"Where ... am I?" Sango felt her hands drift slowly yet freely. It felt as if she were under a warm stream of water. Rifts of something passed her forehead. Everything around her pitch black, except for clumpy bubbles that floated in front of her. Inside of these bubbles, she noticed a familiar little girl walking with someone holding her hand tightly.
She swayed over, only for the bubble to swoop in and envelop her. She suddenly felt herself being tugged along, someone held her hand. The grasp, tight, palms sweaty. "Who are you? Where are you taking me?" She instantly wondered, as a sense of distress coursed through her, exacerbating the already asphyxiating sensation she felt inside of the bubble. Then, she found herself tucked in a bed, with the same shadowy individual, except he now stood over her. She still couldn't identify his face, but the outline of his hair was the same as before. Her body couldn't move, paralyzed under the piercing gaze of the individual. A smirk formed across the side of his face. That was the only thing she could really see in the darkness.
"Papa?" She tried to speak, but found her voice wouldn't come out. She felt a tight grip around her small neck. Trying to get free, she kicked and kicked, as she slowly became light headed. She tried to claw out, but her hands went right through the muscular forearms of this being. Suddenly, she gasped, waking up.
Sango slumped over, coughing several times against the wet grass that brushed across her nose, she was still soaking wet from head to toe. The last thing she remembered was her attempt to strike the being that had been choking her daughter. " HIMARI! " She cried out frantically. Clenching her dress, she pressed her palms against her knees and tried to stand, only to fall over, catching sight of Haruna lying unconscious on the grass. A being with a similar uniform to Takumi, stood beside her. "HIMARI!" She shouted.
"Ma'am! Sit down! Refrain from standing so fast." She heard someone say to her right. "Someone bring a ventilator again!" A woman approached her, with the same uniform. An emblem on their glove indicating that they were part of the Ikigai. At that moment, Sango remembered Takumi's betrayal.
"The despicable brat!" She thought to herself, remembering he let the strays take her daughter. Furious, she headed straight for him. Her energy soon died down when she got closer to him, but she still slapped him across the face, shocking not only Shiro who wasn't expecting it, but the other Setsu present.
"MY DAUGHTERS GONE BECAUSE OF YOU!"
Takumi's gaze remained on her, silently. " NOW WHAT WILL I DO IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO HER?!" She reached out to grab Takumi's collar. He cut her off. " It's all part of the plan."
"What!?" She stared at him confused.
"If it weren't for me, we could have all been dead," Takumi sighed.
"And what about my daughter!? She's..."
"She's fine," Takumi interrupted. "They won't touch her, as long as they want their precious contract. They're bound to keep her a hostage, and bring her for a trade eventually and they know we're coming. Whoevers behind this shit." Sango let go of the boy, noticing the bright red slap mark on his face. She automatically slipped into her apologetic nature, though Takumi didn't respond. She stopped her bowing.
"How can you be so sure?", she asked.
"This line of work isn't anything new to me," Takumi replied. "So, you just focus on not getting in the way, and leave this type of problem for me to worry about. Besides, we may end up getting her back sooner than you think..."
She couldn't say anything in response, but bowed, expressing her regret. "I'm sorry..." Takumi passed by her with no further response.
Shiro himself was biting the side of his knuckle the whole time, only to let out a sigh of relief that Takumi hadn't done anything, knowing full well of his past tendencies. "Oh yes! Ms. Ginko," Shiro began, watching Takumi go off to Haruna's side.
"Ay, wake your punk ass up" Takumi slapped Haruna across the cheek softly. Each slap grew stronger, until she slapped his hand away and upper cut him away with a clean connection to his chin. She shot her eyes open. She leaned up, checked her arm, swinging it around in a rotation. It wasn't snapped anymore. Haruna sighed in relief. "What was that? Where am I? That felt like a total nightmare" She said under her breath. Takumi picked up on this, adding " Eh, You are the nightmare"
Haruna rolled her eyes and stood up, headed for him. "You're such a funny guy!" She lightly kicked the back of his leg, but Takumi didn't pay all that much mind to it. "Next time I give you an order, you follow it instead of running in to get your butt kicked by some transgender cyclops."
"Hey! If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be here talking Mr.Hotshot!" Haruna waved her finger at him. "Besides, I can defend myself!"
"Yeah, okay." Takumi let out a slight cough "Listen, we're headed to an old factory ... there are going to be even more strays like the ones we encountered and probably Shiki's. It's a danger to you. I can't have you go further than this, so go back to the estate. I've got everything covered. You're only going to be reckless and it's my ass that's going to be in trouble if something happens to y-"
" No way FELIPE! Miyumi entrusted me to do this and I have to get permission for my Kendo CLUB, so I'm going! Shimmies or no billy's!"
Haruna spouted. "This is earned! and besides, I can't go back on my word, I already gave it to Ms.Sango" Haruna puckered her lips in thought.
Takumi sucked his developed fangs, face palming himself. "Why won't this brat ever listen?", He thought to himself. He turned around, pressing his palm to her forehead in an attempt to shove her, but Haruna slapped it away, and the two stared each other down as Haruna then said. "Sting the boy" The necklace materialized around Takumi's neck as the three silver marbles formed a cocoon around Takumi and shocked him as he shouted until it deactivated.
"Don't go ruining things," Takumi forced himself up and stepped away, with the intention of returning to Shiro. Haruna called to him, making him expect she'd use the collar again. Takumi flinched a single eye. "Wait, where's that classmate of yours?" Haruna glanced over to Sango with concern.
"She was taken while you were on your butt sleeping" Said Takumi, waving her off.
Haruna stomped her foot, shaking her head. " I can't believe you're being rude at a time like this! Despicable!!!" She then dropped her hands to her side, sadly looking over to Sango.
"Uh, miss," Haruna heard someone behind her. A Setsu pulled her aside, presenting her with a pair of gloves. "Inside of that bat craft, we've brought a uniform for you to use, since it's going to be very chilly where we're going-"
"Based on your particular tastes, Miss Cordelia had it tailored to your liking"
"Oh um ... thanks, I can't believe she did that for me" Haruna bowed, being led to the bat craft.
"We'll continue the talk inside of the craft. Go on ahead," Shiro told Sango, getting a nod from the Setsu accompanying Haruna. Sango was taken inside as Shiro was pulled to the side by Takumi.
"Those strays that showed up... I looked through one of their memories during my encounter. If we're going with three packs, I'm going to have to go on ahead myself once we arrive at the front entrance. There's someone I have to take care of before anything else."
"Got it, we'll see" Shiro agreed. A few Setsus stayed back to fix the home, while Takumi and the others took off. The bat craft seemingly blended into the night sky. Haruna watched from a greyish window, as the grass was being blown around as they lifted off.
" Knowing Cordelia herself is behind this, I'm not surprised this is so stylish ... too stylish for me " Haruna admired the bright red coat she now wore, staring at the metallic Ikigai piece on it's right forearm. It felt too cozy, as did the maroon shorts and leggings. Even the snuggly warm brown boots she'd been given.
Soon she was being served hot chocolate and cookies in the cockpit. It almost made her sleepy. She delightfully relished in the snacks, recommending that Sango try some. Sango kindly refused, too worried to eat anything. "I had some tea," she informed Haruna. "And so did you, are you sure it's proper to drink so much for a young lady?" Sango asked.
"Ahhh, it'll be okie! I had water before having the tea you gave, so this should warm me up more" Said Haruna.
Sango not wanting any, made Haruna concerned enough that she reached out and took Sango's hand.
"Takumi told me Himari was taken, but don't you worry tough! we're going to get her back."
"I'm embarrassed I failed so hard, but if there's one thing a Hasegawa never does... it's to give up on their goal!" Haruna's optimism earned her a vague smile from Sango.
"I only hope so ... " said Sango, turning her sights to the clear night sky which shifted into grey clouds the bat craft flew into. Hazy winds carrying snowflakes struck the dark windows near Haruna.
Haruna looked around, as neither Takumi nor Shiro were nearby. The pair found themselves in the transmission room within the bat craft.
"Natsu, do you hear us?" Shiro asked, flicking on some buttons, a total of three holograms reading "pending" appeared, floating in front of them. Three Setsus soon came into view, all Shousas.
"Yes, Shousa Shiro I'm here"
"Same, what's cookin', good lookin'?" Keichi came into view, saluting Shiro who laughed, watching Sayuri whack Keichi over the head. "Be serious!" She told him as he rubbed the back of his head. " Aw! Hit me like that again and I'll lose brain cells! "
"You have none" The two bickered until they all noticed an uneasy vibe.
"Uh ... is Kiku okay?" Natsu asked, as all of them looked at Kiku, who was spaced out and very quiet.
" Kiku, you hungry? You look pretty hungry the way you're staring at that apple ... " Said Keichi, but shut up right away as Kiku swatted the apple off of the dashboard violently. The others all froze up. Their eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
" You haven't slept at all," added Keichi, concerned.
"I'm fine," Kiku gripped the hilt of her saber tightly, her frown deepening. Everyone present, especially Keichi, knew she had only one thing in mind.
"Maybe it's a bad idea she came along ..." Keichi thought to himself but soon brushed it off. "Too late now though"
"If you say so..."
"Carry on" She said, Takumi silently took note of the foul mood Kiku visibly put out with no care as Shiro cleared his throat. "Okay, I talked to Alto a while ago, so let's make sure everyone knows how this is going down."
"That factory has a total of three entrances on the ground. We're conducting a cleansing of the place"
"In other words, we're killing everything?"
"No, not everything ... we have to gather intel on what those Strays are really after, who sent them ... they aren't typical Strays. It seems they've managed to infiltrate a few wards already, so if we want to catch them all we need those at that factory,"
"We also have to get the client's daughter safely, so no killing Strays that are willing to give up information- spare them a few more seconds"
"or at least, take their memories before killing them" Natsu interjected.
"That works too ... It's always blood shed with you Natsu"
Insert what the other Setsu says and make it more conversational. He's the third one. Have to add him into the convo too.
" Okay, here's the load down. Kiku and her pack will swoop in from the rooftop and dismantle whatever is creating that Retsu storm. Me and Takumi are going to lead Ms.Sango through the front to try at negotiations, even though we won't really be negotiating. We'll get her daughter."
"Keichi, you guys are going to go through the tavern entrance on the east side, reported to be underground. Do your best to pinpoint the location of the missing humans. There will be back up for that. While inside, we'll share whatever intel we've gathered and do this as fast as possible." Shiro explained pointing along the holographic maps lay out.
" I'll be going in to rescue Moriko first through the west side, while exterminating any Stray that gets in my way," Natsu interjected.
"Everyone knows their roles. If at any point something's up, we contact the nearest pack. We execute the cleansing well. The triangle system: contain and control. Other Setsu will be in the perimeter of the factory so that none escape"
"Easy enough"
"Remember what weighs on a balance ... if that storm continues through and Shiki's make it by, terror will ensue and everything else will be ... catastrophic"
"Agreed" They all said, except Takumi and Kiku, who stared at him with hatred.
Natsu gave a nod to them, her light orange hair being blown around by a gust of wind. A foot of snow dropped down behind her, from a dead tree that had snow accumulating on it. Another bunch of snow poured down, prompting her to flick her hood over her head.
" Natsu, can we go now? " She heard one of her packmates ask in the distance.
"I'm almost done here, just a sec " She told them, bringing the attention back to the hologram of the other three Shousa and Takumi.
" Stay safe, and may you vanquish as many of those dastardly things. Good hunting."
"Thank you, good hunting" Natsu saluted them, as they all did the same, except for Takumi, who adjusted his Ikigai cap on his head, turning away from the rest of them.
Closing the holographic interface, Natsu took off in a sprint, swiftly dropping down a steep decline. She continued jumping from boulder to boulder until she splashed down onto a small river path.
"Onora, lead us to where you and the girls were attacked " Instructed Rabo, who slowed himself down so Onora could lead the way. His long brown mane flapped around, soon rising up to cover his face, taking the form of a brown furred beast, all but his ox like nose, was covered in fur.
Arriving at the location, he dropped down, sniffing until he found a bracelet that belonged to none other than Moriko. Akio swooped down beside the pair, recognizing it as the one Rabo had bought her for her birthday the previous month.
" Those Strays that ambushed you ... are going to pay with their miserable lives "
" Rabo can you pick up on Riri's heart gem? If it hasn't been shattered then there's still hope for her "said Akio, dropping onto one knee, gazing up at a number of crows flying overhead. A series of cawing, continued, not stopping until Rabo punched through a tree, the loud thrash scaring the flock off. All the while Akio dug his finger into the snow surrounding his knees, making the location of Riri's remains more visible for him. It didn't take long for Rabo to go off in search of a bloody trail belonging to Riri.
"Look, there's a body!" To an amateur, the very sight was sickening to the core, but seasoned veterans like the two, didn't bat an eyelash. Rabo made short work of tearing the center of the ribcage open, jabbing his free hand into the slimy mess, until he felt a rigid surface. From within, a soft red light flickered: it was Riri's heart gem. Onora felt nauseous, leading her to walk off to an open path of long dead oak trees a few yards from them.
Rabo quickly ripped out the heart gem from it's spinal connection behind the intestinal lining that ended up jumbled around. He placed it into a pouch and tossed it to Onora, giving Onora the heads up to let Natsu know that they had Riri's heart gem.
She did so and with that, the three were off to catch up with Natsu.
" Hang in there Moriko! We're coming for you! " said Onora, going as fast as possible.
The three soon found themselves passing a series of metallic beams and a construction excavator. They were in front of a cavern entrance, with chain swings swaying along the inner rocky walls, although there wasn't any wind blowing. On the contrary, heat emanated from within, creating puddles near the entrance where icicles dropped at random, adding to the shiny bedrock, Onora observed her reflection in one puddle.
Something swooped down behind them, startling Onora but she realized in relief that it was only Natsu, slipping out her saber.
" Don't go in without getting ready, rookie " Natsu told Onora, who agreed, sliding out her Saber. Neither Rabo nor Akio had sabers. Rather, Rabo had his hairy fists and Akio had on specialized Ikigai gloves, serving as his preferred Woshu weapon.
" You two don't have your sabers, " Said Onora, to which the two replied.
" Of course not "
" This is the first time you've come along with us, a great chance for you to absorb some experience, stay close, we're going to show you how requests are completed, "
" I'll show you my mighty delta jombo punches are better than those flimsy toothpicks you call sabers"
" That's right ... I've always been protected by them, but never ... I never had a request of this degree ... "
- insert Onora and Moriko flashback -
"She's done so much for me... I have to return the favor." Onora gripped her saber, her focus higher than ever before.
She followed Natsu's lead, as they passed through the chains, with Natsu slashing away the ones in their path until they arrived at an open space.
Ahead of them .... Onora's jaw dropped. Overhead, hundreds of rectangular boulders, all of different sizes, spanned as far as they could see. They couldn't even see a ceiling, as the rest was pitch black.
"This vibe... it's easily on Yayoi's level," Onora shuddered, her knees weakening as she sensed a menacing power hidden high up in the darkness.
"No, her's is far higher. You just haven't witnessed it," Natsu winked. "This is barely on my level, so lighten up," said Natsu, checking out the space ahead. None of the boulders were coming down at them, though she knew they probably would the moment they got on the rocky field. "Were sensors set up?" Natsu wondered as she knelt down, checking out the ground area ahead and then the visible walls for any kind of door that'd lead into another area.
" Over there, there's an entrance but it's pretty far. I don't think Onora can make that" They observed, focusing their sights, the three realized there seemed to be a barrier of Retsu set up.
" Aw come on! I'm right here! I may be a rookie, but I can evade capture easy enough"
Natsu noticed the glimmering door they were talking about. Easily the equivalent of three football fields straight ahead. However, she brought her attention to whatever was up there, along with the hundreds of rectangular boulders.
" Say Akio, how fast do you think you can throw Onora over there? She weighs only eighty pounds."
" You're going to throw me?! "
" Nooo, we're going to roll you over there. Of course we're throwing you over there rookie! It's the only way to get you there fast enough without you getting in the way " said Rabo, patting her back as Akio agreed and lifted her up by her collar before she had time to disagree any further.
"Wait!" Onora sought another way to get through without being thrown. Though Onora tried using her Setsu eyes, she still couldn't see past the darkness.
" Some sort of Gando zone is casted up above, it's really strong "
" Shousa Natsu, want me to scope it out? " Onora attempted to bribe.
" No, you're going on ahead. We have to find Moriko as soon as possible so we can help Lord Takumi."
" Hurry up and throw her already " Said Natsu.
" Are you sure we can throw her without those things getting in the way? Might wanna try tossing something else first ... "
" You're really working for that promotion, " said Akio as a joke, leading Natsu to give him a dirty look, only muttering " Go on now "
" Alright, how about you bring out one of those Shiki's you keep in those fancy cards "
" Very well " Natsu reached for one of her back pouches. She slid out a deck of cards and started to shuffle them, then drew a random card and tossed it straight ahead. It landed and formed into a penguin looking Shiki that pecked at it's tummy, before looking their way with a turn of it's head. But just as the adorable little creature was about to squall, one of the boulders flew down, slamming over it right before their eyes, splattering blood everywhere.
" Sooo ... can you throw her without her hitting the ground? "
" I can try, I haven't played horse shoe in years, last time I did Kale beat me out of poki, I never played again" Said Akio, stretching his shoulders, he swung his arm in a circular motion, numerous cracks being heard.
" No! I don't want that! Can we go another way?!" Onora's pleas were ignored. She did manage to get free from Akio but by the time she turned to bolt out, Akio already lifted her back up, and spun her around. She cried, and accidentally flung her saber. When it hit the ground , a boulder flew down and exploded into a cluster of rocks that caused more boulders to come down. Miraculously, Onora was thrown right between all of them at the right time, clearing the field in a matter of seconds. She slammed right into the door at the other end, slumping down face first.
"I'll get her saber " said Akio confidently, stepping out onto the field. Right as he did, two large boulders came his way but Rabo flew in over him and headbutted both, blowing them away as Akio smirked.
Rabo landed, front rolling in front of Akio as another rock was headed for him. Akio spun around the boulder, and chopped it into thousands of chunks that flew around, smashing to the ground rapidly.
Their contact with the ground caused hundreds more of the rectangular rocks to hurle down. Akio traced the space ahead for the saber, but spotted the blade rattling. It floated up causing him to lose sight of it. As his eyes went up to the darkened space, a series of rocky spears flew down, one headed right towards his eye. Natsu swung right in and slashed the spear with her saber, preventing him from getting impaled.
"Close one, good looking out! " He thanked Natsu, rubbing the center of his big nose with his hairy palm.
"Here, give this to Onora, " Natsu tossed her saber to Akio, who caught it, bewildered.
"I'll handle things here, you go on ahead and tell her to not to lose my saber,"
"Won't you need this-"
"Nah, I'll get the rookie's saber. Now get moving, that's an order!"
Natsu went to Akio and slapped his buttcheeks, startling him as he rubbed his bum.
"Ooo, I didn't know you were into that, nasty Natsu."
"Oh please, just get outta here."
Right as she said this, a number of boulders flew their way, but again, Rabo crushed them, giving them a nod. Akio saluted Natsu and dashed off with Rabo. The pair dodged spears that seemed to be aimed at the other end where they were headed.
To this, Akio and Rabo both stopped, as clusters of debris were being broken apart around them, and now boulders were headed for them along with spears. They were in a tight bind, unable to catch them all but then Rabo noticed Akio's buttcheeks were shining and from them, fluttered a series of cards.
"What th-" Said Rabo, as grey smoke passed them. Around the pair were a total of ten large rotating cards. Inside of each card, spears and boulders were visible.
"When did she even tag me?" Akio thought, only to remember the buttslap.
"That Natsu, she's something else" Rabo laughed, rubbing his beard, as Akio shook his head. The pair jumped onto a card that flew up, avoiding a number of spears that came in again. The large card kept them floating at the center as it flew over the spears and released a storm of smaller cards onto the incoming spears. These smaller cards caught the spears, freezing them as the cards floated in place.
The large card took off, passing into the area they dubbed "safe zone" since nothing seemed to pass through. There, Onora had been watching in amazement. Both Rabo and Akio stepped off the giant card as Akio grabbed Onora and ran to the other end of the safe zone.
"The door's right there, where are you going?!" Onora shouted, only to watch the large card press itself against the center of the door. It expanded to fit the entire frame of the door and then lit up, glowing a bright orange. An explosion followed soon after, shaking the ground Akio stood on. Akio laughed at the girl. "That's one of her tricks, do you really want to stand that close to that? Foolish girl! That door is not even there anymore, burned to nothing" Rabo told Onora, who shook her head furiously, and quickly stepped back as Akio placed her down.
" Wait .. if she could do all of that, why didn't she do it before risking my life?!" Cried Onora, feeling betrayed by the Shousa she trusted.
"SHOUSAAA!!" Onora wailed.
"She just doesn't like to exert Retsu needlessly kid... it's nothing personal. She has faith in us and even you, enough to know nothing would have happened. She always loves to have three to four tricks up her sleeve in every situation she finds herself in. Bad habit ... " Akio informed Onora, handing her Natsu's saber.
"Another piece of cake! Even back in the academy days, she's the sole reason our requests have always gone smoothly and our necks are still intact though. Jeez, I just remembered that Whalsha almost had us that one time at Seige ford ... " Rabo cringed but turned his attention to their objective.
"What's the hold up?" The three heard Natsu telepathically ask aggressively.
"That's our cue, let's get a move on!" Rabo sniffed the smoke that filled the area ahead of them and went through the now gaping space, and the three disappeared into the floating smoke that filled the safe zone. Akio only glanced back once, to Natsu, who had her sights up, nothing was coming down at her yet.
"Really seems like you've gotten bored up there," Natsu chuckled. "Can't blame you though, since it hasn't been working out too well. Why don't you just get down here, so I can exterminate you, hmm?"
Her words were met with silence, until she spotted movement at the corner of her eye. It was quick, going all around the boulders that surrounded Natsu. "One enemy? Two? Three?! N-NO FIVE?!" Natsu sensed powerful vibes all around, equal to her own, now making themselves known. She felt them all focused on her, but only one came out into plain view. This one stood on top of a boulder, fifty feet in front of Natsu.
Adjusting her gloves, Natsu continued her strut walk over to Onora's dropped saber and kicked it up. Catching it, she swiped it to her side, causing the Ikigai poncho she had on to whip over behind her. The being above spotted the symbol of the Hachi along the front of the unique poncho. "Nice ... I've never seen one with a creamy color. Wish we could afford cool stuff like that," said the girl, in an admiring tone. Her voice was quickly cut off by Natsu who lunged up onto a card she threw. Upon stepping on the small card, it grew, taking off with Natsu on top.
"You're the first I see, so you're the first to taste this SABER!" Natsu shouted but right when she got onto the boulder the being had been on, there was no one there. Natsu assessed what this being looked like. "A teenage girl? Has to be a stray from another region... one so young ..."
"But with that sort of vibe?" Natsu refocused, checking out the large rock she was on. "She just disappeared? Nah, no way." Natsu quickly jumped up to remove herself off of the boulder, and looked up as the stray was coming down right for her with some sort of rocky spear. Natsu barely twirled sideways, as a cut formed along her cheek.
The being had drawn blood from her with a rocky spear, and in midair, the two stared into each other's eyes. "Dead eyes, huh? Fitting for someone who's gonna be dead soon..." Natsu remarked.
Natsu watched her foe crash down, she only saw a series of spears spring up right for her, having formed from the boulder. What she didn't know right away, being that when the stray landed, her spear stabbed into the boulder. Merging with it, it caused several spears to fly straight up towards Natsu, who was still airborne.
" SETNA CORAL GAT!" Natsu swiped her hand in front of herself, releasing a card that wrapped itself around her. The spikes still stabbed in, tearing through the cards as the being rose from her kneeling position. The Stray watched the card tear to pieces and wondered "Where's the body? "
Just then, she turned around and found a fist jammed right across her cheek, sending her crashing off of the boulder, straight into another floating one in the distance.
" You almost got me there ... " Natsu said, sliding her hand down to her curvy hip. She rotated her saber in her other hand, cautiously raising it to her side as she noticed the vibes growing stronger from around her. "I'm not alone here ... at any moment they'll ambush me"
" And with that ... This fight isn't going to be as simple as I thought" Natsu sighed, thinking back to the brief exchange she had with the girl in midair.
The cut on Natsu's cheek continued to bleed, a number of droplets dropping down onto the rocky ground. As it did, the blood took the form of red bean looking humanoids that started to jump and dance around Natsu. This was one of her Woshu weapons, created from a pill she takes before going out on requests. The more they rotated around Natsu, the larger they grew. As rocks rushed down, they stood around her, having stopped in place. They grew several times, smashing away the rocks while Natsu knelt down and flicked her thumb through her deck of cards a number of times. A habit, she had whenever she had to think deeply. There, she started to think over.
"Those are some really cool toys you made" Natsu heard the being say in a soft monotone voice.
"Those toys are going to crush you. Step down here, I dare you!" spouted Natsu.
"The way you talk... " The being whistled. "Are you able to make more? You don't mind if I break them right?"
The stray took a step up, gliding effortlessly and came down, returning onto the boulder. Right as she did, Natsu's Woshu stormed for her.
"Great! She took the bait! But none of those others came out?! " Natsu flew back, darting her sight around to several boulders floating around them.
The thought of one coming down at her while she faced, the being head on kept lingering in her head.
Just as Natsu brought her attention back to the stray, she was shocked to see her Woshu's were all being shredded apart with their limbs flung around.
Seeing an opening, the stray bolted for Natsu as marime wheels briefly formed under her shoes, the rest of the shoe's outline shifting into rocky skates momentarily. Natsu flicked her thumb over her deck of cards, causing hundreds of cards to flutter past the being that engaged her. Their exchanges, neck and neck.
Natsu slashed Onora's saber over, blocking the tip of the strays rocky spear. Green dots that resembled eyes formed along the spear, an intense menacing vibe coming from it. Natsu knew she couldn't block and switch to offensive for too long, as she felt her opponent's spear growing stronger in force with each passing second.
[Have a panel that shows the stray with the spear and then in the same panel, another of the stray rushing in midway, so it shows the effect of her body being blurry]
The Stray was using the spear with ease, making jabs with both sides of the spear, but whenever Natsu blocked, she had to watch for the being's leg that kept aiming for her knees. Not to mention the sharp rocky bottom the strays rollerblades had.
Suddenly, with the spear coming in again, Natsu aimed to clash but as the saber went in, the being took a small hop back and switched into what seemed to be a batting position. With a swing, the spear made contact with the saber a second time, shattering the edge of the spear, surprising Natsu, who attempted to regain her balance.
The stray swiftly spun low and managed to stab the piece she held, into Natsu's gut at that moment, gripping the back of Natsu's hip as she stabbed away. She tightly gripped the side of Natsu's rump, pressing her palm against the outlining. Natsu clenched one eye, feeling the being stab through, into her insides numerous times while remaining in place. Groans left Natsu, followed by an escaped moan at the end, that made the being raise her brow. "Ahaha..." the being slowly laughed as Natsu remained in place, immobile.
The Stray pulled the piece of her now bloodied spear out of Natsu's gut, and stabbed it into the ground, plunging it like a fork on a juicy steak. Spears shot up from the ground, stabbing into Natsu's sides, through her thigh and shoulder.
"You know, I think we can get along really well," the being stated, licking her lips and tapping her index finger under Natsu's chin. "Let's start with introductions. I'm Kyra, and you?" Natsu remained silent.
"Err ... you seem very fashionable ... does Osaka have any aesthetic record stores? I haven't gotten a chance to check the place out myself yet. But we should be here a while. It's a total bore in-" Kyra continued to speak.
"The others aren't coming out? I see..." Natsu thought to herself, ignoring Kyra.
"Say... why won't your friends come out?"
"What friends?"
Kyra glanced over to the different boulders that Natsu's eyes were checking out. "Why would they come out? They probably want to let us have fun on our own... maybe waiting for something amusing to happen between us. You ignoring isn't cool, you know"
"That's good... " said Natsu, smirking.
"Hm?" Kyra tilted her head, then shrugged. "Since you aren't being as interesting as I thought you'd be, I guess I'll kill you and play with your body." Kyra was going to reach out for her rocky spear but just as she did, she found a bright orange flash spreading rapidly around her, shining up against her face, only getting a chance to gasp as her body began to spiral uncontrollably.
"What t-" her head swirled, she spun over in the air, bringing her attention down to the boulder she had been on. The ground where Natsu had been was burned to a black crisp.
"Where is she?" Kyra wondered, and then heard an explosion from her upper left. The boulder had been smashed to bits and as chunks of the boulder floated around, Natsu stood on one of them, holding a small rocky doll in one hand.
Kyra sucked her teeth seeing this.
"It was just a toy... I wasn't surrounded at all!" Natsu face palmed herself, clenching the doll tightly.
Kyra shouted at her. "That's a special toy! Can you toss it back to me? Please don't damage it, construct-"
"Sure," Natsu replied, tossing the doll at Kyra. As the Stray went to catch it, Natsu came down with her saber. Kyra gasped, having caught the doll but was wide open, as Natsu had the ridge of her saber close to Kyra's face.
Just as Kyra thought the saber was going to cut into the center of her face, Natsu seemed to disappear, only for Kyra to realize, Natsu had grabbed onto Kyra's waist, having whipped over right behind her. Natsu yanked Kyra's rump up against her, letting go of her saber. Both still high in the air, Kyra was now facing the ground as they remained suspended in the air.
Natsu gripped Kyra's hips tightly and in a single hump motion, Kyra plummeted to the ground, aimed at her very own spear.
In a matter of seconds, Kyra found herself pinned to the ground, the spear having impaled through her spleen. She couldn't move. Unsure why, she quickly realized the blood on her spear mixed with her own. The blood rose up over the spear, forming into another Woshu entity.
"A.. Another toy?" Kyra said, watching this entity that formed out of Natsu's blood. It's head rattled side to side erratically as it let out a distorted moaning sound from its mouth over Kyra, despite its mouth remaining completely still.
Natsu swooped back down onto the boulder, walking towards Onora's saber that had stabbed into the boulder.
Kyra tried to push herself up, but found herself in a dog-like position, as Natsu grasped the hilt of the saber and continued on her walk towards Kyra with a look of glee for what she had planned.
"Kyra, you're needed on the third floor," a stern voice echoed all throughout the place. The very voice coming through the darkness above them sent shivers through Natsu's entire body, keeping her frozen.
Hearing this, Kyra stood up with ease, shocking Natsu, who thought she had her. Kyra sighed, ripping the spear out. " Well, that's the end of my fun .. I would have turned you into my next dead toy but that'll have to wait until our next encounter... see you " is all Kyra said, swiftly taking off onto another rock. "WHAT?! HOLD-" Natsu shouted for her to hold up and went after her but when she got up onto the boulder, Kyra was gone.
"Drats, the third floor?! For what? Who was that .... " Natsu still felt terrified. "Wait... Sayuri's on her way to the third floor. Damn!"
Natsu raised her wrist up, tapping the center of her watch she ordered " Connect me to the Karoshi pack, Sayuri."
A green loading symbol continued to rotate until a slithering worm hologram flopped, exclaiming "Sorry! No connection available!"
"It must be that storm. If the others are experiencing the same, we won't be able to execute the cleansing. Gotta get to my pack first." With that, Natsu dropped down to the ground and took off towards the direction her pack members went through earlier. She could sense them up ahead, but they weren't alone.
"Is that... Moriko's vibe? It's fading out, and... someone else is with her"