Genesis (Part 2)

The scenery around them was noticeably colder, near shivering levels. Inside the hovertrain was a brightly lit violet interior emitted from the 4 corners of the room. At each corner were large steel translucent poles that had bubbles flowing throughout them, fading out of view once reaching the ceiling roof.

The heart of the train offered several aisles of comforting seating, along with a counter that held a variety of bagged snacks. Additionally at the counter was a hologram of the technomaster slowly tearing into a holographic bag in his hand.

Buff sat the strange man down in a seat, and stretched the harness behind the chair across the man’s chest. He then sat across from him with his gun primed; direct energy charge signaling ready for usage and blasting.

“This shell is a little constraining…heh, you mind loosening it a bit?” the strange man asked.

“Leave that seat and you’ll never sit again,” Buff told him threateningly.

Xion, Kazue, and Saeko stood around the counter, hoping some snacks would change the mood.

“What the hell are TechnoNuts?” Kazue said as he fondled a synthetic bag in his hands, reading the branding.

The old man’s familiar voice groaned once more from the counter hologram.

“Those…nutritious and… d…delectable goodies are my ch….choice of satisfaction.”

A recorded woman’s voice then came from overhead.

“Welcome to HoverCorp’s prized hoverlines! Please, feel at home! Stretch your legs! Make usage of the free concessions, and enjoy the comfortable seating as we begin our trip to NAGOYA hoverline station!

If desired, dosages of Insomnigone sponsored products will be provided by the technomaster, allowing you to sleep the entire way and wake up to a breath of fresh air in a new city. Exciting! The train shall depart in one minute. HoverCorp is not responsible for any injuries pertaining to those who are harmed within the interior. It is advised that you remain seated unless accessing the concession counter, and you are recommended to make use of the harnesses behind each seat for the firmest sitting.”

After acquiring several branded bags of “TechnoNuts”, containing an assortment of nuts, from concessions, the three sat down in the row behind Buff.

The structure began to move. Without wheels, it was simply sliding silently in the air, supported by the holorails that would take them throughout the country. The feeling was no different than an airplane, except somewhat more grounded without turbulence, or any sort of maunvers. It also lacked noise, aside from the old man’s occasional groans in favor of his favorite snack.

“What’s your name, punk?” Buff demanded from the silent man sat across from him. His hair still obscured his face completely, so it was impossible to tell what he was thinking aside from movements.

“Won’t make a difference if I tell you,” the man simply said.

“It’ll help the time go by though,” Buff attempted to reason. “As a plus, it’ll make me less likely to want to blast your guts out.”

“Hahaha…guts…heh.”

After a minute of subtle laughter, the man continued.

“I’ll tell you, if you answer my question. Sounds fair?”

“Sure. Tell me.”

“What makes a human, a human?”

Buff pondered to himself for a moment, while Xion listened carefully, and his friends ripped into their bags of nuts.

“You’re anticipating me to say the blood, or heart, right?” Buff asked.

“Yes…heh heh,” the man held back more laughter.

“It's a choice. That’s what makes us human. Choice to do evil or good,” Buff said.

“Of course…yes, but why?” the man giggled once more.

“Why what?” Buff said, growlingly irritated.

“Hehe…why, hahaha, why do you choose to believe that?”

“I don’t know. Because I don’t need to think about my actions. Because I’m not some psychopath debating whether or not it’s okay to do something.”

“No.” The man stopped laughing instantly, straightening up, placing his hands on his knees, and staring Buff down from behind his hair. “You just don’t understand yet that nothing is more convincing than the lie you tell yourself.”

Buff squinted at the man with his eye, but gave him no response, choosing not to entertain him further.

“Hehe…you get it don’t you? You won’t admit it, or accept it, but you understand hehe…”

“You never told him your name,” Xion stated from behind Buff.

“The freak speaks!” the man shouted. “It’s Zenshi,” he then laughed and gripped the harness around himself tightly.

“Oh I just can’t wait for the fun I’m going to have later!”

“Why do you keep calling me a freak? If anything, you’re the oddball here,” Xion replied, half expecting another riddle.

“Curiosity is funny isn’t it? Curiosity is most commonly found in cats, foxes, or even monkeys, therefore not entirely a human trait alone,” Zenshi said giddily. “But you aren’t those things. You’re a human! A freak! And I’m in your head now rent free…”

Zenshi kicked out his feet wildly, enjoying himself.

“Just leave that weirdo alone,” Saeko tried to assure Xion, which he happily agreed to do.

“If anything, Buff is the weirdo here,” Kazue said under his breath. “With the twitchy robot eye, and stuff..” This got a snicker out of Saeko.

The rest of the hovertrain route was rather uneventful, aside from Zenshi constantly asking for concession stand food, which Buff declined.

As the train slowly came to halt and approached the upcoming hoversation, Zenshi clambered out of his chair, and ran to the still closed door, pounding on it relentlessly.

Buff was quick to adjust his aim for any threatening movements.

“Cut that out!” he shouted to no avail.

“LET US OUT! LET US EXPERIENCE THE DAWNING OF A NEW GENESIS!” Zenshi proclaimed wildly.

“Please remain seated until proper haultage in the hovertrain’s momentum. The door shall open momentarily,” came from above. “Thank you for riding HoverCorp holorails!”

On command, the door sprung open, and Zenshi leapt outside.

Of course, he couldn’t have gotten that far, seeing as together they would ride the elevated platform down. That was the general consensus until they looked outside the door.

About 20 feet below them was a large pool of water, stretching at least a mile wide in each direction. They gathered around to watch as Zenshi splashed down, disappearing beneath the surface.

“What the hell?!” Kazue lashed out. “We have to jump in?”

“I’m not getting all wet because they can’t build a proper elevator!” Saeko added.

“Be advised! Daimyo Tsunami insists that all foreign HoverCorp passengers take the revitalizing plunge to cleanse themselves of the old, and bathe in the new! However, we here at HoverCorp also understand there are those that may wish to avoid soakage, or may contain fragile goods, or just maybe aren’t able to safely take the plunge, so in just a moment we shall continue to the proper station!”

“This is the guy you wanna become the heir to?” Buff slapped Kazue, causing him to teter towards the ledge.

“Hey! I-I didn’t know he was like this!”

“I almost want to jump in and chase after that guy,” Xion then said to the surprise of everyone. “I want to know why he called me a freak.”

He looked down at the reflection. What kind of answer was he expecting from someone as unpredictable as Zenshi was? If he wasn’t an assassin like the one at Daydream Akuma had apparently saved him from, then why was Zenshi interested in Xion?

“I think it’s best we stay together!” Saeko pleaded.

“Of course,” Xion reassured her. “I’m not crazy!”

Once the hovertrain had finally reached its real destination, the gang departed, and began their journey towards the largest structure in all of Nagoya known as the Fight Pit. It was here Kazue would partake in the festival of fighting.

Along the way Xion gasped in awe of how tall some buildings towered. As both Saeko and Kazue had told in their tales, everything was bigger in Chūbu.

Street lights only displayed constant green lights and traffic constantly moved.

Pedestrian buses contained four decks.

The seagulls that flew overhead were astoundingly fat.

Gyms on every street, and advertisements of body enhancements were plentiful.

People were at least an entire foot higher, and about 30-40 pounds larger than the average person elsewhere. Each individual also seemed to wear less clothing in general, and were generally more revealing with skin and muscles on display. Even if it was summer, some people were dangerously close to nudity.

There were also fights along the streets and even the expressways occasionally. These were all without a single sign of police or authoritative figures to contain the infighting, of course. Everyone settled their disputes personally in Chūbu.

There, past the largest billboard advertising scandalous late night venues, was the Fight Pit.

The building itself was shaped like a stadium, except twice the normal size in every way. With aerial seating, entire venues were supported in the air by gravitational pad technology. Amongst these floating platforms were dancers of all sizes and genders, dancing their hearts out to the blaring metal music.

Helicopters hovered over the building, each sporting a different colored spotlight on the structure.

Erected just behind the building was an enormous statue of gold, shaped in Tsunami’s image. His signature samurai helmet obscured his face, while nothing constrained his behemoth chest and shoulders. Across his pecs were scars, and down below he had shorts tied up with a large braided leather rope. Last of all, his wooden sandals were the most normal thing about him.

The statue of his body was fashioned so that it flexed each arm around the stadium, ready to crush it to pieces.

After about 20 minutes spent waiting through endless lines, the gang reached the entrance, where security was informed Kazue was a participant. They were then escorted down an endless amount of hallways by large guards, each dawned in protective gear and weapons, until they reached the center of the stadium.

Surrounded by seemingly unlimited amounts of rows of people, the competitors would be performing in a small ring. Accompanied around each side of the ring were even smaller personal dugouts where the competitors were allowed to gather with their teams and managers if they had them.

Kazue and his team took dugout 7, which was his favorite number.

Inside the dugout was a cushioned floor with a few chairs scattered around. There was a fridge with free drinks, such as water, alcoholic beverages, and energy and vitamin replenishment. There was also some gym equipment, like treadmills, barbells, and a plentiful amount of weights.

Television screens allowed them to also see parts of the stadium, the ring, and a countdown that signaled when competitors needed to be ready.

“I’m so f’ing pumped for this!” Kazue yelled in the faces of his team.

“Remember just a week ago when you were ready to call it quits?” Xion laughed.

“That was the old Kazue, this is the new one!” he yelled with determination. Kazue stripped off his shirt, and tossed it away into the corner. He then got down on the ground, and started doing quick push-ups.

Saeko sat down onto his back, slowing him down, but he still persisted.

“Fired up to carry even Saeko’s lazy ass!” he yelled.

“Just remember not to overexert yourself here kid. Whatever the fight is, endurance is what we trained you for,” Buff reminded him.

To officially register, Kazue was required to provide a team name to the security guard that had approached their dugout.

The guard held up a whiteboard and marker.

“Kinoskue’s big day! Nono, don’t use that, it’s so cringey..” Saeko said and then frowned at her own answer as the guard began to erase. “What if we just used Buff’s name? It could be a cool callback for those that know him,” she suggested.

“As much as I want more publicity, I don’t,” Buff simply said.

“Dragon Killers!” Kazue shouted. The guard started to scribble once more.

“Why don’t we just go with Team Nagata?” Xion proposed. “We all met through Saeko, her mother can speak again, and her home has been our middle point. Pretty good luck I think.”

Saeko blushed.

“I-I mean, that’s true…but you don’t have to name it after me!”

Kazue smiled, and leaned against her.

“I think it’s a great idea Xion!”

Buff nodded, and the guardsman finally finished writing down, relieved.

After a little while, the countdown on the dugout’s television screen beeped. Each participant was beckoned to the center ring. The competition was about to begin.

Xion slapped Kazue’s upheld hand hard.

“So, young Metsuke. Can you play the song of a thousand strings, on one sheathed katana?” Xion melodramatically said, quoting another line from the manga, “Metsuke By Day, Musician By Night.”

Kazue closed his eyes, mimicking a defeated samurai and the posture in which one would perform seppuku.

“Day or night, my song shall be remembered!” Kazue said, mimicking the tone.

“Zenshi was mistaken, you’re both freaks,” Saeko laughed as Buff shook his head alongside her.

“You’d better not lose fast at least,” Saeko added. “I don’t want to see that cocky smile frowning.”

To her surprise, Kazue picked her up slightly, and twirled around, then put her back down.

“My final act will be dedicated to you, Geisha,” he smiled back, though she could not respond out of embarrassment of being carried and Kazue’s haughty performance. Maybe she’d read the manga later.

Buff rubbed his pupil’s shoulders tenderly.

“We still don’t know what this challenge exactly is. I want you to be your best guard at all times. You are not offensive, understand? You play slimy, sneaky, and scouted. Don’t ever let anyone know what your next move is going to be, only until they make that move first.”

Buff then removed an item from his bag he’d been carrying all this time. Bestowing his old red boxing headgear, he placed it around Kazue’s head, and tightened the straps on the back.

Kazue grinned.

“I love you guys, really!”

Team Nagata watched as Kazue ran up to enter the ring, alongside the several other contestants.

“TONIGHT, YOU SHALL ALL WITNESS TEN BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN DISPLAY THEIR WAVES OF COURAGE!!!”

A booming voice shouted throughout the entire stadium, erupting the crowd into excited cries of joy, followed by a barrage of fireworks going off in every direction.

Laser lights rapidly bounced around the stadium, then all collectively gathered on the ring.

Suddenly the ring was raised up, and Team Nagata and the rest of the crowd couldn’t believe their eyes. Standing nearly 8 feet tall, (or nearly 243.84cm), and about 275lbs of pure muscle, Daimyo Tsunami stood beneath it, lifting the ring with both his arms! He had two voice enhancing devices plastered against his samurai mask.

“NOW I CAN’T HOLD THIS RING FOREVER, SO LISTEN UP! OUR CONTESTANTS WILL FIGHT TO BECOME MY HEIR IN A GAME I MADE UP CALLED BOSS BOSS!”

The crowd screamed “BOSS BOSS!” back.

“THAT’S RIGHT! THEY WILL DIVIDE INTO PAIRS OF TWO AND FIGHT FOR THEIR PAIR TO BECOME THE LAST PAIR STANDING IN THE RING! IF BOTH MEMBERS ARE TOSSED OUT, YOU LOSE, BUT ALL YOU NEED IS ONE MEMBER TO SURVIVE! SO FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! I’LL SEE YOU TWO WINNERS AT THE END!”

Tsunami shouted this with one final hurrah before disappearing beneath the ring as it collapsed back down.

The contestants all quickly tried to regain their postures, some having fallen over, before conversation broke out on who they’d team with, but none talked with Kazue no matter how hard he pleaded..

That is, except for one person he had failed to see.

Kazue looked around to see one man approaching him through the contestants., the only one that would be his partner.

It was Zenshi.