Chapter eight. Work out.

Jack crept to the hole in the floor at the house of stolen souls, keeping a lookout with Damian. He reached his right arm inside the hole, making sure he wasn't seen.

"All clear." Damian told him with a thumbs up.

"Alright." He jumped in. He walked to where the last mammal was, pulling him off. "We won't get any surprises at home will we?"

"I didn't see any cameras or anything looking in, so I think we'll be fine."

"Ok," Jack took out the slip of paper that had the location of where the skunk lived, "let's take this one home."

Jack placed the skunk on his bed. Damian changed so he could use his claws to tear off the web, allowing Jack to slip it off. Damian shifted them back to the mortal realm before only taking Jack and him into the lower layer. "Alright, break away," Damian told him.

Jack nodded and pulled out the core, crushing it. The skunk startled awake, looking around, calming down when realizing the nightmare was over. "That's all the mammals," Jack said, " let's head home."

"Yeah, let's. We need to continue your strength control."

"Alright but let's practice inside the house this time."

"Worried we'll get attacked again?"

"Yes, very much so."

"We'll be fine, the only one that knew where to find us is dead and he didn't call his allies so we got nothing to worry about!"

"If you say so, but still, better not test my already bad luck."

"Alright dude."

Jack walked into his place, still in the lower layer. He walked up to the wall next to his front door. "Alright. Just pull back at the last second." Jack pulled his left fist back and swung at his wall. As his fist made contact, huge cracks formed on it.

"Again," Damian told him.

Jack waited for the wall to fix itself before he punched again, getting the same results.

"Again!"

He did so again but this time there were less cracks.

"Better. Now again!"

He hit it again, forming less cracks.

"Getting better! Now again!"

"Damian, you don't have to tell me that after every swing."

"But it's fuuun!"

Jack rolled his eyes and kept punching. He got to the point where only a few big cracks were on the wall. "Think I'm getting it!"

"Great! Now let's stop here before the dip gets higher than it needs to be."

"That reminds me. Earlier, how come I was able to see a silhouette of that animal?" Jack asked, sitting on his couch.

"The dip was rising so high it was close to crossing over. At that point, demons, like you and me, can see them."

"Didn't know that was possible."

"Yeah, but what startled me the most was how fast he, or she, managed to rise it. Even normal demons have a hard time raising it."

"Maybe he had a special device?"

"It's possible I guess but unlikely. We'll try and figure it out later, tomorrow, we got training!"

"Training?"

"Yeah! Training! I hate to tell you this but if it wasn't for me helping you fight, you'd be screwed."

"Hey, I fought fine! I beat them didn't I?"

"You beated Aracnis cause she wasn't that strong and my flames burned through her webs. The other one was mostly thanks to your eye beams and if you didn't have any souls to eat, you'd be fucked."

"That's….not untrue…" Jack admitted.

"Then it's settled! Since you're off tomorrow, we're gonna do some boxing!"

"Boxing?"

"Yep! I saw a gym nearby when we were heading home one day and I looked them up, they have an open boxing session tomorrow!"

"When did you-?"

"While you were asleep. It helps that your phones got a finger scan."

"Gonna change that lock."

"How? It's not like I wont see it."

"...do you sleep?"

"Yes actually. I may be an arm but you forget I'm a demonic arm!"

"Right...alright let's do boxing tomorrow."

"Sweet! Now go outside and find a van."

"...why?"

"Said we'd do a strength test, remember."

"Oh, right, we did."

"Yep! Now," Damian yanked Jack, "up we go!"

"I'm upping, I'm upping." He walked outside. "Where am I supposed to find a van?"

"Try delivery places, like a bakery."

"Ok." Jack wandered down the streets. "What are we gonna do after finding said van?"

"First, we're gonna punch it with your left fist. Then, we punch it with me, and next is a lift test."

"You thought this all out, huh?"

"I'm the planner!"

"More like the annoying secretary."

"One that can mess with your phone and send out embarrassing messages."

"I'll just change the lock when you sleep...so...if I'm awake while you're asleep...will I just have a sleepy arm?"

"Well what did it feel like when we first fused?"

"Well it kinda felt like my arm was tired and a little sluggish."

"Then that's how it'd feel."

"You were asleep?"

"Duh. I went through a metamorphosis and used most of the demonic energy to heal you during the merge. Took a lot outta me. Oh hey a van!"

"Hm?" Across the street stood a standard white van, right in front of a bakery. "Huh. Right in front of a bakery."

"You doubted me?"

"A little." He turned to his demon form. "You want me to punch it right?"

"Yep."

"Is the dip low enough for a few swings?"

"Yep!"

"Alright!" He walked to the front of the van.

"Left first and give it your best!"

"Right!" Jack reeled his left arm back and leaned far behind, lifting his right leg up for balance before stomping forward and punching the grill of the van. The front of it caved in and it slid back, tumbling and flipping a few times, skidding on its top, stopping about thirteen yards away from Jack.

"Nice!"

The van took a second to repair itself and go back to where it was earlier. "So far, I'm not used to seeing things repair themselves."

"It is a little creepy."

"Before you merged with me, did you come here often?"

"When I was younger, yeah, but that was before the ban barrier."

"Ban barrier?"

"Yeah. A ban was placed and a barrier was created that kept demons from crossing over to the lower layer. There's still some weak spots as you no doubt noticed. Only very, very, VERY few demons are allowed to cross over."

"Why was it placed?"

"Some speculate its cause of the rise of demon beasts and monsters, but others think it may be an ulterior motive from the king. Noone knows for sure though."

"You have a king?"

"Yep. Our political system is quite different from yours." Damian shifted into a demon arm. "Now, time to punch."

"Oh, right." Jack did the same motion from before but reversed, ramming his tight fist into the front of the van. Its engine fully caved in, seeming like it never had a hood as it crashed and rolled back more violently than before. It landed about twenty two yards away.

"Make sense that a right hook would be stronger. I am your demonic arm after all."

"That's true, plus it helps that I'm right handed….you punch with me?"

"Huh?"

"Did you punch with me? Like add your punch to my punch."

"Dude, I'm your right arm, not your limit breaker. I can hold you back but if you're punching me with full strength then there's nothing to add."

"Oh, then can you punch full strength on your own?"

"Well seeing as that punch used some of your body momentum, no, no I can not."

"Wanna try?"

"Nah. Let's do some lifts. The van's back."

"Ok." Jack walked up to the side of the van. He took a deep breath and reached under it. "HNNG!" He lifted it up with some struggle, managing to somewhat balance it over his head. "Think i… got it!"

"Boy...this is heavy!"

"Alot heavier than the organ! Feels like I'm holding a big boulder over my head!"

"Yeah, I can feel that! Think you can move?"

Jack maintained balance and took a few wobbly steps forward. "Hard to do."

"Ok, keep that up and take like twenty steps."

"Twenty!?"

"Yes, twenty! Cmon Jacko!"

Jack huffed. "Ok!" He took step by heavy step, starting to sweat as he tried not to fall. The hardest part was maintaining balances, especially with the insides shifting around. Punching it was a lot easier than lifting it. He kept a grip on the underside, making sure not to lose it. Soon, he reached twenty steps. "Got it!"

"Alright! Fifteen more!"

"Fifteen!?"

"Might as well get a bit of a nightly workout!"

"Damian!"

"No complaining! You wanna be ready dont ya?"

"We don't even know if they're gonna come after me."

"Last one did not I guess you'll be ok with them tracking you down and you not being strong enough to keep them away from your friends."

"...I hate you for that."

"You're just mad I'm right."

"Shut up."

"Now, thirty steps!"

"I thought it was fifteen?!"

"Doubled it for back talk! Now move!"

"Ugh!"

Jack stood at the entrance of the gym Damian told him about, wearing a white short sleeved shirt and black gym shorts. It was named Fire Fist Boxer Gym. Jack's body was a little sore from the night work out but some sleep and a morning soul helped, though Damian scolded him for it.

"Catchy name," Jack commented.

"I'll say. Let's head in." Damian whispered in Jack's ear.

"Hello, welcome to FFBG! How can I help you?" A kangaroo receptionist asked jack.

"Um, I'm here for the open boxer session," Jack replied.

"Ah, the next one starts in about ten minutes! I'll pencil you down for it! Name please."

"Thanks! My name is Jackson Wells!"

"Jackson...wells...got it! We'll make an announcement when it's ready!"

"Ok, I'll just sit out here." Jack plopped himself onto a couch next to the front door. He looked around. There were two TVs, both in one corner, a magazine rack underneath it, the color scheme of the room and maybe the whole game was red and orange, and the couches were leather. "How'd you find this gym?"

Damian grabbed Jack's phone and brought it to his ear to pretend to talk though it. "All I looked up was boxing gyms near me."

"Was this place the first result?"

"No, actually, it was the third and the one with the open session. I didn't just look for a gym, I looked for one that could help you learn how to fight."

"That right? So you chose this place because of the open session?"

"Yes and the membership program which allows the learning of kickboxing! If this session goes well then let's become a member and do some kickboxing!"

"That could really help, especially for times when I need to get more souls...or if I have to fight our mystery animal."

"What makes you think you'll fight?"

"I don't know who he is or his intentions. For all we know Damian, he could be using us for something nefarious."

"Call me crazy but...I have this nagging feeling they aren't. It's just this...aura they gave off when we first saw them."

"You sensed an aura?"

"Not necessarily...I honestly didn't sense their energy at all."

"You didn't!?"

"It's not like they had it suppressed, they couldn't have if they wanted to shift over from the layer, but I couldn't sense a thing so it's possible they used something to hide their energy."

"That's possible?"

"It is, but it's still strange how quickly the dip rose. There's not really any devices for that, not that I know of at least."

"Jack?" A voice came from the side entrance.

"Hm?" Jack looked up and saw that it was Autumn, wearing a yellow tank top, black sport shorts, red wristbands, and a red headband with a blue stripe. "Autumn?"

"Hello there." Autumn waved. "What brings you here?"

"Oh well, a friend of mine suggested this place and I thought I'd try their open session to give it a try. I'll talk to you later, Damian." He put the phone away.

Autumn sat next to Jack. "Taken an interest in boxing?"

"Kinda. Some recent events made me consider taking it up."

"Oh? Not getting into fights, are you?" He said with some concern.

"No no, nothing like that." Jack chuckled.

"Getting tired of Rusty? I'm sure that punch to the nose scared him enough along with almost caving his face in with that dodgeball."

Jack blushed. "You know about that?"

"Everyone knows."

"Well taking this has nothing to do with Rusty. I'm just…"

Damian came to his ear. "Trying to get in shape."

"Trying to get in shape."

"I see," Autumn smiled, "well I've been a member here for quite a while. Maybe after this session I can give you a few pointers? Give you a little kickboxing tutorial?"

"Really?"

"Mhm," Autumn nodded.

"Ok, I'll take you up on that."

"Excuse me!" The receptionist called out, "those here for the open session, please follow me!"

"That's me," Jack got up, "meet you here afterwards?"

Autumn got up as well. "Sure. Have fun!"

"Thanks!" Jack followed the receptionist and a few other mammals to the gym room.

The room was wide, had mirrors on the end, five rows of five training dummies, and mats in front of the dummies. On the far end was a fit female wolf wearing red sports gear and had her own mat and dummy. "Hello all! Thank you for coming to our session! Please pick a spot!"

Including Jack there were about ten animals that attended. They all went to a mat with a dummy.

"Before we start, let's do some stretches! Gotta stay loose for this!" She raised both arms up and held her hands. "Follow my lead! We're gonna lean to the left first!"

Jack mirrored her, giving Damian the chance to talk by making his mouth appear near his elbow. "Hey Jack," Damian whispered.

"What is it?" Jack whispered back.

"Doubt these dummies are here just for show. You might be attacking them, so remember to-"

"Hold back, I know." He reached for his toes. "Just gotta pull back at the last second." Damian gave him a thumbs up. The stretches were finished up.

"Alright!" The instructor announced, "Now raise your fists up!" She raised both fists in a typical boxer fashion, everyone else followed. "Follow my lead and the beat!" She hit play on a music box behind her and made small bounces to the beat. "Were gonna go left," she jabbed with a left punch on the dummy, "right," she hit it with a right, "left, then duck!" She did a quick duck motion before standing again. "Your turn!"

"Left!" Jack hit the dummy with a left, pulling back last second so his punch had little to no impact. "Right! Left! Duck!" He did the rest of what was shown along with everyone else, making sure to hold back with his left punches. Just in case Damian thought he'd do so with the right, he held back his right punches just in case Damian wasn't.

"Now right! Left! High left!" She hit the face of the dummy. "Sway to the left!" She weaved left. "And right jab!"

Jack followed her movements with ease, getting into the rhythm.

"Good good! Let's keep it up!"

The session lasted thirty minutes. The trainer picked up the pace with more movements like jumps, Bob's and weaves, and backsteps. Everyone was sweating and tired, especially newcomers. All except for Jack.

Jack didn't feel any sort of fatigue from that exercise. "Why am I not tired?" Jack asked Damian in a corner of the room as everyone grabbed towels and began to leave.

"Jack, you're a mutated demon, if they had you punching cars, jumping stories high, and swaying a hundred times more in a row, then you'd be sweating. You gotta remember you're much stronger than normal animals," Damian reminded him.

"Right...I gotta remember that."

"This did help loosen you up. C'mon. Let's meet up with Autumn to learn some new things."

"Ok." As soon as Jack exited the room, Autumn approached him.

"Hello," Autumn greeted.

"Autumn! Was just gonna look for you."

"I thought I'd spare you the trouble." He handed him a water bottle. "Bet you're thirsty."

"Oh yeah definitely, it was a big workout!" He took the water.

"Hm, yet you're not sweating."

"It's...covered by my fur!"

"Really? Hm. Well, do you still want that tutorial?"

"Yes please!"

"All right, follow me!"

"How we're going to start," Autumn said, putting on headgear and boxing pads, "is I'm gonna have you show me what you know already. Just pretend I'm your boxing trainer."

"Try lessening the hold back so he can feel something, but not alot ok? I'll help with the rights." Damian whispered to Jack.

Jack nodded and put on his head gear. The two of them were in a boxing ring in a room that had about four of them and some sandbags surrounding the room. They met in the middle.

"Ok, just hit the pads but I will be dodging and striking back, just try to avoid the hits the best you can. I won't hurt you, I promise."

"Oh I know you won't," Jack said, knowing full well Autumn could hurt a demon like him.

"Begin!" Jack punched the left pad with his right fist. "Oh nice!" Jack sent a left to the right followed by two right jabs, the second one narrowly missed. Autumn swung for his face. Jack ducked and barreled his left fist forward at one of the pads. Autumn swayed to the side, making Jack lose some balance. He went for a chest strike but Jack jumped back to dodge. Jack slid forward and attacked the right pad with an uppercut. His fist scrapped the pad and he sent his left fist forward, hitting it and pushing autumn back slightly.

'Whoops! Gotta remember to keep holding back!' He was about to strike again.

Autumn stopped him. "Wait!"

"Something wrong?"

"A little. It's your form." He approached Jack, getting behind the jackal. "Your balance is off in a stance like this. Let's fix that." He pulled Jack back to straighten his back. He had him bend his knees, spread them apart, lean his left foot forward and have his right foot move back a little, and had his arms raised in front, below his chin, turned to the side to match his posture. "Try this, and while you're at it, try kicking more." He got back to Jack's front.

"Kicking?"

"Yeah, like high kicks. You can do some sweeps like this," he slowly sweeped his left leg to Jack's foot, tapping it, "if you want."

"Hm. Ok."

"Begin!" Jack went for a straight left punch and felt the difference in balance and power. "Good!" Jack followed up with a high right kick, following it up with a right hook then a left jab. "Nice Jack! Keep it up!"

Jack started applying what he learned, ducking and weaving from his attacks while laying into him with his own blows. He started to push Autumn back. 'Left, right, left, left, right!' He said in his head as he kept punching at the pads. 'Duck, weave, right!'

"Whoa there Jack!" Autumn said a bit nervously, getting backed into a corner.

'Punch, kick!' He jumped up and drove his foot forward. 'Air kick!' His kick slammed into both Autumns pad, which he pushed together to block. He was knocked back into the ropes of the ring and Jack snapped back into reality. "Autumn!"

"Wow," he leaned on the ropes and lifted himself up, "nice hustle."

"I'm so sorry! You ok?"

"I'm fine."

Jack sighed. "We shouldn't keep going."

"Huh? Why not? We're making good progress."

"Yeah but...if we keep going I, right end up seriously hurting you."

"What makes you say that? You're not that strong."

"That's the thing...I'm much stronger than you think and...I don't have complete control over it yet...if I get lost in adrenaline like that again I could…" Jack avoided eye contact, not wanting to think about it.

Autumn placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, looking at him compassionately. "Hey it's ok. I'm fine, see? How bout we take a break. You go get washed up and I'll get us a few drinks. Sound good?"

Jack slowly nodded and made a small smile. "Yeah."

"Great! What flavor would you like? They make a great tropical smoothie here."

"I'll take a blueberry banana."

"Alright, I'll be back soon." He headed off to where the drink bar was.

Jack sighed and headed to the washroom. He was alone when he entered. "Man...I coulda really hurt him."

"Yeah but," Damian came around, "you didn't did ya? You saw how he was alright. Plus it's my fault too, I got too invested when I should've stopped you, especially with those right punches since I'm your right arm."

"I know but,"

"No buts Jack. We made a mistake but it could've been much worse. Let's just lean on that and do better next time. Kay? Worrying too much is bad for health, even for a demon."

"...yeah, you're right."

"I'm always right. Now go wash yourself!"

Jack smiled and rolled his eyes. He headed to the sink and turned it on, pooling water in his palms before splashing his face, wiping it off. He grabbed a towel and started to dry his face.

"What the-?" Damian stiffened before shifting to demon arm form. "Jack!"

"Hm?" Jack felt the change in his arm and removed the towel. "Damian, what are you-?" He looked at the mirror and reflected behind him was the hooded figure he saw yesterday at school. His eyes widened and he spun around, shifting to his demon form. "You!"

The figure waved at him, wearing leather gloves. Their face was completely concealed, not even their snout being visible.

Jack looked around and noticed how gray the area looked. "Damian, are we-!?"

"We're in the lower layer! Whoever this is, dragged us in!" Damian answered.

"Who are you!?" Jack demanded from them.

The hooded animal simply gestured to the door before walking to it, stopping halfway to look back at Jack.

"Think he wants you to follow him," Damian surmised.

"..." Jack followed but kept a cautious distance.

"Be careful Jack, just like yesterday, I can't sense him."

"What!? Even though he's right in front of us?"

"Even though he is. All I can do is see him."

"Who is this mammal?" They stopped in the middle of one of the gym areas, this one being in the center where the machines, like treadmills, were. "Why'd you bring us here?"

"..." the hooded mammal didn't answer, his back facing Jack.

"Hey! He asked you a question!" Damian shouted.

"..."

"What? Cat got your tongue!? Y'know I'm curious on how the hell you found us too!"

"..."

"You a shy one? How bout we knock it out of ya!"

"Damian! Calm down!" Jack scolded.

The mystery animal reached out his arm.

"Hm?"

A blue katana appeared in his palms.

"That sword!" Jack gasped.

"It's the same one from that day that demon monster attacked us! The same sword that was embedded in its back!" Damian observed.

"So they're the one that helped us? Does that mean they're an ally?"

"I dont know."

The shrouded mammal turned to face Jack. "...fight me." They said in a broken voice before gripping they're katana and rushing to Jack.

"Or not!" Jack hardened his arms before bringing them together to block the strike of the sword.

Their duel begins.

End.

Next chapter. Mystery