:Alive: First Warning [IC/Not Accepting] [Pg-16]

[Mr. Hyde]

Leroy was rummaging through each aisle.  Des had picked up the majority of stuff they sought in this store, it was so convenient...like everyone on earth had vanished in a day, as opposed to some stragglers looting everything in sight.  Whatever it was, it was good for them, as they had their pick from a large supply of outdoorsy items.  

 

Leroy had a big shopping cart, and within it were: 7 sleeping bags, 2 tents, the walkie talkie that Des had given him, 2 lanterns, 3 boxes of matches, a cooler, and 1 portable toilet.  

 

"Ahhh that should do 'er!  Got all the stuff we need in an easy trip!  Oi, Des, you ready to head ba-" he was interrupted by the faint sound of a screech, and then shouts came after that.  Des had darted out of the store, but before she had left, she instructed him to pick up a small toolbox.  He shook his head in disbelief.  "OI!  Des, what in the bloody hell do you think you're doing!"

 

"She's going aftera majin thats attacking Christina."  Yuel said nonchalantly to Leroy.  "Its a biggin too, so it may be tough for her to live through this...what a shame."  Leroy gritted his teeth.

 

"Now you listen to me Yuel, Christina's a big girl, and she can handle herself.  She can come out alive in any situation!  Don't you dare go around underestimating my friends like that..." the app had become silent.  "I wouldn't underestimate you Yuel...you're in this with us, and that means you're my friend as well, even though you might have microtransactions."  The last bit made Leroy chuckle.  Yuel didn't respond.  He pushed the cart to the hardware aisle, picking up the toolbox as he made his way out of the store.  "Man...i'm running out of Australian animals to compare these crazy women too!" 

[Dad]

Christina

 

She got up from the now destroyed head of the Executioner and wiped the blood and brain matter from her jeans.  "Yuck," she said to herself softly.  Ares deactivated, and Christina took her phone from her pocket, and snapped another picture of her victims.  Now she had one of the Lurking Gluttony, and one of the Towering Executioner.  She would be able to identify the Majin now, and have a bit more information to look back on.  And to top it off, she now had a trophy if nothing else.  She smiled slyly, content with her success, and happy that she wasn't killed in the process.  She tried to toe the big lummox out of her way, but the Executioner was extremely heavy.  "Jeez," she said softly still.  "This thing must be a few hundred pounds, maybe more."  There was no way she could move the creature.  She would have to go around it.  Sighing, Christina began walking back towards the SUV.  After all the ruckus she had just caused, it was likely that more Majin would be alerted to the presence of the survivors.  She left the corpse of the Executioner in the middle of the street where it lay, and headed back to the agreed meeting place.

 

Christina had to be quick, jogging back to the SUV.  There, Riku and Luna were hugging, and so Christina made her best effort as not to disturb them.  Unfortunately, she became jealous almost immediately at seeing the two of them.  She eventually neglected her sneaky efforts and walked right up to the couple, patting them both on the back.  "Sorry to break you kids up, but I need to move the SUV.  Got everything?"

 

Christina began to go over the contents of the baskets Riku and Luna had gathered.  There were a lot of canned goods, plenty of water, and non perishables.  There was also quite a bit of Asian cuisine picked out.  Maybe Yuel identified it and said it was safe?  There was rice, noodles, and something labeled "Pocky" that Christina had never seen before.  "Hmm," she said softly.  She gave Riku a good smack on the back.  "Looks good," she said with a wink.  It looked like Riku and Luna were the first ones back, so the car wasn't full just yet.  They would have to check in with Amaris and Mia, and Destiny and Leroy.

 

Moving up to the driver's seat, the keys were still in the ignition, and Christina turned the car over.  She took the liberty of turning on the lights so that they could see around them, only to spot Destiny bolting in the direction of the SUV.  Christina hopped out, looking at Destiny, puzzled.  

 

"Everything okay?" she called.  She could see that Destiny had a walkie in her hands, which was a good sign.  Leroy must have had the rest.  Perhaps it would be best to let Destiny move the SUV, while Christina herself went to check on Amaris and Mia.  She met up with Destiny, who had already drawn her Fayth.  "Where's the fire Des?" she asked ironically.  "Never mind.  I just cleared the Auto-Shop.  There's a garage around back and I wanna load it up with a few things.  Can you take the SUV around and meet me there?" she said now running towards the Pharmacy.  "I'm gonna check with the others!  We have to hurry!" she called, sprinting towards the Pharmacy now.  "And watch the big thing in the street!  Try not to hit it!"

[Cosmo.]

Suddenly, a super loud noise was heard. It came from the auto-shop.

"Christina!" Luna immediately thought. She saw Des running from the sport centre towards the screaching noise.

"Wait for me!" Luna said to Des. From where she already was, she could see an abomination, it had disgusting flesh and was inhumanly tall.

 Christina came running towards the SUV "Sorry to break you kids up, but I need to move the SUV.  Got everything?"

"Yes! Now what shall we do?! If THAT abomination catches us, we're DOOMED!" Luna said. She looked at her hands, the same magical bracelet from before started glowing around her hands, it was identical as before, pink with golden writings saying... " Diana!!!" Luna shouted as her Fayth activated, from petals a bow was born.

 

Meanwhile Des started driving the SUV. "If he starts attacking us, i'll find a way to deviate it! Now let's go!"

[Yosuke-kun]

Despite his efforts to it, Luna could tell that Riku was feeling upset, as she made attempts to try and cheer him up. In hindsight it made sense that she'd guess the he was feeling a bit homesick. After all she was in the same boat as him there, which should have been apparent to Riku from the start giving the way that she introduced herself. A few moments later, Luna had pulled a box of Pocky from the food they'd gathered and offered some of it to Riku. He thought it might be rude to accept without clearing it with the others, but the feeling in his stomach was too overpowering for him to care at that moment. The food helped too. Having something in his stomach cheered Riku up, even if only a little.

 

"I appreciate it Luna, but really, I'm fine"

Unfortunately Riku wasn't fine though, and saying that he was only made Riku feel even more distraught. At this point the best he could hope for was that she and Mako both died in as little pain as possible. No, that wasn't what he wanted. He wanted a chance to redo all of this, and a chance to save Mako and his mother. Not just them either, Chigusa, Yusuke, and everyone else he'd known back home. Even the girl that Ameris had mentioned to him earlier. Riku wanted to save all of them. 

 

As he thought this, his sadness turned into something more akin to rage as he balled his hands into fists, and could faintly sense himself calling Izanagi. Before he could though, Luna had noticed this, and took it upon herself to reach over and hug Riku, which managed to distract him from his anger. For a few moments Riku was quiet, as his face turned a light shade of red. He wasn't sure what he should say, or even do, but Luna spoke first, which helped him to decide on what he should say.

 

"You know, my mom when i was sad, just hugged me, didn't speak, just hugged me 'til i was fine to talk. Now, tell me what's wrong, if you want i can help you"

 

After a moment Riku sighed, then decided to hug her back, but felt it necessary to mention his cultures view on hugs, since he knew that it was different in the rest of the world.

"Just so that you know, hugs are kind of a special thing between people in Japan, and carry more affection than a lot of other places do in the world. I doubt you knew that though, so I'll give you this one."

It was obvious that Luna wasn't going to drop the issue of Riku's mood until he told her too, and anyways what point was there in hiding it now? He opened his mouth to tell her but before he could speak, he heard several loud noises, and then a grotesque gooey splattering noise all coming from across the street where the auto shop was. 

 

"Was that-"

 "Sorry to break you kids up, but I need to move the SUV.  Got everything?"

 

Riku jumped and almost instantly let go of Luna as Christina questioned them from behind. Across the street, Riku could see the corpse of a Majin, likely on that Christina had managed to tackle solo while the others were shopping. It was actually quite impressive now that Riku that she'd been able to kill such a powerful looking enemy all on her own, and after checking the app, Riku was surprised to find that it's stats were no joke either.

 

"Yuel why didn't you tell us that Christina needed help?"

At that Yuel made began to pout, which was actually something of an adorable sight to Riku, since Yuel herself was a rather attractive girl for a phone app. As she pouted, Yuel blurted out an answer, but retained her disgruntled image.

 

"I was tired and wanted a nap! You guys aren't the only ones who worked hard you know."

 

"Right... my apologies ma'am." Riku replied. It was somewhat strange on his lips however, apologizing to a cellphone app. But even so, Yuel didn't feel like a cellphone app. Indeed, she felt enough like one of the group that Riku was more than comfortable talking to her the way he did Luna only moments ago. Even if talking to Yuel did feel somewhat more strange. Less than seconds later Des was there as well, and Christina handed the keys off to her to move the SUV into the auto shop. Better than that though, she'd come back with walkie talkies too, which Riku had not even thought of grabbing. 

 

A few seconds later, the three of them, Riku, Luna, and Des were in the auto shop's garage, loading up the items Christina had specified that they grab into the SUV. Once they were finished, they had a few moments to wait before Christina returned, and Riku had made a bet with Luna after all. Flipping up his hood so that the cat ears stood up as high as he could them, Riku approached Des and began to talk to her in a somewhat nonchalant manor.

"Any chance you have a spare walkie? The faster we distribute them the better right?"

-------------

A few moments later, after the group had recollected themselves at the SUV with each of the supplies in tow, they began to move back towards the building they'd originally stayed in. The sun had set not long now, and the moon ha reached high into the sky. Checking his phone, Riku was somewhat surprised that it was already 8PM, but then remembered that he was on the complete opposite side of the world now. It would take him a while to get used to that now, as he was sure it would for a few of the others. Strangely enough, he'd been well adjusted to the time change rather well, despite him having never been in New York up till now. That was likely an effect of the spacial time shift. In fact, it would make sense if he and the others were asleep during that, as they all seemed more than well rested upon arrival.

 

As they neared the building they'd stayed in that day though, Yuel flared up, and began shouting, but not before the SUV had pulled to a full stop and the group had all stepped out and begun stretching.

"Oh no, you guys have to run immediately! There's a very powerful Majin close by!"

 

For a second, Riku was confused. He looked left and right, but there was no sign of any Majin anywhere. Then through the darkness he spied a single Lurking Gluttony, staring the group down as if it were looking to claim revenge on the group. It made no movements against them, merely stood still an looked to the others, apparently waiting for something. No longer afraid of a single Gluttony, Riku summoned the blue letters and halos around his arm and was about to call Izanagi, when he heard a deafening roar come from only a few feet to his left, just behind where Mia stood. The same roar they'd heard earlier before when they were leaving for the outdoor mall.

Without thinking, Riku bolted towards Mia, and tackled her to the ground, just in time for the building behind her to collapse and for a large scythe to claim a couple of hairs off his head. Attempting to spin on the landing, so as to put himself against the concrete rather than the much more frail looking Mia, Rikue slammed against the road with a hard thud, and almost instinctively summoned Izanagi to shield the girls head from and incoming debris. Only, in the act of shielding her, Riku thought he felt something against his leg. Something that he knew for a fact girls didn't have between their legs.

 

That however wasn't important at the exact moment. What was, was the towering monster that was leering down at Riku, and the massive sickle aimed directly at the two. Rikue barely had enough time to avoid the blade, and could feel it whiff his clothing as he moved himself and Mia out of the way, then scrambled t his feet, pulling Mia to hers as he did.

 

The beast before them was... Riku wasn't quiet sure how  describe it. It was something like a praying mantis in a way, but not quite right. The bladed sickles that formed the monsters forearms were definitely metal, but the rest of it's body was organic. At least, they looked organic, but Riku wasn't sure. The Majin's stomach looked more like glass than membrane or muscle, and the disgusting inner workings of the beast were on display for the world to see. Just above that, a large mouth was slightly agate, drooling with anticipation for it's next meal. Two smaller, skinnier arms hung on either side of the mouth, and outstretched themselves eagerly looking for food. It had six large legs, that lacked feet, and instead formed large stubs that held it up rather well. It's tail was a little short, but resembled that of an earwigs large pincers that kept snapping open and closed. The head of the monster, was small, with a large horn protruding from the center of it's head, and glowing red eyes, that pierced like arrows through the dark night. As it stared down Riku and Mia, it's chest began to puff out and a loud, echoing roar was released from the mouth that was connected to the creatures head.

 

Riku, dropped the sword, and brought his hands up to his ears, cupping them as tightly as he could but nothing could drown out the demon's roar. As it advanced on him, Riku quickly picked up Izanagi, and started to back away, keeping Mia behind him as he did.

"Yuel, what the hell is that thing!?"

"It's Baal... The Wrathful Hunter... He's a Lord Majin with all S level stats... You guys have to try to escape! You aren't ready for this yet!"

 

Somehow, Riku felt that Yuel was right about that too. Even so, as he looked to the other members of the group, frst at Luna, then Christina, then Amaris, he felt he had to do all he could to protect them. The monster, Baal, was focused on him at the moment too, so there might have been a chance that maybe he could...

 

"You guys go! I'll catch up to you later!" Riku said as he fired a small Kuniumi at Baal, then ran off to the right side and ducked down a nearby alleyway. Of course, Baal simply swiped his scythe and stopped the spell entirely, but it was enough to draw the demons attention, as it followed Riku nimbly down the alley, and closed in on him quickly. At least he was far enough away from the others now that they might be able to escape. Now all Riku had to do was lose the Lord Majin trying to kill and eat him and then he could meet up with the others.

 

"R-Riku, please! Don't try to be a hero just-"

 

But Riku had cut Yuel off by turning his phone off. Regardless of what Yuel said, he couldn't turn back anymore. As he prepared to round the corner to the next block over, Baal landed directly in front of him, and swung a massive glowing scythe blade towards Riku, who only barely had enough time to raise Izanagi and block the attack. however, as the blades clashed, Riku knew that he'd done something wrong. He was holding his ground well, but he could feel the bones in his arm crack under the force of Baal's attack. Letting out a loud cry of agony, he attempted to push back the blade, but miscalculated the amount of power behind the monsters attack, and was launched headlong through the brick wall of a bank, and slid across the floor, stopping only when he slammed into the opposite wall.

 

As he struggled to pull himself to his feet, he could feel he bones in his right arm auto repairing themselves, but the force of the crash had left him dazed, as his vision blurred, and a burning feeling pushed at forehead, accompanied by a warm wet feeling, as blood dripped into his eye. He now felt scared. More scared than he ever did in his life. His legs were shaking violently, both from the pain and from his fear. Stop shaking dammit... he thought as Baal crashed through the wall and swung his scythe in Riku's directions. This time, a massive airwave shot straight at Riku, striking him hard in the chest, and causing him to cough up a huge amount of blood, as well as making his vision temporarily go white, as he was blasted through the banks other wall, and onto the street outside.

 

After a moment though, Riku felt fine. Blood still spilled out of the wound above his left eye, but he no longer felt pain anywhere else. For a moment, he wondered why, then remembered what Yuel told him about Defiant Life. He must have died just now... A very surreal thought, but one that he'd have to focus on later, as Baal crashed through the wall after Riku and swung his scythe forward again. This time Riku was ready though. He raised Izanagi, and motioned to block the scythe the same way he did last time, but this time, instead of even bothering to hold his ground, he leaped forward and slid off the side of the blade, using Izanagi's to protect him, then spun around midair and sliced off one of Baal's smaller arms. The demon reared away, and screamed in pain and anger, but Riku wasn't done yet.

 

"Totsuka!"

 

Following his slash, a barrage of spears and swords sank themselves into Baal's chest, driving the creature back as it began to swipe at each of them, and gave Riku the time he needed to regain his footing and take a step away from the Majin. There was no choice but for him to fight now. The Majin had proven faster than he was, so any attempt to run would only end in Riku's certain death.

[a bad post]

As the SUV came to a stop near the building they had originally holed themselves up in Mia was the first to hop out not bothering to help unload, and walked towards the building. He was about to enter when he heard someone quickly shuffle behind him. Mia was just quick enough to see the other Japanese boy rush him.

 

"Wha-" Mia started before he was tackled to the ground only to just see the flash of silver as the blade sliced right through where his head had just been. Thankfully the boy had chivalrous enough to make sure he didn't land on Mia, unfortunately this motion drove the young man's thigh directly into Mia's crotch eliciting a small "ugh" from Mia. 

 

As the Japanese boy dragged Mia to his feet he finally got a look at his towering attacker. A preying mantis-like creature that seemed to be sickening combination of animal and machine. The bug-like creature eyed them hungrily, and Mia braced himself for another attack... but it never came. Instead the other boy had run off distracting the insectoid beast causing it to run down a narrow alley. 

 

Mia stood stunned for a moment watching the boy fearlessly combat the beast stirred something in Mia. So grabbing a small rock next to him Mia chucked it at the monster hoping to draw it's attention and give the boy enough time to recover from being thrown through a wall.

 

"Hey you big ugly bastard, come and get me!" The rock thunked off the back of the creature's head, and it turned mildly annoyed by the pebble that had hit. But Mia was already off and running as the beast turned after him ducking inside one of the nearby ruined buildings. Mia dashed up the steps to the second floor hiding behind a pillar, and small pile of rubble. 

 

He could hear Baal below him knocking slicing and dicing eventually though the beast made it's way up, or rather crashed through the second floor attempting to find the annoying human who'd thrown a rock at its head. Pushing the small pile of rumble next to him over the distraction was just enough time for Mia to rush from his hiding spot, and get out of the building while Baal was just realizing he'd been played.

 

Doubling back to the alleyway Mia ran up to Riku noticing the large amount of blood dripping from his forehead.

 

"Are you ok?" A look of concern spread over the face of the boy in the white dress. However before Riku was able to answer Baal crashed through the building Mia had just recently exited a deafening roar coming from its maw.

[Dad]

Christina

 

The ride back was initially quiet.  Things had toned down since Christina claimed another kill for herself.  Supplies had been efficiently gathered, and everyone had made it out safely.  But this lull in excitement didn't last long.  Moments after returning to the hideout, Yuel shrieked out in fear, warning the survivors to run.  There was a powerful Majin somewhere in the immediate area, and it had apparently found their safe house.  Whatever this Majin was, it must have been something seriously nasty for Yuel to fear for the lives of the Survivors.  It's roar came in more clear than before.  This was the same Majin the cried out before the Survivors had gone to gather supplies.  It was now only feet from them, as it came bursting through a building, standing tall and wide.  

 

It wielded many scythes, and looked something like a bloated preying mantis.  "What the--"  Christina couldn't gather her thoughts quite quickly enough before the building this Majin had shattered nearly collapsed atop of Mia.  "Mia!" she cried out, not reacting in time.  Fortunately, Riku was already on his feet.  In a swift movement, he had saved Mia's life, and distracted the Majin at the same time.  He sprang to his feet, Mia in tow, and instinctively looked to the others.  Christina gave Riku a concerned look, as she was afraid of what he was about to do.  "Rik--"

 

"You guys go! I'll catch up to you later!"

 

"Riku!" she said calling after the boy.  He was going to try to take this thing on with just Mia?  Did he think the others couldn't be of any help?  Was he also fearing for their lives?  Christina was upset.  No.  More accurately, she was really pissed off.  Not at the Majin, but at Riku.  She balled a fist, and chased after Riku and Mia.  They had darted down an alley, and Baal, the now identified Lord Class Majin, started after them.  She was just in time to see Riku get tossed through a thick brick wall of a former bank, and get easily pushed around by Baal.  It was clear he was hurt, but before Christina could react, Mia distracted the Majin from Riku, and dashed around to confuse it.  The girl ducked in and out of a ruined building, avoiding the Majin, trying to get to Riku.  But her success was short lived, even as she reached Riku.  The Majin burst forth into the bank now, its mouth inches from Riku and Mia.  

 

Christina was finally able to gather herself, and  stared up at Baal with a fierce look in her eye.  And she charged.  She cocked her fists back, and Ares roared to life.  Her gauntlets ablaze, Christina didn't hesitate to approach the monster's gaping, massive mouth.  With a high jump, she unleashed a torrent of fire beneath her feet, and uppercut Baal in its jaw, stunning the Majin only momentarily as it reeled backwards a bit.

 

She turned back, and shot a dirty look at Riku.  "You could've gotten yourself killed!" she yelled.  She was angry that he had attempted to bare the burden alone, when he has so many comrades to fight at his side.  Christina turned her attention back to Baal, who had recovered quickly.  It roared at her, and dropped two scythes at her head.  Narrowly avoiding each swipe, Christina tossed fireball after fireball as she rolled through Baal's swipes.  But Christina slipped just once, and the blow back end of a wide swipe caught her with a powerful gust of wind.  She was sent spinning, rolling far into the street, and down the alley.  Her momentum was only stopped as she crashed into the SUV.  She grabbed at a knee, and struggled back to her feet.  She felt a fresh wound form on her right cheek, likely from the glass that had just shattered above her head from the SUV's windows.  She took a few fragments of glass from her cheek, groaning in pain.

 

"That son of a. . . " she said referring to Baal.  She turned her attention to Amaris and the others.  "Well?" she said dashing back down the alley.  "Let's do this!" she said as her fists burned brightly in the night.  But of course, before she could get back to Baal, Riku, and Mia, Christina was greeted by multiple growls, as three Lurking Gluttony cut her off in the alley.  She stopped, and crashed her gauntlets together.  She rolled her shoulders, and charged into the Gluttony.  "GrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" she cried with all her might, as the Gluttony met her head on.

[Mr. Hyde]

The ride back to base was most comfortable.  Leroy believed the mission had been quite successful, though he wasn't a fan of gathering quests.  He had taken his proclaimed spot in the back seat, drifting into a nap as the ride had been way smoother than the one to the mall.  Things weren't going to end up so cozy, for when they arrived back at base, Yuel bursted out a phrase.  To the groggy Leroy, it sounded like static.  He perked his head up to notice Riku tackling Mia to the ground.  A gust of wind swept through the SUV soon after.  Leroy rubbed his eyes to wake himself up faster as screams and cries were heard all around him.  

 

A monster had appeared...and not just any monster, a giant Majin.  Something about this specific one was odd, it wasn't like any other they had seem before.  It towered the majority that they had fought so far.  For hands, it boasted sickles, those could easily tear through any one in the group.  It was round as well, though it didn't look like it was squishy, rather that it had a harder exterior shell.  Leroy's analysis concluded when Riku decided to play hero, and divert the monsters attention towards him.  They disappeared into an ally way.  Christina had said something before taking off with him.  "Oi!  We should stick toge-" no use, she was already too far away.  Leroy jumped out of the car.  Sounds of crashing through brick worried Leroy, his friends were in danger and he hadn't snapped into action.

 

Something was different this time, his courage was replaced by fear.  Sure, a few minor majin proved to be easy to defeat, but this was a different task all together.  He was the funny man, not the lion-hearted hero who stole the show away.  His thoughts blocked out the pleas from Yuel and his friends, trying to snap him back to his senses, but he was in a darker place now.  Thoughts of Riku being killed, or Christina, or Des, or any of his new found comrades...what if they weren't ready.  

 

It was then that a flaming projectile had been knocked into the car, denting it and busting a couple of windows.  Was it a meteor?

 

"Well?  Let's do this!"  His mistake, of course it was Christina.  Leroy wiped across his forehead, sighing in relief.  

 

"Glad you're alright Red, I'm really feeling myself now!"  he bounced up and down trying to mimic Christina's boxing.  He stuck his hand out as his staff materialized in his hands.  Three lurking gluttony had shown themselves in front of him and Christina.  "I'll take the one on the left, you can have the two buggas on the right!"  He twirled his staff in a propeller like motion and swung it at the ground.  "Sharp wind!"  He had condensed the wind in the path he swung into a sharp, invisible blade, that tore through the left majin like butter.  "Now I don't mean to leave a lady by herself, but i know you can handle those two.  I'll be right back!  Buy me some time so i can smack that...-

 

"Baal...his name is Baal you idiot!"  Yuel interrupted to inform him of the Majin lord.

 

"That Baal with everything i've got!"  Leroy prepared himself.  He crouched and then shot into the air with lightning speed.  He made his way into a high enough area where he was sure Baal couldn't reach.  Though out of the corner of his eye, he saw a white substance come his way.  "Oi, is that silly string?"  Foolishly, Leroy didn't avoid the harmless looking attack and the pain told him of his mistakes.  It was an acid laced string, and it burned into Leroy's skin.  Through his pain tears, he took in a deep breath and blew the silk away, a burn mark had been corroded into his skin.  "Oi....you think you can hit me with corrosive silly string?!  Guess again you fat knocker!"  Leroy twirled his emerald staff above him, gathering the wind around him so he could unleash his Gale of Sharp Wind.  "I'll make sure to finish this quick, so that you won't be able to hurt my friends!"  The attack would take a little longer to charge.  

[Super Chaos Sonic]

It all happened too fast for Amaris...first they returned to the SUV with their supplies...and suddenly, a strong Majin appeared at their current building they entered. As if this wasn't bad enough, Riku was the first one to initiate the attack...then everyone else followed suit.

 

"Amaris...you heard Christina. You must help your allies..."

 

"That was the plan to begin with, Yuel." Amaris said, as he summoned his Fayth once more, Sotsuki returning to his hands as he rushed after Christina and the others. "Alright...I'll prepare for Mangetsu..."

 

"Oh that won't do, Amaris! Remember, your fighting a quick enemy. And to deal with them to quickly get to Riku...you better use something faster." Yuel giggled, as Amaris skidded to a halt. "Go for Mikadzuki!"

 

"Mikadzuki...Crescent Moon?" Amaris asked himself, but finally shook his head and called forth the Spell/Style's name. "MIKADZUKI!!!" Unlike before, Sotsuki's appearances remained the same crescent blade shape, but the young Japanese boy felt different. He began to run, but a lot more quickly than he had prior. He blurred past Christina and her Gluttony as he struck out at a second one, hacking and striking at it with ease.

[Cosmo.]

The group returned with the supplies around the same area they started in, but this time something certainly not pleasing was waiting for them, a giant gross looking beast.

Riku, Amaris and Christina already launched themselves into battle and Mia already got attacked, things weren't going too smoothly. "Move! The princess is coming through!" Luna shouted as she ran to the battlefield activating her Fayth. But this time the energy bracelet was a bit different, it was golden with pink writings on it, Luna didn't care and shouted the name. "Diana!!!!!". This time instead of the usual bow, a pair of golden pistols were summoned.

-Regina Auram Battle Theme-

The moon was glowing up in the sky, making her as agile as possible. "Hey Yuel, mind explaining me these pistols later?" Luna said to the phone as she prepared for battle. The giant was right in front of her.

She started shooting him with her pistols, many quick bullets made of pure gold were flying in the night sky. The area was only lit up by the raging battle. 

Everything was going fine until' Luna heard something, it was a Gluttony coming to her. "Too slow!" Luna said as she jumped over the beast and shot him with various shining projectiles. "One less problem to deal with! Now..... Who's next?!"

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Sure enough, Baal arrived. Riku was the first one on him, and then that forgettable andro, surprisingly enough. And then Christina charged after them to attack Baal, only to be forced back into the SUV that Des had been driving all this time, shattering one of the windows in the process. Finally, with a little rallying from a recovering Christina, the others began to move in... well, most of them anyway. Destiny shifted the SUV in reverse and slammed on the accelerator, having other ideas.

 

"What the hell are you doing?!" yelled a panicky Yuel.

 

"The obvious," Des replied simply, making a J-Turn at the last second before driving forward again, "Besides, I can't exactly rush in without a plan... unlike that other dolt."

 

"But what about...?!" Yuel paused, realizing where Des was coming from, "...I see. Well, Baal resists Darkness, so Thanatos won't be able to inflict much damage."

 

"Any weak points I should be aware of, yeah? Eyes? Neck? Head?"

 

"Tail. Definitely the tail."

 

"...really?"

 

"If you could just cut off his tail, then you throw him into a frenzy."

 

"Which sounds like the worst idea in the world, and now I know you're mad."

 

"But he'll be vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. Trust me, you can kill Baal a lot quicker that way," shrugging her shoulders in response to this, Destiny continued to drive to where she figured a safe place would be for the SUV to be parked, only to find a Porsche Carerra GT right in front of her. Des slammed on the brakes and got out of the SUV, before smashing one of the Porsche's windows and hotwiring it. Having the chance to drive one of these was too good to pass up.

 

"Right, I'm coming in from the southeast," Des told everyone from her walkie, hoping they'd all get the message, "So have that big-arse Majin face the other way, yeah? Apparently I'm supposed to lop off his tail or something, so I'm gonna try that now."

 

With that, Des revved up the engine of the Carrera GT and took off.

 

...

 

Eventually, with some guidance from Yuel, Des had managed to drive her way back to where the battle with Baal took place and find a suitable ramp to make her leap of faith from. Gathering speed, the Carrera GT charged up the parking lot, until it reach the top floor.

 

"Get ready to jump... NOW!!" Yuel command, just as the Porsche blasted off the ramp. In an instant, Des ripped off the seatbelt, kicked open the driver's side door and hurled herself after the base of Baal's tail with Thanatos in tow. She raised it high, and then, just as she drew closer to landing on the Majin, drove it straight down. Des could only hope that all the momentum that she'd gathered up was enough to cut straight through the tail.

[Dad]

Christina

 

She was pleased to hear her allies rally behind her.  Leroy happily sliced a Gluttony in half with his Sharp Wind, while Amaris took a hacked away another clean kill of his own.  Christina leaped over the head of the final Gluttony, and shoved the spikes of her gauntlets into its head.  The gauntlets latched onto the Gluttony, and Christina flipped forward, hurling it far into the distance.  With a following fireball, she watched the blast target the falling location of the gluttony, and destroy it, causing it to burst into a mess of ashes.  Securing her landing, Christina smiled.  "Style points," she said quietly to herself.  "Now, where's De--" but before she could answer her own question, Christina's walkie rang with Destiny on the other end.

 

"Right, I'm coming in from the southeast.  So have that big-arse Majin face the other way, yeah? Apparently I'm supposed to lop off his tail or something, so I'm gonna try that now."

 

"From the south-east?" Christina replied.  "What are you--?"  The SUV roared past Christina and up into a garage.  "Okay then," she said now dashing at Baal.  Grabbing the Majin's attention, Christina attempted to buy time for Destiny.  Meanwhile, Leroy prepared a powerful attack of his own high in the air.  Just as the SUV roared past Baal's head, Christina decided to really piss Baal off, and jumped as hard she could onto its big toe.  She stamped, grounded, and smashed Baal's big toe, until it bled, hopefully long enough to allow Destiny to cut off the bastard's tail.  If it worked, perhaps Leroy could finish the Lord Majin off.  But just in case, Christina had already begun contemplating a back-up plan of her own.

[Cosmo.]

The fight was continuing, everyone was fighting intensely. Christina, Floaty and Des were focused on Baal, while the others, Luna included were keeping the other Maijins under control, so that the trio could go with their plan.

 

"And another one off the hit list!" Luna said as she launched her golden pistols up in the sky. Though what came down wasn't the same weapon, the pistols vanished into shimmering dust and the usual bow returned to Luna's arms.

"I guess you want to fight too, eh?! Let's go!" Luna said as she launched herself towards Baal. Christina was hitting him on his foot, and suddenly he started waving his razor blades around, almost hitting Christina. "Hey that's not how you treat a lady! Rude!" Luna said as she started storming the beast with pinkish arrows. Now Baal was focused on her, one mistake and her head would fly off.

 

Luna started running and jumping around, almost naturally, she ran to the jumped to the top of a not so tall building, to prevent the horrible Maijin from hurting her teammates.

 

"Try to catch me if you can!" She said to Baal.

Baal was too distracted from her to notice what was going on around him. "Now Des!" Luna said.

[Yosuke-kun]

As Baal reared back as Riku readied himself for another attack, but before it ever came, a few rocks bounced off of Baal's head and drew his attention elsewhere. Mia, had followed Riku, despite Riku's decision to face Baal alone regardless of how foolish it was. The girl couldn't even summon her Fayth yet, but here she was trying to fight a Lord Majin for him. Why? Was it because he saved her? If so then she didn't owe him anything, nor did he expect her to feel that way.

 

As she ran into a building and drew Baal's attention, Riku moved to aid her, but immediately he felt a sharp pain shoot through his leg on his first step. But his leg was already healed, before, so why was it hurting now? Looking down, Riku saw a thin line of white thread eating away at his calf and dripping with a strange liquid. As he pulled away, the thread broke, right on time for Mia to make her way back to Riku, who immediately shoved her behind him and held his sword in a readied position.

 

"Are you okay?" Mia asked as Riku quickly wiped some of the blood from his forehead and Baal burst from the building with his scythe raised high. Before the blade hit though, a ball of fire slammed into Baal, and Christina had struck him from the side, punishing Baal with a swift combo. Riku looked at her, then back at Mia, then at Baal, who had raised a scythe and was aiming it at Christina. The same strategy wouldn't work this time though, so Riku instead summoned three small orbs, then tapped the red one lightly with Izanagi's tip. Instantly a large shield put itself between Christina and Baal's blade.

 

"You could've gotten yourself killed!"

 

"You guys were supposed to run... I didn't plan on fighting him unless I had to." Riku replied. He wanted to sound cool or brave, but he thought that maybe the others could hear that he was relieved they came. He was terrified of Baal in all honesty, but with the others he felt more confident in himself. Christina didn't answer him though, and went back to fending off Baal. She was doing well too, but Baal sent her hurtling down the alley and into the SUV with the others. This was enough to spur them into action, as Riku too made his advance on Baal, keeping his attention by swinging at Baal in ways Riku knew would be easy for the Majin to block or dodge, but leaving little opening for himself. He didn't see the full battle off to the side, as it took all his effort not to allow Baal a moment to rest as well as to stop any of Baal's counterattacks, but he did see from the corner of his eye that Leroy was charging up a large attack, and he thought he heard Des say something too, but-

 

BOOM

 

Baal lurched forward and Riku dashed back as not only did Des sever the Majin's tail, causing it to writhe, scream, and flail about mindlessly, but she also had apparently dropped a car on him. The Majin was certainly pissed now, but that didn't mean that they could let up. And Riku had a plan now.

 

"Christina, once I get it in, aim for Izanagi's pummel. Then give Leroy the biggest signal flare you can."

Without waiting for a reply, Riku bolted forward and dodged under Baal's first swing, but unfortunately, with a sickening squelch, the second blade buried itself in Riku's chest, sending a huge amount of pain through his entire body. For a second, Riku stood still, in shock from the pain, but then shrugged it off. Tha was his last trump card. If this plan failed, he'd have nothing left up his sleeve. So Riku suppressed the pain as much as he could, and stepped forward, screaming as he pushed the scythe blade deeper in, but also shoving Izanagi deep into Baal's breast. As he felt the Majin's blood strike his face, he released Izanagi's handle and backed away, spraying Baal with some of his own blood as the scythe pulled out of his chest and his vision flashed white, and left the rest to he others.

[Dad]

Christina

 

She was wailing away at Baal, when she heard a crashing sound above her.

 

 

 

Destiny had dropped a ton and a half vehicle on the Majin's head, doing a great deal of damage.  "Nice!" Christina said stepping back as Destiny soared down and sliced off Baal's tail.  The beast immediately went into a frenzy, wailing and shrieking in pain and rage.  This left a huge opening for attack, and Riku was already seizing it.  

 

"Christina, once I get it in, aim for Izanagi's pummel. Then give Leroy the biggest signal flare you can."

 

Riku went in right away, and Christina was prepared for the next move.  "Alright, you got--" but when she saw Riku nearly get ripped in half by the massive scythe that pierced his chest, Christina froze.  Was he dead?  "Riku," she said to herself.  They had to all survive for an entire year.  "Riku."  And if anyone of them died . .  . "Riku."  It was game over.  But the boy kept moving.  He took the scythe deeper into his chest in order to complete his mission, and shoved his blade into Baal's breast.  Now stepping back from the Majin, Riku began to fall and slip into unconsciousness.  This shook Christina from her frozen moment, and it really, really pissed her off.

 

She dashed in and caught Riku as he was falling, and quickly lay him down safely.  "Stupid kid," she said to herself.  "Sacrificing yourself?  That's my job," she whispered.  Now, Christina's eyes flared, as she turned her attention to Baal.  She had just a brief window to hit the Majin with a strong attack.  If she wasn't careful, Christina risked lighting up the entire sky and signaling every Majin in the immediate area.  She ran at Baal, stopping between his feet, as Ares burned brightly around her hands.  Christina drew both her fists back, as if she was in pain, before calling out to Baal.  "Hey!  Asshole!"  The Majin turned its gigantic head at Christina, in confusion.  "Catch!"  She hurled a fireball twice the size of the ones before it directly at Izanagi, just before it faded away completely.  Baal's innards were lit ablaze, as the beast began to fry from the inside out.  Christina quickly turned to Leroy, shooting fireballs above Baal's head.  

 

"Now, Leroy!  Hit him now!" she cried out.

[Cosmo.]

Christina and the others were still fighting Baal, her distraction kinda helped, but during this fight Riku got badly wounded.

Christina picked him up as he was falling and laid him down, then with burning fury started attacking Baal, along with Floaty.

 

Luna returned to where Riku was lying. "No, you can't die on me i shared my food with you...... And.... i care about you" Luna said as she started crying. "It was ages since i last cried, but screw my emotions, it's time to save you."

"Please work, please work, please work!" Luna said as she started to perform her healing spell. Thorn vines were covering up and stitching together the big wound, and they were covered with little white blossoms. The blossoms turned red and more red, until almost completely black, and then started blooming.

 

All the flowers bloomed, the healing seemed complete, but Riku wasn't moving. "Please.. Don't die!" "Please" Luna said as she started crying and hugging his body.

[Mr. Hyde]

Leroy had seen the car hit the lord majin, but he was too focused twirling his staff around to say something witty like, "Oi...i guess no more joyrides!"  But seeing Des do something so cool on her own, not to mention slicing off Baal's tail with one fell swoop.  Again, he was too focused to say something like, "That's my lolita!"  

 

The scene was too hectic for him to make out much more, he was too high up, only the big things were what he could see.  On the ground, a giant fireball had soared across the battlefield, coming into contact with ball and setting him ablaze.  I guess this was as good a time as any, he figured this attack had been charged log enough.  His eyes were a vibrant hue of emerald at this point.  

 

"Now, Leroy!  Hit him now!"  He could hear the wailing from all the way up here?  That Red sure had a loud mouth.  He smirked at his inability to be able to speak that witty comeback.  

 

"Alright you ugly hobknocker, Lets give that fire a little air shall we!?  SERPENT CYCLONE!"  With that Leroy pointed his staff towards Baal, as the wind he had gathered into an orb above his twirling staff started morphing into a serpent like creature, entirely made of gale force winds.  The serpent sported wings all along its twisting body, as it gave off a mighty roar.  The current of air bolted towards Baal, twisting and hissing as it made its way to its target.  As it impacted the ablaze creature, a funnel of wind had exploded from the serpents body.  It fed the flames, roasting the majin alive.  "I like my Majin a little burnt on the Barby!"  He said as his eyes went back to their normal shade of green.  Finally his was able to spit out a witty one liner!  He felt tired now..that last attack had taken a lot of his strength away.  Spells casted before now were relatively small.  Leroy wondered what else he was capable of now.

 

Now wasn't the time for that, he had to get to the others to see how everything had turned out.  He shot down back to earth, and skidded his heels along the road where Luna was bent over someone.  "Aw hell!  That better not be who i think it is!"  He looked over Luna, who had broken out into tears.  "Oh..it's just Riku...SHIT IT'S RIKU!"  Leroy bent down next to Luna, who was performing her healing magic.  These two were a good duo in that department, Izanagi made Riku a lot tougher than Leroy thought.  Matched with the healing powers, it seemed Riku was invincible.  But things were looking bleak, he didn't sense much life in the kid.  "Oi...Riku...you hear me in there?  Listen, if you don't die on us, i can promise ya we can be better mates?  How does that sound for a bargain?  Getting to be chummy with the great Leroy...huh?"  Luna's emotions might've rubbed off him a bit, as a tear landed on Riku's forehead.  "Well look at that...you've got me cryin' over here...stupid bugga....makin me worry about your well bein'!  OI!  You better wake up!"  

[Dad]

. . . . . .

 

 

 

 

She watched the attack come down and amplify the flames inside of Baal.  Leroy had done it.  The big bastard began to cook alive from the inside out.  It was a Majin Barbeque, as Leroy had put it.  It was over at last.  One of many horrifying, life changing battles was finally over.  

 

And yet, instead of feeling the warm, blood flowing adrenaline rush of a victory . . .

 

She punched the ground.

 

Instead of celebrating with the people she loved . . . 

 

She smashed the ground harder, with both hands this time, as she fell to her knees.

 

Instead of being able to look each.  Single.  Individual person.  In their eyes.  She felt. . . . cold.

 

BGM(Background Music):  So Cold

 

Christina smashed the ground one more time, screaming as she did.  There was a plume of dust, as Christina grew enraged.  Ares burned again in her hands now, as Christina wailed on the ground.  She flailed and flailed about, furiously.  The concrete cracked beneath her, and Christina began to dig herself into a hole.  It caved, and caved, and caved until Christina was several feet in the ground, and her head was not visible.  Then, the hole began to glow, as fire erupted from it, spilling over into the streets like a fog.  Christina leaped out of the hole, and set her eyes on the already dying Baal.  She screamed, at the top of her lungs.  But her screams could not be heard.  She could not hear her own screams.  She could only hear silence.  She had temporarily deafened herself with the roaring flames that were previously surrounding her.  She drowned out the entire world, because there was a good chance she had just lost someone she had grown to care about.

 

Christina charged at Baal, who was already lying on the concrete, nearly a crisp black.  And she began to attack it.  She kicked and screamed and wailed until she got tired.  She further crushed the monster's destroyed innards, stepping on them and grinding them into dust.  Christina went further into the belly of the beast, and smashed upwards in its body, from stomach to chest, to neck, and punched through its skull until the monster's head exploded.  But she couldn't get it all out.  She fell to her knees, still inside Baal's body.  And finally, when she could at last let it go, Christina cried.  She sat down completely now, covered in blood, guts, spit, and tears, when her phone lit up.  It was Yuel.  She pulled her phone from her pocket, staring blankly at the program.

 

"Christina."

 

She remained silent.

 

"Christina.  These things--"

 

"If you say happen, I swear."

 

"Christina, this is reality.  You all knew what you were getting into.  When I addressed you--"

 

"Knew what we were getting into!?"  Christina said gripping her phone tightly.  "The last time I checked, I didn't volunteer to lose my family!  And I didn't volunteer to lose my friends!  I didn't sign up for a God damn alien invasion!"

 

"Christina.  You have to understand--"

 

"I don't have to understand.  I DON'T HAVE TO UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!!" she roared, getting to her feet.  Christina's entire body glowed with rage, but she had nothing to release it on.

 

"Christina!"

 

"No!  NO!  SHUT UP!  SHUT THE HELL!  UP!!" she screamed as loud as she could.

 

Yuel's head sank, now feeling responsible for Riku's possible death.  "Christina, please," the program whispered.  Christina was huffing now, breathing heavily.  Her glow began to die down, but she was still visibly angry.  "Christina.  I didn't mean to--"

 

"It's . . .ugh," Christina interrupted.  She sighed, dropping her arms to her side now.  "I don't blame you, Yuel.  How can I?  You're not a Majin, right?' she said sarcastically.  "I don't blame you.  But I'm pissed off, okay?  Isn't this game over?  Haven't we failed?" she said lifting the phone again to see Yuel.  The program stood up straight again, and looked her in the eyes.  "You may still have time," Yuel said softly.  Christina turned around at last, to see Leroy and Luna hovering over Riku.  The mortally wounded boy was covered in black flowers, as Luna desperately tried to heal him.  And Christina turned back to Yuel.  "I'm sorry," she said to the program.  Yuel did not reply.  "I didn't mean to go off on you like that.  I'm just so . . . I'm so God damn mortified.  If Riku dies, we all lose, right?'

 

Yuel remained silent, still.  "That answer lies in the hands of your healer.  Or healers."  Yuel vanished at this, disappearing back into Christina's phone.  Christina wiped the tears from her eyes, taking no notice to Yuel's hint.  She finally stepped out of Baal's body, and turned her head skyward.  She thought to herself, clenching her fists tightly.

 

"All I know is, if Riku doesn't die, we have a lot of work to do.  And if more of these Lord Majin show up, we're gonna need to strategize, and not run in like headless chickens."  Christina could feel the millions and millions of eyes of New York peering down on the location of the survivors.  "And if they hurt my friends again," she continued thinking, as her eyes turned a dark shade of red.  Then, she spoke aloud.  

 

"I'll burn this whole fucking city to the ground."

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

And so Baal was defeated, and the party was still alive for the most part. Unfortunately, it wasn't without its casualties. Specifically, Riku had taken a bit hit from Baal as it was flailing about, and even from a distance, Des could tell that the poor guy was on the verge of death. Leroy was crying next to him which... didn't sound like what was normal from Leroy at all, Christina had done some bare-fisted, rage-induced tunneling by the looks of things. But Des, however, decided that she could help the party cope with the casualties... by leaving. Specifically, she turned to leave in order to fetch the SUV again, that she had left near that Porsche Carrera GT that she used in her jump to cut off Baal's tail, only to be stopped by the sound of Yuel's voice.

 

"Des..." she said in a sorrowful tone, "...now's not the time to go off on your own."

 

"I'm the one that left the SUV all the way back there, and no-one else seems like they can bothered right now," Des replied.

 

"Did you even ask?!" Yuel retorted.

 

"And what? Dampen the mood even further?" Des asked rhetorically.

 

Then again, Yuel had a point. Just because the mighty Lord Majin Baal had bit the dust didn't mean to say the other Majin would disappear. And further more, the entire battle would've been exhausting... albeit more so for the others than Destiny herself. However, Des decided that, instead of taking Christina or Leroy, she'd take the forgettable andro instead. That way, at least someone would finally have a name from this seventh person, as well as some more info if Des was lucky.

 

"Hey; I need you to come walk with me for a bit," Des said to the androgynous person, before walking away from the others.

[a bad post]

As Mia made his way back to Riku the bigger boy shoved Mia behind him placing himself between her... him and the Lord Majin. 

 

"What are you doing!?" Mia yelled grabbing Riku's hand, "We have to get out of here! Come on, you can't actually be thinking of fighting that thing! It nearly fucking killed you!"

 

Mia stared in wide-eyed horror as the scythe-armed best readied itself to charge at them... but the attack never came. Before it could charge the fiery red-head, Christina, if Mia recalled correctly slammed her blazing fist knocking the creature back. She then turned her red hot gaze on them.  

 

"You could've gotten yourself killed!" The young woman said with concerned anger.

 

"You guys were supposed to run... I didn't plan on fighting him unless I had to." Riku replied nonchalant as though the entire ordeal was no big deal to him.

 

"Are fucking kidding me!" Mia screamed from behind the young man giving him a glare of his own. "Why didn't you run while distracted it in the building, we could'e left this thing in the dust right now! You know this isn't one of those weird hentais or whatever they're called from your country! You could have died! Get it. D-E-A-D. No restart button."

 

Mia was stopped only by the loud crash caused by the goth chick driving a car onto the top of Baal's head. Before Mia could begin his tirade again though both of them had run off to recommence their offensive against the Majin Lord. The creature easily fended Christina off forcing her down an alley. Frantically Mia looked around the area hoping to find something of use to help combat the creature, but before he could find anything Mia heard a sickening squelch come from behind him.   

 

Wheeling around Mia clamped his hands over his mouth at the sight of both Riku and Baal impaled by each others weapons and Riku falling back sliding off the Majin Lord's blade, blood spraying from the wound in his chest. 

 

Mia simply walked forward then. A blank look on his face as Leroy and Christina combined their abilities to literally cook the Majin. As everyone grouped around the fallen Japanese boy Mia walked forward standing to the edge of the group  looking at Riku for a moment before walking towards the dying Baal. He watched the twitching creature... at least it was twitching until Christina pounded a hole through it. 

 

"Hey; I need you to come walk with me for a bit," The goth girl called at her before walking in the other direction, which Mia assumed meant the girl wanted him to follow her. 

 

"Yes, what is it?" Mia asked the other girl as he approached from behind. 

[Yosuke-kun]

"Before the ebb and flow of time, and before the land existed, the first of the Kami bade his son to create land.

 

This was an important job for Izanagi and his wife as they were charged with birthing the island they'd call home.

 

However, while Izanagi would succeed in his task, those islands would be the only thing he would have left..."

 

What was this? A memory of a storybook Riku'd been read before or everything had happened? But then, why did it make him so sad to hear it here? 

A few moments more of his thoughts and Riku started to feel himself dragged back to consciousness as a small rush of pain was lightly soothed all over his body. His head felt light and hazy still, but he thought he could hear several people around him. Even though he somehow knew that they were right beside him, it sounded like they were miles away and calling him from a distance. What were they saying anyways? Who were they? For a second he thought he heard Luna and Leroy, and further in the distance Christina. Why did they sound so far away though? Why did they sound so sad? Part of Riku wanted to go and console them, but he also he felt... tired. Yes tired. It wouldn't hurt if he were to sleep for a bit longer would it? But then someone else's voice, someone who he didn't recognize reached him.

 

"Time to wake up silly. You don't want them to worry do you?"

 

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSEdM4h-11k]BGM - Himitsu Kichi[/url]

 

A jolt shot through Riku's body then, and his mind became clear as he sat up immediately and coughed up a glob of blood onto his now exposed chest. Luna and Leroy were both kneeling at his side in tears, and for a second he wondered why, till he looked down to see a large and nasty looking scar across it over his heart. That's right. He was pierced by Baal in the fight before. If Leroy were here now though, then that means that they won. Looking around, Riku saw Christina standing in the corpse of the Lord Majin as the embers of it's flesh fell to the ground. It looked as if she had also been crying too. Riku began to feel bad for what he did now and only just realized how foolish it was. Even though he had known, or at least hoped that his plan would work, he still ended up hurting the others in the process.

 

"Hey Leroy." Riku said as Luna tackled him with a strong hug. "I think I'll take your offer to be better mates."

 

Patting Luna on the head and pulling himself to his feet, he looked back to Christina, and then to Leroy, Des, Mia, then Ameris, who was the last to join them as he offered a warm smile to Riku. A few seconds later, from one of the other's phone, Yuel added her own comment to the rest of them.

 

"Riku Satsura! Turn on your damn phone right now!"

 

Feeling a light rush of embarrassment roll over his face, Riku pulled his phone out, and turned it on to see the app girl red eyes with tears that were still flowing down her cheeks.

 

"Y-you... you... You big jerk! What the hell were you thinking doing something as stupid as trying to make yourself a target!? I-I was... Do you have any idea how freaking worried about you I was!? Do have any idea how glad I am that you're not hurt!? If I could I'd be hugging you right now!"

 

"I'm sorry Yuel. I didn't think you'd worry that much." Riku said, now feeling slightly ashamed of his actions, but also happy that Yuel was scolding him. He didn't know why, but her treatment of him made him smile. It was harsh, but caring as well.

 

"Don't you ever turn me off again you... You big mean jerk hero! If you do I won't speak to you for a week! In fact!"

 

At that Yuel turned her nose up at Riku and began to pout. It was somewhat adorable, but made Riku feel bad about his actions too. A few moments later though, and Yuel was crying again and saying how she couldn't even manage that. So, Riku allowed himself a small laugh for that. He'd only now considered it, bu Yuel was as much a par of the group as he was. They should probably treat her as such too.

 

"I'm sorry I worried all of you. I promise that I'll say with you from now on, okay?" he said looking at each of them. The group all seemed genuinely worried not only for all of them, but for Riku in particular. It was strange though. He'd never really had anyone outside his family seem to care about him that much. Especially after having known him only a day.

 

"I never meant to worry you all... But I'm glad that you're okay." 

 

The night was growing late now, and as small tears welled in Riku's eyes, felt he had a new goal in mind. More than just surviving. More than just living to see the next day. More than just stopping the Majin...

 

I... want to protect them... these people who didn't leave me behind...

 

One Week Later

 

The sky looked less desolate today. Still a red-brown rust color that blocked nearly all of the sun's rays, but somehow it looked better today than it had before now. Riku guess that in a lifeless and souless future like this that he'd call this a "nice day", but there was still nothing nice about it. The cityscape served as a reminder of the urgency of their mission, and of the enemy that they were facing. Currently, there were no less than nine Majin outside the building, including a few that Riku hadn't seen before. He'd tried to register them before, but to no avail as Yuel told him that he'd need to be closer in order to get any information. That much was important to know at least though. 

 

In the past week they'd been more or less constricted to the single building as each day went by, and there was always at swarm of Majin around their building. That could be no coincidence either, as Baal seemed to know exactly where they would be only a week ago. Riku had begun to theorize that maybe the Majin were smarter than they appeared. He did remember seeing a Lurking Gluttony staring him down right before Baal's attack, and he knew he allowed a Lurking Gluttony to escape during their first battle too. It wasn't too far fetched to assume that the Gluttony had told Baal of their location... was it?

 

But they were smarter, and the night after Baal's attack, they spent it fortifying and camouflaging their pseudo base to keep any Majin off their trails. Fortunately the idea to use the metal sheets to keep the Majin from seeing them in the buildings worked better than they would have hoped. The Majin new they were in the area, that much was clear, but they couldn't seem to find them, and didn't seem interested in breaking down doors to do so. It was a small crack in one of these sheet's in fact that Riku was looking at the Majin from now.

 

"Any movements?" Ameris asked as he took a seat near Riku and offered him a bottle of water that they'd purified using some iodine from the pharmacy that he and Mia raided.Grateful for the refreshment, Riku slowly pulled the sheet back into place and took the bottle, thanking Ameris as he downed a few sips.

 

"Not really. There's been a few just sitting out there for a couple hours now, but they haven't made any movements really. I think they suspect that we're here, but I doubt they know for sure." Riku replied. Ameris nodded his agreement, then took a sip from his own water bottle. He, Riku, and Leroy had become somewhat close friends in the past week. Of course, Leroy managed to charm his way into everyone's hearts, but Riku couldn't help bu feel a bond had been formed between the three men of the group. Leroy was a good friend, and excelled at keeping up the groups spirits, and had made good on his promise to Riku. Ameris, while calmer than Riku, was also a rather optimistic thinker, and being from Tokyo as well, it was easy for Riku to talk to him.

 

"We're likely going to have to move soon."

 

Riku nodded as he took one last sip from the water then capped the bottle for the day. It was obvious that they couldn't stay there forever, that much everyone knew. The real question was whether or not they'd find a safe time to pack everything. Especially if Riku and Ameris's guesses were accurate and that the Majin were aware of their position.

 

"Watch them? I'm going to go talk to Christina." Riku said as he stood from his seat in on the rubble that he and Leroy had made into an armchair for resting purposes. Ameris waved his farewell, and Riku had been off. Things were arguably better than a week ago. They were stocked well, and if they rationed it like they had been then food may not be an issue. The medicine, they'd had little need to use either, save for a few pain killers here and there and some Tylenol at night for headaches. The real problem they had was water. They'd found precious little of it and some of what Riku and Luna had grabbed during their first raid was spilled during the fight with Baal. They'd thought that maybe they could purify rain water, but waiting for rain was no solution. 

 

After a few moments of searching, Riku found Christina and announced his presence before approaching her.

 

"There's nine out there today. Probably more around the back." Riku said standing near Christina. The decision to make her leader proved to be a good one thus far. She'd made the right call more than a few times, and kept the group alive and unseen because of it. Still, Riku wanted to help her somehow, and still admired her for what she did.

[Dad]

Christina

 

It had been a solid week since Baal had gone down.  That day, what remained of his followers had dispersed, but they wouldn't be gone for long.  If Baal had found them so close to 'home', they would be back.  Fortunately, they had managed to shield themselves from the eyes of the enemy behind the metal sheets from some time ago.  Now, they hid inside like lambs, awaiting a slaughter.  Of course the Majin came back.  Why wouldn't they?  Right now, they had a vague idea of the vicinity in which the survivors were located.

 

Survivors.

 

That was the key word wasn't it?  Riku had made it.  And secretly, Christina was overjoyed.   If she, for any reason, were to be knocked unconscious or lost in battle, he was the next best person to handle things in her stead.  She knew this, not only because of his huge balls--trying to take Baal one on one and succeeding--but because of his resolve.  He knew what he was getting himself into when he took on Baal, and his own perseverance helped him through it, when he left his help behind.  The look of continuity and determination this boy gave was very clear, very obvious.  He was the next best leader, if the fire in Christina's eyes and heart were to die.  Meanwhile, the majin lurked outside, trying to pinpoint the survivors, after several days of failure.  Their packs had grown in size over the course of their hunt.  Staying in this location was not safe.  But then again, there was nowhere safe in the world now, was there?

 

"There's nine out there today. Probably more around the back." 

 

He had given her fair warning that he was approaching.  Christina of course remained silent, her thoughts rambling about in her head.  When Riku spoke, she looked up, still unable to believe this boy survived such an onslaught.  She nodded, acknowledging the statement.  It was good that someone was keeping an eye out.  She stood up, sighing, and walked to the center of the room where she could see each individual person.  "Alright," she said clearing her throat.  "Listen up."

 

Truth be told, Christina had been thinking about this since Baal's attack.  They had no choice but to move, but they had to have a plan.  "These things have been growing in pack size each time we check them out.  They obviously know we're around, but they can't pinpoint us.  That's both good, and bad.  I've been doing some thinking, and I've got two plans, but I'm going to need all the feedback I can get from you guys," she said turning to all of them individually.  Without speaking a word, a single gauntlet sparked in Christina's hand, and Ares emitted a small, controlled ring of smoke.  Christina began to animate the smoke with her hands, to better display the idea.  The figures moved as she described, as smoke outlines of each survivor appeared, and a few smoke outlines of Majin also appeared.  "Here's plan A," she said as a final smoke outline of the abandoned building appeared.

 

"Right now, there are nine Majin outside.  We have to assume that--and this is just judging by their growing intelligence--that there is a pack of equal or possibly larger size behind the building, out of our line of sight.  If my guess is right, these things aren't gonna keep browsing the area looking for a meal.  They're hungry.  They'll be ready to knock over some things soon.  And if that's the case, I say we feed them."

 

Christina was expecting a few gasps and odd looks, and she wasn't disappointed.

 

"Before you think I'm nuts, hear me out.  We drop to the second floor.  The staircase is narrow and can be controlled--by us.  We use the metal sheets as a means of controlling the flow of majin, and we pull them onto the floor towards us as we're ready to fight.  They seem to be deterred by the metal sheets, but I can't say that for certain.  If nothing else, we can always kite them up the building, backwards, without getting overwhelmed.  The easiest way to do this would be to act on it right away, but if we choose to fight, we won't be constricted on time."  The smoke survivors randomly struck out at smoke majin, and killed them successfully.  "Of course, this is the more dangerous plan, but has more of a success chance since we'll be the ones controlling it."  The smoke survivors turned their big chibi eyes to Christina, and threw  up a cheerful, excited fist pump.  "Plan B is a bit more time constricted, and flows on the Majin side of things," she said wiping the smoke away, and watching it reform in the center of the room.

 

"We wait.   I would say as long as two, three days tops.  Any longer and it will be near impossible to sneak away.  We wait, and watch their hunting patterns.  When their numbers have thinned out, we take to the roof of this building and beat it."  The smoke survivors appeared on the rooftop of the smoke building, and were looking around cautiously.  "Of course, it depends on what time of day their numbers are most thin, would depend on which route we take.  We would have to leave the SUV behind for now.  Besides, I haven't had a chance to modify it, and it would only draw Majin to us.  But, assuming their numbers are least heavy during the day," she said turning to Riku.  "You'll take the lead.  Regardless of the time of day, however, we stick to the rooftops.  Far as we know, these bastards can't fly, so it would give us a lot of breathing room to stay up high.  Keep your Fayths active when we're running.  It will take some toll on us, but the less of a risk we take, the better."  

 

Christina watched the smoke survivors leap from their current building position, and began to scurry across rooftops into the distance.

 

"Assuming it's late night when their numbers began to die down, I'll lead.  I can provide a light source as we move, so no one will get lost."  The smoke survivors dissipated again, and the smoke began to twirl beneath Christina's fingers.  Seven stick smoke figures--humanoid--formed under her finger tips, and Christina began to make various formations with them as they represented the survivors.  

 

"If Riku leads," she said moving the Riku stick forward of the pack.  "Luna, you'll take point," she said now moving Luna's figurine forward, but not quite beside Riku's.  "You're to be beside Riku at all times, looking for anything he may miss, and vice versa.  Of course, we all have to keep our eyes open, but ideally, with you two in front, we'll be able to see things coming from a mile away."  Three more figurines began to line up behind the lead two, in a V formation.  "We'll stick Amaris, Leroy, and Destiny in the center for all around cover."  The last two smoke figurines moved up, in a similar position to the lead two.  "Mia and I will take up the slack.  This positions our offense and defense sparingly, and allows us to cover more angles."  Christina cleared the smoke, and watched the stick figurines reform.

 

"Finally, assuming I lead, Destiny you'll be my point man.  Or uh, point girl," she said as two smoke figurines moved into place similar to before.  This time, the three figurines that entered the middle formed more of a backwards L formation, with two standing behind Destiny's figurine, and one behind Christina's.  "We'll stack up Riku and Mia under Destiny, and Amaris under me.  Our offense will be focused up front, and our defense behind us."  The last two figurines moved into place.  Luna and Leroy's.  "Luna, Leroy, you guys would pick up the rear, and cover our asses.  You have the most range from what I can tell, so at night, that would be best."  The smoke dispersed completely now, and Ares once again vanished.

 

"For now, that's all I've got.  If anyone has any suggestions, questions, or concerns, I'm happy to hear it," she said standing up straight.

[Cosmo.]

A week passed since Baal was taken down and Riku was almost dead.

The entire week the group hid in a building covering the windows with the metal sheets. The Maijins were waiting outside the building, they were looking for food.

 

Christina was making up a plan, plan A was more dangerous but we had total control over it, plan B though was slower and probably more risky.

"It's a really tough choice, as you said, the monsters are gonna start breaking stuff soon and in 2-3 days we might already have been discovered, but plan B is very dangerous too, even though we're leading them, there are around 9 Maijins and i don't know yet if we have encountered all of them yet. My healing powers may help in plan B, but they're quite tiring for me and i'm not able of using them non-stop. It obviously depends on how big the wound is, but i prefer not taking any risks. Both choices are very dangerous, but, since i have to choose, i would choose plan B but with one exception, we leave today! They're probably gonna find us soon, and we are a lot more protected on the rooftops." Luna expressed her opinion, now it was time for the others to do their choice.

[Mr. Hyde]

Leroy had been huddled himself up against a wall, one leg bent up and the other flat on the floor.  Twiddling his thumbs, he thought to himself.  Scenes of their previous majin encounter flashed through his mind.  A sliced up majin, and Baal Bonfire, and the image of Riku falling off of that sickle.  Leroy couldn't tell if he was used to all this yet.  When he fired up his Fayth, that's all there is to it.  It's like he becomes a different person, resistant to the gore and violence that goes on around him, but when he puts the staff away, he becomes sickened.  Leroy never showed it though.  He couldn't tell if the group was the same way or not.  It's like they hadn't thought about what they'd done.  

 

One week it had been since that fight with Baal, but it felt like just the other day that Leroy was in his personal bi-plane, soaring over the red rocks of Australia's outback.  Now he was a majin slayer?  How bizarre.  The thumb twiddling intensified.  He tried to concentrate on the brighter side of things like he always did, so he proceeded to.  He was glad that he had become closer with his two male compatriots in the group.  Up until this point it was as if he had only spoken with the ladies in the group.  Couldn't be helped, Leroy was 17..hormones and all.  The other two guys were older than he was, but Riku wasn't by much.  It was a swell time with them too, he wasn't acquainted with many people of Japanese decent before all this nonsense, but he was glad to get closer.  They were now grade A mates in his book.  His relationships with the girls didn't change much.  Christina was the leader now, and he followed her orders, but not without the occasional banter between the two.  Her hot headedness clashed with Leroy's chill, but it's not like they rubbed each other the wrong way.  Despite his attempts to get closer to Des, it's as if she kept her distance from him.  It had been a while since they had last held a long conversation, and he found it odd that she went from clinging to him to pushing him away.  He also made attempts to converse with Mia, all of which failed miserably.  Luna was just all around strange.  He liked talking to her, but she was mainly tied around Riku finger.  

 

"That's about enough for a recap..." he thought.  It was then that Christina had made her way to the center of the room, all eyes and ears were on her now.  She devised two plans for the team to decide upon with that loud mouth of hers.  But he had to give her props with that smokey animation, it was quite entertaining to watch.

 

Option A: Make a ruckus and lure the Majin in a funnel to be slaughtered by the team, assuming there were only 9 in the area.  It was a decent plan, but Leroy wasn't so keen on fighting so many...flashes of last weeks encounter still present in his mind.  What if there was an invisible boss among them???  He was sure Yuel would know, and if she hadn't said anything, then he needn't worry.

 

Option B: Run to the hills!  Well to the rooftops to be exact.  This was what he was all about.  It was a shame they had to leave their first hideout, but the majin knew they were in the area.  If they ran for it, and ran fast and long, they were sure to find another non-infested area.  He shook his head, that idea sounded the best.  

 

Luna made her opinion clear, but she was too fidgety about it.  With his hand raised, he shouted, "Oi, i agree with Moona over here to the Nth degree...my only concern is that we shouldn't leave today...i gotta give this place a proper goodbye!"  He pretended to wipe tears from his face.  "But in all seriousness...i say we ditch the place and the majins with it."  He hovered into the air and floated beside the authoritative stance that Christina had taken, nudging her shoulder with his.  "Funny thing is, you suckas are gonna have to tire your poor little feet out.  I've gotten pretty good at this flying thing in the past week, so im gonna stick to this mode of transportation for the most part!"  He smiled at the group, trying his hardest to make the group jealous of his unique trait.  He then crossed his arms, still standing next to Red, and tilted his head up.  "Oi, now lets hear from the rest of you lot eh???"  

[Dad]

Christina

 

Leroy, per usual, was in good spirits.  If this guy was ever down, he did a damn good job of hiding it.  When he nudged Christina's shoulder, she just raised an eyebrow, chuckling to herself.  He bragged on about his flying capabilities, but he was in the right.  And in all actuality, he had a lot more utility compared to his grounded allies.  Plus, being able to carry another teammate in an out made Leroy extremely dangerous to the enemy.  And this was something Christina would ponder on for some time.  She would focus on further utilizing Leroy's biggest strength later down the line, assuming they weren't killed in the next twenty-four hours.  For now, she went over the current plans in her head, as two votes for an abandon ship were already made.  If Luna really wanted to leave today, it would depend on how much information Leroy and Amaris could gather within the next few hours.  Time of day was also a condition to be monitored.  Obviously, it would be much more dangerous to travel at night, but they couldn't predict that, now could they?

 

Still, Christina felt nervous.  It was times like these she just wanted to have headphones in her ears and some good music to listen to.  She wondered now if any of her old music on her phone had been lost in the time lapse.  She slipped her phone out of her pocket and began scrolling through her applications until she found "Music".  Well.  The application was there.  She crossed her fingers in her free hand and pushed on the icon.  Sure enough, she found more than 2000 songs still on the device.  But, just because they were there, didn't mean they would work.  She decided to wait to see if she could swipe some headphones later down the line.  At least she would have one simple freedom fighting these Majin bastards.  That was one thing they couldn't take away.  Music.

 

Putting her phone away, Christina caught herself smiling, and quickly wiped it away, hoping no one noticed.  "Right, so, that's two votes to leave.  We should make our decision within the next hour, so we can at least begin planning," she said taking attention away from her smile.  She was waiting now for Riku, Amaris, Mia, and Destiny to chime in.  They could always debate these ideas and of course come up with others, but they would have to do it soon.

[Yosuke-kun]

Two plans. One included funneling the Majin inside and fighting them in a standoff to the death. Dangerous as hell perhaps, but they'd at least manage to keep their SUV and cut down a few Majin with them. Riku had no problem with this plan, but that may have been because he had an ability that nullified death for him. The others would be in more immediate danger than he would, but they could probably handle well too, and Riku could protect them if need be too. The other plan however, offered a great deal more safety (at least in theory it did) but would involve abandoning their supplies and the SUV. Timing on this was was vital as well, as leaving at the wrong time could mean they'd end up in an open battle. If that were the case, plan A would likely be the better, as they'd be able to at leas keep the supplies. 

 

"If we go for plan A I might be able to gather more data on Majin we haven't seen. Assuming they show up that is. But your lives are what's most important here, so if plan B feels the safer, I vote you go with that."

 

As usual, Yuel replied with her standard cheery tone to say "do whatever, just don't die" only this time she offered her own opinion. Only fair she do after all, she was a part of the group same as any of the others were. It was heartening for Riku to hear the Tenjin phone girl offer her own sentiment as well. As Riku thought, Christina began to look through her phone too. A quick glance and Riku smiled at her search. Even at a time like this she was looking for music. Why didn't he think of that? Riku even had headphones with him the entire week they'd been here.

 

Ameris however, had other things in mind. The idea of Leroy's flight gave him another plan that, if properly executed, could mean they'd get away with everything.

 

"Leroy, how good at lifting other things would you say you are? Could you lift a car maybe? If so, what if we go with plan B, but Leroy and someone else make for the SUV as well. It's risky- Very risky- but it could work. Of course, the original plans sound better. It's just a thought."

 

"It'd be nice if we could pull it off, but I don't see it being possible. Even if Leroy could lift the SUV over the horde of Majin, they'd all just hunt him and whoever else left with him down. In theory it works, but I doubt that it'd be able to pull it off without a full scale battle even if Leroy could fly the car the entire way."

A sigh left Riku's breath as he worked over the two plans. Safety or supply... either way they'd leave one for the other, but  wasn't as if they couldn't go back for their supplies at a later, safer time. However, where would they go? After asking this, Yuel chirped out the answer.

"You could make for the Chrysler Building!~ It's big enough for you to hide and go unnoticed and Majin don't go their often. It's perfect!"

 

Assuming they could make it that far and what Yuel was saying was true then the Chrysler Building would be a safe bet. At the very least Riku felt it was worth a try.

 

"Alright. I say plan B. Making a break for it while they're guard is thin is probably the best chance we have."