Denki stood over the defeated Ragebuck deer, breathing lightly while sparks flickered between his fingers.
The deer struggled under the layers of Static Pulse Web before finally exhausting itself, huffing low grunts of surrender.
“Victory~” Denki whispered to himself, giving a tiny bow before jumping back up into the trees.
Letting the Static Web dissipate on its own
He wasn’t done.
Not even close.
Training Through Combat
What followed was an hour of pure chaos.
1.
Stonehide Hoglets
A pack of miniature Stonehide Boar juveniles—only waist-height but covered in rocky plates—charged him after he accidentally kicked a pebble at one of them.
He fought three of them like they were living bowling balls.
He won that one by lassoing 1 of the hogs with an electric lasso he created making them crash into each other
2.
Static Finch Swarm
A flock of small birds with quirks that let them discharge tiny static bursts swooped through the branches as he passed.
They shocked him repeatedly, even though it didn’t hurt, the birds were able to eat electricity.
Making his attacks useless
He tried to fight them
He absolutely did not win
Denki ran from that one while yelling
“YOU LITTLE BETRAYERS OF ELECTRICITY!”
3.
Burrower Lynx
A sleek cat with a quirk allowing it to have an almost intimate connection with the earth.
digging through dirt like water Its glowing yellow eyes stalked him from hole to hole.
He fought it for forty seconds before it started predicting his movements using advanced mathematics.
On the trees the cat couldn’t get him, but on the ground he was basically moving in the paws of his enemy
Denki noped out of that situation with zero shame.
⸻
4.
Boulder-Shell Turtle
A massive turtle with a rocky dome shell—like a mobile hill—tried to snap at his feet.
Denki stunned it and climbed a tree before it could roll over him like a boulder.
That one was technically a tie, but he counted it as a win anyway.
⸻
After about an hour of this—running, dodging, fighting, and occasionally screaming—Denki finally stopped on a branch and wiped the sweat from his face.
“Okay… maybe that’s enough trauma for one morning”
He stretched, rolling his shoulders
“Time to get back before Mina and Kiri-bro start panicking”
He climbed down to the ground and began walking, letting his electric field pulse softly around him as a radar.
That’s when he heard it
A sound like…
earth being carved apart
A slow, heavy raking—like a shovel dragging through dirt
Denki froze
He turned
And his stomach dropped
Behind him stood a towering, pitch-dark moose, over five meters tall, its massive metal antlers shimmering with reflected light.
The antlers were easily two meters across each
Its breath came out in snorts of steam
“Oh. Why hello there….big fella”
The moose scraped a hoof twice against the ground.
A warning
A territorial warning
“Oh no”
The moose lowered its head
“…Oh no no no”
It charged
~~~~~~~
Back in the safe part of the Wildlife Reserve…
The class had already split up into groups with teachers supervising activities.
Mina and Kirishima, however, were still glued to the entrance of the bathroom area.
“He sure is taking a long time” Kirishima muttered nervously.
Mina hissed, “Just act natural! We told them he’s… um… dealing with spicy food consequences!”
She tugged at her binoculars and crawled up higher on the tree branch they were perched on.
Kirishima, sweaty and trembling, clung to the trunk.
“Why did I let you convince me to climb up here?” he groaned.
“Because we’re good friends! Now be a manly lookout partner!”
Both scanned the forest canopy with binoculars, their voices low with worry.
“Do you think he’s okay?” Kirishima asked softly.
Mina swallowed.
“I… I hope so”
They waited Visit g.com for the full chapter.
And worried
And waited more
~~~~~~~
Denki sprinted through the forest floor like his life depended on it—because it definitely did.
Trees shuddered and cracked behind him as the Iron-Antler Moose bulldozed its way forward, tearing apart the ground and shaking the earth.
“I DIDN’T EVEN MEAN TO ENTER YOUR TERRITORY GOOD SIR!!” Denki yelled over his shoulder.
The moose bellowed louder
“That’s fair! BUT STILL!!”
He shot up into the trees—only for the moose to ram the trunk so hard the entire tree collapsed like a toy.
Denki leapt to another—same result.
It didn’t matter how fast he moved
The moose was faster than its size suggested
And absolutely relentless
Animals scattered out of sight—birds fleeing in bursts, foxes diving into shadows, boars rolling out of the way.
This part of the forest was officially evacuated.
“WHY ARE YOU BUILT LIKE A FINAL BOSS!?” Denki screamed as he kept running.
Every stomp of the moose shook leaves loose.
Every impact felt like a mini-earthquake.
Denki burst through a patch of bushes—
And saw it.
The metal wall.
“YES—FREEDOM!”
He sprinted even faster, lightning crackling under his feet in huge bursts.
He leapt onto the nearest tree, climbing with explosive speed and launching himself over the wall—
—so fast he shot much higher than intended
“TOO HIGH—!!”
He slammed into a tree outside the restricted zone, bounced, and tumbled down to the ground in a heap.
He groaned
Stayed still
Then finally whispered
“I’m… alive…”
A sudden BOOM vibrated through the ground.
Denki shot upright
Behind the wall, something enormous slammed into the metal barrier again.
“Yep. Time to leave. Immediately.”
He staggered up and ran back toward the entrance of the Reserve, legs wobbling but functional.
He jammed the cameras again with a spark of electricity, climbed over the fenced gate, and dropped down into the normal civilized world.
~~~~~~
“Do you see anything yet?” Kirishima asked, squinting.
“No, nothing—wait…” Mina lowered her binoculars, eyes narrowing.
“Hold on…”
She raised them again
Then gasped
A bright burst of yellow lightning flashed above the trees
“That’s him!” Mina shouted “He’s coming back!”
Kirishima sagged in relief.
“Thank goodness…”
They both watched the light streak back down and vanish into the forest once more.
They exchanged a smile—finally able to breathe
Then—
BOOOOONG
A metallic crash rang out from deep within the forest.
Both froze
“…That wasn’t him” Mina whispered
“Nope” Kirishima agreed, face pale.
“Let’s go. Now”
They scrambled down the tree—much less gracefully than they climbed it—and rushed toward the entrance to meet Denki’s
~~~~~~
Denki stumbled out from the trees of the safe zone brushing leaves, dirt, and…was that cat hair?
off his shirt just as Mina and Kirishima sprinted toward him.
“DENKI!” Mina tackled him first, nearly knocking him over.
Kirishima gave him a big manly hug next.
“Dude! You look like you got in a fight with a blender!”
Denki held up his hands defensively, wincing as he brushed a sore spot on his ribs.
“Okay—okay, I know how I look. But I’m fine! Slightly traumatized, but fine!”
They stepped back, eyes quickly taking in the state of him—his clothes scuffed, his hair even messier than usual, and one sleeve lightly singed.
Kirishima pointed.
“That’s burn damage!”
Denki coughed.
“Static Finch Swarm. The traitors”
Mina’s eyes went wide.
“You FOUGHT birds!?”
“More like they ambushed me” Denki corrected.
“Little electric gremlins”
“Uh… Burrower Lynx popped out of the ground and slapped me.”
Kirishima gasped.
“A lynx? That’s sounds manly”
“No, it really isn’t” Denki deadpanned.
They both waited for him to say more.
Denki did—but carefully.
“Okay, so listen. I got into a few scuffles. Small stuff. Like… Stonehide Hoglets. A giant turtle. A hyperactive orange cat with leather boots and a hat trying to skewer me with his sword”
Mina raised a brow.
“That last one sounds fake”
“Oh it’s very real” he muttered
“And the loud bang?” Kirishima asked.
“We heard something insane”
Denki froze for half a second—but forced a laugh
“Oh that? Definitely just wind hitting a hollow tree or something. You know how forests are. Loud. Windy. Dramatic”
Both of them stared at him
“You expect us to believe that?” Mina asked flatly.
“Yes. For the sake of my sanity”
Kirishima opened his mouth to question further, but Denki quickly clapped his hands together.
“ANYWAY—thank you for covering for me. Seriously. I owe you both big time. And if we keep this quiet, we can keep this going for the rest of the week”
Mina looked like she was about to scream
Kirishima looked like he was about to faint
But neither said a word
They just stared
Frozen
Denki patted their shoulders awkwardly.
“Cool. Love the support. I’m gonna go shower before the dirt fuses with my DNA.”
He scurried off back toward the hotel, leaving both of his friends still standing in the same position—eyes wide, mouths open, binoculars dangling from their hands.
⸻
By the time they all gathered at a table for lunch, Denki smelled human again and had changed into clean clothes.
Mina and Kirishima still looked like they had undergone emotional whiplash.
Denki waved his spoon at them.
“Come on, don’t look at me like that. I’m not dead”
“You COULD have been” Mina hissed
“Man, I can’t believe you actually fought wild animal” Kirishima muttered, rubbing his forehead.
Denki spooned some rice.
“Correction: I fought small to medium ones. Most of the time”
“Define ‘most’…” Mina narrowed her eyes.
“Nope!” he said cheerfully.
“Classified”
Mina groaned into her palms
Kirishima leaned in, starry-eyed.
“Bro… tell me again about the Stonehide Hoglets!”
Denki perked up.
“Oh! Those dudes? Adorable but violent. Like bowling balls with anger issues. One hit my knee and I thought I saw God”
Mina snorted into her drink
“And the Static Finch Swarm?” she asked, half curious
“They dive-bombed me! They zapped me every time I tried to swat them. Betrayed by my own element…” Denki clutched his heart dramatically.
“It hurt emotionally more than physically.”
“What about that thing that slapped you?” he asked “The digging one”
“Oh, the Burrower Lynx?” Denki shuddered.
“It popped up like ‘SURPRISE’ and tried to combo me like a fighting game”
Mina leaned forward suspiciously.
“And the loud bang again?”
Denki stared at her with the blankest expression he could muster
“The wind”
“It did NOT sound like wind” she shot back.
“It was emotional wind”
“Denki…”
He shoveled rice into his mouth.
“mmh uh dh uhehr.”
“What?”
Denki swallowed.
“I SAID— drop it. We’re here to have fun. And eat. And not die.”
Kirishima laughed nervously.
“Yeah… let’s keep it that way”
Mina sighed but relented
Still…
Every time Denki grimaced when stretching his shoulder, both of them exchanged a look that said:
He is absolutely hiding something
But for now—they let him have his peace
And Denki silently promised himself
Tomorrow…
Round two