Chapter One.

Yosaku’s Last Bout.

His terrified face was hidden behind thick jet-black curtains of hair, completely drenched in a mixture of water and sweat. His right eye was so badly damaged that he could not bare to raise his eyelid for even a moment, and its other was round and wide, struck with pure terror. His mouth was also wide, his white pearls grinding against themselves in anger and frustration. He was down on his left knee now and was quickly loosing hope of getting back to his feet again; there was not one place on his person that was not sore, not aching in pain.

“Funny. I could’ve sworn just moments ago that you said you were going to destroy us.”

His head shot upward, his one open eye growing even wider as he saw to his horror two figures marching side by side towards him looking completely unfazed, unhurt, but perhaps most terrifying, happy. However, if one were to gaze upon them at first glance, one would pass off the two as a pair of cool, calm and collected teenagers, not at all uncommon. One of them was a young man, perhaps a year or two younger than his own age, wearing a short sleeved dark purple shirt, long faded blue jeans and a pair of black and white sneakers. His hair was blonde, short and messy, and his face was round and calm, yet his smile was cruel and malicious.

Beside him was a young woman, equal in height. Her appearance was that of a beautiful, gorgeous young woman, with her long combed flowing red-hair giving off a certain warm glow even against the contrast of the night sky. Even her walk was elegant, her hips swaying back and forth as she walked with her partner, her hands neatly together behind her. She wore a red collared shirt and white skirt that showed off her frame quite nicely. Yet even her lovely face couldn’t hide a smile more sinister and wicked than her cohort’s, and hazel eyes more piercing and intense, completely offsetting her sweet and innocent demeanor.

Indeed, they looked completely normal. And why his heart gradually began to beat faster and faster as they approached, one could only ponder…

“Look at him Lance,” she said, pointing directly at him, even though the three of them were the only ones present, “I think he’s gonna fall over any minute now… gee, you think we over did it?”

“Hmm, I don’t think so Risa,” he said coolly, “I mean come on; I only went sixty percent.”

“Really?” said Risa, shocked, though her eyes continued to stayed glued onto their beaten opponent before them. “I barely used half my power, maybe thirty five at most.”

“Thirty five? I’m impressed Risa, and you were the one doing most of the fighting.”

“It’s nothing really,” she smirked. They were now close up in front of him, and with her smile growing even wider, she drew back her left leg, “nothing at all. He just isn’t a challenge anymore.” And with that, she swung her leg forward, her foot catching the beaten one square in the chest, as though she were punting a football. Not only did it completely knock the wind out of him, it sent him flying miles away, his body soaring through the air, as well as through monstrous sky scrapers and buildings, causing them to collapse as his body tore through them like paper. After what seemed like a life time, his body once again met the earth, landing in an abandoned street. Miraculously, he was alive, but only just. He was leaving a puddle of blood as he tried to move forward, to stand up, but he had barely made it five feet away from his landing spot until he saw a familiar pair marching towards him once again in the distance.

“Seriously though Risa, were you holding back that much?”

“Would I lie to you?”

“Yes, yes you would.”

“Hmm,” she smiled at him, “you know me too well.”

“Okay then, all mighty one,” Lance placed a foot under their defeated opponent’s chin, raising his head slightly, “what do you suppose we do with him now?”

“Hmm, well, he is the strongest guy on this dumb rock,” she said reasonably, “I suppose we could just destroy him now… but really, what would be the fun in that?”

“But he’s been getting really annoying too, that last punch he threw at me back there almost tickled. You sure you wana risk it?”

“Hmm, I don’t know, but I will say, he’s cute, even if his face is a bloody mess.”

Lance rose his foot even higher, “Whatever. It’s a bloody mess, I’ll give you that. Look at him though; I’m pretty sure he’s dead.” Indeed, he had not moved an inch since they had appeared before him yet again. “There goes our only entertainment, way to go.”

“Hey it’s half your fault too.”

“No, it’s about thirty five percent!”

They looked at each other and smiled, but broke their gaze away from each other as they heard something scuffle beneath them.

“Why… I don’t get it…” he said, coughing up blood as he spoke in a harsh whisper, “why, why are you doing this… it’s not like it’ll… change anything…!”

Risa’s smile grew even wider at these words. “What you would do if you had a fresh start, summoned to this world that parallel’s ours with such awesome power, and with no strings attached, I wonder.”

“I’d… stop people like you.”

“Bah, a coined and corny response,” Lance retorted, “but I have to give you kudos for surviving this long. Heh, I suppose if this were some stupid movie or book, this is where I would in turn say something cool to that, but…” he opened his palm down toward the pathetic man dripping blood on his clean sneaker. A white orb of pure energy quickly formed out of nothingness before his palm, and with it an insanely powerful gust of wind began to circle around them. “…that would be lame!”

The orb shot towards him as though it were a bullet, and just as instantly he let out a scream like the dammed, a scream that was sure to carryon through the far reaches of space, a scream that could, would, and did wake anyone and everyone on the planet from a deep sleep. It was as if someone had set off nothing short of an atomic bomb, completely annihilating the once lively surrounding environment.

After the dust and debris of rock, asphalt and recognizable pieces of buildings finished raining around them, they found their selves suspended in the air above a massive crater that had to have been at least several miles long, yawning out before them. Not even its edge could be seen in the distance, and Lance folded his arms and grinned at his ‘accomplishment’.

“Do you see him anywhere?” he said, a sense of pride clear in his voice.

“Nope. How anti-climatic though,” Risa said sheepishly.

“What, anti-climatic?”

“Yeah, anti-climatic,” she repeated, sounding a bit annoyed.

“You’re getting to be impossible to please. I get rid of him, impressively I might add, disposing this great nuisance yet you’re calling it anti-climatic?”

“Well, like I said, he was entertaining. Now that he’s dead, what else are we gonna do for fun?”

“Hmm… good point. But there is something I’ve been wanting to do ever since we arrived here… the real reason why I wanted to make it here in this world in the first place…”

“Oh, and what’s that?” Risa turned to look at her companion, only to find that he was facing away, his back towards her. His fists were clenched, shaking uncontrollably all of a sudden.

“Let’s go home.”

A malevolent smile seemed to leap across Risa’s face at these three words. Unable to contain her excitement, she said thrilled, “do you remember where it is?”

“Oh, how could I forget?” he said, returning her smile with an equally devilish grin. With a fresh stream of adrenaline flowing through their veins, they rose even higher into the chill night sky and rocketed forward, the earth rushing below as they faded out of view.

Out of his view.

“…”

A few miles beneath the destruction the pair had single-handedly created without breaking a sweat lay their opponent, beaten to a pulp, but nevertheless alive. Opening his un-injured eye once more, he crawled out of the debris and onto an intersection, right in the middle of the street that remained untouched. This was as far as he could go however, his mind completely drained; his head flopped down on the asphalt in defeat, a puddle of blood gradually growing around him.

“Damn… it…” he muttered.