World In Us Chapter 2: Waking Up, Breaking Out, a Persona Series + Kill la Kill/ キルラキル Crossover fanfic

Chapter 2: Waking Up, Breaking Out

A/N: So, a lot of this chapter follows the first episode of Kill la Kill. I apologize for that. There will be greater divergences as the story goes on, but certain events are kind of unavoidable right now.

Also, with the exception of the first and last titles of this story, every chapter title will consist of lyrics from a random song that can either be from an anime (like Kill la Kill), video game (like Persona), or just a regular song (like the real life). This is due to the episode title naming system of Kill la Kill where they use song titles. So, as a bonus, see if you can guess the song the chapter's title is from! No googling allowed (though I know you'll do it anyway).

ONTO THE STORY!

"It was... expected that something had changed. There were too many unknown factors. The passage of time, the lack of completeness, and even the body he was thrown into had to have some effect."

"What do you mean?"

"Even when given the chance in the past, Minato did not kill Ryoji. He did not choose the easy way out or choose revenge. Neither should have interested him. And he should have helped his friends without a second word, just like when he first picked up his Evoker. He's changed."

"His Persona was Messiah, right? Tell me, Igor, what do you think a Messiah is thinking when they sacrifice themselves for the greater good?"

"That it will make the world a better place."

"Now, tell me, what happens if they return to find out the world is an even worse place than when they left it?"

"I see..."

"And thirty-two years next to the neutral Nyx while being attacked by the manifestation of mankind's will to die, which is getting stronger every second, is bound to have an effect as well."

"..."

"You wanted a Messiah, but you got a poor, disillusioned boy filled with anger and sadness. Anger because of what the world is and sadness because he knows he alone can never change it. He doesn't want the burden of being the hero. He feels like he'll fail again."

"But he succeeded in saving mankind."

"He succeeded in stalling their self-destruction."

"Hey, Ken?"

"Yeah, Minato?"

"What is wrong with my eyes?" Minato said as he stared at his reflection in the car window. He couldn't make it out very well, but there was some sort of golden ring around the irises of his eyes. His day was getting weirder and weirder by the second. Rushed back to life, rushed through a meeting, rushed through an attack... He was holding up well so far, but... it was getting to be too much to take in.

"Mitsuru told me about that. It's one of the side effects," Ken said from the driver's seat. Minato's eyes narrowed.

"One of the side effects of whatever they did to fix you. Look, Minato, when I first officially joined the Kirijo Group, your body was an absolute mess. Back then, it was only Mitsuru's personal goal to bring you back. Then, when the world started going downhill, we tried harder to bring you back. But nothing worked. We lacked the means to repair your body or your soul. Then we managed to fix both... though even I don't know how. Anyway, we apparently used some extreme measures. The eye thing should disappear soon. Don't worry about it," Ken answered.

"What kind of extreme measures? Do you have any clues or ideas as to how?"

Ken shrugged.

"I don't know."

"...What about this scarf? What's it supposed to do?" Minato asked.

Ken shrugged.

"I don't know."

"What about this whole "saving the world thing?" What's so dangerous about these Life Fibers?"

"Again, I don't know. I'm not as deep in the operations as Aigis or Miki," Ken replied, shifting the burden of Minato's questions upon them. Minato swiveled his head to look at Aigis.

"Ai—"

"Password-protected information," she replied with a sad expression. He turned his head forwards to Miki's back.

"Mi—"

"Mom can tell you when she gets back," Miki answered gruffly. Minato sighed.

"Hey, I have a question for you. Why'd you refuse to help us?" Ken asked. Minato turned to stare out the window.

"Ken, I know it would be right to accept, that I should have done it for my friends, but... Look, I never refused. I just didn't accept. Whatever it was that made me somebody who'd willingly lay down his life for others without a moment's thought is gone. I needed to think it through. I had thirty-two years to reflect on what I did wrong, what mistakes I made. The first one, I realized, was picking up the Evoker without taking a day to think it over. Acting in the heat of the moment like that... It's done me no good," Minato said.

"You met me because of it. Am I no good?" Aigis asked. Minato looked at her, looked her right in the face and took in once again just how human her expression was. She seemed so saddened by what he was saying. Her face alone made him wish he hadn't had those thirty-two years taken from him. He could have lived those years in peace with all his friends if he'd worked hard enough.

"You're good, Aigis. We could have just met in better circumstances is all," he said with a smile. Then, to Ken, "I've decided to help you guys anyway. Just tell me the truth on this one thing: Did you ever see the bodies of anybody Mitsuru said died?"

Ken sighed as he rubbed his head tiredly with one hand. "You're doubting her."

"She's kept the truth from me before," Minato replied honestly.

Biting his lip, Ken answered, "I never saw Yukari or Akihiko's bodies. I never saw the bodies of the guys from the Investigation Team that were said to have died as well. But Mitsuru sa—"

"Ken, I was top of my class at Gekkoukan. I think I have the intelligence not to believe everything I'm told. Another of the many reasons why I didn't immediately accept was because I went into that conversation knowing Mitsuru would lie to me. So, a small push was all I thought I'd need to get the truth." Minato sighed. "I just never got the chance to finish up that push. The real questions are: What happened to them? Are none of them dead or only a few of them? Did Mitsuru do something to them?"

"Hey! Mom would never do something to harm her friends!" Miki suddenly exclaimed, turning in her chair to glare at him.

"I agree with Miki. Mitsuru has remarkably remained unchanged all these years in that regard," Aigis said. Minato shook his head.

"Knowing Mitsuru, she only hides the truth if she can hide it behind a lie that makes things, well, better. Basically, if they're not dead, then something worse than death happened to them. I'm also willing to bet Junpei isn't even missing," Minato concluded.

"..." Nobody else could say a thing.

"Now, Ken? Brief me. We're almost to our destination, right?" Minato asked. Ken had almost forgotten. Minato wasn't just a friend. He'd been the leader of S.E.E.S. Mitsuru could say she lead it officially all she wanted, but Minato was the one in the field leading them into battle. He was the one who took everything in stride and dealt with it accordingly. Maybe there was something odd about how quickly he was accepting this future, this new world, but it wasn't too far of a departure from what he was usually like.

When Ikutsuki betrayed them, Minato didn't bat an eye. When Shinji died, Minato was the first to recover from it. When they fought Nyx's avatar and then the way to Nyx opened up, Minato left to fight alone without hesitation, without looking back. When there was something that needed to be done, Minato would do it. Yet, it was this aspect about him that always confused Ken. What was Minato feeling right now? What did he really think about everything going on?

Twenty Minutes Later

Minato nodded as he shifted his dufflebag on his shoulder.

"Remember, don't take those clothes off. They're one of the few sets of clothing left without any Life Fibers. I'd brief you on why Life Fibers are so dangerous and why they endanger the world, but that meeting was supposed to be when Mitsuru told me as well. I'm sorry I can't be of much help," he said with a frown.

"I wasn't really expecting much help, anyway," Minato said honestly. Ken's frown deepened as Miki chuckled.

"Wow. That was pretty cold," she said with a wicked grin. A shadow of a smile crossed Aigis' face before her expression turned back to one of concern.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" She asked for the thousandth time. Minato tightened the yellow scarf around his neck.

"No. But that's why I'm doing this, right? It's supposed to be dangerous," he replied. Aigis lowered her head and mumbled something along the lines of "please be okay" before the window closed and Ken sped off in the car, leaving Minato alone at the beginning of the bridge leading to Honnouji Academy.

Minato took two steps, breathed in deeply, and then sighed.

"This really sucks."

'I just want to go to my room and fall asleep. Just sleep it all away,' Minato thought with a frown. He apparently got a mansion near the academy due to the Kirijo Group's clever maneuvering. He was going undercover as the wealthy spawn of somebody from one of the upper echelons of society. Just some possible investor's kid and not somebody working for the Kirijo Group. As such, he planned to hold off on using his Persona powers as much as possible. He had Thanatos, Alice, Norn, Messiah, Kohryu, Helel, Thor, Surt, Scathach, and Mara. The other two slots were mysteriously empty. He must have done some fusing before fighting Nyx and just not entered the fight with a full party. So much for planning ahead.

And he had no money to be able to withdraw Personas from the Compendium. The Kirijo Group didn't exactly give him a debit card. He had school funds for lunches, but nothing more. Maybe if that Nui girl hadn't attacked, he could have at least gotten an allowance. Fortunately, this at least meant he couldn't get robbed.

So, with that in mind, he began to walk forward towards that great, ostentatious building/city.

The place looked like a giant mountain from where he stood. A mountain made of buildings and people that all only seemed to exist for that building on top. Honnouji Academy. His new school. He had to make new friends, join some clubs, do homework, and then, to top it all off, fight that crazy Elite Four that Ken briefed him about. Not to mention "Lady Satsuki".

'Better get moving,' he thought as he turned his walk into a slight jog. His body was weak, so he could at least try to train it a little, right?

Minato collapsed against the wall of the alleyway covered in sweat. He was in the lowest part of that mountain he'd seen from the bridge and was already exhausted. It was a place filled with shifty-eyed people looking to steal his dufflebag/and or scarf and/or life. Now he was tired from jogging and still had a ridiculous distance left to cover.

This was a bad idea. A really bad idea. He had literally no money! He couldn't buy water down here in the slums below Honnouji Academy! And all these people were grinning at him eerily as they each peered out of their perspective alleyways. And to top it all off, he was lost! Without Fuuka or Mitsuru guiding him through this maze, he'd never find a way out!

Minato shifted his bag again as he moved to head further down the alley. Somebody was talking down the way, though he found it hard to really make out what they were saying. A little bit closer and he could just barely make out what they were saying from around the corner.

"Come on out, guys!" A young voice shouted. Then several other voices were laughing. "You've insulted the Great Lightning Speed Mataro! This neighborhood is my turf! Honnou Town Blind Alley. It's a dead end for lives and a feared hangout for drifters. If you want to go home in one piece, leave your wallet and go."

'A mugging? I should probably do something about that. At the very least, beating a few amateur thugs might keep them from staring at me like I'm some weak prey,' Minato thought as he turned the corner.

He was surprised to see that the so-called "thugs" were just little kids and the person they were trying to rob was a black-haired (with a dash of red) girl his age with a thick instrument case on her back. Was it for guitar or something? Minato didn't know. He was more of a piano type of guy. Damn guitar types always acting like they're the best. What, they had like five strings? That was nothing compared to the many keys of the piano!

While Minato had been in his own thoughts, the girl had beaten all the boys with her case and now the four boys were prostrating in front of her, apologizing. Minato decided this would be as good of a time as any to move out of his hiding spot and walk towards the group.

"I guess I can't beat people up who are bowing and scraping. I'll let it slide this once," the girl said with a smile. As she began to walk away, Minato pushed his weak body into a jog and called out to her.

"Hey! Black-haired (with a dash of red) girl!" He called out. Normally, he was not the type to call out to random strangers, but he'd make an exception because he was really, really lost. She turned around with a look of confusion. Then, out of nowhere a bag came flying and hit the leader of the boys right in the neck. The bag was then immediately followed by a brown-haired girl with a bowl cut in a sailor suit who tackled him and sent him flying onto the dirt road just out of the alley.

"Shaking down people at the crack of dawn again, I see!" The angry girl said as she sat on top of him.

"Oh no, it's my big sister!" The kid exclaimed as he tried to get away.

"You can't get away! How many times have I told you to stop mugging people and get your butt to school?!" She exclaimed right back as she wrestled him over her head. She then pinned him to the ground, pulling his leg back.

"I'm sorry! I'm going, I'm going, I'm going!" He said. She then released him.

Then he and his friends ran away shouting something about not going to school as he left.

"That little idiot. Oh, I'm sorry! Are you—" The brown-haired girl was interrupted by a bell which made her jump with alarm. She then ran off, muttering something about being late as she ran to get onto a tram jam-packed with students.

That left Minato alone with the other girl. The black-haired (with a dash of red!) one looked at him with some concern.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked, noticing the fact that he was still covered in sweat and looked half-dead from jogging. Minato waved it off.

"I'm fine. Anyway, I'm Minato Arisato, a transfer student. I'm lost. Please help because that tram just left," Minato said with a tired smile. Unfortunately, Minato could not be very eloquent with random strangers. He could maybe talk to a known enemy easily, but some random girl wasn't exactly the same thing as a friend or known enemy.

The girl grinned. "What do you know? I'm also a transfer student. I'm Ryuko Matoi. I'd be happy to help you. Just gotta ask one thing first: Do you have any clue as to what's wrong with the people in this city?" Minato shook his head.

Ryuko sighed. "So it's not just me then. Well, let's go. We can try and keep each other sane while we wait for the next tram. If there even is one."

Minato nodded and followed her as she walked towards the station the tram had come from. It wasn't so much of a station as it was a small island of concrete with a singular bench on top. Awkwardly, Ryuko and Minato sat down next to each other.

"So... Where are you from?" Ryuko asked, trying to make small talk. Minato thought about the question, before deciding to go with his favorite answer when it came to questions he didn't want to answer.

"..."

"Okay. What's with the dufflebag? We're not required to bring anything, you know?" Ryuko asked, feeling increasingly awkward due to the silence. Minato picked up the bag and shook it, letting her hear the jingling sound of metal clanging against metal.

"It's not full of books," he replied dryly. He knew he sounded a bit like an ass, but he couldn't help it! He had a stigma against talking to people too much. He wasn't a talkative person and small talk was definitely not his strong suit. Talking or thinking aloud near his comrades was one thing, but he hadn't done Social Links in decades! Hell, most of the Social Links did all the talking for him anyway! Why did he have to talk?!

"Yeah, I can tell. You don't talk a lot, do you?" Ryuko asked, slowly getting pissed off by this quiet kid. Why the hell was he wearing a scarf around his neck anyway? It wasn't even cold out!

Minato shook his head.

"I'm not... the best at it. Sorry," he said in reply. Ryuko looked at him and smirked, apparently satisfied with that answer. Now was his chance! While she was down, he had to use an All-Out Attack to make sure she talked about herself instead!

"What about... you? Where are you from? What's with the case?" He asked, near perfectly copying her questions. As her expression turned thoughtful, Minato internally fist-pumped. Success! He could survive this conversation!

"I'm from here and there. Nowhere important, honestly. As for what's in the case," Ryuko grinned. "It's not full of books."

'Haha. Real mature,' Minato thought with a frown.

Suddenly, the bell rang, indicating the tram was coming.

Honnouji Academy

The rest of the way to Honnouji Academy was fairly quiet. As in, Minato was awkwardly silent the entire time. They got off and had headed to the front of the school fairly quickly. Hanging from several chains in front of the "gate" (if the giant star-shaped crack in the humongous wall could even be called that) was a beaten body with a sign around its neck.

"'This is a naked pig who dared to defy Honnouji Academy. As such, justice was dealt,'" Minato read off the sign.

"This whole place is dangerous," Ryuko commented with a smirk. "Interesting." With that, she began to walk towards the gates.

Minato, feeling inclined to add something, added, "Still better than my old school."

Ryuko stopped all of a sudden and looked back at him, eyebrow raised. "What do you mean?"

Immediately Minato knew he made a mistake. Mentioning his old school was a very bad decision, He just meant to say it under his breath, then she heard him and now he was—

'Ooh. There's an idea,' Minato thought with an internal smirk.

"My old school turned into a tower hundreds of floors tall at night filled with monsters that sucked out the souls of people," he said with a smile. Tell the truth and you never have to lie. When that truth is so ridiculous that it sounds like a lie, then it's even better.

Ryuko sighed. "And here I thought you were normal. Or at least sane."

She began to walk away again and Minato internally fist-pumped. Conversation survived! Now he just had to get to class.

"We have two new transfer students today. Ryuko Matoi and Minato Arisato are both part of Second Year Class K as of today," the teacher said as he wrote their names on the board. Minato was falling asleep while standing while Ryuko was just standing normally with a bored expression on her face.

"Ryuko, Ryuko! Over here, over here! This desk is free!" The bowl cut girl from earlier exclaimed from her desk as she pointed at the desk next to hers. Minato snapped out of it. Ryuko and the teacher exchanged a few words before Ryuko went and took the seat next to the clearly special child. Minato turned to the teacher.

"Ah... My desk, Mr..." He trailed off realizing he hadn't payed attention to the teacher's name.

The teacher, in an old and tired sounding voice, responded, "Mikisugi. Now, your desk should be over there, all the way in the back. Come by my office after class and we can sort out the rest of your transfer documents."

Mikisugi completely ignored Minato's questioning gaze and simply pointed him to his seat.

'Well, well. I guess I'm not the only one undercover here,' Minato thought with a smirk.

Then, just like thirty-two years ago, he laid his head down and fell asleep. It would have been complete if he had his music still, but you can't always get everything you want.

Mikisugi's "office" was packed full of random junk and was one of the dirtiest places Minato had ever seen in. And he'd seen Junpei's room. Immediately after closing the door behind him, Mikisugi ripped open his white shirt, took off his glasses, and swept his previously messy hair back over his head. With a cocky smile, he relaxed in a chair on the other side of the office as the lights in the office changed from dull yellow to bright purple.

"Don't do the pants," Minato quickly said, noticing Mikisugi was already reaching for his belt.

"For you, I think I can resist the urge," Mikisugi replied, remembering Minato's comment when he first stripped in front of the boy. He didn't want his confidence hurt by the kid again. "Anyway, I'm just going to complete your briefing and give you a status update on what happened to the base for now."

"Sounds good to me," Minato said with a shrug as he pulled a foldable chair out of the junk and unfolded it in order to sit down.

"Lady Kirijo and Ms. Yamagishi are currently missing. Luckily, everyone else managed to escape in time," Mikisugi started. "Fortunately, you got here just on schedule. Ryuko Matoi is a very interesting case and someone you should to befriend. Get close to her and observe her while continuing on your mission to get stronger."

'Missing, eh? Not dead. Interesting,' Minato noted. That particular subject required further thought. Either Mikisugi was trying not to worry him, they were actually missing, or something else was going on.

Minato raised his hand. "What's the deal with her anyway? And how are these Life Fibers threatening to destroy the world again?"

"She may not know it, but her father founded Nudist Beach to fight the Life Fibers before he passed away. As for the Life Fibers themselves... Sorry. Telling you that right now could be potentially dangerous. Just remember: Ragyo Kiryuin and her entire conglomerate are mankind's enemy. Satsuki Kiryuin has been conquering all the nation's schools, but her mother has the real power. She's your end goal," Mikisugi said, pissing Minato off with the whole "potentially dangerous" thing. He was supposed to be their hero, right? Why the hell did they even give him this mission if they weren't going to tell him anything?

"Fine. I got it. Now, where do I start?" Minato asked, deciding not to push the topic too far for now. Mikisugi grinned widely.

"Lady Kirijo once told me that you did Kendo as well as Student Council and the Music club. Why not do what you did before? Infiltrate the very center of the school. Fight from the inside while we fight from the outside."

Minato nodded.

"Good plan. I'll talk to you when I make some progress, I suppose," Minato said as he turned to leave. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Minato turned back around. "How did you guys preserve, no, fix my body?"

"You were Lady Kirijo's hope. If anything, she's the one who knows all the details," Mikisugi answered flawlessly. Minato was getting fed up with all the non-answers.

"Thanks anyway," he said as he left.

"A severed bond has been reborn. Thou hast recreated thy link to the Hermit Arcana. May it guide thee through solitude and onward to introspection."

A voice echoed in his head as he closed the door behind him.

'Severed bond? What the hell?' Minato thought to himself with a grimace. Weren't his bonds supposed to have been unbreakable?

"9283! 9284! Come on, men! Show me that you're worth teaching!"

Hundreds of students were lined up in rows, each swinging their wooden swords, or bokken, with all their might. At the front of the expansive dojo was a man with green hair and an open white uniform, his green shirt showing underneath. If his uniform were closed, it would have shown three stars across the chest. He shouted orders to the rest, and they obeyed him. Those that fell from exhaustion were sent out immediately, carried away by larger students that had uniforms with a singular star on them.

This Kendo Club was certainly more expansive than Minato was used to.

As he entered the dojo, he found his way blocked by one of those students with a star on their uniform. Ken had briefed him on this much. There were No-Stars that had no Goku Uniforms, One-Stars that had Goku Uniforms, Two-Stars that had even stronger Goku Uniforms, and Three-Stars which were powerful enough to give any of his friends a hard battle. Two-Stars were club captains, but Three-Stars were the Elite Four of Satsuki.

'That guy in the back must be one of Satsuki's Elite Four. Bet he uses Fighting-type,' Minato thought with a snicker. He then turned his attention to the One-Star blocking his way, his bokken stabbed into the ground in front of him.

"I want to join. Have room for one more?" He asked the One-Star, using terse language because, well, he still had problems saying a lot to random people!

"You cannot enter in the middle of practice! Leave and return later!" The One-Star ordered. However, Minato wasn't feeling like taking no for an answer. Besides, all they needed to do was give him a bokken and let him swing the damn thing.

"Look, is it really so hard to just let me join?" Minato asked. The One-Stars eyes narrowed.

"A No-Star like you has the insolence to question me? You aren't even in the proper uniform! Leave or I will be forced to make you leave!" The One-Star declared. Minato sighed. He walked over and grabbed a bokken off the a nearby stand and held it in front of him. Part of the briefing from Ken flashed in his mind as he took up the sword.

"Don't get hit. I don't know how, but the Null, Repel and Absorb properties of Personas are completely negated by anybody wearing Life Fibers. The Velvet Room people mentioned something about the possibility of someone on the enemy's side somehow giving these Life Fibers that attribute, but we don't know if it's that or just a unique property of Life Fibers. So, whenever you get the chance, dodge. Your body is too fragile to take too many hits right now."

"I came here to join. Let. Me. Pass," Minato repeated, gripping his weapon tightly. One-Stars had the strength of a well-polished athlete at least. Minato had the strength of a cancer patient in remission. So, if he was going to fight, he just had to rely on battle experience. Getting hit once by this guy could very well be the end of him. However, Minato had fought things much faster and stronger than this guy. He just had to use that experience.

The One-Star smirked as he pulled his bokken up to let it rest on his neck. "Very well! If you want the hard way, then I'd be happy to oblige in sending you to the afterlife!"

The One-Star swung his bokken right at Minato's head, intending to end things in one swing, but his wooden sword passed through empty air. Minato had already anticipated he'd go for a blow to end it quickly and had dropped down low. Once the One-Star's sword passed over him, Minato twisted his body around to slam the bokken straight into the One-Star's chest.

"Do!" Minato exclaimed. He then used the force of the impact to bounce his bokken off the One-Star's chest and smash the One-Star's face. "Men!" Anticipating the One-Star's next move, Minato leaned back and brought his bokken in an upwards arc off to his right to strike the One-Star's bokken and deflect it slightly, sending the blade once more harmlessly over his head."Kote!" Minato then jumped back to gain some distance between him and the One-Star, who was still standing despite taking all his hits without any sort of armor on.

'Damn. He's tougher than I thought,' Minato thought with a scowl. He could boost his abilities with his Persona powers or even finish this guy with a quick Morning Star, but he couldn't do it with an Elite Four (bet he uses a Farfetch'd) right there. It was best to keep that secret while he still could (and having a trump card was just too much of a good feeling). Speaking of which, Minato's little fight with the One-Star had so far gotten him a glance from the cocky bastard. He'd need to try harder to get more than that. Hence why he chose the bokken instead of his sword, Deus Xiphos. He needed to show skill, not slice the other guy in half effortlessly. Using any Persona skills during this fight wouldn't help him land a spot on the team either.

"So, it looks like you're not quite an amateur," the One-Star said in annoyance. He readied his bokken again. "Looks like I might have to go all out."

The One-Star leaped at him and brought his bokken down hard. On instinct, Minato raised his own bokken above his head to block, but, due to his weak strength, the One Star's sword hit his bokken with enough force to smash Minato in the face with his own bokken. Minato got smashed right in the nose, though it fortunately didn't seem to break. However, there was now a small stream of blood dripping down from his nose. Minato quickly wiped it away. He wouldn't want to get any on his new scarf now, would he? He had a feeling it would be an absolute bitch to clean.

Minato recovered from the blow in time to sidestep the One-Star's thrust and step past it, bringing his bokken in for a counter attack. Once more he landed a blow straight at the One-Star's face. Once more, the One-Star seemed unfazed.

"Stay still, so I can hit you!" The One-Star exclaimed. Minato smirked. He may have forgotten to mention this, but it wasn't like he was without clothing that strengthened him as well. The pentacle symbols on his shows denoted them as the Shoes of Light, one of the items from his past that Ken managed to grab on their way out of the base. Apparently, some of Minato's old armor was still around, but most of it was in use or stolen during the Armory raid the Shadow Operative base had experienced. These shoes made short, quick movements for dodging easy, but they sure as hell didn't make running easier or faster. They also had the attribute of evading physical attacks with much more ease than magic attacks.

'What kind of idiot sits still during a fight?' Minato mentally retorted as he sidestepped another attack. This guy may be a One-Star, but he was amateurish at best when it came to swordplay. He made made wide arcing swings and put all his strength into every attack. Compared to the thousands of Shadows Minato had fought, this One-Star was nothing.

Minato kept watching the Three-Star in the back as he dodged the One-Star's attacks, making sure to deal a small blow at every opening. The cocky bastard seemed to be watching the fight with some sort of interest. Minato grinned, though it was hidden by his scarf. He'd have to step up his game.

Minato stepped forward and to the side, past the One-Star's attack once more, and, using one hand, shot out his bokken with everything he had right at the enemy's neck. "Katate tsuki!" He exclaimed as his bokken hit the One-Star dead-on in the neck. The One-Star then collapsed, clutching his throat with one hand.

The other One-Stars began to close in on him, each one holding the bokken and ready to take him down. However, Minato wasn't paying attention to any of them. He was staring straight at the green-haired Elite Four member (he seemed like a Machamp kind of guy).

"Can I join?" Minato asked. The green-haired man in the back nodded, and all the other students dropped their hostility towards Minato. With a sigh of relief, Minato looked up to thank the man, but the Three-Star was being pulled out of the back door by a very angry looking pink-haired girl dressed up in a marching band outfit. Minato shrugged at the occurrence and went to go swing his sword. He still had twenty minutes until afternoon classes.

The rest of the day passed by fairly quickly, though Minato didn't see the girl with a bowl cut or Ryuko in class. Which was pretty boring. However, when he exited the main building, he noticed there was a large crowd surrounding a boxing ring that had appeared to have randomly come out of nowhere. Hanging upside down and behind the ring was the bowl cut girl. Inside the ring was the green-haired leader of the Kendo Club and a short, bald man dressed in the weirdest boxing outfit Minato had ever seen.

'A hostage situation? Things keep getting more and more interesting. If I'm supposed to fight and get strong again, then this place seems as good a place as any to start,' Minato thought with a bored expression on his face. The short boxer and the Three-Star were both talking to each other right now, so Minato took the chance to push his way through the crowd and towards the edge of the ring.

"Alright," the green-haired man said, "Show me the power of a man's reso—"

"Excuse me? Is this a private match or can anyone join in?" Minato asked as he pushed himself through the chains surrounding the ring.

"That idiot," Ryuko muttered under her breath from her position in the crowd. She'd been waiting for a good moment to jump in and show the power of this embarrassing outfit she was wearing under her cloak when all of a sudden that quiet kid from earlier hopped into the ring first. Did he seriously think he was going to defeat a Two-Star without any sort of weapon? She'd been arrogant earlier when she called out Satsuki Kiryuin. Then that weird boxer kid had beaten the shit out of her. After a quick trip to the ruins of her house, she'd found something that could even the odds, but what could this kid do without something like what she had?

With a frown, she moved closer to the ring. He didn't seem like a bad guy and was even going out of his way to save somebody he didn't even know. If Minato needed her help, she'd hop in the ring and save his ass too. She was tempted to do it right now, but she wanted to see how it all played out.

"Something's off about that boy," Senketsu, her powerful new outfit and ally remarked. She still couldn't understand what it had been doing in the basement of her old house or why it even spoke. Or why it wanted to drink her blood so bad.

"What, you damn slutty outfit?" Ryuko asked, insulting him without hesitation.

"I don't know. And I'm not slutty! My design reflects our oneness!" Senketsu answered.

"Thanks. That cleared up so much," Ryuko said as she rolled her eyes.

Satsuki Kiryuin narrowed her eyes from atop her perch. That wasn't the Matoi girl that just entered the ring. It was the other transfer student.

Satsuki smiled.

'Interesting,' she thought with a pleased look on her face. First the boy apparently fought off a One-Star without any uniform whatsoever, and now he challenges Fukuroda, a Two-Star, equally unprepared. If he survived, he could possible become a powerful piece for her to play.

"Who the hell are you?!" Fukuroda shouted in displeasure. This wasn't Matoi! Did this guy want to save Mako Makanshoku too?!

Minato shrugged off his dufflebag and let it fall to the ground. Immediately, he zipped it open and silently went through the bag. Uzu Sanageyama smirked as he watched the kid. This was the same kid from club earlier. He was the other transfer student. From what he saw, Sanageyama assumed Minato would pull out a sword of sorts. After all, he'd shown proficiency in it when he asked to join the Kendo Club.

"My name is Minato Arisato," he said as he pulled out a pair of boxing gloves out of his bag. The Shadow Operatives must have changed the design because these gloves were shining with a golden light and had crosses inscribed on them. "I want a match. It's good training," Minato said as he put the gloves on. Then he suddenly pointed to Mako, who was still hanging upside-down. "And I free her. Win-win?" Unfortunately, he fell into the "terseness" curse that meant he couldn't speak well around strangers again. Oh well, he got his point across.

"You've come to save me?! Kya! But I don't even know you! But you look like a hero and then that makes me the princess held captive by the scary bald, short, wizard! But I live in the slums, so that means I'm a slum princess! Mr. Hero, please save me so I can become a slum princess and rules the slums with an iron fist!" Mako ranted on about nothing.

Sanageyama's eyes widened in surprise at the weapon choice. This kid could box too? Fukuroda looked at Sanageyama as if to ask for permission to kick this punk kid's ass. Sanageyama nodded.

"Alright, looks like you're in luck, Arisato! I have some time to kill!" Fukuroda said with a grin. Minato just smiled as he bounced from one foot to another, ready to try and see how he held against a Two-Star. Sanageyama sighed as he hopped out of the ring and then rang the bell.

"Round One: Begin!" He exclaimed.

Minato was ready for this. With his Shoes of Light and his Sabazios, he could dodge and deal damage perfectly! There was no possible way he could lose this! With this in mind, Minato took a step forwar—

A barrage of fists suddenly filled his vision faster than he could react, hitting him from every side and every angle possible, hitting him in places he didn't even know existed. What used by one glove was now thousands, hitting him and punching him without ceasing. Glove after glove after glove hit Minato again and again and again. In those few seconds, Minato must have been hit thousands of times. When the barrage finally ended, Minato fell to the ground, bloodied and battered almost beyond recognition. Whatever he'd been expecting, it wasn't that.

"No, Mr. Hero died! You were the cho~sen one! I was going to be princess of the slums! Don't die yet!" Mako exclaimed nonsensically.

In a mere instant, the fight was over.

They began the countdown.

"One!"

Ryuko sighed from her position in the audience. She was going to have to save him and Mako, it seemed.

"Two!"

Satsuki clicked her tongue in annoyance. Was the kid just all talk after all? Then again, what had she been expecting of some random transfer student? It seemed she couldn't use him after all.

"Three!"

Fukuroda threw his fists up in the air victoriously, and the audience cheered.

"Four!"

Sanageyama chuckled. Maybe he'd been seeing things when the kid won against that One-Star?

"Five!"

Mikisugi shook his head. He was very far away, watching the match through binoculars. He hadn't expected Minato to try someone so hard so fast. He should have warned the kid.

"Six!"

A drop of blood slowly ran down Minato's neck.

"Seven!"

The drop was inching closer and closer to Minato's yellow scarf. The threads began to reach out for the blood, began to desire it.

"Eight!"

The blood made contact with the scarf. The scarf greeedily sucked up the blood. Then bright blue eyes erupted into existence on the front of the scarf. The scarf shot its threads into Minato's neck, sucking out more blood while also paralyzing his vocal chords.

"Nine!"

Minato's eyes burst open and he got to his feet in an instant, his eyes eerily wide. He tried to say something, but no sound came out. Frantically, he pulled at the scarf, but it didn't come off. He tore at it with all he had, but it remained a part of him, stealing his blood at an unholy rate. He was stumbling around the ring, pulling and tear at the scarf to no avail.

'What's with this scarf?! Get off, you parasite!' Minato screamed in his thoughts.

"...What the heck?" Fukuroda said, his words mirroring everyone's thoughts.

The scarf tightened around his neck and then, like strings on a guitar, played his vocal chords to make him say a simple phrase.

"Life Fiber Evocation: Kamui Aibetsu!" Minato shouted. Aibetsu? The word for "sad parting"? What the hell?

The scarf suddenly burst into black flames as it lengthened and wrapped around his body consuming him and forming a giant, black egg.

Satsuki's eyes widened.

'A Kamui?! That's not even a full outfit.'

What exactly was going on? Why hadn't she heard anything about this? Where did he get something like that?

...At the very least, the transfer student could now show her his potential.

The three members of her Elite Four that were beside her seemed confused by it at the very least.

"What the heck is that?" Nonon asked.

"I've never seen anything like that before," Inumuta commented with a smirk.

"Hmm." Gamagori had nothing to say. He would comment on the student's lack of a proper uniform, but Lady Satsuki had, oddly enough, told him to hold off on that. Gamagori did not argue. He was Lady Satsuki's shield and would focus on protecting her for now.

From her spot in the audience, Ryuko clutched her Scissor Blade tightly. She knew that kid wasn't normal! He was way too quiet! What the heck was even happening now?!

"Ryuko, pay attention! Watch this Kamui and see how it works with that boy!" Senketsu ordered, though not even he knew what was going on. All he knew was that there was another Kamui out there. He could feel it, oddly enough. Inside that black egg was a powerful outfit, a godrobe, a Kamui.

If Ryuko didn't get to see a prime example of Kamui and person working together, then she could at least see what not to do.

Inside the giant black egg, Minato was floating in a sea of endless darkness. Facing him with a cocky grin was a face he knew all too well.

"Ryoji? I thought you were long gone," Minato commented dryly as he crossed his arms. It was Ryoji floating across from him in this emptiness. Ryoji, also known as Thanatos, the very personification of Death, was just grinning. After everything Ryoji had done, Minato had hoped Ryoji would have remained, at the very least, very far away from him. Ryoji walked over to him in the darkness, his hands intertwined behind his head.

"I knew my consciousness was going to be absorbed into Nyx and that I would cease to exist, Minato. I was her Avatar, her little puppet to play with as she saw fit. So, I prepared a contingency plan. This scarf," he said, pointing at the scarf he had wrapped around his neck, "Is where I put my consciousness before Nyx called me back to her. Did you ever notice that, despite the fact that I emerged from you when you defeated all the Arcana Shadows, I somehow had clothing? Where do you think I got my clothes from?"

Minato raised his hand and then immediately put it back down. Where did Ryoji get his clothes from? Come to think of it, where did Ryoji even sleep at night back then? One would assume the boys dorms at Gekkoukan, but... How did Ryoji even get into Gekkoukan High? It all made no sense.

"These clothes are what you would call a god's robes, so to speak. They are made from a material that originally came from the gods themselves, so manipulating them and inserting my consciousness was fairly easy. Because of our... connection, I can speak to you like this. You're the only one I can speak to right now, Minato. When I stored my consciousness in this scarf and formed Aibetsu, I was hoping you'd find my scarf atop Tartarus and save it, but the lovely Mitsuru picked me up instead! Which, at the time, I was perfectly fine with. If only she could have worn me, if you know what I mean," Ryoji said with a big, stupid grin. Minato shook his head. Yep. This was the same Ryoji from all those years ago.

"What's going to happen now, Ryoji? What does this Kamui thing do?" Minato asked. He'd ask about the Life Fibers themselves too, but he had a feeling it would take a long time. He was technically still in a boxing match, after all. He could ask Ryoji about Life Fibers at any time.

Ryoji raised one finger and a blackboard came into existence behind him. Holding a piece of chalk that came from nowhere, he began to draw Minato and the scarf on the board. "You see, Life Fibers make up 100% of this scarf. And not just that, they're so densely packed and sewn together that they have enough Fibers to match a full outfit. By the way, no mortal could possibly ever recreate this scarf," he added with a smile. He continued to draw on the board. "Your pitifully weak body will gain enhancements as we push the Kamui to a new form. An Awakened Form, if you will. For future reference, I require your blood as a sacrifice to even activate this form." On the board was a picture of a person with a question mark on their body.

"Do all you gods require blood sacrifices or something?" Minato asked. Ryoji nodded excitedly as he licked his lips. "That's totally not creepy at all. So what does this "Awakened Form" even look like?" In response, Ryoji slammed his chalk against the board.

"Whatever the hell you want it to look like!" Ryoji exclaimed. Minato cocked an eyebrow skeptically. Rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly, Ryoji continued, "I hadn't come up with what it looks like. Got any ideas? This Kamui, made by a god himself, kind of isn't bound by common sense. We can make it look like whatever we want."

Minato nodded and then told Ryoji what he had in mind. Ryoji's smiled widened to the point where it looked like it would split his face.

"Ooh. I love it."

"Uh, is he just going to sit in that thing all day?" Fukuroda asked Sanageyama, who was standing outside the ring. Sanageyama just shrugged.

"Think I should punch it?" Fukuroda asked.

"Go for it," Sanageyama answered.

With his boxing gloves up, Fukuroda charged the black egg thing and landed a barrage of punches against it, though nothing seemed to get through. Jab, jab, hook, hook, straight, straight, uppercut! He launched barrages faster than they eye could even fully follow, yet nothing happened. After two minutes straight of just punching the damn thing, cracks began to appear in it. With a successful smile, Fukuroda winded up a haymaker to completely smash it. However, right before his fist made contact with the egg, it exploded outwards, sending shards of whatever the shell was made out of everywhere. The shards dissipated into nothingness shortly afterwards.

Standing in place of the egg was a completely different being from the one who had entered.

His eyes shining with a golden light, Minato had a long, black scarf with two blue, moving eyes on the front of it wrapped around his neck. Below that he wore a black, long-sleeved top with two rows of small, silver buttons running down each side of his chest. The upper part of the chest was covered in a silver metal and chains wrapped around the entirety of his chest tightly. Long white gloves reached up pasts his hands and all the way to the middle of his biceps. He wore a long, white waist cape that was secured with a brown belt. The golden belt buckle bore the image of the Fool Arcana card. White boots extended all the way up to his knees, and black pants covered the rest of the way. Inspired by Messiah, Thanatos, Orpheus, and the Reaper, this was his outfit. No, his armor. Because Minato never went into battle without armor.

"Mr. Hero?! You're not dead?! Whatever happened to the dramatic hero's death?! Coming back like this is just like a manga and even though I like manga doesn't mean I want to live in it! Gasp! What am I saying?! I'm tied upside-down and people can see my panties and I forgot to wear my sexy panties (they're underneath my sock drawer!), so I need you to hurry up and save me Mr. Hero so I can be a slum princess and run the streets with an iron-fisted gang that will conquer the world and pierce the heavens!" Mako ranted, gradually falling into insane blabber that made no sense.

"Just because you transformed into some freak doesn't mean you can beat me!" Fukuroda shouted at Minato. Minato, however, still had his vocal chords constricted, so he was unable to give a response. Fukuroda put his gloves down to his shorts and began to pull on them.

'Does this guy work for Nudist Beach too?' Minato thought with a grin. He bent down and picked up his boxing gloves again. They must have fallen off when he got beaten to a pulp earlier.

Fukuroda finally pulled up and released the locks on his gloves. The outer, "soft" coverings that made his gloves actually look like gloves fell away and in their place were two giant pillars with spikes on them. They couldn't even be called gloves. They were weapons meant to kill. This wasn't very sporting of him, pulling something like that out. Akihiko would be upset by the mockery of boxing this guy was doing. "I'll show you this only so we can end this quickly! I'm supposed to fight the other transfer student! Behold, the real Two-Star uniform gloves!" Fukuroda then pulled on a small chain coming from his right glove and even more spikes shot out of the thing.

"Hey look, he wants to beat us with a cactus! You see that everybody? The captain of the Boxing Club beats people to death with a cactus!" The voice came from Minato's throat, but it was Ryoji who was talking. He'd hijacked Minato's vocal chords for the sake of trash-talking?!

Red-faced, Fukuroda shouted, "Don't mock me!" He rushed forward, this time going to end it with a single haymaker.

"That fool," Sanageyama muttered. If the transfer student got a power-up, then rushing in recklessly was far from the smartest decision. Fukuroda wasn't exactly strong enough to rush into most situations. Despite being the Boxing Club captain, it was widely agreed upon that Fukuroda was one of the weakest Two-Stars in the entire school.

Minato breathed deeply, remembering the lessons he'd had from Akihiko while in Tartarus. Remembering watching his friend fight, remembering fighting with the pair of gloves Akihiko wasn't using. Remembering the feeling of punching a hole straight through a Shadow. Remembering Akihiko and everything about him.

Fukuroda's punch didn't connect with Minato. This time, the blue-haired teen had seen it coming from a mile away. He leaned to the side, letting the punch slide by as he countered with his own straight right into Fukuroda's face.

However, before Fukuroda could even begin to fly away, Minato made use of his Shoes of Light and augmented physical abilities to quickly dash to the other side of Fukuroda, landing a jab on the back of his head. He then appeared on the other side of Fukuroda, this time with a hook to Fukuroda's gut. Once again, he appeared behind Fukuroda to land a paralyzing haymaker to Fukuroda's spine. Then, to finish it off, Minato appeared once more in front of Fukuroda, landing an insane uppercut straight to the boxer's jaw, sending him flying straight up into the air.

"Shoryuken!" Ryoji exclaimed.

Fukuroda fell to the ground hard, parts of his Goku Uniform already turned to shreds.

"Thanks for playing!" Ryoji said mockingly with Minato's voice.

"One!"

Satsuki's eyes widened with surprise. She hadn't been expecting so easy a match. What kind of power boost was this? Was it just because of the boost in power, or was his victory due to Minato finally being able to counter attacks and use his skill?

"Two!"

"Why the hell is his Kamui complete clothing? What's wrong with you, pervert?!" Ryuko asked incredulously.

"I represent us being one! His is just a covering, just clothing! But we are one!" Senketsu said confidently.

"That person's talking to themselves. Weird."

"Don't stare. They attack when you stare at them."

The nearby students were giving her some very strange looks.

"Three!"

"Four!"

And then the bell rang.

"Round one is over, huh? Guess he was saved by the bell," Sanageyama said with a disappointed sigh. If Fukuroda failed without even so much as fighting Matoi, it would be his ass in trouble. He couldn't let this match with the transfer student continue. They needed to get that Scissor Blade from Matoi. Even if Fukuroda lost, they needed to get that Scissor Blade. Failure was not an option. So, taking the initiative, Sanageyama stepped into the ring while the two combatants retired to their corners.

"Listen up! This challenge was issued to Ryuko Matoi originally! In the spirit of making this fight fit that purpose, I am hereby turning it into a tag-team match! Standing with Captain Fukuroda in the blue corner will be Rie "Dynamo" Fushimi, captain of the Wrestling Club!" Sanageyama yelled.

To a myriad of cheers, a girl jumped from high atop the wall surrounding the school and landed in the center of the ring, a circle of smoke shooting up from the impact. She wore a blue mask that covered her head, save for her mouth and chin, that had yellow spike patterns coming out of each side of the eye hole. The yellow spikes gave off the impression of a star, with her eyes being the main body of the star. Extending from her head were brown twin tails. She also wore a blue bikini with two black stars across her chest and long, blue wrestling boots. She roared as she put her arms up into the air, taking in the cheers of the audience.

'Fushimi... That's Chihiro's last name. Even with both of them possessing brown hair, it's unlikely, but she might be her daughter. Maybe I can make an ally right off the bat,' Minato thought to himself.

"You know you're going to punch her teeth in, right? That's not exactly how you make friends," Ryoji commented to him quietly.

'Wait! You can read my mind?!'

"Of course I can. Remember, I lived there once."

'...Touché.'

"And in the red corner, standing next to Minato Arisato, will be Ryuko Matoi!" Sanageyama exclaimed. Mako's eyes brightened at the name.

"Ryuko~! Where are you~?!" Mako called out as she looked around.

'Might as well do it now,' Ryuko thought as she readied herself.

Suddenly, a cloaked figure leapt from the crowd and landed on the structure holding Mako up. She slammed her red Scissor Blade into the bonds keeping Mako suspended. With quick sword work, she severed them all and freed her before jumping into the ring beside Minato, Mako tucked under one arm.

"I'm here! You know, using hostages is downright dirty and cheap!" Ryuko scolded the three on the other side of the ring. Minato silently gave a thumbs up. "And you. I have a lot of questions for you, so don't go pulling that "I'm not that talkative" bullshit on me!" Minato nodded frantically. She seemed like she was really pissed. " Good," she said with a smirk. "Let's kick some ass already!"

Ryuko put Mako down, who then frantically ran away to the outside of the ring.

"I'll cheer you on from here!" She exclaimed proudly. Minato smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

Meanwhile, Fukuroda's Goku Uniform had been repaired at an alarming speed by the Sewing Club. Back at full power, he pumped his fist and smiled.

'Ryoji. Tell Ryuko that I'll handle Fushimi. I need to talk to her,' Minato thought.

"Hey, Ryuko. I'll "handle" the girl wrestler. You can get the short bald man with a temper," Ryoji said. Mako looked at him with a look of disgust.

"You some kinda pervert?" She asked.

'No! That's not what I meant!' Minato shouted in his head.

"All men are, grasshopper. All men are. And some chicks too... probably. Introduce me if you meet any," Ryoji said. Of course, Ryuko was seeing Minato talk, not Ryoji.

"Just go back to not talking," she said as she readied her Scissor Blade. Minato pushed himself through the chains (they were supposed to be ropes, damn it!) to hang on to the outside of the ring. It was Fukuroda versus Ryuko first.

"No promises, ma'am!" Ryoji said, forcing Minato to smile as he spoke.

'I hate you, Ryoji,' Minato said with a sigh.

"You love me and you know it," Ryoji replied without missing a beat.

...Love wasn't the word Minato would use to describe the feeling he was experiencing.

A blond girl paraded around with a sign that said, "Round 2."

Then, the bell rang.

"So we finally meet again, Matoi! This time, I won't let you run away! I'll finish you here!" Fukuroda exclaimed as he charged her.

"He goes for a right straight! But what's this?! It's really a corkscrew!" He shouted as his fist began to rotate and spin at so fast a speed that it turned into one giant drill. "Ten! Ken! Fun! Sai!" He exclaimed as he landed his fist straight at Ryuko. However, Ryuko did not move. She took the fist straight on and without any hesitation or fear.

The attack shredded her cloak, revealing what she was wearing underneath to the whole audience as Fukuroda's glove broke into pieces from the sheer force of hitting her. As Fukuroda's jaw dropped in surprise at his glove breaking, Minato's jaw dropped as well, but for an entirely different reason.

Ryuko Matoi was wearing possibly the skimpiest outfit he'd ever seen. Thigh high boots that were connected to a skirt that was way too short lead to suspenders that ran along her exposed stomach and met the top of the armor right at her breasts, barely covering her cleavage and keeping her decent. This black and red outfit continued on, covering her neck and shoulders and forming two pauldrons that curved upwards, one of which consisted of a large red eye, before moving down and covering her arms and hands. Two little red horns extended from her hair, which was now red on the bottom. Her face was bright red in embarrassment, but she still held her ground.

"I freaking love this chick," Ryoji whispered.

'Why, oh why, am I stuck with this pervert in control of my voice? Somebody kill me now,' Minato lamented.

"I, Death, won't allow that. Too bad for you," Ryoji replied.

"Damn you, trying to distract me with your sexiness! Well, such skimpy clothing can't possibly stand up to my fists of steel!" Fukuroda exclaimed as he launched a barrage of hits against her, punching her with everything he had, yet none of his attacks seemed to even faze the still-blushing Ryuko. After almost a minute of trying to hurt her, Fukuroda had still done nothing.

"My turn. Let's just finish this up quickly!" Ryuko exclaimed. Her outfit tightened considerably as it shot out steam. It began to glow with a red light as red stars of light formed around it and disappeared as quickly as they came. Ryuko dashed forward towards Fukuroda. Fukuroda tried to punch her with his other glove, sending thousands of gloves and fists at her, but Ryuko was too fast and dodged every single one as she closed the distance and punched him with her Scissor Blade.

"Left jab!" She exclaimed as she hit him, then she followed through by twirling around and swinging her Scissor Blade into Fukuroda's side. "Right hook!" Then she dropped her Scissor Blade low. Fukuroda looked down in fear as she suddenly swung it upwards to punch him with again. "And then an uppercut!" Fukuroda flew up into the air before falling onto ground and bouncing, his remaining teeth shattered. Then, right as Ryuko was going to finish him off with a right straight, he got grabbed by a long hook from outside the boxing ring and pulled away.

"Huh?" Ryuko was confused. Where did that hook come fro—

"Tag!"

Rie forcible tagged Fukuroda as she pulled him out and jumped in. She extended her hand and somebody from the crowd threw her a mic. With a fire in her eyes, Rie pointed one hand to the sky.

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?" She screamed.

"Dynamo!" The audience answered.

"WHO THE HELL AM I?!" She screamed.

"Dynamo!" The audience shrieked.

"WHO WILL GIVE YOU THE BLOODBATH OF THE CENTURY!" She screamed.

"DYNAMO!" The audience shouted.

"WHO'S GOING TO WIN THIS FIGHT?!" She screamed.

"DYNAMO! DYNAMO! DYNAMO!" The audience screamed/chanted back. With the audience now chanting in the background, Rie raised her fists to the sky, a look of pure bliss spreading across her face. As her muscles tensed, bulging slightly.

'This time do it right. Tell Ryuko to let us enter the fight,' Minato internally said to Ryoji.

"Ryuko, tag me," Ryoji said, barely suppressing his urge to comment on Ryuko's outfit. With a nod, Ryuko tagged him and went to hide her outfit with a blanket Mako cheerily provided.

"It's for sleeping at school!" Mako said, beaming as she covered Ryuko in the blanket. Ryuko sighed with a small smile in response.

As Minato entered the ring he looked back and this time mouthed (since he couldn't very well speak), "You did a good job. Thanks for helping."

"You're.. welcome?" Ryuko replied, not sure why exactly Minato needed to mouth that part. Still, receiving his thanks made her feel comforted. She'd exposed all... that, yet he didn't even say anything demeaning or, well, perverted. Maybe he wasn't as big of a pervert as she th— Wait. No, he wanted to fight the wrestling girl. Is there anything about that that's not perverted?! And why was she even letting him do it?!

Minato walked towards the center of the ring while Rie stayed in the corner and shouted.

"LOOK AT THIS SCRAWNY LITTLE PUNK ASS BITCH, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! CAN HE TAKE ON THE DYNAMO?!" Rie shouted, still holding onto the mic.

"HELL NO!" They enthusiastically answered. Sanageyama smiled. He had to give Fushimi credit. If she knew how to do anything, it was rile up a crowd and get them on her side.

"THEN LET'S TEACH HIM THE ERRORS OF HIS WAYS!" Rie said as she threw the mic away to thunderous cheers. She then sprinted towards him headfirst.

"You're an excitable one, aren't ya? How will I ever dodge such brilliantly deceptive straight-forward tactics?" Ryoji mocked her.

'Idiot. I'll just dodge slightly and counter when she gets close,' Minato thought with a grin. Then Rie suddenly changed direction and sprinted toward the ropes (they were made of chains, but still counted as ropes... sort of) and pulled on them. The chains detached from the ring. A few members of the Wrestling Club emerged from underneath the stage, each holding a bundle of ropes. They tore out all the chains and replaced them with actual ropes in but a few moments. With the ropes in place, Rie pushed herself against the ropes, stretching them farther and farther back until her feet were only supported by the very edge of the ring.

'Wish I had a long range weapon right now,' Minato thought as he prepared himself. If he hit her right in the face when she sprang off the ropes, he could probably finish this in one blow. However, he needed to make sure to get the timing just right.

Rie let go of the ropes and changed the potential energy into kinetic energy, flying across the stage at a ridiculous speed. However, instead of going straight at him, she veered off to the side once again, hitting the next set of ropes and bouncing off it. Again, instead of hitting him, she went for the next set of ropes and bounced off it as well. She continued the process over and over again until she was moving so fast that she surrounded Minato in afterimages.

"What?! I was right?! The straight-forward tactics were legitimately deceptive?!" Ryoji exclaimed, shocked that instead of mocking, he'd accidentally stated the truth.

"DYNAMO! DYNAMO! DYNAMO!" The audience chanted louder and louder as she picked up even more speed, going faster and faster to the point that Minato could barely even see her anymore. All of a sudden, her afterimages changed. No longer were they images of a skinny girl in a bikini and a mask. Instead, the images were now of a big, muscular monster of a woman in a similar bikini... except the black stars on it were now glowing bright red.

"I can't even see you and I already know you've become unattractive," Ryoji said with an exaggerated sigh. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a thick, meaty arm collided with Minato's neck. His eyes nearly popped out of his head from the sudden impact. It sent him flying against the ropes, which only sent him flying right back at Dynamo. Who then only had to stick out her fist for Minato to go flying right into it.

"DYNAMO SMASHLINE!" Rie, no, Dynamo shouted at the top of her lungs.

"DYNAMO! DYNAMO! DYNAMO!" The audience could only chant her name more and more. As they chanted, Dynamo's already huge muscles began to grow even further. Dynamo jumped onto the corner of the ring, lifting her arms high above her head in success. Minato pushed himself to his feet and wiped the blood away from his mouth. Thanks to his Aibetsu, he managed to survive the attack.

"You mean "thanks to Ryoji" right?" Ryoji asked.

'No. Anyway, the more they cheer, the stronger she gets. So that's her gimmick?' Minato thought, frantically trying to come up with a plan to make them stop cheering. The obvious choice would be to start beating her, though her "Smashline" made her too hard to hit and those muscles looked like they could take a beating. There had to be an easier way. He had to find someway to reverse her cheers. How does one make a pro wrestler unpopular?

"Simple. Be the bigger star. Also, she's wearing a mask. Is she a luchadore? What do you think she'll do if she loses her mask?" Ryoji whispered. Minato smiled as an insane plan began to formulate in his head.

'Ryoji, can you give me control of my voice back?' Minato asked.

"We'll have to disengage the transformation. As a scarf, I can't help but pierce your neck while transformed, you know," Ryoji whispered.

'That's fine,' Minato responded.

A black egg suddenly surrounded him again before it disappeared, bringing him back into his normal, untransformed state. Minato knelt down and picked up the mic Dynamo had thrown away earlier.

"Nice hit, but I'm still standing!" Minato shouted into the mic. He looked over to the crowd, raising one fist high into the air as he spoke. "You folks want a show?! Then how about this? I'll beat this steroid-enhanced, bikini-clad monster without any sort of transformation! I'll give you a show!"

The crowd seemed confused at this and rather unsure of just how to respond.

"Kick her butt, Mr. Hero!" Mako exclaimed from outside the ring. Minato grinned. He may suck at talking to people one at one, but a crowd of faceless people somehow seemed easier to talk to. Maybe it was because they were pretty much all the same that he had no trouble. They weren't people. They were simply spectators.

"Ryuko! Dig through that dufflebag and throw me the thing that looks like a gun!" Minato ordered. Giving orders was something he was quite used to. As former field leader of S.E.E.S., the ability to shout orders to people you were just getting to know was a must.

"What the hell?! This thing's full of weapons?! Who the hell are you?!" Ryuko exclaimed as she unzipped the bag. It had been knocked out of the ring during his last fight, so he couldn't quite get his Evoker for himself. He promised himself he'd try to keep his trump card hidden, but he was a Persona-user, damn it! He was weak without his Persona just like these guys were weak without their magic clothes! It was part of him and part of how he fought! And damn it, he was sick and tired of Ryoji talking for him! It was ridiculously annoying! He'd finish this thing his way!

'Hey! I wasn't that— Okay, maybe I was annoying,' Ryoji commented embarrassedly inside Minato's head.

'Damn. Thought you'd shut up when I ended the transformation...'

'Nope! You woke me up, dude! Now I can't go back to sleep!'

"Hey! Don't steal my spotlight, asshole! This is my show! I'll just have to finish you with my ultimate attack!" Dynamo exclaimed as she began to press her body against the ropes. With her now greater weight, the speed and power of her being shot would be insane. It seemed his taunting had worked. Now he needed to get this right. Dynamo pushed back even further than before, her underlings actually creating a human bridge so she could push back even further.

"Here!" Ryuko shouted as she tossed him the Evoker. Minato reached for it as it flew through the air towards him. The world seemed to slow down as it twirled in the air, getting closer to him with each and every revolution. His hand slowly grew closer and closer to his weapon.

Then Dynamo let go and sent herself flying. She began to hit all the ropes in the ring even faster than before, moving at a speed that made her almost invisible.

"MEGA SMA—

Then Minato grabbed the Evoker, put it to his head and pulled the trigger.

It was all so familiar.

The sound of glass shattering, blue flames, and a giant figure coming into existence before him.

Dynamo seemed to hit an invisible wall just before impacting with him. The force of her own attack was then reflected back on her and she felt every single newton of force she'd had behind her own attack. Though she remarkably wasn't sent away by the attack, she collapsed to the ground. Ken's words once again rang in his head.

'But even if those Reflect properties don't work, using the actual skills to reflect attacks seems to be much more effective. They're guaranteed to work against all but the most powerful Life Fiber uniforms.'

However, despite the fact that he'd just used Tetrakarn to knock down Dynamo, everyone else seemed focused on the Persona he had summoned. He's guaranteed them a good show, but the only Persona he had with Tetrakarn was going a little too far. He didn't mean to show them his—

"Dick! What the heck is that thing he summoned?! How did he even summon it?!" Exclaimed Gary the random No-Star.

Dick, the One-Star with a plan, cockily explained, "That, you see, is what we in the One-Stars call a—

"D! Why the hell did the D key break on my laptop?!" Inumuta exclaimed as he slammed his laptop closed. He then noticed that Satsuki and the other Elite Four members around him were all staring at down at the ring. Satsuki was even blushing from whatever she was seeing! This had to be good. As he leaned over to look, his eyes widened in surprise.

"Gamagori!" Satsuki suddenly exclaimed, her voice an octave higher than normal.

"Yes!?" He shouted back, his voice frighteningly high.

"Do we have any regulations against that?!" She shouted. Gamagori suddenly opened up the rule book and began to pour through it, looking, hoping for something that banned that thing and only that thing.

"Negative!" He responded.

Meanwhile, Nonon was laughing her ass off at the sight before her. "HAHAHAHA! What the heck?! He just had to whip it out, didn't he?! Had to show off his—

"Junk! This whole place is filled with junk! I really need to clean this place next week," Mikisugi exclaimed after bumping his toe on an old broken television. Then, with a sigh, he turned his attention back to watching the fight from a distance. He frowned. His brow furrowed as he tried to make out what exactly he was seeing in the distance.

"Huh. When he said small, I guess he knew what he was talking about. I mean, look at the size of that—

"One-Eyed Monster! It's a One-Eyed Monster! Run away! Run away! Every virgin for herself!" Mako exclaimed as she legitimately started to run away.

"For the hundredth time, what the hell, you pervert?!" Ryuko shouted at him.

From the stage, Minato could only sigh. He was expecting a reaction when he summoned Mara, but this was just a little too much. Hadn't these people ever seen a fertility god before?

"UWOOOOOOOOOH! MR. HERO! MR. HERO! MR. HERO!" The men in the audience began to chant the name Mako had called him earlier. Minato felt as if somehow, in some way, he had actually earned their respect. Which really creeped him out. Still though, this was technically a wrestling match now. He had to still finish it.

As the men in the audience chanted, Dynamo's body shrank and she turned back into the skinny, not-so-monstrous form from when he first saw her. The attack knocked her down, but the showmanship of the attack was what was going to keep her down. Minato then knelt down and tore off her mask. Brown hair billowed forth and Minato could now see that, without the mask, Rie looked a lot like her mother, Chihiro. If it weren't for the twin tails and lack of glasses, they'd look exactly alike.

"Holy shit, Dynamo's a girl!" Gary the random No-Star from the audience exclaimed. The rest of the men in the audience stared at him for a moment before deciding to just ignore the idiot. Minato then promptly sat on Rie's back.

"One... two... three," Minato counted aloud as he pinned her.

The crowd roared in response. Minato had won. He then quickly got off her and began to walk away.

Rie's amber eyes fluttered open and her hands immediately went to her face. She began to feel around her face, her hands growing increasingly frantic until she had no choice but to accept the truth: She had no mask on.

"U-um, e-excuse me? C-could you give t-that back?" Rie asked, suddenly very, very shy. Minato turned around, a confused look on his face as he held up her mask. What was with this sudden personality change? All of a sudden, this girl went froma trash-talking wrestler to a stuttering mess? She was now almost completely like Chihiro!

"P-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-please?" Rie asked, her stuttering hitting an all-time record. "W-without the m-mask, I-I'm not very c-confident a-and I h-have a hard time t-talking in front of p-people."

Minato seemed to think it over, his head tilting in and his expression quite serious, before saying, "No. You nearly crushed my throat. With this mask on, you'll try to do it again."

"B-But I d-didn't mean any harm! I-It was a-all a s-s-show, right?" Rie asked, seemingly unaware of the fact that she'd basically been trying to kill him earlier. Did this girl actually have multi-personality disorder?!

"What?! Professional wrestling is all just a show?! I thought it was all real!" Gary the random No-Star yelled from the audience.

...

"Shut up, Gary!" Dick, the One-Star with a plan shouted.

"Don't be a dick, Dick!" Gary retorted.

Ignoring the stupid audience, Minato said, "It wasn't just a show. Trust me. I'll hold on to this for now." Clutching the mask, Minato finally began to leave the ring. He felt like he was forgetting something, but he quickly dismissed it. Whatever it was, it couldn't have been important.

"Y-Y-You, big meanie! UWAAAAGH!" Rie exclaimed as she suddenly began to cry, fat tears rolling down her face uncontrollably as she curled into a fetal position on the ring.

'Seriously, what a change in personality,' Minato thought with a frown. He turned around right then, remembering that he was supposed to ask the girl about her mother and possibly make her into an ally. However...

"How dare you make a poor, defenseless girl cry?! As captain of the Boxing Club and an eligible bachelor, I won't let you get away with this!" Fukuroda exclaimed as he suddenly jumped into the ring. Minato sighed and looked over to Ryuko, who was still glaring daggers at him for the whole Mara thing.

"Want to finish this?" He asked. Ryuko huffed in irritation, but still jumped into the ring. Fukuroda charged at Minato, his eyes blinded with glorious purpose, so he of course failed to notice Ryuko suddenly appear out of nowhere and dash past him, slicing him across the chest as she did so.

"SEN-I-SOSHITSU!" She exclaimed as his Goku Uniform turned into nothing but shreds of useless cloth. Minato noted the red thread that seemed to flow right into her outfit. He'd have a lot to talk with her about later.

Minato then walked over to Rie and extended a helping hand to her. She momentarily stopped whining to stare at his hand. Her eyes weren't necessarily angry so much as they were confused. Why was he extending a hand to her? Wasn't he about to just leave her to cry earlier?

'She looks like a kicked-puppy! For the love of Nyx just make her feel better!' Ryoji mentally shouted at him.

"You're Chihiro's daughter, aren't you?" Minato asked. Rie gasped.

"H-How d-do you know M-Mom? D-Do you know w-where she is?" Rie asked, her eyes now full of hope. Minato shook his head. Chihiro was missing? It seemed like a suspiciously large amount of people from his past were missing. Question was: Where did they all go? And another thing, how many more people would he meet related to figures from his past? Was Rie part of the reason he was sent Honnouji? Did they want him to incite a rebellion or something?

"No. I knew her a long time ago. I helped her in the past, so I can extend the favor to you too. How about this: I'll help you find your mom if you just go home, sit down, and think about what you did today. There's no need to fight anymore. We can be friends, right?" Minato asked.

Machiavelli once said, "Men should be either treated generously or destroyed, because they take revenge for slight injuries - for heavy ones they cannot." If Minato was going to deal with his enemies, he was either going to have to turn them into allies or annihilate them. Revenge was a terrible thing, after all.

Rie hesitated for only a moment before she grabbed Minato's hand.

"Thou hast rekindled the holy fire of the Justice Arcana. May thy bond guide thee along the path of righteousness."

Minato helped her to her feet and Rie, now smiling, ran off.

"You two! Where did you get those outfits? And how did you summon that t-thing!" Satsuki shouted down from her perch high in the sky. Before Ryuko could pick up the mic, Minato grabbed it, looked up at the tiny dot in the sky that he figured was Satsuki, and shrugged.

"I didn't buy this scarf. It's kind of one in a kind. Sorry, but you won't find it in a store. " Minato said, completely taking her question the wrong way on purpose. "As for the whole summoning thing, I really have no reason to tell you." From high above, Satsuki's eybrow twitched in irritation. She'd never seen such an ability before. If she hadn't seen the Kamui from earlier, she would have assumed it was that "Persona" ability her mother had told her about. However, the most likely explanation was that the summoned creature was just another aspect of his Kamui.

Sanageyama then started to climb into the ring. "You newbie bastard! How dare you talk that way to—"

"Hold, Sanageyama," Satsuki ordered. Sanageyama regretfully obliged. Minato then tossed the mic over to the chuckling Ryuko.

"This outfit is a keepsake from my father. And this Scissor Blade was left behind by the person who killed him! Now, you're going to tell me who this Scissor Blade belongs to Satsuki Kiryuin!" Ryuko demanded.

Satsuki's eyes narrowed.

Then Ryuko began to sway, her body growing heavier with each passing moment. Her body heavily drained of blood by wearing Senketsu for too long, Ryuko fell backwards...

Only to be caught by Minato.

"You fought well. A hell of a lot better than me. Take a nap," Minato said a with a smile. Ryuko looked at him, one corner of her lip upturned from the compliment.

"Thou hast once more found the path of the Fool. May it guide thee through thine life as thou fights with thine new companions"

And everything turned to darkness.

Somewhere...

Deep, deep underground, in a dark, dark dungeon, was a girl with blond hair with an eyepatch and a bright smile who played with a golden gun.

Nui Harime.

Chained to a wall, her red and gray hair covering her face, was a woman with an eyepatch and a very sad face who played with nothing.

Mitsuru Kirijo.

"You really gave me a hard time, you know? I almost had to try," Nui said, the mocking tone of her voice masked with affection as she stroked Mitsuru's cheek.

Mitsuru said nothing.

"You know, if your daughter hadn't escaped, this would all be over. We'd have you guys shut down for good! Oh, well! At least I have you to play with!"

Mitsuru said nothing.

"But don't worry! It won't be just the two of us! Look!"

Mitsuru looked up to see Nui wheeling in Fuuka strapped to a chair. Fuuka's eyes wee half-lidded and glazed over. They must have drugged her.

"At first, this didn't work! But then a very special man came into my life and showed me the way! True love~! I should introduce you!" Nui then put her hands besides Fuuka's ears. A long, black fiber extended from each of her hands and twirled around inside Fuuka's ears, going through her skull to reach her brain and wrap around it, subduing her and turning her into a mindless puppet. Nui then released Fuuka from her bindings and then girl stood from her chair, proud and tall. Then Fuuka began to dance, causing Nui to giggle uncontrollably. It was like watching a little girl play with a new toy.

"You bitch. Stop this right now. You have no idea what you're doing. Ever since the Kirijo Group acquired the Nanjo Group, we've been the only force holding off the Shadows! If you get rid of us, this whole world will fall into chaos! Now where are the others?! What have you done to them?! Let us go so we can protect this world! Your Life Fibers can't consume this world if the Shadows wipe out all the humans first!" Mitsuru shouted.

Nui only smiled in response.

Omake: Super Powered Therapy

"Alright, we'll just go around the circle. Everybody give your name and just talk it out. Tell us what went wrong with your life," a bald man in glasses said before handing the mic to the right.

"Hi. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. I lost my Shinigami powers after using an ultimate attack and now I'm in danger of my series ending here. What should I do?"

"Simple! Make a bullshit arc and then bring back a dead race for no reason to finish everything up! Next!" The bald man said.

"It's-a-me Mario! You see, I have a-da problem with this-a powerup. I take-a the bell, and then-a I get-a da-furry cat suit for no reason. Now people are-a makin' fun of me and-a calling me a furry! What do I do?"

"I really fail to see the problem here. Next!"

"Ryuko Matoi. Whenever I use transform Senketsu, he turns into a damn skimpy outfit!"

"Again, no problem here. Agreed?"

"""Yep."""

"Alright, next!"

"My name is Minato Arisato. When I need extra power, I wear a dude as clothes."

...

"We're going to need to send you to a... different counseling session."

A/N: I really felt the need to get this chapter out quickly so you guys would have a better idea as to what this fic would be like and, since I'm on summer break, I toiled till 3AM for three nights in a row to bring you this chapter! Because I suck at typing fast and had to work out and implement several ideas. People don't seem to get how much work it is for me to write these chapters...

Also, if you're paying attention, you'll notice that Minato's combo he did on Fukuroda was actually pretty much the same as Akihiko's combo thing he does in Persona 4 Arena.

Anyway, the Wrestling Club captain I used actually does exist in Kill la Kill canon. I just gave her a name, personality, and powers that fit her role as captain of the Wrestling Club. Next chapter, we'll be seeing a lot more of Sastuki and the Elite Four. Also, Minato's Aibetsu will have many transformations and forms (you can wear a scarf in many different ways if you're imaginative), it being the Wild Card's Kamui, after all, so look forward to seeing them!

On a final note, you may notice that Minato seemed to have Intelligence maxed, Bravery high, if not maxed, but his Charisma is kind of close to being absolute garbage. Intelligence will stay the same since he has the same brain, Bravery came included in what they retrieved from the Great Seal, but it appears they were unable to get out certain things from the Great Seal.

Question of the Chapter: I'll be doing omakes! What kind of omake would you like to see written?

REVIEW, FAVORITE, FOLLOW! Pretty please with a dash of red on top?