I Should Deserve To Die If I Lose To You Two!

Adrian and Evelyn make their way back to the statue and open it the way Chante had. Walking down the stairs, Evelyn more of a limp as the pain from the fresh gunshot wound on her leg, Adrian clutching his side and a pained groan leaving him every so often. They reach the bottom to find the room in chaos. The once pristine and organized nature of the room now filled with the bodies of the scribes that had made it so, its walls now painted with streaks of red. In the center of the room stands Gale, his back turned to the two, holding Chante by the throat.

“What the hell is going on?!” Evelyn blurts out,

“R-run…” Chante manages to say through strangled gasps,

Gale cranes his neck behind him and stares at the pair, “Hm? Back up already?”

“Let him go, now!” Evelyn demands and surprisingly, he does, now turning to face them.

“Hey, I know you!” He says to Adrian, “Small world, huh? If I’d known you were with the rats… I would’ve gutted you right there…”

Adrian smirks and tosses the plates of his comrades in his hand, “Guess so… Though your pals didn’t do much better against us.”

“Thanks for confirming that! Saves me time doing it myself!” He says eyeing the plates then looks at Adrian’s, “999? Aw, you’re still just a baby!”

“Yeah? Then what rank are you? If I’m gonna kill you… It better be worth my while.” Adrian asks,

Gale holds up a peace sign with a wide grin, “Two!”

Adrian dashes at him after hearing that, his veins glowing teal, “Overdrive!!” He screams as he swings his bat at Gale’s head. Gale however simply leans back, feeling the air from the attack on his face as it misses.

“Wow! You’re a breather too?! No wonder those guys upstairs couldn’t hang with you! You might’ve actually hit me if you weren’t so banged up!” Gale compliments him, backing away from another attack.

“Adrian! We can’t get into another fight right now!” Evelyn screams out after her friend,

Adrian swings again, hitting air, “Shut up! We have to beat this guy! We lost our one way ticket to learning more about the burn! These guys obviously can’t tell us anymore!”

While Adrian is occupied talking, Gale hits him with a jab to his face, the simple looking impact causing major damage. Crunching into Adrian’s nose and wobbling him, his knees starting to buckle. Gale catches him by grabbing a handful of his hair before he hits the ground.

“I wouldn’t worry about that right now, buddy! You’re fighting for your life after all… But if you need some more motivation, then how about this?” He lets go of Adrian and he falls on his butt. “If you two can beat me, I’ll tell you how to get rid of the burn! Sounds good, right?!”

“You’re serious…?” Evelyn asks,

“Of course! I should deserve to die if I lose to you two!” He replies with a laugh,

While on the ground, Adrian tries to sweep Gale’s legs out from under him, Gale jumping over the attack. Then slamming both of his feet into Adrian’s chest. Evelyn dashes in shortly after, throwing out a roundhouse that he blocks.

“Overdrive!!” She yells, trying to use the strength boost to push him back, but he doesn’t budge.

“Woah! Two breathers?! This just keeps getting better!” Gale grins as Evelyn skates backwards, “And you’re fast! Good, you’ll need it.”

He dashes forward and is in front of her before she can react. His knee connects deep in her stomach, knocking the wind out of her, then he knocks her to the ground with a one-two combo. Adrian comes from behind with an overhead swing but Gale spins around and hits him with a spinning back fist across the chin. He focuses on Adrian as Evelyn hits the ground, hitting him across the temple with a question mark kick, staggering him. Adrian shakes his head, his vision was blurring, ears ringing, helpless to watch as Gale winds up another hit with a grin. He throws a straight right that sends him bouncing off of a hologram table and he slowly slumps to the ground. Gale is in front of Adrian in the next instant, throwing a front kick that sends him through the table. He gets on top of him and starts to pummel him, punch after punch shaking the ground, before Evelyn rushes in to help her friend.

“STOP IT!!” She yells out, throwing all of her forward momentum into a punch that is only caught,

“You know, screaming before you attack just makes it easier to counter…” Gale says, crushing her hand in his, “See? Now you’re the one in pain instead of me!” Gale then pulls her in for an elbow that cracks her across the face.

Before he can follow up with another attack however, Adrian swipes his bat across his face, the first attack on Gale landing. Gale pauses, blinking a few times, as if taking a hit was a foreign concept to him. Adrian smirks, his chest rising and falling rapidly, his usual white hair red stained.

“Guess you’re right… You didn’t see that one coming.” He taunts,

Gale brushes his cheek and looks at his hand, watching his blood slowly trickle down his finger, he looks at Adrian with a grin. Evelyn takes her chance to free herself from his grip and grabs the hand holding hers, doing the same with the other, before headbutting him. Gale falls off of Adrian, holding his nose as he slowly rises back to his feet, an audible “click” sounding out as he snaps his nose back into place. Adrian rolls out of the way as Gale pounces at him and he crashes his fist into the ground. Gale blinks a few times, tugging at his fist, realizing it's stuck in the ground. Adrian uses this to his advantage and gets to his feet. He sways back and forth as it takes all of his strength just to stay standing. He looks behind him at Evelyn who gives him a small nod. She dashes past him and Gale while Adrian gets in a batter's stance. He watches Gale punch at the concrete with his other fist, breaking it apart enough to free himself, turning his attention back to Adrian.

“Huh? You charging a special move or something?” Gale asks with a slight head tilt,

“Come and get me, bitch…” Adrian responds with a smirk,

Gale shrugs and dashes after Adrian, but stops in his tracks, ducking to the side as a piece of a hologram table flys past him. He watches it soar towards Adrian and he swings at it, sending it back, but Gale only catches the projectile. This doesn’t deter Adrian however as he rushes after Gale and before he can react he feels both of Evelyn’s skates in his back. She sends him into Adrian’s swing and the two of their attacks combine, Adrian aiming for his opponent's Adam's apple, sending a shockwave through the room. The impact sends Gale upwards towards the ceiling but before his head can make contact, he spins his body, planting his feet first and pushing off. The two frantically move out of the way as Gale crashes on top of them, the force of his attack throwing them to the sides, kicking up a plume of dust. Adrian tumbles across the ground before resting a few feet away from Chante.

“No… Please… You can’t beat him…” Chante manages to squeak out, a pool of red growing bigger around his body,

“Quit talking… You’re just killing yourself quicker.” Adrian says, struggling to get back up, his arms and legs giving out each time he tries.

“You don’t understand… I-I won’t be responsible again… I can’t- I can’t…” He speaks through his sobs now, “I can’t have anymore of the youth dying because of my mistakes.”

“I said-” Adrian stops his sentence, looking over at Chante and seeing a bright teal vial, “What are you doing with that?”

“Take it…”

“The hell are you on about?! If a breather takes anymore Overdrive they get the burn! Aren't you supposed to be a historian?!”

“That may be true, but only for the storm, the Overdrive drug… In the rainfall… It was made to be incomplete, to give people the burn… But this, this is the purest form, one that was made with the synthesizer…”

“What…? How?”

“There’s no time! Please…Take it, you won’t be able to stand a chance if you don’t! He… He was a part of a project I was working on… To make the effects of the Overdrive drug permanent…”

Adrian eyes the vial for a few moments, then reaches out his hand, “Alright… Give it here!”