To all of those rolling for her majesty Morgan in a few hours? Good luck fellow persons of culture...
The roars of the limo's engine, powerful and so similar to that of an angry tiger felt almost…fitting.
A small quake shook the ground, making her scowl as she gazed outside.
After all, her sister was once again, the source of her ire.
For Tatsumaki had not only stumbled, and saved, upon a potential target for her group, with the same ease Fubuki could swat a fly, but, she'd then had the gall to summon her like a dog by waving a tasty treat in front of her!
The car shook as another tremor rocked the ground and the black-haired beauty gritted her teeth, turning furious eyes to the front.
And causing her mousy driver to squeak and turn stiff, the girl grabbing the wheel with white knuckled hands.
"S-sorry, Ma'am, it's just, the quakes and the ground make it kinda hard…" the girl chuckled weakly as Fubuki blinked and with her scowl lessening a tad, focused upon the girl. "B-but don't worry! We'll be there in no time—"
She huffed and shook her head, causing her short hair to sway a bit.
"I'm not angry at you Lily, I just have a lot on my mind, that's all," she said, offering the girl with the thin highlight in the middle of her hair a small smile. Causing the girl to squeak and flush, followed by Lily turning her eyes back on the road ahead.
But the girl's thoughts and mood were noticeably more upbeat.
Unlike Fubuki's own.
Curse you, sis! She growled within the privacy of her own mind. Impotent to do much else. I will surpass you! She vowed yet again, and a small cruel smirk flashed across her face for an instant so brief that it was almost like it had never been at all. After all, numbers have a quality of their own!
Indeed, and Tatsumaki taunting her with Yuha was but another in her sister's series of mistakes.
No doubt, her sister being of the opinion that no amount of fakes and weaker copies could defeat the original.
But, even a weakling such as the kitten hero, now that he'd at last shown spirit?
Fubuki crossed her arms, pushing up her sizable bust hidden under the confines of her skin tight black dress and smiled.
In this, at least, you have no hope of beating me, Sis~
Even someone like that could be useful under her gentle guidance.
She fought the urge to cackle, for her almost obsessive habit of checking up on every newcomer in the Hero scene as well as the career 9-5 ones was paying dividends once again. Yet another potential gem discovered and in need of…guidance
Plans flashed across her mind while outside, the limo sped past building after building, with Lily doing her best to keep the car on the straight and narrow. Having to combat sudden cracks manifesting on the ground and the, by now, neigh constant tremors.
She paid it little heed. After all, her subordinates were handpicked and properly…trained, and thus, she trusted them all.
The brunette hummed. She'd start by hinting, repeatedly, that the man should at last take the exam and become a proper member, and then, if he kept this sudden bout of heroism up, recommend, he join her team.
"Ma'am."
Lily's voice drew her from her recollection and Fubuki blinked, catching the girl's gaze reflected on the front mirror.
"We'll be there in short order," the girl said, and indeed, just as she did, the limo broke clear from the surrounding vistas of tall apartment building after apartment building and following the swerve of the avenue, the horizon cleared, revealing the Hero's Association headquarters up ahead. Standing tall and singular amidst a sea of—
The world exploded.
"Eek!"
And as the road and the bridge up ahead vibrated and shattered, Fubuki's world slowed and her heart quickened its beat.
Thrusting her arms forward and bringing her considerable will to bear, her white coat billowing as a corona of green power radiated from her form, her thoughts sinked into the limo's metal, into its leather, into every part of the frame and even Lily's body, and right before the crumbled pieces of tarmac mixed with cement from a nearby building and a car or two would hit…
A bubble of pure reinforced will formed, unshakable and unmoving like the bones of the earth.
Bones which were promptly strained to their very limit, as while they weathered the first hit with ease, and as Fubuki pushed away the debris covering them and obscuring their view out of the now stopped car, the apartment building to their right melted.
But right before it did, Fubuki thought she caught sight of a familiar form slamming into it, one cradling a metal bat.
Wait, is that—
But unfortunately, she barely managed to blink before a monstrous dark figure with a crown like a dark sun and trailing after the man slammed into the building whose very foundations and walls were in the process of melting from the sheer kinetic energy impacted.
A figure radiating power. Power enough to make Fubuki quiver in terror as the gigantic being raised its arms and the cracks and lines running all over its body pulsed.
"Hooraaah!" and then the three-eyed creature promptly slashed against the building with each of its four magma like blades with a speed that all Fubuki managed to catch despite enhancing herself to her limit were but a series of trailing angry red lines.
Causing the building to explode and the ensuing recoil to break Fubuki's barrier, making her black out for a second from the sheer force, but a second was all that was needed to send the limo tumbling and skidding to the side and off the bridge, careening to the darkness below.
A few minutes earlier:
The neigh instinctive activation of Kaio-ken turned a deadly blow into a mere powerful punch, one that even though he failed to dodge, with the boost times 5 conferred to all his attributes, Yuha managed to at least raise his arms and defend against said blow.
Nonetheless, the punch still packed enough force to send him flying and make his forearms smart somewhat fierce as he dug a ditch, ruining the previously pristine square tiles surrounding the entrance to the Hero's association.
"Hoo~"
Tucking his legs close, and curving his back just a touch, he kicked, the motion drawing him upwards and shaking his arms, trying to will the pins and needles to stop, Yuha glared at the newcomer while the red-aura continued to blaze around his body.
"A surface dweller who can withstand our punch? Surprising~" the dark skinned creature mused, who, if not for the entirely alien head could pass for an overly buff bodybuilder.
The creature retracted its smoking punch, and cocked its tube like head, rotating it somewhat to the side, the red dots within the depths of its dark maw, behind glistening teeth, beginning to glow.
"But, I do wonder, can you do it again?" it asked, and the rumbling which Yuha had previously dismissed as unimportant intensified. And through newly formed cracks, more creatures, no doubt kin to the first emerged, each of them buff, of varying height and all of them radiating an aura of danger.
Their appearance, coupled with their not inconsiderable strength, caused old memories from a different world to resurface, and when he remembered that Saitama was no longer here…
"Hell, Subterraneans," Yuha cursed, preparing for the fight of his life.
'Thump!'
Even as a small, or not so much, part of him was quickly growing excited at the prospect of worthy opponents.
…The rest, and rather less insane part of him, was busy badgering the battle-junkie part, trying to make it stop and see reason. They should flee, not engage into a potentially lethal fight dammit!
"We are Earthlings!" the creature roared, and exploded towards Yuha, who barely had time to widen his eyes before the creature was upon him, swinging a meaty fist down towards him.
Only this time, he was prepared, and so, with Kaio-ken blazing, he managed to dodge to the side, snapping off a quick punch to the creature's ribs as well as a kick to the outer side of its knee.
"Gkh!"
Making it grunt and lower some as Yuha, taking the opportunity, let himself fall towards the ground and into a series of back-flips backwards, buying him a few seconds of time and space both.
His breathing came quick, and it had little to do with the strain of the technique currently coursing through his veins and whole body.
After all, he was off sterner stuff than a mere Saiyan, and so, even if he couldn't utilize it to its fullest extent yet, at a mere times 5, he could hold it with little issue. At least if the computer's projections were any indication.
And speaking off the computer…
His eyes once again glimpsed the still visible number.
14.
He wanted to rage at the injustice of it all, but he couldn't. Not really. Despite how much he wished to do so.
He nearly died to get that Zenkai you know! But still…at its heart, the Zenkai was a Saiyan's evolved measure to defend against a stronger opponent—he did not wish to imagine what beings forced such an evolutionary pressure on the creatures that one day would evolve to become the Saiyans he knew off.
"Hmf! So you have some fight in you," the creature he'd kicked spat, standing tall once more, slapping some nonexistent dirt of its chest and shoulder. "Perhaps this wont' be entirely boring after all, eh boys?"
The mocking laughter of its fellows, who were thankfully still hanging back caused Yuha to scowl as he settled into Vegeta's combat stance, fingers curled and all and with a silent command and push with unfamiliar—and yet oh so familiar—instincts pushed his technique up another level, the aura around him flaring slightly more and at last, causing Yuha's muscles to start to bulge.
So, he wasn't immune to that side-effect then, merely more resilient than Goku? Good to know.
Smirking, for a moment, the fingers on his left hand grow lax and formed a blade, and offering the upturned palm towards the creature, he made a beckoning gesture.
"Why you!" the creature roared, incensed and with looping strides charged towards him.
Good, an angry opponent was a manageable opponent.
Weaving between the Subterraneans' blows with far more ease than before, his thoughts once again turned to the mater of Zenkai. And how, at its heart, the ability was an adaptive response, yes. But one dependent on the strength of the enemy, and more importantly, the strength of the person undergoing it. And so, much as he hated it, the Zenkai he underwent was proportionately huge, but, given his power, or rather lack off, it made sense that he did not undergo something like Goku's on Namek, or the more or less constant micro Zenkai the earth raised Saiyan and Vegeta underwent in the Universal tournament. And—
He smirked, an opening!
"Gkh!" His punch digged inside the creature's stomach, and for a quarter of a second his technique blazed to the 7'th stage, before returning to its previous level, but the boost to strength was enough to allow Yuha's arm to dig in and through the being's chest.
And then, in a reversal of his previous fight, it was his opponent who flew off his fist, smashing into the surprised circle of his fellows, the group hastening to capture him.
"Oi! Oi! Snap out of it, c-come on—"
Only, unlike Yuha, a blow through the heart was as fatal for the Subterraneans as it would be to any other race it would seem.
"Hear me oh invaders!" he proclaimed in a loud voice, drawing the groups gaze away from their dead comrade and onto him. "The surface is under my protection!" he proclaimed and smashed a thumb against his chest.
For much as he wanted to run and hide in a place where no one could bother him until he grew strong enough to survive most anything?
Someone might be recording everything after all, and so, he needed to maintain his Heroic image lest he be labeled a coward, or worse, a villain like Garou from that future that would never come to be if he had anything to say about it.
And so, he had to play his role. For even if he wasn't labeled a villain, a coward could potentially prove to be just as bad. He wanted to use the Association's resources to grow stronger and survive dammit! Marika's thighs beckoned!
…The fact that Tatsumaki might look at him with disdain, and not the good kind before squashing him like a bug, also played a role, yes.
So, no, the bloodthirsty part of him could shove it, they couldn't, shouldn't enjoy this fight—
The sounds of cracking pavement and flexing muscles reached his ears from all around him, while behind and next to the group in front of him, more fissure and rends in the earth formed, from within which even more Subterraneans started pouring out by the droves.
"Hmf, is that so?" said a deep baritone voice, and at the feet of the dead Subterranean a fist broke free from the ground, followed by a massive specimen jumping out of the ground.
"Aniki!"
"He's here, he's here!"
"We've won!"
The jubilant cries caused Yuha to tense.
'Thump!"
Even as the pressure coming off the newcomer, who landed with a majestic pose, flexing every muscle of his body, caused a silly grin to appear on Yuha's face.
"Hear me then oh Hero, and know your doom has come!" the stranger proclaimed, thrusting a meaty hand towards him and pointing at Yuha with a dark finger, the eyes within the pyramidal head, seeming to shine bright. "Both for daring to harm one of my precious comrades and due to your luck in facing me. One off our king's lieutenants!"
A lieutenant? Crap that isn't good—
But the newcomer didn't give him any more time to ponder this, for with an explosive kick, the lieutenant crossed the interim distance in a blink, and despite all his boosted strength, Yuha's attempt at a dodge failed.
"Argh!"
And with a pained scream, he flew backwards, digging yet another trench into the ground, tumbling, rolling until at last he came to a stop, and with his instincts screaming at him leaped to his feet and away from the hole he'd just dug.
Sparing but a quick glance towards his torn left arm and the ugly bruise forming on his left side where he'd barely managed to divert the impact.
Only, despite his wariness, it would seem that the lieutenant hadn't followed.
The man, opting instead to stand with his arms crossed across his wide barrel like chest.
"Hmf, is that all you got, surface dweller?" the creature asked with a scoff. "It would seem my little brother's last transmission badly overestimated you."
A transmission? His eyes widened Of course, that would explain how their King knew where to appear when they faced Saitama…
But that helped him little in this case.
"Once we're done dealing with you here, then I can return to the other fronts," the man said and, glancing backwards at his cheering comrades as well as those constantly cropping up all around them, some even behind Yuha. "Fear not my friends!" the man said, raising a clenched fist to the sky. "The invasion proceeds as planned! Already 10% off the surface dwellers have been cleansed! And soon, all of Earth will be ours again! No longer will we have to suffer!"
Cheers went up.
Not that Yuha paid that much heed to the lieutenant's words.
I need more strength. He thought, eyes fixed and senses at the ready for the barest hints of motion from either the newcomer or its kin. The 'lower caste' I can sorta handle…one by one, but I can't risk pushing Kaio-ken to stage 10 for it will turn me into a sitting duck, and even stage 6 feels like every inch of my body is filled with burning needles. It would that Rei-sensei was right when she forced us to undergo pain training, I really must kiss and thank her when we meet again.
"Do you hear that, surface dweller?" the man asked, as he basked in the adulation of his peers. "I carry with me and fight for the hopes and souls of my people, can you say the same?"
If I push it to 7…I could probably sustain it for a few minutes if I pushed it, but, even so, I doubt it would be enough, oh, if only I could actually go Super Saiyan… he cursed again and lamented his pathetic power level, for, even his chimeric version of the powerup required a base power level in the hundreds of thousands by the computer's reckoning, and he didn't have that. Hell, even Trunks stupid bulk up would— He paused. Wait a minute…
The scowl dropped from his face, only to be replaced by a radiant grin.
"Oya? Have you accepted your death?" the lieutenant asked.
Hell no, but with this? He might have a way through that didn't entail hightailing out of here, or at least attempting to do so. And so? Time to ham it up.
"No, but your words made me realize that you are no mere beasts nor malcontents. And for my prior assumptions I apologize," he said…right as behind the lieutenant and his gathered crew, with a mighty groan, interlocking bars of metal slithered over and across the gates of the Association.
There truly was no help coming, huh?
"And thus I can do naught but acknowledge your heartfelt words! Yours is a worthy goal true, but under different circumstances we might have been able to come to an equally beneficial agreement for both sides. But…" A wild grin split Yuha's face as his already bulging muscles expanded further. "This is my home and I fight for my people as well!" he said and the pressure radiating from him grew, courtesy of Master Roshi's technique pushed to 50%.
Enough to double his base power before the Kaio-ken but not pushed to the extent of slowing him down.
"So, have at thee, knave!" he said and jumped into the fray.
"Bold words!" growled the lieutenant and met him in a clash of forearms, the resulting force of their impact forming a small crater underneath them.
"Eek!
"A-aniki!"
And the small gales throwing backwards some of the nearby Subterraneans.
"Gkh!"
But, as for the lieutenant himself.
"Hoo? What's wrong, where's your previous bravado?" Yuha asked, grin in place as he pushed against the struggling creature. "Come on, we both fight for our people here." More like for Tatsumaki's ass and the chance to cross arms with strong opponents in the future—survive! For the chance to survive dammit!
"So, put your back into it!" he roared and with another push, shoved the man away, sending him tumbling backwards.
"Gkah!"
"Aniki!"
"You!"
"How dare you hurt Aniki!"
Ignoring the jeers and cries of the crowd, and watching as the man rose on struggling feet, Yuha opted instead to glance at his missing arm, and with his current power? Even if it wasn't truly 'his', he could at least pull a page out of Boros' book.
And so, directing his energy to the stump…
"Hiyaaa!" he roared and in an explosion of green goo, his arm appeared again, followed by Yuha flexing the restored limb in the lieutenant's direction.
"There, good as new," he said, grin in place even if he felt a touch of strain in his Ki for the stunt.
And yet, it mattered little, for he could afford to do this a few times more if it came down to it. After all, once sleeved into his new body and the vast data stores within the computer confirming his hypothesis, Yuha found that Ki was indeed more similar to a 'muscle' then say, a battery.
Namely, firing off a Ki-blast, or a Kamehameha, or augmenting his form, did not drain his store in one go, but rather, like someone going to the gym and hitting the weights, Yuha's 'max power level' was akin to the gym bro's ability to hit their current max.
And so, while he couldn't do indefinitely, akin to a gym-bro, he definitely had a few 'sets of 8' in the bank before he'd had to lower his weight, i.e. his power level would start to drop.
"Gkh! I will not lose!" the lieutenant cried and rushed him again, caring little for the black bruise on his forearm.
Sadly for the man, whereas before he might have had a chance, now, and courtesy of the scaling inherent in Ki, they were worlds apart.
And even if Yuha wasn't moving through a comparatively frozen world, the lieutenant was still slow enough for him to duck under the man's blow and then, place an open palm on the man's chest.
"Wha—"
Pink eyes met dark red orbs.
"It was a good fight," Yuha said and then, a pale beam exploded out of his palm, carving a deep hole through the lieutenant's chest and pushing his lifeless body away, with the man, even in death, somehow slamming a closed fist against Yuha's head as he was thrown away.
"Aniki!"
Wipping a thin trail of purple blood away from his nose, Yuha nodded in a show of apparent respect.
"Be glad, he fought well," he offered to the gathered monsters.
Even if on the inside he felt rather different, for the most part at least.
Holy shit! What was with that punch? How? Is the fucker their version of Cu? If he gets up, I'm hightailing it out of here screw the consequences and—
The seemingly dead man twitched and so did Yuha, muscles tensing as he prepared to bolt.
But luckily, it would seem his fear was unfounded, for the Heroic Subterranean remained dead.
What was less lucky was the fact that the man's seeming movement came as a result of six arms breaking to the surface and, carefully cradling the dead body, retracting it under the ground.
And, but a few seconds later, the source of the limbs became apparent, as three even more buff Subterraneans jumped out of the ground.
This is getting ridiculous! Did…Did I make a mistake by taking Marika's offer? Her thighs and the woman's scent flashed through his mind, which was then coupled with the adrenaline and the joy he was currently experiencing. Naaah.
The trio taking posses reminiscent off—
No.
"Hmf, to be think there would be a Surface Dweller strong enough to defeat our little brother?" the muscle bound creature on the left said.
"Truly, Kittonious was the weakest amongst us, but our Captain was the best of us!" the one in the middle cried.
"We acknowledge your strong will, Hero, but you will die for taking him away from us," the one on the right said with a sibilant hiss.
No…
But as much as he wished to deny it, the budget pillarstodes were a thing. Their muscles even glistening with oil.
Yet, he didn't dare voice any of his inner thoughts. Instead offering them a stoic nod. As he rushed through his memory stores, trying to find the appropriate person to emulate.
"Then come at me, all of you, I would test your conviction oh Earthen brothers! Let us fight for the right to survive!"
…perhaps Pandora's Actor was the wrong choice.
"Fool!" the one on the left cried. "You're courting death!" he cried and then, with a colletive cry that shook the earth, all the subterraneans around Yuha, rushed towards him.
Oh shit! I didn't think they'd take me up on—
He barely had time for his eyes to widen before the wild melee was upon him.
And despite it all, having to fend off blow after blow, dance between kicks, punches and elbows, turning grievous wounds into mere glancing ones as he sunk deeper and deeper into his inherited combat instincts.
Yuha loved it.
"Gkh!"
But, even though with Roshi's bulking technique he was heads and shoulders above the Subterranean 'rabble', quantity had a quality of its own, and even worse? The trio's words?
Were quickly proving true.
They truly were stronger than the first Lieutenant.
…He refused to use the other name.
Nothing to it then. He thought with gritted teeth, as another punch sent him flying into another part of the ever growing dogpile. Times 7 it is.
And with a roar, the wild scarlet aura blazing around him grew more, as did his muscles and then grew again as he pushed Roshi's technique to 60% and immediately knew that his speed dropped some, yet it was still enough to match the lieutenants.
I can go no further than this. He mused with gritted teeth, even as a punch from a nearby lieutenant failed to budge his head, and Yuha smiled with bloody teeth.
"What?"
"Shit! He's grown stronger again!" cried another.
"Quickly, together then brothers!" hissed the brains of the trio, and jumped kick Yuha.
"Gkh!" Making him grunt and wince.
"See, he's not invincible!" he shouted and the battle descended into a dizzying frenzy once more.
Dammit! Yuha growled with frustration inside his mind. The rubble are all but inconsequential right now, if I could have some breathing room and tackle the lieutenants one by one, or even two at a time… he failed to duck a punch, and it sent him flying into the mass of bodies, the weaker Subterraneans quick to stop him and lock their limbs around his own, pinning him in place and landing, comparatively weak blows unlike the ones thrown by the Lieutenants right after.
Gkh! If only I could have more power! He growled, and even the rational vestiges of his brain cursed, for even if he wanted to use Instant Transmission to get out of here, he'd need a Ki signal to look onto. But, first, he'd need the requisite base power to use the ability, and he lacked that.
"Graaah!" he shouted, and pushing Kaio-ken to the 8'th stage for but an instant, vented a lot of energy in the form of a circular explosive bubble.
Maiming, killing, and pushing a lot of the subterraneans away.
"I…won't…lose!" he growled, as he lay there panting, falling to one knee before quickly jumping upwards, struggling to remain standing as the sensation suffusing his body was similar to what he'd felt back when he was mortal after a particularly grueling workout. The feeling similar to the drain one experienced at the end of full marathon.
"Hmf! Impressive," the brains of the trio said as he jumped to his feet and crossed his arms. "Your strength is most impressive, yes, but, how long can you keep this up?"
And much as it burned, Yuha had to admit that the man's words held a kernel of truth, a quick glance at his powerlevel confirming it. He barely had another move like this in the tank and then he'd be dry and as defenseless as a babe.
In fact he was barely hanging on to state 7 as it were.
How the hell would he get out of this he had no idea—
"Heh, good job holding out as long as you did rookie," a cocky voice said, and Yuha could do nothing but pant and blink as from the sky a shadow fell and materialized in the form of a sharp faced young man dressed in a dark school uniform, the man holding a metal bat. "Now, let me lend you a hand," the man said, flashing him a smirk over his shoulder.
"Metal Bat!"
"The very same, now, are you just going to stand there or are you going to help me clear up this rabble?"
Yuha grinned.