Soza & Shoko - The Escape

Chapter 7 - Thank You

The girlsʻ eyes snapped open, tears in their eyes, to Shoko also crying hard, her face in her hands on the floor. She screamed in between her cries, black smoke starting to slowly surround her, going away and then coming back.

"W-What do we do?! Soza's not here!" Nina panicked, turning from Fumiru to Shoko.

Suddenly, the window crashed open, and someone jumped into the apartment. It was Soza. Soza grabbed Shoko and hugged her tight, not saying anything as a single tear rolled down his cheeks, joining Shoko's. The black smoke kept getting stronger but slowly faded as Shoko slumped in Soza's arms. They both quietly cried as Nina and Fumiru sighed, relieved, but also quite in shock from what had happened.

Shoko kept crying but softly whispered. "Thank you, Soza."

Soza nodded, glancing back at the window.

"We need to move," Soza said urgently.

Soza and Shoko started running in the window when Nina and Fumiru followed too.

"Youʻll get hurt!" Soza said with a hurried voice.

"You're our friends! We're coming with you!" Fumiru and Nina said in unison.

Soza hesitated when they said friends.

Shoko and I never really had friends...we didn't have a chance to, Soza thought.

Shoko turned to Soza, fear in her eyes. What if they got hurt because of them? It would be too risky. Shoko shook her head.

"You can't come! You might get hurt. We-we can't do that!" Shoko said.

Even though it was in the middle of the night, the lights in the town were bright. They could hear zooming of the cars and shouts on the street. Soza glanced nervously behind.

"Donʻt follow us. But...thank you." Soza said when both of them jumped form the 8th floor.

The wind whistled in Sozaʻs ears and held on to Shoko's arm tightly. None of them were scared, they knew each other enough to trust their own powers. The sidewalk grew close and closer. Time slowed. Soza took off his gloves and held his palm to the ground. Black energy glowed through his fingers, below, the ground swirled. The sidewalk turned soft and they landed softly. The ground quickly swirled back to its solid state, Soza put his gloves on again. Together, they ran. They had the same speed and pace as each other.

Youʻve been running too long..

Shut up. Soza thought.

They ran into town, the lights brightened more and more people crowded making it harder to run.

"Shoko! Soza!" A voice called far behind.

Fumiru and Nina jumped out of a taxi rushing to catch up. They were far behind, 3 buildings behind. Soza and Shoko knew they had supernatural speed and agility.

"Don't-" Soza was interrupted by a shadow from above that slammed him down into a dark alley. No people paid attention to the smoke and crash when Soza went flying.

"Soza!" Shoko yelled.

The man quickly ran after Soza with such great speed, Nina could hardly see him move. Shoko dashed to the alley and so did Fumiru and Nina. Smoke engulfed the dark, but with Shoko's eyes, she could see just fine. While Nina and Fumira had to adjust to the dark.The doctor had light brown straight hair split into two. He had a long white coat, underneath was a blue shirt and jeans covered in blood. He wore gloves where he fidgeted with them while a crazy light in his eyes gleamed. It was the same man from the flashback!

"Ugh.." Soza grunted in pain. Blood trickled down his head and he stood up.

"Ohhh, you think I'd just let you go?! You two are my greatest and powerful experiments I've made. Hahaha! Especially you, Soza. Magnificent! The power to warp reality does come in handy!" The Doctor cackled. "Oh? Two humans? And you think they're your FRIENDS?! Hahaha! You two will never, ever have friends. And I will make sure of that."

He headed straight toward Nina and Fumiru who were startled in fear.

"Don't touch my friends." Shoko said fiercely, eyes glowing bright red while blocking his hand from slicing Nina with a sword that magically appeared. The hand glowed with powerful energy. Suddenly the two girls disappeared, teleported by Soza out of the alley. Soza's cross earring morphed into a black scythe that clanked with the doctor's arm. Sent backwards, Soza's head became dizzy and his vision blurred. Both caught off guard, the Doctor suddenly teleported to Soza and slashed at his chest.