Trio Heroes: Mutant Force

Chapter 6: Public Debut | Part 1

By: TheRealBigJ

Disclaimer: All My Hero Academia and Dragon Ball Z elements are owned to their respective authors.

Author's Note

Hey, back with another chapter. Late upload, I know, but this fella was over 16k words of pure and unedited story... yeah, I had to space myself out to edit and clean up. And as the title goes, I've decided to break this into two parts as well... since fleshing out what I wrote here was going to go past 20k words. I know, that's pretty normal for writing, but I felt like I should go easy on myself...

... this would be the second time I've divided a chapter, huh? Haha, and this is technically only chapter four of my original's drafts... I'm really enjoying this. I hope you will as well.

Trigger Warning: Profanity, Violence, Blood

Fukuoka Urban Residentials, four years later (when will the time skips end!)…

"... let's at least just keep the walls white. It's simple so we don't have to worry about it."

Donatello shook his head disapprovingly. " That's too basic, man. We should make this place look eye-catching, especially if we'll be living here for a while."

" Sometimes being basic is better."

" And sometimes it isn't," Donatello countered back, walking over to one of the blank and aged walls while pulling his gray sweater's sleeve up to his elbow and placing his pink palms against the rough and dry surface, " think about it, Jay. A red-orange gradient, or maybe a picture of a red sky with a sea of fire. You see the vision I'm getting at?"

" …you wanna make this place look like hell?" Jayden deadpanned.

" Doesn't have to be, but I'm just putting out some ideas."

" The only one here artistic enough to pull anything like that is Fred…" Jayden hummed, glancing over at the Acrosian, who was currently levitating above their small glass coffee table in a lotus pose. Surrounding him—as well as much of the small living room—were stacks of labeled cardboard boxes, unopened and waiting to be shuffled to their correct rooms. "... unironically."

" Dude, even a baby could do it. All you need is some paint and then decals or whatever."

" We're sticking to white, Don."

Donatello huffed, glancing hopefully at Frederick. " C'mon, Fred, speak some sense into him. We need more color in this crappy place."

Frederick opened one of his eyes and glanced at Donatello with a completely uninterested gaze. " I think all-white is fine."

The response was nye insulting. Donatello's mouth partly opened with a look of genuine awe from the curt answer. " … Seriously?"

" As serious as I can be about this, yes."

" … wow, ok," Donatello blew out air, putting his fists on his hips with a sense of disappointment, " am I really the only one here serious about moving into our new place?"

" What? We all are, Don. Decorations just come last," Jayden said in defense, all while walking up to one of the stacks of boxes and lifting two up, " and besides, we don't have the time to paint these walls, much less anything in this apartment. Not with our current agenda, at least."

Donatello opened his mouth to retort but no words came out, hearing the reason behind Jayden's words. Indeed, with a timeframe of about one weekend worth of free time remaining, they only had so much to do with their new three-bedroom apartment. He watched as the Bio Android disappeared down the hall before groaning, slumping himself down on the stiff pre-installed sofa. " Dammit… why can't we just make this place look just a little bit more homely."

" A house can be homely with simplicity," Frederick passively and monotonously commented.

" For fuck's sake, your ass painted a whole mural back in the orphanage, Fred. You're the last person I need to hear that from."

" It was a small proj—"

" Small enough to get you a reward from the mayor of the city?"

"... I mean—"

" Plus four fucking medals from national art museums."

"..."

Donatello snorted, leaning back into the sofa. " Like, damn man, why not put in the same effort over here? It shouldn't even be that much of a problem for you."

"... You're really persistent about this, Don."

The Majin simply grinned. " Hell yeah, I am. That small room we lived in at the orphanage for the past, what, eleven years? It was actually really decked out. I don't see why the same shouldn't happen here."

"..." Frederick eventually huffed with exasperation before giving a defeated smile. " Alright, sure, go ahead and do what you want. We weren't going to stop you, anyways."

" Ay man, I was really just asking for help in the first place," Donatello corrected, though his smile never left his face, " you think you could paint a few things for me? I'm thinking each room gotta have its own theme to it."

" Sure, no problem," Frederick shrugged, though a sweat drop ran down his forehead, "... just… make sure it's tame. Nothing too complex."

Donatello just grinned in response, quickly pulling out his cheap and outdated flip phone to begin his thorough search for just as cheap paint. Frederick in turn closed his eyes again, returning to his meditation.

Evidently, another four years have passed, and unsurprisingly the boredom had not once been subdued for the three. Reliving childhood was no small feat, especially with the constant effort to put up a child-like front. Fortunately, though, the three boys were able to manage their fronts quite well, and they slowly began to act like their true selves the older they got.

Their training had made many breakthroughs. Not long after their seventh birthdays, Frederick discovered that his mindscape had more benefits than just the mental communication. With the ability to adjust time— and in addition to a previous discovery that they could, in fact, perform physical exertion in his mindscape that altered their real bodies—the three boys could spend their nights training in his mindscape much longer than they were sleeping. It gave them the luxury of a much more fulfilling growth… much more fulfilling than their situation was giving them.

Jayden was at a point where he could confidently claim he knew his system like the back of his hand. No other new features had appeared to him—not since the discovery of item forgery—and so he spent the rest of his time fully understanding each aspect of his system. Verily, he's come to get hold of many valuable things, such as armor, weapons, status effects, and much more—all of which he dutifully shared with his brothers. And to bring attention to their stat points… it was something they've continued to withhold from using, no matter if they've already passed the threshold of level sixty.

Unfortunately, Donatello's bouts with his magic was a continuous struggle for the Majin. While he did, in fact, get a substantially better grasp of his Universal Magic, there were restrictions to what he was able to create. Whether fortunate or not, he could not produce reality-erasing magic, time-altering magic, instant-death magic, end-their-mission-in-seconds magic, or anything along those lines. Subsequently, he had long come to the conclusion that his "Universal Magic" was anything but universal.

Given the many years that passed, it was no surprise that the three boys had physically grown from their infant versions. At the age of eleven, Jayden stood as the tallest of the trio, with Donatello remaining the smallest—much to Jayden and Fredrick's teasing and much to the Majin's annoyance. It was at this point that the three were so ingrained with their new bodies that they nearly forgot what it was to be human…

… Nearly, for they still clinged on dearly to their old memories, many of which would reoccur to them in their private dreams. It was the only lingering reminder that they had a previous life, anyways.

Since they have grown to the appropriate age, the trio recently moved out of the orphanage—a milestone of an achievement that, at the very least, Donatello had exclaimed earnestly. With the chains of curfew and other tedious rules released, the three boys now had the unadulterated freedom to move as they pleased… while not having to constantly reduce their powers by half to produce clones.

The apartment they moved into wasn't as extravagant as one would think, especially since it was government funded. Their apartment was a part of a three-story apartment complex, littered with cracked walls and dusty windows. In fact, some of the windows were even boarded shut, which only further added to the complex's rather dangerous features. The staircases going up to each floor level were severely rusted, relying heavily on aged metal beams that were close to breaking at any moment. It was a wonder how they even managed to carry up most of their heavy luggage without the whole thing falling down.

Overall, the building looked as if it was sitting in its spot since the eras before quirks existed, and Donatello constantly reminded everyone how much he hated the unbearable stench that covered the place. That brought up the general health-risk of the complex; while the other two didn't mind so much, Jayden had a rather terrible skin irritation from the dry air. Frederick was arguably the most immune of the three from their new home's conditions… so long as he avoided their neighbor's small peanut garden on their patio. Imagine, an Acrosian—relative to tyrants like Frieza and King Cold—having allergies to peanuts. It baffled them to no end.

At the very least, the introduction to this apartment's drawbacks also introduced more features about their bodies. Aside from the painfully overpowered abilities, Jayden had come to realize that his body much preferred humid air, something he had initially overlooked since the orphanage and surrounding forest were humid most of the time. He had deduced that it was simply because of his Namekian genes, which he backed up with the fact he only really needed to drink water to survive. Nonetheless, it tied along perfectly with his skin irritation.

The landlord—an old balding man that has long since past his glory days—wasn't the most approachable of people they've met. His reaction of the three was relatively tame; at the very least, he only described them as new delinquents from the street when he frantically called the police. Fortunately, after a short explanation from Nakagawa and from a government official which the three never bothered to remember their name, the landlord simply resorted to ignoring them.

Rude? Probably, but not like it mattered to them much. He had at least given them a tour of their apartment before ultimately ignoring them. The tour had turned out to be a very informative one, too, especially to the condition of the apartment beforehand.

" …H-How long will this even take to clean…" Donatello groaned in dismay, staring into the open door of the apartment's interior with palpable disgust. Just at the doorway, one could quickly see a wide variety of stains and mold covering the walls, ceiling, corners, and windows. The wooden floor was nye-completely worn down, with wood panels either splintered or sticking out entirely. Donatello could've even sworn that he saw the end of a rat's tail near the corner of the kitchen entrance.

" You are in no position to complain, Donatello-kun," Nakagawa admonished, giving him a stern look. Even then, she couldn't completely mask the similar disturbed look from her face. " You three were insistive of moving out, and now you must understand the pains of moving into a new home."

" Ugh…"

' You know, you can always use your magic to clean up this place.' Frederick mentally commented, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he looked around the apartment blankly.

' I've also got a self-cleaning robot from a daily reward some time ago. Three of them specifically, I think,' Jayden added, brushing away the cobwebs that got caught on his boney crown, ' 'll let them run around here during the day so it could also help.'

Donatello, in response, simply groaned even louder.

From then on, it would take the three boys a week before the apartment was in a livable condition. And while it had come with many drawbacks—such as delay in their routine training regime—it eventually bore fruit to what they had now; a home, separate from the other obnoxious little and older children who—even to this day—have held onto the stigma that the trio were some abominations that were anything but human.

But, of course, there was still much left to do before they completely settled in, and that included the towers of boxes that surrounded them. Donatello would sourly stare at the unfinished work for some time before joining in with Jayden in unboxing, smoothly being followed behind by Frederick thereafter.

Fukuoka Junior High School, on a Monday

Today was the day the trio would be embarking on a new chapter in life; middle school.

Indeed, they were finally of the age to go to a public school. Since their arrival, they had reluctantly attended homeschooling in the orphanage, aided by a few tutors which were regularly hired by Nakagawa. And surprisingly, said tutors were not entirely boring. Sure, while relearning their colors and basic operations was like watching paint dry, the tutors would actually teach it in a somewhat interesting way… or as interesting as it could get for the three.

Obviously, none of it had any relevance whatsoever in the grand scheme of things, but it was commemorative enough of an effort to be recognized for stopping Donatello from going insane.

At the moment, the three were walking down the empty halls of Fukuoka Junior High school, lacking any escort of sorts. With every other student attending class—minus the few delinquent-like seniors that they passed by—the school didn't look very exciting, much less well-maintained. The lockers were completely worn down, a few ceiling tiles were missing, and the lights barely lit anything past a few feet. The air held a smell of industrial paint, which was supported by the glistening look of the tan walls. It didn't help that there were no windows down this specific hall, either.

In short, it was as if they were walking down a run down a prison hallway.

Donatello smiled blissfully—almost with enlightenment—as he pocketed his hands in his black gakuran, which had a poorly sewn crest of a lilac flower. " Man… this place is absolutely shit."

" It'll have to do for now… the other school looked even worse," Frederick grimaced with a sigh as they passed by two skipping students. The two seemed to be in a heated discussion, and as the trio left the two behind them, they could hear the sound of fists colliding with faces. " Poor quality teachers… terrible maintenance… Delinquent activity everywhere… not so good. "

" Delinquent," Donatello snorted, rolling his eyes, " do you gotta make yourself sound like an old man?"

" It's true, though."

" Sure, sure," Donatello chuckled, letting his eyes wander to the closed off section with spilt water, " you know, this school doesn't look very Japanese… almost reminds me of school back home."

" Well, as parallel as this Earth is with ours, it has its own differences," Frederick explained, " I've done a little research a while back about this country's current cultural environment. Underneath all the hero talk, there's actually a lot more western influence than you'd think, namely in places like schools, business, market, etcetera."

" Hm, cool."

Jayden, on his part, was not paying attention at all. With a rather irritated scowl, he constantly nagged at his oddly shaped uniform, due to his rather unique body structure. The fabric clung to his exoskeleton tightly, with some parts looking as if they were seconds from ripping. In short, it was really stiff.

Noticing the Bio Android's distress, Donatello tilted his head. " You good, Jay?"

" I hate these damn uniforms," Jayden quite literally hissed, causing the other two to take a quick pause, " so fucking stiff…"

" …You'll have to get used to it," Frederick eventually said, giving Jayden an apologetic look, " we're gonna have to be wearing them for the next three years."

" Tch… the hell I'm doing that. I'll just make my own uniform this afternoon."

Donatello quirked a brow. " Didn't you get this custom ordered like a week ago?"

" Doesn't matter…. clearly they weren't competent enough to get my measurements correct."

" … damn… so, like, how're you gonna make a new one then?"

" Materialization Magic."

Donatello blinked. "... Isn't that my ability?"

Jayden chuckled with a smirk. " It is, and I plan on making you use it."

" Uh… alright man…"

The three eventually reached their classroom door, to which Frederick politely knocked. From the rise of noise inside, it appeared like they were expected, though that was just a fleeting guess. The door slid open, revealing their teacher. He was a short chubby man in his late forties, wearing a basic brown suit, dark red dress shoes, and a floral-patterned tie. He was also balding a bit, with heavy dark eyes bags. It was apparently a recurring feature for most middle-aged men around this place.

" Ah, welcome, please co-" Aito didn't get to say much before abruptly stopping, his mouth slightly gaped as he fully addressed the three boys. A silence fell over them as they stood here without motion, the whitenoise of the school A/C units filling the void.

'...was he not briefed about our appearance beforehand?' Frederick mentally deadpanned.

' I wonder when we'll ever get a normal reaction,' Donatello hummed.

Aito eventually composed himself, quickly bowing slightly in apology. " I-I'm sorry for my rudeness, please come in."

The three simply shrugged; this wasn't anything new to them, and it obviously wasn't going to end any time soon.

Entering the class, they found themselves greeted with a bright room due to the numerous rows of windows—an appreciative change from the gloomy hallways. In regards to room formation, to the left of the door were rows of desks where the students sat, and the teacher's desk, podium, and a chalkboard were on the right-hand wall. In other words, a typical Japanese classroom; it was the only feature they've seen sir far from this school that actually resembles anything Japanese, in fact.

As they entered, there was unsurprisingly a collection of gasps and squeaks from amongst the students sitting in the class.

" Class, I'd like to introduce to you our new students," Akto announced, motioning his hands at the three boys, " why don't you three introduce yourself?"

" Hello," Donatello started first, giving a simple wave, " my name is Donatello, but you can call me Don."

" My name Frederick," Frederick added, giving a short polite bow, " nice to meet you."

" Jayden," Jayden simply grunted, resisting the urge to tug at his collar.

A wave of whisperers arose after the introduction. If the three weren't already the center of attention of the students, they most certainly were now.

" Are they transferring students?" One student at the front whispered to their friend, glancing warily at Frederick's neutral gaze. The Frost Demon caught the hold of the stare, to which the student immediately looked elsewhere. Frederick merely ignored it.

"They don't have japanese names, so they probably are foreign exchange," the friend stated.

" Hey, you three don't have family names?" someone from the classroom asked out.

Donatello simply shook his head, first to respond. " Nope, orphans."

" O-Oh… sorry…"

" Are those your quirks?" Another short girl asked out bluntly with some mild disgust present in her eyes, " they look so weird."

" Hey, c'mon now, don't be like that. They kinda look wicked…" a surprisingly nice compliment suddenly retorted the girl. They didn't know who said it, but it unfortunately didn't really matter. " … wicked weird!"

This, somehow, gained a chorus of uncontrollable laughter from the classroom, despite the lack of humor from the comment. Another yet flamboyant student stood out from the others—quite literally, in fact, for her neck was as long as a giraffe—and haughtily raised her chin

" Just look at the bug boy, he's totally creeping me out," she blatantly said, sharing a similarly disgusted look with the short girl. They were probably friends.

Donatello whistled quietly to himself as he glanced over at Jayden. ' Damn bro, gonna let that slide?'

' Like I care what these kids say. Get me out this damn uniform,' Jayden lamented, his facial expression unreadable but his words painfully clear.

" Though…" the giraffe girl continued, sending a rather questionable look towards Donatello, " at least the pink one looks good~"

" Right? He's totally my type," the short girl added.

Donatello's face slightly paled as muted snickers arose across the room.' …What? No, the hell? Don't look at me like that.'

' Is this teacher just going to let this happen? ' Frederick glanced over to the chubby man, who was holding an exasperated and completely defeated look. The Frost Demon simply scoffed inwardly. ' Can;t even show signs of authority.'

'What is even going on man…'

" Soo, Don-kun~" The giraffe girl persisted, blatantly trying to hit on him, " are you perhaps interested in having a talk over coffee, maybe?"

" … uhh…" Donatello blinked silently. He quite literally had no idea how to respond to her out-of-place questions. Fortunately, though, Aito seemed to have gained enough competence to address the inappropriate situation.

" Please calm down and refrain from such behavior, Girana-san," Auto chastised, his voice faintly shaky.

' Even her name is a pun,' Frederick blankly commented.

' I wanna get outta here,' Donatello groaned. It was quite clear how uncomfortable he was from the unwanted advances he was receiving, to which most of the class was taking weird mirth in. 'more than I already wanted to.'

' Same here, brother,' Jayden grunted.

" You three may sit in the back," Aito said, motioning the boys to take a seat. It was their saving grace from what would've continued on to be a humiliating display of attention.

As they made their way to the back of the class, they found three perfectly situated seats for them. Of the five total seats in the row, there was only one other student sitting there; a gray haired boy with a blue mask covering the lower half of his face. He was quite large compared to some of the students. In fact, he was arguably the tallest in the class… excluding Jayden, which the two were about equal in stature.

The triad took their respective seats. After a few glances and long stares, the rest of the class eventually and begrudgingly returned with the lesson being learned, which looked to be some basic algebraic equations, something the three had already learnt from their past life. Indeed, even with his lack of enthusiasm for school, even Donatello could still remember some of it.

Said person leaned over to Jayden some minutes after the lecture resumed, all while staring at the masked boy beside them. " Hey… doesn't that guy look familiar?"

Jayden glanced at the boy who Donatello was talking about, his eyes momentarily widening before returning to his neutral and irritated expression. " … I can't remember his name, but yeah, he's familiar."

" ..."

" Cool coincidence… he's kind of giving me Kakashi vibes."

" He's nowhere near the same."

Donatello shrugged before turning towards the masked student, giving a small grin. " Yo, what's good man?"

The masked boy didn't answer at first—probably not realizing that Donatello was talking to him specifically—but he eventually glanced up at the Majin with a relatively surprised expression. He then lifted one of his right arms, the fist of the arm suddenly turning it into a small mouth.

" Hello… everything's good," He simply answered.

" Whatchu you up to?"

" … um, listening to the lecture."

" Figured as much," Donatello chuckled, scratching his cheek. He then pointed towards the boy's arm. " Those are some cool arms you got there. That's your quirk?"

" Yeah... Dupli-Arms."

" Awesome, My quirk is-" Before he could speak any further, Donatello was abruptly slapped on the back of the head by a gray tail. He winced, looking towards Fredrick's exasperated look.

" Could you try to not get us in trouble on the first day?"

"Alright, alright…" Donatello grunted, rubbing the back of his head, " geez… could've just tapped my shoulder."

" Talk after class is over."

Donatello simply rolled his eyes as Frederick returned to dutifully listening to the lecture, no matter if he was well above this level of education. But that was just a trait of the space lizard, something he's had even before their current situation as being multidimensional mercenaries. The Majin sneaked a glance at her masked boy and gestured towards the Frost Demon as if he was crazy. The boy, for his part, simply gave an exasperated and uncertain look before returning to the lecture.

It wasn't long before class ended, and lunch began. The majority of the students filed out of the class, with only a few staying behind since they already had their lunch. Fortunately, all attention on the three was long gone, so they didn't have to face a bombardment of questions. With that grace given, the three made themselves amongst the exceptions and stayed behind, not needing to feel the pains of waiting in the lines of the cafeteria. They had their own lunch readily made and packed by none other than Grandmother herself; regardless of whether they moved out or not, she still somehow managed to get the time to pack them something to eat. She was quite the consistent and caring caretaker, if that wasn't clear enough.

With the classroom relatively vacant, there was now an air of peace, much to Frederick's appreciation. Still seated in his seat, he quietly slurped the soft noodles from his bento box while Donatello engrossed himself in a deep conversation with the masked boy. The Frost Demon, of course—and likely Jayden as well—was well aware that the boy in question was named Mezou Shoji, though he didn't outwardly express any familiarity. Neither did he care much about the identity of the boy; it really didn't mean much if they met a supposed important character to the universe's timeline. It didn't change their goals, anyways.

" Fred," Frederick glanced up from his box, seeing Jayden looking over at Shoji with a side-eye as he ate his spicy egg salad, " he has a little bit more ki than normal, no?"

Frederick paused himself momentarily, spreading out his senses. He, in fact, found that there was a slightly higher output of ki emitting from Shoji than compared to every other person inside of this school building—excluding themselves, of course. The Frost Demon nodded slowly, though that was as far as his interest went.

Jayden leaned back in his seat with a sigh, staring up at the stained tiled ceiling. " Makes you wonder if the others will have slightly higher ki."

" Would make things easier if that were the case for our targets," Frederick hummed.

" I'm saying… they've probably masked their ki really well, or they just have a different source of strength altogether."

" Hm."

"... so how's that search going?"

" Mediocre. I'm feeling spikes of high energy outputs southwards… but again, none of that matters if we don't even know how to get to it."

" We can always try to fly there."

" Unless you're confident of flying through light-years of empty space, I'd rather we get a ship."

Jayden simply picked at his ear dismissively. " Would that change if I said I got one from one of my daily rewards?"

"..." This made Fredrick pause once more, staring at the Bio Android with a mixture of awe and doubt, "... for real?"

" Nah," Jayden chuckled, shaving down three spring rolls all at once, " the best I got is a toy rocket. And it's not even plastic… just construction paper."

" …It's like you're being given trash."

" I mean, hey, I could probably make use of it somehow. I can't always complain about what the system gives me," Jayden grinned softly to himself, viewing the bountiful volume of items that continued to fill his enormous inventory.

" Holy shit!" Donatello suddenly exclaimed, turning to the two eagerly. Both Jayden and Frederick looked at the Majin questionably, also noting Shoji's slightly exasperated but content expression. " Did you hear that guys?"

" Hear what?" Jayden responded.

" Shoji said this school used to be the local prison," Donatello explained, " even crazier is that five serial killers used to be jailed here!"

"... Damn man, color me impressed."

" It would explain the different schematic of this building," Frederick noted.

" Just imagine exploring this place at night, though," Donatello grinned, his eyes flashing through the images of them opening doors into dark and damp rooms, crawling through rusted ventilation, and freezing when hearing sudden movement of a chair. " It'll probably be as creepy as those urban exploration videos."

" The school is locked after twenty o'clock," Shoji quietly informed, " and we aren't allowed in after that."

" That's even better. It adds to the excitement, Kakashi."

"... Why do you keep calling me that? My name is Shoji, Mezou Shoji."

" Yeah, just don't listen to Don," Jayden sighed with exasperation, " he sometimes can't hold back his dumbassery."

" Uh—hey, the fuck?"

"Just saying."

" Bro, you literally agreed with me during class that Shoji is just like Kakashi," Donatello retorted with a frown.

" I didn't agree with anything. I said there were no similarities."

" Seriously? White hair and mask? Not similar?"

" That's like saying a cat and a catfish are the same thing. They're not the same."

The Majin simply huffed, grabbing a spoonful of gummies from his candy-filled bento and chomping it. " My point still stands…"

" Is this Kakashi character from a shonen series?" Shoji asked, attempting to push the conversation to a more positive route, " it doesn't sound like a common name."

" Spot on," Frederick answered with a slight nod, " not sure if it airs around here, but it's a shonen about ninjas. Don's comparing you to one of the main characters…"

" I see…"

Donatello nodded. " Yep, and he's one hell of a cool guy! He's got a bunch of lightning moves and shit."

"... but I doubt you'd like to be compared to a war ninja with a body count in the triple digits," Frederick added.

The Majin did a double take, his eyes widening in alarm. " Hey hey, that's an exaggeration! Kakashi didn't kill that many ninjas."

" That many…" Jayden snorted, " you're not helping yourself with that, Don."

" He did it for a good cause, at least!"

" Woah, not true. Kakashi was and still is crazy lethal."

" Weren't they all? That's what it was like being a ninja!"

" Now you're just changing your argument."

" I'd still prefer not to be compared to a killer…" Shoji interjected with a sweat drop.

Donatello opened his mouth before clicking his tongue. " Alright, fine, maybe it's not the cleanest comparison, but your misunderstanding how peak Naruto is…"

"... Naruto?" Shoji tilted his head.

" Name of the series," Jayden helped.

" Oh…"

Afterwards, Donatello went on to educate Shoji on the lore behind Naruto. Indeed, Donatello's talk session was quite the lengthy one, going almost past their given lunch period. Although he didn't even get close to a quarter of the way through the lore of the series, he still left plenty for Shoji to contemplate on. Rather generously, the Majin was frequently fact-checked by Frederick, who was in fact an avid fan of the series as well, despite his rather reclusive demeanor about it. Nonetheless, it was by means not an uneventful lunch break.

Thereafter, school resumed… and just like that, school ended. When one drowns out the monotonous lecturing, time really does fly by quickly. And given that it was over material that the three had already previously learnt, it made it all the more boring. To that matter, the end of the school day was their saving grace.

With their freedoms given, the four (including Shoji) maneuvered their way through the obscurely dense crowds that filled the hallways, carefully dodging elbow attacks from agitated students. At the gate of the school, Donatello asked Shoji if he wanted to walk with them. Unfortunately, he declined.

" I have a few chores to get done back at my place," Shoji said, " but I can walk with you guys tomorrow if that's alright."

" Damn, well that sucks," Donatello huffed, though didn't show any signs of disappointment. He raised a fist up towards the masked boy. " You take care then man."

Shoji reciprocated the action and fist bumped the Majin. " Thanks, cya."

Donatello stood there momentarily as he watched the dupli-arm boy walk away, merging into the crowd. " …I wonder if one of his chores is to scrub the urinals."

Jayden's eyes twitched. "... was that a reference to—"

" Yep."

"..." Jayden sighed, deciding to ignore it.

Given the short distance between their apartment and the school property, they were in no rush walking back home. This, of course, meant that they had a window of freedom to partake in, one in which they greatly did so. And so, walking side by side down the sidewalk, they decided to take the public transit right towards the heart of the city.

Unsurprisingly, the streets were bustling with people. The sidewalks were littered with street vendors, some of which congregated together to form small shopping districts. Many of them were selling different Japanese desserts, with some even having small western cuisines on sale. Being the food junkie he was, Donatello bought a whole assortment of candied fruit, red bean pastries, and other sugary sweets he could get his hands on. A few considerate vendors showed signs of genuine concern about all the volume of candies the Majin boy was buying, but overall they kept quiet as he gave them a hefty sum of cash. Woe to them, however, that they were unaware of the magic at play behind the currency.

" You know… sometimes I wonder if we should be living this peacefully," Frederick contemplated out loud, staring at the windows of stores as they passed by.

" Same," Jayden nodded, a more content look on his face compared to what it was throughout the school day. And it was quite obviously due to his now unbuttoned uniform, revealing a white tank top that barely fit his form. " All this time going by and we've essentially made zero progress. I wonder how pissed those Kais will be once they hear we've been nothing but sitting ducks."

" Tch, like they have a right to be mad at us. It was them that started us off as babies."

" I guess they probably have a different interpretation of time and stuff."

" … That shouldn't be any excuse in the first place, " Frederick muttered. As they walked in momentary silence, his eyes caught hold of a handful of strange products, many of which he deduced were targeted at people with specific quirks. " You know… with how unproductive we are right now, I guess we could start making some genuine use with this second life."

" Like hobbies or something?" Jayden tilted his head. " We've technically already been doing that."

" No no, something more concrete."

" Like what?"

Frederick jerked a thumb towards a metal stand that displayed a bottle of green fire-resistant liquid behind the store window. " Entrepreneurship could be a nice long term investment."

" … a business, huh?"

" Yeah, nothing too easy or too serious," Frederick nodded, " some small products like fragrant toiletries or computer peripherals… it'll make us some real money we can use."

Donatello snapped from his sugar daze, noticing the side look coming from Frederick. He shrugged dismissively, resuming eating his sugary food.

" … At this rate, it's probably not the worst way we can spend our time," Jayden hummed, pocketing his hands, " I'm gonna sound old saying this… but I'm getting tired of the unproductivity."

" Well, I wouldn't necessarily call it pure unproductivity…" Frederick huffed, closing his eyes. A series of events that they had partaken in throughout the past years flashed before his mind before he shook his head. " but yeah, I get what you mean."

Donatello suddenly paused for a moment, swallowing his mouthful of food. " What if we made a band?"

His question caused both Frederick and Jayden to look at the Majin, then at each other, before staring right back at him. Jayden was the first to vocalize their confusion. " Like… music band?"

" Yep, I used to play guitar back home, and I'd like to pick it up again," Donatello grinned, chomping up the last of his street snacks.

" You never told us about that," Frederick noted.

" I never told anyone but my left ass cheek. It was a small hobby of mine, " Donatello explained, but his shoulders slacked slightly, " I kinda dropped it though… once we entered senior year."

Jayden's eyes widened. " Oh yeah, I remember you fucked up on the midterm."

" Don't gotta remind me of that, Jay," Donatello groaned, discreetly using water magic to cleanse his soiled hands, " was the worst time I ever had in school… which is partly why I'm still against U.A., Fred!"

The Acrosian simply waved a hand dismissively. " You'll be fine. Schooling here is much more generous than back home."

" Fuck outta here with that, man. I'm saying school ain't my thing."

" So you want to start a band?" Jayden continued, decidedly avoiding the route the conversation was taking.

Dontallo paused for a moment to catch himself before nodding. " Yeah, like a rock or metal band. It could be fun."

" …ok," Jayden eventually nodded, " I'm not a big fan of rock music, but that doesn't mean I hate it. I'm in."

" I guess I'm in too… but who'll be playing what though?" Frederick contemplated out loud.

" Shit, let's stop by a music shop and find out," Donatelllo exclaimed rather excitedly. He quickly flipped out his phone and searched for the closest music store, finding—to his delight—one that wasn't even that far off from where they were at the moment. " Sick, just follow me, there's a place not too far—"

" Hey, watch out—!"

Suddenly, as the three of them walked across the crosswalk on the road, a loud shot from behind caused them to look back. They weren't able to see who called them out, though, for no second later a loud blaring horn jolted their attention. Frederick was the fastest to notice the large semi-trailer closing in on them, driving at speeds that were nowhere near from stopping. Without any hesitation, he grabbed both of his brothers by the limbs and leapt right out of the way of the vehicle. Within the timeframe of only two seconds, the truck zoomed past the spot they were on, the brakes screeching loudly with smoke billowing out.

Eventually the brakes served their purpose, and the sem-trailer made a complete halt not far from the crosswalk, the traffic from behind also slowing down. The white driver door burst open, revealing a relatively young truck driver with a clearly worried expression. He ran up towards the three boys, who were slowly recovering from the rapid event.

" H-Hey, are you kids alright?!" He asks frantically, cold sweat running down his body.

Frederick slowly sat up, giving the driver a weak smile, " Y-Yes, we're alright…"

Donatello stuck his head up, trying to slow down his spinning eyes. " Yeah yeah, we good…?"

" Dammit," Jayden quietly cursed, looking at his damaged uniform, " now I really have to make a new one…"

The man let out a deep and prolonged sigh, for more reasons than one. The crowd that had gathered around the scene also showed relative signs of relief. However, the relief quickly turned into that of anger and great disappointment.

" Have you three lost your minds! How could you kids not see that the lights were red?! Have your parents never taught you to look both ways before you cross the street?!" He suddenly roared at them, furiously removing his trucker hat and slamming it on the ground. " You nearly died, for goodness sake!"

Frederick winced, momentarily questioning when they—specifically himself—lost their situational awareness. " We're sorry for the trouble, sir…"

" You think apologizing will do anything?" the man pointed towards the line of cars that were halted right behind the truck. " You almost caused a chain of accidents as well! Think of what those drivers are thinking right now!"

" …Hey, dude, chill out," one of the onlookers suddenly stepped up, putting a hand on the truck driver's shoulders, " they're kids… it's not like they did it deliberately."

" Huh?!" the truck driver sharply shrugged off the hand on his shoulder, glaring at the new person. " Who're you to butt in?! Don't you understand the severity of this situation?!"

" We all saw it, but nothing helps by acting out brashly!" the onlooker retorted back. " Let us wait for the heroes and law enforcement to arrive. Anything more will make matters worse!"

" You wanna bet on that, huh?! My damn whole life is on the line here! I could lose my job, dammit!"

Jayden sat upright after giving up on his uniform, quietly watching with his brothers as the two adults argued. It didn't help that the traffic began to honk obnoxiously either, only adding to the chaos of this sudden event. " You know… this is probably the first time someone approached us normally."

"... oh yeah, it is!" Donatello's eyes widened in realization, though it quickly turned meek. " …Uh, but for bad reasons…"

" It likely has to do with the adrenaline," Frederick muttered, rubbing the bridge of his nose with a slightly frustrated look, " but that aside… this was really stupid on our part… how were we so unaware of our surroundings?"

" You could say that again…" Jayden grunted, slowly standing up and grabbing his bag. The other two joined in with the same actions as well…

… well, more like Frederick did, because Donatello suddenly stopped midway, his face clearly turning several shades pale.

Noticing this, Frederick curled a brow. " Don…?"

" Oh no…" the Majin slowly muttered with a sense of anguish, running a hand over his hairless head, " …it can't be happening…"

" What's… happening…?"

" Almost being runned over… the scolding from some random dude in public, " Donatello looked completely horrified now, " Damn it… damn it! Jay, Fred, It's happening again!"

" The hell are you saying man?" Jayden asked with scrutiny, though he failed to hide his concern. " What's happening again?"

" I—well—dammit, we didn't cover it in the previous chapters, but trust me, it's bad!"

"... wha—"

" EVERYONE!" In a sudden motion that made even Jayden flinch, Donatello instantly jumped up to his feet and shouted out in the air. It was so loud, in fact, that it echoed throughout the area. Clearly, Donatello had received the majority of attention. " TAKE COVER NOW! I SENSE A TANK INCOMING!"

His statement quickly changed much of the confusion from the onlooking crowd into worry. Small muttered conversations arose, many of which were either of concern or mockery of the Majin's expressive acclamation.

"Is he mental or something?" A young school girl standing near the front of the crowd giggled with her friends.

" He's probably hallucinating," One of the friends laughed, uncaringly pointing at the boy, " hit his head too hard on the concrete."

A very familiar long necked girl—now cladded with heavy make-up and overly bright clothes—walked up from behind the two and looked on with a surprised face. It became apparent just who these school girls were. " Omg, aren't they the new weirdos from school today!"

" Oh right, it is them! Get the cameras out, this'll definitely go viral!"

Glancing away from them, Frederick looked at Donatello as if he grew two heads. " The fuck, Don? What was that for? And what's this about a tank?"

"... Alright." Before Frederick could get any reasonable response—though he doubted there was any in the first place—the truck driver immediately pulled his phone out, dialing the line for medical emergencies. He held both an apologetic and confirmed expression. " Calm down for a sec, kid. It's obvious you hit your head… look, I'm sorry for lashing out. That was inconsiderate. I'm calling an ambulance now."

" The fuck?! No, I'm literally fine! Everyone just needs to get out of here, now! We're in trouble!" Donatello flailed his arms around frantically with wide eyes. Sweat drops were actually pouring down his chin and with great volume, almost like small streams. This, in turn, made everyone's mockery thin out and turn into genuine concern, with questions arising of whether this was a product of his quirk, and when the heroes would be coming in. Gradually, panic arose.

" Don, cut this out man," Jayden suddenly put a hand on Donatello's shoulder with a look of great disappointment. " I'm not doubting you or anything, but don't just start—"

The Bio Android suddenly froze mid speech, his eyes visibly widened. His head instantly turned towards one particular clothing store, specifically right behind the crowd of confused onlookers—many of which awkwardly stared back from the sudden attention or were wisely leaving the scene. He stared for just a moment longer, but it was all he needed to confirm the shockingly large energy gradually approaching the area.

Frederick, noticing Jayden's strange demeanor, was about to ask out in concern why he stopped talking, but he too quickly felt exactly what the Bio Android was feeling. The Acrosian looked towards the same direction with his lips pressed as his fists tightened, alarm but most notably cautiousness flooding his head.

Noticing the strange behavior, the truck driver momentarily paused his conversation with the operator on the line. "... oi, what's happening with you three?"

" Guys…" Jayden muttered, ignoring the man as his hand dropped from Donatello's shoulder. He turned his body until he was completely facing the crowd, not caring of the cameras that were pointed at them, nor the way most people slightly stepped back, under the notion that he suddenly went crazy.

Frederick nodded sharply, immediately glancing at Donatello. " Don!"

" Right!" With one step forward, Donatello suddenly launched his arms out towards the crowd, causing most of them to scream in alarm. Like snakes, both appendages wrapped around the mass and split them apart, creating two figurative hay bales of humans wrapped tightly by pink rope. Unironically, it was the very name Donatello gave it with a shout. " Gomu Gomu no, Hay Bale!"

Disregarding the uproar of confusion and fear, the Majin leaped up in the air, pulling everyone he binded with him. Frederick jumped right after him as well, carrying the two adults that were close to them, while Jayden stayed behind, widening his stance.

As if on cue, an ear-splitting, ground-shaking explosion bursted from the clothing store, completely encapsulating the place where the crowd once stood. With a force so loud and powerful, the air picked up into ferocious gusts of wind, causing some of the vehicles from behind to shift slightly from their spots. Yet even with such powerful winds, Jayden stood firm on his spot, arms raised over his face.

The doors and windows of the clothing store were completely vaporized into shards of glass, which shot out with the speed of bullets. Alongside the flying shrapnel came a large smoke screen, which poured out and obscured the area in front of the store. As the noise of the explosion died out—with the small sounds of clattering metal and fallen glass still present—the area was still for just a moment. This, however, did not hide the sounds of the powerful stomps gradually growing in volume and coming closer from the smoke.

As Donatello landed safely a few meters away from the explosion—all while gently lowering down the crowd of people onto the ground—the form of a bulky and shirtless man with shredded jeans came stomping out from the smoke. Towering well past seven feet, his tanned face held nothing but a deep scowl, with a stubble beard covering his lower mouth and large brows casting a shadow over his eyes. His physical appearance was nothing short of a bodybuilder, with each flexing muscle showing great volume and strength. In one of his gloved hands he held a large brown bag, its contents unknown but could easily be guessed.

Frederick landed next to Donatello and rather carelessly dropped the two men down onto the ground. He contemplatively took in the form of the tall man, supposedly a villain. '... this isn't good.'

Donatello retracted his arms from the shocked crowd, silently glancing at Frederick. ' Is he one of our targets?'

' No, he doesn't match any of the descriptions we know.'

' Nor have any of the locked slots opened up, so he isn't new,' Jayden's voice declared through the link. He made no signs of moving from where he was, though. ' but… we haven't felt this much ki since our trip to Greece.'

' I agree… and, Jay?' Frederick said.

' Hm?'

' Don't do anything brash, Jay.'

' Got it.'

The tall man's eyes gazed across the area with a rather bored expression until it fell down on Jayden's form. He stared for a moment before rubbing the back of his neck dismissively, his voice disinterested. " Is this bug supposed to be a hero?"

Jayden gave no response, only holding his stance. This in turn gradually made the man chuckle, which turned into a full blown chorus of deep laughter, which could be felt through all their chests. He kept this going for a while before dying out, staring back at Jayden with mirth.

" Well, it doesn't matter who you are, I'll just squash ya away!"

Wasting no time, the tall man suddenly stormed out from the smoke, stomping directly at Jayden at alarming speeds. Of the distraught onlookers that recovered—and the ones that didn't run away in fear—a short burst of shouts came forth in concern of the Bio Android. However, the worst of their expectations failed to come, for Jayden quickly vanished in a blur from the spot the villain threw his kick at, reappearing above with his elytra out and ki-wings buzzing loudly.

The villain looked up at Jayden with a fleeting trace of surprise before quickly turning to a sickening grin. Grabbing hold of a nearby street sign, the tall man ripped the bar from its spot and speared it at Jayden, who was able to easily dodge the attack. The villain clicked his tongue, repeating the process another twelve times with different objects scattered across the street.

Weaving through all the attacks gracefully, Jayden kept a mindful eye of where the villain's attacks were landing. Most of them either collided with a wall or tumbled onto the road, with only a few he needed to discreetly deflect away from the traffic behind the stagnant semi truck.

Seeing his actions were futile, the villain dropped the manhole cover he was about to throw with a scowl. " Tch… always the bug quirks that are the most tedious…"

"... A-Amazing," Donatello glanced up at an onlooker that stood next to him, who was gawking at Jayden's hovering form, " this kid dodged all the attacks from the villain!"

" And so nimble… he almost does it like a pro hero!"

' Psh, well yeah, this is all lightwork,' Donatello snorted in his mind, ' he could've one-shot this guy like, what, over a hundred times already.'

' No… we don't need that kind of attention,' Frederick shook his head, watching the bout unfold carefully, ' we're already standing out more than we need… let's keep the police report as simple as we can keep it.'

' Yeah yeah, whatever…'

Much couldn't happen afterwards, though, and the few gasps from the onlookers made it apparent. From behind the villain and out from the smoke, a short old lady with very wrinkled skin suddenly came limping out of the smoke of the destroyed shop. In one hand she held a walking cane, while the other clutched her side painfully. If the blood dripping down her forehead wasn't an obvious indicator, she was clearly injured.

' Wait, Don,' Frederick instantly raised his arm in front of Donatello, who was seconds from running towards the old lady.

' What? But—'

' From a distance,' Frederick cut him off, '... heal her from a distance. And slowly… you can at least do that.'

Donatello paused from a moment before slowly nodding. He refocused his attention back at the elder, to which he began to slowly emit a small channel of Universal Magic towards her body. Although extremely faint, a thin film of green enveloped, restricting it from failing any further than it already had from her injuries.

Unaware of this—as was most of the worrisome crowd—the old lady shakingly raised her free hand and shook a fist in the air. " C-Come back here, you dishonorable hooligan! Give me back everything you took from me!"

The villain simply gave a fleeting glance back at the elder before returning his attention back at Jayden. " If you're so eager to die, why don't you just run here and let me finish you off, old hag."

" Why you…" the old lady gritted her teeth before clicking her tongue, " look at this. Look at what you did! You took and trashed everything I had left to live for… now I have nothing."

" All the more reason to listen to my advice, eh?"

Jayden's eyes widened in alarm. " Shit, wai—"

It was too late. Before he could do anything, the villain's hand was already stretched out towards the lady. In frighteningly fast speeds, she left her cane at her wake as her body was forcefully pulled towards the villain. Covering the distance in mere seconds, she found herself slammed into a choke hold by the villain's outstretched hand, her face already beginning to show signs of struggling to breath.

" Ahh… feels good doesn't it?" The villain exclaimed loudly, a wild grin on his face as he stared at the frightened look on the old lady. " Playing at death's door can feel… exhilarating."

" Dammit!" Jayden instantly went to close in on the villain but stopped as the villain quickly turned the old lady towards him.

" Ah ah ah," the villain grinned, visibly flexing his hands on the lady's neck, " one more move and this turkey neck is gonna snap."

"..." Jayden's fists gripped as he stared fiercely, but he made no further moves as ordered.

" Yes… good bug," the villain cooed sinisterly, " now… let's make this interesting, eh? You wanted to play the hero, so let's give you a situation a hero would have to solve."

' …Fred, I'm not liking this…' Donatello muttered, his eyes narrowing. He was already beginning to feel a tug for more healing magic, which was nothing but bad news.

' Me neither… but don't do anything rash, not with that lady in such a vulnerable state,' Frederick warned, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. Behind them, people really started questioning where the heroes were, and it was a valid question. Even without seeing this scene unfold, someone should've at least noticed the back up of traffic. It only brought more unanswered questions.

But, at the very least, Fredrick could hear the distant sound of sirens approaching. The police would be arriving soon… though, how soon was the problem.

" Choose, bug boy," the villain continued, gesturing at the old lady, " her life, or yours? Pick."

"...!" Jayden's eyes widened at the double-sided question. It was deliberate; there was neither a good nor bad answer. There were only four options, and two of them meant the lady's end. It was a fifty-fifty shot.

' This… this fucker!' Donatello went livid, quickly shooting a glare at Frederick as the Acrosian tried to hold him back from his sudden leap of action. " Let go, Fred!"

" N-No," Frederick shot back, unfazed from the sudden shift of the mental link, " wait for the heroes to arrive."

" Heroes?! Really?!" Donatello shot a finger at the elder in the villain's grip. " The fuck they're coming, man! They would already be here to stop all of this!"

" That doesn't mean you have to do anything stupid, Don!" Frederick persisted, his eyes hardened. " One wrong move and it'll all mean nothing!"

" I…agh!" Donatello tried tugging a few more times, but seeing Frederick's grip not persisting, he eventually and reluctantly heeded. The Majin then lightly shrugged the Acrosian off, though showed no signs of doing anything more than glaring at the villain. "..."

' … That was unnecessary and frankly foolish, Don,' Frederick frowned, returning to the mental link share, ' think for a moment what your words just instilled to the people behind us.'

' … He's just like that bastard, Fred,' Donatello growled back, ' I don't give a damn what these folks think… he's doing the same fucked up shit that foreign bastard was doing back home and I'm not going to just let it go through this time!'

Noticing the small commotion that happened between the two, the villain let out a hearty laugh. " Ha, that's a good point those two have there, huh? No heroes in sight and can't do anything stupid… begs the question of what heroes are, eh?"

Jayden simply remained quiet, keeping his eyes on the old lady. He was beginning to see her slip, no matter her valiant resistance; time was running thin.

" I'm guessing they must be some fellas of yours, judging by your—" the villain continued, only to gawk momentarily as he really took in Jayden's uniform, " hot damn, you're a school boy! For a moment I thought you really were a hero!"

"..."

"... Pfft, yeah, I couldn't believe that myself either," the villain chuckled. Still hearing no response, he continued his monologue. " But, I'll say, you've got some pretty sharp moves for a middle schooler… unfortunately it doesn't mean much when you got a life in your hands, no? Speaking of which, I'm gonna need an answer soon, less I take matters into my own hands."

" … Do you mean—" Jayden began.

" You or her, kid. I don't need a question for a question. Make the choice."

" …So evil…" someone said out loud. Truly, this was unanimously agreed upon by everyone watching the scene unfold.

' Dammit all!' Donatello shouted in frustration, ' Fred, laser this guy right now before I do it, discretion and all be damned!'

Frederick pressed his lips, not responding immediately for he was contemplating on actually doing it. Unfortunately, his prolonged silence agitated the Majin, and the boy answered his own demand.

' Fuck it, I'm gonna do it!'

Fredsrick's eyes widened as Donatello stretched out a hand. " Wai—"

He was too late. In a dazzling display of bright blue lights, a speeding blur zoomed past the crowd and right in-between the two boys, causing Donatello to momentarily stumble out of focus and fall.

'... huh?' The same response occurred in both of the boy's minds. For a moment, they wondered what exactly just happened, but not even a split second after did they receive their answer.

" Haha, tik tok little—GUAGH?!" Within the same timeframe in which the blue blur appeared, it closed in the distance and slammed directly into the villain's head, cutting off the man's teasing. A noise mixed between a thud and shattering followed on impact, with an impressive display of glittering clear shards exploding in the air. The villain's form went airborne, his grip on the lady's neck going slack. Jayden—although partially surprised as well—quickly took this opportunity and flew inwards, grabbing hold of her before flying back a safe distance.

While airborne, the villain snapped out from his dazes and adjusted himself, flipping his body and landing into a skidding halt a few meters away from the main scene. Down on one knee, the villain brought a hand to his lips and felt the blood running freely, only adding to the pooling of blood in his mouth from his broken teeth. His smug expression was completely vanished, now replaced with a deep scowl as he looked on at his assailant.

Standing in front of the villain was a man with above-average height, covered neck to toe with a sleek blue and white diamond-striped jumpsuit. He wore blue tinted visors that masked his eyes, and a single white earpiece covered his right ear. On his back was what appeared to be a large ice cube of some kind that seemed to be glowing a deep ocean blue hue. Within it, a glowing liquid slushed and swirled fluidly. With all of this described, the icing on the top was the fact that this man was currently hovering on top of slate of pure ice.

Donatello's eyes widened, so did his smile. "... Frozone?!"

" No… Silver Surfer?" Jayden muttered to himself.

" You tread no further criminal," The man boomed, pointing his right hand at the villain, " for it is I, the mighty blue blur, seeker of justice, bringer of protection, Frost Surfer!"

Author's Note

Wow... what a lot to unload here, huh? Even I was pretty surprised with what I had in store in this chapter. Like, seriously? What the heck happened in Greece? I just might have to dig through my other docs and find out what I was cooking there...

In any case, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I feel like I over exemplified this new villain, but I do remember wanting to make him somewhat relevant for a long time. Otherwise, I feel like I'd waste time fleshing out this scene. I also gotta work on my action scenes... kinda lack to be honest. Oh, and definitely the school experience as well. This is the first appearance of Shoji, which finally makes sense as to why I added his character tag in the first place. I'll be reviewing my story sheet extensively from now on.

Next chapter will be an intermission chapter. I've decided that I would have every seventh chapter be an intermission chapter from now on. It'll definitely give me some time to build up characters and lore and whatnot. As I reread my stuff, I can tell there are some empty plot holes in the trio that need to be cleared up.

In any case, thanks for reading this far. If you have some questions, concerns, or anything of that matter, please do leave a review. I'd love to hear what others say. Until then! (and, uh, early Happy Halloween if I publish really later!)