The sun blazed overhead. It was a summer day, and families were heading out on vacation, Sone included. He stepped outside in shorts and sandals, shirtless, his toned chest on display, and strolled along cheerfully, watching the crowds and glancing mischievously at the women in bikinis. Then he saw a boy sinking into the sea. Without a second thought, Sone curled into a ball, shot across the sand, and plunged into the water. He hauled the boy out and gave him first aid, and the boy coughed up the water he had swallowed.
"Thank you," the boy said.
Sone gave him a thumbs-up and a smile. Meanwhile, far off, a car was barreling along at top speed, and Sone's senses caught it. He vanished, leaving a gust of wind in his wake, and reached the vehicle in an instant. At sonic speed, he ripped out the engine and the wheels. The car ground to a halt with a screech and died.
The driver climbed out slowly, looking stunned.
"Huh?! Um... who are you?" he asked.
"I'm Sone," he answered calmly.
Suddenly a dark figure appeared behind him. Before he could even turn, a punch slammed into his abdomen and hurled him backward with a force that surprised even him. He threw up his arms to block a second blow, steadied himself, and looked more closely. It was a woman with glowing purple eyes, the rest of her face hidden behind a pitch-black balaclava.
"Hello, Sone. Warm greetings," the woman said calmly. "I've come for a rematch against Worh. We have unfinished business."
"Who are you, and why are you looking for my friend?" Sone asked, suspicious.
"I'm Leslie. You don't know me, but Worh does. We fought, and he left me badly wounded," she said. "Your little friend nearly killed me, though I nearly killed him too. He was about to finish me off right there, and I only survived because that white knight saved me."
Without another word, she vanished in a rush of air and reappeared behind him, driving a punch into his spine. Sone felt a current of pain race through him and spat, but he reacted fast and dodged the next strike. Using his agility, he launched himself into the air and dove at her in ball form. Leslie watched him with boredom, extended a hand, and a shield of energy bloomed and blocked the attack.
Sone backed off, studying her openings, as shadows flickered into place all around him. He realized he couldn't dodge the next attack. In a single motion, the strike took shape along the pattern his eyes had caught, and Leslie hit him from every side at once. The blast shot skyward, a tremendous surge of energy tearing through the clouds. Inside it, Sone began to breathe heavily. His whole body ached, though there wasn't a scratch on him. The damage had been so instantaneous that his body hadn't even registered when it was hurt.
A spirit inside him stirred, shielding his internal organs. Within seconds the attack faded, revealing Sone badly wounded, his eyes clouded gray by the smoke that had filled the blast. His pupils didn't move. His legs and arms wouldn't move either. He stood like a statue, his mind barely able to send signals to his limbs.
"Pathetic. I thought you'd be stronger than Worh, but right now you seem weaker than he is," Leslie said, crossing her arms.
Ten seconds later, Sone began to glow with a yellow aura, the same power he had used to hurt Sebastián. His eyes briefly turned the same color. He slowly raised his head, and an electric song began to play. The power lines nearby reacted instantly, their hum growing louder.
"I won't give up. I'll keep standing, because I'm a hero," Sone said. "I'll keep fighting," he added forcefully.
He forced his limbs to move, his mind overloading, and the signals landed at the exact right moment. Without a second thought, he lunged and drove a punch into her abdomen, sending her flying at least 20 kilometers.
"What the hell?" Leslie said, startled.
"You're strong, but you're weaker than that sorrow lunatic, Sebastián," Sone said, clearly comparing them. "He barely budged from that same hit, but you went flying a lot more easily."
Leslie gritted her teeth, then conjured two purple energies and fused them into a larger sphere that hummed with a strange power. She vanished, leaving the air thick with tension. Sone sensed that something was wrong. His aura flared brighter, and a suspicion crept over him: when it glowed brighter, it meant only one thing. But it was too late. He found himself in a completely black place, powerful stars blazing above him. In the distance he could see the same purple energy sphere Leslie had left behind, and his mind supplied the answer: *That energy is why I'm here.* Without hesitation, he started running toward it. His temporary power gave him a clear edge against the energy radiating from the suns above, and a great deal more speed.
From somewhere else, Leslie smiled and pressed a button. Along the path Sone was running, cities and people began to fragment. Sone ignored it, but then he stopped to look at a thief trying to rob a store. In one second, he disarmed the criminal, and his mind realized it was a trap. The figure dissolved. Five quick blows struck him, but they landed weaker, because the yellow energy radiating from his body absorbed part of their force.
"Looks like that fool can absorb my attacks with that aura. I wonder where he got such a bright power," Leslie said, watching on a set of screens as her plan failed to work completely.
She pressed a button labeled "Plan B." The environment shifted. Now it was a ruined city, its buildings collapsed.
*She must have created this kind of pocket dimension, one that looks like reality but is controlled entirely by her,* Sone thought.
Three figures appeared. They were purple and familiar: copies of the protagonists. Kiro, Worh, and Sebastián. They had the same shapes but weren't human, and a fist flew straight at his face. Reacting in time, Sone realized the copies had the same strength his friends once had, only older. It was the strength from when they faced Boss 17 and the Forbidden Sadness Sebastián. A punch nearly landed because he was thinking too hard, and his speed barely saved him.
"Damn it! My speed isn't much use here. All I can do is rely on my durability and agility," Sone thought, frustrated.
Blow after blow came at him. He dodged with difficulty but held firm through it all. Up, down, left, right, his senses helped him predict most of the movements. An idea struck him: he remembered that in ball form he was stronger and hit harder. Without wasting a second, he curled up and attacked the copies, with all three close together.
He went straight for Kiro, then bounced off his chest toward Worh, then did the same with Sebastián, rebounding between them again and again. His speed kept climbing, and the copies began to stagger back and lose their balance as his strikes grew stronger. Sone thought for a second, leapt into the air, and smashed into Kiro's head, splitting him in two. He did the same to Worh, but not to Sebastián, who was too strong.
He paused, knowing he couldn't hurt Sebastián's copy. Then he looked up and noticed a purple energy glowing above him.
*If I destroy that sphere, maybe I can reach that wretch,* Sone thought.
He channeled all his strength into his legs and, with an explosive leap, reached the sphere and struck it in ball form, scattering all its energy. Leslie realized the dimension had collapsed, and her screens vanished. She was back in the real world, with Sone.
When he saw her, he simply stared at her gravely, then launched himself at her. Leslie reacted in time and blocked the attack with her arms. She grabbed his wrist, but Sone quickly tried to shift into his ball form, forcing her to struggle to stay steady on the ground as he began spinning in rapid circles. She couldn't hold on any longer and let go. Sone seized the moment, landing a kick to her jaw and a knee to her groin. She gasped and dropped to her knees, clutching the injured area.
"I know that was a really awful low blow on my part, but it was the only thing I could do," Sone said matter-of-factly.
Leslie silently cursed, a purple energy forming in her hand, but Sone closed in fast and hit her, stopping the attack.
"You're fast, but I won't lose to you," Leslie said with determination.
She pulled out a metal horn and switched it on, and a harsh metallic blare rang out. Because his senses were heightened, Sone took in all the noise. He clutched his ears and writhed on the ground.
"Aaaaah, my ears! You bitch!" Sone yelled, pained and furious.
"Hahaha," Leslie laughed.
Meanwhile, in another country, Eduin was hearing his mother's voice in his head, replaying that moment.
"Hello, son."
A woman's voice had spoken behind him. He had spun around but saw no one, though he knew someone was truly there. The world around him warped, and a voice echoed through the air.
Lost in his own world, Eduin heard nothing else. Back in the fight, Sone began pounding the ground, leaving light cracks in it, his ears starting to bleed. Inside, he wanted to smash that horn, but he couldn't. The noise had left him too weak.
"Looks like this is mostly your weakness. Interesting, and a big disadvantage for you," Leslie said, assessing him.
Sone pressed his fist to the concrete and slowly began to rise. Leslie was startled, unable to believe he still had the endurance to stand. Sone looked at her. He felt no fear and no sympathy.
The only thing he knew was that he had to go in with the intent to kill. Without a word, he ignored the sound and charged a blue attack, hurling it at the horn, which disintegrated instantly. Sone kept walking toward her. Leslie took a step back, clearly sensing his killing intent, and in the next instant he appeared behind her and hit her ear with blue energy. Her ears began to bleed, and she clutched her head in pain. Sone headbutted her, followed with a spinning kick, then in another millisecond drove a punch into her abdomen. The damage was strong enough to force her back and make her spit. The protagonist closed the distance again and landed another punch to her abdomen, this one far harder.
Leslie returned the blow instantly, making the boy spit blood, but it didn't make him retreat. He grabbed her by the throat and smashed her face into the ground. Then he flipped her onto her stomach and, holding nothing back, slammed her face into the ground twenty times in four seconds. Her nose crunched slightly, and she quickly hit him in the torso, making him spit more blood and loosen his grip. Leslie broke free with brutal strength. She saw the blood pouring from his mouth, but he was still on his feet and still staring at her.
"Why do you keep standing?!" the girl cried. "Give up already, don't be stupid," she said, her voice lower now but a little shrill.
"I won't. I'm a hero, and heroes defeat their enemies. You can hurt people, and I can't allow that. I'll fight to my limit, and I won't let your words get to me. I'm a hero," Sone said, with clear determination and heroism.
Leslie looked at him, her face shadowed. Inside, she couldn't help wondering why he would risk his own life to save a handful of people, and she smiled faintly. It was neither genuine nor false, just a calm, mature smile. She lunged at him, raining down devastating blows without pause, each one doing more physical damage but never mental.
He stayed on his feet even as his knees bled heavily and trembled and his arms were scratched raw, a pool of blood forming around him. In his mind there was only one purpose: *Don't let her hurt other people, and hold out as long as I can.* Then a blow struck his head with force, knocking him half unconscious. He quickly recovered, breathing heavily, and saw that Leslie had only a trace of blood at the corner of her lip and a scratch on her arm from blocking his attack, while he was bleeding from many open wounds.
Tears ran from his eyes. They weren't from pity or pain, but from the simple weight of being unable to do anything in that moment. His tears kept falling along with his blood. The spirit inside his body stirred more fiercely, and his yellow aura returned with greater intensity, lighting up Leslie's shadowed face and revealing her purple eyes and that same smile as before.
Power surged down his spine. He focused on a single point and channeled dark blue energy into his fists. Using his maximum speed, which surprised Leslie, he drove the punch into her torso, and she simply took it. It sent her flying about 30 kilometers, tearing her shirt only slightly. She looked down and saw that her bra, black in color, was visible. Sone simply stood there, calm, eyes wide, glancing at her as she moved. Leslie noticed his gaze and quickly covered herself with her arms.
"Pervert," Leslie said, a little embarrassed.
"Man's instinct," Sone said, in a tone that more or less admitted he'd enjoyed the view a little.
The girl turned away, and her ears were visibly red. Sone felt heat creep up his neck. The situation had become awkward, even intimate, and the two of them stayed silent, neither moving nor attacking. Sone used the moment to buy a smoke grenade at sonic speed, and when he returned he had also brought a bouquet of flowers.
"Hey," Sone called softly.
Leslie turned around and looked at him suspiciously. Sone walked up and held out the bouquet. The girl hesitated, but in the end she accepted it, pressing the flowers to her chest. Sone summoned his strength and ran off as fast as he could, and Leslie stood there, distracted. Then she realized she should have hit him more, and took a step forward.
The smoke grenade was hidden in the bouquet, and it went off right in her face. The smoke billowed over her, making her cough, and in frustration, and perhaps a touch of "sadness"?, she threw the bouquet, now ashes, to the ground. Leslie tried to locate the protagonist, but he was gone without a trace. She kicked the ground, opened a portal, and stepped through, teleporting to a white house in another dimension. She opened the door and went in, ran up the stairs to her room, shut the door, and dropped onto her bed.
She hugged the pillow to her chest, frustration and anger piled up from the battle. Then she felt something in her shirt. She pulled it aside slightly, and a bouquet of beautiful flowers tumbled into her hands. She was stunned, but the shock passed in a second, and she gripped them tightly. Smiling genuinely and happily, she felt a warmth she had never felt before. Deep down, she knew Sone wasn't so bad after all, and that he had some decency. A small seed had been planted in her heart and was beginning to grow, because he really had given her flowers, in his own way.