PARIN!

I have one of my cards cut through the glass vial containing the "antidote", shattering it apart.

(A fake. Of course it was a fake!)

Pipi. Pipi. Pipi. Pipi.

I look at the puddle on the floor. This liquid...was another type of snake poison. We all knew not to trust that snake, the odds were against us, but we had to make this gamble! What antidotes are there for hydra poison!?

Pipi. Pipi. Pipi. Pipi.

I look at the beds next to me in the Keisetsu's medical room.

To Mydrea and Saiya.

Saiya doesn't seem poisoned. Rather, she's simply been drugged.

But Mydrea...

...

Hisao isn't here for this reason. He's likely smoking his worries away in his office. It's not like he can do anything else. I can't let him fight on the frontlines. It's not worth the gamble, even with the stakes being so high.

I lean over the side of the bed.

(Hisao...I'm sorry.)

"MMmmmmmmmmm....." I hear a voice groan.

!

I look over to Saiya. She's waking up!

"Saiya!" I yell.

She stretches, blinks her emotionless eyes, then looks at me. I quickly hug her.

"I'm glad...to see you're alright." I say, trying not to cry.

She looks around.

"Where...am I?" she asks in her usual emotionless tone. A kuudere through and through.

"You're back in the Keisetsu hideout. Are you hurt? Any pain?"

She looks at me, then checks her surroundings again.

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"About an hour since we got you."

...

"I have to go." she says.

"What? Now? In your condition?"

"There's no time."

She quickly gets up and takes off running to the door. I step in front of her.

"You're in no state to fight!" I tell her.

"I don't have time for this. We don't have time for this."

"Why the urgency? We can handle it!"

"We're running out of time."

She looks at me, then falls backwards...

And as soon as she hits the floor, she "sinks" into her shadow, merging with it. That's her darkness tone subtone, "shadow merge".

"They're in danger." her voice echoes through her shadow. "It's a trap."

Before my shadow can grab a part of hers, she slides her shadow up the wall and around me, heading for the d...

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!?!?

"They're here." Saiya states.

Ninininininininininininininininini!!!

The fire alarm goes off. Sprinklers activate!

Saiya glides along the wall, and heads towards the main hall. I hesitate when I look at Mydrea, but choose to follow. When I get to the main hall, I see dozens of unknown men and women attempt to break through Crystal's ice wall.

And it looks as though she's having trouble.

(Freezing Sueka's room seems to have taken its toll on her.)

The ice begins to crack.

I look around to see Yuri on the ceiling, shaking in fear. Sueka is likely still confined to her room. Hisao should be in his office. But I don't know where Seppe is. Seems Hisao, Crystal, and I are the only capable fighters right now.

(How did they find us?) I think.

One enemy breaks through the ice, knocking down the projector.

!!

(I see...) I think, looking at the burning projector. (I should have known.)

As the ice wall falls apart, some of our opponents slowly advance, but don't immediately attack.

"Where is Hisao Tsumetei?" one of them asks.

Crystal looks at me, confused.

"What do you want with him?" I ask.

"We have our orders. Your leader for the rest of your allies."

"What?"

Saiya's shadow slides across the ceiling, past the group of yakuza members.

"Oh no you don't!" one of the enemy women shouts, pointing at Saiya. "GET HER!"

"Not a chance!" says Yuri. "I'm going to regret this! Plant Drive: Cleome Flowers!"

Green rhime passes over the group and creates a large cluster of the spider flower known as "violet queen".

BATAN!!!

The group gets covered under a heap of the flowers. Those who aren't completely covered get barraged with more of these flowers, now being thrown by Yuri as she continues to yell "Get away!".

The flowers themselves don't seem to hurt any of them...

But this allows Saiya to slip past and escape the building.

I look at Crystal, whose expression is one of slight surprise. I knew Yuri was a plant tone, and everybody who didn't know speculated that she is a yokai and not an animal tone, but this is the first time she has openly used her "cleome" genus subtone.

BBBBBBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In that instant, the flowers ignite and turn to ash, revealing very angry thugs underneath. It seems that they are all fire tones. It makes sense, as no other tone would be able to withstand Hisao's flames. Not even water can put his fire out.

But this makes it difficult for me and Crystal.

"Plant Drive: Cleome Shuriken!"

Yuri throws more violet queens, which begin to spin as though they actually were shuriken.

But the flowers burn up before hitting any of our opponents.

Half of the enemies dash towards us. One throws multiple fireballs at Yuri, who evades by moving sideways across the ceiling. Five of the thugs punch Crystal, who gets knocked back but is unfazed. Her ice is starting to melt, however.

To draw the enemies' attention, I use my "jet stream" subtone to lift some of our furniture and launch them towards my targets. But the objects mostly burn up before hitting the enemy...

Batan! Batan!

A few parts still hit their targets.

Seeing that we have a disadvantage, Crystal and Yuri retreat up the stairs towards our rooms, while I head down towards the arena. When I look back, the enemy squad divides in two and pursues us.

This...is a gamble I have to take.