Bad Beat

A fist made of water slammed into Akira’s cheek as he spat out blood. ‘Great,’ He muttered, ‘Getting crushed by myself. I knew self-love was important, but this just seems ridiculous. Don’t you all agree?’ He playfully asked his opponents.

No one responded, they had regained their creepy smiles and closed in on him, ‘Figures,’ Akira said as he ducked under a thirty year olds fist and kicked through its cord.

His teenage self tried to grab him, but only ended up splashing itself to destruction upon contact, giving Akira the chance to sever its connection. ‘Was I really this stupid?’ He asked mockingly to the rest.

Fuck this is getting me pumped, I’ve never felt this way, the thrill is exhilarating! Akira thought as he dodged another attack and severed two other cords with ease. But when he had a chance to catch his breath he needed to think. He had destroyed 5 clones, but had been hit double as much.

He realised he somehow had to end this fight as soon as possible. He was starting to tire, as much as he didn’t like to admit it, the burning canary might’ve been right, his physicality wasn't as good as he liked, and he was running out of stamina.

All the while, the clones didn’t seem to tire at all, they were getting faster, even! It must be that old version of me… Every time it raises its hand they seem to get faster, and it hasn’t even attacked me once… He dodged a spinning kick of his identical clone and rolled to an empty space. Wait, they also seem to be leading the fight in such a way to distance me from that clone. Maybe, if I destroy that one, the rest will be a piece of cake to deal with!

A water-fist smashed into his rib, pain coursed through his torso as he coughed up more blood. The remaining clones were now closing in around him, forming a circle.

He tried counting his breaths. One, two, three, f- He had to dodge a full body attack by his clone, ‘Alright,’he grunted as he rolled out of the way. ‘Time to turn you all back into a puddle.’

He sidestepped, taking one of his teenage versions by surprise, and snapping its cord. Six left. Adrenaline coursed through his entire body, but his limbs were starting to feel heavier and heavier, and Auren’s words echoed in his mind.

Three hours.

He started wondering, could the overexerting of his body speed up the process of, well, falling apart? If so, I can’t keep stalling, I need to either take out gramps, or defeat them all one by one…

Akira had noticed a pattern in the enemy formation, everything was centered around the old one. Protect him, accelerate the others, wear out and defeat the intruder. It was smart, practical, and most of all, annoying.

Akira grinned anyway, it seemed like he had no other choice but play their game, try to outlast them. Or that’s how it would seem to them. He baited the little one, causing it to fall to the ground as Akira stepped on its cord with ease, breaking it. Five left

Since a hole had opened in the circle surrounding him, he dodged through it, grabbed a handful of rocks and threw them at his clones. Stupid as they were, they all tried to dodge(even though rocks would have no damage to their water-bodies), causing one’s cord to be cut by a rock, the clone’s water splashing on the ground. Four left

He dodged an elbow, but the last thirty year-old lunged at him, its nail raking across his back. Akira staggered, pain disturbing his thoughts and tears clouding his vision.

He almost gave in, his knees buckled, and the weight of his own body seemed too much for him. Every hit felt like a blade of ice piercing his body, and the pain from those hits seemed to last an eternity. His body was filled with wounds, and he could feel there was not much time left for him.

A clone jumped on his back, incapacitating him for a moment, but the smell of blood snapped him back. ‘No, not yet.’ He clenched his jaw, and with a grunt threw off the clone, immediately dodging two new blows after.

He rushed toward his identical copy, and with a kick he smashed its head and its cord at once, managing to leave the avatars behind him, nothing between him and the elder. Three left

But he was too far away, there was no way he could get close enough without these sped-up freaks catching up to him.

While running toward the elder, sweat dripped from his forehead, he was pushing himself too far. Suddenly, he fell to the ground, but swiftly got up, running again.

He could feel the presence of the clones closing in on him. Aren’t they catching up a bit too quick? But that wasn’t the case, he was going slower! As he looked up, he saw the elder smile for the first time, an evil glint in its eyes, its other hand now raised.

Crafty bastard, you had the power to slow me down, but kept it hidden until now to trick me into an inescapable situation! As Akira’s expression turned hateful, he felt something latch onto his back. Shit! They’ve already caught up! Screw off, Me’s!

The elder laughed, a sound as cold as ice, causing Akira to freeze, and even the clones seemed paralyzed for a moment.

Akira gritted his teeth, his chest heaving. The elder’s laugh scraped against his ears, and his clones pressed against him, their wet bodies causing him to shudder even with his self-warming power.

So this is it? I can’t even last three hours in a new world, killed by myself this time…

And as his knees buckled and he slowly fell to the ground, a glint could be seen in his green eyes.

Is what you probably think I’m thinking right?

His hand clenched, he could feel the sharp edges of a rock as blood trickled down his hand. A stone he had scooped up when "accidentally" fell! His last bet!

The elder’s smile widened, as Akira felt like he was walking through syrup, yet he forced his eyes up, looking straight at the old and frail-looking version of himself.

‘Laugh while you can, you bastard, I won’t end up like you.’ he hissed as he jumped.

And for a breath, the world seemed to stand still, the elder’s cord was throbbing like a vein, and if he could hit it, he’d win! If he missed, there would be no way out, and he’d perish once more.

‘Come on.’ he whispered under his breath. “Come on, you fucking canary, watch me hit this.” With his last strength, Akira hurled back his arm and threw the stone at the cord of the elder, just barely in his view.

It spun through the air as the glow of the cave was reflected on the crystal-like stone. For a moment, the elder’s smug grin went, its sunken eyes flicking toward the projectile headed to its source.

Crack!

The stone cut clean through the cord connected to the elder’s skull, and plunged into the lake.

And for a moment, all froze, the clones had lost their smiles, now all wearing grimaces, their water-bodies rippling aggressively.

The elder staggered, and Akira felt the force slowing him down and the hands grabbing him disappearing. Akira fell to his knees, before catching his breath and standing back up with a smile.

The elder was clutching its head as Akira looked at it struggling, ‘I’ll be leaving you behind, like I said, I’m not going to end up like you.’ Akira spat blood on the floor before grinning widely.

The clone shrieked, its form shattering as it returned to the lake in pain. The cave seemed to groan, before turning completely silent.

As Akira looked behind him, he saw only puddles of water where the clones used to be, ‘one crack is all it took.’ Zero

He turned around again, looking at the pedestal floating above the lake. He could now clearly see the item situated there, it was a ring, and it exuded a ticking sound, the sound echoing through the cave.

‘Indiana Jones got nothing on me.’ Akira said with a grin.