Voltiana

"I knew it! My hunch was right! I knew he was after Dachii!"

Dachii stared daggers at Hikari and Akari. "Oh, so you both KNEW about this and didn't want to ELABORATE?"

"We're sorry, we just didn't want you to mess up the plan!"

But in the next second, Ossix appeared right behind her, preparing to stab her. "Since you KNOW so much, you can DIE."

Akari got in the way of the strike and attempted to punch him, but he dodged and punched her into a building instead. "Akari! Are you alright?"

"Now, for you, pink-hair!"

He threw another punch at her, and she used her storage magic, trapping and severing his arm at the elbow. He pulled it back.

"Cute."

Then it regenerated back to normal and he knocked her back with another punch. Luca and Arata attacked him in sync, but their attacks couldn't even make a dent in his armor. He unleashed a wave of massive bony tendrils from his back that forced them to withdraw.

Ossix moved as fast as the wind, and he grabbed Dachii, running him into a wall. "OOF!"

"Now, DACHII. Why are we making this hard?"

"Because I want to GO HOME!"

Dachii pulled his fist back and it began to glow with an even darker shade of gray, and he punched Ossix, putting cracks in his bone armor.

"Nice punch!"

Dachii used both of his legs, kicking off Ossix, and jumped away. Before Ossix could move, he found a metal tendril wrapped tightly around his body.

"Oh?"

Marachii was standing firm, attempting to hold him in place. His right arm began to shift, turning into a GRENADE LAUNCHER that fired an explosive at Ossix, blowing up on contact.

"Did I get him?"

The smoke cleared, and Ossix came out of it, bony arms swinging at Marachii, who used his tendrils to try to deflect them away.

"Woah! Watch out! That's! Sharp!"

Another spike headed for Marachii, but it never landed...

...AKARI was there, holding Ossix's arm in place. "Marachii! Take your brother and RUN! He's after Dachii!"

"Don't you listen to this monster, boy!"

Akari filled her fist with energy and punched Ossix in the face, who rubbed his chin and laughed. "You punch just like a little girl!"

She got into a fighting stance, eyes determined. "Okay."

Ossix got into a running start and attacked her at speeds that began to cause sonic booms, and she matched his speed, creating a powerful shockwave of rapid attacks.

"Not bad! Now try to keep up!"

A bunch of bony appendages came out of his arms, legs, and back, all sharp and seemingly moving like a spider's legs. Akari blankly looked up.

"What the hell ARE YOU?"

Hikari ran over to her, along with Luca and Arata. "Akari!"

"Guys, watch out!"

She barely managed to put up a forcefield as Ossix rushed at her, sending both of them flying through multiple buildings and causing massive damage.

"LOOK AT THAT! I WANNA JUMP IN!"

Arata charged up and took off after them, and Hikari also ran behind him. "Come on, guys! We gotta help!"

Dachii helped Marachii up. "What is going ON today? Why am I now hunted?"

"I don't know! Maybe your powers?"

"What's so special about MY powers?"

BOOM.

Both Akari and Ossix collided into another building, and his bony appendages ripped the entire thing apart.

He and Akari came out of the wreck, still dueling intensely, as Akari began to glow and emit more and more energy.

"DON'T HOG ALL THE ACTION, PRINCESS!"

Arata ran up and tried to punch Ossix, who blocked it with his left arm. Akari tried to blast him in the face, but he used his RIGHT ARM to restrain her own.

"Damn it, I'm stuck!"

Luca, now in wolf form, leaped up from behind Ossix in an attempt to surprise him, but he used one of his bones to knock him away.

"This is utterly sad. Now all of you, out of my way! I'm taking the boy."

Hikari opened a Storage Portal above him, dropping a metal axe out of it that came straight at his head. He simply deflected it and used his strength to knock everyone away from him.

Dachii put his fists up but was shaking as Ossix came closer and closer. "Get back! Or I'll throw these hands!"

"Okay then, do it!"

Dachii punched him, and Ossix punched back, knocking him to his feet. "Where's that power you used against the dwarves? Where is IT?"

"You want it? FINE!"

He held out his arm, attempting to cause chaos, and yet...

...nothing happened.

"Hmm."

He backhanded Dachii, sending him flying onto a roof. Before Dachii could even get up, Ossix jumped up as well, trying to punch Dachii again.

"Well now, don't make me hurt you TOO bad!"

Dachii glowed gray and vaulted himself away just as the punch hit the roof, collapsing it. While still in the air, Ossix began to laugh manically.

"Don't worry, this is only the beginning. But when I catch YOU, I'll move up the ladder!"

"The ladder? What ladder?"

Ossix retracted the armor on his left arm and held it up to show Dachii. Out of nowhere, black lines began to appear on his forearm, forming the words "Rank: 20th."

"Rank 20? What?"

He summoned back his armor, and he squatted down, before JUMPING INTO THE AIR and tackling Dachii, and they both went flying further into the festival.

They landed right by the food booths, with Dachii hitting his back hard. "Ugh..."

Voltians all stood and watched. The cook who previously made Dachii's food dropped the plate he was holding, mouth wide open.

Ossix's grin stretched from ear to ear. "Peek-a-boo."

Then his bony tendrils flew out and began slicing people into pieces, making others scream and run in terror.

"OH MY GOSH!"

"OUT OF MY WAY!"

"Don't kill me, PLEASE!"

Even the Voltian cook tried to run, but Ossix grabbed the man by his neck and held him in the air. "Well, well? We meet again."

"Let me go! Please! Please just let me go!"

Ossix gave an innocent shrug. "Oh, sure."

He flung the man into a building so hard half of it collapsed. Dachii stood up, watching the chaos unfold.

"Omari! Stop!"

"Ossix. And of course, of course. Just come with me."

"Come with you WHERE?"

"Oh, just back HOME!"

He unleashed a wave of tendrils at Dachii, which swiped at and tried to grab him. Dachii managed to evade and duck some, but Ossix was right on top of him in no time.

"See, you may have powers—"

He punched Dachii, and when Dachii tried to swing at him Ossix dodged and countered with two quick jabs, and he swung Dachii around before kicking him in the stomach.

"—-but you don't know how to FIGHT!"

"But I do."

Ossix looked up and immediately got kicked into the nearest food booth, and Akari helped Dachii to his feet. "He's dangerous. He has an Element. We need to get you out of here."

"Okay, how?"

The booth was tossed into the air. "You'll have to kill me!"

Ossix was standing, a smile on his face, and he disengaged his armor, forming a spike from his hand. "Let's rumble!"

Meanwhile, back in an unknown room...

The door gently opened, and Saori walked inside, trembling. The room was as dark as ever, and she'd heard the sounds of destruction nearby.

From the darkness, a voice rang out.

"You've made it back...did you talk to anyone...?"

"N...no."

"Good. And what of Dachii Jones?"

"Mr...Mr. Ossix is trying to capture him now..."

"Good. Then we wait. Sit..."

She sat on the couch, hands in her lap, as she nervously fiddled around. She looked at the table on the floor, and she only thought of one thing.

"Please...please help me!"

The darkness seemed to retreat back behind one of the doors, and Saori's nerves became a bit less tense. She heard people screaming around her, and the noise of a fight, and she just gripped her knees and cried.

Meanwhile, back at the Asuka Festival...

Akari stood in front of Dachii, in a combat stance. Dachii took a moment to gather himself and pointed at her.

"Next time, you girls don't use me as bait without my permission!"

"Fine, fine. We won't."

Ossix narrowed his eyes. "There won't BE a next time."

Akari narrowed hers back. "Oh, YES there will be."

They both rushed at each other at the same time, attacking each other at unimaginable speeds. Dachii couldn't even keep track of their movements as they continued to trade heavy blows and power strikes. Akari punched Ossix so hard that the entire building behind him began to crack.

He jumped back, laughing. He held up his palm, and a sharp bone began to slowly come out. He leveled it at her, and it shot out of his hand like a bullet. Akari quickly put up her forcefield, deflecting it.

He formed more and more of them, firing them off one by one. Akari ducked and deflected them, but the bony limbs on his back continued to attack her as well.

She released her shield, causing a massive wave of energy that slightly surprised Ossix, but he remained unharmed, still with a smug smile on his face.

As Dachii tried to attack him, he simply maneuvered out of the way, making Dachii crash into a food booth. "Two on one hardly seems fair, does it?"

He lifted his hand, which transformed into a bony claw. "For you two, at least."

"Grrr!"

He looked at his hand to see Luca, still in wolf form, biting pieces of it off. "Bad dog."

He used a bone to impale Luca in the back and toss him away, and Hikari caught him. "Luca! Are you alright?"

He shifted back into human form, concentrating. "Yeah, I'll heal up fine."

She used her power to touch his back, healing it quicker. "There, that should help."

"Thanks."

Ossix watched them. "That's cute." Then the bony tips of his claw extended, and he tried to slash them, but a shockwave punch forced him to put his arms up.

"Why'd you run, you SCARED?" Arata hit him again and again, and Ossix kept his forearms up, strengthening them with bones.

"Nope. The rest of you are just not important."

Arata punched him again but Ossix side-stepped it and struck him in the face with his elbow. Marachii stood behind him, nervously trying to aim his arm cannon at him.

"Go on. Pull the trigger." He turned to look at Marachii.

Marachii fired a massive plasma bolt at Ossix, and all it seemed to do was merely irritate him. "Satisfied?"

Before he could make a move on Marachii, Akari rammed him with her shoulder. "I wasn't done with you."

"Really?"

His entire body formed spikes, and as he came at Akari, she had to narrowly evade all the attacks he threw at her. Arata landed next to her as she jumped back to get some space.

"Aww, look at you, Princess! You're finally useful!"

"Just shut up and hit him."

"Don't tell me what to do! I got it!"

They both stared Ossix down as he looked between the two, then at Dachii, who was now on his feet. Luca, Hikari, and Marachii all surrounded him.

"All six of you? Tsk, this still isn't even."

His eyes changed from white to BLACK, shocking everyone. The black lines on his body became even larger and more pronounced, and he punched the ground.

A MASSIVE spiked bone, much taller than any of the BUILDINGS AROUND, came out of the ground. "Well, Dachii. Let's get you out of here, now."

The spiked bone formed tons more bones from its material, all of which began attacking the squad. As one headed toward Dachii, forming a hand...

WHOOSH.

All the bones clattered to the floor, and even the giant one was cut to pieces. Everyone looked at where the sound came from, and Ossix just angrily glared.

"My bad, everyone! Guess I got a little too drunk!"

The squad smiled as their General landed in front of them, with his katana in his hand. Arata folded his arms.

"Show off."

Fujii pointed his katana at Ossix, who began to form more bones.

"Now, pal. I'll ask that you LEAVE my soldier alone."

—-