1010 heros (nsr au)

Episode 6: Green with Envy

There's the sound of fingers tapping on a desk, soon followed by the click of a recording device
"Log date xx/xx/20xx, I do find it curious, I knew that those 1010 hero's first fight with a monster like this would end up being interesting. But not only was I correct in this assumption, but they also recruited their final member seemingly for this fight. I suppose that makes sense, and here I was hoping none of them could Purify" they grumbled as they clicked off the recording device, as frustrating as these hero's were, watching them squirm for even a little while was amusing.

[into plays let's go gamers]

Haym hummed to himself as he jogged along the sidewalk to J's house. He had the route memorized by now, he had been visiting a lot more lately. The place was awesome! It was big, he could run around without being yelled at, and Neon J sometimes let him sleep over. Only way it could be better is if Lemon Lime lived there, unfortunately he was still living in the secret clubhouse, not that Haym minded, neon's place was leagues better than home. Speaking of, when Haym spotted Neon J's house in the distance he sped up his pace. Soon enough he was knocking on the front door. Didn't take long for Sven to open it.
"Ah! Hello Sir Haym, good to see you, the others are in the dining room"
"Awesome! Thanks Sven!" Haym grinned before running inside, Sven barely having enough time to step aside so the teen didn't run into him.

As Haym walked through the hallways he soon entered the familiar dining room and spotted the other teens. Zimelu and Purl-Hew were in what looked like a very serious game of scrabble with Rin watching them both, or was he the referee? With how this game was going he couldn't tell.
"I add to your A to make At" Purl-hew took his turn,
"I add to your At to make Rat" Zimelu took his.
"I add to your Rat to make Biostratophic"
If looks could kill Purl-Hew would be dead where he sat with that look Zimelu was giving him.
"There is no way that's a word!" Zimelu exclaimed, Purl-Hew remained neutral.
"It is, would you like to look up the definition?"
Though before Zim could say anything about where Purl could shove his definitions Haym ran over and slammed his hands flat on the table and exclaimed.
"Has anyone put down fergilicious yet?" His distraction worked as now all the attention was on him.
"...Haym.. I'm almost certain that's not a word" Purl-Hew deadpanned, Haym looked at him and grinned.
"Only if you're a coward it's not!"
Zimelu looked at Haym, then the board, and then his pieces as if seriously debating whether he could put that down.
Unfortunately he didn't get the chance as Rin spoke up.
"Oh! Since everyone's here now maybe we should uhhhh discuss the thing we mentioned last time?"
"The thing?" Zim tilted his head as Rin dug into his bag and pulled out the List(tm)
"Oh that thing" Zim blinked.
Rin looked up and smiled.
"We've got one more team member to pick out, so let's try and narrow down our options now! The sooner we get a full team the better right?"
"Makes sense." Haym nodded, the rest of the table agreed, and so the game was shoved aside so the discussion could begin.

Unfortunately, by the time Neon J walked into the room to check on the boys the discussion had dissolved into bickering.
Zimelu and Purl-Hew were glaring at each other, Rin had his head in his hands, clearly stressed, and Haym was being unusually quiet.
Oh boy
"So, how's the potential team members list going troops?" Neon J asked, though had a feeling he already knew the answer to that.
"We haven't been able to agree on anyone!" Zimelu exclaimed.
"It doesn't help that you seemed to have ticked off almost everyone in the school" Purl-Hew grumbled
"I apologized! It's not my fault they're holding grudges! You can't expect me to be buddy buddy with everyone"
"Do you even have any friends outside of this group?"
"Do you?!"
Zimelu and Purl-Hew were glaring at the other, looking about ready to break into a fight. Rin let out an exasperated sigh.
"I didn't take into account how all our different backgrounds would effect things." Rin looked incredibly stressed, and Neon J wasn't sure if it was from trying to make a choice or the fact two of the teens at the table were about to brawl. Haym seemed to be the only one who didn't looked distressed.
Then again Neon J had never seen him this silent before.
Oh boy
Time to step in, Neon J raised his voice so he could be heard.
"I appreciate you all taking this all seriously, but I don't want you to stress too much over this."
Rin looked up and took in a breath.
"With all do respect sir," he paused, "we're talking about the final team member, whoever we choose will likely effect the group dynamic, not only in battle but outside as well. If we don't get this right it could cause problems in the future. So how can we not take this seriously?" Neon J paused, trying to think about how to word his response. Rin had a point, but J really didn't like seeing the teens this worked up, though before he could think of a response Haym spoke up.
"What if we just.... don't?"
Now the attention of the group was on the yellow teen.
"What?" Zimelu loudly questioned, so Haym continued.
"What if we... didn't get a final team member?" Haym shrugged, "I mean we've been handling monsters pretty well so far, and I think we got a good team balance uh, Purl! Back me up here." He looked over at the blue teen, who leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms in thought. He hummed to himself a moment, thinking, then spoke.
"Well you're right about us being semi balanced, Rin and Zimelu take up a mostly closer range while Haym and I handle longer range. And that's not mentioning how Zimelu can also do some long ranged attacks with tossing his buzzsaws or me using my staff for closer ranged fights. All around we've been balanced enough to handle most fights against object class monsters fairly well, and we've been able to call in for backup from captain J if needed." Purl-hew paused, and looked over at Neon J, "but I'm willing to guess object class aren't the only type of monsters we will face, am I not mistaken captain?"
Neon J slowly nods at Purl's statement.
"You'd be right in that assumption soldier, and given how you've all gotten stronger as a team it's safe to assume you'll be seeing stronger foes in the future." He set his coffee down on a nearby table and cleared his throat. Straightening his posture and snapping his arms behind his back, Neon J raised his voice
"Alright! Listen up troops, because it's high time I give you all a proper rundown on the various monsters you'll be facing" with almost practiced timing Marcie and Sven jogged over to his side, holding little cards, presumably with something drawn on the other side. Haym briefly wondered if this was pre-prepared
"As you know, you've been fighting object class monsters," as he spoke Marcie flipped over her card, it was a purple blob surrounding a small circle with what looked like a crudely drawn mirror inside, Neon J pointed to the card. "These monsters are classified by being spawned from object, items, and any other non living materials that are contained in their core. They typically are non powerful monsters with little to no sentience and will act on instinct-"
"Yeah yeah we get it," Zimelu interrupted, "monsters that only exist to cause problems on purpose, tell us something new J-man!" Neon J's radar blipped a moment and he mumbles,
"I was getting to that..." he straightened up and continued.
"Anyways, non living things aren't the only items that can be corrupted," this time Sven flipped over his card, on it was a vaguely humanoid purple blob surrounding an orb with a stick figure inside, Neon J pointed to the image
"This is a living class monster, a typically stronger monster type spawning from living things such as plants, animals," Neon J paused,
"And people"
The boys were dead silent.
Haym shifted in his seat uncomfortably.
"Living class monsters typically have some level of sentience, and thus are more likely to be calculating and planning instead of running off instinct, this makes them more dangerous than object class. As they have a living being in their cores the usual option of destroying the monsters core isn't ideal if you want the person to be rescued unharmed. Thus the ideal way to deal with them is to Purify" with that, Neon J closed his arms behind his back.
"And that concludes my explanation, any questions?"
The boys were mostly silent for a few beats, taking in the information. That is until Rin spoke up.
"Okay so... So how do we Purify?"
"Ah excellent question!" Neon J nodded and clapped his hands together. "It's quite simple, you exhaust the monster into a more passive state, usually by taking them down though brute force can work in a pinch, and once they're in that state you Purify" Neon J explained easily, the teens blinked at him.
"That's great and all but that doesn't explain how we do that Purify thing itself" Zimelu states while leaning on the table. Neon J took in a breath to explain further but paused.
"Well to Purify you just... well it's uh... you just... and..." J paused, but looked up when Haym raised his hand.
"So is it like a you know it when you know it thing?" He asked, Neon J pointed with a nod.
"Yes! Exactly!"
"... well we're screwed then" Zimelu grumbled into his hands.
"Ah, no need to worry troops! If and when you face a living class monster I'll accompany you until one of you learns to Purify." And with that the table seemed to be in agreement, for the plan anyhow.