A Nᴇᴡ Iɴғᴇʀɴᴏ [A KHR 1x1]

[Junko 2,815]

Claude somewhat grin at Hiro comforting him. He looked down slightly. "...Yeah." He quickly looked up to see Takushi leaving the room. "W-wait a second...you should be smoking in-" A hand came on his shoulder and looked back to see that it was Sonya. "Ah, just let him go. He probably needs some alone time anyways." Claude sighed as he looked over at Azumi passed out at the end of Junpei's bed. It was really baffling to him as to how she could fall asleep so suddenly. He walked over to her body and positioned it better so that she was fully on the bed, still sleeping soundly near his legs. Alphonse still hasn't said anything but he looks displeased that she would just collapse on there out of nowhere.  "You all really don't plan on staying here till nightfall, do you?" Reborn said as he raised an eyebrow. "You all still have time to do some training if you're up for it." "Reborn is right. For now, we should let them rest." Alphinse was about to protest when there was a slight tug on his scarf and looked back to see that it was Usami. Her eyes looked pale, as if she was trying to reach into his mind somehow. Either way, she somehow convinced him that it was time for them to go and he made his way towards the door before walking out without another word. Usami sighed as she looked back at Junpei. "Alphonse is just going to be depressed until Junpei wakes up huh..." she muttered softly.

Meanwhile

"Somebody must have slept well last night..." Elliott said, almost at a mutter at he stared at her jumbled hair on top of her hair. It almost looked like tumbleweed mixed with a mane. It was quite a sight. "...Mornin' " Danet said, almost reluctantly. A few minutes later, Lukas finally emerged from his room. Under his tank top and sleeping pants, his bandages were quite visible. Elliott looked up from eating and raised an eyebrow. "No crutches?" Lukas simply settled down into an empty seat slowly. "Shut it you firetrucking piece of shit." "That didn't answer my question." 

[Naegi 149]

 Arriving at the rooftop Takushi reached into his pocket taking out a cigarette and a lighter. The last time he smoked was before their battle against Kaede's allies and since the cruise had restricted smoking area and he was kept busy thanks to the guardians. Lighting up the end of the cigarette Takushi let out a deep sigh watching the smoke drift from his mouth as it held the cigar between his fingers. Staring into the quiet morning he felt his muscles relaxing. 'If only it could be silent like this all the time.' Losing a battle especially since he's suppose to be Claude's right hand man took a heavy toll on him; however he would've been even more depressed if Claude havn't forgave him. Knowing his old mafia family, if you lose any fight they won't hesitate to dump that lost on your shoulders. The more you lose, the more you crumble beneath those defeats. Though to Takushi, Claude didn't seem to care about this ring conflict at all and more focused on making sure his guardian get through this alive. He tightened his grip on the cigarette. 'I will never lose another battle, not in front of 11th.' 

__________________

 

 "Well you're cursing more than usual today Lukas, are you still mad about how much you got damaged from that crossbow guy." Sounding more like a statement rather than a question, Oz entered the room sitting down next to Danet and munched on his scrambled eggs. Before Lukas could get pissed off, a man's voice was heard outside, "F-forgive me Zeru, we didn't have any beef so the only type of meat we could find is pork.." Despite being in a different room, everyone could tell that man was trembling. A couple seconds later, the man crashed into the room the Riviello guardians were in with big red bump on his eye. "I'm..sorry.." Those were his last worsd before he drift into unconsiousness. Suddenly the door was kicked open slamming it against the wall with such force it got stuck in the wall with cracks appearing behind it. "These firetrucking servants don't know to cook for shit." Zeru walked in his heavy footsteps echoing the now silent room. "G-g-good morning boss!" Raiden stammered. Zeru didn't say anything as he sat on the lead chair putting his legs on the table. Oz didn't look fazed at all by Zeru's appearance and continued to talk casually. "Hey guess what, we won the two battles yesterday and now Danet and Elliot is fighting today." "I know, scum." Zeru growled. Veronica laughed nervously, "Well all we gotta do is win these two fights and we can go home with you as the next Vongola Boss." "The fights better be fast, I'm getting firetrucking sick of this island." Zeru turned his attention to Danet and Elliot. "You will win those two fights. and when we win, we're free to slaughter their boss and his trash." 

[Junko 2,815]

As the group made their way into the hospital, Reborn and Claude took off to the training center underground again for more practice. "We'll meet up with you guys later on today, alright?" was the last thing the brunette said before he left with the hitman. He must have been very determined to get stronger in order to take on Zeru. Alphonse, on the other hand was still walking off and towards the elevator that lead down to the main floor. Usami looked down before turning to Hiro and Sonya. "I'm going to go try and cheer Al up..." She said before turning on her heels and squeezing her way inside the elevator before it could close on her. Sonya gave a slight wave of the hand as the two of them disappeared behind the doors. When they were gone, she dropped her hand and looked over to Hiro. "Wait a sec. Weren't you training with Azumi and Colonello? How the hell are you still wide awake?" she asked as she knitted her eyebrows together.

__

The elevator opened to the lobby of the hospital and Usami stumbled out after Alphonse, almost bumping into him, but he didn't seem to notice. He finally came to a halt when he went to go sit down on a small couch that was in the lounge area. Usami gulped a little bit. She wasn't used to this; talking to people or even cheering them up for that matter. She went to go sit next to Alphonse and for a few minutes they were in silence. Still staring ahead, she finally spoke. "You usually...never get like this. Why are you so depressed now...because of Junpei?" He didn't say anything, which caused her to panic just a bit. "W-well I-I mean you didn't get like this when T-Takushi was badly injured...so.." Alphonse drew in a breath before he let out a sigh and pulled down on his scarf a bit with a finger. "I don't know exactly but....It reminded me of something that happened a long time ago in a sense." Now curious, Usami looked over at Alphonse. "And what would that be?" "....Those people-- monsters-- that...murdered my father that night." Some color disappeared from Usami's face. She was starting to feel pity for him but she didn't say anything and let him continue. "I thought that I would witness the same thing happen again. Someone close that had death staring him in the eyes while I couldn't do anything. Takushi was already guaranteed to make it out of something like this because he was once in another mafia family, according to Claude's sister, but Junpei..." "...is still new to this?" He simply nodded. "Sorry if I was making anybody worry. These sort of things just comes back to me and.... it's really painful to think about." There was a slight pause. "And be sure not to tell anybody this. That was confidential stuff." Usami quickly nodded in response before pulling her small rabbit bag from her back and dug through it. After a second, she produced a bag of colorful macarons. "...I thought this might lift your spirits up." she said as she sat the bag down on his lap. Alphonse simply slid some of his face back into his scarf and glanced away. A small mutter of 'thank you' could be heard from him.

Meanwhile

Lukas simply looked away at the sight of Zeru coming. He really didn't want him to see him in this condition but it wasn't like he could retreat to his room now. Elliott, consuming another pancake, simply waved at Zeru with his fork still sitting in his hand.  "Leave that to me. Their sorry excuse for a sun guardian won't be able to take me on." Danet looked away, avoid eye contact with him. "Of course..." he said slightly. 
 

[Naegi 149]

 Hiro chuckled at Sonya's question. "This is nothing. I don't sleep alot since a baseball tournament is coming up and I've been training pretty hard." The rain guardian got into his batter stance and tightened his hands like he was actually holding a real bat. Suddenly he widened his eyes remembering something. "Speaking about the baseball tournament, I was planning to invite you guys to watch after we leave Mafia Land!" Hiro looked at Sonya like a child annoucing what he wants to be when he grows up. "But when this whole mafia stuff came up, I guess I should tell them after my battle although I have a feeling I'll get hurt in the battle and rushed to the hospital." He nervously laughed. "So could you tell them? Just in case I don't get the chance after my battle." 

__________________

 

 Feeling satisifed after a couple cigarettes, Takushi walked back inside. When he was back in his room, he removed some of the bandages wrapping around his stomach where his side was. The injury Lukas gave him still looked nasty, but the painkillers will have to do. He wants to watch the next two battles. Sitting on a bed watching it unfold on some television was getting him frustrated. 'If we lose those next two battles it's over. According to Junpei's oppoment, when they win they will kill all of us.' 

Edited February 25, 2014 by The Basic Nerd

[Junko 2,815]

Sonya sighed as she slapped her hand on top of his head. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be sure to tell them about it." She slightly cocked her head to the side. "Just don't turn all insomniac on me, okay? You need the rest. You're next, remember?" She removed her hand from his head and planted her hands on her hips. "Judging from the other two guardians, you opponent might be one hell of a fighter. Just keep that in mind." Sonya looked down slightly. They couldn't lose another battle. It wasn't like she could push the guy to become more serious about this than he already is. For now all she could do was hope. 

Meanwhile

Although Usami offered Alphonse all of her macarons that she had, she ended up eating them anyways, mainly because Alphonse didn't exactly have an appetite for anything right now. When she finished the last one, the brunnette wiped the crumbs off her face and stood up. "Instead of sitting around, how about we go train ourselves." She reached into her small bag again and drew out her whip. Alphonse immediately reached his hand out and stopped her from fully taking it out. "Have you forgotten that we are in a public area!?" he hissed under his breath and took her by the wrist before walking out of the hospital. Usami shoved the whip back inside the bag and slung it over her shoulder. "As I was saying....we should go train. Don't we fight them tomorrow?" "Well yes considering that we're the last two after Hiro and Azumi." "Besides, I learned a lot of new tricks from Kaede!" she said, nearly squealing. Alphonse simply glanced away, the mentioning of such a person still getting to him. "....Fine. The entrance to get underground to the training center should be over there." he said as he pointed his finger in a certain direction.

___

 

A good few minutes later, the two of them have arrived at the hall of the training center that lead to the rooms. Out of much curiousity, Usami suggested that they go see how Claude and Reborn were doing. Before Alphonse could say anything, she went to go push on the button that opened the large door before them. "Hell-" she started to say before she was met with a flying body crashing into her and into the wall. It was Claude, still in hyper drive mode. A bit confused, Alphonse peeked into the room to see Reborn with one pistol out and his hand sitting on the ground with a few holes in it. This was probably one of the few times he's seen all of the hitman's hair exposed like that. "And just when we were making progress....Come on Claude, you managed to ruin my hat. You should have some more fight left in you." Regaining conciousness, Claude lifted his head up. He looked back to see he literally had Usami pinned against a wall. He quickly moved off her and pulled her to her feet, although her body was still shaking from the impact. "S-sorry about that.." he said quickly before he dashed back inside, the doors closing behind him and the rumbling continued. Alphonse sighed as he walked past Usami and clicked the door next door to open. Once they were inside, and Usami finally recovering from that, the two of them brought out their weapons ready in hand. "Just know that I won't go easy on you." he said and Usami nearly laughed, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. The space next to her began to shift. And before he knew it, a white tiger with tones of purple stripes appeared next to her. Alphonse was simply taken aback. "A tiger, really? Isn't that cheating?" "My illusions. I do what I want with them." 

[Naegi 149]

 Hours gone by until night arrived, Colonello woke up from the sofa finding a letter resting next to Junpei. Quickly reading what it says, he woke up Azumi and gathered the others outside of Junpei's room. Tossing the paper to Reborn he said, "It seems the letter wants us to go to this aquarium, korra." Hiro with his katana strapped to his back, smiled. "Then lets get going shall we?" "Tch, better not get your asses beaten down out there." Takushi scoffed. Azumi blinked noticing Takushi was fully dressed ready to go. "Um, are you sure it's ok for you to walk around? I thought the doctors said-" He interuppted her, "I'm fine! Just a couple painkillers and I don't feel a thing!" Azumi sighed and shrugged hopelessly. "Whatever you say." 

________________ 

 

 "An aquarium? You mean where all the fishies are?" Veronica raised an eyebrow after the Riviello guardians read the letter. "Of course! What else could it be?" Crumbling up the paper Raiden stuffed the paper in his pocket. "Aquarium..." Oz was silent for a moment before saying, "There's sharks and seals there too right?" The Riviello lightning guardian facepalmed. "Yes there are. Now can we go-" Veronica suddenly started clapping with a tiny squee like a baby finding the perfect toy. "Ooo! I always wanted to see the seals do some neat tricks with those hoops and beach balls!" "LETS GO!" Without another word, the Riviello guardians exited their penthouse while Zeru was planning to watch the whole thing through TV. Chuckling to himself Zeru smirked. "Two more wins.." 

________________

 

 Claude's group arrived at their desination with the aquarium building towering over them. When they walked inside pass through the empty entrance there was mostly darkness except for the lights lit on the floor guiding them to the arena. 

[Junko 2,815]

By the time nightfall came and Colonello summoned them back to meet up in Junpei's room, Alphonse, Usami and Claude were already worn out for the day from all that training. Alphonse's clothes were slightly torn up from Usami's illusion tiger and Usami was equally beaten up. Once the group made it inside of the aquarium building, well everyone minus Junpei who was still asleep, Claude looked around in the mildly lit room. "...I wonder what this kind of arena will look like." he said, keeping his voice low. "If anything, it will be water-themed."  Reborn had a point. It was the rain guardian battle after all. "This might look....entertaining." Sonya said, her eyes darting around the area

__

While this was going on with Claude group, Riviello was just arriving as well. Danet, with one hand rested on one of his short blades that was sitting in a sheath on his belt, walk walking along the path of the lights on the floor. Elliott could be heard from behind, with 'ooh's and 'ahh's at the scenery. It was quite a sight so nobody couldn't really blame him. Lukas however, still walking a bit oddly from his injuries, seemed to have snapped for the tenth time today and started yelling. "WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!" Elliott grew silent and shot Lukas a taunting look. Before Lukas could do anything to lunge at him, Danet immediately spoke. "No need to grow so violent Lukas. You already had your turn and won remember?" Lukas stopped muttered something barely audible under his breath. "Besides...my opponent seemed to be here..." he said as he spotted Claude's group, although he didn't exactly know who he would be up against tonight. It was a few minutes before the battle staretd and the Cerevello women weren't here yet. Perhaps they were early for once. Claude stared at Danet and looked down at his weapons. (Two blades....or are those swords..) He couldn't quite tell but he was still confident in Hiro's abilities. 

[Naegi 149]

 As if on cue, a spotlight appeared right between Claude and Zeru's guardians. The two Cervello woman came out of the shadows and stood there in the light. "Tonight in this arena is the rain battle, would the rain guardians Hiro and Danet from both sides step up please?" Giving one last reasurring pat on Claude's shoulder, Hiro stepped into the spotlight and Danet did the same. After a couple seconds of checking to make sure they have the real vongola rings, the woman spoke up. "These are the real vongola rings. Now please follow us." The Cervello walked off into the darkness and the two rain guardians followed her. A bit of unease hit Takushi's stomach as they disappeared from view. "Where did they go?" Azumi whispered. No one knew as the sound of their footsteps also disappeared and the heavy breathing of everyone could be heard. Suddenly a gigantic light from above shined down on a huge glass tank the size of a 5 story rectangular building. How they didn't notice something so big in front of them they had no idea, but their attention was focused on who and what was inside the tank. Water took up half of the tank while piles of sand almost looking like islands where people usually get stranded circled the biggest island resting in the middle. Colonello felt his neck already tired of just looking up to see above the water.

 

"Would the two candidate groups sit seperately on the baloney above, there's a set of stairs that'll lead you up there." Two doors reveal themselves with a dazzle of light one door above read Claude's Guardians while the other read Zeru's Guardians. Heading to their proper doors, they went up the stairs walking into the balconey where they were just the right height to see above the huge amount of water. Then Takushi's widened his eyes pointing his finger at the tank. "Hey look they're on the center island!" Now that they're high enough to see what's on the island, they could see Hiro and Danet staring at each other on the middle island. "They're...inside the tank?!" Azumi yelled. Then a voice could be heard over the intercom. "The rain battle is about to begin, the way to win is the same as always. The winner will be the one who gets the other half of the ring. However.." There was a slight pause. "If the fight reaches after 10 minutes, a sea creature will be unlock into the water and disrupt the fight very often, so being eaten is a possibiltiy." 

________________

 

 Meanwhile inside the tank on the main island, Hiro scratched his head as he laughed nervously. "Ya know, I don't even know how I even got up here. I just followed their footsteps as best as I could and found myself here." He faced Danet and smiled. "Well, good luck I guess!" He held out his hand for a friendly shake but the Cervello shouted, "Begin!" The battle already starting took Hiro by surprise as he quickly leaped away before Danet could try anything taking out his katana from his sheathe and threw the strap to the side. 

_______________

 

 "Um, Hiro is the best swimmer out of all of us right? So even if he falls into the water he can't drown easily." Azumi felt a bit relief, at least he won't go down to water easily. Colonello folded his arms watching the battle begin. "This is going to be difficult, I wonder what sea creature they're going to unleash, korra!" Takushi scoffed glaring at Colonello. "Lets just hope the battle doesn't take that long.." 

_______________

 

 Veronica looking at the tank disappointly while she pouted. "Mann I was hoping for a couple of pretty fishies swimming around." Oz yawned already getting tired and lied down on floor, however he turned to Lukas. "Since you've known Danet the longest, does he know how to swim?" 

[Junko 2,815]

Danet simply stared at him with a hand held out towards him. (Does he really expect me to shake that?) At the signal to begin, Danet slipped his fingers between one of his two short blades and drew it out. It twirled around his wrist before resting in his hand, his other hand sitting in the pocket of his jacket. Perhaps he seemed more lax about this battle than he was suppose to. He began walking towards Hiro at a normal pace, his blade held out in front of him. Seeing no response, he stopped walking and rested the blade on his shoulder. "Please don't tell me that you're waiting for me to attack you." he said, almost yawning. He was actually bored with Hiro and the battle just started. Danet furrowed his eyebrows. "The last two times we struck first and how did that end up with your little guardians? Close to death, am I right?" he was clearly taunting him now. "Well how about this? I'll give you a free shot." Danet slid his blade back into its sheathe and placed his hand in his other jacket pocket. "This oughta make things a bit more interesting. Hurry up before I change my mind and decide to cut your head off."

Meanwhile

"Is this guy serious or something?" Sonya said from where they were sitting, a bit disgusted by this. "Well he seems confident for victory, that's for sure. Just how is Hiro going to handle this guy?" Reborn said as he stared down at the arena. Claude, Alphonse and Usami stared down at the arena, specifically at Danet. "He seems...to relaxed for something like this. Do you think he might have something up his sleeve or something?" Alphonse simply shrugged at Usami's comment. "Who knows. But that kind of attitude on the battlefield will get you killed." "And how do you know that?" "Common sense really." Alphonse said as he slipped his scarf up over his mouth, not saying anything else. "Either way. Hiro is going to win this. He's a good swordsman, right? His dad trained him in kendo, right?" Alphonse simply sat back while Usami clutched her braids in each hand. After the losing streak that they've been having, they weren't even a hundred percent sure of Hiro's victory anymore

Meanwhile

On the other side of the arena, where Riviello is waiting, Lukas frowned. "How the hell am I suppose to know. Besides does he really think he can play cool or something because it's his turn to fight those bastards now?" "Hmm? Is someone on edge because Danet might make it out of this battle uninjured?" "...No." Elliott kicked back in his seat, placing a hand on Veronica's hooded head. She didn't seem to mind him. "A one worded response out of Lukas for once. Maybe his injuries finally put him in his place!" "When I get better, I will kill you..." he growled, noticing that his sword was absent. He wouldn't have been able to carry it anyways due to his condition. Elliott simply smirked. "That'll be the day." he said before looking back to Danet's battle. "Now I do wonder what he's up to. Probably going to toy with that idiot or something." 

Edited March 1, 2014 by Junko

[Naegi 149]

 Hiro blinked, surprised by Danet's attitude with him; however he continued to smile. "Ah well, if you say so!" Being near the water, he put his katana blade in the liquid and with one big swing, a wave of water roared right between Danet and Hiro who disppeared from view. Then behind Danet, Hiro reappeared and thrusted his katana forward, "Axle of Rain!" 

____________

 

 "Hey isn't that Shigure Soen Ryu, korra?" Colonello said. Azumi raised an eyebrow, "What's that?" The blonde turned to Azumi. "It's a kind of sword style that's been called 'Invincible Sword Style' because it's been originated from one man and it got passed down from the family tree causing it to grow as each generation adds in more additional sword techniques seperately." The sun guardian's eyes gleamed with hope. "Wait so since it's called the 'Invincible Sword Style,' then nothing could beat it right?" Colonello's face turned grim, "Well it depends, someone told me the teacher only shows the forms once to the student." Takushi, who was listening to their conversation frowned. "Only once?!" Colonello nodded, "That's the only way the teacher knows they're worthy enough to be the successor, korra!" 

[Junko 2,815]

Danet squinted a little bit from the water coming in his eyes and didn't bother to look behind him as Hiro appeared from the rear. Without a second to spare, Danet drew out one of his blades again halfway from his sheathe, his clashing with Hiro's, before he fully drew it out and swung it at Hiro, knocking him backwards. Danet took a few quick steps backwards. "Well look at that. You actually cut me." he said as part of his jacket sleeve appeared to be slit, with a small amount of blood leaking out. Danet drew out his other blade with his other hand and took a stance. He appeared more serious now. He kicked of the ground and dashed towards Hiro, the blade he was holding in front of himself coming dangerously close to the other male's throat and his other blade aiming for the hand that Hiro was holding the other half of the Vongola ring on. 

Meanwhile

"So this sword style..Hiro's dad was a master at it and handed it down to him?" "Seems so." Sonya leaned forwards and seemed a bit on edge all of a sudden as Danet rushed for Hiro's neck. "What the hell?! Hiro get out of there!" "That guy seems to be aiming to get the ring at the same time..." Claude muttered as he simply stared. "Seems that he wants to get this done and over with already....hmph.."

Meanwhile

This sudden change of events caught Lukas's attention and he raised an eyebrow. "What a sly bastard he is..." he muttered, not expected Danet to pull something like that, ever. "And I wonder where he got that from...but if he's resorting to such tactics already...maybe that other guy is worth fighting?" Lukas seemed to ignored Elliott's indirect insult towards him but just stared at the two on the area. "Maybe..." 

[Naegi 149]

  'He's fast!' Hiro felt the tip of Danet's blade on his neck before he deflected it causing his hand to move narrowly dodging his other blade. The impact pushed him back and he clumsily landed on his butt before quickly getting up. His free hand reached up for his neck which had a tiny cut tearing out abit of blood. "That was a close one." Small beads of sweat were already falling down his forehead. 'This guy definitely wants to kill me. I need to be more careful.' Hiro and Danet were now on the edge of the center island. The rain guardian charged with the water spalshing at his feet gaining speed with his katana cutting through the liquid. "Early Summer Rain!" He slashed diagonally but in midway he drops the katana, switching hands, before finishing the attack. 

_______________

 

 Takushi checked his watch reading the time, "They've been fighting for 3 minutes now. Accorrding to those Cervello woman some sea creature is going to be release after 10 minutes, it's understandable that Hiro's oppoment wants to end it quickly." Watching the battle, Azumi was holding her hands together tightly in worry, "Then shouldn't Hiro try to finish it quickly too?" The storm guardian sighed, "I don't think so, Hiro told me about him doing kendo but the only reason he isn't afraid to go all out is because they wear safety equipment and shit." Colonello turned to Takushi. "So are you saying Hiro is scared about fighting with the risks of losing his oppoment's and his own life?" Takushi folded his arms. "Exactly, that's why Hiro isn't trying hard right now, he needs to wake up that injuring a person is necessary to win." 

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 Veronica took out a bag of candy from her cloak and began munching on some before handing a couple to Elliot. "If he is worth fighting, then Danet would go into super duper serious mode and I'm pretty sure that guy will be overwhelmed." She giggled before popping another candy in her mouth. Raiden cocked his head with a smirk, "Super duper serious mode? You mean Danet can turn even more scary?" Meanwhile Oz didn't say anything as he continued to stare at the battle with a bored expression. 

[Junko 2,815]

Danet paused where he was standing and tapped his fingers against the hilt of his blades. He felt the water soaking their way into his shoes where they were standing. Danet started moving backwards as Hiro rushed at him again with his katana. Seeing the path Hiro's blade was making, he raised his blade to block it just as he saw him draw the sword from his hand. What the h- he thought as the sword switched to the male's other hand and slashed right at him. Not having enough time to react, Danet was knocked backwards, the katana striking him on his arm. Before he was sent skidding along the watery platform, he threw one of his blades, hitting Hiro right in the left thigh. Danet started to feel himself get enraged now. That attack left merely but a scratch on his arm. How could this guy be so...merciful in a battle to the death like this?! Something that he could never be. Danet slowly climbed back up to his feet, his hoodie knocked back to reveal his short brown hair. "This isn't a friendly brawl." he said, slowly starting to lose his cool and patience. "You had a chance to win this battle but you didn't take it. So what the hell are you waiting for?!" 

Meanwhile 

"But the question is, how long is that going to take before he realizes that?" Alphonse said as he started down at the arena, seeing Hiro getting a bad injury. "It's been 5 minutes now. Maybe his kind heartiness will lead to his demise." "Al, don't talk like that!" Usami said, a bit enraged and anxious. "Hiro is going to make it out of this somehow..." "False optimism is getting us nowhere at this point don't you see that?" As this was going on, Claude just stared at the arena, specifically at Hiro. He didn't want Alphonse's hard words to get to him but he had a point. Sonya placed a hand on Alphonse's head from where she was sitting behind him. "Aw, don't be like that you kill joy. The battle just started remember?" Alphonse simply looked away from her. 

Meanwhile

"Well would you look at that. That rain guardian has a soft side." Elliott said as he gladly ate the candy Verionica offered him. "Hmm~ probably the worse kind of opponents to cross Danet's path. You should know this right, Lukas?" "A guy like Danet doesn't feel the need to waste his time with the weak. The fact that that guy is even holding back in the first place is truly a shock. Is he trying to get himself killed?"

[Naegi 149]

 Hiro clenched his teeth holding his thigh with his free hand. "Well..fighting with your life on the line is a whole new thing for me. Especially digging a blade into another person's flesh I'm not a fan of.." He got up with the water sticking to his wet clothes. 'I did promise Claude we would win and if I lose now, then it'll be all up to Azumi. But I don't wanna give her that pressure however I also don't want to end up hurting the guy badly.' Hiro got into his stance with both of his hands on the hilt while breathing heavily. "Besides..all I gotta do is take that ring right?" Right when he said that the two rain guardians charged at each other clashing, striking, and blocking in a flurry of blades. 

_____________

 

 "They're moving really fast!" Azumi yelled, her eyes couldn't keep up as the blades turned into a blur in her vision. Takushi glared at the battle leaning on the balcony railing. "But look, Hiro isn't striking at the openings fast enough." The blonde frowned, "You mean Hiro is hesitate to hit them allowing Danet enough time to block korra?" The storm guardian nodded. 

_____________

 

 Raiden laughed, "Is this a joke? Why is he fighting in the first place?" Veronica shurgged, "Beats me." 

[Junko 2,815]

The two of them kept it up like this, striking and blocking each other's attacks. It was sort of a dance in a way, except Danet was showing no mercy and was actually trying to injure him again. On the sidelines, one of the Cerevello women held a stopwatch in her hands. 57.... 58... 59.... She looked up to the other woman and they both nodded. The other Cerevello woman pressed a button on a small remote that triggered small doors from under water to open up. "The creature has now been released into the battle field. Stay cautious." Hearing this, Danet struck Hiro's blade harder this time, knocking the male backwards. He could feel the grumbling coming from under the water, but he didn't know what that creature was or when it will strike. He looked back towards Hiro as the platform that they were standing on started to vibrate. "Goddamit, this is all your fault!" Danet nearly shouted, feeling anxious. He pointed his two blades at Hiro again before he dashed towards him. "No matter. I'll just let that monster take care of you for me!" 

Meanwhile

"Is..is that a shark?" Usami pondered as she leaned over the railing of where they were sitting to try and get a better look but it was no use. "Something like that....but it looks like a robot of some sort..." Claude muttered. "How would a robot be able to function under water??" "I dunno but it's possible, right?" "Either way, let's just hope that Hiro doesn't get eaten by that thing..."

Meanwhile

"Danet probably got him this time." Lukas said as he semi pumped his fist in the air. For once he was actually interested in his comrade's success. That was a first. "That bastard is as good as dead." "But..we don't even know what the hell they released into the water." "Don't give a damn. From here, it sure as hell looks deadly. That's good enough for me." 

[Naegi 149]

 The platform was shaking even more violently now as Hiro used his katana to keep himself balanced. "Hey it's too dangerous to move right now!" Suddenly the water right next to the platform exploded roaring up a wave as the sea creature flew into the air. It was a killer whale however, it looked more metallic than an actual living thing. Hiro stared at the whale with a shock expression not moving an inch as Danet ignored the creature still determined to end the fight. "W-wha.." The rain guardian watched the whale go back into the water but a split second later, it came back out again but it was heading toward it's moving prey, Danet. Seeing what the whale was about to do, Hiro let his legs lead as he dropped the katana and ran toward Danet as fast as he could. Then like a baseball player sliding into base in a slip of time, Hiro knocked himself into Danet with all his might almost stabbing himself from Danet's sword. Surprised from the sudden collision, Hiro watched Danet fall onto the floor but the sight was quickly replaced with metal teeth then...darkness. 

_______________

 

 "No..that didn't just happened.. H-H-HIROOOO!!!!!!" Azumi felt herself screaming at the top of her lungs almost falling off the balconey. Takushi stared at the scene that just unfolded in front of his eyes with despair written all over his face. "He...just go swallowed by that..whale.." Colonello looked down with a dark expression turning away from the glass tank without saying a word. The whale splashed back into the water but something glistening was on the platform where Hiro, their friend used to be. It was his ring. 

________________

 

 Raiden blinked quite aware of the situation. "Did that guy just saved Danet?" Veronica almost spitted out her candies that was in her mouth watching the whale dive back into the water. "But why did he do that?" Oz who was quiet the whole time scratched his cheek. "Well easily looking at the battle, he didn't really want to fight Danet and values other people's life than his own." The Riviello lightning guardian turned to Oz. "What kind of dumbass would sacrifice their own life to save other's?! And it was his oppoment!" 

[Junko 2,815]

Danet felt his body slam into the hard cold platform. Water splashed onto his face as the mechanical creature shot up above the surface. It all happened to fast. By the time he got the water out of his face, the mechanical killer whale already descended back under the water, taking Hiro with it. Danet only sat there in shock, staring at the space where the creature was just a second ago. Even the Cerevello women were just as much in shock as he was. One of them quickly shook her head and spoke up. "S-seeing that this battle cannot be continued. Our winner for tonight is Riviello's rain guardian, Danet Jean." "BULLSHIT." hearing such loud and wild outburst, everyone turned to see that that came from Claude. Alphonse was literally holding him back from behind to keep the brunette from jumping over the railing and into the arena. He was pretty strong, despite his appearance. "This is bullshit! Give me back my friend!" From the area where the guardians of Riviello was sitting, Lukas snapped out of his state of shock before looking at Claude from the other side of the arena. "Somebody seems pissed..." "Oh hoh~ So the kid does have violent emotions. What a first." Elliott purred. The two Cerevello women spoke to one another in a low tone before one of them looked back at Claude. "Your rain guardian will be recovered by the end of this night. In the meantime, both sun gurdians must prepare for their battle." Both women soon left, opening a path for Danet to make his way off of the arena, which he quickly took before something else happened. Claude grew silent, his face darkened. The rest of them appeared a bit down as well. 

[Naegi 149]

 Hearing about the sun battle starting soon, Veronica turned to Elliot. "Elliott~ We just need one more win and we can finally go home!" Oz sighed and started heading to the exit. "Hey where you going?" Raiden yelled. Without looking at the Raiden, Oz continued walking to the exit. "Somewhere, I'll be there at the sun battle so don't worry mother." With that, Oz disappeared around the corner. "M-mother? I swear one day I'm going to pierce his firetrucking head off one day!" Veronica rolled her eyes. "You need to relax," 

_____________

 

 Azumi already felt the weight bringing down on her shoulders. 'If I lose this battle, then it'll all be over.' Images of her defeated friends, Takushi, Junpei, and Hiro floated around her head. She felt herself trembling abit breathing in and out to calm her heartbeat. 'Every fight gets worse and worse, Takushi gets a serious injury, Junpei almost died, and Hiro gets swallowed by some robot..what's in store for me?' Her train of thought was interuppted by a hand on her shoulder, it was Colonello. "I can see you're starting to get nervous, korra." Azumi looked up putting up a fake confident smile. "N-nervous? Hell no, I'm ready to kick my oppoment's ass!" Through Colonello's eyes, Azumi could tell he noticed her act. "Hey, don't get put down by the pressure, if you start thinking too much you'll lose focus, korra!" The sun guardian stood up straight regaining her composure. "I know, just..need to focus." 

[Junko 2,815]

Elliott glanced down at Veronica and grinned. "Hmph. It'll be child's play. Besides you won't have to worry about battling yourself. It's a good thing. Saves any accidental deaths you may end up causing." Lukas stood up from where he was as saw Danet waiting for them as he stood at the entrance of the seating area for Riviello. His hoodie was back over his head, he was almost soaking wet from the battle and he seemed mostly composed now but there was a slight hint that he was still shook up from what happened. The fact that Hiro got eaten by that thing and saved Danet's butt doing so was all too strange for him to comprehend. "Just hurry up so we can get out of here." he called out to the others, not wanting to hang out in the arena any longer. 

Meanwhile 

"That's the spirit kid. But don't need to try and hurt yourself thinking too hard, alright? You still have a few minutes to compose yourself before your turn is up." "You in high spirits considering our current situation." "Oh yeah, well I'm not that high spirited right now, just to let you know.." "Speaking of which, how are we going to get Hiro out of that thing?" Claude said, lifting his head up and turning over to Sonya and Reborn. He seemed to have calmed down after Usami spent a few minutes comforting him even though she still appeared to be a bit down still. Reborn slightly shook his head as a response. "I don't know but those two from Cerevello should be trying to go and retrieve him for us. He still has the ring on him after all." Alphonse then stood up. "Then shouldn't we get going to go and find them. Besides, Azumi's battle is going to be soon. We need to know where it will be." 

[Naegi 149]

 Veronica grined at Elliot's reply before facing Danet who looked like he was itching to get out of here. "Whatever, I want time to hurry up and watch Elliot fight." Crossing her arms, she walked pass Danet and headed down the exit. After Veronica left, Raiden chuckled to himself noticing Danet's shock from the battle. "Don't tell me Danet you actually feel sorry for that guy. Also I'm highly curious what Zeru's reaction was when he saw that, probably laughing his ass off right now." With that Raiden too disappeared down the exit leaving only Elliot, Lukas, and Danet himself alone. 

_______________

 

 Just as Alphonse said that, one of the Cervello woman jumped down upon the group with a piece of paper in her hand. "This is where the sun guardian battle is taking place, arrive there at about an hour." Handing the paper to Reborn who was the closest one, the woman left. "An hour.." Takushi muttered. Colonello turned to Azumi, "You wanna head to the place now?" Azumi didn't say anything, using the time to make a decision until finally, "Yea, I want to see the battleground. I just hope it doesn't involve something so extreme again." The storm guardian grunted. "Doubt it, so Reborn, where we going next?" 

[Junko 2,815]

Danet frowned. "Of course I don't. The fact that he was stupid to do such a thing still bothers me though." "Oh? Trying to understand the mind of an idiot?" "What are you talking about? I still don't understand you yet." "...Just shut up and follow the directions the pink bastard gave you to get to the next arena." Danet looked down to see that a slip of paper was sitting in one of his jacket pockets. One of the Cerevello women must have slipped it inside when he wasn't looking. Elliott slung an arm around each of their shoulders as they started walking out. "Yay! More pointless bonding." "Shut up." "Hehe... but if for some reason I lose this round..." his tone completely changed. "I'm going to have to take matters into my own hands." "What the hell do you mean by that?" Lukas asked, eyebrows raised. "I'll tell you when the time comes." 

Meanwhile

Reborn shrugged as he handed the paper to Azumi. "You all have an hour to kill so any destination is fine by me." He looked over to Alphonse. "Besides, don't you want to see how Junpei's doing?" Alphonse didn't say anything. "Yeah! We should probably go check up on him. Or a few of us can go while the rest of us accompany Azumi to the arena." Usami looked over to Azumi. "If...that's okay with you of course." Sonya then groaned. "Fifty minutes let people. Stop wasting time and pick a place to go." "....I'll see you guys later then." Alphonse said as he began to walk off in the direction to the hospital. 

[Naegi 149]

 Watching Alphonse walking off to the hospital Azumi's heart grew heavy again, the state Junpei was in reminded her that the ring battles were no joke. She gave herself a mental slap, 'Stop thinking like that! I need to win this battle!' She confidently nodded. "Yea that's alright," "If that's the case, I'll go check out the arena with Azumi, korra!" Colonello said. Takushi put his hands in his pockets "Well I'm going to the hospital but it's not to check up on that idiot blonde," He winced holding his injured side. "The painkillers are wearing off." With that, Takushi went off to the hospital. Azumi, having no more hint of sadness turned back to the group. "Ok so who else?" 

[Junko 2,815]

Usami semi puffed out her cheeks. "I'm going to go check up on Junpei as well." She said as she turned around and scurried to catch up with Takushi and Alphonse, who seemed to covered  a lot of distance from the group in a short amount of time. Claude waved goodbye to them before turning to Azumi and the others. "Those coordinates on the paper, we should head over to it now." he said as he walked past them and gestured for them to follow. For some reason, he seemed a bit eager to get there, but the brunette probably wants to get this whole ordeal done and over with so he can join up with the others at the hospital. 

__

After a few heated arguments of where to go, they seemed to have finally made it. Sonya took the paper from Azumi's hands and stared at the message on the paper before looking up at where they were standing before. A modernized version of a circus. The group stepped inside to see that there was a huge arena but it was in the style a circus mixed with a boxing ring, white lights shining brightly onto the arena grounds. The scenery looked a bit breath taking overall with the light effects in the background. Sonya gave a light whistle as she looked around. "Perhaps they picked a too....upbeat place to have this battle." "What are you talking about? It certainly beats the last ones." Claude was too distracted the the scenery as he looked around in awe. "Are you kidding?! This place looks amazing!" "Well that's mafia world for ya." 

__

By the time Usami jogged through the automatic doors and into the lobby, she was out of breath. After finally getting her breathing back to normal, she looked up to see that neither Alphonse or Takushi was in sight. Perhaps they made it back to their rooms that they were heading to. Tugging her small bag that was slumped behind her back, Usami started for the elevator when someone from the front desk saw her and gestured for her to come over to them. A bit uneasy about this, she slowly approached the female at the desk. She wasted no time to get what she needed to say out there. "Usami Inoue, correct?" she simply nodded, a curious look still plastered on her face. "Someone walked in earlier and told me to leave a message for you. Apparently a friend of yours just entered the hospital after suffering an attack from...an animal." (Hiro?) The female handed the girl the key for the room he was staying in. Snapping out of her thoughts, Usami quickly nodded. "Y-yeah. Thank you." Glancing down at the key, she made her way to the elevator. A few minutes of riding the elevator and wandering up and down the halls to find the room, Usami slid the card into the slot, opening the door, and stepped inside. When she got inside, sh could definitely see Hiro on the bed, but she was mroe relieved to see that he was still a whole. Usami breathed a sigh of relief as she walk up besides him. "Hiro... I'm glad that you're okay.." she trailed off for a moment, starting to get a bit angry. "But..what the heck did you do that for?! You could have died!" 

___

There was a small creak of the door as Alphonse pushed it open and stepped inside. There was mostly dead silence in the room. He looked over to the hospital bed to see that Junpei was still asleep. Alphonse blinked for a second as he went to go sit down at a hair next to the bed. The dim lighting in the room from the lamp that was on by the bed made the atmosphere more depressing. After a few minutes, he looked up at the machine to see that they were still staggering up and down. That was good. He wasn't dead, or not even close to dead anymore. So why the hell isn't he waking up? 

[Naegi 149]

 Seeing the familar boxing ring Azumi was used to, she felt her muscles relax feeling her energy rising up. "A boxing ring huh? Just my favorite place to fight!" She dashed to the boxing ring before the others could protest rubbing her face on the floor of the ring. "Even the floor is all nice and new!" Azumi squealed. At Namimori High, the boxing ring where the team practice was all worn out and the school was saving their money rather than buying them a new one. When that happened, Azumi was confident about getting them a new boxing ring, she worked hard to win competitions earning money for the club. Now feeling this new floor, her goal about getting the club a new boxing ring burned in her mind. "Azumi, get off the ring korra!" Suddenly her legs were grabbed and her body was pulled out of the ring. Turning around, Azumi looked at Colonello with a sad look. "But can't I just lie there for a while?" Colonello sighed and shook his head, "We need to meet up with the others at the hospital now that we know where you're going to battle." Like a stubborn child, Azumi mumbled an ok walking back to where Claude, Sonya, and Reborn was. After that, they exited the circus and headed to the hospital. 

_________________

 

 Hiro couldn't move. When darkness filled his sight, he felt his body falling back slamming into hard metal before something closed in front of him. In his head he asked himself how he got into this situation when the flashback of him saving Danet appeared in his mind. 'That's right, I pushed Danet just as that robot whale was about to eat him and then..' He reached out his arm but was met with a metal wall before he could even fully unfold his elbow. His legs were also folded unable to stretch putting Hiro in quite a cramp spot. 'Good thing I'm not claustrophobic or I would be panicking like hell right now.' Suddenly a sharp pain stinged from the part Danet sliced him earlier and Hiro didn't have to guess blood was leaking from the wound despite the darkness clouding his vision. With barely any room to move, the rain guardian bit his lip trying his best to stop the wound from bleeding. It was only a couple minutes but it felt like days to Hiro until finally, finally the place he was trapped in welcomed in light as the door where Hiro fell through in the beginning opened. He closed his eyes surprised from the sudden brightness and a familar voice was heard from outside. "The wound Danet has given him is still bleeding, I'm surprised he hasn't died yet of blood loss or suffocation." Hiro opened his eyes and brought himself out of the tight space with his body feeling completely numb. Before he could see where he was saved, Hiro was put into a stretcher and was drove to the hospital. 

 

 Hiro woke up on the hospital bed and he was confused, he didn't remember ever passing out. He looked down at his right hand only to see his rain ring gone and his heart fell. 'I wonder if they're mad at me for doing that.' Suddenly the sound of a door opening interuppted his thoughts and Usami walked in with her face filled with relieve however it quickly changed to a bit of anger. Answering her question, Hiro smiled sadly. "Sorry, I must've made you guys all worried. Just the thought of someone getting eaten by that thing while I just stood by bothered me." He looked at Usami. "But at least I didn't die though, it was really cramped in there and I could hardly breath while I was in the metal whale's stomach." He gave out a nervous laugh. 

Edited March 13, 2014 by The Basic Nerd

[Junko 2,815]

Usami's eyes softened a bit but she was still angry with him. "Oh yeah? Well...you just got lucky, that's all." she said as she crossed her arms and glanced away. She was still relieved to see that he made it out of there but a bit sad that they suffered another loss. Her eyes went to the clock sitting on the wall across from them. Thirty minutes left. Their hour was almost up for Azumi's fight to begin. (Hopefully she's ready to take on her opponent tonight..) 

Meanwhile

Everything was white and blank. How long has it been since he's been in this state, it was hard to say. Was this how death felt. Was he even dead? Just then, everything started to be engulfed into thick darkness. There was nothing that he could do. Through all this madness, there was a faint sound of crying in the background. A small girl crying. "Rikka...?" There was no response. Just more crying in agony. But it wasn't just her voice. His friends, Claude and the rest of them except they weren't wailing. "You costed us that battle." "Stop trying to show off like you're worth something." "You're useless." Phrases such as these repeated themselves. As if they all joined into a chorus of despair. It all hard to listen to. The blonde clamped his ears shut with his hands and squeezed his eyes shut. Why did this have to happen to him. Was it karma or something? He just wanted all of this to be over. All the voices stopped suddenly and spoke in unison. "̸J̵u̸s̴t̶ ̸g̵o̵ ̴b̴a̶c̴k̷ ̵t̶o̸ ̴w̷h̶e̶r̵e̷ ̵y̸o̷u̶ ̵c̷a̴me̷ ̸f̴r̴o̸m̷,̷ ̸f̷a̶i̵l̴u̶r̴e̷.̵"̸ There was a sudden flash and...

Crimsons eyes immediately shot open. The male felt his chest tighten, as if he couldn't breathe anymore. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, where a bandage was wrapped around. His eyes took in his surroundings. A hospital room. His eyes drifted to the side, feeling the presence of somebody here and saw that it was Alphonse, half asleep. He was going to say something but him shifting in his bed a bit woke the other up. Alphonse blinked as he saw Junpei awake. There was a slight glimmer of relief in his eyes before he regained his cool and slid down his scarf from his mouth. "Glad to see that you're still with the living." Junpei, still caught off guard by the weird dream he had, drew out a breath. "Tch. You'd thought that I'd die that easily?" Junpei felt an absence at his hand and lifted it up to see that the ring was gone. Something inside him sorta snapped. A tear formulated and rolled down his bandaged cheek. "I...really am a failure...."