CHAPTER 20: CAZUYA MISSION PART 1

It's morning. Everyone's eating cereal, and Rinka finishes his first. Then looks around, pulling attention.

Rinka: … Hey, guys.

They all look, listen attentively.

Rinka: I need to help Iwo with something and I want your guy's help. Tell them about it, Iwo.

Iwo stops eating and sets his spoon aside.

Iwo: There's a place near Tuviol that is responsible for several illegal underground rings in the area. Lots of people are forced to fight and die every day.

Imma-Ite: What the hell?

Maya: For real!?

Iwo: Very real. I was once in these underground rings, a victim to the horrors… Anyways, I want to go to the place responsible and kill all the kingpins running the rings!

Rinka: … Do we have to kill them?

Iwo: That is ideal.

Rinka: … I kinda can't let you kill anyone right now, due to a deal I made with the Guardians.

Iwo: What?

Rinka: If you kill anyone, they'll arrest us.

Iwo: … How do they know if I kill anyone?

Rinka: I don't know, but they'll probably find out, so we shouldn't risk it. Let's just arrest the kingpins… Maybe we can even get a Guardian to help us with this.

...

The teleportation orb fades, now everyone's in Cazuya, another town, filled with tons of large wooden buildings, and sheltered in lights that give the feeling of a big parade. The gang's on a roof, hiding. The place is crowded.

Rinka: So Iwo, what do we do?

Iwo: I looked at my info, the 3 kingpins live around here, somewhere. It's up to us to find them.

Iwo pulls his phone out and shares a photo of the three.

Iwo: I think they're as strong as me, and they're names are Domp, Jone, and Sodrin. Let's hurry up and find them!

Rinka: Okay, well, let's split up.

Rinka looks at Minaro, then at Iwo.

Rinka: you two are a pair.

Minaro: … Really? But I tried to kill this guy yesterday.

Rinka: That's why. You two need to get along.

Minaro and Iwo glance at each other.

Minaro: I don't think this guy even wants to be in a pair with me.

Iwo: It's fine. I don't really care, I just want to find the 3 kingpins as fast as possible.

Minaro: … But I killed your friends.

Iwo: Yeah, you did. I despise you for that, but there's nothing I can do about it. I've moved on, and all I want is to complete my mission!

…

Rinka and Doa are running through the crowd. Minaro and Iwo are sprinting from roof to roof. Maya, Imma-Ite, and Ashi are jogging down the back streets. And Bukkaru is asleep, somewhere.

…

The crowd's overwhelming, so Rinka begins to, and loses sight of Doa. But she immediately returns, holds his hand, and takes him to an empty side of the lane. The hand-holding continues, and only Rinka is shyly aware of it.

Doa: Shit, man. There's so much traffic here! Why did we think it'd be a good idea to go this way? We should have stayed on the roofs!

Rinka: … Yeah.

She lets go of his hand.

Doa: … Are we gonna break into places, or just walk in?

Rinka: … Uh, let's walk in, and then break in!

Doa titters.

Doa: What does that even mean?

…

Minaro and Iwo are making their way to the largest building in the town, people stare. They stand outside its entrance and gaze.

Iwo: Alright, I'll make a rock staircase. So we can skip all these other floors, because the big boss is usually at the top.

Minaro: That's a dumb idea. It'll give us too much attention, and what if the big boss isn't at the top?

Iwo: What do you suggest we do then?

Minaro: Walk in and go up, like normal.

Iwo opens the door, and they walk in. The people inside gawk. Minaro and Iwo ignore the bunch and wait for an elevator, eventually going into it.

…

Maya, Imma-Ite, and Ashi step into a bar. Lots of people are around, and they quickly notice a kingpin, Jone, sitting at a stool, looking at his phone.

The gang huddles and whispers.

Imma-Ite: That's the dude!

Maya: Yeah! How do we confront him?

Imma-Ite: I say we kick everyone out and then beat his ass.

Maya: … How do we do that?

Imma-Ite points at Jone.

Imma-Ite: Jone! We've come to beat your ass! And arrest you too!

Everybody's gawking, Jone doesn't look bothered.

Jone: … Everyone, leave. It seems I have something important to attend to.

The people listen and dip. Afterwards, Jone smiles oddly.

Jone: Take a seat, friends. Let's discuss our problems professionally.

The gang's confused.

Imma-Ite: What?

Jone: … Let's solve whatever problem you have with me, by discussing, intelligently.

Imma-Ite: What?

Jone: … Let us discuss the problem at hand like gentlemen.

Imma-Ite: What?

Jone's a little ticked.

Jone: Instead of fighting, we just sit down and talk about what the problem is. And resolve it, peacefully.

Imma-Ite: … What - The Fuck! That's boring as hell!

…

Rinka and Doa invade the hub of an underground ring. The people inside get rowdy. The kingpin, Sodrin, can be seen standing up and raising a sword high. Guards in the vicinity attempt to calm the ruckus.

Doa: I'll take care of the goons, you get the main guy!

Doa shoots magic bullets at the guards. Rinka runs to Sodrin and swings his katana. It's intercepted by the other weapon.

Sodrin: Who the heck are you guys?

Rinka: We're here to arrest you!

Sodrin laughs.

Sodrin: Is that so?

The guards are hit, stopping them in their tracks for a moment. Doa dashes by and strikes them all multiple times, and with a good couple of blows, they fall unconscious.

Rinka: … Doa! Let's do the thing we did against Rank 6!

The onslaught of bullets quickly arrives and hits Sodrin, totally paralyzing him. Rinka turns into lightning, zooms around, and repeatedly hits him too.

The combo's going great until Sodrin snaps his fingers and a shockwave is produced, launching Rinka away.

Sodrin: … I'm not going down that easily!

…

Minaro and Iwo reach the last floor, all the way at the top, where they find the kingpin, Domp, eating.

Iwo's extremely angry.

Iwo: … I don't care if it leads to my arrest. I wanna kill this bitch!

Minaro: Alright. Do it!

"... Oh, shit. Wait. If this guy dies, Rinka will get arrested too."

Domp: Uh, what? Arrest? Kill me?

Minaro and Iwo dash towards Domp, who immediately creates a scythe out of the light in the room, and starts flailing it around.

Domp: I don't know who you people are, but I'll kill you! How dare you interrupt my meal!

Iwo: I'M gonna kill you, bastard!

Minaro brings out both of his rifts and releases rays.

"... If Rinka gets arrested… I'll think of a solution later."

Domp dodges the rays, but is struck by a rock pillar from Iwo, and slams into a wall. Minaro appears in front of him, punch with a small quasar in hand, coming.

The punch connects, and the quasar explodes, however, Domp is unharmed due to the fact he swiftly protected himself with a shield made of light. Next, he dashes elsewhere.

Iwo: C'mon! Let's overwhelm the hell out of him!

He raises his armaments. Iwo creates another stone pillar that heads for him, and this time avoids.

Minaro emerges near him again and punches his stomach, blasting him to the wall once more. Then Minaro's Ultimate Skill is activated.

Several clones manifest, each with their own rifts, and they release a bunch of lasers. But anew, Domp is safe behind his shield. Therefore, the beams go past him and make a massive hole in the wall, and a visual impact on the townsfolk.

Minaro's breathing heavily, and Domp's smug.

Domp: All of that for nothing!

No time is wasted. Iwo slams multiple rock pillars into Domp's side. He crashes into a wall, blood spews out his mouth, and 2 of his ribs have been broken.

He quickly stands up, Minaro shoots a massive wave of ice at him, and his shield blocks him from harm.

Iwo hurls several boulders at Domp and raises a rock roof over everything, negating all light, causing his shield and scythe to disappear. He looks worried.

He tries his best to dodge the rocks thrown but is hit by two, and knocked down. The roof subsides, Iwo steps on his back, and Minaro looms over.

Iwo: … You'll pay for all the pain you've caused.

Domp trembles while trying to stand up.

Domp: I'll kill you both.

He uses his Ultimate Skill.

"Steel Impact".

Hundreds of steel spikes and balls fly out of him which hit Minaro and Iwo, and the entire building's top is ripped open.

Blood drips from Iwo's face and chest, and from small wounds on Minaro, who's on the floor, looking up.

Domp notices the black blood. He's excited, eyes widened.

Domp: Oh! You have Black Blood!? This is amazing, my luck is outstanding!

He stands up.

Iwo: Minor setback, I'm still gonna kill you.

Iwo rushes towards Domp, who creates another scythe and swings it around. Iwo produces more rock pillars which he swings like blades at Domp. He jumps over the pillars but is suddenly hit during the action by Minaro.

He smacks into a wall, sliding down after, and quickly standing up next.

…

Seated at stool, Imma-Ite stares vacantly, intensely, at a contract. Jone taps his fingers on a table, impatiently. Maya naps, snores beside them.

Imma-Ite: Man, I don't know what any of this means.

Jone: … Well, I don't know what to tell you.

Imma-Ite stands up and unleashes his sword.

Imma-ite: … Let's just fight! I can't handle all this smart paperwork!

He aggressively taps Maya's shoulder and she wakes up. Jone raises his fist up and runs to them.

Imma-Ite: Maya, tie him up!

She launches strings, Jone dodges them but they swerve and cut him. Regardless, he closes in and throws a punch at Maya, but is blown away by some heavy wind before the connection.

Ashi's fighting for the first time, catching the attention of the gang.

Maya: Ashi! You're gonna fight with us!?

Ashi: Yeah! I- I wanna help!

Imma-Ite: Cool!

Imma-Ite moves, he tries to slash Jone as he stands, but Jone makes a force field. Then he quickly strikes Imma-Ite in the stomach. Maya moves to the conflict.

Maya and Imma-Ite simultaneously, repeatedly attack, sharp strings and sharp slashes, rough punches and rough kicks are thrown out, even so Jone dodges it all, and even strikes back.

The two are then pushed back by another force field. And subsequently, Jone's Ultimate Skill comes out.

"Dragon Fortitude."

A red aura surrounds him, he's been greatly powered up.

…

Guardian, Rimin, walks into the town. He looks around and spots the tower in which Minaro and Iwo are fighting Domp.

"... Those assholes really sent me to help these guys? I was hoping they'd be dead by the time I got here."

He sighs.

"... I shouldn't have to help these guys, I hate them. They're all wrong."

He abruptly remembers what Defei had told Rinka during the call.

…

"If any of those 7 Skillers kill anyone, I'll have you arrested, and have them killed. Okay?"

…

Rimin smiles, gripping his sword tightly.

"... I know what to do … They'll pay for working with the Skillers."

…

Imma-Ite is aggressively hit in the belly, Maya is viciously hit in the face. Ashi uses all her energy to produce a large gust of wind to push the advancing Jone away, but nothing happens, except the aura around him growing. He dynamically punches Ashi's chin.

Blood is pouring out of Imma-Ite's mouth, he watches Jone just continuously kick Maya.

"... His punches are way too strong, like Minaro's!"

Jone leaves her alone and makes his way to the spectator.

"... We're weak, dude!"

He prepares to stomp on Imma-Ite, when suddenly, something jumps past him and slashes his eye. He cries out and touches the bleeding thing.

Bukkaru hisses at Jone. Imma-Ite's shocked.

"What? Bukkaru!?"

Jone: … A cat!? Such a pointless creature!

Jone brutally kicks Bukkaru into the wall. Imma-Ite's heart drops.

Imma-Ite: What the hell is wrong with you!? You just hit a cat!

Jone: It scratched me! That's what it fucking gets!

Jone decides to do the same to Imma-Ite, and kick him to a wall. And, the moment after, Jone trembles as a threatening, huge aura makes itself known, introduced by a familiar deep voice.

"That really hurt, man."

Jone turns, he's face to face with a big, literally black, extremely buff man, who has massy, spiky, and puffy Black hair, cat ears over it, intimidating cat eyes, and a big tail that's waving around.

Imma-Ite's on the floor, weary, yet stunned.

Imma-ite: … Bukkaru?

Bukkaru: … Yeah. I'm here!

Imma-ite: … What the fuck? I'm hallucinating in my final moments!

Bukkaru: This is no hallucination my friend! I'm really here!

It's time for Bukkaru to fight for the first time, in his ideal, marvelous human form as well. Jone takes a deep breath, and lifts his hand, ready to brawl.

TO BE CONTINUED…