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Chapitre Deux

...Three, To Get Ready...

Huff! Huff! Huff!

Jason ran and ran, and ran even more. He ran into the side of a warehouse, and slumped back to a dumpster, not even caring about the smell nor the goo that slithered by its sides - nowhere to run. He moved further right beside the warehouse wall, with the dumpster at his back.

He tried to catch his breath, but held it back again to pull his tail back - it was sticking out and he just heard a rumbling noise. Shit, he thought to himself, almost saying it but was able to stop himself, and slid to the other side of the dumpster. The rumbling got closer...and closer. Soon, Jason heard the rumbling close enough for him to see the shadow that made it - it was huge. A pain shot up through his right shoulder and it reminded him of what the creature could do. Jason heard deep growls as the creature inched closer, and he was frantically swiveling his head from left to right - his brain scrambling calculations of how he could escape. Outrunning it was out of the question; fighting back would be suicide; and he had already called for help, "Come on, guys," he whispered, frustratingly, "Where the hell are you?!"

Suddenly, the creature's steps stopped altogether. Jason couldn't hear anything, but he dared not to take a peek from behind the dumpster. Then, it started again, this time the monster was taking slow steps...towards where Jason was. His heart stopped, afraid that the creature was going to hear it. However, his brain didn't; it kept trying to jostle possible means of escape. His eyes were frantically darting back and forth trying to find and escape...or something to fight with. Then, there it was: a leaking water pipe from the side of the building. Jason's heart began to ease, but at the same time, the heartbeats began to rise. His brain began to calculate: it was possible; however, the building was never really used. So, the chances of having running water in a place like that were slim, at best. "The leak, though," he thought, the water leak means that the water is working somehow...but, he didn't have time to think of that - the monster was getting closer and he could feel the hot breath getting close to him. If he had any better chance, it was now. So, Jason summoned all his might on that leaking pipe, but the pain on his right shoulder shot right up to him and made his right arm curl back.

The creature was right in his face.

It had the menacing face of a bear, with a giant body bigger than any four-wheeled truck and giant hefty limbs that went with its enormous body, and burning, red eyes that pierced right into Jason's spine - and the monster was coated with black flames. It was an astonishing sight: the monster was surrounded, from head to toe, with flames that flickered black wisps and the heat emanating from the flames almost cindered the extremities of Jason's hair. Its teeth horrified Jason as the salivating set of bone-crunchers gnashed in his front of his face. Jason could only utter a pitiful whimper as the creature roared - revealing a death-rank mouth and baring its gleaming spearhead-like teeth, "Damn..." he whispered.

He thought of the worst. But, just as things were getting dark--

"Hey!" a recognizable voice called, "Eat this!"

Then, a huge concrete rubble launched right at the monster's head, sending it far from Jason's sight. Saved by the rock, he thought, and went up to meet with the familiar wolf face, "You couldn't have come at a better time, Aaron?"

"Sorry, dude," said the wolf-boy, "We were kinda hung up." Aaron, a wolf-boy with a stoic, but sincere face - the guy was nicely built, but not too buff; he was strong, but really a "brony."

"Where's--?"

Before he could say anything more, he was tackled down to the ground with familiar arms smothering him, "Oh, Jason!" said the tackler, "Sorry, if I'm late! I'm so sorry!"

Jason could only hold the back of the tiger-boy's head in comfort - at least he came, he thought. "It's ok," he said. Marc, a tiger-boy with a slender body and a tender face, and dark hair with light-brown highlights - Jason's heart was comforted...then was reminded with the pain on his right shoulder, "Although...do you think you can ease up on my right shoulder, Marc?"

"Oh, damn, sorry!", Marc replied, and got off of Jason's shoulder and noticed the scratches, "What happened...?"

Jason revealed three, nasty, swollen scratch marks right where his right arm meets his shoulder - the wounds weren't bleeding even though the flesh was split, but it was obvious that Jason was in still in pain. "You've been fighting with the thing?" said another familiar voice.

Just walking in the alley, a fox-boy - with his distinct blond hair, with red highlights, a slim body (but, still more nicely built than Marc's) - Ryan, as he was called, came up right beside him, "Where're your glasses?" Jason asked.

As Ryan was surveying his arm, "Yeah, well," he said, as he touched the wound (where Jason, naturally, tinged in pain), "You didn't exactly give us time to do anything, Jason."

Jason grunted in pain again.

"Jeez, what did you get yourself into?" Ryan asked, "Aaron, do you still have--Oh, crap."

All four of them looked up, and the monster was back up on its feet and faced the four of them with such ferocity. "Aaron! Marc!" he cried.

The two of them immediately reacted, and, with one stomp of the ground, Aaron plunged a section of the floor up towards the creature's head. It reeled back, and Marc used this to his advantage: as he gathered all the air around him, and blew the monster right inside the warehouse.

"Distract that thing, you two," Ryan said, "I need to patch Jason up!"

With a nod, Aaron went inside the warehouse, while Marc was already inside.

"Now," Ryan said, going back to Jason, "What'd you get yourself into this time?"

Jason took a breath, and grunted as Ryan was checking the wound. With a flick of Ryan's fingers, green flames covered the tips of his fingers. He ran the flames through Jason's wounds, and instantly the wounds sizzled and began to shrink and close up - and then it started to bleed, "Uh..." Jason interrupted, "Is that supposed to happen?"

"It better," Ryan said, as he is still running the flames through the wound, "It means that the blood flow is back, and your arm is starting to scab...There." Ryan stopped his flames, and now was massaging his arm.

The scratches were still there, but they looked better, "Think you can patch it up yourself?" asked Ryan, as he let go of Jason's arm and got up.

Jason nodded a little, and started moving his arm. He looked at the dripping pipe, which was now a gushing fountain after the break in; he was right, the water did, after all, still have a flow. Jason outstretched his arm towards the fountain. The water droplets the fountain shot suddenly stopped in midair, and formed a curved flow heading towards Jason's wounded arm. The water flowed up his arm, covering his wound - as the water was flowing, the wound began to shrink, and shrank until there was no trace of it being there. The water flow stopped, and Jason looked at his arm - a clean job, a better one than his last attempt.

"I still don't suggest for you to move it", Ryan added, "You may clean up wounds, but you still can't fix muscles - so, don't even think of overexerting yourself."

Ryan massaged Jason's arm one more time, and again asked, "You didn't answer me, Jason," he said, as he activated his green flames again with the massage, "What are we up against?"

Loud crashes were heard inside the warehouse accompanied with growls and roars, "It's a Level 4", Jason said, finally, "And its one grouchy bear..."

"Lvl. 4, huh?" Ryan said, with raised eyebrow, "How the hell'd you attract someone like that?"

"I don't really know," Jason said, grunting when Ryan hit a tender spot, "I think he was following me, right after my psychology class..."

"Then?"

"I actually noticed him when I crossed Higley, and I was trying to get away. But, somehow, he was able to follow me."

"Great sense of smell?"

"Maybe, I don't know", Jason shrugged, "But, it got worse when he cornered me in a convenient shop."

"How did it get worse?"

"Well, when I confronted the guy, he wouldn't let up. So, I kinda gave him a little bath."

Ryan knows that "a little bath" usually means a water blast in the face, "So, that's when it got worse?"

"No. It got worse when he actually transformed."

"Inside the shop?!"

"Yeah, well...you can imagine what happened. I was able to save a mom and her kid, but the shop owner...well, that's the reason why he hesitated on eating me."

"Damn..." Ryan cursed, "After that?"

"I ran, and kept on running, and that's about the time I called you."

Ryan remembered it.

It was just about the end of Ryan's P.E. class, when his cell phone rang with Jason on the other end, "Ryan!" he called, trying to gasp for air (as if he was running), "Hey, I'm in trouble! Go get Marc and Aaron! No time to explain, but: I got a Level 4, I think. I'm leading it to Rave Harbor. Get there, quick--SHIT!" The line was cut, but not before a huge roar was heard, "Yeah, I remember", he mumbled.

"And," Ryan said, shaking his thoughts off, "Does he have any abilities?"

Jason got up, exercising is arm a bit. The struggles were still going on in the warehouse, "Its fire, too", he said, "But, it's black and he seems to take advantage of it by covering his body with it - immolation."

"Alright," Ryan nodded.

"Maybe you can out-burn him, but my water will definitely be next to useless."

Just then, the another part of the warehouse's wall blew up in between them and Aaron shot out of it, and crashed into the next warehouse, and as he came out of the rubble, "Ahem..." Aaron coughed, "If you two don't mind, I think our guest is getting bored of our entertainment."

Ryan snickered, but soon the smile faded as the beast broke through the entire wall. Aaron got up on his feet, and used the ground to propel himself towards the monster like a cannon. Immediately, he and the monster went back inside the warehouse for another round. Ryan followed with Aaron, and soon the warehouse began to light up with Ryan's flames. Marc appeared behind Jason, "Oh, man..." he said, catching his breath, "That thing is getting old...how're you feeling?"

Jason was surprised with this remark, "I'm ok..."

Marc checked the scar and was relieved, but touched it to make sure. Jason winced a bit, "Are you sure?"

"Y-yeah..." Jason said, starting to blush at the tiger-boy's soft, furred fingers touching his scaled skin, "Nothing I can't handle..."

Marc looked at the dragon-boy - he wasn't the best built body, but he wasn't bad; and his long jet-black hair covered his beautiful green eyes (his greatest detail, in Marc's opinion); and an emo all the way, but he won't have it any other way. Selfish, at times, but would do anything for his friends, and for him (Marc), especially. Marc snickered.

Marc couldn't help it, he had to do it...so he squeezed Jason's arm. Immediately, Jason let out a yelp, "Hey!" he retorted, "What was that for?"

"Now," Marc interjected, "Are you sure you're ok?"

Jason was silent.

"Of course, you don't have an answer."

"No," Jason said, weakly.

"Hey," Marc said, turning Jason's head toward him, "Just be honest with me, ok?"

Jason only nodded, looking in this boy's eyes - a brilliant gold, so full of tenderness. He blushed as he turned his head away. Marc noticed his embarrassment and quickly pulled his face back to his, brushing his long, jet-black hair from his blushing skin. There was no word spoken; just the sound of their breaths reaching their warm faces...and the occasional crashes and explosions inside the warehouse.

A moment passed. Then, Jason spoke, "Maybe..." he started, "We should help Ryan and Aaron, huh?"

"Oh, yeah," Marc murmured, then snickered, "We probably should."

The both of them nodded, and jumped into the warehouse.

The place was a grand mess, and, in the middle of it, was a brawl between Aaron and Ryan against the monster.

"Took you long enough!" called Ryan, as he was blasting the monster with flame blasts and fireballs.

"Sorry about that," replied Jason, and faced the monster, "Now...payback time!"

Jason stretched his arm toward the fountain again, and, this time, a grand flow of water surrounded Jason - encircling him and created an enormous water spout, as he was directing the water to do so with his arms.

"I thought your water'll be useless?" Ryan called.

"Yeah," Jason responded, still gathering the water around him, "But, some parts of his limbs have no immolation, so I can aim for that. Plus, I can still use it to push him...away!"

At this, Jason directed the water spout to create a rush of waves to push the monster back - Marc was in the way, clashing with the monster, so he thrusted himself upward with his wind (still feeling the sprinkle of the waters), and landed safely on his feet, "A little close, eh, Jay?" Marc retorted.

Jason nervously laughed, "Eheh...sorry, I got caught in the moment..."

However, the monster was merely pushed back and roared. The group mustered themselves for the next brawl.

For minutes, the group battled with the monster. Soon, both the group and the monster stopped, catching their second wind, "Hey, guys..." panted Ryan, "I have an idea."

The group didn't say anything but only looked at Ryan, "It'll be risky," he continued, "But, it might just give us enough time to think of something better."

"All right," Aaron said, getting up as he noticed the monster picking itself up, too, "Whatever it is, I'm betting it something better than just fighting till the end of time."

"Alright, just leave everything to me, guys...I just need you to distract that thing for a while!"

Then, Ryan stood up and positioned his arms to his sides, and took a deep breath. And, then, bright flames enveloped his whole body - covering him from head to tail. The creature noticed this, as it was facing Ryan and was about to charge after him. Marc got its attention though, as he blasted the creature with a blistering gust of wind; which made the monster stagger sideways and immediately shifted his sights to Marc. However, Jason blasted the creature, also, with a rush of freezing water; which made the monster stagger backwards and switched his sights to Jason this time. But, Marc came back with another gust of wind, and then Jason with gushing waters. The two did simultaneous rounds of water blast and wind gusts against the monster, which kept making it stagger backwards. The creature was infuriated and roared loudly, but, as it roared, a wall of black fire was created and the duo could not break through it. Aaron, on the other hand, was able to propel himself towards the monster again, rushing right through the flames and knocking the creature backwards. By this time, Ryan grew bright and the heat from the flames surrounding him was so intense that the nearest metal sources were close to melting. He raised his arms, with his elbows still to his sides, "Alright, guys," he said, "Stand back!"

The others went out of the way, and, at once, the intense flames that surrounded Ryan rushed right at the monster. It was burning the creature with extreme heat, and its surroundings either burned to a crisp or melted. However, it was still standing - Jason had warned him that the monster's own flames might eat his own up - and Ryan had to keep blasting it, "You still up, you bastard?" he whispered, "Well then...time to heat things up!"

Ryan gathered much of his strength and focused it into one blast. With both hands, he aimed his searing flame blast right at the monster, "Rraah!!"

A massive explosion followed. Then, the wall that was right behind the monster was nothing but a enormous, burnt hole - exposing the docks on the other side. "Whew..." Ryan sighed. Aaron came up beside him, "You alright?" he asked, and Ryan nodded, "Good job."

"Yeah," Ryan said, "Just don't ask me to do it again, ok?"

Aaron chuckled and nodded, and he went to check on the other two. Ryan, though, had to check if the monster has gotten up, yet. It certainly wasn't over, though, this gave them some time to think. Ryan went out of the other side of the hole, and saw that the monster was already getting up. He looked right at it and thought, "Now, what?"

He looked at the sea, "It might work..." he thought, "But, it'll be hella difficult without--"

Then, Ryan saw, on the right side, far from the hole but still there: a rabbit-boy - scared stiff, and on his backside. The monster was already up, and it was eyeing the guy. So, Ryan - still able to muster some strength - summoned a great fireball in his hands and flung it right at the monster. The monster was still, practically, reeling from the last blast of fire, so it got thrown back as the fireball hit.

"Hey, kid!" Ryan called, running up to him, "Hey, kid, you alright?"

Now...things got complicated, "Interesting", was all Ryan could say as he ran to Ivan.