Cosmic

Chapter 4: From the Shadows

[Ben]

Ret leapt over piece after piece of broken rubble, closing the distance between the enemy and himself. He was running so fast that the only thing I could see was the bright red trail of sparks he was leaving behind.

It's no wonder he's the Head of the Gazer foundation. I marvelled. The enemy wouldn't last a minute.

Suddenly, Ret leapt into the air, bringing his leg down as it connected with the enemy's body.

BOOM!

I felt the wind from the impact press against my face. A kick that strong could kill anybody, right? However, I couldn't have been more wrong. Ret's kick never landed. The enemy was still standing, completely unfazed as if nothing had happened. In fact, his left hand (which was the size of a small stool) was tightly wrapped around Ret's leg. Ret grunted in frustration, trying to free his leg to no avail.

"I thought the legendary Ret would be more of a challenge. Turns out I was dead wrong," mocked the enemy before slamming Ret into the floor "The name's Dagger, pleased to meet you."

Dagger's voice was extremely deep like that of a stereotypical supervillain.

"RET!" Kent screamed, worried. A large cloud of dust filled the hallway, making it even harder to see.

"Kent, what's your power?" I asked hurriedly. "We have to help Ret as soon as possible!"

"Huh? Oh, my power is 'Finger guns'. I can-"

"NOBODY CARES, JUST GO HELP!!!" yelled Mia, already running. I quickly followed after her, cloning myself. I needed to get a weapon or else I was screwed. My power wasn't exactly known for its offensive capabilities.

Suddenly, I remembered. If I was in the Starmaker, then where was my new power? Mia said she saw an explosion from the Academy, which was probably from the Starmaker. Could the whole procedure have failed?

I shook away the thoughts that were distracting me. I had to focus on the battle ahead.

BOOM!

I felt the ground beneath me shake violently. I ran even faster, sending my clone to attack Dagger. I couldn't afford to clone myself too much as I had already given some energy to Mia.

My clone ran ahead of me, leaping on top of the Dagger to allow Ret to escape. I could feel my eyelids already beginning to droop. Now that I was close enough and my eyes had adjusted, I could see what was happening. Dagger was trying to shake my clone off while also holding onto Ret's leg. My clone swayed from side to side as he wrapped his arms around Dagger's neck.

Annoyed, Dagger grabbed the clone with his right arm and slammed it against the wall. Poof! A cloud of dust erupted upon impact as the clone disintegrated. I couldn't do anything but watch as I didn't have a weapon.

"Finally, that thing was so annoying," complained Dagger as he aimed a punch at Ret.

Suddenly, Ret's free leg began to glow a red light, illuminating the hallway as he kicked Dagger right in the face. Caught off guard, Dagger staggered, trying to regain his balance. However, he had accidentally let go of Ret.

"Nice distraction, Ben," Ret complimented. He had survived being slammed into the floor twice.

"You kids weren't on the kill list but I guess you leave me no choice," Dagger grumbled. In an instant, his fist was directly in front of my face, only a hair's width away.

How am I still alive?

I was half confused and half relieved at the fact that I was not dead. Shaking myself out of the daze, I quickly dashed to the side. I was lucky I did that because, at that exact moment, his fist shot forward with the force of a cannon, leaving behind a huge gust of wind.