Chapter 5 : Joint Operation

Gideon dashed up to Sho, and started shaking his hand with a smile, "I'm Gideon! And you must be Shoooooooo."

Sho yanked his hand away and replied, "Don't touch me, are you a dumbass?"

Gideon laughed creepily, "Haha! No! I'm just craving to see the pain in my opponents eyessssssss! Hoooooray!"

"Ah?"

Sho thought, 'He's a psychopath. I can see it in his eyes. His smile is like Kell's, but filled with insanity.'

Yanlin stepped up to Sho, and said, "H-Hello..I'm Yanlin, it's uh..very very nice to meet you, Sir Sho."

Sho responded, "Tch."

Bain said to Sho, "Yanlin doesn't really talk to strangers. Don't be offended."

"Whatever."

Bright then said to Sho, "Greetings."

Bright then turned around, and walked away.

Sho asked Bain, "The hell is his problem? Does he wanna fight me or something? I'll kill him."

"You know, Sho, not everything has to resort in violence. And Bright is an introvert, he will always say one or two words to anyone. That's how he is."

"Pfft."

Gideon asked Sho, "Yo! Are you going to participate in the tournament, Shoooooo?"

Sho ignored him, and folded his arms.

"I can't hear ya! You say something? Oiiiii! Shoooooo!" Gideon exclaimed.

Sho responded, "Say my name right or don't say it at all, dumbass."

"I like you! Hahaha! You're my new friend, Shoooooo!"

Gideon turned around and followed Bright.

Yanlin just stood there, holding her own hands, looking left to right due to her anxiety.

'So many eyes looking this way!'

Bain started to walk forward, and Sho followed.

Bain said, "Ny comrades have come to participate in this tournament, as I came to discuss business with someone."

"Who?" Sho asked.

"His name is Moxxen. A class C Fighter."

"…."

"We're gonna discuss working together to take down a class C raid. The raid we're targeting is filled with crystals, crystals that we can exchange for points."

"Why the hell can't he do it himself? Why does he need you weirdos?"

"Moxxen's guild has been in the same raid before, and lost people from their guild. He sees potential in us like I saw it in you. He knows of our abilities, saying that if we work together, we could complete this raid with fewer casualties. He's desperate for those crystals, and so are we. And you need them as well, I'll share 50% of the crystals my guild gets with you."

"Hoh..?"

Minutes later, they all were inside of the arena, with Sho, Bain, and Yanlin sitting in the stands with the thousands of rowdy cheering Fighters.

Bain asked Yanlin, "You're not fighting?"

Yanlin answered, "No..s-sorry. I don't really like the attention."

"Understandable, thank you for being honest."

"You're welcome."

Sho commented with his arms folded, "Disgusting."

Bain said to Sho, "Sho.."

"What?"

"I know you're probably thinking about using us just to get what you want, and that's okay."

"You saw right through me.."

"I'm pretty discerning as you can tell. But I'm gonna let you know that you can actually trust us. I have always admired your strengths, I've always wanted to be a part of whatever you had going on, you were cool back then in school."

"So?"

"What I'm trying to say is, it'll be even cooler to see you level up and kick ass like you did in school, and I want to help you do that."

"….Hmph."

Sho thought, 'Is he serious right now? No way in hell anyone would want to help me after knowing how I am. What's he planning? He must be planning to stab me in the back. That's always the fucking case.'

Yanlin pointed down at the arena, saying, "Gideon is fighting..'

Sho and Bain looked down at the middle of the arena, and saw Gideon standing on a platform, standing a few feet from his opponent. His opponent was a standing tiger, but he was standing like a man, and he was muscular, wearing a black t-shirt, and had brown hair.

The tiger looked at Gideon, saying, "Ha! Look at this small fry!"

Gideon laughed, "Haha! Hiiiii mister tigerrrrrr!"

"Heh? Don't say my name like that! It's so…ew!"

Gideon smiled, "Hmmm? Why not?! Hmph! Not fair!"

Some people in the crowd said:

"Fight already!"

"Stop wasting time!"

"Kill him!"

"Rip his head off!"

"They're the same class, right?"

"Yeah, apparently so."

"The tiger hasn't lost one tournament fight yet! And he started doing them three days ago!"

"He might crush poor Gideon."

The tiger said to Gideon, "I'll be sure to cook you well, I haven't eaten all day, puny boy!"

Gideon smiled, "Oh please…please cook me! Not in a weird way though! Hahahahaaaaaaa! You're funny, tiiiiiiiger maaaaaaaan!"

The tiger got angry, yelling, "Die! Puny boy!"

The tiger dashed forward, with his tiger claws poking out, and started swinging fast at Gideon.

Gideon was dodging the tiger's attacks, and the whole time, Gideon had a smile on his face, laughing.

"Hahahaha! You're quite boring, tiiiiiger man!"

"S-Shut up! I'm only getting warmed up!"

The tigers sharp claws were larger now, and his swings were getting faster, with wind from the attacks shooting everywhere, and the platform breaking.

Gideon was still dodging all of the attacks, jumping in the air, laughing, "Hahahaaaaaa! Tiiiiger maaaaan! Cook me! Like you said! Remember? R-Remember when you said..you'd cook me!"

"Are you mocking me?!"

The tiger started to grow even more muscular, his eyes went bright red, his claws got longer, and he grew claws out of his head.

Gideon smiled, "Whoa! Cool transformation! Is that your final form? Tiiiiiiger maaaaan."

The tiger jumped up high, and darted back down to the ground, and smashed the platform all into pieces with his claws.

Gideon jumped up at the same time as the impact, "Cooool! Is this what you call cooking someone, tiiiiger man?!"

The tiger replied, "You sure talk a lot for a puny about to get cooked!"

The tiger started to grow really long claws around his body, and the claws were glowing orange and black.

Gideon continued to smile, clapping slightly.

The tiger started to dash quickly around Gideon, jumping from the platform pieces that were falling.

"How do you like this?! Can't keep up with my moves, can you? I didn't want to use this, because it drains my energy fast, but you've become such a fucking nuisance, I have to show you this a man's world!"

"But are we like, ACTUALLY in a world? We're in a tower, a very very big tower! We're only on the first floor! Tiiiiger maaaan!'

The tiger thought, 'What?! He's staring at me with a smile while following my movements, looking right into my eyes!'

Gideon was watching the tiger dash around, looking him in the eyes with a smile.

Gideon said menacingly with a grin, "I seeeee youuuuu, tiiiger maaaaan."

The tiger gasped, and he jumped up into the air, and started to spin. Glowing orange and black claws began to shoot out from his body, and they hit all over the platform, aiming at Gideon.

Gideon smiled as he stood there dodging them without moving out of his spot.

Gideon said, "Come onnnnn, you gotta do better than that, tiiiiiger maaaaan."

The tiger responded, "You're nothing but a rat!"

In the stands, Sho thought, 'This creep Gideon is toying with him..why is he waiting? Does he enjoy this shit? Better yet…that crazy asshole isn't half bad.'

Bain said to Sho, "Gideon came from earth, as well as us. He gets a kick out of interesting people like you, and he gets a bigger kick out of people who wanna fight him. He loves to watch his opponents in pain, pain that he himself caused. I saw that within him when I found him almost dead in the road surrounded by bodies, laughing about how he had so much fun, rambling on about how interesting and amazing they were, all with a smile on his face. He may seem like a psycho..he is. But, I overlooked that. He is dependable if he considers you an ally, but if he doesn't..that's not good."

"….."

Yanlin said quietly, "You can do this…Gideon!"

In the middle of the platform, the tiger was still spinning and shooting glowing claws everywhere, yelling, "You think you're all that?! I'm just getting warmed up, runt!"

Gideon laughed, "You said that last time! Say something else, silly tiiiiiger!"

"STOP…STRETCHING YOUR SENTENCES!"

Immediately, Gideon vanished, making the tiger gasp. Gideon then flashed up above the tiger, and smiled, "Gotchaaaaa, tiiiiger maaaaan!'

Gideon's right hand and arm turned into a black and orange dragon hand, and it was sharp at the fingertips.

The tiger thought, 'A dragon hand for a primary weapon?!'

He turned around to shoot more claws at Gideon, but Gideon punched all the claws away, shattering them.

Then, Gideon punched the tiger in the cheek once with a laugh, and the tiger smashed down to the platform, breaking every bone in his body, causing a loud thud, making the crowd go:

"BOOOOM!"

"YO!"

"THAT WAS UNEXPECTED!"

"YES! I WON MY BET!"

"Let's go, Gideon!"

Even the announcers exclaimed, "What a fight! Gideon has defeated Tiger boy!"

Gideon turned around, bowing to everyone, "Thank youuuu so much! Yes, praise me mooooore!"

In the stands, Sho thinks, 'Weird weapon for a weird ass person. Suits him. And here I am, stuck with a butterknife.'

Minutes later, Bright was standing in the middle of the platform, standing a few feet from an old man in a tuxedo.

The old man said, "Ready to have our battle, sonny? I must warn you though, I may be old, but my body is in the same condition due to my powers. I feel like I'm young all over again."

Bright cracked his knuckles, "No."

"Hm? Well that's too bad. Guess I'll wait."

"Thanks."

"As the younglings call it, I'm just trolling! How was my slang? It was pretty clever for an old timer, huh?"

"Cringe."

The old man pressed forward, but Bright stuck his hand out, and there was a large flash.

The flash blinded the old man for a second, catching him off guard.

"What?!"

Bright walked circles around the old, sticking his hand out to him, causing more bright flashes to shoot out, damaging the old man's eyes.

"Stop! Agh!" The old man scoffed.

"Don't wanna."

Bright dashed up to the old man, grabbed his face, jumped, lifted his knee up, twisted to the left, and smashed his face into his knee, knocking the old man down, knocking him unconscious.

Bright started walking away from the platform, saying, "I won."

The crowd was silent for a second, then, they started to clap and cheer slowly.

"He just beat him.."

"In less than 10 seconds!"

"Now I know why they call him Bright!"

The announcers said, "And there is Bright with the win on the old timer!! Nice plays, I guess!"

Sho thought, 'He can produce flashes from his hands like flashbangs. I guess they're useful, better than a butterknife.'

After the tournament, Sho, Gideon, Yanlin, and Bain were walking out of it with all of the other Fighters.

Gideon sighed, "Awww no prize??"

Bain responded, "Your prize was Fighter points when you defeated the tiger guy."

"Ohhhh, right! Haha! Sorry, Baiiiiin!"

"No worries. Do you need any herbal pills?"

"Noooope!"

"Okay. What about you, Bright?"

Bright responded, "No thanks."

Sho thought, 'Why is he so damn nice? He needs to toughen up. I can't stand being around all this. I would run now, but he's offering a good deal. Tch.'

Bain asked Yanlin, "How are you feeling?"

"Oh? Me? Oh, I'm fine..thanks."

Sho asked, "Who is this bastard walking towards us?"

Everyone looked forward, and they saw a man and little girl walking towards them. The little girl was 11 years old, and she was hiding behind the leg of the man.

The man was Moxxen, he was wearing an all black suit with black gloves, had slick black hair, and one black eye, and one green eye.

The 11 year old girl hiding behind his leg, her name was Bebop. She had long black hair, dark yellow eyes, and freckles.

Bain said, "Moxxen."

Moxxen said, "Bain. And the rest of you."

Moxxen looked at Sho, and said, "New member?"

Bain replied, "Getting there. But he is useful."

"Hoh?"

Sho scoffed with a straight face, "Stop looking at me, old man."

Moxxen chuckled, "I love the fire in him. You choose well, Bain. I can lead you all to my guild's hideout, and we can prepare and discuss our plans for the upcoming raid. We have food there."

"The rest of your guild is at the hideout right now?"

"All 20 of them."

Sho thought, '20 plus members in his guild, and he couldn't complete the raid? Was it that tough? Secondly, this little Bebop girl has been staring at me the entire time.'

Bebop was looking right at Sho, and then Sho asked, "The hell's yer problem?"

Bebop walked over to Sho, and held onto his leg.

"Big..brother.."

Sho gasped slightly, "Get off me!"

Sho tried shaking his foot, but Bebop still hung unto him.

Sho exclaimed, "Get off me now! Dumb brat!"

Gideon laughed, "She likes you!"

Yanlin said, "Aww..very sweet."

Bright didn't say anything.

Moxxen said, "Bebop doesn't really like strangers as much, but she seems to be attached to your potential member."

Sho scoffed at Moxxen, "Oi! Old man! Get her off me! I'll kill you!"

"Haha. Even if I got her off of you, she would just run back to cling to your leg or arm."

"You bastard…"

"Haha! Let's get a move on then!"

[14 minutes later]

[Moxxen's guild hideout]

Moxxen, Bain, Sho, Yanlin, Bright, Bebop, and Gideon were walking through a dark tunnel.

Bebop was still clinging onto Sho, but holding his arm this time.

Sho asked Bebop, "The hell are you on me for?"

Bebop replied, "Big brother.."

"Ah? I'm not your big brother. Get off of me."

"No.."

"Ah?! Get off me!"

"No!!!"

"I'll stomp you!"

"No!!!"

Sho tried to shake Bebop off, but Bebop still held on.

As Bain and Moxxen took the lead, Bain asked Moxxen, "What did you encounter in this raid?"

"We didn't go too far into it, we only gathered a few crystals, but after the fight with a giant Minotaur, we lost it all. We've been training since then, getting stronger and leveling up. So now, we're going back there to take all the crystals and defeat the small little monsters and kill the Minotaur. And with your help, we can do it easily while using you as insurance so that we have no choice but to win. It's a win-win for both of our guilds."

"A Minotaur? Interesting. We should definitely be cautious, but also unafraid. You've lost men. I can't say I have though, so I wouldn't fully understand how you felt after the incident."

"Indeed I did, I feel like I led them to their deaths. I thought we were ready."

"We all make mistakes, Moxxen. But as humans, it's in our best interest not to make them again."

"Haha, understood."

Gideon was walking beside Yanlin and Bright, trying to get them to laugh.

Gideon was hopping on one foot, making funny faces and laughing, "Briiiiighttt! Yanlinnnnnn! What's tooooday?! Hump day! Can you believe it?! HAAAAHA!"

Bright and Yanlin just looked at each other, and then looked at Gideon without saying a word.

Then, Yanlin said, "That's really funny, Gideon..haha."

"Thanks!"

Bright said with a straight face, "Not funny."

Gideon scoffed, "Hey!"

Moxxen said, "Through these doors."

They came across a large set of double doors, and Moxxen opened it, letting Sho, Bebop, Bain, Gideon, Bright, and Yanlin inside.

As soon as they walked in, they were in a big fancy room with expensive looking furniture, paintings, and gold walls with red curtains. The room was filled with 20 Fighters, some wearing flashy glowing armor, some wearing regular clothes, some wearing suits, and some holding their flashy weapons.

They all turned their attention to Sho and the group.