Disclaimer: King of Fighters is the property of SNKPlaymore, who are currently taking as long to release KOFXIII on consoles as I take to write a chapter...

Yes, It's me again. After a good number of months wallowing in a sea of screwy work schedules and failed tests, I've returned to give you the new chapter of...


New Blood: Winds of Change

Chapter 2: Spring Storm


It had been about five months. Five months since the group of four kids known as the Shin Sekai Chitsujo—or the SSC for short—took a chance and entered the King of Fighter's tournament. Five months since they lost a close battle with Terry Bogard and his team. Five months since they crashed and ruined Krizalid's plan to take over the world with clones of Kyo Kusanagi. All of that was such a short time ago, so why did it seem like it was ages?

They came home after all was done and it seemed as if nothing had really happened. But they weren't going to complain; after all, the whole idea was to try and test their skills and have a bit of fun along the way, not to try and use the tournament to become five-minute celebrities. The SSC got what they wanted, and for the moment they went on with their normal lives.


Krysten yawned as he got up early in the morning. It took a few moments for him to remember that he had chose to stay up and finish the last few hours of the RPG on his recently acquired Sega Dreamcast. By time the beat the game, however, he was too tired to climb up the stairs and fell asleep on the couch instead. Luckily for him it was more comfortable than he expected, and he didn't wake up incredibly sore, as he predicted.

A light mewing sound came from the kitchen as Krysten slowly got to his feet. A light grey cat walked into the room. "Morning, Version 1." Version 1 was a cat that Raven had unknowingly brought home from their trip, and had made itself at home rather quickly. Her name was merely a placeholder while they thought of something better.

"Are you hungry already?" He knelt down to stroke the kitty on his back. "Well, wait a bit while I try and get my brother to wake up already." He got a meow in response. Krysten went up the stairs and went into the room he shared with his brother, who was currently knocked out on the bed.

The younger Kirishima gave his brother a hard nudge. "Okay sleepyhead, time to get up." Krysten said as he shook Raven as hard as he could.

"Alright, alright, stop shoving." He waved his brother off and sat up. "What's going on? Did you accidentally erase your game saves again? Because that's what I got you that extra memory card for…"

"We need to get to class." Krysten interrupted, dropping a schoolbag on Raven's lap for emphasis. "I had to wake you before you ended up making us late."

"Damn, I don't really feel like it today…" Raven cracked his neck as he started to get up. "Maybe we should just skip…."

"The hell we are. You and I both know that we can't keep doing that. We promised Hokuto we'd keep up with our schoolwork if she let us live on our own, and we've barely kept our end of the bargain."

"I suppose we did tell her that. And I certainly don't want to go back to living over there again, especially with all of those students that are constantly wandering around the place." He picked up the books that had been scattered throughout his room. "Why the hell did she want to be an instructor anyway? I'm her best student, what's the point of teaching anyone else?"

"She was training you to help you control your powers. But she's the head of the family now, and she wanted to do something worthwhile with her life, especially after what happened. You respect that, don't you?" Krysten realized he was getting off track. "Anyway, whatever the case, we need to start getting ready. I'm gonna get V-1 something to eat."

Raven got out of the bed. "You're going to have to give him a real name sooner or later." He said before he went inside the bathroom. Glancing at the mirror, he duly noted the scar over his eye and then turned on the shower.


Haru and Vio patiently sat outside while they awaited the teacher. It was going to be their first day at a public school in a long time, and they still had no idea how the students were going to react. For the meantime, they casually talked to try and calm down.

"Have you heard from anyone back at HQ yet?" Vio said as she idly started swinging her legs.

"Nope. Luka's been busy, Sakari's is still comatose on the bed and Irena probably hasn't heard the news yet."

"This is just a strange change of pace. To think, only a month ago we were with Luka negotiating with some small country for use of our technology."

"Yeah, that was fun. Except at the end when the deal fell through and they started shooting at us."

"Heh, don't remind me." She smiled grimly before changing the subject. "How do you think these students are going to treat us? Will they be friendly to us? What if they start asking us a whole lot of personal questions?"

"Oh, don't worry. These are teenagers like us; the only thing they care about are your hobbies, what bands you like, and probably if you dye your hair. I doubt it'll get any personal than that. Besides, I'm there if you have any trouble."

Vio just blinked for a few seconds before taking a deep breath to calm her frazzled nerves. She absent-mindedly brushed off the black and white floral skirt she was wearing to distract her mind. In a quick attempt to calm her down, Haru reached out and gave her a quick hug. He knew that Vio needed him by her side for the time being or else she would mentally collapse before the day was even over.

"Are you feeling better now?" He said in a slight whisper when he let go. Vio smiled and nodded. "Good. I don't want you to freak out on me quite yet. It wouldn't help us if you fainted in front of the class, right?"

The door opened at that moment and the teacher poked his head out to let the two know that they could come in. They quickly walked into a class of relatively accepting looking students. "Mr. Tsuyomi, Ms. Nakahara, why don't you introduce yourself."

"Hello, my name is Haru Tsuyomi. I'm 16 years old. I was born in Kyoto, and I lived there for most of my life before moving here. My father is an engineer and works for a very advanced company in the field of…er, engineering."

"Uh, yes…My name is Violeta Nakahara, but you can just call me Vio. I'm 15.6 years old and I'm very pleased to meet you. There's nothing all that interesting about me whatsoever."

"Come on, Vio, at least tell them what you're interested in?" Haru nudged her a bit and Vio turned slightly red.

"Uh..er…Well, I like martial arts, sleeping and Sonic the Hedgehog games…"

"Did you say you liked fighting?" One of the students jumped in abruptly. Vio gave her friend a look, but he just shrugged.

"Er…yes. The both of us practice martial arts. It's something we do as a hobby." She continued.

"What kind?"

"Various styles. Kung this, Tae Kwon that. We don't limit ourselves to any one specific style." Haru inserted, "You guys sure seem interested in fighting…"

"We have some fighters in our school too!" One of the girls said. "Kara-sempai and Krysten-san!"

"Kara-sempai?" A slightly confused look formed on their faces.

"Actually, his name is Raven, but a lot of the younger students here like to call him Kara-sempai." Another student added. "He and Krysten fought in some kind of secret underground fighting tournament a few months ago."

So they're actually bragging to these kids about what they did? That little stunt of theirs set our organization back months! Vio thought bitterly. The two agents would have to see how much of their story they actually let out to the public.

"Where are these two fighters anyway?" Haru asked. The teacher shook his head in response

"Late. They always either come real early for breakfast or get here late. I'm sure they'll be storming in here nosily as usual in a few…" He was interrupted by the sound of the door opening as Raven and Krysten came walking in.

"Excuse us, Sensei. Sorry for being late again." Raven gave a casual apology. "There was a line at the store, and I wanted to eat some dorayaki…"

"You wouldn't have to wait if you would actually cook some breakfast instead of insisting on picking something up every other day." Krysten muttered.

"Alright, tomorrow, we'll crash Zyon's house early and he can cook for both of us. He won't mind right?" Raven finally noticed the two students standing in front of them.

"Er…yes. I would like for you to meet Haru Tsuyomi and Violeta Nakahara." The teacher said, moving aside so the brother's could get a better look at the two.

"Yo! What's up!" Haru said enthusiastically.

"It's a pleasure to see you." Vio politely bowed. "If I may ask, what are your names?"

"My name is Raven, and this is my brother Krysten…" He turned and noticed the uneasy look his brother had on his face. "Krysten, say something!" He whispered.

"I-I-It's a pleasure to meet you." Krysten struggled a bit getting those words out.

"Please forgive him. He's a bit shy around people he doesn't know." Raven gave his brother a sympathetic look. "He'll warm up to you guys quickly, so don't worry about that."

"Oh, okay?" Vio said. The idea that these two were supposed to be talented martial-artists seemed a bit too absurd to her, but then again, she knew that weirder things had happened in the KOF tournament. "Please don't be too wary around us. We're friendly."

"O-Okay…"

"Well, now that we got our introductions out of the way; let's get class started, okay?" The teacher said. Everybody went to their seats.


Luka stared at the somewhat comatose young man lying on the bed. "Oi, Sakari. You still sleep?" He waved a hand in front of the boy's face. "Well, his vitals are still normal; I suppose he's still knocked out from all of the drugs I used before the procedure."

"Osu, you think he'll be okay?" The brown haired girl standing next to him looked up into his face and started to poke him. "You said he was supposed to wake up a few days ago…"

"That was just an early estimate, you don't really know how these things work till it happens. But enough about that…" Luka took the girl and sat her on another table. She looked at him with inquisitive eyes, but her expression had a sense of emptiness to it. "Now, do you know what today is?" He finally asked her.

"Uh, my first assassination?" Her words were said more casually than a girl her age should be speaking.

"That's right. You've finally reached the point that they want to do more on the field testing with you. So you're going out on your first assignment."

"So no more testing?" The girl sounded hopeful, and Luka couldn't help but smile at that.

"If all goes well, most likely they won't need to give you anymore tests. While you do need a bit more work on controlling your powers, you've already surpassed your predecessors." He started to go through a drawer full of medical equipment. "Now we need to know if that combat practice we've been putting you through has worked out for us. Does that sound good?" The girl nodded. "Right now, however, I need to check your blood first."

Luka noted the girl's wide-eyed response as the room started to get a bit chilly. "Come on now. This is just standard procedure."

Her red eyes fell at his words. "Fine…"

She held out an arm as Luka got out a vial and a needle. "Don't worry, this will be short." She flinched a bit when he inserted the needle in her skin, in fact, the girl went ahead with it as if she had been having this done to her for years. In some ways, she was right.

It didn't take Luka long to get the blood he needed for the tests. "There. Quick and easy, as usual." He quickly placed a light blue bandage on the spot. "How are you feeling, my dear girl?" He laid a hand on the top of her head.

"Okay, I guess." She rubbed the bandage on her arm. "Can I have some candy now?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure. You've earned it." He took a lollipop out of one of the pockets of his lab coat, which the girl took in earnest. "Now, where are your keepers at?"

"They're right behind you."

"Huh?" He turned around to see the two women assigned to take care of the girl that was currently in his room, Foxy and Diana. "So, are you here to pick her up, because she's ready if you need her."

"Actually, I need to speak with you about something important." Foxy said before she turned to the girl that was busy licking her lollipop. "Kula, sweetie, go with Diana so she can help you get ready for your mission."

The girl smiled as she hopped off the bed and bounded to Diana. "Bye bye, Luka!"

The scientist casually waved as she and Diana left the room. "So then, Foxy, since we have barely been able to see each other recently, what do you need to tell me?" He closed the door and went back to the bed where Sakari lay.

"I heard you got another mission as well. The higher-ups certainly aren't treating you well as of late." Foxy sat down in a nearby chair.

"Such is the life of an operative: kill, kill, write report about my killing and send it to upper management, go back to work, then get another order to go out and kill more people." There was a hint of bitterness in his voice as he checked the comatose boy's vitals. "Honestly, I should probably tell them I need to spend more time working on this Anti-K' nonsense they threw on my lap at the last second, but enough of my whining. What's going on?"

"It's a bit complex, to be honest. To put it plainly, we've gotten word that one of our lower ranked agents has just defected from the organization, along with several other people."

Luka's head fell at the news. It was another aftermath of the failure of six months ago; several people had left the organization, either to join with some other group that he heard was slowly amassing men or jus because they figured that things could only get worse after their grand plan went down in (literal) flames.

"Normally it's not too much trouble for us to deal with, but intelligence just informed me that the rouge agents are headed towards the town your two operatives are currently located at."

The scientist nearly dropped his instruments in shock. "W-what? Why in the hell is he going there? Damn it, I need to go tell Kirou…"

"H-hey! Calm down!" Foxy grabbed him by the wrist before he could run out of the room. "He's not looking for Tsuyomi and Nakahara. What he's after involves some young woman who is wanted in response to an incident in a small town in Europe."

Luka took a deep breath as he sorted everything out. "So this is just some kind of mercenary work? And what incident are you referring to?"

"A few months ago, there was some kind of storm that blew through that town and caused a lot of destruction to it. I don't have the exact amount, but it's around 2.4 million dollars in damage." "However, several people have claimed that the storm wasn't natural, but was caused by a mysterious young woman who had arrived in town a few weeks earlier." Foxy stated, "I think you know where I'm headed."

"So this girl must have some mystical powers. Maybe we should try to look into her as well. Getting her to join NESTS might be beneficial." Luka thought aloud. "Especially if she's cute."

Foxy gave him a bitter look. "Considering the damage she reportedly did to that one town, I would think this organization has suffered through enough crap over the past few months."

"You're probably right." He rolled down his sleeve and started fiddling with some old bandages on his arm. "So, do you think our defector is after her powers?"

"Could be, or it could be an issue of gaining some money off of all of this. The main concern to us is that he's too close to our undercover operatives, and if he finds out about that, they could be in some serious trouble."

Luka rolled his sleeve back up. "Don't be so worried. Haru and Violeta are more than capable of beating his ass all over town."

"They're still kids, Luka. We all know how skilled they are, but that doesn't mean they can do everything on their own. You of all people should be concerned about their well-being. You're their superior after all." She stood up and looked at him.

"Do not worry my dear fox, I'm not ignoring anything. I have complete faith in them. Besides, I already have a plan in mind for how to deal with our..." He walked over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Let me take care of this. YOU, on the other hand, need to get ready to go with Kula and Diana."

"….Alright, Luka. I'll leave thing up to your own devices, as usual." Foxy gave him a small smile. "I certainly hope you know what you're doing. You know how Kula feels about those two kids. Our relationship notwithstanding, if you do anything that gets her upset, Diana and I will not hesitate to make you our new practice dummy for fencing practice."

"Heh heh, weeeelllll, we wouldn't want that. Half of my body already looks like a damn mummy." Luka smiled and kissed her on the cheek. "Be careful. I owe you dinner when you get back."

"I'm well aware of that." As Foxy left, Luka grabbed a sheet of paper off of one of the tables filled with instruments. It was his mission report.

It never ends, does it? Luka scrolled through the report to try and see when exactly it would end. He looked at the prone form lying on the bed. He was looking forward to seeing him react to his new nanotechnology, but his duty to the cartel came first.Sakari. I'll have Kirou wake you up tomorrow. It looks as if I'm off to shed blood once again.


After a few hours, it was time for them to go to lunch. And while Raven and Krysten would usually go off somewhere and converse with the other students, today they were more interested in their newest classmates.

"So…Krysten, are you gonna talk to them or what?" Raven said quietly. He motioned to Vio and Haru, who were currently chatting over their lunches.

"Why now? I mean, they look like they're eating lunch. We don't want to bother them or anything."

Raven shook his head. Sometimes he though his brother had some sort of condition that made him act timid towards people he didn't know.

"Come on. Quit being a baby…" He pushed his younger brother towards the table were the new students were currently sitting at. "Hey, new kids! You mind if we sit by you?"

Vio nodded shyly. "It's fine. We weren't doing anything interesting in particular."

"Well then." Raven shoved his brother into one of the chairs, despite his protests. "So, have the students been treating you well?"

"Surprisingly enough. We were expecting to get a less positive response from you guys; like a hazing or something."

"The last time we did something like that, I got suspended for a week." Raven shook his head. "But you shouldn't worry. The kids are usually friendly and accepting. Of course, if you have any issues, my brother and I would be more than happy to deal with them."

"Thanks for the offer, but we can deal with things ourselves if it gets too messy." Haru said, "Speaking of which, I heard you two are quite the talented fighters."

"Of course we are! We're the two best fighters in the school!"

"It's not something one should really brag about, but it's true." Krysten added.

"Hey, don't be such a buzzkill. Of course it's something we can brag about. I bet they told you guys about the tournament, right?"

"You mean how you were in the King of Fighters tournament?" The girl asked, "Yes, that was something they were certainly eager to make that known. So how far did you go?"

"We where doing good till Terry Bogard absolutely destroyed me at the semi-finals." Raven laughed at the memory, "I tell you, the Power Geyser may look cool on TV, but it hurts like hell when you get hit by it!"

Raven proceeded to tell the new students a brief account of the days in the tournament. They purposely omitted the parts about the clones of Kyo Kusanagi and their battle with Krizalid, however. The SSC had decided to not to admit to anyone that particular subject out of concerns that INTERPOL or any other government agents would be busting down their doors asking about what they knew. Considering

"That's pretty neat!" Haru said as he pretended this was all new to him, "So, do you think we could meet your friends of yours?"

"Soon. We're kinda scattered most of the day and it's a bit difficult to get together sometimes." Raven shrugged. "Zyon got his friends and his job with that slightly nutty teacher of his, and Xion has his friends and some…unruly people that he sometimes has to chase around the city to keep them from causing too much trouble."

"I'm sure you'll end up running into them." Krysten continued, "If you see a blonde boy and he comes up and starts hitting on Violeta, then that's Zyon. If you see a black-haired boy grab Zyon by the collar and drag him off, then that's Xion."

Vio giggled slightly. "I see. I'll keep a look out for them. Oh, I just realized, you're fighters, but you never told us what kind of fighting style you use?"

"Style? Er…that's a bit complicated. My family taught me everything I know about fighting, but I modify it a bit. Mostly out of safety. My dear brother, though, doesn't have a real fighting style. He just kicks a lot. It's probably Tae Kwon Doe."

"It's a lot more than just me kicking stuff you know…"

"Oh yeah, there's the chain thing too. He's pretty skilled at using it effectively during fights, but he's more about the physical aspect. He has a lot of potential, but he never seems to want to do anything to improve; he cares more about playing video games than he does sparring.." Raven continued. Krysten sunk in his seat in irritation.

"Kara-sempai!" A female student ran up to him. "I need some help with my English homework! Can you and Krysten-san come—Oh! I didn't have a clue you were talking to the new kids! Pardon my interruption."

"Don't worry, I'll be there to assist you in a second."

The girl bowed quickly before leaving, and the two new students gave him a puzzled glance. "Kara-sempai?" They said simultaneously.

"Karas. From what I heard, it's supposed to be Japanese for Raven, but I don't know much about that…" Raven quickly got up, "Sorry for the abrupt exit, but I have a responsibility to see that these cute girls get the help they need me."

As he left, Krysten slowly got up to follow him. "I'm sorry, but if I know my brother, he'll probably spend more time flirting with them than actually studying. I swear he's as bad as Zyon sometimes…" He gave a short bow. "Please excuse me."

As Krysten ran off to catch up with his brother, Haru and Vio gave each other questioning looks.

"Didn't take long to gain their trust." Haru smirked. "Mission accomplished."

"Nobody said it was going to be complicated, Haru. But I admit it's good that they're so friendly, it makes things a lot easier for us as we go forward." Vio stuck a piece of food in her mouth, but instantly spit it out. "What the hell? This food is terrible!"

"Welcome to the unforgiving world of public school lunches, Vio."


Finally, as the school day ended and everyone set off for their respective after-school activities, Haru and Vio prepared to go home. To their displeasure, however, they seemed to forget the most annoying part about starting a new school: the massive amounts of clubs asking for their presence.

"PLEASE JOIN THE TEA CLUB!" One girl wailed as the two newest students walked towards the exit. "WE NEED MORE MEMBERS!"

"Forget that, you want to join the baseball club!" Another girl waving a bat around. "You look like you know how to swing a good bat!"

"You should join the swim team, Violeta-san!" A boy said, "You'd probably look good in a swimsuit…"

"Er…thanks…" Vio blushed and got closer to Haru. "What's with all these people asking about clubs?"

"Just ignore them." Krysten suddenly appeared, pushing them out of the way. "They do that all the time whenever someone new comes along. They'll cool off in a day or so."

"Krysten-san, please convince them to join the Tae Kwan Doe club!" Someone in the crowd shouted, But he just waved them off as he helped the two new students push through the crowd of people. By time they got outside, Haru and Vio had a pile of papers between them.

"Uh, thanks for helping us out, I guess…" Haru said as Vio helped him straighten his pile of stuff. "Hey, where did your brother go?"

"He's helping some of the first years with cleaning duty. I decided to go and get some stuff for dinner, so I'll have to go." Krysten smiled, "Anyway, I hoped you had a nice time here."

"Yeah, it was a great first day. Me and Vio are going to like it here, right?"

"S-sure. It was a pleasure to meet you guys." Vio said shyly. Krysten did the same before turning around to leave.

"That's good. Take care of yourselves." He said before heading in the direction of the parking lot. The two agents went in the other direction.

"Ara, everything went well for this first day." Haru yawned. "I think I'm going to like hanging around with those two."

"But by the looks of it, we'll probably aren't gong to get much info. They don't act all that different from normal kids. What are we going to report back to HQ?" Vio said with concern as they started to walk.

"Let's worry about that later. Right now we're still in the 'fitting in at school' phase of the mission. Bothering them about fighting styles and what happened at the tournament would only arouse too much suspicion. Anyway, what do you wanna do now?"

"I'm…I'm kinda hungry. We didn't eat much at school…" The sound of her stomach grumbling. "That was an awful lunch…"

"Don't worry. I'm sure there's a McDonald's around here somewhere…"

"McDonald's? Are you kidding me? I want to eat some Japanese food for once! Let's go to the ramen shop."

"Okay, okay. I know how we can decide this…"

They both held out their hands. "Rock…Paper…Scissors, shoot!"

Unfortunately, they both had rock. They tried again, and then they both had paper. After about ten more attempts, finally Vio had paper and Haru had rock.

"Rock holds down paper. That means I win!" Haru gloated, but just got smacked on the side of his head in response.

"Dumbass. We're going for ramen and that's final." She gave him the hardest look she had, and Haru relented.

''Okay. Ramen it is then." He didn't want to have a fight out here in front of the school. "But only because I like you." That got a slight giggle from his friend as they left the parking lot.


On the grass on the backyard of their house, Raven stood there silently. He held his arms in front of him, fist clenched as he tried to keep his breathing steady.

Alright. Let's do this. Slowly, he lifted his arms till they were pointed straight at his target, which happened to be an old tree that sat on their neighbor's yard.

"Charging…." Raven sent all of his ki into his hands as he slow started charging up. "Three…two…one…Fire!"

*BOOM*

Something came out, but it was more of a brief flash of energy that, while not particularly noisy, had enough force to send the young man flying a foot or so before landing not-so-gracefully on the grass. …Ow.

Raven laid there as his body redistributed the ki through his body.

"Hey, did the new move explode in your face again." Krysten knelt down next to him.

"…yeah. It sucks. But I'm sure I'll get it down eventually." He grinned. "It's just a matter of getting everything exactly right."

"Don't hurt yourself trying to perform that move." Krysten said as he helped him up. "We don't want you acting like Zyon when it comes to new techniques."

"You don't have to worry about that. I'm not that obsessed." Raven dusted himself off. "Remember when we had to take Zyon to the hospital because he burned his right arm trying to practice with his flames?"

"I'm still trying to figure out how he managed to explain how his arm was back to normal a week later."

As they walked into the house, Raven parked himself on the couch and started on the homework that was due tomorrow. As much as he disliked it, he knew he needed to keep his grades in check if they wanted to continue living on their own. It was just that occasionally Raven needed to go out and train for a bit to keep his technique from fading.

As he worked on his English homework (learning the language was something he was aiming for), but his mind slowly started to drift back to that tournament. As clichéd as it was, he still remembers everything clearly. Going from city to city, fighting against some of the strongest people on the planet, and Krizalid, questionable as his aims may have been, pushed him harder than Raven had been in a long time.

I wonder if I would have been able to beat him if I used Kakusei to it's fullest extent… He thought as the pencil filled in another answer. Guess I'll never know.

Suddenly, his thoughts turned to his female friend that he made. Since they had returned, Raven had only heard from Irena Toryu, the SSC's self-proclaimed representative, once since he last saw her. It was a brief letter that she had sent him a month or so ago which was nothing more than a well-wishing gesture, telling him that she was doing okay (along with a picture of her with newly purple-colored hair), and to keep a look out for signs of the next KOF tournament. Of course, at this point, Raven wasn't going to concern himself with rumors at this point.

"What's going on? You look pretty distant right now." Krysten asked from the kitchen.

"Nothing. Just thinking on how boring it's been lately." Raven put his pencil down. "Dull, dull, dull. Nobody wants to fight us anymore, and it's getting irritating."

"How about picking a fight from some kids from another high school?" Krysten said as he leaned against the couch. "That's what we usually do when we get bored."

Raven glowered at the idea. "Sorry, but that doesn't really do it for me anymore. They're too weak, and I don't really have fun holding myself back for them. It's more exciting when you can go all out on someone. Didn't you have fun fighting against strong fighters?

"If you mean the regular fighters, then yes. If you mean Krizalid, then I wouldn't exactly call watching him beat you and Zyon half to death 'fun'."

"Come on, man. It was a battle with the fate of the world at stake! How could you have more fun than that!"

"We have different idea of what's fun, brother. Besides, even if we didn't win, I doubt that Krizalid's plan would have gotten anywhere. It was pretty stupid and from what Leona and the others told me, had a few flaws that wouldn't have ended well for them." Krysten paused for a second. "Now that I think of it, don't you find it strange that nobody from that group has come after us for more or less destroying their plan?"

"I wouldn't really be concerned about something like that. NESTS have enough problems to worry about dealing with a bunch of kids, right?" Krysten just looked at him. "Uh…right?"

"If you say so." Krysten shrugged as he got up. "You're the one that caused the most damage, so who do you think they're going to focus on?" Raven was about to retort, but his brother had already closed his door to his room.

"I certainly hope that they don't try and target us. If that K' person was an indication of anything, then I rather not see what they would have in store for someone like me." Krysten said to himself as flopped on his bed. In his hand, he formed a small ball of dark red energy. It lit the room up with an auspicious glow for a few seconds before dissipating into the air. "I'll be damned if I wind up being anyone's lab rat again."


Shikkoku: Yeah, it's been awhile. There's nothing really to note on this chapter other than the next one will occur in about the same time span as this one, if not a bit longer. Actually, this and the next chapter I had considered combining, but I decided that it would be a bit too big right now, so I went back with the original plan. Anything noteworthy about this will be included with the notes for the next chapter.

If there are any errors in this that you see in this chapter, don't hesitate to point it out.

Next Chapter: Xion finds himself in a very complicated situation with a young girl he meets on the street, while Zyon goes through another day in his complex life.

Until Next time.