[Miyabigaoka] Abenobashi Shopping Arcade

[Apollymi]

http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s474/benihime469/RPU/Air%20Gear/1616416516516841665_zpsicktryb7.jpg

Instead of a shopping district, Miyabigaoka has a giant mall full of all kinds of shops for the general populace to use. They call this a shopping arcade and it is a popular hangout for teens and young adults and a meeting place for certain groups of people. It is a clean and modern structure with classic architectural charms.

[Bloodedge]

Late one Thursday morning, the place within Miyabigaoka commonly referred to as the "Magical Shopping Arcade" was visited by many locals. Though this was nothing out of the ordinary, there was a peculiar young man in the shopping arcade; one that was anything but local at this point, and that had never seen such a place in his life. In fact, he had only been out in the sun once in his entire life prior to this day. This young man had silver hair and eyes, and a red pentagram on his forehead, trailing down in a line that severed his eyebrow and mared his eyelid, and hooked slightly at his cheekbone to follow his cheek down close to his chin. In spite of being from an obviously different place, he was technically raised in this very city. Indeed, this lad was one of the missing Gravity Children from long before the other disappearances in the second generation. Onishi Toshiro was his name, and for the first time in several years, he had returned from the unknown. "Sugei... so this is what it looked like."

[Apollymi]

Within this mall was a girl of about 20 years old. She was presently dressed in her Black Order General's modified uniform. A long white coat was flapping in the breeze behind her, ATs on her feet reached up to her knees. She wore a short black skirt beneath it. And a corset which closed around her neck purple in color. Her eyes were a startling clear blue and her long silver tresses reached well past her bottom. She rolled along seemingly with nothing in mind, her aim in coming to this place, to check the bookstore for some new imports before she went about setting up for the meeting that she was going to attend this afternoon. "Yare yare, it's going to be loud." she stated to herself as she began walking touching her fingers to her ears as if to prepare herself for the incoming noise. Such public places were not really her favorites as far as general walking about was concerned, but a visit to the Shopping Arcade was well overdue. But as she walked there was a moment of brief eye contact with eyes most familiar.

[Bloodedge]

The young man's eyes wandered around the shopping arcade gleefully. This atmosphere was so engaging to him. There was so much to see, and so many people he'd never met, or even seen. Of course, he knew there was one person in particular whom he sought since gaining his recent freedom, but never did he expect what occurred mere minutes into his arrival here. His eyes ceased their wandering when he miraculously caught sight of the one individual he'd been looking for: The silver-haired General of the Black Order, Onishi Shizuka. "A-... Aneki...?" he stuttered in disbelief. He wore no ATs, and instead sported a pair of knee-high black boots with zippers instead of laces. This strange footwear carried him in an immediate sprint toward the woman, whom he would then tackle and proceed to squeeze the life out of. "Aneki!"

[Apollymi]

A calling from a sibling. It'd been several years since she'd heard such a thing. Almost a decade in fact. Shizuka was stunned by the eyes which caught her attention, but the boy's follow up actions let her know that the recognition she felt in that instant was real. Beyond this the girl known as Onishi Shizuka soon found herself being tackled and having the life squeezed out of her by her slightly younger brother. A boy by the name of Onishi Toshiro. She was excited, overwhelmed and more than a bit surprised by this random occurance in her day. But even as she was having the breath squeezed from her body she found it in herself to hug the boy back. "Sh...Shiro-chan!" she finally managed. She had so many questions and was so confused, but right at the moment, she was just really happy to see her little brother, she had unshed tears in her eyes, something most uncommon for the seasoned veteran member of the Black Order. But these tears, were those of sheer joy.

[Bloodedge]

Reluctantly, the male eventually released his hold on his elder sister, though it was not by choice. Something had been moving around, as if stifling within his coat's breast pocket, since their embrace's beginning. When he took a step back, it released itself from the garment. This sentient creature was a small, golden ball-like creature with four, stubby legs, a long tail that ended in a thick swirl, and two feathered wings. A cross fleury adorned its "face", and above it were two small horns. Following its escape, it fluttered overhead the two adolescents, only to be frantically caught by Toshiro. "Oi, Tim! You can't just be out like that!"

[Apollymi]

Shizuka was eventually released by her brother, but what happened afterward was not at all what she expected. Her eyes widened as a small creature like no other she'd seen before emerged from his coat and tried to fly away. It was quickly caught by the young man who seemed to talk to it, telling it that it wasn't allowed to be out in the open. "What is that? And why did you name it?" asked Shizuka who seemed to be a bit confused. "Where have you been? It's been forever. I missed you." she said seeming to be both excited, relieved and a little sad. It was all a lot of information to take in, but overall it was the most pleasant way she could have encountered her little brother again.

[Bloodedge]

When asked about the small and spherical winged creature, Toshiro looked up at the woman and returned the beast to its home in his coat pocket. "Timcanpy? He's my buddy. I got him out of the tower I was put in after we all got out of ours," he said as a way of answering all three of Shizuka's questions in a single retort. "That one was weird. I had to learn English to speak to everyone."

[Apollymi]

Hearing about the thing which was apparently her brother's pet and his life after they were separated, Shizuka seemed more than a bit surprised. A pet was one thing, but the fact that he'd been taken to another Tower after they were released from their own was something completely and utterly astounding. Of course, she'd always theorized that there were other Towers, besides the ones in the immediate area, still it was pretty shocking information. "Yare, yare. I am relieved you aren't dead. Still it's a pretty big shock." she said thinking about it more. "You speak fluent English now too? That's impressive." she said, Shizuka had studied English a great deal, if only to keep expanding her library. "When did you get here?" she asked as they stood in the middle of the shopping arcade apparently catching up in the way of a bonded pair of siblings. She tried to be calm, but a single tear fell from her eyes which she immediately moved to wipe away. Crying right now wasn't on her list of things to do.

[Bloodedge]

"Eh? Why's that shocking? Weren't you guys moved to other towers too?" he asked, seeming to believe that his situation was not at all different from the others. He had been taken to a new tower, and was under the impression that such was the case with his peers as well, but it seemed that wasn't so. When asked when he arrived, he looked Shizuka in the eye and witnessed the falling tear. As she reached for it, his left arm rose to stop hers, only to then use his gloved hand to wipe it away for her with a smile. "Yare yare. Don't go that route on me. I got out of the tower yesterday, so I came straight here and slept through the night. I figured I'd check out what it was like in the city we grew up in... you know, from outside the tower."

[Apollymi]

"Iie. We were all just kind of out here. We... have kinda ended up grouping up. Several of us came together and formed a Storm Rider team. We have kind of just been living in the area in general since we were let out." Shizuka clarified. Of course, this wasn't the case for all of the Gravity Children of their tower, but none of them that she knew of, aside from her brother had been taken to another Tower for any reason. When she moved to wipe away her falling tear, her brother moved her hand and did so himself. "Hai." she mentioned hearing out how he'd come to be in this situation she smiled. It wasn't surprising to her that her brother just wished to take in the city they grew up in. Shizuka had spent a lot of time here herself, so she knew the ins and outs, but there was something else. "If you just got out yesterday... isn't gravity a bit much. You shouldn't push yourself too hard you know." she said seeming to be concerned. Of course, this was simply her way, and she was quite happy to have her little brother back.

[Bloodedge]

"Storm... Rider," the male spoke with an upward inflection. In the little time he had outside of towers during his life, he had yet to hear of such a thing as these Storm Riders. In fact, since being placed in the tower where the others spoke English, he didn't have access to even a pair of ATs. As for the matter of gravity... well, that was its own interesting subject. "Ano... I don't feel gravity. I remember what it felt like when we got out years ago, but... there's nothing this time."

[Apollymi]

Shizuka looked at her younger brother a little astonished. She figured that since he was out of his tower he would have encountered or at least seen a couple of team members riding around on ATs by now. The fact that he had no idea what a Storm Rider was, let her know that wherever he'd been before this point, it wasn't under siege of AT riders like this area was. She was silent for a few moments, seeming to process what he was saying. "Yare yare. It's kind of hard to explain. Around here, a lot of people wanted Regalia. Mostly because they just think of them as high class AT parts and such. They grouped up in teams to ride. They bet parts on races and collect things they need to help them in whatever they want to do. They also participate in this large scale tournament to try and win what they think is the best possible part. The Sky Regalia. Storm Riders are what the people born of such a culture call themselves. They are sort of, technically criminals and they persist in most of the surrounding areas, probably because of the close proximity of three Towers in this relatively small area. Every group of Storm Riders is different and all of them have different reasons for doing this. We have such a team, by our count it's the largest team in the area." she mentioned a hand on the back of her head. The news that her younger brother couldn't feel gravity was a bit disturbing. But... she didn't really know what to say about it. "I... don't know what to make of that. But if it isn't bothering you then it's fine. But you don't have your ATs, I have them. But it's been a long time. If you want them back, we should see Usagi-chan. And let her fix them up for you."

[Bloodedge]

"... Sou ka," he said regarding Storm Riders, the Parts War, and this supposed Sky Regalia. "If that's the case, I understand completely. We had people seeking power, too. The Sankishin were very highly sought after, even by the people in our tower. Mostly the Amaterasu Unit, which stood above even the other two. I remember someone getting the Susanoo Unit once, but he was taken out by some weird guy with tattoos and an eye-patch before I was let out." When it was mentioned that he could receive his Regalia, he grew sullen and reflexively gripped his left arm. "... Hai. Maybe I'll... go for a different shape this time."

[Apollymi]

"Yare, yare. People are the same everywhere." this was all Shizuka had to say about the apparent likeness between their parts war and whatever was going on in the Tower that her brother had become a part of after their initial release. "Sou ka. Different towers get different stuff, your second one had three... still in Japanese though. That's a bit strange." she concluded hand on her hip. Information like this was new and good, and Shizuka could help formulate strategies around things if they were more familiar to her. That being said she didn't much like the mention of a guy with tattoos and an eye patch, because it was startling similar to how Chiyo described the person who threatened the upcoming generation's parts war the most. She wanted to assume this wasn't the same man but... that'd be too much of a coincidence. Still, her brother's reaction to the mention of his regalia wasn't at all what she expected. Most would be happy to get back what was theirs, especially gravity children who were basically born with them. His reflex to grab his left arm made her look. "Are you alright? I mean... I'm sure that won't really be a problem, apparently Usagi-chan has been doing some really interesting things lately. But... that isn't much the reaction I was expecting." she said gently. It was now nagging at the young woman's brain that their might be more to her brother's secondary Tower experience than simply learning English and being with a different group of people. Whatever the case, she pulled out her phone and sent a quick text message to the Pledge Queen to see if she was home. She wouldn't bother explaining in great detail, she'd just stop by if that was alright. 'Usagi-chan, I wanna stop by in a bit. That cool?' she sent to the young woman fairly easily before returning her phone to her pocket to await the return message.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. They were supposed to be the ultimate weapons among Ars Magus. The Amaterasu Master Unit, Tsukuyomi the Time Guardian, and Susanoo the Time Cutter. There was something very mysterious about all three, and that just enticed everyone more..." Toshiro wasn't quite sure how to explain the situation he was in to his sister after being absent for so long, and likely presumed dead. If nothing else, he wanted this to be an interaction without any potential negative annotations attached, but... he supposed he had to reveal himself at some point. "Gomenasai... Would I be able to enter one of these parts wars? Like, now, for instance? There's something I... should explain to you before any of the others."

[Apollymi]

"Hm, interesting. I suppose there might be parallels to be drawn, but I'd have to ask more questions." Shizuka said. She knew their own Tower to presently be in possession of two more than reasonable power sources. Such might be standard and their simply wasn't the proper explanation of the final power yet. It was something to lock away in her head for later. But it seemed that there was a bit of a turn in this conversation, as her brother went on to say that there was something he should explain to her before anyone else. And he wished to do this, by participating in a parts war. "Yare yare. Don't make it sound so serious, explain what you like however you like. I've seen some strange things in the last few weeks." she said thinking about it from a logical standpoint. "Well, today is meeting day for our team so we get a lot of individual challenges from people in the early part of the day wanting to try and overtake us before, we do our extra recruitment. I have one up before I'm supposed to be anywhere else. You can have that one if you like. It won't count for your READ level or for you as an official rider since you don't have a chip or at least a standard pair of functional ATs... but if you are just trying to show me something else it shouldn't matter much." she said seeming to have no problem with the idea of her brother taking on such a challenge.

"Eh, they might not believe you plan to take them though, without at least a pair of ATs most people will think you will be slaughtered. Proper wind manipulators are kind of rare though so it should be a shock to them. But you don't really know about the Parts Wars yet... Let me tell you about the racing classes while we walk so you can decide." she said motioning to her brother to follow. "F-class is Dash, it's a straight race, from start to finish. E-class is Hurdles, it is about obstacle avoidance but still a straight race to the finish by any means. D-class is Cube, it's a closed in space one on one battle. Last man standing kind of deal. C-class is Air. It uses randomly generated platforms... last man standing wins." she mentioned.

She'd lead him further into the Shopping arcade and down some dark steps which seemed to lead to nowhere. She skipped the final forms because this place wasn't suited to any of those. But once they reached the bottom there would be a single sticker on the wall, the Rose Cross, and right atop it, some skull shaped nonsense of their challenger. A group of five 20 somethings with helmets on would be seen circling the tracks seeming to be waiting for the defenders of this place. "Oh boys they sent a different general, they must be scared. No one has seen the fanged one in weeks... their ranks are weakening. We strike now!" The leader spoke up seeming to be excited by the prospect, among the things that happened next, was the chant 'Strike now.' which made Shizuka rub her ears for a couple of seconds. After she simply placed a hand on her hip and shook her head. This kind of drivel was way too common in the last month or so, with the new parts war on the horizon many thought to make an example by claiming territories held by the last winning team. It was apparently some sort of statement about how much better they were now by comparison. "Yare yare, this lot is far too noisy. Shiro-chan, what kind of race would you like? It's our turf so it's our choice." she said looking to her younger brother on the assumption he'd followed.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai. I'll answer anything I can," he said. For the woman standing before him, he would do anything necessary to give her whatever information she desired. Moving along, it seemed she would allow him to take part in a Parts War on the Black Order's behalf, though she seemed reluctant to believe in the severity of his situation. He believed she may have seen some very insane things, but when he remembered what had been changed about him in the European tower, he found it... quite repulsive, more than anything. As he followed Shizuka to the location of the awaiting team, she explained a few different types of Parts Wars, though he could mostly only wonder if her reaction and outlook would remain the same after his explanation of sorts. More importantly, the team before them when they came to a stop, were nothing short of an annoyance to Shizuka and the lad himself. "If this group is bothering you, I'd like to silence them all," he said while staring down the five team members and tugging on his left glove. "This... Cube thing. Is a one-on-five possible? I don't have enough control to promise the survival of a single person."

[Apollymi]

Standing before this new group, she watched as her younger brother stared down the opposing team. The animosity there was something very different than what she was used to seeing in the face of her little brother. But she supposed a lot had happened between the time they last saw each other and the present. Even so, the boy's request for a 5 on 1 Cube match was highly unorthodox. "Yare yare, asking a question like that." she said but before she could answer the leader of the other team did so for her. "You can go 5 on 1 but it's a death sentence for you." he said, which was exactly the kind of response Shizuka had expected. It was generally the case whenever lower class AT riders came across people with what they thought were obvious weaknesses. Shizuka's blue eyes flickered over the group and she did something rather strange. "Shh~ You talk too much." she said to the leader with a single finger to her mouth. The man was so surprised that he merely looked confused. "Yeah, you can. It's not advised for logistical reasons, but I assume if you plan to take on a whole group, you're more than capable of handling it." she said. Pulling out her phone once more she'd pull up a program which would allow her to call forth the gates of this place which were on radio signal buttons. These gates would in turn create a large cube shaped structure within the track space with only a small opening gate at the front. "C-Class parts war, you five versus Shiro-chan here, for the rights to the Abenobashi Shopping Center Underground." she stated. "Bet, it's all we want." said the man who would have his underlings chime in as well 'all we want'. An eye roll would follow and Shizuka would push on the gate opening it for Toshiro. "There you are, Shiro-chan. Though you should know that whatever you have to show me... you're still my little brother." she mentioned preparing herself to watch the fight. She wasn't betting against her brother, but she was always prepared to handle anything. This lot wasn't going to be much a problem given her most recent skill developments, even if her brother couldn't best them all at once.

[Bloodedge]

All Toshiro needed was confirmation of the ability to battle all five opponents simultaneously. With this stipulation in place, he didn't have to worry so much about what would become of his enemy. He watched as the cage came together, and then as an opening was made for his entrance to the battleground. When he took a step forward, there was a brief pause to absorb the final words shared by Shizuka. "... Hai!" he said with a smile of relief upon his face. His feet carried him forward once more, and as he stepped beyond the threshold of the cage, he stripped himself of his left glove. This revealed a cross-shaped gem implanted on the back of his hand, as well as long feathers growing from said hand. His fingernails were beginning to grow, and the feathers were beginning to grow up his arm. "Gomen... could you all attack me at once? It will be much easier on everyone if you did. Onegaishimasu," he said with the most courteous of bows accompanying his words.

[Apollymi]

Shizuka's eyes were trained on the cage as Toshiro stepped into it. It seemed her speaking with him at set him at ease, which in turn set her at ease. That being said what began happening with the boy's left arm was something she'd never seen before. It was quite the curious sight to behold and it made her wonder exactly what sort of body modifications. 'Feathers? Growing out of his arm?!' Shizuka was stunned. She'd never considered that the physical alterations of gravity children would be taken to such extreme.

Meanwhile the boy's supposed opponents came to a halt looking at this young man. Most of them were stunned by the thing growing out of his arm, but assumed it was a trick or that he was some sort of faulty tuner. There was a logical explanation for this in the minds of these men, however all that was replaced by hysterical laughter when the young boy told these men that he wanted them to attack all at once. And even beyond this, he was apparently very polite. "Where the fuck did they dig this guy up? Who even says this kind of shit?" the leader said leading to a stream of giggles erupting from the group. A single finger of this man raised in the air and he made a circular motion. Such a thing set all the young men within into a circling manner around the young man as they prepared their attack. "Well, fuck it. We aren't ever going to be handed a match this easy again. Might as well take it! And thank the poor fool for his kindness." he said a chuckle resonated within the group and then after about three seconds all of them said "Arigatou~" and once it happened, they all jumped towards the young man. One aimed at each leg, each arm and the leader going for a swift kick to the boy's head. It was as if they intended to take him out completely in a single, fairly well coordinated group attack. If they hadn't been loud idiots Shizuka might have been inclined to respect the logistics and follow through of such an attack.

[Bloodedge]

As the men of this other team had their fun, the feathers coated Toshiro's arm until they ultimately merged into a slender black armor from shoulder to fingers, ending in a set of razor-sharp claws. From the ending point at his shoulder, there were still feathers showing as if they had been encased by the sleeve as well, but close inspection would show that they were one and the same. Every movement of his left hand, no matter how tiny, forced movement of the wind in gusts around the claws. "Ejii Endo!" he chanted. With a swipe of his claw, Toshiro willed forth a torrent of wind around him, carrying enough raw and destructive power, plus cutting ability, to blow away and shred anything around him, including the cage itself. He did not know how these men would fare against such an attack, but the young man found himself incapable of doing any less than this with the appendage he had forced upon him.

[Apollymi]

The feathers merged into an armor covering piece which had Shizuka's eyes wide. But she wasn't afraid. No, this was an amazing development, and with it came a very powerful wind based attack. "Sugoi!" fell out of the silver haired young woman's face as she watched taking the needed roll back to avoid being hit by the coming debris of the cage coming part.

As this happened the attacking group of outsiders seemed to be completely dumbfounded. They were shredded and battered by winds that happened so swiftly they couldn't even try to react to them. In fact, most were simply blown away just like the the cage itself and left at the very least unconscious and trying to pick themselves up. The leader removed his helmet seeming astounded and coughing up a tiny bit of blood. They had normal human bodies and thus had taken a massive bit of internal damage. "Fuck! And to think they still had monsters like this hiding from the rest of us." he commented. He couldn't move yet though, but his pride as an individual made him speak aloud. "You win, you weird fucking kid. I guess the Black Order still reigns supreme. For now anyways." and with that said he seemed to pass out. The winds having died down Shizuka made her way to the edge of the now broken cage and offered her little brother an arm up onto the platform so they could leave. Countless nameless members of the Black Order were already filing in from further down the tunnel to clean up the mess and try and begin fixing up the place for the next races. "Yare, yare... I didn't know they'd go so far as to physically modify your body like that. I suppose that is just how things were in your second tower." she said calmly. "Sho-nii's gonna be so jealous. That's pretty cool thing you got going there. Really powerful too, nice work... winning your first parts war." she finished up. It really was odd the way her brother had broached this subject, but she couldn't think of anyone who would have a problem with this situation.

[Bloodedge]

"Kaijuu? Iie," Toshiro said when the leader of the opposing team referred to him as a monster. His left eye became black with two glowing red rings as he walked forward, noting that even though the leader had lost consciousness, the others didn't seem to be in the same state just yet. "Daga... Ore wa akuma!" The feathers stemming from the ending point on his shoulder began growing and spreading as wind materialized lightly around his claws once more. Whatever he intended to do with this came to a screeching halt as the voice of the woman behind him reached his ear. In this moment, his eyes widened and returned to their normal state, and the wind around his hand ceased. He made a conscious effort to revert this apparent transformation of his arm when he turned around to respond. "It's not cool," he said. "It's... sentient. This arm of mine is a weapon, and it knows it. I said I didn't have much control... and that's what I meant."

[Apollymi]

It seemed for a second or two that her younger brother wasn't yet done with whatever it was he was planning to do with the fallen AT Team. Still, Shizuka's voice had made him refocus and force his arm back into what was now its normal state. A bit of confusion crossed the young woman's face. "Just because it has its own mind doesn't mean it's not cool." said Shizuka seeming to already be thinking about this more than most people would. She had a bit of an idea, but she'd likely need more evidence of things before she could be sure. "You said it's a weapon and it knows it's a weapon. If that's the case, what is it meant to destroy or fight against?" she questioned seeming to think about it in an objective manner. "You'd probably have an easier time controlling it if you knew what it wanted." Shizuka surmised. "Well that's the theory in my head anyway. We could ask the others, at the very least Muu and Chi-chan would probably be able to come up with something that might help you." she said opening up her phone she looked at the screen and her eyes went wide, in her musing about the situation and the potential for extreme intelligent conversation, she'd forgotten that her brother wouldn't know that they'd found their generation's former Torrent Queen. "Come on. Black Order has a meeting and if we don't leave soon, we'll be late." she said seeming to be a tiny bit pressed not to be tardy, she walked to the edge of the platform and offered her brother an arm up so they could get going.

[Bloodedge]

Toshiro eyed his sister as if she'd spoken the strangest words to ever cross his ear. He could not bring himself to think of this development the same way she did, though this was in part due to having physically gone through the process of getting it. Either way, the woman's superior reasoning skills were brought up for the first time in years, bringing a chuckle and a grin to the young male's face. "Yeah... you're probably right. If you'll help me, I'll give it a shot," he said while reaching up to take Shizuka's offered hand. There was one thing in particular, or rather, two things, which bothered him. "Wait... Chiyo? We'll be late? Do you want me on this team of yours? I thought you already had the biggest team around..."

[Apollymi]

It seemed her reasoning was logical enough to get her brother on board and he was willing to accept her help to try and control this arm thing of his. Moving right along since, her hand was grabbed Shizuka used her upper leverage to pull him up onto the platform a smile on her face. "Good, I'm glad to help." she mentioned only to begin rolling towards the steps once his feet were on the proper level of the platform. The questions he further presented after her other bit of speech made her eyes widen. It'd completely slipped her mind that he wouldn't know about the former Torrent Queen. Beyond this he seemed surprised that she wanted him along to the meeting and asked if she intended to make him part of her team. She looked stunned for a few seconds. "Uh, yeah. I completely forgot you wouldn't know about that. A little while after we all were freed from the Tower, Sho-nii found Chi-chan, apparently her elder brother is the one who stole her from our Tower. She's... uh pretty different now. She'd apparently lost most of her memories. We still aren't sure how many of them she has or not." she said on the matter of their black haired friend. She could have gone on to explain how all of this happened, but it was a lot of information and partly only speculation since the fanged girl was so very private and quiet in most cases.

As for the team thing there was a bit of explaining to do as well. "Yes, we'll be late. Even if you don't wish to join, attending the meeting will be the easiest way for you to meet up with most of us. I should explain however, that the Black Order is a conglomeration team, its composed of a few smaller teams. But small is relative, each of the main teams which make it up had at least 100 members. And the Black Order itself contains dozens of members who don't belong to any of the smaller teams. The Disciplinary Committee formerly known as Hydra presently known as Chimera is run by Chi-chan, and her second in command was this pet human of hers named Kyoya, but is now Kanda. The Vongola is run by Muu and Aki has recently become his second in command. And I run a team called the Black Hand... with Lavi as my second in command." She mentioned. "The team was made to make Sho-nii Sky King... which we did. But we're all joining this next parts war as well, mostly to see what the younger generation of Gravity Children are capable of. So our core teams need to be remodeled." she explained calmly before returning her eyes to her brother. "And, of course, I'd want you on my team without question, but only if you want to." she said in fairness to the lad, this was a lot and it would be completely illogical to just expect him to jump into the parts war when he literally had no stake in it.

[Bloodedge]

"... Sou ka," he said. What he received regarding the whereabouts of Chiyo, and the workings of the Black Order team, was quite a bit of information to process all at once for the male, but he tucked it away for the sake of his own understanding later. "I think I got all that. If you want me to, I'll join your team. It's a bit weird, though. You and Mukuro are under Shoichi? I don't get it." Regardless of his own opinion on the matter of this team, if it was his sister intending to have him join, he would certainly be doing so. As such, he followed suit, intending to be led to this meeting and wherever else Shizuka aimed to drag him to.

[Apollymi]

To the confusion that she and Mukuro technically were under Shoichi only a smile would come to the girl's face. "Well, it's a bit complicated. Sho-nii is Sky King, he's our sky and it required the agreement of all of us to make it so. Metaphorically speaking, he encompasses us all, and whatever oddness Sho-nii has about him, he's always reminding us to have fun, and is very helpful. He helped me out a little while back when I was having a tough time... but I'm not really sure you'll understand unless you actually see him." she said unsure because metaphors weren't really her thing, regardless of how much she liked reading she never really got this, but like the others who were part of the core team, she'd always felt the need to help Shoichi reach the sky. "It's cool though, he might show up at the meeting. If not, we can swing by his place." she said of the Sky King. "Speaking of, since you want in, you're my first round pick." she said with a nod, knowing she'd have him on her team set her at ease quite a bit. "Now to Miyabigaoka Academy... it's where the meeting is." Shizuka said, dragging her brother off to meet with his friends from long ago, and chatting with him along the way to catch him up on things he'd missed.

[Bloodedge]

Friday afternoon, three members of the Black Order left the Chimera sub-team's headquarters to investigate the previous afternoon's destruction of the shopping arcade. Only two of these individuals were from the actual team Chimera, and the first to approach the remnants of Abenobashi was the team's Lieutenant, Kanda Yuu. The blue-haired teen carried with him what appeared to be a bokuto, which he held in a reverse grip with his left hand. "I haven't seen this yet. It must have been spectacular yesterday."

[Apollymi]

The other two walking around with Kanda were, the leader of the Chimera Team a girl dressed like a punk rock model named Akaru Chiyo who had long pig tails and straight cut bangs. "Fuck! the video didn't do it justice~ Why does all the fun shit happen while I am doing other shit?" the girl wondered pouting specifically because she hadn't been involved with anything fun. The other girl with them had green hair and was a prospective member of the group. "Really? Both of you are into the destruction?" she questioned finding it a bit strange that this was something the pair of them bonded over. Then again, she had no idea how the two of them ended up in such a pairing nor did she understand what kind of pairing it was.

Meanwhile underground was a small girl by herself. She was wearing an over-sized zip up hoodie which had long bunny like ear extensions. This girl's hair was the lightest shade of lavender it could be without being white and her eyes were also a light shade of purple. As she hung out here, she had her hands tucked into her pockets, she looked as if she couldn't have been older than 13 or 14. And she simply played underground waiting for someone from the Black Order to come.

[Bloodedge]

"What were you even doing before the meeting? You had been gone for an entire week without any explanation," Kanda questioned. As he continued forward, he looked over his shoulder at the green-haired lass, who questioned the other two seeming into the destruction that occurred here. "I would like to say either of us would have been able to either avoid the destruction, or make it worse. Speaking for myself, I'm not exactly into it. As for what caused it, though... that's interesting." What was more interesting than what Kanda had so recently mentioned, was the fact that the path downstairs was clear of rubble. It was as if someone else was already here, and given the amount of time since his last training session, he was sort of hoping for this to be true. As such, he immediately took the path downward. "I hope this is as good as I'm expecting it to be."

[Apollymi]

When asked of her whereabouts before the meeting the Storm Queen shrugged. She really didn't want to explain what she'd been doing the week before, mostly because it didn't have anything to do with anyone else. "I spent a month training, I deserved a bit of a vacation after that. Besides, it was for the best that I didn't do anything that could get me in trouble, after Christmas in July I didn't wanna hear anyone's mouth." the Storm Queen mentioned without actually saying what she had been doing for that week, except to say that she took an extended vacation. "Christmas in July, are you saying you're the reason it snowed a blizzard?" the green haired girl asked. To which the Storm Queen only shrugged though she had an unreasonable smirk on her face thereafter. After which Kanda expanded on his own like or dislike of destruction. A chuckle came from the fanged girl as she followed along seemingly amused. "Well, I prefer to avoid any unnecessary damages that could draw bad attention to me. But if shit's already fucked up... it isn't my fault~" the Storm Queen mentioned, who was obviously all for a bit of messed up stuff. Soon they'd be descending a bit behind Kanda and upon reaching the bottom they'd see the girl in her black hoodie with her bunny ears hopping about. She'd look up. "Oh, so you do have proper friends. That's nice." the small girl said looking up with those piercing purple eyes.

[Bloodedge]

"Sou ka," was all Kanda had to say about Chiyo's alleged vacation. Moving right along, his arrival on the lower floor brought to Kanda's attention a certain young lass, whom he was sure had done the damage to this place. "You're the one with the chemical fire?" he asked. As if to make it more apparent that he would be the challenger in this meeting, he stepped forward and spoke to the Storm Queen behind him. "Do you have the stickers?"

[Apollymi]

"I assume by proper you mean gravity child." Tomoko said seeming to be over this situation already. The purple haired child only smiled up at the woman. "Or strong, those things aren't mutually exclusive." mentioned the child. But soon the blue haired male teen was stepping forward and thus claiming the spot which would be that of the challenger. The question given to the purple haired girl would only lead her to nod. "Hai, that would be me... I'm the Combustion Queen. Though my name is Yuuzuki Sumiko~ You can call me, Miko~" she said smiling at the young man before her, and chuckling at her own joke. After all, she was quite a nice person so she had no reason to be anything other than polite. Moving right along to Kanda's question the Storm Queen stuck her hands into her pockets coming away with nothing though she was quite certain she'd had the sticker she'd been asked for. "Fuck! I know I had some..." she said soon enough the small fox which was cuddled around her neck stuck its head out holding a sticker between its teeth. "Oh well, fuck aren't you a sneaky little thing Minion~ Arigatou Gozaimasu." the girl said as she rolled over to Kanda handing him the sticker he'd asked for. "Neh, you should probably get your own, this outfit so isn't made for carry capacity." she mentioned of her clothing choices. Moving right along the Storm Queen would return to her former post watching for the start of this fight. "I take it you wish to take it back huh?" she said of the space, she didn't personally care for it, but she was under orders to hold it, and she would.

[Bloodedge]

"Yuuzuki?" Kanda repeated aloud with an unintentional upward inflection. 'Why does that sound familiar?' he wondered. Moving these random thoughts aside, he held out his hand to receive the Chimera team sticker from Chiyo, making use of the time it took to accept it by scoffing at her suggestion of carrying his own. "Get a damned purse, then. You may as well finish the look off." Without further hesitation, the Lotus King dashed toward the wall which held a sticker depicting a large 'D' with a bit of a special font applied to its writing. He could only assume this was the emblem of the Sumiko's team. When he reached it, he slapped over it with a sticker of...

"Wait..." he said, suddenly taking pause. "What the hell is this emblem? Were you just playing with Photoshop brushes?" With this question asked, Kanda shook his head and turned toward Sumiko once more. "Whatever. What's your race?"

[Apollymi]

"Hai, Yuuzuki~" the girl said she was seemingly in a very good mood. Meanwhile, Kanda seemed to have something to say about Chiyo's lack of pockets and her apparent need for a handbag. "Fuck! Is everyone a goddamn fashionista in this bitch? Always got some shit to say. You got the fucking pockets, you carry the shit. Fuckin' hell, I have to draw the goddamn line somewhere, lest that Sly Fox Fucker turn me into a goddamn barbie." the small girl ranted stopping just shy of slipping into her brain charger state. All this happened and it made Tomoko look at the pair of them while stifling giggles. At this point, she couldn't tell if Kanda and Chiyo got along, or if they were about to start fighting each other.

But it seemed she wouldn't get the answer to that immediately as it became obvious that the Lotus King took issue with the design of their teams emblem. To Chiyo it looked like he simply wanted something to complain about, at which point the Storm Queen scoffed. "The emblem is obviously multiple beast mouths swallowing the heads of other beasts." said the girl in a flippant manner. "Also I am not the one who designed it, I hate doing shit like that... except with spray paint... and I somehow feel like I shouldn't ever touch a can again, since I don't remember when I do." the girl started seeming to focus. "Anyways, the kitten Taiga designed that and that how he explained it to me. Please feel free to take up with him what you think about the design. I think it's fucking awesome~" she said knowing full well the Lotus King wasn't the kind of person who would hurt a child's feelings. All while this happened the purple haired girl they'd come to face was laughing hysterically. This was an interesting group of people. "Wari~ You remind me of some of my friends~ It's nice... you guys are funny~" she mentioned as she tried to get herself together but she still wasn't quite over the shock of these two talking to each other. "Um, I usually just run dashes... or hurdles, those are kinda fun at least. Hurdles, definitely do that this time." she said her face still spread into a full grin because of the antics of this pair of older teens.

[Bloodedge]

"Urusai, boke! If you're going to advertise yourself, at least have a bonus package!" he yelled in response to the Storm Queen. He continued forward, but paused when it was stated that the young boy Taiga was the one to design the Chimera emblem. "... Oh... well. Of course it's a show of pure artistic potential coming from a kid. I just... expected more from an adult, is all," he said while seeming to sweat bullets for a moment. Moving right along, he addressed the Combustion Queen once more. It seemed her preference for this battle was an E-Class Hurdle, which was all fine and dandy to Kanda. "I prefer Cube, but Hurdle it is. What's the finish line?"

[Apollymi]

"Fuck that. I'm not even advertising, I'm just trying not to be naked when my regalia activates... if it doesn't fit in my pockets, I don't fucking need it." the small girl argued for herself, of course... she also had to admit, that she'd forgotten her general need for storage when she'd specified her outfit type. But she supposed that gave her a change to worry less over the contents of her pockets which would have likely been done to break her obsession with what was in her pockets anyways, and the compulsion to check them. Soon after, Kanda appeared to be sweating bullets about the apparent artistic prowess of the youngest member of their core team. This made the Storm Queen snicker, "Sure ya' did, totally believable with you sweating bullets~" the girl mentioned sarcastically teasing what was obviously the young man's ability to come back from such a downward spot.

The girl in the bunny outfit seemed to be a bit amused still. But Kanda was apparently okay with the kind of race she favored. The girl looked down the abandoned tracks and knew how far they stretched in either direction, having had all of the previous day to look around. "Eh, this one... "she said pointing to the left. "Lets out above ground near that creepy private school~ how about that?" she offered, it would give the most twisting turns and the most possible debris between the start and the finish. Watching this match would be interesting at the very least. Beyond that she seemed to have calculated that specific distance for a certain reason. The Storm Queen watched this and her gaze flickered over to the green haired girl. "This nice kid, beat y'all in a dash down the opposite track huh?" she asked. Which made the girl's eyes widen. "Hai, how did you know that?" Tomoko asked seemingly confused. "Because nothing near the school caught fire yesterday before the meeting. We would have known about it. Besides... she's obviously just testing the waters." and that was all Chiyo had to say about it, it would be in this moment that her Mangekyo would activate for the first time in its three tomoe state properly. The girl would flinch at the change in her vision but then recover enough to look down the track. "Fuck, I'll hang back a bit... Tom Tom... you should follow the race more directly." mentioned the girl, who knew that her own run would cause problems if she followed too closely. Tomoko looked at the small girl her eyes widening at being addressed by a nickname she'd received in childhood. She reached out for Chiyo and the girl went to dodge the coming hand finding her movements timing to be off, the Storm Queen stumbled. "Neh, are you okay, Chi-chan?" she asked which made the girl respond in her usual way. "Fuck, I am fine... my eyes are fuckin' newer than hell... my movements are wrong fucking... mistimed or something." the small girl said. It was yet another reason for her to hang back while this race took place.

[Bloodedge]

"Creepy? Miyabi?" he questioned. As one who attended the private school this girl spoke of, Kanda could not see any aspects of it that would make sense of the girl labeling it creepy in any way. "Miyabi Academy is a good school. You should want to attend," he commented. Nevertheless, he was inclined to take a side to this lavender-haired girl. From this standpoint, he awaited the official start to the race.

[Apollymi]

"But girls' uniforms are green. Everyone looks like broccoli~" the small girl said as she hopped up to the starting line. "I can't imagine getting turned into a vegetable and forced to attend classes, boxed in all day... creepy~" Miko seemed to be very serious about her lack of like of the private academy. Of course, Chiyo herself wasn't very fond of the girl's uniform either and tended to agree with the younger girl, but having so much to do in her day was an absolute necessity for the young Storm Queen and as such she could only shrug. "What the hell is with the younger generation and not liking school... this one sounds like Ichi-kun." the raven haired girl said which caused the green haired girl with her to giggle slightly. "Well... it is a lot of green." she said which only caused the Storm Queen to shrug. "I was only upset that they made me wear a skirt. Fuck all the other shit." she said as she waited.

Still the girl in her bunny hoodie hopped up to the line the wheels of her ATs spinning. Soon after Tomoko would begin the countdown for the start of the race. "On your mark." she said the purple haired girl lowered her body strangely to the ground. "Get set..." those wheels were still spinning. "Go!~" the word go would cause the girl to launch but she'd oddly just spin around in the air after her jump, causing the growth of her body suit regalia which would glow beneath her jacket. The most obvious change being the black and lavender color of her ATs beneath the over-sized hoodie and the glowing bits at the ends of her pigtails. Her hands were covered in skin tight black material as well, with two glowing purple squares in the middle of each palm. Once this was done she'd roll away. The girl was rather passive, and her only action would be to create a glob of some unknown material in her hand, immediately after she'd drag it across a nearby wall of the tunnel creating the same chemical fires that had burned the place the day before, following the trail her hand had created. This same effect happened by way of the girl's movements, as vents in her ATs seemed to create chemical fires from her footfall as well. This was similar to what she'd done the day before and seemed to make Tomoko worry immensely. "Starting again already."

[Bloodedge]

"Lucky you, then. The petition to change the school's colors has more than enough signatures to go into effect now," he replied. At the mark, he crouched and revved his ATs to prepare for takeoff. When go was called out, he did precisely that. Sumiko wasted no time activating her Regalia, which forced a certain amount of wariness into Kanda immediately. With a pair of high-powered kicks, Kanda caused a change in his own ATs. The bladed segments around the small wheels detached, only to reattach to themselves and the rear of his ATs. This created blade whip-like extensions, which were one of two active forms of his Regalia. His eyes were all but fixed on the flames being produced by whatever chemical this girl produced, and though it didn't take much for him to evade them as they spawned, he kept in mind the amount of spread this Road could achieve.

[Apollymi]

"Sugoi~ Never seen any like that before." the small girl mentioned as she began rolling even faster and spraying more of the tunnel with the incendiary substance. Still she wasn't trying directly to harm the slightly older lad. "Eh, well... I am still not a fan of school in general." the girl mentioned about the change in the uniform policy. Chiyo could only scoff, because she would still be forced into skirt wearing regardless of the colors chosen. But even more important than this, was the obvious jelly like quality this material this girl produced had, and how it seemed to become liquid the warmer it got. As Chiyo began rolling behind the race, she was able to observe the quality of the flames closely. 'This isn't right.' the Storm Queen thought, she then began scanning her own mind for substances which could burn like this one. Beside her Tomoko seemed to be going slightly blue in the face, but such was the nature of breathing in too much carbon monoxide. Chiyo's eyes darted over her form as if she was studying the immediate effects of this chemical fire, but she wouldn't let the green haired girl die from such exposure.

"You should warn your friends to leave, those flames are bad for breathing in." the girl with her purple hair pointed out. "Besides that I should also warn you not to get any of this stuff on ya... it burns way too hot and there is no way to get it off." she mentioned. This wasn't a mental tactic, though it was often taken as one. She was begin honest about the nature of her abilities, that being said, she created a blob of the gelatinous substance in her hand and tossed it towards the Lotus King as she continued, as it warmed it would thin the jelly and causing it to rain down over the area he was occupying. If not careful the smaller globs would stick to him, becoming latent potential for fire once warmed by his skin.

[Bloodedge]

When warned about the condition of his comrades, Kanda replied with a scoff. "They'll be fine. They're made of harder stuff than that," he said. As for himself, he had been in more dangerous situations than a bit of fire, but the statement that there was no way to get it off was a bit troubling. 'Che! Guess I'll have to entertain the idea of losing an arm today if I have to block any of that,' he thought. The bit of the Combustion Queen's created substance that was thrown his way was worrisome, but he chose to merely accept being slowed down by a bit to perform a spinning maneuver, using his uniform coat to take the liquid. He discarded the article of clothing immediately, leaving it behind in the tunnel as he worked toward catching up again. "I liked that coat," he said as veins began rising around his eyes, and his pupils were replaced with a trio of dots. As this occurred, he drew his bokuto and dragged it against the floor while riding. The wood on the weapon broke away in the process, revealing a proper blade beneath. Moreover, since he had been dragging it along the substance created by Sumiko, it soon caught fire. "Hoh. That's helpful." Only after noticing what happened with his sword did Kanda look behind himself to realize the blades on his ATs had recently done the same thing. This caused the young man to grin as he kicked out toward the Combustion Queen, performing his first official trick. "Kaichuu: Ichigen!" Numerous small, sharp tornadoes which carried the substance were shot from Kanda's ATs and blades, taking the appearance of supernatural, demonic insects as they traveled. Their goal was always to deal many lacerations upon impact, but due to the addition of Sumiko's own trick, they now carried the ability to cauterize wounds immediately as well.

[Apollymi]

True to Kanda's statements, when the small girl looked back Chiyo was still rolling along as she had been before, and though Tomoko looked a bit sickly she was also still standing. While staring that direction one might notice the flames around the pair dying down, as the wheels on the raven haired girl's ATs spun, creating a light sheet of ice beneath them and lowering the temperature greatly enough to smother the flames. Upon the death of the flames the fanged girl would giggle just a bit. "Fuck! It's nice to be able to put them out properly~" she mentioned, though there was still a great deal of distance between herself and the other girl so as not to directly interfere with anything going on with her. "Sheesh..." the girl said, though inwardly she was quite pleased, after all she didn't actually want to hurt anyone, it just happened that this was what she had to work with.

Moving right along Tomoko seemed to be interested in this newfound ability of Chiyo's and her general knowledge of the situation. "Any idea what or how she does that with the flames... because we couldn't figure it out yesterday and none of us wanted to risk getting anything on us." said Tomoko. This of course made sense to Chiyo and she shrugged. "Military grade incendiary agent, maybe? Fuck! like petrol, it burns until it runs out. Sticky so you can't get it off your skin, has a low flash point so it burns easily or something like that. But... as is the general problem with most things that catch fire not by friction, if it can't reach the right temperature it won't burn." the small girl hypothesized. "Tricksy little rabbit girl, it's mostly defense. Though it would be bad to get set on fire by something you can't remove from yourself, I respect your caution in bowing out to this." Chiyo mentioned which made Tomoko happy though the black haired lass immediately followed this up. "Doesn't change the fact that you aren't physically up to par." she mentioned which made the green haired girl's eyes narrow. "You're still a brat, Chi-chan." And with that both would go on to watch Kanda's race keeping enough distance to stifle the flames they came through without interfering in general.

After this, it seemed that Miko now had to deal with burning insect like tornadoes coming her way. Her first instinct was to dodge them, making her slow down a great deal to avoid them and allowing the young man now armed with a sword to break free of her for a few seconds. And she was still hit on several places by the burning winds, causing her to have to abandon her own coat as well. In the process she revealed the body suit regalia she wore along with its extensions and attachments. She also had to say goodbye to her bunny ear coat and try to catch up to the Lotus King. "Aww, that was my favorite one. Well... I mean I have like 10 more just like it... but that one had been broken in properly~" the girl said with a huge grin on her face. "Also, sorry about yours, it was pretty cool." she mentioned, seemingly deeply apologetic. It had been quite a while since she faced off against someone who wasn't scared of her completely and who had the skill in their arsenal to handle her abilities. Now a bit behind the Lotus King she aimed several more globs of this jellied agent at him, wanting to slow him down at least so she could pass him once more, they were about at the half way mark by this point, and she'd rather not have to do anything too drastic at the last possible second.

[Bloodedge]

"Don't worry about it. I also have more. And I know just what you mean," Kanda replied due to the apparent legitimate remorse in the young teen's face. Considering the frightening nature of her Road, Kanda found himself looking over his shoulder quite frequently to keep up with the girl's actions. When he saw the firing of multiple globs coming his way, his eyes widened, and he immediately began hopping along the rubble in various different fashions for the sake of evasion. "Shimatta!" he exclaimed. However, these movements were no simple ones. The blades trailing behind his ATs reflected light in such a way that illusions of himself were made each time he moved, and they each mimicked the path Kanda would have taken if he had remained in their location. The number of 'clones' created were equal to the number of globs he had dodged, and though he didn't expect this to work for long in a defensive manner, he figured it would help reduce the potential immediate dangers of this girl's attacks.

[Apollymi]

The girl seemed to relieved that the other young man knew what she was getting at. She wasn't a bad person, nor was he, what she didn't expect though was the lack of slowing of the Lotus King in answer to the globs of fluid she fired at him. What she found instead was the creation of multiple clones to face against the fluid for the multiple paths that could be taken. "Sugoi~ You're really fast." she stated as she continued, changing the pressure at which she fired this fluid to make it splatter more and thus have a greater chance of influence. "You aren't making this easy for me. I'm glad~" she mentioned, but at that she began to skid there after, against a wall, this friction combined with the near constant emission of the incendiary fluid would cause a near maelstrom of fire to be created by her own movements which spiraled around the tunnel aiming to cause rapid de-oxygenation, which would result in nausea, vomiting, hallucinations and low grade carbon monoxide poisoning for the young lad if he didn't manage to pull out ahead of it. Beyond this, it would slow the progress of Chiyo and Tomoko the former of whom would stop the other one from moving forward as the fire became too great.

"Fuck, we're gonna have to hang back a bit. I don't want to end up carrying you." she mentioned which made Tomoko scoff. "Bratty and brash. This is what you are." she said chiding the young woman whose eyes flickered over her as she thought of her response. "Calls me a brat, acts like her first action upon seeing me out of the Tower for the first time, wasn't immediately to walk into a bathroom and give herself the worst haircut I'd ever seen, simply because I also had pigtails." Chiyo chimed. This caused Tomoko's eyes to widen. She didn't think that action made such a lasting impact on the Storm Queen, in fact the girl hadn't mentioned it so she figured it was completely glossed over. "Eh, gomen. It wasn't like that... I just... I'd recently run into Mikasa, she had pigtails, then I saw you had them too... I didn't wanna fall in line with everyone else. And to be fair, I wanted a hair cut anyways. Probably shouldn't have given myself one in the bathroom though. I was just frustrated and it made me feel better at the time." she mentioned. Her eyes closing as she thought to her behavior a couple of years prior to this one. She'd calmed down more than enough to realize that she had acted rashly, and after that moment had never committed a rash action again. While Chiyo rolled her wheels and created an ice barrier between them and the flames she said something more. "Fuck! Don't apologize to me for being yourself, save that shit for when you'll need it." she said. Soon after a devious grin crossed the girl's face as she went on to say something which would seem completely out of the blue. "While we're on the subject, you haven't gone full Mikasa about Kanda right? 'Cause, that'd be a fuckin' pain in the ass, and you obviously don't want to join this team to hang out with me, just like you didn't join Vongola to hang out with Mukuro." This sentence made the green haired girl's eyes widen and would cause the girl to immediately swing on Chiyo, surprisingly enough the Storm Queen would dodge this action and giggle just a bit. In missing Tomoko would realize what she did and put her hand back at her side. "Sorry, really... I just... don't compare me to Mikasa okay? It isn't like that..." she said which only made Chiyo giggle. "Fuck! I was just fuckin' with ya'! To be fair that hit would have sprained your wrist if it'd connected plus... I needed to see if I'd calibrated my eyes enough to be able to react properly. I got at least the basic movements back. Arigatou gozaimasu~" the small girl mentioned as she waited for the safety to approach the going race, which she could still see from where she stood. "Kanda is ahead in case you're wondering." the green haired young woman smiled. Chiyo was indeed still a brat, but she could see herself having fun on a team lead by the small girl. And if it allowed her to be close to Kanda in the process then it made it all worth it.

[Bloodedge]

"Same to you... Miko-chan," was Kanda's retort. If nothing else, and very much in spite of his behavior in the presence of his peers, the Lotus King wore his heart on his sleeve for youngsters. Sumiko, of course, fit into this category by default, and she seemed quite pure. He wondered how such an individual got stuck with such a Road, but he figured it was the most innocent of people who needed the greatest defense. This particular defense, though, seemed virtually insurmountable. His reaction to the next volley was a clockwise spinning maneuver in which the blades of his left AT came together to form a single, solid blade. In the midst of the spin, he kicked outward with the blade, creating a series of small explosions along the line of the slash. The explosions may have further worsened the splatter of Sumiko's attack, but it served its purpose in keeping it away from Kanda's person, in spite of costing him the effectiveness of his illusions. "You're making this very troublesome for me." Shortly after he spoke, the wildfire created by Sumiko began stripping the nearby atmosphere of oxygen. Though he was already ahead of the lass, he quickly found himself feeling the effects of it. He felt as if he had been removed from his own body, and he was left incapable of rationalizing space around him. This slowed him significantly, but also forced him to inhale deeply in his body's attempt to grasp more air. Such would only worsen his condition as he inhaled carbon monoxide.

[Apollymi]

The purple haired lass thought this young man kind. Though she'd yet to meet anyone she didn't like in the first place, it was nice to know those who preceded her weren't all bad. She'd assumed the ones who'd gotten to the top in the previous go, had to be heartless monsters. In this case, she felt a bit more like a monster than this young man was showing himself to be. Moving right along, it seemed that her firestorm had successfully began it's work, as she rolled along a bit faster she came to the point where she'd be near to Kanda and she offered him a small bit of advice. "Shallow breaths, Nii-san. Might help you stabilize. If not... you'll pass out but your friends will reach you before anything too bad happens." she mentioned calmly rolling along. She was in the final stretches of this race, and while she didn't know what else this young man had to offer. Extreme de-oxygenation was usually enough to stop most people, given the affects it had on the brain. She'd aim to pass the young man and head to victory the light at the end of the tunnel, was literally within sight. This girl's road was monstrous but she didn't have negative intentions, as such... she'd simply take her victory with the least amount of force necessary to get it.

Meanwhile, Tomoko looked to Chiyo as if confused by her calmness among this firestorm, but Chiyo still had her eyes trained ahead. "Fuck! If you're going to stare you might as well say whatever the fuck it is you want." she said seemingly annoyed by this situation. "Ano, you're still going to say no aren't you?" she asked the small girl and a smile to Chiyo's face which was all fangs. "I wasn't kidding when I said you weren't physically ready. So the answer is and will remain no..." she said calmly. Tomoko looked at the girl. "How do you know I'm not physically ready?" she said. Chiyo then gave the girl the fullness of her vision. "Weak ankles, weak calves, thighs almost atrophied. You don't use your muscles unless you have to, and they show it. You can't complete the trick that would let you into the base, then you aren't qualified to be on the core team." Chiyo finished giving the girl a quick scan. She knew for a fact given what she saw of the girl, she'd be perfectly capable of getting in the right physical condition in a week or so, but Chiyo wasn't going to share this information. She needed to see what Tomoko would do on her own. "We can move forward again, Kanda's losing his lead..." she shared as she began moving spreading cold which stifled the flames present. Tomoko seemed to be in deep thought, but her legs moved her along as well, she had to figure out how to get Chiyo to accept her.

[Bloodedge]

"Huff... huff... Chikusho..." the Lotus King muttered. He knew well by now that shallow breaths would help him along, but that sort of recovery would not win him this race. With a young girl boasting this much potential, he certainly didn't want her entire team being able to hold claims to territory so close to home. As she passed him, Kanda reached out with his left hand while his vision faded, and he began falling toward the ground. 'No. Keep pushing!' The only thing reaching the ground properly was the Lotus King's left forearm, which he quickly used to force himself away from the ground. When he did this, he looked up with eyes that strangely carried four dots instead of the previous three. With a single exhale, he darted forward with speeds previously unattainable to him, making quick work to catch up with the Combustion Queen. His voice, when he next spoke, seemed a fair bit grungier than normal. "Perpetual Blooming Bereavement." With a pair of kicks, Kanda forced the blade segments of his Regalia to detach from his ATs. As they flew off, they circled around Sumiko, as if aiming to assault her from the front. It was Kanda's intention to use his Infinity Atmosphere here in such a way that it would stop the girl just before the finish line, clearing him to claim victory.

[Apollymi]

Miko kept moving along passing this young man. She knew that he would likely be succumbing to oxygen deprivation, but... much to her surprise he still had something left to say. And what a thing it was, her eyes widened as a myriad of blades flew in front of her making her take pause and back up right before the finish line. Even though she could have burned them to a crisp, she still wouldn't have been able to pass the young man before he got to the end. All she could have done was set him personally on fire, but... she didn't want to do that at all. "Sugei~ that's a lot to push past. I'm glad I chose this spot~" the girl mentioned. She'd just lost it, but keeping it wasn't really the point. A giggle would escape her as she allowed her regalia to deactivate returning her to the small purple dress she normally wore and just her ATs, with some large glowing contraptions around her wrist and pigtails. "Impressive, Nii-san. I don't think I've ever lost a race before." she mentioned as if this was the most normal thing in the world.

Meanwhile Chiyo and Tomoko caught up finding that Kanda had crossed the finish line first. This was what she expected, though she very much respected the potential damage this small girl had put out. And the self control she showed in not burning the whole place to the ground just because she could when she realized she'd lose. "Congratulations, Kanda-kun." was what Tomoko said. Chiyo seemed amused but didn't have anything to say at first, instead she looked over the purple haired girl with a smile on her face, but fierceness burning behind her purple eyes with the three tomoe still present in them. 'I wonder if it'd be considered naughty for me to follow the little rabbit home to find out who else is hiding?' the Storm Queen mentally questioned.

[Bloodedge]

The Lotus King had won in a last-ditch effort to come out ahead, but shortly after crossing the finish line, he began huffing, and wheezing just a bit. "Chikusho!" he grunted while dropping his sword to the ground. Using his right arm thereafter, Kanda ripped away his shirt, revealing burns along his left arm that had nearly reached third degree. This may have been quite bad, but this was the moment Kanda had to reveal one of his secrets, lest he be in more danger. On the left side of his chest, he bore a tattoo; a variant of the symbol for "Om" with an incomplete ring around it. Jagged lines had begun spreading out from this ring, looking much like the veins around his eyes did when his pupils changed. As his arm steamed up, it also began healing rapidly, seeming to be connected to the growth of these lines which reached around to his shoulder-blade. "Ngh! That was... ugh... a good race..."

[Apollymi]

Chiyo simply watched the girl for a moment longer, noting that Kanda had ripped his shirt off to look at the damage she saw the distortion of flesh there and knew it'd come from being covered by the incendiary jelly created by this girl's regalia. What happened next though, was something completely new to the Storm Queen as well as the other young women present so they all watched in awe as the young man apparently gained the ability to heal himself up. "Gomen." was the one word which came from the small girl who seemed to be remorseful that he'd gotten hurt. The follow up that it had been a good race, made her happy though. Meanwhile, Tomoko looked confused. "He's healing himself right?" she said to Chiyo as if she couldn't believe it. Chiyo herself rolled around the group, nodding yes to Tomoko while inspecting what Kanda was doing as well as having a look at all around. "Fuck! That mark reminds me of the random wing Roze has... I always wondered what it was for, and why it disappeared and reappeared at random. That's... interesting as fuck, I want one." Chiyo said of the mark. "Also, I like that you were hiding a real sword in a wooden sword... random surprises all over the fuckin' place. And what a nice little win streak ya' got going there." she mentioned. All of this sounded a tiny bit antagonistic, but it wasn't meant that way.

[Bloodedge]

During the process of accelerating his healing ability via this strange mark he possessed, Kanda's eyes were drawn toward Chiyo. "You don't want this," he said about the mark. As for the sword and his apparent win streak, he responded immediately with a scoff. The full healing of his arm followed, and after only a minute had passed. This clearance freed him up to speak further. "The sword was for practice. I've been slowly getting the bokuto heavier, until we were ready for that little surprise I had in store."

[Apollymi]

Chiyo rolled her eyes. She thought about what was going on with the young man and decided that he probably had some major negative. Given his out right denial of her wanting such a thing she could assume his did something he didn't much like. Not that it mattered to her, she didn't want his specifically she just wanted one of her own. "Well, I don't like the design or anything~" she mentioned flippantly. Moving right along, it seemed that the Lotus King has been progressively increasing the weight of the bokuto that the pair of them used during their kendo lessons over time, in order to prepare for such a thing. A bit of a grin crossed the small girl's face. "Fuck! I realized they were getting heavier, had no idea why you were bothering though. Wasn't gonna argue 'cause, skipping arms day is something I do on the regular." the Storm Queen finished.

It seemed that the Lotus King and Chiyo shared a common interest in Kendo and though she'd seen the start of a practice Tomoko hadn't known about this. "Chi-chan, you're into Kendo?" she asked of the girl who looked at her and shrugged. "Well, when I was trying to recruit Kanda-nii, I figured we needed some common ground, and I like playing and physical activity and shit... so it seemed like a good idea at the time. I have an activity with everyone else anyways so Kendo. Fuck! When I got into I actually liked it, plus I don't think Kanda-nii is gonna let me quit. Not that I would, that is way too much free time in my day." she said rolling her eyes in the man's direction. "You... joined his club activity... just to recruit him? That is some bratty behavior." Tomoko said with wide eyes. She almost couldn't believe the young girl had admitted such a thing, but she did remember the girl being super active when they were smaller, almost to the point of it being intolerable. "Fuck, Tom Tom, you keep saying that like it's a bad thing..." all the while the girl named Miko watched this interaction and found the people here amusing. They were nice like her friends.

[Bloodedge]

Now that Kanda was considered officially done with the Parts War and its aftermath, he forced the deactivation of his Regalia and took a proper breather. In the meantime, Chiyo admitted to noticing the increased weight of the bokuto, but thought nothing much of it at the time. "Kendo is training. If you never progress to a real blade, there's no point in having practice with a wooden one. That is why the top members of the club get bokuto instead of bokken," he said regarding the upgrade in bokuto weight. As for the Suspension Queen, Kanda now saw why she had lost Abenobashi. Among the Gravity Children of their generation, she had likely progressed the least since leaving the tower. This new generation, however, seemed to be cut from a higher grade of cloth in their early stages. "So, what are we doing about this?" he asked of Chiyo.

As if on cue, Tomoko's phone would receive a message from a certain Tar King regarding the interaction. It read: "Strong teams sometimes need a reason to slow down and think when in the face of strong opposition."

[Apollymi]

"Sou ka. I suppose that makes a reasonable bit of sense. Though to be fair I don't see myself as much of a sword person..." she said. After a few seconds it seemed that Kanda was about ready, his question about what to do about Tomoko made the small girl turn, her feet, her wheels began taking her in a circle around the girl, she was still looking over her. "What I said still stands... she isn't physically capable." said Chiyo about the Suspension Queen. It would be then that the green haired girl received a text message from Mukuro and upon reading it, knew immediately how to argue her own position. "Look, I get that I don't meet whatever physical requirements you have right now, but you have a strong team already, and you already admitted to respecting the fact that I was cautious enough not to take on an opponent I couldn't beat. I could be tactfully useful, changing the pacing of a team full of what I assume are singular minded fast paced people like yourself." Tomoko mentioned. After a few seconds of thought the Storm Queen paused right in front of the girl placing her between Kanda and herself. "Fuck! I can't argue against a couple of seconds of good tact being useful in most situations. Beyond that it isn't really something I'm known for. But I'm not lugging around atrophied Swanmane just 'cause it occasionally has a moment of clarity." the girl said rolling her eyes. "Swanmane?" Tomoko repeated like she didn't understand the reference. To placate any potential argument from Kanda the raven haired girl continued. "If she can get in the door with its new standards... I'll approve the request no questions asked. Until she does she simply can't keep up, and it isn't worth the dead weight."

[Bloodedge]

"Frankly, I don't either. That reminds me though; I was meaning to try out something new with our sessions," Kanda stated, finally recalling something he thought the Storm Queen would very much benefit from. Moving right along, further observation of Tomoko's physical state solidified Chiyo's belief that the lass was incapable of being a proper member of Chimera. Kanda, on the other hand, was more interested in why the green-haired young woman had such a speech at the ready. "Hmm," he thought. To the Lotus King, Mukuro was obviously involved in this attempt. This gave him second thoughts as well, as Kanda could not bring himself to trust the purple-haired male after prior interactions. What he said, he said with the intention of not revealing this train of thought. "I... am also going to question Swanmane, but sure. Though that entirely defeats the purpose of the idea you've just been fed, it would ensure a certain minimum capacity, I guess."

[Apollymi]

"Something new?" the black haired lass perked up, she really did enjoy learning new things. It as kind of frightening how much she was into doing new things just because they were new, but this was a matter to be discussed later. It seemed that both Kanda and Tomoko took issue with the animal designation Chiyo had let slip from her head while explaining the position that someone like Tomoko would be in if she really wanted to join. "Fuck! I didn't mean to say that outside of my head. Anyways... I think you're a swan. Makes total since to me long necked bird thing, not particularly fast, territorial, loyal... it's what I think of when I look at you. Archaic reference for a female swan, is swanmane. And before anything is said about it, I named myself Chiyo... obviously somewhere in my head, I'm just a bit old... fuck you." she said seeming not to care about anything that could or would be said in reply to her rant about animals. "I don't know what to think about that..." Tomoko said. Beyond this point, Kanda seemed to be thinking a bit, and she wasn't much sure what it was in relation to, though she thought to ask, she didn't do so presently. "Yes, I know, totally goes against what I said a bit ago... but... I am not known for sticking with any sort of line of thought anyways. Plus, she was quite right, I do respect when people and things know what they are and where they stand. She isn't trying to be anything she's not... she's prey and she runs from things that are bigger and better than her. But... she also needs to understand that I have no intention of carrying her while she has such an attitude. If she's gonna want to hang around but run or stop to think about things that scare her, she should at least be able to do so without compromising anyone else. So the middle ground, if she really wants in she has to work for it... my sense of fairness will allow this only if that condition is met, because it is what was required of everyone else." Chiyo finished. Such a conversation was really an odd one to have while a person was standing here. "Kanda-nii, if you're thinking something else... I'd like to know. Mind reading isn't on my list of skills and you were thinking way longer than was necessary for what you said."

[Bloodedge]

"Archaic term for female swan. Really? And you couldn't just say swan?" Kanda asked with what seemed to be a protruding vein in his forehead. "Well thanks for giving me a mental image of a swan with a damned lion's hairdo! Use words that real people say, idiot!" he exclaimed. Whatever was to become of Tomoko, he supposed would simply have to be seen later. For the moment, though, he had gotten the exercise he had been missing recently, and felt better because of it. So, he was content to leave. First, Chiyo seemed to realize something had been on his mind. "It's nothing I care to discuss now. It could just be my past talking anyway. But, whatever. Ja." And with that, the Lotus King began his roll away from the group.

[Apollymi]

"Fuck! I just fucking said, I didn't mean to say it outside of my head." Chiyo said while rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. She seemed to be annoyed by this young man. But... more than that he seemed to have a problem with her choice in words and the image it put in his head. She couldn't help but find it funny and laugh. "Bakanda sees an image of a lion's mane on a bird and I'm the idiot. Fuck no~" the girl chimed seemingly teasing the young man for his thoroughly wrong assumption. And just like that he seemed to recover just fine and having gotten his exercise said that there was nothing he wanted to discuss and ran off. Chiyo pulled out her phone and checked the time. "Neh, actually I need to eat before the book club meeting... later Tom Tom." she said giving a two finger salute as she also headed out.

The lone green haired girl stood and nodded. "Ja ne, Chi-chan, Kanda-kun." she said to both of them. She was more than a bit perplexed but it seemed to feel the need to send a text message back to Mukuro. "Well, she still said no, but I think I gotta chance. Thank you, Mukuro-san." she texted before heading back the other direction. She had no idea what the other two were getting up to, but given the things said by the Storm Queen, she could assume that she should practice a bit more until she could open the doors all on her own.