They had little time to react as bony limbs flailed in their direction, shearing the surrounding terrain of its topsoil. Hinata and Yachi were able to dodge easily, but Lev narrowly escaped, eliciting a curse from him as he tumbled into the ground. The haze of combat left them with little time to think of a strategy, focusing instead on dodging the whip-like strikes of their foe. In between dodging hits, Hinata attempted to think of some sort of strategy. In the meanwhile, Lev unleashed a fleet of paper airplanes at the boy, each of them nicking one of his appendages. The monster let out a hollow cry as poison creeped up its arm, before, in one fell swoop, it snapped off its arm. A shrieking mass of bone and connective tissue soared from his wound, reforming a spiky appendage in the place of its lost arm. Hinata looked with horror.
"He can regenerate?" he screamed.
"Apparently." Lev replied. Lev unleashed another barrage of planes, which were promptly crumbled by the boy. The boy let out a metallic shriek.
"You're going to have to come up with a new trick!" the boy said, maniacally.
Hinata had to come up with a plan, and fast, if they were going to make it out alive. He'd given up the prospect of actually defeating the boy, it was obvious that the difference in strength was too great. He dodged another strike from the boy, narrowly escaping with a small gash on his arm. Lev tumbled beside him.
"I'm out of paper." he said, terrified.
"Shit." Hinata muttered. A few meters away, Yachi was steadily and easily dodging each flay of limbs that came her way.
"Tsuki, can I go now?" Yamaguchi asked the boy. He looked frightened. Hinata had forgotten about the traitor as soon as the attacks began. He came up on the spot with a dirty plan. Avoiding the strikes of limbs, he made his way to Yamaguchi. He saw in his corner Lev get struck by the boy, and flung against a tree.
"Lev!" he screamed. Lev was unresponsive. He'd have to go ahead with his plan, and, with any hope, Lev would be okay. He finally reached Yamaguchi, and, with one sweeping movement, managed to grab a hold of him. He locked Yamaguchi in a hold, keeping him like a hostage. He called to "Tsuki".
"I have your friend!" he called out, with just a hint of fear.
Tsuki's limbs began to retract, regaining some semblance of humanity as he trudged his way towards Hinata.
"What makes you think he's my friend?" Tsuki growled. He still seemed vicious, but his voice was tinged with a bit of worry.
"I can tell by your look." Hinata says, lying. It was a bluff, and depending on whether his guess was right, it could just get them out alive.
"What makes you think I won't kill the both of you where you stand?" he snarled.
While Hinata had Tsuki distracted, Yachi was tending to Lev, making sure he was still alive.
"You won't kill him." Hinata said, tightening his grip on Yamaguchi. He doesn't know where his brazen confidence is coming from, but if he can just keep it up, they might get out alive. "I'll snap his neck if you don't let us go."
Hinata hoped the bluff would work.
Tsuki's bones retracted further as he slowly creeped towards Hinata. He swung at Hinata with one of his arms. Hinata evaded and jumped backwards, tightening his grip around Yamaguchi's neck.
"I'll do it, you know." Hinata said, voice trembling.
"You're lying." Tsuki said.
"I'll do it." HInata said again, trembles turning into cracks, tears streaming down his face.
"You're too weak to do it." Tsuki smiled. He swung another one of his limbs, slamming into Hinata over his skull. Hinata cried out in pain as he was further pushed by Tsuki, losing his grip on Yamaguchi. He could only lay on the ground as Tsuki once again extended his arms. He was right about to deal the finishing blow on Hinata, when a barrage of arrows came from the woods, piercing Tsuki's back. Tsuki turned to face the direction where the arrows came from, slashing down the trees. A girl with jet black hair came rushing out of the woods at a high speed, arms ready for combat. She jumped on top of Tsuki, landing several blows and attempting to slam him down to the ground.
"Move away so I can hit," he heard a somewhat familiar voice call out from the woods."Kanji, fire another barrage!"
Another round of arrows rained down upon Tsuki, paralyzing him for a moment. Shortly after, a familiar figure with black hair and a confident aura cam running from the woods, needles in hand. He threw a handful of them, each landing in various spots on Tsuki's body. The girl continued to pin the massive body of Tsuki down, while the familiar boy threw several more needles at Tsuki. Suddenly Tsuki stopped moving. Yamaguchi quickly ran towards the attackers, ready for combat, before the familiar boy launched a few needles at his forehead, after which he crumbled to the floor as if he had suddenly been knocked out.
"Are you with him?" the familiar boy asked, to nobody in particular.
"No." HInata shouted, still lying on the ground injured. He suddenly remembered who the familiar looking boy was. "Kageyama?" he asked.
"You have 20 minutes before they wake up. You should get moving soon." Kageyama said.
Hinata turned to see Lev slowly getting up. He was awake now. That was good.
The other group quickly disappeared, rushing back through the woods as quickly as they had arrived.
Yachi looked at Hinata, full of worry.
"We need to move, fast." She called to him.
Hinata slowly got up, body aching from the blows he received. The three gradually regrouped after a few minutes.
"That guy said we have 20 minutes. We need to hurry away from here, and fast." Yachi said, sternly. "Can you guys still run?" she asked.
They both nodded.
With haste, the three bolted back into the woods, trying as hard as they could to get away from the clearing. They were at least halfway to the end. They could still make it. The three were wordless as they raced through the woods. Hinata's body burned with pain, but he had to deal with it. Lev was desperately trying to keep up from behind, but he was managing. It was about an hour of running through the woods that they stumbled across a road.
"This must lead to the research facility!" Hinata said, tears forming.
They continued along the road, silence between them. They might actually pass.
Tears welled from Hinata's eyes as the figure of a large, sleek building appeared just ahead of them. Drawing out the last bit of energy they had, they quickened, making the final sprint for the building. A sign flowed past them as they ran, saying "Ishigimi Research Lab". Joy sprang from them as they finally arrived at the lab, exhausted and traumatized from the ordeals they faced in the forest.
We made it, Hinata thought to himself.
And, for once in his life, Shoyo Hinata did not feel like a loser.