THE ONE CALLED J

The Intensity Rises

Joshua could feel sweat breaking off his forehead, Terry too was sweating. Joshua could see it in his eyes; Terry was scared. He knew he didn't stand a chance on a one versus one with him. He was hoping for him to go save his friends.

"Terry!" Joshua gritted his teeth. "This will be the last time you escape me, pray we never meet again, it will be your last.  I, the J assure you of that," Joshua ends as his entourage fixed itself back fully. Joshua raced towards the explosives. "Those explosives are capable of taking at least half of Moscow, I have got to get it somewhere far away."

Terry was glad Joshua had left him to go save his friends. As fast as he could, he jumped into the shadow of one of the broken ice shards. Joshua's entourage began to punch the ground as fast as it could. It punched the ground so fast and hard he arrived at the Earth's core. As fast as the entourage could, it came back to the surface. The entourage quickly tied all the explosives along a long thin rope. It dashed towards the hole as it burrowed underground, Joshua not too far behind.

Joshua tried his best to keep his cool, it wasn't easy as if he wasn't fast enough, he and his comrades would die.

The entourage made it to about fifteen km from the earth's core, the timer had been remaining one nanosecond but by Joshua's perception, he felt an hour or so had passed, it was only a matter of time before it reached zero.

"It's now or never," Joshua sighs as his entourage threw the explosives away. Immediately, it did, Joshua heard a loud bang and the explosion was rising to where he was.

"There's no way I'd be able to make it up in time," Joshua thought to himself. "Lemme just hope my entourage can endure the damage."

Joshua's entourage appeared in front of him, Joshua mustering all his willpower and mental energy causes his entourage to blow towards the explosion preventing it from rising any further.

Joshua could feel his body sweating, this was the toughest thing he had done with his entourage but he couldn't relent. He didn't know the range of the explosion so it was best for him just to keep it around the Earth's core.

"This isn't working," Joshua gritted his teeth. "If my entourage exerts its fists fast enough, I should be able to generate enough force that will be capable of backfiring the explosion event," Joshua's entourage flexed its knuckles as it began to punch as fast as it could.

"ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE ODE!!!!!!!!" Joshua screamed as loud as he could. The explosion seemed like it was going to intensify but eventually, it was quelled. Joshua felt exhausted, his body too weak to move, his mind too weary to think. His entourage had vanished.

"This is what Dave and Max were talking about, if you exert your entourage too much without resting, you get tired," Joshua sighs as he felt his body falling rapidly towards the earth core.

Joshua disappeared, he found himself lying down beside Dave, Hendrickson, and Max. They had all recovered. Looking around the room for what Hendrickson could have used to switch positions with him, he realized his severed leg was missing.

Joshua would have made a snarky comment but he fell unconscious.

Terry appeared in Madame's room, he was still bleeding from the right leg, the action figure was still stuck in it but to his amazement, there were two more figures there; one was a tall man of about seven feet, jet-black hair, pale skin, and a scary facial disposition. The other was a shorter man of about six feet, uncombed brown hair, and a simple facial disposition.

"Andrey and Boris!" Terry was flustered. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I summoned them," came Madame's voice from her bed.

"But why?" Terry asked as he turned in her direction.

"Did you think I wouldn't find out about your little slip-up," Madame's voice didn't have the slightest tone of worry. "You aren't my only eyes out there. It will seem to me that capturing the remaining two Primordials won't be easy as the Eclipse one, that's why I am going to deploy all my forces at my lost brothers."

Madame ends as she raises two fingers to her forehead. "I am sending a telepathic broadcast to all of my devoted entourage-users around the world, the ones who aren't in Moscow are on their way here," she ends as she removes her fingers. "I will end this cycle of meaningless rebirth, I will bring order to this world of chaos, I will right my siblings' wrongs. I am going to win."

"By the way," the taller of the two men turn to Terry. "It was while we were looking into Adams's death that we discovered your f**k-up, though the kid is missing from the last place we saw him, I am guessing you have something to do with it."

"Boris, I ain't telling you shit."

"You see," Boris sighs. "I was never really asking," he said as he extends his right arm. Terry dropped to the ground, he could feel his blood rushing to his legs, his bones breaking.

"I can't betray Adams like this," Terry thought to himself. "Though I never considered him a friend or anything but we go way back, I know how much he suffered and labored over his cousin. Even though, he failed, I owe it to him at least to be there for Ralph, I can't tell these two evil shitheads where Ralph is, I just have to find a way to keep resisting, Boris will eventually do something stupid."

"Don't think about trying to summon your entourage," Boris had an indifferent expression as he bent down. "I had Andrey tie you with grey matter the moment you entered the room, you aren't a rookie so there's no need for me to explain to you what that means."

"You f*****g shithead!" Terry cries amidst pain.

"Is it me or is Terry's face missing something," the shorter man(Andrey) grins, motioning to his nose.

"Yeah," Terry smirks. "It's missing the scent of your Mama's vagina."

"Always so stubborn, though you are eventually going to tell us what we want," Boris had a cruel smile as he kicks Terry on his face sending him flying several miles backward. Terry was pinned helplessly to the ground as Boris walked over to him. "Your meager race should not have gotten independence, you should have remained slaves, that is where your place is."

"While your mother's place is on her knees, sucking my c**k," Terry replies him without missing a beat.

"That's it, it's time I put you in your place," Boris gritted his teeth as his entourage began to emerge from underneath the ground. "You should have never defiled me, to begin with."

"And your father should have put on a condom, if he did, the world would have one less i***t," Terry grins evilly at him while he thought. "Great, He's about to make the mistake."

"ENOUGH!!!" Madame's voice thundered around the entire room. Boris' partially emerged entourage had vanished. Terry got to his feet as he spat out blood, he was used to the racist treatment in Russia.

"Terry, do you have what they want?"

"I do," Terry replies. "But it's something I can't give."

"It's not in your place to decide what can or can not be given, that is left for the one in charge and last I checked, I occupy that role," Madame's voice was even more stern. "These two had informed me of the message beforehand, also, there's reward money of a hundred million dollars to whosoever brings me the two Primordials alive. These two are currently my only trustworthy sources in Russia and they want to claim the money, they request a favor for the information they gave me, and this Ralph that you have in your possession will do nicely."

"I w..." Terry was about to speak but the color of his eyes changed as his two knees dropped to the ground.

"Don't forget my ability, Terrence Brezhnev, to defile it is to deny your very existence, it's impossible, you will do as I say."

Joshua eventually got to his feet, they were sitting in a restaurant. Max sat opposite to him, he was eating a burger, Dave was adjacent to him eating salad while Hendrickson was yet to order for himself, the lines on his face had formed to show worry. "J," he begins. "Are you okay?"

"I am the J," Joshua mutters. "I am never just okay, I am always awesome."

"If you are. Order something, you must be famished, releasing your entourage for that long must have put a huge toll on you especially dispersing energy into your cranium, I am no Doctor but that action is unsafe."

"No s**t, Sherlock," Joshua says disapprovingly as he looked at the menu. "I will go with a cheeseburger."

"Alright," Hendrickson motions over for the waiter to come over, a short slim woman came over. She gazed upon each of the guys, she stared at Dave and Joshua the longest before returning her attention to Hendrickson. "I would take two of your cheeseburgers, please."

"Sure, anything for you," She smiles sweetly as she left.

"J, someone told me to give you this while you were sleeping," Dave called as he extends a paper to him, Joshua took the paper from him, opening it, he saw a message;

call me

7625282

"Why do I have a feeling it wasn't the only one I got," Joshua sighs.

"Actually, you had like eight, Max had about six but I know how much you hate typographical errors so I tossed them in the dust bin," Dave answers him as he sips from a cup.

"And how many did you have?" Joshua snickers.

"We aren't competing," Dave sighs as he drops the cup he was sipping from. "I am a bit down about Leon, I don't know how to feel, we are at Big burgers in case you are yet to notice, you said you wanted to be the one who did the interrogation, that's why we all waited for you to be awake."

"Is that why Max also seems down?"

"We lost a friend," Dave kept sighing as he took another sip. "I think he is justified to feel down, right now, all that just matters is getting Eva and saving Kronk, then getting out of here."

"You are talking about saving Eva and Kronk like we'd be done in thirty minutes or so," Joshua grins. "And they call me the haughty one.

"You don't understand," Dave sighs. "I ruminated on Max's words, I think it's a mistake we came here, we are right back to where we started, if not for my ability, you would have been crippled for your life, we could have all died and I have a feeling we haven't seen the worst of the entourage-users yet, this journey isn't worth it, we will go back home where it's safe. Madame wants us alive for some reason else Terry or that heat guy could have killed us before we even knew what's up. We can't beat her on her playing field, it's time we bring her to ours."

"I am sorely disappointed!" Joshua shouts as he got to his feet. "While I was asking you to come help me, did you actually think it was just gonna be a shounen anime ride where none of us would die due to power of friendship or we'd be able to talk the bad guy into being our friends the way Naruto does it, is that really what you thought the f**k was going to happen? This is the real world, Dave, wake the f**k up! People struggle and those who aren't strong enough die off."

"You could have died earlier today!" Dave screamed as he got to his feet. "And not just today, even yesterday when we faced that heat guy, any of us could have died, so don't you ever insult my resolve, you have no idea how hard this is to me, I didn't want to leave Sensei but I had to, just to find this Eva girl but now, I have realized this is a mistake, I lost a friend who's probably gone for all eternity over someone I might never even find, is it until it's remaining just you that you'd also see what I am seeing."

"You think there's no part of my mind that doesn't let me feel I made a mistake!" Joshua struggled to keep his tears from falling. "I have had nightmares of all of us dying, me failing to save Eva but I can't give up, I promised myself I would find her and my words are sacred. Every human quits or dies when they meet something that's beyond them but I am the J," Joshua motions to himself. "There's nothing beyond me and this journey is going to prove that, it will show everyone that I don't just talk, I also act."

"If that's the case," Dave sighs. "Then you will have to continue alone, I can't keep jeopardizing the lives of my friends stupidly, we can play this smarter, there's a way we should be able to lure Madame back home where we have the advantage."

"Luring is the p***y way of fighting!" Joshua gritted his teeth. "And the J is no p***y, I am going to find out where the f**k Madame is and pummel the s**t out of her for what she did to Leon, we owe him that at least, she f****d with me, it's time I f**k her too."

"I hope you do," Dave sighs as he left the table. "I hope I will be able to see you later," Dave ends as Hendrickson and Max stand up to their feet.

"I see y'all have already come to a conclusion," Joshua scoffs. "You are really just gonna leave me here, so much for friends."

"If you truly see yourself as our friend, you'd at least listen," Max sighs as he walks out, Dave and Hendrickson not falling too far behind.

"Dumbasses," Joshua mutters under his breath. "Now, I am going to have to save Eva alone, it wouldn't be much harder even with the fact that they aren't around, I am the J, I always find my way."

"So what do you say about his resolve?" He heard Hendrickson's voice before him.

"I'd say it's good enough," Dave smiles.

"I second that," came Max's voice.

Joshua couldn't help but smile as the shape of the three of them became visible.

"It wasn't too hard to sport I was put in an illusion, that was why I made my last comment," Joshua smiles while he thought. "I was suspicious they were trying to play that last prank on me when they put me in an illusion but this was pretty serious, the look on Dave's face, the expressions, reactions. It all felt real."

"I needed to know if you were broken from how you saw Leon die," Dave says. "I trust your mental strength, for you to be able to last that long with your entourage, you should have a good degree of mental fortitude, I saw how much you loved him in our battle with the heat guy, I couldn't move my body, the heat was that insane but you managed to push through your limits and help Leon, that was some deep level of love, I needed to know if that resolve was still there cause the only way we can win this is without a wavering will."

"That means I can count on you," Joshua says as he extends his right arm.

"Was just about to ask you the same thing," Dave grins as he extends his other arm. Joshua took the arm as he shook it lightly.

"Great," Hendrickson smiles warmly. "It's great to see we are all on the same page, I have to rush outside, I ordered a mobile home, it should be arriving any moment, I told them outside the restaurant."

"Don't take too long," Max says as Hendrickson walks towards the door.

Hendrickson came outside as he waited for his vehicle to arrive.

He looked around, the streets were crowded with people; some of them looking like they were in a hurry, school kids, and several other people.

Hendrickson couldn't help but feel a warm fuzzy feeling in his heart. "Those kids have no limit to what they can accomplish, the destiny of any coming age rests on the shoulders of the children of the previous age, I was raised wrongly and made many fatal mistakes, there's nothing I can do about my past but I am grateful for it as it was through it, I learned and I am who I am today.  I will ensure the children of today don't make the same mistakes I made yesterday so they will grow into better men and women," Hendrickson couldn't help but have the feeling that something was wrong. Cautiously, he turns as he looks around. The streets were empty.

"How is that possible?" Hendrickson thought to himself. "Before I got lost in my thoughts, there was a rough estimate of about three hundred and fifty people around, how did they all vanish?" He thought as his entourage materialized, his body cloaked in green miasma.

He was lucky he did that as immediately he did, he saw a fat teenager who was covered in yellow miasma, he was right beside him, and was eyeing him hungrily, there was a small entourage beside him. The teen(Ralph) was about to touch him but Hendrickson's entourage touched Hendrickson himself substituting him with a waste bin not too far away (Hendrickson had touched the waste bin earlier).

Ralph touched the bin but nothing happened, he looked up, there was a confused look on his face as he began looking around, his eyes settle on Hendrickson, he wore a simple expression as he walked towards him.

"He's a strange one, he doesn't seem dangerous and his entourage," Hendrickson fixed his eyes on the little entourage that kept walking with Ralph. "It's the smallest I have ever seen, he must be responsible for everything that took place around here, I don't know how his ability works, I am going to have to find out," Hendrickson looked up in the sky, many birds were descending but they appeared frozen in the atmosphere. He spots a group of pigeons that had settled on the ground, it was then that Hendrickson noticed that the ground was filled with litter (crumbs of chocolate bars, ice cream cones, sweets, and scones). Ralph was still walking closer towards him.

"I could swear that before I lost myself, this s**t wasn't on the floor," Hendrickson thought. He kept a cool head. "The only reason why I was not able to observe what he was doing with those people was cause he had covered himself in his entourage miasma and I hadn't, making myself perceive like the average being. If I hadn't activated my entourage and miasma." Hendrickson couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess I always had a bit of luck but to figuring this kid's ability, I would be able to know if facing him head-on will be advantageous, I do not doubt my entourage's offensive ability but it doesn't hurt to play safe."

Hendrickson's entourage dashed towards Ralph, Hendrickson not following too far behind. Ralph's entourage jumped towards him.

"WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY WEREY!!!!!" Hendrickson shouted as hard as he could as his entourage released a series of punches towards Ralph's entourage but to his surprise, the entourage didn't appear to take in any damage as it began to grow in size. It was now as big as his entourage, while Hendrickson was focused on him, he felt an arm touch his shoulder lightly, he looked behind and saw Ralph. The kid had managed to touch him, Ralph had a surprised look on his face as he had expected something to happen to Hendrickson now that he had touched him. Hendrickson jumped backward as he saw that Ralph was about to touch him again, his entourage at his side. He was about twelve meters from him, as fast as he could, Hendrickson removed his blazers shirt, the part where Ralph had touched, there was a squashed bar of chocolate there, looking at the ground and his jacket. Hendrickson couldn't help but feel dread watch over him, he had figured out the teen's ability.