The Slimestuck Faden was trying to make its outstretched, froggy mouth meet with the body's prey. And that prey was the weakened body containing the soul of the ordinary city body called Nate Elfirm.
He took one last time in the bathroom around him. It was not a pretty sight to see, with the mess the Faden had caused, but then again, it was at least better than the boy's bathroom at Standart High. The custodians were at least mindful of the state of the rooms in Honoway, although Nate hadn't seen any of them roaming with their usual duties.
Then Nate turned towards the rows of teeth of the Slimestuck Faden, rows ready to grind up the remains of his remaining body.
The more he looked inside the mouth, the faster his breathing rate. With a faster breathing rate, all kinds of things raced through his mind. But the one that beat all the other competitors within his mind was the right to survive at all costs. Not to pray for a quick death, or even to think about his loved ones before the state of demise, but the pure, raw energy of having to do anything to survive, and that includes forcing his body and its biological functions to do anything to get himself out of the hardened slime.
Even though... the exhaustion had him beaten, and the fear of pain rushed through his nervous system, he decided to do one thing he could with his ability, and to try to focus more on the output of the energy and combine it with his need for survival.
With not much else to do, Nate held out his hand, outstretched and pointing towards the ground. The other arm, in particular, contained his phone with the flashlight continuing to shine in his surroundings, although it had drained the battery after its continuous use to the point of being dim.
The sparks of the sword struggled to form the exact shape. The shape of the blade that was needed to slay the Slimestuck Faden.
Nate then mentally repeated the same words in order. He said them in his mind as he finally breathed in the midst of the Faden's mouth and the rancid odor it produced within.
Power...
Survive...
Please...
Power...
Survive...
Please...
He continued to say these words, proceeding to speed up the sentences until... he felt something new.
Nate glanced at his hands with the incomplete state of the sword's formation. But then, he made his eyes turn towards the wrists and fingers, and saw that they were more flushed than usual. After a couple of seconds, a ringing was somehow within his skin as light green light shone through the muscles. At this point, Nate didn't know what to do next, as the next move that he might make would probably spell trouble if he didn't properly do something about this. With little movement he could make, he viewed his arms with utter confusion, wondering what the new feeling he was experiencing was.
Nate felt a surge of power coursing through him. It was something so new, so invigorating that it opened up a new level of being energized. The whole feeling was like getting a new perspective in a refreshed body.
The pain in his limbs, once drained of the energy to even move, was now paid back tenfold more, causing his movement to become more erratic. A burst of energy overwhelmed the weakness Nate had felt from before; its power was unlike anything he had experienced, even with the formation of the sword from before when fighting the Fadens in other locations.
For Nate, it was supposedly a bit too much to handle, as his arms and legs had a mind of their own and began to spread out in all directions. He thought that his limbs were desperate enough to make any movements at all, desperate to overcome the constraints from the hardened slime that enveloped his body.
His phone was then dropped to the floor due to the sudden movement, not that he needed the flashlight function to see, as the green light from the frame of the incomplete sword and the additional light that was somehow etched into the skin illuminated everything around him.
Nate's eyes widened as he looked at his own body, a marvel of brilliance on something that was considered a normal biological lifeform.
Basically, he was like a whole new person, with a need to kick some butt, starting with a punch to the Slimestuck Faden in its froggy-like face.
The things that happened to Nate's body didn't seem to catch the attention of the Faden, with its mouth still open despite the overwhelming light from the sword as though it was a heavy-grade flashlight.
It continued to walk forward with a chomp, so Nate made a fierce attempt with his curled-up fist. By utilizing the energy that flowed through his body, he concentrated in his mind on the punch, setting aside the incomplete sword nearby.
The force of his punch was so erratic that it caused cracks in the hardened slime that was covering him from head to toe. Dozens of hardened slime crackled all over his skin, which Nate could describe as little minnows kissing in the water. He eventually could make a free swing with his arm, which he used to punch the monster. Nate could feel that there wasn't any weight attributed to his limbs that made him slow down, and gray splotches appeared on his skin, or even the gray colors in his vision at all.
"Take this, freak-monster!" he tried to yell out to sound cool despite the situation being serious.
Nate didn't know it was for certain, but he swore that time slowed down for him, and it made him feel every last piece of the Slimestuck Faden's amphibious skin as he made contact. It jerked its head from the pain caused by the fist.
The monster shrieked from the sudden swing of Nate's punch as it retreated to the corner next to the wall. It tended to the wound inflicted on its cheek, glaring with purple fear towards the boy.
"Now! This is my chance to end this now!"
Now believing that his mysterious power granted him the way to victory, he attempted to reach towards the Slimestuck Faden with another punch. The weakness from the slime didn't affect him at all since he awakened another power, with his burst of energy being the key reason why.
Freely unhindered by the blue slime, he rushed towards the monster, which was still tending the bruises on its body instead of running away. He introduced yet another punch to the Slimestuck Faden, and then another, and so on.
With adrenaline pumping in his body, he looked around to see anything else that might get in his way. He inadvertently formed his sword and slashed the monster repeatedly. Even though the summoned sword was incomplete every time, Nate still sliced and diced, summoning his sword every time it broke into a million pieces. The Faden's tongue was now in segments as he sliced away.
You like this, huh? Do you feel the pain? The sword in my hand is called 'Rupture', and this is my ability. It was really out of this world, you monster!
The Slimestuck Faden shrieked in fear once again as it tumbled from the relentlessness of Nate's desperation as he continued to inflict more wounds on it, until Faden fell on the floor.
Nate glanced at his hand containing his phone, and without a second thought, he threw it at the monster, hoping it wouldn't be alive anymore. It didn't seem to do much damage beyond just the phone shattering upon impact, and it fell to the slimy floor.
No! Oh crap, not my phone. I didn't mean to do that!
Reality had appeared through his head, not the bloodlust that fueled his attack. He gazed upon the corpse of the Slimestuck Faden before it dissipated into green and gray smoke. The slime that was covering the whole bathroom also disappeared with it, as though it was connected to the Faden's biological systems.
The Slimestuck Faden disappeared into thin air, leaving Nate alone inside the ruined Honoway Mall's Men's restroom.
"I... I did it... It's really dead..." he managed to hoarsely let out. For someone like Nate to kill a creature, especially if it was monstrous like a Faden, it sent shockwaves through his nerves with the amount of power he had to exert before it was too late. It was something to think about, as Nate was about to get eaten, so he had to be desperate and take a hard route.
His body was now rid of any green lights, and his sword disappeared, too. The ultimate result was that his body felt more sluggish, but unlike the weakening from the Faden's blue slime, it felt more different and internal, like he was running on fumes with a weak and battered engine.
However, his curiosity rose upon seeing the crack opening in the wall where the Slimestuck Faden once was.
Nate limped towards the crack that was behind the Slimestuck Faden. Upon viewing what was inside the broken wall, he could see that there was more space than the bathroom he was in. It may be a utility closet that was left unused. He looked in a bit more and could see large oval shapes clumped down near the corner, where discarded tools were left scattered throughout the floor. Jed and the other people were trapped in the walls, with the hardened blue slime encased around their bodies like an insect's cocoon. It was shocking for Nate to see that the Slimestuck Faden chose to have its prey alive, unlike with Nate, when the monster tried to eat him whole.
Somehow, the slimy pods didn't disappear like the slime on the bathroom floor. Such a peculiar thing to wonder what prevented it from doing so.
He walked in front of the first slimy blue pod and ripped it open, and something came out of it. It was a human being who plopped onto the floor, unconscious but not dead. Nate rolled the person onto their back and saw it was Jed Sampson.
"Jed?!" Nate mumbled weakly. "You... you were in here..."
Looking at the other slimy cocoon pods with a hint of worry, he tore each of them out one by one. Unlike with Jed, the other Faden's victims weren't people Nate knew.
The Slimestuck Faden took Jed and the others and placed them near the utility closet, while it trapped more victims by squeezing between the cracks in the walls. Regardless of what the creature did, Nate was glad that these people were still alive.
Nate could only theorize that it had to do with the fact that he had powers, unlike any normal human being. Could the Fadens be more aggressive to those who have these certain powers like Nate and Colten, or rather, was it the case with the Theomin Crystals that were nearby, like the ones at Vivid Forest?
All the event did to him was that he would remember everything that happened. Without anything to forget.
As Nate tried to pull the unconscious bodies away from the debris of the bathroom, with some of them groaning and seeming to regain their consciousness one by one, he sensed something still alive from behind; it was similar to a hint of power with it. Instantly scared, he turned to see Jed standing with some sort of stern look on his face, replaced with fear as he checked on him closely.
"Wha... what? What's going on?" Jed managed to say.
Still gripping his arm, Nate approached him.
"Jed, did you see what happened here at all? I went to the bathroom and saw the whole place torn apart."
Jed looked at him with fear, trying to make sense of what Nate said. "Wh-what... what are you...?"
"Jed?"
"No, stay away from me. Get back! Don't you dare come any closer!"
His body repulsed away from Nate. Jed's eyes were unusually more bloodshot, deeper colors than red, crimson itself. It wasn't a normal reaction to things. The white around his eyes was abnormally yellow, like a severe case of jaundice. Jed looked at Nate like he was something else, something monstrous, as the Slimestuck Faden.
"Or maybe..." Jed pulled out a pocketknife from his back pocket. "I should just kill ya, before you kill me."
Jed rushed towards Nate with fury, the same movement as Nate, trying to survive. "You monster! You attacked me; I won't let you make me meet my death in this stupid bathroom."
"Wait, stop!" Nate tried to call out, but it was clear that Jed might be in some sort of delusion, probably from the stress he had endured from the monster. However, something was wrong; in his hand was a green light, forming into a knife, similar to Nate's sword.
Shocked, but not oblivious, he managed to make one final form of his incomplete sword, Rupture, to block the impending strike from Jed's knife, but instead, he instinctively hit Jed on the head, causing him to fall on his knees.
Nate must have been lighter because he was the one who started to go on the ground first, like he was the one who got knocked out. If that final attack was the last of the energy to spend, it was only natural for Nate to black out.
His limit finally took its toll on him, as a shade of black started to cover his vision. He fell on the floor and tried to reach for the bathroom exit door, attempting to holler out to Sheila in the women's bathroom with his weakened vocal cords. Nate finally exhausted his energy and went unconscious like the others.
* * *
Tyraun briskly walked together with Marlo towards the area where they last saw Jed. The two pieced together just enough evidence to direct the way towards the last bathroom on the ground floor.
Due to the amount of time the two had to wait for Jed to return, it was nothing but certain that something must have happened to Jed on his way downstairs.
Marlo might not be too worried to care, but Tyraun was the opposite. He had to protect them from anything that might endanger them. Since they were little, Marlo and Jed were always at each other's throats, but compared to the present, Tyraun could safely say that back then, the two were volatile with each other, with their venomous tone lashing out towards who can stand down the fastest.
Jed was prone to getting into trouble, and whenever he was in trouble, he got injured. He was so hard to deal with, as Marlo might say, but Marlo still cared about him, not wanting to see him getting hurt or worse.
"Hey! You don't think Jed did something seriously stupid even for him? Something so bad, like Brandin stealing Aliana's soccer ball, or anything really?" Marlo asked as he ran parallel to Tyraun.
Tyraun hesitated. "I hate to say it, but the fact that he's gone more than he usually is might be a sign that something happened. I wish that it was nothing dangerous, but it wouldn't hurt to at least check on him."
"... I guess you're right, Tyraun. The fact that both of us felt something was wrong and that we decided to check things together..."
Marlo grimly paused before looking annoyed.
"Whatever. If Jed is just fooling around to prank-scare us around the corner, I'm gonna hit him in the stomach for payback if my smoothie gets warm. Especially in this heat."
Tyraun couldn't fault him at all, really. Jed was always the one to butt heads with Marlo, causing the two to clash more and more.
After a couple of brisk walks, passing by the Fun Zone Arcade, where he could see a glimpse of his classmates, Dawson and Randall, playing on one of the gaming cabinets. Then the two walked by the Nacy's Cosmetics and Gifts, before finally reaching the bathroom where Jed was going.
What was supposed to be a normal look of that part of Honoway Mall was crowded by many people surrounding the bathroom. There were also some police officers handling the crowd while checking what was in the middle.
Tyraun and Marlo made their way to the front. Upon arriving, they saw five people on the floor on their backs, completely blacked out, with slight breathing.
"Hey! That's Jed on the floor!" Marlo pointed out.
Noting his discovery, Tyraun also scanned the others and saw that there was a classmate from his school. The one he just spoke with from before, back in Tasty Pasty Pizza.
"Look!" he said, with Marlo alerted. "That's Nate, too!"
Nate Elfirm lay still on the floor like a corpse. The skin on his body was wavering and rugged, evidence of a struggle.
"This is weird, Tyraun, really weird. Jed went to the bathroom, and he just went unconscious with the other people. Do you think he has something to do with this?"
Tyraun paused for quick thinking. He knew his friend could be trouble, but... to the point of involving strangers? He couldn't believe it. There was no way he would hurt those people, and even to a guy that they were on friendly terms with, right?
After the brief pondering, he turned towards Marlo, "I... I don't know. I don't know what exactly happened, but I believe Jed was caught in something that he wasn't supposed to be in."
"Well, come on... let's go check on Jed. Let him know that we were right beside him..."
Marlo went ahead to their friend, as Tyraun soon followed.