OOO MEDALS OF IKKI TOUSEN

Chapter 1: Of Fighters, Medals and Greeed

Written By: Ten-Faced Paladin and Kamen Rider Chrome

Edited By: Shadow Element 13

Idea Provided By: Tailsmo4ever

The streets of Kanto seemed deathly quiet. No one was around, no one was driving any cars, and no one was going for any happy-go walks. The playground was also strangely empty. The swings made creepy squeaking noises. Any one who was walking alone would feel like they have just entered some kind of horror movie. That or they were the last person on earth. Well, that all changed when a pack of men on motorcycles suddenly rode through the empty streets.

The motorcyclists stopped in front of the Kanto Art Museum in single file. They all stood there, as if they were waiting for something. It looked like their waiting paid off when the museum door busted open in flames. Out of the flames came something so strange, so out of the ordinary that almost no one would believe it, but it was happening just the same. They were humanoid figures made out of metal coins. The collected coins clanked as the beings walked. In flashes of light, the figures took solid forms. One was green with the form of an insect. The second one was blue and feminine-like with the form of a fish. The third was black and yellow with the look of a cat. And the last one was bulky with the face of a mammoth. All four of the monsters seemed uncaring of the weapons which were pointed at them and simply strode on without a care in the world.

The motorcyclist in the middle, whom appeared to be a leader, picked up a radio from his belt and called his boss, "This is Shintaro Goto Foundation's Ride Vendor 1st Squad motorcycle brigade. The Medals have awakened. Orders?"

"Eliminate them," a grim voice ordered.

"Yes sir." He took out a bazooka cannon and aimed it at the advancing figures. His men mimicked his actions and aimed their bazookas. Wordlessly, they aimed and fired. Instantly, the figures reverted back to coins and took off into the sky, leaving the explosions behind them. Shintaro gestured his hand forward, commanding the brigade to go after the retreating metal beings.

The first squad chased after one of the four clusters to a highway overpass before it reconfigured into the form of the insect monster. It was coloured mainly back and green with chitin-like chest armour which had a yellow circle in the centre of its chest with green surrounding it, making plates that looked like muscles. From its shoulders ran long antennae not unlike a grasshopper while its arms were covered with black armour with a pair of long serrated blades coming form its right wrist. Its head was round with a long green visor which had round ends and a silver mouthplate which had the look of mandibles. Its final look was the horns which grew from its head that looked like kuwagata beetle horns. What did seem odd was that its legs didn't seem to have any sort of covering and instead looked like ancient bandaging not unlike what a mummy would have.

The insect monster watched as the two riders who pursued it rode at him with their weapons being aimed at its form. Uncaring, it leapt into the air, much like how a grasshopper would, and came back down, landing on both bikes which had the unfortunate luck of riding close together. Grabbing the riders by their necks, the insect monster leaped back into the sky, letting the motorcycles crash. Once reaching the apex of its jump, the monster let the pair go. The pair fell screaming to the ground before they landed with loud thuds on the concrete, leaving splatters of red across the stone surface. Landing on the ground once again, the insect beast smugly strolled away from the scene.

Not too far away, in front of a tunnel which went underground, the second mass of silver coins converged together to form the mammoth creature. Its legs were powerful and covered from head to toe in tarnished silver armour which spoke of power and endurance. Its feet seemed more like an elephant's rather than a humanoids. Its head seemed like a helmet with a small black visor with a short horn coming out of its forehead. On either side of where the jaw would be was a pair of tusks with a small trunk sticking out where the mouth would be. However, where torso and arm armour should have been was simply a humanoid torso and arms covered in black and brown wrappings, again, like a mummy.

The elephant creature just stood, staring dumbly at the two riders which were racing towards him, shooting with reckless abandon. The bullets collided with it, but the creature didn't seem to notice at all. Instead, as the riders drew closer, likely aiming to ram it, the monster smashed its fists into the motorcycles, crushing the front ends like tin cans and sending them end over end, riders and all, behind it before they crashed into the ground and exploded. The monster didn't seem all that concerned with the destruction that it had caused though. Instead, it just scratched its head like a monkey and began shuffling away, looking for something else to do.

Inside the tunnel appeared the third mass of coins which became the female fish-like monster. Its head seemed to have a helmet that looked like the body of a shark/whale hybrid of some sort that ended with her bright blue eyes. Her face was silver and had a rigid covering over her mouth. Her shoulders were covered with a dark blue cape that ran down her back almost regally, but her torso and arms were covered in black and brown bandages. Her legs were trim and smooth, coloured silver as they ended in high heel boots. Down the front of her legs were studs which made her legs seem almost like octopus tentacles.

The female beast seemed rather bored with the two motorcyclists which were charging at her while raising their guns. With a ladylike, but impatient, snort, she shot out her hand at them with an open palm. From it, a blast of water surged forward, quickly gaining the size of a small tidal wave which crashed against the riders, sending them and their bikes sprawling backwards. The two quickly crashed into the ground with their rides, but the fish monster didn't stop shoot until they were cleared out of the tunnel. Satisfied that they were far enough away from her, she stopped the water pressure, allowing the two to slump, unmoving. Seeing her task complete, the fish monster began walking away with a dainty giggle.

At the opposite end of the tunnel the last mass of coins merged together to form the cat monster as it landed on the ground in a crouch. Its face was certainly feline, but made of black steel with metal studs on the forehead. Dark yellow cords not unlike dreadlocks came from the back of its head while its lower jaw was made of gray steel. Its torso was covered with more black armour with a yellow orb in the centre with a silver strip coming up the middle. The pectorals of the armour were covered in more metal studs which matched its shoulders. The monsters arms were covered in large black gauntlets which ended in sharp metal claws and once more covered in silver studs like the rest of the armour. However like its comrades, it was missing something, in this case, the armour for its legs. Rather than some covering like the rest of its armour, the monster's legs were merely brown and black bandages not unlike a mummy.

Watching the riders come at it, the monster snickered before leaping into the air. Somehow disobeying the laws of physics, it began spinning in their air at a ridiculous speed. The riders had no chance to dodge as the beast came at them; striking them so hard loud cracks could be heard from their torsos. At the same time, the force of the blows send them sailing off their bikes and crashing into the asphalt with loud thuds. Neither rider moved after that. Landing on the ground again, the cat monster laughed and simply began to stroll away as if bored.

Watching a monitor in front of the former museum light up with red light, the leader of the squad touched his radio again to relay what was happening. "Sir, the entire squadron has been eliminated. We were unable to subdue the Greeed."

"Understood," the voice at the other end of the line spoke. "Emergency crews will be there shortly. Return to base until further instruction."

"Hai!" the rider nodded before he shut down the radio. Offering a moment of silence for his fallen comrades, he hit the ignition to his motorcycle and began to drive away from the scene.

Kougami Foundation HQ

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you," a middle-aged man with black hair in a red suit and apron sang as he put the finishing touches to what appeared to be a white birthday cake by writing in chocolate icing while a gramophone singing the traditional 'Happy Birthday' song sang in the background. He was in a skyrise office filled with plush furniture and the only other person in the room was a woman in a frilly pink outfit. Continuing to write, the man continued to sing as he finished the cake, "Happy Birthday dear…Greeed, Happy Birthday to you~"

"Are you sure it was wise to place the Greeed's tomb here in Kanto, Kaichou?" asked the woman with a slight tone of concern in her voice. "You know as well as I do that the Fighters will not simply lay back and let them do as they wish. They will fight them."

"Precisely why I had the tomb placed in Kanto Satonaka-kun!" the man, Kougami, grinned as he finished his cake. "The Fighters desire is the perfect counterpoint to the desire of the Greeed! The Fighters do destroy in their battles, but they fight with their desire to create their kingdoms such as they have done for centuries!" licking some icing from his fingers, he continued. "A desire powerful enough to create kingdoms is power which even the Greeed would be forced to reckon with, and who has a stronger desire for this creation than the three kings?"

"Ryubi Gentoku, Sousou Motoku, and Hakufu Sonsaku," the woman nodded, looking to a book titled The Romance of the Three Kingdoms which was on a desk in front of her. It was opened up to a page describing the leaders of the three kingdoms. "You believe they will be the Yang to the Yin of the Greeed?"

"I have already seen it myself," Kougami smiled. "Their desire for creation will be the key to thwarting the Greeed's desire for destruction."

Smiling at the sight of his completed cake, Kougami turned to look out the window of his office over the city.

The four beings identified as the Greeed entered a tunnel with banners coloured green, yellow, blue and grey hanging over the entrance, somehow appearing with just their presence alone. All four travelled through the tunnel without much of a care for anything, but it was when the bulky monster began to notice that something was wrong. The elephant-like Greeed felt his body tingling and in a slow voice spoke, "My…body…feels…weird…" The other three monsters immediately took note of their slow comrade's words and immediately began to check themselves over. To their displeasure, they finally seemed to notice that their incompleteness extended further than just missing pieces of armour.

The female Greeed spoke up, looking over her armour-less arms and torso, "It looks like we have an insufficient amount of medals, Core Medals to be precise."

The insect Greeed spoke, "What happened to us? Where are the rest of our Core Medals?"

The feline Greeed, in a lax manner, decided to speak, "I saw Ankh grab some of them."

"Ankh?" the elephant Greeed scratched his head.

"Doesn't he know what will happen to us?" the female Greeed stated.

"Damn him," the insect Greeed swore clenching its fist in rage.

"So then," the cat Greeed began, resting its hands behind its head, strolling lazily along the tunnel. "What should we do about it?"

"We find Ankh and take back our Core Medals, that's what!" the insect Greeed snapped, glaring at his comrade. If the rage was supposed to intimidate him, the cat Greeed didn't show it. Neither did the female or the elephant Greeed seem to be intimidated either. Of course, the female was long since used to the antics of her comrades while the elephant was probably not bright enough to really understand why it should be intimidated.

"And how do you propose we do that?" asked the fish Greeed. "With our power diminished because of our lack of Core Medals, it is going to be that much harder to find Ankh."

"I don't care!" the insect Greeed snapped. "I'll find him if I have to tear this human city down myself!"

Watching the insect Greeed go on the verge of a tantrum, the elephant Greeed simply scratched his head, "Find…Ankh? …oh…idea," Reaching to its own arm, the elephant Greeed pressed its fingers against the skin before they phased through it like it was water. After a moment of rummaging inside its own body, the Greeed brought out a silver coin which was the same kind as its body was made of. It was marked with an X on one side, but the other had an image of a bear or it.

"Hmmm?" the cat Greeed hummed, seeing that his comrade was up to something. "Gameru, what are you doing?"

The elephant Greeed, now known as Gameru, simply brought the coin up to his head. In the centre of his forehead a coin slot not unlike one found on a vending machine suddenly appeared. Uncaring of his sudden new facial feature, Gameru simply dropped the coin into the slot, making a metallic ringing noise. Once the coin was inside, the slot vanished altogether. Gameru then trembled as a gray and black void opened in his back depositing a creature onto the ground with a meaty thud.

Standing up, the creature revealed itself to have a bear's head with dangling earrings on its ears with a metal collar around its neck. Its arms and chest were strongly muscled and furry with red metal disks on the torso and shoulders. Its hands had metal orbs on the back of them and its hands were in fact large paws with black nails. It wore a simple loincloth decorated with animal bones of an undetermined species while its legs were wrapped in metal bindings with what appeared to be miniature bear traps on its kneecaps.

"Find…Ankh," Gameru ordered his creation. "Get…Core…Medals…"

"Nn!" the beast nodded before it dashed away, exiting the tunnel. Gameru then turned to look at his fellow Greeed, almost asking 'did I do good?'

"Well, it seems Gameru has the right idea for once!" the insect Greeed snorted.

"Why work ourselves to the bone when we can have a Yummy do it for us?" asked the cat Greeed with a chuckle. "I never thought I'd see the day where Gameru had a good idea."

"Good for you Gameru-chan!" the fish Greeed cooed in an almost motherly tone.

"Heh," the elephant Greeed laughed. If its face was more human, it would have been blushing.

"I'm going to go find a human to make a powerful Yummy," the insect Greeed announced as he began walking away from the tunnel. "Don't wait up for me."

"Oi, oi, I'm going on the search too," the cat Greeed laughed as it went in a different direction. "This sounds like fun!"

"It's not polite to leave a lady behind!" the fish Greeed scolded as she too left the scene.

Gameru merely shrugged and trotted off to parts unknown. As the four Greeed went their own ways, the four banners which represented them furled up and vanished, leaving no trace of the four monsters' appearance.

Many people of Kanto were in an uproar over what had happened to the museum. A crowd of onlookers had collected as emergency crews put out the fires and tended to what wounded there might be while the police investigated. Naturally the civilians were put behind a protective line so that no evidence would be accidentally compromised. However, in the wake of what the police assumed to be a bombing to cover up a robbery, not much hope was placed for evidence. Even if there was some, chances were that it was probably damaged or incinerated by the explosions.

Among the crowds was a teenage girl who was wearing a red skirt with a white blouse under a yellow vest, complete with a red ribbon. Perched to her ear was a jade magatama which sparkled in the sunlight. She had blonde hair which reached to about her shoulders and green eyes which held an immature sparkle in them, like someone who hadn't grown up in some way or another. Although while she was immature in some ways, her body certainly wasn't. It sported a figure which many girls worked hard to maintain and a breast size which had many of those same girls green with envy, although she never really took notice to how people reacted to her breasts. While she looked like a normal high school girl, she was in truth the leader of Nanyo Academy, her school. Her name was Hakufu Sonsaku.

Next to her was a young man wearing a male version of her uniform and he had short dark hair. The only real remarkable thing about him was the magatama on his ear which made him stick out as compared to others his age. However, that all just hid the true strength he had underneath. His name was Kokin Shuyu and he was Hakufu's cousin and in the eyes of the other students of Nanyo, her subordinate. Kokin was a generally easy-going guy and easy to get along with. However he was fiercely protective of Hakufu and despite being blood related, had something of a crush on her although he never tried to act on it. As Hakufu was generally childish and immature, it was his duty to be the responsible one when it came time to buckle down and be serious. Of course, that rarely happened since Hakufu could be a surprisingly reliable person.

"Hey Kokin," the blonde spoke up, checking out the destruction. "What do you think happened?"

"Well, I don't know," Kokin answered, scratching his head. "Someone mentioned something about thieves bombing the museum but no one has any answers right now."

"Who'd want to blow up an art museum though?" asked Hakufu in confusion. "Was there something a Fighter would want inside?"

"Aside from our magatamas and the Gyokuji, I don't think there's any kind of antique that the Fighters would be interested in," Kokin shrugged, just as stumped for answers as his cousin was. Sighing, he began to turn away from the sight. "No use pondering about it now though. We've got to get to school. You're the leader now if you haven't forgotten."

"Oh, right!" Hakufu nodded with a grin. "Lead the way Kokin!"

The Kanto area was by far not a peaceful place. Seven schools, Rakuyo, Kyosho, Nanyo, Seito, Yoshu, Youshuu, and Ryoshuu were at war with each other in a sometimes brutal gang battle to declare sovereignty of all of Kanto. Normally it was just seen as kids playing tough and to the adult community it was. However, in truth, the members of the battle were in fact chosen by fate to harbour the spirits of warriors from thousands of years ago who battled in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms in a brutal re-enactment of the ancient war. Further pushing the idea of fate was that all of the people in the war were named after the warrior that they were channelling.

Things were at a standstill for the moment since the death of Totaku, the leader of Rakuyo and formerly the strongest of the seven schools. In an attempt to avoid his fate and death at the hands of his number 2 Ryofu Hosen, Totaku had used a poisonous chi technique on Hakufu and threatened to let her die if she did not kill Ryofu. However, despite her best attempts Ryofu managed to kill Totaku in a suicide technique which ended her life. In his last moments, Totaku undid his technique on Hakufu and implanted his soul in her so to get revenge on his spy, Saji Genpou, otherwise known as Shishi Ouin. Again, he was foiled by the Haouryuu Hakufu possessed and his soul was devoured.

In the wake of Totaku's demise, Rakuyo was taken over by Kyosho, led by Sousou Motoku, one of the three most powerful leaders in the ancient era and a true leader in the modern era. Since Kyosho took over Rakuyo, it left Youshuu and Yoshu to rot since they were not included in the backroom bargain which Rakuyo had made in attempts to save itself. Despite the tectonic shift in power, little to no action was undertaken. Instead, Hakufu was elected by the Fighters of Nanyo to be the new leader as her heritage demanded and all of the schools were left to try and see how they could best profit from the shift in power. Scuffles happened here or there thanks to overly-ambitious Fighters, but nothing major had happened as of yet.

"Hey, wait up Kokin!" Hakufu cried, trying to squeeze through the crowds like her cousin had done. Since he was smaller, he had an easier time of it. Hakufu though was much taller and bigger so getting through crowds was somewhat more difficult at times, especially when it was past teenage boys who would purposefully make it harder so they could feel her breasts pressed against them. Not that she noticed such things in her rush to get to her cousin.

"Hey Kokin!"

*JINGLE*

"Huh?" Hakufu blinked, hearing an odd jingling noise. Looking down, she saw that she had kicked a coin and that the jingling noise had come from it hitting the stone sidewalk. Kneeling over, she picked up the coin thinking she just might have gotten an extra bit of spending money. When she got a good look at it though, she saw that it was too big to be a Yen coin and that it had a cold outer ring with a red centre decorated with a hawk on the front and a line on the back.

"Weird," Hakufu muttered, entranced by the pretty object.

"Hakufu! Come on!" Kokin called, snapping his cousin out of her trance.

"Oh, right!" the strawberry blonde gasped. Tucking the coin into her breast pocket, she dashed for her cousin. "Coming!"

As Hakufu ran, she didn't notice something crawling around a nearby tree. It was predominantly red with wing-like protrusions coming from its forearm armour. Its hand was scaled and had black nails not unlike what would be found on a bird. It wore rings on some of its fingers, but nothing gaudy or unnecessary. However, that was where the description ended for that was all the being crawling on the three was an arm.

"That's mine!" the angry arm spoke out.

Seito

Seito Private School was a rather pleasant place to go to school for most people. At the very least the Fighters there were able to keep the fighting down to a minimum while inside its boundaries. On the outside or during a crisis then all bets were off. It was also the base of two of the top fighters in all of Kanto, Chou-un Shiryuu and Kanu Unchou, both feared and respected for their skills in battle and for the high count of victories they earned.

At the moment the leader of Seito, Ryubi Gentoku, was busy at a desk in the library, enjoying the literature her school had to offer.

Ryubi was in fact a gentle girl, not at all like one would expect the leader of one of the most powerful schools to act like. She hated fighting and would have rather preferred to read a nice book instead of punching someone's lights out. She was of average height and had long brown hair which she kept tied into two ponytails which hung in front of her. She wore glasses over her sparkling green eyes and it made her look very cute while her demeanour made her seem so vulnerable, which without her bodyguards, she usually was. However, she did manage to possess the largest pair of breasts in her entire school, which she never really seemed to care about but most of, if not all of the boys in her school did. She was somewhat of a figurehead while her bodyguards/best friends helped her keep things in check in Seito's territory.

Ryubi was alone in the library, which was something of a rarity for her since she almost always had one of her bodyguards with her. They were paranoid that since Ryubi wasn't much of a fighter, she'd be seen as an easy target by the other schools and such felt she had to be protected at all times. The only leeway she got was at school or at the shrine where they all lived, but that only brought a hair of leeway as it was.

Enjoying the works of foreign and domestic literature, she didn't notice silver coins with some odd blue ones spilling in an open window and flying through the air. The coins pooled together, not once hitting each other enough to make a sharp sound nor did they touch the wooden floor. Gently, they converged together to build into the form of the fish Greeed before solidifying and becoming the monster in question. She had formed inside one of the aisles of books and as such Ryubi did not notice her, but it was doubtful if she would notice the monster even if it appeared in front of her since she was so engrossed in the book in front of her.

"Hmmm," the fish Greeed hummed as she slowly and gently walked out from the aisles and slowly drew up upon the oblivious teenage girl from behind. When she was close enough, the female Greeed took a moment to ponder the teenage girl she was looking at, as if there were something special about her. Then, raising her arms, she slowly reached towards Ryubi with grasping fingers and…

*MOOSH! MOOSH!*

…groped her more than sizable assets.

"KYAAAAHHHH!" Ryubi screamed, completely caught off guard by the sudden groping. Squirming in her seat, she managed to get out of the Greeed's grip and scamper away from her unconventional attacker. Turning around with a clearly flushed face, the leader of Seito turned from embarrassed to downright terrified as her face paled. "AHHHHHHHHH!"

"Hmmm, my, my," the fish Greeed purred as she clenched her fingers and looked down at her own bound chest. "I did not know that humans could develop quite so…fully, like you have. Why, I think I might be jealous."

"Mwu…uh….wha…who…are you?" Ryubi squeaked in fear, reflexively covering her chest. Was this some kind of perverted demon like she heard about in some of the more horror-themed books she had seen in the past? If she weren't so terrified, she would have perhaps smiled at the thought that her books had some good after all in warning her about such things. She'd read it from cover to cover and knew exactly how to beat them.

"So polite too," the Greeed giggled. "I suppose I can answer. My name is Mezul. I am what you would call a Greeed. To answer your next question, I came here to see you."

"M-m-me?" Ryubi trembled, her legs shaking as Mezul began to step closer to her.

"Yes," Mezul nodded, reaching out and stroking a length of Ryuubi's hair. Her voice then turned soothing in a seductive sort of way. "Don't be afraid. I promise I won't hurt you. In fact, you'll enjoy what I have to do with you. All I need for you to do is chase after your desire."

"My…my desire?" Ryubi gulped. She wanted to run, but for some reason her legs just wouldn't allow it!

"Yes. Now, hold still," Mezul purred. Reaching to her shoulder, she stuck her fingers through her skin much like Gameru did before and produced one of the silver medals which made up her body. This one had an X on its back, but also had a shark carved on the opposite side. Bringing it up to the still terrified Ryubi, Mezul witnessed a coin slot appear on the leader's forehead. Giggling, she popped the coin inside and let the slot vanish. Ryubi immediately stiffened and her eyes went cross as a blue and black void appeared in her back which spat out what looked like a large egg sack of some kind of fish that stuck to the ceiling above one of the desks in the library.

"There, that wasn't so bad," Mezul giggled as Ryubi stood in her daze. "Now, enjoy your books. Make sure to read plenty. Ta-ta!" With a wave, Mezul's body collapsed into silver coins again before flying out the window. In her wake, Ryubi stiffly took a seat underneath the egg sack and immediately grabbed a nearby book someone had left behind and began to read it aggressively, racing down the printed lines and turning the pages with such force she threatened to tear the pages.

Kyosho

"BASICS! BASICS!"

Kyosho Academy was alive with the noises fists hitting wood near the back where most of the sports teams would practice. The spot in question was set up with several training dummies that the school kendo team would use when they trained, but in this case, it was being used by one of the Fighters who travelled the school's halls.

He was a tanned guy and heavily muscled. He wore a white shirt with khaki shorts and a white hat on his head. His hair was messy and brown, which matched the rest of his skin tone and he had a small goatee while on his ear hung one of the magatama. He was one of the trusted lieutenants of the leader of Kyosho, Kakoton Genjou. Out of the numerous Fighters, he was something of an oddball. He constantly preached about the foundation of the basics of fighting and always fought with only basic moves in his fights. Normally that might not be so dangerous to an experienced fighter, but Kakoton had an insane amount of strength in his limbs that he was able to call upon. He was living proof that as useful as advanced skills were, raw power counted for a lot in a fight.

"BASICS!" the tanned teen shouted, punching his training dummy before it shattered under the sheer force which he had used in the punch. As the wood bits and straw floated to the ground, he let off a sigh and brushed the sweat off of his head, looking solemn.

He'd been feeling sort of bad since the end of the Big Fighter's Tournament, an official tournament all of the schools participated in order to see who would be the next reigning champions to receive the Gyokuji and thus be the unofficial rulers. He had been on the team Kyosho fielded and they had managed to win the whole thing even with Rakuyo backing out and not even fighting. His distress stemmed from the fact that he had taken tips on how to beat one of Nanyo's fighters, Hakufu Sonsaku, down so easily from her own mother of all people.

Kakoton had met the flirty and hyperactive Goei when she returned his jacket the day after he had given it to Hakufu after they beat up some Fighters who thought they were tough and left the girl with a hole in her dress big enough to flash the world her goods if she wasn't careful. It was a nice gesture, but all of his friends began thinking that he liked older women and managed to snag a hottie. In truth, Kakoton was more interested in Hakufu, but with his friends asking for the story of how he snagged a MILF or worshipping the ground he walked on for doing so, no one believed him. It got worse when she came to all of Kyosho's fights in the tournament and cheered like a crazed fangirl, giving more substance to the rumours. The last straw came when Hakufu heard the rumours and started believing them, making him feel like he had blown any chance at her for good.

He wanted to find her and try to explain, but he was just too busy what with the power shift and taking Rakuyo under their wing and adding Kaku to the ranks of higher ups. Kakoton didn't trust the Rakuyo strategist and he doubted that she was being completely level with them about her intentions, not after she so blatantly challenged them to try and attack Rakuyo after they found out Rakuyo wasn't going to fight in the tournament. Kyosho was still trying to stabilize after that particular shift.

"Man, this bites," he sighed scratching his head.

"Wow, that was pretty cool," a new voice spoke up. "You don't see humans able to do that too often."

Eyes widening, Kakoton twisted to the source while taking a fighting stance, fearing that an assassin had come to Kyosho to try and off Sousou. However, even his battle experienced mind screeched to a halt when he saw some kind of cat man lounging on the wall surrounding the school. At first he thought it was someone in a costume, but that ended when he saw that the detail of the armour and how the face would move as it breathed.

"Just what the heck are you supposed to be?" Kakoton asked with a frown as he tensed up, ready to fight.

"Name's Cazali," the cat monster introduced as it hopped off the wall. Strolling lazily towards Kakoton, he continued speaking. "I'm what you would call a Greeed. And you are going to do something for me."

"Like hell I am," Kakoton frowned, gritting his teeth. He did not like the vibe that was coming off this thing and despite how lazy it was acting; he knew that it didn't have any kind of good intentions in store for him, or anyone else for that matter.

"Oh, you wanna fight then?" asked Cazali with a grin in his voice.

"Damn straight I do!" Kakoton bellowed, throwing a punch at the monster with all his muscle behind it. Normally that much force would allow him to break solid rock and really mess up a person and he was confident the monster wouldn't fare any better. Snorting, Cazali raised his hand with an open palm towards Kakoton and his incoming attack. The punch smashed into Cazali's hand, but rather than send the monster flying, the Greeed remained stationary as if he hadn't been hit at all.

"Wha-?"

"That stung a little. Now try mine," Cazali laughed. Rearing his free hand back, he unleashed a punch which slammed into Kakoton's stomach, making the Fighter double over and even lift off the ground in the process. Breath completely driven from his lungs, he began to drop to his knees only for Cazali's bandaged knee to meet his face, knocking him onto his back with a loud thud that kicked up dust and bits of broken training dummy.

"UGH…" Kakoton gasped, his world a blur of colours and stars as he attempted to get his vision back. Pain rocketed through him like never before and it made moving very painful. Although it had never happened before, he had been taken down with just two blows

"Well, that was fun for all five seconds," Cazali shrugged as he flicked his wrist and produced a silver coin. It looked almost exactly like the ones which made up his body, but it had the image of a panther etched onto its surface. Kneeling over the stunned Kakoton, Cazali watched a coin slot appear on the boy's head before he dropped the coin into place with ease. As soon as it vanished, Kakoton began to convulse and grunt as black and yellow vortexes appeared on his body, shooting bandages that wrapped around his arms, legs, and neck, making him look like he was in the hospital or coming out of an Egyptian tomb.

"Now then, go release your desire," Cazali laughed strolling away from the downed Fighter.

Grunting, the half mummified Kakoton got back to his feet, his eyes flashing with a yellow power. Clenching his fists, he stumbled over to one of the training dummies before punching it with all of his strength, obliterating it and scattering the remains feet away from where they started.

"BASICS!"

Nanyo

"Ooooooh. *gasp* Saji-samaaaaa. *Oh!* C-class is about *groan* about to…St-ART!"

"Well then, I'd better finish up. I do so hate to leave a woman hanging."

The pair of voices came from a secluded spot on Nanyo Academy's campus behind the equipment shed. Behind it and leaning against the wall were a pair of students. The first was a female with dark hair and a ponytail wearing the girls' uniform. She had a simple ponytail and a magatama, but the colour indicated her as a low-class Fighter. Pressed up behind her with his hands softly fondling her chest beneath her top and being active underneath her skirt was a taller young man with dishwater blond hair which reached his shoulders and had a natural smirk on his face. His voice was suave and cool, indicating that this wasn't his first rendezvous with a young woman Normally one might have taken such a meeting inside the equipment shed, but if that had happened he would have tried going all the way and like his latest partner said, class was going to start soon.

Never let it be said that Saji Genpou didn't take his studies as seriously as he did the ladies.

"Oh! Oh! OH!"

"Oh, what is this I found," Saji smirked into his latest find's neck as he explored underneath her skirt. Applying just the right amount of pressure and…

"OOOOHHHHHH!" the girl moaned out, her hips trembling with her lower lips clenching fiercely. She gave off the cutest squeak as her body began to tremble, going through throes of ecstasy. Finally she stopped and instead leaned against him, panting softly.

"There you go," Saji smiled, pressing his lips to the girl's neck. "Hope you enjoyed that."

"Yes…oh yes…" the girl panted softly.

"Good then. Now, isn't it time for class for you?" he asked pointedly, but in a teasing manner. However, his hands did not leave their positions on her body despite what he was asking.

"*sigh* right," the girl groaned, reluctantly slipping Saji's hands away before taking the time to fix her top and clean off some of the moisture from her legs. Saji just watched her go about, not really bothering cleaning himself up just yet, preferring to simply watch the girl go. She made a brief goodbye before she headed out, her face still flushed. It just served to remind Saji of his skill with people, preferably the ladies.

Saji's real name was Shishi Ouin and he used to be a spy for Rakuyo. His strength brought him up to the perfect position of one of the Big Four of Nanyo Academy where he could report back to Totaku about what was going on. However, Saji had other plans and instead influenced fellow Big Four member Kannei into killing the former leader of Nanyo Enjutsu with his hypnotic skill. Sadly it drove the boy insane and Saji had to hypnotise the boy into believe Enjutsu was still alive and that he was giving Kannei orders. It served to allow Saji to rule Nanyo from the shadows. In a position of power, he made plans. Where Totaku was attempting to escape his fate, Saji manipulated events to ensure that fate caught up to him while he escaped his own. Totaku was killed, but the dead leader of Rakuyo managed to derail his plans and show him that the fate of the Fighters was not so easily shaken off. Saji had used and hurt a lot of people, executing his plan but his friends at Nanyo forgave him easily enough. Why they did, he wasn't so sure. Still, it felt good to have some true friends for a change instead of minions so he decided to enjoy it while it lasted for the fate of the Fighters may be fickle at times, but it was hardly peaceful.

"Well then," he smiled to himself, cleaning off his fingers on his pant leg. "Now that that the fun's over, I suppose I'd better head out too."

"Not before I get through with you."

Saji was immediately alert when he heard the male voice. Facing a male in a secluded place usually meant that someone wanted something from him. It didn't sound like Gakushu or Kokin so it was most likely someone who wanted a piece of him. All that was left to be determined was that if the voice was either an assassin of some sort or was an angry boyfriend of a girl he had a fling with in the past.

Hey, just because a girl claimed she was taken didn't mean that it wasn't impossible to get together with her to Saji. It just made it more challenging.

"Up here," the voice spoke from above.

Saji looked up in a flash, seeing a figure standing on the roof of the equipment shed. Saji was expecting an assassin or someone even remotely human-looking. Instead, what he got was a bug monster with mummified legs looking down on him.

"What the hell?" Saji gasped, actually losing his cool for a moment.

The bug monster snorted and leapt off of the equipment shed and landed on the ground, kicking dust off the ground. Its eyes were trained completely on Saji, not once breaking its gaze on him. Its posture and voice radiated nothing but ill intent and Saji was incredibly good at reading people. He knew that whatever the bug monster wanted with him, it was for nothing good. So, taking initiative, he lashed out with a kick at the monster. Saji may have been a womanizer, but he was a Fighter too and a damned good one since he was able to join the ranks of the Big Four. However, his kick might as well have been in slow motion as the monster reacted with amazing speed and caught the kick with its hand.

"Hmph! You actually thought a human like you can fight me? Uva of the Greeed?" asked the bug monster with a snort. "I don't know if you're brave or just stupid." Gripping Saji's leg, Uva actually lifted the womanizer off of the ground before slamming him into the side of the equipment shed with enough force to crack its walls. Even as Saji tried to get his bearings back, Uva lifted him up again before slamming him back down into the dirt, leaving an imprint of his body in its wake. Dropping Saji's leg, Uva grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and lifted him up before slamming him into the wall of the equipment shed once again, making it crack further.

"Now hold still!" Uva barked. Sinking his fingers into his own torso, Uva produced one of his silver coins, etched with the image of a bee on one side. Saji grimaced as he felt an opening appear in his head, a metal coin slot. Uva quickly brought the coin up to the slot and dropped it inside, prompting the slot to vanish. Letting Saji go, he watched as a green and black void opened up in his chest before it spat out what looked like a gray and white mummy with red discs attached to random points of his body and eyes which were composed of several slits.

Saji could only gape at what had come out of him despite feeling like a whole portion of him had suddenly vanished from his body. The mummy monster quickly stumbled up to its feet and looked over at Uva questioningly.

"After you feed enough to fully grow, find Ankh and find my Core Medals!" he snapped at the mummy. "Understand?"

"Hai," the mummy nodded before it began to lumber off for parts unknown. Uva just watched it go before likewise heading out of sight, his destination unclear. Saji was left in considerable pain, leaning against the equipment shed wall, trying to get his thoughts together.

Meanwhile, Hakufu was admiring her new red coin, musing, "It'd make a nice pendant." There was something about the pattern on it. A red hawk with its wings spread represented power and freedom. She was so busy gazing at it, she was only paying minimal attention to where she was going and following Kokin. Never let it be said that despite her best efforts, Hakufu was something of a ditz and had the attention span of a kid when she wasn't in a fight. In short, anything and everything was able to steer her away from anything else.

As she was busy admiring her strange new coin, someone bumped into her and she accidentally dropped the coin. To her distress, it landed on its side and rolled along the ground before it vanished underneath a black vending machine filled with red and blue soda cans."Oh crap!" Dashing to the machine, she kneeled down and began trying to reach for the red coin. She just hoped that it didn't fall into a hidden storm drain or something. She'd never get it back in that case.

"Come on, come on," she whined, grasping underneath the machine as best she could, not quite noticing that she was flashing her panties at those who were passing by. Several teenage boys and older men took in the sight, several getting hit by their significant others for their wandering eyes. Still, Hakufu didn't quite notice or care since she was still trying to get her coin. "Please, please, I want it back!" Pressing her arm even further under the machine, she felt her fingers touch something made of steel. After a moment of grasping, she managed to drag it into her clutches and bring it back out, revealing the crimson face of the hawk coin. "All right!"

"Good. Now you can give it back to me."

Hakufu blinked and looked up to where she heard the voice talking to her. To her shock, the voice didn't come from a person; rather it came from a floating red arm that was just hovering in the air beside the vending machine.

"Aaahh!" she shouted and as a Fighter her reflexes often took control as she swung her arm, smacking the floating red arm into the side of the vending machine. The red limb gave off a grunt from the impact before sliding down the side of the machine.

"Ow…" the arm groaned, "That…hurt…"

Hakufu was off like a shot, wanting to put as much distance between her and the freaky arm as she could. Barrelling through the streets, she caught up with her cousin in record time, "Kokin! Kokin! Kokin! Heeeeellllp!" she cried out, lunging at her relative.

"Huh?" the short-haired boy blinked as he turned to see what his cousin was freaking out about now. However, he didn't get to ask what the problem was before Hakufu's breasts ploughed into his face and both cousins met the ground with a loud thud.

"Kokiiiiiiin! I'm being chased by a weird floating arm!" Hakufu cried. "It talked to me and it was trying to take away this cool red coin I found today! It was so creepy and I didn't know what to do and you've got to help meeeee!" She blubbered and cried, hugging Kokin close to her body.

"Mph! Mrph!" Kokin struggled beneath his cousin's grip. Normally he'd fantasized about being in a position like this, but his sense of right and wrong along with his sense of propriety dulled any kind of secret thrill he got over being this close to Hakufu's chest without any kind of backlash happening to him. Of course, it would be better if he was able to speak…and breathe.

"Kokin, why aren't you saying anything?" asked Hakufu, wanted an answer or some reassurance in the face of the scary floating arm she had just faced. Fighters good and bad she could handle, but floating limbs were just freaky!

"I assume it's because you are smothering him," A familiar voice spoke, making Hakufu pale. Looking over her shoulder, she felt her heart drop as she spotted the floating arm she'd been running from already very close and slowly drifting closer to her. "Now, hand over my Core Medal!"

A scream was heard but it was not Hakufu's. The arm was instantly alert as it sensed something approaching, something that it didn't need to have hanging around and this moment in time.

"Yummy…" the arm growled, stiffening.

"I am not food!" Hakufu cried out, anime tears flying from her eyes. Kokin's struggles grew more intense as he was pressed further into Hakufu's sinful valley, but the thrills from his guilty side got all the greater because of it.

"I don't want to eat you, idiot! I want my-!" the arm began to rant.

Crashes and screams became more violent before the two Nanyo Fighters and the floating arm turned to see a car tossed down the street, followed by a strange bear monster. It was dumbly lumbering down the street, swatting aside anything that got in its way be it a piece of scenery or a person who was too slow. If the odd person was lucky, they just got swatted a fair distance before landing a few feet away with a sore body. The unlucky ones crashed into cars or buildings with a few more injuries, if they survived instead of making interesting red graffiti on some unlucky buildings.

"That's a Yummy," the arm announced.

The Bear Yummy stood at the end of the street that Hakufu, Kokin, and the floating arm were on before it suddenly stopped. Turning, it peered at the two teenagers, making Hakufu squeak in fright as it began to growl. The beast slowly began to approach the trio, and to the surprise of the two Fighters, began to talk!

"Ankh! Hand over the Core Medals!" it demanded loudly.

"Over my dead body!" the red arm, Ankh, denied sharply, clenching his fist.

"You don't even have a body to claim that for!" the Yummy snorted, its approach beginning to speed up. "But if you won't hand them over, I'll just take them!"

With a bellow, the Yummy began its mad charge with its arms raised for powerful slashes. At the same moment, Kokin's eyes sharpened as his Fighter instincts began to kick in. He considered himself an easygoing guy, but in a fight is when his true power came out, the colour of his magatama be damned! Quickly grabbing Hakufu's shoulders, he pried her off of him before he got up to stare down the approaching Yummy, "Hakufu, run!" he ordered, moving into a stance.

"Huh?" both Hakufu and the red arm spoke out in confusion.

"Go!" Kokin barked, beginning his own charge at the monster. It was his duty as a member of the Shu household and as the one who was channelling the original Kokin Shuyu to protect Hakufu at all costs. He had no doubt that this monster was a threat to her and he was going to do his damn hardest to make sure it never laid a hand on her!

"Get out of my way Human!" the Yummy snarled as Kokin charged closer.

Kokin didn't respond and he slipped into the long since memorised patterns of his fighting style. The Yummy bellowed and unleashed a powerful swipe which would have shredded the Shuyu boy if he allowed it to connect. Kokin wasn't one to willingly take a hit as he managed to dance around the strike, being much faster than the muscle-bound Yummy. Seeing his opportunity in the form of an avenue for attack, Kokin took it, unleashing a powerful combo into the monster's chest. The string of attacks went unblocked thanks to the monsters slow speed and as such Kokin managed to make every strike count, aiming to pulverise the monster's torso and make it reconsidering trying to attack with injured organs. Rearing back his fist for one such strike to where the kidneys would be, he heard the monster smirk.

"Pathetic."

*POW!*

Kokin's world was rocked as his jaw exploded with pain and his head twisted to the side from the force of the blow which struck the side of his face. He could feel blood pooling in his mouth from where he accidentally bit his cheek and it felt like his jaw bone had almost snapped from the impact. Quickly gaining back his bearings, he only managed to see the monster take another swipe at him before pain spread from his torso from the monster raking its claws across his body, tearing his short open and making blood shoot from the wounds, if only briefly.

"GAH!" the young man cried as the pain from the attack reach his brain.

"Kokin!" Hakufu screamed out.

"Poor fool," Ankh sighed.

Kokin's mind was a haze of pain as he tried to get himself back into the fight. He hadn't felt this badly hurt since Hakufu beat the crap out of him when she was possessed by her Haouryuu while she was fighting Ukitsu. Still, hadn't any of his attacks affected this monster at all? He had kept striking the torso areas which held the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and other points. How he measured the force of his attacks should have transferred the force to the organs without the bones being much of a problem. Was there just more meat between his fists and the innards than he initially expected or…

"Your mind is wandering!" the Bear Yummy snapped before its clawed fist smashed into Kokin's stomach, making him double over with blood splattering from his mouth and onto the beast's limb. Already dizzy and adding oxygen deprivation to the mix, Kokin was unable to offer any serious resistance when the Yummy grabbed his head in his hands before…

*WHAM!*

…smashing it into the ground, cracking it from the force. Kokin stopped moving after that.

"KOKIN!" Hakufu screamed in horror.

"I'm surprised his head didn't pop like a melon after that," Ankh observed. "His body must be exceptionally tough…"

"Now that the annoyance is dealt with," the Bear Yummy growled, standing up again. "This is your last chance to give me the-!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

The Yummy never got to finish its sentence before Hakufu unleashed her fury and traveled the distance between Ankh and the Yummy and unleashed the strongest haymaker punch she could into the monster's face. While not a truly devastating punch, the force and the positioning of it did manage to cause the Yummy to stumble backwards with a grunt. After that, several more powerful punches rained down on the Yummy one right after the other. There was more force behind them than with Kokin, considering the difference between the two in terms of strength and the spirits in which both teens were channelling through their Magatama.

"YOU HURT KOKIN!" the enraged teenage girl screamed, rearing back her fist. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

She lashed out again, aiming at the Yummy's face, but her punch was caught in its hand, easily handling the force she had put behind it.

"Better than the boy, but still too weak to stop me," the Bear Yummy growled before it lifted Hakufu clear off the ground and threw her over its shoulder with ease. The strawberry blonde hit the ground with a thud and a groan. Sitting up, she gave her abused posterior a rub to numb the pain before she got up again. Seeing the Yummy turning to face her, she growled and charged once again.

Ankh clenched his fist. This human was definitely fairing better than her now incapacitated companion but even a human couldn't match a Yummy's power, unless they had help. Also, this human had one of his Core Medals. He couldn't risk losing it now that it was so close. It would appear that the disembodied Greeed arm would need to assist this human.

Hakufu was again sent flying through the air and was about to land hard on the ground when she felt something grab her by the front of the shirt. She blinked. It was that freaky arm again and it'd just saved her. Ankh gently lowered the Fighter onto her feet. "Don't take this personally, but you have something of mine and there's no way I'm letting you get killed by that thing until you return it."

"It…it hurt…Kokin…" Hakufu spoke, tears on her angered red face.

"So, you wish to avenge your friend," spoke Ankh. "Look, that thing is after me and in my condition I can't really fight it. So, you'll have to fight it for me." Hakufu clenched her fists. That was what she was planning to do to begin with. "However, as strong as you are, a human is still a human and can't beat a Yummy, unless…"

"Unless what?" demanded Hakufu. She would have strangled the arm at this point save for the fact that it didn't have a neck to strangle.

"Unless I lend a helping hand, pardon the pun," the arm replied. Floating up, there was a flash of light from its underside before a stone box dropped through its skin. Acting quickly, the arm flew down and caught the box, revealing it had three slots not unlike the kind used for coins on certain kinds of vending machines.

"What?" the Bear Yummy gasped, halting its battle mindset to gape at the box in Ankh's hand. "That…that was used in the sealing!"

"Why, yes it was," Ankh answered before he hovered closer to Hakufu. Pressing the stone box to her waist, the Fighter let out a surprised gasp when the stone shattered to reveal black and blue steel. From the left side, a metal strap wrapped around her waist, securing the item in place before a round disk with a gold edge and a void on one hold so to properly hold it appeared on her right side.

"What…what is this?" asked Hakufu, staring at the belt buckle.

"Something that will help you beat that thing," Ankh answered. "Do you still have my Core Medal? The red coin with the hawk on it."

"Uhhh, right here!" Hakufu nodded, drawing the red coin in question and holding it out in the palm of her hand.

"Good, but you're going to need two more," Ankh spoke. With a flick of his wrist, two more coloured coins appeared between his fingers. One was yellow in the middle and had the face of a tiger etched onto its surface while the other was green with a grasshopper marked on one side. Taking the coins, he slapped them into Hakufu's hand with the red coin. "Now, place the red Medal on the right, yellow in the middle, and green on the left. Hurry!"

"Don't do it!" the Bear Yummy warned, approaching as if it were afraid to get any closer to the belt than it needed to. "You'll seal your fate if you do!"

"Don't listen to him!" Ankh spoke, trying to be louder than the Yummy and thus keep Hakufu's attention. "Do you want to let that thing keep rampaging around and hurting people like it did your male companion? Do you want more people to feel the pain you're feeling right now?"

Hakufu's eyes turned dangerously narrow as her gaze lifted to the Bear Yummy, making it flinch as if it were afraid of her as much as it was the belt, "No." Stepping past Ankh, she slipped the coins into her belt, red, yellow, and green. As she slipped the Grasshopper Medal into its slot, the belt clicked and the buckle tilted into a slant. Ankh then moved into action and quickly grabbed the disk-like object from her side and slipped it into her hand.

"Use this," he ordered. "Swipe the front across the Medals in your belt. Do it and you'll get the power needed to destroy that Yummy. Now do it, henshin!"

"Right!" Hakufu nodded. Raising the O-Scanner, she brought the front down against her belt buckle before drawing it across the front. The belt made three chiming noises as the scanner went across them and produced three rings of red, yellow, and green as the scanner passed.

"Henshin!" she cried out.

"TAKA!"

"TORA!"

"BATTA!"

"TA-TO-BA TATOBA TA-TO-BA!"

Colored medals dance around her. The first ring of colored medals spun around her head in a vertical fashion, the second ring spun around his torso in a horizontal fashion and the third surrounded his legs in the same horizontal fashion as the previous set. Huge projections of the three Core Medals in the belt appeared before her, aligning vertically with the red hawk at the top, yellow tiger in the middle and green grasshopper at the bottom before the three of them slammed together to make a new Medal that slammed into her.

Hakufu's entire body became covered in a black bodysuit and armour. In the centre of her chest was a large round circle with three designs on it. Squeezed at the bottom was the image of a green grasshopper. In the centre and taking up most of the space was a yellow tiger and finally with barely any room at the top was a red hawk. Her legs were covered with thin green armour at the front which was segmented not unlike a grasshopper's legs. Connected to the armour were green lines which connected to the grasshopper marking on her chest. Yellow lines extended from the tiger marking, past the rounded shoulders with yellow edges and ended at yellow gauntlets which had sharp blades folded back on the wrists. Finally the hawk symbol left a red line leading up to her face which was now concealed under a helmet that had large green eyes and a face plate which looked like a flying bird.

"Did I just hear singing? Hawk (taka), tiger (tora), grasshopper (batta)? Is that what this is?"

"Worry about that some other time," said Ankh. "This thing is called OOO (pronounced as Ozu). You'll realise its power once you fight with it."

The Bear Yummy roared and lunged at OOO. The armoured Fighter cried out and raised her arms to defend. The Bear Yummy's claws scraped against her yellow gauntlets but otherwise did little damage. She then kicked the Yummy in the midsection, sending it staggering back. Encouraged by how she was actually hurting it, OOO pressed her advantage, going for more attacks. As she charged, the tiger emblem on her chest flashed before the claws on the back of her gauntlets folded out and with a swing she slashed the monster across the chest. She expected to see blood but instead silver coins splashed out of the monster's chest where she struck. The wound was open for only a moment before gray energy sealed it shut again, but it was more than enough to tell her she could win!

Deciding to find out more once the monster was dealt with, OOO attacked with several more slashes. Each strike opened more wounds with more silver coins spilling out and making jingling noises on the ground. As if responding to her growing confidence, the grasshopper emblem on her chest flashed before her green leg armour began to glow while her yellow claws retracted. Leaping to cross the distance between herself and the monster, OOO unleashed bicycle kicks which crashed against the Yummy, making it stumble and forcing more coins out of its remaining wounds before they had a chance to close.

"Guess she's not such a pushover," said Ankh. To be fair, he could've chosen anyone to be OOO but an experienced Fighter seemed like the best choice. Even a weakling could become a powerhouse by using OOO but OOO's true potential could only be brought up by a true warrior.

Growling, the Bear Yummy wasn't going to take the abuse much longer. Looking at OOO, it roared and charged at the armoured girl, unleashing several slashes which sparked across her chest before punching her in the abdomen and sending her sprawling across the ground. Strangely enough, her yellow sections began to spark and lose their colour from the numerous impacts, not that she noticed since her world had been momentarily rocked by the hits.

"Wow, Mom's got nothing on this guy," she grunted, rubbing her chest so to try and massage the pain out. "It's a good thing this armour's so good too. Otherwise my clothes would have been shredded and Mom said she was going to pound me for ruining another outfit."

"Forget about your clothes!" Ankh shouted, flying closer to OOO. Flicking his wrist, he produced a second green coin, this one with a praying mantis etched on the front. "Here. Switch this one with the Tora Medal. You'll need a better weapon than the ones you have with you now."

"Okay!" OOO nodded, grabbing the Medal. Pushing on her buckle, she set it into a horizontal position again before removing the Tora Medal and slipping the Kamakiri Medal into its place. With the Medal secured, the buckle shifted again before OOO took her scanner and swiped it across the front.

"TAKA!"

"KAMAKIRI!"

"BATTA!"

Images of the three Core Medals appeared in front of OOO before merging together and colliding with her chest. In a haze of green, the tiger sections of her armour were replaced with a bright green set with a mantis symbol replacing the tiger one on her chest. Another modification was that her gauntlets were now green with black accents and had long blades extending from them and were able to reach up to her elbows. As she raised her arms, the blades attached to the gauntlets suddenly found themselves in her hands, held in a reverse grip.

"Ankh, hand over those Core Medals!" the Bear Yummy demanded as it charged but OOO would not let it reach its target. Swinging her arms, she slashed at the Yummy with the Kamakiri Swords, causing coins to fly out of it. She then kicked the Yummy hard with both feet, sending it skidding across the ground. Charging forward, she leapt and soared through the air. The mantis emblem on her chest glowed, transferring power into her arms and swords.

"Take this! Kamakiri Zan!" OOO called out as she slashed the Yummy in an X-pattern with her swords, cutting clean through the Yummy and making a green X-shaped cut appear on its body. The Bear Yummy roared before exploding. From the flames, many coins burst out and rained down on OOO, bouncing off her suit and rolling across the ground. "So, that guy was made of coins?" In the midst of her surprise, she then realised something. "Kokin!" She ran towards her cousin, "Kokin, hold on! I'll call for help!"

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you," Kougami smiled as he put the finishing touches on yet another cake. "Happy Birthday, Dear OOO…"

As OOO panicked about, trying to spot where a phone was so she could try and get some help for her relative, Ankh began to hover down and examine the boy. Really, the amount of punishment he took from the Yummy was considerable and yet somehow he still survived it all. From where the bird Greeed was standing, the boy should have died when he was smashed into the ground so savagely, but he survived just the same, if only barely. To have survived such a blow meant that the boy's body was exceptionally tough for a human.

"I think you'll do just fine," Ankh spoke to himself.

Hovering down, his 'body' began to glow before phasing over Kokin's right arm. The glow then extended over the Fighter's whole body before Ankh lifted himself and the unconscious human from the ground. The body of Kokin then flashed as if life suddenly poured into him before settling on his feet. However, there was a slight difference to how it was before. Kokin's hair was usually a dark colour usually associated with blue, but now it had turned blonde and styled with sizable spikes at the front, leaving the sides shorter than usual.

"A phone, I need to find a phone!" OOO panicked as she searched for a means of getting help for her cousin. As she panicked, she turned and spotted what appeared to be Kokin standing up with a new hairstyle and a freaky red glove on his arm. "Kokin! You're okay!" she squealed as she charged to glomp what appeared to be her cousin.

The one wearing Kokin's face raised his kaijin arm and held it up, stopping OOO from her affectionate attack, "Okay? Girl, your friend is very much not okay. However, my presence will be able to keep him alive."

"Huh?" OOO blinked.

"Now then, allow me to introduce myself," the possessed young man grinned. With a dramatic bow, he spoke. "My name is Ankh. I am one of the beings known as the Greeed."

"Greeed?" OOO repeated in confusion.

To Be Continued…

Ten-Faced Paladin A/N: My thanks to Kamen Rider Chrome for editing and offering ideas as this chapter was made. Credit for this idea goes to Tailsmo4ever though since it was his initial suggestion that got the ball rolling for this chapter to take form.

Kamen Rider Chrome: I got the idea and I delivered. This is a collaboration of a commission I got from Tailsmo4ever.