The Man and the Tiger

A few days later. Late in the night and in Kafince city.

A dark alley was seen and a man was seen pushing against a figure on the wall. The man grabbed the figure by their neck.

The figure looked to be dressed very fancy, a blue dress, stilettos and lipstick. This was obviously a young woman.

The man looked at her with a wicked grin on his face and said, "You chose the wrong day to walk through this alley." He said as he licked his lips.

The woman was visibly shaking in fear. Much so that her breathing became inproper.

Just when he was about to do something, he heard some footsteps coming from deeper in the alley.

"Huh?" The man looked the other way.

He saw a man in a dark red suit with a black waistcoat. He also wore black jeans. He was dressed quite formally like the woman. He had straight hair with strange red eyes.

"What are you doing here? Get lost before I kill you." The man said as he pulled out a small pocket knife.

The man with red eyes didn't look the slightest bit shaken up and just continued to walk forward.

"Hey! I said get lo..."

"You're despicable. Gears, take care of him." The man in the waist coat snapped his fingers and a figure appeared behind him.

The figure resembled a large cat, possibly a white tiger except upon closer inspection, there was a difference. The Tiger's body was made out of metal and it's eyes were glowing purple.

The man upon seeing this looked scared as he knew what he was looking at was a mech but nothing he had ever seen before.

"Wait, please.." Before the man could beg, the tiger had moved and opened it's mouth, revealing sharp metallic fangs which sunk into and bit off the man's head.

"Ah!!!" The woman screamed in fear as the man's lifeless body fell to the ground and blood splattered all over the floor, wall and a little bit on her face and dress.

The other man in the waist coat moved closer to the woman and she tried to run away.

"You don't have to run. I promise not to hurt you." He said with the voice of a gentleman. This actually managed to convince the woman somehow but the fear had not left her heart.

The man finally walked up to her and looked into her eyes, making eye contact with her. The woman didn't know what compelled her but she couldn't look away from the beautiful red eyes.

The man then said, "May I have your name?"

"It's.. Hayley." The woman in the dress replied.

"What a beautiful name." The man said, "My name is Andy. Oh, you have some blood on you." Andy pulled out a white cloth from his pocket and used it to wipe her face and her dress and it came off.

Hayley was completely stunned by this person. Just moments ago he had killed a person and now he was acting like a fine gentleman.

"That's better." He smiled as the tiger came over to him.

Hayley upon seeing the Mech Tiger was a bit scared but then the tiger began to transform before her eyes and all she could see was a belt which the man picked up. The belt upon closer look had a symbol of two red circles placed between each other.

"You can go now. Try to be more careful next time, I might not be there next time." Andy smiled.

Hayley nodded, "Thank you, kind sir." Already forgetting what he had done and walked away.

He waved her good bye and then his face changed a bit, becoming more serious.

"Now back to business. Finding the boy with the Watch."

* * * * * * *

The next day, on a saturday afternoon, Ryan and his friends were strolling through a park.

But their reason for coming wasn't to have fun or engage in leisure activities. Instead, they came here to discuss a plan for what to do next when the Curse was to appear.

"So let's start with what we know." Jane started as they sat on the field. Neo had even brought along a picnic basket packed with sandwiches and a few cans of soda.

"The Curse appeared because they tracked you down through the Manga Watch based on what we can see but it also doesn't work to trace you directly but more of in a particular range." Jane spoke. "So let's get rid of that first." Jane dipped her hand into her Compartment Bag, searching for an item.

At the same time, Andy was walking through the city of Kafince around the same neighbourhood. He was dressed the same and was looking at a black rectangular object with a screen on it.

On the screen, it looked like a green wave like a wifi bar was getting closer to him.

"He's close." Andy muttered under his breath.

Jane brought out what looked like a button made of metal but they weren't sure what it was except Ryan.

"It's a Dampener." A dampener was a device that could make the radio waves of any object undetectable, making it impossible to track.

"Where did you get your hands on these?" Ryan asked as a teenager couldn't have just simply bought it.

"I made it myself. It's been something I've been working on for months but I never had the chance to try it on something. But now I do."

"You made it? That's amazing." Jason said and Jane blushed a bit.

Jane placed the Dampener on the Manga Watch and suddenly, a small screen came up but the four of them hurdled around so no one nearby could see it.

[Dampener has been inserted]

[Device not powerful enough]

"Harsh." Jane commented.

[Would you like to strengthen it?]

[Yes] [No]

Ryan didn't know what strengthening it entailed but it couldn't have been anything bad.

Ryan clicked on yes and another message came up.

[User has not unlocked the skill required]

"Then why give me that option to begin with?" Ryan was a little annoyed.

Just then, Andy had walked into the park and wasn't paid any attention, despite his formal clothes.

As he walked into the park, he moved in closer looking at the Tracker Pad he had until the tracking ceased.

'I'd like to have done things more elegantly but this'll do.' Andy sighed as he pulled out his belt, ready to transform it.

But as Andy had appeared, Ryan had received a notification.

[An Enemy is near]

It said and it gave them a warning.

"Well this was bound to happen. It's a good thing we've prepared." Jane said as she pulled out a ring from her Compartment Bag.

She faced it in the air and suddenly, a small hole opened up and out from it, smoke began to fill the park.

It was something she had come up.

As soon as the smoke began to appear, people began to run away as smoke was a sign of danger. Well all except, Andy and Ryan's gang.

Ryan pulled out the Manga Watch and chose a transformation.

[Todoroki Shoto Selected]

Meanwhile, Neo and Jason pulled out silver bracelets from their Compartment Bags, put it on and suddenly, they too began to transform.

"Uh, I feel so ridiculous." Jason said.

He gained a silver jacket with blue lightning bolts shaped trims all around. At the end of the jacket, two lightning bolts were at the left and right ends. While at the back of the jacket, there was a V that had one of the ends extended out with a triangle. He also had a pair of regular jeans.

Also, since he had activated his ability, his hair changed to blonde and his facial features changed a bit.

"What's ridiculous about this?" Neo said enthusiastically.

He had a mostly grey jersey on with an S on the right side if his chest in purple color. There was also a black trim along the edges and another S on his back. He also had a pair of black jeans. Neo's hair was also black and was packed up like a spiky ponytail. And his eyes also slimmed and became black.

"Yeah. We look like superheroes." Jane said as she had her own outfit too. Although she didn't have any powers, she still decided she was going to help. Jane's suit was mostly very simple. A full white suit with a mask that covered only her eyes. Her hair also became red and was in a long ponytail. This was by the help of a special technology that changed your appearance.

After the smoke cleared, Ryan and his gang were now staring directly at Andy.

"Are you sure he's a threat?" Neo asked, confused by how Andy was dressed.

"I am." Andy said evenly as his belt transformed into Gears, his Mech Tiger.

"Whoa!!" They said with a mix of fear and astonishment.

"Are you guys serious? This isn't some game. What are your names even?" Andy asked sarcastically, he sounded annoyed with the fact he was sent to handle some kids.

"Hmmm, good point." Neo said and after thinking, he smiled, "Shadow!" He declared.

"Voltage!" Jason went next.

"Silver." Jane said.

"Umm.. ummm... Cypher, whoa!" Ryan stepped to the side as Gears had tried to bite him with his large jaws.

Andy didn't just wait around as they called out their Code Names.

"Let me put you out of your miseries, you sad, pathetic wastes of space." Andy sighed.