A Ray of Sunlight

Chapter 18 - Monster (Haruto's POV)

Gore

"Planet Koji, a peaceful but small planet." Yukio said, sadly. "I knew some of the people here. It makes me very sad to see they're getting targeted."

"Don't waste your time being sad, let's go." Koichi said, flying towards the ground. Yukio and I followed.

Immediately, the smell of smoke and the cold platter of rain hitted my skin. I looked overhead to see a stream of red fly across the sky and hit a house. I prayed it wasn't father and continued following Yukio and Koichi. They were being very cautious, eyeing every corner.

"Watch out!" Koichi said, fly kicking a monster that was hiding behind a tree. The monster fell to the ground. "It's not dead yet." He eyed the rest of the surroundings. "There's not just 5 monsters, there's many. We're surrounded."

Just like he predicted, a swarm of monsters came out from behind the houses and trees. Soon, we were in a ring of monsters. They were stocky and thick.

"How did Katsunori even get this many monsters?!" I exclaimed and got into a fighting stance.

"Don't know but keep your voice down." Koichi said and he and Yukio also got into a fighting stance. "We have to fight our way out of this."

"Are we ready?" Yukio asked. Koichi and I nodded and we all charged forward.

I chose the one nearest to me and ran towards it. It grabbed my arm, twisted it and I cried out in pain.

"You okay?!" Koichi yelled.

"Yeah...ow!" I kicked it in the stomach and it crashed into a bunch of other monsters, leading them to all come towards me. I flew into the air and blasted them with lasers.

"Haruto! Don't waste all your energy on lasers! You're going to run out of energy!" Yukio called out. "Attack their valuable parts like hair, eyes, nose and protect your valuable parts like your head and neck."

"Or just kick them."

"Koichi, that's horrible advice, it only works for you."

"Shut up. Don't tell me what to do." Koichi kicked a whole bunch of monsters into a burning house. "They just keep coming!"

I flew towards a crowd forming behind Koichi and grabbed one of their hair. Yukio was right, their hair's sensitive. It squealed in pain as I lifted it up and threw it towards the other monsters. Suddenly, the monsters all lit up and merged to form five even bigger monsters?!

"What is this?!" Koichi exclaimed.

"As small monsters weren't enough. Come on, let's do this." Yukio said, running towards the monster. "Haruto, you take one. Koichi and I will each take two."

"Roger that." Koichi said with his iconic smirk and ran towards the nearest monsters on his right.

I was left with the last one. It stared down at me with its beady eyes. I could barely reach its shoulders. How could I take this one down? The monster slowly walked towards me, every step caused the ground to crack and shake. Its huge nose shook and its long, crusty hair swayed slowly. Dirt and moss fell off it with every step. I stood in a fighting stance and watched as Yukio and Koichi dodge every blow but are starting to struggle to keep up. They're fast. Could this one be-I couldn't finish my thought because my head whirled around to see the huge monster's fist meet my face. I quickly bent backwards and did a series of backflips, trying to ignore the crack on my helmet.

I regained my stance to find the monster storming towards me with its arm straight out, aiming for my stomach. I jumped and smacked it on its forehead. I landed behind the monster with a squat but when I stood up, the monster had already turned around and had no reaction except its eyes glowed dangerously. It charged at me again but this time faster. There was no time to slide or anything so I started turning and running but it grabbed my helmet and squeezed it. My head felt like it was about to explode as the metal pressed onto my skin. Come on, Haruto! I kicked the monster's bouncy stomach and it smashed the side of my head into a tree. My head felt like it was spinning and I could see colors that I thought didn't exist. I fell to the floor. I can't do it. My eyes opened a peak and saw the monster's beady eyes and satisfied grin. I'm not tall enough. Not strong enough. I closed my eyes fully and welcomed the darkness.

"Come on, Haruto! Think fast!" Instructor Yukio threw a red ball to my face.

I caught the ball with my head. It bounced off my forehead, leaving a red spot. "Yukio! You're throwing too fast!" We were practicing reflexes that day.

"The monster isn't going to wait for you!" Another ball hit my stomach, leaving me on the floor. "Think fast, Haruto! Don't just listen to what I say, dodge the attack!"

I quickly opened my eyes and saw the disgusting feet of the monster about to crush me. My head was pounding from the impact and the helmet was too tight. Think fast, think fast, think fast! I rolled away from the monster's feet and sat up. The monster's feet lifted up and its eyes widened to see that I wasn't there. The ground had an indent and I could only imagine what would've happened if I stayed there a second longer and let my pain get to me. I cannot rest now. Not after all that I've been through. I stood up and the monster was charging right at me.

I slid past its arm and stopped to give a nice, strong kick to the monster's back. The monster's face hit the ground with a huge PLAT! Blood started spewing out and onto the wet, dirt floor. I guess having such a big figure means that falling is really painful. I turned my head to the sound of Koichi yelling after the monster. One of the monsters laid on the floor, soundless while the other one had turned into green lights and was flying away.

"HEY! YOU! STOP!"

I turned my head back to see the monster I had kicked to the floor was still lying there with a pool of blood underneath. I'm guessing that means that it wasn't dangerous for now. I looked at Yukio who was finishing the monster with a blast of laser. The monster's flesh exploded and dropped to the floor. Yukio took off his helmet, wiped his sweat and gave me a thumbs up. I walked over to him.

"Yukio!" I was dizzy and confused. It looks like a rainbow puked all over Yukio's face. "Yukio...Yukio?" I fell to the ground, scraping my knee. "I'm sorry Yukio. My head it's so...buzzy and...fuzzy and...and..."

"Haruto!" Yukio tried taking off my helmet but it was stuck on tight. He blasted a small stream of lasers and my helmet tumbled to the ground. Blood instantly rolled down my face even and my back met the cold and sharp grass. "Come on. Haruto, don't fall asleep. Come on! I'm so sorry for dragging you along." I felt Yukio gently placing his hand on my forehead, giving warmth to my head. "Haruto, please, take some of my energy, don't fall asleep...please...Mr Kaito...he'll be even sadder. Please." I couldn't open my eyes any more and couldn't see Yukio but I was worried.

"I had never seen you cry before, instructor Yukio. I'll be okay. I promise."

"Haruto. Stay in there okay. I'll get you help. I promise. Mr Kaito is so proud of you. I promise." I tried opening my eyes and saw Yukio gave a sad smile. "You're a good kid, Haruto."

The rain spattered down onto the grass and was absorbed by the soil. It feels good on my warm skin.