Well, Writer's Block crawled back to "Director's Agony", so you're stuck with the second part of.... um, what can I call this one in short? I know, I'll call it "SRaLF". You know, when I say that in real life, it sounds funny! So I'll call it "SRaLF". Whee. I'm sure some of you are wondering how I can make this just as good a read as Part 1 was, and my answer is - "I won't try.". Oh yes, can't forget the obligatory SPOILER warning.

DISCLAIMER : vague statement Live-A-Live does NOT belong to me. /vague statement

Is that all I can say about this fic at the moment? *checks* Yes. Mwaha!

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LIVE-A-LIVE - "THE SPHERICAL ROBOT AND THE LOVESTRUCK FOOL" (Part 2)

By - Helen / Buriki Daioh / Etcetera

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The opening formerly covered by the now-broken boulder was in fact, a form of cavern. This cavern was surprisingly well lit, even though there was no sign of a light source nearby. Lei was leading the quartet through the cavern, with Cube only centimeters away from her. Akira was a few feet away from the small robot, and Masaru was deliberately walking at a slow pace.

Akira glanced over his shoulder. "You're going to have to get over the fact that Lei broke a rock you couldn't sooner or later, Masaru." he stated, but got bitter silence as a reply. "Masaru, you were supposed to respond with something like 'Akira, I'm tired of your crap'...."  he said, as though he was trying to have a meaningful conversation with thin air. Again, he got no response. "Gees. The least you could have done was grunted.".

Lei had chosen to ignore the mind-reader for the time being. Her attention was focused on another large boulder. After a while of having a sort of meaningless staring contest with the boulder, she had come to a conclusion. "I don't know any techniques that could split this rock...." she murmured.

"Why not? You broke the rock that got us into this place fine enough...." Masaru grumbled in a bitter tone.

"Like the badly dressed boy over there said, Masaru, you have to get over that sooner or later." Lei responded, unimpressed at the wrestler's protest.

"HEY!" Akira protested. "So what if I don't like wearing shirts or if the majority of my clothing is leather-based? I like it that way!". Cube had to keep itself from bursting out into a fit of robotic laughter at the stupidity of this exchange.

Masaru had a comment for Akira's outburst, but he quickly decided it was inappropriate, and instead focused his attention on Lei. "If you knew what it felt like to have your ego completely torn apart, Lei, you'd understand my bitterness completely." he stated. Lei and Akira recoiled in shock at Masaru having said something that could be considered intelligent for once in his life.

Some time passed in silence, as the four continued through the cave until another boulder was found.

"This rock...." Lei said to herself, walking up to it. She reached out and stroked it, as though in a trance, and then quickly took a step backwards. She focused, before swiftly kicking the boulder. However, this boulder still remained intact. "My technique isn't working...." she murmured. The martial artist then tried a wide variety of Shinsaken Martial Arts techniques on the boulder.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Masaru." Akira said with a wink and a delirious grin.

"Oh, I am...." Masaru sighed in sick, twisted contentment, until a second meaning of what the mind-reader had said hit him. "Hey wait...." he said suspiciously. "You're not trying to imply Lei and I are lovers again, are you?".

Akira kept grinning deliriously. "Nah." he said. "I'm implying that you're a perv.".

"Why you....!" Masaru screamed. He leapt towards Cube, but the robot had already learnt the trick and quickly zipped across the ground, away from the wrestler's grasp. "Akira, you have done nothing but annoy me this whole trip!" he screamed once again. "Once I catch the round thing, you're getting it!".

Akira stopped grinning and raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" he said in an innocent tone. "And what have I done to displease you?".

Although Masaru was currently occupied with trying to catch Cube - who kept evading the wrestler's grasp - he still chose to reply to Akira's question. "Where do I start?" he snarled, before bursting out into another fit of screaming. "For starters, when we first found you, you were wearing women's panties, for crying out loud!".

"You say you're Japanese, Masaru." Akira said, unimpressed by the wrestler's logic. "Since you're Japanese, wouldn't you understand that habit?". He couldn't help but smirk a little. "Or were you too busy in the local gym to even know what people do with panties?".

"I don't care!" Masaru shot back. "Then you kept reading our minds, and taunting us about our secrets! You should know that you're not supposed to do that!".

"But it's fun, right?" Akira replied, still smirking. "And you DID say you wanted to know Lei's....".

"Shut up!" Masaru quickly said before Lei could react to this sort of conversation. "Then you keep getting knocked out in battle all the damn time....".

"So do you." Akira retorted snidely.

"And you got us stuck in some form of dungeon where we almost got eaten by those snake-people...." Masaru continued. "Wait, what were they called again?".

"Ishtars." Akira said. "And I assure you, it was completely accidental. If I wanted to do that, I'd have sent only you there.".

"There's another reason, you're a cheeky little son of a b...." Masaru said, but....

"I'd like to think that my mother was a NICE woman, thank you very much!" Akira interrupted, having taken offense to Masaru's most recent reason.

"Then there was the time you tried to get me into a silver dress!" Masaru continued, still unable to catch the small robot.

"Um, Masaru?" Akira questioned in a confused tone. "Lei tried to get you in that dress, not me.".

"WHATEVER!". It was clear that Masaru was getting greatly annoyed with his reasons for why Akira annoyed him continually contradicted.

Lei sighed in irritation, having given up trying to break the boulder in front of her while the bantering behind her took place. "Would you boys PLEASE be quiet?" she asked, not trying to hide the tone of irritation in her voice.

"Yes ma'am...." Akira said in an insincere tone. Masaru grunted in reply, and Cube beeped for around two milliseconds until it realized that the martial artist wasn't talking to it.

Lei rolled her eyes, but said nothing. Instead, she tried another technique on the boulder. She twirled around and hit the boulder as hard as she possibly could, causing the boulder to shatter. Before she could react, however, Masaru had chased Cube into the newly opened passage. "Eh, they'll be back." she said, an overly confident smirk on her face.

"And what makes you think that?" Akira asked, somehow not willing to read Lei's mind at this moment.

"Well...." Lei started to say, but some frantic beeping and a cry of "HOLY CRAP!" interrupted her, followed by a panicked wrestler and a panicked robot making their way back to where the boulder was shattered. "Told you so." Lei stated bluntly, winking to Akira. "Now, what did you guys just see?" she asked, having turned to Masaru.

"It's horrible...." Masaru whimpered. "It's ghastly, and should be put out of its misery.... It's....".

Akira stepped into the passage, took a look around before seeing what the wrestler was talking about, and stepped out again. "For Buriki Daioh's sake, Masaru, it's a human being!" he yelled.

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Eh, Writer's Block decided to step in for this part. Nice timing, Writer's Block. REALLY. /sarcasm And, the obligatory Author's Notes -

* For all of you worried that I may have somewhat self-inserted myself in there, I didn't. Buriki Daioh is actually the giant Mecha which Akira controls for the last battles in his chapter. (I'm sure the sheer majority of you already knew that, however.)

* For all of you worried about "Director's Agony", I haven't forgotten about it. It's just coming along REALLY slowly.

* For all of you worried that this will turn into a romance fic, I'll do my best to keep that from happening - you see, I can't write romance AT ALL.

* I don't know WHAT brought on the Masaru/Akira bicker moment. Really, I don't. o_o;;

* To answer the question of IN.DO.GU.TSU .... if you haven't figured it out yet, I don't really want to spoil the surprise. ~_~;; Hint, though - the main's not Masaru.

* And the Silver Dress thing is an inside joke. See, it's an armour you can get in the Final Chapter which has…. mediocre defensive properties, but can raise I.Q. Of course, Masaru has the lowest I.Q out of all of my party. Mwaaaah.

So.... Part 3 will DEFINETLY be the last part of this deranged little plot bunny. For now, though, you'll just have to settle for this chapter. You know the drill about feedback.... seeya at Part 3! (Hey, I didn't say Part 3 of WHICH series.... :P)