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<-= |Chapter 3| =->

Building Bonds

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                  Sobek cleaved its weapon down the head of the pyramid warrior Wonder. However Wonder simply stepped to his side, letting the axe head land on his most armored side. The axe didn’t even make a gash let alone a dent. There was a shocked expression on Sobek’s face (as shocked as a crocodile can seem). Wonder hadn’t even flinched from the blow. He unsheathed from his back an executioner’s sword with the blade resembling the shape of a chisel. Both hands gripped the heavy blade firmly as he smashed Sobek’s chin with the sword’s pommel. The crocodile staggered back a distance, but only for Wonder to step in and deliver a cleave across its chest.
                  “He’s got an exceptional armor rating,” Axel commented as he looked back and forth from the battle and his phone screen. “Pretty good strength as well. Pretty sturdy base form for a brawler.”
                  The crocodile wiped blood off its jaw and placed a hand, or rather a fist, over its wound. A crimson liquid slowly seeps out of the wound like lava from a volcano’s side. It snarled and set itself to a wide stance. Then it tossed the axe with an ungodly amount of strength, sending it somersaulting across the air fervently.
                  “Not good enough!” Wonder shouted.
                  He twisted his body as he slashed at the flying weapon. The blade intercepted and completely knocked it out of the air. A single hefty sweep knocked it towards Axel’s direction. Whizzing through the air and lodging itself in the trunk below him.
                  “Bloody fuck!” Axel shouted. He jumped in surprise when the axe hit the tree. He almost dropped his phone. “This guy has no regard does he!? Then again, he doesn’t even know I’m here. But if not me someone else could’ve gotten hit.”
                  Wonder heard Axel’s shouting and looked over to where the axe had landed. However he didn’t see anyone. He assumed that the person in question was running away.
                  “Oh, crap. I’m sorry!” Wonder shouted, hoping the person at least heard that. He began to bow a few times, despite the person not being “here”. “I need to watch where I hit…”
                  Given that Wonder didn’t comment about Axel being in a tree or the fact that he cursed in English, he assumed Wonder only said that out of nature and didn’t know where he was.
                  Sobek took this moment of distraction to charge at Wonder. The ankh in its right hand began to be surrounded by jets of water, circling it in a corkscrew fashion. It thrusts the ankh into the unaware Wonder’s stomach. The water explodes and Wonder was shot a fair ways backwards, tumbling in the grass and leaving small scraps of himself in the dirt until the momentum died and he lay flat on the ground.
                  “Oh, geez,” he wheezed. “That wasn’t very good…”
                  Wonder tried to pick himself up from the dirt. With no time to get the axe, Sobek charges at Wonder again, jaws open to bite and the ankh charges once again with water. Wonder pulls out a scroll, similar to the one on his belt driver. He swapped the scroll as quick as he can, and like before he pulled the lever, opening the scroll.

“¿Jardínes? ¡Muy Bien!”

                  Like before, a huge scroll orbits him. Though this time, Wonder’s body was wrapped around by vines and flowers and engulfed him as opposed to being sculpted like before. Sobek lands it’s water-charged fist into the botanical shell, but the attack had no effect on it. Surprised, Sobek took a step back. But as it did, several large vines spring out of the ground behind it and shoot towards Sobek and wrap around its body like a snake squeezing life out of its prey. Sobek struggled in its constraints, trying to free itself from the earth. It seems that it wasn’t expecting plant life to be so strong.
                  Wonder emerges standing from the vine shell that covered his body, and the vines themselves quickly sank back into the earth. The large scroll then wraps around the same arm as it did before and morphs into accompanying armor. The sun shines upon Wonder, glistening his new form to the crocodile.
                  He looked relatively the same by shape to his previous form. However his armor took a drastic change from the robustness of the last one. Green became a prevalent color of his armor and was adorned with smooth grooves. Smooth marble-like plating laid over the botanical green in segments, particularly on the arm. The pyramid shoulder was replaced with marble pillars cluttered together. A transparent silk tasset hangs off his waist which moved to the slightest touch of the wind. Around his arm, the chisel sword was replaced with a thorny vine instead.
                  “How do you like that!?” Wonder shouted at Sobek.
                  He swung his arm and the vines quickly extended outwards and lashed Sobek’s chest, adding more cuts to the previous gaping wound. The crocodile can only struggle in response to the pain; it can’t do much when restricted. Wonder lashed at the crocodile a few more times like a whip in quick succession. Thorns tearing off Sobek’s skin and bits of its flesh off its body with each swing.
                  Rip.
                  Tear.
                  Shred.
                  The sound of the vines made a rhythm for Wonder to pace his swings too. Sobek tossed and kicked as each swing ripped into its body in rapid successions. Its blood flayed into the air at the end of each lash.
                  “Fancy,” Axel commented. “So he can change forms, not very surprising though. Majority of Riders change forms nowadays. This one seems unique though. Can’t think of any Riders with forms that use extra appendages right off the bat.”
                  The ankh in Sobek’s hand began to charge with water again. However, Sobek stopped squirming in the vine restraints. It had no more energy to fight back. The vines lost their grip and Sobek fell to his knees on the grassy floor. Blood seeping from his multitude of wounds dripped on the botanical blades. Its breathing was heavy, but it slowly began to diminish.
                  “Now, for the finish!” Wonder shouted.
                  He swapped out the scroll with the previous one.

“¿Pirámides? ¡Muy Bien!”

                  Wonder went back to the Egyptian-esque form he had started out in. But then, he closed the scroll in his belt driver and immediately reopened it fervently. The voice would shout something different this time.

“¿Ultimo? ¡Claro que sí!”

                  Suddenly, bricks in the color of sand began to rise from the ground Sobek. They rose quickly up to his midriff and then instantly converged on him and constricting the crocodile once again. Though this time his torso isn’t restricted, it was his legs. A large scroll appeared to orbit Wonder once more. He leaped high into the air and the scroll began to spiral around him faster. Ringing around his body at an accelerating speed as Wonder came down with a kick towards Sobek. The scroll then began to spiral around his kicking leg so fast it became a drill. But, just as Wonder was about to pierce through Sobek, the crocodile threw a punch with the water-charged ankh. The water jets soar and bash into Wonder’s head, disorienting him and redirecting the kick to hit the bricks instead.
                  The impact of the kick caused an explosion. Chunks of the brick were blasted into the air. A couple of them whizzed past the journalist in the tree. But one of them hit him straight on the chest and he fell out of his hiding place and landed back first onto the ground.
                  “Ow!” Axel exclaimed as he rubbed his back. “Fucking bastard is mental!” Axel tried to pick himself back up, but he found it difficult since he fell pretty hard.
                  The blast shot Sobek backwards all the way back into the lake from which it came. A large splash followed after its entry. But afterwards, the water became still. No bubbles, no ripples.
                  Wonder stood back up from the failed finisher. He ran over to the edge of the lake, trying to find signs of Sobek. But to no avail.
                  “ARRGGH!” Wonder ruffled his head in a bit of a panic. “I lost him! Professor Umar’s gonna have my head if he finds out Sobek is still loose! Whatdoidowhatdoidowhatdoidowhatdoido…”
                  Wonder began to pace back and forth while repeating himself silently. During that time, he closed the scroll and took off the driver. The Egyptian form crumbled like a collapsing statue until Wonder was back to his human appearance. Then his eye caught a certain journalist trying to pick himself up not too far away. A chill ran down Wonder’s spine. Was he there the whole time? Did he see him transform? These questions filled him with dread, as he didn’t want his identity to be exposed, let alone his face.
                  “Oh no,” he muttered. “Oh boy… I’m so very dead… Wait, I might be overthinking,” he rubbed his fingers, trying to find peace of mind. “Maybe he was just caught up in the explosion. Yeah, that’s it. He could’ve just been running away. Yeah. Though he looks kinda roughed up. I should go help him.”
                  He stashed away his driver and then ran over to Axel and tried to help him back up.
                  “Excuse me sir,” Wonder took him by the arm and hoisted him up. “Are you okay? Nothing broken?”
                  “OW!” As Axel was brought up to a stand, a shock of small pain jolted in his back. He winced, but was more or less fine. “Yeah, I’m okay,” Axel switched languages on a dime. “A large rock hit me as I was walking by. Kids these days don’t know respect do they?” Axel laughed.
                  “Heh heh,” Wonder chuckled, "yeah… kids…” Wonder then took a good look at the journalist. Right away, he could tell that the man wasn’t from around here.
                  “Hey,” Wonder said. “You’re a tourist, right? Your Japanese is actually pretty good.” He was amazed at how fluent it was.
                  “Huh? Oh, yeah, thank you.” Axel bowed lightly to him. “I frequent this country a lot for my work, so I just picked it up naturally.”
                  “Oh yeah? What is it that you do?”
                  “I’m a journalist. I’m here to get some stories to share back to England. We got quite a few people interested in the happenings around here.”
                  “Oh, that’s pretty neat. To think that there are people out there interested in our news and stuff. And I guess you get to see some pretty wild stuff for you too. Me, I’m just a highschool teacher. The only interesting thing I get to see is how many forms of spitballs fly across the classroom.” Wonder scratched the back of his head, a bit ashamed of his current status in his career.
                  “Yeah, it can get pretty bizarre sometimes,” Axel would try a certain play. He needed information on Wonder without being involved as a Rider. And he knew just how he was going to do it.
                  “Speaking of which, I caught word of a certain… vigilante, as the people call it. A figure of an Egyptian design going around the city defeating creatures and defending the populace. Know anything about that?”
                  Rather than playing subtle, his words made implication to Wonder that he saw Wonder revert back into a human form. Exactly as he wanted.
                  There was sweat dripping down Wonder’s forehead. His legs shaking and his lips trembled. There was a fear in the back of his mind, the fear of being found out.
                  “N-N-No…” Wonder stuttered while nervously rubbing his arm. “I-I don’t know anything about that…”
                  “Oh really?” Axel stepped forward, closing in to Wonder’s face.
                  “R-Really. There’s nothing goin’ on around here. Just, same old boring day.” Wonder let out a nervous chuckle.
                  “What’s your name, mister teacher?”
                  “U-Uh, D-Daichi. Daichi T-Takeda…”
                  “Okay,” Axel switched back to English, “Mr. Takeda.” Then switched back to Japanese. “Then tell me. Why are you shaking?”
                  Daichi noticed his body trembling slightly when he brought it up. Naturally, he tried to calm himself so he could pass it off as something else. But in the back of his mind, he knew that he had been compromised to even try to play coy.
                  “Well?” Axel took a step closer while Daichi took one back. “Go on. Spill it. You know something don’t you?”
                  Then a stroke of dumb briliance hit Daichi’s head. An idea.
                  “Um, mister journalist, can I ask you something?” Daichi asked in a shaken voice. But he had a bright smile on his face as he looked Axel eye to eye.
                  “What is it?” Axel responds.
                  “How fast can you run?”
                  “Wait, what?” Axel tilted his head in confusion.
                  At that very moment, Daichi immediately turned the other way and broke out into a very fast sprint away from the journalist. Axel blinked a couple of times, perplexed on the reaction that had just taken place. Then he just realized, Daichi is getting away. So then he too broke out running and chased after him down the sidewalk.
                  “WAIT!” Axel shouted,” I NEED ANSWERS!”
                  “YOU’LL GET NOTHING FROM ME!” Daichi shouted back.
                  It took around thirty minutes of running around the city, screaming at each other like chimpanzees that got a hold of human underwear. There were very questionable stares from people who witnessed a Japanese and a British man on a wild goose chase with each other, both howling at the top of their lungs. Daichi would power through obstacles by running through them trying to get away from Axel. Daichi would stop to help fix things momentarily only to realize he was being chased and made a run for it whenever he was finished. But Axel would save momentum by vaulting over and swerving around debris that Daichi would leave behind. Eventually though, the two would find themselves at a café. Lumped over tables, exhausted from the long distance marathon.
                  Axel crawled over to Daichi and laid his back on the same table as he did. The patrons of the café stared at the two like they were retarded or insane.
                  “You-you’re much faster than I thought you were…” Daichi huffed trying to catch his breath.
                  “And you’re as fast as I expected,” Axel also tried to catch his lungs. “Now, are you gonna tell me what you know? Or do I have to resort to drastic measures?”
                  “Drastic? Measures?” Daichi let out an inquisitive huff. Though to be sure, he did not like the sound of what he heard. “What do you even have up your sleeve?”
                  “I told you I was a journalist, right? Take a wild guess.”
                  Then Daichi went completely pale. He rolled over onto his stomach and laid on the table flat like that. He planted his face downwards in defeat.
                  “Man, so you did see… I’m in deep shit now…”
                  “I’m pretty sure you know the terms and conditions without me telling you.”
                  “Fine. I’ll tell you what I know if you don’t rat me out…”
                  “See?” Axel was the first one to recover his energy, so he stood up and lent a hand down to the laying Daichi. “Was that so hard?”
                  “Yes... “ Daichi lifted up his head with a dejected expression. “Yes it was…” Then he would take Axel’s hand to be hoisted up by the journalist.
                  The two would then walk down the streets instead of sitting down and talking. There was too much attention from when they did their antics, so they waited till the eyes minded their own before being able to talk about it with each other openly. Axel suggested this as people won’t be able to understand what they’re saying if they’re in passing. Like this, Axel was able to get some good key points, but Daichi was still a bit uncomfortable with speaking out in public like this.
                  “So,” Axel starts, “you’re Wonder. How long have you been so?”
                  “It’s been some time, I guess,” Daichi scratched the back of his head nervously. “But it hasn’t been that long. I guess a few months?”
                  “Can you stop fidgeting?” Axel asked. “It’s a tad bit distracting.”
                  “Sorry. It’s just, Professor Umar, the man that I discovered Wonder with, told me that I can’t reveal my identity. And talking out like this isn’t really comfortable.”
                  “Why’s that?”
                  “Well, I guess because government would take me in and the professor for experiments. And the fact that Legion, the monsters you saw, might find out who I am before I do.”
                  Axel put his finger on his forehead, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. This reasoning may sound logical to the normal man. But for Axel, his experience and observations told him otherwise. He didn’t concur with this reasoning.
                  “Daichi, I understand. But in reality, how many people would believe an average high school teacher that’s struggling to make ends meet is a pyramid man that beats up monsters?”
                  “Umm, uh…” Daichi tried to grasp for some answers. On a side note, he felt a little hurt with the bluntness of the journalist.
                  “And I saw how you fought. You’re not subtle in your approach. That Legionnaire, Sobek was it? Seemed to have some hatred towards you when he first saw you. So why do you need to conceal yourself to THEM if the first thing you’re going to do is reveal yourself transforming in front of them anyways?”
                  “That’s uh…” Daichi was at a loss. This was something he didn’t think about at all.
                  “Exactly. I’m not saying you should go around saying you’re the pyramid man beating up monsters. I’m saying is that you’re freaking out for nothing.”
                  “Yeah, I guess you’re right…”
                  “In any case,” Axel cleared his throat.                   “You said you discovered Wonder with this Professor Umar. Can we go see him?”
                  Daichi’s spine jumped when he heard this. He crossed his forearms in an X across his chest and shook his head profusely.
                  “No, nononononono. We can’t. We ABSOLUTELY CAN’T!”
                  “What’s the excuse now?”
                  “The professor will have my ass if I brung in someone I told the secret too!”
                  “And I have a video on my phone showing you transforming. If he’s involved, this blackmail also extends to him. So you’re also putting him in danger by refusing. Take me to him.”
                  Daichi hung his head again in defeat. He thought to himself that this journalist has a lot of areas covered. Just who was he to be this meticulous? In the end, Daichi agreed to Axel’s request and both of them set off on a taxi to go to the professor’s current location. Though, Axel did tell the driver to stop a few times so he can pick up a few snacks. A bit of bored hunger can get anyone.
                  The taxi would make its stop in front of the gate of an exceptionally large college. When Axel stepped out of the car with Daichi, he could see how large the courtyard was spanning. The distance from the buildings between them was immense. And the buildings themselves were high so that one can make the mistake of the place being corporate business buildings. Equal spread of vegetation and pavement was always soothing to the journalist and the people walking on it made it so much more lively.
                  “Wow,” Axel whistled as he took it all in.                   “You attended here, huh? Looks very impressive.
                  “Thanks. Come on, let me show you where the professor usually is.” Dachi took a deep breath as he was mentally preparing himself for the professor’s scoldings.
                  The two would walk into the campus and into the buildings themselves. Spacious and clean. One can make an echo even if people filled the area. This impressed Axel even more. It made him think momentarily that Daichi might be worth his salt academically.
                  Daichi then would lead Axel to a distant classroom where virtually no people would be present in or even around. Daichi gestured to Axel to stay put first so he could handle Umar. Supposedly to ease him into the situation before breaking the news. When he walked in, he was greeted with an instantaneous slap on the back. Daichi recoiled forwards and let out a momentary yelp and rubbed the attacked area.
                  “Hey Dai-dai!” cheered the one that slapped him. “How’d I go beating up Sobek?”
                  “Izz…” Daichi groaned. “Do you have to do that every time I come in?”
                  “Oh come on!” She exclaimed. “You’re a big boy. If you can fight ancient monsters then you can handle a slap from a girl. Don’t be a big baby.”
                  “I just wish you didn’t do that so often…”
                  “Izuku,” came over an old man approaching the two. “Give Daichi some space. He just got back. I presume that Sobek has been handled, Daichi?”
                  “Uh, yeah. Well, about that…” Daichi twiddled his fingers trying to find a way to explain his failure.
                  “Ha!” Izuku pointed at him. “You didn’t beat him did you!?”
                  “Hey!” Daichi fired back. “I was close to taking him out!”
                  “But you didn’t” the old man pounded on the table. “Daichi, this is serious. If you can’t contain a single Legionnaire, think about the destruction that they could do. You need to put more effort into this. It’s our fault that they’ve been released, so any casualties that were to befall anyone is our responsibility.”
                  “Yes, professor Umar…” Daichi hung his head in obedience, not wanting to talk back. He felt a bit of guilt from those hanging words as they were said.
                  “And Izuku, don’t mock him everytime he messes up. That just makes him mess up more.”
                  “Alright, fine,” Izuku looked away from Umar’s eyes, not wanting to confront him at the moment.
                  “Tell me that you at least know where he is, Daichi.” Umar then walked over to a chair and let himself sit and rest for a short bit.
                  “I wounded him pretty good before he jumped into the lake. So couldn’t have gone that far.”
                  “Then go check by the lake again,” Izuku chimed in. “Why are you still back here when you could finish it off?”
                  “Well, one it’s a lake. So I don’t know where he’ll be and he’ll keep moving from spot to spot. Two, I kinda ran into some trouble…”
                  “Daichi…” Umar set a rising tone in his voice. “What did you do?”
                  “Well it’s more of… Um… You can come in now…”
                  Then Axel silently opened the door as told and entered the room, revealing himself to the other two in the empty classroom. Umar and Izuku stared at him as he came in with wide eyes. This was the last thing they would’ve expected Umar to blunder.
                  “Real smooth, brick head,” Axel said sarcastically to Daichi. “Way to ease him into the topic like you said, yeah?”
                  Umar began to boil when he saw the foreigner enter the room. In his head, he already knew exactly what happened. Without any word said and a low growl to ensue, Umar slowly turned his head to Daichi was a very furious expression on his face. It goes unspoken, but he wanted him to explain how this happened immediately.
                  “I-I swear I didn’t show him deliberately! He just happened to be where I couldn’t see him and shot a video of me!”
                  “Dai-dai, you screwed up…” Izuku commented.
                  Umar then calmed himself and let out a sigh to relieve the anger. He turned back to the foreigner and gave him his full attention. Hearing what Daichi said, he already knew that everything would be over for them if he were to step out of line in front of the journalist.
                  “So, what’s your name, and what do you want from us?” Umar asked.
                  “Axel Sawaki,” Axel answered politely.                   “I’m here because I want to know more about Wonder here. Oh and don’t worry, I won’t expose you three here. I just want to make an interesting story.”
                  “Sawaki? You don’t look Japanese though,” Izuku commented.
                  “Father is British-Japanese. Mother was British,” Axel briefly answered. “But we’re not here for me. What can you tell me about Wonder?” he pulled out his K-Touch phone, ready to write down notes of any information he would receive.
                  “Alright,” Umar sighed once more. “Where do I begin? I suppose I should start off with that Daichi was helping me out with excavation I was doing a while back. We uncovered a box of unknown origin from our findings. Foolishly, we opened it, which unleashed the monster you saw this morning, an ancient civilization known as Legion. We don’t know much about Legion as of now, only that they all have a rather chaotic and destructive nature. But along with the box we uncovered something called the Architect Driver, which belonged to an ancient warrior that had fought Legion in the past. When Daichi touched the Driver, we gained a couple of blessings. Daichi was granted the Strength of Wonder while I was granted the Perception. We’ve been using these powers to help undo our mistake. Daichi is able to transform into the ancient form of Wonder to fight Legion while I am able to receive visions that can locate a Legionnaire that runs rampant. That’s basically the gist of it all. Any questions?”
                  “Yes actually,” Axel was curious about this, but wanted a bit more information than that. “What happens when you defeat a Legionnaire?”
                  “When Daichi defeats one, he’s able to seal them into scrolls which Daichi could use in the Architect Driver.”
                  “I see.” Axel said as he typed. “So Wonder is similar to Blade, Garren, Leangle, and Chalice in that regard.” He thought to himself. “What about the girl?”
                  “Izuku was sort of dragged into all of this. So she helps me locate Legion whenever my vision fails me. Old age doesn’t help me here.”
                  “So, your overall goal is to reseal Legion in scrolls one by one in order to keep public peace?”
                  “Essentially. If we let them loose, they can destroy the city as we know it. When that’s done, maybe they’ll go bigger and tear down the country, then perhaps the world.”
                  “That makes sense,” Axel then put away his phone. “I think I got what I wanted for today. Do you mind if I stay around for a bit to see how you people operate?”
                  “Do we have a choice?” Izuku crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. The question seemed irrelevant to her.
                  “You see her?” Axel then pointed over to Izuku and looked over to both Daichi and Umar, “This is a smart one.”
                  Umar then grumbled as he walked down the aisles of the class seats. He couldn’t refuse, but that didn’t mean he was okay with the foreigner’s request either. He moved over to a more comfortable chair at the teacher’s desk and then closed his eyes. Izuku then skipped over to Umar’s computer and booted it up. Axel simply looked over to Daichi while pointing to the two.
                  “They’re looking for Sobek right now.” Daichi knew that Axel wanted to ask. “Umar’s old, so his vision’s aren’t clear for him. So Izuku takes descriptions he says and tries to pinpoint them on the computer.”
                  “Right,” Axel Took out his phone again and perused the information he gathered. Statistical information and history of Wonder and Daichi. He pulled out a set of blank cards with the same frames as the card he needs to transform. This information wasn’t enough to imprint onto cards. Since he couldn’t find any Ghouls so far, he thought he should at least finish his main job first before focusing on why he was sent here. He then stood next to Daichi with the intent to hear out his story. Hopefully it’ll be enough for him to imprint.
                  “So,” Axel began. “What made you want to be a teacher? It’s not exactly a good paying salary nowadays.”
                  “I just want to share knowledge to everyone,” Daichi answered, “I have a great love for history and I want to teach everyone the wonders of the past. But it’s really hard to do when the students don’t really pay attention… Even when they do, it’s only for the grade really.”
                  This explanation resonated with Axel a fair bit. It reminded him of one of the reasons why he wanted to become a journalist. But there was something else that contributed to that.
                  “Was there anything else that you wanted to be before being a teacher? I don’t know, like a fireman or some such. Perhaps an astronaut. You know, maybe some childish notion you might have had.”
                  “Well, I wanted to be a police officer like my brother. I looked up to him a lot and I wanted to serve side by side with him back then.” There was a smile on Daichi’s face as he spoke about this dream.
                  “Really now? What happened? What made it die out?”
                  “Die out” was too blunt of a way to put it for Daichi. At the mention of the question, his smile turned somber as he stared at the ground. There was a long pause between the two men and Daichi seemed like he was in a trance. Axel wanted to snap him out of it, but he realized from the pause that he might have triggered something. So, he didn’t say anything else about it, but instead, something else.
                  “I think you would make a great cop,” Axel said now looking over to Umar and Izuku working.
                  This caught Daichi by surprise and so faced Axel with an expression that conveyed it.
                  “You have a good heart, and you love people enough to share knowledge to them. Being a cop isn’t just about arresting people. It’s about protecting their peace. Believe me when I say that, I had a lot of run-ins with the authorities just because I wanted a good scoop.”
                  Daichi smiled at this. This guy, he wasn’t so bad after all.
                  “Oh yeah? What did you do?”
                  “Well, for one I violated someone’s privacy once by spying on them in their bathroom because they were suspected of stealing the neighborhood cats.”
                  “No way!” Daichi burst into laughter when he heard that. “You’re kidding me?”
                  “I’m not, mate,” Axel guffawed. “I got caught because she took a gander at the cinnamon challenge and came into the loo to rinse her mouth.”
                  “Nooo. Noooooo,” Daichi couldn’t hold back his funny bone. He was now on the floor throwing his lungs out for humor.
                  “Are you two idiots done?” Izuku hollered to the two. “If you’re not being absolute clowns from the zoo, I just found Sobek. He’s at the lake again, but from a different side.”
                  “Well, that’s not much of a search is it?” Axel scratched his cheek.
                  “Point is, I’m useful and you’re not.”
                  “Right, I’ll be heading out right away!” Soon as Daichi calmed himself, he immediately dashed out of the door without notice.
                  “Wait!” Umar hollered. “Daichi! Y-”
                  “He’s gone, professor,” Axel informed
                  “Dammit all,” Umar muttered. “That boy is in over his head on this!”
                  “Why?” Izuku asked. “What’s wrong?”
                  “My vision isn’t clear, but there’s something wrong with Sobek… It’s not normal…”
                  “What do you mean, not normal’?”                   Hearing this piqued Axel’s interest. What would classify as normal for a Legionnaire? More rather, what’s the element at play here? Axel placed his guess already and waited for an answer.
                  “Sobek, it’s not the same. It looks like it, but it also looks completely different. And more, maniacal…” Umar tried his hardest to concentrate on his vision. “Something is wrong, we need to get Daichi to wait.”
                  “I’ll do it,” Axel fixes up his coat. “A hardhead like him isn’t going to answer his phone at this time of crisis. Plus, I need a good scoop.” Axel then immediately followed suit. In his head, this could be some of the Ghoul traces he was looking for. If he goes, he can knock two birds with one stone.
                  “Wait! Hold on!” Izuku stood up from the computer and dashed out the door as well, now filled with worry.
                  “God help us,” Umar mutters all alone in the classroom.
                  Meanwhile, moments later, Daichi would find himself at the lake. But he wasn’t able to find Sobek in the slightest. The place was practically empty since what happened this morning. Though, he would hear something. It was a sort of clicking almost. A clicking noise mixed in with growling. Daichi would follow this sound. The closer he got to it, the louder it became. But oddly enough, the louder it is, the more he could feel chills down his spine. He’s never heard anything like this, but brushed it off as a way for Sobek to lure him out. He then finds himself on the other side of the lake, away from civilization. Daichi looked left and right, but he still found nothing. The sound suddenly stopped as well when he arrived. That is until the water started bubbling. Daichi turned to look, pulling out his Architect Driver and poised himself for battle.
                  “There you are, bastard,” he muttered. “Come and get some.”
                  What emerged from the water was a bewilderment to Daichi’s eyes. Disgusting and grotesque. What he saw wasn’t natural at all. The being that emerged from the water revealed its dark teal color and its decaying gobs of flesh. It’s head was that of a crocodile, but the entire mouth was opened to a complete 180 degrees and faced vertically. The eyes were now a hollow white and seemed to have a few more along its torso. The torso seemed to be on the verge of bursting as it was being held by white sinew strands. The axe that Sobek had melded into its back and back a separate limb while the ankh blocked entry to its throat. Its arms were shriveled up and malnourished; they simply did nothing but wiggle. This disfigured Sobek shambled over to Daichi very slowly, violently twitching every single body part the longer it breathed.
                  “What the actual…” Daichi was disgusted with what he saw. He felt his stomach well up and felt the need to vomit on the spot.
                  “Daichi! You need to-” Izuku managed to get to the scene before Axel did. Mainly because Axel didn’t know the layout of the city and had gotten lost somewhere. Izuku paused at what she saw. But unlike Daichi, she actually did vomit.
                  “Daichi…” Izuku groaned. “I think we need to get out of here. NOW!”
                  At that very moment the word “NOW” was spoken, the disfigured Sobek stopped in its tracks and began to spazz out violently. Daichi took a step back, scared of what’s happening. The creature let out a horrible shriek, leaving Izuku’s and Daichi’s ears’ bleeding despite their attempts to cover them. And suddenly, it broke into a full fledged sprint at Izuku and got close to her within a few seconds. An appendage instantly grew from its back, accompanied by the sounds of bones breaking, which then grabbed Izuku by the throat and lifted her into the air. The creature slowly inched the victim closer to its ankh. The ankh slid down the tongue, which revealed small clawed hands slowly coming out of the throat and reaching towards Izuku, making grabbing motions and twitching, ready to tear her to pieces.
                  “DAICHI!”
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<-= |Chapter 3| =->

Building Bonds

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                  Sobek cleaved its weapon down the head of the pyramid warrior Wonder. However Wonder simply stepped to his side, letting the axe head land on his most armored side. The axe didn’t even make a gash let alone a dent. There was a shocked expression on Sobek’s face (as shocked as a crocodile can seem). Wonder hadn’t even flinched from the blow. He unsheathed from his back an executioner’s sword with the blade resembling the shape of a chisel. Both hands gripped the heavy blade firmly as he smashed Sobek’s chin with the sword’s pommel. The crocodile staggered back a distance, but only for Wonder to step in and deliver a cleave across its chest.
                  “He’s got an exceptional armor rating,” Axel commented as he looked back and forth from the battle and his phone screen. “Pretty good strength as well. Pretty sturdy base form for a brawler.”
                  The crocodile wiped blood off its jaw and placed a hand, or rather a fist, over its wound. A crimson liquid slowly seeps out of the wound like lava from a volcano’s side. It snarled and set itself to a wide stance. Then it tossed the axe with an ungodly amount of strength, sending it somersaulting across the air fervently.
                  “Not good enough!” Wonder shouted.
                  He twisted his body as he slashed at the flying weapon. The blade intercepted and completely knocked it out of the air. A single hefty sweep knocked it towards Axel’s direction. Whizzing through the air and lodging itself in the trunk below him.
                  “Bloody fuck!” Axel shouted. He jumped in surprise when the axe hit the tree. He almost dropped his phone. “This guy has no regard does he!? Then again, he doesn’t even know I’m here. But if not me someone else could’ve gotten hit.”
                  Wonder heard Axel’s shouting and looked over to where the axe had landed. However he didn’t see anyone. He assumed that the person in question was running away.
                  “Oh, crap. I’m sorry!” Wonder shouted, hoping the person at least heard that. He began to bow a few times, despite the person not being “here”. “I need to watch where I hit…”
                  Given that Wonder didn’t comment about Axel being in a tree or the fact that he cursed in English, he assumed Wonder only said that out of nature and didn’t know where he was.
                  Sobek took this moment of distraction to charge at Wonder. The ankh in its right hand began to be surrounded by jets of water, circling it in a corkscrew fashion. It thrusts the ankh into the unaware Wonder’s stomach. The water explodes and Wonder was shot a fair ways backwards, tumbling in the grass and leaving small scraps of himself in the dirt until the momentum died and he lay flat on the ground.
                  “Oh, geez,” he wheezed. “That wasn’t very good…”
                  Wonder tried to pick himself up from the dirt. With no time to get the axe, Sobek charges at Wonder again, jaws open to bite and the ankh charges once again with water. Wonder pulls out a scroll, similar to the one on his belt driver. He swapped the scroll as quick as he can, and like before he pulled the lever, opening the scroll.

“¿Jardínes? ¡Muy Bien!”

                  Like before, a huge scroll orbits him. Though this time, Wonder’s body was wrapped around by vines and flowers and engulfed him as opposed to being sculpted like before. Sobek lands it’s water-charged fist into the botanical shell, but the attack had no effect on it. Surprised, Sobek took a step back. But as it did, several large vines spring out of the ground behind it and shoot towards Sobek and wrap around its body like a snake squeezing life out of its prey. Sobek struggled in its constraints, trying to free itself from the earth. It seems that it wasn’t expecting plant life to be so strong.
                  Wonder emerges standing from the vine shell that covered his body, and the vines themselves quickly sank back into the earth. The large scroll then wraps around the same arm as it did before and morphs into accompanying armor. The sun shines upon Wonder, glistening his new form to the crocodile.
                  He looked relatively the same by shape to his previous form. However his armor took a drastic change from the robustness of the last one. Green became a prevalent color of his armor and was adorned with smooth grooves. Smooth marble-like plating laid over the botanical green in segments, particularly on the arm. The pyramid shoulder was replaced with marble pillars cluttered together. A transparent silk tasset hangs off his waist which moved to the slightest touch of the wind. Around his arm, the chisel sword was replaced with a thorny vine instead.
                  “How do you like that!?” Wonder shouted at Sobek.
                  He swung his arm and the vines quickly extended outwards and lashed Sobek’s chest, adding more cuts to the previous gaping wound. The crocodile can only struggle in response to the pain; it can’t do much when restricted. Wonder lashed at the crocodile a few more times like a whip in quick succession. Thorns tearing off Sobek’s skin and bits of its flesh off its body with each swing.
                  Rip.
                  Tear.
                  Shred.
                  The sound of the vines made a rhythm for Wonder to pace his swings too. Sobek tossed and kicked as each swing ripped into its body in rapid successions. Its blood flayed into the air at the end of each lash.
                  “Fancy,” Axel commented. “So he can change forms, not very surprising though. Majority of Riders change forms nowadays. This one seems unique though. Can’t think of any Riders with forms that use extra appendages right off the bat.”
                  The ankh in Sobek’s hand began to charge with water again. However, Sobek stopped squirming in the vine restraints. It had no more energy to fight back. The vines lost their grip and Sobek fell to his knees on the grassy floor. Blood seeping from his multitude of wounds dripped on the botanical blades. Its breathing was heavy, but it slowly began to diminish.
                  “Now, for the finish!” Wonder shouted.
                  He swapped out the scroll with the previous one.

“¿Pirámides? ¡Muy Bien!”

                  Wonder went back to the Egyptian-esque form he had started out in. But then, he closed the scroll in his belt driver and immediately reopened it fervently. The voice would shout something different this time.

“¿Ultimo? ¡Claro que sí!”

                  Suddenly, bricks in the color of sand began to rise from the ground Sobek. They rose quickly up to his midriff and then instantly converged on him and constricting the crocodile once again. Though this time his torso isn’t restricted, it was his legs. A large scroll appeared to orbit Wonder once more. He leaped high into the air and the scroll began to spiral around him faster. Ringing around his body at an accelerating speed as Wonder came down with a kick towards Sobek. The scroll then began to spiral around his kicking leg so fast it became a drill. But, just as Wonder was about to pierce through Sobek, the crocodile threw a punch with the water-charged ankh. The water jets soar and bash into Wonder’s head, disorienting him and redirecting the kick to hit the bricks instead.
                  The impact of the kick caused an explosion. Chunks of the brick were blasted into the air. A couple of them whizzed past the journalist in the tree. But one of them hit him straight on the chest and he fell out of his hiding place and landed back first onto the ground.
                  “Ow!” Axel exclaimed as he rubbed his back. “Fucking bastard is mental!” Axel tried to pick himself back up, but he found it difficult since he fell pretty hard.
                  The blast shot Sobek backwards all the way back into the lake from which it came. A large splash followed after its entry. But afterwards, the water became still. No bubbles, no ripples.
                  Wonder stood back up from the failed finisher. He ran over to the edge of the lake, trying to find signs of Sobek. But to no avail.
                  “ARRGGH!” Wonder ruffled his head in a bit of a panic. “I lost him! Professor Umar’s gonna have my head if he finds out Sobek is still loose! Whatdoidowhatdoidowhatdoidowhatdoido…”
                  Wonder began to pace back and forth while repeating himself silently. During that time, he closed the scroll and took off the driver. The Egyptian form crumbled like a collapsing statue until Wonder was back to his human appearance. Then his eye caught a certain journalist trying to pick himself up not too far away. A chill ran down Wonder’s spine. Was he there the whole time? Did he see him transform? These questions filled him with dread, as he didn’t want his identity to be exposed, let alone his face.
                  “Oh no,” he muttered. “Oh boy… I’m so very dead… Wait, I might be overthinking,” he rubbed his fingers, trying to find peace of mind. “Maybe he was just caught up in the explosion. Yeah, that’s it. He could’ve just been running away. Yeah. Though he looks kinda roughed up. I should go help him.”
                  He stashed away his driver and then ran over to Axel and tried to help him back up.
                  “Excuse me sir,” Wonder took him by the arm and hoisted him up. “Are you okay? Nothing broken?”
                  “OW!” As Axel was brought up to a stand, a shock of small pain jolted in his back. He winced, but was more or less fine. “Yeah, I’m okay,” Axel switched languages on a dime. “A large rock hit me as I was walking by. Kids these days don’t know respect do they?” Axel laughed.
                  “Heh heh,” Wonder chuckled, "yeah… kids…” Wonder then took a good look at the journalist. Right away, he could tell that the man wasn’t from around here.
                  “Hey,” Wonder said. “You’re a tourist, right? Your Japanese is actually pretty good.” He was amazed at how fluent it was.
                  “Huh? Oh, yeah, thank you.” Axel bowed lightly to him. “I frequent this country a lot for my work, so I just picked it up naturally.”
                  “Oh yeah? What is it that you do?”
                  “I’m a journalist. I’m here to get some stories to share back to England. We got quite a few people interested in the happenings around here.”
                  “Oh, that’s pretty neat. To think that there are people out there interested in our news and stuff. And I guess you get to see some pretty wild stuff for you too. Me, I’m just a highschool teacher. The only interesting thing I get to see is how many forms of spitballs fly across the classroom.” Wonder scratched the back of his head, a bit ashamed of his current status in his career.
                  “Yeah, it can get pretty bizarre sometimes,” Axel would try a certain play. He needed information on Wonder without being involved as a Rider. And he knew just how he was going to do it.
                  “Speaking of which, I caught word of a certain… vigilante, as the people call it. A figure of an Egyptian design going around the city defeating creatures and defending the populace. Know anything about that?”
                  Rather than playing subtle, his words made implication to Wonder that he saw Wonder revert back into a human form. Exactly as he wanted.
                  There was sweat dripping down Wonder’s forehead. His legs shaking and his lips trembled. There was a fear in the back of his mind, the fear of being found out.
                  “N-N-No…” Wonder stuttered while nervously rubbing his arm. “I-I don’t know anything about that…”
                  “Oh really?” Axel stepped forward, closing in to Wonder’s face.
                  “R-Really. There’s nothing goin’ on around here. Just, same old boring day.” Wonder let out a nervous chuckle.
                  “What’s your name, mister teacher?”
                  “U-Uh, D-Daichi. Daichi T-Takeda…”
                  “Okay,” Axel switched back to English, “Mr. Takeda.” Then switched back to Japanese. “Then tell me. Why are you shaking?”
                  Daichi noticed his body trembling slightly when he brought it up. Naturally, he tried to calm himself so he could pass it off as something else. But in the back of his mind, he knew that he had been compromised to even try to play coy.
                  “Well?” Axel took a step closer while Daichi took one back. “Go on. Spill it. You know something don’t you?”
                  Then a stroke of dumb briliance hit Daichi’s head. An idea.
                  “Um, mister journalist, can I ask you something?” Daichi asked in a shaken voice. But he had a bright smile on his face as he looked Axel eye to eye.
                  “What is it?” Axel responds.
                  “How fast can you run?”
                  “Wait, what?” Axel tilted his head in confusion.
                  At that very moment, Daichi immediately turned the other way and broke out into a very fast sprint away from the journalist. Axel blinked a couple of times, perplexed on the reaction that had just taken place. Then he just realized, Daichi is getting away. So then he too broke out running and chased after him down the sidewalk.
                  “WAIT!” Axel shouted,” I NEED ANSWERS!”
                  “YOU’LL GET NOTHING FROM ME!” Daichi shouted back.
                  It took around thirty minutes of running around the city, screaming at each other like chimpanzees that got a hold of human underwear. There were very questionable stares from people who witnessed a Japanese and a British man on a wild goose chase with each other, both howling at the top of their lungs. Daichi would power through obstacles by running through them trying to get away from Axel. Daichi would stop to help fix things momentarily only to realize he was being chased and made a run for it whenever he was finished. But Axel would save momentum by vaulting over and swerving around debris that Daichi would leave behind. Eventually though, the two would find themselves at a café. Lumped over tables, exhausted from the long distance marathon.
                  Axel crawled over to Daichi and laid his back on the same table as he did. The patrons of the café stared at the two like they were retarded or insane.
                  “You-you’re much faster than I thought you were…” Daichi huffed trying to catch his breath.
                  “And you’re as fast as I expected,” Axel also tried to catch his lungs. “Now, are you gonna tell me what you know? Or do I have to resort to drastic measures?”
                  “Drastic? Measures?” Daichi let out an inquisitive huff. Though to be sure, he did not like the sound of what he heard. “What do you even have up your sleeve?”
                  “I told you I was a journalist, right? Take a wild guess.”
                  Then Daichi went completely pale. He rolled over onto his stomach and laid on the table flat like that. He planted his face downwards in defeat.
                  “Man, so you did see… I’m in deep shit now…”
                  “I’m pretty sure you know the terms and conditions without me telling you.”
                  “Fine. I’ll tell you what I know if you don’t rat me out…”
                  “See?” Axel was the first one to recover his energy, so he stood up and lent a hand down to the laying Daichi. “Was that so hard?”
                  “Yes... “ Daichi lifted up his head with a dejected expression. “Yes it was…” Then he would take Axel’s hand to be hoisted up by the journalist.
                  The two would then walk down the streets instead of sitting down and talking. There was too much attention from when they did their antics, so they waited till the eyes minded their own before being able to talk about it with each other openly. Axel suggested this as people won’t be able to understand what they’re saying if they’re in passing. Like this, Axel was able to get some good key points, but Daichi was still a bit uncomfortable with speaking out in public like this.
                  “So,” Axel starts, “you’re Wonder. How long have you been so?”
                  “It’s been some time, I guess,” Daichi scratched the back of his head nervously. “But it hasn’t been that long. I guess a few months?”
                  “Can you stop fidgeting?” Axel asked. “It’s a tad bit distracting.”
                  “Sorry. It’s just, Professor Umar, the man that I discovered Wonder with, told me that I can’t reveal my identity. And talking out like this isn’t really comfortable.”
                  “Why’s that?”
                  “Well, I guess because government would take me in and the professor for experiments. And the fact that Legion, the monsters you saw, might find out who I am before I do.”
                  Axel put his finger on his forehead, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. This reasoning may sound logical to the normal man. But for Axel, his experience and observations told him otherwise. He didn’t concur with this reasoning.
                  “Daichi, I understand. But in reality, how many people would believe an average high school teacher that’s struggling to make ends meet is a pyramid man that beats up monsters?”
                  “Umm, uh…” Daichi tried to grasp for some answers. On a side note, he felt a little hurt with the bluntness of the journalist.
                  “And I saw how you fought. You’re not subtle in your approach. That Legionnaire, Sobek was it? Seemed to have some hatred towards you when he first saw you. So why do you need to conceal yourself to THEM if the first thing you’re going to do is reveal yourself transforming in front of them anyways?”
                  “That’s uh…” Daichi was at a loss. This was something he didn’t think about at all.
                  “Exactly. I’m not saying you should go around saying you’re the pyramid man beating up monsters. I’m saying is that you’re freaking out for nothing.”
                  “Yeah, I guess you’re right…”
                  “In any case,” Axel cleared his throat.                   “You said you discovered Wonder with this Professor Umar. Can we go see him?”
                  Daichi’s spine jumped when he heard this. He crossed his forearms in an X across his chest and shook his head profusely.
                  “No, nononononono. We can’t. We ABSOLUTELY CAN’T!”
                  “What’s the excuse now?”
                  “The professor will have my ass if I brung in someone I told the secret too!”
                  “And I have a video on my phone showing you transforming. If he’s involved, this blackmail also extends to him. So you’re also putting him in danger by refusing. Take me to him.”
                  Daichi hung his head again in defeat. He thought to himself that this journalist has a lot of areas covered. Just who was he to be this meticulous? In the end, Daichi agreed to Axel’s request and both of them set off on a taxi to go to the professor’s current location. Though, Axel did tell the driver to stop a few times so he can pick up a few snacks. A bit of bored hunger can get anyone.
                  The taxi would make its stop in front of the gate of an exceptionally large college. When Axel stepped out of the car with Daichi, he could see how large the courtyard was spanning. The distance from the buildings between them was immense. And the buildings themselves were high so that one can make the mistake of the place being corporate business buildings. Equal spread of vegetation and pavement was always soothing to the journalist and the people walking on it made it so much more lively.
                  “Wow,” Axel whistled as he took it all in.                   “You attended here, huh? Looks very impressive.
                  “Thanks. Come on, let me show you where the professor usually is.” Dachi took a deep breath as he was mentally preparing himself for the professor’s scoldings.
                  The two would walk into the campus and into the buildings themselves. Spacious and clean. One can make an echo even if people filled the area. This impressed Axel even more. It made him think momentarily that Daichi might be worth his salt academically.
                  Daichi then would lead Axel to a distant classroom where virtually no people would be present in or even around. Daichi gestured to Axel to stay put first so he could handle Umar. Supposedly to ease him into the situation before breaking the news. When he walked in, he was greeted with an instantaneous slap on the back. Daichi recoiled forwards and let out a momentary yelp and rubbed the attacked area.
                  “Hey Dai-dai!” cheered the one that slapped him. “How’d I go beating up Sobek?”
                  “Izz…” Daichi groaned. “Do you have to do that every time I come in?”
                  “Oh come on!” She exclaimed. “You’re a big boy. If you can fight ancient monsters then you can handle a slap from a girl. Don’t be a big baby.”
                  “I just wish you didn’t do that so often…”
                  “Izuku,” came over an old man approaching the two. “Give Daichi some space. He just got back. I presume that Sobek has been handled, Daichi?”
                  “Uh, yeah. Well, about that…” Daichi twiddled his fingers trying to find a way to explain his failure.
                  “Ha!” Izuku pointed at him. “You didn’t beat him did you!?”
                  “Hey!” Daichi fired back. “I was close to taking him out!”
                  “But you didn’t” the old man pounded on the table. “Daichi, this is serious. If you can’t contain a single Legionnaire, think about the destruction that they could do. You need to put more effort into this. It’s our fault that they’ve been released, so any casualties that were to befall anyone is our responsibility.”
                  “Yes, professor Umar…” Daichi hung his head in obedience, not wanting to talk back. He felt a bit of guilt from those hanging words as they were said.
                  “And Izuku, don’t mock him everytime he messes up. That just makes him mess up more.”
                  “Alright, fine,” Izuku looked away from Umar’s eyes, not wanting to confront him at the moment.
                  “Tell me that you at least know where he is, Daichi.” Umar then walked over to a chair and let himself sit and rest for a short bit.
                  “I wounded him pretty good before he jumped into the lake. So couldn’t have gone that far.”
                  “Then go check by the lake again,” Izuku chimed in. “Why are you still back here when you could finish it off?”
                  “Well, one it’s a lake. So I don’t know where he’ll be and he’ll keep moving from spot to spot. Two, I kinda ran into some trouble…”
                  “Daichi…” Umar set a rising tone in his voice. “What did you do?”
                  “Well it’s more of… Um… You can come in now…”
                  Then Axel silently opened the door as told and entered the room, revealing himself to the other two in the empty classroom. Umar and Izuku stared at him as he came in with wide eyes. This was the last thing they would’ve expected Umar to blunder.
                  “Real smooth, brick head,” Axel said sarcastically to Daichi. “Way to ease him into the topic like you said, yeah?”
                  Umar began to boil when he saw the foreigner enter the room. In his head, he already knew exactly what happened. Without any word said and a low growl to ensue, Umar slowly turned his head to Daichi was a very furious expression on his face. It goes unspoken, but he wanted him to explain how this happened immediately.
                  “I-I swear I didn’t show him deliberately! He just happened to be where I couldn’t see him and shot a video of me!”
                  “Dai-dai, you screwed up…” Izuku commented.
                  Umar then calmed himself and let out a sigh to relieve the anger. He turned back to the foreigner and gave him his full attention. Hearing what Daichi said, he already knew that everything would be over for them if he were to step out of line in front of the journalist.
                  “So, what’s your name, and what do you want from us?” Umar asked.
                  “Axel Sawaki,” Axel answered politely.                   “I’m here because I want to know more about Wonder here. Oh and don’t worry, I won’t expose you three here. I just want to make an interesting story.”
                  “Sawaki? You don’t look Japanese though,” Izuku commented.
                  “Father is British-Japanese. Mother was British,” Axel briefly answered. “But we’re not here for me. What can you tell me about Wonder?” he pulled out his K-Touch phone, ready to write down notes of any information he would receive.
                  “Alright,” Umar sighed once more. “Where do I begin? I suppose I should start off with that Daichi was helping me out with excavation I was doing a while back. We uncovered a box of unknown origin from our findings. Foolishly, we opened it, which unleashed the monster you saw this morning, an ancient civilization known as Legion. We don’t know much about Legion as of now, only that they all have a rather chaotic and destructive nature. But along with the box we uncovered something called the Architect Driver, which belonged to an ancient warrior that had fought Legion in the past. When Daichi touched the Driver, we gained a couple of blessings. Daichi was granted the Strength of Wonder while I was granted the Perception. We’ve been using these powers to help undo our mistake. Daichi is able to transform into the ancient form of Wonder to fight Legion while I am able to receive visions that can locate a Legionnaire that runs rampant. That’s basically the gist of it all. Any questions?”
                  “Yes actually,” Axel was curious about this, but wanted a bit more information than that. “What happens when you defeat a Legionnaire?”
                  “When Daichi defeats one, he’s able to seal them into scrolls which Daichi could use in the Architect Driver.”
                  “I see.” Axel said as he typed. “So Wonder is similar to Blade, Garren, Leangle, and Chalice in that regard.” He thought to himself. “What about the girl?”
                  “Izuku was sort of dragged into all of this. So she helps me locate Legion whenever my vision fails me. Old age doesn’t help me here.”
                  “So, your overall goal is to reseal Legion in scrolls one by one in order to keep public peace?”
                  “Essentially. If we let them loose, they can destroy the city as we know it. When that’s done, maybe they’ll go bigger and tear down the country, then perhaps the world.”
                  “That makes sense,” Axel then put away his phone. “I think I got what I wanted for today. Do you mind if I stay around for a bit to see how you people operate?”
                  “Do we have a choice?” Izuku crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. The question seemed irrelevant to her.
                  “You see her?” Axel then pointed over to Izuku and looked over to both Daichi and Umar, “This is a smart one.”
                  Umar then grumbled as he walked down the aisles of the class seats. He couldn’t refuse, but that didn’t mean he was okay with the foreigner’s request either. He moved over to a more comfortable chair at the teacher’s desk and then closed his eyes. Izuku then skipped over to Umar’s computer and booted it up. Axel simply looked over to Daichi while pointing to the two.
                  “They’re looking for Sobek right now.” Daichi knew that Axel wanted to ask. “Umar’s old, so his vision’s aren’t clear for him. So Izuku takes descriptions he says and tries to pinpoint them on the computer.”
                  “Right,” Axel Took out his phone again and perused the information he gathered. Statistical information and history of Wonder and Daichi. He pulled out a set of blank cards with the same frames as the card he needs to transform. This information wasn’t enough to imprint onto cards. Since he couldn’t find any Ghouls so far, he thought he should at least finish his main job first before focusing on why he was sent here. He then stood next to Daichi with the intent to hear out his story. Hopefully it’ll be enough for him to imprint.
                  “So,” Axel began. “What made you want to be a teacher? It’s not exactly a good paying salary nowadays.”
                  “I just want to share knowledge to everyone,” Daichi answered, “I have a great love for history and I want to teach everyone the wonders of the past. But it’s really hard to do when the students don’t really pay attention… Even when they do, it’s only for the grade really.”
                  This explanation resonated with Axel a fair bit. It reminded him of one of the reasons why he wanted to become a journalist. But there was something else that contributed to that.
                  “Was there anything else that you wanted to be before being a teacher? I don’t know, like a fireman or some such. Perhaps an astronaut. You know, maybe some childish notion you might have had.”
                  “Well, I wanted to be a police officer like my brother. I looked up to him a lot and I wanted to serve side by side with him back then.” There was a smile on Daichi’s face as he spoke about this dream.
                  “Really now? What happened? What made it die out?”
                  “Die out” was too blunt of a way to put it for Daichi. At the mention of the question, his smile turned somber as he stared at the ground. There was a long pause between the two men and Daichi seemed like he was in a trance. Axel wanted to snap him out of it, but he realized from the pause that he might have triggered something. So, he didn’t say anything else about it, but instead, something else.
                  “I think you would make a great cop,” Axel said now looking over to Umar and Izuku working.
                  This caught Daichi by surprise and so faced Axel with an expression that conveyed it.
                  “You have a good heart, and you love people enough to share knowledge to them. Being a cop isn’t just about arresting people. It’s about protecting their peace. Believe me when I say that, I had a lot of run-ins with the authorities just because I wanted a good scoop.”
                  Daichi smiled at this. This guy, he wasn’t so bad after all.
                  “Oh yeah? What did you do?”
                  “Well, for one I violated someone’s privacy once by spying on them in their bathroom because they were suspected of stealing the neighborhood cats.”
                  “No way!” Daichi burst into laughter when he heard that. “You’re kidding me?”
                  “I’m not, mate,” Axel guffawed. “I got caught because she took a gander at the cinnamon challenge and came into the loo to rinse her mouth.”
                  “Nooo. Noooooo,” Daichi couldn’t hold back his funny bone. He was now on the floor throwing his lungs out for humor.
                  “Are you two idiots done?” Izuku hollered to the two. “If you’re not being absolute clowns from the zoo, I just found Sobek. He’s at the lake again, but from a different side.”
                  “Well, that’s not much of a search is it?” Axel scratched his cheek.
                  “Point is, I’m useful and you’re not.”
                  “Right, I’ll be heading out right away!” Soon as Daichi calmed himself, he immediately dashed out of the door without notice.
                  “Wait!” Umar hollered. “Daichi! Y-”
                  “He’s gone, professor,” Axel informed
                  “Dammit all,” Umar muttered. “That boy is in over his head on this!”
                  “Why?” Izuku asked. “What’s wrong?”
                  “My vision isn’t clear, but there’s something wrong with Sobek… It’s not normal…”
                  “What do you mean, not normal’?”                   Hearing this piqued Axel’s interest. What would classify as normal for a Legionnaire? More rather, what’s the element at play here? Axel placed his guess already and waited for an answer.
                  “Sobek, it’s not the same. It looks like it, but it also looks completely different. And more, maniacal…” Umar tried his hardest to concentrate on his vision. “Something is wrong, we need to get Daichi to wait.”
                  “I’ll do it,” Axel fixes up his coat. “A hardhead like him isn’t going to answer his phone at this time of crisis. Plus, I need a good scoop.” Axel then immediately followed suit. In his head, this could be some of the Ghoul traces he was looking for. If he goes, he can knock two birds with one stone.
                  “Wait! Hold on!” Izuku stood up from the computer and dashed out the door as well, now filled with worry.
                  “God help us,” Umar mutters all alone in the classroom.
                  Meanwhile, moments later, Daichi would find himself at the lake. But he wasn’t able to find Sobek in the slightest. The place was practically empty since what happened this morning. Though, he would hear something. It was a sort of clicking almost. A clicking noise mixed in with growling. Daichi would follow this sound. The closer he got to it, the louder it became. But oddly enough, the louder it is, the more he could feel chills down his spine. He’s never heard anything like this, but brushed it off as a way for Sobek to lure him out. He then finds himself on the other side of the lake, away from civilization. Daichi looked left and right, but he still found nothing. The sound suddenly stopped as well when he arrived. That is until the water started bubbling. Daichi turned to look, pulling out his Architect Driver and poised himself for battle.
                  “There you are, bastard,” he muttered. “Come and get some.”
                  What emerged from the water was a bewilderment to Daichi’s eyes. Disgusting and grotesque. What he saw wasn’t natural at all. The being that emerged from the water revealed its dark teal color and its decaying gobs of flesh. It’s head was that of a crocodile, but the entire mouth was opened to a complete 180 degrees and faced vertically. The eyes were now a hollow white and seemed to have a few more along its torso. The torso seemed to be on the verge of bursting as it was being held by white sinew strands. The axe that Sobek had melded into its back and back a separate limb while the ankh blocked entry to its throat. Its arms were shriveled up and malnourished; they simply did nothing but wiggle. This disfigured Sobek shambled over to Daichi very slowly, violently twitching every single body part the longer it breathed.
                  “What the actual…” Daichi was disgusted with what he saw. He felt his stomach well up and felt the need to vomit on the spot.
                  “Daichi! You need to-” Izuku managed to get to the scene before Axel did. Mainly because Axel didn’t know the layout of the city and had gotten lost somewhere. Izuku paused at what she saw. But unlike Daichi, she actually did vomit.
                  “Daichi…” Izuku groaned. “I think we need to get out of here. NOW!”
                  At that very moment the word “NOW” was spoken, the disfigured Sobek stopped in its tracks and began to spazz out violently. Daichi took a step back, scared of what’s happening. The creature let out a horrible shriek, leaving Izuku’s and Daichi’s ears’ bleeding despite their attempts to cover them. And suddenly, it broke into a full fledged sprint at Izuku and got close to her within a few seconds. An appendage instantly grew from its back, accompanied by the sounds of bones breaking, which then grabbed Izuku by the throat and lifted her into the air. The creature slowly inched the victim closer to its ankh. The ankh slid down the tongue, which revealed small clawed hands slowly coming out of the throat and reaching towards Izuku, making grabbing motions and twitching, ready to tear her to pieces.
                  “DAICHI!”
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