[Underneath the forest floor, 8:21 PM]
My battle with Normand had continued, trading blow for blow with him as the broken pipe was somewhere above us. I had to fight him with my fists and my new ability, "Serene Garden."
Normand suddenly kicked off of me, using his tiny stature and surprising strength to propel backwards.
"You'll surely regret this!" He slid onto the ground, grabbing dirt and rocks and chucking them at me. They transformed into zombie-projectiles mid-air.
"Zombie: Thriller Festival!"
I instinctively clenched my fist. A wall of soapy colorful vines sprouted from the floor, but the zombies hit them and instantly began eating through them. The vines themselves also turned into zombies. I ran backwards before I could get bitten.
"That's dirty. You're resourceful, I'll give you that!"
He held out his palms to catch dripping water from a stalactite. His crown fell, but he didn't care. He just stood there, smirking.
"Should've stayed down, James!" He then threw the water at me. It started morphing into rabid zombie droplets mid-air. "Zombie: Wretched Festival!"
They latched onto my arm, teeth sinking deep.
"Aghh! That's one too many festivals!" I screamed, thrashing on the cold floor of the cave.
He chuckled and picked his crown back up, firmly placing it on his head once again.
"Kill me in under an hour, or you'll turn into a brainless zombie. Not that you have any brains, Karawei. Tick-tock!"
Clutching my bleeding arm, I stood up, shaking my right hand. Vines came out of it alongside roses, covering my whole right arm. Another wall of vines and thorns came out of the ground and wriggled, a bunch of bubbles coming out, flying towards Normand.
"Why an hour?! Who decided that?!"
"I did! I can decide when it happens! Screw you, asshole, I want to fight!" He ran away from the barrage of bubbles, growling.
"Cathy cares about you, moron! You— Ugh, the worst brother I've ever seen!"
Normand laughed as he turned around, stretching his hands out and letting the bubbles hit him — they turned into zombies upon making contact with him.
He reached down, grabbing rocks and pebbles and threw them onto the now zombified bubbles, which were heading my way, causing them to split and create even more zombies.
"Zombie: Monstra Festival!"
"Shut up with the festivals! Get creative already!" He closed the gap between us, his foot slamming into my chest.
My shirt came alive again, this time the upper half of it, biting into my skin as I struggled to rip it off completely. I stood up and rushed again at Normand.
"Like this... Serene Garden: Growth Spurt!" I once again focused, feeling the strange sensation course through my arm as I slammed it down onto the ground and onto my ripped zombie-shirt. A giant iridescent rose burst forth from the ground, spitting out bubbles and soapy spikes in every direction, killing the other rock and bubble zombies below.
The force of the bubble's popping and the bounce of the rose carried both me and Normand out of the cave and up into the forest.
The forest fire grew brighter and closer to us.
"Look at what you've done! Look at it! This is the result of your... obedience!"
Normand chuckled, hitting a tree with his fist out of frustration, turning it into a zombie. It snarled in frustration as it gained a twisted semi-sentience.
"What I've done?! What about what Cathy's done?! What about what you've done?!"
I once again rushed towards Normand.
"What have I done?! Huh?!" I aimed to slam my fist directly into his neck but—
"Manic Twister!" Jack appeared and did a front-flipping kick, effectively punting Normand into the ground. The kid quickly retaliated by kicking Jack off of him.
Jack glanced back towards me, smirking as he landed, injuries and all.
"Did'ya miss me?"
I felt a grin creep onto my face, happy at his survival.
"Jack! You beat that guy...? That's amazing! I thought he would've been a problem!" I wrapped my arms around him in a hug.
"With trouble, but yeah!" He hugged me back.
"Raijin... lost...?" Normand chuckled and looked directly at us. "Second Step: Titan..."
His eyes started glowing a green hue, similar to Jack and Raijin. He was now utilizing Flow. His skin was now shimmering, tough and almost crystal-like. Even the broken crown on his head was affected.
"He knows how to use The Ten Steps?! Woah... That's not really good for us..." Jack stumbled backwards, both from injury and shock.
Normand then grinned and slammed his hands down onto the forest floor.
"This is enough to finish you! Zombie: Rotten Banquet!"
Every tree and anything else in the visible area, along with the ground, had become a furious zombie.
Jack quickly jumped up and climbed a tree. I lifted my hand up, wrapping vines around a branch above and pulling myself up there, perching next to him.
"You fools can't stay up there forever!" Normand laughed as the forest began eating itself as one giant organism. Tree eating tree, squirrel eating squirrel, rock eating rock.
"This guy is more nuts than Raijin!" Jack yelled.
I turned and whispered to him. "Wait... Who's Raijin?"
Jack looked at me incredulously and whispered back. "The speed guy! C'mon, bro, get a grip."
I rubbed the back of my neck, looking away. "Sorry... I couldn't pay attention with Normand trying to kill me."
Suddenly thunder could be heard in the distance, and Raijin appeared before us, on another tree branch, perched perfectly. A trail of skid marks could be seen on the tree, presumably from when he ran up it. He winced in pain, his leg still injured but bandaged, alongside his face.
"Ugh, seriously? You're still fighting? Hurry up and lose, you morons! Or I'll take Gravity back to HQ. You wouldn't want your dear friend to be tortured, would you?" He laughed, running down the tree in a blur, burning the bark.
"Hah! Now you definitely can't stay up there or you'll burn—"
Surprisingly, he hugged Normand. The shimmering crystal skin on him disappeared and turned back to that of a corpse. We couldn't hear what they were saying due to the giant maw in the ground snarling.
Just then, our burning tree began turning into a zombie. I exchanged a glance with Jack, and we both jumped down to where they were.
Raijin grinned and, despite his injured foot, he began running on top of the teeth of the forest floor at great speeds.
"Unbelievable...! Don't leave me with them!" Normand yelled.
I hit my fist into the ground. Out came a large rainbow bubble that popped. The force of the blast was so great it propelled the three of us upwards high into the sky, alongside a few trees and other zombies, and sent us flying back towards the house.
Normand held tightly onto the cracked toy crown on his head as we flew, not wanting to lose it. There was a strange, almost sad look in his eyes before he schooled his expression back to fury once he caught my gaze.
"You want to change the scenery?! Fine! But I'll destroy everything you own!"
The fire in the forest began turning green. Everything was eating itself in rotten hunger.
"I'm not weak anymore! I'm not scared of you! Turn your ability off or else... I'll—"
Jack chuckled, holding his hands out.
"I think it's time for an upgrade! Second Step: Titan!" Jack once again spun in the air horizontally, his skin taking on a shimmering, tough and almost crystal-like matter, like Normand before, but his was white.
Jack spun forward mid-air like a human bullet, his fist connecting with Normand and punching him into the ground with great force and speed.
"Pop Cracker! That's the enhanced version! Haha... wow, this is even better than I thought... Uh oh — wait! We're falling! Ahhhh!" He suddenly began yelling and flipping around mid-air.
"You just realized that?! Fine... I'll put everything I can into this, despite the risk of me turning into soap!" I reached out towards him, grabbing him with a vine and pulling him close. I hugged him. "Serene Garden: Covering Veil!"
Roses and vines began covering my body, each of them producing hundreds of bubbles as we fell, encasing the two of us in one giant bubble.
"W-wait! I think I can make it stronger too! Let's see if my theory's correct..." He reached out, closing his eyes. The bubble started transforming to match the tough crystal-like matter on his arm.
We fell straight into the middle of the house. The impact was so intense it formed a giant crater in the living room. The bubble around us disappeared, and we glanced around.
"Come on, let's get up there and continue this mess..." I stomped the ground beneath me, a bouncy rose forming to boost us upwards.
We glanced around the dusty and destroyed house.
"Ah man... this place made me feel so cozy, now it's destroyed! This really does suck, but I'm sure we'll find a way to get you some insurance, bro." He grinned and patted my shoulder, despite the horrible situation.
"Yeah, a little late for that... but why is your skin like that?! What the heck is this step stuff?! You barely explained it to me earlier!"
"It'd take a lot longer than that to explain it! Plus, you need practical applications."
Normand crawled into the now destroyed living room, green blood dripping from his broken nose as he clutched his head. The toy crown cracked completely and fell into two pieces next to him. He got up slowly as he stared at us and ripped off his blanket. His eyes began glowing a deeper shade of green, and he grimaced from pain.
"You made me bleed...?! Ahh.... Ahh... AGH...! FATHER! THEY HURT ME! WHERE ARE YOU?! FATHER—!" He hit the ground hard with both hands, as debris turned into zombies and toppled down from the roof, eating themselves. The whole house shook as his skin turned crystal-like again.
I staggered, clutching my arm which was now bleeding.
"Oh damn... I think I'm gonna be sick..."
The world spun around me, but Cathy's voice cut through the haze—
"Normand! Stop it!" She flew in from the living room of the house, arms crossed and a scowl on her face. She had finally woken up. "Look at what you've done! You destroyed James' house! You let that guy punch me with lightning!" Her voice cracked.
Normand froze, his hollow eyes widening. For a heartbeat, the glow in his eyes receded, his face softening into the brother she remembered.
"Sis...?—"
Raijin suddenly appeared in a blur behind us and struck Cathy — a lightning-fast kick hurling her into the grain field behind the house.
"Sentimental trash. Finish them, Normand! We don't have to go back empty-handed, we can still win! Remember what I told you..."
The boy's face twisted back into a snarl, tears starting to fall from his eyes.
"You're all... scum... I'M DONE! I'M SICK OF ALL OF IT! THIS IS AS STRONG AS I'VE GOTTEN! ZOMBIE: GRANDE CORPSE MALADÉ!" He hit the ground hard with his right foot.
A strange and putrid green flesh began growing and taking control of whatever it touched in the house.
"QUICK! GET OUT!"
We quickly ran out of the house and into the grain field as the house became a giant zombie, sprouting legs and yelling at the top of its newly formed 'lungs'.
Normand stood atop the roof, all the zombies from the forest beginning to run over.
"Zombies! Attention! All of you, now!"
Every zombie snapped its gaze up to look at Normand as he yelled, pointing to me and Jack.
"Eat them."
The zombies, including the house itself, all began running towards me and Jack.
We kept running into the grain field and then heard a great cry as Raijin flew past us and got knocked into Normand. Cathy was there with tears falling down her face and clearly pissed...
"You sick FUCK! You thought you could kill me with a couch?!" She threw the couch from the living room — which was now also a zombie — at Raijin, but he kicked it downwards into the ground with a lightning bolt, killing it.
"Ah... Normand?! What the bloody hell did you do?!" Cathy stopped, realizing what was happening, but it was too late.
"Oh yeah! Fine, I could go for a round two! Speed: Shock Pacer..." Raijin blurred, scaling the house quickly and kicked Cathy so hard that the two of us got knocked further away with a shockwave back into the forest, which was now just a crater as it ate itself alive.
Bone and sinew and gross green flesh and blood was everywhere — a hellish landscape. Green flames still scourged the ground every other patch of dirt, especially the giant crater in the middle of the forest where the cavern from earlier was.
"You're not getting away this time!" Raijin held out his arms as he appeared behind Cathy, who was hovering on top of the zombified house. Normand glanced at her once and then back at us as the house kept running towards the woods.
Raijin couldn't grab her. But he could push her.
"Let go! You—"
"Speed: Bolting Burst!" With another great shockwave that almost knocked Normand off of the house roof had he not been holding on to the frame of a broken window, Raijin pushed Cathy onto the fields below and all the way into the forest and into the crater in the middle of it.
Cathy and Raijin were now fighting where the forest center once stood.
Me and Jack slowly stood up, standing just at the edge of the crater.
"Jack! Are you okay?" I grabbed his hand and lifted him up.
"Yeah, thanks... The Second Step helped soften the fall. I'll explain it to you later. Maybe."
I sighed and looked back towards the zombie house, what used to be my family farm. The grain fields were also tarnished with debris and zombies, guts and blood, and the sounds of shockwaves and yelling.
It's safe to say my neighbors were long gone.
"Stay out of this! Gravity!" Raijin yelled, as Cathy threw a multitude of dead trees and zombies and various debris at him.
"I'll show you some real speed, you ass!"
The force of her attack caused a few stray trees to fly towards the house. Its left leg got pierced through, causing it to fall and topple over. Normand got knocked backwards into the woods, hitting his head on a particularly big tree.
"Sister... don't leave me... please... I—" Normand, bloodied and trembling, forced himself to his feet. His voice was raw, desperate, his hollow eyes locked onto Raijin. "GIVE ME THE SYRINGE, RAIJIN! I'M DONE WAITING!"
"Wait, are you sure?! It's not safe—" Raijin yelled at Normand as he ran around the crater, dodging rocks and boulders that Cathy threw at him. He began running past us in frantic circles. Cathy stopped her attack as I locked eyes with her, holding up two trees near her head.
"DO IT! DO IIIIIIIT!!! GRAAAAAAH!" Normand clutched his head and frantically rolled on the ground.
Raijin smirked, lightning crackling around his fingertips as he darted toward Normand. His speed was unreal — a blur of motion that left afterimages in his wake.
"Boss said we should inject Karawei with it. But I'm curious... Don't disappoint me, King of Nothing." He stabbed the syringe into Normand's left shoulder, its contents glimmering with a strange, rainbow hue — the same liquid Cathy had absorbed during our battle with Keito.
"NORMAND! DON'T!—" She lunged, but Raijin intercepted her, running up one of the burnt trees and jumping off it, his leg extended outwards.
"Speed: Volt Burst!" A bolt of lightning shot out of it, forcing her back out into the grain fields and out of the forest. Raijin quickly ran after her in a blur, cackling, continuing the fight.
The glow in Normand's eyes deepened, veins bulging all across his body and green blood pouring out of them. He started growing in size.
"GRAAAHH!! ZOMBIE: ULTRAAA!" His scream tore through the forest as his body twisted and morphed. His skin darkened, muscles bulging grotesquely beneath decayed flesh. His eyes glowed like twin cursed suns, and the mockery of a cape he once wore, his tattered blanket, torn in two, forgotten.
He wasn't Normand anymore.
"That's... that's different from Mr. Nakamura's transformation... This isn't right."
"Holy crap, dude! That's insane... D-don't worry, I got your back! I hope..." Jack fought off the smaller zombies that ran towards us, his movements sharp and precise.
"First Step: Apex! Second Step: Titan! Hah... Oh man, I hope chaining these doesn't end up biting me later! I should probably stop calling out my moves though, huh?" His skin began shimmering again, and his eyes glowing, producing the same white mist from before.
The horde was almost endless, each fallen zombie spawning two more of itself. They somehow began cloning each other from the remains of the dead ones.
"Does it matter? Focus, Jack! That's it... That's far enough, NORMAND! This one is from Mr. Nakamura! Serene Garden: Savage Burst!" I raised my right hand, focusing all my energy.
My right eye suddenly began glowing, a shiver ran through my entire body, and my eye was now a vivid rainbow hue. I began hearing whispers, my vision blurring, my head shaking. I began hearing memories that didn't belong to me.
"You're not good enough! You hear me? You think of yourself as a hero? You're not good enough! You megalomaniac!" a gruff man's voice echoed.
A bubbly, mocking laugh followed. "You couldn't even stop a meteor without killing half the city, let alone stopping a robot army. Try harder next time, dweeb!"
An old woman's disappointed tone cut through next. "A flaming dagger in your teeth, cursed ears and a tail? Is this how you carry yourself, young man? I expected more from you—"
The voices grew louder, there were more and more of them, threatening to drown me. But I pushed through, focusing on the towering behemoth before me.
"SHUT UP! YOU DON'T KNOW ME!!"
With a roar, I unleashed a torrent of bubble-like swords from my hand, each of them iridescent and rainbow but still made of soap, each one shooting out at insane speeds. They shot out in streams, piercing through the giant's body. Each impact created a burst of air pressure so intense it shook the forest.
But Normand didn't stop. He regenerated faster than I could damage him, using his own blood, flesh, and bone to spawn more of those rabid zombies.
"This guy's like a cockroach! What's it gonna take to put him down?!" Jack fought off the other zombies as I kept shooting swords at what was once Normand.
He charged towards me, but just then the ground beneath me was being levitated by Cathy, who was being punted into the ground by Raijin from all directions, his speed looking like it was increasing.
The sounds of our battle could be heard for miles around...
[Easton Farm, Darrilyn, Piasu, Ryomania, May 6th, Tuesday, 10:38 PM, 2025]
"Fred... is it just me or is somebody throwing a darned rave in our good ol' woods?" Frank Easton, one of my neighbors who owned the Easton Farm just down the road, asked his brother as he reached for another beer bottle.
Both he and his brother Fred lived in Darrilyn. They were good neighbors and made a healthy living selling fruits and vegetables. They also had a lot of chickens. They liked chickens.
"Nah... could be bigfoot. Only him and your grandma scream like that!" Fred burst out laughing as the truck creaked under their combined weight, watching the Redwoods battle from afar.
"Could be them lil grey men that probe round 'ere in the winter—"
[Redwoods, Darrilyn, Piasu, Ryomania, May 6th, Tuesday, 10:40 PM, 2025]
No matter how many bubble swords I shot at Normand, he kept regenerating.
Then, Cathy's voice rang out — raw, furious, and desperate.
"Don't you dare die on me! None of you morons!" She intercepted a massive boulder Normand hurled at us, stopping it with pure gravity. Tears streamed down her face as she screamed, her rage boiling over.
"Enough of this melodrama!" Raijin appeared behind her, delivering a sharp kick to her back. She crashed into the ground.
Raijin blurred past me in bullet time, his smug expression faltering when he noticed my rainbow eye glaring back at him. Everything seemed to slow. But I could see him.
"What the—?"
My eye narrowed, and in a blur of speed I grabbed him by the wrist, slamming him down onto the ground and stomping on his chest, cracking three of his ribs. I was completely out of it. I was in a trance, not even thinking anymore, acting on pure instinct.
The swords kept flying and flying. I felt as if I copied Raijin's power somehow.
Jack put his hand on my shoulder. My head turned to him, and I finally stopped shooting the bubble swords from my right hand.
"Dude! That was so badass... H-hey, are you okay?"
I didn't even hear Jack. I looked down at Raijin, glancing over his body with a frown as he winced in pain. I was not there mentally. I turned towards Normand, crouching down low.
"Speed: Shock Pacer..." my voice came out low and measured, then suddenly—
I dashed forwards, with an incredible burst of speed, a trail of rainbow lightning arcing from behind me, knocking Normand down into the crater and splitting the sky with a great burst of speed.
It was around 20,000 km/h. Everyone was stunned.
My eyes were unfocused and hazy. My right eye shut as I began tearing up. The forest was now completely destroyed. I fell from mid-air onto Normand's chest, my eyes shut, and I heard my name being called as both of us blacked out.
[Glenview, California, America, 3:15 AM, September 8th, Wednesday, 2010]
Normand Ariston wasn't like other babies. He was truly special. From the womb, his skin was green, sickly, almost corpse-like. This was due to his Divinity, the Zombie Divinity. He looked like death incarnate, but his father, Obadiah Ariston, was unmoved by his appearance. He sat outside of the nursery's viewing window, watching him, lost in thought.
The Boss stood beside him.
"Oh... this really does bring back good memories, Obie. What will you name him?"
Obadiah stared at his son, his face unreadable.
"Normand... That's a strong name. He'll grow up as strong as a Viking, you'll see. Plus, it fits with everything going on right now. You've managed to capture that girl, right? You can't keep slacking."
The Boss laughed, throwing his head back.
"Oh, please… I'm not worried about Iris and their little pet project. I have someone monitoring them — Carter, the double agent. Your own brother-in-law. It'll be fine. She's too young for anything, anyway… And it's only a theory that she is the host of Weapon. So she won't cause us trouble. Plus, I think you should be worrying about Cathy. She was destined to fight, you know. Destiny is such a wonderful thing... isn't it?" He then turned his gaze to Normand. "Destiny... It twists the strong into the weak and the weak into the strong. It creates outcasts and freaks, divides and controls them. Truly wonderful, wouldn't you agree? I love Divinities."
Obadiah didn't respond, his gaze locked on Normand.
"Promise me... Promise me you'll leave Cathy alone? She's not ready. Out of the three, she's the one I'm most proud of. She... She has her mother's eyes, you know."
The Boss smirked, patting Obadiah on the shoulder.
"Relax. Yoshio will take her place. He's a terrifying young boy, perfect for any job, I reckon. Cathy will flourish when the time is right, of course. Besides, you know as well as I do... The House always wins, doesn't it?"
He walked away, leaving Obadiah alone with his thoughts.
"You're right, Boss... The House always wins."
[The Ariston Household, Donlon, Risu, 3:43 PM, September 8th, Tuesday, 2015]
Cathy Ariston, six years old, pouted as she waited impatiently at the dining table, rolling a fork around with her pinky. She sat next to her brother Normand. Both waiting for their father.
It was Normand's birthday.
"Come on, Normie~! Blow out the candles already! I want cake!" she whined, despite the smirk on her face.
"Um... Daddy said we have to wait..."
Obadiah came back into the room, exhausted, holding a hand-held camera and sighed, adjusting his tie.
"Cathy, it's Normand's birthday. At least pretend to wear the party hat."
Cathy groaned but complied, shoving the party hat onto her head.
"Ugh, fine! But only because I want cakeee!"
Normand smiled faintly as his sister put on the hat.
"Alright, kids... Say cake!"
"CAAAAAKE!" they both yelled in unison.
It was a fleeting moment of happiness. Cathy didn't care that her brother was different. To her, he was just her best friend, the weird green kid who was always there, always loved her back.
Normand was looked down upon by others. He wasn't let out of the house much. It was hard getting him into public institutions and anywhere else. Especially school.
[Yorbridge Middle, Donlon, Risu, 8:22 AM, January 20th, Monday, 2020]
Normand, now ten years old, stood in his school hallway. Obadiah pulled a lot of strings for him to be here, so did The Boss. But that didn't really matter when it came to bullying.
The other kids mocked him for his green skin. One boy, larger than the rest, pulled out a knife. It was his first day here. Cathy had been attending this school for at least two years now.
"Stay back, freak!"
"Kick his ass! Kick his ass!"
Normand lunged in frustration, but the knife slashed across his cheek. The sight of his own blood sent him into a panic. He had Hemophobia, but he didn't know it at the time.
This caused him a great amount of stress, enough to awaken his Divinity.
"NO! NO!! NO!!!" His scream echoed through the hallway as his powers manifested from sheer fear, anger, and sadness.
His hand, which was now on the first bully's wrist, slowly started to turn the kid's flesh rotten. The bullies turned into zombies one by one, as they started eating each other, their life force draining away and falling under Normand's control.
Normand's fear of blood had triggered something primal and dangerous, the Divinity of "Zombie."
[Yorbridge Middle, Donlon, Risu, 12:46 PM, January 20th, Monday, 2020]
Hours later, the school was in ruins. Normand walked through the bloody hallways, his breathing labored. He had just finished snapping the neck of the security guard, the only man around with a gun. He was sure nobody would be coming to help.
He walked by his sister's classroom, 1-A. He saw Cathy hiding in her classroom and froze.
"Cathy...?"
She let out a loud gasp and stood up. The teacher motioned for her to sit back down and hide. She didn't care.
"Normand...? N-Normand!" She ran to him, but he stumbled back, horrified by what he'd done.
"I'm... I'm a monster... Leave me alone! Stay away from me! Stay away from meee!"
Normand ran away from her, wiping his tears and bursting out into the courtyard of the school. He bumped into—
"Little one, were you not told to be nice to others by your daddy?" The Boss appeared, his red suit pristine amidst the destruction. "Who are you running from? You can't escape yourself. Normand Ariston, join me. I will make you a king amongst men, and your throne shall be made of the corpses of fools and their imperfect hatred. None shall reject you, for you are The King of Nothing... but I? I will make you King of Everything. Follow me, and live..."
His hand extended to Normand's.
Normand looked back at Cathy, tears streaming down both of their faces.
He took The Boss's hand, his eyes glowing red.
"Goodbye, Cathy... I'll always love you..."
Cathy ran as quickly as she could towards them. Hands extended for a hug that never came.
"BROTHER! NOOOOOOOO!!!!"
The air cracked in red, red glass shards flying out of the air around her. They both disappeared into nothing, leaving a scared and traumatized Cathy on the ground.