Chapter 20 : Fight With Us

Rego opened his wide mouth, and a sparkling rainbow orb formed, and it began to grow.

Totell began to grow super large, with his eyes having blue flames in it, and his fists having blue flames around it. And he had a floating crown of blue flames over his head.

Vooben made his sword come out, saying, "The Division guild comes to thwart us it seems! Why don't you go back to your super enhanced large base, and stop pretending to be law enforcement in a world where rules are not established towards crime! Fools! You are getting in the way of our freedom! We just want to be content! We don't want these curses in us!"

Rudy replied, "Law enforcement?! You mean like, the pigs? HOW DARE A VILLAIN INSULT ME!"

"No, the Division are the true villains!"

"Okay, no you're just spouting nonsense because your character was made to have no depth."

Darthen wrote in the air: "These are your best jokes, Rudy."

Rudy grinned, "Thank you, thank you. That joke was literally off the top. No autographs, please."

Rego exclaimed, "Two class S Fighters…playing around in the middle of a battle to the death!"

Totell used his insane speed to get around Rudy and Darthen, and punched them both with his fist. Large blue flames shot upward and sideways, smacking Rudy and Darthen all over the place, and blue fire was ascending off of them.

Totell then ran at them in a quick step, jumped, and pointed his blue flame crown at Rudy and Darthen, saying with a scratchy voice, "Flames Hell.."

Rings of blue fire spiraled from the crown, and they swept left and right across the ground, causing fire to erupt louder, and then they merged together into a blue flame drill, and crashed into Rudy and Darthen.

The blows were intense, making Rudy and Darthen blast all over the place.

Then lastly, Totell sped around Rudy and Darthen again, punching them endlessly with blue flames flying everywhere, punching them all over the place.

Totell punched Rudy and Darthen towards Rego this time.

Rego made his rainbow orb spiral in a circle, and it started to fly circles around Rudy and Darthen, with white bolts blasting from the orb, hitting Rudy and Darthen.

Rego galloped forward, jumping on his orb, and he spread his arms and tails out. Rainbow orbs formed above them, and beams shot out from them, splitting the ground almost. The beam smacked Rudy and Darthen, making them slide across the ground.

Rego and Totell zoomed around Rudy and Darthen, hitting them together, yelling, "Vooben, go!"

As Rudy and Darthen were flipping towards Vooben, Vooben started to remember the time where he, Rego, and Totell were tied to the ground in the middle of a village as blue witches in closed hands performed a ritual to plant demonic curses inside of them. It was painful, and they screamed and cried in the process.

Vooben pointed his sword forward, thinking, 'We won't be stopped, we are one step away from freedom. No more nightmares, no more vomiting and coughing up blood, no more seeing illusions of dark art activity, and no more paranoia. We will be free!'

Vooben dashed towards Rudy and Darthen, slashing them up with his sword. He was going really fast. Vooben then turned his sword around, and used the handle of it to fight. Each time the handle of his sword made contact with Rudy and Darthen, there was a loud boom, and blue snakes came out of the spot they were hit in.

The Fighters near the temple heard the noise, looking in the direction it was coming from.

"A battle?"

"Blue flames!"

"Something's going on up there!"

"Ah, maybe it's just two Fighters fighting to the death. I've seen that five times today."

Kaiju pushed people out of the way, saying, "I hear clashing! That is my signal to try and find enjoyment in it!"

Some other Fighters were talking about Sho, rumors of him killing a class A Fighter and the act of him sacrificing himself spread fast.

Kell was looking, and he said to May, "We're leaving."

"Now? Why?"

"You're actually asking me that? It's worse than I expected, these scum out here are pulling you into their traps of lies."

"Uh, nah. I mean, what if we're missing out on an opportunity?"

"Doubt it. We're just asking to be caught in the crossfire. I…get it. Ever since you were a young annoying brat, you always wanted to check out things that got your attention. Even if they were dangerous. Like that time you wandered off and ended up at a construction site."

"Not gonna lie, I was messing with that crane. Shit looked fun, I wanted to drive it into buildings and shit. Good times, bro."

"STOP TALKING LIKE THAT!"

"IT'S HOW I TALK! GET USED TO IT!"

"I'LL NEVER GET USED TO IT!"

Gideon was standing with Bebop, who was still watching the temple, seeing other Fighters come out of it, but no sign of Sho.

Gideon wondered with a statement, "I wonder if we can go back in."

Bebop answered, "I don't think we can..because we had to build a way out of the forest with the crazy scary deer."

"Oh..right."

Unexpectedly, Sho was crawling through the temple door, weak and tired, holding a deer head in his left arm, while using his right arm to pull himself forward a few inches.

Bebop exclaimed, "Big brother!!"

Sho responded, "Oi..you're loud."

Bebop's yell got the attention of other Fighters, including Kaiju, Kell, May, Stacen, Raiden, and most importantly, Carter.

From the helicopter, Carter blew some smoke from his cigarette, and spotted Sho crawling out of the temple covered in blood and bruises, holding a deer head.

Carter gasped, "Hoh? He's here..and alive. The rising star..Sho Takahashi. What a coincidence."

Sho was lying on the ground, saying, "I took enough damage for today, I need a healing."

Gideon sighed, "You're aliveee! But..I don't have any herbal pills."

"Ah.."

"Don't yell at meee.."

"I'm not."

Bebop rubbed Sho's head, and Sho thought, 'Everyone is looking at me, especially May, Kell, Kaiju, Stacen, Raiden, and these other Fighters out here. Literally..every fight I've been in..it's been like this. I end up being severely beaten, I've been covered in blood more times than I've actually won a fight in this tower. And this is only the first floor.'

Kaiju rushed in, and kneeled down to Sho, "Brave warrior and rival, take those herbal pills! I only have a 75% pill, is that alright?"

Sho replied, "Give me..the fucking pill."

Kaiju handed Sho the herbal pill, and Sho answered quietly, "…Thanks."

Kaiju smirked, "Heh? Say that louder! What did you just say?"

"Damn you! I'm not saying it again!"

"HAHAHAHA!"

Sho ate the herbal pill, and 75% of his body was being healed.

Sho was able to stand slowly, holding the deer's head.

The Fighters around him gossiped:

"Insane.."

"He's a class C Fighter, beating an event beast."

"Is he really a class C Fighter?"

"I heard he played a big role in the forest part of the event."

"I heard he always ends up nearly dead after every fight he's in."

"Of course."

Kell said to Sho, walking up to him, "Impossible! There's no way you're supposed to be alive! What did you really do? Make a contract or deal with the deer or something?"

Sho responds, "What's it to you? I killed that wild bastard. But the whole time I was killing it, I pictured it being you the entire time."

"You bastard.." Kell was about to pull out his sword, and Sho was pulling out his knife, but Stacen and Raiden walked in between them.

Raiden said, "No fighting my Sensei."

Kell replied, "Huh? Sho is a side character! He's a class C Fighter! You're obviously a higher class than him!"

"Does thou matter?"

Stacen says, "Fighting right now is not applicable in all of our states. We need rest. We've all done satisfactory today, and survived. Thy names are remembered by me. Me and Raiden shall be off then. And Sho..good work."

Raiden bowed, "I shall see you next time, brave Sensei Sho. Please, remember Raiden, as I am Raiden."

Stacen and Raiden began to leave.

Carter was walking past Fighters, making his way towards Sho, taking his glasses off.

May was looking at Sho, and Sho looked at her back, and they both looked away from each other.

Bebop was climbing on Sho, getting on his back, and at this point, no matter what Sho said, Bebop would never get down unless she felt like it, so Sho decided to just leave it alone.

Bebop was pulling on Sho's ears, laughing with a smile.

Carter said, "Sho Takahashi."

Everyone looked at Carter, including Sho.

Sho tilted his head, "You're that old man from the graveyard…The hell are you doing here? Are you following me?"

Kaiju stepped up to Carter, staring him down.

"Small man. Bald man. Old man. Lanky man. Doesn't look strong, nor exciting. But this human seems to know Sho Takahashi."

Sho thought, 'Stats..'

Sho saw Carter's stats, and saw that Carter was a class C Fighter like him.

Sho continued to think, 'He's a class C Fighter like me. After what happened that day at the graveyard, the way he and his annoying agent bastard were acting, I didn't think they would run into the tower like us.'

Carter said to Sho, "Let's let bygones be bygones. I have a thing to discuss with you. As a matter of fact, with all of you. But like, mostly Sho."

Sho responds, "Buzz off, dumbass. I don't care. I don't care what you have to say. I didn't forget how you harassed me that day when I was talking to my mother. I almost killed you, that tower saved you."

"Why..are you the way that you are..? What I see is a troubled kid…I'd imagine you being in the Tower of Valhalla would allow you to have a different perspective on things. On life in general. I know about you, I was in the CIA, your files were run a few times. I know what happened. I know what you've done."

"Stop trying to relate to me. You're saying all of this to try and get something out of me, you want something from me, I'm used to it. All you agents…you government people…thinking you're high and mighty..thinking you can manipulate people, thinking you can manipulate the system to get what you want. You're all pitiful. If you grew up how I did, been through what I've been through, seen what I've seen, done what I've done, you'd be just like me. I didn't ask to be like this. Now leave me the hell alone."

"I don't think so."

…

Back at the fight, Vooben, Totell, and Rego were ganging up on Rudy and Darthen using their powers to bash them back and forth like they were playing catch.

Vooben exclaimed, "For our freedom! Let's finish them!"

They all landed a final blow, with blue flames and smoke rushing all over the place, making Rudy and Darthen fall on the ground, with smoke and dust rising around them.

Vooben says, "We have defeated them…we have won our freedom."

Rego added, "Yes.."

Totell nodded quickly.

But out of nowhere, there was laughing in the midst of the dust, making Vooben, Totell, and Rego turn to look towards the laughter.

Rudy was laughing hysterically, holding his stomach, "Haha! Now THAT was funny!"

Totell, Rego, and Vooben gasped at the sight of this; after all the damage they think they've done, they were surprised at what they saw.

Vooben in silence reacted, "Impossible..we cultivated our attack power for hours to prepare for any strong threats. But these two.."

Rego panicked, "Oi…Vooben…they're barely hurt…"

"Attack! We won't give up! We're close to freedom! The curses will be lifted, driven into the soul of the boy they call Sho!"

Rudy smirked, "You bad guys wanna hear a joke?…What do you call two boys who keep getting sent to the office for fighting?"

Rudy and Darthen vanished, leaving Vooben and his group bewildered.

Rudy and Darthen slid behind them at light speed, and Rudy finished his joke, "…Badasses."

Rudy and Darthen swirled their arms around with their eyes pure white, and palmed the ground with their hands open.

There was a large boom that cracked the ground open, blasting Vooben and his group backwards.

Rudy looked at Darthen, asking, "How was that joke? Pretty sick, right? I admit, my jokes were a little rusty before, but now they're working out nicely."

Darthen gave Rudy a thumbs up, and Rudy celebrated, "Haha! I knew I was funny!"

Vooben, Rego, and Totell we're getting up, and Vooben thinks, 'S class Fighters, with power levels a little over one million. But we..are strong. We've endured the pain of the demonic curses.'

Vooben yelled to his group, "Go! Kill them!"

Suddenly, a red mist with darker red dots began to emerge from Darthen's body. It started to surround the area quickly, and he began to merge with the mist, disappearing inside of it.

Rego and Totell panicked, running around.

Rego exclaimed, "Totell! Stay together! This mist is dangerous! Try and get out of it-!"

Out of nowhere, Rego and Totell were cut in half, and their bodies dropped to the ground.

Darthen jumped out of his own mist, and he had blood on his sharp armor fingers.

Vooben was running towards Darthen, yelling, "You killed them!"

Darthen shrugged, writing in the air: "I didn't mean to."

Vooben thought, 'I'm running towards this enemy, but my guess is that the other S class Fighter will attack as soon as I get too close. I've seen it too many times.'

Vooben heard a crack behind him, and so he turned around and swung his sword, "You're dead-!"

He was tapped on the shoulder, so he turned around again, but when he did, Rudy dashed in from the other side and punched Vooben in the stomach.

The punch came with a loud bang, and when his fist made contact, glowing blue rings formed around Rudy's arm, vibrating as his fist was still pressed against Vooben's stomach.

Rudy said, "This is kinda one-sided, don't you think?"

Vooben blasted into the air, and when he did, his body began to get hit by an unseen force, he was rapidly shaking as blood flew out of his mouth.

Rudy was still holding his fist out at Vooben, and the blue rings around his arm were rapidly shaking the same way.

Darthen stepped beside Rudy, writing in the air: "Be careful, we can't kill him."

Rudy replied, "Huh? This asshole attacked us first! We actually just came to talk! But noooo, this guy wanted to brawl with the top class! Ugh..I won't kill him. I don't kill anyway."

Rudy vanished, then reappeared above Vooben, and smashed his leg on his chest. Rudy's leg had vibrating blue glowing rings around it, vibrating rapidly.

Vooben hit the ground, shaking as violently as the rings were because he was getting hit by something unseen.

It finally stopped, and Rudy and Darthen walked in front of Vooben.

Vooben was wounded heavily, breathing fast and coughing up blood.

Rudy kneeled down, and shook Vooben's hand, "Nice to meet ya on these interesting occasions. To make it quick, the Division guild had their eyes on you and your little group for quite some time. And since the guild is heavily focused on finding out the secrets and origins of the Tower of Valhalla, your group's goals seem to be really interesting. So we wanna ask you, do you know anything about this tower?"

Vooben didn't say anything, he just spit at Rudy. Rudy dodged it, saying, "Ew! Gross! Okay, not cool my guy. That's actually indecent and you are definitely lacking in the department of manners."

Darthen wrote in the air: "Good one."

Darthen and Rudy fist bumped.

Vooben said, "You are all animals, murderers, unrighteous gatekeepers…keeping us from having freedom just to ask us about a stupid tower.."

Rudy responded, "Whoaaa! We weren't even gonna fight until you lackeys attacked us first! We were just gonna talk to ya and let you and then let you and the others go on and enjoy your wonderful days."

"I don't know shit about the tower! You are all fools! The Division is a joke!"

"Geez, don't have to yell, man."

"Let me join the others..DO IT!"

Kharma was watching from the side, and she was running away.

'No! No! They're gonna be after me any second!'

A red mist followed Kharma, eventually surrounding her.

Kharma turned around with her grimoire out, and glowing purple beasts came out and lunged towards the mist.

Kharma thinks, 'That should buy me some time!'

When the purple beasts went into the mist, they were ripped to shreds.

Kharma screamed when she saw it while she was running.

..

Down below near the temple, Carter said to everyone including Sho, "Yes, many know of the Division guild, in which me and a dozen other Fighters in suits lead it. We are always looking for help to find the secrets and origins and true story of the Tower of Valhalla, in which we need Fighters like you all to help at times. And yes, you will definitely be paid for your services with magic rubies."

The Fighters around them said:

"A lot of people know them..I've heard mixed feelings towards the entire Division."

"It doesn't sound like a bad deal, we'll be paid in harvested magic rubies for perks."

"I'm not joining."

"Me either."

"Sounds legit, I'm in."

Kaiju said, "Yeah, no. As a warrior, an undefeated warrior, I serve under no man, and I am constantly focused on getting stronger and having fun with worthy battles and opponents."

Kell says, "Damn the Division guild. We're trying to ascend the tower, not stay behind to play hide and seek with silly secrets. Most of us are focused on getting to the top, and we'll only be held back if we stop to investigate random bullshit that happens. Let's go, May."

Kell started to walk away, looking at Sho. They both stared each other down, then looking away.

Kell said, "Don't die too fast. You still have to worry about me, crazy…suicidal…fool."

Sho answered, "Whatever. You wait for me."

"We'll see, dammit."

When May walked past Sho, she put her hand on his hand, saying, "Good shit today, Sho. You were kinda badass and suicidal at the same time. Be easy, kid. See you around, or whatever. And I hate saying this, but thanks. I still don't like you, but yeah you catch my drift."

Sho replied, "Um.."

Sho looked down at his hand, and saw it was a piece of paper with May's phone number on it.

Sho almost became flustered, but he kept himself steady. He put the paper in his pocket, and said to Carter, "Like Kell said, I'm not focused on being distracted by the Division guild. I have a tower to climb, I made a promise..to live forever for a certain someone."

[FLASHBACK]

[12 years ago]

5 year old Sho and his mother were sitting outside on a picnic blanket, sitting under the sun.

Sho was crawling in circles, saying, "Mommy loves me, yeah she does, mommy loves loves me REALLY VERY much!"

His mother smiled, "Yes, I do. I guess it's not too soon to talk about this with you, since you are a very smart boy. And then again, you probably can't fully comprehend what I'm saying. I've given you bedtime stories about the Tower of Valhalla, and what happens when you reach the top. My dream is to climb the tower with you and your father, and live forever with you both. Yeah, I'd love that."

Sho laughed and hugged his mother, and she hugged him as well, kissing him on the forehead.

[FLASHBACK END]

[PRESENT DAY]

Sho turned his back to Carter, saying, "We're done here. Honestly..now that I think about it..I don't care about the lore of this tower. I don't care if I'm related to it, or whatever, or anything like that. My main focus is already set in stone."

Sho then looked at Kaiju, "Kaiju, whatever things you know about my grandmother and the Takahashi's, save it. I don't care about it."

Kaiju replied, "Come on, Sho Takahashi! Does that mean we won't have our duel?"

"Wait until I'm stronger than you. Like we discussed before."

"Right! But about your family.."

"Fuck that. I don't want to be distracted. I need to get stronger if I want to succeed, failure is for the weak."

Sho started to walk away, and Carter replied, "Sho. I understand, but whenever you want to work with us, and maybe if you want to find out things about your family ties to this tower, let us know. Take my number down."

Sho stopped to say, "Why do you care so fucking much? Huh?"

"I was in your shoes at one point. I grew up without my parents, living alone for a while, always getting into trouble to make ends meet."

"Tch. So?"

"It means I can relate to you in a way. I finally had my big break and worked hard to become a CIA agent on earth, which was my dream by the way."

"Get on with it."

"Also, what came with the job of being a CIA agent, was to study and investigate the tower once it arrived. And we had help from the Zaiyen's as well. We investigated it mostly because it could be a possible threat to humanity. So I came into the tower to do my job."

"Sounds corny. But do what you want. I don't wanna be involved with any of it."

Sho walked away, and then Rudy and Darthen arrived beside Carter.

Rudy asked, "Oi..baldy..isn't that the kid? Sho? The famous kid who killed Acna when he was a class D Fighter?"

"Yeah that's him."

"Want us to question him?"

"No. Leave him alone. When the time is right, he might come to us for answers. Maybe. Maybe not."

"Alrighty then. I'm gonna go home and shit after you pay me."

Darthen wrote in the air: "Me too."

Carter sighed, "Obviously. What happened to Vooben and his group?"

Rudy answered the question, "Well uh, you see, they didn't know anything, and they offed themselves. Crying over and over about their dead mates on the ground, in Darthen killed by accident."

Darthen wrote in the air: "Sorry, Carter. It was an accident. You don't have to pay me."

Carter sighed, "Well, they deserved it, honestly. They killed many In search of a Fighter with a strong will. They had that coming."

[City 7]

[The inn]

Sho, Gideon, and Bebop were walking down the hallway to the room, and Gideon said, "Yes-."

Sho answered, "Hm?"

Sho turned around, and Gideon and Bebop were gone.

Sho gasped slightly, "Oi! No time for jokes!"

Sho started to move throughout the entire inn with his knife out, bursting into peoples rooms and yelling out, "Bebop! Gideon!"

Sho spent an hour running around the inn, and running through the city looking for them.

Sho ran on the sidewalks, thinking, 'They're gone..they vanished in the blink of an eye…where could they have gone in such a short time?'

Sho was back at the inn, and he was walking back and forth, calling Bebop and Gideon.

He called them over 20 times, and no one answered.

'What the fuck..?'

(5 hours later)

(Night time)

Sho was laying in the bed, looking up at the ceiling.

'Tch, I spent all day looking for them. Why am I even worried? They're probably playing a prank on me, like they did before. They'll show back up in the morning, or later. Or they're out doing a raid maybe. They're both pretty capable of handling themselves, so they gotta be alright. Then and their dumb pranks. But while they are out…'

Sho sat up in the bed, and seconds later, he was looking through his watch, and was scrolling through raids he could do in the morning.

He kept scrolling, until he came across a class C raid, with a reward of 3500 Fighter points. And it showed a picture of a large abandoned village.

'An ancient abandoned village raid for 3500 Fighter points. I have 14k Fighter points from the event, this must be better than even winning it. Who won anyway? Doesn't matter. I'll use some of these points to buy 100% healing herbal pills, and will put some points into my weapon power. I'll go to the merchant shop tonight, since I can't really sleep at all. But before I go, I'll train and master the activities that I have a hard time with.'

Sho then remembered that May had given him her phone number. Sho reached in his pocket, and pulled it out, looking at it.

Sho thought, 'Usually when girls do this, they like the guy. I doubt she h feels anything towards me, I'm not likeable at all. Plus she's the sister of that bastard Kell. Just to be sure, I'll put May's number in this phone, just to see if she's seen Gideon or Bebop anywhere laughing like hyena demons."

Sho stood up out of the bed, clenching his right fists, 'Lost too many fights, won some but almost died from the ones I almost lost. I hate that feeling. I'm training tonight until I collapse. And since Bebop and Gideon are somewhere out there trying to play pranks on me, I'll stay here and get into the training room. Yeah, and that damn Carter…seems like he followed me here. Saying he relates to me, who the hell does he think he is? I don't want anything to do with what he has going on, or anything the Division guild has going on with their Justice campaign, bringing that government police shit inside of the tower. I just hope I don't see him again. Agh! My thoughts are all over the fucking place! Alright..I'm gonna train now. I can't be distracted..'