Disclaimer: I do not own Hareluya II Boy or any of it's characters. No profit is being made from this story.


In a small, downmarket living room a single man sat upon the room's only chair and stared intently at the television in front of him.

On the screen a teenage boy in a blue school uniform was battling a gang of thugs, about a dozen in total, in an alley. Despite being outnumbered the teen was having no trouble and even seemed to be enjoying himself. He grinned fiercely as he dodged punches with ease and retaliated with powerful blows that sent his attackers flying. Even the few hits he did take had no effect on him. His strength, speed and endurance all seemed to be almost preternatural. Within just a few minutes he had defeated the gang, leaving them moaning in pain on the ground. Still grinning the teen walked away.

The man turned off the television and ejected the tape he had just been watching. He held it up and smiled slyly.

"So Hibino Hareluya, you're just as good as your reputation indicated" he mused. "You'll be a perfect subject for my research."


Classes had finished for the day at Rakeun High School. Hibino and Ichijou were waiting in an otherwise-empty classroom. Ichijou was writing down song lyrics on a notepad and Hibino was playing a handheld video game.

The door opened and Yamana strolled in. "Yoh" she said with her usual friendly, cheerful smile.

"Yoh" Ichijou returned their typical greeting.

"Yoh" Hibino repeated as he turned off his game. "Ore-sama is bored with this thing. Let's go to the arcade."

She sighed in exasperation. "Hibino, Hoshizoro-san came to us earlier and said that her dog is missing. We agreed to look for it after class."

"What? Ore-sama doesn't remember that."

"That's because you were completely focused on your game and didn't pay attention" Ichijou explained. "But you still agreed to help."

"Ore-sama doesn't remember it so it doesn't count" Hibino replied flippantly.

"Well we remember and we're going to keep our promise" said Ichijou.

Hibino scowled. "You're ditching Ore-sama to look for some mutt?"

"Come on Hibino, Hoshizoro-san is really worried about her dog and we said we'd help her" said Yamana gently.

He snorted. "If you want to spend your afternoon wandering around looking for a dumb dog then that's your problem, not Ore-sama's."

Ichijou bristled. "Why you…"

"Ichijou" Yamana said firmly.

He calmed down and his tense muscles relaxed. She was right. They had more important matters than arguing with Hibino.

"Ore-sama will just have to have fun at the arcade without you. See you later" said Hibino dismissively.

"See you Hibino" said Yamana.

"Yeah, have a great time" Ichijou said darkly as Hibino strode out of the room. When he was out of earshot Ichijou exclaimed, "Can you believe that guy? He can't even spare one afternoon to look for a missing dog. He didn't even notice how upset Hoshizoro-san was." He shook his head in disgust.

"Never mind Hibino. For now let's focus on finding Hoshizoro-san's dog" Yamana calmly replied.

"Yes, you're right. What did she say his name was again?"

"Lucky" she replied.

"Let's hope we get lucky and find him then."


Hibino brought his bike to a halt and looked up at the arcade with a grin. "Time to get some new high scores" he said while getting off his bike.

Before he could enter the arcade an egg came flying at him from a nearby alley and hit him right in the face. Yolk and fragments of shell flew in all directions. Hibino wiped his face and snarled, his eyes alight with rage.

"Nobody does that to Ore-sama!" he roared as he charged into the alley. He caught a glimpse of a middle-aged man in a brown suit with messy, greying hair and rimless glasses. Hibino had just enough time to realise the man was pointing a boxy black object at him before he pressed a button.

A projectile trailing a pair of thin wires behind it shot out and hit him directly in the back. Blue-white electrical sparks arced over his body. He roared in fury and struggled, fighting the effects of the current, but after a moment his muscles began to spasm and he dropped to the ground. Seconds later the spasms stopped and he lay still.

The man grinned down at him "Amazing. That amount of current was enough to bring down a buffalo and yet he still managed to resist it for a moment. I can't wait to experiment on him!"


"Thank you so much Ichijou-san, Yamana-san" said Hoshizoro Miyuki as she bowed politely. She was a short girl with medium-length brown hair worn in cone-shaped buns held in place by blue ribbons. "I'm sure you'll find Lucky."

"We'll try our best" Ichijou promised. He examined the picture she had lent them. It showed a white Kishu dog with its tail curled over its back. His collar was a bright red.

He and Yamana spent the next few hours asking people if they had seen the dog in the picture. Unsurprisingly the answer they got repeatedly was "no" but they persevered. Eventually they came across some boys playing The Dharma Fell Down.

"Hey, there's something we want to ask you " Ichijou called. The boys ignored him and continued their game. He scowled and took a deep breath, ready to yell at them, but Yamana put a hand on his shoulder.

"Let me try" she said. He nodded and stepped back.

"Excuse me" she said sweetly.

The boys immediately turned around and their jaws all dropped as they saw her.

"Wow!"

"She's beautiful!"

Yamana smiled. "I'm sorry to disturb your game but we'd like to ask you something."

"Sure, anything" one of them replied eagerly and the others all nodded.

She held up the picture of Lucky. "We're looking for this dog. His name's Lucky. Have any of you seen him?"

The boys smiles promptly fell and they all looked at each other. After a moment one of them said, "promise you won't laugh at us."

"I promise."

"A couple of days ago we were hanging around this old warehouse. We weren't doing anything wrong, just looking around. Then we saw this truck drive in and we got curious. We went to have a closer look and we saw this old guy started taking out a bunch of dogs in cages. One of them was the dog you're looking for."

"Yeah it was definitely him" another boy added. "It had the same collar and everything."

"We ran for it before that guy saw us" the first boy went on. "He looked creepy."

"Can you give us the address of this warehouse?" she asked.

"Sure." The boy took out a pen and a small notebook, and jotted the address down.

"Thank you very much" said Yamana as she accepted it. "You've all been very helpful."

The boys all blushed and looked down at their feet while muttering how it was nothing and they were glad to help. Ichijou smiled wryly at the sight.

"What do you think? Could this guy be a scientist illegally experimenting on the dogs?" he asked as they walked away while the boys resumed their game.

"Maybe" she replied. "We definitely have to check this place out."

"I bet Hibino's having a ball right now" Ichijou grumbled.


Hibino groaned as he began to stir. What had happened? The last thing he remembered was arriving at the arcade and then…

His eyes opened wide and he snarled as he remembered what had happened next. That guy's going to pay for shocking the invincible Ore-sama!

Hibino tried to leap to his feet but to his surprise he couldn't move. He looked down to see that he was laying on a platform with his arms at his sides. Thick leather straps encircled his wrists, chest, stomach and ankles, holding him in place. Gritting his teeth he tried to break loose but the straps held.

It was only then that he noticed his surroundings. He was in a large room filled with computer banks and arrays of complicated machinery. There were several tables covered with coiled tubes and containers filled with coloured liquids. On the far side of the room were several animal cages. Inside were dogs, cats, monkeys and even a gorilla. There were also five large steel containers.

Typing into a computer was the man that had shocked him, except that his suit had now been replaced by a white lab coat. He stood up from his chair and turned, smiling unpleasantly.

"Good you're awake Hibino-san. My experiment can proceed."

"What the ***** is going on here?" Hibino growled.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Takano and this is my laboratory. For many years I have been experimenting on improving human physiology through science. Here, I will demonstrate. Behold my Berserkers!"

He pulled out what looked like a TV remote control from his pocket and hit a button. Panels slid open on the steel containers and a figure lumbered out of each one.

All of them were huge, each standing over two metres tall and heavily muscled. They were dressed identically in black tank tops, grey jeans, black gloves and boots. Their heads were covered by black wrestling masks and their eyes were glazed.

"Are those supposed to impress Ore-sama?" Hibino sneered.

"Of course not. Your limited intellect could never comprehend the brilliance of my work. My formula has transformed each of these from a normal man into a superhuman! Yet this is only the beginning. When I learned about you Hibino-san I knew you would be an excellent test subject for my formula."

"Ore-sama is no-one's lab rat!" Hibino yelled angrily. He strained even harder against his bonds but they refused to break. Dr. Takano's smile broadened.


Ichijou and Yamana had arrived at the warehouse. It was drab and utilitarian, with grey walls, boarded up windows and a corrugated roof. He frowned as he studied it.

"Something doesn't feel right here. We'd best be careful."

He opened the door cautiously and they entered the warehouse. To their astonishment the supposedly abandoned building was filled with banks of elaborate machinery. Before either of them could say anything they heard voices ahead of them. Carefully following the voices they crept through the machinery until they came upon Hibino strapped to a platform with a man in a lab coat and five masked giants standing in front of him. Their eyes widened as they heard what the man in the lab coat was saying.

Overcome with surprise Ichijou took a step back and hit his foot against a heavy piece of equipment.

"OW!"

Dr. Takano's head whipped around. Yamana was able to duck out of sight but Ichijou wasn't quick enough and the scientist saw him.

"Intruder! Seize him!"

The Berserkers immediately advanced on him, their arms raised. He met the lead one with a flying knee strike to the face. The giant took a step back but recovered instantly and swung his fist in a huge haymaker that Ichijou narrowly dodged. He began running around the Berserkers landing quick, well-placed shots and then darting away before they could react.

"You're only wearing yourself out!" Dr Takano cackled. "Soon you will tire and then my Berserkers will crush you!"

While they were distracted Yamana hurried over to the platform Hibino was laying on and quickly undid the straps holding him in place.

"Are you okay Hibino?" she asked as he got up.

"Ore-sama is fine" he replied. He hesitated and then added "thank you."

She smiled in relief.

He looked over to see that Ichijou was in trouble. One of the Berserkers had managed to catch him in a bear hug and was squeezing him tightly. His teeth were clenched as he fought to break loose but the giant's arms were like steel girders.

Hibino pulled an aluminium baseball bat from behind his back and leaped through the air, uttering a fearsome battle cry. He swung the bat and hit the Berserker crushing Ichijou in the side of the head. The impact bent the bat to one side but the huge goon was knocked out. He let go of Ichijou as he toppled over and lay still, out cold.

"Damn it Ichijou! Not only did you let them see you but then you were slow enough let that thing catch you!"

"Glad to see you too Hibino" he managed to reply as he caught his breath.

"Get them!" Dr Takano yelled.

Two Berserkers closed on Yamana, one on either side. They both charged and she dodged out of the way as they threw simultaneous punches. Their fists collided with each other's jaw, knocking them both out.

Ichijou faced off with another one. As he had before he used his speed and agility to evade the huge thug's punches and land his own strikes, but they had no effect. He needed to find another way.

His opponent bellowed in rage as he ducked under another blow. He hurriedly backed away towards the animal cages.

"You help me and I'll help you" he said as he opened the cage door.

The gorilla loped out of his cage and started beating his chest, his mouth open wide to display his large teeth. Of course normally gorillas were gentle creatures but this was not a normal situation. He knew that the bad men needed to be stopped.

The gorilla and the Berserker both growled as they seized each other and grappled furiously. After a moment the gorilla overpowered the masked thug and lifted him over his head. With a bellow he hurled him into a computer bank where he crashed down hard and dropped to the floor.

Meanwhile Hibino was battling the last Berserker. This one was bigger than the others and wore studded leather arm-guards on his wrists. He landed several powerful blows but Hibino was hungry for revenge. He stoically absorbed each hit and responded with solid punches and knee-strikes that drove his foe back.

Impossible! No mere human can be a match for my Berserkers! Dr. Takano thought. He pulled out his stun-gun, took aim and fired at Hibino's back. Somehow he sensed it coming and sidestepped, letting the projectile fly past him and hit his opponent right in the chest. Electricity crackled as he was zapped by blue-white sparks. The current ceased and his body slumped forwards with a low groan. Hibino finished the job with a haymaker that K.O. 'ed him and then bounded over, knocking the stun-gun out of Dr. Takano's hand. The scientist backed away in terror as Hibino approached him with a wicked grin.

"Okay doc" he said as he pulled out a feathery fan. "Now I'm going to try an experiment of my own. I'm going to see just how long you can survive Ore-sama's famous tickle torture."

Dr. Takano's screams could be heard outside the warehouse.


"Lucky-chan!" Hoshizoro squealed in joy as her dog leaped into her arms and she hugged him happily. The vet smiled at her and then turned to Hibino, Ichijou and Yamana.

"All of the animals you brought in are perfectly fine. We're making calls to their owners now."

"That's wonderful" said Yamana.

"What about the monkeys and the gorilla?" Ichijou asked.

"They're fine too. We've arranged for them to be sent to Tama Zoo."

"I'd like to check on them. See how they are" he said.

"Sure why not?" Hibino replied.


Soon afterwards the three of them were at the zoo, standing outside of a large enclosure. All of them smiled in delight at what they saw, even Hibino.

It was filled with grass and lush vegetation, with platforms and walls for the gorillas to climb on and a cave at the back where they could go when they wanted to be left alone. The inhabitants were laying on the grass or milling around casually.

The gorilla, who according to one of the keepers had been named Agito, was currently grooming another gorilla each other contentedly. Seeing his visitors he stopped and loped over to the wire grating.

"Hi there" said Ichijou.

Agito hooted softly and put his hands on the grating. Some of the others wandered over and also hooted.

"They recognise you" said the keeper. "That's the same sound they use to greet each other."

Hibino grinned. "Looks like you've finally found your people Ichijou. At least now when your music career fails you'll have a place to go to."

Ichijou turned red as everyone started laughing. A second later he joined in. The gorillas watched curiously, wondering why the nice people were making the strange noise.


Author's Note: The Berserkers appearance is based on Bane from DC comics.