Good morning, my readers! And happy (late) Halloween! This chapter took a lot of time time because I've been tending to that Minecraft X Terraria crossover and most of all because of university (though I'm finding some spaces to write a little). Unfortunately I'm afraid that chapters uploaded with long periods of wait is going to become a trend both because of school-work and because (as you saw with this one) they're starting to get pretty fucking long.
To the guest that commented on chapter 9, I'm happy you're liking the story and (trust me here) the chapters are going to be much better especially after the end of the first part. Also I am mighty fine, thank you for asking!
Good read, everyone, and remember to stay safe (whether you're vaccinated or not).
The containment room of Evil Natural Water was poorly lit, sound-proof and extremely humid. Flake Mage detested all of these traits with his entire being.
'Just why did I even accept this task?!' the ice monster complained mentally, but then turned around to see Master Joe glaring at him, mentally compelling the smaller monster to return to work.
'Oh right, order from a superior and all that' Flake Mage thought as he turned his gaze to the Cadre's tank. The last thing he wanted to look at. He began cleaning the hopefully-it-won't-break container, using the spray on the large patches of filth. Despite the fact that the glass was extremely dirty, Flake Mage could still see all-too-clearly the murderous fish swimming in the container, as well as the two blood-shot eyeballs. He was starting to get really freaked out by those orbs, always peeping at every living being in the room and succeeding at being the creepiest thing in the dark room.
'Oh, how I would like these eyeballs to be torn to shreds by those freakish fi-' Flake Mage thoughts were stopped by a tiny creak. He was now completely frozen as he feared the worst, but after a minute of painstaking and anxious wait, nothing happened.
Until Master Joe silently scolded the small mage by throwing a wrench at the back of his head. The object collided loudly on the wet metal floor as Flake Mage quietly whined in pain, slowly and gently rubbing the back of his head.
He returned to work without another word, but now the monster was livid.
'Seriously, why the hell did he have to throw that wrench at me?! That Master Joe!...He and the rest of the superiors can go agonizingly burn in hell for all I care!' Flake Mage thought as he scrubbed the glass with one hand, while nursing his head with the other.
Crack.
'These monsters!...What do they gain by haunting us in our every waking moments? Why can't they simply coexist down here and not bother anyone, just like the tribe I belonged to in the mountain peaks?!' Flake Mage thought as his scrubbing became more violent.
Crack. Crack.
'Oh wait...I remember what happened. The temperature became too hot and the glaciers began to melt, my folks couldn't stand either of those. Then it was all in chaos and we went into separate ways. I don't know if any of them even survived...oh, the humans. If fighting aganist them wasn't so hopeless, I would have gone into a rampage already!' Flake thought as his scrubbing was now furious.
Crack. Crack. Craaack.
'I swear, why is this world so hostile that every creature has to fight aganist everything else just to survive off of whatever it can find!? Whoever made this world is seriously messed up and shouldn't have that much power in the first place!' Flake Mage thought as his scrubbing became so furious that he was starting to consume the glass.
CRACK.
Flake Mage froze in fear, and this for longer than before. Slowly, he removed his hand with the dirty cloth and quickly backed away in fear as he saw the worst thing that could have happened.
A head-sized crack was there.
Rising from his prone position, the monster turned to sprint madly towards the exit as more cracks appeared in the container. But then he saw Master Joe already on the other side of the vault door, intent on locking Flake Mage inside with the monstrosity.
The small monster cursed Joe, therefore causing Evil Natural Water to become more dangerous, and in his blind rage he did the worst possible thing.
He tripped on the large lever.
The breaking glass was lifted by the machanism and the liquid monster, along with the carnivorous fishes within, threw itself at the prone mage.
'Sharp Stripe...' Flake Mage's last thought was permeated with sadness and regret as the sentient water choked his life out of him and the fishes stripped his crystal-like bones of his ink-black flesh.
X X X
Inside the small room, on the sweat-stained couch, Flake Mage awoke with a gasp. He began screaming and thrashing around wildly, which eventually made him fall of the smelly furniture with a comical "thud" and a yelp from the diminutive mage.
He slowly got up and weakly raised his hand to feel his body. 'Hmm...no bleeding spots, no missing chunks, no tears on my robe and no sensation of having your own life squeezed out of you...seems about r-right...' Flake Mage thought in slight relief, visibly shuddering at the last part.
He stumbled to a corner of the room and took two buckets of cold water. The first one, Flake Mage dumped its contents on himself, ridding his body of the hot sensation and the sweat, and took a long sip out of the second one.
After he drank about half the water in there, he put it down and thought of his next plan of action 'By now Sharp Stripe should be at E City and should have gotten herself a place in the sewers...hopefully. Now I just need to contact Catfish and Maiko to get to the second part of the plan!...Which I still have to fully work out myself...' Flake Mage then face-palmed and got out of the room in order to find his two partners in crime.
After a few minutes, however, he found a large group of monsters marching towards the main hall, while speaking animatedly about something. Flake Mage noted that some voices were angry and spiteful while others were cheerful and almost apologetic.
The small mage, not wanting to miss out on eventual intel on his and his friends' superiors, decided to follow the group.
'I wonder what got them riled up...it definitely can't be about the heroes coming here, since it's still too soon...and hopefully we'll be far away from this dump once these two giants duke it out...' Flake Mage pondered as he made his way, occasionally being bumped into or shoved aside.
Eventually he arrived at the hall, a gargantuan place, truly. At its center was a large open space and around it were dozens of interconnected balconies, which could hold hundreds of people.
The monsters who were at the center of the attention were the same, all things considered. Gyoro Gyoro, weird semi-solid sewer spider, Bug God...kind of, whatever the fuck Royal Ripper turned into, Black Sperm, the Necroanter or something like that, Homeless Emperor, Gaia, Fuher Ugly and Orochi.
But among them there was also a human with white hair. 'So that's the Hero Hunter I heard so much about...I hope he won't cause problems with my plans' Flake Mage thought when someone grabbed him. He swiftly turned in a panic and saw that the one responsible was none other than Catfish, with Maiko staying behind him as she looked at the scene below.
X X X
When Garou awoke, he was on a bed with his clothes mostly intact and his injuries all patched up. So he did what most people in his situation would've done.
He kicked "his" room's door off its hinges, scaring the hell out of the two guards, and walked down the only passage available.
What he saw after going through another door was a sprawling plethora of monsters, some loudly cheering while others sneering like mad.
"Look, it's the Hero Hunter!" "Maybe I'll be able to get his autograph!?" "Pfft, that's just an imposter in my opinion" "Thanks for all the heroes out of commission, that really helped us!" "If you really claim to be a monster, why don't you prove it and transform here and now!?"
The monsters were pretty much talking on each other at this point, making whatever they were saying nearly intelligible, Garou wasn't even going to bother listening to them.
Instead he focused on the monsters in front of him.
A green trash-bag with too many arms, a black teletubby ripoff, a malnourished ant with a corny wizard hat, some crystal monstrosity break-dancing at uncomfortable speed (or having a serious epileptic attack) in the background, a humanoid bug who looked dead inside, just your average homeless guy with a plastic crown on his head (the price tag was still hanging from the article, much to Garou's bafflement), a scared green plushie, a deformed guy who seemingly suffers from gigantism and supposedly the Big Boss of these monsters.
'Seriously? These guys look more like a bunch random weirdos than the henchmen of the only PROPER monster organization in existence...and the huge guy looks like a stereotypical final boss...but what confuses me more...' Garou thought as he began walking towards Petrolic Wraith.
"Ah, Garou! I see you've grown strong after all these years! And with accomplishments to match!" the spider amicably told Garou and he, to the shock of most viewers, gave him a good-natured smirk as he said "Yeah, you can say that. Though I'm surprised to see that you of all monsters set up shop HERE. So far, I haven't seen any worthwhile members in this sorry hole"
That statement caused most of the monsters glare at the white-haired young man, namely Black Sperm, the Necroanter and Fuher Ugly. Homeless Emperor merely glanced at his direction before returning his focus on Gaia (much to her displeasure) and Bug God simply raised an eyebrow at the connection between these two mysterious individuals.
"Is that your opinion of our association?" Gyoro Gyoro asked, then looked at Garou in the eye and said "That will be, of course, bound to change since, from now on, you'll be an honorary member of the Monster Association" to which Garou, now irritated, replied "Really, this again? Didn't I make it clear that I don't want to join your sorry group when I tore both your ticket AND the messenger?"
At that point, Petrolic Wraith pitched in "Cheer up, Garou! This group has given me so many opportunities and new jobs, I'm sure you'd love to see some of them" and Garou gave him a small smile. Sure, it was a more of a cocky grin than anything, but the sentiment was there.
And the military advisor took notice of that.
"Anyway, the position of honorary member allows you more freedom than you think! You just have to be reachable in case there are orders for you, but for the rest you're free to do whatever you want, and since I know your problem with authority I'll be the one to relay them to you!" Petrolic Wraith continued, Gyoro Gyoro getting angrier by the second and Garou looking slightly convinced.
But, to Petrolic Wraith's unsurprise and to Gyoro Gyoro's utter delight, Garou raised his hand as he said "Nah, that's not the kind of monster I want to be. I will crush the Hero Association by myself and through my efforts alone. Only then I will become absolute evil and make humanity feel fear"
He turned to walk away, but stopped when Petrolic Wraith said "I know about your goal and I support it wholeheartedly, but first would you like a bottle of coke? You have made yourself quite a name, Hero Hunter!"
Garou turned around and accepted the gift, taking the bottle of his favourite drink from one of the monster's clawed hands.
Gyoro Gyoro watched intently as the young man drank the whole thing in one gulp. At first he was delighted, this one having a sweeter taste than normal and stronger sparkles. But after a minute Garou doubled as he coughed, his body vibrating abnormally.
As the rank-and-file monsters began to panic or cursing Petrolic Wraith, nearly all of the monsters at the centre of the hall had left for various reasons. Black Sperm and Necroanter went to the latter's lab, Fuher Ugly and Homeless Emperor lost interest pretty quickly after the Hero Hunter's boasting. Orochi was looking at him from his peripheral vision, in case the human did something stupid.
The military advisor was confused while the oily spider was delighted that his concotion was working as intended.
When Garou's body stopped trembling and he slowly stood up he was not happy. His body felt now heavier than before, making movement almost a foreign concept, and he felt himself angrier than before. One thing he knew was that Petrolic Wraith was getting a beating as he slowly got up and said "What the hell...have you given me...?"
"Just a concotion of my making" the monster said as he laughed, a sound which made Garou angrier "You may claim to be a monster that will destroy the Hero Association, but in order to achieve either of those things you must go through your limit! This concotion makes it harder for you to move and fight, so you'll have to train much harder, but I think the benefits will be worth it!"
Garou paused for a moment and thought about what Petrolic Wraith said, then nodded to him.
Gyoro Gyoro decided to pitch in, saying "Petrolic Wraith is right, but you also need to prove that you are a true monster. Go on the surface and kill a human, I'll be watching you-" but Garou went out of the hall without waiting for the monster to finish the sentence.
It then turned to Petrolic Wraith and said "I didn't expect that your concotion would be anything worthwhile. I thought it was just a silly soft drink" to which Petrolic Wraith replied, as he began making his way to the laboratory "I'm offended that you belittle my work like this! Besides, that concotion will make his transition into monsterhood easier! Just like you and him wanted!"
'That result however is not guaranteed, is it?' the military advisor thought as the other monsters began leaving the gargantuan room, off to do something else.
X X X
Showerhead was painting and huffing as he run through the sewers of D City, having disrupted another ambush made by what monsters still wanted to try and attack the community, either on the behalf of the Monster Association or because of past grudges. His body was scratched and bumped almost all over, but at least he was still alive.
After another hour of mad running, the former human came to a stop as he saw that the rest of the sewer tunnel was blocked by barricades, so Showerhead decided to use the nearby ladder.
He climbed out of the sewers and looked at the empty street he was in, with all of the buildings he could see having their doors and windows blocked any means necessary.
He tried to move around, but as soon as he did that he was encircled by a group of monsters, then either coming out of alleyways or jumping from nearby roofs. Fortunately for Showerhead, the ones around him were blue-banded monsters.
"Freeze!" the leader of the group shouted in a threatening manner.
His name was Crabtaur and he looked like some sort of fusion, having a pale-red crab as a lower body and a muscular upper half of a dark brown minotaur with piercing green eyes. The monster was the size of a van and taller than two cars on top of each other.
But this monster wasn't all about appearance, since his lower body had a pair of sharp and bulky pincers and his upper body had powerful muscles, a pair of large beige horns and one ancient-looking scimitar in each hand.
Compared to him, the other monsters weren't nearly as threatening, but they still seemed capable to put up a good fight.
But Showerhead wasn't here for that and tried to communicate that as he pleaded "Wait! I'm only here to join the community, not to cause trouble" and that seemed to slightly calm down the chimera, but then he snorted loudly through his pitch-black snout and said "Alright, I get that. The Monster Association hit all cities hard and you've lost your home, or you finally got that this world is too dangerous for you and your stunts are going to get you killed. Either way, you've come here to seek asylum, whether you're eager to help the community or not. Normally you would just enter and approach a member of the community, who then shows you around and tells you the rules to follow" he waited for Showerhead to see if he was following.
The former human nodded and Crabtaur continued "Though, as you probably know, we've been hit the hardest and the threat of unknowingly welcoming a possible spy of the Monster Association isn't very appealing to us. Therefore this little gal at my right will scan your mind to see your true allegations and motives. Though the procedure's invasive, you will actual feel quite good while she does her thing!"
The last bit was more cheerful-sounding, but Showerhead was still uneasy as a small monster stepped foward.
She was a humanoid monster standing at half his size, her hooded appearance shrouded in various layers of random clothes, leaving only darkness where her face was supposed to be.
Showerhead didn't show it, but he became unnerved when the figure raised her arms, from which many thin fuchsia tentacles shot out. They latched themselves on the former human's legs, arms and neck, and despite the fact Showerhead saw the needles at the end of each appendage, they didn't hurt but actually felt pleasant to him.
'Must be some sort of secreted drug...' Showerhead's drowsy assumption was correct and he was put in a state between alert and sleep (though heavily leaning on the latter), but even this substance couldn't prepare him for the following experience.
It started with his "skin" pickling, something that Showerhead shrugged off quite easily, but he still wasn't ready for what followed.
The experience truly began when Showerhead began feeling something, a feeling alien, unwelcoming and yet painless all at once.
Showerhead felt as if his entire body was rotting, with many parts of it slowly losing feeling at the same time before abruptly being cut off at irregular intervals. The parts that he could still feel felt as if were the nesting grounds of dozens of maggots, endlessly crawling through his veins, arteries and bones. Showerhead could feel his skin splitting open as if flies were pouring out. He couldn't thrash around so he resorted to screaming, but found out he couldn't utter a sound as he felt something inside his throat squirming endlessly.
But the worst feeling by far was in his head. Bony fingers seemed to poke and tear at his brain, parting small chunks of his grey matter before messily putting them back as they were.
This examination (or torture, if someone wanted to hear Showerhead's opinion) lasted for about a minute (or an hour...Showerhead's opinion again).
The blue-banded monsters watched as Showerhead stood there without twitching, the hooded figure already removing her tentacles off him.
Crabtaur averted his gaze. He knew just how awful that monster was feeling right now, having tried the procedure first-hand, but he also saw that it was horrendously effective.
After all, one could never be sure with the monsters coming from D City...of which there were few.
Eventually the chimera shook his head and turned to the hooded figure as he asked "So Psykript, what did you find?"
The newly-identified monster turned to her boss and said "This monster truly wishes to join our community and, by what I've seen, he will follow the rules without question. He will definitely become a good healer..."
Crabtaur noticed Psykript's lower tone on the last part and asked what was the matter, Psykript said "...The matter is that this monster, Showerhead, is a former human who at one point was part of the Monster Association..."
That caused alarm in all of the group, especially in Crabtaur.
Former humans were reluctantly welcomed in the community due to their violent and obsessive tendencies. Most, if not all of them, were handled by Leila, who tried her best to (ironically enough) restore their humanity.
The cases where she succeeded were on par with the ones where she failed. And sometimes they were put down even before that, believing them to be unredeemable.
'A monster coming from that hellhole cannot be spared' Crabtaur thought as he raised his weapons to carve into the prone Showerhead.
And he would have succeeded if it wasn't for Psykript stopping him "Wait! He joined there believing that it was the only way of survival and promptly left after seeing it for what it really was. Besides...he has ties with Phoenix Man, who is our ally in all of this"
Crabtaur snorted, wordlessly letting her know of his opinion on Phoenix Man, but still relented and sheathed his scimitars. He then turned to his subordinates and said, first reluctantly then normally "This one passes...bring him to the nearby infirmary"
The monsters heaved the body between them and did as told, their greatest concern being when their shift would end.
X X X
In what was now, for all intents and purposes, Nagasaki's office room, the president was almost feeling proud at the amount of bureaucratic work he was doing, while Darkshine kept doing physical exercises at a good distance behind him.
'He's still at it? He has done nothing but simple exercises as far as I'm concerned, but to this extent...Nah, this is probably a warm-up to him...' Nagasaki thought, then shook his head as he forced his mind back to the matters at hand.
Despite the fact it was still early afternoon, he wanted to be done with the reorganization of the Hero Association by this evening, since tomorrow he would have to deal with an even greater threat that simple incompetence.
But it was still too early to think about that, for he had to address the new cadres of the Hero Association, which weren't many.
Natasha and Kiru were seated at opposite ends of the round table and now were responsible for the web of communications between the Hero Association and the rest of the world. Kiru would handle communication between the association and the heroes while Natasha, having also studied business practices in her time at G City's university, would handle communication between the Hero Association and its sponsors.
Kiru looked a bit nervous since he knew the heroes would present a lot of complaints, but the one truly sweating bullets was Natasha, who not only had to deal with many corrupt people, but also with the wrath of one of their greatest sponsors, Narinki, who had his son kidnapped by the Monster Association...under the watch of the S class hero Metal Bat no less.
'He already sent a team of mercenaries to retrieve him, I hope for the boy that they succeed...but I doubt it' Nagasaki though saddened by the man's state, but shook his head and looked at the other three cadres he chose, at the other end of the table.
The one on the right was a tall, muscular man with short hair arranged in a military cut. He was currently wearing a black smoking and pants of the same color, but one look at his face was enough to understand that the man was looking uncomfortable in that kind of clothing.
His name was Terano, a former A class who had retired for health-related reasons. Nagasaki, by offering him a new position and paying for treating his health problems, got Terano back on board and now he was tasked with training the C and B class heroes, reviewing their accomplishments and communicating everything to Nagasaki.
The one on the left was a short, bald man who was named Hiramu. He had Terano's same outfit, but Hiramu seemed to like it more.
Nagasaki put him in charge of the association's material resources, like money and equipment, and each week he would report to Nagasaki how their resources were handled and the state of their inventory.
Finally, the one between the two men was a young woman with long blond hair, an endowed form and a very athletic build. She was wearing a dark-purple suit, a pair of white glasses and had a bored look on her face, but it seemed to lighten up the moment Darkshine went to stand beside Nagasaki.
Her name was Nanju, a renowned athlete and an amateurish martial artist, and she was tasked with scouting potential heroes in figures in line with her other careers, such as bodybuilders and martial artists.
Nagasaki smiled and then said "With that, here's your orders for the next two weeks: Terano, Kiru and Nanju, given the nature of the current situation you'll have to act fast. Terano, you can begin by reviewing each C and B class hero and write a small report about them; Kiru, start a survey about who wants to change their hero name and make sure to implement said changes as soon as possible; Nanju, begin by heading to H City since a bodybuilding competition is going to begin there and it will be hosted by The Diamond Dumbell, therefore many strong people will gather"
With that the three cadres got up from their chairs and exited the room, off to do their tasks. Kiru was half-calm as he walked out of the room, Terano was starting to squirm in his clothing as he left, his professional beginning to crack. Nanju went to the door with stride, turning to Darkshine and giving him a soft smile the moment she opened the door.
Nagasaki then addressed Natasha and Himaru "Your tasks aren't as urgent, but here's what you have to do: Natasha, you will go to Narinki and reassure him that his son will be safe and that the Hero Association is currently forming a squad of heroes with the sole objective to retrieve him. I heard that Sekingar is working on that, so talk to him in the off-chance that Narinki gets curious; Himaru, you will simply have to do your normal tasks...in addition to make an extensive analysis of the association's bank accounts. Write down every single thing the Hero Association has done with its money and resources. Natasha, you'll report to me in a week while you, Himaru, will have a week and a half"
With that, the last two cadres got our of the room, Natasha relieved that she would have backup for her task, and Himaru terrified that he may not have enough time to make it.
Darkshine finished his workout and went beside the president, eager to ask him a question "Sir, why are you so interested in the Hero Association's affairs?"
Nagasaki turned to him with a smug grin and answered "Simple! I asked Himaru to do that so I could re-enact my old strategy, and that way I can weed out all the corruption of the Hero Association!...Or at least a large part of it"
Darkshine nodded and Nagasaki turned back on his desk as he said to no one in particular "The first phase is mostly done and now the only thing I have to do is wait, but first I have to send the meeting message to the rest of the S class heroes!"
X X X
The streets of Z City were devoid of anyone and anything. They were eerily calm and soundless, save for the soft passing of the wind and the occasional flock of birds flying above.
This calm...this peace...was making Garou mad. He, who was always used to live in the chaos, whether it was generated by a fight against heroes or simply walking in the busy streets full of unaware sheep.
His sharp eyes darted left, right, up and even down, searching for something alive in the vicinity. But nothing.
'So these monsters weren't kidding when they said people were evacuated...seems like the government is catching up on how useless the heroes are...' Garou thought gleefully, but then his humor changed and, for a few moments, he returned to be his normal self as he thought '...I wonder how Tareo is, but I'm sure he'll be fine since he was among those evacuated...well, guess that answers why I didn't find him in the cabin unlike the other times...'
Then he almost stumbled and his mood got sour again. That weird goop Petrolic Wraith made him drink...well, it was annoying. It made his body feel heavier and moving was a chore, but Garou was starting to get used to it.
He didn't give a fuck about the mission those losers gave to him, he was now set to find an open enough area to properly practice and get rid of this feeling of drowsiness that seemed to be an omnipresent shadow hung on him.
He kept walking, noting that the wind had gotten stronger and was now carrying all kinds of junk, from empty cans to various papers.
Garou couldn't give a fuck about the wind and the shit flying around, but still caught one of those flyers, just to see what was actually written on it.
And it made him furious.
It was talking about some sort of "Monster Party" that promised to preserve the human race by SACRIFICING people to the monsters.
Garou was appalled by this information and his mood took a swandive downwards. That the moment heroes fell, people would resort to this.
But it also made him determined as he thought 'Just shows how needed I am...an absolute evil...that will unite all of mankind under a single objective...regardless of any kind of difference!'
Garou tore the flyer to shreds, feeling great glee while doing so, and then turned forward again with a snarl on his face.
Except that the moment he did another flyer flew in his face and stuck to it with a comical "Smack!"
Garou, now unable to see, remained immobile for a few seconds before exploding in a plethora of profanities (thankfully muffled by said flyer) and immediately removed the offending piece of paper and throwing it so hard the flyer sped like a bullet and into a nearby store, breaking both the large window and some stalls inside.
Garou was still angry as his snarl worsened, but this time the target of his anger was the soreness of his arm.
'I really need that practice...I can't fight shit like this...' the Hero Hunter thought as he began running to his desired destination.
X X X
Meanwhile, inside the HQ of the Monster Association, things were going like always. Rank and file members were either hyping themselves for the upcoming fight or thinking of ways to stay alive, while the Executives and the Cadres were loafing around or plotting aganist one another.
Flake Mage was among the latter, currently in his small room training for the upcoming event. In truth, he already did train himself in both physical activities and ice spell-casting.
Now he was just trying to release stress.
'Come on Flake Mage this plan is going to end smoothly and Sharp Stripe is definitely alive and not a dismembered body somewhere in the Z City Ghost town' Flake Mage mentally repeated this mantra for the 56th time (hard to tell, since the diminutive ice caster has lost count a mid-hour or so ago...) as he did sped-up push-ups.
His second most hated exercise.
Eventually Flake Mage stopped, yellow eyes wide, mildly hyperventilating and shuddering like a leaf.
He seemed normal at the start of the afternoon, so what brought him into this frenzied state?
It a combination of two factors: Sharp Stripe's unknown status was a part of it and the more Flake Mage felt her absence, the worse his mental state got. After all, it was that free-spirited tomboy who gave him warmth and companionship, making his life better and sticking out for him at every turn, whether it was your average tiger level or her (now former) mentor. Those two were almost inseparable, but now that she was gone Flake Mage began feeling another kind of warmth. Unpleasant and suffocating.
Hopefully not in the literal sense, because Flake Mage tried to ignore the fact that his ice spells were becoming less powerful.
Back on track, the other factor was Maiko and Catfish's reactions to his lack of plan. The latter was reasonably angry, fearing for his and his partner's safety, while the former was calmer about it and defused the situation the situation, saying that they should all contribute to the plan.
Then a new order or relocation came for Maiko and Catfish, and it was from DO-S of all the executives.
If he was in a calmer state of mind, then Flake Mage would admit that he was overreacting, but his current state was all BUT calm.
He suddenly stopped his activity and went to a corner of the room, where two buckets of cold water stood. He dumped the first one on his body and drank the entirety of the second one.
It was futile.
So Flake Mage decided to do his most hated exercise.
Running.
He nearly tore the door of its hinges and began running around the HQ like a lunatic. Those monsters that saw Flake Mage in such a state thought various things: that some monster was chasing, that he had finally gone mad or that it was none of their business.
Flake Mage didn't even noticed the monsters looking at him as he ran for what felt like an eternity (only 10 minutes).
Until he tripped on something.
Flake Mage was going to resume his insane running exercise, but he was suddenly grabbed by someone and lifted to their eye-level. The small wizard looked at the monster and instantly regained (some of) his clarity.
The owner of the tail he tripped on was none other than Raptora, a monster he knew way too well.
She would be considered to be an average monster: prideful in her strength, quite arrogant and with too much love for violence.
Raptora was a tall monster (being equal to Mizuki in height) and so Flake Mage was but a child to her, his full height being near her waist. She was a humanoid monster with reptilian features: large and sharp teeth, dangerous claws, two horns coming along her forehead, long spiky hair, a long tail, yellow and black scaled skin and muscles way more developed than Sharp Stripe's.
She wore only a black sports bra and a black thong, with a grey machete sheathed on her right side.
Raptora's reptilian eyes looked Flake Mage with a mixture of rage and contempt and for a reason way beyond the earlier annoyance.
Raptora was a former human, who had an unhealthy love for cage fighting and swords, which caused her to turn into a monster.
After getting involved in a underground fighting arena, she fled to the surface and later met Sharp Stripe.
The two fought and, despite Raptora being victorious, the taller monster was impressed by the smaller one and so she took Sharp Stripe under her wing.
The two joined the Monster Association and their bond became stronger...
...Of course, that was until Raptora found out that Sharp Stripe was hanging out with Flake Mage, one she perceived as a weakling.
One fight later, their bond broke and now the two resorted to ignoring each other. Raptora wouldn't tread on her territory (despite having easily bested her in battle that time) and Sharp Stripe wouldn't even mention her.
"So look who decided to have a marathon around the block" Raptora said slowly, her tone as dangerous as the poison her body produced. Flake Mage was now out of his mad state and, as he looked into those eyes, his only thought was about how much he had fucked up.
Raptora got annoyed with this silence and tossed him to the ground, but she was also silent, looking at Flake Mage the same way someone would look at something irritating.
'She's...doubtful?' Flake Mage thought as he flinched at the look Raptora was giving him. Then she snapped her head to the left, waving her spiky mane and averting her gaze, as she said in an annoyed tone "...What are you even doing here anyway?"
Flake Mage shook his head at the surprise of not having been kicked in the stomach, but still remained silent. After all, he was unsure on how to deal with Raptora, who seemed in an even worse mood than usual.
After a moment of silence on both sides, Raptora's glare on Flake Mage hardened and the ice wizard suddenly decided that it was a good idea to answer "J-just t-training...s-s-sorry..."
At that, Raptora's mood darkened, but she wasn't getting angrier and Flake Mage could only guess as she muttered "Training, huh?"
Raptora turned her head away and Flake Mage took it as a sign to run the hell away, but as soon as he took some steps in the she-reptile's opposite position she shouted at him, glare revived "Oi! Where do you think you're going?!"
Startled, Flake Mage did as commanded and as soon as Raptora saw the other monster's expression, her snarling face turned into a merely annoyed one.
"Meet me at that ruined skyscraper near the border of the Ghost Town" was the only thing Raptora said before turning back and walking away. Flake Mage decided to do as she said regardless of the dangers involved.
In the Monster Association, when a superior tells you to do something, you do it.
And Raptora was nearly a demon level monster, so disobeying her was even more out of the question.
X X X
The HQ of the Monster Association is a complex, marvelous thing. An ancient castle built by the Earthlings both as an everlasting city and as a monument to their deity.
After the monsters settled here, they expanded the palace, adding an entrance to the underground to begin their mining operations, connecting it to other underground complexes and creating new rooms for other purposes.
But there were rooms that some of the highest members within the association didn't know about.
One of such rooms was one of the deepest, a gargantuan storage room that Petrolic Wraith repurposed as his personal laboratory. Here, in the black slime-covered walls that may never see the light of day, the spider was working tirelessly on reviving the remaining Antlion Brutes and, of course, the strongest of them all.
The Antlion King.
"This is proceeding much better than expected. Fortunately the damages done to them weren't as bad as I initially thought. Stitching their grey matter and muscle tissues was easy enough and they follow instructions quite well now, after I fixed my previous error in the makeup. Hopefully Gyoro Gyoro won't find out about Food Tub's fate..." Petrolic Wraith said aloud as he looked at the hordes of finished Brutes standing idle on large pedestals, then at the dozen that remained incomplete and finally at the corpse of the bearded dragon, which the spider intended to revive after being done with the rest of the antlion.
"Speaking of which..." Petrolic Wraith said as he returned to look at the towering body in front of him "...you are starting to get problematic"
The Antlion King's body was, in a way, halfway done. His lower body, along with his four legs, were complete, the abdomen was laughably easy to salvage and the two large arms were almost done.
But the problem lied both with the central body and especially with the head: the muscles were both cut and smashed to degrees Petrolic Wraith had never seen before, so in order to actually make him functional the spider had to get crafty (which meant that now he had six Antlion Brutes less); the brain was in a much worse state and so Petrolic Wraith just used the brain matter of those Brutes that were otherwise unusable.
Now in front of the spider stood a stitched, half-made giant that making him regret the decision of even thinking that undertaking this project was a good idea.
"It's nearly done, sure, but not even I know if it will be worth it. Based on my calculations, which aren't based on anything concrete themselves, this Antlion King should be as strong as the original...but I'm not sure...what if I boiled Food Tub's remains into the ameliorating slime and added it to his biological structure? Maybe that would strengthen the Antlion King?...No, it's too late to try that. I want this guy done by tomorrow so I can see how he fights, compare it to the Antlion Brutes and then let Gyoro Gyoro decide what to do with him..." Petrolic Wraith droned aloud, his tone periodically switching between worried, pensive, hopeful and then back to worried and pensive.
But there was another factor that was proving itself to be rather distracting.
Petrolic Wraith put one of his legs on his forehead and sighed audibly as he said, his tone both serious and sarcastic "Alright that's enough, come out now. I've tolerated your presence thus far, even though you're definitely recording everything in the room back to whoever made you. That's a very rude thing to do, not to mention a violation of personal privacy"
Nothing came out, but Petrolic Wraith could see the metal creation hiding behind one of the pedestals to his left. So he decided to play a prank on it.
The Antlion Brute behind the android suddenly shuddered to life and swung his new weapon at it, almost twice as fast compared to when he was alive.
The mechanical barely blocked the strike with its katana and the resulting knockback caused it to slide right out of its hiding spot.
Right into the open, just at the base of the altar where Petrolic Wraith was operating from its highest point.
"Ah, G5! What a pleasant surprise to see you here snooping around!" the spider said with a tone showing true happiness and fake happiness at the same time, and G5 silently replied by positioning itself into a fighting stance.
"Getting straight to the point? Fair enough, I was planning to destroy you anyway, but before that..." Petrolic Wraith said and suddenly tall spikes sprung out of the floor, creating a makeshift arena. The spider jumped into it as eight clawed hand sprung out of his abdomen and then continued "...I can't have you breaking equipment while we battle"
With preparations made and a battle plan in mind, the two combatants charged in weapons swinging. G5's blade was sharp and his swordplay had been taken from the combined styles of some important sword fighters, but Petrolic Wraith's clawed hands were perhaps even sharper and their swift, numerous slashes couldn't be all blocked by the mechanical samurai's katana.
Despite the onslaught, sometimes the sword would strike the spider, leaving long superficial wounds on his oily skin, but it wasn't long before those wounds seemingly regenerated.
G5 was having it much worse, his plated body already showing serious dents and areas torn open.
The two started hacking at each other only for a quarter of minute, but the spider wasn't looking forward to have some of his afternoon wasted by this snitch.
Without warning Petrolic went serious: he cut off G5's left arms and rent apart its torso. The android retaliated by shooting a laser out of its singular eye, but in the meantime the spider went behind it and cut off its other arm. By the time the laser struck the ground where the spider once was, Petrolic Wraith rent open G5's back with such force that the android went flying in the opposite end of the arena.
Petrolic Wraith said "Now that this distraction's done, I can get back to work and after-" but was interrupted by the rustling sound of what was left of the android's body.
The spider chalked it up to maybe exploding an so reinforced the walls of the arena, but what happened instead greatly surprised him.
Out of the metal carcass a smaller humanoid android sprung, its red and circular body contrasting with the green and sharp one of its predecessor. Its body was also adorned with many small holes and the spider could only wonder what those were for as he sighed and readied himself again.
X X X
Narinki was sitting on the couch in one of the guest rooms of the Hero Association, looking at the small modern phone on the table. His plan was simple and the mercenaries he got for the job were experienced and trained.
They just had to get in, get his son back and get out. Nothing more, nothing less.
'So why did it have to fail?' Narinki question was dyed with heaviest sadness as he raised his head to look around the guest room a secretary told him to wait in.
Narinki's plan was born out of frustration, just like the public announcement in which he said he would stop funding the Hero Association. 'If those idiots I pay a good part of my livelyhood can't do it, I'll find a way to rescue my son myself!' was what Narinki thought yesterday.
And now here he was, just a step away from getting on his knees and BEG the Hero Association for help. Narinki even resumed funding it so his request would seem more believable.
And that was the moment when he got to know just how much the association's leadership changed. Narinki's skin paled at the thought of HIM having near-to-full control of the Hero Association.
To him and his associates Nagasaki was a tyrant, always wanting in on every matter, restrictions and consequences be damned. He wanted to have full control on everything that mattered and would gladly sacrifice friends and foes alike to get to his objectives.
In such a vulnerable situation, Narinki was terrified at the prospect of talking to that man. But not because he would offer help with impossible demands.
Despite his manipulative personality and obsession for control (repeatedly rigging elections and scamming corporations being his most common misdeeds) that man had a heart. He cared for the common folk more than nearly every other president before him and always put most of the government's funds in education and healthcare.
But he was, ultimately, a pragmatic calculator that could turn begrudgingly his heart cold. If Nagasaki thought that attempting to rescue his son would lead to another monster outbreak or simply that it would require too many resources, then he would tell him that there was nothing he could do and proceed to nuke the Ghost Town into smoldering slag.
Narinki's heart almost failed as he thought of the possibility and the man doubled over as he frantically thought excuses, anything, to disprove that theory.
But before he could think of anything at all, the door opened and, to Narinki's relief, it wasn't Nagasaki.
Natasha and Sekingar enter the room and sat on the opposite couch and the lady said "Good afternoon Narinki, we are grateful you gave us a second chance"
'This is going good so far...' Narinki thought a bit happily, but his humor soared when Sekingar started speaking "In fact, Nagasaki gave me the authorization to make a list of heroes who will escort your son out of the Ghost Town", then he handed Narinki the paper with the list and the rich man's mood fell.
On the list there were some C class heroes, some B classes and a handful of A class. 'Figures Nagasaki would put all of the S class heroes on extermination duty...' Narinki thought angrily and Sekingar, as if he read the rich man's mind, reassured him "Don't worry, these heroes may look low on rank, but they still have formidable abilities and commendable teamwork! Besides, the S class hero Child Emperor will conduct the extraction of Waganma from the Monster Association. These heroes will look after your son until he is away from harm"
Narinki's mood rose again and the rich man asked "I see then that everything is already prepared, but when is the operation going to start?"
He wanted Sekingar to say that it would begin as soon as possible, but the man in front of him turned serious "The operation will begin in two days, in the morning after tomorrow"
Narinki's mood fell again and he wasn't about to stay there any longer. The operation to rescue his son was going to happen and the people doing it were 'certified' to be good.
To him, this was already good enough of a deal when dealing with the likes of Nagasaki.
X X X
Garou was feeling a little bit better than before. Sure it was late afternoon (or early evening, he couldn't really tell) and he was close to his destination.
Now the Hero Hunter could say without a doubt that the entirety of Z City was empty. 'Looks like that evacuation went well after all...' Garou thought as he recalled, earlier this day, not finding a single human being in the entirety of his walk. The only things he found that barely qualified were human corpses that were either left alone, being eaten by crows or being devoured by monsters.
Garou's walk was stopped as his attention brought him to look on his right, where a TV shop stood. Garou went to the shop, interested at what the TVs beside the door were broadcasting. Despite the static and the bad audio, Garou recognized the man who was giving the speech as the president Nagasaki.
Garou listened to the speech and was insulted by the fact that the president didn't even mention the Hero Hunter! But then he got bored and resumed his walk.
Garou couldn't care less about Nagasaki, since he wasn't into politics that much. His opinion of him was still pretty bad, at least for dumping responsability on a third party only to seize it when it was headless.
Garou kept walking for a while, then as soon as he felt comfortable with the drowsy limbs, he began running. He managed to get to the park as the sun was setting and began training.
Running exercises and lifting stuff around was the first thing that Garou did as a warm-up, then he started the real practice with all the martial arts he learned. The old fart's style and the old fart's older brother's style were the first ones he tried, so he could also get more used to them as he mentally played the morning fight again and again.
Then, as the sun was just halfway through the horizon, Garou tried all the other styles from the previous dojos he had crushed. Garou noted that some could be useful in some situations, like the Viper Bite Fist and the Cluster Move Fist (oddly enough), while others were just utter dogshit to the point Garou almost stopped his training to wonder why he even bothered to pick them up, like the Drowsy Drinker Fist (which Garou couldn't even get it to work like its master intended) and the...Flurry Barrier Fist.
Garou actually stopped his training this time and wondered why he even thought of wasting his time getting it in the first place.
"The dojo was the dirtiest shithole I had ever seen seriously even the Monster Association's HQ was cleaner than THAT, the students were the most boring and plain bunch he had ever seen, the master was a lazy fatass who put the minimum effort into training people and the technique was just a goddamn repurposed flurry of blows for semi-retards that couldn't put the effort into making an unique style!" Garou WAS thinking all of this, but that experience was so embarrassing he couldn't help but voice his thoughts.
He blamed his months-before self for thinking it was worth a try and subsequently blamed his child-self for being such a pussy and setting him up that monumental disappointment.
Along with the rest of the other monumental disappointments.
Garou was now angry and out of reflex kicked a nearby trashcan into the darkness of the forest.
A second later the trashcan came back to him at great speed, but Garou was able to intercept it and cut it in several small pieces.
Garou could barely see the attacker in the darkness, but when it crawled out and his black form was illuminated by the lampposts' lights the Hero Hunter immediately recognized him.
"Well done Garou, it seems the serum has already taken effect"
X X X
Petrolic Wraith was currently rising to the surface of Z City.
He was still angry at that machine for wasting his time, but now the spider didn't have to worry about it, since now its shredded remains were in his safety shed. 'Fortunately none of its missiles damaged my laboratory, or my work would have been delayed even more' Petrolic Wraith thought as he finally burst out of the ground and into the park, his form shrouded in complete darkness.
The spider thought he arrived first, but then he barely caught a flying trashcan. His looked at the direction it came and threw it there.
Petrolic Wraith then slid out in the open and, to his dismay, he saw that the standing before him (and the one who threw the trashcan) was indeed Garou.
'So I really WAS late...' Petrolic Wraith thought bitterly, but hid his bad humor as he cheerfully said "Well done Garou, it seems the serum has already taken effect"
The Hero Hunter Glared at him and moved to strike, but his fist sunk into the ground. Garou raised his head to see Petrolic Wraith standing there a few meters back, eyeing him with interest.
This pissed off him greatly and, with a roar that shook the trees' nearby branches, went into a berserk-like state in an effort to crush that Insect. But no matter how fast or how much Garou struck, he never seemed to be able to hit him, that Insect always reappearing a meter or two away from his previous position.
After a while, Garou was getting angrier and the spider seemed to want to humor him as he grew some limbs and began to deflect his attacks, from time to time. Unlike his dodging, his deflecting wasn't as successful because Garou was able to figure out how to get around it.
The first time that happened Garou had a gleeful smile on his face, the spider's claws punched out of the way and his hands just centimeters away from Petrolic Wraith's body. The spider was also smiling as his only eye seemed to pierce his soul and when Garou launched his attack...
... Petrolic Wraith disappeared from his view, just to reappear behind him.
"Well! You are certainly starting to get used to the serum's weight, but you still need more strengthening, I'm afraid..." Petrolic Wraith said as his slightly-torn limbs began to patch themselves back into shape. Garou snarled at that and roared "Shut the fuck up, Insect! Just what the hell have you given to me..."
Petrolic Wraith's only eye widened and he had to suppress a few laughs as he said "...I think I can actually tell you the whole thing now. This serum not only makes moving and thinking harder, but it also contains a drug that makes you perpetually angry!"
Garou's expression was the stuff of nightmares as he moved in to punch the spider's face, but he didn't even have time to properly extend his arm as Petrolic Wraith disappeared yet again.
"But do you know why I gave that serum? I do not think you have what it takes to become a monster" Petrolic Wraith said as he reappeared at the edge of the park. Garou was going to rush at the spider for another go, but as soon as he heard this he stopped in disbelief.
Then he roared even louder and charged, obtaining yet again the same result.
"Do you seriously believe what you've said, insect? I don't care about whatever crap you spew, I HAVE what it takes to become the ultimate monster!" The Hero Hunter roared in defiance at Petrolic Wraith, who in turn produced a sound between a sigh and a groan and replied "Do you? The reason why I think your attempt at monsterification is going to end in a failure is not because you are not strong enough, but because of your mindset"
Garou began his onslaught once more, but this didn't deter the spider, who simply kept talking "Your visions of monsters and human society are heavily romanticized. You think that you want to become a monster, but in reality you want to become a hero! I could tell that from the first talk we had, back when the Hero Association didn't exist and you were just a bullied child"
Garou's onslaught got more vicious, but Petrolic Wraith was still capable of keeping up.
"Seriously, bringing all of humanity together by becoming absolute evil is just an amalgamation between a monster's and a hero's desires! Also, if you truly wanted to become such a thing, by destroying the Hero Association no less, then your plan would fail anyway! Without the heroes, this society of yours would be vulnerable against monsters, each attack proving itself to be devastating. And even if this plan of yours would succeed, there would still be inequality or, even, people who may end up being excluded because they bring nothing to the table!"
At this point Garou's attacks became almost too fast for Petrolic Wraith to dodge while talking at the same time. He pondered on purposely getting hit, but discarded the idea since then he'd have to repair his body and thus waste time.
So he opted for another approach.
Petrolic Wraith dodged a fist by ducking and then dived into the ground. Garou was momentarily confused before roaring in anger. Only then did the spider continue talking.
"In short, your plan sucks, but let's answer one of your questions, shall we? Why did I go through the trouble of making a serum that would "ensure" your monsterification? Because, as asinine as your plan is, it can some uses in furthering mine!"
Garou was getting angrier the more he listened to the spider, wildly striking the ground in an attempt to make Petrolic Wraith resurface. His effort were futile.
"Unlike your plan, mine aims to create an environment that allows endless evolution of all species! Humans, monsters, animals, everyone! A world were survival of the fittest is the ultimate, supreme rule! The Hero Association maintains the status quo and and so it's the main obstacle for such a thing to happen, but there are tools to help me in that matter..."
Silence reigned on the lonely park as Garou stopped to take a few breaths, the pieces beginning to assemble in his mind.
"One of them is the Monster Association, Psykos having more-or-less my same plan, but the other tool...I never thought it would end up being the same kid that found me resting in an alleyway by accident. And the talk we had was harmless too...how did you end up like this? Did I have any impact on your path without knowing?"
Now Petrolic Wraith sounded confused and Garou, for the first time in this evening, laughed. It was a low chuckle at first, then an evil-sounding laugh and finally it evolved into a loud mad cackle. "Do you seriously think that I'm your tool, that you can control me as you please!? No, you didn't have any effect on me when I was brat, I even thought you were as lame as my teachers! I CHOSE this and I'm going to become a monster, shitty serum or not!"
Petrolic Wraith was silent...and angry. This much disrespect was making him vomit.
So he spoke in the most neutral tone he could manage.
"Look, it's getting late and I seriously need to get back to work, so I'll tell you this before knocking you out cold. The serum's main purpose isn't to make you stronger, even if continuous training under those conditions will slightly raise your physical abilities. Its main purpose is to change your mind. As you'll go on, you'll keep losing your humanity, which will facilitate your ascension into monsterhood. By the end of this, you'll be unrecognizable from before"
This speech froze Garou for a few moments, but before he could get his head properly on track, Petrolic Wraith sprung soundlessly from the ground. Garou turned to face him, but the spider was already in front of him with no less than sixteen black claws mere inches away from him.
The two exchanged their own barrages of attacks, but Garou found himself in trouble. For every claw he would deflect, three more would strike in different parts of his body.
'What the hell?! His previous attacks cannot be compared to this! Was he holding back the whole time?!' Frantically thought his attacks became desperate.
He was scoring hits on Petrolic Wraith, the injuries he was getting didn't look very bad, and even when they did the spider didn't seem to mind.
Garou was getting even more frustrated and desperate, but after a wrong twirl and misstep, he looked into Petrolic Wraith's singular, reptilian eye. In it there was no cruel glee, no burning anger and no acidic disgust.
That white thin pupil reflected nothing.
Garou was frozen in that stare, and that eye was the last thing he saw before blinding pain made his sight go dark and his body numb.
X X X
Meanwhile, on the other side of Z City's Ghost Town, Flake Mage was walking silently, darting from one hallway to another. He was careful with his surroundings, since a monster could always assault him out of the blue for reasons ranging from hunger to simple boredom.
But the monster Flake Mage was going to meet was far more dangerous than any possible mugger.
'Flake Mage, why did you accept to go to this stupid meeting?!' the diminutive mage mentally berated himself as he walked around a suspicious hole in road and darted to the opposite alleyway, but then he reminded himself the reason 'Oh yeah, possible ally and all that' with a deadpan expression.
The trip continued with little incidents as Flake Mage sneaked through the dark streets of the now-abandoned Z City, but he did meet some monsters along the way.
Fortunately all of them were weak, but most of the time the encounter resulted in a fight, which was then ended quickly with some dodging and the mage's ice attacks.
All in all, the trip went well.
Flake Mage eventually arrived at the meeting spot. The glistening, yet slightly cracked, moon in the sky lighted the mage's surrounding, but it also casted long shadows from broken lampposts, trashcans, mauled vehicles, the occasional mailboxes and the buildings themselves.
One of these ominous shadows covered the route he was supposed to traverse. Right where he should meet up with Raptora.
'My GOD, why did I ever agree to this...I could be safely sleeping on my dirty couch but NOOOOOOOOO!!! I needed to torture myself because these days I just can't have nice things!' Flake Mage rambled madly in his mind at the mere sight of the darkened alley. He needed a quarter of hour to get himself stable once more.
And then he walked into the darkness.
The diminutive mage walked quickly yet silently through the narrow passage, eager to not attract unwanted attention and to get out as soon as possible, but the weak shine that the crystal on his skull gave off made that slightly more difficult. While he kept walking, Flake Mage couldn't help but mentally complain about the ordeal he was currently in, but then sighed as he thought 'I hate this, but it's not like there are other routes I can take. The main road was completely destroyed, most alleys are infested with mutated beasts or monsters and the only other open road to the place was constantly patrolled by monsters of the Monster Association. Honestly this is the safest way to get there...'
Flake Mage kept running through the dark alleys, sometimes taking turns either through broken buildings or by climbing on boxes and other stuff to jump over walls. The trip was also eerily peaceful, but Flake Mage didn't feel like he was being watched or followed, so he didn't complain. The small monster was actually getting calmer, since his head crystal didn't attract any kind of trouble.
After a while Flake Mage was torn between the impression that he had taken some wrong turns and the hope that he was getting close. Then, out of nowhere, things began going wrong.
A strong gust of air ran behind Flake Mage and the diminutive monster gasped in pain as a pair of claws wounded his back. The injury, by itself, was nothing too serious, but Flake Mage readied himself all the same, determined about not letting this opponent get another strike on him.
For a few seconds, all was relatively calm. Flake Mage turned over several directions, his hands ready to cast spells and his other senses working to give him information about his attacker.
The darkness was too thick for his eyes to see (and he had the thought that the monster's body facilitated his stealth attacks), but his hearing brought comforting news. Flake Mage could hear the flapping of wings and the occasional scraping of claws, though these sounds were rather faint.
Flake Mage stood there for another few seconds, then the attacker sprung into action. Flake Mage felt the same gust of wind in front of him and accordingly moved his upper limbs to turn the Monster in an ice block, but before he knew it he felt pain as his chest and arms now bore slightly-bleeding wounds. Thanks to the weak shine of the crystal, he did get a glimpse of the attacker, that didn't really help him. The monster had black skin, large ears, huge wings and no eyes or arms.
'Damn, he got me again...but now I know what to do...' Flake Mage thought as his confidence slightly wavered, but stood nonetheless.
His confidence wasn't only strengthened by his new battle plan, but also by his biology. While it was true that his body wasn't very durable, the constant training with Sharp Stripe managed to harden it to the point where he was almost as hardy as a normal tiger-level, but it didn't stop there. Flake Mage's back was covered by a sheet of ice, plus his blood was a freezing and sticky cyan liquid with healing properties.
With his front wounds already beginning to heal, Flake Mage closed his eyes to sharpen his earing and managed to better hear the flapping of the opposing monster's wings. It was circling around him, waiting for a chance to strike as it propably sharpened his talons in the wait.
Then the flapping stopped, replaced by a brief sharp sound, and Flake Mage moved his hands where he knew he monster would strike. The diminutive monster felt the beginning of the gust of wind on his left shoulder and, in a quick movement, turned around as he instinctively casted his second most powerful spell.
Flake Blast.
After waiting for his opponent to do something for a full minute, Flake Mage opened his eyes only to look at a slightly-glowing chunk of ice, with a long glowing line of ice trailing behind. Inside of the chunk, the diminutive mage could make out a dark silhouette, but couldn't really get much details about it.
'Looks like alternating physical and special training really DID have its benefits...' the small monster thought in satisfaction as he quickly resumed his sneaky run. Fortunately for him, Flake Mage also found out that he was nearing the end of the alley.
He exited it as fast as he could, not wanting to find himself near that place ever again. He ran for a few more minutes until he found he found the skyscraper Raptora told him about.
As Flake Mage arrived, he saw the reptilian woman leaning on its side as she looked straight at the moon, its light reflecting on the bloody machete at her side. 'Judging by the diced corpses around here, I guess she had some bad company too...' Flake Mage thought as he gulped and got closer, hoping she wasn't in a bad mood.
His hopes were granted as Raptora turned to look at him with a bored expression and said "Huh, didn't think you'd arrive here in one piece" as she looked at the tears in his robe.
Flake Mage quickly waved his hands on it at the fabric began mending itself.
"So...why have you called me here?" the diminutive monster asked tentatively, hoping to break the ice. That question made Raptora glare at Flake Mage, which froze him on the spot, but then she interrupted the glare and turned her eyes back on the moon.
Flake Mage was getting pretty scared by this encounter, but then Raptora finally spoke "So, the reason why I called you here...was...because..." and stopped herself. Raptora tried speaking again, failed, tried again and failed again.
This continued on for several minutes and now Flake Mage was getting quite annoyed (but of course he didn't show it) and Raptora turned to him in a flash and as she looked in his eyes she said "It's about Sharp Stripe"
Flake Mage was unsure whether to be surprised or not, but kept quiet in order to not anger the reptile lady and consequently get killed. Meanwhile Raptora sighed in relief with a hand on her chest, as if she was relieved of a very heavy weight.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them, then Raptora spoke again, though her voice still a little bit strained "Listen, me and Sharp used to be good friends...so...I want to make amends with her and be friends again...but...I can't do that alone...so...I need your help. Don't lie to me about your escape plan, since I've been eavesdropping on you two for weeks"
Flake Mage got a heart attack at a possible demon level knowing of his plan and possibly attracting unwanted attention (a little part of him was also confused about how was he still alive after Raptora admitted of knowing about him sending her friend to almost-certain death...). He might have fired his most powerful spell on Raptora hadn't she said "And I also want in. I'm pretty okay with the idea of being hired muscle for E City. Though make no mistake, if you want me to properly accept you, you'll have to get much stronger and I'm not talking about your silly spells"
Flake Mage just nodded and Raptora smiled and she said "Great! Let's get some rest now, only two days remain after the heroes decide to get their asses here" as she scooped up the diminutive mage and ran back to the base.
X X X
At the top of the same skyscraper, a small mouse-like hairy monster had just finished reporting all he knew to Phoenix Man. The dragon level was silent in thought, ruminating on the information he had just received about Garou and Petrolic Wraith's involvement. 'Shinko and Child Emperor have to know about this' Phoenix Man thought with a sense of finality.
"Well? I've given you all the information I could for the whole damn day! Now it's time to uphold your end of the bargain!" the small monster shouted, his voice sounding as if he was high on helium, and bounced around the cracked concrete of the building's roof. Phoenix Man sighed and said "Alright, I'll bring to E City with me"
"YES!!!" the mouse shouted to the skies as he was scooped up by Phoenix Man.
As the flying monster sped away, something buzzed to life. It was a round, tiny green creature with six limbs on its underside and a huge eye.
"So that's what you've been doing these days...traitorous back-stabber" Gyoro Gyoro spoke through it with a venomous voice, but then calmed down and said "Alright then. No matter what secrets you have told the heroes, the Monster Association will prevail anyway"
The thing then sped into the darkness of the night.
X X X
Nark was squirming in the spacious chamber as the darkness itself seemed to physically restrain him. His head was pushed down and he tasted the copper-scented dust of the concrete floor. His ears were assaulted by maddening clanking noises of the rusty chains above and the animalistic shouts of the prisoners in the cages attached to those chains. Around him shadows silently glided on the floor, moving small clouds of dust were they passed. And whenever one would touch Nark, horrible tremors would assault his prone body.
'No...not here again...' Nark pleaded, his bulging eyes threatened to burst out of his eyelids and spill tears across the floor. The thought of water made things worse as it made his parched throat desperately wish for the sweet taste of the liquid.
Eventually, Nark started hearing distant noises ahead of him. At first he felt safe and happy, thinking that his friends were coming to save him, but as the wait went on, the sounds became more distinct and it wasn't long before Nark was panicking again.
'Thessse heelsss...' the pale snake dreaded as his memories resurfaced. Those times at the lab table, where she would use sharp objects to cut open his body and take obnoxiously long hours to examine it, or those battles aganist other monsters which ended in him sustaining injuries that threatened his life on the daily.
Finally did the human arrive, her form darkened by Nark's memory, but the only feature that remained were her cold eyes. She mumbled something, muffled noises thankfully for Nark and suddenly he was enveloped in a green light.
He hated being picked up like that, or just being picked up in general.
It was a long walk and the only thing he could do was stare at those in the cages. There were monsters of different shapes, some alive, some dead, some without arms and some without eyes (Nark had doubts whether those features were natural or just the result of her experiments). There were even other humans, and Nark was confused about it.
'Why would she experiment on other humans?' the pale snake thought to himself, but by now he realized that the woman holding stopped to a large container. Nark looked into in and his body froze.
It was full of water.
Nark wasn't really a good swimmer, the current looked fierce and the injuries he sustained before weren't fully healed.
It was a recipe for disaster.
Nark looked terrified as the woman smiled and dropped him into the container. His mind went blank as soon as his body hit the freezing water.
X X X
Nark awoke with a gasp, cold sweat running down his sticky body and tremors wreaking havoc to his nerves. The snake knew that wasn't just a dream, but it was a memory from a past he had forgotten.
And for good reason.
Wordlessly, he shut his eyes and curled up tightly as he tried to shake off the shivers plaguing his skin. He stopped as soon as he heard something shifting around his body.
He slowly opened his eyes, hoping beyond hope that he wasn't still living that nightmare, and found himself face-to-face with a very worried Lamia. Her eyes were filled with warmth, so Nark dared not look away.
"Dear, was it that kind of nightmare again?" Lamia asked with a softness that made the snake's heart flutter immediately. But in that split second images flashed in Nark's eyes: the star-lit sky and the forest were replaced by the decrepit room and Lamia was replaced by a malnourished dog-like monster with coarse, furless skin and empty eye-sockets. Then it all return to normal.
His mental state wavering, Nark still reeled from the imagery and started trembling like a leaf, so Lamia leaned immediately on him and began rubbing her snout on his face while repeating "Clam down dear, you're not living that nightmare anymore, you're safe"
After a while Nark seemed to calm down, but he still couldn't speak however as he was still reeling from the nightmare. Though having Lamia by his side was making his recovery much easier.
The dog sighed as she leaned yet closer to him, though that wasn't hard to do since Nark's body was rapidly wrapping itself around her.
They stayed like this for some time, the only noises that could be heard were each other's breaths. That calm seemed to be unbreakable and Nark began relaxing, until he went to sleep once again.
Lamia looked down to his sleeping head and smiled softly as went to sleep as well.
She remembered the first time they met. She was still living in the sewers and Shinko, by what she knew and heard, had just begun training. Lamia found Nark floating in the makeshift river, motionless and cold, but her hearing told her that his heart was still beating, though weakly. Lamia decided to bring him to her abode anyway, since she felt bad about leaving him there and she thought that he would make for a fine helping hand.
After tucking him in warm sheets and tending to him for about a week, he awoke in a panic. The snake didn't attack her, but he was very wary of her. He had no name and for the moment didn't seem to want one.
Despite the initial panic, the snake agreed to live with Lamia and help her out as thanks for her goodwill. The two scavenged and hunted together for an entire year and ended up becoming great companions.
Though the snake also had greater feelings for Lamia, and so told her that he had chosen his own name.
Nark, after his tendency to tell dark jokes he picked up from wet magazines usually found in the depths of the sewers.
This was also the time she got to meet the Fighter of the Outskirts and asked Nark if he wanted to meet him. The snake strongly refused and even tried to stop Lamia from any further meeting with that individual.
As she was going to know, in fact, Nark was wary humans, especially females.
Lamia got to know his story when the Wastelanders came to E City's sewer system to make a trade with another group of monsters. The trade devolved into a fight and Nark entered it to prove his worth and so Monoculor awarded him with membership.
Nark wanted Lamia to come with him, but she refused since that lifestyle just wasn't for her. Nark understood and told her that they would meet again, but first he finally told her his story, his origin as he understood it.
"Oh Nark, dear, you really made progress since then" Lamia whispered softly to him as she went to sleep, the moonlight making her fur almost sparkle "Tomorrow we will reach the HQ of the Monster Lords and then, with Shinko on our side, things will finally start to get better"
And that was the chapter, folks! As you saw in this chapter, I'm going to expand on the various characters of the cast made by me! (I just hope I don't screw anything up, especially this late into the story!).
See you next time!