Butterfly Effect (But Not The One You're Thinking Of)

The Delinquent sighed as he walked towards the address he received in his message.

He expected some level of the usual embarrassment (though he was mostly numb to it by this point). In fact he was somewhat expecting things to be more annoying than usual, as he had absolutely no faith in his father to act normally after hearing the news.

Hrrm… don’t tell me he acted out BECAUSE of the news? Then that makes this somewhat my fault.

The Delinquent could not help but think this while he marched towards near certain trouble. The sidewalks were at least somewhat clear, giving him ample room to continue this train of thought. Only for this fact to immediately throw his train of thought.

Oh? This certainly feels strange? This whole place is more calm than usual… yet this time of year it should most certainly be busier than usual.

There were of course people on the sidewalks and cars on the streets, but it was far less than what the Delinquent was used to. In fact it only seemed to be getting more and more clear by the minute.

“Excuse me… kid? Yo kid! Do you know why this place is so deserted right now…? Police did… what?! Oh jeez that… ahhh, I get it.”

So that’s your plan, you curmudgeonly hardtack.

It seemed that, in order to get people off the streets to some extent without causing a panic, the Chief had already begun executing specific plans of action. Apparently he had sent out officers, who were now diverting traffic and telling folks to leave the area due to a ‘gas-leak’.

But still still still… I don’t think this plan is at all a long term solution? I mean folks are still up and about, even if it’s less than usual. Somebody's gonna notice that something is up sometime soon. But I suppose we don’t have time to be picky.

Just as he thought this, somebody tapped on the Delinquents shoulder.

Oop, here it comes, I guess this is one of the officers here to tell me to leave the area-

As the Delinquent thought this and turned around, he was greeted by knuckles, and barreled backwards across the sidewalk. His baseball cap flying through the air in some unseen direction.

“What was that-”

To his surprise, he saw a Young Officer, wearing a standard uniform. This officer was not wearing his hat however, instead on his head was… something else.

“Hey pig… what day is it?”

“Monday I think, why do you ask sir?”

“No - reason.”

“Why do you call me pig? I only wish to warn you about the gas leak!”
“A kid told me about it already -Gak-, so you don’t have to -hmm- worry.

“Oh? That’s interesting! Are you worried about the gas leak?”

“I just learned about it just now actua - actually, I’m going to collect my father.”

“What a good son! Are you alright? You seem to be moving around a lot, it’s quite suspicious.”

“You can’t see why, but tru-trust me it's for a good reason.”

“Oh of course!”

“Gah?”

“What was that sound…? Huh?”

The Delinquent threw the Young Officer to the ground, causing him to double over in shock for a few moments before he got back up.

Good thing he didn’t throw me hard enough to hurt me. But that was fast! I didn’t even notice him getting ready to throw me! One moment we were standing around talking, the next I’m on the ground.

The Young Officer attempted to get to his senses best he could.

“What was that for?! Sir I’m sorry, but I’ll have to make an arrest NOW due to you assaulting an officer!”

“Do your best, pig! But that’s the least of my problems right now!”

“What are you- What are you…”

As he looked forward, towards the Delinquent, he noticed something strange… a double image of sorts over what he saw before him. Both completely and utterly lifelike, relatively similar… Yet with just a few minor changes one was completely absurd. In one the Delinquent was bloody, while in the other he appeared fine. But that was only the beginning of the oddness, because in once image it was as though he was standing in the same place, and had never been thrown… while in the other he had just gotten up… and was moving forward.

I-I-I’m not doing that?! Why can’t I feel it?!

“What’s happening?!”

“Oh you noticed? Finally!”

The Officer could try his best to glance around, but he could not actually control his body. Eventually the first image showed him running forward suddenly, and unleashing a powerful punch towards the Delinquent.

The Delinquent weaved around the punch, towards the arms side, and tried to flip the Officer over again. But before he could do so the body the Young Officer could not control spun around and delivered a kick, which the Delinquent mostly dodged by crouching. Though he did get a glancing blow to the shoulder.

“HRMPH! Hey man, do you mind if I knock you senseless? I’m kinda holding back right now!”

“Help me please! I can’t control myself?!”

“Look at your head and you might get an answer.”

The Clueless Officer gleaned as well as he could, until he finally found a reflection in a window under a purple diner awning. He was not quite sure what to expect on his head, other than his hat. But his hat was not there, instead on his head was a single, large butterfly. This butterfly was especially striking due to the rainbow streaks across its mostly black wings.

“What is that thing?!”

“A monster probably, and by the looks of things, it can control people and hypnotise their senses to a certain extent. I guess my throw must have jossled its hypnotism a bit? Or maybe jossling the butterfly itself enough messes with its abilities to mess with you?”

Just then, the Delinquent sprung forward, and shoulder tackled the Possessed Officer right in the stomach.

Seeing this coming however, the Possessed Officer had already placed his left arm to protect his center, and braced one of his legs half a step behind him. Such that when the tackle connected this foot was pushed backwards slightly, lessening the blow while keeping the Possessed Officer upright.

Once this had occurred, the Possessed Officer grabbed the Delinquent with his body and left arm. Using his free right arm, he then tried to put the Delinquent into a sturdy hold, only for said Delinquent to twist and get knocked backwards, square onto his face.

The Delinquent burst forward once more, but when the Possessed Officer attempted another grab, the Delinquent twisted around his arms and launched himself behind the Possessed Officer.

Fortunately for the Possessed Officer, the Delinquent could be seen in the corner of the Butterfly’s huge eyes.

As such the Possessed Officer took a pivot suddenly and kicked to his side.

The Delinquent blocked this kick with a pivot guard of his own, and took a step forward in response. All building up to a powerful high kick from the Delinquent, which glanced the chin of the Possessed Officer.

The Possessed Officer backflipped in response to gain some distance and lessen the impact, but a majority of the damage had already been done.

In fact, this backflip did more harm than good to the Possessed Officer, as a small but painful CRACK could be heard as he was twisting backwards.

“Did something break?!”

“Sorry man! Don’t blame me! Blame the butterfly.”

The Butterfly cared little for the Possessed Officer's pain, for it immediately sent his next foot forward, putting an absurd amount of force into it in order to go as fast as possible for as long a distance as possible. Bringing with him a powerful punch, his fist clenched so hard it literally drew blood where his nails were entrenched.

My arm is bleeding yet… yet I feel nothing! What is this monster doing to me?!

The action was effective however, as the Delinquent could not have dreamed of this absurd burst of speed and was completely and utterly unprepared.

It must be able to put WAY more force into its actions than a normal human would… or should. I hope it doesn’t kill the guy before we’re done!

The Delinquent thought frantically as he tried to formulate a strategy during the split second of freedom, though it was obviously short lived.

Fortunately for the Delinquent he blocked the upcoming punch somewhat with his left arm, and barely managed a small sidestep to his left to keep steady.

Unfortunately for the Possessed Officer, his hand embedded itself into the WALL that happened to be behind the delinquent. Another sickening crack and fearful moan could be heard, the Possessed Officer felt no pain, but an ever increasing sense of dread, as blood streamed down the arm all the same.

Ok… ok ok ok ok ok. Let’s think this through for a sec- whoop - he’s stronger and faster, so what? Using that strength seems to break him more than me… but he can also take a hit quite better’n I ever could. I wonder how far the butterfly can push this poor pig's body? I mean whether you can control it or not, a broken arm is a broken arm.

The Delinquent rolled forward, and scurried away from the wall once he was behind the Possessed Officer.

Earlier, when I tried to get him by surprise, he reacted way quicker than he possibly should have… Maybe that freak’s big ‘ol eyes give it a decent amount of peripheral vision?

The Possessed Officer turned around, and went to chase the Delinquent in a mad dash from.

When I threw the pig a bit ago, he seemed to become more… aware? What caused that? Based on how he’s still moaning and crying, it seems like he still knows he’s a meat puppet, and can still see all the damage being done to his body.

The Possessed Officer took a quick swing, than after a few randomly placed jabs (all of whom were barely blocked or dodged by the Delinquent) he unleashed a deadly spinning ground house. This strike nailed the Delinquent right in the solar plexus, and left him gasping for breath as he attempted to get up.

So what… messing with the butterfly OBVIOUSLY messes with the mind control, but just as OBVIOUSLY, it would never let me DO that. So…

“Could you try resisting for a second?”

“You think I’m not already?!”

“Hey man, I’m not the one possessed by a murderous butterfly. You know I heard that hypnotism can only ever make someone do something they are ok with doing in the first place, it’s why you usually can’t hypnotise someone to hurt themselves.”

Never thought that Bookworms trivia would be relevant.

“SO?!”

“So it ain’t hypnotising you, it’s somehow doing something else. Maybe like one of those mushroom zombie things?”

The Delinquent stood up shoddily, just in time to narrowly dodge an axe kick. Which collided with the ground, cracking the Possessed Officer’s foot.

“The one that controls ants?!”

“Bingo! So if that's the case, lets try and wrestle a bit of control back ok? I want you to start- and I mean only START by simply finding everything you CAN control.”

The Possessed Officer turned around to give chase, but staggered a bit. His broken foot gave little support to perform a sudden turnaround, much less the support needed for those absurdly fast dashes it had done earlier.

Oh well that’s nice, maybe I can just gun it now? Nah wait… who KNOWS what it will do if I run? A war of attrition sounds like a decent idea on paper too, but that's too risky for BOTH our lives… oop, looks like he has something to say.

“I can control my eyes… nose… and mouth!”

“Can you breathe?”

“Ye-yes! I’m the one breathing for this body!”

“Maybe it has a harder time controlling instinctual stuff? I mean it probably can’t control organs very well.”

“Well that's good!”

“So…”

“So…?”

“Could you stop breathing for a little while? It should just knock your body out, clean and simple!”

“No way! It can control my body, so who says it can’t control me while knocked out?!”

“Hrmph… HRMPH!”

As they discussed this, another punch almost tore through the Delinquents head. There was no powerful followup this time, as the Possessed Officer was seemingly unwilling to do anymore kicks, at least not to the same extent as before. This gave the Delinquent a bit more wiggle room in both senses of the term.

So it can’t just power through damage… I guess those laws of physics and biology are unbeatable?

“OK! So next step, you’ll try a bit of mental wrestling! As strange as this sounds, I’ll need you to close your eyes!”

The Possessed Officer did so, despite his misgivings, as this occurred a few different thoughts went through the Delinquents head.

I COULD just run away. I mean that thing's leg is utterly busted… But what's to stop the butterfly from leaving him and possessing some other poor schmuck and taking me by surprise again? I mean could it possess me? Why DIDN’T it possess me?

“OK! Now I want you to FEEL your eyes! Yeah I know it sounds like some real batty poster slop, but ya gotta trust me! Do it while your eyes are closed!”

A few more punches flew from the Possessed Officer, with the closed eyes, random attacks, and the butterfly standing squarely atop his head, one could be forgiven for presuming some sort of madness on their part.

One of the punches glanced the Delinquents side, he grit his teeth as he forced himself backwards once more. This grit was then paused by a flash of inspiration.

Why don’t I just throw something…?

In just a moment, the Delinquent tore off a loose piece of pavement, and chucked it at the butterfly. This throw was unfortunately hilariously inaccurate, but the Possessed Officer still moved to the side a bit, at the very least proving the strategy's feasibility.

Pleased, the Delinquent considered things for a moment, and smiled broadly as he found a plan of attack.

“Yo pig? You’ve been moving your eyes from beneath your-Don’t open them yet! Seriously man, do you wanna waste our time?! Anyway I want you to really concentrate, starting from the area around your eyes, I want you to try and grasp back control bit by bit, even if it feels like you're trying to move while under sleep paralysis, it’s still YOUR body. And that butterfly is a lousy squatter.”

The Possessed Officer, despite not quite understanding the Delinquents strange and frankly cryptic instructions, followed them to the letter. He began to concentrate with all the will that he had, trying his best to get back what was rightfully his, starting from the eyes, moving to the eyebrows and ears, traveling to the neck. All his will went into trying desperately to move just these parts on their own.

He must be concentrating really hard, the body is moving even SLOWER now. I must take more concentration to control an actively resisting body over a servile one. Just as planned!

The Delinquent tore off another piece of concrete from the ground, he was quite lucky there was so much laying around.

Well, just as guessed really. I just figured it would be unfair if the butterfly could perfectly control a body like that without pushback.

He stood up straight, and took on a pitcher's pose. His next throw would not be a toss, but a full blown fastball special.

Well whatever! He’s distractedish, so I guess I better make a lemon cake!

Despite this turn of phrase really making little sense, he let loose and threw. This time the throw was near perfectly on target, and directly hit the side of the butterfly. One of its wings fell, and a few of its legs were badly hurt if not now useless. But the butterfly was not the only thing damaged by the rock.

Why do I feel something dripping down my face? Oh?! I feel something again! I feel- It feels-

“GYAAAAAAHH!”

The Possessed Officer’s face contorted in pain as he opened his eyes to a total barrage of pain and blood seeping down his face.

“You ok man?! I’ll try to get it off to-”

Just as he said this, and just as he approached to try and finally end the butterflies reign of terror once and for all, a punch hit him square in the side of his head.

“Grmph?!”

The Delinquent was sent hurtling to his side. The overall force was less than the earlier axe kick, and the overall technique was subpar compared to the earlier ground house. But the Delinquents' already weakened state combined with the truly vital point of contact meant that the damage dealt was much more… severe.

It can still control him?!

The Delinquent could not quite stand this time, his legs floundered from under him while blood rushed over his eyes. If not for the adrenaline already coursing through him the Delinquent would have outright fainted from the pain and dizziness.

Gotta… gotta get… gotta get…

If the Delinquent was more cognizant he would appreciate that the Possessed Officer was hardly better, squirming and shaking rapidly as he slowly turned towards the Delinquent.

Up… up and… up and…

The Possessed Officer shambled forwards, each step laborious and difficult. Blood streaming from his face, his vision was now doubly impaired, as he still saw the butterfly’s illusion atop his actual vision.

And… move… Move… MOVE! MOVE OR DO SOMETHING!

Despite this he saw the Delinquent, down before him, and attempted to stall just a moment. To give the young man the time he needed to get his wits together.

“GYYYAAAH!”

While it DID halt the Possessed Officers advance momentarily, the moment he attempted this resistance, he was immediately met with an avalanche of pain.

It’s a catch 22! If I resist, pain floods my body, but if I don’t I’m gonna end up killing this kid! Why not just send me this pain at all times, whether I’m resisting or not…? In fact, why is it still showing me this illusion? I obviously know it’s fake.

The illusion still showed the initial sight before the battle began, where the Possessed Officer was speaking to the Delinquent who was simply staring forward, expressionless.

It’s like a broken tv… frozen at the last moment it could retrieve data.

This thought process may have seemed rather selfish, given the circumstances. And perhaps to some extent it was? The Possessed Officer certainly had no interest in feeling that horrid pain once more, and was in some sense putting his fear of that pain above the Delinquents safety. But he also had no interest in allowing the butterfly to have its way, so he pursued an… alternate line of thought to potentially escape this nightmare.

If it could, it probably WOULD set the Illusion to continue playing, or to simply make it cover my real vision… but for some reason it CAN’T. Same with the pain thing!

Of course, for as fascinating and potentially helpful as this line of thought was, it would be infuriatingly worthless if the Possessed Officer reached the Delinquent.

I mean… pain is connected to nerves right? So maybe this pain I feel for resisting is actually a nice coincidence for it? Like I take back control… and with it all the pain it was controlling as well? In that case…

The Possessed Officer was right in front of the Delinquent by this point, it was most certainly a poor situation by every angle.

Cmooonn… gotta be precise with it…

The Possessed Officer lifted one of his legs to kick the Delinquent. Just before he could however, his left arm began to go haywire. It twisted in all sorts of directions with force and purpose, forcing the Possessed Officer to put his leg down to preserve his balance.

It works! As long as I specifically go for the undamaged parts of my body, I can control them without kickback! But the only non-damaged part of me is this arm… I mean sure it’s slowing this monster down NOW, but sooner or later it’ll figure a way through it!

As if on cue, the Possessed Officer grabbed his left arm with his right, and began to wind up once more.

That’s not enough you monstrous cretin!

The right arm twisted around and put the left in a hold instead.

You may get more strength out of it, but this is an awkward position for ANYONE, me included, so that makes this a darned site more fair!

The two arms continued their bizarre wrestling contest, the Possessed Officer could not attempt to kick the Delinquent for fear of losing balance, and simply sitting down to try and harm the Delinquent with punches was very obviously a non-starter.

Dang! It’s starting to wrestle me down!

Unfortunately, while the awkward position certainly made the act of capture more overall difficult, it was still an unfair fight due to the difference in strength. The left now firmly held the right in a hold. For the final time the possessed officer put one leg in front of the other, and prepared a devastating kick.

What should I do?! I bought all the time I could, but it wasn’t en-

Fortunately, while the time bought WAS short, it was enough. Just enough for the Delinquent to get his bearing, and tackle the Possessed Officer mid kick.

Both of them fell to the ground, the Possessed Officer attempted to get back up, the right arm once more began holding him back, as it twisted and grabbed at the left to hold the Possessed Officer down.

Taking advantage of this moment, the Delinquent got on top of the Possessed Officer, only for a sudden and unexpected twist to occur.

It’s gone!

This discovery was punctuated by the No-Longer-Possessed Officer screaming in agony once more. Though these creams were a bit less extreme than what had come earlier, due to the No-Longer-Possessed Officer now being somewhat prepared for the pain.

The Delinquent looked all over the area feverishly, not wanting to even CONSIDER allowing the monster to escape after all the damage it had caused.

Is it under him…?

The Delinquent lifted the No-Longer-Possessed Officer up slightly and looked for any signs, but none could be found.

Just where…?

A rogue thought then passed the Delinquent’s mind, and a more frightening consideration hit him, and hit him hard.

This guy couldn’t even tell the monster was on him… so chances are good I wouldn’t be able to feel it either…

The Delinquent carefully stood up, and looked to his reflection on the nearby window, the one under the purple diner awning.

It’s there!

Much to the Delinquents horror, it was already climbing up the back of his head, and quickly.

Gah!

Unfortunately, just as the Delinquent was about to swat it off, he found his arm freezing, as the Butterfly finally made it to the top of his head.

Gotta resist! Gotta fight this thing now.

His body now spasmed, fighting an internal battle between the commands of its original master and its usurper.

Can I even win this…?

Just as the Delinquents' exhaustion began to ebb away at his hope, a strange unearthly shriek could be heard above him, alongside a strange headache and visions which made little sense. Fortunately he felt a sudden burst of freedom… as he fell to the ground. His individual body parts almost mangled in different directions, as the sudden freedom granted at the height of the biological tug of war was the well known aftermath of such bouts when one side suddenly lets go.

“What happened…?”

“You… you got lucky… if I didn’t know you had bad, terrible, awful luck, you might have been butterfly… butterfly food.”

The No-Longer-Possessed Officer could not help but suspect that he was still loopy, as he looked up to see a clown slurring his words while carrying a metal baseball bat in his right hand, and that horrible little butterfly in his left.

The Delinquent on the other hand did not even need a moment to guess who this was, in fact the Delinquent had come for this clown in the first place. So he simply picked up his baseball cap, which fortune had sent him into the path of once more, and stood up with some pain before speaking.

“Give me a BREAK, it’s not like I could prepare for a punch to the face. If he hadn’t had that head start, I would have beaten it in a second, POP.”