The hillside had collapsed.
Its alarm still blaring
The dust surrounding Leo glowed red because of the lights Making Leo’s panting silhouette darker Leo heaved like a predator who finally caught up to its prey Everyone could feel his eyes piercing through the dust Finally, Leo took one deep sigh His chest relaxed He stopped moving A long, tense silence lingered over them.
All they could hear was the breeze gently blowing The dust started to disappear too Revealing his left hand and half of his face He didn’t even blink through the dust Just locked onto Alwich Alwich stared back, a small smirk forming at his lips Thomas looked at Leo, then at Alwich.
Slowly, he moved to the side
Trying to get behind Alwich
But the moment he took the first step
The Asian kid looked over his shoulder
Staring at Thomas
No reaction.
Nothing.
Just a low, unimpressed gaze
Thomas stopped moving
His teeth clenched as he stared back
But then he saw it
Amid the soft breeze
A single leaf glided over his shoulder
Spinning and twisting wherever the wind led it It glided into the middle of the crowd Then started to fall Autumn clenched her blade Just as the leaf hit the floor.
Leo dashed forward.
The breeze galloping behind him
His fist cocked back, aimed at Alwich’s face.
“BORIS!!” Alwich shouted
Suddenly, the humanoid monster slid in front of Alwich Catching Leo’s hand.
A loud wave of sound echoed with a heavy thud Boris grunted, trying to follow up with a right hook But Leo caught that too The two wrestled Hands trembling “I remember you,” Leo said, staring into the monster’s soul Boris smirked while staring back As the two struggled Thomas and Autumn watched with intent Then a tranquilizer dart was fired With barely a movement of his head Thomas weaved around it.
His focus slowly locked onto Alwich.
Flames igniting in both hands
They both started walking toward him
Alwich began backing up
While reloading his gun
Meanwhile
Leo and Boris had their test of strength.
Both their heels dug deep into the ground
Both grunting
It looked as if they were equal
Until
Leo chuckled to himself
He took a step forward
Pushing Boris backwards with ease while crushing his hands Boris roared and began kneeling.
Just as his knee touched the floor
He rose off it and headbutted Leo in the nose.
Leo released him and took a few steps backward while clutching his nose.
Blood dripped from in between his fingers
He growled in pain
Staring at Boris
Eyes twitching
Instantly, he dashed forward
Slamming Boris through some trees.
He jumped toward the crash
THOMAS’ POV
In the forest, a loud clash echoed
Like blades colliding
The birds flew from the trees
Squawking wildly in groups
Suddenly, an explosion was heard
Two trees crashed to the ground
Burning in flames
Then footsteps
Rushing through the forest
Alwich and Thomas were running side by side in the same direction While looking sideways at each other.
Waiting for one of them to make the next move While running, they spotted a shadow above.
Looking up, Alwich saw Autumn coming down with her blade He rolled to the side, avoiding the slash.
But just as he rolled
A ball of fire was heading his way.
His eyes widened
BOOM
A huge explosion erupted, smoke rising from the impact Autumn hovered towards Thomas, watching as the smoke clears But as the smoke dispersed The asian kid stood beside Alwich His hand stretched outward, smoke rising off it The asian kid stared nonchalantly at the two “No way…
he didn’t tank that did he?” Autumn asked
Thomas didn’t answer
He was staring at the boy again
Jaw clenched
Fist tightened so hard they trembled
“Tsk,” he hissed
“Who the fuck is this guy?” he asked
“I-I think he’s one of us” Autumn muttered
…
Alwich and the Asian kid watched as the two whispered amongst themselves Just then, Alwich smirked Resting a hand on the boy’s shoulder “Why don’t you show me what you can do…
Kaito,” he said with a grin
Just as the words left his mouth
Kaito raised both his fists into a boxing stance.
He threw two quick jabs into the air.
Aimed at Thomas and Autumn
“Huh?”
Just as the confusion hit them
A wave of pressure followed, blowing both of them away Thomas slammed his back into a tree While Autumn caught herself midair The kid started walking towards them “Alright, that’s it!” Thomas shouted, jumping to his feet “I’ll handle this one, you get that scientist bastard” he said to Autumn Autumn looked at Thomas, then at Kaito “You sure?” She asked.
He didn’t answer
“R-right.”
Autumn rose high into the air
Then zoomed towards Alwich at full speed
Kaito locked onto Autumn
Hand cocked back.
But suddenly
A flaming punch connected with Kaito’s jaw, slamming him off his feet.
“Your fight is with me,” Thomas said, flames dancing around his hands Kaito stood up and spat out a bloody tooth He wiped his mouth, staring at Thomas Soon, he held up his fists again Thomas raised his hands in his own weird way He exhaled deeply JAB JAB JAB Kaito threw a barrage of shockwave punches Thomas weaved Left Right Left Dodging all the shockwave blasts He closed in on Kaito quickly Hands blazing with flames He threw a punch at Kaito’s face But Kaito dodged quickly and countered with a punch to the gut Thomas bent forward, eyes wide But then he got hit with a left hook Stunned, Thomas was then blasted away with another wave of pressure.
AUTUMN’S POV
Meanwhile…
Alwich was running, trying to get something out of his pouch Just as he was about to make a turn, A blade lodged in a tree, centimeters from his face Suddenly, Autumn came from above with another blade.
Alwich dashed backwards instinctively
She then followed up with a wide slash
Alwich blocked it with his scalpel
CLANG
Sunlight filtered through the trees reflecting off the blades Allowing their silver glow Autumn tried to move But with his free right hand, Alwich threw a punch at her Autumn twisted and flowed under it She pushed forward and grabbed Alwich, flying upward with him.
And slammed him into a tree branch
Alwich fell back to the ground, but quickly recovered He looked up at Autumn floating above him “You nimble little brat,” he muttered, holding his left arm “I guess it would work for you if you weren’t so…
predictable,” he said
Just as those words were said
Alwich took out a small device and pressed a button Electricity enveloped Autumn She screamed in pain before falling to the floor Smoke rising from her body, as she lay limp Alwich walked over to her smoking body and started rummaging through his pouch “Aww, you didn’t notice?” Alwich grinned.
“The second you grabbed me, I attached my device to you”
Alwich stopped grinning
“Eh…
where’s my—?”
He looked into the pouch
Just as Alwich looked away
Autumn spun around with a giant needle in her hand.
Containing the same yellow substance they were using in the lab She stabbed Alwich in the stomach with it Then followed up by stabbing him in the chest with her blade She watched as the yellow substance flow into his body Alwich roared, thrashing wildly.
Autumn rolled away and leaned against a tree
Clutching her shoulder
Then she felt it
A small flat object
She pulled it off and threw it away
It crackled with electricity, just a few feet from her Alwich screamed loudly But soon, it started to sound like laughter He laughed and laughed, even clutching his head The dark veins swelled under his skin He spun around, arms wide, staring up into the trees Eyes low He laughed until Then, suddenly, he stopped Face straighter than Kaito’s He pulled the needle and the blade from his body Blood dripped from his wounds He threw the weapons away “Aww…
you wasted it” he said
The dark veins the yellow substance had caused, started to disappear “Ah…
Luminex,” he said, holding both hands out to the sky.
His veins had completely disappeared.
Alwich’s skin was no longer pale
His wrinkles were gone
His hair glowed brightly
Even his injuries healed
“Where others fall I rise”
“What ends you feeds me”
“Tell me, what am I?”
He asked, looking At Autumn
…
He started talking again
“In all my life I’ve never been so lucky”
“But I guess I gotta do everything myself”
“Stupid bots,” he said, slowly getting closer to Autumn “All my life, I’ve been trying to resurrect the best of the best.”
He grabbed Autumn by the throat, lifting her up “I’ve found one of you, and now I want the rest of you ”
“Why?
Why are you doing this?” Autumn asked
“You’re not very observant, are you?” He asked, tilting his head Soon, he took out a vial filled with the yellow substance “Luminex…
so much untapped potential.
It took me 200 years to find out how to produce it.
Even then, the ingredients are rare.”
“With Luminex, I can do anything.
For now, though, I need an army…
and answers”
Alwich popped the lid on the vial with his teeth “A-army for what?” Autumn choked out “Shh…
Let Alwich take care of you”
He held the vial closer to Autumn’s mouth
“No!” She turned her head away
But it was no use
Before Alwich knew it
A shadow fell over them
He looked up
A huge body was falling
Alwich jumped out of the way and the body fell with a huge thud Cracking the ground beneath it It was a headless body.
Further ahead, Alwich saw Leo slowly heading his way.
In Leo’s hand was Boris’s head, his left hand was bloody.
Definitely not his blood
“Oh…
this is a problem,” Alwich said, dropping Autumn to the floor.
She fell to her knees, coughing.
And in the distance, a few clashes were heard Along with the cracking of knuckles “GET BACK HERE!!!” Thomas shouted in the distance Soon, the two came into view.
Thomas and Kaito locked into hand-to-hand combat Kaito was running backward, trying to regroup while keeping his eyes on Thomas He easily ducked a flame-enhanced right hook.
Then blocked the followed-up Jab
Then gracefully leapt over a leg sweep, using his mid air motion to push off Thomas Landing on a tree branch.
Kaito began jumping from tree to tree while Thomas chased harder When they both reached the clearing where everybody was Kaito tried leaping towards Alwich’s side of the clearing But Thomas leapt up as well, clashing with Kaito once again Both catching each other’s fist midair.
Soon they landed, staring each other down
Thomas was panting heavily
Kaito wasn’t
He just stared
They slowly began walking around each other, so they could both go to their comrades After regrouping, Thomas wiped the blood from his lips.
Leo had just reached them.
His teammates could feel an ominous aura emanating from him He looked at Alwich, holding his gaze Before he rolled Boris’s head over Alwich stopped it with his foot, his hands still in his pockets He bent over and picked it up “Well, well, well, I guess you truly are something special” he said He then flashed a wide creepy smile “I’ll be back,” he said “I promise.” He grinned.
He took out what looked like a stamp gun
But there was a vial with Luminex attached to it.
He aimed it at the ground and fired
Immediately, a golden portal appeared.
The two jumped inside along with Boris’s head
…
A huge silence lingered for a good minute
The breeze blowing
Fire in the distance
Smoke rising
Birds fleeing
No one spoke
Thomas walked over and sat on a stone
“What the fuck just happened?” he asked, finally breaking the silence.
“I-I don’t know…” Autumn answered
BOOM
The mansion on the hill exploded
Rattling the ground
The breeze blew heavily
The two stood up and watched as it became engulfed in flames “Well, at least I’m fire proof,” he muttered.
“What?” Autumn turned, raising her eyebrow
“You know…
fire,” Thomas explained
THUD
A heavy thud was heard
The two turned
It was Leo
Face-first in the ground
Unconscious.
“LEO!!” Autumn shouted
End