Chapter 7: A Certain Scientific Werewolf
"It seems the situation has developed into something interesting. Atlas, what of the woman running the experiment?"
"There is no need for worries or intervention. The cloaked figures took out the nearby cameras before making their attack. They also seem to be using some form of magic".
"I figured...but..."
"Indeed. They are not aligned to any Church. However, their weapons do suggest they are likely a member of HUNTER, an organization that takes joy in hunting magical creatures such as Vampires, Werewolves, and the like. That said, they seem to be blindly hunting Akari as well as Kota".
"I see...well for now, lets just observe and..."
"Alert. Alert. A Level 5 has been detected to be on the move!"
Akari went from tree to tree, hiding and dodging from the bullets being fired at him. He was trying to use his Vector Program with the rocks and trees, but not only was he hungry, but those cloaks seemed to make it hard to focus on them. In addition, they kept moving about which further affected his focus, and their footsteps...it felt weird. It was like, when he did hear them, they would actually come from a different direction.
In other words, his most powerful ability, Vector Program, was not being as helpful as he had hoped.
"...then again, I am not just an Esper now am I? Oh, I am so stupid. If Kota is a werewolf, then I can use that. Alright, alright...a spell that would...oh, I do have that!"
Recalling one of the spells programed into him, Akari began to chant.
"Spirits of the Realm, heed my call! Give me the tools to utilize honor and courage in battle! Allow me access to the most powerful of arms! Knight's Armory!"
Akari's entire body began to glow, and along with an aura appearing around him, a white T shirt and black shorts also appeared on him. In each hand, an extremely short shortsword, or a very long knife or dagger, formed in each hand. In fact, although they seemed a bit too long to be called daggers, he held them in reverse style like experts wielded knives and daggers so it would be more accurate to call them that.
"...I was going for a full suit of knight armor, but...I guess this is better then nothing".
As he said that, two of the cloaked figures suddenly appeared on either side of him, with weapons raised and pointed at him...only, they never fired. Instead, each of them got hit with electrical blasts that knocked them backwards. Akari turned to see who it was...and Mikoto Misaka was standing there with a slightly red face.
"That seems like...a convienent spell...what the hell is going on here anyways? Who are these jerks?"
"Well, my new best friend is a werewolf, so apparently thats a thing. We were actually caught by bullies, and um...well...we were stripped and tied to a tree together. Then, we managed to escape right before Kota turned into a werewolf, and then these guys appeared and started to try and kill us! What are you doing here anyways?"
Mikoto Misaka had just been on her way back, when she "overheard" a strange report requesting medical aid and reinforcements for Judgement, and that Kuroko had been wounded by some jerks that had been headed towards the park. Where she had been at the time was on the other side of the park, which meant she was way closer to the enemies then Kuroko. So rather then going around them, she decided to take the direct route to her friend...
"...lets just say they hurt a friend of mine while coming here and as such, pissed me off..."
Akari was sure he could see a dark, murderous aura appear around Mikoto, but the time to talk seemed to be over as they got shot at some more.
"What the hell is with those movements? I can barely keep track of them".
She questioned that as they took cover behind a large tree, and heard Kota growl as he fought another one or two of them.
"I take it he seems to be the type of werewolf to lose control on a full moon?"
"Yeah, but these people also attacked him the moment he transformed, so its possible he got overpowered by survival instincts or something".
"Right right, so dont hurt the werewolf".
"Yeah...hey, Mikoto. If you are a level 5, does that mean you have some form of defensive ability?"
Mikoto smiled at the question.
"You know, thanks for reminding me. I never get to use this since its never what I get attacked with".
Across the way, the two were reloading their rifles with more bullets as they continued to hunt Akari and Mikoto. They could not be sure about Mikoto, but as Akari had been there and slashed by a werewolf, they were certain he had become one as well. Normal werewolves were bad enough, but HUNTER could not risk Esper Werewolves, especially that one girl they recognized as being a famous Level 5. The could not let this possibility occur, no matter what.
Right as the two finished reloading, the other two suddenly bolted from their cover and ran right towards them. They had a line formation, with Mikoto in front, and the boy in the rear. They were not sure what magic he had used, but he was no longer naked and had weapons, and had a glow about him. The two fired at Mikoto first, but...their bullets seemed to be deflected.
This was Mikoto's Electro-shield. By amassing electricity around herself, she could deflect incoming projectiles below a certain size, and even attacks to a degree. The issue was, normally any fight she got into either had forces that exceeded the limit that it could block, or did not need to be used in that situation. After all, most attacks that came her way were either other Esper Powers, large scale missiles and mecha-gun shells, or such.
The two unloaded all their rounds, but nothing got through. And once they reached the two, Mikoto immediately grabbed one while in her electrified state, zapping him unconscious in moments, while Akari hit the man with the blunt side of his dagger and knocked him out. And as he did...
"Oh, so this was where he dumped out clothes. Gotta remember that for later".
Akari made a discovery as his and Kota's belongings fell out of a tree.
He turned back, and saw the last person was dueling with Kota in his werewolf form...and pushing him back. No, for that matter, Kota's entire body was already covered in injuries, while the attacker appeared relatively unharmed.
"This person is different...and on guard..."
"Yeah, the other two were fighting seriously, but they still underestimated us. This person is on a whole different level".
As the person slashed at Kota again and inflicted another wound, they looked back at the two of them...and then disappeared in front of their eyes. At the same time, they felt a pressence behind Akari...and Mikoto just turned around enough to see the cloaked figure thrust a dagger into Akari's neck, which was not covered by the shirt he summoned. And yet...the dagger was deflected as if it hit armor. Stunned, the attacker suddenly disappeared again, and Mikoto quickly realized what would they planned to do next and spun around while delivering a powerful kick behind her.
She finally managed to land a hit, and the attacker faltered back as the hood of the cloak fell, revealing a woman.
"I see...the reason only a shirt and shorts materialized so it could focus more magic on the actual defense. I get it now...but I wish it did come with shoes".
Akari realized what had happened when he cast Knight's Armory now, and felt better about his defensive ability.
"Damn you...I wont let you ruin the hunt so easily!" she shouted, disappearing in front of them.
Damnit...she seems to be some sort of teleporter. Those can be super annoying.
The two looked around to see where she had went, but at first all Akari spotted was Kota, collapsed on the ground and having already lost a lot of blood in his werewolf form. Unfortunately, he then heard the click of a gun, and both he and Misaka turned around to see something surprising. The woman had taken a gun from her fallen comrade and fired, but what was more surprising was that Kuroko was now on the ground in front of them, already looking terrible but now she had a gunshot wound as well, although it looked non-fatal. It looked like, she had placed herself between the woman and Akari, who she had tried to shoot first.
"...made it...in time..."
"What the! You should have gone to the hospital!"
"...couldn't...when I heard...beware...passing time..."
The two remembered from her words they were in the middle of battle, and even though Kuroko was hurt, tehy could not idly pass time. That said, the woman seemed to have a powerful ability on par with Espers, and her magic seemed to not have any negative effect on her at all either.
"Damn you! How dare you do that to my friend! And you, just stay on the ground and dont die!"
Wait...ground?
That was when someting finally occured to Akari...and he realized the truth.
The man watched the boy's expression, fully resolved and detailed from his satelites spy cameras, not to mention the hidden drones he had around the city.
"Looks like its checkmate".
"Indeed. Calculations have altered. Although it is still not guarenteed, odds are in Akari's favor if he is correct. He has proven to have a keen mind, although based on recorded records, it seems highly likely that Imagine Breaker would have solved it much sooner".
"Well then, let's watch the show..."
"Mikoto, can you keep that electric shield up constantly, even unconsciously so you can focus on other things?"
"Its a bit more draining but yeah..."
"Then do that. I have a plan".
Akari quickly touched several rocks and trees that were on the ground, and several went flying right at the woman while others tried from different angles.
"Hah! A fool after all!" she announced, as she disappeared in front of them and appeared again with a blade at Akari's throat...and a pained expression which followed by a rock shooting out of hte ground and knocking her into the sky. She disappeared again of course, but this time reappeared, along with two rocks that flew right by Mikoto and Akari, and a third that was planted into her face.
"Gotcha" Akari said with a smile. "I gotta say, your friend Kuroko-neechan is clever. I don't think I would have figured it out without her tip. When she warned us about passing time...that wasn't because we needed to focus on the battle, but rather that was your magical ability's true nature!"
The woman clicked her tongue, as Kuroko who was still conscious smiled.
"At first...I was sure you were a teleporter...but after our battle, when I was checking logs and reports I noticed...more time had passed then what I remembered".
Indeed, Kuroko remembered checking the time before the battle, as well as after it. In her perception, their fight had only last a minute, maybe two, yet somehow way more time had passed. Furthermore, after getting some bandaging and first aid treatment, she came this way after hearing a report of electric sparks flying in the forest where they had been headed, and saw the whole thing. The people around the woman suddenly froze, and she was able to rush up and attack. That was why, when Mikoto and Akari turned around, Kuroko had already collapsed on the ground from the gunshot, even though they had turned around instantly and should have seen her collapse.
There were also other things that Akari had noticed. For one thing, a lack of Kota. As a werewolf, he should have been rampaging about and have been very noticable, but Akari and Mikoto barely noticed anything at all from his fight. Not to mention, even if she was a teleporter, the gun she fired at them had its clip emptied earlier, so she would have still needed time to reload. And then finally, when she appeared again her attacks often already had momentum behind them.
"However, if Kuroko-neechan was able to teleport into the way and collapse, that meant your power is not continous, but activates once at the start. And it seems it only affects people. Now, tell me. Since Kuroko-neechan appeared, how many rocks and objects did I touch?"
The woman suddenly looked around, as if worried and afraid.
"You don't mean..."
"Thats right, you are already in a cage. And my Esper power has become usable against you again...in fact, it is actually perfect to fight you".
Akari had used Vector Program on large amounts of the trees and rocks in reach around him moments ago. Not to mention, the rocks he had launched at her before that she dodged, not teleported away from, all had return programs on them along a set path. If he, Mikoto, and Kuroko stayed where they were, they would never enter those paths, but anywhere else? Open season.
"Checkmate".
Akari met her with a mischevous smile, but she returned it with a cocky smile he had not anticipated.
"More like...a draw. After all, the reason you have been standing still was not to get caught up in your own future attacks right? But tell me, can you stand there while both that girl and your friend over there bleed to death?"
Akari widened his eyes and lost his grin when he realized, they had been outplayed. And on that note, she then disappeared in front of them, although a lot of stuff around them was also shifted around. That said, they couldn't focus on chasing her anymore, since they had two injured people to deal with. Kota seemed to have returned to his human form, and with the battle over, Akari released his tension and spell and ran over to him.
"Ummm...Akari...Kota...minor issue you forgot about..."
Akari realized what she meant, and went red with embarrassment.
"Waaah! Look away! Let me get our stuff!"
"How annoying" the woman grunted a bit. "Well, at least we got some good data, enough to be worth it, but...I wonder if there was anything in that last bit that provoked a change. Although..."
Before her monitoring devices had gone off, she had detected some interesting and unusual changes in Kota's body. A spike in energy, power, physical ability. All from that experience, or so she believed. She also noticed strange energy readings from Akari, almost like his power was also having a reaction.
"Its a shame I don't have conclusive data, but between this and data collected previously, I am sure of it now. If I keep pushing Akari like this, I will be the first to successfully create a Level 6...and who knows what interesting facts I can get from pushing Kota as well. Excellent..."
And so, a certain manipulative scientist began some further plotting and scheming.
And so, the next day, in the hospital...
"So, how did Kuroko-neechan go?"
Akari asked that as he entered the hospital room where Kuroko and Kota were both being treated. The two of them seemed a bit embarrassed, while Mikoto just looked a bit sympathetic for them both.
"Why are they...?"
"They both got a bit embarrased when the nurses changed and treated them in front of each other".
"Oh...why are they in the same room?"
"They are both under the care of a reliable doctor I know, so it was easier to keep them in the same room".
"Alright then. Now, did Kuroko-neechan take it well?"
"After some time, and some examples that I gave her, and a few stories I told her, she accepted it. Though, she only really accepted it once I mentioned that guy's Imagine Breaker".
"Personal experience?"
"Yep. Hope you didn't change your mind".
"She is your friend. But also, having another ally in Judgement that knows what is going on in the world will help greatly. Speaking of which..."
"I am here!"
Before Akari could finish asking, the voice of a young girl shouted behind Akari and nearly startled him to death. This was followed by that same young girl, who was dressed as a nun, entering the room behind him. She then glared at Akari for a bit.
"You know, if you just kept to the opposite side of the room, it should have been okay for him to come. Don't you think stating that you two shouldn't even be on the same floor of this hospital for safe measures to be too much?"
"...sorry. But, Imagine Breaker scares me. It doesn't just nullify supernatural powers, but luck itself. If we got too close, and he tripped and landed on me...yeah, we just should not be in the same room together".
"Alright fine. Now, where is this so called other hybrid?"
Index asked this, seemingly a lot more mature and driven then usual...but that might be because she wanted to get through this as soon as possible and get back to Toma. The group then directed her towards Kota.
"Alright, Kota. Strip naked and let me examine you".
"Wh-wha?!" Akari exclaimed, surprised.
"I need to check for any traces of magic markings, spell infusions, or such. I also need to know, can you only turn on a full moon, or can you transform whenever you wish? Hurry now!"
Kota seemed a bit embarrassed, but maybe because of prior experiences and the fact he had a bold and headstrong personality, he went with it while answering questions. It seemed that he could transform whenever he wished, but he felt compelled to on a full moon. Not quite a magical one though, but instinctual. Additionally, it seemed his body physically transformed, so if he wore clothes, they would be torn to pieces. And finally, it seemed that while he had enhanced physical abilities, he didn't also get things like summoning other wolves or breathing fire.
After that was all done, and Index finished inspecting him, she nodded.
"Alright, I figured it out, why he is a Werewolf that can possess Esper abilities. His strain of werewolf has absolutely nothing to do with magic, or at least not for a long time. Although given its wide range of what it can effect, its possible even Imagine Breaker cannot fully negate his abilities. And because there is no magic, it does not interfere with his ability to develop and use Esper powers. In short, he is not a hybrid!"
"...well, I kind of already figured I would not have magic..." Kota said as he got dressed again.
"What does that mean?"
"In truth...I was born into a family of sorcerers, but for some reason I held zero magical power. So instead, they used me as a test subject, and forced me to become a werewolf. After that, I finally had the power to run away though, and since I had no magic to speak of...I decided to hide in a place where I might still develop special powers".
"Academy City. Thats why a werewolf came here".
"Yeah. My family considers me a disgrace, they probably let HUNTER know I was here so they would hunt me and erase me from existence. After all, its hard for them to get me while I am in Academy City which is on the side of science".
"I see...so, you are here on your own then".
"Yeah...but its cool. Besides, now I got a lot of great friends!" he said with an energetic and childish smile. Though, he then looked at Akari specifically.
"By the way, how can you do it? Use magic and Esper powers? Come on, I told you, so you gotta tell me!"
And so, Akari began telling him about A Certain Hybrid Weapon.
AN: Me: See, that was not so bad!
Akari: At least I finally managed to look cool...
Kuroko: And finally, people bring me into the loop! I am Judgement, you should tell me these things so I can be prepared!
Ai: At least you got to be in this arc! I barely appeared at all! Aren't I a main character?!
Me: Hey, you are! But, this was the best way to do the arc in my opinion! Don't worry, you will have plenty of appearances!
Kuroko: But you will never match the heroism and importance I had this chapter! Hehe!
Ai: What did you say, pigtails?!
Kuroko: Only the truth, screecher!
Ai: Pervert!
Kuroko: Bro-con!
Me: And we will just let those two fight off screen now as we end this! Anyways, hope you enjoyed, feel free to leave some reviews! See you later!
*things breaking are heard in the background as it ends*