Journey of the soul chapter 72 (was going to be 2 separate chapters but then I felt bad cause they were both kinda short)
Fun fact, I expected this story to be 6 months to write AT MOST
Hunter:…you're joking right? You've gotta be joking.
I wish I was.
Hunter: wow….what happened?
Well, originally I just planned to novelize the manga, then I added talking Spinax for flavor…and then…it happened.
Hunter:….the second coming?
No….CREATIVITY.
Hunter: mother of god
Onto the chapter!
All things considered, it was a pretty lame response. I mean, c'mon. The person you love, not to mention who also hates you, shows up in your hour of need and all you could say was Hi? These thoughts swirled around Hunter's head. And yet, it was all he could muster in the moment, paralyzed with pain, while Duna stood over him with probably the most hateful look in the world. Or at least, he thought so, he still couldn't move.
"Tha….t….h….ur…t" Hunter rasped again. Yeah, not the best way to talk to Duna, but it was all he could do.
"I am sure it does." Duna stepped over Hunter's body and stared out at the view before them. Neither of them spoke for a while. Hunter was trying to regain his voice while Duna had every reason never to speak to him again.
"I said….I said there was no reason whatsoever for me to be in this archipelago," Duna wasn't talking to him, she was just making general statements, "I truly believed that I would never come back here either, especially not for a reason such as this." She set something down on the ground. Hunter still couldn't turn himself, so instead he tried to let himself fall on his back so he could see. That didn't work, instead he couldn't even shift and found that it was harder to breathe now. The ground pressed against his bare chest.
"Bet you regret taking your shirt off huh?" Murder voice spoke up.
"Oh, you."
"What? You were expecting someone else?"
"No, but I was hoping it was someone else."
"Oh, you wound me."
"No, I wound myself" just keeping up the mental conversation was exhausting for Hunter. Why Duna? Out of all the dinaurians, why did it have to be the one he wanted to say the most to? He finally fixed his problems and yet now he's about to miss his chance to say what he needed to say the most.
"C'mon dammit! MOVE!" He shouted to himself.
"I'm sure that's reeeaaal helpful there."
"You gonna help or keep being snarky?"
"Why should I? I'm perfectly content to just sit here and watch you keep pushing yourself until you die."
"Who is that?" The new voice was one he needed to hear. Duna.
"I thought you weren't talking to me?"
"This is not talking, answer my question."
"He's me. My subconscious. He's an asshole and wants me to die….so yeah, he's me."
"Where is Spinax?"
"Well, that's complicated. At first I thought he was ignoring me. He cut contact after….after I couldn't say it."
"But just now, I was able to hear him again. There's something blocking us. Hey, murder voice, are you blocking spinax?"
"I can do that? Man, I wish I was the one doing that now." The conversation took place entirely within Hunter's mind. He tried again to move, nope. No dice.
"I know the last thing you want to do is hear me talk."
"That is correct."
"Then I won't."
"….what?"
"I won't talk. You don't want me to, so I won't. There's literally nothing I could say, or I guess think, that would help. Talking about how I thought everyone would be safer if I kept my identity a secret is useless now. I guess I was just afraid. Afraid of what would happen. I was a criminal asking to come back to the people that knew me as just a guy. I was a freak asking to be a human again. I was afraid…that I wouldn't be Hunter anymore."
"But that isn't the reason I lied to you. I lied because I already thought you hated me. Every time I tried to tell you the truth, something stopped me….or I guess I stopped myself. I don't even know why. You probably do hate me. I don't blame you. I don't deserve anything other than hate. The only person who can't hate me right now is me. Because if I hate me, I start doing bad things."
"…what things?" She didn't tell him to stop.
"…when you said I wouldn't lie to you in rainbow canyon, I jumped off a cliff. When you left the islands, I started acting awful. I nearly killed someone. Not out of morality or because I had to, but because I wanted to. I hated everything around me so much that I tried to kill someone. When I realized that, I wanted to drown myself. I nearly did too…."
"…."
"…."
"….tell me the rest of the story"
"I can't. Not yet. I promise I will, but now I need to know. How much do you hate me?"
"Expecting me to answer is quite possibly one of the most foolish things you've done."
"You just used a contraction."
"…..I did hate you. I saw you and knew immediately from the way you talked. You had a certain optimism I had not heard in a long time and still haven't for a while. I thought that You would tell me and I could say that I knew, but no. You lied. You lied to me over and over and over. Not only that, but you kept everything inside and tried to deal with it on your own. You never account for anyone but yourself. You're a selfish, resentful, awful person and I wish I could forget you."
"…..then I met someone. A man who had his life stolen away by nothing more than pure luck. I was the witness to his death. In his dying breath, he didn't lament about his family, or his life. He spent his final moments convincing me that life was worth living. So, here I am. Living my life deluding myself that I can fix everything. Reality's probably pretty bleak. I'll probably never get my connection with spinax back, I'll probably never get my old life back, and I'll probably never be able to say how sorry I am. I'm Hunter Cloud, and I'm a much worse person than you thought I was. I'm not strong enough to handle anything on my own. I lie out of fear in an attempt to save my ass. The only reason people are relying on me right now is because I am the literal definition of the lesser of two evils. I don't feel sorry for myself, but I can't hate myself. Even now, a part of me feels like I'm just making excuses and should just shut up."
"…..I wished I could forget you, but then I started remembering everything. How you knew that I was partially responsible for the death of your parents, how I had tried to kill you, how you saved my life, how kind you were to me, how you would obsess over the strangest things and how everyday, after everything you went through because of me, you would always try to make me laugh. Then I started hearing news. You were saving people, helping them again."
"That person isn't me."
"That person IS you, and I hate you."
"…"
"….I hate you for not trusting yourself enough to be that person all the time. I hate you for trying to silently bear burdens that aren't yours. I hate you for having the best intentions no matter what you do and I hate you for not giving me a good enough reason to hate you."
"…I love you."
"….I hate that I love you too."
" and I'd hate to break up this incredibly stupid moment you guys are having, but I think it'd be fun so I'm doing it anyway."
"Shut up Spinax."
"What?"
"Sorry, force of habit." Hunter finally had enough feeling to push himself up. He watched tears drop to the ground. He felt Duna grab his shoulders and push him up as well to where he was leaning against a rock. Her eyes were wet with tears as well, but Hunter didn't notice. All he noticed was how beautiful she was.
"Man, I must look really pathetic huh?" It was his own voice now, "earth's savior, reduced to a crippled mess by his own feelings. Sorry."
"You've had difficulty keeping this all to yourself haven't you."
"Yeah, but now I'm making this about me again when it really shouldn't be. Sorry"
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Because no matter how many times I say it, it won't be enough, and struggling against the impossible is just something I do." Hunter tried to laugh, but that laugh turned into a sob. He
Collapsed into Duna's shoulder and cried. He cried to make up for everything he didn't cry for in the past. Duna put a hand on his head and ran it through his hair.
"It has gotten longer, perhaps you should cut it,"
"If there's anything I hate about you, it's that you always sound so much more mature than me."
"That would be because I am more mature than you, although you wouldn't be mature enough to realize that."
"Did you just…make a joke?" Hunter looked up at Duna, who had the same look of shock.
"I…I believe I did." Then Duna chuckled a bit at herself. Hunter laid his head back down, wrapped his arms around Duna's neck, and wished for one more thing for the rest of his life.
"I promise to never let her go again."
"Why the hell are you promising to me?"
"I'm not, I'm promising to myself."
"Why? We both know you're gonna break it."
"No, I won't. Never again."
…
Todd and Pauleen had finally made it to illum village. The air was freezing, so flying vivosaurs moved much slower. The village felt desolate and much colder without the normal hustle and bustle of the people. Rupert was already at the teleporter to the bonehemoth, established courtesy of Pauleen who actually did manage to get the old teleporter working before Hunter forced the whale to throw them up.
"Where is he?" Rupert asked while the ground reverberated quietly.
"He said he'd be here, it's not unlikely that he's on his way now."
"Digadoes Hunter even have any flying vivosaurs?" The thought was unlikely, but still possible. Fortunately, that thought was shoved aside as Hunter popped into existence right in front of Rupert.
"Land's sake!" Rupert shouted.
"Who says that anymore?" Hunter replied before setting the teleporter down. His teeth clattered together almost as violently as the island shook.
"Well, I suppose that's one way to make an entrance." Rupert shrugged, " do you have what we need?" Hunter held up a black case and opened it, inside were three large syringes.
"It's some sort of calcium fish blood or something. We put one in each pillar and that's supposed to fix it."
"Are you certain."
"That's what the dinaurian said."
"How didiga you contact a dinaurian anyway digadig?"
"I…can't tell you that yet." Hunter said quietly. This got him some raised eyebrows, especially from Rupert.
"That's fine." Todd said, smiling, "let's just fix this so we can get back to the cup!"
"Y-Yeah, let's go."
"What'd you do with your jacket Hunter? You knew we were coming here."
"I gave it to someone who asked for it." Hunter smiled as he walked ahead. All four of them stepped into the teleporter. Within an instant. They were back within the familiar fleshy walls and the questionably moist floor of the bonehemoth. Todd marveled at the sight while Hunter checked the monitor. They needed to be deep enough to see the undersea cave that would lead to the spinal pillars. Rupert began unpacking what looked like small red cylinders with a mouthpiece as well as weird black sheets.
"We'll need someone to stay here and guide the bonehemoth." He remarked
"I'll do it!" Todd jumped at it almost immediately.
"In that case, Hunter, Pauleen, take these." He handed them each a red cylinder, "they have approximately 30 minutes of air. That should be more than enough. These wetsuits should keep us somewhat warm."
"Alright," Hunter pulled his goggles over his eyes and slipped the wetsuit over his clothes. It was uncomfortable, but it would have to do for now.
"So, uh , how are we going to get the bonehemoth to dive?" Todd tickled the walls of the whale, as if that would work.
"I was just going to let out as many vivosaurs as possible and weigh it down." Hunter suggested.
"There is always the option of being excr-"
"No, that is not an option digadig. What is your obsession with being pooped out of a whale?"
"Seismo!" What Rupert's obsession with being pooped out of a whale is, the world will never know because at that moment Hunter called out the largest vivosaur in his collection. The massive creature weighed down the even larger whale enough. There was a massive thud that knocked everyone off balance, signifying that the bonehemoth had hit the seafloor.
"The water isn't that deep, so we don't have to worry about imploding from pressure…probably ." Rupert remarked.
"Well that's….reassuring. Todd, recall Seismo and let the bonehemoth breathe once we leave." Hunter clamped down on his mouthpiece, "the paleopagers should still work so if any one needs help, just call."
"Diga-don't worry. What's the worst that could happen? All three of the commanders at once digadig?"
"Yes, that is exactly what could happen." Hunter began walking towards the mouth of the bonehemoth with Rupert and Pauleen.
"So what's the plan to-"
"Mapo king!" Ruperts massive vivosaur lunged towards the baleen of the bonehemoth and grabbed both sides of its jaw.
"I love it when a plan comes together." Hunter called out plesio and watched as Mapo brought the massive tidal wave of the ocean. He was almost washed back towards the stomach, but plesio was able to push through and get outside. Immediately, Hunter guided plesio in the direction of where he could see the silhouette of the spinal pillar. According to his paleopager (thank god for waterproofing), he was somewhere under rebuilds island. Plesio swam up to the pillar and he could see the damage all along the pillar, as if it had been attacked from multiple angles. There were green indents all along the sides and one part looked like it was about to snap all together.
"Damn it, I've gotta move." Plesio spiraled downward towards a small cave at the base of the pillar. As they reached the entrance, Hunter noticed a flash of light blue within the water, almost like electricity.
"Glacial Rage!" Hunter didn't waste any time. Plesio formed ice spears and sent them shooting through the water where he saw the light. Sure enough, Cole's B-plesio was there, weaving through the attack. It darted into the cave, probably to warn Cole. Hunter got back on plesio and shot after it. Eventually they reached the cavern and he recalled his vivosaur. It was dark and the light from his vivowatch and paleopager barely cut through the darkness.
"Hello?" He called out
"Hello"
"How are you?"
"How are you?"
"I asked you first!"
"I asked you first."
"Oh that's real mature saying exactly what I say"
"Oh that's real ma-"
"Void Blast!" Neo appeared in a flash of light and shot a beam though the cavern. The resulting explosion illuminated the room and Hunter could see a brigade grunt running away while lighting a lantern. He followed the grunt into a much better lit room.
"I'm sorry bosses!" Bosses?...shit.
"Well, well, well. Look who showed up." Cole, Lester, and Lola were all here. It was the worst possible situation…for them.
"So tell me, what was the plan with all three of you being in the same spot?" Hunter pulled off his wetsuit. It was damp and smelled bad anyway.
"We guard just one pillar, we still have leverage." Cole shrugged dramatically, "a pretty genius plan if I do say so myself."
"Gahar! I've been waiting for this punk!" Hunter checked his watch so he wouldn't have to look at Lester flexing.
"Y'know what? You guys really piss me off." Hunter pulled his goggles up, "is this really worth it to you all? Are you willing to accept responsibility for the lives of everyone on that island? All for what? To cancel a tournament you have no part in? What's the deal with that anyway?"
"Look man, all I know is that don wants it done, so we get it done."
"….that is the dumbest logic I've ever heard. You are literally playing with lives," Hunter pulled a medal out of his holder, "what do you owe him anyway?" At that, they were silent.
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you."
"Ugh….fine. Let's go. Aeros!" Aerosteon joined the ranks among plesio and Neo. Each commander called out their own boneysaur. B-Jara, B-plesio, and B-Tricera.
"Tell you what, let me fix that pillar, and I'll walk away now and no one gets hurt." Hunter signaled for his vivosaurs to stay back.
"Like, why would we do that?"
"Because none of you seem like you're okay with killing people."
"Aren't you the guy who wanted to kill us a few weeks ago?"
"I'm a living example of how people can change. I'm not here to fight, so I won't hurt any of you, but I'm NOT about to let you get away with this."
"Boney blur!"
"Plesio poison!" Just as b-plesio lurched forward, Hunter's fired a wave of poison, forcing it away."
"I just said I'm not here to fight." Hunter sighed, "now move before I make you move."
"Like, you're acting weird man."
"To be honest, I'm in a good mood, like a REALLY good mood. I'd rather not ruin it."
"What, you win a prize or somethin' punk?"
"Basically, so why don't we just-,"
"Boney terror!"
"Wind blast!" Aeros let out a massive roar that countered the oncoming lightning.
"Boney beguile."
"Neo Strike!" Neo's crest glowed silver as it slashed away Jara. Tricera rushed forward, but plesio fired a jet of water that slowed its rush. Jara flew upwards and let out a horrible shriek. Meteors began falling from the sky.
"Glacial rage!" For each meteor, there was a spear of ice to counter it, steam began filling the room as a result of the collision. Hunter was running before he knew it, using steam as cover. Unfortunately, tricera loomed ahead of him and started charging him.
"Oh goddamnit." Hunter steeled himself, than just as Tricera reached him, he grabbed the front horn and pushed down as hard as he could. He felt himself fly upwards as he just barely cleared the front horn. He grabbed the two larger horns in an attempt to throw himself over the small boneysaur, but just barely got caught by the drill and was sent spinning as he crashed to the ground.
"Polymorph!" Lighting engulfed Tricera and swirled violently. When it cleared, B-Rex took its place. Aeros bit down on rex's neck and dragged it away from Hunter's unmoving body.
"Sorry Duna," He grunted, "I'm gonna have to overdo it again. Void chain!" Neo locked it ethereal chains around Rex. The black number appeared and began counting down.
"Neo strike." Jara attacked Neo with its stolen move, but that didn't stop it.
"Void blast!" Rex took a laser at point blank range.
"Raging storm!" White energy cackled around Rex, knocking it down to negative Heath, but it still wouldn't fade. Hunter sighed.
"I'm sorry Neo. Aeros! Law of the jungle." Instead of shrieking, Neo simply closed his eyes as it experienced a painless passing. Rex fell to the ground and faded away, but much less violently than it would have.
"Boney horror." Much larger meteor's fired off now from Jara. Plesio's glacial rage was only able to intercept half of them, while the other half bombarded Hunter's remaining vivosaurs.
"Aeros special!" Aeros whipped the wind around it into a tornado that it launched at plesio, who ducked into the water to dodge. The water whipped around in the small pool for a bit before dispersing. Hunter got an idea.
"Plesio poison!" B-plesio rushed at Hunter's plesio, riding a poisonous tidal wave.
"Aeros special and poisonous assault in the water!" Both attacks required constant rotation. The result was a waterspout erupting out of the water, carrying b-plesio away with it.
"Aeros alert!" Aeros launched itself into the air and slammed its tail down on b-plesio, sending it crashing into b-Jara.
"Now! TRINITY BURST!" It certainly had been a while, not to mention it wasn't really a trinity, but the effect was certainly impactful. The remaining two vivosaurs disappeared in a flash of light.
"….skeletal soldiers," Hunter muttered to himself, "maybe…"
"Like, c'mon man. You can't really make it look that easy" Lola pouted.
"I'm done fighting with dinosaurs, no we fight with fists!" Lester stared walking towards Hunter.
"Let the record show, I didn't want to fight." Hunter charged at Lester and slapped him on the neck as he ran by. Lester was probably stronger, but Hunter was faster. It was easy to get past Lola, she just didn't care. A fake punch at Cole would make him recoil. Hunter James the syringe into the spinal pillar and injected it. Almost immediately, the pillar was back to its original size.
"I noticed that none of you made a move to stop me." Hunter started walking away. They didn't make a move to stop him either.
"…did any of you really want to do this?"
"Not really, I already said killing people isn't my style, but Don has his own reasons for this."
"Goddamnit, now I know what feels like to deal with me." Hunter started walking away while contacting his paleopager, "you three can keep your secrets about that skull all you want, but when I fight him and win, I'm going to find out what he's about."
"Whatever punk, let's bail." He heard the sounds of all three of them teleporting away behind him. Despite the situation, Hunter smiled. He contacted Joe on his paleopager,
"How's the situation pard?"
"Get a helicopter over the rubilar island pillar right now."
"I take it that means everything's a'okay?"
"If by okay you mean I know for a fact that the brigade commanders don't have good enough teleporters to go directly back to their base and so I'm following a hunch that they might be somewhere in the water nearby? Then yes, everything's okay."
There was a few minutes silence.
"There's a black boat heading south-southeast from the sea around rubilar island."
"Great, call the rest of the patrol team." Hunter ended the call, His phone had started ringing. The caller origin was unknown, so of course he picked up.
"The fitness gram pacer test is a-"
"No jokes Hunter." It was Alvis.
"Well well well, to what do I owe the displeasure?" Hunter was done lying about his disdain towards Alvis. He wrapped Hunter into a much bigger mess than he ever bargained for.
"I'm sensing some hostility."
"Oh really? Did your mind control powers tell you that? The same mind control powers that influenced me to disappear for months?"
"You left of your own volition, I simply highlighted your will."
"Oh, and what about all the other times you're probably not telling me about?"
"That is not the subject of this call. My concern is your recent behavior. Has something happened?"
"I'm going to ignore that you've probably been spying on me to know that and instead ask what you mean."
"You seem much less...confrontational."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"In preparation for a great threat? Yes, that is bad"
"I'll consider it bad once you finally tell me what this great threat is."
"That is something you are not ready for, now wha-" Hunter hung up.
"Yeah, not in the mood."
"Well aren't you a little rebel?"
"Oh hey murder voice. Haven't heard you in a while."
"Why do you even bother with that guy? I don't."
"Well, I guess the part of me that's you is why I hate him….why do you hate him anyway?"
"I….don't remember."
"Welcome to the club."
Done! The amount of mental pain I just went through relearning to write for these characters is warrant enough for me to go back into quarantine.
Hunter: wait…back? What do you mean.
Nevermind. Anyway, the double feature chapter is complete, so now we're almost at the finale of the caliosteo cup! Will our hero prevail?
Hunter: you talk like the readers haven't played the game.
True, but the readers haven't seen the inner workings of my mind.
Hunter: so….
