The Invasion

A Break and Discoveries

After said hard battle the school sent him (the sole survivor) to an onsen, despite his best protests he was forced to go. In a way it wasn't so bad, he got he meet up with the team again since they were sent as well. They caught up about all the things that had happened since he left, they were glad he was enjoying a normal school life. He was interested to hear about this one time where they were out on a mission and Joker took the opportunity to get back at Acid by triggering an explosion under him that blasted him sky high. That was supposedly for the time she 'accidentally' released some gas during the mission and didn't tell him, which ended up with him puking his brains out for the next 2 days.

In turn he told them about the time where Kasumi had pranked Shiro with some invisible thing on his seat that made it look like he had wet his pants in class, this was apparently for the time that Shiro had spread some rumor about her. He hadn't heard the rumor so he didn't know how bad it was.

"Oh, man. Looking like you peed your pants in the middle of class is never good" Joker laughed while everyone agreed.
"I could say the same about you guys though, Joker you blasted her sky high. That must've scared the crap outta everyone." He replied
"Very true, the rest of us thought we were under attack" Mist added
"I just wish I could've seen the beating you guys gave him" Seiji laughed

After that they proceeded to play cards, in which acid tried to use some gas to cheat but was quickly given a beating by Seiji while the others cringed and agreed on one thing "never get on his bad side". The rounds ended with Seiji winning and Acid broke.
After some light sparring in the gym they went to the actual onsen. They spent a good 5 minutes arguing which group would have him like he was a prize to be won. Which kind of annoyed him but at the same time gave him some joy, seeing that he was loved and cared for by these people.

Eventually they asked the staff and since he was 16 they said he couldn't be taken in with the girls, which upset them a bit but they kept their cool and went to wash up before going to their side of the onsen. Then the rest of the guys did the same and went to theirs.

"Ah, this feels so nice. It's been a while since I've been to a hot spring!" Berserk sighed as he stepped in.
"Yeah I know right, I think it's been a year or so. I'm glad they sent us here." Flash reminisced
"In any case we should enjoy it while it lasts, cause in 2 days we are going back to fighting those things" Joker chimed in
"Just don't start talking about them and I won't pummel you guys." Seiji said threateningly, not wanting to discuss the topic.

Then Joker, being the pervert that he is tried to look into the women's side. For anyone else this would be impossible because of the 50 foot wall but they were all military with superpowers. He made use of some rocks and jumped up, latching his hands to the top, when he pulled himself up he was met with a swift kick by Mist, who Seiji had contacted when he saw what Joker was trying to do.

"Joker, do you want to get beat up? In fact you should've just asked for one." Seiji said menacingly as a dark aura surrounded him and everyone backed away, it then suddenly dissipated as he sat down.

"We are here on vacation, so stop trying to break the peace or next time you won't like what I do." He said before closing his eyes and enjoying the water. It truly was a nice change from all the _____ he had been fighting, after around 35 minutes he got out and headed back to his room. That was when he bumped into someone.

"Ow." He looked down and saw a blonde girl on the floor
"Sorry, I should watch where I'm going." He said as he held out a hand to the girl, he then noticed she was British.
He figured he should talk in English but she replied in Japanese that it was no problem so he didn't. He then left to get back to his room where he finally noticed something odd about said exchange. When he helped he up there was barely noticeable shock plus tug and some feeling of familiarity that he couldn't quite place.

He decided not to worry about it and get some rest, he really wanted to see how much they improved over a year without him.
Turns out not much.

"Alright! What do you guys want to do for sparring? One on one or all of you vs me?" He asked as everyone eyed him nervously
"I think all of us vs you" Berserk said and everyone agreed soon after

He got into a stance and called forth Gust, Rock, and Beast. Gust improved mobility, Rock could be offense or defense and Beast formed into gauntlets on his hands that had the head of an ox and boar. Berserk came after him while being covered by Flash's gunfire, Acid's poison darts, and Wolf's sniper fire. He used a combo of Gust and Rock to either dodge or block the damage from the cover fire and slid under Berserk before flipping up and delivering a punch to to his back which he blocked. Seiji then grabbed his arms and swung him behind him. That blocked the explosion from Joker before accelerating away from the center to dodge Mist who was going to take him out from the rafters above.

To say they were having fun was the least descriptive word you could've used, it was the most exhilarating battle they've all had since they split. He was being kept on his toes by all the cover fire, but he managed to accelerate and use Rock to ensnare Mist who had gone in for his clone. They realized where he was when an explosion occurred and they saw a human sized piece of Rock fly out of it, as soon as Seiji dispelled the Rock he was met with 2 grenades which he subsequently picked up with the wind and threw at Flash and Wolf who both dodged the initial explosion but the blast wave threw them into the wall. However he was punched from behind and sent flying to the ground, he barely had time to get up before he had to dodge a kick aimed at his chest.

He then felt was blasted away again by Joker before he engaged Mist who ha broken out the rock cage, she wielded 2 short blades and numerous other shuriken, and kunai. His fists ate the ranged weapons she had and he was able to put manuver her slashes before finding a small opening and throwing he into the wall. Not even a second after he had done that he was greeted with a punch to the wall, but also an explosion half way there.

"Alright! I yield!" He announced as he got up, breathing hard before dispelling his enhancements.
"Man that was a good fight, although I could've won if I used everything." He said which irritated some people
"Me and Berserk totally got you at the end, good job at taking all the hits for us Mist!" Joker said as he walked over Mist then promptly had a blade to his neck before he could blink.
"Alright lets all calm down, that was the best fight I've had in a while though" Flash relished to which the others agreed and decided to get some breakfast.

For the rest of the day nothing particularly eventful happened, they hung out some more and used the onsen before heading their separate ways.

Once he got back to the dorms he grabbed his terminal and read some research about a particular topic; Exorcism/Onmyōdō.
From what he read they were people who warded evil spirts, divination, summoning shikigami, and astrology, the famous Abe no Seimei was an onmyoji. While his research yielded few results, ultimately it was just for fun. He just wanted to see if the ______ could be exorcised, it would be so much easier that way. He really wished it was this simple but there just wasn't enough info.

That being said, his talismans were commonly used was part of onmyodo, the Japanese version of exorcism which Abe no Seimei was famous for. Unfortunately all the documents regarding anything of the sort were burned down during that fire years ago.
He ultimately decided to turn in early and just get some sleep.

Hope you enjoyed this short break from the fighting. Wanted to write more about his team. Sorry for it being short if the quota.