Chapter 15
"I don't think this is gonna work there Muman… (snickers)… good effort though!"
The tank tops could barely contain themselves as they watched Muman Rider try and be the leader by offering to take Yuuma. They were on their third try to get him coiled around Muman's waist, but the problem was Yuuma was far bigger than Muman Rider's whole upper body! He kept tipping over and hitting the floor, the fourth attempt was enough to make the Tank Tops step in. "Let me take care of it, kid, want to piggy back ride from me instead?" Tiger offered.
Yuuma looked him over and nodded, Tank Top Tiger was a lot bigger, yet he was still rather large and long for a serpent boy. However it worked out as Yuuma climbed up and coiled around his waist. "Whoa… kid is bigger than I thought. We ought to take turns, he's gonna be a great workout!"
Yuuma didn't realize how tall Tiger really was, but with that, they announced they were going on patrols. The Tank Tops ran behind Muman Rider, yet as they did entering into the city. Yuuma began to ask questions. "He's not as strong as you, but you follow him?" he asked aloud.
Tiger snickered. "Yeah, that was our first impression too until your sister did a test. She made a fake city and placed someone within for us to find, the first person to find them would be the winner and leader. You see, at the time. We didn't have our old leader Tank Top Master, when the Heroes Association fell, your sister made a new one and changed things up a lot."
"Oh…" Yuuma said but didn't sound that interested.
"The reason why we follow the guy on the bike is this, no matter what city, who we had to find, Muman found them first before any of us did. Needless to say we're a bunch of meatheads and don't think things through."
"You're the king of that!" snickered Black.
"Shudda up bro!"
Yuuma snickered. "So you follow him because he's faster than you?"
"Let me explain it" said Tank Top girl. "As a hero, your biggest objective is to get to the people who need help and disarm the threat at hand. We are more of a point and shoot, send us in the right direction and we will take down the threat. Problem was… with these guys, we couldn't find the threat or the monster that was rampaging already moved on by the time we got there."
"Despite Muman not being a strong fighter, his sense of direction is second to none." Said Tank Top Hatter. "He knew where to go, how to get there and the shortcuts. Since he was good at that but had no real power, Alley teamed us up with him. Of course we hated it at first, but then realized she made a very good match up."
"So he leads well…" Yuuma stated. "That's good, but isn't Tank Top Master in the Association now?"
"He is, he will join us on patrols from time to time, however, Alley is borrowing him to train up the newer heroes. They need to get their strength up if they want to face down a monster. Those who have potential are trained by Tank Top Master, those who cause trouble… are trained by Tank Top Master," snickered Tank Top Girl.
Yuuma didn't quite fully understand it all but he let it slide for the time being.
They began to walk around City H. Yuuma was more fascinated with the stores and shops than seeing the city around him. "Ooo toys! Can we go in?" he asked.
"After patrols." Tiger insisted as Yuuma got passed off to Black.
"But… I want to go now!" he protested.
"Yuuma, what if there was someone who needed help and we were in a store and couldn't hear them?" Muman asked.
He thought it over and sighed. "Okay…" he muttered.
"Tell you what, when patrols are done. We will go and checked it out after okay?"
Yuuma sighed and nodded. "Okay…" he said begrudgingly. He got a grip around Black's waist, from there they moved on to patrols. Yuuma began to observe the Tank Top army and realized that despite how much stronger they are compared to Muman Rider… they aren't that far apart in strength. He could somehow see the auras of heroes to him. They weren't that strong either.
Muman rider however came to a drastic stop. He looked about the city and called for the Tank Tops to stop running. "The ground shook just a moment ago…" he announced. Then, the system wailed.
"Warning, warning, demon threats in the area. Please take shelter immediately…"
"Go time!" Tiger called. "Muman!"
"Straight ahead!" he called.
Yuuma smelt the air and could pick up the smell of the monster, he sighed to it though. "Darn it, too big to eat" he pouted.
Black laughed. "That's probably a good thing for us! We wouldn't be able to carry ya back!"
They ran full steam ahead when they discovered the monsters, the people were quick to flee from its path as the Tank Tops went in running. Black had to peel Yuuma off of him. "Wait here kid, we got this!"
"But!" he protested yet, the Tank Tops were already in battle. Yuuma sighed, had they waited, he could have told them he has taken down bigger monsters than those before. Yet as he watched from the sidelines, he found Muman going into the thick of danger just to get people out. "That's what a hero does," he remembered his father saying. "I had a screwed up sense of what a hero was, but learned they are ones who don't think for their own benefit as they risks their own lives to save others, for they too put themselves into harms way for the sake of those trapped and unable to get out or defend."
"Mr. Muman isn't strong, but he is brave and smart…" he whispered, yet his train of thoughts shattered when half the Tank Tops were blown back!
They hit the ground hard, yet quickly picked themselves up again and ran back into battle. Yuuma however wasn't going to sit on the sidelines anymore. He slithered in, despite the heroes telling him not to. "KID! IT'S TOO DANGEROUS!" shouted Tiger.
"He gets hurt, Garou's going to kill us!" protested Black.
"Screw Garou, Melee will rip us to shreds!" stated Tiger.
Yuuma however smirked, he found the strongest out of the three demon threat monsters, he coiled himself up and lunged. Using the momentum he land on the wall and jumped off of that to get to the monster's head. One punch and he made it stumbled back and hit the ground! When he landed, Yuuma turned to the other two monsters who began to look rather confused. How could something so small pack a punch?
"We got reinforcements!" Muman called.
Yuuma turned to finish off the monster, but found it vanished into the belly of Pig God! "Wow… he eats like dad!" he said with great amazement.
But there was no time to dwell, Muman called off Pig God since there were monsters a few blocks away. "We will take care of the other two, please help those down the street!"
The large hero nodded as he slowly may his way across town. The other two would be easy to take down. Yuuma smirked as he decided to make things a little easier for the Tank Tops to deal with. He was able to slink behind the monster, with his sharp claws he tore at the back of their foot, severing the tendon. The creatures roared and screamed as they hit the ground. Yuuma back off as the Tank Tops stood there, confused and yet amazed at the same time.
"All yours" he said and decided to watch the event end from the sidelines.
#
The Tank Tops were able to kill the two, after a half hour they managed by combining their strengths. Yet in the end, Yuuma began to wonder. As he coiled around Tank Top Hatter this time, he turned to Tiger and said. "Why are you heroes if you aren't that strong?"
He thought his question was good, but, judging by the looks on their faces it wasn't a polite one to ask. Black appeared furious as his face turned red, however Tiger snickered and scratched his chin. "You know, Amai Mask said the same thing once before."
Yuuma felt his heart freeze a little.
"No… I didn't mean…" his head hung shamefully. "I'm sorry…" he whispered.
Tiger snickered as he ruffled the kid's hair. "Nah, it's okay kid, besides you're right to ask the question, I asked it myself a while back. We all want to get stronger. I did something stupid to do so…"
"Tiger in a Tank top…" muttered Tank Top Girl. "Still, what the hell were you thinking when you did that!"
"I wasn't okay! Quite badgering me!" Tiger snapped back.
"Tiger in a Tank Top?" Yuuma whispered.
Muman decided to fill him in. "Did you know, Max, Suiryu and Snek were human?" he asked.
Yuuma nodded. "I did, I remembered when Max and Suiryu turned human for almost a day."
"Do you know how and why they look like the way they do now?" Yuuma shook his head. "There was something called a monster cell back in the day, they still exist but hopefully not as much. Anyway, there was a crazed man who was after your brothers Pac and Hunter, he wanted to force them to change into their more 'monstrous' forms so he tried to lace food with the cells. Problem was someone took their food and spread it to other tables. They turned the three, however they didn't become full monsters thanks to your sister Alley. She was working on a cure at the time, it didn't work, however it stopped them from turning completely."
"Dumbass here thought if he became like they did, he would be instant promotion to a class of heroes called the M Class Dragons. If he ate the cell but took the cure, it sort of worked, but didn't…" Black explained.
"Who are you calling the dumbass, you helped!" Tiger protested. But he sighed aloud and nodded. "I couldn't control myself," he explained to Yuuma. "The power went to my head and I thought I was the best hero despite the fact I nearly killed a kid for taking a purse" he shook his head to it all. "God, that was stupid of me"
"Yeah it was," said Tank Top Girl, but she paused. "You never told us how you turned again…"
"Another stupid mistake on my part. Some scientist wanted Alley to make her cure so he could market and turn other heroes into monsters for 'research' purposes. They managed to reverse what Alley did to me in nearly curing me. Yet once more, I snapped and she had to save me yet again. I am grateful she did… I don't know what I would have become had it not been for her." He looked to Yuuma and said. "Despite it all, power isn't everything kid. It took me years to realize that. You got it naturally so it's easy for you; some of us don't and we work hard to get better. We will keep working at it to get stronger so we can help people who cannot defend themselves… make sense to you?"
Yuuma meekly nodded. "I'm sorry I said something rude…"
"You caught yourself, that's what matters." Tank Top Girl announced.
Muman was off to the side as he went over his phone, he called in the fallen monsters and was given the confirmation that the other threats have been quelled. "Apparently this wasn't the only city that got struck, there were multiple attacks all over."
"Damn, I wonder if something stirred up a nest or something…" muttered Tank Top Girl.
"Either way, they are dealt with, so patrols are done for now… which means…" Hatter said with a grin.
Yuuma froze and then smiled. "Toy store!?"