I do not own Rosario Vampire or any of the characters.
Summer Break
Damon watched as Tsukune crashed to the ground and rolled to a stop. Moka huffed, shaking her head, and turned to Damon. He smirked, pushing off the tree he'd been leaning against and walked over, leaving his shoes behind and forming his scales.
"Scales right off the bat?" Moka asked. "At least you're not underestimating me."
"The last time I fought you, you broke my arm like a twig," Damon said. "I'd like to avoid that this time."
"You had your scales then too," Moka pointed out, crouching and readying herself.
"I've taken precautions this time," Damon said. "Shall we begin?"
Moka smirked and shot forward, clearing the distance in an instant and kicking at him, shattering the ground. He spun around her, his tail shooting out and sweeping at her leg, only for her to push off of it, flipping it into an axe kick. He deflected it carefully with one hand as the other shot toward her in an uppercut. However, she twisted, her other knee crashing into his fist. His scales cracked, but before she could continue to attack him, his coiled up tail exploded into her gut, hurling her away. She bounced once, then flipped, landing on her feet and skidding a short distance. She shot forward and he ducked over her first kick, drilling an uppercut into her mouth, blood spraying out of her mouth as she sailed into the air. Then, he leapt after her, flipping and slamming an axe kick of his own into her gut, sending her streaking at the ground. At the last second, she flipped, kicking the ground and shattering it, allowing her to land safely. Then, she shot into the air again, flipping and spinning, swiping at him with a windmill kick, only for him to flip over it and spin in a blur, his tail whipping around and crashing into the top of her left shoulder, hurling her at the ground again. He landed at the top of her crater and she stood, growling in rage and rolling her shoulder, which she had already relocated after his tail popped it out of its socket.
"You've got monstrous strength, as always," Damon said. "And you're fast for a vampire. But you've still got one serious weakness. You use exclusively kicks. It makes you predictable."
The others all looked at each other, realizing he was right about her only fighting with kicks.
"I've never faced anyone besides you that it was a problem with," Moka said.
"It would have been if you had fought Kahlua," Damon said. "She was fast, precise, and skilled. You would have lost to her."
"You don't know that!" Moka snapped.
"I do," Damon said. "I've fought you both. I know you would have lost. And so do you. You're just being stubborn and proud. The main downfall of your species."
"We've earned our pride!" Moka snarled, streaking forward and kicking at him, only for his tail to lash out at her other leg, flipping her so that her kick struck the ground before his own hit her left shoulder, once again popping it out of place and hurling her.
"You've earned some pride," Damon said. "Your species has even more than my own race. You've all come to believe you're all invincible, just like my kind did. You let victory weaken your instincts and power. You've grown used to fighting weak opponents, so you believe you're the strongest there is. But in all honesty, you're not nearly as powerful as you think. You're weaker than Kahlua, even without transforming her body. And you're too prideful to use the technique I taught the alternate version of yourself. You believe you're strong enough without it to kill anyone, so you refuse to use it. But if you did, with as much strength as you already have, you'd obliterate anyone you landed a hit against. My scales would be like wet tissue paper compared to the power you would command."
I don't need such petty tactics!" Moka snapped, pushing herself up. "I'm strong enough as I am!"
"Are you?" Damon asked. "Then let's test that. I'm going to attack Tsukune. You try to stop me."
Everyone's eyes widened and Damon exploded forward, streaking toward Tsukune instantly. Tsukune yelped in fear before Moka appeared in front of Damon, throwing a kick. He flipped over the kick and her other heel swung up at him. He slammed a punch into her leg, halting it before grabbing her leg and spinning, hurling her away, his shattered scales reforming and tightening, acting as a splint for his broken hand and forearm. Then, he landed in front of Tsukune, setting a hand on his shoulder. Moka stood, staring at him, hands clenched into fists and teeth straining against each other. However, after a moment, she nodded, a cross between a sigh and a snarl rolling out of her.
"Fine," she growled. "I'll try it."
"And learn to throw a punch too," Damon said. "They have less power than kicks, but they're faster and once you get the hang of that technique, it won't matter."
Just then, his scales loosened again and he rolled and flexed his freshly-healed hand.
"How do you heal so fast?" Kurumu asked.
"Species," Damon said. "I'm going to go and get some food. See you all around."
He walked toward the exit, Mizore joining him once he'd slipped his shoes and socks back on, slipping her hand into his as they left the alternate dimension. As they stepped outside, the Headmaster chuckled.
"You're as brutal a teacher as Inner Moka is," the Headmaster said.
"She needed a little push," Damon said. "She's strong, but she needs to improve too. Besides, if she teaches that technique to Tsukune, his own progress will likely triple in a short time."
The Headmaster nodded. "I appreciate you helping them out on a weekend. I know there are..." he cleared his throat, "other things you would like to be doing."
"My personal life is none of your business," Damon growled warningly. "Headmaster or not, don't forget who I am."
"I won't," the Headmaster smiled. "By the way, I told Ruby last night to take you all out to the human world to enjoy yourselves for Summer Break when it starts next week."
"Great," Damon sighed. "More vermin."
He and Mizore walked away, leaving the academy's basement and heading for the cafeteria.
Damon sighed as he stepped off the bus onto the beach. He coughed into his elbow and grimaced. He was hoping to have a bit longer before he had to find a place to warm up. Mizore looked up at him in concern and he smiled, kissing her on the forehead.
"I'm alright," Damon said. "I won't let it get too bad."
Mizore nodded, kissing him.
"I've been working on a potion for both of you so that you can resist heat and cold more easily," Ruby said, walking over to them. "I just need some...samples."
"What kind of samples?" Damon asked suspiciously.
"Blood from both of you," Ruby said.
"If you manage to make one that works, you might have earned a reward," Damon said. "I might even actually consider letting you be a toy of ours from time to time."
Ruby's face lit up in excitement and hope and she nodded vigorously. "I'll get it done as soon as I can!"
"Calm down," Damon said. "For right now, let's just enjoy our summer break without having to fight an annoying plant monster army this time."
Ruby nodded, wrapping her arms around Damon's left arm, Mizore already similarly holding his right. "I promise I'll find a way for you two to be together. And I'll find a way for you to be able to have a family, too."
Damon stared at her and Ruby smiled.
"I know you can't right now, so I'll do whatever it takes to make it possible," Ruby said. "Even if it's not my child."
Damon smiled appreciatively and kissed her on the forehead. "You do that and you really will earn a reward. And I'll even let you choose it."
Ruby smiled widely and nodded. "It's a deal."
Just then, Damon stopped, turning his head slightly and narrowing his eyes as he focused his hearing.
"Why are you chasing her?" Tsukune was asking, just before something thumped sharply, and something else fell to the ground.
"Tsukune!" Moka shrieked.
"What do we do with this girl?" a male voice asked.
"Bring her," another, much more cocky male voice said. "If she's her friend, we can make money off of her."
"Oh, she's quite a find boss!" the first unknown voice said.
"What is it?" Mizore asked.
"Moka's being kidnapped," Damon said. "Let's go."
Mizore and Ruby nodded and Damon whistled loudly, everyone around them looking over at him.
"Time to do the usual Kurumu, Yukari," Damon said.
Both groaned, as did Cocoa, and they all followed Damon as he ran toward where he'd heard the others. Finally, they slowed to a stop as they found Tsukune, waking him.
"You have to help!" Tsukune said. "Moka's been-"
"Kidnapped, we know," Damon said. "I heard it happening."
"And there was another girl too!" Tsukune said. "She had dark blue hair, and she was writing her words down like she couldn't talk."
Just then, Kou returned from wherever he'd been. Cocoa snapped at him for disappearing so he shrieked at her repeatedly, beating her about the head with his body and reporting that he'd followed Moka.
"Lead the way Kou," Damon said. "I'd like to enjoy my vacation this time, so we're going to deal with this quickly."
"I wouldn't," a voice behind them said, all of them spinning and finding the bus driver standing there. As always, he was showing up without announcing his presence at all, and it, once again, unsettled Damon. "When in the human world, Ayashi aren't allowed to harm humans. If you break this law, not only will you be expelled, but all of you will be sent to jail."
"We don't have to hurt them," Damon said. "We're monsters. We can just scare the shit out of them and drive them away. After all, our resident Succubus excels in illusions."
Kurumu's eyes widened before she smiled and nodded. "That's a great idea! Right? That wouldn't be against the rules, would it?"
The bus driver grinned. "I don't remember any rules about scaring humans, as long as you don't reveal the existence of monsters to the world. However, there's another option." He looked to Tsukune.
"True," Damon nodded. "Come on. We shouldn't keep Tsukune's girlfriend waiting."
"Hey!" Kurumu and Yukari both shouted.
Damon turned and ran after Kou as he took off, the others all following. Finally, they reached their destination and Damon shoved his hands into his pockets so he could curl them into tight fists without the others seeing. He could hear everything in the building.
"Tsukune," Damon said. "You're a human. You can fight them alone. Go."
"But...I haven't gotten any stronger during Moka's training," Tsukune said.
"She didn't say you were weak," Damon said. "She said you lacked killer instinct. And besides, that's while fighting Moka, who you're hopelessly in love with. You can beat a human like its nothing. And if you really need motivation, try this. I can hear what they're doing, and if you don't get into that building in the next thirty seconds, they're going to rape Moka."
Tsukune was off like a shot, streaking across the street in three bounds and exploding through the door foot first with all the force of an explosion. Damon grinned. Those thugs were finished.
"We need to help him," Kurumu said.
"No," Damon said. "Tsukune was originally human, so he's exempt from the rule about harming humans. And he doesn't need our help."
"What?" Kurumu asked. "Why?"
"Because he's almost finished," Damon said, walking over to stand just inside the door, leaning back against the wall to watch the beat down, the girls all crowding in the doorway to watch as well, all of them gaping at Tsukune's abilities.
Tsukune was focused, relentless. Unlike training where he instinctively held back because it was against Moka, this time it was for her, so he was a machine. His hair had even lightened almost to he same shade of silver as Inner Moka's. Finally, Tsukune stopped, his fist resting against the thugs' boss's face, not hurting him but proving that Tsukune could end him if he wanted. Damon glanced at the thugs, seeing that they were all barely clinging to life. But they might live. Maybe.
Moka threw her arms around Tsukune, sobbing happily and thanking him for saving her as the thugs' boss ran out of the building in terror. Damon looked to the other girl and sniffed, raising an eyebrow. He knew that smell. She was smiling pleasantly, and she looked about Yukari's age, but if he was right about the smell, her appearance could be very misleading. Suddenly, Kurumu and Moka both rushed forward to greet the girl, who Moka had said was named San, and who apparently had a "strange power" causing her to not speak.
"Can you show us a little of that power?" Kurumu asked.
San quickly wrote out, "Sorry, I can't."
"Why not?" Kurumu asked, she and Mizore both getting in the girl's face. "We saved you, after all! Just a little bit, okay? If you say no, then I'll only want to see it more!"
"Please?" Mizore asked, only for Damon to set a hand on the two girls' shoulders, stopping them and guiding them back out of San's personal space a bit.
"You'll have to excuse them, they get a bit overly excited sometimes," Damon said, smiling pleasantly. "I'm Damon. This is Mizore, Kurumu, Ruby, Yukari, Moka, and Tsukune. I have to say, it's nice to meet one of you who isn't trying to kill me."
San's brow furrowed slightly, and Damon chuckled.
"I don't usually get a very warm welcome no matter where I go," Damon said, raising his hand and forming his scales, San gasping and backing away a step. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not like the rest of my kind." He retracted his scales and lowered his hand. "Are you alright?"
She nodded, smiling and writing, "It's nice to meet you too. You're not what I expected your kind to be."
Damon chuckled. "Like I said, I'm not like the rest."
"So, what are you?" Mizore asked. "If you don't mind me asking."
"A siren," San wrote.
Moka and Kurumu both paled, both of them realizing that Tsukune would have been killed if she'd used her powers, probably, and the rest would all be blind.
"There you all are," Gin said as he and Nekonome both arrived in a small car and climbed out, walking over. "Long time no see, San sempai."
"Huh?" Kurumu gaped as San used her marker board to greet him in return. "Sempai!?"
"When Gin was in his first year, she thought he was very cute," Nekonome said.
"Allow me to introduce a graduate of Yokai Academy," Gin said. "Otonashi San. Starting today, she'll be taking care of everyone as the most senior member of the Newspaper Club, since she was the club president when I joined."
"Nice to meet you," San wrote, smiling.
Damon smirked. "We should find a place to sleep before it gets dark, or before Tsukune decides to get us in any more trouble."
"Hey!" Tsukune said. "It's not always me!"
The others all laughed and agreed and they left the building to find somewhere less bloody and destroyed to talk.
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