9 Preparation

|| Fabian's POV||

"You're going to do what?"

"According to Raza. The only way to make Brook and her little army listen to us is by besting her in a fight. Aka stomping her damn head in" I explained to my siblings again.

"And you're just going to trust what a psychotic creature told you in some nightmare version of our world?" Bliss asked from her position hanging upside down the ceiling of astorage shed I found so we could talk privately.

"I'm not totally trusting what she's saying yet but if what she's saying is true we'll have to be fully prepared. And the first step is getting Brook to lay off our backs and unify for now"

"That's.. surprisingly reasonable...." Fro stroked an imaginary beard and hummed absentmindedly.

"When did she tell you this anyways. I didn't notice you going anywhere" Skully was lying on the floor, facedown for whatever reason.

"In class, during math this morning. She took me somewhere...I think. And told me she couldn't let the others know about it for reasons beyond her control. She advised I take care of this Civil War drama on our hands before anything else"

There was a pause and clearly all my siblings are thinking about this decision.

"All right then. But you better not lose!" Bliss flicked her tongue out at me with a fierce determination in her orange eyes. "Lose and I'll kill you myself!"

I gulp, praying to every deity I know that I'll be able to win.

"Don't...do anything stupid..."

"I won't Fro"

We turn to Skully to see if he has any elder brother wisdom to bestow upon us.

"...."

Of course. He fell asleep.

"I suggest you go meet Toni or one of our other neutral or supportive classmates for tips on how the hell you're going to defeat Brook. And then select a date for the

your fight. Probably in the nearest future" Bliss jumped from the ceiling and landed in front of me.

"And at least train. For a whole day at least"

****************

"You want to fight Brook? But why? Why will you do that?" A certain ash haired girl asked me with crossed arms and a perplexed expression on her face.

"It's for something important Lofī. The only way she'll listen to me is if I beat her in a one on one match"

The breeze outside the dorms was gentle and cool, blowing both of our respective heads of hair  around like flags.

"I am aware. You've repeated it twice. It's still not registering in my head properly I guess"

"Yes. And I need tips on how exactly I'm going to beat her. From your reaction I figure she must be a strong one"

"She's the strongest physically in our class, except for the 6 Mary-Sues"

"Mary-Sues? The hell are those?"

She pauses for a moment, takes in a deep breath and unzips her jacket, pressing her lips into a thin line.

"Mary-Sues are Types with powers so ridiculously powerful that they are often considered boring and unfair. They seem to be unbeatable in all aspects. Their only weaknesses seem to be their own powers, I'm sure you already know who the one's in our class are"

"Rampart, Reks, Riona, Kuchisake, Dean and...Raza..."

"Yes. Never. Ever. Challenge one for any reason. Ya feel me?"

"Yeah"

"Now about beating Brook..."

**********

"And you came to me because?"

"Well I heard you were one of the 6 Mary-Sues in S2A. I figured you'll have some great advice on how to beat Brook"

Kuchisake regarded me with wary eyes and poked at her Hannibal mask for a long time...so long I thought she had either fallen asleep standing or just straight up died.

As I was just about leaving her in the middle of the clearing behind the dorms by herself she cleared her throat and huffed.

"You have like a 20 % chance of beating her. I'll give you that"

"Eh?"

"Your fighting style. It's all just brawn and little brain. Typical anime protagonist shit right there. You're strong and fast but if you don't know how to use that strength it's worthless, that is unless your style relies heavily on your reflexes. Something you seem to have a small grasp of even if you don't know it yourself"

She unfastens the jagged meat cleaver holstered to her belt with a chain and examines it's shiny silver surface, a dull red color running the length of the blade's edge, clearly the collective remainders of victims past.

"I'll test you right now. Touch me even a little bit with your fists and I'll give you the go ahead to battle Brook. I have a feeling about ya. Sound good?" She looks at me with wide and shiny red eyes that held years of wisdom and experience in them despite her relatively young age.

I nod slowly, unsure of what "I have a feeling" is supposed to mean in such context just as her knife flashes in front of my eyes and I see strands of my hair falling before my eyes.

"You dodged"

I did?

That's right I did!

"Your body moves before your brain thinks. This seems to only happen if you aren't expecting an attack though. Your goal is to balance your enhanced reflexive defenses and your brute strength to at least punch me"

"I thought it was to lightly touch you!" I looked around as it occurred to me Kuchisake was no longer in one place now but was bouncing all around the field at a staggering speed. Apart from the zipping sound she made when she flew by I couldn't see her movements.

Crap.

Another zipping sound and I feel something rough cut through my hoodie sleeves, it would've been my arm if I hadn't somehow dodged again.

Immediately after the cut I feel a solid punch to the face, that sends me flying a few feet and tumbling into the grass.

It seems my reflexes can only keep up with a thing at a time.

Another cut to my hoodie and I know what's coming next, I protect my head by blocking both my temples with my arms and as predicted she punched me, my arms absorbing most of the impact.

"You read an attack pattern and countered it. At least you can do that...." she stops in front of me and unhooks a pair of sheers from another chain behind her.

"Now I'll get serious..."

I blink. Once. Twice. Three times.

"You were joking this entire time..." My arms start shaking, not from excitement or the force her blows but from fear. Complete and utter fear.

Before she made zipping sounds, currently she gave no indication of where she was. I could only feel the way the wind blew violently when she flew by.

"Damnit. If you'll only stop moving around!" I growl and punch the ground in annoyance, accidentally creating a crater that I wasn't expecting in any capacity.

Someone grunts and tumbles and I know Kuchisake will only be down for a few seconds before she starts running around again.

Using my explosive speed, I launch myself towards her and gather all my strength in my arm as I cock it back for the blow.

I swing it and it hits a target.

"Gotcha!" I celebrate just to realize I'm still in the air, and that my arm cannot move.

She caught my punch and I can feel her putting no effort into it at all.

"Good start there Fabian. You're almost 35% prepared to fight Brook. Good enough for me" she smiled, I think and let me go before walking away, the shackles I just noticed on her arms and ankles jangling with every step she took.

"B-but..."

"Sike!" She hurls a blade at me so fast my reflexes don't even notice it and I find myself unable to move.

Damnit. My body's shaking too much to be useful

So...this...this is what it's like...to be frozen in terror...?

I close my eyes and come to terms with death just before someone catches the blade just before it's point of impact.

And this person has blueish-green hair.

"Skully?"

The meat cleaver had cut clean through his palm like a hot knife through butter and was stuck in there like glue.

"If you ever..." he grasped the handle of the blade and pulled it out of his palm, a spray of his own blood splashing unto his face.

"...ever...even try to hurt my siblings like that..." He looks up with a neutral expression, even scarier than one of his anger.

"I'll kill you"

Kuchisake walked over to Skully and yanked her blade away from him, smiling (it's hard to tell underneath an asylum mask) at both of us.

"I like your funny words magic man" she slid her finger down my brother's head and skipped away, giggling uncontrollably.

"Skully what the hell! That was so badass dude!" I bounced around my brother, fanboying over the sheer badassitude of his actions.

"Ah yes. Fabian..."

I stop and look at Skully, who's cap is tipped down slightly to cover his eyes in a menacing fashion.

"TAKE ME TO THE SCHOOL NURSE! THIS HURTS SO BAAAAAAAD!!!!"