[OP: Omedetai Atama de Naniyori - Aishiden Issen]
Sudden, Harrowing Combat! If Not One Way, I'll Find Another!
"SHA!"
3 months had passed since he'd began his training.
"SHA!"
In that period, a few things had changed.
"SHA!"
One of the few people he'd enjoyed talking to had become a moody work-freak, he'd been having some of the best shuteye he'd had in years thanks to some nifty doohickey that looked like glasses, and today, his master'd been acting like some gloomy husk of a man.
"SHA!"
But he tried his hardest not to reflect upon such things.
"SHA!"
Because at the moment, he was focusing on punching his way through a fucking mountain.
"TYAAH!"
With one last shout, he shot forth his fist and blew apart the last chunk of prehistoric rock keeping him from the outside world. As the cerulean sky's light beamed off the weighted gauntlets he now possessed, he took in deep, exhausted breaths.
Overlooking the vast space of forest from his elevated position, he couldn't help but smile.
"Nice."
He had one last, noisy breather, huffing the fresh air like a drug before regulating himself.
Then, he looked down. If he were on Earth – that's apparently where he was from, he'd learned at the Academy, thanks to some snot-nosed, bug-faced asshat that he'd wound up brawling with – he'd be seeing clouds beneath him. Air was thinner, too, as he barely noticed.
"Wonder if that bozo's still got that stupid expression on 'im..."
Like a suicidal maniac, he lifelessly fell from the self-carved cavern and into freefall, giving himself to gravity. He let himself sail for a few minutes, hands-in-pockets and taking it all in.
Training was hell – he'd jump one hurdle only to run headfirst off a chasm – but he'd gotten stronger. Not strong enough, but stronger. He could punch holes into mountains now, he was THAT strong now.
He could eat whenever he wanted. He could take a walk and not fear death at every turn. People were dicks at worst, but no one was out to use or kill him. Apparently, toilet paper existed. He had it made.
He began to wonder if he even...
No, that question was self-answering. All the horrible things he'd done, yet all he had to do was die one day and bam. This.
He sighed, coated himself in chi – a more refined take on the Sky Dance technique – and blasted off to the camp site.
Upon catching a visual, Neoru let himself go, flipped through a 10-meter drop – it's fun, shut up – and landed, only to find his master in the same decrepit, depressed condition.
"you fuckin serious right now..." he muttered in annoyance.
"OK that's it HEY! KASET! WAKE UP, IT'S BEEN 3 HOURS, DAMMIT, GONNA BE LATE AT THIS POINT!" he yelled.
"huh?" Kaset muttered.
"Hell's goin' on with you?" Neoru crossed his arms. "I had to go off n' do my own damn training 'cus ya been in some kinda rut or some shit since morning, what gives?"
Kaset cleared some grime from his eyes.
"I, uh..."
"!?"
"... I found out about something earlier."
"Yeah, and?"
Kaset held up his head. "I'm... just strugglin' through loss right now. Sorry, man."
Neo's eyes lost their sharp edge. His arms fell to the side.
"... oh."
"Yeah."
Loss.
It sucked. A lot.
"But you went off and trained on your own, instead'a waiting. That's what's up."
Neo's hands sank into his pockets. "Yeah."
Kaset gave a lengthy sigh. "I don't know, maybe I'll pull it together once you're outta school, but right now, I-"
"Don't... worry about it. I get it. I'll just bug you tomorrow."
Kaset nodded. "You sure?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Neoru took out a gate, briefly looked back, and vanished.
The older patroller was left in silence.
"..."
His head slowly sank.
"... all they had to do was kick a ball..."
"Jeez, it must be, like, 2 or somethin' right about now..."
It was currently 7:50.
Neoru's skewed perception of time had been done no favors by his training.
In any case, the star in the sky gleamed a brilliant golden orange upon Conton's waking streets, making it evident that morning was in its glorious prime. The boy even had the pleasure of meeting an old acquaintance on the way to school.
"ah fuck me, not this guy agai-"
"What a coincidence, human!" shouted a lanky, bug-faced chap about 2 meters in height. "Or did you seek me out yourself? Not that I care, because it doesn't change what comes next!"
"dude it's like 4 pm, I gotta go learn about... p cells, or whatever, go do somethin' els-"
"NO EXCUSES! I'll make it obvious that our last fight was nothing but a fluke! There's no way a human could stand to a X-"
"Yeah, yeah, it was a fluke, whatever, just buzz off already," Neoru bluntly replied, hunching away from the last guy he'd fought as part of his training.
"... I... uh... SEE!? SEE, HE ADMITTED IT! YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST, EVERYONE! FLUKE! FLUKE!" he proudly, publicly, and pathetically proclaimed to perturbed pedestrians passing his position paralleling the pavement.
I am the greatest writer that has ever lived.
"Didn't that guy make you cry?" noted a stray voice, garnering a wimpy "NO!" from the bizarre lad.
Neoru continued his way. A chip sat on his shoulder all the while.
"... Dammit, I hardly said anything to the guy, either..."
A mental image of Kaset's sorrow-choked expression haunted his memory.
"Way back when, he at least gave talkin'na me a shot... now he's lost someone, and all I could do was run?"
His brow furrowed. "It's not like I COULD'VE said anything that'd help, what's the point of ragging on myself?"
"Fuck's sake, I could've at least tried. Everything Kaset's done for me, and I just leave him out to dry while he's at his lowest?"
He passed a building, its dark shade enveloping him.
"So that's it, huh? I'm still the same, useless brat?"
He paused for a moment.
"... tch, who the hell cares? People die, he's older than I am, he'll get over it."
He gave himself a self-assuring smile, coming up on an alley. "Yeah. It sucks for like, a week, and then you're back on the saddle. 's not like it's my problem, anywa-"
Every hair sprang up. Adrenaline coursed. He started to jump back.
2 hands jut forward, clenched his vest, reeled back, and threw him collar-first into the alley.
"WH-"
[BGM: Earthside - Mob Mentality (0:48-1:48)]
He landed forearm-first, cushioning his rocket-fast journey to the ground before rolling back into a stand and lunging at his assailant on instinct; instantly, he was violently slammed into the Conton-Grade cement. His eyes bulged and saliva shot from his mouth, raw force from the impact almost shattering his back.
"You have 5 seconds to tell me everything you know before your neck breaks like a matchstick," the attacker quickly threatened, now pinning his interrogatee down in full-mount with a forearm tightly against his throat.
"Match this, FUCKFACE!" Neoru sneered, forcing the other to veer to the side with an ocular kiai, grabbing the arm holding him down and quickly bridging, flipping the attacker from his higher position and quickly gained control of the mount in the claustrophobically narrow corridor the they fought in. His foe blocked his two incoming punches, took a third to retaliate with a quick hammer to the side of the head, and instantly pulled Neo in by the shirt for a guillotine as his legs wrapped around the abdomen in a triangle. By the smallest margin, he whipped his arms free from the triangle hold.
"Damn it!" the aggressor internally snapped, his wrist slowly being pulled down by the boy he still intended on squeezing info out of.
"Damn it!" Neoru internally snapped, giving everything he had to pull down the wrist, knowing full-well that if he failed, he'd end up asphyxiated or worse.
"What the hell..."
"... Is this strength!?"
Tossing in the first play that came to mind, he suddenly jut out his left arm and slung his right over the assailant's neck, resulting in both the latter's guillotine closing and the former's own chokehold going through; now, they were at least at each other's mercy, and someone had to give eventually.
"kshhh... haaaah..."
That someone, in this moment, wouldn't be his opponent.
"Ah come o-HWAACK!" he wheezed, the guillotine hold somehow growing tighter. The strangler's aura, deep-blue in appearance, briefly rose from him; as if a ripping current were carrying him off, the protruding chi accelerated his limbs forward, loosening his grip to the extent of, at best, a child's hug. Quickly losing oxygen, his vision began to blur, and reality seemed to bend.
And instead of a chokehold, the alley itself had closed in around his neck.
"Give up," the figure ordered. "You're... human, I think. In that case, you've lost too much oxygen to put up a fight. Now tell me, WHERE THE HELL AM I?"
Instead of complying, Neoru began to slow down.
"{Calm down... come on...)"
Something popped up.
[BGM: Long Distance Calling - Black Paper Planes (Start-1:40)]
He snapped back into reality. With reckless abandon, he used the last of his fading strength to release his own hold and prop himself off the ground with a handstand. His neck feeling less strain from the hold, Neoru grabbed a gulp of air before shooting off his own aura to fight back against the other's current. With that, he quickly reeled back his feet toward his back and forcefully jerked them into the ground in front of him, jolting the two upward and letting him break free from the would-be stranglehold with a fierce nod forward. With no second thought, Neoru threw a back fist, caught by the assailant who'd only-just caught his balance.
"(That trick's only working once... he gets me back to the ground again, I'm dead! He's something else down there!)"
"I'm mistaken, then; you're not human. Doesn't matter. If you're that intent on fighting, I'll just have to break everything but your throat!" his attacker declared, before pulling the fist, dropping low, and overhead-throwing the boy.
Neoru's mind began to race, and his heart pounded. This form of razor's edge fighting, where one screw-up or a move a second-too-late, and unconsciousness wasn't the worst outcome, it took him back. The fact that nobody noticed the noise they were making, the question that was asked, none of it mattered to him. All that counted was survival.
Even though all he needed to do was tell the figure what he knew.
"I stay off the ground, no matter what!" he resolved, squeezing his adversary's hand while being tossed and landing on his feet as he countered with his own overhead throw. Catching himself along the buildings serving as the alley's walls, said attacker lunged back down, rolling across the ground and springing upward with a fist that turned into a barrage. The way the two began to exchange periodic, focused blows made it clear that this was no casual bout; their heads bashed against each other, elbows and knees flew at bullet-dwarfing velocities as their blocking limbs burned and bruised, the buildings enclosing them became bashing tools, and soon, blood began to flow from their mouths. As the two literally back-and-forth'd, the intensely-humanoid figure – whom Neoru could now see wore a fatigue not-too far from what a soldier from a wannabe-militia would wear – took advantage of an inevitable window, grabbed ahold of Neoru's jacket in a clench and attempted an under-sweep, a move reciprocated with Neoru's knee to his face as he leapt over the intrusive leg.
As he was suddenly dragged toward the ground, Neo began realizing a bit too late that they could work with a reaction like that.
"SORYAH!" he yelled, violently jerking his body through the air before shoving Neoru into the building's side. Every bone and organ quaked; however, the latter hardly had time to scream before he realized what had been done next.
They were on the ground again.
The man in the scrappy uniform had immediately moved into a heel-hook position. Neoru's lower half was immobilized completely.
And the man rolled.
"You're pulling my leg."
"No, I'm serious! All I did was bingewatch Making Rads, and then-"
The two patrollers' conversation was cut short by a far-off scream.
"What was that?" one asked as they walked past a thin alley.
"Sounded like it came from that creepy alley..."
"Think it was some kind of ghost?"
"You know, with all the dead people walking around here, an actual ghost wouldn't surprise me... But anyway, that's the story of how I got my Galactic Chemistry P.H.D-"
White-hot agony overpowered his thoughts.
He was seeing blobs as he stared up in a daze, blunt trauma and the surreal, curiously-sharp pain of his ripped leg tendons and dislocated bone culminating into a drunken mental fog.
"That... could've been avoided... If you'd just opened your mouth," the figure aggravatedly stated. "So what about now? Do you still feel like carrying this on until you're resting in your own feces, if your people even do that?"
The pain he felt was intense. But...
In his insolence, he rose.
Grapples like that were always his go-to for stronger opponents. He always treated it like a last-second weapon, or a finisher. But his opponent's throws, pins, groundwork, locks, they made it clear to him.
This guy LIVED the stuff.
"That's weird, right?" he hissed, pressing himself against an adjacent wall.
"Even after that shitshow..."
He maniacally chuckled, crazy smirk lining his face. The human gears of fear and curiosity clashed against each other as he went against himself, pupils within his violet eyes becoming inexplicable slits.
[BGM: Long Distance Calling - Black Paper Planes (3:20)]
"I still wanna keep this goin'!"
The soldier looked on in bewilderment, as Neoru continued.
"Tell you what. Take this last leg, and I'll tell you all~ about this fair city. How 'bout it?"
"... I've got a pin on what you are, now. No tail, but everything else is a dead giveaway."
He took a wide, horizontal stance.
"Simple enough. I'll take you down before you get any stronger."
He dashed forward, intent on a clinch.
"OK, let's try that one!"
Neoru suddenly threw himself off the wall propping him up. Kicking his working leg underneath the foe, he quickly grabbed hold, flipped, and threw both he and the grappler downward with a lateral drop that shook the nearby buildings.
"K~AHH!"
"How's that!?" he mentally goaded. As he rolled off and jumped up, before he could gain distance, his vest was once-again grabbed.
"A technique like that with one leg!? That's the only miracle you'll pull off!" the figure shouted, knocking Neo off balance and pulling him in for a throw.
"That again? Good!" he shouted subconsciously, throwing back his straightened arms and shooting forward, simultaneously headbutting his aggressor and shrugging off the jacket. Blood spurted from both their hardened noggins, the two crashing opposite directions down to the ground. Neoru's arms supported him up, as did his foe's, the two throwing themselves onto their feet and diving back in.
"(Even with one leg, he's able to put up this much of a fight... Wait...)"
He dove down and nearly caught Neoru's leg in between his own two, but the subsequent roll was foiled by his hand gripping the structure beside him as he jumped off and rotated his body off it. The opposition had just enough time to shift his head away from the forceful stomp coming straight after.
"(I'm... smiling?)"
He dodged an ensuing soccer kick, stylishly jumped off the ground and onto an opposing wall. Neoru, having the same idea, lunged at him, the two colliding and switching makeshift launchpads as they made a steady ascent between the two structures. Each landed a blow just fast enough to avoid an ensuing grapple attempt, Neoru more-so out of necessity.
All the while, the boy in the ripped uniform felt his blood surge.
"(So THIS is what that feeling's like? What a place to feel it for the first time... now I need to know about it more than ever!)"
His stance changed. A blue aura burst forth, revealing snow-white skin, lightly-pointed ears, pitch-black hair with fin-like side bangs swaying wildly, and a toothy grin as they both reached a height about a jump from their respective building's roof as the morning sun shined down its shifting beams.
"(But first.. I WANT to defeat this man!)"
He came at Neoru again.
"(He stepped things up!)" the boy in the white t-shirt cautiously noted. "(That's great... I've come up with something!)"
He lunged forth, shifting his lower body.
"(A KICK!)"
The other fighter readied himself, waiting for the chance to leave his opponent with no leg to stand on.
Neoru kicked, sturdier and chi-laced leg swung full-force as the other dangled lifelessly.
"(NOW!)"
The adversary took it under his arm. Only then, was the play revealed to him.
"... WHAT!?"
The leg's light glow faded, returning to its bent and disfigured form.
"DORAAAAAAH!"
He looked up long enough to witness a heel – from that same, 'lifeless' leg – swing across his chin. Ironically aided by his current-like aura, it hit with velocity hard enough to cause a BOOM across a good chunk of Conton City.
"That one took up damn-near everything in the tank; mind, body, AND spirit!" Neoru subconsciously stressed as he spun. "I fucking hate to say it, but... I can't beat a guy like you in grappling." He reeled back his leg, preparing for a final, confirming kick as his fierce enemy's lights went dim.
"SO I'LL SUCK IT UP AND STRIKE!"
The man began to fade. He'd lost.
But in that moment of unconsciousness...
"Tell me... why do you fight?"
"For the good of the cause, of course," he replied, kneeling.
"Why not fight for yourself?"
"That's absurd! This battle, the end of this regime, it means everything to me. I don't mind being a weapon if it's for our good."
"But you aren't a weapon. You, and every man and woman here, possesses their OWN will. They aren't simply the weapons of a cause! They press on because it embodies THEIR beliefs!"
His arms suddenly rose.
"Stand up, Katlij. A warrior of your caliber fights for their OWN ideals!"
In his last move before falling, he formed a guard.
One arm raising behind Neoru's heel.
The other rising before his knee.
Right as it impacted.
And Neo saw it all.
"(... ah fu-)"
.
.
CRR~CK!
.
.
Neoru woke up at the bottom of the alley.
He lifted his upper half off the ground, rubbing the bleeding back of his head.
"The hell-AH!"
The human immediately bent down to nurse – That's "Hold Like a Dumbass" in Neorish – his intense leg wounds.
"The words he said to me before that disaster of a battle... I'm starting to make sense of them."
"eh?"
Leaning aside one of the apartments, formerly stood as a battlefield, was...
"Now then."
Katlij rubbed his nigh-fractured jaw.
"An explanation, if you will."
"..."
Neoru sighed, subtly cursing.
"Well, I guess I'll start with how and why you're here. That goes back to that one purple-haired jackass that I'll guess ya at least saw..."
"That concludes today's lesson on Time Travel and You!" Krillin chipperly announced. "If you got confused near the end there, don't sweat it! Trunks just WINGED this stuff and look at him! He turned out just fine, right?"
The class devolved into fits of snickers.
Yeah, Krillin managed to win the class over enough to grab another 2 months under his belt.
"Alright, guys, seriously. Make sure to study hard, and train harder! The road might seem steady, but trust me, time's flying by. Well, not really, but uh, you know what I mean. 9 months or, uh, 274 star-rises until this tournament hits off, so-"
BANG!
Krillin's cueball head, followed by many others, swiveled toward the slam's direction.
In the doorway stood two young men who looked fresh out of a morgue.
The one in the dark-grey tribal vest slowly held up his hand.
"Hey, I'm not late, am I?"
"... it's 11:55."
"So I made it?"
"I wrote you off as absent 3 hours ago. And YOU," Krillin pointed to Neo's carrier, "Fit the description of that new kid who Trunks told me escaped him before he could-"
"Yes." Katlij turned an embarrassed red hue. "That's me."
"... See me after class. Which is right now, good luck everyone!"
So stuff went down.
Krillin was informed of the fight's specifics, there was a stern talking-to about the virtues of keeping a cool head and the iffy ethics of interrogation, much was learned, meaning nothing was learned and they'll probably do it again.
Zinco joined in the scolding. No one asked him, but he sure gave Neoru his 47th stern talking to about why fight = bad, while Kaza offered to help, and then promptly healed the two up.
"OK, OK, I learned my lesson."
"Really?" Zinco asked cheerfully.
"Yeah, I just gotta remember to NEVER LET YOU KNOW ABOUT ANYTHING, EVER, HOLY SHIT DUDE," Neoru grumbled as he jumped out his chair and stomped out the door.
"And school sucks anyway, get fucked mirrorhead!" he yelled inside the hallway, goading Krillin out his seat and after the brat.
"... oh." As Kaza literally fumed, Zinco smiled.
"I made him learn a lesson!"
All the while the OTHER seated student shifted awkwardly.
"Am, uh... Am I exempt from this?" Katlij asked.
Zinco slowly turned to the pale-faced boy.
"No."
They were still absent, too, that sucks.
After all that, Neoru chose a high spot to look out into.
That encounter was just what he needed to take his mind off what'd bothered him. But the encounter had been resolved.
Despite everything prior, he was still left with that feeling of weakness. Of uselessness.
"You have a knack for making yourself scarce quickly."
He turned. "Oh, it's you, uh..."
"Katlij. Neo, I'm guessing?"
"Neoru, I don't know why the hell people call me that first one. Asshats."
[BGM: Force of Nature - Just Forget]
Katlij took a seat.
"I want to thank you."
"Why? I'd hafta be one piece'a shit for breakin' a deal like that."
"No, not that. My fight with you... helped me realize why I should fight."
"Eh? Whaddo you mean?"
Katlij smiled.
"The man I fought under, some time before the battle which apparently dragged me here, told me to fight for myself. Not as a simple means of service, but because I want to fight. Our showdown taught me that feeling first-hand. Your grit, the speed and force behind your blows, the manic plans you pulled from thin air and executed without hesitation, they made me want to fight on with everything I had. As a warrior."
Neoru gave a puzzled look.
"The fuck?"
"What?"
"I, uh... I just don't get that. I only fight to get stronger, and I need to get stronger to live. If I had it any other way, I wouldn't fight at all."
"Is that right? Certainly surprising, coming from a Saiyan."
.
.
"WHAT?"
Katlij sweat. "I-uh-forgive me, I shouldn't've said something so callou-"
"NAHNAHNAHNAHNAH, YOU JUST CALLED ME A SAIYAN, THE HELL'S THAT ALL ABOUT!?"
"WAIT, WHAT!? YOU'RE SURE THAT YOU'RE NOT A SAIYAN!?"
" 'COURSE, I'M... uh... um... C-'COURSE I'M SURE! NO TAIL IN SIGHT, AND I SURE-AS-HELL CAN'T GO BLONDE! YOU WOULDN'T LIKE IT ONE BIT IF I JUST CALLED YA A VAMPIRE OUTTA THE BLUE, WOULD YA!?"
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS, SO... NO!?"
Neoru took that response as a sign to calm himself down.
"Y'know? You're not even the first to call me that."
Katrij wiped off beads of sweat and replied. "I've fought alongside a few in the past. Not many other races can match them in terms of sheer fighting power and lust for combat. On the contrary, humans tended to stick to firearms and equipment. But to find one of your caliber here..." He sighed. "What a bizarre world I've found myself in..."
"Yeah, well, it gets even weirder the longer you're here, so... yeah..."
Neoru resumed his sullen brooding.
"Something on your mind?"
"..."
Neoru shrugged. "Ah, what the hell. Someone I know's going through a lot right now. He lost someone."
Katlij nodded.
"This guy, he... he's helped me out a ton, he's helped give me a life that I KNOW I don't deserve, yet... now that it's my turn to help HIM, I... I feel like there's nothin' I can do."
"... well, what do you want to believe you can do?"
"Hu-"
"Is there really no option? Or are you holding yourself back?"
"I..."
"You talk of being undeserving? Why's that?"
Neoru lightly chuckled. "Finally, an easy one. I'm a piece'a shit who just happened to die and be sent here. I killed people, I stole, I cheated, and yet here I am, livin' it up while the poor bastards in my timeline hafta keep up that same damn fight. All of this is too good for someone like-"
"Stop pitying yourself."
Neoru looked back aggressively. "What?"
"You've done things you regret. Horrible things, things that you can't take back. It's a horrid feeling that I know all-too well from my former line of duty. But you don't take me for a man who'd kill indiscriminately." Katlij balled his fist. "If you made it with your convictions in-tact, you clearly are neither the weakling nor the monster you think you are! So end this forced guilt trip, stand, and walk forward with YOUR ideals at heart."
"Katlij..."
"..."
"I never said I was weak, shithead! Watch it!"
"UH-I... I, er, just felt it was implied. Pardon."
Neoru picked himself up.
"Still..."
The fatigue-donning boy, though he wouldn't admit it, had given him exactly what he needed.
"Ya gave me an idea of where I'm lacking, and to top it all off, I've got that extra kick-in-the-ass I needed today because'a you. And ta think, you were the guy tryin'a thank me!"
With a light shrug, Katlij helped himself off the grassy hill overlooking a bit of Conton.
"I may've gone into a pathetic rut not far from your own, if you weren't the first fool I grabbed. The pleasure's mine, my friend!"
Neoru flashed a toothy smirk before sprinting off.
"Welp, time to give a shit and give it a shot!"
Somewhere along the way, Neoru was stopped by a certain someone.
"Hey, aren't ya the guy who used to teach me about shit before the other bald guy took over?"
Stroga wasn't hurt by that description at all.
"You could certainly say that, yes."
"Whaddo you want? I'm busy."
"You're the young man currently under Kaset's tutelage, yes? He's a friend, and considering a former happenstance resulting in his absence, I was hoping you could relay a message for me!"
"(Wait, this guy knows?) Sure, go for it."
"IF HE DOESN'T PAY SOON, I WILL MAKE HIM PAY MYSELF."
Neoru felt as if he'd died a thousand times, just from feeling a drop of the bloodlust his former teacher exuded.
"U-uh, yeah, sure, no problem, just don't gut me!" he stuttered as he booked it.
"Much appreciated!"
Neoru eventually remembered how he got to the stagnant timespace, and went through the gate.
"No idea what the hell that guy's problem was, but it doesn't matter!"
He readied himself and flew toward Kaset's ki signature.
"Ta hell with what happens after! I'm at least gonna confront him about this!"
He touched down.
"(Alright, here I-)"
He had no fucking idea how to describe what he saw.
Wait, no, there was one way.
Kaset was no longer in a depressed funk.
He just looked insane.
As did... whatever that self-made arena was.
"uh..."
Kaset's neck turned 180 degrees.
"que-"
[BGM: Nujabes - The Stroll]
He reappeared in front of Neoru, a holographic screen with "REC" in bold trailing the patroller.
"AY AY, KICK THIS BALL!" he demanded, slamming down a gooey ball into the ground below him.
"WHAT!?"
"KICK THE FUCKIN' BALL!"
Neoru quickly kicked the ball, conveniently past the huge goalpost made of wood.
Kaset proceeded to snap back toward the screen.
"DO YOU SEE THAT SHIT!? THIS FUCKIN, 15 YEAR OLD BOY JUST DID YO FUCKIN JOB FOR YOOOOU! HOW THE FUCK Y'ALL EVER MAKE IT TO THE PLAYOFFS, Y'ALL CAN'T EVEN KICK A FUCKIN' BALL RIGHT!? IT'S NOT FUCKIN' ROCKET SCIENCE, THIS SHIT DON'T ADD U~P! I'M FUCKIN' BEWILDEEEERED! HOW THE FUCK YOU LOSE TO, FUCKIN' BULLBATS, THEY TRAAASH! THEY AIN'T WON SHIT SINCE 600! RIPLOKS, RIPOFFS, I CAN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE ANYMORE, Y'ALL SOWRRYYYY!" he screamed, pacing back-and-forth erratically.
Neoru watched on. He didn't quite know what to feel.
And then things started to click.
"OH, oh man, I needed that today," the senior patroller wheezed, before a tap on the shoulder caught his attention.
"Say, Kaset. That 'loss' you were talkin' about this morning..." began Neoru, grinding his teeth as sizable vein popped out his head.
"You didn't actually lose anyone, did ya?"
Kaset stared with an annoyingly-clueless expression. "What? Of course not." With a moment of reflection, he began grinning. "Wait, I didn't scare you or anything, did I?" he chuckled, ruffling the livid serpent's hair. "I was just pissed that I'm about to lose money over shenanigans, my bad for scarin' you, Neo!"
"Gh..."
"Neo?"
"GRGH...!"
"... Ne-"
THWACK!
"AH! I SAID I WAS SORRY!" Kaset cried with a new knot atop his head, as Neoru stormed off.
"THAT'S FOR BEIN' SO DAMN CRYPTIC, DIPSHIT!"
Despite the initial annoyance, however...
He gave a small sigh of relief, and smiled.
(Damn, I hate caring...)"
[ED: Pay Money to My Pain - Weight of My Pride]
Yo! OP Here!
I wanted to make a Loss joke with text n' shit here, but this site hates format creativity. It, like, does this thing where if you space letters out l.i.k.e. t.h.i.s. but replace the periods with spaces, it erases the whole thing, it sucks.
Regardless, this chapter's fight segment alone had me going for a few days. Yeah, grappling's cool as hell when you're watching it, but putting the stuff to paper ain't so fun when you know, like, bare minimum. Regardless, new character, 'spect to Sambo with his fight style, he does cool stuff with his aura, yuh.
Yeah, the grapple/Sambo research I did was cool, I guess, but you know helped make this fight FUN? Shootfighter Tekken. That bomb-ass OVA helped me out a LOT more than I wanna admit, and I felt I had to revisit it for this chapter. Check it out, it's like 2 hours long with all 3 episodes combined.
I feel like I screwed up with the music choices, that's gonna forever vex me. Besides that? I really like this chapter. Especially the fight, considering some of the garbage I thought of when I was still drafting.
On that same note, regarding the OP, it'll switch with King and Ashley a lot, considering I feel that this one is Neoru-themed, while the former is Dina-theme. And Kengan Ashura's OPs kick ass, that too.
Next chapter's gonna focus on Dina, here's hoping to that she doesn't turn 1-D over that "Training to Kill This One Bish" stuff she's on right now.
Her name's Dina, she doesn't like this one big grill with muscles, and now she's after revenge. Suddenly, I'm topical. Hah.
If that had you scratching your head, sorry, someone will probably get it.
I'm only gonna think of other shit to say once this chapter's been published, I suck.
But yeah. See ya.