A/N: I don't own World Trigger

Mimics

Chapter 46: Rank Party Part 3

Hyuse took the force of Tachikawa's strike, skidding back. An Escudo popped up from the ground in front of him to defend against Tachikawa's Senku that came after him next. As expected, his Escudo didn't survive the whirlwind as it was sliced in half, but that didn't matter to Hyuse who had Viper activated at his side.

Tachikawa took a step back as the bullets started flying towards him, but the smirk never left his face. The reason why revealed itself in Murakami who dropped down from the roofs with his Raygust Shield at the ready to defend from the bullets while his other Shield came up at his other side with Tachikawa's Shield joining his to defend from the Viper bullets raining down on them.

From what Hyuse understood, Tachikawa, Kazama, and Murakami were in the top four Attackers of Border so it was quite clear that they were very strong. That would make this a difficult fight, but Hyuse's team wasn't completely outclassed. He and Tokieda had bullets Triggers on them and they had Ikoma's Senku. Their range would actually give them an advantage in this battle. According to Tokieda though, the trouble would come from Kazama's Chameleon. Without an operator to watch out for the enemies on the radar while they fought, it would be easy to lose sight of Kazama in the chaos of a battle.

Their second disadvantage would be Tachikawa, Kazama, and Murakami have worked together before whereas Hyuse had never worked with Tokieda or Ikoma before. They were going to lack any competent teamwork. It definitely didn't help that Hyuse learned before the match that Ikoma did not plan anything before a fight. He was so carefree that they didn't get anything planned.

Typically, when the agents jumped into battles, they didn't have time to plan on how to fight the enemy. In real combat at least. In the rank matches, the agents had time to prepare for who the opponents were by studying them and then seeing the location of the match a few minutes before so they could plan a bit for the landscape. Not doing that could be seen as a good way to train since it was more likely they wouldn't always be able to prepare against an unknown enemy. There was a need to be able to handle an enemy without preparing for their fighting style while fighting with allies that they could be unfamiliar with. When an invasion happened, it wasn't always likely the agents would be able to fight with their team that they spent all their time training with. It was essential to learn how to work with others without much, if any time, to prepare for it.

It was a matter of skill and experience if a fighter could adjust to that kind of situation. From what Hyuse had seen of the agents, it was likely most of the top B-Ranks and above could handle that type of situation. Well, most of them. He saw it on Osamu's face earlier when he joined him at the train station. Osamu did what he could to help the A-Rankers with him, but his expression told Hyuse of hesitation. Eight rounds in a Rank War tournament and an away mission exam gave experience, but not enough to make Osamu entirely comfortable fighting alongside agents he never trained with or spent time in the field with.

Behind Tachikawa and Murakami, Ikoma skidded around the corner, pulling his Kogetsu out and unleashing his whirlwind before he had even fully cleared the building. Tachikawa twisted around, trusting Murakami to handle the rest of their defense against Hyuse's Viper, and held up his sword up vertically to defend against Ikoma's Senku.

"Kazama-san is approaching you from behind." Tokieda's voice came over the coms to warn Hyuse.

Using Chameleon no doubt. Hyuse had seen it used by Wakamura and Miura during their match against Tamakoma-2 so he had an idea about it. There were a lot of Triggers in Border's arsenal and though Hyuse managed to study up on quite a few of them, especially the main weapons, he didn't know everything about all the optional Triggers. Seeing that match against Katori squad and having Hisato on his team for the away mission exam helped give him a better understanding of the Trigger though.

If Kazama wanted to attack with another Trigger, he would have to turn Chameleon off. As long as he knew he was coming from behind, Hyuse could be prepared to defend himself the moment he showed himself. Or, instead of using Yuma's tactic of waiting for the user to reveal themselves, Hyuse had another option.

"Give me his exact location." Hyuse requested and expecting a quick response, he launched himself in the air backwards with an Escudo. Even while being flung through the air with no control since Yuma wasn't here with his Grasshopper, Hyuse was still managing to control his body as his Viper came to life again.

*Mimics*

Hyuse's Viper exploding flashed in Yuma's eye. There was so much power in his attack that the bullets slamming into the ground created a smoke screen, but it didn't look like Hyuse had managed to hit anyone. That wasn't surprising to Yuma at all. The only time Yuma ever saw Kazama fight was against Osamu for twenty-five matches, but that was a lot of matches so he gave him a good feel for Kazama's strength. He would never be defeated as easily as this.

"Didn't Murakami-senpai fight alongside Kazama-san and Tachikawa-san during Galopoula's invasion?" Yuma asked.

"Along with Konami." Jin replied.

"Huh," Yuma hummed to himself. Konami had told him about that fight. They had two powerful Triggers users to go up against. "Konami-senpai said they all worked really great as a team. The top four Attackers. I'm not surprised they can coordinate so well. Their skill and teamwork will make it hard for a put together team that have barely interacted."

"There's also the fact that your teammate can't beat Tachikawa-san." Satori said, having heard Arashiyama and Tokieda talk about Hyuse's matches against all the official agents right after he made B-Rank.

"When he fought Tachikawa-san, he didn't have any optional Triggers or a team to back him up. We've already proven to be able to take down powerful agents." Yuma replied. Though, to be fair, when they defeated Ninomiya, Hyuse hadn't been with them for it. It had been the plan for him and Hyuse to go after Ninomiya, but it worked just as well to have Osamu take Hyuse's place since no one had expected Osamu to add a hidden weapon to his arsenal. They would expect it from Hyuse, but not Osamu. Well, it wouldn't work again in the future so it was great that it was their last match that they did it in.

"With your team. With a makeshift team and not enough preparation time, I doubt it will work out that well this time." Suwa replied.

"I wish they would hurry up so we can have a match soon so I can show off my double snipe." Satori said.

"Everyone knows about your double snipe by this point." Suwa replied. "Using it in a rank match means you can't hide from radar. They'll want to kill snipers as soon as possible since there are so few taking place in this. You're going to get targeted."

"If I kill one of them before that happens, it means I did the bare minimum." Satori replied.

"When has a sniper ever managed to kill anyone who is right on top of them?" Yuma asked.

"Our top snipers try and succeed sometimes, or can get pretty close to succeeding. They usually only do it when they are in a pinch though. They realize that disadvantage and try to avoid getting trapped in, but when they do get trapped in it, they aren't just going to stand there and get killed without trying something." Jin replied.

"I've seen that." Yuma said, eyes locked on the screen. He's closed the gap on plenty of snipers before to kill them. Perhaps the hardest sniper he's had to deal with were Azuma and Arafune, and that was just because he was able to switch to a sword on Yuma which he hadn't seen coming. No one had told him Arafune had a Kogetsu hidden in his Trigger set, but it did make the fight against him more interesting and fun.

Tokieda appeared out of the smoke, locked in combat with Kazama who was following him down the street. With Kazama busy with Tokieda, Hyuse turned his attention back to Murakami and Tachikawa who were closing in on Ikoma, who was using his whirlwind to keep them at bay.

Watching the agents fight, Yuma found his leg begin to bounce on the ground as his restlessness began to remind him that it was there. Yuba was completely right when he commented on Yuma's pent-up aggravation earlier. He was stuck inside a base, unable to fight back in this attack they were facing, and just doing nothing all day. He really wanted a chance to release this restlessness tugging at his bones.

Sitting down here, just watching the fighters, this was what Osamu preferred to do. Now that the positions were reversed, Yuma could not understand how Osamu could be so patient and relaxed while sitting here as he watched Yuma fight. Perhaps it was because Osamu didn't really have fun when he was fighting like Yuma did.

Speaking of Osamu, Yuma smiled as he saw his Captain stumbling out of his booth with a horrified look on his face. "I don't know how you do it, Kuga." He dropped down onto one of the couches, just sighing.

"I don't fight all three of them at the same time." Yuma replied. Besides, it was only Karasuma that he ever managed to beat. He had only managed to tie with Reiji and that was because he didn't use his special Trigger in every match of their ten-round training segments. If he had to join a team match against Tamakoma-1 who would freely use their special Triggers, even he could acknowledge how difficult of a battle that would be.

"We didn't manage to kill any of them." Shun moaned as he and Arafune joined Osamu in his misery.

"They wouldn't be known as Border's strongest team if they could be defeated so easily." Jin replied. Even though he was no longer a part of Tamakoma First, he would forever be proud of his former team. He was quite busy as of late so he stayed a solo agent after giving up Fujin so he couldn't rejoin his old team. It was a shame as he had a lot of fun in the past when he and Konami were on a team with Reiji watching over them as their captain, but he was no longer the little kid he was back then. He had a lot of important tasks that required his attention and he needed to be on the move constantly with his planning and not tied down to a team. "There is a reason why they're not allowed in rank wars."

"You sure it won't be a problem if they do this?" Yuma motioned to the rank booths that Tamakoma-1 was currently exiting from.

"No points are being exchanged. At this point, it is just essentially training so there shouldn't be a problem." Jin replied.

Yuma nodded before jumping to his feet and was waving towards his mentor. "You'll probably end up winning all your matches easily." He said with a grin, hearing Osamu groan behind him.

"Damn straight we will." Konami replied, meeting up with Yuma and giving him a high five.

"Seems your ace respects his mentor more than his captain." Arafune told Osamu.

Osamu pushed his glasses up with a sigh. "If he doesn't root for her, she will come for his head."

"Unless we have to fight Tachikawa-san's team." Karasuma told Konami, rubbing the back of his head. "Random lots and three of the top four Attackers ended up on the same time. If I didn't know better, I would say it was rigged."

"You have a sniper on your team. Use it to your advantage if you have to fight them." Yuma suggested, pulling away from his mentor.

Konami glanced down at Yuma's hand which was opening and closing constantly. Yuma was not the type to fidget at all. He could be silly and happy whenever he was having fun, but there weren't usually any unnecessary movements from him. It wasn't strange for Yuma to sit still for hours on end when he was trying to plan out a strategy, but it seemed being stuck in the base would get to him. Even if he was getting restless, Konami would want him to keep staying in HQ until Yugo was no longer around. Though, considering how Yugo already broke into the base once, Yuma staying inside didn't necessarily mean much of anything at this point.

"Are you planning to match us against his team next round?" Karasuma asked.

"It would be fun, wouldn't it?" Yuma retorted, eye twinkling in amusement.

It was likely her mentee was already plotting matches in his head now that he knew which teams were which. The strongest agents were going to get matched up against other strong agents because to Yuma, fighting strong opponents gave him a great thrill so he likely thought that strong agents thought the same as him. Since he couldn't have any of his own fun, Yuma would want to match up strong teams to try to give him his own sense of fun that he could watch. At the same time, Konami could see that backfiring since Yuma would only get more anxious as he was reminded of the fact that he was stuck being an injured agent who couldn't do anything.

"You should do it." Shun agreed, pointing up at the screen. "Tamakoma-1 can avenge your partner, Yuma-senpai."

Yuma looked back up at the screen to see Hyuse bailing out because of Tachikawa. He was rooting for his teammate, but that was pretty much expected by everyone. Very few people could actually beat Tachikawa in a fight. "I doubt Hyuse would want anyone to fight for his honor. It would just make him irritated."

Shun nodded. "Oh, right, you're the damsel in distress that needs your honor defended this week, not him."

Yuma looked over his shoulder to glare at his friend. "I will dropkick you."

"Violence is not the answer, Kuga." Osamu scolded very lightly as he knew that Yuma would never hurt any of his friends.

"It is today."

Jin grabbed Yuma's arm to pull him back down onto the couch. "Let's calm down, Yuma. You can't kick anyone until you can enter a rank match again."

Yuma twisted on the couch to look over at Shun to give him a look that basically said he was coming for him. He didn't know where or when, but Shun better watch his back. He said not to call him a damsel in distress.

"Should I be scared?" Shun muttered softly to Osamu, though kept his eyes on Yuma's scary look. He didn't dare remove his eyes from him, even if Jin was there to reign Yuma in if he did try to move. "I feel like I should be scared."

"You'll be fine. Kuga won't actually hurt you, physically. I'm sure he'll damage your pride in a rank match when he gets the chance though." Osamu replied. To Osamu, it was just a relief to see Yuma teasing his friend. It was nice to see Yuma was beginning to feel comfortable enough to tease his friends. Having that amusement light up Yuma's expression was such a relief. Osamu had no doubt that Yuma had plenty of guilt and depression built up over the years, but he didn't believe that was all there was to his friend. Those smiles he gave weren't fake, at least not all the time.

Knowing how much Yuma had struggled over the years and that he was so down that he needed Osamu to give him a reason to keep on fighting to live that night at Tamakoma so many months ago, Osamu had wanted nothing more than to just help his friend. He wanted to do what he could to help Yuma, and it seemed to be working so far. Knowing the depression underneath, Osamu kept an eye on Yuma and learned to read his expression and he found out, Yuma's smiles weren't always fake. In fact, Osamu thought they were becoming a lot more genuine more often.

Until this week.

Yuma wasn't even trying to fake smiles this week. He was freely showing his depression and stress because it was just becoming too much for him to try to fake that everything was alright when it clearly wasn't. To see him bring out the smiles and teasing again was so relieving since it meant that Yuma was trying his best to not let his father destroy him. Yuma was still fighting to stay strong.

*Mimics*

"I didn't think you would really match up Tachikawa-san's team against Tamakoma-1." Jin said.

Yuma didn't bother to take his eyes off the screen as he didn't want to miss anything between the two squads going at it. "They would both have a lot of fun fighting each other." Matching up the teams for their first round had been a lot more fun as he didn't know the full teams or their numbers. The second time around, he had figured out who was on what team and what their team numbers were. There were no surprises on who would fight who this time.

"Fun that you're jealous on missing out on?" Jin asked.

Yuma watched as Kazama and Konami exchanged fast, vicious blows with each other. Against Konami's Sogetsu though, there was no way Kazama's Scorpion blades were going to hold up for long. Watching them exchange attacks, Yuma dug his hand into the arm rest by him to keep from fidgeting. There were so many A-Rank agents that he never got to fight. One day, he would love the chance to challenge Kazama and Tachikawa to a fight. If he survived that long. "I get the chance to fight my friends all the time. Going a few days without a rank war isn't going to hurt me."

"It may not hurt you, but that doesn't mean the feelings aren't there, especially when you're unsure if you will survive this week." Jin glanced down at Yuma's leg which was bouncing once more while he refused to move his eyes from the fight playing out. Maybe not jealousy, but there was definitely frustration in him that he had to sit here. He was certainly enjoying watching the fights as Yuma did understand he could learn a lot by studying his opponents. It was very likely he was thinking in his head how he would counter or how he would attack if he was in the match, but being down here, he couldn't test any of his ideas out.

"And what of you?" Yuma retorted. "You were planning to fight Tachikawa-san and the others tonight, but here you, not even taking part in the rank wars."

"I have some things to take care of."

The expression on Yuma's face was one that said he didn't believe Jin at all, but since his side effect didn't activate, he had nothing to call Jin out on. Jin said he had something to take care of, but he was just sitting here with Yuma to watch the fights, but since Yuma's side effect didn't activate, he really did have something to take care of. Though, everyone always had something to take care of so it was easy for that to be a truth. It just depended on how time sensitive it was.

Kakizaki stared at Yuma and Jin. His squad of him, Hisato, and Futaba were getting a break for this match since that was what Yuma decided, not that Kakizaki was complaining about that. Their first match consisted of a battle against Yoneya, Izumi, and Kikuchihara. Just as he expected when he went into the match, it had been a hard match that they ended up losing. "Do you want to fight, Kuga?" He asked, though it felt like a silly question. During their Rank War, the smile that Yuma had during the fight wasn't just about the confidence that he radiated. As serious as he was in that match, the excitement in his eyes and the happiness in his smirks were no lie. Yuma enjoyed a good challenge.

"I'm apparently 'restless.'" Yuma said while making mock quotes with his fingers for restless.

Kakizaki directed his eyes towards Yuma's bouncing leg to make a point.

Yuma slapped his foot flat on the ground, scowl in place as he looked from Kakizaki to Jin. Must everyone point out that he wasn't doing a good job of sitting still?

"Have you tried the training rooms?" Kakizaki suggested, getting a confused look from Yuma. "The ones you entered your first day here as a trainee? Everyone goes through that process. I'm surprised Arashiyama didn't mention it. None of your Trion gets used in that room and in fact, you recover it in the room. Since you're always in a Trion body, the moment you enter an activated training room, your body should heal."

Yuma perked up at that. That was right. He and Jin went in that room the other day to have a fight. It was because of how Arashiyama described the room that Yuma took the chance to open a Gate and call a Rabit to his side to make a point to Jin. He brought a hand up to his face near his missing eye. "Would it really heal this?"

"Have you never watched Suwa squad's fight against the humanoid Neighbor inside HQ during Aftokrator's invasion?" Kakizaki asked surprised. He, himself, didn't particularly care about the battles that took place that day, but he had watched the fights that he was able to find just so he could study up on the fights. "When they entered the virtual combat room with the enemy, their wounds healed so they could fight him without dying."

"What was the point of that?" Yuma asked.

"It was so they could study his Trigger without getting killed. The system that runs the room allows us to study the fighters and their Triggers while in the room." Jin explained, rubbing the back of his head. "The room doesn't recover Trion forever. If you went in there, it would only be a temporary fix. The moment you step outside of it, all of your injuries as they are now would return and you would be lacking any Trion to properly fight like you are now."

Yuma looked back up towards the fight taking place on screen. A fight between the top Attackers and Tamakoma-1 would be one hell of a battle and it looked very intense, but at this point, Yuma was distracted with what Kakizaki had suggested. "Would it work? This isn't a combat Trion body."

"It's still a body made of Trion. When you enter the space, it should heal that body and allow you to activate a Trigger again." Jin said, but since it wasn't a permanent fix, he hadn't mentioned it before.

Yuma lunged forward and grabbed the team chart and scribbled the third round of battles on it without thinking too much on it this time. "There's something I want to test." He pushed the chart near Kakizaki. "Next round of matches. Thanks for the suggestion, Kakizaki-senpai!" He turned and yanked on Jin's arm to get him out of his seat. "Can you come with me?"

Jin let himself be pulled up and out of the room, waving to the makeshift Kakizaki team as he did, who just stared back in surprise at Yuma's abrupt departure. "What do you need me for?"

"I don't know how the system works to turn the room on." Yuma said.

"Okay, and what is it that you need to test out?" Jin asked. Or was this just Yuma's need to throw himself into a room that would allow him to fight? It would likely help his restlessness that was starting to build up. Restlessness did lead to stupid ideas if he didn't get it out of his system.

Yuma's free hand, the one the wasn't tugging Jin down the hall, slipped into his pocket to grip Yugo's old Border Trigger. He supposed it was kind of strange, now that he was thinking of it. He was left with his dad's old Trigger while his father was left with Yuma's Border Trigger. He really wished he could get that back from him. He would much prefer having his Scorpion on his side.

The lack of a reply from Yuma had Jin reversing their positions as he twisted his arm around to get a hold on Yuma's arm and pulled him to a stop and made him turn to face him. His eyes flickered down to Yuma's other hand which he could see was curled into a fist in his pocket.

Seeing where Jin was looking, Yuma just pulled his hand out of his pocket. It's not like he was trying to keep his dad's old Border Trigger a secret. There just hadn't been a need to tell anyone he had it since he had no use for it since the one time he tried to activate it, he passed out. That didn't mean he was going to let go of it though. His Black Trigger couldn't be used right now so this Trigger was all he had. He just needed to find a way to use it.

"Where did you get this Trigger?" Jin asked confused. It couldn't be a Border Trigger. Kinuta said they couldn't get a combat Trigger ready for Yuma right now. Though from the design of the Trigger, Jin could tell it wasn't a current Trigger they used anyway. The Trigger holder looked more like the style of the older ones they used when Jin first joined Border. How could Yuma even one of these?

"Why didn't you suggest the virtual combat rooms earlier?" Yuma retorted, shoving the Trigger back in his pocket.

Jin sighed. "Well, it was surely not because I was trying to hide the idea of using it from you. I just didn't see the point of going to the virtual combat room when it will only heal your body while you are inside the room. If it helps you get some of that restless energy out of your system, then let's go." He began to take the lead and started tugging Yuma down the opposite hallway to the one he was originally intending to go down. "Do you even pay attention when someone shows you how to get around the base? How do you get lost in here so easily?"

"If the hallways were just changed up just a little bit..." Yuma grumbled to himself.

"So?" Jin prompted, looking over his shoulder at Yuma. "The Trigger?"

"It was my dad's Border Trigger in the past." Yuma admitted. "I've held onto it for years, but never used it. I want to get a feel for the blades that it has equipped."

Yugo's old Trigger that used swords. That would be the same swords that Yugo was currently using to fight the Border agents.

Jin came to an abrupt halt, causing Yuma to slam into his back in surprise. Now that he was thinking about it, the blades that had been lying on the ground near Yuma in his vision were the same type that Yugo was holding. That would also explain the black uniform Yuma had on in the vision since it was the old Border type. He didn't even consider where Yuma had gotten those swords in the vision. He had been more focused on why Yuma was facing off with Yugo when he said he wouldn't go near his father again.

"I thought you said you wouldn't try to fight Kuga-san again." Jin said.

"Who said anything about fighting Dad?" Yuma asked baffled. When he went to pick up this Trigger from Tamakoma, it had been about having a weapon on his side to defend himself. Even now, he still had no intention of looking for his father, even if he knew from Suwa that they had a way to track him now. The fact remained, that even though he agreed the Mimics needed destroyed, he still was having trouble with the idea of going after Dad. He agreed to stay away from him, and he wasn't going to go out of his way to try to find him, but he was worried about Mogami.

For Jin's sake.

No matter how much Jin tried to push his feelings aside, they were still there. Just as it was hard for Yuma to face Yugo, it had to be just as hard for Jin to face Mogami. The difference between them though was that Jin was forcing himself to face Mogami because he felt that he had to. Perhaps it was because it was his mentor that Jin felt it was his responsibility or because he felt that it was his fault Mogami was in here.

If anyone needed to blame themselves for Mogami and Yugo being here, it wasn't Jin. Yugo appearing was all Yuma's fault and Mogami arriving was because Jin was trying to protect Yuma from the Mimics. There was no need for Jin to try to protect him. He understood why Jin wanted to keep him safe, but he also needed to think about his own wellbeing. Had he done so, maybe Mogami wouldn't be here and they would only have Yugo to contend with.

Yuma felt just as much responsibility for this situation as Jin did.

*Mimics*

"Were you aiming for me?" Yoneya demanded.

Kodera pushed his glasses up to hide his amused smirk behind his hand. "We were in a match, Yoneya-senpai, and on opposite teams this time. As the only sniper there, I was tasked with either killing your team or distracting you so Arashiyama-san and Tomoe could close the distance on you."

"I get that part, but you were clearly shooting at me the most in the match." Yoneya retorted. "I see how it is. Respect me when I'm on your team but the moment we are on opposing teams, you show your true feelings!"

"I don't see why you're so upset. He didn't even manage to kill you, you spear happy idiot, so relax." Izumi said.

"Only because I worked with him for so long that I know how to predict him." Yoneya complained.

"And yet you still managed to lose your arm to him." Kikuchihara replied, smirking around his straw as he sipped at his drink.

"Perhaps it was because I wasn't aiming for a kill shot." Kodera said. "I knew Yoneya-senpai could predict me and what locations I would choose for a sniper's nest so I purposefully shot at him in places that wouldn't be immediate kill shots."

Yoneya grimaced. Knowing Kodera's skills, he was Shielding his head and chest to avoid the instant kill shots. Just as he knew what Kodera was like, Kodera knew Yoneya and that he would do that so he chose to counter it. "When did you learn to be so sneaky with your shots?"

Being such a straightforward combatant helped when learning how to fight, but it caused problems later on when facing more skilled agents who were cautious of snipers or could shield against a sniper's shot perfectly. After watching so many of Tamakoma-2's matches in the B-Rank Wars, Kodera decided to try to take a page out of their book and be tricky. They liked sneaky maneuvers and though it wasn't her intention, Chika gave him an idea. She started using her lead bullets when she couldn't bring herself to use regular bullets against her opponents and by the last match, that was what everyone was expecting. They were wary of her changing her ways to using her regular bullets so that gave them two concerns to watch out from her. Which one would she choose to use? Kodera didn't have the Trion available to him to change up what type of shot he used, but he could stop aiming for only kill shots against those that expected that shot from him. A perfect shot was good, but like Suwa proved in his match against Arafune squad, a perfect shot was easy to block when that was all the snipers gave. With that in mind, Kodera wanted to try a different method and shooting at Yoneya seemed like the perfect time to test it out.

"We have a very sneaky new team that joined Border this year." Murakami said as he stepped out of his booth, looking as relaxed as ever even though he just had his head chopped off by Konami. "It seems a lot of people are picking up their tricks. Kazama-san copied Kuga's trick of using his dismembered arm as a decoy back in Galopoula's invasion."

"That's just like our captain." Kikuchihara mumbled. "He's not above studying people lower in the ranks to get ideas."

"I don't see anything wrong with it. You can learn something from anyone." Izumi replied. "Being A-Rank already doesn't mean you're at top skill. Murakami here would decimate plenty of the A-Ranks if he could, or so says my captain."

"I don't know about that." Murakami replied. "I have fought most of the A-Ranks before but it has been a while since I fought any of them. I'm sure they have all gotten much stronger and gotten new techniques since then so it's possible for them to overcome me."

"You're being too modest." Yoneya said, waving Murakami's response away. "Even without your side effect, you can still put plenty of Attackers to shame."

"If you fought someone besides Kageura-san and Kuga in rank matches, you'd be more prepared to face the A-Rank Attackers." Kikuchihara pointed out.

"Big talk for someone who has never beaten Ko-san in a rank match." Yoneya retorted.

Kikuchihara eyed his temporary teammate. "Like you are one to talk. You can't beat Murakami-san or Kuga in a fight."

Yoneya grabbed Kikuchihara suddenly to get him in a headlock. "Who told you about that match with Kuga? Why did you have to bring that up? I can't believe that shrimp was able to beat me so easily!"

Kikuchihara grabbed Yoneya's arm that was around his neck. "And how is that my fault? You know there are only a handful of people who can beat him. If you have a problem with it, ask one of them to avenge your honor!"

"I bet Ikoma-san would do it. He seems to want to have a go at Kuga anyway." Kodera suggested.

Yoneya shoved Kikuchihara away from him as he thought about it. With how strong Ikoma was, it was possible he could outclass Yuma in a ten-round match. "But where would the fun be if I had someone else get revenge for me?" He looked towards Yuma but instead of seeing the familiar head of white sitting with Jin in his seat, he only saw Kakizaki's makeshift squad talking with Arashiyama and Tomoe. He looked all around the room. "Uh, where are Kuga and Jin-san?"

"They're gone?" Murakami said surprised. The whole reason he came here was because Shun suggested a hangout with Yuma tonight. That reason went haywire quite fast when it turned into a party full of team rank matches, but he didn't think that Yuma and Jin would just disappear while they were fighting.

"It seems Jin and Yuma went to test something." Arashiyama said as he joined the group. "Yuma left the next round of matches for us."

"Should we be worried about what those two are testing? Their track record this week hasn't been great." Izumi said.

"And yet, they could both still knock us out." Yoneya replied, recalling Yuma's kick to Ikoma from earlier. The kick held power that a child that small shouldn't have, but at least he knew why Yuma held so much strange even without his Triggers activated. Always being in a Trion body meant that he had more strength than the rest of them at his disposal.

"If we wanted to, we could hurt Kuga easily right now." Kikuchihara said.

"That's really an unnecessary thing to say." Utagawa scolded as he walked out of his booth just in time to hear his teammate's harsh comment. "We all know what kind of weakened state he is."

"I wouldn't call him weak at all," Kitora retorted, leaning on the railings above them instead of coming down to the first floor. "His body is severely weakened and can't hold up, but Kuga-kun is as strong as ever. Give him the chance and he'll show you."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Kikuchihara replied, sipping at his drink. As relaxed as his voice was, it didn't match his frown. "When he kicked Ikoma-san earlier, his leg cracked."

"What?" Arashiyama asked sharply.

Kikuchihara tapped his ear. "I heard the snap when he kicked. Perhaps if he wasn't already injured, a kick like that would mean nothing to him, but as he is now, it was very stupid of him."

"I doubt he kicked Ikoma-san to just be a jerk. He honestly seemed shocked that it had happened." Izumi replied. "He probably didn't even realize it would hurt his leg to do it."

"Whether he expected it or not doesn't matter. He should have been more cautious of that fact." Kikuchihara replied. "Especially since his Trion body breaking will lead to his death so adding more cracks to it is just making things worse."

Konami jumped over the railing from the floor she was on, landing in a crouch by the group, eyeing them with a frown. "Where is he?" She demanded. The last thing she wanted to hear when she finished her match was that Yuma had cracked his leg. Did he not have enough cracks on his body already?

"He went with Jin to the virtual combat room that the trainees use." Arashiyama replied. "I doubt they'll be long."

Even saying that, it seemed that Konami did not care as she marched out of the room to find her mentee. It wasn't Yuma's fault that he had injured his leg with that kick since he surely hadn't been expecting it to happen. That wasn't what had annoyed her. It was the fact that he hadn't mentioned it. He surely felt it when his leg cracked under the force of the kick. He either didn't think it was worth it to mention it since his whole body was getting wrecked this week or he didn't want to ruin the atmosphere by saying what happened. She supposed it didn't truly matter either way, there was nothing they could do about it. That didn't mean she wasn't going to give him an earful though.

*Mimics*

Jin looked through the windows of the system control room he was in to look at the room that Yuma was in. For some reason, he had chosen to lie on the floor why Jin worked on activating the room. Even from way up here, he could still so clearly see the damage on Yuma's body. There was so little time left until they hit the crossroads of his visions. This had to end soon. The question was whether they would win or not.

As soon as Jin activated the room, he was sure Yuma was going to activate that Trigger he had on him. A part of Jin wanted to be annoyed that Yuma hid the Trigger he had, but Jin really couldn't find the energy to be mad. Yuma has had the Trigger on him for two days now and has done nothing with it. He said he wouldn't go after Yugo and he hasn't. In fact, since he returned from his little field trip to Tamakoma, Yuma has been behaving so well and keeping himself in HQ.

Yuma wasn't looking to leave. He just needed a chance to relax and feel like his old self again. The stress, the injuries, not being able to fight. It was all getting to him. The plan was to hang out in the solo booths all night with their friends, but if trying out the virtual combat rooms could make Yuma happy, Jin would test this theory. He wasn't going to say it out loud, but the possibility of Yuma dying soon has risen. Tonight was about him having fun. It had worked well until he started getting anxious about not getting to fight after days of inactivity so Jin would give him this.

As the room sprung to life, Yuma found himself twisting his head to the side, squishing his eyes shut as the room instantly healed all the wounds on his body. It wasn't a slow heal like the wounds when they slowly spread around his body. Everything just suddenly snapped back into place and with that, his eye came back and left him getting blinded by the sudden sight returning to his left eye.

Slowly, Yuma cracked his eyes back open, taking the time to adjust his eyes to the blinding light. As he found his vision getting used to the light, he pushed himself up to a sitting position and looked down at his hands, turning them over as he took in the sight of the flawless skin. It was normal to not have cracks on his body, but it felt strange to not see them there anymore as it had been becoming his norm for this week.

Hearing the door open, Yuma looked up to see Jin entering the arena with his Trigger already active. "For wanting this so badly, I expected you to activate your Trigger immediately."

Yuma pulled his dad's old Trigger from his pocket and looked down at it. The last time he tried to activate this, all his Trion got zapped and he ended up passing out. When he finally woke up, it was to find all his allies engaged in combat with the Mimics and the Trion Soldiers and HQ was under siege by Yugo.

Both Kakizaki and Jin had assured him that this room would return his Trion while he was in here. He had no reason to doubt their words on this, especially since it was already proven by the fact that his wounds have all healed already. He would not pass out again. Having not slept in five years , the idea of sleeping or even passing out made him anxious. Sleeping was supposed to be a normal activity for everyone, but Yuma wasn't normal and hadn't been for years.

Still, despite his anxious feelings about it, Yuma pushed himself to his feet. Jin wouldn't bring him here just to let him falter. He had confidence that Yuma would be fine in here and thus, Yuma would trust him. "Trigger on."

Unlike the other day when the Trigger just fizzled briefly with Trion before doing nothing, this time it sprung to life. A sense of relief washed over Yuma when his body exchanged for a combat Trion body with a familiar black suit and two swords at his waist on either side.

"Argh," Jin said. "Seeing those blades make you look more like a mini Tachikawa-san. I'm feeling deeply offended over here, Yuma."

Yuma rolled his eyes, but nothing could break the excited smile he had as he drew one of his swords from the sheath, even as it got another groan from Jin. Even the way he drew the sword out of the sheath was the same way as Tachikawa! Not that Jin would admit it, but when he used Kogetsu and even Fujin, he drew the sword out like that too because it was the most convenient way, but he never watched himself do it. He just always watched Tachikawa draw his sword since he was always the one standing opposite of him in matches and now he was seeing it in Yuma. Would the offenses never end? Yuma was supposed to be his kouhai who used Scorpion like him, not Tachikawa's! The only saving grace here was that Yuma wasn't using a Kogetsu blade at least.

With both of them ready, Yuma chose to make the first move. He just wanted to move and get the familiar thrill of swords clashing running through his blood again. Since Jin was using Scorpion, he would want to avoid blocking as many of Yuma's attacks as he could. As a Scorpion user himself, Yuma tried to dodge swords as much as he could and only block when he really had no other choice, unless he was fighting another Scorpion user.

It was for that reason that Yuma wasn't surprised at Jin dodging his attack and getting behind him. He knew Jin was behind him and even as he planned his counter, he was still surprised at the sword protruding through his heart that left him dropping to knees.

"Trion relay system destroyed. Kuga down."

Even as the automated computer announced his lost, Yuma's body was already healing. He looked over his shoulder to see Jin blinking down at him in confusion, having not expected such an easy, fast kill against Yuma.

"I don't have Scorpion on me." Yuma whined.

Jin blinked before laughing. Did he really forget that fast what type of swords he had and try to use a Scorpion blade to protect from an attack from behind? "Have you remembered why my method is better than Tachikawa-san's?"

Yuma laughed lightly as he pushed himself to his feet. He rolled his shoulders before twisting his sword around and swinging it a few times. It had been a long time since he had last used a sword as heavy as this. It didn't quite match Kogetsu's weight, but it was still much heavier than his Scorpion. He had already felt the weight dragging down his speed in that first attack against Jin. He was a speed Attacker, but using these swords would force him to change his style. He also didn't have the same flexibility that he was used to fighting with.

"I lack Grasshopper and my flexible Scorpion." Yuma swung his sword to the side before shifting it to point at Jin. "And my Shield is not as strong as Border's current Shields. By all accounts, I am at a huge disadvantage here."

That would explain why Yugo always chose to use the Black Trigger's Shield when he was fighting. It was a lot stronger so it would be better at defending against the Border agents. "You typically don't announce your weaknesses to your opponent."

"Is it a weakness?" Yuma retorted. "Don't forget, this is the type of Triggers I grew up with and used for six years. It's actually what I am more familiar with."

"But it has been years since you touched Border's old Triggers." Jin pointed out. "That first round already proved you are out of touch with them."

"I just need to get used to not having a blade that I can use from any part of my body." Yuma replied. "Which is why I wanted to come here."

Jin eyed his friend warily, his vision of Yugo and Yuma haunting him. His vision gave him the feeling that Yuma was going to lose that fight. A fight that Yuma shouldn't even be in since he didn't feel like he could fight Yugo. Despite that uneasiness, Jin wasn't going to push Yuma out of this fight. Yugo had already proven that he could break into HQ. Even if Yuma kept himself hidden in HQ, Yugo could get to him again and clearly Yuma finds a way to activate his Trigger in the future. If Yugo was going to come again, then at the very least, Jin could make sure that Yuma got his skill with Border's old Triggers back. He needed to remember that the swords he had now were not Scorpion blades.

Jin stepped back from Yuma to give them distance and called a new Scorpion to his hand. "Then let's go, Yuma, but do try not to make it too easy for me again."

*Mimics*

Konami barged into the room with her mouth already open to scream at Jin and Yuma for disappearing, but the words never left her mouth when she saw the two in the arena exchanging blows at a fast pace. The sword in Yuma's hand wasn't his Scorpion but the very familiar blade that she saw Yugo holding the other day. It had to be heavier than his Scorpion since Yuma looked to be moving a bit slower than when he trained with Konami, but despite that, he was handling himself quite well. The fact that he hadn't drawn his second sword yet told Konami that he was still trying to get a feel for this sword.

Where did he even get blades that were like Yugo's?

Instead of interrupting their fight, Konami chose to instead take a seat on the bleachers to wait while they finished up.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jin noticed Konami up there, but ignored her sudden presence as he dodged around Yuma. Even with a heavier sword slowing him down, Yuma was still as scary as ever. He couldn't allow one second of distraction when facing off against Yuma, especially when Yuma was being relentless in his attacks. He never gave Jin the chance to put any distance between them. Yuma knew the weak durability of Scorpion so it was likely he was trying to force Jin to block so he could shatter Jin's sword.

Watching Yuma closely, Jin chose his moment when Yuma's blade came for his face. He stepped back just enough to let the sword pass him by barely a centimeter. He stepped to the side and grabbed Yuma's arm before he could readjust from the attack and quickly spun to throw Yuma away from him. As he was flying through the air, Yuma threw a hand down to plant it on the ground and used his momentum to flip himself back over to his feet. He twisted around just in time to block Jin's attack from stabbing him in the back. His free hand came up to rest on the side of his blade to help steady him as Jin held none of his strength back in that attack.

Yuma took a step back to lessen the weight bearing down on his arms, but when he looked up at Jin, the smile and excitement in his eyes was clear as day. It was that expression of Yuma having so much fun that Jin wanted for Yuma when he first invited his young friend to join Border. He had told Tachikawa and Kazama in the past that Jin had the most fun when he got to fight his rivals. The challenge gave him a thrill like no other. He didn't know Yuma that well in the past when he decided to do whatever he could to get Yuma enlisted, but despite that, he was able to see himself in Yuma in those few days he knew him. He knew, without a shred of doubt, that Yuma would have as much fun fighting Border's strong agents just like Jin did.

And he was proven right over the past few months.

And now, for the first time, he could see that joy directly.

His free hand that was down by his side had a Scorpion form it that Jin used to swing sharply up towards Yuma's face. Yuma twisted his head to the side, only gaining a scratch on his cheek from the attack as he broke their swords free. An attack Yuma normally would have been able to dodge completely but couldn't this time because of his heavy sword. This was going to be more annoying than he anticipated. He really needed to get used to this new weight.

Ah, he really wished he could have his Scorpion and Grasshopper back. Those were such fun Triggers to fight with and against Jin, it would have been amazing.

Wishing would get him nowhere though. He didn't have his Border Trigger so he would have to make do with his dad's swords.

Yuma ducked under Jin's Scorpion then brought up his sword to block Jin's second Scorpion. His sword broke free of Jin's and he went to stab Jin, but the power elite twisted around on the spot. With his back to Yuma, he slammed his elbow back towards Yuma's face. Knowing Scorpion could come out of his elbow, Yuma leaned all the way back to avoid that possibility. Jin's leg kicked Yuma's legs out from under him before he could regain his balance, resulting in him hitting the ground hard. Yuma swung his body around on the ground so he could slam his foot into Jin's ankle to bring him down to the ground with him.

Jin hit the ground next to Yuma and the two just laid there and stared at each other for a moment. "Touche, Yuma."

That was all that was exchanged between the two as they both rolled away from each other and got back on their feet. Before Yuma could close that distance again, multiple Escudos popped up from the ground all around the arena which Jin used to hide himself.

Yuma's eyes shifted from one Escudo to the next, trying to figure out where Jin had disappeared to. If only he had Grasshopper, he could launch himself into the air to find Jin from above. Jin had no long-range weapons so he wouldn't be able to attack him while he was up there. He pushed that thought from his mind. He needed to stop thinking about his Border Trigger and think about what he did have on him that could help him.

Well, he had his Black Trigger seals that he could use, but that felt like it would be cheating so Yuma wouldn't bring those out. With his limited options, he just jumped into the air and landed on top of one of the Escudos. This gave him the chance to look behind all the Escudos without having to risk turning around one of the Escudos and running into Jin's sword.

Being up here, Yuma was able to see the tuft of hair from Jin behind one of the Escudos and launched himself towards that one. With Jin's side effect, he was hard to fight since he was expecting anything so when Yuma came down from the sky, Jin stepped to the side to avoid getting cut in half. His Scorpion came for Yuma's neck, but was met with Yuma's Shield, which shattered immediately upon his attack, leaving Jin's Scorpion to slice through Yuma's throat.

"Kuga down." The computer announced as Yuma's body hit the ground.

Yuma turned over on the ground, rubbing at his neck as his head was reattached to his body. "As expected, there is no strength in that Shield." Border's new Triggers had gotten so strong since the days when his dad was a member. Maybe he could see if Shiori could update his Shield. He couldn't make do with the old Shield.

Jin crouched down by Yuma. "Didn't your father use that Trigger in the past? Surely the Shield isn't so weak that it shatters any time it gets hit."

Yuma tilted his head back on the ground as he stared at the ceiling. "Honestly, I don't really recall Dad using his Shield that match. I think I saw him use it to defend from long-ranged attacks? When he was in close combat, he never used his Shield that I saw at least."

"He probably knew the strengths and weaknesses of it better." Jin replied. Or Yugo simply preferred using both of his swords rather than relying on his shield.

"Hey!"

Yuma pushed himself up on his elbows to look over towards the entrance of the arena as Konami let herself in and started stalking towards the two. "We're supposed to be spending the night with our friends in the solo rank booths and you two decide to run off to do your own thing?"

Yuma pushed himself the rest of the way up to sit properly on the floor, grinning up at his mentor that was towering over him and Jin. "Sorry, Konami-senpai. It's been days since I got to train and Kakizaki-senpai suggested this room and I was just so excited to test it out."

Konami couldn't be annoyed with them disappearing when her student was giving her such a big grin that she hadn't seen in days. It was his frustration and stress with himself this week that was likely helping to increase his restlessness. "So it had nothing to do with breaking your leg?"

The grin slipped off Yuma's face.

"Kikuchihara ratted you out. He said your leg cracked when you kicked Ikoma-san."

Jin raised a brow, looking over at Yuma, who looked unconcerned with Konami's accusation.

"I didn't think it was worth mentioning." Yuma shrugged. "If I mentioned anytime my body broke some more, that's all we would ever be talking about. Since my normal Trion body isn't a combat body, it lacks durability and breaks easily, but a kick like that normally wouldn't damage it. I guess the durability has gotten weaker this week because of the drain on my Trion."

"If just kicking is going to cause issues, then stop threatening to dropkick people." Jin said.

Yuma rolled his eyes, but smiled fondly. "You know I'm not really going to kick anyone, Jin-san. Outside of matches at least. Ikoma-san just spooked me when he appeared behind me when I couldn't see." He scratched the back of his head. "Considering we were inside HQ and I was surrounded by so many agents, I should have known the person behind me wasn't a threat to me since if he was, you guys would have reacted."

"With the week we've been having, it's natural to be high strung, Yuma." Jin said. Yuma shouldn't have kicked Ikoma like he did, but with the pressure he was under, it made sense that he would react instinctively without pausing to think. "Especially when the last time you saw your dad, he left you for dead when he stole your ring. Are you scared of seeing him again? After that last horrible meeting?"

Yuma looked up towards the ceiling as he thought about it. His father was someone that Yuma had never once been terrified of. There was never a reason for him to ever be scared of Yugo as he had always been a loving, caring father, even when he was beating Yuma into the ground during training, it had been with a relaxed expression that spoke nothing of malicious intent. That was years ago though.

It wasn't the same now. The day he met his father as a Mimic was the day Yuma felt the fear in his veins from having Yugo look at him like he was the enemy. It was an expression only ever directed at Yugo's enemy. Yuma had seen it before but never felt scared at seeing the look since it was never meant for him. Then there was last night. The day they fought at Tamakoma was nothing compared to last night. Last night, the expression on his face wasn't one he just showed his enemies. It was one full of malicious, greedy intent that didn't belong on Yugo's face. That expression terrified Yuma more than the one he saw at Tamakoma because it was one that Yugo never had before. It was the expression that showed the vile creation from Meraki under Yugo's face.

"He...unnerves me." Yuma said slowly. "I wouldn't say I'm scared of Dad showing up again, but I am anxious. I don't want to see him like this anymore."

"As an enemy?" Konami asked.

"As a pawn."

Jin's expression softened as he dropped a hand to Yuma's head. "Mogami-san and Kuga-san are too strong to be used as pawns so it's frustrating to see them like this. We know this is never what they would want, but they can't stop. They won't stop until we kill them."

"And that will be just as painful as having to see them get used like this." Konami said as she came to understand Yuma's frustration. It hurt him to have his father want to kill him, but it was just as painful that he was doing it without it being his control.

"One minute Dad will be looking at me like he did when I was a kid and the next, he'll be throwing me into a wall." Yuma said softly, hands curling into tight fists on his lap. "You're right when you say Dad is in there, but being a pawn to Meraki controls all his actions. Even though he wants to, he can't stop himself. He doesn't deserve this."

"None of the transformed Mimics deserve to be used like this." Jin agreed. "We will stop them."

"To do that, we should learn how to fight against Kuga-san." Konami said. "So." She reached down to grab Yuma's arm and pulled him to his feet. "You have the same blades as him and the same ability to use your Black Trigger seals on top of a normal Trigger." She pushed Yuma back a few steps and then moved away herself. With her back to Yuma and Jin, she pulled her Sogetsu blades free of their pouches before turning on her heel to show off her smirk to Yuma. "You skipped all our practices this week. As your mentor, I can't allow that to go without punishment. I'm going to bash your head in, Yuma, so you best not hold anything back!"