Konichiwa! Innocent-illusory here...at last, another update. Please enjoy this next chapter!

Chapter 17: The Unexpected

The cyclone was drawing Lenalee and Lucy towards it. Lenalee stretched out her hand—desperately trying to reach for the unconscious boy ahead of her but the distance between them was just too great.

"Lucy," Lenalee thought as she pushed herself closer towards the boy. Her eyes widen as she saw just how close the boy was getting to the cyclone. Lenalee began to panic and she frantically kicked her legs to propel her closer towards the boy, but her legs were still too weak due to the unhealed injuries she still had.

"Dammit!" Lenalee mentally cursed, as she exerted more effort on her legs. Suddenly, the cyclone raged more intensely and before Lenalee's eyes, Little Lucy was sucked into the heart of the vortex.

"Lucy!!" Lenalee mentally shrieked. She herself was about to be sucked into the vortex until a pair of strong hands embraced her and pulled her farther away. Lenalee looked up to see her savior.

"Allen…" she thought lastly as exhaustion got to her and her mind went blank.

Allen Walker had Lenalee unconscious in his arms. He wanted to go after the little blue-haired boy who was devoured by the vortex but he couldn't risk putting the girl in his hands into anymore danger. He decided that it was best to bring her back up to safety. Allen gritted his teeth as he swam farther away against the vortex's pull.

--

"Lucian…"

Little Lucy woke up as he heard the voice call to him again. He was now in the heart of the cyclone but oddly he felt very light and not the least bit scared. The voice was coming from the glowing light in the middle of the vortex.

"Come to me…" called the angelic voice.

Lucy approached the glowing orb.

"I am yours…" the voice said.

And at this, Lucy made contact with the orb.

Allen emerged from the raging rapids, carrying the unconscious girl in his arms. Allen kneeled down and laid Lenalee on the ground. He had his arm under her neck and he lifted her head towards him.

"Lenalee!! Get a hold of yourself!" Allen cried as he shook her to wake, but the girl didn't respond. Allen fingered the girl's wrist to check for a pulse and to his relief he felt a faint throbbing—Lenalee was alright. A few seconds later, Lenalee violently coughed out excess water in her lungs and she opened her eyes, gasping for breath.

"Ugh…" Lenalee regained her consciousness.

"Lenalee!" Allen cried. "You're alright…"

"Allen…" Lenalee whispered. Suddenly, she remembered the little boy who was devoured by the vortex. She quickly sat upright and she turned to Allen.

"Lucy…where is he?!" Lenalee cried.

"I'm going to bring him back," Allen said. He quickly stood up and headed for the river. But suddenly, a thick ray of white light shot up from the heart of the cyclone.

"Gaah!!" Kanda crashed on the floor as the Dark Noah kicked him on the stomach.

"Ha! You're in a complete disadvantage here, shounen." Tyki smirked. "You don't even have your original weapon."

"Che," Kanda hissed. The Time Record quickly took effect at the long haired exorcist and his damages were recovered. Kanda charged at the Dark Noah but suddenly, a thick ray of white light shot up from the cyclone which diverted the exorcists' and Tyki's attention.

The ray of light shot up, causing an explosion of water. Water reached the clouds and it started to rain.

In the middle of the fortress of light, there stood Lucy holding the Innocence with him.

"I knew it!" Lavi said.

"It's Lucy…" Lenalee gasped.

"That little boy…" Tyki quickly lunged up towards the little boy, raindrops pattering on him as he made his way up.

"You bastard!" Kanda launched himself up to follow the Dark Noah, but then Tyki quickly turned to face the exorcist and sent a flight of tease to enshroud him.

"Shit!" Kanda swatted the black butterflies but they kept on persistently coming back. Kanda was thwarted to go any further.

Tyki was now in front of the blue-haired little boy. The Innocence was emanating in the hands of the little boy.

Little Lucy's eyes widen as he saw the Dark Noah in front of him. He quickly moved back, holding the Innocence tight in his hands as he sensed the Noah's ominous intent.

Tyki grinned mischievously as he moved his gloved hand to reach into the wall of light. But suddenly, a white ribbon whipped around his wrist and tugged his hand away.

"That's as far as you go, Tyki!" Allen yelled from the bridge. Allen pulled his Clown Belt, instantly hauling the Dark Noah back towards the ground.

"You!" Just as Tyki was about to hit impact on the ground. He quickly summoned his sharp wedge and slashed the white length that held him. He somersaulted in the air and he landed safely on the ground.

"Miranda, now!" Lavi shouted.

Miranda lifted her hammer and struck it down the Dark Noah. The hammer landed on the ground; its force was so great that it shook the bridge.

"Whoa!" Lavi yelped as he fell on his backside. As Lavi fell on the floor, a shiny penny fell out of his pocket and rolled its way towards the battlefield. The penny stopped as it collided with a pebble and it laid, tilting on the small rock.

"Did I get him?" Miranda panted.

"Miranda, look out!" Allen cried.

Tyki rose from behind the timid exorcist. As Miranda turned to face him, Tyki quickly spun a kick and sent her thrashing to the side.

"Cross Grave!!" Allen sent a cross-shaped blaze towards the Dark Noah. Tyki quickly crossed his arms in front of him to block the blaze, but he wasn't fully prepared when the cross-shaped blade met him.

"Gaah!!" Tyki was sent back, smoke coming out from the part of his arms where the heated blade penetrated him.

Tyki Mikk was getting pissed now—not only was he getting his ass kicked but he was starting to get a cold from staying too long in the rain. He wanted to get this over with as soon as possible and the only way to finish this was to get serious…

--

Kanda landed beside the white-haired exorcist as he finished dealing with the black insects.

"Oi, Moyashi!" Kanda called at the younger exorcist beside him.

"It's Allen." Allen snapped at Kanda.

"Che...I am so going to kick your ass once we get this mission over," Kanda said.

"Ooh…I'm so scared," Allen said with oozing sarcasm.

"It's still too early to celebrate…"

Allen and Kanda quickly turned to where the ominous voice came from and suddenly a dark ball of energy came from its direction.

"Look out!" Allen shouted. Both exorcists quickly jumped out of the way as the ball of energy hit the floor where they stood on.

Tyki Mikk was furious now. He emerged from the gray clouds of dust, holding a dark ball of energy in his hand. The ball was growing in size as the Dark Noah walked closer towards the two exorcists. Tyki snapped and then he hurled the black mass of energy towards the cursed boy.

"Moyashi!" Kanda shouted.

Allen quickly stretched out his claw hand and he subdued the great mass of energy.

"Damn," Allen grunted. He shoved his claw hand forward, pushing the dark mass away from him; however, Tyki was on the other side of the huge mass opposing his strength. The Dark Noah pushed the energy ball further towards the cursed boy—both their arms were trembling in tension.

"Die in hell, Allen Walker!!" Tyki yelled. The Dark Noah was furious; his eyes widen as he applied more force to the dark energy ball. Finally, the Dark Noah gave one violent shove with his hand and he overcame the cursed boy's strength.

"Gaah!!" Allen was sent hurling towards the ground.

"You!" Kanda leaped in front of Tyki, but suddenly the Dark Noah disappeared in front of him.

"What the…" Kanda said, but then the sound of a sharp object meeting with flesh resounded. Kanda's eyes widen as he turned his head to see the Dark Noah behind; his sharp weapon was driven into him.

"Gaah!!" Kanda screamed as the Dark Noah retrieved his weapon from the samurai's body. Kanda staggered forward and he fell on his knees.

"Oh no…" Lavi watched his comrades in dismay. He felt terribly useless and he wasn't usually like this. Lavi focused hard to return his companions back to their original state. He was running out of energy but he needed to hold on until then—his comrades were his first priority.

"Time Record," Lavi shouted. The golden plate dial glowed and the clock faces emerged from his comrades' bodies. They were slowly returning back to their fairly well state.

"Oh no, you don't!" Tyki leaped in front of the redhead bookman and gave him a swift punch in the stomach, preventing him from reversing his comrades' state.

"Damn!" Lavi grunted as he was sent skidding on the floor. He was losing his concentration and he won't be able to finish restoring his comrades to their original state.

The Dark Noah towered over the redhead bookman. "You know, that Innocence is sure troublesome. Why don't I just crush it first?" Tyki grabbed Lavi's wrist and moved to squeeze the golden dial.

Suddenly a barrage of sharp crown-shaped objects shot behind Tyki. Tyki quickly turned around.

"Edge End!" Allen swiped his claw across the Noah's chest. The Noah quickly jumped up, evading the attack and he landed behind the white haired-exorcist. Allen quickly turned around and whipped his clown belt towards Tyki, but the Noah leapt backwards avoiding the white length.

The gash in Kanda's side was bleeding profusely and he's body wasn't healing as fast as it usually did. The pain in his side made his body numb and it made it difficult for him to hoist himself up—this frustrated the young samurai. He was left on the sidelines, watching his self-bestowed 'Moyashi' fight the Dark Noah. Kanda felt useless and he was never one to be of no use and to be left as a spectator in the battle. The young samurai gritted his teeth.

"Shit!" Kanda hissed as he pounded his fist on the floor. Unexpectedly, the samurai hit the penny on its inclined side on the pebble and it shot up in the air.

Tyki sent a barrage of Tease towards Allen. In one quick swipe, the cursed boy was able to get rid of them and he quickly launched himself towards the Noah. Tyki dodged the cursed boy and he gave him a swift punch in the stomach. The cursed boy spat out blood as he was sent staggering back away from the Dark Noah.

"Heh…" The Noah twisted his fist. "This'll soon be over, shou—"

A shiny object suddenly shot Tyki's eye. The shiny object clanged on the floor as it fell—it was the penny.

The pain was instant. The Dark Noah held his eye as he screamed in agony.

"Gaah!! My fuckin' eye!!" Tyki staggered backwards. The pain was almost excruciating; his eyesight was getting blurry. Who would've expected that a measly penny could put all his guard down?

Allen and Kanda were alert when they saw the Dark Noah lose his guard. "Chance!" they said in unison as they lunged towards the off guarded Noah.

"Shit!!" Tyki screamed as the three of them collided. Clouds of dust exploded and chunks of debris flew as the collision happened. The Dark Noah was hurled backwards, crashing into a pile of broken rocks caused by the earthquake.

"Gaah!!" Tyki hissed in pain.

Suddenly, Tyki's mobile Tease (Author's Note: Can you even imagine what that would look like?) rang in his pocket. He quickly picked it up and answered it.

"What?!" Tyki yelled. "I'm busy here!"

Road Camelot's voice came out from the receiver. "Tyki!! You've got to come back quick!!"

"Why?" Tyki asked the hectic girl on the phone.

"The Earl was trying to eat this so called 'Sushi'—so he gobbled up one huge carp raw and he ended up choking in it!! Please, you need to get it out of his throat…just shove your hand into him!!"

"But I'm busy here…" Tyki reasoned. "I still have to get the Innocence from…"

"Screw the Innocence!!" Road yelled as she hung up the phone.

The Dark Noah sighed as he put his mobile Tease back into his pocket. He slowly hoisted up his painful body and he emerged from the debris.

"He's coming this way," Allen said as he braced himself on guard.

"Che…" Kanda hissed as he too followed the younger exorcist's stance.

"I'm sorry, my dear exorcists," the Dark Noah spoke. "...but our little charade here must end, due to a rather, errr…obscure reason. Let us continue some other time then."

"Wait!!" Allen shouted.

The Noah summoned his flight of Tease and he quickly vanished.

The barrier surrounding the two villages disappeared and the gray sky above the two villages cleared up revealing the original sky behind it—the soft light blue sky with its cotton-weaved clouds and the golden sun bestowing its rays on the two villages below it.

The fortress of light slowly died down and Little Lucy slowly descended to the ground. Allen caught him and cradled Lucy in his arms. The little boy was fast asleep holding the glowing sphere of Innocence in his tiny hands.

The mission was finally done.

An Epilogue to follow...hehe.