I realize that I probably should have done this quite a while ago, but nows' a good time as any.

This is a warning. Not a severe warning, but a warning nonetheless. If you're the kind of person who absolutely HATES stories with multiple OC's, then I feel I should tell you to stop, and go read something else, 'cause this story is gonna' have loads of OC's in the future chapters. OC's are going to be abundant in this story and some of them are going to play major roles in the ensuing plot. Again, if that isn't your cup of tea, then I suggest you stop right now.

If you're not the kind of person I mentioned previously, then go ahead and ignore this and keep on reading.

Now that that's done… cue the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon in any way, shape, or form. But if I did, Ash wouldn't sound like an annoying, prepubescent 8-year old.


Getting Everything Started

"How'd we miss this place when we came through?"

About thirty minutes had passed since Ash and Damien had successfully become official bounty hunters. They had met up with Reggie afterwards and had followed him to the place he said he would take them to.

Reggie didn't immediately respond; looking around the clearing they had arrived in with narrowed eyes. After a few moments, Reggie responded without looking at Damien, "You really wouldn't be able to find anything in this forest unless you knew where to look. Quite frankly, I'm amazed that you two managed to get this far in only a few hours. Most people would have given up after wandering for about twenty minutes."

"Why are we here again?" Ash looked about the clearing with significantly less interest than his other two companions.

Seemingly satisfied with the results of his observation, Reggie looked down at the curious teenager behind him with a serious expression, "I said that I would help you two become successful bounty hunters, and I meant it."

Damien crossed his arms, eyebrows raised as he looked at Reggie in a questioning manner, "Now, what exactly would it take to become 'successful' bounty hunters, as you so put it?"

"For starters…" Reggie paused for a brief moment, Ash and Damien looking to him expectantly. It only took that moment for Reggie to slug Ash in the face, causing him to stumble to the ground, and Damien to tense up as he reached for the handle to one of his katana, "Always be prepared for a surprise attack."

"You asshole!" Ash cried, holding his right cheek as his jaw throbbed with pain, "You could have said something first! That hurt for cryin' out loud!" Ash glared at Reggie as he stood up. He redirected his glare to Damien as the pale-skinned teen chuckled, covering his mouth with his sleeve to uselessly stifle his laugh, "Quiet you."

Reggie popped his knuckles, staring at the two teens in front of him as they stared back, "Why would I give away my actions when I could just as easily catch you off guard? It's a basic strategy at its finest." Reggie gave a faint smile as Ash crossed his arms and pouted in resignation while Damien relaxed his grip on the handle of his katana. "This is one of the lessons that you're going to have to learn if you're serious about being bounty hunters. If not, theeeen... you might as well just drop dead right now."

Ash and Damien gave a slight start at hearing that, taking Reggie's serious expression as a hint that he meant what he said. They looked at each other for a moment, both silently looking for the others answer. Nodding in confirmation, Ash and Damien looked up at Reggie with determination in their eyes.

Seeing this, Reggie couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "They remind me a bit of me when I first started out." Reggie thought, nodding his head approvingly at the eagerness the teens showed.

"It's settled then. I'll teach you both a bit of the basics, but after that you're on your own. A crucial part of being a successful bounty hunter is being able to adapt to any possible situation, and the only way you're gonna' be able to do that properly is by learning to do so from experience." Reggie explained, getting attentive nods in response from the listening teens.

"What's the first thing you're gonna' teach us?" Ash asked eagerly, ignoring the slowly fading pain in his cheek to listen to their tall companion.

"Are you gonna' punch Ash in the face again? 'Cause I wouldn't mind seeing that again." Damien said, a teasing grin being sent Ash's way as the raven haired teen glared at him. "What? It'll build up your pain tolerance!"

"I've had enough of THAT, thank you very much." Ash thought, crossing his arms and looking at the darkening sky through the forest canopy.

Chuckling slightly, Reggie shook his head at Damien, "While that last thing is kind of useful, you both will develop that for yourselves in the near future. No, the first thing we're going to do is get a grip on your combat capabilities, see where you both stand and where you can improve."

"How're we gonna do that?" Asked Ash, arms still crossed but now looking at Reggie with rapt attention.

Both Ash and Damien tensed when Reggie bent slightly lower into a stance, staring at them both intently with a wry grin on his face, "By having a friendly spar, of course. Now who's going first?"

Before anything else could be said or done, Ash stepped forward, a determined grin on his face, and faced Reggie with a confident step, "I'll take a crack at you, Reggie! A little 'payback' for that surprise attack of yours."

Reggie cracked a small smile at that, re-adjusting his stance slightly as he watched Ash get into a sloppy brawler's stance, "You alright with that, pale-face?"

Damien nodded, leaning on a nearby tree as he looked at the both of them from a safe distance, "I'm cool with it. Commence to beating each other senseless while I watch!"

Reggie merely nodded in response, rotating his shoulders slightly to get any last minute kinks out.

Ash grinned, determination clear in his brown eyes as he looked at Reggie.

"There any rules I should know about before we start?" Ash asked.

Reggie put on a thoughtful look, temporarily taking his eyes off of Ash to think it over. After a moment of thought, Reggie nodded and looked back to Ash as he spoke, "Just one. If I say that we're done, then we're done. No trying get in a cheap shot. Got it?" Seeing Ash's nod, Reggie gave a small smile as he prepared himself for whatever the raven haired teen would throw at him.

"Good."

Not being one to wait very long, Ash immediately rushed forward, intent on getting the first blow.

Merely feet away from each other, Ash cocked his right arm back and clenched his fist tight, his brown eyes hard as steel as he glared at the stationary form of his opponent. With confidence in his heart and soul, Ash threw his fist forward in a powerful jab aimed at Reggie's chest, but with only seconds to spare before it hit, Reggie sidled to Ash's left at the last moment, shocking Ash and the observing Damien greatly at the man's speed.

"Wha-! h-how did he dodge that so quickly?!" Ash mentally asked himself, his eyes full of shock and awe as he looked at the auburn haired man.

It took a second too late for Ash to realize that missing his initial strike had left him open for retaliation, an opening that was immediately taken advantage of when Reggie's fist struck Ash's face in a powerful haymaker.

Ash grunted in pain as the powerful blow caused him to fly back several feet away, landing painfully on his back as he held his jaw in pain while he struggled to clear the cobwebs from his brain. He struggled to his feet as he stared ahead at his opponent, wiping away a drop of blood that dribbled from his mouth. "He's fast AND he's strong? Shit!" He thought to himself, grimacing slightly at the coppery taste of blood in his mouth.

Doubt began to settle in his mind, but he quickly snuffed out the feeling before it could start to take hold. Ash snorted slightly before he spit out a mixture a blood and saliva, the crimson liquid soon hitting the ground with a quiet *splat*.

"That all ya' got?"

Reggie smiled at that, chuckling slightly at the glare the raven haired teen threw at him, "I'm glad to see you're confident Ash, but no, you'll see that that's not 'all I've got'." At this, Reggie's facial expression hardened once more, eye's hard as steel as he prepared himself to strike. "I hope you have what it takes to back up that confidence of yours." He took off in a sprint, his speed surprising the two teens once again.

Ash quickly snapped out of his surprised state when he saw how quickly Reggie was approaching him. He knew that with the speed and strength that he had shown thus far, he wouldn't be able to do much against him, but he would still damn well try!

He quickly jumped to the left when Reggie's right fist came at him in a straight jab, but suddenly found the breath knocked out him when Reggie's left hand struck his stomach with a fierce palm strike, causing him to fold over in pain. He didn't get a chance to regain his bearings before Reggie's knee made a painful impact on his chin, his head being knocked back painfully and his neck stretching enough to make him gag slightly.

Also, he was pretty sure he felt something knock against his skull for a moment.

A quick, painful kick to the torso once again knocked Ash back to the hard ground, the force of the kick enough to knock him back a few feet as well.

"Hah... hah... knocked back on my ass... again..." Ash gasped out painfully, struggling to his feet but only managing to get on his knees before he hunched over and went into a coughing fit, tiny specks of crimson liquid being expelled from his mouth every time he coughed.

An overhead shadow caused him to look up, the position that he was in made Reggie's already tall stature make him look like a giant.

A giant that wasn't done kicking his ass.


Off to the side, Damien had been observing the spar as best as he could in preparation for his own spar against the tall auburn haired man, but Reggie's superior speed put a damper on those plans, "He so fast! All I can see whenever he moves is a blur!" Damien's eyes narrowed, his mind trying to make sense of what he had seen thus far. "And his strength..." Nervousness began to take hold of him at that. "Is this what an experienced fighter is capable of? Being able to perform feats that a normal person could only dream of?!" A pit formed in his stomach at the thought. A bead of nervous sweat slowly dripped from his forehead down to his nose, trickling down to the green grass below.

If Reggie was a viable example of what other bounty hunters were like out in the rest of the world...

"What have we gotten ourselves into."

A yell of pain quickly brought Damien out of his thoughts. Looking up, he saw Ash had once again been sent flying from a kick to the gut, courtesy of Reggie, who quickly dashed forward, unwilling to give Ash any recovery time.

"Gah! ... Dammit! ... Shit!" Ash quickly found himself defenseless at Reggie's ruthless barrage of attacks. Every time he thought that he would have a moment to recover, that thought was instantly ripped away from him when Reggie came at him again and again with another painful hit from an arm, a leg, or both! Each impact hurt just as much, if not more, than the last.

Another painful kick to the chest sent Ash flying, landing on his already-wounded chest, causing him to groan at the added pain. His face was riddled with small cuts and bruises, dirt caked around his mouth and eyelids, and some blood was dribbling out of his open mouth.

He took deep, gasping breaths, which only served to aggravate his wounds, desperate to get as much oxygen into his lungs before Reggie could continue his brutal assault. He heard heavy footsteps to the side, and he didn't think twice about preparing himself for another round of hurt.

Reggie used a foot to casually turn Ash over on his back, the pressure of his boot to his side causing the raven haired teen to wince in pain. He leaned over and grabbed Ash by the collar of his shirt, raising him up just enough to put him back on his feet. Seeing Ash look up at him in confusion, Reggie only smirked before he launched a powerful haymaker to Ash's chin, causing him to fly back once more and hit the ground painfully. He stared at Ash's prone body, waiting for the raven haired teen to make any movements that would indicate he could still handle anymore.

Ash lay on the hard ground, eye's closed as he tried to steady his breathing and trying not to groan in pain every time he would be forced to move his body or a gust of wind would brush up against his wounded body.

"I guess you couldn't handle it."

Ash raised his head to look at Reggie, eye's wide open as he stared into his opponents disappointed eye's.

"You have confidence, I'll give you that. But you don't have what it takes to become a great bounty hunter." Reggie shook his head, disappointment clear in his expression as he spoke to the wide-eyed teen. "If you can take a hit, but can't give one back, then what good would come out of sending you out into the real world, where if you were to go up against a real opponent they wouldn't hesitate to take you out for good." Reggie sighed, turning his back his injured opponent.

"If one of you fails, then both of y-!"

Reggie was stopped from speaking any further when his right shoulder suddenly flared in pain, most likely dislocating it in the process as well by the feel of it. He quickly put his shoulder back in it's proper place and looked behind him, his eye's widening at what he saw.

"Shut up."

Fists clenched tight and eye's alight with rage, Ash glared at Reggie with great intensity as he stood straight with almost no sign of fatigue whatsoever. His body seemed to ignore the injuries that had been inflicted upon it as he moved with surprising speed and buried his right fist into Reggie's torso, causing him to grunt in pain as he stared at the raven haired teen, surprise clear in his expression as he tried to ponder as to how he could have recovered so quickly.

"You don't get to decide what I can or can't do." Ash eye's were as hard as steel, never letting up on the heated glare he sent at Reggie. "You think that a few cuts and bruises here and there will put me down for good? Let me tell you, I've had worse than this!" Ash roared, surprising both Reggie and Damien at his sudden attitude change.

"You think I'm done?! I won't stop until I've given everything you threw at me back at you ten-fold!" With a load roar, Ash ran as quick as legs would allow him, intent to harm clear in his eye's as he charged at Reggie.

While he was still slightly surprised at this sudden change, Reggie quickly snapped himself out of it as he prepared himself for whatever Ash would throw at him. "Is he going to try a direct assault again? He should know that that's not going to work a second time." He shifted his stance slightly, anticipating a second direct attack.

He wasn't disappointed.

Ash indeed came at him with another direct assault, aiming for another straight jab, just as he did earlier. Reggie blocked it easily, having his elbow take the blow for him while he prepared to counter with a palm strike with his other hand, but was in for a surprise when Ash took the blow directly to the abdomen, only moving back an inch or so before he gave a fierce retaliation by a powerful haymaker to the stomach, surprising Reggie greatly from the force he felt behind the blow.

This particular hit caused Reggie to stumble backwards, giving Ash an ample opportunity to strike once more as he ducked down and pushed himself forward, driving his shoulder into Reggie's torso with great force.

Ash's powerful shoulder tackle forced the air out Reggie's lungs, momentarily disorienting him long enough for Ash to get one last jab to his chest, causing Reggie to tumble to the ground for the first time since their spar began.

Ash looked over the fallen form of his opponent, breathing deeply as he did so, the glare in his eye's never leaving him as he stared at his seemingly defeated opponent.

"I told you, Reggie. You can't decide what I can or can- GAH!" With a yelp of pain, Ash was sent flying back as Reggie discreetly raised his left leg and kicked Ash in the stomach with great force.

Reggie quickly pushed himself back to his feet, taking a moment to catch his breath as he took the time to observe his recovering opponent. "Where did this sudden surge of energy come from? One moment he's lying on the ground, completely out of it, and the next he's up and ready for another round!" Reggie took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as his eyes locked on to the rising form of his opponent.

Ash shook his head as he recovered from the painful impact, a low growl escaping his lips as he grit his teeth. He glared at his auburn haired opponent as he charged forward once more, the intent to severely hurt him was clear in his eyes.

Reggie quickly dodged to the left when Ash came at him with a right hook. He grabbed Ash's forearm and pulled him in, surprising him long enough for Reggie to slam his fist into the teens nose, following it up by harshly raising his knee into his torso.

Through tightly gritted teeth, Ash continued to glare at Reggie as his body was wracked with pain from his brutal assault. Fueled by budding anger, Ash quickly recovered from Reggie's hits and quickly tried to retaliate by throwing a sloppy palm thrust at his stomach, but missed when Reggie quickly ducked down, dodging Ash's initial strike with ease but was painfully surprised when Ash slammed his knee into his face.

Reggie quickly jumped back a bit, examining his nose to see if it had been broken. Finding it to be only a minor bruise, he looked at Ash, a smile on his face as he thought over all he had seen and experienced from their spar. He looked up as he saw Ash quickly approaching, fist cocked back to inflict another anger-fueled blow.

"Alright. That's enough."

Ash's look of anger was quickly replaced with one of confusion, surprise evident on his face as he stumbled to a halt, barely keeping himself from falling flat on his face at Reggie's sudden announcement. The slightly threatening feeling that had seemed to permeate the air suddenly vanished, causing Ash and the observing Damien's feelings of nervousness to subside slightly.

Reggie got out of his combat stance while he gently wiped off a bit of blood trailing down his lips, a contemplative look in his eyes as he looked at Ash.

"I think that's enough to get a feel for your overall skills." Reggie nodded to himself at this, he closed his eyes in thought as he put together all the bits and pieces of info he managed to gather. Opening his eyes at the feeling of being watched, Reggie looked down at Ash's prone form, a surprised and slightly skeptical look on his face.

Ash blinked in rapid succession, feeling immense confusion at what Reggie had just said. "T-that's it? We're done... just like that?!" Ash questioned, the anger fueled adrenaline that had moments ago been coursing through his veins now beginning dissipate, his strength starting to leave him.

Reggie gained a look of understanding at that. He understood why he would be confused when he just suddenly decided to end their fight, "Yeah, that was it. You can go back over to the side with Damien and take a rest."

Ash sagged a bit at his response, his exhaustion now truly starting to take hold. He began to tiredly make his way to where Damien was waiting, a limp in his step as he panted in exhaustion as he dragged his tired body to his waiting friend.

Unfortunately for him, his body decided that it had pushed itself too far for the day, and gave out on him, causing Ash to tumble to the ground in a wounded heap. He tried to get back up, but found that he lacked the strength to do so. No matter how much he tried, his body refused to move.

"You alright, Ash?" Ash looked up from his spot on the ground, finding a concerned Damien hovering over him.

Panting in exhaustion, Ash could barely speak his mind from the pain that wracked his body, "T-tired... so... tired..." This gave way to more panting. "C-can't... move... everything hurts."

Damien looked down at his ailing friend, concern clear in his eyes as he wracked his brain for a way to help him. Loud shuffling and movement got Damien's attention, causing him to look back up when he saw that Reggie was carrying Ash's prone form under his arm. "You need any help?" He couldn't help but ask.

Reggie shook his head, choosing to decline the teens offer of assistance, "No thanks. Since you've been watching us this whole time, you should know that I have above average strength. Carrying a kid isn't really taxing on me; besides, he doesn't really weigh that much."

And he was right. Upon closer inspection, Damien saw that Ash's weight didn't seem to affect Reggie at all, and if it did, he was doing a damn good job of hiding it.

Nodding in acceptance, Damien and his tall companion made their way to the outer edges of the clearing, close enough to the trees to provide shade and a modest amount of shelter.

Reggie gently placed Ash on the ground, who by this point was unconscious from the physically strenuous spar he had had with Reggie, and propped him up against a tree to keep him from falling over and disturbing his well-earned slumber.

"I guess it's my turn now, right." It was a statement, not a question. Damien already knew the answer to that. With Ash's well being now assured, Damien knew it was his turn to be subjected to the cruel beat-down that Ash had suffered, though if he had anything to say about it, he would do everything in his limited capabilities to ensure he wouldn't end up as bad as his unconscious friend.

With one last look to Ash's resting form, Reggie looked at his companion with a smirk on his lips and a deep chuckle that shook his slightly toned chest.

"Yup."

Damien nodded in acceptance, unsheathing only one of his katana as he and Reggie made their way back to the part of the clearing that he and Ash had used for their spar. Once in position, Damien got into a slightly sloppy stance, keeping his focus on his opponent as he adjusted his grip on his sword. "Alright. After everything I saw from his spar with Ash, I know that Reggie has the obvious advantage in the speed and strength department, and I didn't get to see much of his fighting style, he just seemed to deviate slightly from Ash's sloppy fighting style. Plus, he doesn't look the least winded from his fight with Ash." All of this information only served to make him nervous. It had been quite a long time since he had gotten any practice with his swords. All of what he did back in his fiasco with Ace in his base had all been merely instinctual, mere remnants of what he had learned years ago. He held no delusions that he stood a chance at beating Reggie in any kind of fight.

Doubt began to seep into his being as he swallowed the accumulated saliva in his mouth in a nervous gulp. Nervousness began to override his logical mind at every listed disadvantage that was stacked against him. Looking to the side at his unconscious friend, he couldn't help but think back to when Ash had been able to temporarily overcome his limitations and fight evenly with Reggie. Determination had seemed to roll off of him in waves at the time, even after suffering the beating of a life time. Damien had no doubts that Ash knew he was in over his head when he volunteered to go up against an opponent with far more experience then the both of them combined, and it was this that made Damien realize that he couldn't doubt himself if he wanted to stand any chance at going up against Reggie. If Ash could have the confidence to stand up to their obviously stronger opponent, then why couldn't he?

Damien took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly as his eyes narrowed in determination. His stance became slightly more fluid as his newfound confidence in himself helped to better focus his mind. "I can't doubt myself. Ash didn't and he was at least able to get in a few hits before it became too much for him. I'm gonna try to do the same!"

Reggie gave a small smile at seeing Damien re-assert his confidence in himself, "He's going to need it." He told himself. He didn't give Ash any mercy in their fight, neither would he give any to Damien. "Our spar will have the same rules as the last one. Use whatever you have to use and no cheap shots. That alright with you, pale face?"

Damien nodded in confirmation, his only response to Reggie's joking taunt a slight twitch of his right eye,

"Ready... go!"

This time it was Reggie who decided to go in for the first strike.

Only slightly surprised by this course of action, Damien pushed himself to his left with all the strength his legs would allow, dodging Reggie's fist by a mere fraction of a second. Damien stumbled for a moment, not used to greater feats of physical activity after years of malpractice. "Kami, I'm out of shape..." He made a mental note to begin training once more after this was over. If what he had seen from his auburn haired opponents actions reflected even a fraction of what any other experienced bounty hunter or criminal could do, then being out of practice was something that he would have to rectify as soon as possible.

Damien quickly moved in to try to get a hit in on his opponent. He swung his sword at Reggie's side, barely missing when he backpedaled a few steps to avoid the blow. He pressed his assault by rushing forward with his sword held back in preparation for a stab.

Damien was in for quite a surprise when his sword stab wasn't dodged, but parried... with his bare hand! He stared in absolute disbelief at the sight before him.

Reggie held his hand out in a chopping motion, his bare flesh somehow left unmarred by the solid steel blade of Damien's katana. He looked at Damien with a crooked smile on his lips, a gleam of mischief in his glaring eyes as he stared into Damien's shocked grey orbs.

Damien was literally knocked out of his state of shock by a hard fist colliding with his face, his sword flying out of his grip and into the air as he was sent tumbling to the ground in a big heap. Quickly making it back to his feet, Damien gently rubbed his cheek where he had been hit, a wince and a grimace escaping his lips at the touch. "I'm gonna feel THAT in the morning; hell, I'm feeling it right now!"

A blade embedding itself into the ground right in front of him broke Damien from his thoughts; that very same blade, upon discovery, turned out to be his. Looking at his quickly approaching opponent, Damien quickly yanked his sword out of the ground by its hilt and slid to the right when Reggie came at him with a straight jab. He quickly dashed forward and swung his sword down on Reggie's outstretched arm.

With reflexes honed from years of combat, Reggie contoured his body slightly to catch Damien's arm by the wrist with his other hand and roughly shoved his elbow into Damein's stomach, causing him to fold over and the air to be knocked out of his lungs.

"Why aren't you using both of your swords?"

Damien looked up at his opponent at his sudden question, confusion in his pain filled eyes as he tried to recover from having an appendage slammed into his gut.

Seeing his confused expression, he clarified, "Why have you only been using ONE of your swords when I know that you've received training in the past for using both of them?"

Damien grunted slightly as he pushed himself back to his feet while holding a hand over his stomach, a small smile on his face as his expression was filled with... shame? "The reason I'm only using one of my swords is because, even though you're right about my past training, it's been a long time since I've practiced what I learned so long ago. It's been so long in fact, that I'd nearly forgotten that I had trained to do so in the first place." By this time Damien's gray eyes were alight with shame. "The only time in these past few years that I've even used these swords in tandem is just last week when me and Ash infiltrated the base of a branch crime lord; and even then it was nothing special the way I used my katana." He knew without a doubt that if Ash hadn't of accompanied him on that night, he would most likely have died that night.

"I won't use both of my swords... because I've nearly forgotten how to do so."

Reggie looked down at his opponent, shame seeming to roll off the teen in waves. It was obvious to him that this had been bugging the young man for quite some time now, possibly for years. He gave a slight nod when Damien finished his explanation. With a small sigh, Reggie gave a small smile at his companion while his combat stance slackened and a confused Damien did the same.

"That's all I needed to know."

Damien gave a slight start at this, his eyes widening in realization. "Wait... that's it? We're done already?!" The pain made it seem like an eternity but he knew that it couldn't have been more than 5 minutes since they had begun their spar.

"Yeah, that's it. I gotta tell ya, you were a bit quicker on your feet than Ash was." Reggie chuckled slightly as he stretched his limbs, slight cracking noises emanating from his joints and neck muscles.

His mouth agape in shock, Damien could do nothing but stare at the tall auburn haired man as he continued his stretches, oblivious to the young teens predicament.

"Oi! Why'd I get my ass kicked to kingdom come, but Damien gets off with only a few bruises?!" Damien and Reggie looked over to the side to see that sometime during their short fight, Ash had woken up and had been watching them the whole time.

Looking at each other with a confused look, Reggie and Damien headed over to their incapacitated companion, who was still ranting about Damien getting off easier than he had.

"... And I have no idea if any of my ribs are broken, 'cause every part of my body hurts like hell right now!" Ash ranted, paying only half a mind to the arrival of his companions. "The guy got an elbow to the stomach? Well I got a freakin' roundhouse kick to the chest! You think that feels pleasant? It doesn't!"

An annoyed tick mark formed on Damien's forehead at Ash's incessant ranting and rambling. Having enough of his friends annoying attitude, Damien kicked him in the side, and seeing as Ash was still sitting on the ground, it was pretty easy to do so without him noticing.

"Haaaahhhh!" Was what escaped from Ash's gaping mouth, the kick to his side temporarily putting his mind out of commission from the pain. It took only a second for Ash's mind to register that he should be rolling around on the ground in agonizing discomfort... which he proceeded to do so immediately.

Damien and Reggie watched in awkward discomfort as Ash rolled on the ground, yelling and howling like an injured dog; but his rolling seemed to only make the pain worse, which caused him to yell even louder.

"... I probably shoudn't have done that..." Damien said with a deadpan expression on his face and a large anime sweat drop on the back of his head.

"You think!" Yelled Ash in... pain.

Scratching his head in a nervous fashion, Reggie decided to put a stop to Ash's escapades and get on with his lesson. He grabbed an unsuspecting Ash by the waist, hoisting him up onto his shoulder. The result? Another round of awkward discomfort as an even bigger sweat drop formed on Damien's head, and a normal one on Ash's, who lay on Reggie's broad shoulder in the shape of an upside-down "C".

There was an awkward silence for about two whole minutes, nought but the steady chirping of birds and arriving crickets could be heard in the nearby vicinity.

Ash's lips were set into a straight line as he stared at the ground from his awkward position, his eyes half-lidded as his brain came to terms with his embarrassing situation; Reggie held a tense look as he tried his best to look at his young charge situated on his shoulder, and Damien was biting his lip almost hard enough to draw blood in order to try to keep the impending laughter from escaping him.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Put me down."

"Are you gonna be a good boy?"

At this point Damien had clamped a hand on his mouth to keep from bursting into hysterics, and a tick mark had formed on Ash's forehead, a frustrated and exasperated look on his face as a bright red blush situated itself on the bridge of his nose.

Reggie asked again, just for the sake of it, "Well, are you?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be good."

"That's not good enough. Say it right."

Steam seemed to be coming out Ash's ears at this point as Reggie made the situation increasingly more embarrassing for him, and as best as he could, he sent a scathing glare in what he felt was Damien's general direction when he heard the sound of muffled laughter.

"... Fine." Ash grumbled in resignation, accepting his fate. "Yes, sir. I'll be a good boy from now on."

"There we go! Now was that so hard?" Reggie chuckled slightly as he finally put Ash back on solid ground, his death glare having a hard time of choosing him or Damien to fixate itself upon.

Damien, for the lack of better words, was dying. His funny bone was having the time of it's life as the pale skinned teen rolled on the ground, holding his stomach with both arms as he laughed to the point of breathlessness, tears of mirth pouring out of his eyes.

Ash contemplated the urge to kick Damien in the ribs as hard as he could in revenge, but thought better of it when his body adamantly protested any physical activity for the moment. He instead situated his piercing glare at Reggie, a smile a mirth on the auburn haired man's lips.

"Was that really necessary?"

"No. But it was funny." Reggie replied with a small chuckle, actually "feeling" the glare of death Ash was giving him as, in the background, Damien's laughter seemed to increase ten-fold at apparently still being able to hear a word they said over his hysterical laughter.

"... Fuck you both." Ash eloquently put it his feelings on the matter.


After having finally calmed down from their little humorous moment, Ash, Damien and Reggie sat themselves on the ground in a circle; it was clear that the time for fun and games was over. It was time for Reggie to give them his evaluation of their skills.

Ash and Damien stared at Reggie in absolute silence, each wondering, dreading. The auburn haired man had his eyes closed in thought, putting together every single thing he had learned about his young charges in his head... at least, that was what he wanted them to think. In truth, he already knew what he had to say to the both of them, he just wanted to keep them waiting a bit so they would stew in their anxiety. It was hard to keep a smile off his face when he could hear the sound of shifting dirt constantly.

Reggie clapped his hands together with great force, startling both of his teenage companions and causing them to tumble over unto their backs. He allowed himself a small grin before yet again plastering a serious look on his face once his young charges got their bearings straight.

He got their absolute attention when he cleared his throat loud enough to startle some nearby birds from their nest, their necks whirling around to look at him so fast, he could have sworn he heard a *crack* from one of them.

"Alright. The both of you are obviously curious about what I think about you and your combat skills, correct?"

Curious was an understatement, but they nonetheless nodded in confirmation.

"Well... alright then. First up is you, Ash." Pointing a finger at him for emphasis, making the raven haired teen gulp nervously.

Ash braced himself for anything Reggie had to say. He knew that bad things would come his way.

"Well, where do I start. First of all, you're a bit headstrong. Damien had it right when he tried to observe and analyze what he could about my combat prowess; you, however, charged in recklessly when it came time to act, and while sometimes it's good to try to get in the first hit in a fight, doing that against an opponent that you KNOW is superior to you in skill is a big mistake on your part. A mistake that, if I had been any other man, would have gotten you killed. From what I've seen, you have little to no combat experience, or any previous training, at least, not any that I can pick up on; and while I can understand that, since you're just a kid and all, going into a dangerous profession unprepared will certainly leave you at a GREAT disadvantage, and that's putting it lightly! The fact that you were able to get through a base full of thugs, especially some with weapons, I feel, was a fluke."

Ash bowed his head down in shame more and more at every bad thing Reggie had to say about his skills; or lack thereof. It hurt to know that he had only served to live so far by a mere fluke.

"But..."

Ash raised his head at that, surprise evident on his face when Reggie's voice took a more gentler tone.

" I have to say, I admire the fact that, even though you don't show signs of any previous training, you seem like you're capable of holding your own against me. Your pain tolerance must be pretty high for you to be able to take so many blows without immediately being down for the count. I can't tell you how many rookie bounty hunters I've seen that have died because they couldn't take a hit properly. You, however, were able to take a few hits and, even though you must have been in excruciating pain, you were still able to get back up and keep going for more. That shows promise. And that outburst of anger you had? I, to be honest, didn't really expect it much; but it was a nice change of pace that it gave you. That anger shot some adrenaline into your veins, and adrenaline boosts have saved plenty of lives in the past. Your emotional control could use a bit of work, but thats not really up to me to do anything about."

This bit of good news served to cheer Ash up greatly, a grin making it's way to his face, and it seemed to be slightly contagious since Damien shared in the good mood as well and gave a small smile.

"My final thoughts? You have potential, kid. That much is certain; you're a bit rough around the edges though, but that can easily be fixed with plenty of training and practice. You have a good set of wits about you, and you're punches aren't too bad either. Try to read up on some fighting styles at a library, or, heck, if you feel lucky enough, come up with one of your own. It'll certainly give you something unexpected for you to throw at any opponent you may come across. Practice makes perfect, kid. Remember that. Anyway, that's all I have to say right now, Ash. You have potential, but you've got a long way to go before you can go after the big guys out there. Nevertheless, I know that you will be a great bounty hunter in the future."

Ash nodded in acceptance, a determined fire in his eyes as he silently promised himself to start training as soon as possible.

With his evaluation on Ash done, Reggie's sights turned to Damien.

Alright, my second, and last, charge, Pale face." Damien braced himself as well, not exactly sure what to expect.

"Like I said to Ash, you did good in trying to see what I could do by observing my fight with him. Unfortunately for you, even though observation is sometimes good to use in battle, this was not one of those times. Observation didn't help you much since I was simply too fast for you to get a proper assessment of my abilities. For the time being, the only thing you know about me is that I have a great amount of experience in combat, I'm faster, and I'm stronger than you. That didn't help you much when it came time to take action. you had the right idea, you just couldn't put it into great use, simply because I was a superior opponent; and while you managed to dodge a couple of my hits, the stronger ones managed to get you, which, again, if I were anyone else, those hits could have been fatal."

Damien took this all in, putting it to mind his weaknesses and limitations. He knew there was still more he had to say though, so he kept listening.

"Now, onto the good news. You told me that it has been a few years since you trained in using your swords, but that can easily be rectified. I can tell that you still haven't forgotten some of those more ingrained lessons in the art of the sword that you learned years ago, and with some help in Ash as your sparring partner, you can slowly regain, and increase, your skills in properly using your katana. I have no doubts in my mind that with a little perseverance you can become a great bounty hunter and swordsman one day."

Ash and Damien nodded to each other, both satisfied with the evaluation of their skills. Reggie had been strict, but fair in his judgement, and they knew to keep his words to heart.

"One last thing."

Ash and Damien looked at Reggie, both eager to get any tidbit of information from the experienced bounty hunter.

"One piece of advice before we're done here. Try to be a bit more creative in the way you fight from now on." At their confused looks, Reggie clarified, "Being straightforward is good and all, but legends in the past were born from thinking outside the box. Coming up with a new technique that no ones ever seen before would certainly put someone off guard, which would give you the opportunity to take them out. Understand now?"

They were still slightly confused, but they caught the gist of it.

"Think outside the box. Got it!"

Reggie nodded in satisfaction, glad that the little lesson that he had given his two companions was over.

"Alright, guys. We're done for today. It's getting late, and I'm sure the both of you want to get some rest." He looked at Ash specifically when he said that, causing the boy to give him a tired grin. "If you two want to learn anything extra before I leave, meet me at the west outpost gate tomorrow at two." He knew they would show up, so he knew he'd have to prepare a little.

Ash and Damien gave a nod at that, small smiles on their faces that told him they were grateful for what he was doing for them.

"Alright. guys. Have a good night, and I'll possibly see you both tomorrow."

The two teens watched as Reggie gave a bow, then began to walk away towards what believed to be the exit.

Damien gave a loud yawn at that moment, the day's events catching up to him. "Man, I don't know about you Ash, but I'm freakin' tired. Wandering a forest for hours on end, and then getting my ass handed to me by a bounty hunter. It's been a long day!"

Ash gave a deadpanned look, his eye twitching at what his friend had seemed to unwittingly imply.

"You call that getting your ass handed to you? You must be a wuss then, because I went through WAY worse than you did, and I'm not even freakin' tired!"

Damien stared long and hard at his friend, running his eyes over the tears on his clothes, and the cuts and bruises on his skin. Even to this very minute it seemed that Ash couldn't stand up without any help. A proverbial light bulb lit up in his head at this thought.

"Weeeeell, if you're not tired, then I guess you can walk through the forest and back to the Inn on your own." Ash's eyes widened at this. "Yup. Those legs of yours look super healthy! You don't need me to 'help' you or anything. No, you're just fine on your own."

Damien began walking away, whistling nonchalantly as he followed the same general direction he had seen Reggie walk in.

"He's not actually gonna..."

"I'll see you at the hotel!"

"Fuck, he is!"

"Aw, c'mon Damien! I was only kidding! Y-you're not actually gonna leave me out here, are ya..."

By this time, Damien was barely visible through the thick shrubs of the forest, his black cloak the only thing giving him away.

"Damien... Damien! ... Dammit Damien, you get back here! You can't just leave me out here, you son of a bitch!

The laughter of a certain pale skinned young man rang through the forest as Ash's yells continued to change from pleading to begging, then to threats, angry ranting, then back to pleading.


(Kanto Outpost- 11:23 P.M.)

"G-god you're... heavy!" Groaned out Damien as he dragged his raven haired friend by the shoulders.

Fortunately for the both of them, since it was late at night, there were hardly any people on the streets, which made their situation a little less awkward than if they had an audience.

"Shut up; we're almost there." Ash said in irritation, obviously annoyed at this point by his friends wining. "Probably would have been a good idea to ask for Reggie's help while we had the chance." He added.

Turning his head slightly, Damien could see that the Inn they were staying in was just in sight, making him sigh in relief as his muscles burned in pain as he pushed himself to make the last bit of distance to the Inn. "He was already gone by the time we both left that clearing, so that wasn't gonna happen."

"Probably didn't help that you decided that leaving me in that clearing by myself was a good idea for a joke." Ash replied with a deadpan expression (not that Damien could see it). "Which I'm very much going to hold over you for quite a while."

Damien rolled his eyes at that, immediately groaning in pain once more as he replied, "I already apologized for that; besides, I didn't leave you there for THAT long."

"You left me there for THIRTY MINUTES!" Ash yelled, his eyes widening comically.

Damien winced at his friends loud yell, distracting himself from the pain of his ringing ears by looking around to make sure that no one had been disturbed by his friend's yell. He gave a small sigh of relief when he saw no signs of anyone coming to investigate the loud noise or call the cops on them.

"Geez, you don't have the strength to move, but you have the strength to yell like a freakin' banshee."

"Wha?" Ash looked up at the night sky, confusion clear in his half-lidded eyes as he thought over what his friend had told him, "What are you... oh!" His eyes widened slightly in realization. "Oh, that... yeah, about that..." A sheepish grin planted itself on his lips, "I sorta got the feeling back in my legs a few hours ago..." A sudden stop in their progress caused Ash to grin nervously, an embarrassed look in his eyes as he tried to imagine what his friend had running through his head at the moment.

His eyes twitched in rapid succession for five seconds, and Damien was pretty sure that he could feel a migraine coming on.

"... When?"

The slight hiss in his friends tone caused Ash to flinch.

"About... half an hour after we left the clearing..."

Damien took a deep, shuddering breath to calm his thoughts temporarily, irritation clear in his voice as he spoke, "So you mean to tell me... that pretty much the entire time I've been dragging your dead weight for almost five hours... you could stand on your own two feet... and walk..."

"Yeah, pretty much..."

"... And when exactly were you planning on telling me?"

Ash gave a nervous chuckle at the menacing tone in his friends voice. He could feel the death glare that the pale skinned teen was giving him.

"T-tomorrow?"

Ash heard a sharp intake of air and felt the muscles in Damien's arms tense. That was all the warning he got before he suddenly found his body unceremoniously crashing to the ground, and a foot painfully slammed into his gut.

"SHIT!" Ash yelled as he held his stomach tightly, small tears appearing at the corner of his eyes as he winced in pain from the impact, "What the hell man!?" He glared up into the eyes of his irritated friend, his glare being returned two-fold as a tick mark formed on Damien's forehead.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that you could walk this whole time?! It would have saved us a lot of time getting out of that damn forest!"

"I tried to, but you kept telling me to shut up so that you could focus on dragging my sorry ass out of the forest, so I figured 'Hey, free ride!' and kept my mouth shut." Ash replied, grimacing in pain every few seconds as he tenderly rubbed his belly.

Damien was sorely tempted to add further harm to his previously incapacitated friend, "Are you the epitome of laziness or something? You seriously kept the fact that your legs worked again from me, and let me drag you through a potentially dangerous forest for five hours?!" There was a clear snarl on his lips as he continued to glare at Ash in hopes of magically making him spontaneously combust.

"... Well, when you say it like that I can see it was a pretty dick move on my part." Ash said in a dead panned tone.

"..."

A small flicker of light from his lighter lit up the cigarette in-between his lips, the pale skinned teen taking a particularly deep puff of the white cancer stick.

"Isn't it a little late to be smoking?"

Another stomp to his gut promptly silenced him, the air audibly escaping his lungs in a painful wheeze.

"Shut up."

Ash was left to pick himself up as Damien walked the rest of the way to their room; he still winced in pain every once in a while at the newly aggravated bruises on his chest, "You leave an injured comrade on the cold, hard ground just like that?" He gave a snarl at his friends retreating form. "So cruel..."

Damien flipping him the bird was his only response.

Ash dragged his still-tired body the rest of the way, only stopping once he saw Damien waiting beside the door, enjoying his cigarette as much as he could. Staring at the pale skinned teen for a moment, Ash shook his head slightly as he opened the door and made his way inside; but before he completely shut the door behind him, he took a moment tell his friend something important, "I'm taking your bed, and most likely peeing on it when I lose control of my bladder in the middle of the night."

Damien briefly choked on his cigarette upon being informed of this, coughing it out shortly after and rubbed his throat softly. "Wh-what?! Why the hell are you gonna do that?!" He asked with wide eyes, briefly taking a moment to mourn the loss of his wasted cancer stick before setting his sights back on his tired friend.

"I'm too tired to go to the bathroom!" He yelled back, closing the door behind him while he did so.

"Like hell you are!"

Damien opened the door roughly, slamming it closed behind him with enough force to unknowingly crack the window of a neighboring hotel room.

"Wha-what the hell are you doing!? Get the hell off me you crazy bastard!"

"Toilet! Now!"

Anyone that was still awake in any of the neighboring rooms would later complain about crashing noises and frantic screaming coming from one of the rooms on the lower floor.


(Unknown Location-2:42 A.M.)

A sharp scream of pain rang throughout the night sky in a far-off part of the kanto region. The scream pierced the Veil of silence that surrounded the closed-off fortress below the crescent moon in the night sky, causing many who heard the scream to cringe in sadness and fear.

Seconds passed before the scream turned into an almost non-existent whimper, before stopping altogether several seconds after. The shuffle of footsteps could be heard afterwards, walking through the empty stone road, their job now done for the night.

A once peaceful settlement in the far north-western corner of the kanto region, now turned into a fortress for less than savory deals. Tall walls of cement bricks surrounded the once peaceful town in a giant square formation, boxing-in everything inside of it, including it's people. Several searchlights were installed into the sides of the walls, emitting bright beams of light on the encompassing forest and anything that moved in the nearby vicinity. A few groups of men could be seen walking on wide pathways built on top of the giant wall, some giving a malevolent chuckle at the sound of another life being cruelly ended by the hands of their fellow comrades patrolling the streets below.

"Looks like they got another one, eh?" Said one of the men walking on the pathway to his friend beside him.

"Yup, looks like it. Must'a been one of those pathetic rebels talking bad about lord Ruso again." He replied, chuckling in morbid amusement.

Both men chuckled at the thought, glad to have some sort of amusement on another otherwise boring nightly patrol.

Some attention was soon brought onto the front gate-the only entrance/exit in the entire fortress at a slight noise, but quickly lost interest when it was only another messenger scout.

A tall, slightly lanky man dressed in all black ran up to the fortress gate. The guards at the check-in station walked up-front at the sight of the man.

The two guards at the gate were quite threatening upon sight. All troops and guards were required to wear protective gear over any article of clothing, which for these two served as a bulky bullet proof vest over black long-sleeved muscle shirts, straps on the side of their chest to keep their rifle slings suspended on their backs; black helmets and jeans completed their look in order to better camouflage themselves in the dark.

"Stop right there, guy! State your business!"

The messenger tensed slightly at the glare the two guards were directing at him, and the rifles they were pointing at him wasn't helping in the slightest to ease his mind.

"I-I come with an important message that I must deliver to lord Ruso immediately!"

The two guards looked at each other for a moment, back to the messenger, then back to each other. They conversed something between themselves for a few seconds, confusing the messenger greatly when the left guard scowled at the right guard, and the right guard smirked in triumph at the left guard. He nudged the scowling guard forward slightly with the butt of his rifle, causing the irritated man to stumble forward.

Barely stopping himself from falling to the floor by the balls of his feet, he sent a nasty scowl back at his smirking companion. When his attempt at glaring a hole into his comrades forehead bore no fruit, the scowling guard approached the nervous messenger and quickly pointed the muzzle of his rifle under his chin.

The lanky messengers eyes widened to impossible widths and a squeak escaped his lips as he felt the cold metal of death under his chin.

"Alright, punk! "Cause of protocol I have to frisk you, and I wasn't ever looking forward to that. You move an inch, you die! Got that?" The man hissed into the frightened messengers ear, making it quite clear that he would end his life without remorse if he didn't do as told.

Taking the mans threat to heart, the messenger wet his dry lips and replied with a whispered "ok".

Scowling at the cowardly man, the guard removed his weapon from underneath the messengers chin and proceeded to frisk his body as efficiently and quickly as possible.

It took only a minute for the man to be done with his task, but for the messenger it was almost an entire lifetime before the guard rose from his slight kneeling position and nodded his head in acceptance and taking his rifle away from any general area on his body, causing the messenger to sag in relief.

"All right, you're clean."

The scowling guard nodded his head back at his comrade, giving the silent signal to raise the gate for the messenger. The guard nearest to the gate opening walked back to his side of the booth and set about to opening the wooden gate.

While his fellow gate guard did so, the other guard quickly turned to face the messenger, causing him to tense back up at the guards venomous glare. "Don't even think of trying anything funny while you're in there pal, 'cause we'll be watchin'. You go in their, say what you have to say to the boss, then you get out. Are we clear?" The guard raised his weapon to eye-level to emphasize his threat to the cowardly messenger.

The messenger nodded franticly in response, not trusting his own voice at the moment to make a proper response.

The guard merely sneered at him as he turned and walked back to his post.

With the gate now raised, the messenger hastily made his way inside, ignoring the glare from the guards to the best of his ability. The gate was lowered once his entrance was assured, causing the man to let out a drawn out sigh of relief. "That's always a rather frightening experience." He whispered to himself, making sure to stay out of the way of any patrol units.

Seeing as it was a particularly long walk to the main base in the walled-off fortress, the messenger decided to look around at what he once used to know as a peaceful village. He made sure not to let it show on his face, but sadness welled in his heart at the sight of what his former home had become. The cobblestone roads were cracked and filthy, dried up blood and green mold splattered everywhere on the walls, in cracks and just about anywhere in sight. Graffiti marred the walls in several layers, so much that there were no signs of what the original color of the walls used to be.

Seeing something particularly interesting nearby, the messenger recoiled in shock and disgust at the sight of a group of men dragging the body of a man by his legs, a trail of blood following behind the body as he was dragged without care on the craggy cobblestone road.

Seeing that they had a witness, the group of men looked over at the messenger with sneers on their lips, ready to inflict bodily harm on another individual; but they stopped when they saw the black messengers beret that he wore on his head, as designated by lord Ruso himself for all messengers to wear to differentiate them from guards or civilians. Waving their hands at him in dismissal, the group of men resumed their duties, dragging the body behind them as well.

Their departure did nothing to ease the messengers mind, all it served to do was deepen the sadness he had in his heart.

It hadn't always been like this. Many long, pain-filled years had passed since Jackal Ruso, one of the most feared crime lords to ever exist, had settled himself into their once peaceful town. Before Ruso had come along, this place used to be a simple little town, full of simple people that did mundane jobs for a living. They had steadily grown their small village into a respectable size, that which could still be seen today. The people of this town had all lived simple lives, but they loved it nonetheless. No conflict, little to no criminal activity, and an acceptable economy that kept them going.

All of that had changed when Ruso had laid siege to the peaceful town.

With an army of over two thousand men, their small town had no choice but to surrender to his forces. Families were broken, innocent people were killed, the economy was driven into the ground, and untold despair came from the rule of the powerful crime lord. After taking over their home, Ruso had taken it upon himself to turn their once peaceful town into his base of operations; every deal that ever included the man was held in his mansion that was located in the far back side of the walled-off fortress. Everything that had once been theirs now belonged to him and his men.

Among the many things that Ruso had changed upon his rule was the jobs that the citizens did from then on. The men were either forced into constant, low-paying manual labor, were forced into his forces and all of his unsavory dealings, or were reduced to becoming his servants. The women, however, were forced into a much crueler fate; from ages six to thirty, no female was spared from becoming sex slaves for Ruso and his men. Every single day and night was filled with the pained cries of women and children from the barracks scattered throughout the town. Wives and daughters would be used every single day as a toy by the guards, soldiers and even Ruso himself. Those who became pregnant suffered greatly upon returning to their broken families, and those who were stored as Ruso's personal collection would be continued to be used until they died or were no longer desired.

The people had not been exempt from the crime lords corruption. Families that were once as close as could be were not hesitant in turning on each other if doing so ever benefited them in any way. While some people dared to challenge Ruso's rule, they were quickly disposed of once caught.

The messenger sighed in misery. He had been one of many of the unlucky men who had been forced into Ruso's troops as a messenger, having to run back and forth to acquire information from the crime lords spies and subsequently having to run once more in order to get any significant information to the man himself. Having to deliver anything remotely helpful to the very man who had ruined everything he ever loved filled him with a great rage the likes of which he never felt before, but he knew that there was nothing that he could do, at least, not alone.

In some ways, the messenger blamed the people for what had become of them. He felt that if they had at least fought back against Ruso when he had made his intention to overtake them clear, then they would have at least had a choice on how their fates would have turned out. They would have either died trying, thus avoiding the pain and despair that they would inevitably suffer under his rule, or they could somehow proved triumphant, driving off Ruso's forces, and continue living their lives as they once had.

Surrendering had sealed their fates absolutely.

Driving these thoughts from his mind, the messenger quickly squashed his depression from his heart. As much as he hated it, he still had a job to do.


(Jackal Ruso's Mansion)

The sight of the crime lords lavish dwellings always served to fill a person with envy, sadness, rage, or a mixture of all three.

Black marble floors with gold silk woven carpets were soft to the touch, fitting only someone of Ruso's status. Intricate Buddha statues of several different designs, some made entirely out of gold, others sculpted by hand by a master craftsman, and even ones with diamonds embedded in them were placed in various positions throughout the rooms that many passed. Furniture made out of the finest materials in the world, and a mysterious odor in the air that seemed to call one to it.

It was all certainly something to be envious of seeing as almost every single room that the messenger walked through was designed as such.

Seeing all of these expensive objects caused the messenger to seethe in silent rage, "While everyone else is suffering, this monster throws his money around like it's nothing to him. I pray for the day that someone is finally able to rid us of him." The messenger thought to himself, reigning in his anger as he came upon lord Ruso's private chambers.

He hesitated a bit at knocking on the door. Seeing as it was so late in the night, Ruso would be found in either his sleeping quarters, or his private chambers. However, the problem with his situation was that lord Ruso hated it when anyone entered his private chambers when he was present, even known to outright kill them. A few guards who had entered his private chambers once had accidently bumped up against his cigar collection. No matter if they had only just recently been recruited into his troops and still didn't know all of his rules, he had them executed anyway. Knowing all this, he was extremely reluctant to disturb him.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, the messenger knocked on the door three times consecutively and waited a moment to see if he would get a response.

He waited for three seconds, and was just about to walk away, when he heard a deep voice yell "enter!" through the door; but even though the voice was muffled slightly from the door, the messenger could still clearly hear the irritation in the owner of the voice.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, the messenger opened the door and cautiously stepped in, making sure to bow in respect of his lord after softly closing the door behind him.

"My lord, I come with-"

"I've made it clear in the past that I am not to be disturbed when I am in my private chambers."

The messenger flinched at being interrupted by the dangerous man before him. Looking up from his bowing position, the messenger once again laid eyes on the man who had ruined the lives of hundreds with no remorse.

Jackal Ruso had the physique to match his dangerous nature. Unlike the many other crime lords that he met in the past who had let themselves go after obtaining wealth, Ruso was one of few that had decided to bulk up his body regardless of his slightly more easygoing lifestyle. Underneath a black bullet proof vest, anyone could see the bulging muscles that the man possessed, courtesy of lifting heavy barbells everyday to keep himself in shape. He had slightly tanned skin, brownish-orange hair in a pineapple sort of fashion, a scar on his face that reached from his chin all the way to his left ear, and two gold piercings in his right eyebrow; and on his hands he wore red, finger-less gloves, as well as ten multi-colored rings worn on his fingers.

A snarl was set on the lips of this truly frightening man, his right canine jutting out slightly from his upper lip. He glared at the trembling form of the messenger who had entered his private chambers and intruded on his current business. When he still hadn't received a response from the cowardly man before him, Ruso growled slightly, causing the messenger to tense up in fright.

"If you don't tell me why you've chosen this exact moment to intrude upon my chambers, I will have you executed! So, out with it you pathetic imbecile!" Ruso growled out, satisfied slightly when the intruding whelp seemed to summon up a false bravado in order to respond to save his life. He wasn't joking around about the execution part, everyone knew that. He had killed many others for less.

"S-sir! I come bearing important news that we have received from some of your spies in the police force! It has to do with one of your branches." The messenger quickly replied. Threats were a good way to motivate him.

Ruso eyes narrowed at this, any news regarding his business was important enough to excuse this fools intrusion, "Which branch? I have many of them scattered throughout the kanto region."

"According to your informants... it was the branch that you gave jurisdiction to your son, Ace."

Ruso's eyes darkened at the mention of his worthless, bastard son. He had allowed Ace to run one of his branches just to shut him up when he wouldn't stop pestering him about taking over his business. He regretted ever taking in that useless brat, but the prospect of having a potential heir that would continue his hard earned legacy in the world after his inevitable passing had enticed him to no end at the time that Ace had revealed himself to be his biological son.

"What has that disappointment done now? I thought I washed my hands of him when I consented to his request to control one of my business branches." Only bad thoughts currently coursed through his head at the thought of what Ace might have done. Ace had been a constant disappointment to him ever since he had shown up in his life. He had many times been sorely tempted to end his pathetic life, but, seeing as Ace was his only heir, he had no choice but to bury his emotions for later on, where he would either take out his frustrations on one his slaves, or his servants.

The messenger prepared himself for the backlash from what he was about to say, "Lord Ruso, sir... your son is dead, and he, according to further analysis from the wreckage, rigged the building he was stationed in to explode should the situation ever require it. There were absolutely no survivors from the explosion."

It was now eerily quite in the room. The messenger bowed his head in fright, only able to imagine the horrid thoughts running through the crime lords head.

"Your services are no longer required from me. Return to your cell." The calmness that exuded from Ruso's voice startled the messenger greatly, causing him to look up in confusion. With his eyes closed and his hands interlocked, Ruso seemed to emanate am aura of absolute calm.

"S-sir?"

At the messengers confused reply, Ruso's eyes opened into a venomous glare directed at the cowardly man.

Ruso gave a snarl at the trembling man in front of him, "Not you, imbecile!" At his words, an auburn haired woman steadily rose from her kneeling position at the foot of his desk.

The mysterious woman wiped at her lips gently with the palm of her hand, closing up her flower-patterned kimono to conceal her rather generous bust. The messengers cheeks glowed crimson at the sight of the beautiful woman, understanding just what exactly had been going on under that desk this whole time. He could only conclude that they had only just started with their "activities".

"Were my services to your satisfaction, master?" Her voice, completely devoid of emotion, caused the messengers red cheeks to dissipate and sadness to once again grip his heart. This was one of many of the crime lords "Toys" that he used on a daily basis. It had been so long since those like her had truly given up on ever escaping the life that now was theirs to live. Spirits crushed, and no hope left in their hearts, all of the women in his possession had become broken, mindless drones that did whatever he asked of him without question.

If he weren't in the presence of one of the most ruthless men in the world, he would have shed a tear for the poor soul.

Ruso waved his hand nonchalantly in dismissal at the woman, "For the time being, it was... acceptable. You could stand to learn to be as good at pleasuring a man as well as your daughter. You are dismissed for the night, but keep my advice in mind." He said with a small frown on his lips, shamelessly zipping up his pants from underneath the desk.

The woman merely nodded in response, taking her leave without even glancing at the messenger in the room. The soft click of the door being closed behind her, and just like that, the air seemed to drop in temperature by at least 50 degrees.

The messenger tensed up at the evil Aura that now exuded from the dangerous man in front of him. Sweat poured from his forehead like a leaking dam, his hands were clammy and shaking in fright, and his eyes were as wide as dinner plates at the sight of Ruso standing to his full height of 6'5, walking ever so slowly towards the messenger with a calm gait.

The messenger gasped when he suddenly found himself being strangled in mid-air by the dangerous crime lord. Ruso's giant hand grasped at the messengers throat as hard as he could without completely depriving him of oxygen, holding him up in the air effortlessly with one arm. He glared into the messengers frightened eyes with his cold violet eyes, the intent to kill clear in his murderous orbs.

"Tell me,... who was responsible for tampering into my business affairs?" The moment he found out who had been responsible for destroying one his establishments, he would immediately set a man-hunt out for their head(s).

"I-I can't do... that, sir...!" The messenger gagged when the giant hand around his neck tightened at his response, cutting the little treasured oxygen that was traveling through his windpipe to keep him alive. He grasped at Ruso's hand, trying, but failing, to ease the grip the man had on his neck.

If it were ever possible, Ruso's glare seemed to intensify, the temptation to kill this pathetic creature was currently at an all-time high.

"You will tell me who did it you pathetic twit! I show no lenience towards insubordination!"

By this point, the messengers face started turning blue from lack of oxygen, his efforts to release the tight hold on his throat proven useless. Just when he thought he would lose consciousness, and the edges of his vision started darkening, Ruso's grip went slack, sending the messenger tumbling to the floor, taking deep breaths to ease his oxygen-deprived lungs. "Unless you want me to crush your head like a grape, you will do as told."

It took a moment for the messenger to recuperate from nearly being strangled to death, his breathing having eased slightly from his previous desperate gasps. "T-that's the thing, sir!" The messenger replied, visibly nervous at what he was about to tell his tormentor/boss. "We... the spies... no one knows who did it. All the information the police managed to get from the civilians was that a strange child had shown up in town the day of Ace's demise. Patrons of a small restaurant in the small town recounted that Ace and two of his bodyguards got into a skirmish with the child, but thats all they managed to get. Nothing more!"

Ruso glared down at the messenger as his irritation at the information he had received became more prominent. Everything the frightened messenger was telling him served to fuel the fires of his anger. He would never say he believed it, but the thought that a mere child had been enough to take down his pathetic excuse for a son angered him to no end. If a mere child had been able to put Ace into a situation in which he had been forced to destroy everything he owned in an attempt to kill his attackers, then he was seriously considering doubling the security in many of his scattered bases. However, that would have to wait for later. He still had questions to ask this miserable retch.

"Just for curiosity's sake, what did this child look like?"

The messenger looked away from Ruso's glaring eyes, trembling, no longer able to hold eye-contact with the dangerous man. Taking a shaky breath, the messenger replied, "It was a boy. He looked to be twelve, maybe thirteen years old; he had black hair, a tan skin complexion, and his clothes were torn and covered in, what they believed to be, blood. No one got close enough to make out any other possible notable characteristics." The messenger listed off everything he had been told, taking a breath every now and then, while still not making eye-contact with Ruso. "That's all your spies managed to get. It's all the information I received."

Ruso closed his eyes in thought, going over everything the messenger had told him. "Black hair and tanned skin... that only narrows the results to a million possible candidates. If my spies are truly so incompetent that they didn't manage to get anymore info on the possible suspect, then I feel I will have to... replace them soon." He mentally recounted to himself, a grim frown on his lips as his irritation increased evermore.

Looking down at the still grounded messenger, he mentally scowled at the cowardly man's inability to even maintain eye-contact with him.

"Stand."

The messenger jumped, startled at Ruso's sudden command after many moments of deathly silence. He quickly did as told, not wanting to further incite Ruso's wrath. The messenger stood at attention, merely inches away from Ruso's large, intimidating form. "Y-yes, sir?"

"You are no longer of any use to me. You are as of this moment permanently relieved of your duties to me."

The messenger gave a start at that, surprise and barely hidden joy in his wide eyes. He stared into Ruso's cold eyes, searching for any hint that he was only telling him a cruel joke. Finding nothing that indicated as such, he smiled and almost hugged the man in front of him, but restrained himself from doing so, knowing it would only bring him an early death. "S-sir! Thank you, sir! I am etern-!"

The messenger was quickly and forever silenced when Ruso once more took hold of his throat, but instead of strangling him like he did before, he rested his other hand on the mans forehead and twisted. With an audible, sickening snap, the messengers neck was brocken, ending his life immediately.

Leaving the corpse of the pathetic man to tumble to the floor, Ruso stepped out of his room, making a mental note to have some of his servants to remove the corpse from his chambers at a later time.

Right now, he had things to do, plans to lay out.

He had no doubts this child that had killed Ace and destroyed a part of his business was still alive, taking his diseased spawns incompetence to the extreme. He had never believed that Ace could become anything as great as he had; his death had only served to prove his point.

If it was true that this unidentified child had dared to intrude on his business, then he would find out who this child was, no matter the cost, and have him killed in the most painful manner that his diabolical mind could think of.

No one, absolutely no one,messed with Jackal Ruso. For if they did, they quickly found themselves suffering a most untimely demise.


(Kanto Outpost #3-The Next Morning)

Loud snoring resonated throughout the room Ash and Damien were currently staying in, both young teens still in the gentle, blissful hold of slumber, the puddle of drool developing around Ash's pillow and the snot bubble blowing out of Damien's nose proof enough as it was.

The day before had been a tiring day for the both of them; getting nearly lost in a forest for several hours, getting their asses kicked-one of them to a lesser extent-, and then had to drag themselves out of the previously mentioned forest, which knocked off another few hours off their day. Needless to say, finally being able to rest their weary bodies was a much needed godsend to them both.

The welcomed peace in the room was suddenly disturbed by the phone in the room gave off a loud ring, briefly startling Ash, the raven haired teen snorting loudly before sighing, burying his head under his pillow and immediately drifting back to sleep. Damien, unfortunately, couldn't ignore the annoyingly loud sound quite like his friend could. After a few seconds of tossing and turning, the pale skinned teen could no longer take having the loud ringing blaring into his ears.

"Yeah..." Having reached out grabbed the phone, Damien held the top part of the device to his ear and spoke into the bottom part. "Who is it?" He yawned out, still partially asleep.

"Good morning, sir. This is the wake-up call from the front desk to room... 17, would you like us to call you again in another fifteen minutes?"

"No thanks, we'll be fine from here on." Damien replied, giving another tired yawn and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Alright, that'll be all, sir. Enjoy your stay!" He gave a slight start when there was a sudden *click* and the call cut off, the same dull tone it otherwise always played audible once more.

Knowing that he wasn't going to get any more sleep, Damien got out of bed and stretched his limbs, groaning as they made an audible *crack*, sighing in relief at the feeling of his body being at least moderately well-rested. He looked over at his still snoozing friend, his loud snoring still audible despite the big pillow over his head. Shaking his head at his raven haired friends laziness, he figured he would let him have a bit more time to rest while he went into the bathroom to get cleaned up for the day.

Twenty minutes later, Damien came out from the bathroom, towel wrapped around his waist and dripping wet from his shower. All traces of sleepiness now gone, Damien got about to unpacking his bag for some clothes to wear for the day. Taking a brief glance at the still occupied bed his opposite, he shook his head at the sight of Ash, his body in the exact position it had been when he had entered the bathroom.

"Oi! Wake up, Ash! It's morning already, rise and shine!" Damien yelled, slipping on a grey undershirt and a pair of black denim pants.

A slight twitch, but otherwise no response from the slumbering teen.

In the middle of putting on one of his recently bought full-body black cloaks, Damien gave a weary sigh at his friends laziness, "Get your lazy ass out of bed, and into the bathroom. You've slept long enough!" He yelled, palming his face when Ash merely groaned slightly and turned his body away from him.

Sucking his teeth, he got a mischievous glint in his eyes at the sight of Ash's bare feet poking out from under the covers. Quietly making the short distance to his sleeping friend, Damien began to pull Ash by his feet, his form coming closer to the edge of his bed inch by inch. He stopped once Ash's head was no longer covered up by the pillow, the glint in his eyes still present and a small grin on his lips. "Last chance, Ash. Get up, or I'll make you get up!"

"Mmmm... Five more minutes... mom..." Ash sleepily replied, his mind still not in the waking world as evidenced by the still growing drool puddle by his face.

"Alright, it's the latter."

Damien made his way back into the bathroom, filling a pail with ice cold water from the sink. Once the pail was full, he carefully made his way back to his sleeping friend, only spilling a few drops of water on the way, and held it over his head.

"Keep this in mind, Ash. I gave you a choice."

Turning the pail upside-down, the ice cold water immediately succumbed to the pull of gravity and descended towards it's sleeping victim, still blissfully unaware of his impending rude awakening. Damien smirked in amusement when the water finally spilled onto Ash's prone form, the sounds of snorting and choking making him chuckle in amusement.

"I AM THE PURPLE FIRETRUCK!"

All sounds immediately stopped, Ash's wet spluttering and Damien's chuckles coming to a stop at Ash's dream induced declaration.

"..."

"..."

"D-did I just say that out loud?"

"Yeah." Damien quirked an eyebrow at the blush of embarrassment on Ash's face, "... I don't even wanna know what kind of messed up dream you were having." He replied, a deadpan expression on his face.

"Yeah, you really don't." Ash replied, scratching the back of his head in an embarrassed manner.

Damien shook his head at the early morning actions of his weird friend, slightly regretting the rude "wake-up" he had given him. "Well, now that your lazy ass is awake, you can go in the bathroom and get ready."

"For what?" Ash replied, stretching his arms in the same manner as his pale skinned friend had previously done.

Damien gave his friend a weird look, thinking he might be joking. "Are you serious?" At Ash's confused look, he palmed his face. "You already forgot? Reggie told us to meet him at the western gate at two. Y'know, for the extra advice?"

Ash stared at his pale skinned friend for a few seconds, running the information through his still slightly groggy brain. A full minute of awkward staring ensued between the two teens before Ash's eyes widened slightly in realization. "Oooooohhhh, that..."

Damien rolled his eyes at Ash's response, sitting on his bed for a moment to rest his legs, "Yes, that. I can't believe you forgot something so important.

Laying on his back, Ash stared at his friend with one eye closed and the other half-lidded, "Can you really blame me? I just woke up from having a bucket of freezing water being poured on my head, thanks for that by the way, and who know's what time it is." He replied, an irritated tone in his voice as his one open eye glared at Damien. "How long is it until we meet up with him, anyway?" He asked, yawning loudly a moment later from the lingering affects of sleep in his system.

"I don't know..." Damien looked around at the bare walls of their room, not finding anything that could help. "There's no clocks in this room to tell the time. Who's brilliant idea was it to not put built-in clocks on the walls?" He asked himself, frowning at the lack of insight people seemed to have. "Did they ever stop to think that maybe some people don't have wrist watches to tell them the time!?" He mentally ranted.

"I don't know."

"I didn't ask you!" Damien replied, sending an annoyed glare at his lazy friend.

"Then you shouldn't have asked at all." Ash scoffed in response, turning his head slightly to look at his pale skinned friend. "You asked a question, I gave a response. You don't like it? Too... *Yawn* bad." Smacking his lips in satisfaction, Ash gave a smug smirk when Damien glared at him.

"Smartass..."

Having grown tired of laying around for the time being, Ash pushed himself off his bed to make his way to the bathroom, but was stopped when he buckled over, groaning slightly while holding a hand to his stomach.

"You alright, Ash?" Damien asked, his voice laced in concern as he got up to help his ailing friend.

Ash put a hand up, halting his friend at the small gesture. With a grunt, Ash pushed himself back on his feet, wincing slightly at the sting of pain in his joints. "Yeah... I'm alright. My body must still be a little sore from yesterday." At the concerned look his friend sent him, Ash rolled his eyes and gave a small grin. "I'll be alright, man. Don't worry."

Damien looked at his friend for a moment, feeling genuine concern over his apparent condition. "You sure? I can help you to the bathroom if you want."

Ash rolled his eyes at his friends response, sucking his teeth as he frowned in displeasure, "I'm fine, geez. I'm flattered over your concern for me, Damien, but I really don't need your help. I'll just tough out the pain, like a man!" Ash replied, needlessly puffing up his chest to reassure his friend. He immediately regretted that course of action when his ribs protested at the excess oxygen painfully rubbing up against some of his still-healing wounds. Going into a slight coughing fit for a moment, Ash looked back up at the face of his amused friend, clearing his throat slightly and pretending that his show of manliness had gone unhindered. "As I said, I'll take myself to the bathroom, toughing the pain out, like a man!"

"You're twelve..." Damien replied in amusement at his friends false bravado.

"Like a man!"

"Whatever..."


(40 Minutes Later)

After almost an hour, the two teens exited their hotel room to get get started on their day. Because of Ash still being partially injured from yesterday, he had taken longer in the bathroom than Damien had, so they were both eager to set out after almost an hour of needless waiting. The first thing they had done upon leaving their room was asking a passing civilian for the time, which they had learned it was still eleven in the morning, plenty of time for them to get some breakfast before heading out to meet up with Reggie.

Some time of aimless wandering brought them both to a stand selling various types of food. None of them were something you would normally eat for breakfast, but it was still food nonetheless. They both had placed their order and set about to waiting, currently conversing over something that Damien seemed too weird to pass off.

"I can't believe you ordered so much food."

"It wasn't that much." Ash rolled his eyes at the bewildered look his friend sent him.

"Not that much?! You ordered nine -count them- nine Meat buns, and three Onigiri! That's enough food to feed almost four people!"

"I'm a growing boy! I need to get plenty of nutrition in me!" Ash replied, an annoyed scowl settling on his lips at Damien's scoff.

"'Growing boy my ass! If anything, you're a pig!"

Ash squawked at his friends retort, his eyes widening comically and his jaw dropped, "P-pig!? Do I look look the least bit like a pig to you?! Does this.." Ash pointed to his nose, "Look like a pigs snout to you?!"

"Whatever. I'm starting to think that stomach of yours is a black hole or something. It's just not possible for someone as scrawny as you to eat so much without getting sick or vomiting on the spot." Damien replied.

Ash glared at his friend at the last part of his response, "I'm not scrawny, I'm lean!" He retorted, finding offense in being called scrawny of all things. He wasn't scrawny! He just had a lack of muscle mass anywhere on his body, that's all.

"Whatever you say... Adonis." Damien mocked, looking away from his friend with a grin of amusement on his lips .

Ash glared at his pale skinned friend, growling slightly since he sure that he was trying to hide his amusement from him. Their conversation done with for the moment, the two teens went back to simply waiting in silence, but quickly found that things were too quiet, seeing as there were a few people present when they had arrived at the stand, which most had been conversing amongst each other moments ago, but were now eerily silent.

Looking around, they both saw that the people around them had stopped with whatever they were doing, and were staring at them both. Ash and Damien quickly became slightly flustered and irritated at the sudden and unwanted attention they were getting. Clearing his throat, and taking a deep breath, Ash chose to take action and put a stop to it.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!"

And just like that, everyone diverted their attention from them both back two whoever they had been speaking to before, startled, and choosing not to raise the hot-blooded child's ire anymore than they already had.

Ash huffed once everyone had gone back to paying attention to each other rather than them, "The nerve of those people. Staring at us like that."

"Whoa. Are you alright? You seem more irritated than usual." Damien asked, confusion clear on his face at his friends sudden actions. He had been unnerved and slightly irritated at the stares those people had been giving them, but Ash seemed to have taken it a little more personal than he had.

Ash only nodded in response to his friends question, taking a breath to calm himself and his beating heart. He could understand Damien's concern with him, he had reacted in a more unsightly matter than he would have normally reacted in, but those stares... they had brought back darker memories to the forefront of his mind. Suddenly being the center of attention had unnerved him more-so than his friend, because they brought back the memories of never being able to have piece of mind in the midst of his fellow citizens back in pallet. The feeling of having so many eyes, their attention all focused on him, had immediately registered in his mind as an impending threat. Lashing out the way he had had been a way to alleviate some of his negative emotions without immediately going all "recluse".

A hand on his shoulder brought him from his thoughts. Looking to his friend, Ash saw the concern in Damien's eyes. Not wanting to hint to his discomfort, Ash waved off his friend's concern with a fake response. "Yeah, I'm just hungry, and when I'm hungry, I tend to get more easily irritated."

Looking at his raven haired friend for moment, Damien nodded in acceptance, seemingly believing Ash's lie. "Mmmm. Alright, if you say so." He didn't notice the quiet sigh of relief Ash gave off at that. "I still think you're kind of a glutton, though..." A kick to his leg, courtesy of Ash, caused him to snicker in amusement, Ash joining him a second later.


(Three Hours Later)

After the peculiar moment had passed, Ash and Damien had received their respective orders and had spent quite a bit of time enjoying their food. Ash had been glad that Damien had accepted his lie. He didn't yet feel comfortable enough to tell his friend the real reason why those people staring at them had seemed to bother him so much. Maybe in time he would tell him the truth, but for the time being he was content.

The two teens had thoroughly enjoyed their late breakfast, Ash choosing not to "pig out" on his large meal. By the end of it, they were both satisfied with with their meals, and took the rest of their time to wander about the town some more and walk off their meals as well.

They had wandered here and there for a few hours, taking in some of the sights the place had to offer, which wasn't much considering this particular outpost wasn't as big as some of the others were. Nevertheless, they had amused themselves with some of the acts some people were performing on the side of the streets in some places, sparing them a couple of notes for their efforts, and had browsed some of the shops here and there that had a few things that had caught their immediate interest.

Hours had passed, and finally the time came for their particular appointment with their new acquaintance.

Arriving at the agreed meeting spot at around 2 o' clock, Ash and Damien were pleasantly surprised to see that Reggie was already there waiting for them. The tall auburn haired man smiled at the two teens, having already expected their arrival. "About time you two got here. I've been waiting for 3 minutes. In certain parts of the Kanto region, being even slightly late to an appointment will get you arrested for negligence." Reggie said in a serious manner.

Ash and Damien froze, looking up at Reggie in surprise.

"W-wait... really?" Ash asked.

Both teens relaxed when Reggie gave a small chuckle, an amused grin on his lips. "No, not really. I was just in the mood to joke around a bit." Both teens gave a sigh of relief at that. "I wasn't kidding about the arresting part though." He gave another chuckle when the teens froze up once more. He began making his way through the gate entrance, calling back to his shocked charges, "You two coming, or what?"

Both teens quickly snapped out of their trance, running to catch up quickly when they saw that Reggie was already starting to enter the forest ahead.


(Forested Path-20 Minutes Later)

The group of three had been walking through the forest that surrounded the small settlement they had left behind, the two teens following Reggie's lead as he lead them to his campsite, something that had surprised them when he informed them of his residence.

"For the last time, yes Ash, I live, eat and sleep in the outdoors." A hint of annoyance could be heard in Reggie's response, having been asked the same question five times in the past 10 minutes.

"Yeah, I get that, but why?" Ash asked, honestly curious as to why the man didn't just book a room at an Inn like they had done. He knew Damien was just as curious, but chose to let him do the questioning.

"I honestly prefer living in the outdoors as opposed to a hotel or an apartment, simple as that. I find living in the midst of nature to be more relaxing." Reggie replied.

Ash seemed to accept his answer, sating his curiosity for a moment before another, more pressing question came to mind. "Speaking of the outdoors, what exactly are you taking us to your camp for? You kinda neglected to tell use what exactly you're gonna have us do."

Both Ash and Damien gained curious looks on their faces, complete with small question marks hovering above their heads, when Reggie gave a small chuckle, seeming to find amusement at their questioning looks. "I'm giving you first-hand experience in what a bounty hunter's job entails. I'll explain further when we get to my campsite. Now, I'd appreciate it if you would hold off any questions for now."

Both Ash and Damien nodded in acceptance, agreeing to keep their mouth's shut for the time being.


(10 Minutes Later-Forest Path)

The temporary group of three finally arrived in a small clearing far away from the Kanto outpost, the teens finding some relief in finally being able to rest for the moment and get a proper explanation from their older companion.

Looking around, the two boys saw three make-shift seats consisting of three cleanly chopped logs, a large tent that looked big enough to fit someone of Reggie's stature (which was a surprise to the both of them), and a large fire pit, currently put out, in the middle of the clearing with a spit over it. All in all, it was a pretty simple campsite.

"Welcome, my young charges, to my humble, temporary abode!" Reggie threw his arms out in a dramatic manner, presenting the simple campsite to the two teens with as much "flare" as he thought it deserved. "It's not much, but feel free to make yourself at home."

Ash and Damien looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged and each took a seat on one of the logs situated on the ground, Reggie joining them a second later. Both teens looked expectantly at Reggie, who was taking the time to take a deep breath with his eyes closed, enjoying the unusually fresh air that only seemed to be present when one was surrounded by nature.

This continued for five long minutes, their patience wearing thin while Reggie continued to inhale and exhale with his eyes closed in relaxation. Deciding that too much time had passed without anything to show for it, Damien coughed loudly into his hand, smacking the log he was sitting on for good measure, which seemed to startle Reggie seeing as he had jumped slightly at the noise Damien made. Reggie blushed in embarrassment at the questioning looks sent to him by his companions, scratching the back of his head with a small grin on his lips. "You, uh... *Cough*, you're both undeniably curious as to why I brought you all the way out here, so feel free to ask away!" He said, mentally sighing in relief when the two teens seemed to move past his weird behavior for the moment.

Ash took the initiative to pursue a direct answer to his previous question, "Like I asked about 20 minutes ago, what exactly did you bring us all the way out here to do? We're not gonna have another spar, are we?" Ash asked, a perturbed look on his face at the thought of getting his ass kicked again.

"No, Ash." Reggie chuckled. "We're not having another spar. We're here for a completely different reason than for what we did yesterday." He explained, smiling at the sigh of relief the raven haired gave. He looked to his other charge when he realized that he had been quiet the whole time they had been there. "How about you, Damien. Any questions on your mind that you want to ask before I explain why I brought you two here?"

Damien shook his head, "No. Pretty much the same thing Ash asked. I don't have any other questions that come to mind right now." He replied, leaning back on his make-shift to get some comfort out of the hard wood.

"Alright then." Reggie cleared his throat, preparing himself for what he was going to put his two charges through.

Ash and Damien leaned forward slightly, anticipating anything that their companion was going to tell them. If he had brought them both all the way out here, then that could only mean it was something important that he felt he needed to show or share with them.

Reggie nodded his head to his eager companions. With a deep breath, he spoke, "As I told you both yesterday, the two of you have considerable potential. That potential, depending on what you do with it, can take you far in the business you've signed yourselves up in. Yesterday, I took the liberty of testing out just where you both would stand in terms of skill. Ash, you have a lot of work ahead of you, but I believe you can truly become powerful if you work hard for it." Said aforementioned teen smiled brightly. "And Damien, I didn't manage to get much out of you since you claim that you've forgotten most of the training you received in the past; that's something you're gonna have to work with, both of you. The both of you will help each other to become stronger individually, you especially Damien. You both have a lot of potential, but it's up you two to bring it out." At the nod his young companions gave him, Reggie sighed in slight annoyance. He had gone slightly off track.

"Anyway, back to what I was originally going to tell you. I brought you both out here for a very special lesson. Yesterday I tested your individual abilities, today, however, I will give you two something special, something all bounty hunters need; experience!" Reggie smirked slightly at his confused charges, certain that they really wouldn't expect what he was going to tell them. "Today, I'm going to give you two a small glimpse into what's expected of you as bounty hunters in the best way available."

"What's that?" They both asked in unison, confusion clear on their faces.

Reggie's smirk grew wider. "Why, by me forcing you two to fight a camp of bandits all by yourselves!"

"WHAT!"

The tall auburn haired man chuckled at the shocked look on their faces, truly relishing the feeling of putting them into such a situation. "I brought you both out here today so that we could find a bandit camp for you two to fight. First hand experience is pretty much the best, and only, way of getting started." Reggie explained, the two teens relaxing somewhat at his explanation. "Many years ago, when I first started in my bounty hunter career, this is pretty much the same thing I did. I worked my way from the bottom of the ladder to the top. The weakest opposition you can face out here, bar civilians, are bandits, and this is where I'm going to start both of you on."

Ash immediately thought of something that had seemed to slip the minds of both him and his pale skinned friend until now, "Wait... about a week ago, me and Damien went up against a whole underground base full of thugs. Doesn't that count for something here?" He asked, Damien nodding in agreement alongside him.

They were both slightly surprised when Reggie chuckled and shook his head, seeming to find amusement in what Ash had said. "Thugs? Those guys are pathetic. Thugs don't count towards anything seeing as they're basically civilians with an assortment of weapons just to make them seem intimidating." Reggie chuckled even further, serving to embarrass and irritate his young companions. "You think that just because you two beat up a bunch of incompetent civilians that it serves to make you any better than you were before? No, thugs are seen as nothing in this world. They are seen as worthless in the eyes of the true warriors. They only serve to be hired en mass by rich cowards that feel they deserve more than they already have by harassing innocent people, and thats the kind of thing that starts wars."

"Other than just being civilians with weapons, what's really the difference between thugs and bandits? Aren't they both basically the same thing?" Ash asked. Both teens were truly curious seeing as credibility for beating up a bunch of thugs pretty much meant nothing for them.

"The difference between thugs and bandits? That's easy to explain. You see, as I told you already, thugs are just civilians that have no training whatsoever and only wield weapons to look intimidating in the eyes of a regular civilian; bandits on the other hand, well, most of the bandits that have a bounty on their heads have them for a reason. Most bandits have experience under their belts and training in martial arts, or in any weapon they happen to be wielding. Against someone like me, who has years of experience, I would far outmatch a bunch of bandits, but against you two, who have no experience whatsoever, they are the perfect opponents for you two. The perfect way for you two to get even a small amount of experience to get you started. Understand?"

Both teens took a moment for their minds to take everything in, nodding a moment later. They seemed to understand where Reggie was coming from.

"Ok, we understand."

Reggie clapped his hands together, smiling brightly (much to the surprise of his companions) and spoke, "Good! That pretty much sums up everything we're going to do today. We're gonna head out, find some bandits, and then you're gonna fight 'em!"

"How long is it gonna take to find a bandit camp out here?" Asked Damien. "We're out in the middle of the forest. Where would we begin to look?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Damien. You see, that's why we're out here in the first place! You seem to overlook the fact that bandits would logically hang around a decently populated area, which happens to be the outpost just back there! It's not hard to find those annoying buggers around this place, in fact, I know where one is right now!" Reggie explained.

Damien seemed annoyed by the mocking tone of voice Reggie used to explain this to him, which incited great amusement for Ash at his expense.

"He got you there, eh, Damien?" Ash chuckled in amusement, poking his friend in his sides with his elbow.

"Shut up."

"Alright you two, as much fun as it is to mock pale face over there, we've got places to be, and bandits to beat up! So let's move out! Ten-HUT!" Ash and Damien immediately stood at attention by some unknown instinct telling them to do so perfectly, standing completely straight with their chests puffed out in front of their older companion.

"Forward, March!"

At his command, the two confused, but attentive, teens followed Reggie's lead once more, struggling slightly along the way to keep up with his completely sudden militaristic attitude. Ash and Damien looked to each other for a brief moment, both mentally agreeing that Reggie was either bipolar, insane, or a messed up combination of both.


(Forest Path-30 Minutes Later)

If they hadn't ended up where they were now, Ash and Damien would have thought that all the walking they had done was just a waste of time. Reggie had kept them marching forward for quite a long time through the forest, and they were pretty sure that Reggie had intentionally kept them marching in a complete circle just for the kick of it, but they really didn't have any proof to accurately say so. But finally, after half an hour of further wandering about in the forest, the group of three came upon a thick wall of bushes, the sounds of cheer, laughter and the disgustingly bitter smell of cheap booze in the air already telling them that a camp full of bandits was just on the other side of it.

This was fully confirmed when the three of them peeked through 3 conveniently placed holes in the shrubbery that provided them a somewhat clear view of the clearing the bandits were situated in. Various men were situated near a large fire in the middle with a roasting spit on top, which was currently roasting a rather large boar, and large tent was set up that looked to be able to fit a majority of the bandits that they could see. Almost every single man in the camp was chomping on a large piece of boar meat in one hand, or taking swigs of Sake from large jugs in their other hands. Some of the bandits were gathered together, laughing at some joke that one of them said to the others or telling stories of past raids. From their vantage point, the three of them could see about 11 bandits in the clearing, but they were sure that there was probably more of them in the tent or out in the woods.

"There they are. Some weak-ass bugs for you to beat." Reggie said, his lips set in a grin and his eyes narrowed at the sight of all the bandits. This sight certainly took him back.

"Wow. There certainly are a lot of them!" Damien put his two cents in, slightly intimidated at the sight of all of the bandits Reggie expected them to take out. If what he said was true, these guys would be far tougher than the mere thugs that they had faced a few days ago.

"That boar meat looks tasty... it's makin' me hungry." Ash practically salivated at the delicious looking meat dangling over the fire. His nose picked up the heavenly scent coming from the cooking meat, causing his stomach to grumble. "Ow! What the hell!?" Ash glared at Reggie, gently rubbing the back of his head.

"Keep it down. You can eat after you're both done; focus on the main objective!" Reggie replied, having slapped Ash upside the head when he saw that his stomach was distracting him from their current goal.

"Yeah, what he said." Damien said. "Anyway, didn't we eat like an hour ago? How can you be hungry again after eating all that food... and don't you dare you give me that 'growing boy' bullshit!" Damien hissed, making sure to keep his voice low while he berated his weird friend.

"Ummm..." Ash scratched his head in slight embarrassment. "I... uh... have a fast metabolism?"

"Is that a question or an answer?!

"It is what it is!"

"You're a glutton, Ash!"

"Screw you!"

"Both of you shut up!" With a not-so-mighty mighty heave, Reggie slammed his hands harshly onto the back of their heads. The powerful impact caused them both to face-plant into the dirt below, their faces leaving a slight imprint from the impact.

The two teens slowly lifted their faces from the ground, both of their faces slightly caked in dirt, leaves and blades of grass. They coughed and spluttered as quietly as they could-seeing as they were still hiding- at the dirt that had managed to get into their open mouths when their faces had been forced to kiss the earth. The scathing glare the two teens were going to give him quickly died out when they laid eyes on the annoyed one on his face. "You two have a job to do. You don't have time to argue like an old married couple over something so trivial!"

Both teens snarled at Reggie when he said that, disgust evident in their expressions at the fact he seemed to compare them to a married couple of all things! A quick gesture back to the shrub wall from their older companion had them looking back at the holes in the shrubs.

What they saw startled them immediately.

Moments ago the bandits in the clearing had been having a good time, eating their hunted meat and downing cheap alcohol. Now, however, all eyes were on the exact wall of shrubs that the three of them were hiding behind. All of them were brandishing weapons of their choice, some of them already getting into a stance in preparation for a fight.

"OI! Whoever the hells back there, you better show yourself before we decide to come in there after ya!" One of the men declared, standing slightly ahead of the the various men lined up behind him. "And you really don't want us to do that!" He laughed malevolently, holding a wicked looking scythe in his hands.

Ash and Damien both cursed at being caught. It seemed that their arguing had been loud enough for the bandits to hear them. Stealth was now out of the question for them to use.

"Shit! What do we do, Reggie?" Both teens looked at their temporary companion, but were surprised to see that he had disappeared from the spot he had been in just moments before. "Reggie?"

"That's easy, boys."

Both teens looked behind them when they heard Reggie's voice. The tall auburn haired man stood behind them with a mischievous grin on his face.

"You get out there... and fight them!"

Both teens gave slight yell when, with a painful kick to their rear ends, they were both painfully flung forward, against their will I might add, into the bandit infested clearing.

"Oof!"

All eyes were on them when both Ash and Damien were flung from the shrub wall, landing on the hard ground. Well, one of them anyway. Ash landed on the ground, while his pale skinned friend landed on his back, earning a groan of pain from the downed raven haired teen. All of the bandits sweat dropped at the sight of the two teens fumbling around to get out of their predicament, seemingly forgetting that a bunch of dangerous, weapon-wielding bandits were standing right in front of them, watching them both with deadpan looks on their faces.

"Get off me!" Ash yelled, struggling to get up from the ground with his friends weight on him.

"No, you get off of me!" Damien retorted, unwittingly entangling himself further into the awkward position they both found themselves in.

"You're on me, not the other way around!"

The lead bandit growled, apparently not appreciating being ignored. "Kill those two brats!"

Ash and Damien immediately stopped with their scuffling when a spear landed merely inches away from their faces. They looked long and hard at the spear that would have ended their lives if it had landed a couple inches to the left. With speed that would make a cheetah green with envy, both teens were immediately on their feet, preparing themselves for anything that these men would throw at them.

With slight gesture of his head from the apparent leader, four men, two of them wielding a katana, and the other two wielding Bo staffs, charged at the duo, the katana wielding men charging at Damien and the staff wielding men charging at Ash.

Both of them tensed in preparation, knowing that this was the moment of truth for the both of them. Damien unsheathed both of his katana while Ash got into his brawler stance. The group of men came closer and closer every moment, until finally, they clashed.


Back behind the giant wall of twigs and leaves, Reggie kept a close eye on how the fight would inevitably turn out. He wasn't entirely sure if those two would be able to win this fight. They had potential, that much was true, but their individual skills were shoddy at best, nonexistent at worst, but maybe, just maybe, they would come out victorious if they worked together; of course, this was all speculation on his part. If the bandits proved to be too much for them, however, then would he interfere.

His eyes focused once more on the sight before him when he saw that the fight was starting. He worried slightly at the sight of his companions having to fight two men at once, but once more reassured himself that they would be alright.


(With Ash)

The two of them quickly found themselves being split up, constantly struggling to hold back each of the two men that were trying their hardest to hit them. Fortunately for them, their smaller stature aided them in evading their opponents' attacks. Ducking under sword swings or avoiding being smacked by a staff, the both of them found that their was no opportune time or moment for them to counterattack.

Ash ducked under another swing from one of his assailants, wincing in pain when he felt the other bandit swing his staff on his forearm. So far he hadn't gotten any chance to attack them in turn; it was already evident to him that these two men could work very well together seeing as they were constantly filling in for each other after one of them had already struck, leading to a constant barrage of painful hits to the parts of his body that he couldn't properly protect.

Ash was quickly growing frustrated at not being able to retaliate against his opponents, taking hit after painful hit with no chance of escape.

"Ash!"

Startled from the sudden voice in his head, Ash couldn't block the next couple of hits from his opponents. He grunted in pain at the painful hits to his chest and face, bruises already beginning to form in the impacted areas. "Din? I don't think this is the best time for us to talk!" He mentally spoke to the entity in his head. He at least had the foresight to think what he wanted to say instead of saying it out loud, lest his opponents think he was crazy for suddenly talking to himself.

"Yes, I can see that it's not, but I believe I can help you get out of this predicament that you're in." Ash heard the voice of Din sound out in his mind while blocking the ensuing strikes from his opponents to the best of his ability.

"Are you gonna give me a boost of energy like you did before? 'Cause I could really use one about now! These guys are tough!" Ash mentally spoke, crossing his arms in an "X" over his chest to block the overhead swings from his assailants. "Damn, that hurts!" He grunted, taking yet another hit.

"No, not for now anyway; we'll leave that for later for when you absolutely need it. I have a better idea in mind. Since I can see what you're seeing, I can help you by pointing out an opportune moment for you to counterattack."

Ash ducked under another swing, but winced in pain when he couldn't get out of the way of his second opponent's attack to his side. "I didn't know you could do that... but I've been trying to do that this whole time! How'll it make it a difference if you do it?"

"It'll be different because while you're focused on blocking or dodging their hits, I'll focus more on any openings that they show, which I will then relay to you for you to use against them. Does that answer your question?" Din replied, a slight hint of irritation in his voice at having to watch Ash take so many hits.

Ash sucked his teeth when he took yet another hit, growing irritated right alongside his mental companion. Seeing as he didn't have any time to properly think about Din's proposal, he quickly agreed, "Alright, do it! I'm counting on you!"


Inside Ash's mindscape, Din smiled and closed his eyes. A ripple pulsed out through the mentally created city, eventually escaping the visible mental boundaries and spreading throughout the physical world in an field invisible to all but him. Even with his eyes closed, Din could quite clearly see everything that surrounded Ash-and by extension, him-through this field. He was slightly irritated that the range of his perception field wasn't as far as he had wanted it to be, but he decided it was enough for the situation at hand.

"Alright. Time to put this ability to the test..." Din whispered to himself, ready to assist his companion in his endeavor.


Back in the real world, Ash backpedaled from his opponents. He was panting slightly at the moment, having to constantly dodge or block their fast strikes was tiring, especially since he still hadn't fully recovered from the spar he had with Reggie yesterday. He groaned in irritation when his opponents quickly ganged up on him again, looking to inflict even more physical pain. "Anytime now, Din!"

The two bandits stopped, both of them gripping their weapons in particularly different ways, meaning that they were going to swing in separate directions.

Ash tensed at the different stances that his opponents were in, preparing himself for another onslaught of painful hits.

"Block right, duck left!"

Ash was only momentarily startled at the sudden response from his mental companion, but recuperated fast enough to do just what he had told him to do. "I hope this works..." He whispered.

Ash did just as Din told him to do. He swung his fist out and blocked the strike from the man to his right with his forearm and then ducked under the strike from the man to his left. Seeing the momentary opportunity, he shoved the staff wielder to his right, which caused him to stumble back slightly, and used the momentum of his swing to bury his fist into the other mans solar plexus, causing him to double over and yell in pain, dropping his staff and holding the struck area. Ash smirked at finally being able to down one of his annoyingly persistent opponents, his confidence rising at the results of his helpful collaboration with his mental companion. "Thanks Din. You're a lifesaver!"

"I appreciate the gratitude, but you still have a fight to finish!" Ash became serious once more at his companions reply, looking forward at one slightly recovering bandit, and one pissed off bandit that didn't like having his comrade being injured by him. With a roar, the still-standing bandit rushed at him with newfound speed, rage in his eyes and his staff held in the air in preparation for a powerful overhead swing.

Ash hopped to the left at the moment he saw his opponent swing down, barely dodging the powerful strike that would have surely broken a bone or two if it had hit. He took a moment to stare at the small crater the wooden staff had created in the ground, mouth agape at the actual power behind the attack. "Reggie wasn't kidding when he said these guys are tougher than your average thug..." The man hadn't looked like he had that much muscle, but he was obviously quite strong if he had been able to leave behind that much damage.

Fortunately for him he now only had to worry about one persistent opponent while the other one recovered from his painful experience. The enraged bandit once more charged at him, holding his staff hard enough to almost crack the wood.

"It's another overhead swing."

Ash nodded at the added info from his mental companion, quickly jumping to the left, dodging his opponents attack with little hassle. He took advantage of the second it took for the bandit to properly lift his staff from its downward position by sending a back fist into the mans side. He was surprised when his attack only brought a loud grunt from his opponent, apparently being more tolerable to pain than his recovering ally. His surprise cost him when his still-enraged opponent swung his wooden weapon harshly into his side. The sheer power behind the attack sent him tumbling back a few feet away. He held his side, wincing at the assured bruise that was already starting to form.

"Are you alright, Ash?" Din's concerned voice sounded through his mind.

"Yeah... I'm alright. Bruised and in pain, but alright..." Ash replied, talking out loud as opposed to speaking in his mind seeing as his opponent was preoccupied with helping his comrade recuperate. Gritting his teeth, Ash pushed himself into a sitting position, grunting in pain as he forced his bruised body to stand up. Once he was standing, Ash looked up when he heard the distinct sound of two pairs of footsteps instead of one.

"Damn it..."

He groaned again when he saw that the previously incapacitated bandit was now on his feet, glaring at him with the intent to exact some revenge, while the other one was smirking at him arrogantly, seeming to find amusement in tilting the favor back onto their side. "Din, I hope your ready, 'cause I don't think I am!"

"Don't worry, I'm here to help for as long as you need it." Din replied.

Nodding in gratitude, Ash clenched his fists tightly, glaring in turn to his approaching opponents.

With a loud, determined yell, he charged.


(With Damien)

At the exact same time that Ash was facing his staff wielding opponents, Damien himself was struggling with his half of their opposition. The sound of metal clashing against metal rang throughout the entire clearing. Again and again, swords clashed against each other in a fight for power. One side defending with everything they had, the other attacking with powerful, viscous strikes.

Damien grunted for what he felt like to be the thousandth time so far, visibly pushing himself as much as his body would allow in an effort to ward off the powerful strikes from his two opponents. The fact that he had been able to last for quite some time now was a great source of irritation for the two bandits who, despite their efforts, couldn't break through his guard. Every time that they struck, no matter how powerful or fast, Damien would defend against their attacks by holding them off with his katanas. They were constantly in a deadlock, always having to put up a visible struggle to see who would be the first to falter.

Several seconds passed as the three swordsmen struggled to make the first blow against the other. One of Damien's opponents stood in front of him, pushing his sword as hard as he could in an effort to break through his guard, and his other opponent was behind him, making much the same effort as his comrade, but no matter how much the two sword-wielding bandits pushed, their efforts to overwhelm their young opponent did nothing but make him push back with just as much strength and vigor.

With a fierce push, Damien briefly overpowered his two opponents enough to push them back a few inches, but was quickly put back on the defensive when his opponents quickly recuperated and began to once more rush at him. He grunted as their powerful swings impacted against his katana, constantly having to adjust his grip, lest he leave a hole in his defense for his opponents to capitalize on. Despite his ongoing struggle against his opponents, he knew that his strength was steadily being chipped away from their continued attacks. He knew that if he didn't think of something to give him the upper hand that the two of them would eventually strike him down, which was something that he wasn't willing to accept.

Grunting in visible effort, he surprised his two opponents by dodging instead of blocking their attacks like he had done before. The two sword-wielding bandits had made it slightly easier for him to bypass their defenses since the both of them chose to attack in a dual frontal assault, which gave him the chance to switch to the offensive. Damien relished the brief advantage he had managed to gain over his two opponents, quickly striking them both in their surprised states, inflicting a shallow wound to their abdomens.

The two bandits were snapped out of their state of surprise at the searing pain that coursed through them at the wound inflicted upon them by their younger opponent. They both looked down at the slight red that stained their clothing from their respective wounds, quickly growing angry at the fact that a mere child had managed to get in the first hit in their fight.

"I guess first blood goes to me." Damien declared with a small grin on his lips, panting slightly at the physical strain his body had been put through so far in order to dodge their powerful strikes.

His moment of victory was interrupted when his two opponents slammed their blades against his, having barely been able to put up a defensive front before the two swordsmen would have cut him in half, but unlike before, this time Damien was truly being pushed to his physical limits. He stared into the glaring eyes of his two opponents, burning rage apparent in their gaze as they pushed against his hasty defense with tremendous force. "What the hell's up with the sudden aggression?" Damien grunted in pain, pushing his protesting muscles as much as he could to fend off his opponents' powerful attack.

After several seconds of excruciating agony, his muscles finally caught a break when his swordsmen opponents pushed him back with tremendous strength, causing him to tumble backwards several feet away. Using his swords as an anchor, Damien dug his blades into the earth to stop his backward momentum, stopping himself mid-roll after a few seconds.

He panted in building exhaustion, sweat dripping from his forehead at all of his physical exertion so far. He counted the fact that he had lasted as long as he had as either dumb luck, or a miracle. "I'm... betting on the former." Nevertheless, he was determined to see that his fight was brought to an end.

Rising once more, Damien met with his opponents mid-charge, clashing once more in a flash of steel.


Back with the other bandits, who had been watching the ensuing fighting with great curiosity, were truly baffled as to how two children had managed to last this long against four of their strongest men.

The apparent leader of the gang of bandits scowled at the sight of these two children actually standing their ground against his four men. The only reason he had yet to interfere was because he figured that only a small fraction of his men would be enough to dispose of the two unlucky children who had managed to stumble upon their camp, but he could now see that he had underestimated these children. He figured that they may have gotten some sort of training and that that was the only reason that they were still alive.

Gesturing to one of his men close to him, the leader whispered his instructions into his ear, smirking devilishly when the man nodded in acceptance.

Taking his eyes away from the fights between his comrades and the intruders, the lone bandit reached behind his back and unstrapped his specialty weapon from the straps on his back. He first set his sights on the smaller of the two. Taking aim, the man swung the chained end of his weapon high into the air, and struck.


(With Ash)

"Gurk!" Ash grunted in pain, suffering yet another bruising hit from the hard wooden staffs from his opponents. That wasn't to say that they didn't have their own share of bruises as well. Collaborating with Din and his strange ability to see everything around him had been a major boon to him. Din's new ability had served to tip the scales slightly in his favor, but even then some of the attacks from his opponents had managed to get through. Din's new ability was largely untested, so he knew that it wouldn't be as affective as if it were fully developed.

Ash skidded back from his opponents, sporting numerous bruises on his face, arms and stomach. A small amount of blood trickled from the side of his mouth, and some parts of his blue shirt were noticeably darker in color due to some of the bruises on his stomach and torso having opened up from the continues attacks from the two staff wielding men.

The two staff wielding bandits were sporting bruises that were slightly less in number than Ash's, but the two were still nonetheless miffed at the fact that a little kid had managed to inflict so much damage to them. Every time Ash managed to hit them, they managed to get in a good couple hits as well, which attributed to the fact that Ash had far more wounds on him than the two bandits.

Once they recovered from the backlash of their powerful strikes, the two bandits once more charged at Ash, prompting him to once more depend on his mental companion to inform him as to where they would strike. "Din!"

"They're both trying for a pincer maneuver. Rush through the middle!" Din said.

Ash did just that, frustrating the two bandits greatly when they saw that their attempt at a different point of attack was all for naught. It irritated the both of them that Ash could seemingly predict what they were going to do and the best course of action he could take to dodge it. That didn't stop them though, they were far too determined to lose to a mere child.

"Hah! Is that all ya got?!" Ash mocked his opponents, wanting to rile them up so that they would make mistakes more easily. Ever since he had first hit them, they seemed more prone to fits of anger every time he landed another hit or managed to cleanly dodge their tag-team tactics.

Ash's mocking seemed to work on them, seeing as the two bandits immediately grew red in the face, plus, he could have sworn that he saw steam blowing from their ears. The two bandits looked as if they were going in for another attack, but suddenly stopped altogether when they heard a particularly familiar sound. A sharp whistling noise that the both of them knew all too well. The two bandits smirked at him, greatly confusing Ash as to why they had suddenly ceased in their attempts to kill him.

"Ash, watch out!"

Din's warning came all too late for him. The second that it took Ash to turn his head far enough to see the incoming projectile. The moment it took for his eyes to widen in surprise.

The silver chains of a Kusarigama wrapped around Ash's throat several times, the weighted end slamming into his forehead with the momentum it had managed to gather from it's throw. The weight slamming harshly into his forehead disoriented him for the moment, but before he could get his bearings straight, he suddenly found himself being roughly pulled by the chain around his neck, causing the chain to tighten slightly which made him gag when the chain started to cut off the flow of oxygen in his windpipe.

Seeing that their problem would no longer be an issue for them, the two staff wielding bandits followed the struggling Ash as he was pulled along the chain around his throat.


(With Damien)

Things had turned drastic for him. The ferocity from his sword wielding opponents increased with every passing second. Their strikes became harder and harder to block or dodge and their strength was quickly proving to Damien that he was in over his head with these two. Stroke after stroke. Swing after swing. Damien knew that he wasn't going to hold out for much longer if he didn't come up with something quick.

He held strong though, putting up a strong front even though they all knew that he wouldn't last longer if their brutal assault kept up. No matter how hard they struck, no matter how much his muscles protested against any further use of them, he kept his guard up, blocking their brutal swings with his swords as best as he could.

He felt he could almost take no more when, suddenly, the three swordsmen heard a sharp whistle ring throughout the clearing. The two sword wielding bandits immediately knew what was coming. They put some distance away from Damien, confusing the pale skinned swordsmen greatly. That surprise turned to shock and pain when something hard suddenly struck him directly in the forehead, the blow dizzying him greatly, causing him to stumble backwards while holding his head in pain. When he suddenly heard the whistle again, he put his swords up to block whatever it was, assured that it was the same object that had hit him. Instead of the hard impact he was expecting, a chain wrapped around the hilts of his swords.

Damien's eyes widened in shock when the chain, along with his swords, was pulled away from him to wherever the chain had been thrown from. Several feet away, a man pulled his kusarigama back to him, dropping the additional baggage on the ground in front of him. Damien's eyes widened in shock when he saw that the very same man who had suddenly stolen his swords had a foot resting on an immobilized Ash's back.

He didn't get anymore time to ponder as to how his friend had already been beaten when he heard a loud yell from in front of him. His eyes widened in slight fear when he saw that his swordsmen opponents now chose to take advantage of him being disarmed. He stumbled back slightly, but held his ground. He crossed his arms in an X in an attempt to protect his chest from the damage that he knew he would receive. He couldn't dodge, they were moving far to fast for him, so he was forced to take the hit.

Searing pain coursed through his veins when his opponents struck. While he had managed to protect the rest of his body from taking damage, his arms had taken the full blow from his opponents attacks. Deep gashes appeared on his arms, blood freely pouring from the inflicted wounds. The crimson life liquid pooled on the ground, forming a maroon-colored puddle on the grass below.

His arms fell to his side, shock and pain in his widened eyes at the burning pain that came with his deep wounds. The fact that their swords hadn't cut off his arms he felt was a miracle, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. He stared down at the blood-red wounds on both of his arms in shock. The gashes extended from his wrists, and all the way to his elbows. He felt it a minor wound compared to what it could have been.

Damien was in for another surprise when the very same kusarigama chain from before suddenly latched on to his neck. A tight pull on the chain caused him to fall to the ground in pain, rolling onto his back so that he wouldn't aggravate the deep wounds on his arms. He gagged slightly when the chain around his neck was pulled once more, slightly restricting the air flow through his windpipe and dragging him along for the ride to its wielder.

Seeing that their stubborn brat of an opponents was now down for the count, the two sword wielding bandits sheathed their swords and followed after the struggling boy, smirks on their lips as they thought about their upcoming comeuppance.


The both of them were now beaten. Their arms were tied behind their backs to keep them from trying to escape, which was pretty much meaningless seeing as they were surrounded on all sides.

The apparent leader of the group came forward, a scowl on his face as he stared down at the two teenagers that had intruded upon their merry time, and then proceeded to actually fight against some of his best men. The fact that they had stood their ground for as long as they had greatly irritated them all.

"Well boys, you two could have just surrendered your lives earlier on; we would have just killed you and be done with it. No, now you two will suffer the humiliation of having been beaten by some of my best, and then being executed!" He mocked, looking down at the two teens as if they were mere insects in his eyes. He chuckled at the glares they both gave him, as if they thought that would intimidate him. "Any last words? Y'know... before we kill you." He asked.

Ash and Damien continued to glare at the arrogant man, but there was fear in their eyes. They knew that if something didn't happen now, that they wouldn't live to see the next sunrise.

Shaking his head, the leader called the two swordsmen Damien had fought earlier, "Shiro! Koji! Would you like to do the honors?" Said swordsmen walked forward, glaring down at the two of them and smirking with mal intent.

The bandit on the right, Shiro, nodded his head in acceptance, "Sure boss, we'll be happy to take out these pesky kids." His younger brother, Koji, smirked evilly at his older brothers answer, taking pleasure in the fact that they would be doing an honorary execution on behalf of their leader.

"Very well then." The leader held out the two katana that his kusarigama wielding subordinate had confiscated from Damien. "Use these to get the job done." He smirked evilly at the shocked expression on Damien's face at the fact that he would be killed by his own swords.

"Gladly." Both brothers each took one of the offered weapons from the hands of their leader.

Ash and Damien glared up at the two brothers as they held their weapons above their heads, ready to strike them both down.

"Bon voyage, kiddies!" The two brothers yelled in unison, preparing to bring down their respective weapons.

Both teens shut their eyes, preparing themselves for the cold, cruel touch of death. Every bandit surrounding them looked on eagerly at the execution, cheering and laughing at the two children that had dared to intrude on their festivities and were now paying for it with their lives.

Suddenly, a crushing pressure pressed down upon every single person in the clearing. The two swordsmen brothers who had been prepared to bring their blades down on their victims necks froze up, dropping their swords and stumbling back in absolute fear. The other onlooking bandits had the same reaction as their sword wielding comrades, stumbling back in absolute fear at the feeling of absolute death that surrounded them.

Ash and Damien were not exempt from this sudden occurrence. Even though they were both on the ground, the mysterious overwhelming pressure filled their very soul with a fear that they would have never thought to experience. Their breathing had increased in pace at the full feeling of the mysterious pressure, almost to the point of hyperventilating.

"W-what is... this..." Ash grunted, having to actually make an effort to overcome his fear in order to speak clearly.

Damien shook his head at his friends question, not being able to muster enough strength to speak. "Who or what is causing this?" Damien thought to himself. He grit his teeth as he felt the overwhelming pressure increase in strength.

The pressure that brought dread to the hearts of everyone in the clearing seemed to increase in strength, causing the group of bandits to stumble back even further, some even falling to the ground, such was the strength of their fear. Ash and Damien closed their eyes and grit their teeth, feeling as if the pressure was slowly crushing their hearts with its intensity.

And in only a moment, the overwhelming pressure vanished, the feeling of impending death no longer lingering in the air. A collective sigh of relief rang out through the clearing. Everyone was glad, especially Ash and Damien, that whatever had been causing such a sudden phenomenom had seen it fit to stop.

Everyones attention was suddenly drawn to the figure making his way to the group of men and the incapacitated teens. After a few moments, the tall figure stopped just slightly in front of Ash and Damien, the sight of just exactly who was there brought a sense of relief and happiness to the duo.

"Reggie!" They both exclaimed in unison.

Reggie spared them a brief glance, looking at them both from the corner of his eye, before he rested his sights back on the confused group of bandits in front of him. He had hoped that he wouldn't have to interfere, but the sight of his young charges being subdued so easily had sent those hopes down the drain. His younger companions were too weak, or the bandits he had found for them had men that were too strong for them to beat; either way, it had become clear to him that he would have to finish the job for them.

The leader of the bandit camp, now having recovered along with the others, stepped forward with a scowl on his face. "Another intruder? Who the hell are you?!"

Reggie didn't bother to respond, merely crouching down and picking up a couple of discarded swords which, once he took a closer look, he realized that they belonged to his pale skinned companion. He narrowed his eyes into an ice-cold glare at the group of men in front of him, "Damien..." Seeing that he had his attention, Reggie followed up, "Do you mind if I borrow one of your swords?"

"Y-yeah... go ahead."

Nodding his head, Reggie laid down one of his companions' swords on the ground. He gripped the long blade in his hand, testing its weight and examining the quality of the material chosen to make it. "The metal isn't the greatest that could have been used, but I guess it serves its purpose." Reggie made a makeshift strap from the belt around his waist, making a small opening by loosening it up slightly. Before securing his borrowed weapon in his makeshift strap, he quickly sliced through the ropes holding their hands together. He ignored the grateful looks sent his way from his young companions, opting to pay more attention to the group of men in front of him.

Not one to appreciate being ignored, the leader of the group of bandits gestured the swordsmen brothers forward, "Koji! Shiro! Kill this fool! I've had enough intruders for today!" At their boss's declaration, the two swordsmen smirked evilly at the stoic Reggie, advancing forward with great speed.

"You got it boss!"

Reggie remained where he was as the two swordsmen continued to get closer to him, his stoic glare remaining on the two bandits despite their fast movement.

"Take this!" The two brothers struck as one, their swords aiming for his sides.

Seconds before their blades would have pierced through his flesh, Reggie caught their swords by the blade's edge, surprising the two swordsmen enough for the grip on their blades to slacken slightly, which played into their ensuing demise. Reggie gave a small snarl as he yanked the two swords out the hands of their wielders.

The swordsmen brothers were left in a state of shock at being disarmed so suddenly.

Their surprise cost them dearly.

Crouching down slightly while holding one of his confiscated weapons in a reverse grip, he quickly spun in a complete 360 degree circle. Reggie scoffed at the weakness of these men, tossing away the now worthless weapons to the side.

"If you want to defeat me, then I suggest you send more at me than weaklings like these." Reggie said, paying no mind to the decapitated corpses of the sword wielding bandits spraying vast amounts of blood behind him.

The leader growled in anger at the sight of two of his best men being eliminated so easily. "Get him! I want him dead!" He growled out, his fists clenched tight in righteous fury. "The one who brings me his head gets an extra serving of food and Sake for the next two weeks!"

The gang of bandits cheered at that, eager grins on their faces at the reward being offered. They all only thought for a moment the pros and cons of attacking Reggie, before they all charged at him simultaneously. A literal wave of bandits charged at him with great fervor, all of them confident that this one man couldn't possibly take on all of them at once, nor did they think he was foolish enough to even try.

How wrong they were.

Reggie disappeared in a burst of speed, surprising most of the charging bandits. A scream of anguish alerted the group of charging bandits to the location of their target, causing them all to turn around and see that Reggie currently had in his grasp one of the more slower of their comrades, his hand grasping the mans face with an iron-hard grip while the pained bandit struggled and gave a muffled scream into Reggie's palm. The mans screams of pain were silenced when Reggie crushed his skull with a simple appliance of tremendous force, the now completely limp body being thrown away as causally as yesterdays trash. The casual manner in which Reggie disposed of one of their own enraged a great many of the bandits, causing them to rush forward at their auburn haired opponent with reckless abandon, the more levelheaded men straying behind to see what would occur.

Reggie once more vanished in a blur of speed, but instead of appearing behind them, this time he opted on rushing headlong into the fray. He reappeared directly in front of the front-most bandit, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and raising him up as high as he could.

"H-hey! l-let me go yo-!"

"Shinkokuna Eikyo (Shattering Impact)!"

With a roar, Reggie slammed the man in his grasp into the earth with tremendous force, enough to shatter the ground beneath them in a medium-sized crater, shards of rock spired out of the crater and spider web cracks spanning out up to several feet from the point of impact. The man's mouth was open in a scream of pain that was never to be heard. The impact had broken his spine, a vast majority of his ribs had been broken and the broken remains had embedded themselves into many of his vital organs. Needless to say, the man had died near instantaneously.

He was forced away from the corpse of his target when another bandit tried sneaking up on him from behind, but his loud roar of anger probably didn't help him in that regard. Backpedaling a few feet away, Reggie locked eyes with the infuriated bandit, unaffected by the death glare that the man sent him.

With another loud roar full of rage, the bandit swung his bo staff at Reggie, quickly being joined by his various comrades in an attempt to box him in.

"You're gonna pay for that you damn bastard!" One of the many bandits yelled.

The mob of bandits quickly surrounded Reggie on all sides. They were assured that this time they had finally managed to put him into a position that he couldn't escape. One of the many bandits charged at Reggie with an eager grin on his face, one of many looking forward to the reward they would get when they managed to kill their opponent. The group of bandits, especially the charging one, were all greatly surprised when Reggie disappeared once more in a burst of speed. They all looked left and right, anywhere that was in their general line of sight they watched to see if their target had somehow bypassed them and was merely waiting for them to make the wrong move.

In his eyes, they had already made the wrong move of thinking they stood a chance against him.

"Kyoretsu Doroppu (Shattering Drop)!"

The overzealous man who had previously charged at Reggie quickly met an untimely end at the receiving end of his foot. The man was nearly bisected at the waist when Reggie suddenly appeared on top of him, coming down moments later with a devastating axe kick, immediately breaking the mans spine with an audible *Crack* upon impact. Landing on the downed mans back, Reggie stepped off the body of his victim, paying no mind to the looks of astonishment and anger at him having taken out yet another of their comrades. Whether the man was dead or not didn't concern him in the slightest. If the man was dead, he was dead; if not... well, he certainly wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon.

He quickly unsheathed his borrowed weapon to block the weighted end of a kusarigama being thrown at him, the black weight slamming into the side of his blade. Before the owner of the weighted weapon could attempt to retrieve it, Reggie stomped his foot down on the extending chain, putting all of his weight on that leg to keep the weight exactly where it was. The weapons wielder was in for a surprise when Reggie bent down and grabbed the chain, yanking with all of the strength in his well-toned arms. The wielder of the weapon was sent flying in his direction, surprise clear on the mans face at being overpowered so easily.

A quick slash with his borrowed weapon was all it took for Reggie to end the mans life. The kusarigama wielder opened his mouth in a silent scream of pain before his eyes dulled into a lifeless white; a spray of blood erupting from the two halves of the man's body, showering them all with various crimson droplets. Reggie's attack had bisected the man from his upper chest, all the way down to his hips, both bloody hunks of meat landing several feet away, no longer a concern to any of them.

Reggie quickly spun his weapon into a reverse grip, fiercely stabbing the bandit behind him that had tried to sneak up on him. The sharp blade embedded itself painfully into the bandits chest, the tip of the sword coming out the other side of its victims back.

The man gasped in pain at the sudden attack, looking down at the blade in his chest with fear and shock. He touched the bloodied metal of the sword, flinching back at the cold feeling of the metal, or the dread of feeling his own blood, he couldn't really tell. The sword in his chest being suddenly yanked from its place brought another gasp of pain from the injured bandit. The intense pain in his chest caused him to fall to the floor in agony, clutching at his wound to keep himself from bleeding out any more.

With no remorse whatsoever, Reggie stabbed his weapon into the downed mans throat. The injured man grasped at his throat once Reggie yanked it out harshly, blood spurted from his punctured throat, rapidly draining the mans strength. Combined with the wound on his chest, Reggie knew the man would soon die of blood loss, of that he was sure.

He quickly spun around to block the fierce strike from a scythe wielding bandit. The blade was merely inches away from his face; he had no doubt that if he hadn't reacted as quick as he had that his spine would have been completely severed from the blow. He glared into the manic eyes of his opponent as they both held their respective weapons in a temporary deadlock.

Hearing movement behind him, Reggie shoved his opponent away with a harsh push of the blade. Having momentarily disposed of his opponent, he looked back to see that a group of 6 were charging at him, most likely having decided to press upon him when he was intercepted by the scythe wielder. He met their charge head-on, catching the leading bandit with a powerful spin kick to the face, the kick sending the bandit flying back into his charging comrades, taking down two of the bandits along with him. The three remaining bandits continued to charge at him, jumping into the air a moment later, preparing to bring their respective weapons down on him.

Observing the quickly approaching bandits, Reggie got into a particular stance that he hadn't used in quite some time. "I haven't used this technique in quite some time, but..." He tightened his grip on his weapon, holding it over his left shoulder in preparation for a wide slash. He closed his eyes in concentration, focusing his energy into the blade.

"Shirubāejji (Silver Edge)!"

With a loud roar, Reggie opened his eyes and swung his sword in a wide arc with all the strength he could muster.

A flash of silver was all the three charging bandits saw before they were bifurcated from the waist down. A visible arc of flashing silver mixed in with a crimson tint hung high in the air from Reggie's powerful swing. A clear bead of sweat dripped down his forehead at the strength it took to use one of his old techniques. It had been so long since he had used a sword in combat, having found using his own fists to be more satisfying, and so he was slightly surprised at the power of his attack. It was clear to him now that after years of not using a real weapon in combat that he had forgotten just how powerful it truly was.

He wiped off some of the blood that had sprayed onto his face from the cut-up corpses, staring at his work with some semblance of excitement at the results of his powerful technique. "I've still got it..." He looked down at the bloodied katana in his hand, an ecstatic grin on his lips at the amount of damage he had been able to inflict with it. "I'd forgotten how good it felt to have a sword in hand as I stand victorious over my dead opponent. I just might think about taking up kenjutsu again."

Spying some movement out of the corner of his eye, Reggie looked over to see that the two leftover bandits that had been knocked down by their comrade were up and about, having pushed the confirmed corpse of their comrade off of themselves. The two men stared down at their dead comrade. Reggie's kick had broken the mans neck the moment his foot had made contact with his face; the mans neck was turned a complete 180 degrees. It made them sick to their stomach seeing the corpses neck looking so disfigured.

The two men looked fearfully at Reggie's intimidating form, absolute fear and dread in their eyes as they stared into Reggie's cold, glaring eyes. They flinched back when Reggie took a small step forward, and they nearly soiled themselves when Reggie took advantage of their fear by grinning evilly at them both.

That was the final straw for them.

The two bandits dropped their weapons, and ran. They ran as if the hounds of hell were nipping at their heels. They both knew the penalties for abandoning their comrades, but the fear instilled in them by Reggie's actions overrode their rationality.

Reggie simply watched them as they ran, it was certainly a lot better to watch them run than watch them run at him like lemmings. If they wanted to flee, then he'd let them. If they later decided to come after him for some sort of plan for revenge, then he would kill them. Unless they directly provoked him, he would let them live to see another day.

Reggie sighed in exasperation when he heard a loud roar behind him, reminding him that his scythe wielding opponent was still alive and awake; a nuisance that he would make sure to end just as quickly as he had the others. He quickly turned around and caught the scythe by the pole. He didn't bother to humor the bandit by letting him believe that he actually stood a chance against him; at this point, he was getting tired of dealing with this camp of idiots.

He sent a kick to the scythe wielders torso, pushing the man back several feet with a push from his foot. While the bandit recovered from the blow, Reggie picked up the weapon that he had dropped and held it in a similar stance as the bandit had done. Deciding to end their brief battle as quickly as possible, he swung the bladed weapon straight through his opponents neck, immediately decapitating the most likely insane nuisance.

Reggie moved past the headless corpse, charging headlong into the remaining bandits in the clearing.


The leader of the bandit camp stared, horrified, at the carnage that just a single man had wrought on his men. Screams of pain and showers of blood accompanied him wherever he went. He struck with ruthless efficiency, taking down anyone in his opposition in a matter of seconds. To him it seemed like it took forever for the carnage to stop, but at last, 24 of his men had been slaughtered by this one monster of a man. If he lived to see past this day, he promised to find those two deserters and make sure they were punished.

A feeling of horror came upon him when he realized that since Reggie had killed off his men, he was the only one left.

The terrifying image of Reggie, covered in blood and holding the scythe that formerly belonged to one of his men, it too covered in the blood of its victims, was burned into his mind. Drops of the crimson life fluid fell from his wet, matted hair, dripping down onto his face. One clear look at Reggie's face caused his eyes to widen in shock and horror, now truly realizing exactly who he and his men had messed with.

"Y-you!" He managed to stutter out, fear evident in his widened eyes at the sight of Reggie moving ever closer, the same ice-cold glare he had been sporting throughout the entire fight still present on his face. "I know who you are!"

Reggie stopped mere inches from the mans position. Deciding to humor the man, Reggie tilted his head to the side in a mocking gesture of confusion, "Oh? And who exactly am I?"

"Yo-you're..." The man stuttered out, backing up a few steps from Reggie's frightening presence.

"Hmmm?" Reggie leaned forward slightly, taking pleasure in the look of utter fear on the bandits face.

"You're 'Red Blood' Re-!" With a mighty swing of his confiscated scythe, Reggie sliced clean through the mans throat, immediately killing him via decapitation.

"Finally... that's over and done with." Reggie sighed in slight relief. He had certainly gotten his fill of bloodshed for the day, possibly for the rest of the week. He could never rightly tell. He tossed away the now useless scythe to the side, finding no reason to keep it on his person. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up leather sack. "I'm glad I have one of these on me just for this occasion." He said. He picked up the head of the lead bandit, stuffing it in the leather bag. This would serve as their payment later on when they turned it in at the bounty office.

"Holy shit!"

Reggie turned at the loud exclamation. He gave a small smile at the sight of his two young companions, Damien especially awestruck by the skills, technique, and raw power he had shown while taking down the entire camp of bandits, though he did frown internally at the disgust also on Ash's expression, along with the fact that he was slightly green in the face. He walked back to where his companions were waiting, having at some time moved back in the more outer part of the clearing to give him more room for his work.

"All those things that you did! You broke those guys' spines! You were just... you were awesome!" Damien exclaimed, stars in his eyes at the great feats of strength the auburn haired man had shown.

"Yeah... awesome..." Though Ash was just as awestruck as his friend, his mind was more focused on the extreme amounts of blood and carnage left in Reggie's wake. He actively had to fight the urge to throw up at the sheer sight of it.

Reggie couldn't help but chuckle at the awe that was apparent in Damien's voice; hell, his very body language matched his excitement.

Finally stopping right in front of his young companions, Reggie sheepishly held out his borrowed weapon to its rightful owner, "Ah, thank you for letting me borrow your sword, Damien. I apologize for getting it so dirty, but you can get that out with a good polishing."

"Hah, it's no problem. I was gonna polish it later on anyway." Damien said, reclaiming his weapon with an eager smile. "It's actually an honor to me that you used my katana to beat those guys!." He followed up, sheathing his sword in its respective sheathe and making a mental note to polish it thoroughly later on.

Reggie gave a small chuckle at the compliment, glad that his young companion wasn't the slightest bit upset. He looked to his other companion, "How about you, Ash. Do you have anything to say about my awesome performance?"

Ash opened his mouth to say something, but instead of words, his stomach decided then and there to betray him. Both Reggie and Damien stepped back when he suddenly bent over and threw up his lunch, going into a coughing fit several seconds later at the slight tingling feeling at the back of his throat.

Avoiding the puddle of sick, Reggie stepped up behind his raven haired companion and patted his back gently, Damien joining him a moment later in an effort to make him feel better.

"You alright, Ash?" Reggie asked.

Ash briefly opened his mouth to reply, but quickly closed it once more when he felt the bile rise back up in his throat. He stepped back several steps away with a hand covering his mouth and nose. "Y-you. Reggie, your smell. B-blood..." Ash groaned out.

Reggie blinked, surprised. He looked down at his clothes to see that he was indeed covered almost head-to-toe in blood. He sniffed himself a few times and recoiled back slightly. "Huh. What do ya know! I do smell like blood." He wrinkled his nose slightly at the scent. No matter how much he enjoyed a good kill, the scent of blood always served to gross him out afterwards.

At Ash's nod, Damien gave a slight scoff, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "That's it? You threw up over the smell of blood?" He exclaimed with shock in his voice. "I know it smells kinda... gross, but it's not enough to make you throw up everything in your stomach. I thought you would have at least been slightly used to this from when you killed that guy back in Ace's headquarters."

Ash glared at his pale skinned friend, slightly miffed that he would play off his discomfort so easily. At his last exclamation, however, his eyes narrowed in confusion. "Wha? What're you talking about? I didn't kill anyone back then." He said, confusion evident in his voice.

At his words, Damien became confused, "Of course you did. Remember? You accidently killed that thug when you shot him. You broke down and cried, for Kami's sake!" Seeing that his friend still looked confused at his response, he groaned, "Don't tell me you forgot! That's not something you can easily forget! How the hell do you forget your first kill!?" Damien loudly questioned, wincing a moment later at unintentionally aggravating a certain pain in his arms.

Reggie noticed Damien's wince and immediately remembered that his pale skinned companion had been inflicted with some particularly nasty wounds on both his arms. He brushed off Ash's predicament for the moment, finding Damien's injury to be far more concerning for the moment. "Damien, show me your arms."

Damien sent him a questioning look, but immediately knew what he wanted to see when he saw the concern in his expression. "My arms? ... oh, the cuts on my arms... don't worry about those for now." He said, holding up his crudely bandaged arms. "I used some of the fabric from my cloak to bandage them as best as I could. They're not the best looking, but at least I won't bleed to death. I am kind of tired though..." He said while gently rubbing the concealed wounds on his arms. Even through the dark fabric, a crimson stain was visibly starting to wet the makeshift bandage.

Reggie examined the bandage for a moment to see if it would hold for the time being. "Hmmmm. Well, it looks good, but it's not an acceptable substitute for the real thing. I have some medical tape back at camp. We can get you properly fixed up once we get back." He said, giving a small smile when his pale skinned companion nodded in acceptance.

The sound of their other companion dry heaving immediately put their attention back on him. They both looked as Ash, back facing them, was bent over and gagging, near the point of vomiting once more.

"Ash, why don't you go take your messy business over there." Reggie said, pointing to some shrubbery a few feet away.

Ash only nodded in response, quickly shuffling away while holding a hand to his mouth to keep himself from vomiting again.

Reggie looked down at his pale skinned companion, focusing his eyes on the crudely-made bandages, "You think you're gonna be alright for another few minutes? Ash looks like he'll need a moment or two to get it out his system." The sound of Ash throwing up in the background caused them to wince. "... Maybe a bit longer..."

"For now? Yeah, I'll be alright, but I should really get these cuts checked before they get infected." Damien replied.

"I've got something for that too, don't worry." Damien nodded at that, but their attention was brought back to their ailing companion, who was currently puking his guts out on some poor, defenseless bushes.

Seeing this caused Reggie to feel the gnawing feeling of doubt he had felt previously. He had his suspicions when he had turned in his bounty the day before and Ash had nearly thrown up when he had learned that his bounty had been brought in dead. Learning all that he could from his young companions, he knew that Damien had killed in his past, which served to slightly desensitize him when it came to taking another's life. Ash, however, did not have that advantage. If what Damien said about their experience in the thug-ridden headquarters of a crime lord were true, then that meant that Ash hadn't killed anyone in the past, which explained why he had broken down in tears when he had done so a week ago. His still-developing psyche just wasn't ready to witness and accept the shock of taking another persons life so suddenly, and seeing his display of ruthless carnage seemed to have been too much for him to take all in one moment, which explained his sudden ailment. It was sad, but it was also kind of pathetic.

Ash had agreed to become a bounty hunter, an occupation that he should have already guessed would entail death. Even knowing this he had foolishly gone ahead into an occupation that would undoubtedly cause him much grief in the future if he didn't adapt. If he would ever have any enemies in the future did he think that he could truly defeat them without killing them? If he did, then that was surely a foolish way to think. Foolish thinking got people killed more often than not.

He only prayed to kami that Ash would eventually come to accept the fact that people would die by his hands because of his occupation, whether he liked it or not, it was going to happen sooner or later.


Ash was currently puking his guts out for the second time that day, and if his upset stomach had anything to say about it, it would be happening a third time very soon. He gasped for breath after the putrid stream of liquid had finally stopped coming out of his mouth, wiping his mouth of any leftover traces of vomit on his lips and trying to spit the vile taste out of his mouth.

He waited a moment for his stomach to settle before he set about seeking the information that he was worried about.

After Damien had told him about having his first kill back in Ace's headquarters, he had been utterly confused when he had no recollection of that particular event ever happening, and he knew that something as important as his first kill was something that he would have been hard-pressed to forget so suddenly, no matter his personal feelings about the subject. For the brief time that Reggie and Damien had discussed the formers wounds, he had thought hard about what his pale skinned friend had told him, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't find any memory of that certain event ever happening, in addition to that, he had even thought back to what had happened back in the viridian forest after he had run from pallet. He remembered the stone soldiers that had found him and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. He remembered when those very same soldiers had seemingly "killed" him. He remembered the strange man he had met afterwards, who then gave him his "powers". He remembered suddenly waking up in a large crater and then hobbling away, but after that, all that he remembered was meeting Din for the first time and being woken up by Pikachu.

No matter how much he tried to remember, the events that transpired between him gaining his powers and meeting Pikachu were just a blank to him. How this was possible, he didn't know, but he did know someone -the only one- who could know why he couldn't remember those particular events.

He put a hand on a nearby tree and leaned against it to make it look like he was still in the middle of throwing up so as not to concern Reggie and Damien. What would they think if he just suddenly stopped doing anything and just stared off into space for the time he would be speaking to Din? He certainly didn't want to explain to them that there was apparently a guy that had been living in his mind for the past 12 years.

It took a moment of concentration, but he opened his eyes a few seconds later to see that he had successfully managed to send himself into his mindscape. He was slightly surprised to see that the person he wanted to see was already in front of him, having possibly been waiting for his arrival seeing as he had access to the going-ons of his mind.

"Din, we need to talk."

His cloaked companion merely nodded in response.

Ash's eyes narrowed. The fact that Din hadn't said anything was proof enough to him that whatever was apparently wrong with his memories, he had something to do with it.

"Do you know what's wrong with my memories? Damien told me that I already had my first kill back in Ace's headquarters, but I don't remember that happening at all." Ash said, narrowing his eyes even more when he saw that Din had shifted nervously at what he had told him. "... Well?"

"... Are you sure you want to know?" Din asked nervously, his brown eyes looking at anything but Ash.

"Considering this is my memory we're taking about... yes, I'm sure." Ash growled out, anger beginning to brew up inside him at the thought of Din hiding something from him. Seeing as he didn't really have a choice in the matter, he trusted Din with any responsibilities that he had concerning his mind, and seeing as he had apparently been doing so since he was born, and no particular harm seemed to come from it, he had put his absolute trust in Din, and that was something he wasn't willing to hand out to just anyone. The fact that Din may have been hiding something from him for who knows how long saddened and angered him at the same time. Betrayal was never something he would take kindly, and if he couldn't even trust a guy that lived in his own mind, then who could he trust.

Din seemed to flinch at the anger in Ash's voice. Through some effort on his part, he managed to make eye-contact with Ash. immediately flinching again when he saw Ash's glaring brown orbs directed at him.

He gave a heavy sigh when he saw that Ash's glare became more venomous the longer it took him to respond. Deciding to get it over with and face his verbal lashing like a man, Din spoke, "Alright, I'll tell you. I already know that, thanks to Damien, you've figured out that there are some gaps in your memory, mainly what happened after you unlocked your powers and your apparent first kill back in Ace's headquarters." At Ash's nod, he gave another heavy sigh. "You don't remember those events clearly because of something that I did to your mind some time ago."

If it was even possible, Ash glared even harder at what Din had just told him. "Oh? What did you do to my mind?" He asked with barely restrained anger.

"I... I sealed them away." Din replied.

"... Come again?"

Din gave a regretful sigh. "I sealed away those two specific memories away into the deepest pit of your subconscious." He replied. He looked away and waited for the inevitable angry outburst.

He certainly wasn't disappointed.

He wasn't disappointed, in fact, because seconds after he gave his explanation, he was immediately punched in the jaw with tremendous force, which caused him to stumble back in surprise. He lived in his mind, and even he hadn't seen that coming.

"You son of a bitch!" Ash yelled, his fists clenched in anger. He glared with righteous fury at Din's hooded form, trying to burn a hole in his concealed skull. "I put my trust in you, and you go ahead and mess with my mind? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Din touched his jaw, wincing at the stinging pain that Ash's punch had wrought. Small he may be, but he had a heck of right hook.

"I only did it for your own good!"

"My own good?" Ash asked incredulously. "How is sealing away my memories, without my permission I might add, for my own good?!" Ash growled, glaring at Din with anger he hadn't felt in quite some time. Din had confirmed his betrayal to him, and that filled him with rage the likes of which he had only felt once before.

"I sealed those memories away because I knew they were bothering you. You may have tried to hide it from Damien, but, seeing as I live in your mind and all, I knew better than to fall for your facade. The memory of killing that soldier in such a brutal fashion would have permanently traumatized you if I hadn't done anything."

"So I did kill one of those soldiers! You had no right to seal my memories without my permission. I don't care if those particular memories were bothering me, they were still mine to have!" Ash yelled, roughly grabbing Din by the hem of his cloak.

"I was only doing it for your own good! Those memories weren't something that were just going to dissappear over time! You broke down in hysterics when you killed those two men! I only did what I did because I thought it would help you in the long run!" Din yelled in turn, ignoring the tightening grip on his brown cloak.

Ash growled in anger at Din, tightening his grip even more on his cloak. He was so tempted to bury his fist into the guys jaw again, but he knew that wouldn't do anything for his benefit. "I don't care if you did that for my well being, the fact that you chose to do something as extreme as sealing my memories behind my back is what really angers me. You betrayed my trust Din, and you know how much I hate betrayal! I hated it then, and I still hate it now!" Ash yelled, shoving Din away from him as he walked forward and began to pace left and right.

Din sighed in regret as he stared at Ash's pacing form. Only now did he realize his folly. He had seen the last time Ash had been betrayed by someone he trusted, and it had taken such a long time for him to recover from the ordeal. That particular betrayal had nearly broken him at the time, and it was only after several months that Ash finally recovered from the ordeal and kept on with his life as he usually did. Now knowing that he had essentially done the same thing, Din was truly regretful for not at least getting Ash's opinion on the decision to seal his memories. It hadn't been a spur of the moment either, he had thought about sealing away some of his more painful memories of his past for quite some time, but those two memories had served to stand out the most when he had made the decision to do so.

"When'd you do it?" Ash asked, startling Din with his sudden question.

Fully understanding his question, Din replied, "I did it a day after you and Damien arrived at the Kanto Outpost. I figured it was a good a time as any, seeing as you two were so tired from running almost non-stop just to get there as soon as possible. I did it while you were asleep."

Ash stopped his pacing suddenly, nodding his head at what Din said but giving no other response. He thought about what Din had told thus far. Din had told him that he had sealed his memories. Sealed. Maybe that meant...

"Fix it."

"W-what?" Din replied, confused at what Ash had suddenly asked of him.

"Fix it. Give me back my memories." Ash elaborated. Stopping Din before he could respond, he spoke, "You said that you sealed my memories. Sealed, not erased. That means that if you could seal them, then you can unseal them, right?"

Din hesitated slightly, but nodded nonetheless. It was true, he saw no point in lying to him anymore.

"Yes, I can. Just as I sealed them away, so too can I unseal your memories. But..." Din hesitated once more, causing Ash to glare at him in confusion. "Are you really sure that's what you want?" He asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Ash asked, confused as to why Din would be hesitant about giving him his memories back.

"What I mean is, if I unseal your memories, then you'll suddenly remember those events that I sealed away in perfect detail. Once those memories come back, you will see deaths of those men as you saw it happen in all its gory detail." Din explained. "One death caused you to break out in tears, but what will two deaths appearing in your mind at the same time do to you? Are you really sure this is what you want?" He asked.

Ash thought about this for a moment. If what Din said was true, then he would essentially be re-experiencing two deaths at the same time. One death had apparently put him over the edge, but what would two deaths do to his psyche? He shook his head at the thought. It didn't matter to him, they were his memories all the same, even if they were enough to apparently traumatize him. He gave a resolute nod to his companion, his posture indicating that he wouldn't budge on his decision.

"Very well then." Din sighed, looking at Ash with regret in his eyes. "Once you leave your mindscape, your memories will come back to you; prepare yourself though. Sealing your memories was a quick and painless process, unsealing them, however, will hurt... a lot."

Ash nodded in acceptance. He turned his back on Din, which immediately told him that Ash was certainly going to hold his offense over this for as long as it took for him to forgive him.

"For what it's worth... I'm sorry." Din said, remorse clear in his voice as he stared at Ash's back.

"We'll talk about this later." Ash replied, only sparing a slight backward glance at his cloak wearing companion.

In only a few moments, Ash's form began to fade from his mental world.

Din stared as Ash's form faded into mere wisps of color before they too disappeared along with their originator, leaving behind a remorseful Din and an eerily quiet mindscape city.

"I'm sorry, Ash. Good intentions or not, I now realize that I should have told you about what I planned to do. But I guess it's too late for that." Din sighed, heading off to wander about the empty buildings full of past memories. "I only hope you find it within you to forgive me for betraying your trust."


Ash opened his eyes, finding that, to his relief, he was back in the real world, still finding himself leaning on the same tree that he had been on when he entered his mindscape. His eyes narrowed in confusion when he didn't feel any different than he did before. "Didn't Din say that my memories would come back after I left my mindscape?" He asked himself out loud, not bothering to whisper it seeing as Damien and Reggie were far enough away that they couldn't hear him. "Did he lie to me again?! That son of a-!" Ash was suddenly interrupted when his head suddenly exploded in pain. He knelt down on his knees as he grasped his head tightly with his hands, trying hopelessly to ease the pain that had suddenly erupted from his brain.

He grit his teeth to keep himself from crying out in pain, his teeth grinding against each other hard enough to almost crack. Din had been right. The pain of two separate, equally traumatizing memories suddenly slamming back into his brain, to put it frankly, hurt like hell. The sheer pain felt like someone was repeatedly slamming a 10-ton hammer onto his skull non-stop.

Just when he thought it couldn't possibly get worse, it did.

In vivid detail, Ash saw himself kill those two men. His hand piercing through that soldiers stomach with enough ease as if it were cutting through paper. The feeling of touching the soldiers wriggling intestines caused the familiar feeling of bile rising up his throat. The feeling of the warm, trickling, disgusting life fluid dripping from his fingertips caused him finally to vomit once more. With another puddle of sick in front of him, the memory of unintentionally killing that thug when he had pulled the trigger on the gun in his hands flashed through his mind. He whimpered pathetically when he remembered that it had not been his intention to kill the man, but merely injure him with a shot to the stomach, but it had instead gone through his chest, which is what had killed him.

Tears poured from Ash's closed eyes at both the burning pain of his memories suddenly slamming back into their proper places, and at the traumatizing memories of having killed two people with such ease as the situation called for it. His ears rung along with the burning pain in his head, serving to add on to the agonizing pain he was feeling.

It seemed like an eternity had passed before the pain in his head finally began to subside. The incessant pounding in his head began to dull into a slight throb, but even then his head still hurt like hell. "I have a feeling I'm not gonna sleep well tonight..." Ash groaned, gently rubbing his forehead with one hand while he used the other to grab onto a tree to help steady his wobbling legs. He spit out the taste of bile from his throat and wiped his lips of any of the vile liquid.

He looked back towards where he knew Damien and Reggie were waiting, seeing that they were still patiently waiting for him to finish his business. He sighed in relief at seeing that they hadn't found it weird that he had suddenly collapsed and thrown up at the same time; it wouldn't do him any good to try to find a viable explanation as to why his ailment had suddenly gotten worse if they had seen any thing that would have brought up any concern. Taking a moment to steady himself, Ash took a deep breath and did his best to look like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred. He wiped away any remaining moisture from his eyes and spit once more for good measure.

He walked back towards his companions at an even pace, finding that his legs were still shaking just a little bit, but were otherwise fine for the time being.

"Hey guys." Ash said in an even tone.

Damien and Reggie both raised an eyebrow at their companions slight haggard appearance, Reggie in particular seemed to notice the tear stains on his cheeks and his slightly bloodshot eyes. Reggie looked down and wasn't surprised to see that Ash's legs were shaking slightly, it was something to be expected out of a person that had just gone through something they rather had not, and seeing him in action probably had been one of those things. In hindsight, starting a blood bath in front of two children had probably not been a good idea, but he knew that, sooner or later, Ash would have to learn to suck it up. Damien was okay with it though, more than okay with it now that he looked at it. It would certainly explain why he had been glancing at him every now and then with admiration in his eyes, which was certainly a rather flattering gesture. It's not everyday a bounty hunter was looked at with eyes of admiration instead of hate and contempt.

"You finally done with puking your guts out? 'Cause I'm starting to bleed out." Damien said with irritation in his voice. Upon closer inspection, his wounds indeed seemed to be starting to bleed out at the moment. It seemed that in the time it took for Ash to converse with Din in his mindscape, the blood from Damien's wounds had become too much for his makeshift bandages to hold, and they were now starting to leak the red liquid at a steady rate. "Won't be long 'till I drop from blood loss or something..."

"Which is exactly why I'm glad that you're finally done, Ash." Reggie said, quickly picking Damien up and settling him on his shoulder. "You don't look too bad, so you can keep up right? I've got some medical supplies for us to use back at camp, so we should hurry before Damien passes out or something."

"Y-yeah. I can keep up." Ash replied, a small smile on his face.

"H-hey! Put me down! I can still walk!" Din exclaimed, startled at being so suddenly lifted into the air as easily as a pebble.

"For now, but who knows how your condition will be in a few minutes! You could collapse from blood loss out of nowhere, and I can't have that happening. As long as you two are under my supervision, I'm partly responsible for your well-being!"

"Put me down! I'm not some baby, dammit! Ash! Say something here!" Damien exclaimed as he struggled in vain against Reggie's hold on him.

Ash merely shook his head and chuckled, glad that there was finally something to take his mind off of his regained memories. He followed after his two companions as Reggie walked in a quicker pace to get to his camp as soon as possible.


An hour later found the group of three traveling through the forest path back on their way to the Kanto Outpost, though this time Damien was on his own feet rather than having to be carried by Reggie. After having stopped by Reggie's campsite to get proper treatment for their wounds, the three had set about to getting to the bounty station further in the forest to retrieve the bounty on the head of the lead bandit that Reggie had in his possession.

"Ah. It still stings." Damien said while gently rubbing the cuts on his arms that were wrapped up in white medical tape. Other than a cut on the side of his neck, which was covered by a bandage, the cuts on his arms were pretty much the only wounds on his person.

"That means it's working. The medicine I gave to you both sterilizes and heals the wounds on your body." Reggie replied. He looked over to his raven haired companion, "How you holdin' up, Ash? Your injuries bothering you any? "

"Huh?" Ash was momentarily startled at being acknowledged so suddenly. He looked up to see Reggie's purple eyes looking at him with a questioning look. Realizing several seconds had passed and he still hadn't responded to his question, he spoke, "I-I'm... doing alright. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you seem a bit out of it. You've been that way for quite a while actually."

"Yeah, you've been quiet for a while now, which doesn't really add up to how you usually act. Something bothering you?" Damien asked, looking over at his raven haired friend with slight concern in his eyes.

"No, nothing's bothering me." Ash said nervously, wincing when he unintentionally scratched one of the many bandages on his skin. Because of the brutal assault from his two staff wielding opponents, multiple welts and bruises had to be sprayed and bandaged before he had been given the ok from Reggie. "I'm just... still kind of shaken up from that spectacle back there."

"You're still upset about that?" Reggie asked. "You know I wouldn't do that to you guys, right? I only let you see that because they were going to kill you two if I hadn't stepped in."

"Well, yeah, we know that! But the fact that you killed those guys so easily, and in such a ruthless manner! It served its purpose in telling us that you are not someone to mess with." Damien exclaimed. "Besides, the fact that we both know that there's a severed head in that sack you're holding would frighten anyone." He followed up, staring in slight disgust at the leather sack in Reggie's hand that held their bounty. After everything was said and done, they had all agreed to split the reward amongst each other evenly. Reggie may have had to step in at the end, but he commended them for their effort all the same.

"Would you rather I take the whole body with me to better confirm our bounty?" Reggie mockingly asked, holding the sack closer to Damien's face.

Damien winced, stepping back from the leather sack that held the source of his disgust. "N-no thanks."

A sudden question popped into Ash's head. "Hey, speaking of bounty's, I've been meaning to ask. That guy you turned in yesterday... what exactly did he do to be labeled as 'The Anarchist'?" He asked.

"Ah, Grandestine Pollo. You wonder why he got that title? Well I'll tell you. That guy was given the title of 'The Anarchist' because of his random acts of terrorism throughout the Kanto region."

"The guy was a terrorist?" Damien asked.

"A minor-level terrorist to be exact, but yes, a terrorist."

"What'd he do?" Ash asked, genuinely curious as to what a man like that could do.

"Oh, you know, planting bombs here and there, helping dangerous criminals escape from prison, selling illegal items that I won't name; any of the stuff a terrorist usually does. The only difference between him and the higher-tier terrorists is that there was only one of him, there was never a time where he would team up with someone to get a certain job done, so he was never considered a 'real' threat." Reggie explained, taking in the looks of intrigue on the faces of his young companions. "That's why he is nicknamed 'The Anarchist'.

"Wait... if you're a bounty hunter and all, does that mean that you have a nickname?" Ash asked. Damien himself seemed to be just as curious.

"Of course I do. After a certain amount of time, all bounty hunters and criminals get nicknames of their own. It's pretty much a tradition by now." Reggie replied, an amused grin on his face at the eager looks his young companions gave him.

"Well, spill it man! What's your bounty hunter nickname?" Damien asked with an eager look on his face.

"Yeah, its just gotta be something cool! Maybe it's about your height?" Ash asked, just as eager to learn more about their older companion as his pale skinned friend.

"All right, all right. I'll tell you." Reggie chuckled, seeming to find amusement in their wonder. "You wanna know what my nickname is that badly?" At their nods, he gave another chuckle of amusement. "All right. My nickname is..." Ash and Damien leaned closer to their older companion, somehow still walking forward without bumping or tripping into anything, eager to hear what he would tell them. "... A secret!" Ash and Damien face faulted at his response, causing the tall auburn haired man to laugh in amusement.

"Are you seriously not gonna tell us?" Ash asked, picking himself out of the surprisingly deep hole he had made in the ground.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it. Anyway, no, I'm not going to tell you my nickname." Reggie replied.

"Why not? What's the harm in telling us?" Damien asked, he as well picking himself out of the hole his body had made in the earth.

"There's no harm, but what's the use in telling you everything? If you really want to know what my nickname is, find it out yourself." Reggie exclaimed, still walking forward without a single hitch in his step from the irritated looks his companions were giving him.

"And how are we gonna do that?" Ash asked.

"You'll learn soon enough. Incase you both haven't noticed, we're almost there." Reggie said, pointing towards a couple of familiar wooden structures in the distance.

Ash and Damien looked to each other and sighed aloud in unison. Why did their companion have to be so obscure?


(Update: I wasn't satisfied with the original chapter 7, so I extended it to include most of everything that I wanted to include previously. It is by far the most I've ever typed out! ... I'm so tired.)

I finally have this chapter done! I got to show off a little bit of what Reggie can do combat-wise, and I also included a bit more action for Ash and Damien. I'm using google translate for some of the techniques that the characters will be developing in the future, so do point out if it's wrong, 'cause I wouldn't know.

The next chapter will certainly come out faster than this one did, I guarantee that! But before I end this off, here's a sneak peek into a bit of chapter 8.


Loud roars of anger reverberated throughout the entire forest as a beast of tremendous strength plowed through trees like mere toothpicks in an effort to look for its prey.

Ash peeked out from behind a not so far off tree, flinching back into his hiding spot a second later as a large log threatened to rip his head off from his shoulders. He calmed his racing heart at the thought that a simple piece of wood flying at several miles per hour had just merely missed decapitating him.

"Dammit. Those fucking monkeys, and now this!" Ash yelled. He looked up at the sky and shook a fist at a seemingly invisible entity. "Kami, why do you hate us so!" He yelled before a hand was suddenly clasped onto his mouth.

"Shut up!" Damien yelled fearfully. He peaked out from behind their cover and sighed in slight relief to see that their attacker hadn't heard them. He turned back to his glaring friend, "That thing could have heard us, idiot! Are you trying to get us killed?!" Damien harshly whispered.

"I'm just sayin'. We've been through so much crap these past couple of days, and to top it all off we've got a pissed off bear that wants kill us!" Ash whispered loudly, flailing his arms in exasperation. "Kami must hate us or something, because there's no fucking way we can be this unlucky." He said, pointing back to the monster that was still tearing through tree after defenseless tree in an effort to find them.

"Whether Kami hates us or not, I don't care. That bear's gonna kill us if we don't get out of here soon, and I don't know about you, but I don't very much care for being ripped apart limb from limb by a she-bear!"

Ash opened his mouth, about to reply, before his mind truly registered what Damien had just said.

"She-bear? You think the bear is a 'she'?"

"Well... yeah. Why not." Damien shrugged his shoulders.

"What makes you think the bears a female?" Ash asked, genuinely curious.

The sound of loud roaring in the background and the continued barrage of wood chips and severed logs interrupted Damien before he could properly respond. Hearing the loud roar from a considerable distance, Damien replied, "Call it an educated guess."


And that's it for that!

Stay tuned for the next chapter, and have a great morning/day/night!