“Past of The Dragon”

The twos' eyes aligned, Nico stumbling back as Lite laughed at him, helping him stand straight.

"So you do remember! Back on that island..! Why don't you take a random and extremely long flashback to remember?"

Cool flashback transition.

2 years ago

Within a very prestigious school, where only the richest families could attend sat Nico, staring at the clock as he awaited for the class to end. Nico was still in highschool at the time, being 16, and bored of his life.

Back then, he even still had his normal arms, he was simply a normal guy, though quite popular back then.

"Hey, Nico..!"

A few fellow classmates called out to him, crowding him as they asked questions and gave invites to hang out and such.

They were too busy yapping on to realize that Nico wasn't even paying attention, staring off into space as he rested the side of his head on his palm.

He never really cared for the popularity, or hanging out with others, especially the people who asked him to. He found them boring, lacking character, there were few in the school that he found interesting, as one walked into the class.

The fellow classmate, Ikite, entered the class. Though Nico did find him different from the others, he didn't necessarily like Ikite.

"Hey, man. I need to ask you a favour. There's this girl I like, and she agreed to go on a date with me, but only if I bring a date for her friend..!"

He pointed at Nico, who seemed completely uninterested, though it isn't like he had a choice, as Ikite would bother him all day.

"Alright, fine. Where are we going, and when?"

Ikite smiled at Nico's response, getting all pumped up as he ran out the class.

"I'll text you the details, see you there..!"

Nico shrugged, storing off out the window with a sigh, waiting till' the day's end. The bell rung as everyone rushed out of class, Nico waiting a few moments before leaving as well, stretching his arms.

Though he thought the coast was clear, as he walked through the halls it didn't take long for two girls to approach him, holding his arms as they constantly chatted about something, their speech too fast to understand.

"Hey, Nico! Are you busy tonight?"

One of the girls asked, as Nico exhaled in relief, nodding his head.

"Yeah I'm actually VERY busy, I got uh, a date, tough luck."

The two girls seemed a bit surprised, before getting upset, Nico quickly breaking out their holds as he ran off before they started fussing.

Nico managed to get out of the school, walking to the parking lot as he cracked his knuckles. He took the keys out of his pocket, hopping into his car.

He started the engine, driving out to the road, as hr checked his phone, reading Ikite's message of the date's details.

"Tonight at 8.. That's oddly late, the hell's he planning?"

Nico drove his way back home, parking in the garage as he entered the mainroom. His mom was in the kitchen, washing her hands.

"Welcome home, what do you want for dinner?"

Nico hung his bag up, rubbing his shoulder as he shook his head, walking to the staircase.

"Uh.. I have plans out tonight.. Ikite's dumbass forced me into a double date."

His mother chuckled, nodding as she picks up her phone, sitting down in one of the kitchen's stools. The house was very over-the-top, with a whole bar and a yakiniku table in just the kitchen alone.

"I'll just order out, then.. Have fun, and no drinking!"

Nico nodded, walking upstairs to his room, as he changed out of his school uniform into his typical outfit, a red dress shirt with a black leather jacket.

He picked up a bottle of some random cologne from his bathroom, which he usually never uses, pumping a few spritz onto himself. He looked into the mirror, this was the last time he'd see himself the same.

Later in the evening Nico drove out, already cutting it close to the time he was supposed to arrive to the restaurant. It was raining heavily, and was already getting dark out.

He got onto his phone, calling Ikite well trying to drive as fast as he could, Ikite picking up.

"Hey, man. You gonna be here soon? The girls just arrived."

Nico listened to what Ikite said before psying his attention back to the road, almost swerving off as he managed to stay in his lane.

"Uh, yeah I'll be there in a few minutes! It's just raining hard out here.."

Nico said frantically.

"What are you talking about? There's no rain a-"

Nico's phone suddenly cut off, as he looked down to it into confusion, before looking back to the road, a person with a smiley mask standing in the middle of the road.

"HEY, LOOK OUT-!"

Nico yelled, crashing as the car flipped over, his ears ringing as he couldn't see through the smoke, his eyes slowly closing as he passed out.

Hours Later

The tapping on a microphone could be heard, a crowd of people heard chattering, as Nico slowly woke up. He looked around, seeming to be in some sort of outdoor theater, sitting in the backstage, domeone suddenly helping him up.

"Oi, sorry for the harsh method to get you here, but it wasn't my idea."

Nico rubbed his eyes, looking around in confusion, then back to the person who helped him up, his eyes widening.

"Ratio..?"

There stood Ratio Ryoto, brother of Nico. He hadn't seen him in years, as Ratio looked back, hearing the announcer begin to speak.

"Alright, I gotta go introduce myself, you watch back here, everything will be explained soon."

Nico seemed confused, watching from behind the curtains, a giant crowd formed as the announcer on stage cleared his throat.

"Welcome everyone! You've all came to this gameshow, competing to win the million dollar cash prize. There will be 5 lucky winners out of the thousand of you..!"

The crows cheered, the announcer chuckling before gesturing for them to settle down, which they did.

"You will all be split into 4 teams, all lead by the best of the best in their fields. Allow me to introduce the team leaders."

A giant board turned on above the announcer, didplaying red before displaying Ratio's face.

"In our red corner, we have the veteran elite soldier, deemed the world's only superhuman, Ratio Ryoto!"

Ratio walked out on stage, waving to the crowd. He shook thr announcers hand before lining up in his spot.

"In the blue corner, we have the strongest man alive, his name and face kept secret to the public, please welcome the man that goes by just R!"

A man walked out, cracking his knuckles, his face masked by a yellow smiley face, standing in his place with his arms crossed. Nico seeing this guy made him realize who must've been on the rosd when he crashed.

"In the orange corner, we have have an ex-hitman, famous for wiping an entire building's worth of people in one night.. They we're damn hard to find, but don't fret, they're done with their hitman life! Welcome Riku Osami!"

An orange haired woman walked out, having a fit body as she had one hand on her hip, the other waving to the crowd as she walked to her position. Nico still didn't understand why he was here.

"And last but not least.. On the purple side we have the one and only, the winner of our last competition, and an absolute machine.. Literally! Come down, Commander Armadillo!"

A giant man suddenly hopped down from above, armored in insanely heavy looking armor, the stage shaking a bit. The crowd seemed more shocked then anything, as well as confused.

"I bet you're all wondering why the leaders are such.. lethal people."

The announcer's cheerful smile became a more menacing one, the tension suddenly changing as he spoke in a darker tone.

"This was all a lie, this isn't just some reality tv show, this is a killing game."

Everyone took sudden surprise, even the team leaders shocked as Nico's eyes widened, the announcer continuing on.

"You will still be split into 4 teams, though your objective will to be to kill the other teams. Any complaints?"

The crowd began to riot, what kind of person would ever agree to this? One man even got on the stage, throwing a punch towards the announcer, only to be met by a bullet to the head.

"Anymore?"

The riot became silence in an instance, the announcer twirling a revolver around his finger. The leaders gritted their teeth, besides the commander, obviously knowing about this all along.

The other leaders rushed to the announcer, who laughed maniacally, a smoke beginning to rise from beneath the stage, everyone confused before they began coughing, before passing out from the gas.

Ratio looked to Nico, covering his mouth as he talked through his coughs with struggle.

"Damn it.. Nico, get outa here..!"

Nico couldn't move, frozen in shock as soon the gas reached him, knocking him out as well. The announcer put on gas mask, continuing to laugh maniacally as everyone in the area fell into slumber.

"Let the games begin…"