[Original] - Legend of a Hot-Blooded Pig

[Bias Bus]

Story may contain implied NSFW scenes and all that bullshit. So yeah.

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20 years into the future, our world and everything we know and love about it, will no longer be the same. Nations will fall, Cities will collapse, and the outlook on human society will be turned from the inside out. Why? Simply because of an catastrophic global event that would nearly wipe out all life on the face of the planet. Known only as 'Izanami's Trigger', the incident was known by many for it's widespread destruction but, also the overall mystery as to where it came from and how it began. The looming enigma surrounding Izanami's Trigger is the simple fact that no one has been able to remember (or live to see) what exactly caused, and why. All that can be known was that the incident in question involved an ongoing project that was brought forth by the mega corporation known as Enma-O Industries.

What IS known, however, is what occurred after the Izanami's Trigger, for after the accident it is said millions (some even say billions, but this is doubtful) of lives were turned upside down from the jarring catastrophe that devoured the entire globe in within the darkness of it's maw. Prior to the trigger's initial beginning, an enigmatic miasma began to spread across the world, vehemently transmogrifing the natural life of the Earth into hellish creatures of nightmares, even the humans were thrown into a complete upheaval; many of them losing the precious humanity they took for granted as they began their horrific turn into bestial mutants all thanks to the noxious fumes of hell that continued to linger in the miserable atmopshere, it's prescense haunting the lands like an odorless curse to all who breathed it into their unsuspecting lungs.

Indeed, t'was this vile form of air that gave rise to both Yakshas and Rakshas...the Yakshas being those who still retained a humanoid form, but far more mutated than what was previously defined as a normal human. And then there were Rakshas...a step above normal mutated humans and falling face first into the abyss of full on grotesque monstrocities. If Mother Nature could get even one glimpse of these foul beings she would all but hang herself from the mere thought of how her work could go so horribly wrong in creating these...THINGS. Worse still, the Rakshas lost all their ties with their normal human personalities, becoming nothing short of wild beasts of the wastelands that devoured the flesh of their fellow mutants to survive another day. In a more technical sense, humanity had completely turned heel face to itself...

However, there is one place that remains safe and untouched by these horrors, a heaven in the middle of a sorrowful hell that only a select few have called "Yggdra". No one can readily say how Yggdra's birth came about, but there a brave noblemen was said to have taken charge of the hopeless situation, unifying the mutated people, and finally stabilizing this crying world from it's many years of sorrow and anguish. No one can truly say who took a stand in the world during those years but, whoever did so, rebuilt on the decaying remains of a long dead city of nearly twenty years past and gave rise to 'Yggdra', a rapidly expanding metropolis that would house thousands upon thousands of the troubled humans in the safety the they thought had died so long ago with their mother earth. With this, came the birth of a new order of government, one that watches over the slowly regenerating human populace, making certain they were happy and safe. Eventually, with their need to venture outside their sheltered life null and void, the people of Yggdra labeled the outside land the 'Forgotten Lands' namely for the fact they truly wish to forget that harsh land where nothing is guaranteed survival...

Unfortunately, to those outside of Yggdras walls of salvation and hope, their ways are all but a fleeting myth never to be touched by their hands. Yggdra was indeed a hidden eden, a bountiful garden to which those outside are not permitted to enter it's gates...they were the sinned, they were the tarnished, they were the Yakshas. However, yaksha they maybe, they proved resilient enough to survive in the harsh wastes of the Forgotten Lands; cultivating the dry landscape into farmlands and generally making things work for themselves rather than rely on Yggdra's protection and guidance. They may not have had the luxury of being protected from the cruelty of the wastes, but it is this cruelty that has only made them all the more stronger...all the more sufficent for their way of life in this broken earth...

Even the youth of the Forgotten Lands have found life to be doable in these wastes, one of them being a young yaksha that lives in the ruined city of Akihabara, a once bustling metropolis in Japan now reduced to nothing sort of a decaying husk crumbling buildings in reflection to what it once was before Izanami's Trigger. Only twelve years young, this yaksha goes by the name of Iyo Sawaguchi, a short and plump lass with dirty blonde hair and eyes of the color hazel. Having been exposed to the miasma that saturated the atmosphere after Izanami's Trigger, Iyo was granted pig like qualities; sprouting pink swine ears and even a curly tail to complete the appearance. Her mother and father however...were not as lucky, the both of them were borderline monstrous, no longer even having anything that remotely gave them any similarities to what their human forms looked like. Despite this, Iyo remained by their side regardless of their outward appearance...being thankful that she had a mother and father at all.

After awhile, it became apparent that the neighborhood in which they lived was no longer safe...the Yakshas now running rampant and on a blood thirsty march for living flesh. Iyo did manage to find salvation within her own school and from this point onward, she has remained here. Living alongside her friends and the teachers that took up the role as their caretakers and overseers as they all struggle on to survive in the carcassed city that so mockingly called itself their home...

The only thing missing from this machine of Iyo's life was the gears of both her parents...the both of them having been killed by Rakshas as she made her escape to the school for protection. The loss struck the pig girl harder than any blow she sustained before in her life...she would remain for many months on end, mourning the loss of her dear mother and father who gave their lives so she could live to see the sun rise over the horizon. For a time, Iyo placed the blame on herself, the death of her parents being because of her inability to protect herself from the Rakshas. Thankfully her friends were close by to help her through the times of grief, pulling Iyo through the dark wilderness of despair and helping her see the light of hope once more. Indeed, had it not been for their help...the outcome of Iyo's pitiful state would have been far from as melancholy as it had been before. With her mind now set to live her life just as her parents wanted, Iyo vowed to soldier on through these times and keep her head up to the heavens. Her parents were watching her from on high, and she wasn't going to let their final sacrifice for her be in vain...

For now, Iyo was content with her life here. It wasn't as lavish as her old one once was but, her friends and teachers helped make things all the more bearable. The school was something Iyo herself, wouldn't expect herself to be living in. The somewhat weathered school building proved to be rather sturdy during the initial destruction that was ushered in during Izanami's Trigger. However, despite it's rock steady will, the school building was still nothing short of a battered old husk of what it used to be, most areas damaged and crumbling away from the numerous Raksha attacks that plauged it's exterior like a bad skin disease. The area that seemed to be in the worse state was the gymnasium of the school, the room of the spacious annex being full of holes, almost to the point where it would appear nigh roofless.

The walls along the outside were in no better shape either, but the blind eye the residents turned to this seemed to give rise to the fact that the many holes could function as much better doors than the actual ones that had jammed completely shut months ago. Case in point, the overall poor state of the gym also didn't seem to deter the children who stayed here from using it like they did when their home wasn't the school itself. In fact, the gym was in use right now, the young yakshas all scurrying about as they freely indulged in their own physical activity, each group doing their own thing as opposed to all agreeing on playing a single game. Even though the world they knew before had long since passed away...the children knew how to keep some of their traditions alive, it seems... 

"Okay, listen up everyone~!" A feminine voice sang out across the sky lit gymnasium of the school, the crowd of mutant children looking up from their recreational activities and focusing on a slender young woman, her hair a jet black and her eyes luminous sapphire eyes hiding behind the circular shaped spectacles that sat on her nose. She was a teacher here at the school, one the few who stuck by the low paying job for the goodness of helping the youths and educating them. The fact that the trigger had all but transformed her into a bipedal octopi woman didn't seem to deter her from her mission as a school teacher to the pre-teen mutants around her. The bespectacled woman rose her tentacle to the door, directing the attention of the children to where they had to go...at least to those who either forgot or were new arrivals. Both were no stranger to her. "It's time for lunch, so run along and get your meals for the day." Upon this announcement, the children around her began to head out of the gymnasium, their minds now directed to the freshly prepared food that awaited them in the school's cafeteria.

Iyo sighed a bit, wiping the sweat from her forehead and tugged at the red shorts that clung to her sweat thighs. They always liked to ride up on her when she played hard, but this was easily fixed by a hearty tug to put the rebellios pair of shorts back in line. Seeing, her peers heading out of the ruined gym through one of the many holes in it's wall, Iyo turned to join them on their small walk about toward their lunch, heading out of the many openings in the crumbling gymnasium. Outside to the back area of the school, the cafeteria which wasn't to far ahead. The moment she walked outside, her nose was treated to the decedant aroma of a hot meal awaiting her, the scent of curry traveling through her nostrils and signalling her brain to alert her stomach on how hungry she really was. As stereotypical as it was to her appearance as a pig girl; Iyo loved to eat, even before the incident, she was always had something of a healthy appetite. This more or less led to her physical state of being rather chubby, and also managed to bring forth some ridicule from the students. Of course, Iyo made it clear that she didn't care much for their opinions by also showing that she wasn't afraid to introduce her knuckles to their face with wanton abandon. For what it's worth, she didn't even care that she was a little on the heavy side, but what she did care about was others poking fun at her about her appearance.

"Haha, we better make way for Piggyo, you all know you can't get between her and food!"

Of course, there was still that one bastard, that didn't seem to get the message. This being a burly, red haired lad who's body was nothing short of solid rock. He was a bully in this school, and seemed to only have grown worse with the advent of the accident being his body was tougher and stronger than before. Iyo however, cared not for what state he was in now, she kicked his ass in the past...she'll do it again if she had to. Iyo took one glance to the boy who flung the insult to her and scoofed, "Screw you with a drill, Butch." Iyo didn't like associating with this fellow, he was a pain in the hamparts and went out of his way to make fun of her. Many joked of how Butch only seemed to pick on her because he had something of a grade-school crush on Iyo, but...the idea of even showing him affection made the pig girl's stomach lurch in disgust.

"What was that, Piggyo?" Butch continued, the students in and around the area looking over to the spectacle in curiosity of what was going to happen next. "You got somethin' to say, then why don't you bring your fat porky ass over here and say it?"

Iyo halted in her tracks, turning on the heels of her gym shoes and dashed toward Butch with a look of absolute rage plastered on her face. Butch lost his tough expression the moment he saw Iyo turn on him, taken completely off gaurd by her sudden charge. The next thing he knew he could feel the astonishingly strong grasp of the pig girl's grip around the collar of his dingy white t-shirt as she slammed him into the wall of the school. Butch looked Iyo into her hazel eyes, the pig girl's orbs now burning with a seething anger that grew with each passing second. He knew he had went too far...but his judgment failed to predict just what Iyo would do when he did. "You say one more word to me and I'll make sure they have to dig your ass up from a fucking querry, you piece of rock-shit!" Iyo never understood why Butch went out of his way to tease and annoy her so much. There were dozens-maybe even hundreds-of other yakshas here in this school to pick on. A cold shiver ran through her as the pig girl recalled the rumor of Butch's disposition toward her being the product of romantic feelings...she took a moment to pray to god that this wasn't the case and focused her wrathful intentions back onto the rock skinned punk she held against the wall. On lookers began to gather around them chanting the phrase 'Fight' as Iyo looked ready to slug Butch across his granite covered mug.

The children's song of war echoed through across the field, the resonance managing to shake loose the tentacle teacher in the gymnasium as she peered outside to see the crowd of children, as well as the two whom they were so enthralled with. "Ah! Children please, no fighting!" The octopus teacher squeaked as she rushed through the crowd and used the powerful suckers on her tentacles to pry the pig off the rock wall of a boy. As she took a moment to realize who the two were, she let out an exasperated sigh having seen enough of these two fighting each other in the past. "You two again...why can't you both learn to at least ignore each other...?"

"I was just foolin' around with her, Mrs.Tachibana." Butch lied, using the aspect of how rough he could be as a means to fool the mollusk teacher into believing he was just a little too rough with Iyo to start with. Unfortunately for him, Mrs.Tachibana wasn't as naive as she was gentle and kind hearted...

"You and me both know that's not true, Butch. You really need to stop bullying others," Mrs.Tachibana sighed, applying tentacle to face as she turned to Iyo who clicked her teeth and turned to head back into the gymnasium. She didn't need to go this way...there was another way to get to the cafeteria and she wasn't willing to deal with Butch just for a shorter route. "Iyo...are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll just go the long way to lunch." Iyo spoke up, turning toward the mollusk like teacher who she knew was only concerned for her well being. "If I go along with Butch, odds are you'll have to pick up his pieces after I pulverize his rocky ass. I don't want to burden ya'll with that." And with that, Iyo continued back into the gymnasium away from the crowd of youngsters who were all beginning to groan at the fact that they wouldn't be able to see a fight between a pig and a body made of solid rock. Any young teenager would be disappointed at this out come really...

As the cacophony of youthful chatter grew softer, the further Iyo tread through the halls of the school she used the silence around her to take in the scenery, even though she herself knows this place well. The school was Iyo's second home after her parents had died, her old one was still open to her, but there was no one there waiting for her return. That and the school was the only place she could be sure she could have 3 square meals a day and a safe place to sleep...as much as she disliked it, her previous home wouldn't do very good in protecting her like it did before the trigger. The school itself proved to be as good an orphanage as it was a facility for learning, it had survived the beating the trigger had given it but the damages of the accident were still very obvious. The gym, for one, was filled with holes and the roof was almostly completely destroyed. The hall way Iyo walked through was in slightly better condition, but there were places where the teacher's had tried their best to patch up any holes to prevent drafts. Granted said pathes were more than likely, cardboard boxes, taped against garbage bags. Crude, yet effective...

"I hope Kumada and Momo will wait for me..." Iyo remarked to herself, making noise in the otherwise silent ruins of the school hallways. Her journey to the cafeteria was going to be a long one and...for the most part, she didn't like doing things in complete silence.

However, the silence Iyo had grown comfortable with was having trouble staying with her. The pig girl continued down the poorly patched up hallways of her school and her ears could pick up the sound of others speaking amongst themselves. Knowing no one else was around, Iyo slowed her walk down as she slowly began to approach the epicenter of these enigmatic voices that rang into her ears and sparked her curiosity. The origin of the mysterious voices seemed to be wafting from an abandoned classroom, something that usually stands in for a make shift bedroom for the children and the teacher's respectively. Because of the spacious accomidations, many children could stay in a single class room at a time, which made living accomidations slightly easier at the expense of losing a high amount of privacy. Curious on who was inside the classroom, Iyo placed her ear against the door and surely enough, the voices inside became a bit cleaer to distinguish, albeit still muffled. There was a woman inside...a man as well.  her voice encourging the actions of the man to go further into her as this same voice breaks into fits of pleasured moans that spoke volumes of the ectasy that she was drowning in. Iyo's eyes widened to the size of saucers as she realized of not only what was going on in there...but the voices of those who were behind the doors.

"Miss Shirayama and...Mr. Toshizuko?" The pig thought, her face flushing a deep red as the feminine cries rose in cresendo, the dull thumping becoming faster and faster with every second that ran by. The both of them...they were locked in the heated grasp of sex, and Iyo knew it. What made this all the more weird was the fact that Iyo remembered Miss Shirayama was the school nurse who taught her and her peers about the wonders of sexuality through that remarkable class known as 'Sex Ed'.

Suddenly, the mewls of pleasure burst into an evolution of screams as Miss Shirayama screamed the name of her love to the heavens. Then she fell into the blissful silence of a satisfied after glow, having taken in the essense of the man she had become one with. There was a light shuffling and, once again, she spoke, "Hah...wanna go again...I can tell you want more from me..." Miss Shirayami questions, the lust oozing from her voice being clear evidence that she was begging for more from her Mr.Toshizuko who remained unresponsive in her advances to him. The silence between them strecthed onward before, it was finally broken by the deep, calming voice of Mr. Toshizuko.

"Not yet, let's talk first..." The teacher suggested to the nurse, his words as smooth as the carnal lust that oozed from the woman he was still one with. To turn down sex from a nurse? Whatever he wished to speak to her about was definately something of great importance...something that Iyo was sticking close by to hear. "Mitsuko... I think it's time for us to move on...to Yggdra." Iyo raised an eyebrow, the word Yggdra just as alien to her as the room behind the door was steamy. Naturally, she pushed herself closer to the door to hear more.

"I don't know, Takashi..." Mitsuko spoke, her voice dropping it's lust and covering itself with hesitation, and uncertainty. "Do you really want to chance going out in the the Forgotten Lands, I mean...it's so dangerous out there..."

"Mitsuko...you know I'll protect you no matter what." Takashi said to Mitsuko, the ever so persistant silence that chased behind his words giving him a moment to think on why she would be against his plans to go to, what was essentially, a paradise in an otherwise hellish land of mutated super beasts. "What's the matter...I remember only a week ago, you were all over this plan. Did something happen?"

"Takashi...you know I can't just leave these children...they need me..." The room fell into a thick sea of silence once more, neither Mitsuko nor Takashi spoke a single word to each other. Eventually, there was a sigh of defeat from the teacher as he, apparently, withdrew and conceded to Mitsuko's whims. He wanted to go to Yggdra to start their life anew...but he valued Mitsuko and her feelings even more. Who was he to force his views onto her own? "...I'm sorry, I know you really want to go...but, I can't leave. Not while the children need me here..."

"No, it's alright...we'll stay. But know that I still want us to go there." Takashi told to the nurse, the sound of his pants being pulled back up rustling through the room and warning Iyo that her time to stick around was just about up. "Mitsuko...I love you too much to have you live in this hell hole everyday of your life. I want you to live with me...live so we can have a family together..."

"I know, Takashi...just give me a little more time. I promise I'll come with you to Yggdra." Mitsuko told her lover, the sound of her lips meeting his silencing the both of them for well over several seconds. Unbeknowest to them...Iyo had heard everything. Everything regarding their plans to leave for Yggdra as well as how close and intimate they were in their relationship. before they parted and Iyo's pig like ears picked up the sound of desks moving. Immedieatly she feared that the both of them were on their way out and set to remedy this the one way every eavesdropping teenager did; by running like a bat out of hell.

"Crap! They're on the move!" Iyo said under her breath as she turned to the hallway and bolted down the path as fast as her plump legs could possibly take her. Luckily for Iyo, she was still rather athletic for being so rotund, in fact, it was one of the very mysteries that puzzled not only her friends but Miss Shirazawa was well. The hallways were nothing but a blur to the pig girl, she had given into her primal swine like instinct to charge and didn't stop for a single moment to see if she was actually followed (in all fairness, she really did believe they were following her). Eventually Iyo's arms stretched out from her side and she plowed through the corroded metal doors that led her into the crowded cafeteria. The smell of freshly foods chicken and curry was still lingering in the air, filling her nose with it's alluring scent and putting her mind slowly into a mood that drove away from her recent sprint to this area. Iyo stood in the door way, her bosom rising erratically as her lungs worked to refuel themselves from the long sprint to the cafeteria.

In truth, she didn't have to run all the way here, but there still remained a possibility that she could have been caught by the two people she spied on a moment ago. Going back to that...Iyo now held within her mind the information that spoke of a paradise...a paradise that no one else in this school knows of save for 3 people; Mitsuko, Takashi...and herself.

[Bias Bus]

A ravenous growl from within Iyo's stomach told her that food was a much more important issue than what she just heard at the moment. Not one to ignore her impulse to feed, Iyo silently carried herself to the rather short line of children at the front of the cafeteria. Normally there would be a larger line, but since Iyo was...rather late in arriving, things had calmed in this aspect. Of course, with this it meant that there may not be much left...which is what Iyo found out first hand once she made her way to be served by one of the...olden yaksha, her overall appearance being quickly summed up as a disgusted "ugh". Had Iyo not been so focused on putting food in her stomach, she would have already lost her appetite just by gazing at this beastly hag's face. It was a wonder, how she was never mistaken as a Raksha. However, beastly old women aside, there was an even bigger problem here...one that made Iyo's face droop and her gut cringe with disappointment. "Is...this all that's left." Iyo asked, looking to her tray that held...very little on what she would consider satisfying for her voracious hunger. The pig looked back up to the bestial lunch lady who merely shrugged her shoulders. "Awww, c'mon! Can'tcha cut me some extra meatbuns or something? I'm dying of hunger!"

"Sorry, Sawaguchi-chan...ya' got here a lil' late. Kids came in like a typhoon today, I'm afraid this is all ya can get for now." The ogerish lunch lady told the hungry Iyo, who looked to her tray with disappointment, her stomach voicing similar feelings to it's owner with a growl. The face of the pig child was enough to warrant a gentle pet from the brutish cafeteria woman, her large hands fitting atop Iyo's head as she warmly rubbed the brown head of the pig girl. "I'm sorry, hun. I wish I could give you more but...Gakisawa-sama has strict rules on the food. If I could...I'd slip you a few more servings." As much as her looks tell otherwise, she was not as bad as many made her out to be...in fact, she's alot more compassionate and motherly than many of the other authority figures that reside in this school. Iyo seemed to be one of the few who saw this in her, the other children seemed less convinced by her personality alone...

"...I better go. Thanks anyway..." Iyo sighed, waving and contining onward, scanning the cafeteria for the table that contained two very important people. Two people Iyo would always consider being closest to her next to her own family. These people were Iyo's friends; Kumada Maehata and Momoko Nagahama. The both of them were Iyo's friends even before the trigger, having met back in elemetary school, the trio stuck by each other through the better and worse of their lives together...the trigger being the worst so far. Kumada was a bear yaksha, and a chubby one at that. Kumada looked to be a boy who wasn't always concearned with his outward appearance; his short dark brown hair being slightly unkept being a key into this factor. Sitting atop his slightly bulby nose were his rectangular glasses that worked to complete a rather nerdy motif he seemed to carry himself with. Kumada and Iyo were one in the same on most accounts, many taking note of how they shared the same voracious appetite. Momoko however was slightly different, being she was seen as the more reasonable of the three. Momoko was a gecko type yaksha, her appearance bringing her alot of strife as she was mostly bullied for being a bespectacled nerd back in elementary school. With green skin, a long scalely tail and various markings along her arms, legs and back, Momoko believed that her appearance as a yaksha was a curse, a blight that will follow her for the rest of her life. For the most part, she seems to ignore the fact that she now has the ability to climb walls, sever her own tail and possess a long sticky tounge. 

As Iyo began to briskly walk toward her friends, a thought wriggled out of her brain. A thought that could have occured to her moments ago, "Wait...I can tell Kumada-san and Momo-chan!" Iyo thought, the idea she had given herself being enough to lift whatever conflicted feelings she held over her not a moment ago. "Hey guys." Iyo greeted to the two yakshas who returned her introduction with their own as they saw their friend take her seat across from them. As soon as Iyo parked her hamparts onto the seat she began spooning up the curry and tearing into the roll.

"Sheesh, when are you not hungry, Iyo-chan..." Kumada rolled his eyes, failing to realize he was essentially the pot calling the kettle black.

"Haha, like you're one to talk~" Momoko chuckled, pressing her finger into the pudge that sat on Kumada's stomach. The bear shrinking to her touch like a pillbug stuck on it's back. It seemed to be a reflex of his, something like that boy made of dough, only in Kumada's case he showed more of an emotion of embarassment rather than one of happiness. "Anyway, what took you so long, Iyo-san? You're usually here way before us when lunch time rolls around."

Iyo halted in her gluttonous genocide of the curry and looked up, her brain recalling the fact that she was going to tell both her friends about what she saw on her way here. The pig swallowed the mouth full of she held in her swollen cheeks and prepared herself for what she had to say. "Uhh, yeah about that..." Iyo said, hesitantly. The hesitation and general change in her enthusiastic eating being something that caught Kumada and Momoko's attention the moment she opened her mouth. "I have somethin' I want to tell you guys...something that's kinda important."

"Huh, more important than curry?" Kumada inquired, trying to keep his mind on his friend rather than the hot meal in front of him...and generally failing at that as well. Like Iyo, he was something of a big eater and usually loved the home cooked foods that was served here. Ironically enough, the cafeteria wasn't exactly known for it's quality in food in the past...things seemed to turn around once other people starting cooking meals here.

Having both Kumada and Momoko's attention, Iyo took in a deep calming breath and continued on with her announcement. "Well, you see...the reason, I'm late is because I took a different way to get to the cafeteria, you know...going through the 6th grade hall?" The two yaksha across from Iyo nodded. "Butch was being a douche again...so I went the long way, and on my way there I heard something about a place called Yggdra. Do...any of you guys know about that?"

There was a delay in response from both Momoko and Kumada, both having paused to recall anything they might have heard about 'Yggdra'. Momoko was the first to give an answer to Iyo, "Uhm...no?" the gecko girl said, her confusion on the matter slowing her initial response to Iyo's question earlier. "I didn't even know anything about this...'Yggdra' you're talking about." Momoko turned to Kumada, her expression silently asking if he had heard anything of the sort. The bear merely shrugged and shook his head in response, showing that he held just as much knowledge on the situation as she did.

"Where did you even hear about this stuff anyway? None of the teachers ever said anything about some Yggdra place or whatever." Kumada asked, Iyo blinking for a minute or two as her hazel eyes drifted elsewhere and her teeth bit into her lip. The silence of their friend and the general expresison she held only seemed to pull Kumada and Momoko deeper into the wells of curiosity as they leaned forward over the table, hoping Iyo would eventually spill the beans on where she acquired the information she had. Iyo remained silent for another second or two before finally deciding to tell them. There was really no reason to hide it from them, but it was what she did to obtain such ellusive imformation that spawned her hesitation to respond.

"Alright, but...ya'll gotta promise not to tell anyone else, okay?" Iyo finally spoke up, Kumada and Momoko nodding, in turn, giving their friend their word that what she spoke of unto them will not be repeated to other students under any circumstances. "...Okay...I sorta heard someone talking about it and, well...I got curious and sorta...listened to what they were saying. All of it." Kumada didn't seem to bothered by this upon hearing it, the one beside him however...

"You mean...you eavesdropped on them!" Momoko exclaimed, her scaley hands rising to her mouth in utter shock to what Iyo had just done a while ago. Momoko wasn't exactly one you could lump in with most of the children here. The gecko has a rather strong sense of moral standings, and usually doesn't like when others say, cheat or steal. Eavesdropping seemed to be just as bad, apparently...

"Shhh, not so loud!" Iyo whispered loudly, shushing the gecko of her incoming need to lay her out about how wrong it was to do such a thing. Iyo looked up and around her table, seeing that none of the children nearby had even noticed Momoko's outburst...which was a good sign to the pig. "You know how people here are hotwired for gossip, if this gets out I could get in trouble."

"Who did you eavesdrop on anyway?" Kumada asked, bypassing the rumor factor and looking to find out who would even speak of such odd information.

"Erm...Miss Shirazawa and Mr. Toshizuko..." Iyo remarked, opening her mouth to say something else, but hesitated as her face flushed a bright pink. "I...overheard them talking about it after they had, uhm...did the nasty."

"Wow...and you could hear everything they were doing?" Kumada was the first to comment on this, Momoko too far gone in shock to say anything worthy of note. This was any pre-teen boy's dream...as they get to the age of sexual maturity, the thoughts of seeing a ravishing young woman in the nude increases as well. Naturally, Kumada was set to see if he can squeeze out any more info on the...appearance of Miss Shirazawa's anatomy. "So...uh, Iyo-chan...did you manage to see anything? I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Kumada-san!" Momoko exclaimed, slapping the bear on the backside of his head as if to snap him out of his interest in the more...perverse imagery. Kumada simply nursed the sore area on his head and glared to Momoko, not saying a single word as he decided to leave it alone and focus on finishing up his lunch. But this won't be the last time he tries to ask Iyo...oh no, it'll take a little more than a slap on the head to deter him of his quest for lewd mental images of Miss Shirazawa. "And you, where do you get off spying on those two like that? They were sharing a special moment and you were invading their privacy!"

"H-hey, it ain't like I wanted to hear that! It came with the meal!" Iyo said in a slight panic, her hands brought up in a defensive manner. The last thing she wanted was to be accused of being a peeping tom...plenty of the boys were already a closet case and Iyo was not about to become one of them. "L-Listen...I know what I did was messed up...but, this isn't about that. It's about something else." The explanation Iyo gave didn't help her situation much, at least not with Momoko and her disappointment towards her friend. As far as she was concearned, it was another excuse to cover her butt...

"I'm having a hard time believing you." Momoko persisted, arms folded over rather flat chest and looking to Iyo with a stern expression that didn't show any sign of letting up. At least...not until Iyo herself made things clear to her that she was not at fault here. Sometimes...it's not always easy having a friend that's nothing short of a vigilantte in morality. Iyo sighed, applying palm to face as she set forth to fix this little problem and get Momoko off her rocker that punishes those who do something morally wrong.

"It's about some other place to live." Iyo said. "Miss Shirazawa and Mr. Toshizuko were thinking about leaving the school and going to Yggdra to start over. Ask yourself...how is it that they know about this and we don't?"

"Well...maybe they didn't want us to worry about them when they leave?" Momoko answered, her words attempting to find some reason as to why two pepole she's known since the beginning of the 6th grade would keep this secret from them. "There's a reason why we all live here, Iyo-chan. It's because the outside of the school is extremely dangerous..."

"Still though..." Kumada spoke up, letting out a muffled burp from having stuffed his face with the last remnants of his meal. "This Yggdra place must be real nice to risk going outside and travelling there. Even the teachers don't go out there thanks to all the Rakshas and rouge Yakshas."

"Exactly." Iyo nodded, leaning back in her chair and gazing out of the window nearest to her table. The buildings were all in a pitiful state of disrepair and ruin. The cars on the torn streets were all in just as poor a shape as the surrounding structures, most showing damage from either a fire or an explosion. Everywhere she looked, the world only whispered the words of a dwindling hope and a hard life that didn't ensure her survival past the age she was now. Iyo may have been content before...but that was not when she knew that there was a way to escape this rotting prison of misery. There was a path to salvation laid out before her...and Iyo was willing to walk that path to the heaven she thought was lost since the disaster. "We're all told to not go outside for any reason, but these two are going out there to find Yggdra and start a new life...something we could ALL use right about now."

"Iyo chan..." Momoko sighed, those very words Iyo spoke giving her enough insight as to where this conversation was really going. "Don't tell me you're thinking about going there?"

"Think about it, Momo-chan," Iyo said, the excitement in her voice rising up like the tempretures would during the hot summer months. "We don't have to live like this...we can finally live it up like we were before the disaster. We could all be playing video games, watching TV and not have to wait for a chance to use the thunderbox when the after effects of curry night hit!"

"But...our friends..." Momoko pointed out, her voice clear that she was conflicted on what she wanted to do and how she wished to handle this.

"We'll take them with us!" said Iyo, counter acting any form of negative resistance with her own positive feelings. This was the biggest thing she's discovered yet, and now that she knew that she can help grant her friends a better life, she wasn't going to give up until they saw that this life of their was not what they needed to be content. "Hell, everyone can come, we're all gonna make it to Yggdra and start our new life there!"

"It's not gonna be that easy, though." Kumada remarked, the back and forth of the pig and gecko compelling him to throw in his own two cents on the matter. "We're gonna need supplies and food just to survive out there...and then there's the Rakshas..."

"But...this is our one big chance at making our lives better..." Being the go-getter she was, it was only natural that Iyo didn't understand her friend's hesitation. Iyo looked to Kumada then to Momoko, their faces plastered with an expression Iyo herself could not gauge. Her friends had done everything with her...why did they not want to venture out to this new life with her? Iyo didn't understand...or rather, she didn't want to understand. "Don't tell me you guys are giving up on it?"

"No...we're just thinking rationally..." Momoko corrected. "We can't survive out there, Iyo. At least, not long enough for us to make it to this Yggdra place..." Iyo couldn't believe it. The friends she thought she could do anything with, the friends who told her never to give up when she was down and out, were actually giving up their chance at a better life. Maybe it was dangerous to leave the school, but it was for a good cause, a cause that can end the passive strife everyone here so contently pushes aside like it doesn't bother them.

"What happened to you guys..." Iyo murmured, hanging her head low in disappointment. "We used to always do stuff together. Why not now? We can take on anything if we-!"

"Just drop it!" Momoko interrupted, her sudden outburst slamming Iyo's words right back down her throat. "You may not be fine with your life here...but we are!"

"Momoko-san..." Kumada had never seen Momoko as upset as she was now. True, the gecko has had times when she was extra moody but this seems to take the cake. Especially since the catalyst of her anger was that of a minor disagreement between friends.

Momoko was far from done though, and set to drive things home with how she truly felt about this whole situation. "You're being really selfish, Iyo. You think that just because you want to go out there that means we all have to feel the same way. Some of us are happy just the way we are!"

"N-no, that's not it at all, I just-" Iyo's words only hit the back of her reptilian friend as she strode off with her tray clenched tightly in her hands and her tail swaying about erratically...a sign that she was well beyond pissed. Momoko set to distance herself from the pig to not only get rid of the food scraps but to take a break from her very prescense and the vexing idea that Iyo tried to force onto her. With Momoko essentially not talking to her for now, Iyo fell silent, unable to bring words to the air as she turned to Kumada who didn't look as taken aback by the miffed lizard girl's reaction as she was.

"Listen...maybe it's best that you try to forget this for now?" Kumada advised, seeming to take a neutral standing of all things. Then again...Iyo knew he wasn't the guy to take sides often. "Momoko's been happy here for a while now. I guess, she doesn't want to give that all up for something that's basically a gamble on our own lives."

"But it doesn't have to be like that." Iyo continued to persist in letting others see that her idea wasn't a bad one to follow. "I can protect her, we both can."

Kumada simply shook his head in disagreement, bringing himself up with his tray in hand. "When we're out there...it's not always that simple, Iyo..." Now it was Kumada's turn to leave Iyo, the bear's abscense now signaling that Iyo was officially alone. The only company with her being the half eaten plate of curry that was now losing it's steam and chilling out...

"I-Iyo-senpai?" Iyo jumped the sudden voice that stammered into her ear taking her a little by surprise. Then she realized who the voice actually belonged too. Turning in her chair, she saw the timid figure of Kyushichi Osagawa, one of her classmates after the disaster and someone who seems to generally care for her and her friends well being. Kyushichi was a bat-like yaksha, his jet black hair extending down to around his neck as his ears jutted from the top side of his head. He was a fellow never known for his wonderful eyesight so he often wore thick rounded glasses, so thick that one could almost barely see his own foggy, purple eyes through them. He was a scrawny one, having a slight hunch back and pale blue skin. Alongside his wierd skin color were his arms...which, much like any bat, was mutated to have fleshy extenstions beneath the length of his lanky arms. It's because of his he usually cannot wear sleeved shirts. "Ah...I couldn't help b-but, over here that you had a fight with your friends...i-is everything okay?"

"Oh, Osagawa-san..." Iyo sighed, realizing it was only him. Kyushichi was no one to be frightened off at first glance, he's weak, timid, and doesn't even go out of his way to fight. It's just that he has a horrible habit of being unnoticed and popping up out of nowhere sometimes. Someone once commented that Kyushichi would make a great assassin...much to everyone's disturbance of how true the statement really was. "I dunno, I just...wanted to give them a chance to make their lives better and they all don't even want to give a second thought."

"Oh? What did you tell them?" Naturally, he was curious on what she asked to her friends...especially since it did a fine job of getting them to leave Iyo's side. Kyushichi walked to the vacant seat to Iyo's side and planted himself down, ready to listen to whatever the pig girl had to confess to him.

Iyo, however, did not immedieatly spill her guts to the bat yaksha. Instead, she silenced herself, the original plan of keeping the secert amongst just herself and her two friends preventing her from speaking any further about what really happened. "...Okay, listen...I'll tell you, but it's a MEGA secret."

"O-oh, you c-can count on me, Iyo-senpai!" Kyushichi replied with enthusiasm, something that gave Iyo enough reason to trust him with what she was about lay down for his brain to digest.

"Earlier today, I heard Miss Shirazawa and Mr. Toshizuko talking about going to a place called 'Yggdra'. I dunno what it is exactly, but it's a place that they're plannin' on starting a new life at." Iyo explained in a whisper, her head leaned down to Kyushichi's as his large bat like ears twitched from the soft whispers of Iyo's voice. "I want me and my friends to go there...to start fresh and live like we're supposed to away from all this." Iyo added pulling back from Kyushichi's ear and looking down to see his face painted pink in a bashful blush. Iyo's face dropped into a look of annoyance as she plucked the bat yaksha upside his head, snapping him out of his lovestruck daze.

"S-sorry..." Kyushichi apologized, cowering from what he believed to be Iyo's wrath. "But...that does sound pretty interesting, Iyo-senpai. I'd never think there was a place beyond the city that people can go to."

"Yeah...I don't know why they would keep this kinda thing from us..." Iyo muttered, her brain finding no answer for the question she desperately wanted to answer. Kyushichi looked to Iyo but said nothing, he was still trying to figure out what this all meant as well, even though his response was a little more casual than normal. The thought that embraced the both of them spawned a silence that was barely sustained by the chatter of the children around them, however, twas Kyushichi who managed to speak up first...

"Ah, I forgot, I'm supposed to help Gakisawa-sama with her work." Kyushichi was well known among the students for being close to the principle of the school. Which is perhaps why so many refused to become friends with him and generally disliked him. After all, Kyushichi was essentially working for the man...who would ever want to be friends with a potential nark? The panicked bat yaksha swiftly slid off the chair, pushing it up as he turned to Iyo who was a little surprised by the sudden need for him to leave, but seemed to understand nevertheless. "I-I'll talk to you later, Iyo-senpai. Gakisawa-sama likes for me to be on time for work."

"Alright, Ogasawa-san, take care." Iyo said with a chuckle, and a friendly wave goodbye. "And remember," Iyo put her fingers to her mouth and slid them across her lip. A common gesture that spoke of keeping them sealed and thus keeping any secrets from getting out. Kyushichi nodded to her and ran out of the lunchroom in a hurry, leaving Iyo to eat her lunch alone. After pushing aside the thick metal doors the the cafeteria, the bat yaksha stood outside the doors to the lunchroom, glancing to the floor as he stood in silence. Pulling himself from his own , Kyushichi perched himself onto one of the open windows of the hall and jumped, spreading his bat like wings and taking flight toward his next destination; Ms. Gakisawa's office...

[Bias Bus]

Getting to the principle's office wasn't hard, but it took a while if you were to try and get their from clear across the school. The faculty office was located in and around the first floor nearest to the entrace of the school, which would normally take a while to reach if the start destination was the cafeteria. Kyushichi didn't have to worry of this problem being he was able to fly...albeit, short distances. Tired and winded from the flight, Kyushichi coughed rather pitifully before locking eyes on an open window and simply quit, his body taking a nose dive downward as it crashed onto a pile of soft pillows that were laid beneath an opening he had fell successfully fell through. Once the bat took several minutes to catch his breath he pulled his head up from the comfy bosom of the pillows he was immedieatly greeted with the lingering aroma of sugary snacks and other foodstuffs, bags and plates of demolished meals laying littered around the mahogony desk to which his superior, Ms. Ise Gakisawa, sat cross legged indulging her hunger on a tray of lavishly prepared cakes and pastry snacks.

Ise was the principle here at the school and took a stand to take on a leadership role when the trigger occured, shaping the school into what it is of this day. Ms. Gakisawa herself was rather young, or at least looked the part. But her youthful appearance of twenty seven years didn't deter the effects of the trigger; her flawless skin now colored light shade of green and demonic horns protruding from the sides of her bright lime green hair that cascaded down to her back. Both being products of Izanami's Trigger...not that Ise herself minded in anyway. After all, these features, chimerical as they were, didn't keep her royal blue business attire from going well with her extraordinary skin tone and hugging every inch of her volumptous, womanly curves. "S-sorry, I'm late Gakisawa-sama!" Kyushichi apologized, bowing his head as low as he could get it as Ms. Gakisawa took note of his presence and locked onto him with her dominanting purple eyes.

"Mmm, No rush..." Ms. Gakisawa yawned, opening her maw wide to shove a fat, oozing pastry inside before clamping it shut and swallowing it in one thunderous gulp. The principle waited for the grotesquely large bulge in her throat to slide down into it's final resting place before opening her mouth once again to address her subordinate. "Did you remember to check the rations, Ogasawa?"

"H-hai..." Kyushichi responded, with a jittery nod, his body remaining on the mountiain of pillows he crash landed on. "We're starting to run out, if we don't want anyone being suspicious, you m-might have to cut back." Kyushichi was treading on thin ice and he knew it, however, Ms. Gakisawa disliked anyone who lied to her so what choice was there but to give her the truth on the matter. The green skinned woman paused in eating looking to Kyushichi with her piercing purple eyes, before she merely shrugged and continued to gorge herself.

"Whatever. Scrap up what you can and find away to get them more rations, like hell they're getting any of MY food." Ms. Gakisawa sneered. "They forget that I have to eat just as much as all of them if I want to maintain this...womanly figure of mine. What is a queen without her ravishing good looks~?" A haughty chuckle escaped the woman's smile exposing rows of her dangerously pointed fangs that were caked with the blood of her sugary victims of snack times long past. The green skinned principle leaned forward, digging her taloned finger into the puffy white icing of one of her cakes, examining the delicate texture for a moment before wrapping her lips around her finger and sucking it clean. "Besides that annoyance...what goes on with the student body? Anything important you wish to tell me, Ogasawa?"

Like the light from a blinding lamp post, Kyushichi cringed visibly wear he sat, remembering the very thing Iyo told him earlier. He had hoped she wouldn't ask for something like this...as it was her thirst for learning of the students that led to her using him as an inside man. Kyushichi didn't like doing this...it was why everyone avoided him. "Iyo-sempai...why did you trust me with this...you should have known who I worked for..." the bat lamented in his mind, the silence that hung over him granting Ms. Gakisawa to raise an eyebrow as she looked to her subordinate in a puzzled manner. His silence to her was only setting off one flag...

"Ara...are you trying to hide something from me, Ogasawa?" Ms. Gakisawa asked rather casually, the bat yaksha shaking his head in a panic.

"N-Not at all! I was just thinking, that's all!" Kyushichi lied, his ears drooping low in fear as he witnessed Ms. Gakisawa rise from her wooden throne, gracefully manuvering herself across the graveyard of destroyed snacks and come to walk right in front of her quivering henchman.

"You shouldn't lie to your superior, Ogasawa-kun...you could get yourself fired~" Ms. Gakisawa advised, raising her perfect legs and slamming the heel of her foot into Kyushichi's chest, the force pinning him down on the soft pillows that now pressed against his back. Kyushichi gasped out in surprise, his wings flailing about in a panic filled madness as he tried with everything in his scrawny body to get away from the horned woman who leered down to him, her mauve eyes oozing of a feminine dominance that only he could dream of seeing at a consensual level. "You've known me long enough to know I get very upset with those who lie to me. You don't like seeing me upset do you?"

"N-No...I..." The pressure of Ms. Gakisawa's feet pressed down further into his chest. Pain spread across his body like an agonizing heat, a pain that, in the back of his mind, was slowly giving way to a disturbed pleasure. As overbearing as she was, Ise was a beautiful woman...a woman, Kyushichi could never interact this closely had this been of another relation. In his mind...Ise was the only woman he was remotely close to. "Ah...I-It...hurts...Gakisawa-sama...i-it hurts!"

Of course, saying that Ms. Gakisawa wasn't aware of these feelings would be the equivalent of implying that Crystal Pepsi was a global success. One would not too far from the truth in saying that the reason for Ise having him under her was for this very reason. A boy's increasing lust for a beautiful woman like herself is so easy to use for an outlet for manipulation, and Ise was not above exploiting this factor to her own personal gain. "Then tell me what I want to hear...or do you like being hurt by me?" She giggled, lowering herself down to the squirming bat's level.

"O...Okay...I...I'll tell you..." Kyushichi choked out, feeling his limit swiftly approaching. In...more ways than one...

"Good~" And with that, the principle pulled her foot from it's perch and watched Kyushichi rise up trying to catch his breath. There was always something about dominating Kyushichi that Ise liked, perhaps it was because he was undoubtbly weaker than her that made it appealing? Who knows...but for now, she at least got some enjoyment out of prying the truth from this bat like student.

"...Iyo Sawaguchi..." Kyushichi coughed out.

The horned principle raised an eyebrow, having heard the name once or twice in passing. "Hm? You mean, the pig yaksha? The one associated with Miss Tachibana's homeroom?"

"Yes...she discovered something...about the school nurse and another teacher..." Kyushichi confessed, hesitating for a moment to apologize silently to Iyo before he continued forth with giving his superior this forbidden news. "Miss Shirazawa and Mr. Toshizuko, they're both planning a trip to a place called 'Yggdra'. I...dunno anymore than this, but it seems like a place where others can go to start a new life away from this one..." Kyushichi slowly craned his head upward to gauge his superior's expression. Ms. Gakisawa merely stood in front of him eyes cast elsewhere as she appeared to be thinking on something...something Kyushichi was fearing with each second that passed in silence. "Uhm...Gakisawa-sama....?"

"What of Iyo herself?" Ms. Gakisawa spoke up abruptly, "Is she going with them or was this just some simple insecurity of her own?"

"Uhm...I dunno, I guess she tried to get her friends to go with her...but Momoko-senpai seemed offended by the idea..." Kyushichi continued.

"Of course..." Ms. Gakisawa muttered, before she turned on her high heels and walked to the door of her office, turning back to Kyushichi the moment she placed her hands on the knob of her door. "I'm going to pay Miss Shirazawa a visit, resume patrol of the school and see if news of this has spread across campus. Report any students to Kawaguchi."

"Ah, Gakisawa-sama! What are you gonna do?" Kyushichi spoke up, the worry of Iyo and her friends managing to pull forth some words stuck within his throat. "You're...you're not gonna hurt them are you...?"

"No, I'm merely going to persuade Miss Shirazawa and Mr. Toshizuko to drop their plans of moving. We need them here until I can be sure that things can remain stable in the event that teachers do decide to leave." said the green skinned yaksha, a keen eye being needed to spot her hand tightening it's clench on the knob she held onto. "I am no longer a principle here, Ogasawa. I am their queen...if they seem unhappy with how things are being run then it's my duty to see what this problem is and fix it accordingly." Somewhere in Kyushichi's mind, within the area that held more reason than that of his warped submissive side, those words spoken to him were nothing short of words that sang a song of utter disaster and chaos. A horrible prediction that painted nothing but a bad omen to be seen in his eyes...but, he spoke not of this side of his psyche. It remained within him. Caged...chained...bound to where he had supressed so many of his true feelings toward Ise...

And with no further conversation, Ms. Gakisawa left Kyushichi's presence and set off on her mission. Kyushichi sat in silence...the only thing running through the tracks of his mind of how he broke the promise to Iyo, and how fast he had broke it. She trusted him...the only one to trust him...and this is how he repays her. "Iyo-senpai...I'm...I'm so...sorry..." Is all he could do to redeem himself...

Of course, as much as apologizing would have helped, it was not enough to stop the unforgiving tide of fate. Like an oncoming tsunami to a sea side village, the dread of what's to come wasn't readily known by anyone...but the threat still existed and it was going to strike whether anyone was ready or not. The one to have caused this catalyst was someone who didn't have malice in their heart, nor was it intended...but, nevertheless the gears were already turning, and life would soon be turned upside down for the once peaceful middle school turned orphanage. Iyo sighed stood in one of the classrooms turned dormitories, as she slipped on her white tank top, the white garment wrapping around her plump middle snuggly. Lunchtime wasn't very filling, but it was enough to at least rid Iyo of the hunger pains that would have set in later on. Thankfully, dinner time was a chance to right this imbalance and even better, she didn't have to worry about being late either. For now though, there remained a class Iyo herself had to take...something that made her groan upon realizing it. Despite having survived a global disaster, the educational system of Japan still managed to remain. Thanks to the principle decreeing that since yaksha adolescents were living in a school then it was only right to continue their education.

Iyo didn't really see much point in continuing it...after all, society has already ended, why should they be taught about things that were destroyed in the apocolypse? Iyo slipped on her burgandy hooded jacket, and proceeded to leave her 'room' the sight of her fellow yaksha running down the halls with their bags slung over their shoulders a clear sign that the day was far from over. Iyo paused at the door, looking to her left as she awaited her the arrival of one of her friends only to find no such thing greeting her eyes. "Oh right..." Iyo muttered, remembering the reason why the both of them would avoid her at this point. It was an awful feeling...knowing that the reason the people you called 'friends' were avoiding you because of your own actions. She had forgotten that, even though they lived in an unforgiving land...this school was the only haven they knew.

Iyo turned on the heel of her worn sneakers and headed off toward her class. There was nothing to do here...no reason to wait for friends that were not going to come...

It was strange. The world had ended, society's structure was all but a withered husk, and yet, it was only during this time of the day that one was able to see how things were able to return to the normality it had been ripped from. Classrooms across the hall were filled with the bodies of young yaksha their clamouring filled with the gossip of daily life and how they merely wished their school career had ended along with the world. Miss Tachibana's class being no different to this dissonant symphony of pre-teen chatter. "Okay class, settle down~" Miss Tachibana sang, one of her tentacles still writing notes on the rotting chalkboard behind her. "I know some of you are tired and want to nap, but I promise I won't take long with today's lesson." The mollusk teacher reassured her students, spying several of them with their faces down on their desks. It was most likely the product of the meal having been consumed only moments ago. Seeing no reason to deter the lesson any longer, Miss Tachibana turned toward the chalkboard and began rambling on about the wonders of probability and how it effects daily life. Math was never Iyo's strong point, and during this point, neither was focusing on the initial lesson.

The pig girl found herself gazing out the window, mind wandering into the void of thought as she stared at the ruined cityscape ahead. Crumbling buildings gave her an image of how she messed up earlier today and the occasional flying figure of an airborne raksha giving her the thought of freedom from the melancholy that was beginning to bring her down. Twas enough for her to forget that she was in class and thus vulnerable to being called on by the tentacled instructor who had called out to her more than 3 times in a row already.

It took a well placed eraser to the face to get her to snap out of her melancholic day dream.

"Ow! Who threw that!" Iyo grunted in annoyance, the class snickering and poking fun at the pig girl while Miss Tachibana gave her a look that was mixed of both concearn and disappointment toward the student who wasn't paying attention to her lesson. "Uh-oh..."

"Sawaguchi-chan, is something the matter?" The teacher of octopus limbs asked, "I know math isn't your best of subjects, but you seem a bit more distant than usual." Iyo tilted her gaze to the left, her finger scratching the side of her plump cheeks as she remained tight lipped on what was bothering her.

"Fine..." Miss Tachibana sighed with a somber shake of her head. "Try to pay more attention if you're not going to tell me...we can speak more on this after class." There was a collective howl from the class, a haunting disonance of lower case 'o's that filled the room as the students realized one of their kind was in trouble. A loud slap from one of Miss Tachibana's tentacles was all it took to get the cooing adolescents to hush their cries and focus on her and the lesson that was going to be shoved into their heads whether they wanted it there or not. Iyo, despite landing into trouble once for it, went right back to her day dreaming. The words that fell out of her teacher's mouth flowing beneath her and failing to reach the inside of her wandering brain.

It almost shielded her from the thundering explosion that rattled the classroom like an earthquake.

Iyo gripped her desk, looking around in a reawakened panic, seeing the students around her doing the same as Miss Tachibana tried to regain some order in the class once more. However, whether she restored order or not, it did not change the fact that something was wrong. Very wrong.

"Settle down everyone, I'll go see what caused the noise..." said Miss Tachibana in a tone that could only be compared to her over all compassionate demeanor towards her students. The riled up students calmed down to a degree but overall showed that whatever caused the disturbance had them a little on edge of what was going on. Miss Tachibana could feel it as well. The nagging gnaw of fear that clamped onto the back of her mind and grew in strength the longer time passed. Miss Tachibana turned to the door in front of her and slowly made her way toward it, knowing that it was the gate to what could essentially kill her and her students where that sat shivering. Hopefully her extra arms could act as some form of physical defense...to what extent was questionable at best...

"I am the shield to these children...they need me..." A mantra the mollusk teacher had chanted to herself when she was overcome with this sense of dread. She couldn't afford to sit back and cower...she could afford to be the one asking for protection...in this class room she was the protector. A guardian to the young she was entrusted with when their parents gave their lives to bring them here. Another explosion shook the classroom once more, the students giving way to their surpressed terror and screaming in fright. Miss Tachibana threw her arm to the door and threw the door open just in time to see the body of a man slam into the ground in front of her, blood pooling from his head that remained planted on the floor of the hall.

"Oh my goodness!" Miss Tachibana gasped running to the man's aide only to have his hand stop her advance to his pained form. With a blood drenched cough, he cast his anguished glance into her eyes and revealed himself to be only one person. "T...Toshizuko-kun!?" The name was something the entire class knew, the students getting up and trying to get a glimpse at the wounded man their teacher had showed much worry over. Miss Tachibana turned to her students and herded them back inside. "Everyone stay inside!" Miss Tachibana ordered to the students, going back to aide her fellow teacher and finding his outstretced hand held up to stop her.

"S-Stay...away..." Mr. Toshizuko advised from behind the mollusk teacher, his voice barely able to sustain underneath the weight of his heavy breathing "She's...she's only after me...!"

Miss Tachibana took no heed to his warning of the bleeding yaksha, gasping as she saw the full extent of his wounds; the entire side of his left shoulder was torn shredded, the khaki vest he wore overtop his white shirt stained with a crimson fluid that originated from a ghastly puncutre wound near the upper part of his chest that was still dripping with fresh blood. "We need to find Shirazawa-san to treat you! Someone go find her now!" Mr. Toshizuko shook his head as he struggled to his feet, his eyes burning with a flame that was nearing it's last moments of light. He knew he was beyond help...and he knew that the one they were trying to summon was the same. With his dwindling strength, Toshizuko rose his only good arm...pulling itself up as he pointed down the corridor of the hall, the students and teachers drawn in by the vicious whirlpool of chaos all following his erect arm to the visage of the one who was responsible for his mortal injuries...

[Bias Bus]

Oh hey, something else no one will read. Sure, why not.

---

"Gakisawa-sama!" Miss Tachibana said in shock, the low thud of Mr. Toshizuko's limp body hitting the floor bringing her to his side as she attempted to help him up. The mollusk teacher turned her hardned gaze to the green fleshed principle ahead of her, the dominant figure of feminism staring right back through her with the malevolent gaze of her violet eyes. The dainty hands that hung to her sides were stained red with blood, dripping the red essence of the teacher onto the floor caring not that it had exposed her of the crime she had committed.

Inside Tachibana's classroom, Iyo had no way of seeing any of this, the students on front of her proving to be a well placed dam of flesh that she could not peer over. "Dammit, what in the ham sandwhich is goin' on out there!" The pig shouted one of the yaksha students turning around at the sound of her audiable curiosity towards the jarring events taking place outside.

"It's something about Mr. Toshizuko, he's hurt real bad." The student explained as loudly as he could over the clamouring crowd in front of him. Iyo felt her heart sink in her chest as she took in these words, the guilt of having listened on the plans of that same teacher flooding into her mind like a leak to a ship's hull. "And now the principle's out there too!" The principle...that was someone Iyo knew of only in the legends of the student body as a whole. Having never met the person outside of rumors, Iyo's only knowledge of the principle is that she was someone that you should never cross on a bad day...and it would seem that this was definately a bad day to be crossing...

"What's the meaning of this Gakisawa-sama!" A male teacher shouted, fed up with being in the dark about the events that were transpiring before him and riling up his students. Perhaps it was fate that he was the closest one to the supposedly murderous yaksha who turned her gaze to him.

"If you have any value for your safety then you'll stay right where you are and keep that gullet of yours shut tight." Ms. Gakisawa demanded in a cold tone, her chilling order blowing past the teacher like the gale of a harshest winters and freezing him dead in his tracks, face filled with shock. With the gracefulness of a predator stalking it's prey, Ms. Gakisawa advanced...eyes fixated on her victim like a vice. "This man...he was planning on taking the school nurse with him away to some fantasy land, despite that fact of how important she is for the well being of our students and staff."

"Don't twist...the story..." Takashi spat, forcing himself to stand against the principle who took his left arm. "I promised Mitsuko...that we'd stay until she was ready...I would never-!" His retort was shoved right back into his throat and replaced with the cries of anguish, the agonizing pain of having an invasive pair of talons enter the bloody opening of his wound being the source of his strife.

"You were still planning to leave without consulting me first. I run the show here, so that means you do nothing unless I wish it!" The principle rose her captor up from his feet and swung him around with a brutal force, sending him off his feet and into the wall to his side. Any and all who witnessed it fell silent, gasping to the scene that just played out to them. "To think, you were planning to go to a holy land and leave us all to rot in this hellhole of a world...how selfish of you, Takashi...how utterly selfish."

The horned woman looked up to the crowd who literally lost all words to say in response, seeing their silence as merely an oppurtunity, Ms. Gakisawa spoke once more unto them. Her voice carrying the flithy dagger of deception. "Do you see it? Do you see what happens to those who try to abandon us here?" Everyone's eyes fell to the crumpled, and bloody, body of Takashi...barely alive, yet still trying to stand. "Punishment is swift, but optional...I could have let him go, he could have avoided my hand of justice...but he made the grave mistake of conspiring behind my back. Know the name Takashi Toshizuko; it is the name of the first example of those who think its a wise decision to plot while they think I am not watching them."

"You're...you're wrong..." Ms. Gakisawa looked to her left, and saw Takashi on his feet, his body trembling with a rage reawakened and a determination to stop the lies that flooded from her green lips. "...Yes...we were leaving. Yes, it was difficult to make the decision when we considered the health of everyone else...but, I was doing it for Mitsuko...I want to make a better life for her...for us!" There was a low rumble, as Takashi screamed his words. Everyone looked on in awe at the aura of power that undulated around the dying yaksha, his crippled form in opposition to the woman who had leagues of power pressing down on him with an unopposed strength. "You're nothing but a tyrant, seeing that you have power...you parade around here like you own all of us...like we're your toys. I'll say that one of the reasons why we were leaving is because of you, Ise Gakisawa!" Takashi roared out to the heavens, bursting toward the principle who looked to him with a look that spoke volumes of how unimpressed she was of his display of a second wind. The bloody teacher reached forth and grappled the collar of Ms, Gakisawa's top, pulling himself to face her as his eyes bore through hers with a feral defiance.

"You may have taken my arm...but you fucked up when you took Mitsuko from me..." He snarled with tears of sorrow in his eyes, the words he hissed falling on the ears of those nearby. The crowd clamoured with disbelief, the supposed death of their school nurse ringing throughout the halls like an ominous bell of dreadful things to come. Iyo sat in the back of the crowd, her pig like ears standing up as she stood, frozen in shock. Everything from earlier today...all she had heard...all she had told...it was swirling around her concious and strangling it with the an unparalleled hatred. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen...this wasn't what she wanted to see.

How...?

How did Ms. Gakisawa find out about this...?

"Kyushichi..." Iyo whispered, "...No, he wouldn't...he gave his word..."

He did...

But he didn't keep it...

"Dammit!" Iyo screamed, the pressure from her concious bursting the valve to her reason and sending her through the crowd of students. Pushing them aside and cutting her way into the clearing next to Miss Tachibana. "Toshizuko-sensei...!"

"Iyo get back inside!" Miss Tachibana demanded to the pig girl who did nothing of the sort and pushed the mollusk aside.

"No!" Iyo screamed as she locked her eyes on the principle who stood ahead of her, looking to her with the same expression she held before. "This...this is my fault!"

"Sawaguchi-chan...?" Takashi breathed out, puzzled on Iyo's words...just as everyone else was. Iyo sighed and stood tall, stabbing her finger to the principle of her school. She has seen enough and now...she was going to right the wrong she had done. Mitsuko's death...Takashi's injuries...they were all because she blabbed their secret. She would deal with Kyushichi later but, now she had to do something to save Takashi...even if he was still dying before her.

"Put him down. Fight me instead." Iyo demanded, her face hard with seriousness and the will to fight the increadible power of the head principle. "It's because I was bein' all nosey that their secret for a better life got out...I didn't...I didn't mean for this happen, I just wanted a piece of it too..." The crowd muttered with the words of both students and teachers. "I'm...I'm so sorry Toshizuko-sensei...I'm...so, so sorry..." Iyo's fist clenched as tight as they could at her side as she confessed; she cared not for the punishment...she only wanted to know if Takashi would forgive her...forgive her for causing him the heartache of watching his girlfriend's slaughter right in front of him.

Iyo craned her head upward to look Takashi in the eye only saw a green knuckle slam into her vision, the impact shaking her brain and sending her flying at an ungodly amount of speed down the hall before she rolled to a stop, some several meters away. "I've heard about you. You're the one that was overheard this little plan of theirs..." Ms. Gakisawa said, walking to Iyo's body with a terrifing visage of a calm fury so hot, that all who were near backed away from her as she passed. Iyo picked herself up, wiping the blood from her nose, her eyes craning upward to her opponent. "If it's what you want, then I can gladly execute you in Takashi's steed..." Those words carried with them a message of dread...a message that passed through Iyo like a ghost and sent an ominous chill through her body. Something in Iyo sank after hearing those words spoken to her, the fear she felt long ago before coming to this school rising up from the pit of her soul and wrapping around her body with the strength of a ravenous boa constrictor. She knew what 'execute' meant, and this was nowhere near computer terminology.

Was...Ms. Gakisawa really going to kill her here? If she was, then Iyo had to find away to defeat her. Granted, she had no idea how to beat a person who's strength was as strong as she herself was arrogant. Ignoring the fear of death that whispered to her constantly in the back of her mind, Iyo rose to her feet. Without a single word to be spoken, the pig girl planted her foot down and dashed forward, screaming a cry of battle as she reeled her arm back and swung it to Gakisawa. Her fist slammed into her midsection before she followed up with another punch to the side, each hit sounding like a crack of of wood snapping against a solid surface.

It was unfortunate that these impressive frontal assaults did absolutely nothing to Ms. Gakisawa's perfect form...

The unmoving woman sighed in exasperation and grappled Iyo's head, her knee rocketing to her opponent's soft middle and producing a collision strong enough to not only knock the wind out of her...but also the partially digested curry that was awaiting it's fate of being broken down. Iyo vomited up her stomach contents as she fell to the ground only to have a foot strike her across her face and drive her into the wall of the hallway. The surrounding crowd merely stood back from the fight, many of them showing visible concern for Iyo's safety, but not showing the courage to stand against the woman that was effectively beating the pig senseless for the oncoming slaughter. Why wasn't anyone helpng her...no, Iyo couldn't rely on them...this was her fight, her mess to clean up...her responsibility. "I hate it when those being executed try to struggle...it's always such a bother to have to wait for them to cool off before I can do away with them." Ms. Gakisawa told the pig girl who tried to jump back only to have her movements halted with the principle's hand gripping her head and lifting her in the air with very little effort. "You taking a stand for Takashi was noble, but just admit that it's going to get you killed, girl. The sooner you accept this, the sooner I can get this over with and get everyone back to class."

"S-Screw you, I'm not going anywhere until I throughly kick your jolly green ass!" Iyo snapped to the principle as she clasped her hands on Ms. Gakisawa's head bringing her foot to her bosom, and driving it as hard as she could into her sternum. As tough as Ms. Gakisawa carried herself, this attack just managed to break that constitution, if only for a few seconds. These precious few seconds were immedieatly capitalized upon by Iyo who dropped from the woman's loosened grip and grabbed her by the arm. "Aaaaarrrgh!" Iyo screamed, as she pulled Ms. Gakisawa forward, over her own body, and slammed her onto the floor in front of her. Ise hit the ground with a loud thud, the floor beneath her cracking underneath her as she tried to reach for Iyo only to have her grab come short with Iyo hopping back and then forward once more with a well placed Elbow Drop on her chest. With her opponent on her back, Iyo hopped onto her chest and wasted no time in unloading her fury on Ms. Gakisawa's face.

"Stop!" Called a voice from behind Iyo, the pig looking up to see Miss Tachibana being the sole teacher willing to stand on the battlefield to put an end to this fight her own way; the peaceful way. "Stop fighting! This isn't going to solve anything!"

"Yes it will!" Iyo countered loudly, "I might not know Ms. Gakisawa personally, but I've seen just enough to know she ain't no good principle to follow!" Death came swift to the rest of Iyo's words, Ms. Gakisawa having shot her hand forward with lightning speed and wrapped her grip around Iyo's throat.

"Then you can get the fuck out of my school." said Ms. Gakisawa with a voice that carried a tsunami of vile hatred. Iyo clawed at the green arms that held her like a vice, trying to get free but failing at just about every attempt. With an angry grunt Ms. Gakisawa turned and reeled her arm back as she faced the wall to her side. "You're expelled!" It was all a blur. The principle literally put the rebellious student through the wall, the force of the pig shattering the concrete wall like it was nothing but paper and sending forth chunks of rubble and debris flying with her into the back field of the school. Students who were outside perked up and began to scatter like roaches as they saw the struggle managed to break it's way out of the school and spill out into their area. Iyo lay on her side, coughing as her throat attempted to readjust itself after being constricted by a grip far stronger than anything it had ever experienced.

Iyo pushed herself upright, spitting out a bloody tooth that had been knocked loose from it's home in her gums. Looking up ahead, Ms. Gakisawa was casually stepping outside of the hole Iyo had created with her body...with barely a scratch on her. An odd feeling overcame Iyo at that moment; she was in many fights before, her nature of being rather hot blooded and impulsive two of the main reasons why she has seen her fists plow through so many students who pissed her off. She was known throughout the school as a scrapper and one of the toughest kids around (Butch was a close second). Now, however, Iyo was going up against an opponent far stronger than any of the yaksha students she had punched in the face. The very image of the horned principle was enough to gap their prescene between each other. For once, in a long time of fighting, Iyo regretted taking a challenge.

She had messed up...big time.

Even so, regretting a challenge wasn't the way for her to overcome it.

To overcome it...she had to take this bull head on.

"Ara...I've never seen such determination in a student before. You'd make a much better use as my underling." Ms. Gakisawa said to the pig as she saw her hop back to her feet, putting up her fists to continue the rather one-sided brawl. "But alas, I cannot let that happen. You've made the mistake of going against me."

"Like I give a shit!" shouted Iyo in a youthful defiance, crouching down and throwing herself forward with an intent to punch the smug grin off Ise's perfect face. It only took seconds for the pig to have her fist jammed into her face, the impact of her strike blowing a backdraft of wind with it. "Toshizuko sensei and Shirazawa -sensei...they wanted a new life...and you took it away from them!" Iyo reeled back and struck Ise's belly as hard as her vengeful anger could allow.

"You still don't get it...?" Ms. Gakisawa sighed, having grown a little bored with fighting the tenacious pig girl. With a less than gentle grab to her head, Ms. Gakisawa shoved  Iyo to the ground and drove her foot on her chest bringing forth a pained cough from the one nailed beneath the stake of her high heeled shoes. "Who was it that took everyone in? Who was it that decided to turn this entire educational facility into one giant boarding house? I am the one who does all the work of keeping you all safe and everything else in order. How ungrateful of you to raise a fist to me, you sow!" With a well placed kick, Iyo was thrown several meters away from Gakisawa and was once again on her back...

"Those two, they stepped out of line...and just like them, you're about to recieve the same punishment."

Iyo clenched her teeth, the rage she had swirling in the pit of her stomach refusing to die but her physical performance not enough to carry out the deeds she wanted. Of all the fights she's won, of all the bullies she's taken down, why did this one have to be the one she couldn't knock down? This wasn't about having lunch money stolen or your head jammed in a toilet while it's being flushed, this was something far greater than that. Iyo knew this...but what she didn't know was how she was going to overcome. The pig sat up from the ground, her nails digging into the dirt she sat on as she eyed the imposing figure of Ise approaching her in no real hurry to finish the job. "Is this it...?" was all that could run through Iyo's mind. She couldn't let herself just die off at the hands of a tyranical bitch like Ise...but what could she do about it? What power could she possibly call upon to run through the horned woman's heart? Iyo knew not of how or why...but she could feel this power deep inside her...a deep seated calling that echoed from within her deepest depths. With a newfound resolve, Iyo stood once more, her eyes burning with opposition and her fists clenched with a hatred for the woman that stood before her.

Ms. Gakisawa paused for a moment, her violet eyes laying witness to a flicker of untapped power about to burst loose from it's bindings. It was undulating around the pig girl, her skirt and jacket fluttering graceful in a glowing aura that grew brighter around Iyo's form.

"What's going on with Sawaguchi-san?" One of the spectators asked, his peers shoving to see the spectacle that was taking place beyond the crumbling wall. "She's...glowing?"

"Suuugoi!" A tadpole yaksha shouted, "Iyo's turning into one of those Super Sahagaijin...or something...wait, what was it called again?" Her failure to recall what media she pulled the name from proved not to deter the fascination held by the surrounding crowd of students and teachers who awaited the outcome of this...strange occurance.

Iyo's glowing body soon began to take on a fine steam like mist in and around her arms, the pig girl seeming to be completely oblivious to what was happening to her. The intense anger and resentment she felt toward Ms. Gakisawa didn't allow her to notice. "You think that just because we're below you that gives you the right to decide how we live?" Iyo spoke up, the voice she spat out to the principle carrying a seething anger that was roaring to be unleashed upon her like the fist of an angry deity to it's unfaithful followers.

"Tch, what would a child, like you, know anythi--" The crushing force of an angry punch from no one else but her swine like opposer collided with her body, the arrogant words she wished to throw around being terminanted right on impact. Unlike before, where she barely moved after being hit by the younger yaksha, Ms. Gakisawa felt every inch of Iyo's fist driving into her. The twisting and seering pain of a heat that was beginning to burn right through her navy blue blouse and right down to her green flesh. "Y-You...!" Ms. Gakisawa gasped out grabbed Iyo to counter this assault against her. The pig girl beared down and shoved her fist further into Ms. Gakisawa's stomach and launched her right back through the hole she created earlier. Students and teachers screamed in a panic as they ran from the careening body of the principle as she slammed through the walls of a classroom, skidding viciously through desks and right out of the classroom through, yet another set of walls. An earthly explosion belched from the side of the school's frontside as Ms. Gakisawa's body plowed through the final wall and finally came to rest near the front gate. Iyo wasted no time in pursuing her and dashed past the awestruck crowd as she made her way through the hole to the other, her fists leaving a trail of steam as she went.

"Hah, and here I thought you couldn't be knocked down..." Iyo chuckled as she saw the once unshakeable Ms. Gakisawa crumbled on the ground and quivering with pain. She didn't know where this power came from, but it felt wonderful to use against someone who was using their own to oppress the ones she cared about.

"I-Iyo-chan!?"

Speaking of those Iyo cares about...

Iyo turned around to see Kumada and Momoko looking on what was transpiring from the front of the crowd. It wouldn't be all that surprising to think that the both of them weren't watching or had already heard of the fight thanks to word of mouth. "Oh...Kumada-san and Momoko-san too? What're you guys doin' here?"

"Well, shoot, you're in a fight aren't ya?" Kumada grinned, turning to the hole that led outside and peering out farther to see just who was put through it. No mistake about it; twas Ms. Gakisawa. "Not only that but, you just knocked the principle clean through the school. What kinda friends would we be if we didn't show up to see how this all played out?"

Iyo's expression dropped a bit, looking to the bear yaksha with unamusment. "You sayin' you wouldn't have came if I needed your help?"

"Ahh, you know that's not what I meant..." Normally, both he and Momoko would have backed up Iyo had she needed it...but, considering her opponent was someone only she could knock down, well...the efforts of himself and Momko fall a little short. Kumada took a quick glance at his friend's arm and took notice of how they were...well, steaming. "And what's with your arms, they look like they're about to burst into flames or something."

"Hm? These?" Iyo blinked, examining her arms to see that they were indeed steaming. Her answer came in the form of a nonchalant shrug. "I dunno...I'm just now noticing them doing that actually." The back and forth between Kumada and Iyo continued further on, despite the fact that Iyo hadn't really put Ms. Gakisawa out of commission yet. Momoko sat by idly, watching the her friends exchange friendly banter before she decided to add her own two cents to the conversation.

"How can you two take this so casually!" Momoko interrupted, her tail standing straight up in agitation. Apparently, the lizard yaksha was more than a little miffed at how lightly her two friends were taking this event. The fact that this entire battle against the school's principle could effectively equal up to a coup de'tat, made it even easier to see how serious this all was to, not only the school but, the students and teachers inside. With Kumada pretty much silenced from the initial outburst, Momoko turned her frown to Iyo who seemed a bit confused on what she was angry about. "Do you even realize how much trouble you're going to be in if you can't beat Gakisawa-sensei?" Momoko's ranting hit Iyo right in the chest, her heart skipping a beat as she realized the possible outcomes for if she really couldn't defeat Ms. Gakisawa. It...definately wasn't something Iyo could dwell on if she hoped to win...

"Well...yeah, of course I do." Iyo spoke up, after a brief moment of silence. The pig girl's featureless expression broke into a grin as she thumbed to herself with the still steaming hands. "I'll just make sure I don't lose!" Momoko froze her wrath as she watched Iyo turn and jump outside heading toward the body of the Ms. Gakisawa. With the silence still hanging over her she glanced to Kumada, seeing his expression carrying a smile...

[OkashiiKisei]

This is the first NaNoWriMo fic I have completely read now, and I've been enjoying myself so far~ Besides the exposition dump at the start this is a great fic, and the characters are very imaginative with an interesting setting. I can actually imagine the majority as a show. The various references here and there are a nice touch, there are some extreme (and especially brutal) fight scenes in this. The scene where

Spoiler:

Mitsuko's revealed to be dead

and the confrontation between

Spoiler:

Ise and Takashi

were genuinely depressing. You can transfer emotions over to the audience very well. Keep up the good work, Ere~

I do have to note that, despite the gritty setting, the

Spoiler:

brief sex scene between Mitsuko and Takashi

kinda felt a bit out of place imo, but that's probably just me. :V

[Bias Bus]

I appreciate the feedback. The intro was a bit of a dump, I'm not gonna lie and I probably could have done much better on the story without it being all wall of text like. Matter of fact, I could have gone with simply pointing out aspects of the setting as I went and all that jazz but, I didn't know how to start it any better :T

Also, you might want to spoiler tag that

Spoiler:

death

part :V

[Bias Bus]

It didn't take long for Iyo to reach Ms. Gakisawa, the pig dropping her friendly demeanor and putting back on the wrathful one she wore earlier. It was fortunate that she was still rather angry with the green skinned principle from before to really drop the emotion fully, had that been the case then perhaps she wouldn't have been stroding toward the once powerful staff member so arrogantly. Iyo's plump form looming over Ms. Gakisawa who managed to get to her knees but was still wrenched with pain. "Ngh...s-so...you like the rough stuff, h-huh?" Ms. Gakisawa choked out, managing to force a chuckle from her lips her body lifting up to rise to the challenge only to be hit by a snag. A snag that came in the form of an eeire ripple of uncontrollable energy that shook Ms. Gakisawa down to her very core. A surprised gasp rose from her open mouth, her body collasping on the ground as she shook violently.

"Hah, looks like my rough stuff was too much for you. Now to kick that jolly green ass of yours Ms. Gakisawa!" Iyo laughed with confidence before she took another look at Ms Gakisawa and saw her glaring at her with hatred; several areas of her body were swelling up and retracting back into her, accompanying this was an eerie and strangely organic sound echoing from the woman's undulating physique. Something wasn't right, and Iyo could not only see it...but feel it as well. Ms. Gakisawa convulses, her hands jetting to her mouth in alarm as she hunkers downward even further, the disgusting boils rising beneath her clothing becoming larger and larger by the very second. "H-Hey now, you better not go and blow chunks on me..." Iyo warned, her voice reflecting how uncertain she was on just what Ms. Gakisawa was about to do. In all honesty, Iyo mistook this as an incoming vomit sequence...she was far from the truth of what was about to burst from her opponent's swelling flesh.

"D-Dammit...you sow..." Ms. Gakisawa cursed in a venomous hatred. She could feel it...her perfect figure...the visage everyone feared and admired...it was swiftly slipping away from her like water through her fingertips. Her attempts were valiant, but as hard as she tried, it was all for naught. The transformation that demanded to transpire...could be held back no longer. In one well placed explosion of what many would believe is adipose matter, Ms. Gakisawa's, once toned, figure swelled to thrice her normal size, ripping her tight business attire to shreds in the sea of rolls and sending her mauve corset flying off into the school, someone's agonized cry making it known that they had done a fine job of catching it with their face. Iyo, having just barely been able to dodge the flying corset of doom, stepped back with widening eyes that lay witness to Ms. Gakisawa's body swell up with corpulance before her. When all was done and exposed, she was far taller than an average sports utility vehicle was wide, in fact, she was far wider than one...maybe two.

To put it mildly, Ms. Gakisawa was fat...immensly so.

"H-Holy shit, you're...you're HUGE!" Iyo exclaimed, taken aback by Ms. Gakisawa's rather immense transformation and newly discovered form and pointing out the obvious with both her loud voice and an out stretched finger. The pig's loud claim summoned the curiosity of the crowd who all made their way to the battlefield to gaze upon the true form of their overseer in all her obese ginormitude. It would come off as an understatement if one were to say the crowd was speechless...the entire school it would seem had fallen into a deep silence born from their utter shock and disbelief of their ruler's true form.

"Shit..." Ms. Gakisawa cursed stepping back to catch her breath from the forceful transformation. The many eyes of the students and teachers that gazed at her true form suddenly becoming nothing short of unnerving as they stared at her exposed body, the body she hid from them for so long. The body she thought would never rear it's ugly head...was now out in the open for everyone to feast upon like the many banquets that led to her growing this large. She gazed to her adipose hands, her fingers plump like sausages swollen to the brim with meaty casing. Now that she as exposed...how would everyone think of her? Surely they wouldn't judge by appearances alone, perhaps they may even come to fear her in this shape and size.

"Ewww, she's so fat!" Or not...

The students and teachers all voiced their disgust for what they saw, many of them turning their head to block out the image they just took in. It was an unstoppable tide, the tide that was changing Ise Gakiawa's regime against her. Like a queen exposed of an embarrasing scandal, she was losing her subjects through disgust and what would soon be ridicule. She had to stop it...she knew not how, but she had to stop this from going completely to hell. "Don't be alarmed everyone, this is just a new form to crush the resistance that tires to disrupt our way of life!" Twas all she could do to try and repair what was inevitably falling apart. Alas even with the charisma she had...it was her appearance that everyone judged and not her words. The clamouring crowd did not change their expression nor their opinion, their eyes looking to the bloated beast that was their principle with disdain.

"Haha, looks like they ain't buyin' it." And to have her attempts mocked by someone so insignifigant. It was too much, if she wasn't going to get back their trust then all that remained was to wipe them out and build a new regime. Yes...that had to be the way. It was the only way. But first...

"Dirty PIIIG!" Ms. Gakisawa roared out in a bestial fury, throwing herself forward. Iyo threw her head up her ears picking up the thunderous footfalls of the . The sudden fear that had left Iyo before was slowly coming back, never has she faced someone with such mass. A mass heavy enough to quake the very earth she stood on. She didn't know how she was going to do it--or what would happen if she did--but Iyo had to stop Ise. And there was only one way she knew how. Ms. Gakisawa screamed aloud, throwing her fist down to crush the swine who dared to strip everything away from her. Iyo, using only her instincts to act at this point, threw her fuming hands upward to recieve the attack. With a thundering boom,  fist landed right in to Iyo's palms, the pig girl straining every muscle she had in her body to push against the one trying to crush her flat. She had stopped the attack...but, she wouldn't last forever and Ms. Gakisawa knew this just by glancing at the pig girl's strained face. Naturally, she assumed that her victory was assured just by considering that fact alone. "Just give it up. In this form I'm much stronger than you could ever be!"

"That's not for you to decide..." Iyo murmured, her steaming fists taking on a orange glow before exploding into full on flames of blazing radiance, the grip that held on to the giant fist increasing by the second. "You can't decide anything for me anymore!" Iyo shoved against the larger yaksha's fist, throwing it back a little ways before she bolted forth onto her toes and sprung into the air towards the head of the beast she was going to slay. Iyo brought her fist back and launched forth the boiling hot hammer of judgement that came crashing into Ms. Gakisawa's face, a wave of hot energy pulsating from the epicenter of the immense clash of flesh and boiling hot, molten rock. "Now YOU get the fuck out!" Iyo demanded with a furious scream, twisting her fist and driving it further into before the dynamic energies ignited in an intense explosion. A loud roar of pure, unadultrated agony screamed through the air as the huge body of Ms. Gakisawa flew back, the velocity she was propelled sending her crashing through the school gates with ease and slamming into a building that was just across the street.

"I-Iyo-chan!!" Momoko called out, her concern for her friend driving her to run toward the battlefield before a strong grip clasped around her arm. Looking back, Momoko saw that the arm belonged to someone who had plenty to spare; Miss Tachibana. "Let me go! I have to help Iyo-chan!"

"With what?" Miss Tachibana returned, the only two words she spoke cutting Momoko's ambition down in one mighty swing. "Besides...it's already over...she's fine..."

Momoko stared at the octopuse like teacher than back outside to see the plume of dust and smoke beginning to clear. Both student and teacher alike stepped closer to see just what happened and who would come out on top, although they all knew in their hearts on who was the one to walk away from this battle the victor. With a blow of the wind, the smoke was tossed aside like a billowing veil and thus came the revelation of this fight's winner...

Iyo Sawaguchi.

"Haha, she did it!" Kumada cheered with a clench of his fists, the students behind him joining in the vocal celebration of the pig girl's victory over such a massive opponent. However, with their celebration came the distaste of loss, to which none felt worse at this moment than Kawaguchi Euiko, the assistant principle and Ise's close friend. Euiko was almost the same had it came to appaerances like her superior; Euiko's skin was a brilliant shade of purple, a single horn jutting from her forehead. Her hair was also a shade of green much like Ise's but to a darker degree and was done up into a single ponytail that extended past her neck. Euiko wasn't as dominating as her superior was, but she still carried an aura that spoke volumes to those who dared cross her the wrong way.

"Tch...at this rate, no one will take Gakisawa-sama seriously anymore. She really blew it this time..." The purple skinned yaksha clicked her tongue in disdain, pushing her glasses up her nose as she turned to the silent bat yaksha to her side. Euiko sighed and turned away from the battlefield, walking back to leave. She's seen enough as it is to know that neither she, nor her superior could rightfully stay here. "Let's go, Ogasawa. I highly doubt anyone's going to peel her fatass off that building over there...not after what they've seen." Kyushichi remained where he was, the assistant principle's words to him drifting right over his head as he drowned himself in thought. It was the truth, it was because of his inability to keep a secret that got so many things destroyed...including two innocent people who merely wanted to start over. Kyushichi stared at the ground below, his fingers digging into the fabric of his uniform. Apart of him was screaming that it wasn't his fault, that he had no choice in the matter and thus was excused from the guilt he was feeling...but the other half of him knew that was a bold faced lie.

"Oi, quit pussyfooting around. We have alot of stuff to take care of now." Euiko demanded, her cold voice cutting through the silent air and smacking Kyushichi in the back of the head. Kyushichi let out a squeak before he gave into Euiko's command and scampered himself over toward the door she had already exited through.

Regret was, fortunately, not as widespread an emotion at the moment, the students and teachers alike showing their awe and joy at how Iyo, labled the toughest girl in school, took out someone who's been ruling over the school ever since Izanami's Trigger. Sweat dripped from Iyo's youthful skin, full her cheeks bright red from the exertion she put into defeating the titanic tyrant of a woman that lay ahead of her unconcious and still as swollen as ever. "Ugh...it's like a walrus flossing..." Iyo commented, in between her hurried breathes, noting the relentless strip of Ms. Gakisawa's black panties wedged deep in betwixt the adipose buttocks of the one she had felled only moments ago. It...really wasn't something one should stare at for too long. Tearing her mind away from the not so pleasent imagery ahead, Iyo took a moment to gaze at her hands...the glowing limbs of orange fire still ablaze, yet she felt no burning. No pain. What was this unknown transformation she had tapped into? Has it always been with her, or was it a product of her anger and determination before? Nothing but questions raced through Iyo's mind before all of them started to run together, crashing into one another in a violent head on collision in the brain. The strength Iyo found to stand was suddenly drained from her being, her head spinning from the horrific traffic accident of thinking about too many things at once. Sleeping was the only thing that became apparent to the pig girl at this point, and it mattered not where she fell, she just needed to lie down...

Iyo could barely make out the joyous cheers of the students that went to shower her in their praise before she lost grip of her conciousness and fell to the ground with a dusty thud...

Time is one of the few things that has very little say when it comes to the aspects of being unconcious, the murky depths of darkness that surround oneself erase any recollection of where time had went and when it was ever coming back. Iyo was no different in this case, having pushed herself beyond the normal limit during the battle that nearly cost the pig girl her life. She herself had rarely fallen into the embrace of unconciousness before, she's come close but, usually it was enough for her to shake off and keep on going about her usual business. So it was no wonder that those who witnessed Iyo collapse began to panic about the worst. Miss Tachibana and the other teachers had enough work with trying to corale the children back inside, so the mollusk teacher had Kumada and Momoko take Iyo to someone who knew how to handle the extent of what inuries she sustained.

Iyo could hear the faint whisper of voices, the sound distant but, present none the less. Opening her eyes, the visage of Kumada and Momoko began to come into focus ever so slowly. "Kumada...Momoko...?" She droned, the sight in her eyes not quite clear enough to decipher who was standing over her. Despite this, it didn't stop Iyo from coming out with the first questioned that popped into her mind upon waking up. "What happened...where...?" She trailed off as she took a brief moment to realize that she wasn't outside anymore and it was far more peaceful as opposed to the noisy chatter of the crowd before.

"We took you inside, Iyo-chan. You kinda fell out on us." Kumada explained, his finger pointing to the right side of Iyo's bed. "We had the lunch lady, Kuramoto-san, fix you up?" Iyo blinked in confusion, moving her head to her right to see no one else but that same lunch lady from earlier on.

"What the?" The pig girl uttered, the surprise from, not seeing the face of monstrous hag of a yaksha, but from the fact that same lunchlady that served her curry...did a real nice job of treating her wounds. Iyo's gaze drifted down to her arms which were wrapped neatly in white gauze. "I don't remember hurting my arms or anything..." Iyo thought, only to have a stinging pain jab her right in the front of her head. With a soothing rub to help nurse away the soreness, Iyo turned back to figuring out just why the hell a lunchlady was  "Y-you...I thought you could only make really good curry. What's the deal...?"

"Well, I'm not as good as Mitsuko, but, I know a thing or two." Kuramoto chuckled as she rose up and lumbered toward a small cabinent that held an assortment of different bottles. More than likely, they contained medicine for times when the children needed them. "Especially since I taught that young upstart what she knew when she came here." For a moment, silence managed to overcome the atomsphere in the room. However, it was this silence that gave time to process the words that were said. Momoko was the first to note, her face loosing it's color as she turned to Iyo who looked just as shocked as she was on what they had just discovered. Kumada didn't seem to get it yet...

"Uhm, you say you taught Shirazawa-sensei everything she knew...?" Iyo asked nervouly, Momoko looking on as she awaited the answer of the large yaksha ahead of her. "Does that mean...you could have stepped in to be a nurse if she were you...y'know, go away?" The gentle ring of the glass bottles knocking against one another ceased at that very second. Both Momoko and Iyo knew why this question was important, and they were sure this old lunch lady would pick up on it too if she had any know how of why Ms. Gakisawa rampaged on the both of them.

"...Listen, especially Iyo, what happened today was...just somethin' that happens when somebody doesn't speak up. Yes, I know you're gonna think it's your fault, but somewhere...this could have been a good thing." The pig and lizard looked to the old yaksha with an expression that...didn't look either pleased or . "Okay...look at it this way. Had Iyo told me, I would have kept their secret safe with me and things would have ended up the way they did."

"So either way..." Iyo sighed, slouching in the bed as she began to sink back into doubt and melancholy. "It's still all my fault."

"Okay, so maybe it is your fault...but, you can't just hold this over yourself. Mitsuko and Takashi wouldn't want that."

"No they wouldn't!" Iyo blurted out. "They're both dead because of me!"

"Uh...Iyo-chan?" Kumada tapped Iyo along the shoulder, the pig pulling her hands from her eyes to see him motioning her to look to her right again. Laying in a bed adjacent to hers was the teacher she thought was six feet under, his upper torso bandaged up and his face covered with gauze that was soaked in dried blood. From the looks of things, he had his arm amputated, which would make sense given how useless and torn up it looked during his fight with Ise earlier on. "What the ffffunnelcake!"

"Ahaha, hi Sawaguchi-san." Takashi smiled, waving to the pig girl who...didn't really wave so much as she did stare at him in disbelief. Well, you would too if you thought the very man sitting in front of you was already dead and gone off to a better place. The silence that spread between both Iyo and Takashi stretched on for several minutes before Iyo decdied that what was staring her right in the face wasn't her hallucinating from hitting her head too hard on the pavement outside.

"T-Toshizuko-sensei...y-you're...NOT dead!?" Iyo exclaimed as she jabbed her finger at the teacher who managed to push himself up with the only remaining arm he had with him at the moment. The fact that Takashi was alive was great news for Iyo, of course, having him here wasn't enough to erase the fact that Mitsuko was no longer with him. The good feelings that were starting to bud deep inside Iyo suddenly began to die off again, sure Takashi was alive...but would he really forgive her about Mitsuko? After all...it's because of her that she was killed...

"Yeah, I'm still alive. Barely made it though, if you didn't step in when you did they probably wouldn't have been able to get me to  in time." Takashi told Iyo turning to her with a wider smile spreading across his bandaged face. "Thank you, for taking a stand against Ise..."

"B-but-!" Iyo choked. "Mitsuko...she's dead because I was such a big mouth."

"No, Ise was the one who killed Mitsuko...not you." Takashi shook his head, his voice dropping it's friendly tone and taking on a more serious turn. He knew who killed Mitsuko...and Iyo wasn't the one who did it. Sure, the events that transpired may have been caused by her listening in on them, but Ise was the prime suspect in this murder case. "I don't know how you did it...but, you managed to beat her."

"Ya think it has something to do with her hands?" Kumada brought up as he motioned towards the bandaged arms of Iyo. "I mean...they were lookin' mighty wierd when we found'er outside."

Iyo took a glance at her hands, her mind beginning to recall just how she managed to beat the otherwise unbeatable, Ise. At first, she didn't remember doing any damage to her but, after her fists started blowing off steam then that's when things began to tip into her favor. "Well...come to think of it, the only times I found myself really puttin' the hurt on Ise was when my hands were steaming and junk." Where did this power come from? Did she always have it with her? Those same questions began buzzing in Iyo's head again, all of them getting the same answer they had gotten once before. Asking herself on the origin of her strange new power wasn't the best of options Iyo could take but, who else was there to ask?

"Sheesh, Iyo-chan..." Kumada sighed, chuckling a bit as he realized all the manga he's read up til this point actually held some water to reality now. At least, now that his friend had the power to set her hands ablaze just by thinking it. He couldn't help but feel a little envious of her new ability, since...well, who wouldn't want a super power to call their own? "Wish I could do that kinda stuff."

"Who said you couldn't." Came the voice of Kuramoto who, apparently, believed that it was possible to tap into hidden wells of power. "The nature of Iyo's power maybe exclusive to her, but y'all have the potential to do somethin special too, y'know." Mouths immedieatly shut and eyes fixated on the lunch lady ahead, having heard the strangest of things pass from her lips and cross their ears...

"Uhm...what?" Momoko spoke up, eyebrow raised at how strange this sounded coming from a run down cafeteria. Naturally, Momoko was skeptical on her claims, even if the one saying it was an adult she trusted. "You can't possibly mean that we all have powers like Iyo-chan?"

"Well, yeah." The lunch lady shrugged, "The power Iyo used was something all Yakshas have, but in order to unlock it...ya gotta be in mortal danger first."

Takashi threw his glance elsewhere as his eyes narrowed in thought; he could remember something back when he was fighting Ise...or rather when he was getting his hamparts handed to him by Ise. He couldn't describe it thoroughly but, the memory was there nevertheless. "Now that you mention it, I vaugely remember some wierd feeling welling up deep inside me. Even though I was on the verge of collapsing at first...I somehow found the resolve to continue going." Takashi then turned his attention to Iyo, "Then Iyo came along and the sensation vanished..."

"And notice what happened to Iyo once she kept going." All eyes turned to Iyo, most in the room having witness the birth of her strange new power.

"H-how...do you know all of this?" asked Momoko, "All of us didn't even know about these special powers, heck we all thought we were still powerless up til' now. Where did you even get this sort of stuff from?" Momoko had a right to be curious of this woman's words, for the longest time there have been no change in the 'power' of those around her. It's been pretty normal, at least by standards of today anyway, and she hasn't seen anyone that was shooting lasers from their eyes or running faster than a speeding bullet.

"Ah, I don't know too much on it, really. My husband might know a thing or two about it though." Kuramoto shrugged nonchalantly, picking herself up and glancing to the window of the infrmary for a moment. She knew where her husband was, the wastelands outdoors may be silent but in telling where he was, but she knew. "I wouldn't ask you to go and see him since he lives out there in the city. It's too dangerous for any of you to go out there to go lookin' for him." Too dangerous for some...but apparently not too dangerous for a few...

"I wanna go!" Iyo suddenly blurted out, hands slamming on the bed spread and her face showing just how serious she was about her, rather impulsive, decision. Everyone stared at Iyo with eyes of astonishment, clearly not expecting her to want to leave so suddenly, let alone with her having passed out only moments ago. "Tell me where he is, I can get to him now that I know I have the power to punch the crap outta stuff!"

"I-Iyo...it's not exactly the safest of places to go, at least not while you're injured like this." Takashi reasoned, seeing no sense in the what Iyo was trying to do, or prove for that matter. The outside was shunned by many for a reason and only those who were certain they didn't mind being killed off by the nightmarish monsters and mutants. Indeed, it was the ultimate test of survival, a test many lose their humanity in order to pass. "You should stay here and heal."

"No, I have this power and I'm going to learn more about it..." Iyo persisted, taking a moment to gaze at the hands that held a mysterious power of fire and destruction. If she could punch the hell out of a half ton horned yaksha, then she knew she was cut out to use this strength of hers to reach not only this mysterious man who knew about her power...but also to the place that has captivated her curiosity since lunch time. "Because I'm going to use it to get to Yggdra..."

[Bias Bus]

"There you go with that again." Momoko rolled her eyes as she recalled just what happened when she first heard them. Of course, saying that she didn't hold at least some curiosity on what Yggdra actually was wouldn't be far from the truth. It was the fact that she was still angry with Iyo for trying for force the idea of leaving on her and Kumada that prevented her from being supportive of leaving to search for it. Had Iyo come about it some other way, whatever that way may have been, then perhaps things would have been different with the lizard yaksha.

Takashi could only stare at the pig yaksha, remembering that it was originally only Mitsuko and himself to go to that supposed paradise. With her gone and him injured...it didn't look as though he was going to be fulfilling any life long dreams anytime soon. Even so, Takashi had to admire the courage of the young yaksha, although it was clear she had no clue what it truly was like outside the school, she was still willing to cast that aside and chase the dream of finding a paradise within a hell. "Are you sure you want to go?" Takashi questioned, "Mitsuko and I had no way of knowing where to go to get there, we simply found out about it by chance, maybe you will be able to find it."

Iyo nodded in agreement, a confident smile spreading across her face. "Yeah, I can find it. I know I can." Her attention hovered to her bandaged arms, the faith swelling up within her being placed on the power she held in both her hands. "So long as I can use this power of mine, I can kick the ass of anyone standing in my way."

"Idiot, you're placing too much faith in that power of yours!" Momoko pointed out, still managing to play the opposing role in Iyo's decisions. However, by this point, it was unknown if she was doing this out of anger for the earlier incident or out of protection for her friend. Perhaps it's can be a little of both? "What'll happen if it messes up on you, or you can work it right? You're just learning about it today, y'know."

"Which is why I'm going to see Kuramoto-san's husband on the way there." Iyo countered, casting her glance to the only true opponent she had in this debate. Momoko has proven to hold alot of disagreements towards Iyo's decisions in the past, most of which being of the more impulsive variant. Being the more reasonable and down to earth yaksha, it's safe to assume that Momoko's opposition is only natural to someone like Iyo. "Sure, I dunno how this power of mine activated or whatever but, I know that if I go out there and start my journey then I know it'll come back to me...because there's nothing but danger out there, right?" Which...actually made sense.

"As flawed as that sounds, Iyo does prove a point." Kuramoto remarked with crossed arms. "The only way for her to really rely and get used to her power is to expose herself to danger. It's not the safest option around, but if she plans on using it to find Yggdra, then it maybe the only way there is." Momoko looked to Kuramoto still not wanting to drop the argument even if what Iyo said made sense.

"But...what's so great about going out there looking for a paradise if you're going to get killed in the process?" Momoko didn't find the logic in it. She understood that finding such a place had risks but, the things that dwelled outside were nothing she could even begin to see herself facing off against just to reach Yggdra. "I don't understand...we came here to escape danger but, you're putting yourself in it just to be happy!?"

"Listen to yourself, Momoko..." Iyo uttered, the same serious expression she wore moments ago now staring down the lizard . "You would rather give up being happy...just to live in safety for the rest of your life?" Momoko felt her heart tighten in her chest, a nerve somewhere in her body twitching at the words that just slammed into it with a keen accuracy.

"N-No, I want to be happy, but..." Deep down...Momoko knew the reason why she was against going and why she wished Iyo would just drop the idea of going to Yggdra. It went far deeper than friendship.

"But...?" Came the voice of Kumada, the bear having remained silent for a long while now and finally coming to speak out. There was a reasn Momoko was so defensive about this, and seeing that Iyo was willing to dig up the reason why, he decided to give her a hand in the matter. After all, they can't be the three amigos with just two of them. "Come on Momoko-chan...you can tell us..."

"I...I don't want to lose you!" Momoko screamed, the persistant poking of both Kumada and Iyo finally pressing her hard enough to let loose with the answer she wanted to keep inside. "You never think things through...you're always so reckless and get yourself into trouble because of it. When you go out there...I can't help but think that it's all going to get you killed..." Momoko's near silent voice soon took a turn for the loudest, the lizard bring her head up to her friend as a trail of tears fell from her reddening face. "Do you know how upset I would be if I ever found out that one of my only true friends died just because she was being stupid reckless!"

Iyo sighed, seeing Momoko trying to hold back tears...and generally failing at the entire act. Honestly, Momoko could be so emotional sometimes...but, that didn't always seem to stop her from being rational about things. Even now, Iyo could see, if not faintly, what Momoko meant by her words. "Then come with me then." She said with a smile. "I can't do it all alone y'know, you and Kumada are just as strong and tough as I am. Together we can pull off anything we set our minds to!" Momoko blinked her tear soaked eyes and turned to the bear beside her.

"K-Kumada-san...are you really-?" She's known him and Iyo to share most of the same ideas but, it seemed earlier like he would have sided with her. Looks like she was somewhat mistaken or at least she assumed she was anyway.

"Sure, we've been doin' stuff together, why wouldn't this be any different?" Kumada shrugged, "Besides, who else do you know that keeps us in line all the time?" No one else but her, apparently. Well, the two did seem to be much when she was around so it's not like what Kumada said wasn't true.

"Alright..." Momoko muttered, "I'll go, but only if we're prepared for the trip first. We're not going anywhere until we get enough supplies to reach Kuramoto san's residence."

"Don't worry, we'll get that much goin' before we head out." Iyo said, apart of her glad that she and Kumada could convince Momoko to come along. In all honesty, she didn't really want to leave without Momoko...after all, they did everything together and what would an adventure be without all her friends to enjoy it with her? Iyo turned to Kuramoto, knowing that the three of them were going to need foodstuffs to get through the unforgiving wastes outside and with a lunch lady here with them, Iyo had just the person she needed to ask on this matter. "How much food do you think we'll need for the trip to you're husband's house?"

Kuramoto placed her meaty fingers on her chin and walked to the window, gazing out over the destroyed city of Akihabara. Under any other circumstances, pin pointing the exactly location of where her husband was would have been impossible given how the city was mostly in ruins. However, there was one factor that made things all the more easy for her to remember. "Well, we last met off near the clinic. I would make a guess that he's still around over there. He's always been pretty stubborn when it came to movin' so I'm positive he's still hangin' out over there." The lunch lady then turned back to the three yakshas set on a dangerous journey, "I'd say you guys would need about a weeks worth of food, last I remember there was a shop nearby set up by some yakshas who wanted to make a livin' you can get s'more stuff there when you reach the clinic."

"So we gotta week to get to Kuramoto-san's house..." Kumada looked to Iyo who seemed to understand that she had no longer than a week to reach the first check point in her journey to Yggdra. Kumada knew the way to the clinic and he was sure both Momoko and Iyo knew as well, however, he was sure that the majority of their troubles and strife during this journey would come from the Rakshas that live out in the city. Rakshas themselves are far stronger than Yakshas and take alot more to bring down as well, without any form of weaponrary, it would be suicide to attack one. "We also can't afford to fight anything unless we really have to." Kumada brought up. "Iyo's the only one with a special power that we know is strong enough to take down Rakshas...the rest of us, don't really have much."

"But, wait...I thought you could use your powers and stuff if you're in danger." Iyo said, the pig girl finding it odd that Kumada didn't want to try and awaken to his own special power like she did. After all, he seemed the most interested in it before. "If you guys go, then this is your chance to unlock your powers like I did."

"That's right, but it's a bit more complicated than that being it depends on the yaksha's ability to respond to their fight or flight instinct." Kuramoto explained. "Ya can't say that Kumada and Momoko would put themselves in danger just to gain power...remember we want you all to get to Yggdra together, not with one of you six feet under."

"She's right, you all are taking this journey to reach Kuramoto-sana and then head to Yggdra...getting power is only a bonus in all this." Then came the voice of Takashi, who was more or less agreeing with Kuramoto. Hearing Takashi's voice gave Iyo a chance to speak about something that was on her mind the moment they all agreed to go to Yggdra.

"You should come along with us!" Iyo suggested, "If you do, you'll be able to see Yggdra!"

"Haha, I wish I could, but I'm going to stay here." Takashi chuckled, his attention focusing on the arm that was no longer with him at the moment. Takashi knew why Iyo suggested that he go with her and the others to Yggdra. Going to Yggdra without his beloved Mitsuko...wasn't something he had the strength to do. It just didn't seem worthwhile to go there on his own without her. Of course, he didn't say this to the young yaksha and merely settled for something else. "I'm only alive because Mitsuko sacrificed herself for me. If I go out there in the shape I'm in...I know I'll just be throwing away her sacrifice for me..."

"Well, okay then..." Iyo backed down, respecting the teacher's wish to stay at the school. With Takashi's position pretty much decided, Iyo looked back to her friends. "Alright then, when do we leave? It's not like we're in any huge rush to get there." It would be a lie to say that Iyo didn't want to go right now, but she knew that it would be silly to just go charging out there without any supplies and the like.

"Actually, it's best that you all go now." Kuramoto spoke up, her eyes fixated on the window. "If I know Ise, she's not going to give Iyo an easy time around here once she comes to." Everyone automatically fell silent, not because of the fear of having remembered that Ise wasn't really dead but, from the fact that they had forgotten about her up til this point. That said, the group had completely overlooked the fact of Ise recovering and of course finding away to make Iyo's life miserable after publically humiliating her in front of the entire school. "I know you figure you can take'er now, but it's really only good you leave. We haven't even started rebuildin' that spot ya'll trashed during the first fight ya had." Kuramoto added, making her way back over to the cabinent that held the assortment of medicines and first aid.

"If that's the case, we won't be able to stay for dinner..." Iyo muttered, clearly more concerned about getting the dinner she was looking forward to thanks to a less than filling lunch. In fact, she was already starting to feel hungry after having expended what energy the curry gave her to beat Ise. Momoko said nothing to the pig girl and merely looked to her with narrowed eyes before turning her attention to Kuramoto.

"Don't worry, I'll give you all what food I can for the trip. If all goes well, ya'll should be outta here by sundown."

"Wait...sundown?" Momoko echoed, her tone signaling that something of worry was on her mind. "Don't those monsters, the Rakshas, come out at night."

"They do, ya'll hafta find somewhere to sleep before that happens." Kuramoto answered, "I know it don't seem like the safest thing to do but, if ya'll wanna get to the clinic before Ise finds out where you went then it's ya only choice." Iyo looked up to Momoko and Kumada, the both of them staring right back at her as if awaiting her to give them an answer. With much to say, Iyo hopped off the bed she lay on and pulled her jacket off from the hooks it hung on above her bed.

"C'mon, we have stuff to pack." Iyo said as she looked behind her to the bear and lizard a confident smirk spreading across her youthful face. "You guys ready to go to Yggdra and kick some ass on the way?"

"Do you have to ask?" Kumada replied with a smirk of his own. He didn't know about kicking ass but, he was all about following behind Iyo to a man might help him unlock his potential in combat. Kumada nudged Momoko along the back, the silent lizard jumping from his touch and merely responding with a nod with no words to show her confidence on the matter. Ah well...Momoko was usually as nervous as she was moody, so her being less than thrilled about going was to be expected.

"You kids be careful out there." Takashi warned, said warning only managing to bring forth a wide grin from Iyo as she passed him by with her friends. "Be sure to send me a post card from Yggdra when you get there."

"Oh and Ya'll be sure to meet around the front of the school in a little bit, I'll have all your food and stuff packed up and ready for ya." Kuramoto added in, turning just to see the three of them make it out the door. The lunch lady stared at the uneventful door way and then looked to Takashi. "Ya think they heard me?" She asked the one armed teacher who merely shrugged in response to her question.

Whether the three young yakshas heard Kuramoto or not, one thing was for certain; they were all headed on a journey toward a place from which dreams are born. The path leading up to the eden they wished to step foot in was not going to be an easy one, as obvious as they was. Ahead there lie and wait many challenges unbeknowest to their goals yet, still awaiting to snap their bodies in two and feast upon their tender young flesh. This would be their last few moments in this school...after this, they would be out on their own to fend for themselves in a world that they knew would try everything in it's power to kill them. It would essentially be the most dangerous thing the three of them would ever do with their lives...

Iyo walked in silence along side Kumada and Momoko who didn't put forth much effort to break the quiet of the atmosphere between the three of them. However, their minds were far from silent, each one resonating with thought on what awaited them outside of the school or if they would actually live to see the paradise they wished to reach. It mattered not how many questions their minds thought to ask, it all counted on one thing and one thing only; time. Unfortunately the twenty questions going through their active minds did not seem to stop them from noticing a rather odd spectacle taking place near the stairs that led to the second floor of the school; standing on the stairway leading to the second floor was the rock skinned yaksha, Butch his large earthly hands grasping the collar of no one else but Kyushichi as tightly as they could. Saying that Kyushichi wasn't spouting off a million different apologies a minute wouldn't be too far from the truth on the matter.

"Butch, what in the...?" said Iyo being the first to see the two at the base of the stairs. Butch glanced over his rocky shoulders and to the pig girl behind him, Kumada and Momoko soon joining her side. Butch simply turned to face Iyo his hand never letting go of the flailing bat yaksha caught in his grasp. "Alright, let'em go Butch. I ain't got time for your crap now." Iyo demanded

"Why, and let this weasel of a bat get away? Fuck that." Butch refused, glaring at Kyushichi who looked as though he would abandon all fortitude and wet himself where he stood...well, dangled anyway. "You should be thankin' me that I caught this loose mouthed son of a bitch, he's the guy who's been reportin' all our shit to the principle and was about to do it again had I not caught him listening in on you guys a minute ago."

"Huh, I just thought all that it was only a rumor..." Kumada said, scratching behind his head, not seeming to show too much surprise on the matter.

"I-I'm sorry, Iyo-senpai...I-I was ordered to do it!" Kyushichi confessed, knowing that by this point, Iyo would know full well that it was by his spinelessness that all of the events involving Takashi and the fight thereafter transpired. One could say that, Kyushichi knew that he had what was coming to him...he just didn't know when. "G-Gakisawa-sama...she...she threatened to hurt me...i-if I didn't do wh-wh-what she said. Please y-you have to believe me!" Iyo narrowed her eyes a bit, the past anger she felt toward Kyushichi not keeping his mouth shut managing to come to a boil once more. The snitch of a bat was hanging right there in front of her...easy to catch and pound to a bloody pulp thanks to Butch being a jerkass of a bully. The thoughts of getting to her room and packing her things went up in flames as Iyo remembered they she had made a vow to deal with Kyushichi and make sure he would snitch on anyone ever again. Momoko looked to Kyushichi then walked to Iyo's side, taking note of her livid expression and the shaking of her fists...she knew what the pig wanted to unleash her fury on.

"Iyo...we don't have time for this, we have to go." Momoko attempted to reason with Iyo, not because they were in a rush, but because she knew taking her anger out on Kyushichi wasn't the right thing to do. Kyushichi had already confessed to having been in a situation that didn't allow him to keep any secrets from Ise so in truth, he wasn't at fault for what happened.

"But!" Iyo exlaimed, turning her head to Momoko. "...It's his fault! If he would have kept his god damn mouth shut...Mitsuko and Takashi..."

"If he did keep his mouth shut, would you have been able to beat Ise with that power of yours?" Kumada brought up, the words he spoke freezing Iyo and her anger where they both stood. It was true, without Kyushichi, Iyo wouldn't have the power she did nor, would she have been able to beat Ise and have the resolve to venture out to Yggdra. In a twisted, roundabout way...she should actually be thanking Kyushichi for having such a big mouth. Iyo slowly looked to Kyushichi, her eyes managing to catch a glimpse of his own...they were wide and filled with fear and anxiety.

"Whatcha gonna do, Piggyo?" Butch's voice rang in Iyo's ears and not in the best of ways either. Had this been a different circumstance, or rather had she felt a different way, it wouldn't have sounded as though someone was trying to force her into making a decision she just did not want to be bothered with at this moment. Of course, how Iyo felt was of no concern to the burly yaksha ahead of her, his continuing words being alot of proof to this. "I hold'em and you punch'em, that sound alright? He derserves it anyway."

"Ugh, shut the fuck up, Butch!" Iyo shouted in a burst of frustration, walking up to the bully's face and slamming her bandaged fist right between his eyes. Butch didn't move from Iyo's punch, he merely sat and took it. However, the chunks of rock that fell from the impact zone of his face was telling stories of how he had felt it. Iyo pulled her fist from Butch's, now cracked, face and pulled him toward her by the collar of his green t-shirt. The look in Iyo's eye was no different from it was last time...unless you count the fact that her tone was far more serious than what it was earlier today. "Me, Kumada and Momoko are going away for a while and if I hear anything about you giving Kyushichi a hard time...I'm going to jackhammer your ass straight to the core of the earth. Understand me." Butch remained tight lipped, but Iyo could see that he understood especially given the fact that he released his grip on Kyushichi allowing the bat to be free once more.

"I-Iyo senpai..." Kyushichi breathed out, visibly moved by her standing up for him...of course, this didn't really last long once Iyo realized Kyushichi was free from Butch's grasp.

"And don't think I'm not pissed at you either." Iyo turned to Kyushichi, letting go of Butch and raising her fist. Instinctively, Kyushichi cowered, covering his body with his wings by curling up in a tight ball to conceal any soft areas he thought Iyo would pummel. However, after remaining in a defensive curl and not feeling any blows being laid on him, Kyushichi looked up to see Iyo restraining herself but still carrying a look of anger. The pig simply shook her head and sighed in exasperation, she's wasted enough time here and would waste even more if she beat up Kyushichi. "Whatever...we have stuff to pack. Let's go guys..." Iyo said as she by passed the two yaksha Kumada and Momoko following close behind in silence. Kyushichi picked himself up as he watched the three yaksha disappear to the second floor, looking back at Butch and immedieatly trying to escape to the protection of Euiko. A powerful grip along the collar of his shirt stopped the bat's hasty escape though...

"Oh no you don't, you're going to tell me where Piggyo and her band of losers are goin'!" Butch demanded to the bat as he brought his fists of solid stone to Kyushichi's face. "Or I'm going to make it look like you fell down the stairs."

"W-Why do you want to know?" Kyushichi questioned in a panic. Butch could only laugh at his inqury as he brought Kyushichi to his face and gave him a wicked smile.

"That's nobodies business but, my own, bat breath."

[Bias Bus]

Unfortunately, Iyo and her friends had long since left to know anything about Butch's intent on learning of their plans. By this point, it would all be rather pointless to worry of Butch, seeing as there wasn't any time to do such a thing. Getting to the clinic and then later to Yggdra was far more important than a potential grudge match between a child made of a rock and a pig yaksha with the power to transform her fists into the flames of vengence. The day within the school had all but calmed to it's usual atmosphere now, although the students still managed to keep the memory of the fight between Ise and Iyo alive in the form of rumors and gossip. By the time dinner was around the corner, there wasn't a single student who didn't know about the fight and how the tough girl Iyo managed to punch the fuck out of the principle with her glowing fists of badassery. Iyo herself was apathetic to her fame that spread across the school like wildfire and focused only on her goal set with herself and the two friends she was carrying with her to paradise. All things considered, the fame Iyo managed to collect from her victory against Ise might help spark support for her journey to Yggdra...provided the word got out about her endeavors. For now, it seemed that no one knew anything about Iyo's intentions to leave the school and the day continued on into dinner time without further incident.

"Come on, let's go!" Iyo called to Kumada and Momoko as she ran to the front entrance of the school building, her bright pink backpack beating against her back with every hurried footfall. Iyo could barely hear the voices of her friends as she drew closer to the doors that led outside, the excitement that was welling up within her doing a fine job of tuning out anything else but the thoughts her mind could produce when drowned in excitement. Yes, she was well aware of what awaited her outside once she and her friends began the journey...in fact, apart of Iyo was scared senseless of what would happen once they went along into the deeper parts of Akihabara. There was only one time she could name where she was able to see the outside for herself and that was through trying to escape it's cruelty. Whether or not she would be able to survive it for a week remained to be seen but, Iyo wasn't going to let a latent fear of the outside spook her from her ultimate dream of finding Yggdra.

"Slow down, geeze..." Momoko complained, being the unlucky one to feel that she had overpacked for the trip and loaded her bag down with clothing she knew she wouldn't even need. Of course, there was always the notion of never having too many clothes but, really...when you're going out into a varidiable wasteland of a city then what could a single person do with so many clothes? "Some of us...are kinda weighed down back here..."

"Well...no one said for you to pack so many clothes." Kumada commented, knowing his words would more or less result in Momoko chewing him out. To which...he wasn't mistaken in thinking so...

"S-Screw you, Kumada!" Momoko shouted, apart of her seeing that Kumada had made a small point that she obviously didn't see while she was packing sometime ago. The lizard yaksha looked up from screaming at Kumada to see Iyo already pushing past the doors to the school, Momoko sighing a bit as she realized that Iyo and Kumada were really the only ones who seemed to be remotely excited about this. Momoko herself wasn't really looking forward to facing death in the face everyday, but...even though she knew she was placing her life on the line for an entire week, Momoko knew that Iyo would do what she could to protect both her and Kumada. It was at least that thought that put her at ease...if only a little.

Eventually, Momoko and Kumada managed to join Iyo outside, the three young yaksha taking a glimpse of the outside for the second time today. The first thing that seemed off with the scenery was the visage of Kuramoto who stood by the school's destroyed gate. Normally, the gate would have been closed by orders of Ise so is to keep Rakshas locked outside (and to some extent, everyone else inside). However, thanks to Iyo punching Ise through the gate and Ise being fat enough to break the gate with little effort, it was easy for Iyo and her friends to pass through. Kuramoto looked up from where she stood and slowly lumbered toward Iyo who, for the most part, wasn't expecting to see the lunch lady again. "Looks like it didn't take long for ya'll to get packed up and ready to go." Kuramoto chuckled, reaching for a large bag slung over her shoulders and holding it toward Iyo and her friends. "In here is a weeks worth of food, I scraped up what I could to pack this, ya'll be sure to make it last now, y'hear?" The lunch lady held the bag toward Iyo before she paused midway, taking a good minute to gauge Iyo's expression; it was a look that told her that she would do the one thing she shouldn't, gorge herself. "Momoko, here." Kuramoto walked past Iyo and held the bag to the lizard who let out a surprised squeak as she attempt to adjust to the weight of the bag she was forced to carry.

"Hey, what the ham sandwhich!" Iyo protested, clearly not happy with the arrangements Kuramoto had in mind. Momoko could have spoke her own mind about already having too many clothes to carry but, she was currently being silenced by falling over on her back from carrying way too much stuff at the moment.

"Sorry, but I don't think I can trust you or Kumada with food. After seeing first hand how much ya'll two can eat, I'm sure Momoko would be a better choice to help conserve what food you have." Kuramoto replied as she glanced to her side and effortlessly picking Momoko up from the ground. The lizard yaksha taking the time to look up at Kuramoto and voice her opinion on just how bad this setup was for her.

"K-Kuramoto-san!" Momoko began, her reptilian tail standing up on end. "I-I can't carry all of this AND keep up with them at the same time, get Kumada to do it, he's pretty strong! Heck, he's a bear for crying out loud!" Kumada looked back to Momoko,

"Wow, thanks Momoko-chan...I didn't know you cared~" went Kumada, his cheeks lighting up in a bright pink blush.

"I-I don't! I-I just said that because you're stronger than me!" Of course, Momoko wasn't going to let the words she spoke be mistaken for a compliment...even though she herself was blushing quite a bit as well.

"Haha, you three..." Kuramoto laughed, placing her hand onto Momoko's head, giving the lizard girl a playful pat. It was a shame she would be seeing them go, although it's been a while since she's known the three yakshas but, that only made it harder for her to let them go. Especially since she was essentially letting them loose into a world that had only grown much worse in it's acts of ruthlessness towards those who lived in it. Still...Iyo was determined on her goal regardless of the circumstances stacked against her, so who was she to stand in their way? "Trust me, I wouldn't give ya this job if I knew I couldn't count on ya for it. You're a reasonabl gal, Momoko, so I know you can keep things in order." Momoko looked away for a moment, unsure on what she wanted to do but, eventually, caved to what responsibility she was given. After all, the bear and pig would more than likely eat up the rations if she wasn't in charge of them. "Good girl, I know you'll keep things straight." Kuramoto said to Momoko with a smile.

Iyo looked out to the road up ahead, the stillness of the urban scenery and the faint roar of the distant Rakshas bringing up the thoughts on where the yaksha had to go first; the clinic. However, Iyo herself hasn't been to the clinic herself and thus, didn't know how to get there on foot...but, she knew who did. "So what do you think is the quickest route to the clinic?" Iyo asked to Kuramoto who walked to herside and peered down the ruined street that led further into the rotting city of Akihabara. "I mean...we only got a week to look for it, right? So, I reckon we need to find the quickest way there."

"You'll need to need to head down interstate 68 then take a left..." Kuramoto paused taking the time to look down to Iyo who...looked as though she was speaking spanish. Iyo wasn't exactly one to pay much attention to , so perhaps she would understand directions that were geared towards appearances. "Uhm...okay, look at it this way; you keep straight until you reach the bus stop, after that you take a right and keep goin' til you hit a place that used to be Gyuuniku Palace. After you get there you take a right and keep on straight, you should get to a fork in the road, take a left and you should be right there at the clinic."

"Oooh, I know where that'll take us." Momoko spoke up, the directions managing to spark a distant memory from the past. "It'll take us to where you would go to get to the mall."

Kuramoto nodded, "Yep, the clinic ain't too far from the mall which, if I remember right, got turned into a huge spot where folks buy supplies and food."

"...Which is the perfect spot to stock up on supplies when we leave for Yggdra!" It took Iyo a while to see this, the fact she didn't really know the roads near the clinic might have been a reason why. "Still though, the directions you gave me doesn't sound like it'll take all week though..." Iyo pointed out to Kuramoto, her finger placed on her chin as she turned her gaze forward and walked past the gate. "If anything it'll only take a couple of hours, if not a day."

"Ah ah, you're already underestimating the outside," Kuramoto said. "Trust me, when you get out there...it will seem like time itself has slowed down..." Iyo looked to Kuramoto, her voice having taken a sharp turn into seriousness that she rarely heard from the usually jovial lunch lady. However, as odd as it was, there was no reason to ignore the change in tone. Iyo turned to Kumada and Momoko, the both of them joining her side as the three of them looked on into what they were going to challenge; the city they once grew up in...was now going to put them to the ultimate test of survival. Many dangers now lurked within the home that was so peaceful before Izanami's Trigger and if they weren't careful...it would be these very dangers that would not hesitate to kill them where they tread. Now was the best time to turn back and head back into the school, now was the time to surrender their courage to cowardice...

They didn't make this decision to give in to cowardice...

"Alright, you guys ready?" Iyo asked, bringing her hands to the straps of her backpack and clenched them as tightly as she could. She looked back to Kumada and Momoko who gave her a strong nod, a signal for her to lead the way into the hazardous urban jungle that was waiting to devour their youthful bodies whole and alive. "Alright, later Kuramoto-san!" Iyo waved to the lunch lady as she sprinted off down the cracked street, her running start taking Momoko by surprise, but not her bear like friend who merely mimicked Iyo's movements and ran off behind her.

"D-Damn it, you guys ran off on purpose! You know I'm encumbered here!" Momoko shouted in a frustration to Kumada and Iyo as she struggled to run off only to be stopped by Kuramoto.

"Take care of'em now, y'hear?" Kuramoto said to the lizard girl as she looked up to the fleeting figures of Iyo and Kumada running off in the distance. Everything depended on the resolve of the three of them, Iyo and Kumada were strong willed kids...Kuramoto knew that as far as rationality and tact goes, Momoko has them both beat by a long shot. Even so, it will take team work for them to survive in this wasteland. "You guys'll need each other out there."

"Don't worry, I'll look after them." Momoko smiled finally managing to get both bags she had with her into a position she was comfortable with. "After all, they're my friends...it's my duty to take care of them." And with that Momoko ran off in an attempt to catch up to Kumada and Iyo who still didn't realize they had left her behind. Momoko didn't look back, she knew that if she even laid one glimpse on the school she was running from, she would no doubt feel a need to go back. With her friends already set on going to Yggdra, Momoko herself couldn't afford to get cold feet and let them leave on their own. As scared as she was about the outside, Momoko couldn't change the fact that both Iyo and Kumada needed her guidance just as much as she needed their protection.

Eventually Momoko managed to catch up to Iyo and Kumada, which was only due to the fact that the both of them had stopped at a four way intersection, the fallen debris of the buildings that crumbled blocking off the path to the left. While the two others were, for the most part, clear and easy to access on foot. "Why...are we stopping...?" Momoko panted,

"Uhm...if I told you, you'd just get mad..." Iyo hesitated scratching the side of her face with her index finger and trying not to give Momoko eye contact.

"Just tell her, Iyo-chan..." Kumada said nonchalantly to Iyo, seeing no reason why Iyo should keep it to herself. Well, there was one reason, "Momoko maybe moody but, I think she'll take it pretty well."

"What are you two going on about...?" Momoko questioned, quickly growing impatient with what the two seemed to be keeping from her. "If you have something to say, just say it. I promise I won't get mad." That was a promise that Momoko wasn't always able to keep, although that usually depended on what Iyo would say. If it was enough to miff her into being angry then there goes that promise out the window...

"Well...I sorta...forgot the directions..." Iyo began, "Well, not so much as forgot as I forgot if I should go left or keep straight."

Momoko blinked for a few moments, before she let out a sigh and walked ahead of Iyo. She was expecting Iyo to forget at least some of the directions, it wouldn't be a road trip if Iyo didn't forget the directions at least once. "We keep straight," Momoko answered bluntly walking ahead of Iyo before she stepped into the center of the intersection and gazing forward then to the left; she wasn't sure what was down that road...it's been a long time since she's been down that way. Although she was sure that it would lead to the mall, Momoko didn't want to chance taking a shortcut she didn't know very well. Especially not with the sun getting ready to set on them. "We're not even at the bus stop yet, we still have a little ways to go from here. Going left will take us somewhere else, somewhere we don't need to be." The lizard girl continued, gesturing the two to follow her, seeing as Iyo would have already forgotten where to go by now if she forgot which direction to go.

For what it was worth, Momoko was fairly fortunate that she could still recognize most of her surroundings with ease...or at least, make out what they used to be despite them being subjected to the after effects of a natural disaster. Alot of the buildings that would normally be bustling with people at this hour were all but abandoned husks of their former glory, the insides now either dark and vacant or destroyed from what can only be described as something else, more than likely Rakshas. Most of the taller buildings that rose higher into the air were leaning, or had fallen in on themselves. One large building Momoko and her friends passed had it's face torn off which proved to be ideal nesting conditions for some large bird like creatures. On the path below was no different, the black road leading into the city was in an upheaveal, and basically nowhere near being recommended to drive along with any sort of motor vehicle. Speaking of motor vehicles, the cars that were near, at least the ones that were still in one piece, were littered across the street like trash. Some were destroyed beyond recognition while others appeared to have sustained some damage but otherwise would be of some use.

"You guys think we could hotwire one of these cars and ride them?" Kumada asked, his gaze locking onto a perfectly decent looking volkswagon to the side of a building. Many of the cars that did look to be in working order usually had something missing from them such as engines or generally, any part that would help make the car well, run properly or at all, for that matter. There was really nothing saying that the car Kumada had his eye on was any different from being picked clean of it's parts, but the bear yaksha liked to be at least somewhat optimistic in this situation. Especially considering that there probably won't be very many freebies out here. "There's a perfectly good volkswagon over there we can score, why not see if it works?"

"Because, first of all, there's no place to drive the thing." Momoko answered, not even giving Kumada a chance to dream of what they could do with a car. At this age, that was one of the things a kid would love to do. "And second, there's Rakshas out here...I dunno about you but if I were a hungry bloodthirsty monster I think I'd follow close to the one thing making alot of noise." Kumada raised an eyebrow and looked to Iyo who merely shrugged. While it wasn't uncommon for many back at the school to lump Rakshas as voracious demon beasts who would do nothing more than slaughter any unsuspecting individual who crossed them funny, but one had to wonder...

"Do you really think all Rakshas are bad?" Iyo inquired to Momoko walking to her side. "I mean, sure we were taught that Rakshas were dangerous monsters but...they all can't be that bad."

"We can't take chances with them, Iyo-san..." Momoko remarked, her opinions on the rakshas remaining where it was and showing no signs of removing itself from it's stance. Knowing Momoko won't really take to being pestered about this sort of thing very kindly, Iyo decided to simply drop the matter and focus on the travel across the landscape looking up at the sky and seeing the once blue hue of the atmosphere already painted in a mix of purple and orange, a sign that the sun was setting on the horizon and that they had to find somewhere to make camp lest they wished to deal with nocturnal creatures. Alongside this was the nagging sensation of the pig girl's hunger that was bitting at the back of her stomach.

"How long have we been goin' for?" Kumada asked, looking back at the setting sun.

"Not that long, probably at least twenty minutes." Momoko answered, she herself having no real clue on how much time has passed since they began the journey away from the school.

"What, seriously?" Kumada stammered a bit, "Feels like we've been at this for an hour now...maybe even two."

"Well, none of us really packed anyway watches so...I guess it's easy to lose track of time out here." The lizard shrugged before the silence between the three them regained dominance over the atmosphere. Momoko took a moment to look back on her words before she compared them to those Kuramoto a while ago. "Hey, do you think that's what Kuramoto-san meant when she said time goes by slower out here?"

"Just because we don't have watches?" Iyo shrugged, "That seems kinda silly."

"Yeah, I know it kinda is, but still...how else can you explain it?" Momoko said back to Iyo who seemed to take a few moments to think on the matter and come up with a decent answer. Of course, this answer would have came to her had her thought processes not been interrupted by the soft rumble of "You're hungry, aren't you?"

"Ahaha...how could you have guessed?" Iyo chuckled nervously, Momoko sighing as she looked behind her to see how far they've gotten from the school; she could barely see the school building itself, but what with the fallen buildings laying in her field of vision there was really no telling how far they were from it. Momoko just assumed that there were far enough to take a break and maybe set up a place to spend the night.

"I figured the both of you would want to eat sometime after we left the school but, I wanted to get a little farther into the city first before we stopped." Momoko said as she looked ahead seeing the road suddenly end, the path that was supposed to connect to it having collapsed onto a lower level which meant they would have to scale the cliff in order to continue forward, if they stopped here. Momoko then looked to her left and saw an abandoned building ahead, it looked fairly sturdy but was nothing short of battered and beaten. Still...it looked that it would at least hold up to it's original purpose. "I think we can stop and eat here but, we're going to be spending the night here." Momoko told the two yakshas behind her who, for the most part, were more concearned about eating at this point than where they would stay.

"Why stop, we can keep goin once we eat." Iyo said, completely missing whatever point Momoko was trying to make in the process. Something Momoko herself knew was going to happen and set to explain the reasoning behind her suggestion.

"Because, once we eat it will not only be night time but, we'll be tired from the meal. We'll be better of sleeping it off til morning and get a fresh start at travelling when we wake up." Momoko explained walking inside the building and taking a look around the darkness and seeing that this would have been a jewelry store had there been any precious gems and trinkets within the store itself. There didn't seem to be a door to prevent intruders from coming in from the front entrance, however there appeared to be another area of the store that had it's door intact. Provided there they would probably sleep there for the night. "Kumada, Iyo, do you both mind checking out that back room while I set up dinner." Momoko asked of the two, more physically adept, yaksha as she hoisted the large bag up and waddled to the center of the room where she would set things up.

With their task given to them, Iyo motioned Kumada to follow her as they left Momoko to see what they had to eat for dinner. Side stepping the loose debris that was littered around the door, the two yakshas pushed aside the door to find that the room in the back was something of an office of sorts. The desk and everything else was, for the most part, intact. However, the room itself was nowhere near organized and there were papers scattered about everywhere. All n all, it seemed like a decent area to set up shop and crash for the night, provided there may need to be something heavy in front of the door to prevent Rakshas from raiding the room. "Well, this place looks good to lay around in for the time being." Kumada commented, turning to Iyo for a moment. "You think we'll be okay from Rakshas in here?"

Iyo merely shrugged, her inability to predict the future. "Probably. We'll have to barricade the door so nothin' will get in though." The pig girl took a moment to look around the room, finding several candidates for barricades popping up around her; the desk, several file cabinents, and a safe located at the back of the room. "And all this stuff will do fine for that." Iyo thumbed over to the desk to use as an example of what she was talking of. The room itself was fairly small in size and moving things around wouldn't be very easy given the cramped accomidations, in fact, Iyo believed that she would have to break the desk in half just to move it to the door. But, if that meant sleeping safely out here then that seemed to be the only outcome. However, whatever the outcome would be for them, one thing seemed to have already been decided for them and that was the fact that dinner was ready. At least, that was something Iyo could smell from where she stood, the pig yaksha pausing for a moment and sniffing the air. Her nostrils flared as the appetizing aroma passed her by allowing her to take in it's essense and decipher just what was being brought out to eat.

She recognized this smell...it was onigiri and the various smells of meat and bread gave the hint that there were also some sandwhiches present for the feast.

"Dinner's ready, come on." Iyo said to Kumada as she rushed out of the room, the bear turning on his heel and following behind her. Momoko was still laying down a cloth for them to eat on when she noticed the two of them walking toward her, Iyo looking especially ravenous.

"Oh...erm, you're a little early." Momoko commented scooting the huge bag of food off to the side alongside her backpack. "But, yeah...dinner's ready, so dig in." Iyo looked down to the cloth that held their food and saw that the lizard had divded up an equal share of food between them, each section getting no more than 3 onigiri and 4 slices of sandwhiches which were evenly cut in a triangular manner. Apart of Iyo was ready to eat, but another wasn't exactly satisfied with what she was getting. Really...3 rice balls and 4 sandwhich slices? Was that really to be considered a hearty meal for them to enjoy? After all, they're going to need alot of strength for the coming trip continuing through the wastes, why not eat big for such an occasion?

"Thanks for fixing up dinner, Momo-chan." Kumada didn't seem to mind either way and he ate just as much as Iyo did...

"Come on, Iyo-san, eat up." Momoko said to Iyo who remained still for a moment but, eventually came to lower herself down onto the cloth and began on her share of food. Normally, Momoko wouldn't be all that surprised by Iyo's enthusiasm to eat but, seeing her tear into her meal with the fevor of someone who hasn't eaten in days, the lizard took a moment to find something else to keep her mind off staring Iyo and decided to ask about the back area of the store. After all, she and her friends would be sleeping here tonight. "So...how was the back room?" Momoko asked to any of the two who would answer her. "We'll probably only be staying here up til we have breakfast so, it doesn't matter how it looks so long as it's protected from Rakshas." Kumada was the one to speak up and answer her question, seeing as to how Iyo was too busy stuffing her face to answer in any proper language at the moment.

"Yeah, it's a pretty solid room." Kumada replied, opening his mouth to continued only to have his next words crawl right back down his throat as he lay witness to something enigmatic manifest within his field of vision. Naturally confused on Kumada's sudden change in expression and lack of words, Momoko leaned forward and snapped her fingers in front of the bears face to pull out any sort of reaction only to get nothing of the sort. Iyo was far too busy filling her gut to notice that the both of them were even talking so Momoko simply turned to see what Kumada had his eyes on; a figure slowly came lumbering into the very store she and her friends were having their meal within, the low appearance of the mysterious being showing that it was quadrapedal...at least that's what Momoko thought until the beast came into view and revealed that it walked on, not four, but six legs...each set looking as though it were torn from the body of 3 different animals and pasted onto this creature's body. For the most part, the creature was no bigger than an average sized dog and was outfitted in charcoal grey fur and small wings that seemed to have feathers of the same color. There was also the jarring fact that the creature had a human like head and face of a small child of sorts, it's innocent face framed in medium cut green hair with a pair of small, yellow horns protruding from the sides of the chimera's head.

"What...what in the name of..." Needless to say, this was something that greatly unnerved Momoko. Of course, her reaction to the creature's sudden appearance was to be expected, especially since there was no way of telling if it was hostile or not...

[Bias Bus]

 Momoko continued stare at the creature that continued to slowly make it's way into the store's interior, it's child like head tilting to one side as it began to show a form of innocence a curious child would. The fact that the creature wasn't even human only made this all the more disturbing to the lizard yaksha who promptly shot up onto her feet and made a beeline for the first form of cover she could get to hide. Kumada looked back seeing Momoko duck behind him, as if he were some form of shield to protect her from the small intruder who was now sniffing at her rations, it's paw batting at the sandwhiches as it lay to examine the odd food in front of it. "I-It's a Raksha." Momoko pointed out from behind Kumada, throwing her gaze to Iyo who was, for the most part, finished with dinner and was now relishing in the ecstacy of being full. At least for the moment anyway...

"What're you doing, get rid of it!" Momoko ordered, pointing to the six armed raksha that had now decided to help itself to a half eaten sandwhich Momoko would have finished herself had she not been spooked. Iyo turned to Momoko with a raised eyebrow, then back toward the creature that had thrown the lizard into such a fit. For what it seemed like, the Raksha that had came in unannounced didn't even look to be out for blood nor was it even concearned with them. The little monster was more or less focused on eating Momoko's dinner for itself and nothing more.

"Uhm...why?" Iyo questioned with a shrug. "It's not really doing anything bad...well, aside from eating your dinner..." That was pretty much the only crime the odd critter was guilty of. Iyo wanted to place Momoko's defensive behavior around the, supposedly harmless, monster under lumping every Raksha as a monster but, she decided not to go into that sort of deal. Even so, it didn't seem to stop Momoko from believing that the Raksha would kill everyone in the room...

"Th-that doesn't matter!" Momoko argued from behind Kumada, who...tried to ignore just how loud Momoko actually was. "We can't afford to just let any Raksha walk in on us like this, we have"

"You're being silly..." Iyo sighed as she picked herself up and began walking over to the Raksha who was still enjoying Momoko's dinner. She was going to prove to Momoko that even though this creature was a Raksha, it didn't have to be a blood thirsty abomination. Needless to say Momoko didn't like her friend approaching the monster she was convinced would eat her face off.

"No, Iyo! Don't do it!" Momoko hollared in an attempt to convince Iyo to come back to where it was, supposedly, safe. "It's going to eat you! Don't go near it!"

"You know, there are plenty of other places you could hide so...Is there really any reason why you're behind ME of all things...?" Kumada quizzed the lizard, growing rather tired of hearing her scream in his ear almost non stop now. Momoko only answered his question in silence...

As Iyo approached the Raksha she kneeled down to the small critter, her presence immedieatly seeming to catch the rakshas attention as it looked up to her with curiosity. Although, at first the creature itself looked rather disturbing but, now that she was at least used to it's appearance, Iyo did find the monster a little cute. Perhaps it was the child-like face it had that helped make it cute, or was it the small size? Whatever the reason maybe, Iyo wasn't threatened by the creature one bit and wasn't about to harm it unless things proved to grow hostile between the two of them. "Haha, it's actually kinda cute, once you get used to it." Iyo giggled as she took one of Momoko's onigiri and began to dangle it over the Raksha's head. Like a cat to it a piece of dangling yarn, the raksha's gazed locked onto the onigiri as it reached up with it's frontmost set of paws and began trying to grab the rice based food from Iyo. The pig yaksha held it up higher, prompting the raksha to jump up on it's hind legs only to lose it's balance and fall on it's back. Iyo smiled to the small monster and fed the onigiri. Grateful for the offering, the six armed raksha let out a purring sound as began eating the treat Ito gave it, the pig girl coming to rub the raksha's chest as it ate. "See? There's nothing to worry about, it ain't gonna hurt nobody."

Momoko's expression dropped, having witnessed that her assumptions weren't exactly spot on. How could something, she's seen as monstrous and outright dangerous be so...harmless and rather cute? This didn't make any sense to her but, neither did the fact that Iyo now had the power to turn her fists into lava. Perhaps it was okay to drop some hostilities toward Rakshas...provided they aren't as small  as this one. "Well...okay, but can you at least get it away from my dinner..." The lizard said to Iyo who looked back and hoisted the raksha into her arms to carry it to her previous spot. "Ah, but don't bring it over here!"

"Why? It's not gonna hurt you, so what's there to be all jumpy for?" Iyo questioned as she continued toward Momoko despite the lizard girl's protest on the matter. The closer Iyo came, the more Momoko motioned Kumada in front of her, using her bear like buddy as a meat shield against the threat that the rather harmless raksha may throw at her. "C'mon, pet it, I bet you'll like it."

"I don't want that thing near me, Iyo!" Momoko declared seeing Iyo hold out the Raksha who was beginning to grow restless of being carried and started to struggle in Iyo's grasp. Curious about the Raksha's motions, Iyo directed her attention to the squirming monster in her hold and turned it around to face her.

"What's the matter, you want me to put you down?" Iyo asked to the Raksha, knowing that the six armed monster probably couldn't understand her. Unfortunately, Iyo didn't seem to note of how the front of her t-shirt was beginning to change colors; from a solid white to a shade of golden yellow...Momoko and Kumada seemed to see this though, the latter beginning to let out a small chuckle at what he was seeing but didn't say much on the matter. Momoko let out a gasp and, unlike Kumada, stepped in and warned Iyo of what was happening...

"Iyo, put it down!" Momoko shouted, "It's...it's peeing on you!" Iyo gave Momoko a look of surprise, and looked down. Sure enough...the pig yaksha came to see that the front of her once clean t-shirt was now soiled with a golden stain. It would appear that the spare clothing Iyo brought with her was a good idea...because now it looks like she'll need to change them now...

"What the fu-the bastard pissed on me!" Iyo declared, noting how her shirt was drenched in yellow all along the middle of the soiled t-shirt. "Eughh, it's all over my clean shirt, dammit!" The pig girl's gaze soon darted straight to the one who did this to her, the friendly demeanor she held before melting under the heated fury of being urinated on. Well, no one really likes being peed on...there are some who do but, Iyo wasn't those types of people. The raksha managed that it was in trouble and started to weasle it's way out of Iyo's tightening grasp. With enough effort, the six armed raksha slipped out of Iyo's hold and dashed back outside on the twilit streets of the ruined city, Iyo turning on her heels and setting her mind on making that little monster pay for ruining her good shirt. "Get your ass back here!" Iyo yelled furiously, giving chase behind the creature she wanted to exact vengence upon.

"Wait, Iyo!" Kumada called back, clicking his teeth in exasperation as he saw that not only did Iyo not listen but, she was also gone from sight the moment he tried to intervene in her chase. This was always one of the drawbacks of doing things with the pig girl...she always thought with action first and usually nothing else. Seeing that Iyo was now gone from sight Kumada set to fix this problem himself and looked to Momoko to help him out in his task. "C'mon, let's hurry up and bring her back before she gets herself into trouble."

"I told her not to mess with that thing...now look what happened..." Momoko sighed as she ran side by side with Kumada to catch the raging pig girl and hopefully calm her down before she did anything reckless. Luckily, the two of them didn't have to go very far to find their angry friend, Iyo having managed to chase the Raksha into a corner of a flipped car and was now dominating it with the bottom her foot all the while shouting profanities and insulting the horrible mother that birthed the thing. The small Raksha was squealing out pained cries as Iyo continued to jab her foot into the creatures body as it lay curled up in a defensive ball to protect soft areas.

"Alright, Iyo lay off the thing." Kumada demanded to the pig girl who turned around and revealing that, while still angry, she had calmed down a fair amount. "Yeah...I know your mad it peed on you but, don't forget you packed other clothes too, y'know."

"I know..." Iyo scoffed as she ceased her assault on the raksha and backed off toward her friends. However, Iyo did not take her gaze off the creature as it slowly unfolded it's body from it's curled defense and began looking around to see if it's assailant had left...unfortunately, she had not. Upon seeing Iyo, the raksha stiffened it's body in pure terror and let out one of the loudest screams ever heard by the three yaksha children. Twas a scream that was mixed of a frightened little girl and the cry of an irritated cat. Generally...it was a cry that no man should hear with his own ears...

"...Sheesh...what was that all about..." Momoko complained, digging her finger into her ear to hear the echoing after shock of the little raksha's sonic attack. The Raksha didn't make an attempt to move and simply remained where it was...something that confused Momoko quite a bit. "...Was that to scare us off?"

"I dunno...but it needs work..." Iyo shrugged. "It's nothing but ear rape, honestly..."

"Well...either way, we should get back inside and get some shut eye." Kumada suggested, taking his mind off the Raksha who would most likely be far too afraid to go near them again. Not after what Iyo did to it. Kumada turned and began heading toward the store he and his friends were going to sleep in during the night, Momoko and Iyo following close behind...well, Momoko anyway, Iyo had stopped following them and had turned her gaze to the twilit sky above her. For a moment, Kumada nor Momoko were aware that Iyo had stopped but, after Momoko turned to see if the Raksha was following them she came to notice Iyo staring off into space.

"Uhm...Iyo-chan?" Momoko called out to the pig girl who didn't put forth much effort to answer her. Without a proper response, Momoko turned around and walked back toward the pig girl, setting to figure out what was going on with her. "Iyo-chan...what's the matter?"

"...Something's coming." Iyo answered, her voice low and saturated with a seriousness that signaled the pig ready to fight. Momoko blinked, as the seeds of confusion began to bloom within her skull, Iyo's tone and the fact that Momoko herself couldn't hear anything not helping her at all in understanding Iyo's reasoning. "I mean...can't you hear it?"

"What are you talking about...what's coming?" Momoko queried to the pig yaksha who looked to her with a puzzled expression. Momoko took a second and looked to the sky and tuned her ears to the otherwise silent atmosphere around her. Just as she suspected, there was nothing to hear or make out in the distance, it was deathly silent save for her own breathing. If anything, the cold silence Momoko picked up on was enough to give her a sense of unease. "I don't hear anything...now can we go already, this silence is creeping me out..."

"Not until I see what's coming..." Iyo said, remaining where she stood and turning back to the skies above. Momoko might not have been able to hear it...but, Iyo could; loud and clear actually. The distinct sound of wings flapping in the distance and slowly gaining volume with each second that passed. Iyo knew something was coming towards them and she could tell just by how loud they were getting that whatever was coming toward's them was going to land somewhere nearby. Seconds turned to minutes as Iyo continued to stare at the sky as her brain tried to piece together what was coming towards them only to come up with now real answer to the riddle the sound posed to it. All of this ended once Iyo heard a beastly roar echo into her eardrums. It didn't take much after that to know that whatever was out there...was a Raksha. A big one. "Momoko, get inside! Hurry!" Iyo blurted out, Momoko jumping slightly from her sudden outburst.

"What's going on now?" Momoko questioned, clearly more than a little startled by the urgency in Iyo's voice.

"A Raksha's coming...a big one." Iyo told the lizard who froze up and nearly lost the color in her face at what was said to her. Momoko couldn't deal with a small Raksha like the one that urinated on Iyo...there was no way she could handle a bigger one. "Just...go inside with Kumada and don't come out until I come and get you!"

"Y-You're actually going to fight it!?" Momoko asked, Iyo remaining silent as she awaited the arrival of the beast that even Momoko could hear at this point. "Wh-why? Just come inside with us and hide, you don't have to fight that thing!" Momoko's protest of Iyo's words were drowned out by the thundering sound of an overpassing figure that soared over them with increadible speed. Momoko braced herself, as a powerful wind blew past her and Iyo as the mysterious figure flew over them and letting out a savage roar that boomed throughout the dark sky like rolling thunder. Momoko hadn't seen what flew over them the first time around but, she had plenty of time to make up for missing it when she looked up and saw the immense beast flying over the building behind her and coming to land in the street ahead of her and Iyo. The monstrous creature was, in more ways than one, huge; it's body alone being far taller than the smaller buildings that were still standing. The creature was covered in spotted fur, it's look akin to that of a leapord's coat while the six arms that jutted from it's hulking body were very similar to the smaller rakshas legs, insomuch that they all looked to have been pasted onto it's body. A thick furry mane encompassed it's neck that supported a disturbingly human face that held a feminine look to it, atop the Raksha's head was long flowing hair of the green color, with sprawling yellow antlers protruding on each side of it's head. It was safe to assume that the beast that stared them down...was indeed female. Iyo put up her fists as she watched the she-beast spread her large feathered wings and unleash yet another roar of primal fury.

Whatever this Raksha was pissed about...it was going to take it out on Iyo and her friends...

Iyo turned to her side and saw that Momoko didn't even move from the spot she stood in earlier, a spot that Iyo knew would be her grave if she didn't get her to safety. "What are you waiting for, get out of here NOW!" Iyo yelled to Momoko who was frozen with terror as she tried to comprehend what was standing in front of her. She has heard many things about Rakshas and how imposing they were...but, that was all from class. Momoko has never seen a Raksha up close and personal before...

"Kumada!" Iyo yelled as she dashed forward and grappled Momoko around the waist and ran for the entrance of the store. Iyo quickned her pace as she heard the booming of the beast stirring behind her and the rumbling footfalls of a powerful monster that was giving chase to it's prey fleeing the scene. Iyo sprung herself into the store just moments before the Raksha could snap it's jaws shut on her legs and rip them clean off from her body. Attention having been aroused by the commotion outside, Kumada peeked from the door in the back just in time to lay witness to the Raksha trying it's best to tear into the stores entrance to maul the two young yakshas with it's dangerously pointed fangs.

"Holy shit, what in the fuck is that!?" Kumada hollered only to get a limp Momoko slammed into his arms as his answer.

"Here, take Momoko and keep her in the back." Iyo ordered to the bear yaksha, turning toward the entrance which was still holding up valiantly against the assaults of the Raksha's saliva drenched fangs. "Make sure you don't come out until I come and get you two, understand?" Kumada understood her...he just didn't understand her logic for wanting to fight such a large beast.

"H-Hold on, you're not thinking fighting that thing are you!?" Kumada asked to Iyo who treated his question just like Momoko's and refused to give it a valid response or answer. "Iyo, don't do this! This is...just crazy!"

"If I don't what do you think's going to happen when that thing manages to get in here, give us milk and cookies?" Iyo shot back. She knew what she had to do...and she knew just how dangerous it was to oppose such a dangerous creature. Even so, there was no other choice, especially since the beast made it perfectly clear that it was out for blood and wasn't going to stop until it was bathed in it. Iyo clenched her fists, the same feeling that overcame her back at the school when she faced Ise beginning to pump through her veins and fill her being. She could feel the power welling up deep within her and racing to her like a bolt of lightning...it's energy coursing and growing ever more powerful with each second. Kumada looked down and saw her fists were beginning to give off steam as she stared at her would be opponent ahead. "I'm...the only one who can fight it...I'm the only one who can protect you guys...I'm the only one who can do this!" With a scream, Iyo threw her hands to her sides, as the guaze that wrapped them burst into flames and evaporated, leaving only the glowing arms of intense heat to shine brightly at Iyo's sides. Once again...Iyo had called upon the power she used to defeat Ise...and was going to use it once more to bring down this beast...

[OkashiiKisei]

Whoo! Boss time!

This fic still isn't disappointing me. :3

[Bias Bus]

Whoo! Boss time!

This fic still isn't disappointing me. :3

Glad to hear that it isn't. Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it~

Also, this is the perfect time to say that this is no longer apart of NaNo given how the contest itself is close to ending and this story...well, isn't. I figure it'd be a huge waste of time and effort to just drop it so from this moment onward this'll be an ongoing story seperate from NaNo entirely.

This may mean that I pretty much quit NaNo at this point but, on the flip side, it also means I can go through with my original ideas (most of which were going to be cut from what I was putting in the NaNo entry) and, basically, granting me alot more freedom to do what I really wanted with things.

Had I not done this, I probably would have cliffhanger'd this story which I really didn't want to do.