BOOM
The sound of a loud explosion forced Takeshi's eyes to slowly open. His tired and hungover eyes trailed over to the clock on the wall. The time read 7:23 a.m.
"What the hell did they do now?" Takeshi asked himself angrily.
With his body feeling heavy as a boulder Takeshi forced himself to his feet. He walked like a zombie across the room, his feet barely leaving the floor. At his desk, he grabbed his belt full of bottles and sleepily put it on. He reached down and retrieved one of the full bottles. Takeshi lifted the bottle to his lips and drank its contents in less than ten seconds. After a moment Takeshi placed the bottle on the desk, grabbed another full bottle to fill the newly empty spot on his belt, and made his way to the door.
Takeshi walked silently through the hallway. He didn't bother to check the bedrooms as he passed by them, he knew nobody was inside. Takeshi descended the stairs to the first floor thinking about what he would say to the teens who had woke him. As Takeshi walked through the main room of the guild and past the dining table he noticed that the air lacked any distinct smell, nobody had made breakfast yet this morning. Takeshi walked through the living room and to the back door. With an annoyed sigh, Takeshi turned the doorknob and opened the door to the outside.
The morning light blinded Takeshi momentarily. He simply stood still and allowed his eyes to adjust to their surroundings, he wasn't in a rush to talk to the teens. As the blindness faded away Takeshi could make out the forms of the noise-makers.
"What the hell are you..." Takeshi went to speak but stopped himself when he realized what he was seeing.
BOOM
A burst of flames shot from Sel's hand into a wall of rock. The impact shattered the wall to pieces and caused dirt and pebbles to rain down upon Jinsuke who had hidden behind it for protection. Jinsuke stumbled backward as his only defense crumbled before him.
"Don't be overconfident," Sel yelled with flames still swirling around his arms, "be ready in case someone breaks down your walls!"
"Okay!" Jinsuke responded as he lifted his hand causing another rock wall to appear between him and Sel.
Without losing any momentum, Sel spun his body and slammed two trails of fire into the newly created rock wall. As the wall broke apart Jinsuke threw his hand forward causing the large chunks of rock to stop in midair. Jinsuke thrust his hand forward sending the rocks flying toward Sel. The fire controller reacted quickly and launched himself backward and into the air by shooting fire from his heels.
As Sel soared over the training field his attention was quickly forced to a presence beneath him. Sel looked over his shoulder to see a twisting and squirming mass of bones shooting towards him. Unable to defend himself Sel could only watch as the bones surrounded his entire body, trapping him in the process. In a single moment, the bones flew towards the ground bringing Sel with them.
"Pay attention," Enai said in an almost mocking tone to her captured teammate, "You'll never win if you don't."
Sel growled in frustration before he slammed his red-hot hand against the ground. Flames quickly surrounded Sel and exploded causing the bones around him to break and fly off around him. Now that her attack neutralized the bone that protruded from her wrist silently retreated back into her body. Before Enai had time to plan her next move her attention was drawn to a bright pink light coming her way.
Hitsu ran towards Enai battle-ready. Realizing she didn't have enough time to attack Enai opted to defend. Bones extended from her elbows and knees to form a circular shield in front of Enai. The shield would prove to be ineffective as Hitsu grabbed ahold of Enai's defense and launched himself over it and Enai. Hitsu landed and swiftly raised his hands before firing two beams of neon past each side of Enai and into her shield which shattered immediately.
"You're getting predictable," Hitsu said, "change it up a bit."
"Right!" Enai shouted as she prepared to defend against another attack.
As Hitsu began to run toward her he was stopped by what he saw from his peripheral vision. One of the pink ribbons around Nox's wrist was going to land directly where he would be. Although it looked like simple cloth Hitsu knew Tristram had designed these ribbons as a weapon Nox could use at close range. He immediately used his power to jump back quickly, leaving a pink trail of light behind him.
The ribbon hit the ground with a thud, the cloth hardening before impact to have the weight of stone. Hitsu turned to the direction it came and was suddenly forced to throw up his energy-covered arms in a defensive position. The ribbon around Nox's other wrist crashed into Hitsu's arms. While his power lessened some of the impact Hitsu was still sent tumbling across the ground until he could stop himself in a kneeling position. He had been so occupied by the first ribbon he didn't even think about the other until he already had to take the hit.
"You're fast," Nox said as she softened the ribbons and retracted them to her wrist with a tug, "but you only tend to focus on one thing. You are vulnerable to attacks if you fight that way."
"I get it," Hitsu said as he tried to shake the pain from his arms, "keep my head open."
Nox was glad that her attack was effective, it was a visual sign of her growth. She didn't have long to celebrate, however. Her attention was quickly drawn to her feet where many small pebbles were rolling past her. They rolled until they left the ground and formed a ball next to Jinsuke's outstretched hand.
"You can attack or you can defend," Jinsuke said to Nox, "but your dances take too long to do both."
The ball of rock that Jinsuke had created was shot towards Nox.
"What will you do now?" Jinsuke asked.
CRASH
Suddenly all movement stopped. The four members of The Voyage besides Nox all looked in her direction full of surprise. Nox had managed to create a glass-like blue-tinted barrier between herself and the oncoming projectile. While the cracked barrier faded away the ball of rock remained nothing but scattered pebbles among the ground before Nox. The dancer stood panting, knees weak, but with a smile on her face.
"I did that dance when nobody was looking," Nox said between tired breaths, "it took a lot out of me to hold onto it that long."
A chorus of cheers erupted from The Voyage members as they swarmed to Nox.
"You did it!" Enai exclaimed excitedly.
"I knew you had it in you," Sel said as he helped Nox steady herself.
"You scared me for a second," Jinsuke said with a sigh, "I thought you were gonna get hit when you didn't move out of the way."
"Hey Nox," Hitsu said in a tone that sounded too serious to sound like himself.
Everyone stopped and looked at him. Nox had a lump in her chest. Had she done something wrong? Was this breakthrough not enough?
"As your leader," Hitsu said as a smile formed on his face, "I should let you know you did a good job."
Everyone broke into smiles as the celebration resumed.
"If we keep training like this we'll be more than ready for the tournament," Nox said triumphantly.
"Yeah!" Hitsu cried.
Takeshi stood watching from the doorway bewildered.
"What in the hell?" He said aloud.
From behind him, he heard the wooden hatch to the basement creak open.
"Still at it are they?" Tristram asked as he pulled himself out of the basement careful to expose himself to as little light as possible, "They are quite the noisy bunch."
"Still at it?" Takeshi repeated while rubbing his temples, "How long have they been out here?"
"Since just before daybreak," Tristram answered, "In fact, I was able to watch them for a little bit from the doorway, it was that dark out."
"They've been training for hours straight then?" Takeshi inquired.
"Indeed," Tristram answered with a small chuckle, "This tournament has them all quite motivated."
"I just hope it's not for the wrong reasons," Takeshi said with a sigh before taking a big swig from one of his many bottles. As the alcohol rushed down Takeshi's throat he found his thoughts were filled only with the memory of a recent conversation.
...
"Did you manage to calm Nox down?" Takeshi asked from behind his desk.
"Yeah," Hitsu responded a little shaken, "She's okay now."
"So she wants to know more about the butterflies?"
"Yes,"
"In what way?"
"She wants to know why her mom was targeted over them."
"Is that all?"
"Yes, that's the way it seems."
"The way it seems?"
"She cares deeply about her mom, I don't know what else she would want besides answers."
"Good, that doesn't cause any problems."
"Right, she can get her answers, get some closure, and hopefully move on."
Takeshi sighed and placed a hand on his forehead.
"I know I don't have to tell you this, but none of them can ever know the truth."
"Yes, I know," Hitsu responded.
"I got careless," Takeshi admitted, "I didn't realize talking about them would set off a spark in her."
"Don't worry Master Takeshi... I will never let anyone find out the truth."
...
End of Episode 53