Moments Earlier: 

The retired veterans were keeping the remaining citizens of the Umi Tribe safe from the Crimson Bloods.

At first, the veterans had the upper hand because of their seasoned skills and experience. Master Kim Lee easily assessed the Crimson’s powers, which would normally trump their own-- that is when it comes to summoning water--but the veterans had more up their sleeves than basic water tricks. The veterans mastered many elements of the ocean besides water: some mastered salt, others mastered sand and some even mastered ice.

So, after analyzing their situation, Master Kim Lee lead the assault against the Crimson Bloods. The old man from the induction ceremony was there. He summoned a dome made from salt in order to protect a group of orphaned children. The dome was summoned from underground so that it would have a solid foundation. The dome was taller than it was round so that they would have plenty of air. The old man then used the dome to attack multiple Crimsons at a time by creating temporary openings in the dome and then shooting sharp shards of salt from the openings.

Another old man stood from a tall building, summoning massive ice glaciers and dropping them on the crimsons. One of the old women stayed out of sight and summoned ocean water to hit the Crimsons that emitted electricity. A group of the veterans who’d mastered sand summoned a quicksand trap, taking out many Crimsons all at once.

Everything was going according to plan until just moments after Dan Siratchi came to the battlefield to help them. Then everything exploded… literally.

Master Kim Lee saw Dan, “So, you’ve come to back us up, huh?”

“Right! Well, based on what I’ve seen so far, you guys already know not to use water against them right?” Dan said while tripping one of the crimsons using his whip-blade.

“That’s right!” Kim Lee said as he shot a shard of salt from his hand like a dagger.

Then, without warning, all of the remaining Crimsons began to grow. The crimsons that were stabbed grew until the hole in their body looked like a scratch. Some of the Crimsons that were trapped in ice easily broke free. The Crimsons that were trapped in the quicksand escaped by merely stepping out. The only Crimsons that didn’t pose a threat were the ones that were already dead.

All of the veterans were confused.

One cried out, “What’s going on? Are they getting bigger or am I now rapidly shrinking?”

“Crap, I must have forgotten to take my medicine!”

“This is like that war, all over again! Run away! RETREAT!”

Master Kim Lee looked at Dan and said, “Go back with the princess!”

Dan shouted, “Why?” 

Kim Lee said, “Because you’re bad luck! None of this happened until you showed up!”

The Crimsons became even more aggressive than before and gained a great boost in energy and strength. Some of them began to attack buildings and structures as if they wanted to show off their newfound power. The old man’s salt dome suddenly went from being impenetrable to being in one of the most vulnerable places on the battlefield. Many Crimsons flocked to his dome and attacked it at once.

In order to keep it from collapsing completely, he had to constantly summon more salt as they hit it. The old man on the roof was now in reach of the Crimsons. All of a sudden he was vulnerable. Luckily, the old woman who was hiding remained hidden as she began to shake in fear.

Meanwhile, the princess gazed out the window at her city being destroyed. “This is just like the war against Dr. Cyrus.” Tuyette said as she slowly turned to Kyro.

“Not exactly. Dr. Cyrus created gargantuan hybrids which were pretty much just big targets, and they were created from animoids. My giants aren’t as big as Dr. Cyrus’ army, but they are smarter and more powerful because they are Crimson Bloods. Besides, Dr. Cyrus never actually made it into the city. He barely made it onto the beach. My Crimsons, however, are right in the heart of your precious town. So, don’t compare me!” Kyro shouted with malice.

“I’m done talking. I’m going to take you out and go help my people.” The princess said with great determination.

“You better worry about yourself, Princess! Otherwise you’ll find yourself dead!”

“How can someone find themselves dead? Besides, didn’t I say I was done talking?” The princess said before running toward Kyro.

Kyro jumped back vertically and landed on the balcony. “Face it, Princess: you don’t have a chance! Your life is in my hands now! The only thing you can attack me with is that Jetstream of yours. If you use it, I’ll just counter with lightning. You’ll instantly be electrocuted. Don’t forget, I am not like Bang. Although he was powerful, my lightning is ten times stronger than his!”

“Then come down here and fight me!” The princess shouted.

“I’m smarter than you, Princess. I know to keep my distance if you get too close then my lightning won’t matter, just like those six of my Crimsons that you—“

The princess jumped and in an instance her fist was embedded in Kyro’s face.

The impact sent him flying through the wall into the lobby area, which did not have a second level. Despite being punched through a wall down to the first level, Kyro landed on his feet with one knee to the ground.

“I admit, you caught me off guard. I had no idea that you could do that.” Kyro said as he wiped his face and slowly stood up while dusting off. “Please enlighten me. How did you do that?”

The princess jumped down from the hole in the wall. As she was about to touch the floor, she remained in the air and then landed softly.

Kyro’s eyes widened, “So, that’s it! I’ve never even considered that to even be a possibility. Wind, the Umi Tribe can summon wind. That’s why. That’s why your Jetstream is so powerful; it’s amplified with wind power. So, it’s true what they say.”

The princess slowly began to step forward.

Kyro continued, “Every Tribe really does have their secret techniques. The fact that you are willing to reveal it to me tells me something. Either you actually plan to kill me or you’ve been backed into a corner, and you have no other alternatives.”

The princess jumped toward Kyro. “Shōkan!” She said as she used the wind around her to amplify her speed. She tried to punch Kyro again, but he quickly dodged. Tuyette quickly re-adjusted and punched Kyro. This time he barely budged. Tuyette was shocked.

“Is that all? I expected more from the great Umi Tribe!” Kyro shouted as he began to exhort a massive amount of lightning from his body. Tuyette flew back just in time.

Kyro began laughing, “So what if you have wind now! That doesn’t change anything! Your wind only trumps two possibly three of my five abilities.”

“This isn’t a card game, Kyro! The one who wins today won’t be because of the amount of abilities they have. It’ll be because of how strong a single ability is!” The princess said boldly.

Tuyette’s entire body began to shake rapidly. “Are you getting scared?” Kyro shouted.

“No, I’m getting prepared!” Tuyette said as she closed her eyes. Wind began to blow all directions from her body.

“You think I’m just going to let you prepare to attack me!” Kyro said as he shot a bolt of electricity at her. The electricity was deflected by the wind. “The wind is protecting her?” Kyro said under his breathe.

Then, all of the wind from Tuyette’s body began to blow in one direction, upward. Tuyette opened her eyes and said, “Now, I’m ready.”

Tuyette flew toward Kyro so fast that by the time he saw her coming he had already been punched.

He thought, “She’s even faster than before.”

Kyro began to exert lightning from his entire body thinking that she would not be able to touch him or even get close to him. Tuyette’s wind deflected all of the lightning that came her way as she attacked him. Tuyette’s body moved so rapidly that when she missed one of her punches, the momentum of her own force sent her flying. When this happened she was able to adjust quickly. 

It didn’t take long for Kyro to see that if he wanted to survive, he would have to give it his all. So, he began using his lightning to move faster.

Once Tuyette realized that Kyro’s speed had increased as well she began to attack with a wind slicing technique. She used her hands and feet to send powerful currents of wind that sliced through anything in its path.

She attacked Kyro from all directions but to no avail. He dodged everything and what he couldn’t dodge he blocked using lighting. As Tuyette chopped and kicked she sliced her lobby apart. As the blade-like wind current missed Kyro it was hitting every wall in the room so hard that from the outside it looked like there were several, thin mini explosions coming through the building.

Kyro thought to himself, ‘This must be her mode…her wind-mode. If this is a mode then that means she can’t stay this way for very long. Which is good for me because I don’t know how much longer I can keep up.’

Tuyette thought to herself, ‘I can’t last much longer like this. I have to take him down NOW!’

At that moment, Tuyette quickly jumped backward away from Kyro. She flipped back, landing on her hands, and she began to spin emitting a massive, slicing wind-current in every direction from her legs at waist level. The wind quickly attacked Kyro, but he was able to dodge it at the last second by jumping over the current.

As he was about to land another wind current was coming for his face, so he used his lightning to cancel it out at the last second.

Kyro thought, ‘That was close!’ Then, he looked where Tuyette was spinning, but she was gone. He looked on both sides and behind him and didn’t see her.

Then, he looked up to see Tuyette speeding toward him. She chopped through the air, sending one last slicing wind-current from her arm. Kyro attempted to dodge but didn’t have enough time. He tried exerting lightning, but the wind was too fast. So, he held up his left arm to block, and the wind current sliced through his arm, almost cutting it all the way through; but, Kyro manage to cancel out some of the impact with his lightning. Kyro screamed as lightning exhorted from his body hitting Tuyette who was no longer surrounded by wind. 

She went flying through the front entrance, tearing down the front half of the already destroyed lobby. She landed across the street with her back leaning on the front door of one of the local businesses.

Kyro continued to scream as he ripped off what was left of his arm. He began to walk through the rubble towards the unconscious Tuyette. Kyro held up his right hand exhorting more lightning than before, “You stole my arm from me! You, you, I will kill you! You b—“

All of a sudden, Kyro fell face first to the ground. He sat up and looked at his feet to see Dan’s whip-blades wrapped around his ankles. 

Kyro instinctively turned and blew a cloud of ice at Dan. Leaning backwards Dan managed to dodge most of the freezing cloud but his hands barely got caught in the ice, freezing them. 

When Kyro saw this he quickly grabbed the blades and pulled them, throwing Dan Siratchi twenty yards into the same spot as Tuyette. Dan landed upside down on the back of his neck. Dan looked at Kyro, who from his perspective was upside down and blurry. Kyro was exerting lightning from his right hand again.

As Kyro walked toward them the lightning from his hand began ripping into the ground as if the lightning itself couldn’t wait to attack them. Kyro stood on the other side of the street and looked at both of them, “I’m going to kill both of you in one shot!” Kyro’s lightning covered his entire body.

Then, he released it all from his right hand pointed directly at Tuyette and Dan Siratchi. There was a huge explosion leaving a huge cloud of smoke and dust.

Kyro walked toward his targets. He looked and to his surprise both of them were gone. Kyro thought, ‘I know I didn’t disintegrate them. Where are their bodies?’ Then he became angrier and began to shout, “Where are their bodies? Where? Where are you hiding, Princess?”

As the smoke began to clear, Kyro saw a figure standing. The more the smoke cleared, the more he was able to recognize the figure. The man was holding Dan on his shoulders and Princess Tuyette in his arms.

Dan said, “Nice timing.”

The princess began to wake up. She looked up at the figure and said, “Kazai?”

When Kyro got a good look at the person holding his victims, he said, “So, you’ve come back.”

There I stood holding the woman who had me imprisoned and the man who said that it was my own fault. I slowly and carefully began to put both of them down.

Tuyette said, “Kazai, I know what you’re thinking! You can’t do it: you have to get away now!” 

Dan agreed, “She right. You have to get out of here!”

After I sat them down, I asked Dan, “Where’s my mother?”

Dan said, “She’s safe; she was out of town when this all started. In fact, she left to go get your real father so that he could help you out of jail.”

I felt a great relief. I couldn’t say anything, so I just smiled. Then, I turned to Kyro and walked toward him.

Dan tried to get up but couldn’t.

Kyro shouted, “So, he returns. Do you really think that you alone will make a difference?”

I reached for my blade and said, “Well, I am the Umi Tribe’s trump card.”

Next Chapter: KAZAI IS BACK!