D Block...
As Asuka and the others made it to the waiting room, Elie and the rest left their seats to meet up with Jessica and Touko, what they didn't expect was to find them in the main hall with both Yosra and Aya.
Jessica: " oh! Everyone! Sorry, we didn't head back immediately because Aya offered to buy us refreshments."
She said taking a sip of her coffee.
Mirai: " It was a good battle down there. Aya and Yosra, congrats."
Aya: " thanks."
Elie walked over to her, her eyes sparkling.
Elie: " you're using the double tornado system right!"
Aya blinked before she nodded slightly, not expecting the question.
Elie: " I knew it. The Hovering system is a perfect addiction to the double tornado system. And with your last move it was obvious that your LBX was equiped with it."
Muraku approached them, finding interest in their conversation.
Muraku: " so you're using it too?"
Aya almost chocked on her juice and Elie turned with even wider eyes.
Elie&Aya: " too?"
Muraku: " my first LBX back at Kamui Daimon was equiped with one."
Jin: " right, it was applied by Kiba Kageto. For someone at his age, being able to use the double tornado system in an LBX without losing durability or affecting the maneuvering..."
Ban: " Kamui Daimon students are really something else."
Ban added in.
Elie: " hee, so you're also another user of that system. To be fair the only reason I can use it without losing control is Beargguy's weight, it keeps it stable."
Evangeline : " still, Beargguy's moves are as nimble as Vampire Cat and as fast as Twilight. The double tornado system is quite handy."
Aya then spoke up.
Aya: " it's the same here, I've used it because I wanted more agility with my Kämpfer, if left as it's I won't have been able to battle at a close range due to the heaviness of the armor and canons."
Jessica threw her empty cup in the bin before checking the time on her CCM.
Jessica: " they're about to start. Let's head back."
Everyone gave a curt nod before strolling back. It was then when...
Thump
Elie's eyes widened at the sharp pain that cut through her chest. Her feet froze in place, not mustering enough strength to move.
Thump thump
Each breath she took cut like sharp knives through her lungs. A shaking hand went to grasp her shirt tightly.
Elie: ' calm down... Calm down... Calm it down like before... Breath in... Breath out...'
But unlike past times, she couldn't stop the pain. Beads of sweat ran down her face, her vision was blurred. Everyone else were a little further than her, their voices slightly muffled with her head growing heavier by the second. She attempted to call out, it took her a few tries before her weak hoarse voice came out.
Elie: " Onii...chan..."
One glimpse back was all it took Ban to rush to her, squeezing his sister's shoulders.
Ban: " Elie, is it the same again?"
Elie struggled to nod. The pain built up in her chest by the second grew unbearable.
Everyone gathered behind Ban, not wanting to overwhelm the suffering brunette.
Ban: " your medicine! Do you have it now?"
Elie's head wagged from side to side and Eva interjected.
Evangeline : " the stadium! She left it back in the stadium!"
Jin: " I will get it!"
Not waisting any more time, he immediately ran back to their seats.
Ban: " we need to lay you down somewhere..."
It was all he could do to keep his voice at check. If he panicked her situation well get worst. He shot up his head, looking for somewhere his sister could rest.
Aya: " there are spare rooms here where she can rest. Yosra, stay here and lead Jin when he is back. Let's go."
She said facing the older brunette who nodded. Leaning on both of them, Elie was escorted to one of the rooms at the other end of the hallway.
Everyone else were hesitant. They wanted to follow their friend but they can't be of much help. Yosra then whirled to them.
Yosra: " What are you doing!? Asuka and the others are about to start! If they find no one back there they will get worried! There is nothing you can do here so don't make your other friends worried as well!"
Mirai had to nod at that. They shouldn't cause Asuka and the others to worry right now. They have to focus on their battles. She turned back to everyone and instructed as calmly as she could be.
Mirai: " let's head back. If there is anything we can do please inform us."
The last note was directed to Yosra who nodded. They forced themselves to whirl around and head back, passing Jin as he returned with the medicine...
The room was so simple, with a bed to the left side of the door and a table at the other end on which was perched a TV. There was a small window at the top of the wall across the door, from which the sun rays illuminated the small place.
Jin and Yosra caught up as soon as Aya and Ban reached there and seated the young woman on the bed.
She drank the small white pill and laid back on the bed, waiting for the effect of the medicine to take place and subside some of her pain.
Aya: " are you sure we don't need to call a doctor. There is one here after all, you know, in case."
Ban shook his head.
Ban: " it's fine, she will get better after resting for a while."
He stated with a sigh, running back his hand through his hair.
Aya: " as you like. We shall leave then, if anything happens please inform us. And feel free to use the TV to watch the matches."
Jin gave a curt nod before Aya and Yosra pulled back and returned to the stadium so they could assure everyone as soon as possible that their friend was fine.
With a sigh, Jin closed the door and brought a chair, sitting across Ban who took the spot next to Elie on the bed. She was soon asleep, her breathing stabilized.
Ban: " she is running out of time."
He said, pushing the locks of hair from her face.
Jin: " last time she got an attack was soon after your were taken."
Ban: " so a month earlier. This time it was shorter."
Jin: " Ban-ku-"
Ban: " this one thing I can't convince her to do. Even though she said she would go through the operation if my life was saved, but I was the one who stopped her. I can't let her go until it's her own choice. Even if..."
His hand grasped Elie's and squeezed it tightly as if searching for comfort.
Jin: " I understand it. No one wants to force her right now. We all want to spend as much time with her as possible. For all we know, she may not make it back."
Ban : " I'm the worst brother, ain't I ..."
His eyes flashed with deep sadness.
Ban: " watching my own sister dying in front of me without being able to do anything..."...
Asuka, Gouda and Sendou managed to get through two rounds when Aya and Yosra joined the others again. When they informed them that Elie was fine, they all exiled in relief.
Mirai: " thank God."
Lilyan: " Ban-kun and Jin-san aren't coming soon right?"
Ami: " I'm sure they would rather stay by her side."
Kazu: " they wouldn't leave her alone in a time like that."
Aya: " is Elie used to have such attacks?"
Those who knew her for a while shifted uncomfortably in their seats when the question made the other members stare back for an answer.
Ami: " yeah, she had a very weak heart since birth. It's just in the recent years that she was given a chance to come into the outside world. But still, she needs a new heart very soon."
A moment of silence went over them, no one knew what to say. It wasn't until Asuka and the others won their third round that the silence was lifted.
Ran: " they made it to the finals."
Jessica: " nothing else expected from them."
Arata: " their winning is a given."
Touko: " their opponents..."
She looked at the lines up of the block just when one of the other two teams' name went black while the other had its line extended up to collide with Asuka's.
Touko: " Minamo Naoki."
Kazu: " what do we know about him?"
He looked at the purple head next to him for information for he knew very well she is the kind to gather information about the other players.
Almost on cue, Ami fished out her CCM and scrolled down.
Ami: " there is no data about his prior competitions other than the one he won to enter Artemis. For some reason I don't know, he doesn't use a CCM but a tablet to control his LBX."
Evangeline: " a tablet?"
Ami nodded then continued.
Ami: " all of his opponents were defeated almost instantly. He didn't show off his Hissatsu Function in any of his battles. Also, all of the LBXs he fought came out with a pretty bad damage."
Ruri blinked at the woman.
Ruri: " wow Ami-san! You managed to gather all of these information so fast!"
Ami's lips curled up into a smile.
Ami: " it's my hobby to search about people and events. Though I don't have much data on his LBX. Other than that it's a new type I've never seen called Neptune."
Evangeline: " well, here comes my part, Ruri, could you please look the official blueprints of the LBX."
Ruri: " yes ma'am!"
She took out her laptop. A few moments later, the design of the said LBX with its name written on the bottom right corner was shown on the screen.
Eva nodded before borrowing the laptop. Her eyes glowed red as the data overwrote themselves, modifying the initial design. Everyone peered from behind her, agog at what was happening.
When her eyes' light died off, she whirled the laptop so that everyone could see the new design.
Momona: " wow, how did you do that!"
Eva slightly blushed as all the eyes were focusing for her and the blueprints much to her astonishment.
Evangeline: "well, i just synchronized the design with my memory of Naoki's battles and modified the original blueprint into his customized robot."
She explained, trying her hardest to hide behind the purple laptop.
Ruri: " but how did you do it?"
She was no less excited to hear the answer than the other new members. The older ones exchanged looks of worry at that.
Arata: " it's the same as what you've done back in Kamiya craft, right?"
Taking a deep breath, Eva peeked from behind the purple device. It was time she come clean about it.
Evangeline : " I... Kind of control computers... With a chip in my mind... Well, the chip is kinda my mind."
She said pointing at her head while impatiently gauging their reaction. They sat petrified for a second, the next one there was an overflow of questions.
" You can do what?"
" Does that mean, you don't actually need to type all those commands and all, lucky you!"
" So you can take control of the whole stadium if you want to?"
" What else can you do!"
The bustle was getting more attention from people around them and the adults had a hard time calming the excited kids down with Eva promising to explain more after Artemis. Mainly because she could spot a pair or two of eyes staring at her skeptically.
Once everyone settled down, Eva started skimming down the data she got, Ruri by her side, so they can analyze the said robot.
Ruri: " he didn't really do that much changes to the original design. He only added some heavy armor parts to boost his power."
Evangeline : " the weapon seems to have boosters as well."
Mirai: " doesn't seem like a hard opponent for Asuka and the others."
Jessica: " though, an LBX made by the newly reformed Omega Dain..."
Her face screwed in uneasiness ar the news she heard.
MC: " and now to decide who will be representing the D Block!"
The players ascended on the platform and Asuka's team faced off the brown eyes boy.
Gouda: " he did well climbing up on his own, I'll give him that."
Sendou took out a card.
Sendou: " Hermit, huh. A secret yet to be revealed."
Asuka: " I don't care who my opponent is, I'm gonna beat him down!"
Not much of Kamui Daimon's students were paying much attention to the current battle, but Kiyoka and Takeru's eyes didn't waver from the screen.
Takeru: " Nee-chan..."
MC: " Ready!"
Asuka: " Vampire Cat!"
Gouda: " Hakai-O Ouga!"
Sendou: " Nightmare Fear!"
Naoki: " Neptune!"
All of the four LBXs landed on the desert diorama with a small sized pyramid right in its middle.
Sendou squinted at the purple LBX, it's weapon was a one handed hammer.
Sendou: " seems like an LBX that focuses more on attacks."
Gouda: " then attacks shall it be!"
Asuka: " right!"
Sendou: " wait! What logic is that?!"
" Battle Start!"
Vampire Cat dashed forward right away, aiming his spear at Neptune's chest but the other LBX swiftly moved back, dodging the attack.
Vampire Cat span around, resuming his attack one more time but the spear was blocked by the hammer and Neptune kicked away the robot.
Just at that moment, Hakai-O Ouga leaped above it from the back, holding his sow sword up and all ready to slash down at Neptune.
The other LBX sidestepped and span around, thrusting out its hammer. There was a clink when it hit Hakai-O's chest and tosses him back.
Gouda: " how can it be that strong!"
He said through gritted teeth.
Sendou: " let's see what it can do against speed!"
Nightmare sped up, cloning up to three in the process and advanced to attack. Unfortunately all of his attacks were blocked in the blink of an eye as all of them were intercepted by Neptune's hammer.
Sendou: " it's very fast!"
Neptune bent down and skidded past all of the three LBXs before whirling on its heel and hitting one of them hard till sparks came flying out as metal hit metal. The other two clones disappeared immediately.
Sendou: " impossible ! How did he figure out the real one!"
Naoki smirked widely while pushing up his glasses, the lenses glimmering under the light.
Naoki: " it was simple. My LBX's visor are very advanced, and thanks to all the maintenance and customize I've done, figuring which one is real and which one is fake is a piece of cake for us."
All of the three frowned at him. Noaki rose his hands up to the level of his shoulder and tilted his head slightly, the smirk still present on his face.
Naoki: " I've modified the core skelton as well so it's lighter, making it up for the weight added by the heavy armor. Also, my hammer has boosters on both sides, which gives more power to the attack. In other words, Neptune is a perfect creation."
At his words, Neptune began its onslaught at the other robots, having exceeded them in performance, the three of them were pushed back.
Asuka bit on her bottom lip in frustration. Never she had once thought Vampire Cat would be cornered in term of agility.
The robots' ambushes continued on, yet they didn't manage to scathe Neptune at all, never yet cornering him once.
Gouda: " don't get dragged into his pace!"
Hakai-O Ouga leaped back, charging his attack function.
Gouda: " Hissatsu Function!"
" Attack Function: Cho Gao Cannon!"
The beam of Lazer wafted towards the purple robot and a cloud of dust rose at the impact. Gouda finally smirked.
Gouda: " can't hold against super powerful attacks!"
His smirk dropped instantly as the smoke faded to reveal an unscratched Neptune.
Gouda: " how did he...!?"
Naoki: " Gouda Hanzo, also Known as The Destructive God Of Hell, his fighting style is very violent. Opts to defeat the opponent's LBX using his strong weapons or his Hissatsu Function. Fighting such opponent requires strengthening the armor to withstand such attacks."
Gouda stood still gapping his mouth at the blunette who was reading from his tablet.
Gouda: " you..."
Sendou typed on his CCM, Nightmare lunged forward, twirling around the purple robot, almost picking up a whirlwind around it. He tried to attack, but Naoki was able to see from where the ambush was coming and blocking it.
Sendou: " Damn it! Asuka!"
Asuka: " Yosh!"
Vampire Cat and Nightmare joined into a combo attack against the purple LBX. The blunette easily saw through their moves and avoided them perfectly. And then, with a single sway of Neptune's hammer, they were thrown backwards on the ground.
Naoki: " Sendou Daiki, also know as The Magician In The Box. Specialized in speed attacks. Koujo Asuka, 2051's Artemis finalist. Her style depends mostly on luring her opponents to believe she is weak then surprise them with powerful attacks. Her LBX most interesting point is agility. Both her and Sendou can resort to using tricks to achieve victory. Hm, you're really a good match if you ask me."
Sendou: " How did you get all of those information about us?"
Sendou's eyebrow was twitching at the sneer on the boy's face. Naoki tapped his tablet slightly with the back of his hand.
Naoki: " this is called studying your opponents. It can't help that you're quite famous that it was way too easy to figure all that about you."
Asuka: " tsk. So what? You have information about us, not that it will bother us anyway! Gouda! Sendou!"
All three of them lunged on Neptune, hoping to overwhelm it. But no matter what they had done, Naoki was deftly dodging all of their ambushes.
Mirai: " I can't believe Asuka and the others are having a hard time fighting him."
Her jaws were slightly dropped.
Jessica: " that Minamo Naoki is actually very strong."
Aya: " not to mention that he had made enough studies about them."
Ban and Jin were watching the battle through the TV while waiting for Elie to wake up.
Ban: " this seems bad."
Jin: " he got them into his pace."
Odin: " and is actually holding back."
Suzune: " they seem like they're really struggling. Though they have the advantages in number."
Takeru bit on his lip as the screen showed the frustrated face of his sister. She seemed desperate.
Takeru: " Nee-chan... Hang in there..."
Kiyoka flipped a card on her phone.
Kiyoka: " tower, upright..."
Her eyes shot back at the screen in worry.
Kiyoka: " Onii-chan..."
Asuka: " I've got you now! Hissatsu Function!"
" Attack Function: Devil Soul!"
As Vampire Cat tapped the end of his spear on the ground, a huge magical circle appeared right beneath him. He called on a huge shadow that unleashed forth three bat like energy streams.
Unfortunately for her, Neptune was able to deflect her attack. Naoki's smirk spread through his face.
Naoki: " now is my turn to make an act."
Neptune's visors glowed as he ducked beneath Vampire Cat's spear. Grabbing his leg while at that, it managed to tackle him down. It span around, hitting Nightmare hardly across the chest while he was trying to ambush from behind.
Neptune quickly side stepped, dodging Hakai-O's sow sword and kicking him from behind, making him lose balance.
MC : " oh my! Minamo Naoki switched to the offense!"
All three LBXs have fallen down to the ground and that was Naoki's chance.
Naoki: " Hissatsu Function!"
" Attack Function: Ice Hammer !"
Neptune's hammer was covered with ice and increased in size. Neptune grabbed onto it and jumped up high, swaying it down on the LBXs that were struggling up, breaking all of them over at once.
MC: " B-B-B-Break over! Minamo Naoki has finished Asuka's team! D Block's finalist! Minamo Naoki!"
Jessica: " impossible..."
Her eyes widened in shock and her mind failed to process the situation. The name flashing through the screen wasn't Asuka's, but Naoki's.
Ran: " how can that happen... Asuka and the others lost..."
Asuka stood wide eyed at her LBX, still on the ground.
Gouda: " damn it!"
Sendou: " he was a step ahead of us, he managed to predict all of our moves."
Asuka's head fell down, her hat almost falling down her face as she gently took out her LBX.
Asuka: " I'm really sorry... Takeru... Vampire Cat..."
Naoki proceeded away from the platform with a wide smirk.
Naoki: " I've gathered a decent amount of data."
Ban narrowed his eyes at the screen showing Naoki's name as the finalist of D Block.
Ban: " he is strong."
Jin: " gathering data about your opponents is yet another strategy in battles. He is not one to be reckoned with."
There was a small moan that caught the attention of both men to the woman sleeping there. Elie managed to push herself up, her left arm sticking out for support as she rubbed her forehead.
Ban: " how do you feel now?"
She placed her hand on her chest as if checking something before smiling softly.
Elie: " I'm all right now. Sorry to worry you, Jin, Onii-chan. Thanks for staying by my side."
Jin: " no need to thank us."
Ban: " if you feel all better, then we should catch up with the others, they were worried sick about you too."
Elie scratched the back of her neck with an apologetic smile before her eyes snapped open as she recalled something.
Elie: " what about Asuka and the others?"
Ban and Jin exchanged worried looks at that and looked down.
Elie: " what's the matter-"
Her look then went past them and landed on the screen of the TV. Her eyes widened.
Elie: " oh no..."...
