Nita's City Life

Chapter 7: The Akumas vs The Brawlers

'Leon! Follow me!' Nita shouted as she immediately towed Leon out of his seat, leaving Maia very confused.
  'Sis! What are you doing?' Leon hollered. Some of the people from the crowd glared at them, but Nita didn't seem to care.
  'Help me find Jessie,' Nita whispered into Leon's ear while she looked around, making sure that no one was spying on them. 'There's something I need to ask her.'
  'What do you need to ask her? Is it really-'
  Nita immediately pointed at the playing field of the stadium before Leon could finish his sentence. The boy looked at Bibi for a while, and he immediately understood.
  'Okay. It's urgent,' Leon muttered under his breath as he and Nita separated to find Jessie or Penny, or maybe even Colt.
  'Jessie Junker!' Nita called while walking around. 'Where are you?'
  'Nita?' Jessie's surprised voice came from the crowd of the second row. Nita immediately dashed towards her.
  'Why in the name of Brawl Town does Bibi have wounds all over her arms??!!' Nita screeched.
  'She has wounds on her arms?!' Jessie asked back in surprise.
  Nita sucked in an uneasy breath. 'You mean, you don't know anything at all?'
  Jessie shook her head. 'I'm sorry, Nita, but Penny and I didn't know that she was wounded. All we know was that she kept muttering something. "They're here. I'm saying it once again, they're HERE!" She really freaked me out when she did that, but she didn't say exactly who was here.'
  Their conversation was cut short when they heard the booming voice of the announcer.
  'Strike one!' He shouted. Some people from the crowd cheered when they heard the announcement.
'Something's not right,' Penny, who was silent throughout most of the conversation, murmured gravely. 'Bibi looks pretty troubled. There's no way she'll miss a swing so easily!'
'We gotta go and check on her. Jess, Penny, meet me and Leon at the north of the stadium, ground row,' Nita commanded. The girls split up and disappeared into the sea of people.
______
Ochitsuku, girl. Bibi's inner voice repeated once again after the failed swing. You've gone through so many dangerous battles. Surely a baseball match won't make you worried, wouldn't it?
  'I know I'm not supposed to be worried,' Bibi replied under her breath as her soul was stung by the wounds and the fake cheers from the crowd. 'But they're here. Those horrid, terrible traitors are here. Something bad is gonna happen for sure.'
  Oh well, then. The voice sighed. Sayonara, Bibi. Wish you luck.
'Sayonara,' Bibi replied sadly as she went back into her batting stance.
______
'WHAT??!!' Colt shouted, choking on his drink. Shelly and Brock immediately jumped in their seats when they heard what Leon had said.
'Bibi has wounds all over her arms,' Leon repeated again. His sapphire eyes quickly darted from side to side. He knew that at some point they'll have to meet up with Nita.
  Shelly quickly calmed herself down. 'We need to go to the north area of this stadium,' she muttered as she and the others got up. 'We'll be able to talk to Bibi over there after the game is over.'
  The team immediately dashed to the place. They quickly met up with Nita, Jessie and Penny.
'Hey, Nita!' Leon shouted as he waved his hand. 'Any clue on what's wrong?'
Nita shook her head. 'We're not sure. But Jessie mentioned that Bibi has been muttering something weird about someone being here.'
Suddenly, they heard the screaming voice of a girl.
'Konichi-whack!' Bibi yelled as she swung her bat with full force, which sent the ball flying through the sky like a fireball. Most of the crowd gasped.
  'And that was a home run!' The announcer's voice boomed throughout the stadium once again as Bibi started to make a run for the bases.
  All of a sudden, there was the weird voices of screaming and shouting.
  'Foul ball!'
  'She broke the rules!'
  'That ball is on literal FIRE. How can you count that as a home run swing?!'
  Somehow, those shouts had been loud enough for the announcer and everyone to hear. The entire stadium descended into an eerie silence. Bibi stopped dead at the third base.
'Sorera no uragirimono wa koko ni imasu,' Bibi muttered gravely in Japanese, her words hanging in the still air. 'This is gonna be a horrid brawl.'
Nita quickly looked around and gasped. The others followed her gaze and understood the reason.
A few teenagers that were about Bibi's age were making their way to the playing field. They were carrying hammers and slingshots and other weapons of that sort.
  'Stay alert!' Nita whispered as the other brawlers quickly summoned small weapons out of nowhere when they were free of the mortals' sight. They dashed back to the playing field area.
  One of the teenagers who had a scar on his forehead was already standing in front of Bibi. The girl held her bat out in a defensive stance.
  'Konichiwa, Rokuta,' Bibi snarled at the teenager. 'What have you and your gang of Onis been up to lately?'
The teenager called Rokuta flinched. 'Never call us like that!' He growled. 'We're the Akumas of the Kitsune!'
'Close enough,' Bibi huffed without breaking a sweat. Then, she looked murderous. 'So, how's your gang going to try to kill me today?'
'Now, shut up, you former-'
'You shut up!' Bibi shouted angrily. 'You and your gang left me to die in that blazing building back in Tokyo! You dirty traitors just had to show up here and ambush me last night as well! Haven't you had enough already??!! Or do you want me to break your bones for real this time?!'
  No one said a single thing. The brawlers crept towards the playing field with Shelly leading them.
  'You'll regret saying that!' Rokuta howled as he swung his hammer and tried to strike Bibi's head, but she jumped out of the way.
  'Oh my goodness,' Jessie muttered as she quickly called Scrappy. 'Nita, are you sure that you'll rather go unarmed?'
  'I'm surer than sure,' Nita growled. 'No weapon's gonna break my bones, and I ain't gonna need one.'
Bibi swung her bat, which nearly managed to hit Rokuta. Rokuta intercepted another swing with his hammer. Bibi thought that she was doing well, but she didn't notice a person who was creeping towards her.
'Bibi! Watch out!' Nita screamed as she charged towards Bibi.
Bibi looked at Nita, confused. But Nita didn't reply. She immediately pounced on the ambusher.
'Hey! Get off me!' The person howled, dropping his knife.
'Thanks Nita!' Bibi quickly shouted as she dodged another swing from Rokuta.
  'Attack those who dare to interfere!' Rokuta commanded as he pointed at the brawlers. His gang members immediately charged toward them, leaving him to fight his own battle with his one and only sworn enemy.
  Bibi smirked. 'You're brave,' she commented before lashing out another attack. 'But your bravery will cease to be useful!'
  Meanwhile, the brawlers were having some trouble countering the Akumas. Brock was shot in the chest by someone's slingshot. Leon suffered a deep gash on his left arm. Nita's hands started to swell because she've been punching for too long.
  'We gotta retreat!' Shelly gasped as she tried to swing her bat. 'We're outnumbered!'
  'It's too late!' Nita muttered breathlessly. 'Maia was right. An uncontrollable fight had just broke out. And we have the responsibility to somehow end it.'
  Jessie nodded her head in agreement. 'Scrappy!' She shouted. 'Fire!'
  Scrappy started to fire out smoke bombs, which soon turned the playing field into a foggy battleground. Every single person from the crowd had disappeared, mostly because they ran away in fear. This gave the brawlers their chance to attack. They moved through the smoke and pounced on any enemy in sight.
  'Another one down!' Nita hollered as she and Penny pinned one of the Akumas to the ground and knocked him out.
  'The smoke's clearing up!' Colt gasped after escaping from close-combat with an enemy. His Nerf Gun had ran out of bullets.
  'Oh no!' Jessie's gasp was heard somewhere. Nita and Leon immediately dashed towards Jessie, but she was nowhere to be seen.
  'Jess?' The two kids asked in unison.
  'Over here!' Jessie's voice sounded distant this time. And it also sounded hurt?
  'What in the- oh no,' Nita muttered breathlessly.
  Bibi was lying on the ground, her shirt soaked in blood. Was it from the enemy or from herself, the other's couldn't tell. Her bat also had bloodstains on it.
  'Shelly! Colt! Brock! Penny! Over here!' Nita shouted loudly.
  The other four brawlers arrived. 'Oh god no,' Colt murmured while capping his mouth in shock. 'The others at Brawl Town aren't gonna like this.'
______
'What in the- where am I?' Bibi muttered as she woke up.
  'Bibi, do you have any memory on what happened back at the baseball stadium?' Nita immediately asked before anyone could gasp.
  'What- Oh right,' Bibi mumbled while touching her head. She looked uneasy. 'Well, after the Akumas went to get y'all, I grabbed a knife and slashed at Rokuta for a while before switching back to my bat, but suddenly he was gone. And after that, something hit me hard on the head, and I blacked out. I guess I was wounded while I was still out for the count.'
  'Oh, phew,' Colt murmured. 'We thought you were dead. The doctor said you had lost a lot of blood. Almost like that day when Tick-'
  'Let's not talk about that,' Shelly interrupted, a stern look on her face.
  'I'm sorry, guys,' Bibi sighed. 'It's all my fault. I shouldn't have got you all involved.'
  'It's okay, Bibi,' Penny replied, her hand wrapped in bandages. 'I mean, who'd expect them to be right there and then?'
  'Hmm... You're right,' Bibi answered, though she slightly winced.
  'Hey, Nita,' Bibi quickly called before the others left.
  'What?' The 8 year old bear girl limped over to Bibi.
  'Arigato, Nita. Thanks you so much for stopping that back stabber from attacking me. He could've killed me on the spot.'
  'Oh,' Nita smiled as she limped towards the exit. She was glad that she managed to prevent the death of a brawler. 'You're welcome.'
The chime of the clock at 12 a.m. afterwards signalled the end of this deathly, horrid day. Suddenly, Nita shuddered at a thought. If this was just Maia's so called everyday battles, then how dangerous was the one she fainted in the class for?