Battle on School Grounds

Kaden dragged the mirror Satoku to the closet. Once again he found himself there with his friend, except this time, it wasn't the real Satoku. Or, had it even been Satoku back then?

“How long have you been hiding here?” Kaden asked nervously.

“For a while now, as various students and faculty, though only in this form for about a week.” Mirror Satoku said, putting his finger to his chin. “That day when everyone left the hospital wing, that was the perfect opportunity to mirror this boy. That's When I discovered you were attending here too.”

Kaden gulped.

“Is that the real reason you came here.”

Mirror Satoku shook his head.

“Though it was easier since I did.” He added. “I’ll be honest, it surprised me a bit when I found you. I didn’t expect you, of all people, to do this.”

“Uncle Morey, I–”

“To think you would be a spy!” Morey said proudly, while patting Kaden on the back.

“What?”

“I really thought I was the only person they sent to infiltrate.”

“Oh…”

“Your dad seemed pretty angry, but after I tell him this, he'll be so proud!”

Kaden hesitated for a moment.

“Y-yeah…” He mumbled softly.

“I gotta say, you really convinced me,” Morey continued, “for a moment I thought you really cared about those kids.”

“Wait, this is wrong,” Kaden thought, “I can't…”

This was a shot at redemption. A chance to get back to his family, and finally make his father proud of him. But it would just be another lie. Kaden wanted so badly to just pretend it had all been a misunderstanding, but something held him back. Thinking about his friends, he realised.

“I do care about them.” He said determinately.

Mirror Satoku looked confused.

“Come on, you can drop the act, it's just me.” He said.

“It’s not an act!” Kaden shouted, “I don't want to lie anymore! I can't! Even if that means he'll never accept me again, I can't hide it!”

Morey placed his hand on Kaden’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, little man.” He said, giving Kaden a comforting smile.

Kaden stared at him.

Suddenly, Mirror Satoku leaned in closer.

“The heroes have a way of getting in,” he whispered, “get your friends and get out of here as soon as you can. The boy I mirrored is somewhere in the building, still.”

“Why are you helping me? I lied to all of you…” Kaden asked.

“Well, yes.” Morey agreed. “But, trust me, I know the feeling. I’m sure you thought this was the only way out, right?”

Kaden nodded slowly.

“We’re not just family,” Morey added, holding out a fist, “we’re outcasts. And outcasts stick together.”

Kaden bumped Morey’s fist carefully.

“Thank you…” He said softly, before turning to the door.

“Oh, and Kaden.”

Kaden turned around.

“I know your father can be a bit… blunt… at times,” Morey said, “but he tries. In the only way he knows how to. He cares about you, in his own stubborn way. It’s just… what I’m trying to say is, if you do get the chance to talk to him; To make things right again; Promise me you’ll try.”

Kaden hesitated, seeing the look in mirror Satoku’s eyes. Then he nodded and headed out the door.

As fast as he could, he ran towards the cafeteria, but before he had reached it, a loud explosion sounded from the opposite direction. Out of nowhere, people started rushing towards the noise, and the hallway crowded. It was hard to move against the mass. Regardless, Kaden tried to fight against it. He had to get to them.

After some time of struggling, he got swept up in the crowd. Kaden figured, or at least hoped, that his friends must also be going to the source of the noise by this point, and reluctantly went along too.

Both students and faculty were rushing forward, and it was hard to not stumble and fall, as Kaden got pushed around. Eventually, they reached where there used to be big black doors, but was now a massive hole.

Outside stood several teachers, with Sharkhead at the front. On the other side stood the heroes, ready for battle, led by none other than Inversion. Kaden gulped at the sight of the heroes. He had never seen this many in the same place.

Sharkhead walked a few steps forward and scraped his throat.

“I welcome you heroes!” He said loudly.

Somehow, his voice boomed across the whole area.

“You have come today in an attempt to capture me, and my faculty. You falsely believed that by planting a spy in our midst, you could catch me off guard. What you did not know, is that even behind bars, nothing slips by me! I have no intention of returning to prison today, therefore I will instruct my peers to not hold back. For those who wish to live, I will give you the opportunity to flee now.”

It was silent for a moment, but none of the heroes moved.

“Very well.” Sharkhead said.

Before Kaden had even realised it, the heroes ran forward, as well as the villains.

Once again, Kaden wound up going against the crowd, in search of his friends. People were flying around, flashes were zooming past. Soon, it was hard to even determine who was a villain, and who a hero.

Kaden frantically looked around, but saw no sign of team Not-So-Bad. Suddenly, a green blast shot in front of him, taking out a student that Kaden didn’t recognise. He just barely managed to avoid it himself. Two masked people charged at Kaden, and he ducked away nimbly. He looked back and saw that they were now fighting a group of other people, before being snatched up by the Human Plant-Trap.

Kaden quickly stood himself up and ran forward in search of his friends. Students, heroes, and villains flew around. Explosions went off all over the place. Loud bangs accompanied flashing colours through the sky. Kaden couldn’t help but be reminded of the school’s entrance exam. Except this time there was no Satoku to help him.

Eventually, Kaden ran into someone familiar, though it was not whom he was looking for.

Gin was wrestling with a small, hairy person. The hairy person seemed to be winning, until Gin used his power to make them run into someone else. Not too far away was Anoyo, in what looked to be a suit of armour. The suit made him look taller than even Amene, and was a metallic version of his regular villain suit. He was fighting two heroes at once.

Without noticing Kaden, Gin ran over to Anoyo and helped him. Kaden regretted watching the two, as someone tackled him from behind right after. He fell forward and struggled to get up.

“You won't get away this time!” A high piercing voice called from on top of Kaden.

He recognized the voice to be Cicada-Man’s.

The sound echoed throughout Kaden’s body, to the point where it almost hurt. Kaden desperately tried to swing backwards, but it was no use. Cicada-Man dug his legs into Kaden’s back and suddenly started vibrating. A horrible sound emanated from Cicada-Man, and incapacitated people in the area around them. Kaden could feel his bones tremble.

Then out of nowhere, something whacked Cicada-Man off Kaden, and he grew silent. Kaden looked up excitedly, to see who just saved him. His expression turned sour quickly, however, when he noticed who it was. Shisu was standing there, sneering at Kaden. Kaden let out a small disgusted sigh.

“Don’t think anything of this, Panda.” Shisu spat, “I’m merely doing my part in getting rid of these pests. On any other day, you would be dead now.”

Kaden scoffed, got up, and dusted himself off. He watched Shisu walk over to Cicada-Man and step on him violently. There was a sharp crunching noise and a grunt from Cicada-Man.

“You were at the museum, weren’t you?” Said Shisu, with a mixture of anger and twisted joy, while stomping down forcefully.

Kaden saw the shadows on the ground bind down Cicada-Man. He however, is known as a hero for never giving up. Cicada-Man rose slowly, to Shisu’s surprise. Shisu, however, shook off the surprise easily, and started laughing maniacally.

“I guess you want me to finish this quickly, huh?” He said smugly, as he held his hand skyward.

“Shisu, stop!” Kaden yelled, grabbing Shisu’s arm.

Shisu snapped around, but Cicada-Man used the opportunity to free himself and throw him off balance. Cicada-Man knocked Shisu backwards and faced Kaden.

Kaden quickly threw a Solid Air Bubble, but Cicada-Man swiftly avoided it. Kaden stepped back, but suddenly felt the cold of Shisu’s shadow slam him to the ground.

“Great, now they’re both fighting me…” Grunted Kaden.

Shisu and Cicada-Man exchanged blows against Kaden, with him just barely being able to avoid them. Kaden almost would’ve thought they were working together, with how well coordinated their attacks against him were, had it not been for the fact that Cicada-Man was also focussing some attacks in Shisu’s direction.

“I’m… not… your… Enemy… here…” Kaden panted toward Shisu, in-between strikes.

“Everyone is my enemy!” Shisu yelled out, beating both him and Cicada-Man down with one attack.

Shisu was about to land another blow, when suddenly from behind, something bright and yellow struck him. He flew forward, and Kaden, thinking quickly, formed a Solid Air Bubble around his hand, and punched Shisu against Cicada-Man, who just barely got up.

Kaden turned to look who had helped him.

“Satoku!” He wanted to call out, but remembered that he should use his alter ego.

“100-Metre Dash Man!” He yelled reluctantly.

Satoku gave him a thumbs up and a wink. His suit looked slightly damaged, with some cuts all over, and he still had some bandages around his limbs, that showed through those cuts, but other than that, it looked to be the same old Satoku. The real Satoku.

“Fancy meeting you here too, Duplex!” He laughed. “Things are kinda crazy now, huh?”

Kaden nodded. Things had indeed gotten out of hand, but because it all happened so fast, it had not really sunken in for him yet. Regardless, with Satoku being next to him now, he felt more secure.

“Have you seen the others?” Kaden asked.

Satoku shook his head sombrely.

“We need to find them!” Kaden yelled over yet another explosion.

Out of the blue, a group of heroes stormed toward them. Without warning, Satoku grabbed Kaden’s arm, and swung him over onto his back, before speeding off. Kaden had to quickly hold on for dear life, so he didn’t slip off.

“Just like last time!” Yelled Satoku.

Kaden understood immediately what he meant. Now slightly more confident in his abilities, he formed two Negative Bubbles around his hands, and prepared himself for any incoming attack. This time, he didn’t have anything to fuel his bubbles and make a shield, but luckily not every attack was aimed at them. Despite that, people were charging at them, and projectiles were flying from every direction. Kaden noticed that he had gotten faster since the entrance exam, but could still barely keep up.

A sudden loud roar echoed across the whole area, when they moved past a now broken down building, surprised Kaden and almost made him fall.

“That could be Kaito!” Kaden yelled above the noise, knowing well that Satoku couldn’t change his course once he started running.

Satoku nodded.

Once they had finished their route, Satoku looped back to the spot where they heard the roar. They decided to split up and look around, but it wasn’t hard to find what they were looking for.

In the middle of a plaza, two giant monsters were battling each other. One with wild, black fur, claws like blades, and glowing yellow eyes, which Kaden recognized to be Kaito. The other was pale and rock-like, with arms like boulders.

They were going head-to-head. Their punches rippled the air, and their roars thundered throughout the area.

At their feet, Kaden spotted Amene and Haido, in battle with someone he did not think he would see anytime soon. Or rather, he had hoped he would never see him again. Fighting them was none other than the hero in training, Ari Hakusei.

Kaden didn’t realise that he gritted his teeth upon seeing him, until Satoku pointed it out.

“You know him?” He asked, getting ready to run.

“Unfortunately,” Kaden said, “that’s Stellar, he’s tormented me for years.”

“Then it’s time to live up to our soon-to-be villain titles and get some revenge!” Satoku exclaimed.

“Of the mild variety, of course!” He quickly added, seeing the slightly shocked, slightly excited look on Kaden’s face.

Satoku grabbed Kaden by the arm and sprinted them over to the other’s.

“Duplex, 100-Metre Dash Man!” Amene exclaimed.

Kaito let out a deep roar as they showed up. Stellar and the big rock monster jumped back.

“More filth to clean up.” Said Stellar smugly, wiping away some blood from his face.

Kaden found it remarkably similar to something Shisu would say.

Without warning, the rock monster slammed down at them. Kaito jumped forward and slashed at it. It stumbled, making the ground tremble. Stellar shot a large ray of light at Kaito. Quickly, Kaden jumped forward and shot a Negative Bubble at the ray. It instantly reflected back at Stellar, lading between his feet.

“You–!” Stellar exclaimed.

Kaden smirked.

“Not just him!” Satoku yelled, when he jumped out of nowhere next to Stellar.

With a punch he knocked him back. Two stretching arms wrapped themselves around Satoku, but Haido shot her needles at it, while riding on a wave of Amene’s water.

“Up there!” Kaden yelled, pointing at someone on the shoulder of the rock monster.

Kaito swiped at it, but a ray of light hit his claw.

“I don’t think so!” Stellar yelled, jumping high in a flash of light.

Haido was shot from the water, up to where he was.

“How about a hug?” She cackled.

Spikes, pins, and needles started sprouting from her arms as she reached for Stellar. He couldn’t avoid it in the air, but the rock monster swiped at her, before she reached him. Kaito grabbed onto it, but not before it swept Haido away. Satoku grabbed Kaden, spun him around, and launched him toward her. He caught her gracefully, and landed on his feet.

Stellar had found his way to the other shoulder of the monster.

“We need to split them up somehow,” Kaden explained, “together they are too well covered.”

Satoku nodded.

“I have an idea,” Amene said, “you can turn rock into liquid, right Duplex?”

Duplex gulped and nodded.

“We don’t have to damage it that much, just enough so that I can push it over.” She added, noticing how worried Kaden looked.

“From there, 100-Metre Dash Man can separate the non-monster heroes. Barbed-Wire can make sure he’s not interrupted, and the Monster can hold down the rock man.”

Kaden looked at his hands. He had done harder things before, and even felt somewhat confident in his powers now, but now that everyone was counting on him, it seemed almost impossible.

“We can do it, dude!” Satoku exclaimed, slapping Kaden on the back.

Everyone got ready. Kaden held out his hands and took a deep breath.

“I can do it.” He told himself under his breath. “They believe in me.”

Without knowing how himself, he then shot a barrage of Negative Bubbles from his hands, at the legs of the rock monster. Stellar tried to shoot his light at it, but it passed straight through and singed the ground below.

“Everyone, now!” Kaden yelled, as parts of the leg started to melt.

Amene flipped her hair, and a large beam of water, bigger than she had ever made before, shot towards the monster. It pushed back, but Kaden shot more Negative Bullets. Then, when it was distracted, Kaito punched the rock monster to the ground with a loud slam. Without hesitation, Satoku ran forward and snatched up Stellar. Arms stretched in an attempt to catch him, but needles from Haido stopped him. She ran towards the hero, who the arms belonged to, cackling while he ran away in fear.

“I’ll go back up 100-Metre Dash Man!” Kaden exclaimed.

Amene nodded.

Kaden ran forward, in the direction Satoku went. Past the two giant monsters wrestling on the ground. Ducking under the needles and water.

He saw light flashes from behind a building, and when he turned the corner, Satoku was there with Stellar. Parts of his suit were smoking, but nonetheless he ran around Stellar, who desperately tried to shoot light at him.

“Stellar!” Kaden yelled.

He held out his hand, and somehow the Negative Bubble he formed around it grew bigger.

“Air…” Kaden thought.

The moment Satoku ducked away, he shot it forward and Stellar shot out a ray of light. For a moment, it looked as if the Bubble was held back by it, but the light started phasing through it and created a rainbow-like mist.

“You call that an attack?” Kaden mocked.

The Bubble collided with Stellar, and he yelled out, flying backwards in a gust of wind. Kaden watched the shocked and defeated expression on his face, become smaller, the further Stellar got.

“Awesome…” Muttered Satoku.

Kaden smiled at him. However, at the end of the street, another hero landed, catching an unconscious Stellar from the air. The hero laid him down carefully.

Through the mist, it was hard to make out who it was at first. The figure was tall, and slender.

“I got it!” Satoku yelled, and dashed forward.

“Wait!” Kaden called after him, but it was too late.

With an effortless flick of her hand, Satoku fell to the ground, as if he fell asleep on the spot.

“Are you the villain, Duplex?” A strong, but kind voice asked.

Kaden gulped, when he looked into the eyes of the hero Bliss, his mother.

He inhaled deeply, and closed his eyes. He wanted to say no, and go back with her. To pretend none of this happened. But deep down, he realised that he had made his choice from the moment he grabbed Shiro’s hand on that day. Even if he had tried to convince himself otherwise since then.

Slowly, Duplex nodded.

“I see…” Said Bliss sombrely, her eyes sparkling with tears. “Then if that is your decision, you know what I have to do.”

Duplex nodded wordlessly, and prepared himself to fight.