Retribution

"Faster! Don't stop," said Roa, barely holding on.

Weakness washed over him, his vision blurring and his skull growing heavy. He shook his head, fighting the pull of sleep, desperate to stay alert. His eyes snapped wide open, placing his elbow on Fulvix's shoulder, using it to steady himself.

"Tilt the bike left. We need the tires to grip," the boy shouted in his ear.

"What are you going to do?"

The Sunflower placed his hand in the shape of a gun and closed his eyes. The air around him whipped past like a raging hurricane, the bike roared and tilted as instructed. Lothrah's screech echoed in the distance. The hero focused and his arm began to vibrate. He felt it warming up, as he searched deep within for any drops of aura left hiding inside his being.

"It's not enough," he thought, closing his eyes again.

He took a deep breath, as gratitude filled him, his focus shifting outwards. Sparks of energy danced in the wind, racing after him like lightning-fast fireflies, vanishing into his arm, absorbed, as if they had found their way back home.

"It will have to be enough," he murmured, his lips struggling to move.

He opened his left eye and squinted, taking aim. A blast erupted from his fingers with a bang, forcing Fulvix to clutch the handlebar with all his strength, fighting to steady it as it teetered on the edge of control. The blast hit the monster in the face, causing it to scream and chase after them.

"We got its attention," said the hero, collapsing against the driver's back in exhaustion.

"Why the hell would we want that?" the other shouted, as the motorcycle's wheels spun, cutting through the flames around them. "There they are!"

The Sunflower stared at the long road that hugged the perimeter of the burning lake. There, underneath the only flickering light post, were his friends. Only two were left standing, Rosso and Vesper, fighting against the formidable opponent.

"I need you to speed up, and continue past them, understood?" screamed Roa.

Fulvix nodded, revving up the machine at full speed. The hero took aim again, and landed one last hit on the Abomination's face. He grabbed the top of the driver's leather jacket, and placed his feet on the seat of the motorcycle, swaying like a bowling pin about to topple. The engine thundered. Roa's eyes narrowed, straining to regain focus. His vision tunneled, locking onto his friends.

"Dive!" he screamed.

Rosso head turned sharply. His eyes grew wide upon seeing the motorcycle that was about to run them over. Grabbing Vesper by the shirt, he threw himself onto the ground. Roa launched himself onto Lord Smog, his body crashing into him at full force. The impact sent them both tumbling through the air, their bodies spiraling for hundreds of meters before slamming into a wall with a deafening crash.

A cloud of dust rose. The Lord's back absorbed most of the impact, but the Sunflower wasn't spared, feeling the shock ripple through his own battered body. The last remnants of their aura shielded them from death, but the force of the blow still coursed through their bones like the violent shock of an earthquake. Struggling to regain his bearings, the hero dragged himself across the stunned Shadow. Each grunt was laced with exhaustion and fury, his trembling fingers scrambling, searching his person.

"Where the hell is it? Where did you put the key?" he screamed, punching him in the face repeatedly, until the enemy opened its mouth, revealing the golden item.

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His hands quaked with fury as he plunged them into the blood-soaked opening. The metal key slipped against his slick fingers, and the Lord's teeth sank deep into his flesh, drawing a grunt that escaped through gritted teeth. A scream then tore from the boy's throat, raw and guttural. It echoed through the air, sharp and jagged, as if every ounce of his anger and exhaustion had coiled into one fierce, desperate cry.

"Don't make me blast your head off, asshole," Roa's wide-open eyes, filled with rage as he shouted.

His chest heaved with each strained breath, the sound vibrating with the weight of his fury and the heaviness of his exhaustion, as though he was fighting against his own collapsing body. The Sunflower, pointing the Gunhand at the enemy's forehead, finally forced him to spit it out. The key lay on the ground in a small pool of blood and saliva. Roa threw it towards the others, causing it to spin across the floor until it came to a halt under Rosso's boot. The Sunflower grabbed the Gate by the crown, forcing him up as he screamed in agony, his weakened body pulling the full weight of the enemy's. Blood gushed out of his stomach as he stood, towering, struggling to keep the opponent from slipping away. His focus forced back and forth between the lulling desire to lose consciousness, and the burning, vengeful will to finish the fight with the wretched foe.

The Abomination rose out of the abyss, at last towering above them like a skyscraper of fire and fury.

"We're going down together," said the Sunflower, yanking the enemy's body backwards as he choked his neck with his arm. A blast of light burst a hole through the Gate's torso. "That's the last drop. I saved it just for you, coward."

The Gate's eyes widened in agony, but grew even larger when he looked up. The monster's jaws parted, unveiling a nightmarish row of jagged, misshapen teeth. With terrifying speed, it descended like a meteor plummeting to Earth. A wave of rancid, black vomit poured over them, and in an instant, everything was consumed by darkness.

Lothrah's head jerked back up, its mouth crunching down on its meal. A violent explosion rumbled inside of it, sending a cascade of brilliant light out between its teeth. Thousands of shimmering, blurry bits of aura burst free, fluttering like delicate butterflies, before dissipating into nothing. The creature froze, its eyes darkening, as if the very spirit had fled from its body. With a final, deflated collapse, it fell back and vanished into the fiery lake below.

The Sunflower slowly opened his eyes. He was still alive. His brother in arms, Rosso—the heretic from Lalh-Ah Land—had thrown himself at him, shoving him out of harm's reach, just in time.

"I guess that takes care of them both," said his friend, who then turned to him angrily. "What is the matter with you, man? Are you trying to kill yourself?" he shouted, shoving the boy.

"I don't know. I guess, I thought that was the only way to make myself useful."

His friend pushed him again.

"You're not useful to anyone if you're dead, you idiot. Don't do that again."

C-Saw crawled towards them. She tapped on Roa's shoulders and pointed. A sad, worried look in her eyes made the Sunflower turn his head. Vesper was kneeling next to Theya, holding her hand. Her eyes opened slowly as they fixed on Roa. She smiled.

"You're going to be alright, Theya. Hang in there," said the boy.

She laughed, softly.

"No, I won't. Stop lying," she opened her now-crimson bathrobe, revealing a wound the size of a fist in the lower part of her abdomen. "The Shadow—he punched a hole straight through me," she said, coughing up blood. "You need to find better girlfriends," she said forcing out a chuckle.

"We can get more of that medicine from Tanoò. I'm already feeling better. You just need to hold on," the Earthling said.

She shook her head.

"The raccoon is gone too. He was struck—disappeared into the oil."

The Jumpers sat there in silence, unable to come up with any words. Roa looked around.

"Tanoò..." he murmured, his heart filling with pain as he remembered the animal's warmth on his belly. He cradled his head in his hands, the weight of the world pressing down on him as the agony around him mirrored the pain within. He then turned to the woman in the blood-soaked bathrobe. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this, Theya. This is my fault."

She shook her head again.

"My Compass led me to you. I'm a Free Woman. Nobody drags this gal anywhere." She took in a deep breath and said, "I should thank you. I finally got to see the end of this—wretched, status quo. My city is free—at last. I thought I'd never see the day. I stopped believing long ago—until you came along."

"Theya..."

She reached out and grabbed his hand. "It's alright. My heart is happy. I'm sure of it now. You really are the Sunflower." She looked at him with a defiant smile. "Give them hell. Make them all pay, boy." She took one deep, exhausted breath, as her words slowed down, and her voice grew faint. "I'm gonna go see mom and dad now—and my sister too."

Her hand released its grip on Roa's as the lake of fire continued to burn gently in the background.

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