004 - Preparations

POV : Ryu

"Well, it's not like I don't like you anything Ryu, but my home isn't a rent-free place. Only me it's still good 'cause this apartment's made for one person, but two…" It has been roughly two weeks since I started living with Vin in said apartment on Jodines.

"Frankly in all for it, but what do you propose ?"

"It's actually really simple, you see. Since with only the two of us we can't really do anything to the Snakes even if we're more powerful than them, we need to augment our ranks. My plan consists of us parting ways to cover more ground and have more luck in the recruiting process !"

"It's not like I'm against you or anything Vin, but I'm participating in tournaments since a few months ago and none of my adversaries could hold their grounds against a Snake."

"In that case we take in the first guys we see and train them, and Boom ! No more problems ! And we can even recruit some civilians, it'll be even easier ! God I'm so resourceful !" Letting a sight escape my lips, I was thinking that his plan have quite a big chance of success, even if this plan is not the best in terms of ethics…

"I think that twenty is a good number to start from, but that's not all, we also need to get stronger. By the way Ryu, do you control the multi-fluid ?"

"Multi-fluid? Is this a new fighting technique ?"

"No. How to explain it simply… You know that mastering an energy is also called fluid right ? Well mastering several of them, even if it means more work, is called multi-fluid. I know you're controlling at least the Smog and Darkness, but you need to attain the level above and with more energies too. Even if the individual energies will be a little bit weaker, you'll have access to a greater arsenal and will be more powerful by the end, you get me ?"

"Yeahhh, is that all ?"

"Just one more thing. I heard of something called Nemesis, and if I understand correctly, it could help us like a lot, but I wasn't able to get anything more than that… If you could try your luck too that would be great."

'Alright, and with that I will lay some ground rules. First we need to tell why and against who those recruits will fight against. Second, we will only take people who accept after hearing the first rule, are we clear ?'

'Crystal !" Answered Vin with a mock military salute.

And that's how I found myself on the road again, traveling through planets to participate in a maximum of tournaments.

One day, during one of those tournaments, I met a pretty powerful person attacking civilians in a dark alley using his Darkness energy. I reacted immediately, rushing him without missing a beat. Knowing him strong from his "fight" against the civilians, I immediately used my secret technique, the Smog. But against my predictions, he didn't even flinch and, without explanations, my powers started to get wild.

"Try to control your immense power, and if you manage that you'll be the strongest, but right this instant you're nothing more than a cockroach." He said just before what seems like teleporting right in front of me and knocking me out.

POV : Kyo

I'm called Kyo, and I'm one of the survivors of the Dragon Brotherhood. I am currently doing a simple mission : help Ryu in his quest. The problem ? I have absolutely no fucking idea who this Ryu is. I only know him because Silver talked about him, but he didn't tell me more than to recruit 15 people and train them while waiting for Ryu to reach me.

And that's how I recruited and trained Black, Auris and Cedric, but at that moment I decided to force Destiny by sending Black fetch Ryu.