Alakazam and I headed out once we got a meal. Of course, I had to take a different team. Because someone, who knows who he is, was jealous as hell.
------
"TYRUNT!" the tiny dinosaur had barked, clutching at my shirt with his jaws, being careful not to rip it. Still stretching it though... "TY, TYRUNT!"
"Dude, Mudkip and Mimikyu being famous on the internet isn't as big a deal as you think," I said with a sigh, walking alongside Gurdurr. Tyrunt must have been trying to be gentle, because he wasn't ripping my shirt. Instead, I ended up dragging him along the ground, his tail wagging. "And there is no guarantee we'll end up in a fight.
"Gur."
"Look, we went a whole week without a fight. Compared to most meta types around her, that's a vacation. It might be months before we end up taking on someone else.
Gurdurr gave me the most skeptical look he could, which I ignored in a manly way.
Tyrunt continued to growl as he was pulled along with me. "RUNT!"
"All right, fine!" I stopped and grabbed Tyrunt by the tail, lifting him till he was face to face with me. "You can come! But don't complain if you end up bored."
"TYRUNT!" the tiny dino roared.
"Yeah, yeah, all villains will bow before your might and power," he gave me a nod, taking my sarcasm like I was just stating obvious facts.
Wish I had my dinoboy's confidence.
"Okay, Gurdurr, Tyrunt, Al, and… Slugma?" I called out to my lava girl as she walked towards the forge. "You wanna come?"
"Slugma!" she shook her head, smiling. "Slug!"
"Again? Sweetie, we've got a mountain of jewels and material by now!" we all looked over at what I was beginning to think of as her treasure trove. She'd been hard at work. As far as I knew, some of the things she brought up were near impossible. It had started with peridot jewels. Then, when Gurdurr had asked for other materials. So she started finding aluminum, iron, titanium, and gold. Freaking gold. Not a massive amount, but she got about a pound or so. It still represented a huge amount of value. Tyrunt, the proud rock/dragon that he was, loved to roll around in that pile of valuable minerals while Slugma happily joined in. Nice that he and Slugma got along so well.
"...Slugma."
"Wait. Why do you sound guilty?" I asked pointedly.
"Slugma," she said sadly.
"A promise… Okay. Fine. But you'll tell me what's going on soon?"
Slugma perked up, and nodded quickly, running over to me and leaping into my arms. I hugged her tightly for a moment, her warmth spreading into my chest. She rubbed her nose against mine, then hopped off to head towards the forge, in a much better mood. Such a sweetheart.
"What about you two?" I asked Mimikyu and Mudkip.
"Mim!" Mimikyu held up her damaged Pikachu costume, then went over to her sewing table.
"Mudkip," the small starter Pokemon said, rubbing his belly. Hungry for fish, huh? He ran over to the harbor and dived in, ready to terrorize Hawaii's coastline. Hopefully, he didn't grab any more sharks...
"Okay then," I turned to look at the trio behind me. Gurdurr, who would be helping to pick new things he needed for our constant construction project. Alakazam, who was my only way back to Honolulu, and would be sensing where my quarry was. And Tyrunt, who wanted to find a glorious battle so he could prove his dominance to the world.
"Let's go," I placed a hand on Alakazam's shoulder while Gurdurr and Tyrunt joined us. We disappeared in a spinning flash.
------
Honolulu. Just as nice as the last time. I walked through the streets on my own, enjoying the nice weather. I had been rushing around so often, working out, taking care of my Pokemon, worrying about things all the time.
I tended to enjoy any quiet I got nowadays. Once I'd left Alakazam to guard the teleport point, I headed out. Time to find Kalini.
Alakazam was able to track his mind in a general sense, a perk of having rifled through it before and the fact that he was still in the relative area of the city, which made it easier. Aside from it not being the most exact thing to begin with. In a crowded city getting even the general area was hard enough. I had to actually look for him once Alakazam managed to get the basic area down.
I ended up in a part of town that was a lot less pretty than the rest of Honolulu. Granted, it wasn't as bad as other places I'd lived in before, but it was still an apartment building covered in graffiti.
I looked around the place for a moment, walking around before going up the steps to begin going through the apartment proper. One group of guys sitting on the steps of the building gave me dirty looks. I walked past them without worry, and none of the wanna-be tough guys said a thing.
I reached a courtyard in the center of the apartment complex, where an empty pool sat in the center with some broken tables strewn about. I was beginning to despair that I would ever find Kalini without desperate measures when I noticed a woman sweeping the bit of sidewalk directly in front of her apartment. I approached her.
"Excuse me, miss?" she looked up at me. The older Hawaiian woman looked me up and down, her hands tight around her broom. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find Kalini? Big guy, really likes money?"
"You think everybody knows everybody in this apartment?" she scoffed.
"They did in my hometown," I said with a shrug. "If you don't know, it's fine, I just want to ask him something."
"...Well. You ain't a dragon. They don't take them as young as you," she said idly. Then she shrugged. "Fine. He's over in that apartment," she pointed at one a few doors down from hers.
"Thanks!" I said, rushing over to that door. I knocked a couple of times, then stepped back. For a long moment, no one answered. Then the door opened.
And a revolver was pointed at me. I stared at the gun for a long moment. Then at the face of Kalini. "Did I do something I'm not aware of?"
"Shut up," Kalini hissed, looking around. "You alone?"
"Aren't we all?" I lied with a shrug. "You were a lot friendlier last-"
"Get inside, damnit!" Kalini stepped back, gesturing to me. "Or I'll shoot you in the eye."
I walked in, trying to hide how scared I was. Bullet-resistant didn't mean I couldn't get my eyes shot out after all.
"...Nice place," I said as Kalini guided me by gunpoint into his home. The apartment was covered in garbage, a bachelor pad in every way. Funny, that his boat was so clean, but his apartment-
"It's a shithole," Kalini scoffed. "But it'll work for now. Sit on the couch. I have some questions."
I plopped down on the ratty couch. He sat across from me on a wooden table, the revolver in his hand quivering. He stared at me. "Kid. What the hell are you doing here?"
"Looking for help, to be honest. Mind not pointing the gun at me anymore?" I said.
"This is the only reason I feel safe talking to you," Kalini replied. "...Kid, what the hell did you get me into? I mean… I'm thankful, that you kept the dragons from taking me. But those animals with you. And the way you just,
tanked bullets. Are you an alien?"
I thought about that. "Well, kind of, yeah."
"Goddamn it," Kalini whispered. He groaned, rubbing the top of his head. "Why me?"
"You want me to be honest?"
"Please."
"You were the one guy who was willing to take me, wouldn't ask questions, and would take cash."
"...I need to change my business model," Kalini said under his breath. "So, when you helped me-"
"I just wanted to help. I didn't have any weird Batman gambit hiding in the background. Just, wrong place, right time."
"...I'm in a massive amount of trouble, kid," Kalini slowly lowered the gun. "Nobody else seems to know I was there that night, but the dragons are hunting me."
"Weren't they kinda doing that already?" I noted, still ready to bring out Gurdurr if need be, but relaxing.
"Yeah, cause of business. Now though?" Kalini shook his head. "They know I was there and that you helped me. They want you kid. Beating them like that, becoming the joke of every internet stooge. Their reputation took a hit. And those guys are all about their rep. Their 'honor'."
"Were you thinking of turning me in to them?" I asked.
Kalini looked surprised at the thought. Then he scoffed. "Man, alien kids are pretty cynical. No. All that would get me is getting killed. Besides. You saved my life. I'd rather be alive and in trouble than dead with you getting away. Still… What are you?"
"A teen from another world. With a group of alien animals on my side," I leaned forward. "Kalini. I'm sorry man. But I just want to make a home in this world until I can get back to mine."
"Hn," he scratched at his neck. "Yeah? And what do you want me for?"
"You're a smuggler. You sneak weed into the state on a regular basis, right?"
"Oh come on, you gonna get mad about that?" he said with a grimace. "Weed is harmless man, just makes people relaxed-"
"I don't give a fuck about you bringing in pot," I rolled my eyes. "I just want to ask you. In your time, you've probably met some unsavory types."
"I know a couple guys who cheat at poker, sure."
"Know any who can make me a real boy?"
"Hm?" he seemed to think about it for a moment. "I might know a few guys. What are you looking for, exactly?"
"A driver's license, social security maybe? Anything a person would need to be able to keep someone from realizing they aren't from Earth."
"Well, I know a few guys who can make licenses," Kalini scoffed. "Seriously, kids can do it with the right sort of printers. But if you want something that will stand up to more scrutiny than that, I have someone I trust. Old buddy of mine. But what's in it for me?"
"Money, I guess?" I said immediately.
"Fat load of good that'll do me when I'm hiding from the dragons," Kalini scoffed. "No, I need protection, kid. I need your promise that you'll have that, what'd you call it? Muddy-mick? That it'll have my back."
"It's 'Mudkip'. And of course, man. I don't mind having people's backs while they have mine."
"Good. Just as long as you keep me out of the hero shit," Kalini grumbled.
"I'm not a hero," I scoffed. "But yeah. I'm down for that. You help me get a fake identity, and I promise you get my Pokemon to help you if you need protection."
"Poke-what?"
"Pokemon. Pocket monsters," I answered. "Anyways. How much will it cost me to pay this guy?"
"Well, if we're faking you from the ground up, then it'll be a bit. But I promise. My guy is worth it," Kalini said with a chuckle.
"Good. Then let's go meet him."
"Eh? Right now?" Kalini asked, surprised when I got to my feet.
"Sooner the better. I need an identity if I want to make headway on getting what I need. I can scrape together stuff for now, but soon I'll need an identity to get the really crazy stuff."
"You aren't planning on building a nuke, are you?"
"Like a nuke is worth a damn in this day and age."
"Wow. Aliens are hardcore."
------
Kalini led me to his car and drove us to our future friend. Well, his current friend, my future friend.
"So Adam's a good guy, been working out of Honolulu for the last couple decades," Kalini said. "Our story is gonna be that you're an illegal immigrant from the middle east, Qurac will work. You speak any Arabic?"
"A little bit. Mostly the Eastern kind."
"That'll work, Adam ain't too worldly. Just stand there and either be quiet or speak Arabic and we'll be out of there in ten. At most, he'll need a day to get his stuff together to help you."
"What if he recognizes me?"
"That's… a good point," he looked towards the back of his car, then quickly back at the road. "We'll get you to wear a coat or something. Maybe you can borrow my old glasses?"
"What am I, Clark Kent?"
"Who?"
Oh right. Well, if it worked for him…
"Sure, give me the glasses."
Kalini pulled into a business district, heading to a part of the area that had a bunch of warehouses. I looked at him skeptically as we drove through the sketchy area.
"You aren't about to murder me, are you?"
"What?" Kalini stared at me. "Kid, no. You saved my life I would-"
"I was joking. You know. 'Cause this place is so sketchy?"
"Oh. Well, uh, that's really funny," he didn't look like he believed it. I sighed a little. Guess, despite how cool he was being, he still didn't know how to deal with me. That was fair.
While he had pretended to get over my particular brand of weirdness very quickly, he still had his revolver close at hand and kept watching me very carefully out of the corner of his eyes. And when he realized I had pokeballs on my waist, he apparently remembered how Mimikyu had appeared. So he flinched when my hand got close to them.
Something to deal with later.
He parked the car near one particular warehouse. We got out and Kalini walked around to the back of the car, opening it up to reveal a messy trunk. "Okay. Take this, this, this, and these."
A red-flowered hawaiian t-shirt, trucker hat, jacket, and coke thick glasses landed in my arms. I took the last ones and stared at them. "How blind were you?"
"Don't make fun of your elders," Kalini grumbled. "Besides, LASIK fixed my eyes. Don't know how it did it, but it worked."
"Well, we live in a world of miracles, don't we?"
"Why are guys your age so snarky?"
"Because guys your age are supervillains, so we had to find our own niche. Snarky asshole is better than a murderous psychopath."
"This is Hawaii, there are no murderous psychopaths. The heat of the volcanoes drives them off."
I think joking around like this was calming to him. We both got walking after I looked even more like a shitty tourist than ever, put my pokeballs in my pocket, and entered the warehouse. The place was chock full of shelves with tons of machinery on it, making the big warehouse into something like a storage area for all sorts of weird stuff. I could recognize a car engine.
The instant we entered, two guys were at our sides. They stopped us there, both glaring at us. They were big dudes, around the size of a fridge each.
"Kalini," one of them said in a voice like a foghorn.
"Heya, boys. How are ya?"
"Arms up," the other guy said.
"Man, I remember you guys being a lot cheerier," Kalini listened though, as did I. The guys patted us down. One of them pulled out my pokeballs and raised an eyebrow. I shrugged. He twirled them in his hands, then placed them back in my pockets.
Then one of them took out Kalini's revolver. When the guard gave Kalini a pointed look.
"I mean, does it surprise you? We all have guns. You'd have been weirded out if I didn't have one."
The guards shared a look. The foghorn voiced one then put the revolver in a metal bin, inside of which were a couple of knives, more guns, and a couple of metal boomerangs. "Go ahead."
"Always a pleasure, boys," Kalini nodded towards me and the two of us started walking. Even as we strode away, I could feel the guard's eyes on me. A couple more seemed to appear from the shelves, walking over to escort us.
We strolled through the place before coming upon a series of metal fences in the center of the large space, forming a large cage. I entered the cage first, Kalini following me. Inside was a desk, a bunch of metal file drawers, and skinny as a rake man. He was dressed very effeminately, with some heavy makeup, a thin red silk shirt, and some very heavy looking rings on his fingers. He looked at us with eyes ringed by pink makeup.
"Kalini," his voice was very high. He leaned back in his seat, giving the bigger man a hard look. "Been a while since you've visited. Make a guy think he isn't wanted."
"You know how it is, Adam. Time flies," Kalini said.
"And it makes you avoid me, apparently. But you're here now. What do you need?" Adam waved a hand lazily. "I know you don't visit unless you need something."
"Yeah, I suppose I'm an asshole. But hey, I always remember your birthday."
"The only person who does," Adam said a little louder than needed.
The guards around us winced in unison.
"So how about this," Kalini leaned forward. "I'm being paid to get this guy some ID. And you're the best in Hawaii at this."
"Not a hard ladder to climb," Adam said, though he looked pleased. He looked me over. "So who's your boy toy?"
"As-salaam 'alykum," I said with a wave.
"Kid came over from Qurac," Kalini looked over at me. "You know how rare it is we get Middle Eastern guests. But, he doesn't have any ID. Needs one to work in the country."
"Sob story I hear pretty often. Less so from Qurac… How'd you meet?"
"Game of poker."
"Really?" Adam sighed. He brought his head up to stare at the ceiling. "...Kalini. You know I like you."
"..." Kalini's eyes narrowed. My fingers twitched. There were a lot of guards around us. "Yeah. We've been friends since forever."
"Yes. So I'm sure you appreciate what it would take for me to do certain things," Adam sighed. "You can't put a price on that sort of loyalty… Or you couldn't. Then, someone put up 1 million to get you to the dragons."
Guns were pulled out, one by one. Kalini and I kept our eyes on Adam, Kalini swearing. "Adam, you son of a bitch."
"Hey, I have needs, Kalini. I'm sorry," Adam actually did look sorry. "If it helps, they're going to keep you alive. I let them know you were here. They just want to know something from you. As long as you tell them-"
"Adam, these are the dragons! They aren't going to let me go when I tell them what they want!"
Adam frowned. "What the hell are you keeping from them?"
He didn't know? I slowly backed away from Kalini. That was when I realized that none of the guns were trained on me. They were all focused on Kalini.
I coughed, Adam looking at me, and tried to bring up my wary fear to blind panic. "You- you shoot me?" I said in an approximation of the sort of accent my mom had.
"You?" Adam said, blinking. "Uh, no. Kalini, the dragons were after you and your solution was to fleece some immigrant kid?"
Kalini stared at him, surprised. "Uh, well."
"We have to kill him now, boss," a guard said. "Kid saw too much."
Adam looked at his guard. As they were all distracted, I got to my pokeballs.
A snap of sound and a flash of light erupted from my pocket. The guards and Adam spun around, but I was grabbing Kalini and ducking behind one of the cabinets. "Gurdurr, Protect!!"
Bullets started flying. A metal I-Beam flashed forward, glowing with blue-white power, then spinning at impossible speeds. Gurdurr's wrists and hands moved with beautiful grace, moving the big blunt instrument like it was a cheerleader's baton. Bullets dropped to the floor as Gurdurr growled in rage.
Tyrunt was holding something in his jaws, which he tossed back to me. I grabbed it, but didn't do anything just yet. Instead, I looked at Gurdurr and Tyrunt.
"You have
more of those things!?" Kalini shouted. I ignored him.
"Boys. Go kick some ass. Leave them alive."
"Rururururu," Tyrunt chuckled under his breath, staring at the cage around us. He jumped towards the metal, teeth snapping out. A squealing noise that made me wince, even with the sound of bullets around us, then Tyrunt was through. Ancient power flowed through him from the earth and surrounded his body as he ran up to a guard, who screamed just before he was hit in the chest by an enraged dinosaur. The guard was sent flying back into a shelf of machinery, sending a few hundred pounds of metal tumbling over. Tyrunt landed on the guy's chest and reared his head upwards.
"GRRRAAAAAAA!" he roared, the sound echoing through the area. One guard pissed himself. Another one, the guy with the foghorn voice, went running for it, screaming.
Gurdurr, in the meantime, jumped towards Adam. The effeminate man shouted, grabbing a shotgun from under his desk, pointing it at Gurdurr, and firing. The shells hit Gurdurr in the chest, sending him tumbling to the ground.
"Oh god, he's-!"Kalini began to say.
Gurdurr snapped up to his feet, raised his I-beam to block another shotgun blast. He had some damage to his chest, but instead of a bloody mess it was more like a case of mild road rash. He raised his I-beam and smashed it into the desk in front of Adam, the wood smashing apart into shrapnel and sending Adam and his guard flying back.
"He's alive?" Kalini asked, shocked.
"He's tough as balls," I said as I finished putting my mask on, my voice slightly muffled by it.
Gurdurr shielded himself from Adam's guards and grabbed the shooter by the ankle as he shattered Adam's shotgun, Adam shouting. He swung the guy around and left Adam on the floor.
"FUUUUCK!" the guy screamed as Gurdurr ran out of the cage swinging him over his head while twirling his I-beam before tossing it like a javelin. The steel weapon sliced through the air and smashed into the ground near three men, cratering the concrete floor and sending them diving for cover from the flying rubble. Still holding one of the guards, Gurdurr rushed in and used the guard to hit another guard.
In case of emergency, bad guys can be used as blunt instruments.
The guy in Gurdurr's grip stopped shouting once he'd been used to send one of his friends to the ground. He let out another grunt noise when Gurdurr made a home run worthy hit to knock another guy away, At that point Gurdurr sadly lost his grip on his new weapon when the guys pants tore off. The pint-sized powerhouse stared after the newly released guard, who flopped onto the floor as an unconscious heap, then at the ripped pants still in his hand before tossing the pants aside. Gurdurr raised his fists, then clenched them. The muscles on his body tensed. After a moment, the veins across his body began to pulse. And he began to grow.
"What the hell," one of the guards said in horror.
Gurdurr grinned at the group around him. One of them shot him again, but he ignored the small marking the bullet made across his bicep. He Bulked up, gaining five inches in height. His muscles were even thicker around now. His eyes were lit with gleeful rage.
Someone shot him again. Gurdurr ran for that guard, a fist raised. The guard tried to block the punch, but Gurdurr's knuckles broke through his guard and embedded itself deep in the guy's stomach. The poor bastard's eyes widened in horror and pain, saliva flying from his gasping mouth as he went rolling back.
"Gurdurr!" the fighting-type roared, grabbing his I-beam.
"FUCK ME!" someone shouted in fear. Then Gurdurr was on them.
Tyrunt ran through a metal shelf, his teeth smashing apart a car engine resting on one of them. He bashed his head into another guard, then stone chips went flying as he took a shotgun blast to his head.
"Runt?" Tyrunt looked at the guy who had shot him. His eyes narrowed. "TY!"
"Die already!" the guy shot him again and again, pumping the slide after each shot.
"TYRUNT!" the tiny dinosaur roared. Purple energy, the power of dragons, surrounded his tail before Tyrunt jumped forward into a front-flip. A stone tail surrounded in power tore through the shotgun and sent metal scrap flying about. Still flipping forward, Tyrunt slammed his head into the guy's face, breaking his nose and knocking him out.
Once Tyrunt landed, he ran for a group of guys. Ancient power flowed once again as he ran, this time ripping chunks of concrete out of the ground to float around him. Just as the guards were realizing their bullets were doing almost nothing to him, the chunks of concrete lifted by Tyrunt's power flew forward and slammed into them in a wave, sending four men flying back.
Kalini and I walked over to Adam. The man was lying on his back, staring at us in horror. In the background, Tyrunt and Gurdurr were cleaning up the last of his men.
"Okay then," I said, looking at him through my mask. "Maybe we should renegotiate exactly what you'll be doing for me-"
A loud sound, like a laser blast out of Star Wars, came from behind me. Gurdurr shouted in pain. I spun to look at him.
Gurdurr was kneeling on the ground, clenching at his chest. He looked pissed. I looked the same direction he was. A man stepped forward from the shadows
He was average in height, but well-built. He had long red hair that fell around bare shoulders. He wore a metal vest of some sort over a green undersuit, a white cloak around his shoulders. A single long metal arm was stretching out from under the cloak, with a big blocky thing on the end.
"Well, well, looks like this party is getting interesting," the redhead grinned, blue eyes flickering around us. Tyrunt slid to a stop next to Gurdurr, who grew just a bit larger as we watched the guy walk up to us. "I came here to kill a stooge, and instead I find the big money!"
"Who the hell are you!?" Adam said, coughing. Kalini placed a boot on his chest, Adam cursing as he was forced to the floor.
"I'm the guy with the power around here," the guy laughed. "I hope you don't surrender monsters," he eyed Gurdurr and Tyrunt. "Because
SIDEARM wants a real fight!"
He spread his arms, grinning widely.
"...Who?" I asked, blinking.
"Sidearm! The most feared mercenary on Earth."
"That's Deathstroke," I said immediately.
"Yeah, I was going to say," Kalini added.
"Deathstroke, for sure," one guard said off to the side.
"Gurdurr!"
Another laser blast hit Gurdurr in the chest. He slid back, growling angrily.
"I'm killing all of you now," Sidearm said angrily.
Tyrunt roared his defiance. I grabbed a gun. Gurdurr twirled his I-beam. And Sidearm started trying to kill us.
------
Author's Note: Next chapter, Kahu has his first hero v. villain fight against
SIDEARM. The myth, the legend, the nightmar- Oh, nobody knows who he is. Well, he's a random Superboy villain who caused random trouble for Superboy. He has multiple robot arms thanks to a tech suit.
But yeah, Kalini, Kahu, Gurdurr, and Tyrunt versus Sidearm. Let's have some fun.
Also, please support me on
Patreon, where the next two chapters are already uploaded!