Ch. 10 Warm Up

Junior and Derek are walking down the street. Derek at his usual spot next to Junior abut about 2 steps behind.

It's currently near midnight and the two men are going after the group that tried to uproot the Xiong crime family and get rid of Hei Xiong himself.

Derek holds Netherlight in its suitcase form in his right hand. "You know, Lavi probably would want to be here"

"You know what old man? You bring up Lavi a lot. Any special reason?" Junior has his left hand in his front pocket while his right wrist balances Bazooka on his shoulder. He's also grown that final inch and practically stands at 7 feet tall now with any type of shoes on besides flats, but why in hell would he be wearing flats? And nobody is gonna care about that one inch… except for Lavi and a few of his other men. Namely the girls.

Derek shrugs. "Not particularly. Just spent a lot of time with her over these 3 years. She's a good girl, and talented"

"But not in fighting Derek. So why would she want to be here?" Junior doesn't understand. Ever since about a year and a half ago Derek has taken special care of Lavi. Junior honestly thought Derek didn't like her at the beginning, he just lied to Lavi at the time.

"Because her semblance would be of good use to you Junior. And you know how much she enjoys helping you… especially with her semblance" Derek smirks, his hair significantly more gray than black now.

Junior sighs and his shoulders drop an inch. "Gods that girl. Just because she awakened her semblance before me…."

"Don't make it sound like you've got your semblance Junior" Derek verbally jabs.

Junior's shoulders drop another inch and Bazooka falls from his shoulder. But just as the barrel is about to hit the ground Junior grabs its handle and spins it in circles, his black aura coming off of it in slight black wisps. "Shut up the hell up Mr. Thought Accelerator"

Derek brings the briefcase over his right shoulder and holds it by the tips of his fingers, imagine a Japanese high schooler holding their bag. "At least your aura training has improved beyond my imagination, Mr. Getsuga Tensho"

"I shout that ONE time! Once! And it works for the first time when I shouted it. Then everyone makes fun of me for it, or should I say only you do, old man" Junior glares over his shoulder at Derek.

This is a bit intimidating. Junior's hulking build and towering height. Him swinging his rocket launcher-club. And the glare over the shoulder.

But to Derek it's just your average Wednesday night…. or Thursday morning now? It technically is past midnight now.

"You nearly destroyed the entire training room wall that was reinforced by dust infused metal. And your shout was mighty amusing as it echoed. I think you're just lucky nobody else was there… or not. Since I was then forced to tell everyone that day's events" Derek couldn't just let that chance slip by. The boss is always so serious, so that slip up was a golden opportunity. And he only told those in Junior's upper family anyway.

Basically just the ones Junior trusts the most, the men and women Junior listed their names to come and help clean this mess up.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. If anything it just proves that I broke through that barrier and gained nearly full control of my aura" Junior stubbornly tries to make the best out of that situation.

"Add that to how much aura you have, and how skilled you've become with weapons" Derek feels a shiver down his spine. "In three years nonetheless. Truly a monster… Now if only you trained before you were 18"

Junior catches Bazooka by its handle. He lets the tip of the club hover sightly over the ground as he relaxes his right arm. "Better late than never. Anyway, back to Lavi. Why did you want her to come along?"

Derek takes a cigarette package from his pocket and flicks it until a single cigarette pokes out from the package. "It really is her semblance. If things get dicey she can use it with you"

"The fuck are you saying old man?! Have you finally gone senile? Her 'Instant Transmission' can only take one person at a time. And that's depending on how far she's going" Junior shouts, he doesn't like what Derek implied.

Lavi's semblance is Instant Transmission. She can instantly teleport wherever she wants at the cost of her aura. The farther the distance the higher the aura cost is. And she currently can only take one person with her. Junior named it after they tested its limit. And there isn't a cooldown either, it would make her a near unbeatable opponent if she really wanted to be a fighter. But she doesn't like being violent, so she sticks with her information gathering.

She does need to know the place she is teleporting to. So she's managed to make and use a technique to assist her. She sends out a wave, more like a pulse, of aura through an area and like a bat using echolocation she learns the layout of the area. It's not very aura efficient and there are limitations to it, but it's still nifty.

"We both know this is a trap, they want to lure you out. You may be going to them sooner than they expected but that doesn't change the fact a trap is a trap" Derek takes the cigarette between his lips and puts the package away and takes a lighter out to light it.

"Yeah, but almost any combination of the upper family should have been able to handle this" Junior shoots back.

Derek lights his cigarette and inhales. After exhaling he looks dead on at Junior. "Then why didn't you initially ask for Lavi to take care of this? She can get in and get out before they even know she's there. She can let us know their numbers and possibly let us know who we're dealing with"

Junior goes back to looking where he's walking. "I told you she was busy"

"Right~" Derek puts his lighter away. "Don't worry, I'd only want her here to get you outta here. We really don't know how dangerous this is gonna get"

"Stop raising death flags old man. You and I are the top of the Xiong family for a reason. If I thought the upper family could handle it we should get through it" Junior immediately catches the flags he just brought upon himself.

"Fair enough, but a trap is a trap no matter who you send" Derek continues to smoke his cigarette. "Say, why do you insist on wearing those glasses?"

Junior is wearing the unique sunglasses that have a black frame and red lenses. "I've gotten used to wearing them at all times. And it's the same reason I wear a glove on my left hand but not my right. It's my image"

Derek keeps hoping for a different answer each time he asks that question. But he knows he doesn't wear a glove on his right hand so people can see the Xiong family ring and where's a glove on his left to somewhat hide the rings on that hand. It's to uphold the image of being the Boss.

Junior and Derek walk through the industrial district until they get to the worst part of it. Buildings basically falling apart. Small time criminals keep popping up here no matter how much Junior tries to clean this place up.

After a certain point both men stop.

Derek looks up at the bright shattered moon as he strokes his beard. "The moon is quite bright tonight"

"I think you've got bigger problems than a bright moon right now" Junior quickly brings Bazooka above his head and swings down.

"I know right?" Derek quickly tilts his head to the right side.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Ka-Boom!!* *Ka-Boom!!*

2 dust bullets are shot. One at each man.

An explosion occurs behind Derek who dodged the shot aimed at his face. And an explosion occurs infront of Junior as he hits the bullet with Bazooka.

Junior gets covered by the fire and smoke of the explosion and his figure can't be seen by Derek. But the old man knows it'll take more than that to take Junior down.

"Why not just dodge?" Derek asks as he sees many men and women enter the street from buildings and side alleys.

The smoke goes away as Junior's silhouette can be seen and eventually his untouched body. "Because Derek. If I stand at the front and my men are behind me I can't dodge"

"Respectable…. stupid at this very moment, but respectable" Derek stretches his back.

Junior watches the swarm of people before him. He can sense they all have aura, but they all seem like goons rather than actual threats. "Do you want the left or the right?"

"I get a choice?" Derek flicks a switch and Netherlight transforms into its long glaive form behind his back and breaks the pavement.

"Not really" Junior coats the barrel of Bazooka with his aura and holds it at his right side with both hands. "Say Derek, do you hear that rock music starting to play?"

"Perhaps you are the one going senile sir" Derek spins Netherlight around until he gets in a fighting stance with his left foot forward and Netherlight pointing at the enemies.

Junior smirks as the music picks up. He steps his left foot forward and swings Bazooka skyward as he unleashes a colossal arc of aura down the street in one mighty swing.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Derek shouts from behind Junior.

Junior snaps his head back to Derek. "I will hurt you old man"

"Well it looks like you'll have to get to the back of the line boss. Because here they come" Derek nods towards the people down the street.

Junior's attack had split the group in two and had blasted the middle section, of about 5-7 people in width, clear almost all the way down the street. The men and women didn't seem to care that a chunk of their forces had just literally been blasted away and are not charging the two. If anything, they seem glad they didn't get hit by that attack.

"Let's not make them wait" Junior charges forward and meets a few of them with a mighty swing of his club. He hits 3 men with the same swing and send them flying to the left until they crash into a brick wall.

Derek takes another puff of his cigarette and charges forward. Unlike Junior's brutish way of hit everything as hard as possible Derek spins his weapon around and uses the momentum to blast his enemies away. All while continuing to smoke.

Junior stands nearly 2 feet taller than most of the people. And his hulking figure is visible through his suit when he is fighting. Compared to the 5 foot thin figures of the ambushers, he might as well actually be a bear. At least then they might have a chance to kill him together.

A man sees an opening after a swing of their target. He holds his knife in both hands and drives it out towards Junior's kidney. The man thrusts his knife forward but is horrified when his clasped hands are grabbed by Juniors gloves hand.

Junior looks down and to his side. "Bye"

Bazooka in his right hand comes barreling through the air in a backswing.

The man can't get away and win a split second everything goes dark.

Junior just bashed his head and the man went flying over a building.

"Y-You killed Jerm!!" A woman shrieks.

Junior flicks Bazooka and it shifts into its rocket launcher form and he brings it atop his shoulder. "Did any of you really expect to leave this place alive?"

That seems to have awaken some form of survival instinct as everyone listening to him has the fear of the Gods fill them.

Junior then jumps into the air and fires rockets off into the crowd of goons down the street that thought they were safe. As he goes to land he switches Bazooka back into a club and strikes the ground below him.

*Kra-Wham!!* The pavement spiderwebs and shatters. The 5 people closest to the last get sent backwards.

Derek is just enjoying the moment and taking his time. But even still, he's keeping up with Junior. He might not do bursts of strength to take out many enemies, but slow and steady wins the race.

Netherlight is spun rapidly and doesn't stop when it comes in contact with a weapon or a person. Derek attacks with the calm of a relaxed flowing river. But his hits are worse than a raging fire. He uses his semblance and keeps track of the many enemies around himself as he blocks unseen attacks behind his back.

——————

The people keep charging as their numbers dwindle. There used to be over a hundred of them before. But now? Barely half their numbers are still capable of standing.

Even their sniper support they were promised isn't helping. The two beasts just dodge or block it. Even the big guy dodges the shots. Or he uses a human shield.

How can they fight this?

——————

"oooohrrrraaaaaaahh!!!" Junior shouts as he hits a man. And like a bowling ball he goes and hits his friends down like pins.

Junior runs up to the next woman with terrifying speed. But instead of bashing her with his club he backhands her.

And while that sounds better than the club… it's really not.

Junior's rings can use his aura to enhance even his basic punches or claps. So this woman feels like she was just backhanded by a semi-truck that didn't even try to hit the brakes.

——————

Derek brings the square blade down into the back of a man. The blade digs in and a sickening scrunch and squish sound is heard as the man's bones and organs are mixed together.

Junior walks up to Derek and dusts his battle worn suit. He doesn't know how people fight and keep their clothes pristine, must've been because the animators couldn't afford that in the animation budget. And it'd be weird to have technically eunderage girls fighting in torn dresses as they flash anyone watching them fight.

"Take care of the snipe Derek" Junior says as he grabs a jacket from a corpse and cleans Bazooka.

Derek points Netherlight down the street. Then it's tip splits open and some flames can be seen between its halves until-

*BANG*

It fires. And a fire dust bullet rockets down the street towards a rooftop.

And then an explosion goes off.

Junior can sense the aura of that person disappear. "Nice shot"

"Thanks… but don't you think you should change the output of this thing?" Derek closes the tip of the weapon back to the glaive.

Junior tosses the jacket aside. "Just don't hold the trigger down"

Derek rolls his eyes as he shifts it into its greatsword form and rests it on his shoulder. "Why didn't I think of that? Oh wait, I tried that"

"Then you should have shifted it to the sword form then. You know that the way you fired it doesn't allow for much variation between shots. You just wanna complain to complain" Junior shakes his head.

They both were just talking to talk because they know there are 6 more opponents. But they're in a building's basement. The two men want to wait and see if the 6 people will exit on their own or if they'll have to chase them out.

After waiting 5 minutes they have their answer.

Junior begins heading towards the ring leader's location. "I'm done waiting"

The building he can sense the auras in is the building they know that is trouble. All of Junior's info points to this place.

Derek follows in behind Junior. "I don't think Netherlight will like this"

Junior barely gets through the front door. "I don't think I'm gonna like this"

They make their way through the not so abandoned building until they come to a clearly marked 'basement' door.

The rusty metal door looked like it was falling off its hinges.

"There's no point stopping here" Junior opens the door and sees a staircases spiraling down.

Derek looks around Junior. "This is certainly ominous"

Junior descends without a word. His weight causing the metal stairs to creak under his weight. Derek following a few paces behind. He doesn't want to get in the way of they meet any trouble.

The way down takes about 5 minutes. And the further down they go the older the place looks.

At the bottom of the stairs is a hallway that has a single door at the end. And the only light is a blinking overhead light.

"Hmmmm. If I were in my teens I think I'd be shitting my pants about now" Derek jokes to lighten the mood.

"I'm glad you've mastered how to control your bowels Derek". Junior looks around the walls. There's more space here than he thought there would be.

"Me too" Derek takes the cigarette from his mouth and gives it a tap to get the ashes off the end. He then takes a big breath which causes the cigarette to burn basically what he just got rid of.

Junior walks down the hall and approaches the door. It looks newer, but still just as creepy as the rest of the place.

The door for some reason doesn't open up into the room, so Junior pulls it open.

Inside it's lit by torches flickering and burning on the walls all around the giant room.

There are various devices of all kinds along the walls. It's got the vibe of a dungeon. All around the room there are cobwebs, some objects are completely encased. And at the back of the room there is a throne with steps leading up to it.

The throne is against the back wall and is lit by many torches around it. It looked to be made out of stone and it had a weird glowing red face at the top of it. There are also other weird carvings on it.

Sitting on the throne is a platinum blond girl with vibrant glowing purple eyes. She is wearing a combat dress and a cape. She also has an old sword propped against the left armrest.

There's also 5 men standing below the throne. The biggest guy stands in the middle, he's about 6'8" tall which is unusual for Remnant. The others also stand at an unusually tall height of 6'4" tall. And all 5 are bald and wearing some type of cloak. They're all holding different weapons. From left to right it's a spear, daggers, a lance and shield combo, great axe, and a katana. The tallest guy has the shield and lance.

The guys also have their lower face covered by black masks with red markings.

Junior walks in and rests Bazooka on his shoulder. "How long have you all been down here waiting?"