The Future Begins With You chap5

The Future Begins With You

Testing

Neku and friends then saw Joshua turn around with his back facing them and addressed who he could sense near by. although, he pretended it was more like he was being watched.

“I know you’re here. I feel like I’m being watched. So there’s no point in hiding now” Joshua said crossing his arms.

Looking towards the many skyscrapers of Shibuya, they then saw a person emerge from thin air on the flat roof of the building, unaware that the same male Reaper who sensed them was now before them, causing the man to chuckle a little.

“heh, that’s interesting little trick you have, for a human. Then again, people feeling like they’re being watched is a very common thing you know. So, what brings all you kids to these parts?” Ganta said with a relaxed tone of voice

“Well, it seems my friends and I have died” Joshua said putting up another charade

“Oh, really? That’s a bummer dying so young” the Reaper said feeling a little empathetic

He then sat up and leaned towards the edge of the building with his right leg against it.

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to know….Nevermind. I keep forgetting you’re all human, so you wouldn’t get it” Ganta said wondering if that triggered anything in Joshua

“does he suspect that I was the one who controlled this place?” Joshua thought

Still trying to play his charade of being mortal, he then asked the Reaper a question

“Nevermind what? If you’re not going to answer that, the least you could do is answer me this, are you not human?” Joshua said curious of whether or not he was in front of a demon

“Well…not really kid” Ganta said now a bit excided

He then closed his eyes and summoned his Reaper wings and flew down to them. As he did, Neku felt something in his left pocket burn and as he reached for what was burning, he then pulled out his unknown pin. The moment he clutched it in his hand, he felt a jolt in his head making him grunt in pain

“Nngh”

As he cringed in pain, he saw a sort of vision, seeing everything in blue, (Similar to when he reads minds with his Player pin) and saw purplish black energy all around Shibuya and saw that same energy emitting from the mysterious Reaper, seeing him land near Joshua. At that moment, after seeing the energy, his vision ended making Neku pant.

“Neku what’s wrong?” Eri said concerned

“This…this guy he’s…different. He’s--

Ganta then cuts off Neku happy to see Neku’s pin was working properly.

“So you figured me out huh? Neku was it? I guess I should introduce myself then, the name’s Ganta, I’m a Reaper” he said smiling

The moment they all heard that, all of them, excluding Joshua who looked more angry, like he was ready to fight, all looked in shock.

Neku then looked back at his pin and placed in it his pocket. After doing that, he then crossed his arms suspicious of why the Reaper is here with them.

“If you’re really a Reaper, then why are you here? The Reapers’ Game hasn’t gone on for a while now…plus, I know you’re not an ordinary Reaper. I don’t know what the hell that pin is, but I saw it, I saw demon energy all around Shibuya and that you have it too” Neku said darkly

Shiki and the others then looked at each other then back to Neku, feeling a little nervous that they’re around a demonic Reaper. Upon hearing the hostility in Neku’s voice, Ganta’s smile became more sinister, happy to return the same hostility.

“Well now, this is interesting. If you know about that, then that must mean that you too know someone from the inside, someone who has been here before. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you all may have even played it before” Ganta said getting excided

Neku then got in his fighting stance, making the others do that too.

“Someone’s on edge” the Reaper said teasingly

“Do you really think you can face me Redhead? I wouldn’t if I were you. See, even if the Reapers’ Game is over, certain aspects of it still apply to the UG. For instance, humans must have a partner to use their Psychs and are helpless without them. We Demon Reapers have been harvesting energy lately to recreate the perfect form of someone we need. In order to do that, we’ve been spreading His energy to all the Noise and Spirits trapped in the UG…and now that you and your friends are here, you’ve made our job a little easier” Ganta said darkly

He then walked closer to them and then changed his direction to Neku.

“His energy? What’re you talking about?” Neku said a little nervous

“damn it” he thought “my Soul…they’re gonna target me again, just like in the Higher Plane…only now, I’m even weaker here. Back then, my Soul was freed from me so I was a lot stronger then how I am now and used attacks I never could here. Braking the sound barrier when I flew, blasting fire like energy, using Angel techniques, all of that was cause of me being a Spirit. Even if I was almost killed by Demons, a Spirit is stronger than a Human”

“Neku” Joshua said sternly “don’t do it, you’re not ready yet”

He then looked back at Joshua and back at the Reaper and began to back away from Ganta, making all the others do the same.

“This ain’t good yo. He’s a Reaper PLUS a DEMON?! Phones…we gotta get him outta here. I can’t watch him almost die again. I ain’t lettin’ that happen!” Beat thought as he looked at him

As the friends all backed away from the Reaper, they then immediately ran away from him, causing Ganta to snap his fingers making a wall appear in front of them. As they all ran, Beat and Rhyme ran into a wall causing them to run around it and encounter another Soul Noise, looking like the last one they all faced. Seeing this made everyone stop and look to them.

“Beat, Rhyme! You gotta keep going!” Shiki cried

“Go!” Rhyme shouted

“We can handle this!” she said strongly

Filled with tension, Shiki looked for a few seconds only to have someone pull her.

“come on!” Eri shouted

They then ran faster trying to escape Ganta only to have him snap his fingers again summoning another wall.

“so far, our mission’s going well. I especially want to see what that kid can do, Neku. At the same time, that boy with the wavy grayish blonde hair seems to know a lot about this place, and Reapers. I’ll have to keep an eye on him too” Ganta thought pleased

At that moment Shiki ran into the wall making Neku run to her.

“Neku don’t! you have to keep going!” she pleaded

“Screw that! There’s no way in hell I’m leaving you at risk!” Neku snarled

Joshua and Eri were going to run to Neku to see if Joshua could team up with him instead, for extra protection, but they both felt vibrations of a powerful stomp. They then both turn in front of them to see another Soul Noise in front of them.

“Good, now they’re all separated and I can now see who would be the best person to extract Soul from. Prove to me your strength Neku…let me see if you’re a worthy specimen” Ganta thought pleased

As Neku ran to Shiki, and all the others were fighting Noise, they were startled that they were brought to the Noise dimension again but, with the Noise already in their animal forms. An ability that was usually only done with them in their symbol form. Pleased with what’s happening Ganta then gave Emiko her signal. He teleported back to one of the skyscrapers and then said to her telepathically what to do next.

“alright, seems I’m up. Once they start fighting, I’ll set up that wall for the girl to run into. If the plan works, then we can see the true extent of Soul in a boy like him” Emiko thought back to him

Once Neku caught up to Shiki they then began fighting multiple demon Noise together. From the usual wolf demon Noise, to Rhinos, elephants, Cheetahs, Gorillas and the Hybrid Noise also made a return. After erasing all of them, Emiko then commenced with her roll. She spawned more Noise, but at a further distance causing the two partners to run after the Noise symbols, all while Emiko kept herself invisible. As the distance between Neku, Shiki, the Noise Symbols and Emiko all reduced., she then created her special wall, hoping Shiki would get hit by it. As they both ran, Shiki began to go a little faster than Neku causing him to speed up.

“The sooner the Noise are erased, the sooner we can get out of here! I’m not gonna let Neku go through what he did in the Higher Plane! I don’t care if my Soul is in my body again, I know I’m not the way I use to be” Shiki thought as she ran

“Shiki…Hey Shiki wait up!” Neku yelled trying to catch up to her

She was about to slow down for Neku to catch up, but as she simply took one step forward from her run, she was instantly electrocuted by a wall that threw her back. Seeing this, and how the Noise Symbols were hovering towards her made Neku overwhelmed with concern.

“Shiki!” he screamed

When he finally got to her, he then saw multiple walls appear around him completely cutting him off from Shiki with the wall she ran into, now gone. An anxious Neku now looked behind him seeing Shiki out cold and then looked in front of him.

“Damn it…without a Partner I’m….wait! Those pins Joshua gave us, maybe if I use them, then I’ll be okay, I can fight back.” Neku thought concerned

He then hears someone laugh at his nervousness and appear hovering in the air, making Neku gasp, hoping that she wasn’t like Ganta.

“well this is a pretty rough situation you’re in” Emiko said smiling

“I’m Emiko, the one who spawned all these Noise” she said slyly

He then sees the Noise symbols begin hovering to him, making him flash back to when he saw Uzuki summon Noise to kill him and Shiki, with her telling him not to fight her, that he would be killed if he did.

“this is…just like last time but, without her. Can I really do this without my Pact?” he thought getting more nervous

Neku then got in his fighting stance ready to take that risk, making Emiko sigh

“are you sure about this? You don’t want to make such a hefty mistake…Neku Sakuraba” Emiko said with an evil smile

He then looks at her in shock knowing what that meant for him.

“No, she’s like that other Reaper too?” Neku thought

Amused by how Neku figured out what she is, she then decided to tell him something that would hopefully make him feel even more stressed out.

“Do you want to know exactly why people have to make a Pact to fight the Noise? It’s because that empowers both Players. Noise, though not very intelligent, are very powerful and adaptable creatures. From taking on different forms, to having a variety of attacks, to having such unstable energy that it can be merged with Reapers, Noise are creatures that a human can’t face on their own because the average level of Soul is influenced by the person. Even Proxys can‘t face the Noise on their own due to how Soul is weaker when within the flesh. It requires a massive amount of energy to kill them, and as a result, the pact gives that person of energy to do so” Emiko explained

“So without that girl, do you really think you can face all these Noise, and myself?” she said coyly

Neku then clasped his right shoulder, unsure of what to do.

“I…I have to do it. If I attack the Noise, that Reaper….Emiko, could just spawn more of them. It’ll never end! But…if I do that, just focus on her, then the Noise will have me wide open for attacks. Damn it….this isn’t good…and my Soul…I can’t let them absorb it either by killing me but, my only option right now is to test out those new Pins. I don’t even know how to access the other energies within me. For now, this is my best shot” Neku thought hoping he made the right choice

He then looked back at her focusing all his energy on his Soul Pins.

“yeah, I can take it. I’ve been in the UG before cause of the Reapers’ Game, and I know the only way to stop the Noise from spawning continuously, is by stopping you” Neku snarled

“Good” Emiko thought “he’s taking the bait…target your attacks on me all you want Neku. Let’s see how this goes”

With a snap of her fingers she then summoned the animal forms of the Noise revealing to Neku, five Progfoxes, a Noise he knows can be difficult to erase due to how strong they are. As well as four Ambiefox, something that made Neku even more unsettled, remembering how these Noise were found on the Trail of the Sinner.

“these Noise…they were on that path that lead to Joshua except for those Progfoxes but…I….no…there’s no turning back, I can’t let these Noise get to Shiki! I’ll be dammed if I let myself die like this” Neku screamed in his head

He then charged at Emiko and leaped towards her, only to have three Progfoxes tackle him to the ground. He then gets up and punches, blasting his energy at them sending them all flying. The Ambiefoxes then ran to Neku making him close his eyes and float, summoning asteroids of his energy towards them all. Emiko, surprised, and impressed by Neku, put  a barrier around herself making it impossible for them to reach her. Though when it struck the Noise, he saw that the Ambiefoxes and Progfoxes began to grow tails, making Neku gasp. When the asteroids all dissolved she then removed her barrier to see what he would do next. Hoping he would hit her.

He then leaped towards Emiko again with his Soul bursting like fire from his feet and hands, propelling him forward like a rocket and was about to punch her in the face, but then she stuck her hand out in front of him blasting him back with a shock wave making him scream in pain as he smacked against one of the walls and landed face first. As he looked up, he then saw one of the Progfoxes pounce at him causing him to hold out his hand and blast energy at the fox wounding it, but also making it grow a seventh tail. Neku then immediately gets up, though trembled a little as he got up, realizing how he’s starting to get seriously hurt.

He then reached for his Angel feather but, the Noise, being linked to Emiko, sensed this and attacked Neku again causing him to place his hands on his head and close his eyes while focusing energy.

“Back off!” he shouted

The moment he did, he made a dome that blasted all the foxes away from him with so much force and strength that is erased three of the Progfoxes and two of the Ambiefoxes. He then opens his eyes to see the Noise dissolving to static, relieved that he’s making progress and fired rapid bullets of his energy at the Noise again, focusing more on Ambifoxes, hoping that he could erase all of them, then deal with he Progfoxes and then Emiko. The Ambiefoxes were all sent flying from his attacks causing the two Progfoxes to pounce at Neku, slashing and biting him, making him scream as they sent him crashing against the wall behind him making the wall begin to crack. As he laid on his right side he then whimpered in pain knowing that he couldn’t take much more, hoping Beat and the others were okay.

Neku then tries to get up only to feel his body tremble and ache as he clenched his ribs with his left hand.  He looked up and saw Emiko summon two more Ambiefoxes and saw the Progfoxes now in front of him how, summoning their flames to burn Neku making him scream as they burned him as he tried to desperately get up. He pushes himself harder with his right hand so he finally stands up again, only to have two Ambiefoxes turn into Jelly Neoccoustic Noise and began draining his health by wrapping their tentacles around his waist and upper arms. He then held out his left hand and blasted the form making it revert back to Ambiefoxes. He tried to run away from them filled with agony as he held onto his right arm for support.

“Damn it” he muttered panting out of breath

He then closed his eyes and opened them to summon a massive blast of fire from his soul incinerating all the Ambiefoxes and then moved the flames to the Progfoxes burning all but one of them which had an additional tail, making them eight and then lets out a sharp grunt.

“Nnngh!”

He then saw the Progfox gain one more tail, causing the Noise to enter its Nine Tails form, something that made Neku extremely hesitant. It then snarled at Neku and howled as it unleashed purple fire at him causing him to run away from it while extending his left hand out shooting his energy at the Nine Tails form. It then unleashed its most powerful attack paralyzing Neku in place as he sees it unleash a massive dome of energy on him, burning him, followed by exploding making the Progfox return to its normal state. The recoil then launched Neku flying back into the wall behind him, making it nearly crack all the way. Desperate to make the Noise not come near Shiki, he then ran towards Emiko again and blasted out his Soul like a massive fire, making him cringe in pain as it burned his hands. As the energy flew towards her, she then teleported away, satisfied with what she had seen. She then stood on another sky scraper to watch how Neku handles the Progfox. It then looks at Neku and transforms into him and attacked him with the Psych Stellar Flurry. He dodges the attacks but then saw the fake Neku mimic is Soul attacks and unleashed  red fire like energy at him causing Neku to do the same, cutting through the red fire. He then jumps to the fake and punches it in the face seven times, followed by a sweep kick to make the fake Neku fall down. When it did, Neku then fired more of his energy at it, only for the Progfox Neku to then snarl as it also cuts through his fire and punches Neku in the face.

As their fight continued,  Joshua and the others, wounded, though still okay, went running to Neku with Joshua reaching him first, standing in front of Shiki. She then began to wake up seeing Joshua in front of her, filled with disorientation.  As Joshua was about to break the wall to help Neku fight, he then sees Neku roar as he unleashes a full body blast of his energy at the Noise making it dissolve into static. Exhausted, the then nearly collapses using his right arm as a crutch panting out of breath. Joshua then breaks the wall, causing all the others around Neku to break as well, allowing him to walk back to his friends.

“Phones!” Beat shouted running to him

“Yo man, what’s widchu? Me ‘n Rhyme could sense how dem Noise were poundin’ you man. What happened?! And what happened to Shiki?!” he said worried

“Nnngh! N-Nothing, I just fought off some Progfoxes and Ambiefoxes. But….they felt a lot stronger than normal. even though they’re challenging to fight, I could still handle them. But with these Noise…it felt like there was more of a boost in strength against them and…Shiki…she fell into a trap one of those Reapers set up. She ran into a wall that electrocuted her, knocking her out cold” Neku said weakly

He then reached for his Angel feather and held it in right hand, healing all his wounds

“thanks CAT” he thought grateful

After seeing the white aura dissolve from him, Rhyme asked if he was okay

“Yeah…a little tired, but I’m fine” Neku said reassuringly

At that moment Shiki was then able to get to her feet

“Nnngh, Joshua? Neku? Hey what happened? I remember running after the Noise with Neku, but then I blacked out, and then I saw Joshua in front of me” she said weakly

She then couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed

“I guess I owe you one” Shiki said to Joshua

He then chuckled at her confusion

“the one you should be thanking Shiki, is Neku” Joshua said correcting her

Neku then smiled at her and walked up to her, once he stood in front of her, he then reached into his pocket and held his Angel feather in his hand and placed that hand on Shiki’s right hand. She then closed her eyes and felt much more awake and aware, causing her to open her eyes and the Angel aura disappeared.

“You…You fought all those Noise Neku?” Shiki said concerned

“Yeah, but I’m fine Shiki, don’t worry. Even if I fought Progfoxes and Ambiefoxes that have demon energy in them. I was able to handle it” Neku said with his right hand on his waist with a smug smile

“Neku…that’s really dangerous. Even though I’ve never even seen those Noise before, still…a Noise with Demon energy is really powerful. Are you sure you’re okay?” Shiki said hoping that he wasn’t just acting tough

Neku then chuckled at her persistence

“Yes Shiki, I am. But what about everyone else? They were fighting demon Noise too” Neku said reminding her that the others were there

She then looked at the others and couldn’t help but blush a little, making Eri giggle

“Shiki, it’s okay that you worried about Neku’s safety, like you said, these Noise are stronger than the normal ones, but what about us? Do we not matter?” Eri said teasingly

Shiki then flailed her hands blushing extremely hard

“huh?” Neku thought crossing his arms  looking confused “that seemed like a total Joshua move to tease her like that, is he really starting to rub off on Eri? I seriously hope not”

“What?!” Shiki cried  “Of course you matter Eri, you’re one of my best friends, you were my original best friend before meeting Neku, Beat, Rhyme and Joshua. But you guys weren’t in any trouble right?”

Beat then chuckled

“Hells no man! Ain’t nothing’ gonna stop me yo!” Beat roared

“Oh really?” Rhyme said with sly tone of voice

She then giggled

“Beat, being strong is good ‘n all but you were just as hurt as I was. even though I was able to use the Noise’s energy against them, they still got me pretty badly. You got hurt too bro”  Rhyme said crossing her arms at him

“BWAAAAH!” Beat screamed

“what the hell Rhyme?! Ain’t you suppose to be on my side?” the brother said shocked

Neku and the others then all giggled

“I guess it’s safe to say we all got hurt from the Noise, so how did it feel using those Soul pins?” Joshua asked

“it was kinda weird, like I was by a campfire, I felt myself become really warm, but it wasn’t burning” Eri said with her pointer finger on her chin

“I felt dat too yo! But I also felt like my energy was hittin’ ‘em but it ain’t really hurtin’ them as much yo. I don’t get it. I was able to erase them but it took a bit longer then normal” Beat said scratching his head

Joshua then placed his left hand in his back pocket and his right hand on his mouth, thinking as to why Beats energy was reacting that way

“Hmm, I think I know why your energy was like that Beat” Joshua replied

“For reals yo?” Beat asked

“For reals indeed” Joshua said crossing his arms  “you see Beat, although you never grew in power as a Reaper to the extent you knew how to become a Noise, you were still half Noise by being a Reaper. That’s why your energy took a bit longer to erase them, your link to them made your energy a bit easier for them to take a hit from. But in Rhyme’s case, her link is much stronger then yours due to her being one in the past. So she can manipulate the Noise’s energy and use it against them, in addition to powering up her energy as well”

“oh yeah, I remember burning the Noise with my energy to the point they dissolved into static in addition to firing their energy back at them” Rhyme said with a smile

“Looks like Rhyme’s our little secret weapon then huh?” Eri said giggling

“yeah that’s pretty cool how her link to them helps us” Neku said smiling at her, making Rhyme giggle

As the teens then walked around the city, they then went to Ken Doi’s restaurant to get some food in them. As they did Emiko and Ganta reported back to the Composer’s Pad

“So, how’d they do?” Ganta asked

“Much better then I expected, they all seem worthy of being harvested for the Boss to get his strength back. So far the 1 million souls we’ve gathered have helped Him, but He’s not at His full strength yet” Emiko replied

Ganta then smiled

“that’s great, then maybe once we narrow it down to the Soul He wants the most, and then bring it to Him, He’ll then keep his end of the deal” Ganta added

Emiko then sighed

“But, something happened with one of them” she pointed out “That boy, Neku Sakuraba. He has a very powerful amount of energy within him. His energy is very resilient and able to be unleashed for long periods of time. Though it does exhaust him, harvesting Soul at his level of strength should also help the Boss recover even faster”

Ganta then thought about what she had just said

“I also noticed one of them has a very strong link to the Noise, and her brother was once a Reaper as well. Also, there were two other girls who’s Soul was almost on par with Neku’s, and that boy with the wavy hair, it almost felt like he was holding back when he fought, like he was purposely trying to look vulnerable…something tells me he may not be really human. There’s something very off about his Vibe Frequency” Emiko also said

“You know, they all sound like great candidates that maybe for now we should all target them, plus the Noise they erased were able to store some of their energy and transfer it to us, so in the end, we’ll still get the energy within those kids” Ganta said pleased

“Yup, I just finished transferring the bits of their Soul to the room where the Boss is. It seems like we’ll need some more help to gather even more Soul in addition to their’s. Guess we should get the gang back together then?” Emiko asked

“definitely, we’ll then be able to get Soul even faster that way” Ganta said agreeing

To be continued…