Invincible (5)

"A kid pulled out last minute before the tournament, you can take over his spot." JK walked down the stairs into the storage room while he played with the kings, swinging them around his index finger. "Granted you want to do this."

"I do." Danny places his hand over his chest and could feel the electric signals the battery inside of his chest was shooting out, a rhythmic beat that pushed the blood around his body. "I don't have anything better."

"I respect the guts, honestly. It's not every day you see someone as brave or dumb as you." JK reached the ground floor and is greeted by the giant vault. "You've been here before, there's a couple of unused Omnishells that no one cares about."

"Why are you doing this?" Danny stops as his right foot touches the ground, his left foot still on the last step. "Why are you giving me this opportunity? There are hundreds who are more talented and better at this than me."

"It's as Daisy said, you look just like Atsel." JK giggles as he opens up the vault door with the keys in his hands. "You have a weird resemblance to him, nearly uncanny."

"Does that even matter? Does it mean that I'm as good as him?" Danny genuinely asks.

"That's not up to me to decide." JK gives one final twist to the key and unlocks the storage room, light cascading in from the dim bulb hanging above their heads. "I hate going here." JK jumps up and is barely able to flick the light switches on.

Danny walks down fully and is greeted with the same musty smell of rusting iron and rotting metal.

"The rooms are a mess, don't mind the random junk, just pick one up that looks half decent and usable, you've got 20 minutes until the tournament starts." JK leans against the concrete wall as he closes his eyes, catching some well-needed rest.

Danny looks around the room and nothing special catches his attention, besides the Omnishell right in the middle of the room. "What about this one?" Danny places his hand on her shoulder.

[Alice Everland: Unlock] A bright flashing blue icon appeared on the Omnishell's chest like a hologram.

Suddenly, a flash of darkness blitzed past the side of his face, slashing his cheek open. A slither of his hair fell to the ground. "Agh!" Danny however was able to move his head out of the way before it could deal any serious damage.

"Who are you?" The Omnishell's mouth opened up, like a living breathing human. "What are you? A perv?" The Omnishell got into a fighting position, her fist guarding her chin and her waist, just like how a real boxer would arrange themselves.

"What are you doing?" JK jolts awake, awoken by the sound of Danny falling to the ground and the Omnishell's voice. "Wo-"

"Where is Atsel?" The Omnishell said with a fierce look on her face, her eyebrows tilted inwards. "Bring him here!" The Omnishell said with a demanding voice.

"What's wrong with you?" Danny backs up before standing up and regaining his balance.

"A challenger!" The Omnishell raised her feet, in one smooth motion she brought her leg up and kicked Danny straight in the abdomen.

"Doctor Foster!" JK summoned forth Doctor Foster who appeared just in front of Danny, taking the brunt of the attack. Doctor Foster's abdomen caved in as her kick was so powerful it was enough to break through the multiple layers of metal.

"Another Omnishell!" She lowered her leg and instead used her right hand to deliver a lightning speed jab.

"Stop!" Danny grabbed her hand midair, stopping it right before it got into contact of Doctor Foster's face.

All three of them look at each other with a tense look on their faces, Alice's nearly humanlike expressions made it impossible to believe she was an Omnishell. She turns her neck and looks at Danny. She pauses for a moment before lowering her arm. "Atsel, you were here all along." Her voice turned smooth and her tense muscles calmed down.

"Who's Atsel?!" Danny turns and looks at JK. JK looks back at Danny with a concerning look on his face.

"Atsel's the previous owner of this Omnishell, he died 6 months ago and since we haven't been able to activate his Omnishell, no matter what we did she stayed dormant." JK looks back at Alice's lifeful face. "Until now."

"Atsel, it's been so long! I feel like we haven't seen each other for months!" Alice smiles with a big grin on her face. "How have you been master?"

"Master? I'm not your master!" Danny backs up, weirded out by Alice. "And I'm certainly not Atsel!"

"What do you mean?" Alice leans forward and places her index finger on her lips, puckering them as she takes a closer look at Danny. Danny is backed up against a wall as Alice stares deeply into Danny's eyes. Danny could see the individual folds of skin on her lips, the pores of her face and the blemishes she had accumulated from years of fighting. But her eyes were not that of a human, instead they were filled with the mysteries of the universe, individual sparks lit up her irises and the empty void of space distanced the stars from one another. "Now that I have a closer look, you don't look exactly like Atsel."

Danny could feel her hot breath breathing down his neck, it was as if a real woman was standing in front of him. "Se-?"

"You must've changed!" Alice breaks into laughter and gives Danny a big hug, wrapping him tightly around her buff arms. Danny nearly screamed as the air in his lungs were being pushed out from Alice's tight hug. "Oh what it feels to be back with you Atsel. I missed you." She said with a stone in her throat, like she was about to break into tears.

Danny looks over and glances at JK who has the same look on his face as Danny. A look of immediate worry and concern.