Chapter Text
He sensed a disturbance.
A familiar feeling, even if he had no idea what. He couldn’t place it, but it twisted his gut anyway. Like the scent of a perfume from childhood, or an old song. Not that he knew much about those things. Still it lurked deep in his bones, even surrounded by hundreds of these weak and pathetic monsters. Something was out there.
To say the least, Flame had no interest in familiarizing himself with any of this trash. Ever since he’d come to the Monster Association, he was being observed. They were curious about him, that much seemed clear, but he still stuck his nose up and walked off when they tried to approach. The fact was that he was better than them. Despite the fear they caused in the hearts of humans, they were all ugly and useless. Flame knew he could inspire more fear than all of them combined.
Hellfire Flame, a thirty-two year old now ex-assassin and freelance ninja, had come here only a day ago. He had traveled for a month to find the entrance to the tunnels, which was guarded by a few mediocre monsters who didn’t hesitate to let him in. He didn’t have to prove anything.
And it had only been a short while before he started to sense that familiar sensation while lost in the crowd.
In the time he’d been here at the Association, Flame spent it exploring the vast expanse of his new home. It looked like a giant ant farm, with its tunnels and caverns that stretched for miles all around. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of monsters walked about, not doing much but talking amongst themselves. Like humans. Absolutely useless. They weren’t even interested in proving their strength with a good fight. As much as Flame knew, these monsters were probably once human, and like him, came for an upgrade. Monsters were obviously the higher species. They’d proven that much. The past three years that they’d been causing such destruction and mayhem, it was obvious Flame was better off being the right hand of the devil instead of in his path.
A philosophy he always lived by.
It wasn’t as if he considered himself weak, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to build up a little more power for himself, now that it seemed the age of humans was coming to an end. There wasn’t much pride in being one after all. Humans were far too awful to each other to be given a second chance.
Flame had intimate knowledge of just how depraved humans could be, so he had no sympathy for them.
He spent the afternoon roaming from his small room that he’d been given, a room far nicer than he was expecting in comparison to the ones he was used to. It was odd that these monsters, who all seemed so feral and ignorant, could accommodate so well. Then again it was probably the work of someone higher up. Flame still hadn’t met with any leader, as he assumed the Monster Association would have one, but in his short time here he hadn’t recognized anyone to be the top monster. A few caught his curiosity, but he wasn’t sure.
It wasn’t as if he planned on asking anyone. Flame figured his time would come eventually, and for now, he would just enjoy being a free man for a while. It was somewhat exhilarating not being a slave for once, even if his last memories of being free were long dead in the past, before he was even five years old. Ever since then all he’d known was servitude and blood.
The cave was dark, illuminated by a few small lamps overhead, and Flame didn’t hesitate down the rocky gorge. There was a scent in the air, and he was following it.
Meat. Lots of it.
And he liked meat.
They had already fed him a surprisingly satisfying meal, better than the tasteless, protein-heavy garbage his boss was instructed to feed him for over a decade, but for Flame there was always room for more. In this case, he was just curious as to why there was meat so far down in the tunnel.
As he ventured further, he spotted a gap where a significant amount of warmth poured through. Something interesting was on the other side.
Flame peered into the gap, and spotted what appeared to be a large hill of cooked animal flesh, surrounded by littered bones and flies. Flame’s brow furrowed, offended by the display of all this food being disgraced, when out of nowhere a massive black head the size of an elephant came down to sink its gargantuan teeth into the carcasses. Flame stepped back, a bit startled, but he composed himself quickly and watched the creature. Steam poured from its jaws as it ripped and tore at the flesh, and Flame cocked his head, more interested now.
He stepped into the cavern and approached the beast, who heard his feet, and it turned its head to see him come in close. It dropped a large chunk of meat and peered down at Flame with glowing red eyes. The creature was giant, filling the cavern with its spiked fur. The shape was unmistakable.
It was a dog. A monster dog.
This of course was a pleasant surprise, as Flame had always liked dogs.
Remembering how dogs worked, he brought his hand up towards its nose, and the beast leaned down to sniff at it. Then Flame pressed his hand on its nose and stroked firmly. It was warm from the smoldering smoke billowing from its nostrils. Suddenly its massive tail wagged, causing the cavern to shake and tiny rocks to drop from the ceiling.
“Well that makes sense.”
Flame turned suddenly, alarmed as he hadn’t felt another presence nearby, and what he saw snatched his breath away.
Standing at the end of the cavern was a man. A man Flame somehow still knew after so many years. Other than his height and thicker muscles he hadn’t changed much. His blonde hair tied up on his head had grown considerably longer, but other than that he looked the same, right down to the facial tattoos Flame remembered so well.
“You were always good with animals,” he said, smirking.
“...Wind?” Flame whispered, his voice full of disbelief and wonder.
Tempest Wind took a few steps forward and approached Flame. “I’m pleased that I was able to hunt you down. I thought I felt your presence earlier, but wasn’t sure.”
There was a heavy pause between them before Flame finally spoke again, “It’s been…”
“Sixteen years.”
Flame couldn’t help but smile, even if it was something he wasn’t used to doing, “I’m...surprised to see you.”
“I truly believed we’d never meet again, Shinji.”
His heart thumped at the sound of his true name being spoken once again. Truthfully, he’d all but forgotten it. “What are you doing here?” he asked.
Wind chuckled, “I’m here to become a monster. Same as you, I’m guessing?”
Flame shrugged, feeling transparent, “Yes.”
He tapped his finger against his chin, “Fascinating.”
“When did you get here?”
Wind turned and motioned for Flame to follow, “Come with me.” Flame nodded and walked with him towards the entrance of the cavern. “I arrived here a week ago, after a month of searching. Before that I was living in City O. You?”
“Yesterday. And I came from City J.” He paused. “These monsters aren’t really what I imagined. They seem docile.”
Wind grinned, “Just wait. They’ll surprise you. Not all of them are useless, I’ve seen a few strong monsters since I arrived. They’re called cadres, and I’m planning on joining their ranks. I suppose Gyoro-Gyoro will make that decision.”
“Gyoro-Gyoro?”
“The monster leader. A psychic and the brains behind this whole thing, at least that’s what I’ve heard. He makes the monsters.”
The two ninjas walked out of the cave and made their way to the ledge, overlooking the chasm and all the monsters wandering about. Flame peered over at Wind, still having trouble believing he was once again standing next to his old companion. True, they hadn’t spoken much towards the end of their last year in the village, as deep down they knew it was futile to keep relationships and it was best to forget all ties to the past. Plus the staff was catching onto them and they weren’t fond of punishments, so at this moment Flame felt strangely lucky.
“How does he make monsters?”
“Not sure,” Wind said, “but I don’t care. I’ll do whatever he wants, as long as I can meet my destiny.”
“Destiny? That’s a strong word for people like us.” Flame said. Wind answered him with a subtle grunt of indifference. “What if it hurts?”
Wind looked down into the chasm, “I can handle pain.”
Flame didn’t feel like questioning that, as he knew Wind too well, even after all these years, to know he was definitely tolerant of pain, among many other things.
“How did you escape your boss?”
“A monster gifted me my freedom by killing him.”
Flame’s eyes widened with surprise, “Your boss was killed by a monster?”
Wind kept his head down, perhaps to hide his shame, “Yes. I had never really taken much notice of monsters. They weren’t important to my boss, so they weren’t important to me. He lived his life in high society and didn’t care to take notice of the little people being slaughtered like pigs in the street.” His tone was filled with disdain. “That is until one came to claim his life, and I let it happen.”
“You let it happen? How? You know we are bonded like blood towards our bosses.”
“I’m not sure, perhaps it all went too fast, but I just stood there, watching the bastard die without lifting a finger. Afterwards I was free, but I had no purpose. So I did the only thing I could think of--learn about the monsters and find out where they came from, and after battling a few to the brink of death, they told me to go west towards the next city where the Monster Association was hidden. They told me to find Gyoro-Gyoro. So that’s how I ended up here.”
Flame pondered his story, “Except that the rules are once our bosses die, our lives end too. We suicide.”
With a short chortle, Wind looked back up at him, “If that were true you wouldn’t be here either, right?”
“My boss isn’t dead.”
He blinked, “But how--?”
“I left.”
Wind’s eyebrow lifted, “You...left?”
“Yes.”
“...Huh.” He turned around to lean on the ledge, his arms crossing over his chest. “Why?”
“No reason. I just did.” Flame said. Wind glared at him, puzzled by his candor. “When do you think they’ll turn us into monsters?”
Wind shrugged, “No idea. But I plan on locating Gyoro-Gyoro soon and asking him myself.”
“Perhaps he’d like you taking the initiative.”
“Yes. Or he’ll kill me.” He smirked, “Either way is fine with me.”