Plucking the Chicken

Just as everyone was coming through to the battlefield from the transportation magic circle, Gohan suddenly found himself stood next to Sirzechs much to his confusion.

"What's going on!? Why am I not with everyone else?" Gohan asks while looking at his surroundings confused by what was happening.

"Hello everyone, my name is Grayfia, I am a servant to the Gremory House. I will be the referee for this rating game" Grayfia's voice could be heard throughout, from the devils that were watching the game, to the players involved in the game itself. Rias and co had heard Grayfia's voice and were now listening intently to important details and also hoping to know why Gohan had not been transported to the same place as them.

"This will be the battlefield for today's rating game between Lady Rias and Lord Riser. I have asked both competitors where they would have liked the battle to take place and Lord Riser agreed to let it be Lady Rias's decision, so the battlefield will be an exact replica of Kuoh academy, which is a human school that Lady Rias and her peerage goes to" Grayfia informed everyone who was watching making sure not to leave any important details out.

"There is also one stipulation that has been introduced to this rating game, one of Lady Rias's peerage members, Gohan, will not be allowed into the game until all of Lord Riser's pieces apart from his queen have been retired from the game. This is due to Gohan technically not being reincarnated into a devil by Lady Rias, however, if Lady Rias and her peerage are able to retire all of them then as the referee I will introduce Gohan to the game". Once they all heard Grayfia's announcement, Rias and co all knew what they needed to do in order for them to have the best possible chance at winning their first rating game, we must get Gohan in this fight as soon as possible...

Gohan was annoyed that he couldn't even be on the battlefield with his friends, "This sucks" a pouting Gohan exclaimed making Sirzechs chuckle at the boy's expression.

They all then heard Grayfia continue, "Lady Rias, your home base will be the occult research club room located in the old school building, while, Lord Riser's home base will be the principal's office located in the new school building. Once pawns get into these locations they are able to promote themselves freely". Issei listened very carefully at that point so that he would know where he could promote himself and try and get his own payback on Riser after making a fool of himself in their first encounter, sorry Gohan but I'm beating bird brain before you get in here...

"Right, everyone, listen in as we need to go over the plan" everyone turned their attention to Rias as she was now in full king mode.

Rias had a map of the school grounds and had opened it up on her desk so everyone could see, " First, we need to gain some kind of footing on the battlefield, I want Koneko and Kiba to have some traps set out around the club room just in case any one of Riser's peerage manages to get close to hear" Rias did not want to take any chances at the beginning, especially seeing as her not so secret weapon had been taken out of the game until later she hoped. Rias then turned to her best friend Akeno, "Akeno I want you to use your illusion magic as now is the best time to get it set up".

"Yes, of course, Rias" Akeno replied walking off to go get things prepared.

"I guess we will go set some traps then, come on Koneko, let's go" Koneko nodded and followed Kiba's lead.

"What about me Rias?" Issei asks, hoping to help out just as much as the others.

Rias then walks over to the sofa and sits down, she looks at Issei's confused face. "Issei I want you to come and lay your head here", Rias points to her lap. Issei blushes at the idea which Asia see's and starts pouting as she looks at him.

"erm... why do I have to put my head on your lap?"

"There is something I need to do for you Issei so please sit down and put your head on my lap" Rias knew that this needed to be done, she had seen just how hard Issei had been pushing himself, especially whenever he was with Gohan. Gohan had been the perfect teacher for Issei, he had listened to everything Gohan had told him and Issei had just taken it in his stride. Issei then sat down on the sofa next to Rias and laid down with his head now on Rias's legs, which he found so comfortable, Oh my god this is amazing...

As Issei lay there he pondered on what his king meant when she said "something I need to do for you", as if out of nowhere a sudden feeling hit Issei and he felt his arm where his sacred gear was, suddenly burn, it was a sudden influx of power. "What just happened...?"

"I just released some of your potential power Issei, when I reincarnated you, I had to seal away a lot of your power because your new body just wouldn't have been able to contain it and you would have been killed by it" Rias spoke softly to Issei while trying to not think about the game for a moment.

"But why now? why release some of this power now?" Issei sat up and looked at Rias, still somewhat confused by what just happened.

"That should be obvious Issei, thanks to Gohan's training which was pushing you to your limit and beyond, you have grown much stronger now." Rias smiled at her pawn, she was happy with his progress that he made with his sacred gear even if he still hadn't gotten very good at getting contracts with humans.

Koneko, Kiba, and Akeno had walked in to let everyone else know they had set their traps and illusions which Rias was happy to hear. They all made their way back to the map on the desk, "Right, now that the traps and such are ready, I want Koneko and Issei to head over to the gymnasium and take control of it. I should imagine that Riser will send some forces there so be on your guard you two." Rias then looked at Kiba, "Kiba I want you to hang around in the forest where Akeno has placed illusions if any of Riser's peerage should come that way... Eliminate them!" Rias spoke sternly the last part."It shall be done Rias!"

"It shall be done Rias!" once Kiba had confidently replied to his king's order's, himself, Koneko and Issei then left the building to take the fight to the immortal chicken and co.

Issei and Koneko had just gotten to the gym and were now stood on the stage area when... "Come out you Gremory filth, we can smell you from here!" a young well-endowed girl wearing a blue qipao, shouted in anger.

Issei and Koneko both walked out from behind the curtains to see twins and two taller girls, "I'll take the big boobed girl, she's a rook like me so I should be fine. You take the twins and the girl with the staff Issei, they should be easy enough for you now." Koneko said dryly, she then adjusted her gloves ready for battle.

"Let's make this quick Koneko! SACRED GEAR!" Issei shouted calling forth his powerful gauntlet.

"oh please like you could make this..." the girl with the wooden didn't have a chance to finish her taunt as she suddenly felt a fist in her stomach which brought her to her knees winded and knocked out.

A light engulfed the now unconscious girl as everyone in the battlefield suddenly heard a familiar voice, "one of Lord Riser's pawns has been retired".

The rook known as Xuelan was in a state of shock at what had just occurred with Mira, Xuelan didn't get to think about it much as she was then hit straight on the jaw and sent into the wall. "Damn it, I'm taking you down shrimp!" Xuelan screeched running at the culprit of being punched which was Koneko.

"Suck it" Koneko replied with still little to none expression showing.

While this was happening, Issei found himself dodging two small but crazy twins with a pair of chainsaws... "Why the hell do you have chainsaws!" Issei shrieked while running away... "BOOST"...

Good, we need to end this quick and help the others so no more running away. Issei then jumped up dodging the incoming crazy twins, he then rushed at the two girls surprising them both and managed to kick them both further away from him to try and gain some distance for a moment.

"BOOST" Good, just one more and that should be enough for these two weirdoes... Issei looked over to Koneko and wasn't surprised to see her dominating her opponent in strength even though they were both rooks.

Koneko was just dodging each strike that was coming at her and then got some quick hits in, compared to the clones of Gohan she had been fighting daily who were so much faster, this was nothing to her. "You lose..." Koneko dodged an incoming right hook and quickly punched at Xuelan's open area's, this caused the girl to fall to her knees as she was suddenly unable to move, Koneko then did a quick chop at Xuelan's neck which caused her to be retired.

"Rook of Lord Riser, retired" Grayfia announced professionally.

"Stop dodging us and just let us chop you into tiny bits please!", "Yeah, yeah come on, chop chop time!" the green haired twins pleaded childishly to a running Issei.

"Sorry girls, not today!" Issei lifted his gauntlet arm up facing the girls, "BOOST...EXPLOSION!", "DRAGON SHOT!". Issei pushed some of his energy into his hand and fired a beam at the chainsaw wielding girl's which caused the girls to be immediately retired from the game but also caused a giant hole in the gymnasium.

Both Koneko and Issei then walked outside knowing their job was done, "Nice work Issei, you are starting to destroy more stuff than Gohan" Koneko plainly said while Issei had a deadpanned look at the damage he had caused.

"I only boosted three times..." The gymnasium was only half left and there was a giant crater where Issei's dragon shot had scorched the ground.

Everyone in the rating game and all those that were watching had seen the devastation that Issei had caused. Gohan was laughing while all the other devils that were in the same room as him were gobsmacked at how much power Issei had, Issei only boosted three times, hmm, I guess my training with him really did pay off... Gohan was happy for Issei, he had worked so hard so that he could catch up to everyone else and he had managed to make a big jump thanks to all the training he had done in the last 2 weeks.

"Issei, come on we need to go and meet up with Kiba" Koneko had just started to walk away when, BOOOOOM..., a sudden explosion engulfed Koneko which sent her flying. Issei had been blown back by the sudden explosion, "What.. the...hell was that..?" Issei could feel his lungs burning due to breathing in the smoke from the explosion, he looked over to see Koneko was now flat out on the floor and was being engulfed in a white light.

"Lady Rias rook has been retired" Grayfia's voice bellowed throughout the battlefield. Riser was laughing while sat in the principal's chair with 2 girls holding onto his body, "Stupid girl should just give up and be with me already.."

"KONEKO!" Issei's shouting was not heard by the small girl as she had already been taken out of the game.

"You should feel lucky boy, I was aiming for both of you" Issei looked up to find the source of the vindictive voice, what he saw was someone he recognized from their past meeting in the clubroom.

"YOU! I WILL DEFEAT YOU!" Issei managed to get himself up and was now in his stance ready to face... "You think you can beat me, Lord Riser's Queen" Yubelluna shrieked as she then started to descend quickly, closing the gap between them both, however, just as Yubelluna was getting closer she had not foreseen the large storm cloud right above her and was suddenly hit by a huge thunderbolt. "AHHHHHHH" She screamed in agony as every inch of her body was now in pain due to the powerful attack.

"Well, this looks like some fun, mind if I join in...?" Issei turned around to see Akeno arrive, "Akeno! boy am I glad to see you, let's take this trash down together!" Issei got ready to fight only for Akeno to dash his hopes of vengeance, "No Issei, I want you to go and help Kiba, don't worry I can deal with this piece of trash quickly and be with you soon" Akeno smiled to him trying to reassure herself just as much as him.

"Fine, but don't be long Akeno!" Issei smiled at her, turned and ran off to go and help Kiba.

At this point, Akeno then looked back at Yubelluna to see her finally able to move after her surprise attack, Should have known that wouldn't be enough to take down the "bomb queen"...

Rias was annoyed at the fact she had lost Koneko so early on especially with how good she was doing, I think its time to make my own move...

"Asia, let's go! It's time I face my problems" Rias was feeling confident that she could defeat Riser and that hopefully, she wouldn't need to call on Gohan to help her.

"Three of Lord Riser's Pawns have been retired" Grayfia voice echoed throughout the battlefield.

"Oh wow, was that... WOAH" Issei was suddenly pulled into an enclosure by none other than Kiba.

"KIBA!, are you okay? did you defeat those three pawns?" Issei queried the blonde, surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Yeah, thanks to Akeno's illusions, I was able to take them out easy. Now come on we need to go and get to Riser and the rest of them!" Kiba was desperate to get a shot at Riser after seeing what he had caused with Rias, he had seen all the times she was upset and after everything Rias had done for himself, he felt it was time to help her for once.

Just as Issei and Kiba were running through the track field, they both had to come to a sudden stop as a girl in armor had appeared in their way, "My name is Karlamine, I am a Knight of Lord Riser and you will not pass me!" Karlamine declared with confidence, she then drew her sword ready for battle as she eyed the two boys in front of her, waiting for one of them to attack.

"Issei, you keep going. I'll take care of this!" Kiba walked forward and drew his sword, "I am a Knight also, for Rias Gremory" Kiba drew his sword ready to take on another knight.

"Kiba, make me an opening and I'll sneak past" Issei eyed both knights ready for any openings he could find where he could either get through or get a quick hit on Karlamine but just as Issei was about to make his move he sensed more people coming out of from behind the trees.

"Damn it, I don't have time for this! Ddraig, think you can give me some power quickly?" Issei was starting to get frustrated so he just hoped his "partner" could help out this once.

"Partner, you're going to have to last for at least a minute to get the necessary power" Ddraig who had been watching the battle from inside the boosted gear was rather impressed, to say the least of his new host, he had been a weakling in his view a couple of weeks ago but ever since he had been doing this training with this Gohan boy, he had become a lot stronger.

"oh you're that devil who got blown away by my brothers weakest pawn" a giggling small blonde girl suddenly made herself known to Issei as Kiba was now in a fight with Karlamine.

"BOOST"..."I'm not the same as I was back then" Issei rushed at the girl which surprised her, "ISABELA!" the girl screamed scared of what was about to happen to her.

Issei had to put his guard up quickly as a powerful punch came out of nowhere from a girl wearing half a mask on her face, who he could only presume was this Isabela the other girl had shouted for. Damn, she must be a rook with that much power in her punches...

"BOOST...", "Partner, I would recommend dodging her for the meantime until you get the necessary power, oh another thing there's two more hiding in the bush behind you" Issei had to quickly dodge another set of twins that were throwing punches and kicks at him, unfortunately for the twins Issei had been fighting of clones of someone a lot stronger than these two and was accustomed to these types of fights. Just got to hold on a bit longer... "BOOST..."

"Is that all you're going to do?" Isabella sarcastically said, trying to rile Issei up into a senseless attack.

"Well, you can't fix what's not broken" Issei smirked, he knew he was nearly at the amount of power he would need to quickly eliminate the girls in front of him. "BOOST..." Just another twenty seconds...

"NI, LI, ISABELA TAKE HIM OUT NOW!" The small girl shouted again, Issei was confused as to why she wasn't fighting, he didn't get to think for very long as again he had to dodge all three girls incoming relentless attacks.

"BOOST..." Time to counter... Issei started to put his training with Gohan into action by blocking the next few kicks from the very agile twins, Issei did a quick roundhouse kick to one of the twins which sent her into the incoming one causing them to stumble back and fall but Isabela had managed to get in close to Issei and smashed him in the chin sending him crashing to the floor, however, "BOOST..." Just in time...

Issei quickly sprung back up "NOW DDRAIG DO IT" Issei lifted his gauntlet up ready to fire at his opponents, "EXPLOSION!" Issei felt the rush of power all throughout his body and then concentrated it into a single point in the palm of his hand, "TAKE THIS, DRAGON SHOT!" the beam ripped through the ground and hit its target which was the twins along with Isabela causing them to be retired as was suddenly confirmed by Grayfia's voice.

"Two of Lord Riser's Pawns and one Rook have been retired..."

"About time..." exhaustion had caught up with Issei finally as he fell to his knees breathing heavily, I can't stop now, we need to get Gohan in the game...

Sirzechs and the other high-class devils were all staring at Gohan as he was making the floor shake due to him exerting his power while watching the game in front of them all, Gohan had seen what happened to Koneko and was pissed, to say the least about that, but that now paled in comparison to what was just about to be announced by Grayfia which concerned Akeno and was going to turn the game in favour of chicken wings...

"Lady Rias's Queen has been retired..."

Riser's Queen had been overwhelmed by Akeno and was all but finished, however, Yubelluna had managed to get a few important hits in too but as Akeno was about to finish her off she used the phoenix tears all the peerage had been given by Riser's younger sister and fellow member, Ravel Phenex. With Akeno's guard lowered, Yubelluna had unleashed a barrage of very powerful and destructive bombs straight at the priestess of thunder which had caused her to end up being retired from the game.

Gohan was angry by the cowardice of Riser's Queen and was really starting to get angry for not being allowed in the game yet. Don't worry Akeno, Koneko I will get some payback for you...

"Ahh so you have finally come Rias, just give up your peerage cannot win and you will never beat me. I'm immortal, there is nothing you can do" Riser was now stood across from Rias and laughing loudly which was infuriating to Rias's ears.

Akeno... "I'll never give up, I still have Issei and Kiba..." Rias was sad about her best friend being beaten but just had to believe they could still win. If we can get rid Ravel then Gohan will be allowed in...

"Issei, don't give up you can still go on, remember your training!" Rias shouted to her Pawn.

I won't give up!... "Please Ddraig, connect with my emotions and give me MORE POWER!" Issei bellowed out hoping for the red dragon's power.

"DRAGON BOOSTER...SECOND LIBERATION!"

Everyone turned to look at Issei and the green light that was blinding everyone. "WOAH, it changed again" Issei was happy that he had unlocked his new found power but knew he had to do something quick.

"Kiba, use your sword birth quickly!" Kiba made some distance from Karlamine then planted his sword into the ground, "SWORD BIRTH" the ground started to shake violently as hundreds of swords came out of the ground.

Issei then punched the ground as the swords made their way towards him, "TRANSFER..." all the swords were absorbed into Issei's gauntlet and then let loose again but this time there were, even more, sprouting from the ground which had quickly impaled Karlamine and Ravel but narrowly missing the main target, being Yubelluna.

"Lord Riser's Knight and Bishop retire."

Unfortunately for Issei though, the exhaustion, magic power depletion and injuries from previous fights had finally caught up to him, Issei fell to the floor unconscious.

"ISSEI!" Asia had seen Issei collapse and was worried for her friend, Issei was then engulfed by a light and disappeared.

"Lady Rias's Pawn has been retired due to being unable to partake in the game anymore" Grayfia announced somewhat reluctantly as it was a sad way to go out of a game but she had to be professional and not be biased towards her Sister-in-Law.

"PUHAHAHAHA, YOU'RE FINISHED RIAS NOW BE MINE!" Riser laughed maniacally as Rias just stared at the spot where Issei once was.

"Yubelluna, finish her knight off" Riser ordered coldly still chuckling to himself.

Kiba was not concentrating and didn't see the attack that was about to come behind him until...

"KIBA LOOK OUT!" Rias screamed to her last fighting piece as if time suddenly slowed down, Kiba turned to look at who was attacking him, however...

A bright yellow beam flew over Kiba's head which hit Yubelluna before she could launch her attack causing her to now have a hole in her stomach, resulting in her being kicked from the game leaving Riser to deal with Kiba, Asia, Rias and...

"Oi chicken, remember me..."

Rias, Asia, and Kiba had a look of pure happiness on their faces as they realized just who had finally arrived.

"Lord Riser's Queen has been retired" Grayfia announced.

"I was waiting for you boy, now I can kill you for making me a laughing stock!" Riser quickly flew at Gohan who was just simply hovering with his arms folded and a smirk on his face.

"Rias, leave the rest to me. You guys take a rest, you deserve it..." Gohan smiled at them all to reassure them which he had already done by defeating Yubelluna with ease.

Riser was just throwing punches and kicks at Gohan but Gohan was just dodging the very slow attacks. "Is that all you got chicken wings...?" Gohan asked bored by what he was facing, it just really didn't make his Saiyan blood boil for a fight.

"STAY STILL YOU LITTLE RUNT!", SMACK... Just as Riser had finished his taunt, Gohan had planted his right fist straight into Riser's jaw which everyone could now see had broken Riser's jaw but thanks to his healing abilities it was quickly fixed.

"Riser, I'm going to show you just how insignificant you truly are and how weak you are compared to me..." with that for the next five minutes Riser's life was made a living hell as Gohan smacked him around causing all sorts of injuries to him but due to his immortality factor the beat down from Gohan never seemed to end.

"Pleaseee...stop..." Riser pleaded while laying in a puddle of what seemed to be his own blood and well piss. Gohan had well and truly broken the man's will, "After what you put Rias through... well I'm going to show you something that will make you ever think twice about hurting any of my friends and especially Rias!" Gohan wanted to do this to make the higher class devils think twice about trying to work their way into marrying Rias or making an enemy of her too.

Rias, Asia, and Kiba watched on as they knew what Gohan was about to do after seeing it a few times inside his training room. Thank you, Gohan. You've truly worked your way into my heart...

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Gohan had powered up into Super Saiyan 2 straight away causing Riser to literally quiver at the sight of the young boy. Riser had got a glimpse of those teal eyes staring at him in their first meeting and he knew then that something was not quite right, however, Riser didn't know it would be something quite like this, "PLEASE DON'T HURT ME...I FORFEIT!" Riser was now bawling, too scared to move due to Gohan's power literally smothering him and suffocating him.

"Never go near Rias or any of my friends again!" Gohan felt he had made his point to Riser and all those watching clear.

"Lord Riser has forfeited the match, so Lady Rias Gremory wins!" Grayfia announced to all those involved and watching on, inwardly Grayfia was very happy with the result.

Gohan then powered back down to his normal state and walked back towards Rias with a smile on his face. "Rias, it's over" Gohan softly said to the crimson princess, Gohan was then suddenly embraced by Rias as she gripped him tightly as if she never wanted to let go, however all of her pent up feelings released from her inner emotions and just streamed out of her. Rias was now crying into Gohan's chest but they weren't sad tears, they were happy and relief tears as she had finally been set free of the marriage that had plagued her for so long.

"Thannnkk...yooouu...Gohan" Rias cried out in between sniffles. Gohan just gently stroked her lovely smooth hair to make her feel better. "It's over now Rias, you're free..."

Those words hit Rias like a ton of bricks as she was so happy to hear them... Kiba and Asia watched on at the pair and smiled knowing everything could now go back to normal... or could it...