Somewhere deep underwater, 1413 days after Setsuka began her training regiment
Inside the large and spacious ballroom of a sunken cruise ship, three aquatic monsters had gathered together in order to receive their leader's orders. These were the trusted officers of the Clan of the Seafolk that worked under the Deep Sea King.
"Is anyone clear on why our lord summoned us today?" an average-sized officer of the Clan of the Seafolk asked his fellow officers who were gathered in the ballroom of the sunken cruise ship.
He had a lean humanoid figure with brown skin, black eyes and a pair of tentacles sprouting out from his back. And he was currently wearing a white toga that reached all the way to his knees.
"Who knows what our lord wishes to discuss with us, we will have to hear his wishes when he arrives. But I can not shake the feeling that we will be receiving some great news soon." another officer of the Deep Sea King stated his thoughts on the matter as he looked at the one with the tentacles sprouting from his back.
He was a tall and muscular seafolk with light blue skin, red eyes and a head that resembled that of a hammerhead shark's. He also wore a brown toga over his body.
"It is of no importance to us if his majesty summons us out of the blue, we are expected to be present when he calls for us." another one of the officers of the Deep Sea King curtly told the other two members that had gathered in the ballroom.
He was by far the tallest member of the three that had gathered at the ballroom, with him being nearly twice the size of the one with the tentacles sprouting from his back.
His features consisted of a large head that took on the shape of a squid, blood red skin and a pair of tentacles that served as his arms and legs. But unlike the other two officers in the room, he was not wearing a single piece of clothing on his body.
"You should learn to loosen up a little Surume? I'm just curious as to why our Lord hastily summoned all of us out of the blue." the seafolk with the tentacles sprouting from his back told the officer with the large head while raising an eyebrow in his direction.
"Oh, I did not know that my words would make you react this way. I apologize if my comment towards you sounded rude, Hatchin. I am still not over the fact that the accursed blasphemer among us brazenly recently declared that he was a better leader than His Majesty." Surume apologized to Hatchin.
"*Sigh~* It's alright, I know that you did not mean to insult me. I also get angry when I recall what that brute said to our leader during our last meeting.Just make sure that you keep these thoughts to yourself going forward." Hatchin reassured Surume that he was not hurt by the words that were directed at him.
"Speaking of which, where is our other comrade? She should have been here ages ago! Does she not know that-"
"Hello fellow officers! Be grateful for I have arrived!" a feminine voice shouted out from the entrance that led to the ballroom that the three other officers were currently occupying, unconsciously cutting of Surume from finishing what he was about to say about her.
And as they turned their heads in the direction of the entrance of the ballroom that they were occupying, they were greeted by the sight of the female member of the Clan of the Seafolk who had ended the life of Count Jellyfish making a dramatic pose with her arms wide open. She was wearing a white robe that looked similar to the ones that clergymen of the church wore.
"Spare us your theatrics, whelp. You were supposed to be here ages ago." Surume chastised his fellow officer as he looked down at her with an annoyed expression on his face.
"Who are you calling a whelp, Mr. Buzzkill Incarnate?" the short seafolk responded to the insult that Surume had thrown her way.
"What? How dare you use such a word to describe me? I will have you know that I can be entertaining when the moment calls for it. But you on the other hand simply do whatever you want without a care in the world for the consequences of your reckless actions." Surume told the shorter monster as he continued to glare down at her.
"Seriously? You're telling me that you can be entertaining? I find the words that you just sprouted hard to believe!" the shorter monster said as she met his angry stare with a glare of her own.
And with this , the two officers began to argue with one another, much to the displeasure of the two officers.
"It appears that the two of them are going to be bickering with each other once again." the hammerhead seafolk stated as he observed the heated argument that his fellow officers were engaging themselves in while making his way towards Hatchin.
"Yeah, I don't want to deal with them when they get like this." Hatchin voiced his agreement with the words of the seafolk with the hammerhead shark head.
"Silence you impudent fools!" another voice shouted out, cutting out the voices of the two bickering officers.
And as the four officers turned around in the direction from which the voice came from, they were greeted by the site of a great white shark with pitch black eyes who had arms and legs that looked like those of a muscular human's instead of fins. He was currently not wearing any clothing to cover his body.
"Oh great, another one of our ruler's 'Yes Men' has made his appearance." Hatchin muttered as he saw the shark humanoid that had just made his appearance.
'Why is he still working under His Majesty?' Surume pondered to himself as he looked at the one whom he had been disapproving just moments ago.
'Don't think I didn't hear you waste of space.You really think I want to be under that fool's rule? I'm just waiting for the perfect time to make my move against him when his guard's down. And I can't do that with him being as strong and vigilant as he is now.' the shark with human limbs thought to himself as he heard Hatchin's negative comment towards him.
"Hold your tongue you wretched weakling, or I will make an example out of you." the shark monster yelled as he looked at Hatchin with his enraged black eyes.
"Whatever, not like what you're saying matters right now. Just tell us what our king wants us to do already." Hatchin told his superior as he waited to hear what the Deep Sea King's strongest commanding officer had to say.
"I shall deliver the message of the Deep Sea King quickly and I will not repeat myself, so listen carefully. Our King wants us to start making preparations for the invasion of the surface. We will be leaving as soon as you have finished organizing your troops and prepared them for battle." the second in command of the Deep Sea King uttered the orders of their leader to his fellow officers before promptly swimming away from the ballroom of the sunken cruise ship.
"Yes! We finally get to invade the surface and get rid of these humans for good! Well see you guys later!" the sole female officer among the four officers in the ballroom shouted out in glee at the prospect of being able to conduct an invasion of the surface before she swam away from the ballroom that they had all been occupying.
"I'd also better get going. Farewell fellow officers." Hatchin stated as he also left the ballroom.
"Why does they have to leave before we even start planning things out? It really is annoying isn't it Bagon?" Surume rhetorically asked his fellow officers as they saw their fellow officers just leave the ballroom that they were currently occupying.
"No need to worry about those two, we'll just have to organize our troops without the two of them. Be glad that we will be able to actually get things done more quickly if we were to make plans without the two of them present." Bagon reassured Surume with a calming voice.
"You're right, we should forget about those two and come up with a solid plan for how we will go about dealing with the surface dwellers." Surume conceded before the two of them began to make plans on how to proceed to formulate a plan on how they should organize their troops for the invasion.
Meanwhile, outside a large research lab in an undisclosed location
*Weewoo~* *Weewoo~*
As the sirens at the secret research lab hidden within a forest continuously blared, a group of bald men could be seen running away from the entrance of said research lab while they wore a pair of bulky black battle suits.
"Oh yeah! We finally got those awesome battle suits from that research lab we heard about!" one of the bald men rejoiced as he ran away from the research lab which they had just robbed.
"You said it man! Now we'll really be able to go and make our goals come true with the strength of these awesome battle suits." another colleague of his agreed with him.
"Save the celebrations for later boys! We've gotta get out of this area before our true fight for equality begins!" another much larger bald man shouted out to the ones that were talking just moments ago.
His noticeable features were the size of his bald head and a horizontal scar that went right across his nose.
This man was Hammerhead, the leader of the group of thugs known as The Paradisers.
"Sorry boss, I just got excited when we were actually able to pull this off." one of the bald men who Hammerhead had spoken to apologized as they continued to run away from the secret research lab they had just robbed.
But unbeknownst to The Paradisers, they were being watched by a mysterious figure with glowing red eyes had been shadowing them from the very beginning from the branch of one of the larger trees in the area.
"The battle suits are now in the hands of the humans that you had requested be a part of the experiment.It is time for me to deliver my report." the mysterious figure said before disappearing from the branch that said figure was perched on.
At the same time The Paraidsers were making a move, somewhere in the residential area of City Z
At the residential area located in City Z where those with lower incomes lived at, there was a small apartment building that looked like it had seen better days.
And within one of the rooms of said apartment was a young woman with curly, shoulder-length black hair who was looking out towards the empty streets of her residence from the window of her apartment room.
She was wearing an oversized white t-shirt that had the image of a flaming skull that reached all the way to her thighs.
'Damn it, the rent is coming up soon and I haven't received my salary yet. What am I gonna do?' the young woman thought to herself as she continued to gaze out to the road right next to her apartment.
'And I really don't wanna deal with the old lady after the rough day that I just had.' the young woman continued to worry about the current financial state that she was in once she started to think about her landlord.
But then her mind started to drift of to the conversation that she had with someone that she had not seen in a while just a couple of weeks ago.
Sometime during the late hours of the 1399th day of Setsuka's training regiment, outside a job application agency located in City Z
"Damn it, I failed to get another full-time job." the young woman with the curly hair muttered as she exited the building that housed the office of the job application agency.
She was currently wearing the typical work attire that consisted of a black coat, a white collared shirt, a knee-length pencil skirt and a pair of black low heels.
'But at least I was able to get a part-time job that should last for a couple of weeks.' she thought to herself as she continued to walk in the direction of her home.
"Oh? Well if it isn't little Miss Daishi. What brings you all the way out here?" the curly-haired woman heard a nasally voice coming from behind her.
And as she turned around to look at the one who was talking to her, she was greeted by the sight of a skinny bespectacled young man with a few freckles that were spread throughout his face and short brown hair which was perfectly combed backwards.
He was wearing a fancy beige-colored suit along with a pair of brown leather shoes and he was looking at her with a smug look on his face.
'Great, I just had to meet the last person I wanted to see right now. Just leave me alone.' the curly-haired youth thought to herself as she looked at the young man now standing in front of her.
"What do you want now Orochimaru?" Daishi asked the bespectacled man while looking at him with a deadpan expression on her face.
"Hey now, there's no need to be so cold towards me. I'm just shocked by the fact that you were out in this side of town." Orochimaru told Daishi as he looked at her with an appraising look on his face.
"You know the reason as to why I come to this side of town Orochimaru, is to try and get a decent job for myself." Daishi grumbled as she continued to glare at him.
"Oh, you're no fun. Couldn't you at least try to engage in a casual conversation before we start discussing the more serious stuff?" Orochimaru suggested to the young woman standing in front of him.
"I'm not interested in your 'small talk'. Hurry up before I change my mind and leave." Daishi bluntly told the bespectacled businessman while still looking at him with a deadpan expression on her face.
"Alright, I'll just go straight to the point. I've come to offer you a job at the place where I work." Orochimaru told Daishi with a small grin plastered on his face.
"Oh really? Why would I want to work in a place where someone like you could be hired?" Daishi inquired of Orochimaru as she looked at him with a doubtful expression on her face.
"I have changed since the last time we met Daishi. I'm actually doing something great for our society for once. You're now looking at one of the senior recruiters working for the Hero Association!" Orochimaru declared his changed ways to Daishi while making a peace sign with two of his hands.
"Wait, an organization that stacked actually hired someone like you?" Daishi shouted out in shock at the news that Orochimaru just shared with her.
"Why yes indeed! And boy am I glad that I was able to run into you right now! I was seriously confused as to how to contact you-"
"Hold on a minute, you want me to be a hero?" Daishi inquired of the bespectacled salesman.
"That's right! You really were a capable fighter back when we were-"
"I'm gonna have to stop you there, Orochimaru. I've also changed my ways you know? I'm not the same delinquent I was during our high school days. And even if I were still capable of fighting, I would stand no chance of fighting against any monsters. Besides, I'm don't want to work for an organization that have tainted the idea of being a hero." Daishi declined Orochimaru's offer in order to be a hero for the Hero Association.
"Ok? But what if I told you that I'm also responsible for recruiting the people who'll be responsible for giving our fine heroes the support they need? How about that?" Orochimaru switched his offer up, secretly hoping that she would accept his offer.
"Eh, I' don't want to work for the Hero Association, even if I'm not going to be a hero." Daishi declined Orochimaru's offer once more.
"Alright, but I really feel like you could make some serious cash if you worked for us." Orochimaru conceded to Daishi's refusal while taking out a business card from the breast pocket of his beige coat.
"Take this in case you change your mind about working for us." the bespectacled man told Daishi as he handed her his business card before leaving her all alone.
All Daishi could do at that moment was look at the business card that was currently in her hand as she processed what her former classmate had told her.
Back in the present day
'I'm still confused by the reason to why he offered me to work for such an organization.' Daishi thought to herself before she tore up the business card that Orochimaru had given her.
"Oh well, I guess I'll be a registered hero. But this is only because I don't have many options for a well-paying job as it stands. At least I'll be able to make a decent salary if I'm able to get a decent ranking right from the start. I should just call him." Daishi decided her next course of action to get out of her current predicament as she took out her flip phone, typed the numbers on the business card and calling her former classmate.