Chapter 24 : Duri vs Seven

In the training room, Duri and Seven were standing there looking around while talking. Seven was inspecting Duri's blood stains on the walls, thinking, 'This boy…he told me he trains almost every night, he beats and batters and breaks himself to become stronger…why? Would he tell me why even if I ask?'

Seven asked Duri, "Duri..can I ask you a question?"

Duri turned around and responded, "If you're wondering why I train so hard, you won't find out by me."

"Someone told you not to tell anyone?"

"It's not just that. I don't want anyone pitying me after hearing what I had to go through before coming to earth."

"Sounds tragic. That right there is enough to make someone pity you. Might as well tell them."

"Hard pass."

"Or maybe…you don't trust our asses, huh?"

"I don't trust anyone. You should be able to tell."

"Mm, okay okay. Maybe I'll just go ask Marshy your backstory and probably have a little flashback in the middle of her explaining it."

"Marshy is a Host, right?"

"Yes."

"And you know the role of Hosts? You know what their purpose is? Do you know why the hell they do what they do?"

"Obviously. Hosts are the guardians of earth, and they watch over each tournament to make sure everything is straight. I don't need lecturing, boy."

"Marshy watches me like she's watching over one of the tournaments. She is not gonna tell any of my past secrets, only to protect me."

"Sure about that?"

"I'm sure."

Suddenly, a portal made out of wind opened in front of them, and a big book plopped out onto the floor.

It was Duri's pictures that were taken of him when he was really young.

Attached to it was a note that read, "Here's Duri's pictures. Have fun!"

Duri's eye twitched, "Marshy.."

Seven grinned, and she picked up the book. She started running around with it, looking through the pages.

"Awwww you were so adorableee!"

Duri was chasing her, saying, "Oi! Give that to me! Or I'll kill you! Dumbass!"

"Ooo, I love this picture! You and Marshy at the beach!"

"Stop looking!" Duri said with red cheeks.

Seven was running on the wall, still flipping through pages.

She said, "This one's nice! You lost a tooth I see!"

"La! La! La! La! I can't hear you!"

"Look at this one! Your birthday photos! Ooo my heart is flustered!"

"Ehhh, shut up!"

Duri continued to chase Seven, they both were jumping over a lot of the workout and training equipment, Duri was trying to grab the picture book from Seven, but Seven kept using her quick power speed to dart around the room. Duri wasn't going full speed, because he thought he would run into her on accident and accidentally kill her.

Seven said, "You and Marshy took so many pictures together! Went to so many tournaments! Oooh! you even met some famous tournament fighters too!"

Duri exclaimed, "Give it back!"

"Noooo!"

Seven leaped forward, and in her left hand, a purple electric power orb was growing.

Duri saw it thinking, 'She wants to fight now? With my picture book in her hand? That book is sacred, I can't let it be destroyed.'

Seven did a 360 flip in the air, and threw the orb at Duri. It was moving at insane speeds, and Duri thought, 'Damn it's fast!'

Duri stuck his hand out to try and grab it, but the orb disappeared.

'A bluff orb?!'

Duri looked upwards, and he saw another speeding purple power orb dashing down near his head.

Duri stuck his hand up quickly, and he caught the orb with one hand.

The orb's energy and power was sinking into Duri's arm, and then it vanished. Around Duri's face, arms, hands, and legs, were purple glowing lines like tattoos, his hair was glowing purple, and there were purple electric shocks surrounding him with wind circling under his feet, making the ground shake.

Seven was on top of Duri's weight set, and she said to Duri, "Okay now THAT looks badass. I wanna test how you look when you merge with my other powers."

Duri said in a monstrous tone "Shut up."

Seven said, "Heh?"

Duri's right hand became sharp, and his fingers and nails had veins popping out of them.

In a flash, Duri took a quick step all the way across the floor, and he was in front of Seven.

Seven gasped a little, then she put up a force field barrier in front of her.

'Hmph. Even merging with my power, there's no way Duri could break through my shie-.'

Duri smashed his sharp hand through the force field, shattering it into pieces.

Seven said, "Hm?!"

Seven jumped over to the right, her feet sliding across the floor as she was still holding the picture book.

Seven thought, 'He aimed for my face? Is he actually trying to hurt me? Haha, well well well…he's the first guy to attack me. The others would just fall in love with me or try and soak up to me. Duri is definitely different. I fuckin like it. I still don't like him, but I don't hate his ass. This is fun.'

Seven said to Duri, "Hohh? You wanna go? You wanna fight?"

Duri didn't respond, instead, he vanished.

Seven thought, 'He's gone?!'

A second later, Duri was in front of her, going past her. His hand grabbed the middle of Seven's face, and he smashed the back of Seven's head into the wall, breaking a few pieces off the wall. 

Duri was about to slam Seven's head into the wall again, but Seven fell down, spun on one hand one the floor, and double kicked Duri in the face.

Duri went flying, and he was flipping to the other side of the wall. Duri caught himself on the wall, sticking to it.

Seven said, "Ha! I got a hit on you, birthmark boy!"

Duri replied, "You're annoying!"

Duri stretched his arms out, and one arm turned into his shadow form, and the other arm became purple just like the shadow arm. Now, black glowing tattoos surrounded his skin, and black electricity surrounded his body.

Seven thought, 'He combined his own shadow powers to my powers? He can merge his own powers to a power he's already borrowed? Impressive!'

Seven said, "You're really interesting Duri! You know that?!"

Duri answered, "Are you TRYING to make me madder?"

"I don't think that's a word."

"Heh?! Madder is a word!"

"Don't you mean something like, 'Are you trying to piss me off even more?' Something like that?"

"You know what I was trying to say!"

Duri galloped forward, and Seven did too. 

Duri had black and purple electricity coming out of his hands, and he smacked the floor with them.

Shocks of black and purple light raced across the floor to hit Seven, but Seven jumped over it, and snapped her finger.

As soon as she did that, 3 power orbs appeared behind Duri.

Duri sensed them, but by the time he could try and grab it, the orbs went away again.

'Another bluff?' He thought.

Seven snapped her fingers again, and seven orbs surrounded Duri. Coming out of the orbs, were purple hands connected to long arms. Those hands grabbed Duri, restraining him.

Duri thinks, 'You gotta be shitting me!'

Duri blinked, and suddenly, Seven came out of nowhere with a flying knee. Her knee smashed against Duri's face, and Duri smashed against the wall.

Seven came running to Duri again, but Duri dashed over there to her.

Seven threw an electric punch, Duri dodged it, and he ducked. He punched Seven in the stomach, as a flashing black and purple electricity and lights came from it. 

Duri threw his fist forward as it was still connected to Seven's stomach, and Seven was thrown back from the punch, hitting the wall.

Seven jumped off the wall, thinking, 'Duri could've ended me if he wanted to…why is he waiting? Why is he holding back?'

Seven and Duri collided again, getting into different Tai Chi stances, throwing spinning kicks and jumping punches at each other. There was a lot of dodging and evading, Duri and Seven were landing the same amount of hits.

Seven threw another punch, but Duri spun around it, grabbed Seven's arm, jumped over her, kicked her in the back, jumped over Seven again while still holding her arm, jumped and twisted, and kicked Seven across the face.

Seven thought, 'Close range fights with him, I'll lose. Long range fights he'll just somehow teleport over to me and it'll end up being a close range fight again. Why am I not using my other abilities? Maybe because I still don't have control of them yet. I gotta do something to catch him off guard like the dodgeball match.'

Seven was flying back, she managed to catch herself by sliding on the floor.

Duri said, "You're tough, I'll give you that. One of your abilities is manipulating your powers orbs and using it to your liking to a certain extent."

Seven smiled, "You're very observant, Duri. I applaud you. Want a cookie or something?"

"The sarcasm is oozing out of you right now. It's disgusting."

"You're disgusting."

"You're disgusting, dumbass."

"You love that word don't you? Iiiidiot."

"Hmph. I don't need to merge with your power to beat you. I didn't even mean to merge with your power, I acted outta impulse. I've been in too many fights."

The purple power around and inside him was going away, his appearance was going back to normal.

Seven sprinted forward, thinking, 'Now I got him! Way to let your guard down Duri!'

Instantly, the purple power and electric lightning streaks surrounded Duri again, and he had a purple power orb in his left hand.

Seven gasped, and thought, 'Impossible! Noooo fucking way! He manipulated my power that he merged with, making it go down to the very last inch, and then brought it back up into existence before it went out completely?"

Duri was getting closer to her, and he was about to smash her face in.

But in quick thinking, Seven had the picture book in her hand, and she showed Duri a picture in it.

Seven asked, "What's this from?"

Duri stopped in place, and he began to quickly turn back to normal.

Duri was staring at the picture, and it was a picture of Marshy carrying Duri on her back, with them both being bloody all over.

Duri said, "This…was in Panama."

Seven sat down on the floor criss cross, saying, "Tell me about it."

Duri responded, "Why should I tell you?"

"Mmm, because I asked, idiot."

"...Me and Marshy were taking a trip to Panama to help rebuild a town that was destroyed by a bad storm. And then, when we were helping, some mythic ass beasts came and tried to eat everyone. The blood that was on Marshy, was from the people she tried to save that got eaten in front of her. The blood on me was from me almost dying to trying to keep the beasts from eating everyone. Marshy wasn't hit or fazed by the beasts, she was only focused on saving people, especially the children."

"Damn. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We won at the end of the day. And we held a memorial for everyone who lost their lives. I learned that day that the strongest of them all can't save everyone."

"Yeah…It's a good thing they were honored after the fact. Fuck those beast creatures."

"Exactly. Fuck them."

"Anyway…changing the sad subject..I see you were still wearing that headband on your head. Why don't you ever take it off? It must stink."

"It doesn't stink, dumbass. I wash it everyday. It's a seal. If I take it off and leave it off for a certain time, bad things will happen. Things will go chaotic."

"That's kinda cool. I wanna see what happens. Take it off for a few."

"Yeah hell no. What about you? Why do you always wear a hoodie or long sleeve? You got ugly arms?"

"No, that's not the case. It's noooone of your business."

"Whatever."

Seven stood up, and playfully punched Duri in the shoulder.

"Cheer up. It's not that serious."

"I wasn't even…okay."

[Duri's room]

[10 minutes]

Duri, Tek, Seven, Nine, Kazuma, Ren-Ren, and Jiyu were sitting in the middle of Duri's room, with a bunch of papers in front of them and pencils, doing work.

And they all were eating pizza too.

Tek said, "Duri."

Duri replied, "What?"

"I have a statement to make."

"Say it."

"My bedroom looks better than this. Pitiful excuse of a boys room."

"How?! My room has graffiti, skateboards, game systems, a large TV, neon lights and the largest bed on the planet. How is yours better than mine?!"

"It just is."

"You bastard.."

Nine interrupted, "I think my room is pretty dope, not gonna lie."

Ren-Ren added, "Nine's room has  a bunch of dead bodies in it. Trust me, I saw. Pathetic."

Nine threw her pizza at Ren-Ren's face, and said, "Shut up no it doesn't. Ren-Ren's room would be the one to have dead bodies in it."

Everyone besides Ren-Ren said, "Yeah that's kinda true."

Ren-Ren took the pizza off his face, replying, "Screw all of you peasants. I'm better than you all."

Tek said to Ren-Ren, "Fool. You wouldn't last four seconds in battle with me."

"Wanna bet?"

Kazuma said, "Tek has cool powers! His chains have the ability to steal the power energy of his opponent to make himself stronger or on par with his opponent. So lucky."

Ren-Ren scoffed, "It's not THAT great. Sounds boring."

Tek said, "Being weak is boring. Weak such as yourself."

"I'm gonna hurt you, you peasant."

"Please."

Jiyu said, "Hey..um..guys, I need help with question eight on the homework."

Seven leaned in beside Jiyu, and said, "Okay, I see what you did here. So first you gotta.."

Duri watched Seven helping Jiyu, thinking, 'Seven actually has a soft side?'

Sliding beside Duri, Nine came in, whispering, "Hmmm? Why ya looking at Seven like that?"

Duri replied, "I'm not, weirdo."

"Yes you areee. Such a punk. Won't go confess."

"Yeah, never. You won't get that from me."

"We'll see."

"Yeah you'll see."

After a few more minutes of doing the algebra homework, the group started to go over it. Comparing answers, and some of them helped Duri with a few of his wrong answers. 

Duri said, "I think I get it now."

Everyone besides Tek responded, "Really?"

"Yeah. I get that this is INSANE."

Kazuma said, "Do not worry, best friend Duri! I'll do whatever it takes to help you some more! Haha!"

Duri said, "Don't say that first part again. I um…appreciate it. I mean, I kinda got it a little. But there's some things I need to fully understand if I want to master algebra."

He then looked at Tek and thought, 'Tek looked like he was getting frustrated with the homework. If he's having trouble with algebra, I gotta get better at it first. Besides Marshy, Tek is my only competition. I can't lose to his ass.'

Nine said, "It's alright. I hate math too."

Ren-Ren asked, "Waiittt. What if we're all in the same class after the exams?"

Seven replied, "I think it'd be fun."

Jiyu said, "In the same class? With all of you? I'll have a great semester. Y-you are all the only people I hang out with…"

Tek said, "Tsk.."

He thought, 'I have problems with algebra too. I must get better at it faster than Duri. I won't let him beat me.'

Kazuma exclaimed happily, "Classes with all of you would be doooope! We'd get a good grade on the homework if we all study together constantly!"

And lastly, Nine says, "I don't wanna be in the same class as Ren-Ren. He's a psycho."

Ren-Ren answered, "You're just jealous of my perfection."

"No."

Walking into the room was Marshy, but she knocked first.

Marshy said to everyone, "Sorry to disturb your studying.."

Kazuma responded to Marshy, "It's okay! We've finished the homework! We're done!"

"You're excited I see. But anyway, the exams got moved to tomorrow morning. If you already didn't know."

Duri asked, "What? Why?"

"Too many things are happening. And Duri, you know what those things are. The Hosts and school thought it was a good idea to move the exams to tomorrow."

Tek said, "Expected. Too many people going rampage and ronin in broad daylight."

Jiyu says, "Ooo, I'm getting m-more nervous now. I-I thought I'd have another day to prepare."

Kazuma stood up with his fists clenched, "Haha yes! I couldn't wait another day for the exams! Bring it!"

Ren-Ren added, "Hm, I don't mind the sudden change. Maybe it's fate."

Nine uttered, "Shit. I don't mind either. This is just feeling my urge to pound some heads into the ground."

Seven added to Nine's statement, "Honestly."

Seven and Nine fist bumped without looking at each other.

Marshy went on to say, "I wish you all the best of luck in the exams. I can sense a lot of power from you all, you all have potential. And I'm not saying it just to say it. Really…good luck."

Everyone besides Tek and Duri responded, "Thank you!"

"You're welcome. The tournament you guys were planning on going too is going to start in 10 minutes. Do you guys want me to give you a ride? I have to watch over a tournament a few miles away from here."

Tek said, "I'm gonna head home to take care of business."

He stood up and started walking out of the room, but then he stopped.

He said to Marshy, "Thanks for having me over, and for the food, Host.".

Marshy nodded, "It was a pleasure, Tekeshi."

Tek looked at Duri, and they gave each other a subtle mean look. Tek walked out, and started to leave.

Marshy asked Duri, "Oh, you found yourself a rival?"

"Nooo he's not my rival."

Everyone in the room replied, "Yeah he is."

Seven said, "They act like brothers."

Duri scoffed, "Definitely not. But Marshy, you all can go ahead to the tournament, I have to do some things before I go there."

Marshy had a concerned look, and she asked Duri telepathically in his mind, 'Is it..him again?'

Duri nodded.

Marshy then walked up to Duri, and said, "If anything happens to you on the way to the tournament, I'm gonna destroy this entire planet. CALL me if anything happens or if anyone threatens you. I don't wanna see anymore bruises and bumps on you. I get sad when your fucking hurt all the time. I know you can take care of yourself, but there's always someone stronger than us."

Duri responds, "Okay I get it I get it, you say this all the time, Marshy. I'll be okay."

Seven, Nine, and Jiyu said together, "Aww!"

Duri said to them, "Shut up…"

Marshy kissed Duri on the forehead slowly, and she said to everyone else, "Alright, get in a circle. I can teleport us there to the tournament building."

Everyone said, "Okay," In agreement, and they got in a huddle.

Everyone was looking at Duri, especially Marshy.

Marshy thought, 'Duri…I'm sorry you have to go through this. We'll get through it soon. Together.'

They all vanished, leaving Duri there.

Duri stood there for a few seconds, and he was looking down. 

He said, "Zabel. I know you're here. In my head. Speak."

Speaking in Duri's mind was Zabel.

He said, "I know I like to joke a lot and be nonchalant. But there's something you should know."

"What? That you're a bad guy? That you're a murderer? That you want to use me to control everyone including the Titans."

"I'm not the bad guy, Duri. I'm only saving humanity and beings of all the other realms. But no..I arrived in your head to talk about something else."

"About what? Spit it out."

"My brother…Reborn. And his followers…Harvest."