Homecoming, Part 3

"So you were promoted, just like that?" I ask. "And just two weeks after I left, no less…"

"Yeah, the Chairman figured that us fighting off the Assassins was reason enough for a promotion!" Grover explains. "Though I wasn't doing anything all that time …just sitting in my room protecting you…"

"Sorry 'bout that," I chuckle.

"Don't feel bad, Grover," Jamie chimes in. "We did have an impressive showdown with the Cards of the King right after that, and almost beat Nick!"

"True…" Grover sighs.

"Aw man!" I groan. "This means that I'm the only Junior Slayer left in our squad! Well…of what was our squad!"

"HAH!" Grover spits. "I've surpassed you again, my rival!"

"Just wait until you see my demon powers," I smirk back.

"I think the Chairman just wanted to push our promotions instead of revamping the squad with you, Nick, and Mikey gone," Jamie adds, shifting our conversation back on track.

Mikey's gone? Eh, whatever. He probably got promoted a while ago with the rest and is dickin' around killing demons.

"That would make sense," I reply.

"So after our promotion, Grover and I officially became Field Patrol Slayers!" Jamie continues. "And of course, we just had to take this area, we roam around it, protecting and aiding civilians and Slaying the demons that we come across! Even with our squad disbanded, I just can't bear to say goodbye to it…"

"Yeah, so I guess the Slayer Hachi Squad is no more, huh…" I reply with a frown. "What about Ella and Ausin, where are they?"

"Ella got promoted too, a bit after we did, she just had to pass some medical and nursing exams, and she was into becoming a Medical Slayer," Grover answers as he rolls his eyes. "Boooring! I haven't even gotten a chance to see her in like…a year!"

"Austin too," Jamie answers with an awkward chuckle. "He's been super busy with his work ever since he got into the Technologies Development branch of the Slayer Organization by showing him some of his best inventions. He also had to take a few tests to get in, but he got promoted rather quickly."

"Hmm…" I mutter as I put a hand to my chin, thinking for a few moments.

"What's wrong?" Grover asks.

"Well…this won't do…" I say. "I came all this to see everyone again, and Ella and Austin are too busy to see us?!" I then turn to face Jamie. "Jamie, you know where Austin is, right?" I ask.

"Of course, I always try my best to drop by his lap room in the Technologies Development Branch of the Slayer organization whenever he's not too busy," Jamie answers.

"Want to take me to him?" I ask with a smirk.

"Of course! Austin always gets annoyed when I bother him, but he hasn't seen you in over a year, he should be glad to see you!" Jamie replies.

"Alright then, let's go!" I boom.

***

Jamie then leads the way to the Slayer Organization Headquarters, and after an hour or two, Jamie brings us to one of the different buildings connected to the Slayer Headquarters' campus, the building where the Technologies Development Branch lays. Jamie brings us inside then up to the receptionist.

"Hey, we're here to see Austin Habicht, Slayer Takanome?" Jamie asks the receptionist, who's busy furiously tapping away at her keyboard. The receptionist turns to face Jamie, raises an eyebrow at her, then turns and picks up the phone next to her, dialing a number and placing it to her ear.

"Hello, Slayer Takanome?" The receptionist asks. "There's someone here to see you."

I hear a muffled response from the other end, that I'm assuming to be Austin.

"What's your name?" The receptionist asks as she turns to face Jamie again, while covering the speaker of the phone with her hand.

"Just tell him that 'Jamie and Grover want to see you'," Jamie answers.

"Jamie and Grover," the receptionist says as she places the phone to her ear again.

I hear an audible sigh escape the phone from the opposite end.

The receptionist then places the phone back down and turns to face us again.

"You may see Slayer Takanome now," she says.

"Thank you!" Jamie replies with a small nod as she leads us to the elevator. Jamie, claiming that she visits Austin here often (or at least…as much as possible) brings us to Austin's office, or lab, or whatever.

"Let us go first, it'll be a nice surprise," Jamie says with an excited grin as she turns around to face me.

"Uh…sure," I reply.

Jamie then turns back around and knocks on the door of Austin's office.

"Come in," a muffled voice answers.

Jamie then opens the door and leads us inside. Austin's office is pitch black with the lights shut off completely, the lights illuminating the room are the soft hum of lights from various machines scattered across the floor. The office is jam packed with shelves stuffed with machines and inventions, trinkets and creations, and pages and papers, with drawings scribbled across them like blueprints, or reports on some experiment or machines, or something or another. Austin stands hunched over a workbench, with his back facing us. Austin's work is illuminated by a glowing orange light, resembling his Cursed Power. Austin mutters obscenities to himself as he frantically tinkers with his device, grabbing and putting back down various tools and what not, screwing in screws, attaching wires, hammering in stuff, all that jazz.

"Um…Austin?" Jamie asks, causing the dude to jump back as sparks fly from his machine.

"Dammit, Jamie, how many times did I have to tell you to-" Austin begins to shout as he spins around on his revolving chair and pulls off his welding helmet. But when Austin's eyes catch mine standing behind Jamie, his eyes widen as his voice catches in his throat. "Y-you!" Austin stammers.

"Hey, Austin," I reply with a small smile.

Austin jumps out of his seat and rushes over to me, peeling the thick, grimey gloves off of his hands. Austin extends his hand out of me and I take it, in the form of a very maily handshake.

Austin, unlike Grover and Jamie, is wearing the same outfit he usually wears since I last saw him, although this time he's far more filthy. Austin also has his mechanical right arm fully uncovered, with the bandages and sleeves previously covering it removed. Austin has a bunch of wires covering his torso, which are attached to his mechanical arm on one end, like a power source, and the other end, a strange, high-tech purple gauntlet that looks like a keyboard. Austin's high-tech goggles now take the form of an entire visor covering his eyes, which he slips off, and places his glasses on instead.

"You haven't forgotten your promise, right?" Austin asks with a smirk.

"Of course not," I smirk back. "That's why I'm here."

"Does that mean you can-" Austin begins to say, but I cut him off.

"Yup," I answer. "I can fully control the Blue Demon."

"Can we see your demon form?!" Jamie exclaims.

"Pleeease," Grover pleads.

"I'd like to test how well you've lived up to your promise, too," Austin adds. "I'm a Rule Breaker now, just like you and Grover."

"Me too!" Jamie chimes in.

"Come on come on, later, it's not the kind of thing I show off not in combat," I say with a smile as I hold my hands up, causing Grover and Jamie to sulk.

Austin takes a step back and crosses his arms, looking me up and down with an approving smirk.

"So what have you been up to?" I ask Austin.

"Mostly just inventing whatever ideas I think of," Austin answers. "It's what I've always wanted to do. When we were in the Slayer Hachi Squad, I didn't have much time for my passion, but now…I have all the time in the world!'

"I hope that means you haven't gotten rusty?" I ask with a smirk.

"Oh please-" Austin replies as he does the anime-glasses-guy thing. It's been a while since I've seen Austin do that. "Just because I've been busy inventing, doesn't mean I haven't been busy training. I've assisted Jamie and Grover with some demon- slaying missions now and again, just like the old days," Austin continues as he points a mechanical finger my way. "And don't forget; these inventions are my own strength!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know!" I reply with a small chuckle.

"So what about you?" Austin then asks me. "Where did you go?"

"Oh, me?" I reply. "I was at the-"

***

"The Hell's Jaw Mountain Range?" I ask.

"The Hell's Jaw Mountain Range," my dad answers.

"So what is this place?" I ask.

"The Hell's Jaw Mountain Range is a place where hundreds of nests of powerful demons live. Typically, only weak demons form nests, but in Hell's Jaw; even the strong ones group together. Pro Slayers used to come here often to train and test their skills against these more powerful demons, but over time, as more and more demons came to Earth, the Hell's Jaw Mountain Range became too dangerous for even the most powerful of Slayers, and had to be closed off from the outside world," my dad answers. "The nearest resemblance of civilization is hundreds of feet below us, past the base of the mountain."

"And so why did you build your home in a place with such an ominous name?!" I cry as I peer behind my dad, at the rickety old shack that he claims to have built.

"This place is very dear to me. It's where I met your mother," my dad answers with a small smile, causing my eyes to widen.

"Why was mom here?! Was she a Pro Slayer?!" I cry.

"No…no…" My dad answers with a laugh. "She was an explorer who liked going to adventurous places. But by being around all of these powerful demons, she subconsciously developed Cursed Power to protect herself."

"And why were you here?" I ask.

"I'm a demon, Luis," my dad answers, quite matter-of-factly.

"Oh, right," I reply. "I always forget."

"The Hell's Jaw Mountain Range is one of the few places on Earth with exceptionally high Cursed Power in the atmosphere," my dad then begins to say.

"Oh, like the first that Slayer Mezame awakened my Cursed Power in, or where Nick brought Grover and I to train!" I interrupt.

"So by being here, you can develop your abilities far faster than anywhere else on Earth. And on top of that, the demons here are around five to ten times stronger than anywhere else, proving to be excellent training dummies. Plus, these demons tend to group up into large bunches, known as nests, making them extra troublesome," my dad coniutes, causing me to gulp. "I will teach you how to master your demon powers here, against the extra powerful demons."

My dad smirks.

"That is, if you can survive being here for long."