Author's note: Nothing new, but thanks for waiting!
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After a few days of traveling...
Once back in Lasberg, the Mad Hearts Neo took their time relaxing back at the base. The first thing Patroklos wanted to do, though, was tell Siegfried of his and the MHN's trip to Greece.
"So how was your stay?" he asked.
"It was pretty good; plus Marie and I let Freyja introduce herself to Aunt Cassandra." the Greek youth replied. "On a side note, it had been quite a while since I last saw her. So it was amazing to see her again." he added.
Siegfried smiled, and Hilde spoke up. "While you were gone, we had ourselves a few visitors from afar. Maybe you could talk to them, and see what they're up to?"
Patroklos nodded. "Sure. I'll take you up on that." he said as he smiled back.
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Leaving the castle, Patroklos went back to the base. Just as he went inside, he was greeted by Marie, who was already in a cheery mood, as usual.
"Did you tell my father about our activity in Greece?" she inquired.
"I have; and since we've come back to Lasberg, I think it might be about time to unwind after such a lengthy journey." he replied.
"Maybe we can check out some stores, and see what they have?"
"Sure, why not?"
Just as they were about to leave, Patroklos added, "Chances are, we might meet those visitors. What do you think? Wanna give that a shot, too?"
"Of course!" Marie said with a smile.
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One of the places n Lasberg that Marie would frequent was a marketplace, where foods from nearly every country in the world were sold. She would go there to buy various meats and vegetables, and incorporate them into her meals that her servants (and sometimes, Marie herself) could cook.
"I'm gonna make some meat pies for tonight's dinner. Plus, I want to find some exotic meats this time around." she said.
"Hey, I've heard of them before; would you mind I help out?" Patroklos asked.
"I doubt you're a good cook, so I do mind. Sorry."
He shrugged as she began searching for potential ingredients, but not before he noticed a pair of teenagers talking to each other.
"Xiba! You know I wanna have meat buns so badly!"
"But we have had meat buns for dinner every day. Can't we have a little variety for once?"
From the looks of things, Patroklos could tell that both of them struck rather odd resemblances to Kilik and Xianghua. He asked Marie, "You think we should encounter them? I've a feeling they might be the visitors."
She nodded as she replied, "Sure. But first, I need to pick up some ingredients, and then we can meet them in person."
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Once they were finished, they would turn their attention to the two teenagers. Patroklos asked, "Excuse me, but what brought you guys here to Lasberg?"
The older one replied, "Challengers, maybe. But for now, my friend and I looking to buy some tasty new food. Our companions are here, too."
"Companions? Who might they be?" Marie asked, but the younger one cut her off.
"Mr. Maxi and Miss Mi-Na were more than happy to bring us along. They even brought Miss Natsu, too!"
This surprised both Patroklos and Marie, before the latter exclaimed, "Hey, Isuzu knows her! I bet she'll be happy to see her again!"
"Oh, that's awesome!" the older one replied.
"Well, allow us to introduce ourselves. I'm Patroklos Alexander." Patroklos said.
"And I'm Marie Schtauffen!" Marie added.
"The name's Xiba!"
"And I'm Yan Leixia."
"Sounds like it's possible we'll be seeing you again in the future." the MHN's leader told them.
"No worries! It's all good. Well, gotta run!" Xiba said with a grin.
As he and Leixia left the marketplace to rendezvous with Maxi and the others, Marie scratched her head. "I wonder what they look like now?" she asked.
"I'm certain they've gotten older, but I think they're getting wiser along the way." he told her, to which she nodded in agreement.
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After checking out the marketplace, both of them would return to the base. As Marie handed the food over to the servants, so that they can cook it later, she turned and asked, "So, how was our little trip?"
Patroklos replied, "Pretty fun, I'll admit. I do have a question, though: do you have any books on cooking? I could take notes from them."
"Sure! Check the study out, if you're interested."
He nodded, before he bid her goodbye and took to the study.
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Patroklos arrived at the study, and after searching the bookcases, found a cookbook. Just as he was about to delve into whatever recipes were present, he felt a pair of hands cover his eyes.
"Guess who?"
It was clear that it was Lydia saying those words, which he was more than recognize. "Lydia, what are you doing here?"
She smirked as she lowered her hands, before standing next to him as she said, "That's what I was going to ask you; other than that, though, I just wanted to tell you something."
"About what?"
"While we were in Greece, I spent the night...diddling myself, imagining that I was in Marie's place instead of her." she replied.
"You what?" he asked, eyes blinking in surprise.
Lydia just grinned as she continued, "In other words, let's have another go together. Just you and me."
Her friskiness was courtesy of taking notes from Isuzu's interactions with other men, though she would also attempt to flirt with the samurai as well.
"Sorry, Lydia, but we have some incoming visitors. Not to mention, Marie and I met a couple of them at the town's marketplace." Patroklos said.
"But I will give you this..."
He then pressed Lydia onto the desk, and claimed her lips in a passionate kiss. He even incorporated a little tongue to the mix, before eventually breaking it.
"Right now, I'm pretty busy reading up on some recipes." he added.
She looked over at the book, and found that the recipe in question was porridge. "I don't even think you can cook that well!" she exclaimed. "Let alone make porridge!"
Lydia would then stand and straighten herself up as she heard Patroklos tell her, "I was wanting to give it a shot, but-"
A series of knocks on the front door were heard, and this prompted him to leave the study, with her following almost close behind.
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Marie had already opened the door, ready to greet anyone. Her eyes widened lightly as she saw a man of a fairly tall, lean build. Being in his early to mid-forties, he also had a trace of grey in his black hairstyle.
"So this must be where the Fated Heroes live?" he asked.
"Of course! Though Patroklos hasn't showed up, not just yet." she replied.
It didn't take long for him to run up to the MHN's leader, and added, "Actually, I made it. Didn't know who would drop by to see us, but..."
"One of the Fated Heroes is the son of Sophitia Alexandra? And the other being the daughter of Siegfried Schtauffen and Tristianne Lindegarde? This is quite exciting!" he said, a small grin appearing on his face.
"I get the feeling you're one of the trio from the East?" Patroklos asked.
"Ah, so you know who I am, do you?"
"As far as I can remember, I was told of a trio by the names of Kilik, Xianghua and Maxi."
Maxi's grin grew bigger. "And as you can see, I'm here, but alas, I have a couple of kids in my friends's places." he said, before Xiba and Leixia emerged.
"Holy...!" Marie exclaimed out of surprise, but it didn't end there. "Oh yeah, not to mention, a few more are accompanying us." he continued.
He turned to look over at a girl in red ninja garb, and a Korean woman with brown hair in a braid talking together. The latter suddenly noticed and asked, "Oh, so you've finally met those two?"
"Yeah."
The Korean woman asked, "Would you mind if they let us in?"
"Not really, Mi-Na." Maxi replied.
"Is my sister living here?" The ninja asked, to which this prompted Marie to remember something.
"Isuzu!" she called out, before she excitedly allowed to group of five to enter the base.
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Before long, the Mad Hearts Neo had brought Maxi and his posse inside. It didn't take long for the ninja to squeal as she ran up to Isuzu and hugged her.
"Natsu! It's you!"
"Sis! It's so good to see you again!"
"Me too!"
The two women were very elated as they said those words, before Mi-Na said, "Looks to me they've really missed each other. Come to think of it, Marie, it's really nice seeing you again, as is Maxi."
"And you look great, even if you're in your forties!" Marie exclaimed with a smile.
"You mean both of us?" she heard Maxi ask.
"Yes, both of you, actually." Marie giggled, almost awkwardly.
Lydia rolled her eyes, as she believed that both were twenty years older than her, and she wouldn't give romancing either one a shot. Regardless, she asked, "It's a pretty big house for us; almost feels like a mansion, does it?"
"It does; plus, we didn't expect it to be so roomy." Mi-Na added.
"Oh yeah, and have you been up to lately, Isuzu?" Natsu asked.
"Well, the Mad Hearts Neo and I have our work cut out for us, especially since we have both Alexandra siblings accompanying us along the way. We're looking to crush Nightmare once and for all and put an end to Soul Edge!" was her response. "Except..."
"Except what?"
"One of them, Pyrrha, has clearly fallen to the darkness that is Soul Edge, so only Patroklos is here with us."
"It's a honor meeting you three!" Patroklos exclaimed, offering a handshake, which Maxi was more than happy to give, followed by Mi-Na.
"You've grown a hell of a lot, have you?" she asked him.
"Yes, my sister and I have become adults. Like Isuzu said, though, Pyrrha isn't around." He then noticed Xiba and Leixia were also in the group, and exclaimed, "Hey, Marie and I saw the two of you at the marketplace!"
"Yep, we were shopping for some foods to have for dinner." Xiba said with a grin.
"And the lot of you were brought here for challengers, right?" Elizabeth asked, to which Mi-Na nodded.
"Well, I think you've come to the right people!" Lydia exclaimed.
"Really?" Natsu asked, eyes widening in amazement.
"Of course; so are you up for a couple of friendly fights?" Helen replied.
"Oh, you know we are so ready!" Leixia said with a bright smile.
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Having reached the backyard, Patroklos had suggested that they would have three individual fights. Himself against Xiba, Helen against Leixia, and Isuzu against Natsu, to the last two's surprise.
First up were the two sisters as the ninja exclaimed, "This is so exciting!"
"I know, right?"
With her dual kodachi, Kuzukiri and Awayuuki, out and ready, Natsu spoke, "I'll do my best, Isuzu!"
Isuzu had also brought out Kogane, and grinned wordlessly before making her first move. Her weapon initially missed when Natsu dodged, but was able to successfully carry out an attack as she performed a few slashes on her.
The orange-haired ninja, though a bit fazed at first, nevertheless pulled of a chain combo of hits from both her weapons. "What do you think, sis? Was my training worth it?" she asked.
"Heh..." Isuzu just grinned, before adding, "...let's talk about it when we're done, okay?"
"You got it!" Natsu said. It didn't take long for her to yell, "Arahabaki!"
It was quite clear that Arahabaki was once a powerful demon who took delight in controlling a Fu-Ma ninja's body. Alas, when its host was eradicated, it wound up being sealed with Natsu herself.
When Isuzu attacked with a few more hits of her own, she was just about to finish up when her sister teleported. Now behind her, Natsu almost effortlessly took her by surprise as she counterattacked.
Finally, she raised both weapons up, before plunging both to the ground, and prompting almost tornado-esque pillars to briefly engulf Isuzu. With her down for the count, she believed that she won the first battle.
And it was quite clear she had, but Natsu was certain that Arahabaki's seal had weakened almost gradually with every move. Regardless, she was more than happy to graciously help Isuzu up. "What do you think?" she asked.
Both sisters smiled as the older one replied between pants, "Wow...we were both impressive, but you've really grown up to become a fighter like me!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, not to mention a crafty one, too."
Isuzu and Natsu shared a hearty laugh together, as Helen spoke up. "I guess it's my turn, isn't it?"
Marie nodded, and with that, Helen and Leixia's match was ready to begin.
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Up next: more of the individual three-on-three match!
With love for my fans,
Chrissy