“Don’t!” Hanabi said, still but a small child. She stood alone in the park with three larger boys.
“Or else what?” the larger boy said, giving a slow deliberate tug, causing the seams to strain.
The stuff-animal was known as Hug Wuffer; it was soft and plush and resembled the actual animal. Hug Wuffer’s resemble a small dog and a Capuchin monkey mixed, often latching onto people that happen to pass by the forests they reside. They quite literally enjoy hugs and are incredibly soft and fluffy, though they are endangered so people are not allowed to keep them as pets, even though they can be easily domesticated.
The other boys snickered seeing her dismay.
One of them, with a smirk, said to his friends, “Look at her, crying over a stuffed toy.”
Hanabi’s tears began to spill over, her eyes never leaving the stuffed animal, “Please,” she begged, her voice cracking, “give it back… My gwandma gave it to me.”
The boy holding the stuffed Hug Wuffer yanked the arm harder, and the toy’s fabric began to pull apart. “Why should we?” he said. “It’s just a dumb toy. Why do you care so much?”
Hanabi’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched the arm tear further.
Sensing Hanabi’s distress, he made a final, sharp pull. The arm came off entirely, leaving the Hug Wuffer with a ragged, exposed end.
The boys burst into laughter, tossing the torn arm back and forth like a trophy while mocking her cries.
Hanabi’s sobs were choked, her small hands reaching out helplessly. “Wuffer…” she cried, though her plea was drowned out by the cruel laughter.
Suddenly, Kenji appeared, kicking the stomach of one of the boys who was about to catch the torn arm, who in turn fell down gasping for air. Turning around Kenji socked the other boy in the fast, sending his body twisting through the air where he landed heavily onto the ground; and as for the biggest, the one responsible for tearing the arm, the moment he lunged at him, Kenji twirled his leg, smashing his foot into his cheek, knocking some of his teeth out. They each lay on the ground, twitching in pain. Picking up the Hug Wuffer, he walked over to Hanabi, giving her the toy. “Come on, let’s go,” Kenji said.
As they walked away, she still held her head down, gazing at the stuffed animals severed arm.
Later that night, Kenji happened to be visiting with his parents for dinner.
Not long after dinner, Hanabi heard a knock on her door. Opening the door, Kenji stood there with the stuffed animal, its arm completely sewn back on. “Wuffer!” Hanabi said, a look of joy on her face.
“It’s not perfect, but I hope it’ll do,” Kenji said.
Snatching the toy, she spun around giving it a big hug. “It’s perfect.” Closing his eyes, with a light smile, Kenji turned to leave. “Kenji,” her voice broke, becoming high pitched for a moment. “Thank you. You’re the bestest.”
Now, many years later, Kenji stood staring outside the window of his home. Outside, Hanabi was helping a crying child that had fallen over and scrapped their knee. Tomorrow would be his match against Lily…
***
As Emperor Adonis was evacuated, the crowd of people dispersed into safer areas designated for times like this.
“Move quickly but calmly toward the exits. Follow the signs to the nearest safe area,” guards instructed.
“Mom!” Tommy said, getting lost in the crowd.
“Tommy?!” Tina shouted.
“Tommy where are you?!” Adrian hollered, gazing into the crowd.
“Adrian,” Tina said.
“I’m looking,” he said.
“Excuse me, is this your kid?”
The two glanced over to see a man with red hair wearing a domino mask, designed to cover only the eyes; running down his nose and up the center of his head, with horns that curved outward from behind his head was a golden helmet, though it was thin, allowing for his hair to flow out.
“Tommy!” Tina said, running over to her son. “What did I tell you about running off.”
“Hey, you’re Roomba,” Adrian said. “Weren’t you the number twelve elite?”
“That’s right!” Roomba said, holding a thumbs up.
“Didn’t you lose your spot to a little girl?” Tommy added, causing Roomba to fall over.
“Either way, thank you,” Tina said.
“Quick, let’s head towards the designated safe zone sweetie,” Adrian said to Tina, and she nodded grabbing Tommy’s hand as they left.
“I’ll go with you!” Roomba said nervously, “In case… anything happens.”
“We would be a lot safer with a previous elite around,” Tina said.
“T-That’s right,” Roomba said, and he departed with the family.
Meanwhile, the elites were each addressing the many areas under attack by the Vanguard.
“Let go!” a woman shouted.
“What’s the matter darling, afraid of a little rough handling?” one of the Vanguard lackeys stated.
She tugged but he wouldn’t loosen his grip; closing her eyes she continued to pull away, her arm straining from the man’s hand tightly twisting around her wrist; but then it loosened. Gazing behind her, the man crippled to the floor.
“Quick, get to safety,” Tanabe said. Gazing ahead he noticed many other vanguard hooligans wreaking havoc. He blinked, instantly disappearing and reappearing in front of every single enemy, and in a matter of seconds they were all knocked unconscious. Feeling a flow of flux growing behind him, he blinked out of the way as a hook with a chain attached to it appeared soaring through the spot he was just at, obliterating a barrel before retracting back. There was a large man standing there with a chain wrapped around his arm.
“Hm, almost had him,” a muscular bald man wearing a black kimono said. His eyebrows were thick and white, as were his lips, contrasting his light brown skin. This man carried the Twisted Chain Root. The tree, also known as, Iron Noodle, absorbed iron from within the soil causing its branches to unfurl into a network of metallic chains, hanging and intertwining across the floor.
“Idiot. Had you watched his match to enter the elites against the Scarlet Flicker, you’d have known he was pretty advanced in it as well,” a thin hunched man with a long snake-like tongue hanging out of his mouth said. His tongue had a bunch of small black balls going down the center of it, and his yellow spikey hair stretched as long as his forearm. This man held the Cannon Berry Root. It’s a bush which mutated in a rocky environment, normally growing within sides of mountains, and when they built enough up, they burst out the side of the mountain similar to a rockslide, except these looked like giant cannon balls.
Standing atop the rooftop, Tanabe looked down, asking, “Are you Vanguard?”
“That is correct. My names Shiro, and my friend over here is Banjou,” Shiro said. “We represent the second battalion, directly under the first, which consists of the strongest of the Vanguard.”
Tanabe gazed around, seeing if any citizens of the empire were present. Looks like the cost is clear. Gazing back at the two below. They’ve seemed to have already activated their roots prior to arriving. Increasing his flux, he stated, “Tanabe, ranked 10th of the Illuminus Elite. Please, surrender, and I promise to deliver you to your cells without harm.”
“Hahaha! Check this guy out Banjou. He’s as strait-laced as the reports say,” Shiro said. Banjou smiled, also amused by the statement. Shiro’s tongue flipped back into his mouth, his cheeks swirling around as if he was sucking on a jawbreaker before opening his mouth and a cannon ball shot out, bursting toward Tanabe.
Tanabe blinked down to the ground. The ground trembled and three chains burst out, narrowly missing him, as he jumped back.
Banjou had slammed his chains within the earth, splitting them under and making three of the hooked chains.
“HA!” Shiro shouted, and he shot many more cannon balls at Tanabe.
Tanabe side stepped one, leaned his head to dodge another and quickly leapt as the hooked chains came crashing back down.
Banjou, yanking his chains upward, uprooted the ground they hid under; twirling his arms around in the air above his head, he tossed his arms to his left and the hooked-chains followed Tanabe into the air. “Stop dodging,” Banjou’s deep voice said.
As the first came, Tanabe smacked it away with a swipe of his left hand, and the next he front flipped over while kicking the third down with his foot once he repositioned himself upright from the flip, but then sensing something to his left he glanced over and noticed Shiro on a rooftop.
“Cannon Berry Overtaker!” Shiro’s mouth expanded much wider than a humans should be able, likely something his root ability allowed for when activated, before a giant canon ball shot out at him.
Twisting in the air, Tanabe slammed his fist against the ball, shouting, “Impact!” and it shattered into a bunch of pieces.
But Shiro wasn’t done, shooting one after another, causing Tanabe to jump on top of them as they flew by, but to his surprise, one of the giant cannon balls came flying back, attached to a chain smashing into him as he held his guard up, sending propelling with the canon ball into a house.
“Should have mentioned, I can slightly alter the shape of the cannon’s I shoot,” Shiro said, spitting up another canon ball that had a small loop for Banjou’s hooks to attach too.
With Shiro on the rooftop, and Banjou on the floor, they both gazed at the hole Tanabe was crush into.
Not long after, Tanabe came walking out calmly, not seemingly taking any damage at all. Patting dust off his arm, he gazed at them both with the same tranquil yet confident look as before.
“Tsk.. Sturdy one aren’t you,” Shiro said.
“So annoying,” Banjou said.
“This is your last chance. Surrender yourselves,” Tanabe said.
“Surrender?! As if! Come on Banjou, let’s break this guy down until he’s begging for us to take his life!”
***
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“There, that should do it,” Hanabi said, breathing heavily. She was sweating profusely, wincing from her own core being heavily strained after healing Rai’s core, and so soon after her continuously healing it within Northwood from his training. “You’ll be able to use flux, but your bodies still pretty beat up. Be careful…”
Rai, standing up, while Hanabi remained crouched on her knees, said, “Thank you Hanabi.”
“Sure thing—” she winced, hunching over from the pain.
“Hey,” Rai said, quickly kneeling down and placing his hands on her shoulders. “You okay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said, looking up with a weary smile. “Go protect your sister.”
Nodding, Rai stood back up, gazing at Hanabi for a moment before darting towards the ports. As he left the arena, Hanabi, sitting in the arena by herself, collapsed.
Within the empire’s main lobby, guards were everywhere, escorting people into the underground safe zone below the empire, opposite from where they kept the prisoners; in fact, there was no way to get from one underground area to the other, for safety purposes. Even so, the cells prisoners were in happened to be laced with negative flux force, and most prisoners had negative flux collars on, countering any sort of flux they may attempt to use to escape, should they have any.
“Move it!” Rai said, pushing through the crowd of people, nearing the doorway which only certain individuals could enter; normally that would be apprentices and elites, should they have not ported in. Flashing his badge, he brushed past the guard, continuing his way towards the ports. The long hallway with pillars on each end extended all the way to the two very large doors which was the entrance to the throne room; currently the emperor should be in there with a small army, including the general to protect him.
Standing in the center of the expansive room Rai was running down, was Yukio. As an added layer of protection, one elite was normally positioned here.
Yukio gazed at Rai as he darted off to his right, though he didn’t pay him much heed.
Rai raced past many rooms, slowly closing the distance to the ports. The building was vast, so it took him some time before he was able to finally see them in the distance. Since this area was located far from the emperor’s throne room, apart from the occasional guard patrolling the area, there were no guards present; plus, it would be unwise to spread their forces too thin. The ports ahead were normally active at all times, especially in times like these where they needed to have a way to immediately get to other kingdoms under threat. “I’m coming Taka,” moments before approaching the ports, Rai felt a rush of flux behind him, lunging to his left as a scorpion-like tail came crashing into the ground next to him. Rolling off the ground, Rai’s body ached, having not recovered at all from his fight with Gaius. Gazing up, he noticed Kenji standing there. “Kenji?!”
“Where you headed to in such a rush,” Kenji said, slapping his neck with a vile containing a blueish purple poison that coursed into his body. His right side of his face still had the scar from the fire that Lily hit him with.
“What’re you doing Kenji! Aurahelm is under attack, I don’t have time for this,” Rai shouted, lifting himself up and rushing toward the port, but then the one he was planning on running into was smashed to pieces by Kenji’s scorpion tail, formed from his own cloak. Kenji appeared in front of Rai, delivering a heavy kick that sent Rai soaring away from the ports.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Kenji said.
“What the hell’s wrong with you!” Rai shouted. “The Vanguard have invaded!”
Smiling, Kenji said, “I know, I’m the one who let them in.”
“Wha—?! You let them in?”
“That’s right. I’ve been undercover for quite some time, but I’m not the only one.”
Meanwhile, in the throne room, General Kur and Emperor Adonis were discussing the whereabouts of the other elites.
“Currently, most other elites are on missions far away. There’s no way for them to make it back in time... Apart from Aurahelm, the other kingdom under attack is the Kingdom of Celestria,” Emperor Adonis said.
“It seems Vanguard looked to take advantage of the lack of attention in security, due to the finals of the placement exam,” General Kur said.
“General Kur,” one of the guards said, appearing to his side to report on what was happening outside.
“Go on,” General Kur said.
Nodding, the man continued, “All elites have reached their designated areas and are meeting the Vanguard in battle as we speak. However, it would seem all the ports within Celestria and the one’s leading to it within the empire, have been destroyed; there is no way to get there at the moment.”
“What?! How was someone able to get within the walls of the empire without being noticed?”
“We’re looking into the matter, but someone has tampered with the footage from the security cameras… It could take some time before we’re able to find any data within the archives.”
“So, Celestria is stranded…” General Kur said.
“Not exactly,” the guard spoke. “It would seem Aegis has returned from his mission and is addressing the situation as we speak.”
“Aegis?” The son of the Reaper…
***
“Run!” Vanguard shouted, fleeing with a look of fear in their eyes. Behind them, a large purple cloud enveloped everything, slowly making its way towards them, and at the forefront, walking calmy towards the retreating enemy, Aegis.
One of the vanguards tripped, and the cloud touched his foot. Immediately he was dragged into the cloud, his screams quickly fading as blood splattered out of the cloud onto the wall. Aegis continued to walk forward while the cloud followed behind him. A citizen of Celestria hunched over with their hands over their head in fear, also slowly becoming enveloped by the purple haze, but unlike the vanguard which mysteriously met quick and painful deaths, the man was unharmed, instead appearing on the other end of the cloud as it moved forward with Aegis.
“Huh?” he looked around confused. Moments before Aegis arrived, there were countless vanguard destroying everything, but now, not one single body could be seen, only splatters of blood all over.
The soldiers of Celestria roared seeing an elite beside them, thrusting their fists into the sky as the Vanguard retreated and became completely overwhelmed by Celestria’s warriors.
That’s when one of the soldiers clad in an earthy like armor, suddenly plunged his sword into an ally nearby!
“Wha—why…” the pierced soldier said, falling dead.
“I.. I didn’t mean too. My body just moved on its own—” another ally then swung his blade down behind the soldier who attacked his own, cutting him down.
Soon, many soldiers of Celestria began killing each other, each carrying an expression of unknown fear as they seemed to have lost complete control of their bodies.
Aegis seeing this, looked around before noticing in the distance who was responsible. It was Temin, the man he had beat in order to ascend into the elites. He was using his vampiric root’s ability to control the soldiers.
Now, with many more of the soldiers dead, the vanguard’s gathered a new confidence and jumped back into the fight. High above, where the interconnected bridges between the giant tree’s located throughout Celestria were, soldiers of the kingdom started to throw each other off, even cutting the bridges ropes, dropping many to their death.
Smiling, Temin departed into the forests which were incredibly close to Celestria, being that most of this kingdom was built using what nature supplied. As a result, the soldiers regained control of themselves, continuing the fight against the vanguard.
Aegis, gazing at the soldiers fighting off the vanguard, decided it be best if he dealt with Temin before he caused more havoc, darting after him.
***
“H-Hey, you’re not supposed to be down here— Gah!” Blood splattered against the dark corridors where the prisoners were held.
Strolling up to a cell, Stella gazed in, swinging some keys in her hand. Dr. Metzuki, whose eyes were closed, slightly tilted his head up. “Just what the doctor ordered,” Stella said with a wicked smile. After freeing the doctor, they made their way down the corridor together. “I’m surprised, everything is going exactly as you said. Who would have thought the empire would be so easy to infiltrate,” but as she said that, she halted.
“Perhaps, not as easy as you’d expect,” Dr. Metzuki said, gazing over the shoulder of Stella at the man blocking their way.
It was Knox, the number eight elite.
“Well, it looks like I was right to come here after all,” Knox said, cracking his knuckles, before casually stretching his arm across his chest to loosen his enormous muscles. “Stella of the Vanguards first battalion, I’m afraid I can’t let you or your friend leave this place.”
Above, where the ports were located, Rai said, “Why Kenji?! You’re an apprentice. You’re supposed to protect the empire from its enemies, not help them!”
“I don’t need to explain myself to someone who’s about to die!” Kenji said. The floor erupted behind Rai and the tail burst out smacking him forward; Kenji had been secretly feeding it into the ground. Thrusting his fist into Rai’s stomach, he twirled a kick right after, sending Rai flying away through a thin wall before racing after him.
“I’m not going to fight you Kenji!” Rai said, pulling himself from the broken book case. It was Hanabi’s cousin after all… Suddenly a tail emerged from beside him, smacking Rai into a wall before Kenji appeared once again, and his tail enveloped his arms, creating a larger fist that crushed into the wall as Rai rolled away. The impact however sent debris all over, and the dimly lit room made it a little hard for Rai to see. “I can’t sense his flux at all…” Rai said. It’s not like he’s concealing it either… Man, if Plu were here, we’d be able to find him, but Plu’s still recovering from our fight with Giaus.
“Normally, when emitting enough flux you can sense it, giving you somewhat of a clue to where opponents may be, but the poison I injected myself with conceals my flux, even while I’m utilizing it,” Kenji’s voice emitted from the dark.
Rai gazed around when a crystalized poison dart stabbed into his upper pec. “Ah!” Rai gripped it, yanking it out while coughing up blood. He fell to his knees as the poison from the dart caused him intense pain. His arm was shaking, before he quickly ran to his right, “Got to get into the open,” he said as many more poison darts slammed into the wall the moment he left, tracing behind him as he ran away. That’s when the wall beside Rai blew into many pieces as Kenji came jumping through, curled up as one would when doing a canon ball within the pool. Rai held his guard up as Kenji’s oversized fist from his scorpion tail wrapped around his arm slammed into him, sending him further into more rooms, away from the open area he was seeking. Rai, quickly standing, darted in another direction, “Dammit, he’s not giving me the chance to get out into the open. I’ve got to think of something quick.”
“What’s wrong, having trouble without your little runt by your side,” Kenji said. Seeing his tattered coat flapping in the distance he lunged forward, the scorpion tail wrapped on his fist now forming into a pointed tip dripping with poison. It tore right into the coat, but to his surprise, that’s all it was. Rai had hung it near a blowing fan.
“Hey Kenji, I hope you brought an umbrella. Things are about to get a bit messy in there! Ikken!” Rai shouted, and the Ikken tore straight towards the ceiling above Kenji’s head, causing it to collapse on top of him.
Kenji held his arms up, his scorpion tail now forming into a shield as large pieces of ruble fell over, burying him.
“Phew,” Rai said, exhaling slightly. “Now, to get to Taka!” Turning to run Rai raced out the rooms until he was once again in the expansive room that held the ports. Suddenly, the building began to shake and from behind, a giant scorpion’s claw broke through the wall, nearly clipping Rai in half, had he not lunged forward to avoid it.
This version of the scorpion was smaller than the one in the arena when he fought Lily, but even so, it was still massive by comparison to Rai. Instead of completely fusing with it, Kenji’s body from the waste up was visible, appearing on the head of the scorpion.
“Where do you think you’re going!” Kenji said, and from his tail he shot out giant poison crystalized darts at the ports, destroying all but one. These were the only ports that could lead to Aurahelm. “Unless you want the last one to go bye bye, I suggest you focus on our fight!”
“Damn you!” Rai shouted, jumping back as another claw came crushing down over him. Hastily retreating, Kenji was in hot pursuit, smashing a pillar Rai dipped behind as a means of defense. Jumping high into the air, Rai launched off another pillar, heading straight for Kenji, but a shadow casted over him, and the scorpions tail slammed into him, sending him hurdling into a wall. From the shadows of the crater he was in, Ikken bullets burst forth, rapidly tearing into one of Kenji’s giant scorpion legs, toppling it to the left slightly.
Wincing, Kenji shouted, “Take this!” and from the tail, a splurge of poison shot out.
Rai vaulted from the hole as acid melted the wall behind him. Racing towards Kenji, a giant claw slammed down, but Rai avoided it. Similarly, Kenji’s other claw came crashing down, as did the tail. “Come on,” Rai said, closing his eyes as he was about to take a huge gamble again. Blinking he moved to his left, though he didn’t mean too, however he was able to avoid the claw, and with his sudden change of direction, he was also able to avoid the tail just in time as it crashed down behind him. Sliding under the scorpion’s large body, Rai pressed against the floor with the palm of his hands, pointing his legs upward, “Try this!” and he delivered a series of upward kicks, one after another while slowly lifting the scorpions body off the floor.
Kenji spit up blood from the blows while the final kick flipped him over and away from Rai. The legs of the scorpion scurried in the air until Kenji’s scorpion legs eventually were able to stand upright again. He was breathing heavily, before stating, “You’ll have to do better than that, if you plan on saving your sister,” Kenji said.
Rai, standing a fair distance away, outstretched his hands, saying, “Fine, you asked for it.” And soon, light began to glow from a charging ikken.
Seeing this, Kenji charge with all his might towards Rai, tearing a pillar that happened to be partly in his way in his race towards him.
“Ikken!” Rai shouted, and a huge blast, much bigger than the one in the rooms before, burst out. The moment the blast was about to hit Kenji, his body split from the scorpion and the ikken ripped through the remnants of his cloak which was the scorpion tail, smashing into the wall behind him.
“Ahhhh!” a voice hollered.
When the smoke had cleared, alongside the walls was another person that hadn’t been present the entire fight, but somehow was there. His eyes were rolled back as his body collapsed on the ground.
“So… you figured it out…” Kenji said, gazing at the down man.
Somewhere else, Hanabi was being treated by Becca, a fellow Link, within the safe area with everyone else. That’s when a shadow among the walls, which seemed to form a person, crippled over and disappeared.
“Yeah…” Rai said, huffing. “When you punched me back there,” Rai said referring to the punch right before Kenji kicked him into the smaller space, “I knew you were holding back. Afterall… I’ve felt what a serious punch from you feels like.” They both stood up. “So, who is he?”
“He’s a member of the Vanguard…” Kenji said. “His specialty lies in core concealment and espionage. Like your wood clone you perform with Plu, he could make a shadow clone… No one here was going to locate him. My cousin Hanabi and I were under his constant watch. If I didn’t help them infiltrate the empire, he would have killed her.”
“Seriously?” Rai said surprised, but then he curled over in pain from the effects of the poison.
“Take this,” Kenji said, handing Rai a vial with the cure to the poison circulating within his body. “It’ll cure the poison.”
Rai gazed at it. Nodding, he drank it. “Wow… I feel loads better now.”
“It also acts as a stimulant, numbing any lingering pain and allowing you to fight longer,” Kenji said.
Looking at his palm, Rai squeezed it, sensing a little more strength in him than before he had even fought Kenji. “Thanks Kenji,” he said, revealing a light smile.
“I’m grateful for your help, but don’t get the wrong idea. I still despise you,” Kenji said.
“Noted…” Rai said, squinting. “Gotta go!” Turning around Rai rushed toward the last port, disappearing the moment he jumped in.