The Red Retrieval Chapter 11: Outmatched

The portal appeared behind Liam, who increasingly became concerned about his allies. He quickly tapped his feet, stroked his mask, and wondered how long they're taking. He tried not to think too much, but he thought more and more. What if they never found their way in the base? What if they were too late? What if they didn't make it out?

Before he could even worry more, a hand touched his shoulder. He turned around and swung a fist at his "opponent".

"OW!", wailed the man, "What was that for? It's me! BYRD!".
"What? Byrd?", asked Liam.
"Yeah! We're back. Lord Dynamo's safe now."
"Oh good. I actually thought you guys didn't make it."
"The only bad thing is that he hasn't woken up yet. I dunno, but I feel like he's in a coma or something."
"Place him down. I want to see what's wrong."

Byrd placed the unconscious Dynamo on the ground. Liam crouched down to see what was wrong with him. He seemed to be in some sort of coma as Byrd guessed before. Liam could still hear his faint breathing coming from his nose. He opened Dynamo's eyes.

"Well?", said Byrd.
"I actually don't know what I'm trying to do here.", replied Liam, "Have you tried slapping him in the face?".
"No?", Byrd was confused by the question, "Why'd you ask?".
"Just try slapping him now. We'll see what happens."
"Okay...", said Byrd even though he felt hesitant.

He then knelt down and had his right arm out. In a simple swing, he power-slapped the consciousness back into Dynamo.

...

Nothing happened. No reactions. Just straight up silence.

"... Dynamo. Please... Wake u-", Byrd was interrupted.

Before he can finish his sentence, he was punched and sent to another tree. Everyone looked at the damage that was caused, and looked back at the man.

"Don't you dare slap me again!", angrily warned Dynamo.
"DYNAMO!", they all cheered except for Byrd, who was already knocked out.

Not including Liam and Amber, they all hugged him tightly, knowing that they missed him. The Red Man, now calmed down, felt content. He felt a few tears dampen his slightly torn shirt, and his damaged jacket.

"Did you know how much we all missed you?!", sobbed Setuh.
"WE ALL DID SO MUCH!", cried X.
"WE'RE HAPPY THAT YOU'RE BACK!", happily exclaimed Saike.
"... Thank you... all of you...", Dynamo said as he embraced the hugs.

"Oh... god... my f*cking head...", groaned a dizzy Byrd as he tried to rub the pain out of his face, "Lord Dynamo! Ow...".

His head was spinning round and round and round. He tried to get his head in the game. Once his vision became clear, he saw someone creeping behind Amber. White claws. Black hood... Silhouette!

"Amber! Watch ou-", he said before getting kicked in the head.

Amber, alerted by the sound, turned around, and saw Silhouette about to slash her down. She had no time to react, but before she could be harmed, Liam stepped in the way, and took the hit.

Holy crap... Those recent lines almost sound like a poem!

Anyways, the claws dug deep into a part of Liam's skin before emerging back out. Liam retaliated by upper-cutting the enemy into the air. Silhouette was sent crashing against a few branches of a tree. Ignoring this, he made a perfect land on the ground, before sprinting towards his powered victims. Liam looked at X, and nodded at him. X, thinking what Liam was thinking, burst out fire in his hands. Liam copied X, and stood beside him. With hands which aimed at Silhouette, the two prepared. Fire came gushing out, and charged at Silhouette, burning down everything else that made contact. By the time it touched him, an explosion covered the area, and blew our heroes away.

Most of the battlefield turned dry due to the explosion. Trees were crippled, flowers were blackened, the grass had abandoned their bodies. Most of all, there wasn't a hint of the villain. The group, now recovering, stood back, and took a few deep breaths. Setuh looked at the mentor and his student.

"That... was devastating...", she admitted, flabbergasted.
"Yeah. I know. But I believe it killed him.", considered X.
"Don't be so sure, child.", denied a voice from behind.

The seven looked behind them just to see Silhouette, unscathed, sitting on a strong enough branch of a tree. Saike unsheathed his Kuroba. Amber revealed her spear. Fire reappeared in X's hands. Liam cracked his knuckles. Byrd and Setuh prepared themselves, while Dynamo sat back. Even though he had just woken up from his deep slumber, he still felt weakened from the hits he had taken when he was held prisoner.

"Marvelous! Truly marvelous! I congratulate you all once again!", crazily cheered Silhouette as he got up, and clapped his hands again.

"If I'm right, then one of my hydras chomped the upper half of you off.", calculated Saike.
"Then, we burned you to a crisp!", exclaimed X, "How the hell did you survive all of that?".
"Oh... well... let's just say that time paradoxes can be a little bit of a jerk to some people.", explained Silhouette, as he hopped down.
"You... control time?", Amber attempted to guess.
"Not really. I only possess one ability that is related to time. And that is "The Clones from The Clock". Once I die, a clone of me appears and takes my place. That clone becomes the full-on me. I get to choose which time and which location to go in. And huzzah! I am reborn!".
"I'm hoping that there's a limit to that, right?", asked Liam.
"Of course. Time isn't always a fair concept. I usually have eleven extra clones to keep me alive. Two of them are dead, but that's because I was holding back. Luckily, the amount of the clones I have recharges itself back to eleven every day."
"Impossible! Not one man should be capable have an ability of time. Not one! How did you even get that power?!", shouted Dynamo.
"That's the thing. I didn't receive them. I was born with them."
"Born? That... that doesn't even make sense! What do you mean you were born with that? You don't just magically get a power of time!", argued Setuh.
"Ohohoho! I am deeply amused by your intelligence, Setuh Carap. But, your thought is proven to be wrong!".
"Whatever! At this point, I don't even care what powers you wield against us! We're beating you today, right now!", arrogantly said Byrd.

He viciously stretched himself to Silhouette, and attacked him. Although he was quick, his punches and kicks were somehow predictable according to Silhouette, who was dodging every move. To counter Byrd, Silhouette took a few more steps backwards and grabbed one of the blue man's legs. His claws gripped onto the leg, as Silhouette lifted him up, and swung him around. Then, he hurled him to a tree, slightly damaging his head.

The rest of the team swooped in, and engaged with the masked threat, while Dynamo, in the back, sat on a log to watch the whole fight unfold. Amber kept stabbing. Saike kept slicing. The others kept punching and kicking. Unable to dodge, Silhouette still managed to survive as he blocked every hit.

"Ladies! Please! One at a time!", rudely joked Silhouette as he avoided some other hits.

He strongly backhand-slapped X to the floor, and roundhouse-kicked Setuh. The three gods were left, as they spread out and surrounded Silhouette. Looking around, the high leader smiled behind his mask, interested in what the three were about to do.

"Hydra! Now!", Saike called upon his heads.
"Time to let loose!", Liam encouraged himself as he fills his hands up with chaos energy.
"Okay! Let's do it!", Amber said to herself as holy light appeared in her hands.

The hungry Hydra heads all rushed towards Silhouette. However to their surprise, he went into one of the heads, and ripped it out. The remaining heads attacked, but were also ripped apart. Balls of light were shot towards Silhouette, who used the heads as a barrier. Even though they only destroyed the heads, their impact sent Silhouette stumbling back. Behind him was Liam, who was about to finish him off with some chaos energy. But as the Iqor God began to swing a punch, Silhouette pointed his index finger at him.

"Hidden Gem Technique...", he mumbled as the fist touched the fingertip, "Hell's Giant."

The finger glowed like the rising sun, and burned a bit of Liam's hand. The two were then caught in a large explosion. Liam was sent rolling away, while Silhouette crashed against a tree. Burns marks were easily seen on Liam's body. Some parts of his clothing were cooked.

"Liam!", shouted X.
"I'm fine!", replied Liam.

Meanwhile, Saike and Amber were getting their asses kicked. Saike was about to cut Silhouette in half but missed. Amber attempted to stab him at the back but she missed. What's going on? Are they really tiring themselves out? Maybe this guy is something else...

"What's the matter Amber?", scoffed Silhouette as he punched Amber in the face, "You seem to be lacking."
"Shut... up!", puffed Amber as she struggled to fight at the same pace of her peak.
"And as for you, God of Blood, your style seems to be the same since I last saw you."
"That's the thing, clown face. We're holding back.", spat Saike.

He was then stabbed in the stomach by Silhouette's claws. Amber from behind was about to impale him, but then she was stabbed in the stomach too. Blood fell down from their injuries as they realised that they shouldn't have held back.

"That's a shame then. I was actually looking forward to see your true powers...", he spitefully said as he turned his claws around the bellies like a drill, making the pain a bit more unbearable.
"BLARGH!", they both spluttered an ounce of blood out.

"AMBER! SAIKE!", screamed Byrd in horror.

The two fell on their knees before having their heads bashed together. But don't worry, they're not dead.

"You bastard!", scorned Setuh as she ran to Silhouette, "Hidden Gem Technique: God's Hand!".

With her right hand out, she sent a powerful, large shock wave headed his way. Unfortunately, Silhouette had another trick up his sleeve.

"Hidden Gem Technique: Gehennom's Supergiant.", he quietly talked as he pointed a largely shining finger at Setuh.

The shine turned into a burn as it sprung out of his finger, and soared to Setuh. The shock-wave wasn't strong enough to outlast the sensation for the short projectile easily passed through it. The range wasn't fast and long enough to hit Silhouette as he back-flipped away. At the same time, the short, fast, burning star reached Setuh, and blew up into an even much larger explosion.

"SETUH!!!", shrieked both of her brothers.

When the explosion faded away, a well-harmed Setuh laid on the floor, burning up. An insanely joyful Silhouette walked to the toasted Observian. He looked at her with even more unseen joy than before. He raised his left boot which had short spikes at its bottom.

"Don't hurt her!", Byrd slammed into Silhouette with X and Liam following.
"Ooh! More fun!", he cheered as he tripped back.
"X! Liam!".
"Got it!", they loudly answered as the three jumped Silhouette.

There was still hope left. As long as these three kept fighting, Silhouette won't stand a chance... or will he?

Liam and X gave the man their fists of fury. This time, he wasn't avoiding them. He strangely laughed as he was getting beaten up. He was finally given an uppercut to the chin by Liam, who launched Silhouette into yet another tree. Byrd jumped to finally finish him off. That was until he got close to him, he got stabbed near his vital organs... by... a sword?

"... what?", Dynamo was in a surprise as he saw it.

It looked slightly similar to one of those kitchen knives that are used at humanly homes. After vaulting the sword out, Silhouette stood up and clawed Byrd in the stomach, just like how he did with Saike and Amber. After a little while, he put his claw out and punched Byrd in the face, knocking him out.

The penultimate opponents, X and Liam, were left. X stood in front of the masked man, while Liam stood behind him. It seemed more like a close-range stand off. With anger, X gritted his teeth. Liam closed and hardened his fists even more.

"X...", growled Liam, creating an aura of chaos energy around him.
"Right.", understood X as he empowered himself further with his energy.

Silhouette looked around him, and observed the two with an intent to defeat them. He put his sword down. His cockiness grew with his power. His claws grew. His muscles contracted. His shadows moved quick. His heart beat like it was chasing something. He crouched down, and struck a wild pose...

The fight has begun!

The two dashed to their opponent with willpower as powerful as a pack of lions. They used the method they had used just a moment ago, gifting him their bunch of pummels and punches. Again, he refused to dodge, and took the hits he was supposed to take. Soon, they kicked him in the stomach, grasped his top, and tossed him across the floor. To them, they had the upper hand. They then sprinted to him, and finally gave him a knockdown by severely pressing down his mask with a double punch.

"It's over.", said Liam.
"We've won.", said X.
"Now give up before we actually kill y-".

...

Something impaled the both of them. They looked down to see blades coming out of their chests. The sword and a trident? But who could be wielding them?

After the blades struck out of them, they plunged to the ground. Bleeding out, they were losing their consciousness. The last person they could see before passing out was Silhouette, who sat down - cross-legged - looking at both of them. He shook his head.

"Oh yeah. Forgot to say.", said a figure with the trident, standing over them.
"I have the power to manipuate my clones whenever I want.", said another with the knife.

Dynamo trembled back, watching over all this. Seeing his friends defeated by an enemy who hides behind a mask. This figure was inevitable...

THE END

Saike: bro was worried for me 💀

Byrd: Shut the f**k up!

Saike: yea I’m joking
Anyways
*unconsious ig*

Damn-

Damn indeed

I worry for what silhouette would do to Amber-

He ain’t doing much

Saike: yo
If you really want me to go unhinged mode I can

Byrd: Shits in the past man. There’s no way he’s coming back

Silhouette: *stabs Liam*

Liam:

Liam: I also hate these limiters