Like the Kraken, I arise once more, only I bring stories.

Mikoto had several conflicting feelings running through her head as she rushed out to save her love interest. One was that of confusion: it was well known that Misaki had left Tokiwadai high school a few weeks earlier. However, few students knew WHY she had left. Some of the rumors were that she left due conflicts with other girls at the high school. That rumor was quickly rebuked by her clique. Another was that her family had lost their socio-political or economic standing. That also had been disproven by recent news of the business her family owned having record profits. The last was grades, but that again was easily proven incorrect due to her flawless grade point average so far (in all areas other than PE, of course). It seemed she left School Gardens for Touma. Mikoto made a mental note to find out how they knew each other, regardless of what it took to find out.

The next feeling that Mikoto was experiencing was envy. How dare Misaki have a date with Touma before she did! She had been working up the courage for YEARS to ask the dense boy out, and suddenly Misaki swoops in out of nowhere and occupies the position next to him. A position that Mikoto deserved!

The last emotion she felt was hurt. Touma and herself had experienced a lot together. They had told each other some darker secrets, as well as shared similar hardships together during the events of World War 3. She thought they had made progress during that time. Since then, she felt like the two of them had strengthened that bond over the last few years. Then, without any sort of build up or warning, he goes out on a date with Misaki. She vowed to find out why he had done so (it was likely due to some degree of denseness on his part).

Mikoto texted her roommate, Kuruko, to let her know she would be out, and that she was helping a friend in danger as she moved towards her destination (the park that Misaki's friends mentioned). Mikoto had learned from experience that it was better to give her teleporting best friend just enough information so that she would not worry, but not enough where she would insist on hurting "that ape" as she was prone to calling Touma.

In another part of town, a blond male esper was walking alongside a blue -haired ability user. The ability user, stopped in his footsteps, looking out towards the city. "What is it, bro?" the blond asked him concern apparent in his voice. "Mana. A magic user is in the city. Roughly a kilometer in that direction" the ability user replied in a matter of fact tone, pointing in the direction of the conflict between the Imagine Breaker and his assailants. The esper frowned, his brow furrowing as he contemplated the plethora of variables of why magic users would yet again be in Academy City. He decided he would go and check out whatever they were up to, with the intention to thwart any nefarious actions said magicians were engaging in.

Meanwhile, as said person was rushing to the scene, Mikoto herself was expediting travel to the area as fast as she could. Her desire to save her love interests from whatever trouble he got himself into this time trumped even her distain for having to interact with her former rival at Tokiwadai again. She knew Touma had to have been in substantial danger if SHE was calling Mikoto asking for help.

Mikoto arrived on the scene as a group of men wearing maroon armor and purple helmets, fleeing from a park with an unconscious blonde girl and black-haired girl in red, blue and white. However, she noticed she wasn't alone. A blonde boy was running alongside the street as she moved overhead.

Mikoto was about to stop to help Misaki and the other girl when a member of Judgement spotted them from an adjacent street, ran over to their location, and proceeded to check their vital signs and call for medical assistance. Knowing that Misaki and the other girl would be safe, Mikoto continued her pursuit of the men who had a bag containing what she assumed was Touma slung over their shoulders. Strangely enough, the blond guy was also moving in the same direction she was.

As she neared the group, she fired off an arc of electricity at the first one. Strangely enough, it had little effect on him. He shouted orders at the others in a language she didn't understand, and they split up, each taking different routes. Unfortunately, she could no longer see who among them had the sack.

She decided that she should start by defeating the kidnapper in front of her. Maybe by taking him down, she could get some answers as to where they were taking Touma and what they wanted with him. She started her attack by opening with a significant electric bolt towards her opponent. What should have been more to incapacitate an average person had no effect on this individual. Suddenly, the individual in question pulled out their tranquilizer pistol again and fired off three rounds. However, the level five esper had already used her electromagnetic abilities to pull herself out of the path of the projectiles.

Meanwhile, the blond young man was weaving his way through the streets, pursuing the other magicians. As he came up to the first, he activated his powers. A shrill cry escaped their lips, followed by their collapse onto the pavement. The bag they were carrying disappeared, as it was a magical illusion. The young man weaved his way to the next magician, repeating the process, and continued to the next combatant. Before the last one was neutralized, she radioed to the others that they were being targeted one by one, and that scattering and fleeing was no longer an option: they would have to take out this one science side ability that was causing problems for them.

After a taking down three of their magicians as they attempted to flee, he came across the last ones gathered in a park, with a wall to their back. Rather than be picked off one by one, they seemed to have gathered to take out their pursuer, undoubtedly thinking that the combination of numerical superiority and powerful magic would allow them to win the day. Usually that plan would be a strategically sound one, especially considering that a single magician was currently holding off one of the level-five espers. However, their protections were useless against his unique power.

One shouted out "Who are you to go against his Holiness? All enemies of the Church and God will be struck down! I am known as ARGH!" They never got to finish their sentence as they screamed in pain, falling to the ground in a heap. The one to her left cried out, legs breaking underneath him. The last one produced the tranquilizer pistol, then proceeded to fired 3 rounds at the esper. One was dodged, and two made contact. However, the ability user did not seem to suffer any real consequence from the fast-acting sedative. "How did you resist that drug?" the magician asked. "Hrm… not your business, really. Be a good man and meet your God" the esper replied.

After the magician fell over, face twisted into a visage of pain and torment, the esper walked over and grabbed the bag that they had been carrying. He opened it up, and pulled the unconscious Imagine Breaker out, and flung him over his shoulder, moving towards the area where Mikoto and the last magician were battling it out.

Few people could resist an attack from the "Ace of Tokiwadai." Accelerator, Touma, and a few people she met during World War Three were the only ones Mikoto had encountered. Yet here was someone who was unphased by an attack that could knock even Kuroko unconscious for hours. She decided that she needed to step up her attacks, and that this individual would, most likely, survive far greater attacks than she normally did.

She opened her next attack by launching a salvo of trash cans at the kidnapper in front of her. The armored individual dodged the first two. However, the next 3 he was unable to evade. He proceeded to freeze one of them in place, deflect another, and take another head on, without taking any sort of damage, nor was he staggered by the force.

She followed her initial attack up immediately with simultaneous attacks with two dumpsters, one from the front and one from the rear of the papal magician, intent on incapacitating him by sandwiching him between the two containers. However, this didn't work out as well as she had hoped, as he used magic to detonate the one in front of himself moments before it crushed him against the dumpster behind him.

Though he didn't come out unscathed, the magician didn't get hurt as badly as he could have. Mikoto then pulled iron sand out of the ground, preparing to engage with her opponent at closer range. He also drew a short sword, then proceeded to enter a fighting stance. The Railgun quickly closed the gap, striking at the armored individual before her. he parried her blow, and she was shocked that her blade was unable to cut the weapon it was locked into. As she went to strike him with her off hand weapon, he raised his arm back, and thrust it forward, bringing a hail of fire with it, causing her to have to retreat.

Mikoto once again launched a volley of more trashcans, yet before they hit, the magician had closed distance, this time deciding to go on the offensive. Mikoto dodged and parried his blows, before finding a way to magnetize herself up a building. While she was up there, he raised a hand up to his helmet. Afterwards, he turned, his body language indicating a degree of panic.

Mikoto took this opportunity to attack again, launching 2 vending machines right after another. The first got an indirect hit on her enemy, slowing, staggering, and injuring him slightly. However, the second machine hit him head on, doing what could only be perceived as major injuries. Despite that, he somehow was able to get up and start moving again. However, he became immobilized, giving the Ace the chance to knock him out permanently via an exceptionally strong lighting strike.

She had started moving in the direction that she thought they had taken Touma, when she started feeling weird. She felt an overwhelming sensation that she knew where they had taken her crush, the Imagine Breaker, during her fight with one of the kidnappers. After a few minutes of navigating the alleys and roadways, she found him half out of the sack they had put him intro. As she drew closer, she noticed he was starting to stir, awakening from his drug induced sleep.

"You idiot! Why did they take you?! Are you alright?! Why were you on a date with Misaki?!" she yelled, barraging him with several questions simultaneously. "Hi Mikoto. I don't know why they took me, and I was out with Misaki because she said we used to know each other, but that I somehow forgot about her and was unable to remember her after she saved my life. She looked so hurt and relieved that I could remember her, that I couldn't turn her down" Touma replied.

Mikoto miraculously didn't feel like fighting him. A neutral observer who knew of her tsundere tendencies might say that it was peculiar that she didn't immediately attack him after he informed her of why he went out with her biggest rival. "Fine! You are going to have to go out with me sometime as a thanks for rescuing you though" she stated as she grabbed his phone and exchanged contact information with him. "I got your number, so I will call you to see when we can go out. NO OBJECTIONS!" she stated, adding the last part when it looked like he would object.

They both walked over to where Misaki and Lessar were starting to stir from their slumber, the effects of the sedatives wearing off. Misaki was the first to rush over and embrace Touma, much to Mikoto's chagrin. "My prince!" she cried. "I am so glad you are alright!" Mikoto immediately worked to pry Misaki off Touma. However, her problems increased when the New Light member jumped onto his back proclaiming loudly and publicly the myriad of lewd designs that she had for the resident of Academy City. They all headed back towards their various dorms. As they did so, an orange haired high schooler slunk through the shadows, heading in the opposite direction of the group, careful to remain unobserved by the Imagine Breaker and the plethora of girls that had a thing for him.

Noukan had a significant issue on his hands the day following the Imagine Breaker's kidnapping. A report about the incident from Judgement showed that there was an attack by people with powers developed unbeknownst to Academy City. The perpetrators were wielding stun batons and tranquilizer pistols: items regularly used for small-scale crowd control by Academy City police forces. They had incapacitated 2 young women, one of which was the level 5 Mental Out. That was something that gave many in Academy City cause for alarm. For Mental out to be unable to influence the mind of her attacker, along with the fact she was so easily incapacitated by some faction outside of the city that somehow breached the many lines of defense they had created after World War Three was alarming, to say the least. Noukan was unfazed, as he knew panic and vexation would only serve to distract himself from finding the solution to this problem.

Another issue for him was that the cameras in several areas across Academy City stopped working at some point during the attack. While he couldn't prove that the two were linked at this time, he had no doubt that this was not a simple case of fortuitous coincidence. No, either the kidnappers themselves took down the cctv, or some allied group did it. Another possibility that the Golden Retriever had to consider is that an unrelated third party did it themselves. After all, they found almost all the perpetrators scattered throughout that area of the city, dead and stripped of parts of their equipment that would have been able to provide him useful information. Was this possible third party an outside organization who happened to be opposed to the kidnappers? Did they seek the same end goal, but happened to be rivals? Perhaps they were a faction from within the city? If so, what were their goals? There were too many possibilities, not enough data as of right now, and not enough control for the variables for Noukan to begin to make any sort of hypothesis as to the situation. For now, he would have to sit and wait for more information before he could move forward with the investigation.

However, Noukan needed information quickly. Crowley's newest endeavor, Project Gemstone, produced unexpected yet useful results, even if said results came from the peculiar Doctor Cooper. However, the level 5 Railgun had destroyed the electrical grid and backup generators that kept the facility running, including the stasis pods for the specimens produced by the project. What further compounded issues was that said specimens had been programmed with a myriad of information, making each a capable combatant. Some were trained in medical and technical procedures, others for explosives, other for heavy weapons, etc. They were each designed to be able to fulfill a squad role, as Academy City was preparing in case of another attack by the "magicians" and allies to said group, as well for a future counter.

While Doctor Cooper was a competent scientist who produced amazing, if not expected results, he was still a man who even unnerved the Kiharas, who themselves were rather lax in the ethics department. Give Cooper a war crime, and he would concoct an experiment to produce spectacular results while at the same time fulfilling said moral travesty, it was said. While he and his fellow scientists were perfectly fine with committing atrocities in the name of science, they preferred for the atrocities to be an unfortunate result, rather than it be potentially one of the cornerstones of the experiment. This was, of course discounting the new scientist's rather unique deviant tastes. A shiver went down the dog's spine as he thought about the personal designs Cooper might have on him.

The next day Touma woke up feeling refreshed. The events of yesterday had left him exhausted, and he immediately collapsed once he got home. Even if he were to purchase a bed for himself and the other girls that live with him, finding room to house them all was becoming an issue. After all, he had Lessar, Othinus and Index living with him. However, his pondering of the circumstances he found himself in currently would be quickly interrupted by a loud banging on his door. "Kami-yan! Get out here! We have something we need to talk about!" Motoharu shouted. Grumbling to himself, Touma quickly got dressed and went to answer the door.

Motoharu was there with the biggest shit eating grin on his face. "So, Kami-yan! Heard you had a date with Metal Out, and got a future date reserved with Mikoto! Good job on getting progress towards your harem!" the obnoxious member of Delta Force said. "Yeah, yeah! They probably just wanted to be polite, that is all" Touma replied. "I still can't believe you are this dense Kami-yan. 4 years of schooling and you still have not picked up on the clues" Motoharu stated, shaking his head. "Your density is truly a wonder of science. Maybe you should sign up for some unique experiments. Just think of the progress in neurology we could make if we found out how – OUCH!" Tsuchimikado started in on him when he was violently accosted by his friend.

"All right, all right. On a more serious note, I heard you were attacked while out last night. Can you describe what they looked like, and what they were using?" he asked his neighbor. "Well, they were carrying police batons that were capable of emitting electricity with enough voltage to stun someone. They also had tranquilizer guns and some sort of small shield" Touma told him. "Hrm, that itself is pretty standard for Academy City police forces. The only thing off would be the small shield. Riot forces tend to carry large tower shields. What were they wearing?" the double agent asked him. "They were dressed in purple robes, with lighter colored chest armor. The helmets they wore had a face on it that looked like a cupid" Touma replied.

"That isn't good. I will have to report this to both the church and Academy City. Listen, Kami-yan, I need you to lay low for a while. We will have to make sure a magician is near you to protect you when you go out on your little dates" Motoharu told him. "Hey thanks… what was that about dates?" Touma asked, the weight of his friend's words finally hitting him. "Anyway, you better start getting ready for school" his friend told him.

Mr. Crowley got a report from one of his least favorite people: the double agent that was in his city. While he had shortened the "backstabbing blade's" leash considerably, he understood that he probably would need to work with the Anglican to deal with some of the issues regarding magicians entering the city. While the UK and the Church of England hadn't been a part of the allied forces that attacked Academy City, that didn't mean that they did not have designs on undermining his plans. On the contrary: they undoubtedly had plans to move against him at some point. They simply were not foolish enough to attack him until there was enough justification to do so. However, that didn't mean that he was not going to use this to his advantage.

After dealing with internal memos and such regarding the projects that were ongoing within the city, he called up the leader of the Anglican Church: Laura Stuart. "Good morning, my dear Crowley. To what do I owe this surprise?" the youthful looking woman asked him, feigning surprise. "I thought we could talk about working on the relations between Academy City and the Anglican Church." Crowley told her. "Oh, my that would be quite nice. However, if I do recall correctly, things were put on hold by Academy City, were they not?" she asked, feigning innocence.

Crowley knew she would play this angle. Unfortunately for her, he had the perfect rebuke for her. "Indeed. I am sure you can understand after the role the magic side had in instigating World War 3. However, I have reports of Anglican spies and magicians in our city, despite the diplomatic regulations we imposed." He brought up many magicians that she had in the city. Some were spies, other were magic users, including her favorite red headed flamer. "The fact that they are here is in direct opposition to the treaty we signed between our organizations. I would be well within my rights to dispose of these members of yours" he told her.

Laura didn't expect for Crowley to find this many. He was good, and she knew that. However, the improvements in his counter-espionage abilities, even after World War Three, had exceeded even her expectations. "Then what do you propose, my dear Alister?" she asked him. "My suggestion is that we will provide a dormitory flat for your agents to stay at. Since these magicians have designs on the Imagine Breaker, he shall be assigned to said dormitory as well, along with the roommates he currently has. However, all your agents shall have to procure guest identification, as well as be registered into a database, and undergo medical procedures that are required for all Academy City personnel that have lengthy stays in the city" he replied.

While Laura knew he had something up his sleeve, she couldn't refuse him. They both had similar nefarious plans, and many of the personnel that had been caught would be costly to replace. She decided to reluctantly agree, though not before adding her own conditions. "I can agree to that, Alister. However, I want to add my own condition. I would like to have invite Mr. Kamijou on a vacation with his friends. However, Academy City regulations are oh so difficult. Would you be letting them leave on a two-week vacation around Christmas time?" she asked. "That depends on the location you take them to. Where were you planning for them to vacation?" he asked. "The location I was thinking of was the state of Hawaii" she replied, knowing that Crowley would be willing to allow them to vacation in a country that didn't have as strong of a tradition in the magic side as Britain or the countries that instigated the Third World War. "Very well. However, I insist on having some of my agents travel with you" he replied.