Nina skated over to Hyde. She checked if he was okay. He was, but that wasn't the same for her. The sneak attack got her good. Though she acted fine, pain pounded across her body.

"You must be so proud, picking on the little kids," Nina directed the statement to Ruby. "Where did you learn your manners?"

Ruby chortled. "I'm only 17 so that means I'm also a kid, and school definitely is not a place to learn manners. Such a rundown institution can never teach students anything useful."

Nina scoffed. "A kid? Looking like that?" She eyed Ruby's attire. So much skin was exposed due to the crop top and short shorts. "More like a low standard bimbo. Stay in school."

"Charles!" Ruby growled, commanding him to use his ability, Thalassophobia.

His ability allowed him to increase the movement speed of himself or an ally. He could use it up to five times in quick successions.

"Calm down," He replied. "Don't get pulled into such an immature provocation." He patted her on the shoulders. "Follow my lead."

Almost instantly, he disappeared. Nina's gauge immediately filled. By the time she could react, Charles was behind her. Instinctively, she used her ability. She kicked a strip of wind at the ground, propelling herself. With a front flip, an attempt to kick Charles failed as he dodged it. She whipped out another arc of wind, fearing he'd charge at her. Instead, the wind tore his sweater vest at the waist as he tried to run from it. Then, she realized she was skating into the enemies' line. She pivoted to meet Vahn rushing at her. Launching a couple more wind strikes at him, the force propelled her away. He, however, was not affected.

"Nina!" Hyde called, warning her of Charles from her blindspot.

She was being flanked from the front and back. So, she ejected herself into the air. Ruby followed up by springing off Vahn's back. Nina tried to knock Ruby away with her last wind strike, but Ruby's ability was faster. Ruby's Lash Out emitted a series of wind whips out from all directions at short distances. Three lashes of wind sent Nina hurling at Charles. He performed a crescent kick at her face. She went spinning and rolling along the ground.

"Nina!" Hyde cried once again.

"You know," Luta nonchalantly spoke beside Hyde. Fear shot up Hyde's spine. He shook and shivered as Luta gave a piece of advice, "You can help her. Just use your ability."

Hyde did want to help, and he knew his ability could help. But there was no order to do so. No. That was an excuse. He was scared. Scared that it was a trick to shred his defenses for a weak, feeble movement impairment. Yet, he was so convinced that Nina needed his assistance. And that was the only thing he could do. Their composition was a bust from the beginning. A tear welled in his eye.

"Don't you dare," Nina grumbled through the pain. "Save your ability."

Charles huffed. "So young, so weak, yet so tenacious!" He gave her an applause. "No wonder you are part of the Sakura Assassins. However," he snapped his fingers, "I highly suggest you remove the 'Assassins' from your name. That is the last thing your guys are."

"Her tenacity is proof that the younger generations have potential to lead the future," Vahn stated. "So, to honour such potential, I'd rather you not ridicule them and their associations. I believe they are making good choices even if those choices do not look good to us."

Ruby made the sound of disgust, "Blegh. Save it for people who are not involved in the feud." She scratched behind her ear. The array of thin gold bracelets chimed against one another. "I really don't want to go soft on them."

"Do not get me wrong," Vahn said, turning to Ruby. "As much as I believe in their future, I also believe discipline is needed to solidify their resolution. I will not go easy on them."

"For some reason, I highly doubt that," Ruby replied, glaring at Vahn.

"And it is not my duty to convince you otherwise."

"Hey!" Nina shouted. "I'm still here! Don't you dare ignore me!" She stumbled onto her skates. She spat out blood. "I'm not finished yet! And like I said, this rabbit can bite!" After she grabbed a bottle of painkillers and popped one pill into her mouth, she began to move, rolling away from Hyde, hoping to pull the enemies as far away from him as possible.

Three of them did. Luta stayed by Hyde.

"Do you want to follow her?" Luta asked Hyde.

Hyde was still scared of Luta. There was no telling what he could do and would do. Was Luta truly being neutral? Or was it a ruse to break down their guards? Hyde did not know whether or not he should reply. He gulped in nervousness.

Rain started to pour.

"I-" Hyde managed to say.

"You don't want to hold her back?" Luta guessed.

Hyde nodded. "I want to fight."

"Then let's go! I'll help you-"

"You..." He waddled towards Luta. "I want to fight you."

Luta bursted out in laughter. "That was unexpected. But I understand. That can be helping her in a way." He crossed his arms to think. He exhaled. "But I can't. And you can't."

"Yes, I can!" Hyde retorted. "I-"

Luta bent down to meet eye to eye. "Listen... You and I are supports. Our attacks are futile compared to their abilities. You can barely move to swing a fist or a kick. And my hits will do little to nothing on you. If anything, I will be wasting my energy on you. Now, does that seem smart?" He erected his back and stretched his arms.

Hyde stood silent, knowing Luta was right. He gritted his teeth as he felt useless. His eyes wandered about while his mind raced to think of something. Then, he noticed a Wet icon at the top left of his view.

"Luta...?" Hyde said through his sniffles. Luta's eyes moved to Hyde. "Between us, supports, can you tell me about the Wet icon? It doesn't seem to do anything, but say that we are wet."

"Of course." Luta answered. "It is a special status when going up against us, Sirens, though I'm pretty sure other factions will bring it up as well. Some of our allies require our opponents to be 'wet' for our abilities to apply. And our Warlord's passive, a Water buff, can only be active when we are wet."

Hyde's breathing stopped for a second. His eyes widened. He knew Nina was in trouble. She bit off more than she could chew.