Sho said, "Hold up, say that again?"
Rudy replied, "I'm pretty sure I said it loud enough-."
"Say what you just said again."
"Say what?"
"Oi..weirdo…"
"Hahahaha!…Why?"
"I wanna make sure I'm hearing you clearly."
"We should all be one guild."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why us?"
Kell confirmed, "Yeah, why us?"
Rudy sighed, and responded, "Isn't it obvious? We could really be number one if we're all on the same team."
Sho replied, "That doesn't answer our question."
Rudy started to walk back and forth, and he continued, "As most of you are aware, there are benefits with being in a guild. How about it, Sho? Did you know there were benefits to being in a guild?"
"No…?"
"Boo ya! Ding ding ding! Allow me to enlighten you, young pup. Being in a guild gives you a weekly income of 100 Fighter points. Also during raids, you get damn near or exactly the maximum amount of Fighter points you can earn from the raid class."
"That's it?"
"Hoh? Seems like you're interested. That's a good sign."
"There's more to this shit or what?"
"There are ranked guilds, along with a leaderboard. If we were to register together as a guild right now, we'd probably be ranked like number 1,000,000,000. We climb ranks due to how much activity we do. The more raids we complete, the more people we defeat, the more Waves we do, and the more Fighter events we complete, we climb the ranks. The further we climb up the ranks, the more Fighter points we receive weekly as a guild. The maximum amount of Fighter points a guild can earn is 50,000. PER WEEK."
Sho, Kaiju, Gideon, and Bebop were surprised to hear that. No reaction from May or Kell since they already knew a thing or two about clans.
Kell asked Rudy, "What's your goal?"
"My..goal? To climb the top of the tower, duhh."
"No, fool. What are you planning? You thinking of using us?"
"I mean, not in the evil kind of movie villain way you're thinking of, even though that'll be a big ass PLOT TWIST. You'd all be like 'Oh noooo! A class S Fighter betrayed us..we're gonna looooose.' No, nothing like that, young pup. I feel like our guild would be incredibly balanced, considering all of us are kinda cracked."
Bebop asked with curiosity, "Cracked..?"
Rudy kneeled down to Bebop, and smiled, "Cracked means realllyyyy good."
"Oh, ok! Cool!"
"Tch. You don't care do you?"
"Not anymore!"
"I like your honesty."
Red looked up at Sho, saying, "This would really help you, brat."
"Yeah, no shit."
"What are you thinking?"
"…Just one thing."
"Which is?"
Sho asked out loud, "What the fuck are Waves?"
Everyone looked at him.
Rudy replied, "You don't know what they are?"
Kaiju exclaimed, "Are these so-called Waves able to go toe to toe with a warrior like myself?!"
Kell asked, "Yeah, what the hell is a stupid Wave?"
Gideon asked, "I don't knowwww what waves areee. What are theyyy?"
May was on her phone, saying, "I heard of that name before. Kinda forgot because like..I don't really care. You get me?"
Rudy looked over at Darthen, and said to him, "Do some people really not know what Waves are?"
Darthen wrote in the air: "I just found out the other day."
Rudy laughed, and said to them, "I actually don't wanna tell you guys now. It'll be even cooler to see you guys experience it for yourselves. I love shocked faces."
Sho responded, "You gotta be fucking kidding me."
May agreed, "That's what the hell i'm saying."
Rudy laughed, "HAHA! Young pups! You guys really entertain me. Now then..what's your answer?"
It was quiet among them, and they all looked at each other.
Sho thought, 'An extra income of Fighter points weekly. That would benefit me, even if it's only 100 Fighter points a week. And being in a guild will give us damn near or exactly the maximum Fighter points we can earn in a raid. But..I still have trust issues.'
Sho looked at Bebop and Gideon this time, and they were looking at him back.
Sho asked them both, "Are you two brats wanting to do this?"
Gideon responded, "I think it's a good ideaaaaa. This is definitely an improvementtttt."
Bebop said, "Mhm! Mhm! Let's do it! You need friends, big brother!"
Sho scoffed, "F-Fool! I don't need friends!"
Bebop giggled, "Hahaha! I made big brother stutter!"
May and Kell glanced at each other.
Kell implied, "Absolute no from me."
"Why?"
"Is that even a question? No means no."
"Gimme a reason."
"You and Sho? Is that a good enough reason?"
"What's your problem with us being around each other?"
"Hohhhh?"
"It's not like he's obsessed with me like every other guy that looks at me gets."
"What a way to toot your own horn, May. Sho is an animal, he's killed before, and he has a serious attitude problem."
"And you don't?"
"I'm amazing so I can have whatever I want."
"There it is right there. Narcissistic at its finest."
"Tch."
"Look on the bright side, there's benefits for being in a guild, we can earn more Fighter points in raids."
"..Near or the maximum, I've heard it. But we mentioned we'd create our own guild with just the two of us."
"Which is less effective with just two of us."
"I don't want you trying to do lewd things with Sho. At all."
"Whatever you say."
"I-I MEAN IT!"
"I HEAR YOU LOUD AND FUCKING CLEAR!"
Kell mocked, "I hEaR u lOUd aNd fUCKinG clEAR."
"Don't mock me, dude. Not cool."
"nOt cooL."
Kaiju smirked to Rudy, "Of course I'll join the guild! A bunch of fine warriors banding together..we'd be sure to enjoy our battles!"
Rudy replied, "You're on board then. Good. Kell, May. What about you two?"
Kell answered, "If any of you fools do anything sinister or sneaky, it's over. I'll chop your twinkies off and mix them in with oatmeal."
"That's kinda dark, how could you?"
"Oops."
Rudy looked over at Sho, Gideon, Bebop, and Red.
Rudy asked, "I'm afraid if I ask you an obvious question, you'll cuss me out and yell at me and stuff. So like.."
Sho walked forward towards Rudy, and Rudy was getting anxious.
Rudy thought, 'Oh no! Sho Takahashi is walking towards me! He defeated an almost unbeatable class S Fighter Sun Rukong, who KNOWS what he could do to me, despite him being a class C Fighter! What did I say to piss him off?! His face..it reeks with malice! Oh no! I-!'
Sho stopped in front of Rudy, and stuck his hand out.
Rudy got in a fighting position, exclaiming, "Hoh?! You dare prepare an attack?!"
Sho replied, "No, freak. This is a handshake of dependency. Once you shake my hand, you're telling me you aren't going to screw us over, and I'll give you my word that I won't fuck you idiots over. My father..taught me this. Even though I hate to admit it."
Rudy grinned, and he calmed down.
Rudy shook Sho's hand, and replied, "I like this. You have my word. I kinda do seem like a betraying villain don't I?"
"You do."
Red added, "You do."
Rudy asked Sho, "And is that dog you're familiar?"
Red answered, "I'm not just a dog."
"You look like a dog."
"I'm an otherworldly being with spiritual powers. Dogs don't have that."
"HAHA! You two are seriously interesting! Welcome to the guild!"
Gideon asked Rudy, "Waitttt."
Sho added, "Is that it?"
Rudy responded, "Oh right. We all have to go to the association building where Fighter's register to be in guilds or create guilds. There's an association building in each city, there's at least four in each city."
Bebop hugged Red, "Oooh, can I ride on your back? Like a horsie?!"
Red gritted his teeth, "Do I look like a horse?!"
"Hehe!"
Red chuckled, saying, "I move pretty fast. Try not to fall off, kid."
"I won'ttttt!"
Kaiju slams his fists together, "Yes! Let's go!"
Kell says, "Wait, before we go anywhere, is there a guild safe house for us?"
Darthen waved his hand to get everyone's attention, and he wrote in the air: "Yes, we have one. We have a safe house we can all stay in with approximately 20 rooms. It's pretty big."
Sho replied, "Seems like you motherfuckers were prepared."
May added, "Tell me about it. Super sus."
Rudy said to Sho, "Actually, since I heard you were a part of the legendary Takahashi family, I had an interest in you. Apparently you were involved with Sun Rukong, which was pretty climatic and cool. You're kinda like the main character, and for a while I thought I was. But don't worry, I'll be the main character."
"Whatever."
"Great! Now let's depart to thy association building!"
May and Kell said to Rudy, "Why are you trying to talk like Stacen?"
"S-SHE INFLUENCED ME!"
Sho thought in his head, 'What the hell are Waves?'
Suddenly appearing, was Court. Court had his wings out from his back, and he floated above that building, facing everyone.
Court was smoking a cigarette, saying, "Yo, chumpies."
Sho asked, "Who the hell are you, old man?"
"Whoaaaa. I'm your real father."
"…"
"Jokes. Clearly a joke. I'm afraid of children."
Bebop raised her hand with a smile, "So you're afraid of me?!"
Court responded, "Stay over there please, thank you. Don't come any closer."
Bebop was grinning as she scooted up closer, moving up an inch a second while looking at Court.
Court flew backwards, screaming, "STOP IT!"
Bebop laughed.
Court took a puff from his cigarette, sighing, "Ah, I needed this. Mouth was feening this. Oh, right. I came up here to say it was pretty dope fighting with you stubs. Good job for taking down Rukong, Sho."
Sho replied, "Yeah.."
"Also, Emma and Grey give you guys their thanks for fighting Rukong and saving the day. That last part was Emma's words, super cringe. Anyway, you helped rescue my brother, so if any of you need me or my family guild to help you guys with anything, let us know."
Rudy responded, "Give us your number. And it was good fighting with you guys."
Court looked at Kell, saying, "Take care of yourself, brat. Until we meet again."
Kell smirked, "Same to you, old man."
Court looked at Sho, saying, "You. Your name is pretty famous, watch yourself."
Sho answers, "You don't have to tell me something obvious. But..thanks I guess. I don't really know you like that, but you're an acquaintance of mine. I guess."
"Oh wow I feel so honored. Don't worry, everything I say sounds sarcastic, but it's not. Kinda got that vibe, you know? Anyway, I gotta go get a drink. Mouths dry as hell. Take care, nerds."
Court started flying away, and headed to his safe house.
…
On televisions all around, Passive Fighter reporters reported:
"And just moments ago, there was a large battle in three different cities. It seemed like an invasion of some sort, in which class S Fighter Sun Rukong went on a rampage, forcing everyone to the ground, and had statues in the sky that had Fighters inside the statue fueling the statues. But many minutes later, well known class C Fighter Sho Takahashi defeated Sun Rukong, stabbing him in his heart. As of now, there is only a picture of Sho performing this action, with Rukong seeming like he was trying to grab Sho's hand to stop it. Is this the start of something new? Was Sun Rukong the first one to pave the way for more incidents in the near future? The better question is, will anything like this happen again?"
…
[City 6]
[Association building]
The building was really tall and wide and shiny grey, and there were hundreds of Fighters outside of it and inside of it.
Sho and his guild were already inside of it, standing in front of a large screen.
Sho and his guild put their watches near the screen, and the screen said:
*Eight Fighters have been registered inside of the guild system. Please name this guild.*
Rudy held his chin, "What should we call our guild?"
Sho replied, "Sho's guild."
"Good one, good one, but no."
Kaiju stood up on top of a table, exclaiming, "The Warriors guild! We should name it that!"
Rudy squinted his eyes, "I'm a thousand percent sure some other guild out there has that name."
"How about Great Warriors guild?"
Kell answered, "That sounds a little childish. Like a little child's dream of becoming the great warrior. Let's make the name darker. Like The Boys."
May explained, "But you have literally two girls in this guild?"
"Then I got nothing. That was all I could think of."
Bebop raised her hand, "Ooh! Ooh! Call on me!"
Rudy pointed at Bebop, "What's your idea?"
"How about Big Brother's Friends?"
Sho slightly bonked Bebop on the top of her head with his fist, saying, "Absolutely not."
"But it has a ring to it, Big Brother!"
Darthen wrote in the air: "We could name it BloodBath Excalibur Ex Machina Godspeed."
Everyone looked at Darthen, surprised he would mention a name like that.
Darthen wrote: "My bad. Too long?"
May suggested, "Uh, I don't know if this name is shit or not, but let's name the guild Stoners."
Rudy commented, "That's totally edgy."
"No it's not."
"If not edgy, then it's super edgy."
"I just be high on life at times, bro."
"Such a brilliant quote."
May looked to the left, and she and Sho made eye contact, then they looked away acting like nothing happened.
Gideon folded his arms, saying, "Let's name it Odd Samson."
The guild looked at Gideon, and Bebop exclaimed, "I love that name! Pretty odd, but I love it!"
Bebop and Gideon fist bumped right after that.
Kell asked Gideon, "Why that name, psycho?"
"I knew a guyyyy named Samson, and he was oddd but strongggg. He was a guy who defied all oddssssss. Never giving upppppp, and always foughtttt."
Sho thought, 'Gideon's had friends before? I'm not really surprised, he's not an unlikeable person. What's Gideon's backstory?'
Sho closed his eyes and sighed, "Odd Samson is a decent name. Let's go with it. It stands out."
Kell says, "Huh? Are we actually going with that name?! Don't tell me we are!"
"I think so."
"I have the final say!"
"You definitely don't, dumbass."
"You wanna fight?! Huhh?!"
May says, "Odd Samson..sounds pretty dope. It is an odd name to be honest, but yeah, fuck it."
Red implied, "Odd Samson has a ring to it. Let's go with it."
Rudy commented, "So Sho, May, and the dog is on board with it, who else wants this to be the guild name?"
Bebop raised her hand, "Me! Me! Me!"
"And Bebop."
Darthen wrote in the air: "Let's use Odd Samson. It's less epic than my name, but more unique I guess. I'm jealous."
Gideon said to Darthen, "Sorryyyy helmet mannnn."
Darthen wrote: "It's alright. Still kicking."
Kaiju clenched his fist, "Odd Samson is indeed an odd name for a band of mighty warriors! But if Sho Takahashi likes the name, then I shall be on board!"
Sho said to Kaiju, "You know you don't have to copy me."
Kell folded his arms, "I still think The Boys is better. But whatever."
Rudy started to tap on the screen, smiling, "Odd Samson it is then!"
Rudy finished putting the name in, and they were officially a guild now.
And they were ranked pretty far down on the rankings, with millions upon millions of other guilds above them.
[1 hour later]
[City 5]
[Odd Samson guild safe house]
Sho and his guild were standing out in front of a large 10 bedroom mansion-like house. It was pretty wide, with four stories. The outside was white and gold and black and red, with the rooftop being a flat triangle shape.
Sho said, "This is it, huh?"
Rudy exclaimed, "Hell yeah! I would give you guys a tour, but I don't wanna! You can go pick out a room! This house also has a duel room, where guild members can battle in a room for as long as we want. And there's a large kitchen and living room, game room, laundry room and a movie room!"
Bebop celebrated, "A movie room! And games! We have to play all the games, Big Brother Sho and Gideon!"
Gideon replied, "Wayyyy ahead of youuuuu."
May said, "Place looks dope. I'll go find my room."
May started walking forward, and Kell walked with her.
Bebop and Gideon ran towards the house, looking for the game room.
Darthen walked forward towards the house, stretching and yawning.
Kaiju said, "Such a fine stronghold for us. It is acceptable."
Kaiju was about to walk forward, and he and Rudy saw Sho just standing there alone.
Sho was just looking up at the house, with his fists clenched.
Kaiju asked, "Sho Takahashi? What seems to be the issue?"
Rudy thought, 'He seems off..'
As Sho was looking at the house, it closely resembled the house his family had moved inside back on earth.
He remembered that he and his family were happy when they moved into that house, and they did all sorts of things there, stuff like playing outside, eating, and even having fun decorating the inside of the house.
Sho replied to Kaiju and Rudy, "Shit. My bad. I just uh..had a moment. Could you two leave me out here for a second? I'll be inside."
Rudy and Kaiju looked at each other.
Rudy said, "Alright. You can talk to us if anything is going on."
Kaiju adds, "That is specifically correct."
Kaiju and Rudy started to walk towards the house, and they walked outside.
May was in her large room, and she looked out the window, seeing Sho just standing there.
May thought, 'Is he okay..? Should I go out there and talk to him? No, he might think I'm in love with him or something. Definitely something I don't want him thinking, it would make me seem desperate. I'll just uh..wait.'
Sho stared at the guild house, thinking,
'Mom, dad. It's like a repeat. I'm basically moving into a house, and there are people with me who are supposedly on my team. Something that I didn't expect when coming into the Tower of Valhalla. I don't want our old memories to mess me up and make me sad all the damn time. It would knock me off focus. Things are changing, but are they for the better? Or for worse? There's only one way to find out, and that is to go along with it.'
Sho was surprised with himself, finding himself thinking to his dad as well as his mother. Knowing that Sho killed his father to save his mother, and knowing he hated his father for years, Sho began to remember the good times he had with his dad, which was mostly triggered by the events that happened in the Tower, in which those revived memories started to suppress Sho's hatred.
Sho thought, 'Okay. Here we fucking go.'