Author's Note: I don't think I can apologize for how late this is, cuz it is reaaaaaaly fucking late. I just havent been hit with that writing mood for forever, and then I was worried this might not live up to the massive expectations you guys might have of me [ ;) ]. Anyway, I decided to post this with the assurance that there won't be such a long wait for the next chapter. Hope you enjoy, feel free to leave comments or suggestions, I'm always looking for ways I could improve my writing!
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In the few minutes he had during his walk to the 3rd Year's floor, Ryna's angry mind worked feverishly to develop some attack plan other than all out assault. Stealth, he decided, wouldn't work, as the opposing leader might suspect an attack when his goons failed to return. Sending his gang members in to fight would be suicidal for them, and a ambush wouldn't work because they didn't know the location of the main camp. He rapidly conveyed his thoughts to the two 4th years and Sensara.
"Yeah, the conventional options seem to be failing us here," Markan remarked.
"Why don't--" Sensara and Natalie began at the same time.
"You go first," Sensara said, deferring to the older girl.
"Thank you. I think we should try to mix two strategies," Natalie suggested.
"Yeah! I was thinking we could ambush a guard, then ambush their main camp. By the way, I'm not officially condoning this," Sensara said sternly.
"I wasn't expecting to make it through this unscathed anyway. But that sounds like a good plan, except we'll need to make it quiet, or there's a chance we'll get found out before we're ready..." Ryna left off.
"They won't suspect me, so maybe I could lure a guard into a more secluded space," Natalie suggested.
"Someone's on fire today with the strategies," Markan said admiringly.
"Why don't we just use a fire attack, and get them all in one blow," Ryna joked.
"Because you'll be paying for the repairs with the job you find," Sensara replied menacingly. Ryna put up his hands in an "I'm innocent" gesture in response. It was at this point that they had reached the 3rd year floor.
"I'm gonna see where the boys are at," Ryna said, a worried tone edging its way into his voice. He pulled out his Personal Unit and dialed Ulgo's number. It rang for a couple seconds before he picked up. Immediately, Ryna knew something was wrong.
"Ulgo, where are you?! Do you need help?" Ryna asked desperately.
"No...way, boss... We got these...guys, you go...on ahead!" he replied, panting heavily. In the background, Ryna heard the sounds of a serious fight. Then the line disconnected from Ulgo's side. "Bastards! They must have been waiting for them to make a move!"
"There was nothing you could do! How could you have known that even they'd be watched by the 3rd years?" Sensara comforted.
"I should be up there with them--" Ryna began, moving to the next set of stairs. Markan grabbed his arm.
"Do you really want to disrespect their wishes like that? They're fighting so that you can attack the enemy camp without interruptions, and you want to ruin that by joining them up there?" Markan asked.
"You need to take care of Leo and Susana before you even think of going to rescue anyone," Natalie chided.
"Yeah, I guess," Ryna said, the logic in their words stinging him, "but do me a favor, yeah? Take Sensara up there and help them out. Trust me, it'll be safer up there than in that room."
"That, I can do," Markan said, grinning. Before she could complain, he grabbed Sensara's arm, and began to sprint up the stairs, followed closely by Natalie. Ryna sighed, thinking over the difficulty of the task he had just assigned himself to do, completely alone.
"Well, shit," he thought.
Relax, we can make it through this easily Carl said, attempting to soothe Ryna's nerves.
"I'm not worried about that, I'm worried no one will be around to see how cool I look," Ryna thought-remarked sarcastically. He stood up and strode down the hallway, freezing time. It was deserted, and he made his way systematically through the classrooms to find where the 3rd Year gang's leaders would have their hideout. The classroom at the end of the hall was the same as any of the other classrooms except one thing: there were two guys hanging around nonchalantly at the entrance, each with some form of weapon concealed on their person. Not very well-concealed, but concealed nonetheless. Ryna decided to go with the direct approach to get in.
"Good afternoon boys, take a seat, won't you?" Ryna said as he resumed time in between them, his arms outstretched. In an instant he had both men unconscious on the floor, their heads having been knocked against the wall of the room they had been guarding. Ryna opened the door, and strolled in looking positively joyful.
"Well, I expected you to come here sometime, little 1st year. Not this quickly though," Leo said from his perch on the window sill directly across the room. Susana was sitting next to him, absentmindedly stroking his thigh. Other than them, there was no one else visibly in the room, though Ryna suspected that there were a few hidden somewhere.
"Yeah well, what can I say, I hate to disappoint," Ryna remarked, "I'm sorry if I was unannounced, the wonderful gentlemen you had out front said I had been expected, so I let myself in,"
"Well, now that you're here, you may as well stay for the party. Any minute, my pawns will be coming back here with the unconscious bodies of your puny gang members. I imagine you would find that quite the sight, yes? but first--" as he spoke, three more men seemingly emerged from the woodwork of the room. They formed a triangle around Ryna, each still a good 10 feet in any direction.
"Big friends you got there," Ryna said, feigning concern in his voice.
"We'll be nice and give you a choice: 1-on-1 or all three at once?" Susana said, speaking for the first time since Ryna had entered.
"Well, 1-on-1 would be too unfair," Ryna said, pausing to let them chuckle at what they thought was him praising their strength, "I'll just have to take all three"
For a solid ten seconds, no one moved. Leo and Susana stared at him amusedly, while the thugs glared, slowly understanding that he had insulted them. Without a word, two charged Ryna, while the third took out what appeared to be a stun gun. Ryna ducked under the first charge, rolled, and came up behind the second thug. he grabbed his shirt and, with a moderate pull, lifted the man off the ground.
By now, the first thug had recovered and wheeled to face Ryna and his helplessly flailing friend. He circled around Ryna, trying and quickly succeeding at getting to somewhere where he could attack without fear of hitting his friend. He rushed Ryna again, and closed to within three feet before Ryna swung the thug he was holding into the first and let go, sending them both sprawling into a mess of desks and chairs. Ryna immediately paused time and strode behind the ranged thug, whose frozen figure had taken aim and was ready to shoot at where Ryna had just stood. He resumed time with an uppercut to the thug's jaw, as well as a hook into his ribs. Ryna swept his foot across the thug's legs, catching them as he was lifted off the ground, and forcing him to land on his now extremely pained jaw. Suffice to say, he was unconscious within seconds of hitting the ground.
Ryna spun quickly, and grabbed the discarded stun gun from the floor, and put two rounds into the pile of human struggling to get up from under a desk a few yards away.
"Now that that is taken care of, may I suggest we keep going?" Ryna asked, tossing the stun gun onto the limp body of the 3rd thug.
"That was impressive 1st year, I will admit," Leo said, looking from body to body.
"But that won't be enough to beat Leo," Susana announced, sounding proud.
"Hahaha is that so, well, there is only one way to find out, right?" Ryna asked, laughing. A murderous glint came into his eye that showed that he wasn't playing around though.
"What a pain, putting 1st years in their place is really boring after a while, you know?" Leo mocked.
"I'm sure it is. I got bored of beating up the 3rd years after just 5," Ryna returned.
"You little shit, what makes you think you can walk up here and disrespect us like this?" Leo snarled, his tone turning fierce.
"I dunno, maybe something about you trying to attack my girlfriend, and sending your thugs after my motley crew while they ate their lunch," Ryna replied, his tone just as fierce as Leo's
"That was just puttin' you back in your place," Leo condescended.
"And this is putting you back in yours," Ryna said. He motioned for Leo to attack first, then assumed a defensive crouch.
"You cocky little prick..." Leo let the sentence trail off as he closed the distance to Ryna in a quick stutter of steps designed to throw off Ryna's timing. When it came, it was fast and low, aiming for the pit of Ryna's stomach. He took it, coughing up a little from the blow, but he grabbed hold of Leo's arm. Spinning around behind him, Ryna twisted Leo's arm over his head into a position where he could snap it easily.
Leo, recognizing the maneuver, dropped backwards onto the floor, forcing Ryna to let go or be dragged down as well. Ryna released his arm, then drove his foot into the ribs of his now prone opponent. Leo rolled away after the blow, and came up standing a couple feet away.
Before he had time to reset, Ryna charged. Leo anticipated, and swung his arm out in the direction of Ryna's stomach. Too early. Ryna pivoted around the blow, and brought a spinning ellbow into his opponent's ribs, knocking him off balance. As he was stumbling trying to regain balance, Ryna brought his foot down on the back of Leo's knee, forcing him to the ground. Ryna grabbed the back of his neck and pushed him all the way down to the ground.
"Call your thugs off. Now," Ryna demanded. There was a slight pause before Leo answered.
"You think you've won?" he snarled.
"Its just a hunch," Ryna remarked. He applied more pressure to the back of Leo's neck as an added incentive.
"Its not over till the fat lady sings bitch," Leo replied stubbornly.
"Stop!" Susana cried, "you've beaten us, we'll call off our men."
"But--" Leo began to protest. He was instantly silenced by a look from Susana.
