A Father's Duty

With Johannes in the lead, Noctis followed him until they reached a pretty big door and Johannes knocked on it.

"Come in." A voice was heard from inside.

Johannes then entered as I followed him.

"Ah. Johannes. Mr. Noctis. Nice to see you." The man said as he offered a handshake. The man offering a handshake is a muscular, tan-skinned older man with blonde hair and a long blonde mustache wearing a formal deep blue suit with an orange dress shirt and purple tie.

Noctis shook his hand and felt that the man was testing him as he tightened his grip on the handshake.

'Incredible. His strength has surpassed us when we were at his age. He is a man that shouldn't be seen as an enemy, but an ally. An ally that works around benefits. I'm perfectly fine with that, IGO has a lots of benefits that could be offered to him.' The man thought as he let go of the handshake and Noctis did the same.

Johannes on the other hand was anxious because he is afraid that such rude remarks would cause Noctis to decline their proposal.

"You're an incredible young man. I am Ichiryu, IGO's president. Johannes, can you let us talk for a while?" Ichiryu said to Johannes.

"Yes, sir!" He bowed and left the room.

"Now that we're alone, I'm kind of curious about you. Other than what Toriko told me, you... seem to have popped out of nowhere. I have been the IGO president for a long time and there's no data of you at all." Ichiryu said trying to question Noctis.

"Other than questioning my origins, how about making a trade?" Noctis said as he stood up and walked around the office looking at the artworks, bookshelves, stacked papers.

"And? What is the trade about?" Ichiryu asked in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Information in exchange for resources." Noctis nonchalantly said.

"Information about what?" Ichiryu asked as he noticed Noctis locking the door.

Noctis then summoned his wooden sword and threw it at a camera on the bookshelf, he also sliced all of the cameras on the room. He also destroyed the listening devices on the room. The last thing he did was slash at the air and another mechanical bird that was invisible was sliced into two. Due to the cameras being destroyed, the head guard started giving orders to rush towards Ichiryu's office.

"Now that all of the peeping devices are gone. Let's talk about the deal. I will offer you information about the traitors inside your organization. In exchange, I want access to everything in IGO as well as its resources. What? Expensive? I don't think so, I got a name on the list that was pretty big you know?" Noctis said while Ichiryu put up his palms as he clasped it and went into deep thoughts.

While Ichiryu was thinking, the guards outside started banging on the door but the door is not budging at all.

"Time's ticking, Mr. President." Noctis lightly said.

"Deal." Ichiryu said after thinking for a long time.

"Uumen Umeda. Your business bureau director." Noctis said and Ichryu was shocked as he didn't expect that at all.

"Of course he doesn't work for your little brother's organization, Gourmet corp. Umeda works for a third organization, I know you have an idea or at least heard about it. There are more I can share but I want to see your sincerity first. I'll take my leave first." Noctis thought of asking for an older version of GT robo but declined when the system said that its not worth getting those trashcans. Compared to the newer model, the old model was leagues behind in terms of technology and specs.

When Noctis opened the door, a lot of people pointed their guns at him.

"Enough! We were having a light sparring, right, Mr. Noct? Johannes, why don't you accompany Mr. Noct back to the hotel?" Ichiryu said and Johannes nodded as the guards dropped their guns and let Noctis go.

'If what he said is true... We are in grave danger. Gourmet corp. is already troublesome enough to me, adding another, is overkill. I need to have some countermeasures in place.' Ichiryu thought as he stared at Noctis' back as he went out of the room.

When they got back, the sun was already setting and Noctis didn't manage to eat anything at all and decided to splurge some money on food. He went to the top floor and in there was a long buffet table. He was about to pay for the food when the main clerk declined it saying that he is marked as a special guest and had special privilege.

'That was fast. Oh well, better enjoy it.' Noctis thought as he started eating dinner.

One week has passed and nothing special happened at all. Noctis was trying to use IGO's database to find if there are any sightings of GT robos that were newer model but he found nothing at all as if someone's hiding it.

He was sitting and watching the news when a news caught his eye.

Puffer whales that only reveals itself once every ten years were about to mate in the shores of Cavern Lagoon, which is a cavern located deep within the lowest reaches of the labyrinthine tunnels.

"So its the puffer whales, huh. Looks like the time to encounter the new models is gonna come soon. I need to make a move." Noctis said and was about to dial Ichiryu's number but another caller came first, when he saw it, it turns out that it was Toriko.

"Hello? Toriko, what is it?" Noctis said.

"Noctis, do you want to hunt the phantasmal ingredient that was just released on TV? I have contacted Komatsu and he has already agreed." He said enthusiastically.

"I'll catch up with you guys, I have some business that day." Noctis said.

"Oh. Okay. Just let us know whenever you're coming." Toriko said and Noctis said his goodbye and called Ichiryu's number.

"Hello?" Ichiryu's voice could be heard from the other side.

"Have you debugged everything in that room?" Noctis asked.

"Oh, I'm not in my office. I'm in one of my villas, you know wearing a tropical dress and you know, sunbathing." Ichiryu said making Noctis sigh.

'What a lax president.' He thought.

"I'm sure you've heard of the news of Puffer Whales. I believe that gourmet corp. will make a move in your biotopes. I will head in the 8th biotope where the rainbow fruit is. You better send someone strong on your biotopes, garden, whatever you call it and protect it." Noctis said and dropped the phone.

"I guess its time to meet him. System, connect me to the hollow inside Zangetsu." Noctis said as he held Zangetsu in his hand and sat cross legged. He then asked the system to connect him with Zangetsu and he felt like he was being teleported to another domain.

There are lots of tall buildings in the place he was in and in the middle of it all is a deep white figure with the same face as him.

"Well, well. Looks like I have a guest." Said Hollow Noctis.

"Well, what can I do for you? Your majesty?" Hollow Noctis said in a mocking voice.

"I'm here, to tell you that I don't trust you at all." Noctis said.

"Well, what can I do if you don't trust me? Cry? Beg? Submit?" Hollow Noctis said with disdain.

"They say fists convey more than talking." Noctis said as he rushed towards Hollow Noctis.

He sent a punch towards Hollow Noctis which pretty much easily blocked it and followed up by sending a kick to the Hollow's head which he dodged easily.

"How boring." Said Hollow Noctis as he kicked Noctis which Noctis also dodged.

They continued trading blows and both of them were getting stronger in unarmed combat but it can be seen that Noctis' growth is greater than the hollow one. Noctis then used knocking in his strikes causing the hollow to take dodging very seriously. After a few more bouts, Hollow Noctis was cornered as he pulled out his sword and suddenly turned crazy.

Noctis did the same as he pulled out Zangetsu and defended against Hollow Noctis' crazy unpredictable attacks.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" The hollow used the trademark skill and Noctis just simply dodged it by summoning sword of the wise in his off-hand and warp attacked the hollow causing it to be off-guard and smashed down.

Noctis stared at the hollow lying on the ground and saw that Hollow Noctis stood up with no injuries at all.

"Ahh, that was a good wake up call. I'll thank you for that. Are you up for round two?" Asked Hollow Noctis as he stared at Noctis slowly falling down.

"Heh~ Even if we fought for hundreds of rounds, you will not be able to win over me." Noctis confidently declared as the two fought for a long time.