Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 56. With the chance that’s given
Peter stands face to face with Rupert while he’s forced to hear the fight between Lance and Chester behind him.
Rupert: “Look kid, this can all end nicely.”
Peter: “How? With all of these explosives heading right into the city?”
Rupert: “No, by letting me stop it.”
Peter's confused face causes Rupert to laugh, almost making him drop his cigar.
Rupert: “This idiot Chester went behind my back. I made a point to never work with those madmen, but here we are. I’ll tell everyone I stopped the unrightful takeover of my company from a well-trusted friend. Then, we stop it, I get the notoriety, and I’ll give a shout out to your crew. Everyone wins.”
Peter is about to go along with the plan, but one thing forces him to deny it. He thinks back to Gray's speech about his father, and how he stood up for the ones who couldn’t, how he’d help people he didn’t know, even if it was to his detriment. Peter flips down his rabbit mask, grips the explosives' crystal cores, and makes his proclamation.
He extends his hand into the air and then to himself.
Peter: I AM PETER DAY, A HERO OF WALGONIA, AND I’M GONNA PUT A STOP TO ALL OF THIS! THE TRAIN AND YOUR COMPANY! I WILL NOT LET YOU GO FREE, as a knight should.``
Rupert takes the cigar out of his mouth, tosses it to the floor, and steps on it. He frowns, waving his head back and forth as he takes something from within his striped suit pocket, causing Peter to shiver as he looks at two golden brass knuckles.
Peter throws the last of his flame cores, wounding and blinding Rupert for enough time to get a well-timed hit in with his hammer. Rupert screams from the attack to his knee, falling to the ground. Peter tries to hit him again, but Rupert punches him square in the jaw, breaking his mask.
Rupert: “The hell was with the pointing at yourself thing, loser. And you think you can beat me!? You’ve fought psychos, children, but you’ve never fought a man before.”
Peter: “I learned the pointing thing from a friend of mine, well she was talking about another friend of mine and how he stupidly introduced himself, but nevertheless! I will defeat you!”
Peter wipes the blood from his nose, standing up to keep fighting. When he was punched, he dropped the hammer, which is now underneath one of the trains’ seats, which goes unseen by the panicked Peter.
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He takes out a wrench and runs toward Rupert, barely dodging one of his punches. Peter uses his smaller stature against Rupert's taller and heavier one, attacking fast and low. A hit right to the ribs and another to the knee, but Rupert grabs the boy just after he can get his attacks off. He crushes his bandaged hand, causing him to drop his wrench. Peter cries out in pain, which Lance hears, pushing him even further.
In the other car, Chester's quick kicks are devastating to the much weaker Lance, but his flames are just enough to keep Chester at bay. Lance pushes further and further, destroying the train car, when an idea comes to mind. Though just as fast as he thinks of it, Chester shuts it down.
Chester: “IF YOU BLOW UP THIS CAR, THE REST WILL OF THEM FOLLOW! YOU GOT LUCKY ON THE FIRST ONE, BUT THESE LAST FEW CARS ARE FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH THESE DAMN CRYSTALS! WE COULD BE RIGHT UNDER A SMALL TOWN, FOREST, VILLAGE, OR FARM! WHO KNOWS WHAT DAMAGE YOU’LL CAUSE! AND YOUR FRIENDS WILL GO ALONG WITH IT!
Luckily, none of the boxes have broken open, but the wooden crates have caught fire, and are slowly reaching their way to the crystals.
Lance inhales, focusing all of the flames on a focused spot. The fire is pulled from throughout the train car and centers on the burnt palms of his hands.
Lance: “MY FATHER IS ZUE! THE BLACK DRAGON! I WILL USE HIS FLAMES TO VANQUISH YOU FROM THIS EARTH!”
Chester's eyes widen as Lance prepares a finishing attack, so he moves in as fast as he can. Still, in the other car, Peter struggles to get out of Rupert's grasp.
Rupert: “I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO WIN THIS!? WHAT HAPPENED!?”
Peter is about to pass out, but he pushes forward, kicking Rupert in the face. This causes Rupert to lessen his grip just enough for Peter to get a clean punch in, causing Rupert to drop him. Rupert reacts fast, kicking Peter in his gut and punching him in the back, forcing him to the ground.
Peter rolls away, realizing he has no weapons left, other than one. He takes out his rope dart, hoping all of his practice with it pays off. He charges in, so while Rupert plans to either catch or dodge the strike, Peter dives under him, quickly wrapping his rope dart around his feet. So when Rupert goes to strike, Peter rolls back, pulling the rope as hard as he can. But due to his lack of strength, he can’t make Rupert budge, causing him to get punched in the face. Peter spits out his back tooth, screaming in pain all while Rupert laughs.
While Rupert’s laughing, Peter reels in and throws the rope dart, piercing into Rupert's eye. Rupert yells, swiping the air in anger. While Rupert cries out, Peter tries to strike, but all of the pain from the battle comes to a head, making him inoperable. Then suddenly, Rupert takes the rope dart out of his eye, pulling in Peter for one last attack. Peter doesn't release the rope dart fast enough, causing him to fly toward Rupert. While mid-air, he watches Rupert reel back his fist, looking at the blood that had stained his golden brass knuckles, ready to die. But in a sudden last will of effort, Peter too reels back his fist, and then pulls himself even closer, surprising Rupert. His muscles explode, his blood begins rushing, he feels like how he thinks he’s supposed to feel, and then he hits Rupert in the face. He hits him so hard that his jaw breaks, his teeth fall out, and he loses consciousness all in one blow, knocking him to the ground.
Peter stands up, bewildered by the sight that has just unfolded right in front of him. But his happiness quickly subsides when he feels the bones in his wrist, or what used to be bones and now feels like jelly. He then collapses to the ground, listening to the battle going on right behind him. He begins limping over to see Lance charging up his finishing attack, but alas, Chester kicks him in the stomach, causing his attack to mess up. The charged flame bubbles over, and Peter watches in horror as Lance's face drops. With one quick glance at each other, they say goodbye.
Peter: “LANCE!”
Peters screams, but that can’t save him. With one small smirk from Chester and a terrified one from Lance, they think it’s all over. But, to save himself, Chester kicks Lance’s arm into the air, causing his attack to explode upward, piercing the train’s ceiling, and blasting into the underground tunnel, saving them both from the blast. The flames rush back down just a bit, severely burning Lance. Peter quickly turns his body, gets up, and runs to the conductor's controls, finding a switch labeled “Release” and he pulls it.
Peter: “LANCE JUMP!”
With his last bit of power, Lance jumps through the now broken door in front of him, falling into Peter's train car right as all of the cars detach from each other. Peter stares at Chester from afar, watching him pull out and light a cigarette as Peter’s car continues moving.
Peter runs over to Lance’s burnt body, trying to hold him, but it’s no use. With all of his broken bones and burnt flesh, he’s only able to get one sentence out before he passes.
Lance: “You…damn…rabbit…”
Peter sits there, holding Lance’s dead body, crying for his lost friend, while Chester watches the train leave. He’s also only able to mutter one last sentence before he passes out due to his injuries.
Chester: “...Not a bad kid…”
End of Chapter Fifty-six