Author's Note- I do not own the Law of Ueki
Prologue…
A small girl was being bullied by three boys twice her size. The girl could only hold onto her stuffed rabbit, squeezing it tight as she let out a gas in its soft fur. The girl was too scared to run, not even having half the speed of the bullies, as she could only deal with whatever harassment they had planned.
" Hey, leave her alone!" A boy shouted behind her.
The girl and all three bullies turned their heads to where the boy was shouting from. The boy was behind them, he was standing on the fountain, and was glaring down at the bullies.
" Scram!" One of the bullies exclaimed watching the boy standing over him. " Either you leave or you'll be the next one to get bea—"
The boy ignored what the bully was saying, jumped off the fountain and kicked the bully in his face. The bully was pushed back by the blow to his face, then collapsed on the ground. While he was down, the girl started to tremble.
The boy turned his head to her, giving her a scary vibe, said, " Run. Run while you still can."
" Ahhhhhhh!" The girl followed the boy's warning and ran away from him with her stuffed rabbit in her hands. She left the boy alone with the bullies as she headed straight towards her home.
" Geez, you could at least say thank you when someone helps you. The kids today are just so rude."
" Hey, punk!" Both bullies shouted in unison. The boy looked where they were standing, but was just punched in his face.
" Nobody makes a fool of us!"
" We'll punch you into oblivion!"
The boy didn't move and didn't even fight back—he only laid on the ground and let the bullies kick him around. While he was being kicked, the boy made sure his arms were covering his face as he didn't want to leave any scars there.
" Every day's the same thing," the boy thought while being kicked around. " I manage to help someone, but they never even give me any grace. It's not like I don't like helping people. But for once I'd like to do something where I'm actually appreciated. I just want the talent to change the world."
" Both of you, that's enough!" A grumpy old man shouted while both bullies were kicking the boy.
Both bullies turned their heads around and looked at who was shouting at them. Judging by how he wore a brown suit and a blue tie, he was either a principal or a mafia lord.
Both bullies thought he was a mafia lord, screamed, then grabbed their unconscious friend and dragged him away. While they were gone, the boy limply tried to stand up again, but nearly fell down as he was injured, covered in dirt and trickling blood from the fabric of his clothes, but managed to keep his face clean.
" You shouldn't have come here, old man," the boy said wiping his face in case there was any dirt smudged on him (which there wasn't). " I could've taken care of this myself."
" I highly doubt it," the man retorted. " From what I say, you only have one Talent. Your talent: To Take A Hit. If I didn't step in, they would've just punched you until they got bored and left you. Having only one Talent is bad, but I think I'm willing to make a gamble on you."
" What are you talking about, old man?"
" What if I told you I could give you a special power?"
" Not interested."
" Oh really. Well why don't I just show you this talent and then you can tell me whether you still think that way."
The man took out a small pencil from his tie; it was tucked in through a hole in the fabric, and snapped it in half. The man gave one piece to the boy and kept one piece for himself. The man squeezed the piece of the pencil in his hand, then white light glowed out between his fingers. When the light faded, water dripped out of the holes in his hands.
" Hmmmm."
The boy noticed a rotting flower in the forest surrounding him. He walked up to the flower and kneeled down. While he was kneeling, his hand with the piece of pencil started to drip water out and it dripped over the rotting flower. The water sparkled brightly while it dripped on the flower. The flower started to bloom and became a bright red rose.
" I'm impressed. Not many flowers get that kind of reaction with that power. But it's kind of a weak power. Perhaps you'd like another one."
" No, this one is just fine."
" I see. By the way, my name is Kirishima Okubo. I'm a teacher at a certain kind of middle school. And may I ask who you are?"
" Who am I?" The boy turned his head around and looked at Kirishima in his eyes, smiled. " My name is Hyde Ueki."
One year later
Two children were in trouble with bikers—a brother and a sister—they cowered near a fountain in the middle of the park. They were scared of ten bullies wearing sunglasses and carrying metal pipes.
" Alright, give us your money!" One of the bikers shouted banging his pipe against his hands.
" B-but we don't have any money!" The brother cried holding his sister next to him.
" Aw, ain't that a pity. Guess we'll have to hold you ransom so your parent's, people who actually have money, will bail you out. But before we do that-" All bikers raised their metal pipes up high as they sneered at the two kids. " We're going to have fun with you two."
" Noooooooooo!"
Just then, a geyser of water squirted out of the fountain. Everyone biker's awe-gawked seeing the water, how it was towering over them, and how there was a shadow of a person inside the transparent water seen under the light.
" Hey guys…does anyone know what's going on?"
No biker understood what was going on. Then while they were looking at the geyser of water towering over them, the form of the water seemed to change. It then became a giant dragon head, teeth and long whiskers, and it roared throttling towards the group of bikers; it was about to crash on them.
" Ahhhhhhhhhhh!"
Every biker turned around and ran away from the roaring dragon. As they were fleeing from the scene, screaming along the way, the water dissipated and small drops of water dripped down. The water dripped over both siblings' heads as they became soaked in the water.
" What do you think caused this, brother?" The girl asked while her hair was soaked with water.
" I'll tell you what caused this, sister." The brother looked up at the sky and smiled. " It was an angel that caused this. An angel watching over us."
" Oi!" Hyde the angel watching over the city shouted while he dangled beneath a branch. " Somebody get me down from here!"
OOO
Hyde didn't wake up like all the other boys his age. Most kids would wake up in a soft bed, in a large house usually paid by mortgage, and having parents to talk to downstairs. Hyde however didn't have a bed; he slept on a hammock, lived in the park, and he woke up to see birds chirping and people, mostly in their late forties, jogging around.
" I wonder if they have gelatin desert at the cafeteria today," Hyde thought out loud as he licked his lips thinking about it. " We had it last month; they should have it today. But I wonder what type of desserts they'll have—"
" Heads up!" One of the people in the park shouted too Hyde.
Out of nowhere a small plastic frisbee came out of nowhere and was heading towards Hyde. Hyde saw the frisbee but he didn't move. The frisbee just hit Hyde's face and bounced off. The person who threw the frisbee then ran up to retrieve it. The man was fairly tall and muscular.
" Hey mister, is this your frisbee?" Hyde asked as he held the frisbee in his hands.
" Ah, yes," the man said as he rubbed his head sheepishly. The man took the frisbee out of Hyde's hands and clenched it in his hands. " Thank you for helping me find it, kind sir."'
" Who are you, mister? I haven't seen you around this park anywhere before."
" Ah, yes, how silly of me for not mentioning this sooner. My name is Crosby. You might not believe it, but I was on TV."
" What's a TV?" Hyde thought staring at Crosby.
" But I was mostly in those commercials that sold candy. I sold hard candy, gum, taffy, and even ice cream."
" Besides gum, I don't know what any of those things are."
" Well, it was nice meeting you, but I really must get going. Ciao."
Crosby the man with the frisbee jogged away from Hyde and ran behind him. Hyde was completely, utterly confused. But not too confused too remember he had school today.
" Darn. I better get going. I got to see if they have that new gelatin desert."
OOO
Hyde was a student at Robinson High—one of 764 students—but he was not loved by any of them. Most of the girls hated him for no apparent reason, the guys hated him because he was more "handsome" than them ( but the girls still hated him), and his teachers didn't like him because his clothes were always dirty; he lived in a park and only had one change of clothes.
" I wonder what I'm going to do today," Hyde said to himself as he walked around his school building. As he was walking, a group of girls were growling at him, but Hyde didn't seem to notice. " Maybe I'll sleep under a tree until the bell rings like yesterday. Or maybe I'll find a bench I can sleep on."
" There's that jerk Hyde!" One of the girls shouted glaring at Hyde.
" I just want to kick him!" Another one of the girls shouted.
" Maybe I'll get my boyfriend to beat him up!" A third girl shouted.
" I wonder why everyone's glaring at me." Hyde thought as he was walking around the school. " And I wonder if there's still breakfast at school."
" Mr. Ueki," a teacher, not Kirishima Okubo, said behind Ueki. Ueki turned around and saw his teacher Jaaku Iwa." Might I ask what you're doing here, Mr. Ueki?"
" I'm looking for a place to sleep—"
" No, not here; on the school grounds. I'm asking you what you're doing in this school. You're nothing but a vexation in this school. You're lazy, weak, have a pathetic IQ and are hated by everyone in this school. The only reason you were even allowed here was because Mr. Kirishima Okuba recommended you. Why he'd choose a plague like you I have no idea. Good day, Mr. Ueki."
Jaaku Iwa turned around and started walking the other way. As he was gone, Hyde just blinked his eyes and stared at his back. Hyde wasn't the angry type, which was because he didn't understand most things, so he just assumed Jaaku was just merely giving him a lecture.
" Hmmmm. I expected him to trash talk me nearly five minutes ago. I guess he's starting to like me. Now, where am I going to have that nap?"
OOO
Hyde never felt alone wherever he went—school, his desk, cafeteria, the places he went to visit, home—but mostly because he never felt the comfort of being near anyone. Before classes the kids would keep their distance from him, during classes he'd always sit at the left or right corners in the back with two empty rows of seats, and in the cafeteria he'd sit alone. Hyde may've not felt loneliness, but he did feel stifled that he had no one to talk too.
School finally ended. Like most times Hyde was finished with school he'd go to three places: An animal shelter, hospital and then the park where he lived in. With each place he visited, Hyde would help in any way he could. Hyde started by entering the hospital.
" Oh, it's you, Hyde," the female receptionist said coldly behind her desk. " Cowa, Hyde's here. Please talk to him for me."
Just like all females, the nurse could not stand looking at Hyde and needed someone to take her place consulting with him. Hyde however did like the male nurse Cowa.
" Are you here too help us out with the patience like you do every day, Hyde?"
" Yes sir," Hyde said in a voice that wasn't happy nor sad.
" Alrighty then. Just follow me." Cowa pulled out his double-sided key and sticked it into the door to his right. He turned the key and unlocked the door. Cowa opened the door and Hyde walked inside. " Best of luck, Hyde."
Hyde walked into the nearest room he could find. Inside he saw a mother crying besides a sick girl in medical bed. The mother turned her head looked at Hyde with her eyes, which were crying, and sniffed.
" Who are you?" The mother cried looking at Hyde.
" I'm nobody. Just here to help."
Hyde reached into his pants and pulled five flower seeds out of his pockets. Hyde then noticed a box full of chocolates on a nearby table, grabbed one, and then crushed it in his hands. White light glowed from Hyde's hands and water soon dripped out of his palms. When the water dripped on the seeds, small green stems bloomed out and five pink roses soon bloomed from the stems.
" W-what?" The mother gasped seeing flowers. " H-how is this possible?"
Hyde had his backpack strapped behind his back. In his backpack were many small, plastic green vases. Hyde took out one of the vases, placed the flowers in it, and walked over to the girl as he gave the vase too her. She seemed surprised, confused, but nevertheless she looked happy.
" For you. I hope the angiosperms that are in these special flowers help you recover faster."
" These are really for me? Thank you, onii-chan. But I still don't like you."
" Okay. Now that I'm done here, I might as well get going to the next room. There are more people who need my help too."
OOO
After finishing with the hospital, Hyde moved to the animal shelter. Just like girls, the animals didn't really like him. In a holding pen filled with dogs, the dogs all bite Hyde's certain body parts too their joy, but Hyde didn't flinch or even move as they were biting on him.
" It's nice to see you playing with those poor animals, Hyde," one of the male veterinarians said as he chuckled seeing Hyde being eaten. " Just remember too not play with them for too long. They'll be having dinner shortly."
The male veterinarian left Hyde alone with the dogs. As he left him, closing the door behind him, the sound of the dogs growling and biting became louder.
OOO
After visiting the hospital and the animal shelters, Hyde would go back to his home in the park. But Hyde was not done working yet. Hyde would find seeds lying on the ground, dig a hole in the soil, and drop the seeds into the ground. He then pick up a piece of trash or a leaf and use his gift to convert the objects into water which he'd drip on the soil and a flower or tree branch would grow out.
But Hyde didn't just make flowers grow. Using a broom, Hyde would sweep smaller pieces such as cobwebs or small scraps of tree branches with his broom stick. Hyde almost worked long, hard, and never even once stopped even when he was dehydrated or sweating.
"A clean park is a happy park." Hyde thought sweeping small pebbles off the parks road. " One acre of sweeping done and 5 more acres to go."
"' It's you that cleans this road, right?" A stranger asked behind Hyde. Hyde didn't flinch, turned his head around and saw a man smiling behind him. The man seemed laid back with yellow and orange eyes. " I've strolled through this park every day for the past three years, and it wasn't until last year did it look as clean as it does now."
" Does it really look that clean?" Hyde asked blinking his eyes.
" Of course. Not only the park, but the whole town as well. It's been one of the cleanest ecosystems I've ever seen, and it wasn't like that until last year. I just have a hunch you were responsible for it."
" Gosh, I didn't think I was doing anything special. Maybe you're just mistaking me or someone else."
" Nooooope. I think it was all you. I'd like to stay and have more of this idle chit-chat, but I really must get going. There are some errands I need to finish. Ciao."
The man swished his scarf and ran away from Hyde. Hyde however didn't seem to care about the encounter he had with the man as he just continued sweeping the road. But while he was sweeping, he almost cracked a smile.
" I'm really helping out? I guess I'm just going to have to keep on working hard on it."
OOO
Night time finally came in the park. Hyde was in his shelter as he was lying in his hammock with a lantern on above him and a textbook in his hands. No matter what people say, Hyde did review his notes on school like everyone else; he'd stare at all four classes' notes for two hours each, but even when his mind had the answers in his mind, they just disappeared like a smoke of smoke.
" Maybe I just have trouble reading notes upwards," Hyde thought looking at his textbook. He changed the textbook upside down and tried reading the upside down words. " ʎʇınuuɐ uɐ sı slɐʌɹǝʇuı ɹɐlnƃǝɹ ɐ ɹǝʌo pǝxıɟ poıɹǝd ɟo ǝɯıʇ. Huh? It still doesn't make any sense to me."
OOO
" Poor kid," Kirishima Okubo said as he watched Hyde studying behind the bushes in the park. " He doesn't have the Talent to Study. No matter how much he tries, he'll never be able to learn anything. And as his King candidate, I'm not allowed to help him out any way."
" That's such a pity, Okubo," a man sneered behind Okubo. " And it's going to be a bigger shame when he loses his powers and is stuck with only one measly Talent."
Kirishima Okubo recognized the voice of the man hissing in his ears. Kirishima turned his head right and saw the face of Otto one of the King candidates standing beside him.
" I take it your candidate is somewhere around here, Otto?" Kirishima said nonchalantly looking at Otto's orange eyes.
" Indeed he is, Kirishima," Otto sneered at Kirishima. " You won't be able to stop him. He may not look like it, but he's a genius of battle. When he starts thinking about fighting, there's nothing you can do that will stop him."
" I wouldn't be so sure about that." Kirishima and Otto both turned their heads left to see the yellow-haired man with the scarf standing beside them. " Sure, yours may be strong, but their no where's near as strong as the candidate I've picked out. He's just as strong as he is smart, and he's smarter than any human on this planet."
"Is your candidate going to be joining us in this battle, Haji?" Otto asked as he also sneered.
" Nope. He doesn't like to go anywhere after dark. Right now he's at his house studying for his next exam which I'm sure he's going to ace."
" Is your candidate afraid of the dark, Haji?" Otto said in a taunting voice. " Does he have to sleep with a nightlight because the dark scares him?"
" It's not that he's afraid of the dark, but he fights better when the suns up. And he—"
" Abababaaba! My candidate is already here. So prepare to be amazed."
Kirishima, Otto, and Haji both watched the shadowy outline of a human being creep up too Hyde. Hyde however didn't seem to recognize anyone around him as he was too busy reading from his book while changing the angles to get a better view of it.
" The hypotenuse is the longest side of the right triangle which is— Agh!" Hyde got fed up with reading from his textbook and tossed it on the ground. " I can't remember any of it! It's so frustrating!"
" I see your candidate has a little bit of a temper, Kirishima," Otto snickered seeing Hyde's face burn redder than a red beet. " I guess that's somewhat of a good thing for battle. But I also know he's too stupid to learn anything! Hahahahahaha."
" Hyde's not stupid!" Kirishima shouted clenching his pudgy fists together. " Now hush up or I will—"
" Ah-humph!" Haji interrupted by pretending to cough. " Gentlemen, if it's not too much trouble, may we please return to the part where your two candidates fight. I for one would like to see how Hyde deals with that lightning bolt."
" What lightning bolt—Hyde, get dow—"
Kirishimia nearly helped Hyde in his battle; a thing all men of his stature were prohibited from doing. But luckily Haji shushed Kirishima up by squeezing his big, fat, pudgy lips and stopping him from saying another word—it saved Kirishimia but caused Hyde to get hit by the attack.
" We both know the rules, Kirishima. I know it must be hard on you, believe me, it's no shakes for me, but it's just something we must do."
" Hahahahaha. You almost lost it there, tomato-belly!"
" Oh, go to hell!"
" Both of you be quiet. The good parts about to begin."
OOO
Hyde was slightly harmed from being striked by electricity. He felt like his hair was on fire, his skin was burned to a crisp like the fish he ate hanging on a wooden stick under a fire, and his eyes were spinning around in circles. But Hyde quickly recovered and his skin returned to its pale, clean appearance.
Then out of nowhere came another beam of yellow electricity. The electricity was heading towards Hyde, about to ram into him, but Hyde ducked out of the way before it could hit him. No sooner did he duck, however, another beam of electricity came at him.
" Where are all these coming from?" Hyde thought as he jumped over one beam of electricity, but then was zapped by another. " I can't find any piece of trash I can use against him. These beams are coming from someone. But I just have to find out who."
Hyde had to crawl as he moved away from his shelter. The beams just passed through Hyde harmlessly while he moved on the ground, but occasionally a beam would be angled diagonally and would nearly hit Hyde, but he just rolled out of its way.
With every inch he moved forward, Hyde could see the shadowy outline of a person in front of him. And when Hyde crawled just five inches closer, he could see the faint sight of teeth clenched together.
" There's something familiar about those teeth," Hyde thought crawling closer to the shadowy figure. " But I just can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's—"
A new kind of attack came out from the darkness. The attack looked like a giant piece of bubblegum, static electricity surging out of its blue sticky body, and it fell towards Hyde. Hyde was barely able to roll out of the way as it nearly fell on top of him.
" How do you like my Static Bubble, little boy?" A snide voice said in the darkness. " If it sticks to you, it'll shock you with 400 volts of electricity. And it would keep shocking you until you died!"
" There's something about that voice that sounds familiar. Could it be—" Lights shined up as the shadowy figure fired another giant bubblegum with electricity surging out. Hyde watched the bubble nearly fall on him, closed his eyes, then stood up. " This is my only chance."
The bubble sticked too Hyde's chest and shocked him with electricity. Hyde just closed his eyes wrenching, flinching, and enduring the pain of having his skin being burned by the 400 volts of electricity. Where most men would die from such an attack, Hyde stood up and walked forward with his eyes closed.
" W-what!" The man behind the shadows gasped seeing Hyde still walking too where he was standing. " T-this can't be possible! That attack should have killed you. It may've cost me one of my Talents, but I used it to kill a full grown elephant at the zoo!"
" I'm not an elephant," Hyde retorted while walking too where the screaming voice was coming from. " I'm Hyde. Hyde Ueki. And I'm going to knock you—" Hyde dashed too where the voice was coming from, found the man hidden behind the shadows and punched him in his face, shouting, "OUT!"
Hyde's iron steel fists nearly fractured the man's face on impact. The person who Hyde punched was the man with the frisbee he met earlier; he was the one creating the attacks. Blood dripped from his nose when Hyde punched him, and it pushed him back and into a tree.
" Hehehehehehehe!" Crosby the TV actor laughed while his face was bleeding and he was pushed into a tree. " Hehehehehehehe! That's quite an arm you got there. I never knew you could be this tough. I could tell you were A King Candidate by the way you acted. Since the first time I met you—you were hit by my frisbee like a weakling—I just assumed you were weak. I wanted to attack you back there, but there were too many people. And now that no one else is here-" Crosby reached into his pants and pulled out a piece of blue gum. Crosby squeezed the gum tightly in his hands. " I'M GOING TO ELIMINATE YOU!"
The hand that squeezed the piece of gum in Crosby's hands glowed bright yellow. Crosby then opened his hands and a beam of static electricity was fired towards Hyde. Hyde delved to take shelter from the attack, but his legs were too wobbly. Hyde was pushed back by the lightning bolt and was pushed into a tree.
" Oww," Hyde said almost nonchalantly while his back was pushed into the tree. " That hurt."
" You better believe it hurt! I'm going to be sending you too Hell! Any last words before I send you there, kid?"
" Yes. You really shouldn't eat too much gum. It's going to tear the cartilage in your jaw joints that can give you pain and discomfort for your entire life."
" Shut up!"
Crosby took out another piece of gum and stuck it in his mouth. He chewed, swayed the piece around with his tongue until it was behind his teeth, then he fired a giant blue bubble surrounded by static electricity at Hyde.
" Hmmmmm." Hyde just stood perfectly still—pondered-and rubbed his chin thinking about his next move. Hyde then snapped his fingers, said, " Got it."
Hyde sidestepped out of the bubbles path. The bubble kept floating past Hyde, then it swallowed up a tree that was behind Hyde and carried the tree away.
Hyde didn't like it when people toyed with nature. Hyde lived in the woods most of his life. He learned to adapt, forage, and keep himself warm with the help of trees, caves, and soil where he ate worms. Hyde clenched his fists and beared his teeth.
" Enough playing around!" Crosby shouted as he pulled dozens of pieces of gum out of his pockets and shoved them in his mouth. Crosby chewed, licked, then mumbld, " Tiwn fro ew to die (time for you to die)."
Crosby fired a massive beam of electricity the size of a tall building at Hyde. Hyde didn't move while the beam was about to hit him. Before the beam had hit him, Hyde raised both his hands out as if he was embracing blow, then he was finally pushed back by the electricity and pushed in the direction where the tree was pushed.
" Well, that takes care of that," Crosby smiled snidely watching Hyde flying above his head, but he did not scream. " But just too make sure he's dead, I better follow him."
OOO
" Ha! I win this round, Kirishima, you old tomato-belly!"
" I don't think so, Otto. It is me who's won this round."
" Huh? What are you saying, tomato-belly?"
" Didn't you see Hyde's face? He was angry. And if there's one thing I've learned about Hyde in our one year together is that you never make him angry."
" So this boy has some kind of special power when he's angry?" Haki asked while he smiled broadly. " This is just something I have to see for myself. Let's move on, gentlemen."
OOO
Crosby nearly pushed Hyde out of the park with his massive electric attack. All the young actor had to do was follow Hyde's trail forward, moving through dozens of trees, then he stopped when he found a tree on the ground. Blue sticky, gooey substance was found on the tree as it was on the ground.
" So that's where you went off too, tree," Crosby smirked seeing the damaged tree. " It's too bad you had to get involved with my fight, but I really don't care who I heart as long as I win. Once I win this tournament and get the Talent of Blank, I'm going to get the Talent to Sell. For too long I've been stuck selling small stuff, but once I have that talent I can sell my hair, clothes, even my photos for lots of profit. I will become rich! Hahahahaha—"
" You were doing all this just for money?" Hyde asked somewhere in the forest in an angry tone. " It's people like you—the ones who do bad things for money—that make me sick!" Hyde jumped out behind the tree and stood on its bark. Hyde then ripped the limb of one branch off and held the limb in his right hand. " I spent my entire life trying to help people. I wanted to protect this forest from people like you so families could come here and enjoy it. But you ruined it for them! You make me sick!"
" What the hell have you been eating, loser? This isn't a forest. It's a park. Just a smelly, old, deserted park. And what you have there's nothing but a stupid tree. The only reason people come to these stupid parks is because they need a place to walk their smelly, fat dogs."
" I'll show you! One of these days I'll make this park so big and clean that people will come and play in it! You'll see!"
" That's something. That sounds like a nice dream you have there, kid. I really misjudged your demeanor." " Too bad you're going to die. In the words of William Shakesphere: From whence thou was just a dream; thou it shall be a dream, loser! Say good-bye!"
Crosby took out a piece of gum and shoved it in his mouth. He soon fired a large, yellow beam of electricity at Hyde. Hyde however did his own move, he raised the tip of the branch too his mouth, then he bit the piece off. Hyde's mouth glowed bright blue in his mouth, then he blew a large stream of water from his mouth.
Both Hyde and Crosby's attacks collided. Crosby's electricity at first seemed to have the upper-hand against Hyde's water. But after the electricity overpowered Hyde's attack, nearly pushing into him, Hyde's water overcame Crosby's electricity and pushed through it.
While breathing out electricity, Crosby reached into his pockets for more pieces of gum, but he flinched finding out there were no pieces left.
" No!" Crosby thought searching for a piece of gum. " This can't be. I had one hundred pieces in both my pockets. Did I really run out of pieces already fighting this kid? And what's worse of all—" The water was absorbing the electricity, surrounded by electricity, and was about to ram into Crosby. " He only used one attack. Agghhhhhh!"
Crosby was defeated. He was hit by both electricity and hot water from Hyde's attack. Hyde's water scalded him, the electricity burned his skin black, and he feared he would soon die. But just then Hyde ran up and punched him on the ground.
" Oof!" Crosby groaned after Hyde punched him in the chest.
While he was down, Hyde digged up patches of dirt and covered Crosby's body with the dirt. The electricity was absorbed by the silicones inside dirt, protecting Crosby, and the head from the water was relieved by the soil absorbing the water as nutrients. Hyde buried every part of Crosby's body but his mouth as he needed it too breathe, then he leaned down and glared into Crosby's eyes.
" H-how were you able to do that? H-how did you make your water so hot?"
" It's my hot breath. When I ate the tree, I converted it with my stomach acid from nearly burping, and that's what makes it so hot."
" I see. I guess you're just going to let someone as vile and corrupt as me die here for all the pain I've caused you?"
" Even someone as corrupt as you doesn't deserve to die! Why don't you just sit there and think about your life. I'll go to the hospital and get you some help. I'm sure they'd all like to see you, Mr. Actor."
OOO
Kirishima, Otto, and Haji all watched the heroic acts of Hyde. Kirishima and Haji both laughed watching Otto whimper in Crosby's defeat. Otto had his body circled up, lied on the ground and continued wallowing on the ground.
" He actually ate bark!" Haji laughed. " Isn't that a riot?"
" Yep!" Kirishim laughed with Haji. " I guess Hyde isn't as weak as you thought he was, Haji. Still think your man can take him?"
" Oh, your Hyde is strong, I'll give you that, but he still has a lot of training he needs to do before he can face my man. But tell you what, since I thoroughly enjoyed watching your battle, I'll make sure my man doesn't face yours until at least the Second Round. That'll give him enough time to improve his skills, right?"
" Right. But what I was most impressed about wasn't his fighting but really his chivalry."
" Chivalry? What type of chivalry?"
" The chivalry of unselfishness. Hyde knew that other guy probably wouldn't survive being hit by his own lethal attack, but he unselfishly rescued him just because he felt like it. That's the kind of man I want for the Talent of Blank."
" I see. By the way, Kirishim, what Talent does Hyde get?"
" Huh? Talent?"
" You know. Hyde did win his battle .You and I know that once a candidate wins his battle he does get one random Talent. Do you know what that Talent is?"
" Oh, that. I don't know. I only know what talents he'll lose whenever he hits a non-candidate. Maybe it'll be something useful."
OOO
The next day, Hyde walked around the schoolyard looking for somewhere too sleep before classes started. Hyde just heard from Cowa how Crosby was still alive and was receiving medical care.
" I hope he recovers quickly," Hyde thought as he walked through the schoolyard. " I know we may've started off on a rocky start, but I'm sure he and I can become great friends."
Hyde then felt like eyes were ogling him. Hyde looked at the front of the building, saw the same girls who would snarl, taunt him, but saw them with hearts in their eyes. Every girl were wooed by Hyde, drooling over him, and every all in the same stance; their hands behind their heads and their mouths agaped.
" There's Hyde," a girl said as she was surprisingly attracted too Hyde.
" I just want to smother him in flowers and kiss his whole face," another one of the girls said.
" Maybe I'll leave my boyfriend and go out with him."
Kirishim the King Candidate was sitting on the roof of the school. Kirishim looked down on Hyde on the roof—the girls, the wooing, and how Hyde ignored them all to look for a place to sleep—Kirishim could stop growling from his mouth.
" I was wrong. This talent is nothing but a catastrophe! Damn you, Hyde! You lucky bastard!"
Hyde Ueki
Remaining Talents: 2
