Chapter 28 : The Familiar

[City 6]

[Shopping Mall]

Walking through the mall, was a red and black German Shepherd dog. He was walking by himself on all fours, thinking, 'I sensed the brat here. Where the hell is he?'

He kept going, and Fighters saw him, saying, "Awww look at that non-suspicious red and black dog!"

Others said:

"He looks kinda mean. Don't get too close."

"So cute!"

"Come here doggy!"

The red and black dog responded, "Oi, where do you humans get off on calling me cute? Buzz off."

A Fighter replied, "It talks!"

The dog stopped in his tracks, and looked down a few feet ahead of him, looking past all the other Fighter shoppers.

He saw Sho.

Sho was walking with his hands in his pockets, looking at the stores near him.

The dog thought, 'About damn time!'

The dog started to jog over to Sho, exclaiming, "Sho Takahashi!"

Sho looked at the dog, "Hm?"

"Sho Takahashi! Grandson of-!"

Sho kicked the dog in the face, making him blast out of the mall ceiling.

Sho said, "Who the hell was that talking dog? What an abomination."

Immediately, the dog appeared right in front of Sho fast, exclaiming, "Hey brat! Why the hell did you kick me?!"

Sho replied, "Ya wanna die?"

"Huh?"

"I don't know how you know my name, but I don't know yours. Meaning, get away before you die, mutt."

Sho walked past the dog, thinking, 'Annoying.'

In a flash, the dog zoomed in front of Sho again, and barked loudly.

The bark sent Sho flying, making him fall and slide on the floor.

Sho stood up fast holding his glaive, and said to the dog, "So you were looking to die today? How stupid of you, mutt!"

"Wait, Sho Takahashi-!"

"Idiot…You really think I'm gonna hold back now after you attacked me?"

"Damn brat, listen to me! I'm your familiar!"

Sho stopped in his tracks.

"Says who?" Sho answered.

"Your grandmother, Akio Takahashi. I was her familiar before I was yours. I was the familiar of every chosen Takahashi."

"Every chosen?"

"You were recently chosen as a Conqueror, bestowed upon you by the past Conquerors in a dream or vision I presume."

"Where the hell did you come from?"

"When your grandmother Akio died, I was forced to leave her, which put me in a spiritual state; I dwelled inside the spirit world, which is all around us. When I disconnected with your grandmother, the link towards me and her soul was severed, which is what caused me to be released into the spirit world. Then once you were chosen, I had a connection to your soul, and I looked for you ever since."

"Um..what?"

"Ever since the beginning, me and a few others had been familiars for the Takahashi's, to guide them for the sake of the family goal."

"Family goal? What is even that?"

"I don't know that goal. There are parts of my memory that can't be accessed yet, until you get stronger. Once you get stronger here, memories of mine will unlock, in which I can give out more information."

"You said there were others. Explain, mutt."

The dog thought, 'This damn brat!'

The dog answered, "There are other familiars that will be assigned to you, familiars that I have memory of, once you get stronger."

"Is that shit even possible?"

"Of course it is! I mean..yeah it is."

"Stop yelling before I stab you through the skull. I'm your master."

"Tch..you can't just throw that word around. It's cringe!"

"Who gives a damn? By the way, what's your name?"

"You have to name me, Sho."

"Why me? Shouldn't you have a name?"

"I don't. Each Takahashi Conqueror has named me differently."

"Tch. Whatever. Your name is mutt."

"Don't name me that, please!"

"…Red. Red is your name. Happy?"

"Sounds badass enough. I am Red now."

"By the way.."

"Huh?"

"I didn't want to get involved with any of this Takahashi or Conqueror shit. Since my only focus is to reach the top of the tower."

"As so is everyone else's goal, kid."

"Somewhere in that thick ass head of yours, do you know anything about this tower?"

"Tch! Damn brat! I'll crush you - I mean um…look. Certain memories aren't unlocked yet, meaning I don't know much as I stated before. I don't know anything about this tower as of right now, besides the fact that every Takahashi chosen as a Conqueror has been inside of the tower, all to accomplish the Takahashi goal, which is yet to be revealed. There were some weird tribe groups, who didn't believe Akio or any of the other Conquerors went into the tower, mostly because when people went inside of it, they never came out, but your grandmother did. Which made them believe she never went in."

"Interesting. In that case, come with me, mutt."

"It's Red! My name is Red!"

"Red."

Sho and his dog familiar Red were walking through the mall some more, with other Fighters around them shopping and walking and talking with each other.

Sho asked Red, "So if I don't accomplish the Takahashi family goal, what happens?"

"You'll most likely die. But my guess is that the goal involves reaching the top of the tower, which intertwines with your goal."

"Most likely to die, huh? Sounds like a threat to me. Who dares to threaten me?"

"Don't know that either. But besides that, look at your watch system, it should look different now."

"Huh?"

Sho stopped in the middle of walking, and he looked at his watch system and opened it up.

Sho gasped, because his holographic screen floating above his watch wasn't looking the same as it did before.

The screen was now red, and it had a red and black aura flowing off of it, and the words were all black.

Sho asked, "Shit..this looks cool."

"I'm hungry. Whatcha got to eat."

"..I have a horse named Vixen you can eat…

"I DON'T EAT ANIMALS!"

"That's too bad.."

Sho was too focused on looking at his new system, thinking, 'The colors look different, and my stats are all the same. Lemme ask this mutt something…I need answers.'

Sho asked Red, "Oi. Recently, I've been leveling up pretty conveniently, much much different than the normal Fighters here. Does this whole Conqueror and Takahashi thing have something to do with that?"

"It does. But that's all I know. I know Conquerors are different from normal Fighters. That's actually all I know."

"Ah. Honestly, I don't give a damn about any of this Takahashi and Conqueror stuff. It's being forced on me. But as long as it doesn't stop me from reaching the top of the tower, I'm fine."

"Understandable, brat."

"Stop calling me brat, dumb mutt."

"Hoh?!"

"Is that any way to respond to your master, dumb mutt?"

"DAMN YOU!"

Outside of the mall, Sho and Red were walking on the sidewalk, and Sho asked again, "So what's your powers? Do you get stronger as well? Do you fight or something too? Considering the fact that you barked like a dumbass back at the mall."

"That's a grown bark you heard back there, brat. You're still a young pup, so your lungs aren't manly like mine."

"But you're a stupid dog. I'm the human here."

"Oi! Anyway, I get stronger when you get stronger. Because we have a connection, a link. But I only unlock new abilities every time you reach a new class. Oh, and I can't fight raid targets. Only some familiars can fight raid targets only because they entered the tower already with a familiar, whereas I just came in late."

"Figures. So as my familiar, you do anything I say right?"

"..Yeah. Sadly."

"Bet you're regretting this shit aren't you?"

"Yes."

"This is what happens when you force shit on people, shit that nobody wants. And now that my life may be at stake here, I have to comply."

"Sure. I'm starving. Familiars eat too, you know?"

"You can die?"

"Not really. If we are destroyed, we go back into the spirit world and stay there forever. And if you die before the Takahashi family goal is accomplished by the Conqueror, I go back there and stay there until a new Conqueror is named. I was only able to come back because the Takahashi family goal has not been completed by any Conqueror yet."

"That old lady in my dream told me something like the other Conquerors failed or something."

"They did. Though, I don't remember how they failed. I just know they did, because I'm here with you…sadly."

Driving past them, was a truck full of foods, with the smell hitting Red's nose.

Red immediately reacted, and chased after the truck, dashed right behind it in one step.

Red leaped on top of the truck, and bit into the top of it, ripping the rooftop off.

The Passive Fighter driver looked up, exclaiming, "Ahhhhh! What the hell?!"

Red answered, "Stop this moving cargo and hand over the snacks, nerd!"

"I don't wanna!"

"Y-You're going to or I'll eat you!"

"Someone help! There's a non-suspicious talking dog threatening me!"

"WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT?! IT'S ANNOYING!!"

Out of nowhere, Sho was standing behind Red, and he grabbed him by the tail, and jumped off the truck.

Sho tossed Red to the ground, and Red responded, "What's your deal? They're getting away!"

"Oi, dumbass…calm the hell down. You can't be running off towards people like that, or else you'll get slaughtered. Let that have been a Fighter and not a Passive one, you would've been mowed down."

"Tch.."

Sho tossed something in front of Red, and it was a pound of raw meat.

Red grinned, "Hohhh? What's this?"

"What the hell does it look like? You want me to take it back?"

"NO! NO!"

Red started to eat all the raw meat, eating it in one bite, chewing fast.

"Delicious!"

Sho turned around and started to leave, saying to Red, "There's something else I want to ask you, mutt."

Red caught up with Sho, replying, "What is it?"

"I wanna know if you know anything about people disappearing randomly."

"Huh?"

[Rukong's cloud house]

Rukong, Darthen, Rudy, and Court were dashing all throughout the house, hitting walls, and wind shooting all over the place, that's how fast they were all going.

Rudy leaped off the wall, and slung a couple of highly destructive glowing blue rings at Rukong.

Rukong leaped off the air multiple times, and he twisted his staff behind his back really fast, and he smacked the rings back at Rudy.

Rudy gasped as the rings came back to him, and he jumped over them, letting the rings blow up loudly on the wall.

Rudy thought, 'His staff can deflect physical skills?'

Rukong teleported over to Rudy, and smashed his staff against Rudy's head, slamming it into the cloud wall. Then, Rukong spun his staff upward, and smashed it on Rudy's stomach, making him slam against the floor.

Not even a second later, Court and Darthen zoomed in to attack.

Court yelled, "Rudy!"

Rudy was slowly getting up from the floor, coughing up blood.

Rukong was zipped all over the place, while Court and Darthen chased him.

Court opened his wings up, and made large pointy feathers shoot out.

The feathers began to stick into the wall, but when they did, it made the hardened cloud wall crack.

Court tried to make most of the feathers hit Rukong, but Rukong would dodge them, or spin stylishly while using his staff to smack the feathers away, making them chase Court.

Court started to fly around, trying to avoid his own feathers.

Court exclaimed, "Okay, he can send powers back at people!"

Rudy was standing up, replying, "I think..we established that.."

Rukong dropped to the floor feet first, and Darthen caught up with him.

Court thought, 'Dammit! My own feathers are chasing me! Shit…Looks like Darthen caught up with Rukong. Darthen's favorite move is to use that mist to where he can move invincible through the golden dots asm strike from within the mists range. Rukong has only been seen being able to deflect physical attacks! Will Darthen's move work?"

Darthen made mist come out from his body, and it surrounded Rukong.

Rukong said, "Hoh? This move…"

Darthen jumped inside the mist, and vanished, while Rukong just stood there.

The mist was getting darker, and Darthen traveled with his invisibility through the dots floating around within the mist.

Darthen was about to strike, until Rukong made the bottom of his staff hit the floor, and the mist was blown away, making Darthen fly back and hit the wall.

Rudy watched, thinking, 'His staff cleared the mist out..! This is bad!'

Rukong's head turned all the way around while his body stayed in place, and he was looking at Rudy.

Rukong asked, "What are you planning?"

Rukong threw his staff at Rudy again. But Rudy dodged it by jumping over it.

Rudy made glowing blue rings form, and he threw them rapidly at Rukong.

Rukong flipped around the room while dodging them, watching them explode around him.

In an instant, Rudy zipped up in front of Rukong and punched him in the stomach.

While Rudy's fist stayed on Rukong's stomach, glowing blue vibrating rings surrounded Rudy's arm, and Rukong went blasting towards the wall, with his back smashing against it, and dust covering him.

Rudy thought, 'Was that enough..?'

Rukong came blasting out of the dust, face palmed Rudy, and smashed his head into the floor, creating a loud bang.

Rukong said, "Hoh. You're quite tough. You are finally low enough for a bow towards me..your king."

Rudy put his hand on Rukong's chest, and Rukong went flying in the air, and his body was getting hit by an unseen force.

Rudy had his hand pointed out at Rukong, the hand and arm with the vibrating glowing blue rings around it.

Rudy thought, 'This creepy bastard is a handful! I thought this would be easy! Not easy, but..it's one sided! Rukong has the upper hand against us! At this rate, it'll be over sooner than we know it.'

Rudy exclaimed, "Court, Darthen! I got him bound by my skill! Jump in and hit him with everything you've got!"

Court avoided the last of the feathers, and replied, "Going in!"

Darthen was getting up, and he leaped forward as well.

Court expanded his wings some more, and a large glowing white dove with grey eyes hovered above Court.

Court thought, 'Bird Bath skill. The bird above me is able to manipulate and form powerful orbs from its mouth. It's destructive enough to destroy an entire block or more. I figure I can use it here, because the orb only affects those who I chose.'

Darthen's arms turned into scorpion tails and they extended pretty long, and he grew a long scorpion tail out of his back and forehead, and he had a red aura outlining his body.

Darthen struck his scorpion parts at Rukong, and Court's dove opened its large mouth and shot a glowing spiraling grey orb, and it shot towards Rukong.

Rukong said, "All your efforts..wasted."

Rukong's staff got up from the floor by itself, and it attacked Rudy, hitting him in the stomach, and making him blast against the wall.

Rudy flipped to the right, and the staff was moving and fighting on its own, spinning and flipping to hit Rudy.

Rudy said, "Ah great, the staff fights now?! What else could go wrong?!"

Rudy flipped backwards over backwards and over as blue glowing rings shot out from under him and at the staff.

The staff jumped through the rings on its own.

Up in the air, Rukong had Darthen by the face, and he was using him as a shield to block the orb Court's dove sent out.

Of course the orb didn't affect Darthen, since Court only chose Rukong to feel the pain of the orb.

The orb sat and sparked greatly on Darthen, as Rukong continued to hold him there.

But at the same time, Darthen was still trying to use his scorpion points to jab at Rukong, but Rukong blocked all the hits with his feet.

Court yelled to Rukong, "We could've avoided all of this!"

"We could've, if you hadn't come into my domain and tried to revolt against your king. In a few moments, all the Fighters on this floor will kneel. Especially the ones who couldn't be affected by my familiars skill."

Rukong zipped around behind Court while still holding Darthen, and slammed Darthen on Court, making both Darthen and Court hit the floor hard, but they got back up.

Court says to Darthen, "We won't stop here, we're killing this bastard! He's annoying me!"

Darthen nodded, and they both lashed out at Rukong, meeting Rukong on the ground.

Court was throwing punches and kicks at Rukong, all while making feathers shoot from his wings to try and hit him.

Rukong dodged it all, jumping around and smacking Court's attacks away.

Darthen zipped behind Rukong and made his scorpion tips dart at Rukong's back.

Rukong used his tail to block all the hits from Darthen, while he was still parrying Court's punches, kicks, and feathers.

Court thought, 'No way he's doing this! Unbelievable!'

Rudy was still fighting Rukong's staff, leaning left and right, and back and forth while the staff was twisting in the air to hit his face, and then got down low to try and hit his legs.

Rudy jumped above the staff, and smashed his blue rings on the staff, blasting it away.

Rudy smirked, "Gotcha, bitch."

Rukong thought, 'Tch. Annoying humans.'

Darthen and Court spun on the floor, and they both hit Rukong with feathers and the scorpion points, sending Rukong back a few feet but he was still standing.

Rukong vanished, went to pick up his staff, and then jumped in the air. Rukong spun around with his staff, and it extended 40 feet long, and swung it around Darthen, Rudy, and Court.

They ducked to avoid it, but Rukong was running around the room spinning his staff all over the place, bashing Rudy, Darthen, and Court all over the place.

They were getting bashed all over the place, they couldn't keep up with Rukong's speed.

Court slid on the floor near Darthen and Rudy, saying, "Guard!"

Court's large dove flew in front of Court, Darthen, and Rudy and covered them with his back towards Rukong.

Rukong was using his long staff to stab through the doves back over and over.

Rudy asked Court, "How long will your dove be able to hold up?"

"At this rate, due to this bastard's speed..like ten seconds."

"Ten seconds?!"

"Yep. So whatever y'all wanna say, say it fast."

"We can beat him, we just need to go all out."

"Haven't we been doing that?"

"Yeah. But..like I'm saying, like we need to fight harder! We can take this guy, just look how long we lasted against him! If it was anyone else going against him, they would've been super toast!"

Darthen wrote in the air: "Let's keep fighting. We're bound to win."

Court and Rudy nodded, and the dove disappeared.

Court, Rudy, and Darthen jumped out, but they didn't see Rukong anywhere.

Court comments, "Umm..hello?"

Rudy exclaimed, "Where did he go?"

Outside, Rukong was standing on a cloud he created, and he had his staff in his hand. The sky was turning dark grey, covering the sun as it was.

Rukong thought, 'The time has come. My kingdom is near, for am I pulling it closer to its new foundation. Awaken, familiars, and cause havoc, use your gravity..to make them kneel. We will consider three cities at a time, then the rest of the floor..'

[City 6]

Sho and Red were eating more food as they sat on a bench near a park, and they had just finished talking.

Red continued, "The sky.."

Sho looked up, "Oi.."

"What the.."

"What the hell is going on?"