"...You're gonna use my Nevermore trap card, aren't you?"

"...What?"

"Yeah, that's what you're gonna do."

"... No, it's not..."

"Right, that's totally not the card you just used Resourceful Raider to dig out from my discard deck and TOTALLY not what you're gonna use to try and cut my air fleet in half so you can finish off the rest with Vacuo's bonus or to cover your army in-case the trap backfires."

"What?! That's crazy!"

"It's not crazy! That's what you do every time you play! You hunker down in that desert crap hole like a little bitch and mess up anyone who tries going after you!"

"At least I don't waste my armies attacking everyone like a moron!"

"No, you just sit there with your thumb shoved up your-"

With a smoke-filled sigh, Mutt put out his cigar and walked away from the table, rolling his eyes at yet another argument between the guys about the right strategy to win a board game. For children. Which was pretty fitting given how everyone started acting like them whenever they played it. Particularly Bai, the guy who first suggested playing it after Kiss the Gun went a little too far that one time.

Still, he had to give em credit for not killing each other so far, the boss' warning must've worked like a charm. They just bitched and moaned, instead. Usually, that'd be pretty funny to him but Mutt didn't feel like laughing much these days since he got back. What happened to Goku and his talk about it with the boss were always going through his head no matter what he did.

It's not like I didn't have good reason to bail on im. Mutt told himself, walking up the staircase out of the basement. Their fight was wrecking the whole place, knocking down trees and sending waves all the damn place. That giant rock hitting the side of the boat and almost sinking it was the last straw, it was either stay and die or get out and finish the job.

Except it wasn't the only choice I had. The bombs and the detonator were right there, he could've planned something out, made the Geist eat the bomb before blowing it all up, getting them both out of there. Except then the boss would've gut me like a fish for ruining part of his investment,...

He practically said as much during their meeting just before they left, after Goku went asleep. "The time and money poured into this endeavor cannot be understated, it is of paramount importance that you return what belongs to me in-tact, no matter what it takes, am I understood?"

"Even if takes losing the kid?" Mutt asked, surprising himself at the time and even the boss, by the way his eyebrow went up.

"Even Goku." The boss answered the same way Mutt would if someone asked you what time it was on the street, and in a lot of ways, it made sense when he thought about it. Goku might've been useful for a while, but the kid was a good guy at heart and even dumb like he was, he would've figured out what they were really about sooner or later and would've gone after them. It was better if he just died before becoming a problem.

Still, not for the first time, Mutt didn't feel entirely right about it as he walked through the back of the noodle restaurant for some fresh air. Saying a couple of "Heys!" with some guys guarding it outside. For all the sense it made to get rid of Goku early, the kid still saved his life and not to kiss up to the boss by saving his loyal dog or something like these guys outside would do, if they didn't shoot him in the back first, but because he wanted to help him out.

For the first time in a long time, Mutt didn't feel entirely right about following the boss' orders to a tee. Sighing again, Mutt closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath of night time air, hoping it and the noise of the town around him would drown out all this guilt for a little while, at least.

BBBOOOMMM!

He'd experienced enough Dust explosions to recognize one when it happened, but this one might've been the worst he'd ever seen. But that's not what made Mutt's blood freeze, not the shouting and panic already setting in all over the place, not the fact the ground actually shook from it or the fact there was a giant fireball shooting dozens of feet into the air. No, it was the fact the boss and his whole mansion were where that giant fireball was coming from.

He stood there, gaping at it even though giant chunks of the house were flying all over the place, crashing into nearby rooftops and the streets, one of burned brick even smashing into a car a block away from him and setting the forest around on fire. His brain didn't work right for what felt like a while, until it started to put two and two together, figuring out why the boss and everything he built had just gotten blown up and who possibly could've done it.

Remembering the fact he didn't see Goku actually die, and that he lost the detonator box when the rock smashed into the boat's side, Mutt's gaping mouth thinned into a single line and his fists clenched so tight he could actually hear his knuckles snap.

"That little son of a-" Then a flying piece of burnt wood hit him across the face and knocked Mutt out.


"Woah! Whazzat big light?" Goku wondered when he first saw something super shiny in the direction of boss' home. He smelled smoke too, lots of it from a fire. "Ooh! I wonder if its a big dinner fire!"

Spit started filling his mouth like crazy, and just imagining tons of food cooked on a big fire made him start running. "Man, I hope there's bears and wolves and tigers and all sortsa big juicy meat there!"

The fire was

Seeing the big, burning hole in the ground where the boss' house was stopped Goku like a punch to the face. Everything was gone, the walls, the sliding door, the dining room, the gym, the room he and Grampa slept in, the boss too? Mutt?

Feeling tears in the corners of his eyes, Goku ran to the big fire where he saw lots and lots of people around it and the burning forest close by. They had these big, red cars parked and were shooting water outta these snake looking things. They weren't the only ones there, Goku saw more, meaner looking people standing around with those long guns Mutt lost back in the swamp.

"Stop right there, kid!" One of them shouted at him with, stepping in front of where Goku wanted to run through. "What are you doing out here? This isn't a place to-"

"What happened? Why's there a big fire here?! Where's boss?! Or Mutt?!"

"Boss?" The guy with the gun said again. "You're one of Xiong's runts?"

Goku ignored the mean sounding word, even if it made him a little mad. "Yeah! I know the boss! Where is he? Why's his house gone?!"

"Kid, Xiong's dead, his house blew up a few minutes ago and everyone in it."

"D-dead,..." He repeated, feeling the anger from the mean name gun guy called him going away. He felt something else he hadn't since the night everything went weird when he found Grampa changed into a four-star ball: sad. He didn't like it, how his nose started making some weird, green goop or how his eyes started getting all watery. The worst part was he didn't have anyone to get mad at, not like when Grampa changed again into a rock and he could beat up the Grimm,...

He's gone,... Goku thought, sniffing his nose and letting a few tears drop. My friends gone...

"I wouldn't cry over him kid," The Gun Guy said, spitting on the ground. "Xiong was scum, you ask me, he did this whole town a favor by dropping dead already."

Goku felt like he got punched again when he heard that, not just because the jerk called him and his friend, boss, mean sounding things, but because he sounded happy that boss was dead! Suddenly, his nose wasn't bugging him anymore and his tears almost dried up, he wasn't just sad anymore, but a little sad and really angry too!

With the meanest look, he could give the Gun Guy, Goku's fist went in the guys gut and got him in his knees in no time. Before he could try getting back up, Goku growled and kicked him in the face, sending him flying all the way to one of those big, red cars closeby and knocking him into it. The thud was so loud even with the noise of other people shouting stuff at each other and all the water and fire around that a lot of those people just stopped when they heard it, staring at Gun Guy on the ground and Goku staring at him.

"Don't talk about my friend like that you mean jerk or I'll smash you some more!" Goku shouted, then looked around at the people staring at him. "That goes for you too!"

He heard some clicking noises to his right and left and saw more guys pointing guns at him. If he thought that'd scare him, they were in for a big surprise! "You wanna get beat up like that jerk too? Fine!" Goku's hand went for Nyoibo and he stepped towards the closest other Gun Guy to his right. "You're gonna-"

A whole lot of snarling sounds louder than all the noise stopped him and everyone else there. Goku knew what they came from before he even picked up their smell apart from the fire, the forest and everything there. How couldn't he know? They were the first of the monsters he fought!

"The bear Grimm!" He shouted, pointing to the north behind the fire. "They're comin' from that-a-way!"

Nobody moved, but when Goku heard another sound, a person screaming from that direction, he did and way faster than everyone else too. "Extend!" He shouted to Nyoibo, smashing him into the ground and letting him grow big enough to vault over the fire where boss' house used to be. Going through the smoke made his nose go nuts and he had to smack himself on the head a few times when he landed to feel better but he didn't stop, not when the persons screaming and the monster snarls kept going on and definitely when some of those Gun Guys kept shouting at him to stop too!

The forest was worse than he thought with lotsa trees burning all over the place, making him take a second to figure out how to jump over or duck through the whole mess before he could keep going. It didn't help the smoke kept making his nose feel like it was on fire too! The scream started again with a "Help! Help me!" coming after it.

Ducking under a falling, burning tree, Goku finally got to where the screams were coming from, an old man who looked kinda familiar backing up against a tree and throwing rocks, twigs and anything he could grab off the ground at the bear Grimm.

"Hey! Monster!" Goku shouted, tossing a rock in the Grimm's butthole! It snarled real loud and jerked left and right before turning around at him. "Yeah! I did that! What're you gonna do about it, huh?!"

It did pretty much what he thought: went straight at him. Goku stood there, putting one leg way behind the other along with both his arms holding Nyoibo and kept a good eye on how its head kept bobbing up and down. When he got the timing of it down, with another shout, Goku jabbed Nyoibo like a spear and told it: "Extend!"

Mid-jab, it did just that, smashing right into the Grimm's mouth and going outside the other end of its head! "Gotcha!" He said, smirking and pulling Nyoibo out.

"A-amazing!" The familiar looking old man said, laughing a little. With the Grimm gone, Goku got an even better look at him and coulda swore he'd seen the guy before, he'd recognize how weird a head so bald on top but super big, spiky and grey on the back anywhere. "I-I suppose this is gratitude for the chopsticks?"

"Chopsticks?" Goku repeated until he finally remembered, from the first night he came to town! "Oh! You're the guy from the noodle place!"

"That I am," The old man laughed again, walking over to him. "Though I fear my job there almost got me killed if not for you."

"Yeah what're you doin' out here with a forest fire goin' on?"

"F-forest fire? So, that's what all that smoke was about,..."

"Yeah, the guys with guns there said the boss' house,... blew up,... I guess that means a big fire went up,..." Goku's voice went a little quieter then, all this craziness got him to forget the boss and maybe even Mutt being gone.

"... I think," The old guy said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We should get to safety first, if there's a forest fire, I imagine we'll have more Grimm arriving soon."

Something about the nice way he said it, his voice softening up, reminded Goku of Grampa back when things were a lot less weird. The small way he smiled helped too, even if the old guy's eyes stayed closed for some reason.

"Yeah, we should, I hear more of em coming! Quick," He turned his back to the old man. "Hop on! I'll give you lift!"

"A-are you sure you'll manage?"

"Oh yeah, I gave my Grampa piggy back rides all the time for trainin'! Used to carry big boulders too!"

The old man didn't give him a funny look, just raised his eyebrow and laughed before hopping on. "You are certainly an interesting young man," then he laughed again. "You've saved my life and I don't even know your name!"

"It's Son Goku, mister...?"

"Nariyoshi, proud owner of A Simple Wok!"


A/N: After a month of doing this fic on both and both Spacebattles, I am very pleased to announce the passing of an important milestone in terms of readership. As a proud, Saiyan Prince once said: "Over... 8000..." Thank you one and all for that! Also, I would like to thank fellow Spacebattler TimEd for story contributions on this chapter and the following one as well!