"LET'S GOOOOOO!" Ryuji cheered as he dashed forward and smashed his mace directly into the floating jewel.
CRACK!
"Come on, loser!"
"Skull, don't bully it!" Orihime yelled.
Ryuji almost missed his follow-up swing because he turned to look at her. "Hime?! It's literally called a Treasure Demon!"
"That doesn't mean you have to be mean!"
"It's a demon!"
"That doesn't mean anything! Half our friends are demons!"
"...Shit, fair."
Ren ignored them.
The jewel had cracked.
Not just damaged either. Something was moving inside it.
His Third Eye focused as pale light leaked through the fracture, the outer shell splitting open enough for some weird ghostlike thing to spill halfway out before snapping backward.
Fast.
Really fast.
Ren's eyes narrowed.
He'd seen something like that recently.
Rukia.
Not exactly the same, but close enough for his brain to immediately start doing something stupid.
Yoruichi had been drilling movement into him and Shiho. Don't waste motion. Stay balanced. Move from the ground up. Use the smallest movement possible.
And Ren had watched Rukia move.
His Third Eye had caught pieces of it.
Not enough to understand what the hell she was doing.
But maybe enough to try something.
'Mon ami,' Arsène warned.
Ren smiled.
Wind gathered around his legs.
"Garu!"
He pushed.
The world vanished.
"WOAH! TOO FAST!"
Ren shot past the Treasure Demon so quickly that Ryuji stopped fighting just to stare.
"The fuck?!"
Ren had approximately no control over what was happening, but the Treasure Demon was suddenly beside him and instinct took over. He twisted as hard as he could, dragged his dagger straight through its ghostlike body as he blew past, then yanked out his handgun and fired over his shoulder.
BANG!
The shot hit.
Ren did not stop.
"Oh shit."
A golden wall was rapidly becoming his entire field of vision.
He slammed a foot down, twisted the way Yoruichi had drilled into him and managed to turn what would have been a direct collision into a horrible sideways skid.
He still crashed shoulder-first into a display.
"Ow."
"JOKER!" Ann yelled.
"I'm good!"
Ryuji stared at him.
Shiho stared at him.
Morgana stared at him.
Even Yusuke had stopped moving.
Ryuji finally pointed.
"What the hell was THAT?!"
Ren pushed himself upright and rubbed his shoulder.
"Testing something."
"TESTING WHAT?!"
"It didn't work."
"You crossed the room in half a second!"
"Exactly. Too fast."
Shiho narrowed her eyes. "You didn't know that was going to happen."
"No."
"Of course you didn't."
Ren shrugged.
"Now I do."
Shiho looked like she wanted to hit him.
The Treasure Demon slammed into Ryuji's back while they were arguing.
"AGH! YOU LITTLE SHIT!"
"Skull!" Morgana yelled.
"I'm good!"
Ryuji spun around with his mace.
The Treasure Demon was already gone.
"...Okay, that's annoying."
"No shit!" Morgana snapped. "I told you they run!"
Ann's whip cracked across the room before he finished talking, snapping around the Treasure Demon's middle as it tried to dart past her.
"Got you!"
She pulled.
The thing stopped.
For about half a second.
Then it yanked her forward.
"Whoa!"
Shiho caught Ann around the waist before she went flying.
"Thanks!"
"No problem! Hit it!"
"Carmen! Agi!"
Carmen appeared in a burst of blue fire, smiling as Ann's whip lit up in her hands. Flames ran down the length of it before exploding around the Treasure Demon.
It shrieked.
Ryuji grinned.
"Nice!"
"I know!"
The fire loosened Ann's whip, and the Treasure Demon slipped through before she could tighten it again.
It shot directly toward Yusuke.
Yusuke raised his katana, eyes following the strange creature with obvious fascination.
Goemon appeared behind him.
"Stop staring and freeze the bastard."
Yusuke blinked.
"...Quite."
"Bufu."
Ice exploded across the floor.
The Treasure Demon swerved away from the spell so sharply that it nearly doubled back into itself.
Yusuke frowned.
"Fast."
"No shit," Goemon said, taking his pipe from his mouth. "Quit aiming where it is."
Yusuke's eyes narrowed.
"Where it will be."
"Obviously."
Ren snorted.
Yeah.
That was definitely Yusuke.
The Treasure Demon darted again.
Yusuke waited this time.
It juked left around Ryuji, bounced away from Morgana's cutlass and headed toward the largest gap in the group.
Exactly where Yusuke was looking.
"Now."
"Bufu."
Ice burst in front of it instead of underneath it.
The Treasure Demon slammed directly into the freezing air and bounced backward.
Yusuke's lips curled upward.
"Beautiful."
Goemon snorted.
"Hit it."
"Right."
Yusuke swung.
His katana clipped the Treasure Demon and sent it spinning toward Morgana.
"Mine!"
Morgana leapt.
Zorro appeared with him, the two cutting across the Treasure Demon with cutlass and rapier before Morgana kicked off its side.
"Garu!"
Wind detonated against it and threw it upward.
Morgana landed on top of a display case.
Perfectly.
He looked down at everyone.
"That is how—"
His back foot slipped.
"AH!"
He vanished behind the display.
THUD.
Silence.
Ryuji slowly pointed.
"Professional thief."
"SHUT UP! I'M FINE!"
Orihime immediately started toward him.
"I'm fine, Hime!"
"You fell on your head!"
"That's not unusual for him," Ren said.
"JOKER!"
The Treasure Demon dropped out of the air.
Orihime turned.
Her gun came up almost immediately.
BANG!
The Treasure Demon jerked sideways.
Orihime blinked.
"Oh! I hit it!"
"Again!" Maria encouraged brightly.
BANG!
She shot it again.
"Ow!" the Treasure Demon cried.
Orihime froze.
"Oh no."
Ryuji stared at her.
"Hime."
"I'm sorry!"
BANG!
She shot it a third time.
Ryuji's mouth dropped open.
"YOU'RE STILL SHOOTING IT!"
"It's trying to get away!"
"YOU YELLED AT ME FOR BULLYING IT!"
"I SAID I WAS SORRY!"
Ren fired too.
BANG!
"Sorry."
Orihime looked at him.
Ren shrugged.
"Didn't want you to feel singled out."
"Thank you!"
"WHY IS THAT SWEET?!" Ryuji yelled.
The Treasure Demon suddenly changed directions and shot toward Ren.
Fast.
Ren shifted his feet.
Wind started gathering.
Shiho immediately pointed her spear at him.
"No."
Ren stopped.
"What?"
"Whatever you just did? No."
"It worked."
"You crashed into a wall."
"After it worked."
"Ren."
"Fine."
Shiho moved instead.
Nothing supernatural.
Just clean.
Yoruichi's training showed in the way she stepped out of the Treasure Demon's path at the last possible second, barely moving farther than she needed to while Scáthach appeared over her shoulder.
"Now."
Shiho's spear snapped upward.
The Treasure Demon dodged.
Scáthach flicked two fingers.
"Snap."
A rune slammed into its side with a sharp crack.
Its dodge broke.
Shiho grinned.
"Got you."
Her spear drove into its side and launched it away from Ren.
Ren blinked.
"Show-off."
"You launched yourself across the room!"
"I was testing something."
"YOU KEEP SAYING THAT LIKE IT MAKES IT BETTER!"
"Guys!" Morgana shouted. "FOCUS!"
The Treasure Demon was moving again.
Or trying to.
Ryuji came out of nowhere.
"ZIO!"
Captain Kidd roared behind him as lightning crashed straight down onto the Treasure Demon.
It spasmed.
Ryuji's mace hit it immediately afterward.
CRACK!
Another piece of the jewel shell shattered.
"Ohhh, that sounded expensive."
Morgana's eyes lit up.
"It probably is!"
Ren looked at him.
Morgana looked at Ren.
They both looked at the Treasure Demon.
Ryuji noticed.
"Oh no."
Ren smiled.
Morgana smiled.
"Money," they said together.
"YOU TWO ARE WORSE THAN ME!" Ryuji yelled.
The Treasure Demon tried to flee.
Ann's whip caught it again.
"Nope!"
It twisted away.
Orihime shot it.
Yusuke threw ice into its escape route.
It changed direction.
Morgana hit it with Garu and sent it right back toward the center.
There wasn't really a plan anymore.
It was just getting mugged.
Ryuji hit it.
Shiho stabbed it.
Ann set it on fire.
Orihime apologized while shooting it.
Yusuke kept trying to predict where it would dodge while Goemon insulted him whenever he overthought it.
"Left."
"I know."
"Then why are you looking right?"
"...A feint."
"Bullshit."
Yusuke immediately turned left.
"Bufu!"
The Treasure Demon bounced directly off the ice and into Ren.
"Oh."
Ren caught it.
Or tried to.
The ghostlike body slipped halfway through his arms and sent a cold shiver through his entire body.
"EW!"
Ren reflexively punched it.
Everyone stared.
The Treasure Demon hit the floor.
Ren stared at his fist.
"...I panicked."
Ryuji burst out laughing.
"DID YOU JUST PUNCH THE GHOST?!"
"It touched me!"
"YOU'RE THE GUY WHO TALKS TO GHOSTS!"
"Not inside my body!"
"That's fair," Shiho admitted.
"Thank you!"
The Treasure Demon shook itself and tried to rise.
Morgana's eyes widened.
"Don't let it move! If it gets enough space, it's gone!"
"Everyone jump it!" Ryuji yelled.
"That's not a strategy!" Morgana shouted.
Ren raised his handgun.
"Works for me."
"JOKER!"
Ryuji grinned.
"LOOT GOBLIN MODE!"
He charged.
Ren charged with him.
The others followed.
The Treasure Demon looked at the seven approaching thieves.
For the first time since the fight began, it stopped trying to look intimidating.
Actually, was it shivering?
---