When You're a Mystery Kid

Bottom of the River

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters featured here.

Raz still couldn't believe how unexpectedly fast the Ningen was. You'd think that the fact that it had such large, bloated body and no hind legs meant that the creature would be slow and cumbersome, but with its claws it still managed to crawl across the ground at an impressive speed. Thankfully, now that he didn't have to worry about getting crushed by falling chunks of a cavern's ceiling, catching up to it wasn't nearly as hard as it was before. Not to mention, now that he could freely deploy his psychic sphere - now currently rolling along under him - it took him just under a minute until he caught sight of the Ningen.

It seemed to be in the middle of a brief respite from its escape, panting heavily. However, the moment it spotted Raz approaching fast, it let out a noise that Raz guessed was one of surprise, before it wrapped both of its large claws around the nearest tree trunk, its sharp nails digging into the wood, and started dragging itself up the tree. Raz quickly shot two psychic blasts, but the Ningen was still too far away, both shots missing their mark. Once the creature had reached a high enough point, Raz had to pause, his jaws falling slack, as it began to use its freakishly gangly arms to swing from tree trunk to tree trunk, making its way across the tree tops with ease. Raz was already beginning to lose sight of it within seconds.

Shaking out of his stupor, Raz showed a confident smile.

Big mistake.

With a grunt, Raz stomped on the psychic ball under him hard, the ball and himself bouncing up high into the air, before he swiftly dismissed the ball into thin air and landed on a tree branch. He wobbled at first, but with practiced ease he steadied himself and found his balance. Not wasting another second, Raz continued giving chase to the creature.

He quickly made his way across the treetops, leaping from branch to branch, along with the occasional impromptu psychic platform whenever necessary. Years of practicing and performing as an acrobat meant that he could cover as much distance in the treetops as he did on the ground, something that the Ningen clearly didn't expect. It seemed to snarl in frustration once it noticed Raz gaining on it once again, before it began to double its efforts in escaping. Raz simply smirked upon noticing the edge of the tree line coming up ahead. If he could close the distance just enough up on the trees, then catching up to the creature on open ground would be a total cakewalk.

Upon reaching the edge, the Ningen actually paused for a moment to take a look back at Raz, but before he could take advantage of the situation, it ripped out a sizable chunk from a tree with its claws, before it tossed the crushed up remains at Raz. Raz wasn't deterred in the slightest. He summoned a psychic barrier around himself and leapt straight through the field of debris, landing on the other side without a scratch. The Ningen hissed at him, before it turned around and dived out of the tree line. Raz immediately launched himself after it.

His face fell.

In the rush of the chase, he must have missed the sound of rushing water, or the distinctive smell that large bodies of water had, because where the tree line ended, the forest had opened up to a large river.

Raz wasn't afraid to admit that he yelped like a little girl, because holy shit he's practically nose-diving straight into that river.

Despite the sudden panic, he managed to gather his wits just in time; his hand pulsed with psychic energy, and almost instantaneously, a giant, ethereal hand materialized out of thin air below him, with a thread of psychic energy connecting it to his hand. He landed rather harshly upon the hand's open palm, connecting face first, but he still very much preferred that over landing in the water. Below him, the Ningen splashed down onto the river and quickly disappeared into the depths.