Fated Battles!

Hoshika watched Axel pull out three sets of knives in both of his hands. He leaped high into the air and threw them at the ground near Hoshika. She heard a beep and she immediately ran towards a nearby wall, jumped onto it and heard the sound of an explosion behind her. She continued to run up on the wall of the gym and felt a wave of heat reach her. "Damn him and those knives. I should've remembered that he had those for situations like this. But it was such a powerful explosion, it should have leveled the gym and caused it all to collapse." Hoshika wondered aloud to herself before Axel appeared in front of her and kicked her in the gut. She lost her balance and was about to fall 15 feet down to the ground. Her mind and body felt as if time had slowed down just for her and she whipped out two sai's that she threw against the wall.

The sai tried to hold up but they both snapped into pieces and Hoshika's body landed against the ground. Well, she didn't really feel much pain. She looked at the spot where her sai had been and saw that it was 5 meters from the ground. "Thank the lord." She said before running across the gym floor. She could still feel the heat from the explosion from earlier and knew that Axel was waiting for her guard to drop. He wasn't the type to just go in and attack, he waited for his prey to think that he was gone and that they had survived an encounter with him. That wasn't the case with Hoshika; She knew everything about Axel and his strategies. He wasn't getting by her without a miracle. "Hotaru... you better be okay. Get to Bakura with the others! I'll hold him off as long as I can." Hoshika thought before feeling Axel's fiery prescene behind her.

She got down onto the floor and did a 360° spin with her right leg out, sweeping Axel off his feet. She stood up straight and stomped on his chest, asserting her dominance over the man. He coughed and smiled at her, "Go on. Kill me, Stella! KILL ME LIKE HOW YOU KILLED THOSE MEN!" Axel roared at her and she hesitated. How did he know about that? Maybe he was bluffing and trying to make her lose focus. He succeeded in that because he moved her foot off his chest and stabbed her leg with a knife. She let out a cry of pain and jumped back in anger with her uninjured leg. She was beginning to grow tired of hearing his laughter, "Why did you betray Giove XI?! He gave you everything you needed, Axel! Why!? I don't understand..." she said with a sad tone and Axel had one of his silver knives out, sticking the sharp tip between his teeth to get some food out of his teeth.

"I used him. I needed to make some cash and I put up with his stupid shenanigans for God knows how long. I paid off my debts and left him to join Bakura. Thats all of it, really." Axel said ever so casually and Hoshika was failing to hide her fury. "How can you be so heartless!?" She shouted and pulled out the knife that was stuck in her leg. She threw it at Axel, who just stepped to the side, and ran at him with her weapons in hand. She planned on delivering the killing blow and bringing his corpse to Giove XI. Axel rushed at her and threw a jab at her face with his elbow. The hit connected yet she threw her sai into his stomach. His eyes opened wide and blood leaked out of his mouth. He grinned as he held up a knife with the beep sound coming from it. "I'll blow us both of up!!" Axel said before throwing it to the ground. Hoshika pushed him away and ran far from the knife, saving herself and her beautiful sai.

Unfortunately, Axel escaped his "planned" demise by leaping high into the air. The powerful explosion sent him higher into the ceiling and he did a back flip. His feet hit the ceiling and he looked to see Hoshika down on the ground after another explosion. Thankfully, the building was still strong enough to withstand three more if the need ever arises. Hoshika watched him jump from the ceiling towards her with his knives in hand. He threw them at her and watched her easily deflect them all with her sai. She was getting tired of him dragging the fight out. It was getting ridiculous at this point. As soon as his feet touched the cold ground, she threw a sai at him and it missed. "You are getting rusty, Hoshika! Maybe it has to do with your age." Axel said with his stupid smile and ran towards her without any of his knives. Once in a face up confrontation, he threw a punch for her face and she took the blow. He kicked her in the stomach and slammed her down to the ground.

He kept doing it, laughing while treating her like trash underneath his feet. "You were always weaker than me, Stella. That's why Giove XI favored me more than he ever did for you! You were just there to fill up the spots in the family, I WAS ACTUALLY IMPORTANT! He never batted any eye for you! All he ever did was send you out on some stupid missions that somehow got your name out there in the world. I could never understand why he didn't just up and kill you, I even PLEADED to have an execution set for you. But noo, he wanted to stay true to Giove Primo's beliefs! He's a coward that couldn't even hurt a fly! If you had just killed yourself, you would have been born into a family that actually cares about you!" Axel said while Hoshika smiled at him and pointed up at the sky.

"Giove XI... represents the sky. The sky accepts all in its domain... Storm, Lightning, the clouds, even the cold rain. He accepted all kinds... of people in his family. Even you, a cold blooded murderer." Hoshika said as a sai went through Axel's skull. Remember the sai that missed a few minutes ago? It was on purpose. This sai was meant to be a reversed sai, meaning that it would come back to her after being thrown. "You are a stupid person. Rot in bloody hell." Hoshika said as Axel's body fell to the ground. She sighed as she closed her eyes and went to a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, Hotaru found a passage way through some debris. She squeezed her way through and fell into a large room. She looked around to see skulls, hopefully not real ones, on the ground and walked through the room. At the end of the room, She could see a throne and went to go touch it only to hear a girl speak. "P-please don't touch that! Lord Bakura hates it when someone touches his throne!" A young girl said as she emerged from the shadows and her violet eyes were what gained the most of Hotaru's attention.

"Oh sorry, I was supposed to find this Bakura guy." Hotaru carelessly said as she placed her hands over her mouth once she realized her mistake. The girl couldn't help but chuckle at this and kneeled in front of Bakura's throne. She then began to whisper towards Hotaru, "Lord Bakura is a man who'll do anything to protect his family. I want to be by his side, no matter what happens!" The girl said with a determined look on her face before coughing up some blood. Hotaru knelt down to help her up, only to see the girl being dragged away behind her. Hotaru jumped up and saw another lady, one more mature and older than Hotaru will ever be. The lady glared at Hotaru and knelt down to the young girl in front of her, "It's okay... go take your medicine." The lady said before the young girl dashed out of the room and left Hotaru confused on how she got out.

There was only one exit and Hotaru had just entered through it. "You are apart of the Giove Famiglia, aren't you? I was given orders to kill you on sight. Terribly sorry that this will be your grave." The lady said to Hotaru and Hotaru raised an eyebrow. Looking at the sheath that contained her sword, Hotaru placed her right hand on the grip of her sword and began to pull it out of the sheath. She held it high and performed a hanging right, a guard stance that is most dominant with the right hand. "It's rude to start off a battle without knowing each other's name. My name is Lana." She calmly stated as strings so thin began to spread out across the room. Hotaru noticed how her fingers seemed to be moving something but she couldn't see anything that indicated that she was setting something up.

"My name is Hotaru, sorry that I have to beat you up." She began to lower her sword and dashed at Lana, bringing the sword up at the last second. The blade met the wall Lana had been behind and Hotaru had been confused on where Lana had been. Nevermind her location, How was she so fast? Hotaru turned around and looked around for Lana, who had simply disappeared before Hotaru could've landed the first strike. "She's waiting for a chance to strike. Lurking in the shadows... so she is an assassin type." Hotaru murmured while thinking of her next move.

It could lead to the end of your life if she hadn't been careful. That is why... "Igarashi-sensei would be pissed if I lose." Hotaru thought before charging towards Bakura's throne, her sword held high and she slammed it down on the throne. Her cold-blooded sword cut the throne clean in half, earning a loud shriek from Lana. Hotaru quickly turned around and saw Lana rush at her, "Thank you girl whose name I do not know. That throne was very important to Lana, maybe it has something to do deeply with Bakura." Hotaru thought as she shot forward towards Lana with her sword being in the hanging left stance.

However, she quickly lost her balance and plopped to the floor. She looked up to see Lana holding a small butter knife, contemplating on which knife she should use. Hotaru took notice of something being wrapped around her right ankle. She touched it and grabbed ahold of the thin line she couldn't see, it took a few tries to gain a proper hold on it with her fingers. Strings! Lana must have set up strings everywhere in the room at the start of the fight. "That dirty cheating hag!", Hotaru thought and got up with her sword in hand. She looked at Lana with her eyes becoming slightly sharper and charged forward, waving her sword through the air to cut through any strings waiting for her. Lana watched as her traps were slowly being destroyed by Hotaru and moved out of the way as Hotaru charged towards her.

Hotaru, not knowing how to stop her movement, ended up crashing into a wall and fell through into a different room. She got up with a bad headache and looked to see stairs leading downwards. If anything, this could lead her to Bakura. She took a small step and heard Lana scream at her. She ran down the stairs within the next minute and made it to the bottom of the stairs. A grey metal door opened on it's own and Hotaru unknowingly walked into a trap. Hotaru walked into a room that seemed to be even larger than the gym. "How was it even possible to make this? Its like a super HUGE basement." Hotaru said to herself as she studied her surroundings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but she couldn't take her chances. This was enemy territory!

Ahead, Lana stood above her on AIR and looked down at her with eyes full of pity for the young swordswomen. The voice of her opponent filled Hotaru's ears and she looked up to see Lana, "If you had been born into a different family... maybe we could have been friends." Lana said as Hotaru felt something sharp hit her cheek. A cut was left on Hotaru's right cheek and a small stream of blood began to leak from it. Hotaru's eyes widened in horror, "You had strings everywhere... that means..." Her sentence wasn't able to be finished as multiple strings cut various body parts. The girl dropped to her knees with blood beginning to soak her clothes. She gritted her teeth as she weakly began to reach for her sword, only for a hand to stop her. She looked up to see the girl with the violet eyes and mouthed "who are you?". The other girl shook her head and began to treat Hotaru's wounds with bandages. "My name is Misa, I'm sorry for what awaits you, miss. But for now, you have to stop Lana-san!" Misa shouted and Lana cocked an eyebrow. She was tempted to jump down and smack Misa across her face. She dared to help the enemy, the ones who came uninvited, and made such a bold threat to her.

HOW DARE SHE!  Once Hotaru was done getting bandaged, Misa helped her stand and hid far from the two. Not that she had any place to hide, really. She was keeping her distance between Hotaru and Lana, Misa hadn't been a fighter unlike the rest of Bakura's subordinates.

Hotaru placed both of her hands around the grip of her sword, holding it tightly as she turned the blade to it's sharp side. Hotaru's eyes had become similar to that of a hawk's searching for it's prey. Hotaru leaped high into the air, shocking both Misa and Lana with her superhuman-like power. Hotaru's feet stood on the balance of one of Lana's strings, surprising her that it was enough to hold her weight. Lana sent multiple strings towards Hotaru's body, trying to tie her up and let her fall to a bloody death. Hotaru sliced the strings into nothing and jumped once more to close the distance between them. "You didn't show any kind of signs possessing power like this! Just what  are you? How did you get so strong in such a short time!", Lana shouted at Hotaru and the girl remained silent as her blade was almost reaching it's target.

Lana jumped back in fear and desperately searched for an exit or anything that could lead to her escape. But her mind and body was too slow as Hotaru drew near with a grin on her face. She held out her blade towards Lana's chest and closed her eyes as she spoke. "Stance 3: Gentle Rain." She calmly stated before she made a horizontal slash for Lana's stomach. Blood splattered across the steel of her sword and she flicked it off as Lana fell over, passing out from the unbearable pain. As she fell, Misa held out her arms and tried to catch her. Lana fell on top of Misa and Hotaru watched from above, saying "ouch." It must have hurt to catch a woman from at least 10 stories above you. Task failed successfully.

Hotaru jumped down with Misa catching her and looked at her sword in disgust. She still didn't like the fact she had to use a longer knife to beat someone. It seemed weird. But it did help her win and not die! "Thanks for patching me up, though you have any more bandages? Some blood is still leaking out of me!" Hotaru said with a loud chuckle and Misa eyes widened in fear. She backed away from Hotaru and looked down at Lana, who was crawling away with her blood spilling like candy out of a piñata. "Stop moving or else you'll bleed to death." Hotaru said with concern for her enemy and Lana ignored her. Misa watched Lana be dragged away by her own sets of string and covered her mouth to not let out a scream.

Hotaru looked to see a giant screen in front of them and a woman appeared. She looked to be a scientist and cleared her throat as Lana's body was being tied up with strings. "Thank you, Lana. You have been very helpful in helping me complete this research, your countless hours of work will not go unrewarded. In fact, many people would like to thank you for what you have done for them." The lady said as "people" came out of doors that hadn't surfaced until now. Misa tried her best to not throw up and Hotaru was DISGUSTED by what she was witnessing. Lana's eyes began to let out tears and she struggled to be removed of her restraints. Lana's body dropped into a crowd of the "people" and they began to claw at her, feasting on her body. The screams could have been heard throughout the entire school.

Hotaru began to step towards them but was held back by Misa, "We must escape from here! Who knows what they will do to us once they are done with... Lana-san..." it hurt to even say her name. Hotaru gritted her teeth in anger before running to the entrance where she came in. As soon as they got near it, the stairs moved further down and was replaced by a grey wall. Their only exit ticket... was now gone! Misa hadn't given up hope just yet! "Hotaru, use that sword of yours to defeat these guys. She'll let us out if we win!" Misa had said and Hotaru chuckled for a second. "It kind of freaks me out that you know that, but I trust you Misa. Now then..." she charged towards a crowd of the enemies and let out a roar. "WHO WANTS A TASTE OF THIS!?" With that being said, Hotaru proceeded to get jumped.

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Yoruichi and Odysseus had ZERO luck in finding Bakura. In fact, they simply just walked inside the cafeteria and chatted. "You think Boss has it easier than us when it comes to finding Bakura?" Yoruichi asked Odysseus and the guy nodded. "Definitely. His mom once told me that he found her credit card, that had been lost for months, under her pillow." Odysseus said and Yoruichi laughed at this. Little did Yoruichi know, Odysseus had been completely serious about the story. Lucia almost shot him for making a joke about it when she told him the story. She was clearly embarrassed that she couldn't find it in the simplest of places.

"Yoruichi, give it some time, alright? We'll find Bakura and kick his ass, then go kick Lucci's ass for throwing that ice cream on me. I had such a hard time getting the stains off. You wouldn't believe how many gallons of bleach I put in the washer." Odysseus said with a face palm and Yoruichi laughed even harder than before. Odysseus himself didn't know it but whenever he said some things, he was unbelievably funny. Sometimes he'll find himself in a situation where he says something and the person just starts laughing. It always leaves him confused. The voice of a man entered the cafeteria and the pair immediately got into a battle position.

"It amazes me on how Giove XII had such pitiful allies. You two look more puny than prune juice." A tall, muscular man said to the boys and Odysseus snapped back at him with a deadpan voice. "That was such a terrible analogy that it didn't even get a smirk from me. I think I'll be calling you... Dumbo. Yeah, that suits you more than whatever your old name was." Odysseus said and Yoruichi held back his laugh then whipped out a brass knuckle for his left hand. Odysseus raised an eyebrow and Yoruichi shushed him before running at Dumbo. Dumbo was enraged by Odysseus's remark and charged towards the body, only for Yoruichi's foot to connect with his face. Dumbo's body was pushed back a few inches and Yoruichi smirked. Though it didn't last long as his ankle was grabbed by Dumbo's hand and he was flung into a wall next to Odysseus.

Odysseus saw that it had made a hole, similar to of how Yoruichi was thrown in. He looked at Dumbo and yawned before walking towards him with his fists out. Dumbo threw a punch at Odysseus's face and laughed loudly, "KYA HAHAHA!" Dumbo's laughter was turned into shock when Odysseus didn't appear to be phased by his attack and simply shrugged it off. "I don't know why Bakura let you in his group but you are so stupid. You can't even divide, can you?" Odysseus asked and Dumbo tried to punch him again. This time, Odysseus moved his head out of the way and punched Dumbo deep in his gut. You could have seen Oddy's fist almost go through his body!

Then, Retracting his fist, Odysseus did a 360° spin and lifted his leg high into the air with a smile. His foot connected with Dumbo's neck and the brute fell unconscious. "That was a lame mini-boss. The guy who has been watching us the entire time, come out and face me." Odysseus coldly said as a man appeared in a puff of smoke and clapped his hands together. A sign of respect, huh? "You knew I was here. Why hadn't you said so and prepare to fight me with your comrade?" The man said as Yoruichi came out of his "cage" and looked at Odysseus before the lad spoke. "It would have been a waste of time and energy. I knew you were calling your friend to see a glimpse of our combat prowess, though you hadn't expected us to be strong enough to defeat Dumbo."

Odysseus explained while Yoruichi had been entirely confused on why he was speaking like a computer AI. He scratched his head as a bit of blood trickled down his forehead. Oddy gave him a bandaid and turned his focus back onto the enemy. "Yoruichi, sit this one out. I think its time to show you what Italy has taught me." Odysseus said with a smirk that showed off his confidence. Yoruichi gave him a thumbs-up and sat down on a table, closing his eyes. Odysseus walked towards the enemy and stood in his face with a smile. "My name is Elric. I'll make sure you die a quick death." Elric said as he removed his hood and revealed his eyepatch, a cool accessory to Odysseus.

Odysseus made the first strike by attacking Elric with his right hand, aiming for the side of his head. Elric hadn't been able to see what he was doing with his eyepatch covering his field of vision by half but he raised his palm and caught the punch. Odysseus hid his surprise and tried to take his fist back, only Elric wouldn't let him. "You probably wonder how I caught it. My vision may be weak but the rest of my senses stay the same. By feeling the change of air pressure with my fingers, I can pin-point where you are going to strike next." This hadn't even made sense to Odysseus and Yoruichi. Although, it sounded like a bunch of nonsense to Yoruichi and he disagreed with Elric. "He can see perfectly. He only uses that eyepatch to trick his enemies into think he can't see. You got this, Oddy."

Yoruichi said as he watched the battle and secretly began to record it. What, don't act like none of you haven't done this in middle school.

Elric kicked Odysseus in the stomach and the boy was sent crashing into a table. Not a second later, Elric appeared in front of Odysseus and threw a punch at him. Odysseus rolled out of the way and Elric's fist went through the wooden table. He tried to pull it out but was struggling. Odysseus took advantage of this and kicked Elric in his spine, earning a groan from Elric and knocking him over. Elric fell onto the ground as Odysseus began to kick him on it, yelling hysterically and earing a few laughs from Yoruichi. Finally, Elric had enough and let out a roar that was so loud that it ended up shaking the entire cafeteria. Odysseus jumped back and carefully studied Elric's body movements.

Elric walked towards Odysseus with an intimidating glare and Odysseus sighed as he knew what was going to come next. Odysseus was grabbed by his hair and flung into a hallway, barely conscious that Yoruichi had to be tagged in. "Yo! Big muscle man, your opponent is me now! Leave Oddy alone for a bit, will ya?" Yoruichi said and gained the attention of Elric, who had just ran towards Yoruichi and the boy jumped off the table he had just been sitting on before witnessing Elric smash a hoke in the table. Sadly, his hand didn't get stuck like last time. Yoruichi creeped up behind him and jumped onto his back, wrapping his arms around Elric's neck and squeezing it tightly.

"ODDY HELP!", Yoruichi shouted and his ally walked towards Elric with a limp leg. Odysseus sighed before his fist connected with Elric's jaw, resulting in an uppercut. Yoruichi jumped off his back and rushed to Odysseus's side, wrapping his arm around Yoruichi's neck. "We should retreat. That guy has monstrous power. It'd be a suicidal idea if you think that we can beat him like this." Odysseus said as he placed his hand in his pocket and pulled out a black ball. He threw it at Elric's face and the two boys immediately rushed out of the room, well Odysseus had some trouble but he managed to escape. Elric proved to be too strong of an opponent that even Yoruichi found his strength to be absurd.

Even though they managed to damage him, they both knew it hadn't been enough to knock him out. Swallowing their pride, they both ran back to the spot where this all began. They looked to see Hoshika sitting on the dirty floor and rushed to her. Odysseus sat down and revealed his leg to her, which she put some ice on and asked for a status update.

"We failed to find Bakura. But we do know that Bakura has gathered up strong people... all for us. Wait, where is Hotaru?" Odysseus asked and Hoshika sighed. "I honestly don't know. I should have finished my fight with that idiot quicker and caught up with her. UGH!" Hoshika said with a pained sigh and the boys looked to see bloody bandages wrapped around one of her legs. That was sure to leave a scar, wasn't it?

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That is it for this chapter. Though, I wonder what Hotaru is going to face next. Is Kaname pummeling Soichiro into the ground? Find out next time on 12th Family Chronicles.

Soichiro: Lame!

Kaname: That was a terrible way of foreshadowing a future event.

Bakura: Oh, this is where we film the actors behind the scenes. Hello dear viewers-

Kaname: You have five seconds to get out of here or I swear to Thor of Asgard that your balls will be painted across the earth.

...

Bakura: ...

Soichiro: Anyways, see you guys next time. Don't forget to share the story with your friends and criticism would be MUCH appreciated. Until the next one... PEACE! *Camera turns off*