Life's Tough on the Rim: The Best Laid Plans (ch. 3) (Patreon)

Sweat dripped off my body, just barely kept out of my face by a sweatband that pushed my black hair back. I breathed in deeply and let out the breath slowly, all to avoid cramps as I mindlessly ran on the treadmill that was part of the loot I got for killing Muscular.

I had always been something of a gym rat. I worked out whenever I felt like shit, and I generally felt like shit. And I had a lot of reasons to feel like shit lately.

A week had passed, and that was enough time for it all to really sink in. I was in a new world, filled with mega death and fictional characters. I cried on the first night, but only the first night. Every day since I had been slowly building up my resolve and making plans. And working out, since Muscular had left me a lot of gym equipment and protein powder. A week of hard exercise wasn’t going to change anything, not really, but it certainly made me feel better.

So, I ran. I stared ahead at the wall and plotted with the only sound in my ears being my own breathing.

I learned a fair bit more about the whole situation. Confirmed some things, learned some others, and was proven wrong about a few. Like the fact that Esdeath had only arrived a few months ago, and in that time, she’d gone about conquering the Cannibal Forest -- most of the citizens were former bandit tribe leaders. To that end, there used to be thirteen main ‘tribes’ in the forest based out of whatever nook and cranny they could find. As things stood, twelve of the tribes had fallen to Esdeath with the final one pulling up stakes.

That tribe? The Branwen Tribe.

It was less than ideal for a lot of reasons, but… I could work with it, however much I may not want to. Raven Branwen was a known character to me -- on paper, she wasn't that much different than Esdeath, except she was a coward at heart. She had Aura, which was a magical soul force field thing, and her Semblance, a personalized superpower Aura users had, was creating portals to people she had a personal connection to. Beyond that, her tribe previously being a known quantity meant that people had information about her.

The Branwen Tribe had been active for five years. Raven was estimated to be in her late twenties to early thirties. No one had reported signs that she was the Spring Maiden. No glowing eyes, no sudden ice spikes or dramatic changes in the weather. To be safe, I was assuming that she had those powers until proven otherwise. I was almost uncertain if I hoped she had them or not. If Raven was a Maiden, then she'd stand a better chance of beating Esfeath. Likewise, it made her that much more difficult to defeat.

But if- and it was a big if, we managed to beat her… she could unlock my Aura. If I had it. It wouldn't be enough to deal with Esdeath, but I'd feel a whole lot safer with a force field around me. It would also give me space if we could open the Vault - a nice hole in the ground where I could lock the door and ignore the shitstorm that was coming our way. And, if I managed to take down a ‘rival’ of Esdeath’s and secure a Vault? That was probably a huge gain in approval points from Esdeath.

No matter how I looked at it, it was worth the risks. I just needed to be smart about the approach.

I was barely aware of my pace picking up as I broke into a long sprint on the treadmill. My mind was a thousand miles away, but I became aware of it when my legs began to burn. Checking the monitor, I saw I had hit my mark for the day -- six miles. Slowing the machine down, instead of sitting down I started walking around the gym while doing the occasional stretch.

It was in the middle of one that Ai entered. “A towel, Master,” Ai said, offering a hand towel for me to wipe my face with. I did so gladly, finally taking a seat.

“Thanks,” I said, trying not to look too hard at Ai. It wasn't my call in the end. Esdeath didn't have much in the way of hardlines, but the ones that she did have… there was no compromise to be found. One of those rules was that slaves had to wear bomb collars. Another was that they couldn't wear proper clothing. Ashley, rather than dressing her up in BDSM gear, settled on what I could only describe as a sexy maid outfit for Ai. Complete with a miniskirt and a lack of panties.

“You're welcome, Master! And I totes spoke to the other slaves,” Ai informed and that caught my attention. I turned to her, giving her my full attention. “There aren't any plans to escape. Or, if there are, they aren't telling me. They don't trust me yet, I think?” That could be true. Or Ai was lying to me because she didn't trust me.

Then she threw a wide beaming smile at me, “Buuuutt, some of them are willing to hear you out? I diiiidd kinda imply that it could get them their freedom?” Ai voiced and I swallowed a grimace. That wasn't something that I could realistically offer.

Esdeath was the only one that could make someone a citizen. Citizens were free to do what they wanted -- if Ashley wanted to unleash a zombie horde on Arberlast, conquer the town and enslave the population? She had free reign to do exactly that. But, if she liked someone in particular and wanted to give them their freedom, she had to petition Esdeath, who would review their case.

And, as far as anyone could tell me, there wasn't any rhyme or reason for the criteria. The bar was literally whatever Esdeath decided in that moment, with some people with greater deeds being rejected while you had idiots like Spandam securing his freedom.

“I can't make that promise,” I admitted to her. “I'll fluff up the recommendation as much as I can, but… the final decision is out of my hands.” Ai nodded, accepting that for what it was. The situation wasn’t even something that I could fib a bit on it-- their freedom simply wasn’t my call.

“They know. I think most of them just want a shot that doesn’t involve murdering innocent people,” Ai said with a smile on her face that didn’t match her gaze. It wasn’t quite accusing, but it wasn’t that far off. A couple of days wasn’t enough time to build up trust, in the end. I hadn’t given her any reasons to mistrust me, but she was absolutely looking for any hint of betrayal.

I nodded, “I’ll take a quick shower and speak to Ashley. When she’s onboard, we can gather everyone up and make a plan.” I said, standing, and I already felt my muscles tensing up. Ai nodded, giving me a smile and a nod as she all but skipped out of the gym. My gaze lingered on her back, her miniskirt flipping up just enough to give me a glimpse of her ass before she vanished around the corner. That, I figured, couldn’t be anything less than deliberate. A test.

Felt like I was constantly being tested lately.

After a quick shower and getting dressed, I headed over to Ashley’s house next door. And, I had to say, Ashley was a spectacularly terrible neighbor. Heading up to the front door, I heard thumping music and the sounds of violence coming from a TV that was cranked all the way up with surround sound. When a grenade went off, I felt the bass travel through my feet. For that reason, I didn’t even bother knocking.

Ashley’s place looked like something out of a haunted house on Halloween, only the decorations weren’t props. There were fully assembled skeletons in various poses, some dressed like they were mannequins. The living room was illuminated by blood-red candles that cast a red light that honestly made my skin scrawl. That, and the mega large flat screen TV that cast a bright light -- I had no idea what game was being played, but it reminded me of Doom.

Ashley and Rose sat on the Ghoulified corpse of Muscular, who was on his hands and knees. In the time since I killed him, his skin had dried out and, oddly enough, the bullet wounds on his head had healed. Ashley saw the difference in light and tilted her head back, a smile lighting up her face when she saw it was me. “Andy!” She greeted, shouting at the top of her lungs just to be heard.

Then the TV screen was splashed with blood and a look of panic flashed over Ashley's face before she turned her attention back to the game. Approaching from behind, I shouted in her ear, “I need to borrow some maps and some slaves for a project!”

“Sure thing!” Ashley dismissed and I wasn't even surprised by how easy that was. “Map is in the closet!” She informed me, and so was a skeleton, I learned, when I opened it. I tried to not think too hard about who that might have been in favor of grabbing a cylindrical tube. Popping it open, I gave the map a quick look over.

It was high quality. The same that you could find on Earth, even if the map certainly wasn't Earth. It was a reminder that for every savage tribe that was learning to harness fire here, there were factions with advanced tech. Industry. Some were even space faring.

However, my curiosity was ill timed because I heard Ashley groan as she lost the game while Rose cackled. The living room quieted down without the sounds of ultra violence happening and Ashley suddenly seemed interested, “Whatcha need maps and slaves for?” She asked, making Muscular crawl around so she could face me without getting up. I noticed, and not for the first time, just how fine of a control Ashley seemed to have over her zombies.

“I have a lead on a Vault,” I admitted. “And on the Branwen Tribe.” I said, curious to see if the name got a reaction out of her. Ashley didn't seem to know who that was, but Rose's lone eye narrowed a fraction. “Right now, we're on the border with Arendelle, so we're going to feel it first when they decide to pay us back for the attack on their town.” I made sure to use words like ‘we’ and ‘us’ around Ashley because she appreciated them.

She seemed suspicious, though. For a moment, I had a sinking suspicion that she saw right through me. And, in a way, she had. “You're trying to impress Esdeath,” Ashley said, turning her nose up at me.

I made a show of rolling my eyes, “Or, you know, I don't want us to die.” I replied dryly.

“Trying to sleep with your boss for a promotion… I didn't think you had it in you!” Ashley continued as if I hadn't said anything.

“Or, again, I don't want to die,” I repeated, rolling up the map and bonking her on the head. “Esdeath started a war, you know? And I doubt a flimsy metal wall is going to keep out whoever she sends.” Ashley smirked but didn't argue. Honestly, she seemed unbothered by the prospect of an invasion rolling up on her doorstep.

Instead, she hummed suspiciously, “Okay. But only to help you out with Esdeath, bro. I'm your wingwoman!” She said, giving me a thumbs up and that… That was weird even if it was something of a relief. Ashley, in the game, was incredibly jealous. She orchestrated the murder of a girl because of it. She harassed and stalked Andy's girlfriend until they broke up. Ashley, in the game, wanted Andy to belong only to her.

So it felt wildly out of character for her to be trying to set me up with Esdeath. And for the life of me, I couldn't tell if it was a good thing or not.

“Sure, okay, wingwoman. But I'm still mostly doing it so we can hide in a hole in the ground when the war actually kicks off,” I felt compelled to point out, but I didn't expect to convince her. And I didn't based on that smirk. “Thanks for the maps,” I said, waving bye as I headed for the door.

“You don't have to worry so much about dying, Andy,” Ashley called out to me before I left. She gave me a smile -- an innocent earnest smile that sent a shiver down my spine. “I'll just bring you back if you do!” She said and I could tell that was meant to be reassuring, but my gaze flickered to Muscular. His prosthetic eye seemed to hold my gaze and dread pooled in my stomach that I had to swallow down.

“I'd rather you not have to, Ash,” I replied and I managed to keep my fear out of my voice. With that, I closed the door and a second later, I heard the video game start up again.

Heading back to my house next door, I laid the maps out on a table to inspect them more fully. They weren't maps of the world, but maps of the surrounding area. I had no idea how big this planet was, but based on the index, my bet it was bigger than Earth by a decent bit. Though, that was speculation at this point.

What I did see was that the Cannibal Forest was massive. Amazon Rainforest kind of massive. It was also squished between two other biomes. To the west was a mountainous region called the Olympus Range. According to the details, there were a couple dozen mountains that were bigger than Mount Everest. The other region to the South and East was a stretch of land called the Parched Sea.

It had been an ocean, but at some point, the water… vanished. Evaporated, maybe, given that what was left behind was salt. An ocean's worth of salt that had settled, hardened, and become a salt plain.

There were a couple of major rivers that still flowed into where the ocean had been. One of which flowed through the Cannibal Forest that had several branches. Some of which flowed North, into the Anima Plains. A vast stretch of fertile flatlands. What laid beyond it, I had no idea. Nor did I know how big the kingdom of Arendelle was. It wasn't much, but I felt my world get a little bit bigger. Even if it meant that there was nothing but death in a thousand miles in every direction.

“What could make the Parched Sea?” I muttered under my breath, finding myself most disturbed by that. Because it wasn't some lake -- it was a full-blown ocean that had vanished without any explanation given.

I was saved from my imagination conjuring up answers to that question by the door opening. Looking up, I immediately felt a surge of relief when I saw who was interested in working with me. Ai let them in and one by one they stepped inside, all cautious and eying me with some degree of suspicion.

First was John Price, one of the main characters in Call of Duty. A career soldier that found himself with a shovel in hand every time shit hit the fan. He was the eldest, probably early forties. Not really sure what game that put him at, but I already felt better having an experienced black ops soldier on my side.

That feeling was enhanced by who followed him -- Yor Briar. A kind hearted woman in her mid twenties who doubled as a ruthless assassin that wiped out entire organizations overnight. Superhumanly gifted in terms of strength and speed. Not sure how that would measure up against Raven, but… it felt like the scales were tipping in my favor

“Thank you for coming,” I said, sitting straighter. I would have preferred more people, if I had to be honest, but they made up in quality what we lacked in quantity. John stepped forward, surveying the gym for a moment before his gaze landed squarely on me.

It was Yor that replied, “Thank you for having us! Ai said that you wanted to help us,” Yor said, throwing an earnest smile my way. Unlike with Ai, the beaming joy was genuine.

“I think we can help each other,” I corrected ever so slightly, thankful that it didn't diminish her eagerness. “Ai gave me a lead on someplace a lot safer to stay, and I need help finding and taking it from bandits.” Neither of them seemed surprised by that, so Ai gave them a run down. “I can't promise that Esdeath will give you your freedom, but I'll do all that I can to tilt the odds in your favor.” I said, glancing at the three of them.

Yor took a seat across from me, her smile becoming a little more brittle. “Thank you for the offer… but that's not what I would like,” she said, ruby red eyes meeting mine. “I… have a daughter. Her name is Anya. I want you to help me find her… like how your sister found you.” Yor requested, and I wasn't entirely sure she knew the specifics of how Ashley had found me. But, based on her tone, she was at least a little suspicious.

If Ashley was acting as her normal jealous self, then I would hesitate a lot more before making any promises that she would help. But, as things were… “I'm pretty sure I can talk her into it. And if I can't, I'll find another way to reunite you with your daughter if she's on this planet.” I said, and I really hoped those words were a lie. As awful as it was for Yor to be separated from Anya, I really hoped that Anya wasn't on this planet. This place was awful and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

Yor beamed at me, “I was right! You aren't scary like your sister at all!” She exclaimed and I swallowed a sigh. I wasn't surprised that the help was afraid of me. With who my sister was… I'd be afraid of me too.

John decided to stand, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. His gaze was heavy. Measuring. “Do you actually have a plan or is this just an idea?” He was looking before he jumped into the deep end. I could understand that.

“Right now? It's an idea,” I admitted. “We need more info before I can call it a plan -- numbers, location, that sort of thing.”

“And if this Vault is a hole in the ground?” He questioned, tilting his head ever so slightly. I could feel him sizing me up, and my bet was that he wasn't impressed.

That was a fair question, and I already knew the answer. “We attack them all the same. Raven Branwen slipped through Esdeath's grasp. If you want that collar off your neck, and if I want some slack on my leash, then we need to bring something to the table that will impress her. And Esdeath only values strength.” John didn't give any reaction to that at all.

Yor seemed a little pensive, “The Branwen Tribe are bad people, yes?” She asked and I nodded. I had no idea if her tribe was filled with bad people, but I did know that Raven was pretty shit. To my relief, Yor did look reassured.

“Slack on your leash? That's what you get out of this?” John questioned, not buying it. The reason why was obvious.

“I-... look, my sister… is what she is,” I hedged, uncertain how honest I should be. “But she's my sister. She's like a psychotic cat that dabbles in necromancy. Esdeath is the one that's pushing for a full-scale war just so she has something to kill. We- I'm just some asshole from a small-town,” I confessed and I saw John's lips thin. “I'm not a soldier. Or a bandit. Or whatever the fuck you have to be to survive on this hellhole of a planet. I'm just a guy that wants to continue being just a guy… and I can't do that with Esdeath breathing down my neck.”

I was probably being a little too honest, upon reflection. But, it did the trick because John nodded curtly, “I can work with that. Now, first order of business is finding the place, yeah?” He ventured, taking a seat at the table and looking over the map with some interest. Despite myself, a breath of relief escaped me as a knot of tension unwound itself from between my shoulder blades. “Ai, where exactly was the mining equipment stolen from?”

To that, Ai pointed a finger at the northern part of the map, drawing a pretty big circle with her finger. "Somewhere around here, I think? There's, like, a super big mining operation goin’ on around there. It was a big fuss when they were stolen because it meant a bunch of orders got pushed back.”

John nodded, “And what exactly did they take?”

“One of these big spinny things!” Ai answered and I tilted my head at that.

“That can't be easy to transport,” I ventured and John grunted. “Or easy to hide the tracks of,” I added. Maybe I was thinking of the wrong piece of mining equipment, but the spinning wheels that tore up chunks of rock and fed ore down a conveyer belt were pretty massive according to the Ghost Rider movies. “So, why wasn't it taken back?”

“No one wants to enter the Cannibal Forest,” Ai replied with a shrug and… yeah, fair enough. “They also took, like, a bunch of explosives.”

That sounded like a full-scale mining operation. Meaning that if the Vault was there, then it was buried deep. Which suited me perfectly, in all honesty. Burying myself in a deep hole wouldn’t eliminate every danger, but it would eliminate most of them. John dragged a finger to the Olympus mountain range, following a major river, before he drew a circle with his finger at the border. “If we’re going to find anything, it would be in that area. The river would help transport everything.”

Then he looked up to me, “We'll need our weapons back-- a sniper rifle for me and a pair of daggers for Miss Briar. Enough food for a week of travel-” he started, but Yor raised her hand.

There was a fair blush on her cheeks, “Umm… could we also have some clothes?” She requested and John coughed into his hand.

“Right. Clothes wouldn't go amiss either,” he agreed.

“Shouldn't be a problem,” I replied, looking down at the map. “Food and weapons and clothes for the four of us.”

To that, John seemed faintly surprised and I could only offer a wane smile, “Esdeath won't be impressed if I kick my feet up.” that managed to get a chuckle out of him.

“No. I don't suppose she would.”

…

“You just got here, and you're already leaving,” Ashley pouted. We stood at the gates of the village, dressed for a long stint in nature, complete with heavy backpacks filled with supplies.

“It's just for a bit. I'll be back before you know it,” I said, reaching out and rubbing her head. She leaned into the touch even as she pouted. “We'll be safe. I'm more worried about you, honestly. Muscular was an idiot, but he was at least strong and it can't be long before Arendelle starts sniffing around for the counter attack.”

To that, Ashley just rolled her eyes while I stole a glance at Muscular. He was carrying the lion's share of gear -- ammo, tents, food, and so on. “You worry too much.”

“You don't worry enough, so I have to worry for both of us,” I corrected.

A sigh escaped her, “If you say so… Muscular! Obey Andy like he was me. And make sure he comes home no matter what,” Ashley ordered. One interpretation of the order was that it was protective. Another was that she was making sure I couldn't get away. But, that was fine. I expected it. And since I had no hope of being able to escape, this was nothing but a win for me since I got an undead heavy hitter on my side.

So, I pulled Ashley into a hug that she practically melted into. “Worst case scenario is that we bumble in the woods for a week with nothing to show for it. I'm sure you won't let me forget it.” I said and Ashley hugged back with all her strength.

“In that case, I hope you don't find what you're looking for,” she said, her pout becoming a cheeky grin. In response, I ruffled her hair with a little more force, messing up her hair and she quickly stepped away. With that, I turned away, making sure to wave bye over my shoulder as we left the settlement.

There were moments that it was honestly easy to forget what Ashley was, because she wasn't that way to me. There were moments that I could treat her as a sibling, something that I never had but had always been curious about. So, I tried to take the farewell for what it was, rather than what it could be -- another test from Ashley.

I was joined by John, Yor, and Ai. And, as far as the others were concerned, Ai was joining us in a desperate bid for freedom rather than any actual skills. And I hoped that things went smoothly enough that her cover remained intact. John, given that he had twenty-five years of experience as a black ops soldier, took point on the whole operation. I wasn't going to get in his way. The closest I had ever come to war was through a TV screen, so I was content to follow along and not be a nuisance.

The first day was the worst of the journey. There was an unspoken tension in everyone -- partly because of the stakes, partly because all of us barely knew each other, and partly because we were beyond the walls. The forest was dense. I saw glimpses of it on the drive over, but it was another thing entirely to walk through the shrubbery. The roads Esdeath was making made a great deal more sense now.

Esdeath herself had returned to the capital of her fledgling nation, getting ready for the war to come. And I really hoped to be out of the way by the time it arrived.

Which left us making our way through the dense forest that was filled with entirely too much noise for my liking. I thought the forest was supposed to be silent and it was a rather unwelcome surprise. That being said, with my limited experience camping, I could almost pretend that I was going on a camping trip on Earth. That the worst I could expect to come out of the dark shadows of the forest was a bear or something. But, then I would look up at the sky to see the rings that stretched across it and I was reminded that I was a very long way from home.

The second day was easier. For me, at least, it was because I had at least one night when I wasn't horribly murdered by whatever happened to live in the forest under my belt. There were signs of animals, though they seemed to be giving us a wide berth, which I appreciated. It was on the second day that some smalltalk bloomed.

“I was a bounty hunter,” John informed, his sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. I didn't really know guns that well, but it looked like a .50 caliber sniper rifle. “At least I was for about five years after I arrived. I used to have a small team with me. Then we made the mistake of taking the contract for Esdeath.” His tone was flat, but there was an edge of bitterness in his tone.

I couldn't blame him. “Are they…?”

“They're alive, ‘s far as I'm aware. We got split up when Esdeath put your sister in charge of that village,” he said, stealing a glance over his shoulder. Not quite accusatory but not far off either.

“Sorry,” I said, feeling obligated to. I wasn't her brother, but that was a secret only I knew.

John grunted, “Hardly your fault. We thought we took precautions to deal with her ice but they weren't enough. She was impressed with the attempt, though, so she didn't kill us. So, there's that.”

“I was captured during her first raids. I had appeared in the middle of it, so I was quite confused at first!” Yor said with a smile, and that was one of my nightmares. Waking up in the world naked and surrounded by people in human leather robes was tough. But, comparatively, it was still the shallow end of the pool. “I killed several of her captains before I was defeated. I didn't want to kill innocent people in other raids, So I became a slave instead of a citizen.”

Meaning that Yor had only been around for a couple of months.

The conversations ran their course as everyone got a hit more comfortable with one another. By the third day, the difficulties of camping life started to sink in. No showers. The aches of constantly walking made themselves known, but I refused to be the one that slowed everyone down. And I was pretty dismayed to learn that we weren't even that far away from the village -- the terrain was just difficult to traverse with the hilly ground and dense forest.

If there was a road, it'd be an eight hour drive. But, instead, it took us the better part of three days to reach our starting point for the search. A large river that flowed pretty rapidly. Not to the point of white rapids, but it was certainly moving along and was wide enough that it'd be a pain to swim across. And since I had less than zero tracking experience, I couldn't really help and simply followed John.

He claimed to have found tracks, which led to us heading up river. And it was then I started to see the signs that he was talking about -- shifted sand, buried fire pits, broken twigs. The Branwen Tribe, convinced that they had gotten away, stopped being so cautious about covering their tracks.

That led to us making another trek across a day up river, searching for where they had gone. And it was then that Rimworld saw fit to remind me how fucking dangerous it was when I heard an impossibly loud human scream echoing out in the distance with little warning. My heart jumped to my throat, my hands clenched into fists.

“That couldn't be a human,” Ai voiced, a tremble in her tone that I don't think was faked. I heard birds squawking in panic as they fled from the scream. “It was way too loud.”

“We need a vantage point,” John said, looking at me, which made me look at Muscular.

Right. “Muscular, get us up… there!” I decided, looking up at a cliff face and pointing. Before I even realized what was happening, Muscular’s gray muscle fibers slipped over his body and he picked the four of us up like it was nothing. Then, with a running leap, I found us flying towards the cliffside. My balls were in my throat when he made a quick jump up, and then another, and by the time the third happened, we sailed over the top of the cliff.

And it was then that I saw it. Large. Humanoid. It stood at fifty feet tall, it's head just barely peeking over the edge of a cliff in the distance. A dirty blonde mop of hair, a dopey grin affixed to its face, and empty dark eyes. I swallowed thickly, “Muscular, bring us closer to that… That thing,” I said, and this time I braced myself for it as he darted forward at insane speeds.

I knew what it was. I confirmed as much when we sailed through the air to a better vantage, out of its reach on barren rock that told me we were close to the mountain range. Fifty feet tall, completely naked without any gentiles.

That was a Titan from Attack on Titan.

And fuck me. It wasn't enough to bring every fictional character into the mix, so we were adding in the things that had made the settings uniquely horrible? Titans were huge, had high speed regeneration, and their only weak spot was the nape of their neck. Oh. And they loved to eat humans.

The Titan’s attention was fixed on something so we went unnoticed as we landed nearby, above it. Curiosity got the better of me and I looked down into the crevice that the titan was lumbering down.

It wasn't a what that got his attention, but a who. A girl- no, two girls.

One had short black hair, a dark red qipao shirt that fell to mid-thigh over a pair of shorts. The headband that she wore, however, was more distinctive and that clued me in to her identity even as she flew back, her hands flying through handsigns. It was only when fire started to spread across a web of wire that I noticed its existence at all. The wire cut through the flesh of the Titan, who was uncaring of it even as it burned.

Sarada. Sarada Uchiha, the only Uchiha that needed to wear glasses. I didn’t know Boruto that well, but I recognized Sarada because of how much people had ripped on her, and Boruto in general when it was first released.

The move was a set up for the other girl that was with her, who darted forward in a yellowish blur as she launched herself into the air with a fist cocked back. Her golden locks shone, wreathed in fire, and her eyes glowed blood red. Her fist slammed into the nose of the Titan, knocking his head back and flattening the bridge of it, but the damage done was minimal. Careless of the damage, he reached up with a hand, only for the ninja wire to slice through the appendage. Just not fast enough to sever the hand that grabbed for the blonde haired girl, who was forced to retreat.

She landed next to Sarada and I got a good look at her, confirming my suspicions. She was dressed in her season one outfit -- a yellow crop top, a skin tight vest that barely managed to hold together against her cleavage, black shorts that barely reached her thigh, a half skirt, and long brown boots.

Yang Xiao Long.

The moment I saw her, a plan formed in the back of my head.

I knew exactly how we were going to take down Raven.