Nate's heart fluttered at the sight of another inanimate object having the same set of eyes as the Lightweight Faden. He held his breath at the thought that it would move if even one breath was exhaled through his mouth. It looked like it worked because, unlike its smaller cousin, this Faden... the middleweight-looking Faden was more wary of him, not blindly charging into his presence.
"Cr-crap! What should I do?" Nate thoughtlessly blurted softly to himself.
He glanced at his sword, Rupture, and saw that the Faden's eyes were following the blade as it moved. Moving Rupture to the left, the pupils shifted to the left. Conversely, moving to the right would make the pupils shift to the right.
Nate wasn't sure if it was faster than the Lightweight Faden; in other words, he didn't even feel its presence until it was right in front of him.
There was still enough strength in him to get a steady grip on his sword, allowing him to maintain its form without it disappearing. Nate was sure he could fight more, but he had to be careful just in case an unforeseen thing happened.
So put out a defensive stance, or what he thought was normal.
However, the slight movement caused the Middleweight Faden to growl intensely, and it leapt through the air, with its trajectory going into Nate's face.
Feared of getting blinding pain to the sensitive parts of his face, he ducked as hard as he could, his legs refusing to be locked upwards, and his body went to the floor where the Faden whizzed above his head and crashed into the bookcase. Dozens of folders and books rained down on the monster's medium-sized body.
Nate quickly went up for another potential dodge as the Faden shook out the books covering it.
Not knowing what was next, Nate chewed out a piece of dried lip skin hanging by a thread and swallowed it. This strange quirk was a stress response, since his lips often dried out a lot from lack of drinking water every so often.
Swallowing his own drying saliva made him get an idea in his mind. Something that would probably get him out of this mess.
He recalled the dumbbell monster's reaction to watching his slight moves, tracking everything in motion with its eyes.
Then something clicked in his mind. The monster really was fast with its eyes tracking him.
Nate still held his sword, emanating an amount of energy that signaled it was still usable for him. He thought about activating his trump card, a sub-ability called Stage One to temporarily increase his speed and strength. On the other hand, he didn't have a chance to use it again after fighting the Slimestuck Faden back in Honoway Mall's men's restroom, so his usage would be difficult to use at all.
However, it was all or nothing, as the current Faden he was facing right now was in an entirely different league than the Lightweight Faden. So, before Nate's skull could get cracked by its blistering speed, he decided to activate Stage One of his Theomic abilities.
With both hands gripping intensely at the handle of his sword, he tried to retrace the steps to unlocking further strength. Nate was breathing heavily as he felt the drums of his heart banging away inside the cage of his ribs. His muscles felt weird, and a burst of energy enveloped his body's systems.
There it was... That was the feeling that he felt before back in the mall. The familiar cramped room again prevented him from dashing with his newfound speed, but it was without the energy-sapping liquid that took a toll on him. Without that slimy hindrance on the floor, he knew that it was only a matter of time before his confidence beamed in his face.
A sneer formed on his face as his eyebrows felt itchy. His lips, as he felt with his tongue, were drier than usual. That slight movement from his face instantly made the Middleweight Faden zip to his face; the energy flowing through Nate made the creature even more aggressive.
The dumbbell appearance of the Faden drastically increased its leaping speed once again, but this time the winner of this kerfuffle was Nate Elfirm. His reflexes and increased speed were enough to dodge the blow, causing the Middleweight Faden to crash into the metal drawers. A noticeable clank was made from the impact, and a slight dent appeared in the drawer side.
The Faden shoved off the damage done to itself and proceeded to charge again, but Nate bolted and immediately slashed the Faden before it could get a chance. A pained coo escaped from whatever mouth there was, or if there was even a mouth to begin with, before it shriveled up and disappeared into dust.
As he saw its demise, Nate let out a huge breath of relief, despite the energy coursing through his veins that prevented him from fully relaxing. As he now understood the effects of Stage One from activating it for the second time, it took up a lot of power and mental capacity to continuously maintain this form, and once he used this current trump card, Nate realized he had to burn all the time remaining for this Theomic ability to properly return to his ordinary self.
"I really need to take a rest, or else who knows what would happen if I let Stage One continue for so long. I might get hurt or seriously die at that..."
So he sat on a chair next to him to wait it out. It wasn't easy, for the tiredness was beginning to show itself in his body after a couple of minutes. His vision was also blurry and darkened. It was like as though he could see through an old camera with a decaying lens, only a sliver away from the device becoming useless in capturing reality. For Nate, the unconsciousness creeping into his mind was difficult; he tried to maintain a grip on being awake and not letting go.
Nate didn't want to be caught inside the private office of some manager of a fitness gym. There was also the fact that his search for Sam would be disrupted.
"Cooo, coooo?"
Nate froze in place. A similar coo was heard; hearing that made Nate realize something worse had transpired. He slowly turned to the source of the noise and found who it was.
Instead of something like the two small dumbbell Fadens he managed to defeat, what stood in the doorway was a huge barbell with small eyes plastered all over the metallic handles. The weights on both sides were loaded with fifty pounds. It was the kind of equipment reserved for experienced weightlifters.
The Faden... The Heavyweight Faden... cooed one last time when Nate took a step back. It forcefully lunged with explosive power, launching itself towards Nate.
Making his body lunge for desperate safety, Nate dropped to the ground and crawled under the Faden's trajectory and made his way to the door.
The Heavyweight Faden crashed into the wooden desk, causing the whole piece of furniture to be completely pulverized into wooden splinters. One piece managed to embed itself right into Nate's shin, making him yelp in pain, but the effects of his Stage One prevented the splinter from going any deeper into his body.
He managed to get up and properly re-stance his sword, but as soon as he did, Rupture grew transparent like glass and felt that it was lighter than usual. There was also a feeling that it was more brittle than ever before it completely disappeared.
It was as though the Heavyweight Faden saw Rupture's disappearance as a chance to inflict heavy damage, because it toppled itself from one side to the next. When instantly next to Nate, it swung its left weight from one end into Nate's stomach, knocking the wind out of Nate's body.
Nate gasped as he clutched his stomach. His knees were up to his chest. He didn't know if he had internal bleeding or broken bones inside. It was a miracle that he didn't immediately die from the impact, but the Faden didn't offer any spare time or mercy, as it repeated the same move right at his body again.
A loud, sharp noise echoed from the other side of the room. After a few more repeated small sounds around Nate, the huge barbell monster suddenly had its eyes profusely bleeding, echoing a howl of pain in return.
The Heavyweight Faden stopped midway in its course to Nate and charged at whoever was on the other side of the room. Nate couldn't see what was happening; turning to the other side was more than what he could handle, with a sharp pain from stealing his much-needed breaths.
The monster roared a loud coo before another similar shot, unlike a gun, was fired. All he heard next was the sound of a heavy metal object dropping onto the floor, followed by eerie silence.
A couple of steps that Nate heard gradually grew closer in proximity. The person must be strong, and his boots signaled this weird sound of strength. The individual grew closer until they stopped right next to Nate's body.
"What the hell are you doing here? Fighting against multiple Fadens at once?"
The voice was familiar to Nate. It was a voice from a few weeks ago, on the most dangerous day of his life—someone who camped on Vivid Forest's overseeing cliffs. The one towering over Nate's pained body was none other than Colten Marsnip.
Nate coughed away. "Co-Colten Marsnip? Are you there?"
"I'm surprised that you managed to remember my name. Granted, it was only a short while ago," he nonchalantly said.
"Uuuuhh..." Nate couldn't speak any more coherent words. His last sentence took everything he could muster before painful wheezing took over.
Colten went to the other side of his body, where Nate could now clearly see his face and his cowboy-looking clothes. The way his glasses and green overalls made him look like a nerdy cowboy. Also, his brown hair was shaggier than usual.
"Here, drink it; this will help you heal up from the damage to your body. If you don't trust me, then... it's your choice to get help from the local hospital then."
Nate stared at the glass vial filled with green fluid. He wasn't sure what it was supposed to be, but if the bounty hunter said it would heal him, he would gladly do so. The pain was too much for Nate to bear, and he needed to go back home before his family worried about him. He grabbed the vial and chugged the contents inside. The taste was a bit earthy, but the aftertaste turned into something like expired tea. The healing process was the thing that shocked him. Whatever pain he felt before had now subsided, and he could breathe more clearly. Though his energy didn't seem to replenish.
"What was in that drink? I could now stand up."
"Alright, for that you owe me one in the future. Money is alright too, okay?" Colten said.
"Um... What?"
"Hey, you really think these vials are cheap and easy to come by? You're wrong to think otherwise."
Nate glared at his dismissive attitude, especially after he almost passed out from the pain. Then again, Colten did save him from the Heavyweight Faden crushing him. A sense of gratitude replaced his annoyance.
"Thanks for the help, Colt," Nate thanked his savior. "I don't know if I could have gotten out of that situation."
Colten gruffed at the nickname. "Colt? It is Colten for you, or maybe even Mr. Marsnip."
"Right... then Colten it is. So why are—?"
Colten grabbed his gun; the speed at which he moved his hand was unbelievable, and he shot out a bullet next to Nate. Thankfully, it wasn't him, but the true target was the thing next to him that was rising from the debris. Nate jumped at the loud sound and the creature next to him.
It was another Faden—a fourth barbell Faden in this small Fitness Center.
"That takes care of the Welterweight Faden. From how I saw it, you took care of the two Fadens, Lightweight and Middleweight, before getting obliterated by the Heavyweight Faden. Your naming for these monsters suck by the way," Colten mentioned as though he was ordering in an ordinary restaurant.
"Hold on, the other Fadens? Are you saying that you were here the entire time? You should have helped me before I got killed!" Nate accused.
"Hey! You were only injured, so in my eyes you're okay. Besides, I needed to test things out with this beauty right here. Now I know what the deal with the theomin is."
Colten's hand held out a glowing gemstone shining intensely. It was a theomin crystal that Nate saw back in the office room under the desk.
"The theomin crystal... Wait, that was yours here? You were here to place that thing inside the Fitness Gym, where people could get hurt? You know how dangerous these Fadens are! The fact that you placed one of those dangerous things, that it must have attracted these monsters into town."
"This was the fastest way to find the results of these mysterious crystals; they weren't exactly things people would talk about and carry with them casually. But, hey, at least you held out your own against the Fadens, a minor upgrade to your encounter with the Trapsting Faden," Colten softly closed his eyes in response, shifting his sunglasses with his nose. "Hmph, looks like you've been researching a lot about the theomin and the Fadens..."
This guy...
"I mean, I felt uneasy about a ton of monsters secretly hiding inside Standart. Who knows when the next Faden is gonna attack another innocent person," Nate worriedly admitted.
"You said it. The way with how Standart's City's defenses weren't doing anything to deal with them, so I'm assuming it's because the Straventer Barriers aren't doing their job."
The word "Straventer" caught Nate's attention. He definitely knew the word from the masked girl's phone contact call from Lilac Pond. Did this mean that Colten knew much more details about these mysterious things happening in the city than he let on? Nate wanted to further question his motives and his status as a bounty hunter, still uncomfortable with calling him someone he could deeply trust.
"Straventer Barriers?" he began with a question. "Could you tell me more—?"
"Enough talking about me," Colten immediately said. "And let's talk about you..."
"M-me? What about me?" Nate stammered.
"I'm talking about your loser performance against the Fadens of the weights, dude."
"What about them?" Nate asked, earnestly trying to understand what Colten was talking about.
"Nate, you should have tried to distract that Middleweight Faden by throwing another object. Are you that dumb to not notice this weird quirk and use that to your advantage? Huh?"
"What?" Nate said that single word with a puzzled look. "It did look strange with its eyes tracking me, but I was afraid that it would get me if I moved at all. You saw how fast it was, Colten!"
"Yeah, it bolted towards you, but that sword was the thing it was cautioned against. If you had simply thrown your glowing green sword to bait it and attack it, smashing it with your bare hands or crushing the Faden with your foot, then you would not have needed to use your boost in power, or whatever the hell that was that made you stronger."
"Well, for me the ability is called First Stage, and that was to make my sword, Rupture, actually be wielded by someone worthy. Someone... who won't choke in any dangerous situation," Nate stated. "But now that you mentioned it, I feel like such a weakling to not be able to defeat the first two Fadens easily."
Colten brandished his gun as he sat on the bench. "I'm just saying, you should have saved your First Stage whatnot for the Heavyweight Faden. Maybe that way you would at least have a chance to kill it before I saved your ass again."
"What do you mean?" Nate earnestly asked him.
"Never be unprepared for anything, especially when dealing with these Fadens above all else."
Nate knew his combat performance was still lacking, and realized too late how ineffective his informal training of measly swings of a sword was to his ability. Based on the details in his life, it was rare to find anyone with these Theomic abilities. Without a guide to help him, even with one who tried to test him out on a group of ravaging gym equipment, Colten was the only one available.
"H-hey, Colten?" Nate softly mumbled through his lips. "I was wondering if you would teach me what you know about these theomin things and help me train to use Stage One and Rupture. As far as I know, you're the only person around with an awesome power."
"A couple more," said the bounty hunter, simply.
"Huh? A couple more of what?"
"A couple more Fadens that you have to defeat without my help. These monsters were derived from the jumbled awakening of a Theomic Being's power or a corruption of the theomin crystals themselves; I can give that much to understand the situation you want to be in. Your Theomic abilities really are interesting to me, so if you're that crazy enough to want me as your teacher, then I guess I could give you a chance to prove yourself. I mean, you already have your weird teachers at your high school."
"I... I see... There are other monsters around the whole city," Nate spoke softly.
"I'll know if you've done the part, so take care of fighting other monsters, as some of them are quite finicky to deal with. But I feel like you're gonna fail miserably," Colten admitted coolly. He looked outside, the shade of the night's darkness completely painted over the orange sky. It was already night. "Well, looks like I have to go. I have other things to take care of."
"You're going to leave right now, after the countless times I tried to find you?"
"You dealt with the weaker Fadens that you came across before in the group, so I'm sure you could survive a little longer," Colten stated to the wide-eyed boy. "If you want my help, you're gonna have to wait a few more weeks since I have other business to deal with."
"What sorts of business?" Nate asked.
"The kind you don't tell people what it actually is. That kind of business."
"Er... right..."
Nate chose not to be persistent any longer as he knew Colten wouldn't budge. The truth of his secrets would have to wait then.
"Think of it like this: you're going to be my personal scouter for anything weird going on in the city, and by the time I get back, you'll provide all the interesting information that I might like, especially if you find out that there are other people with strange abilities."
"I feel like less of a partner, and more of a sidekick in one of those superheroes."
"Not exactly, because I'm obviously better than a superhero, especially compared to Globalizer."
"Alright, let's not be hasty with the rankings yet," said Nate. "I mean... Globalizer? Seriously? One of the top superheroes of Green Country, alongside Underlight, Viscountess, Swiftwing, Rapid, and Golden Star Knight. Stop acting like you are a top shot, dude."
The superheroes of Middle Groundlands were moderately known throughout the cities. As part of an agreement between Green Country and Ilmuthe, an organization was formed to prevent any more Green Catastrophes from ravaging the continent as a whole. One famed superhero team that shone brighter than others was called the Superhero Stars, an elite group wielding a diverse powerset of abilities. Even the ordinary-demanded Standart City acknowledges their presence as a need to protect them from supernatural disasters.
"If you're going to be such a loser to think that, then stop wasting my time."
Colten, in a flash, bolted in the opposite direction and went outside the building, where, in Nate's perspective, he was really gone from the place. And just like that, it was the second time he came across the unordinary bounty hunter.
Although he didn't find any clues to the continued whereabouts of his friend Sam, he had to believe that Colten would help him use his Theomic ability properly and to swing Rupture well enough if Nate were to defeat a bunch of Fadens before he would show up. The way he said he would be watching him fight felt creepy to the ordinary boy, but he was determined to know the answers to what was happening to the city.
Nate went outside of the fitness gym as he patted down the dust on his shirt, not even looking back.
* * *
"To the one to the max! You gotta keep going until your heart sets free! I'm no weakling, I'm just getting ready for the moment to the max!"
Tyler Johnsen continued to sing with his heart's content in the bathroom stall. His bottom started to get sore, but the groove and beats of the song continued to give him the energy to keep singing his heart out. If this kept up, he would have enough energy to go on for the rest of the night. He thought of this as a pre-workout part of his schedule.
On other matters, Tyler thought about Nate Elfirm and his goal to find Sam. Wherever his bro was, he was sure that he was fine. Nothing could stop Sam if danger were to come to him; that was for sure.
With a need to keep singing his favorite tunes, Tyler bobbed his head to the beat, unsure if he was able to stop at all.