Chapter 61: The Final Floor

After beating the 2nd floor's rounds Tazer and Annie have two grails, they only need one more to get back outside to the city but before that they still need to get the third grail from the 3rd member guarding the floor.

Tazer and Annie got out of the tower and once again Tazer lets out a sigh and says,

"Another open field!? these people seem to love them!."

3rd: Yes, we just don't love them, it's the perfect place to sit back and relax.

It was there, right behind them the 3rd member of the Executioners, the 3rd member guarding the last floor, He pops up again right in front of them and says,

"You two seem to be lucky! Right now the remaining members of the Executioners were sent out by the king just now."

He pops up right behind them, from side to side, Tazer and Annie were freaked out but were on their guard he continues saying,

"Even so, I commend you both for making it this far, although this is just the half of the Executioners tower we can't do anything by that for now."

Tazer: So you're saying after this we get to go back outside?

3rd: Hmm good question, depends on today's results.

He closes his eyes and turns around facing behind them, He had silver hair, and was wearing a school uniform, he takes a deep breath and says,

"If both of you pass this and manage to beat me in a fight then I'll give you the last grail ensuring both of your freedom"

Tazer: Ehh? we still get to fight ? but I'm tired already.

3rd: [Tired? hmm his thoughts aren't lying the 2nd's rounds must have taken a toll on them] Don't worry once you finish the test I'll make sure to heal both of you.

Tazer: Tchh fine! so what are we going to do?

Annie was nervous what they're going to do, after all that's happened she's simply worried what conditions they must follow in order to go outside, and at the same time she was in deep thought about their promise from the second floor.

Annie: [Did I really just said that!? EEEEKKK I'm soo embarrassed to look at him now!!!]

He taps on the confused girl beside him and gives her a smile, she was flustered upon seeing his smile and faced behind him and said,

"It's nothing, I'm ready!."

Tazer: Ehh? now if you're sick you can rest you know

Annie: Heh!? I'm not sick!!

3rd: [Hmm looks like they're getting more comfortable with each other.. and she's thinking about? I see]

the 3rd which was simply watching Annie landing soft punches on Tazer's stomach claps with both hands and says,

"Alright the third tests begins now!."

He claps again and the scenery changes, Annie and Tazer were both separated, They felt sick from what seems to be the 3rd teleported them to somewhere, Tazer was at the bank, while Annie was at a random room.

Tazer walked around the bank, he touched multiple people around the area but his electric arm would simply pass through them, as if they were holograms, he disperses both his electric hands and simply walks around the area, he takes a seat and a group of girls enter the bank and a familiar face was seen among the group.

Aurora: Nobody move! or I'll freeze all of you, you hear me!

The people inside were silent, as she steps on the floor and the ice from her foot was spreading, the citizens went to the side of the walls making a path for them to reach the counter.

Tazer was simply watching them as he knows this is just a hologram, he says to himself [What the hell is this crap!] and continues to observe them.

Meanwhile Annie was simply looking at a nice family enjoying their dinner, she tries to make contact with them but couldn't as her hands would pass through them so she just sat down on a couch and simply stared at the family having fun and enjoying their meal, she says to herself,

"Hmmm that boy looks oddly familiar."

Can't seem to know who that boy is, she heard a thump from the other side, she checks it out and found a young beaten up Tazer on the floor, blood was surrounding him, he was thin as a bone, his plate was filled with mere bread, he was chained like a dog on a leash.

"T-Tazer?."

She tried to remove the chains but her hands would merely pass through, she couldn't do anything but watch, she hears footsteps incoming and a man's loud voice heading towards the room,

"OY! ARE YOU DONE EATING!?."

The footsteps were getting louder and louder and there, what seems to be his Father came in, the same Father that was so kind to the other boy outside she then remembered what Tazer told her,

*Flashback*

When I was young, I would always be compared to my big brother, saying "He's always good with this, always good with that" while I was beaten by my Father all because my brother was better than me, they never even gave me a chance to show them that I too can do good like my brother."

*End of Flashback*

The Father simply punched the young Tazer and said,

"Why aren't you like your brother!? he's smart, strong, kind, what about you? disgusting, a failure of a son, merely trash, a pebble on a road, why were you even born?."

While the Father was scolding at the young beaten down Tazer, she heard his thoughts,

"Why was I born if all I'm experiencing is this?."

She reacts and turns to the crying Tazer on the floor as his Father would continually say bad things about him and compare to him to his brother.

Meanwhile Tazer at the bank was starting to figure out Annie's backstory, she said she was captured by a hero in the bank, and right now what he's seeing is her and her old team at a bank, and with her lashing out from the second floor's first round he remembered her yelling out "Aren't you just gonna abandon me like the rest of them?."

As he was processing the whole thing a police was right outside the bank surrounding the area.

and a hero came inside the bank stretching his arms and yawning saying,

"Can we get this over wit--!."

He was frozen by Aurora (Annie's older sister) the group ran towards the back door while moments later The hero broke out of the ice and said,

"Now that wasn't nic--! [I see, the back huh?]

As Tazer followed the group that ran towards the back door,

Aurora: Annie how many are there!?

Annie: There are a lot of them Sis!

Juliet: What do we do? if what your sister's saying is true we'll be done for sure.

Aurora: Nothing personal, but we'll use you as bait!

Tazer was simply observing and since he knows he can't do anything about it but watch, that's what he simply did.

But something was troubling him, he felt this sudden urge to help her, something was telling him to go and help her while the other was telling him to not to.

Tazer: Tchh What am I doing!? [Why am I?]

They continued to tied her up with a bomb and left her in the bank as they drilled a hole on the other side,

Tazer was shaking, he knows it's just a hologram but was still troubled by it, he wanted to save her here and now for some reason as he was watching her flail around as she desperately tries to get loose and get away from the bomb.

While biting his lip he heard her thoughts as she repeated it over and over again,

[This is a joke right!? Sis!? where are you!?]

Tazer: Tchhh so this is what happened to you, [This is what broke her trust of other people]

The heroes came and untied her while diffusing the bomb, the scenery changed Tazer was getting all sick again, he felt like he was going throw up right there, but managed to hold it in.

He was at the Police station, in a room where Annie was being interrogated by the police, day after day she was there in the room, bombarded with questions, but not a word from her, Tazer has seen her loyalty just from that and said,

Tazer: Tchh what are you doing?

For some reason he was pissed looking at her, as if he wanted her to say something about her traitorous sister and group, to make sure they suffer but even with all the rage he was feeling he somehow understand that after everything it still meant that she loved her sister no matter what.

Tazer could understand this for even if his family treated him badly, or being compared to his brother, He still loved them no matter what, and at times when both parents are asleep his brother would sneak in to Tazer's room and give him fresh food and talk about a lot of things.

But something was on his mind ever since he met Annie at the first floor, something familiar he remembered when he was a kid.

meanwhile Annie was sitting next to the young Tazer who was crying himself to sleep, even though she couldn't make a difference, she couldn't help him right now, she merely tried to pat his head and saying,

"There, There you did great on making it this far just keep trying your best, Tazer."

The young Tazer reacted to the voice as if he heard her, he stood back up and looked at every corner of the room to see if there was anyone else Annie who was shocked to see this, her hands were passing right through the young boy but for some reason her voice reached him.

The 3rd who was watching them from behind the scenes, disguised as one of Tazer's toys thought [How is this impossible? my power doesn't exactly let other people interact with the ones I made from my mind... could this be the irregularity Merlin talked about?]

(The 3rd's power is just showing holograms, a perfect way for escape or for stalling the enemy, but they can't interact with anything he makes, and for him to completely make the place, scene perfectly he needs the exact information he needs in order for his power to look exactly real)

She was in tears to see the young boy react in front of her, as if her voice reached him, and when she got a good look at the young boy's other hand he was holding a piece of broken glass, his hand was merely bleeding, she concluded he was about to kill himself that night,

But for some reason Annie's voice reached him at the right time and saved him, She merely smiled at the young boy and said,

"Of course you tried to kill yourself."

It wasn't a voice of anger, or sadness it was a voice of understanding, for she too had a thought like this and tried to end her life but decided to keep going to see how far her life will take her.

The room was starting to dispersed, Annie's test was over she had pass although the goal of these tests are still unknown meanwhile Tazer was merely staring at Annie who was in cuffs and heading towards the tower.

He heard her thoughts again [Am I going to jail? Am I going to make friends again?]

Tazer: Tchh this is what's on your mind at a time like this?

The image he was looking at was starting to dispersed as he felt sick again, he closed his eyes until the pain was gone, when he opened his eyes he was on the bed while Annie was sitting next beside him.

Tazer: How long was I out?

Annie: I just woke up.. you know I saw your past self.. the one you told me about..

Tazer: Hmm is that so?

Annie nods her head, she wasn't facing him but she said,

Annie: what did you see in there?

Tazer: I now know why you said what you said at the second floor

She then remembers the time she lashed out and yelled "Aren't you just gonna abandon me like the rest of them!?" She became flustered and even more embarrassed as she hid her face from him and relentlessly tried to softly punch him multiple times saying,

"Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid ...."

Tazer notices his prosthetic arms were back, He thought it was impossible, for one was left at the second floor's forests and the other was destroyed.

Annie: Oh yeah when I woke up you had your arms back which is strange.

The 3rd knocks and enters the room saying,

3rd: Sorry about your hands I merely asked the second to retrieve what's left of your prosthetic arms, and had her fix it.

Tazer: [So that woman knows how to make prosthetics huh] tell her I said Thanks, I needed this.

3rd: Now as promised I healed both of you a few minutes from now I'll be waiting outside the arena for the two of you.

Tazer: Are we really going with this?

The 3rd simply leaves the room as before the test was about to truly begin a petal landed in front of the 3rd and just from that he knew he had to end it and just let them go back outside the city, but because of his job to ensure the villains that do get out have changed for the better good, it's making this a bit difficult for him.

and decided to have the match instead of finishing the test, Tazer lets out a sigh as he stood up and said,

"Hey kid"

Annie: I'm not a kid!?

"Brat?"

Annie: That's worse!

Tazer: Thanks for being my partner

All flustered again she hid her face with the pillow and asked,

Annie: What's all of this about?

Tazer: I know you still don't trust me by now, so I'm just thanking you, I don't know if I'd make it here if I didn't have you.

She was stunned, her face was all red from the embarrassment and screamed at the pillow and fainted... A few minutes later the two proceed to head towards the arena the 3rd was waiting in.

3rd: It's nice to see both of you again.

Tazer: It was just a few minutes ago

the gate behind them closes as the 3rd claps his hands and says,

"This battle will decide, if the both of you win this fight I'll give you the grail and you can go back to the city."

He plunges towards the two directly, separating them, Tazer headed towards the left and Annie to the right, The 3rd stands up and cracks his fists as Tazer got close to him to slam him on the wall.

But the 3rd was expecting him to do this, he was confident that Tazer would go to him, the 3rd pulled out a baton and landed a hit on his head, once on the ground he kicked Tazer as he dodged Annie's darts left and right he evaded the darts while catching the last one with just his two fingers.

She was shocked to see him catch her darts and continued to rush towards him without a plan, it was a fistfight, Annie couldn't land a single blow as all her punches were blocked by equal force.

Tazer appeared right behind him and said,

"Forgot about me?."

As he was like a wolf who would seek his fangs on his prey, the 3rd grabbed Annie and faced her towards Tazer, because of this he dispersed his electrical arm,

3rd: Predictable.

He threw Annie and landed a punch on Tazer throwing to the other side, Annie came back once again considering her being thrown earlier, she used a chain and managed to capture him the 3rd says,

"A chain? but she's not a manipulator."

As Tazer appeared right next to Annie, He grabbed the chain and pulled the 3rd directly towards him, Thinking they had the 3rd unable to move they were wrong, He disappeared right before Tazer's claw could land a hit on his face.

And a mist arrived out of nowhere and consumed the both of them, in it there were two persons standing in front of them, Tazer's Brother and Annie's older sister.

Tazer: You gotta be kidding right?

The two older siblings rushed towards them with hostility as Annie ran to the left side, her sister followed her while Tazer blocked his older brother's left arm to shield himself from his punch, he then says,

"I'm always Mom and Dad's favorite you wanna know why?."

Tazer was then punched at the jawline with his right hand as his brother said,

"Because I'm better than you."

Tazer gets a good look at his so called brother and says,

"You managed to get every detail about my brother huh, but there's just one thing you missed."

Tazer disappeared and reappeared again right behind his illusion of a brother and landed a punch at him with his electric claws and said,

Tazer: My brother wouldn't say something like that.

Annie was dodging the Icicles being thrown at her left and right, as she was running away from her, she faced towards her sister and threw darts hoping to land a hit, but the icicles would just end up countering her darts.

She ran and ran dodging while countering her icicles with her darts and praying for at least one to hit her, but none could. She ended up right behind Tazer as she said,

Annie: Hey can we umm switch?

Tazer: Seems easier, I guess?

The two switched and put and end to both the illusions at the same time, Annie threw countless darts at Tazer's brother, he blocked a few but as he lowered his arm thinking there was no more a single dart landed a blow to the head killing the illusion, while Tazer merely dodged the icicles and simply crushed the illusion on the ground.

the mists disappears and the 3rd pops up behind Tazer, Annie managed to land a dart at the 3rd's shoulder, blowing his cover Tazer was ready for him to appear behind him and said,

"Hope you enjoy this."

He landed his punch and threw the 3rd to the other side of the wall, he made sure to pull his punch when he hit the 3rd, He smirked at the smoke made from the impact as his eyes widened, filled with shocked to see the 3rd simply standing as if nothing had happened, It was like he never received any damage from their attacks from the start, he tilted his neck as it produces a cracking sound and says,

"That was some fine teamwork both of you did back there, Who could expect to predict my movements."

Tazer who was right in front of him lets out a sigh of boredom and says,

"Fool, what you did there was merely predictable a hundred percent."

3rd: I see, then----!

The 3rd disappeared out of thin air and popped right back at Tazer's face, unable to react quickly He received multiple punches from the 3rd throwing Tazer to the other side, The 3rd chuckles and cracks his knuckles as he looks at Tazer's unconscious body,

3rd: That felt good

Annie: That pisses me off!

Filled with rage she was about to rush in and fight the 3rd but was stopped as Tazer said,

"Don't Annie, I'll deal with this guy."

Trusting the words he said, She calms down and simply watches with concern for Tazer who tries to get back up on his own, injured and bleeding, he's shaking, about to fall and give up, he's still trying he then yells out,

"I'll make sure to never leave you like those third strings do!!!."

He punches his face upwards to ensure he doesn't fall back down, his determination to fight and protect the girl was obviously showing, He stands back up completely and at a blink of an eye Tazer disappeared.

The 3rd was cautious, he was sure he'd pop up anywhere soon, He threw a rock behind him thinking he was there, and Tazer said,

"Wrong!."

And simply shocked the 3rd, electrocuted Annie went and plunged towards him to finish the blow, she clenches her small and frail fists and lands a hit.

Now the 3rd on the floor, waving his left arm from right to left as if he was holding a white flag for surrender, Tazer lets out a sigh and holds Annie's shoulders telling her to stop.

He placed his right arm on his chest and he lit up, a green light was surrounding the 3rd as all his wounds and injuries he suffered from the match were slowly disappearing, Tazer moans out of anger as he says,

"What the hell!? That's cheating! You can't fight us again you just surrendered yourself earlier!."

3rd: I did say I'd heal you after the test right?

Tazer: You did?

Annie: Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did.

Tazer: Tchh. now give us the grail old man!

Fully healed now he wiped off the dirt remaining on his uniform and placed his right hand on Annie's right hand and Tazer's face to heal them,

Enraged on why the face he asked,

"Why are you holding my face!!."

3rd: Because it's more fun this way XD

Tazer: Why you!! ----!

3rd: Here, catch!

He threw the grail, Tazer caught it and the grails that they had were glowing a bright gold light,

3rd: Go into that cave, it'll lead both of you outside.

Tazer: I see, It was nice knowing ya

Annie bowed as they head towards the cave. Once they entered the 3rd says,

3rd: Are you sure this is the right choice? You made me go easy on them and stop their tests halfway through, I hope you'll take responsibility for this when something goes wrong.. Merlin.

Merlin was chanting an Invisibility spell and was observing the battle, He is behind the 3rd right now and says,

"Don't worry, all they needed was to know each other's past and then they'll be the bestest of friends."

So confident with his visions he smiled happily as he says,

"Don't worry old friend, I'll make sure to watch over them."

3rd: You better, if Noelle finds out you helped let two villains escaped she's going to k----!

Interrupted him, Merlin waved his finger from left to right, clucking his tongue and said,

"Not villains, the key to the survival of the Kingdom, well I doubt they'd believe that so please make an excuse for me please."

Merlin dispersed into Flowers and simply disappeared as the 3rd lets out a sigh and says,

"I'm seriously going to die."

Meanwhile inside the cave, Tazer and Annie were almost out. Tazer was closing his eyes and asked,

"Do you really wanna go with me?"

Annie: Huh?

She took a look at Tazer who was facing the other way and replied with a smile on her face,

Annie: Yup, I wanna go with you.

Tazer: [At first when I heard your voice I could've sworn I've heard you from somewhere] Alright then, just don't hope anything from me alright I live in a crappy apartment.

Annie: That's fine, I'm sure we can do this together.

She was determined to go with him either way, it was like she would face the whole kingdom just to be with him.

Tazer: [Maybe I'm just overreacting, there's no way she's the voice I heard when I was a kid.]

Tazer and Annie continue to head towards the exit of the cave until they finally got out.

Tazer: Tchhh too bright!

covering his eyes, they magically were at the middle of the city, it felt like they were teleported to somewhere else, but either way He clenches his hands making a fists and raises it to the sky as Annie was merely excited just to go with him anywhere Tazer said,

"Time for a new start!."

End of Chapter 61: The Final Floor