THE ONE CALLED J

Cold VS Hot

Joshua could feel his entire skin peeling, his blood boiling, and his bones melting but he couldn't stop, Leon was still yet to retract his entourage to his position.

"This pain doesn't matter," Joshua mutters to himself. "The J always protects his own!!!!" Joshua shouts aloud as his entourage readied its fists.

"ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE!!!!!!!!!" Joshua screamed at the top of his lungs as his entourage began to deal a barrage of punches on Adams's entourage. Adams even though was a good distance away began to dance as if the hits were touching him.

"ODDDEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!" Joshua screamed finally as his entourage connected its fist to Adam's entourage head sending it flying several miles back. Turning to Leon's direction. "No honor hath a man ever received as The J has bestowed upon you, I called you my own, it's the greatest achievement any mortal tongue can brag about, now go beat that fucktard!!!"

Joshua collapses to the ground.

Immediately, the first layer of his skin had burnt out completely.

Leon tried his hardest to fight back the tears from falling, clenching his right fist, he turns in Adams' direction, his entourage had materialized at his right.

"J and the rest will eventually die of heatstroke," Leon thought to himself. "And freezing them won't exactly remove the burn effects of this fire entourage, I have to take the battle away from here," Leon thought as he looked around. "But the casualty will be insane, J intentionally cloaked everyone around with his miasma meaning even though he never admits it, he actually cares about human life, it's what he even did back at the bar, I wouldn't want to hurt my first friend, that's why I am gonna do this," Leon runs as fast as he could towards Adams, his entourage partially immersed in him.

"I see your resolve has strengthened," Adams had a cautious look on his face. "I guess luck is on your side or maybe it's just the power of friendship, either way, make the same mistake and you won't be able to recover."

"I always asked Kronk," Leon kept running as fast as he could. "What does it mean for a man to be strong?"

Adams' entourage ran towards Leon who kept racing towards him, his entourage at his left. "Is it when he can easily overpower others? He told me NO."

Adams' entourage raised a fist as if to punch Leon but Leon bent sharply. "Is it when others respect his power, he told me NO."

Leon giddies himself up as he punched the entourage's jaw causing it to fly backward. "Then Kronk told me, a man is strong because he has something to protect, something that he believes in, something that makes him keep pushing on no matter the odds, something that drives a man to continually be better than he was, that's who a strong man is, one who strives to do more, one who never gets tired of consistency."

Adams landed on the ground, he coughed out blood. From the ground where he was, a glacier of ice with a pointy tip suddenly emerges towards him. Magma spurted out from the area surrounding the glacier as it shot towards Adams knocking him away before the glacier could impale him.

"That's my plan," Leon thought to himself. "It worked."

He ends as he touched the ground, it turned to an ice slide as he glid down the linear ice path continually freezing the ground as he makes his way towards Adams.

Adams got to his feet, his face twisted in horror as he noticed Leon making his way towards him, quickly, Magma began to spurt up from underground at Leon's location but Leon kept evading as he made more ice linear paths and would consistently jump to the newly-made icy path preventing himself from getting burnt.

Soon, Leon was almost upon him. Adams took the flaming dagger he had with him, he threw it towards Leon's direction but Leon stretched his hand towards the ground, an ice pole suddenly materialized in his palms, its other end connected to the ground, he quickly slid down avoiding the flaming dagger which was thrown towards him.

"I admire what you are doing for your cousin," Leon said as he got to the ground, he was just about fifty centimeters from Adams' position. "I never knew the rest of my family other than my mother and father, if it's possible to have worse parents than I did, I am yet to know but I have to protect my friends and save the one who was there for me when no one else was, I am sorry our paths had to cross, don't take this personally," Leon sighs as his entourage dashed towards Adams. As it was about to reach him, it stopped, Leon immediately collapsed to the ground, he began to cough out blood, he looked at his stomach, he had been impaled with the flaming dagger that Adams threw earlier.

Adams had attached a string towards it, it had curled around the ice pole that Leon had created and then flung itself directly inside Leon's stomach.

"Was just about to tell you the same thing," Adams sighs, there was sorrow on his face. "I know how it feels losing a loved one and trying to get them back, it was the only reason why I escaped after being abducted by the Mir, I didn't care about my life but Ralph's. I knew I had to be there for me, it's why I struggled to stay awake even though I was shot with enough tranquilizer shots that could put Mother Russia to sleep but if I die now, Ralph would have no one to look out for him."

"I guess we are both strong by Kronk's logic, we have something that keeps us going, shapes us to get better," Leon ends with a laugh.

"Yeah," Adams snickers back. "After I take Ralph to a safe location, I promise to find Kronk, whosever he is, I will tell him what a great man you are."

"You don't need to," Leon smiles back at him. "But I am going to be Ralph's new guardian."

As Leon spoke, quills made of ice shoot in every direction from the ice pole, Adams was hit in multiple places around his head, chest, and stomach.

"When I created that ice pole," Leon begins. "I had designed it to shoot out quills in exactly thirty seconds by my perception of time, I knew I couldn't fight you blindly, you proved yourself in this battle to be extremely resourceful so I had to give you a surprise, I had to make you think you had won, I am really sorry," Leon says as he dropped his head, tears were falling freely. "I really wished we didn't have to be enemies, I wished tragedy didn't befall you, I wished Ralph's parents didn't die, I am sure they were a loving bunch."

"His mother, Rebecca was my younger sister," Adams smiled at him as tears too fell from his eyes. "She's the sweetest person I ever knew and now, I am going to join her, keep the end of your promise, kid, take care of Ralph."

"I will," Leon cried and as he did, Adams collapsed in his pool of blood, his entire body began to freeze and in moments, it had transformed to snowflakes floating around the atmosphere.

Joshua's miasma had eventually worn off. It no longer cloaked anything again, it had fallen apart due to exhaustion.

Joshua, Dave, and Hendrickson had already passed out, they were very close to death, Max on the other hand was completely lifeless.

"That bastard," Terry gritted his lower lip as he watched from the shadow of Joshua's car. "The i***t must have taken it easy on Leon, there's no way an experienced entourage user would lose to a f*****g teenager," Terry sighs as he tries to calm himself down. "Nothing good comes from being just reactive, it's a good thing I was here for the battle, I know how to plan my next move."

As he said that, he and his entourage began to jump from a shadow to another, away from the area.

A few hours later, Joshua woke up, he found himself strapped to a bed, there was an IV connected to his right arm, he looked to his right, he saw Dave on the bed, he was still unconscious, he looked hideous, he was missing the first layer of his skin in several places and Joshua could spot some of his skeletal system showing even on his face.

"And I thought Freddy was ugly," Joshua mutters as he rested back on his bed.

"If you think he's hideous, you need to look in a mirror," came Hendrickson's voice at his left. Joshua turned in Hendrickson's direction, he too had a messed up face, with bones sticking out of his face, back flesh and raw tissue showing in several places, and one of his eye sockets had been burnt beyond recognition, he too laid down on the bed, their legs were too damaged that neither could afford to stand.

"Tell me mine isn't as bad as yours."

"I could," Hendrickson smiles (usually, Hendrickson's smile was a sight to see but with a messed up face like that, he looked like a cannibal who had spotted his next target) Joshua shifted on his bed as he was terrified of that smile. "But that'd be a lie."

"Then I better wake him up right now," Joshua mutters as his entourage suddenly materialized at his left-hand side. "Goddammit!" Joshua cusses. "The dumbass doctors kept his bed more than two meters away from my location."

"I don't think it's doctors who arrange the beds in this room," Hendrickson grins slyly. "I thought The supposed wisest being in all of creation would know."

"Shut the f**k up!" Joshua growls at him. "Use your entourage to bring Dave to your side and wake him the f**k up, I can't look like Frankenstein's younger brother for the rest of my life."

"Aww," Hendrickson smiles at him. "But I gotta say, it's the best look on you."

"Hehehehehe," Joshua has a look of sarcasm. "Very funny."

"I know," Hendrickson grinned as his entourage materialized in his left-hand side, it touched the table beside his bed.

As soon as it did, the table vanished and its place was now Dave, still sleeping. Hendrickson's entourage tapped him lightly, Dave eventually opened his eyes as he woke up.

Immediately, Dave woke up, his entourage suddenly appeared before him, it touched him restoring his body to normalcy. It moved over to Hendrickson, touching him and restoring him to health.

"Great!" Joshua sighs. "Now, my turn."

"Nope," Dave smiles evilly at him. "You are the J, aren't you? The one who can do all by himself, the one who always wins."

"I don't like where this is going," Joshua mutters, he had a frightened look on his face.

"Just like you found a way to cheat in that race and beat me, why don't you find a way to heal yourself?"

"Don't be a dumbass," Joshua now had an evil grin on his face. "If you think the J is going to apologize, then you are badly mistaken. I, The J makes no mistake therefore I never apologize."

"Suit yourself, fam," Dave waved at him as he turns to move away. Hendrickson had gotten to his feet.

"Later kiddo," Hendrickson smiles at him. "You have no idea how glad I am nothing is definitely not gonna go down between you and my Jojo."

"Dumbasses!!!!" Joshua gritted his teeth as he looked around, he then noticed something, on the wall directly facing him was a poster.

On it was written. "YOU, YOUNG DISRESPECTFUL BRAT!!!

WHAT YOU DID AT THE RACE, NOT COOL! APOLOGIZE TO DAVE."

"That dumbass Max," Joshua got to his feet immediately. "He put me in a f*****g illusion."

As he spoke, the entire illusion crumbled, he was still in a hospital but standing before him were Hendrickson, Max, and Dave who were laughing to their heart's content. Leon was with them but he didn't partake in their celebration, he was brooding in a corner.

"You fell for that, didn't you?" Max grinned.

"Thought you said you was cool, that was totally not necessary," Joshua said in Dave's direction.

"I am cool," Dave grinned back at him. "I knew about your personality before I asked to be friends."

"Then whose idea?" Joshua mumbles.

"Mine, young chap," Hendrickson grinned at him. "I thought you might need to learn a lesson or two, what you did to Dave back at the race wasn't cool at all, you have to learn to say sorry."

"The J already knows all," Joshua has his haughtiest smile on. "He does not need to learn."

"God, this is hard," Hendrickson sighs, obviously exasperated.

"When did you guys arrange all this?" Joshua asks.

"We all woke up not long before," Dave narrates. "Leon brought us here, it was the nearest hospital, I was the first to wake up, Max was clinically dead but my entourage defies the impossible," he ends the last part with a smirk. "I restored him, restored even Leon who was real injured, then Henry, I even restored you but you were still asleep, it was then that Hendrickson brought up that idea."

"Aight," Joshua says as he paces around for a while. "It's still daytime, let's interrogate that heat guy and find the nearest big burger joints, we have got to find Eva."

"I know the word considerate doesn't exactly exist in your dictionary," Dave sighs as he motions over to Leon. "But this battle sorta took a toll on our friend, we won't be able to do anything for the rest of the day, Leon needs to have time to grieve."

Dave would have resurrected Adams if he had the chance but his ability demanded physical contact with an object for it to work and unfortunately, Adams's body had become snowflakes that floated in the sky so there was nothing he could do.

"Only the weak grieve," Joshua says. "Your entourage has the ability to change anything to anything it became or will become at any point in time, can't you just restore Leon's memories to before the heat guy."

"It's like saying why didn't I just restore your memories to the time before Eva," Dave sighs. "A man's body can be messed with but never the mind, I could have always disarrayed your thoughts those times I wanted to time-restore you but that would be wrong, in your mind is your thoughts, memories, beliefs, and ideals, it's those that makes every man who he is, those are things that should never be messed with unless the man is beyond repair, Leon is gonna grieve and when he's finished, he will be stronger than be was before, then, we continue our journey, I can't lose a friend I can see just because of one I might not eventually end up rescuing," Dave ends as he moves towards Hendrickson. "Eva is definitely in Moscow, a few hours wouldn't change much."

Joshua sighs as he collapsed back to his hospital bed.

Dave, Max, and Hendrickson were discussing, Joshua sighed as he remembered when Eva was gone, he hated crying, he felt crying signifies weakness but he was passionate about the things he devoted himself to. He had devoted himself to rescuing Eva no matter the cost so all he was passionate about was just saving her. Dave's last words rang in his ears.

"I can't lose a friend I can see just because of one I might not eventually end up rescuing."

"No," he comforts himself. "I am going to find Eva and rescue her. Not even God can stop me."

"So we will need a place to rest for the night," Hendrickson says as he puts down his phone, he had excused himself from the conversation to make a call. "I made a call to my agent, he contacted several hotels, he said Pokosti Na Tulsoy will be able to fit our needs."

"You mean Pogosti Na Tulskoy," Dave says.

"Yeah, that's exactly what he said, I have problems pronouncing Russian words."

"Sensei made me learn multiple languages, said it was very necessary for my life as the crescent Primordial," Dave answers.

"Okay then," Hendrickson says. "We will be on our way soonest."

"Pogosti isn't five-class rated," Joshua had his most demeaning look on his face. "We aren't going to sleep there for the night."

"In case, you haven't noticed," Hendrickson was quite annoyed. "Hotels don't exactly give rooms to people to spend the night for free, p*****t is required to be in one, I have children and a wife to take care of, also, I am running a company, we can't just spend frivolously."

"Relax with your yapping, old man," Joshua smiles.

"You rude brat!" Max bit his lower lip.

"I am the one who's gonna pay, any expenses can be spared just so we'd have the best, after all, y'all walk with the best," Joshua grins as he turns at Dave. "You ain't the only one who learned Russian, while I was still in the orphanage home, we used to watch lots of shows mostly Russian, I learned their language from just hearing them talk and the subtitles showing on the screen, I speak it even more fluently than some Russians now."

"I don't understand why you are bragging," Max had an indifferent look on his face.

"Just spoke with one of the nurses, she recommended Hotel Lotte, said it was the most amazing place she has ever been to in her life. She had her honeymoon there, We're gonna be in the most expensive rooms there tonight."

"And how did you settle payments?" Hendrickson was quite amazed.

"With a good old-fashioned transfer," Joshua replies to him. "Now, let's go."

The five left the hotel in utter silence. Leon was still by his side, he was quiet and unhappy. Max had tried to comfort him during the travel in Joshua's vehicle but Leon snubbed him.

After about five minutes, they came to the front of the hotel, it was quite big and exquisite. Joshua wanted to be the one to handle everything but Hendrickson advised against it with the reason, it's not every day a sixteen-year-old boy comes to the hotel to pay for five of their most expensive rooms when he's not with a date or his family.

Hendrickson had informed the receptionist the four kids were his children and his wife wasn't able to be with them because she missed her flight which the receptionist wasn't in a haste to believe.

Eventually, Hendrickson was able to woo the receptionist into no longer getting skeptical as she gave them the keys to their rooms.

After a while, each of them had settled into their rooms, they had agreed to begin the search for Eva the next day.

As Dave was about to enter his room, he heard Joshua's voice behind him.

"My man, what's up?" Joshua asks.

"A bit stressed," Dave turns towards him. "How about you?"

"I am The J," Joshua grins with his proudest smile. "I am always awesome."

"That's nice to hear," Dave turned as he held the handle of his door. "I appreciate your gesture of getting us rooms but if you don't mind, I am quite tired, time restore puts a huge toll on my mental strength, I am exhausted."

"I have never been exhausted so I can't relate."

"Alright then, see you tomorrow," Dave turns the knob of the door.

"Just wanted to say sorry about the race earlier, didn't know it was gonna piss you off like that, don't be pissed, man."

"As I said earlier," Dave smiles back at him. "I am cool but I do appreciate you swallowing your pride and saying sorry, I am sure it wasn't easy for you."

"Nothing is," Joshua grins back at him as he moved away; towards his room. "So tomorrow then."