Amakusa stood silhouetted against his window, grey light streaming around his form. He frowned and cleared his throat loudly. "Akurei?" Akurei rushed over to the principal and stood at his full height. "Yes, sir?" "I have been thinking about this Mikagami 'situation'" the principal said disdainfully. "And I have decided on a course of action. We must take the fool down in his weakened state and destroy him once and for all." "Right," Akurei agreed. "Shall I inform the other schools now?" "No," Amakusa sneered. "They have their own means of finding out about such things. I think it behooves us to show the lesser schools how we deal with our own. It has been many years, we must show them we are independent force that stands above all others." Akurei growled and nodded. "Very well sir. Then what will we be doing?" Amakusa turned and looked Akurei in the eye, a blank expression on the principal's face. "Assemble a task force," Amakusa said. "You know who I mean. And I will contact a few others who can assist us. And do NOT allow this information to be leaked to other schools." The tall hulking figure nodded. "Should we inform the parents?" Amakusa frowned as he considered. "Although I am sure they knew that incidental fatalities were hardly to be unexpected at our school, I doubt they would appreciate knowledge that an insane maniac could be killing their offspring. Hold off on informing them until after our meeting." Akurei nodded and left the room. The principal turned back to the window and sighed deeply. "Perhaps it is time to get in touch with my surviving classmates." A dark expression appeared on the man's face and his eyes glinted with anticipation. "All two of them." *** *** *** *** ********************************************* Dark Heart High Netherworld Educational Institution for The Universal Propagation of Evil started by Mads ********************************************* Part Twenty Four: Reactions! by Jeremy Fogelman ********************************************* ********************************************* *** *** *** *** Craig stumbled down the hallway, still a little lightheaded from the show he had received from Yasuko. A feeling of intense joy filled him as he considered the past few minutes. He had finally been triumphant against a foe, even though it was one who had not exactly had the greatest luck in the past. The young warrior leaned against a locker and idly polished his sword. 'I've actually won!' Craig thought. 'And the victory was so sweet indeed. The only problem now is - what do I do next? I haven't exactly planned for success. I must've come up with a hundred things to do in response to failure. Perhaps a good course of action would be to increase my stranglehold over the succubus. I can't be too safe.' He nodded, seeing the logic in this idea. Craig turned and walked down the hall, a crooked smile on his face. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, and his smile turned quickly into a grimace. Yuri stood, giggling loudly, next to Balabalalde, a happy expression on her face. 'Well, that's it,' Craig decided. 'My next move will be to deal with this situation." Craig charged over to Bala and Yuri and cleared his throat loudly. "Yuri!" Yuri turned to Craig with look of surprise, and Bala glared at Craig with a look of extreme hatred of potential violence. Craig felt a not insignificant amount of discomfort, but swallowed and faced Yuri. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "You need someone to protect you from that monster!" Yuri looked at Craig with an odd expression. "I think I'm safer here than at home, Craig. After all, I suppose Bala could always protect me. Isn't that right, Bala?" Yuri smiled brightly and gripped Bala's arm, looking into his eyes. Balabalalde's eyes widened and his body stiffened. He looked away from Yuri and kept his gaze on the ground. Yuri blushed and let go of his arm. 'What am I thinking? Why would I do that? Maybe I should see the nurse. Unless she's in one of her bad forms.' Leilei ran over to them and looked at Craig. "Hey, Craig! Let me ask you something." Craig scratched his head and shrugged. "Um, all right." Leilei frowned. "Why were you at Yuri's this morning? I mean, I'm not complaining, you helped out a lot with Yuri's uncles. But what were you doing nearby?" Craig chuckled nervously. "Um, well, there's a good reason." "I mean, it's not like Yuri invited you," Leilei said teasingly, elbowing Yuri, who looked at Craig and blushed. "Well, uh, actually she did," Craig stammered. "Wait, I mean, all right. The truth is, I was following that Tamaida fool - he had been sneaking around all night." 'Good one,' Craig congratulated himself. Yuri frowned at this. "Wait, if Ki was around the area, why didn't he help?" "Yeah," Leilei agreed. "Whatever happened to him then?" ******** Ki Tamaida paced angrily across the roof of the school, his thoughts racing. 'Where is my foolish cousin? First she abandons her duty at Yuri's party, then she demands to meet me on the roof after school. What is she plotting?" Ki had berated his cousin for not reporting to him until the morning after the party. She had responded curtly that the party had already finished without incident. Without any evidence to the contrary, Ki had no choice but to drop the subject. 'I still wonder what Craig was doing in the area, clearly up to no good.' Ki had followed Craig until the heavily-armored boy had stopped and sat on the side of a bridge. After watching Craig sit there until the sun rose, Ki had left to practice his arts. By the time he had returned, his cousin had intercepted him, informing him that the party was over. "Well, well, well, I'm glad you followed orders like a good boy." Ki whirled and glared at Midori, who had just appeared. "It's about time you got here," Ki said coldly. "Now why don't you tell me why you've summoned me. I have things to do, you realize." Midori laughed shrilly. "Ki, you foolish warrior, I merely wished to inform that our feud has ended." Ki raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Is that right? And how exactly did you come to that conclusion?" "I have come into an alliance with a source of power so great that I no longer need stay in this school, or even this country. We will conquer the world, under my iron grip." "I have extreme difficulty believing you have such an alliance," Ki responded casually. "Who or what is this ally of yours? And if the ally is so powerful, why would you be allowed to share in this great power?" Midori sneered with disdain at her cousin. "Silence! The ally is... it is unimportant his name. As for your second question, he needs my help to come to full power. Therefore he is indebted to me. Understand, or is that too much for your feeble brain to comprehend?" Ki cleared his throat and turned his back to his cousin. "If you're done spouting insanities, I have better things to do." Midori growled loudly. "Don't you turn away from me! I shall show you my - no, our power!" Midori clasped her hands together and a look of fierce concentration appeared on her face. As Ki looked on in astonishment, a hideously dark colored ball of energy began to coalesce between Midori's hands. A strong wind began blowing suddenly, nearly knocking Ki off the roof. Midori screamed and shot the ball of energy at Ki, who barely managed to leap out of the way. The energy impacted the empty field behind the school with an immense bang, leaving a huge smoking crater in its wake. Before Ki could blink, Principal Amakusa appeared on the roof, holding an enormous sword. Within seconds, Amakusa determined what had happened, and turned to face Midori. He held up the sword and uttered a string of unpronounceable words. A shimmer of energy jumped out of the sword and slammed into Midori, knocking her off her feet. Shaking her head with astonishment, Midori got to her feet, holding her head. Ki looked at the principal with surprise. "With all due respect sir," he said. "I would've assumed you would merely destroy her. What did you do?" "Exorcism," Amakusa responded coldly. "No student in my school will be under the control of that lunatic." ******** Yasuko fumed as she stormed from the school. 'That infernal peasant! How DARE he even attempt to embarrass me? I will show him. I will come up with a strategy, a plan so nefari-' Yasuko stopped and considered for a moment. 'Hold on a moment, this is the same downward spiral I keep falling into. I must consider a new plan. A more clever plan, one that require insane amounts of preparation.' Yasuko frowned and sat down on a bench. 'That Maimsworth fool is only good at simple tasks - no wonder he had such a simple, albeit effective, plan. But I, I must play to my own strengths. Not complex strategies, but simple, basic, seduction. Hmm, that gives me an idea, simple, yet clever. I shall implement it tomorrow.' With a smile of satisfaction, the succubus got up and left for her home. ******** Amakusa looked around the room at those who had assembled. He nodded to Akurei. "Excellent work, these are exactly the people I needed to discuss our situation." A red-skinned efreeti female with hair and eyes of fire frowned at the principal. "Amakusa, what is the reason you have called us here? I know that myself and the others here have many things of great importance to do." Grunts and murmurs of agreement sounded throughout the room. Amakusa chuckled and shook his head. "My dear Kanir'na, this situation requires all of our attention, I can assure you." "Well enough gallivanting about," a short but powerfully built man with three eyes interjected. "What is this 'situation' you keep going on?" "The insane Mikagami has escaped." Amakusa said simply. Silence met this announcement. "Nothing to say?" Amakusa asked with an evil smirk. A giant half-goat, half-lizard stood up. "How did this happen?" it roared. "I do not know all the details," Amakusa admitted. "But it became clear that we would need to gather a force to put him down before he became too powerful. I personally expunged one of my students of his influence earlier today." "That is a good point," a tall man dressed in a business suit said. "I suppose we should then contact the lesser schools." "Nonsense!" Kanir'na snarled. "Leave those inferior fools out of it. We can handle the lunatic ourselves. It has been many years. We have gained in strength while Mikagami has not." "Precisely my reasoning," Amakusa said. "I am pleased to see we are still on the same parchment, Kanir'na." Kanir'na gave a toothy grin at the principal, and her eyes burned more brightly. A winged succubus interjected, "But how can we possibly put down the escapee? As we all know, insanity lends great power to those who wield it." Amakusa nodded. "Indeed. That is why I have called for two of my old classmates from my own high school class. Naksumi? Jiru?" Two shadowy figures walked slowly into the room. One of them walked forward, a man with a gaunt face and a wearied expression. Amakusa gestured to him. "This is Jiru, he is a half-human, half- vilekith." More than a few of the gathered evil leaders backed away from the door after Amakusa had said this. The short three-eyed man looked horrified. "Half-vilekith? No wonder! If he isn't driven to madness, he'd be utterly useless. How can those two species even mate?" Amakusa nodded. "Exactly. And that's why he stands a chance, at least somewhat, against Mikagami. But he is nothing without Naksumi. Naksumi, please." Naksumi stepped forward slowly. She had an unblinking stare that was made more unnerving by the fact that she had a scar directly over both eyes. "Let me speak." Akasuma looked affronted, but nodded his head. "Go ahead." "I cut my eyes out to stave off my own insanity," Naksumi continued. "I cannot see, just like my companion cannot talk, as he cut out his own tongue. We would go insane alone, but together, we manage to stay just on the brink. And being mostly insane has its advantages. Jiru," she turned to the silent man. "Do you remember when we surprised the shrilling harpies of the Pits of Insanity?" Jiru nodded. "Wait a minute," the succubus said suddenly. "Amakusa, I thought you were the only one who survived your high school class." "Survived while remaining sane," Amakusa corrected. "There is a small difference." "I don't know about that," the tall suited man mumbled. Suddenly Naksumi burst into shrieking laughter while Jiru merely blinked rapidly. Kanir'na held her head and scowled. "Amakusa, must we continue to withstand this? Just send them out already. You have all of our agreement, all right?" "All of you?" Amakusa pressed. Subdued nods and murmurs of agreement answered him. The principal grinned widely. "Excellent." ******** Yuri sighed as walked past her house with Leilei by her side, chattering happily. 'Where are my parents?' ******** ******** End of Chapter 29 ******** Yikes. Okay, sorry in advance, I realize this chapter is pretty sub-par - but I've had some immense difficulty with my internet connection, and I was never able to get in touch with any of my talented and effective prereaders, so if anyone notices any errors or anything like that, feel free to zing me an email or whatever. I'd like to extend thanks to everyone involved with impro in any way, shape, or form. (Okay, I think I've covered...) Dang, I hope I didn't bring in too many new characters, but everyone, feel free to kill off many or all of them - that's sort of why I created some of them anyway. After all, what's an apocalyptic battle without lots of fatalities? Here's to the next few chapters! -Jeremy Fogelman jeremyf@lordjeram.cjb.net