Chapter 14 Alpha of Scrap Metal

"Cero cannot believe you let a simple reporter escape your grasp." Cero deadpanned.

"Could you shut up?" Maria muttered "He had teleportation magic what did you expect me to do?"

"You've trained with Doranbolt." Cero objected "You know how to deal with teleportation."

"I was expecting it from him though right?" Maria countered "Besides how much does a single reporter really matter in the long run?"

"Not much Cero supposes." Cero said "But you'll never be promoted to Officer with that kind of attitude. Poor Maria will stay oh so broke."

"Not everything's about money understand?" Maria said "Or does everyone have your one track mind?"

"Bah! You have no respect for Cero!"

"Will you focus already?" Maria asked "Your supposed to be the one in charge here aren't you?"

"Your right" Cero sighed "From Saxam's lack of response Cero can only assume that he has something to do with this ghost town becomeing a..."

"Ghost town?" Maria suggested.

Cero sighed in annoyance "Yes Cero guesses that would be the appropriate term. So Cero's next course of action should be to assert Cero's authority and question Saxam forcefully."

"Hmmm I wonder will we run into those children agian?" Maria mused "I'd love to steal away that pink haired one right?"

"How the hell should Cero know what your thinking." Cero grumbled "It's always questions with you. Although Cero does see your point if Cero could convert the Dragon slayer to being a runeknight it could grant Cero a huge pay raise."

"I suppose I should have expected that huh?" Maria sighed.

"Combat protocall huh?" Sakura asked "So he's really a machine."

"Was there any doubt that I wasn't?" Alpha asked.

"No not really but confirmation is always nice."

"Can you stop being so casual about this!" Cosmos asked "This guy has no qualms with killing us!"

"It's true I don't" Alpha informed them.

"Hey calm down already." Sakura said "We can handle this he's outnumbered and we have the advantage here."

"We do?" Cosmos asked.

Sakura glanced at the slowly setting sun "Just give me a few minutes. Once the sun goes down this battle is ours."

"What's the sun have to do with anything?" Cosmos asked.

"Just trust me on this alright." "Summon Tengu"

The card Sakura was holding burst into a whirlwind and Tengu came flying out the top of it. "Tengu here to serve Miss Saku-awwww" Tengu came dropping down to the ground "Were fighting again? But I wanted to play, were always fighting Miss Sakura."

"Oh no I'm not falling for that again." Sakura objected "I just gave you a whole month where we did nothing but play."

"Tsk, fine" Tengu conceded "Who are we fighting then? The flower chick or the robot?"

"Robot/Flower chick" both Sakura and Alpha said at the same time.

Sakura glared at Alpha "Do you mind?"

"Sorry I'm bored" Alpha shrugged "Are you guys ready to fight now?"

"Wait how do robots even get bored?" Tengu muttered.

"I've found it best not to question it." Alpha admitted.

"Ugh!" Cosmos groaned "Were not getting anywhere by sitting around talking like this!"

There was a brief period of silence.

"But we aren't sitting."

That's all it took, that last remark from Alpha was all that was needed to throw Cosmos over the edge. "Flytrap"

As soon as the words left Cosmos' mouth Alpha was swallowed while by a massive Venus flytrap. "Good, patience is beautiful but I can only spare so much of it on idiots like him."

"Well hope you have a bit more to spare, because that attack didn't do very much." Sakura deadpanned.

"What?!"

Sure enough Alpha casually pushed the flytrap's mouth apart and stepped back into the pavement. "Well I'm sticky now." Alpha sighed "I hope your happy about that."

"That's impossible, my plant's acid should have corroded your skin away. There's no way you could survive." Cosmos muttered.

"Wait weren't you trying to use that on me earlier?" Sakura muttered.

"Corrosive to the skin yes. But your forgetting I'm made of metal." Alpha replied.

Jacob, who was still hiding in the alleyways, was both terrified and excited by this new development. Excited due to the story that he could get out of an encounter like this and horrified that there was a very high probability that he would die today. But the excitement won out in the end and he stayed hidden.

"Shit so what's the plan now?" Cosmos asked.

"Well I was trying to stall him until sunset, but now that isn't an option. So instead we'll have to hold him off long enough for night to fall." Sakura answered.

"So what I'm hearing is that I have exactly fifteen minutes to kill the both of you." Alpha replied casually.

"Shit how did he hear us!" Cosmos muttered.

"He's a robot take a wild guess how!" Sakura shot back.

"Target Locked" Alpha raised his palm which was now glowing light blue "Combat Spell: Number 532-Water Sphere"

"Looks like the road splits here." Marco said. He and Pete has been wandering the base for a while now and hadn't managed to locate a single person. "This is such a pain. It's hard to track those two down when they're moving around in unfamiliar territory like this."

"I say we go left" Pete decided "when you don't know where your going you always follow the left wall."

A quick sniff of the air was all it took to tell Marco that was a bad idea. "No way, I can smell a large amount of magic power coming from that direction. We're going right."

"So what?" Pete asked "We already know what Saxam's magic is, we can definitely handle him."

"Well not all of us want to get into a fight at every opportunity." Marco shot back.

"This town is suffering Marco." Pete growled "I'm not going to sit back and do nothing because your too lazy to fight."

"Why don't you just try to think logically for once. If we can find Yoro and Ricco before we encounter Saxam we'll have a much better chance of winning." Marco argued.

"Look I say we go left, if we run into Saxam we can take him out." Pete said firmly.

"No were going right and we'll regroup and think of a plan first."

"We go left!"

"No we go right!"

"Here"

Marco and Pete stiffened as they turned to see Saxam stand menacingly behind them.

"You two will be staying right here."

"Synthesis" Just as quickly as it appeared Alpha's attack was destroyed.

"Awesome..." Jacob whispered "She must have absorbed the water using her plant magic."

"That attack was beautiful." Cosmos said "I just had to take it for myself." Four large plants sprouted up from behind Cosmos at the end of their stalks were giant red buds.

"Very interesting." Alpha muttered "Do tell did you use the water from my attack to strengthen those plants? I can sense that they're much stronger then the flytrap you used before."

"How astute of you." Cosmos replied "It's true my plant magic allows me to cancel out any and all water based attacks and then use them to strengthen my own arsenal."

"Then I'll have to change my fighting style a bit." Alpha in the span of a single second unsheathed a katana from his side, charged towards Cosmos, and was stopped by Sakura. His eyes widened in surprise. "It appears that I've underestimated your speed girl."

Sakura smirked she knocked the sword away from Alpha using the lunar she blocked it with. "Don't expect me to stay on the sidelines just because I have summons."

"I will account for that in the future." Alpha nodded "Starting now." "Protection Spell: Number 234-Atlantian Gate"

A wall of water raised from the concrete and caught Tengu, who had been attempting to land a drop kick from behind. "Wah! How'd he catch me so easily?!"

"You may be fast..." Alpha disrupted the spell and sent Tengu flying into a nearby building "But your speed can never pierce my defences. As for you..." Alpha turned to face Cosmos. "Status Spell: Number 154-Monsoon"

"Whoa!" Jason exclaimed from the sidelines "What's with the rain all of a sudden?"

"So it's raining now? That's your counter?" Cosmos asked "It'll just make me stronger you know. Now face the wrath of my garden!" "Bullet Seed"

The four flower buds surrounding Cosmos opened up, revealing four barrels, the end part of a gun, that began to shoot seeds at Alpha in rapid succession.

Alpha shook his head "Protection Spell 234-Atlant-"

Alpha was cut off from his Spell however when Sakura charged forward slashing her Katana wildly. "Such savage technique." He muttered "Do you ever think before acting?"

Sakura smirked "Says the guy who fell into my trap."

Alpha looked above him to see Tengu ready to cast a spell down at him. Unfortunately Alpha didn't have enough time to avoid the blow.

"Twister" Not only did Tengu's attack cause damage on it's own but it also made Alpha unable to dodge Cosmos' attack.

"Awwwwesome" Jacob muttered "While Alpha was paying attention to Sakura he failed to notice Tengu's trap." Jacob was writing down notes of the battle at a breakneck pace. "If this doesn't make the front cover then nothing will!"

While it seemed like Cosmos and Sakura had the upper hand everything turned once the bullets stop firing. "Hm? What's happened that attack should have gone on for a great deal longer?" She turned to face her plants and was shocked to see that all four of them had died. "What! How could this of happened?!"

"You know for a plant mage you don't know all that much about Biology." Alpha taunted "Don't you know what happens when a plant consumes too much water?"

"Of course that's what the rain was for." Sakura muttered.

"Well it doesn't matter!" Cosmos declared "We've already inflicted a large amount of damage on you. You won't be able to stand there for much longer!"

"Your right" Alpha agreed "Which is why I'll have to start fighting seriously." "Support Spell 179-Water Clone" Two blobs if water rose up from the pavement and slowly shaped themselves into mirror images of Alpha. "There now our numbers are even."

'Shit!' Sakura cursed 'There's still another five minutes until the sun sets completely. But I'm not sure if we'll even be able to hold out for that long.'

"You know your kinda weird for a robot." Tengu said.

"Hm? How so?" Alpha inquired.

Sakura let out an internal sigh of relief. 'Leave it up to Tengu's childish nature to create the perfect distraction.'

"Well aren't they supposed to be all cold and I don't know robotic." Tengu gestured to Alpha who was slouching and yawning. "I'm pretty sure robots don't need sleep either."

Alpha looked almost mortified by that notion "That's the most despicable thing I've ever heard! Although..."

"Although?" Tengu prodded.

"The newer model androids are more in tune to what your talking about." Alpha admitted "For whatever reason Master Morkyne removed all the emotional functions for the generation two models..."

"Newer generation?" Cosmos muttered "so there are more of you androids?"

"Hundreds more." Alpha blinked and then facepalmed "I don't know why I told you all that. Master Morkyne shouldn't have programmed me to be so open with people."

'We have one minute left.' Sakura thought 'If we can keep him standing there for another minute I can pull out my trump card.' "Look Alpha it's clear that we don't have to fight. We can let bygones be bygones and pretend that none of this ever happened."

"As tempting as that sounds I'll have to decline." Alpha answered "After all..." The three clones moved at once striking down Sakura, Cosmos, and Tengu managing to dispel the latter of the three. "Orders are absolute."

"Damn it!" Sakura cursed.

"It was a nice distraction." Alpha said "It would most certainly have worked on a human. The only problem is that I know I have to defeat you by sunset, I had set multiple alarms to keep me reminded."

"No way..." Cosmos muttered "I thought we had the upper hand but he was playing us this whole time."

"Now if you don't mind I'm getting kinda bored." Alpha yawned "So I'm just going to end this here. "Combat Spell: Number 125-Tidal Chain" The three Alpha's had molded water into long chains with blades at the end of each chain. All at once they threw the chains at Sakura

Cosmos gasped "N-no way h-he couldn't of..."

"He killed her!" Jacob gasped.

Still locking eyes with their captor Marco's entire body stiffened suddenly. 'Sakura's scent... It's weakened significantly... All I can smell is blood... my god what's happening outside."

"Hm it appears that Alpha's almost finished outside. Only that traitor Cosmos still seems to be alive."

"B-but Sakura was outside." Pete stammered "You mean to tell me that she's!"

"Dead yes" Saxam replied casually "Oh don't look so surprised, your fighting a force well beyond your capabilities. You'll be joining her soon enough."

"You bastard" Marco growled, his entire body was covered in a sinister purple aura, similarly Pete's body was covered in a black aura. "I'll kill you for that!"

Alpha sighed "Such a shame she had to die so soon. I was truly curious about what that trump card of hers was... wait a second." Alpha glared at where his chain had struck "Where's her body?" All that was left on the ground was a large pool of blood.

Suddenly both of Alpha's water clones were struck and dispelled and the original was thrown back several feet.

"What the hell was that?!"

Standing in front of Alpha was a giant beast with dark brown fur and sharp hazel eyes. In his mouth was Sakura, who was bleeding wildly and gasping for air. On his head was Kappa who was currently tending to Sakura's wounds. "Your going to pay for making our mistress bleed like that. You could have killed her!"

"That was the plan yes." Alpha replied casually "I must admit that I'm impressed though, you managed to take her away from my chains right before they pierced her heart.

The creature growled "Kappa! Take Sakura inside your card! She needs to be healed somewhere safe."

"I know that much Furi!" Kappa snapped back "I'm senile not retarded!" Nevertheless Kappa complied and both of them were transformed into a single red card.

"Flower girl!"

Cosmos jumped when Furi called her out.

"Keep Sakura's card safe don't you dare let any harm come to it!" Furi ordered.

"Y-yes of course!" Cosmos stuttered.

"And you reporter!"

Jacob yelped having finally been caught snooping.

"Either help out or run away! I don't care which!"

Surprisingly enough the reporter stepped forward after placing a lacrima in his camera. Everybody involved looked incredibly surprised "So the reporter has a backbone? Can't say I'm not surprised."

Jacob's looked at Alpha in the eyes but his shaking legs betrayed his false show of confidence. "This could be story of the year. My pride as a reporter could never allow me to pass up a chance like this."

Alpha nodded in acknowledgment having grown a bit more respect for the man. "A noble task, but sadly not one you'll be aloud to preform. Order: 34 Never let any information about Scrap Metal's inner workings release to the public."

"Ooohhh" Jacob laughed nervously "Well uh... luckily this guy over here is going to beat ya first!"

Furi growled unsure whether the reporter was the bravest or most cowardly person he had ever met. "So I can only assume that your this trump card I've been hearing about."

"Your as good as dead now android" Furi smirked "During the day I'm only about as strong as Tengu is, but at night my strength multiplies tenfold."

"Ah but if I understand you Yo-Kai correctly, you all return to the mythical Yo-Kai forest once your summoner has been killed right?" Alpha said "So all I have to do is destroy that card your summoner is being healed in right?"

"That's assuming you'll make it that far."

Alpha laughed "Support Spell 179-Water Clone" "Oh don't you worry I'm sure we'll make it." About two dozen Alpha's all said at once.

Jacob gulped, Cosmos whimpered softly, and Furi pulled back into an offensive position. "This just got a lot more complicated."

"Ricco you know I think we may have gotten the short end of the stick." Yoro deadpanned.

"What makes you say that?" Ricco asked.

"I don't know." Yoro sighed "I just feel that we may have gotten a really lame fight compared to everyone else."

(Meanwhile Marco and Pete are staring Saxam down ready to face off."

"No way" Ricco waved him off "There's no way those guys got a cooler fight then us. We always get the best fights."

(Outside Cosmos, Jacob, and Furi are fighting an army of Alpha's to protect Sakura while she's healed.)

"Yeah we fought a two of their elite guard at once. What could possibly top that a robot? A shapeshifter?" Yoro said confidently.

"That's the spirit!"

Jacob yelped as he ducked under one of the Alpha clones' chains. While the clone was preoccupied trying to bring the chain back to him, Jacob teleported begins it and impaled it with a beam of light from his camera.

Cosmos similarly was fending off against Alpha's dopplegangers with ease impairing them with thorns and vines. "This is getting ridiculous! Where's the original already!"

"I don't know!" Furi growled "They all smell the same I can't track him down."

"There are far to many of them!" Jacob added "We'll run out of magic power before long!"

"In that case cover your ears you two!" Furi commanded.

Jacob and Cosmos looked at each other confused, but eventually complied. "Moonlit Chant" Furi stood firmly on the ground and howled as loud as he could towards the moon sending giant shockwaves throughout the battle field. Strangely enough despite affecting all of the Alpha clones, Cosmos and Jacob weren't pushed back at all.

"What in the world was that?" Jacob asked.

"It's part of my night magic." Furi explained "Anyone that hears my howl during the night will suffer massive damage."

"Then how are we fine?" Cosmos asked.

"You were holding your ears duh." Furi answered childishly.

"Impressive but..." three chains spawned from the darkness and pierced through the three fighters. Stabbing Jacob in the arm, Cosmos in the leg, and Furi through the chest. Thankfully since he was a spirit and didn't have any vital organs to worry about Furi survived the attack.

"You know..." Alpha was scraped and bruised from the long battle and was panting heavily. "This is taking much longer then I had first thought. So if you don't mind I'll be ending things now with my final atta-"

Alpha in the middle of his rant didn't notice Furi stand up and charge at him with unimaginable speed. "Night Strike"

"Heh" Alpha smirked "Lucky... shot..." with that the robotic soldier finally powered down.