitched, quavery voice. "On which of one them got to date me."

There was an awkward pause. Ryuko stared at the three members of the Acrobatics Club; possibly the most unlikely love triangle ever, and quite honestly, not the the most attractive one, either. Her brain couldn't think anything polite to say, so her mouth decided to say, "Um..."

Gamagori elbowed Ryuko. "Don't be rude!"

"Hey! I didn't say nothing!" she retorted.

"Masuyo was always strangely popular," said Jakuzure, shrugging.

"She always made us laugh," said Jack Naito sadly.

The former Tightrope Walking president took a deep breath, and continued speaking. "Anyways, I couldn't decide between the two of them; we've been friends for a long time, and they both have always been so kind to me. I was mustering up the courage to tell them this, but they kept yelling at each other... Then Jack and Kagesaburo asked me to pick which one of them I liked more, and..." Her voice then faltered. "All of a sudden, these glowing red threads came out of nowhere and started tying us together! We tried to struggle free, but..."

Masuyo began to sob. "If only if I could've made up my mind sooner! Then maybe none of this would've ever happened!" She burst into a waterfall of tears, causing Ryuko and the Elite Four to take an inadvertent step back.

"Please don't cry, Masuyo!" implored Kagesaburo, patting her shoulder.

"Yeah, we didn't mean to make you upset!" Jack cast a worried look at Kagesaburo, who nodded.

"Look, if you want us all to just stay friends, we understand," said Kagesaburo quietly.

"Yeah. Neither of us would ever want to make you sad, Masuyo."

"You... Really mean it?" asked Masuyo, sniffling.

Jack and Kagesaburo both nodded, giving her genuine smiles.

Masuyo's eyes lit up. "Oh, you two! You guys are the best!" She caught them both in a bear hug and started giggle merrily, which made the other two boys start chuckling as well.

"Huh. Her laughter is kind of infectious," said Ryuko, with a smile.

She then glanced over at Sanageyama. "So, what's up with that goofy grin on your face?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I was just thinking how funny it was... That even good friends like them, can have arguments sometimes."

"Heh. That doesn't sound like anyone *we* know, does it?" replied Ryuko, grinning as well.

"Nope. Not at all." Sanageyama elbowed Ryuko teasingly, and she elbowed him back, but in a friendly way.

Behind them, an ambulance had arrived, to pick up the former Acrobatics Club members and have them taken to the hospital. As Jakuzure helped them into the ambulance, Gamagori was tidying up the area, while Inumuta was using his laptop to send over the latest Life Fiber mutation data to Iori.

As the ambulance pulled away, Ryuko and Sangeyama walked over to the rest of the Elite Four.

"Let's all go get a bite to eat," said Sanageyama to the others. "I'm starving!"

"Only if it's your treat, monkey!" teased Jakuzure.

"Me? Why me?" he asked, bewildered.

"I'm fine with anything," said Ryuko, with her hands behind her head. "As long as it's not konyaku again."

"And what's wrong with konyaku?" retorted Sanageyama.

The group began to walk away, all the while bickering in an good-natured manner.

xXx

Meanwhile, deep in the jungle forests of Africa, Satsuki Kiryuin and Rei Hououmaru were making slow but steady progress in their search for the Life Fiber artifact.

It had been two days since they had been air dropped into the area, for the greenery had been far too dense to be able to land at the exact location. Wearing tank tops and camo pants, and fully equipped with large packs, they trudged through the jungle; Satsuki had been using a military grade GPS to keep them headed in the right direction, and they both had been using machetes to cut the heavy foliage blocking their path.

It was tough work, but Rei had done all sorts of difficult and unsavoury things under Ragyo's command, so she was a no stranger to hard labour. And Lady Satsuki, as always, could handle herself.

"I think we're close now," Satsuki said suddenly.

"What makes you say that?" asked Rei.

"Look around us," Satsuki quietly replied.

Warned by her tone, Rei tried to look around without moving her head, and was startled.

"Are those animals...?"

"Wearing Life Fibers? Yes, they are."

All around them were by many types of wild animals, wearing different articles of life fiber clothing: A lion wearing an ermine cape, an elephant wearing a red bowtie, even a large bird wearing a necktie, among many others. The whole situation might've been comical, if it wasn't so worrying.

A low growl emitted from the all beasts around them.

"I've never heard of wild animals wearing Life Fibers before," murmured Rei, as the growling around them increased in volume.

"Well, we are miles away from civilization, so there are no humans around for the Life Fibers to control," Satsuki pointed out. "On the bright side, that must mean the Life Fiber artifact must be close. On the down side... We are surrounded."

Both women held their machetes out, as the beasts began to close in on them.

"The Life Fibers must be desperate in order to possess animals; it's obvious that they're guarding this area!" said Satsuki. "We'd better transform, Hououmaru!"

"Right, Lady Satsuki!" Rei balled her left hand into a fist, revealing a purple gemmed ring on her middle finger.

Satsuki placed her right hand below her left shoulder. "Life Fiber Transformation: 5-Star General!" A Life Fiber spun out from the blue gemmed ring on her thumb; then a brilliant flash of golden light gleamed behind her. "5-Star Valkyrie Regalia!"

Rei waved her left hand over her eyes. "Life Fiber Transformation: 4-Star General-" However, her sentence was cut off, as the lion pounced on her from behind, and put a giant paw on her head.

"Hououmaru!" yelled Satsuki, in dismay.

Rushing over, Satsuki kicked the beast off Rei's prone body, and sliced off its life fibers with her replica Bakuzan. As the animal fell limp, Satsuki knelt beside Rei's unconscious body.

"Rei? Rei!" Satsuki turned her body over, to see a trickle of blood dripping from Rei's forehead.

The low growls behind Satsuki, suddenly reminded her of the dire situation she was in. Satsuki turned to glare defiantly at the animals surrounding them, as they began to close in on her and Rei...

TO BE CONT...

Next chapter: "Africa"

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So, I've started writing this story again. I've always meant to, but never got around to it... Though I really wanted to, since I feel like I could've gotten much farther than I did.

I'd like to thank hmaxhanson and hatsampixie for encouraging me to continue writing this fanfic. I appreciate all the support. :)