PoT Fic: Recombinant Chapter 12
Here's chapter 12, I hope you guys like it! This one starts another action sequence . . .
Title: Recombinant
Author: Dolly (universal_doll)
Rating: PG to PG-13
Characters: Echizen, Tezuka, Fuji (primary); Tachibana An, Tachibana Kippei, Momoshiro (secondary); and the rest of Seigaku.
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, AU (or rather, Alternate History/Timeline)
Summary: “Why couldn't you have been magical girls?”
Full Story Notes & Previous Chapters
New Chapter:
Chapter 12
The sun was just peeking over the horizon, bathing the city skyline in a warm golden glow. It was early still, on a Friday, and according to the sign at the main entrance Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium was not due to open until nine. And it wasn't even eight yet. Ryoma wasn't sure what he could do to occupy himself for more than an hour, and, thinking about it further, wasn't even sure why he was here in the first place. Though he'd left his house for school much earlier than usual, he hadn't really intended to come here. But Ryoma just couldn't get the images from the dream he'd had the night before out of his mind, and had impulsively taken the turn that led him to the train station instead of to school.
And now here he was, standing in front of the very structure that he'd seen destroyed in his dream: the fourth point. It had only been a dream . . . but then, the other dreams he'd had about the other points being destroyed had come true. The second and third points he had seen destroyed just as they'd been in his dreams, and he was fairly sure that that first strange dream he'd had had been of the first point's demise. But even though he'd known each time, he hadn't been able to keep it from happening, and realistically he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop any demon that tried to destroy this building either.
So Ryoma also knew that he should tell the others. Because maybe, despite their terrible lack of coordination, they could keep the fourth point from being destroyed. But since he hadn't told anyone about his last dream of the third point's destruction--or even mentioned his dreams to them at all--he didn't know how to tell them about the fourth point's destruction now. And judging by the calm, quiet atmosphere around the gymnasium, he didn't think he'd find any signs of demons being here.
He probably should have just gone to school.
After wandering aimlessly around the the outside of the huge facilities for awhile, Ryoma had nearly convinced himself to leave. But just as he circled around the back of the main arena, he caught sight of a brief flash of red through one of the building's many windows. It wasn't the woman or the white-haired demon, at least, but he didn't think it had been any of the staff either.
As Ryoma considered what it could have been, a nearby door opened and a man in a dull green jumper pushing a cart slowly came out. On the spur of the moment, Ryoma grabbed an eraser from his school bag and expertly threw it towards the door. It wedged itself firmly between the door jam and the door on the floor, keeping the door from shutting all the way. After the unobservant janitor was safely out of sight, Ryoma took a quick look around and then slipped inside the main arena building.
Ryoma padded quietly through the empty hallways, past the deserted ticket booths and concession stands, and started up the twisting stairways in the general direction that he'd seen that flash of red move towards. Whatever it had been, Ryoma figured it was probably nothing more dangerous than one of those smaller creatures, since in his dream it had been afternoon when this building had been destroyed. But if there was something here now that he could see, he could go back and tell his teammates about it, which would be much more believable than just a dream.
He soon found himself at the entrance of the arena's central amphitheater, and Ryoma headed up and cautiously looked inside. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the massive field . . . but his instincts were suddenly and loudly screaming at him that there was something there that he wasn't seeing. Something dangerous.
Slightly spooked, Ryoma turned and walked quickly out of the amphitheater and back down the stairs in the direction that he had come from. He went down into the sub-levels for a quick look around, but found nothing but weight machines and treadmills. Satisfied that he'd looked around enough, Ryoma started back up the stairs, only to be assaulted by that same sense of impending danger.
He looked up the staircase, and decided that he really should have just gone to school.
A man, with a muscular frame and crimson hair, was leaning against the rail right by the door that led back to the ground floor exit. Murky black eyes slowly turned downwards, and Ryoma froze as they met his.
“Finally coming up now, little one?” The man's voice was low and velvety, though lacking any normal inflection. “Or do you want to play later?”
Ryoma certainly didn't want to 'play' now, or ever for that matter. He whirled around and dashed back down the stairs and away from the demon, who somehow seemed more malicious than the other two had. He let out a small gasp as he felt a hand on his waist, jerking him to a stop, and he felt a cool breath on his neck as the demon leaned close and ran icy fingers across his cheek.
“You should have said something if you wanted to play later,” the demon said silkily, a dangerous undertone to his voice. “It's so awfully rude to run away like that.”
Desperately, Ryoma threw the first spell he could think of at the demon in an effort to get away. He was not at all happy to be a girl again, but it was worth it to see the demon flung away from him in a shower of sparks. Ryoma ran.
But his incantation had not been strong enough. A burst of energy whizzed past Ryoma's head, impacting with a piece of railing and sending it flying into the wall. Ryoma ducked his head and ran down the stairs faster, though as he burst through another door he found himself dead-ended at the lowest level in the storage room. The demon was still coming closer, but not moving nearly as fast as he had been before.
And then it suddenly occurred to Ryoma that the demon was just playing with him. Annoyed at being so easily dismissed, Ryoma took an offensive stance a few meters away from the door, and let loose a barrage of the most destructive incantations he knew at the first sign of movement in the stairwell. A satisfied smirk settled on his face as he heard them impact, accompanied by a faint grunt. And then nothing
But had it been enough? Cautiously, Ryoma began to step forward, but before he knew what was happening he felt, but didn't see, something slam into him with enough force to send him flying backwards into a tall metal shelf. He hit it, hard, and slumped bonelessly to the floor. His head ached, and as the room seemed to get darker he caught sight of a hazy figure in the doorway.
The demon.
“You know, I think you're right. We really should do this later; I do have a building to destroy now, after all. Though I wouldn't want you to run away again . . . so I'll just have to make sure you stay here. I promise I won't let you be killed when I bring the building down, though. That wouldn't be fun at all.” The demon gave a flick of his hand, and the last thing Ryoma saw before he passed out was the stairwell, caving in on itself.
~*~
Tezuka rarely had lunch with anyone other than Oishi or Fuji, and the latter only on occasion. But lately, it seemed, he had been spending more time with his fellow teammates.
“Fujiko! You don't put wasabi on that!” Tezuka glanced over to see Eiji looking at Fuji's lunch box in horror.
“Ah, but it really tastes good.”
Today, for instance, he had somehow wound up sitting with nearly half the team. Inui had showed up with Oishi, and Fuji had just seemed to appear on the grass beside him when he hadn't been paying attention. Eiji had come following after the tensai, and Tezuka suspected that the bouncy redhead just didn't want to be left out of anything.
“You know, I've been thinking,” Fuji began, and Tezuka's gaze slid over to him. “We really should be more proactive.”
Tezuka raised an eyebrow slightly in inquiry.
“As Guardians we're supposed to keep five points from falling, but so far, we know at least two that have already,” Fuji pointed out.
“I agree with Fuji, and have been meaning to bring up the matter as well,” Inui interjected. “In order to successfully preserve the remaining points, I believe that we need to actively seek them out to protect them from the demons that are working to resurrect their lord.”
“That sounds reasonable.” Tezuka nodded. “Suggestions?”
A pause. “I'm afraid not,” Inui admitted.
“Maybe we should ask Ochibi!” Eiji piped up.
“Hm. You know, it is strange that Echizen was at the last two sites right before they went down,” Fuji said thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing.
“And highly improbable,” Inui added.
“I'll see if he knows anything.” Echizen hadn't even told them about his male-to-female transformation, so Tezuka didn't doubt that there could be more that he wasn't telling them. Echizen was fairly closed-off by nature, and did not seem inclined to tell his 'Guardians' any more than what they specifically asked. But was it a matter of trust, or something else?
“Echizen is in class two, though often eats lunch in the cafeteria or with Momoshiro.”
Tezuka knew that already, but gave Inui a small nod of thanks as he stood to go find the freshman. It just didn't feel like a good idea to wait.
“But, Ochibi's not here today,” Eiji said, causing Tezuka to stop. “He was fine yesterday though . . . ”
Realization weighed heavily on Tezuka. “I don't think Echizen is sick.”
The others had apparently reached the same conclusion as he had, if the sudden yet brief lack of conversation was any indication.
“You know, I think we really should work on Echizen's communication skills.” Fuji broke the silence, his voice deceptively light. He and Inui exchanged a glance, and Tezuka was sure that he was missing some level of their own communication.
But then . . . he probably didn't want to know.
~*~
Consciousness returned to him slowly, and Ryoma wasn't sure how long he was awake for before he realized that it was just very, very dark. So dark, in fact, that he couldn't even see silhouettes.
And he hurt, and not just from being slammed into a wall.
Slowly pulling himself into a sitting position, Ryoma raised a hand and put his fingers into the correct positions before murmuring a simple incantation. His voice sounded scratchy and faint, and not at all like it should have, but it still had the desired effect as a soft white light flared up from the tips of his fingers. It cast a soft glow around the room, revealing a pile of rubble where the door had been and several collapsed shelves and light fixtures. One of which was partly on his lower leg, which certainly explained the pain. Wincing, Ryoma tried to wiggle out from under it, but with no success. As he lay back for a moment, he caught sight of his school bag, which, miraculously, had not been crushed.
And his phone was in there. Ryoma reached over to grab it, and stretched as far as he could when his fingers failed to snare it. But it was just out of his reach. Though after several minutes of pushing, pulling, and wriggling, Ryoma managed to get the rubble off of his leg.
He drew in a sharp gasp as he scooted over to his bag, and willed himself to push the pain away. He was sure it wasn't broken, but his leg was bloody enough that he didn't think he'd be walking on it right away. After drawing in a few shaky breaths, Ryoma pulled his phone out of his bag and opened it. Whether he liked it or not, he definitely needed help, and his teammates were the only ones who had a chance of saving this point now. His first thought was to call Tezuka, since surely he could get everyone organized like he always did.
But Tezuka didn't answer his phone, and Ryoma wondered if maybe he was in class. And, given the time, it was very likely that they were all in class. Ryoma bit his lip. He didn't want to make a nuisance of himself by calling them during class, but this was really important. The fourth point was going down, and soon. Not for the first time that day, Ryoma wished that his own powers were stronger, like the others'.
He called Oishi next, who had apparently not turned on his phone that day. And all he got was voice mail when he called Momo. And, to make matters worse, his own phone's battery was dying. He had enough power left for one more call, but probably not two, which could be very bad if the person he called next didn't pick up.
So who could he count on to answer?
~*~
“Hey, Fuji!” Eiji waved a hand in front of his face as Fuji sat at his desk gazing out the window. “What's so interesting out there?”
“Nothing,” Fuji said with a smile. “I'm just looking forward to the end of the day.” There was one more class left, and he was pondering just how annoyed Tezuka would be with him if he didn't show up for tennis practice that afternoon. Fuji had a strong impulse to go check on Echizen, and didn't really feel like resisting it for that much longer. To his surprise, he found himself rather worried about his young teammate - and Fuji did not like being worried.
Eiji looked at him knowingly. “Nya, me too! We should go see what Ochibi's doing.”
As he was about to reply, Fuji felt a slight vibration in his pocket. Taking out his phone, he flipped it open.
“Hello?”
There was a slight pause, and then the hesitant voice of a young girl.
“ . . . Fuji-senpai? It's Echizen.”
“How nice to have you call me,” Fuji replied pleasantly, as in truth people rarely called him when he actually gave them his number. But he doubted that this was a social call. “Is something wrong? You've changed again.”
“Mm. Sorry to bother you, but I thought you'd have your phone on. The fourth point's going to come down really soon. I'm there, but I can't stop it.”
Fuji stiffened, now fully alert and slightly alarmed. And shouldn't it have been the third point? “Why not, and where are you?” he asked tersely.
“Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. He's in the main arena, I think he's concentrating his energy somewhere in the stadium. But I can't stop him, I'm stuck below. You've got to get the others and come. I messaged everyone, but I don't have enough battery left to make more calls.”
“He?”
“The demon! Its already started, you have to hurry if you're going to make it in time to stop him.”
Fuji did not miss the strained quality of the freshman's voice. “We'll come as soon as we can,” he said calmly. “Where are you exactly? And are you all right?”
“The lowest sublevel, directly under the stadium,” came the reluctant reply. “Its caved in. My phone's dying now. I've got to go, Fuji-senpai.”
The call ended with a click, and Fuji just stared down at the phone in his hand for a moment in silent thought. Well, as silent as it could be with Eiji nearly hopping at his side.
“Is Ochibi in trouble?” Eiji asked anxiously, and rather too loudly.
“Mm.” Fuji gave a nearly imperceptible nod, and began putting his books in his bag. “We have to go.”
“Eh? But, class is starting in a minute! It must be important, ne?”
“I'll tell you on the way.”
Obediently, Eiji grabbed his bag and followed Fuji out of the classroom and through the halls. “Fuji, where are we going?”
“To get the other Guardians, of course. The fourth point is going down,” Fuji replied absently, tuning out Eiji's exclamations as he considered how to undertake the initial challenge that had been set before him.
“Saa, Eiji, how would you like to help me get everyone out of class?”
~*~
Chapter 12 Notes:
Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium does actually exist, though I'm not sure of its actual location in relation to the other locations in this story. It is a very large public facility that consists of several different structures including a main arena, a sub-arena, and a smaller building with a pool, and includes sub-levels as well.
I do consider Ryoma to be brave, though I think he is smart enough to know when he's out of his league, as is certainly the case with Orias here. Violent junior high school tennis players like Akutsu (which Ryoma has no qualms with provoking, even!) are nowhere near the same level of danger as evil demons. ;)
Thanks for reading! And I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! I'm off to LA tommorrow. ^_^ *hands out halloween candy*
Title: Recombinant
Author: Dolly (universal_doll)
Rating: PG to PG-13
Characters: Echizen, Tezuka, Fuji (primary); Tachibana An, Tachibana Kippei, Momoshiro (secondary); and the rest of Seigaku.
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, AU (or rather, Alternate History/Timeline)
Summary: “Why couldn't you have been magical girls?”
Full Story Notes & Previous Chapters
New Chapter:
Chapter 12
The sun was just peeking over the horizon, bathing the city skyline in a warm golden glow. It was early still, on a Friday, and according to the sign at the main entrance Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium was not due to open until nine. And it wasn't even eight yet. Ryoma wasn't sure what he could do to occupy himself for more than an hour, and, thinking about it further, wasn't even sure why he was here in the first place. Though he'd left his house for school much earlier than usual, he hadn't really intended to come here. But Ryoma just couldn't get the images from the dream he'd had the night before out of his mind, and had impulsively taken the turn that led him to the train station instead of to school.
And now here he was, standing in front of the very structure that he'd seen destroyed in his dream: the fourth point. It had only been a dream . . . but then, the other dreams he'd had about the other points being destroyed had come true. The second and third points he had seen destroyed just as they'd been in his dreams, and he was fairly sure that that first strange dream he'd had had been of the first point's demise. But even though he'd known each time, he hadn't been able to keep it from happening, and realistically he knew that he wouldn't be able to stop any demon that tried to destroy this building either.
So Ryoma also knew that he should tell the others. Because maybe, despite their terrible lack of coordination, they could keep the fourth point from being destroyed. But since he hadn't told anyone about his last dream of the third point's destruction--or even mentioned his dreams to them at all--he didn't know how to tell them about the fourth point's destruction now. And judging by the calm, quiet atmosphere around the gymnasium, he didn't think he'd find any signs of demons being here.
He probably should have just gone to school.
After wandering aimlessly around the the outside of the huge facilities for awhile, Ryoma had nearly convinced himself to leave. But just as he circled around the back of the main arena, he caught sight of a brief flash of red through one of the building's many windows. It wasn't the woman or the white-haired demon, at least, but he didn't think it had been any of the staff either.
As Ryoma considered what it could have been, a nearby door opened and a man in a dull green jumper pushing a cart slowly came out. On the spur of the moment, Ryoma grabbed an eraser from his school bag and expertly threw it towards the door. It wedged itself firmly between the door jam and the door on the floor, keeping the door from shutting all the way. After the unobservant janitor was safely out of sight, Ryoma took a quick look around and then slipped inside the main arena building.
Ryoma padded quietly through the empty hallways, past the deserted ticket booths and concession stands, and started up the twisting stairways in the general direction that he'd seen that flash of red move towards. Whatever it had been, Ryoma figured it was probably nothing more dangerous than one of those smaller creatures, since in his dream it had been afternoon when this building had been destroyed. But if there was something here now that he could see, he could go back and tell his teammates about it, which would be much more believable than just a dream.
He soon found himself at the entrance of the arena's central amphitheater, and Ryoma headed up and cautiously looked inside. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the massive field . . . but his instincts were suddenly and loudly screaming at him that there was something there that he wasn't seeing. Something dangerous.
Slightly spooked, Ryoma turned and walked quickly out of the amphitheater and back down the stairs in the direction that he had come from. He went down into the sub-levels for a quick look around, but found nothing but weight machines and treadmills. Satisfied that he'd looked around enough, Ryoma started back up the stairs, only to be assaulted by that same sense of impending danger.
He looked up the staircase, and decided that he really should have just gone to school.
A man, with a muscular frame and crimson hair, was leaning against the rail right by the door that led back to the ground floor exit. Murky black eyes slowly turned downwards, and Ryoma froze as they met his.
“Finally coming up now, little one?” The man's voice was low and velvety, though lacking any normal inflection. “Or do you want to play later?”
Ryoma certainly didn't want to 'play' now, or ever for that matter. He whirled around and dashed back down the stairs and away from the demon, who somehow seemed more malicious than the other two had. He let out a small gasp as he felt a hand on his waist, jerking him to a stop, and he felt a cool breath on his neck as the demon leaned close and ran icy fingers across his cheek.
“You should have said something if you wanted to play later,” the demon said silkily, a dangerous undertone to his voice. “It's so awfully rude to run away like that.”
Desperately, Ryoma threw the first spell he could think of at the demon in an effort to get away. He was not at all happy to be a girl again, but it was worth it to see the demon flung away from him in a shower of sparks. Ryoma ran.
But his incantation had not been strong enough. A burst of energy whizzed past Ryoma's head, impacting with a piece of railing and sending it flying into the wall. Ryoma ducked his head and ran down the stairs faster, though as he burst through another door he found himself dead-ended at the lowest level in the storage room. The demon was still coming closer, but not moving nearly as fast as he had been before.
And then it suddenly occurred to Ryoma that the demon was just playing with him. Annoyed at being so easily dismissed, Ryoma took an offensive stance a few meters away from the door, and let loose a barrage of the most destructive incantations he knew at the first sign of movement in the stairwell. A satisfied smirk settled on his face as he heard them impact, accompanied by a faint grunt. And then nothing
But had it been enough? Cautiously, Ryoma began to step forward, but before he knew what was happening he felt, but didn't see, something slam into him with enough force to send him flying backwards into a tall metal shelf. He hit it, hard, and slumped bonelessly to the floor. His head ached, and as the room seemed to get darker he caught sight of a hazy figure in the doorway.
The demon.
“You know, I think you're right. We really should do this later; I do have a building to destroy now, after all. Though I wouldn't want you to run away again . . . so I'll just have to make sure you stay here. I promise I won't let you be killed when I bring the building down, though. That wouldn't be fun at all.” The demon gave a flick of his hand, and the last thing Ryoma saw before he passed out was the stairwell, caving in on itself.
~*~
Tezuka rarely had lunch with anyone other than Oishi or Fuji, and the latter only on occasion. But lately, it seemed, he had been spending more time with his fellow teammates.
“Fujiko! You don't put wasabi on that!” Tezuka glanced over to see Eiji looking at Fuji's lunch box in horror.
“Ah, but it really tastes good.”
Today, for instance, he had somehow wound up sitting with nearly half the team. Inui had showed up with Oishi, and Fuji had just seemed to appear on the grass beside him when he hadn't been paying attention. Eiji had come following after the tensai, and Tezuka suspected that the bouncy redhead just didn't want to be left out of anything.
“You know, I've been thinking,” Fuji began, and Tezuka's gaze slid over to him. “We really should be more proactive.”
Tezuka raised an eyebrow slightly in inquiry.
“As Guardians we're supposed to keep five points from falling, but so far, we know at least two that have already,” Fuji pointed out.
“I agree with Fuji, and have been meaning to bring up the matter as well,” Inui interjected. “In order to successfully preserve the remaining points, I believe that we need to actively seek them out to protect them from the demons that are working to resurrect their lord.”
“That sounds reasonable.” Tezuka nodded. “Suggestions?”
A pause. “I'm afraid not,” Inui admitted.
“Maybe we should ask Ochibi!” Eiji piped up.
“Hm. You know, it is strange that Echizen was at the last two sites right before they went down,” Fuji said thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing.
“And highly improbable,” Inui added.
“I'll see if he knows anything.” Echizen hadn't even told them about his male-to-female transformation, so Tezuka didn't doubt that there could be more that he wasn't telling them. Echizen was fairly closed-off by nature, and did not seem inclined to tell his 'Guardians' any more than what they specifically asked. But was it a matter of trust, or something else?
“Echizen is in class two, though often eats lunch in the cafeteria or with Momoshiro.”
Tezuka knew that already, but gave Inui a small nod of thanks as he stood to go find the freshman. It just didn't feel like a good idea to wait.
“But, Ochibi's not here today,” Eiji said, causing Tezuka to stop. “He was fine yesterday though . . . ”
Realization weighed heavily on Tezuka. “I don't think Echizen is sick.”
The others had apparently reached the same conclusion as he had, if the sudden yet brief lack of conversation was any indication.
“You know, I think we really should work on Echizen's communication skills.” Fuji broke the silence, his voice deceptively light. He and Inui exchanged a glance, and Tezuka was sure that he was missing some level of their own communication.
But then . . . he probably didn't want to know.
~*~
Consciousness returned to him slowly, and Ryoma wasn't sure how long he was awake for before he realized that it was just very, very dark. So dark, in fact, that he couldn't even see silhouettes.
And he hurt, and not just from being slammed into a wall.
Slowly pulling himself into a sitting position, Ryoma raised a hand and put his fingers into the correct positions before murmuring a simple incantation. His voice sounded scratchy and faint, and not at all like it should have, but it still had the desired effect as a soft white light flared up from the tips of his fingers. It cast a soft glow around the room, revealing a pile of rubble where the door had been and several collapsed shelves and light fixtures. One of which was partly on his lower leg, which certainly explained the pain. Wincing, Ryoma tried to wiggle out from under it, but with no success. As he lay back for a moment, he caught sight of his school bag, which, miraculously, had not been crushed.
And his phone was in there. Ryoma reached over to grab it, and stretched as far as he could when his fingers failed to snare it. But it was just out of his reach. Though after several minutes of pushing, pulling, and wriggling, Ryoma managed to get the rubble off of his leg.
He drew in a sharp gasp as he scooted over to his bag, and willed himself to push the pain away. He was sure it wasn't broken, but his leg was bloody enough that he didn't think he'd be walking on it right away. After drawing in a few shaky breaths, Ryoma pulled his phone out of his bag and opened it. Whether he liked it or not, he definitely needed help, and his teammates were the only ones who had a chance of saving this point now. His first thought was to call Tezuka, since surely he could get everyone organized like he always did.
But Tezuka didn't answer his phone, and Ryoma wondered if maybe he was in class. And, given the time, it was very likely that they were all in class. Ryoma bit his lip. He didn't want to make a nuisance of himself by calling them during class, but this was really important. The fourth point was going down, and soon. Not for the first time that day, Ryoma wished that his own powers were stronger, like the others'.
He called Oishi next, who had apparently not turned on his phone that day. And all he got was voice mail when he called Momo. And, to make matters worse, his own phone's battery was dying. He had enough power left for one more call, but probably not two, which could be very bad if the person he called next didn't pick up.
So who could he count on to answer?
~*~
“Hey, Fuji!” Eiji waved a hand in front of his face as Fuji sat at his desk gazing out the window. “What's so interesting out there?”
“Nothing,” Fuji said with a smile. “I'm just looking forward to the end of the day.” There was one more class left, and he was pondering just how annoyed Tezuka would be with him if he didn't show up for tennis practice that afternoon. Fuji had a strong impulse to go check on Echizen, and didn't really feel like resisting it for that much longer. To his surprise, he found himself rather worried about his young teammate - and Fuji did not like being worried.
Eiji looked at him knowingly. “Nya, me too! We should go see what Ochibi's doing.”
As he was about to reply, Fuji felt a slight vibration in his pocket. Taking out his phone, he flipped it open.
“Hello?”
There was a slight pause, and then the hesitant voice of a young girl.
“ . . . Fuji-senpai? It's Echizen.”
“How nice to have you call me,” Fuji replied pleasantly, as in truth people rarely called him when he actually gave them his number. But he doubted that this was a social call. “Is something wrong? You've changed again.”
“Mm. Sorry to bother you, but I thought you'd have your phone on. The fourth point's going to come down really soon. I'm there, but I can't stop it.”
Fuji stiffened, now fully alert and slightly alarmed. And shouldn't it have been the third point? “Why not, and where are you?” he asked tersely.
“Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. He's in the main arena, I think he's concentrating his energy somewhere in the stadium. But I can't stop him, I'm stuck below. You've got to get the others and come. I messaged everyone, but I don't have enough battery left to make more calls.”
“He?”
“The demon! Its already started, you have to hurry if you're going to make it in time to stop him.”
Fuji did not miss the strained quality of the freshman's voice. “We'll come as soon as we can,” he said calmly. “Where are you exactly? And are you all right?”
“The lowest sublevel, directly under the stadium,” came the reluctant reply. “Its caved in. My phone's dying now. I've got to go, Fuji-senpai.”
The call ended with a click, and Fuji just stared down at the phone in his hand for a moment in silent thought. Well, as silent as it could be with Eiji nearly hopping at his side.
“Is Ochibi in trouble?” Eiji asked anxiously, and rather too loudly.
“Mm.” Fuji gave a nearly imperceptible nod, and began putting his books in his bag. “We have to go.”
“Eh? But, class is starting in a minute! It must be important, ne?”
“I'll tell you on the way.”
Obediently, Eiji grabbed his bag and followed Fuji out of the classroom and through the halls. “Fuji, where are we going?”
“To get the other Guardians, of course. The fourth point is going down,” Fuji replied absently, tuning out Eiji's exclamations as he considered how to undertake the initial challenge that had been set before him.
“Saa, Eiji, how would you like to help me get everyone out of class?”
~*~
Chapter 12 Notes:
Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium does actually exist, though I'm not sure of its actual location in relation to the other locations in this story. It is a very large public facility that consists of several different structures including a main arena, a sub-arena, and a smaller building with a pool, and includes sub-levels as well.
I do consider Ryoma to be brave, though I think he is smart enough to know when he's out of his league, as is certainly the case with Orias here. Violent junior high school tennis players like Akutsu (which Ryoma has no qualms with provoking, even!) are nowhere near the same level of danger as evil demons. ;)
Thanks for reading! And I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! I'm off to LA tommorrow. ^_^ *hands out halloween candy*