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. You guys agree, right? Right?’ He playfully asked his opponents.

No one responded, they had stopped giving his comment any sort of reaction, ‘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 ended up destroying itself upon contact, giving Akira the chance to sever its connection. ‘Was I really this stupid as a teenager?’ He asked mockingly to the rest.

Why am I getting pumped? I’ve never felt this way before, the thrill is exhilarating! Akira thought as he dodged another attack and severed two other cords with ease. He had destroyed five clones, but had been hit twice as much in return. 

He realised he had to end this fight as soon as possible, his body would not be able to keep up with an excessive amount of physical strain. He was starting to tire, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, the burning canary might’ve been right. His body was unfit right now, and he was running out of stamina quickly.

It didn’t look good though, 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’re just getting faster, and it hasn’t even attacked me once… He dodged a spinning kick of his identical clone and rolled to an empty space that had opened up. From what I’m seeing, they keep trying to get me away from the old man. 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, forming a tight circle around him.

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

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

Three hours.

He started wondering, if the overexertion of his body could speed up the process of, well, falling apart, he’d be in big trouble. If so, I can’t keep stalling, I need to either take out gramps, or defeat them all one by one… That last one could be troublesome.

Akira had noticed a pattern in the enemy formation, everything was centered around the old one. Protect the leader, while he accelerates the fighters, gradually 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 he made it look. He baited the little one, causing it to fall to the ground as Akira brutally stepped on its cord, dissolving it. Five left

A hole had opened in the circle surrounding him, he went 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 of their cords to be cut by a rock, the clone’s water splashing on the ground. Four left

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

At that point, 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 lasted an eternity in his mind. 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. He clenched his jaw, and with a grunt threw the clone off his back, and immediately dodged two new blows after.

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

Unfortunately, he was too far away. There was no way he could get close enough to hit the elder without these sped-up freaks catching up to him.

While running toward the elder, sweat dripped down his forehead as he thought up a plan, he realized he was pushing himself too far.

After tripping over a rock, he fell to the ground face-first, but got up as fast as he could, immediately running again.

He could hear the clones closing in on him. Aren’t they catching up a bit too quickly? Wait no, I’m going slower! As he looked up, he saw the elder smile for the first time, an evil glint in its eyes. Its other hand was now raised!

Crafty bastard, you had the power to slow me down all this time, 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, the sound as cold as ice, causing Akira to freeze. But not just him, even the clones seemed paralyzed for a moment.

Akira gritted his teeth, his chest heaving. The elder’s laugh hurt 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 this new world, only this time the person killing me is myself…

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 the rock he had picked up when he “accidently” fell as blood trickled down his hand. This was 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 leaped.

For a breath, the world seemed to stand still, the elder’s cord was pulsing, like the engravings from earlier, and if he could hit it, he’d win! If he missed, he would be too tired to continue, and he’d perish once more.

‘Come on,’ Akira whispered under his breath, ‘Come on, you useless canary, watch me hit this shit.’ With his last strength, Akira hurled back his arm and threw the stone at the cord of the elder, which was just barely visible from this angle.

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 disappeared, its happy eyes flicking toward the projectile headed to its lifesource.

Swish!

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

Everyone froze, the clones had lost their smiles, only emotionless faces remained. Their water-bodies had started bubbling aggressively.

The elder staggered, and Akira felt the forces that were slowing him down and the hands holding onto his back disappearing.

Akira fell to his knees, staying still to catch his breath, before standing back up with a smile.

The elder was aggressively clutching its head as Akira smugly looked at it, ‘I’ll be leaving you behind, just like I said. I’m not going to end up like you.’ Akira spat a coagulated ball of spit and blood on the floor before grinning widely.

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

As Akira looked behind him, he saw only puddles of water where the remaining clones used to be, ‘One crack was 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 barely hearable ticking sound, as the sound of water dripping returned to the cave.

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