The Red Demon

Night Thirty Seven

Age 1991

Enforcers training room...

"What?" Kitsune said blinking slightly as he stared at the two adults. "I'm sorry can you repeat yourself."

"Certainly!" Jackson said nodding his head. "I said 'you need to fight, and defeat Dawson.' Exactly like that word for word." The young man stated as he shrugged slightly. "Now come on. We don't have all day. We only have this room reserved for a few hours. After this we gotta head back down to the base."

"You're completely glossing over the fact that you said we have to fight a powerful Enforcer!" The seven of them now stood in a massive state of the art training room. Jackson had taken the gang there after claiming it was their time to prove themselves. Once inside of the room he had finally told the five new recruits what their mission was. They had to defeat Dawson Blight. Kitsune was having a mini break down. They apparently had to fight, and best a seasoned Enforcer... An Enforcer who is stupidly strong, being just under Jackson Storm, who was just under Katrina.

The state of the art training room was a massive open space with nothing inside of it. All it was, was a white floor, white walls, and a white roof. There was millions of tiny lines that could be seen on the surface of the walls, roof, and floors. If a person looked close enough they would realize that the room was actually made up of many tiny squares all connected together. They appeared to be made out of a weird metal substances and seemed to have a tiny humming feel to them.

"You want all five of us to fight Dawson? Like all at the same time? Five on one?" Ken asked curiously. "I get that he is a full-fledged Enforcer member but... I still feel like that is pushing it to the extreme. Can he really handle all five of us?"

Jackson let out a chuckle as he gave a shrug. "If you really think it will be easy then you can take it up with Dawson." He said. "But you should know. Dawson is stronger than I am. Like way stronger. Like so strong we use him to calm Katrina down..."

"Why isn't he the Vice-Captain then?" Irene asked.

"Don't feel like it." Dawson shrugged.

"Okay but still..." Ken sighed. "Five on one? Are you sure he can handle that. We're all pretty strong. I don't want to accidently kill him."

"If you don't think I can, then be my guest to try and prove me wrong..." Dawson announced as he walked to the center of the room. He grabbed his Enforcer jacket taking it off and throwing it over to Jackson who caught it. "As it stands we can't bother with those who have no real desire to be here. Being in the Enforcers requires you to put in work and commitment. We are the last line of defense for Humanity. As such if I don't think you're fit, for this job you'll be sacked. If none of you can beat me then everyone of you will be kicked out on your first day." He stated. "Being an Enforcer doesn't mean you can't have fun, but you do still need to take the training seriously. It isn't just your life you put on the line, but the lives of the civilians. Even when you think you've reached your limit you should get back up, even if you are only able to fight for even a single second longer, that single second bought a fleeing civilian one second more than they had. If none of you can manage to hurt me then all of you will be expelled immediately!" He announced out as he threw his arms out.

Everyone in the room gulped slightly as they all took a step back. The once quiet man now stared at them like a hungry predator as he eyed each of them up. It seemed he found the idea of hunting them down to be enjoyable...

"For this training, I won't be getting involved!" Jackson announced as he crossed his arms. "I won't give advice to either you, or Dawson. I'll simply be watching all of you. I'll also be turning the level up every few minutes..."

"The level up?" Irene questioned raising an eyebrow.

"This is a state of the art battle ground simulator designed with the purpose of pushing a person to their very limits. It starts off at level one and ends at level one hundred." Jackson explained. "During your fight with Dawson, I will slowly begin to up each level making the battlefield and condition of the battlefield change, causing them to get harder and harder. You'll have to adapt to survive. If you can't do that then you have no place being here. And the first level." He hit a button causing the room to glow and change as it formed several large buildings. "A city! A stone jungle. Dawson has the advantage in this place."

"That doesn't seem very fair..." Kitsune said.

"An Enforcer doesn't get to pick their battleground. That's decided by the enemies." Jackson stated seriously. His seemingly jokester like persona was gone. He seemed to now be taking the situation completely serious as he crossed his arms. "Good luck."

"How long do we have to win?" Hero questioned.

"You have as long as it takes..." Dawson stated. "When I feel like you can no longer go on and I might accidentally kill you I'll call it then..."

"I get it." Light nodded. "I am glad that I get to fight with Big Brother Hero. Our souls with connect with this fight-"

"Light be my meat shield."

"Yes Big Brother!" Light announced moving in front of Hero with his arms out. "You'll have to get past me if you want to harm Big Brother!"

"Begin." Jackson announced.

There was a moment of silence that passed as no one said a word. It was completely silent. Then breaking the silence a quiet rumbling could be heard. The floor vibrated slowly, but not enough to trip, or break anything. It was small and barely noticeable.

A few more seconds ticked by as everyone stood there unmoving.

"Aren't you going to attack us?" Kitsune questioned as he eyed up the man. "You're just standing there... Menacingly..."

"No..." Dawson stated calmly. "If I go on the attack it will be over in a matter of seconds... Right now I'll simply stay on the defensive and let you guys work it out. Oh! And while you do technically have as much time as you want to try and beat me I would suggest hurrying. We only have this room for a few hours..."

A few more seconds passed in total silence as everyone thought about what they should do. Finally, Hero stepped forward.

"Here goes nothing..." Hero stated as he marched forward sliding his right arm up as he rolled back the sleeve.

"Your plan is just a frontal assault?" Dawson asked curiously. "That's... I would recommend against it strongly."

"Yeah I'm not to good at coming up with plans." Hero said giving a half smirk. His right arm glowed as it began to form his anti Bestia Macht weapon, arm of miracles. "Get ready. I'll start this off with my best attack."

"So that's his Cursed Life Technique?" Ken asked. "I was to bust fighting Shelly to notice it earlier."

"I also haven't seen it." Irene nodded.

"Well..." Kitsune sighed. "As much as I hate to say it... Hero's arm is strong. Very strong. Able to produce heat, and sound in burst attacks, he bend metal around forming claws, and feathers."

"My Big Brother sure is amazing." Light nodded.

"You knew who Hero was before even I did right Light?" Kitsune asked. "So you should know more about him than me?"

"Well... Not exactly..." Light said scratching his chin. "I mean I never really knew him. The other me knew him. And that was in the lab before he had his powers. Back then we all thought just his little brother would be the one to have powers. Next thing I know I'm in the ground then years later I see big brother once again and he has his own powers and is trying to be an Enforcer. That was earlier today."

"Get ready." Hero announced running forward as he raised his right arm. It grew in size as he slammed it into the ground digging his hand into the stone floor. The ground glowed as a large pillar of energy fired out of the ground. "Lot's Salt!" He yelled sending a massive beam at Dawson.

Dawson side stepped the beam of vibrating sound energy which slashed through a building behind him turning the building into salt which rained down. Hero ripped his arm out of the ground and jumped into the air bringing his arm up as his feathers sprouted out around the entire limb and the arm began to spin at a fast speed bending the wind around it and becoming a fast drill.

"Blowing Winds!" Hero yelled sending out a massive tornado and swinging his fast spinning arm down towards the man. "Take this! It'll shred anything it touches!"

Dawson simply grunted as he reached out catching the giant spinning limb, his fingers dug into it as he grabbed a hold of it and stopped its rapid spinning making Hero's eyes go wide. With a twist of his hand, he threw the arm away from him which dragged Hero away. Hero let out a yelp as he crashed into the wall. Dawson didn't have a moment to rest though as instantly he had to block a sword swing from Kitsune. The sheathed blade bounced off his hand harmlessly as he backhanded the boy away sending him flying back as well.

Kitsune spun in the air landing on the ball of his feet as he lowered the blade down to his side. "Wanfokkususutoraiku!" Kitsune announced slashing his blade out so fast he appeared behind Dawson using his explosive line strike that split the metal box in half earlier.

"That's a dumb name." Dawson said back flipping and dodging the line of flames. His foot came out slamming into the back of Kitsune's head throwing the boy back.

Ken suddenly appeared up above Dawson as she raised her arm up. She held one of her long black needles which she tried to use to impale the man stabbing down. Dawson smirked and held his left arm out as red tendrils seemed to spill out of his arm wrapping around it like a red armor. He reached up with his arm catching the needle and swinging Ken straight into the ground shattering it. He brought her up and swung as fast as he could letting go of the needle and sending the girl flying towards Irene.

Irene jumped to the left narrowly dodging the flying Ken who let out a loud cry. "I'll save you, girl that may or may not be in love with my big brother." Light yelled jumping forward and catching the flying girl. However Ken was flying back with so much force she just slammed through Light causing them to both crash into the wall.

"Oww..." They both groaned.

"Wow... Everyone's out already..." Irene sighed. "And as usual it's up to me to do everything... I swear they are just as bad as my siblings..." Irene raised her arms up as a large ball of ice formed around the size of a large car. "Take this!" She yelled throwing it towards the man.

Dawson stepped forward as hard as he could slamming his head into the brick of ice and shattering it.

"H... How the hell did he do that?" Irene asked in shock.

As the ice fell to the ground all the kids stared in shock as Dawson's entire head was replaced with the red tendrils that were wrapped around his arm.

"He's a transformation type like me and Ken but... He can do more than just his arm, and heart?" Hero asked letting out a small hiss of pain as he stared at the man.

"That's right..." Hero jumped slightly at the voice. He turned to see Jackson was crouched down next to him. "Your ability resides within your arm. Ken's is within her heart. Like you two though Dawson is a transformation type. However his is a rare case. His doesn't involve making weapons. It involves making armor. Dawson's ability lies within his muscle fibers allowing him to make those fibers harder than any metal on this planet and wrap around his flesh like an armor. This ability is known as... The Red Demon."

"Aww and its got a cool name..." Hero sighed.

"Well any plans to take him down?" Jackson asked giving a small smirk.

As they watched Dawson his entire body and clothing was covered by his muscle fibers covering him head to toe. Large red horns came out of his head as well as red fangs. Red claws stabbing out of his hands as well as a large red tail forming out of him. It was starting to become clear while he was called the red demon... The only part of him that could be seen was a pair of glowing yellow eyes. The demon raised his arm up sending out a large red tendril which wrapped around a building. He pulled it down launching himself into the air allowing him to swing from building to building.

"Wow he's fast..." Hero said looking around the man as he launched from building to building.

"He's strong. You'll never beat him in head on attacks." Jackson nodded.

"Guess I have no choice then." Hero said reaching into his pants.

"Hmm?"

"It's time for my secret weapon!" Hero announced pulling his short sword out and pointing it towards Dawson. "Wolfs Bane!"