70 Chapter 70 : Baby Duri

(Hours later)

(2:16 pm in the afternoon)

(Jiyu's house)

Jiyu was walking back and forth in her pink decorated room upstairs, and her cheeks were red, and she was holding her phone in her hand.

There was a knock on her door, and Jiyu said, "C-come in."

The door opened, and it was Jiyu's parents: Hide and Aya.

Hide (The father) had spiky green hair with pink eyes and glasses, and Anya (The mother) had pinkish orange hair, freckles, and red eyes.

Hide asked, "We heard you mumbling to yourself, what's wrong?!"

Anya added, "Yes what's wrong Jiyu?"

Jiyu looked at her parents, and she rushed to hug them.

Jiyu said, "I-I need help.."

Hide and Anya asked, "With what, dear?"

Jiyu looked up at her parents, "With…"

"With?"

"I-I wanna invite..invite my friends over.."

Hide grinned, "Inviting friends? Yes! That's a great idea! This will be the first time ever!"

Anya celebrated, "Our daughter is bringing friends over! This is the best day ever!"

Aya and Hide were dancing and circling around Jiyu, saying, "Jiyu's bringing friends over, Jiyu's bringing friends over!"

Jiyu said, "That's the t-thing..since this is the first time..I..uh.."

Hide answered, "You're nervous, aren't you?"

Jiyu nodded, "Y-Yes."

"And you think they'll reject the invitation?"

"M-maybe. My friends are…different."

Anya smiled, "We've seen them at the exams, dear. Your friends with the main group that was fighting Harvest during the invasion. Hmm, they seem lovely."

Jiyu continued, "Yeah, they're good. I want to text them all to come over..but I'm so nervous..what if they really DO say no?"

"You never know unless you try. You're strong and brave, Jiyu. You took on enemies way stronger than you. You may not have won, but you still fought, and you didn't run away."

"Y-yeah…I know.."

"Yep. So, go ahead and ask."

"O-okay.."

Jiyu got on her phone, and before she could send a text out, Seven was calling her.

The phone rang, and Jiyu was shocked, dropping the phone.

Jiyu instantly bent down to grab the phone, and she answered it, saying, "Se-Seven..?"

Seven answered, "Yo, Jiyu!"

"You're awfully l-loud..what's wrong?"

"Me, Tek, and Duri got the materials to make our costumes for the school presentation. Down to help us since you're a creation nerd?"

"Really?!" Jiyu asked excitedly.

"Yes. Tek and Duri are with me now. Send us your address and we'll be over there."

"O-okay! I'll text it to you!"

"Aight."

Seven hung up, and Jiyu looked at Hide and Anya.

Jiyu smiled, "Three.."

"Three?"

"Three friends are coming over!"

"That's great! Now text some more friends!"

"Okay I am!"

Jiyu started to text Nine, Ren-Ren, Shiryu, Espen, and Kazuma.

She texted: "Hey! Do you wanna come over? Only if you're bored you know?"

Minutes later, these are the texts she got back:

Nine: "I went to the stupid ass store and got us some fabric so we can create our own costumes for this presentation for class. I'm glad you asked because you're the one who builds nerdy tech stuff. Send me the addy."

Ren-Ren: "I cannot make it today. It's obvious that someone as villainous as me would have a busy day. See your ass at school. Maybe."

Kazuma: "Come over?! Of course! Send me the address and I'll be on my way!"

Espen: "How did you acquire my telephone number? Oh right, I gave it to you at school. I forget things sometimes. Oh well, I have nothing better to do. Shiryu got your message too, he just sent you a thumbs up because he's lazy. He's coming along. Send me the location of your domain."

Jiyu looked at her parents, and they started celebrating together.

Jiyu thought with a smile, 'I invited friends over for the first time, and everyone is coming! This..is awesome! I can't wait to show them what I've made!'

Jiyu lived in a 4 story mansion out where it seemed like the wilderness, with a black fancy gate on the outside of it.

Outside of the main gate was Duri, Seven, and Tek. With Duri holding the bag of material for their costumes.

Duri saw a little button on the gate, and Duri pressed it.

Duri said to the speaker, "Oi. Anybody home? If so, open this damn gate."

Seven moved Duri back, saying to him, "Why so rude? We've never met her parents before so we gotta act like we have some sense."

"I have sense. And I'm sensing that I'm about to kick this gate down."

Jiyu said back to the speaker, "H-Hi! You guys m-made it.."

Seven replied, "We sure did. I knew your family was rich, but I didn't think you guys were this rich!"

"Y-yeah.."

"By the way, the others are approaching right behind us. Kazuma, Nine, Shiryu, and Espen."

Duri said to Jiyu, "What does your family do again?"

Jiyu answered, "Duri..h-hi.."

"Sup. But are you going to open the gate for us or not?"

"Oh! S-sorry! Opening it right now! And about your question, my parents would be happy to explain it in m-more detail."

The gate opened up all the way, and they began to walk in.

Running up behind them was Kazuma, Nine, Espen, and Shiryu.

Kazuma saw the big house, saying, "Wow! This house is amazing! Oi, Duri!!!"

Kazuma started running to Duri, and Duri replied, "Not again. Do not hug me."

Tek was casually reading his small black book.

Nine dashed inside through the gate, saying, "Shit! This place is like a gazillion dollars I bet. I'd rob them."

Nine saw Tek, and she dashed beside him, saying, "So, how's life?"

Tek answered, "Fine."

"Just fine?"

"Yes."

"Mmm, whatcha readin there?!"

Nine was using her speed to try and look at Tek's book at different angles.

Tek wasn't doing anything, he didn't care about who read it anymore, since his Berserk chain form and situation had been noticed.

Nine asked, "Let me read it."

Tek responded, "No."

"Please! I won't destroy it!"

Tek sighed, and he handed the book to Nine, saying, "If you damage this book in any way, everyone could die."

"Oooo, scary. I won't damage it."

Nine started reading through all of the pages faster than lightning, then she finished, handing the book back to Tek, saying, "Finished! Hehe!"

Tek thinks, 'She used her speed power to read through it, and it hasn't been damaged. She's definitely been training to control her speed.'

Kazuma was trying to get close to Duri, exclaiming, "Duri! How have you been?!"

Duri kept repeating, "Just a fist bump! Just a fist bump! It does NOT require such close interactions!"

"HOW ABOUT A BRO HUG?!"

"Definitely not!"

Kazuma rushed at Duri, Duri leaned to the right and dodged it, grabbed his wrist, and fist bumped Kazuma.

Kazuma grinned, "I feel much better now, bro."

"Good."

Espen and Shiryu walked through the gates now.

Espen comments, "Exquisite scenery around us. I am pleased."

Shiryu says, "Such amazing…grass."

Espen saw Duri, and she walked up to him.

"Oi."

Duri answered, "What is it?"

"I'm reading your mind right now without your permission. You missed us, didn't you?"

Duri backed up, saying, "N-no! No the hell I didn't! Now you're just making up things!"

Nine dashed up to Duri, putting her arm around his shoulder, "Hehhh? You missed us? Are you considering us…FRIENDS?!"

"N-NO! Never! Damn you all!"

"Awww, you wanna give us hugs, don't you?" Nine smirked.

"Hell no."

Espen walked up to Tek, and said, "I'm reading your mind right now without permission too."

Tek responded, "My mind is focused on my readings. You cannot gather anything critical to try and embarrass me."

"I started reading your mind before I started talking to you. You were thinking about how you and your group would look if you danced in the costumes in front of the teacher."

Everyone looked at Tek, and Tek's face was red, and he was gritting his teeth back and forth.

Tek said, "I'm gonna impale you with my chains. Be ready."

"Hahaha. You're funny. Do you wanna be my husband?"

"What?!"

"Keep saying what. It's doing something to me on the inside."

"HEH?! Fool!"

"I'm a jokester. You like jokesters?"

"Foolish, Espen."

Nine was hugging Seven, "Sevennnn! Best friend! What happened to you yesterday?! I called and called and you didn't answer!"

"Oh. Well. Me, Duri, and Tek got involved with some crazy woman who was trying to sacrifice the village to fake gods that she created and we were fighting my ex boyfriend Ryu who got possessed by the Spirit of Destruction and we had to beat him too."

Everyone gasped, besides Duri and Tek obviously.

Nine asked, "You fought that idiot Ryu?! You GOTTA tell me more about this! I'm your best friend! Ever since we were kids!"

Kazuma asked Seven, "Seriously?! That's awful! Where was this at?"

Seven answered, "Okinawa."

"Whoa..damn I wish I would've gone!"

Shiryu commented, "Gods…? Fake gods..? Would've loved…to see that."

Up near the door of the house, Jiyu was standing there, watching everyone, smiling, and thinking, 'I actually..have friends over. This is the greatest day..ever.'

Suddenly, a shadow arm zipped up to Jiyu, and grabbed her entire body.

Jiyu said, "Heh?"

The shadow arm yanked Jiyu forward, pulling her to the ground.

Jiyu yelled, "EEEAAAHHHHH! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!"

Duri was the one pulling Jiyu to them, and the shadow arm went away, releasing Jiyu.

Jiyu asked Duri, "W-what was that for?"

Duri replied, "The hell are you doing all the way up there just staring at us? Your friends are here."

"F-friends..?"

Jiyu was definitely in shock to hear that coming from a boy like Duri. That's why she questioned it.

They all looked at her, and Kazuma smiled, "Yeah, friends!"

Espen said, "I guess we are. I'm at your house."

Tek said, "I have no friends."

Duri said, "By FRIENDS, I meant everyone else. I'm not the friendly type. But you're cool."

Seven said to Jiyu, "Of course we're friends. We've all been through a lot together."

Nine continued, "Multiple life and death situations, and we made it out of them. Oi, where's Ren-Ren?"

Jiyu responds, "Oh, Ren-Ren said he couldn't make it."

Kazuma agreed, "Ren-Ren's been very distant lately. He's never really been this busy before."

Duri added, "Seems odd of him."

Nine said, "He's a fucking psycho."

Out of nowhere, parts of the ground began to open up professionally, and Duri asked, "Uhh, what the hell is that?!"

Jiyu exclaimed, "Oh no..the guard dogs."

"Guard dogs?!"

"They activate when new people come, but I could've sworn I've deactivated them before you guys c-came..u-unless.."

Jiyu looked at a high window seat in her house, and she saw her parents sitting there with chairs, eating popcorn and waving.

Hide said to Anya, "I wanna see how this plays out. They're strong, so they won't die I hope."

Anya answered, "You got that right. This is a perfect time to test the newest upgrades for the guard dogs."

Down below in the yard, 7 giant 30 foot tall robotic dogs with red eyes jumped from the square holes underground, and they rushed forward.

Jiyu exclaimed, "My parents are b-behind this..I'm-I'm sorry, guys. I re-really a-."

Duri yelled, "Haha! Jiyu, if you would've told me about this earlier, I would've gotten here faster! Oi, chain boy dumbass (Tek), I bet I can destroy more of these things than you!"

Tek already had his chains out, and he said, "We'll see about that."

Kazuma looked excited, and he had his fire brimming around his fists.

Kazuma smiled, "Oooo! Can I play?! Please please please pretty please?!"

Duri and Tek said to Kazuma, "Keep up."

Duri, Tek, and Kazuma dashed through the first three guards, splitting them in half with their powers, then they turned around and went against the other guard dogs.

Tek jumped on one's back, wrapped his chain around its head, pulled back, ripped the head off, jumped up high, spun the robotic head around with his chains, and smashed it against the headless robotic dog, destroying it.

Kazuma super kicked a fireball at one of the robotic guard dogs, letting it make contact. Then, Kazuma ran up to it, jumped to the right side of its head, and smashed a giant fireball on it, along with a smile.

Duri made shadow arms come out of his chest, and they grabbed the robotic dogs, and ripped it in half.

The next dog came closer, Duri did a backflip about 12 feet away, stuck his fist out, and a shadow snake came out, grabbing the robotic dog by the leg. The robotic dog was being dragged toward Duri, Duri jumped at it, made his right arm into a smoking shadow, and punched the robotic dog high into the sky at least 70 feet, and the robotic dog exploded.

Duri laughed, "Haha! I win!"

In the window, Hide and Anya weren't surprised by this outcome.

Hide said, "Of course he won. He's the main character."

"Honey, stop breaking walls please."

"Looks like we gotta upgrade the guard dogs some more."

"Indeed we do. I got a few new ideas coming about. Now let's go show Jiyu's friends around."

"Okay, okay. I'm kinda nervous too."

"That goes to show Jiyu gets her nervousness from you."

"DUHHHH!"

(5 minutes later)

Everyone was in the house, and they were walking around the big house, looking at all the gear and technology that was hanging on the walls. It looked like a bunch of spy stuff, invisible cloaks, laser guns, ice guns, sticky gloves, metal helmets, electric bats, and all sorts of other stuff.

Kazuma blurted out, "AWESOME! YOU GUYS ARE LIKE SPIES!"

Nine says, "I'm getting the same feeling I got when I was in Host Marshy's house. I'm in shock you all have these precious valuables. Bet they would sell high on the dark web!"

Seven said, "Oh, I like this one. And that one. What's that one?!"

Hide stood beside Seven, answering, "That is a honey gun. Its purpose is why we named it the honey gun. It shoots out streams of super sticky honey."

"How much do you want for it?"

"Haha! These are not for sale, sadly."

"Sure. And uh..thank you guys for making me a new arm."

"It's no problem at all. We do whatever we can to help anyone in need of assistance."

Shiryu was about to touch an unidentified cube with a flower on top, and he said, "Such…a pretty flower..I wonder how I would look…in a garden.."

Espen smacked Shiryu'a hand away, saying to him, "No touching."

"Ugh. You always…ruin my fun..got any food on ya?"

Hide said to everyone, "I don't wanna brag, but this family has been helping people out for centuries. We've been making technology and gear for mainly SPIES and law enforcement agents. We've been approached by many gangsters and kingpins, but we don't do that kind of dirty business. It was rumored we did, but we didn't. We've helped many strong Hosts too, like if they needed our gear to go on a mission because they wanted to be subtle, they came to us as well. Even foreigners come to us for help, and sometimes they are in need, and we help them too. No one is excluded."

Tek said, "Props."

Kazuma says, "No wonder you guys are so popular! I know a few spies who have been interviewed on TV, saying that they got their best gadgets and equipment from you guys."

Anya answered, "Of course they did. We're the best. I'm kidding. And I forgot to mention that Host Marshy has weapons like ours too, but she never sells them or gives them away. She borders them."

Duri replied, "Trust me, I know better than anyone."

"Haha, and she's also gotten equipment from us also."

"I never knew that. Hey what's this do?"

Duri was holding a giant blue and white rifle with a clear ball at the bottom of it.

Hide, Anya, and Jiyu, dashed towards him, yelling, "DON'T TOUCH THAT!!!"

Duri accidentally pressed something on it, and the gun blasted him immediately.

"NO!"

Tek was surprised too.

Kazuma asked worriedly, "Oh no! Is he dead?!"

Seven replied, "I hope not!"

Jiyu said, "Oh no.."

Hide smiled, "This is bad.."

The smoke cleared, and Duri was sitting in the middle of the floor. But…he was a BABY.

Duri was in his baby form, and he had glowing adorable eyes, and he was smiling as he waved his little fists around.

Duri couldn't think or speak, and everyone's jaws dropped. Even Tek's.

Kazuma says, "Oh…my…GOODNESS!! Duri is a baby!"

Shiryu commented, "Duri is a baby!"

Hide replied, "This is kind of troublesome. It would take 7 hours for him to turn back to normal. And if Host Marshy sees him like this, she'll definitely come after us."

Hide was waiting for them to respond, he turned to them, and his jaw dropped.

"No!"

Seven, Nine, Espen, Jiyu, and Anya were infatuated with Duri's cuteness. All of their cheeks were red, the cuteness of Duri's baby form was overwhelming.

Seven said, "This cuteness…I can't bear it.."

Espen uttered, "I..I must be the one to rock him to sleep to keep him under control. I promise I won't steal him."

Nine was walking close to Duri, saying, "I can't..I can't contain myself..he's so adorable!"

Anya drawled, "I have intense baby fever. I must hold this baby!"

Jiyu smiled, "Duri is so cute, look at those l-little hands. And t-those eyes.."

Kazuma asked Hide, "Are they in a trance?!"

"No. This is their true selves. They are truly engulfed in the baby's cuteness. They all have true baby fever!"

Tek sat down in a nearby chair, reading his black book, and said, "Inform me when all of this is over. I have no interest in brats. Especially a rival brat. That's even worse."

Duri was sitting in Tek's lap, tugging at his shirt. Tek's face got red, and he moved away.

Tek said, "No. I will not let this child trap me with its big glowing eyes. I am not like the others. Duri is a rival. He is a baby now, but that means nothing. Our rivalry is still the same."

Kazuma said to Tek, "Hm? You seem to like babies, Tek!"

"No I don't, fool."

Out of nowhere, all the girls rushed at baby Duri, saying:

"LET ME HOLD HIM!"

They got close, but Kazuma came in and picked Duri up, backing away from all of the girls.

They were like zombies, walking menacingly to Kazuma, repeating:

"Give us..Duri! Give us…Duri!"

Kazuma answered, "N-no! You can all share holding him!"

"NO!"

Hide yelled to Kazuma, "Quick, run!"

Without hesitation, Kazuma took off running through the house, and all of the girls ran after him.

Kazuma was jumping over objects, and then he eventually ran into a hallway. In the hallway, a bunch of hidden traps were activated by Anya.

Hidden floors with spikes open up, thorns shot from the walls, hidden rope was slashing from the ceiling.

Kazuma was dodging all of them, flipping and sliding around everything. Behind him, the girls were still behind him.

Kazuma thinks, 'They're still behind me. I gotta shake them!'

Dashing past Kazuma, was Nine, and she snatched Duri away from Kazuma.

Nine said, "Follow and you die. Plain and simple. Duri is mine."

Nine was running all throughout the house, using her speed to get away from everyone.

Duri in his baby form was laughing, and Nine said, "AWWWWW! YOU'RE IRRESISTIBLE!"

Nine was easily dodging traps within the house, but from under her floor, a hand busted through, and grabbed Nine's ankle.

Nine thought, 'No way!'

It was Seven down below.

Seven dragged Nine down under, and she snatched Duri away from her.

Seven yelled, "I'll destroy anyone who tries to take Duri from me!"

Seven started jumping down a series of steps.

Seven jumped through doors and corridors, and she was running through the living room again. Seven tried to make it to the front door, but Espen and Jiyu came through the front door, lunging at her.

Seven gasped, "He's mine!"

Espen exclaimed, "You're not taking him. I shall cater to Duri."

Jiyu says, "Death to anyone who steals his cuteness from me."

Seven made a purple orb form, and she said, "Get back!"

Espen grabbed Seven's wrist, but Jiyu slid in and took Duri away from Seven. She ran pretty far up another flight of stairs, and Anya made a rope trap catch Jiyu, and Anya stole Duri away.

Jiyu yelled, "No! He's mine!"

Anya was running, and looking at baby Duri at the same time.

Duri was making little baby noises, and Anya said, "Awwww! How adorable! Do it again! Please!"

Behind Anya, all of the girls were right behind her with menacing looks.

In the living room, Tek was acting unbothered as he read his black book.

Hide walked into the living room, saying to Tek, "You good?"

"I am fine. Sorry for them."

"Ah it's okay. They're just having fun. We need that every once in a while."

"Tch."

Immediately, an alarm started buzzing loudly, and there were red lights going on and off all throughout the house.

Tek asked, "What is that?"

Hide replied, "An old friend."

"Red lights usually mean danger. An intruder?"

"That too."

Hide and Tek ran outside instantly, and they ran out in the middle of the yard.

There was a man with half of long yellow hair on his head, a black beard, and blue eyes. He was standing at 19 feet tall, but he was in a red and black armored robotic suit. And it had a red cape on the back.

His name was Taiya.

Hide said, "Taiya. I'm surprised you made it past the electrical system."

"I helped you build most of your inventions back in the day. I know the way you do things. I'm gonna cut to the chase and say that I'm gonna need everything back."

"So..you decided to come here in just an armored suit..to take back everything that I've created?"

"You wouldn't be anything without me!"

"Actually, that's false. You were my partner a few years ago, and you barely did anything. Everything that me and you created back then is gone. I've been making my own things."

"S-shut up! Dummy dummy liar! I don't like you! And your breath stinks!"

"NO IT DOESN'T! I ALWAYS BRUSHED!"

"NUH UH! DUMB DUMMY MAN!"

Tek asked Hide, "Is this guy serious?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Actually, it's hard to tell. He's always been like this."

Taiya exclaimed, "I wanted to be like you, that's why I became your partner. To learn and study off of you. I wanted to become an inventor from someone as great as you. Just so I can make more money off inventions. But you fired me, and that made me lose my touch for a while. So I need your equipment, so I can have a fresh start of becoming a true inventor."

"Stealing others' work is not gonna help you."

"Oh you'd be surprised. I can easily see how you built something just by inspecting it. So hand over everything you've got!"

Tek asked Hide, "Why did you fire this idiot?"

"He was stealing materials from me and selling them on the dark web."

"Oh. I'll take him out."

Taiya reached his hands out, and a sonic scream was coming from them, hurting Tek and Hide's ears, making them kneel to the ground.

Taiya smiled, "Haha! Ya like that?! I looooove it! Ya big stupid dumb dummy man dummy boy! Nerd! Stupid flaccid nerd!"

Tek thinks, 'Usually noise doesn't affect me..but this screech is terrible!'

Inside of the house, all of the girls were on the floor holding their ears, but Jiyu was holding Duri's ears as tight as she could, blocking the noise from him. Jiyu wasn't affected by the sonic scream.

Duri was smiling continuously, until he got up and started running towards the front door. The door was wide open, and Duri was running through it, and Jiyu was right behind him.

Jiyu yelled, "Duri! No!"

Baby Duri was running towards Taiya, making Taiya say, "Hoh?! This baby is somewhat resistant to my sonic scream?! Well let me turn up the heat!"

Before Taiya could do anything, Baby Duri ran through Taiya and ripped his robotic leg off with his bare hands.

"No way this is happening! I'm getting beat by a newborn! I can't let that happen!"

Baby Duri laughed, and smacked Taiya all around the area with the robotic leg, teleporting everywhere near him, and bashed him in the face with the robotic leg.

Taiya tried to blast rockets at Baby Duri from his robotic arms, but Duri dodged them, even hopping on some missiles to get to Taiya.

Taiya got angry and rushed forward to punch baby Duri. Taiya had spikes in his fists, but baby Duri dodged those punches, then appeared behind Taiya.

Baby Duri kicked Taiya in the back, sending him flying forward, making him crash to the ground.

Taiya stood up, and pointed his arms forward, saying, "Let's turn up the volume!!! All of you are dummies!"

The sonic scream came again, affecting everyone.

Jiyu was running out into the field where baby Duri was, and Hide yelled, "Jiyu!"

"I got this!"

Jiyu thinks, 'Even in his baby form, Duri is able to fight when he feels attacked. But in his baby form, his punches aren't that effective. And I don't think he's aware of his shadow powers as a baby. I gotta do it. I don't care if everyone notices. Since they are my friends, I'll show them the real me. This is the only way. I could fight, but I'd lose since this guy is a tech genius like my dad. And I'm not that strong anyway. Here I go.'

Taiya said to Jiyu, "Oh! You aren't affected either?! How annoying!! Dummmmmmiesss!"

Taiya shot a missile at Jiyu, and Jiyu slid under it.

Jiyu was running forward, and baby Duri was running in front of her with a cute baby laugh. Jiyu was trying to avoid being invested in Duri's adorable baby smile.

Duri and Jiyu jumped at the same time, and Jiyu got in front of Duri in mid air.

Just then, Jiyu turned into a light orange and silver sword with a white handle, and she thinks, 'Duri please catch me!'

Taiya was about to blast them out of the air, but baby Duri caught Jiyu in her sword form.

Taiya was shocked, screaming, "Okay! Okay! I'm sorry! I'm a little wuss! I'm sorry! I'll leave! Hahaha! Just kidding! Bring it on!"