Chapter 16 – Even Androids can Grow Taller

Author's Note - Another chapter which has taken some time, mainly because I'm entering the most important exams of my school years, but hey, I wrote this in between study sessions. Hope people are still reading this stuff!

1:30 P.M – The Cage

Jet stared at his mirror counterpart, his balaclava disguising his look of awe. This was no cheap imitation of him either: he was identical down to the worn scarves around his neck.

"What is this?" Jet exclaimed harshly at Two and Three. Three smirked and began pacing around Jet.

"He's quite a convincing copy, eh mate?" Three grinned with anticipation as he walked around Jet, putting Jet between Two and the fake and himself. "Eroz himself helped to design him."

"Well, I'm just flattered," Jet said, turning his head to keep an eye on Three. "But still, arranging a three-on-one battle on me, that's just too nice of him."

"Heh, relax, little man. We're all men of battle, aye? So we're going to strike a deal. You get through your clone, and you win."

Jet looked at him suspiciously. "You two aren't going to interfere?"

Three shrugged ruefully. "Accidents happen. If you get in our way, we'll beat ya back out. It's too bad. I was hoping to take you down myself. It would have been better for you too: this copy will prob'ly rip ya to shreds!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, the match will now begin!" the announcer yelled.

A bell went off, signaling the start of the match. The Jet clone wasted no time, almost seeming to disappear as it charged at Jet going at an amazing speed. Jet was unable to follow him, only seeing him when he had arrived underneath his face, where he was swiftly and painfully uppercut in the jaw. The force was great enough to send Jet off the floor, and was promptly punched back down by the clone. He hit the ground with a thud, chalk dust from the floor swirling around him.

Before he had the chance to stand, the clone had already grabbed his leg, spinning him around before hurling him into the cage wall. Jet smacked the wire fence hard, grunting on impact.

"He's pretty strong, ain't he?" Three said before laughing at Jet's pain. "We decided to give him a few minor…alterations from the original."

"No…No kidding," Jet panted, clambering to his feet. The clone threw another punch, but Jet managed to block it, throwing a straight punch of his own. A blow to the clone's face sent him reeling across the floor. Jet decided now was a better time than ever, and grabbed the handle of the sword Clive had given him, which was strapped to his back, hidden underneath his clothes. But before he could properly draw it, something smacked his hand away, and grabbed the sword. He turned to see Three holding it, putting it into his coat with such speed that the audience probably missed it.

"Ah, ah, ah!" he said, wagging his finger. "We wouldn't want you damaging our clone! It cost us a pretty penny to make that!"

"You ass…" Jet grunted. Before he had a chance to get it back, the clone was already back up, rearing to go. Jet put his concentration back on the clone.

The crowd was roaring in excitement.

1:45 P.M – The Audience

"He's right there! Why are we still sitting here?" Gallows yelled out.

"Think, Gallows. We're in Fallen territory. If we cause a ruckus here, where not only Eroz and his men are, but an entire brigade of warriors working for Eroz, we will most definitely be killed." Clive replied calmly.

"Clive may be right, but it wouldn't be right to just sit and watch! Jeez!" Maya huffed in frustration. "What the heck do we do?"

Virginia stared at the fight, at the fighter that looked like Jet, with serious eyes. "Something's wrong…" she whispered under her breath.

1:47 P.M – The Cage

Jet groaned as the clone charged him into the fence. Jet whipped his knee up to the clone's chin, knocking him back before slapping him to the floor with a roundhouse kick. The clone flipped up with ease, Jet's last attack having virtually no effect on him.

"This isn't good," Jet puffed. He was becoming fatigued, and his injuries were becoming worse. He knew that if the fight continued like this, he would die. The clone threw another punch, which Jet barely managed to avoid, before another punch came at his stomach, winding him. He clutched at the clone's jacket, trying to stay up, but fell to a strong elbow to his back. Jet's vision was beginning to blur.

'I've gotta do something…If I don't, Eroz will kill everyone!' Jet thought to himself.

The clone stomped hard on Jet's back, making him grunt in pain. He stomped on Jet continuously, the crowd yelling out. Whether they were cheering or horrified by the inhumanity was unknown.

1:50 P.M – The Audience

Virginia and the gang watched intently. All of their faces had become dead serious.

"You guys," Virginia started, still watching the fight. "The truth is, when I first saw 'Jet' step into the ring, I thought…no, I knew, it wasn't him."

"I admit at the time I was certain it was him," Clive said. "But this…Jet wouldn't do something like this."

"Yeah," Gallows replied. "Even that punk-ass kid isn't this big a punk-ass."

"So Jet is most likely…" Maya pointed at the man called Wolf with a double-barreled finger-gun, making a popping noise as she feigned recoil.

"Everyone thinking the same thing as I am?" Gallows said, standing up. The rest followed suit.

"You bet!"

In a mad rush, they began jumping over the crowds, making their way for the cage.

1:54 P.M – The Cage

Jet's back had begun bleeding, the mark of the clone's shoe etched out in blood. Jet's groans were growing weaker, and he was slipping out of consciousness.

"I hope it hurts!" Three taunted with glee. "Louder! Scream louder!"

Jet grit his teeth, trying to stay awake. He didn't think he could take it for much longer. His ears caught a strange ruckus in the crowd, along with familiar voices.

"Excuse me…Sorry…Pardon me…"

"Get outta the way! Move! Move! MOVE!"

Jet's eyes were practically shut already as he heard an explosion in the side of the fence. He heard the bang of bullets, followed by the clone suddenly flying off his body. He flipped his body over, his back on the floor, and glanced at where the bullets had come from.

There stood Virginia, Gallows, Clive, and Maya, all had their guns raised, all their guns smoking. Jet laughed, but disguised it as a cough.

"You're all a bunch of idiots," Jet replied with a smirk.

"You bet your buttcheeks we are," Gallows replied, throwing Jet over his shoulder. "And you, punk, are an idiot with us."

"What the hell do you think you're doing, mate!" Three yelled in surprise and anger.

"Now Clive!" Virginia yelled. Clive tossed a strange potion in the air, raised his rifle and took aim.

"Look away!" he called out as he fired.

BANG.

As soon as the bullet made contact with the bottle, an immensely bright light filled the stadium, blinding everybody that saw it. The gang took this chance to escape, running out to the entrance, but not before Clive noticed Three drop a black sword, which he promptly grabbed.

They burst out in a hurry, as they could hear many footsteps behind them. The sudden hit of natural sunlight burned their eyes, however Lombardia, who was already waiting for them, quickly blocked it out.

The gang was transported inside, and Lombardia took off before Two and Three could stop them. Lombardia made its way back to the Baskar Colony.

11:30 P.M – Gallows' House

"He still hasn't woken up, huh…" Gallows said with a dull face, standing in the doorway. Jet lay in bed, bandages around his torso and over one shoulder, and Virginia, Karen, Maya, Iris and Clive all sat by the bed.

"I've done all I can," Iris said frankly. "But the damage was severe. He in fact lost quite a lot of blood too."

"There is also the fact that Jet isn't exactly a normal patient," Clive continued. "We can only do what we know, but if any damage came to his mechanical systems, there isn't much we could do."

Gallows saw that everyone was looking down, and tried to cheer them up. "Come on, you guys all know that the kid isn't a pushover! If he died this easily, he would've died ages ago!"

Everyone laughed a little. "You're right," Virginia said. "Like the time he pushed me out of the way of those rocks! It even happened twice!"

"Or when we fought with those three crazy guys in rags!" Clive continued, with a surprising jump in his tone. "They were very dangerous!"

"Ha! Even I, the great Maya, couldn't beat that guy!" Maya said with a smirk.

"Great? Ha!" everyone laughed.

They all calmed down a bit after that. "We shouldn't worry so much," Virginia said. "He'll be fine. Jet's always fine."

Everyone agreed, and they all left him to rest.

11:59 P.M – Gallows' House

Virginia couldn't sleep, so she crept out and headed for Jet's room. She didn't know why she automatically went there, something inside just told her to.

Moonlight revealed parts of the room, showing Jet's jacket and scarves hung on a chair, and his Airget and sword resting on the wall opposite the window. She walked over and touched Jet's scarf playfully.

"You're always fine…right?" Virginia whispered sadly. She walked over to the bed, feeling around for Jet's head.

She couldn't find it. The bed was empty.

Shocked, she ran out of the house, thinking Jet had run away once again. She burst out of the door, into the outskirts of Baskar Colony. She ran to a nearby lake, reminiscent of the lake where she and Jet had played together after the incident at the King's Tomb (reference to chapter one). She looked around, feeling that Jet was nearby.

"Jet!" she yelled out. "Jet! Don't leave me again!"

She was about to yell again, when she heard a familiar, soothing voice.

"No need to be so loud."

She spun around, and almost like magic, Jet had appeared, his back facing her. He wasn't wearing anything on top, so his bandages were peeling off from the wind. They fluttered as a gust passed by.

"Jet!" she said in relief. "I thought you left again."

Jet didn't reply. He turned to face her, his face sullen. "Eroz made a deal with me. If I was able to win that competition, he wouldn't hurt you and the others, and he would leave us alone."

"Jet…?"

"He also said he would give up on destroying the world… But I didn't win. Because of me, the earth is doomed, we're doomed, and you're going to be taken away from me…" Jet quickly rephrased what he said with a red face. "I mean us, you're going to be taken away from us!"

Virginia looked down with a red face too. "I'm not afraid of that, Jet…"

"What do you mean? Eroz is going to destroy everything because of me!"

"First of all Jet, it wasn't your fault…." Virginia took a step closer to him, and looked up at him. "And second, Eroz has no chance to destroy the world or kill any of us."

"And what makes you say that?"

Virginia smiled cutely. "Because we have the nicest, strongest, and sweetest person in the world to stop him!"

"Who?" Jet asked before realizing what she meant. His face began to burn redder. "Ah…"

Virginia took another step towards him, almost toe to toe with him, and realized something.

She giggled with a petite smile on her lips. "You've become taller, Jet."

Jet looked down at her, her eyes captivating him. Before he knew what had happened, his lips were planted on hers. He slowly lifted his face off her, but immediately felt like going back in, so he did. After the second kiss, he peeled away one step, his face burning red as he bit his lip. Whatever he had done, he had enjoyed it. Virginia stood still, her face also bright, but she smiled broadly, unable to stop it.

"I guess…" Jet said, a smile creeping onto his face. "Even androids can grow taller."

MIDNIGHT

END CHAPTER 16