Jet, Virginia, Maya, and Alfred burst into the basement halls. ARMs ready to fire. Nothing there. They found that maybe leaving Shady and Todd to guard the outside was a good idea since there was nothing here. Still, they only just got in and so they crept through the shadows until they came to the foyer of sorts to the main hall—the one in which Todd had said he saw the staff.

Lining the walls of that 'foyer' were amassed the followers who are part of the Sin Con Movement. A good thirty at best.

Maya stepped forward. "I can handle these guys." She took out a novel regarding her favorite magician. "You guys go get Aura and then we'll discuss who gets the Staff of the Sky."

Jet leered at her. "You mean fight, not discuss, right?"

"You know Maya puts her own definition to words." Virginia remarked. Alfred tossed one of his 'Homemade Bombs' and that cleared the path for the three to get onto the main corridor.

"Okay, so who wants some?" Maya wonders.

On the exterior of the Abneto home the cat, Shady, looks about the terrain. Nothing of note. Todd meanwhile went off to take a leak and said it may take some time. That meant the opposite of what he said then. Shady's ears twitched.

"Something's wrong." He starts to fly away and is cut off by a set of knives that were flung in the ground. Upon a closer look they were in actuality feathers. "The Hell..." Shady jumps away as a humanoid figure drops to the ground.

Standing tall it seems that the man is in reality a mythical beast known as a Tengu. The long nose made that obvious as well as the wings on his back. "Destroy meddlers Master say...Tengu destroy them, Tengu say." No, the man was not a mythical Tengu. He was a normal man that was made into a Tengu. Either that, or a retarded Tengu.

Shady sends a blast of fire at the bird who moves aside and throws a half-dozen of his blade-like feathers at the cat. Shady dodges said feathers barely. It was that moment that the bird-man took to the air causing Shady to fire that direction into the sky and misses each time as Tengu simply maneuvers around it. Shady attempts to glide upward, but is cut off when Tengu swoops down and hits the cat into a nearby tree—breaking the tree in three. Shady stands and blows a breath of fire burning the Bird-man's leg. Swooping down again Shady is hit and sent sliding across the lawn in a rough manner. When he finally stands he is knocked aside by Tengu again. Finally Tengu scoops up the cat and takes him to the air and drops him to the ground.

A cough leaves the cat. "I probably broke some bones that time."

He glances up to see Tengu coming down on him. "Don't be a bully." Tengu stopped his descent and looked to the roof to find Todd and his afro moving in the wind. "You weren't planning on killing my friend were you? Because, then we have a problem." Jumping from the roof for Tengu in an instant Todd draws his blade and strikes out at the freak. The bird nimbly dodges as Todd lands on the ground, rebounds, and misses again as Tengu takes to the air. "Coward!"

Tengu swoops down at Todd and misses Todd who rolls aside and flings some kunai knife from his hair into Tengu's left wing causing the Bird's altitude to drop. "Hurts...pay for, you will!" In seconds Tengu has passed by Todd. Seconds later a burst of blood exits Todd's right shoulder causing him to grab at his wound.

"What are you?" Todd mutters overcoming the pain.

"Death!" Tengu pecks at the man with the afro, but Todd jumps away and uses his left arm to slice up the right wing of Tengu. Tengu charges forward and knocks Todd across the front yard they fought in. Todd swiftly stand and hits Tengu with a double kick. As Todd goes in to slash the bird responds by taking to the air weakly and slowly.

"That's it!" With that aggravated shout Todd threw his blade into the air cleaving off Tengu's left wing and causing the bird-man to fall to the desert dirt with a yelp. The dust scattered as Todd went about retrieving his blade. "Now you lose." He warned scooping it up.

"Kill!" Tengu stood from the ground and charged forward. Todd effortlessly took his blade and struck out at the beast. A moment passed and the beast fell to the earth. Todd sighs and drops to the ground to mend his wounds. "You okay?" He questioned the cat.

"You were late." Shady replied.

"Shut it." The afro man simply responded.

Sanen struggled to remove the staff from it's pedestal. It seemed that the staff had been sealed into that rock formation that became the pedestal long ago. So, it was only natural that it would be hard to remove. Aura meanwhile stood off to the side in fear and worry. It was at this moment that the group burst into the room tearing down the doors as they did.

Sanen turned to them. "Has my offer been accepted? I would hate to have to steal from my good friend."

"I'm afraid he hasn't." Jet simply replied standing in front of Alfred and Virginia. "That staff shall never belong to you." He glanced to Alfred. "I'm going after the staff." Jet stated. "I'll leave Aura to you after I get her out of the way." Alfred nodded in understanding. Jet gave up on Aura. He wanted the staff more than he did her. It was obvious. Still, Jet realized also that Aura's image only plucked at his heartstrings. There was only one woman he could think of in the manner Alfred did of Aura. He looked to Virginia.

"Back you up?" She wondered.

"Something like that. But, whatever you want to do is fine by me." Jet replied.

"If that is Abneto's reply..." Sanen's voice boomed throughout the room. He looked to Aura. "Than suffer the child."

"Don't you dare!" Alfred shouted in an outburst unlike him. Sanen returned with a laugh.

Jet flings a dagger out for Sanen who nimbly dodges as it sticks into the wall. Sanen looks to Aura. She no longer was there. Jet had her in his arms as he stood in the middle of the room. Jet looks to Aura. "Go to the others."

"What will you do?" She wondered. He simply waved her away and strode forward.

"You lost your trump card Sanen. Give it up." Jet sternly requested.

"Heh. You're really beginning to piss me off." Sanen Retorted with a grin.

"Is that-"Before Jet could finish he was blindsided by Sanen with a right hook across the jaw. Jet rubbed at his jaw as he gave a deathly glare. "So, he can fight." Jet stands upright and ready to fight. "So, let's do this then. I will not give up on that staff." Jet lunges forward only to have it dodged and instead be hit back. Jet regained his footing on the linoleum floor and sent a foot into Sanen's chest kicking the man backward. Jet follows up with multiple attacks aimed at the same spot on Sanen's chest. Backing off Jet allows Sanen to collapse to his butt on the floor.

Sanen wiped the blood from his lip from the one attack Jet made on that aforementioned area. A cackle escaping those same lips. "I will, need to be stronger to defeat you."

Jet was ready to give a smug reply and become overconfident, but then he caught on to the laugh. "What...are you up to?" Jet wondered looking around for maybe reinforcements.

In that moment Sanen uses a hidden ARM and fires away at the pedestal in which the staff's end was placed. After enough shots the casing cracks and the staff falls to the floor. As Jet lunges for it as he returned to reality it was too late. Sanen had it and backed away as he dropped his ARM. "With this...I will destroy you." He gripped the staff. "Let me demonstrate why I wanted this."

The staff gives off a blinding aura that causes Jet to look away and when the dark returns Sanen stands sans shirt with noticeable muscle bulk that did not exist before. "That thing...has some demon power?" Virginia muttered.

"Ha-ha! Bring it now boy! Meet your doom!" Sanen cackled.

"No matter." Jet said calmly. "I know who will be the victor in the end." Jet moves his foot to take a step, but by that time Sanen had already shown up behind the gray hair boy. Jet's eye sprung open in surprise, but he covered that up with a glare. "Speed is of no importance."

"It is not just speed. I am far stronger than nearly any other being now." Sanen warned. To show-off he threw his fist into Jet's upper chest and the Drifter was thrown to the far wall where the staff was.

Jet stands lacking air. "I...Bring it..." Jet simply said moving forward only to be hit over ten times by the cult leader until he landed on the ground hard. Regaining wind he jumped back to his feet and swings at the man who holds the Staff of the Sky. Sanen moves with much ease. Sanen grabs the boy and throws him across the floor like in shuffleboard the boy just slide.

"Jet!" Virginia gasped.

"Jet?" Aura wondered.

"Hold on Jet!" Virginia drew her two ARMs and goes to fire, but Sanen knocks her lightly aside. This allows Jet to throw an uppercut in while Sanen's defense was down. Virginia hits the man with her two ARMs butts. Sanen simply knocks each aside. Virginia from the floor aims her ARMs and each are knocked away by Sanen's extended arm and staff combination. Following the cult leader raises the staff to strike at the downed woman, but she is saved by Jet who blocks it with the body of his ARM.

"Your ARM is of no use against this!" Sanen warned. Sanen hits the ARM away from Jet's hand as the ARM slides Jet watches as it falls into a grating and a loud clang tells him that it's goodbye for now.

"Hey! That's it! Now it's personal!" Jet formed a fist, but is knocked away by the staff before ever throwing it. Jet lands on his feet and braces with his hands as he gains traction and runs back only to again be knocked aside by the staff. With the staff's end Sanen hits Jet in the gut before throwing him against the wall. Jet—out of breath—falls to the floor no longer with the ability to get back up.

"I warned you." Sanen laughed.

"Shut up!" Maya burst into the room ARM at the ready. "How dare you risk ruining that gem by getting it bloody?" Alfred sort of slumped his shoulders at that. Virginia made a cough noise. "Oh...and how dare you hurt those two losers."

"You can join them then."

"No, but you can join them!" Maya remarked and readied to attack. The burning desire within her was evident. If only that is enough.