Chapter ten

Jerry stifles a yawn as he walks out of his "room" (or the small part of the loft he claimed for himself, but who was keeping track, really?), rolling his shoulders in an attempt to stretch his wound-up joints.

Should everything go well, he'd find that girl and demand she teach him her secrets. He walks dully down the stairs and to the fridge, stomach growling as he yanks the door open.

"You're so noisy."

A voice pipes up from one of the booths that splayed throughout the pizzeria. Luka gives him a glare- one hand holding up his head, covering his sunken, baggy eyes.

"You look like shit." Jerry smirks- an odd satisfaction at seeing Luka so miserable. "What's that pile of junk on the table?"

Luka's only response is to scratch the scalp behind his neck. "You're a smart, independent man. Figure it out." He grumbles, with a weary blink.

"I figured you'd over explain whatever it is with big words to make yourself seem smarter than you really are." Jerry hums, pulling out a soda can. "I'm doing you a favor."

Luka gives a snort- raising the bundle of wires and metal. "Morpher." He says, simply. "Or, I'll explain it to you like a caveman. Wristwatch makes Jerry go big strong." He grunts in a mocking impression of the other teen.

Jerry leers at the boy- moving directly in front of his table. "You really have some nerve, you know that?"

"Man, I am literally just sitting here." Luka grumbles, slouching further in his seat. "I don't want to do this."

"Woke up on the wrong side of bed?" Jerry smirks once more- satisfied with Luka's irritation. "You're always so quippy, so snarky- like a dog with no bite… It's no wonder you're the most useless man in this damn operation-"

A fist slings hard across Jerry's face- enough to make him stumble back. His cheek stings. He looks back up to Luka, who's giving him an uncharacteristically venomous glare.

"Don't bite the hand that feeds you, snake." Luka hisses- his voice eerily quiet, his body shaking with fresh adrenaline.

And Jerry scowls- finally. He rushes forwards, tackling Luka to the ground.

"You, feed me?" Jerry yells- meeting Luka's face with an equal punch. "All you've done is eat away at my life!" He grapples onto the boy's hair- using it as a lever to slam his damned face into the ground. "I'll put you in your place!"

Luka snarls as his face meets the tiled floor- and grabs Jerry by the shoulders- flipping them around. Lightning cracks in his veins as he tries to gain the upper hand. A desperate struggle- but Jerry is quick to punch him and knock him down once more, a silvery mist wrapped around his hand.

"You've grown into a monster." Luka growls- flinching in anticipation for the next blow.

"And who's to blame for that?" Jerry's face twists into a grin- as he slugs Luka again. He winds back his fist- aiming for the throat this time-

…

But it doesn't connect.

Luka opens one of his eyes- finally able to look up from the relentless assault. Fresh blood trickles down his nose, across his right eye- with only the left able to witness.

A hyena, clad in green- its fanged jaw holding Jerry's fist in place. The beast growls, standing protectively over its host.

"... heh… Hehehe…!" Luka laughs- his face splitting into a grin that was damn near crazed as he giggled like a fool. "Look at us!" He says. "Two sides of one coin, aren't we? Shakespherian foils, the two of us!"

Jerry scoffs- "The hell sort of nonsense are you spouting now?" He hisses- as Luka pushes him off, quickly scampering upright. The fangs of the hyena lingered, scraping into his arm- the wound quick to begin bleeding down to his hand. "If you really think you're on the same level as me because of some piss-green dog, I must've knocked another screw loose."

"I mean what I said." Luka says- with another cackle. Sparks fly in his hand- curling into a fist. "Now you're going to get it."

"Try me, you lanky freak-"

Jerry speaks, but as soon as he does, the door opens. Abi and Stephiana walk into the room- Stephiana with a blank stare.

"What the hell happened here?!" Abi shouts- but her expression was more worried than angry. "Jesus, I leave you unattended for one second, and there's blood on the walls!"

"He started it!' Jerry hisses, pointing an accusing, bloody finger to Luka.

"Formalities, really." Luka hums- wiping some of the blood from his face with his sleeve. "I told you I didn't want to do this."

"You should've thought about that before you stabbed me in the back-"

Abi growls- glancing at the spilled can of soda. "Geez, now we'll get ants… Hate ants." She grumbles, grabbing the can and crushing it with her single hand. She moves quickly to grab a mop with a grimace on her face. "You guys are pointing fingers like you're five years old!"

Stephiana gives a vague sigh. "I think you two need some time apart. Can't have the hopes of the world killing each other in a catfight." She mutters, walking to Jerry and grabbing the leg of his pants and dragging him to the exit. "Come on, snake boy."

"Move it, twinkle toes." Stephiana calls to Jerry. The boy was slugging behind, she could tell by his footsteps, his labored breaths. The way he grumbled as he forced his pace to speed up. Standard for him.

"Where the hell are you taking me?" Jerry hisses. He tightens the bandage around his forearm and follows the blind child. "You're lucky I don't just leave."

"Nah, you wouldn't. You want to know how I'm stronger than you." Jerry gasps- slightly, and growls as Stephiana gives a snort. "Come on, you're obvious about it. You were sulking around for hours."

"Tch- I don't have to take this slander from a five-year-old." Jerry hisses, crossing his arms.

"Ten, actually." Stephiana smiles. "You two are really similar."

"Who are you talking about, now?"

"You'll see. We're here."

Jerry frowns- unimpressed. A quarry- with broken metal gates "guarding" the entrance. "Why are we… eh?!"

A swarm of bats emerge from the cave, flying towards Jerry at an alarming speed. He flinches and holds up his arms, as if to block an attack. However, the bats only fly past, into the open air.

"Heheh. Scaredy-cat." Stephiana giggles, walking into the cavern.

"I'm not." Jerry growls, storming in after her.

"Scared of the widdle bats?" Stephiana asks, poking Jerry's side.

"Are you here to mock me, or to train me?" He growls- his face now set in a glare.

"Well, training you to be humble takes a bit of both." The girl hums, with a skip in her step. "After all, there's no better place to let off steam than underground."

"Can you stop looking at me like I'm a wounded puppy?"

Abi quickly turns aside and frowns, forcing her face into a glare. "The hell are you talking about? I'm pissed at you for starting a fight."

Luka smiles and chuckles- albeit weakly, adjusting the ice pack pressed against his face. "You can't pull the wool over my eyes, Abi-Dear." He speaks with a nasal, over the tissue stuffed in his nostril. "You're worried about me."

Abi frowns. "Yeah, you sound pretty miserable…" She sighs. "You look miserable."

"I was working on a… Secret something. Started working on it last night, and before I knew it, Jerry was being a nuisance." He hums.

"Speaking of, I gotta know what the hell happened with you two. I didn't even know you two had a thing." Abi leans forwards, in anticipation.

Luka groans- rolling his eyes. "Greaaat. Just what I want to cheer me up, to talk about high school. Bleh."

"Fine. Name your price, then."

"You're so persistent..." Luka huffs. "Fine, fine, just to feed your curiosity." His face was set in a frown that could only be described as dissatisfied, as he worked up the nerve to tell his side of the story.

"Jerry Chilman was a… Bully hunter, so to speak. His cousin was a big-shot, so he wanted to be a big-shot too. Wanted to be a hero." He explains, with a wry chuckle.

"Right… So, how do you fit into all of this?" Abi asks- with a glare. "Don't tell me people were messing with you and you didn't tell us."

Luka's only response was to scratch the side of his scalp and look away- the only answer Abi needed. "Dude. You know we would've dealt with it."

His face shifts to that dissatisfied frown again. "(didn...wunna...urden…)" He mumbles- and Abi barely manages to catch what he said. "Anyway, I didn't even need to tell you. Because Jerry kicked their asses nine ways to Sunday. I thought that was all. Uh… Until those thugs came back." He slaps a palm against his forehead- once, twice, but stops before he makes it a third- instead scratching.

"Go on." Abi goads him.

"So, uh… They kind of… Threatened the both of you unless I sold Jerry out. Turns out the guy had been bothering them a lot, who would've guessed?"

"Dude, you know for a fact we could've beat the crap out of them." Abi frowns, crossing her arms. "Even in high school, you knew that!"

Luka gives another hum, looking away. "(Well, yeah, but-)"

Abi brings her hand beneath Luka's chin, craning his neck towards her. "Be straight with me, man. Why didn't you tell us anything?"

Luka sighs. "Look, I- I didn't want to cause trouble. Your dad and your sister would lose their minds if you showed up at their door bloody- especially after… Y'know!" He gestures vaguely to the spot where her arm would be. "Besides, I took care of it!"

"You really call all of this taking care of it?" Abi snaps, gesturing to Luka's wounded face.

"Yes, of course I do! After watching him fight, I saw that he was skilled! My hypothesis was that he'd be able to take them on without issue-"

"And he didn't, otherwise he wouldn't be so pissed." Abi finishes for him.

Luka sighs- leaning back in his chair and staring towards the ceiling. "A mistake I paid for. Had I known his optimistic outlook was… Fragile. Had I known the strength of a teenager only went so far, I… Hmm…"

He taps his foot dully against the tile floor, as if pondering the options. "I wonder if his optimism would've been salvageable if I had awakened just a bit sooner."

Stephiana sits on a nearby boulder, as Jerry reluctantly ties a blindfold around his eyes. "Alright, this is gonna be simple." She raises a hand, and a rock flies up, floating around her body. "You've ever played dodgeball?"

"... You're mad." Jerry grumbles, turning to the direction of Stephiana's voice "You can't expect me to dodge something that I can't even see." She only snorts- flicking her hand. A pebble hits Jerry's head from behind, and he turns- "H-hey!"

"Don't trust your eyes, twinkle toes." She says, more rocks rising up. "Trust your spirit."

Another rock flings towards him- hitting him in the side of the skull. "Ow! Give me a warning!"

"We're starting." Stephiana says with an annoyed tone- as another rock flies into his arm.

"Ow, shit! You and that traitor both are trying to kill me!" Jerry shouts, accusingly- just as another rock hits him in the chest. "Enough!" He tears the blindfold off of his face- just as another rock slams into his shin. He hisses in pain, grabbing onto his leg.

"Well, you saw that one coming." Stephiana hums to a seething Jerry. Though, she raises a hand to her chin. "I got another idea."

Weavul's tail slaps against the ground, as he walks deeper into the quarry. The girl called him over for a good ol' rumble tumble. Or, well, he assumed so.

"Geez, how deep in this cave are they..?" He huffs- bending over to avoid hitting the stalactites on the ceiling. "Yo! Kid!" He shouts- only to receive an echo back.

"Right here, Weasly." Stephiana waves- and Jerry's eyes widened.

"There ya are, kid." Weavul smirks, hands in his pockets. "What's up?"

… "You're kidding." Jerry mutters- watching in disbelief as the two give each other a fist-bump. "You're on a nickname basis with an overgrown rodent?"