Learning how to use his new left arm wasn't that much of an issue, all things considered.
Back in the good ol' days of him still being alive, Mikazuki had to contend with not being able to use more than half of his limbs, something that was more than a bit of a nuisance, to say the least and as such, having his organic arm being replaced by that of Barbatos' was not as big a deal as one might expect.
Hell, if anything, it only made him more effective at completing the jobs that he was given by either Barbatos or, more commonly these days, Alastor!
According to the Radio Demon himself, the gauntlet segment of his new left arm was coated in a sort of demonic forcefield, one that granted him added defense. Simply put, like how Nanolaminated Armour could deflect Beam Shots, his gauntlet could do the same with magical and perhaps even some physical attacks more effectively than the rest of his body, though as a downside, like Nanolaminated Armour, repeated shots would more than likely weaken its effect.
Likewise, Alastor had also commented on the strange aura that surrounded Mikazuki for quite some time. A demonic field, as his cane called it. The Radio Demon had passed it off sarcastically at first, with him joking about how it was nothing more than his worth attitude radiating off him, though Augus knew better than that. Al' never said anything without reason, and if he were honest, the former pilot has been feeling much stronger recently.
Perhaps his most recent demonic growth spurt had something to do with this? Probably, though regardless, the former pilot didn't let that stop him from continuing on with life. Stronger or not, he was still susceptible to damage, and he'd be a fool to go around flaunting his newfound strengths for the underworld to see. Powerful people only got far in life through subtlety, after all, not flamboyant showmanship.
Power aside, considering how both his arms were now mechanical, Mikazuki found himself unable to wear his Tekkadan jacket normally any more. As a compromise, he opted to wear it around his waist like a kilt, something that Niffty and, to a lesser degree, Husk approved of. Alastor considered it to be so-so, with him commenting on it being practical, but also a fashion disaster, though his opinion didn't count for much to Augus anyways.
After all, the Radio Demon's only real purpose was to give the pilot his jobs, nothing more, nothing less, and all things considered, with his new strengths and arm… things were a lot easier to handle than they once were.
Three days after getting a new arm
"HIT HIM HIT HIM!"
"WE ARE HITTING HIM!"
"WITH WHAT?! INSULTS?!"
In response to that comment, Mikazuki couldn't help but snort a little as he leaned back, avoiding a strike from a clown-looking demon with the ability to clone himself before he lifted his legs up and kicked two of his clones in the stomach, launching them backwards all the while. As he did this, the former pilot launched himself back onto his feet and brought his left arm up to defend against a chair that was swung at him, with the aforementioned chair shattering on impact against the blue gauntlet attached to the limb.
"Ah-" laughed the clone demon as he stared at the broken chair, only for Mikazuki to launch his fist out at him. The strike from the Lupus Rex arm not only caved the demon's skull inwards, but it had also decapitated it cleanly, causing the skull to soar towards a wall behind them and embed itself into it firmly.
"Hmph," scoffed Mikazuki as he watched the headless clone fall to the ground, and as he did so, he raised his arm up and swung Alastor's Microphone cane at another demon, cracking them on the jaw in the process.
"Ouch! My word, Mikazuki! Do be more delicate with me please!" complained the Microphone Cane indignantly as it glared at the former pilot, who rolled his eyes as he shrugged and continued on with his offense.
When he took note of several demon clones aiming their guns at him, Mikazuki was quick to raise his arm gauntlet up to block the barrage. When the shots impacted his gauntlet, they simply pinged off its side uselessly, and the shots that did hit his skin simply bounced off, leaving little more than a mild bump on his skin all the while.
That was something else that he noticed about himself too. Following his recent… evolution, the former pilot's skin seemed to grow denser and less susceptible to conventional damage. Low powered demonic attacks, like the demonically charged bullets being shot at him, did little more than tickle his skin at this point, though he doubted that he could survive or withstand something much higher than low level demonic attacks as effectively.
"GUYS I THINK WE HURT HIM!" proclaimed one of the clones as he watched Mikazuki step back a little, with him reaching into his jacket, wrapped around his waist as usual, to pull something out of it.
"WHAT?! WHAT DID YOU HURT?! HIS FEELINGS?!" proclaimed another clone, with him glaring at the other as he kept firing, already noticing how their attacks were doing little to phase the former pilot as they kept the pressure on him, and before the other could respond to his fellow clone's words, Mikazuki grimaced and pulled his pistol out from inside his jacket.
Quickly taking aim, Augus opened fire with his handgun, and in a matter of moments, all three clones that were firing on him were dispatched with ruthless efficiency, with all three dropping dead within moments. Thereafter, Mikazuki twirled the pistol in his hand before blowing at its barrel, dispelling the smoke rising from it all the while.
A handful of hours prior, Mikazuki had been asked (by Alastor) to kill a demon that worked with the Overlord, Velvet. Said demon worked in a bar in Pentagram City, and Augus reckoned that it wouldn't have been much of an issue… then shockingly enough, Alastor had requested for him to bring his cane along with him. Something about him needing it to record some new stock footage of the screams of the damned or something. Augus would've declined the request, though after he was bribed with a 25% increase in raisins as his reward… he caved in.
And, as luck would have it, upon entering the bar that his target was working at, the Microphone Can, perhaps a little unintentionally, informed basically everyone about his intentions by asking Mikazuki about their course of action, and upon hearing this, everyone had turned towards him as he sighed.
Long story short, after a long and drawn out melee, the entire bar was basically destroyed, and all that was left was Mikazuki and his target, though Augus didn't even know which one was his target, as he was creating clones left right and center!
"I must apologise again for this, Mr Mikazuki. I truly didn't intend on this happening!" apologised the Microphone Cane as Mikazuki twirled it around in his hand before using its head to whack another demon clone on the cheek, causing it to spin around till its back faced Mika, who kicked it in the butt, causing it to fly towards another clone in the process. Augus didn't care enough to respond to that blatantly false comment as he glared at the cane in his hand, though before he could do anything more, the door to one of the backrooms burst open, allowing a demon to step out of it shortly thereafter.
Presumably, this was the main clown demon that he had been sent to kill and not a clone, which boded well for Mikazuki. What didn't bode well for him, however, was how the demon was holding onto a minigun, and regardless of how tough he was, Augus doubted that he could withstand a full volley from a weapon like that.
"OPEN FIRE OPEN FIRE!" proclaimed one of the clones, with him looking half dead as he yelled, though before long, it was more or less muted under the sound of the target demon opening fire onto the former pilot, who grimaced as he began making his way towards the closest cover he could find. As he did so, he jumped, weaved and maneuvered around like a maniac, with him at one point twirling the Microphone Cane around in his hand, turning it into a makeshift shield of sorts, before he managed to leap behind the bar counter, and as he landed behind it.
"Dear me, that was not pleasant!" complained the cane as its singular eye squinted a little in apparent pain, to which the former pilot shrugged as he grimaced and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"COME OUT BABY!" yelled the target demon as he kept the heat on, ripping the counter apart with his bullets all the while. Of course, Mikazuki didn't let this deter him from anything as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a special ammo clip. This one in particular was a gift from I.M.P after Mikazuki helped them with a job that involved a sextape, and on the side of the clip, the words Rubber Bullets was written on in red marker.
They weren't rubber bullets, not by a longshot, but at the same time, they did have rubbery properties. That, and Blitzo was not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed anyways, and though he knew he wasn't dumb by any means, the Imp was still bad with names.
Regardless, after emptying the clip he currently had, Mikazuki loaded the Rubber clip into it and pulled back on the barrel. Thereafter, he simply aimed up at the wall in front of him at an angle and pulled back on the trigger…
… and as soon as it was pulled back completely, a bullet flew out of its barrel and went straight for the wall… only to bounce off it completely and ricochet towards a random spot in the bar. And it did so again… and again… and again and again and again. Simply put, the bullet was bouncing across the entire bar like there was no tomorrow, and after a few moments of bouncing, it had managed to hit the clown demon several times over, injuring him quite a bit in the process.
And once the minigun sounds ceased, Mikazuki peeked over the countertop and took aim with his pistol, with him bearing witness to a clown demon with several bullet holes in his body, no doubt caused by the 'Rubber Bullet'.
"How… the fuck… did you-" muttered the clown demon, only for Mikazuki to roll his eyes and interrupt him.
"Why don't you try aiming next time?"
And at that, one last bullet was fired at the clown demon, though because it was a rubber bullet, the bullet ended up bouncing around inside of him, tearing him apart from the inside out before it finally blew itself out from its left eye, impacting the wall behind Mikazuki all the while, with it having lost all of its bouncing qualities by then. Augus was barely phased by this, though he was (rightfully) impressed by the 'Rubber Bullet's' strength, so much so that he didn't acknowledge the demonic essence of his latest kill being passively absorbed by him as he huffed to himself, ignoring the surprised look from the cane as he trudged onwards.
"I oughta ask I.M.P for more of these…"
Five days after getting a new arm
"You know, Mikazuki, even with hands like those, I think you could probably learn how to sew!"
At that, Mika simply raised a brow as eyed Niffty sewed a hole in his jacket back up.
This was a regular occurrence at this point, with Mika's jacket and, at times, his blue innershirt getting torn up whenever he went off to get a job done for either Alastor or Barbatos. He was offered replacements by the former as compensation, though he rejected all of them, considering them to be unworthy of replacing his Tekkadan one, especially when they were usually just replicas of his red suit.
Mika pointedly chose not to like them.
Of course, with Niffty being Niffty, she wouldn't allow the holes in his attire to remain, and as such, she offered to fix them up whenever necessary. Augus saw no reason to decline, so he just let her do her thing and, shockingly enough, Niffty did quite an amazing job at keeping his attire presentable. Every sewed up hole didn't look out of place in the slightest, much to Mikazuki's apparent delight.
And now, Niffty was working her magic once more, sewing together Mika's jacket with the pilot helping out by holding the ball of yarn in his gauntleted left hand, only for the little cyclops to mention how he could probably sew in spite of his mechanical limbs.
"I don't think it's a good idea," muttered Mika, raising a brow as he held up his Lupus Rex arm and flexed its clawed fingers to prove his point. Niffty either didn't notice or she didn't care about it, however, as she smiled a little and held the needle she was using up to eye level.
"Well, you won't know until you try!" pointed out Niffty as she pulled on the needle, in turn closing the hole in Mika's jacket, before she turned towards him, holding the pointed sliver of metal up to him as he tilted his head a little. "Come on, give it a try!"
And at that, Mikazuki knew that further resistance against the demoness would've been pointless, prompting him to sigh and reluctantly take the needle in his hands.
Some time later
"... so, am I drunk or did you two get a change of wardrobe?"
At that, Niffty couldn't help but giggle a little in glee while Alastor's smile trembled a little, with it showing the slightest hints of faltering all the while, something that amused the cat demon greatly, though once he got over it, Husk simply stared between the two with his eyes showing his confused amusement as he entered Alastor's radio station, brows lowered in confusion as he shut the door.
"Well, I taught Mikazuki how to sew, and he made these for us!" replied Niffty as she tugged on her new jacket. Her new, rather poorly sewed together, Tekkadan jacket, as Alastor, somewhat indignantly, tugged on his as well. Niffty's specific jacket looked to be too big for her, as it looked more like an oversized blanket more than anything, and Alastor's looked similar to his usual suit, except it was padded green and with the red flower emblem stitched onto its back. Husk seemed a little baffled by all that, though he said nothing as he nodded and walked past the two.
He was quickly stopped, however, when he saw Mikazuki sitting close by, having finished sewing together another Tekkadan jacket as he used the claws of his Lupus Rex arm to cut the thread. Upon noticing Husk, the pilot blinked and held the newly finished jacket towards him, with his gaze telling him all that he wished to say as he did this.
"Oh fuck you," growled Husk, flipping the bird as Mikazuki held it up to him. Even so, as he spoke, Husk felt Alastor's presence behind him as he turned to come face to face with the aforementioned Radio Demon.
"Oh, Husker, my boy, you're ruining the mood!" chastised Alastor, placing a hand on the cat demon's shoulder as he spoke. His smile still quivered a little, though not as much as it once did as he wished to see Husk in this predicament as well. The cat demon was quick to growl as he pushed Alastor's arm off his shoulder and glare at him, though admittedly, his glare softened when he saw Niffty in front of him with a smile that was impossible to say no to.
"Please?" pleaded Niffty with a wide smile, and at that, the cat demon grimaced as he leaned forward.
"Fuck you."
And Mika would've been lying if he claimed that he didn't like that picture that Alastor took of the four of them in Tekkadan jackets. He kept it with him as a sign of good luck, though it would eventually be lost in a firefight against a Valentino goon.
Thankfully, Alastor kept spares, and he gave Mikazuki a new one that he framed and hung up in his room. He considered it the highlight of his sleeping quarters.
Two weeks after getting a new arm
"Do you ever wonder why we're here, Mikazuki?"
"Just to suffer."
In response to the former pilot's response, Blitzo simply shrugged as he performed a golf swing at a mechanical demon's head, decapitating it with a single strike. As he did so, Mikazuki leaned back to avoid a pair of punches from two other mechanical themed demons, and after avoiding their strikes, he jolted forwards and slammed his knuckles into their stomachs, sending them soaring backwards all the while.
Currently, the two were inside a warehouse, one owned by the Triple V's of Hell, an Overlord faction that Alastor was apparently rather privy towards, so he did the sane and sensible thing and sicced Mikazuki onto one of their largest warehouses in Pentagram City just to annoy them. Augus himself wasn't particularly excited about that, but hey, it was now his life. And besides, it kept the boredom away.
Of course as an added bonus, he had asked (or rather, politely hired) I.M.P to assist him on the matter. Moxxie was rightfully reluctant to do this due to the high risk behind this endeavour, though Blitzo and Millie were more than happy to help out a business partner. Loona… well she was indifferent to the whole ordeal, though she did perk up a little when Mikazuki offered her a fully automatic rocket launcher that he nicked off a demon in one of his previous outings.
"Well, yes, just to suffer, sure, but why do you think us Imps exist, anyways? Like, we aren't really needed down here since, y'know, Hell is for punishing Sinners and all that. Why do you think we even exist?" rephrased Blitzo, with him motioning towards his entire body as he spoke. As he said this, Mikazuki simply fixed him with an unimpressed stare as he used his left arm gauntlet to block several shots from a close by demon, who had to reload after emptying an entire clip at the guy.
"... I don't know," admitted Mikazuki earnestly as he turned and threw his pistol at the demon that was firing at him, shattering its TV head screen and causing it to stagger back in pain. As it did so, Augus lunged at it and buried his claws into its chest, killing it quickly before retrieving his gun. He could feel some demonic energy flowing into him as this happened, though he said nothing of it as he turned back to see Blitzo leaning on his sledgehammer and looking rather bored.
"Eh, well, there's this theory Mollie told me about the other day, something about how we Imps have existed for as long as Hell has!" commented Blitzo with a smile, with him waving his arm up through the air as he spoke. Mika pointedly decided to not comment on that as he didn't know jack shit about Hell's history. "We just evolved further as time went on. Then there's another theory that says that we're just physical manifestations of the excess 'negative energy' of the Sinners, which is apparently why we're so weak!
"Now I-" a pause for Blitzo to swing the sledgehammer upwards, in turn slamming it into the jaw of a demon with a metal mouth filled with razor sharp teeth, decapitating them immediately, "- don't know about you, but that sounds-" another pause as the Imp staggered backwards, with the sledgehammer head hitting the ground, landing atop the tail of a demon sneaking up on Mika and causing him to roar in anger, allowing him to turn and shoot him right in the head, "-rather fucking rude! We're not just byproducts, dangit! We're demons too!"
"Mmhm," grunted Mikazuki as he ripped his claws out of the stomach of another robot demon, and as he did so, he threw its corpse at another sneaking up on Blitzo, who didn't even notice it as he swung the sledgehammer down onto the shield of another. The energy shield didn't do as well as its wielder had hoped, as it shattered on impact, causing the demon to gasp as the hammer itself slammed into it with the force of a freight train.
"You don't see us as byproducts… right? Like, we're helpful, aren't we?" muttered Blitzo, with him sounding genuinely… worried as he spoke. Mikazuki was slightly taken aback by this as this was far from the first operation that he's had with I.M.P, and yet, this was the first time he's heard the company leader sound this off.
"You're all bigger help than you'd think, Blitzo," assured Mikazuki, sounding at least partially genuine as he nonchalantly blocked a kick from a demon before forcing them to fall flat onto their stomach. Thereafter, he planted a foot onto their butt and ripped their leg off their body before using it to bludgeon another demon that was running at them, going for a homerun with his newly acquired 'weapon' all the while.
"Well, that's good to know! Not a lot of people say that about us despite our prowess!" proclaimed Blitzo enthusiastically as he grinned and offered Mikazuki a thumbs up, and as he did so, Augus scoffed and turned to face another demon that was rushing at him, with him wielding the demon leg as a baseball bat all the while.
Before he could whack them over the head, however, Moxxie, of all demons, came soaring in through a close-by window and slammed straight into the aforementioned demon, inadvertently saving Augus the trouble as he watched the Imp land.
"Oof… that could've gone better," admitted Moxxie silently as he got up and shook his head, only to wince when he saw another demon coming at him, though it was quickly taken care of when Mikazuki impaled them from behind with his Lupus Rex arm, drenching its golden claws in red all the while. Moxxie winced a little as some of the blood splattered onto his face, though he otherwise said nothing about it as Mika threw the demon corpse off to the side and offered him a hand. "Thanks for the save, Mikazuki."
"Hm," grunted the former pilot as he jolted his head off to the side to avoid being impaled through the skull with a rapier, and thereafter, he grabbed onto the outstretched blade and yanked it over his shoulder, in turn bringing the demon that was holding it up and over as well, lifting them up into the air and slamming them down onto the ground in front of him. As soon as they hit the pavement with a mild crunch, Moxxie put them down with the gun he had, and as soon as he did so, he held up his weapon and cracked his neck a little.
"I'm still a little confused as to why you asked us for help, Mikazuki. No offence, but by your standards, this shouldn't be too difficult for you," commented Moxxie, eliciting a shrug from Augus shortly thereafter. As he did so, he took aim with his pistol and fired it at a demon that was trying to get the drop on Blitzo, who was holding another demon in an armlock as he yelled and laughed as his expense, and before long, he managed to rip their entire arm off with minimal effort, prompting him to get up and cheer for himself.
And not even a moment later, he twirled around and bashed another demon in the face with the severed arm, much to Mika's amusement and Moxxie's bemusement.
"I just thought you'd need some work, and there were a lot of mid rank demons stationed here. I didn't want to take any chances," answered Mikazuki as he caught a metal bat with his Lupus Rex arm, and shortly thereafter, he bashed the skull of its wielder in with the mechanical knuckles of his right hand and prised the bad out of their hands. The demon recovered just in time to see Augus swing the bat at his face, and on impact, the bat was bent into the shape of the side of the demon's face as the demon themself was killed on impact.
"There'll be quite a substantial fee for all this, need I remind you? Harassing Overlords might be a normal, every day occurrence for someone like you, but for us, it's a big risk!" reminded Moxxie as he held his weapon, a specialised Sniper Rifle with a Micro Missile Launcher attachment on either side of its barrel, up and fired a barrage of micro missiles at a few inbound demons. Despite their mid-rank status, and the fact that the missiles were relatively weak in power, they were still pulped by the sheer quantity of explosions sent their way.
"I know. I have a lot of money, so you don't have to worry about it," assured Mikazuki, eliciting a surprised blink from Moxxie as he turned to see Augus clothesline a demon that attempted to rush him down. As their back hit the ground, the former pilot brought his leg up and slammed his heel down onto their face, shattering it inwards in a matter of seconds.
"As in… how much, if you don't mind me prying?" inquired Moxxie, with him firing off into the crowd with his sniper as he asked. In response to this, Mikazuki pulled out a half-burnt book and handed it off to the Imp, who opened it up and read its contents quickly… only to widen his eyes at what he just read. "WHAT?!"
"Barbatos and Alastor have a lot of money," commented Mikazuki nonchalantly as he shrugged and raised his leg up to catch a downward swing from a demon with an axe. As he did so, the grey panels on the underside of his Lupus Rex foot swung out, forming claws on the underside of his foot, and snagged onto the axehead with very little issue, with with the weapon firmly in his 'grasp', Mika slammed his foot down to the ground, in turn dragging the demon down along with it, before firing into the back of their head.
"Yeah, but… these are practically Overlord levels of cash at this point!" protested Moxxie as he handed Mikazuki his cashbook, to which he pocketed it and shrugged. The Imp was rightfully taken aback by his lack of care with the wealth he had on him, especially when one considered how he had no less than twenty zeroes behind his net worth! He could probably stand against the Triple V's with the amount of money he had on him!
Hell, just the fact that he had this much on him made Moxxie feel like he was working for an Overlord right now… something that he wasn't particularly opposed to, all things considered.
"Hm," drawled Mikazuki as he deflected several sword swings from a random demon, who roared in rage as he attempted to cut the former pilot down, and before long, Augus caught the blade in his Lupus Rex arm before shattering it in his hand. Thereafter, after the demon took a moment to stare at their broken sword, Mika uppercutted them with the force of a freight train, causing them to fly backwards without a second thought.
Before they landed, however, their body was blown to smithereens by Millie, who was wielding a shotgun that looked suspiciously like a Spas-12, albeit different enough to circle around copyright infringement. After firing at the demon, the female Imp grinned and pumped the weapon before waving at her darling husband, who smiled and waved back, albeit less enthusiastically.
"I assume you're done with the outside?" inquired Mikazuki, with him recalling how most of I.M.P, sans Blitzo who insisted on tagging along with Augus, were told to handle the guards outside, more so because no one was willing to let Loona fire a full-auto rocket launcher indoors (except Blitzo but his opinion was quickly vetoed). In response to his words, Millie simply nodded.
"You got that right, Augustine!" proclaimed Millie with a grin, eliciting an eyeroll from Mikazuki as he acknowledged how Millie had a penchant for getting his surname wrong. He didn't care enough to correct her, though, as he simply carried on with his work.
"Good. Now all we have to do is to set the place on fire and-"
"Heads up."
Oh no.
Turning towards the source of that voice, Mikazuki widened his eyes just enough for it to be noticeable as he watched Loona raise her full-auto bazooka up. And in an instant, she more or less pulverised the entire building, leaving Augus and the rest of I.M.P mere milliseconds to evacuate the area before they were crushed by the rubble.
Thankfully enough, Blitzo was able to scoop both Moxxie and Millie up into his arms and rush out of there while Mikazuki, aside from a near miss from a chunk of debris that landed too close to him for comfort, managed to sprint out of there before their exit was sealed, and once they were out of there, the Imps all collapsing in relief while Mikazuki simply sighed in annoyance. Turning, he glared at Loona for that illogically stupid decision, though she didn't do much more than flip him the bird as she lit a cigarette between her lips. Blitzo, at the very least, had enough sense to scold her for her rash actions, though as he did so, Moxxie approached the former pilot with an awkward pep in his step and scratched the back of his head once he was close enough.
"Say, uh… Mikazuki? A word, please?" muttered Moxxie, with him motioning towards Augus as he spoke. Mika simply leaned his head towards the guy to listen to what he had to say, and once he was close enough, he began speaking. "Listen… I know this sounds a little unreasonable… but… could you maybe give us a bonus for this?"
"Hm. sure. Do you need to rebuild some things?" asked Mikazuki, to which Moxxie nodded.
"We've had a few issues here and there, especially recently after the whole ordeal with the Fish-Face Gang. Blitzo's been tryna scrape up some cash for the repairs, but he kinda… overstretched it and now we're on a harsh deadline that'll probably get us killed if we don't pay in advance," commented Moxxie, to which Mikazuki nodded. He wasn't directly involved with the FFG incident, though he knew that the rival gang of fish demons nearly tore apart their base a few weeks back. They'd need a few extra bucks to fix their base of operations back to pristine condition.
"Consider it done," assured Mika with a nod, with him seeing no reason to part with some of his excessive wealth. It wasn't as though he were buying anything, after all, and besides, the Imps needed it more than he did at the moment, and upon saying this, Moxxie smiled widely and bowed a little as thanks to the former pilot.
"Thank you, Mikazuki Augus! I'll find a way to pay you back for this somehow!" thanked Moxxie, with him sounding so genuine that Mika was briefly taken aback by his words, but even so, it didn't stop him from flashing a small, practically unnoticeable smile as he nodded in acknowledgement to his words.
How peculiar… though they were born in a world of sin, these Imps were most definitely not as sinful as the Sinners that Mikazuki has faced off against in the past. Hell, if anything, Moxxie, Millie and, to a lesser extent, Blitzo have shown Augus more altruism than even some of the adults he's met whilst he was still alive… and though that wasn't saying much, it did tell him one thing.
Hell, for as bleak, chaotic and, at times, evil as it was… wasn't without its bright spots, and though he didn't really consider them to be 'good', I.M.P was certainly not completely 'bad' either.
And for his part, Mikazuki couldn't help but like them more for it.
Three weeks after getting a new arm
"Hey, Mikazuki-"
"Mika."
Blinking a little at that unexpected cut-off, Husk found himself glancing over at Mikazuki from his spot on his bean bag with a confused look on his face. Likewise, Niffty seemed to be rather confused as well, so much so that she stopped working on catching that accursed spider scuttling about the floor and turned her attention towards Augus, and likewise, Alastor seemed to perk up a little, with both him and his cane raising their brows in the former pilot's direction as he explained himself.
"You can call me Mika if you want," elaborated Mikazuki, short and simple as he reached into his pocket and pulled a raisin out to consume. Husk appeared rather taken aback by this, though he didn't question it that much as he grunted and continued on, asking about him visiting this place called Klub Kaiju one day, preferably on his own. Meanwhile, Niffty was already upon Augus, with her asking about his new 'nickname' for himself as he tried to get her off him, and as she did this, Alastor chuckled to himself as he adjusted his monocle.
"Am I to presume that you wish to make a name for yourself now, Mika?" inquired Alastor, with him testing that shortened variant of Augus' name out as he smiled, to which the pilot shook his head, surprising Al' a fair bit.
"No. It's just easier for them to say. And I don't recall giving you permission to call me Mika, Alastor," snarled Mikazuki, with his sharp side eye being more than enough to get his message across as the Radio Demon chuckled.
"Fair enough," laughed Alastor with a shake of his head, and at that, the issue was dropped in favour of watching Niffty smile and sit by Mikazuki's side, with her smiling and asking about his nickname all the while.
He would probably never tell them that he allowed them to use this variant of his name because he considered them to be friends at this point… well, maybe not friends. Just… trusted companions, perhaps. Either way, they were certainly one step above mere acquaintances at this point.
Except Alastor, of course. The guy was still an asshole, even if he did seem to relent a little with his ridiculous ways. But even so, the former pilot reckoned that it would be a cold day in Hell before he actually considered him to be more than his 'boss'.
Present day
How strange…
The Radio Demon often told Mikazuki to do some interesting things, typically for his own morbid amusement, and though it took some time for him to do so, Augus did find himself getting used to the things he had been told to do by now.
And yet, despite this, he still found himself particularly surprised when he was told by Alastor to come to this bar known as Klub Kaiju… to relax? How peculiar, the former pilot knew that Husk had told him about this place a few times in the past, though he never thought that the Radio Demon would order him to visit it on a whim, though Mika didn't question it as he entered the bar.
Upon entering, the former pilot frowned a little as he elbowed his way through the crowd in the bar. It felt rather awkward, all things considered, to be in a place like this without being explicitly told to have to kill anyone, though he didn't dwell much on it as he shuffled up to the bar counter and sat on one of the chairs. He remained rather there awkwardly as the seconds ticked on, unsure on how to actually pass the time as he placed both his elbows on the counter and sat there silently.
Before long, however, a bartender approached him from the other side of the counter, with their eyes glued to a shot glass they were cleaning before they glanced down at him with a cheeky grin present on his face. Once he reached Mikazuki's position, the demon turned his back towards Augus to rearrange a few alcohol bottles on the shelf behind the counter, and as he did so, he spoke up.
"Y'know, I haven't seen you around before. You new here?" inquired the bartender with a… familiar voice. Upon hearing it, Mika turned his head up to have a look at the guy, only to raise his brow when he saw the massive cannon and power generator combo and machine gun stuck on the upper right and bottom left side of the demon's back, respectively. Those three things reminded Mika of Flauros… and the colours… a bright pink… it reminded him of the Ryusei-Go…
"Erm, I asked you a question, mind answering?" inquired the demon, still with his back turned towards him as he spoke. At that, Mikazuki shook his head and snapped himself out of his trance, prompting him to frown and open his mouth to reply.
"Ah, I'm new here," confirmed Mika, and upon hearing his voice… the bartender dropped whatever he was holding onto the ground as he tensed up, something that caught Mikazuki's attention as he frowned defensively. At first, he assumed that he recognised his voice and was about to attack him, though considering how he stood there for a lot longer than necessary, the former pilot began to think otherwise… rather, he began to wonder… was this who he thought he was…?
Slowly and perhaps a little more uncertainly than one would expect, the bartender demon turned to look Mikazuki in the eye… and likewise, Augus kept himself on the defensive as he kept his pistol at the ready, though by the time they were staring each other in the eye, his grip on his gun loosened as the two of them widened their eyes in shock. The bartender cried out in shock as he jumped back whilst Mikazuki allowed his usually stone cold facade to falter briefly, though not even a moment later…
"M-Mikazuki?!" proclaimed the bartender, stepping back in surprise as Mikazuki too widened his eyes at his fellow Tekkadan pilot in shock.
"Shino… Norba Shino…" muttered Mika, the surprise rather clear in his voice as he and Shino looked at each other for a short amount of time. The Ryusei Go's pilot looked just as he remembered, with his light brown innerwear, Tekkadan jacket slung over his right arm, standard issue combat pants which were torn near the knees, unkempt brown hair and similarly brown eyes widened in shock. Like him, however, there were various… mechanical bits on the guy, albeit to a more extreme extent.
Aside from the cannon and machine gun that were attached to his back, Shino's entire left arm and both his legs from below the knees had been replaced with the arm and legs of Gundam Flauros. His right arm, on the other hand, had been replaced with the arm of his Shiden Ryusei Go III from below the elbow, showing that, as with Mikazuki, the Ryusei Go had followed him to the afterlife in more ways than one.
Opening his mouth, Mikazuki was ready to break the shocked silence between the two Tekkadan pilots, though before he could do so…
"Oi, Shino, is something wrong?" came yet another familiar voice, and at that, Mikazuki turned around on his chair with his brows raised while Shino's look of shock faded away, allowing his usual smile to reappear once more.
As for Mikazuki, he found his surprise growing as he made eye contact with the owner of the voice, who also appeared shocked as well as he widened his eyes to their fullest.
"Akihiro Atland…" muttered Mika, his surprise still maintained as the pilot of the Gusion Rebake Full City blinked in shock, though he was quick to shake it off as he offered a small smile, walking towards Augus as he did so.
As with Shino, Akihiro looked just as Mika remembered, with his white innerwear, Tekkadan jacket slung over his right shoulder, spiky black hair and similarly black eyes giving Mikazuki a quick one over with a rather relieved glint.
And like both Mika and Shino, Akihiro had quite a few… extra bits on him, most notably the massive pair of binders that were attached to his back. Said binders looked very much like the sub-arm containers for the Rebake Full City. Aside from that, Atland's entire right arm had been replaced with the arm of the Full City whilst his left was replaced by that of the regular Rebake, the colour difference being rather jarring, though unlike Mika and Shino, Akihiro's legs had not been replaced by those of the Gusion's, something that made both feel rather envious as they watched him approach the shortest of the group.
"Mikazuki Augus…" replied Akihiro, blinking as he looked between the pilot of Barbatos and Ryusei Go IV in apparent confusion before he allowed himself to chuckle. "Well, I guess we have some catching up to do, huh?"
"Yeah…" was all Mika could say before Shino laughed at this unexpected reunion.
Oh shit. Old friends.
