Chapter 8 – Time to Kill

Hey everyone, I'm back!

Who's looking forward to the next chapter? Anyway, seems like I was so eager to post chapter 7 that I didn't even add any author's notes at the end XD

But I'm sure no one minds, right?

Before I begin, though, does anyone know what hand and finger Valkyrie wears her necromancer ring on? I'm not sure – so I got creative. Well, not that creative…

So who's read the latest chapter of One Punch Man? I've gotta say, King never ceases to amaze – especially when he's facing off against other monsters; their reactions are priceless. But where's Saitama when you need him, huh?

If you haven't read it yet, I'm telling you – go read it now. You won't regret it.

The group of four made their way through one of City Y's parks, the sight of not one but two Class-S heroes drew many eyes. Child Emperor noticed Valkyrie trying not to be bothered by the number of people staring their way; to appear as uncaring as Toph; but failing.

"Why is everyone staring at us, anyway?" She huffed.

Child Emperor only chuckled in response.

"Class-S heroes are kind of a big deal," he told her cheerily. "Seeing just one is pretty great to some people, but two and they're half worried there's going to be a seriously high-leveled monster turning up."

Valkyrie looked to him blankly, looking unsure if he was joking or not. He smiled brightly before popping his lollipop back into his mouth. Now, Toph spoke up, her eyes firmly fixed on the ground at her feet.

"What's with these monster things, anyway?" She asked. "And where do they even come from?"

"Ah, now those're the billion-yen questions, aren't they Zombieman?"

The older hero grunted his agreement, removing a cigarette from his lips to blow out smoke. He held it in his hand as he answered Toph's question.

"They're also called 'mysterious beings'," he began, "we're not entirely sure how they come into existence; however, most of them are people who've become monsters for various reasons or even mutated or experimented-on animals."

"Huh," was Toph's only reaction.

"What, aren't there monsters where you come from?" Child Emperor asked jokingly.

"Well, not unless you count the Fire Lord and the Fire Nation," Toph admitted. "But you do get some weird animals around, too."

"Lucky you," Child Emperor shrugged. "What about your home?" He asked, turning to Valkyrie.

She looked thoughtful for a moment and Child Emperor wondered whether his age was what put her off. What was wrong with that, anyway? Couldn't she handle a super-smart ten-year old? And she always seemed so… well, on edge. Was that why she seemed to prefer the company of Zombieman?

"Well, there were some zombies," she threw an apologetic look to Zombieman, "some vampires, an undead necromancer and a living skeleton. There's a bunch more, but I can't remember what they were all called."

"Sounds like they'd all be classified as monsters here," Child Emperor hummed.

"And I guess I would be, too." She added casually.

"Well that would suck," Toph commented carelessly. "Hey," she suddenly said with a grin, "would bending count as monster powers?"

"Bending?" Child Emperor echoed quizzically, "What's that?"

The younger hero then happened to notice the amused smile on Zombieman's face and frowned.

"What? Did I miss something?"

"You have no idea," the older hero said teasingly.

"Care for a demonstration?" Toph asked Child Emperor with a grin.

"Sure thing." He folded his arms, "Do we need to go somewhere specific or…?"

"Nah, you just stay right there," Toph instructed him as she strode forwards purposefully.

She walked ahead a few feet and stopped. Child Emperor waited, wondering what it was she was about to do, and wondered why the others wouldn't outright tell him what it was. Then Toph suddenly stomped one foot hard against the ground and jerked one arm upwards. To Child Emperor's amazement, a column of rock thrust itself out of the ground, following her movements. At her signal, the column split into smaller discs that she then proceeded to levitate around her.

Just as abruptly, though, she slammed the discs back into the ground and stomped down harder than before, rough squares of rock raised themselves out of the ground in a wave-like motion before settling back down again.

"How's that for an explanation, huh?" Toph asked smugly.

"What… how did you…?" Child Emperor was at a loss for words.

How… How had Toph just done that? Manipulation of earth? Was that really possible for a human? Sure, some of the stronger monsters could do some crazy stuff: but that was just it – they were monsters, not human.

So how did Toph do that?

But then he had to remind himself that she was another dimension. The natural order of things where she was from must have been very different. Who knew? Maybe every person had the capacity to do such things.

"Is terrakinesis normal where you come from?" He asked.

"Earthbending? Yeah, it's pretty common across the Earth Kingdom. There are still non-benders, too, though," she replied.

"Earth Kingdom, huh? Sounds like a big place." Child Emperor commented.

"Oh yeah; big, lotta land, recently conquered by the Fire Nation…" She shrugged, "It's a lot of things."

Child Emperor blinked in confusion at her last statement. Conquered by the Fire Nation, huh? Well, it sure looked like even her home wasn't without its problems. He turned to Valkyrie, an openly inquisitive look on his face. The teenager noticed him looking, her face showed something like hesitation.

"What?" She asked, a note of concern in her voice.

"Oh, sorry. I was just wondering what it was you can do, Valkyrie," Child Emperor admitted.

"Really?" She arched an eyebrow, her pride clearly ruffled. "Fine. One demonstration coming right up."

Saying so, she strode forwards, past Toph and paused. The younger girl stood back, a nonchalant expression on her face as she forced up another rock that she then leaned against, folding her arms.

Valkyrie turned around and proceeded to snap the fingers on her right hand. As she did, a small flame appeared at the tips of her fingers. Opening her fingers further, the flame grew in size until it was a small fireball. Abruptly, she swung her hand forwards and the fireball flew out of her hand, bursting against one of Toph's rock discs.

"Pyrokinesis," Child Emperor said readily, his eyes wide. "I think I've seen that ability in a few monsters."

Beside him, Zombieman nodded in agreement.

"That's not all," Valkyrie told them.

She then pushed her arms downwards and a visible rush of air propelled her at least ten feet upwards. As she approached the ground, she made another pushing motion and a gust of wind slowed her fall.

"Wow," was all Child Emperor could say.

But it seemed that Valkyrie Cain was not done yet; she raised her left her hand, and on her index finger was a black ring that glinted coldly in the sun. He tilted his head as he wondered what was in store next. Thrusting her hand, her shadow suddenly seemed to solidify and sharper-looking tendrils raised themselves out of it. They slashed through the air, slicing into the first of Toph's rock columns. Then she raised her shadow around her, stepped back into it and disappeared.

"Hey!" Child Emperor exclaimed, "What just happened?!"

Just then, someone tapped his shoulder from behind, startling the young hero. Whirling around, he was shocked to find Valkyrie standing behind him, a smirk on her face.

"What was that?" He demanded.

"Besides being an elemental, I'm also a necromancer," she told him. "And that means that I have the ability to control shadows. The last trick I just pulled is called shadow-walking; but it's a pretty short-range maneuver."

"Wow! It's still pretty cool, though!" He grinned, "But I thought necromancers could talk to dead people and raise zombies – that kind of thing."

"Nah," Valkyrie shrugged, "that's what I thought too, at first, but they only really do the shadow thing. As for zombies, well…" She trailed off, looking thoughtful. "If you have the right things, I guess anyone could do it."

"Do you know how to do it, too?" Child Emperor asked her.

"Fortunately, I do not." She half-laughed.

"You should've seen these two in action earlier," Zombieman said, drawing Child Emperor's attention, "they make a pretty good team. And they'd make half-decent heroes, too."

Valkyrie just looked surprised. Toph grinned.

"Go on," she smiled.

"You're joking," Child Emperor said, disbelieving.

"I'm not," the older hero shrugged, "they handled a Demon-level monster on their own."

Child Emperor blinked. Zombieman wasn't one to hand out compliments easily. In fact, this was the first time he had ever heard the undead hero giving out compliments at all. Toph and Valkyrie must really have impressed him, in that case. And that was saying something – Zombieman wasn't one to be easily impressed.

And saying that the two of them had been able to handle a threat-level Demon monster spoke for itself – that would put them at least on the level of the higher-ranking Class-A heroes.

"Not bad," Child Emperor said at length, folding his arms.

"Oh come on," Toph chucked a pebble in his direction. "Just say you think we're great."

"Okay, fine!"

Hey everyone, thanks for reading!

Just so you know, this is kind of a filler chapter and doesn't even appear in the original draft. I added it because I thought the four of them needed a bit more interaction before some of the rest of the stuff happens.

It also turned out to be quite a bit longer than I expected, and with some of the changes I had to make while typing it, it subsequently took longer to finish. And for that, sorry.

If you have any thoughts or suggestion, go on and leave a review!

The story is changing a little as I upload it, so who knows? – I could make some new changes based on your suggestions.

Until next time, stay safe everyone!