CHAPTER 37: TOMORROW FOR THE CITY

The Guardians stop and stand around, staring at each other, Defei sits up and wipes the blood off his face.

Defei: Godammit!

Raskan: … That's tough.

Zeph: Whatever, let's go back to the base.

Liz sighs.

…

Yutsu and Rinka walk out of the portal and into a long red hallway, Rinka looks around. Yutsu stares at him.

They start to walk down the hallway.

Yutsu: … So, according to my Kamu buddies, another piece of the orb is in Girklsull. We'll be going there tomorrow, hopefully.

Rinka: … Oh, really?... I remember killing so many people in that city.

Yutsu: … Of course you do.

Yutsu opens a door and walks into an enormous room, inside is a big living room scattered with multiple sofas, chairs, and other sitting stuff everywhere, multiple TVs, multiple kitchens, multiple bedrooms, and multiple restrooms, all in random places. The skillers are also in there doing their own things.

Rank 17, Eivee, is listening to music with big red headphones over his beanie while doing something on his phone, laying on a big bed.

Rank 8, Yoshanai, the shirtless guy, is doing pushups with several foldable chairs on his back while counting silently, the floor under him has a pile of sweat.

Rank 20, Panchu, a guy wearing a lot of green on him, a green tank top over a green shirt with some green shorts, all are different shades. He also has yellow hair with 2 man buns and strands that extend off it. He's drinking several energy drinks from a small refrigerator full of them in the kitchen. His eyes are yellow with darker yellow.

Rank 19, Neishi, a woman with saturated brown hair and a blue ring in her hair is sitting down on the floor, spinning a pen around her fingers. She's got on a dark blue cutout bodysuit and dark purple pants. Lastly, her eyes are green and orange.

Rank 18, Dinyma, a girl who is wearing a purple and black ripped skirt combo showing a bit of stomach and has red, puffy, and a little spiky curving hair. She's reading a manga about a certain cleaning item while sitting on a bean bag. Her eyes are all black with a red line in them.

Rank 16: Brian, who is wearing a black and red futuristic-looking sweater. On his back are two purple katana cases, he has red and black flip-flops and dark brown hair. He's playing on his phone while sitting on a couch. His eyes are red and black.

Rinka stares at them for a little bit until Yutsu distracts him.

Yutsu: … Are you gonna question the new people in here?

Rinka: … Uh, yeah, who are they?

Yutsu points at some new skillers.

Yutsu: Those are some people I saved like a couple of days ago. They're just hanging out with us now.

Kadosha, a guy with multicolored hair, green and yellow on different sides, is trying to sleep while hugging a pillow very awkwardly. He has a light blue sweater with prominent blue stripes on it and dark purple pants with lighter stripes on them. His eyes are peach with darker peach in them.

Retbore, a guy with orange puffy hair around his main brown spiky hair is stretching. He has metal pipes connected to his back and arms, a metal belt, an eyepatch with red spots on it, and blue jeans. His only visible eye is brown.

Mitsuka, a woman with brown and dry red puffy hair, is making soup. She has a grey shirt and brown jeans. There are very noticeable burn wounds on her and she has brown and orange eyes.

Sutusna, a woman with dark cyan hair that has one very long line of hair that reaches her chest is hitting a punching bag. She's wearing a prison outfit that has had its sleeves cut off and her eyes are green with darker green in them.

Cupriu, a guy wearing an all-grey except for a little white then and there tuxedo and hat is looking at himself in a mirror. He adjusts his hat which is squishing his puffy black hair.

Rinka: Cool.

…

Everyone walks into the base, some sit on the sofas, others stay standing, silence is present in the room until.

Iza puts her hand on Mausho's shoulder, he looks at her.

Iza: … Say something Mausho. Break the silence.

Mausho: … Why me?

Iza: You've always got something to say, so go.

Mausho looks around.

Mausho: … So, who was that?

Defei: … We have no idea, Mausho.

Liz: A white-haired guy working alongside Nunda, who can make portals and metal rods. I've never seen them before.

Zeph: … Who cares about that white-haired guy? We lost the one we knew was dangerous.

Liz: The white-haired guy is clearly dangerous enough to be able to command Nunda and even hit him without worry.

Raskan: Yeah, and I don't know if this was just me but I was a little scared to approach the guy.

Sosa: It wasn't just you, I think we all hesitated before attacking.

Osora: Scary.

Shima: … He looked so normal, like someone's father dressed for a trip to Hawaii.

Iza: A father dressed for a trip to Hawaii? What type of fantasies are you creating in your head, Shima? He'd be the type of father to beat his wife!

Kofron: … So what do we do? The dangerous ass guy we were supposed to keep around is gone and now there's an even more dangerous guy to keep an eye on.

Defei: We can't do anything. We've got no idea where they went.

Liz: … We'll sadly just need to wait for them to act again and for the info to reach us.

…

Rinka dashes over to a bed and flops on it.

Yutsu: … Alright, let me tell you, new bunch about what's going down tomorrow.

The new skillers pay attention, the other skillers continue to focus on their own things, except Rinka who stares at Yutsu attentively.

Yutsu: … So the piece is in a museum, it's super easy to just grab and dip. I'll drop some of you in, and then you'll yank the piece, and hop back into my portal. Very simple.

Sutusna: … Oh, that is super easy! You can count on us!

Yutsu: Great!.. Anyways, that's all!

The new skillers go back to whatever they were doing.

Yutsu sits down on a chair and closes his eyes.

…

Yutsu opens his eyes and he's in another red room with windows that behind them have white and black gas.

Yutsu: … Delaying the mission to tomorrow, instead of right now? Can you elaborate on why you want that again? Because you just told me it out of the blue.

A disembodied voice responds to him.

"... Yes, let me just try to remember why."

Yutsu: … Please make it quick.

Yutsu starts cracking his fingers.

"So It is 5:49 PM right now, there are less people in the museum, but tomorrow at 3 PM, the museum is holding an event, where there will be more people in the museum than usual. More blood will be shed, Yutsu. We prefer more than less, even if it's not the main thing we're there for. You want more deaths too don't you?"

Yutsu: Yup.

"Don't forget about what you must do tomorrow as well, those guardians will surely show up and we would love to watch them fight again."

Yutsu: Yeah, I know. I couldn't forget something so important… I'm gonna leave now.

"Bye Yutsu."

Yutsu closes his eyes and opens them to appear back in his world.

…

Rinka stares at the ranked Skillers again, he then stands up and walks up to Eivee, he notices Rinka and takes his headphones off.

Rinka: Hey man, can I borrow your phone real quick? I gotta make a call.

Eivee: Huh? Sure, but since when did you have people to call? Do you have a girlfriend?

Rinka: My grandma who lives in Cuba, I need to talk to her, she's definitely missing me, she doesn't even know I'm alive.

Eivee: … Wow, your grandma? In Cuba? Everyone knows Cuba is not a real place! You don't have to try so poorly to hide the fact you got a girlfriend, bro.

Rinka: I don't have a girlfriend, I have a grandma in Cuba! Can I please use your phone?

Eivee hands Rinka his phone, it has a clear case.

Rinka: Thanks, I'll be back.

Rinka speedwalks to a restroom deep into the room, where it is hidden by a giant cabinet, he dials a number and puts it near his ear.

…

As the guardians talk, Minaro's phone rings loudly, the ringtone is a song from a game. They stare at him as he declines it as it's a number he doesn't recognize, then he sticks it back in his pocket.

The phone rings more and more times, and a few of the guardians look a bit annoyed.

Zeph: Answer the call, man!

Minaro: I don't know who it is though.

Zeph: Well answer, and tell them to shut the fuck up!

Minaro answers.

"Minaro, it's me Rinka."

Minaro's eyes expand.

Minaro: What? You're okay?

The guardians stare, some intrigued.

"Yeah, I've got control of my body for a bit, what about you? What's your situation?"

Minaro: … I'm with the guardians. Chilling in their base. They saved me when I was in that forest. They even saved you but some stuff happened and well, we actually just lost you a few minutes ago.

"Oh, that's… Great … I'm in the Skillers base, bro, it's actually really good you're with the guardians… Do they like, fight crime and shit, at any time?.. Are they treating you well?"

Minaro: It's their job I think, and yes they're treating me well, it's like having a very serious, rough group of friends.

"Cool… I don't really know what to do, I just found out the Skillers are gonna go to girlskill, something like that? And they're going to steal something. It's a piece of an orb or some shit. I'm thinking that If you're with the Guardians you can go and hopefully I'll be there, I don't know how that would help me… -

Wait, I remembered they said the whole thing would be very simple, it'll probably only take a few minutes. I have no clue how you can do anything, and now I'm not sure if it even matters that I told you all of this…There was also even more stuff he said but I don't know if that matters too!"

Minaro: Uh… I think the guardians can figure something out, I'll tell them all that right after this call… If I can remember it.

"Cool … So uh, how did you guys lose me?"

Minaro: We were fighting the guy who was possessing your body when some other guy came and took him from us. Now we're just sitting here discussing, specifically about this random unknown guy we encountered that stole you from us.

"Oh! Well then if you come to the city you can fight me again! So I can get my body back. It seems if the person who is controlling my body is having a tough time out of the void, I can take advantage of that and beat him in the void.

Minaro: … We can definitely help you then.

"... Also this fight with me just happened?"

Minaro: Yeah.

"It was the Skiller's boss who took me from you then."

Minaro: The Skillers boss?

"Did he have white hair, weird red eyes, and shorts? "

Minaro: Yeah.

Rinka: It was the Skillers boss.

Minaro: Oh shit.

Rinka: Uh-huh… Hey, I've gotta go now, man. My control is running out, remember to kick my ass.

Minaro: Alright, bye.

The call ends.

Minaro: It was Rinka.

Liz: He got his body back?

Minaro: Just for a little, because we just finished fighting the guy possessing him he was able to get his body back. He wants our help getting his body back again.

Liz: … So the best way for him to get his body back is if we fight whoever is in control of his body, and tire them out I assume? That would make sense.

Minaro nods his head.

Minaro: He also told me that the Skillers are planning to go to girlskill to steal something. If we go there we can help him. Also, the white-haired guy that took him from us just now was the Skillers boss.

Defei: The Skillers boss!? Wow.

Kofron: Girlskill? Where the fuck Is that? What a stupid-ass name.

Osora: It's not girlskill, I think he meant to say Girklsull.

Kofron: Oh, Girklsull. What a stupid-ass name.

Mausho: ….What are they planning to steal?

Minaro: A piece of an orb, apparently.

Iza: A piece of an orb? Like the big ball things in fantasy stories? That do magical stuff?

Mausho: Are the skillers secretly wizards? What the hell are they trying to do with an orb?

Liz: … A piece of an orb that can be stolen? There's a pretty popular museum in that city with lots of pieces of rare orbs but I didn't think the skillers were just violent thieves.

Zeph: … Hey, this means we can act before them now!

Osora: But we don't know when they're going to steal the piece, Minaro, did your friend say when they were going to do it?

Minaro: He doesn't know when they're going, he also said that the whole thing would only take them a few minutes.

Sosa: A few minutes?

Raskan: … There goes acting before them.

Defei: … They could steal it at night, or right in the morning. We're back to not knowing what to do.

Xika, who was sitting on a sofa, stands up.

Xika: I've got an idea. Can I share it?

…

Rinka speedwalks back to Eivee and hands him the phone.

Rinka: My grandma's asleep.

…

In the void, Imma-Ite is holding Nunda in a chokehold. Nunda has been trying to escape for a long time by repeatedly hitting Imma-Ite in the stomach with his shoulder.

Nunda: I forgot all about you little shits down here! To think you would try to catch me at my lowest!

Imma-Ite finally lets go due to exhaustion and rolls over on his stomach.

Nunda: Finally, it was disgusting being held by you for so long.

Nunda stomps on his head then he walks over to Rinka whose eyes are closed and pulls him to the floor.

Rinka quickly stands up and swings at Nunda, Nunda catches his fist.

Nunda: You really ambushed me after one of the biggest fights I've ever had, how rude!

Rinka: Shut the fuck up.

Rinka pulls his fist back and walks away, Nunda looks annoyed.

For the last couple of days, Nunda has been fighting Rinka and Imma-Ite in the void while simultaneously controlling his life on earth. Rinka and Imma-Ite would stop when they were tired and keep going after resting. Today they were too tired to attack Nunda during his fight with the guardians. So they rested until it ended, where they had managed to catch Nunda off guard after the battle as he was a little tired and had let his guard down when he entered the portal.

…

Nunda quickly re-enters Rinka's body and stands back up and looks around.

Rinka: … I lost control of my body, what did he do!?

Some people stare at him confused, others stare, not caring.

Eivee: Ah, I knew something was off.

Rinka: Yeah? Did anything happen?

Eivee: Oh, uh, I may have given him my phone so he could call someone. Because he asked for it.

Rinka: Oh my god, you know damn well I don't have anyone to call!

Eivee: … I thought you had finally gotten some bitches.

Rinka grabs Eivee by his hoodie's collar and stares him down.

Rinka: I kill bitches.

Rinka lets him go.

Rinka: Is that all he did?

Eivee: Yeah. Just a call.

Rinka: A call to who?

Eivee: He went to the restroom to call. So I don't know.

Rinka stays silent but is noticeably mad.

Dinyma: Nunda, you act like he has any information to share about us.

Rinka: He probably does now.

Yutsu: … The only thing he could share is our appearances and the information about the Girklsull stuff.

Rinka: The what?

Yutsu: You didn't hear about any of that because you were kicked out of the body as soon as you stepped out of the portal.

Rinka: You knew?

Yutsu: Yeah, when you possess the body your eyes are entirely black, they get some light back when the kid gets his body back. Also the kid's really bad at acting like you.

Rinka: Why didn't you do anything if you knew?

Yutsu: To spice things up, you know how the kamus are.

Rinka: Whatever then.

…

Tomorrow has arrived, 3 of the new skillers walk into a gigantic museum filled with tons of people, paintings, statues, and other things considered priceless and look around.

Mitsuka: If I was an orb where would I put myself?

Sutusna: Stop, you're not an orb so how the hell would you know?

Crupriu: Hey, isn't that it? Over there?

Crupriu points at a blood-red shard that is angled and stands on a white quartz podium covered by a clear case, surrounded by a group of people admiring it.

Sutusna: That's gotta be it, it's just like he described it. Let's go.

They walk over to it and ponder at it.

Mitsuka: A portal will appear behind us and then we take it… Or was it the other way around?

Sutusna: It was the other way… Let me yank this shit.

Sutusna quickly punches the case and it breaks, she grabs the piece with both of her hands, and the crowd next to her stumbles back and screams. Other people look over as an alarm goes off.

The Skillers look around and notice people running away and out of the museum.

Cupriu: The portal sure is taking its sweet time to appear.

Sutusna: It really is.

Sutusna then notices a shadow heading towards her and Xika dashes out of the floor and smacks her in the face with his sword, she drops the piece on the floor, it's not damaged.

…

Brian: It's taking them kinda long to get the orb.

Yutsu: … The Guardians are coming and the Kamus wanna see them fight, so I'm not opening the portal yet.

Brian: The guardians are coming? That's why we need to open the portal! Are the Kamus trying to see us lose!? What if the Guardians kill those new guys and take the piece!?

Yutsu: … Kamu are starved for action and drama regardless of the outcome, I'm gonna send everyone including myself over there to help and secure the piece of the orb while satisfying the Kamus. We're not gonna lose anything.

…

Sutusna is launched and hits the floor but she quickly gets back up.

Xika: Why are you stealing that?

Sutusna: It's none of your damn concern!

Mitsuka: What do we do now?

Xika dashes towards Sutusna ready to attack.

Sutusna: I don't know! But let's make sure to protect this piece shit.

Sutusna throws the piece at Cupriu who catches it and holds it tightly then he starts to run. Xika glances at him and sinks into the floor.

Sutusna's arm quickly elongates disturbingly and she chases after the shadow, Xika flies out of the floor and tries to smack Cupriu's face. Cupriu pulls a small card with a photo of a vacuum cleaner on it and quickly throws it on the floor. Wind appears near the card that aggressively pulls Xika away from Cupriu.

Cupriu grins, the card disappears and he runs off. As Xika touches the ground, Mitsuka appears next to him and attempts to slam a giant fireball into him.

Xika sinks into the floor and quickly reappears trying to break Mitsuka's neck, but she releases a big wave of fire from her face. Xika dashes back.

Sutusna's extended arm swings at Xika violently, he ducks and jumps over it multiple times until he appears in front of Sutusna and swings his sword at her, she dodges it and elongates her foot which slams into Xika's stomach pushing him back.

Mitsuka jumps into the air and tries to slam another fireball into him, he closes his eyes and swings his sword, striking her multiple times in the air then he lands and jumps away as she drops onto the floor.

Xika quickly pulls out his phone and calls Defei.

…

A purple orb appears a bit farther from the current battle, and as it fades. The Guardians and everyone else appear, Bukkaru flops onto the floor and instantly falls asleep.

TO BE CONTINUED…