WHATEVER IT TAKES | boboiboy ! cyclone [ ✔ ]

12 | ESCAPE

"You know what's worse than a psychopath?" Solar had once asked his bigger brother, who stared at him in awe as the little scientist conducted his experiment. Through the glass tubes, the brunette smiled as Thorn shook his head.

"The beast that's inside of us."

---

"Ensnaring Thorns!"

The vines arose, then stabbed onto the floor where his alter ago was standing. "I'm going to avenge for what you did to my brothers." Thorn stepped forward, leaving his fear behind.

Like what he had expected, the boy easily dodged.

"Where did that guy-" He then saw him, face-to-face.

"To your left." A dark chuckle, then followed by pain on the white-haired male's arm. Thorn laughed, hanging from the ceiling. "You're slow, even after being in Cy's body." He dropped onto the floor.

Reverse leaped from his spot, raising a brow. How did he know?

The boy was surprisingly fast, though he was clearly blinded by rage and emotions spewing from his heart. "Not fast enough." He remarked, as he spun around and did a back kick, landing on Thorn's unguarded back. Gotcha. A smile arose-

"What-?!" He found himself sailing through the air by a millisecond, before crashing onto the ground with a loud crack. Pain coursed in his body. He coughed, feeling that a bone had broken in his body. The counter-attack was unexpected. 

"My brother taught me how to fight." Thorn grinned, his fang-like teeth showing as he towered over the white-haired villain. "You don't fight like my brother. You fight like a coward."

"What did you call me..?"

Clenching his hands into fists, Reverse punched the brunette. Thorn gritted his teeth from the impact, his cheeks bruised. This was the first time in a while. His back hit a hard surface. The nature manipulator groaned, forcing himself to get up.

His counterpart was no longer amused. "Die."

"Not before you do."  

Reverse took the chance to examine his opponent's behavior. Though Thorn might be the weakest elemental manipulator of them all, he had to be careful. With weak power, comes the mighty justice of cleverness. He was more than a fighter.

He was a tactician. This boy could see through me.

There was no movement from both parties. They had both ended up in a bad position- with Reverse being the worst as he was already injured from the previous battles. Yet, the spirit was still evident in his eyes. Thorn was tired from saving his friends.

And he had to save them, again. They were his main priorities. He had commanded his vines to approach the sleeping beauties quietly as he continued to maintain eye contact.

Why is he staring at me for so long? The anti-hero thought.

"Sorry, but," He was a moment too late. Before Reverse could stop himself from getting stuck in a plant cocoon, he's already entrapped within layers upon layers of elongated plants, immobilizing him. "I don't kill people."

Thorn looked up at his former brother figure. "Goodbye, Reverse."

"L-Let me go!" The white-haired boy helplessly shouted. He was suffocating under the death trap. The vines were slowly tightening around his body, squeezing him from both sides.

"I'm not killing you." His vines gently wrapped themselves around the three bodies, trailing behind the figure responsible for Reverse's hostage situation. "I'm just stalling the moment of your death. Any last words?"

His counterpart was unable to answer.

Thorn left the room, with his dying friends.