by Luca Braña
But he had miscalculated. Dr. Gacha forgot to account for the human heart again. When the Paradox Warper lost its left wing and suffered attack after attack from the now enraged rebels, he knew he had made a colossal mistake.
“Warning: Structural integrity approaching 40 percent, redirecting all power to critical systems, all other systems will be lost. Recommended course of action: Retreat.” The message flashed across his visor as he heard both the explosions from the outside and his daughter’s frightened cries as she tried to keep the rebels from attacking them any further.
For a moment, the scientist considered escaping. With the Paradox Warper, even as damaged as it was, flying through the matter on the facility would be trivial. If he escaped now, he could go back to a normal life with his daughter, they could go somewhere far away… But… they would hunt them down. This wasn’t about just keeping them in the facility in the hopes of somehow continuing the project, this was about basic survival now.
The scientist cursed out loud, clutching the holographic controls of the fighter. Why? How had he allowed things to reach this point?! He should have planned more, researched things more! Maybe find something other than children to experiment on! Now because of his foolishness, his daughter would pay for his mistakes!
“I-I’m going out! I won’t let them hurt you!” she yelled before willing the fighter to eject her.
“No, Shiro, don’t!” But it was already too late. The Paradox Warper recognized her request and threw her from the cockpit.
7
With electricity running through her veins, Shiro dashed between the rebels, using her thunder claws to swipe them away. Her eyes were wild, not focusing on one thing for more than a second.
“AAAAAAHHHH” the girl screeched as she fought off two enhancers, one covered in electricity like her, while the other had a body as tough as stone. They were strong, having survived this long, but fatigue was obvious in their movements, so she took full advantage of that, using her tail to take hold of the earth enhancer and throw him towards the light one with surprising force, causing both of them to stumble. Seizing the opportunity created from their momentary stun, she opened her mouth towards the duo.
And she roared.
She wasn’t just a lap cat. She trained hard to use her powers. While the children here had trained for months, she trained for years, and thanks to that, her own abilities were much stronger than when she had first discovered them.
The thunder roar hit both of them, the great flash of lightning sending them flying away, twitching uncontrollably. She hoped that she didn’t kill them, but as they didn’t come back up, she assumed she had taken them out from the fight.
Her right ear twitched.
Without turning back, she jumped and rolled away as several dark, crescent shaped energy waves passed by her. She turned back towards the attacker and roared again, just missing the pink-haired rebel who was rushing towards her.
She noticed that her opponent was Magy, the nice girl who used to pet her… Putting those thoughts to the back of her head, the girl hissed as she tried to swipe at her, coming in contact with one of her scythes before Magy brought it down on her head, a glare fixed on her grim face.
Gripping the weapon that had blocked her attack, Shiro jumped and with a great show of nimbleness, evaded the scythe and whipped around towards Magy’s back, ready to pierce it with her claws, but just as her nails touched the armor, the reaper girl exploded into darkness and Shiro went flying.
Twisting in the air and landing on her feet, she looked up just in time to see Magy dash up to her again, Scythe glowing and ready to strike. Not having enough time to act, the feline brought both of her arms up, relying on the bracelets on her wrists to protect her from being cut by the sharp weapon.
Yet, the weapon passed through her bracelets, arms, and body, leaving an ethereal trail as the cat girl gasped in pain. She felt like her body was in two halves, which, coupled with the sudden loss of strength, made her believe that she was dead for a moment.
“This is for Myo, you traitorous feline,” Magy said with a hard glare as she brought up her weapon. Shiro felt a stab in her heart as she remembered the sweet, scared little boy…
It was not her fault…
Hissing, she rolled away from the scythe just before it hit her and jumped backwards to avoid another downwards slash, landing on her feet several meters back. Shiro dodged the attack and pulled her claws out, revving back to stab Magy in the heart.
The reaper ducked and her claw went into her shoulder instead. She laughed as the powerful electric currents coursed through her body. “AHAHAHA! N-NOT BAD LITTLE SNOW!” Magy yelled into the astonished cat girl’s face, before kicking her away with an enhanced kick.
Cyko now appeared in front of her, a thunderous expression on his face, kicking her again towards the ground.
“Magy! Magy, are you all right?!” Cyko asked in deep concern, but she giggled as she got up from the ground.
“Don’t worry. A wound like this won’t even leave a scar with the way our bodies are now; it feels quite pleasant actually,” Magy answered, motioning towards the cat.
She was crouched in a leaping position, eyes hard and focused even as she twitched. From her resilience, they knew she would not go down without a valiant fight.
“Then, let’s make sure she understands this. Our friendship with her is over, she chose her side.” Cyko grinned. “And we have chosen ours,” he whispered before vanishing.
8
With a quick command, he had access to all the weaponry on this side of the third level: 10 tanks, about 40 turrets, and thousands of trained drones. He was going to use the machines and the surrounding sand and air as raw material.
He spent power to make large clouds of sand float above him, turning them into large, bright spheres of pure, magical energy. With another command, he bombarded all the subjects he could with the small spheres of explosives.
“Warning: Structural integrity approaching 30 percent, detected several persistent points of damage, causing continuous degradation of systems and integrity. Redirecting power to emergency systems. Recommended course of action: Retreat.”
It was still not enough. They were in a losing battle.
With a few clicks and commands, another message flashed across his visor, “Execute command: Extreme polarization, inserting exception on target A-1, generate nuclear containment field, 2x2 meters, change characteristics of polarization targets into large-scale explosives.”
While his fighter no longer had the ability to turn objects into a nuclear bomb, he could still make a nuclear containment field, which would hold any explosions inside it, along with normal bombs.
An explosion on a small, enclosed space was much more dangerous, anyway.
Soon, the Paradox Warper’s computers calculated that another 50 rebels had been put out of commission because of injuries, but that somehow, none had died yet. He took a moment to turn his attention towards his daughter.
She was hurt. Her opponents nowhere to be seen.
“Warning: structural integrity approaching 20 percent, main systems are offline, emergency systems are damaged.”
“Ah…” Dr. Gacha commented as he saw both of the scythes pierce the side of the fighter again, charging for another attack.
“Warning: Structur— integri— approaching 10 percent... All —stems criti—. recom— —jection…”
It should have been obvious. The Paradox Warper was already so damaged, with most of its remaining energy concentrated on keeping the critical systems alive for an escape, it could not fulfil his commands.
He should have escaped with his daughter rather than fight.
An explosion occurred near his face, causing blood to run down his forehead.
“My daughter… I’m so sorry…”
9
She had taken down at least 30 children alone. Her agility, coupled with lightning-fast reflexes and super strength, made her a very dangerous opponent, bu
t everyone has a limit. When both Cyko and Magy ganged up on her, the fight turned sinister.
With each attack from Cyko that Shiro deflected, came an attack from Magy that was almost impossible to avoid, and if she did, then another one from Cyko would hurt her. Two against one… she wouldn’t survive.
Yet, they didn’t get away unscathed either. For every attack they inflicted on her, she inflicted one on both of them. Their armor and bodies were full of claw marks while her own clothes were full of cuts from Cyko’s weapon.
“Papa… Papa…” Shiro called out in fright, lifting her head up, not wanting to but needing to see what was happening to him. It felt like a knife in her stomach as she saw his fighter being attacked over and over again, exploding several times and dropping from the air, losing altitude as it was unable to maintain itself.
He would die like this… The person she cared for the most in this world would be taken away.
Panting, she reached towards a pocket in her skirt, feeling out for the small bottle she had taken with her from her father’s lab. It was still intact, so she took it out and lifted it towards her lips.
She knew what it was, she knew what it was supposed to do to her. Her father explained it to her as he worked on it alongside the other two, probably dead, assistants of his. This ‘serum,’ as he called it, was made with a mix of Cyko’s blood and her own.
Ignoring the awfully foul taste, she gurgled it all down, not leaving a single drop behind. The plane her father was in crashed into the ground, and the rebels headed towards it. She got up from her position and dashed to him.
10
They had defeated the final obstacle in the way of their freedom. It was bizarre, how the craft seemed to be melting down, attempting to go back to its former small spherical shape.
The scientist had been defeated.
Standing on his knees, surrounded by rebels waiting for an excuse to mob him, he seemed like a broken man. For once, his face was full of raw emotion. He was crying, clenching his fists and jaw as he looked at the ground in shame.
Walking forward, blades still in hand, Cyko glowered at the man who refused to meet his gaze.
“I hope you realize your fate. Because of you, over a hundred children are dead. Because of you, Myo, and Tela… Because of you, THEY ARE ALL DEAD!” Cyko yelled, his eyes crazed and wild. With another shout, he stepped forward, kicking the scientist hard in the face, sending him flying.
As he landed, crumpled on the ground, Dr. Gacha struggled to get up. He held his stomach and vomited, staining the sand scarlet. Internal damage, severe bruising, likely a hemorrhage. The scientist locked eyes with the approaching enhancer.
“P-Please… s-spare… m-my daughter…” the father forced out, the act of speaking sent pain shooting through his bruised stomach. Hearing his words, the enhancer’s face darkened.
Before the murderous boy could take another step forward, a blur crossed his vision, causing Cyko to blink as Snow was now standing in front of her father, arms wide open, face twisted in desperation.
“STOP! STOP IT PLEASE! You’ve already won! You can just go now! Leave my father alone, please! I beg you!” she pleaded, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Cyko’s face remained cold, gazing at her with uncaring eyes. “Get out of the way, Shiro.” They were no longer friends, they had stopped being that a long time ago, from the moment they discovered who her father was.
“N-no…” the girl whispered, “p-please… Don’t take my father away from me.”
“Get out of the way,” he repeated, walking forward. He would not stop.
“H-he… He saved me… When I was about to die. He took care of me. He loved me. He raised me… He worked so hard to give me a happy life. Please… Don’t take him away from me…”
“S-Shiro…” her father whispered from behind her. If only he was stronger, smarter, if only they had escaped, if only he never went through with this whole thing…
11
After the great war, there was a man who had lost everything, who had fought and discovered a purpose, only to have it taken away again. He made his way down the cold roads of Neon City, the unified capital of the Neon Countries. Body covered in rags, the man walked down an alley, opening up trashcan after trashcan, hoping to find something he could fill his starving stomach with.
He stayed as far out of the societal radar as possible. He didn’t want to be found; he didn’t want to be pitied. Living on spare change, discarded clothes, and leftover food, he just wandered from place to place. Despair had settled in his heart.
One day, however, he hid himself behind a large trashcan, watching as a group of rowdy teens passed near him. Just another group of delinquents. Sighing, he waited until they left before moving on, going back to scavenging before he came across something.
A family of kittens laid on the ground, broken, bruised, bleeding, close to death… The group of delinquents were bloodied, but he thought it had been from a fight, not from this.
Falling to his knees, he looked at their miserable forms. Why? What’s the point of living? Why had he fought so hard in that cursed war?
Then, he heard something impossible. A meow. A muffled meow coming from beneath the largest cat, the mother. With desperation he didn’t know he still possessed, the man gingerly lifted the mom’s body, finding a breathing kitty. The mother saved one!
Tears jumped to his eyes as a feeling he didn’t know he still possessed blossomed in his heart… Hope, a strong, intense hope coursed through his body, strengthening him as he took the damaged kitty in his hands… She was so small…
With a burning determination, the man got up and ran. He needed to find somewhere safe from this coldness, somewhere he could help her!
Enveloping the kitty in his rags, keeping her warm for now, the man ran, and ran, his destination certain as he knew of one location that would offer the help he needed. An abandoned building on the outskirts of the city.
Finding an old table, the man took the bundle of fur in his arms and lowered her onto it. He had no money to take her to a vet, but he had enough knowledge of feline anatomy and medicine to treat her, even if he had to improvise equipment.
Still, to his surprise, he found that although she had a few bruises and a broken leg, she was fine. Quickly finding a sturdy enough piece of wood, he made a small splint for her, the poor thing whimpering in pain as he applied it.
He scrambled to count the money he had scavenged, finding he had ten gold pieces.
The kitten milk formula was fifteen gold, but somehow he had managed to convince the clerk to sell it to him for only ten, begging until the girl pitied him enough.
It had been hard, he had taken care of her for several days straight, eating fewer scraps and keeping a close eye on her condition. Little by little, the cat got better, more lively and healthier. When he first noticed her improving condition, how she would snuggle in his hand whenever he would check on her, he cried in gratefulness.
He had found a new purpose; a new light. And because he was sure she was going to make it, he named her.
“My name is Harold Jacob. It’s nice to meet you… Shiro,” the man whispered close to his daughter as the kitty purred and nuzzled her head in his hand. Shiro… She was his light, the light of hope that saved him from the darkness. What a fitting name, the man thought to himself.
From that day on, he decided that if she was to stay healthy, he would have to find a job to get them a nice home with plenty of warmth for both of them.
It hadn’t been easy. He had to make up a story for why he had no documents and he had to go through a lot of bureaucracy and headaches to get paperwork to find a job. After a while, the former scientist had found a career in a small lab that had given him a chance to prove his alleged expertise.
From then on, he had worked hard to get back to his previous status as a master geneticist. The lab he had found work in had grown appreciative of his skills and eventually forwarded him to a larger, more prestig
ious lab. His reputation amongst the scientific community grew with haste. He had proven his knowledge enough so that his earnings increased so he could buy them a house. They would go hungry no longer.
In a year, both his and Shiro’s lives had changed drastically. The little kitty had recovered well from her injuries. Shiro took any opportunity she could to rub herself against him or sit in his lap, wanting to give him as much love as possible as thanks for saving her life.
She never seemed to have the wanderlust that many other cats had, she liked to stay home and nap or play with him when he wasn’t working. His little Shiro, the light of his life…
On one of his free days, he took his little kitty for a walk which meant that she snuggled on his shoulder and purred as he wandered the city.
The scientist halted, noticing how he ended up in an alleyway he used to scrounge around before he found Shiro. But that wasn’t what had caused him to stop, no… It was the group of teens in front of him.
They had looked up at him the moment he stepped inside, the same gang of teens that had beaten Shiro’s family. They looked like criminals—wearing leather clothing, showing off their tattooed bodies. His daughter seemed to recognize them too, as she arched her back and hissed upon spotting them.
“Just in time, old geezer. We were just going to get a couple drinks, a few cigars… how kind of you to pay for us,” one of them said with a maniacal smile. They all had gotten up and were making their way towards him, intentions clear on their faces.
His daughter jumped from his shoulder onto the ground and hissed at the approaching delinquents, to which they laughed at her attempts of intimidation. “Aw, look guys, isn’t she cute? Hahaha get lost you pest!” the delinquent yelled, kicking her away.
Before Harold could get to her, the criminal took hold of his shoulder and punched him across the face, laughing as he fell. Gritting his teeth, Harold sprung to his feet.