Hunt Down

[ACMI2: Cross Speed]

They had found it through great pain. Stiyl was out cold and Tsuchimikado was injured- something to do with Espers and Magic? GV didn't quite get it but they had their location.

"A festival, great." Tsuchimikado murmured as they ran "And the event's about to start. All of the spectators and cameras are already there by now. Sneaking around won't do us much good this time."

"What's the plan then?" GV asked. Touma nodded "We're not just going to sit by are we?"

"I suppose we'll have to pretend to be contestants." Tsuchimikado replied.

Touma grunted "Don't you have a better idea? We're in highschool man. How are we going to pass for middle-" He stopped and looked at GV who nodded.

"I can do it."

He was only 14, he was middle-school aged.

"We'll need to get in there quickly." Tsuchimikado noted as he jumped a hedge "There's a decent risk that the interception spell might turn on others too. Do you know what the easiest and most common method of triggering a magic ritual? By touching. A regular person with no knowledge of magic still has a chance of activating the spell by touching it."

They turned a corner and were now headed towards the arena. It was just down this road. Tsuchimikado continued "Now they don't have the kind of defences that a magician has so if that happens they'll be in real danger. At any rate, let's hurry. We have to get to that spell before it hurts anyone. To help us with that-"

He shoved into GV and while it did knock him into a puddle of mud it also got him tazed.

"Hell of a defense you've got there." Tsuchimikado had fallen too so they stood up together, both covered in mud.

Touma was looking between them "What the hell was that for?"

"An excuse." GV noted "You get in too."

"What?" Touma's eyes went wide as Tsuchimikado dragged him down into the mud too.

After Tsuchimikado bluffed them by the guard and got them all a change of clothes they managed to sneak into the next event.

The event in question was a 200 vs 20 game of ball toss. The 20 students in question were from tokiwadai and included Misaka.

Hell.

...Wait that meant-

GV looked the the stands and saw Joule and the others there. He quickly signalled her and got a telepathic link set up so he could tell Misaka what was going on.

"Another magical event?" She responded when he had finished explaining.

"Yeah. Glasses thinks that the spell is likely in the baskets. Try and stop people touching them until we can find it."

Kongou was there as well but since she hadn't been told about magic yet, they had Misaka explain the situation to her just as a "Rogue Esper" trying to ruin the game.

When the game began, everyone rushed forward towards the baskets.

Explosions began to rock around them as Tokiwadai's high level Espers started throwing around their abilities. Luckily Misaka and Kongou were organising them to keep people away from the baskets- other than Touma's group of course.

Amusingly, Touma's use of Imagine breaker was actually helping the 200 team gain some ground as they moved between the baskets.

A flood of students then ran into one of the baskets they'd figured out was safe and it began to fall over and onto another. With some quick thinking, GV and Misaka prevented them from falling and hurting anyone.

...And then someone that Touma knew showed up. Someone from his school probably. She was angry that he was here and her hand pushed against one of the baskets they hadn't checked yet. One that turned out to have the spell.

She was thrown away from the slip of paper as Touma ran towards her. She was shrouded in some sort of darkness. Touma broke it quickly but the event was called off because she, who turned out to be one of the judges, was in too bad a state to continue running it.

Everyone from Misaka's group gathered on the field and, without mentioning the magic, GV explained what was going on.

"How dare they!" Kongou muttered "How are we going to find them?"

GV nodded over to Touma and Tsuchimikado who were over by the basket "They're working on it now. We're working with-" pick your words carefully GV, Kongou is paying attention "That pyrokinetic from the endymion event. He's keeping an eye on things but we should be able to find the person responsible with him looking."

Kongou blinked "But how would a pyrokinetic...?"

Misaka turned to her and shook her head "There's more to what he can do then that. Trust us on this."

Over by the basket, Tsuchimikado had pulled out his phone and was listening. GV meanwhile had Joule get an image of Oriana from his mind to show to the others.

"This is the woman responsible."

"Her?" Joule reacted before she even started passing the mental picture around "I saw her earlier. She helped in the scavenger hunt."

Misaka and GV panicked "Did she do anything to you?"

Joule shook her head and the image started appearing in each person's head "No, I don't think so."

Uiharu nodded as she got the image and she pulled out her laptop. "I'll find her, she'll be on the record right?"

"No, she's from out of the city." Joule noted "You might find her on the guest list though."

Uiharu nodded and tabbed through "I'm going to need to be in the office to do a proper search but I can do the basics now. Kuroko, can you bring me back?"

Kuroko nodded and they teleported. A moment later, the phones of everyone still in the circle rang at once.

"Network established." Came Uiharu's voice from the other side "Let's hunt this woman down."

GV passed on Stiyl's phone number so he'd be able to pass locations to her. Together they wouldn't let her out of sight.

End of chapter.

And again, see what happens when everyone works together? A massive skill base.

Of course some will need to attend events but they'll be able to keep hunting Oriana regardless.