Day 028.4: Victory

Day 028.4: Victory

"How the fu-," The void was cut off when it was shot in the face by Ryan.

"It's simple," Ryan said as the void stood up. "I'm just better than you."

"Ryan you idiot!" Suisei shouted, rubbing her head. "I thought you died!"

"My bad," Ryan looked at Suisei, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "I couldn't just let Ki- Tenchou die like that."

"I would have come back to life!" Kiara shouted.

"Well I came back to life, right?" Ryan shrugged. "I don't see the big de-."

He was cut off when the void hit him over the head, its hand in the shape of a sledgehammer. "That's what you get for being cocky."

"Bitch, I can be as cocky as I want," Ryan said, rocketing back and kicking the void in the face.

"Why the hell didn't you use the sword?!" Ryan shouted, except it was only once voice. The voice sounded like Ryan, but it was different at the same time. Ruder… more aggressive. "Wait, I can talk on my own?"

"Jeez, Edhas, you didn't have to shout," Ryan said in his normal voice. "Is this the teamwork that Nux was talking about?"

"Damn straight," Nux was suddenly next to Suisei and Kiara, his arms crossed and a huge smirk on his face. "It's kind of like they're synced, but not really."

"What would happen if they fully synced?" Kiara asked, looking up at Nux.

"Then they'd be really fucking boring," Nux scoffed.

A shadow soldier ran up behind Nux, but it was run over by a car. "Road trip!" Charlotte cheered. Charlotte was driving the car, Mary was sitting shotgun, and Mico and Patra were in the back.

"So that just happened," Ryan said, both voices merging together again. "Whatever. Let's just get back to the fight."

"Your talking is insufferable!" The void shouted as both its hands turned into swords as it dashed for Ryan. Ryan held up his sword, blocking both of them, seeming slightly strained as the void grunted in effort.

"Should we help him?" Kiara asked, pointing at the scene before them.

"That stupid fucking dumbass piece of shit idiot can die for all I care," Suisei pouted, crossing her arms. "Even my axe was destroyed."

"I can make you a new one if you-," Edhas's sole voice was cut off by a kick in the gut.

"You deserved that," Ryan grumbled as he stood up. "Now stop being a perv and get your head in the game."

"This is hardly a game!" The void shouted, obviously outraged.

"Oh, but it's a game to us," Ryan's voice merged again as he uppercutted the void into the air before slamming it back to the ground with his fist, "and it's all too easy."

"With both of them combined, I doubt the void has any chance of winning," Storm and Shade stood next to Nux, both casually observing.

"Huh, I wouldn't be surprised if the brat surpassed me," Shade said.

"Edhas was already stronger than you the second he appeared," Storm pointed out.

"He wasn't, because he didn't have anything to fight for," Shade said, smirking underneath his mask. "Not that he has something, there isn't a thing in the universe that can stop him."

"Don't get all warm and fuzzy on me, old man!" Edhas shouted as he stabbed down at the void with his sword, only for it to roll aside. As it did, Ryan aimed the gun point blank, and shot a giant laser that engulfed its entire body, causing it to scream in pain.

"This is impossible!" The void shouted, finding its way out of the laser.

"You know, it totally is," Edhas said as he walked up to the void, putting a foot on its chest, "but it was also impossible for Ryan to get a girlfriend, yet here we are."

"Wha-," Before the void could finish its thought, it was stabbed through the face by Edhas, crumbling into dust.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Ryan said as he dispelled his weapons, his amethyst eye turning back to normal. "Well now that that's done, I guess we can go party?"

"You aren't going anywhere," Suisei said as she walked up to Ryan, slapping him in the face. "You promised me you wouldn't die!"

"Well I didn't," Ryan said, rubbing his cheek. Before he could continue to defend himself, Suisei pulled him into a hug.

"Just… don't do something like that again, okay?" Suisei said, burying her head into Ryan's chest.

"Whatever you say," Ryan said, rubbing Suisei's head.

"You did a good job," Storm said, walking up to Ryan. "Here, a gift for your accomplishments."

With a wave of Storm's hand, Ryan felt a dark energy course into him, particularly into his eye. "What did you do?" Ryan asked.

"Your eye," Suisei looked up. "It's gray."

"You now have access to the void's power," Storm explained.

"Didn't I just… kill the void?" Ryan tilted his head.

"With it dead, I take over as the manifestation of the void," Storm explained. "Rest assured, you won't have to deal with something like this happen again."

"Oh, I guess this has no use anymore then," Fubuki said as she reverted back to her normal form, throwing away her void glasses as it dissipated into a black mist.

"Well, it looks like we have ourselves a happy ending," Ryan said, looking upwards at the rising sun. "I guess all of this was worth it in the end."

-

30 years later

"KIKKERIKIII~!" Takanashi-Calliope Ryan was jolted awake by his mother's morning call at the crack of dawn. Today was his first day of work as a sixteen-year-old phoenix-reaper hybrid working at none other than a KFP. "Are you ready for today?"

"Do I really have to do this, mom?" Ryan groaned as he got up. "Why do I have to go and not big sis?"

"Amber has already started working as a Hololive talent," Kiara explained, bonking Ryan on the head. "Since you can't apply for Holostars for another two years, you're stuck with me."

"But why a KFP?" Ryan complained as he walked over to the mirror, looking into his purple eyes as he brushed his fiery orange hair, flames burning off his sleepwear and replacing them with a KFP uniform. "Why can't I go with dad to work or something?"

"Son, if you can't handle a simple KFP, you won't be able to handle Calli's job," Kiara explained as she started to fuss over his hair and his clothes. "How about this. If you can beat my employee in a fight, then you can go with papa tomorrow, okay?"

"Fine, I'll bury their ass," Ryan grumbled before getting bonked on the head by Kiara.

"You better watch your fucking mouth when you're around me!" Kiara said.

"But-," Ryan cut himself off when he realized that there was no winning against his mom. "Yes, Mama Birb."

-

"Man, this place is a fucking dump," Ryan said as they crossed the threshold. In reality, it didn't look all too different from a normal KFP, but Ryan wanted an excuse to be pissy. Kiara claims that he got that from Calli, but she grows at Kiara and denies it whenever Kiara brings it up.

"Yeah, yeah," Kiara said, opening the door. "Welcome to KFP!"

"Oh, is your kid finally here?" A man's voice was heard from the back room. A tall, bulky man walked out, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans. The first thing that Ryan noticed that he had heterochromia, his left eye being gray and his right eye being brown. An odd combination, but Ryan had seen weirder things. He had a little stubble on his face and the bags under his eyes implied he hadn't slept in days. He wore the same KFP uniform Ryan was, albeit a bit bigger and a bit worn out. The man lazily waved at Ryan and Kiara, shooting the two of them a tired smile. "What's up? The name's Ryan Shade."

"You have the same name as me," Ryan said. "I'm Takanashi-Calliope Ryan."

"Of course he does, you doofus!" Kiara bonked Ryan on the head. "I named you after him!"

"Just call me Shade while you're here," The other Ryan said. "If the other one shows up… well, we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"It's nice to meet you, Shade," Ryan bowed slightly.

"So, how has things been going at home?" Kiara asked.

"Suisei almost killed me last night again," Shade grumbled, rubbing a large scar on his neck. "Pregnancy can be a bitch."

"I don't see why you guys waited that long to have a kid," Kiara said.

"Well we wanted to take things slow, unlike a certain couple constantly stealing my sanctuary," Shade grumbled. "How did you two even-,"

"Anyways, Shade is going to be the one to train you," Kiara cut in. "Now, if you excuse me, I'll be waiting for my chicken."

"What chicken?" Ryan tilted his head, looking at Shade.

"Tenchou trains people by forcing them to make chicken for her," Shade explained.

"Figures."

-

"God damn it!" Ryan shouted, throwing the empty tub aside in anger. "Why do I have to fucking do this?!"

"You're doing great, kid," Shade said, turning off the fryer and putting the fried chicken into a tub before picking up the one that Ryan threw. "Don't worry about it. We all get pissed sometimes."

"You know, Mama said that if I pounded your ass, then I can go with Papa to work tomorrow!" Ryan said.

"I guess she would do something like that, huh?" Shade heaved a sigh as he placed the tub on the counter. "Let's go outside. I don't want you to fuck up this place too badly."

"Whatever," Ryan grumbled as he followed Shade out of the back room.

"Wow, I expected him to challenge you an hour ago," Kiara said, reading a steamy Calli x Kiara fanfiction. She smiled and closed the book as the two made their way outside. "I need to see this."

"I don't understand how Mama thinks you can win," Ryan said as the two took opposite ends of the lot. "I can't even detect any magic from you."

"Well, it looks like I'm going to have to teach you a couple lessons then," Shade said, no even caring to take his hands out of his pockets.

"I'll burn you to ash!" Ryan summoned two knives and dashed at Shade, fire wings sprouting from his back. He took a swipe at Shade, but he dodged, kneeing Ryan's face with blinding speed before kicking him in the gut, sending him sprawling.

"Huh, you're pretty strong for a human," Ryan said. "Let me show you my true power!"

With a shout, Ryan's hair turned black and his eyes turned crimson, replacing his knives with a scythe. "Let's see how you take this on!" Ryan's fire wings turned black as he dashed for Shade multiple times faster than he did the first time. Shade just took one step to the side.

"That's not going to work!" Ryan shouted, brandishing his weapon. At that moment, Ryan's left eye started to glow and Ryan's wings and scythe vanished, causing him to slam into the wall.

"What the hell was that?!" Ryan shouted, taking his head out of the wall.

"If you can control void energy well enough, you can use it to negate someone's magic," Shade explained. "I'm guessing you're totally fucked now, huh?"

"Yeah," Ryan heaved a sigh. Even though he was a bit of a brat, he knew when he was beat. "I'll get back to the fryer."

"Don't be too rough on yourself, buddy," Shade patted Ryan on the back. "You sure were better than me when I was sixteen."

"Thanks," Ryan said, looking up at Shade, seeing him in a whole new light.

-

"Man, that was a lot harder than I thought!" Ryan heaved a sigh of relief as he entered the break room.

"You'll get used to it," Ryan said. "You know, I was a lot like you when I started. I originally only got the job to make ends meet, but over the years, the people I've met here changed me into a better person."

"Speaking of which, how did you meet Mama Birb?" Ryan asked, tilting his head. "Better yet, how did a normal KFP worker get so strong?"

Suddenly, the door to the break room opened, Kiara and Calli walking in. "Mama?! Papa?!" Ryan flinched. Calli was often busy at work and almost never spent any time anywhere else other than home or work. "What are you doing here?!"

"Well, Ryan here was just about to tell his story, and he still hasn't told me how he managed to cheat death all those times," Calli grumbled. "Plus, I wanted to see my son on his first day at work."

"Tenchou…" Shade gave Kiara an intimidating glare which caused even Calli to flinch.

"N-no! I knew you were here I swear!" Kiara held her hands up. Ryan had never seen his mother so scared, even when dad got mad, so seeing her act like this was something completely new. "I just wanted to hear you tell your story again!"

"Well, you all better take a seat," Shade said, Calli and Kiara obliging as Ryan was already sitting down, "because this one's a doozy."

-The End-