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Grade
7

    The Undeniable Power of One

 

`“Kuno… Roku... Takao… What have I done…”

 

    “Yasu! Wake up, you dumb head!” The miniature silver feline pranced around the plush bed, ecstatically.

“Kuno is here! C’mon! You’re being rude to her, being all boring and stuff! At least be some fu-”

“Okay! Okay! I get it Roku! I’m up!” A thin, slim teenager sat up, a bit jumpy from the sudden impact of the sneak attack.

“Geez, Roku. One day, you’re going to be an adult white tiger, I can bet you 75 dollars that you’ll be the most energetic pet the universe has ever seen!” Kuno giggled, as she helped wrap the pearl-white bandage onto Yasumoto’s blind eyes.

“Thanks, Kuno. I feel like a burden when you have to help me with most things. But, I’m lucky to have you as a friend. I cannot thank you eno-”

“WASSUP PEEPS!” A figure opens up the bedroom’s window from outside, blasting out rays of gleaming light.

“Takao! Seriously?! Are you always this loud?!” Kuno scolded Takao as she shielded her teal eyes from the shining rays.

“Well sorry. Not my fault you’re not as awake as I am…” He would mumble under his minty breath.

“Huh?”

“Nothing! I said nothing!” Takao immediately took back what he said and insisted them to get ready to go to the academy. The trio walked together as always, with Roku next to them.

“Hey, Yasu. I’m gonna drop an ice cube on Kuno, wanna do it with me?”

“First, I don’t know what you are talking about, your American accent is still kicking in. I keep on forgetting that you’re a transfer. And second, why would we do that to Kuno?”

“Geez. Fine, I’ll do it myself. You’re no fun…” Takao, once again, mumbled as he took a solid piece of freezing cube.

“Takao, you have to stop with your excessive habit of mumbling.” Yasumoto lectured him as Takao started his silly prank. Takao, scoped around the area like a hawk, waiting to strike with his little icicle. He slithered through, and dropped it in Kuno’s uniform. Kuno, unaware, froze for a good 3 seconds, then heated up rapidly, full of rage.

“TAKAO! ARE YOU SERIOUS?!” She aggressively pulled his shirt up, almost ripping the fibers of the cloth. It was a battle between a ticked off lion and a mischievous rabbit. Takao ended up with a scarlet red hand mark across his face, and a loosen shirt.

“Man… It was just a joke… It stings so much…” Takao whimpered as he frightfully looked at the beast of a woman. They arrived at the gigantic, bright academy for superheroes in training. This school is for the top 1% of students who want to become superhumans or heroes, they don’t learn their average core subjects like mathematics or language; instead, these talent students prime their uncommon abilities to the fullest. Takao Pierce has the power of shapeshifting, and also went to America to refine his power even more. He has the courage and leadership, even though he usually does silly things, to lead the trio to battle. Kuno Hatsune is a great warrior in close combat, but what makes her different is her summoning skills. She has a limit of how many she could summon, but she can summon any mythical beast from its dimension. Yasumoto Sanjiro lost everything he could possibly have: His parents, his brother, his eyesight, and his own home. Though Yasumoto is blind, he has one of the rarest powers on the earth, the ability: ZONE. ZONE is a power in its own league, having 7 stages of its true power. Since he was a selected few to be a vessel of such a power, it is usually unknown or looked over. And there’s Roku, the perky tiger that has an exceptional amount of energy. He might look small and cute, but in battle, he becomes a powerhouse with monstrous power.

“HEY! Listen up kids! You will be going through an obstacle race with fake enemies trying to stop you! Good luck to all of you and go beyond!” The principal yelled over the announcements and everyone grew a bit excited. These kinds of competitions are a favorite, considering the fun attempting and the prize. Oh, the prize is desired by absolutely everyone, the principal even had to control the teachers from not getting it. It consists of prize money with 8 figures, a free pass to the luxury room that last for a month, and the desired trophy that grants you extra power to your abilities. Absolutely everyone lined up on the cloud white paint, except for Yasumoto, Takao, Kuno, and Roku. They have detention because of Takao pants one of the terrain type teachers, and refused to apologize.

“What’s with you and your petty pranks, Takao…” Kuno mumbled, irritated at the troublemaker.

“Well, I’m sorry that I like to prank oth-”

“You pantsed a teacher. A teacher. Are you out of your mind?” Yasu muttered under his silent, cold breath. That scared the heck out of Takao, not noticing Yasu at all. Takao jumped back by instinct, transforming into a bear, accidentally breaking some tables.

“TAKAO!”

“Hey! I got scared! I dunno Yasu was behind me! He needs to be more noticeable! Not my fault!”

“So you’re blaming Yasumoto for your mistake… Such a cowardly move, Takao, even for you.” Roku looked at him, eye-to-eye, protectively snarling at him.

“Fine. I am sorry for making us miss the obstacle course, for pantsing a teacher, and blaming Yasu for making me break a table….” Takao sincerely apologizing to the others as he starts to fix the table.

“It’s fine, Takao. It’s just that, you need to think about what and who you are going to pra-” A blaring rumble cuts Kuno’s sentence short, followed by a giant laser near-missing the group.

“W-what was that?!” Yasumoto frantically yelled, and the others responded with a quiet “I don’t know”. They rushed outside, near the obstacle course, and fear struck them in the head. They saw one of the most wanted villains in the world, right in front of their panicking eyes: Kuzaki. The power of that man was off the charts, considering his powers and athleticism. The mastermind with pyrokinesis, expert on close AND ranged combat, this villain is certainly none like the others.

“K-Kuzaki… He destroyed everyone in the obstacle race, AND most of this area of the academy… No… Way...” Takao froze with amazement along with fear, staring at the beast itself.

“Heh, still got some kids to kill? Well, that means more blood. More blood, more disaster, more fun.” He snickered wickedly as Roku roared and grew to full size, more menacing than his cute look. Kuzaki commanded three, humongous fireballs at the beast without a sweat and started to walk away. Roku gracefully jumped and swallowed the fire, trying to extinguish to protect his owners. With a evil smirk, Kuzaki muttered a spell and made the fire explode in Roku, almost killing Roku.

“Roku! Argh… C’mere you!” Takao roared as he charged at the mysterious body.

“Hell Fire Stream!” Kuzaki gestured, as multiple streams of scorching beaming infernos slithered toward Takao.

Capricorn! Wash out the flames!” Kuno yelled as the mythical beast splashed a tsunami with its scaly, rough tail. With a glance, Kuzaki replicated Kuno’s ability and summoned the Chimera, which blocked the tsunami with its body, destroying both the Chimera and the Capricorn.

“W-what?! I thought he only has pyrokinesis?!” Kuno shocked as she stared at the smirking man. Takao, without a word, transformed into a phoenix to be resistant to his fire, and started to dive, aiming at his head. He gave a quick scan, and transformed himself, into a slithering anaconda. Striking the confused phoenix, it wrapped around with ease, squeezing out every drop of life from the hopeless phoenix. Argh… He got me here… He somehow duplicated my energy and ability and used it against me… I should’ve known… Takao thought.

“ZONE: Stage 1.” Yasumoto said blanky as he put his cold fists together, giving his arms a dark, overflowing energy. Kuzaki took a glimpse of Yasumoto, trying to get that energy to fully kill Takao. Kuzaki instantly knew that this would be no easy homicide. He couldn’t copy Yasumoto’s powers! N-no way...I can’t copy ZONE?! This is a problem… From experience, ZONE is on the edge of being the most powerful, yet dangerous power… His type of ZONE cannot be copied… Shoot. Kuzaki thought as he lessened his grip on Takao. Takao finally broke free, exhausted from the unbearable grip. Yasu bolted quickly towards the paralyzed snake, and gave quick jabs to the long creature. Each and every impact gave a dark ring on Kuzaki’s body, exploding each second.

“Huh… This dude is easier than I thought…”  Yasu rubbed his lustrous silver hair, taunting the beaten foe.

“Argh! This isn’t over, blind dude.” Kuzaki growled as he transformed into an eagle and soared high.

“Man… That dude has some skills… He’s destructive.” Kuno whimpered as she dusted off her uniform.

“Geez, that villain needs to chill. I mean, we got villains in America, but they’re much more relaxed than that.” Takao complained as he weakly stood up, having a scraped knee.

“Something tells me that he’s not using his full power… It looks like he’s been training hard to hurt the academy, considering that these were the heroes of the new generation.” Yasu thought as he tightened his bright bandage. They tiredly walked to Kuno’s dorm, where Kuno and Roku made Miso soup, a favorite among the sleepy sloths who lied on the living room couch.

“Miso soup. Drink. Feel better.” Kuno ordered them.

“W-wha? What’s with the broken Japanese?” Takao questioned Kuno, and slurped some salty broth.

“I think she’s worn out. She summoned Capricorn, and according to a summoning book, drains a ton of energy and she reached her summoning limit.” Roku explained to the confused Takao, and helped Kuno go to her room to rest.

“I think I should go take a walk.” Yasu whispered to Takao as he put the bowl to the sink.

“Okay brother!” Takao yelled as he napped on the soft, leather couch. Brother? What? Yasu thought as he walked on a cracked sidewalk with cherry blossom trees. Huh… The cherry blossom trees look like they’re crying… The petals fall slowly to the cracked floor, all forgotten and stepped on… It reminds me of when my parents wer-

A deafening thunder blasted behind him, like a giant fanfare had just been amplified by a hundred times its sound. He rushed to the dorm, and his jaw dropped like a boulder falling off a cliff. The dorm went from a luxurious beach house into a victim of a tornado or earthquake. Yasu, by touch, finally found the corpses of his companion and his only friends.

“Kuno… Roku… Takao… What have I done..” Yasu quietly whispered as a tear wet the bandage and fell down like an angel fell from the sky. A sick laugh came from above, stalking the mentally damaged Yasumoto.

“What? Did you lose your only friends? I don’t what’s more depressing, the fact that you thought you could beat me or the fact that your petty friends thought that they could become great, worldwide heroes.” Kuzaki cackled maniacally as he dropped down, facing the enraged beast of a man.

“What kind of scum are you…” Yasu muttered as he unwrapped his bandage and tearing it up like it was a piece of scrap paper.

“What’s wrong? Lost everything? I got something for you.” He walked closer, and pat his back. The murder used an old accent Yasu used to know and shook him. “Yasu, it’s me… Your brother… Kizuku Sanjiro…”

“ZONE: Stage 3!” Yasumoto roared fiercely as sharp, gun black wings shot through his back, piercing through Kuzaki. The dark glow covered his hands while his hair turned bright scarlet. “If my brother, Kizuku, is still alive from his pyrokinesis… He wouldn’t be this evil… And he certainly wouldn’t be this heartless!”

“Heh… Come at me, you won’t stand a cha-” He was interrupted by a dark right uppercut to the chin, literally shutting him up.

“ZONE: Stage 5!” Bones crawled around Yasu’s heated chest, while his legs were in flames in the color of Roku’s blood-stained fur.

“Grr… Hell Fire Stream!” Giant swirling infernos blasted Yasumoto into pieces of glass, throwing him outside. Yasumoto started to cackle, laughing like a maniac going to an asylum.

“You think you can kill me?! The harder you try, the harder it is for you to survive.” Yasu warned Kuzaki as he got another wave of explosive fire. But instead of getting blasted through the air again, Yasu started to absorb every spark of the flames.

“Heh… HA! True... ZONE!” Fire circled around the beast as darkness filled the skies. A violet lightning bolt struck the winged lunatic, overpowering the previous stages of ZONE. His gray eyes, they went from blind to a psycho black in a millisecond, having the word “KILLER” written all over them. A drop of blood shed from the eyes, completing the provoked demon.

“Cool, you lost your life. Guess what I lost? EVERYTHING. I will crush you, until you can no longer breathe. I don’t care if they arrest me, don’t care if I get the death sentence. Revenge is a sweet thing. Revenge for the things you’ve lost is even sweeter. FINAL JUDGEMENT OF HELL!” A bright, white lightning bolt flicked from the sky and then struck the hopeless Kuzaki. Paralyzed, Kuzaki cried for mercy and tried to wriggle out of the paralysis. Yasumoto walked towards him, giving him a glare of a true killer. A white-flamed serpentine dragon circled around the demon’s left arm. As it grew larger, the dragon flew out of the arm, and circumnavigated counterclockwise above the enemy.

BYE BYE. I DON’T INTEND IN GOING TO THE SAME PLACE WHERE MY FRIENDS ARE GOING TO. YOU.  ARE. COMING. TO. HELL. WITH ME!” Yasumoto slammed his fist on the ground, breaking the ground. A huge crack appeared below Kuzaki as the dragon made fully of hatred went down, bringing the hopeless villain down with it. The crack sealed, and the entire Earth shook, trying to withstand the impact.

Yasumoto fell to his knees, normal again. He was in rags, and the skies were cerulean like the sea. The worn out hero fell on his face. He has truly died, for his friends… This is true revenge.