"So, are you going to just lay there and die?"
He didn't know where he was.
His name…what was his name again?
"Are you content with just giving up?"
'Woomp!'
Yuha scowled.
That's right, Yuhabahha, that was his chosen name. He clenched a fist that wasn't there an instant before.
Give up? After everything he'd been through? After a lifetime of suffering and then spending what felt like an eternity in that hellhole?
'Woomp!'
Give up? Now that people were depending on him and he could finally be useful. Could finally protect people and not be a waste of space?
'Woomp!'
"Who the hell do you think I am!" he roared, opening his eyes, marveling at the fact he once again had a body and squinting at the bright light all around him while on his chest his necklace glowed.
'Woomp!'
"That's right!"
And in front of him, cast into shade by the light, two figures stood, one barely visible behind the one staring at him, both of them familiar for some reason, but the one nearest, humanoid, grinning and staring at him with his arms crossed and wearing a familiar cape, if one he couldn't quite make out the colors off…
His breath hitched as he stood, gulping and not trusting himself to speak.
"As long as a drop of Ki remains in you, you can recover! The hands of Death being unable to reach you. So, rise and shine lazybones. Go. Go and get back up! They need you!"
Swallowing, still too awed to speak, he nodded and spun around, starting to fly towards the sky and away from the bright light. The white light surrounding him receding as he did.
Wait, they? Didn't he mean, she?
Above him, a marble dome like ceiling seemed to spring into existence out of the ether, and, out of instinct, Yuha pointed his right arm towards it and roared.
And a corona of green power manifested around him, spinning faster and faster, more and more of it slipping into existence until he could see nothing beyond the energy surrounding him, which suddenly turned into a pulsing, glowing spinning steel construct. He drilled through the dome with a defiant roar.
The world around him faded. He blacked out.
Yuha gasped and took a breath.
Time: xxxx Location: yyyy
"Oh my, how naughty of you, little princess~"
Ranni, gritting her teeth, tore her gaze away from the white-haired madman and to the being at the scientist's side. "Remind me again why you're here?" she asked, glaring all the while. Fighting to keep a semblance of civility in her tone.
The smirking bug man let out a faux gasp, his eyes widening dramatically as he placed a pale palm upon his chest.
"Why I thought it be obvious, I'm merely concerned for my brother's well-being, and thus opted to attend so as to ensure his interests are represented, my dear lady."
She clenched her second pair of arms beneath the desk and out of view, gritting her teeth hard enough that were she mortal she'd be looking for a new set.
Such bullshit…
With deliberate slowness, and not deigning to fall for the asshole's taunts, Ranni turned away from Cell, who, despite his words, had clearly come just to aggravate her, Yuha's 'safety' playing only a distant role in the man's mind. No doubt, cause Yuha, with some luck, could provide an interesting challenge to the monster standing on the other side of her desk if given a couple of years.
Battle maniacs. Battle maniacs everywhere!
Still, as usual, this was but another problem she would have to deal with later.
For now…
Taking a deep breath, trying to once again find her equilibrium, and failing. Not even the scent of morning dew and musty books wafting in from her room's window—the scents of her home, helping to calm her.
Much as I hate it, that bitch had one good idea at least…
But, as usual, Ranni had to work with what she had at hand and somehow, yet again, turn shit into gold.
She slapped a smile on her face. Clearly fake and not her best work, but, it would have to do.
"So, my good Doctor, will you help me or not? Remember," she said, and, reaching with a hand, retrieving a little sigil, waved it in the air. "If you agree to this, that's one less marker~"
But the man remained unfazed, rubbing his chin with his arm.
"You are aware of how many laws this will break, yes—"
"Skirt," she emphasized, leaning forward. "Not break, but…yes, we'll be skirting around the edges and straining the spirit of the law."
"Fuckin fae."
Gasping, she glared at Cell.
"How dare you! I'm nothing like those bastards!"
"Could've fooled me, little princess," the man said with a shrug.
Why, I should—
"Eh, sure, why not?" the scientist's voice made her blink and turn with a hopeful smile.
"You'll do it, then?"
Finally! Something is going my way for a change!
"Yes, but there are conditions."
Aaand the other shoe drops.
"Which are?"
The man waved an arm. "Nothing too onerous for you to worry about." The man stared straight at her, the man's brain, visible behind the glass dome covering part of his skull, seeming to vibrate. "You'll have my vote and support, as well as that other thing you've requested," the man said with a chuckle. "And I have to conclude with my son, you are one naughty princess," the man said, shaking his head.
Ranni growled and fought the urge to throw a pen, the marker, the whole table at the irritating pair, her fingers twitching. "Doctor~"
"Right right. As I said, you'll have my support, but my condition is this and it is a simple one."
She crossed her arms and stared, being sure to arch an eyebrow and lean her head back a tad, even letting out a near silent sniff. Trying her best to emulate the way her mother could often make even King Radagon hop from foot to foot like a guilty toddler.
"E-er, yes," the Doctor mumbled, averting his gaze and even the bug looking somewhat uncomfortable.
Clearly, she still needed to work on it.
The doctor coughed into a fist. "You must let Yuha remain in the universe he's currently in for a while longer."
"Why?"
A mad grin stretched from corner to corner, revealing artificially perfect teeth. "Cause it's not everyday I get to experiment with Spiral Power!" the madman declared, leaning in, heedless of propriety and grabbing the edges of Ranni's desk. "My boy Cell here? I thought he was already perfect, but, given some of the ideas my youngster had in his head, some of which I've implemented and the potential evolutions Spiral Power can take him when interacting with his altered genetics?" the Doctor's whole body shook with glee and Ranni, feet on the carpet below, scooted her chair back a bit.
"Why, he has the potential to surpass Cell!"
"Love you too, pops," the android said with a sarcastic tone.
"So, you must let me see if the additions have taken hold. If my modifications will bear fruit. Plus, there's also this, 'Grayfia'…"
She wanted to deny the madman's request. She really did.
But…
And yet…
If she did. Then what choice did she have? The actual madmen of Yahar-ghul?
Ranni plastered a smile on her face and tried not to shudder, the air in the room all of a sudden feeling a tad colder and from afar, just on the edges of even her perception, chanting voices seemed to drip and slip into existence like thick oil, and, like oil, taking their sweet time to leave.
Idiot! You're a goddess! Best not focus on beings like that, eh?
She had markers on them too, of course. But, even if she was part of the…affectionately termed E-diot department, she wasn't insane like the rest of her coworkers, nor did she get off on the mere thought of a good fight!
Ranni had standards!
Smile still on her face and smoothing out her skirt with one pair of arms, she lifted in a smooth motion, staring the good Doctor at eye level.
That had been one of the first things she fixed.
She reached out, and they shook hands.
"Very well, then. Your terms are acceptable. I'm glad we could come to an agreement."
"Me as well, princess," Dr Gero said with a nod. "Come, my boy, we have work to do." Before spinning around and making his way out of her office, even as that asshole winked at her on his way out.
Yes…this is for the best.
Sighing, Ranni slumped back into her chair, letting a few moments pass where she did nothing, merely taking in the sweet familiar fragrance still drifting through the window before, eye still closed, reached out and grasped a book from her desk. Its familiar weight comforting and she turned her focus upon the tale.
Trying to take her mind away from the fact that soon enough she'd be meeting with Dr Gero again…
Well. It was either the questionably sane man or the actual madmen.
Distant chants echoed again, and she twitched with a scowl, moving a hand and in the space beyond space, all but slamming the metaphysical door on the madmen's faces.
Persistent fuckers! No, I don't want to hear about your lord and savior nor become said lord and savior!
Garou's day had been going fine.
More than fine, even.
After all, stalking—respectfully observing from a reasonable distance, he'd seen his junior once again prove that he did, in fact, mean his words.
For he'd spent the night assuaging the big woman's fears and helping her with her own ki.
At that, Garou had to fight the urge to cry 'bullshit!'.
Cause it simply wasn't fair that Mosquito…Grayfia also had ki.
Garou had sweated blood and tears to get to this point and unlocking it had been a harrowing experience in of itself, no doubt the same for his kouhai. And the girl simply got it as a result of genetic experiments?
How was that fair?!
But at the end of the day, life was an unfair bitch like that.
When he got strong enough, he intended to search for any god or goddess controlling the domain of life and beat them black and blue.
As well as any gods of death. The fuckers were the reason so many good fighters he'd have loved to cross fists with got old and died!
But aside from that, Garou's day—and night—had been fine, if somewhat boring.
It still beat wandering through the streets of Z-city, or other cities for that, in between bouts of training.
Nonetheless, everything seemed to be going well and judging by how Yuha's ki had stabilized over the night, the man was well on his way to recovery.
And speaking of Ki.
This is Bullshit!
How the fuck had his kouhai nearly doubled his base power since the last time they fought?!
Garou would have to step up his training, that was for sure!
Cause he refused to be surpassed, much less be left behind by his junior of all people!
The fact that the old man was stronger, or at least more skilled than him, smarted still!
Yes, Garou's morning had been going fine.
That is.
Until this new fucker had the gall to arrive unannounced and get into a fight with Yuha and Grayfia.
Although, the words this…'Kabuto' spoke…
They caused a horrible suspicion to well in Garou's mind.
That aside, though, watching Yuha fight had been a joy.
…Even if the fact that his junior was clearly stronger than him was not.
Still, once again, his junior proved he was a true hero. Risking it all to save a monster, of all people.
He'd been ready to intervene right then and there, but, sensing the instability and the stirring of Grayfia's power, he waited.
Seeing the girl's aura surge white and then gold with threads of a familiar green. Garou once again had to fight the urge to cry bullshit. Still, as the girl's muscles swelled, her gray hair rising and turning rigid, if still gray, and her pupils turning white, his curiosity peaked.
And the woman did not disappoint.
For even as her skin burst in places, blood flowing freely down her body and blows that would disintegrate, normal people slammed into her. Grayfia persevered, giving as good as she got. Better even. For near the end, something like two-thirds of Kabuto's already purple body was covered in an even deeper purple.
The bruises a result of the woman's efforts.
But sadly, whatever it was the woman was doing, she lost control of it. And with a gasp, fell to the ground. The fight leaving her alongside her burst of power.
Garou, resisting the urge to sneeze as a bit of sawdust mixed with pollen drifted into his nostrils, leaped from his tree branch and landed in front of Grayfia.
"Not so fast, scum."
He slapped away the monster's fist, driving it to the side, the force behind the blow translating into an explosion which dug a new trench but a few feet away from them and caused the monster to wince in pain. His kouhai, despite his prodigious strength, was but an amateur in their shared art.
Diverting the energy both away and back towards the attacker? That was the whole point behind the old fart's art! Well, that and—
Garou exhaled, calming his mind, quieting his emotions, and prepared.
Yuha would learn, Garou was sure of it.
"What is this? An all you can eat buffet?" the monster asked with glaring eyes as Garou lowered his palm, his foot sliding a few inches behind him, preparing. "Who are you supposed to be?"
For somewhere behind him, about two hundred meters southeast, near the ravine, Garou could feel Yuha's ki pulsing.
The man's lifeforce growing stronger. More stable when compared to the flickering thing it'd been but a few instants prior.
But, before their rematch, and well before the distant day when they'd both be able to go all out?
Garou had a bug to squash.
"Oi! I'm talking to—"
"Are you the one?"
"Eh? The 'one'? What do you mean, manlet? If you mean the one and only mighty Kabuto, then yes! Accept no substitutes! For no fake can kill quite like I can—"
"No. Are you the one that killed the wolves last night?"
"Eh? You mean those little yapping mutts? Yeah, I guess I am, what of it manlet?" the monster asked with a grin, leaning forward and Garou, grimacing, waved a hand to clear the air of its rotting breath.
He nodded and took a deep breath.
Ki rushing across every corner of his body, and his heartbeat speeding up beyond mortal limits.
"Then you die."
Kabuto threw its head back and laughed. "Hah! You're funny little—Gkh!"
Garou smirked as his fist dug deep into the monster's gut, causing it to nearly fold in two and stare at him with astonished pain eyes.
"Whose funny now, bug?" he asked, leaping backwards and landing a kick to the monster's chin as he did, causing its head to snap backwards.
"I'm no bug!" the monster roared, exploding forward and sending a rocketing punch Garou's way.
Good. I was almost empty.
He diverted the punch, and his white Ki aura flared for an instant, and, as the monster winced again, Garou's left hand shot forth, grasping the suddenly slower limb as it moved away and, tensing his core, kicking his legs, and even adding a touch of ki, flipped on top of the limb.
"What the—"
Not giving the chance for the surprised monster to react, he raced up the massive limb, kicking and punching at key pressure points and, reaching near the top, formed his right palm into a blade, diving it deep under the monster's armpit, drawing purple blood in tandem with an agonized scream.
Ignoring the hot foul smelling liquid covering his retracted limb, Garou's left hand grasped on the monster's clavicle, and with his calf muscle tensing, he lifted and landed a thunderous kick on Kabuto's face, driving the sole of his shoe and his toe into the monster's eye.
"Argh!"
Before redirecting his own force, using it to fling himself backwards and away from the monster's rising punch, which smacked into its own face.
"Gkh!"
Drawing another pained grunt from the fool, as Garou, body perpendicular to the ground, spun through the air, bleeding momentum until, but a few inches from the ground, his right arm shot down, and with a pirouette and a thunderclap above him as he redirected the momentum, stopped and jumped to his feet.
He frowned.
Shit. I'm empty.
"You…"
Kabuto, blood flowing freely from both its ruined eye and its armpit, lowered an arm and glared.
Garou, turned his gaze on the arm still covered in foul stuff, flinging it this and that way.
"Damn, it won't come off, just as stinky and sticky as the bug itself," he mumbled, seemingly oblivious, and yet, his senses remained on alert, body tense.
"You…How…How dare you ignore the mighty Kabuto?" the monster roared and Garou smirked. His goal fulfilled "No. How dare you wound the mighty Kabuto?!" it roared and its power seemed to spike, growing further still. "And I told you, I'm no bug!" Garou's eyes widened as a blast of wind slammed into him, forcing him to dig his feet into the dirt to stabilize himself.
He still had strength to spare? I might have made a mistake—Gkh!
Garou flopped through the ground, tumbled, stuck against a boulder, bursting it apart and continuing to roll until his momentum caused him to hit a tree at an angle, causing him to ricochet to the side and into the ravine's stream, ending with his face underwater.
Groaning in pain as he flashed in and out of consciousness, the clear, cold spring water helping him remain awake even as it turned red with the blood seeping from his mouth, forming little bubbles.
Were it not for his Ki coupled with a near unconscious attempt to divert the monster's punch away…
Stomping feet approached him, Garou, flush with the wet dirt and his head underwater, able to feel the ground shake, be one with it as it did.
Groaning and forming a couple of extra bubbles, he pushed with aching trembling arms and rose out of the water, pressing hard and jumping to his feet.
He spit to the side, the metallic taste of blood now that he was out of the water, firmly on his tongue.
Rising a hand, he wiped his mouth and cursed.
For his black shirt, just like his white trousers, was in tatters. The clothes littered with small cuts and covered in bits of blood, dirt, powdered rock and various other bits.
But the worst thing—
"Heh, not so cocky now, are you, pest?" Kabuto growled, coming to a stop but a meter or two away from Garou, crossing its muscular arms.
The worst thing was that he was empty yet again. His body, in its attempt to ensure his survival, had re-diverted all his stock into protecting him.
Smart.
But…it complicated things.
Especially with how strong this beast was.
Well, it is what it is. Garou slid into another combat stance, both arms rising, one above eye level, one on the level of his bellybutton, both palms semi-loose and facing down, his feet crouched.
And despite how problematic the situation was?
Garou found himself smiling.
Smiling despite a deep sharp pain that seemed to come from somewhere deep within, somewhere beyond the physical
'Crack'
'Thump!'
He craned his neck from side to side.
Curious. His ki seemed to flow a tad easier and his muscles felt looser. More…free as if a knot he didn't know he had seemed to unravel a bit.
"No final words?" Kabuto asked and shrugged. "Meh. Your funeral. Now, die!" it roared and, much to Garou's luck, the fool backhanded him. No doubt in some pointless attempt to show how worthless he considered Garou.
Fool.
Garou, grinning, reached out with his hands, guiding the descending limb just so, and re-diverting much of its energy to their surroundings and back to the monster itself.
"Damn you—"
And more importantly, also refilling his stock with the remnants.
For that was the third secret of the old fart's art.
Beyond weaving between the blows of the enemy, letting them expend their energy on destroying their surroundings, beyond attacking them with their own strength.
A practitioner of the old fart's art, could also steal tiny bits of the strength contained in their opponents' blow, using it to temporarily enhance themselves.
We're back in the game. Thanks moron.
But it was neither permanent nor did it last long.
No more playing around, time to get serious.
Still. It didn't need to be.
The grin slipped from Garou's face. The thoughts in his brain quieting down, a since of peace coming over him as the deadly fight took up his whole focus.
His heart hammering as hundreds upon hundreds of blows were exchanged in less than a second. A scarce handful managing to even graze him.
But even those hurting like a bitch and carving scarlet lines across his limbs.
Ducking underneath a punch that shattered the rock a few meters behind him and uprooted the tree behind that, Garou kicked at the limb, stepping in close and almost shattering the fool's knee before darting back and away from the retaliatory blow.
His focus of the outside world narrowed further and further as the battle continued.
The sound of the stream and birds fading as the monster jumped to the air, Garou, hastening to follow, improvising and mostly managing to emulate Junior's Ki flight.
The heat of the sun and the caress of the wind ignored as they cut a new, nearly mile long trench on the ground below.
His ki sense pertaining to the outside world fading until only the monster in front of him remained as, with a cackling Kabuto holding him by his face, Garou proceeded to carve out a new tunnel through a small hill with his back.
Until at last, the only thing that remained was the sound of his machine gun like sounding heart and the monster in front of him.
The monster who looked about as bad as Garou felt.
Garou jumped forward. Throughout the whole fight he'd been adapting, improvising, trying new techniques and ideas.
He was beginning to get the hang of this.
An unconscious grin split his face as he slapped Kabuto's knee to the side and punished the monster with a rising elbow to its chin.
Perhaps the old man had a point. Hunting monsters is kinda fun!
Maybe, in between hunting fake heroes, he could dip his toe in the monster hunting business as a hobby.
But, despite his mastery of Bang's art, despite his superhuman body and the Ki suffusing it?
Garou, at the end of the day, was still human. Still mortal.
Gkh! He winced as his hand twitched and his heart and lungs protested, his choice to duck backwards so as to avoid the blow, proving to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back as the gust of wind caused by the passing limb ruffled his white hair. The world, or rather his perception of it seeming to slow a tad. Dammit! Not now!
His stamina was starting to run out.
And while normally not a problem, against such a foe, with such a difference in raw power?
Garou could but curse as he watched the massive elbow of a cackling Kabuto fall, heading for his head, or rather, given its size, for most of his upper body.
Cursing, Garou struggled to raise his seemingly sluggish by comparison arms to re-direct the blow, but, he knew that he wouldn't be able to make it in time…
Yes, Grayfia did go false ssj, as she lacks the power for the actual transformation, and coupled with her nascent Spiral Power she packed quite the wallop.