Devotio

Chapter 5

"I know this mission is important and everything-" Momo started. "-but do we really need to walk the whole way? It's not too late to turn back and get a truck... or maybe we could get HQ to send another pick up."

"You know that this is the safest way to stay off the radar Momo." Fuji said with a smile. "It would also be a waste of resources that could be used later."

"Well yeah but it's just so far. Couldn't we have the kid power a car or something?" Echizen shot him an irritated look.

"You complain every single time we have to go somewhere." Kaidou huffed. "It's the exact same thing. You sound like a broken record."

Kikumaru put his hands up and shrugged. "And you both seem to start arguing. That's just how it seems to be."

"Plus we're already taking a shortcut through the town." Kawamura added. "We should get there a day sooner if nothing happens on the way."

"But we've already been walking for hours."

Tezuka let out a sigh and stopped walking. "We'll rest here for a while." In all fairness, he too was tired but he mainly wanted to stop Momo's nagging. "Set up a perimeter of at least two blocks. Kikumaru scout out the town, Kaidou send out some scouts, Momoshiro set it up."

Kikumaru was practically bouncing. "Incendo Accelero." His eye glowed and a dull gold aura emanated from his body. In the blink of an eye, he bolted from the group and into the town.

"He never seems to waste time." Oishi sweat dropped.

"Musculus." Kaidou held out his hand and several small mice appeared and started to scatter into nearby buildings.

"Semino Praetexo." Momo was kneeling with his hands planted on the ground. After a few seconds, everyone felt a surge of power. "That never gets old."

"What did you do?" Ryoga asked.

"I have plants sprouting up through cracks within a two block radius. If anyone crosses over I'll know where they're coming from." He had a cheeky smile on his face.

Kikumaru suddenly returned with a slight frown. "Momo, warn me when you're going to do that. I almost ran into a wall."

"Did you find anything?" Tezuka asked.

"There are signs that people might still be living in town somewhere or it was recently abandoned. It didn't look like anything hostile though so it's probably better if we leave it be and not cause whoever was or is there any trouble."

Knowing that he should've probably been listening but it being that he didn't care at all, Echizen let himself daydream. He thought back to what had happened the previous day after his run in with Arai.

Flashback

Everything was a blur. The last thing he remembered was passing out as Ryoga tried to get him changed. He lied there on the cot in a hot sweat, feeling Ryoga's cold hand on his forehead and him speaking in a soft, hushed tone with someone.

"This hasn't happened in a few years." His brother's hand stroked his hair.

"You're saying this is a regular thing that used to happen?" He could barely recognize Oishi's voice. "Were the circumstances the same?"

"He used to get a fever at least once a week when he was younger. We all just though he had a weak immune system. It wasn't until we started traveling together that I realized it was some sort of result from his magic."

Oishi knelt beside his cot and hovered his hand over his body. "The results from the tests I first performed on him showed no abnormality except he seems to have excess power but that shouldn't be enough to cause him to get sick."