Tokui waited in a rather large office room. Up ahead of him was a man, maybe around his thirties. His suit was dark blue, much like the color of his scowling eyes. Compared to Tokui, this person was taller, darker, and had a small goatee.
"So Tokui is your name", The Persian man known as Darius spoke, "What brings you here to my office?"
"I guess you can say..."
Tokui paused as he looked at the floor beneath him. For the floor wasn't made of tile, or wood. It consisted of glass, and on the other side of this glass was a great amount of water. What made Tokui the most nervous wasn't the water, but the large shark below them. As Tokui's eyes traced the ground, he noticed not one, but two, three, four, and five tiger sharks.
"Hmm, the sharks make you nervous", Darius asked amused.
"It's not the sharks that make me nervous. It's the curiosity of how you obtained the sharks that make me nervous. How did you get them, legally, or illegally. Maybe the same way some certain, "Projects", that my boss has been dealing with."
Darius walked towards Tokui as he spoke, "What are you accusing me of boy?"
By this time, Darius was face to face with Tokui. He was a few inches taller than Tokui, but didn't intimidate Tokui in the least.
The ERT swordsman told him, "I didn't accuse you of anything. However, many of our projects have fallen into the hands of some pretty dangerous people. I doesn't seem like just a coincidence that multiple projects have gotten out of our hands."
Tokui and Darius move a few steps back and began circling one another.
"What's more, these people seem to be up to something big. I don't know what they're up to, but I do know for a fact that they don't have the money or resources to pull off whatever it is they're trying. The question is, what kind of person would have the motive or resources to pull off something with ERT projects?"
Darius chuckled as he returned to his desk. Unknown to the soldier, Darius pressed a button beneath the juror.
"Tokui, how much do you know about sharks?"
"I know they make good horror movie villains", Tokui sarcastically answered.
"Hmm, cute", Darius said as he pressed another button.
Outside of the window, Tokui and Darius watched as buckets of chum were released into the water.
"Sharks are a species that have lived nearly unchanged for the last 400 million years. They are the perfect predator."
They spied on the sharks as they greedily devoured every last bit of chum. Tokui would be lying if he said this didn't make him nervous.
"They've outlived the dinosaurs, and will probably outlive humans as well. Humans are creatures that have so much potential to become so much more, yet our genetics limit us to our current forms."
Unknown to Tokui, two people waited just outside of Darius's office Having responded to the button.
Tokui continued his conversation, "Are you implying adding the ERT projects to human genetics?"
"Is that not what Avianna proposed", Darius added.
Tokui defended, "Those projects were meant to cure diseases, and improve human life; Not alter them completely. You don't have the right to play god and change the human genome!"
"Oh I'm not playing god", Said Darius.
The Shinmei-Ryū student detected a sudden burst of Ki, just outside the door.
"I'm just playing the business man."
As Darius finished his sentence, a beam of combined Neon and Electric energy blasted the door open. The attack was blocked by Tokui's Ki filled sword. Tokui continued to slide back by the impact an stopped just inches from the edge of the shark tank. Ahead of him stood Neon, Zeus and Darius.
"Hmph, finish him", Darius commanded as he left Neon and Zeus to finish their job.
This was bad. Zeus already had it out for him, since he, Han, and Keitaro put him away. Then there was Neon, an opponent that could even go toe to toe with Keitaro. What was he to do? He had no back up this time...All except for one person.
Unknowing of what was going on, Nentou played a round of "Angry Birds", on his iPhone. The game was assisting, and it helped pass the time since he assumed Tokui would take a while. Despite the electronic keeping him occupied, Nentou couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it was just too quiet, maybe it was just mere boredom. Whatever it was, Nentou got the feeling that something was wrong.
The pilot pocketed his phone as he sat back up. After a quick survey, he heard a suspicious thundering noise. It was odd since there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Nentou slowly reached for his keys and started the ignition for his jeep. Nentou waited. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for, but he knew it probably wasn't a good idea to budge just yet.
It didn't take long for Nentou to forcibly make a move. A loud roar of motor vehicles erupted. However, there were not automobiles. Circling around the jeep were three strange looking robots. Their entire lower half was a large wheel. Connected to this wheel were two thin arms with razor claws. The head appeared to be a single eye with a laser scanner.
"Main target acquired", One of the robots sounded off.
The robots continued to circled around Nentou like predatory sharks.
"So this is project Racer huh?"
With not much of a choice to make, Nentou revved the engine to prepare for the ride of his life.
Elsewhere in the city, there was a building with many stories and many lights. The lights stood out very much, since the dark sky overshadowed the entire building. The lighting became even brighter with the colors of green, yellow, and white. These mixtures of colors erupted in a great explosion that nearly took out the entire seventh floor.
On that same floor, the Shinmei-Ryu student, Tokui ran for his very life. A bolt of lightning narrowly missed his shoulder. However, a blast of neon energy struck him in the leg, knocking the soldier down. Tokui took cover behind a pillar before sending a shockwave of Ki from his sword. Wether it hit his targets or not, Tokui didn't know. For now, the only thing that mattered to him was trying to get some reinforcements.
Tokui yelled into his ear piece, "Nentou, come in! Nentou, come in, Nentou! Where are you Nentou!"
"Captain, you there", Nentou responded.
"Nentou the mission is screwed, abort, abort! Come pick me up pronto!"
"Captain I got my own problems to deal with!"
Nentou raced his military jeep through every twist and turn he could maneuver. However, the racers showed no signs of relenting. One of the robots slashed at Nentou's door, leaving behind large gash marks in the jeep.
"My Car", Nentou yelled.
The pilot was now more angry than afraid of these racers.
Nentou pressed a few buttons on the center console of his vehicle. The large turret mounted to the top the jeep was set on auto target.
"You Never, Ever, Ever, touch another man's car!"
With that, the large gun rapidly fired upon the racers.
Tokui's tanto repeatedly collided with Neon's glowing armored gauntlets. His weapon choice was a slightly longer range compared to Keitaro's knife, but Neon felt as he was still fighting the Urashima.
"Your sword power is much greater than Keitaro's. However, you are much slower than him!"
Neon went past Tokui's defenses and struck his chest with a double palm thrust. The soldier landed on his back with a thud. High above him was the other opponent. Tokui tuck and rolled as Zeus planted both his electricity enhanced fist into the ground.
"Fool, you can not stop me", Zeus throated as he stood up again.
"I have before", Tokui cooly said while raising his tanto.
With roars of courage from both ends, Tokui and Zeus charged. Zeus filled his entire arm with a shocking uppercut as Tokui's Ki filled weapon met Zeus with a slash. The power of both attacks created a short explosion of mixed energy. When the light faded, Neon watched as Zeus stomped his foot hard on Tokui's chest.
"Puny warrior, you know nothing of power!"
Zeus filled the palm of his hand with more and more lightning power. Tokui knew a strike at such a close range would be fatal for him. The Shinmei-Ryū warrior desperately tried to reach for his weapon. Three and quarter more inches and the weapon would have been seized. Tokui's eyes widened as he tried to brace himself for what would happen next.
Then, a miraculous event happened. Nentou plowed his jeep through the wall of the building. The vehicle skidded to a stop, but not before hitting Zeus in the back. This tossed the enemy into the opposite wall and caused him to drop his electricity attack. Unluckily for Neon, he was accidentally caught in the attack. The only thing that saved Neon's life was the green energy currently surrounding his body.
"Captain, Captain where are you", Nentou called out as he removed a Racer atop the hood of his car.
"I'm under here", Tokui said as he crawled out from under the jeep.
The captain retrieved his sword and climbed into the shotgun seat before ordering Nentou to drive.
Despite the wrecked condition the jeep was in, it was still functional enough to let them escape. However, the vehicle was probably going to be scrapped after this. Nentou attempted to communicate with the rest of the ERT as Tokui wrapped his thigh with some thick bandages. The line sprang to life with the voices of the Wild Dog experiments.
"Nentou, you there", Haitani asked.
"Haitani, are you and Shirai alright", asked the driver.
"Yeah, we're fine", Shirai confirmed. "We just finished talking to Ken Akamatsu and Kentaro Sakata."
"And", Nentou asked.
Haitani said, "They're clean. We had to get a little rough with Kentaro, but he's clean. He offered us a spot in a law enforcement program if we were interested."
Tokui cut in, "That'll have to wait, we got bigger problems. Darius was in on us the whole time! He knows about it all, us, the ERT, the experiments, everything!"
"How was he able to find all this information", Haitani questioned.
"I don't know. Either he hacked our systems undetected, or we've got a rat in our ranks", Tokui feared. "Wild dogs, assemble the rest of the team as fast as you can. Nentou and I will meet you all at Crenjer's place. He'll know what Darius is up to."
"Captain we got a slight problem", Shirai began. "We got Han on the line, but Keitaro and Angel are missing."
"Missing?! Where the hell could they be", Tokui snapped.
In the dead of night on a not so busy street, Keitaro sped along on his motor bike with Naru clinging tightly to him. Deep in thought, Naru grew anxious as to where Keitaro was leading them to.
"Where is he taking me", Naru asked her own mind. "Not many places are open this late at night. Oh no, what if he's taking me to a bar, or a love hotel?!"
The questions turned into doubt, and doubt turned into fear. Before fear could turn into something even worse, Keitaro slowly pulled his bike into a parking lot. As he shut off the engine Naru familiarly realized where they were.
"The park", Naru asked.
"Yes, there's something here I want to show you."
Naru's face reddened as Keitaro lead her by the hand to the gate. It was repaired I since the last time Motoko forcibly opened it with her sword. The memory of when her and the other's from Hinata Sou following Keitaro and Shinobu felt like a lifetime ago. However, things were different this time. Keitaro wasn't taking Shinobu somewhere, he was taking Naru. The question was, where?
Keitaro used a small tool to pick the lock holding the gate shut. Once opened, he widened the gap for them to enter. He wasted no time at all taking Naru by the hand and dragging her to a place only he knew about.
"Keitaro, where are we going?"
"I have to show you something", He said. "Don't worry, it's not that far ahead."
Despite being in the park, Keitaro's leading place wasn't the park at all. At the edge of the park was a boarded off area that lead to the forest. Children were often warned to not enter the forest. There were even rumors that a mysterious glowing beast lurked in these forest. None of that concerned Keitaro as he removed the large wooden "Do Not Enter", sign.
"C'mon, we have to hurry before it ends", Keitaro said as he took her hand for a third time.
The path was a bit rougher past the sign. The moss had a thick watery smell to it. Despite all these things going on around them, Naru was more concerned about what was going through Keitaro's head. His determination didn't rattle in the least. He was still as focused as any mission given to him by Avianna. After nearly five minutes of walking, Keitaro and Naru say a light blue light in the distance.
"Keitaro, what is that?"
"It's up ahead", Keitaro answered as they moved on. "I wanted to show Shinobu this, but I guess the flutters had another plan."
"The flutters", Naru confusingly asked.
"Yes", Keitaro said as he moved a thick tree branch out-of-the-way.
Once the branch was cleared, Naru saw one of the most beautiful things in her life. In a small open part of the forest were thousands upon thousands of glowing butterflies. They circled around in a synchronized formation that could only be described as amazing.
"There's a legend in the Oni Zakura Dojo that tells of a demon flower. When the demon flower bloomed, it didn't want to be evil. It wanted to change it's form. The flower gave up it's petals and transformed into these butterflies. We call the "Flutters", because the petals fell off from the fluttering wind."
Keitaro gave Naru a slight tug on her arm to lead her to the center of the butterfly dance. The small insects circled around the two people as if they let them into their world. Naru chuckled with awe as they came within inches of her. She held out one finger as a single butterfly landed on it. Upon closer inspection, Naru confirmed that this was a butterfly, and not a moth.
"Keitaro, this is amazing", Naru told him as the butterfly took off with the others. "I don't know what to say."
"Well Naru, I have a few things I need to say to you."
Naru's attention was back on the man before her. She was a lot more surprised as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He stared deeply into her eyes to summon all the courage he needed.
"Naru, I know we've had a bad past. Things got really shaky, especially when I got back. I want to say sorry for everything that I've put you through."
"Keitaro", Naru began to argue.
"Please let me finish Naru", Keitaro asked her.
From there Naru let him continue.
"I'm a pretty stubborn fool at times. It's just...Really hard to open up to people sometimes. I built this armor around my heart that makes it really hard to let people in, and really hard to open up to others. Naru, I don't want to be that kind of person anymore. I don't want to be a person who hides anything, especially from you. Naru you've let me remember what it's like to be open with others. The study sessions, the beach song, even when you pulled that spike out of my back, those were all moments you've seen me at my most intimate, and vulnerable."
Naru took in every word and detail he was telling her. This could very well be the moment to decide if they could truly be friends. Yet, there was something in the words he spoke that told her this was something more.
"Even though you've seen me this way, there's an even more vulnerable state you haven't seen me in yet, and that's when I confess what I truly feel inside."
Keitaro had to close his eyes for a few seconds before continuing.
"Naru, you're one of the people I care for the most in my life. Even when I was mad at you, my feelings for you never changed. Ever day, every mission, and every bad situation I ended up in, you were always in my mind. For the last few weeks, my feelings got even deeper."
Naru couldn't believe what she was hearing. This was a confession from Keitaro. Ever since his arrival back to Hinata Sou, Naru prayed that they could rekindle their friendship. The bond had been repaired, and it looked as if it was about to take another step higher.
"Naru...What I'm saying is..I..I..."
His confession was suddenly put on pause as something came really close to hitting his eye. Keitaro wiped the nuisance away. Keitaro looked at his hand and saw a single butterfly.
"Keitaro, you're bleeding", Naru pointed to his cheek.
This wasn't his blood. The butterfly in his hand was dead, and bleeding. The insect's blood was a dark crimson like human blood. As he inspected the butterfly, another one dropped dead on his arm. Then another, and a fourth. Both Naru and Keitaro looked around themselves as they noticed more and more butterflies began to die off.
"Keitaro what's happening", Naru asked Keitaro.
Naru was scared by what she was seeing. Looking back to Keitaro, he also looked scared, very scared. The Urashima tapped into the deep recesses of his mind for an explanation.
"Sensei", Keitaro yelled as he took off deeper through the forest.
"Keitaro wait", Naru called out to him.
Calling to him would be no use. By now Keitaro had already ditched his vest and was now running at full speed. Naru was left alone in the forest with the dying butterflies. She pitied their tragic fate. However, her biggest concern now was Keitaro. Sure butterflies died all the time, but there was something about these specific creatures dying that sent and alarm buzzing inside Keitaro. For only Keitaro knew the bad omen behind the dying Flutters.
This chapter had been put off for so long. School started again, and I've been pretty busy with summer maintenance. I wanted to wait till I got 150 reviews, which took a while. Anyways for this chapter, marks the beginning of when stuff really starts hitting the fan. Stuff mentioned from previous chapters are going to show up, so you might want to go and re-read some parts. I'll update as soon as I can, as school has started back up. Hope this chapter was worth the wait.