Since good ol' Clayboi remarked that I ended the last one with a cliffhanger, I decided to try and expand on it... only to again end with a cliffhanger since I'm kinda tired right now. This one's a little less action oriented and probably shorter... but yeah, that's that.

"You did what!?"

Lady Tsunade raised her voice in surprise after hearing the report. The ANBU member present, the pink-haired Yukitsuki Asaka, stepped back reflexively.

"How was I supposed to know that they would start an @ll-out duel that would eventually begin ripping through Konoha Forest?" she argued.

"Yukitsuki, you're supposed to be the empathic one out of the trio, remember?" Tsunade folded her arms over her (annoyingly) large chest. "It's practically your job to balance out Scarbucks's volatile temperament and Teal's apathetic aura. That's why you're paired with them for Kami's sake!"

"So what do you want me to do?" she asked.

"Shut them down. Use force if you need to. That would be the preferrable route, especially considering their... ferocious rivalry."

Asaka sighed. "So you want me, a random member of ANBU, to take on two full-fledged Copycats?"

"Yukitsuki, don't discredit yourself." Tsunade sh0ok her head. "First of all, you're a Copycat too, albeit just in training. You're different from them, too..."

"But..." Asaka's voice faltered. "You wanted me to keep that a secret from those two! Nobody was supposed to know that I was studying Irregular Copycat Jutsu! And now you're-"

"Besides, you'll have backup." Tsunade ignored her, beckoning a blue-haired Water Release user from the shadows nearby. "After all, you've got Kimmy here to help you as well. You've met, right?"

"Of course." Kimmy nodded curtly. "Yukitsuki and I have worked together in a previous mission."

"That's all I have to say on this matter," said Tsunade. "Please, do try to make sure they don't destroy the entire Land of Fire."

"Will do."

The two began to walk out. They moved in silence for a while; then, once they left the village gates and had nobody listening in, Kimmy spoke up.

"Jesus christ, was there like a war here or something?"

"That's how they always are." Asaka rolled her eyes. "They always take their rivalry super seriously."

A short distance away from the village gates was an enormous crater, littered with snapped trees and embers. Standing in the middle was a Copycat projection of Deva Path Pain, in the process of his ultimate jutsu. A fairly large floating sphere was levitating above the crater, and Deva Path was staring straight at it.

"Chibaku Tensei."

The sphere suddenly imploded on itself, crushing whoever or whatever was inside.

"Thought you're... so tough, huh Teal? Next time, why don't you... actually attack me instead of a haze clone?"

At these words, Deva Path snapped to attention.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

A flurry of fireb@lls were suddenly lobbed in the air, hitting the ground surrounding Deva Path. Without batting an eye, he uttered a counter.

"Almighty Push."

The flames ricocheted back like bouncy rubber b@lls, leaping to and fro all around the surrounding crater and into the forest nearby. A burst of heat leapt right past Kimmy's face, prompting her to speak.

"I must ask before we begin; what is this Irregular Copycat Jutsu that you speak of?"

Asaka glanced at the Hokage anxiously, awaiting permission to speak of this topic. Tsunade nodded, affirming that Kimmy could be trusted.

"You know how most Copycats are, right?" said Asaka as the two turned to face the dueling Copycats.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I'm a little different. You'll see exactly how in a bit."

•••

Inside the duel zone, the battered but determined Scarbucks Coffee pulled his weary Deidara copy to its feet. Everything had been going so well... until Teal sent out this Deva Path copycat that he had seemingly acquired within the past few months. Scar had never heard of any of the sort, which was odd since Teal usually didn't keep secrets from his rival.

"This is bad," he murmured. "With that Almighty Push, we won't be able to harm him with Ninjutsu. That leaves my Taijutsu users, but..."

He paused, narrowly shoving his Deidara out of the path of an incoming burst of lightning.

"Why don't you... be more gentle, hmm?" grumbled the copy begrudgingly. "I mean, it's not like you took a Bashosen to the face!"

"You managed to take out his Tenten before she unleashed the Five-Element Rout on our entire squadron," said Scar. "For that, you changed the tide of battle, even if you were forced to take the brunt of the blast."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "And what good does that do my art, hmm?"

"Never mind." Scar turned his attention to the Deva Path, who was slowly advancing towards him. "Eight-Gates Lee. Hit it!"

"On it." The cayenne-skinned brawler disappeared in a flash before rushing behind Pain; with blinding movements, he rushed circles around him. Deva Path tried to retaliate, but to no avail.

"Konoha Hurrica-"

Lee's brash cry was suddenly interrupted by an enormous slug teleporting onto his face.

"What the-" Scar stared. "Teal, since when did YOU have Sailor Sakura recorded in your Copycat Log? I didn't know you were into that kind of thing."

"It wasn't me!" From the other side of the battlefield, his opponent (flanked by GNW forms of Kiba and Akamaru, protecting him from harm) shouted back.

"Yeah, it was me."

Droplets of water began to materialize around Deva Path; he tried to Almighty Push !t away, but to no avail. The water formed into the shape of a person: a familiar Water Style user and a fellow ANBU member. With practiced elegance, she hit Pain with a hard uppercut, sending him flying into the air and hurtling onto the ground.

"Well, if it isn't the Ocean Devil herself." Scar chuckled. "Kimi, what brings you here?"

"Why are you intruding in our duel?" asked Teal.

"We're here to stop you before you cause any more damage." Asaka joined Kimmy in the middle of the battlefield. "I know you. The two of you are so desperate to prove that you're better than the other."

"We'll single-handedly prove that we're better than both of you!" proclaimed Kimmy.

"Heh, we'll see about that, won't we?" Teal smirked. "Besides, exactly who in this group has both a Deva Path and a Minato at their fingertips?"

"Your Copycat roster isn't everything, and you should know that by now." Asaka giggled at her partner's naive attitude. "I would've thought that you knew that by now. But no, you still keep spending your coupons on ninjas."

"When I spent my coupons on this Sage Jiraiya, there was no way in heck I could've known that I was going to get info on Sage Jiraiya from a Seal Scroll!" protested Scar. "That was just bad luck."

"So everything bad that happens to you is just bad luck?" Kimmy raised an eyebrow. "Well then, we're going to prove you wrong."

"Oh, it's so on."