ARCHETYPE (Slowburn Superhero Progression)

This is bad, I thought.

Which was an understatement because not only was Clang bleeding out, he was also quickly becoming a one-man natural disaster. The cold-storm seemed to draw wind into it, amassing yet more size and power to the point even the clouds in the sky began to circle above.

Without Slip's psyche joined to my own, I didn't know what to do.

The sugar-monster burst into the same four-limbed sprint it had met Clang head on with before – and its broken sugar-crystal-crown reformed its trident points.

My body refused to move.

Without Slip what could I do?

Without Clang fighting beside me, what chance did I have against this ruthless monster?

The sugar-monster Sweet-Face was already within arm's reach of me, its lidless and all-too-human eyes set with undisguised rage.

I could see through its translucent raspberry-hued pseudo-sugar ribcage to its human heart and lungs and other organs beneath.

And I realised that I couldn't blink. Something had caused my perception of time to slow to a near complete halt.

Slip? I thought, is that you?

No, said a familiar voice that certainly wasn't Slip's.

It's me, the voice said within my mind, It's Little-You!

Hey! I thought, Now's not really the time to catch up!

But you need my help! Little-Me thought back.

Where's Slip? I thought.

I don't know, thought Little-Me, Do you want me to go away?

No! I thought, desperately.

Any company at all in what was very likely to be my dying moments was more than welcome.

Besides, I really liked Little-Me.

We're gonna beat him, thought Little-Me.

Oh yeah? I thought, And how are we going to do that?

Our super special attack, thought Little-Me, remember my drawing?

I did remember it. And as soon as I did I felt a twinge of hope.

What if it doesn't work? We've never tried it before, I thought.

Please do it! Thought Little-Me, excitedly, It would be so cool!

I could feel the stabbing migraine from both my previous partially healed head injuries and the strain of maintaining the slowed perception of time.

I needed to come to a decision, and fast.

If I use that technique, I thought, and it doesn't work, it'll be game over.

It'll work! thought Little-Me, you just have to believe!

Believe? I thought, Believe in what?

Us! Thought Little-Me, You're not going to let this bully win, are you?!

My eyes focused on the looming sugar-monster. I could see recognition in its eyes – it could likely see that we were using our slowed perception of time.

It's a gamble, isn't it? I thought.

The reason this thought had occurred to me was because Sweet-Face had been gambling this whole time, changing from one form to another, seemingly at the mercy of whatever side the sugar-cubes landed on. It was, I could only guess, a way of boosting his attack power without fully losing himself to the Psyche which took control.

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Fine, I thought, Let's gamble everything on this next attack.

And just like that Little-Me had come and gone.

The problem was how close the sugar-monster had become. There wasn't even time to properly dodge its huge clawed hands with its elongated fingers, or its head with its human teeth eagerly about to bite into my face.

I would have to sacrifice something to stay in the fight.

Time started again, and to save my own head from being bitten clean off I threw up my left arm to defend myself.

The sugar-monster's fingers gripped the arm, pinning it in place with enough strength I felt the joints at my wrist and elbow snap.

And then came the sugar-monster's teeth. They sunk into my forearm, and the teeth were large enough that a single bite cleanly devoured the entire length of my forearm in one go.

Now! I thought, trying to think beyond the pain.

From the waist-up I willed the Slip-suit's web-like threads to leave my body. The resin-threads, bless them, covered the sugar-monster's head, body, and arms in a myriad of different tangled knots.

The sugar-monster was free from the resin-threads within moments, but those threads had bought me enough time to tear what remained of my left arm away, and to will more strength into my body.

Muscle, also filled with the pseudo-rubbery-elastin thanks to Snap, built across my body, making my already lean physique that much more bulked.

The chase began, with me bounding backwards and the sugar-monster in hot pursuit.

I bounded towards Clang's out of control cold-storm which had continued to build to an even greater size.

The cold-storm had moved over to the chainlink fence where Sweet-Face's men had been standing before, and where Snap and Marbelle still resided.

The cold-storm's fierce ice-winds tore away the chainlink fence just in time for me to bound out of the astroturf pitch and narrowly out of reach of the sugar-monster's clutches.

I saw Snap and Marbelle roaming in, as if to begin attacking the sugar-monster in order to defend me.

"Stay back!" I yelled in my resonating voice, "Focus on the storm! Make sure it doesn't leave the school or it'll put everyone in Lowems Park in danger!"

There wasn't time for me to see if Snap or Marbelle intended to listen to what I had yelled, because the Sugar-Monster lunged for me again.

It took hold, the fingers of its right hand sinking into my left shoulder.

I cried out in pain and felt the scraping burn of my back striking down on the concrete playground.

The cold-storm had moved up the playground, and was close enough that its winds froze a good portion of the sugar-monster's back.

The sugar-monster screeched, and its grip relented as it moved off and bounded away in order to create distance between it and the cold-storm.

This left me unprotected, but I didn't dare waste a moment to get myself safe. Using the adhesion in my right palm, I yanked myself up off the ground and used my superhuman agility to kick off and backwards summersault across the playground.

Rather than land on the playground concrete, I touched down on the vertical edge of the school's West-Building.

I had all of a half-second to catch my bearings before the sugar-monster set upon me again.

Up! I thought desperately.

With all the strength and agility I could muster, I bounded upwards, using the adhesive quality of the resin which coated my skin and the suit to give me the purchase I needed to get to the rooftop.

Even upon hurtling onto the roof I had to immediately kick off the ground hard enough to break away some of the brick. I soared backwards, and the sugar-monster's raspberry-hued mass rose into view, scuttling like a giant stick-insect in my direction.

He's not letting up! I thought, But that's okay, I won't either!

What I needed was time to set up the special-attack, and there was only one way I could think of to get it.

The bleeding at my left arm-stump at the shoulder had stopped almost immediately, because by instinct I had closed the wound using my blood-resin. I had done it almost without thinking in a desperate act of survival.

My experiences fighting Soaks, Chips and Lure, and sparring with Clang and Snap was coming in handy, because that feeling of having my back to the wall with little way to succeed had become something familiar.

It was no good wishing the circumstances were different, I had to use what I had and hope for the best.

With this thought in mind, I kicked off the ground, fighting against the backwards momentum I had built up and raced ahead instead, bringing the fight to the sugar-monster.

There was no surprise on the creature's face. Just pure, calculating, murderous intent.

Pap! Pap! Pap!

I willed for the resin which clotted my left shoulder stump to explode into resin-threads.

The resin-threads shot out at the sugar-monster, and it deftly dove out of the way of the threads whilst still closing in on me like a missile.

This was it.

Do or die.

Zip!

The resin-threads attached to a large ventilation unit. The force of the zipping resin threads and the weight of my body being propelled forwards threatened to rip the ventilation box's steel frame from where it was bolted to the rooftop.

If that breaks, I thought, then I'm dead.

I hurtled onwards, and soared through the air.

The sugar-monster trident-crown missed its target, so the sugar-monster swung for me instead, and I felt its claws slash at my exposed back, drawing deep gashes that burned and made my eyes water from the pain.

Whatever! I thought, The Adam-George Amalgamation did the same!

The sugar-monster corrected its course, turning with sickening grace on the spot in its pursuit of me.

Ahead of me was the cold-storm. The great, swirling sphere and the icy-wind maelstrom which would tear me apart if I got too close.

The resin-threads ran out.

All that was left for me to do was jump.

Using every ounce of strength I could muster I bounded off the edge of the west-building rooftop.

The cold-storm sank below me, but was close enough that I felt my whole body run cold.
My legs in particular numbed instantly.

My stomach lurched. I was soaring, in free-fall, with the cold-storm drawing closer beneath me.