Chapter 73 : Expect The Unexpected

Ven cried, screaming, "HOW COULD YOU, BASTARD! She signed that while she was LOOKING AT ME! I'm sorry Tachibana Mae..."

Ren-Ren backed up, "I'm..sorry? You know what, actually no. I'm not sorry. Ya know what, pass the headphones to me, I'll fix them."

Ven smiled, "Really?"

He slid the headphones across the floor, letting them hit the feet of Ren-Ren.

Ren-Ren grinned, "Of course I'll fix them."

"T-thank you!"

"In your dreams!"

Ren-Ren stomped all over the headphones, shattering them while laughing.

He laughed, "You think..I give a DAMN about your little sissy girly headphones that were clearly made for toddlers?! Fuck these headphones!"

He continued to stomp all over them, until Ven punched Ren-Ren in the stomach, but before Ren-Ren could fly backwards, Ven caught his leg.

Ven said with tears in his eyes, "I shall eliminate you for lashing out on my headphones. They were given to me for free by Tachibana Mae. She LOOKED at me, dude! Totally not cool!"

"You're a big baby. A weakling of a man-child. It's pathetic and peasant-like activity."

Ven snapped his right finger, and loud happy upbeat pop music started playing from random speakers.

Ren-Ren exclaimed, "I hate this song! Turn this off! It's torture!"

"How DARE YOU SAY THAT?! DIEEEE! DIEEE!"

"Do your worst, man-child."

"Do not test me! The song and the beat of this song fuels me!!"

Ren-Ren noticed that Ven was tapping his feet with the music, and his hips were moving up and down.

'This guy is weird. He's even moving with the beat. Will that affect his fighting patterns?'

Ven started to smash Ren-Ren all over the room, destroying a lot of things that were in the way. Ven slammed Ren-Ren through the wall, and he came out through the other side, and the room flipped upside and sideways again.

Aki, Yutahime, and Zelle were still playing the game, sweating.

Yutahime hands were red, the score was 40-24, with Aki in the lead, and with 3 minutes left in the game.

Ven was running Ren-Ren through every wall in the living room, still holding his leg. Ren-Ren had a straight face the entire time.

Ven thinks, 'Is this not affecting him?!'

Ven raised his hand, and the living room started to rotate in all directions, and the room's movement was in sync with the beat of the pop song.

Ven jumped into the air, and started spinning like a helicopter, then threw Ren-Ren through another wall.

He was smashing all over the room coming in and out of walls, and the room continued to move irregularly.

Ven was running on the walls, jumping on the corners, and he calculated perfectly when Ren-Ren was going to come through the wall again.

But this time, Ren-Ren's sword came through.

Ven thinks, 'A sword?!'

Ven tried to grab the sword, but the sword blasted Ven through the wall, and Ven came out on the other side, falling on the floor, and then sitting up.

He looked to the left of him, and Ren-Ren was catching his sword.

"I guess I'll play seriously for a bit, commoner man-child peasant freak."

"S-shut up! You broke Tachibana Mae! You insulted this song! And you tried to recruit my dad, dude!"

"I really do hate this song. It's too loud. And way too happy for my villainous liking."

"Dieeieieieieiieeiieiiii!!!"

A bunch of the living room appliances began to rush towards Ren-Ren, and Ren-Ren jumped high into the corner of the room, watching the objects soar at him.

Ren-Ren blasted through them with his sword, cutting them all up.

Ven jumped off the wall, and jumped towards Ren-Ren with an upside down helicopter kick.

"TAKE THISSISISISIIS!!! DUDE!"

Ren-Ren ducked under the kick, but Ven tried to repeat the same kick in reverse, but Ren-Ren dodged that too, leaning low to the left side.

Ren-Ren teleported to three different locations in the room, with Ven still tapping his feet and moving his hips, trying to follow Ren-Ren's fast movements, but he couldn't.

'He's teleporting!'

Ren-Ren teleported in front of Ven, and said, "You're a man-child. Look at you moving your little sissy hips. Maybe if I fight on the same level as you, then it would actually be fun!"

"Shut up!"

Ven threw a punch, but Ren-Ren vanished again, and he was jumping all over the turning walls.

Ren-Ren began dashing off the wall repeatedly, slicing Ven in his arms and legs and shoulders, and then jumping back on the wall; he was doing this over and over again. Ren-Ren was dashing off the wall and attacking while in sync with the beat of the song.

Ven exclaimed in pain with a grin, "Oh?! So you're starting to like this song?!"

"Nope! Never. Moving to the beat of this song will predict your movements better. Even if you try to change your patterns, you'll just go back to dancing again."

"Well then..let's rock dude!"

Ven started to attack with punches and wide fast swings with his gauntlet gloves, and Ren-Ren was blocking them with his sword, and the both of them were running backwards on the turning walls and ceiling, dueling.

On the couch, Aki fist bumped Yutahime, saying, "Nice drop shot."

Yutahime answered, "Thanks."

Back to the fight, Ren-Ren stabbed his sword through Ven's chest, but he made sure he didn't pierce an artery.

Ven was still moving his hips, nodding his head, and tapping his feet to the beat of the pop song that was blasting through the living room.

Ren-Ren asked angrily, "You're still moving?!"

"I can't help it! This song is amazing!"

"Weirdo!"

Ren-Ren, still having his sword stuck through Ven's chest, started to twist everywhere through all the walls, and the living room was spinning insanely fast.

Ren-Ren and his sword spun all through the walls head first with Ven like a twisting torpedo, crushing everything.

They finally landed back in the living room, rolling on the floor, but Ren-Ren rolled up on one hand, and jumped up on his feet Liz

Ven got up, and Ren-Ren was surprised.

He said, "You are awfully tough for a commoner weakling. Why is that?"

Ven answered, "The voice of miss Tachibana Mae helps me! She's-!"

Ren-Ren zipped past Ven, using his sword to slice his chest.

Ven choked up blood, and he fell down. The room stopped spinning, and it went back to normal. Zelle had thrown up on the floor, while Yutahime and Aki were still going at it on the game.

Ren-Ren said, "Sorry, dude."

The game on the TV was over, and Aki celebrated, "Ooooh! I won! I'm soooo good!"

Yutahime sighed, "So close.."

"And yet, so far."

"It's because I had ZELLE on my team! She's so bad!"

Zelle replied, "NUH uh!"

"You were shooting at the ground!"

"Something shadow like was following me in the game!"

"IT WAS YOUR CHARACTERS SHADOW!"

"WELL YOU SHOULD'VE TOLD ME INSTEAD OF JUST WATCHING ME!"

Ren-Ren turned around to them, thinking, 'They lost? Well, not that I would mind if this Aki guy beheaded them right now.'

Aki stood up, saying, "Welp. A deals a deal."

Yutahime jumped off the couch, grabbing his sister Zelle, replying, "Not happening!"

Aki smiled, "Haha! Don't worry. I'm not gonna kill you two brats."

Yutahime, Zelle, and Ren-Ren said in sync, "Huh?"

"I haven't been ALMOST beaten by someone in a duel match in a very long time, and used to be a first person shooter champion. Gaming is life. That's another thing I want. Unlimited perfect gaming on the world's largest TV. I feel like I've been slacking in my skills though, I wanted the motivation to play how I used to play back in the day, and you, Yutahime, motivated me."

Yutahime replied, "I did?"

Zelle asked, "He did?"

Ren-Ren slid in, asking Aki, "Are you joining Kin then?"

"Yeah sure. If she can give me the most expensive gaming chair, computer, and largest TV, and a hot model wife then I'll accept. THAT'S perfect gaming."

"Great. I think I killed your weird ass man-child too."

"He's not dead."

"Huh?"

Ven sat up fast from the floor, exclaiming, "Tachibana Mae!"

Everyone looked at him confused, besides Aki.

Ven said, "I heard everything! My father Aki may have accepted this invitation! But I won't ever accept it!"

Ren-Ren says maliciously, "I'll silence him."

Ven says, "I'll only tag along if you buy me tons of Tachibana Mae merch!"

"Yeah no. Definitely not having a commoner like her all on my transaction history. I'll puke."

"Then…die!!!!"

Ven dashes towards Ren with a fist, and Ren-Ren catches the fist with one hand.

"Okay, I'm silencing you."

Zelle and Yutahime grabbed Ren-Ren and dragged him away.

Zelle said to him, "Think about it! You don't want unnecessary bloodshed, right? Just buy what he wants."

"NooooOOOOOO! Not doing it!"

Yutahime responds, "You're being a big baby. If you do not do this, he will continue to come at us."

"Enough! Alright! Whatever!"

(10 minutes later)

(Tachibana Mae general merch store)

Ren-Ren, Ven, Yutahime, Aki, and Zelle were standing at the counter of the Tachibana Mae general merch store, and the woman behind the counter was staring at them with content, asking, "Um..why do all of you all have blood..on you?"

Ven was excited, placing a pile of Tachibana Mae merch such as clothes and hats and glasses and cups and CD's and headphones and phone covers on the counter.

Ren-Ren sighed, "Ugh. Disgusting commoner activities. Who still buys CD's?"

Ven scoffed, "Me! Now..buy! Bro! Dude!"

"Shut up, peasant. I'm doing it."

After Ren-Ren bought the items and they left the store, Ven asked Ren-Ren, "Oi. You think Kin would give me Tachibana Mae as a wife? Claiming that she can give anyone anything they want? If so, I'll..stand with Kin. FOR THE SAKE OF MARRYING TACHIBANA MAE OF COURSE!"

Yutahime answered for Ren-Ren, "She can give you that and much more. Trust and believe. Just look at Ren-Ren. He's a half villain half hero and he's on her side."

Ven agreed, "You do have a point."

Ren-Ren scoffed angrily, "SHUT UP! I'M NOT A HERO!"

(The next morning)

(8:14am)

[Full Metal Rocket Fighting Tournament Arena]

The announcer said, "Tuning into the first match of the tournament of the morning annnddd…what is Duri doing?"

Duri was standing in the middle of the arena, half asleep with his eyes watery and red.

His opponent was a man with long purple hair in a ponytail, purple eyes, a blank tank top, and red sweatpants and white shoes.

The opponent said to Duri, "Oi! Kid! Wake up! You're embarrassing me in front of my girlfriends!"

A group of girls in a crowd screamed, "Ooooh! Mahone! We love you!"

Mahone, Duri's opponent, replied to them, "Don't worry ladies, I'll show you why they call me THE MAHONE. I'll prove I'm the best boyfriend you can have."

Mahone whispered to Duri, "Duri. Hey, look, I'm a big fan of your heroic works.."

Duri replied with tiredness in his voice, "Shut up..please."

"But look..could you like..pretend to lose to me so I can impress my girls. I told them I've trained super hard, and that I never lose fights.."

"Should've thought..about that..before stepping..in the arena with me.."

"Would you just hear me out? I know I don't stand a chance, but could you please do me this favor? I don't want my girls thinking Mahone is weak."

"No..I don't..wanna."

Mahone's fists were shaking, and he screamed, "Screw this! I'll crush you!"

Mahone took one step forward, but a large shadow snake blazed forward and snatched Mahone up, and it pinned him against the force field around the arena.

The snake was crunching down on him, but Mahone screamed, "OW! OW! OW! OKAY I GIVE UP! I GIVE UP!"

The announcer exclaimed, "Mahone just gave up! Mahone just gave up!"

The shadow snake went away, and Mahone dropped to the floor.

The announcer yelled again, "And here is your winner..Duri!"

Duri was snoring while standing up, he wasn't even aware he had won. He yawned, then walked out of the arena, saying, "I won.."

The next series of fights were intense, contestants with high power levels blasting, punching, and kicking their powers on each other while getting insane reactions from the hyped up crowd, and the announcer yelling out everything they witnessed, and yelling out the names of the winners.

Duri was sitting in the locker room half asleep, thinking, 'What a night. Zabel…had appeared in my dreams..trying to talk to me for hours..but I kept shutting him out. I texted Marshy..but she's not responding and she didn't come back. I came here first thing in the morning..just to let off some steam, but I can't do anything because I've used all my energy trying to keep Zabel out of my head. What was he trying to tell me..?'

A few minutes later, Duri was back in the ring for his second match, and he was standing in front of a girl who could look like anyone her opponent has thought of in the past week.

Her name was Ayame. She had green and black hair in four ponytails, and she wore glasses with black and green eyes.

Ayame said, "Finally! I always wanted to face you! I wanna see who you're thinking about!"

Duri had bubbles blowing out of his nose, and he was snoring and trying to stay awake.

Ayame screamed, "Wake the hell up!"

Duri didn't respond.

The announcer exclaimed, "Is Duri actually asleep?"

The people in the crowd commented:

"Is Duri bored?"

"What's going on with him?"

"Is this a new tactic for him?"

"He looks exhausted!"

Ayame smirked, knowing Duri wasn't looking at her, she thought it was a good time to use her power.

Ayame made her face look like Seven's face, and she was slowly walking up to Duri, blushing, "Oh..Duri..I missed you.. a lot.."

Ayame was standing in front of Duri now, and she was saying, "I've always wanted to tell you..I've had a big crush..on you. I was too scared to admit it before..but I'm good now."

Duri still didn't say anything, and Ayame turned her face back to her normal face, and said, "Don't ignore me!"

Ayame's right arm turned into a rocky sledgehammer, and she slammed it towards Duri's head.

Still half asleep, Duri caught her arm, and kicked her in the stomach. A loud blast of wind shot out, and Ayame flew back and hit the force field wall.

She got up, and she made her rocky sledgehammer arm extend, saying, "Okay then."

She looked like Marshy now, and she said, "Ohh? You wouldn't hit your own mother..would you?"

Duri still didn't look at her or say anything. He was still half asleep, snoring lightly.

Ayame frowned while turning back to her normal face, "STOP IGNORING MY POWER!"

Ayame ran left to right, making her right rocky sledgehammer arm smashed towards Duri again over and over.

Duri was dodging all the attacks by just sliding left and right with his eyes closed. He was jumping on and off the force field wall, jumping over the attacks.

Ayame thinks, 'He's avoiding my attacks..while half asleep? I won't accept it!'

Ayame had a green and black energy power ball in her right hand that was glowing brightly, and she blasted it at Duri.

Duri dodged that too, but Ayame was spamming that green and black energy ball, destroying the arena as Duri continued to avoid it while STILL half asleep.

Ayame screamed, "What the hell?! Stop messing with me!"

Ayame was running at Duri with full power in both of her arms, and Duri opened his eyes slightly.

When Duri opened his eyes, Ayame looked like Zabel, running straight towards him.

Duri gasped, his eyes went pure white, and he blasted across the arena floor in 0.2 seconds. Duri grabbed Ayame by the throat, and Ayame screamed.

Duri slammed Ayami against the force field wall, bashing the back of her head into it, leaving blood everywhere.

Ayame screeched, "D-Duri! I give up! I give up!"

Duri kept bashing her head against the wall, then he jumped up with her, and he broke both of her arms with spinning kicks, then kicked her in the face.

Ayame flew down to the ground, falling on her face.

Ayame tried to fight back, but here came Duri in the blink of an eye, punching Ayame in the chest twice, causing a loud thud to erupt through the arena.

The crowd said:

"He's going off on her!"

"She said she gave up!"

Duri had grabbed Ayame by the face, punching her with his shadow right fist over and over.

Duri said, "I'll kill you…Zabel!"

Duri started to laugh now, and he put his hand on his headband, saying, "You'll pay..for what you did.."

The announcer rang the bell, and yelled, "Annnnd Ayame has given up! The winner is..Duri!"

Duri stopped doing what he was doing, and he saw that he was sitting on top of Ayame, holding her by the throat.

Duri said, "What..?"

Ayame was bruised up in the face, she could barely talk.

Duri got up off of her, and started to make shadow wrap with his powers, wrapping Ayame up with them.

Duri said, "This..should suppress the..wounds. I'm not really sorry..why did you change into that monster..? I could've..killed you..dumbass.."

The medical team ran into the ring, and carried Ayame out of there quickly before the next match started.

Duri looked down at his bloody fists, and he could hear Zabels voice in his head, saying, "Wow. She did a good impression of me though."

Duri said, "Shut up. And leave me alone.."

30 minutes later in the locker room, Duri was trying not to fall asleep on the benches. He was roughly fighting it, and Zabel kept constantly saying in his head, "Duri? Why are you ignoring me? Did I make you..mad? I'm usually the type to make people laugh instead of making them really mad."

Duri screamed, "Shut up!"

Duri stood up and punched the wall behind him, shattering it to pieces.

He was breathing heavily, and contestant's watched him do that, walking out of there fast.

Zabel said in Duri's head, "See? Now they're scared of you. Gotta tone it down a bit, young whipper snapper."

"What..do you want?!"

"Nope. Not now. You have a fight to go to."

Moments later, Duri was standing in the middle of the arena, still about to pass out asleep. He was offered adrenaline pills, but he refused.

The announcer exclaimed, "This is the last match of the tournament! It has been an exciting journey! Now..Duri..versus Ponzo. Ready..fight!"

Ponzo leaped to the left with two red glowing staffs with smoke coming from the back of them in his hands, and he was going to attack Duri.

Duri immediately passed out from exhaustion, falling on the floor.

Ponzo stopped, and shrugged his shoulders.

The crowd said:

"He collapsed!"

"Does that mean.."

The announcer asked Ponzo, "Could you check if he's ACTUALLY ASLEEP?"

Ponzo bent down and shrugged Duri over and over, saying, "Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."

Duri didn't wake up. And Ponzo said, "Yeah, he's knocked out."

The announcer said, "Well..uh..I guess the winner is Ponzo!"

…

…

…

In Duri's consciousness, Duri was standing in a dark area alone.

Duri went, "Show yourself."

Zabel showed himself, replying with a smile, "Well, don't mind if I do-."

Duri dashed up to Zabel with a punch, trying to hit him.

Duri's fist went straight through like a hologram.

Zabel laughed, "This is like, the 100th time you've tried to attack me in your CONSCIOUSNESS. You can't physically harm me, and vice versa."

Duri kept trying to throw punches and kicks, but all of his blows were not connecting.

Zabel said, "Pfft. And you say I'M annoying."

Duri went to reach for his headband, but it wasn't there.

Zabel smirked, "Wait, did you actually think you could use your Titan powers IN YOUR CONSCIOUSNESS? You can't even use your shadow powers. I tell you this alllll the time. It's like speaking to a deaf person. Though I did massacre a realm earlier this morning with a BUNCH of them, and let me tell ya, the way they scream in pain is the funniest thing."

Duri asked Zabel menacingly, "What do you want?! I want to end you..so bad. You kept me up all night with your senseless babbling.."

"Mmm. It wasn't senseless if it made sense."

"I didn't understand a word you fucking said!"

"I just wanted to say..thanks to a recent demonic medium old woman that I've acquainted with from a realm I just so happened to pass by, I may have found your father."

Duri gasped, "You're lying.."

"Geez, kid. You think I came to talk just to lie to you?"

"I don't know, you do everything else. Like piss me the hell off. Why should I believe you think you found my father?"

"You should believe me. The old lady says she's come across a single man traveling through the realms. No one knows what he's after, but I'm assuming he's looking for something. Maybe you? Maybe Marshy?"

"..What? Are you serious?"

"She claimed the man had a birthmark just like yours. That's what I was trying to tell you last night, but you kept training and training loudly to block out my voice. You seem to have gotten better control of dealing with me too. I used to just put you in your consciousness on my own, but you can stop that."

"Take me to him! Now!"

"I can't. I don't know where he is."

"Why…are you telling me this anyway?"

"Just thought you'd want to know. See ya later, boy."

"Wait!"

Duri woke up, and he was surrounded by many people in the arena, saying:

"Yooo. Duri, wake up."

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty."

Duri sat up fast, and looked around him. He asked, "How long was I out?"

Someone answered, "Almost an hour."

"Shit. I gotta go."

Moments later, Duri was walking outside on the sidewalk with his hands in his pockets. People were trying to talk to him, but Duri ignored them. He was too busy thinking about what Zabel had said.

'My father..is actually alive? No…Zabel could be lying just to get a reaction out of me like always. But..what if that bastard really isn't lying? But he could be. Something else is up too. Why didn't Zabel tell me the real reason why he told me what he told me. I have to see someone about this. I wanna see Marshy. If Mifu was still alive..I could go to him. He always had the answer to everything.'

As Duri kept walking, two people walked past him, and Duri slightly gasped, and turned around to them.

Duri said, "…Ren-Ren?"

Ren-Ren had walked past Duri, and he stopped. Ren-Ren was walking with Kin.

Ren-Ren and Kin had turned around to look at Duri, staring into his eyes.