Hops finished his bottle of beer, as he placed it back on the counter. Saputan beer turned out to be really good after all. Alice herself didn't want a drink as they remained in silence. The beach bar that they were at was decently packed with tourists, as the pair chilled at the counter, at least that it seemed.
"So, what you're trying to do now?" Hops looked at the woman, who sighed in boredom.
"I'm going to be honest with you, Ryan." Alice said, shocking Hops that she used his real name. "I expected there to be more to do here. Not just drink and get drunk."
"Drunk?" Hops started to chuckle. "I haven't gotten drunk in a good minute. Not that I need to. Since arriving here, I've hadn't had a good time to spend with you. Until now."
"I guess we still have the beach." Alice looked towards the water, to which the guard didn't lie about the quality. "I mean it's better than nothing."
"Don't worry, we're having a better time compared to the others. It's just me and you today." Hops stared at her.
The pair looked at each other, before sharing a quick kiss of love. Satisfied, Alice paid for his drink before he could, and got up.
"Well, let's go then." Alice grabbed his waist once he was up.
"Say less." Hops smirked, as he joined her in heading to the beach. "I'm sure the others are having the time of their lives right now."
.....
They were not having the time of their lives at that very moment. At least for the male trio, who were looking at a four-story brick tower.
"An apartment complex you say?" Leon studied it intensely. "I mean, if it fits our needs, then it fits our needs."
"I guess so." Jamal agreed, as Heskins was reading a sign.
"Says here that-" Heskins started to say, before a bright light temporarily blinded them.
Even though they were facing away from the source of energy, Jamal managed to take a glance to see a dark lady welding some type of blade. That blade was radiating that light across the space, as Jamal managed to see the lady take a step forward. Thanks to his former training, he managed to brace himself for the incoming assault, as he managed to hold the blade away from his face that appeared almost instantly. It was only mere inches, as Jamal was impressive with the spilt-second attack, although the woman's face said otherwise.
The woman herself wasn't even ugly, and if he had never met Ula, he would have considered shooting his shot. Except there wouldn't have been a shot to shoot when that lady was attempting to slice your head off. Noticing the blood starting to leak off his fingers, Jamal managed to push the sword to the side, although the woman stayed in place.
"Jamal Wrint, you've come back to us." the woman's face was twisted with hate, as she gripped the weapon tighter. "I'm glad to be the one with honor."
"You must have the wrong person. Jamal Wrint isn't in Youdenia. Ma'am, you must be confused." Jamal began to wipe the blood off the side of his shirt.
"No regular person would block such an attack with ease or rather a lack of experience would they?" Sera grounded her teeth in frustration. "Just admit that you are who you really are."
"Wait, that's Jamal Wrint?" a female voice cried out, as to which the two sides turned to see.
There was a small crowd beginning to form behind them, as even someone brought a handheld camera, before taking a quick picture of the scene. Jamal almost gasped in shock, as he began to step back. That was until Leon firmly put his hand on his shoulder as if to ensure him that things were going to be okay.
"Jamal, stay confident. We can't let them believe such false accusations." Leon began to say, before realizing the girl was listening to them.
"It is you!" Sera began to roar, causing the sword to glow brighter. "Jamal Wrint, your blood will take place for my father's."
Before Jamal could even understand what was happening here, the woman began to rapidly attempt to slash him from multiple directions. Even at this speed without his powers, Jamal was barely able to dodge the attacks. Since their cover was blown, he might as well use his flames now.
That was until Leon moved in front of him and grabbed the weapon himself. Sera appeared to have jumped from above and was so quick about it, that a temporary afterimage was still at her original location. The woman was more impressed, however, with more people being able to withstand her blows to even block and counter them.
"You're strong too." Sera smiled, "That'll make it even more challenging."
"The main question is why are you trying to kill us? We didn't have anything to do with your father." Heskins spoke up at last. "You have some explaining to do."
"You know what you did Jamal, on that very day." Sera hissed with fury, as she landed back on the ground.
"Stopping Youden? I don't know if your father or family was in the army coming towards the city, but all I did was help defend it. I'm not going to apologize for my actions towards the aggressor." Jamal stood his ground.
"He was innocent. You let him and countless family members die, when some of Youden's attacks landed inside here. He was all I had." she began to cry, although still gripping the weapon tightly.
"I'm sorry for that happening. I didn't wish for Youden to attack within the city limits, but he choose to do it anyway in order to stop me. I'm sure he was a good man."
"But you're the reason that he came to the city. You're the reason that he's gone. He was all I truly had." Sera stared the man down, tears still coming down her face. "This is for all the pain you've brought to me and those families."
Jamal stood his ground, hands in pocket, as the sword began to glow brighter. It was almost hard to keep his eyes open for much longer, until the light instantly died and a light white aura instead surrounded the girl. Was the sword's power being utilized through the girl, or was it the other way around? Not waiting to find out, Jamal moved one step ahead of Leon, before the woman pulled the weapon back.
"For everyone! For my father! For my life!" Sera roared aloud, as she began to slice in the man's direction.
Jamal watched as slices of energy began to streak toward him. As extremely similar to one of his own attacks, the man swiftly moved around them in a dance-like manner, before the woman appeared in front of him. With nowhere to go, Jamal could only brace himself, as the woman concentrated her obtained energy on each attack on the man.
Jamal could do nothing but expertly dodge, although she was fast enough to cause several slices to cut through his shirt, but not his skin. Satisfied with what he was seeing, Jamal started to laugh as he finally took his shirt off. It exposed a quite chiseled build, despite all these years still, as he gotten himself into a protective stance.
"I rather not show you this, but it's clear that you've gone delusional. Let me put some sense into you." Jamal grinned, before he slowly let fire swirl around him.
The woman watched eagerly, as she could feel the pent-up power begin to slowly wane and run out. She only had a few more minutes to finish him or else everything that happened would be wasted. The man himself was barely completely ignited before he disappeared from everyone's sight. The still-growing crowd began to quickly look around to see where Jamal could have gone, including Sera.
"Was this some type of plan I was missing?" Heskins got uneasy.
"I don't know, you tell me." Leon was with him.
Sera herself took a calm breath, as she began to concentrate her hearing for any strange movement. In only a few moments, she heard what she needed, as she slashed her sword in the opposite direction without hesitation. However, the only thing there was a false afterimage of Jamal, as the attack split the body in half before disappearing.
"Well, you'll have to be quicker than that. Youden won't spare you at all." a voice rang behind her, causing the woman to jump and loosen her grip.
That was all Jamal needed, as he managed to kick the sword away, as it clattered against the wall. Without it now, the woman's energy began to drain away rather quickly, as within a few seconds the aura around her began to disappear.
"No, that's impossible. I've trained to be quicker, stronger, and more prepared than ever in my life." the woman gasped in surprise. "I'm not going out like this."
"Who said you had to go out like this. If you want real revenge, Youden's your guy. He's the one that brought death and destruction here in the first place." Jamal extinguished his flames, as he genuinely stared at the woman. "I can help you with that. I see your potential."
"No, this has to be some type of trap. I refuse to fail like this." the woman roared one last time, before attempting to rush the man.
Jamal didn't move, as he dodged her punches and blocked the kicks that she attempted. It wasn't that her training wasn't helping, but her condition made her attacks seem more desperate and less effective.
"Look, if you don't want to kill the actual man that actually killed your father, it's fine. At least leave me and my group alone." Jamal grabbed her fist after having enough, "We got things to do and clear up, and I rather not waste any more time being here, literally. You'll know where to find us clearly if you're interested still."
Sera was at a loss of words, as Jamal grabbed her sword off the ground and handed it back to her. Without a sound, she simply grabbed it, as she felt all of the energy return to her body. But this energy felt different compared to all the energy she contained within the weapon, and looking up from the floor, she realized that the man and his group were gone.
.....
It was close to sunset, as there were only about a dozen people left at the beach. Hops stared into the water, still inhaling the cleaner salt from the sea, as Alice finally grunted to note his attention.
"Yes, Alice." the man turned towards the woman next to him.
They were both in some beach chairs covered by a flimsy umbrella to avoid sunburns and the day's high heat. Turns out that when they had planned to go into the water, it really meant checking out more stuff in the vicinity while having the literal ocean in your sights.
"Can we go into the water now? I really want you to come with me." Alice started to beg him. "The water in Fuishem doesn't look as good compared to here."
"I don't know, it's getting kind of late." Hops began to attempt to stall. "It might be colder now."
"Hops, stop it with the bullshit." Alice began to whisper to not alert the other people and children nearby. "We're going into the water, and I don't want you saying else. We've waited all day for this, and you're choosing a weak excuse to not go in."
Fuck, it looks like he was running out of options. He didn't know how he had to tell her the following, but he didn't really feel like wasting Alice's time any longer. As embarrassing as it was going to be to explain, at least it might provide some background.
"Alright Alice, I'm going to be real with you. I've been avoiding the beach the entire time, because I can't swim."
They were both silent for a brief second, before Alice started the conversation again.
"Why didn't you say anything? I would have been fine with that!" Alice almost wanted to hit him for the delay. "I can teach you how to do it. But only if you come in the water."
"I don't really know, Alice. I don't really like being in water that I can't feel the floor of like that." Hops began to start, as the woman got up and pulled out her book.
"Hold onto this, will you?" she handed him. "I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" Hops was about to follow but decided otherwise.
"Just wait here, you'll really want to come after I'm back." she eagerly walked away and behind a rock.
What the world was she doing, Hops was confused, as he noted a faint light appearing behind the boulder. Was that her power at work, or something else? The book itself wasn't glowing like usual, so where did that come from?
Not even thinking about it much longer, Hops continued to enjoy the ocean breeze while the day was starting to cool down. Only a few minutes later, he heard several steps come his way, and he turned around to see the commotion. The sight made him open his mouth. Alice was in a very revealing and colorful bikini fit, that essentially almost showed everything that the man was looking for. Yeah, he was quickly motivated to go into that water now.
"You like it? I made it myself in like three minutes." Alice handed him the clothes she was wearing. "I can make you some stuff too if you want me to."
"Damn, you look good!" Hops couldn't even contain anymore, "Sorry, what I meant to say was, when are we getting into the ocean? Like in this very moment?"
With that response, the woman just laughed as Hops quickly got up with some perk. Grinning, Hops followed the woman behind the rock, and for him to get a set of trunks.
.....
Despite being in the shallow end of the water for only an hour, Hops was already wishing he was back on land. He didn't think it would be that cold, despite the sun's heat burning his skin earlier. The only thing keeping him in was Alice, to which being soaked with the liquid made her even more attractive. He hit a jackpot.
"Are you even paying attention?" Alice snapped her fingers near his face, causing him to clear his head.
"Yeah, I was." Hops stared at her drenched curly hair and body. "You got to use your legs and arms to swim."
"I said that twenty minutes ago." Alice put her hand across her face in embarrassment, surprising Hops. "What did you really hear?"
"I'm going to be brutally honest with you. The only thing I was doing was seeing. And I was seeing you." Hops tried to joke around.
The words actually caused Alice to laugh, as she waded closer to him. Smiling back at her, he didn't even wait for her to make a move. Once she was close enough to him, Hops grabbed her waist, causing her to shriek, and playfully attempt to push away.
"Oh no, you don't." Hops continued to laugh, as he managed to pin her towards him.
Even through that playful moment, the couple just looked at each other as if nothing around them existed, before starting to make out with each other intensely. Hops could taste the saltwater in his partner's mouth as he began to lift her out of the water. Soon, they were already back in one of their seats, still on top of one another, with the remaining people still there just looking at them. Even with the sole family still there for the day, had the mother cover both her children's eyes.
"Can y'all take that somewhere else? My powers, y'all getting it on over there." Someone moved closer to them to inform them. "We got families out here."
"We're leaving now." Alice managed to say, before Hops continued kissing her.
The person just walked away in disgust, as Hops was about to start taking off her bikini when she stopped him.
"Hey, we can do this somewhere else. At least I know we have some standards." Alice whispered to him, pushing him up at the last minute.
"You're so beautiful. I've loved you for every single day since meeting you." Hops held himself up.
"I love you too." Alice went in for a quick kiss, before coming back to her original chair.
Hops grinned eagerly, almost a bit too excited. I guess he could see what Jamal must have felt years ago on that fateful day he decided to stay with them on the last day in the Saputa capital. Except he hadn't gotten any type of play in a good minute, and with someone he actually cared for. Shit, he was going to make every single second filled with love and pleasure. Before letting his thoughts carry him away, he briefly closed his eyes and calmed down, before preparing his things to leave. Yeah, he was going to be chopping up plenty of wood that night.