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They exited the gas station store, closing the door behind them as the gigantic humanoid suffered the corrosive effects of the chemical attack. Once outside, air bubbles popped out once Zippy considered the air safe. Luckily, it was, as the chemicals were contained within.

Chump's skin grew paler as he held his left side. Sweating profusely and with blurry vision, he limped towards the first figure he recognized as a car. "That won’t give us much time; we should—" His left leg failed him; his body tilted sideways. Reacting in time, he placed his arm and half-landed on his side, avoiding further injury. "Shit!" Anxiety started to overwhelm him, and he groaned in desperation.

Zippy jumped forward, helping him get back up with small jumps. The bunny-faced creature's worry was evident in his eyes, and his tone reflected his mood. "Master! What’s going on?! Why can’t you move well?!"

"God damn it, Sharlindra, screwing me up even in death?! I can barely move, Zippy…" He teared up and clenched his teeth, anxiety overcoming him. Trying to push himself up with his right arm, he barely managed to stand up again but felt too weak to increase the pace. "Dammit! Not now; we need to get out of here! My ex-boss… She screwed me over with injuries before, and the drugs are off. I can barely move in this state."

He threw a quick look around: three petrol stations, an air station (to clean cars from the inside), and a water station (to clean cars on the outside). Being in a gas station, there were multiple cars lying around. Conveniently, one was already leaving, so he pressured his legs to swiftly get there and signalled Zippy to help him.

But upon arrival, for a moment, time slowed down for him. Instinct kicked in. He turned around, seeing the giant humanoid still scratching its face off, trying to stop the corrosion while being dizzy and moving uncontrollably inside. They hit themselves in the head with the ceiling or with items multiple times. But those moments the gigantic being was put, Chump noticed something horrible.

Something was growing on its back as its skin turned into purple scales. Seeing one of the hands of the large humanoid becoming a claw and its skin turning into scales, he came to a horrifying conclusion. "Is it growing wings?" Horrified at the possibility.

Zippy looked at him, confused as to why he was completely petrified in this situation. "Master, we need to go! Now!" he shouted, frantic, panic striking in.

His hand opened the car door, with the seat full of ashes, but he didn’t move. His mind raced over all the possibilities.

"Wait, no… No. If my legs fail walking, they can fail mid-driving and hit us…" Chump imagined both of them hitting a curve at top speed, resulting in instant death.

"Master?!"

"I am only staying awake due to the adrenaline kick, but it won't last much." Chump's mind simulated the being tearing them apart, a horrifying death.

"Chump! Please move!" Zippy tried to push the overwhelmed human.

"If we fight head-on, we will both die in vain… Has all of this been for nothing?! I just wanted to see my family again…" He imagined Zippy being brutally eaten, slashed away with that giant sword, and crushed between the creature's teeth.

Time slowed down to the point of feeling each second like minutes. He was experiencing the known effect, as his life started to flash through his eyes. There was no hope. The humanoid was getting stronger with each passing second. Zippy was out of juice, and he was just a human—a puny human with no special powers unlike them, barely conscious due to effects beyond his control.

No...

His mind tried to made his last moments pleasant ones. Seeing all his family reunited like a happy family, in birthday celebrations, happy holidays.

No.

His kind sister helping him out with life matters as being the greast-

Stop.

His father being a dotting figure who guide-

I said stop!

His mother with his del-

NO!

His grandparents-

I SAID STOP IT!!!!!!

-Wait, What is going on.

WE ARE GOING TO LIVE!!!!

His brain pushed its limits. Despite the odds and the terrifying sensation, he fought against this mechanism of the brain. He tore those visions apart, seeing the scenario with the slowdown of time. Everything felt like it was moving to the millisecond each second. Each word that Zippy shouted took an eternity, each movement felt frozen in time.

“I. Must. Focus. Focus. What is here. What we can use. Five minutes. Adrenaline. The corrosive effects. I only. Need. FIVE MINUTES!”

Four cars: the one with his hand placed on it, a truck aiming for the frontal door, a parked car traversing the frontal part of the gas station store, and a motorcycle at the side of the last one. On top of it, besides some dust, some nitrogen fluid on a blue bottle.

To the left side, tons of trash and unused materials from the nearby machinery, with a giant cable roll. Besides those, a repairing kit for the car half open, some tools like a hammer and a screwdriver hanging, showing part of them outside.

On the same side, the giant box of electric fuses that provided power to the whole station—more powerful than any house for the entire machinery it usually hosted.

To the right side, the air and water station for cars. Nothing was on the water station, but he observed that between them and that tiny station, there were butane bottles lying in a cage.

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The air station had a pile of dust with clothes; the wallet was lying around, with some coins on it. Time regained speed as Zippy's words became more clear and predominant in the situation. His body felt in great shape as he sensed the pressure of the situation.

“MASTER, WE NEE—” But he was interrupted by the human. His eyes, his face, his voice—everything on him screamed not fear, but fury, determination. A fire that he couldn’t describe in that moment.

Chump's hands clapped Zippy's face. His words felt the inferno in his heart, his outrage for this injustice; humiliation wasn't an option anymore.

“WE ARE NOT RUNNING AWAY! WE ARE FIGHTING THAT TARNATION! It's our scenario! It's our fight! Do you trust me, Zippy?!”

Zippy was baffled now; his Master's demeanour changed in an instant in this frenetic situation. He was going to answer, but something in them felt that connection, that instant. His shock turned to ecstasy—this was the human, the man, the Master who told him to stay strong, not to falter through those weeks of torture, the one willing to put aside anything for what was right.

"YES SIR! What do I do?!" he exclaimed as he got out of the car in an instant, regaining the agility to jump around. In his fast reflexes, Zippy saw Chump’s hand signal towards the tons of machinery trash.

He didn’t fully trust this improvisation; he had many thoughts, many concerns. But right now, both partners were feeling the same fury to keep going. "Get the largest cable you can see and use your teeth! CUT TWO large noodles triple your size! After that, toss them to me!" Chump grabbed his own legs, forcing his whole body, half sprint, half crawled to the left side. No matter if his legs failed, his hands would make the remaining force they needed to keep going. Chump grabbed the hammer and the screwdriver, sweating nervously. He placed the head of the screwdriver in the slim slot that the protection left and slammed the back with its hammer.

ONCE! BAM!

TWICE! KABLAM!

THRICE! CLANK!

It broke wide open, the whole fuses displayed. Few cables, but tons of protections, fuses, and measurement instruments.

At the same time, Zippy took the largest cable, a yellow-green color, and took it out. It moved a lot around, but with a quick whiplash, the storm bunny took out a long piece of cable. It felt painful just to roar the protection out of the cables, and the unnerving feeling that coursed through his body to the metal contact felt agonizing, but it tore apart two great chunks of cables. "Master! There they go!" he shouted as he kicked the air, sending those cables towards Chump.

Without looking, the human placed his hand behind him, in the air, grabbing both cables, preparing with the screwdriver and a firm hand at the fuse box. "Great! Now, get to the other side, and—"

“RRGAHAAAAAGGGHHH!”

A great roar sounded from inside the store; the noises were slowing down, reducing in frequency, the intervals being longer and longer. They knew that whatever being transformed now was overcoming the horrible effects of the chemicals.

“And get both tubes of the stations, extend them to the maximum possible to the front door!” It took half a minute, but with a steady hand and unyielding determination, Chump prepared the cables for the fuse box. He tossed the other end of the cables to the ground at the entrance.

He got up with fury and went to the front, seeing that Zippy had successfully completed his next task, and both pipes were extended to their fullest at the front. With the hammer and the screwdriver, he went fuming to the truck. “Zippy! Get a coin, insert it into the air machine, and when that thing comes out, kick it to its face! Don’t worry if you land it! Once you kick it, quick step in to get his attention and jump out!”

A giant roar broke all words that Chump had left, but Zippy had enough instructions. The ball of fury rushed towards the coins hanging on that wallet, grabbed one with its mouth, and slammed it inside the machine.

Chump swung to the wind of the truck, breaking it apart with a single swing. Perhaps it was luck, perhaps the strength he had acted in a desperate situation. No matter what it was, he broke it apart. In a single movement, he opened the door and rushed inside, similarly to the fuse box, in a single swing of the screwdriver-hammer, he opened the cable command of the truck.

But time was up.

The front wall was cut open in a single swing of the giant Hamberge long sword, followed by a giant single punch of the obsidian claw that emerged from it. The humanoid fully transformed, both arms now covered in fully obsidian claws, half corroded by the chemical attack. His clothes were torn apart to show a smaller yet more dangerous humanoid being of obsidian scales covering him. Lizard characteristics showed all over the upper torso—his teeth replaced with giant, glowing red-hot fangs, his brown eyes replaced by reptilian, orange vein-fused eyes. The hair missing for some spikes that covered its spine.

A half-dragon menace, enhanced by the scars that the chemicals left him and making his face half melted, with its nose bleeding a greenish-blue liquid that nobody was certain about in that situation what it was.

But it didn’t matter. As he wielded the giant sword, his left reptilian eye saw that Zippy threw the air tube to him and moved around. Zippy kicked it out with all its might while the air station sucked up the air that it launched. The humanoid swung his sword without Remenant, ready to cut down the makeshift javelin. But it was for nothing, as the pipe was not long enough. It retracted just before the sword could touch it, making the movement feel heavy without an objective to cut down and the lesser control the giant had in that moment.

But that was enough distraction. With that simple bait, Chump could cross-wire the truck and slammed the accelerating pedal with the hammer, jumping off in time. The truck was now going ballistic against the being. Even with its slow speed, the never-ending acceleration it had brought enough force.

“Get the second coin and activate the water, and most importantly, throw him the blue bottle! Now!” Chump shouted, regaining force on his feet and legs, and crawling towards the water plastic tube. The giant humanoid figure saw the mechanical strange beast ramming against him, with its claw and half hand handling that sword, stopping the truck with all its might and pushing against it like it was a bull. But he was immobilized, slowed down to the point a snail could race it. It roared in fury as something strange was happening to its arms, being pumped in of Remenant.

Chump crawled towards Zippy, as it was not an easy feat in his state to even move his body. Zippy prepared the water pump and made a run for the nitrogen bottle. The dragonoid arms were gaining strength, it began to push off the ramming truck. But Zippy kicked off the nitrogen bottle, half crashing on the feet of the transformed humanoid and putting him in place through the sheer cold pain. Chump arrived on time to get the flow of water aimed at him. He made sure to get the pump to a dry part as he aimed him and the cables on its side.

ZAP!

In a quick thunder flash, the water connected the main power directly to the scaly being, and even with the resistance of its new flesh, the half dragon felt the power of electricity through its body and veins. Losing control of its body and literally shocked out, he was rammed by the truck, pushed, and eventually rolled over by the giant vehicle. The truck destroyed the whole inside of the store until it eventually got stuck between some walls and the ceiling.

The power turned off in the whole area, disabling the shock trap due to the electrical protections. Chump struggled to get up, but Zippy came to the rescue and helped him to his feet.

They made a quick run to the escape car. Hope was vivid on their faces.