Rankings

Each person kneels in their designated spot, each one either suffering or enjoying the effects of their type reveal. Master Tochi stands before them all and stares at them, evaluating every member. Chura sits with her head in her lap, Aneko sits in a puddle of sweat, Inei sits calmly, Azami sits bouncing up and down in place, and Yasu sits with a smirk that seems almost sinister. Master Tochi claps his hands, the earth rumbling a bit as every person looks at him. He then speaks softly to them.

"Where is the martial artist of plants?"

Everyone looks around, then all of them looking at Yasu, who speaks softly.

"I don't know, just because she's my sister does not mean I know where she is all the time. She's probably at home, she wasn't in class either."

Azami stands up quickly.

"I'll get her!"

With that she takes off out of the building, almost faster than light. They all stare in the direction she took off, then back at master Tochi. Master Tochi grunts and then points at Yasu.

"How do you feel?"

Yasu looks at him blankly, her mood and face not changing in the slightest.

"I feel, calm."

Master Tochi stares at her longer, groaning. He then switches his focus on Aneko, noticing her miserable look.

"How do you feel?"

Aneko's hair begins crackling, it rising with heatwaves over it, Aneko clinching her fists aggressively.

"Seriously?! You do not see the puddles of sweat by my sides?! How do you think I feel?!"

She yells, letting out a punch, the ground rising into a slab to block the punch, the punch cracking the wall, the wall crumbling down that was above the punch mark. Master Tochi stands staring at her with no reaction from behind the bottom half of his wall. Aneko yells again, letting out another punch, the wall rising higher and crumbling like before, Aneko breathing heavily and falling to the ground herself, her hair falling as well. Master Tochi speaks his first sentence then begins walking away.

"That's what I thought. For having no experience in fighting, your powers are so strong that it makes you adequate fighters. It would normally take months, even years to break through my earthly wall. Your feelings are strong."

Azami returns carrying Yui, Yui sleeping soundly in her arms, Azami lying her down, a large grin on her face.

"She didn't wake up the whole time, I just brought her anyway because I assumed you needed her."

Master Tochi looks at Yui curiously, then looks at Chura.

"Punch her in the face."

Chura gasps, then crosses shaking her head a lot.

"I will do no such thing! She is the nicest in our group and I could never punch her!"

Master Tochi squints at her.

"Do it or I'll whoop you on the battle ground."

Chura turns her head away from him.

"You won't be doing anything to me and I won't be punching her."

Chura's hair begins to become mucky, the tannish aura radiating from her. Master Tochi pushes on.

"I will move you from where you are sitting and put you on that field myself. Punch her."

Chura sits, neglecting master Tochi's speach. Master Tochi grunts and stomps the floor to lift the ground below Chura, but nothing happens, master Tochi looking under her and seeing that she is sitting on top of a mushy ground below her, nodding in approval.

"Good. All of your emotions are so strong. We will train today in the worst of your conditions, then you will be fantastic when you are in great condition."

They all look at him with a concerned look, Aneko furious.

"Say what?"

Over the next couple of weeks, the girls and Inei train with master Tochi every chance they got, expressing rapid growth day by day. On a Friday, they kneel before master Tochi, he looks at them impressed.

"You all have improved greatly from two weeks ago, faster and better than I have ever seen. I believe it is time to set rankings."

The girls and Inei look up at master Tochi, master Tochi shivering a little, then turns.

"There are six of you, so I will not compete, meaning Azami's record before is erased."

The intercom speaks out loudly.

"Azami's record is reset; she now has zero wins and zero losses."

Master Tochi then looks at them.

"We will do a draw to start. Each person will fight each other once. We will do one fight a day, so it will take us almost a week to decide the rankings of strength."

A voice rings out from a neighboring room.

"Old man?! Where are you?!"

The girls and Inei are struck with disbelief.

No; it can't be!

They all look at the direction of the voice, Rina walking into the room from the corridor/

"I've been looking for you for two weeks! A heads up on getting new members would be a nice acknowledgment!"

She walks up to master Tochi then looks past him, her face turning pale seeing the girls and Inei staring her down. Rina then looks at master Tochi.

"What are they doing here?!"

Master Tochi puts his hand up to her.

"Quiet down, Rina. I'm standing right here. They are the new members. I have been training them for the last two weeks, and may I add they improved as fast as you did when I trained you."

Inei grits his teeth.

So this is where she trained? This is how she was able to destroy me!

Rina looks directly at Inei, then at master Tochi.

"Add me to the rankings list."

Master Tochi lifts an eyebrow, then shakes his head.

"Even though I believe it would help them become stronger, the stats would become uneven."

Rina then takes a step forward and pushes a finger into his chest.

"Then you can be number eight. I know you can't resist to throw down when you get a chance."

Rina jumps back, the earth lifting up from underneath her, dodging it. Master Tochi stares her down silently as the wall comes down, Rina staring at him with a smirk.

"Add Rina and me to the rankings."

Aneko stands in protest.

"You can't possibly do that! You'll wipe the floor with us!"

Chura stands shouting as well.

"Yeah, there's no way we're good enough to stop you, you will be undefeated!"

Master Tochi turns his head to them.

"Then that shows you all have room for improvement, does it not?"

Aneko and Chura eat their words, then silently sit back down. Inei continues to stare down Rina.

This has to be a joke. There's no way we're trained under the same person.

The arena opens a circle and a pillar with a bowl of paper lifts up. Everyone walks over to the pillar, master Tochi on one side and the girls and Inei on the other. Master Tochi begins to speak.

"We have a bowl of numbers; kind of like a seeded playoffs. One will fight eight, two will fight seven, and so on. I will decide who fights who after that. Ties will be done based on the average time it takes to take out an opponent."

Master Tochi reaches into the bowl, pulling out a slip of paper. He puts it in his pocket. Azami speaking up.

"What number are you?"

Master Tochi slowly looks at her.

"We will not speak of our numbers. You will know who you are fighting when you walk on the battlefield."

Rina rolls her eyes and reaches in the bowl, grabbing a piece of paper and taking it for herself. Inei then walks forward and takes his paper, then Azami, Yasu, Aneko, Chura, and lastly Yui. Inei looks at his paper.

I'm number three, meaning I will fight number six.

Master Tochi looks around, noticing everyone has looked at thier number, then down at his own.

"Huh. Well, we will start with number one and number eight."

Everyone looks around, Chura and Aneko both stepping forward. They look at each other and master Tochi speaks.

"Make your way to opposite ends of the arena, you two."

They both make their ways to their spots. Both preparing for battle. Everyone else stands along the side of the platform, watching intently. Rina stands next to Inei, Inei taking a little shuffle away from her. The intercom speaks out.

"State your name; fighter one!"

A light shines down on Aneko, Aneko speaking loudly.

"Aneko!"

The light shines on Chura.

"Chura!"

A second passes and the intercom speaks again.

"Aneko versus Chura, begins in three, two, one, go!"

Aneko inhales deeply, her hair turning to flames Chura doing the same, the area around her feet turning to mud. They charge at each other, flames and mud going different places, strikes, kicks, and blocks being exchange from both of them. Everyone watches in awe, Inei thinking to himself.

They're moving so fast, it's almost like they have been training for years!

Aneko strikes Chura in the shoulder, knocking her back, she lands standing, then scoops at the ground, throwing mud balls towards Aneko, Aneko jumping to dodge multiple of them, jumping high and doing the splits to dodge them and squats down low, taking a deep breath, breathing out fire like a flame thrower towards Chura. Chura runs from the flames, Chura yelling out loud as she runs.

"I didn't know you could do this Aneko! This is not fair!"

The fire stops, Aneko putting her hand out, a ball of fire hovering in her hand.

"I did not express my elemental powers during training to keep you all from knowing what I had."

Aneko then proceeds to throw fireballs like baseballs, spinning one or twice to throw some back handed fireballs. Chura gets blasted by one, knocking her out of the ring, and therefore, out of the fight. The computer automation begins to speak.

"The winner is; Aneko!"

Aneko's hair falls to a natural position, turning herself away from Chura, raising her nose and crossing her arms. Chura sits up, holding her hand to her head, watching Aneko with frustration as her hair continues to look muddy, the glow of aura around her body intensifying. Chura then gets up and storms off, leaving the building entirely. Everyone watches as the board changes, a win going to Aneko and a loss to Chura, Chura going to the bottom of the table and Aneko to the top. Yasu watches Chura, then goes to walk in that direction, before the next numbers are called by the intercom.

"Number 2 and number 7; step forward."

Yasu turns, then looks back at the doorway Chura walked through, then back to the battlefield, then walks toward the battlefield, looking across and seeing Rina on the other side. Yasu gasps quietly, Rina stretching casually preparing herself.

"Yasu, was it? You use shadows as your element. I've battled against countless shadow users, yet none have been able to stop me. You do not even know how to fight."

Rina looks up, noticing Yasu's purple aura around her, black covering her silhouette, her purple eyes opening and radiating through the black figure. Her hair flowing with shadowy whispers radiating from it, she mumbles loud enough for only Rina to hear.

"I will be your first defeat; for Inei's sake."

Rina raises her eyebrows, slouching and putting her hands on her hips.

"I do not get you and your friends' obsession with this guy, he really is not worth anything, I left him for the right reason."

Wind starts picking up, the purple aura growing in brightness as Yasu's anger boils higher.

"Do not say anything about Inei. His presence doesn't even deserve to come between those ungrateful lips."

Rina smirks, then readies herself in position.

"You worship him, but remember my lips were kissed before he will ever kiss yours."

The intercom breaks the tension.

"Rina versus, unnamed opponent, state your name please."

Yasu softly speaks her name, her tone indicating anger.

"Yasu."

A soft shiver runs down Rina's spine, but her expression does not change. Inei notices the change in aura around Rina, a white glow radiating around her.

Rina is going hardcore, I have never seen her display the aura before. Either she does not plan on going easy on Yasu for the time record...

Inei shifts his eyes over to Yasu, looking like a shadowy demon.

Or Yasu is a lot stronger than I am sensing.

The intercom speaks again.

"Rina versus Yasu, begin in three, two, one, go!"

Yasu suddenly disappears, Rina closing her eyes. Rina slowly makes movements with her arms, then lifts them above her head, a ring of snow blasting out around her, covering the battlefield in slow, Yasu reappearing. Rina's eyes snap open, and she rushes Yasu, not even blinking before closing ground. Yasu blocks and dodges all of Rina's attacks, taking a shot to her body every now and then. Suddenly, Yasu takes a shot to her arm, yelping in pain, jumping back and holding her arms, letting go of it and seeing her arm frozen where the punch had landed. Yasu notices shadows on the ground, trying to hide into them, but the ice remains solid, serving as a marker for Rina, Rina chuckling.

"I told you, bookworm, shadow fighters have no chance against me. All of you just hide in the shadows, none of you are brave enough to come out and fight head on."

Rina throws a quick blunt ice pillar, then a couple of icicles, knocking Yasu into the corner edge, pinning her by her clothes against the corner. Rina slowly begins walking forward, crushing her hand into a fist.

"You are all a bunch of cowards who are too weak to fight naturally."

The icicles explode and Yasu flies towards Rina, the aura around her gone as Rina performs a roundhouse kick to Yasu's ribs, knocking her out of the ring and out cold. Rina cracks her neck then turns away from Yasu, turning her head to speak to the unconscious Yasu.

"You did not stand a chance. Know your place, worm."

Rina walks off, Yui quickly running over to her unconscious sister, lifting her head and putting it in her lap.

"Yasu, are you okay? Wake up!"

Inei watches the sisters in concern.

Rina really is that strong. So far Yasu has been the strongest of us, even stronger than Aneko, and Rina made her look like a cake walk. I don't know if I could beat her.

The intercom speaks out loud.

"Number three and number six, make your way to the battlefield."

Inei hesitates, then begins walking forward, then hears a voice.

"Oh joy! I actually wanted to fight you!"

Inei turns, seeing Azami with a large smile on her face, he then looks at Yui who comes to a realization.

"If they are fighting each other, that means..."

She slowly turns her head, looking at master Tochi who stands unbothered. Yui shutters and tends to her sister, putting her hand to Yasu's ribs, a feint green glow radiating from her hand. Inei and Azami take their respective places, the intercom speaking loudly.

"Azami versus; unrecognized fighter, state your name!"

All eyes land on Inei, Inei standing motionless, staring at the screen. A moment of silence goes by and the intercom repeats its instruction.

"Please state your name."

Silence lasts a little longer, than a voice speaks on Inei's behalf.

"Inei."

Everyone looks over at master Tochi, who has spoken on Inei's behalf. He does not react, and the intercom continues.

"Azami versus Inei, battle will begin..."

The intercom slowly counts down, Azami readying herself, Inei standing normal as she speaks.

"You better give me your all Inei, I am way better than I was before!"

The intercom finishes its countdown, Azami dashing towards Inei faster than he can blink, Inei takes an electrified punch to the back, flinging him forward, Inei recovering with a wall barrier of water thick enough to stop his momentum, then flings back out faster than the strike committed on him. Right when he swings, Azami disappears, appearing beside him with a grin on her face. She then proceeds punching him from all angles, disappearing and reappearing in multiple spots, electric currents connecting in a web as she does. She suddenly stops, the electricity building up and discharging around Inei, who falls to the ground. Inei lies, staring at the ground, gritting his teeth.

This is bad, I'm going to have to find a way to slow her down or I do not stand a chance.

Inei slowly crawls back to his feet, Azami letting him, giggling as he does.

"You should have stayed down Inei, I'm going to shock you with how fast I am!"

Everything comes to a stand still, everyone visibly feeling disgusted, Azami looking around.

"What? What did I say?"

Aneko yells to her.

"That pun was awful! Don't ever do that again!"

Azami stands staring at Aneko with frustration, then quickly jumps back without looking, Inei missing another attack, continuing to swing and kick, missing every attack. Azami suddenly counters, knocking Inei away with a strong electric attack, Inei struggling to get up. He hears someone whisper to him, he turns in the direction, seeing Rina.

"Cover the arena in water! She can't use electric attacks or speed in water, she's shock herself!"

Inei stares at her, Azami noticing immediately, her smile turning into a frown the ground rumbling like thunder.

I hate it but Rina's right; it's how I can counter her speed.

Inei goes to turn and stand to face Azami, but halfway up his head is stomped into the ground, Azami standing over him, electricity static radiating from her eyes with an angry look on her face. She steps off and Inei doesn't move for a second, then slowly goes to get back up. Azami's voice sounds full of static.

"Stay down, Inei. Take your loss."

Inei shivers, Azami's voice not being normal.

Azami, she is different, is the power controlling her?

Inei's head is stomped down on again, the ground cratering below it. The other girls watch in fear, turning to look away. Rina and master Tochi watch closely, master Tochi beginning to sweat. Finally, after a couple more stomps, Inei stops moving, being knocked unconscious. Azami breathes heavily, taking in a deep breath, then turns away after flipping her hair.

"Remember who's truly on your side, Inei."

Azami walks off the stage, gathering her belongings then leaving the house. Yasu, Yui, and Aneko all look to each other, confused and concerned. They all get on the stage and walk up to Inei, Yui kneels down beside Inei, putting her hands on his back, the green aura lighting up around her hands and on him. A few seconds goes by and Inei slowly pushes himself up, staying on his front only being supported by his arms.

What, happened?

He slowly turns sitting on his behind with his legs in an arch, holding his head with his hand.

What did I do? She was acting so aggressive and she was so strong. Maybe these powers are too much for people who were already good at martial arts.

Suddenly there is a hand against Inei's forehead, Yui being directly in Inei's face with her own, a soft smile radiating to him.

"Hey, don't think so hard. Azami is just very good for some reason, maybe her powers help her grow faster than everyone else."

Inei stares at Yui with shock, the green glow from her hand radiating on his forehead as his head pain eases away. The other two girls watch with a blush, Yui not backing down, suddenly she pulls her hand away and stands up.

"You should be good now. I must get ready to fight the master, so you have to get up and be strong."

Inei stares at her and slowly gets up, then walks off and sits on a bench by himself, the other girls looking at each other, Aneko and Yasu nodding to each other. They both grab their belongings and leave, Yui and Master Tochi preparing for battle.

I am so confused on what is happening right now.

Suddenly a hand rests on his shoulder, he knocks it away in fear, Rina putting her hands up.

"Wow stop! I'm just going to talk to you!"

Inei watches Rina with high alert, then slowly relaxes, looking away and down. Rina again puts a hand on his shoulder.

"What happened out there?"

Inei doesn't react, then Rina speaks again.

"We both know you could have beaten her."

Inei snaps and turns quickly, Rina blocking a strike to her neck. Rina continues.

"You really aren't the same person. Because the old you wouldn't accept defeat. Why did you? Do you have a little crush on this friend?"

Inei's pupils shrink, tears begin pouring down his cheeks like two streams. Rina smiles.

"There it is. That's the energy you lacked. If you had it you would have won."

Rina stands up, looking at Inei.

"You better bring that energy for when we face off. I'm looking forward to seeing how much you truly have changed."

With that Rina walks off, Inei looking away and down again.

Rina is so weird! What is she talking about? And what happened with Azami, why did she hurt me so bad, I understand knocking your opponent out as fast as possible was the challenge, but she took it to another level.

The intercom cuts off his thoughts.

"The winner is; Yui!"

Inei turns his head quickly to see master Tochi standing outside the ring, Yui standing with a smile on her face.

There's no way she beat him fairly; right? He looks completely unharmed.

Master Tochi looks over to Inei, then shouts.

"She wouldn't attack me, so I forfeited."

Yeah that makes a lot more sense.

Yui steps off, looking at the board, running over to Inei and pointing.

"Look Inei! I'm second!"

Inei looks up at the board, reading the list.

Azami is first, Yui is second, Rina is third, Aneko is fourth, Chura is fifth, Yasu is sixth, master Tochi is seventh, and I am last. It figures, Azami took me out so quickly.

Yui jumps up and down holding Inei's arm.

"I'm so happy to be in second even if it's just for day one! I know all of you won't be so easy and forgiving on me, but it feels nice!"

Inei watches her, not budging, then Rina walks up, wrapping her arms around both of them.

"Oh joy! So this is the one you have your eye on, Inei?"

Yui and Inei both push Rina away, Yui defending quickly.

"What do you mean?! Inei cares about all of us equally, not that you can see that, he treated you like a queen I'm sure and you were ungrateful I'm sure!"

Rina puts her hands on her hips and then slouches.

"How come you do not attack anyone but me? You understand we are under the same master now, right? I'm trying to be nice."

Yui shakes her head.

"We're beyond that stage now. You hurt Inei for greedy reasons only."

Suddenly, Rina takes a step back, Yui beginning the show a green glow around her body.

"I may not fight anyone else, but I do not intend to take such a light approach on you."

Inei is in shock, feeling a strength from Yui that no one else matched, even making Rina cower down. Rina then tries to play off her fear.

"I wouldn't want it any other way. See you all tomorrow."

Rina then gathers her belongings, leaving the building, leaving master Tochi, Yui, and Inei left. Yui takes in a deep breath and turns to normal, looking at Inei.

"Since everyone is gone, shall we go to eat?"

Inei looks at her for a moment then nods.

These twins, they are something else. They have so much potential that I don't think anyone else understands, not even myself. Even then, I should check on everyone else before I sleep.

Yui giggles then grabs Inei's hand, happily strolling out pulling Inei behind her.