To Our Beloved Readers: Yeah I could say I had filled up my desktop trash bin with failed drafts of the same chapter. This is the final version that I decided was best. Having nothing else to put at the end I...
We were standing exactly where the monster Fujiwara's body was. All of our surroundings were a pale blue. In the distance was a bright pillar of light, one reaching all the way past the black clouds swirling in the sky. If there was another way to put it, I wouldn't even classify that black layer of thickness in the sky as clouds.
I made sure if everyone was here.
Me, Koizumi, Nagato, Asahina, Tsuruya, and Asakura.
"So Nagato, Koizumi," I said. "What do we do now?"
Before either of them could answer my question Koizumi suddenly fired up his esper powers in one fist and dashed past me. There was a dull sound of fist hitting flesh with a sound of crackling electricity. I turned just in time to see a non mutated human Fujiwara fall lifeless to the ground.
"W-well, mission accomplished?" I said staring at the body spread on the road with a feeling of satisfaction. There was a crater in his chest where Koizumi punched him, instead of the gore you would usually see, it was actually a lot less violent than I had hoped. In place of the blood and organs the inside of Fujiwara was blue and blobby as if his insides were made out of glowing blue gelatin
"Unfortunately no." Koizumi said with a smaller than usual smile. "But it appears that I am finally able to use my powers in this Closed Space."
Koizumi examined his hand and nodded.
"Then what is that?" I asked pointing at the Fujiwara corpse which was slowly degrading in to a pile of transparent, glowing, blue goo.
"That was a type of Shinjin, I expect." Koizumi explained. "This probably is not the only one we will see."
"Fujiwara has copied himself across this space." Nagato explained. "In order to terminate him we must destroy his central consciousness. It is meaningless to destroy his copies."
"Where is the central consciousness?" Koizumi asked.
Nagato pointed to the pillar of light in the distance.
"Fujiwara is most concentrated at the pillar." Nagato said. "There we will encounter more copies, much stronger as we approach it."
"Only I, Nagato, and Asakura have the ability to defend ourselves." Koizumi said. "Can either of you use your powers?"
"We interfaces are currently running on reserve data." Asakura said. "We haven't been in contact with the Data Sentient Entity in ages. If we have to fight, we don't have long."
"Then it means that I am the most powerful here." Koizumi said in deep thought.
"Of course you are." Asakura said sweetly.
Koizumi shut down.
"Then we have three people who can fight and three who can't." I said. "That's perfect; we can all pair up with someone."
Tsuruya coughed.
"You're forgetting someone!" She stated.
Of course I shouldn't have overlooked the fact that Tsuruya knew the art of painful wrist grappling and much, much more.
"Can she fight Shinjins even if she's just a human?" Asahina asked in concern of her friend.
"If you two stay far enough from the pillar then you should be fine against the copies you meet there." Koizumi said. "We mustn't take long though; Fujiwara's Pillar is growing stronger by the minute. You two may soon be powerless against the copies no matter how far away you are from the Pillar."
"Alright," Tsuruya said. "I'll go with Asahina away from the pillar and wait there until you guys have done your job."
"That would be the best course of action." Koizumi replied.
"By the way, where's Haruhi?" I asked.
"She should be at the base of that pillar of light." Koizumi said. "She is the one Fujiwara is drawing his power from. If we get to her, you can deliver the code and shut Fujiwara down."
So there really wasn't a way to not go in the direction of the pillar huh? I can't be afraid now. Besides I have the three strongest people I know with me. If it's to save Haruhi, I'm sure there's a way for us.
"Then it's settled." Koizumi said. "Tsuruya and Asahina will go in the opposite direction of the pillar and Nagato, Ryoko and I will head towards the pillar."
Usually in a movie, the characters gathered for the final battle would all nod their heads, agree at what was planned and promptly split up heading confidently into the action to their assigned missions. But this was totally different from that movie scenario I was hoping for. Every stood silently not moving an inch. Even Koizumi and I were looking around at everyone with a sense of tense finality.
"So…" I said.
"Anything you would like to say Kyon?" Koizumi smiled.
Of course, last words from the person in the middle of it all. This might be the last time I see Tsuruya or Asahina, and this moment just might be the last before I see Nagato, Asakura, or Koizumi 'go'. The only sounds were the rumbling noises originating from the pillar of light that I would soon be charging into to save Haruhi.
"Guys… this might be the end. But I'm pretty sure this isn't the end. Why? Well I don't know. But we'll give it our all and in the end, stuff will work out. You know?"
Everyone gave an effort not to laugh, but it was no use. Even Koizumi cracked a smile during my serious speech of encouragement. Nagato simply watched. The rest held their middles in laughter.
"That's Kyon for you!" Tsuruya laughed almost falling over. "This is bad! I can't fight like this!"
"Sorry for laughing Kyon." Asahina said trying to calm herself down. "I believe that things will work out too. If I only I could have done more for everyone."
"Don't worry about it Asahina." I said. "You've done enough."
"Thank you Kyon." Asahina replied with a heartwarming smile that instilled a whole new kind of hope inside.
"Well sonny!" Tsuruya said tapping my shoulder with her fist. "It's been crazy, but I'll trust you'll put it all back to normal?"
"I will." I replied.
"We will." Koizumi added.
"Then see ya soon!" Tsuruya waved lifting before taking Asahina by the hand and pulling her in the opposite direction of the pillar. The two continued down the street and disappeared around a corner. See us soon? I can only hope.
Anxious was the perfect word to describe everyone's feelings. Was it because of fear? Maybe even excitement. As I watched Tsuruya run safely out of sight, the others were already looking up at the pillar of light. It was illuminating the entire space like a sun.
"Its looks pretty far away. How do we get there?" I asked.
Koizumi fired up his esper powers once more. I can only hope that our form of transportation was anything but what I was expecting it to be. But being the person at the butt of every joke in the SOS Brigade you get used to it, sort of…
Koizumi crouched down with his back towards me.
"Get on Kyon." Koizumi said from inside his ball of red esper aura.
"Hell no." I bluntly said. I didn't know whether it was the fear of being vaporized by his esper aura, or not being able to tell if riding him was going to be more nauseating than flying with him.
"Then that is too bad." Koizumi smiled. "But we do not have any other means of efficient transportation."
Nagato came up to me and wrapped her arms around my middle and stuck her face in my back.
"You really don't have to force yourself Nagato" I chuckled nervously.
"Now Nagato, you can't see where you're going if you lift him like that." Asakura said.
She unstuck Nagato from my back and conjured up a school chair, the one you could find in the classrooms at North High. If I remember correctly she used these chairs to skewer Nagato with several needles after transfiguring them into very sharp metal spikes. It scares me to think about what other keeps sakes she had with her. It would suck hard if I found myself sitting on a metal spike in mid flight.
"Are you sure this is safe?" I asked.
"I made it so it would follow me when we fly." Asakura said. "I set up a sturdy barrier around it but I really don't know how useful it's going to be when we start fighting. And since I modified the gravitational factors, it should be really easy to say on even if it tips upside down."
I really don't like the sound of that. To be honest I was starting to consider riding on Koizumi. I would have taken me years to decide, but those are years we don't have right now. We should hurry, before Fujiwara gets too strong. I should also consider Asakura's effort to make up an alternative for flying just for me. I reluctantly sat down on the familiar seat. I felt an attraction from my body to the chair, something similar to what you would feel when you put two magnets close together, expect one of the magnets is my ass and the other the seat of the chair.
"Then on my mark." Koizumi said.
Everyone turned to the pillar of light. We were planning a straight shot towards it.
"Get ready." Koizumi said. Everyone began levitating higher and higher. I could also feel the seat rising surprisingly smoothly into the air; my legs were dangling over the edge.
"Launch!" Koizumi finally yelled.
All four of us shot off into the sky in a diamond formation. I was at the very back holding to the sides of the chair for my life. The buildings were way under us and the Pillar of light only seemed taller now that we were in the air and could get a clear view of it.
A few seconds after takeoff what appeared to be a swarm of dots were approaching us from a distance. Normally you would expect a person flying through the air to be blind due to the wind blowing in his eyes, but I could see clearly. I could feel the wind on my face but it didn't hinder my vision in the least. I guess it was part of the chair.
"Incoming." Koizumi said calmly.
It appears that the swarms of dots happened to be a cluster of Shinjin Fujiwaras who were, just like Koizumi, surrounded by auras of blue and were flying straight towards us. Our groups were only moments away from meeting each other.
Koizumi's aura began to shine and he soon zipped away into the cluster of Fujiwaras zigzagging at amazing speed making sure to knock every one of them out of the their air leaving a trail of red afterimage. It didn't take him half a second to deal with each one.
The Fujiwaras dropped like dead flies as Koizumi returned into to our formation.
"Nice one." I shouted to Koizumi who simply flicked his fluttering hair pompously with his finger making me regret complementing him.
We were going at a surprisingly fast speed. The pillar was at least two times larger than it previously was. We were closing in.
Just then another Fujiwara appeared right in front of the pillar.
"It's alone." I said.
It was different from the other Fujiwara's we had run into. Felt stronger, and like a completely different being, even though there were close to no differences physically with the others.
"This is quite the quandary." Koizumi said as he grimaced at the single Fujiwara. "It's the central consciousness. Everyone brace yourselves!"
"Brace ourselves for what?" I yelled.
And Koizumi's warning was worth taking notice. Right after he had spoken the Fujiwara shot a thin beam of white from its eyes to our left. As the beam of light drew rapidly closer it wasn't so thin anymore. The Fujiwara was trying to use its laser to sweep us out of the air as it went from out left side to our right.
"That!" Asakura pointed out.
"Descend!" Koizumi ordered.
We dropped down rapidly close to the ground as the laser passed dangerously close above us. We plummeted into the maze of buildings and roads. The feeling of freeness that I felt in the sky was lost and replaced by a sense of edginess and claustrophobia as we maneuvered around the corners of the streets trying to keep our speed while avoiding crashing into anything. It was now too dangerous to go any higher than the buildings which hid us from central Fujiwara's laser. I felt sick from the fast descent. The chair was spinning way more than it had to.
My condition was obviously not taken into consideration. We were going just as fast as before. The only thing that had improved was that the buildings weren't packing us so tightly any more. We were now on one if the main streets which went straight towards the Pillar. It was pleasantly wider and lessened my anxiety of busting through any obstacles if we weren't turned into pancakes first. The buildings on our sides were going by extremely fast.
The pillar was once again in clear view. If we get closer, we might be able to see the base. From my standards I could consider us to be… almost there? It was too early to be carefree now. As we get closer to the pillar. Our chances of survival drastically decrease.
Further down the main street I saw another group of Fujiwaras.
"Aw crap." I muttered.
"Indeed." Koizumi agreed.
The groups of Fujiwaras, about thirty to forty in number began shooting short bursts of light from their hands at us. We couldn't go back into the sky and risk being hit with another laser. We couldn't dodge to the side into the smaller roads because it would mean over restricting our movement which would condemn us if we were to run into another group of Fujiwaras. We had no choice but to keep moving forward.
"Shield on." Nagato said as she took the lead of the group and raised an energy barrier ahead of us with her arms and hands in front. The flurry of attacks hit the barrier with formidable force.
"Hold on Nagato!" Asakura yelled as she flew in next to her to aid her with the barrier.
The bursts of lights were obviously too strong of a firepower to be taken lightly. By the time the shooting had stopped Nagato and Asakura were both very exhausted, they were just keeping up with our average speed.
Koizumi once again began to glow red. He was exhausting himself to charge up as much power as he could before the Fujiwara's began to attack again. After a short charging, Koizumi whipped a red wave at the opposing group; it was indeed powerful enough to take out most of them. A few were still standing as we zoomed over.
I looked back to see them shooting again in our direction from behind. I ducked under the back rest of the chair. A few shots of light hit the chair's shield around me and I could tell from the cracking noise of the shield that I was soon a goner.
"Shield on!" Asakura said as she flew behind me and created another shield.
The shots were fewer in number this time and it looks as if Asakura had enough to keep them from blowing away my chair. As we flew further away they became more and more distant. I noticed that we were out of range as we returned to a diamond formation. For now it looks as if it was going to be quiet, even for just for a little while. We were getting ever so closer to the pillar, just what were we going to encounter next? I don't think we can take much more. Even Koizumi looked tired.
"How much data do you have left?" Koizumi asked Nagato and Asakura.
"I have just enough to keep Kyon in the air." Asakura panted.
We were going slower than we were before.
"Not enough." Nagato said.
We were just a few seconds away from the base of the pillar. It was nothing more than a giant wall of light now. It would hurt anyone's neck to look all the way up and try to determine if it was a pillar. Everything was brightly lit now.
"Guys!" I yelled as I looked ahead.
It was a single Fujiwara. From the looks of it, it was the one that shot that powerful laser at us. Unlike the other Fujiwara's we had run into this one had an expression. It was laughing madly.
"There it is!" Koizumi said.
"What do we do?" Asakura yelled. "We can't fight him now!"
Koizumi was at a loss for what to do next. Was he considering retreating?
"LET'S START WITH THE WEAKEST ONE SHALL WE?" Fujiwara's amplified voice said.
A volley of short lasers was shot from Fujiwara's index finger. The weakest one that Fujiwara had referred to was Asakura. She had nothing left to form a shield. Koizumi flew into the lasers at almost the same time as Fujiwara fired them. Taking every hit, his red glow died down and he fell behind us rolling onto the asphalt out of view.
"Itsuki!" Asakura yelled just before she was hit with a fresh series of lasers. Just like Koizumi, she fell out of the air and hit the ground. Nagato and I were the only ones left.
With Asakura out of the picture, my chair began to fall as well. If it hadn't been for Nagato grabbing me at the last second I would have been the very definition of crash and burn. This didn't keep me from danger for a whole while. Fujiwara's offense was just too great. Nagato conjured a weak shield which broke at the first laser. She was peppered with white bolts and fell just like the two before. I felt my bottom separate from the seat.
I was the only one left, flying full speed towards Fujiwara who had his finger pointed at his next target. Me.
Fujiwara shot a single laser which broke the shield surrounding my chair. The second would have hit me if the chair hadn't been in the way. It shattered into a little bit and pieces of wood and metal. I was quickly losing altitude as I flew forwards. I landed on the ground but felt no pain. I can only guess that it was another safety measure Asakura had put around me. After lots of dizzying rolling I stopped right at Fujiwara's feet. He looked down at me and pointed his finger at me once again. His expression delivered every taunt at the tip of his tongue.
Just then a silver knife cut through the air and cleanly sliced off Fujiwara's hand. It fell to the ground and evaporated into a blue steam.
"CRIMSON SUPERBALL!" I heard Koizumi yell as he tackled the distracted Fujiwara with his full on aura.
Fujiwara flew backwards and hit the wall of light that was the pillar, sending a ripple running down its face with a strange distorting noise.
Koizumi landed on his feet with Asakura and Nagato under his arms. He lowered them both onto the ground and took a few breaths. I examined Asakura and Nagato. They were fine, not fatally wounded, but they were pretty close. I would suggest they refrain from fighting any longer. Koizumi too, but I don't think we'll get any time for a break in this situation.
"Amazing Koizumi." Asakura laughed.
Koizumi returned an exasperated smile. "The central consciousness is still alive."
"RIGHT YOU ARE!" echoed Fujiwara's voice.
Suddenly we were surrounded by a whole mob of copies. Fujiwaras left and right. They were numerous to the point where I couldn't tell where the mob ended. They were drawing closer and closer. A few jumped out to attack us but Koizumi fought them away. He was fighting the entire mass on his own. No matter how many he killed they just seemed to multiply.
"DON'T FORGET YOU'RE FIGHTING SUZUMIYA, ESPER!" Fujiwara said. "IF YOU THINK YOU CAN FINISH ME, THEN BE MY GUEST!"
Koizumi's breathing became more frequent. He was going to give. His esper aura turned off and he stopped fighting. The copies stopped as well, most likely at Fujiwara's command.
"WHAT IS IT ESPER?" Fujiwara laughed. "FIGHT! HAVE YOU LOST HOPE? OR HAVE YOU REALIZED THAT IT WAS INEVITABLE THAT YOU DIE A PITFUL DEATH! THAT IS THE FATE OF ALL OF US CREATED BY SUZUMIYA!"
Koizumi stood straight up and looked up into the inky black sky, then began to laugh.
"I'll give you a spectacle." Koizumi smiled.
His entire body became a pure aura, a silhouette of light, red thunderbolts issued from his body. A screeching sound ripped through the air. The copies began to distort in static. The clones seemed to melt away revealing the central Fujiwara standing in front of the pillar. He was no longer sneering, his taunts were muted. There was a deafening crackling sound of static and lightning. Despite this, Koizumi's voice was loud and clear.
"I am sorry Ryoko." Koizumi said. "I must ask you to take Kyon and Nagato as far away from here as possible. Go now."
"Koizumi wait!" I shouted.
"It is time." Koizumi said. "Hurry!"
"You'll die!" Asakura said trying her best to talk Koizumi out of whatever he was about to do. Regardless she might have known that it was no use doing so.
"Get out of here." Koizumi ignored Asakura.
She tried to get Nagato to her feet. Knowing what little strength she had I did my best to help. She muttered a few words and with a small burst we began to glide across the street in the opposite direction of Koizumi. The clones were powerless as we slipped right by them.
"BRING IT ESPER!" Fujiwara roared.
Koizumi yelled back. "I AM GOING TO CRUSH YOU AND SCATTER YOU INTO THE WIND!"
Fujiwara responded with more of his mad laugher, he was in hysterics, enjoying every second. He was at his high.
For just a moment, Koizumi had reached the same level of existence as Fujiwara, a god like entity of pure energy. His explosive, burning red aura expanded into a gigantic dome. It devoured the entire base of the pillar and was quickly climbing higher and higher. Red lightning fell from the thick black sky. The force of the explosion propelled the three of us away from it. We had just escaped being caught in his attack. Koizumi's final scream echoed throughout the space and fell silent. The light of the pillar was no more, darkness covered the Closed Space.
Thanks For Reading: LordPlagus777