“Interesting,” Dr. Garisu murmured, stroking his chin, watching a set of triple monitors that were set up in front of him, “this...Harvey has incredible power. My type III mechs couldn’t even stop him.”

“Incredible…” AI 33 spoke up, “but this type of power could be harnessed within our mechs, if we find a way to capture him. This is an opportunity that we cannot give up easily!”

“Indeed.” Dr. Garisu turned around, to the rest of his AI minions, “get me Garisu XI, Erfrait, and Arnolfini. They are to be deployed to City 87. Capture Harvey, and kill anyone else who gets in the way.”

Jant walked out onto the empty street. All around him, the apartments were in clean shape, with nobody to inhabit them. Trash cans sat empty and discarded on the sidewalks. A dry wind blew through the street, causing him to shiver slightly despite the warmth. It was the morning after what had happened in the Vyvyan pass.

92840280270274275620, he thought, that would be the apartment over there…

His eyes travelled to a smaller apartment across the street. It had a respectable wooden front door, with a window on the second floor. The window had its curtains drawn. The lights were out. This guy must live quite a lonely life. How did he train to become so strong?

Jant made his way to the front door. Breathing in a little, he raised a fist, and knocked three times. The knocks echoed a little, as if being amplified by the wood of the door.

Jant counted. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. A full ten seconds had passed by the time the door opened.

“Sir!” Jant stood up straight, “I am here!”

Harvey stuck his head out the door, looking around, his eyebrows furrowed. “You actually came,” he muttered, “okay, come on in...um...Jant, right?”

“Yes sir!”

Harvey nodded, and swung the door completely open to allow Jant in, “Well come on,” he murmured in a resigned voice, “we don’t have all day…”

Jant followed Harvey into his apartment, making sure to close his door behind him. The apartment was quite an unimpressive sight. The bottom floor was a living room, with a coffee table, two sofas, and a TV sitting on the right hand corner. There was a kitchen in the adjoining room, with stairs heading up behind them. The smell of some sort of chicken soup was still in the air.

Harvey went straight to the kitchen, “Sit down,” he said, gesturing to the sofas, “I’ll make some drinks.”

“Yes sir!”

Harvey sighed, as he poured coffee for both himself and Jant. He really wasn’t going to give up on the “sir” gimmick, was he?

Harvey eventually came out into the living room. He handed Jant one of the coffee cups, and then sat down on the opposite side of the coffee table. “So,” he began, “tell me about yourself.”

“My name is Jant Yugan,” said Jant, who was sitting criss-crossed on the sofa, his back as straight as a pencil, “I was trained in the wild zones between City 110 and City 111. My master was killed by a monster attack a month ago, and I have pledged to avenge his death by becoming a rogue guardian. I specialize in melee combat, and I use this staff in order to bring death upon my enemies.” he gestured to his staff, which was leaning against the sofa a few feet away.

Harvey nodded, “Okay.” he said, “So...why are you here?

“To become stronger, sir!” Jant’s voice seemed to only grow more and more enthusiastic as time grew on, “I will never be able to grow stronger. Last night, you saved me from certain death, defeated a monster that most would consider deadly, and healed my wounds. I must become more powerful, so that I can avenge my master’s death.”

“Well…” Harvey sighed, “that sucks. Because...I’m not exactly a combat master. I’m an...um...writer, you see?”

“I see. You are too humble to admit your powers, so you say that you are a writer. Is this how you hide from the public spotlight?”

“To be honest, yeah.” muttered Harvey, “I don’t like the media. I like living a quiet life. It’s nice, and I don’t have to deal with - what’re you doing?”

“Taking note of your infinite wisdom, sir!” Jant had a notebook out, his hand flying over the pages, writing notes at insane speed, “your advice is truly inspiring, sir!”

Harvey sighed. He took another drink of his coffee, and then set it down back onto the table. “Well, if that’s all you have to tell me, then I don’t think there’s any questions to be asked.”

“Sir, I do have questions. How did you become so powerful?”

Harvey raised an eyebrow, “How did I become so powerful? I’m not that powerful. That’s the answer.”

“But sir, you defeated Garisu III without a problem! You must have something that nobody else has. I have never seen a monster be taken down with such ease! Please reveal to me your secret!” Jant seemed to be positively begging. It was kind of scary.

In his outward appearance, Harvey seemed to be calm and bored, but on the inside, he was freaking out. What do I say? He thought to himself, I can’t teach this guy anything!

Finally, he found something intelligent to say. “A wise master,” he said, “does not reveal all of his secrets at once, Jant. All in due time.”

“Your wisdom is truly incredible, sir! I must take note of that.” Jant was soon writing down notes on his book again. Harvey watched him with a sense of relief.

Thank goodness I found something to say, he thought, that was too close.

“Sir, I sense something.” Jant looked around suddenly, “I think somebody is here.”

“Huh?” Harvey pronounced the “h” of “huh” right as a blade sliced through his wall, coming straight for his face, and pronounced the “uh” a second later, after he had vanished and appeared next to the TV.”

“Sir! There are monsters outside!” Jant ran over to the door, jumping onto the porch with his staff, when he saw Harvey already standing outside with two bloody masses right next to him. “Dang It,” he muttered, “I really hate monsters when they jump me like that.”

“Sir, how did you move so fast?”

“I don’t know.”

Before Jant could ask anything else, however, a massive mech appeared on the opposite end of the street. Jant’s brow furrowed as soon as he saw it. It was another Garisu mech. This one was larger. At least 13 feet tall, and was completely clad in metal armor. It had four arms that probably had all sorts of weapons hidden within them.

“My name is Garisu IX,” said the mech, “do not resist. I will defeat you.”

Harvey stared at Garisu IX, his shoulders slumped, “So...you’re gonna capture me?”

“Yes, of course I will.” Garisu IX began to approach Harvey, “do not resist, and tell you friend not to try and intervene as well.”

“Sir!” Jant ran up to Garisu IX, slamming its chest with his staff, knocking him back, “allow me to take care of this monster.”

“Out of the way!” Garisu IX smashed the ground where Jant was, but Jant managed to jump out of the way in time. He landed on Garisu IX’s arm, and ran up it, smashing his staff into Garisu’s face.

There was a small explosion, as Jant jumped off of Garisu’s body armor. But even after getting smashed through the face with a staff, Garisu IX was still standing. “You have just been marked for destruction,” said Garisu, “prepare to die.”

A dozen missiles flew out of Garisu’s back, arching in the sky and flying straight at Jant, who dodged all except the last one, which exploded directly in front of him, knocking him back. Jant growled, “Dangit…”

“Die!”

Three machine guns popped out of Garisu IX’s shoulder plates, firing at Jant, who jumped out of the way in time. Using his staff, Jant began to deflect bullets with ease.

“Hey, mech dude.” Harvey called out suddenly, “uh...look at this.”

Garisu IX turned around, right as Harvey tapped his leg.

There was a bright flash of light, as Garisu IX was suddenly flung back, smashing into the building opposite of Harvey’s apartment. His armor cracked open.

“Sir!”

Jant, who was just beginning to get tired from the constant machine gun fire, ran over to Garisu IX, his staff in hand. Harvey was already standing in front of the mech, whose helmet had also been broken. Behind it was a reptilian lizard-like face, one that had yellow eyes and a long tongue that constantly flicked in and out of its mouth.

Jant leveled his staff to Garisu IX’s eyes, “tell me what your business was today in trying to harm my master!”

“I...I was sent here by Doctor Garisu,” said the reptile in a raspy, not-very-mechanical-anymore voice, “please don’t kill me!”

“Doctor Garisu?” Harvey glanced at Jant, “you know anything about this guy?”

“I do not sir, but if he is responsible for building all of these cyborgs, then it might be problematic in the long run. Where does this Doctor Garisu reside?”

“In the wild zone between City 88 and City 87.” hissed the reptile, “it’s on top of the mountains that make the Vyvyan pass. You won’t miss it. Doctor Garisu designs mechs and cyborgs, and is planning a city takeover! He thinks that if we capture you, then we’ll be able to replicate your strength.”

“Hm…” Harvey looked at Jant, “Do you...uh...remember where the Vyvyan Pass was?”

“It is located directly outside of the west side of the city, sir!” Jant gripped his staff a little harder, “also, should I finish off Garisu IX, or should we keep him-”

“Let him live,” said Harvey, “he’s not a threat to me anymore. Come on, let’s get going. We need to destroy that doctor, and whatever else he has in store for us.”

“Now, sir?”

“Yes, now. Tomorrow the supermarket has a sale. Can’t miss it then.”

“Yes sir!”

The two of them ran off towards the west edge of the city, leaving Garisu IX in his cracked armor, staring at their receding backs. Harvey was very powerful. There was no doubt about that.

Jant and Harvey walked towards the Vyvyan Pass at around Mach 1, now whizzing past the trees and bushes. The air became cooler, and the landscape became progressively more and more green. By the time they reached the Vyvyan pass, Jant was completely out of breath.

“Come on, Jant. Let’s jump on top of the mountain.”

“Yes sir!” Jant was good at vertical jumping, but he was still very tired. But if he wanted to grow stronger, then this is what he would have to do.

Both of them landed smoothly on top of the mountain. Up there, the wind was blowing hard. It was relatively cold, but not too cold. There were no trees. Instead, rocks and pebbles littered the ground. “Sir!” yelled Jant over the wind, “what do we do now?”

“We look for Dr. Garisu’s base.”

“Sir, it could be underground. We have no way of knowing where it is.” Jant glanced at Harvey, “how do you expect us to find it, sir?”

“Oh, we do have a way of find his base.”

Harvey waved his hands, and a strong wind suddenly set in. Like, a really strong wind. The boulders and pebbles were thrown off the top of the mountain, leaving the ground as a single smooth floor of rock. At the bottom of the pass, Jant could see trees getting uprooted by the force of the wind. And yet somehow he and Harvey were standing still.

The wind died down.

“Sir, how did you do that?”

Harvey shrugged, “Just got lucky, I guess?” he began to walk around, staring at the ground, “look for a trapdoor of some kind. If he is indeed underground, then the entrance should be visible now.”

“Yes sir!”

Dr. Garisu stared at the screen worriedly. His brows were furrowed with worry, and sweat was starting to appear on his forehead.

“Doctor Garisu, what do we do?” asked AI 33, “they’re going to find us eventually now. We cannot afford to lose all of our work if everything fails.”

“You are correct,” murmured Dr. Garisu, “Here what I want to happen. Have all of our traps ready. I will prepare Garisu X.”

There was an immediate outburst. “Sir, you musn’t!” cried AI 68, “he’s too dangerous! He’ll end up destroying more of the facility than the enemy!”

“If our traps get the intruder, which is plausible, then all of this would be over. I’ll be using Garisu X as a final backup only. He’ll be our last resort, and he will not fail us.”