Later on, everyone was on the train again, and the train was heading over to the last exam test site.
Seven was sitting on top of the train, holding her metal arm.
'I have to do it. I have to do it. It's the only way…'
Seven's metal arm was hurting her, until she saw a shadow brimming around it, and it suppressed the pain.
'This is..'
Duri was standing behind her, saying, "Yep."
Seven responded, "You following me?"
"No. This is my spot. And you're in it."
"Hmph. You don't claim anything. And what are your shadows really doing to me?"
"It suppresses whatever it soothes itself in. So the pain in your arm is being suppressed, but it doesn't last long."
"So like, if you make your shadows go on fire.."
"It'll put the fire out."
"I see. When did you figure out you could do this?"
"My leg was hurting and I just decided to see what my shadows could do."
"Ah."
"...What the hell happened to your arm anyway?"
Seven looked at Duri, then looked forward again.
Seven sighed, and said, "Sit down."
Duri sat down beside Seven. Seven was surprised Duri sat down beside her, because she knew most boys would act dense and be all nervous and flustered.
Duri said to Seven, "Hurry up."
Seven responded, "Shut up. I don't know why I'm even telling u something like this, but since you're the only one who knows my secret, fuck it. Anyway….my arm was sacrificed, when I was little. I was trying to protect myself against a couple of idiots who kept saying they wanted me for something, and I fought them and lost, and then my parents came in and killed them. Yeah it's a pretty rushed and dark ass story, but that's all I can remember. During school when I was little, the whole class saw my metal arm on accident, and they laughed at me for two days straight. Even my so-called friends laughed and picked on me. It got so bad that my parents had to get someone to wipe my elementary school memories so they wouldn't remember my metal arm. It fuckin' sucked. Not even a healer with that healing power shit could fix my arm. I was so little. I went to school, people thought it was so perfect, but in reality I'm a cyborg."
"Oi, oi. Don't call yourself that. Well…you are kind of a cyborg, but that's only in your arm. You are lucky you even made it out alive, and only left with a torn arm. You did what you had to do, you protected yourself. I'm not big on complimenting dumbasses, but you're pretty strong and have a good head on your shoulders, and don't take shit from anyone…just like me. And everyone that laughed at you before, are just a bunch of pussies who don't know what it's like to fight for yourself and the ones you love. They aren't as strong as you, dumbass."
"..Why? Why are you saying all of this stuff to me?"
"...I don't like watching people talk down on themselves. Especially if it has something to do with a small defect they have. I'm guilty of talking down on myself, I still think about that shit. But when I see others do it, I remember Marshy telling me to always help people."
"Didn't think someone as stuck up as you would listen to advice like that."
"I'm a stuck up bastard, yes. I still don't like you fucking humans. But then again, Marshy is smart. Smarter than my ass. So I usually listen to her."
"Mm. I see."
Seven mentioned , "...You said…my arm looked cool…a few hours ago..did you mean it?"
Duri replied, "Heh? I wouldn't say things I don't mean, dummy."
"You do a lot though. Duuuummmbassss."
"I'm not in the mood to hit you, so I'll let you have this moment to talk shit."
Seven smirked, then let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah, OKAY sir. Maybe you're just scared."
"I beat you the first time we fought, right? Oh, okay."
"OI! I LET YOU!"
"Sure ya did."
Seven looked down at Duri's hands, and saw the cuts and bruises on them.
Duri asked, "Going back to your arm, who made it for you?"
"My parents got it for me from Jiyu's family. Since you know Jiyu's family are most famous for creating nerd ass technology."
"That's…cool I guess."
"Let me ask you something now."
"What?"
"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"Girlfriend?"
"Yes."
"I have four kids. What do you mean?"
"Oh my goodness.."
Duri chuckled, and said, "I'm kidding. I had one girlfriend, but she was an asshole. We dated for a week, but she hated that I saved innocent civilians rather than rush across the world to save her ungrateful ass."
"Shit. What a cunt."
"I know right."
There was a moment of silence between the two of them, as the train continued to pace across the tracks, and the sun shone upon it.
Duri was looking at his own hands, looking at the bruises and scars.
'Heh. Reminds me of when I used to train every day. But during those times, my hands were much bloodier and battered. I'm finally here though. I waited for this moment, I've waited for this ass exam. Now comes the last exam test. I have to go against Ren-Ren. I've seen his little sword stuff. It won't be won without a challenge. That's one of the main reasons why I love fighting.'
Duri sighed, and looked up at the clouds. Seven looked at Duri, and she looked down at her own hands.
Duri looks at Seven, and he thinks, 'In all seriousness, she is actually pretty damn good looking..'
Seven looked back at Duri, and said with a flustered face, "...Duri….."
"Hm?"
The train took a hard stop, and Duri and Seven rolled forward, and they fell on top of each other, with Duri being on top of her.
Both of their faces were flustered, and they were both speechless.
Seven said, "...Duri…I…"
Someone in front of them said, "EWWW! THEY'RE TRYING TO KISS!"
Duri and Seven looked up at them, and it was four exam students pointing and saying:
"Duri and Seven were about to kiss!!"
"Whaaaat?"
Duri and Seven moved off of each other, and they slid away.
Seven said, "Shut up. Anyway, why did we stop?"
The students pointed to the left, and Duri and Seven looked that way. When they did, they saw a large city, and in the middle of that city, was a large dome. And that dome was the tournament arena.
All the exam students got out of the train, peering at the horizon.
Kazuma said, "Awesooooome!!"
Ren-Ren added, "Hmph. Looks like a good base for a villain headquarters. Just what I need."
Jiyu said, "So shiny…so pr-pretty!"
Espen comments, "Place is too big. Shiryu, try not to get too dirty. I don't feel like washing anything."
Shiryu uttered, "Vacant but big buildings..(*Yawns*), I wonder what I'll eat after the tournament."
Tek was still reading his small black book, looked at the city, then looked away.
Nine said, "Hmmm. I fuck with it! But…is this a real city?"
Hosts Tetsuya, Chaos, Hanako, and Kedarah floated above everyone, and then turned to face them.
Tetsuya said, "There are no people here in this city. This city was created by the Titans before we arrived, obviously. They added the other things here just to give it a more realistic look, since REAL tournaments are sometimes smack dab in the middle of cities. We won't waste any time doing these tournaments. When we arrive at the arena, you all have 15 minutes to warm up before the fighting starts. Remember, there will be millions of eyes watching you all. Inside the arena, will be some Hosts from all over the world. Give us a good impression. Any questions?"
Duri looked left and right, no one asked anything.
'We just wanna get this shit done. No questions here.'
Tetsuya grinned, "Great! Let's get going. But the question is…who will get there first?!"
The students chuckled, and then they all blazed into the sky. Running, long jumping, and flying took place, they all raced to get to the arena building first.
They hopped and flipped on and off other buildings, moving at a fast pace.
Duri was just walking with his hands in his pockets, chewing a piece of gum.
"Pointless," he said
Seven was riding on Nine's back, as Nine was using her gifted lightning speed to race to the arena.
Seven said, "Giddy up, slut!"
Nine responded, "Heh?! I'll run us off a cliff!"
Kazuma was riding on his fire lions, Jiyu had metal wings flapping out of her back, and Ren-Ren was using his sword to teleport to different buildings. Because he can only teleport to places where he can see.
Espen and Shiryu were jogging casually, and Espen said, "Jogging is good. It will keep you healthy. Don't want you getting sick, Shiryu."
Shiryu yawned, "But I'm…sleepy!"
"This should be nothing to you, given how strong you really are."
[Saitama, Japan]
Marshy, Host Xenon, his father Voel, and Mifu were sitting with a crowd of 200 people, they sat in chairs outside and looked up at a large 700 foot long flatscreen TV. That TV was going to be playing the exam tournaments shortly.
Voel said, "This should be worth watching. Since Xenon dragged me out of my domain to be here."
Xenon added, "Of course I did. Old man."
"Tch. Old? I still have a little fire left in me."
"Nah. Don't think so."
Marshy was eating popcorn fast, and her eyes were like puppy eyes.
She said, "I swear, when Duri comes back, I'm gonna show him so much love! He better FUCKING WIN!"
Mifu tapped Marshy on the shoulder, "He'll be fine, Marshy. He'll win. We trained him too hard, harder than we should've for a kid his age.."
"Duri is strong as hell and he's durable. Duri got hit in the chest by a large building one time, and his bones were still intact. Barely. We trained him well. Damn good. I'm so proud of myself. And I'm proud of Duri, he's come a long way. I know he always wanted this, to take the exams and become part of the tournaments to get stronger….this is the moment we've been waiting for."
Xenon took a puff of his cigarette, saying, "Whatever you say."
Mifu said, "This year's exam group looks promising though, especially the kids that were already known as prodigies like Tek and Seven and some other students."
Voel answered Mifu, "I was thinking the same thing. SUPER high power levels for young teenagers to have, this is a sight to see. A rare one too."
Marshy and Xenon looked at each other, and then looked back at the screen.
The TV showed the students warming up with each other in the middle of the arena: stretching, praying, listening to music while doing small push ups and sit ups, jogging in place, shadow boxing, or slightly testing their powers with a cocky grin.
Duri was sitting off to the side alone, and watching everyone else warm up.
Marshy watched, thinking, 'You got this..Duri.'
[Exam arena]
Duri was still inspecting his hands, he began to think about all the hard training he's done, and all the times he admired the powers of others and was amazed by the tournaments. He remembered leaving a training session with Marshy, and he was beaten, battered, and bruised, but the right after, Marshy spoiled him with whatever he wanted and gave him love and attention.
Duri grinned, thinking, 'Yeah. That happened. I'm here now. Other Hosts from around the world are finding seats, people are cutting their TV's on to watch us, and Bloggerz is going crazy over this. This is the real fucking deal. This is just a stepping stone for me. A stepping stone for me to gain more power and kill Zabel…'
Kazuma was testing his fire out, Ren-Ren was swinging his sword around, Jiyu was stretching with guns on her hands, Seven was trying to create larger and larger purple power orbs, and Nine was punching the air at light speed with lightning blasting from it.
Espen was feeding Shiryu chocolate with a straight face, and Shiryu ate it firmly.
Tek was sitting in the corner, reading his book, and he made eye contact with Duri. They looked at each other with intense malice.
(14 minutes later)
The tournament was starting, and most of the arena seats were filled with Hosts and the other exam students who were waiting for their turn to fight.
Tek and Kazuma were in the middle of the arena, eyeing each other down.
Kazuma grinned, "Let's have a good match, okay?!"
Tek replied, "No."
Duri, Seven, Ren-Ren, Espen, Jiyu, Shiryu, and Nine were sitting with each other in the stands.
Jiyu said to Tek and Kazuma, "G-good luck to the both of you.."
Ren-Ren said, "NOW THIS IS A GONNA BE A FIGHT! HAHA! Still, they aren't stronger than me. Just sayin'."
Duri didn't say anything, Seven didn't say anything either. Nine was chewing gum loudly, making gum bubbles out of them.
"Tek and Kazuma are going to be beating the shit out of each other first? Imagine."
In the air, Host Tetsuya, Hanako, Kedarah, and Chaos floated together.
Chaos said to the other Hosts, "This is it. Going back and looking at the past two tests these kids have done, I think we over-prepared them."
Tetsuya replied, "Over-prepared? Ha. You know these tests weren't just to see if they were tournament ready.."
Hanako added, "But to see if they could use their gifts in the world properly."
Chaos continued, "We all have these powers for a reason. Don't really know what that reason is, but it's for us. These children are more than well prepared, everything they've gone through…the two insane tests they fought through together, proved that they were made to be here. Let's just hope they follow the good path."
Kedarah clapped her hands with a smile, "Ooo well said, Chaos!"
"Thank you, thank you. No autographs please."
Tetsuya began to float down to everyone, and a barrier formed over Tek and Kazuma's ring.
Tetsuya said, "We will now begin the first match of the tournament. Remember the rules that I've explained to you all. In which…you all should know them since I've explained them to you a million times. I hate repeating myself hella times. ANYWAY. Millions of people are watching this, don't fold. Now then…KAZUMA…! TEK…! FIGHT!"
The crowd of students paid attention, especially Duri.
Duri thought, 'This is gonna be intense. While I'm watching, I gotta spectate these two dumbasses. And not just spectate their dumbasses, but locate their weak points, movement, and repetition of attacks. I might just face them later down the line.'
Kazuma chuckled with fire brimming from his fists and hair, saying, "Alright, let's go, friend!"
Tek answered, "I'm not your friend. Fool."
Kazuma and Tek zipped over to each other; Tek had chains coming from his head and arms, and fire was spinning around Kazuma.
Tek made some chains wrap around his entire body and fist, coating him like armor.
Tek and Kazuma threw one hard punch at each other, and that punch shook the entire area, making wind blast everywhere.