Prove Thyself (1)

When Jacob arrived at the subway station there was an infestation of gore which destroyed a series of station cars clogging the tunnel. Leftovers of intestines and pancreases haphazardly threw up along the walls as well as upon each other. Not even bone remained of the disheveled corpses that once had the inkling to flee from the carnage. Their organs devoured while the skin remained little more than flaps which waved to the breeze. Granted such a sight, Jacob may have vomited, suffering a terrible sickness of the stomach communicated by the wobble in his legs as they mimicked the toughness of noodles. Fear crept up on him like a viper in the brush. Any one of these people could have been Daniel; there was simply no way to tell in the heat of the moment. In his now solidified mind, ridden of the haze emanating from the bile on the floor, a cry wailed down into the subway from some unknown entity.

Jumping the steps three at a time, Jacob managed exiting the source of his torture to witness a plume of smoke billowing from between the mess of what had become a hailing storm. Again, he heard the shout which now directed an order instead of messily drawn breath curdled with a gout of blood. There had to be some sticking done in his soul before the boy marched off to face that noise. His depths praying for Daniel to not be its source as then he may never withstand the cruelty of Kage.

A prayer left unanswered as he stood before the opponents surrounded by wreckage of what must have been a grueling fight. Daniel and companion Sam beside each other cloaked in the anxious haze of sweat. Jacob found his thoughts blank. Although holding a single clue on how to defeat these Villains, one of course constantly folded then inflated itself while the second's legs bristled with muscles larger than anything he had seen from Gan's hypertrophy. A dagger-like tongue hanging from the maw of the monster, licking remnants of speckled crimson dotting the ground. The sight of its companion never touching him but knowing all too well of the new intruder. An intruder it begged would join the four of them in their quandary.

A gulp suffused his throat made all the louder while his feet unconsciously drove him into this warzone.

Jacob was keenly aware of Daniel's limp body, which despite its numerous wounds stood upright. The light in his eyes was all but gone; replaced by dim sockets that had their pupils rolled to the roof. A bone or two were dislocated with one egregious section jabbing at the fickle skin from a joint. The child was ghastly. However, Sam wasn't much better with her hair tangled in a mess. Some seemingly chopped by something sharp having the unfortunate consequence of leaving an uneven pricker bush of strands. No bones stuck from their points, but she seemed even more drained than Daniel, if that was possible.

Her hands had their skin peeled away edged by harsh cracks that jagged the palms. Several of these splotches broke apart demonstrating a raw red of newly formed flesh telling of a weak regenerative ability. Sam's clothes were strips of cloth directing Jacob's mind to wander to the sight of her cracked skin continuing to the shoulders as layered deep wound scratched by a set of claws.

What had once been a playground of some sort devolved into splintered earth, concrete rubble, and a pit so deep he feared to peer down.

A boiling pressure bubbled out of Jacob's mouth, but nothing came with it. Emotions would not win this fight, solely his stalwart process could produce results.

Stepping between the figures, he finally made his presence known accompanied by a booming stomp blasting air pressure all around serving to kick the mounds of dirt hiding the bodies away. A slight peek behind himself saw how Sam's eyes were bright with recognition. "Both of you have done enough. I'm here now, they're sure as dead. This mess will be over within a matter of minutes." Sam did not relax at his words but was alerted with a heightened focus on their surroundings. Readied to place her fingertips upon the earth at a moment's notice to activate her ability.

A blood curdling laugh rang out from what Jacob presumed to be the two Villain's responsible for this massacre. Although they had been engrossed in a disastrous battle, only a few bruises and scratches licked their frames.

The one that morphed grew out to as wide as the alleyway Jacob had traveled and as tall as the second story windows to the apartments. They were trapped with no way forward fervently barricaded inside their net of influence. Its buddy's clothes flung into tattered patterns as the cloth was no longer able to handle the person's body. The ribs to his chest punctured the flesh releasing them to the open air, a pain that did not concern the Villain. In the end the other's body was not nearly half that of its friend but bore much more muscle as well as grotesque features. The mask it wore melded to its skin with large teeth appearing from its lips. A process furthered as its neck bulged while the rest of the skin bubbled into a hulking mess of muscle. The majority of which centered toward the thighs and calves of the beast.

A mighty roar blew shattering glass then snapping the concrete foundation to the apartments. Blasts of raining shards toppled on top of their bodies, committing damage to the surface of Jacob's modified uniform.

"Why not take your glasses off, challenger?" They smacked hands.

"Let us see the hope from your eyes bleed over while Hochi and I mash you between our teeth." A mess of slobber slipped from between the smaller one's lips. Clouds of breath blew in the freezing weather. Not a soul could tell what formulated behind those black, thick-rimmed aviators glued to the bridge of the boy's nose.

What lay beyond was a spectacle he allowed for numbers lower than a single hand could give, in knowing the mystery of his truth. Isaiah had called them peaceful and calming. A symbol of worry to those he would inevitably take in battle, next, a sign when the glasses stayed conveying to innocents of a tranquil time. However, when they were to be flung off nothing, but despair followed those caught within the gaze of the majesty which lay in slumber, intentions valiantly perceived.

Jacob closed his eyes, removing the aviators to toss at Sam's foot. "This mayhem caused by the both of you will not go unchecked today. For, I am here to humble you all." The release of this stress made the corners to his lips turn upward. Opening his eyes, he saw a new world unshaded, vibrantly brimming with life. In this world, he lifted a palm coaxing out a matter unknowledgeable to anyone but those who bore the exact vision manifested in the empty sockets of his eyes. Matter that stole no light, nor caked in some rampant color. It was a fluid, gaseous, solid that coagulated within each living person served only to bearers of the eyes who could touch their existence. The material floated around Jacob's fingers then coursed in his veins as he gulped down its liquidous form. Its power strained his bones as it whispered sweet delights to him. Thus, he was readied.

The largest of the two, Hochi, he believed, flattened itself into a second-dimensional object then shot out at Jacob, his real aim was the pair behind him. Painting the invisible matter across Hochi's body, Jacob unwrapped his figure into its towering self, then cupped his hands gracefully releasing a beam of this matter that detached Hochi's right arm from its body.

All Hochi saw was the hypnotic nature of Jacob's eyes, if you could even call them that. A pure darkness with no end sought by no beginning. They drifted along telling of a world similar in scope to the one they lived in but expanded. Hochi could not begin to grasp what it was seeing, which left it in a vulnerable enough state to lose an appendage. The arm lifted, sewing a strained grumble of solid dribble that rumbled the ground when they touched.

A howl of rage ate with pain came from Hochi. But the louder disturbance was wrenched forth from the smaller one's throat. Tubular vine-like pieces wrapped in peach coloring excavated from its back with the tips taking on a spiked head.

Before Jacob could unleash another blast of energy the spikes were detached from their origin, darting toward the center of his heart with a speed akin to a thrown dart. Using the same energy to shield his chest the spikes bounced off, broken in half. He looked to where the other had stood but found nothing except the afterimage of dust floating away.

Sensing a murderous intent, he jumped feet away avoiding the drop from the Villain's downward thrust of its leg. Yet was only able to soften the blow from the consecutive attack launched at his ribs.

'CRACK!' He heard the noise drowning out all other sounds. Bones were broken emanating blood to drip from his bottom lip. The figure did not let up kicking away and shooting the spikes every chance they grew back into their positions. Only once Jacob forced the beast away with a cloud of energy was, he relented a time for breath.

He watched as the smaller beast revved itself with adrenaline, undoubtedly psyching itself before returning to deliver more blows. Meanwhile, the one called Hochi simply observed the interaction. Worry did not fall in line behind its sight but was more of a curiosity, it was learning. This made Jacob anxious, more so than the beast because its attacks; although incalculable, were manageable and he had only to worry about its kicks.

Yet, Hochi was still an enigma. Despite the initial loss of its arm, it did not look perturbed at all. In actuality, the Villain snarled a delighted laugh in its mouth. It was waiting, knowing just when to come full force to be successful in the ripping of the throat from this Evolved.

"JACOB!" Sam yelled; a hand wrought to the ground. "HE CAN TRAVEL THROUGH GAPS!" Jacob saw a glimmer of a crack in the earth beneath his crotch. Narrowly dodging a flattened toe, he was thrown to his back letting another onslaught of the beast to commence.

The two Villains were unequivocally professionals synchronized with the other. Their attacks persisted from then on without a second for thought making an inevitable death ever more likely. Jacob avoided blow after blow, sending spouts of black beams at either assailant hoping to render one with imbalance so that Sam could trap them beneath the ground. Hochi and Pochi took each attack with a blistering growl. Neither cared for what the damage wrought, focused solely on their prey.

Onward, they were watched by the tottering mess that was Daniel. Unable to persist in the act of walking however he never ceased to guide them along a path with some shouted words. His time with Kage enabled him to see the faults in a person's stance. That training had finally come to be useful in a practical sense. He was no longer useless in this battle.

A battle which did not end in a matter of minutes.