Night Seventy Eight
Age 1991
Master Storms Office...
The old man let out a small hum as he stared out of his window for a moment. "Tell me Alpha..." He asked slowly turning in his chair. Currently there were two of his sacred beasts. The first being Alpha and the second being Angel who was painting her nails mid air as her wings flapped. "Why is it you took such a great interest in this one..." He asked staring down at the file of Hero Law.
"I believe that he is Hero Law, the previous First Squad Captain." Alpha stated. "Not only does he claim to know Piero, Her father, he also has the exact same power as her, as well as the same name, last name, and they have a similar appearance just reversed genders."
The Master let out a small hum for a moment. "You were at one time in love with Ms. Law were you not..."
"Indeed I was." Alpha nodded as the image of a young woman with silver hair and crimson red eyes came to his mind.
Master Storm nodded his head for a moment. "You should know that, that young boy is not her."
"How can you be sure sir?"
"Because that child is something else. He's a human." Master Storm snorted. "Now that 'they' used 'that' to give him those powers... Yes... That must have been what they did... The Dream Crest huh... I wonder what ever happened to Yume..."
"Master Storm?" Alpha asked.
"You're excused." Master Storm said raising his hand up. Alpha gave a small bow as he turned and left the room.
"What's on your mind Gramps..." Angel asked still messing with her nails.
Master Storm let out a small hum. "Alexander Gates." He called out.
There was an orange flash for a moment as a orange portal suddenly opened up and a young man with a fedora stepped out. "You rang sir." He asked giving a quick bow.
"I have someone I want you to bring to me..." The Master said leaning forward. "I need to confirm something..."
***
Outside the Enforcers Main Building...
"So what are we doing again," Light asked letting out a heavy sigh. "Big Brother I was training..." He whined as Hero dragged him outside of the main Enforcers building following after Ken, Kitsune, and Irene. "I think I'm about to do that thing I did when I was way older. You know the one where I get the targets on my eyes and shoot well-"
"Yeah, yeah..." Hero said not listening to the blind boy as he continued to drag him.
Light let out a small pout and crossed his arms. "What are we even doing here anyways?" He asked.
"We're gonna go off and challenge some of the other recruits!" Ken announced proudly as she placed her hands on her hips trying to look intimidating, but only making herself look cute. Hero reached out patting her on the head but was downed by a smash to the skull from her fist knocking him out in one blow. Light picked Hero up and decided he would drag him now...
"But why though?" Irene asked giving the tiny girl a deadpan stare and ignoring the fact that Hero was now in a mini comma.
Ken smirked at her causing Irene to frown and step away again. "For a few reasons!" Ken said nodding her head. "Firstly. It'll let us see if we've improved at all." She announced standing on Hero's head. The boy groaned as his eyes opened. He was currently face down in the dirt be pressed down on by Ken who used him as a stool.
"Probably not?" Hero said casually face down in the dirt. "I mean it was only a few weeks ago since we did our first real mission. About a full month of light training really isn't that much. Then again, I'm not sure how this growth thingy works... I kind of just get stronger when I need it... So..."
"Training doesn't just mean getting a power-up Devil Arm," Kitsune stated as he gave a small smirk. "It's also about learning new techniques, tricks, and styles. Like an Anime! And we all learned new stuff after our first mission. Sure we might have only gotten a small bit stronger than we were, but we can make up for that with new abilities."
"I never thought of it like that!" Hero said nodding his head. "Also if you ever try to out smart me again I'm gonna eat your sword you freaking weeb."
"Kitsune is right, oh god I just said that, this is a good chance to see how we do against other recruits." Ken announced.
"That's still kind of dumb," Irene said shaking her head. "I don't want to fight someone to see how much stronger I got. Or rather lack of strength I got..."
"Okay," Ken said simply. "Reason two. We can get a lot stronger through actually fighting someone, rather than just training our butts off."
"That... Is a good point." Irene said sighing. "Fighting someone and having an actual battle would be a better way to develop other than just training alone..."
"And! Reason number three!" Ken announced pointing up to the blackened sky for dramatic effect as she took an awkward pause. Hero coughed slightly still on the ground as she used him as a way to boost herself up above Kitsune, and Light, though Irene was still taller then her. "It'll let us see if our Squad is just lazy! If we fight a bunch of recruits, and they kick our butts, we'll know that our Squad has been doing a bad job of training us, and the others are getting way to much time to harness their skills. Then we'll know we will need to give it more work! Also. It'll let us see how strong they are so we'll have an easier time during the tournament." She said smirking evilly.
"Tournament?" Hero questioned. He finally stood up knocking Ken off of him, but Light caught the girl setting her down. "What Tournament?" Hero asked with a frown.
"Max brought it up, remember," Light said gesturing his hand.
Irene nodded her head for a moment as she let out a hum. "I also read about. At the end of every Age, they host a tournament, and it's how Enforcers can rank up."
"Oh. I do remember that." Hero said nodding his head. "But umm... Isn't getting to study the competition ahead of time kind of cheating?"
"Of course not," Ken said rolling her eyes. "I mean they'll be able to study us as well. Of course if we just didn't show them everything we could do then that isn't our fault but just theirs for not making us go all out..."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Light muttered.
"Okay well just make sure to keep an eye on the fox... Last time I did this he dropped a giant flaming sword on me in the middle of our match..." Hero whispered to Ken and Irene.
"Aren't you going to tell Light to watch out to?" Irene questioned whispering back.
"Nah..."
"So how does this work?" Kitsune questioned stepping forward. "Do we just walk up to somebody and ask to fight them? Do we need them to sign something?"
"That is a good question," Ken said nodding her head.
"You have no idea what we do?"
"None." She responded. "Luckily someone does! Hero what do we do!"
"I kind of just walked around and they asked if I wanted to fight so we fought..." The snow haired boy said giving a shrug.
Kitsune let out an annoyed sigh as he gave a shrug. "Well... I suppose it could be worse." He muttered out. "The important thing is we should watch who we challenge. I mean if we get destroyed we'll become complete laughing stocks of the Enforcers."
"Does anyone else hear that high pitch whistling noise?" Light questioned.
"Now that you mention it... I do hear something." Ken said nodding her head. "It sounds like an object that is being thrown at high speeds?"
"I don't hear anything?" Hero questioned with a small frown. "Our you two trying to prank me?" He asked shooting them a look.
"Me either?" Irene replied frowning.
"Well, it's no surprise we don't," Kitsune said stepping forward slightly as he turned to face the group. "After all Light, and Ken, have far better senses than us. I'm not surprised that they would be able to hear something before we-" Kitsune's hand shot up as something round slammed into him. His entire body was pushed back from the force as his arm stopped whatever it was that was thrown at him which was strong enough to cause him to rip up the ground as he was slammed back. Finally, the force stopped as his body became still again.
"Whoa!" Ken said with wide eyes.
"What just happened?" Irene questioned.
"What I wasn't looking?" Light asked making a joke.
"Is that a cannonball?" Hero frowned as he looked at the iron ball Kitsune had caught. "Nice catch by the way."
Kitsune stared down at the object he was now holding. It was a large cannonball. Like an actual cannonball. The kind that a cannon would fire. The Noble's eyes slowly widened as he stared at it in shock. "What the hell!" He shouted. "If it wasn't for my kickass reflexes that would have killed me!"
"Why did someone shoot a cannonball at you?" Hero asked confused. "You must have some serious enemies..." He said suspiciously. "I wonder how much you're worth? Hmm... I bet I could make a small-"
"Knock it off..." Irene said flatly hitting Hero over the head.
"Why does someone even have a cannonball that they can fire at people?" Light questioned as he began to mutter to himself. "Should I get cannonballs? Hmm."
"How bizarre? Hmm." Ken replied staring at it.
"Most unfortunate that you caught it,. Hmm." Irene said simply.
"Who the hell is shooting cannonballs at me! Also! Please stop being so chilled out about this! If I hadn't have caught it I'd be dead..." Kitsune yelled waving the ball through the air. "And what was the point of that! Seriously. A cannonball is so old school... Compared to most weapons of today, a basic cannon is almost completely useless. Who in their right minds would use it to-"
"Hey you guys smell a Bestia Macht?" Ken asked making them all turn.
"What?"
A massive shadow suddenly appeared over Kitsune as all the recruits looked up. Their eyes slowly widened as a massive Bestia Macht fell towards Kitsune. It was at least 6 feet tall, and almost 9 feet in length. It was covered in a pitch-black fur, and had bright red eyes. It had four long legs with claws on the end, a tail that wouldn't stop wagging, and a snout full of razor-sharp teeth. Part of it actually looked kind of cute.
Then it opened its mouth showing off rows of teeth as it fell forward towards Kitsune.
The Beast latched onto his arm, although it didn't bite down. Then it turned its body still holding onto Kitsune and began to gallop away at a fast speed.
"Ahh!" Kitsune screamed in shock as he was dragged off. "Browser history! Clear it, Hero!"
"Oh my God that Bestia Macht just killed Kitsune!" Hero yelled out in a panic as the beast jumped into the air disappearing behind the Squad Seven tower.
There was a moment of silence that passed as everyone stood there...
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"So... I notice nobodies going after him..." Hero said slowly as everybody remained standing in their spots. "Nobody... We're just gonna let him go? Okay... Just making sure."
"I'm sure he'll be fine," Ken responded casually in a manner that showed she really didn't care. "But uh. On the off chance that he isn't, dibs on his stuff by the way... I think I'm starting to get into those shows... He even has those comics you read Hero but with now color and backwards."
"Yeah those aren't comics their an abomination..." Hero said flatly. "Don't you dare associate them with what I read ever again..."
"You guys are terrible teammates," Irene said stepping forward. "I can't believe you would just abandon a teammate like that."
"I mean uhh... He's probably fine." Light said shrugging. "That happened on Enforcer grounds. I highly doubt that a random Bestia Macht just happened to be running around. Plus I didn't sense any killer intent from it. It's likely just playing with him? I hope? But it's Kitsune. It's not like he took my Big Brother?"
"Also when it grabbed Kitsune it made sure not to latch onto him with its teeth. It was very gentle with him, and dragged him off against his will, kicking and screaming, gently." Hero stated in a not reassuring way.
"I didn't pick up on any of that, I just don't care about Kitsune," Ken said folding her arms. "Fuck him."
Irene stared at the three recruits as she frowned. "I can't believe you three. It doesn't matter that the threat isn't real. Kitsune, as much as I hate to admit it, is a great asset to our team, and a powerful Enforcer. The Enforcers need him to fight against the vile horde of Bestia Macht. It should be our duty to go on and save him. No matter what the situation is, be it easy, or be it impossible. Our duty is to protect our teammates. Think of the team and how such a-" She stopped suddenly as she stared at the ground, now notice the massive black shadow looming over her. "Why is there a shadow above-"
Irene managed to say right before a Bestia Macht landed on her.