Yeah, so I'm late as hell. With Christmas and New Years, plus work, plus the fact that I suffer from major writer's block, I haven't been writing anything at all lately. Kind of got uber-motivated when I found an old hard drive with the ORIGINAL O:SA on it, though. So, yeah~ Now that I have real reference material for this, I can get Chapters done quicker. Hopefully.

Ah, but you're all probably raring to read this one, especially after I took so long, huh? Well, then without further ado.

Chapter Two, Here We Go. Enjoy~

Chapter Two: Search

Shadow City - Middle Sector, 11:55 am

A gunshot.

A scream.

Those two sounds marked the end for the end for the last Shadow in front of the blue-haired man. As it faded away into the air, he spun his gun around in his hand and slipped it into a holder on his hip.

"Hey, Hinata," The small, brown-haired boy said as he turned to his friend, "how are you doing on bullets?"

"I'm fine for right now, Ooyama." Hinata placed a hand over his holstered pistol. "I've only fired a few since we left, so I won't have to worry if this pace keeps up."

"Heh. If you used one of these bad boys, you wouldn't have to worry about counting shots." Fujimaki swung his Shirasaya around in the air a few times. "Just a quick few slashes and its game over."

"As much as I'd love to have this argument again, Fujimaki," Hinata put his hand on his friend's shoulder as he walked by him, "we have a job to do. Let's go."

As he walked further down the street, the object in his pocket shook from within its confines. Seeing it, Fujimaki could only sigh to himself with smile.

"Right, right, I got it, already."

Shadow City - North Sector, 12:02 pm

"Alright," Yuri held her gun down at her waist, the barrel pointed at the ground, "we're good for right now." With that, she stood straight and looked back to us. "Takamatsu, Otonashi, do me a favor and check the surrounding area. Kanade, stay close to me."

"Right. Be safe, Yuri."

"I will, now please stop stripping in front of me."

"Kanade." I looked over my shoulder at the small girl who hadn't let go of my hand since I grabbed hers to drag her out of the hotel. "I'll be right back, okay?" She only gave me a silent nod before running over to Yuri. "We'll come back to report if we see anything."

Yuri gave me the same nod without looking back at me before Takamatsu and I took off.

"Wha… Yui? What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it self-explanatory? The five of us, Hinata included, hasn't seen anybody else. Nobody knows who left the communicator, and nobody knows where the rest of Battlefront is. Why do you think I let him take it?"

You noticed right? How much pain he was in, even though he forced that smile? He's hurting because he doesn't know.

Yuri's words kept echoing in my head. No matter how many times I heard it, I couldn't stop.

"He doesn't know where the girl he loves is."

'Hinata… you moron.'

"Hey, Otonashi." Takamatsu's voice broke me out of my daydream and snapped me back into reality. "Are you still thinking about what Yurippe said?"

"Uh, yeah. It's just kind of…"

"Well, don't harp on it too much, if you can help it. She only got like that because she's worried about a member of her group."

"…Right." At this point, I was just following behind Takamatsu, my gun lowered to my waist. I didn't know what I was looking for, but I figured I'd know if I saw it.

"Hold up." He stopped me by holding his arm out in front of me. "This isn't good…"

"What's going on?"

"Don't you feel it? We're surrounded."

"We're wha-"

As if to interrupt me on purpose, they came. At least twenty in all eight directions - the Shadows filtered out of the ground and circled us within seconds. Takamatsu instantly took aim with a carbine he pulled from out of nowhere.

"Damn… well, at least we know this area isn't safe; not that it matters, though." I raised my gun to my chest and did a quick turn to put my back against Takamatsu's. "Say, Otonashi."

"What's up?"

"You're not too rusty with that, are you? Feel free to sit this one out if you need to."

"Heh." I smiled. "Sounds like a challenge to me." I looked down the barrel of my gun and aimed its sights at a Shadow's head. "Fifty meal tickets say I get more than you."

I couldn't see him, but I know his face got the same smile mine did.

"You're on."

Shadow City - Middle Sector, 12:11 pm

"Toooooorrr…." The sound of a thin, solid object being swung into the air. "YAAAAA!" The Shadows that were unlucky enough to be in the sights of Fujimaki's swing were gone before they could scream. "Damn, they just…" He jumped to the side as one leapt at him. "KEEP COMING!"

With the same sound, it died the same way.

"I don't do well with guns at close range!" Ooyama had his eyes closed, both hands on the trigger, and blind fired into the cloud of darkness.

"Well, just don't hit us, alright?" As if on cue, a bullet headed for Fujimaki. "Heh." He didn't even hesitate or look towards it.

His sword pointed straight up, it quickly jerked it in a half circle, and the bullet changed direction. It moved straight through the head of a Shadow.

"Dammit! Where the hell is Hinata?!" If anyone who didn't know any better had seen him, they might have thought Fujimaki was some sort of acrobat based off of the way he dodged each and every attack with ease.

But there was one that caught him off guard.

"…Shi-"

"You called?" A gunshot. A sinister black spike was only a few centimeters from Fujimaki's face - yet it didn't move.

In fact, none of them moved.

With no time left to scream, every last one of the Shadows faded into the air. Both Fujimaki and Ooyama were at a loss for words. With one eyebrow raised, Fujimaki looked to where the voice came from.

"Hinata, you bastard, you scared the hell out of me."

"Heh, sorry about that, buddy." Hinata only smiled as he slid his gun back into its holster. "Bit slow with the blade, huh?" Fujimaki matched his smug smile.

"Sounds like you're tryna pick a fight with me."

"Nah, nothing like that." With a wave to brush the idea off, Hinata turned around. "Come on, I found something."

As he walked away, Fujimaki could only sigh again.

"Whatever you say, o' fearless dumbass."

Shadow City - Northern Sector, 12:13 pm

We were both out of breath.

Takamatsu and I stood, still back to back, sweat pouring down our faces. There was no living thing besides us within sight.

We had killed every last one of the Shadows that were surrounding us only a matter of minutes ago.

Completely spent, we both collapsed to the ground, only being able to sit back against one another.

"Damn… shooting a gun… really takes… a lot more out of you… than you'd think…"

"Yeah, and they just… kept coming." Takamatsu seemed to be a lot more worn out than me, which was only normal since he had been shooting an automatic gun. "But, hey… at least I won." What?

"Ha! You?!" I pushed myself slightly forward and looked at him over my shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I got at least double your kill count!"

I felt him push completely off of my back as he turned to me.

"What are you talking about? I clearly won! I was using a machine gun!"

"It's called 'being outclassed' so just give up and be in my debt, dammit!" I stood up and dusted myself off as I waited for a retort from my bespectacled friend. But that retort that didn't come.

"Taka… matsu?" I looked over my shoulder and then turned half way around to stare dead at the spot that Takamatsu had just been sitting. And yet… "Oi…"

There was nothing there.

"Yuri…" A small girl with silver hair sat huddled in the corner of a bombed out house, her hands over her head as she cowered in fear. "Where did you go…?"

Waves of them, maybe sixty or more surrounded her. They were unmoving; almost as if they were waiting for her to make the first move. Yet she was too frightened to even open her eyes.

"Help me… Yuzuru."

Shadow City - Northern Sector, 12:09 pm

"I've been hearing those gunshots for a while now. Are those two idiots alright?" Yuri looked around the area, taking several seconds, sometimes minutes, to look at every little thing. Her surveying abilities, however, weren't turning up much of anything useful. "Dammit. Hey, Kanade?"

"Hmm?" Kanade looked at Yuri as she said her name with a questioning look. "Yes, what is it?"

"I have to ask you… you can't…"

An explosion.

It came out of nowhere, and happened only a few feet from behind Yuri. The shockwave it produced sent her body forward a few other feet, and cut her question short.

"Ahh! Yurippe!" Kanade began to run forward, but she was stopped almost instantly.

"No! Don't come closer, or you're going to get caught up in the- Uh…" She was interrupted again. Just as she was warning her friend about it, shrapnel rained down upon the ground, and a large block of concrete struck Yuri in the gut. "G… ahhh."

The force made her cough blood for only a second, and then flew her entire body even further back.

"YURI!" She began to run to her friend, but it was too late. "Oh, no…" With a flash, Kanade could feel her head begin to hurt; it was like a sudden and powerful migraine pounded into her brain and then left as quickly as it came.

And right on cue, they came.

Hundreds, maybe even thousands of Shadows poured endlessly from the ground. They made Kanade freeze in her tracks, unable to move any further to help Yuri.

"Dammit… Kanade! RUN!" They all moved at the same time. Every single one of the Shadows leapt at either one of the two, preparing to drive them with their spike-like arms. "You bastards!" Still on the ground, Yuri got her gun out and began to fire.

They started disappearing one by one from Yuri's reign of bullets, and thanks to them being in a large crowd, a mass of them would die after one shot. But even then it wasn't enough.

A click.

"Wha?" Yuri pulled the trigger yet all the gun did was make an odd clicking noise. "No! Not now!" Ignoring the blood and injuries, she began to stand up and pulled her knife out, then proceeded to charge them blindly.

"AHHHH!" They got closer and closer, yet all Kanade did was cower in fear from them. "YURI!"

"KANADE!" Slicing down the Beasts like a madman, Yuri forced her way through the cloud of blackness trying to get to her, but before she could. "KANA…"

Yuri was gone.

So, as you can see (if you read the original) we're getting back into the strange and quite random vanishings. And how about those fight scenes!? I, for one, think I've gotten better at making some action come to life.

The fight with the Shadows in a new world continues, as our heroes look for more members of the SSS Battlefront. Hinata's group runs into a familiar face, while Otonashi must run to Kanade's rescue from the horrid Shadow Beasts.

Chapter Three: Leads and Discoveries.

Until Next Time~