Chereads / Inner Core (Book 2) / Chapter 3 - *Chapter 3* Who Will Be The Next Leader

Chapter 3 - *Chapter 3* Who Will Be The Next Leader

(A few guys stood outside a market. They were slicing fruits with katanas and laughing around. A man covered with white bandages walked up to them. He had long black hair hanging down his back. One of the guys saw him and walked over to him.)

Guy one: "Out of here. Shouldn't you be at the hospital with those injuries."

(His friends started laughing at his 'joke'. The bandaged man slowly pulled out a katana from his back that was hidden by his hair.)

Guy one: "Oh ok. You wanna do this. Tommy, throw me a sword."

(Tommy threw him a sword and he caught it and was ready to fight. His friends were chanting for him to mess him up and rip him to shreds. The guy ran at him and swung his sword.)

(Reo walked downstairs from his room. He just woke up, he was exhausted. He could've slept longer, but it was ten and he knew Kazu would yell at him if he slept any longer. He walked into the living room and it looked like everyone was standing around Kazu.)

Reo: "What the hell is going on?"

Dai: "We're figuring out who's the next leader. Obviously you don't care, or you would've woken up at the time we said we were gonna wake up."

Reo: "When did you say we gotta wake up early?"

Dai: "I didn't say it, I wrote it. On the bulletin board."

(Dai pointed across the room where there was in fact a bulletin board. There was a piece of paper and on it was in big writing 'WAKE UP AT 9:00 AM TOMORROW FOR CHOOSING NEW LEADER'.)

Reo: "I don't read that crap."

Taku: "Well neither does Kazu cuz he won't choose a damn leader."

Kazu: "Listen guys I'm sorry. I'm not gonna choose anyone yet, it's too early."

Ruri: "Not trying to be rude or anything, but you are supposed to say goodbye in 3 days."

Kazu: "Heh, yea, too early."

Yui: "Oh come on Kazu. Just say it. No one is gonna get their feelings hurt."

Taku: *cough cough* "Not everyone agreed to that."

Sara: "Everyone calm down. It's Kazu's team, if he doesn't wanna choose anyone yet, let him wait."

Kazu: "Thank you, Sara. That was very mature of you."

Sara: "Hey, you're welcome Kazu. I'm just being very mature, and very strong, and leading everyone to be better because that's the person I am."

(Kazu looked at her for a minute.)

Kazu: "I'm still not choosing."

(Sara started shaking him.)

Sara: "But I was leading everyone so gooood. I was mature and and strong and..."

(Dai took her off him.)

Dai: "Get out of here, Sara. There you go Kazu. I got you always, just remember that when your choosing a leader."

Yui: "Hey hey hey, Kazu, I can cook you up a feast for your trip to wherever you're going, just do me a favor..."

Taku: "Come on Kazu, look at me. You need a hot leader so the ladies have something to look at."

Reo: "Everyone shut up!"

(Everyone stopped talking and looked over to Reo. Reo talked while walking towards Kazu.)

Reo: "What the hell is wrong with everybody. It's a leader position, who wants that. I understand

Dai, cuz he's a nerd, but i mean Sara, Yui, Taku? I know Taku definitely doesn't wanna do extra work."

(Reo stopped next to Kazu.)

Kazu: "Thank you Reo. See everyone, can't you all be calm like Reo. He doesn't even care about the pay upgrade that comes with being a leader. He's being strong, nice, considerate..."

Reo: "I'm sorry what?"

Kazu: "Oh sorry Reo, I was just saying you're being considerate."

Reo: "Oh not that, the thing before that."

Kazu: "Oh, how you don't care about the pay upgrade that you get for being a leader."

(Reo paused for a moment. He then grabbed onto Kazu and started shaking.)

Reo: "Well you teleporting bastard, pick a leader. You just called me strong and stuff. So why not me. I'd be perfect."

(Everyone started crowding around Kazu again yelling. Kazu pushed himself away from them, made a portal and jumped through it. He closed it before they could go through. He laid down on the floor where he teleported to. The floor was hard and cold. Tile. He was either in the kitchen or the bathroom, and it was way too big to be the bathroom. He stood up and smelled something cooking. He looked over and saw Selene cooking something.)

Kazu: "Selene?"

(Selene jumped a little bit.)

Selene: "Oh, Kazu. You scared me. What are you doing here?"

Kazu: "I could ask the same. I thought you were in the crowd."

Selene: "Oh, I was at first, but then I decided to cook a bit."

(She pulled out a giant ham from the oven.)

Kazu: "Wow. I thought Yui was the cook around here."

Selene: "Oh trust me, she still is. When we were young Ruri taught me how to cook a little bit."

Kazu: "Oh, cuz of your parents."

(Selene stopped for a moment.)

Selene: "Uh yea. Have you talked to Ruri about it?"

Kazu: "Heh, uh no. I actually know everything I need to know about everyone here."

Selene: "Um, how?"

Kazu: "Well I'm the number one hero. The police kinda let me do checks on my teammates each team I get."

Selene: "Wow, uh scary."

Kazu: "Oh, yeah now that I think about it, I guess it is kind of, creepish."

Selene: "Well I mean it comes from a good place."

Kazu: "Haha, yeah trust me I'm not a creep, I just wanna know all of your past."

(They both laughed a bit.)

Selene: "So, uh, how much do you know?"

Kazu: "Not too much. I try to have a personal boundary a little bit. I just know about your parents, your name, and how it all went down, you know."

Selene: "Oh ok, well do you have any gossip on anyone else?"

Kazu: "Selene, I can't tell you that."

Selene: "Oh right, sorry."

(Selene looked down a bit.)

Kazu: "Haha, I'm joking. It's nothing too bad."

Selene: "oh haha ok."

Kazu: "So let's see. Yui's parents own a restaurant, Sara is afraid of the dark, Dai can't ride a bike, and Taku's never had a girlfriend."

Selene: "Oh my god, no way."

Kazu: "What do you mean no way? No offense but it's hard to see someone dating him."

(They laugh again.)

Selene: "Do... Do you have anything on Reo?"

Kazu: "Weirdly, no. I don't know much about Reo. I've been meaning to talk to him about somethings, but never really got to it. It doesn't affect how he works or anything, but I just like to know everyone's past just to be safe."

Selene: "Yeah, I get that. I know what you mean. He seems to be distant with his past. I get bits and pieces from Sara, but it's hard to follow one of her stories."

Kazu: "Hehheh, Yeah, she can skip to the end of the story before you know the beginning."

Selene: "Oh my god, right. I asked her what some movie was about once and she just told me the end."

Kazu: "Haha, well what happened."

Selene: "Twist ending, Alex dies."

Kazu: "Who's Alex?"

Selene: "I didn't know, didn't get that far into the story, but I think the main character."

(They both laughed again)

Kazu: "Hey, thanks for being sane during all this. I feel like everyone is after me you know."

Selene: "Oh yeah. Luckily you'll tell them the leader in 3 days. If it was 4 day though, the mansion might be in pieces."

Kazu: "Heheh, yeah."

(They looked around in silence for a moment.)

Selene: "So, if you don't mind me asking, who is the next leader?"

Kazu: "I'm going to be honest, I don't know. I've kind of been trying to not think about it. I mean I have a few in mind, but I just don't know."

Selene: "Well..."

(Selene put her hand on Kazu's shoulder. Kazu looked over to her.)

Selene: "I'm always here if you need anything."

(Kazu smiled.)

Kazu: "Thank you. *sigh* I guess I better start tending to all of them. Who knows what they'll do next if I'm not there?"

Selene: "Heheh, yeah, well I'll distract them with this ham, so tell them to go to the dining room. Maybe a mouthful of pork will stop them from thinking about you leaving."

Kazu: "Heheh, yea."

(Kazu left the kitchen, and Selene stared at the door he left from for a moment. She looked down for a second and then continued making her ham.)

(Reo and Sara we're in the tv room watching tv. Some cartoon Sara liked was on and she was singing the theme song.)

Sara: "Hop bunny hop. Stop bunny stop. There's a carrot. Now eaaaaaat."

Reo: "What are you, five?"

Sara: "It's a very educational show."

Reo: "Yeah, for preschoolers."

(Reo pulled up a magazine and started reading. He was looking at new swords. He liked his, but maybe a newer flasher one would get him noticed. He started thinking about a whole new hero getup. Maybe a new name. Most hero's had hero names, but he thought it was stupid. And he thought costumes were stupid too. How can you be afraid of someone wearing underwear on the outside of their pants? He wanted to look scary. Strike fear into his enemy's eyes. Yeah, that's what he likes.)

Sara: "Whatcha thinkin about, bro?"

Reo: "Huh? Nothing. Shut up."

Sara: "Uh, ok?"

(Reo stood up.)

Reo: "Do you have a hero suit?"

Sara: "Uh, yea. It's in the suit room."

Reo: "The suit room?"

(Sara brought him to a room where everyone's suits were. It had their names under each one. Dai's was a mechanically type suit. It had six holes on the back for his drills to come out of. It looked like his suit could transform into drills along with him. Next to his suit was Taku's. His was very techy. It was light blue like his plasma and it had a visor for the eyes. Next was Yui's. Just a plain purple suit. Her core was pretty plain so it matched. Then Ruri's suit. It was white with grey wind symbols all over it. She definitely wanted to show off what core she had. Next was Selene's. Hers was similar to Ruri's, but it wasn't white. It was electric blue with wind symbols and lighting bolts all over it. Finally, was...)

Sara: "Miiiiiiiine."

(Sara ran over to hers. It was light blue like ice.)

Sara: "It has heaters in it so I don't get too cold. The heater activate the appropriate temperatures for the amount of ice I'm putting off."

Reo: "Ok cool. Where's Kazu's?"

Sara: "Oh, he doesn't have a suit. He just usually wears what he wants. He doesn't really care.

(After hearing that Reo felt better about not having a suit. If the number one hero didn't have one, why should he?")

Sara: "Hey Reo."

Reo: "Yeah."

Sara: "Do you think we'll be big heroes? Like people knowing us actually."

Reo: "I don't know. Maybe. Whoever is leader will definitely get noticed."

Sara: "Yeah that's true. I don't think we'll become the leader though."

Reo: "Why's that?"

Sara: "Well, I just have a feeling."

Reo: "Well you're probably right, but we can get noticed in other ways."

Sara: "Like what?"

Reo: "I don't know."

(Reo turned around and started to leave. He stopped and looked back at her.)

Reo: "Just don't think about it too much."

(Reo then walked away.)

Kage: "Hurry up damn it!"

Z: "I'm going as fast as I can. If I rush this it might not be as perfect as we want."

Kage: "I don't want perfect, I want destruction. Now Kazu leaves tomorrow and I wanna have something in time for his leave."

Z: *sigh* "I can cut some corners and we'll have this by morning."

Kage: "Good, that'll work."

(Hugo came out of the shadows with a bunch of scraps.)

Hugo: "Is this what you wanted?"

Z: "No, I don't need scrap metal to make a human being, idiot."

(Hugo looked angry.)

Hugo: "Then why did you tell me to get it?"

Z: "So you would leave me be. I thought your core was being smart. You definitely haven't been getting better with age now haven't you."

Hugo: "I will kill you right here right now."

(Z stood up and a sharp needle stuck out the palm of his robotic hand.)

Z: "Try me old man."

Kage: "If you guys keep screwing around I'll kill you both myself."

(Z went back down to work on the project, but kept his eye on Hugo. Hugo stood there and stared at Z.)

Kage: "Old man, get out of here. You're not helping anyone here at all."

(Hugo stood there still staring.)

Kage: "Old man you got your hearing aids in? I said leave damn it."

(Hugo walked away into another room. He was alone in a little closet that looked like a cramped office. He looked at the walls covered in blueprints for inventions.)

Hugo: "Oh Hugo, what have you got into?"