Heart and Soul

**Date Started:** 07 December, 2021
**Date Completed:** Ongoing
**Next Role-Play**: N/A
**Users Involved:** User:EmperorSigma,
**Setting:** Houston,
**Characters Involved**:
* **Present:** Michael Davis, Dianna Smith, Asia Jackson, Zerafin Vilarroig, Sam, Jaylah Winter,
* **Hollows:**
* **Mentioned:** Emperor, Webber, Tsubame Zirconia,

## Run for Food

A few days has passed following his encounter with Webber and Tsubame Zirconia. He'd been searching around for answers for the many questions he had, but nothing came up. At the same time his body began to feel different overtime and he didn't know what to do about it. He ventured to the doctor a couple of times, but they all told him he was as healthy as ever, so he knew the cause had to have been from Emperor, the soul that rested inside of him.

It was around eleven at night, Michael sat at a table within a known restaurant, Chachos. It was mexican place, filled to the capacity with people who had either just gotten back from the club or had been on their way there. It was not only treatest as a restaurant, but also like a place where people would meet so that they could depart on the routes they had set for the night.

The case was much different for Michael. He was at home, tending to his daily needs of video gaming and decided he wanted to et something to eat. All it took was a text message from Dianna stating she'd be paying for the food to get him out of his gaming chair and down to Main Street Houston.

He sat at the table, scroll down his phone. His eyes were locked on the screen, something that happened often with this generation, but he hadn't been doing so just looking through the famous social media apps. He was seeking information on a particular app, scrolling through varous threads, speed reading as if he were trying to break the World Record. "Damn," he said under his breath, continuing to tap against his screen. "It's like, a bunch of weird white kids on this shit. Shit like this just ain't happenin'."

"Why the hell are you on reddit?" Dianna asked, swinging around the corner with two trays of food in her hand. She had been over extending her friendship with Michael, peeking into his phone trying to take a gander into his private life.

"Mind yo business, woman." He said, quickly locking the screen to his phone and extending his hand out to grab his container of food. "Thank you," his mannerisms with the way he spoke may have been different than most, but he still held the utmost respect for those who were willing to do something for him out the kindness of their hearts.

Tossing on a smile, Dianna rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's what I thought." She said, flipping over the container top of her own food as well. After the whole New York incident, Dianna began to sense something a bit different about Michael. It wasn't that he began to act different or something that would have been blatantly obvious for the eye to notice, it was something else, something much deeper than the eye could see.

"Yo Mike, you okay?" Dianna asked outright, pulling one of the tacos from the container and stuffing her mouth with it. She didn't know how he would answer the question, but she felt like she wouldn't even be able to call herself his friend if she didn't.

Michael reached into his container as well. The contents of his box was much different. A tray of beef and cheese natures was spilled all over it, sprinkled and sprayed all over various tortilla chips. "I mean," he said stuffing one of the chips into his mouth. But, what he had truly been intending on doing was buying a moment to himself where he could think. *"Bruh, I can't tell her exactly what's going on. Imma sound crazy if I share this shit. Like, who the fuck gone believe this shit?!"* All while he had been thinking this to himself, he chewed down on the chip until finally he swallowed it.

"Shit, yeah I'm straight, I'm just tryna focus on this season." He said, keeping the topic off of what was truly weighing on his mind and instead on something he knew Dianna would buy. "Really movin' up and I'm just tryna take these nigas to March Madness."

Dianna swallowed her own food as well and nodded her head at his words. She knew there was something he wasn't telling him, but she decided not to pester him about it. "Actually, you right. This ain't highschool anymore, Mike. You've gotta really bring the best you can bring if you want to stand out against everyone else. You wanna be the best, then you gotta do the best. You know what Coach Young used to say."

The both of them simply looked to each other and burst out laughing as they thought back to the memeories of high school. Michael and Dianna weren't neccessarily the closest duo in school. He had his own particular friend group and she had her own, but she was the physical trainer at their high school which meant they had worked together loosely. Their coincidental same choice in college only allowed them to grow closer. The others of the team thought of their relationship to be more intimate than what it really was, but they never bothered to clear the rumors. Neither of them were each other type and they were literally just friends which was what made their relationship so special. In just a few months they had grown to trust each other quite a bit, telling each other about their varying issues of the like. That's why it felt awkward keeping the things that had been happening to him recently to himself.

"Ouweeee~" A voice said, rushing over to the table that Michael and Dianna stood at. They both turned their attention towards her, gaining a clear look at her face. She seemed to be about the same age as the both of them, sharing the same complexion as Michael except. She wore her hair down her back, her lips were big and bussing with lip gloss.

"I know you, you the boy that play basketball for us right?" She asked, seemingly having more information on Michael than he had on her.

He looked to the corner of his eye at Dianna who had also been looking at him with an expression of confusion. "Uh, ye, I play for U of H." He responded, hoping that the "us" she had been referring to was their university.

"I knew it! I saw you practicin' the other day and told my friend that you were so damn handsome. I see you drivin' after, but lost you after the whole mess." She went on to explain. Whether Michael wanted to admit it or not, it was quite clear that this girl was interested in him in more ways than one.

For a moment, there was nothing the athlete could do but sit and stare. He was acting way more ocnfused than he should have. Dianna twirled her cross-shaped pendant around her fingers and kicked Michael's leg with her own foot, jerking her head towards the girl. "Oh shit, my fault, I was staring off in space. You coulda said some, I don't bite." Michael said, smile stretching from one ear to another.

She rolled her eyes in a foolish attempt to hide her blush. "Mike, right?" She said, extending her hand out for a handshake. The young man wasted no time extending his out to her as well, meeting her intentions with her own. "My name Asia." She then slide her hand from Michael's hand, turning away and departing back to her table where the rest of her friends gathered. With her pinky and thumb, she held them up to her face making a phone-like gesture.

"Call me," she laughed, leaving his sight. "Call me if you need me or anything happens."

He then looked to the palm of his hand. In the middle of his palm sat a piece of paper with her number and name written across it. "Heh, what the hell? Ain't nobody ever gave me they number like this. I'm too young to be feeling this old from what she just did." He joked, eyes widened, throwing the piece of paper into his pocket.

Releasing a deep sigh, she placed her hand into her face. "You almost had me look bad. Who just sits there when a girl is trying to talk to them. Don't tell me you're scared of women, Mike. That's gonna be so.. uh... not like you to say the least."

*"His reaction time even off the court is great,"* a mental flash back to when Michael extended his arm out to grab Asia's hand and shake it replayed. *"Those reflexes and hand movements drill have been doing him some good. So that means he made a full recovery then."* Even though they were in the middle of their meal, Dianna hadn't stopped her trainer-like analysis of her players, ensuring to keep her skills sharp on and off the court.

Shaking his head, the teen stood to his feet and stretched out. "I'm not gone lie, I'm tired as hell." He said, arms reaching for the sky if he could grab it. "I'm boutta head to the crib. Come on so I can walk you to yo car."

"My car, I Ubered here," she rolled her eyes once again. "Not gonna lie, I thought I was gonna like get a drink or two, so I didn't want to drive back home drunk. But, I didn't even feel like drinking once I got around you. I didn't think you were gonna make this like all weird and mushy or whatever."

Michael frowned, "Imma beat yo ass, D." He had desiginated this as her nickname to refrain from saying her full name. *"I haven't had those random headaches and meetings with that damn thing these past few days. So maybe I can take her home, I'll just have to be quick or some shit." Snatching his container of food from the table, he turned around and began to head for the door. "Bring yo ass, Imma just have to take you home." He said and she simply smiled and followed behind him.*

Little did the kind heart of Michael know, he was in for a very rude awakening...

## On the Table

They were ten minutes into their drive, on the freeway known as 288. Dianna lived in the more suburban area of Houston, a sub-city known as Pearland. It became known as a higher-end living place where people who had been doing rather well for themselves had lived and Dianna's parents fell right into this description. Yeah, she had grades good enough to live in a dorm if she wanted, but with a Lawyer for a mother and Judge for a father, Dianna had her life set early on.

Michael reached to the knob, turning up the music. He leaned back in his seat and lifted his hood on top of his head. "Ole boy dior bucket, Wheelchair chain ion need no crutches." He began to sing, nodding his head. Ice man Nick gotta spend, no budget, just this week I done ran through a hunnit." He rapped along the lyrics, his foot easing on the gas pedal even further, pushing the car to drive faster. He then turned his attention to Dianna with a careful eye. He didn't know what he reaction would be, but he needed to reach his destination faster so that he could return to the comfort of his own bed.

"My bad, I'm tryna get you to the crib. I'm too damn tired." He said, turning the music up even louder. Dianna's own face was planted in her phone, ignoring Michael and his musial antics.

Fingers scroll, she looked up to him out hte corner of her eye the moment he looked away. *"You can act like everything is okay,"* she sulked in the passenger seat turning her eyes back to her phone screen. *"Music is your escape, I can tell that. It's something, I can sense it. I'm not dumb after all."*

"Over one hunnit then watch how we clutchin', shittin' aint even flush the toilet, fuckin' this doctor bitch she got a husband she give me prescription for quake and the tutson. Ain't did a show in six months but this money keep comin', most likely in the kicken cookin' over the oven. I keep sippin' this shit by the doze-"

*"Been quite a while.. Zeehahahahaha.."* The voice of Emperor said in Michael's head.

Gripping the steering wheel with his left hand, Michael swerved while on the freeway nearly crashing against the wall. He shook his head left and right, gritting his teeth immediately catching the attention of Dianna who had originally been looking at her phone. He tried to remain composed and act like what he had done was an accident, but it was difficult for him to do so.

"Mike!" Dianna jumped, "What the fuck?! Are you good, dude?!" She asked, her tone had genuine concern for the well being of her friend.

Michael wiped his face with his hand, "Yeah, nah, I'm good! Haha," he forced a smile, "Bro I was just staring, that's these long ass empty freeways in pearland. Shit be beatin' my ass, I hate comin' over here man." He continued to laugh, keeping his eyes locked onto the road in an attempt to get Dianna off his trail.

*"What the hell do you want?"* Michael stood within the landscape of his mind, staring down the large figure of Emperor. If only he could have that height and move at the speed he did on the court, Michael knew that he'd be completely unstoppable.

Emperor laughed again. *"You sure are confident, "Mike"."* He added emphasis to his host's nickname acting as if the two of them were anything close to comrades. *"Its been a while since we've talked to each other, you've even built a nice gate in here. But, I hope you don't thin this'll hold me now do you?"* Emperor placed his hands onto the bars of the gate and shook them, but noticed that did not give into his enhanced force. *"Oh, and here I thought they were only here for decoration."*

He sighed and tapped his foot against the ground. "Man, I been readin' somethin' called a reddit and been binge watchin' different anime. You know what, don't even worry about the details." Michael leaned in closer to the bars, "I learned that this is just my mental plain and you exist in here. Still, it's mine which means if I think it hard enough I can block you out type shit. Then, boom, these came up. Seem like some magic or something, but at this point, I'm believin' everythang."

It wasn't neccessarily difficult to udnerstand Michael, but the way he spoke was much different from what Emperor was use to. The World of the Living hate ways of speaking much different than Hueco Mundo did, especially where Michael was from. Houston was known for having a more slang-like pattern of speaking, not saying all of its words in their entirety even shortening sentences if they could. Many called the people of Texas "country", but it was just part of their culture.

"You been cozy, chillin', and leaving me the fuck alone. Don't start that weird shit now, man." Michael said to the Hollow, leaning up against the gate exhausted.

The Hollow gave a demonic laugh before leaning its own head against the bars as well. *"That's some nerve you got kid. Only reason we haven't been seeing each other is because that damn girl and her power put me in quite the state. Don't get cocky thinkin' you've got some spunk, boy."* Emperor claimed as if he were barking at Michael.

"That ain't shit to do with me, take it up with God." Michael responded, "I hope that's all though, my exit bout to come up and I can finally go the fuck back home."

*"If anything you should be ready to thank me, idiot! What truly woke me up was the scent of the nearby Hollows. If you want to keep that little lady safe, you'd better hurry and get her home unless-"* He leaned closer to the bars and took a sniff, *"Never mind, they're already here."*

"Wait wha-"

***BOOM***

The sound of something crashing in front of Michael's car could be heard, forcing him to not only return back to the *real* world. All Michael could hear was "What the fuck?!" In Dianna's voice, while his tires screeched across the new cement road of the freeway. He pulled the steering wheel firmly, but didn't panic and slam against the breaks. He focused primarily on remaining in control of the vehicle but left his foot off of the gas. Even though he applies tactics that would put them in a position with the least amount of errors, the sudden explosion was still too much and the car was far too strong for him to handle entirely.

Swerving and dipping through the lanes, Michael's car slammed into the barricade of the freeway on the passenger side. Dianna's head and body were tossed up against the door with great force and her head slammed into the seatbelt holder. Smoke quickly covered the car as Michael shook his own head. "Oh shit, Dianna!" Michael exclaimed, swinging at the smoke attempting to swat it away before the door of his side came flying off.

A clawed hand grabbed his leg and in the next moment he was thrown out of the car to the middle of the freeway. Balling his body up and rolling along the concrete, Michael reduced as much of the damage he could be placing the brute of the impact on his back before quickly jumping to his feet. *"Shit hurt on the outside, but everything under my skin seem like its a'ight."*

"You'll make some great feed, now won't he brother." A Hollow said, appearing from the drifting of the smoke.

Then, another Hollow from the other side of the freeway entered the area, "Yeah, you're right. So this is who's spiritual pressure we sensed and look, he can even see us." The two Hollows laughed in perfect harmony.

Michael slid his hand down to his pocket and noticed that it had been flattened. "Gyat damn!" He cursed, showing his teeth to the two Hollows who had now been walking closer to him. "How the fuck did I end up leavin' my gun?! I just got new bullets, woulda been perfect to try and test this lil theory out I had in mind too! But it's two of 'em I don't even think..."

One of the Hollows dash foward with its hand up, gripping Michael by the shirt and then yanked him off of the ground. "Hey, you got a funny sensation to ya." The Hollow said, turning its head to the side, revealing its Hollow hole to be within its neck. "I see, then that's what it is." With a quick thrust if its fist, the Hollow delievered a powerful blow into Michael's gut.

Saliva flew from Michael's mouth as if he had been hit by a professional boxer. His body pocket out with his rear end in the air before he flew across the three roads of the freeway and smashed into the wall that seperate the left from the right side. "What the hell was that?" The teen asked himself, reaching to his stomach grabbing his gut. His vision began to blur as he lifted his head to his car which was still covered in smoke. He could sense the soul of Dianna still within, but that didn't give him reassurance it only freightened him more.

*"That shit hurt... Those other few Hollows over the past few days ain't been hitting this hard, what the hell... Plus, if I don't do somethin' quick, Dianna gone be fucked!"* He tried to run a few mock plays over in his mind but to be honest, he struggled more doing that than he did breathing.

*"Come on, you need me."* The voice of Emperor crept back up in his subconcious. *"These two will literally rip you apart, they aren't like the other Hollows you've faced. Like me, they also possess a special ability for themselves."* Emperor loved to speak up when Michael didn't want to hear him the most, but in this case, he was absolutely right.

Michael knew from the moment he could feel the Hollow's attack that if he didn't get some form of help, he wouldn't be able to escape from this whole thing with his life still in tact. "Damn it," he cursed under his breath as the Hollows change the route and headed to where he had been launched to this time. "I don't need you. Fuck outta my head." The young athelete said, his words directed towards Emperor this time.

"Hm, you can have him brother, I think I'm going to take the girl instead." The shorter Hollow said, changing his path yet again heading back towards Michael's car which housed Dianna.

His eyes widened at the Hollow's words and suddenly his body bloated as it had done previously. Though, this time it was much different. Rather than his entire body being shrouded in a white substance, it was only his right side that was covered before it ultimately transformed into the right side of Emperor's body.

"!" The Hollow that remained in route for him stepped back for a moment. "What the hell happened to your body, you're a Hollow?"

There were no words from the darksin. Instead, he simply ran towards the Hollow and passed him as if he didn't even exist. He then lifted his Hollow arm into the air and cocked back, punching the smaller Hollow in the back of the mask sending his directly into the driver side of the car where he would bend the vehicle and give it a brand new shape. His onslaught didn't stop there. As his body lodged into the metals that made up the car, Michael--no--Emperor lifted him up by the back of his head and placed his head into the right side (Emperor's side) into his mouth crushing it and devouring him whole.

The jointed being of Michael and Emperor rolled its necks after eating the Hollow. It was hard to describe just what they were at this point, but it was something freaky and never seen before. His body lifted up and down as his new form seemed to have settled in, appearing as a perfect half and half of the two of them. His five foot figure stood at a perfect mid point between Emperor's ten foot figure--seven and a half feet now. This gave him the perfect height to stand face to face with the remaining Hollow.

"What the hell are you?!?!?!?!" The Hollow asked, masked curving as his face and words became filled with instant anger.

The mixed creature spat to the ground. "Oh, I don't know." The two voices of Emperor and Michael mixed on top of one another. "And I don't honest think it'll matter either. Don't worry about me, or us, or whatever helps you sleep better."

"Damn you! So you ate my brother?!" The Hollow exclaimed, running towards Michael with his hand held over his head. Before it was brought down however, his arm morphed into a mallet and came crashing over Michael's head, slamming him into the base of the freeway creating a explosion from the sheer impact of the strike.

The Hollow slide back from the strike, feet sliding across the ground before picking his stance back up. "How about that, huh?" The Hollow asked arrogantly. "You'll pay for eating my brother!"

Slowly emerging from the the ground, was Michael in his mixed Hollow form. His body had been severely bruised and blood had trinkled down the side of his face. "Tch, you're lucky I'm in this pathetic state we're in. Otherwise, that wouldn't have done anything to me-"

The opposing Hollow didn't give him room to breath. His speed had been so much greater than their own that by the time they had noticed, the Hollow's hand had already gripped the front of his face and lifted him off of the ground before violently slamming him into the ground. "I do not care what state you're in!" The Hollow declared, shifting its arm from a mallet to a knife, stabbing down into the ground.

On his instinct of survival, the mixed creature rolled out of the way in the knick of time before having its neck pierced straight through. Continuining to roll down the freeway in an attempt to gain some distance, the mixed beast jumped to its feet. *"I can't hope to get anything done in this form. One side can't keep up with the other. If I do, the other half will break."* Mixed thoughts and emotions flowed through the head, but this creature was neither Michael nor Emperor. It were as if it were something different entirely. "Curse that Quincy for Emperor not being able to take over the entire body!"

*Fwoosh*

The sound of high speed movement could be heard behind the conjoined creature which caused it to widen its eyes in shock. Michael's eye opened wider than Emperor's yet the expression still got across. "Too busy worry about all that extra stuff you forgot I was still here!" With its hand still in the shape of a blade, the Hollow stabbed into the right side of the chest which was occupied by Michael's half. Pulling the blade out, blood dropped along its edge before falling to the ground from the tip.

As if souless Michael and Emperor walked forward, one leg at a time before their coordination fell off and they trampled to the ground. Flat on their back, they looked up and without wasting a moment the Hollow appeared over the two of them. "Damn, Emperor. Why the hell did I trust you?" Michael asked in his subconcious.

*"So you're blaming me for putting us in the mess?"* Emperor asked Michael,
*"Maybe you need to blame your damn self! Being weak is what got us here, now your and you friend will die. Damn it, me too."*

"Fuck..." Michael said to himself, his eyes slowly closing as the Hollow held his bladed hand over him once again. Everything Michael had worked up for flashed before his very eyes. His grandmother, Dianna, basketball, his teammates, and even the plans he had for the future. Everything played itself in his mind in the matter of seconds. "Guess that's it then.."

With a devious grin the Hollow stuck out its tongue. "Die!!!" The Hollow exclaimed, dropping the blade down over his body to cut his head off for good.

*"Knight in Shining Armor,"* A faint voice said in the distance before appearing in an instant at the Hollow's side. There, at the side of the Hollow, a figure dressed in metallic armor appeared with a giant broadsword sitting on his shoulder. The sound of metal clacking against each other was heard across the freeway as the knight clenched the handle of its blade and swung it into the side of the Hollow, cleaving the creature in half.

"Wait, it's you..." Michael's fought his eyes back from closing. He had seen this knight and armor before and memories came flooding back.

*The Knight held their sword down to the side, right next to Michael's ankle, blocking the Hollow's strike. "It seems I made it just in time," It was hard to make the person's voice out. It was perfect mix between distortion and robotic, but it was clear that it was masculine. "But you're a strong one though, I'll make short work of you."*

*Michael's eyes widened upon the knight appearing. The light off of the building that he was thrown into shined bright and illuminated off of his armor, making him the center of attention. Though Michael would never admit it, in this case, this man was his HERO.*

The Hollow's body broke into a million pieces before it ultimately disinergrated into nothingness. The knight turned its clad head towards Michael and stood in silence for a moment. He didn't speak like last time, but this time waited as if he had been hesitating. Instead he simply began to walk over to the half Hollow, Half Human form of Michael and dropped to a single knee. Squeezing his hand underneath the back of Michael's head, he lifted him up to his angled knee.

"W-What you doin' here?" Michael asked, struggling to even breathe from the pain in the wound left by the Hollow.

There was yet another moment of silence from the knight. The helmet of the armor unlatched as indicated from the sound. It began to move and retract off of its face before finally withering into the air in the form of a green light. Michael's eyes widened at who had been hiding behind it and his mouth dropped as well. He didn't breath, the moment of shock was too much to bare on his bruised being.

His lips shook as he struggled to speak. "Dianna?" He asked, vision blurring out before he passed out.

## All There

Dianna nodded her head and smiled, "Yeah." Her eyes locked onto Michael's. In that moment from a third person's perspective it would have given off a feeling in intimacy between the two. However, it was simply Dianna being happy that her friend was alright. She then paused and looked at his entire body and laid him on the ground flat on his back. What she had seen truly surprised her, but more than anything she hadn't understood it.

"Y-You... You're a Hollow?" She asked, lip trembling as if she were in near fear.

Michael's body flowly began to morph back into his own. Emperor's half was no more and he was now back to his full human self. Blood soaked his hoodie and the gauntlet of Dianna's armor. "It's so much to explain, you wouldn't even understand." He pushed himself off of Dianna's arm and held his chest. His teeth slammed themselves together as he winced in pain, holding the wound as if the pressure against it would tame it. "Or maybe you fuckin' would with all *this*." He said, referring to the fact that Dianna was dressed in her armor.

Through sheer willpower Michael pushed himself up to his feet. The hole on the wound began to close as the particles that made up the Hollow defeated by Dianna reversed in their path and began to head towards Michael and absorb into his body. Tossing his head left to right, the pain was still there but the bleeding had stopped. "Right and its somethin' new al-fuckin'-ready."

Dianna couldn't help but stand in shock. "Here, let me at least take you home." She offered, stepping closer to Michael with her arms out.

"Nah, we're close to yo crib.." He said, shaking off the pain before blood began to soak from the wound once again. "We can go there and Imma call somebody to come scoop. Don't even worry about it." He placed his hand over his chest, before reaching to the zipper of his jacket and taking it off. Once it was off, he stretching the jacket longways and wrapped it around his chest as a type of badnage. "But, you crazy as FUCK if you don't think I've got some questions for you. Cause, a lot of this shit ain't addin' up and imma be honest, you probably about to give me everything I need. For now, we can walk though."

She turned her head away from Michael, erasing her shocked expression. The armor that previous surrounded her vanished and the pendant around her neck began to glow. She could feel in her gut the type of questions Michael had for her, but in the same vain, she had a few questions for him as well. "Go ahead, I'm an open book." She said, walking along the side of the freeway in pursuit of her house.

Michael clenched his fist and looked over to Dianna. "Like, what is all of this shit. I don't really understand? And why you ain't say something after the New York shit? Like, I know we ain't the closet, but damn.. if you got some power or whatever the fuck this shit is called in you, bro, I don't even know where to start."

"Calm down," she started, taking a deep breath of her own. "I want you to really think about that question. You think it would've been wise for me to just say, 'oh look, Mike, I have some crazy powers I used them to save you tahtah'?" She asked the question in a childish tone, "It ain't that simple. Plus, I don't fully understand everything. Those things we just slayed-" Before she could continue on, she was interrupted by a gesture from Michael.

"Hollows?" He asked wanting to pitch in more on her remarks, but it was then that it hit him. She was right, if she were to have said anything on that day, it would have only created more questions and it would have made not only the relationship, but hte tension between the two of them awkward.

"Yeah, so you know what they are.. I see." She shook her head, "Well, yeah, anyway my grandfather told me we had a duty to slay them or something. He's got the same ability I've got. It's called a Fullbring, my comes from this pendant." She said, gripping a hold of it. "Uh, I call it "**Knight in Shining Armor**". I don't really think we need to get into too many of the details, but that's pretty much what it is. Even my mother and father dont' know I possess this, only my grandfather. We fight Hollows to keep the people of here safe. If we don't, they'll just start killing humans and we don't want that. Prety much was forced into this work or whatever."

Michael looked down to the ground and tucked his hands into his pants pockets as they continued to walk forward. "I mean, I can tell its some' way more technical than what you tellin' me, but I can tell that you don't even know much more." Then, that was when it dawned upon him. "Wait, you just said you have to protect them from killing humans? So, you mean to tell me that them ghost I been seein' are from the people Hollows been killin?"

She shook her head left to right, "No. What you're seeing, ain't ghost killed by Hollows. It's of people who've just died and ain't passed over or whatever my grandfather said. Think if someone were to have gotten shot, died in a car accident, stuff like that. Their soul stay here for a little while, but the trade off for that is that they're prone to turning into Hollows and spreading even more."

"!!" Michael stopped dead in his tracks. "Wait, you mean.."

"What is it?" Dianna asked.

"After the shit in New York happened, I started being able to see ghost. Then, I was about to go out with Brando and nem when all of a sudden a Hollow attacked my crib. Man, some weird shit went on where he claimed he can take over bodies and some more shit. Then, he kinda took over mine. I don't really know what happened, I don't know but I know he turned me like into a Hollow. But he kept saying something about him being binded to my soul and now its like the Hollow lives in me but I can turn into it? I really don't understand, that night was a blur, but that's what you just saw a few miniutes ago." Michael did his best to explain the situation as best he could, trying not to leave anything important out.

He then looked to the ground and spit on the concrete. The more he talked the better he felt on the inside having someone that would begin to understnd what he was going through. "That time was like a malfunction or some. Usually the niga tryna fight for taking over the body and when I was gone let 'em, it didn't work? Like, I know its me turning into a Hollow I just don't really understand. Damn."

For a moment, there was nothing Dianna could do. She knew that she had to be the best ear she could for Michael opening up and being there for him mentally would benefit more in the long run than trying to skirt and skate around his questions. Still, the fact remained that having Michael be wrapped up in all of this would pose a serious problem for the future.

She reached for his chest, grabbing hold of the pendant once again. A green light flicked from the pendant before the boots of her armor materialized themselves. "It's not something that'll be easy to understand. I told you, I don't have all the answers either just loose information from my grandfather who lives in Ireland. However, that does explain why the other day at practice I was able to sense Hollow energy inside of you. But, a feature like turning into a Hollow and back into a Human ain't something I've ever heard of. That's something I'll have to research a bit more."

Dianna then went on to roll her eyes, "And stay off reddit... It all makes sense now... pages like that aren't gonna get you what you're looking for. You know its filled to the brim with trolls."

In that quick moment Michael smiled. It wasn't forced nor was it unnatural, Dianna genuinely made him smile despite all the pain he had been feeling. "Not gone lie, I needed that. I actually fuckin' needed that, but..." he paused and looked over to Dianna. "You can't tell me them reddit people don't be close to figuring some shit out. I ain't go lie, they kinda gave me some hints about certain shit. I mean, it said I would likely be goin' crazy, but shit.. it was close enough."

"Hahahaha," Dianna laughed, "Dude, let's go. I'm not bout to walk all the way to my house."

"Huh, how will we get there?"

Stepping closer to Michael, Dianna lowered herself and swooped him off of his feet like he were a bride during a wedding. "I know this puts your masculinity at risk, but I promise it's worth the risk." Bending her knees, her metallic boots clapped against the ground before she suddenly spung herself into the air with a massive jump.

Michael's hair fluttered in the wind. He brought his free hand up to his face to cover the hair from falling into his eyes and mouth. "Wait, you can do this too?" He asked.

"Yeah, what do you mean? It's easy." She then stopped in mid-air and began to walk as if the air itself were a platform for her to use. "I forget what this is called," she said, a green light leaving the bottom of her boots as she trooped forward. "Something with bringer in it. I can't remember."

"Bro, Dianna, you're WALKING on air right now. Michael Jackson would be hatin' right now." He claimed, referencing the late great Michael Jackson.

She chuckled, "Hollows can do it too, I'm surprised you ain't never done it considering you said you've transformed a few times before. Hm, maybe you're just a slow learner if it isn't involving basketball."

Slamming his head into her chest, Michael barked up at Dianna. "What the hell you mean imma slow learner? That ain't what it is at all," Michael turned to the side nearly blushing. "Every time I've turned into a Hollow or something like that, Emperor's always in control. I don't normally have no say so in the matter."

"Well, we just gotta get that under control then." Said Dianna, smiling at Michael in an attempt to keep the vibes positive. "You've got about a three weeks before the basketball season comes around and I want to tell you this. If you can't protect those teammates, then, you're gonna be in for a rude awakening. You won't even be able to complete a single one of those games without a Hollow interfering."

"Why would a Hollow interfere?"

Dianna's eyebrow tossed into the air as she continued to run across the sky, closing in on her house. "Michael, you're spiritual pressure is much more potent then it was at practice the other day. Those Hollows, even the ones you encountered today, have been coming after you. It's gonna get dangerous if you don't find a way to protect 'em or even just your grandmother, I won't always be around." Following her statement, Dianna landed to the ground as she had finally reached the front steps of her home.

She released Michael, who was completely stuck on what to say, from her grip and allowed him to stand back to his feet. As much as he didn't want to believe it, everything that Dianna had been saying was true. It only made sense that each of the Hollows that had been targetting everywhere he had been were actually after him. In fact, Emperor admitted to that the day they met. He understood, somehow, that simply getting rid of the spiritual pressure would not be possible. Otherwise she would have thrown that out as an option.

"Are you sure you're gonna get a ride, Mike? It's kinda late, who do you think is gonna come and get you." Dianna asked, her boots disappearing from her feet revealing her normal shoes.

He nodded, mind still focused on the words she shared with him. "Yeah, I'm good." He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone. *"It's actually weird that I haven't heard from Emperor just yet. He'd usually be in my head tryna' run some kinda game.. I wonder if something happened when he tried to transform."*

Scroll down his phone, Michael began to walk from Dianna's stairs seeking to make a phone call.

## Decision Maker

A car pulled up top the side of Michael and he looked down to his phone. There was a "U" shaped app opened, indicating the use of Uber services. Luckily for him, Dianna had given Michael one of his hoodies he allowed her to borrow a few day ago. Approaching the back passenger side of the car, Michael jumped into it and immediately pulled his hood over his head to drop his attention down to his phone.

There was quite a few things Michael still didn't understand, but with his current condition he didn't want to override Dianna with all of his questions. In fact, she had already shut him down when she admitted she didn't possess much information regarding everything aside from her own abilities and the fact that she was meant to slay Hollows. Sure, Michael understood that they needed to stop Hollows from attacking the Humans, but it was something much more going on with the relation of those whole thing.

He had attempted to speak with Emperor while he waited outside, but his connection to him seemed virtually impossible. He could still sense him within, but it was as if the Hollow had been purposely shutting him out of his subconcious but this was far from the case. It was moreso that he was unresponsive.

Before he could go any further into his thoughts his phone vibrated with an incoming text message from someone with the name "Jaylah" and a couple emojis on the side. The message read and quote "umm, ain't heard from you all day, she better be worth it.". Michael couldn't do anything but toss his phone to his lap and let out a deep sigh. He knew there was no way to explain this situation to her. Girlfriends wouldn't believe if you told them you were taking the trash out so he KNEW telling her what truly had happened she wouldn't have even thought to take him serious. Instead, he decided to take advantage of her weak point and formulated a response.

*"I wrecked my car bad..."* He sent back to her and slapped his phone down before looking out the window of the vehicle. His brows lifted as he noticed the car hadn't moved yet.

"Uh," he said, looking around the area. "I can tell you which way to go if they app fucked up." He offered, truly trying to offer help to the drive.

"Haha," the driver laughed back before turning around and facing Michael to reveal her face. She possessed brown long hair, "I know where it's taking me, but I thought I told you... Call me if you need me for *ANYTHING*." The woman said, forcing Michael's lifted eyebrows to immediately become widened eyes.

More shocked than confused, Michael stared at the woman in silence for a moment. "Christy?!" Michael asked, presumably calling the woman out by her name. "How the hell did you get my ub-"

A notebook went flying into Michael's face slapping him directly in the middle of his face. "If you don't remember someone's name, at least admit it!" The notebook slid down his face and landed to the backseat of the floor. "God, men suck now! We just met not even two hours ago! A-s-i-a, Asia! Damn idiot."

"How the fuck?!" Michael shouted, before gripping the wound on his chest and wincing in pain. "I know you ain't a Uber driver, like I KNOW that for sure. You one crazy bitch then!" Michael exclaimed, grabbing ahold of the door's handle in an attempt to open it but found that it was immediately locked. "Bitch, let me out, or I swear to God, on my momma, imma beat the fuck outta you."

Asia turned her head upside down. "Uh, oh my, you're quite violent towards women. I hope you don't treat your girlfriends like this. But it's as I said," Asia paused, looking to Michael with a more serious look. "As I've told you, if you need me for *anything* you were suppose to call me."

"BRO!" Michael shouted, "I don't NEED you for shit, that's why I didn't call you!!" He tried explaining the most blunt way possible. "Actually, better-fuckin-yet, I wasn't callin' yo ass anyway. I don't know you and especially after this shit, you got me fucked up. You lucky I ain't got my fun on me an-" Again, he reached for his chest in greater pain than before.

"Hm," Asia hummed, "You might wanna chill and calm down until we get to where we need to go. Or.. that wound is gonna keep opening up wider and wider." She said, turning back to the front of the car and pressing against the gas pedal and driving off.

Michael looked out the window, hand still over his wound, "Where the fuck're you takin' me?"

"Oh my God, kid, you need to calm down. That wound isn't going to get any better." She said, sighing and rolling her eyes. "Besides, didn't I just tell you. If you need something, call me. And, let's be honest, you are in dire need of a few things."

While she continued to remain ambigious, Michael seemingly began to grow to understand what she meant. Well, not that he understood exactly what she meant, but that he could grasp a general view that she had been attoning to something much more than she intended to say. Instead of remaining tense, he loosened his shoulders and leaned back in the seat. He needed the pain to go away and just as she suggested, if he continued to strain his body even with anger, it would only worsen the wound. For now, he sat and played by her rules.

After about an hour drive they reached a small house. The house couldn't have had more than two bedrooms, if that, and it brought about more questions. She parked the car on the side of the road close to the curb and turned it off with the key. For a moment she looked down to her lap where she had been using her phone and Michael did everything in his power to grab a sneak peak, but decided to give it up after realizing she had been intentionally holding it at an angle he wouldn't see. He had dealt with plenty of girls in the past, gaining just the same amount of experience with them that he had with basketball.

She flung the driver's door open and stepped out of the vehicle. Then she looked to the back window and waved at Michael signalling him to get out and he followed. Legs extending and arms stretching, he surveyed the area as best he could before turning back to face Asia with the question she knew he would ask.

"Where are we? Is this Katy?" He asked, head looking left and right. "I don't remember this side of town looking so... proverty stricken. Ain't this where the rich white people live?" He said, walking around the car until he reached the sidewalk where Asia was.

Asia shook her head, "Hm, I see you're observant. Yeah, we're in Katy. Some little back water place, but, it's the safest place we could operate from." She grabbed Michael's arm and lent him aid in walking. "Come now, we gotta go in, I don't want people seeing and getting suspecious. Kidnap rates have been going up after all." She laughed, walking him to the front door.

"Sensitive topic for you to be touchin' right now, Asia." Michael retorted as she opened the door, "Cause that's exactly what the fuck you just did. And, plus, where was all this shit you were talkin' about if I needed help to call you and I was supposed to assume that's why you came." His hand clenched his wound once again.

As the door opened, she walked Michael inside and ingored his questions only for the time being. The inside of the house was completely dark, but from the outside it appeared as though there were lights on. Where they stood wasn't hardwood nor marble floors that made the base of the house, but instead a platform that took them down a level underground revealing something much more different.

The platform lowered until it couldn't anymore and once it stopped on what appeared the be their destination, lights flickered on revealing a more hide-out type of theme across the room. The lights flickered on as the only two people sitting within the room looked back from their PCs and greeted both Asia and Michael.

"Welcome back, Asia." One said and they both of them stood to their feet noticing she had come with company.

The one who didn't speak wasn't much different from Asia and Michael in that she was clearly a human, but it was the one who did speak that caught Michael off guard. He was a tall fellow, standing at about six feet nine inches with long black hair tied into a ponytail down his back and the same complexion as himself. But, what made him stand out was the rest of his appearance. His appearance, the portions of what appeared to be bones resting over the right side of his face along his jaw-line and the portion over his eye covering it.

"What the-?" Michael remained in shock at the whole situation. The fact that he hadn't gotten over the fact that he was even found by her to begin with had yet to be answered and this woman didn't seem to stop with her coming surprises. *"What the fuck is going on. Like, it's something new with her every time the pain seem like its boutta go away."*

"Sorry, I should have introduced you." Asia said casually, "This here, the little one, is Sam." She said, referring to the one who hadn't spoke just yet. He was much smaller than the one he stood next to. "Sam, would you mind attending to Mike's wounds for me?" She asked and Sam immediately responded with a simple head nod before making his way over to him and guiding him over to a nearby seat that was very similiar to that of a doctor's bed.

Michael followed behind, but he kept a close eye on everything around. Though he didn't want to fully trust her, as mentioned before, if there was anything she wanted to do to him she would have done so by now with himself being outnumbered. Instead, he remained quiet, shut up, and allowed Asia to do just as she pleased. Plus, he truly wanted to see what Asia meant when she encountered him the first time. What did she mean by "need"? Before he could get that answered, he hoped into the bed.

"Just don't kill me." Michael said with a hint of humor.

Sam removed the jacket from off of Michael's body with a pair of scissors revealing a large wound which had been punctured in. Asia approached and so did the taller man with black-hair. "What happened?" The taller man asked Asia, his eyes glued onto Michael's wound as he tried to analyze it while Same began to work on it, swapping through a myrid of different tools and medicines to apply to it.

"Uh, he was riding home with a friend when a Hollow attacked." Asia said, giving information that was only known to Michael and Dianna up as if she were there and witnessed it second hand. Michael was under the intention that he had already told her this, so he refrained from having one of his famous outbursts and random questions. "He's the one I've been telling you about, the "Hollow-Human". Also, Mike, don't talk while Sam's operating."

The taller man nodded his head, "I see. It wasn't that hard to tell, I could sense the Hollow within him before the two of you even walked through the door. It's not like he's trying to hide it either."

Michael's eyes moved left to right as Asia and the man continued to talk amongst each other, though each time his gaze fell upon the man he wanted to ask what was going on with his face. It was as if he had took the skull of someone else and gotten surgery to place it onto his own. As crazy as it sounded, at this point in his life it was believable. After all, even women were getting shots in their lips just so that they could be bigger and feel more attractive.

"Look at me, I forgot to do it again!" Asia claimed, looking over to the man that stood at her side. She held her hand up at him, "This is Zerafin, he's also I guess one of my assistants if you will. But, his role is much more important than just that."

Sam stepped down from the pedastal that allowed him to stand at an even height as Michael's resting body and nodded his head to Asia. Still, even after signalling he was finished he refused to speak. Once done, he walked away to his work area and left the rest of the group to continue with their conversation.

Michael slowly lifted himself up and looked to the wound that was now completely healed from his chest and then to Zerafin and Asia. "Appreciate that, Asia. On me." He said, rubbing his hand against where the wound was previously. His body felt brand new, the pain was no more, and not even a noticable scratch. Truly, he was appreciative of Asia's efforts.

"I'm cool with you tryna introduce me and like I said, thank you for the help on the healin' and shit, but I need to know what you really meant though." He said, skipping past all the needless circles Asia would have attempted to put him in. "I know you meant something else. You two just talked about the Hollow you know that's in me, but I ain't tell either one of you about it. I'm knowin' you ain't some chick from UofH so you can give that shit up. I don't feel like gettin' into all the detail about how you know, so imma cut the bullshit." His tone changed to something more serious, "What is it that I need help with?"

Asia looked over to Zerafin, then over to Michael, then back to Zerafin before letting out a gentle laugh. "Okay, okay, Mr. Mike. I like this side of you. I have my ways of knowing certain stuff, so since you did come here quite peacefully, I guess we can get what you want." She stood straight up and folded her arms across her chest while looking directly into Michael's eyes. "There's two things that you need and both you can not deny."

She lifted her index finger up, "One, that Hollow inside of you is becoming quite the problem. Taking over your body when you get over worked and truly taking advantage of you when you're at your lowest." Asia then paused and quickly continued on, "You want to be able to gain some type of ability to protect you from the Hollows that keep attacking you because you know if you don't, you're gonna put the people close to you in danger."

The athelete gasped and swallowed his own spit before turning his head away. She had not only given him the information he sought, but read his intentions and played him like a fiddle whilst unvieling his deepest desires. "This was recently though," he said to he clarifying what she had said in his own way. "You're sayin' I need you to help me basically make sure that won't happen, right? Yeah, you got most of that shit right, but I ain't tryna get myself into something deeper than what it is."

"That's fine," Asia started, trying to take the weight off of Michael's shoulders. "This isn't something you need to decide right now. Matter of fact, I'll even let you sleep on it. You can decide what you want to do by tomorrow." She said as Zerafin extended his arm out and handing Asia an item that resembled a sort of button. Asia grabbed it and then threw it towards Michael who snatched it out of mid-air.

He looked to the device and held it sideways in an attempt to understand what the button could have possibly been used for. "What's this for? Looks like one of those little buttons you press in the movies that for some reason blow up the world. I dunno.. to be honest, I wouldn't expect this to be any different at this point."

"No, you idiot." Asia said, shaking her head and sighing. "It's a device I created. By pressing the button, it'll take you exactly into your bed at your house. If you press it again, it'll bring you back to the previous location you were at originally--which would be here. It takes seventy two hours to recharge after a single round trip, so I wouldn't use it unless you've absolutely made up your mind."

With the item explained, Michael looked up to Asia. "Yeah, I'll let you know by tomorrow." He said, pressing against the button and quite literally disappearing.

"Well, Ms. Asia," Zerafin said, "Do you think he's going to come back?"

Asia shrugged her shoulders. "It's not a matter of what I think, Zerafin. It's a matter of what we said will actually hold any weight on him. He's a bear the burden type of kid, we'll only see how he wants to bear that burden."

## New Me

The night had passed and the afternoon had come. Michael slept for quite some time, though he could have used a few more hours, but it was like his mind wouldn't allow him to remain sleeping. So much had transpired yesterday regarding Dianna revealing she was the Knight he had been searching for who saved his life. Then, some random woman from Chachos suddenly appeared before him and kidnapped him after tracking him through God knows what methods. She and her weird team healed his wounds and gave him an extreme run down on things he couldn't even understand, but the conclusion of it all definitely worked in her favor.

Yet, his sleep seemed to be just a bit too smooth without the interference of Emperor. Even when he woke up he attempted to travel to his subconcious in pursuit of a conversation regarding everything, but the Hollow was nowhere to be found. Ever since he was wounded by Tsubame Zirconia, Emperor had been acting weird and Michael hadn't understood why. The two of them were far from friends, in fact they were sworn enemies, but it was that relationship they had between each other that gave him the immediate red flag that something had been going on.

"A'ight, let me get u-" Before Michael found finish his sentence, someone came running into the room full speed and jumped into the bed, wrapping their arms around Michael squeezing him into their chest.

"Hey Mike~!" She exclaimed, hugging him to tight that he couldn't even breath before finally pulling back from his and revealing her full appearance to him. A beautiful young lady, same complexion as Michael with a short bob-like cut. On one side of her head the bob was straight down like all other original bobs, then on the other side she had it braided into a single braid along her head.

Michael blew air out from his nose, "What the hell, Jaylah, when the hell you get here?" He asked, clearly knowing who the girl was but curious as to why she was there.

"Whatchu mean, *when* did I get here?" She asked, eyes rolling to the point they looked as if they were going to get stuck. "I came over here out here cause you told me you got in a wreck and I was tryna make sure you good! If you don't want me here then just say that." Jaylah folded her arms across her chest and turned her head up. She had a beautiful figure, something akin to a coke bottle with large breast and wide hips. But, it was her rear end that stuck out and gave her shape. She was dressed in an all blue Chrome Hearts sweat suit that had a jacket half-jacket that revealed a large portion of her mid-area.

He shook his head and said, "You know that ain't what I meant." He then locked his gaze back onto her, "I was just saying you was all that way at Sam Houston I ain't expect you to leave school to come out here already. I'm good, if it was that bad I woulda called you."

Again, she rolled her eyes in absolute disgust. How could Michael sit here in his bed and not be happy to see his own girlfriend. Just the thought of that didn't sit right with her. "Well, now I'm here, so get up and lets go. I ain't even finna be out here all day, I gotta go back to school. I just came to get somethin' from my momma." She leaned back onto the bed and placed her knee on the edge so that he foot hung off of it and she leaned in close to Michael. An anklet dangled from her ankle as she hung her foot over the edge and poked her lips out forward.

"Alright, I took a shower last night, I just gotta wash my face and brush my teeth." Michael leaned forward, his medium-sized lips slapped against her own larger lips for a kiss.

"*MUAAAH*." She kissed him, turning around and removing her knee from the bed. "I'm boutta go help yo granny, then sit in the car so just hurry up and come on.

Michael nodded and jumped from his bed as well, heading into the restroom so he could get the rest of the day going. For a moment, he forgot about everything that had happened and only had his mind focused on what Jaylah was gonna get him in to for the day. After all, it wasn't like he didn't need a breather. She was going to be away with school about an hour from where he lived at Sam Houston University, so seeing her as much as he could before the season started wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

After hours together, Jaylah finally dropped Michael back off at home. They had done so much together, that Michael felt as though he was the one who needed the break from her. Eating, shopping, seeing family, and more eating began to take a bigger toll on him that he'd think and what made it all worse--he was the driver for all of this. He didn't want to do a single bit of what she forced him to do and to make it all the more torturing, she forced him to drive through a series of brat-like actions. In the end, it wasn't even worth fighting over who would be driving and decided to take it all upon himself instead.

He entered his house and then his room, tossing everything to the floor of his room and flopping into his bed. Finally, after that whole day of ripping and running around Michael was able to rest. Hell, he didn't even know what time it was she managed to keep him occupied for so long. Reaching to his pocket, he took out his phone and held it up into the air over himself. It wasn't as late as he thought it was going to be, but he was dark outside and that had an effect on his view of the time of day.

"Nine at night," he said, looking at the time on his phone. "Gaah damn, Jaylah know exactly how to keep a niga busy. Bro, I'm so damn ti-"

*ZZZZZWWWWWWRRRRTTTTTT*

His phone vibrated with a text from an unknown number. He wasted no time in utilizing the face recognition feature of his phone to unlock it and opened the message thread which read; "You decide, yet?". Though the number wasn't saved, he knew exactly who it was from. He placed his phone on the bed and simply looked to his ceiling. A deep sight slipped between his lips and a ton of weight lifted from his shoulders.

The message was from Asia. It was regarding everything that had happened last night. All the time he spent with Jaylah made him loose track of reality and the secondary problem at hand. But that's what made her so special to him. She could come swoop him no matter how he felt and she'd always make him feel better. Even then, he had made his decision last night before he'd even fallen to sleep.

Lifting himself up so that he sat on the edge of the bed, he looked down to his hands. Still, this entire day had gone by and not a single word from the enetity that lived within him trying to take over his body. He pulled his hood over his head and reached into his pocket and pulled out the device that was given to him by Asia the night before. *"Welp, you only live once that's the motto niga we YOLO."*

As he pressed the button his body glowed and he appeared within the the underground area that Asia, Sam, and Zerafin occupied. He sat upon the operating bed that he had sat upon the night before and immediately stood to his feet. Sam was at the computer workin on whatever it was he had been tasked to do while Asia and Zerafin stood directly in front of him.

A wide grin sat upon Asia's face as she locked eyes with Michael. "Well, it looks like you do *need* me. I'm glad you came to realize that. So, your school grades and everything do seem to hold up. We may be able to get far."

"Don't take it as nothing like what you think," Michael immediately responded causing Asia to lift her eyebrow. "I ain't here cause you think I need you. I came cause my people ain't boutta be in danger cause some shit they ain't got no control over. That's that and that's it." Michael responded, keeping his reasoning short while also humbling Asia at the same time.

The woman shrugged and turned her back to Michael, walking down the nearby hall "Hmph, what you say." She swung her arm and signaled for Michael to follow and Zerafin held his hand out in an attempt to guide him. "Come along Mike, we'd better get started right now." As instructed, Michael followed behind her down a long hall until they reached a room that was at least four times larger than the room they were just in.

"How the hell is all of this underneath that house?" Michael asked, truly amazed. "And where the fuck did you get all of this sand from? Gah damn, you must've robbed the Gulf of Mexico or somethin'."

Asia laughed as she walked out a bit further from Michael and Zerafin stood right by her side. The scene was set with the both of them as if they were about to face off against Michael in some sort of epic duel. She reached under her jacket and pulled out a clipboard and a pen. "Hm, underneath? We aren't even in that house anymore at all. But, I guess there's nothing more decieving than the eyes I suppose." She sighed and parked the pen between her lips where she used the tip of it to chew on.

"Right, but I wanna get right into this. There's quite a few things we need to get out the way and I don't really like explaining myself at all, so I hope you're listening to everything I'm about to say." She went quiet for a moment and lifted her gaze up from the clipboard before parking it behind her back and looked to Michael who said nothing. This gave her the signal to continue on with whatever it was she intended.

"After a full analysis of everything that's happened with you, I've finally come to quite a few conclusions in my studies. The fact that you turned into a Hollow and back into a Human is something I've definitely never heard of in my life. What's even more unique is that you were able to achieve this without the need of a third party source." Asia nodded her head and let her eyes scan the full being of Michael. "I've concluded that this creation and people will be referred to as Fillers." Asia said, giving a moment for a brief pause before continuing on. "But you're case is even more special because you have a Hollow living inside of you."

Michael blinked rapidly in confusion. "That wasn't as much as I thought it was gone be, but I'm still a lil confused. What the hell is a Filler? Like, you tryna say I ain't Human on some shit and that I'm actually one of these?" All the Hollow talk and what had happened to him was still fresh. Well, at least the details of it all was fresh and a foreign language to him.

"No, see, you'd still be a Human. It's like a sub-species. Thing like how in all technicalities we're all humans. But, for some reason they always call us "African American" or "White". You get what I'm sayin?" Asia stopped and held up one of her fingers. "Okay, think like this. Your friend Dianna is a Fullbringer, but she's still a human. Fullbringers are spiritually-aware Humans, basically like you. Their mother's were attacked by a Hollow when they were in the womb and because of that traces of the Hollows’ power remained in their mothers’ bodies, which were then passed onto them at the moment of their birth. That power is then brought out by an item that they are overly infatuated of attached to. So, in all technicalities, as far as sub-races go you'd be like a cousin to her." She tried explaining.

"Hm," he said, placing his hand on his chin. "That's funny, you know more about her than she does. I'm guessin' there must be more than just her around?"

Asia nodded, "Well of course. Hollow attacks, while rare to be seen, are not a rare occurance. But people who harness those powers are since it's not something that's easy to comeby. You actually need a teacher so I'm guessing whoever is teaching her is quite skilled in it to the point she's able to even pull it off herself."

This information Michael had recieved was new to him and like he said, he was quite comical that Asia had even more information that Dianna did. Yet, once she had begun speaking on it Michael had already decided that he wasn't going to tell Dianna anything. It wasn't his place to speak on something he wasn't told to and wanted to keep whatever reasoning Dianna's grandfather had for not telling her to them two of them to figure out later on in life.

"Well with that out the way, if you turning into a Hollow and back into a Human is completely correct, then I'm sure you can also harness the powers of a Hollow in a much more extreme way than they can." Asia started back up, "Where they can manipulate the souls of things, I'm almost certain you have the same abilities as a Hollow if you actually tried. In fact, you do as evident in the fact that you have regenerative abilities. I don't know if you noticed or not, but you had already already healed when you got here yesterday. The only reason the wound re-opened was because you allowed your mental state to remain in a stressed phase. I'm sure you recall it had stopped bleeding at a point."

She was right and Michael was shocked that she was so right. He remembered it all over again. While he and Dianna had been walking to her house, the wound had already healed up. It wasn't until he got into the car and freaked out that Asia had picked him up that it began to cause him pain again. "Yeah, it was gone. And then you pulled some super duper weird shit and popped up as my Uber driver."

"There's also another ability you've displayed, you just don't know it." She revealed, "It's called Acidic Touch. All those time's you've punced Hollows and actually done damage to them was because of this ability that chipped away at their mask and caused it to shatter. Normally, this only works on Hollows, but I think since you are technically the best of both worlds you're able to effect Hollows and potentially Humans. With all of this in mind and if all of these theories are correct, Mike, you will essentially be able to become a Human who can preform the exact same abilities as a Hollow. Yet, this is only to scratch the surf-"

"A'ight, when do I start?" Michael said, cutting her off.

"Oh?" She was caught off guard, "I don't think you've ever been so anxious since you've met me. I wonder what's gotten into you all of a sudden." She had to ask even though she realized she shouldn't have.

Michael removed his hood from his head, "Cause, I'm payin' attention to what you sayin' and all that. I'm gettin' lost to in all this shit, but I think I understand enough. I feel like if you keep goin' imma be gettin' in too deep. And like I said, I just want to be able to protect these people who ain't got shit to do with none of this. And, I think Emperor is gone so without 'em I'm a sitting duck."

"Ah, well, I can still sense the Hollow powers within you. I'm not sure if that's based solely off of Emperor or you yourself. But," Asia started to chuckle, "I'm glad you've come to the realization that the little gun you were carrying around wasn't gonna keep working. I guess we can begin."

She tapped Zerafin on his shoulder and thought to herself. *"His words were a little more firm. He seems like he's commiting to it already. I've got to see, his enthusiam is there and I love to see it."* She then lifted her finger up and the sandy terrian suddenly began to find itself dropped with large boulders and dunes all around.

"First, we're going to have to get a good gauge at what it is you can do and we'll go from there. Is that fine?" She asked, attempting to ensure it was okay to go further with her attentions. She also wanted to ensure that Michael was full aware of what was going to go on. "You've got about a month to show some sort of progress. You have no practices coming up and we've already set something up to keep your grandmother off of your tail."

Michael smirked, "I thought I already told y'all I was ready. I appreciate you for BUDDING INTO MY PERSONAL LIFE!" He shouted, "But I told you I'm ready."

"Very well then, Zerafin here will be your training partner. The goal of this will simply be to push you to your absolute limits. This ain't nothing like physical conditioning for a sport, it's waaay beyond that so I hope you're ready physically and mentally." She then began to walk away from the two and waved at Zerafin. "Go ahead, Zerafin."

Nodding his head, Zerafin took a respectful bow at Michael. "I will be your training partner, I hope you're ready." The man reached to his hip and drew his sword from its sheathe. "Human or not, I have no intentions of going easy on you."

"I ain't worried about none of that," Michael said back to Zerafin, arrogant as ever, but deep down inside he had no idea what was going to happen from this moment forward. *"He just pulled out a sword. I ain't never seen nobody use no swords since the girl that day.. Oh shit, Dianna too. I mean, they do in those anime I been watchin'- gah! Fuck that."*

Michael reached to his hip and pulled out his trusty gun. He aimed it at Zerafin and let off a barrage of shots at his figure, but he disappeared just moments before either of the bullets could make contact. Through a series of dashes, Zerafin faded in and out of existance, dodging each bullet as he closed in on Michael with his sword up. Flipping the blade over the backside of his hand, he drove the hilt of the blade into Michael's gut which sent the teen spitting on the ground in front of him holding his stomach in great pain.

Removing his hilt from his gut, Zerafin jumped backwards to create a gap between himself and Michael. "I was under the impression that you were at least listening. Miss Asia made it very clear to you that gun of yours will prove useless against Hollows, especially those of higher class. We decided to skip your physical training because she concluded you were fit enough through whatever sports training she spoke of. Would you make a liar out of her."

"Eat a dick." Michael responded, picking himself up off of the ground and wiping his mouth. "I ain't just takin' nobody word who says something won't work unless I try it myself first. You quick as shit, but to be honest, I've seen crazier moves from explosive finishers. I can keep up with you."

Zerafin mentally applauded Michael's charisma. "Oh, then let's test it out then?" He said, vanishing before Michael's eyes and reappearing with his blade's hilt ready to strike him once again. Though, this time, the hit was aimed at the base of his chest. In the same movement, Michael lifted his hand and slapped at Zerafin's wrist swatting his arm away and effectively dodging his arm.

"Damn," he got quick hands. But you've got to be quicker if you want to get in my personal space. Direct turnovers, as far as stealin' the ball from me in a pick pocket manner, ain't happenin'. I know when to shift a dribble move to another to protect the ball. It's the same here, except the ball is my entire body. You might be quick, but I just gotta have my body react before I'm able to see and I'll be straight." Michael said, using his extensive knowledge of basketball to help aid him.

"Very well then," Zerafin commended, "Let's kick this up a notch then.

For well over three hours the duo fought and where Michael had originally assumed he'd figured Zerafin out, he revealed his hand and a new trick to gain the upper hand and absolutely dominate Michael instead. His chest had two long cuts across the front signifying that at some point throughout their training Zerafin had managed to actually land a blow. There were traces of old blood resting among his chest, but his wounds had managed to close for the most part and the bleeding was no more.

*"He's actually learning faster than I thought,"* Asia said, looking down to her clipboard where she had written the progress of the training so far. *"I mean, I knew he wouldn't be able to keep up with Zerafin, but he is now able to remain level headed in order to keep his regeneration at its maximum potential."*

"In all this time you've only been able to hit me twice, I suggest you try a bit harder." Said Zerafin almost as if he had been taunting Michael to attack him. Taking a step forward, Zerafin dashed around through the use of his high-speed movement technique leaving a small music-like sound behind as he moved to try and keep Michael at bay and on his toes. "This is it." He said, appearing above Michael's head with his sword lifted with a single hand read to slash him along the side of his face and end the training session for the day.

Teeth grit, he leaned back in an attempt to dodge, but the blade had been longer than he anticipated and found his ear slashed along the edge. Jumping back and skidding, Michael reached for his ear in pain before slowly picking his gaze back up to Zerafin.

"I think that will be all for today, go down the hall and rest. We'll continue this tomrrow." Asia insisted, pointing down the hall.

"Damn and I think I was just figurin' some shit out. I probably wasn't, but it was gonna be worth the try." Michael held his ear with his hand, blood slid down his arm. He didn't give any back talk to Asia. Instead, he headed down the hall she designated for him to travel down with a box of thoughts for himself in the upcoming night.

Asia's gaze followed Michael as he walked away, "There's a shower and a fridge with food in your room!" She shouted, holding her hands over her mouth, cuppoing around her lips in an attempt to add more bass to her voice.

"Well, Zerafin.." She said, looking to the man. "How was he?"

"Uh, good. A bit better than I expected." He responded, "Though, I do think while we told him we wouldn't go through physical training, he didn't really take this as serious as he could have cause he still felt as though it was."

Asia nodded her head in agreement, "Yeah, I figured that too. I should have never told him that it was going to be just some light training. For him, it was a mental game, he didn't take anything too serious. He knew the attacks wouldn't be anything too heavy to harm him and relied a lot on his regeneration abilities." She began to slide her finger down the clipboard, "I am glad you decide to start to injure him. He's starting to get a level head already, keeping himself under control enough for at least his healing to take its proper course of action. Tomorrow, I think we should step it up a bit. It's time we get him to develop more techniques that'll be practical for battle. I want you to go all in and reveal you guys' special abilities."

"Yes ma'am."

## Power Up

"A'ight," Michael said, stretching out his legs the next morning in their same training room as earlier. He still wore his hoodie and jack track uniform, it was comfortable and his go to clothing when Jaylah wasn't forcing him to get dressed for their pictures. Before him stood Zerafin and over on a nearby hill was Asia. He was already aware that they would be training today and he wanted to get right into it. Yesterday he was left off on a cliffhanger, claiming he had finally figured Zerafin out.

He cycled through a series of push-ups, sit ups, and suicides running up and down the sand. "I gotta say this though, I appreciate this sand bein' hear." Michael said, running up and down for his final drill. "It's givin' me leg strength lowkey and that'll be useful later. You gotta think about how fast Imma' be on the court when all this over with." He said, wrapping up his drill and lifting his arms on top of his head to allow his lungs to open wider.

"I'm glad you like it," Asia commented, her clipboard was now replaced by some sort of tablet. "I'm not sure how, but your base stats have all been raised to an enhanced level. It's not just the training you did with Zerafin yesterday that got you there either, it's also these drills you're putting yourself under. I think today is the perfect day to ramp things up, right."

Asia crossed one of her legs over the other and continued to tap onto the tablet. "I won't be really training you today, but I should go ahead and tell you that the one month free priod you thought you were going to have has sort of been cut down a bit. Maybe, I'm not too sure yet. I'll have to really look into it." She sighed, "Looking into people's private life sure is more difficult than fighting Hollows. You guys are all weird here." She said, laughing at her own comment.

"Then how 'bout you stop being fuckin' weird and lookin' into my shit." Michael said, cursing out at Asia. "Anyway, it don't matter. Imma have this shit down way before a month is over. I ain't sayin' I'mma master the art, but fasho it's gone be usable." Again, he began to stretch his limbs out before turning his gaze to Zerafin.

Bending over to touch his toes and extend his muscles, Michael continued to speak. "Speakin' of that shit, I got a question Asia." Michael started, causing the woman to lift an eyebrow. "Yesterday it was buggin' me a bit, but I guess after the session I had and being around the both of y'all I was able to finally figure some shit out. I remember you mentioning that I've got like some Hollow energy or some shit, I don't know. My boy Zerafin over there got the same type of feeling, but yours different. But, it ain't the same as like my grandma's who as a human."

Lips curving upward, the dark-skinned woman smile. "Oh, so you can distinguish between various types of spirit energy. I see, we had something in line to have you decipher those, but I suppose that won't even be needed anymore. But, I think I truly understand what you're asking and its best that Zerafin explains that to you."

"Yeah," Michael said, "I'm ready now."

Zerafin stepped closer, "I'd like to applaud you for being able to deduce and figure out that the two of us have the same signature of energy. Well, that's because." Zerafin tied his hair up into a high ponytail revealing his right eye to be covered by a piece of the mask that was along the side of his face. But, rather than an eyelid, eye socket, and eye ball, there was nothing but a black hole. He then undid the zipper on his top, allowing the upper portion of his chest to show revealig a hole right in the middle.

Confusion struck the teen. The only thing that seemed to have filled him with since he met Asia. "Wait.. so... you're a Filler?" Michael asked, "That mask too, I knew it was way too similiar to what I had seen."

"Incorrect," Zerafin answered. "I am not a Human whatsoever. Instead, I am a full born Hollow which was created because I was unable to be saved. However, unlike those Hollows who feast on Humans and Pluses or ghosts as you've been calling them, I feast upon Hollows themselves and have achieved a level higher. I am an Arrancar."

"Area car?" Michael repeated, getting the name that Zerafin had just said completely incorrect. "Evolution? If I ain't trippen, Emperor said something about needing to eat Hollows so that he could evolve or some shit or maintain his evolution I don't really understand it."

"It's not something you need to concern yourself with understanding, Michael. For what we have for you to learn for the follow days will simply be harnessing the power of us Hollows so that it can be employed into battle." Without warning, Zerafin dashed at Michael through a sound of stepping before almost completely disappearing and appearing behind Michael.

Saliva swallowing, Michael left his back straight up against Zerafin's his speed had completely caught him off guard and Zerafin had already placed his blade around the teen's neck. "He wasn't that fast yesterday, what the fuck was that just happen?"

"I'm assuming you're attempting to calculate why all of a sudden I've moved faster?" Zerafin asked, "Well, that's because yesterday was just a warm-up. I though Ms. Asia had already told you that? Today, I'll be showing you techniques that you'll need to figure out how to use. Right there, that was my Sonido. A high-speed movement technique of the Arrancar." A boom could be heard as Zerafin utilized the technique once again to return to his previous position.

He pull his sword down to his side, "Now are you ready?"

Sweat trinkled down the side of Michael's face. He looked to Zerafin looking to get answers other than explaining the technique, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. Instead, he prepared himself for what the day would hold to him.

For a total of twelve hours, the duo trained. Though, unlike yesterday, things seems to have been kicked up a notch. Michael did what he could to dodge and manuever, using punches that would deal damage through his actual control of his acidic touch but it was nothing that could truly phase Zerafin. He had concluded throughout the training of today, Zerafin was much stronger than any Hollow he had faced so far. There was a great gap in their power, yet he refused to give up.

What made Michael so different from anyone else who would have been apart of this, was that he had been in situations like this before. Sure he had never been trained by a super natural being before or had no idea what this was three months ago, but he had been faced against people much greater than him on the court. He had already been bred and trained to face situations like this. Only this time, they were a lot more bloody and serious. And.. it involved weapons with his life on the line.

"Huff, Huff," Michael breathed heavily, "Shit," blood trinkled all over his body as his wounds were as open as ever. Blood fell off the edge of Zerafin's blade as the two stood off against each other. "H-How," he continued to try and breathe, "The hell am I supposed to attack you and deal actual damage?" Michael said, almost asking for a way out.

*"Shit, I got his fightin' style down, but my body can't react fast enough to his sonitoe or whatever the fuck that shit called!"*

The following day they prepared for more training. It was the samething, high powered training to help try and get Michael to understand what he needed to manifest in order to gain the power he needed to protect. Zerafin slashed at Michael continiously leaving wounds all across his body. At the rate their training session had gone, Michael's body had become a canvas for Zerafin's wildest imaginations. Though he kept up trying to truly understand what it was he was supposed to be obtaining, his mind had been too focused on it and his wounds hadn't even been healing anymore.

Michael dashed at Zerafin who blocked his strike, causing the young man to slide back across the sand. Zerafin parked his blade over his shoulder and looked to Michael. "It's been two days and you haven't seemed to even start to develop a technique for anything." He then turned to face Asia with the look of disappointment. "Ms. Asia, would you mind if we skipped the rest of this? I don't think he's even understanding." He then put his gaze back to Michael. "He can't even keep himself focused enough to even heal his injuries."

"You're kinda right," Asia said, forcing Michael to stand up in shock. "I mean, Michael, just fighting him isn't going to help with other things such as techniques. You have to use your mind a bit more, treat it like actual sports." Asia tried helping. "I think its best we end for the day."

"No!" Michael shouted, struggling to stand back to his feet. "I ain't leaving till this is done. We still got four hours of the session left. Come on!" He was stern, hardheaded and most importantly strong willed. Blood splat across his chest, but he remained solid and managed to get himself back up to his feet. "Zerafin, let's go."

Head nodding at Asia, Zerafin clenched the handle of his blade. "You are right, we may have no agreement on how long we train each day, but I can see that you've been keeping track over the course of the week that we have. I commend you for that and here's your gift, stepping it up once again."

Eyes bucked, he gripped his chest and began to slow his breathing. His regenerative abilities returned to him and began to close his wounds everso slightly, but the pain was still there. "Step it up again, what you mean?" Michael huffed and puffed trying to keep his breath composed.

"That's the thing, we haven't ever touched where we need to be. I honestly believe the lady has too much faith in you." Zerafin confirmed arrogantly, "I'll show you exactly why we need to stop for now and have you rethink everything." Hand lifting, Zerafin pointed towards Michael. He began to concentrate spiritual energy at the tip of his finger until a black orange-tinted sphere of energy formed at the tip.

In that moment, for the first time, Michael's heart dropped as the feeling of fear slowly infiltrated his body. His eased up on his expression and took a step back as if he intended to stand down from Zerafin. "What the fuck is that?" He asked, his other foot moving back to create the gap he was looking for. "Oh, no..."

"Cero," Zerafin said, releasing the concentrated energy from the tip of his finger in the form of a large beam that came hurling towards Michael who was simply stiff from shock. The beam closed in and Michael was far too tired and caught off guard to do anything about it before the resulting explosion swallowed his body in a dramatic scene.

The smoke, dust, and debris cleared away revealing the unharmed body of Michael. His heart pounded and and head thumped. *"W-W-What was that... I thought I was dead."*

Zerafin stepped closer to make until he was within arms reach. He walked further to Michael and stood right by his side. "You have to stop trying to observe your opponent and figure out a counter attack. Or, if you are going to go with that strategy, you need to do it much quicker. Three days to try and develop a counter attack is way to long. That's not even effective in battle, you'll die before that even happens. It's like you are choosing to treat this differently, because your life isn't on the line."

Michael bit his lip and looked away. There was nothing he had to say against Zerafin because he knew every word the Arrancar had uttered was every bit of true. "Okay, you right, big deal. Still won't help with what I'm tryna do though."

"It will, because rather than focus on counter attacking, how about you focus on what this whole part of the training is even about. You're supposed to be developing techniques, Michael." Zerafin reminded Michael again. Everything he had been doing, while not wrong on the base, was wrong for what he was instructed to do. "That is why I felt this was all a waste of time."

The teen didn't even bother to life his head. It seemed like every time that Zerafin opened his mouth he had more facts to spit regarding this whole situation. *"It's even worse, 'cause I thought by now Emperor would've been and came back. Is he gone?"* Then Michael paused and stomped his foot, *"Wait, I'm trippen, I can't be worried about that. That's the point of all of this. Gaah damn I'm trippen. I'm trippen. I'm trippen."*

"Look, do this," Zerafin lifted his finger up. "I want you to gather all your energy as if you're straining and focus it at the tip of your finger. Remember, if you command it, your spiritual energy will materlize exactly where you want it to." Again, the brown-hued energy blast formed at the tip of his finger before he fired it off into the distance like he had done at Michael.

His eyes didn't leave Zerafin not even for a second. He watched the man do everything he had done and through a closer observation of spiritual sensing, he could follow the fact that the Arrancar had gathered his spiritual energy into the tip of his finger. He closed his eyes, lifted his hand and pointed his finger. He stood tall much like Zerafin and even mimicked the being's pose as well. He closed his eyes and continued to point, focused every fiber of his being into the point of his finger where he managed to generate his concetrated spirit energy at the tip before it sparked into thin air.

"Fuck!" He cursed, dropping his hand down. "How can I pull this off? I've got to.. this is the closest I've gotten to anything all damn day!"

Both Asia and Zerafin raised there brows as they looked to Michael. Asia looked down at her tablet and nodded while tapping against it inputing new information. "I see, so when something is foreign to him, he learns better by example rather than being thrown into a pit. I can respect that."

"That is great, Michael." Zerafin said, sheating his sword and turning his back as he made his way towards the end of the desert. "Please, listen when I say this. I don't intend that our training is ending simply because you aren't preforming well. I am ending it because I want you to show me all of this tomorrow. Have a great sleep, Michael." And like that, the Arrancar was gone and Asia follow behind him with not a word to the teen.

Where they were under the assumption that Michael had been sleeping over night, he had returned to the training area alone. He was there for over fire hours, training in an attempt to control the techniques he was under the impression to learn. It was a mental game more than it was a physical one and Michael slowly began to pick that up. He didn't know why he abandoned this physiology throughout the two weeks he had spent with Asia and Zerafin so far, but the whole situation ended up forcing him to view things differently. He needed to return to his roots and as such he did.

The first hour was his own physical training. Then, the remaining were working on his own movement and techniques that would allow him to meet with Zerafin. He may not have had a training partner, but all he needed were the techniques. He needed to get the basis of what he wanted to do down first and he would get to the training partner the next day. Speed and footwork was what he though he needed and as such he worked on that more than anything. He needed to be able to outmanuever Zerafin and simple sprints like in a competitive sport simply wasn't going to do the trick no matter how much wider he opened his lungs.

His training for the next fews days had been canceled so that his body and mind could heal, but that only gave him the motivation to continue his solo sessions. After that, the remaining time, he focused on trying to impose the Cero technique that was utilized by Zerafin. He attempted to gather his spiritual energy at the tip of the finger but everytime he tried, his attack would disperse. What could he have been doing so wrong all of this time that wasn't working for him and did for the Arrancar. He knew he had the potential to utilize the technique, otherwise it wouldn't even manifest.

"Shit," Michael said out loud, panting as his entire upper body clothing had been soaking wet in sweat. He hadn't stopped training for more than thirty six hours. "What is it he's doing that I ain't?" He asked himself, lifting his finger in an attempt to fire off another only to fail. He invisioned Zerafin's use of the technique once again like the replay of a video and that's when it hit him.

"Is it cause he knows what he's doing?" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He lifted both of his arms up in front of himself and then cupped them. The energy began to gather at the palm of his cupped hands in the form of a black circle sphere that started to grow in size progressively. Rather than gather and immediately fire the blast off like Zerafin did, he took his time and concentrated it all around. Unlike the Cero utilized by the Arrancar, the sphere he created was much large in that it sat in the middle of both of his hands. He then took his hands and pulled them down to the left side of his hip where the black sphere began outlined by a purple glow.

A week later, Michael appeared back in the training area with Zerafin and Asia. Asia was already in her position on top of her favorite seating spot, but she noticed there was something much more different about Michael. Though he stood in silence, he seemed much more relaxed and calm then normal. He still preformanced his normal stretches, but he did so with a great look of confidence.

*"Hm, it's something different..."* She thought to herself, eyes locking onto his figure.

"I'm ready to get started. No need to get gradually about anything." Michael said to Zerafin, "I ain't tryna bullshit around, I wanna get down to business. *We* missed to many days of training as it is."

Zerafin sighed and drew his blade from the bounds of its sheath. "I hope your arrogance will hold up to your development." Zerafin dashed forward through the use of Sonido to get back Michael for yet another surprise attack. This was his favorite thing to do. It was something he knew Michael would struggle to keep up with cause the teen was always so focused on the attack that was going to follow.

However, this time was much different. Michael's mind was void of all of the former things that held him back from their previous training. In the same manner that Zerafin disappeared to reveal himself as Michael's blindside, Michael did the exact same to appear at Zerafin's with his fist out. Zerafin found himself off guard by Michael's sudden increase in speed and before he could react properly, he was pushed back by the force of Michael's strike at his side.

His breaths were non existant and Zerafin immediately picked up on that. "Now that was surprising." Zerafin said, holding his side before standing back up to his feet to fix his stance. "It seems you've managed to pick up on that technique and your speed isn't just focused on running and reacting fast. I see."

"Yeah," Michael confirmed, "You can say something like that, but I don't think it fundamentally works the same. I ain't got time for the spanish pronounciation, so I'm just calling this the **Body Flicker**" Michael explained, "And I see that whole fist shit ain't gone work. But, I think I've got something." He then used his high speed movement once again to appear behind Zerafin like he had done him so many times before. He placed his fingers together as if they were a blade and slashed at Zerafin's side in an attempt to cut through his skin as if he too had been using a sword.

Zerafin leaned back and tapped his foot on the ground releasing a boom-like sound which allowed him to escape the blunt of Michael's range just barely. The side of his jack and skin slit open and blood slowly leaked along his uniform and soaked it. "I think I'm starting to understand. You changed your fighting style, huh?"

All while this had been unfolding, Asia couldn't help but be taken back. She tapped on her tablet with swiftness inputting the new data from the display of skills. "That Body Flicker technique... that isn't Sonida at all," Asia confirmed, still pressing against her tablet. "I knew I wasn't wrong, but I needed to see him use it again. What he's doing is creating--no--emitting bursts spiritual pressure around his body to virtually push himself forward so fast that his body appears to simply flicker." Asia quickly finished up typing what she had gathered, "But when the hell did he get that down? He hasn't trained for about two weeks-"

She stopped her own words, "So, *that* was what that noise was."

"I told you we can skip the extra build up shit right, well," Michael squatted and lifted his hands up in front of himself then cupped them against each other. "Let's get straight into it," A black circle sphere that started to grow in size progressively. He then took his hands and pulled them down to the left side of his hip where the black sphere began outlined by a purple glow. Thrusting them forward he shouted, "**Dark Pulse**!" As the concentrated black and purple-tinted reiryoku shot from his hands in the form of a straight beam towards Zerafin and swallowing him up the same way he had swallowed Michael up.

The resulting explosion shook the entire training area. All of the sand kicked up into the air and clouded the entire area even Asia was no foreigner to its waste."That technique!" She said, "It was much like a Cero, but it definitely had its own spin to it. Seems like he's done it."

As the explosion greated a violent gust of wind, Michael's jacket fluttered in the wind and so did his hair. He looked forward, straight ahead and kept his gaze on Zerafin's form who had taken the brute force of the attack himself, emerging with skid and burn markings and open wounds that increased his bleeding.

"I'd thought you would have dodged." Michael said.