K-ON!: Shattered Dreams

Chapter 24: The Kids Aren't Alright

Amongst the 7 of them present in the room, she was the one who stood tallest as she made her way down from where she was standing. She had just interrupted the band's attempt at defeating Akiyama, the very woman who tormented them for a good long time.

"Congratulations, you beat Akiyama. I don't know whether I should applaud or sigh... applaud all your efforts in taking her down, or sigh at the failure about to be destroyed." Sawako said, just placing a hand on her forehead. The rest of the girls, however, could just glare at her. "What are you looking at me for?"

"Well, for starters... this little ingrate kept blabbering about Number I... and now it all makes sense. You want Yui's guitar to make yourself all powerful again!" Ritsu said, which only brought a chuckle out of Sawako.

"Oh, Tainaka Ritsu DOES have a brain after all. I think that deserves a round of applause on its own."

"Why you!" Ritsu charged at Sawako, attempting to slash her. The teacher, however, blocked her off by grabbing her using some sort of force, and immediately pushing her off into the wall. Immediately after that, Sawako fired a massive laser at Ritsu, who had no way to avoid it. "AAAGH!"

"Ritsu!" Mio shouted, but Sawako wasn't going to allow her to aid her friend, firing a laser in front of where she was going to run. "T-tch! Annoying..."

"Now what am I going to do with the lot of you? You're all just going to be a hindrance to my plans anyway." Sawako said as she glared at Yui mostly.

"And your plans involve me in some way, don't they, Sawako?" Yui responded.

"Well, I wouldn't say they involve you... well, they partially involve you, Yui. Believe me. It has you written all over it."

"You think we're going to just let you have her, Sawako?" Azusa, holding her naginata pointed at her. Tsumugi rightly followed, getting ready to fight.

"We won't allow you to do as you please, seeing as you're the one behind all this." Mio was about ready to fight at the drop of a hat.

"How cute... all 3 of you protecting her like that. Fine!" She started to levitate, two white orbs circling around her. "Let's see if the four of you have the resolve to defeat me."

"Trust me, Sawako." Tsumugi said, tightening her gloves. "We've got MORE than just that." Without any further warning, Tsumugi punched the ground, creating a huge wall of earth and sent it flying into her. Sawako had no time to react to that and just barely managed to destroy it.

The distraction was enough for Mio to jump up high into the air, soar through it and bring her sword down on Sawako. The teacher anticipated this and managed to block it with a shield of light, immediately shoving her off soon after. However, she didn't detect the super-quick Azusa, who managed to get behind her. She tried to strike her down, but despite not being able to detect her, she could sense the immediate danger behind her. Sawako pointed right at her and blew her away by shooting the ground, sending her flying into the wall. Yui and Tsumugi both attempted to attack her at the same time. Running at breakneck speeds, both of them came scurrying from opposite ends, reeling their fists back to strike her from both sides.

"You're not going to get me that easily. You're both too weak for me!" In a quick move, Sawako managed to get right behind them, pulling them back as hard as possible and sending them both crashing into the wall where Azusa crashed into.

"Aagh! Ugh... we can't even touch her at this rate." Tsumugi assessed, and after all they tried to do to take her down, she wasn't far off the mark.

"Look, you're all making this harder for me than I thought." Sawako said, placing a hand on her hip. "Here's how this goes. You give me Yui, I kill her, I get what I want, and you'll all... pretty much die after that. I'm happy and you'll all be dead."

Without warning, Sawako's face was immediately nicked by a water bullet, thanks to the ever present Mio. "We'll all be happy when YOU'RE dead, Sawako." Mio said, her hatred pretty much stamped further as she shot a whole salvo of water bullets at her, forcing her to dodge them.

"...So, Mio, I guess you're a brave little girl now. I'll be sure to add that to your gravestone!" Sawako yelled, prompting Mio to charge right for her and swing for the fences with her katana. Sawako used light shields to block her slashes, but Mio wouldn't let up at all. She created a water blade as a 2nd weapon and attempted an underhanded slash to throw her off. Sawako, not being able to see this, gets nicked in the face again. "Kh!" She groaned, backing off and firing off a laser at Mio to make sure she doesn't pursue her.

"Tch... I know now. You talked me into that stupid plan with false promises of cutting me a deal. Your plan backfired when Yui ended up the first to run, so you made me get Ritsu arrested. Then you make THAT thing and keep me in another realm!" Mio shouted, pointing at Akiyama. "But guess what? This is payback, Sawako!" Mio immediately went back to lashing out at her teacher, forcing her to be on the defensive. Sawako was slightly surprised by the fact that Mio showed no fear. However surprised she was, she was hardly impressed, as she blocked a wayward strike with her light shield before grabbing her by the hair and, with her strength, tossing her directly back first into the wall.

This prompted Tsumugi to run and catch her before she does hit the wall, which she manages to. "Gotcha!" She said as she caught her in her arms, setting her down on the floor.

"Thanks, Mugi... WATCH OUT!" Mio yelled. Sawako attempted to kill two birds with one stone by shooting a laser at both of them as she was priming for one.

"Oh no you don't!" As soon as Sawako let fly with that laser, Tsumugi jumped in front, spread her arms and yelled, "BARRIER!" In almost an instant, the keyboardist created a barrier large enough to cover both her and Mio. This only served as yet another obstacle for Sawako.

"Heh... nice. I wonder how long you'll be able to hold out though. Let's put that to the test!" She said. Following that, she launched a whole barrage of lasers. Tsumugi did her best to keep the barrier up long enough, struggling, but still hanging on.

"G-gh... y-you're not... beating me!" She kept her barrier up, but barely... with just enough time for Ritsu to intervene.

"GOTCHA, SAWAKO!" The drummer managed to shake off the effects of that last attack to get up and charge at her again, her Sais blazing. But her charge was... just as quickly stopped as Sawako quickly turned and kicked Ritsu hard into the wall next to Azusa. "AAH!" She only watched as her senior slid down the wall.

"Ritsu-senpai, I'm disappointed. You keep getting blown back so easily."

"Shut it, Azusa." Ritsu got right back up again to fire a huge flurry of fireballs. Sawako blocked it with her Light shield. The shots, however, were enough to distract her long enough for Yui to get up from behind her and punch the living the daylights out of her. The impact sent Sawako skidding across the ground. Yui wasn't about to rest on that and stayed in her fighting stance in case her teacher ever got up.

"H-hehehehe... that... hurt like Hell, Yui." To the band's horror, she got up in a zombie-like fashion. She's relatively hurt, but she's doing a great job of not showing it. "Still... I see you're getting stronger, the way you punched me." She then looked around the room to see that the rest of the band just about ready to pounce on her. All she did was just grin. "But you know what? Before we even begin, let's get rid of some collateral." Yui's eyes did not look away from Sawako.

"I'm not gonna move, Sawako. You want me, you come get me." Yui readied herself for what Sawako had in store. Sure enough, Sawako went straight for her, prompting the others to start their assault as well. Mio and Ritsu shot their ice needles and fireballs respectively at her, but Sawako was too fast for them. Tsumugi was up and punched an ice wall straight into her in an attempt to slow her down. That didn't matter as a less than sane Sawako bashed right through it, grabbing Tsumugi and smashing her right into the ground, really hard at that.

Azusa quickly took this opportunity to attack next, seeing as Sawako had her back turned to her. Azusa struck down hard on Sawako, but she managed to telegraph that by grabbing her naginata and flinging her right into the wall. She then turned her attention to the two people blasting her with attacks from afar. The moment they saw her charging towards them, Mio and Ritsu quickly got out of the way before Sawako could smash through their ice cover. Ritsu went up head-to-head with her, brandishing her Sais and was surprisingly nearly even with her. But even she knew that was a mistake when a single punch blew her back once more.

The only two left standing now were Yui and Mio. Sawako's eyes were looking straight at her main target, Yui, but Mio's approach diverted that attention to the water-user, who slashed mercilessly at her teacher. After all that's happened to her, it's no wonder she has this much pent up rage. However, Mio's anger turned out to be her downfall, as one missed slash allowed Sawako to capitalize, kicking her right in the stomach before grabbing her and tossing her face first into the ice wall.

Now, nothing could stop her from reaching her goal; the ever-present Yui Hirasawa. All she did was stand there, looking around at the carnage that was dealt to her friends. Sawako did the same thing, but only to be impressed at herself and to count the bodies.

"Yamanaka Sawako... 1, 2, 3, 4. Sawako 4, Team Hokagou Tea Time 0... but the crowd goes wild as she looks to go for the jugular, folks! All that's left is that meddling good-for-nothing guitarist, Yui Hirasawa!" She said, in a commentary-type voice. Though Yui knew Sawako was trying to make a mockery out of the team's demise, she wasn't about to be intimidated.

"You just love to make fun out of everything, don't you, Sawako?" Yui said, placing one hand on her hip.

"Yeah, just about anything I can, really, Yui. Kinda like that one time I made fun of Mio's figure when I tried to undress her and put her in a Santa costume." Sawako joked about. Yui wasn't going to have any of it though.

"You sick freak. Well, then again, this is you we're talking about, and you've been like that since your rock days." She went back into her battle stance, battle fans at the ready once again.

"Hmph... Rushing to your death, Yui?"

"No, Sawako. I'm just going to end it all right here and now!" Yui yelled out, getting ready to pounce. As she tried to charge at her, however, she felt as if she couldn't even move her feet. She looked down to find that her feet have been encased in ice! "What the...!"

"Do me a favor, Yui, and sit still while I beat the living crap out of her." Yui could only watch as the still-alive Akiyama walked right past her and toward Sawako.

"Oh, I almost forgot about you, you pathetic ingrate." Sawako just glared her former protégé down, and all she did was grab her blade and point it at Sawako.

"I am going to beat you so lifeless you'd be begging for God himself to take you away." Both Sawako and Akiyama were at the ready.

The fight was on.