Somewhere in the Wilderness of Pennsylvania- 11:53 -
A hazy fog permeated the entire marsh. The buzzing of insects and screeches of birds of in the distance gave off a sense of eerieness to any who might chance their time within these forsaken wetlands.
The ripple of water could be seen off to the side of one of the few ‘dry’ spots in the marsh, an early warning to the occupant hiding within the shrubbery that it was time to move.
Eva frowned, unhappy at how little time had passed since she was last spotted. A Wild hope that she would have had at least another twenty minutes of rest was crushed.
Dirty, tired, and covered in multiple mosquitoes bites despite her power (bug Zappers aren't exactly quite), Eva couldn’t help but tighten her fists in frustration at last nights events.
Worried to the bone about the danger that Lucas might be encountering she had let Marvin know she was going to sneak out of camp as soon as dusk fell, hopefully, while the Instructors were busy eating dinner.
It’s too bad her plans never went as she’d like. Just as she’d almost finished packing, a knock at the door distracted her. She had learned to hate those dreaded light taps, and would never mistake their owner.
The knocking stop and the room gained a moment of silence as Eva’s nerves grew taught, hopefully, the person on the other side would think she wasn’t in.
Didn’t take long for that thought to fall short.
“Crash!” The old cabin door was shattered to pieces, the splinters being sent flying all over, as the dust swirled around a petite lady where the door once stood.
It was her Instructor Nagareru Kaze, and unlike her usually calm facial expressions, a scowl could be seen hanging from her face.
“Little Spark, where exactly do you plan on going? Our lesson for this evening isn’t something you're allowed to skip….” The displeasure in her voice carried weight as the dust in the air shivered.
Eva, at the time, could only swallow her saliva as she felt Kaze’s full presence for the first time since their meeting. She had always allowed Eva to train free from its grip these last two weeks, but now it seemed she was in no mood to hold it back.
Despite all this, Eva only glowered before answering.
“I need to go back home for a few days to check up on something.” Voice forced she gave a simple response before the SS Ranked Hero.
“Of course, of course, because that's all that’s needed to a forgo one of my lessons. A trivial excuse with no backing.” Despite her youthful appearance, the way Kaze held herself spoke volumes of her true age. No one would mistake her for a young teen once her ire had been lit.
“I NEED to go. I will not back down from this just because you're blocking me.” Spitting the words through gritted teeth, Eva made her stance known. She would not back down despite the huge difference in power between the two of them. Although not having been given a rank yet Eva clearly knew she was just about to break out of D+ Rank and enter the world of the C ranks, truly something impressive and worthy of praise for someone as young as her, but that meant nothing before someone who capabilities made her out to be little more than an Ant beneath an Elephants foot. Easily squashed with just a slight shift of movement.
Wearing a summer dark green aline dress Kaze’s dark eye’s sharpened at Eva’s rough tone, but then a thought rose up from her subconscious. Her own scowl shifted to a grin as she realized she might be able to make use of this opportunity. So she let Eva stare at her for a few minutes before putting things into motion.
“Hmmm after some contemplation I have decided to allow you to leave.” Her words shocked Eva as this was as far from an expected outcome to happen. She knew it was too good to be true, but a surge of joy still rose within her heart.
“Still….” The joy was quickly snuffed out.
“Still, skipping our lesson isn’t allowed, so I’ll be adding some conditions for your departure. New Athens lays about 240 miles from here. You’ll leave at dawn and have eight hours to reach your destination. If your time is up Instructor Yorkshire will teleport to you and bring you back.” Pulling something out of her dress Kaze tossed a small quarter like object at Eva who caught it without taking her eyes off Kaze.
It was a Telelocator used by teleporters for emergency rescues. Really useful as long as whatever was attacking you didn't have a jammer. Although it also couldn't help with assassinations. The professionals could kill you before you even realized you were dead.
“That can’t be all….. The wilderness is dangerous, but I know a safe route. What's the other catch?” Eva wasn’t an idiot she could tell Kaze was scheming something.
“Good, keeping a sharp mind will help you deal with tomorrow.” Kaze only gave Eva a small smile covered partially by her small hand.
Now back to the present, way off course and with only a little less than two hours to get to New Athens, Eva was smoldering internally at her Instructor's ‘lesson’.
“OOOOO AHHHH RAAAAOOOR” A primal roar pulled Eva out of her thoughts as her dreaded opponent found her once again.
Less than half a mile away a gorilla large enough to use tree branches as toothpicks barreled towards Eva, the shrubs and the odd tree that got in its way trampled to nothing, unable to stop the force of nature incarnate.
“Fucking Hell…” Despite the exhaustion weighing down her muscles Eva pushed past her body's limitations and filled herself with the power of lighting and exploded outwards from her location leaving her spot just before the colossal ape crushed the little island she had been hiding on.
Moving at a pace just slightly faster than the Gorilla Eva cursed her Instructor who had obviously set this wild ape on her with some strange method. What really pissed her off was that even after tiring herself using Ride Lightning the ape would still quickly track her down. Due to the immense amounts of energy she needed to zip across the clouds and the fact that the sky was mostly clear Eva’s normally maxed range before exhaustion had shrunk from 100 miles to a measly 50 miles. Thirty of which had been used when first encountering the raging Gorilla.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
With less than 30% of her reserves left, it took everything Eva had to avoid the monster hot on her heels. She barely had an estimate of where she was on the map, and it was not looking good for her if she didn’t quickly break away from this cat and mouse chase.
In the middle of a sharp turn to gain an advantageous distance over a large bolder, her foot slipped, sending her straight into the shallow water. Sediment mixed in with the water rushed into her mouth, the swift speed she had been moving at making it impossible to have fixed her posture after the potentially deadly trip.
Fighting to push herself out of the water while the sound of stone being crushed echoed from the outside into the water Eva barely dodged a fist half the size of her body from smashing her into a bloody pulp. A geyser exploded outwards sending all the immediate water around her into the air.
The danger truly clicked now, this Muta beast could kill her.
Adrenaline surged from her brain, sending her into full-on fight or flight mode.
Wildly making a grab at the hairy arm, Eva was pulled out as the ape retracted it’s arm. Using the momentum, Eva jumped up from the arm just as another equally hairy one slammed down.
Like a pesky insect, Eva avoided all its attacks by a hairs breath as she made her way upwards. Seeing the approaching girl, the gorilla made a wild bite at her.
Her luck seemly having run out the Gorilla's bite managed to latch on to Eva small backpack that had a few spare clothes. With a flick of its neck, Eva flew dozens of feet in the air, only to land in a muddy pool that was solid enough to knock the air out of her lungs.
“Cough Cough!” A coughing fit took her as she fought to get the revolting air into her lungs.
The echoing sound of the ape's run reached, Eva. Without a second thought, she used Ride Lighting without a destination in mind. Disappearing just as the gorilla's fist crashed down where she had just been sitting coughing her lungs out. Seeing its prey zip out into the sky, its roar shook the trees all around sending lesser muta beasts into hiding.
Around 3 miles away, Eva struck down onto a grassy hill just outside of the marsh. Using twice as much energy to send some decoy strikes, Eva felt her reserves dip into the red of around 10%. She had 10 minutes to rest maybe 15 if she was lucky before she would have to start moving again to avoid another direct confrontation.
Almost exactly as she had predicted a light tremble passed beneath Eva. The ape was less than a mile away again.
She was going to fail. The thought brought a crushing weight to her shoulders. Even if she somehow managed to keep this ape off her trail, she definitely wasn’t going to meet her timed goal. She couldn't even get rid of the Telelocator as it could also keep track of the owner's vitals. The moment it lost her signal, Yorkshire would intercept her.
Eva rarely shed tears and so far the only times she had ever actually cried were either for her idiot Lucas or in situations where the frustration of being unable to do anything about an outcome made her cry out of anger.
For the first time, it was both….
A cold electrified current came from the depths of her heart as a hatred for the fucking ape that had gotten in her way.
Kill it. That was the only way to make it to Lucas on time. She would have to kill this C Rank Muta beast.
Eva’s eyes hardened with her resolution just as the culprit of her recent troubles sent tree trunks with their roots flying to the sides to make way for its massive frame.
Its head was her only chance.
Taking a deep breath, that oxygenated her entire being Eva took a step forward and disappeared from her spot as she practically flew across the grassy field surprising her opponent at her straight forward charge though only for a split second.
It swung down its arms like mighty hammers aiming to turn Eva into a bloodstain on the grass, but it missed by a fraction of a second, allowing Eva to jump onto it but this time with more ease as her previous climb has shown her the best spots to launch forward from. From calf, to hip, to shoulder Eva gave the ape no time to react as she came before its head that could fit 3 of her in its skull.
It roared at her bursting her left eardrum, she pushed through the pain, avoiding a grab from its meaty hand. With one final dash, Eva got behind its head where its teeth couldn’t touch her and wrapped her arms around the nap of its neck, and before the Gorilla could smear her bloody remains on its neck, she yelled out.
“Let me take you for a ride you fuck!” Activating Ride lightning a flash came from the clouds above her as she disappeared from the Apes body.
Along with a third of its head.
The Colossal Rank C Muta beast Savage Kong was dead. Its life of killing dozens of Humans who strayed too far into its territory having finally reached its conclusion. All due to a girl who had barely entered adulthood.
500 feet away the dead tired Eva watched as her opponent's arms fell to its sides before the entire body collapsed onto the ground sending dirt and dust into the air and causing all the birds in the trees nearby to cry as they escaped into the sky.
Eva couldn’t help but laugh as she pushed away the bloody remains she had brought along with her, glaring triumphantly at the bastard that had chased her for close to 200 miles. Despite the pain in her ear, and extremely bruised body she had still survived.
“I win bitch…”
“You experience death’s scythe on your throat, and the first thing you say after the encounter is….that. You're even worse than imaged, will I ever turn you into a proper lady….?”
Turning her sore, and batter body towards the voice of the mastermind of all this, Eva caught sight of Kaze.
“That look your giving me is unfit for a lady, please stop at once.” Eva, who looked like a snarling dog baring her teeth, ignored her.
“Since when was setting a C Rank Muta beast on a someone who isn't even ranked yet something a lady does!” A scathing remark was shot at Kaze who took it in stride.
“Since you became my student.” She gave her answer as though it was all that was needed.
“Fuck you. Once I tell my mom what you did to me, even your rank won’t protect you.” Eva was seething, to the point, she would drag even her mother into the situation just to get back at the hateful woman.
For some reason, Kaze only burst into a light chuckling to the point where even tears started to come out of the corner of her eye’s.
“Whats do you find so funny, I never use my mom's authority for anything so she won’t hesitate if I ask her for this.” Confusion pushed aside her anger as she started to wonder if maybe her Instructor truly had lost multiple screws in the head.
It took another minute before Kaze finally stop laugh and gained control over herself once again.
“Do I appear to you like a a fool that would put the daughter of the monster known as the Human Nova, in harms way if she hadn’t given me the get-go herself!” Kaze Stare turned dead as it focused like a laser onto Eva who had fallen into shock at her words.
“I was given the honor molding you into the great person your mom knows you can become, and I won’t fail this task that was given to me. Death and struggle are something you will have to become accosted to, so better to ingrain this into you early so you don’t suffer later down the line.”
“There’s no way…… My mom would never….” Eva, who had started to fall into a pit felt the small Telelocator in her pocket ring.
Her time was over.
“Wait, how I still have 30 minutes!” Eva pulled herself out of her stupor as she remembered the reason for her struggle in the first place.
“No excuses, you failed, and now we're going back. Your moms already giving her speech, so you can talk about your misgivings with her. Ah, Yorkshire please take Miss Turner first, I have to store her spoils for her.” A man in his late forties appeared behind Eva.
“NOOOOOOOOO, I NEED TO GO TO LUCAS!!! Indigent shouts exploded out of her as she struggled against the wall that was Yorkshire.
“A lady never screams my dear, and do stop worrying about your friend, men aren't interested in clingy women.” Turning away to prep the dead Muta beast, Yorkshire took that as his ok to leave.
The angry screams of a young girl echoed outwards before disappearing and returning the field to its previous silence.