Thanks to everyone who reviewed so far. I've made my decision with Homura in this chapter, but just because he isn't part of Minato's team doesn't mean he won't be important later. SECURE, I likely won't feature Miya, but you never know. She will appear again later, but it may or may not be a terribly important appearance.
Chapter 18
"He looks really peaceful when he's sleeping, doesn't he?" Yomi wondered aloud.
"Yeah, he does." Benitsubasa replied from her seat next to the hospital bed Minato was lying on.
"You know, you guys don't have to wait in here. Mr. Sahashi will be fine. He only sustained some bruises, he'll make a full recovery soon." A doctor said as he hung his clipboard at the edge of the hospital bed.
"I would never leave my legal husband alone in a hospital." Tsukiumi stated.
The doctor merely shrugged in response and left the room.
Benitsubasa looked back at Minato to see him stirring.
"He's waking up."
Minato opened his eyes to find himself lying in a hospital surrounded by his Sekirei.
"Where am I?" He asked while trying to sit up. The pain that shot through him as he did convinced him to lie back down.
"You're in an MBI hospital, we took you here after Benitsubasa brought you back to meet up with us." Uzume said.
Minato vaguely remembered passing out in the middle of his hug with Benitsubasa in the park.
"Did you guys win back there?" He asked.
"Hell yeah, we kicked their asses!" Yomi cried out. She was silenced by Mutsu, who hit the back of her head with the blunt end of his sword.
"Watch your language around Kusano." He ordered.
"Yes, we won, but it didn't turn out like we hoped. A lot of the Ashikabis agreed to work for Nishi as long as their Sekirei weren't unwinged. We may need to keep an eye on him now. He's proven to be smarter than we originally anticipated." Kochou said as she pushed up her glasses.
"Also, we have to tell you that the Third Stage has begun." Matsu added.
"The Third Stage, what is that going to mean?" Minato asked.
"We will be competing for Jinki now." Matsu responded.
"What exactly are Jinki?" Minato asked.
"They are eight artifacts that were found on the ships we were found on as well. They hold the power to control the core of every Sekirei, and can activate or deactivate them at will when all eight are collected." Matsu explained.
"Minaka has seven right now. It would be very beneficial for us to acquire as many as possible." Kochou added.
"Seven? But I thought you said there were eight?" Minato asked.
"Well, there are eight, but I kinda stole one from MBI." Matsu said sheepishly, "That's kinda why I was originally hiding from MBI."
Minato was about to berate her when his phone began buzzing. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, which said that he had received a text. He opened up his phone and read through his message.
"Looks like we have to finish this talk later, right now, we are participating in the first match. I'm allowed to take three Sekirei with me."
As soon as he spoke, two MBI solders ran inside of the hospital room.
"Come with us Mr. Sahashi, and bring along your chosen Sekirei."
"Benitsubasa, Yomi, and Uzume, come with me. Mutsu, take care of everyone else." Minato ordered.
They were led out to a helicopter on the roof.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"A deserted island that is owned by MBI." One solder answered as he sat down in the pilot's seat.
Minato watched as they took off and headed towards a small island that seemed to be a factory of some sort.
"Why you!" Minato heard voices as soon as they landed. He quickly glanced over to see Nishi fighting with a man who looked eerily similar to him.
The man turned to him, "Hey, quit butting in here."
"I'm a participant too." Minato replied. The man ignored him.
"How you doin' Uzume?"
"Fine, but we're going have to beat you, Seo." Uzume answered.
"Fine, take care of those guys." He lazily waved a hand at Minato and returned to his battle with Nishi.
"Oh great, not these guys again." Benitsubasa said through gritted teeth.
Hikari and Hibiki ran over to Minato's group, but stopped when they noticed Benitsubasa.
"Really? We have to fight her?" Hikari cried out.
"Come on guys, we don't have much of a choice." A male voice said. Homura dropped down from his vantage point and stood by the twins.
"Homura? You got winged by him?" Uzume asked incredulously as she pointed to Seo.
"Yeah, I know he's an idiot, but my body was unstable and he winged me before things got out of hand." Homura sighed and created two balls of fire.
"Don't worry Minato, I've got this. I'll create a distraction." Yomi dashed over to Homura and slashed off the top half of his uniform. The fire immediately disappeared as he tried to cover his body.
"What are you hiding under there?" Yomi asked playfully as she ran her hands over Homura's exposed skin.
"I know you're trying to distract me, but it won't work." He stammered.
"Really?" Yomi asked as she stuck her hand down his pants, eliciting a facepalm from Benitsubasa.
"Of course this is her distraction." Benitsubasa muttered.
Yomi then turned to Minato, "If you want to join in, feel free."
Minato shook his head, "I'm all right."
"Minato, you need to go look for the Jinki, I can take these two." Benitsubasa said with a smile. She then launched herself straight into the twins, wildly throwing punches along the way.
Minato nodded, and along with Uzume, began searching the island. There were conveniently several large arrows pointing to their destination. As they reached the area where all of the arrows converged, Minato spotted someone with a glowing object standing on top of some machinery.
"Isn't that one of Nishi's Sekirei?" He asked Uzume, pointing to Shijime.
"I think she actually has the Jinki." Uzume said as she tried to look closer.
"Then why isn't the match over yet?" Minato asked.
"An Ashikabi needs to get the Jinki for the match to end. So get it now while Nishi and Seo are distracted." Kochou said through his earpiece.
"Do you think you can get it?" Minato asked.
Uzume nodded and sent out a veil, which simply grabbed the Jinki out of Shijime's hands and dropped it into Minato's. He inspected it quickly. It sort of looked like a diamond that had been stretched out with a small ball inside. The number one had been inscribed on one of the faces.
"And the first match has ended!" A voice boomed throughout the factory.
"Looks like we won." Uzume said to Minato.
Sorry if the stages are moving pretty quickly, but I am moving on towards the ending, which is coming soon. I wish I could drag out this story to be much longer, but I will have school coming up soon, and I have a lot of homework coming, so I'm planning to finish this story before school starts. Otherwise, I would not be able to write for months at a time, and that would make me feel like I would be abandoning this story.