Episode 10: Rebirth of Team Mariko

"Oh look, it's the rich girl." A boy snarled at the female student.

"Couldn't you have gone to a different school? Damn…"

"C'mon guys, don't make fun of the princess. Out of school she'll fight with us but inside she has to act like all the other rich snobs."

The three senior students laughed as they continued to mock Luna. She was sitting in the cafeteria alone, eating her box lunch. It was apparent she was trying hard to ignore the three upper classmen. Being a "new" student here, there weren't really many people she knew. The private school St. Catherine and South Frelia High School decided to combine just last year for financial reasons. Luna and all the other students from St. Catherine High were forced to come to this school. While the school curriculum seemed to be just as good, there were students who resented the wealthier kids. And while there were a lot of students now here from St. Catherine that Luna knew she had all new classmates who she didn't know. There was one person who she was constantly with, however.

While some of the South Frelia High students disliked the new St. Catherine students for being wealthy, in Luna's case these students weren't messing with her only because she was rich. The three seniors continued pestering finally annoyed Luna to the point of wanting to fight back. She quickly stood up and said, "Would you…"

But before she could utter another word, a fist came flying into the nose of one of the senior students and he fell onto his back.

"What the hell?!" He yelled as his two friends bent down to help him back up. They then looked up to see Lukas smirking back at them. "You're a weird one Elserin. You never fight back when we're kicking your ass outta school, so what the fuck are you starting shit for now?"

"Shut up, jackass!" Lukas swung his leg into the student's face, and the four began to brawl. The fight was eventually broken up by a couple teachers and other seniors. Luna simply watched as Lukas was carried out the cafeteria, still wanting to fight, to the principal's office.

Later that day, Luna met with Lukas outside his home. He was sent home early and suspended for a week. His smile indicated he regretted nothing, though he had a black eye and a few bruises over his face.

"What the hell is the matter with you?" Luna asked him.

"You were gonna hit them, weren't you?"

"S-so? What if I was?" She asked with an attitude. "Those guys are always picking fights with you outside of school but you never fight back. And you never say anything about me fighting them! So why would it matter if I did it in school?"

"Well, first off, I didn't want to see you get suspended. You're too good of a student to be getting into trouble over nothing."

Luna blushed after seeing Lukas smile at her like that. She quickly turned away pouting.

"And second, I promised that I wouldn't fight unless I had to. Since I didn't want you fighting them, I had to beat them up for ya!"

"T-that's stupid! And that promise was like forever ago!"

"So?"

Luna began to storm off slightly embarrassed. "Ugh, y-you're hopeless Lukas!"

A little over a week had passed since Lukas's suspension. Inside the school, the bell rang signaling the end of a class. Luna walked out of a classroom with many other students; she was carrying a few different textbooks and papers. Just as she was about to open her locker, a hand slapped Luna's books right out of her hands. The books slammed right to the ground while all her papers scattered about.

One of those seniors that was always picking on Luna and Lukas had smacked them out of her hands. He laughed and continued to walk past Luna.

Some of the other students in the hall also began to laugh as they glared at the 10th grader. She ignored them and bent down to pick up her books. The halls were crowded and people continued walking, stepping over her papers without much care.

Luna was beginning to get tired of the constant harassment those few senior boys gave her. They were the ones who were constantly fighting with Lukas throughout the years simply because he was strong, though she didn't know that at this time, and because she would always defend him they began to bully her as well. She watched her notes and homework being shuffled all around the ground by the other students who continued walking. She couldn't help but feel tears starting to build in her eyes; she just wanted everyone to leave her alone.

"Ow, hey!"

She quickly looked up to see the senior who had knocked her things down moments ago pinned against the locker. Lukas held the upper classmen by the throat with one hand. The expression on his face was… odd. He seemed angry, but if he was it certainly didn't show. He had a bit of an emotionless feeling on him.

"Pick it up." He calmly told the senior.

"Like hell I…"

"Pick it up!" A shout this time. Lukas's grip on the boy tightened as well, and he began to choke for air. The other students all watched, wondering if another fight between the two was imminent.

"O-okay, okay! I'll pick it up!" The student fell to the ground coughing as Lukas let go of him. And as Lukas demanded, the senior began to quickly pick up the papers that had been scuffled around the hallway floor.

Luna watched in shock as the student did as Lukas ordered. She then turned to Lukas as he bent down to pick up her books. He stood up with them and stretched an arm out to her. She reluctantly took it and stood with him, taking her books back.

"What do you think about Ikusa matches?"

She saw him look back at the senior who was almost done picking up her papers. The topic was a bit random, and Luna didn't think Lukas cared much for Ikusa competitions. Then again, now that they were sophomores, maybe the idea seemed plausible considering the 9th grade freshmen weren't allowed to make Ikusa teams. "Ikusa matches?"

"I'm thinking about starting a team. I've already talked to a few potential members. The deadline for submitting new team rosters is in a week, and I want you as my partner." Lukas told her as he took the papers from the senior.

Luna watched the student run off in embarrassment. "An Ikusa team…" She then turned back to Lukas who was smiling playfully at her. "You want me as your partner?"

"Well duh! I don't think I trust anyone more than you. Plus, you're pretty intimidating haha."

Her cheeks quickly turned red. "P-pretty intimidating?!"

"Or just pretty." He teased, friskily poking her cheek. "Whatever makes you happy."

Her whole face became red and she yelled, "Don't mess with me y-you jerk!" She turned around and quickly began to walk away from him.

"Hey, c'mon now Luna! I was just kidding!" He chuckled trying catch up to her.

"Oh, so you were kidding about me being pretty?" Luna snarled, turning to him. "That's not a surprise."

Lukas sighed, "Oh don't go getting all sarcastic with me. You know I can't do sarcasm."

"Really? I'm sorry, I thought a genius like yourself would be able to comprehend something as simple as sarcasm." She turned and began walking away again.

"I'm not a genius." Lukas watched as Luna walked off down the hall. "Wait, that was sarcasm, wasn't it? Luna? Hey, wait up Luna!"

"Luna!" Lukas shouted as he quickly shot up in his bed. He woke up in a cold sweat breathing heavily. He gripped the bed sheet that covered him. This was a familiar feeling; back in the hospital. But something was different about the room. Perhaps it had to do with the girl whose head rested on his leg.

Sitting in the chair next to his bed was Luna. She was sleeping on his leg with her mouth slightly open. She looked so peaceful and pretty tired. It was surprising she didn't wake up when Lukas shouted like that.

Lukas smiled at the girl; he noticed the worried expression on her face, even while asleep. Her white hair, which she usually nicely kept in scrunched pigtails, was fairly messed up with her hair going all over the place. One of her arms was down to her side while the other was lying on Lukas's lap right against her face. He placed his hand on her head, rubbing the top of her hair.

Her eyes quickly shot open as she realized she had fallen asleep on Lukas's leg. The girl hurriedly sat up in her chair, red from embarrassment. "L-Lukas! You're finally awake!"

"So are you." He smiled playfully at her.

"Well if you didn't take so long waking up, I wouldn't have fallen asleep." She quietly pouted as she began to straighten out her hair.

"So… I take it Syrus really let me have it. Man, and I thought I was stronger…"

"Huh?" Luna stopped fixing her hair and turned back to him

"Syrus… we fought… He knocked me out, right?" Lukas asked her confusedly.

"Lukas…" she slowly started, "you don't remember what happened?"

"I remember feeling really angry and then I think he…" Lukas paused to think. He seemed a little confused, trying hard to remember what occurred next. He then looked up to Luna who had a rather worrisome expression. "What… happened?"

"You… went out of control Lukas." Obviously it was hard for her to tell Lukas. She didn't know how to tell him; she didn't know what to tell him. "Syrus said… some hurtful things to you. Then you lost it and attacked him."

"I 'lost it'? What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain it. But when your Unit tried stopping you from beating up Syrus you attacked them. Afterward, you… you attacked…"

Lukas could feel his heart thump hard against his chest. It all came back to him; it was like he was completely conscious while he attacked his friends. He remembered shoving Syrus into the ground. He remembered flipping Greg on his back and smacking Meg and Hana out the way. And he remembered Luna restraining him in midair with her Solblade. Everything past that was blurry, but those memories felt so real.

Sweat began to run down the side of his face. "W-what did I…" Lukas held his head with both his hands, leaning forward in bed trying to comprehend what had happened. "H-how…"

Luna saw him tremble in confusion and how his eyes were wide open in shock. "I-it's okay Lukas!" She grabbed both his hands and held them tightly to her chest. "It's okay. No one was hurt. You banged Syrus up pretty badly but most of that was before you lost it. It's okay Lukas, really."

Staring into Luna's eyes helped calm him down. Lukas's breathing returned to normal and he slowly relaxed his muscles.

The hospital room door suddenly swung open and Lukas's group of friends quickly ran in. "Lukas!" Zayn first exclaimed running in to the foot of his bed.

"Hey man, you okay?" Ben asked him next.

"Guys, what are you doing here?" Lukas asked, looking to each of them.

"We just heard from a couple of your teammates." Vanessa told him. "We got here as fast as we could."

Lukas turned back to Luna. "How long have I been knocked out anyway?"

"Hmm… just a few hours. Maybe six." She slowly placed Lukas's hands down on the bed, but still had hers over them.

"We stopped by your mom's office on the way up here to let her know…" Courtney informed him but suddenly stopped when she saw Luna holding onto Lukas's hand. "But…"

Vanessa noticed the girl was just staring at the two and that she wasn't going to continue. "But, she said she already saw you, it didn't look like a big deal, you're a big boy, and she's down a couple floors if you really need her."

"Sounds like her…" Lukas sighed. "And what did the doctor say?"

"Well…" Luna started, "the weird thing was the doctors said you were perfectly fine. There was nothing wrong with you, other than a couple bruises Syrus gave, as far as they could tell. They're not sure what happened."

Once again, Lukas's eyes widened as he recalled the events that happened earlier that day. Did I… did I consciously attack Syrus and my Unit like that? How is it that I remember every detail clearly? Wait… "You restrained me with your Solblade after I attacked my Unit." He briskly turned to Luna. "What happened after you restrained me? Why does my memory go blank after that?"

The group turned to Luna, waiting for an answer. She hesitated for a short moment before telling him, "B-because you lost consciousness."

Lukas saw her voice was shaky and even her demeanor seemed troubled. She wouldn't look him in the eye either. "Are you sure? You said when my Unit tried stopping me from attacking Syrus, I attacked them. Then afterward, I attacked… someone? Did I hurt you too?"

"N-no! You, you lost consciousness Lukas!" Luna shouted just wanting to end the conversation. She quickly stood up. "You didn't attack me Lukas. And even if you did, I would have been able to stop it… cause… I'm more than capable… right?"

Lukas just smiled as she turned around. "Whatever makes you happy."

Luna began to walk out the room, passing by Lukas's friends. She noticed an interesting expression on Courtney's face as she walked by her. Courtney was just looking at the ground with a rather upset look on her face. Luna had a hunch why, but didn't want to stay in the room any longer to talk to her about it. She opened the door and like that, she was out.

Leaning against the back of the door Luna began to think to herself. Was that okay? Should I have told him about that weird attack… that Rei-Ki beam thing he tried using… on me? Luna stood straight and began to walk down the hall away from the room. Lukas has enough on his mind as it is. There's no need to worry him.

"Man Lukas," Zayn groaned as he took a seat across the room, "you're so lame. She's so into you bro."

Ben quickly ran over to Lukas's side and began to pinch his cheeks. "Haha yea, she is. She couldn't let go of wittle Luke's hands."

Lukas slapped Ben's hands away with a groan. "Shut up…"

"You guys are so close. Why don't you date or something?" Zayn asked.

Damn it Zayn! Vanessa held herself back from running over to Zayn and kicking him in the crotch. Why would you bring that up with Courtney standing right here?!

Courtney, however, seemed to be intrigued with the conversation. She's wanted to know for quite some time now what Luna meant to Lukas. And though she felt her heart pounding and her stomach was in a knot, she wanted to hear his answer.

"Are you trying to give me dating advice?" Lukas kicked the bed cover off of him and jumped out of his bed. He was actually still wearing his school uniform. "How many girlfriends have you gone through in four months since school started? Five? Six?"

"Hey man that was cold!" Zayn cried. "It's only been four! But I haven't had a steady relationship cause all these girls are too girly for me! I can't handle it when a girl wants to be around me all the time."

"You're with Vanessa all the time and that doesn't bother you haha." Ben chuckled as he picked up the carton of orange juice that was on the side table.

"Yea, but she's… not a girl."

"Oh, thanks." Vanessa grimaced. She then looked to Courtney who seemed to still be a bit anxious. "So why don't you get with Luna, Lukas?"

Courtney quickly glanced over to Vanessa, kind of wondering why she asked that. But she was a bit glad since she wanted to hear what Lukas had to say. Courtney turned back to Lukas who had thrown on his black pea coat and was buttoning it up. He then tucked his red scarf into the coat.

"Because…" He said casually as he headed for the door. "We're just friends. Are you guys just gonna stay in my empty room?"

"You sure it's okay to just leave?" Zayn asked him getting out of the chair. "You don't wanna strain yourself too much."

"I'm fine. Besides, the doctor said there's nothing wrong with me. No point in staying here." Lukas opened the door and walked out.

The others began to follow him. As the two girls were about to exit the room Vanessa walked to Courtney's side and quietly whispered into her ear, "You think he's lying?"

"Uh…" Before Courtney could reply Vanessa continued to walk ahead of her and out the door with the others.

"No, I've narrowed your list down and selected three candidates."

Meredith, the school's Advanced Rei-Ki 207 teacher known as Misayo, was in her office talking on her cell phone. She was still in her gym uniform sitting at her desk. She had her feet propped up on top of the desk while casually leaning back in her chair. To the side of her desk Mayoko Wynn, the Rei-Ki restoration specialist, was standing quietly with her eyes closed and head bowed to the ground. Apparently school had ended only moments ago.

"Ugh, yes he's obviously on it. I've been having Mayoko keep an eye on him for me. Seriously, why don't you just go and replace me with him if you love him so much." Meredith whined into the cell phone.

On the other end of the line was a man speaking. His voice was somewhat deep and slightly raspy, but the man did talk with a laid back attitude, fairly similar to Meredith but with less of an atttude.

"Oh c'mon Mere. You know I'd never replace you." The man spiritedly told her.

"Don't talk to me like that you old man! It's sounds creepy!" She scolded him. "You still haven't given me a good answer as to why I have to be here!"

There was moment of silence before the man replied. "I haven't hit 40 so I'm not old yet! And it's obviously because you're the most beautiful one out of the group!"

"Screw you! It's cause I'm the lowest rank, isn't it?!" Meredith waited for a response, but didn't hear anything but him laughing hysterically away from the phone. "So it's true jackass! I knew it! And you just let them send me here!"

"Haha, no, hahaha, really, I'm sorry." He said snickering between every other word."But c'mon, you know this is important. His Majesty wanted a replacement right away. You know how that's also been going for Gun-Force 3."

Meredith put her feet back to the ground to lean forward against the desk. "Yea… poor Ashley, she's had to take care of the force all by herself for the last…"

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The teacher halted her conversation momentarily and turned her attention to the door. "Who is it?"

"Lukas Elserin. I'd like to see you ma'am." The voice came from behind the door.

"I have to go. I'll update you on any progress I make, sir." Meredith then motioned for Mayoko to open the door, to which she obediently followed.

"But I want to hear your pretty voice some more…" The man moaned.

"Hah, creep." She then closed the flip phone and threw it into one of her desk drawers just as Lukas walked up to her.

"You know Agent, you should be more courteous when speaking to your superiors." Lukas stated, pulling the chair out to sit in.

Meredith just smiled at him, though it irked her how Lukas guessed she was speaking to her superior. "Well if it isn't the boy wonder. Haven't seen your pretty face in a while. All you do in class is mediate. You're gonna get me in trouble if you actually manage to improve…"

"Don't worry." He interrupted her. "I haven't managed to improve my perception of Rei-Ki as of yet."

"Mayoko would disagree with that." Meredith mockingly told him. "It seems you've learned a new attack: Fleo Lacer was it? Though it's somewhat common and isn't unique to your particular Solblade, to master it at your age is quite a feat. Oh… and I also heard you kinda… went insane for a bit a couple days ago."

Lukas returned a somewhat annoyed expression. "I wondered what she was here for…" He quickly glanced at Mayoko. She was simply standing there with an expressionless look. "Anyway, I'm not here to talk about me. It's about Courtney."

"You sure?" She asked him. "Aren't you concerned with what happened?"

"I already know what happened to me; Syrus provoked me to point that I was unable to control my anger and ended up hurting those around me. It's nothing for me to worry about. Anyway, I'm sure you heard about what happened to Courtney a while back."

"Ah, yes." Meredith opened her bottom drawer and began to look through some folders and papers. "I heard all about that on the news. A while ago Silver Blood finally attempted to make a move on her. Though my guess was they were only grunts who acted on their own; she was lucky to be out the house when she was." She threw an open folder that had pictures of Courtney's destroyed house on the desk.

Lukas skimmed through the large photos; all of them seemed oddly familiar, like he was there when each of the pictures were taken. Then, one particular photo caught his eye. He quickly pulled it from the pile and examined it: it was a picture of a man talking on a cell phone. He seemed to be fairly far from Courtney's home outside. Lukas quickly remembered seeing the man the morning before her house was broken into. His intuition about him that day was correct.

Meredith saw Lukas probing that particular photo more than the others. "We believe they've been keeping a close eye on her schedule and daily patterns."

"You're serious?"

"Doesn't it seem obvious?" She asked, taking the photo out of Lukas's hand. "I believe they knew she wouldn't be home. Meaning, they deliberately waited to break into her home when she wasn't there."

"But both her brother and sister were still home. They were lucky to hear them break in and escape." Lukas exclaimed.

"Hmm…" The agent leaned back in her seat, placing a hand under her chin. "Could it be… that Silver Blood was trying to harm them instead?"

Lukas thought about it for a second. He then nodded stating, "That's actually not entirely unbelievable. I mean, killing her would be no fun to them. They want her to suffer for what she did; so why not destroy her home and leave her all alone by killing her siblings."

"Uh…" Meredith observed Lukas for a second. He was simply pondering his ideas, still skimming through the paperwork on the desk. "Yea, that's exactly right."

Lukas pushed the papers back toward Meredith. "How safe do you think she'll be?"

"Not very. One thing that my intel isn't showing me, is how these lackeys are getting their information. It's way too detailed. They knew she would be at Vanessa's house the night they broke in. But my intel showed that she only left her house about five minutes before Silver Blood arrived… The decision to go to Vanessa's house was not planned, so I'm not too sure what was going on."

He had already known that she wouldn't be very safe. Lukas assumed Vanessa asked Courtney to hang out that evening, and though she luckily managed to escape perfectly fine, the Silver Blood grunts wouldn't stop there. While attacking their leader and not leaving a scratch might seem trivial to the higher up members, the pawns of Silver Blood had nothing better to do but to prove their loyalty. What better way to do so than to punish someone who tried killing their leader? Lukas knew she was still in grave danger.

"At any rate, there's no point in dwelling on it right now." The girl gathered up the papers into the folder and neatly placed it back into the drawers. Before closing it, she pulled out another folder from it. "Since we're on the subject of Silver Blood, I think this would be a good time to ask you."

Lukas noted what was stamped in red on the folder: it said 'Anti-Terror Division: Case 0165'. It captured his attention somewhat.

"You're pretty strong for your age Lukas. You're pretty smart as well. Being in an Ikusa team, you have gained military skills that some high ranking officers struggle to acquire." She slowly placed the folder out in front of her, keeping a hand on top of it. "And you also have a desire to see the handful of Silver Blood members who are lurking in this area gone as soon as possible for the safety of a certain someone. So, I was wondering if I could get some help from you."

"What help do you need from me…?"

It was a cold winter day, and the winds howled as it ripped through the forest. The second Ikusa match for Team Mariko was about to get started. The match this time was set to take place at Mugen Forest. Perhaps it gave a slight advantage to them considering they always got to practice in this particular terrain but that's not to say the other team couldn't have. It was usually off limits to students due to the immense size of the forest, but teachers didn't pay too much attention to it. In this particular situation, the Combat Zone had been set by a Rei-Ki field similar to the one used in Meredith's class with the sparring stage her students trained on.

On the edge of the forest, right behind the school buildings, bleachers were set up along with the large monitors for the spectators to see. The cameras were strategically placed all throughout the forest to capture all the events that happen during the game.

"Alright folks! We're back with yet another Ikusa match!" The announcer shouted into the microphone as he walked to and from each of the bleachers. "Tonight, Team Mariko is making their appearance for a second time this year! They played in the first Ikusa game of the season and had a phenomenal start! Can they keep up their momentum with their second game?" He managed to get the crowd fairly wild and rowdy as they began to cheer in excitement, waiting in anticipation for the game to begin. "I'll go ahead and explain the rules for this particular Ikusa match. The Objective of this match will be Escape/Conquer! Team Mariko has been assigned the duty of Escape while the opposing team, Team Zachary, has the duty of Conquer. Now, this Ikusa Objective is slightly different from the others so I'll go over the rules in a bit detail while we wait on our two teams to prepare."

Luna and her Unit stood right up against the side of the school building; Mugen Forest was behind the school. They were waiting for their other teammates so they all could discuss their strategy. Surprisingly, Lukas managed to show up on time, and he walked toward the four with his Unit behind him.

"Wow, you're here before Syrus." Luna remarked as Lukas stopped in front of her. "That's a shock."

"You don't have to sound so impressed…" He and everyone else were in their Ikusa uniforms; the padded, armor-like suits. Lukas's was white and gold, Luna's was blue, and the others had on a black and gold.

Luna still seemed to be a bit concerned with Lukas. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

Lukas paused for a moment before answering. "I don't know why I was unable to control myself that day…" He quietly said, turning away from his Unit. "I can't apologize enough for what I did. But I promise I won't let anything like that happen again."

"We told you a million times it's okay Luke!" Meg exclaimed.

"Yea! Really, it's fine Spearhead." Hana chimed in next.

After talking for a couple minutes, Syrus finally showed up with his Unit behind him. They slowly made their way to the others, ready to begin. Syrus seemed to have a slight emotionless expression, which was odd since it always looked like he was angry even when he wasn't.

"Now that you're here, let's go over our strategy." Luna told the team as they quickly got into a circle; Luna, Syrus, and Lukas stood in the center while the others encircled them. "Okay, so with our new equipment we should be able to finish this up real easily. Also, we're playing on our own turf! Even though the CZ is longer than we're used to, we are used to using the terrain of the forest to our advantage. This Team Zachary has some good players and decent equipment, but with the advantage we have there's no way we can lose."

"You're being a bit cocky Luna." Lukas teased. "Besides, the wind is blowing like crazy, twirling all the snow over the ground everywhere. And it's probably going to snow soon, which could make things worse."

"I suppose you're right." She continued. "Anyway, our Objective is Escape, while theirs is Conquer. That means we have to escape the Combat Zone via the very end of the opposing team's Territory. We have to escape while they try to neutralize and capture the Unit leaders. If two Unit leaders end up getting captured the game is theirs. But, if at least two outta three of our leaders escape the CZ, we win."

"So what's the plan?" Syrus calmly asked.

"Well, generally whenever the opposing Captain is taken out, more points are awarded to the team. So more than likely they'll try to go after me first. My Unit and I will fall back this time and wait for them to start looking for us. I want Syrus and Lukas to enter their territory as swiftly as you two possibly can and try to escape. We will provide both your Units coverage from behind."

Lukas crossed his arms, asking, "You sure that's such a good idea? Sending two Units like that this time might not work out like it did last. While we have some better equipment we still don't have helmets. They can knock us out easily but we can't do anything but temporarily stun them; once the paralysis wears off, they'll come after us again."

"Man Lukas, you're actually taking this seriously." Luna mocked him with a smile. "Even though we don't have helmets yet, I think you two can handle it. You guys will stick together and blitz through their defenses while I provide an extra push from behind."

He sighed, rubbing his temples. "You're so reckless. But I know our Captain will make it work somehow."

"Your 'Captain' is nothing but a joke."

A man's voice came from behind the team, heading toward them. There were three people who slowly approached them most probably going to the bleachers behind the school. The one in the middle was pretty tall and very muscular. The student had short hair and an intense expression on his face.

"Kane?" Syrus asked surprised. He watched his team break the circle as they fell behind their leaders and these three students approached them.

"It's been a while Luna, Syrus." Kane calmly said to the both of them. "I'm surprised you guys are still around."

"Kane…" Luna growled at him. "What do you want?"

"No need to sound so cold beautiful." The student gently placed his hands underneath her chin and lifted it slightly up as he leaned closer to her. "I know you miss me. You can admit it."

"Get your hand off me before I rip it off your arm." She quietly snarled at him.

"Ooh, I'm loving that scary glare you're giving me. How about you try?"

Before she could do anything, Lukas placed a hand on Kane's arm and gently pushed it away from Luna. "Please step back; I would hate for Luna to be disqualified before we even begin our game today."

Kane stepped back with a smug look on his face. "So you're the one these two replaced me with? Man, how insulting. You look so weak."

"So I take it you're the Kane who left the team over the summer."

"The name's Kane Yamato." He proudly told Lukas. "Yea, I left this team before school started. Syrus over there showed me how lame this team was. So I made my own and it's twice as better. We're still trying to get some better equipment but that should be no problem. We just played our second game a few days ago and won a ton of points… Hey! Are you ignoring me?!"

Lukas had walked off and was crouched down on the ground gathering some snow into a mound, probably trying to make a snowman. He turned around back to Kane with a bored expression. "You talk too much. I couldn't tell if you were still talking to me or yourself."

Luna and a few others from the team began to snicker and giggle quietly. It was obvious it annoyed Kane a bit. "A smartass huh? Wonder how much that'll help on the battlefield newbie."

"And you were wrong by the way." Lukas nonchalantly said as he stood up.

"What are you talking about?"

"You said I was your replacement. It's the other way around; you replaced me."

Kane stared at him for a second before realizing who he was. "Ahh, so you must be the Lukas Elserin I've heard so much from Luna."

"You used to talk about me?" Lukas asked Luna curiously.

"N-no!" Her face quickly turned red as she tried to explain herself. "Only when I would explain to people about how we made the team and that kinda stuff!"

"Also heard some stuff from Syrus too." Kane stated, interrupting the two. "Like how you decided to leave poor Luna all alone after stabbing her in the back."

"What was that?" Lukas stepped forward, beginning to get a tad bit annoyed. His hand was in a fist, ready to sock the former teammate.

"Well it doesn't really matter who you are." Kane continued. "You're team is weak. Syrus has become a weakling working under someone like you." He directed that toward Luna. "So when we battle, there's no question we're going to win. But just for kicks, we're going to see how you all operate as a team. Though, I already know exactly how: like shit." Kane busted out laughing and began to walk away, toward the back of the school where the bleachers were set up. The two others who were with him, presumably his Spearheads, followed right behind as they all turned the corner of the building.

"Argh! He always pissed me off!" Luna shouted out. "I'm so glad he's gone!"

"I'm surprised you guys had someone like that as a leader on the team…" Lukas let out a sigh of relief, slightly disappointed in himself for letting this person's, a person he never met before, taunts get to him. That topic just seemed to always hit a nerve. Lukas simply brushed it off and glanced over to Syrus. He noticed Syrus actually seemed a bit distressed. "Anyway, let's continue discussing our strategy."

After a few more minutes of debating their plan of attack, the team then positioned themselves to begin the match. The Rei-Ki barrier, which was an invisible wall of pure Rei-Ki energy, could actually be seen by everyone from the fierce winds that blew snow against it. Since there was no ceiling to the Rei-Ki field, the Combat Zone was just as windy and cold as it was outside the barrier. At the start of the forest there was a small door-like hole within the barrier used for passing through the Rei-Ki barrier. Once each of the members entered, the hole closed shut with energy.

Luna and her Unit stood close to the edge of the CZ near the beginning of the forest, while Syrus and Lukas, along with their Units, were slightly deeper into their Territory. Their Territory stretched for quite some time, and was marked by the red flags wrapped around the trees. Once the flags became blue, they would know they entered the enemy's Territory.

Lukas took out the pistol from his gun strap hanging at his waist; he was still using a level 1 pseudo-Solblade.

"You sure you don't want a better pseudo-Solblade?" Greg walked up to him, showing his level 3; a small rifle.

"I'll be fine. It's your job to protect your Spearhead when we're playing an Escape/Conquer match." Lukas replied talking to all his members. "You all need the better equipment to make sure I don't get captured."

"Can everyone hear me clearly?" The sound came from the earpieces each of the members had on.

Lukas placed his hand over the Ear-Link and answered, "Yea, they seem to be working."

"Remember, I have the Rei-Ki detector with me." Luna said into her Ear-Link while she examined the device in her hand. The radar-like gadget showed a grid of the location of her team members, and would also show the opponent if they were to get closer. "I'll try and warn you guys when and where an enemy approaches but the range is limited. And just remember, they also have R-detectors."

"Yes Captain!" A unison of loyal members replying came out of Luna's earpiece.

Back where Lukas and the others were stationed, he turned his attention to Syrus who had signaled for him. Lukas and Syrus walked toward one another, away from the rest of the members.

"Hey…" Syrus slowly started, "I… wanted to apologize… for the other day. Luna talked to me about some stuff regarding what I said, and… a lot of the shit I said wasn't entirely true."

That came as a surprise to Lukas. Syrus always seemed to dislike Lukas for various reasons so it seemed awkward he would be apologizing for something they both started. "It's cool. I'm sorry for… letting my anger get to me." He stuck out his hand in a show of good faith.

Syrus glanced down at it and then firmly grabbed it, shaking on their apology.

"Kane Yamato…" Lukas said, still holding onto Syrus's hand. He could feel the muscle's in Syrus's hand slightly twitch as he said Syrus's friend's name. He let go before continuing. "What's his deal?"

Syrus stared at the ground for a second, thinking of what he wanted to say. "Kane… didn't always act like that. He used to go to the St. Catherine Schools before their high school combined with this one. We were good childhood friends; all three of us were since we attended St. Catherine Elementary and Middle. But when we came to South Frelia High, Kane started to act weird."

The other Unit members noticed their two leaders acting surprisingly normal with each other, which came off as surprise considering they rarely said more than two words to one another. So they slowly made their way closer to hear the conversation.

"He was…" Syrus began again, "he was always a bit arrogant. But, that's just the way he acted. Me and Luna both knew he was like that but neither of us minded. He was still our friend. Besides, he had the skills to back up his talk. So when you left the team Luna didn't mind trying to bring him on when I suggested it. You left midway during sophomore year, and not too long afterward Kane took over your position. He did real well as Unit C's Spearhead for the next year and a half. But during the summer, we got into an argument over something… him and Luna…"

The loud siren signaling the start of the Ikusa match abruptly went off, interrupting Syrus mid-sentence. Outside Mugen Forest behind the school building, the students roared with a cheer of excitement as the game begun. "Good luck to both sides, and may the better team win!" The announcer yelled over his microphone.

"Crap, we'll talk about this later." Lukas placed a hand on Syrus's shoulder. "Let's have some fun."

Syrus stared Lukas down for a second before replying, "Don't think this changes anything! I'm only doing this for Luna."

"That makes two of us…" Lukas chuckled with a smile before sprinting forward.

The rest of the members dashed down the forest, snow flinging back from their feet. Syrus and Lukas's Unit members followed closely behind. The two Spearheads, two teammates who rarely ever spoke to each other, now had to fight together to win their second Ikusa match.

Author's Note: So I've decided to cut back in length for the rest of my Episodes; before they ranged from about 8000 - 10000 words, but I think 6000 should be plenty! That should make it easier for you guys to read! Don't worry, still going to be just as amazing haha. Anyway, some things you guys should think about: Lukas thinks he went out of control on his own, and there's nothing to worry about. Meredith wants Lukas to help her... with what? And finally Kane makes an appearance! Hope you guys are enjoying, and please leave a review for me! Thanks!