AN OBJECT AT REST… CANNOT BE STOPPED!

O Hear My Cry, Master

Amebane spat a wad of blood from his mouth and went for another punch. His fist struck Sixty-Seven squarely in the chest but all it did was send a ripple through his layer of trademark Sekirei softness. Kagedansu grabbed his wrist and returned with two hooks to Amebane's arm.

Amebane tried to pull free, but now two hands clamped around his wrist. Amebane threw a hook but Kagedansu freed one hand to block him at the elbow. Then, like a ballroom dancer, he slid behind Amebane and brought the Sekirei's own arm around his neck. Amebane threw an elbow back, but Kagedansu merely hugged himself closer, taking the arm-meat and avoiding the pointed elbow bone. He then kicked the back of Amebane's knee, forcing him to drop to it.

Pulling Amebane's arm tight, Kagedansu hooked Amebane's raised thigh with his other arm and shoved his knee into his back.

"Always important to stretch," said Kagedansu, while Amebane's red teeth formed a grimace. The smaller Sekirei groaned but then started chuckling. "What's so funny?"

"This is exactly what I, ngh, wanted," Amebane grunted. "Now I have you right where I- AGH!"

Kagedansu hoisted him up and slammed him back down on his knee. Something gave, because Amebane wasn't laughing this time. The Sekirei reached up and began clawing at Kagedansu's face, thrashing and flailing in his iron grip. Kagedansu merely looked away.

"Huh?" His eyes narrowed, focusing on something in the distance. "Will you just…"

He twisted Amebane so his free leg dragged on the ground, then stepped over it and sat on it, giving him a free hand. He shielded the sun from his eyes, squinting, then snaked his limbs into their previous configuration.

"Looks like they're coming," he grunted, then looked down at Amebane's arching body. "I'd say thanks for the warm-up, but, you see…"

Leaning close to Amebane's neck, his smile stretched into a grimace as he venomously slurred, "I don't like you."

"We're here!" proclaimed Mikogami as his Sekirei exploded from inside the stairwell.

"No, we're here!" Kazehana shouted as she stepped up to the ledge. "So get in-"

Both were in time to see what Kagedansu did to Amebane. He didn't lay him down, touch his back and utter an incantation, oh no. What the Dream Sekirei did was flip Amebane's leg up but kept a hold on his head, so Thirteen was upside-down against him. Then, locking in the hold, Kagedansu dropped to his ass and smashed Amebane into the concrete roof. The sickening crunch was the end of Amebane's neck.

Pushing the limp body off of himself, Kagedansu spiraled up to his feet.

"So," he said as Minato and the rest arrived, "now that my hands are all warmed up, who wants a swing?"

"I do!"

Minato hushed Musubi as he considered his options. He'd planned to let Musubi take the first shot at him, under strict orders to use her Bear Fist super-attack as soon as she saw a chance. However, looking at the fist-type whose neck had just been broken, Minato was reconsidering. Mikogami appeared to be doing the same, wary of just how much trouble Kagedansu had caused, and how Akitsu's last encounter meant Mutsu was the only safe bet. That said, Minato knew Mutsu was Mikogami's ace, and the wannabe Pokemon trainer wasn't one to use Mutsu when he had other options. Not only that, but whoever beat Kagedansu would become the bear in the pit, and have to outlast all other contenders.

"By all means," Mikogami said, sweeping a hand towards Minato's group, "you first."

Minato tilted his head at that. "You're not scared of losing again, are you?"

"You wish!" Mikogami scoffed. "I just thought I'd give you a fair chance to actually win a Jinki instead of stealing it."

"And I just thought you'd want a chance to keep me from advancing," Minato countered.

"You actually think you're a threat to me?"

"No more than your crazy scythe-girl was to Musubi."

Mikogami's smile cracked a little.

"Actually, I take it back," Minato said, putting his hands in his pockets. "She was a huge threat to Musubi's clothes."

Musubi shot a fist in the air. "Yup! But I still protected my modesty!" She bowed towards Mikogami. "Yomi would've made you proud. She was mean, but strong, too."

Kagedansu looked at his left wrist. "You know, just because I have time, doesn't mean I want to spend it doing this." His eyes shifted between Minato and Mikogami. "If neither of you are going to make a move, maybe I should just pick somebody and punch them."

"Pick me, then."

From behind Minato's Sekirei emerged Uzume, Chiho standing behind Minato.

Kagedansu seemed to deflate when he saw her. He sighed. "There's just no escape from you, is there?"

"Call it 'true love'," Uzume snarked, her veils unwinding from around her body, "because I am never letting you go."

"Did it ever occur to you that maybe the reason I kept distracting you whenever I made a move… is because I didn't want to fight you?"

"Could've fooled me from those two times you tried to kill me."

Kagedansu's head perked up, as if he'd realized he'd forgotten something. "But did I succeed?"

"You know what?" Uzume asked. "Doesn't matter." Up came her veils like tentacles on a kraken. "You won't win this time."

It was then that Minato realized she was serious. "Uzume, you don't have to do this!"

She shrugged. "No." She looked over her shoulder to meet him in the eyes. "But-"

"Watch out!"

Kagedansu was on her in an instant. A single-leg takedown gave him her ankle, which he promptly twisted and broke.

Chiho surged forward. "Uzume!"

But, Kagedansu didn't capitalize. Instead, he darted back before her writhing veils could touch him.

"We done?" he asked. "You're ready to go home now?"

Uzume cried out and winced as her veils wrapped around her ankle, forcing it to realign. Slicing through the cloth with another rigid tendril, she shakily climbed to her feet and began testing her leg.

"Not hardly." She looked at Mikogami's crew, then Minato's. "All of you stay out of this." Her chocolate brown eyes settled on Kagedansu. "This is my fight."

"Not like that!" Chiho shouted, pointing at the ground at her feet. "Get back here and let someone else fight him!"

"I'd allow it," Kagedansu added. "The bear makes the rules of the bear pit. After all, if anyone breaks the rules, I can just run and hide again."

"You're a gutless coward!" Juusa spat. "I hope you realize that!"

Kagedansu didn't even look at her. "I'd rather have no guts than no chance."

Juusa angrily jammed her staff into the ground, but Akitsu laid a hand on her shoulder and murmured something which seemed to calm her down.

"He's right," Kazehana said, leaning against Minato's back. "We should wait, Minato."

Two veils shot forward. Kagedansu skipped to the side and began circling. His own sneaky tactic wouldn't work on him, not yet. Uzume favored her uninjured foot, pivoting on it as she jabbed and speared at her opponent. The rest of the participants backed up and gave them space. Minato soon realized why Kazehana had spoken up. Being this high up, any leap from the roof would put someone at Kazehana's mercy. Being the Wind Sekirei, she would decide where they landed and how hard.

Kagedansu completed his zigzagging circle near the blown-out stairwell shack. Spinning about, he grabbed the crumpled door and ripped it off its hinges, using it as a shield as he began to approach. Uzume stabbed at it with her veils, got nowhere, then grasped it and tried to rip it free from his hands.

Which she did, because Kagedansu changed gears and hucked it at her face, then rushed her. Uzume was wary, though, and pivoted on her one good leg to spin that door around like a spiked flail. Kagedansu slid to a halt when he realized that door would beat him to the punch, and dropped to his back to catch it on his Sekirei legs. The metal bounced off his feet with a clang, nearly hitting his head as he kipped up, but by then Uzume was back to her favored tactic. Two veils lanced at him, which he caught, but two more meant he had to rapidly shuffle back.

Uzume's eyes flashed. "Gotcha, bitch."

The veils in his hands went slack before winding around his arms. Uzume leapt at him with two more veils forming drills around her hands, but Kagedansu jumped up and caught her head between his thighs. Using her momentum, Kagedansu's body spun in midair. His head passed the ground and came up. Uzume's head passed his hips and came down. She would've been spiked on the concrete just like Amebane, except she saw smarter than him.

Her legs were still free, so she arched her back and whipped her feet at the ground, landing in a bridging position. She still hit her head, but all it caused was pain, not defeat. In her panic, though, her veils had gone slack, letting Kagedansu scramble free and gain some distance.

When she got up, she'd forgotten about her leg and fell down again. However, once again, Kagedansu didn't capitalize. Instead, the madman was halfway between both groups of Sekirei, shifting from foot to foot with a big, stupid grin on his face.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Come on, you have to know," he answered. "How many people can say they've hit a shoot Frankensteiner before, never mind in a real fight?"

"I dunno," Uzume said, now on her feet and beckoning him. "Why don't you rush me and we can make it two?"

"Heh. Doubt it." His upright finger swung between them. "You and me aren't 'people'."

Uzume crouched and once again brought her veils up behind her. "Then do we count?"

"Of course we count," said Kagedansu. "We're better than people."

"You're not better than Chiho," Uzume said. "Or Minato, for that matter."

"Art thou making advances on my husband?!" Tsukiumi squalled.

"Don't worry, Tsukiumi," Chiho said. "I'm all the Ashikabi she'll ever want."

Tsukiumi's eyes narrowed at her. "Art thou implying my husband is beneath her?"

Uzume kept her eyes on Kagedansu, who was glancing between her, Mikogami, and the sparks flashing between Tsukiumi and a smiling Chiho. Suddenly, she was really glad Matsu's dirty jokes hadn't come along for the ride. Tsukiumi was enough of a powder keg without them. Minato would've thought the same, if not for a dirty-joke-by-text he got. This was followed by another which read, Btw, Kagedansu has some kind of scrambler/jammer/infrared thing on that's blurring his features. No wonder the satellite couldn't find him.

"I'm waiting," Uzume said.

"Same here," said Kagedansu. "If you wanna run down the clock and not fight anymore, that's fine with me."

"Then why stay?" Uzume asked. "We've got an hour till noon. You think you can last that long?"

"Why fight?" Kagedansu countered. "You don't need a Jinki, and unlike that edgelord-" He jabbed a thumb at Mikogami. "You don't have any spares."

"This is personal, Kagedansu. I wouldn't expect you to understand, but I need to pay everyone back for saving Chiho. Without them, I'd still be under Higa's thumb. That includes you, too." Uzume tested her injured ankle again and winced a little. "So, I'll get Minato a Jinki, and make it quick for you. Then we'll all be even."

"Honestly-"

"I don't care."

Uzume jumped up and sent all but one of her veils slashing towards him in a sphere of deadly white. Kagedansu stood there, looking at it, not moving. Just as it reached him, he kicked back and moved around the concrete stairwell shack. Uzume heard a muffled crunch of concrete breaking, then another as she landed. Metal groaned as she approached from one side, and a snap made her alert. He probably had a weapon of some kind, and if it was metal, her veils would've been able to cut through it.

Kinda surprised he didn't sneak something into his pants, she thought, since he had that profile on me.

She was proven right when she coiled her veils again and blasted him with another bladed ball. This time, he had a piece of rebar as long as his arm, and a hole in the concrete of the stairwell. He simply batted her veils away with the rebar and backed up, until he switched gears and rushed her. Uzume blocked his punch with her last veil. When it snapped at him, he leapt back.

"Honestly," Kagedansu said again, annoyed as he pointed to Minato, "I was counting on fighting one of them. This whole thing is to give Austin-"

Minato closed his eyes and allowed himself a good cringe.

"-a sporting chance at a Jinki. I wasn't lying when I said you're the only one I'd trust with that super-weapon besides me."

"What super-weapon?" Mikogami asked, turning to Mutsu. "What's he talking about?"

"I might've trusted him," he continued, nodding at Minato, "but he's not smart enough. He never floated the possibility I was against him."

"Neither did I," Uzume said coldly. "Why am I different?"

"Because you were driving under the influence."

"Excuse me?" Kazehana muttered. Uzume's look said the same.

"You were emotionally vulnerable and isolated and also coming off of…" Kagedansu thought for a moment. "How good was it for you?"

Uzume flipped him off. "Fuck you, asshole."

"And yet-" Kagedansu scratched his cheek disinterestedly. "-you still did what needed to be done. You played it smart. You… You hedged your bets instead of going all-in. You played it safe for Chiho's sake, but when the other door opened, you took it."

Kagedansu nodded. "What we want and what we need aren't always the same thing. Tough decisions usually mean deferred gratification, doing what's practical instead of what feels good. That's the kind of thinking you need when aiming a cannon, never mind a nuke."

"Maybe," Uzume admitted. "Though, if you're so concerned with Minato's fair chance, how do you expect him to get a Jinki without ending you?"

"That," he said, "is a good question."

…

"And?" said Uzume.

"And nothing. I don't need to tell you."

She nodded contemptuously. "That's what I thought, bitch. Now hold still and take your shots."

Kagedansu rolled his eyes as Uzume… Wait…

She felt like such a dum-dum for never thinking of it before. His eyes. Those things he uses to see.

A plan came together in Uzume's head. He was keeping his distance and keeping their close encounters short. She was used to fighting weapon- or body-types like Musubi, who always tried to close the gap. Kagedansu was different. He was a brain-type; his specialty was information. Watching her and picking his shots was how he planned to beat her.

So she'd throw a wrench into things.

Uzume leapt forward and shot two veils at him. Kagedansu bobbed beneath, putting them both on his right and grabbing them one-handed. She'd expected that, and with her a grappling veil changed direction to sweep around his left, close to the roof's edge. Catching him in the face with the veils he'd caught, Uzume blinded him, but only for a second.

He quickly spun, ducked, and let the veils slide off his head. Uzume was right in his face, about to drive a cloth drill into his body. Here, his forward thinking showed: with his free hand, he steered it beneath his raised right arm and trapped her wrist beneath.

But Uzume was ready with her other arm, also armed with a cloth drill. Kagedansu caught it, but barely. The tip had pierced his black gi. She could see he'd sucked in his gut to avoid it. Not for long, though.

Her hidden veils unwrapped themselves and dove at his ankles. With a hard yank, almost like a double-leg takedown of her own, the two of them were sent crashing to the ground.

And her drill was sent stabbing into his body.

For a moment, Kagedansu's eyes went wide with shock. Uzume lay on top of him, her chocolate brown orbs looking into his yellow ones. Then he looked down, saw the hardened lance of white sticking out from beneath his ribs, and gave up. His hands flopped down beside himself. His head thudded back. The muscles in his neck rippled as he swallowed, the only effort left in his limp body. His eyes slowly slid shut.

"Now we're done, Kagedansu," she said.

Beneath her, she felt his lungs expand with his last gasp of, "Good."

Uzume closed her eyes and sighed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Inside his office, Minaka was clapping his hands like an infant.

"Ee-hee-hee… HA hahahahahaha! I knew I was right not to punish you, Number 10!" His hands slammed onto his desk as he leaned forward, nose pressed to the computer monitor. "But how will you fare with what comes next, I wonder?!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Uzume's sigh hitched when she smelled something on his breath. No, it wasn't the coppery tang of the blood filling his throat. It was metallic, sure, but it smelled more like…

Like…

Rusty iron.

Uzume's breath quickened. She didn't know why, but some animal sixth sense was telling her to get back. She leapt off of Kagedansu, forward-flipped in the air, and caught herself on her veils.

Chiho gasped. "Uzume!"

Uzume looked to where Chiho was pointing, at the drill still formed on her hand. From halfway to the tip, the cloth was blacker than asphalt, and it reeked of that same rusty odor.

"Fuck!" Uzume couldn't tear it off fast enough. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!"

A gurgling groan made her haul ass back to her group of friends. No one spoke to her; they were far too focused on what was happening to Kagedansu.

Number 67 was on his hands and knees. More of that black chaw was positively gushing from the wound in his body, spilling out onto the concrete in an ever-widening pond of the stuff. It flowed around his hands but didn't seem to stick as he lifted one and tried to staunch the flow. Then, just as it reached nearly two meters in diameter, it just… stopped. More liquid tumbled from his wound with every horrifying second, but the amount on the ground remained the same.

"What's wrong with him?!" Ku wailed, scared out of her wits.

The cascade seemed to slow and the pond began to visibly shrink. Kagedansu straightened his arms and lifted himself to one knee. With strain one his face, he reached into his-

"What the hell is going on?!" Mikogami shouted. For once, Minato and Chiho were in complete agreement.

With a sickening squelch, Kagedansu stuck his fingers into his wound and began pulling lumpy, sticky ropes of black glue from inside himself. His thin layer of Sekirei cellulite began to shrink up his arms and from his back, receding with each pull of the black wad in his hands. As the fat on his back slid over his shoulders and left his deltoids as hard, sinewy balls of muscle, the wad began to melt. It turned into more of that salwan liquid and ran down between his fingers, never even hitting the ground before it disappeared into nothing. Just like the black puddle had, for it, too, had faded away.

Minato's fingers were like a frightened cat's, digging into the palms of Musubi and Tsukiumi. "What is that?!"

Just when the first round of vomiting was sure to begin, Kagedansu's rope trick from hell wrapped up. The last of the rubbery sludge snapped from his wound and into the wad, and the wound itself closed into a layer of pristine skin. There was no sign of it.

Flopping the wad on the ground, which was melting like fat on-

Kusano threw up. It was all too much for her. It was rapidly becoming too much for everyone else.

-Kagedansu stood up, his gi hanging more loose about his shoulders. There was practically no fat left on his body. The only thing that looked even remotely soft was his face, so out-of-place with his new physique, slightly smaller but shredded.

"It's like I said,'' he said, scratching his cheek. Then his fingers pushed into his cheek and began massaging the flesh. It reminded Minato of a clay sculptor-

"Ku, cover your eyes!" he shouted. The Green Girl groaned but Kazehana was there to save her from watching what happened next.

The back of Kagedansu's square jaw was pushed inward, losing width and becoming narrower. Each time his fingers pushed against his bones, more of his flesh failed to refill the divots. His cheekbones became more pronounced. This went on for another fifteen of the most stomach-churning seconds that any person present had ever experienced, before Kagedansu's cheeks bulged and he blew another lumpy wad of black from his mouth.

Standing up, he looked directly at Minato with his glowing yellow eyes. "It was me…" He slowly spread his arms and took a ballet dancer's bow. "All alooong."

For Minato, there was no mistaking that smile, or that voice.

"Hametsu."