Luis, Ella, and Grover vs Hakari

"Luis, are you alright?!" Ella cries as she rushes to my side.

"No…not really," I grunt as I struggle to stand up, but my wounds and fatigue have taken a toll on me, so I stupidly crash back down to the ground. "But we still need more points if we want to pass these exams, I'm going to have to be alright."

"Just sit here and rest for a moment, when I recover a bit of Cursed Power, I'll heal you," Ella orders as she helps me sit up.

"Heal yourself, you're not doing much better than I am," I grunt. Unlike me, Ella is still uninjured, but with the amount of Cursed Power she expended just helping me, she looks to be in even worse condition than I am. Ella is as pale as a ghost and trails of blood -some dried, some still fresh- run down her nose. Weirdly enough, expending Cursed Power seems to be the same as expended physical energy, and when you run out of Cursed Power, it can physically harm you, too.

"Alright, but just for a moment," I pant. "We still need three more points each if we want to pass."

"But why does that matter?! You're half-dead, Luis, there's always the next exams!" Ella cries.

"I'd be letting a lot of people down if I give up now," I dorkily answer as I flop down onto my back. "And besides-" I begin to say again, but mine and Ella's conversation is interrupted when the two of us hear a voice coming from the shrubbery beside us, causing Ella and I to flinch.

"Oh, how I love seeing the faces of newbies when I crush their hopes and dreams" a woman wearing an ugly camo green suit says as she approaches Ella and I from out of the forest.

My eyes widen, and while I'm not looking at Ella, I'm sure hers are too. You've got to be kidding me, can I please just catch a break. I'm half dead, and Ella's out of Cursed Power…

And now a Pro Slayer is targeting us.

 "Hello, you Pro Slayer wannabes! I'm Slayer Hakari, and I get a kick out of hunting you kids who talk a big game!" The woman -now known as Slayer Hakari- says as she raises a fist up, aiming it at Ella and I. "Although when I'm done with ya', you two won't get the luxury of picking your Slayer codename!" Hakari roars, as what appears to be jagged, green scales sprout from her flesh.

"SCALE CANNON!"

Hakari's scales then fire off of her skin like missiles, soaring through the air towards Ella and I.

"Shit, let's move!" I cry as I attempt to stand up, but a wave of pain shoots up and down my body, causing me to crash back to the ground. Seeing me in my incapacitated state, Ella ducks in front of me. "Ella, don't!" I cry.

"I'm not just doing this for you, Luis. If I lose here, I'll be letting down a whole bunch of people too," Ella calmly says as she lifts up her arm, aiming her palm at Hakari's scales.

"Knockback Wave!"

A ring of pink Cursed Power then pulses out of Ella's hand, and before the two of us could be skewered by Haraki's scales, Ella's Wave makes contact with the scales, knocking them back the way they came.

"Eh? Not bad!" Hakari says as she watches her sharp scales fly back towards her. Hakari then brings both of her arms up in across, scales sprouting all across her flesh, and using them to block ehr own attack.

"Holy crap, Ella, that was amazing!" I cry.

"I know, right?!" Ella replies as she turns around to face me with a giddy smile.

"Alright…I can't let this chance go to waste…" I grunt as I push myself off of the ground, struggling to stand up, but at last, I do so. "Wind Control: Tornado!" I shout as I create a small tornado in my hands, before firing it off towards Hakari, my tornado growing larger and larger as it flies.

Just as before, Haraki brings her hands up in a cross, using her scales to block my attack. "Did you really think that this measly attack could hurt me?!" Haraki roars.

"Nah, it was just to block your vision!" I tease.

"What?!" Haraki cries.

When my tornado dissipates, I'm balancing on a branch in a tree above Haraki, forming a small tornado around my fist. "Damn, Ella, your Agility Wave is nice as Hell!" I exclaim, before turning back down to Haraki. "Tell me, Lizard-Lady, have you ever been punched in the face by a tornado before? Well I haven't. So tell me how it feels!" I roar as I leap out of the tree above Haraki. And before Haraki can even use her scales to defend, I sock her in the face with a tornado punch. I've never punched anyone before. Before I can zip away by using Ella's speed boost on my body, Harai reaches up, and grabs my wind-covered fist with a scaled hand, causing my tornado to dissipate.

"You know…THAT DIDN'T HURT NEARLY AS MUCH AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD!" Haraki roars as she catapults me away, sending me hurling back towards Ella. Before Ella has a chance to dodge, my back slams into her, and the two of us fall to the ground.

"Ahh…shit…sorry," I wince as I help Ella up. I then peer back towards Haraki, who's slowly lumbering over to Ella and I, with jagged, green scales running up and down both of her arms. "Ella, we don't have a chance to win this fight, we need to run away before we lose the exams," I whisper.

"Right," Ella agrees. "Do you still have my Agility Boost? I used one on myself, so we should be able to get away, this Slayer doesn't seem to have a speed-based Cursed Ability."

"I do," I answer. "Now…let's go!"

Swiftly, Ella and I spin around and begin dashing away from Haraki, but Haraki says: "Oh no you don't!" And holds her arms out towards Ella and I. ``Scale Cannon: Vibrating Scale Song!" She roars, and all at once, every single scale on Haraki's body starts vibrating. The vibrations then merge together, forming one loud shockwave blast of sound, so powerful that Ella and I couldn't help but to stop running, and drop to the ground covering our ears with our hands. It feels like my eardrums are about to explode. I notice Haraki wince from the attack, as blood begins to seep out from between her scales. A powerful attack indeed, but at a price. Once Haraki's scales are done vibrating, I remove my hands from my still-ringing ears. I feel a warm, sticky substance trickle down the sides of my cheeks, and I assume that my ears are bleeding heavily, as are Ella's.

Haraki then resumes her stroll over to Ella and I, who are too busy withering on the ground in pain to move. Haraki holds an arm up to Ella and I each, as her scales begin to prick up, readying themselves into missiles, just as before. "You two don't have what it takes to become Pro Slayers," Haraki growls. "Scale Cannon!" Haraki's scales then fire off her arms, streaking through the air towards Ella and I. But just when all hope seems lost, a spiraling green wormhole appears behind Haraki.

Grover!

Grover then leaps out of his wormhole, socking Haraki in the back of her skull with a powerful kick, causing Haraki to let out a howl of pain before stumbling to the ground, and forcing all of her live-scales to drop to the ground as well. Grover then teleports in front of Ella and I, who struggle to push ourselves off of the ground

"DAMNIT!" Grover wails as he slams his fist into the ground. "I ran away. I'm the future Chairman of the Slayer Organization and I ran away!"

Grover is soaked in blood and sweat and is panting heavily, there's a hole in his right hand and bruises run up and down his legs. Grover's headband had slipped off, and is now hanging loose around his neck.

"Grover, holy shit!" I exclaim.

"Grover, you saved us, thank you!" Ella cries.

"Oh, hey, Ella and Luis," Grover says as he turns to face the two of us, as if he didn't even notice that we were here. "How's it hanging?"

"Well we're getting our asses kicked by a Pro Slayer," I nonchalantly answer. "You?"

"Ah, you know, the usual. I was fighting two other competitors, but then I took a bullet to the hand, and was forced to teleport away," Grover equally as nonchalantly answers. I smirk. Ella looks mortified.

"Well, while you're here, wanna help us take out this Pro Slayer," I ask as I push myself off of the ground at last, walking over to Grover's side.

"Yeah, sure, I could use some more points," Grover answers as he adjusts his headband. "What's her Cursed Ability?"

"She can create scales all across her body which are good for both defense and offense, and she can even fire them off as missiles. Just beware her sound attack, she can vibrate her scales to create shock waves of sound that paralyze you, but it seems to hurt her too," I explain.

I look over at Grover and smirk, Grover peers over to me and smirks back, before the two of us both turn back to face Haraki.

"LET'S GO!"

Maybe, just maybe, we have a chance at victory