Chapter 6 - Bridge Battle

They got blown away by the explosion, smashing the back of a car, its rear window shattering. Dust rose all around them, effectively hiding them. Fise cursed and Andrew spat out blood as he held his wound. It went just past his heart and lungs, barely scratching his liver and just missing his spine. They hid behind the car, leaning on the back bumper.

This wasn't good. Fise had no idea what to do, he didn't know where the enemy was, his teammate is injured and he had barely any idea how to use his aura. He was freaking out; the adrenaline started pumping. 'Think, think, think! Crap! This is bad! What are we supposed to d-'

"Fise." A voice interrupted him from his train of thought. Fise turned to Andrew.

"Calm down." Andrew continued, spitting some blood out."We need a plan."

"We have no idea where the enemy is and-"

"I do. The bullet went in at around my heart. It exited behind my liver. Which was lower. You get it?" Fise understood.

"They're higher than us." Fise answered, and Andrew nodded.

"Right. And this bridge doesn't have any high ground near it. The bullet also hit at around the same time as the sound of it being shot rang out." he coughed again. "The bullet went through my diaphragm. It hurts to breathe. To talk. Listen. Since the shot was heard as the bullet hit. It must mean that the sniper is close. And they're very close, can't you feel your ears ringing a bit?" Fise nodded and started to piece together a plan.

When they were walking towards the bridge he could see that it was held up by steel beams, having some under the bridge and some above it. On the side was a steel beam going up to one going across which was tens of meters from another just like it, with more steel beams connecting them. The bridge was around 100 meters long and had old, abandoned cars everywhere. He got it.

"Andrew, I got a plan.". They were on the right side of the bridge from where they got onto it. The bridge was only 6 meters wide, holding 2 lanes of traffic. They were half a meter from one of the beams going up to the ones above. That means they were also that close to the edge of it, the only thing stopping cars from going straight into the river was a half meter tall concrete wall."They are probably on one of the suspending beams above the bridge. I can go up there by that beam over there." he nodded towards it." And I can take them off the high ground. They probably think you are out of the fight but you can go under the bridge and climb on to the steel beams under it. When they're distracted by me, you can come out from behind them and burn them. And boom! They're taken care of and we get to keep going." Fise stopped after seeing Andrew wanted to say something.

"Won't work. They are probably watching our area intently. There isn't enough dust to hide us anymore. If we peek even a little bit, our heads are getting blown off." Fise looked down, not moving, before smiling." I'll give you the signal, and we go." He said before turning around to face the other side of the bridge, away from the edge after taking his backpack off. Andrew wanted to complain but didn't. 'Fise may not be the best at plans, but he's smart. Better get ready to go. He must have a good reason to not listen.' Andrew, still holding his wound which now covered his shirt in blood, stood on his feet, took his backpack off, and crouched down to not get spotted. He was ready to go.

Fise didn't like his idea much but it was better than not doing anything.

He got close to the edge of the car. A little bit more and he would be seen. He breathed in and began. He pushed his left arm forwards in a motion he would do when running, hand straight and open. It barely went 10 cm before a gunshot sounded out and pierced straight through the middle of his hand, the bullet hitting the ground a few meters away. Fise used the inertia from the shot to turn around and run towards the upwards steel beam, Andrew already leaping off the bridge. He caught the bottom of it and swung around before quickly moving his hands from the little overhang of the bridge to one of the steel beams.

As he did that an explosion echoed out as the bullet exploded. The force from it pushed Fise faster and he made it to the beam. He started to run up it quickly and finally looked at their enemy. It was a man with a small stubble, brown hair, and a pair of sunglasses, wearing a metallic, grey cloak that could blend into the steel bars, even having a few patches of reddish-brown to look like rust which the steel bars were all covered in from years of misuse. His aura was activated, showing a bright magenta colour. He was holding a sniper rifle with no scope on it, pulling the bolt back before letting go. A click sounded out. The man quickly turned and aimed down his rifle straight at Fise. It shot. Fise stopped time.

Everything lost colour and became grey. Fise could see a bit of the bullet in the corner of his eye. It was 3 cm away from entering his left temple. He didn't have enough time to deflect it so he leaned down. Time resumed. And the bullet flew just above his head. The sniper was a bit surprised but started to pull on the bolt again. Fise was almost there, his aura burning brightly. He finally reached the steel beam where the sniper was nested upon. But the sniper was done pulling the bolt back. He aimed and fired. Fise was still running and leaned downwards,

he grabbed the edge of the steel beam and then slid down. The bullet passed over him.

He stopped himself by grabbing tight onto the steel beam before turning onto his legs on the sniper's beam. He looked towards the sniper, who was pulling the bolt again, and ran straight towards him. The sniper finished and proceeded to aim down sights, but the weapon landed on Fise's shoulder. The sniper pulled the trigger. The shot deafened Fise's left ear but that didn't stop him from punching the sniper straight in the face with his right fist. The punch was strong and it made the sniper almost fall off, pushing him backwards. But he didn't fall off, his balance was great, probably because he had been trained to stay on narrow things, like the steel beam. Fise narrowed his eyes.' If he was trained for this... Andrew, who's after you? Who can just get a well-trained sniper, that's a Guarded no less!'

Fise stepped forward and threw a punch with his left fist, stopping the sniper from reloading his weapon, which had ran out of bullets.

'One shot at Andrew, one after as I ran, another as I reached the top and the last one when I reached him. 4 bullets.' Fise calculated. It seemed that this sniper had a sniper with a maximum amount of ammo of 4. He was then hit on the left by the gun, almost making him fall off. Quickly he ducked under it and threw another punch at the sniper. But he got hit by the butt of the gun, making him miss the sniper and get stunned. The sniper then swung his right leg out as he spun to make Fise trip. Fise fell backwards as the sniper completed his spin and made the muzzle of the gun stop Fise's descend by hitting him striking him in the side of the head. The hit made Fise move too much over the edge, and he began to fall.

Fise was disoriented, but he saved himself by grabbing onto the sniper's gun. The sniper was surprised by this and immediately tried to pull his gun back. Fise used this. He pulled himself up and, with the help of the sniper's pull, flew up. Fise went half a meter above the sniper, before doing a front flip and landing a kick on the sniper's face, making his weapon fly in the air. Fise then did a backflip off him as the sniper fell off the beam, smashing into a car husk down below. Fise then quickly grabbed the beam with both hands to stop himself from falling, before looking up to see the gun start to fall. He extended out a hand and caught it behind him by the barrel, however that made his other hand slip and he fell.

Fise's landing was cushioned by another abandoned car. He landed on the roof of it, which promptly crumpled, and bent it in enough to smash the windows, or what was left of them. Fise got his wind knocked out of him and stood there, still holding the sniper, trying to get air into his lungs. After he managed to breathe again he sat up and raised his hand in the air, and laughed as he gripped the sniper

"That was awesome!".

But then from where he was holding the weapon, it snapped, and the 2 halves fell. Fise looked dumbfounded at this, before seeing that the weapon broke up more as it impacted the ground. He saw pink particles come out from the broken areas, the same colour as the sniper's aura. Fise looked at his left hand, the one he held the weapon in and saw pink dust inside of his hand that slowly started to disappear into a pink aura. Fise realised that this must be the work of the sniper's power. He looked up to see the sniper and saw him stand next to the broken car he landed on. His sunglasses were nowhere to be seen and his clothes were ripped. Glass from broken windows was still falling off him and his left arm was cut open, blood spurting out.

Fise tried to get up, but a stinging pain ran up from his back, probably glass shards. The sniper smiled. The dust evaporated almost instantly and what was left of the gun also disappeared. The sniper extended his hand and pink aura collected together to form a shape. Fise narrowed his eyes at the figure. The aura started to get closer to the final shape and Fise widened his eyes, before trying to get up, before flinching back down. He reached behind himself and yanked out pieces of glass, silently screaming from the pain. The shape finally became something and fell in the sniper's right hand. He was now holding a lever-action shotgun.

He got his left hand and steadied it, aiming at Fise before pulling the trigger. By that time Fise pulled all the big chunks of glass out of his back. The pellets smashed into the broken car, where Fise was before. Fise was above the car, who jumped in stopped time, barely dodging the bullets. The impact made the car screech backwards half a meter, the pellets imbedded in the crushed engine. Fise landed in front of it and quickly turned to run away. As he passed by the car, he heard the pellets explode. Each explosion was much smaller than the one from the sniper, but all of the pellets began to explode like firecrackers, pushing the car even further backwards. Fise was about to duck and go behind the car when he heard the man reload the gun by pushing and pulling the lever.

Fise stopped time and he stepped sideways as time resumed. The concrete before him tore open as the pellets smashed into it, digging in deep. He turned around to face a car across the other one and began to run behind it. The man reloaded the shotgun once again. Fise heard it and got down on the ground, sliding to his destination behind the car. The corner of it was torn away as pellets shot through it, going above Fise. The force managed to spin the car a little bit. Fise made it. He was now out of sight. 'Think, think! How can we defeat him?' his original plan was for him to distract the man enough so that he let his guard down and then Andrew would burn him, but now that plan was down the drain as the man was too alert.' Shi-!' his train of thought was interrupted as bangs echoed out. The pellets near the other car began to explode, and Fise swore he heard the man reload. The explosions tore the back of the other car, sending metal flying. A piece landed in front of Fise. it was rectangular and sharp, bent-in in the middle. Fise got an idea.

He went to the piece of metal and grabbed it before turning around. He then got in a position as if he was throwing a frisbee. He stopped time and as it resumed he threw the scrap of metal under the car. It spun through the air before bouncing off the concrete. It flew out from under the car and towards the man, who turned towards it. "What the f- Ack!"

The piece of metal embedded itself in the side of the man's neck, making him turn. His left hand left the shotgun and went towards his neck, the shotgun now held only by his right hand. He accidentally pulled the trigger to it and it shot into the side of the first car, the force making the man turn the other way and drop the shotgun which smashed into pieces as the sniper did. The man held his bleeding neck with both hands and fell to his knees.

Fise ran out from behind the car as pellets exploded behind him and sprinted straight to the man. He was almost upon him when pellets exploded on his right, and Fise used the shockwave to send a punch into the man's nose. The man reeled and fell backwards from the impact and Fise tried stomping on his throat but he rolled and then jumped to his feet. Fise turned to face him but got kicked in the chest sending him flying to the other side of the bridge, stopped by the metal guardrail which crumpled as he hit it. The man smiled but then froze as blood gushed out from his leg, making him fall back down to the ground. Fise ripped a piece of his leg out, which was now on the ground between them. The man tried hard not to scream from the pain.

"Heh. I won. I did it." said Fise as he got up, spitting some blood out on the floor before wiping his mouth.

"I want to ask some questions," he said as he took a step forward.

"I don't think so." the man said as he moved his body and revealed an uzi in his left hand. Fise's eyes widened and he moved his arms up to protect his head. The man fired.

The power of 500 rounds per minute was shown as Fise was blown away by the power of the bullets. They tore through him, most aimed at his centre, while some got stuck in him. The guardrail and the diagonal steel beam were hit by stray bullets. Fise was pushed over and began to fall, and as he did so he stopped time. One bullet stopped before his right temple and he had to move his head to the left. Time resumed and he felt the bullet pass by his right ear. He fell towards the rushing river below, blood trailing behind him, out of the man's sight. He realized that all the bullets inside of him would erase him from existence if they exploded. He had one chance. He stopped time. In stopped time he continued to fall but he didn't care about that.

He focused on making his aura only surround him, and go around the bullets. As he fell bullets slid out from his wounds, leaving him without any bullets inside of him. As time resumed Fise realized that this was the longest he stopped time for.

He fell into the river, bullets following him. The current pushed him a little further downstream, and the water made his wounds burn. But he swam against the river and grabbed onto one of the stone supports before climbing up onto the side and between the centre of the support and its edge, where it was more horizontal. He laid there as blood pooled out of him. Fise focused his aura onto the more serious wounds, the ones at his chest, and looking down he could slowly see them regenerate. The water bubbled as the bullets exploded.

The man sighed in relief. He stood up, putting most of his weight on his good leg. He was about to undo his weapon when he noticed something in the corner of his eye. He turned and blocked with the uzi, black fire spreading on the weapon and his left hand. He thought fast and made his aura separate from his left hand, dropping the gun. The uzi smashed into pieces when it impacted the ground, before quickly being eaten up by the black flames, leaving nothing behind. The man's left hand was also quickly eaten up and turned into a black stub that snapped off and disappeared in midair as it fell, blood seeping through the stub left after it fell. The man screamed in agony.

"Fise isn't dead. I know that. For a minute there I thought that our team would lose a member."

The man quickly turned to look at the source of the voice. He saw a blonde boy stand in the middle of the road, a dark aura surrounding him, with his t-shirt bloodied in the middle of his chest.

"B-but... You were there!" the man turned to look behind him at the car the 2 hid and saw under it only their bags and not the blonde boy. He turned back to face the boy and saw him get closer.

"I am the group's scout. I won't die without bringing back any information. They will come after you."

"I don't care about your group. I will kill any of them. All of them"

"You would not defeat the Forest Panther group!"

The man held a pistol in his right hand and fired 3 shots at Andrew.

"Forest Panther?" The bullets entered Andrew's aura and were enveloped in tiny black fire vortexes that left nothing after they disappeared. The man shot more and more, but all the bullets would barely make it a centimetre in Andrew's aura.

"H-how? You aren't moving to block them, how are you making the fire?! Answer me!" the man shot frantically. 10 shots, 20, 30, 50, 80. All of them disappeared in a vortex of flame.

"No more playing around," said Andrew and stepped forward. This movement left a trail of fire behind. He stepped forward again and there was another trail of fire. The scout's eyes widened in shock and fear.

"N-no, how?"

"I am producing fire from every little movement." little flames started to pop up around his body that burned at nothing, more and more popping up. Andrew was now a few steps away from the scout, which had stopped firing.

"You can stop my bullets..."

Andrew didn't answer. He raised his left hand and formed a fist.

"..but only bullets!" the man yelled and threw a grenade at Andrew.

Andrew began his punch and redirected it to the grenade. The fire licked at it and began to burn it but it was too late. The grenade exploded.

It sent dust and glass shards flying along with pieces of the road.

"Hahahaha!" the scout laughed from inside the smoke cloud, crawling away from it."I win... I need to go and tell them, I need to tell them how I won." the scout said out loud.' I can finally get a promotion! I can finally eat good food!' he thought and slowly got to his feet. He took a very slow step forwards.' I can get so much. The money would be so good.' Suddenly he was stopped in his tracks as a weight pressed down on his left shoulder. He turned his head and his eyes widened out of fear. Through the smoke, he saw an armoured hand, the armour being pitch black, little black flames could be seen making it up. The arm leads to an armoured shoulder and then to a neck and head. He looked into where the eyes were supposed to be but saw nothing but a pitch-black helmet with no eye slits. The figure pulled on his shoulder and twisted him around.

"ORA!" a fist hit him in the chest as hard as a truck, sending him flying, hitting the corner of a car and breaking it apart, sending the wheel rolling out, before he rolled on the floor before stopping, spitting out blood. He opened his eyes and saw doubled but in the distance, he saw the armour clad figure step out of the smoke towards him. He tried to stand and managed but he was shaking uncontrollably. The armoured figure was getting closer. The man spawned another 3 grenades, holding onto them with his right hand and left stub.

"I'll kill you! I can make many more! I am immune to my weapons, so the only one dying would be you!"

Andrew made a move to move his arm and send black fire at the man but stopped.

"What? Too scared? I would set them off before you could do anything!"

Andrew lowered his arm.

"Haha! Yes! It is useless to try and stop me! I'll ki-" suddenly the grenades flew forwards and smashed on the ground. The scout lost feeling in his legs and looked down. There, from the middle of the body, was an arm, blood dripping off the end, covered in a golden aura.

"Wha-"

"Surprise motherf*cker," said Fise from behind him.

"What? But I-

"Shut up."

Fise held a piece of glass in his other hand and quickly slid it into the man's back, a few tens of centimetres above where his arm was, cutting the spine. Fise threw the piece of bloody glass away, and using the arm that went through the wan, grabbed onto his face.

"Hey, what are-" the man complained but Fise squished his eye into a bloody paste which made the man stop from complaining and go to screaming. Fise pulled on the head until it bent to the hole, only possible because of the man's cut spine from the glass and broken ribs from Andrew's punch. Fise pulled the man's head through the hole, making him into a pretzel. The man didn't feel much pain apart from the one in his spine, the rest of his body was numb. He couldn't breathe since his lungs have both been punctured by his ribs and collapsed.

Fise held the scout before throwing him up in the air towards Andrew.

"You finish it."

Andrew complied. As the scout was about to reach him Andrew released many aura punches, which pushed the man closer to him. Then Andrew punched him to push him away.

"WAAAH!"

20 punches, 34, 56, 79, 103, 128, 161, 189, 230 punches in less than 20 seconds.

"ORA!"

Andrew put all the black fire and power into the last punch. It sent the man flying as the blood was squeezed out of him from the force, before falling into the river, sinking to the bottom like a rock. He started to evaporate.

On the bridge, Fise went to get their bags and both undid their aura.

They were silent as the walked on, stepping over and avoiding glass shards. This battle finished, Fise was exhausted from the fight and the healing. His wounds were not bleeding anymore and were closing fast. Andrew was only a little bit tired, having rested under the bridge, his wounds completely healed. They arrived on the other side of the bridge and kept walking, going into the forest next to the road.

FOREST PANTHER SCOUT:

GUARDED

DEAD,

KILLED BY ANDREW (ASSISTED BY FISE)