Negative Zone

For a moment, both Bliss and Duplex hesitated. Neither of them moving, or saying anything. Duplex saw what looked like a twitch from Bliss. Having trained with her and seen her fight, he knew what this meant. He jumped out of the way, as a second later, one of her bubbles zoomed past him. Another one, coming straight for him. Duplex ducked away, but it just barely grazed him. A blurred vision of himself, sitting happily in his living room with his mother, uncle, and father. Duplex quickly shook it off, but right as he did, another bubble headed straight for him.

Duplex held a Negative Bubble up to block the incoming attack, but he soon regretted doing so.

As soon as Bliss' bubble entered Duplex' bubble, it turned dark. It hit Duplex square in the face, and when it did so, he fell to his knees. An overwhelming horrible feeling surrounded him, like any happiness that was inside of him had been ripped out.

Suddenly, he was back home again. Back to the moment before he left. His father screamed at him, telling him how much of a disappointment he was. How he would never live up to his father’s name. That he should leave, because weaklings and liars weren’t welcome there. Was that really how it happened?

“I’m sorry!” Kaden cried out, “I didn’t want to lie… I was just…”

He made himself smaller when his father got closer.

“I was just scared…” He said softly.

Like someone had splashed ice-cold water in his face, he was woken up from his nightmare. His body was trembling, on the ground. Duplex looked up, and saw that Bliss had been pushed back somehow, with a look of shock on her face. When he looked around, however, it was just her, him, and a sleeping Satoku.

Quickly, Duplex stood up and shot out a Solid Air Bubble towards Bliss. When it reached her, it simply evaporated. He formed two more bubbles around his hands, and ran forward. Duplex punched with tears in his eyes, but Bliss didn’t flinch, nor move at all.

“You’re holding back…” She said softly, looking down at him.

Without a word, Duplex kept punching.

“No matter who your opponent is, in situations like this, you can’t hold back.” Bliss told him.

“You shouldn’t… give advice… to villains…” Duplex said back, in-between his half-hearted punches.

“You’re not a villain,” she responded, “not yet.”

Bliss grabbed Duplex’ fist, when he went in for another punch, and effortlessly popped the Negative Bubble around it.

“But you also can’t be a hero. I don't think you really want to be either of them. You need to find out for yourself what kind of person you want to be. It’s wrong for anyone to push you in the direction they want, and I realise now that that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.”

Duplex looked down. He couldn’t bear to look Bliss in the eyes now.

“There will always be people that try to hold you back. That say you can’t do it. But there will also be those who believe in you no matter what. Keep fighting to protect those people. And keep fighting to prove those that doubt you wrong. Keep fighting and don’t hold back. Prove that you can be good enough in your own way.”

Duplex retreated his arm slowly. He watched his tears splat down on the ground, as he realised what his mother was asking of him.

Bliss put her hand softly on his chin, and lifted his head.

“Don’t hold back, even against me, Kaden.” She said softly.

As Kaden pulled back his hand, he could hear footsteps and yelling in the distance. He didn’t care, however. When he slowly lifted his head, his eyes met those of his mother. They wordlessly told him that everything would be okay.

Duplex clenched his fist. Bliss nodded. Without holding back, he struck her, making her fly backwards.

There were noises in the background, but Duplex couldn’t hear it over his pounding heart. His still outstretched arm was trembling.

“Bliss!” A deep voice yelled out.

Inversion ran over to Bliss’ body. She was still moving, but didn’t get up. Then he sharply turned around to Duplex. Duplex wiped away his tears with his sleeve, and prepared himself for what he knew was about to happen. He had no time to process what he had just done. To realise what his mother just asked of him, or to feel bad about doing it. Inversion was charging right at him.

“Duplex!” He yelled out.

Before Duplex realised it, Inversion was already right on top of him. One punch across the face knocked him to the ground. Inversion attempted to slam down on him, but Duplex managed to roll away just in time. The ground where he just laid cracked at the impact.

“Wait! You don’t understand!” Duplex yelled out.

“Stay still!” Inversion grunted heavily.

Duplex quickly fuelled a Negative Bubble with the ground, and formed a Negative Shield to block another incoming attack from Inversion.

“I need to talk to you!” He said as Inversion slammed down on the shield.

“Alright then…” said Inversion, in-between punches, “let’s talk!”

Duplex struggled to hold the shield in front of him.

“Your power…” Inversion said as he slammed his fists against the shield again, “how does it work?”

Though the shield protected him from the impact, the sheer force of Inversions punches pushed Duplex into the ground.

“Melting floors… Making shields…” Inversion grunted, slamming down even harder.

“Say something!” He yelled.

With both fists, he smashed down on the shield, and it instantly shattered. Duplex tried to jump away, but Inversion grabbed his leg and swung him around. Before Duplex hit the ground, he managed to throw out a bubble, and landed in the goo that was the pavement.

Duplex climbed out before Inversion could make another move.

“What about you?” He asked. “Why aren’t you using your power?”

With his back still turned, Inversion chuckled.

“I don’t need my power to defeat you, kid.” He mocked Duplex.

Inversion turned around to face him, and Duplex clenched his fists. Hearing things like this was nothing new to him. But coming from his father made it feel ten times worse. But it was not the time to feel bad about himself now.

“He’s never believed in me.” Duplex thought.

“I wanted to tell you everything… I promised I would.” Duplex muttered, “You’ve never made that easy though, so why would you now?”

Duplex wiped away the tears forming in his eyes.

“It seems you’re still underestimating me. You probably always will…” he called out. “So, even if it’s you, I’ll fight. I’ll fight and prove you wrong!”

Inversion laughed.

“You haven’t landed a single hit on me yet. I don’t know how you managed to defeat my wife, but whatever trick you used won’t work on me.”

Duplex inhaled deeply and gathered his courage. Inversion started running at Duplex once more, but Duplex raised both his arms and fired a barrage of Negative Bullets at his feet. Inversion started jumping backwards, as the ground below him turned liquid. He scoffed when he finally landed.

Duplex didn’t waste a moment and fired his Solid Air Bubbles at Inversion. They were all swiftly dodged by him.

“You’re fighting like a coward!” He yelled.

Duplex curled his fists and formed two Negative Bubbles around them. Inversion smirked. Effortlessly he leaped over the sludge pool that Duplex had made, and threw his fist down. Duplex managed to step back just in time. As soon as Inversion got up, Duplex threw a right punch. Inversion staggered for a moment. Duplex gulped. Before he had realised it, Duplex was launched backwards.

He groaned in pain as he stood up.

In the distance, Duplex saw several villains, standing on buildings. Watching the ongoing fight between him and Inversion. In the middle of them stood Sharkhead. Why were they just standing there?

Duplex quickly looked back down to his opponent and put up his fists again, ready to keep fighting.

“I’ve been looking for you, Duplex!” Inversion shouted, while pacing around. “Ever since that day we met, things have gone wrong.”

“Don’t blame me for your own faults!” Duplex shouted furiously.

“Oh don’t worry,” Inversion responded, “I have plenty of other things to blame you for.”

Inversion charged again, but this time Duplex was ready. He pulled back his arm, and the moment Inversion reached him, stepped out of the way. As Inversion passed him, Duplex punched with full power, making Inversion fall forward.

Sharkhead narrowed his eyes, and focussed on Duplex.

Inversion rolled out of the fall, but Duplex acted quickly. He used his Negative Bullets to make the whole area around Inversion liquid.

“You annoying little brat!” He yelled out.

Duplex stood ready, watching his father looking at him furiously.

“You’ve pushed me this far.” He grunted. “You’ve proven me wrong alright, but you shouldn’t be glad about that. I would say I’m impressed, but this was nothing. Let me show you how it’s done.”

Inversion held up his hand, yelled, and slammed his fist down. The ground turn from liquid into a solid so fast that it cracked right open. Duplex wanted to dodge out of the way, but the fissure caught his leg.

“You chose the wrong opponent, kid…” Inversion said menacingly, as he slowly walked towards Duplex.

“No! You did!” Someone from behind Inversion yelled.

The moment he turned around, Satoku shot head first into his stomach. Duplex tried to pull out his leg, but it was stuck too deep. Then suddenly, water spouted from the cracks, shooting Duplex upward. He landed safely on his feet and looked around.

The Monster growled at him victoriously. Duplex couldn’t help but smile back at them.

Inversion composed himself quickly, from Satoku’s hit.

“There you are!” Barbed-Wire cackled, catching up to Duplex.

“We lost you…” Floodstorm said dreamily.

Inversion threw his hand forward, and the air in-between them crackled, before they were suddenly blown away.

“We have to get away, we can’t defeat him if he is using his power!” Duplex yelled. “You have a plan, Floodstorm?”

“Me?” Floodstorm asked, flustered.

Duplex and Barbed-Wire both looked at her expectantly.

“Well there’s no way he’d just let us leave, so we’ll have to throw everything we have at him until we find an opening.”

Duplex looked worried, for a moment, but then decided to trust in Floodstorm.

He stretched his arms, used the surrounding air as fuel, and threw out a barrage of Negative Bullets. While Inversion inverted them, Floodstorm and Barbed-Wire combined their powers, shooting out a beam of needles and water. Inversion used what he saw Duplex do before and created an air shield, but 100-Metre Dash Man saw his chance to hit him from the back.

Inversion wasn’t phased, however. He made a slashing motion, and all of them flew backwards. He ran toward Duplex specifically now, trying to slam him to the ground, but the Monster jumped in and kicked Inversion away.

A barrage of needles, Air Bubbles, water, and punches from everyone surrounded him. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe they could defeat him, if they worked together. Duplex ran forward with a Negative Bubble around his fist. He wound back and launched himself forward at Inversion.

For a moment, it felt like he did it. Like that was the opening they were looking for. After that initial moment, it was clear, however. Inversion had grabbed Duplex’ hand easily, and popped the Negative Bubble, with a smile on his face.

“I hope all of you had your fun.” He said darkly.

He squeezed down, and threw Duplex over his head. Floodstorm spouted water at him, but with a single touch, he turned it into ice and shattered it. Barbed-Wire shot her needles, and the Monster jumped to slam down. The needles turned into liquid before Inversions eyes, and the Monster’s slam sounded like a pillow hitting the floor. As the liquid needles passed Inversion, they were turned back to solid, and were shot back at their sender. Without breaking a sweat, Inversion punched the Monster away.

100-Metre Dash Man charged at Inversion, but instead of his normal fast charge he ran as slow as Duplex’ bubbles used to be. Inversion walked up to him, still with a smirk on his face. Then he grabbed Satoku’s head, and he snapped back to normal speed.

“No!” Yelled Duplex.

He wanted to run forward and help Satoku, but his body felt heavy.

“It’s over…” Inversion said calmly, holding on tighter to Satoku’s head.

“Stop… Let him go!” Duplex yelled.

Something inside of him swirled. It felt as if the world was about to explode. Looking at his father like this, he suddenly remembered every negative thing that ever happened between them. It felt like getting hit with his mother’s inverted bubble, but somehow worse.

“Did you really think someone like you could win?” Inversion mocked.

“I said… STOP!”

As the words left his mouth, it felt like all the negative feelings he had been holding in burst out of him. It felt like he was being torn apart from the inside. The feeling hurt so much, he couldn’t see anything. He groaned in pain and fell to his knees.

For what felt like an eternity, Kaden couldn’t feel, see, or hear anything besides his own cries of pain.

When he finally found the strength to open his eyes, he was not sure what he was even looking at. The world around him seemed wavy and distorted. Every colour was inverted. And what was weirdest is that the people around him seemed to stand completely still.

Kaden stood up and walked forward slowly. Even the slightest bit of movement made him feel dizzy. When he got closer to Inversion and Satoku, he noticed that they, in fact, were moving. Their movement, however, was so slow, that you wouldn’t be able to notice it if you didn’t pay attention.

Kaden grabbed his father’s hand, and pulled apart the fingers. Inversions grip broke easily. He grabbed Satoku from the air, and laid him carefully over his shoulder. He was light as a feather. Before he walked away, he looked into his father’s eyes one last time.

“I wonder,” he mumbled, though the words that came out were jumbled, “would it have made any difference if you knew it was me?”

Kaden looked away, and walked past him.

“I hope I can come back someday, and that you’ll accept me. Please take good care of mom until then. I’m sorry, for everything…”

He gathered the rest of his friends, who were all just as light as Satoku, before walking off. When Kaden got further away, he suddenly reached an edge. Behind it, the world seemed to act like normal. He inhaled deeply and held his breath, before stepping over the edge. Instantly, the weight of all his friends on his back became too much, and they all fell into a pile on the ground.

“What just happened?” Groaned Satoku.

Before there was time to react, a voice echoed through the streets.

“Ahem! Hello students of Kagekoka High, the Portable School of Villainy!” It sounded.

“The school will be retreating! Make it to the doors, or be left to fend for yourself! Thank you!”

They all scrambled to get off of each other.

Before they got ready to run, Kaito exclaimed,

“On me!”

And transformed back into the Monster.

They all climbed on top, and on all fours, Kaito ran for the school. Kaden looked back one last time, and saw Inversion, standing on a building, watching them leave.

Looking down from Kaito, there was chaos in the streets. Students were running for the school. Both heroes and villains laid scattered on the ground, buildings were destroyed and on fire. Kaden quickly looked up again, and saw in front of them the school, starting to rise. Kaito jumped forward, and mid-jump, transformed back into himself, so they all fit through the hole where the doors used to be.

Kaden looked outside, and noticed three people running for the doors.

It was Gin, Anoyo, and Shisu.

Kaden wanted badly to just turn his back to them, after everything Shisu had done, but then he remembered Shisu helping him before. Kaden wondered what the real reason was for doing this.

“We have to help them.” Kaden told everyone.

Satoku groaned, but bent down and stretched his hand. Haido did the same, and Kaden too stretched out his helping hand.

Anoyo and Gin grabbed onto Haido and Satoku’s hand, but Shisu stopped running, and stared at Kaden.

“Grab on!” Kaden urged.

Shisu laughed.

“And be indebted to the likes of you? I don’t think so.” He chuckled over the roaring engines that had sprouted from the portable school.

Kaden watched Shisu get smaller, as they rose further into the air.

“You tried.” Satoku said, raising his shoulders.

After a moment of catching their breaths, they all headed to the gym. Before they could enter, they were thoroughly inspected by professor Slechtsnor, and his mechanical eye.

While Kaden had not seen him leave before, Sharkhead was now on a stage, in front of all the students.

“You have fought valiantly.” He said.

His calm voice could somehow be heard across the whole room.

“We have suffered losses today. Not only faculty, but also students. Captured… killed… You see here how hypocritical these so-called ‘heroes’ are.”

There was a murmuring throughout the gym, but it instantly seized when Sharkhead raised his hand.

“You will be scattered across various secure locations, to ensure we are not found. The school will be on hiatus for some time… There are things I need to think through. You will be notified when classes start again.”

Without another word, Sharkhead turned around, and exited through a back door. There was a moment of hesitation from everyone, but eventually the crowd made its way outside the gym.

Nobody said much after that. Now that the adrenaline had faded, and there was time to sit still, they all got to process what had happened.

After a while, the first few batches of students got to leave.

“Let’s go to Our Spot for a bit!” Satoku suggested, once they left the school.

Kaden stayed quiet for the entire way there. Even when they had arrived, he went to the balcony alone. He noticed that he still had his hood-mask on, and quickly pulled it off. Somehow, it felt like a weight left from his shoulders when he did. He watched the sun set alone for a while.

After some time, Satoku joined by his side.

“Hey dude, you okay?” He asked, putting his hand on Kaden’s shoulder.

Kaden nodded slowly.

“This morning,” Kaden said softly, “I thought you–”

He gulped, then looked at Satoku.

“I’m glad you’re here.”

“I won’t go out that easily.” Satoku grinned.

There was a moment of silence, before Kaden talked.

“I know you’ve been telling me to just go home, and tell my parents what happened.”

Satoku nodded.

“But, I’m not sure I can anymore. It’s my own fault, of course. They found out I had been lying.”

Kaden looked down at his hands.

“Well, I have a feeling my mom has known for a while, actually. I’ll miss her the most.”

He looked into Satoku’s eyes.

“I wish I was strong enough to tell them from the beginning, but if I was, I wouldn’t have met all of you.”

“It might be too late for me, but I don’t think it is for you!” Satoku exclaimed. “Don’t you want to be with your family?”

Kaden turned around, and saw the others. Haido was holding Kaito tightly, attempting to take care of his wounds. He seemed to be complaining a lot, but there was a visible smile on his face. Amene was giggling, as she watched it unfold before her eyes.

Then, Kaden turned back to Satoku, smiled, and said,

“I am.”