Minna!! Sorry it's taken me a while to update but here's the next one so I hope you like it! Enjoy!!
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Chapter 16
It was a calm night with a cool breeze in the air and the sounds of crickets in the background. The fireflies were floating around blinking a small light once in a while and there were several stars in the sky. The night was perfectly peaceful with not a disturbance in sight. Things were nice and nothing could possibly ruin it for Yuko who was sitting under a tree staring at the stars. She wanted to be alone for the night without people getting in her face. She wanted some alone time so she decided to hang out in an area where no one would find her. Yuko was simply relaxing when suddenly she heard a small voice come from somewhere. Looking around, she didn't see anyone but yet she felt like there was someone there. The feeling was odd and so Yuko thought about leaving but then she saw something running towards it. It looked like a little girl in a white dress moving closer and closer to her. Then under the light of the full moon, Yuko saw who it was. The little girl was Yuko's sister only she was younger form of her. Yuko thought she was hallucinating and seeing things but her sister walked over to her and said,
"Nee-chan look I got one!"
She opened her hands and a small firefly flew out blinking its light in front of Yuko. It was then there was a flashback in her head of Yuko and her sister. When they were kids, they would catch fireflies on nights like these together. They would have competitions on who could catch the most and then they would name them before letting them go. The fond memory brought back a strange sensation of pain in her chest realizing that her sister was dead and she would never be able to see her again. She would never have moments like these again for her sister was no longer among the living. Yuko's chest grew heavy and her head began to pound. Her body became weak and collapsed right there on the ground in front of her sister who looked at her with worried eyes.
"Nee-chan? You ok?"
Yuko knew she wasn't real and clearly something was wrong. She couldn't figure out what it was though and when she tried to look around her body just wouldn't move. Her eyes were focused on the little girl standing before her claiming to be her sister even though she knew it wasn't true. Yuko wondered what was going on and then out of the corner of her eyes, she saw something staring at her. It was that same girl with grey eyes looking at her. She wore a smile on her face as she watched Yuko struggle to move but then there were more attacks on her mind. Memories of her and her family flashing throughout her mind slowly being torn away and messed with. Yuko thought she was going to lose her mind if something wasn't done and so she managed to use her powers to make her body move by force. Moving power to her legs, Yuko dashed over to the one with grey eyes and managed to tackle her down. Yuko was angry with the fact that the girl was messing with her mind and so without even thinking, she turned her hand into a blade and slit her throat right there. Blood splattered onto her face knowing she had killed the girl but was horrified to see she was wrong. The one who was dead was not the girl but was her sister who's blood was now on Yuko's hand.
"AHHHHH!"
Yuko screamed in horror as she fell back and moved away from the dead body. Yuko heard more laughter and looked over only to see the girl with grey eyes once again smiling and laughing again. Yuko tried to attack her but she dodged and kicked her over. Yuko turned her arm into a sword and then slashed what she thought was the girl. To her horror though, she was shocked to see the head of her mother fall down to the ground. She knew it wasn't her mother but the sight of it all was causing Yuko to break. The head rolled towards Yuko with the face pointed towards Yuko. In her mother's voice, the head said,
"Y-Yuko... Why?"
Yuko knew that fighting wasn't going to work and so the only way to get out was to run. She made wings burst from her back and she prepared to take off but then she felt something grab her ankle. She looked down and saw her father's decaying body holding onto her. Half of his body was in the ground while the other was holding onto her. He was missing an eye and half of his face was cut up and exposed. Yuko felt herself start to get pulled in by her father slowly into the ground. She tried to fight back but she couldn't and so Yuko was dragged further and further into the ground until she could no longer see the light. She was only surrounded by darkness and nothing else. Yuko thought it was the end but then suddenly she felt something hit her hard in the head. She opened her eyes and saw she was back in the field she was in. The moon was still out and everything was just like before. Yuko stood up and looked around to make sure there was nothing watching her. She was surprised to see everything was back to normal and wondered if it was all just a horrible dream. However something inside Yuko told her that it was no dream and something was going on. The only problem was she couldn't figure it out.
Not wanting to stay around any longer, Yuko got up and headed home quickly before anything else happened. When she walked inside she accidentally ran into Yuki who was crying. Yuko was going to ask her what was wrong but she quickly pushed Yuko out of the way and ran out. Yuko walked inside and down to the basement where the others were only to be shocked seeing the mess. There were rocks everywhere and holes in the ground and walls. Yuko wasn't sure what had happened but she was worried it had something to do with Yuki. Yuko walked over to Mayu who was in the corner with a couple scratches on her but she seemed alright. Yuko asked her what happened and she said that Yuki got mad and had a fit. She didn't know exactly what had happened but she was worried about Yuki. Seeing how everyone was busy trying to clean up the mess, Yuko decided to go and try to find Yuko. Yuko ran outside and called for her but there was no answer. She had to try to find Yuki and fast so she thought of the best thing she could. She took a deep breath and then said,
"Yosh let's try something new."
Focusing her powers, Yuko had somehow managed to split herself into three different people. Yuko had managed to create two clones of herself and was now ready to look. The three all confirmed what to do and so they all split up to search for Yuki. Searching the area, the three Yukos looked everywhere for Yuki but yet there was no sign. Then finally, Yuko got a signal from one of her clones telling her that they had found a trail. Heading to the sight, Yuko saw there was a trail of fallen trees and rising dirt. It was leading to somewhere deep in the forest so she knew she had found the right place. Feeling there was something dangerous ahead, Yuko decided to keep her clones close to her in case something happened. The three of them headed into the forest only to find a never ending trail. Deeper and deeper they went until finally they came into a clearing where there was a cube of dirt in the middle. Yuko guessed that the one inside was Yuki and so they had to figure out a way to get her out. The two clones walked over to the cube and try to break it open but as soon as they raised their arms, the cube spawned spikes and stabbed them both in the head killing them. Yuko knew this wasn't good and so she was going to have to find another way inside. Yuko called out to Yuki but there was no answer.
"Yuki!! Oi!! I know you're in there so come out!"
"Shut up!!"
The cube bursted and out came Yuki surrounded in a green aura and tree branches coming from her head. Her eyes were glowing a bright green and she glared at Yuko ready to kill her at any minute. Seeing that Yuki wasn't going to calm down any time soon, Yuko decided to prepare for battle. Yuko didn't know much about Yuki but she knew she had control of the Earth around her so she had to be careful of everything. Therefore, Yuko used her powers to thicken her skin creating a layer of extra armor incase Yuki tried anything. The two stared at each other for a long time until suddenly Yuki attacked with an attack from below. A large stone spike rose from the ground and nearly pierced Yuko's chest if she hadn't moved. She didn't have time to regain ground for Yuki was on her shooting sharp projectiles at her. Yuko was barely able to dodge in time before Yuki would strike again. Seeing it was a game of speed, Yuko decided to kick up the power in her legs. Within a second, Yuko was able to move faster than ever and managed to get close enough to Yuki to hold her down. Sadly that was only for a short second for Yuki was not the only one with tricks up her sleeve.
"Get off!!"
The ground rose and Yuko was sent flying high in to sky. Luckily Yuko was able to create a soft landing for herself by landing in the trees. Yuki looked madder than ever now with the ground cracking into canyons around her making it almost impossible to get to her. Yuko didn't know what was wrong with her but she wanted to stop Yuki before she hurt anything else. Therefore, Yuko gathered a large amount of strength into her arms and charged forward. Yuki spawned stone pillars and walls to try to stop Yuko but to no effect Yuko was able to break through easily. She made it all the way to Yuki and then slammed her into the ground hard. Knowing the only way to calm her down, Yuko started to look for the gem on her body. It wasn't anywhere where the skin was showing so Yuko lifted Yuki's shirt and found the square gem right on Yuki's stomach. Yuko quickly touched the gem and entered Yuki's mind to see what was going on.
"Yuki!!!"
Yuko looked around only to find nothing out there except darkness. Then suddenly, Yuko saw Yuki laying on the ground knocked out. She went over to tend to her and that's when she saw it. She saw the monster inside Yuki only there was something wrong with it. There were gray chains embedded deep into the monster's flesh. Every time the monster moved, the chains would tighten and burn the monster into submission. Despite the restraints, the monster was still fighting and furious which was probably the cause of Yuki's anger. Seeing the problem, Yuko had the solution so she transformed her arms into the sharpest blades and cut through the chains. As soon as she cut them, the chains disappeared and the monster calmed down. It looked at Yuko and said,
"Thank you human. No one has ever been so kind to me before."
"No problem." Yuko said changing back to normal.
"My name is Hanako." the monster said bowing its head.
"Nice to meet you as well. I'm Yuko."
"Well Yuko thank you for taking care of that. I don't know what could have caused this by I have a feeling its something far worse. Anyways you might wanna leave now seeing how your friend is injured."
"Thanks I will."
Yuko left with Yuki and was back in the normal world where Yuki was knocked out. When she came to she had no idea what had happened. The last thing she had remembered was doing the dishes when suddenly she felt a strange burning sensation in her body. Her body felt like it was on fire and eventually she couldn't take it causing her to go into a fit of rage. Yuko knew this wasn't Yuki's fault and there was something else going on but she couldn't figure it out. It was then Yuki got a call from Mayu telling her to come back to the shelter because something was happening. Yuko and Mayu quickly ran back to the shelter only to find half the building completely destroyed. They went down to the basement only to find it completely buried under rubble. Yuko thought people had managed to get out but actually there were still people under the rocks. She could hear their cries and so her and Yuki worked to get the people out and to safety. As they were helping, there was loud crash from outside causing the building to shake. Yuki told Yuko to go out and see what was going on so she went outside only to be greeted by a bright flash. She then saw Minami on the ground unconscious and Atsuko behind her. Mayu was nowhere to be found but Jurina and Rena were still fighting something. Yuko immediately sprung into action and went next to Jurina protecting her from a powerful blast.
"What the hell is going on?!" Yuko asked.
"We were ambushed by something but I can't tell what it is!" Jurina said.
"Where are the attackers?!"
"We don't know!!!"
Before Yuko could say anything there was another shot from somewhere and nearly knocked Yuko off her feet. The first thing she had to do was get Minami and Atsuko somewhere safe so Yuko grabbed the two and put them inside with Yuki. Yuko then went out to help Jurina and Rena who were fighting an unknown enemy. Yuko went over to Rena who was being pounded pretty hard by a barrage of attacks. Yuko expanded her body protecting Rena and moving her out of the way before a huge blast came down making a huge crater in the earth. Rena looked tired and pretty weak not having much energy left in her. Therefore, Yuko took her over to Jurina who looked like she was going to collapse at any minute and had the two stick together. Yuko then took the lead being the only one left to fight and so like before, Yuko split her body into several copies. She was able to make twenty copies of herself and so she had them spread out and find the source of the attacks. They all searched while dodging attacks coming from nowhere and were having no luck finding the source. One by one, the clones were being killed and Yuko was running out of energy. Luckily one of the clones saw the source of the blasts so Yuko herself spawned wings and flew up to the site of attacks. She was shocked to see it was the same figure with grey eyes staring at her and then firing a powerful blast at her.
"Yuko!!!"
Yuko was shot back down onto the ground where she was then approached by the woman with white eyes. She smiled and said,
"Hello there~ I'm looking for my friend. Have you seen her?"
Yuko was too weak to move and so she could only reply asking,
"W-who?"
"Mariko!"
The woman looked up and smiled seeing the person who was standing there. It was Haruna who stood there with an angry look on her face. She walked over to Mariko and was ready to punch her right in the face but the girl with grey eyes stopped her. Having a chance to actually see her, turns out the girl with grey eyes was actually Miichan from the club. Haruna herself was shocked and could only say,
"Miichan.. why?"
"Because unlike you Mariko I saw a chance and took it."
Miichan knocked Haruna back and then Mariko laughed saying,
"I came to warn you that we're going to invade the Earth soon and you can either join me or die."
"I'll never join you!" Haruna said.
"What about your friends? Surely they're not as foolish to not join."
"They won't join either! They won't side with a crazy bitch."
"Tssk..you had your chance Haruna but now it's time for me to go. It was good seeing you. Anyways, ja nee~"
With that, Mariko and Miichan disappeared and everything went back to normal. The building was restored and everything was fine. There was no damage at all to the area around them yet Yuko and the others felt so weak as if they had taken a major beating. Yuko herself was barely able to move but managed to stand and look over at Haruna who had a dark look on her face. Yuko needed answers but first priority was treating the others so Yuko took the injured and helped treat them. Once that was all done, Yuko and Haruna sat at a table and there was nothing but silence for a moment. Then Haruna said,
"That woman was Shinoda Mariko and we used to be friends. Mariko however was captured by the leader of these monsters and was corrupted by them. She came to Miichan and I offering us a chance to serve along with her and change the world but I refused. I was not going to kill millions of innocent people. Miichan on the other hand saw differently and well I guess you saw what had happened.."
Yuko thought long about what she was going to say and the only thing she could think of was,
"What do we do now?"
Haruna stood up and looked at Yuko with a serious look and said,
"We prepare for war."
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What will happen next? Find out on the next update!!