Age 1991Hero collapsed to the floor with a loud sigh as he fell back.
Max stared down at the boy with a small frown.
"So." He began his face becoming a small smirk as he stared back at his rival. "You want me to tell you about Mantra?" He questioned.
"Yeah." Hero said giving an annoyed nod. "I"m tired of fighting a guy, and then boom! He busts out that white aura c.r.a.p and kicks my b.u.t.t! It is so unfair!"
Max let out a chuckle as he folded his arms. "I can see how... But before I tell you. I have to ask. Isn"t your Squad out on a mission?"
"Yeah, but they don"t need me?" Hero said casually.
"That isn"t exactly what I meant," Max said slowly. "I mean. You have your own Squad training room? And a bunch of people around your level that you could train with. Why did you ask me?"
"Uhh..." Hero"s silver eyes darted around for a second as he tried to come up with an answer. "Oh hey! Umm... Where are your other Squadmates?"
"Oh. They"re in the other training rooms?"
"You guys have more than one!"
"Yeah. We have like... Fifty?"
"What!"
"Yeah. Squad One doesn"t go on a lot of missions, since it is designed as a last resort. Our Squad is one of the strongest. So whenever we aren"t on those rare missions, we sit around and train. Our Vice-Captain makes us train like crazy."
"Have you seen the first Captain?"
"Nah," Max said sighing. "No one has. But that"s normal. The last Squad Captain, Okami Otoko, your Grandfather, was only seen a few times himself. Wait! That isn"t important. Why are you here?"
Hero folded his arms as he let out a small sigh. "Okay. You got me. So basically... Well..." He scratched his head as he gave a small sheepish laugh. "So. I"m kind of avoiding Ken." He stated.
"Is that the small girl?"
"Yeah."
"Why? What did you do?"
"Why do you a.s.sume I did something wrong!"
"...What did you do?"
Hero let out another sigh. "Well. I thought we got past it... But... Well..." He said in a slightly awkward tone. "She kept giving me those weird vibes."
"Weird vibes?"
"Yeah you know. Where they keep flirting with you. They don"t stop looking at you. They keep trying to place their hands all over you? You know the usual weird vibes that happen with girls."
"What?"
"I just kept getting these vibes off of her. So I kind of did a stupid, and flat out told her, that I already have someone who I"m in love with, and I"m not into short girls, and maybe she should look for someone else to love..."
"Oh... How"d that go?"
"She threw me out a window."
"Who"d you suggest she should love?"
"Kitsune."
"Yeah, I"d throw you out of a window to. That was stupid of you."
"Why does everyone keep saying that..." Hero muttered. He shook his head getting back on track. "Anyways. I don"t think she hates me. I also don"t think she ever really loved me. I just didn"t want to hurt her. I already have a girlfriend. She doesn"t know she"s my girlfriend yet."
"That"s creepy..."
"So after I told Ken, North I think tried to comfort her or something? Anyways they both seem mad at me now, so I"ve been avoiding them ever since that happened."
"Wow. You messed up."
"Don"t remind me." Hero sighed out. "Will, you just tell me about that Mantra stuff?"
"Oh yeah sure. I should do that huh?"
"Yeah." Hero said giving a nod. "I really am getting tired of that c.r.a.p popping up." He sighed out.
Max slowly brought his hands together in a prayer gesture. "So Hero. Tell me. Do you believe in G.o.d?"
"What? I mean I guess. They say G.o.d made the world. And G.o.d gave us our powers and stuff?" He said shrugging.
"Well. That was before we knew what this power was. I personally don"t believe in the person we call G.o.d. I believe there is something more but I highly doubt that a man like that existed." Max stated giving a slight smirk. A white aura covered his body as he brought his hands apart. It crackled around him as heat began to roll off of his body. "This. Is Mantra. The Equation Of Life. A power of endless evolution." He announced.
"Endless evolution?" Hero asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. I"m sure you"ve heard about Enhancement."
"Yeah. We get stronger and stronger as we fight right?"
"Yes. That comes from this." Max stated. "The Equation Of Life is a power that leads to many abilities. With it, we are able to evolve again and again and again. That is why when two SuperHumans have a kid, that child will almost always have more potential than the parents. However. On the flipside, this power is our greatest weakness. When a bunch of SuperHuamans stop fighting for years, and then have kids, those kids will be weaker. If there is no need for us to evolve past our limits, then our race will slowly break down and devolve."
"Oh. That isn"t good."
"You think? It is pretty tricky. We need to kill the Bestia Macht, so our race can survive. But we need the Bestia Macht, to fight us, our race can keep living. The Normal Humans are a by-product of people who stopped fighting."
"Wait so if I don"t fight I"ll become a frogman!"
"What? No. Don"t be stupid." Max hit the boy over the head. "That isn"t how evolution works. If you don"t fight for your entire life, and then have kids, those kids will be weaker. You yourself won"t start to devolve."
"Oh, that"s good."
"However. We can evolve."
"Wait but you said that isn"t how evolution works-"
"I know what I said! It"s magic get off my back, it doesn"t need to make sense!"
"That just seems like an excuse-"
"Smack!"
"Oww!"
Max hit the boy over the head once again as he folded his arms. "Now shut up and listen! Mantra can allow us to power up past our limits. It can also allow us to enter a new form called Evolucionar. This form boost our body, Mantra, and Attribute to its limit, then breaks that limit, unlocking a new power beyond anything most people have seen."
"Whoa. Cool."
"Yeah, it is! I"ve almost reached my Evolucionar!"
"You have?"
"Do you remember that lavlike armor form I went into. That is like a Evolucionar. Not exactly though. It is more like I am on the edge of reaching Evolucionar."
"Cool."
Max stared down at his hands as his white aura went out once again. "Other than that I really don"t know a lot. Most people don"t. I"m sure there are more things to learn but progress has been slow."
"How do you unlock Mantra?" Hero asked.
"I don"t know?"
"What!"
"What? You think if we knew, we would withhold that? No. Every Enforcer would have Mantra then. The truth is no one really knows. The best we can do is when you reach a certain point, of level of power, you can unlock it. Or it can come at a time of need. I have no idea how to unlock it."
"How"d you unlock yours?"
"I"m a genius. I was born with it."
"Oh..."
"You should remember my name Hero. Max. I will be the first commoner. No. Less than a commoner. I will be the first street rat to become an Emperor. I lived on the streets my whole life, but I am destined for more. I am a pure genius. A boy born with G.o.dlike potential, who trains harder than anyone else! I will become the Squad One Captain, then make them recognize me, then I will rise up and become the Red Emperor!" He announced loudly.
"Oh cool."
Max let out a small laugh as he folded his arms. "Well." He said bringing his hands back up. "You should get back up Hero." He said.
"What why?"
"Our training isn"t done yet."
"It isn"t no?"
"No! Now get back up and fight me! A Seraphin can evolve at a tremendous rate. I"ll fight you until you evolve, then force myself to evolve past you!"
"Oh! Okay?"