Cherreads

Chapter 187 - Chapter 187: Run Ni**a Run!

[Third Person Pov] 

Lala and Momo strolled back toward the temple after school, the afternoon sun casting long golden shadows across the quiet mountain path. Lala kept giggling behind her hand, her shoulders shaking with barely contained mirth, while Momo walked beside her with a wide, mischievous grin, snickering under her breath. The two girls were still buzzing from the day's events, replaying every ridiculous moment in their heads.

"You have no idea how much I wanted to have my phone with me at that moment," Momo said, her features twisting with exaggerated regret. "I would've recorded everything. I would have been able to torment Clark with it for the rest of his life!"

When they reached the entrance and slid the heavy wooden door open with a familiar creak, a white blur suddenly shot right between them at incredible speed, nearly knocking them off balance. A powerful gust of wind followed in its wake, ruffling their hair and skirts. They heard Krypto's excited voice echoing: "I'm coming, Kal-El!! Awooooo!!"

"What was that all about?" Momo asked in confusion, blinking as she steadied herself and stepped inside the temple grounds.

Lala simply shrugged, a small smile playing on her lips, as they announced their arrival with cheerful calls. "We're home!" They made their way toward the living room, where they found Seiko lounging comfortably on her side along the tatami mats, propped up on one elbow.

"Hey girls, welcome back," Seiko greeted them casually over her shoulder, not bothering to fully turn around.

"What's going on?" Momo asked, dropping her school bag onto the floor with a soft thud. Her eyes drifted to the television screen, which was blaring with urgent news footage.

"There's an alien invasion happening right now," Seiko said nonchalantly, gesturing lazily toward the TV as if she were commenting on the weather rather than a world-ending catastrophe. The screen showed chaotic scenes of panic in the city below, with the superman robots descending from the skies and attempting to handle the situation with the civilians. 

Momo and Lala exchanged a quick, wide-eyed glance. Without another word, they spun around on their heels in perfect unison. "We're coming, Kal-El!!" they shouted enthusiastically, already dashing back out of the house with renewed energy, their school shoes barely touching the ground.

"Don't get in Clark's way and let him do what he needs to do!" Seiko shouted after them, her voice carrying across the courtyard. She never once took her eyes off the screen, which was now filled with a breathtaking—and terrifying—wide shot of the enormous alien vessel. The ship was colossal, easily the size of an entire floating city, its dark metallic hull gleaming ominously under the sun as it hovered menacingly over the distant skyline.

Momo and Lala didn't hesitate. They took off into the air, soaring gracefully above the treetops and rooftops, the wind whipping through their hair as they flew toward the alien spaceship looming in the distance. The thrill of the moment filled them both with excitement, their laughter echoing faintly through the open sky.

As they passed over an elevated road carved into the side of a steep cliff, Momo suddenly slowed her flight, her sharp eyes catching sight of something unusual below. A boy on a bicycle was pedaling furiously, his legs pumping like pistons in a desperate sprint. Sweat poured down his face, and a thick cloud of dust trailed behind him, kicked up by the sheer intensity of his speed. He looked utterly possessed, leaning forward over the handlebars with single-minded determination.

"Hmm?" Momo murmured, narrowing her eyes for a better look.

"What is it?" Lala asked, hovering to a stop beside her friend and following her gaze downward.

"I think I know him," Momo said, a spark of recognition lighting up her face. There was no mistaking that signature bowl cut and those distinctive glasses. "I do know him!"

She turned to Lala with a grin. "He and I were stalking you and Clark during your date together!"

"You were?!" Lala exclaimed, her cheeks flushing slightly as she realized she had been completely unaware of their presence that day.

"What a funny coincidence—" Momo began, but her words trailed off as she noticed the direction Ken was heading. Up ahead lay a dark, ominous tunnel carved into the mountainside—one infamous for being haunted by a malicious yokai known as Turbo Granny, a spirit said to chase anyone who dared enter at high speeds.

"Hold on just a minute," Momo said, her tone shifting to one of playful determination. She spun elegantly through the air, performing a graceful mid-flight rotation as she descended toward the frantic cyclist.

Ken was still pedaling with everything he had, breathing heavily, his entire focus locked on the road stretching out before him. The tunnel entrance grew closer with every desperate push of his legs.

"Where are you going in such a rush?" Momo called out nonchalantly as she flew alongside him, keeping pace effortlessly.

"Huh?" Ken questioned, turning his head in surprise. He blinked rapidly when he spotted Momo floating casually beside him, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"..."

"Ahhhh!!" he screamed in pure panic. His bicycle wobbled violently, the front wheel twisting out of control. The bike tipped sideways, and Ken began to fall, but before he could hit the pavement, Momo extended her powers in a swift, invisible grip, catching him gently in mid-air.

"Sorry about that," Momo said apologetically as she lowered him safely back to the ground. She rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish smile, her expression genuinely remorseful for startling him so badly.

"You… You are flying," Ken stammered, staring up at her in disbelief as he shakily picked up his fallen bicycle from the dusty roadside. His glasses sat slightly askew on his face, and his chest heaved from both the earlier exertion and the fresh shock. 

The chaos of the alien invasion continued to rumble in the distance, but for a brief moment, the cliffside road felt strangely quiet, save for the sound of Ken's stunned breathing and the faint, amused giggles from Lala still hovering above.

"Are you going to answer the question or what?" Momo asked, crossing her arms tightly over her chest and raising a skeptical eyebrow at him.

"Ah, that's right!" Ken snapped out of his stunned daze, his eyes widening as reality rushed back in. He jumped straight back onto his bicycle with surprising agility and immediately started pedaling away at full speed. "Sorry! I can't stay and talk! Aliens! I have to go see them for myself!"

"Hey, stop!" Momo shouted, flying swiftly alongside him. "There's a yokai in the tunnel ahead! It's way too dangerous to pass through there!"

Ken let out a dismissive scoff, waving her away with one hand while keeping the other firmly on the handlebars. "Heh, don't be silly. There's no such thing as yokai. They're not real."

Momo's eyes widened in disbelief. "Are you a goddamn idiot?! You think aliens are real but yokai aren't?!" she yelled, keeping perfect pace with him as she flew beside the speeding bicycle.

Ken didn't slow down for even a second. "I would really love to stay and chat about this in more detail and give you a thorough presentation that completely disproves the existence of ghosts and yokai," he shouted back, wind whipping through his bowl cut, "but I can't miss this chance to meet an actual alien! Not after I've spent years searching for them!!"

"Is this how Clark felt when he was trying to convince us before…" Momo muttered to herself. 

Without another word, he pedaled even harder and burst straight through the flimsy blockade at the tunnel entrance, disappearing into the shadowy darkness beyond.

"God damn it, Glasses!!" Momo exclaimed in a rising panic. "Don't let Turbo Granny outrun you! If you do, you're going to get cursed!!"

Inside the tunnel, it took a moment for Ken's eyes to adjust to the suffocating darkness. The air felt thick and unnaturally cold. Then, he spotted her — the spirit of a decrepit old woman, hunched and grotesque, her wrinkled skin glowing faintly with an eerie, sickly light.

"I'll let you suck on my titties if you let me gobble your balls," the perverted granny cackled, moistening her cracked lips with a long, slimy tongue.

"AHHHHHHH!!" Ken screamed at the top of his lungs, slamming on the brakes so hard his tires screeched against the pavement.

"Oh no…" Momo muttered from outside, already sensing the worst as she landed lightly on the ground.

Ken spun his bicycle around desperately, trying to flee the way he came, but Turbo Granny shot past him in the blink of an eye, her body stretching and contorting in unnatural, horrifying ways. She overtook him effortlessly while maintaining unbroken, spine-chilling eye contact the entire time.

"Tsk," Momo clicked her tongue in frustration. "Stupid idiot. How dare he ignore my warning."

She took a determined step forward, ready to charge into the tunnel and rescue him, but before she could, Ken Takakura burst out from the darkness like a rocket. His body was already half-possessed, contorted in bizarre, unnatural angles. He moved on his hands and knees at first, his limbs twisted backward in ways that defied human anatomy.

"Ahhh! You were right! Yokai are real!!" he shrieked in pure terror as Turbo Granny's spirit took control of his body.

Suddenly, he snapped upright and began running at an impossible speed, his movements jerky and erratic. He drifted wildly past Momo, his body leaning at impossible angles, and raced straight toward the guard railing along the cliffside. With a horrifying leap, he jumped on top of it and flung himself off the edge, somehow running straight down the sheer vertical face of the cliff as if it were flat ground.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?! Are you insane?!" Momo shouted, launching herself into the air and chasing after him immediately. High above, Lala watched the entire chaotic scene unfold with wide-eyed curiosity, hovering silently.

"I can't help it!" Ken wailed, his hands raised helplessly above his head as his possessed body propelled him forward at breakneck speed. "I've lost control of my body!"

"Lala, go to Superman!" Momo called out urgently while keeping sharp track of Ken's random, uncoordinated movements. "I'll take responsibility for Glasses!"

"Are you sure?" Lala asked with clear uncertainty in her voice. She didn't want to leave her friend behind, especially with things spiraling so wildly out of control.

"It's fine, trust me," Momo replied, flashing a confident, reassuring nod even as she chased the possessed boy down the mountainside. "I was trained to deal with these kinds of problems."

"Okay, if you say so…" Lala muttered reluctantly. She paused for a long moment, her leather wings beating steadily as she hovered in place, glancing back and forth between Momo and the distant alien threat. With one final worried look over her shoulder, she turned and soared off toward Clark's general direction, her powerful wings carrying her swiftly across the sky.

Momo, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes and poured on the speed, determination burning in her chest. "Hang in there, you four-eyed idiot. I'm coming!"

********************************************

+20 advance Chapters on: patreon.com/Shadow_D_Monarch3

More Chapters