Chapter 7

Yuji took a quick look around the surroundings, as the Akuma was getting back on its feet.

"What should we do?" Yuji thought, "think carefully, we don't have any weapons to finish it off, or any way to get it immobilized,"

Stopping for a thought, Yuji had a sudden grasp of an idea.

"Wait... No, we do have something!" Yuji thought, looking at Ryan, "Ryan's ability to shake the ground, to make the Akuma off balance... but with that, he won't be able to move himself, In the end, all it can do is... buy time!"

With those thoughts in mind, Yuji and Ryan made eye contact, looking as if Ryan was asking what to do.

Yuji locked eyes with Ryan, "hang in there..." he said in a soft voice, he then ran quickly towards the window, going inside the building in a rushed manner.

"WHAT THE!?" said Ryan, "Did he just..." being surprised by Yuji's actions, he didn't have any time to think, as the Akuma made its move.

"RYAN! WATCH OUT" Layla screamed.

Ryan saw the pose of the Akuma, noticing it's the same pose that it used to dash towards them, Ryan felt that he would not be able to dodge that, and suddenly activated his ability, instinctively.

The Akuma managed to dash really fast, due to Ryan's ability, it was thrown off balance, making the Akuma hit a building wall, slightly missing its target.

"If I was later than that, I would have been..." Ryan thought as he glanced at Jasper's body.

"NO!" Ryan turned around, facing the Akuma, "This isn't the time for that..." he grabs the syringe from his left pocket and injected himself, using his last shot.

"Right now... I... have to hang in there!" Ryan's eyes glowed bright yellow, shaking the ground and everything around him really hard as if a strong earthquake hit the area.

The Akuma fell down onto the ground, and so does Layla and Elizabeth who were at the range of Ryans's ability, leaving only him standing.

"This is..." Elizabeth said as she tries to lift her face from the ground.

"If he doesn't do this... the Akuma might get its chance to attack Ryan or us..." Layla said, laying down on the ground.

"Think!" Layla thought, "Like what Yuji said..." Stopping for a thought, "wait did Yuji just ditch us...?" she said.

"No..." said Elizabeth "I trust him... he's our only chance..."

"Still, we don't know what's going to happen," Said Layla, "we have to do something!" she said as she began to slowly crawl away.

"10 meters, right?" she said, as she was struggling to move forward, "and now that he just injected himself, it probably increased, but there is definitely a limit!"

As Layla was struggling to move forward, the Akuma struggled to stand up.

As the Akuma was about to fully stand up, Ryan increased the strength of the vibrations, making the Akuma fall back down on the ground, along with the others.

"DAMN IT!", Layla shouted, falling back to the ground with disappointment, laying down on the ground being unable to move due to the strength of the vibrations.

"MOVE! Damn It!" She said as she forces herself to move, sliding her body upwards.

"LAYLA, STOP!" said Elizabeth, laying down on the ground, "If you could move, then that big Akuma can surely be able to move too! I know you're strong! but you should save your strength for later, right now... that's all we can do..."

"Damn..." Layla said in a teary voice as she laid down facing up, feeling useless.

They both realized that there was nothing they could do.

"Crap! they couldn't leave the range," said Ryan, "but I had to... if I didn't strengthen the vibrations, then this thing would have gotten back up, and he could have hit any of us... How long am I going to have to do this?"

"HEY!"

As Everyone was having trouble, they heard a familiar voice coming from the entrance door of the building, outside of Ryans's range.

"Power down now!!" said Yuji throwing a circular item and a rectangular item in front of the Akuma

"MOVE!"

Ryan shuts off his ability and quickly jumps backward, as the Akuma tries to get up.

BOOM*

An explosion materialized right in front of the Akuma, as smoke covers half of the area.

"You got explosives!?" Ryan said, as he smiled and moved toward Yuji.

"I got them from those students inside..." said Yuji, as he gave a black case to Ryan.

"You looted them!? I didn't even think of that..." Layla said, with a sense of relief, walking towards Yuji.

"It's not over yet," said Yuji, as he looked in the direction of the Akuma.

The smoke coming from the explosion didn't seem to fade and was not going to disappear anytime soon.

"Why is the smoke from that explosion still here?" Elizabeth asked, "does this usually last this long?".

"It's because I threw a smoke grenade along with the frag," said Yuji.

"So, it can't target us!" Layla said.

"But won't we be blind on where the Akuma is facing too?" said Ryan, "what if the Akuma attacks randomly?".

"We can tell where he's facing and when it's about to attack," said Yuji, looking at Layla.

Layla was confused for a second, making her pause for a thought.

"My ability!" said Layla, "But isn't this our chance to run?"

"Nothing good comes from running away from a high class," Yuji replied, "If it tried to find us and went inside the building, then we're sure to be just like those people by the entrance,"

"Yeah, with that speed in a single direction, along with its size, there is no way we can run or dodge, more or less fight that thing," Ryan said, "so what's the plan here? our chances of survival are definitely higher, but what should we do?"

Yuji faced Layla, "You can see a person's body heat, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, but does an Akuma have body heat?" Layla replied, "I mean they're already dead right?"

"Just try," said Yuji.

Layla's eyes glowed pinkish as she stared into the mist of the smoke, where the Akuma is.

"I... can see it!" Layla said, "it's just standing there, it's not dead is it?"

"we'd be lucky if it were actually that weak," said Yuji, "now we can tell when and where it would attack,"

"But aren't dead bodies supposed to be cold?" Elizabeth asked, "Why can Layla see its body heat?"

"The person, is probably dead," Said Yuji, "but I thought that there was no way for a body to move and undergo pressure to not heat up even a bit, like this Akuma when it dashes, and just simply running can put pressure on the body.

"So, you're saying that the person is dead but the body is still alive?" Ryan asked.

"Yes, I'm thinking that an Akuma kills a person, then injects their virus to take over the body as its vessel," said Yuji.

"The government hasn't even taught us something like that, yet you could already come up with it..." said Layla.

"It's just my theory, first of all, I don't even know if what they inject to the corpses is an actual virus," said Yuji, "and also, the government must have already thought of that idea,"

"Then why is it that they haven't announced it yet?" Layla asked.

"You can't really announce a theory without basic proof, and in this case a Cure" Yuji replied, "Because, when it can be cured it means it's a virus, no doubt, and if it can't then they must still have no idea what Akumas are... they also probably don't want pressure from the people,"

suddenly, the Akuma made movements, as Layla notices it.

"Guys!" Layla said as she called everyone's attention, "The Akuma... it's doing something!"