At the watch tower in the middle of the prison sat all the big bad criminals who were now in control of the island. Kida-along with DJ Octavio-sat in the control room with the key hostage of the warden Smarre; Kida had sent a ransom to the Inkopolis government, asking for a massive supply of money, food, and transportation for the inmates without the government trying anything. Kida knew that the government would refuse and send in their reinforcements, so he prepared his fellow men for what may lie ahead. "We'll need to be on our guard for when the government hounds get here, expect them to show up with heavy power, so gather some armor along with the weapons found in the artillery." He said shortly before he sent them all off to take a position across the island.
Cameron, Ueru, and Han-along with his apprentices appeared before him while he drank a beer with DJ Octavio; Kida's expression changed when he saw Han in his ninja outfit. The room is awkwardly silent as Kida and Han stare at one another, that is until Kida asks for a status report from Cameron.
"And who is the young man with you…?"-Looking over Cameron's shoulder at Ueru-"I don't remember him ever being a member of the black urchins…"
"He isn't. I recruited him the other day after his performance at the fall festival; he made it to the finals in the Martial Arts tournament." Cameron responded solemnly.
Kida narrows his eyes and tilts his head back, "Why didn't he win the finals?"
Cameron takes a gulp, "his opponent was Azule…"
Kida's ears twitched as he heard that name, "so he lost to that boy."
"Yes, although the match itself had rules and regulations…and Ueru had already pissed off Azule to a point I've never seen him before…"
"Judging from that my guess is that Azule must be very powerful now…"-he gets up from the table and pulls out a sword from a cabinet and looked at his reflection in the sword-"perfect time for me to come face to face with him and chop him up to little shreds the next time I ever see him."
Ueru stepped forward, "Wait, I want to face him!"
Kida looked at him condescendingly, "And what do you plan to do when we see him again? You already conceded defeat to him once before…"
"That was a fluke. I had restrictions placed against me because my style of fighting centers on torture and murder…I want my opportunity of revenge the next time I see him."
They stare each other down, "fine. But when the day comes that we see his face again…you better take his life."
"It'll be my pleasure."
"Actually, about that…I have information regarding the people who'll be on their way here." Cameron intercepted, notifying Kida of his eavesdropping on the conversation between Principal Telfin and the students who'd be doing this mission. "They're known as Kidvel, and they're lead by Agent 6 herself…and she has backup with her."
"Who's the backup?" Kida demanded, looking down on Cameron.
"Azule…Cobalt…and Tangie…"
Kida, Ueru and Han's faces froze once they heard the two names called that caught their attention: Azule and Cobalt. Kida's face darkened, "He's on his way here…?"
"Yes…I overheard everything. Apparently he was recommended to join the mission on Agent 6's request, feeling that he was strong enough to make a difference."
"Cobalt is coming…?" Han said to himself, almost stunned.
Kida turned to Han with a cold stare, "exactly why are you here?"
"I'm here to recover King Octavio by the orders of Lady Octavio." Han responded, matching Kida's cold glare.
"Candice sent you? Can't say I'm surprised but I never imagined that she'd turn to ninjas for help." DJ Octavio said. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be leaving just yet."
Han and his apprentice's are surprised by his statement, "But your highness, we have a boat ready for you as well as a huge army of my men ready to protect you…it would be risky to leave you here when a battle is just about to happen." Han appealed, hoping to get off the island before any of his men get dragged into the mess.
"It's precisely that reason that I'm staying…I want to see this Azule boy for myself."-Turning to Kida-"you said that the boy was the son of Agent 3 and 4, right?"
"Yes." Kida nodded.
"Those two were frightening people to combat against…I can't imagine how that boy must be."
"We'll see soon what he's really made of…" Kida said with a mischievous smile.
Azule and friends sail through the swampy water of the island, observing the moss that hanged from the trees. The sun was beginning to set as the evening sky came; Azule looked up, thinking about how Sky must be doing in her Preliminary tournament. They navigate through the swamp and arrive at the shore, seeing a massive dock of boats-they all knew right away that this wouldn't be an easy fight judging from the hundreds of boats there.
"We should dock somewhere else just in case…" Parker said, leading the way as both the boats docked near a bunch of trees where there was also some solid ground for them to avoid the water.
"I guess we should be very careful since we don't know how many enemies we'll be facing." Nelson said, keeping a lookout.
Pastelle looked off into the distance and saw the tall watch tower, "They're over at the watch tower…I have a hunch that whoever caused this uprising is relaxing there, probably waiting for us…"
"How do you know they'd be waiting for us?" Azule asked, taking one of the pills from Dr. Sinclair afterwards.
"Think logically now, they sent a ransom to our government. They know very well that our government wouldn't simply give in to such a lame attempt; they're expecting us."
She notices at Azule's struggling to grasp the scenario, "notice how we haven't seen any prisoners try to escape the island…"
"They're waiting for us…we should have our weapons ready." Parker said, grabbing his gun; everyone had their weapon ready. Taylor and Nelson had splatchine guns, Pastelle had her signature sniper, and Cobalt had his blade.
"I guess we'll go bare with our arms and legs as our weapons!" Azule joked.
The seven of them crouched through the swampy jungle as they came closer and closer to the prison's entrance. A couple of inmates were huddled together, beating up on what looked like a prison guard. Pastelle sets up her gun and sniped of the men in the foot, catching the attention of the rest; Pastelle commands the others to head out and start the attack. Cobalt slices the others down swiftly with one powerful strike from his blade. They pummel the weak criminals and advance through the prison, defeating whoever came across their path led by Cobalt in the front with Pastelle in the rear.
Kida and the others watched as they saw the small group of adolescents approach the watch tower; nearly all of the inmates left scurried to the watch tower for defense since all of the ninja and extra black urchin members were all there encircling the tower. Kida laughs to himself as he sent a message to Cameron, telling Cameron to evacuate the rest of the inmates and his important contacts like Lobinci and Karpone. He ordered Ueru and DJ Octavio to stay with him as he dismissed the Han and his ninjas.
"I won't leave this island unless King Octavio is on board with us." Han said with authority, "I'll take care of these children, so make sure to stay out of harm your highness."
Han and his two apprentices exit the control room and head down to the battle field; Cobalt and the others are engaged in a full on battle against the massive numbers of ninjas and prisoners that block their way.
"Now we just wait…"-Kida took a seat a got out a pack of cards from his pocket-"Who wants to play some spades?"
Cobalt stabs a guy square in the face and sends him flying back with blood spraying out, he avoids the sneak attack from another ninja-grabbing his arm, and flipping him over. A loud stomp catches his attention, and once he looks up-seeing the imposing glare from Han-he exhales deeply, tightening the grip on his blade.
"To think I'd into you in here of all places." Han said, crossing his arms as he continued to glare at Cobalt; the others pause what they're doing to stare at the two and await what they might do. "I heard you'll be in the selection…"
Cobalt's red eyes suddenly turned deadly, "It's none of your business, Han."
"And what do you plan on doing if I continue?" Han snarled; Cobalt changed his stance-ready for a fight.
"Come find out for yourself…"
The two apprentices came forward to cut off the path for Parker, Taylor and Nelson; Roujou and Ayumi were both highly skilled ninja that spent most of their lives under Han's tutelage. Roujou was a fighter who preferred close combat instead of the usual form of fighting that a ninja would opt to do; his stubborn personality reflected his style of fighting, refusing to ever ease up on his opponents. Ayumi was way more dynamic in her fighting, relying more on her stealth and speed-along with her arsenal of weapons-to take down her opponents.
"So two masked ninjas in fancy colors are trying to block us!? Come at me! You all are at a disadvantage with two people!"
Pastelle looked over at Parker, who nodded at her with reassurance. Pastelle led Azule and Tangie to the watch tower as their friends all began their battles. Tangie looks back to see Cobalt's scary face, worrying that he might go too far. Azule grabs her hand, "Cobalt will be fine. Trust in his abilities."
"So, it seems that I'll have to cut you up first…" Cobalt said with a smirk.
"I was about to say the same thing about you!" Han retorted, beginning the fight.
Cobalt lunged forward and attempted to jab Han quickly, but Han disappeared in thin air! This doesn't surprise Cobalt, as if he was familiar with the tactic, and instead anticipated the whereabouts of Han. Han threw out a set of shurikens that alarmed Cobalt, who sliced them all in half with one swing; Han only laughs, expecting to see something like that from the famous Cobalt. Cobalt sprints at Han with the blunt side of the blade facing Han, and then Cobalt halts suddenly and takes a hard swing with his katana; Han sensed what Cobalt was doing, moving out the way as a strong gust of wind shot from the black blade.
"If there's one thing that's scary about fighting you…it's the potential that you possess!" Han said, thankful that he avoided that attack.
Roujou and Ayumi were definitely keeping the Kidvel members busy, backing them away from the watch tower with their combination of attacks; many of the ninjas swarmed to the boats to exit the island. Parker notices the big criminals leaving the island along with all the excess ninjas and gang members.
"They're escaping…!"
"And you won't be doing anything about it!" Roujou concluded, taking out a dagger -swinging at Parker; Parker trips over and fell to the ground with Roujou diving on top of him to finish the fight.
Parker diverts the dagger from piercing his skin, knocking it out of Rojou's possession. Parker then throws Roujou off of him and the two engage in a fist fight after getting up, exchanging blows with one another. Parker lands a hit that blackened Roujou's left eye and stops their fight as Roujou stared down at the ground; he never had a black eye, and once he felt how swollen it was, the fight was about to take a turn for the worse.
Ayumi had been doubling down against Taylor and Nelson, fending both of their attacks off like they were nothing. Ayumi didn't attempt to use any of her weapons during her attack, seeing that there was no need to take the fight so far since her opponents didn't look like they were ready to kill. She pauses as she observes them, who are both out of breath.
"You kids shouldn't be here…"-she looks over at Roujou's fight with Parker, seeing how desperately Parker was trying to keep Roujou from landing any lethal blows-"this environment isn't for you all. Why do you continue to go on with this futile effort?"
"B…Because we're a team…! We'll always support Pastelle no matter how difficult it may get." Nelson answered, hunched over with sweat dripping from his nose.
"Because we know that she'll do the same for us!" Taylor added taking a knee as she also regained her breath.
Ayumi stares at them for a long second, pondering on their emotional words. Ayumi closed her eyes, understanding their feelings and stopping her attack, wishing no more to rob them of their lives; she looks over at Roujou and commanded him to halt his attack, stating that there was no reason to engage in any unnecessary action. Roujou stopped his actions and obeyed since he didn't have any malice towards them either, but when they looked over at their master and saw him still weighing a battle against the relentless Cobalt-both their hearts craving to spill the other's blood as they kept up the amazing intensity -they knew that it was only just beginning for the two.
"I see you're one nightmare!" Cobalt smirked with hungry eyes, "You're definitely no pushover!"
Han laughed with frustration, "You're too young to be this powerful…"
Han takes out a smaller katana blade along with his shurikens and began to emit a white light from the weapons, catching Cobalt by surprise. Everyone kept a distance from them, sensing the intensity from the two opponents. Cobalt laughed at Han's sudden one-up attempt, "So we're finally taking this seriously?"
A blue flame emits from Cobalt's black blade, similar to before at the festival. Han marveled, confirming his belief about Cobalt-This boy…! He's the real deal! They both exchanged a cold look at the other like warriors prepared to die, and then like the wind, they disappeared!
Pastelle led Azule and Tangie up the watch tower, focused on stopping Kida. Kida's behind all of this! She thought, running up the spiral stairs with a huge gap ahead of Azule and Tangie. They see a door at the top and barge right through-breaking the door to find three enemies stand before them, all three seemed calm, expecting their appearance. Kida licked his lips with predation once he saw Azule, locking eyes with the boy; Azule could sense the bloodlust from where he stood, but Kida wasn't the only one with such a strong sense for it either. Ueru was oozing bloodlust too as the only thing on his mind was getting revenge, and possibly killing Azule. But those two fiends weren't alone, because to Azule's right, he saw the furious Tangie ready to fight Ueru, noticing how hard she clenched her fists-hard enough for her veins to be showing.
"So you three are the ones we've been treated to?" Kida said, covering his face.
"What the hell are you doing all the way here!?" Pastelle yelled.
"Isn't it obvious? To set the great King Octavio free!"
Azule looked over at DJ Octavio and saw the man looking directly at him, making Azule uncomfortable. Tangie took a step forward with immense pressure filling the room, and on the other side waited Ueru-who marked his prey in Azule.
"So we finally meet again…" Ueru said, cracking his knuckles. "This time, I'll kill you and make you pay, Azule!"
Tangie stood in front of Azule, "I'm your opponent, bastard!"
Azule continued to make quick glances over at DJ Octavio, as if having something he wanted to ask. Pastelle loosens her arms and does some quick stretches, "I guess I'll have to beat the ego out of you…"
"I'm sorry, but I would prefer to fight Azule…I have business with him. Not you."
"And I ain't letting ya touch him! You'll deal with me!" Pastelle said in a strange accent, with extreme passion.
Pastelle… Azule's heart sang, as he saw the one he had deep admiration for defending him.
"Oh? You've changed a bit from before Agent 6…you weren't this way at the hospital."
"It's on me to look after everyone here"-she thought of the sacrifices that her teammates made in past for her, of the dedication both Azule and Tangie have spent to further their combat skills-"I know very well that everyone here is capable of incredible things…but I refuse to let someone like Azule fall to your wrath."
"Oh really…? That's pretty big talk…"
Pastelle looked at the floor for a minute, "If anything happened to him, I wouldn't be able to ever show my face near his sister."
"Then let's see how deserving you are of that title as the sixth agent!" Kida disappeared right afterwards, and then reappeared behind Pastelle with his sword ready; Pastelle's reflexes acted quick enough for her to dodge a lethal hit.
Pastelle recovers her form quickly, getting up. Kida relaxes and studies her, encircling her with his sword eyeing her too. Pastelle drew him away from Azule's location, and lured him over to the window side by of the control room. Ueru stared at Azule even though he could feel the menacing glare from Tangie. He looked around the room, measuring the landscape in his mind-closing his eyes as he did so.
"If it is a battle that you wish to engage in, then I say we move towards the main yard right behind here; it has all the space we could possibly need for our battle."
Tangie narrowed her eyes as tilting her head back, "Whatever the location, you'll lose."
"Hold on to that foolish thought if you want, but it'll end in the same way as before."
DJ Octavio came forward, "I'll spectate then, since your match will have more room than Kida's."
"I'll go too, just in case anything happens." Azule added, uneasy with Tangie fighting Ueru alone since last time she nearly had her spirits broken just like her body.
They both left the watch tower to head there, followed by DJ Octavio and Azule. "Better not try anything funny…" Tangie said, targeting Ueru who led the group outside.
"Be patient, your demise will be soon." He responded.
Pastelle breathed a sigh of relief, seeing now as her perfect opportunity to take down Kida now that they were gone. Now we'll have this entire watch tower as the battlefield… she was just about ready to finally use her real strength when she saw an old man out the corner of her eye unconscious on the floor. Instead of keeping her guard up in case Kida tried to attack, she immediately rushed over to help the warden. She took the cloth out of his mouth and gently slapped him on the face to try and wake him up. The old man swayed his head from side to side, keeping his eyes shut tight-wincing in pain.
"Warden Smarre…can you respond?"
"I-I...It's over…" he mumbled; Pastelle's eyebrows shot up with confusion.
"What? What are you talking about?"
"They…they've taken power…Death Row Island is no more!" he cried wih snot beginning to drip from his nose.
"Where are the other guards?"
"They're either dead or beaten badly…I've been trapped up here so I don't know where any of them could be!"
Pastelle helped him up and then told him to go downstairs to where the others were waiting, telling him to go and search for any survivors remaining, but unfortunately he couldn't move his body, so Pastelle puts his arm around her neck and helps him over to the exit where they to go down the stairs. "I'll contact HQ and tell them to bring a plane for you and any other survivors."
As they make their way to the door, Kida reappears and swings with his sword; Pastelle dodges the attack but doesn't escape it unscathed, her face has a huge scratch from the blade. She felt the cut, looking at her hand and seeing the blood that covered her fingers. Her facial expression changed, darkening as she began to boil up with rage.
"You've gone and done it now…" she said, with a deadly stare.
