CHAPTER 78: ROAD TO PERDITION, PART 2
The damned city of Hellwood is at war with itself, fighting in a final battle for its soul and freedom. People are fighting to their deaths in the streets, led on by what is left of the Hillwood Heroes. The President of the United States has ordered a nuclear strike on Hellwood to erase it from the map entirely.
These are all the least of problems for the city. For now, its fate rests in the hands of two opponents; two opposites that cannot coexist in the world together, always colliding and clashing with one another, and the only resolution that can be found in the world must be met with one of their deaths:
Arnold Shortman, the Green Eye. He is the incorruptible, the one.
Thaddeus 'Curly' Gammelthorpe, 'The Freak'. He is the irredeemable, the other.
For a month, has put off the task of defeating him, instead focusing on repairing all the damage he has caused to Hillwood. Each trial of this mission has succeeded in removing one threat after another, but each had come with the cost of a friend, family, or a personal treasure, and each of those losses has only made his own hate for the Freak grow ever so stronger.
But now, no more obstacles exist between the two. Having set the time and place for where they will at last settle their differences, and whoever will finally own the soul of Hellwood shall be answered. All that remains now is for them to finally fight and hopefully put an end to one another; an idea not so easily achieved by two supposed immortal beings.
For Arnold Shortman, the biggest challenge that he faces now is not anything his opponent places at him, but instead his complete absence from the fight. Left alone in an abandoned building, led to this destination by the Freak himself, he is left to seek out his enemy before he can fight him at last.
Keeping his fists raised to his face, moving slowly with a vigilance in his step, he ensures that there will be no openings or opportunities for him to be taken advantage of. Moving slowly in the dimly-lit derelict building, he carefully watches his surroundings, expecting a sudden appearance of his enemy at any moment.
Watching him carefully from the shadows, the Freak does not grant his enemy what he is expecting. Instead, staying to his deceptive and treacherous nature, he opts for tactics to confuse and throw Arnold off from his focus. Taking a collection of glass bottles, he placed them on his fingers, slowly clicking them together.
The droning clicking of the bottles echoed in the room with each repeat, each one bringing Arnold closer to finding the Freak's location. Just as he came close to spotting him out of the shadows, however, the Freak simply jumped to another corner of the room; avoiding detection, but not ending his tauntings.
And especially not preventing him from continuing them.
"Hey Arnold... Come out to play-yay..." The Freak taunted.
Keeping up his vigilance, Arnold continued to look out for the Freak, but still finding no luck in locating him in the dark, damp setting of the building. As if acting as some kind of taunt, the relentless clicking of the bottles continued on, beginning to drive him mad over failure over not finding his enemy; most likely the intention of the Freak.
"Hey Arnold... Come out to play-yay..." The Freak repeated.
Trying to find his target, Arnold opened his mind up to the astral plane, scanning the mental waves around him to find the Freak. Confronting his Spirit Master powers with another Spirit Master, the attempt is akin to trying to press two magnets of similar polarity together, accompanied with pain.
"Hey Arnold... Come out to play-yay...!" The Freak repeated.
Becoming more aggressive in his taunts, the Freak began elevating his voice, further adding fuel to the fire of frustration in Arnold. Unable to locate his target by any mental powers, he began resorting to listening in for him once again, moving as slowly as possible as to make less noise.
"Hey Arnold...! Come out to play-yay...!" The Freak repeated.
Slowly pulling a knife out of his belt, Arnold kept the majority of his attention to the air, listening in for the next instance of which the Freak would speak. Gripping the knife tightly, positioning it in his fingers for when the next utterance of the Freak's taunt would be heard.
In between the continuous clicking of the bottles, it finally came.
"HEY ARNOLD! COME OUT TO-!" The Freak began to shout.
Throwing the knife with a speed too fast for most human eyes to catch, Arnold sent the knife flying straight towards the Freak. Just barely locating him out of the darkness within a nearly pitch-black environment, he gambled his strike on a shot in the dark with his single projectile.
By his own power and skills, the shot landed its mark; the knife embedding itself inside the Freak's right eyeball. Cut short in the middle of his next taunt, his speech was cut short by the sudden strike of the projectile knife, cutting through eye tissue and brain matter before the mental command could process itself to send the order to his vocal chords.
Falling off from his perch, the Freak landed splat onto the floor; his body colliding with hard concrete at the beckoning of gravity. Not swayed by his enemy's apparent show of defeat, Arnold walked over to him, sneering down on him with a look of disappointment and annoyance.
"Get up. I know that didn't kill you." Arnold said.
Picking himself off the floor, the Freak stood straight up, grabbing hold of the knife and pulling it out of his eye socket. The attack managed to completely destroy his eyeball, rendering it reduced to leaking wet fluids leaking from the hole. Nonetheless, he tossed the knife aside without care, snickering off the pain.
"Finally starting to show a little backbone, huh? Am I finally starting to get through to you?" The Freak asked.
"No. You and I can heal just fine. That means I can do anything I want to you without the guilt. And believe me, unlike what you may think, there's plenty that I want to do to you for what you've done." Arnold said.
"That's my boy."
Now, both stood ready to fight. Readying himself for combat, Arnold bent his knees into a kung fu horse stance, keeping his body weight balanced and close to the ground. The Freak took the same approach, dropping down to a horse stance as well, putting himself at the same height level as Arnold.
With both putting their hands up, the Freak slowly shimmied himself towards Arnold, keeping each other close together to keep themselves ready to strike against the other. The forearms of their dominant hands met and locked with another, both coincidentally happening to be their left hands.
The two stayed completely focused on each other, neither daring to break eye contact or move a single muscle in their body prematurely. Both seemed to be in total sync with one another, even without their own mental powers of the Spirit Master being used against each other.
Their eyes stayed locked together, both seeming to look past the eyes themselves into something far more personal and deep. One of the two sides saw a strong, burning passion for evil and all that they stood for in the other, and one saw a mad desire to cause as much chaos as possible and eventually break their enemy in the other.
Both sides knew that the other of them was no longer able to exist in this world as long as they existed in it, and they could resolve this no other way than to fight.
So, with one move, Arnold threw the first punch.
Parrying the punch with his forearm, the Freak swatted the first hit away, only to have it followed up with another punch. Again parrying the punch, he was next met with a rolling backfist to his face, which he managed to catch and shove the arm away, making room for his own attack.
Retaliating with his own punch, the Freak tried for elbow strikes next, utilizing his close position to Arnold to deal more heavy attacks. Blocking and parrying away the strikes before they could come to him, Arnold soon found himself blocking a kick from the Freak, followed by another kick to his chest, allowing his enemy to launch off of him, flipping and landing back on his feet.
Standing up in a defensive stance once again, the Freak stood low with his hands up, ready for the next attack.
[Soundtrack Cue: Fear Factory - Self Immolation (Liquid Sky Mix)]
Leading in with a kick, Arnold rushed to continue his attack on the Freak, following up with a series of punches. Just as he blocked away his initial kick, the Freak effortlessly blocked away his subsequent strikes, countering with a punch and a kick sending Arnold back against a pillar.
Running back up to Arnold to add to his counterattack, taking advantage of his new opportunity to strike, he threw his next punch at him. Dodging away from the Freak's punch, Arnold managed to avoid its impact, leaving it to instead collide with the pillar now beside his head.
Moving his head back into place, Arnold found another punch from the Freak coming his way, this time leading him to duck under him to dodge it. Coming back up with a kick to his stomach, followed by two kicks aimed at his chest and face, Arnold drove the Freak back in order to give himself space again.
Returning back to the offense with another kick, his leg was blocked away by the Freak's own leg, throwing his other up in a kick of his own, landing it in Arnold's face. His next kick was blocked away, Arnold still keeping up his focus after the hit, but, keeping with the momentum of his previous kick, spun himself around to throw another kick towards his face again.
His kick was left blocked once again with Arnold now anticipating the move, leaving the Freak needing to change his strategy. Still continuing his momentum, he kneeled down and spun towards Arnold's legs, kicking both at once and knocking him to the floor.
Taking advantage of having Arnold on the ground, the Freak tried to lean down and land a stomp on his downed opponent. Seeing the incoming stomp, Arnold rolled back to avoid it, flipping himself back and landing on his feet, quickly standing up once again to continue fighting.
Putting himself face-to-face against the Freak once again, Arnold threw a punch towards him; his punch becoming caught in his grasp. Instead of fighting back to free his hand, Arnold instead drew himself in closer, throwing an elbow into his chest to land a hit and make use of his disadvantage.
Turning around in place with the Freak still holding his hand, Arnold led him to twist his arm, forced to release his grip on his hand. In retaliation, the Freak threw a chop of his hand towards Arnold, only to have his opponent dodge under it, and catch it when coming back up.
Bringing the advantage back to himself, he pulled his caught arm down, bringing both of Arnold's down with it. Using his free hands to grab Arnold's arms, he took hold of one and twisted it, leading him to turn with it and be caught in his hold, unable to fight him directly.
Making use of the environment he had, Arnold drove a headbutt to the Freak, causing him to loosen his grip on the arm. Gaining more room to move, Arnold turned and drove an elbow towards the Freak. Releasing his grip on Arnold's arm, the Freak blocked the incoming elbow, causing him to lose his leverage on his enemy and allow him to freely attack again.
Moving his caught elbow strike into a chop, Arnold made a strike towards the Freak's knee, causing him to step back and release his grip on his arm. He soon returned with a punch, quickly finding it blocked away, and was prevented from making his next attack by a kick landing in his side, further knocking him back away from his target.
Approaching him once again with a rushing entrance, the Freak jumped in the air and threw three consecutive kicks towards him, landing the first in his chest, but having the remaining two blocked away. Landing back on the ground, he followed by tossing another punch to him, aiming to swing it downwards to the side of his head.
Once again, his strike was defeated with a block, as well as the punch he threw directly after it. Arnold prepared to retaliate with a kick, but soon found it not only blocked by the Freak, but had his other leg kicked away, the attack concluding following a punch to his chest.
Being hit by a force as hard as the punch while in midair, Arnold was rendered airborne towards the wall, colliding with it and falling to the ground. Watching the Freak come his way with an elbow coming down his way, Arnold, having no time to stop and breathe, threw a punch to the Freak's knee in defense to spare himself from his incoming attack.
The punch landed and connected, driving the Freak to kneel down and turn, trying not to let his patella break out of place. Keeping with his position on the ground, he spun on his back and threw a kick towards Arnold, leading him to dodge under it before it could connect to him.
Continuing with his miniature breakdance, the Freak threw his other leg kicking towards Arnold, this time landing with him and sending him back towards the wall. Seeing the Freak return to attack again, he lifted himself up off the ground by his hand, delivering both of his legs kicking towards him to drive him back.
As the Freak stumbled back from the double kicks, Arnold stepped back up and threw a punch to him, quickly getting it caught between his hands. Using his free hand to push aside his grip, Arnold freed his other hand up, subsequently using both to throw fast punches straight to the Freak's chest, ending with a hit to his face.
Throwing another punch to the Freak's face, Arnold's arm became caught in a wrap of the Freak's arm, unable to free it up again. Trying to same attack with his free hand, it, too, became caught in a grip, leaving both of his arms subdued and putting him directly up to the Freak.
Taking advantage of his position next to the Freak, he threw a headbutt to his face, which the Freak returned with a headbutt of his own. Arnold once again threw a headbutt in response, with the Freak giving one. Unable to make any progress with the mutual headbutts, Arnold leaned into the Freak's shoulder and bit down as hard as he could, digging his teeth through skin and muscle.
Screaming in pain over Arnold's dirtier attack, the Freak lifted his leg between the two and released his grip on one arm, instead using his arm to punch Arnold in the head. Now having his own arm free, Arnold released his bite, instead using his liberated hand to punch the Freak square in the face, sending him back again.
Reapproaching the Freak, Arnold threw a kick towards his head, only to have it be dodged with a duck under it. He instantly followed up with another kick, this time not only having it blocked, but the Freak subsequently reaching and grabbing a hold of his neck, squeezing down hard.
Throwing his arm down to the Freak's, Arnold made him release his grip on his throat, catching his arm in a tight hold for himself. Twisting the arm in a way that prevented any movement, Arnold made sure not to let go as not to permit the Freak any more counterattacks.
This plan, however, did not pay off. Reaching his free hand over to Arnold's head, the Freak pulled down on it, bringing him towards his leg as he drove a knee into his face. Temporarily stunning Arnold, the Freak grabbed hold of his neck yet again, this time using both of his hands to hold him, now pressing him against a wall.
Though gripped tightly at the neck, Arnold still had full use of his hands, which he used to throw a punch towards the Freak's face. The act led the Freak to release his grip, blocking away the punch with a hold. Keeping his grip on Arnold's hand, he spun and tried to throw him over his shoulder, but Arnold's own agility allowed him to roll with the move and land on his feet, nullifying the attack.
To free himself from the Freak's hold, Arnold spun a sweeping kick to his feet, making him dodge back and release his grip. Retaliating with a front kick, the Freak blocked the kick with a forearm reaching down. Taking advantage of his changed momentum, Arnold spun around in the air, flipping forward to grip the back of the Freak's head and land his knee into it.
The attack sent the Freak falling on his face, but not before taking advantage again. Rolling forward to land back on his feet, he spun in a backflip, bringing himself standing on his hands. Keeping his legs in the air, he threw them kicking towards Arnold, continuing his offense.
Grabbing hold of the Freak's legs, Arnold held them up to prevent any further kicks, following with a kick of his own to the Freak's stomach, sending him flopping onto the ground. Moving back to pick him up and continue fighting him, the Freak spun with an elbow strike, only managing to drive away Arnold temporarily.
Running back towards Arnold, the Freak jumped into the air to throw a kick his way, but found that task brought to a change of events. Stepping to the side, Arnold evaded the strike entirely, following it by throwing a punch in the Freak's stomach, sending him landing back to the ground in a stumble.
Both met against one another again to attack each other in a series of kicks and blocks, neither gaining any progress on bettering one of the two or vice versa. The deadlock seemed to go on without end, the frustration of the affair taking its toll on both fighters' minds, but it came to a stop with one kick from Arnold.
Throwing a kick to the Freak's leg, Arnold did not stop his momentum, but instead used it to continue spinning and throw another kick. While the Freak managed to avoid the initial kick aimed towards his leg, the incoming kick from the continued momentum landed square in his face, causing him to stumble back.
Putting the Freak at a disadvantage, Arnold took it to his own advantage, continuing to kick at him in his stunned state. His first kick was one sent to his stomach, followed by one to his shin, and concluding with another landing in his face. In order to add the conclusion to his attack, Arnold stepped back, allowing him room to gain speed for his next strike.
Running back towards the Freak, Arnold jumped in the air and tucked his knees in, driving both into his enemy and sending him flat on his back in an instant. Putting himself back on his feet with a kip-up, the Freak did not stand back up, but instead jumped back in a kneeling position.
Kicking himself forward, the Freak began running towards Arnold again, this time using his hands to propel himself rather than run normally with his feet. The Freak used his new approach of momentum to leap towards Arnold to attempt a grapple, but instead was met with a kick to his face, following with Arnold belly-flopping to the ground to throw a double-punch to his face.
Grabbing the Freak's head while both remained on the ground, Arnold began bashing it into the ground repeatedly, not intending to stop until his enemy was rendered unconscious. Reaching for a nearby brick lying on the ground, the Freak grabbed it and smashed it against Arnold's head, putting a stop to his repeated beating.
Both pushed themselves off the ground and stood back up straight again, putting them in a position to keep fighting on equal ground. Moving straight back to fists and kicks once again, the two were met at a full match, neither able to resort the best of the other again in a deadlock.
Throwing his hands towards Arnold, the Freak tried to grab hold of his neck, only to have his arms not only driven off in a shove of Arnold's shoulders, but a bash on his head from his opponent's elbow. Trying to throw a retaliatory punch, Arnold spun away from the punch, spinning back around to land an elbow strike into the side of his head, once again turning his attacks to a setup for his own.
Jumping into the air, Arnold spun himself around yet again, this time using his momentum to land a punch straight to the Freak's face; a move which paid off in full with his target being shoved against a wall. Trying to follow with a kick, Arnold's attack was evaded by the Freak, leaving him to only kick a wall.
However, keeping his foot on the wall, he jumped off it to throw his other foot to the Freak in a roundhouse kick, landing the attack on the top of his head. Turning back towards his opponent, Arnold followed up his attack with a quadruple-kick in the air, landing the first 3 hits to the Freak's face and the last to his stomach.
Leaning down in pain from the hit to his stomach, the Freak's gaffe was used by Arnold to throw an uppercut to his nose, pushing him back once again. With his enemy stunned from the numerous hits to the head, Arnold concluded his attack by kicking him against an unstable brick wall.
Colliding with the brick wall, the Freak gave no mind to it initially; only putting his primary concern on the task of defeating Arnold. Hearing the brick and mortar rumble from his touch made him quickly reconsider that approach, causing him to turn back and investigate, finding the same brick wall coming down on him.
Unable to avoid the wall in time, the Freak screamed in terror.
[Soundtrack Cue End]
As the wall collided with the floor, it enclosed the Freak with its fall, trapping him behind a heavy hold of brick and concrete. Slowly stepping over to the fallen brick wall, Arnold watched the site with a pause and heavy breath, not convinced that the collision had brought the end of the Freak.
His assumptions were quickly proved right with the rumbling of the brick wall sounding, followed by a lone hand breaking through the bricks. Digging himself out from his simplistic grave, the Freak stumbled back on his feet once again, taking a defensive stance against Arnold.
Ready to fight once again, Arnold ran back towards the Freak, readying his next kick.
Before attacking, however, he pulled out a pair of knives from his back, now introducing weapons to the battle. Dodging away from the incoming strike of the kick, the Freak let it come past him, running his hand underneath it to lay a slash of his knife behind Arnold's knee.
Screaming at the sudden sensation of cutting flesh under his leg, Arnold stepped back to see the Freak ready with his knives, realizing the new threat that was before him. Along with simply noticing that he had brought in weapons, he also primarily noticed him approaching the Freak with both pointed straight towards him, prompting him to dodge and prepare for defense.
Now not able to easily defend and fight back against the Freak, Arnold could no longer go on the offense against him. Trying to gain himself time to allow the cut under his leg heal, he turned to pure defense against the Freak's knife attacks, moving in all manner of directions to avoid the slashes of his blades.
Still trying to get in his own hits, continuing to get what advantage he had on the Freak, he blocked away what slashes he could to throw a punch towards him. For every hit that he managed to land, however, the effort still brought the Freak getting close enough to land in a cut.
One such risk allowed him to make a slash across his face, leaving a new cut to heal against the onslaught of his enemy. Still unable to make any real progress against him with nothing but close attacks and holds, Arnold continued to make what attacks he could with such tactics in hopes of defeating his enemy.
Managing to catch one oncoming slash, he caught the Freak's arm, throwing a kick to his chest while still keeping a hold on it. Stepping in closer to move his grab to the Freak's shoulder, Arnold threw him to the ground in a tumble, but the Freak rolled with the move, grabbing Arnold back to drag him down as well.
Putting him on the ground, the Freak drove a stabbing motion with his knife towards Arnold, which he quickly dodged by rolling to the side. Safely moving away from the knife, he kicked the Freak in his side, further driving him away from making any more attacks.
Not wasting any time to breathe, both fighters got up off the ground, running back towards each other to continue attacking one another. The Freak still resorted to slashing and stabbing away, only to have Arnold dodge his strikes and try to use what shorter attacks he could to fight back.
Grabbing one of the Freak's arms as it came in for a stab, Arnold drove a knee to his chest, following by grabbing him by the head and once again throwing up his knee, bashing his head into it. Disorienting him from the heavy head hits, Arnold continued on by resorting to elbow strikes.
Running back up to him while stunned, he delivered a fast series of elbow strikes all to his head in rapid succession; each hit bashing him hard and fast enough to draw blood. Grabbing the back of his head one more time, he jumped off the ground and belly-flopped to the floor, taking the Freak's head with it as it collided on the hard concrete ground below their feet.
Driving himself to keep fighting back, the Freak threw his knives towards him to try and land a slash in him, finding himself to succeed in doing so with a cut across Arnold's chest. Rolling back away from the subsequent slashes, Arnold drove a heel kick to the Freak's face, pushing him back as he stood himself straight up on his own feet again.
Once again disoriented by the hit, the Freak stabbed forward in a poorly-coordinated strike, getting his arm caught in Arnold's hands. Needing to disarm his opponent from further striking at him and gain a weapon for himself, Arnold turned to move behind the Freak, forcing him to drop the weapon.
The Freak struggled to try to put Arnold in front of himself again, but Arnold's persistence to hold on and stay behind him stayed strong. Trying for other measures to free himself, the Freak began stabbing behind himself in hopes of hitting Arnold, finding success in piercing through his side.
Each stab of the knife brought him pain that made him scream, but Arnold did not dare release his grip against his enemy's attacks. Instead, using his feet as they still stood free, he kicked away the next oncoming stab, following with a kick to the Freak's knee, driving him to kneel down.
Delivering one final kick to his back, he forced the Freak back again, forcing him to surrender the knife and fall to the ground. Taking the knife for himself, Arnold wielded it high, staying defensive against his enemy. Picking himself back up again, the Freak turned back to Arnold, still keeping a low stance to the floor.
Taking a moment to look on each other, both parties shared a look of contempt for one another. Arnold looked on his enemy with a face of discontent, but with an overall look of control of his emotions. The Freak, conversely, showed nothing but pure rage, made more than clear with an overwhelming scowl that bore teeth, all while letting out angry growls with each breath.
Having enough of their mutual stare, they ran back towards one another, fighting each other once again.
[Soundtrack Cue: Stabbing Westward - The Thing I Hate]
Both enemies clashed with one another with speeds that no human eye could catch up to, and even the two of them almost unable to be consciously aware of how fast their speeds ran at. Even if they did, however, neither showed any concern for the physical aspects of their fights, save for the damage done towards one another.
Now having equal footing in the fight once again, both took the offense against each other with nothing held back; slashing and stabbing away at each other with the intent of putting the other down. Sounds of skin colliding with skin no longer filled the air, but instead the clashes and grinding of metal.
The two stayed matched in a fight for some time; both fighters showing good skill on their knife capabilities. Since the Freak's primary choice of weapon was a knife, however, his familiarity with the weapon was one that Arnold could not match. As such, he was the first to draw blood in this new round of the fight.
Making a slash into Arnold's shoulder, the Freak forced him to step back in pain, giving him the opportunity to move in and continue attacking his opponent. Not allowing the Freak to follow up from the attack, Arnold blocked away the next stab, continuing to fight back against him.
Once again displaying his superior skills with the weapon, the Freak made another cut into Arnold, this time landing a hit into his arm. Brushing off the attack as best as he could, Arnold moved back to holding his ground against the Freak, getting caught once again in a series of mutual strikes and blocks that ultimately led the fight nowhere but a stalemate.
However, his luck soon began to change with the Freak's next move, giving him an opportunity to strike at last. Following up one series of slashes, the Freak's final move in his attack was an attempt to stab Arnold in the head, which he quickly dodged with a dash to the side.
Moving to the side, Arnold gained himself a short time behind the Freak, using it to his advantage. Driving his knife into his back, Arnold stabbed the Freak just below the shoulder, finally drawing his share of blood in their knife fight. Screaming under the pain of the stab, the Freak ducked down, letting his movement downwards pull the blade out from his body.
Rolling forward to turn his defense to an attack, he slashed away at Arnold's feet, leading him to jump back and avoid any cuts. Standing himself back up straight, the Freak moved on to fighting him face-to-face again, placing the two in a mutual lock of defense and offense again.
Making a new move to break the trend, the Freak jumped in the air with a spin, bringing his arm down to land a slash on Arnold. Holding his knife up in the air to the incoming Freak, Arnold just barely blocked away the downward slash, moving back from the sheer force of the Freak's momentum behind his move.
Sticking his knife straight out, the Freak began charging forward, planning to drive his blade straight into Arnold. Holding out his own knife, Arnold began moving towards the Freak in the same manner, preparing to stab him as well. Both attacks met with each enemy burying their knives in each other's chests, causing both to scream in pain and stop at the meeting of attacks.
Paused just briefly from the mutual stab, the two looked back on each other with rage again, Arnold kicking the Freak off to draw their blades out from their bodies. Stopping for just one moment to contemplate their next moves, they charged back towards one another again; their knives colliding again and again.
In a turn of events, Arnold began to show more aggression in the fight, running back towards the Freak with more rage and speed against his enemy, almost too much for the Freak himself to counter against. What advantage he had in the fight before, he realized, was not lasting here, even with his own preference of weapon.
Unable to keep up with Arnold's continued knife strikes, the Freak's blocks only managed to defend himself so well, leading him gaining many cuts and stabs all over his body in attempt to hold him back. Resorting to using his bare hand to drive back the next attack, the Freak grabbed the blade of Arnold's knife.
Feeling the blade cut into his palm, the defense only worked so well against Arnold, who took the sole defense and used it to his favor. Continuing to push down on the Freak's hand, Arnold drove the knife against his neck, just beginning to cut into it. To prevent the blade from making a full cut, the Freak began running backwards, feeling the knife barely start to lacerate into his skin.
Running short of room to run back, the Freak threw his knife behind himself in a gamble, releasing his hand holding back the blade to catch the knife. Successfully grabbing his knife again, the Freak threw a slash to Arnold, landing a cut across his chest to put a stop to his attempted cut to his neck.
With patience and control running low for both fighters, their defenses began to take a backseat to the offense; both enemies now uncaringly slashing away at each other with little in the way of stopping the oncoming strikes. Arnold made a cut into the Freak, the Freak retaliated with a cut into Arnold, and so on the progression of fighting seemed to go on.
Each passing second followed with countless drops of blood spilled from both fighters, and dozens of cuts and lacerations on each other's bodies. Carelessness began to settle in with both fighters, and a stopping point to all the fighting seemed to be all but inevitable, even if it would not be the ending.
Incorporating kicks and punches into their knife attacks, both made use of all their bodies put a full attack against the other, and neither giving anything back. Stabs were accompanied by punches, slashes were accompanied by kicks, and all other combinations in between were used against one another; both dedicated to finally putting the other on the ground.
The fight came to another stalemate with their blades coming to a lock, with Arnold and the Freak putting both of their arms against the knives to push back on the other to use more force against the other. Trying to make use of their feet, both tried to kick one another, trying to make the other lose their focus on their knives.
Success came to Arnold, making the Freak lose his focus on his knife to catch his leg, giving him full use of his knife to attack. Coming closer in his hold, Arnold began stabbing the Freak in his neck and shoulder; each of his stabs drawing long spurts of blood from his body.
Catching the knife from the next stab while keeping hold of his leg, the Freak picked Arnold up from the ground, lifting him up in the air. The Freak threw his victim towards a sheet of plywood, delivering a kick to his chest to send him flying towards it with as much momentum as possible.
[Soundtrack Cue End]
Crashing through the plywood sheet, Arnold fell flat on the ground, releasing his grip on his knife. Looking up to see what his enemy was planning next, he found the Freak jumping towards him, landing on top of him before he could make any attempt to run or fight back.
Immobilized with the Freak standing on top of him, Arnold struggled to get him off, but to no avail. Kneeling down over Arnold, keeping his leg placed over him to prevent his escape, the Freak held up his knife and prepared to drive it down, ready to stab him again.
Unable to let himself be stabbed anymore, Arnold blocked away the knife with his arms, crossing them over his chest to stop the knife from coming down. The effort managed to keep the knife from connecting with him, but only temporarily did it work against the attack.
While both enemies put both their arms against each other, the Freak had the position and advantage of body weight on his side, allowing him to drive his knife down further. The slow descent of his blade came closer and closer to Arnold's chest with each passing second, leaving him with little way to defend himself.
Looking over to his lost knife, Arnold looked back and forth between it and the Freak, contemplating whether taking attention away from blocking the knife was worth the potential reward of retrieving his weapon. As the Freak's knife came closer and closer to him with each second, the action seemed less like an option to him and more like an absolute necessity.
Releasing his arm from the block, Arnold reached and grabbed the knife, quickly bringing it back to drive into the Freak's neck. Just as the Freak's stab connected with Arnold, his own stab reached him in the neck, cutting through the skin and muscle of his neck and causing large amounts of blood to seep onto him.
Groaning in pain under his own stab, Arnold did not let his own pain stop him from fighting back; continuing to cut away at the Freak's neck. With each inch cut across his neck, large gushes of blood poured out from the gash, all splattering onto Arnold's face. Not letting this inconvenience sway him, he continued cutting into his neck to put a stop to him.
With Arnold concluding the cut across his neck, the Freak was forced to release his grip on his own knife, holding his hands to his neck to stop any further blood loss. Continuing on his counterattack, Arnold drove his knife directly into the Freak's head, followed by a punch to his jaw.
Having his head knocked back by the punch, the wound to his neck was split further open, letting more blood spurt and pour out of him. Unable to stay conscious under the copious amounts of blood lost, he fell on his back, no longer moving after the blow laid onto him.
Putting the Freak down, Arnold grabbed the knife embedded in his chest and pulled it out, tossing it aside. Scooting himself across the floor, he leaned back against a wall, allowing himself a moment to breathe and heal from his wounds. Placing his full concentration on his body, many of his cuts and wounds began to close up, healing most of the damage done from his fight.
But his break only lasted for a small moment before trouble came back. Healing up his own wounds, the Freak picked himself up from the floor, standing up once again. Grabbing the knife stuck in his head, he yanked it out from his scalp, letting spurts of blood shoot from his head before the wound closed itself up. Having his fill of the knife, the Freak tossed it aside.
With his enemy standing back up and ready to fight, Arnold did the same. Spitting out the blood in his mouth, he wiped away what was left, standing tall again.
Reaching to his side to use his own weapon, Arnold pulled out his modular stick from its holster, keeping it in its 3-section staff form. Grabbing the staff by its end pieces, holding them up light clubs with its middle hanging loose, he took a defensive stance against his enemy.
After looking at Arnold's new choice of weapon, the Freak nodded at it with a smile, as if mocking his enemy and choice of weapon. Taking out his own choice of weapon, he pulled out a katana, slowly moving the weapon out from its scabbard and tossing it aside.
[Soundtrack Cue: The Prodigy - Poison; Starting from 0:30]
Neither party attacked each other right away; both deciding to take their time to heal, all while carefully analyzing their respective opponents. Not daring to take their eyes off one another, they watched every subtle movement of their enemy's weapon, watching with care where it would move.
The first thing to move was the Freak's feet, moving himself to attack Arnold with an incoming sword strike.
The Freak made his first attack during the second round with a furious show of sword strikes, aiming to hack away what part of Arnold that he could. Having a long-range weapon with plenty of mobility, Arnold had no difficulty in blocking away the strikes; knocking back each incoming move of the blade with the ends of his 3-section staff with enough speed to find time for his own attack.
Making his own attack with his weapon, Arnold threw his 3-section staff towards the Freak, swinging it towards him. Seeing the immense range that Arnold's weapon was able to reach, the Freak was forced to move back quickly, soon realizing how he underestimated the weapon.
Aiming his sword towards his enemy, the Freak ran back up to Arnold, ready to take on the challenge that his new weapon was providing. Holding his staff by the middle section and one end, Arnold utilized the free end of one piece to both defend and attack, finding much proficiency in doing so.
Trying to fight Arnold again with his new weapon, each slash of the Freak's sword was blocked away by the staff, the weapon soon moving to defense to block away the strike that was coming his way. The question of the affair was no longer a matter of finding out how to defeat Arnold, but now simply a matter of how to navigate around his weapon.
Answering said question would have to take its time for the right solution, as the Freak soon found out about the staff. As Arnold swung his staff over his back, building up momentum for his next strike, the Freak held his sword up in defense. Holding his staff by its end, Arnold's attack still overcame the Freak's attack; the momentum sending its other end flying over the defense and onto his back.
Arnold's attack continued with a swing of the staff towards the Freak's head, leading him to duck under it. Continuing to spin with the momentum, Arnold swung it towards his feet, leading him to jump in the air to avoid it. Taking advantage of his aerial position, the Freak swung his sword back down as he descended, forcing Arnold to roll away to dodge his strike.
Collecting up the 3 pieces of his staff as he rolled, Arnold's current state of the weapon put the Freak at an advantage again, leading him to charge in with his sword. Not allowing Arnold to hold his staff in its proper form again, he swung his sword towards him.
Keeping the staff bundled in his hand, Arnold blocked away the incoming sword strikes, ducking under them when needed. Stepping away from the next strike, Arnold ran back from his opponent to get room to use his weapon properly, leading the Freak to follow him by running after him.
Jumping into the air, Arnold spun around and threw his staff towards the Freak, aiming it towards him in a whipping motion. Seeing the 3-section staff come towards him, the Freak swung his sword downwards, blocking away the weapon before it could make its connection to him.
As Arnold began swinging his 3-section staff around again, the Freak was once again forced to switch to pure defense to keep himself even relevant in the fight. Knowing that he was not able to continue on much further with his current approach, he chose to adapt to Arnold's new fighting style.
Watching Arnold's staff come his way again, the Freak blocked its middle section with his sword, letting the end come around to hit him on the back. Rather than let it strike him, however, he reached and grabbed the end of the staff, at last giving himself an advantage in the fight.
With Arnold keeping his grip on his staff and the Freak holding it as well, the latter finally gained a chance to attack his enemy freely. Slashing his sword towards him, the Freak drove Arnold to dodge away from the slashes, not able to properly block away the attacks.
Sidestepping one lunging stab intended for him, Arnold stepped in closer and grabbed the Freak's hand and arm, pushing down on his hand and lifting his arm, throwing him over his shoulder. As Arnold threw him in the air, he released his grip on his staff, but managed to swipe away the Freak's sword in the process, allowing himself to still have a weapon.
Having a chance to try the weapon for himself, the Freak found his first test of it using it to block away sword strikes now coming from Arnold. Repeating the same moves he watched his enemy put out before in blocking his own strikes, he manged to block away the strikes with some degree of ease, but with his speed still held back by the trial of learning the weapon.
As he began learning the weapon through the more practical way of instruction, the Freak found that Arnold was also much proficient with a sword as he was with any form of stick weapon, evidenced by the sheer difficulty in keeping up with defending against his attacks. Nonetheless, as he steadily learned to use the weapon, each second of blocking away attacks soon became easier and easier.
When the time came for attacking, however, he soon found that using the weapon to attack was a much different task than using it to defend. Swishing the staff through the air like a whip, the Freak tried to throw a hit towards Arnold, but found that the weapon was too large for him to use easily, especially evidenced with the staff swinging full circle to hit him in the face.
Smirking at the Freak's blunder, Arnold paused from fighting to laugh at him, finding ease in his side of the fight. Growing angry from his opponent's apparent mockery of him, the Freak looked back at the weapon, trying to find some more proficient way of using it.
Noticing the notches between each of the sections, he placed them inside one another, twisting them to come together again. Connecting all three sections together once again, the Freak reconstructed the staff to its basic stick form, giving himself a much simpler weapon to fight with.
Once Arnold came in to attack once again with the sword, the Freak began blocking away his strikes with the staff, finding the task much easier than once before with a simpler weapon to work with. Though Arnold was showing good displays of speed and proficiency, the Freak was beginning to show his own again.
As the Freak blocked away one of Arnold's sword strikes with his staff, he found the sword start to slide down the staff to slice at his hand, leading him to snatch it away. Letting the staff stand up straight off the ground, he released his hold on it, turning himself around to change his grip on it and hold it again, blocking the next strike that came down to attack him.
Making much better ground with the new weapon of a simple staff, the Freak was at equal footing with Arnold once again, leading both to struggle and put more effort to get an advantage over one another. As Arnold was forced to move further and further back against the Freak, it became clear who the winner was becoming.
Driving a downward blow towards Arnold, the Freak's hit was blocked away by the sword; a move which spared Arnold the full blow, but the force of the hit still caused him to stumble back against a wall. Moving his staff towards Arnold in his present position, the Freak aimed to make a stabbing hit in his head.
Arnold dodged away from the hit, causing the Freak to stab the staff through the wall instead. Quickly acting to keep fighting Arnold, he disconnected one end of the staff. The Freak freed up the larger piece of it to drive him against the wall, finding the section blocked with the sword.
Slightly pulling the staff back, the Freak drove it down against Arnold, landing a hit and putting him off-balance. Pulling the disconnected end out from the wall, the Freak used the staff in its sweeper form, driving it down onto Arnold. Holding his sword up to the incoming sweeper, Arnold's block did not prevent the main piece of the staff from hitting his head, nor the free end to hit the back of his head, landing two hits which knocked him to the floor.
Reconnecting the free end of the staff with the whole, the Freak drove it down towards Arnold, leading him to roll out of the way of the hit. The Freak continued to drop hit after hit against his enemy, hoping to land a hit at last, but Arnold proved himself to be too quick and capable of avoiding his strikes.
Throwing a slash of his sword towards the Freak's legs, Arnold drove him to jump over him, landing across and facing away from him. Kneeling down to the floor, the Freak bent back with the staff extended outward, trying to hit Arnold again, but missed as he got up off the ground again.
Getting up to approach Arnold again, the Freak threw a swing of the staff towards him, only to have his weapon blocked again. Meeting in a deadlock, each side tried to push the other's weapon to the side, but neither managed to force the other's weapon out of hand.
Instead, both managed to land their weapons into the ground, leading Arnold to release his weapon and attack the Freak again with his bare hands. Releasing his weapon to block the oncoming punches, the Freak was forced to go back to fighting Arnold in a show of fisticuffs.
Once again displaying speed and viciousness in fighting each other, neither Arnold nor the Freak let up in trying to beat one another, continuing to punch at each other until a hit managed to do some major damage. Blocking one punch away, the Freak found a moment to deal his own; spinning around with his block and throwing a side-kick towards Arnold and driving him on his back.
Readying another kick, the Freak began spinning around, throwing his leg up in a crescent kick. Getting back up in a kip-up, Arnold blocked the kick with his forearm, retaliating with a punch to the Freak's crotch. The Freak stepped back and groaned in pain from the hit, but he did not let it stop him long from continuing the fight.
Resorting to lunging and tackling his opponent, the Freak brought Arnold to the ground, pinning him on his back as he began punching away at him. Throwing up his arms to block the punches, Arnold defended himself from most of the hits, but was still in no position to advance in the fight.
Wrapping his legs around the Freak, he began crushing his head and neck under his thighs, causing him to stop punching and attempt to pull his legs off. Unable to do so with just pulling, the Freak resorted to lifting Arnold off the ground with him still holding and driving him back into the ground; a move which worked, but resulted in him being forced to the ground as well.
Looking back at each other, Arnold and the Freak began punching at each other again, not letting their position of being stuck on the floor stop them. Utilizing his position to his advantage, the Freak drove a kick down towards Arnold's face, leading him to block it away with his arms crossed.
Wrapping their legs around each other's legs, the two spun around on the ground and kicked off from one another, leading them to roll back to their feet and stand up again. The first thoughts each other had was to look back to their weapons, followed with a look towards their respective enemies.
Running back towards the weapons, each tried to go for their own before the other could get theirs, making it a quick race to who would find advantage first. A quick meeting at the weapons led them both to punch at each other, only to still each grab their own weapons and retreat once again.
Taking a moment to look back at their weapons, each checked to ensure that they retrieved the correct ones, and confirmed that they did; Arnold retrieving his staff, and the Freak retrieving his sword. Holding their weapons up once again, the two prepared to continue fighting, sharing one last glance at one another before carrying on the fight.
This time, Arnold did not allow the Freak the first strike, but instead took it for himself, swinging his staff downwards towards him.
[Soundtrack Cue: Linkin Park - 1Stp Klosr (feat. The Humble Brothers & Jonathan Davis)]
Sidestepping the swing of the staff, the Freak dodged it with ease, letting the weapon collide with the dirt on the ground instead. Swinging his sword down towards Arnold as he stayed on the ground, the Freak's own attack was blocked out of the way as Arnold spun with his block to throw another strike of his staff.
Once again, the two were stuck in a deadlock of strikes and blocks; both trying to get some footing over the other, but neither getting any such advantage right away. Back to using their native weapons, both showed their full potential with one another, now able to give all they had in the fight.
Jumping over one of Arnold's sweeps, the Freak jumped and tried to drive a downward slash towards him, only to find his attack blocked with Arnold's staff. Guiding the staff along the sword, Arnold move his strike towards the Freak's feet, causing him to jump over the attack again.
Running back towards one another, the two continued slashing and blocking away with their weapons; both moving at incredible speeds that even the air could not hold any resistance against. Having gone on in the fight for longer than either had intended, the desire to put an end to the battle was growing stronger and stronger with each fighter, leading them both to fight harder and harder.
Meeting each other in a mutual block, both Arnold and the Freak began grinding their weapons against each other, pressing their entire body weights towards one another to accomplish some victory against the other. Pushing themselves off each other, the two flew back at opposite ends of the room, needing to dig their feet into the ground to come to a complete landing.
Holding his sword in the air, the Freak screamed as he threw it back down, sending a force that launched dirt and other particles in the air from their resting place on the ground in a shot towards Arnold. Jumping up in the air, he prepared his sword to come down on Arnold again in a downward slash, quickly getting his attack stuck in a block from his staff.
Slashing away even faster than before, Arnold found less and less time to properly block the Freak's attacks, instead resorting to simple dodges to avoid his strikes. Driving his sword into the ground, the Freak lifted himself up by his sword, using his airborne legs to kick at Arnold.
Finding his kicks merely pushing him back, Arnold blocking the blunt of the hits, the Freak resorted back to throwing more attacks of his sword to him. Throwing his staff in a strike towards the Freak's face, Arnold found his opponent duck under it, returning with a slash of his sword.
Colliding their weapons against each other again, both pushed against each other to gain a blow into the other, with the Freak gaining some advantage by pushing Arnold's staff aside. Jumping in the air, he tried to throw a kick towards him, only to have his attack dodged with a simple move back.
Turning and jumping up in the air, Arnold, too, jumped into the air, putting both in a fight while moving upwards. The two seemed to jump high enough into the air that would beat most professional basketball players in a game; a display that nearly teased the idea of flight.
Knocking their weapons together at immense speeds, still in the air while each hit was thrown, the Freak once again gained an advantage from his new position. Bashing Arnold in the head with the handle of his sword, he kicked him to the ground, leading him to crash where he safely landed on his feet.
Picking himself up off the ground, Arnold ran back towards the Freak to continue fighting, attacking by throwing his staff forward. Colliding their weapons again and again, the two still continued to meet in complete deadlocks; neither gaining any ground until a change in tactic had brought the next progression.
Jumping back and rolling away from the Freak's slashes, Arnold moved to gain more ground to defend on, blocking away the next sword strikes that came his way. Moving up his speed to take advantage of Arnold's pause, the Freak lunged his sword forward in a stabbing motion.
[Soundtrack Cue End]
Finally, the Freak landed a stab into Arnold, piercing through his body. Driving the sword in as far as he could push it, he put all of Arnold's activities to a stop, forcing him to stay still as his mind was too busy processing its pain to act on any defense to make it stop.
Pulling out his sword and making a slash across his body, the Freak threw a kick to his chest, knocking Arnold across the room and falling to the ground again. Moving back towards him to deliver a final blow, he threw his sword down in a chopping motion, ready to finish the job.
In a move the Freak failed to expect, Arnold reached his hands up and grabbed the blade of his sword, clapping it between his hands. Beginning to stand up again, the wounds inflicted on him beginning to heal, Arnold turned with the sword still in his grip, throwing a back-kick at the Freak.
Knocking the Freak away, Arnold commandeered his weapon for himself; something that the Freak noticed immediately upon landing. Adding to the newly-acquired weapon in his use, Arnold detached a piece of his staff and placed it in his holster, converting the weapon to a pair of nunchucks.
Holding both the sword and nunchuks at the ready, Arnold held a defensive stance, showing himself ready to fight again. Despite having no weapon and his enemy now wielding two, the Freak knew he was clearly at a disadvantage, but, dedicated still to bringing down Arnold, ran to fight anyway.
Dodging between sword slashes and throws of nunchaku, the Freak used nothing but his fists to continue attacking Arnold, and still finding success even without the use of a weapon. Where Arnold still had plenty on his side in the way of speed, the cumbersomeness of two different weapons was a burden, and one easily exploitable by the Freak.
Between each sword and nunchuck attack, the Freak would throw in punches towards Arnold's chest and stomach, finding both to be the easiest targets to attack with at the present state. Realizing that his approach with two different weapons was not proving favorable, Arnold sought to dispose of one.
Throwing the sword towards the Freak in a spear-like motion, Arnold's attack was proved ineffective with the Freak catching it in mid-air. The action had ultimately granted him his weapon back, but the relief of only having to deal with one weapon was worth the cost.
Charging back at him with his sword retrieved, the Freak's slashes were now blocked away by Arnold's nunchuks, swinging them fast enough to deflect away his attacks. Coming in with a downward sword slash, Arnold threw a swing of his weapon to the Freak's head in retaliation, driving him back in pain from the strike.
Attacking next his legs and his hands, Arnold's new, smaller form of weapon granted him even more speed, granting him even more advantage against the Freak. Knocking aside his hand holding his sword, Arnold swung a hit into the Freak's face, forcing him to spin around.
Running up and wrapping his nunchucks around the Freak's neck, Arnold pulled around it as tightly as he could, attempting to choke all life out from his enemy. Using his free hand to try to stop the hold, the Freak could not manage to release the choke hold, leaving him to suffocate under Arnold's hold.
Using what breath he still had, the Freak began driving Arnold up against the walls, forcing him to crash into whatever he could force him into to try to make him release his hold. Unfortunately for him, the efforts did not make any progress, and Arnold still held on as strong as ever.
Bringing himself down to the ground, he tried to wrestle Arnold off and force both his back and head against him, along with an occasional elbow to his side. Again, none of his attempts to get Arnold off had bore any fruit; Arnold still holding on with his nunchucks across his neck and choking him to death.
Feeling his vision start to black out from oxygen deprivation, the Freak knew that any more of this treatment and he would not win against his enemy, and he would lose all the progress he had built towards. Still keeping his sword in hand, he gambled the last option left to try, at a cost to himself as well.
Holding his sword outwards, he drove it against himself, stabbing through his own body and into Arnold's. Positioning his stab carefully through his heart to achieve his desired effect, the Freak pierced both his own and Arnold's; dealing a deadly blow to both opponents.
Pained under the stab, Arnold released his grip over the nunchuks, allowing the Freak to breathe once again. Keeping his hold on the sword's handle, he turned and broke the sword in two; one half staying embedded in Arnold, and the other half staying embedded in himself.
Both parties collapsed to the ground, falling to their knees to try and recover from the deadly blow placed on themselves. With the blade still stuck in the organ most responsible for keeping them alive, blood spurted out from their chest wounds; both unable to close with the blade pieces still stuck inside their bodies.
Where Arnold had no way of removing the blade stuck in himself, the Freak still had the advantage of removing his own, grabbing the handle in his chest and beginning to pull it out. Running forward with what little energy he had left, Arnold forced the blade back in with a shove, breaking the handle off with a kick, now leaving the Freak in the same situation as him.
Despite their bodies being forced under the duress of blood loss and improper distribution, the two continued to fight each other face-to-face with their fists and feet, still forcing themselves on to fight to the death. With the blades still stuck in their hearts, however, that task proved to be a true test of willpower, as each movement only made more blood spurt out from their wounds.
Punching and kicking away at each other just like before, Arnold and the Freak still carried on fighting, but their movements became much slower and labored than before, though not without their power. Blocking away the Freak's punches, Arnold retaliated with an eyebrow kick, followed by a series of punches of his own.
Too far damaged from the fight to keep standing, both enemies fell to their knees, each still trying to keep some semblance of control over themselves. The effort was far greater than any normal human being could take, and the fact that either were even still standing was nothing short of a miracle.
Losing so much blood to the point where keeping consciousness became a chore, both began walking towards each other again, but at a very slow pace. Still dedicated to drive on and fight, each had their own motivations for concluding the fight and claiming victory.
The Freak was still caught up in his own fantasy, still dedicated to the sole focus of achieving victory over Arnold by defeating him. In his mind, by defeating him, he will have successfully proved that even the most well-meaning and best of people can be brought to give up, and no longer care for good.
His obsession drives him onward.
Arnold was brought on to continue by all the death and destruction that was around him, continuing on to right the wrongs that were done to his city and all that he called family. Instead of letting each death and loss drag him down, he makes it push him forward to end the suffering at last.
His obsession drives him onward.
Making his way towards the Freak, Arnold began to muster up what energy he had left for a punch, forcing himself on to finally defeat him. Digging deep into his memories and his own emotions, he finds the pain of loss that eats away at him, and he makes it work in his favor.
In his thoughts, there is the memory of Eugene Horowitz. He remembers how clumsy a boy he was, yet how he still managed to keep up his good spirits in the face of trouble. He remembers how he was mercilessly shot and mutilated without care; his life cut short for fun.
He remembers that the man in front of him was one of the ones who shot him.
The pain drives him on.
Stepping back up to the Freak, he throws a punch.
It connects.
Stumbling back from the hit, the Freak groaned in pain, struggling to keep himself standing up straight under the duress his body was under. Nonetheless, through sheer willpower, he still managed to keep himself standing up, continuing to make his way back up to Arnold.
Arnold, too, made his approach, ready to strike again.
In his thoughts, there is the memory of Sheena. He remembers how unconditionally nice and gentle she was, even if she was slightly timid in personality. He remembers how she cut open her veins and took her own life after Eugene's was taken, finding no future in the world without him in it.
He remembers that the man in front of him was the one who took his life out of hers.
The pain drives him on.
Stepping back up to the Freak, he throws a punch.
It connects.
Sent back from the hit, the Freak again shouted out in pain, still finding much difficulty in still keeping himself standing upright under the continuous blood loss. Still forcing himself to live and fight, overriding his defiant body, he continued to stand up, once again walking towards Arnold.
Arnold, too, made his approach, ready to strike again.
In his thoughts, there is the memory of Stinky. He remembers how goofy and simple he was, yet how kind and knowledgeable he could be. He remembers how he was forced to drive his way below the Earth to prevent a nuclear blast that would destroy the city, giving his life to save others' lives.
He remembers that the man in front of him set the bomb and rigged it to blow.
The pain drives him on.
Stepping back up to the Freak, he throws a punch.
It connects.
Forced back from Arnold's punch, the Freak again groaned in pain from the strike. Blood began to pour from his nose as well as his chest now, with his own thoughts and vision beginning to fade in and out. He still did not give in to these moments of weakness, however, still choosing to move forward.
Arnold, too, made his approach, ready to strike again.
In his thoughts, there is the memory of Nadine. He remembers how blunt and straightforward she could be, yet how passionate she could be about her interests. He remembers how she was tortured for weeks, until she was left with little left of a body and decided to end her life in a move to take many others with it.
He remembers that the man in front of him enabled the cannibal that tore her away piece by piece.
The pain drives him on.
Stepping back up to the Freak, he throws a punch.
It connects.
The punch forced the Freak to stumble back again, making him nearly forget to breathe after the hit. Needing to continue to take in oxygen was now becoming a manual effort on his part, leading him to put most of his cognitive functions towards it. He still, however, put some of them towards still walking forward.
Arnold, too, made his approach, ready to strike again.
In his thoughts, there is the memory of Harold. He remembers how he had a rough start as an antagonist to others, but slowly came around to kindness. He remembers how he bled out in his arms, giving him a letter to remove one of the few good memories that existed of him on the Earth.
He remembers that the man in front of him drove his killer further into Nazi beliefs and murdered him.
The pain drives him on.
Stepping back up to the Freak, he throws a punch.
It connects.
The Freak took yet another hit to the face, losing more blood from his nose with the punch. Most of his body began to lose its ability to function; organs beginning to fail him with a numbness left through most of his inner body. He still disregarded all of these signs, still forcing himself to keep fighting on.
Arnold, too, made his approach, ready to strike again.
In his thoughts, there is the memory of Sid. He remembers how he was paranoid and often a troublemaker, but could learn how to do the right thing. He remembers how he lived his last days on Earth with a burned-out mind barely functional anymore, and how he died happily in a blaze of fire to end his suffering and save his friends.
He remembers that the man in front of him was the person Sid was trying to save him from.
The pain drives him on.
Stepping back up to the Freak, he throws a punch.
It connects.
Taking the next hit, the Freak was barely beginning to even give any reaction to the attacks; his body taking too much of his mental energy to continue on to even bother thinking about making any noise to acknowledge the hit. Continuing onward, the barely-conscious Freak still pressed on.
Arnold, too, made his approach, ready to strike again.
In his thoughts, there is one last memory, and one that holds too close to his pain than all others so far: His parents.
He remembers how, since he was a child, he was distraught over not having them in his life and not even knowing where they were. He remembers the first time he found a map to San Lorenzo in his father's journal, at last giving him hope once again to find them and see them.
He remembers waiting two years until he would finally get the chance to bring them home, and how his passion to see them again burned on with each day of owning the map. He remembers a journey and adventure through the jungles of San Lorenzo, reaching the city of the Green-Eyed People and rescuing both them and his parents, curing them of a comatose state of disease.
He remembers how he first brought them home and ate his first breakfast with them, and how they even went so far as to follow him to his first day of the 6th grade of school. He remembers the regret he felt for not sharing as deep a connection with them as he did with his grandparents.
He remembers how bad it felt to abandon them for his exodus back to San Lorenzo, trying to cure himself of the pain from losing his grandparents. He remembers how beautiful it felt to return home from San Lorenzo at last and be held in their arms, still loved by them unconditionally.
He remembers spending each waking day of his life from then on spending as much time as he could with them, trying to mend the damage that he had done before. He remembers the same unconditional love that he felt before welcomed back, and a connection with them finally solidified.
He remembers how he said the worst things he possibly could to them when learning of their hand in his matters with Helga, in their attempt to teach her and help her become a better person. He remembers how, when holding them in their last moments, they still gave him their unconditional love.
He remembers how their corpses were left lying to rest, but disturbed from that rest and desecrated by the man standing before him.
The pain drives him on.
Stepping back up to the Freak, he throws a punch.
Using up the last of his strength, the Freak threw his own punch as well, sending it straight towards Arnold.
Both punches connect.
Arnold and the Freak felt both of their respective hits collide, as well as the impact of both their opponents' hits. The last of their strength was knocked out from both of them; both from the effort of their punches as well as the damage taken from the enemy's punch.
The two stumbled back, disoriented and barely conscious, and both fell down to the floor flat on their backs. Both struggled to keep breathing after the immense effort on both their parts, as well as try to heal from their unhealable wounds that still continued to bleed.
Unable to do anything else but lie down, neither made any more effort to keep fighting on, and barely anything left of them remained to fight on. Despite their eyes being wide open, their senses of vision began to blur into black with each passing second, and their eyes slowly beginning to close.
Before slipping into his own state of unconsciousness, or whatever qualified as death for him, the Freak let out one final quip.
"Hey Arnold... You're pretty good..." The Freak said.
With no more strength left in his body, the Freak stopped moving.
Having seemingly defeated the Freak at last, Arnold allowed himself the moment to at last slip into unconsciousness himself. To help transition more peacefully into his long and perhaps permanent sleep, he began to focus on one last memory, the one that still held some love in it:
Helga.
He remembers her soft body and softer heart, yet the hard shell set around it. He remembers all the efforts he had made to soften and tear down that wall; all his successes and missteps. He remembers how, even when all between them seemed like it was no longer worth the effort, his efforts would at last be rewarded by his happiness and hers.
The thoughts make him smile as he fades out, closing his eyes and turning his head. As he fades, his only wish is that Helga is with him now.
He stops moving.
Not too long after their fight, the final wish in Arnold's mind is finally granted. Catching up at last from her place in the battle outside in the streets of Hellwood, Helga arrived on the scene in search for Arnold, hoping to provide him support in his fight against the Freak.
Making her way into this corner of the building, she finds both of them here, and both lying down with the appearance of death. Fearing this as the outcome of Arnold's lone fight, she immediately rushed to him, cradling his head in her lap to try to wake him up from his sleep.
"Hey Arnold?! Hey Arnold, wake up! Wake up!" Helga shouted.
Lightly slapping him in the face, shaking his head as much as she could, Helga tried to wake Arnold up from his slumber, but found no reward in her efforts. Looking at his body for any wounds to be healed, she noticed one wound in particular had not closed, resting just above his heart.
Reaching into the wound, Helga dug round the flesh and tissue for whatever could be blocking the healing process, finding some piece of metal in her hand. Further reaching into the wound, she grasped the piece of metal as best as she could, beginning to pull it out from Arnold's body.
Slowly making progress with the metal still stuck in him, Helga began to remove the piece of the sword out from him, eventually finding success by extracting the blade. Tossing the blade aside, she cradled his head once again, imploring him to wake up from his sleep at last.
"Hey Arnold. It's okay. I took it out. You can heal now. You can get better." Helga whispered.
Despite her words of encouragement, Arnold did not seem to heal from the wound, leaving her to become more anxious over his current state.
"Hey Arnold! I took it out! Heal! Show me you're okay! Wake up! Do something!" Helga pleaded.
With her focus becoming laser-focused on Arnold, Helga did not notice the other still body beginning to pick itself up from the ground, pulling out the piece of metal in itself as well. Quietly stepping up from the ground, it made its way behind Helga, looking over her with a smile.
"Hey Arnold! Please say something! Do anything! Anything, please!" Helga pleaded.
Helga still received no response from Arnold, but instead was given a bash on the head from the body behind her. Taking in a heavy hit from the enemy behind her, she collapsed unconscious to the ground, taking her place alongside her lover at the mercy of the enemy.
Finally starting to gain his strength back, Arnold's eyes began to open, showing a blurry figure in front of him.
"Hey Arnold. Don't get up now, go ahead and save your strength. We're not done yet." The figure said.
His consciousness recognized the figure as the Freak, but no part of his mind nor body could gain enough energy to recognize the threat and react to it, leaving him unable to do anything but keep laying down. With the piece of the sword removed, his body had begun to heal once again, meaning a chance for fighting back was coming his way soon.
He only hopes that it will comes soon enough.