Zachary sprints at Dani again, this time hitting a few punches. At the same time, Kareem and Kian throw in a punch or two whenever they see an opening.
“You all are a pain in the ass. I didn’t come here to fight nobodies like you.” Dani swaps places with Kareem and kicks Zachary away.
“Don’t let him get a break!” shouts Apollo.
“I’m on it!” responds Kian, “Ice Manipulation, Cold Feet!”
Kian sends ice towards Dani’s feet, freezing him to the ground.
“Kareem, you’re up!”
Kareem nods and swings at Dani, who leans out of the way.
“Was that supposed to h-”
Midway through his sentence, Dani gets sent flying backward and crashing to the ground.
“Nice one, Kareem!” says Kian.
“So that was Phantom Punch in action? Awesome, keep it up!” says Apollo.
“How cute. It won’t work again.” Dani wipes blood from his mouth and stands up, “How about we even the odds a little? Earth Manipulation, Mud Golem!”
Dani places his hands on the ground and summons a giant Golem.
“He has Earth Manipulation, too?” asks Kian, “Any other abilities we should know about, Kaito?”
“He never knew Earth Manipulation when he was in the academy. The only Trait I knew he had was Switch.”
“I borrowed it from someone who didn’t need it anymore.” Dani injects, “There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Kaito.”
“Who cares?” asks Zachary, “Kareem, you handle the Golem. Kian and I will take down the loser.”
Zachary and Kian re-engage in battle with Dani while Kareem takes on the Mud Golem.
“Fire Manipulation, Palm Blasts!”
Kian hurls small fireballs from his palms toward Dani, who jumps and dodges most of them until Zachary suddenly appears behind him, landing a clean punch.
“Earth Manipulation, Dust Screen.” Dani punches the ground, sending dust into the air, “Come at me again! Give it everything you got!”
“You asked for it!” Zachary roars.
“Zachary, wait!” Kian pleads, “You won’t be able to see in there!”
Zachary ignores Kian’s warning and enters the Dust Screen anyway. He swings at Dani with all his power and makes contact.
“Did he get him?” asks Kian.
The Dust Screen fades away.
“No way…”
To Kian’s surprise, instead of seeing Zachary standing over a downed Dani, he sees Zachary hunched over a downed Kareem and that Zachary’s markings have begun fading.
“Are you okay?” shouts Kian.
Zachary shakes his head, apologizes for not buying more time, and passes out next to Kareem.
“Bullseye!”
Kian whips around just in time to notice Apollo finishing off the Golem, who had switched targets.
“Hey, I’m all out of arrows.” Apollo announces, “You ready yet, Kaito.”
Kaito closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He clears his mind of all thoughts and finally prepares to join the battle. “I’m ready. Sorry for taking this long. You all stay back.”
“But I can still fight!” Kian pleads.
“No, this is something I need to handle on my own. You all have done enough.”
“So you’ve accepted death?” asks Dani, “Let’s go all out, just like old times!”
“Shut up. I don’t know what happened to you, but you aren’t the Dani I used to hang out with. To free you from your corruption, I’ll kill you.”
“Tough talk coming from you! You could never beat me back then. You know I was the true number one!”
Kaito reaches over at his right shoulder. “Then let me show you what I’ve learned. Bone Manipulation, Bone Duplication.”
Kaito pulls a sharp bone out of his body and points it at Dani.
“You… learned Bone Manipulation?”
“Do you know how long I trained in order to bring you back?”
Dani remains silent.
“Nonstop, I rarely gave myself a break. So I couldn’t wrap my mind around you showing up to kill me. But I’m a Warrior, so I can’t let my feelings get in the way.”
“He’s so cool!” thinks Apollo, “What a badass!”
“So yeah, let’s have some fun. Since I have no choice.”
“C’mon on then, number two. Come at me!”
Kaito runs towards Dani and slashes at him with the bone sword.
“So you’ve gotten a little faster.” admits Dani, “But not fast enough.”
After dodging another slash, Dani punches Kaito in the gut and kicks the bone out of his hand. Kaito quickly recovers, diving toward the bone sword and using it to deflect another kick from Dani.
“I can’t just sit here and watch this…” thinks Kian, “But I can’t just run in; that’ll put Dani at an advantage with his teleporting… Dammit, what the hell do I do!?”
After rolling away to create space, Kaito regains his footing and continues to attack Dani.
“This isn’t getting you anywhere.” Dani grabs Kaito’s arm mid-punch and knees him in the stomach. “And to be honest, I thought this would be more interesting… Earth Manipulation, Stone Fist.”
Dani covers his right hand in stone and lands a hit to the side of Kaito’s face, sending him flying across the dirt training yard.
“Kaito, are you alright!” shouts Kian, approaching Kaito’s side.
“Yeah, I’m fine, but I told you to stay back..” Kaito mutters, his ears ringing and his head pounding from the powerful blow.
“And watch you get your ass kicked? You need help!”
“Yeah, let him join Kaito.” Dani chimes in, “It wouldn’t be fun dying alone, would it?”
“You said this was between you and me. Kian has nothing to do with this.”
“I’ve had a change of heart. After I kill you, I’ll kill the rest of these losers too.”
“What the hell happened to you, Dani…”
“More than you’ll ever know.” Dani switches places with Kian and kicks Kaito again, who coughs up blood.
“Fire Manipulation, Fireball!” Kian shoots a fireball towards Dani.
“How cute. Earth Manipulation, Mudwall!”
The fireball crashes into the mudwall and disperses.
“Ice Manipulation, Ice Shards!”
Kian shoots out sharp shards of ice towards Dani, who simply dodges them.
Dani laughs. “Even cuter, this newbie can barely use his abilities.”
“Focus on me, you coward!”
Yet again, Kaito attacks Dani; this time, he lands a few hits, ripping some of Dani’s clothes.
“Shit.. how are you faster than before.”
Dani loses his balance and stumbles backward, and then Apollo kicks him from behind.
“Did you forget about me?” asks Apollo.
“Screw off, idiot. You’re weak!”
“Ah, you think so… looks like I’ve done what was needed.”
“I said focus on me!” Kaito shouts, slashing Dani across the chest and sending blood flying into the air. He goes in for the final blow, but Dani swaps places with Apollo.
“Hey, wait, it's me!” Apollo shouts.
Having already anticipated a switch, Kian tackles Kaito to the ground, saving Apollo.
“Kaito, pay attention!”
“Yeah, man, you almost cut me in half!” cries Apollo.
“Sorry… my bad.” Kaito stands up and faces Dani, “Don’t worry though. I think we’ve done enough.”
Dani stands hunched over in the middle of the field, his stomach leaking blood, which stains the grass beneath him.
“Give it up, Dani. You’re going to bleed out.”
“Heh, maybe, but not until I take out one of my targets.”
“One of his targets? I thought his goal was to kill Kaito.” Kian thinks, “Who else could he be after?”
“This guy is crazy..” says Apollo.
“It’s time I visit another friend. It was nice seeing you again, Kaito.”
“Hey, wait. Where the hell are you going?” Kaito shouts, "What are you talking about?”
“Switch.”
“I said wait!”
Dani vanishes, and a piano rests in his place.
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