"You are next" the figure said, before disappearing into the smoke.
_____________
(Gero snapped awake)
"What the F###!" He shouted snapping to a sitting position
(Gero was outside of the JNST war room, with Alice and Erika both looking down at him, using some chairs as a makeshift bench)
"What happened??" Erika said in a rather quiet tone, trying not to alarm everyone else around them.
"I... don't know, I just tried to pat Alice on the back and... well.... It felt like I was hit by something and everything was white... some strange vision." Gero said, still feeling a little sleepy
"U-Uh, nii-san I'm so sorry..." Alice said
"Don't be Alice-Chan, it wasn't your fault..."
"Okay Bakatora, tell me everything that you saw." Erika said, trying to reassure Gero
"There was a lot of smoke, or something like it, all around me, could only barely see my hand.
...Lot of fire, but I didn't get burned..."
(Both Erika and Alice were puzzled at this strange vision)
"...And there was a girl that looked similar to you Alice"
"A girl that looks like me?"
"Yeah, and she had a little Boko, but it was destroyed by something, or someone..." Gero said, trying to refrain from getting into the graphics about how the Boko doll was beheaded, for Alice's sake.
"Destroyed?! By who nii-san?!" Alice said.
"I don't know what happened, but there was a large man, taller than me, who was standing there with an ominous mask on, watching the little girl cry."
"Seems to me like you had a vision of Carm, that fits his uncaring personality." Erika said, rolling her eyes.
"Uncaring? B-But he bought me this, and it's really cool" Alice said,
She was holding out a small Boko doll, which Carm had bought for her after the match of the All-Stars University against the Ōarai coalition 3 years ago.
"Aw, that's nice, you're so cute Alice-chan"
Gero gave Alice a pat on the head
"I don't want to fight him again, it was really scary, but I wouldn't mind seeing him again...." Alice said.
Erika sneered.
"I'm sorry to say, but Carm-kun has declined into worst kind of person now Alice-chan."
"Is there some dynamic between you and Carm, Erika? Because I haven't seen you so aggressive before!"
"Sh-shut it TsunTora! Let's go back inside so we can hear the briefing, everyone's probably wondering where we went."
"Uh, okay....."
————————
(Gero and Erika walked back into the Briefing room, with Alice in tow)
Gero had just sat back down after his little fainting session.
"What took you so long Taichou?" Hajime said, attracting some looks from
"Eh, had to use the bathroom"
"How do you know so much about Carm-San?" One of the JNST members said.
"I used to work with him a few years ago." Yukari said
(A few whispers broke out)
"He went to a Japanese school?! COOL!" Tojo said.
"Well.. uh. He was taught the same way you all were, so you all better be prepared for anything!" Yukari said.
"I gave all of you a dossier that I wrote myself on his capabilities, it should be in the seat pocket in front of you,
You need to study it, else you'll not know what you're stepping into." Yukari said.
(Gero and crew all took a peek at the dossier, a lot of the JNST tankers were shocked at what they saw)
"Wah! Carm-Kun defeated Kuromorimine all by himself!?"
"Does that mean he defeated Erika-sama??"
"SHUT IT!" Erika belted out, causing the whole room to be paralyzed in fear by the amount of killing intent she was radiating
.
.
.
.
.
"I'm LEAVING!" Erika shouted, her temper flaring to extreme levels.
The suffocating a killing intent faded as she stomped out.
"So that's why she's so on edge..."
"On edge is an understatement Gero-Taichou"
"Well, Erika-San hates losing, I guess I should've made that conclusion a while ago."
"The Iron Rose lost to this Carm character? Man I've been missing out, that dossier must have some interesting stuff in it." Ono said.
"Tsk" Gero said, flipping all the way to the back page.
The last page of the dossier was a report on one of the latest battles Carm participated in.
[Quarter Finals, United States vs United Kingdom]
Result: U.S. Victory
Match length: 20.3 Minutes
Gero looked over it, expression unchanging,
Until he just realized that the US team defeated the best team in Europe.
In only twenty minutes.
"What the...."
Gero had faced the Conquering Princess of Britain in a practice battle, before the first battle of the tournament.
The fact that someone was able to take her out, not even in a short time frame either, was almost too crazy to be true.
"This can't be...."
(Gero's other crewmates started looking at his expression.)
"What can't be Taichou?"
"It says here that the United States defeated the entire UK team in twenty minutes."
"But they're the strongest team in Europe! How did they?" Ken said.
"I have no idea, but all I know is that I have to go see him, if he lives up to his name then he should be an interesting character."
"Yeah, that's a lot of skill." Ono said.
*SLAM!
Just then, the door to the war room burst open.
"I'm back!" Erika shouted.
"And I brought company!"
.
.
.
Just then, Shiho and Tsuneo Nishizumi both walked in the door.
"Otou-San? Okaa-San?" Gero said
———————