A Certain Scientific Turbogale

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**A Certain Scientific Turbogale, belongs to Kasumi12346 and it should not be edited or used without the author's permission.**

It was a bright sunny afternoon in the big city of Academy City, the heat of summer sun scorched over the pavement, the streets flooded with cars and buses and the side walks full of students on their way to or from class. Futuristic technology enveloped the city, some in particular are the cleaning robots sweeping the ground keeping the city clean. Students of various age can be see far and wide in, all playing going about their daily lives while some were see playing around or practicing their esper powers. It was the era of the future. Some where in this city, a young man is seen strolling in a less crowded area of the city with a line of cars parked beside, he was humming to himself in a particular beat as he strolled along. Up further along his path is a city bank which explained the reason of so many parked cars, nothing seemed out of place until suddenly there was a loud explosion that burst through the doors and windows. "Hmm?" The young man stopped curiously on what was happening before him.

A gang of men came running out of the bank with full bags carried over their shoulder. "ah man what'd you have to do that for? Now Anti-Skill will be here any minute." The first guy that came out argued once he got out of the building and turned around to his friends.

"I didn't have a choice they were about to pull someone at us." The second man that came out argued back.

"Forget it just run!" Another came out demanded along with two others as they all ran in the young man's direction.

"Hey buddy move aside!" One of the men called out to the young man as he was standing in their way.

The young man looked around for any signs of Judgment or Anti-Skill for help until he was unable to move away in time and was forcefully shoved to the wall next to him by one of the men as they ran past him. "I said move it!"

The young man remained still afterwords, his eyes covered by shadow of his spiky hair as he looked down. The men running for lives from the possible arrival of Anti-Skill until they heard a voice behind them. "Here you guys, you can take this." They turned around and their eyes widened as one of the parked cars was skirting across the sidewalk with the side of it facing them almost about to bash into them.

"Ahhhhh!" The men panicked and covered themselves hoping it would help resist the pain their about to get, however just before it could hit them, the car lost it momentum and the friction it caused made it stop entirely just in front of them. Noticing that their still alive they looked to notice it stopped and let out a sigh of relief. One man stood up and looked passed the car to see who caused it. "Hey man are you crazy!?" He shouted only see no one was there.

They were confused until they heard a sound coming from above. They looked up to notice the young man came rocketing down "Hahahahaha!" He laughed as he descended down from the sky and crashed onto the car, smashing it with intense force causing it to explode right before the robbers very eyes engulfing them in the process.

Sirens could be heard not to far away as Anti-Skill raced to the scene. "Oh good, their here." The young man said as he stood away from the smoking car with all five robbers carried in his hands by their neck collars completely unconscious yet still alive and unharmed. "Guess that means i have no reason to be here." He dropped the robbers in response to his comment and fled the scene just before any office could see him as he ran over to them.

About a few hours have past and already the event became public with the news blimp stating it was a convenient crash accident that stopped the robbers but notifying that everyone luckily survived. An obvious attempt at hiding what really happened.

During this broadcast, in a large tower somewhere else in the city, a member of the board of directors was being notified of what really happened. "so although the true culprit of who really stopped them remains to be seen, it has been noticed by personal eye witnesses that the car in question was parked on the side of the road completely facing the opposite direction and yet managed to drive sideways in the other direction on the sidewalk." An employee notified reading from a clipboard "The woman who claimed to be owner of the car had the keys with her and claimed to have kept it locked which means it had no driver. While we are looking into as we speak, it's safe to say that the level of recklessness this situation could have caused in the middle of public street with eye witnesses, theres only one person it could have been sir." She lowered the clip board and looked towards the board of director member.

The director rubbed his head in defeat. "Dont tell me, it was him again wasnt it?" He questioned, knowing full well it was him.

"It was Turbo sir." She blatantly informed.

The director leaned back into his chair and rubbed his eyes with his hand. "ughhh not a again. That's the seventh time this week he's pulled stunts like this without any concern about the safety of the citizens, we can't keep hiding this from the populace for very long." He looked to the papers involving most most of the seven level 5's profile info's with Turbo's on the top. "And here i thought making him a level 5 would bring some sense to that knuckle head." He rested his head on his hand in defeat, unsure of what to do. He then noticed a profile beneath his belonging to another Level 5. "Hmm, if we can't get him to behave himself, maybe someone of his caliber could do better." He said as he pulled up the file he was looking at.

"Sir, surely you dont mean..." She wondered, having a bad feeling about this.

"Notify team GALE, tell them they will be getting a special guest to watch over." He ordered her.

"Right away sir" She said as she walked away.

"And get me in line with Turbo!" He yelled angrily.

It had been a week since the young Toyohime had joined GALE and it was a quiet afternoon at GALE headquarters. The sun shown brightly outside though none of them was aware nor cared due to the blinds that softened the light to make the room dimmer then it was outside. The room was peacefully quiet with the walls blocking out the sound of the busy outside and no one inside making a sound save for typing on keyboard from Genki and the occasional turning of pages from Emiko, Arata, and Luna. It was a perfect environment for sleeping; a fact Toyohime could attest to. They had spent all last week protecting Toyohime from the magicians she had ran from and they all had a test coming up. It was fortunate that today was a day off for their school. Emiko and Arata sat on either end of one of the couches in the room separated by a sleeping Toyohime who had curled up in a ball next to them. For once she was sleeping peacefully between the two espers who she quickly came to look up to as her primary guardian figures out of the four in the room.

The two espers gazed down at their textbooks with a bored expression on their face and their head propped up by their hands. "Can I borrow your notes for math class Luna," Arata asked in a soft and tired voice. He looked up from his textbook and looked at Luna who was lying on the floor stomach up reading a book that she was holding a few inches above her face. Luna, known as the Hidden level 5 used her hands to prop herself up into a sitting position and placed the book she was reading on the ground next to her so she could look at the famous Level 5. It wasn't a textbook for Luna, unlike her team, did not procrastinate on her studying. Instead, it was a book about dragons. She glanced in Toyohime's direction for a brief moment before turning her attention back Arata. Perhaps something she just read applied to their little artificially created Dragon Hybrid?

"Sure," Luna asked her European accent barely noticeable in her Japanese. She reached over and grabbed her backpack that was sitting three feet away from her and pulled it to her side. She opened her backpack and spent a few moments rifling through its unorganized contents. Finally, she pulled out a large notebook that looked like it must weigh at least four pounds. Handouts and old assignments were poking out while the notebook itself looked to be on its last leg. Out of curiosity Emiko looked up and raised her eyebrow at the sight, but she didn't say anything and instead looked back down at her textbook.

"Thanks," Arata said. At his words the large notebook lifted into the air seemingly on its own and traveled to Arata before softly landing on the table in front of him. He opened it up and quietly went back to work.

A few minutes later the phone rang and on the fourth ring Genki picked up the phone next to him. "Hello, this is the private investigation group GALE. Genki speaking," Genki said. He place the phone in place with his his shoulder and head giving him both hands free to continue doing homework.

Genki, however, was the only one who continued work. Everyone, including Luna, stopped and watched Genki in tensed silence like a family of deers in headlights. None of them wanted any jobs because of how behind they were with homework. No one was doing what they had been doing for the past few hours including the red haired next to Arata who had been awakened by Genki and was now sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Misinterpreting the reason for the tension as a sign that had shown up Toyohime's PTSD caused her to hyperventilate as an anxiety attack began to surface. Before it could gain any momentum Arata laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and whispered in her ear forcing himself to peel his eyes off Genki for a brief moment, "You are safe Toyo; you are with us." At his comforting words the young child began counting backwards from one hundred and Arata looked back at Genki.

On the other side of the line, the woman who was seen earlier with one of the board of directors was standing in a dark room with the only source of light being a ceiling lamp shining directly down on to a table. "Hello Mr. Genki sorry to call you when your so busy with both protecting the child and your school work, im calling on behalf of the board of directors and we have a new assignment for you." She calmly informed. "I assume your aware of the seventh ranked Level 5, Turbo?"

Genki didn't answer the question in a normal way. He didn't say yes nor did he say no. He simply said, "Oh no..." A response that would know doubt reveal to the woman that Genki was well aware of Turbo and his reputation. At that moment Genki felt a flood of relief to be close friends with a Level 5 who wasn't as problematic like the seventh ranked, arrogant like the fourth ranked, or had a tendency to get in the middle of complicated situations like the fifth ranked. Compared to the other Level 5s Arata was the most normal aside his history with magic. This and how much of a good samaritan he was is probably why he was one of the most liked Level 5s. While other Level 5s were either causing trouble or getting in the middle of trouble Arata had a reputation for occasionally cleaning up their messes whenever he wasn't at school or doing GALE work depending on how much work it was. In addition, as a member of GALE he was a private investigator for Academy City for those who needed help, but were too afraid to ask Judgment or Anti-skill for one reason or another. Then of course, unknown to the public, he and GALE were the board of directors go to people for any problems of a magical nature. Arata certaintly had his bad points; lots of them for he was still human after all. However, most people, but not all, in Academy City are willing to put up with it a lot of the time.

"I see you are aware of him then, good that makes this easier. For specific reasons the board of director would like the second ranked Level 5, Sylph to supervise Turbo and keep him in line until further notice." She placed her hand on the lit table showing the files of team GALE members with Arata and Toyohime on top. "We are aware that you have your hands full with the girl, however this came directly from one of the board of directors so the situation is out of my hands. You are to find Turbo and take him into your custody until further notice." She informed one last time to get her point across. She paused for a moment knowing full well of how unprofessional what she was about to add would sound however she kept her composure and tried to keep it together as much as possible. "And by that i mean actually find him and take him in." She added, making sure her words were clear and literal. "Expect uncooperation and resistance at any given moment. Knowing him he wont take this news very well."

Genki let out a tired sight and stopped working so he could take off his glasses to rub the bridge of his nose. “Alright, but I have to ask. Is there any reason you are not asking the first ranked or is he just too important to be bothered so you are asking the next best thing,” Genki said accidentally letting some of his annoyance slip. “According to the rumors I have been hearing the first ranked and Turbo are rivals or something so I would think he would have more experience in dealing with him than Arata.”

The woman didn't even need to think twice after hearing his question and just proceeded to slowly paste around the table "Im afraid you underestimate the situation Genki, our intention is not to pair him with someone who has experience with him, our goal is to pair him with someone who is capable of keeping him in check. I'm afraid having the 1st rank involved would have the opposite effect, it is for this reason the board of directors do everything within their power to keep the two far away from each other as possible." She said as she stopped pacing around. "Listen we didn't choose Arata for this task as second option, there are numerous reasons why he was our first choice, with him being one of the more." She paused to think of a proper way to explain. "Level headed Level 5's as well as being the primary example for Academy City's finest espers. Our reasons even follow through to the entirety of team GALE with your trusted occupation and believing all of you are capable of getting the job done. We're putting all our faith in you, don't let us down."

"Alright, we will do it. We will try our best as always What about Toyohime? I assume you want our VIP guest to be kept away from Turbo," Genki said. Noticeably Genki didn't ask for Turbo's whereabouts. To Genki, looking and finding information himself was what made being a private investigator so much fun. Having information given to him so easily would be akin to someone spoiling the ending of a mystery novel. Now that the conversation required more of his attention he stopped typing and held the phone with his hand instead of pinching it in place with the side of his face and shoulder.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Toyohime nervously picking at the hemline of the rags she was wearing like a long turnic or a dress that reached to her knees, which is a habit of hers whenever she was nervous. She, of course, had other clothes. Emiko had bought her clothes when they first found her. However, for one reason or another she preferred to wear the rags she was seen wearing. Assuming it had sentimental value, Arata and Emiko decided to just let her wear what she wants and only forced her to wear more presentable attire when they suspected they would be out in public for extended periods of time.

Genki primarily asked the question for her sake because he knew full well she would rather stick by his side than stay with Genki Luna and not to mention how she is safer with Emiko and Arata even if a fight is certain to happen.

"You will have to work that out between the group, i trust you'll make the right decision." She leaned back on her desk as she was finishing up the calling.

Without another word Genki hung up the phone and looked at his team before he spoke again. "Alright, we have another mission. Turbo is apparently causing problems again and they want us to supervise him."

"He is not going to like that. How long will it take you to find him," Arata said. He let out a tired sigh as he knew full well how troublesome this job is going to be.

"Who is Turbo," Toyohime asked. As Arata explained Genki got straight to work with trying to pinpoint Turbo's location. Soon enough, he found on a message board a couple of students complaining about the commotion Turbo caused near a city bank. "Alright, found him; let's go."

meanwhile in another part of the city, the man that was the center topic, Turbo had just gotten hung up from his call with the board of director member himself almost at the exact same time. "Tch, Babysitters." He detested the idea as he looked out to the city from the edge of the building he was standing on and took a step forward off the edge and plunged down off the building as his method of getting down.

As they began their investigation of the bank heist indecent as it was blocked off to the general public with Anti-skill security tape with construction workers being to rebuild the damage as it was being overseen by a few Judgment officers as they were interrogating some of the witnesses in the process.

Despite being told otherwise, Turbo went on with his daily life with no concern or consideration about waiting for his hired supervisors, in fact he made it harder for them by never staying in one place for too long, always moving on as much as he could before they could start their search for him. As he walked along his way he continued typing on his phone, humming to himself in a particular beat at the same time.

Less than an hour later Arata and Emiko walked down the street that Turbo was last scene on and were currently four blocks away from the bank when radio noise from their ear pieces interrupted their thoughts. "Pyromaster. Sylph." Genki said into their ears from their ear pieces; dressing them by their aliases rather than their names. Neither Emiko nor Arata found this surprising for he always did this during a job because of how he believed it would keep things serious.

"What is it," Arata asked.

"Turbo is no longer near the bank, which we suspected would happen. What is unexpected is that as of ten minutes ago I have lost track of him. No one is talking about him on message boards and my informants haven't seen him either. How would you like to proceed," Genki informed.

"Did you hear that," Arata asked the young red haired girl who was riding on his back. Toyohime nodded to confirm that she did. She didn't have an ear piece like Arata nor was the volume high, but her supernatural hearing allowed her to barely pick up the voice from Arata's ear piece. “I have an idea. I will get Toyohime to help. She isn’t very good at it so continue searching and I will combine the information you give me with her information to find him,” Arata said to Genki.

Toyohime gave Arata a questioning look and in reply he said in a very quiet voice. A voice so quiet only one with a draconic sense of hearing can hear what he said, “Use your magic to perform the form of hydromancy that you showed me yesterday.” Toyohime gave Arata an uncertain look, but she nodded nevertheless. Her magic, Ryūjin Shinkō did indeed give her the ability to use hydromancy, but he hadn’t practice using it enough which is why she only has an accuracy rate of 70%.

“I think it would be best for us to split up Arata. It will allow us to cover more ground. I will follow Genki’s leads alone and you can use Genki and her,” Emiko said and ran off while Arata ran into the nearest restaurant to ask for a large cup of water to go which he gave to Toyohime.

Arata spent the last hour listening to the directions Genki and Toyohime gave him until finally. “Turbo!” Arata called out from behind and with Toyohime still on his back except now the cup of water was nowhere in sight as they had thrown it away minutes prior. “Don’t you think you have given us enough trouble,” he continued.

As he was able to found out among the crowd of people, Turbo looked behind him in response to the call out with a questionable look. "And you are?" He asked in a boorish tone, unsure of who this man is while closing his phone that was typing on for the majority of the time. He was slightly impressed that he was found out so easily. "Oh wait, you must be the babysitter the old man hired." He remembered before Arata had the time to answer, and turned his body around to face him properly. "Hmm im impressed you tracked me down so easily and pinpointed exactly who i am. You must have some skilled tech operatives working the cameras." His inspection of him was cut short as he noticed the little girl strapped to his back and his mocked claim to being a babysitter was proven more of a fact.

"Well you certainly don't seem like that a high class operative to me." He said as he was interrupted by the sounds of an incoming train above them. "So listen." He said as he stored his phone away in his pocket. "You don't have to worry about looking after me. After all, look at me now. I'm not doing anything wrong. So there's no need for you to be going out of your way to watch over me when not even Anti-Skill professionals could accomplish." As the train came closer above them. "So just head on back to your headquarters while i catch i my train ok?" He gave an obviously fake smile as his distraction allowed him to by time as he released a shock wave of pressure around his torso, circular wave that swept over his surroundings pushing away the crowd of people in the vicinity, as he propelled himself upwards onto the train as it carried him away giving Arata the a two finger wave to say goodbye.

Behind him he could hear muffled laughter from Toyohime as Turbo leapt into the air. "What do you find so funny," Arata said. He gave Toyohime a quick glance before looking back at Turbo.

"The fact that he thinks going into the air is a good idea against you. Even the people who were after me knew you enough to keep their feet on the ground," Toyohime said through fits of muffled laughter. While Arata wasn't arogant even he couldn't stop the smile that spread across his lips. He thought that it was well known how much power he had over the sky. Apparently he was wrong. In response to Turbo's escape attempt Arata casually lifted up his right hand and snapped the fingers on that had. The moment he snapped his fingers a powerful galeforce downdraft that reach speeds of excess of 60 mph. Even if Turbo managed to dodge Arata had limitless other ways he can ground Turbo due to how suspended in the air. Arata's element. "See? You caused problems again. Don't you ever think of anyone except yourself," Arata said. Although he words were harsh is voice was calm and relaxed as it usually it is. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Arata Kaneda. However, you might know me as the second ranked level 5: Sylph,"

"Hu What?" The knowledge of who this man was caught him completely by surprised as he tried to keep himself together by the unsuspecting galeforce. "The infamous 2nd ranked*,* Sylph hu*?* Gotta say old man, i wasn't expecting that" He thought in his head as he glared down at him, however this has stalled him enough to miss the train, however he only grinned at the situation. "Ha don't act like you've got me figured out." He called out in response to his harsh question. He reached his arm out in the direction the train was coming from and released another sonic burst propelling him away from the gale force. Despite having his power being released from his hand, it was still released to the same level of force as he had just released earlier.

While still in mid air, he then released another burst from the soles of his feet in order to propel himself up once again before he could land on the ground as he continued to release a steady, weaker burst in order to reach the maximum height needed to reach the train.

Maintaining his relaxed posture Arata glanced at the space above Turbo's air and he used his esper power to control the oxygen above him so that it solidfies to become a barrier not to different from those produced by the Offense Armor esper power. As a level 5, he was able to make the barrier as hard as cement. Should Turbo not notice the change and didn't stop moving upward he was at risk of colliding with the barrier like a bird flying into a window and it would hurt and cause just as much damage.

Nearing his destination of the train Turbo reached out to grab onto it until it eventually smashed into the solidified air, almost completely similar to ordinary air making it difficult to see the changes. He reeled his arm back from the pain and braced himself from the impact, not having time to change coarse. The impact was painful but not as much as he would if he had went head on as he began falling back down. He looked over to Arata once again. "Alright, so thats how you wanna play it hu?" He grabbed his glasses that he wears over his head and lowered them to cover his eyes. He then released a burst from the heels of his feet to propel his legs forward for him to spin forward in mid air while also releasing a steady burst from the soles of his feet at the same time to head upwards and land on the solid air and quickly released a much more powerful burst to shoot his way in another direction away from the train, at much greater speed. The force of which completely demolished the solidified air.

Arata reacted instantaneously seeming as if he had been several steps ahead from Turbo the entire time. This allowed him to quickly form another barrier above Turbo that was just as strong. At the same he began to thin the air around Turbo to slowly reduce the amount oxygen available to Turbo. "If you come now I won't ask Luna to negate your powers. She can do that even to a level 5 like yourself. You will be utterly powerless," Arata said.

Turbo doesn't respond as he predicts his action and releases bursts from the front of his feet in order to flip in order to land on to the newly made solid wall and uses it to jump off once again the second he collided with it this time increasing his speed as he jumps downward to the ground in order to jump off instantly towards another direction gaining even greater speed as he continues to proceed jumping off near by obstacles gaining momentum as he does, with each jump being well calculated yet random in every direction making his movements unpredictable in order to propel himself away at level of speed and direction that not even Arata can predict in time to react.

Despite all of this Arata still reacted as though he knew where Turbo was going and he reached out in an attempt to hold Turbo in place with his pseudo telekinesis. Unlike the other methods he tried this method would be much harder to avoid. Wherever Turbo would go Arata would simply direct the pseudo-telekinetic force there as well.

Despite Turbo's best efforts avoid his power, he couldn't escape and was ultimately caught under his telekinetic grasp as he was stopped in place and remained floating in the air. "No! Ughahhhh" Despite the fact that he couldn't move his body he constantly released steady bursts of waves as he shouted with each effort in an attempt to forcefully push himself out of this hold. Each attempt releasing stronger bursts then the last.

As Arata continued his attempt to restrain Turbo for good his earpiece emitted a crackling sound followed by Genki's voice. "You still haven't restrained him. If not don't say anything." Arata didn't say a word and continued to do what he was doing. "I thought so. I had Pyromaster come to our location so that the Hidden Level 5 could boost her power. She should arrive at your location any moment now,"

At that moment as though on cue Arata sensed a disturbance from the very edges of the passive state of his air current sense. Then a few moments later and seemingly out of nowhere a red streak propelled by a column of flames spread towards Turbo from behind in an attempt to tackle him to the ground.The red streak moved at speeds that matched Turbo. At the same time Arata immediately changed tactics from trying to catch him with his pseudo-telekinesis to sending blasts of gale force winds at Turbo. These blasts were not random, but calculated. The sounds masked the streaks approach while the trajectory kept Turbo from straying to far from the Emiko's trajectory.

The sudden release left Turbo unprepared as he was flung back due to his continuous burst releases "*Hu*? *He released me*?" He thought in his head but was interrupted by being blasted back forward by Aratas wind, which was blown back by another blast, "ughh!" He cringed as he tried to pull himself together from the continuous blasts. "*i don't get it*..." He thought in his head as he was hit again into another direction. "*He had me*, *why would he release me*?..." He was hit again. "*Now he's just juggling me around*? *He knows this can't hold me for long, not compared to the grip he had earlier...*" He was blasted once again. "*...Unless*!" His eyes widened as he released a burst from the right side of his chest to stop his momentum and turn himself around in time to notice a flaming column of fire about to strike on him as it tackled him seconds later, pushing him down like a shooting star.

Though this was what appeared to the spectators. Close up however, Turbo was able to catch her tackle with one hand as he released a constant burst not only cushioning the collision but also deflecting the fire back away keeping him shrouded in the fire from the outside view as he went along with momentum of the tackle to make it appear as thou it was successful. "And just who are you?" He said as he held her back.

Emiko didn't respond, but instead fell back into her years of combat training. As her jacket fluttered in response to the sudden stop she expertly and quickly reached for the arm that was touching her. If she was able she pivoted on her feet so that she is facing the opposite direction and in one fluid motion throw Turbo over her shoulder and onto the ground in a judo throw all the while flowing the momentum of her approach into the throw which would increase the speed of the grab and throw and as a result increase its power.

Turbo was surprised by her response as he was thrown over her shoulder and hurld down. "Whoa!" He called out in surprised. As he was speeding down, the momentum was strong enough that he couldn't move his arms to slow himself down so instead he released a burst from the heels of his feet to spin in order to get his feet below him and stopped himself with another strong burst from his feet, however he took a few steps forward, releasing shock waves with each step due to the momentum caring him a bit more before he could stop completely.

He constantly released bursts from his feet to remain in the position, almost as if he was standing on air as he looked back. "So im guessing this girl is a subordinate of his hu? Damn! Why can't i get a subordinate like that?" He whined. With all jokes aside now, he looked back at Arata and back this new girl and analyzed the situation. "So i got a Level 5 behind me, and an unknown pyrokinetic in front of me. This isn't gonna be easy." He grind as he braced himself. "Heh, but i fought worse." He said, indicating his past experience.

Emiko couldn't help, but to smile at Turbo's words. A very small smile. At the realization that he thought she was just another ordinary pyrokinetic. She was going to enjoy seeing the realization hit Turbo as he learned just how wrong he was. However, as hot-headed as Emiko is she was smart enough not to immediately play all her cards. Instead, she decided that for the time being she would pretend her esper power was simple pyrokinesis.

"Why don't you just give up Reed. I saw you were struggling a tiny bit with me so how are you going to escape from both of us. Even if you do escape that would mean we would have to be cautious and have the third member of our group play a more active role and you won't get away from her that much is guaranteed. At least, you won't be able to get away with your powers," Arata called out. Despite all that has happened in the past few minutes, Arata still wanted to end things peacefully in the hopes that this job doesn't turn into a complete chore.

"Hmm, so you've noticed. Got to hand it to ya, your sharp Sylph. It's true i may be slightly at a disadvantage with your powers. Still with all this praise about this other member of yours, whatever you guys are, im curious to see whats all the hype is about. So why don't you show me?" He said looking at Arata with a slight grin.

"I can see why you didn't want this job," Toyohime observed speaking her thoughts aloud to Arata.

"I am going to need you to get down since he clearly isn't willing to do this the easy way. Tell the onlookers that I need space then come back here, but stay a safe distance away from the fight," Arata said. Toyohime nodded obediently and did as instructed. Once Toyohime was off his back he manipulated the oxygen around Emiko and himself to form thin invisible barriers around himself and Emiko.

"We are not planning to let it get to that point where you can see her powers. If we win you will come with us without any more trouble," Emiko replied confidently. Emiko clenched her right first and ignited it in a mass of flames causing her to flinch ever so slightly. The moment she ignited her flames the air around the three of them skyrocketed and on the surface it would appear that it was as a result of the intensity of the flame. While the flame was partially to blame the true culprit was Emiko directly manipulating the heat of the air around Turbo. While Emiko did that Arata used his own powers to slowly increase the air currents in the pocket of hot air. At the moment these air currents are so slow that they are very easy to overlook. These air currents formed eddies that pick up tiny particles like dust and small pieces of trash, which at the moment would be more of an annoyance than a threat. While all of this happened both Arata and Emiko's expressions remained the same. Not a single hint of strain as a result of their use of their powers could be seen making it impossible to tell what was really happening.

Turbo stood where he was in mid air, curiously looking at both Emiko and Arata as they don't appear to be doing anything. "*Their just standing there*. *Are they waiting for me to attack first*? *This is a different tactic then the all out attacks they showed before*. *They must be up to something*." He began breaking into a bit a of sweat that he grabbed the top of his shirt to get some cool air on him. "*Ugh it's suddenly getting hot*, *is it that girl*? *Well given that shes a complete unknown*, *who knows the capability is of what she can do and given that shes a pyrokinetic, it's possible she could be heating the air*." He looked at both of them again to analyze the situation as a mental map showed in his head regarding the layout of this battle with Arata being on ground level, Turbo being up above and Emiko being slightly higher then him. "*Given the natures of their abilities,* *they are perfectly compatible with each other so there's a wide verity of combinations they can pull off and taking into account of their positions must also work in their favor as well*. *I dont know this girl is but if shes pulling feats like this then she must be level 4 or higher, and so far among the Level 5s none of them are pyrokinetics, at least to my knowledge. So that means as vast as her powers may be, theres a limit to it.*

He quickly noticed how long this was taking as he tried cooling down from the heat. "*Well i can't just stand here doing nothing*, *since he's got the advantage down there then...*" He grind as he finally made a decision "Fine, you got a deal." He said as he released a large burst from his feet, quickly propelling him up towards Emiko to face to face level. He then put his two index fingers in both his checks and stretched out his mouth sticking his tongue out at her to mock her. "Nehhhhh, Lalalala."

While maintaining her focus on heating the air while at the same time expanding the range of the effect lifted her leg in an attempt to kick Turbo back to his original position. The moment her foot landed she thrusted her hand forward and sent the mass of flames that once covered her hand toward Turbo while at the exact same time creating a new mass of flames around the other. Due to her esper powers being enhanced the flames did not weaken as they normally do. In fact, it was just the opposite. As the fireball traveled toward Turbo it grew in intensity thanks to Arata providing it with oxygen while maintaining his own control over the air currents.

Before the kick could land Turbo increased the bursts from his feet to back flip himself to evade the kick. He then extended his hand out and released a constant stream of sonic bursts to disperse the flames before it could touch his hand to keep it away as he did earlier during her dramatic entrance. Due to the growing strength of the fire ball it was almost enough to push him back so he extended out his other hand giving him a stronger burst to push it away.

With a swipe of his hand Arata effortlessly extinguished the fireball to prevent it from doing harm to the surrounding area or the few onlookers who refused to listen to Toyohime.

"Arata!" Emiko called out to her childhood friend. She gave Arata a look that would be unreadable to Turbo. One that can only be read by someone who knew her as long as Arata has. Repeating her actions once more, while continuing to increase the heat around Turbo she launched a second fireball at Turbo while creating another mass of flames around her other hand. At the same time Arata thrusted is out in front of him and sent a blast of air at Turbo from behind. This blast was nothing like the ones he has fired and it appeared he actually put some effort into the action. If Turbo were to dodge the blast of air would collide with the fireball allowing Arata to use it greatly increase the size and intensity of the fireball. This would make it look like a blazing sun was; burning brightly and instantly melting the asphalt on the ground. Emiko would then be able to manipulate the large fireball and redirect its direction to wherever Turbo fled. If Turbo pushed the fireball away like he had before Emiko would simply control it and move it in the path of the blast of air.

All throughout this Arata maintained his control of the swirling eddies of air currents; slowly increasing its speed. At this point there was enough debris in the air that it should irritate Turbo's eyes as it got in them.

Turbo looked both ways, having been sandwiched between two attacks, "uh oh." He said to himself. He then thrusted out both hands in both directions releasing large sonic bursts from each hand, more powerful then any hes shown before as he too put his effort into it to burst apart their abilities as they collide with it. Having to deflect both incredible powers at once was a difficult task as it nearly overwhelmed him at the moment of impact. He had to push himself in order to hold it back before he could finally push them both away, dispersing them apart. he let out a sigh of exhaustion from that effort he just pulled when he noticed the fire and air that were dispersed around him, he could see the fire being fueled the air as it grew it stronger. With his knowledge of pyrokinetics he knew what this meant. "Oh crap!" He then moved his arms and legs as a cover shield and released a sonic burst to push him away before the dispersed fire collided together into the new blazing ball and followed Turbo as he fled. The floor began to burn red hot from its scorching heat, even Turbo's clothes began scorching a tiny bit as it was releasing smoke a small stream of smoke as he grew drench in sweat.

He continued releasing sonic bursts from his limbs, still covering in front of him to propel him away from the attack.

As the "fight" raged on Toyohime watched safely from an alleyway between two buildings. It had been few minutes since she convinced most of the onlookers to get away. As she watched the formation of the bright fireball she felt an intense wave of fear and anxiety run through her from a sudden feeling of impending and unavoidable doom. Her heart rate increased and her breath grew ragged as she began to feel so lightheaded that she had to lean against a wall . "Crap, a panic attack! Arata has enough on his plate," Toyohime selflessly said to herself. Since day one Toyohime always thought of herself as nothing, but a nuisance to GALE; to Arata specifically who has quickly become the closest thing she has ever had to a fatherly figure. She didn't want to repay his kindness for being a nuisance. "I shouldn't have come. I should have stayed with Luna and Genki," Toyohime said as she completely forgets about how she was the sole reason behind why GALE found Turbo. Part of the reason she came here hoping being in the middle of action will allow her to get used to it while not knowing unlike anxiety attacks, panic attacks are for the most part completely unpredictable with no known triggers. As the panic attack became to much for the young child to bear she begin to sob quietly and placed her hands over her mouth and nose. Hoping Arata doesn't detect her ragged breaths.

The action was futile. Despite how far she was from the action. Despite the act of covering her mouth and nose Arata's air current sense still picked up her ragged breaths. He could even vaguely pick up on what Toyohime was quietly mouthing by the way the air currents shifted with her words. In that same split second Emiko easily deduced what was happening. She recognized that expression that was a mixture of worry and self-loathing he now wore although to anyone who hasn't known him for as long as Emiko or the other GALE members have it would appear that Arata's normal calm expressions has remained unchanged albeit it may look like he was slightly more stressed. "He really should stop expecting so much of himself," Emiko quietly said with a sigh.

Sonic bursts are nothing more than violent vibrations through a medium. In this case, and unfortunately for Turbo, the medium was air. This is how Arata would "negate" Turbo's sonic bursts. Arata closed his eyes and concentrated on Turbo's sonic bursts allowing him to dampen the vibrations until they were nonexistent thus stopping his momentum. However, this was not easy. Negating the sonic bursts from a fellow level 5 while at the same time maintaining his control of the air currents. It required quite a lot more effort than he had shown in this exchange thus far. Emiko was fully aware of exactly how hard this was for Arata, which is why she wasted no time and rushed toward Turbo. "We have more important things to do than deal with a stubborn level 5 so please don't hold it against me when I say it is time to wrap this up. It has gone on too long as is," Emiko said as she ran toward Turbo. When she reached him she launched a series of punches and kicks attempting to drive him back to the center of swirling mass of debris. With those words both Emiko and Arata became much more intense in their pursuit of Turbo. All trace of lightheartedness was gone without a trace as though it was never there to begin with. At the same time aggressive is not an apt descriptor of the atmosphere either. It was less aggressive and more defensive as though this increase of intensity came from both of their desires to protect something or perhaps even someone.

Turbo quickly noticed that his Sonic bursts were weakening, and not by his own doing until it stopped completely in mid air. "Whoa whoa whoa. HEYYYYYYYY!" He cried out as he fell from the height. He had never experienced his powers being negated like this as he tried desperately to get them to work again to no avail. He then overheard what Emiko said which shifted his attention completely. "*What? whats she talking about?*" He then look over to Arata and noticed something. "*Wait a minute*!" He worriedly looked around the area. "*Wheres the kid*? *When did she disappear*?" When she got close to him, Turbo covered himself from her barrage of punches and kicks with the last one being strong enough to send him flying to the precise location they wanted him. "Ugh ow" He said as he got up holding his wrist. His eyes widened again as he realized what where he was.

Finally, the temperature had reached the correct point and there was enough debris in the air. Swirling around Turbo by the air currents that are under Arata's control. The eddies tighten into a tornado-like structure as the intense heat causes the debris to ignite to spontaneously and without warning create a fire whirl with a temperature that is almost 1000 degrees making it so intense that Toyohime clearly felt it despite how far away she was. Small embers were launched from the fire whirl, but were instantly extinguished by Arata. Furthermore, he cooled the air outside of the battlefield to limit the amount of damage the fire whirl could create all of this was done while focusing on the air around Turbo so he could negate any sonic bursts he created. There a look of intense concentration as Arata pulled all of these awe-inspiring feats at once and it was clearly that he was using at least a fourth of his true potential if not more. To Arata, this is what true power looked like. It was easy to destroy things, but it was incredibly difficult to keep things from breaking.

Turbo looked up at the sight of the creation of a fire whirl in awe. Which was cut short by the intense heat of flames scorching him. He wrapped his arms around to cover the pain as he screamed in agony, however despite how painful it clearly was he endured it until it would either die down or someone decided it was enough. Which ever happened first was unknown to turbo as he was completely blind to anything else however it eventually caused the whirl to disappear causing the debris to fall as he began to get himself back together. With some debris being small rocks and dirt while mainly others being huge chunks of rocks. Noticing this, despite the incredible pain he still remains in until something could cool him down, managed to move his body to roll out of the way of the falling debris and somehow get himself to stand as the last falling rock fell mere inches behind him before he fell back down onto the rocks as if it was a chair in exhaustion.

At the two minute mark Arata's worry for Toyohime made him too impatient to wait any longer. He used his power to extinguish it and then released his control of the swirling eddies of air and his control over the surrounding area which he was controlling. Finally he stopped focusing so much on the air surrounding Turbo and trying to negate his sonic bursts. Stopping all of this at once made it feel like a weight was lifted from his shoulders allowing him to take a deep calming breath for the first time in three minutes. "Give up Turbo and come with us," Arata said. "Please don't run anymore," Arata asked. This was much more of a plead than when he asked before, which would confirm that Arata's thoughts were elsewhere on more troubling matters.

"Look around you Turbo. Have you noticed how little damage there is? How few onlookers are hurt even the onlookers who didn't listen to the little girl are uninjured. I wouldn't be surprised if they weren't even uncomfortable. Arata managed to contain all of the destruction and minimize how much property was damaged. You, however, are known to be reckless. You often cause destruction and injuries in your wake. I imagine that is why Arata was chosen to supervise you," Emiko said.

Without moving from the spot he landed on, remaining in his exhausted position, he raised a hand in the air. "Yea, sure thing." He said in response to Arata's plea before dropping his hand back down. He had already agreed to follow along if they managed to beat him when he made a deal with emiko about it earlier so there was no reason to question as he is a man of his word. He glanced over to Emiko who was scolding him. He silently looked around to see if it was true only to grin afterwards, not responding to her.

"It is over Genki," Arata said over the line.

"Good, bring him to headquarters," Genki replied through Arata's ear piece. After speaking he turned his back on Emiko and Turbo and ran off to where Toyohime was hiding. After a minute of silence he returned with the same red haired girl on his back. Her face was pressed into his back almost as though she was trying to bury herself into his back and hide from the world. Her cheeks her stained with her tears and she was muttering over and over again, "Sorry for being a nuisance," For the most part her panic attack had subsided a bit though Arata suspected an anxiety attack would soon take its place.

"You are not one," Arata repeated as he closed the distant between wherever Toyohime was hiding and Turbo. Once he reached him he said to Turbo, "Alright, get up Turbo we are taking you to our headquarters. Emiko do you have enough power to fly," Arata said.

Emiko shook her head in response and replied, "No, the power boost Luna gave me ran out in that fight. The power boost was not meant to last long."

"Guess we are walking then," Arata replied. On his back Toyohime pressed into Arata more enough that he could now faintly feel her heart rate quickening.

Turbo analyzed the girl on his back. "hm sure." He glanced down as his hand before doing anything and check if his powers were working by releasing a tiny burst from his hand. Once he knew it did he used it to propel himself to his feet as began walking.

Arata and Emiko started walking as well with Emiko trailing from behind and Arata up front. Noticing him staring at Toyohime Emiko said, "Her name is Toyohime. We are looking after her for the time being." The thought of leaving Arata and the rest of GALE caused anxiety to rise in Toyohime and her body tensed up as though it was preparing to get hit. Seeing this, Emiko revised her previous statement, "We are looking after her." This time without the last two words making it seem like a permanent thing.

He noticed how tensed she got as he continued to watch in silent. "So who are you guys anyways." He asks remembering that he has no idea what this hired group of babysitters are. "Like some sort of day care or some group of interns working to give support to the city or something?" He asked

"We are supposed to be a private investigation group. A group for residents of Academy City to go to if for one reason another they can't go to Anti-skill or Judgement," Emiko said. She took out a roll of gauze dressing as she spook and used it to wrap around her both of her hands and part of both of her forearm which was covered in minor burns. After wrapping it a few times she would cut it with her teeth and tie it with one hand before repeating the action with the other hand.

"We have skills that the Board of Directors find useful, which is why they often come to us. In fact, now that I am thinking about it the only jobs we have had for the past month have come from them. It has been awhile since we did any real investigative work," Arata said reflectively.

"Private investigators?" He repeated. "A group of students?" He continued in surprised. "*Well that explains how they found me so easily*." He thought in his head. "So anyways we're not walking all the way there are we, that would be such a pain? Don't you have any kind of transportation lying around?" He complained, raising his arms behind his head as he walked along.

"It is a pretty long walk huh," Arata said absently more to himself than Turbo. He raised his hand and fiddled with one of the stands of his brown hair that hung over his forehead, which is something he often did when he was thinking. Normally, Arata and Emiko would just fly back, but Emiko has ran out of power. If it was dark and no one was around or if Toyohime was willing to use a People-Clearing Field Arata would let Toyohime stretch her wings and allow her to fly Emiko back, but it wasn't dark and Turbo was there with them and on top of that Toyohime was in no condition to fly on her own.

In the short moment that Arata was thinking Toyohime had stopped burying her face in his back and had looked up at the level 5 esper who she that of as a fatherly figure. Her face was streaked with dried up tears and there was still a bit of panic in her expression mixed in with the questioning look she was giving Arata. Then a flash of understanding past through her features and she said, "Can Emiko and I stay behind? It will give you the chance to fly back with Turbo."

"But you don't have money for the bus. None of us does," Arata said. To Turbo it would appear as an innocent conversation, but in reality they were speaking in code about Toyohime using her powers to fly back. The money he was talking about was in reality referring to how it wasn't the right time for her to use her powers as she could be seen.

"I was not planning on taking the bus. I want to stretch my legs. It will help me clear my head," Toyohime responded. Arata's eyes widened in surprise. To those ignorant of Toyohime's situation it would appear as though the surprise came from the fact that this little girl is willing to walk all the way back. In reality, what surprised him was the hidden meaning in those words. She would run back with her superhuman speed and carry Emiko on her back. Arata was surprised that she was in good enough mental state to do that though as he thought on it he came to the realization that she probably saw this as an opportunity to be helpful.

"Alright," Arata said after awhile and with those words he stopped walking.

Toyohime scrambled down his back and gave him a smile, "Thanks d-," Toyohime stopped herself from allowing her mouth to speak the rest of that thought. "I mean thanks Arata." Arata knew what she was about to so, but he could tell by the look on her face that she wanted him to ignore that so he did just that. He was in the middle of leaning down to her level as though to whisper something in her ear. He was about to tell her to stay in the alleyways between buildings and out of sight of public. To tell her to only run at top speed in those spaces because while the story the Board of Directors made up for her about her being a double esper with the abilities Offense Armor and Hydromaster may explain away some of her abilities such as some of her water spells, her superhuman strength, and her superhuman durability it would not explain her superhuman speed. Arata didn't warn her about any of that. He simply stood back up to his full height and trusted that Emiko would tell her all of that when they were gone.

"Alright, Turbo," Arata said finally addressing the other Level 5. "We are flying. I sure hope you can keep up," Arata said with a goodnatured smile.

Turbo glanced towards everyone confused, he didn't think that little complaint would have led to such a big discussion. Normally he would just jump using his ability to get to his destination and that would be the end of that but he didn't think they would let him out of his site plus there would be the added luggage he would have to carry which he wouldn't want the hassle for. He quickly brushed off the overly long discussion and went to minding his own business by pulling out his phone and began pressing buttons until it was settled.

Once they decided on a outcome he quit messing with his phone to answer Arata. "Your kidding right? I only hope you don't get lost while your eating my dust." He said as he released a large sonic burst from his torso to shoot himself into the sky.

As Turbo sped off he gently lifted himself off the ground he said a quick good bye then sped after the other level 5 and catching up to him shortly. After all, the sky was his domain.

Toyohime watched the two Level 5s fly off into the distance with Emiko standing by her side. Due to her supernatural sight she stared off into the distance much longer than Emiko had as Emiko stopped looking a full two minutes before Toyohime eventually stopped. "Ready," Emiko asked. Toyohime nodded and she followed Emiko as she began walking toward the space between buildings. Soon they were outside of the public. There was not a single soul around them; barren of animals and humans alike. Not even a single rat's tail could be spot. All that was around them was dumpsters and litter like cigarettes and alcohol bottles. Due to her supernatural sense of smell that was sharper than even a dogs she could still pick up the lingering scent of alcohol, which made nose wrinkle and her body recoil in disgust. "Stupid nose," Toyohime thought to herself.

Emiko looked around to make sure no one was around before she told Toyohime exactly what Arata wanted to tell her. Toyohime nodded and bent a knee to make it easier for Emiko to get on her back. When she did Toyohime stood back and despite how much bigger and heavier Emiko was to Toyohime she was lighter than a feather. "You know," Emiko said with her arms wrapped loosely around Toyohime's neck. "I know you are not human, but being carried this way by a girl much younger than me isn't good for my ego," Emiko said with a smile. Toyohime smiled at Emiko's comment and responded by saying, "Would someone Arata or Genki's size be better for your ego." Emiko didn't respond to Toyohime's question, an act that didn't escape Toyohime's notice. Instead she just said, "Ready to go?"

Toyohime jumped up and down to loosen her limbs that were cramped from riding Arata's back and then she sped off running at top speed. She dodged and weaved around dumpsters, trash cans, and other obstacles thanks to her superhuman reflexes. As she ran top speed and embracing her true nature she couldn't help smile from the exhilaration that was bubbling up inside her. She loved going out. She loved the thrill that came from going all out. To her Toyohime, using her full power was what it meant to let herself go and be genuine to herself. Right here and now was who Toyohime believed she was. With that thought she reached into herself and tapped into some of that power allowing her to manifest a dragon tail which she used to help her with balance. After a few minutes of running at these blistering speeds she looked up to notice that she had not only already caught up with the level 5 esters, but was keeping up with them. She found this exhilarating. However, at the same time a contrary and darker thought lurked under the surface. "I truly am not human. None of them can truly understand me. They can't know what it means to be something else. How fun it is to run at these speeds with your own unaided body. I am truly alone."

"Toyohime!" Emiko whispered interrupting her thoughts. Coming back to the here and now she realized she was about to run right into a dumpster. With superhuman reflexes she jumped into the air and did several flips before returning to the ground and with it her thoughts. "However, I guess that can't change unless I try to let them in," Toyohime thought echoing Arata's words when she last voiced this to him.

As she was running along the ally ways, a girl was seen partially in an ally way attempting something. "Just a wait a moment i have to get these samples for our researcher and then we can go." A girl said lying down on the floor trying to reach under a dumpster.

"I swear you research the weirdest things sometimes." Another girl standing outside the ally way reading a magazine as she blew into a bubble gum until it popped, not even paying attention to her friend.

As Toyohime dash by it suddenly caught the attention from the girl lying down. "Hu?" She looked up to notice.

"Something wrong?" The girl outside the ally way asked, lowing her magazine to see what was wrong.

"I Thought i saw something run by." The other girl responded.

"It was probably a cat or something."The girl outside said looking at her magazine again.

"Your probably right." The other girl said going back to getting her sample.

After flying around for not too long, Turbo let Arata lead the way, remembering he had no idea where he was going. After seeing him ready to land he headed down as well. He looked at their possible headquarters that will be his temporary home for the time being. "So this is it hu? Gotta admit for private investigators i expected something more...expensive then this." He said in a rather unimpressed tone.

Arata shrugged indifferently. "It is comfortable. That is all I care about," Arata said as he walked toward the door and opened it. The familiar pleasant smell of the building washes over him as he opened the door making him smile. This place truly was like home perhaps more so then his dorm. He held the door open and looked at Turbo expectantly. He didn't trust Turbo to go in before him and he wasn't afraid to let that known. "Just a little longer. Then Luna can deactivate his powers allowing me to relax," Arata muttered.

Shortly after Arata and Turbo had landed Toyohime came to a sudden stop in the alleyway between GALE's headquarters and another building. The alleyway was not much different from the one where they started with a few dumpsters in it and as lot of trash. Toyohime still had a wide smile on her face when she came to a stop and focused on her tail causing it to seemingly retreat into her body. She was breathing hard, completely exhausted, and she was soaked completely through with sweat, but yet she was still was happy. Emiko climbed off of her back and said, "Sit and rest. We shouldn't go in anyway since Turbo would find it odd that we arrived at the same time. Let's wait a few minutes then go in. If he asks let's say we hitchhiked with a friend of mine.

Toyohime opened her mouth to respond, but the only thing to exit her mouth was more ragged breaths. She tried a few more times before accepting she was too out of breath to speak so she simply nodded. She then made a sweeping gesture over her to draw attention Emiko's attention to her current state.

"What about all of your sweat?" Emiko translated. Toyohime nodded while leaning forward with her knees placed on her knees for support. "Good question. My dorm isn't far from here. We can go there so you can take a shower then walk back here," Emiko said by bending a knee to let the exhausted Toyohime climb on and once she did she stood back up. "When we get there don't shower too much. You want it to seem like you walked all of the way," Emiko said as she began walking. She didn't walk out into the street, but rather stayed in the alleyways.

"What you don't trust me?" He asked curiously as he calmly walked over to the door following him. "Think im going to run away? If so you would've handcuffed me or something while you were taking care of that girl." He said as he approached the door. "I've already made a deal with Red that id come willingly and so i am. As far as im concerned this is my new home until im told otherwise." He said, referring to that deal he made with Emiko during the fight as he walked inside. "So theres no need for you to be concerned about me resisting anymore." He followed.

“Yeah, and we both know how everyone keeps their word,” Arata said sarcastically. He walked in behind Turbo and closed the door. What awaited the two esters was a wooden staircase that lead up to a door at the top. Despite being owned by teenagers the building looked clean. Pristine even. The floor looked liked it was swept and mopped on a daily basis and there was relatively few marks on the wall as though scrubbing and maintenance is done periodically.

Up in the room beyond the door Luna sat on the floor with her back resting against Genki’s legs who was sitting on a couch behind her. Genki had one hand pressed against the back of her head and both of their eyes were closed. “Do you sense him yet,” Luna asked.

“Yeah, I sensed him awhile ago. I was just waiting for him to enter the building,” Genki responded. He then transmitted what he was sensing into Luna’s mind allowing her to sense what he was sensing. Now with the ability to sense Turbo’s AIM field through Genki she was able to control his AIM field. With this control she deactivated his ester powers making it impossible for him to use it. Upon doing so it would be possible for Turbo to feel a sudden wave of weakness flow through him as though something was taken from him.

While this was happening Arata walked up the staircase and opened the door at the top. “I’m back Genki and Luna,” Arata said in a casual tone while looking at the last two members of GALE both of whom were still wearing their school uniforms as to be expected. He saw Genki sitting on the couch with his glasses off and placed on the seat next to him alongside his blazer The top two buttons of his white buttoned down shirt were unbuttoned suggesting that he had gotten hot at some point. Confirming this fact, his long royal blue khaki pants were rolled up slightly, but he couldn’t see how far due to how Luna was leaning against his legs with a tired look in her eyes. She looked not much taller than Toyohime and due to her petite size it would be easy for Turbo to mistake her for a child if not someone who is only slightly older than Toyohime. In reality, being the same age as Emiko she was one of the oldest members of GALE as Genki and Arata were both 17. Luna wore a white blouse that matched Genki’s shirt. A vest was resting next to her over her brown shoes. Furthermore, she wore a royal blue skirt that reaches half way down her thighs and opaque thigh-length black stockings on her legs that were extended out in front of her with on leg partly over the other As the three of them waited for Turbo to enter Genki gave Arata a friendly greeting and a wave before reaching for his glasses to put them back on. Due to how tired Luna, Luna didn’t have enough energy to put as much energy in her voice as Genki did. However, despite Luna’s emotionless greeting he could nevertheless tell his good friend was happy to see him by the small smile on her lips.

When Turbo entered the room Genki would greet him by saying, “Welcome Reed, my name is Genki and I am the leader of GALE. You will be working for me for awhile. The person at my feet is Luna. She is the woman Arata was talking about that you couldn’t escape from.”

As he walked into the room seeing Luna for the first time made that feeling he felt on the way in fully clear as he lifted up one hand and opened and closed his fingers dropping it and lifting up his other and doing the exact same thing. He understood he had just lost his abilities. He walked up to Luna to get a better look. "So your what all the fuse is about. Gotta admit ive been curious what all the praise was about and i can see why. Still, didn't expect their secret weapon to be so small and..." He looked straight at her chest and he wasn't afraid of if he was found out about it. "Flat..." He added before stepping away.

"Hows it going Genki." He responded back his greeting, even if it was rather late. "Look i understand all the cautions your making but as i told air head over there when we walked in, i gave my word that once im caught ill cooperate until further notice." He said as he sat in a chair near by and picked up a book lying open in front of the chair and started skimming through it. "So there's no need for any restraints." as he saw what it was, it was most likely someones homework they left out before they left to look for him.

A flash of irritation crossed Luna’s phase at Turbo’s words. All throughout her high school life she has to deal with people not taking her seriously, looking down on her, and remarking or teasing her on how child-like she is and it doesn’t help to have someone like Emiko on the team as well, which magnifies how hurtful and annoying those comments are. “For a level 5 I didn’t expect your AIM field to be so weak. Your AIM field pales in comparison to mine and Arata’s,” Luna retorted in her European accent.

“Now that’s not fair Luna. Comparing a normal esper to a gemstone is not a fair comparison in the slightest,” Arata said as he went to sit next to Genki

“If releasing your restraints is what you want getting on the bad side of the only one who can give you back your powers was probably not the best strategy,” Genki replied to Turbo with an amused smile. He could feel his legs begin to fall asleep by the pins-and-needles feeling that was beginning to surface, but he didn’t bother asking Luna to get up and instead let her rest some more. She had use her powers not once, but twice in a short period of time. First to enhance Genki’s own abilities to allow him to clearly sense Turbo’s AIM field then again to seal Turbo’s abilities. Despite, Luna’s retort sealing away a level 5’s powers wasn’t as easy as she was letting on. Furthermore, he had a feeling the reason she wasn’t giving him back his powers immediately was not only because of spite, but because she was too tired to.

"*Gemstones*?" He thought to himself as he continued to look at the book. "Heh" He chuckled in response to both Luna's outburst towards him and Genki's reply but made no attempts of defending himself as he got comfortable in his chair and kept reading.

As the four espers waited for Emiko and Toyohime to return seconds quickly turned into minutes and minutes began to add up. At the ten minute mark Luna got up and picked up the book about dragons that she was reading before and sat on the couch between Arata and Genki, who had scooted to the side and removed the blazer to give her room, to read. It was a tight fit because of the couch's size, but none of them seemed to care or even notice, which if Turbo had noticed would reveal to him just how close knit they are.

At the twenty minute mark a look of concern would appear and stay Genki's expression. At this time Arata got up and left the building.

At the 40 minute mark Arata returned with food for himself. He sat back down at his original place on the couch to eat. Luna, like Genki, also began to worry. She was so worried that she couldn't read. "Maybe, they got caught up in something," she said more to herself as though she was trying to convince herself. As the minutes passed she word occasionally take a French fry from Arata. She didn't ask nor did Arata openly complain, but just looked at Luna for awhile with a raised eyebrow.

At the hour mark Arata finished his food and he to began to worry.

At the 100 minute mark Arata finally said what was on Luna, Genki, and his own mind, "They should be back by now."

"They should have been back a long time ago," Genki corrected.

"Do you think they were attacked," Arata asked.

"Logically, this is the best time. Toyohime hasn't been as vulnerable as she was when you left. You weren't with her and the power boost I gave to Emiko had ran out. If I were them I would try and get Toyohime back. However..." Luna's voice began to trail off.

"Yeah, the Board of Directors said they left the city. Presumably to increase their numbers or restock. Emiko and Toyohime should have been safe," Genki said finishing Luna's thoughts.

"A false retreat is a classic strategy to weaken an enemy force's defense," Luna responded.

"That is true..." Genki admitted. He stood up and walked to the computer that stood in front of the room. After typing in the password he began to type furiously for a minute and read quickly every few seconds. "I can't find any unusual comments that would indicate activity from them. It is possible they recruited some espers in the city to hide their movements," Genki said.

"Let's act under the assumption Emiko is still alive and they captured her to stop her from revealing their locations since they seem hesitant about killing. Our best bet of finding them is for all of us to go out so I can use my powers from various locations," Genki said. He looked up and forgetting about Turbo a surprised expression crossed his face. He quickly thought about the last minute and let out a sigh of relief when he realized know one had mentioned magic and magicians.

"Usually Emiko is Arata's partner, but she is not here and we have to keep an eye on you. I hope you don't mind taking her place. I have to warn you though. These people are no pushovers. While I am sure you I am sure you can handle any espers from this city they have recruited assuming my suspicions are correct they are another matter entirely. These..." Genki said. He paused for a second as he thought of a believable explanation for the magicians of SEIRYU without revealing their true nature. It took only a second for Genki to come up with a believable story. "espers are very strong. One of their espers gave a lot of trouble for Emiko and Arata and they were working together. They are from another research city like Academy City and have esper abilities I have never seen before. The Board of Directors did classify this information as classified, but considering you are about to risk your life I am sure they will agree you deserve to know you are getting yourself into."

Having listening to them talk for the last minute Turbo was mildly confused as he tried to make sense of the whole thing to his limited knowledge, usually he wouldn't be able to make sense of it all with so many gaps missing in this explanation and expecting to be shoved into it so suddenly, but he was able to get an understanding of the situation. It was obvious to him that they are hiding something from him however if they are going through this length not to tell him then its no reason to meddle into it and played along. As he put another one of the homework books down he stood to face him. "Alright fine, guess i dont have a choice, but if your expecting me to march into a battle then im going to need a favor from you." He replied to the team. "Or rather one of you." He looked over to Luna obviously hinting that he needs his abilities back.

A flash of not just irritation or annoyance, but anger crossed Luna's face. "Holding our friend over our heads? That is rather low," Luna said. However, despite saying this she stood up and walked over to Genki's desk to sit on with her back toward him. Genki reached over and placed a hand on the back of Luna's head to once against transmit what he is sensing. Now with the ability to sense Turbo's AIM field she manipulated it to give him back his powers. However, she didn't stop there; she continued to manipulate it in order to weaken it ever so slightly.

He raised an eyebrow unsure of what he did to get such a reaction, he meant no disrespect. He then held his hand up to test it by releasing a tiny burst from his hand. It was a bit difficult but not a problem. After getting his abilities back he continued. "So you've guys have clearly duked it out before, got any clues of any hideouts they could take your friends? I know a few underworld buddies i can talk to, see if they heard anything." He informed.

Luna gracefully pushed herself off the desk and quietly returned to her seat with an unreadable expression. "They are never in the same place for longer than a few days. We have found quite a few of their bases and judging by the pattern they seem to like buildings with several stories and that are fairly secluded. Due to how their leader has some sort of water esper ability a large number of their hideouts were located in District 21 suggesting to me they like to be as close to water as possible," Genki replied.

Far away on the top floor of a building Emiko and Toyohime sat in an empty room tied down to the chairs they were sitting in. An audio clip played in the background and since it began hours prior Emiko was unable to access her esper powers. While the audio clip suppressed Emiko's esper power the runes that surrounded the two of them suppressed Toyohime's magic while the glowing ropes that bonded her seemed capable of weakening her superhuman physique.

Without warning the door opened behind Emiko and their capturer, a man in a business suit, walked in. "Why did you capture me?" Emiko asked.

"I have a theory and several questions and I believe you can help me with both. I guess you could call it a whim," the business man said. He walked over to Emiko to stand in front of her before leaning in close. He absently rubbed his chin as he examined Emiko's facial features before doing the same with Toyohime.

"I doubt I can help; I know little about magic. What are your questions," Emiko asked. The man turned to look at Emiko and gave her a look that seemed to say he didn't believe Emiko.

"I took a look at Academy City's file on you. There is a lot of details missing, but from what I have seen there are an uncomfortable number of coincidences between you and Toyohime. Now, let's get started..." the man replied.

"Sounds like good enough of a clue to start with. Those buildings probably have information on where their hiding now or if we're lucky find some factions of lackeys to take on. Lets check it out." Turbo instructed his opinion as he prepared to leave.

Experience told Genki it wouldn't be that easy; it rarely is that easy. However, he kept his thoughts to himself and stood up. Normally he wouldn't go to the frontlines and prefers to stay back, but this would be better as his esper ability is an incredibly useful one when it comes to tracking espers.

"Before that let's try searching the nearby area for clues. Both Toyohime and Emiko have pretty destructive abilities and wouldn't let themselves be kidnapped without putting up a fight. Put the majority of your focus on alleyways since Toyohime doesn't like fighting out in the open and Emiko is likely to agree fleeing to alleyways to avoid harming bystanders," Luna replied as she rose to her feet alongside Arata.

Turbo was a bit disappointed due to how excited he was that he would get to bust some heads, he looked away to hide his depression "Shoot." It was then he got an idea and quickly got it together. "Ok so how about we split up, one half will search the near by allies the other will go to District 21 to search their hold hangouts, we'll be able to cover a lot more ground that way." He suggested with a friendly grin with a few sweat drops dripping down.

"Something tells me you are underestimating them. Perhaps seeing how much damage Emiko and Toyohime resorted to doing will give you a better idea of just how strong these people are. Don't worry, I doubt it will take long," Luna grumbled easily seeing through the suggestion to what Turbo wanted to do. Without another word she exited the room and walked downstairs to wait outside.

"What she meant to say is that remember how Genki said Emiko and I had trouble with one of them? She is an experienced fighter and I am a level 5 and to top it off both of us have known each other for years, which explains why we work well together. Meanwhile, Genki nor Luna are good at fighting or have powers geared for it and you have never faced those espers so do you truly believe splitting up under these circumstances is wise," Arata responded.

After hearing that Turbo relinquished his excited and released a calmly sigh. "Alright. Your mission, your lead." He offered and followed Luna as he exited the room.

It took several minutes of searching alleyways, but eventually the four esters found an alleyway with clear indications of a battle. The alleyway was littered with large dents in walls and craters on the floor as though someone took a cannon and was wildly firing it about. Judging by the dents in the wall Genki could tell that these were caused by someone roughly Toyohime’s size despite how the dents and craters were deep enough to seemingly suggest that no human, child or adult, could create them without some sort of aid. Many would assume Offense Armor and that in fact was the cover story that the Board of Directors was using. That Toyohime possessed two level 4 esper powers being offense armor and hydromaster. Genki, however, new better. He knew that Toyohime did this unaided with her natural strength. On top of the dents in the walls and craters in the ground water was everywhere with one long trench running down the alleyway suggesting someone had fired a powerful torrent of water. Genki guessed this too was caused by Toyohime. Not caused by her strength, but by her draconic breath attack and judging from the destruction it appeared she didn’t hold back.

On top of signs of Toyohime’s struggle there were signs of Emiko fighting. Whatever wasn’t drenched in water was instead severely burned as though someone hit it with a flaming punch or kick. Looking up Genki saw two trails of blood leading away from the scene to the direction District 21. "I guess their hideout is in district 21," Genki said making no sign that he was surprised at the level of carnage before him.

While everyone was doing their job looking through the chaotic scene, turbo was no detective or investigator as he chose to stand back and let the three do their job, instead he just strolled through the chaotic damage of the alleyway to see for himself what the people who partook in this were capable of. "A little girl like her was apart of this?" He mumbled to himself remembering how easily frightened she was during his first encounter with them. "Could've fooled me." He then continued. While looking a thought accrued to him. "I dont get it. Looking at all this damage it must have been some great fight and look how far we are from a public street. Something as big as this must have attracted a lot of attention but there are no judgments, no anti skill, no one bothered to report it. Its almost like it didn't happen." He stated to himself out loud as he looked at the damage around him.

"Perhaps they had a sound esper to dampen the sound. It is not unheard of since Arata himself can control sound to a degree," Genki said while he continued to investigate the carnage. While this certainly could have happened, Genki was rather confident that he didn't, but instead the cause was one of Toyohime's spells. "If they had an esper that could bend light as well it would explain why no one saw the fight," Genki continued.

After a minute of investigating he found no blood that he could tell came from the attacker. "This guy managed to deal with both of them rather easily judging by the look of things. I don't know if he is really that strong or because he has been analyzing them long enough to know their flaws, but regardless it is going to be tough taking him down," Genki said.

"You say that as if you will be doing any of that hard work. At most you will simply allow Luna to use her powers," Arata said.

Genki let out a tired sigh that suggest that the augment to come was one he has had with Arata and Emiko repeatedly. "Sitting on the sidelines isn't as easy as it looks especially when you know there is very little you can do to help the vanguard. You feel utterly useless," Genki responded as if he had rehearsed it hundred of times and judging by the tone of his voice it is highly likely that he has made this point that much. Arata simply rolled his eyes, but remained quiet making it clear he too was not in the mood to engage in this old sing and dance at this moment.

After a few tense silent moments of Genki pretending to investigate and Arata waiting idly Luna coughed awkwardly into her arm, "Umm...Emiko. She is still in trouble remember?"

"Right, let's begin following this trail of blood. Don't let your guard down because it could be a trap," Arata said and immediately started walking.

Turbo stood silently looking over his shoulders back at them seeing their little dispute. He could tell Genki was suppressing an urge he's been holding. As they began following the trail Turbo calmly followed from behind, observing Genki as he walked. It wasnt too long that he sped up his walk to catch up to him who was trailing behind the rest.

"So im guessing this isnt the first you've had this discussion?" He calmly asked Genki in a soft tone so the two up front wouldn't hear.

"Nope and it won't be the last. I have had this fight a lot with Emiko as well," Genki said while stuffing his hands in his pants pockets. Up front, Arata quietly talked amongst themselves. Occasionally words and phrases like level 6, AIM Domination, and theory surfaced telling Genki they were probably theorizing amongst themselves what would happen if Luna enhanced Arata's esper ability to the level of a level 6, which is a conversation they seemed to love to have judging by how often they engaged in it. An outsider would question why Luna doesn't just test to see what would happen, but enhancing an esper's ability by a full level is very dangerous for many reasons and that is when it comes to level 1, 2, 3, and 4 espers. Who knows what would happen if Luna attempts to try it on a level 5 in an attempt to create a level 6 esper.

"You are someone who fights. Tell me, from your prospective which is harder: risking your life or being the friend wondering if you see your friend alive again," Genki said. He kept his attention focused ahead and didn't spare even a glance at Turbo.

Turbo looked down partially, his demeanor hasnt even changed a bit as he kept calmly walking in equal paste with Genki, his hands in his pocket. "Believe me, i know whats like on both sides. I can promise you neither one is easy. Both sides want to give everything they can to save the other..." His eyes drift down by an inch as he showed a hint of sadness before catching himself and returning to normal. "But only the fighter has the power to." He said as he paused for a moment. "I know it can be frustrating at times but that's the reality." He stated as he began walking a head a bit sounding as if he was done. "But that doesn't have to mean you can't be useful in own right." He continued as he looked back over his shoulder at him. "You don't need to throw a punch to be support your friends. There are other ways you can help them, you just have think about it. It'll come to you. In time." He added as he looked back forward.

"Oh trust me, I know there are other ways to support," Genki said and he pointed ahead of him at Luna. "I am sure you have figured this out, but her ability allows her to control AIM diffusion fields and freely control other espers' Personal Realities meaning she has almost perfect control over the abilities of other espers and to top it all off she is a gemstone. Having said all that I bet you will be surprised to hear she is only Level 0. This is because she can't sense AIM and her ability requires her to be able to sense AIM to control it," Genki said. As he spoke Genki lowered his voice so that only Turbo could hear because of how he knew full well that Luna was insecure about this huge power. Before I got my powers she was, paradoxically, a powerless gemstone. I don't want bore you by explaining my powers since it is not that remarkable. However, it does make me Luna's best support partner since it allows me to provide Luna with what she lacks allowing her to use her ability," Genki continued. He paused for a bit as he thought of the best way to phrase what he wanted to say. "All of that is to say I know that there is more than one way to support my friends then throwing a punch. I just think it isn't enough."

"Then what is enough for you?' Turbo turned around to face him. "Running into the battle along with your friends, managing to get a few good hits in, hoping it would make a difference?"

Genki smiled slightly before responding, "If I knew the answer to that do you honestly think we would be talking now?" Up ahead Arata and Luna's debate gradually shifted to gemstones. Occasionally, Luna would accidentally slip in an english word or two as she is prone to switching between the languages she knows when she is excited. Arata didn't question or or look puzzled when she did suggesting being around Luna has taught him a little english.

As they debated the path up ahead separated into paths both had a trail of blood going down them. Luna held up her hand as an indication to Arata to pause that thought and examined the two trails of blood carefully. It didn't take long for her to realize that one trail of blood was drier than the other suggesting that they attempted to fool any pursuers using that trail and so Luna and Arata took the path that had the blood trail that looked more recent as they renewed their conversation.

With Turbo facing behind him to look at Genki he failed to notice the two up front had stopped, surprising him as he bumped into them causing him to collapse. "Whoooooa!...ow." He cried as he fell. "ugh." He rubbed his head from the fall. "Hmm?" While flat on his back He looked up and noticed the blood trail before getting back up. Having caught up with the situation they figured out, he understood what the trail was. "So they know their being followed." He added before following them.

"So Anyways." He continued talking to Genki. "Don't give up, your chance to prove yourself will come by at some point, you just have to keep an eye out." He said confidently.

Genki didn't respond and kept his other thoughts to himself as he walked. After what felt like hours, but was probably only missing they reached a what looked like abandoned warehouse. Arata looked up at the three story warehouse with a thoughtful look in his eyes. It looked very worn down as if it hadn't been used in ages. The sign almost completely worn down the only readable part was the word "Hydropower." Sure enough, as the sign suggested Arata could hear water nearby and judging by the speed of the water Arata guessed it was a small lake or slow moving stream. That explained why it was abandoned. The water probably couldn't produce enough energy for the factory to sustain itself.

Faintly Arata could hear a melody and Arata quickly recognized because he was just having a conversation about it. The audio file was Level Downer. The combination of how faintly he heard it and how powerful his, a gemstone esper, AIM field was he barely felt its effects allowing him to still the air around the others thus nullifying the sound. However, he was a bit slow which would cause everyone except the two gemstones to feel a crushing sense of weakness. It was so strong that Genki felt unsteady on his feet and nearly fell. It didn't last long thanks to Arata's quick thinking. "I think we found the place," Arata said with amusement.

"Really, I didn't notice," Luna replied sarcastically with a small smile on her lips. Her voice was calm as though she too barely felt the effects of the audio file that would have seemed down right oppressive to the two other espers.

Having heard a faint melody in the distance Turbo felt his entire body weakening as he lost the strength to keep himself stand and fell to his knee on the ground breathing heavily from the effects of the Level Downer. After the effect wore off thanks to Arata, he looked at his trembling hand and tested out his power by releasing a small burst from his palm. Thankfully he was able to release the amount of power he intended so the power weakening was only temporary after Arata canceled out the sound. "What the heck was that?" He said as stood back up. "Some kind of power dampener caused by sound? They got it playing loud so that we could hear it all the way over here. They must be using it as some sort of protection to keep out Espers which means their probably expecting us." He informed his suspension to the others.

"It is called Level Downer and most likely they are using it for that purpose and to restrain Emiko. With her powers she is likely to be able to burn through most forms of containments so it is natural that they would search for a way to cancel those powers out."

Inside the building Emiko, the magician, and Toyohime were in the same room. They had been talking all this time and the magician had even done some cruel experiments on Emiko. Experiments that many would consider downright torturous. As it happens, they were in the middle of one now. There was a large container of water, which sort of looked like a dunk tank. Inside the tank, fully submerged and tied to a chair to prevent her from surfacing, was Emiko. She was thrashing about and after being submerged for about 35 seconds she looked close to drowning. The only thing she had on her that could help her was Toyohime's necklace, which was now around her own neck.

"Come on, let her go! Why do this in the first place," Toyohime sobbed.

The magician turned his attention away from the drowning esper and toward the young dragon girl. "Simple, it is theorized only descendants of Otohime can use that necklace," the man said simply.

"You think she is related to me," Toyohime said through sobs. "She can't be. If she was she surely would have told me by now. Why would she hide the truth from the family member she hasn't seen in years," Toyohime continued.

The magician opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it. That was true. Her stubbornness to admit what he thought was the truth was odd. It wasn't the only fact that seemed to debunk his theory that the two were sisters. There was, in fact, just as much evidence against the theory as for it.

"Besides, you are the only one in SEIRYU who thinks that. From what I heard a magic item tied to genetics is stupid. The other members think it is likely that it requires very powerful magical energy to use," Toyohime said.

The magician scoffed, "And where do you think your powerful magical energy comes from Ryūhime? Regardless, it can still be used as evidence if she is able to use it," the magician responded.

"No it doesn't. All this does is determine if she has a talent for magic," Toyohime retorted. Toyohime was about to say something else, but was interrupted when she heard a crack come from the tank. Toyohime turned her head and widened her eyes in surprise when she saw a small stream of water was now pouring out of a small crack that wasn't there before.

"Finally, looks like her self-preservation instinct made her use it subconsciously. I almost thought she was going to die," the magician said as he turned his attention back to Emiko. Before his eyes the crack got larger until the entire exploded from the water pressure causing water to rush out and fill the room in water that reached only up to the man's ankles.

"You two should find something to plug your ears. Although I am perfectly capable of keeping this up I need my full strength against our opponent," Arata said.

As Arata was saying that it didn't take long to notice that Turbo had vanished from the group as they quickly looked around to see where he went. Meanwhile up towards the entrance door of the warehouse Turbo pulled down his glasses over his with a big smug on his face as he raised one foot up and kicked the door causing a sonic burst to erupted on the door smashing it in, breaking it down in the process along with a quarter of the wall it was attached to. Turbo walked in with his hands in his pockets over the rubble with dust in the air and parts of the wall that was still left crumbling down. "Knock knock" He quoted to the people inside. "I got a question id like to ask you all if you don't mind." He insisted, standing in what used to be the doorway.

On the other side of the doorway was a large mostly empty room, which was about the same size of a ballroom. It looked as though the inside had been redone for it was much nicer than the outside the warehouse with its polished floors and ocean blue walls. Inside people were scrambling to and fro performing their various jobs. The only ones that weren't were two lightly armored people with swords at the hips. One a man and the other a woman. They stood inside the warehouse on opposite ends of the doorway. Despite the fact that this must have meant they took the full force of Turbo's attack they looked completely unharmed and the burst appeared to have not even made them unsteady on their feet.

In unison the duo unsheathed their sword to slash at Turbo at speeds that would make it impossible for a normal human to see. They did it with so skill that not a sound could be heard as the sword smoothly exited the sheathe and cut through the air towards Turbo. Arata's air current sense picked up the disturbance in the air the superhumanly quick attack caused allowing him to track an attack that others would be unable too. The sensory information acquired by Arata's six sense arrived in his brain almost instantly, which was just enough for him to react to it and save Turbo's life. He quickly manipulated the nitrogen in the air around Turbo to a thin barrier around his body. Instead of slicing Turbo's body in two the swords bounced off his body; preventing a lethal blow. However, the barrier didn't completely neutralize the attack for the force of the attack flung Turbo back at great speed and unless he managed to stop the momentum he would land just in front of Arata.

Being good friends for a long time Genki and Luna didn't need to ask to know what Arata needed. With Genki's help Luna manipulated her own massive AIM field in preparation for an attack. Meanwhile Arata quickly compressed the nitrogen in the air in front of the guards to a great degree. Arata would quickly release his hold on the nitrogen causing a powerful burst of nitrogen. Unlike in his fight against Turbo, Arata intended to cause harm and for this reason he put much more effort into his attack than he ever did against Turbo and which was much closer to his upper limit of what he could do. And this showed. The resulting explosion of nitrogen created quite a decently large crater in the floor and destroyed a portion of the surrounding wall to create an arc-shaped opening into the building. Despite its power the blast barely knocked the duo off balance, but this result was more than enough.

Right as Arata finished his attack Luna was able to finish manipulating her AIM field in the same way as emotional stress would creating a poltergeist, which in Luna's case was a the emission powerful concussive wave that flew toward the guys. Still recovering from the prior attack and being knocked off balance the two were unable to dodge and for this same reason the attack, unlike the others that came before, managed to do something. It knocked them back a few feet and when they regained their footing they had an expression that was a mixture of annoyance and pain from the two attacks. "These aren't guys you can handle alone. None of us can by ourselves," Arata spoke while Luna collapsed to her feet from exhaustion.

After Turbo was flung back by the force of the slash attack, while in mid air he kicked his feet off the air by his burst in order to flip over and stood there releasing constant tiny bursts from his feet, not enough to propel him but enough to keep him standing in place. He looked over at the crater in the building and saw the two guards remaining. "Right, make a good point." He said loud enough for Arata to hear in response to him. "Well then lets make this quick." He said as he dropped back down to the ground and the moment his feet touched the ground he started running towards the entrance, releasing a sonic burst boosting him with every step.

The male guard launched himself forward to match Turbo’s speed. As he sped forward he reached for his sword as though to draw it. Behind him his partner extended her arms out in front of her and mutters something under her breath. The moment her mouth stops moving a circular torrent of water expels and races forward and hidden from her enemies by her partner’s body.

The male guard, fully aware of what is behind him, waits until Turbo is in range to quickly draw his blade. Moments before his blade would have reached Turbo he vanishes from sight revealing the hidden torrent of water which at the same time grew in size to the point where it blocked most of the building from view. As the torrent grew in size the male guard appeared in front of Arata as though he teleported and continued his strike aiming to cut Arata’s head off. Although his attempt was to behead Arata his blade came to a sudden stop centimeters away from his target’s neck. Stopped by an invisible barrier.

Once the man vanished from Turbo and the sight of the wave of water behind him, Turbo grew surprised. "Hu what the!" He stomped his feet into the ground in order to force himself to stop as the momentum dragged him across the ground. It was too late to get out of the way as the wave was right above him but before it could wash over him Turbo waved his arms back and violently swung them forward, slamming them together in form of a clap with the sound and speed of cracking thunder, creating a shock wave that tore through the torrent wave traveling straight across to the end, breaking the ground in its path, dispersing the wave apart. As the water from the dispersed wave rained down he took this time to catch in his breath as he grind and looked over to see the result of his attack. His eyes widened in shocked to see his attacks trail stopping before it could reach his opponent. "What? that didn't reach her?”

With the area now soaked in water the woman quickly muttered something under her breath before slamming her hand against the ground. That motion caused the water that coated the ground to freeze up then shoot up creating a field of deadly sharp ice spikes in front of her that will impale everyone in front of her if evasive maneuvers are not taken.

Arata who was too hyper focused on evading the man’s follow up attacks did not notice what was happening until the last moment only had time to create barriers for Luna and Genki. Just as did so an ice spike shot up right next to him tearing into his flesh and creating a rather deep and long cut up his right arm. While the man had no trouble weaving around the icicle obstacles Arata kept bumping into them in his attempt to evade, which allowed the man to land several hits. “I need to get rid of all this ice and we won’t get anywhere like this,” Arata thought as he reached into his pocket and took out a small metal marble. “Turbo do you think you can keep them busy for a few moments,” Arata asked.

Turbo watched every action as the woman frozen the ground as it followed the wet trail from the water back to him at a fast paste. "Whoa what the!?" He said caught off guard as sharp spikes formed from the ice shot up at him and reaches up to his head almost impaling him just before his sonic burst stopped its momentum and shattered he then stomped his foot, releasing a wave that surge through the ground shattering the ice from its vibration preventing other spikes from rising. "Whoa that was close." He said to himself and looked over to the girl again "I thought her power was Hydro Hand but freezing it? What kind of power does she have?" He mumbled to himself again but quieter.

His focus was then turned away to Arata as he heard him call out to him. "Hmm? That one?" He quickly made a grin. "If you say so!" He stomped his foot onto the ground again but this time rather then of sending a surge of wave through the ground he instead sent a shock wave that bounced all the ice fragments he shattered before into the air. "He sword guy" He called out to Arata's opponent. "Think fast!" He cried out as he flicked his finger from his thumb to send out a sonic burst causing the fragments to fire at the man as projectiles at the speed of a bullet. He then turned around and hurled his fist towards the woman launching a sonic burst of more speed and precision but less power then his shock wave clap he released before making it so it could reach her this time knowing that the previous attack couldn’t.

The woman muttered a quick incantation under her breath and slammed her foot against the ice in front of her, which caused a thick wall of ice to be erected in front of her. The ice wall took the brunt of the force and when it broke the sonic burst barely had enough energy left to rustle her blonde hair. “Is this really all Academy City has to offer. Surely you guys can do better,” the girl said with a sneer. Muttering under her breath, the girl raised her right hand into the air, palm up, and a ball of water formed above her hand which gradually grew in size.

Meanwhile the man managed to deflect most of the projectiles with his sword and only a few managed to bypass his defenses and hit him to inflict small cuts on his arms, shoulders, and legs. A look of surprised crossed his face as if the thought of being hurt in this fight had never accord to him. The look of surprise quickly disappeared and he disregarded Arata to charge at Turbo. When he reached him he would launch a series of sword swings at Turbo.

As the two were distracted Arata gripped the marble in his hand and closed his hands in deep concentration. Instead of focusing on the air itself he focused on the movement of the air while at the same time increase the speed of the air currents around him. As he concentrated he began to use the air around him to generate wind energy by converting the kinetic energy of the air around him into power much like a wind farm would. After almost a minute Arata was able to generate enough wind energy that arcs of electricity pulsed around his fist creating a crackling sound that could be heard of over the battle. “Not enough power. Just a little bit more,” Arata mumbled.

Emiko’s whole body hurt and not just from almost being drowned. AIM fields and magic did not interact well with each other and their incompatibility began to wreak havoc on her body. As strong as she was even Emiko couldn’t help, but let out a heart sinking cry of pain. Toyohime flinched and turned head because of how hard seeing a person whom she saw as a mother in so much pain and being unable to do anything and that is nothing to say how conflicted Toyohime still was from finding out that Emiko could use her necklace. “Could she actually be related to me?”, Toyohime thought to herself

As Emiko lay on the ground in pain the man stood next to window hands clasped behind his back as he calmly watched the battle unfold. “You don’t seem too worried that the rest of Gale is here. Are you that confident,” Toyohime said in the hopes that a conversation would distract her.

“You don’t know this, but we put a very small portion of your power into some of our most experienced mages. Given that you are a reincarnation of a divine being that would make them something akin to saints or maybe clones would be another appropriate term,” the man said without turning away from the battle.

“Then why are they so much stronger than I am. I thought it was impossible for people like saints and Valkyrie to be stronger than their power source. It makes no logical sense,” Toyohime said disturbed by this revelation.

“As I said, they are experienced mages. They are able to use a bit more of your latent abilities then even you can. That being said your current skill level still greatly limits what they can do and as they are now they wouldn’t stand a chance against an actual Saint and that will probably remain the case until you fully grow into your physical and magical abilities. That being said they are still more than a match for two level 5s. Now, I think that is enough rest. Time to repeat that experiment. Repetition is important to proving theories right,” the man said. The man turned away and picked up Emiko and walked across the worn down floor to the other side of the room where another tank was. He bound her hands and feet again and mercilessly tossed her in before walking back to the window to resume what he was doing.

As the swordsman grew close Turbo quickly moved his body in different directions in response to his sword swings in order to evade his attack while simultaneously backing away. "Ha, that the best of your capabilities? I dont know why but i thought someone who last as long as you are against us would do better then that." He taunted while evading. With every dodge he made he quickly glancing back towards the woman preparing her attack as he slowly and subtly continued to back away closer towards her.

Appearing to seemingly notice, in mid swing he used his immense speed to vanish from sight and seemingly teleport behind Turbo thus putting himself between Turbo and his ally. The moment he reappeared he made a quick thrusting motion with his sword attempting to stab Turbo through the back. The woman kept her concentration on what she was doing rather then the fight unfolding in front of her and soon it became so big that blocked most of the building from sight.

Turbo wasn't surprised to see him vanished and predicted where he'd show up although it put a damper into his attack strategy he fully aware of the mans next move, however he was unable to compare to his immense speed. As he thrusted his sword out Turbo made on last moment attempt and released a sonic burst from the heels of his feet, propulsing his legs forward causing his body to back flip over his sword. Once he got between the man and his sword, he reached back and grabbed the back of his sword and pulled it forward while he swung his legs down with full force to bash his head.

The kick did indeed connect, but the man seemed relatively un-phased as he quickly let go of his sword and attempted ram his elbow into Turbo’s stomach. At the same time countless tendrils of water erupted from the large water ball above the woman’s head. They twisted and turned, maneuvering around the icicles that littered the area in front of her to attack Turbo.

Once the man struck his elbow into Turbo's stomach, Turbo was pushed back with spit vomiting out of his mouth from the blow he received from the attack and fell to the ground, however he didnt have much time to relieve the pain as the woman's tendrils swarmed around him. Once tendril maneuvered above him and nose dived straight down on top of him at incredible speed. Turbo quickly reached back placing his hand on the ground releasing a sonic burst from his feet in order to front flip away just before the tendril dropped down, piercing the ground. "Uh!" Seeing how sharp and strong they are, he couldnt risk being hit one as it could pierce through him like a sewing needle.

The rest of the tendrils flung themselves at him afterwards, shooting at him one after the other causing him to lean down backwards to evade and then flip over to avoid the next. He slide by and leap over, evading every incoming tendril that flung itself at him, combining his evasive maneuvers with his sonic bursts to help make him move as fast as the tendrils as he couldn't help but maneuvered himself back to where Arata was, however just before he made the pain in his stomach began to sting even more causing him to lose focus resulting a tendril swooping by and piercing his left ankle from the leg that was currently holding him up causing him to trip from the pain and slide himself a bit closer to Arata. "Alright im done, whaddya say you tag in now." Turbo spoke softly to Arata as he's out of breath unable to have time to move quickly anymore as the rest of the tendrils started to maneuver themselves towards him in an attempt to finish him off.

With the time that was allotted to him Arata was able to not only gather enough electricity in his right hand that held the marble to perform the technique, but to also gather some in his left for reserve in his left. As electricity continued to crackle around his left hand he used the electricity in his right to launch the marble clenched in his fist. With a deafening loud sound, the marble was fired at the girl traveling toward her at supersonic speed and creating a path in its wake by easily blowing past the icicles. Arata quickly glanced in Turbo’s general direction and the tendrils aiming for Turbo stopped in their place by some sort of invisible wall.

The girl knew she was too slow to react and couldn’t take the hit. After all, she was only able to draw out Toyohime’s potential in magic and not her draconic physical abilities like her partner. Physical abilities that her partner used to quickly get in between her and the marble. Due to his dragon scale hard skin, the supersonic projectile was unable to pierce his skin sending him flying into his partner to crash into a wall inside the building with great force. Greatly injured, the two began to slowly rise though it was clear it was taking a lot of effort. “Turbo, do you see all that water on the ground from her attack? Send it there away,” Arata said as he quickly ran toward the water to plunge his left hand into it.

Turbo lifted up his head with only one eye opened. "The water hu? ugh" He fought through the pain and raised his legs up and flung them forward in order to lift himself to his feet though he stumbled for a bit due to his leg. He winded his arm back and swung it forward, keeping hand close to the ground as it swung by releasing a sonic wave that swept through the area before him splashing all the water that she created as well as the puddles that splashed onto the ground beforehand sending them all hurdling towards the two like a wave shot out of a geyser.

At the same time Arata sends all of his remaining electricity into the water. Being to weak to move the pair could only watch as the water slammed into them. They been convulsing and screaming in pain as the electricity assaulted their body. Luckily they died quickly as borrowing Toyohime’s powers and magic means so to do they borrow her weakness.

“Why can’t there grunts be like grunts in video games. Weak,” Arata complained aloud. More to himself than anyone else. Despite having just killed two people, Arata’s voice was as calm and natural as ever almost as though he has killed before and suspects he will be forced to kill again.

“Alright, let’s quickly go inside and find those two before more show up,” Genki said as he and Luna got out of the place he was using for cover and began walking toward the entrance of the building with Arata following once Genki passed him. Unlike Arata, his voice was a bit more shaky and what one would expect from a high school student after seeing to bodies.

Now that Arata was fully inside the building he had a much better look at how nice it was. What made it so nice wasn’t just that it was cleaned often, but that also how well it was decorated. Arata could recognize a few very famous paintings and sculptures made by modern artists. It was almost beautiful enough that Arata regretted how much damage he did to the room. While a lot of decorations were still intact many more were broken on the ground. Scattered around and mixed it with the rubble from the floor and wall. “It seems like such a waste of money and time. They are a very cautious group that abandons hideouts that the slightest whiff of danger. Why put so much effort into something that you are just going to discard without a second thought,” he said. To Arata it was similar to those kids you would see at the beach who loved to put a lot of time into making sand castles near the water because they liked seeing it get destroyed.

Genki waved off Arata’s remark and did a quick scan of the room and noticed an elevator. Next to the elevator there were to arrows. One pointing up and the other down. “Looks like there are lower levels. Luna and I will take the lower levels while you two take the upper ones. If you find her use your abilities as I will be able to sense it and if we it Luna and I will find a way to let you know. I am sure there are stairs here use them and Luna and I will take the elevator. Any questions,” Genki asked.

With the battle over, Turbo started stretching, making his body use to his injuries in order to make himself more movable. He then walked in with his hands in his pocket, kicking the guy with the sword's body out of his path. He wasn't concerned about it as it was no different from all the people he's injured or worse as a resulted to all the destruction he caused. "Lets just bring down the building, that'll be easier then having to search through the whole thing." he added as looked around not paying any attention towards the interior.

“Brilliant idea. It is not like we have friends inside and are unaware of the state they are in. What could possibly go wrong with an idea like that,” Luna said sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. There was a bit of harshness in her tone, which Arata could guess was because all though she had given his abilities back she had yet to actually forgive him.

“On top of that while this building is abandoned it is still probably owned by a company. If we knock it down we would have to pay for it,” Genki added. “Any other questions?"

"Who cares, this building isnt worth protecting." He said as he made his way to the doors of the stairs and leaned against it. "You'll know it too when you get a look around.”

Arata gave Genki and Luna a questioning look before following Turbo to the stairs. As he walked he could hear the elevator door opening and then closing. “What is wrong with this place,” Arata asked when he caught up to Turbo. “Is it really so bad that you would destroy it regardless of the people in it,” Arata continued.

In the distance Arata could see the stairs, which were at complete odds with the rest of the building. While the rest of the building looks to be in great shape the stairs looked very worn down. Some of the cement floors were cracked or out right missing. “I am just going to float down,” Arata thought as he awaited Turbo’s answer.

Turbo gets onto the railing of the stairs and leap down to the railing on the opposite side and continued on his way down. "I wasn't serious but this building isn't what it seems, the fact that we started from ground level and has a downstairs means that who ever owned it was doing something here that they didn't want the public to know about" He said as he leaped down, talking to Arata who was floating down along with him. "But now the fact that the lobby is in pristine condition while the outside is a wreck shows that someone's been here for a long time, and from what you told me about these guys we're dealing with now, obviously longer then them which means its still in being used in secret. With this in mind these outsiders are probably keeping Toyohime and Emiko in an abandoned room they don't use anymore to avoid leaving a trace that they been here, probably where these stairs are leading" He informed.

Arata lightly landed on the floor below and with a quick look down he could see there was at least two other floors below this one. “True, but that is a big assumption to make as they could have wrecked the outside as a way to disguise their base. After all a lot of the buildings around it are also pretty run down,” Arata said before opening the door that separates the stairwell with the main portion of this lower floor.

The room behind the door was hidden in pitch black darkness, no signs of light anywhere. As they made their way Turbo had a hard time figuring out where he's going, only thing leading him for right now is the source of light coming through the door way to the stairs which became useless as they went further in. "Damn, I cant find the light switch." He said while leaning closer in an attempt to see better. As he was walking along his foot got caught on something causing him to trip. "Whoah!" A loud crash was heard as he fell onto several items. "Ow."

With his air current sense, Arata had a much easier time navigating through the dark room than his companion. By focusing on how the air currents shifts and twists in the room he was able tell where everything was. The walls, the tables, the light switch on the other side of the room, the large thick book that Turbo just stubbed his toe on, etc. “Stay right there,” Arata suggested as he easily navigated his way through the maze-like room to the light switch to turn it on.

The room, to put it lightly, was a mess. He thought Emiko’s room was the messiest a room could be, but this room puts Emiko’s to shame. The tile white walls gave the room a doctor office-like feel to it. Arata could see 4 tables in the room, one in each cardinal direction. The table in the north had a computer while the other tables, and the floors, were covered with books and papers. To his left was another door, which he guessed was a hallway judging by the movements of the air behind the door. Realizing what this room and the opportunity it presents, Arata pushed aside his urge to clean this place Arata began shifting through the papers in search for any useful information. “Mind helping me?” asks Arata.

Turbo, who was collapsed on the ground, flung his legs forward, leaping him off the floor to his feet. He rubbed his head as he made his way to the table Arata was sorting through. "What are we looking for?" He asked before he got started.

“Anything that you suspect would be useful. Just try to find Toyohime’s name and perhaps Emiko’s as well as there has to be a reason they kidnapped her as well instead of just killing her,” Arata said as he shuffled through the papers.

"You think they would have information on your friends tossed in here with a room full of junk?" Turbo said as he took out a drawer of files from a cabinet and began shuffling. "This room looks like it hasn't been used in year..." He stopped himself as his eyes widened. "No way! Are these designs for a hover board? This is revolutionary!" He shouted in excitement. "Why would they toss this in the junk room?" He mumbled to himself loud enough to be heard.

"If I have learned one thing from being in GALE it is to always expect the unexpected. Not to mention their choices of hideouts makes it clear that they like to hide in the most unlikely of places," Arata said. It only took Arata a minute or two to find the document he was looking for and upon glancing it over quickly he let out an exhausted sigh. "Emiko will be angry about this for a few days..." Arata said to himself. "Hey, Turbo can I ask you something? What do you think of Emiko and Toyohime? When you saw them together what was your first thought." Arata and the other members of GALE only jokes about how Emiko looks like Toyohime to get under her skin, but these people actually are genuinely curious. Up until this moment he never gave their similarities much thought, but if it isn't just him and other members of Gale who see it then just maybe there is something going on.

"What do i think?" He repeated, confused on this question out of nowhere. "I dont know, Emiko's strong i guess, she has potential, and Toyohime, hmm." He stopped to think about. "i don't know, she's interesting. There definitely something about her that i could feel when i first saw her." He said looking back at the papers. "Why? What's up?" He questioned glancing back at him.

"When we first met Toyohime the first thing we noticed is how she looks like Emiko and we jokingly asked her if this is her long lost sister. For some reason she got annoyed and ever since we have been calling them sisters as a joke; we don't actually believe they are. If what I found is to be believed these people actually think they are sisters and that may be why they kidnapped Emiko as well instead of killing her," Arata said in disbelief. Admittedly Arata did always think it was odd that she is so defensive about it, but Arata always assumed it had something to do with why Emiko is so secretive about her past. Arata opened his mouth as if to say something else, but before he could say anything he was interrupted when he felt his power weaken for a second before quickly returning to normal. This repeated several times, which he recognized as morse code. Once Arata's power returned to normal and stayed there he said, "Looks like they found them on the top floor" then walked back to the stairs.

Turbo remained as he thought it over for a moment. "*so they didn't take Emiko because she was a bystander like i assumed*. *So they go through all this trouble taking Toyohime and her possible connection Emiko knowing both are under the protection of the Level 5's organization GALE and thus the Board of Directors as a whole*. *Which means they want something only she has*. Hmm?" His deep thought was interrupted as Arata mentioned that the other two have found them. "So their up at the top hu? Then we can't afford to take our time! HAAAAHHHH!" He called out as his jumped up and slammed his foot onto the roof onto the roof releasing a shock wave that tore a whole through the ceiling as he went straight through followed more sounds of walls being destroyed echoing to the floor he left Arata at through the hole he just made.