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