Raiden throws an unconscious guard to the ground.

  He looks forward and mentions to the others: “That big door… we’re on the highest floor of the main building. That has got to be his bedroom.”

  The group runs toward the gate but suddenly, a voice behind them declares: “Not so fast! If you want to get to Lord Garuphu, you guys have to beat us first.”

  Three people appeared, two humans and one Ocriba. “We’re his top-level bodyguards, Goto, Aggemi and Bluefuzz.”

  Raiden says: “Would’ve been too easy otherwise, huh?”

  He steps forward with a big grin: “Alright, who wants to fight me?”

  Goto rushes to him and kicks him sideways through the rock wall into a bathroom.

  The girls shout: “Raiden!”, and Aggemi uses this confusion to literally throw Atsume into the greenhouse on the other side of the hallway.

  Bluefuzz comments, sounding grim: “Seems like I’m stuck with a little girl for an enemy. I’ll beat you in no time.”

  Shurui is angry: “The fuck you mean ‘little girl’?! Haven’t you seen her huge tits?!”

  Erika shouts: “Shut up, Shurui-chan!”

  Raiden recovers from that blow but discovers that he’s bleeding all over his body.

  “Seems like it’s nothing internal, huh?”, he notices something, “A bathroom? Wouldn’t that be connected with-”

  Goto interrupts his thought process with a punch he narrowly dodges. They exchange a few punches and blocks with nobody landing a hit.

  “Who’re you guys? The ones who beat up the mechanics earlier?”, Goto asks.

  “Bingo!”, Raiden replies with a big smile and a charged punch.

  Goto tanks the hit and confuses Raiden: “I can turn parts of my body into rubber. Your power is useless against me.”

  Raiden removes his fist and says: “I see…”

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  Goto punches and kicks a few times and Raiden focuses on dodging.

  “Him saying parts of his body means he can’t turn all of his body into rubber.”, he narrowly evades another punch, “And if he wants to hurt me with those punches, soft rubber won’t suffice.”

  He grabs the wrist with a charged hand and shouts: “Induction: Charge!”

  A few hundred volts rush through Goto’s body and Raiden follows up with an uppercut. Goto managed to turn his chin into rubber to more or less tank that hit. He retaliates by using his rubber arm as a whip and hits Raiden with unexpectedly great force. Raiden gets flung into a bathtub and breaks it.

  Pained, he figures: “So that’s how he was able to fling me through a whole wall made of stone.”

  Goto asks again: “Come on, tell me now, who are you guys?”

  Raiden has turned the water on and showers Goto with it who says: “Are you serious? I thought you know that you can’t shock rubber.”

  Raiden smiles and Goto realizes his bluff’s been busted. Raiden shocks the water and all of Goto with it.

  Goto falls over as he can only move his head now: “H- how did y- you know?”

  Raiden explains: “You told me, remember?”, Goto is surprised, “You said ‘parts of my body’ so, if I shocked everything, something would get shocked. I had hoped that you’d need to neglect at least your legs but that you could only save your head is even better.”

  He takes some bandages out of a shelf in the bathroom to patch up a few wounds and keeps talking: “Yes, we are those people who beat up your mechanics earlier today. And now we’re coming for Garuphu’s bounty.”, he finishes up with the bandages and starts smiling again, “Well, thanks for the puzzling fight. Every once in a while, these are fun too. I’ll go help my friends now.”

  During this fight, Atsume’s fight against Aggemi has been going on as well.

  The girls try punching and kicking each other and Atsume notices: “She’s moving quite a lot. But she couldn’t be that inexperienced if she holds this position, right?”

  Suddenly, one of her punches slips right off and Atsume gets hit right in the face.

  Atsume quickly stands back up and says: “Interesting. Your sweat seems to be slippery.”

  Aggemi smugs: “So you’ve figured that out correctly… yeah. Cower before me! You stand no chance!”

  Aggemi rushes toward Atsume and aims right for the face again. Suddenly, rocks start forming on Atsume’s face as she doesn’t try to dodge. Aggemi punches the rock with full force and ends up hurting her own hand more than Atsume. Atsume retaliates by growing long claws on a furry right hand and slicing into Aggemi’s torso a bit. Her other hand becomes covered in rock and she punches her face with full force. Aggemi flies into a counter filled with plants and almost through the glass of the greenhouse.

  “The hell is this power?!”, she asks.

  Atsume explains: “I belong to the ultimate species of shape shifters. I don’t even have any powers.”

  “Bullshit! I’ve never heard of a shape shifter species that’s this good at shifting!”, she starts panicking.

  Atsume suddenly stumbles and falls to the ground. She feels powerless as Aggemi starts looming over her on the floor.

  Aggemi explains with a power-hungry look: “My sweat is not only slippery, it also interacts with your body’s messenger substances to make you feel completely exhausted. While I’m still warming up, you’re already done and can’t move a muscle.”

  Atsume starts panicking now and Aggemi takes in all her strength to deliver one finishing blow. She punches and Atsume screams in pain.