A.N: Hey y'all once again! As per usual, thank you all for the support and love, wouldn't be here without you guys! Apologies for the delay on the chapter, I injured my back on Sunday and it made doing everything really painful, but as of now I'm almost back to full health! Not to mention, the chapter is about 1/3 longer than the previous ones... I think. I don't do maths that well :P Onto the reviews!
SkeenTheDream: Glad you liked the chapter my man! Indeed, the philosophy behind mastery of any art form is repetition, and Bruce Lee is the best person to relate that too (naturally, it's of course the secret behind Recoilless) Place your bets, because the mystery fighter may just make an appearance! Thanks for the love my man!
ChernoAlpha117: Yup! Bnha proper showed the development of the main caste, so I'd be loathe not to do the same. In regards to a Gamer-centred story, I've actually considered it for a while now, and I quite like the concept. The idea of starting off as completely overpowered can work, though it's unfortunately not my taste. However, A character with gamer-abilities who CAN become overpowered... now that's something I can get behind. Thank you again for the thoughts and support dude!
ThatOneGuyUpstairs: (Gonna cover all your reviews in this once section, hope you don't mind dude) First and foremost, welcome aboard dude! I hope you're still enjoying the story as time goes on and be sure to stick around for more! Firstly, yes, there are unknown applications of Kendo's quirk that his canon counterpart never got to explore, and it is indeed heavily inspired by Kengan Ashura! Second, haha, I actually see Oda doing this just as an excuse to delay the publication of One Piece XD. Third, yeah, Death Arms starts off as an antagonistic force. Admittedly, he's definitely heavy-handed in the way I wrote him because I'm not very good at writing minor antagonists as foils to the protagonist XD. And finally, this is honestly a conversation that could easily happen in the future, should they have kids XD. Thank you again for your thoughts and opinions, and I hope you stick around for more!
Doctor Snake Eater: But of course! Destiny has a way of bringing together two characters, even if the roles are switched for one of them. Plus, I figured it'd be cool :P. Read on dude!
StandUpKeepMovingForward: Don't wanna spoil, buuut... eh, you'll find out ;D
Remi: This is a good point! Don't forget though, torque and momentum also plays a big role in delivering a more powerful punch. By that regard, since Death Arms is bigger and knows how to generate momentum, he's technically got more striking-power than Kendo.
Vince Fangway: Nah, don't worry dude, Kendo isn't gonna pull out something like the Dempsey roll only after looking at it a few times XD. The other Sunday Punches though... you'll see ;D. In terms of Kendo's first mission, I'll admit that my writing there is a bit wonky XD. I originally wanted to go into more detail about how the ring was supposed to be smaller, and that Nighteye also managed to call up a bunch of police officer-squads to help with the operation (which is still a thing), but I didn't want to spend too much time on that. That being said though, it does seem to be rather... cocky of Nighteye, doesn't it? True, Fatgum and the police-squads are decent backup, but you're right in noticing that Nighteye appears to be rather confident in this operation. You'll see how this slowly plays out into how I want to further develop his character ;D. I still don't blame you for suspending your belief though, I'll fully admit that the plot gets wacky under my own doing XD. Regardless, thank you for your thoughts and support dude!
With all that said, let's hop back to it!
Rumble, Young Man Rumble!
Chapter 31
Two-way trap!
Rumi didn't really have to do much, sitting back and watching her Sensei go to work. She was still enthralled by the beautiful display of control and martial-arts. Musha was quick to switch the use of his weapon, sometimes holding a blunt katana or short-sword in order not to inflict fatal wounds, other times holding a steel staff that twirled around his body with ease. Other times he didn't use a weapon at all, dispatching criminals with his hands alone. Sharp counter-blows that rendered them unconscious, or a swift strike that completely destroyed their balance. The best part was, Musha wasn't picky at all with who he went after and what he did. Major villains on the streets, alleyway thugs, even simple things like helping people cross the road or taking out a cat from a tree (she was shocked to find out that he was shockingly good with cats). She also had to stifle her laughter as kids and younger teens swarmed him, asking for pictures. Again, he was surprisingly welcoming, and a bit flamboyant in his poses.
"Didn't peg you for the type to like photoshoots," Rumi chuckled.
"It is my duty to put forth a heroic image," He said, though she didn't miss the bashful look on his face as he quickly turned away. She laughed, patting him on the shoulder.
"You're a natural Sensei, probably comes from all those years of experience."
"Are you calling me old?" He asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Aged," She corrected with a grin.
"Hmph," He turned to face forward, "Acceptable." They heard a scuffle going on in a nearby alleyway, the duo quick to enter as they saw a very large thug threatening a rather small-looking person for money. Rumi was about to step back and let Musha handle the situation, only for him to shake his head. "I grant you full permission to take care of this criminal. Do so without any malice or collateral damage."
Without hesitating, Rumi nodded and stepped forward. 'Okay, I can't go all out. My new gear is gonna seriously hurt this dude if I try any of my special moves,' She smiled a bit, focusing as she shifted into a basic stance. 'Stick with the basics then!'
"Are you dumb enough to sent this little shorty to try and deal with me?" The thug taunted, "My Quirk lets me make my bones as dense and as strong as titanium! You aren't gonna do shit to me!" Instantly, he regretted it as Rumi dashed forward, covering the distance in an instant.
'Basic Front-kick.' Her foot sharply snapped into the man's solar-plexus, her metal-tipped toes an inch away from cracking his ribcage and blasting the air from his lungs. He roared as he swung his fist straight down at her head like a hammer, only for a blinding force to snap his head straight up, his eyes rolling into his head before he slumped to the ground, completely unconscious. Hopping back, Rumi's eyebrows went up in shock. Sure, those were clean hits, but she never expected to do anywhere near that much damage to someone who had a quirk as tough as that. Shaking it off, she quickly went to check on the person the thug attacked. The child couldn't have been older than nine or ten, a mutant-quirk with his pink skin and black sclera for his eyes by the looks of it.
"You okay kid?" Rumi asked, "That was really brave of you, standing up to someone way bigger than you."
"Y-you're Usagiyama!" The child recognized, "The winner of the U.A Tournament!"
"Hehe, yeah that's me," She chuckled, a bit bashful at the praise. "Good to see that I'm already gettin' famous!"
"My little sister is a fan of yours!" The child went on, "She loves dancing, and the way to fight is almost just like that. Is-is it okay if I can get an autograph for her?" Surprised and flattered, Rumi wasn't sure how to do so, only for Musha to tap her with a marker that he pulled out of his pocket. The boy in turn pulled out a small, hot-pink cap, holding it up for Rumi as she quickly signed with her hero-name, a little symbol depicting a crescent moon with bunny-ears right next to it.
"Thank you so much Miruko-nee!" The child said before he ran off, both Rumi and Musha laughing as they saw him reunite with his parents.
"You appear to be fairly talkative with children," Musha noted, "Do you have a sibling of your own."
"Nah," She shook her head, "I'm an only child. I just kinda figure that kids like being treated nice, rather than…" Her face soured for a moment before she froze a bit, putting a clamp on her emotions and expression. "Never mind. Long story short, I'm sort decent with kids." She glanced to Musha to see him looking very intently at her.
"…Come with me," He said suddenly, "It's past noon now, and we should grab something to eat. It will give us a chance to talk about this."
"H-hey, hold on now-!"
"No excuses," He cut her off sharply before his eyes softened, "This has been something that's been bothering you for quite some time, hasn't it?"
She tried to keep a brave face on for as long as she could, but the gentleness in his tone made her slump slightly: for a moment, she wasn't Miruko, she was just Rumi. "…yeah…"
"Come then," He said gently, patting her on the back, "You've done good work today. This is a topic best broached over a full stomach… or partially full. Can't have you stuffing yourself and becoming sluggish during duty."
She chuckled a bit at that, and soon they both were eating decent-sized Bento boxes on a bench, graciously chowing down on the food. They constantly kept their eyes open and their minds alert to any possible threat while they ate. As they finished though, they relaxed somewhat, occasionally allowing people who were passing by to take pictures with them. Even after that, Musha received reports in his earpiece that all was quiet in their current area.
"Now then," Musha said after a moment, "I'm going to guess that this is something that you've been keeping very close to the vest for quite some time, hmm? The way you supress your emotions and the sheer weight behind those emotions suggests that you've had a significant deal of experience."
"Thanks," She shot sarcastically as she crossed her arms.
"That is not a compliment," He replied wryly, earning a tiny grin from her. "In all seriousness, have you ever told anyone about this?" Her silence and stillness was the only answer he really needed as he hummed, leaning back on the bench. "Hmm. Do you not trust your significant other?"
"…" She blushed a bit at that, though the looked down in shame. "…I do trust him, with my life. I just… haven't found the right time to tell him about it."
"Don't lie now," He said sternly, earning a flinch from her. "You could have told him at any time, and I am very well aware from the amount of trust that you put into him that he would listen. There's something else, something more personal about the situation that holds you back from telling him yourself."
Again, Rumi deflated. For the first time in many years, she looked worn out, tired… defeated. "…Ever since I could remember, I've always wanted to be a hero. I wanted to become a beacon of hope, someone who can make everyone else smile even when I can't. But…"
"There's something that weighs on your mind, makes you second-guess yourself," He said.
"Yeah," She admitted, "I want to be a hero, and I'm going to be, but… I'm also tied down by my father." A raised eyebrow signalled her to continue. "Going to U.A is pretty expensive in its own right, and there are a lot of newer heroes who can't make it solely because their payment can't keep up with their living-expenses. Everything given to me is because of my father: I don't have a single penny to my name. He can drop me whenever he wants, especially whenever he thinks that I'm no longer worth the investment." She spat on the floor, her hair covering her eyes watered with frustration. "I'm only here because that bastard sees me as a money-making scheme. I want to be a hero, but I can't if he cuts me off! I'm sick of being under that bastard's thumb!"
Barely managing to calm herself, she wiped her eyes furiously and turned away from her mentor, only to flinch again in surprise at the gentle hand resting on top of her head. "Breathe, child. Find your centre and relax." Closing her eyes, she did so, breathing in deeply before letting her frustration and tension leave her in one long exhale. "Feel better, now that some of the weight has been lifted?" Rumi nodded silently. "Very good. This is not an issue you can deal with on your own, so please try your best to not let such a thing weigh on your mind. You still have to talk to him about it as well."
"I… I will," She said, nodding before she managed to relax. "Thank you Sensei."
"Of course. As your mentor, it is my duty to ensure that my student is as happy as they can be. Is your mother aware of how you feel." Her ears drooped, and he immediately recognised the wistful sadness on her face.
"She's…" Something suddenly caught Rumi's eye, her head snapping up. "… a… robot?"
"You're mother's a robot?" Musha asked, incredulous at the discovery.
"N-no Sensei, what the hell is that?" Both of the shot to their feet at what stood across the empty street in front of them: a single mechanical figure of some sort, humanoid in shape. It's black plating was smooth in appearance, sometimes cutting at sharp angles to replicate worn armour on a human figure. It's head appeared to be very human in shape, minus the pure red visor that made up what was meant to be its face. In its hand was a pitch-black katana, its edge shining red against the light. Not long after did multiple other identical androids come pouring out from everywhere, manholes, fire-hydrons, even tearing themselves from the asphalt to surround the two heroes. Musha immediately realised that his attempts to contact other members of his team were fruitless: a signal-jammer.
"We will continue this conversation later," Musha said as he formed an Odachi-blade, slightly curved and six feet in length, shining in the afternoon sun.
"Agreed," Rumi said with a grin, taking up a stance.
…
"I don't know what it is," Taishiro, currently disguised in a simple orange hoodie said, "But I sorta imagined that this'd be… smaller."
"Same here Fat-Sensei," Kendo agreed, a large black overcoat and a white mask helping to disguise him. While Taishiro didn't have anything public surrounding him, Kendo himself was a major issue for Purgatory: a hero-trainee suddenly popping up was bound to raise all the alarms. However, considering the nature of Purgatory's inhabitants mainly consisting of either fighters or important political figures, masks were a common tradition: ironically though, most chose to bare there faces, and those who did wear them tended to do so in a way that clearly showed who they were, while also being incredibly gaudy, lined with gold and rare gems. It made Kendo roll his eyes: it reeked of aristocracy.
"Okay, wow," Taishiro chuckled under his breath, "That was way too easy. I can pretty easily recognise everyone who we can arrest here. CEO of that one toy company, couple of bank-owners, military members, a political or two… yeah, I should be able to fit them all and get out in a…" He trailed off as he saw the fighters on the stage, his vision tunnelling around one in particular. He stood there in a simple pair of black fighting-shorts, the rest of his muscled body proudly bared to the world. Having read the reports, the mad grin on the blonde-haired face was hard not to recognize.
"Is that him?" Kendo asked, "He looks… pretty damn strong."
"Yup," Taishiro agreed, "And you are absolutely not going to fight him. He's already killed several heroes, and I didn't think that he was the one who Nighteye was talking about! We're gonna have to go about this very carefully." Taishiro quickly pressed his earpiece, muttering to Nighteye. "We've got a major issue Mirai. There are plenty of targets that I can outright capture, and the police squads can pretty easily take care of the rest."
"So what's the issue?" Nighteye asked.
"That fighter who was supposed to make an appearance? It's Satsujin Wu." A string of curses from Nighteye nearly made Taishiro jump from his seat.
"I got careless," Nighteye hissed, "Even the ten police-squads aren't going to be much in the face of Satsujin. Our best option right now is t-to – excuse me sir, y – stand back-!" Static suddenly cut through the feed before it went completely blank.
"Mirai? Mirai, what's going on!?"
On the other hand, Kendo was watching Satsujin intently, watching how he fought, how he moved, and came to a few startling realisations. 'He's strong,' The other him noted, 'Just as strong as us, and by a good margin.'
'It's… weird. He kinda reminds me of… me. Before I came to U.A, at least,' Kendo thought. Satsujin was literally thrashing his opponent around like a ragdoll. His punches and occasional kicks or stomps seemed wild and unfocused, which they somewhat were, but the better way to describe the way he fought was just… raw. His power was enough to crack bone, and his speed was blistering, almost as fast as Kendo currently was. That quirk of his too, those pinkish tendrils that wrapped around his limbs at times…
'Muscles,' Kendo realised, 'He can create more muscle and augment his body with it. That's… simple, but insanely powerful. And he's holding back.' Satsujin hadn't broken a sweat, a twisted smile on his gleeful face as he casually pounded away at his opponent, someone who was just as large as him. A terrifying uppercut snapped his head to the sky, Satsujin cackling as he grabbed his opponent by the hair and smashed his face into the floor, hard enough to crack both the stone and a skull.
'Holy shit, he's gonna kill him.' As casual as Satsujin was being, every punch was aimed with the intent to kill. Ribs, jaw, joints, heart, all of these were common areas that the blond openly aimed for. His opponent screamed in agony as his arm was snapped like a twig over his knee before he was easily knocked senseless with a stomp to the face, his body sent sprawling across the floor. He was dazed and completely unprepared as Satsujin walked towards his prone body with an even wider grin, more muscles augmenting his arm to the point where it was twice the size of his other. The crowd cheered
"Kendo we gotta move now," Taishiro said, "Something happened to Mirai, so we're gonna have to get some of the bigwigs here and bolt-!" He looked to see that Kendo had risen from his seat, crouching down in a familiar stance with his eyes alight. "Kendo NO-!"
"Flashing Wrath-!"
He launched off the floor with the force of a bullet, blurring as he shot himself right at Satsujin. The blond was completely unprepared for the punch that exploded right into his cheek, blasting him all the way to the edge of the ring and onto his back.
"SMASH!"
Kendo rolled to his feet, his mask and hood falling to reveal his face to the shocked crowd. He ignored them, rushing to check on Satsujin's opponent. He was fully conscious, shocked as Kendo quickly made sure that he was relatively okay.
"K-kid, what're you…?"
"Just lay back for now," Kendo said, "Your ribs took a pretty bad beating, and your legs aren't lookin' too hot." He turned to face the crowd, an eyebrow raised. "Oh, uh… y'all are under arrest."
"Dammit kid," Taishiro sighed before he dashed over to several of his original targets, snatching them up and trapping them in his fat before they had time to react. "TOKYO POLICE HAS THIS PLACE SURROUNDED!" He shouted. Immediately, people began screaming as they bolted for every single conceivable exit.
"C'mon dude," Kendo grunted as he helped the injured fighter up, walking off the arena. "You ain't in trouble, just need to get you patched up."
"… I saw your fight on the T.V," The man said with a small grin, "You're pretty good, but I didn't think you had the balls to do something like this."
"Yeah, well… I didn't wanna see anyone die today," Kendo chuckled.
"Motherfucker, someone is definitely gonna die today." Kendo whipped around in shock to see Satsujin already standing up. There was a small cut on his lip, but other than that, he looked virtually fine.
'…Kiiinda wanna fight him,' The other him admitted, adrenaline starting to course through his veins at the thought of pitting himself against something this strong. Still, he knew that he had a job to do first and foremost. "Hold on tight," He muttered to the man he was holding before he shot right towards Taishiro.
"YOU'RE NOT FUCKING GOING ANYWHERE!" Satsujin roared, muscles form around his legs before he blasted off, catching up to Kendo in an instant and grabbing him by the back of the neck.
"FAT-SENSEI, TAKE HIM-!" Kendo shouted before he was yanked right back onto the arena floor, the ground cracking from the impact before he rolled to his feet. Taishiro was quick to catch the injured fighter, though not fast enough to attempt to restrain Satsujin before he jumped right back into the ring.
"KENDO, WHAT'RE YA-!?"
"I'LL HOLD HIM OFF!" He shouted back, "YOU'VE ALREADY GOT THE BIGWIGS TRAPPED: IF THIS GUY PUNCHES YOU, YOU'LL BE FINE, BUT THEY WON'T! JUST GET THEM TO SAFETY, I'LL BE FINE!"
"Rrgh," Taishiro grumbled, "Dammit kid, you just had to have a heart of gold. DON'T DIE, I'LL BE BACK!"
With that, Kendo faced his opponent and immediately was forced to dodge a fist rocketing right for his face. "Phantom Pace!" Satsujin was surprised again as Kendo's face blurred out of the way, his punch whiffing and forcing him to regain his balance, his stance low and almost animalistic.
"… well shit!" He laughed, snapping out of his rage and recognising the person standing in front of him. "Talk about a coincidence. Kendo Rappa, right? You seem pretty strong… and I haven't been able to kill anyone yet. You'll do just fine!"
"You talk a lot of shit for someone who just flails around like some brat," Kendo shot back, taking off his heavy overcoat along with the padded jacket underneath, leaving him in a black Kevlar shirt and baggy armoured pants. "Let's see what happens when you've got a real fighter in front of you!"
"Real or a fraud, I don't give a shit!" Satsujin cackled as bloodlust roiled from his body. "Just SHOW ME YOUR BLOOD!"
Even though Kendo instinctively knew that this guy had him beat in raw physicality, he couldn't help but grin. "Let's rumble." His heart beat just a little harder than before.
*Thoom-Thoom*
(To Be Continued…)
A.N: And things take a turn south! How will our cast deal with the sudden changes set before them? Find out next time on RYMR! Be sure to follow and fav if you like what you see, and peace out!