It was a beautiful Monday morning. So naturally, Principal Amakusa hated it. 
But what he hated more at the moment was the decision he now had to make. 
Across his desk sat Amy Angeleye, Yuri's spy from Sakura Art. Apparently, 
her cover had been blown due to the fact that news of the past few weeks' 
events had leaked out to her school. It was a shame, really. She hadn't been 
outright executed for her traitorous actions like he had planned. Now Amy 
wanted to transfer into Dark Heart High.

Last year, before he had even heard Yuri's name, he would have never 
hesitated in making a decision. The question now was, did he really want to 
increase Yuri's power base in the school? Or more to the point, did he 
really want to show any weakness in front of Yuri?

He paused to look at Amy. She was still wearing her Sakura Art uniform. 
Which was strange. Normally, nobody would be caught dead wearing something 
like this at Dark Heart High. But it was excusable. She probably had nothing 
else to wear. Besides, it would be amusing to see what Sakura Art's reaction 
would be if he let her continue to wear it.

His gaze swept upwards to her eyes. He looked deep within her soul. Her soul 
lacked the usual amount of darkness his students have. But it was there. And 
it was spreading. It seems that her intentions for transferring in were less 
than honorable. Before long, she'd make a formidable student. Evil magical 
girls always do.

The girl began to fidget under his gaze. She was afraid of him. As it should 
be. His power was uncontested. For now.

Amakusa extended a hand. "Welcome to Dark Heart High, Ms. Angeleye."

*******************

Balabalalde and Leilei were walking to school. Well actually, it was more 
like Leilei was dragging Bala to school. Ever since Sunday, he had been 
unresponsive.

"Come on, Bala! I can't drag you the entire way!"

Bala focused his eye on her for a second, then drifted off again.

"Argh! Bala! Snap out of it! We're going to be late!"

Bala looked at something down the street. Leilei grabbed his face and turned 
it to look at her. And she began to yell at him.

A limo pulled up beside the quarreling pair. Out stepped four men with a 
large net. They snuck up on the two and dropped it.

"Hey! What the?" Leilei struggled briefly before realizing that she was 
stuck.

The men dragged the captives into the limo and drove away down the street.

***************************************************************
          	           Dark Heart High
    	    Netherworlds Educational Institution For The
           	    Universal Propagation of Evil

     	      	    Started by Mads
      	    	This Chapter by: Smlee

        	    Chapter Twenty: Intermission!

****************************************************************

That was on Monday. This was a Wednesday. And Craig was early for school. 
Two hours early in fact. It was time for him to put his plan into motion. 
Yes. A plan. It had taken him the entire week Yuri had been away from 
classes, plus the first few days of this week to come up with it. It was so 
brilliantly simple a child could understand it. Not to say that it wasn't 
ingenious. No no.

Craig looked around the hallway inside the school. Not a soul was in sight. 
Probably none out of sight either. He made his way to homeroom silently, 
just in case the principal was in his office. And it was there he began to 
set up.

Craig reached into his backpack and pulled out a long piece of piano wire, 
two nails, and a hammer. He hammered the nails opposite each other in the 
doorframe then stretched the wire across. Now he had the perfect tripping 
mechanism set up. As soon as Yuri walked in through that door, she'd fall 
flat on her face. But that wasn't the end of it. Now the plan got really 
tricky.

Craig would have to stab her a few times. Quickly, before any of her 
meddlesome 'friends' would show up to save her. That meant no boasting, and 
all that other stuff that villains are supposed to do before they kill their 
helpless victim. If he was caught, he might end up suspended...or worse. But 
he wasn't worried. According to the plan, Yuri would arrive early enough 
that nobody else would be there. She had shown up to school the past two 
days abnormally early. It stood to reason that she'd do it again.

Craig drew his sword and positioned himself behind the door. He was ready 
now. So he waited. And waited. And waited some more. Then he realized that 
Yuri wasn't going to be in school for another hour and a half or longer. So 
he sat down and waited.

*******************

Ki Tamaida crept up to the window and looked inside. Craig was sitting near 
the doorframe, sword drawn across his knees, looking anxiously towards the 
obvious tripwire he had set up.

Ki moved towards another window, attempting to get a view of both Craig and 
the hallway to the entrance of the room. As soon as Yuri arrived, he'd smash 
through the window, stab Craig, and save her. Without Bala around, it would 
be easy to sway Yuri to his side.

Yes, Ki had developed a better plan. Last Sunday, he had followed Yuri to 
her picnic. It was there that he saw Yuri and Bala kiss. It was there that 
he formulated his plan.

He had hired a group of ruthless mercenaries to kidnap Balabalalde and 
Leilei. That part had worked. The emotional stress of the missing boy would 
weigh heavily on Yuri, and as such, leave her vulnerable. All she needed was 
a little push, and she'd fall right into his arms. Unfortunately, this part 
hasn't been working yet.

Craig had not attacked Yuri at all since her return to school. Yasuko seemed 
content to watch Yuri's misery. And that new student, Amy, was hanging 
around with her, seemingly all day. Worse yet, the Ingram girl had, for some 
reason, threatened his life. Something about besmirching someone's honor or 
something like that.

But now, everything would fall into place...literally.

*******************

Amy arrived at Yuri's house around half an hour before school. Yuri seemed 
to be an early riser, as Amy soon found out. The past two days, Yuri had 
gotten to the school at least 15 minutes early. After talking with a few 
others in the class, she had learned that this was not normal behavior for 
her. So now she was here to walk Yuri to school.

Amy also planned to take the time to find out what was wrong. Yuri just 
wasn't the same Yuri she had been when they had first met. Something had 
happened. Seeing Yuri in pain just left a hole in her heart.

Amy took a seat on the porch and pulled out a book to read.

*******************

Yuri's alarm clock rang and she woke up. She dressed, washed up, and ate. 
Then she was out the door. All this took less than 5 minutes.

Amy stood up from where she had been sitting on the front porch and greeted 
her friend. "Hi, Yuri-chan!"

"Hi, Amy," Yuri bluntly replied.

Then they were off to school.

*******************

Yuri and Amy approached the gates of Dark Heart High quietly. Both Yuri and 
Amy appeared deep in thought. Their faces were different though. Yuri's was 
etched with worry. Amy's was etched with concern.

Amy decided it was time to break the silence. "Yuri, it's been two days of 
this already. Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

Yuri stopped walking and looked back.

"Well?"

Yuri chose her words carefully. "I told you already. Bala's missing."

"But aren't you concerned about Leilei too? She's also missing."

"...Yes, of course."

"So why is it you only talk like Bala is missing?"

"..." Yuri turned away, indicating that the conversation was over.

Amy ran ahead of Yuri and reached the classroom door first. Then she tripped 
and fell. A loud thud could be heard.

*******************

Yuri watched Amy fall to the floor and rushed forward. She looked around the 
room and noticed three strange things. First, there was a trip wire set up 
in the doorway. Secondly, Ki was smashed up against the window, kind of like 
a bug on a windshield. Just not dead and squished. Thirdly, Craig was 
sitting on the floor next to the door, fast asleep.

So Yuri did four things. First, she helped Amy to her feet. Then she grabbed 
Craig's sword and cut the tripwire so nobody would trip again. Thirdly, she 
opened the window to let Ki inside. Lastly, she sat in her seat and waited 
to see if Bala would show up for school today.

After Ki recovered enough, he went over the Craig and kicked him in the 
side. Craig woke up, glanced around the room, and muttered, "Dragonturds."

*******************

Once again, Yuri had ruined a perfectly good plan, and a perfectly good day. 
Not only that, but Craig had received a detention for putting nails in the 
door. Only one thing was going to cheer him up after a day like this. A trip 
to the mall.

Once long ago, Craig had learned of the mall. He had learned that it was a 
prime location to scout for girls. He had also learned, rather painfully, 
that he shouldn't wear his armor to try to impress them. So, Craig had run 
home, changed out of his armor, and walked to the mall.

Craig looked around. He spotted a tall redhead with an ample bust size. 
Perfect. He walked up to her.

"I noticed that your teeth aren't as white as mine. But that is forgivable."

This netted him a slap in the face.

"Get away, you freak!" Then she walked away.

'It's harder to hunt women for sport than animals.' was the only thought 
Craig had at the moment.

*******************

Atsuko and Reika exited the nearby clothing outlet store into what looked to 
be a stampede. Women were running away in every direction. They seemed to be 
terrified of whatever was near the mall center. So naturally, Reika wanted 
to see what it was.

As they approached, they heard a voice that seemed oddly familiar.

"Oh, come on! I'll let you be the father of my children!"

They reached Craig just in time to see him get another slap in the face.

Atsuko and Reika took the opportunity to size up the man. He wasn't very 
handsome by any standards, and from what they had heard and seen, he wasn't 
overly intelligent either. He seemed to have an awful lot of red marks on 
his face. His smile brightened when he looked over at them. It was at this 
point that they really should have run.

"Hey, good looking," Craig was speaking to Reika, "My name's Craig, and you 
don't need to tell me yours. Your body does all the talking for you."

So Reika did the only natural thing a woman would do. She ran over to the 
nearest oversized novelty hammer shop, purchased a hammer, came back, and 
bashed Craig into the wall with it. Reika turned and ran away. Atsuko moved 
to follow her, but was stopped by a battered and bruised Craig.

"I'll pay you money to go out on a date with me."

This sparked Atsuko's interest. "How much money?"

Craig pulled a briefcase from somewhere and presented it to Atsuko. Atsuko 
opened it up and checked the contents. It was loaded to the brim with 
American dollars.

A grin grew on Atsuko's face. Only a date, eh? "Mister, you've got a deal. 
Say, tomorrow night, at 8?"

"No."

"No?"

"Now."

Atsuko glanced at Craig. Craig glanced at Atsuko. Atsuko glanced at Craig's 
clothing.

"Maybe you should get cleaned up first. Tonight at 8 then."

"Agreed."

Atsuko took the briefcase and ran off after Reika.

"Yes! I have a date!" Craig yelled. It was some time later before Craig 
realized that he didn't know how to contact the girl again...

*******************

Ki Tamaida was angry. Craig had messed up as usual. And he had gotten a 
detention for leaving a body print on the window. Worst still, his plans for 
Yuri were again put on hold. It was a sad world Ki lived in...

Still, it wasn't a complete loss. The mercs still had Bala and Leilei under 
lock and key. There was no way they'd be getting out of their holding cell. 
Unless they could somehow hold their breath for more than an hour. That's 
how long Ki had calculated it would take them to break the surface if they 
busted out of the sub.

Yes, the sub was a perfect holding cell. It was remotely operated from 
above, so gaining control of it wouldn't allow any escape. Neither would 
smashing it up. Ah, to see a plan work so well! The only way they could 
possibly escape was to have someone work the controls from the secret 
location. So secret in fact, that he had no idea where it was. So it wasn't 
like anyone was just going to walk in there without realizing it...

Then Ki realized that according to the basic laws that govern the universe, 
someone was about to do just that. Ki ran off to find a pay phone.

*******************

"Hello? Girl? Are you here?"

Craig had walked into a neat looking elevator at the mall. It was neat 
looking because it was decorated with some sort of a logo, and lots of not 
open to the public signs. It had let him out in some sort of a 
sub-sub-sub-sub-sub-sub basement.

"Hello?"

He looked around. All that was there was a docking area, with a submarine 
and another empty docking area where another sub might go. There was also 
what looked to be a control area. Craig went to that.

"Hello? Girl?"

A crude looking ruffian looked up from where he was sitting to see Craig 
approaching. He pushed a silent alarm button, then drew an Ingram and walked 
up to Craig.

"I suggest that you leave now."

"Huh?"

"Leave. Now." And he pointed the Ingram at Craig's head.

"Dragonturds."

Just then the phone rang. The Ingram guy was distracted, and Craig pounced 
him. After a few minutes of wrestling with him, he had knocked him out. 
Craig scooped up the Ingram and stood up. Around him stood roughly 15-20 
men. They didn't look pleased.

"The Ingram please." An important looking man held out his hand.

Craig slowly handed over the Ingram. Unfortunately, the safety was off, and 
a bullet fired. Since Craig had been holding the gun with the barrel towards 
himself, the bullet ripped through his side, and smashed into a control 
panel that was conveniently behind him. It exploded.

*******************

Leilei was thrown off her feet by the sudden lurch. It felt as if they were 
moving up. Really fast. Pressure built quickly, and Leilei slipped into 
unconsciousness.

Bala blinked his eye. The pressure was not affecting him but anger was. He 
moved over to a hatch, ready to spring out and kill anything he saw.

Then, the sub surfaced.

*******************

Craig stopped, dropped, and rolled. But that didn't seem to put the fire on 
his back out. So he jumped in the water. It saved him from what came next.

The sub hatch literally exploded from the inside, sending shards flying 
intomany of the men, killing them instantly. Bala jumped through the 
opening, landed on his feet and ran towards the closest guy. He swung his 
chains, wrapping them around the man's neck. Bala yanked the chains and 
snapped his neck.

The element of surprise was gone now. The remaining six had armed themselves 
with a wide array of weaponry, from guns to swords. Bala liked the odds.

Bala jumped into the air as the thugs rushed him. He grabbed one of the 
various scrolls protruding from his bandages and tossed it into the midst of 
the group. It plopped lifelessly to the ground and the thugs stared at it, 
as if expecting it to do something. Bala took the opportunity to kick one 
merc in the head, driving him down to the floor and crushing his skull. The 
other five just looked on in horror.

Bala thrust out his chain at one of the gaping thugs, driving it through his 
gut. After giving the chain a test yank to make sure it had stuck in, he 
swung the corpse into two others. The last two standing looked at each other 
and decided to make a break for the nearest exit.

Bala calmly walked over to the two woozy thugs, reached down, and snapped 
their necks. It had felt good to cut loose on these lowlifes after what they 
had done to Leilei. Now it was time to go home. Bala went back to the sub to 
retrieve Leilei, and left.

*******************

Author Notes:
What was I thinking? I never get it easy. I just happened to end up with the 
only part I couldn't really follow up to. Not directly. That's why I kept 
Yuri and Bala separated for the entire story.

Now I know that some of you are going to start wondering some things. Like 
how in the world Bala got kidnapped in the first place, or maybe you'll be 
wondering, what possessed you to underused Yuri in the chapter. Maybe it'll 
be why, oh, why did you have to bring Amy in again. Or maybe even, are you 
insane?

Well, the answer to all the questions is...to have some fun! Yes, this 
chapter just wouldn't have been as fun for me to write if I had to focus the 
entire story around the kiss in the last chapter. That just happened way too 
fast for me. When I signed up for this slot, Yuri had just transferred into 
a rotting corpse. THAT was the Yuri I would have liked to write a story 
about. But a Yuri that just kissed Bala? Nope.

Many of you may notice that Craig seems to do the most in the chapter. I 
guess I just like his character a whole lot. I'm especially proud of the way 
the mall scene turned out. Although that might be too chibi-ish for some 
tastes, I think it fit perfectly.

Well, I think I better wrap it up here. I don't want to be writing up an 
author note larger than the story itself. (Which I think is rather short, 
but my other idea just couldn't work under this situation.) I'd like to 
thank my pre-readers, Kenji, Sharyna, Brian, and Mads as well as a few of my 
friends. Thanks to Laurence Chu for the extension. And thank you, the 
reader. I'm sure that I'll be receiving many reviews for this. Good or bad, 
I'd like to know. Anyways, thanks all!

My second Impro part!
Thursday February 7, 2002

*******************

Craig pulled himself from the water. He looked around for any signs of the 
group that had shot him. What he saw was a grisly scene indeed. Two things 
popped into his mind then.

One. Someone had gone through here, and killed everyone.

Two. He hadn't found his date yet. And he was too hurt to go through with it 
anyways.

"Dragonturds."