You're Too Persistent
Although a brief anomaly had been detected, neither Amy, Rain, nor I paid it any mind. The stationary limousine began to move once more, and the escort vehicles following us fell into line.
"It's quieter than before," Rain muttered, looking at her tablet PC. Her small fingers swept back and forth across the mini-map.
"Jeff. I don't feel good."
"Shine?"
She was acting a bit different than usual. Frowning deeply, she clung to me. The way she pressed herself against me felt strange; she didn't seem to just be acting spoiled. I let out an awkward chuckle and wrapped my arms around her. Soft and warm, Shine flinched slightly in my embrace and glared out the window.
"Shine?"
"I'm okay for now."
She was smiling just a moment ago.
While I was fussing over Shine, our limousine managed to slip out of District 7. A massive wall separated the districts. The moment we passed through the colossal gate, a wide highway stretched out before us.
Roads, roads, and more roads. That was the only way to describe the surrounding scenery. Countless vehicles traveled along the web of intersecting overpasses and lanes. Our limousine merged onto the highway as well.
Rain's expression remained tense. The more she manipulated the mini-map, the stiffer her face became.
"Amy—"
"I know."
Amy, who had been sitting quietly, suddenly stood up. Clinging to Shine, I looked up at her in confusion, but she simply offered a broad grin.
"Don't worry, Jeff."
"Worry...?"
"Yes." Her words were directed at me, but they also seemed meant for herself.
"Jeff!"
Suddenly, Shine writhed in my arms and bolted upright. Had my tight embrace suffocated her? I loosened my grip and let her go. And in that exact moment, I spotted an unidentified black object flying toward us from outside the window.
A long, sleek body. Coarse fur whipping in the wind. Pointy ears standing erect on its head.
A dog? Is there a dog flying outside the window?
Just as that absurd thought crossed my mind, the beast—far too massive to be a mere dog—reached its paw toward the window.
It felt as if time had ground to a halt. As everything slowed to a crawl, Shine, who had just been in my arms, reached her hand out toward the mysterious beast.
Immediately after, Amy's body began to move at an unbelievable speed, as if she were entirely unaffected by the temporal slowdown. Amy's long leg shot upward toward the ceiling. Her foot slammed into the roof of the car, denting the metal and creating a subtle distortion in space. A bizarre flash of light surged through her entire leg. Amy's face contorted into a fierce scowl.
And then—BOOM!
With a deafening roar, the floor of the limousine tore wide open. Amy's leg, plunging down toward the asphalt, drew a stark white line through the air.
The frozen time resumed immediately afterward. The limousine flipped into the air. The violent impact blew the side doors clean off, and the resulting shockwave blasted the airborne beast away. The creature was thrown backward amidst a shower of shattered debris.
It all happened so fast that I couldn't even react. I could only watch blankly as my body floated into the air. Hair whipped wildly in all directions. My eyes locked with Shine's. She reached her hand out to me.
"Shi—"
CRASH! The moment the airborne chassis slammed back down onto the road, Amy snatched Shine and me, pulling us tightly into her embrace. A heavy impact rattled my arms and legs, but it didn't hurt all that much.
"Amy...?"
Startled, I looked up at her, only to see Amy offering an awkward smile. It was a smile completely unlike her usual self. Seeing Amy look so uncharacteristically anxious made a knot of dread tighten in my own chest.
"Rain."
"Yeah?"
"Take care of the kids for me."
With a faint smile, Amy handed Shine and me over to Rain. As I frantically turned back and reached out for her, Rain grabbed my hand.
"Amy!"
Amy leapt out of the vehicle and began to sprint away at incredible speed. As I stared blankly at her retreating figure, enveloped in a faint, shimmering light, Rain spoke up.
"Don't worry about Amy. She always makes it back safe."
"Amy..."
I clutched my bag tightly, staring in the direction Amy had gone.
"Still, they're being way more persistent than usual," Rain muttered under her breath. She shoved her tablet PC into my bag. "That's expensive, so don't lose it."
I nodded at Rain's firm warning. Seeing Rain act so differently from her usual self sent an inexplicable wave of pressure washing over me.
"Shall we go?"
Rain hopped out of the wrecked limousine. Gesturing toward us, she seemed to be telling us to get out of the car and move. I squeezed Shine's hand tightly as we climbed out of the wreckage.
In the distance, explosions erupted and massive flashes of light pierced the sky. Shattered fragments of the highway rained down from above. Leaving the chaos behind, Shine, Rain, and I began to run along the highway.
"Rain..."
"I know...!"
The three of us were roughly the same height, which meant our running speeds were also about the same. None of us were particularly fast runners. A normal adult male could easily catch up to us at a light jog, even if we ran with all our might.
"Where did your teammates go?"
"I don't know either!"
Running ahead of us, Rain's golden hair whipped wildly in the wind. Perhaps due to the battles erupting all around, the cars that had been speeding down the highway were now completely gridlocked, refusing to budge.
RUMBLE! Suddenly, a massive tremor shook the earth from behind, accompanied by the sound of the ground tearing itself apart. Startled, I looked back, and my heart nearly stopped.
"Rain!"
The highway was collapsing.
When I called out to her in panic, Rain looked back and bit her lower lip hard.
"This way!"
Veering off her forward path, Rain grabbed Shine's and my hands and bolted toward the edge of the highway.
"Rain?"
"We have to run!"
The collapse of the highway was accelerating. Pouring every ounce of strength into our legs, Shine, Rain, and I managed to reach the very edge of the road.
Jump...?
I swallowed hard and looked down. Beyond the massive guardrail where the road ended lay a dizzying, sheer drop that made my head spin. I shook my head as I watched the collapse creeping closer and closer. Whether we fell with the road or jumped off, we were going down either way.
Rain was the first to leap. With a quick patter of footsteps, her small figure launched itself into the empty air. Shine and I followed right behind her, throwing ourselves into the abyss.
A brief moment of weightlessness was instantly replaced by a terrifying plunge. The biting wind whipped fiercely against my skin. Just as the ground rushed up to meet us, the highway we had been standing on exploded behind us.
I couldn't even squeeze out a scream. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the inevitable impact. But no matter how long I waited, the pain never came. Instead, a soft, cool sensation enveloped my skin, forcing my eyes wide open in surprise.
"Water...?"
"There's no water around, so this is the best I can do!"
A massive sphere of water was cocooning us. It rippled gently as it drifted slowly toward the ground. Fascinated by the sensation, I poked the water with my finger, causing the sphere to wobble violently. Enclosed within the droplet, we floated down and touched down safely on the ground. The moment our feet hit the earth, the giant water bubble burst.
No water around...?
Standing on the ground, I felt a strange, foreign sensation in the air and looked up at the sky. The sky was beginning to bruise black. The white clouds bled into a dark, heavy gray. The moment she landed, Rain had reached her hands toward the heavens.
"Hurry... Hurry...!"
Rain muttered under her breath, her voice laced with desperation. With every twitch of her fingers, the dark storm clouds overhead multiplied.
"Just a little more!"
BOOM! A flash of lightning ripped through the sky. Along with the deafening roar, a strange sensation made sparks dance before my eyes.
"More!"
Summoned by Rain's gestures, the storm clouds gathered until they completely blanketed the area. A pitch-black darkness fell, swallowing every last ray of light.
"Jeff...? What's wrong?"
Panting heavily, I slid down to lean against a nearby wall. Seeing this, Shine rushed over and reached out to me with a worried expression.
Zap! But a sudden spark of blue electricity flared up, forcing Shine to recoil.
"Jeff...?"
Shine stared at me in disbelief. I, too, looked down at her hand with a bewildered gaze. The hand that had brushed against the blue spark was flushed red from the shock.
Crackle! Along with another flash of blue light, my hair began to stand on end. It felt like an extreme case of static electricity. My powers were manifesting out of my control. I stared back at Shine, utterly bewildered.
BOOM! The cloud-choked sky unleashed another flash of lightning.
"It's suffocating..."
Frowning, I clawed at the bracelet wrapped around my wrist. A bizarre sensation coiled around my heart, threatening to burst at any second. The only thing holding it back was the power-suppressing bracelet Amy had put on me. But with Amy gone, there was no one here who could unlock it.
"Pour down!"
Rain, who had been reaching toward the sky, screamed and slammed her hands down toward the earth. Immediately, a torrential downpour cascaded from the heavens.
WHOOSH!
It was as if a giant faucet had been turned on full blast; the cascading water swallowed everything in its path. Rain was a conductor. Under her direction, the falling torrents coalesced into a massive water dragon, twisting and turning at her command. The water dragon split into several streams, crashing down upon the explosions erupting all around us.
Watching Rain command the water dragon was an incredibly awe-inspiring sight. Forgetting my own discomfort, I watched her in awe—until I spotted a small flame flickering right next to her.
What is that?
"Rain. Over there..."
Just as I tried to warn Rain, who was entirely focused on controlling the water, Rain turned to look at me. At that exact moment, the flame floating beside her began to expand at an alarming rate. The sight immediately brought a specific ability to mind.
Pyrokinesis. An Igniter.
Though application and manifestation varied wildly from person to person, any ability that manipulated fire fell under the ignition category.
"Watch out!"
I screamed at Rain. My mouth fell open as I lunged forward, reaching out for her. Did the expanding flame detonate after I yelled, or before? No, I don't think I even managed to finish the word.
In the slowly drifting flow of time, a massive bubble of water formed around Rain's body. But it was a fraction of a second too late. The unstable, wobbling sphere of water couldn't completely shield her from the roaring explosion of flames.
BOOM!
The delayed roar of the explosion finally caught up. My vision blurred as Rain, her face contorted in pain, was blasted out of sight. I blinked. The spot where Rain had stood was now scorched black. The faint scent of ash was instantly washed away by the pouring rain.
CRACK!
My skin tingled. Dark storm clouds still choked the sky. Every time the blue dragon of lightning slithered through the clouds above, a sharp, tingling pain shot through my skin.
"Cough!"
Thrown some distance away from us, Rain writhed on the ground, hacking violently.
"Cough! Wheeze!"
With every cough, dark red blood spilled from her lips. I could only watch the scene in a daze.
"Rain!"
Shine rushed toward Rain with a panicked expression. Her white hair vanished from my line of sight. My gaze drifted slightly past Rain. At the edge of the road, the faint silhouette of a man began to emerge. Clad in a red varsity jacket, the man conjured a small flame in his palm as he walked slowly toward us.
BOOM!
Once again, the blue dragon of lightning flashed from the storm clouds. It was screaming at me.
My clothes clung to me, soaked through. My wet hair plastered flat against my head. The sound of the rain drowned out everything else. The man walking toward us stopped, keeping a deliberate distance. He raised his hand without a word. Despite the torrential rain pouring from the sky, the flame in his hand didn't flicker even a fraction. The man's hand twitched slightly.
BOOM!
The blue dragon of lightning showed itself once more. This time, it spoke to me even louder.
At the edge of my vision, sensing something strange, I looked back at Shine and Rain. Right next to Shine, who was cradling Rain, a small flame was beginning to flare up.
Ah.
A bizarre sensation coursed through my entire body.
BOOM!
With a deafening roar, my vision washed out into pure white. The sound of the surrounding rain faded into a white noise. The dragon that manifested this time plunged directly toward me. I couldn't hear a thing. My vision tunneled. The blue light erupting all around me was blinding. The heavy sheets of rain scattered in every direction. Amidst my floating white hair, the blue dragon of lightning danced.
BOOM!
Another explosion roared. My body moved on pure reflex. The moment I took a single step—just one step—I was able to do exactly what I wanted. Stopping in my tracks, I let out a long, slow breath.
*Crackle!*
Blue currents of electricity dispersed into the empty air. Shine and Rain were now cradled in my arms. A blue light flashed. The residual blue electricity lingering where I had originally stood finally scattered.
"Jeff?"
I couldn't find my voice. I shifted my gaze to the spot where Shine and Rain had been sitting just moments ago. A scorched black crater and the mangled, bomb-blasted ruins of the highway met my eyes.
"Cough! Cough!"
Rain's coughing echoed from my chest. I gently set the two of them down.
"Jeff... It's you, right?"
Through my white-washed vision, Shine's anxious face came into focus. I reached my hand out to her. It was our usual greeting. The anxiety clouding Shine's face vanished in an instant.
"Jeff!"
*Snap!*
A flash of blue light flared, and the bracelet on my wrist shattered into dust.