Facing The Perpetrator

The weary heroes were soaring through the skies, relentlessly following the same route in pursuit of home. They could see that houses, buildings and every sort of man-made structures were starting to become decreasingly numerous as they traveled northwest along Highway 117. Many trees surrounded the road and a few kilometres later, everything below became submerged in wilderness, with nothing but one long, lonely road that split the vast forest in two. Tony’s eyes illuminated when he saw the sign that read:

 

← RAPID LAKE 50 km

�' VAL-D’OR  283 km

 

Their hope was quickly lost though when they witnessed the seemingly infinite road that went through the infamous wildlife reserve of La Vérendrye.

“That’s what I was talking to you about.” Tony declared as they flew over the boundless array of trees and rivers. He recalled the place because of a few trips he went to with his family. “The Vérendrye Reserve is like the biggest forest ever. We don’t have a choice but to cross it if we wanna get anywhere, and this is gonna take hours.”

 “Doesn’t seem that huge to me. I’m pretty sure that the one on Brazin was bigger than that.” Pascal answered, not looking very impressed. “It’s lovely though. I could make myself home here and I’d probably know the place by heart after a couple of days. I’d just have to give names to all those rivers and lakes and then I’ll recognize them and�"

“I think it’s actually illegal to settle here.”

“What? How could it be illegal to live in a forest?”

“Well, that’s why it’s called a reserve. It’s reserved for a specific group of people.”

“And who the heck decided that?”

“I dunno, the government, probably.”

“Who’s the government?” Pascal asked.

“For Christ’s sake, don’t you know anything?”

            “Uh, yeah! I know how to hunt, make a fire, cook meat, build a shelter…”

            “Okay then. You actually do know some useful stuff ‘cause I can’t even do any of that.”

            “Seriously? How can you even survive then?”

            “Well… my parents just give me food.”

            “So you have to depend on others to eat? What would you do if your parents weren’t there and you’d go hungry, ey?”

“Umm…I’d go look in the fridge, probably.”

“The fridge?” Pascal asked with wonder.

“Oh my god you don’t know anything about life man, just never mind.” Tony responded grumpily. He was tired and this was getting bothersome. Questions only led to more questions, and Pascal had been asking him hundreds of questions ever since this adventure started. He was starting to lose hope that this nomad could ever adapt himself to modern society.

 The two friends had considered practicing the art of flying and sleeping at the same time, but they quickly established that it wasn’t a good idea. At least the flight was peaceful. Except for a few occasional cars passing by, it was only the sound of nature, trees shuffling in the wind, birds chirping and… that was pretty much it. Nothing else but trees and birds, for miles, miles, and also kilometres. From time to time they saw a picnic area, often deserted, and those areas were always accompanied with the smelliest truck stop toilets ever invented. Poor guy who had to travel all that distance to clean them and obviously he did a very poor job, or else it was because he only came semi-annually.

“…What are you doing?” Tony asked quite abruptly.

“Don’t tell me you can’t guess,” Pascal answered, wiggling it at the same time.

“You’re pissing on them.”

“Yeah I know isn’t that extraordinary aim from this high up?”

“What did they ever do to you? They’re taking a nice family picnic and you�"

“You pissed on birds, I saw you. They were a lot closer I might say, and you caught…two or three out of the whole flock?”

“They’re seagulls.” Tony stated to make his point.

 “Seagulls are birds too, you know.”

Tony gave up on the argument after asking himself: Who am I to judge which living being deserves to get peed on or not? It was either all of ‘em, or none of ‘em.

Two hours later, the boys were still gliding over the highway, convinced that it would eventually guide them to Tony’s hometown of Val-d’Or. They marveled at the Grand Lake Victoria as they passed beside it. From an aerial view it looked just like a human neuron, with its rivers stemming from it like dendrites seeking for the connections that would permit them to ejaculate their chemicals. Somewhere during their journey, Tony had explained to Pascal the reason why there was always this yellow line in the middle of every street.

“I still don’t get why you absolutely need that line… Can’t they just both drive on their respective sides? It doesn’t look that hard.” Pascal inquired.

“You couldn’t understand because you never drove a car before. It’s not that simple you know. There’s tons of rules and stuff.”

“Did you already drive a car?”

“Err, no, kids are not allowed to drive because, you know, most of them aren’t tall enough yet to reach the pedals with their feet. I do get how you could question the utility of that line… I just never thought about it, but yeah, it does seem pretty easy to just stick to your side, but… I guess we can’t understand until we actually start driving.” Tony answered. He started philosophising in his head about the yellow line’s purpose of existence and wondered if there used to be a time when there weren’t any lines. And what about when streetlights didn’t exist? He mused, but then Pascal had to break the silence once again.

“Anyway, following the highway and all is great, but don’t you think it’s kind of easy for us to get spotted? He suggested.

“Can’t you just stop asking questions for a while?”

“But I’m serious! Anyone could just look at the sky and happen to see us flying around. You’re the one who said that people don’t like it when we fly.”

“No one can spot us from up here; we’re in the middle of nowhere. We have to keep on following that route. We’ll get lost if we don’t.”

“I’m telling you that the cars passing by this route can see us.” Pascal persisted.

“And I’m telling you that no, they can’t. We’re too high up for them to notice. Who the heck looks up at the clouds while driving, right? That would only be stupid.”

Not even a minute after Tony stated those words, a lone van drove down the highway. It passed beneath the boys as they observed it because there was nothing really better to do. The van was rolling slightly faster than the flying nemusians, so it went past them at a slow and steady pace. The boys were usually able to fly faster than a car with ease, but the trip had been a long and perilous one. They had been flying for days and they were exhausted, even though Pascal kept denying it by saying that he was just intentionally going slow to give Tony a chance. The van abruptly braked to a stop right in the middle of the street, producing the classic sound of screeching tires skidding on asphalt.

“What’s this car doing? That’s just dangerous!” Tony said, looking concerned. The van parked itself to the side of the street and all the family members got out in a hurry as if something urgent was happening. The two children that got out were jumping around and pointing at the nemusians, all excited to see their first UFOs. The mother was filming the flying aliens with her camera while the father was busy taking photos with his Kodak. “Okay…you’re right.” Tony had to admit. “Let’s get outta here.”

The nemusians decided to fly further east from the highway to make sure that they wouldn’t get spotted by any other vehicle that passed by. The problem with that though, was that now they couldn’t see anything farther ahead except for more trees, more rivers and more lakes, which made the forest appear even more endless than it was. Everything looked the same and they were avoiding the only route that guided them, so to make sure that they wouldn’t get lost, the boys agreed to always keep flying north in a straight line and necessarily, sooner or later, some civilisation would appear. From what Tony remembered from his few trips to Montreal, the route that passed through the Vérendrye Reserve was essentially straight all along. At least that’s what it felt like from the backseat when his parents were driving. That was why he assumed that eventually, after clearing the forest, they would just run into the same highway and then they would simply have to follow it again until it led them to Val-d’Or. The boys would soon discover that the world wasn’t so simple. Unbeknownst to them, by continuing north, they had failed to notice the place where the highway forked into two different roads. They never saw that they needed to go left at the junction if they wanted to stay on the route that headed straight to their destination. They just pressed forward, confident that they were following the same highway as before, when in actuality, they had completely missed the turn and they were now going along the Highway 113.

After going north for at least an hour, they found themselves between Lake Pascalis and Lake Tiblemount, where nature was starting to diminish until finally their surroundings were getting replaced by civilisations once more. The boys were getting excited and they started to feel that at long last, this arduous journey was about to meet its end. “Welcome to Abitibi, my friend!” Tony yowled as he spun in the air with joy.

 They could see a city further ahead, and Pascal, unable to contain his excitement, blasted off at full speed, reenergized by the idea of starting a brand new life. “Last one there is a poop face! Ha-ha-ha!” He called out as he zipped away.

“Flipping shiznits! He knows I can’t fly that fast!” Tony complained with frustration. He obviously didn’t want to be a poop face. “You’re not going anywhere you…you twatwaffle!” He shouted back as he tried to catch up, but in vain. He thought hard as he glided alongside the Bell River and quickly came up with an idea. “If it worked once, it’s gonna work twice.” He pronounced, and then he proceeded to telepathically levitate a big chunk of water out of the river. He shaped it into a sphere that was double his size. “He-he-he…” He snickered, and then tossed the water ball with all his might. That’s when he started realising the valuable possibilities of his Birth Power. If it works with water, can it work with anything? He briefly questioned before testing it out.

Pascal had a big smile on his face as he contemplated the scenery of his new habitat but then a giant ball of water smacked him from behind, making him stop not only because he was slightly bewildered, but also because the water ball had splattered on him with such high velocity that it stung a little. “What the hell was that?” He blurted as he turned around. He looked behind him but couldn’t find Tony flying anywhere. “Where is that poop face hiding…” was the only thing he had time to say before a wall of sand exploded in his face, filling his mouth since he was about to utter some sort of complaint.

“Ha-ha-ha! Poop face, poop face!” Tony mocked as he got past Pascal, who was diving for the river to wash out his mouth, his eyes and his whole muddy body.

“Hey that wasn’t fair! You cheated and now I’m all wet.” Pascal whined as he swam in the river while rubbing off all the sand in his hair.

“Stop being a baby, you’re never fair when we play games together. I’m a winner, you’re a poop face and that’s all there is to it.”

“At least I’m not a cheater!”

“Don’t care, don’t care, poop face, na-na-na…” Tony chanted as he continued onward. He was jolly as ever now that he believed to be on the right track. The boys could see the city right before them and Tony felt butterflies rising in his stomach as they approached. Nothing looked the same from aerial perspective, and even though it was beautiful, it was different. I’ve never seen Val-d’Or from this angle before, he thought, how amazing! He impatiently scurried to the sign that greeted every passerby and read it aloud to announce the end of their adventure. “Welcome to… Senneterre?”

Pascal hurried to join Tony while enjoying the view of the small peaceful town ahead. “So this is it ey? Val-d’Or.”

“Is this a joke…” Tony said with a gloomy expression.

“No, it’s not.” Pascal answered without any apparent emotion.

“What the f**k is Senneterre?” Tony then shouted with rage.

“Senneterre? You mean, Val-d’Or?”

“No! This isn’t Val-d’Or! I have no idea where we are. We’re lost, again!”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I’m not! We lost track of the highway and now we’re in some random place I’ve never seen before… for f**k sakes!” Tony sighed in dismay. “Now, where are we? How are we supposed to find our way back?”

“I dunno.” Pascal answered.

“I know that! Don’t need to state the obvious, dimwit!” Tony blurted out in frustration.

“Calm down, man. We just have to look for a street sign or ask someone for directions. Val-d’Or shouldn’t be too far from here, right?”

“I’m fed up with all this. Why didn’t we just follow the goddamn highway all along?” We would be home by now. This is all your fault!” Tony accused out of desperation.

“Shut up, this isn’t my fault! You’re the one who’s supposed to know where you’re going. I’m just following you!” Pascal argued.

“Yeah well you’ve been causing nothing but trouble ever since you started following me.”

“Nuh-uh! That’s not true and you’re just being mean. I’ll go back and live in Vérendrye Forest if you start acting like that.”

“Go ahead, you’ll get arrested.”

“Pah! I’ll just make the forest my own and I’ll be the one arresting everyone who trespasses it, and I don’t care what arresting means!”

“You don’t make any sense, do you realise that?”

Pascal was about to reply to that argument but he got interrupted when he saw something that looked more urgent. “Dude, look at that.” He said as he pointed to some place far away in the sky.

“Huh? What is that?”

“Whoa man, it’s another one of those lizaards.”

“What are you saying? You can’t just assume stuff like that. It could be anything.”

“No, I’m telling you! I can clearly see it from here. Can’t you see it?”

“It’s way too far for me to determine anything except that… it looks too big to be a bird, and too small to be an airplane.”

“Well you should get your eyes fixed ‘cause I can clearly see that this guy is a lizaard and he’s coming our way.”

“Well you have superhuman eyesight because no one’s supposed to see from that far away.”

“That’s what happens when you’re the Hero�"

“Okay let’s just hide somewhere.” Tony interposed. It obviously wasn’t the time for a Hero dispute. “Look, I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m late, I’m worried, I just wanna see my parents. I don’t wanna fight anymore.”

“Oh so now you’re hungry? I told you we should’ve went hunting earlier�"

“Whatever, we have to go hide somewhere. Let’s go!”

“Aw man, we just got here.” Pascal complained. “Hey but wait, I recognise that guy.”

“What? You saw him before? Is it that bird-monster-creep again?”

“No, this one I’ve met him back on Brazin before I even met you…”

“So you knew about those lizaards before I even arrived on the island?”

“Yeah, I tried to chase after it but it ran away.  Now that I think of it… I remember that this guy’s actually crazy fast. He’s gonna catch up to us in no time.”

“No way! What are we supposed to do then? We have to get as far away from this town as possible. We don’t want anyone to see anything or else it’s gonna cause us some big trouble later on.”

“Okay… well knowing how slow you fly we’ll never get anywhere, so get on my back. We’re gonna try to go as far away as we can.”

“Good idea. Let’s go by there,” Tony suggested, pointing further east, “There seems to be nothing but forests. It’ll be safer.”

“Gotcha.” Pascal said and then he rocketed through the sky, flying as fast as he could by using all the energy he had left. Tony was right; they were exhausted and fighting would be a grueling pain in the a*s right now, especially if this lizaard was stronger than all the others they had faced before.

***

 

The tempo at which the PUG was beeping started to go slower. “Oh, so the boys are actually running away, huh?” The lizaard king scoffed. “Go ahead. You can run, but you can’t hide!” It had been quite predictable that the nemusians would end up in Abitibi since he knew that Tony lived in the region. The boys had somehow noticed him as he was about to catch up to them but that did not matter. If they chose to flee, he was faster, and if they chose to hide, he would find them eventually because his device was able to track their every movement. He had been thinking of hiding somewhere until the boys moved to some unpopulated area, but things had gotten easier because they were visibly heading to some desolate place on their own. Were they setting up a trap, or did they really believe that hiding in a forest was their safest bet? He was going to figure it out.

He flew past Senneterre at blistering speed and then headed east because that was the direction where his PUG beeped the most. Except for the tiny, nearly abandoned village of Press, there was no population for miles around, and when his PUG reacted wildly as he pointed down at the Jaco Lake, he giggled and said: “This place is perfect! I could cut you children into dozens of pieces, make you scream in agony and make the bloodiest mess I want, and no one’s ever going to find out! Ha-ha-ha!” There still was a possibility that the nemusians were waiting for him somewhere down there, ready to ambush him, but he was even more ready than them. He was confident that he could defeat those boys now that he was an expert Kradda Fighter (except for the skeesh section) and a proficient Taekwondoin. He had even trained in sword-fighting during the past months. Given that lizaards learn numerous times faster than an earthling, it was understandable to say that he had become quite the skilled martial artist. But anyways, he wouldn’t even have to show off any of those skills because he brought a gun with him. He simply planned to shoot one of them so then he could peacefully deal with the other one and take his DNA.

He slowly lowered down to the ground in a shaggy area covered with leaves and branches. His machine produced annoyingly loud beeps so he shut it off before one of the boys would hear it. He shoved through the bushes carefully, watching closely in the direction that the PUG had been reacting to. After a few minutes of walking, he could already hear the two children having a conversation. He quickly succeeded in spotting them, and even better, they did not seem to even notice that they were being spotted.

“I just can’t believe we went past Val-d’Or. I don’t even know where Senneterre is and now I don’t even know how to get back to Senneterre because now we’re in the middle of a forest that’s in the middle of nowhere.” Tony sighed.

“It’s okay, buddy! Look at how much we’ve done up to now. You’ve been able to find your way since like, that big crowded place we were in, how was it called again?”

“Montreal.”

“Yeah, Montreal! That was far man, now look where we are. I don’t know how you did to find yourself in that crazy place but if you managed to do that, you’ll find your way around here in no time!”

“The difference is I’ve went to Montreal before. Where we are right now is a place completely unknown to me.”

“So you’ve went to Montreal before?”

“Yeah, everyone goes to Montreal at least once.”

“Why’s that?”

“I dunno, it’s just so big and popular, like, everything’s over there. I went a couple of times because I have family that lives there and we go camping.”

“Honestly, I hope Val-d’Or isn’t like that. It’s so big and noisy and filled with people and weird structures! I could never live in such a place.”

“Don’t worry about it, Val-d’Or is much smaller and a lot more peaceful. You saw how Senneterre looked like? Well it’s similar.”

“Ah, well then it shouldn’t be so bad ey? Think I’ll get used to it?”

These idiots have no idea that I’m about to kill them. I never expected this to be so easy! Rosayan thought to himself, struggling to keep quiet and immobile. He pointed his handgun towards Tony since he was the closest one. He diligently aimed for his head. Watch me father, my mission is about to be accomplished. He pulled the trigger and startled himself to the sound of his own shot.

The gunshot caught Tony’s attention so he turned around rather quickly and when he saw the bullet coming at him, he tried to catch it in midair with his index finger and his thumb, but the bullet was faster than he had expected so it went past his fingers and poked the palm of his hand instead. “Ow! That stings! I think you made me bleed a litt�"he began but he got interjected by another bullet to the head, which rocked him backwards as it thudded on his cranium. “What the f**k? This stings like hell!” Tony yelled as he got caught by a third one in the shoulder.

Rosayan stopped shooting and looked at his gun, then at Tony. “What in the world?” He asked as he recalled all the humans that he had killed instantly with a single shot. So this kid can even turn himself into stone or something? That’s fun to know. Just how many other powers was he not aware of?

“Hey! That was a cheap shot!” Pascal called out as he dashed up to the bushes where Rosayan was hiding. It seemed that his hiding spot had been spotted easily. The lizaard didn’t even have time to aim and shoot that the blond boy was already holding the wrist that he was holding the gun with. “I’m going to smash that arm of yours.” Pascal warned him in advance, and stricken with terror, the young lizaard got a flashback of his arm getting shattered during his pathetic fight against Yen Li. Fortunately, after that incident, he had come up with a countermeasure against those types of situations, so when Pascal swung his arm down to break Rosayan’s forearm in two, an unexpected bone in the shape of a spike emerged from the lizaard’s forearm, jutting right through Pascal’s bicep, and in a mere second, the spike-bone slipped back in from where it came from, as if it had never existed. Feeling a little less confident, the blond boy backed away, holding his totaled arm in shock as the blood sprayed all over.

“Ah, that’s nasty!” Tony winced in empathy.

Rosayan snickered as he walked out of the bushes. “Did you really believe you could hide from me, you restless brats?”

Tony couldn’t find anything witty to answer because he was still confused as to why he was still alive right now after eating three bullets head-on. Even though he was slightly bleeding, the bullets had barely pierced his skin. The pain was there, but he somehow knew that usually it was supposed to be a lot worse.

“We meet again after all this time, Mister Hero.”

“So you’re the one…” Tony uttered.

 “The one and only, Lord Rosayan. I’ve got to admit; I’m really surprised by how much you’ve grown since that day.”

“Rosayan, ey?” Tony said, relieved to finally know the name of his worst enemy.

“Now I know that bullets are not effective against you, but guess what? My bones can pierce through the hardest metal.” Rosayan revealed. He put the gun back in its holster, then unattached the sheath that was fastened to his hip. He drew his sword and threw the sheath on the floor. “This sword is made out of Jaw’s very bones. They may not be as solid as a pure lizaard’s bones, but I’m sure this blade is solid enough to cut your head off. How about we test it out?”

 “You’re the one who kidnapped me back at school. You’re the one responsible for all of this. Do you realize how much trouble you’ve been causing me?” Tony asked, feeling the anger rise up in him.

“I’m well aware of the trouble I’ve caused, even though you don’t seem to have any idea how much trouble you have caused me.” Rosayan said as he approached his rival, “But you can rest peacefully now, it’s finally over. You don’t have to worry anymore. After I kill you, all your qualms will fade away.”

“No no, you’ve got it all upside down. I’m gonna be the one solving all my worries after I kill you.”

“That’s a confident way of seeing things. You just go ahead and try me then.” The lizaard sneered, grinning to his own self-assurance. He was finally face-to-face with his long-sought opponent, ready as ever to undertake the fight of his life. Standing about two meters away from him, he posed himself in what he believed to be the most effective fencing stance.

“Want me to tell you something? That blade of yours, I don’t care if it can slice through metal, because you know what? It won’t touch me.” Tony asserted.

“Ha! You clearly don’t know how skillful I am with a sword�" Rosayan started, but his face changed after Tony vanished right before his eyes. He was struck with an immediate moment of panic, and when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around frenetically only to see the same boy swing him with an uppercut right under the chin. As his face was projected upwards, he gazed at the spinning colors above him for not even half a second and then he felt a hand take hold of his wrist, the wrist that held the sword. Oh no you don’t, he thought, and he proceeded to use the same trick that had worked efficiently on Pascal. A long spiked bone spurted out quickly from a pore on the lizaard’s forearm. Tony had anticipated the riposte so he gritted his teeth as the bone plunged through his arm. He let out a painful grunt, but kept his hold on Rosayan’s arm while continuing to look straight at Rosayan’s yellow, serpentine eyes. “How does that feel?” Rosayan asked him.

“Not bad.” Tony replied and then he smashed right through the extruded bone with his other arm, breaking it in two. The thundering pain made Rosayan let go of his sword as he let out a high-pitched wail. The sword fell to the dirt floor and Tony quickly push-kicked Rosayan in the chest while he was still shaken from the pain. The kick launched him about a meter away and made him land on his behind. The boy pointed at the sword on the ground and made it levitate telekinetically. He swooshed his arm to the side and the sword, following the arm’s movement, darted right into the trunk of a tree farther away, like an arrow. Well that’s a new one, Rosayan thought, does he discover a new power every 10 minutes or what?

 “You can stab me with your bones all you want,” Tony called out to Rosayan, “I’ll just heal myself every time, and I hate you so much right now, that I don’t give a damn about the pain.”

Rosayan got back up and his broken bone just went right back in his arm. “Well, same here! I don’t care if you break my spare bones, ‘cause I’ve got millions of ‘em.” He then muttered to himself: Okay, my bones definitely aren’t hard enough yet. He had expected the probability that the nemusians would be strong enough to break through his bones, so he had planned in advance to only use unimportant bones during his attacks. He had plenty of bones in his body that even if they were missing, his body structure wouldn’t be affected. As long as his main bones wouldn’t get broken, like the ones that held his arms and legs together for example, he would be fine, even though breaking a bone, no matter which one, still did hurt like hell. A small, red ball of energy came from the left in Rosayan’s direction, but having noticed it, Rosayan jumped back and dodged the energy beam with the help of his jetpack. The beam exploded on the ground, forming a small hole.

 “I’ve got you covered, Tony!” Pascal screamed from behind as he ran to the tree to retrieve Rosayan’s sword.”

“I’m fine!” Tony barked at him, “Don’t get involved.”

“What? But why?” Pascal asked, eager to help his friend.

“This… is personal. It’s your turn to stay aside now.”

“Oh, okay… I see. Then it better be interesting.”

“It will. And don’t worry about your arm, buddy. I’ll take care of it as soon as I take care of this a*****e.” Tony said with a confident smile.

“You’re quite conceited for a kid who nearly cried in fear the last time we met. I hope you realise that you’re only making this easier for me.” Rosayan told him.

“You’ve awakened the monster in me, Rosayan. I’m not the same person anymore. You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

“Tsk! You think you’re invincible now just because you have some magical powers? You don’t even know how to use them. You’re only being lucky and luck can only take you so far.”

“You’re right. But you know what? I don’t even need to know how to use them and I’ll still defeat you.”

Tony’s arrogance was getting on Rosayan’s nerves. “Think what you want, ignorant fool. Today is the day where I kill the last remaining nemusians and get a step closer to ruling the world. Nothing can stop me!” The lizaard jumped back a little farther from the nemusians, and then tensed his body, forcing as if he was trying to release something.

 “You tryin’ to lay an egg or something?” Tony mocked, but then he saw that his foe was getting serious when he noticed that small, short spikes came out from everywhere around the lizaard’s body. Rosayan’s back, shoulders, tibias and forearms were now covered with dozens of spiny studs while big, long spikes came out from the top of his hands, almost similar to the claws on Marvel’s Wolverine. Rosayan took off to the sky, and as he looked down at Tony, he shouted: “You think you’re the bomb, ey? We’ll see about that!”

Tony jetted to the sky to join him. “Those ornaments are supposed to make you stronger or what?”

“You will regret underestimating me.” He responded with half a smile. The two foes were hovering in the air, several meters apart from each other, waiting for the first move. Rosayan was glad that Tony had accepted to fight in the air. He knew that his jetpack was faster than the nemusians’ flying, and that was his advantage. He was indeed aware that the boy had somehow teleported or turned invisible a couple of minutes ago, but he knew that that was utter bullshit and that he couldn’t possibly pull it off a second time.

“You go first, then.” Tony invited.

In what took less than a second, Rosayan’s jetpack released a long stream of blue fire as he blasted forward. Tony was quite surprised, having expected a little more time to react. Rosayan charged head first with blaring speed, which was dangerous not only because the creature had a horn that stuck out right in the middle of his forehead, but also because sharp edges had suddenly protruded from his trapeze and shoulders. Tony had the time to pivot to the side right when Rosayan grazed him so he got away with a deep lateral gash on his shoulder and a smaller cut on his pectoral.

“Yikes! That’s sharp!” Tony acknowledged as he held his bleeding shoulder. He then recalled what Pascal had told him: this guy’s actually crazy fast. Rosayan made a U-turn to charge right at Tony once again, but this time, he extruded a long spear-shaped bone from his hand, prepared to skewer him like this was a jousting match. Okay so this time, I’m gonna fly up right as he gets close to me, Tony calculated, He’ll miss me, pass under, and then I’ll be the one chasing him. Rosayan was about to charge into him, so as planned, he flew up higher, thinking that it would make him dodge the assault, but Rosayan was agile enough to follow him upwards, catching up with ease, and as soon as he got alongside Tony, he tried to stab him but Tony was able to dodge it. Rosayan followed his combination with a kick to the face and Tony blocked it, but the studs on the lizaard’s shin were so sharp that they shredded the skin off the forearm that Tony had blocked with. “Agh!” He screamed from the unexpected pain. So those things aren’t only decorations, he resolved. He tried to retort with a punch but the b*****d was already gone with dazzling speed. “You coward!” He hollered as he left off after him.

“Dang it! How did he find out about Tony’s weakness?” Pascal thought out loud, sitting and watching from the top of a tree he had climbed. “This guy somehow knew all along that Tony’s a noob at flying.”

Rosayan was laughing while Tony hopelessly tried to chase after him. “Ha-ha-ha! Now you’re the one who can’t touch me!” He said in amusement. After playing around with him for a couple of minutes, Rosayan intentionally slowed down until Tony could catch up to him, and then he abruptly halted in midair. Caught off-guard, Tony clumsily tried to halt to a break, and when he finally stopped, inches behind his nemesis, Rosayan turned around rapidly with a spinning back-fist. Tony managed to duck just in time and it was a good thing that he did because the lizaard had extruded a bone-blade that ran along his forearm in a way that if Tony hadn’t dodged the blow, his head would have been chopped off. They were now close enough to duel it out, but Tony was still at a disadvantage. “Die! Die already!” Rosayan chanted as he kept extruding bone-spears out of his body in hope of making Tony bleed to death before he could even have time to regenerate from all the open wounds.

 “Those f*****g bones are a pain in the a*s!” Tony screamed as he tried to attack Rosayan, but the lizaard kept wiggling nimbly through the air while countering with bone-spears that he kept popping in and out of his chest. Tony didn’t dare go too close to him because even though his body was able to regenerate quickly from open wounds, it still hurt like a b***h. Moreover, he remembered from his battle with Jaw that losing too much blood at once can make you dizzy. He was so preoccupied with avoiding the unpredictable attacks that came from anywhere on Rosayan’s chest that he couldn’t focus on an opening that he could capitalize on. Rosayan then decided to extrude one thin spear out from the front of his thigh and finally it had struck Tony, right on the side of his hip. The boy stopped moving and coughed out some blood.

“Oops, I think I got a kidney there.” Rosayan said sarcastically. Taking advantage of the moment, he tried to deliver the coup de grâce by extruding a long spike from his shoulder, directed right at Tony’s face, but the boy tilted his head to the side, dodging the spike almost completely, except for a small piece of his ear that got ripped off. He looked at Rosayan straight in the eye with a grim face and said: “That’s enough.” Despite the trouble and the pain, he was finally close enough to reach him. Tony launched a left hook so threatening that Rosayan froze for a millisecond before trying to block it. He managed to block it with his forearm, and even though the skin on Tony’s knuckles was ripped to the bone from the impact on the studs of Rosayan’s forearm, the force of the blow hammered Rosayan straight down to the ground. The lizaard king thumped to the ground and remained unmoving.

“Umm…that’s it?” Pascal said, having deceptively expected the coolest fight he would ever see. “He got swatted down just like a fly!”

Tony landed beside his defeated opponent, who was trembling on the ground. “Ow, ow, ow…” The lizaard wittered as he tried to get on his four legs.

“You should regret overestimating yourself, Rosayan.”

“I’m still good to go. I’m not done yet.” The wobbly lizaard said as he slowly stood up. I’m clearly outmatched here, He thought to himself.

“Come on, now. Give it up, don’t be a sore loser!” Pascal added from further away, petting a squirrel he had tamed while Tony and Rosayan had been busy playing cat and mouse.

“You shut the hell up!” Rosayan barked back. He took out his gun and shot Pascal in the leg.

“Ow! What the f**k’s your problem?” Pascal cried, holding his leg. He hadn’t expected that, especially since he had never seen a gun before. The squirrel ran away and now Pascal had to find something else to munch on.

“Put that gun down!” Tony snapped, “Or else I’ll confiscate it.”

“I won’t let you!” Rosayan replied. He shot at Tony four times, but the boy just slapped the bullets out of his way as he walked towards him at a fast pace. He kept pulling the trigger but there were no bullets left. “S**t!” He asserted and threw the gun at him. Tony caught it and tossed it behind him. Rosayan’s confidence was fading away very quickly.

“Well, this is rather uninteresting.” Tony said. “I thought you’d give a good fight, but this is pathetic.”

Rosayan was so insulted that he felt like crying. “I’m just getting started!” He said, trying to hide his uneasiness. He was too proud to let it end like this. A long blade grew out from Rosayan’s arm and he started swinging it desperately at Tony, who easily dodged everything while laughing at him. “I am the strongest being in the universe!” Rosayan screamed as he swung wildly into thin air.

“Settle down.” Tony responded and kicked him in the face, which made the young lizaard fall on his arse. “You’re just a weakling.”

“Stop it! I’ll kill you, I swear I will.” Rosayan said, tears running down his cheeks as he got back up. He ran at Tony with his blade held up in the air, but Tony swiftly side-stepped to the side, leaving his foot out. Rosayan tripped on it and fell face first.

“Careful, it’s dangerous to run with something pointy in your hand. You could poke your eye out.” Tony said, feeling bad for him. Most of Tony’s wounds had already healed, except for the upper part of his ear that was slowly growing back.

Rosayan got back in his fighting stance, unable to accept defeat. He put away his bone-sword back in his arm. I may not have much chances to win this fight, but if I can at least get a little blood from him, then this beating is gonna be worth it. He slowly advanced toward his opponent, trying to prove that he wasn’t intimidated.

Tony proceeded to slap him silly, restraining himself from hitting too hard because he actually felt merciful; this wasn’t a fair match at all. Rosayan endured the beating, obstinately staying close to him. I just need to get close enough to stab him with my needle, then I simply have to fly away as fast as I can.

“Why are you so persistent? Can’t you see how one-sided this match is?” Tony tried to reason him as he kept punching him in the head.

“I don’t care, I’ll never quit!” The lizaard replied.

“Fine then, I’ll have to make you understand.” Tony said, and he threw a large hook destined to knock him out.

Yes! Rosayan rejoiced as he ducked the blow and pushed in Tony’s chest, this is my chance. He hugged Tony tightly.

“Hey, let go of me.” Tony said, trying to shake him off, but Rosayan was clinching firmly. Rosayan quickly reached to his belt with one hand and took out his syringe.

“Watch out! He’s gonna stab you!” Pascal shouted.

Why can’t this guy mind his own business? Rosayan thought, but he went on with the plan anyway and tried to stab Tony in the back while he was hugging him.

“You sneaky m**********r!” Tony said to him. He kneed him in the stomach, which softened the lizaard’s clinch, and then thumped him on the top of the head with a powerful chopping right hand.

“Ugh!” Rosayan rasped out as he fell to his knees from light-headedness. That was my only chance! While Rosayan was on his knees, trying to shake off the dizziness, Tony kicked him like a soccer ball, which made him fly for a couple of feet.

“Had enough already?” Tony asked him.

Rosayan got up painfully, struggling to stay standing. “Why do you keep ruining my plans?”

“And why are you so pigheaded on killing us?”

“Because! That’s none of your business!” Rosayan said, frustrated.

Tony sighed. “Let’s make a deal, Rosayan. Why don’t we wait a couple of years before settling this?”

“What? You’re not letting him get away, are you?” Pascal asked with surprise.

“Let me explain.” Tony said. “It’s clear that you’re not strong enough. We both aren’t ready for this. Let’s wait until we’re both ready.”

“I don’t need any of your pity!” Rosayan snapped at him.

“You’re just so weak right now that I can’t get myself to kill you. It would feel morally wrong.”

“You a*****e!”

“If you really feel like it I could force myself to kill you. Is that what you want?”

“No…”

“Look, I have a feeling that we were fated to meet each other, but now is too soon. I want this destined battle to be even.”

Rosayan couldn’t believe it. He was so weak that his nemesis didn’t even feel like killing him. He had been toying with him during the whole fight.

“Let’s postpone this meeting until we’re both older and stronger, how about it?”

Rosayan had no choice but to swallow his pride if he wanted to live on and rule the world. It was pitiful, shameful even, but it was better than death. “Fine then! I swear to god that you’ll regret not having killed me.”

“Now that’s what I wanted to hear.” Tony said with a smile.

“You just wait,” Rosayan said as he flew up to the sky, “You may be stronger right now, but one day I’ll build an army so strong that you won’t stand a chance!”

“You better not cause any trouble until then or else I’m gonna whoop your a*s again, got it?”

“Go to hell! I’ll do what I want!” Rosayan asserted and then he flew off.

“He won’t.” Pascal said. “You gave him a good scare. I’m pretty sure he won’t bother you for a good while.”

“I think so too. Did you see that? He cried like a baby!”

“Yeah! You taught him a good lesson. That’s what you get for messing around with nemusians.” The boys gave each other a high five.

“But still though, was it really a good idea to let him go? He did say he was going to build an army.” Pascal asked, a little worried.

“He’s probably bluffing. Even if he did, we’re invincible, right? I felt like I needed to give him a chance.”

“But who knows how strong he’ll become once he gets older?”

“Don’t forget that we’ll also be a lot stronger.”

“Yeah, that’s right! We’ll train hard until then.”

“Yup, in the meantime I’ll have to learn how to control my Birth Powers.”

“Especially your flying.”

“Talking about flying. I’m beat. I don’t feel like flying at all anymore.”

“Me neither, we’ve been flying for days. Let’s sleep here tonight.”

“Are you serious? Right in the middle of the woods with all the insects and the wild animals?”

“Stop being a wussy, I’ve lived in the woods all my life and I’m still alive. You’ll be fine as long as you stick with me.”

“If you say so then. We’ll rest here for the day.”

“Oh, and could you heal that up for me?” Pascal asked, showing him his perforated arm. “I’m starting to feel weird from all this blood that keeps coming out.”

“Oh, right. Come here, I’ll fix it right up.”

“Thanks. And if you don’t mind, could you treat that hole in my leg too?”

            “Of course! No problem.”

The two nemusians decided to call it quits for the day after a long day of traveling. Tony wasn’t the type of guy who usually camped in a forest without parental surveillance, but since his voyage on Brazin Island, he had learned quite a bit. And anyways, he was accompanied by the handiest person to have in such a situation.