Grover, Tobu, and Haruku vs Nick, Part 1

"So he's achieved Rule Breaker status too now, huh…?" Suburasshu mutters to herself.

"Oh…thank you, Mikey!" Jin says as he hops out of the barron pit that was originally the river that he was trapped in.

"If I transform into water, I'll just evaporate and die!" Supurasshu cries. Mikey slowly begins walking towards Supurasshu, even more river water evaporating with each step.

"It's getting a little hot in here!" Ralph wines as he tugs at his shirt collar, taking an apprehensive step away from Mikey.

"I'll just have to keep my distance!" Supurasshu exclaims as she aims her palms at Mikey, firing off a high-pressure blast of water his way, which evaporates inches away from Mikey into nothingness, doing nothing to quell his raging flames.

"Oh no…" Supurasshu whimpers as Mikey slowly continues trudging towards her.

"It's hot…" Mikey grunts, and as he does so, more black smoke escapes his lips. Mikey pauses. "This is far enough…" Mikey says as he brings his palms together, a fireball charging in between them. The fireball grows hotter and larger, brighter and larger, as hot and as bright as the sun itself.

"Oh no…" Supurasshu whimpers.

"Duck!" Ralph cries.

"What's happening?" Jin asks.

"Pyrokinesis…" Mikey begins to growl as his fireball grows even larger, until it stands three and a half feet in diameter, resting between his hands. "STAR-CORE CANNON!" Mikey thrusts his palms forwards, sending his grand fireball streaking through the air towards Supurasshu, like a phoenix.

Ralph ducks to the ground, covering his head with his hands.

Jin yelps in surprise, then leaps back into his evaporated river trench.

As for Supurasshu; she just stands there, not moving…not saying anything.

"This…" Supurasshu slowly begins to say, her eyes wide as she stares down Mikey's dazzling blaze. "...Is not the strength of a Junior Slayer."

Mikey's Star-Core Cannon then blasts into Supurasshu in an explosion of fire-red Cursed Power and flames, the grandest explosion of Cursed Power seen yet at the competition. When the explosion subsides, Supurasshu is lying on the ground, covered in ash, blood, and burn marks, clearly defeated.

Even Ralph and Jin get a little scorched up and ash-covered in the process, and Mikey doesn't look so good himself as he drops down to the ground on one knee, his Pyrokinesis mode fizzling out back into his flame red Cursed Power.

"My Pyrokinesis takes up too much Cursed Power to use sparingly," Mikey pants. "And it's hot. Too hot to use in my body's current state."

"Did you see that, folks?! Slayer Kaen's Crimson Coat and Sun-Core Cannon I don't think I've seen an attack that nearly powerful before during this year's NYIC!" The announcer booms.

And so, Ralph and Jin are escorted out of the arena by a team of Medical Slayers, while Slayer Supurasshu, and even Mikey are carried off in stretchers.

***

Ella, Jamie, Austin, and I laugh then wish Grover good luck one last time before finding our seats in the bleachers. Even Mikey joins us in the audience, though he sits away from us in the bleachers. Grover and his two allies make their way to one end of the first arena, as Nick enters from the opposite end.

"Let the match begin!" The announcer booms.

The second that the match begins, murmurs begin to escape from the crowd.

"They're up against Slayer Hachi? That's just not fair…"

"The Bumblebee is gonna mop the floor with those kids!"

"They don't stand a chance! I'm only here to see Slayer Hachi in action!"

"Supid audience members don't know what they're talking about," Jamie grumbles as she crosses her arms and slumps down into her seat,

"It's only natural. They know The Bumblebee, not The Grover," Austin replies.

"I just hope Grover doesn't let all of this booing get to his head," Ella sighs.

"Don't worry, Grover looks fine," I smirk.

***

"Ohhh…no one's cheering for us!" Haruku groans.

"Everyone's rooting for Slayer Hachi! We should just forfeit now, we can't win!" Tobu wines.

"I'm down. We're going to lose either way. I'd rather just take the loss and move on, and show myself off in my next match, Haruku replies.

"Slayer Hachi is too fast, it's not like we'd even be able to get a hit off on him, winning isn't the only thing that's out of the option," Tobu adds.

"Grover, we both want to forfeit, what about you-" Haruku begins to say as he turns to face Grover, but is interrupted when he sees the wide-eyed, beaming smile plastered all across Grover's face.

"Oh-no.

"LOOK OUT WORLD, BECAUSE MY NAME IS GROVER BRADSHAW, SLAYER MIDORI!" Grover booms. "SLAYER HACHI IS MY SQUAD CAPTAIN, AND SINCE I'M GONNA BE THE NEXT CHAIRMAN OF THE SLAYER ORGANIZATION, I'M GONNA BEAT HIM NOW AND BECOME THE STRONGEST PRO SLAYER!"

After Grover's speech, the audience is silent.

And then…they burst out laughing.

"Hear that, everyone? Slayer Midori just claimed that he's going to become the next Chairman of the Slayer Organization!" The announcer narrates, and even she is failing to hold back her laughter.

"Slayer Midori…eh?" The Chairman asks himself from his seat in the sky box.

"Chairman?! No way!'

"He's just a kid! Short one, at that!"

"That runt would never be able to beat The Bumblebee!"

"I'LL SHOW YOU, I'LL SHOW YOU ALL!" Grover roars, causing the quince to laugh even further,

"Grover, please, you're embarrassing us!" Haruku wines as he tugs on Grover's arm, but Grover knocks him away, keeping his attention focused on the audience. "I'LL BECOME THE CHAIRMAN, JUST WATCH ME!" Grover countries, but his voice is drowned out by the audience,

"Ohhh…Grover…!" Jamie wines.

"His pride is shattered this aint' good…" Ella says.

"I knew this would happen," Austin sighs,

"Come on…Grover! Don't let them win!" I grumble.

The audience's mocking laughter is interrupted when Nick holds up a hand, and instantly everyone goes silent.

"Coming from the strongest Pro Slayer himself, if anyone doubts this boy's strength, come down here and fight him yourself," Nick begins to say. "Whether you be someone's family member, a civilian, a Junior Slayer, or a Pro Slayer, he'll take you all on, and he will win."

The audience is dead silent.

"Didn't think so," Nick smirks, causing Grover's scowl of frustration to curl back up into a beaming grin.

"See?" Grover smirks as he turns around to face his teammates.

"Alright smart guy, how are we even going to beat Slayer Hachi?" Haruku asks.

"Simple," Grover answers. "I'll out-speed him."

"Outspeed?!" Tobu cries. "The man famed for his speed?!"

"Nick may be fast, but I can teleport," Grover explains, causing Haruku and Tobu to sigh.

"You three come up with a plan yet?" Nick asks with a smirk as he strolls over to the three Junior Slayers, hands tucked away in his pockets.

"Thanks for the help back there, Lord Bumblebee, but I won't be relying on you anymore!" Grover smirks back as he reaches into his pockets.

"No problem, I just don't like people talking about my kid that way," Nick replies. "But that doesn't mean I'll roll over and let you win."

Nick's entire body begins crackling with electricity, and in the blink of an eye, Nick zips over to Grover, faster than Grover can react, without even taking his hands out of his pockets. Grover's eyes widen, and before he can even pull out his kunai knives, Nick hits Grover with an electrified spinning roundhouse kick, sending Grover flying backwards instantly.

Haruku and Tobu exchange nervous glances, before looking back towards Grover and Nick.

"It's not that I want to hurt you, Grover," Nick begins to say as Grover attempts to push himself off of the ground, but before he can stand up, Nick zips up to Grover in the blink of an eye and kicks Grover with an electrified front straight kick, causing Grover's head to violently snap upwards.

"But becoming the strongest Pro Slayer is an impossible task, much less becoming the Chairman-" Nick continues as he sends Grover flying backwards with another electrified roundhouse kick, before Grover can teleport away.

"Trust me, as someone who was forced to assimilate into this Organization, you'll have to be prepared to have a lot of strife and heartache," Nick finishes as he zips over to Grover, who's still in the midst of benign sent flying backwards, slamming Grover into the ground with an electrified ax-kick.

Nick looms over Grover, who's lying on the ground, soaked in blood. "When we first met, I was harsh to you, mean to you, I know, and I'm sorry about it. But…you remind me of someone else I knew who tried to become the Chairman of this Organization, and…it hurts," Nick says. "I just can't let you go through what I went through becoming the strongest Pro Slayer."

"You think…I don't know that?" Grover grunts as he slowly struggles to push himself off of the ground, staring Nick in the eyes. "I wanted to become a powerful Pro Slayer to prove to you that I was worth saving, but also, that me being born with this Cursed Ability meant something! I've always idolized you, but the more I fought, the more I realized that there are amazing and strong people all around me, not just you! And friend or foe, if I want to become the Chairman, I need to beat and surpass every one of them!" Grover roars.

Nick peers down at Grover and smirks. "Then show me. Show me that you were worth saving all those years ago!" Nick booms as he spreads his arms out to his sides.

"Oh…that's the plan!" Grover smirks back.