Akame Ga Kill - Split The Earth In Two, Quake

Chapter Ten: The Escape

Wave and Tatsumi both stand firm, staring each other down, with Wave completely oblivious to the fact that Minazuki is hidden right below the earth. Tatsumi quickly tries to make a break for it by jumping away, but Wave manages to intercept his escape and block off any attempt he makes at running away without a fight. "This is gonna be bad if Esdeath shows up! We have to deal with this fast!", Tatsumi thinks to himself as Wave continues to block his path. "I won't let you escape, Night Raider! Man up and fight me!!!", Wave shouts as he leaps toward Tatsumi with a devastating kick. Tatsumi dodges while shouting, "I have no reason to fight you! Leave!" "You might not have a reason to fight me, but I have a reason to fight you!", Wave shouts back as he punches Tatsumi as hard as he can into the mountain side. As the stone cracks from the impact, Wave shouts, "And that reason is Night Raid!!!" Wave jumps back, as Tatsumi slides down to his knees, and Wave says, "I've read the data on you guys. Over and over you indiscriminately carry out your assassinations. You're villains that are slowly eating away at the peace and security of the Capital. To make matters worse, the story is you're somehow connected to the Revolutionary Army as well. Your very existence can not be forgiven!" Rage fills Tatsumi's soul as he rises to his feet and shouts, "You're wrong! It's true that we do kill people, but...We...Night Raid.. We are nothing like villains!!!" His burning rage fills Incursio and power starts to swell withing the armor itself, fixing the dings and cuts Wave had just inflicted on it. Suddenly, Bulat's voice rings in Tatsumi's mind, saying, "You won't survive if you just let your boiling blood control your actions. Always keep a cool head in dangerous times." "He was right. No matter what, I need to keep my cool in times like these. Make a plan, and get out. That's my goal right now.", Tatsumi thinks to himself as he looks for a way out of this mess. Minazuki sighs and thinks to himself, "I guess I better start helping out. Things would probably go much more smoothly if this guy never saw my mask." Tatsumi goes to leap away and as Wave goes to follow after him, he finds his foot trapped in what appears to be quick sand. "Quick sand!?! In the mountains!?! That isn't right!!!", Wave shouts as he tries to pull himself out, but the sand seems much stronger, as if it has a mind of its own. Suddenly, the mouth of a danger beast forms in the sand and Wave thinks, "Crap, this isn't quick sand, it's much worse!!!" He quickly punches the sand mouth while shouting, "I'm not dying just yet! I have a job to do, and that's to get that Night Raider!!!" The power of that punch frees him of the sand trap, which Minazuki was ultimately responsible for, and shoots him into the sky. "Now, where did he go?", Wave asks himself before he sees the Incursio suit running away. "There you are! I'll end this here and now!!!", Wave shouts as he starts to divebomb Tatsumi. When he gets close enough, Wave shifts his position to a divekick while shouting, "Grand Fall!!!" As Tatsumi sees the attack coming, he tries to block with his arms, but the sheer impact from the kick, even though he was blocking, sends him hurling into the nearby river. "Excellent! Right on point! I kicked him into the river though. I can't see where he went.", Wave comments as he sees the end result of his attack. As the waves in the water calm down, he sees no sign of the Incursio armor and shouts, "What!? He's gone!?! Where'd he run off to!?!?" He looks at the river and follows the current with his eyes before shouting, "The current! He's using the current to escape undetected! That's a cleaver trick, Night Raider, but it won't fool a man of the sea!!!" He quickly follows the current down stream, leaving the battleground behind. A hole opens up in the earth and out pops Minazuki, with Tatsumi in his arms. "That was close, huh Minazuki?", Tatsumi says with a slight chuckle. "Yeah, good thing he wasn't aware of my presence underground. Or he would've at least suspected that you were hiding with me after he blew you straight through the river.", Minazuki replies as he recalls how he pulled Tatsumi out of the river into an underground tunnel he made. "It might've been a bad idea to not fight back.", Tatsumi says as Incursio releases and he coughs up a bit of blood. "Wave, and Grand Chariot, they're a real force to be avoided then. Tatsumi had the Incursio armor on and that kick still did this much damage to him.", Minazuki thinks as Tatsumi lays in his arms, too weak to move. Minazuki suddenly senses something leap out of the bushes toward them. "I was so focused on Tatsumi's critical condition, I didn't even notice them! Who co-", he begins to think to himself as he turns and is tackled to the ground. He can't see a thing and feels warmth wrapped around most of his body before he hears a familiar voice shout, "You idiot, what did you think you were doing!? Infiltrating the palace like that!?!" There's suddenly light and he sees it's Leone, who was actually holding him so tight that she could've suffocated him with her breasts. "Leone? What are y-", Minazuki begins to ask before she cuts him off by saying, "We need to get moving! The Jaegers are bound to come back here, right Akame?" Minazuki looks over to see Akame has just eliminated a danger beast that was getting slightly too close to them before she says, "Yes, but first we need to tend to Tatsumi's wounds. He's hurt badly." "Leone? Akame? Why are you two here?", Tatsumi asks weakly as he slowly turns his head to look at them. "We've all been going out and keeping watch for you guys after Leone told us Minazuki was going to infiltrate the palace. We were stalking the North entrance when we saw you guys going on your hunting trip. We were tailing you in secret.", Akame explains. "We lost you for a moment there, but we just now caught up. I'm surprised you didn't just kill him, Minazuki. That blue armored guy.", Leone says with a slightly confused look. "He wasn't aware that there was more than one Night Raid member here at the time. If I did, he would have surely went for reinforcements. That'd mean we'd be forced to tangle with Esdeath, and I don't think either of us wanted that.", Minazuki replies. Tatsumi chuckles to himself and says, "So you were just worried about me, huh? All of you were. Sorry, guys. You were all forced to come rescue me again, huh?" Akame walks over to him and strikes him right on the top of his head with a karate chop. "It's alright, Tatsumi. We'll always come to your aid. That's what friends are for, right?", Akame says to him, in a kinder tone than her usual self. Tatsumi lets out a light chuckle before grasping at his ribs in pain. "Thank you guys, for coming to save me.", Tatsumi says, causing them all to smile. Akame takes Tatsumi's shoulder over her right one and says, "Let's go home, Tatsumi." She then turns to Tatsumi with a smile and says, "And welcome back." Tatsumi smile and replies with, "It's good to be back." Lubbock suddenly jumps out of the bushes, ruining the moment, while saying, "HELLO~~" He grabs of Akame and Leone's shoulders, pulling them along with Tatsumi and Minazuki, who were being held up by the girls. Lubbock looks back at them and shouts, "We don't have time for this right now! We need to get as far away from Esdeath as humanly possible! Come on! Let's go!" "Calm down Lub! We'll be fine. We just need to be a bit careful for the moment, just relax.", Leone says to him with a swift blow to the back, that was supposed to be a pat, but instead it sent him toppling over. "You came too, Lub? Thanks.", Tatsumi says with a slight smile. "Well, at first I advised them that this was just stupid. You two both walked right into the lion's den. There was like zero chance of getting either one of you back alive. And, you know, with both of you guys gone, I'd be the only guy left in the house. It'd be like my own harem. You know how long I've dreamed about having my own harem, Tatsumi!", Lubbock replies with a grin on his face. "Thanks for having so much faith in us Lub.", Tatsumi says sarcastically. "He might say that, but the truth is he was worried sick about both of you guys, right Lub?", Leone says mockingly. "S-shut up!", Lubbock says defensively. "We missed you too, Lubbock.", Minazuki says with a slight smile under his mask. "Night Raid, I knew this is where my home really is and where I truly belong.", Tatsumi thinks to himself as they continue to head back to the base.