A Nᴇᴡ Iɴғᴇʀɴᴏ [A KHR 1x1]

[Naegi 149]

 As the tear fell down Junpei's cheek the door slowly opened and Azumi peeked in through the cracks like a complete creeper. "Junnnn-peeeeii..." Seeing their lightning guardian awake, her face lid up and she slammed the door completely wide open as she ran over to his bed. "Yayy you're awake!" Suddenly her smile disappeared noticing Junpei in a tearful state. "Junpei, you alright?" This was the first time Azumi ever saw him extremely depressed. 

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 Hiro got up from his bed kind of embarassed finding himself wearing hospital clothes of simple blue shirt and pants. "I think I can walk." He took a step feeling his legs strain from his movement but Hiro ignored it covering the slight ache from his face. "Yep...perfectly fine. I wanna check on Junpei to see if he's awake yet." Taking many awkward steps, Hiro left the room with Usami following behind him. Hiro only took a couple steps when he overheard a familar voice recognizing it to be Azumi's. Following the source of her voice, Hiro and Usami went down the hall remembering this was the same hallway Junpei is being kept. Hiro knocked politely at the door before opening it to see the others around Junpei. "Junpei, you woke up?" The rain guardan let Usami through the door before closing the door behind him approaching the bed. That's when he saw Junpei's sullen face and Hiro knew he saw that exact same face was just like himself when he realized he lost his own battle. 

[Junko 2,815]

Junpei heard the sound of the door slam open. He only knew one person that would do that. His hand moved to his face to wipe his eyes but Azumi was too fast for him. At her question, he slightly turned his head away. "I'm fine. It's...it's nothing." This was too weird for him. To act like this. very rarely would the blonde break down into this state. Alphonse looked up at Azumi before his eyes went to Junpei. (Did his loss finally get to him?) His eyes went to the door as he saw Claude and the other walk in after her.

 "A-Azumi, you can't go around slamming doors he-" Something felt off to him. Everything in the room was silent, including Azumi, which was abnormal for her. His eyes went to he bed before it shifted to Alphonse, who simply shook his head. "....It seems that he's at least awake now." Sonya sighed as she leaned against the wall of the room, close to a dark corner. Reborn looked past the rest of them to see that Junpei was coming to the realization of the battle. He adjusted his hat as he spoke. "Azumi shouldn't you probably give him some space?" 

Usami and Hiro were the last ones to walk inside. Being a bit shorter than Hiro, Usami peeked her head from behind him to see what was going on. The atmosphere seemed heavy, which caused her to hold herself back from saying anything. Claude walked up to Azumi and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Reborn's right....we should leave him alone." 

Through all of this, Junpei said nothing. Although he was awake, those words kept echoing through his head, haunting him. His eyes also went empty. "Hey....Azumi." he finally managed utter out, his voice still dry from not speaking for so long. ".....Be sure not to lose tonight.." Nobody told him about the outcome of Hiro's match and he almost forgot about it but he didn't want the group to suffer another loss. Claude raised his eyebrows at this. 

"O-of course! Azumi's one of the toughest out of all of us." "Speaking of the battle tonight, look at the time. You have ten minutes left to make it there." "What? You're not coming wit us to support her?" Alphonse glanced away from Sonya. "...No but I will be rooting for her of course." Sonya moved off of the wall and walked towards the door. "Of course. Have fun trying to fix up Junpei. Everybody else, let's get moving." She stepped past Hiro and Usami and walked out the door. Reborn was next to follow out after her. He stopped besides Hiro, a hand placed on the male's shoulder. "Someone who just got eaten by a mechnical shark shouldn't be moving around so much. Go back and get more rest." With that, he left as well. Usami tugged on his hospital gown, trying to get him to leave. "Yeah, you need to stay in bed before you injure yourself or something." "Ten minutes...?! Azumi we need to get going."  

[Naegi 149]

 Hiro winced, 'Am I that horrible at lying?' Feeling a tug on his gown he looked down to see Usami trying to get him to bed. Hiro laughed, "Alright alright, I'll go back to bed. Good luck!" Patting Usami's head, he walked or limped to his room. Azumi glanced up at the clock realizing Claude was right, "Oh crud," She got up heading for the door but before she left, she turned around to Junpei one more time. "Also of course I won't lose, just sit there and watch me beat the living hell out of my oppoment," She looked at Alphonse with a smirk. "When I get back there better be some yummy food waiting for me." With a wave, she disappeared out the door running after the others back to the circus. 

 Halfway to the circus Azumi noticed someone was missing, "Hey where's Takushi?" Everyone blinked wondering where their fellow storm guardian gone after he claimed he was going to the hospital for painkillers. Fortunely, their question was answered when they saw Takushi impatiently waiting for them in front of the circus entrance. "Where were you guys?" He said as the group approached him. Colonello glared at him with an annoyed expression. "Where were you, korra!"  Takushi crossed his arms. "Getting painkillers from the hospital then.." His eye twitched when Claude and Usami caught up with the group breathing heavily from running back and forth. Takushi quickly felt concerned and his anger boiled at the tired state Claude was in, "11th! How could you let him run all the way here?! You bastereds should've carried him!" Azumi clenched her fists. "Doesn't matter! My battle is going to start soon!" Takushi gritted his teeth but he followed the group as they entered into the entrance. They weren't surprised to already see the Riviello Family and Cervello woman waiting for them. 

[Junko 2,815]

Alphonse watched as everyone filed out of the door. On the small night stand, there was a remote control for the television sitting there. Perhaps he could watch the match if they're broadcasting it. The male grabbed the remote and let it sit in his hand but didn't bother to turn the TV on just yet. "Junpei." Hearing this, Junpei pushed himself to sit up, snapping out of his spaciness, although, he looked very exhausted. "Hmm?" "Quit sulking already. You're not dead, are you? So quit acting like you are." That came out rather rough and blunt but he continued anyways. "You lost a fight. So what? Get over it and keep moving forward." Alphonse shifted the remote in his hands. "As the lightning guardian...you're suppose to act as a rod for the family. You can't do that while you're like this." Junpei stayed silent for a moment. He was rendered speechless. "Heh.."  A toothy smug came to his face. "Are you downing me or something? I just needed....some time to compose myself. But rest assure Junpei is b-" He held on to his head in pain. There was still a headache lingering around. Well, he was most back to normal. "...So the other's left to watch Azumi fight. I really hope she wins." Alphonse simply sighed. "...I know. I do too."  

Claude quickly waved his hand as he stood straight up. "N-no..no it's fine. Really.." he sad between breaths although Usami looked a bit annoyed next to him. The two quickened their pace to catch up behind the others as they walked back into the building, and just on time too.

Elliott looked up from where he was sitting. An almost sadistic grin came across his face came across his face as he saw Claude's group walk in particularly Azumi. His expression immediately went to cheerfulness as he stood up. "Welcome, welcome☆~!" Lukas, standing nearby and appeared mostly healed, got annoyed by Elliott's good mood. "Will you shut it already? We just got here and you're already annoying me." "What's wrong with a little confident in his success?" "We beat them three times already. He can be dead on the floor and he'd still win." He retorted as he looked away.

Sonya raised an eyebrow at Riviello before throwing an arm around Azumi's shoulder. "You got this in the bag, 'kay? Be sure to really knock them out!" Everyone avoided mentioning the fact that if they lost this fight, they lost completely, although Azummi probably knew this fact all too well. Hopefully this won't interfere with her performance tonight. 

[Naegi 149]

 Hiro sat on the bed turning on the TV quickly going to the secret channel he heard from Sonya that showed their battles. When he was able to reach into the right channel Hiro tightened his fists, 'Azumi, it's all on you now..' His heart felt heavy, if he had won his fight Azumi wouldn't be pressured. Staring at the screen waiting for the battle to begin Hiro thought, 'No I shouldn't even worry! Azumi will win..right?' 

_______________

 

 A voice raised up breaking the conversation, "May the Sun Guardians Elliot and Azumi step up please." With a deep breath Azumi stepped up and Elliot did the same. After checking to make sure their Vongola rings were real, the Cervello women guided them to the boxing ring however Azumi spotted something quite different. The lights that surrounded the boxing ring were much brighter and as they got closer to the arena, the more the temperature rose. 'That's funny, it wasn't this hot when I came here last time,' Unable to stand the heat, she took off her shirt revealing a sport tank top, tied her hair into a ponytail, and Azumi slipped on her gloves.

"Please get inside the ring please." Without saying a word, Elliot and Azumi did what they said, now facing each other in the middle of the ring. The Cervello women turned to the two families and pointed at the metal chairs like they were in an actual normal boxing competition. "All rules we have discussed so far still applys, however for the sun battle, as some of you have noticed is the temperature is up at an uncomfortable level." Takushi wiped a couple sweat off his forehead. "Now that you mention it, why is it so damn hot in here?" "That's the whole point of this battle, as the fight continues the temperature will rise until it will reach to an unbearable level or the winner is decided. Also don't worry about that painful heat reaching out of the boxing ring. We will ensure the temperature only rises inside the boxing ring." She replied. "But if the winner isn't decided they'll both die of overheatness!" Colonello yelled. "That's not all." "Huh?" "Outside around the boxing ring there's a special device that can sense anything come out of the boxing ring. So if your arm were to be outside the ring that device will burn you. How badly depends on how long your arm is outside." Their expressions were emotionless, they didn't give any hint of pity for the exreme battles they created. "But what happens if your whole body ends up thrown outside the ring?" Azumi asked, she had a feeling she knew the answer but she wished she wasn't right but, "Unless you don't crawl back inside you'll die." The sun guardian gave herself a nervous gulp. "A-alright." 

 

 Again the two groups sat serperately from each other looking at their own sun guardians standing across from each other. "Show them how brutel you can get Elliottt~" Veronica calmly rocked back and forth on her chair not seeming to mind the temperature. Unfortunely Oz was highly uncomfortable trying to sleep but the heatness kept bringing him back to reality. Raiden laid back in his chair stroking one of his spears. "Once this is over and we win, we are free to slay them." He chuckled underneath this breath. "Of course Zeru would like to kill his own oppoment by himself." 

 

 Acting as calm as she can Azumi got into her battle stance and Elliot did the same. "I know your team is having a winning streak right now, but I'm here to firetrucking break that." The sound of the bell signaled the beginning of their battle and without hesitation Azumi charged sending out a whole barrage of punches in Elliot's direction despite the high temperature. 

[Junko 2,815]

Feeling the tense heat himself, Elliott slipped off his shirt to reveal his bare chest. He slid up his glasses onto the bridge of his nose before taking a stance. When the Cerevello woman commenced the battle, he stood there as Azumi immediately came at him. (Is she seriously pulling a basic attack like this?) His eyes followed her fists and moved his body accordingly to avoid getting directly hit. Elliott stopped moving, stood his ground and caught her fist with one hand before giving her a friendly smile. "How can you start a battle without greeting your opponent? Isn't that a bit rude?" he said casually as his grip on her fist began tighten. "Lucky for you, I'm a forgiving person. My name's Elliott. Nice to meet ya." His hand immediately moved away from hers and swung his foot upward, hitting the girl straight in the jaw. He then quickly moved his other foot and kicked her straight in the stomach, sending her flying. Elliott brought his foot down and adjusted his glasses again, the strong light making it hard to see. "But let's be quick about this aright before I get a heat stroke. Either you forfeit." His grin became bigger as sweat started coming down his face slowly. "Or I'll end you life~"

Meanwhile

Each Cerevello women lead each group to a waiting area to watch the fight, which was in the audience section of the arena. "...Guhh...it's so hot in here.." Sonya muttered as she reached down for the edge of her shirt when Claude immedately grabbed her waist. "Claude, what the hell are you doing?" "Don't you think about taking off your clothes here..!" "..Hm?" It just dawned on her that she had a bad habit of stripping down into her undergarments when the weather wasn't too her liking; and she was usually do it anywhere. Sonya shook Claude off her before crossing her arms. "Fine but get off me. You're all sweaty. It's gross." Claude moved to sit up when he noticed that Usami fell dead asleep in the chair next to him, her sweater still on her. There were some beads of sweat present on her forehead. "Usami...Usami?!?" "Calm down. She just fell asleep, that's all." Reborn said, his coat already off. Claude gave him a confused look. "But it's hot." "Well apparently that doesn't matter to her. Look, she's sleeping peacefully." Claude simply frowned before moving closer to Usami and inching her sweater off of her body, revealing a small blouse she's been wearing under it. "That should help at least." "HOLY SHIT THAT BASTARD JUST PULLED A FAST ONE"! Sonya's outburst nearly had Claude jumping out of his seat. "What do you mean?" "Azumi. She just took two hard blows." 

Meanwhile 

"If that's so then I call dibs on storm boy." Lukas said as he sat there in the heat with all of his clothes still on. "I have unfinished business with him." "My opponent isn't worth any of my time. I don't plan on dealing with him." Danet muttered as he looked over to Oz. "Haven't you got enough sleep already?" He said, a bit annoyed that he would attempt to sleep in this sort of environment in the first place. Seeing Elliott counterattack, Lukas raised an eyebrow. "Huh? The girl didn't see that coming?" He glanced away. "And to think I thought she had a chance to be his equal.."

[Naegi 149]

Takushi was tempted to just get up and dash outside for the cool fresh air but he wanted to see Azumi's fight. Trying to take his mind off from the heat, he spotted Claude dripping buckets load of sweat. Picking up his jacket he took off earlier, Takushi rushed to his boss' side and began flapping it up and down like a fan. "Are you alright 11th? If this keeps going you're going to end up having a heat stroke." "Oi Takushi! At least fan your jacket over here too, korra!" Colonello also had his jacket off as he was lying back on his chair. The storm guardian looked at Colonello in fury, "Who do you think I am, a servent?! I only follow 11th's orders!" 

________________

 

 Azumi felt the air rushing out of her stomach as the kick Elliot gave her send her crashing to the ground and her jaw was not in a good shape. "Like..hell I would." The temperature was really taking a toll on her now as she slowly got up with the heat trying to push her back down. 'Colonello told me I can't beat this guy with just a simple Maximum Cannon, and that means I'll have to use the other move he taught me but I still haven't got the hang of it yet.' Waiting a few seconds to catch her breath, she charged again at Elliot. 'Then I gotta find the perfect time to use it!' Elliot raised his foot sending out another kick but Azumi side-stepped and with a yell she round-house kicked him in the face. 

_________________

 

 Oz squirmed in his seat, "But I still feel so sleepy I just can't.." His eyes closed and suddenly his eyes flipped back open as he jumped with a start. "Ughh stupid heat," Meanwhile Veronica clenched her fists watching Elliot take the blow from Azumi. "That little-" "Whoa there calm down, it's not like Elliot is going down to something that weak." Raiden laughed. Veronica gave out a huff, "You're right, she's not match for Elliot." 

[Junko 2,815]

Claude, modest as ever, quickly waved his hands. "N-no no Takushi it's fine. Really." Although that would really count him as lying since his efforts to make Claude cooler was working. "Colonello, you're a big boy. Deal with it." Sonya said as she kicked her feet up on the hair in front of her, which happens to be Usami's seat, but of course the girl wasn't bothered by it since she was still sleeping. "Hopefully, Azumi ends this soon." Reborn muttered as he pulled down on his neck tie with a finger in annoyance. 

___

"Wooooooo. Show 'em whose boss Azumi!" Even after being severely injured and slowly recovering, the blonde was still as loud as ever. Alphonse really didn't seem to mind, or at least now anyways. He would yell at him for it later. For now, he was a bit relieved to not see him in a comatose state. In fact, he never want to see someone close to him like that ever. The painful past would just resurface and he couldn't stand to be reminded of that again. "Azumi might actually have a shot at beating him." Junpei snickered. "Well of course! If she's able to knock me out then she's just about crazy strong!" "...But just about anybody can knock you out in a single blow. I've done it myself before." "Hey smartass, that's the past, got it? Besides.." He jabbed a thumb to his chest. "I'm a renewed man now. Just watch. I'll be ready to take on that  other lightning jerk when the time comes." 

Meanwhile

Just as Elliott raised his foot up to strike again, he did not expect the pinkette to attack so soon. As her foot made contact with the side of his face, the male felt his neck slightly snap back from the impact and he was sent staggering backwards, barely able to keep his footing. Elliott managed to jerk his head back in place, the rights of his glasses slightly cracked. The heat was starting to get to him now as the rays got stronger. His vision started shifting a bit but he quickly shook his head to regain focus. Sweat was dripping down the sides of his face now and across his body. He just stood there for a moment, the side of his face still throbbing, before he slowly lifted up two hands, taking another stance yet again. s̶u̸f̶f̶e̵r̴ Was the only thought going through his head. With a quick step, Elliott kicked off the floor and literally went dashing towards the other, ignoring the intensity of the atmosphere as best as he could. A string of hard punches were thrown before he took a hard swing of the leg coming straight for her with the back of his foot, where the harder part is. Throughout all of this, Elliott did not utter even a taunt but kept one expession plastered onto his face: the look of a predator determined to kill its prey. He was really focused of eliminating Azumi before he passed out from the heat. 

Meanwhile

"Could Elliott be resorting to drastic measures already?" Danet said, eyebrows raised in shock. Both his ears buds were out and he seemed to be much more focused on the battle now. Lukas glanced over to him. "What do you mean?" "Don't tell me you're not the least bit suspicious as well. How often have you ever seen that idiot so focused before? If that girl is really giving him that much of a hard time, who knows what will happen." "Oh? And if he actually loses?" Lukas smirked and looked over to Veronica, who seemed a bit unedge due to Elliotts sudden change in behavoir. "Oi? You hear that? Your cocky fatass may not make it out of this one and you two might have to get in the arena against the remaining two." Danet frowned as he looked over to him. "You actually want  him to lose this match?" "Tch. Does it matter? I'd say that he has it worse out there in the heat like that. We can take one loss. It doesn't make a difference either way. Oz and Veronica will still dominate their asses." A dark grin grew across Lukas's face. "Besides. I would love to see boss having a fun time ripping his ass apart after this if he doesn't win." 

Edited March 18, 2014 by Junko

[Naegi 149]

 Azumi held her arms up in defense as Elliot dashed toward her with a stream of punches aiming straight for her. 'He's fast, I won't be able to hit any of his weak spots at this rate.' She clenched her teeth keeping the scream of pain inside as Elliot's endless punches were causing her arms to throb. Suddenly to her surprise, Elliot gave out a kick nailing his heel on the side of her head as she flew before getting caught by the rings of the arena. However her left arm sticked outside and she realized this mistake too late as a device beeped and an immense amount of heat blazed on her left arm and with a scream she tugged her arm back inside the boxing ring. 'Shit shit shit! That hurt like hell!' Azumi nervously looked at her left arm which was badly burned but thankfully, it wasn't bad enough to call it a first degree burn. 

_____

 

 "That burn must be painful," Takushi stared at the fight while despite Claude's modesty, continued to fan his jacket at him. Wiping beads of sweat off his forehead, Colonello looked worried. "This is not good. Azumi probably can't use that arm to block any more of Elliot's attacks." Takushi looked at Colonello with disbelief. "What?! Then she's doom!" "Hey don't underesitmate her, korra!" The blonde grinned. "She's my student after all!" 

_____

 

 Hiro was the kind of guy not interested in watching TV but he found himself leaning forward staring intently at the screen at Azumi's bad condition. "Azumi..it's my fault is it, if I had won that round then you wouldn't be so pressured." He now know what it felt not to be able to be present at her battle and actually yelling words of encouragment that they can hear. Watching this go down on TV made it feel like a movie but Hiro knew this was reality and this fight is hurting his friends. 

_____

 

 From the corner of her eyes she saw Elliot starting to take slow steps towards her. He was getting ready to finish her and most likely end her life. Azumi commanded her body to move but some part of her didn't want to, what's the point? She's heavily injured and trying to struggle some more would lead her to a more painful death. 'But Takushi, Junpei, and Hiro..when they lost they suffered so much and if I lose now..' Hesitantly Azumi put her hands on the floor using it as support as she slowly got up trying to ignore the burn on her left arm. 'All their struggle would be for nothing!' "I'm..not going to give up now!" She stood there as Elliot charged at her again with the same speed as before but Azumi pulled her leg back and with fast footwork, it created an illusion of 3 Azumi's punching at three spots with all her last remaining strength. "MAXI-MUM INGRAM!!" The two Azumi's missed due to Elliot's speed but the one in the middle hit him right on his knee that he was about to strike. The force from the two colliding attacks caused the circus to rumble as the lights that kept the place heated up were shattered into pieces and crashed onto the floor. With the lights all broken into smithereens, the circus and the TV screens at the hospital, went completely black. 

[Junko 2,815]

The televison was brought up closer to the front of Junpei's bed and the two of them kept their eyes glued on the screen. As Alphonse and Junpei both watched as Azumi was taking one hell of a beating from Elliott and then burned her arm on one of the rings of the arena, Junpei was literally screaming his head off at the poor monitor, as if his words would actually help her in her current situation. Alphonse was just as anxious as the blonde was but he shook Junpei roughly from the shoulders a few times, telling the male to calm down, before they continued watching. Junpei slapped his hands away, anger starting to rise. "How the hell can I calm down?! Azumi is-" "I know, but it's 2 AM in the morning and we're inside of a hospital. We'll get kicked out of you don't shut up." There was a faint noise coming from the television and the two of them brought their attention back to it. There were three Azumis on the screen now, all coming at Elliott before the one in the middle landed what seemed to be the final blow. Everything was shaking before the camera broadcasting all of this shut off and the monitor went static. The two of them stared at the screen, facial expressions blank, before Alphonse reached for the remote controller and shut of the TV. The both didn't say anything before a wry grin came across Junpei's face. "I think that counts s a win for us then, huh?" 

Meanwhile 

T-Three of her!? Elliott quickly side stepped the two that went straight for him, avoiding their attacks but was completely obvious of the last one bothering to come at him. He raised his knee up, try to strike the pinkette in the stomach, assuming that that was the real one, and their attacks collided. The impact from her attack nearly fractured his knee if he didn't pull back fast enough. Her fist dug right into his stomach. Elliott was literally knocked off of his feet, coughing up saliva. The circus arena started to rumble from the form and quickly, one by one, lights began to go out. I guess..this is it for me... the male thought as his body was shot out of the ring. Heh, but I must say...she was a fun opponent... Elliott then blacked out as he crashed into the seating area that was closest to the arena grounds. He didn't crash into anybody since both groups were sitting farther up. With that, everything went dark, the sounds of metal still crashing to the ground from the ceiling could still be heard echoing throughout the arena

Meanwhile

A small light went on, a bright flashlight. It was from the two Cerevello women. They usually didn't know much emotions but their faces were in disbelief that a mere kid like Azumi managed to beat her opponent and destroy the entire arena. "..Uh...Erm....A-Azumi Nagito is our winner for the Sun Guardian match tonight. We shall continue tonight with the cloud and mist guardian battles tomorrow night..." Still in disbelief, the other Cerevello woman walked over to Elliott, stepping over all of the debris, before sliding the half Vongola ring off of his finger with ease before walking back to Azumi and sliding it onto her finger, completing the ring gently without trying to hurt her seeing her current condition. The two of the nodded before walking off the scene. Claude, along with everybody else, were all wide eyed in disbelief. Usami, just waking up, opened her eyes, only to get nearly crushed by one of the overhead lights that were on the ceiling as it crashed next to her. She let out a small yelp in shock as she just about hopped out of her chair. "...Why is it dark in here....?" she asked, becoming completely alert now as she looked over to the arena to see that Elliott was nowhere in sight and Azumi just standing there in the middle of all the debris, a small light shinning on her,separating her from the rest of the darkness that was around her. "Well don't just stand there! Colonello, come on help me so we can get her out of here." Sonya's voice sounded distant. She was just sitting behind them a minute ago. Apparently, while they were staring in awe, she was already making her way down to help the pinkette out. The fact that she was still standing was a bit of a shock. "Shouldn't we go help her out as well?" Claude ask before he felt a tug on his arm. "No, the building is abut to collapse any minute now. We need to get out of here. Sonya and Colonello can take care of her. We'll meet them back at the hospital." It was probably best not to argue and just listen. He was his home tutor after all. Claude grabbed Usami and Takushi as they followed Reborn out as quickly as possible

Meanwhile

Riviello was probably in more shock than Claude group. The five of them rushed their way down the stairs of the seating area in the arena. They usually weren't as much worried about each other but that blow that Elliott took could have possibly caused the worse case scenario. Hell, even Oz was wide awake and alert now. Raiden guided the way with one of his lightning rods, green lightning flashing to light them ip, creating a path for them to see through all of the darkness.  Lukas and Danet looked concern and who knew how Veronica was handling all of this. Out of all of them, Elliott was the closest to her. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. This is not good. Where the hell is he dammit?!" "Hey you damn hypocrite, weren't you going on about how to were hoping for him to lose?" "This is not the time for you to be sassing me. Besides, how was I to know that the pink brat would pull a stunt like that? I'll be surprised if he even made it out of that alive." As they kept running down, Lukas leaned into to whisper to Danet, glancing at Veronica who was running right next to Raiden. "Besides, who knows how she'll react once we find him." Radien stopped moving, which caused everybody else that was following behind to come to a sudden halt. He gestured over to a jumble of smashed debris, as if something came in hard contact with them. There they found Elliott's body. He looked broken, fresh red liquid, blood, seeping out from his head, covering his forehead, Some was coming out of his mouth as well. His bright blonde hair was now soiled with debris, blood and dirt and his glasses were nowhere in sight. They were probably knocked off his face from that impact. However, luckily, he was still breathing, just faintly. 

[Naegi 149]

 "R-right.." Colonello ran through the rubble dodging pieces of object falling from the ceiling. He knew Maximum Ingram was a really hard move to pull off and it caused destruction depending on how well you did it, but Azumi's little move went totally overboard. When he and Sonya arrived at the boxing ring Azumi still stood there in the middle of the broken arena motionless like a ghost. "Azumi, you alright korra?" Azumi wobbled abit as she faced them with a dazed and tired look in her eyes. "I see this weird blinking light, am I in heaven?" Colonello sighed, "I'm taking that as a no." Suddenly a big chunk of the ceiling fell falling right toward the dazed Azumi. In one swift movement, Colonello took out his rifle, aimed, and yelled, "Maximum Burst!" It took one moment for it charge before it released a powerful shot right at its target as the debris shattered into more pieces and magically fell without hitting Azumi. Rushing to her side, Colonello carried Azumi on his back while it was Sonya's turn to make sure they don't get crushed by anything as they reached the exit of the collasping circus. 

_____

 

 Raiden bit his tongue before he could say, "Damn you don't look so good." Because the look on Veronica's face was just like a little child finding her parents dead. "E-Elliot.." She ran over to his body wincing at every wound she saw like it was a stab to her heart. At first there was silence except for Veronica's cry and structures falling but she quickly wiped the tears from her face turning to Raiden and the others. "Well what the hell are you waiting for?! Get him to the hospital NOW!" Shadows appeared on the ground moving all chaotically as her anger began to slowly boil. Knowing better to do what Veronica says in her state, Lukas and Danet carried the bloody Elliot with Raiden guiding them toward the exit and Oz using his blades to keep the debris landing of them. Veronica lurked behind them not seeming to care about the circus collasping but her brain was twisting and turning only thinking, 'They will pay, they will pay, they will pay, they will pay, they will fking pay. Whoever my oppoment is tomorrow..is going to suffer true hell.' 

[Junko 2,815]

Luckily enough, Sonya didn't have to do much to get them out of there safety. Once they reached the hospital, the nurses were quick to take Azumi away. All Sonya and Colonello could do really was stare at he was taken away on a gurney, still all dazed. Perhaps she didn't even know where she was. The only thing the two of them could really do now was to go meet up with the others in Junpei's room. Once they got there, the two of them raised their eyebrows, surprised that Junpei was back to his normal self already. Maybe Alphonse talked something into him that fixed him up. They'll never know for sure. Sonya planted her hands on her hips, a satisfied grin came to her face as she waled up to Junpei, just finishing a conversation with Claude. "O? So you're finally back to your old self. Man what a relief." She leaned down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Now tell me, how did it feel, getting stuck by all that lightning?" Junpei simply frowned. "What are you trying to do? Taunt me? Hmph, your efforts are nothing but disappointing." he said as he huffed rather sarcastically. "...Um. I don't mean to interrupt but....this is out first win we've gotten. Shouldn't we celebrate?" Usami said, still a bit tired. "But Azumi's not even here. It's all thanks to her." "Not to mention that we're not out of the woods yet. Alphonse and Usami. You're the last ones to go before the boss fight comes." The both of them nodded. Now that they've won once now, this boosted up their confidence immensely.

Meanwhile

Riviello sat in a hospital room with Elliott lying in bed, still out cold. There was a breather mask on his face and an IV needle in his hand. Bandages were wrapped around his head and smaller bandages were on parts of his face and rest of his body. The room was silent, except for the small running sound of the machine helping the blonde male with his breathing. Danet and Lukas were worn out from carrying Elliott all the way over here. Sure, he wasn't heavy but the fact that Vernonica kept barking at them to move faster just wore them out eventually. She may be the smallest one in the group, but she was terrifying at times. Lukas looked up finally, tired of sitting here in silence. "...Now what? We can't just sit here and stare at him for the rest of the night." 

[Naegi 149]

 "Hey, didn't Azumi say that when she gets back from the battle, she expects food ready for her?" Hiro laughed also back into his usual mood. Takushi leaned against the wall with his arms crossed looking at the group in distaste, "Are you suggesting we should prepare some kind of food party when she gets back?" The rain guardian's face brightened up, "That's a great idea! You're really nice Takushi!" Despite Hiro saying a compliment, it made Takushi even more annoyed, "It's not my idea, you were obviously hinting it damn it!" Ignoring Takushi's endless hissing, Hiro continued to talk, "Since all the stores are closed because it's pass 2am, I guess we could wait tomorrow morning, buy alot of cakes and deserts, then bring it all in Azumi's room." Colonello let out a big yawn, "Speaking of the time, I think we should all get some rest," Meanwhile in Usami's eyes, a little hamster ghost ran around in circles catching her attention before slipping through the door as if it was telling her to follow him. 

_____

 

 Oz got up from his seat. "Lukas is right, I'm heading back to the hotel. I need to catch up on my sleep." Walking pass the silent Veronica, Oz gave her an emotionless look. "Don't go sending this hospital to the ground," And opened the door, however on the other side, a tall figure was just about to get inside and Oz's face turned pale. "Zeru-" "Outta the way scum." Zeru knocked Oz aside with such force he landed hard against the wall creating a small crater. Oz winced but Zeru didn't even bat an eye as he slowly walked toward Elliot's bed with every footsteps screaming death. No one said a word or a muscle, knowing they'll be heavily punished if they try to do anything. When he arrived next to Elliot's bed, Zeru looked down upon him looking at the wounds as looked more and more pissed off as Zeru continued to stare at him. "Fking weak pieces of trash doesn't belong in Riviello," He held out his hand and his bloody red axe appeared and Veronica knew exactly what he was about to do. "No! Don't kill him!" She screamed as a messed up antique doll was summoned in front of Elliot as it took the blow from Zeru's axe cutting it in half like butter. Zeru's dangerous red eyes faced Veronica's desperate face. "Oh? You're protecting this weakling?" She took a big deep breath gathering her thoughts together before explaining, "Boss just please, we know Elliot lost this battle to those shitty people but when this conflict is all over, I promise Elliot will make it up to you somehow." After finishing her sentence there was only silence except for Elliot's peaceful breathing and the machines' engines whirling to keep him breathing. Finally Zeru's lips went up into a sly smile before he began letting out a roaring laughter shaking the room. "Make it up?" He stuck the blade of the axe into the floor next to Elliot's bed. "Consider that as his warning then, and you." He was looking at Veronica, "Better get this dumbass little conflict over with." With that said, Zeru walked out the door and disappeared down the hallway. 

[Junko 2,815]

"E-eh Boss, yo-" but he was already out the door, probably ignored the redhead too. Lukas drew out a sigh before looking over to Zeru's axe that was still dung deep into the ground. Not wanting to stay here any longer, especially with Veronica in her current state, Lukas made his way over to the door and pulled Oz out of the wall. "I'm going to sleep. It's too late for all of this. Later." And with that he left. Danet didn't bother to stop him though. He was feeling a bit tired himself. The male looked over to Veronica and chose out his words carefully in his head before speaking. "You may already know this but you and Oz need to do good tomorrow. Elliott will get better so don't worry yourself too much." He wasn't really saying this for her sake, but his own. An angered Veronica can lead to bad things for the rest of the group. It was best to at least try and calm her before she went crazy again. 

Meanwhile

"That'd be great but....shouldn't we do this party thing after we win?" Claude said, his voice becoming softer as he got closer to the end of his sentence. This was their first win out of the four battles that they've had. The only way they could win this was if Claude successfully defeated Zeru along with Alphonse and Usami winning the next two battles. Sonya smiled as she placed a hand on his head and ruffled his short brown hair. "Now that's the spirit. Having a little optimism won't kill anybody, right?" "Oh! And I can probably get back at that bastard for knocking me out so badly. He better hope not to cross paths with me again." "Hopefully, Azumi will recover in time to attend this party if you all are serious about throwing one." Reborn said as he tipped his hat back slightly. 

While the rest of them continued to talk. Something was scurrying from the corner of her eye. Her head quickly turned to see that a small figure left the room. Another small illusion? Is he calling me again? Usami stood up and walked towards the door. Claude was the first to notice her leaving and turned his attention to her. "Hey, Usami. Where are you going?" "I'm tired so I'm heading back to the suite on the boat to go rest. Goodnight." She quickly said without turning around. Before he could response, Usami quickly dashed into the hall and looked around. The small illusion was gone and he was nowhere in sight. I know that was him. Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. 

[Naegi 149]

 Just as Usami said that a voice was heard behind her. "Actually, you just need to turn around." Usami jumped, turning around only to be face to face with Kaede who was chuckling from her scared reaction. "I saw both battles and your sun guardian left quite some destruction." The illusion hamster that guided Usami here appeared on his shoulder as he gently scratched it's head. "Of course thanks to her victory, there's still hope for Young Vongola, and your battle with the Riviello mist guardian is tomorrow." His face grew serious dropping the playful smile, "However I'm afraid your battle is going to be extremely difficult to beat. Afterall, I've heard about their mist guardian quite alot." Clearing his throat he began, "Veronica is her name and she's known to have overwhelming amount of illusions that can make almost anyone jump off a cliff and kill themselves just for it to end. According to people that did survive her illusions, they reported that she took their worst fears and made it look like reality but somehow made it 5 times more worse." The hamster resting on Kaede's shoulder blinked noticing the scary atmosphere before suddenly disappearing into a puff of smoke. Not seeming to notice the ghost hamster gone, Kaede put his hands in his pockets. "That's not the only thing you need to worry about, apparently Elliot, the one Azumi defeated tonight was her best friend and they shared a very close bond with each other. So expect her to go full agressive and all-out." Sensing Usami's nervousness, Kaede continued to speak, "However the only way you have a chance to defeat her is to use your own illusions and summon creatures from other dimensions but be warned: the stronger the creature, the more you lose your sanity so try not to go overboard ok?" His playful smile returned like he didn't just give Usami a serious pep talk. 

_____ 

 

 Oz groaned as the sound of his bones cracking back in place was heard as he stretched. "Ugh, I should've expected that. Now I don't think I'll be able to make it back to the hotel so I'm going to crash into one of their hospital beds, bye." Raiden got up from his seat with a frustrated look, "Wait you can't just sleep in the hospital!" Despite his yells, Oz ignored the Riviello lightning guardian as he wandered down the hall looking for an empty room to sleep in. Veronica gave out a deep sigh of relief  and turned to Danet. "..Yea.." Showing no signs of emotion she looked at the axe one more time before leaving the room. Raiden facepalmed leaning back on his chair, "Man, today was crazy but I have a feeling some more stuff is going to happen tomorrow."

_____

 

 "11th is correct! We should do it after when we win this ring conflict." Takushi's eyes began to sparkle in determination, "And I won't lose to that firetrucker again when the time comes." Colonello's eyes were feeling abit heavy now as he was dying to sleep. "Alright we get it, we're going to have a party when all of this is over. Now I'm going to dive into my bed at my camping site," 'Ah right, Colonello likes to sleep outside.' Hiro thought. "Have a good night rest, korra!" With his combat boots marching on the floor, Colonello left. "I'm also going to head back to my hospital room, I'm only a few doors away from Junpei. Night guys!" Giving his mafia family a cheerful wave, Hiro jogged out the room. 

[Junko 2,815]

A small gulp went through Usami's throat. And to think that her battle would have just been a walk in the park. Lose...my sanity? For the most part, Usami was a sane person. If pushing her powers meant losing that, would it really be worth it? Some questions started filling her head now. She was really curious how this would all play out tomorrow. "Um....Kaede." She started, snapping out of her thoughts. "Do you think we could do a bit more training tomorrow, before nighttime comes? I make sure that I'm prepared to face her." Her facial expression went a bit serious, despite the tired look in her eyes.

Meanwhile

With Colonello and Hiro taking their leave, Junpei fell back into his bed with a yawn. "Too much happened today. I'm going to sleep. Goodnight." The blonde turned onto his side, pulling the covers over his head, before closing his eyes. Alphonse finally got up from his chair and let out a slight yawn. "Perhaps we should all get some sleep. It's almost 3 in the morning." He began to walk out, giving them a slight wave before leaving the room. Everyone began to file out after. It really was too much of an eventful night. They finally won a match and their opponents were going to be just as hard tomorrow night. The best thing for them to do is to go get some rest. 

,

[Naegi 149]

 Kaede looked at Usami with a hint of concern in his eyes. He was expecting Usami to start freaking out but she seem to just gulp it down. 'After seeing all those battles she must've matured.' "Yes, but don't overdo youself." Turning to the clock he said, "Head straight to the training room after breakfast, I'll be waiting." With a slight smile Kaede disappeared into a gust of mist before Usami was all alone in the hallway. 

_____

 

 Oz wobbled down the hall his eyes getting heavy and what made it worse was the pain stabbing at his back where Zeru threw him to the wall. 'Fking hotheaded boss, doesn't he realize it might affect me tomorrow unless he's certain Veronica will win.' Peering into each hospital room he looked for an empty room where he could sleep until he found himself at a vacant room. With a sight of relief Oz dived into the bed digging his head into the pillow and a second later was already asleep. Suddenly the door to the same room opened and Hiro walked inside. When he saw the sleeping Oz, Hiro raised an eyebrow as he shook Oz's shoulder to wake him up. After a couple minutes of Hiro trying all kinds of methods to get Oz to open his eyes, he finally woke up with a big annoyed yawn. Seeing Hiro, Oz recongized him. 'He's the guy that saved Danet from the whale. Looks like he's alive and I think he doesn't know who I am.' "Um, why were you in my room?" Hiro's voice filled with curiousity. Jumping off the bed Oz headed for the door, "Nobody, just a guy." With his back turned Hiro noticed a part of Oz's shirt damaged and scratched up. "You look like you got thrown to something, do you need to get that checked with a doctor?" Oz twitched from the unfamilar feeling of someone actually caring about him but he quickly brushed it off. "No I'm fine, see you later." Before Hiro could say another word Oz disappeared out the door. Scratching his head in confusion Hiro settled down on his bed. 'Why did he say see you later? Are we gonna meet again?' With that thought lurking in his mind, Hiro fell asleep. 

[Junko 2,815]

As Kaede faded away in her field of vision, a long yawn escaped her lips. She rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock again. "....Sleep.." She began shuffling down the hallway and began to make her way out of the hospital and towards the cruise boat. A good forty tiring minutes later, creaked open the door to see that the room was dark, only the dim amount of lighting from the moon's ray of light only brightened the room, but just a little bit. Usami looked over to the empty bed and realized that she had it all to herself tonight. Azumi was going to be spending the night in the hospital. With a quiet sigh, Usami walked over to the bed, dropping her sweater and bag that were sitting in her arms. She then collapsed into the soft sheets, pillows and mattress with a soft thud, not bothering to change out of her dirty clothing. She was too tired to be worrying about that now. Within a minute, the girl was sound asleep. 

______

The whole area was crumbling into bits. The ground slowly losing its stability and turning into waves. The girl felt herself floating off of the ground. Gravity seemed to have disappeared. Taking a few minutes to regain her balance, she looked up to see a faceless girl floating a few feet away from her. A hooded, faceless girl. From under the hood, a single tear ran down her face. Usami couldn't help but try to reach out to her out of sympathy. When the hooded girl recognized this, she immediately looked up, red eyes, filled with pain and hatred, staring straight at her. The ground began to split open, magma erupting from it. Fire appeared all around the two of them. The scenery became hell itself. Frightened by all of this, Usami turned to try to make a desperate escape out of all of this. What she came to face with was.....her. Another Usami floating in front of her, only this one had the face of a madman. A pair of hands quickly grasped for her throat. Before she could do anything, everything started to blur out

Usami shot up and her hands went for her throat. She regained control of her breathing before looking around. It was morning. She was awake. She blinked before looking over to see that Sonya has already went ahead after her. With her body still quivering, she moved off of the bed and went to go shower and change. A while later, Usami emerged out of the room with a pink blouse on, a black short skirt, white leggings, and black sneakers. Taking one last breath, she began to walk down to where they usually met up for breakfast, although it's been a while since they had a meet up like this. 

Meanwhile

Usami walked through the door to see that everyone has already started eating. The group was much smaller due to some of them being in the hospital. Usami went to go take a seat next to Sonya, eyes averted downwards. Claude looked up from eating, as if sensing something was wrong, and looked over to Usami. "Are you okay? You look pale." Sonya looked over to Usami and raised an eyebrow. "Claude is right. Did you have a nightmare last night or something?" The girl nodded her head. "Something like that....but I'm fine now." "Usami, don't worry yourself too much. You'll be able to beat your opponent tonight." Reborn said as he looked up. Usami smiled before she went to eating a box of donuts that were siting on the table, specifically for her. Alphonse asked why she was eating sweets so early in the morning, but he just received that 'stare' from her and just went back to eating. When she was done, she stood up from the table, feeling a bit more happy again. "I'm off to go training. Alphonse you should join me. You're battle is today, isn't it." "I rather not. Illusions aren't really my thing to deal with. I might just train with somebody here." Usami slgihtly shrugged her shoulder and left straight to the training room by herself. 

[Naegi 149]

 Waiting in the training room just as promised was Kaede still in his spotless white suit with his scythe by his side. Watching the mist guardian enter, Kaede spoke, "Good morning, hope you rested well last night." His eyes looked curious as if he knew Usami had a nightmare before continuing on, "Now I've gained information about Veronica, your oppoment. You see, Veronica doesn't use any weapons unlike you and me, so she's highly dependent on her illusions which makes her more vulnerable to physical attacks." Kaede planted his scythe to the ground, "However, this means her illusions are much stronger and harder to avoid. So the only way you can beat her is by going taking down every illusion she throws at you." Suddenly the hole where the scythe was digged into began to glow and shake as green plants snaked its way out spreading throughout the room until it was completely covered in plants looking like a garden. "And now you'll have to learn how to take down illusions with your own and your weapon." Thick vines bursted out right between Kaede and Usami creating some sort of fort until finally it shaped into a 5 story castle out of plants. Kaede's voice echoed from inside the castle, "Now try to find me through this small fortress, bring down any obstacles that comes your way." A couple plants peeled off the fort revealing the entrance door for Usami. 

_____

 

 The Riviello Family was silently eatting at the breakfast table with the abstence of Elliot who was still in the hospital, and Zeru who was obviously too pissed off to eat with them. Staring at the empty seat next to her Veronica's heart sank, Elliot was always the one to begin a conversation allowing the table to be lively but with him gone the table was quiet. Finally Oz spoke up to their surprise and he was looking straight at Danet. "Hey Danet, I slept at the hospital yesterday and I found that guy that saved you in your battle." He yawned, "And he looked perfectly fine so you don't have to worry about him anymore." Then underneath his breath he muttered, "That guy was soft-hearted enough to ask me to check with the doctor for my back injury from Zeru." 

[Junko 2,815]

Usami's eyes widened as roots and vines began to spread across the floor and around the walls, as if Kaede's illusions were changing the entire setting completely. The fortress that formed in front of her seemed to stretch out so high up that she had to bend her neck as far as she can just to see most of it from where she was standing. At the sound of Kaede's voice echoing throughout the fortress that he just made, her fingers made their way to the handle of her whip as she cautiously stepped through the opening that was made for her. When she reached inside, Usami looked around to see that the area she walked into was nothing but thick vines jumbled together to form walls. There were roots sticking out from those vines and some flowers here and there. He's...very skilled at this....but just how am I suppose to make it out of here? Usami's eyebrows furrowed in frustration as she started forward, watching her step to avoid thorns. Sure, this was all an illusion but she could feel the pain if she made a wrong move. 

___

Sonya crossed her arms as she leaned back against the wall. She has a look of annoyance. "What is with everyone wanting me as their sparring partner....So you want me to train you for tonight, correct?" Alphonse, who happen to be the one asking her, simply nodded. A second later, a hard ringing sound went off in Alphonse's ear. He clutched his ears to feel that one of them started bleeding at the very tip. He looked up to see that Sonya has a pistol in her hand, her finger appeared to have already pulled the trigger. "Sonya, w-" "Too slow~" she said with a grin as she fired again. This time, he deflected the shot with one of his blades he pulled out from its holster that was sitting on his hip. With her free hand, Sonya drew out a knife, a survival knife to be exact. "If you're gonna battle against Riviello, you need to be fast than that, mentally and physically." Alphonse frowned as the two of them dashed at each other.

Meanwhile

Danet looked over to Veronica before looking at Oz. "Oh really?" he muttered before taking another bite out of a granola bar and glanced away. "And just so you know, I didn't give two shits about that guy. It's just....his kindness." Lukas, who was just half asleep at the table from the quietness, lifted his head up and looked over at Danet. "It makes me sick..." Lukas narrowed his eyebrows before looking over at Veronica and Oz. "The battles aren't until later. What do you two- well Veronica, what do you plan to do? Knowing that lazy bastard, he's just gonna sleep some more." 

[Naegi 149]

 Oz got up from his seat finishing his breakfast, "Ding ding ding, Lukas is corrrrrr-ect. He understands me so well, later." With an emotionless expression, Oz left the room to find a place to sleep. Just as Oz left, Raiden scolded, "That kid, I rarely ever seen him fight since Zeru lets him go on solo missions. I don't know how he's strong if he only sleeps most of the day." Veronica looked down at Lukas's question with her face hidden by her cloak. "I..I'm going to visit Elliot at the hospital." Keeping her emotions inside, Veronica dashed out the door not even waiting for Lukas to reply back. The Riviello lightning guardian sighed. "Veronica and Oz are the youngest in our group, do you think they have any chance of winning?" 

_____

 

 As Usami moved down she found herself at a wide area with two stairs leading up to a door like in mansions. Suddenly a gurgle could be heard as plants looking like a shape of a human rose from the walls, ground, and surrounded Usami. They were very similar to the thorn woman Kaede used against Claude, however they cannot summon poisionious plants, only use their thorns attached to their bodies as weapons. After a breif moment, they charged. 

_____

 

 "Hey! Let me out of this fking hospital!" Takushi tried to move to the exit but a group of doctors and nurses were holding him back. "Sir, you're still not fully recovered. Please go back to your room." Gritting his teeth he yelled, "Like hell I would! I need to go meet up with 11th as his right hand man!" As he continued to struggle a nurse calmly walked up to me with a clipboard in her hand. "Takushi is your name correct?" Takushi glared at the nurse in annoyance. "Yea so?" "Azumi, your friend is finished being treated and is resting at this room." Slowly Takushi stopped making an attempt at leaving and the nurses that was holding him down sighed in relief. Taking the room card from the nurse, Takushi headed to the room Azumi was located at. 

_____

 

 Veronica went down the hallway at the hospital carrying a box of sprinkled donuts and chips. She knew Elliot is not a fan of hospital food so she felt she needed to keep him well fed. As she got closer Elliot's room, in the corner of her eyes she spotted someone familar at the window of a hospital room. Retrancing her steps back to the window she peeked inside and spotted an unconsious Azumi who was resting peacefully at the bed. Anger boiled silently inside her as the window of Azumi's room cracked before she told herself to calm down and continued down to Elliot's room.

[Junko 2,815]

Usami took a step back as the creatures that took form of women started to surround her. There were a bunch of them from all side. Usami uncoiled her whip from her side and gripped it hard as her eyes quickly darted left to right. One of the creatures that were closest to her, that happened to be in front of her, the girl cracked her whip towards it. The whip managed to leave a huge diagonal gash through the creature's chest diagonally, nearly slicing it in half. The creature she attack fell over to the ground, unable to function. Usami was going to grin to herself before she felt a rush of sharp pain hit from behind. She let out a yelp as fell down to her knees. Thorns were dug into her back and blood ran down her back and her arms. Feeling her teeth clench, Usami quickly stood up and swung her whip, sweeping about half of the creatures that were around her. She managed to take some of them out but there was still too many to handle. She quickly moved out the way as a handful of the creatures rushed for her, trying to strike her with their thorns. This...this is impossible. I can't take all of them out by myself... Illusions. Illusions. Use them. Usami drew out a sigh before snapping her fingers. The familiar white and purple stripped tiger appeared next to her, appearing more threatening and bigger than it was the last time she created it. Weakly, she climbed on its back before the tiger let out a threatening roar. It took off at a dash, ripping through the amount of creatures that were surrounding them with its teeth and climbed up one of the stairs before busting out through the doors. Usami waved her hands and comets shot out towards the creatures. As they were going, Usami felt a hard throb to her head and she clutched her forehead. The tiger then slowed down but still kept traveling. She needed to remember what he said and kept her abilities in check.

Meanwhile

Lukas sighed before looking over at Raiden. "Are you kidding me? You literally fear that little girl. I'd say we have nothing to worry about." He sat back in his chair with a bit of a satisfied grin. "Besides, the little twerp that she's up against looks helpless. Same for the scarf fellow."

Meanwhile

A finger flinched and then a hand. Elliott slowly opened one eye before doing the same with the other. He wasn't dead. A feeling of relief washed over him. But he did lose that match and he'll never know how Zeru reacted to that. It probably wasn't good. His eyes stayed on the ceiling, watching the rays of sunlight from the window scatter across it. His body still felt heavily numb. Just about moving to sit up would cause him some pain, so he stayed still. The male heard the door open and he looked over with his eyes to see a familiar hooded figure come in. A small smile came across his face. He was still able to talk but his voice came out hoarse.. "H-ow's it going......Vivi...?" 

[Naegi 149]

 Raiden looked away crossing his arms at Lukas's comment, "I-I'm not scared of her.." He mumbled. Finishing his breakfast Raiden got up. "That is true their oppoments look weak..." He paused before he began laughing. "You're right, what am I worried about? I'll start packing up my things since tonight will be the last night before we head back to our main headquarters." Smirking to himself Raiden left the room.

_____

 

 Secretly watching Usami's process through the castle Kaede's lips curled up into a smile. 'Impressive, however she needs to work on keeping her illusions in check if she doesn't want to lose her mind.' He glanced at a hologram screen showing the map of the castle with a red dot moving forward revealing her location. 'Almost there, however something will block her way and she must force her way through it.' As Usami continued her way riding on her tiger, a familar looking giant turtle shell was in her path as the shell covered all the way up to the ceiling and the ground, showing no room to crawl through. 

_____

 

 Hearing Elliot's dry voice Veronica felt tears coming out of her eyes but she quickly dried them and went by Elliot's side. Noticing the axe still stuck on the ground, Veronica made it invisible before Elliot could spot it. Returning his smile, Veronica took out a donut from the box before inserting it into Elliot's mouth who gobbled it down quickly. "Nothing just that...everyone was surprised that you lost but I'm happy you're still alive and hungry." She handed another donut to Elliot.

_____

 

 Arriving at Azumi's room, Takushi frowned at the funny crack that was in her window but decided it was the hospital's fault as he took out his cell phone and called Claude. When he answered Takushi wasted no time to tell him the news. "11th! Please forgive me about not being there for breakfast but the nurse said Azumi is finished being treated and I'm at her room right now. So I'm sorry if I'm asking you a favor but can you get everyone here? I'll get the baseball idiot and the motor mouth." He said referring to Hiro and Junpei. 

[Junko 2,815]

Usami's illusion tiger, Tsubasa was moving quickly through the fortress, avoiding any thorns on the ground and any other obstacles. Usami pulled another thorn out of her back before cringing, making that the last one. There were seven of them in total. Although they were only nothing but a mere illusion, the pain felt too real. She tossed it behind her before feeling Tsubasa come to a rough stop. The girl's body jerked forward and her head bumped behind the tiger's before looking up. A giant shell acting as a wall. It was too familiar. The same one he used against Claude back at the abandoned church. She blinked as she racked her mind, thinking of how to break through that thing. I don't know what creature I can create that can bust that thing down....but.. her eyes began to grow pale and hallow. Usami grew quiet as she focused on the barrier separating her from the rest of the fort that lead to Kaede. The turtle shell began to shift backwards, a small dark hole forming in the center, as if it was burning from the inside out. Usami tapped Tsubasa and slowly they approached the shell as the hole began to grow bigger. Usami's eyes widened and the turtle shell began the hole caught on fire, before the entire shell was engulfed with flames. The jumbles of vines around it began to crack and burn. !!!  тнαт'ѕ ιт. נυѕт ℓєт gσ. ∂єѕσтяу ιт тσ яєα¢н уσυя gσαℓ Tsubasa took off at full speed again, leaping through the hole before running down the corridor. Usami's eyes were still pale, the space around her and the tiger shifting. The vines that made the wall began to appear as if they were melting and cracking as they passed by, a black space appearing through the cracks. She got carried away.

Meanwhile

 Claude was feeling a bit trigger happy today, well at least in hyper mode he was. His fingers were pounding at the trigger, both guns, and aiming at Reborn. Reborn was constantly having to move as he avoided being hit, shooting back with his own pistol. Claude stopped and dashed forward, Reborn doing the same. Their guns clashed, a shot being released from each one. Claude quickly turned to shoot with his other gun but Reborn already had his pistol pointed at the boy's head. Claude's pointed at his face. The flame began to fade from Claude's forehead and his eyes returned to its gray color. "I guess we can stop here for today. You've gotten a lot better." Claude simply nodded and panted a bit with fatigue before hearing his phone go off. "Hm?" He slipped it out of his pocket to see that Takushi was calling him. He pressed the answer button and held the phone up to his ear but didn't get a chance to say hello. "That's great! Although I don't know if I can get Usami. She won't come out of the training room. We'll see you there." Claude hung up and looked over to Reborn, who hear everything, and exited the training room to get Alphonse and Sonya. 

Meanwhile

"Heh, you're pretty tough, scarf boy aren't ya?" Sonya commented as she skidded backwards, stopping herself with her feet. Her arms and clothes were covered in scratches. The goggles sitting on her head had a crack in one of the lenses. Alphonse simply said nothing as he stopped for a breath, blades still clenches in each hand. He, too, was also scratched up. A graze wound from another gun shot was evident on his cheek. He rushed at her again, swinging one of his blades down to strike. Sonya quickly moved out of the way and dug her gun into the side of his head. A smirk came to her face before a sharp pain entered her thigh. She cringed before looking down to see that Alphonse dug one of his blades into her thigh. The gun was removed from his head and she reached down to pull the blade out. It wasn't deep to be serious but it still hurt her like hell. "Guh- I guess we can stop for today." Alphonse got out of his stance and placed his blade back into its holster. "Done already? And I though you were one to play rough..." "Heh, smartass..." she said as she tossed his blade to him with his back turned. Alphonse simply caught it before thrusting off the blood that was on it. The training room opened and Claude and Reborn was standing at the entrance. Claude notified the two of them on Azumi's condition and the four of them left to go to the elevator that lead to ground level. "Wait, what about Usami?" "She won't come out of the room. Must be training hard in there. She'll catch up with us when she's ready."  

[Naegi 149]

 Kaede sighed as he saw the chaotic scene Usami was causing. "Oh dear, I guess I better stop her before she gets trapped in her own illusion." Disappearing from the room he was staying, he reappeared behind Usami about to knock her out but her tiger seemed to sense his presence as it quickly whipped around and almost bit his arm off as Kaede flew a couple distances away from them. Somehow Usami managed to stay on her tiger despite her dazed emotionless eyes. "Tsubasa was it? I know you only want to protect your master but if I don't get her unconsious not only will her mind be gone but me as well since I'm connected to her too." Tsubasa replied with a furious growl. Rolling his eyes at how uncooperative this tiger was being, Kaede waved his hand and his winged lion flew out landing in front of her tiger. After the two of them exchanged loud roars, they began fighting, trying to reach each other's necks. However as they fought, Tsubasa completely forgot about Usami still on her back as she landed on the floor like a rag doll. Calmly, Kaede walked toward Usami until to his surprise, she slowly got up unhumanly and he saw a glimpse of insanity in her eyes. Using her whip she lashed out at Kaede who blocked it with his scythe as her whip wrapped around the bar of his weapon. Chuckling at Usami's attempt, Kaede pulled on the whip pulling her towards him as he grabbed her chin with his free hand and brought it up close to his face. "You're lucky you didn't sink too much into your madness, or fighting you would be much more difficult." He hit Usami's head with the base of his scythe and she was unmotionless in Kaede's arms. The illusion Usami was creating also disappeared returning back into the normal empty training room, even Tsubasa was gone. 

Turning to his lion Kaede settled Usami on it's back before getting on behind her making sure she wouldn't fall off as the lion flied to the hospital.

_____ 

 

 After hanging up with Claude, Takushi headed to Hiro's room which was the closest to Azumi's and poked his head in only to find Hiro missing from his bed. "Damn it! Where did he go?" Suddenly a voice was heard behind him, "Where did who go?" Takushi turned around to find Hiro sweating down from his forehead wearing jogging clothes and a towel around his neck. "Where the hell were you?!" Takushi exclaimed. Hiro blinked innocently pointing down the hall. "I was doing my morning jog, you should do it sometimes it's really fu-" The storm guardian interuppted him before Hiro could begin to talk about exercising. "Ok don't care, Azumi is in a room just 5 doors down here." The brownette's face lid up as he quickly dashed toward Azumi's room without saying a word. 'Ugh, crazy exercise freak,' Takushi headed further down the hall opening the door to Junpei's room finding him asleep. "Oi. wake up! Azumi's in a hospital room get your lazy ass moving!"