Date: February 22, 2222
Time: 19:55 UTC – 16:55 LT
Coordinates: 67°N 46°W (Greenland, North America)

I am way too old for this shit. I’m 235, the second oldest living thing on Earth, and all that I wanted to do was spend my days at a university, teaching the next, next, next… next to the 9th power, generation, about history, science, and whatever the university wanted me to tackle— because I’m smart enough to teach nearly every subject 

But no! Here I am, on a fucking globetrotting adventure that landed me in fucking Greenland, riding a fucking bike, all so that I can fucking fight some fucking guy named Genocider fucking Jad! Some Saturday morning edgelord who looks like a legally distinct version of Guts from Berserk, and has the ability to defy physics and erase matter from existence. Oh, yeah, I can totally handle that, guys. It does not matter that I am, by far, the weakest of the eight of us. 

I ground my teeth as I worked my legs as hard as possible to catch up to this daemonic looking knight with a weapon too coarse, large, and cumbersome to be called a sword— or whatever the exact quote was— before I moved too carelessly and biked over a chunk of ice. The bike’s balance got wrecked and I flopped out onto the icy floor below, which was genuinely freezing to me— and only me— before rising up to look at Genocider Jad. 

He stood a full head taller than me thanks to his armor, and did not show one iota of emotion as his head tilted down slightly. He then raised his head as he looked off to the west, where a flare went off, indicating that it was time for our battle to begin. As I looked on at the flare, I was already panting, on the ground, and letting my weakness show to my opponent.

I turned to him after I saw the flare, and found myself cast in shadow as he held his weapon above me, and slammed it down onto my head, which burst open like a rotting pumpkin hit with a metal baseball bat.

The feeling of death was something I became intimate with during the mid-21st century, when I viewed myself as a slave to the people of the world. I encouraged them to kill me, abuse me, and use me as a tool to vent their frustrations. So this truly did not bother me all that much. If anything, it was a helluva lot better than what happened a few hours ago, when I was swimming in freshly irradiated water.

After an immeasurable amount of time, I woke up, and looked at my now naked body before seeing Genocider Jad stare down at me, still holding his weapon between his gauntlet-clad hands. I did my best to actually dodge this time, and avoided a slow lumbering swing… only to lose my legs as a projectile escaped from his weapon and cleaved my legs clean off. I flopped down to the ground once more, and looked at my opponent before snapping my fingers as fast as I could snap. I let off no less than 36 Snap Bursts… but they failed so much as dent his armor, let alone blow it up. 

Recognizing this regeneration as a failure, because my legs weren’t going to regenerate fast enough for me to run away, I shut my eyes and embraced death yet again, except that embrace did not come. Instead, he spoke to me.

“You are weak. I am strong. The sooner you recognize that and accept your defeat, the sooner my masters can achieve their objective.”

I looked up at him with confusion…. Before it finally hit me like a boot to the head. Obviously there was a reason why Verde wanted me to fight this dastard, and if he is calling other people his masters, it’s clear why I was the best person for the job.

“Can I have… two minutes to think this through?” I asked, keeping my tone casual. “Either you do that or you keep killing me over, and over, and over again, because I’m not going to be able to make an informed decision if you keep killing me whenever I regain consciousness.”

“That is acceptable,” he replied, his voice deep and imposing. “It is not as if you have the capacity to do me any harm, even with your unique ability.”

“Don’t get it twisted. I’m not here to cause harm. I’m here to save you from it.”

I then closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and divorced myself from reality. I forgot about the oppressive cold brushing against my naked body. I forgot about the mass destruction I witnessed before my very eyes. Instead, I focused on what stood before me. I focused on a dark miasma in the shape of a person. It was an imposing aura. It urged me to look away. But I did not. I looked closer until I could no longer see the outside world. Until I could only see darkness.

As I saw darkness, I heard noise. Loud, meaningless noise akin to a biological static. It was oppressive, it was immersive, and I could feel it latch onto my blinded senses, as if it was attempting to distract me from my objective. I did not know whether this miasma was trying to push me in or pull me out, but I kept going deeper and deeper, not even considering any other alternatives, because there were none. Time and space all melted into a slurry as I dredged deeper, all until I happened upon a speck of light. A speck of white. A speck that was a person, shrunk down to something smaller than even the tiniest of toys.

He was tangled amongst darkness, suffocating in its tendrils. I brought myself closer to free him of his prison, and as I did so, as I reached close to him, I saw this speck’s story. See how he got into such a sorrowful state. 

What I saw was the story of a young man taken from everything he knew. He woke up in a body that was not his own, in a place he had never been, and learned that his life had ended, and he was considered nothing more than a monster by the world at large. A monster who faced the consequences for crimes he never committed. And as he was punished, as his body and mind were abused and abused, he cracked. He lost himself. He became what the world thought him to be.

He became a monster… and he could not escape this reality. His sins were too great for him to draw any other conclusion. Because no one but a monster could slaughter so many. No one but a monster could murder their parents in cold blood. And a monster like him… did not deserve to be loved. He did not deserve to be loved by… Zoe Xing and… Maxxie Flare…

In his mind, I saw her. I saw my sister. The one person who truly cared for me as a child. A person who I loved more than myself. And a person who I loved so much that… I disgraced her legacy.

I… had not seen her like this in centuries. But within his memories, I saw her. She was energetic, she was loving, she was abrasive, and… she was everything I remembered. Everything I wanted to be. Everything I… forgot to be.

She meant a lot to me… as did Zoe. Zoe was a man I abused. He was someone with drive and ambition, someone who stuck with me long after I became a monster, and someone… whose life I brought to an end. The version before me was younger and less rigid than the one I knew. But the name, persona, and essence were identical. 

I never had the opportunity to talk about these people with any one… and I could not let someone with these memories remain locked away. I needed to free him. Not for the sake of the world, but… for myself. I was not thinking of the world at this point. I had forgotten there even was a world as I immersed myself in the mind of another.

I grabbed the speck of light before me, yanking, tugging, and tearing away at its dark constraints, all as the miasma took note of what I was doing, and began forcing me out. I fought against it, latching onto the speck to try and bring it with me, so it could escape from this dark abyss. But the miasma was too powerful, too aggressive, and it ejected me from Genocider Jad’s aura. 

I found myself thrust back into my body. My skin was drenched with sweat, my legs quivered under the weight of my upper body, and my eyes widened as I looked at the armor-clad man before me. He was statuesque, not moving an inch even as I tiptoed closer, all until I knocked on his armor, causing a small thud to echo, and for him to move his helmet down to me.

“Maxxie and Zoe… they were your friends, right?”

“…Yes,” Genocider Jad replied, his voice softer than before.

“I… knew Maxxie and Zoe. They were both close to me… Maxxie was my sister. I admired her. I loved her. And unlike you, I… hurt Maxxie. I hurt Zoe. Both of them were victims of my rage, and they are never coming back.” 

I wiped the chilled sweat off my forehead before I continued and shut my eyes to suppress the painful memories.

“The difference between you and me is that someone forced you to become a monster. Me? I became a monster through my own fruition. Through my desire to be loved and accepted. I ended Maxxie’s life, and she would have lived well into her adulthood if not for me. I hated myself for this and did my best to bring her back. I… tried to become her both in body and mind. I mixed her body with my own. I convinced myself that I truly was her. I adopted her mannerisms and fed myself false memories. I did this because I loved her, and… I know you loved her too. You loved her so much that you could not deprive the world of her. Is that true? You could have killed her when you saw her. Blown up the whole restaurant. But you didn’t.”

Genocider Jad did not respond with words, and offered an animalistic growl in response. Taking a deep breath, I continued while Real Booting myself something to shield me from the cold.

“Zoe… he helped me with countless things, stuck by me as I veered into insanity, and when I truly lost it, he tried to put me out of my own misery. But he didn’t. Because he waited too long, and I was all too eager to turn on him. He was a good man, a wise man. I am thankful for all he did for me, and wish that I acknowledged this wisdom more than I did.”

“What I want to tell you, Jad, is that… you did bad things, but that does not make you someone beyond redemption. We both branded ourselves as psychopaths to hide from our mistakes, and for many years of my life, I was like you. Immersed in despair and thinking of myself as something less than human. We both considered ourselves tools for others to use. I became a slave to the world at large. And you… you are a tool for people who want nothing more than destruction. But you are more than that. You are a person. And while you did make mistakes, that is no reason to give up. That is no reason to accept despair! Because things can be better, things will be better if you try to make them better. But here you are, acting like nothing matters and that the only thing you’re good at is causing pain. Well… wake up, fuckhead! Because I’m not going to let this bullshit carry on!”

I grit my teeth as I looked at Jad, took a deep breath, and let my fury guide me.

“I’m not Maxxie. I never will be. But I know her morals, her personality, and what she represented enough to know that, if she were here today, she would say… ‘Jad, you little bitch!’”

I bundled my knuckle into a fist and punched Jad in his torso. He was unphased, it hurt like a bastard, but I continued to punch him as I continued my speech.

“‘You were there with us! We could have helped you! We would have helped you! I would never turn my back on you, no matter what world, what permutation! And that’s because you are my friend and Maxxisaurus Omega Flare never turns her back on ANYONE! You just needed to ask for help, but you didn’t! You just hurt yourself and hurt everyone! Now look at yourself! Look at yourself! You are better than this, you are stronger than this, and until you wake up, I’m going to keep knocking and knocking! Just wake up, Jad Spencer! WAKE THE FUCK UP!’”

My relentless punching left my hands bloodied and pushed Jad’s body down to the ground. As he fell, his sword— or rather weapon— fell to the ground. Out of impulse and with fury coursing through my being, I lifted the weapon up, and shouted as I lifted it.

“‘Holy SWEET potatoes, this thing weighs a metric ton! Why the HELL would you even make something like this. C’mon you motherfucker, you MOTHER fucker, you mother FUCKER! Get off the fucking ground and let me use you to teach some sense into this fucking FUCKING FUCKER!!!’”

Through sheer conviction, I was able to lift the weapon off the ground and over my head, where I put what remained of my strength into a downward swing. The weapon landed on Jad’s body, causing his armor to shatter into pieces as his head and torso popped into bloody giblets.

After I landed this blow, I felt the strain hit my body like a ton of bricks. My skin burst open to release a torrent of blood, and my muscles ripped open as I landed this blow. I hurt like hell, but I knew it would be over in a few seconds. So I laid down and looked up at the evening sky. My mind was blank, my body was tired, and time slowed to a crawl. All before the sense of nothingness hit me once again. I died, somehow, and I soon regained brain function just long enough to die again… and again… and again… and again to the point where I stopped counting. Eventually, the deaths came to an end, and once I regained consciousness, the first thing I saw was Genocider Jad.

He was on his knees, his weapon embedded into the ground, and his armor painted in both blood and bile. Vomit dripped from his helmet, and I could hear muffled noises escaping from his mouth. His emotions were not plain to see, but as I peered into his aura yet again, I saw a kernel of light.

“Jad! I know you’re in there, but you need to keep on fighting!” I shouted at him. “Don’t give up on hope now that it is in your grasp! Do better for yourself, for Zoe, and for Maxxie! Look at me, Jad! Look at my face and tell me what you see! Who you see! You recognize this complexion! You recognize these freckles, right?”

“G-G-GGGYYYAAAAAAAA!!!”

As Jad screamed, he rose from the tainted snow below and pulled his weapon from the ground. With it in both hands, pointed downward, he raised it up higher… before angling it into his chest. He remained standing even after impaling himself with something so large and heavy, but that did not impede his ability to speak through the pain.

“I ran away from Maxxie and Zoe because… I was not good enough to be with them, and I was not cruel enough to remove them from this world. They were my friends. I… loved them. I wanted them to pull me out of this despair, but… I could not bear to face them. I thought I was too far gone to be redeemed, and accepted what the world had been telling me for two months. That I was a monster. I accepted this, I embraced my nature. I became a monster in both body and mind. I thought that was all I could do. But now… I see the truth. The truth that… I don’t need to accept my fate as a monster. The truth that I can still be… me. That I can still be… Jad Spencer.”

Jad’s dark armor then began to crack, revealing a stream of light. It started from his torso, but chips in the armor appeared across his body steadily, then rapidly, until the entirety of his armor, and weapon, were engulfed in a powerful light. As the light faded, all that remained from this imposing armor was a man. A young man with curly brown hair, a limber figure, light green eyes, and fair skin. He fell to the ground in a thud, planting his bare body against the ice below and inviting me to come over to him. 

As he groaned weakly, I began to Real Boot some clothes for the two of us, now that the conflict was finally at its end. For him, I prepared a green jacket, jeans, and briefs. For me, I prepared a silver coat, purple sweater, dark pants, and thick boots. Which, I hoped, would last me at least an hour before getting completely destroyed.

“Jad, could you do me one more favor? You’ve come so far, but before we put this sad chapter to a close, could you do something for me? …Could you please wake up and tell me who you are?”

As I ruffled Jad’s hair, he soon rose from the snow. I draped the coat over his shoulders and put the pants and briefs before him while I turned away and awaited his response. He clothed himself and turned to me before he spoke. His voice was nowhere near as deep as it once was, and far softer. Far younger, and far more human.

“My name is Jad Spencer, and… I’m sorry for everything I’ve done. I was—”

“Do NOT apologize. You were used and abused by psychopaths who took advantage of your vulnerability. You did bad things, yes, but you were not yourself for the past two months. Now, after all this time, after all this trauma, you are yourself again. In body and in mind. Tell me, Jad. How does it feel?”

“I… I feel like a fucking jackass.”

“…Yeah, dude. I can absolutely sympathize with that.”

I then sat down next to Jad, and the two of us shared a deep sigh, taking a moment to stare at the world around us as we both comprehended how preposterously fucked our situations were.

“So… what do I do now? I’m in a different world, far from everything I knew, and far from my friends.”

“Well, for the time being, we still need to help Verde get her powers back. Afterwards… I don’t know what will happen, but while Verde is a wild card, I think we can trust her to not screw us over.”

“I… don’t actually know what that means, and… hold on, I’m not freezing, but I’m in my old body, aren’t I?” Jad asked as he looked down at himself and placed a hand on his exposed chest.

“…To be honest, I don’t know what’s going on with you,” I said with a shrug.

“Well, Punky transformed me, and I guess she transformed the me within the armor. I couldn’t tell what I looked like within that armor, but now… I am back to normal, but I think I still have all the powers I once had.”

Jad then Real Booted the ground below into a metal spoon, threw the spoon in the air, and caused it to explode with a snap of his fingers.

“Damn. What about that… Matter Crash ability of yours, do you still have that?”

Jad then looked at a piece of snowy rubble that was tossed around during our battle and, with a mixture of thought and focus, the rubble disappeared, leaving behind nothingness.

“Heh. So if push comes to shove, I guess I can still be useful in battle.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” I said, standing up from the snowy ground below.

“So, I guess we’re heading back to report our success, is that it?”

“I guess so. But, um, could you do me a solid and Real Boot a car or something? Because I’m not in the mood for another sprint after something like that.”

“Oh, right, you actually get tired, unlike the other permutations,” Jad said, furrowing his brow as he tried to comprehend the absurdity around him.

“Yeah, it’s a long story that I’ll explain on the way. Just make the car and I’ll tell you my life’s story. It’ll be the two-thousand-five-hundred-something-th time I’ve told this story, so it should not take very long.”

Jad did as requested and Real Booted a car from the snow. It was a positively vintage machine, a regular-old gas guzzler, but it would do the job. I quickly hopped into the passenger’s side and waited for Jad to hop into the driver’s seat, but he instead shuffled around outside of it.

“So, um, are you going to drive this thing or what?” I said, talking through the car window.

“I… don’t actually know how to drive.”

“…We are in a big open field of ice and snow. So long as you know to press one pedal to move and move the wheel to change directions, you should be fine.”

“Why don’t you drive?”

“Because I just dug through your psyche… and I’m lazy. Now get in this car you made and try driving. And don’t worry about getting into an accident. We’re both immortal.”

“O-Okay then…” Jad said as he cautiously entered the car, Real booted a key from part of the dashboard, started that puppy up, and drove like a teenager. While it was a rocky road, it was still a road of victory. With a sigh, I leaned back in my seat, looked up at the setting sun, and silently congratulated myself for a job well done.