Junko

Danet felt his body slam into the hard cold platform. Water splashed onto his face as the mechanical creature shot up above the surface. It all happened to fast. By the time he got the water out of his face, the mechanical killer whale already descended back under the water, taking Hiro with it. Danet only sat there in shock, staring at the space where the creature was just a second ago. Even the Cerevello women were just as much in shock as he was. One of them quickly shook her head and spoke up. "S-seeing that this battle cannot be continued. Our winner for tonight is Riviello's rain guardian, Danet Jean." "BULLSHIT." hearing such loud and wild outburst, everyone turned to see that that came from Claude. Alphonse was literally holding him back from behind to keep the brunette from jumping over the railing and into the arena. He was pretty strong, despite his appearance. "This is bullshit! Give me back my friend!" From the area where the guardians of Riviello was sitting, Lukas snapped out of his state of shock before looking at Claude from the other side of the arena. "Somebody seems pissed..." "Oh hoh~ So the kid does have violent emotions. What a first." Elliott purred. The two Cerevello women spoke to one another in a low tone before one of them looked back at Claude. "Your rain guardian will be recovered by the end of this night. In the meantime, both sun gurdians must prepare for their battle." Both women soon left, opening a path for Danet to make his way off of the arena, which he quickly took before something else happened. Claude grew silent, his face darkened. The rest of them appeared a bit down as well.

The two of them kept it up like this, striking and blocking each other's attacks. It was sort of a dance in a way, except Danet was showing no mercy and was actually trying to injure him again. On the sidelines, one of the Cerevello women held a stopwatch in her hands. 57.... 58... 59.... She looked up to the other woman and they both nodded. The other Cerevello woman pressed a button on a small remote that triggered small doors from under water to open up. "The creature has now been released into the battle field. Stay cautious." Hearing this, Danet struck Hiro's blade harder this time, knocking the male backwards. He could feel the grumbling coming from under the water, but he didn't know what that creature was or when it will strike. He looked back towards Hiro as the platform that they were standing on started to vibrate. "Goddamit, this is all your fault!" Danet nearly shouted, feeling anxious. He pointed his two blades at Hiro again before he dashed towards him. "No matter. I'll just let that monster take care of you for me!" Meanwhile "Is..is that a shark?" Usami pondered as she leaned over the railing of where they were sitting to try and get a better look but it was no use. "Something like that....but it looks like a robot of some sort..." Claude muttered. "How would a robot be able to function under water??" "I dunno but it's possible, right?" "Either way, let's just hope that Hiro doesn't get eaten by that thing..." Meanwhile "Danet probably got him this time." Lukas said as he semi pumped his fist in the air. For once he was actually interested in his comrade's success. That was a first. "That bastard is as good as dead." "But..we don't even know what the hell they released into the water." "Don't give a damn. From here, it sure as hell looks deadly. That's good enough for me."

Danet paused where he was standing and tapped his fingers against the hilt of his blades. He felt the water soaking their way into his shoes where they were standing. Danet started moving backwards as Hiro rushed at him again with his katana. Seeing the path Hiro's blade was making, he raised his blade to block it just as he saw him draw the sword from his hand. What the h- he thought as the sword switched to the male's other hand and slashed right at him. Not having enough time to react, Danet was knocked backwards, the katana striking him on his arm. Before he was sent skidding along the watery platform, he threw one of his blades, hitting Hiro right in the left thigh. Danet started to feel himself get enraged now. That attack left merely but a scratch on his arm. How could this guy be so...merciful in a battle to the death like this?! Something that he could never be. Danet slowly climbed back up to his feet, his hoodie knocked back to reveal his short brown hair. "This isn't a friendly brawl." he said, slowly starting to lose his cool and patience. "You had a chance to win this battle but you didn't take it. So what the hell are you waiting for?!" Meanwhile "But the question is, how long is that going to take before he realizes that?" Alphonse said as he started down at the arena, seeing Hiro getting a bad injury. "It's been 5 minutes now. Maybe his kind heartiness will lead to his demise." "Al, don't talk like that!" Usami said, a bit enraged and anxious. "Hiro is going to make it out of this somehow..." "False optimism is getting us nowhere at this point don't you see that?" As this was going on, Claude just stared at the arena, specifically at Hiro. He didn't want Alphonse's hard words to get to him but he had a point. Sonya placed a hand on Alphonse's head from where she was sitting behind him. "Aw, don't be like that you kill joy. The battle just started remember?" Alphonse simply looked away from her. Meanwhile "Well would you look at that. That rain guardian has a soft side." Elliott said as he gladly ate the candy Verionica offered him. "Hmm~ probably the worse kind of opponents to cross Danet's path. You should know this right, Lukas?" "A guy like Danet doesn't feel the need to waste his time with the weak. The fact that that guy is even holding back in the first place is truly a shock. Is he trying to get himself killed?"

Danet squinted a little bit from the water coming in his eyes and didn't bother to look behind him as Hiro appeared from the rear. Without a second to spare, Danet drew out one of his blades again halfway from his sheathe, his clashing with Hiro's, before he fully drew it out and swung it at Hiro, knocking him backwards. Danet took a few quick steps backwards. "Well look at that. You actually cut me." he said as part of his jacket sleeve appeared to be slit, with a small amount of blood leaking out. Danet drew out his other blade with his other hand and took a stance. He appeared more serious now. He kicked of the ground and dashed towards Hiro, the blade he was holding in front of himself coming dangerously close to the other male's throat and his other blade aiming for the hand that Hiro was holding the other half of the Vongola ring on. Meanwhile "So this sword style..Hiro's dad was a master at it and handed it down to him?" "Seems so." Sonya leaned forwards and seemed a bit on edge all of a sudden as Danet rushed for Hiro's neck. "What the hell?! Hiro get out of there!" "That guy seems to be aiming to get the ring at the same time..." Claude muttered as he simply stared. "Seems that he wants to get this done and over with already....hmph.." Meanwhile This sudden change of events caught Lukas's attention and he raised an eyebrow. "What a sly bastard he is..." he muttered, not expected Danet to pull something like that, ever. "And I wonder where he got that from...but if he's resorting to such tactics already...maybe that other guy is worth fighting?" Lukas seemed to ignored Elliott's indirect insult towards him but just stared at the two on the area. "Maybe..."

Shizune simply nodded her head. She was just about as good as satisfied with that reply, more or less. There was no point in trying to convince her any further but at least she didn't see her as much as a threat anymore. Her mind seemed to be set. "Until we meet again, Cairo..." she said before turning in the other direction and was off. Her foot was still in bad condition from the lightning so she wasn't as fast on her feet as she was before. Something just came to her mind and she cursed under her breath. That's right. Because of Cairo, I lost track of Gilgamesh. Shizune stopped in her tracks and looked around. He was nowhere in her field of vision. Her best bet now was to just meet back up with Gale, where ever he ran off to with that opponent he had earlier. There was no point in going after Gilgamesh with the condition she was in now and the fact that she burned up her cloak earlier. "I need to get going..." she muttered as she took a step forward and disappeared into black flames and was off to find him before Gilgamesh's men could find either one of them.

Danet simply stared at him with a hand held out towards him. (Does he really expect me to shake that?) At the signal to begin, Danet slipped his fingers between one of his two short blades and drew it out. It twirled around his wrist before resting in his hand, his other hand sitting in the pocket of his jacket. Perhaps he seemed more lax about this battle than he was suppose to. He began walking towards Hiro at a normal pace, his blade held out in front of him. Seeing no response, he stopped walking and rested the blade on his shoulder. "Please don't tell me that you're waiting for me to attack you." he said, almost yawning. He was actually bored with Hiro and the battle just started. Danet furrowed his eyebrows. "The last two times we struck first and how did that end up with your little guardians? Close to death, am I right?" he was clearly taunting him now. "Well how about this? I'll give you a free shot." Danet slid his blade back into its sheathe and placed his hand in his other jacket pocket. "This oughta make things a bit more interesting. Hurry up before I change my mind and decide to cut your head off." Meanwhile "Is this guy serious or something?" Sonya said from where they were sitting, a bit disgusted by this. "Well he seems confident for victory, that's for sure. Just how is Hiro going to handle this guy?" Reborn said as he stared down at the arena. Claude, Alphonse and Usami stared down at the arena, specifically at Danet. "He seems...to relaxed for something like this. Do you think he might have something up his sleeve or something?" Alphonse simply shrugged at Usami's comment. "Who knows. But that kind of attitude on the battlefield will get you killed." "And how do you know that?" "Common sense really." Alphonse said as he slipped his scarf up over his mouth, not saying anything else. "Either way. Hiro is going to win this. He's a good swordsman, right? His dad trained him in kendo, right?" Alphonse simply sat back while Usami clutched her braids in each hand. After the losing streak that they've been having, they weren't even a hundred percent sure of Hiro's victory anymore Meanwhile On the other side of the arena, where Riviello is waiting, Lukas frowned. "How the hell am I suppose to know. Besides does he really think he can play cool or something because it's his turn to fight those bastards now?" "Hmm? Is someone on edge because Danet might make it out of this battle uninjured?" "...No." Elliott kicked back in his seat, placing a hand on Veronica's hooded head. She didn't seem to mind him. "A one worded response out of Lukas for once. Maybe his injuries finally put him in his place!" "When I get better, I will kill you..." he growled, noticing that his sword was absent. He wouldn't have been able to carry it anyways due to his condition. Elliott simply smirked. "That'll be the day." he said before looking back to Danet's battle. "Now I do wonder what he's up to. Probably going to toy with that idiot or something."

By the time nightfall came and Colonello summoned them back to meet up in Junpei's room, Alphonse, Usami and Claude were already worn out for the day from all that training. Alphonse's clothes were slightly torn up from Usami's illusion tiger and Usami was equally beaten up. Once the group made it inside of the aquarium building, well everyone minus Junpei who was still asleep, Claude looked around in the mildly lit room. "...I wonder what this kind of arena will look like." he said, keeping his voice low. "If anything, it will be water-themed." Reborn had a point. It was the rain guardian battle after all. "This might look....entertaining." Sonya said, her eyes darting around the area __ While this was going on with Claude group, Riviello was just arriving as well. Danet, with one hand rested on one of his short blades that was sitting in a sheath on his belt, walk walking along the path of the lights on the floor. Elliott could be heard from behind, with 'ooh's and 'ahh's at the scenery. It was quite a sight so nobody couldn't really blame him. Lukas however, still walking a bit oddly from his injuries, seemed to have snapped for the tenth time today and started yelling. "WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY!" Elliott grew silent and shot Lukas a taunting look. Before Lukas could do anything to lunge at him, Danet immediately spoke. "No need to grow so violent Lukas. You already had your turn and won remember?" Lukas stopped muttered something barely audible under his breath. "Besides...my opponent seemed to be here..." he said as he spotted Claude's group, although he didn't exactly know who he would be up against tonight. It was a few minutes before the battle staretd and the Cerevello women weren't here yet. Perhaps they were early for once. Claude stared at Danet and looked down at his weapons. (Two blades....or are those swords..) He couldn't quite tell but he was still confident in Hiro's abilities.

Sonya sighed as she slapped her hand on top of his head. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be sure to tell them about it." She slightly cocked her head to the side. "Just don't turn all insomniac on me, okay? You need the rest. You're next, remember?" She removed her hand from his head and planted her hands on her hips. "Judging from the other two guardians, you opponent might be one hell of a fighter. Just keep that in mind." Sonya looked down slightly. They couldn't lose another battle. It wasn't like she could push the guy to become more serious about this than he already is. For now all she could do was hope. Meanwhile Although Usami offered Alphonse all of her macarons that she had, she ended up eating them anyways, mainly because Alphonse didn't exactly have an appetite for anything right now. When she finished the last one, the brunnette wiped the crumbs off her face and stood up. "Instead of sitting around, how about we go train ourselves." She reached into her small bag again and drew out her whip. Alphonse immediately reached his hand out and stopped her from fully taking it out. "Have you forgotten that we are in a public area!?" he hissed under his breath and took her by the wrist before walking out of the hospital. Usami shoved the whip back inside the bag and slung it over her shoulder. "As I was saying....we should go train. Don't we fight them tomorrow?" "Well yes considering that we're the last two after Hiro and Azumi." "Besides, I learned a lot of new tricks from Kaede!" she said, nearly squealing. Alphonse simply glanced away, the mentioning of such a person still getting to him. "....Fine. The entrance to get underground to the training center should be over there." he said as he pointed his finger in a certain direction. ___ A good few minutes later, the two of them have arrived at the hall of the training center that lead to the rooms. Out of much curiousity, Usami suggested that they go see how Claude and Reborn were doing. Before Alphonse could say anything, she went to go push on the button that opened the large door before them. "Hell-" she started to say before she was met with a flying body crashing into her and into the wall. It was Claude, still in hyper drive mode. A bit confused, Alphonse peeked into the room to see Reborn with one pistol out and his hand sitting on the ground with a few holes in it. This was probably one of the few times he's seen all of the hitman's hair exposed like that. "And just when we were making progress....Come on Claude, you managed to ruin my hat. You should have some more fight left in you." Regaining conciousness, Claude lifted his head up. He looked back to see he literally had Usami pinned against a wall. He quickly moved off her and pulled her to her feet, although her body was still shaking from the impact. "S-sorry about that.." he said quickly before he dashed back inside, the doors closing behind him and the rumbling continued. Alphonse sighed as he walked past Usami and clicked the door next door to open. Once they were inside, and Usami finally recovering from that, the two of them brought out their weapons ready in hand. "Just know that I won't go easy on you." he said and Usami nearly laughed, which caused him to raise an eyebrow. The space next to her began to shift. And before he knew it, a white tiger with tones of purple stripes appeared next to her. Alphonse was simply taken aback. "A tiger, really? Isn't that cheating?" "My illusions. I do what I want with them."

As the group made their way into the hospital, Reborn and Claude took off to the training center underground again for more practice. "We'll meet up with you guys later on today, alright?" was the last thing the brunette said before he left with the hitman. He must have been very determined to get stronger in order to take on Zeru. Alphonse, on the other hand was still walking off and towards the elevator that lead down to the main floor. Usami looked down before turning to Hiro and Sonya. "I'm going to go try and cheer Al up..." She said before turning on her heels and squeezing her way inside the elevator before it could close on her. Sonya gave a slight wave of the hand as the two of them disappeared behind the doors. When they were gone, she dropped her hand and looked over to Hiro. "Wait a sec. Weren't you training with Azumi and Colonello? How the hell are you still wide awake?" she asked as she knitted her eyebrows together. __ The elevator opened to the lobby of the hospital and Usami stumbled out after Alphonse, almost bumping into him, but he didn't seem to notice. He finally came to a halt when he went to go sit down on a small couch that was in the lounge area. Usami gulped a little bit. She wasn't used to this; talking to people or even cheering them up for that matter. She went to go sit next to Alphonse and for a few minutes they were in silence. Still staring ahead, she finally spoke. "You usually...never get like this. Why are you so depressed now...because of Junpei?" He didn't say anything, which caused her to panic just a bit. "W-well I-I mean you didn't get like this when T-Takushi was badly injured...so.." Alphonse drew in a breath before he let out a sigh and pulled down on his scarf a bit with a finger. "I don't know exactly but....It reminded me of something that happened a long time ago in a sense." Now curious, Usami looked over at Alphonse. "And what would that be?" "....Those people-- monsters-- that...murdered my father that night." Some color disappeared from Usami's face. She was starting to feel pity for him but she didn't say anything and let him continue. "I thought that I would witness the same thing happen again. Someone close that had death staring him in the eyes while I couldn't do anything. Takushi was already guaranteed to make it out of something like this because he was once in another mafia family, according to Claude's sister, but Junpei..." "...is still new to this?" He simply nodded. "Sorry if I was making anybody worry. These sort of things just comes back to me and.... it's really painful to think about." There was a slight pause. "And be sure not to tell anybody this. That was confidential stuff." Usami quickly nodded in response before pulling her small rabbit bag from her back and dug through it. After a second, she produced a bag of colorful macarons. "...I thought this might lift your spirits up." she said as she sat the bag down on his lap. Alphonse simply slid some of his face back into his scarf and glanced away. A small mutter of 'thank you' could be heard from him. Meanwhile Lukas simply looked away at the sight of Zeru coming. He really didn't want him to see him in this condition but it wasn't like he could retreat to his room now. Elliott, consuming another pancake, simply waved at Zeru with his fork still sitting in his hand. "Leave that to me. Their sorry excuse for a sun guardian won't be able to take me on." Danet looked away, avoid eye contact with him. "Of course..." he said slightly.

Claude somewhat grin at Hiro comforting him. He looked down slightly. "...Yeah." He quickly looked up to see Takushi leaving the room. "W-wait a second...you should be smoking in-" A hand came on his shoulder and looked back to see that it was Sonya. "Ah, just let him go. He probably needs some alone time anyways." Claude sighed as he looked over at Azumi passed out at the end of Junpei's bed. It was really baffling to him as to how she could fall asleep so suddenly. He walked over to her body and positioned it better so that she was fully on the bed, still sleeping soundly near his legs. Alphonse still hasn't said anything but he looks displeased that she would just collapse on there out of nowhere. "You all really don't plan on staying here till nightfall, do you?" Reborn said as he raised an eyebrow. "You all still have time to do some training if you're up for it." "Reborn is right. For now, we should let them rest." Alphinse was about to protest when there was a slight tug on his scarf and looked back to see that it was Usami. Her eyes looked pale, as if she was trying to reach into his mind somehow. Either way, she somehow convinced him that it was time for them to go and he made his way towards the door before walking out without another word. Usami sighed as she looked back at Junpei. "Alphonse is just going to be depressed until Junpei wakes up huh..." she muttered softly. Meanwhile "Somebody must have slept well last night..." Elliott said, almost at a mutter at he stared at her jumbled hair on top of her hair. It almost looked like tumbleweed mixed with a mane. It was quite a sight. "...Mornin' " Danet said, almost reluctantly. A few minutes later, Lukas finally emerged from his room. Under his tank top and sleeping pants, his bandages were quite visible. Elliott looked up from eating and raised an eyebrow. "No crutches?" Lukas simply settled down into an empty seat slowly. "Shut it you firetrucking piece of shit." "That didn't answer my question."

No, not to mention that original fans would get pissed off if the story was altered in any way in order for it to play out as an anime Wow how many times will the 'Will KH be an anime?' topic be brought up. It's never gonna happen

Claude could have sworn that his heart stopped for a minute. His eyes shot open at the sound of Azumi's voice. From the look on his tired face, he didn't sleep as well last night, as expected. He sat up in the hospital bed and rubbed his eyes. "Azumi...what are y- wait, Junpei is going to be okay?" Some spark of hope lit up inside him as he climbed out of bed and slid his shoes on. Alphonse lifted his head up and stretched his neck back. He looked as if he didn't sleep well either. His eyebrows raised as he heard the good news. Alphonse looked down at Usami, who was just now waking up as she moved off him. "Did anyone say something.....about pancakes..?" Alphonse simply shook his head in response as he stood up and walked towards the door and the small trails of dust clouds that her feet left behind. She must have been doing some hardcore training for her feet to be this dirty in a hospital. Alponse looked towards the others, his expression changing back to neutral even though he was relieved inside. "Let's get going." He said before walking out of the door. Usami grumbled. "....Am I getting pancakes or not?!" Claude stared at her in confusion but didn't question it. He just figured that she was always hungry. "Later. For now let's go meet up with Junpei." __ When they arrived to the room, Reborn and Sonya were already there, Reborn parked in a car and Sonya leaned against the wall. They both didn't seem like they had to issue bad news so that was a good sign. Junpei lied on the hospital bed, motionless and somewhat pale. There were bandages wrapped around various parts of his body and an IV was coming out from his arm and lead to a small fluid sac on a rack sitting next to the bed. He appeared to be in pretty bad shape from first glance but it was a relief to see that he was still alive. There was a small minute or two of silence before Reborn finally spoke up. "It was quite impressive that he managed to survive something like that. Came out of there with a broken rib, a few torn muscles. He should be fine within the next few days." Usami slightly cocked her head to the side. "So..does that means he's stuck inside this hospital for the next few days." Reborn nodded as Alphonse walked to stand besides Junpei's bedside. He said nothing. Sonya clapped her hands together. "Well! We only have until tonight before it's Hiro and Azumi's turn to battle it out. With our little athlete nuts, we should be able to beat them, am I right?" "....right." Claude muttered. He just remembered that they already suffered two losses. They couldn't get another one. Meanwhile Hearing Raiden come into the room, he turn on his side, the sheets pulled more over his body. "What does it look like? I'm not dead yet so what do you think?" he growled. He hated being in such a condition. It made him feel weak. After a minute, he finally sat up to look at Raiden. "And just what the hell do you want? Came here to tell me about your battle I couldn't give two shits about I suppose?" "Goddammit, Veronica keep it down in there before you piss off Zeru!" Danet shouted into the hallway before coming out into the main area. Elliott was already there, eating what looked to be enough breakfast for a buffet, but of course he wasn't going to share. It was just one of those things he refused to do. He saw Danet walk in and gave a smirk. "Which one of you bastards forgot about not bothering Vivi in the morning?" he said as he took a bite into his french toast that was sitting in his hands. Danet sat down at the table but didn't bother to reach and get any. The last time he did, Elliott literally knocked him out cold for a few days. "Tch. Sure as hell not me." he looked over to Zeru's door and narrows his eyes. "He hasn't been out of there. Just what the hell is he doing locked up in there?" "Somebody's worried about their boss, huh? I don't know but it's not like I really care. He's bound to come out sometime."

Claude sat there and stared as Takushi fell asleep on the couch, or at least he was convinced that he did. The brunette didn't want to get up and try to get him back into bed. Such efforts would be pointless seeing how loyal Takushi was to him. Claude turned his gaze back over to Alphonse and Usami. Usami was still fast asleep, leaning against his shoulder, but it appeared that Alphonse finally passed out as well. A small sigh came out from between Claude's lips and he laid back into the bed finally. It was warm, due to the fact that Takushi has been sitting there for a while now. (What am I going to do...) Claude thought as he stared up at the ceiling. (If his guardians are this tough, then what will happen when I go against Zeru?) He slid his hands over his eyes in frustration. He was seriously stressing over this again. He began to imagine what the battle will be like for him when that day comes before his eyes started growing heavy. A few minutes passed before Claude fell asleep Meanwhile The room was silent and dark except for the dim moonlight shining in through the window. The redhead opened one eye before looking around. It took him a second to realize that he was sitting in his room in the penthouse before pushing himself to sit up. A sharp pain stabbed him in the chest and he winched and looked to see that there were bandages covering his chest and shoulder. That's right. The storm guardian battle. The arrows that were sticking out of his flesh for a while before someone finally got that darn thing out of him. Lukas rubbed the area where that heavy wound that Takushi gave him used to be. He looked down and looked at the full Vongola ring on his finger. It's been there ever since the battle was over and he refused to set it down for a second. A satisfied grin came across his face, despite him still being injured. He still probably didn't give a damn about his injured. "Riviello....will definitely win this battle....with Zeru on our side." He weakly said before looking out the window and at the dead night sky.

Usami weakly blinked as they left the hospital room. "Do they know what time it is? It's like 2 in the morning. How are they still able to train now?" Claude shook his head. "I don't know but the next set of battles aren't until later on at night again. They should have plenty of time to rest before then." His eyes drifted from her to the door. A slight mutter escaped his lips. "Junpei..." Usami yawned and sat down in the long chair that was at the corner of the room. Alphonse was already sitting there in the very corner of the chair, silent ever since they took Junpei away. He was probably unnoticeable being so dead silent. Usami lied her head against Alphonse, who didn't seem to care, and shut her eyes. Claude narrowed his eyes in confusion. "S-she's planning on sleeping here tonight?!" Sonya shrugged her shoulders. "I don't see why not. It was a long night, plus the walk to the ship is kind of lengthy." "Hmph, either way Takushi and Junpei did the best that they could today." Reborn said. There was a faint hint in his tone that he was proud of them even though they lost brutally. "These may be the first two losses but we still have to cheer on Hiro and Azumi tomorrow." This brought somewhat of a wash of relief over Claude. Reborn turned his back on them and made their way to the door. "Well you all have fun camping out here. I'm going to sleep. Goodnight." Sonya looked over at the others before waving. "I'm heading back as well. More space on the bed for me. Ciao~" Reborn and Sonya exited the room, leaving Claude, Takushi, Alphonse and a now sleeping Usami in the room in silence. All Claude could do was stare at Alphonse as he shifted Usami's head on him. He really looked depressed; Claude didn't know what to say or how to comfort him for that matter Meanwhile Elliott gave a smile to the small mist guardian as she walked away before falling backwards onto the couch. "Hehe, looks like we're up next tomorrow, huh Raiden." The young man stayed silent for a second, the faint sound of his music from is ear buds being heard. "Yeah..." he finally said. Something looked to be bothering him all of a sudden. "I guess it will be...another win for us.." Danet stared into space for a moment before turning to walk down the hall and to his room. Elliott stared, a bit confused before lying down on the couch and slowly closing his eyes.

Character sheet Name: Rikka Appearance: Before: After: Gender: Female Bio: Rikka was once an optimistic and cheerful person. Although her family was composed of fire benders, she turned out to the odd-one-out as a non bender. Still, this didn't hold her back when it came to small skirmishes and competitions with her older brother and sister. Either way, she still manages to outshine her siblings. Her parents always kept her and her siblings contained in the small village that they lived in for reasons that were never spoken of to them. Rikka was very curious as to why she couldn't leave home but her question was never answered. Around the time when she was about 12 years of age, she came across this certain technique called chi block. Although being a non bender never bothered her much anymore, she was excited to hear that there was a technique for her kind to use so she went right away to learning it on her own. It took many years of studying and perfecting it but within due time, she mastered chi block. As her curiosity raised and despite her parents objecting, she left home in search for other chi blockers and to also see if she could learn a thing or two from them. After a while of looking and searching, she came up with nothing but has been crossing dangerous parts of towns throughout her search without even realizing. Seeing all those horrible things was all new and too much for her to comprehend since her parents kept her away from that kind of stuff. She herself was confronted a few times but she managed to use her abilities to make it out of those situations. Her outlook on life in general soon became to become dark and a bit twisted. In her mind, nobody was to be trusted and everybody was a threat. In the end she never went back home, less concerned about her family, whether they went to go look for her or not, and continues to roam about as she pleases. Over the time she's been gone, Rikka has formed into a more abrasive and violent person. Age: 19 Bender or non bender: non bender Element or weapon: chi blocking Class: tainted Kasai

It was good, still over hyped in my opinion but if you're very curious and can't wait then go ahead and watch it in theaters.

"This concludes tonight's battles. The next two battles between the rain and sun guardians will be tomorrow night at the same time. Information on where to meet will be given to you prior to the dealine." both Cerevelo women nodded before the two of them walked past Claude's group and left the arena. Alphonse picked Junpei up onto his back, his rage changed into a hint of desperation. "We can talk about this later. Right now we need to get him over to the hospital and fast." Nobody was in a disagreement and they all followed after Alphonse, who literally broke out at a run, towards the hospital Claude and Takushi were currently in. Who knew that Alphonse was a bit athletic. "Ah yes! My battle is tomorrow. That girl won't know what hit her." Elliott literally cheered. "No he isn't weak but he is lazy." Danet said as he walked up net to Elliott and Veronica. He glared at Oz out of annoyed. "Hurry up and drag his body home. I want to go to sleep." With that, he turned on his heels and walked off, really wanting to get some sleep. It was almost 2AM in the morning and all of this tension tonight was too much for anyone to handle.

Claude went silent as he waited for the audio and the camera that were broadcasting them this to fix itself back up or something, anything. He just wanted to see what happened to Junpei and possibly the others. Although he was hoping for it to work so badly, the TV just went static and he weakly pushed the button on the remote, shutting the television off. "No..." he muttered to himself as he stepped backwards and stumbled into his seat. This was probably worse for him than what happened to Takushi. Forget the whole ring conflict ordeal, Junpei could possibly be dead from that. He kept muttering 'no he can't be dead' to himself while staring down at the ground with his hands dug into his hair, tears formulating at his eyes. Claude couldn't really think straight now. This was all too much for him. Meanwhile The light was blinding. Nobody could see a thing but empty whiteness for a minute before it started to die down. As soon as that happened, Alphonse was the first one to shoot up from out of his seat and his destination was to the gate that lead inside the gates. Once he got there, his hand immediately clutched for the handle when somebody stopped him. It was the Cerevello woman tightly clutching him at the wrist. "What the hell are you doing?!" He shouted, nearly at a growl, which was very unusual for him. "The battle i-" "The battle is complete when one of the guardians contains the full ring." Alphonse felt a tug at his scarf from behind and looked back to see that it was Usami, her eyes welling up in tears. "If you go in there...Junpei will be-" "He could be dead!" The light finally cleared up and Junpei appeared lied face down on the glossy arena floor. Faint flashes of electricity was still sparking around his body. He appeared unresponsive and wasn't moving. Alphonse gritted his teeth. "Junpei!! Wake up!!" The other finally caught up to Alphonse and Usami. Reborn and Sonya rendered speechless. "Damn...talk about a total knockout.." Danet muttered as he leaned forward in his seat. Elliott almost broke out in a cackle, a piece of pockey sticking out from the side of his mouth. "Hell, Raiden knows how to put on a show doesn't he? I didn't even see that coming."

It was quite some time, moving around people, but she finally made it to the alleyway. She was on the end opposite from the crowd of news reporters and supports. Megumi peeked in to see multiple of other people were what appeared to be examining the scene, and they didn't look like average civilians either. Some of them she recognized, the NEXT heroes of course, but the other few were complete strangers to her. She cocked her head to the side slightly before taking a step in. Right then somebody ran past her. Confused, she turned back to see that the person that just passed by was being chased by somebody. Perhaps one of the criminals?

She simply frowned at him. First he approached her in such a weird way and now this? If nobody was around, she would have probably punched him in the stomach or something. "None of your business." Megumi said a bit too harshly as her brows furrowed before looking back to see that the crowd was still there. Whatever was happening stll hasn't faded out yet, which was still. "Now if you would excuse me, I'll be going now." she said before turning around and sliding her hands back into her pockets before beginning to walk off.

Megumi paused as she felt a hand come across on her shoulder. Her body tensed up for a bit before she quickly calmed down. There was nothing to panic about, she could easily knock the person out. She really wasn't in the mood for anybody hitting on her or some crap like that anyways. Megumi looked back over her shoulder with a faint glare. "Excuse me?" She said before slapping his hand off her and fulling turning around to get a better look at the stranger. "You think I'm not are of that? I can take care of myself. Besides, who are you to approach me like this out of nowhere?" She abruptly stopped after she said that. Blue eyes? Did he notice that she was a NEXT as well? Impossible, she could have sworn that she didn't activate her powers, unless it was just a lucky guess. Either way, Megumi showed no sudden emotions and stared at the man for an answer. "Well?"

Elliott sat his chin on top of Veronica's head. He was silent for the past few minutes now during the battle. Danet finally noticed and looked over to him with an eyebrow raised. "What is it?" Danet followed his eyes to see that he wasn't paying any attention to the battle but the pink haired girl across the arena that was close to raging, Azumi. "....Are you still focused on that brat or something?" Still he didnt utter a word. "E-" "Consume." "..What?" An eerie grin appeared over her face. "I'm going to consume her...when our battle against each other comes....there will be nothing left but death itself." Danet narrowed his eyes, somewhat confused before looking back at the battle. "Whatever, it's not like I ever understood you anyways." Meanwhile Junpei's eyes darted from one spear to the other before looking straight ahead at Raiden. His attack got him but Junpei didn't expect him to still be able to move from that. Riviello was probably truly a bunch to fear. Junpei heard Hiro and Azumi shout from outside of the arena. Thoughts started frantically darting around his head but all of the possible options he was coming up with were not going to get him out of this. There was literally nothing left for him to do but forfeit. But that was going to make him look like a whimp, which would end up crushing his ego in a long shot. Junpei looked down and closed his eyes before going silent. Electricity started flashing around his body dangerously, from top to bottom. He opened his eyes and thrust his palm against his chest. "Is that how it is then!? Threatening me with some bullshit taunt like that!?" His crimson eyes flared as the green electricity sparked around him. "Well?! What are you waiting for?! If you're going to end it then do it now!!" "What...what the hell are you doing Junpei!?" Alphonse said as he shot up from her seat. Reborn glanced down, the dark shade from his hat covering his eyes. He was probably thinking the same thing. "Just how is the Riviello lightning gurardian going to react to this?" he muttered, fearing the worst. Everyone were on edge now from this. Just what the hell was he hoping to get from an act like this? "...Junpei." Usami muttered before sliding her hands over her eyes in her seat. Meanwhile Claude and Takushi suddenly looked stunned from what was just happening. "No...Junpei, what are you doing?! This isn't a game dammit" Nervousness started settling into Claude's body and he kept his eyes glued to the screen, not even noticing a few hospital workers peeking into the room to see what was all the commotion about before they went back to what they were doing.

Megumi was standing on the sidewalk, staring at a small television through the glass window of an electronics store. On the television, she could see a live news report going on about some robbery. She noticed some well known NEXT heroes on the report along with some newbies, not that that was a surprise to her. Megumi raised an eyebrow as he heard some commotion coming from down the street. She shouldn't be able to hear anything from the television since the volume was on low. "...Wait a second." she looked around to see a small crowd in the distance. Megumi looked back to the TV to see that there was a quick sight of a dead body sitting in the alleyway before a few other people from the news crew started blocking the camera. "So there's already a murder..." she muttered to herself as began to make her way past the multiple people walking in the opposite direction on the sidewalk. It didn't hurt to check it out, right? As long as she didn't have to use to NEXT abilities, she would be fine.

Claude sighed out of frustration. "Well..this is a mafia battle. They just seem downright crazy all of the time now. Just look at the battles we had with Kaede and his men. But..somehow I think we'll make it through this." Claude gae out a nervous laugh as he scratched the back of his head. "That probably came out cheezy, didn't it. Sorry about that." Meanwhile Junpei narrowed his eyebrows as he watched the iron sand swords that he created disappear. He was breathing heavily. The harsh shock from making contact with the arena floor took too much of a toll on. Still, he needed to keep his hopes up, somehow. Junpie noticed the gray flakes of sand scattering all around Raiden's clothes. He didn't bother to answer his question but just focused on his stained clothing. Junpei shakily raised a hand up towards Raiden. His voice all of a sudden started to sound nonchalant. "Well of course I do. I am the all powerful Junpei after all." Raiden stared at the blonde confused but he wasn't expecting what Junpei did next. Junpeu flicked a finger up and lighting danced sharply around his hand. The small fragments of iron sand on his clothes turned into small spikes, piercing Raiden's body. Reborn gave a small smirk as he witnessed this. "So Riviello's lightning guardian left himself wide open for Junpei to make a move." Sonya turned over to him. "Yeah but will that be enough to take him down? Junpei is already in a mad condition." "What happened to not being overly pessimistic?" "Tch. I'm just curious." She stared back down to the arena at Junpei and her brows narrows in concern.

NEXT: (Not a hero.) Name: Megumi Hysai Appearance: Age: 19 Gender: female NEXT power: Enhanced strength Bio: Megumi was born into a normal middle class family. Her parents and older brother are still well. She discovered that she was a NEXT when a blue aura started glowing around her body and accidentally crushed a cup by lightly grasping it. Most people would jump right away to play with these new powers more but Megumi tried her best not to use them, but she was forced to use her powers months later after discovering them when she was suddenly assaulted by another NEXT user. She's not the most talkative person around, and definitely not the most enthusiastic about most things, which is why she avoided become a sponsor for any company. Still, Megumi tries her best to help people whenever she can while trying to stay under the radar so she isn't bugged by any companies looking for sponsors. Curious facts?: Although she has somewhat of a kind heart, Megumi doesn't have much patience for anything and can be reckless at times. Theme song: (Optional)