Ryu stopped, holding out a hand to instruct Mikasa likewise.

"Evil ki?" groaned the sullen girl.

"Evil ki," confirmed Ryu.

Mikasa leapt into the air, executing a vertical flip and triggering her pitons, zipping back towards the girl who had left them earlier. Using her 3DMG in the forest was simple, an almost instinctual dance between aiming with her thighs, flicking the triggers, performing burns with the gas fan, and adjusting her swords like ailerons, followed by those brief moments of chaos as the pitons retracted and let go, sending her tumbling through the air to line up her next shot. It was a methodical madness to the highest degree, a perfect synthesis of situational awareness and insanity.

The scout heard the scream again, this time closer. She banked hard to her left, swinging around a tree horizontally at maximum speed. As she reached the apex of the turn, the pitons snapped back, and Mikasa was thrown skyward to observe the screaming girl. She was collapsed on the ground, seemingly trying to escape the figure before her.

Somehow, in the darkness of the forest, it was visible as an even greater darkness. Its extremities all seemed formless, a swirling mass of dark tendrils. But towards its center, its form was more concrete. The endless void congealed into a slim suit and tie, and a thin, white neck held a white head aloft.

"Wha-" Mikasa gasped as the entity came into view. As if it heard her, it turned to face the airborne girl. Or rather, not face her. For the creature's white head was completely featureless, having no eyes, mouth, ears or hair. And yet it somehow stared straight into Mikasa's soul. In the blink of an eye, the creature had extended an arm, and she was trapped in its icy, formless grip. Instantly Mikasa was slammed into the ground, pinned by the being's jet-black appendage. It slowly began to float toward her, seemingly gliding across the ground.

Katniss struggled to her feet. Being close to that creature seemed to have weakened her, and it took considerable effort to string her bow.

"Over here," she wheezed, causing the thing to turn its terrible head. She let the arrow fly, and watched it find its mark dead-center in the creature's face. The arrow then continued through, completely unhampered. The blank face fixated its gaze on Mikasa once again.

Katniss panicked. Is it invincible?

Long strands of purest darkness began to trail out of its back as it picked the helpless Mikasa up, slowly pulling its arms in, drawing her toward its unnatural void. Mikasa tried to scream, but all of the air had been drawn out of her. Her world was beginning to fade into darkness, with only the creature's face remaining in her vision.

"HADOKEN!"

The blue sphere of ki energy sliced through the night, ripping the thing's arms into mere filaments of night, it reeled back, silent as always, but clearly in anguish. Mikasa tumbled to the ground, and shakily drew a fresh set of swords. Ryu leapt from the brush, another ball of energy crackling in his hands.

"Make this one count!" shouted Katniss. Ryu gave a nod, charging the orb with more energy.

"SHINKU HADOKEN!"

The hadoken tore through the creature, vaporizing its dark form.

Katniss stumbled over to the martial artist, still a little dazed from the assault.

"Can you show me how to do one of those someday?"

"Perhaps," said Ryu. "Gotetsu-ryu Ansatsuken is a deadly art taught to those pure enough to master it safely. The power of the Satsui no Hado can corrupt easily."

"It's coming back together," said Mikasa, with more than a hint of fear permeating her words. Where the creature once stood, the night began to swirl, ebbing into the familiar, semi-humanoid shape.

"We… can't kill it." Katniss stammered. "Is this it? The end?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it," chirped Holly, de-shielding next to her.

"Agreed," mused Twilight Sparkle, teleporting in next to Ryu. "Now, we need to get down to business."

With a grunt, the unicorn's horn began to glow. A pink magical barrier appeared between the startled warriors and the ethereal creature.

"Wait," gasped Katniss, "the ring!" Holly gave a chuckle.

"Me and Twilight came up with a solution. She charmed it so it's invisible. You have no idea which one of us has it, or where we're carrying it."

Katniss nodded with understanding, but was a little concerned that she would try to grab the unholy band if they weren't in such immediate danger. Twilight cleared her throat.

"Now, based on my brief analysis, I can come to the conclusion that this being is the one known as the Operator, Der Großmann, the Tall Man, or the Slender Man. It is a known avatar of the Old God Nyarlathotep, and is known to produce neurotoxic aura known as the Black Veil, which causes severe coughing fits known as slendersickness. On defensive rolls, it receives a plus-five buff, and-"

"TELL US HOW TO KILL IT," screamed Katniss.

"Well, it's actually quite simple," stated Twilight. "I have a magical de-stabilization spell that, while quite time-consuming to cast, and focus-intensive, should be able to cancel its regenerative abilities."

The creature had floated up to the barrier, and was seemingly waiting for them to drop it.

Mikasa tightened her grip on her swords. "So we distract it, until you can cast this spell fully."

"And then you kill it." Confirmed Twilight.

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Holly, drawing her Neutrino. "Let's do this."

Twilight dropped her barrier, and the warriors scattered in all directions. The Operator continued to focus on the Unicorn, inching closer.

"SHAKUNETSU HADOKEN!"

The red fireball punched a hole through the advancing Operator, which stood still for a moment, then began to turn towards Ryu. He ducked behind a nearby tree, which Mikasa had been hiding against.

"Tag, you're in," Ryu lilted. Mikasa rushed out from behind the tree, faced again by the dark creature.

"Never again," growled the scout, and she launched into the air, zipping toward the Operator. It extended its arms a second time, but Mikasa was ready. With a twist of her body, she became a whirling cyclone of blades, severing the creature's limbs as if they were nothing- probably because they were. She snapped toward another tree, landing and examining the damage she dealt. The Operator had temporarily lost its hands, but they were already beginning to regenerate.

As I expected. I can't damage it with single strikes. But an opponent that can heal itself can be overwhelmed.

Mikasa took aim and fired the pitons, which anchored themselves in trees behind the Operator. She launched herself off of the tree and flicked her triggers, jetting across the clearing, and striking the creature as she went. She landed on another tree, lined up, and did it again. And again. And again. Mikasa was a blur, a streak of death, beating the Operator's upper body into a formless void pulp.

Twilight watched Mikasa's deadly dance above. Everything was going according to plan. The unicorn strained, charging her spell's power.

If my calculations are correct, I'm about halfway done. So I still need more time.

"Holly! Katniss!" she gasped.

"Got it!" shouted the elf, who dove from her tree. She drew her Neutrino, firing into the creature's lower body repeatedly. Each shot tore a small hole through the Operator's dark form.

Katniss fired another arrow into the Operator, but it simply flew through the other side.

"Holly! It's not working!"

"That's not good!" grunted Holly between shots.

Ryu leapt back into the fray. "I've got it!" He pulled his hands back, charging another sphere of energy. "HADOKEN!"

The fireball exploded around the creature's battered legs, reducing them to a deep, black smoke. Suddenly, a thin, pink field appeared around the ebbing dark mass.

"That's it," gasped Twilight. "It's up. One more attack should do it."

"My pleasure," said Katniss, stringing an arrow. She fired directly into the center of the swirling mass, the arrow pulling back the void into a thin stream, trailing along after the fletching. The arrow itself embedded itself into a tree, and the trail drifted off into the night. Light began to break through the forest's canopy, and the sun was edging its way out from behind the horizon.

"The evil ki has been destroyed," confirmed Ryu.

Mikasa dropped from above, her swords dripping with the black smoke-like ichor of the Operator. She pulled down the scarf that was covering her mouth. "With that inconvenience now removed, what do we do about the ring? After all, Ryu and I were our own team. And we know either the unicorn or the small Titan has it."

"I'm an elf," muttered Holly under her breath. "And not a particularly small one either."

"If we join together, you'll get the benefits of us holding the ring," noted Twilight.

Ryu was puzzled. "But if it really works like that, why wouldn't everyone group around the ring?"

"No one with it would let anyone else near it. It was all part of the Master's plan," whispered Katniss, casting a wayward eye towards that odd-looking little horse. The other warriors nodded in agreement.

Twilight lifted a hoof. "Since we seem to have overcome this pitfall, I suggest we confirm our mutual GHUUUH," she gasped, Katniss' fingers gripped tightly around her throat. The girl slammed the unicorn into a nearby tree, prying ever closer to her face. Holly and Mikasa drew their weapons.

Katniss paid no mind to them. "Where. Is. It?" she growled maniacally.

"Put her down!" Instructed Holly, aiming her Neutrino. "I have it."

"No, you don't, hehehe," cackled the girl. "The precious, it tells me where it is. You don't have it, see?"

"I'll end this," hissed Mikasa, rushing forward. Holly extended a leg, tripping her.

"No, you won't. We'll work this out."

Twilight was beginning to turn a darker shade of purple, gasping something about friendship. Mikasa was about to turn her swords on the 'elf' (she was fairly certain it was a Titan, despite what it said), and Ryu was desperately trying desperately to inform the group about-

A two-fingered strike ripped through the air and planted itself firmly on the back of Katniss' head. Paralyzed, her grip on the unicorn faltered, causing the pony to collapse onto the ground, struggling to catch her breath.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" said Mikasa, lifting a sword toward the man who stood behind Katniss. His arm was still extended out, his two fingers holding Katniss aloft with ease.

"Do you know why she is infatuated with the ring?" The words were drawn out slowly, the baritone carrying over the rustling of the forest foliage.

Twilight struggled to her hooves. "Yes. It senses her power."

"The Battle Aura. Touki. If the ring cannot sense it, it cannot draw anyone to itself."

Katniss crumpled to the ground, flipping herself back onto her feet to face her assailant. The man's torn blue jacket was stained with blood. His eyes locked onto hers, and he drew his hands back into a fluid fighting stance.

"You?" she snarled. "I killed you."

"I see you are unaware of the Transmigration of Souls technique. You may be able to injure my physical body, but as long as my soul is not present within it, I can recover from nearly any attack."

"I don't give a damn," Katniss screamed, swinging a fist towards the man's chin. She saw him visibly frown and narrow his eyebrows. Almost instantly, uncountable strikes connected with Katniss' body, the man's fists flying so rapidly that they almost left an afterimage. Katniss' light frame was lifted into the air by a cushion of punches- and almost as quickly as the barrage began, the man's hands were once again still and at the ready. The girl fell with a dull thud, slowly rising again.

"You idiot, you're supposed to hurt people when you punch them."

The man almost smiled.

"You'll be feeling different about that in a few seconds."

"I don't think so," she growled, leaping at the man again. Then, as if on cue, she fell short of her attack, writhing on the ground in pain.

"What in Frond's name did you do to her?" Demanded Holly, now leveling her weapon on the newcomer. Though she wasn't very sure it would do much good…

"The art of Hokuto Shinken specializes in manipulation of all of the body's pressure points. If one learns to strike the right ones in the right order, any of their body's functions can be altered, stopped, or destroyed."

Holly scratched her head.

"Have we met before?"

"Yes, in the previous battle. My team gave our token to yours. I am Kenshiro."

Katniss rolled on the ground, still moaning.

"To answer your question," Kenshiro continued, "I have forcibly shrouded her aura. Incidentally, this is the same principle on which the ring's own power works, which explains the difficulty I had in fighting her before."

Holly looked down at Katniss, who was groaning softly now.

"So she should be… 'cured'?"

"Yes."

Holly holstered her Neutrino and motioned for Mikasa to stow her weapons as well.

"Thank you, Kenshiro. We could use your help," the elf said, extending her hand in friendship.

"I'm afraid I must decline. Transmigration of Souls saved my life, but I cannot fight and recover. My work here is done. I am glad I could help your troubled friend."

With that, Kenshiro turned and walked away. Holly noticed that the man staggered after every third or fourth step. He soon disappeared among the endless sea of tree trunks.

"Wow," said Ryu. "I heard the other warriors talking about Kenshiro, talking about the power of his Hokuto Shinken. I thought they were exaggerating… but that does seem quite potent. I must try and fight him some time."

The elf knelt down by Katniss.

"Are you… okay?"

"I think… I feel all right now. For a while, everything was dark… and painful."

Holly waved Twilight forward.

"Un-charm it. Just do it."

"Easy for you to say," groaned Twilight, and the ring appeared on a chain around her neck. Holly slipped it off, and held it in front of the girl. Katniss simply stared up at it blankly.

"I don't hear it… calling… anymore," she whispered.

"Well, then!" shouted Holly triumphantly, tossing the ring back toward Twilight. "The band's back together!"

But for how long? Thought Katniss.