The Dream Shifter

Chapter 147

"Bastard! I won't be beaten!" He clutched his wounded shoulder feeling the blood wrapping around his fingers and down his forearm. They were beating him. He was the boss and they were still beating him. The kid that had been his toy was beating him. It was wrong. "You're mine! I will see your beautiful AGONY!"

Yuki and Haruo eyes had suddenly widened in shock as they felt what it seemed like a semi-truck colliding with them as an invisible force. It blasted away Yuki's energy armor sending him tumbling backwards. Haruo could only dig his feet in as he was dragged through the earth forcibly until he was far enough away. "What's this force and pressure?" While he struggled to keep his balance he focused back towards Katsu seeing his tiger being flung apart into dust at a swirling mass of wind that surrounded Katsu. In each passing moment it seemed to only get stronger and wilder growing into the sky. A tornado formed around Katsu responding to his rage lashing out with tendrils of wind that licked and kicked at the earth as they wove their way to Haruo. One of the green tendrils grazed passed Haruo and sent him flying through the dirt dropping him only a few meters away from Yuki.

The gale force winds did not cease with Yuki struggling to pull himself up. "His wind's too strong! He's been pushed to the limit. His power's responding to his desperation! His power's increasing with such force that it's creating a tornado! I can't even dampen the force anymore!" Another surge of wind pushed him back further still holding on to what was left of his armor. "Damn! How's he getting even stronger?! This isn't supposed to be the way it works! Villains don't get new strength in the middle of a fight! How are we supposed to beat him now?!" Yuki paused for a moment as he realized what he was doing. 'Why am I doing the sideline exposition?! I'm supposed to be the main character aren't I? Damn it!'

Katsu's laughter could be heard through the freight train roaring of the wind as though he was finding the perfect frequency to broadcast his voice to be heard clearly. "So much power! Yes! Nothing can stop me now! I will see your suffering now!" Dirt exploded around the tornado as the wind shot out blasts of compressed wind from outer layers. The tendrils lashed out torturing Haruo with being throwing and tossed about like a doll. "No one can surpass my power!" Katsu began to laugh again enjoying the sight that he had of Haruo.

"SAKI DROP KICK!!" yelled a voice that nearly ripped the heavens in two.

Yuki could not help but sound embarrassed hearing that almost unable to believe it. 'Saki drop kick? Seriously?! Have we lost all creditability already!?'

An instant later there was a streaking blur of color, if paused for a moment was someone launched in the middle of a two hundred meter long propelled drop kick, that rampaged through the earth leaving only a trench behind divided with such force shattering the wind. The tornado exploded into a faint breeze as Katsu was seen flying away with the bone crushing echo of the impact that he received leaving everyone that heard it blue in the face. Even as the dirt was settling back down like rain Saki appeared before Yuki holding an annoyed and disappointed expression. She hauled him up by his robes so that they were face to face. "What do you think you're doing fighting?! And why didn't you tell Ayumi and me about it!? Don't you remember our promise!?"

Yuki had lost all of the strength that was in his body and his power quickly faded with him restoring the neighborhood. They were fortunate enough to be in the middle of a nearby street a couple blocks from the school, but on the opposite side of where they had been. "I-I'm injured right now, Saki…"

She shook him a little throwing a bit of blood about frustrated that he was not taking what she was saying seriously. "I know you're injured! You could have been fine if you had told us! I thought you agreed not to do things alone!"

"Slight miscalculation…they were just some normal street punks I thought… If I had known they'd have super powers I would have brought you… But oh…I'm feeling really lightheaded all of a sudden…" Yuki started to go a little limp in Saki's hold.

"Yuki don't you run away from me while I'm yelling at you!" Saki was forced to set him back down in the grass as she realized that he was in more danger than she first though. She turned about and grabbed Ayumi by the back of her dress and held her out in front of Yuki. "Heal him!"

Ayumi flailed about a little taken aback by suddenly being pulled like some tool from a bag. "I'm not a machine! I don't treat me like one!"

"Come on!" she snapped like she was getting upset with a broken instrument. She absentmindedly jerked Ayumi forward and back trying to figure out how she worked.

"Hey!" Ayumi whimpered becoming flustered and embarrassed with how she was being treated. " Stop that! Let me down!" She was dropped on the ground carelessly and nearly on her face. Ayumi rubbed her back side feeling a little shame for her pride being totally ripped to shreds by Saki's rough tomboy attitude. However, she focused herself back on Yuki before her and summoned up her field to start the healing.

After a minute of healing Yuki opened his eyes and leaned up to look at the two girls. "Ugh…thanks…Ayumi…"

"…Yuki…" Ayumi had become very quiet in front of Yuki looking almost lost in thought. However, Saki soon interjected into the moment and picked up Ayumi once more. Her arms began to flail once more as Saki started walking with her. "H-Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

"You've got another person to heal."

"I can walk on my own! I told you before I'm not a machine to be pointed!"

Yuki could not help but sweat a little in embarrassment seeing the two. He forced himself to turn his focus back to what he had to do. A new field was released sending out a soothing and healing touch to everyone that needed it. He knew that Ayumi could deal with Haruo, but there were innocents as well as g**g members injured that he would not be able to find on his own. 'The very least I can do is give you back your health after everything that I've done…'

Once everything was settled by Yuki and Haruo was standing back on his own feet once more the four teenagers gathered. The fairy had returned only recently have been blasted away by the strong winds. Yuki stared at Haruo silently hoping that he would get something out of him before having to talk. Unfortunately, Haruo remained his usual quiet self. "Want to share some lunch back at school?"

Haruo turned away from Yuki and started walking away. He came to a sudden stop after a few steps. His head tilted back to Yuki. "Perhaps tomorrow…thank you…" The brief words were all that he had for Yuki and then departed down the street.

Saki stepped out in front of Yuki staring down at the disappearing Haruo. Her face narrowed and turned to a bit of a pout. "That was a little rude…"

"It's alright!" smiled Yuki, "He's got a lot to think about."

"Huh? Did something happen?"

"Nothing much!" Yuki started walking back towards the school forcing Ayumi and Saki to catch up on their own. When they reached the school block and the students began to gather around with questions Yuki remained back. He grabbed Ayumi's wrist to stop her from continuing on. His expression was serious and pensive like a heavy weight was placed upon him. "I'll have your answer by the end of the week…"

Afternoon at the school construction grounds was catching a little dust blowing out with the wind from the beams being drilled and pounded into place. The noise echoed through the blocks breaking the otherwise calm still that continued to permeate through the neighborhood. Construction on the school was coming along smoothly now that all of the debris had been removed and was being converted back into new supplies to rebuild the broken parts of the school. Nearly half of the school was forced to be knocked down according to the engineering intelligence that Yuki and Ayumi had created.

It was coming close to the end of the week and the progress on the school had everyone very hopeful. There were still several classrooms that needed to be given walls, being only beams and supports. Most of the classrooms further way from the damage had been the first repaired and were being finished up by smaller worker machines that Ayumi controlled. A couple days of work still remained on it until the school could be returned to working order, though the mayor still insisted on a city inspector to ensure the safety of the building before classes could resume. Which was certainly an understandable request given the unbelievable nature of their powers.

Since the clean up outside had been completed the number of volunteers had been reduced. Those that remained helped out in the opposite wing of the school that had already been fixed cleaning up all of the dust and debris that had fallen (they kept that a secret from the adults). There was also the mess that the earthquake had caused with anything that was on tables or shelves requiring a lot of clean up.

Yumi was still helping out, though against her brother's will. He had wanted her to stay in bed and rest after the fainting spell that she had and how worried he had been over her nearly dying. She insisted on returning though after a day of staying at home but to compromise with Yori she kept to doing only small tasks that were not strenuous on her. It meant that she helped with cleaning and sometimes moving the odd broken item to the trash outside. It had just happened to be one of those runs that she was making to the dumpster to empty a box of shattered chemistry vials and beakers.

Chapter 86 – Longing Thoughts and Heavy Thoughts

She turned back around from the dumpster holding the box gently in front of her and looked over to the tent. After the first few days someone had donated a tent for the food and a place to rest. Since lunch was already finished all that was left was snacks and cups with canisters of tea, juice and water depending on the preference. "I haven't had anything to drink for a while and brother might want something. He's been working so hard." It had been decided for Yumi then that she was heading to the tent before going back inside.

There were three girls and two boys running things helping to serve those that were resting. They were unable to help with the work so they offered their aid in what way they could to repay those working so hard. Kaede was one of the girls helping out and Yumi went up to her feeling a little more comfort speaking to her. Her approach was seen by Kaede before she even reached the protection of the tent. She waved out to Yumi calling her over. "Hey Yumi! Are you busy?"