Natural Enemy 2-4B

Round Two wasn’t starting off the way he expected it. 

The Grime Brothers didn’t stop their grossness with just their bodies, apparently. With the sludge coating their hands, they somehow managed to turn their stink factor up by at least twice.

At least.

“Stay!” Stench’s fist slammed down where he wasn’t, Kai hopping from spot to spot as both the brothers tried to land their stinky hands on him. “Still!”

“Frick!” He jumped over Patch’s right hook, the shelf behind him clattering apart as it took the hit for him. “You!” The second he landed, Kai flicked his wrist out, raw force and will behind it as he screamed loud in his head. Water Whip! 

A stream of water shot free from the water coating his right arm, lashing out in a condensed whip as it aimed to wrap around Stench’s wrist. Just enough to yank the man forward and get him off balance. 

The cold blue whip hit the oil around the grimy bandit’s wrist — yes! — and slid right off. No!

Kai’s eyes widened as it slipped free like water off a freshly waxed board, like it wasn’t even there, and the end of the whip dissolved into a useless puddle on the floor. 

Blue eyes blinked, Kai’s mouth falling open as he tried to understand what exactly the hell just happened.

Stench didn’t give him a chance, the big man charging forward again.

Both of Kai’s arms came up to block, an instinctive guard all he could do as an oil-covered fist flew at his face. “Aaaahhhh!”

It burned.

Enough to force a scream from his lips even through gritted teeth, Kai’s hands dropped as he scrambled back and away; his arms stinging all of a sudden. What the…

His eyes dropped down to the back of his arms, the oil slimy and irritating as it clung to his skin like it did to the brother’s and almost hissing like smoke as he stared at it. Acid? 

Or some kinda toxin or poison or whatever it was, it hurt like a bitch. Kai’s head snapped up to the faces of the grinning brothers. “You psychos use poison?”

Patch snickered, the grown man sounding like a big kid. “He thinks it’s poison.”

“You wish!” Stench joined in. “Not even!”

…I… Kai blinked. I don’t like the sound of that.

He didn’t like the sound that came next either, Stench roaring as he came rushing in with another hard swing. Instinct had Kai running the same play as before, a move he regretted the instant his arms went up again in a stupid block. Fu-

The punch slid past Kai’s guard, oil as slick as it was painful, and the teenager felt his jaw rock as the blow slammed into his chin. Sneakers slid on the spilled water and oil, Kai crashing hard into a stack of crates as wood splintered against his back.

"My inventory!" The merchant was practically sobbing now. “You’re all insane!”

“Slippery little trick, huh?” Stench laughed his way.

“That’s cheating!” He wiped the blood from his lip, jaw stinging in more ways than one as he yelled at the Grime brothers.

“Pirates, kid!” Patch yelled from the side, throwing a jar of pickles at Kai’s head.

Kai ducked the jar, smashing glass sending the smell of vinegar going everywhere as the store owner wailed again. Roaring again, he charged forward, only to meet another hit from Patch and Stench both; twin fists rocking the side of his face at the same time. “Gah!”

They closed in with each blow, both of the Grimes working him over in a rhythm of pain. Left, right, kidney, gut; each hit stinging more from the oil than the force of their fists.

Kai shielded his face, taking the hits on his arms. His leather jacket was getting scuffed, bruised almost as much as his ego. “Stop… hitting… me!”

Feet planeted, he sucked in a breath. 

Not air, water.

It pulled into him from the moisture in the room, from the pickle juice on the floor, from his own reserves. His cheeks puffed out, impossibly wide; a bullfrog ready to croak.

Patch stopped punching, jumping back with wide eyes as he saw Kai’s face. “Stench, he gonna thr-?”

Kai opened his mouth and the room saw blue as a Water Spout shot out. A cannonball of water, pressurized to the density of concrete, exploded from his lips.

The blast hit the floor in front of Stench, not even aiming for the man, just aiming for everything as the room vanished in a whiteout of spray and noise.

The wave picked Stench up — every single pound of the guy — and tossed him like a wet rag. The bandit flew backward, crashing through a display case, through a table, and finally slamming into the far wall. Patch’s dodge didn’t do him much good as the shockwave caught him mid-step, lifting him off his feet and spinning him into a pile of grain sacks.

Crates exploded as shattered wood flew like confetti. The merchant shrieked, diving behind his counter as the entire back room turned into a washing machine.

By the end of it, Kai stood in the middle of the wrecked storeroom, chest heaving as his jaw ached for another new reason. Water dripped from his mouth and the ceiling as it pooled on the floor, mixing with the oil, the dust, and the shattered inventory.

A groan spilled out of Stench’s mouth, the man doing his best to push himself up from the wreckage of a broken shelf; dazed and confused, the oil and blood all over his face definitely wasn’t helping him look any cleaner.

Nuh-uh. Kai crossed the room in two strides, his sandals splishing and splashing loud in the inch-deep flood. Barely a few seconds later, ten fingers grabbed the grimiest brother by the lapels of his greasy coat.

Even half-conscious, the man still tried to swing out with a sloppy, desperate hook. Kai leaned into it, grunting as he let the fist bounce off his forehead. Yeah, you’re gonna pay for that.

With another grunt, the teenager decided to use what he knew how to.

Gravity. 

And mass.

Letting Stench go, Kai kicked off the ground in a jump. It was barely anything; just a little hop into the air, but it was enough.

Elbow out, he let himself fall and drove it down with all the force of a falling anvil.

Right on top of the bandit’s head.

With a groan of tortured wood, the planks beneath Stench gave way as the fat man’s upper body plunged right through the floor, leaving a thick pair of legs sticking up in the air like planted carrots.

Kai stood there, Stench buried into the floor, as he breathed out in the silence.

Well, except for the drip, drip, drip of water falling from the ceiling.

You..."

The voice came from the corner, Kai blinking over as he turned his head.

The other brother was trying to crawl away, Patch scrambling over the wet grain sacks as a groan spilled out of his lips. He looked at Kai, no more smirk or laughter on his face as yellow eyes were wide he yellow eyes were wide, rimmed with white.

Kai’s heart beat faster, the engine in his chest purring as he walked over to the still-conscious pirate.

Patch scrambled faster on all fours, almost slipping on the wet floor. "Stay back! You freak! You devil-freak!"

Kai reached down, his hand gripping the man’s ankle even as Patch kicked weakly back, free boot thumping into his shoulder. “No! Let go!”

He lifted the man up, grip tight as the man’s bulk might as well have been nothing at all. One arm did the job all on its own as he hoisted Patch up like the bandit was a dead fish. Half of the Grime Brothers dangled upside down as he flailed for freedom, vest flopping over his face and Beri falling out of his pockets. "Let me down!" 

Kai just stared at him as the man twisted in the air. "Shut up.” A punch to the face had the bandit go quiet, eyes rolling back so far all Kai saw was the whites.

"You..."

Kai looked across the room again, another voice echoing Patch. Oh.

The merchant was still there, the little man cowering behind a shattered shelf as he stared back at Kai, eyes wide and body shaking as his eyes trailed around the wrecked room. "You..." the merchant whispered. "My shop..."

Kai blinked, buzz fading from his blood as he looked around properly this time. Oh.

Oh, was putting it lightly.

The room was wrecked; shelves splintered, merchandise soaked and the floor itself broken.

Kai’s mouth fell open as he tried to find what to even say. Finally, he went with what he could.

“...sorry.”

“Sorry?”

"I..." Kai swallowed, throat clicking. "I'll... take them outside."

It wasn't an apology but it was all he could do. 

The man’s ankle in his hand, Kai dragged Patch toward the door, the pirate’s head bumping against the floorboards with a rhythmic thud-thud-thud. Kai didn't lift him up, not even pretending to care if he got hurt worse.

On his way out of the storeroom, he grabbed Stench by the collar and hauled the unconscious heavyweight out of the splintered wood. Both brothers slid across the floor, one in each hand, like bags of trash on garbage day, a slug trail of destruction from the both of them.

The merchant flinched as Kai walked past. Actually flinched, pulling back like Kai was going to hit him.

Kai stopped again, something on his tongue but nothing on his brain. Put it on my tab? They started it?

The teenager just sighed instead and kicked the door open as he dragged the unconscious bodies out into the blinding afternoon sun of Port Town.

Kai dropped the brothers in the dirt.

One and a half million.

He looked at them.

His first paycheck. “...what the hell do I do know?”