When the fog finally dissipated, everyone had been separated from each other.
" This fog was meant to divide us. I hope the kids are okay."
Out in the east of the factory, Aiko was by herself.
" Yuichi! Tatsuya! Santosh!"
Out west of the factory, Santosh and Tatsuya were together in the same place.
" We lost the others. What do we do now?"
" Let's hope the others are okay, just like we are."
In the south, Yuichi was there, scrutinizing the horizon.
" I'm the only one here. The thing to do now is regrouping with the others."
Having mutually decided, an enemy popped up in front of them, making their mission difficult.
" Were you heading somewhere just now, honorable guests?"
From all four locations, there was an enemy in the way.
" Move aside if you don't want to get hurt!"
" My, my! I'm so scared. What are you going to do, teach?" I'm impatient to know. You'll tell me, right?"
In the West, where Santosh and Tatsuya were.
" You poor kids, you're so young, yet we'll have to say goodbye."
" You shouldn't underestimate us, just because we're kids. You never know what those kids have up their sleeves."
" Is that supposed to scare me?"
In the East, Aiko was searching for the others without much luck.
" Where are you going, little girl? Can I help you?"
" Who's there? Show yourself!"
A teenager-like woman showed up from the shadows right before Aiko.
Back to the north, where Arata Sugawara is.
" What do we do now, teach?"
Mr. Sugawara's opponent was more of a kid in appearance than anything. Wearing a sweater, he looked at Arata Sugawara playfully.
" Don't think that I'm going to take it easy on you because you're a kid."
" Take it easy on me? Can you even defeat me, teach?"
" Don't get so cocky with me, kid!"
Mr. Sugawara cast his first attack with his earth attribute.
" Earth Magic: Rollercoaster!"
To the teacher's disappointment, casting his first ever magic, the kid could avoid it with much essence.
" Earth Magic: Gigantesque!"
The second cast put forth a gigantesque robot created out of wood. It was enormous and around fifteen meters tall.
" Amazing! I don't think I'll be able to stop this attack."
" Stop playing and take this seriously!"
" Ok! Ok! Don't get mad!"
" Earth Magic: Rock Golem!"
Mr. Sugawara's opponent cast the same attribute as him. Then appeared a rock golem statue of the same height as Mr. Sugawara's.
" What do you think of my Rock Golem? Pretty impressive, huh?"
The two collide with each other. Mr. Sugawara's Gigantesque overpowered his opponent's Rock Golem attack, turning it to nothingness.
" My Golem! My Golem!
" Crying over it won't bring it back. Underestimating me was your one and biggest mistake."
" You're going to pay for this. I was planning to go easy on you because you're a teacher, but not anymore."
" What a whiny kid you are!"
The attacks that followed were much more intense than the precedent. Mr. Sugawara couldn't take all those attacks at once. One of the attacks even injured him slightly.
" I told you not to underestimate me. It was a grand mistake to take me lightly simply because I'm a kid."
" You're right! My apologies. Now, I shall take this seriously as you wish."
" What? Weren't you serious until now?"
" What do you think? I was testing you all this time, and I've finally found my answer to the little trickery."
" A trick?"
" What? Did you seriously think that no one would find out?" Your attribute isn't the same as mine. Isn't that right, or am I wrong?"
The kid kept silent with nothing to say. All of a sudden, he simply started laughing as if possessed.
" I never thought you would figure it out." What are you?"
" Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? What are you?" Are you even a kid?"
?
" Why don't you stop this masquerade and reveal your true self already?"
In an instant, the kid lost the disguise and transformed himself into an adult. His presence was imposing and fearsome.
" You're not like any other teacher I know. I thought I could dupe you and get this over with quickly, but it looks to me that my wish won't be granted."
" As you wish, we'll fight seriously, but I can't guarantee how it's going to end."
" Don't you worry about me! I'm very tenacious. Worry about yourself instead!"
" You weren't entirely wrong. The attribute I was using wasn't mine." Moreover, my attribute is copycat, and you know what it implies, don't you?"
" I can copy any attribute I've seen and even make it stronger than the original. Let me show you a demonstration of what I'm talking about!"
Mr. Sugawara's opponent casts his gigantesque against him. Just like he said, it was stronger than Mr. Sugawara's by more than 10%
" What did you think of my splendid attack?" Not bad, wouldn't you say?"
(Winning this battle won't be as easy as I recently thought it would.)
To the West Block, Santosh and Tatsuya were also having a hard time in their battle against their opponents.
" What will we do, Tatsuya? They're too strong for us."
" These are not ordinary opponents, but we must find a way or the other to pull through this." Although our opponents are stronger than us, they're not invulnerable."
" Not invulnerable?"
Santosh remembered something he overlooked during their battle and thought of sharing it with Tatsuya.
" There's a way we can win this, Tatsuya."
" I knew you'd find a way out of this, partner. Tell me quickly!"
" Our opponents are unable to lend close-up attacks on us. Whenever we were battling, I noticed that their attacks were always long-range." We could take advantage of that and win this battle."
" Good job, Santosh!" Now, we know how to win this."
" I'll direct you as close as possible to their field of vision, so close that they'll have no time to react."
" Great!" Let's do this!"
Santosh and Tatsuya join their forces to defeat their opponents. They landed many close-range attacks against them, overpowering them.
Their opponents issued multiple injuries as a result of all those close-range attacks.
" Give up already, you two! You've got no chance of winning."
" Don't act so cocky! Just because you've figured out our weakness, you think this is over." Don't make me laugh!"
Back to the north block of the factory, Mr. Arata Sugawara's battle was more ferocious than ever.
" Ice Magic: Needles of Ice!"
" This magic—--------- How did you—----?"
" I can see your curiosity manifest itself quite well." You surely want to know how I was able to copy this attack, am I right?"
" I'll tell you how I managed this marvelous operation."
On the furthest side of the factory, Yukinari was in deep thought regarding something that's been troubling him in the last forty-eight hours.
(The copy-cat guy, why didn't he defend against any of my attacks? Why did he take it head-on without reposting?)
Back to the discussion ahead, in the north block—--------------
" What happened was that I deliberately let him inflict all those attacks!" I gave him the impression that he had the advantage and that I was a weak and measly opponent."
As he was telling him that, he recalled how it all took place forty-eight hours earlier.
" I pushed him so that he could use his strongest attacks against me. He was such a fool when he thought he succeeded in defeating me." He couldn't have known that it was all part of my strategy."
" Now, you have it." Clever, right?"
" You're scum! I won't be defeated by a pathetic copycat such as you."
" We shall see about that."
" Ice Magic: Needles of Ice!"
Casting the Needles of Ice once more, Mr. Sugawara evaded the attack quite smartly, however, the needles were following him quite closely.
" How much more do you intend to run?"
" No matter what you do, the needles will keep following you. There's no way you can escape it."
(He's right! Running isn't the solution. I'll just tire myself endlessly.)
" Why did you stop running so suddenly?" Are you finally ready to accept defeat?"
" Who said I'm accepting defeat?" There's no way I'm giving up, and that's because I'll be the one coming victorious from this battle and no one else."
" Earth Magic: Barrage!"
The Ice Needles were blocked by Arata Sugawara's Barrage spell.
" What do you think of this?"
" Ice Magic: Needles of Ice!"
He cast the same attack repeatedly, but Arata Sugawara stopped them without exception.
" You're strong!"
" And so, are you?" You've kept up well, but you have to agree that we can't go on forever like this." This battle has to come to an ultimate end."
" I completely agree with you. As much as I'd like this battle to go on forever, that's impossible." Let's end this!"
Both of them were equally tired. They had just as much for one more attack and nothing more. They prepared to cast their last attack.
" Earth Magic: Gigantesque!"
" Ice Magic; Needles of Ice!"
The two attacks created a big bang once they collided. Neither of their attacks could overpower the other. The match ended in a draw. They both collapsed out of fatigue.
" Despite everything, this was a great fight, wouldn't you say?"
" Yes, it is! You've fought well. I had a great time."
Back to the west block, Santosh and Tatsuya were in a bind as their opponents had combined their forces into one. They transformed into gigantic creatures before their eyes.
" They're enormous. Do we still have a chance?"
" Let me think, here!"
" There's nothing to think about! You're both finished."
(We're in a bind right now. How can we take advantage of their new appearances and win this battle.)
With Tatsuya thinking of a way to win, Santosh was doing the same. With their combined mindset, they figured out a way to win.
" It'll take more than this to defeat us. Bring it on!"
With their new forms, both the opponents have overlooked something crucial, which was their body shape. Being too big to run, their acceleration decreased enormously, giving Tatsuya and Santosh the advantage.
" More to the right, Santosh."
" On it!"
" Rock Magic: Surging Punch!"