Voltiana

Inside Raijin Arena…

Plumes of flame shot out and the crowd cheered on as Ionix and Venire continued their battle against Squad S-2.

"THUNDER!"

BOOM.

Hikari dived out of the way as a powerful lightning attack headed straight for her.

"AHHH!"

Ionix watched her with an unimpressed look. "You can't run all day in a battle, you know?"

He fired a lightning bolt at her, which grazed her shoulder. Hikari used her magic to store a few weapons that lay on the ground, before opening a portal above Ionix's head.

"Take this!"

Ionix barely looked up as a hailstorm of weapons descended toward him.

"Pfff. What weak magic."

BOOM.

With a powerful wave of electricity coming off of him, each weapon was quickly vaporized. Ionix turned back to Hikari.

"So all you do is heal. They should have left you in the city. What a shame."

He prepared to attack again, slashing his hand across the air and sending a sharp bolt of lightning at Hikari.

"Damn it, that's too fast for me to dodge—-!" she thought.

But Himeka quickly jumped in front of the lightning bolt, using her boomerang to block the attack, which left her stumbling before she regained her footing.

"Sister!" Hikari exclaimed.

"Hikari…" Himeka said, smiling at her. "Don't listen to him! Your power is amazing! Use it well!"

Before Hikari could respond, Ionix zipped right in between them.

"Lies. Let's bring you both back to reality."

He slammed his hand on the ground, causing a powerful explosion of electricity that knocked both Hikari and Himeka away from each other.

"Now then…"

Ionix turned his head toward Dachii, who was getting to his feet.

"This guy…" Dachii thought to himself. "What do I do? If this keeps up, he and his friend will kill us all!"

"EYES FORWARD."

In the blink of an eye, Ionix rushed up and punched Dachii into the wall.

"Ugh…" Dachii moaned.

"You can't even beat me," Ionix remarked. "A lesser-ranked member. What will you do if the Elites show up? How will you activate your power if you can't even FIGHT?"

"I don't want to fight!" Dachii shot back. "The only reason I'm here is because you took my BROTHER!"

Dachii tried to punch him, but Ionix easily caught his fist.

"And that's your problem. You lack any ambition. You have a world of strength, a world of secrets, a world of ABILITY right in your hands that can save the world! And all you chase is petty dreams. Pathetic."

He slammed Dachii into the ground before kicking him to the other side of the arena. "No matter. That's why I'M here."

Hikari pulled herself up, watching Dachii fly across the arena. "No…I need to help…!"

Himeka used her magic to create three boomerangs, and she threw them at Ionix one by one, but he zapped them out of the air.

"You're all supposed to be his guardians," Ionix noted. "But yet, you're all just self-serving beings filled with drama and discord."

Himeka looked at him with a puzzled look. "Hmm? What do you mean?"

She grabbed one of her boomerangs off the ground, showing off a cheerful smile.

"In this Squad, we're all really happy! So we'll make sure Dachii is happy too, and find his brother!"

Ionix looked around the arena, noticing the downed soldiers near Venire and the others cornered by Zharians. "You call THIS happy?"

Himeka winked at him. "Not yet! But once we beat you guys, we will be!"

"Right…" Ionix replied, annoyance and confusion on his face.

Without a second thought, he aimed an electric-charged punch at Himeka's face, and she tried to block it with her boomerang.

BOOM.

The impact caused her boomerang to break in two, and sent her rolling on the ground as the crowd cheered.

"Venire, kill them all," Ionix stated, his voice cold.

"Of course," she replied, sending a giant green cloud from her body, which enveloped more soldiers and sent them coughing and sprawling on the ground.

As soon as the cloud got close to Tsugumi, Kazue, and Tetsuya, Kanai quickly tackled them all out of the way.

"Watch out for her attacks, guys!" Kanai shouted. "I think she has a Poison Element!"

"Then what do we do?" Tetsuya asked. "She's surrounded in the stuff!"

Tsugumi touched her neck. "Let's just hit her hard and fast. We've got to breathe it in for it to work on us, right? So let's just move before we inhale."

"Tsugumi, wait—-!" Kanai started to say, but Tsugumi had already charged toward Venire.

"Aww, Tsugumi," Venire remarked, a sly smile on her face. "I'm a big fan, you know? Even with your weak body, still so strong and determined? That's an amazing feat!"

Then her face switched to a serious demeanor. "But you shouldn't have hopped in this fight."

With a swipe of her arm, a stream of concentrated green gas hit Tsugumi right in her

face, making her collapse and drop to the ground, coughing.

"Tsugumi!" Tetsuya exclaimed, rushing to her side, with Kanai and Kazue right behind him.

"How is she?" Kanai asked.

"Her face is turning pale!" Tetsuya answered. "And her nose, blood is coming out!"

"We need to get her to Hikari!" Kazue said. "Quickly!"

Kanai looked for Hikari, noticing her on the opposite side of them, where Ionix was busy pacing around.

"She's too far! He'll kill us if we get too close!"

"Then let's bring her over here while he's distracted!" Tetsuya suggested, waving his arms in the air. "We need to get her attention!"

Kazue and Kanai began to do the same thing, and Hikari noticed it from the corner of her eye. "Huh?"

And then she noticed Tsugumi coughing on the ground.

"Oh no…Tsugumi!"

But before she had time to think, she saw Dachii painfully hit the ground next to her, and Ionix walking right toward her.

"Not even a challenge. And you proclaim yourselves in the strongest squad of your nation?"

He effortlessly batted Hikari out of the way as he picked up Dachii, whose face was bleeding.

"They've failed you, Dachii. And now, it's time for you to come with me."

His eyes began to glow, and a giant portal started to open below his feet, prompting Himeka to realize what was happening.

"Hey! Guys, he's trying to escape with Dachii!"

As everyone turned their heads, Hikari tried to claw her way after them, but the more she moved, the more tired she felt.

"I can't…I'm…not made for this…"

And she started to black out.

5 years ago…

"So, what's your new power? Come on, Sis! Tell me! I'm dying to know!"

Inside their home, Himeka was busy shaking Hikari back and forth. "Can you shoot fire? Can you turn into water? Ooh, can you FLY?"

Hikari held out her hand, and a pink glow began to surround it. "Well, not exactly, but my power allows me to touch things, and they heal!

"Wow!" Himeka exclaimed. "Can you heal ANYTHING?"

"I can try…" Hikari answered. "I can use it on Dad's door! Maybe that will work!"

"Okay!"

The girls walked through their house until they reached a cracked door at the end. Himeka twisted the door, and she managed to open it after struggling for a bit.

"He's not here…perfect!"

She stepped out of the room and watched as Hikari placed on hand on the door, attempting to send her magic through it. And then…

…nothing happened.

"What?" Hikari blurted out, shocked. "But I was able to heal that plant and Mr. Fujii's cat earlier!"

Himeka tapped her chin. "Maybe your Element only works on living things! Yeah, like a doctor!"

Hikari groaned. "But how can I fight if all I can do is heal injuries? Mr. Fujii won't want me in his Squad now!"

Himeka gave her a pat on the head. "I'm sure he'll let you in! Mr. Fujii is nice! In fact, he's offered to recruit me into his squad as well! I'll put in a good word for you!"

Hikari brightened up. "Really?"

"Of course! In the meantime, how about you keep working on your powers?"

Hikari nodded. "I will!"

2 years later…

"Hah! Die! Take this!"

Hikari was busy in her backyard, using a robotic dummy to train her abilities. She practiced punching, kicking, and dodging.

"Phew, that should be good."

As she sat down to take a breather, she heard the sounds of fighting from the front of her house, and when she went to the front yard, she found her sister fighting against multiple soldiers at once, a giant boomerang in her hands.

"Get her!"

"Hahaha!"

With ease, she evaded the blasts from their rifles and threw her boomerang at them, hitting each one in the head before it returned to her. Once it did, she used it to fend off attacks from the soldiers wielding blades before effortlessly dropping them to the ground.

"Keep it coming!"

A massive soldier wearing a robe stalked his way toward her, and she slammed her boomerangs together, causing them to fuse into a gargantuan one that even made the soldier pause.

"Impossible..."

She batted him away, sending him barreling down the street. Once she was done, she saw Hikari approaching her.

"Himeka! What's going on?"

Himeka set down the boomerang, using her magic to revert it to normal. "Hikari! What's up?"

"Are you okay? I heard fighting!"

When Himeka went to respond, she heard a loud clap from behind her.

"Nice! That magic is some seriously COOL stuff! Not even my Absorption Magic was ready for it!"

Both of the girls turned around, and they saw the soldier with the robe on. The man walked up to Himeka and gave her a hard pat on the back, before sizing up Hikari.

"Who's this?"

Himeka looked in between the pair, extending her arms. "Hikari, this is Kumagai! He's the S-5 General! And Kumagai, this is my little sister, Hikari!"

The man knelt down, looking Hikari right in the eyes. "Does she know how to fight?"

"Work in progress!"

Kumagai grunted before breaking into a laugh. "Well, when you do, come find me! You've already got a solid role model in Himeka here! Can't believe she's already a General at only 16 years of age!"

Hikari's eyes widened. "Wait…what?"

"Yep!" Himeka said. "The previous S-2 and S-7 Generals were killed by some monsters, so they needed to find new replacements! They've picked me for the S-2 spot, and I think some other girl got the S-7 position! What was her name…Naito?"

Hikari just stood there, speechless. "You're…a General?"

"Damn right she is," Kumagai remarked. "Her talent and skill are off the charts for her age! I LOVE IT!"

"Wow…" Hikari muttered. "Amazing…"

"Don't worry, Sis! I haven't forgotten our promise yet!"

She wrapped her arm around Hikari. "I'll make sure I get you into a Squad too, don't you fret!"

Hikari couldn't help but blush, but she still noticed the gap between her and her sister, even with her Elemental Power.

"Can I…ever be strong…?"

Earlier this month…

Hikari anxiously paced back and forth in front of Dachii, who was sitting on the couch and watching TV.

"What do I do? At this rate, I'll be the weakest member in the Squad!"

"Why are you asking me?" Dachii questioned. "I'm no powerhouse either!"

"Because your power is at least useful for combat! How do you summon your gauntlets? Do you think of something beforehand? Do you use a certain pattern of motions? Help me out here!"

"Umm," Dachii thought for a moment. "When I want to use them, they just…appear? Like how I move my hand when I want or I walk forward. It's just natural, I guess."

"Anything else? What about your battle with those Zharians on Umego?"

"Well, that wasn't all me—-"

Hikari collapsed to the floor. "Ugh, by this rate, I'll be a liability to the team! Even Saori is improving better than I am!"

Dachii watched her roll back and forth on the ground before sighing. "Why don't you just try to maximize what you're good at? I mean your power is called Health, right? So shouldn't it be able to do a bunch of things related to 'Health?'"

Hikari looked up at the sky. "I've already tried. I can temporarily cause negative effects in a person, but nothing major. It's mainly just for healing injuries."

"That's dumb. They should have just called the power 'Healing,' then."

Hikari rolled over to look at him. "What do you think I should do? I mean, to at least be somewhere close to Akari?"

Dachii shrugged. "I don't know. But every girl I've met so far is like, super-powerful. So I'm sure you're probably one of them."

She opened her mouth to respond, but he was already back to watching the TV, which was playing a car movie. "You wanna join me?"

"Umm, I'll just head in my room. Thanks!"

She plopped back down in her bed, deep in thought. "Health, HEALTH…is it really possible?"

Present Day…

As Ionix prepared to enter the portal, Hikari pushed herself up.

"I…can't let him…take…my friend…"

As the crowd cheered, as battles sounded around her, and as Ionix's laughter echoed through the air, her body seemed to grow light, and her eyes began to glow.

"I'm…not…a damsel…I REFUSE!"

At the last second, Dachii turned his eyes toward her, and in the next second, a wave of pink energy burst out of her, hitting every part of the arena.

BOOM.

Every Zharian screamed as the energy hit them, and as soon as it hit Tsugumi, her eyes immediately opened and she stopped coughing.

"I'm…okay?"

The pink energy rose into the air like a missile, and it exploded over the entire arena, coating everyone inside.

"Hikari…" Dachii said, blankly watching.

When it all cleared up, Hikari collapsed to her knees, and she saw Ionix staring at her, completely baffled and forced to his knees as well.

"What the hell did you do?"

Hikari looked at her hands, which were completely pink. "I…I don't know…"

Ionix slowly stood up, his eyes blazing. "No matter. We'll end it here."

He prepared to fire a gigantic lightning bolt at her, right at her chest. But just as he did, a blast of WHITE energy erupted from the portal beneath him.

"It can't be…"

The energy touched down in the center of the arena, causing awe and bewilderment from the crowd and even Squad S-2. And when the energy dissipated…

"Well, I'll be damned. She actually did something."

A person stepped out from the energy, and Hikari immediately recognized it as Aoki, with her face and blade fully repaired. And right behind her…

"Great work, Hikari! I knew you could do it!"

The energy retracted back into Akari's body, and the entire crowd cheered as the two girls fully emerged. Aoki pointed her blade right at Ionix, who stared back.

"Now, let's finish where we started, shall we?"

Akari nodded.

"It's time to win."

And at the same time, they both charged at him.

—-