"I don't think we can take him any farther than he already is, Spikes."
Neku frowned "I need to be sure, Kariya."
"What's to be sure about? Look, he's practically rearing to go! You've pushed him for three weeks, and he met every challenge with bared teeth."
"We still have a week left. I'm not wasting it."
"Phones?" Hanekoma said sternly.
Neku looked at the Barista, and the man looked him full in the face
"He's ready."
"But..."
"Open the door, Phones."
Neku threw a panicked look to his sleeping patient.
"But Josh needs—"
Hanekoma put his hands on the boy's shoulders and looked him square in the eyes, his voice firm but gentle as he said softly.
"Phones, you've done everything you can do. You know how you can tell a song is done, or a tag finished?"
"How?"
Sanae smiled encouragingly "It'll tell you."
Neku looked at the being on his couch. He ran his hand through the ash-blonde locks, felt the tension leave the lithe body as Joshua let out a sigh. He smiled slightly as the smirking mouth turned into a feral sneer, like a dog getting primed to attack. He looked, and his shoulders sagged in defeat as Sanae whispered in his ear,
"He's ready."
He heaved a deep sigh
"Yeah. Yeah he is."
With a weight on his chest that threatened to crush him, Neku Sakuraba walked to his door, unlocked all the latches, and put his hand on the doorknob. He turned to the other two, his blue eyes sharp and sparking
"Wake him."
TWEWYTWEWYTWEWY
"Ok now, let's go over the rules one more time. Neku, besides encouragement and/or minimal instructions, you are not aloud to interfere, that goes for me and the Conductor as well. This is a battle of wills, not strength, so neither combatant is aloud to win by physical knockout or forced erasure, nor is any transforming aloud, nor is the Composer allowed to use what little power he still possesses at this time. The contest will continue until either the goals are met, or either Neku or Apollo declare audibly that they concede the match."
"Sanae, wait...why does Neku have to concede?" Joshua whined
"Because if it gets to the point where he has to say those two words...you won't be able to say jack, J." Hanekoma pointed out roughly.
"Point taken. Continue"
"Well, that's it, really. Oh, and Apollo..."
"Sanae?"
"You can't use any physical psychs. No Bone Crusher."
"Take all the fun out of the thing why don't you..."
Sanae took a deep breath, Neku noticed it was a bit shakey,
"Ok then...Let the Contest of Wills...begin!"
Apollo delightfully went for Joshua's throat, implanting his favorite psych right away.
"You're mine, Yoshiya!"
Kariya groaned as the ash-blond went limp almost immediately, eyes closed and breathing slow.
"Maaaaaan, he's lost it already!"
Apollo smirked and threw a triumphant look at the Proxy, but Neku returned the smirk with a sneer as he said confidently, arms crossed.
"Relax Kariya. He's far from done."
Apollo was about to scoff at the naïve teenager. Victory was his and it'd taken him less than ten seconds to achieve it! As he looked once more at the Proxy, he suddenly realized that the boy's attention was still on Yoshiya...and he had a wry grin on his face.
"Didn't I tell you?" Neku asked "Your psych is useless now." He simply pointed. Apollo looked, and his eyes went wide then narrowed in rage.
His victim's hand was twitching. His arm moved slightly. This couldn't happen!
"No..." he growled
Joshua's eyes snapped open, a burning inferno inside their violet hue.
"Noooo!"
Neku smirked. Apollo flew into a rage
"NO! You're MINE, Yoshiya!"
He pounced, sending another psych into the Composer. This one was new, something he'd been developing for when he actually had the ash-blond in his hands. As such, Joshua was caught completely and totally off guard when everything went numb, and suddenly his body seized, flailing without his consent. Apollo poured and poured the psych through him, not giving him any time to recover. It got so bad he was frothing at the mouth, blood poured out of his nose...
He panicked.
Neku saw it, and grit his teeth "No. You know what to do. Don't let him take this from you, Josh!"
His body was thrown off the couch, a strangled cry escaping him as Apollo pounced on him again and held him close, his breath on the ash-blond's neck as he soothed "Shhhhh...that's it...stop resisting and it'll be alright, my Kiryu...It'll be alright..."
The purple eyes glazed over. Inside, Joshua screamed in frustration...in panic. Apollo's words came, wrapping his Soul like ropes, tying him down like strings. He was tangled so badly he couldn't reach his own will to stoke it.
Ropes...
The ropes tightened, pinning his limbs to the cushions...
His body sagged in the grip of his tormentor. Neku snarled "Come on, Josh! Don't do this! Get control!"
Strings...
His Proxy manipulated his broken arm like it was ceramic. The less he resisted, the less it hurt...
His head lolled to the side, eyes wide open but blank as white sheets. Apollo smiled sickly and turned to Neku, eyes sparkling in greedy triumph.
"Say it, Sakuraba."
Neku held him, his own body gaunt and his heart barely beating as he tended the wounds of the lifeless Composer. Another psych ripped through the Proxy's body, his azure eyes wide in confusion and terror as his limbs flopped like dead fish.
He coiuld not let that happen.
That would. not. happen!
"Say it. You've lost. He's mine."
Focus...
Neku hung his head and slumped his shoulders, tears gathering in his eyes as he looked at how...dead Joshua looked. He looked to Hanekoma, and saw him turn away from the sight of his surrogate son lying limp and will-less in the arms of the madman who shattered him. He sighed heavily and croaked in defeat.
"I conc—"
"Don't...Finish...That...Sentence."
Every single eye focused on the ash-blond still being clutched by the now very-surprised Apollo. The smirking lips now held a fierce snarl. The eyes that were before blank and lifeless now blazed with a life and fury, that no matter how much psych Apollo poured into him, would never be extinguished.
"And you...get off me!"
Joshua kicked free and glared at his opponent. Apollo looked absolutely livid, yet his manic eyes had desperation in them. Joshua snarled open mouthed, a feral growl in his voice as he pulled himself to a standing position, eyes still blazing a wildfire.
"I'm not done. You, Apollo, think you can do whatever you want. Well I'm sick of it. You call yourself ascended, but all it really means is pompous, and all you ever do is pick on the weak. I remember telling you recently to keep your hands off my proxy."
He plowed into his tormentor with a roar of utter defiance. "That included mentally." He gripped Apollo's throat and sneered at him "Listen to me very carefully."
He brought the feind's drooling face close to his own and said very slowly.
"You so much as step on Neku's shadow, and I don't care where you are, I will hunt you down and erase you myself."
"You don't have the willpower" Apollo sneered back "You have been and always shall be mine."
Joshua stood tall, his smirk planted firmly in place as he flipped his hair and turned his back on the Higher being.
"You just poured everything you had into me, Apollo. I think it's safe to say...I've outgrown you. I am the Composer of Shibuya, and I've become deaf to your Song."
Apollo sputtered, he raged and spit...but in the end he hung his head, dropped his gaze, and sighed heavily in defeat
"Well played, Yoshiya Kiryu. I...concede."
Sanae breathed a deep sigh of relief and lifted his hand
"The Battle of Wills is concluded. Winner...Yoshiya Kiryu!"