Trav dashed across the city suburbs, attempting to avoid any sort of other human contact as possible. The city was an enormous riot. If it’s like this only here, I don’t even want to know what it’s like globally. What the hell is going on though? Trav thought, narrowing his eyes up ahead. Trav leaped up across of a fruit stand, knocking down a sack of potatoes in a stand along his way. As a potato fell from mid-air into Trav’s grasp, along his trail, he caught the potato with a bizarre mix of luck and expertise, and took a scrumptious bite.
“I’d better cut this corner. At least the city is still recognizable in this time.” Trav said, clearly acknowledging that by now, this was not the current time. The date on the calendar walls was one dead giveaway. 2024, 12 years after his normal time stream, into the future. At the moment, Trav’s thoughts were much too obscured from the events that happened in his own time stream to care about what was going on here, other than finding the one man he knew was the key to unlocking the many hazed secrets of this epoch maze, Willman.
As Trav made his turn down a bleak alley, two strangers approached him, grabbing him on the shoulder. Trav looked back, glaring back at the baggily cloaked men as if to say he was in no mood to tango with the likes of these lowlives, which on of itself, he thought, would be anything more than contradictory.
“What’s in the bag?” one of the men said, whom was wearing a particular light gray hat, with a black outline, the phrase SN sewed onto the center. The other man’s face was concealed through the confines of the hoodie’s hood fabrics. Trav’s eyes narrowed, barely turning his head to even acknowledge them there.
“Go away,” Trav said rudely. “I don’t have time for this bullshit,” Trav forcefully tucked his arm away, heading in the direction to the alley. The hooded man beamed a twisted smile.
“Hey, what a brave little gangster. That’s gonna get ya’ killed in these parks,” the hooded man took out a magnum, aiming the gun for the back of Trav’s neck from afar. Trav stopped upon hearing the words, and the rustle of the gun. Trav’s heart began to pound, not exactly the situation he wanted to be in, not that he didn’t have experience with it, it was just the worst timing. How that always happened to him was beyond him.
“Since the world is gonna end anyway… might as well go out with a bang,” the capped man said, revealing his grillz along with his beaming, cocky smile, walking toward Trav, drawing his own similar style magnum. He walked up behind Trav, stroking the tip of the gun to the back of Trav’s head, the hooded man still covering from behind a distance. Trav closed his eyes, straining.
“What are you talking about?” Trav asked simply, a large scowl layered across his face.
“Word on the street corner is, those K.I. monsters are wiping us out,” the capped man answered with a surprising calmness. “Man, it’s the end of the world. Before we die, we’re gonna do what we love to do, what we’ve lived to do for our whole lives. We love killing little wanna-be sap bastards like you.”
Trav gulped. He had to think of a way to get out of this situation quick. With the hooded man from behind covering from a distance, attempting an attack on the capped man was risky. Still, he was feeling brave. Trav’s eyes beamed instantly with a newfound courage.
Trav swiftly reversed his body around to eye level with the capped man. He reached for his hand, attempting a grab for his wrist, which however was easily interjected, as the man jerked his arm back, and then reached around with his free arm, knocking Trav across the face. Trav coughed up blood as the impact left him red cheeked with a stain of blood across his mouth. These guys weren’t just gangsters, they were skilled fighters as well, even more skilled than Trav, who had much experience, but never officially trained.
Trav caught himself on the wall in the dark alley, glaring up at the capped man, who stood above him. The man held his gun in between Trav’s forehead, a large smug smile creeped upon his face.
“Die!” the capped man pulled the trigger. Trav’s eyes flashed before him. He wasn’t sure where he was at the moment. When he felt the warm liquid splash across his face, he thought he had been shot. He opened his eyes slowly, noticing a downed man, and a panicking partner. His blood soaked through the sidewalk, pouring from the fresh gunshot wound on his chest. The other man ran away, down the corner. Trav sighed. He had no idea what just happened, but he was glad it did.
Trav turned, seeing a feminine figure standing in front of him, blocking his path. Trav’s eyes widened as he took a good look at the woman, he knew all too well.
“Yuki?”
“It stimulates me to see you have made it this far,” Yuki said, adjusting her glasses casually, a cold, calculating blank expression lit upon her face. Trav looked on, confused.
“Wha-what are you doing here?” Trav asked, not concerned with the suspicious statement first said.
“That is not essential at this moment,” Yuki said bluntly. Trav was caught aback by her sudden bluntness, perhaps because he didn’t see any indication of her true personality during their first encounter 12 years ago, but technically yesterday. He remembered it just like it was yesterday, really. “I told you we would meet again, Travis Reid.”
“Was everyone else here dragged into this time period as well?” Trav asked. Yuki shook her head. “What exactly happened during that fight in the gym?”
“In layman’s terms, everyone from before is here, however, they were affected by the sudden shift in time, they were, unlike you, not sent through the time stream.” Yuki answered. “To be more precise, you and Willy are the only two who were not affected by the time shift caused by Sid. Everyone else has lived their lives in these past 12 years. Sid directly sent you two through a time portal, along with himself.”
Trav’s eyes widened. “You’re serious? So, Willy is here? I knew it. Where is he?!” Trav asked, in an almost pleading manner. He placed her hands on her shoulder, which he noted mentally were extremely cold, even with the layer of cloth bandaged on.
“I can sense Willy’s biomass, but there are a few issues with my internal logic,” Yuki said, again with the bluntness. “Come with me.”
Trav nodded. “Right.”
---
Willy leaped up, propelling himself toward Xero at an extreme speed. Willy’s muscles bulged, his fist clenched. He threw a punch at Xero, whom was, to his surprise, easily able to block with his hand. Willy’s eyes widened in shock, as he instantly felt the hard steel clash through his hands, creating a bloody mass in between their fists. Willy groaned in pain, yet remained strong and vigilant.
Willy flipped back, catching himself on his feet smoothly. Willy picked up a firm stance, wiping the blood from his knuckles atop of his shirt. Willy didn’t care about the pain, that wasn’t what was important. An innocent life was taken, for no apparent reason. He hated it, but had to live with K.I. for so long. He was not, for once, going to let this continue, anyway he could, anything he could do, he would.
Willy leaped toward Xero once more, forcing the rubble to clash with his feet, Willy threw a kick at Xero, landing a hit on his gut. The force of the kick was powerful, sending small yet noticeable shockwaves through the air. Even Xero doubled over slightly, his armor finally perhaps penetrated? We’ll see, but things were looking up now. However, it was odd Xero had not attacked yet, he only seemed to take Willy’s assaults, as he continued to punch and kick away, aiming for any and all vital points in the super android. However, that was hard to come by in the first place.
Xero finally retaliated, with a small smirk, he head-butted Willy, who didn’t see it coming through sheer speed alone. Willy’s head was instantaneously busted open, a small gush of blood leaked, soaking the ground below. Xero kicked one of the debris of the wrecked building toward Willy’s face. So he wasn’t going to play fair, but he was strong enough as it was, even easily overpowering Willy at 200% max power. He was no ordinary opponent for sure.
Willy kicked the debris away, however, in the brief moment it took him to do so, Xero took the advantage and disappeared. Willy leaped back, flipping through the rubble stylishly. When he landed, he felt two metallic hands grab at his ankles from below. Willy’s eyes widened, as he was suddenly propelled into the air by a large velocity. Willy yelled in despair.
“Shit!” Willy attempted to regain balance by flipping upright in the air, but would find, that would be impossible. In that moment, Xero’s built-in propeller rockets from his back erupted in crimson flames, he clotheslined Willy from above, nearly snapping off his neck in the process. Willy’s vision began to fade, as he was immediately taken off guard, the air knocked out of his lungs.
Xero continued the assault, barraging Willy with a montage of blows, Willy having no way to defend him. Xero had blurred his vision through the last attack. Xero’s face remained nonchalant through the assault, while Willy was fighting for his life. Xero grabbed Willy by the arm as he fell, and lifted his hand toward Willy’s face. Willy looked, although still blurred, he noticed a small pentagram-like symbol engraved on Xero’s palm, which began to glow consistently, yet swiftly.
“That ability of yours, it’s just like I remember it,” Xero said casually, placing his hand closer to Willy’s chest. Willy attempted to retaliate, glaring at the android with all his fury. “To unleash the potential of your body’s limits through a burst of limited power, releasing all restraints on the user. It’s useful… yet very risky; a double edged sword.”
“Gaah!” Willy yelled, overpowering Xero, elbowing him across the face. Xero flew higher into the air as Willy landed on the ground on all fours. He began panting furiously. Damn it… none of my attacks are getting through to him. I guess I’ll have no choice but to go even further… and use my Justice technique. Willy stood up, flexing his entire body in a fit of determined rage. His muscles began to bulge, veins clearly visible on his body.
“Two hundred fifty percent!” Willy declared angrily, his muscle’s mass increasing even more, over twice as much strength he had possessed now. Xero remained calm, Elementia was even chuckling to herself in the background.
“What a fool. If only he knew… Xero is the worst possible opponent for him,” Elementia said with a fitting sigh.
Willy launched himself toward Xero once more, charging head on. His eyes bulged as he fast approached, throwing a punch with greater power than before, fifty percent more power to be precise. Xero took the hit head on. Willy’s fist bounced off of the impact, as his bleeding knuckles took on even more force. The force of the impact could be felt even outside of the vine dome. Willy felt he was clashing with a bulldozer. Willy although had the determination to never give up.
Xero lifted up his head, grinning slowly. “Is that all? How disappointing.” Willy’s eyes widened, his shock couldn’t be contained this time. Xero took head on a punch from Willy at two hundred fifty percent his normal muscle mass, and he shook it off? Like hell.
“What the hell are you?” Willy asked, glaring at the metallic man.
“I told you, I’m an android.” Xero replied simply. “You’re probably wondering, ‘why are my attacks having absolutely no visual effect on him?’, right?” Xero asked. Willy’s glare remained in confirmation. “I was programmed with your design. All of your fighting methods, techniques, even your eating and sleeping habits, have all been recorded in my data banks,” Xero said, his red eyes shimmered with a lightning mass of new incoming data, simply upon observing Willy. Willy’s eyes broadened at the sight. “Immediately during collection of this data, the right side of my brain, which is completely robotic, considers every and all possibilities for a counter attack. The left side of my organic brain, picks the best possible counter attack. I have a sixth scent, naturally, for choosing the best course of action out of up to 200 possibilities.”
Xero charged for Willy. Willy put up his guard. As Xero approached, he couldn’t keep up in the end, as Xero aimed for Willy’s chest, just below his rib cage. Willy coughed up blood, as he skidded through the rubble of the former news station, flipping up into the wall of the vine field, completely immobilized. The loose vines in the wall wrapped around Willy’s body, completely encasing him. Willy attempted to break free, but moving the whole right side of his upper body proved useless. It hurt, a lot. Willy screamed, due to the pain indulging his body.
“W-what kind of attack.. was that?!” Willy asked, in between pants, and coughs of gushes of blood. Xero grinned, walking toward Willy slowly.
“I just disassembled your rib cage. If my calculations are correct, your right lung should be pierced by your very ribs. I could have taken it a step further and destroyed your liver as well. However…” Xero began, his face contorting into a serious demeanor. “I want to see the absolute agony on your face as I kill you. After all you’ve done to this world… and me personally, you have this coming, Sid.”
Willy groaned miserably. He was in no position to talk back at this rate. He was panting more heavily by the minute, finding it much harder to intake air. Suddenly, he felt a cold hand upon his chest, which began to heat up as the palm touched his heart. Willy gritted his teeth, trying with all of his might to break free, but to no avail. Xero and Elementia had him trapped. Elementia found this whole scene delightful, she laughed vigorously at the entire vista.
Willy’s flesh around his heart began to burn. Soon, he felt his entire body began to feel like an internal oven. Willy screamed in suffering. Steam picked up from the wound Xero was placing upon him. Willy felt his power dimming down to normal, his muscles were retracting. For the first time in a long time, he felt restricted, confined. He could do nothing at all.
Willy felt the pressure rise off of his skin’s surface, as he looked up; his vision returning to normal, Xero was gone from where he stood. He was kicked off balance by a new presence. Willy and Elementia looked on in perplexity at the new arrival.
“Looks like I’m in,” Willy heard the familiar voice. He looked over, seeing the familiar figure as well. The boy walked toward Willy, holding up his hand.
“What the hell happened to you, man? You look like spewed up shit,” Trav said with a strange pristine confidence. Willy grinned, accepting Trav’s hand. Trav attempted to pull Willy out of the vine prison, but had no luck whatsoever. Trav began panting, loosening his grip on Willy’s hand. Willy’s eyes narrowed.
“How did you damage Xero anyway? Or even distract him?” Willy asked. Trav looked up at Willy, rubbing the back of his head.
“Well, that wasn’t me,” Trav said. “I found some company on my way here. If it wasn’t for her, I never would have found your ass.”
Willy examined over to the side, seeing the arrival of a young girl. Xero stood up, his eyes expanded at the sight of the younger girl. Yuki stared calmly and boldly in front of Xero. The gust of wind patterns blew her hair gracefully to the side in a perpetual gesture.
“Yuki… why are you here?” Xero asked with contracting, observant eyes, giving Yuki a sense of déjà-vu.
“Older brother, you must cease this senseless hostility,” Yuki said apathetically. Willy and Trav both looked on in astonishment.
“Older brother…? That android is your brother?!” Trav asked, completely dumbfounded. Willy gulped.
“Affirmative, she’s my sister,” Xero answered, glaring at his younger, graceful sister. “However, my sister should learn to keep her nose pecked out of other people’s businesses. You have no business being here, none of this concerns you. Please leave immediately, as I do not wish to demolish you.”
“Brother, please…” Yuki said, her voice and expression changed into that of concern. Xero smiled.
“Even as a complete android, your feelings are intact. Seems your layer of cold metallic skin on the outside is only a self-pitied cloak of your true virtue. Inside… you are still that feeble girl I grew up with.” Xero said. “You have not changed as much as you believe.”
“Brother, listen, this is not about me! Nor is it about us!” Yuki said, raising her voice, her eyes glaring with a fierce resolve, which even drew Xero back a bit. Xero narrowed his head down closer to his chest, staring with his resolute crimson eyes, on the edge, ready to make any move at all. She placed her hands between her breasts clasped together.
“That is not Sid!”
Xero’s face warped slightly yet notably in surprise. “What? That’s impossible. His biomass is the exact same as those stored in my data banks collected over years of research. It has to be him.”
“He is not the one called The Kid. Please, do not harm him!” Yuki pleaded with her older brother. “Tetsu, he is not the one you should be after. He is an enemy to K.I., just as you are. You two have no reason to fight. Just please… release this dome and let him help you. Let us help you. You have no need to cling to the life of a renegade!”
Willy looked up in alarm after Yuki’s last sentence, more notably the last word. It rang in his head like a broken record. Renegade. A word he was all too familiar with, and probably the one he used the most. Willy rested his head down. Yuki released stream of pure sapphire energy from her fingertips, releasing Willy from the confines of the vine wall. Willy landed firmly on his feet, still panting, gripping his chest for dear life. His whole body at this point was numbingly painfully. Trav kneeled beside Willy, helping support him.
“Damn, that looks bad man,” Trav said, unsure of what to do clearly. Willy groaned in pain, yet continued to remain strong. He even attempted to stand up, and was able to for a few seconds before collapsing. “Forget it bro. You’ve been done in.” Trav said, noticing the pentagram seal placed on his chest, right directly on the flesh for his heart. What the hell is that…
Xero cocked his head back, as if seriously contemplating the circumstances. Xero lifted up his index finger, pointing it at Willy. “You say, this boy is not Sid? Then who is he?”
Yuki followed Xero’s finger, following his point to Willy. Willy glared up at Xero. “My name… is Willman. I’m… just an average boy… who hates to lose…”
“Willman? I have no such data in my vault,” Xero said, not retracting his finger at all. “The fact that your biomass is remotely similar… no… it is the infamous leader of K.I., clearly informs me you are Sid. For that, I cannot allow you to live.”
“Brother, no!” Yuki said, running toward Xero in an attempt to finally plead with him. Xero looked on in wonder. Suddenly, the wonder turned into a calm gaze of malice. As Yuki neared Xero, Xero raised his finger toward Yuki, straightening out his entire hand, he fired a red surge of plasma energy toward Yuki. Yuki’s eyes widened, as immediately as she had seen, she was hit. With a simple slice, her head canister fell off, the top of the cap completely burned off, and enclosed due to the super heating of the plasma bolt. “And you… for defending this worldwide criminal, deserve nothing more than to be thrown out with this trash.”
Trav’s eyes widened in revulsion. “How the hell could you do that?!” Trav asked angrily, whom was easily ignored. Willy watched on in horror. He clenched his fists, crushing the rubble underneath of him. He gritted his teeth together in fury. He attempted to power up; however, his body was too beaten and battered to respond. Xero narrowed his eyes toward Willy.
“I wouldn’t. I have placed my Containment Pentagram Seal upon you. Your reserves are sealed. Even if your body were not failing you, you would not be able to power up any more than your current state.” Xero smiled slowly. “As I said, I was programmed to combat your fighting style to the very last ounce of data.”
Willy felt completely hopeless, yet again. As he skirmished upon the rubble ground, something fell out of his pocket. A small container with a special sticker placed on it. Willy slowly smiled through the pain. He knew what to do.
Willy looked up at Trav, picking up the container, tainting the container with a built in syringe with spilling blood. Trav looked down at Willy.
“What is that?”
“This is the syringe… that gave me my abilities to increase the reserves… of my power,” Willy said with a slight cough, spitting up blood. Trav noticed he spilt it unintentionally on his shoe. He hated seeing Willy like this, but what could he do?
“What?! You’re giving that to me?!” Trav asked. He didn’t know how to take the news. Willy forced a smile.
“That’s right. I kept an extra with me, just in case. I was waiting… for the right moment to use it. Trav, take this, please. In my condition… I’m useless at this moment. No one can save us… but you.” Willy said, although Trav could tell, he was only just desperate. So was Trav.
“Fine. I’ll take it,” Trav said, extending the needle out of the container. It dripped with a clear liquid. “Here goes…”
Xero took notice of the syringe. He raised his finger toward Trav. “For aiding a worldwide criminal, you must die as well.”
Trav’s eyes widened, his face contorted in shock. “Shit! We should have kept him distract-“
Abruptly, someone latched on to Xero’s back, covering his eyes. They dug into his eyes, blinding his organic eyes. Xero groaned in pain.
“And it seems… you’re still as arrogant as ever, brother!” Yuki disgustingly said. “You didn’t even notice… or have you forgotten my ability already of organic cloning?”
“You conniving little bitch… you will pay for your insolence, sister!” Xero’s body began to light up, as even more suddenly, a crimson aura erupted around his body, followed by an oval-shaped plasma field surrounding his body, expanding as it went on, propelling Yuki back into the vine wall, for which she was trapped.
“Elementia… deal with her. Leave the boys to me,” Xero commanded. Elementia grinned, walking slowly toward the trapped Yuki.
“This won’t take too long. She’s already in my grasp,” Elementia said with an arrogant smirk. Yuki glared at Elementia as she approached.
Trav stuck the needle deep into his arm. He moaned, as it intensified over very short time into a scream. Only seconds after injecting the syringe, Trav’s body began to tense up. His heart began beating rapidly, as if overcome by the sudden force of the serum placed within his body. It flowed through his bloodstream almost instantaneously, he couldn’t believe it himself. His muscles massed up to twice their size, he screamed in utter pain, yet it was good pain. It felt so good. The power… felt good, it was a powerful sensation he had never felt before in his life. How he had gained such power and confidence so quick… he didn’t know, nor care. His body shook with a sweet contentment.
Trav grinned, as a bizarre aura came about him, his muscles had increased almost twice their size. His eyes, however, were darker. His aura was black. Xero sensed this. Though blinded in one eye now due to Yuki’s assault, he still could sense Trav’s presence. His good, cybernetic eye began reading the data signals of Trav’s biomass. His eye widened intensely.
“What the? No way! What is this…? He couldn’t possibly be…” Xero said, his face now twisted from confidence into a frown, not of cowardice, but of staggering realization.
Trav raised his hand above his head, extended his thumb downward toward Xero, then cut his throat fictionally.
“Someone is gonna die today.”
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