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Deep Blue took an excited breath and looked over at his partner. The pair of showmen, about to undergo a rebrand as The Xtremes, had been given another chance for glory and some kickass powers as well.
"Ready, bro?" the Shetona asked with a grin and Red Hot reached out for a fist bump.
"Hells yeah, let's ride."
All their regulators required was a command and Deep Blue shouted it in his mind.
Activate feral soul!!
The device at the side of his skull whirred to life. This wasn't just loading a soul cell to treat an injury, something that Deep Blue had experienced many times over his reckless life, this was taking it to the next level, like when he revved an air wheel to maximum speed. He watched as his brother's device went from blue to rapidly pulsing red, their swimtrunk-clad bodies becoming covered in a cloud of crimson aether. The older brother had seen bouts at the Arcaidion before and the transformations which had taken place. He always wondered if it hurt. But it was the farthest it could be from pain, like a surge of adrenaline just before hitting the biggest wave of the day. Once the aether had cleared, the Xtremes stared at one another. Their muscular bodies were now coated in ruby and sapphire scales matching their stage names, faces flashing deadly sharks teeth and crowned with jagged horns, and powerful fins and spines jutting from their limbs. Red Hot even had a tail now and Deep Blue couldn't wait to figure out a way to tease him about it much in the same way the Hyune played sometimes with his lop ears.
"Dude! We look so gnarly right now!" the Shetona's voice boomed with laughter.
"Totally siiiiick…" his little brother agreed. Deep Blue wanted to keep on gushing, about how using feral souls was something he'd wanted since he was a kit, but now didn't seem like the right moment. Instead, it was time to take these new abilities out for a test drive. Like everything the pair did, they went at it with a passion bordering on recklessness. The training space the President had provided them with was of the highest quality electrope, able to take a beating from the pools of magma and jets of water the brothers conjured. They jumped and weaved around each other, summoning surfboards of their respective elements to fly around the room.
Deep Blue's smile was all teeth. This was the best day ever!!
And then their elements got too close together, fire and water mingling with an intensity that neither had expected and a giant explosion sent them careening to the floor. Deep Blue's heart sank with fear and shame. It was happening already, he was going to blow their chance all in the name of a damned thrill. He waited for the President's voice to came back over the speaker. "Thank you, but we're going in a different direction. You're not qualified. Feel free to apply at…" All the rejections the Shetona had ever heard were came rushing back to him. He waited for the inevitable nosedive back into the garbage heap.
But there was nothing. Merely silent permission.
The Xtremes looked at one other again.
"Bro that was awesome!" Red Hot exulted with a bassy and sexy (what?) chuckle and everything was amazing again.
The tag team fighters began practicing their Fantastic Fusion Fuck You (they might have to workshop the name a bit) and it was clear they already had a signature attack in the making. Deep Blue kept on waiting for the change to revert, to take him back into, his weaker form, but the regulator was keeping pace. The pair was panting with exertion, their peak bodies glistening under the electrope lamps. Before he fully knew what was happening, the sapphire combatant rushed forward to give Red Hot a kiss.
His "bro" grunted in surprise, but not disgust, his thicker arms reaching up in attempt to clutch his wiry form, their scaly tongues anxious to meet. There was another surge of aether in flux and the Xtremes were separated by the blast, sending them both onto their asses.
"S-sorry…Guess the feral soul's making me a bit horny…" Deep Blue tried to deflect while pointing up to his head. "Heh heh…get it?"
Red Hot stood up, arms folded as he entered "Deep Thoughts Mode" as the Shetona affectionately called it.
"There's power between us. But if we want to rule the ring as The Xtremes were gonna have to make sure we can tag in whenever needed!" he said gruffly and held out a clawed hand. Deep Blue's eyes narrowed in determination and he reached out to grab it. Their muscles bulged and twitched, the elements working hard to repel them, but determination kept them linked. Not only that, but the water-aspected fighter felt a surge of energy. For a moment he was terrified he had stolen something from the Hyune who had stood by his side all this time, but instead they looked equal in strength, ready to take on all the Arcaidion by storm.
They'd just have to talk about that whole kissing thing later.