Night Two Hundred And Forty Eight
Age 1991
Gladiolus City...
The Arena...
"My, my. Talking to yourself? I'm beginning to get left out." Ava said slowly crouching down. Hero gave her a smirk as he raised his left hand up and held a finger up. A single finger. "What?" Ava asked frowning.
"One second."
"What?"
"One second. It's how longer I can use this power for."
"What-"
Hero slammed his clawed arm into the ground as hard as he could catching everyone off guard. Then he took a deep intake of breath.
"Oh." Sif nodded. "I get it now. So that's where he got the power from. The one you borrowed that energy from was-"
"Hey!" Hero screamed as loud as he could his voice echoing out all around him. "Listen up you damn dirt ball! Give me some energy!"
"What the hell is he doing?" Kitsune asked with wide eyes.
"I have no idea?" Irene shrugged.
"Big Brother has gone mental!"
"Ahh! Fathers mind must have snapped under the pressure of the barrage of blows he took!"
"Hero kick her ass!" Ken yelled stomping the ground.
"Wow you seem really into it Ken." Shelly noted.
"What the hell do you think you're doing." Ava hissed firing towards Hero. "I don't find this funny-"
"Neither do I." Ava froze inches away from Hero's face staring into his now bright electric yellow eyes as small puffs of yellow lightning seemed to crackle off his skin and a bright golden aura formed around him. Hero brought his arm back as it shifted into his clawed form the green flames being replaced by a bright yellow lightning that seeped out. He closed his hand into a fist and stepped forward throwing out a powerful punch faster than Ava could react smashing his fist into her stomach so hard he stabbed through it.
As he did so he once again saw something.
That brown haired man.
"Evens Sam..."
"How do you know that name!" Ava screamed ripping herself out of Hero's arm. She slammed a punch out but Hero ducked under the strike causing it to sore over his head. His eyes reverted to normal and his aura faded as he jumped away. He slammed his arm out once more but his strike bounced off of her now that his aura was gone.
"I got that name from you." Hero said side stepping another strike but hissing out in pain and grabbing at his side. Ava slammed her arms forward once more but Hero gritted his teeth. "More power!" He announced his eyes shifting back into the white as his green flame vanished exploding out like lightning and changing to yellow and his aura came back. He slammed his arm forward smashing it through Ava's wind attack and smashing her in the face and throwing her back the aura once again vanishing. "I got that name from you. I don't really get it myself but... You didn't just have any Bestia Macht cell placed in you. This reaction I get from you... It's the same as when I'm near Daughter. Those cells inside of you react to my hand. Something forged from the Nothing. And the fact that my aura is able to hurt you is proof enough for me. Ava. You're-"
"Die!" Ava slammed her hands down into the ground four powerful tornados forming out and swirling out as a massive wind blade. Hero's aura flared back up and he changed once more back handing the wind attack away with ease. As soon as he did that his power quickly faded once more.
"Damn it..." Hero said letting out another hiss. "Three times already... S... Shit. It doesn't help I'm already pretty banged up. Even using it for one second is starting to hurt to bad... I'd say I got about two... Maybe three more of those but... I'm close."
'Close to what?' Row asked.
"Close to seeing whatever is causing her this much Despair."
'I feel the need to ask. WHY THE HELL DO YOU CARE?'
Hero gave a small smirk before he fired forward. "If you really have to ask that you haven't been paying attention have you?" Hero announced slamming his arm forward but Ava dodged it with ease. "Why am I trying to help her so badly? Cause she's in trouble. That's all there is to it. I'm just going what you made me for. Saving people and living life with my emotions! Besides... I've finally made up my mind... I'm gonna see 'her' again. And I know she'd never let me look her in the eyes again if I just left someone behind!" He yelled his eyes flashing yellow once more as he slammed a punch out only for Ava to catch it.
Ava gave a smirk squeezing down on Hero's fist as his eyes returned to normal.
"You know. Each time you do that you've been getting slower and slower and your strikes have weaker impacts. Unlike my form it'd seem yours has a serious energy issue. Each use it bringing you closer and closer to the limit."
Hero stared at her. "You... Were at the lab?"
"Die." Was Ava's blunt remark as she slammed her hand forward only for Hero to catch it with his left hand his aura flaring around him. Only this time it didn't go away after one second passed. His flesh on his left hand began to melt away but he ignored as more visions began to go through him again and again. Blood began to pour down his nose, ears, and eyes, and he seemed to actually start smoking as his skin became red hot. "My acid is only burning through the flesh on your left hand. That means all that blood and smoke is coming from that power. I was wondering why you wouldn't just keep it on at all time but I guess I know why now. Your body can't handle more than 1 second of it can it."
"W... What the hell happened to Law?" Nick asked with wide eyes. "He went from barley able to keep up with her to shoving her attacks back at her and dodging her with ease in a broken to hell body."
"It's as I had thought." Sif smirked leaning on her hand. "Borrowed Power. Mantra. Thats all it is. I've pretty much cracked it."
"Well care to explain for the rest of us." Nick asked.
"Us?" Sif looked up finding basically every Enforcer in the stands all staring at her waiting for an explanation. She sighed. "Am I seriously the only one who knows Mantra..." Her eyes rolled before she gave another small smirk. "Mantra is... A word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation. At least thats how most know it as. What we know it as is something else. Life Energy. The Equation of Life. The important thing though is the repeated part. Hero likely did something over and over again. So much so it became second nature to him. And that was channel Mantra. Thanks to having Row inside of him his body is constantly producing green Mantra hence his flames being green and Aura based. Hero likely entered into this new state by accident."
"Accident?" Nick asked.
"I imagine it started off as an idea more than anything." Sif sighed. "It likely started with the Dragon Saber as he called it. That silly sword arm. He combined ideas watching what Light did, as well as others. He even admitted to borrowing from some Otoko boy. This is all the proof I need to figure out what happened. Hero has been borrowing from all the fighters. Every fighter has shown talent at something. And Hero. He's been copying off of them. But not one at a time. No. He's been doing it over and over. On all of them. So much so that its happening all at once and he's combining the things he learned into something new. Many of the people here have had power ups. Emma entered level 2. Ken has her cat form. The list goes on. Many of them drew on power. If I had to guess Hero tried this. But he was already drawing on all his power. So in his attempt to reach out for me, this boy who channels green mantra like his breathing found something else. The Earth. Many of us Mantra users can draw on the Earths power. Hero even saw Kitsune do it. So. He tried it himself. The Dragon Saber wasn't a bad idea. Using all his power and turning it into a sword. But he knew it could be better. So he drew on this power and stumbled into the GKS. That spiral attack. The power of the worlds energy being thrown threw his body and sent out through his arm."
"But..." Nick frowned for a moment. "The Earths Mantra is white."
Sif nodded her head. "Silver. Green. Pink."
"What?"
"Those three colors." Sif stated. "Those three are colors humans can use on each other. Green being rival, pink being love, and silver being comrades."
"I know but what did it have to do with anything?" Nick asked.
"Everything. Humans can bond with one another in three ways. Green, Pink, and Silver. The point being humans have three bonds with each other. So why should we assume that humans and the Earth have only one bond? When a person draws on the Earths Mantra they force it out of the planet and this gives them that white aura. This isn't what Hero is doing though."
"It's not?"
"No. He's asking for it. So many of us take the aura for ourselves but Hero... He didn't try and force the power to come out of the planet. Instead he reached out and he asked it for help. And it listened. It gave him power. The GKS is all that power thrown out in one burst. This is also likely why he failed the second time he used it. Either Hero forgot to ask for the power, or the Planet simply refused to give it to him when he tried to use the move the second time."
"I think I get it. But what about what he's doing now then?"
"Hmm. It's much the same." Sif nodded. "I noticed it a while ago. He's been shifting his arm less and less. He seems to always try and use his clawed hand now and rarely switches off of it. If I had to guess why it's because his level 2 state, which he is getting closer and closer to reaching, can't shift forms like his clawed hand, and despite never seeing it Hero can instinctively feel this so his body has been trying to stick with one form to get him used to not being able to shift thus allowing him to overcome that weakness. Though that is a guess. But if my theory is right then that would pose an issue. Hero just created this new attack. GKS. But it can only be used in his gun form. But he's trying to avoid shifting from his clawed form."
"I get it. So this aura... He tried recreating it in his normal form." Nick said nodding his head. "This is like the GKS but in aura form. Rather than channel all that power through his gun arm he's instead running all that power through his entire body boosting it all up."
"Exactly. And that alone is his undoing."
"What?"
"If I had to guess... I'd say Hero with this aura on is at about a 1.9. Right on the verge of being a level 2. This GKS Aura is his solution to it. He can't enter level 2 but this boosts him so close he might as well be in a level 2 state. The issue though is Mantra isn't designed to be used that way. He's flooding his body with aura. He's like a balloon who's being filled with water. He's trying to get to its limit to fill it up as much as possible and avoiding the burst. One slip up though and boom... This form must place a huge strain on his body. Honestly it doesn't seem worth it if you ask me. Level 2 is just better. Sure this gets him close to it but it drains more of his energy, causes him pain, is slightly weaker, and can't be kept up for as long. This GKS Aura was made useless before it even got to shine..."
"D... Damn." Hero's aura vanished as he stumbled back and dropped to a knee. "M... Maybe if I was in 100% tip top shape I'd be able to maintain it for 2 or maybe even 3 seconds but this is just..." Hero bit his bottom lip as he stared down at Ava's foot. "I could... But doing so would use 'it' up and I'd have no more... Is it worth it... I never even got to see Ava until today... Will I see her again and be able to look into her mind... At first it was about saving her but she was one of the people from the lab. Did I see her before it got burnt down?"
"You can stop muttering to yourself." Ava sneered raising her hand up. "Die-"
"Wait!" Leo announced. "This is a match still. Even if there is no arena. As such Hero is currently down and no longer standing. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9-"
"Screw it." Hero sighed standing back up.
Ava jumped away from him expecting an attack but he didn't.
"Hey." Hero said staring at her.
"What?"
"You better be worth it."
"What!?"
"Rather you like it or not I'm going to save you from that despair thats clinging to you." Hero said giving a small smirk. "As I once said to another hot babe I was able to hang out with. I'll drag you kicking and screaming out of this despair if I have to."
"Why do you care so much?"
"It's not as heroic as you'd think I'll admit." Hero said giving a sheepish smile. "Don't get me wrong. At first I was going to try but then when you showed how strong you were I gave up. But then... I saw that lab. I want to find out more about that for my own sake. It's a selfish goal. Besides. If what you said about Otoko is true then I can use you."
"Use... Me..." Ava's eyes flashed forward a moment as she gained a crazed look in her eyes. She cocked her head to the side raising her arm up a white lightning bolt beginning to seep out. "I don't give a damn anymore. You're dead. For even having the guts to claim to use me on my dear Otoko."
"Like it or not I'm going to stop him. But first I'm going to save you."
"Ha. You can't even move in that broken body."
"You're right." Hero admitted nodding his head. "Let's fix that."
"What?"
Hero unzipped his jacket showing off his honed underneath as he only had the jacket on. His hand slowly traced over his 'D' shaped scar. "You know. Last time I replaced all my damaged parts with his organs and limbs." Hero said as the scar began to light up.
"No..."
"I was told I got one last use with this thing. After this and I'll wake Row up."
"No." Ava said taking a step forward.
"I wonder."
"No." She charged towards him slamming her hand down as her lightning blasted out.
"Who's parts I'll use to replace myself this time?"