Aqua was making her way through Twilight Town, hoping to run into Ventus. She took her time, enjoying the dull warmth and light bustle of the town. She happened by a tournament of sorts that was happening, and read a nearby sign that read "Struggle! Free Admission!". She noticed a large crowd and made her way through the cheering coming upon a raised square stage, with two occupants who were fighting. They had red and blue orbs attached to their body, and everytime one of them got hit they dropped their respective orbs. Aqua decided to stay for a bit and watched the fight play out. There was a white teen with dirty blonde hair cropped short who wore a brown vest with a green undershirt and black pants. His black sneakers danced around his opponent. His opponent was a she, and she had long blue hair with a white frilly dress against dark brown skin. She had black heels and all together looked out of place on the stage.
The boy rushed the girl, but before making contact she stepped to the side and with a winding swing knocked him clear out of the ring. A hard smile with sharp canines filled her mouth and she let out a condescending laugh.
"You totally fell for it! You must have gotten so hard thinking about how vulnerable I looked! Haaaaaaa!" she taunted. The boy was out of bounds, so he lost the match by disqualification ring-out.
The crowd cheered even harder and Aqua struggled to hear the man who walked up with a microphone.
"And that does it for the semi-finals! Raika makes another last minute miracle and moves on to the finals to face Seifer for the championship!" he yelled into the mic.
Even though Raika won, Aqua noticed the crowd gave her a wide berth as she stepped down from the stage for the 15 minute break between matches. Aqua's interest was piqued and she decided to talk to Raika, so she approached her. She followed casually as Raika went into a nearby alley way and lit up a cigarette, leaning against the wall.
"Hey, Raika! That was some pretty good footwork in the match. Your timing was perfect." Aqua said once she was within a few feet.
"Yeah, I know. The fuck do ya want, an autograph?" Raika said dismissively.
Smirking at all that attitude stuffed in such a small body, Aqua responded. "I think you'd want my autograph kid."
"Who are you calling a kid maxi-pad? I'm old enough to be your step-mother." Raika retorted.
"Step-mother?" Aqua said confused.
"Yeah cause I'll fuck your dad and make your real mom kill herself." Raika finished.
"Well I didn't really know my parents, so jokes on you." Aqua said, unbothered.
"Oh boo-hoo, join the fuckin' club brat. I'll find your dad, fuck him, find your mom, and make her kill herself." Raika followed up.
Aqua laughed at the ridiculousness of Raika's insult. "Please, by all means. I'll watch." Aqua slipped out. 'Shit, too much hanging around Yuffie'
At this Raika paused, then laughed. "Hah! I like you kid. What's your name?"
Before Aqua could respond a flaming disc flew at Raika. Aqua was just able to pull her out of the way, so the disc embedded itself into the wall where Raika was just leaning on. Aqua looked at the weapon closer and saw it was a red chakram, a very familiar one. After a few seconds it disappeared in a small flash of light and Aqua heard teeth sucking from above her.
"God dammit! There goes my perfect streak. Thirty two clean kills gone to waste." The voice sighed.
"What? Lea?!" Aqua shouted up.
There stood Lea in his black cloak, leaning against the fire escape of one of the buildings.
"Huh? Wait a minute is that...Aqua! Aqua hey!" Lea said as he jumped over the third story railing and landed right in front of Aqua.
"Don't 'hey' me! You just tried to kill us!" Aqua said, Raika standing stiffly and silently at her side.
"In my defense I didn't know it was you, and I was only aiming at her. She's my mark." Lea said.
"And who the hell wants me dead tampon?" Raika said, tensing her body to fight.
"Now now, that would telling doll." Lea said as he jumped at her with a small knife that was on fire. Before he got to her though Aqua gripped him up and flipped him onto the floor. Hard.
"NO, bad Lea." Aqua said.
"Aqua, I know Ventus said to keep it a secret, but you're reeeeeally messing with our business." Lea said in a forced voice.
"Hmph. All I see is an unwarranted assassination by a fellow keyblade bearer." Aqua said condescendingly.
"Well, news flash princess, we are assassins! That's our job!" Lea said to her.
During the conversation Raika decided she didn't want to stick around any longer, and bolted.
"Damn it! I lost the hit!" Lea said, then glared daggers at Aqua. "You!"
"Take me to Ventus, he has some explaining to do." Aqua said, picking up Lea by his ear and dragging him along.
"No mom! I need to finish the hit! Our reputation is impeccable. We can't fail a contract!" Lea said angrily.
"Too bad, take me to your leader!" Aqua said.
Lea grunted in resignation and opened a portal to his headquarters.
Aqua found herself in a poorly lit room that smelled like oil and car exhaust. Lea was finally released from her death grip and sat on a chair at a nearby table. The room was empty except that table, and two other people sat there already.
"Sorry Roxas, the hit got away." Lea said.
Roxas slammed his hands on the table in anger and got in Lea's face. "How the hell did she get away?! It was just some old hang in a struggle tournament!"
"Hey it wasn't my fault! I was interrupted by her!" Lea said, bringing everyone's attention to her for the first time.
"Aqua!" the third voice said. Which Aqua recognized as Ventus immediately.
"Ventus? Ventus! You have a lot of explaining to do!" Aqua said as she stalked towards him.
"Shit! Ventus vanish!" Ventus said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Fuck! I hate that!" Aqua cursed. She heard Roxas snicker from the side.
"And you! What are you guys doing that Lea is trying to kill someone in cold blood, and how the hell did Ventus get involved!" Aqua said violently.
"Hey calm down Aqua don't get your panties in a bunch!" Lea said, causing Roxas to slap his face with his palm.
What proceeded was Aqua destroying their run down hideout and chasing the two of them all about causing untold damage.
Ventus was sitting atop the clock tower. He was thinking of how he was going to explain to Aqua why he was in an underground hit-man group. He hasn't actually killed anyone yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time before the boss had him do a hit. Lea Roxas and Xion had approached him with the offer, saying that they had reason to believe that his father was part of the underground crime world in Twilight Town. He joined them in hopes of coming across his father. It hasn't been very long, so he knew he had to keep waiting. But he didn't want to let Aqua down.
"Though, I suppose I already let her down by joining a group that kills people for money." he said sullenly to himself.
"Don't feel bad Ventus, we all do things we feel we have to do." Came Xion's voice from behind him. She sat next to him and offered him some of their favorite ice cream.
"Thanks Xion. I just, I would give anything to know where I came from. I guess it's different for you and Roxas though, technically you don't have any parents. Sorry." he said.
"Actually, we were introduced to Sora's mom and dad when we first got back to the island. After explaining what exactly we were Sora's mom just stared at us for a minute. Then she hugged us both so tight and yelled at her husband that they had two more kids now." Xion giggled. "So I guess I have parents. And the feeling of knowing there is somewhere I belong no matter what is the best. So I want to make sure you get that feeling too. You deserve it."
Xion was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Ventus and started rubbing his thigh suggestively. "You deserve to feel good too Ventus."
Ventus blushed and scooted away from Xion, making her giggle more. "W-well thanks for the sentiment. I will do whatever it takes to find my are in this town, I can just feel it." he said.
"That's the spirit. Also, it looks like we might need a new hideout. Hayner's dad's shop seemed to have gone poof." Xion said, pointing to a plume of rising smoke in the distance.
"Damn, they must have pissed Aqua off." Ventus cringed.
"Yeah. I guess it's a good thing we just bought the shop from the old man." Xion said.
"Are there any good nearby spots we can move to?" Ventus asked.
"Move? Are you nuts? We may be loaded but setting up shop in a previously burned down building is the perfect cover. Any rivals that were closing in on our location would never think to keep looking there, they would think we relocated." Xion told him.
"Hm. I suppose you're right Xion. Worst case we can just have the place rebuilt as something else entirely. We have the money for it." Ventus mused.
"Yeah, it's amazing how many people want someone dead." Xion said.
Raika was seriously considering just killing her opponent Seifer. She had made it just in time for her final match, and the look of surprise and rage on his face all but confirmed he put a hit out on her so he could win by her no-show. She proceeded to beat the fuckery out of him, deliberately keeping him in the ring and making sure she had just the right amount of points to force an overtime round. He was now just laying on the ground. She kept the one orb on him and hit everywhere but that spot to ensure she didn't win yet, and she still had thirty seconds on the clock. The crowd was roaring because to them it was a neck and neck match, but she was coming out ahead. She walked up to his supine form and crouched down to talk to him over the excited cheering.
"You had a hit put out on me didn't you? The Pyrodancer too no less. You went to the best, and I guess I should be flattered. But honestly I'm just very very pissed." she said, planting a heel to dig into his bruised shoulder.
Seifer cried out in pain and looked to the referee, his eyes pleading him to stop the match already.
"Don't bother." Raika told him. "I paid that lard ass enough to feed himself for a month at his favorite restaurant. He isn't stopping this at all. Not even if you forfeit." she grinned manically.
She dug her struggle weapon into his throat as he choked and gagged. The last orb was right on his throat, so to the crowd it just looked like she was trying to pry it off. She pressed and pressed, until a sickening crack rang low against the cheering. She gave herself a few moments to come down from the high of killing someone for the first time, before flicking the last orb off of his corpse just as the clock hit zero. The clock buzzed loudly and the crowd renewed their cheers, oblivious to Seifer's condition as medics came and carried his body off. The ref walked up and announced her the winner, handing her the champion belt and winner's trophy, both of which she held high in triumph.
Aqua eventually left Roxas and Lea alone and made her way back to the struggle match to see how things played out. She made it just in time to see Raika break Seifer's neck, and be declared the winner. Raika stayed around to sign autographs and take pictures as this time the crowd was too excited to be afraid of her. Eventually she noticed Aqua and as the crowds died down made her way over to her.
"Looks like you won your match." Aqua said evenly.
"Looks like I did, thanks to you." Raika said, in a good mood.
"If I had known you would just go on to kill an innocent guy in your match maybe I would have thought twice about saving you." Aqua accused.
"Well, I'm glad you didn't think twice. As it turns out, Seifer, that's his name by the way, is the guy who put out the hit on me. Hired the Pyrodancer himself to take me out all to win this damn thing by default." Raika informed her.
Aqua thought for a minute and frowned. "He really was going to kill you just to win a stupid tournament?" Aqua asked.
"Yup. You must not keep up much with the trends, but Struggle is a big deal to most people. The struggle king or queen is essentially the Don for a year until the next tournament. Lot's of perks come with the clout, and some people covet it." Raika explained, just swaying side to side gently.
"Well in that case, I'm glad I helped you out. I found where that assassin came from, but he escaped before I could get much more out of him…" Aqua said thinking of how slipper Roxas and Lea had been.
"Oh I know who they were, everyone in the underground world knows who they are. They are the prestigious Twilight Hounds. They only take top dollar for contracts, but have never failed a single one so far." Raika said.
'What? They have only been here for a month or so, how much could they have done in such a short time?!' Aqua thought to herself. "So, how long have the Hounds been around? Surely they could not have accomplished much?" she asked.
"Well they only popped up about a month ago, but they have been so efficient and effective that they have had well over 200 contracts already. They also funneled all business due to their track record so a lot of the minor gangs that did hits have been put out of business. Their only somewhat competition is the Day Break gang. All the smaller gangs have been joining up with them just to stay relevant so they are pretty big now. Where Day Break has size, Twilight Hounds have finesse. The Day Break gang has been hunting the Hounds trying to kill them to eliminate the competition, but the Hounds always kill any enemies that get too close. They are a complete mystery except for a few code names." Raika said.
Aqua processed all of this and wondered just how good were Lea and his group to establish this kind of set up so quickly. "What are their code names?" Aqua asked.
"God, are you a brick wall or something? Look I'm in a good mood and you saved my life so I owe you, but don't think I'm usually this chatty. Ugh. There's the Pyrodancer that we encountered. His victims are usually burnt to a crisp or just beheaded, now I know he uses those weird disc things. Next is the Black Sigil. This one usually doesn't leave anything of his victims, it's as if they were just vaporized or something. Then we have Imaginary Death. This one doesn't ever physically touch the hits, so people assume that they do something to the hit's mind. The hit always has a look or terror frozen on their faces, so it has to be something like that. The last one that's known is the Wayward Son. This one hasn't actually killed anyone yet, he is known to do mainly robbery scores. They say he is swift as the wind and leaves a room looking like a tornado on steroids with hurricanes for arms blew through it. That's all that's known about the Twilight Hounds."
Aqua easily discerned which one was Ventus. Maybe she could get his attention by putting in a request for a robbery? Then he would have to show up. She noticed Raika staring at her calmly. "Thank you for all this information. I really am new around here."
"Well then new girl, why don't I show you around for a bit?" Raika said, hefting her belt over her shoulder.
"Oh, no I wouldn't want to intrude." Aqua kindly declined.
"Non-sense! A pretty girl all by herself? Unheard of. Won't you let me pay back my savior with some drinks and good food?" Raika said, throwing an arm around Aqua's waist.
The height difference was such that Raika's head was just below Aqua's breast, so her arm was awkward on Aqua's waist. "W-well, if it's just to thank me." she conceded.
"Woohoo! A night out in the town, hell yeah!" Raika said, tugging Aqua along to gods know where.
'Oh fuck me' Aqua thought in regret.
"So like this?"
Toph flexed out her hand and pulled at the space in front of her. On the floor just under her hand was a thick metal spring. Slowly, as she clenched her hand into a fist the spring was pressed down and compressed.
"Very good! You're a natural at this!" Merlin clapped in praise.
Toph smirked and let the tension go. She wasn't metal bending the spring, but using gravity to interact with it. She was learning gravity and spatial magic.
"Yeah, I get that alot. So, I've got gravity down and spatial magic as well. Is there a way to combine the two?" Toph asked.
She had been training with Merlin for the better part of a month and he was enthralled at her potential. "Hm, well at their base forms I don't see a way to fundamentally combine them, but there are skills and spells in each branch that can be used together to great effect if you're clever enough." Merlin said, before suddenly throwing a nearby book at Toph at full speed using aero magic.
Toph deftly side steeped the book and smirked. She had been able to extend her senses with her new powers even further, feeling the slightest distortion in the air and mapping out her surroundings with her manipulation over gravity. "Lay it on me."
Merlin chuckled as Toph's eagerness reminded him of his old protege Aurther. 'God rest his soul'. "Okay. Try this."
Merlin cast a gravaga spell on some nearby chairs, and they were instantly flattened into splinters and sawdust. They were in Merlins special training room so targets were plentiful and there was no need to hold back.
Toph reached deep into the void and cast a gravagaza, enveloping the entire space in a dome of gravity three thousand times the normal amount of the world they were on. Luckily, in this room magic users were immune to magic, but the rest of the room cracked and everything was flattened. Even the floor seemed to push in a few inches, much to Merlin's alarm.
"Holy hells Toph! You damn near ripped the time space distortion orb this room is in!" Merlin said once her spell subsided.
"Whoa. Uh, s-sorry?" Toph squeaked out.
"No child, never be sorry for being powerful. This is fantastic! We just need to make sure you have control over it better. You would have killed everyone and destroyed everything in a half mile diameter with that spell." Merlin said, making Toph gulp.
"Control, got it. I just poured everything I had into it since I thought it was okay. I'll be more careful from now on." she said demurely.
"Ha! Not in here you won't! I will see you become the strongest earth/space mage to have ever existed and I can't do that if you are limiting yourself." Merlin said, reinforcing the room and the spell protecting it by several fold. Then he looked at Toph with an out of place deranged glint in his eye. "You will be Toph! Destroyer of time of space! Mwahahahahaah!"
Toph just grinned like a madwoman and joined in Merlin's maniacal laughter. "HEEEEELLLLLL YEEEAAAAAHHHH!"
Yuffie casually strolled through the gardens of the castle while hurling shuriken at heartless as they were knocked up in the air by the towns defense system. Between Toph and Cid, they were able to infuse a self sustaining gravity attribute to the system, so now when the heartless were knocked up by the explosion they would float weightlessly in the air for at least ten seconds, depending on their size. Plenty of time for Yuffie to zip a screaming metal death star at them. It wasn't as effective as a keyblade, but those were in short supply at the moment.
'I wonder what Sora is doing...not me that's for sure' Yuffie thought. She sighed at the lack of Sora in her life right now. 'He's been for gone for weeeeeeeeksssss' she complained in her head, even as she destroyed more heartless.
As she hopped along her patrol route, a bright explosion of light caught her attention. It was just down the road and she dashed up to the person she found in the center as the light dissipated. A tall tan woman stood up from a crouched position, and looked around at her surroundings.
'Whoa, is she a freaking amazon?!' Yuffie thought.
The tall woman fixed her gaze on Yuffie and addressed her. "Where am I?"
"Well, hello to you too tree girl. If you must know, you are at the prestigious Radiant Garden Castle. You currently have the honor of speaking to the Great Ninja Yuffie." Yuffie said, striking a pose. "Who are you?"
"I am." the woman said cryptically.
"You arrrrrre...what? I need a noun. A pro noun? Hell I'll even take an adjective as a nickname or something." Yuffie said to her.
"You may address me as Jisma." the now identified woman said impatiently.
"Jisma? Hmm Jisma...Jis-maaaa" Yuffie rolled the name over her tongue every which way.
Jisma became irritated and shouted at Yuffie to stop. "Hey! I'm here on a simple quest. Do you know where I can find a man named Sora? I can tell he was here not too long ago."
Yuffie froze, instantly on edge at the question. She decided to take a closer inspection of the woman. Jisma was easily over six feet tall, she observed. Short black hair, beautiful hazel eyes. Black chest wrappings and black short tights. Tan skin that looked perfect from every angle. And a body that looked carved by Zeus himself. She was obviously from off-world and not a local. You'd be hard pressed to find someone like her in Traverse town.
"Well, suppose I do know a Sora. Who is asking?" Yuffie said, loosening her stance.
Jisma shot forward in an instant, gripping Yuffie with an outstretched hand by the throat. Yuffie substituted herself with a nearby log that was instantly crushed within Jisma's grip. This all happened in an instant.
"Holy shit! You know you won't be able to get an answer if I'm dead right?!" Yuffie yelled at her.
"I knew you wouldn't be undone so easily. My mother would not have bothered to summon me if her foe was weak. Just being associated with Sora is enough to tell me that you are strong. Plus, I can see every nic and dent in your body. You have been through much. You will not die easily. And if anything, I can always eat your flesh to know it's secrets" Jisma stated, following up with a dash right into Yuffie.
Jisma threw punches with so much force that they created shock-waves that caused torrents of air and the ground to up-heave. Yuffie gave each strike a wide berth to avoid the additional hazards. But Yuffie found she was firmly on the defensive, every muscle twitch and reaction dedicated to avoiding the onslaught.
'She's almost as fast as Sora when he's trying!' she thought in alarm.
Yuffie's vision was a blur as she had to depend on pure reaction to avoid being crushed or otherwise mauled to death. Thankfully her reactions were so trained she could react using her conscious mind. She positioned herself over a defense bomb just as it was going to blow up a heartless, and Jisma struck down at her. She dodged and Jisma was caught up in the explosion, causing her to be suspended in the air from the blast and its effects.
Yuffie took a moment to catch her breath. "Phew! You are one tough customer! But, speed will always beat brawn with a little skill thrown in!" Yuffie taunted as she pulled out a kunai and sunk it into Jisma's skull.
Except, it didn't even break the skin. In fact it didn't even cut a single hair. Jisma tensed her muscles and flexed so hard the air distorted around her. This dispelled the gravity effect on her and she quickly righted herself as she fell landing on her feet with a smirk.
"Then will brawn and speed beat just speed?" she asked cockily.
"But how, that shouldn't be-what did you- WAT!" Yuffie screamed in indignation. "You can't flex so hard you dispel gravity! That doesn't even make sense!"
Jisma chuckled at Yuffie's confusion. "I told you, I am. I am Body, I am Being. You aren't a push over though. I may have to use more than half of one percent of my power."
"Half of one percent?! You have to be bluffing." Yuffie balked. She refused to believe all that was less than one percent of Jisma's power.
"Well, seeing is believing." Jisma said, even as she disappeared from Yuffie's view.
'Don't stand still!' Yuffie reminded herself. She's fought many enemies she could not see, whether from magic or pure speed, and learned the number one way to get dead was to just stand still even to try and sense them. If they were too quick for her eyes they were too quick for her other senses as well.
Yuffie danced around randomly, using all of her speed and power to move as fast as she could. It paid off as Yuffie began to notice deep and wide holes form on the ground she was just standing on each time. Jisma was moving with such speed and power the holes she punched in the ground were perfect circles, two feet in diameter. It was as if someone took a hole puncher to the ground somehow. But the holes were getting closer, and Yuffie was running out of ideas. While she could dodge indefinitely, her movements were just too slow compared to Jisma's and she would eventually get caught.
She tried to find a pattern to Jisma's attacks, hoping there was something she could exploit. Luckily, she noticed Jisma's attacks were on a tempo of four for four, and were increased by a fourth every four strikes now. She waited until she was right upon her, about to hit one fourths, then twisted herself into a parry and snaked her body onto Jisma's attacking arm. It worked, and Yuffie was about to break Jisma's arm in as many places as she knew how to but froze at Jisma's chuckle.
"Wow, I'm almost impressed. You were able to keep up with eighty percent of one percent of my strength. I'll hand it to you, not many people in existence could do that. I guess I can give you the one percent now."
Yuffie's eyes widened in alarm and she tried to break Jisma's arm, but found it didn't even budge. Jisma waited a moment to let Yuffie try, before flexing her arm with a howl. Jisma's arm muscles constricted and expanded with such speed and force that each one battered into Yuffie's body as she held the arm. It was as if each muscle was a piston that shot away then back into Yuffie with the force of an elephant on ten protein shakes. Blood blew out of Yuffie's mouth and nose as she fell limply on the floor, her body a mass of bruises.
Jisma looked at her arm as it smoked. She felt amazing as it had been a long time since she got the chance to flex a bit. Only her mother could force her to one hundred percent, but one percent felt great compared to the dormant state she was forced to be in for who knows how long.
"You know what, I'm in a great mood. I'll let you live. If you survive your injuries, get stronger. Faster. Then come back and face me. You might even push me to two percent next time. What an exciting prospect." Jisma said, waving at Yuffie as she lost consciousness. "How refreshing. Maybe this world will have some strong people besides Sora after all. Might as well get some training in before the main event."
With that Jisma walked away, picking a random direction and hoping to find some more strong people.
Sora found himself standing in a phone booth. It was cramped and red and the city outside of it seems empty save the blaring alarms telling him to head to an evacuation center. He looked down at himself to find he was in the same clothes Shinji wore on the red beach, just clean and unwrinkled. He heard the phone ring and picked it up out of curiosity.
"Sora. It's Lilith." came the voice.
"Lilith? Where am I? When am I?" Sora asked.
"You are right when the first of the Angels came to attack the city, Tokyo-3. You should be running into Shinji soon. Try to let things more or less play out the way they want to. See if you can establish a relationship with Shinji as that will be the key to anchoring his sanity when the enemy tries to break him.." Lilith instructed.
"Well, alright. I'll just wing it then. Will you be able to help me?" Sora asked.
"From time to time, there will be moments like this one where I can insert myself through a medium. I can't say what medium I will be able to use, this time it was a phone. Just be on the lookout and share the kindness you have within you." Lilith answered.
"Right. Talk to you soon." Sora said. After that the line went dead, and a knock from behind him caught his attention.
Sora turned and found Shinji standing there nervously, like a child about to confess to doing something naughty. Sora tried to picture the rage he saw on the old Shinji's face as he tried to kill Asuka on this new timid Shinji. He couldn't fathom what was done to this boy to get him to that point and made it his personal mission to save him from himself. Seeing that Shinji was content with just standing there and not saying anything, Sora decided to make the first move.
"Hey there! Did you need to use the phone?" Sora said cheerfully.
"Oh. Y-yeah. Sorry." Shinji said meekly.
"Hey that's okay I was done anyway. By all means." Sora said, flashing Shinji his trademark smirk as he got out to make space for him.
Shinji mumbled a thank you and went to use the phone. Shinji dug into his pocket and fished out a photo of an attractive purple haired woman. She was leaning over suggestively with a thumbs up in a yellow top that showed all the cleavage. There was a number on the photo, and Shinji punched that in. To his annoyance, Shinji was greeted with a dead tone.
"The phone is down…" Shinji said mostly to himself, throwing a cautious glance to Sora.
"Really? That's odd. I was just using it." Sora said.
"Yeah…" Shinji said back. They both stood there now, unsure of what to do next.
"Oh! I'm sorry how rude of me. My name is Sora!." Sra introduced himself.
"Yes. M-my name is Shinji Ikari…" Shinji greeted, staring pointedly at Sora.
Sora noticed the staring and cocked his head to the side. "What? Is something on my face?"
Shinji stared for a bit longer before lightly shaking his head. "N-no, I was just waiting for your surname so I can address you properly."
"A surname? What's that?" Sora asked.
"Well, l-like your family name. Your last name." Shinji explained nervously.
"Oh! Well, I don't really have a last name. What's wrong with just using my first name?" Sora said.
"W-what? Um, but using a person's first name is usually a sign of being friends with that person. It's not something you do with strangers…" Shinji told him.
"Well, why don't we be friends?" Sora asked.
"W-what? B-but we just met. Why would you want to be friends?" Shinji asked incredulously.
"Why not? I think you're a great guy. You're super polite. So what do you say, friends?" Sora offered his hand.
"W-why would you want to be friends w-with someone like me?" Shinji said, eyes cast down to the floor.
Before Sora could reassure him, a loud crash happened down the street. Shinji got out of the phone both and both he and Sora looked at the form of a titanic green alien beast with a weird pointed mask and ribs covering a red glowing orb.
Sora's face hardened as he wondered how he was going to beat it. 'The first angel, it's here.'
