Today, I stopped on my way home from school and sat by the water, watching the ducks eat.
It was nice. It put a lot of things into perspective. Not to get overly dramatic, but people get so caught up in doing things just because they need to get done, that they forget why they're doing things, to improve, to get better, to learn.
That's how I feel when I write, I like the feeling of improvement, of progression, both in my style and ability and in the narrative and progression. Hopefully you guys do as well!
As always, I read every review and I'm always open for criticism! I try my best to respond to questions and clear up misunderstandings!
Cheers and, as always, I'll let the chapter speak for itself...
"Lazarus? Lazarus! Talk to me man!" Kosei begged into his ear, and in that moment, Lazarus forgot his trauma, momentarily, as he realized in his frantic scramble he had almost left his teammate out to dry.
As the situation fully dawned on him, Lazarus admitted fully to himself that, he had, in fact, fully left his teammate out to dry.
Lazarus dared not move, the hero team seemingly frozen in place as much as he was, only unlike him, they were most likely stunned by how easy the trial just became.
"...S-sup." Lazarus responded, the dry humor sounding pitiful from his lips as he ran a hand through his hair. Pony and Jurota exchanged a look of weariness, clearly debating if this was a trap or not, Lazarus took that opportunity of their eyes darting away from him to haul ass as far away as he could get.
Lazarus pounded the concrete beneath his feet with renewed vigor as he made it about four steps left of the hero team before he heard them begin to give chance behind him, the clopping sound of Pony's hooves never sounding more terrifying to him then in that moment.
"Lazarus!" Kosei repeated, obviously trying to get his attention, Lazarus responded.
"Hey pal! I'm back!" Lazarus began seeing the diamond shape chalk marker up ahead, prompting him to take a left to get back to the hostage. As he heard the Hero team gaining on him, Lazarus began trying hard not to remember that both of the heroes had put up a faster time for the dash then him.
"Oh thank god, Lazarus, what's going on? What happened? And why the hell are you running?" Kosei's voice started calm, and ended with a shrill note to it, clearly freaked out that everything was already falling to pieces.
"I…" Lazarus began, also trying not to recall the flickering image of the abomination that had just seemingly tried to consume his soul. He started from the beginning again.
"I hit a snag, my quirk means I can't get too far away from my cube or...it's uh, well...bad things happen, okay? You leaving the hostage left me, uh... comatose for a while." Lazarus spoke the half-truth through his teeth as he took a sharp right, as he did, he heard Pony's hooves slip on the ground to try, and then fail, to take the turn as tightly as he did, buying him a few more seconds.
"I'm back now, and being pursued by the Heroes, I'm trying to give them the slip, but it's not working too well. I think I might have to turn and fight. Scratch that, I am turning and fighting." As Lazarus spoke, he unwrapped the scarf from his head, throwing out out behind him in a vain attempt to put some obstacle between him and the now thunderous sound of a gaining pair of hooves behind him.
"I don't think that's a good idea alone, they're both got physical quirks on top of it being a two on one, just try and stay out of direct combat until I can get-" Kosei begin, at that moment, Lazarus finally succumbed to the urge to look over his shoulder, seeing Pony's sharp horns trailing in the darkness just a foot behind him.
"Too late! I'm improvising!" Lazarus cried as he stopped, reflecting for a quarter of a second how stupid what he was about to do was, and then threw his body up and backwards, attempting to backflip over Pony's charge.
For a moment Lazarus was in midair, and in what he could only describe as slow motion, Pony seemed to turn her head and glance upwards at him, she didn't even seem upset, just mildly impressed. Lazarus felt time seem to return to normal as his momentum carried him fully through his flip, landing him back on his feet as Pony continued to run off down the tunnel, trying to suddenly stop her reckless charge.
Lazarus stood, stunned at his own act of acrobatics, before grinning like an idiot.
"Did anyone else see that?" Lazarus cried, to which Jurota responded by charging out of the darkness and punching him squarely in the face.
Lazarus felt the impact morph his entire jaw backwards, before his feet left the ground, sending him flying backwards into yet another flip. This flip was, however, less intentional and far less graceful. Lazarus still managed to land on his feet, unsteadily, as he felt a little bit of blood seep into his mouth, he quickly swallowed it, locking eyes with his assailant.
Lazarus finally acknowledged how massive Jurota was, the half-beast half-student's hair covered chest and arms were on full display, as his equally impressive muscles bulged outwards. He reached up and pushed his comically small glasses further up his face. Matching Lazarus's gaze with his own form of grim determination.
"I saw that. Quite impressive. Second one? Not so much." Jurota's voice was crisp and to the point, surprisingly Lazarus slightly.
"Heh, alright then…" Lazarus stood at his full high, cracking his neck. However, a sudden fatigue overtook him, and for a moment, the abomination flickered into existence behind Jurota, staring back at him with it's blank eyes.
"What's going on? Are you alright?" Kosei yet again snapped Lazarus out of his momentary daze, the Abomination vanishing as Lazarus blinked. Lazarus put a hand to his ear.
"One sec, I just gotta take down this big guy, then I'll swing by…for the cube...this will just take a second...wait I said that already..." Lazarus forced bravado into his suddenly tired voice, the hole in his chest beginning to bother him. Separation anxiety began to kick in, he needed to get back to his cube as soon as possible, these hallucinations were obviously linked to being away from it for so long.
"Lazarus!" Kosei groaned from the other side equally filled with worry and frustration, "You can't just fight them alone-"
"I can, and I am! Time to improvise!" Lazarus cried back defiantly, a surge of adrenaline blocking out his doubts as he dropping low and began rushing towards Jurota. Lazarus was vaguely aware of the fact that the other student made no move to dodge his attack, standing perfectly still as Lazarus rapidly approached. That was, however, totally fine by his books.
"Underestimating me, eh? Then take this!" Lazarus yelled as he ducked to the side, swinging a haymaker at Jurota exposed gut, planning on following through and sending his foe toppling to the ground. Most likely following up with another flurry of blows.
What actually happened, however, was Lazarus fist hitting Jurota with a solid slapping sound. Jurota grunted, and Lazarus's momentum was stopped dead as his body jerked back, repealed by the solid surface of Jurota's stomach. His fist began to throb from the hard impact.
Lazarus looked up at Jurota blankly, who matched his look with one of his own. Lazarus opened his fist and felt around the rock solid abs of the other student. Humming to himself as he felt the iron six pack of the other student.
"Wow." Lazarus spoke, nodding his head enthusiastically. Jurota made the same gesture, rolled his shoulders slightly, then uppercutted Lazarus in the chin.
Lazarus flew into the air, his entire body slamming against the curved ceiling of the tunnel, cracking the concrete above him as his body seemed to defy gravity for a brief moment, hanging painfully in mid air, before quickly descending back to the ground, slamming into the floor. The raven haired student grunting as chunks of debris pelted him from above.
Without wasting a moment, Lazarus placed his hand on the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood as he pushed himself up.
A sound Lazarus could only describe as cracking porcelain drifted to his ears. Looking down at his arm, Lazarus gulped back uncertainty.
Along his hands and arm were cracks. Massive, skin-breaking breeches had formed up his entire forearm, but there wasn't blood underneath his broken skin, only an inky darkness, a darkness eerily familiar to Lazarus.
Suddenly, the world shifted around him, and Lazarus for a fraction of a fraction of a second, was back to death, laying alone in the emptiness between. And then he was back.
Lazarus looked around, bewildered and suddenly disoriented, the world seemed so crisp all of a sudden, he noticed the massive cracks on his arm seemed to fragment more, quickly, he placed his other hand around his forearm, squeezing the fragmenting bits of his skin back together, where they miraculously clicked back into place. The cracks were still visible, but his skin was still staying together. Finally, he met Jurota's eyes, only to find confusion looking back.
"Did you just vanish-" Jurota muttered under his breath, squinting, most likely unsure if he had been seeing things in the dark among the debris. Lazarus wasn't sure what had just happened himself. However, Lazarus knew an opportunity to strike back when he saw one.
This time, he knew where to aim his blow, without hesitation, Lazarus leaped back to his feet and bounced into the air, using his long legs to truly soar through the air towards Jurota, before swinging right for the jaw.
Lazarus took a moment of satisfaction from Jurota's shocked eyes from behind his glasses, before Lazarus's blow hit its mark. Jurota stumbled back, disoriented from the blow, before Lazarus advanced.
"You don't get off that easily!" Lazarus landed on the ground, crouching before springing forward, nailing Jurota again and again with a unending barrage of punches to the face, throwing off Jurota's staggered attempts to guard his face with ease.
"Grah!" Jurota roared at him, and Lazarus saw a change in the other student's movement, for a brief moment, Jurota tried to roll his shoulders.
In the next instant Lazarus threw his leg out to the side, dipping his whole body back, as Jurota sent a devastating uppercut right where Lazarus's chin was a moment before. Lazarus answered the attack with an equally brutal left hook, keeping the beast-student off his balance as Lazarus continued to attack instantly.
"I'm not as big as you...and I'm sure as hell not as strong…I'd never beat anyone with just my abilities against theirs..." Lazarus grunted as Jurota's defence became more and more erratic.
"But guess what? I have one leg up on you all...I live...and live...and learn!" Lazarus punctuated each breath with a meaty jab as Jurota seemed on his last leg to Lazarus. Intending to end it, Lazarus lined up a finishing uppercut.
"End of the line, Hero! Lazarus takes the win-" Lazarus couldn't help but mock, reeling back before feeling a gentle tap on his shoulder from his left. His reflexes moving faster than his brain caused him to turn to the side instinctively, his eyes widening just in time for a single thought to make it to his mouth.
"Oh right there's two-" Lazarus found it impressive that he managed to get that much out before Pony's hoof connected with his face.
"Ahaha- Wow. It's uh...it's moving! Yeah! Haha...Oh god. I think I'm going to be sick...no wait, I think that's excitement, no that's today's lunch…why did I do this..." Isaac ranted from on top the riding pony, his tiny seven year old body sent into overdrive as he clutched his mount, hyperventilating. Lazarus rolled his eyes from the ground, placing a hand on his hip.
"For once, relax Isaac." Lazarus sighed, amused by his brother's antics, but also a little peeved that Isaac was hogging the ride. Lazarus had been the one most excited for the school field trip, so he felt he should have gotten the first ride. But Isaac was the teacher's pet, and Lazarus was as far from that positional as humanly possible.
"This is...wow, pretty fun Laz! Okay, but I'm almost done, then you can go! Okay, soon, very soon. This pony is scaring me now." Isaac continued to blubber as the Pony cantered around the pen of its own volition. Nearby, the attendants stood by and chatted, paying minimal attention to the students running around aggressively petting the docile animals.
"I'm so excited!" Lazarus suddenly felt like he was going to burst. He loved horses, and Ponies were basically small horses, and he was a small child, so it was like a training horse. He had always wanted to ride a horse, but he knew that horses were expensive, and his family tended to avoid things that were openly seen as expensive.
"Do you remember the rules Lazarus? Do you want me to call someone over…" Isaac began to stress, and Lazarus rolled his eyes, blowing a raspberry at Isaac as the Pony slowed to a stop beside him. Lazarus reached out and petted the pony, his touch calming the already friendly animal.
"I'm pretty okay Isaac, I know more about horses then those adults probably do!" Lazarus proudly declared, causing his brother to frown.
"It's a pony, not a horse, and even if it was a horse, I doubt that's true." Isaac tried to stedy himself without grabbing onto the saddle for dear life.
"Whatever! I've spent a lot of time learning about horses, and ponies are just smaller horses, I bet you I totally know more pony-facts then they do!" Lazarus spoke again, feeling an edge settle into his voice.
"They're adults, Lazarus, they know more than we do…" Isaac bit his lip as to Lazarus, it seemed that his brother was insulting him. Lazarus puffed out his chest and blew air into his cheeks.
"Do not!" Lazarus asserted, knowing fully well that adults did not always know more.
"Lazarus...I don't wanna fight…" Isaac looked away and down, instantly calming Lazarus's temper, though leaving him with a bubbling frustration. He never wanted to fight with his brother, but his brother avoided conflict so much that Lazarus sometimes felt he couldn't even be upset around his brother without Isaac shutting down and curling into a ball.
"It's not a fight...It's the truth, look!" Lazarus tried to cheer up his brother by walking down the pony, running a soothing hand along its side as he did so.
"Ponies have thicker tails and manes then most horses, shorter necks, and stumpier legs!" Lazarus spoke the fact proudly, having no idea if it was always true, but from his observations, considered it fact.
"And just like horses, ponies have powerful rear legs, which is why…" Lazarus fully circled to the back, rubbing the horse on the flank as he stood directly behind it, smiling as Isaac began to freak out.
"Lazarus!" Isaac was about to shout, then remembered why he shouldn't shout, and ended up sounding half-strangled, which amused Lazarus greatly.
"You should never stand…" Lazarus stretched out his words as he scratched harder, causing the horse to shift affectionately, which only further scared his brother.
"Please stop…you're breaking the rules..." Isaac wined, clearly on the verge of tears, Lazarus let out a massive sigh. He was tired of people saying his brother was the mature one just because he got good grades, didn't get into fights, and was never sent to detention.
"Okay okay...never stand directly behind a pony, I'll move now-" Lazarus finished with a wave of his hand, stopping his petting to put a hand on his hips, at that same moment, Arnold, a bratty boy with bird like wings under his arms, who was also in his class, threw a fit because one of the goats was trying to bite his feathers.
"Stop!" Arnold screeched in a pitch that made Lazarus wince, Arnold's eagle-sounding predatory cry cut through the entire play area, and instantly, Lazarus was acutely aware of where exactly he was standing.
"Whoop-" Lazarus began, before the pony bucked up, smashing both of its legs rather painlessly into Lazarus head. He died instantly.
Lazarus regenerated about half a minute later to the sound of shrieking adults crying about a dead child and an impending lawsuit that would leave them all broke and homeless.
He never did get to ride that pony.
"I never did get to ride that pony-" Lazarus vocalized his disjointed thought just before his body slammed into the wall, he felt his spine shift painfully as his other arm cracked to match his dominant hand.
Lazarus hit the ground hard, his skull ringing from the impact. He wasn't dead as far as he could tell, but he felt the entire world rotate around him like he was stuck on some kind of demented DJ table, so he assumed he had a minor concussion of some kind at the least, nothing he couldn't shake off.
"Laz-us! -sta- -ming-...-figh-...-not!" Kosei's voice floated into his ear, though Lazarus couldn't tell if the interference was because of damage to the earpeice, or the feeling of blood seeping out of his ear.
Somehow, Lazarus found the energy within himself to stand, he felt his vision swim and his body resist every move, but he stayed on his two feet. Through his unfocused vision, he saw Pony take out the capture tape. Suddenly aware that he had made two mistakes. Forgetting that it was a two on one fight, and forgetting that he could have just taken Jurota out with a roll of tape.
"Lazarus…" Pony spoke, giving Lazarus a moment of pause as genuine concern seemed to fill her voice.
"What...going...try and get me to surrender?" Lazarus smiled, managing to raise his hands to guard his face, even though his fingers felt like bricks of lead.
"You are really hurt...it is just training, and I don't think you can win this fight…sorry." Jurota's crisp voice entered the conversation, though there was a little wobble to his tone, his body clearly not fully recovered from Lazarus's devastating onslaught moments before.
"Look who's talking ...I'm not backing down...so come and make me!" Lazarus pounded his fists together, trying to hide his wince as his fists fragmented further, revealing the darkness just beneath his skin. Both the heroes suddenly seemed very unsure about engaging him again.
"A cornered animal is the most fierce, you know?" Lazarus taunted, forcing himself to take a shaky step forward, taking the initiative.
Instantly, Jurota stepped forward, clearly intending on ending the fight, though Lazarus couldn't stand the pity in the other boy's eyes.
"This is for your own good." Jurota ordered, swinging back, Lazarus tried meekly to throw a punch of his own, but his fatigue overtook him, and his hands dropped to his side, leaving him completely exposed.
Lazarus watched with dread as the blow grew closer to hitting its mark, before a pair of hands grabbed his from his chest and pulled him backwards, Lazarus heard a rush of air pass by his ears, and before his very eyes, a small barrier, not that much larger than his fist, appeared where his head was a moment before. As Jurota's hand impacted it, it cracked like a spiderweb, but held, clearly shocking the other student.
"Go!" Kosei screamed, half-leading, half-dragging Lazarus away from the two heroes, Lazarus didn't need that much prompting, instantly trying to shake the cement blocks from his feet as he struggled to keep up with his teammate. Lazarus looked over his shoulder again as Kosei took another deep breath and blew over his own shoulder, creating a larger barrier that blocked off the top half of the tunnel.
Jurota was already in hot pursuit, like a predator on the hunt, Jurota dropped to all fours and dived under the barrier. Pony however, whose view was most likely obstructed by Jurota massive size, could do nothing but gasp as she suddenly became aware of the obstruction in the dark, slamming face first into the air-shield and sprawling out on her back, groaning.
Jurota instantly stopped, turning around, moving a step towards his downed teammate, before Pony yelled from the ground.
"Go! Get them! I'll catch up! I believe in you, you can take them down!" Pony cheered from the ground as she rolled over to get up, stumbling slightly, Jurota nodded and turned back to face Lazarus and Kosei. Even from the space the two of them had made between them and the hero team, Lazarus could feel the determination in Jurota eyes.
"Stop looking and just run, you suicidal idiot!" Kosei screamed louder, shocking Lazarus and returning his attention to their frantic escape.
"..left up ahead." Lazarus meekly spoke, feeling tired, but suddenly much more energized as Kosei continued to drag him, obeying and ducking to the left passage. After what felt like an eternity running. Kosei suddenly turned another corner, and after a short hallway, ducked into a doorless doorway, with a crude sign above that denoted it the 'hostage room.'
Instantly. The two of them collapsed, Lazarus felt like he could hardly move, though Kosei looked like he could hardly breath, wheezing like he was having some kind of asma attack. The raven haired boy wanted to comfort his teammate, but he remembered he had a more pressing issue he had to resolve first.
"...Cube." Lazarus managed to get out between dry heaves, trying to stop himself from vomiting. Kosei wordlessly nodded, reaching into one of his utility pouches and pulling out Lazarus's cube, tossing it silently back to him. Lazarus instantly tore open his jacket, revealing his bare chest.
"Oh my...is this some kind of tactical show of power?" Midnight's voice drifted through the air, causing Lazarus to look over, the plain looking room didn't have much in it, a wooden table with four chairs near the back corner and the second enerence to the hostage (if the heroes had taken the long way around), and a metal chair in the center, where Midnight was sitting smugly. The entire room was actually well lit, unlike the rest of the subway, giving it a very deceptively safe feeling compared to the rest of the tunnels.
Lazarus said nothing in response to Midnight, electing instead to raise his cube up to his chest, placing it over where his heart would normally be. After a momentary delay, he felt the skin around the cube begin to become alive, shifting painlessly out of the way to allow the cube to return to where it belonged, despite never being kept, which was the empty cavity in his chest.
Almost instantly, relief and bliss washed over Lazarus. He looked down at his arms to see the cracks instantly seal themselves, vanishing, only to be replaced with regular, human cuts, leaking blood instead of the darkness of human despair or whatever was under his skin before. Lazarus sighed, placing his head against the wall as his breathing quickly regulated itself, his entire body suddenly working at a greater efficiency than normal.
"...Your...eyes…" Kosei huffed, his breathing far less strained than a moment ago, though still somewhat laboured. Lazarus nodded and put a small smile on his face.
"Bright green with the cube in, kinda dull without. Not many people notice, good eye. Pun intended. I feel a hell of alot better with the cube in, but I can also actually feel pain, so it's sixty-forty." Lazarus ended with a pointed finger, causing Kosei to huff, then cough painfully.
"Don't do that...it hurts to laugh...and I'm suppose to be mad at you...for screwing that all up…" Kosei finally began to suck in deep, regular breaths of air, standing back at almost his full hight, Lazarus couldn't meet his eye.
"I uh, lost my cool, a little." Lazarus admitted, as much to his teammate as himself. Kosei grunted.
"A little? You ran right into a two-on-one brawl with two students with physical augmentation quirks when you were already weakened. What did you expect? Neither of us could take those two in a fight, probably not even two on one in our favor! We don't have combat focused quirks! We're screwed! And you fighting them just took away our best out of hiding until we could outsmart them or something! Why?" Kosei's words were true, but that didn't make them any less harsh.
"I felt cornered, I don't know…I'm a pretty okay fighter, and I just...I needed to get back..." Lazarus sighed as he twiddled his thumbs, hoping fruitlessly that Kosei would just drop it.
"What? If you couldn't run away, why didn't you just use your quirk to get out of there!" Kosei continued to scold, clearly trying to figure something logical in Lazarus's plan and failing to find anything.
"I was afraid! Okay?" Lazarus admitted, stepping closer to his teammate, and feeling heat rise to his face. Kosei froze, caught off guard.
"What?" Kosei questioned, his harshness gone.
"My quirk has never done that before. At least not that I remember. Most of the time, whenever I'm separated from my cube I don't normally get a chance to return to it. I just wake up later back at my cube without remembering the last few hours beforehand. This time...it was like my body was decaying, and my soul was trying to escape…" Lazarus tried to put words to his experience, though he knew he was struggling. Kosei remained silent.
"I didn't...even think of risking death. It felt real, it felt like if I had died it would have been game over. I know, It wouldn't have been, I mean, I don't think it would have been, because I've regenerated other times when seperated. But I'm always in control, always. This time, it felt like something...something else was trying to take control of me, and it scared the hell out of me." Lazarus finished with a sigh, keeping on hand pressed against his forehead.
"Okay…well, we're both still...well, alive. So, we can still win this, right? Somehow, maybe..." Kosei spoke quietly, placing a hand on Lazarus's shoulder, he nodded in return.
"Right…" Lazarus began, before stopping, something dawning on him.
"What is it?" Kosei asked, seeing the change in Lazarus's posture. Lazarus could only grin.
"How much longer man?" Lazarus asked, instantly, Kosei clued in, pulling back his sleeve to reveal an ordinary looking watch underneath.
"...four more minutes, roughly, give or take ten seconds." Kosei spoke, his tone rising as a twinkle started in his eyes, Lazarus reached out and high fived the other student.
"We're over half-way there, we can do this!" Lazarus began to pace, feeling the energy return to him as excitement overtook his fatigue. We just have to hold out, we don't even have to beat them, just not lose.
"...Do you hear that?" Kosei suddenly stopped, turning his head to the main entrance they had just come through as a sound Lazarus could only describe as thunder echoed down the halls. Lazarus felt his pupils actually dilate.
"And here comes the Hero." Lazarus spoke, taking a step away from the entrance as Kosei quickly did the same. Almost instantly, Jurota's massive shape was visible in the short hallway leading up to the entrance way, and Jurota made no move to halt his momentum as he came charging towards them.
"And there goes any chance we had at victory…" Kosei's shoulders sagged as his voice dropped, the light in his eyes extinguished. Lazarus's however, didn't feel like he was ready to give up just yet.
"Kosei…" Lazarus spoke, as Jurota shape got larger and clearer as he approached, Kosei seemed equally frozen in terror.
"Kosei!" Lazarus yelled louder, reaching out and shaking his teammate, who seemed to have simply accepted that he was about to be run over by the human equivalent of a hungry bear.
"..." Kosei braced himself, fear clear in his eye, Lazarus looked between his ally and his foe for a moment, feeling his window to react close. He clenched his fists, before remembering their last brawl, and knowing he couldn't count on the same trick twice.
"I can't take him in combat…" Lazarus spoke, loosening his hands as his eyes landed squarely on Kosei.
"But I don't have to." Lazarus finished, reaching over and grabbing at the breathing tool around Kosei's neck, and in a single gesture, shoved it into his teammate's mouth and pressed down on the sides, activating it.
"Mmhhmhmhm?!" Kosei tried to speak as instantly his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, his chest shooting forward as it expanded outwards slightly beyond what Lazarus would consider safe for a human.
"Sorry man, I'm improvising here!" Lazarus ripped the device out of Kosei's mouth and divide behind him, pressing his hands together on top of his teammate's bulged out belly. Remembering the only maneuver he bothered learning back when he did first aid.
"Kosei's special improvised hero move; Air force...shield!" Lazarus shouted out, trying to mimic the other boy's voice as he did, waiting for the exact moment that Jurota was about to pass through the doorway. Before slamming his fists inwards and upwards in a massive heimlich maneuver to drain every ounce of air out of his teammate.
"Phhhhhhhh!" Kosei's voice resembled a jet engine firing off, Lazarus actually felt his hair blow back from the force of the air escaping Kosei's mouth as the air condensed in the doorway in front of them, forming a thick barrier that completely sealed the entrance off.
At the same moment, Jurota reached the formerly clear entrance himself. Without hesitation, he threw his shoulder forward, clearly intent on moving through the barrier.
'Thwunk' was the only sound Lazarus heard through the barrier as it vibrated slightly, yet showed no signs of being cracked or damaged. Jurota on the other hand, seemed somewhat phased by his full body-check being shrugged off by the barrier. Without hesitation, he tried to slam his body into it again, a little more cautiously. This time, the barrier didn't even waver at his blow, standing strong.
"..." Jurota said something, but the barrier's thickness compleatly blocked out the sound, leaving Jurota to desperately pound on the sheild for a few terrifying seconds to Lazarus, before he turned and dashed away back into the darkness. Lazarus finally let out the breath he had been holding.
"Oh thank god...now, they'll have no choice but to go all the way back and take the longer route around, and by the time they figure out how to get there, the clock should be low enough that if we put up any kind of a fight, hah! They'll run out of time before they can get the hostage out…not a bad plan, eh?" Lazarus asked his teammate, sweat dripping down his brow as he released his grip slightly, only for Kosei to instantly slip out of his hands and crumple the the floor, almost lifelessly.
"Oh...you...you okay there buddy?" Lazarus smiled, but his heart wasn't in it as he continued.
"Uh, Pal? Friend?" Lazraus tried to joke, but he felt actual concern leap into his throat as Kosei said nothing, simply laying on the ground with open eyes, his chest moving ever so slightly.
"...closer…" Kosei gasped, his voice weak and strained, like a chain smoker after fourty years of abuse. Lazarus quickly abided, dropping to the ground and grabbing his teammate's head as he leaned in to get his ear as close to Kosei's mouth as possible.
"What is it buddy? What do you need?" Lazarus felt guilt claw up his gut, he had made a rash improvisation, and now his teammate was actually hurt directly because of it. He felt his breath begin to come harder, worry twisting his intestines into knots. Kosei coughed again.
"...you suck at coming up with move names…" Kosei finally managed to get out, taking several massive gulps of air in between each word. At the end, Lazarus couldn't tell if he wanted to laugh or cry.
"Hey, cut me some slack," Lazarus sighed, smiling down at his teammate, "I was improvising! Haha! You can always change the name before I spring it on you again." This time, it was Kosei's turn to weakly laugh, before he suddenly stopped, his eyes laser focused.
"If you ever do that to me again without asking, I will kill you." All the fun and dopiness had totally drained from Kosei's normally goober-like face, and suddenly, Lazarus felt very judged by those black eyes of his friend.
"Did not expect that from you...but, uh, yeah. D-duly noted Kosei-san er -kun, um yeah. No more improvising other people's hero moves without permission. You got it!" Lazarus suddenly didn't know if Kosei even wanted him to keep supporting his neck, or to just go stand in a corner or something.
"Good, because I was worried I'd have to kill you a few times before you got it through your skull. Your power makes it really hard to come up with actual serious ways to try and dissuade you from things, you know?" Suddenly, Kosei's goofy nature was back in full force, though Lazarus was unsure how seriously he needed to take Kosei's warning.
"Come on...they won't be able to get here with much time, but if they run around really fast, we might have to actually fight them to keep them from having enough time to escape." Lazarus stood up, reaching down to pull up his friend, who grabbed his extended hand and lifted himself to his feet.
"Okay...as long as I don't have to make any more barriers...I should be fine-" Kosei began, still breathing heavily. Lazarus was about to reply, but stopped, his gut warning him that something wasn't quite right. This was too easy.
The sound of the barrier cracking caught both their attentions, Lazarus met Kosei's fearful eyes, before they both turned to see a pair of sharp horns caught midway through the air shield, before being yanked out, causing more spider webs to form over the barrier. Both of them took a step away.
"Wow. I really underestimated Pony's power." Kosei dryly spoke, the same dread from before creeping back into his voice as the two of them watched Pony run backwards, before lowering her head and charging down the hall again.
"You know, fun fact, a Pony's legs have enough force behind them to instantly kill a seven year old child." Lazarus turned and smiled, trying to lift the mood as he pointed with a finger.
"Ah." Kosei nodded as they watched Pony charge forward, both utterly helpless, before Lazarus saw Kosei's head quizzically turn to the side.
"Wait, that was a really specific fact-" As Kosei voiced his sudden confusion, the barrier shattered, instantly turning back to air as Pony, clearly exhausted, stepped through the doorway, her normally wide and cheerful eyes filled with a thirst for victory.
"A hero, never lets any barrier…keep her from someone in need!" Pony earnestly spoke, her inner hero ignited as she charged forward, straight at Midnight.
"Oh my! How heroic! I'm saved~" Midnight cried, far more over-the-top and playfully, Lazarus was having none of it.
"You're on our turf now Hero!" Lazarus cried, fully embodying the role he was being forced to play as he reached out, grabbing Pony's exposed horns and twisting them to the side, pulling Pony's head, and her momentum, to the side and right into the nearby wall. Keeping his iron grip on her horns as she made no sign of slowing down as she ran out of space to run.
Instead of charging dead into the wall, however, Pony jumped at the last moment, using Lazarus's grip on her horns as a pivot point, bracing both her legs against the wall as she lept, back flipping and twisting her horns at the same moment, sending Lazarus crashing into the wall instead.
Lazarus stayed still for a moment, blinking away his disbelief at what just happened for a moment, before turning and dropping to his hands and knees, just avoiding another devastating kick from Pony.
"Fool me once!" Lazarus cried as he swung his right elbow forward, knocking the air out of Pony's lungs before following it up with a left hook as he stood back up to his full hight, sending her crashing to the ground.
Pony rolled over several times before coming to a stop, her breathing erratic and harsh, her physique clearly pushed to its absolute limit as she desperately tried to find the energy to stand again, trying to force her arms to push her body back up, but her own horns seemed to be weighing her down as her sweaty palms slipped on the ground beneath her, betraying the determined yet now worried expression on her face. Lazarus let out a few quick breaths, shaking his head as he moved to wrap some capture tape around her and end the fight.
"Lazarus-gah...hah…" Lazarus turned, his eyes instantly locking onto Kosei as his teammate leaned against the wall, painfully clutching his gut, at the same moment, Lazarus saw Jurota's foot as the other hero ran out of the longer-path exit to the room. A moment later, Lazarus realized the hostage was no longer in her chair.
"Oh crap." Lazarus muttered. Pony finally got to her knees, crawling towards Lazarus in some meek attempt to buy Jurota some time, without even thinking, Lazarus instinctively reared back and smashed his elbow into her face, knocking her out cold. It took Lazarus a moment to even realizes what he had just done.
"Sorry!" Lazarus declared, pointing at Pony's unconscious body as if she could respond to his apology in any way shape or form. A moment later, Lazarus began to sprint.
"Kosei! Take the short route, I'll try and catch up with him on foot!" As Lazarus reached the doorway, he kept calling over his shoulder.
"Take only the passages with circular shapes on them, the paths marked with lines are the longer ways around!" Lazarus heard Kosei weeze loudly in response, and without wasting another moment, put his full energy into catching up to the fleeing hero, feeling so much faster with his cube firmly in his chest.
Lazarus took turn after turn, trying to remember the shortest route even through the longer section, and just as he was about to lose hope, he caught a shape moving in the darkness ahead of him, a shape carrying another shape on it's back.
"You're not faster than me when you have a passenger big guy!" Lazarus called out, redoubling his efforts as the gap slowly but surely closed between them.
"Oh...oh no! Don't let him take me again! I'll be so defenceless against that heartless fiend~" Midnight spoke from Jurota's back, seemingly more invested in the action now that something was happening. Lazarus laughed.
"You wish I was heartless right now!" Lazarus felt another surge of energy overtake him as his heart pounded in his chest, each beat sending another pulse of energy through his body, giving him a much needed boost. He was moving faster then he had before, his heart shocking his body into motion with each pulse. Jurota was suddenly just within his reach.
Lazarus felt his body hiccup, his muscles backfiring as he pushed them past their limits, his step faltering as his whole body tilted sideways as he ran into the wall, giving Jurota a few moments to regain his lead.
Lazarus swore in english, slamming a fist into his chest, sending waves of real pain through his body as he pushed the cube deeper into it's crevice, instantly supercharging his body with energy again. Like being hit by a defibrillator while injecting adrenaline. No longer was it the relieved energy from before, it was a sickly, harsh power, he felt his muscles shake in protest as his hands began to twitch, he watched the skin that normally neatly surrounded the edges of his cube creep overtop of it, ignoring how vivid all of his usually dulled senses felt.
Suddenly, Lazarus was sprinting again, feeling a different, more violent decay spread through his body. His body wasn't designed to operate with this much efficiency, not after all the abuse he had taken. He'd need to remove the cube quickly afterwards, he couldn't stand the feeling of his broken body actually weighing on his mind.
Almost instantly, Lazarus closed the gap between him and Jurota, the larger boy having been significantly slowed down by having to carry the hostage as well as run at the same time. At that exact moment, Jurota hit the last fork in the road, and Lazarus could see sunlight up ahead, passed one last long hallway, pouring down from the staircase that doubled as the finish line for the heroes, the staircase was surrounded by crates and discarded boxes, but it seemed as if the single exit had opened up entirely to allow one narrow passageway to victory for the Heroes.
Jurota hit his second wind, taking off with increased speed, Lazarus saw his chance escaping him, and without hesitation, leaped forwards, wrapping his whole body around Jurota's leg in a desperate attempt to slow the massive student down. Jurota didn't even faulter.
"What the hell did your mother feed you?!" Lazarus screamed from his position, feeling his already battered body near it's breaking point as he was slammed into the floor with each step Jurota took.
"A taste of victory!" Jurota roared in response, shaking his leg to the side as he hopped forward, too tired to try anything else to remove Lazarus from his leg, Lazarus was also too tired to capitalize on the awkward moment and was simply holding on for dear life.
"That's a good comeback!" Lazarus cried in response, just as Jurota stepped down, crushing Lazarus under his foot, As he did, Lazarus felt the already deeply embedded cube press further back into his chest, sending waves of agony through his entire body as he could do nothing but scream, his body convulsing at the shock of feeling so many things. His nerves all crying out that he needed to stop.
"Let go! Just give up!" Jurota spoke, pressing down harder, as Lazarus tightened his grip, fighting back his pain with teary eyes.
"I'm not strong enough to beat you, but I'm strong enough to die trying!" Lazarus suddenly could breathe again, as Jurota simply decided that he'd have to drag Lazarus across the finish line with him. Though Lazarus could feel the fatigue in Jurota's legs with each step he had to take.
"We're almost there!" Midnight remarked, looking at the rapidly approaching staircase from above Lazarus's position on the ground. Without warning, Jurota jerked his leg out, knocking Lazarus's grip loose, and sending him tumbling to the ground. As Jurota quickly ran forward, stumbling slightly with each step.
From the floor, Lazarus was completely on empty, watching helplessly as Jurota approached the finish line, acutely aware that their impending failure was completely on his shoulders, his own lack of teamwork and intelligence in fighting had cost them the win, and he was solely to blame.
All Lazarus could do was reach out a desperate hand, watching Jurota reach the last few steps away from the exit.
Lazarus saw Midnight tense, as if she saw something he and Jurota couldn't before she suddenly jumped off Jurota's back, at the same moment, the air in front of Jurota shimmered slightly as Jurota ran head-first into a perfectly placed barrier right at his eye level. Knocking the massive boy flat on his behind, Lazarus saw Jurota looked around frantically, disoriented and at his wits end, at the the same moment, a voice descended down from the top of the stairs, as well as being projected directly into his ear.
"Time. Is. Up! Villain team, wins!" Lazarus rose up, only to fall to his knees as Kan's voice echoed around him and down the hallway behind him, delivering his verdict onto the training arena.
Jurota stood as well, the student grunted once, pushed his glasses farther up his face, and then passed out, obviously having no strength left in his body.
From behind one of the crates, Kosei stood, leaning against the box as sweat poured down his face, which had turned a slight shade of blue. He smiled widely at Lazarus.
"Good...idea...marking...shortcuts...real...fast." Kosei somehow managed to speak, stumbling over to Lazarus and offering a hand. Lazarus gingerly took it as he pulled himself up, unsure if trying to get Kosei to support any weight at all would be a wise idea.
Suddenly, Lazarus felt another hand grab his arm, throwing it up into the air. Lazarus looked behind him to see that Midnight had somehow snuck behind him and was lifting both his and Kosei's arms into the air in a pose of victory, declaring them the champions.
"Good fight boys...good fight." Midnight spoke, her sultry voice surprisingly professional as she delivered her praise. Kosei blushed, Lazarus just rolled his eyes.
"We did it pal!" Lazarus looked over at Kosei, who despite looking like the walking dead, had the biggest smile on his face that Lazarus had ever seen, his eyes shiny with tears of happiness, as if he couldn't quite believe what had happened.
"Whooh!" Kosei yelled, his voice echoing down the hall as Lazarus laughed at the massive shout. A second later, however, Kosei looked him dead in the eyes.
"That was a bad idea." Kosei spoke quietly, before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out, his body being held up entirely by the arm, which Midnight gently lowered to the floor before releasing.
"Vlad! We're going to need the nurse!" Midnight called up to Kan, who quickly and gruffly replied.
"She's already sending some bots down!" Kan's voice was sudden far more drainned, and Lazarus wondered how much of that fight was anything like it was supposed to be.
"Come on Lazarus-kun." Midnight's voice called him from his distracting thoughts. Lazarus looked up to see Midnight, somehow carrying both Jurota and Kosei on her back as she ascended the stairs (in high heels, no less).
"Yeah, I'm coming." Lazarus replied, suddenly feeling full of emotions, reaching down to his chest, undoing his vest to allow his fingers to hover over the edges of his cube still showing, before quickly yanking it entirely from his chest. His nerves finally quieting as he felt a new level of fatigue, but painless fatigue, overtake him.
Lazarus looked back, back into the darkness of the tunnel, and smiled, rubbing the spot on his arm where Midnight had held him when she declared his and Kosei's victory, the smile not quite going away. Before shaking the feeling from his mind. Clasping his vest and rubbing the sore spot on his chest.
Without delaying further, Lazarus took a step forward, up onto the stair in front of him, before he took another step, and another, and another…
And once again, he felt the warmth of the sun warm his skin.