Lone Wolf

The last obstacle.

The one person standing firmly between escaping or being caught dead was waiting somewhere in the house Jai and I stood patiently before.

Jai's feet were the first to move landing nervously on the first step while I escaped her firm grip quickly skipping through to land at the top, hand anxiously on the door handle as I waited for her.

Glancing over my shoulder I saw Jai unmoving from the first step standing there shakily muttering silently under her breath.

(She's different from her normal self, the boisterous attitude she normally displays is gone.)

"Jai...hey Jai."

I whispered her name countless times careful not to be heard, every attempt to reach Jai going unheard. Giving one last look at the door I let go of the knob scooping my ghostly partner up carrying her from the scene until we were once again atop the green hill overlooking the house.

Settling down in the grass I pinch her exposed thigh twisting the skin until a red blemish appears earning a scream of pain in response.

"Ouch, what the hell!"

"Huh, I'm surprised that worked."

"Of course, who wouldn't feel that pinch, we're in the midst of...of...a fight."

Jai looked around slumping her shoulders as she retook in the sight of the green scenery realizing we'd never made it in the house. Looking away from me she plucked at the blades of grass at her knees releasing her frustration.

"...You could've gone in without me. I...already figured you would if I couldn't make it in."

"...I had considered it, but if it's one thing I learned growing up; you can't trade one person's suffering at the cost of another's. Or rather, you shouldn't."

"My morals aside, it'd be best I head in alone. ...I won't bother prying into your panic attack, but for now, why don't you make a run for the ship, I'll meet you there as agreed upon, hopefully."

"...Yeah...yeah, it's for the best. ...Sorry, for wasting your time."

Rising from her feet Jai grabs my hands placing in them one of her twin guns heading down the hill soon after in great despair. Pocketing the weapon in my sock I check for Jai's figure finding it out of sight before sliding down the hill landing yet again before the depressing house.

Summoning my sword I hold my free hand out in front of me calling on my powers to douse the house in light earning only a small orb that barely lights the steps before it flickers away pathetically.

(Guess I'm doing with skill alone)

Skipping over the steps I press my hand to the knob opening the door with an eerie creak. I leaped in, the smell of burned-away candles gently wafting into my nostrils. It was a small room with only a bed, dresser, closet, and stairs leading down a dark passage to a lower level I was hoping I needn't travel.

Signaling the end of the room my feet bumped into the wall becoming lodged between the narrow space the bed left, I fell on the floor looking up to see Thalia laying sandwiched in the foremost corner, her blind eyes unknowingly looking back at mine in the unlit room.

Shimming through the tight space breath held I stretched my hand little by little barely enclosing it around her hand before carefully pulling us both from the suffocating area.

"Thal, hey Thal."

I shook my younger sister even going as far as tapping her face, anything to help her focus on my voice while she blinked slowly on the edge of consciousness.

Slinging Thalia on my back I stood facing the door eyes widening at the sight of Tak blocking the only exit, magic bazooka in hand as he charged an attack.

"Yo."

The beam discharged before I could grab my sword hitting me square in the chest, the wall behind us becoming a pile of rubble with Thalia and I being launched in different directions, rolling about in the makeshift graveyard serving as the lawn.

Peering from the rising smoke I could make out Thalia stirring on the other side, struggling to make sense of what was unfolding. Emerging from the flames of the collapsed wall Tak ran at me firing another shot as I called my sword guarding my chest.

The beam easily bypassed the sword, phasing through it as if it was never there hitting for the second time in the chest barreling me into the hill, pounds of compacted soil and grass burying me alive as my sword dematerialized.

"Surprised? Out of all the weapons in my arsenal, this has to be my favorite. Give a warm welcome to Spirit Gun Bakt, brat!"

Another shot discharged and the hill was blown away completely. The force behind the blast sent me falling from the sky onto one of the abandoned festivities stands several feet from the house.

A streak of light falls across the sky like a star, the bazooka lodging itself into the ground meters from my face.

"Big Bakt Bang!"

The weapon opens separating itself two resembling a massive bomb glowing a shade of umbra. Instinctively jumping away, I take off for the air as the area is bathed in purple light before being reduced to mere smithereens.

I watch the smoldering scene from above looking across the valley only to find Tak staring up at me from amongst the destruction, his toothy smile mocking my expressionless facade.

"What's wrong, too much firepower for ya? Never took you for a kid that gets easily frustrated, if only you'd sacrificed Jai the two of you would be long gone by now."

"So, you were watching, for how long?"

"You're asking the wrong question. Not how, but when? It's as Jai said I've mapped this place down to the very last detail in the back of my mind. Everything from the placement of all the buildings down to the patterns and the feeling of the pavement beneath my feet. Even before the two of you moved I already knew what path you'd take to get here."

(So things were in his favor since the beginning. He's had me check-mated from the start.)

"...That's right, I have. Even without hearing you say a word, it's apparent what you're thinking. Your ten minutes Jai estimated you had is ticking away faster than you can count. You've got four minutes left and not a plan in that empty head."

"Tick tock, Reis."

Waving his finger in a joking manner Tak kept his hand on Bakt smiling devilishly as he charged another attack firing it with ease, the rainbow palleted beam many times larger than before.