A Plan in Motion

Everyone's silent for a while, not knowing what to say, until Shin breaks the silence.
"What do you mean?"
Hiro looks at him and answers before Gaia can.
"What do you think it means? They thought that guy was a friend, but he's actually a foe."
Shin retorts back, still confused.
"But how is that even possible?!"
Before it can turn into an argument, Gaia quickly steps in.
"I understand your confusion. Magic that alters memories is... Much like most mind bending magic, very illegal, and exceptionally rare."

'Memory altering magic... So that's why...'
"What do we do then?"
After I ask that, she remains silent for a while, thinking, before finally speaking.
"The first thing that should happen is that the tall boy and quitter here should both go home now. I'm not going to risk your safety."
"But-"
Shin is about to complain when Gaia looks at him, causing him to instantly give up.
"N-Nevermind..."
Hiro pats him on the back before looking back at us with a last message.
"You guys stay safe. I'll make sure he doesn't interrupt your plan."
"Hey, I wouldn't!"
With that they both leave as Gaia turns towards me.
"Next we'll need people, and given Tarou's state right there, it would be safe if they were unaffected by this magic. So little Kazu, if I remember right, you had a couple friends that might be extremely useful for this situation."
'...!'
"So you're thinking we capture him?"
"That would be the easiest and safest option. I don't know what other magic he could have, so if things get ugly make sure you they know to leave."
I nod then turn to Tarou as I ask a final question.
"When are doing this?"
"I trust leader boy will make a quick recovery after all this info, so the sooner the better."
Tarou slowly looks up at us and smiles.
"I got this...!"

...

"I can't believe it. I get to help Gaia!"
It's the next day and we're about to get into position when Tomo can't stop fanboying over her.
"I know right?!"
Tarou was looking a lot better than yesterday, though he still struggles a bit sometimes.
"Can you two get into position already? At this rate Gaia being the bait will be wasted."
They both apologize and go to their planned locations, Tomo near Gaia, and Tarou leaning on the hallway towards the training grounds, leaving me the only one seated with a hat over my face.
I look over at Aya who's just outside near the entrance as she nods at me before going invisible.
'Hopefully this plan works after having to get here so early in the morning...

...

"Alright everyone, the plan should be simple. First, the flower girl-"
"Flower girl? Is that my nickname?"
"Yes, as pretty as a flower."
"Woah~ Thank you!"
"And much like flowers, often overlooked."
"Agh... I guess that's about my invisibility magic... Hopefully..."

'She looks defeated...'

"You'll stand guard by the entrance, when he comes in you follow behind him, making sure that if he tries going that way you block him."

...

After a long time waiting, the moment we readied for comes as Katsuya finally comes in, looking down at the floor as he walks, bumping right into Gaia.
"Oops! Sorry there."

...

"Next, glasses."
"YES!"
"You'll be near me the whole time, if he tries running I want you to immediately trip him up."

...

"It's... Fine..."
After he says this, Gaia quickly holds onto his hand and pulls him up.
"Nonsense. In fact, why don't you come with me? I'll make sure to apologize properly."
"Ah... No need... I... Huh?"
Gaia keeps holding onto his hand, and with a smile on her face keeps urging him to follow her.
"I... can't..."
Katsuya takes a step forward and looks at her before continuing.
Re... Remember?"
"Hm? Remember wha-
..."

...

"Now, leader boy."
"Yes coach!"
"Yours is an important job. I don't know how he does his memory magic, so I need you nearby to bring me back to my sense if you notice him try anything."
"How am I going to do that?"
"I'll leave that to you. I trust you."

...

Without hesitation Tarou runs full speed into Gaia, knocking both her and Katsuya to the floor.
"Sorry coach! I was passing by when I suddenly remembered that time we were in the same hospital room, so I rushed over to see if you remembered too, I guess I got too excited.
He does a small laugh as she helps her up and she thanks him.
"Right, I had almost forgotten that..."
She quickly glances to the side with a mix of emotions in her face.
'Something tells me she actually did want to forget that...'
"Why... I don't... have time..."
As Katsuya talks while looking down, Gaia looks at me and winks.

...

"Finally, little Kazu.
I will try my best to convince him to follow me, at the same time I'll try to see exactly how he does his memory magic, as undoubtedly he will use it to try and get rid of me."
I nod as I reply.
"Right."
"When I wink at you, I'll need you to be ready because it will mean I figured it out, and we'll need to get him in a cell immediately."
"...Teleportation. I get it."

...

'It's been a while since I used it. I have to focus, I'll send him to the special cell Light Show was in.'
I stand at the ready for Gaia's signal, nodding towards Tomo and Aya's direction while Katsuya is still distracted.
Then, before I know it, Gaia shouts.
"NOW!"
Immediately Gaia and Tarou fall on top of Katsuya, with Tomo and Aya running to restrain him on the ground soon after.
Without wasting time I also immediately bolt from the seat and run towards him with an arm extended, ready to teleport.
He squirms on the floor, shocked to what happened.
"What...! No! NO!"
'Now or never.'
Just as I'm about to reach him, he shouts.
"DISINTEGRATE!"

The moment he says this a giant hole forms around him on the floor as the rock that made it turns to dust, and we all fall into it.
As we fumble to try and get back up, he's already gotten out of the hole and ran out of the building.
"Damn it! I wasn't fast enough."
Suddenly Gaia shouts, surprising all of us.
"FORGET THAT! Tomo, Aya, get out of here, NOW! Get to safety!
Kazu, teleport me and Tarou to the street in front of the HQ."
"Wha-"
"NOW DAMN IT!"
'What happened-
...Was that magic he just used?'
"Right..."
I quickly hold onto Gaia and Tarou and teleport us out.

Now on the street I drop to my knees, while Gaia and Tarou now come face to face with Katsuya that had ran right to us without knowing.
'It's gonna take some getting used to... Teleporting multiple people.'

Suddenly Gaia crouches down and places her palms on the floor, and just as she does that a huge number of metal bars spew forth from the ground and twist all in an area around him, placing him in a rudimentary cage.
"Tarou, careful! Don't let him touch you!"
"Understood!"
"Kazu, be ready to get him and yourself out of here at a moments notice."
She shouted orders without daring to even move her eyes away from Katsuya, focused completely on him, in turn making me nervous.
"I will."

Katsuya looks all around and starts moving to one of the sides when Gaia shouts.
"STOP! Katsuya, if that's actually your name, what did you come here for?"
He looks at her, nervous.
"I uh... It's not... I need to go..."
"You're not going anywhere. What's your name? Were you the one that's been trying to access our servers recently?"
'Servers?'
The moment he hears that he yelps, confirming what Gaia just said.
"No... I need to... Leave me alone... My mission..."
The moment she hears that, she summons even more bars from the ground before standing back up and taking a step closer.
"Mission?"
"Ah! No... I meant... Ugh..."
Suddenly he runs to the bars, casting disintegrate once more, making them instantly crumble, and running away as fast as he can.
"Tsk. Fine then. I can't let you escape, so if I can't capture you alive, there's no other option."

A moment passes before she raises her arm, and with it a pillar suddenly appears below Katsuya, sending him all the way to the sky, keeping him there. Then with a deep breath Gaia continues.
"That should do it...
With the power of Arlo, descend, PILLLAR OF EARTH!"
From the heavens, a pillar made up of all sorts of materials appears, much wider and larger than I'd ever seen.
'Is she... Trying to kill him? But something that huge...'
Without warning I teleport myself to the top of the hero HQ where I can then take a better look at what will happen.
'I need to... I need to see. I'll need to confirm what happens to him back to Gaia.'

Katsuya stands there motionless, looking up as the pillar keeps getting closer to him, and just as I think it's about to be all over, he brings his arm up just as the pillar is about to connect.
I'm about to avert my eyes when suddenly it happens, a large sound booms from it as it all turns completely into dust, raining down rocks and pebbles of all sorts of materials.
'He... Destroyed it? '

I teleport myself back to Gaia, where she wastes no time in asking.
"Was there anything? Even a broken finger?"
"No."
"Damn it! Turning the huge pillar into a rain of rock-"
Suddenly a smile creeps into her face.
"...! I see."
I look at Tarou who's completely shocked by what he saw and then back at Gaia before asking.
"Do you know that magic?"
"Sort of... It's not as rare as altering memories, but it can certainly be as powerful if not more."
I look back at him, as he seems to squirm around up there, not knowing how to get back down.
"What do we do then?"
"He can't destroy what he's standing on without potentially falling to his doom, and now I know what materials he doesn't know."
I look back at her.
"Huh?"
"He needs to know what he wants to disintegrate. I'm glad he didn't study geology."
She becomes quiet again as the smile on her face fades back into a serious look.
She puts both of her hands up and suddenly a ludicrous amount of spikes appear around Gaia, all of various materials, the same ones that rained from the pillar before.
"I told you you weren't getting away."
The moment she finishes that sentence, she quickly brings both of her arms forward, launching all of the spikes directly at Katsuya's location.
I can see him look back towards us, clearly shocked, and attempting to dodge as many spikes as he could, but still some still hit, piercing his arm, though most seem to be targeting the pillar he's standing on until finally Gaia stops, bringing both of her arms down.
"That should do it."

Once again she brings one of her arms up and slowly brings the pillar Katsuya stands on down, towards us, stopping in the air just within hearing distance.
"Well? Are you ready to cooperate?"
He says something which we can't hear.
"SPEAK UP!"
Gaia's shout shocks Katsuya, who finally manages to shout back.
"YES! Y- YES! PLEASE STOP! MY ARM."

As Gaia shouted at Pride, I looked around, seeing some bystanders looking on with worry and other emotions, stopping when I laid my eyes on one who had an emotionless face.
'I guess he's so used to fights he no longer cares...'

As I look back at the scene in front of me, Gaia has slowly brought him down to the ground, though he remains on his knees until Gaia approaches with a stern look on her face.
"Now, we have a lot to discuss."