The forest was damp from rain sprayed down by cloudy skies, the light from before parted — a bleak landscape with mushy mud formed, all the animals fleeing into hiding.

The greenery trickled droplets as twenty black-attired soldiers trekked through the forest and disturbed the land, stomping on the puddles as mud splashed onto their boots and surroundings.

Arthur groaned, holding his head and standing up from the sludgy dirt, the mud covering his dark green suit. He closed his eyes and gripped his head even harder. His pain erupted, a tingling sensation on his palm flaring around, so he twitched his hand to try to ease the pain, but his fingers felt different, almost like he had a brand-new hand.

The area grew darker by the minute as clouds covered the forest — a storm was soon to arrive. The forest flourished because of frequent heavy rain, but if one wasn't from the region and found themselves in the area during a storm, the rainfall was bound to drown them — flooding was a routine yet deadly occurrence.

"Move, move," a higher-up soldier said, pointing forward. He signaled for his troops to advance, but he stopped moving and brought his wrist towards his mouth, speaking into his communication device. "Reaper, Reaper, are you there? I repeat, Reaper, are you there?"

"Aye."

"We're engaging in combat. We have visuals on a target."

The soldier heard an audible tongue click through the communication device and then a voice. "Don't be reckless. Give me ten. I'm almost there."

"Sir, no can do. We're engaging!"

The soldiers ran forward and got into a triangular formation, seamlessly blending into the grim surrounding — an open area with only a few massive trees and empty mud land. The head soldier walked towards the front and pointed his gun at the perpetrator.

Arthur rubbed his temple, looking forward to the plethora of soldiers. "... Talk about a welcome."

"GET ON YOUR KNEES, NOW!" the head soldier yelled.

"As you can see," Arthur said, looking at his muddy pants. "I was already there. I don't know about you. But personally... I rather not do that again."

"GET ON THE-"

Arthur cut him off and leaned forward, but he closed his eyes, holding his hands in the air as he swayed them up and down in frustration. "I'm in a bad mood. Please let me go. Please. I don't want to deal with all this bullshit. Not right now."

"Permission to fire!?" one soldier asked.

"Hold fire," the head soldier said, holding his hand in the air. "Come with us quietly, and we will..."

Arthur ignored the man and turned around, walking away from them. He yawned, scratching his head.

"We will shoot!"

"Fine," Arthur said, turning around and holding his right hand in front of him. A spiral of red Tuam formed at the base of his palm, flowing forward, but it didn't make it far, stopping before it reached the soldiers.

The head soldier raised his hand in the air and yelled, "We don't want to harm you. If you cooperate, we'll discuss a contingency plan. And you leave this place unharmed. Just listen to us, you'll be fine. I promise."

Arthur squeezed his right hand as he stared at it. "Compared to that man, you guys are nothing."

"Experiment X, possession of distinguished Hero Xavier Bird, surrender yourself to us."

"So Meth told the truth. Lewis's father is a hero," Arthur whispered, staring at the floor as the rain dripped on his head, straightening his puffy hair. He couldn't help but think about Meth, and how he could just leave... The water coursed from his face onto the floor. "Fuck your contingency plan. Fuck Heroes. Fuck you guys. Fuck anyone who gets in my way."

"Stun guns," the head soldier whispered. Five of the soldiers switched the modes of their guns and shot metal nets at Arthur.

'Ruhtra said it best. Eradicate all those who come in my way,' Arthur thought as the metal wraps pressed against him. The barbed metal plowed into his skin and scrunched up, causing him to curl up into a ball. "Yeah, I'll eradicate them all."

"Electrocution!"

The metal flared with electricity, forming a ball of blue lightning so fierce even water that touched it would disappear.

The rain poured faster.

"Move! Move! Phase 2!"

Ten soldiers approached the charred ball of metal, changing their gun mode, and as they advanced, the weapons aroused a blade at the muzzle, sharp enough to cut steel. The other soldiers stood from afar, pointing their guns toward the metal.

The head soldier shook his hand in the air, signaling the soldiers. The soldiers near Arthur poked their blades into the chains, breaking them.

The metal wrap crackled and split apart, but from it, a scaly hand grabbed a soldier's gun, pulling him and grabbing his face.

"SHOOT!"

The bullets sped through the rain, piercing through the droplets. They approached a scaled Arthur.

The soldiers shot, even friendly firing at their comrade.

"He won't be happy about that," Arthur said, dropping the dead soldier. The soldiers continued shooting as he unwrapped himself from the metal. "Come on now, those sting." The bullets plopped off his scales, dropping onto the sludge ground.

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"RPG!"

"You guys have a-"

Five soldiers switched to RPG mode, shooting Arthur. Five eruptions ensued.

The explosions flung Arthur into the air and onto a tree. He landed on a gigantic nest made of twigs and leaves, where a mama monkey pounded her chest as she sat on her five eggs.

"I'm so confused right now," he said, brushing off the twigs on his ripped clothes. "Sorry for the intrusion-"

The mamma monkey grabbed one of her basketball-sized eggs and chucked it at Arthur's face. The hit launched him back, falling off the tree and onto the wet mud, but as he lowered onto the ground, his scales disappeared.

"Surrender!"

The soldiers instituted two wall formations, ten in the front and nine in the back. They neared Arthur.

Arthur stood up and shook his hand in the air, and as he did, it shifted from human skin to scales. "I'm getting better at this."

Arthur was gaining a sounder affinity with his Tuam because of a significant notation: Ruhtra wasn't interfering; he could meddle with emotions, meaning Arthur would assemble scales without his own diligence, but during this whole fight, Arthur was in command.

"Experiment X, hands in the air!"

Arthur's eyes shifted to his hands and then to the soldiers. "You know what. Sure. I'll do as you folk say."

"NOW!"

"Yeah," Arthur said, gradually raising his hands. "I'll go real slow. Real slow. Just for you guys."

The soldiers were calm and prepared, positioning their guns, ready to shoot at any moment.

Arthur closed his eyes and ignored the soldiers, listening to the raindrops. It reminded him of his times in the pet store when the filtration system would pour in water. It was a calming feeling to know that something would remain constant in times of uncertainty. Like the steady drops of rain, he thought of the durable property that water held, where its movement was stable and was generally similar, especially in one form: a wave.

"COBRA! COBRA!"

Arthur took a deep breath as Tuam leaked from his right palm. He propelled his arm down, a red wave projecting towards the soldiers. The red wave was water-like, curling up and down as it reached the soldiers.

Like a bowling ball, the wave knocked all the soldiers. STRIKE!

Steam radiated off all the soldiers. They were burnt, and none survived, yet they wore the most advanced armor. It didn't help.

A figure emerged from the bushes. He kneeled on the floor and checked the pulse of a soldier. The man wore a black robe with gold stripes around his wrists, and his face had a gold wrap covering his eyes. "Are you the one who caused this?"

"Are you one of them?" Arthur asked, standing tall and carefully examining the man.

"Perhaps. But if you tell me the truth, I'll let you walk. You're of no interest to me."

"Well, I didn't entirely mean to. But I did. I tried warning them... I really did."

"Hmm." The man stood up and looked around at the dead bodies. "Would you know where a man named Meth is?"

Arthur's eyes narrowed, focusing on the man. He tried to control his breath, but it wasn't feasible because he was startled. The man in front of him knew Meth. What did he have to do with this situation?

"Don't worry, I'm a part of the heroes. Many know me as the Grim Reaper. I can help you. But you need to help me."

"Why would I trust you? After your friends tried killing me?"

"I'm a hero, am I not? My words are of truth and kindness, not deceit."

"I don't know where that bum is," Arthur said.

"So you know him?"

"Yeah, he invited me to his-"

Reaper appeared in front of Arthur. He held a scythe, the blade inches away from Arthur's neck.

Arthur's eyes barely managed to catch up to the blade as he held his hand in front of it, casting a wave of Tuam.

The rigid wave neared Reaper, but he used his scythe to block the attack. Half his body collided with the wave, hurling him into the air, but he impaled his weapon into the ground, the blade stifling his distance as he skidded back.

Arthur panted as he extended his arm forward and launched another wave.

Reaper gripped his weapon, slicing through the wave as soon as it entered his arm's length.

"I thought you'd let me go? Where the fuck did all that friendliness go?" Arthur yelled, flaring his arm.

"Where is Meth?"

"I was trying to tell you before you attacked me. I don't know where that bum is because he left me stranded. He left me stranded, damn it."

"I'm not someone whom you should trick. You may have killed these mere foot soldiers..." He shook his head. "I'm a Hero."

"I don't care what you are, but I'm telling you the truth. Meth let me join his organization, and then not even a day later, he forced me to quit."

"But even if they are mere foot soldiers, they have a life worth living. They have families who will grieve. As mere as they may be compared to Heros, their bravery far exceeds ours, and here they lay dead."

"I'm telling you, they're the ones who started it!"

"Unfortunately, you're linked to Meth. I cannot let that pass as a Hero. No, I cannot let that pass as a human who's seen his brothers die on the battlefield."

"Damn it," Arthur said as he flicked three waves at Reaper.

One wave approached Reaper's face, but he dodged it, moving his head to the right. The second aimed for his leg, but he jumped over it and used his momentum to bring his scythe downward. While bringing his weapon down, he struck the third, red Tuam flares scrambling everywhere like fireworks bursting.

"Okay, you're pretty fast," Arthur said with a half-smile as he gulped. "I may not look like it, but I'm really sturdy. See all those bullets on the floor, my skin can-"

Without letting Arthur finish his sentence, Reaper bolted and brought his weapon towards him.

Reaper was much faster. Partly because he streamed more Tuam into his Tbars.

Scales grew around Arthur's body as he held his arms in front of him. His skin was a mixture of dark and light orange.

Reaper slashed his blade at Arthur, and as he did, he quickly jumped backward and got into a defensive position.

Arthur blinked as he held up his left arm and looked at it, his eyes widening in terror. "My... Arm..."

"Unfortunately, I cannot hold compassion for the enemies, even if-" Reaper said, but he stopped talking as Arthur shrieked in pain.

"Ahh," Arthur roared, falling to the floor. He grabbed his arm, squishing it as hard as he could, trying to stop the bleeding, but it wasn't working. Taking heavy breaths, he grabbed his lacerated hand and positioned it on his torn arm. The hand plopped back to the floor as soon as he let go of it.

"Nowwww, before I do more damage. You have two choices: I continue, or you tell me where Meth is?"

"That's my blood," Arthur said, staring at his arm as it spewed warm red fluid. His mind wasn't racing with thoughts; rather, he couldn't think. Nothing made sense.

Reaper approached Arthur, slicing his other arm clean off. He placed his blade at Arthur's Adam's apple. "Now or never."

Arthur opened his mouth, releasing an audible gasp. "... Please..."

Reaper leaned forward with his blade, slightly cutting Arthur's neck. "Where is he?"

The rain poured down, faster and faster, drenching the forest and those in it. Reaper and a handless Arthur found themselves amidst a flood.

"Where is Meth?"

Water trickled up onto Arthur's feet into his pants and then shirt. The water moved in two lines, each line towards his arms.

Reaper lowered his head, looking into Arthur's eyes. "Then so be it."

Water sloshed around Arthur's arms, revolving around his wounds.

"What the..." Reaper said, taking a step back in the feet-high flood. He stared at Arthur's arms.

The water around Arthur's arms stopped spinning and created water-shaped hands, where his flesh ones should be. The water absorbed into the injuries, and soft, smooth flesh emerged from his wounds, forming new hands.

"Interesting," Reaper said, stepping forward and cutting Arthur's hands off again.

The water arrived back to Arthur's wounds, healing them again.

Reaper cut Arthur's hands a third time. "I can continue all day, or we can stop, and you let me know where Meth is?"

Arthur was too confused to answer. His brain shut off as he stared at his arms.

Reaper repeated, cutting off Arthur's hands. Over and over and over and over.