“Three… two… one… go.”

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Savior: Original Story by OneSevenEight

Episode: Framed Perspective - Part 25

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The boy with messy black hair and profoundly blue eyes launched himself forward as the ring of lightning above began to shower sparks over the battlefield.

As Tamashi raced towards the white-haired Seishin of Lightning, Rai threw his hands to his sides and began to cackle.

“SO THAT’S HOW YOU’RE GONNA START? YOU COULDN’T BE ANY MORE OBVIOUS, TAMAYO! GET READY TO GET YOUR ASS KICKED!”

Rai reared back his right arm, drawing lightning into his clenched fist. Tamashi reacted by launching himself off the ground, sending himself speeding through the air.

“YOU BETTER DODGE, TAMAYO!”

“Nah, I don’t think I will.”

Tamashi closed in on Rai while keeping himself just below Rai’s arm. As Rai lowered his shocked face, Tamashi clenched his left fist, which was directly aimed for Rai’s gut.

‘That’s it. I win. I knock the wind out of him then touch his face. This has to work. This will work. I’m sure of it.’

A flash of lightning envelops Rai. Within nanoseconds, the lighting clears, revealing that Rai was bent over backwards, forming a handstand. Tamashi soared directly over Rai and drifted to the ground behind him. Instead of crashing, Tamashi forces himself down on his side, rolling and lifting himself up into a crouched stance facing Rai.

‘SHIT! I have to lunge aga-‘

Prior to Tamashi finishing his thought, Rai lifted him his fist while still in his handstand position. He released the lightning ball that he had formed in his fist. The ball crashed into Tamashi’s chest like a train, sending him flying backwards while coughing up fresh blood. He landed and came to a rest on his stomach.

Tamashi slowly and shakily lifted his head in time to witness Rai barreling towards him, using flashy blue lightning to bolster his speed.

‘Oh, shit. I’m screwed already. I haven’t even had a chance to really show off. Come on, I’ve gotta think. I’ve gotta use what Jiji-sensei taught me.’

Tamashi closed his eyes and lowered his head, thinking back to his training with Sensei earlier that day.

“Remember this guiding principle: always let your enemies come to you. Let them make the first move.”

Tamashi placed his hand on his hip as he contemplated Sensei’s declaration.

“Wait, I don’t get it. Why can’t I just end the fight as fast as possible? Say if I’m protecting someone from a bad guy. I don’t want to give the bad guy a chance to hurt that person. So the best course of action would be to end the fight quickly.”

“No, not necessarily.”

Tamashi’s facial expression was filled with confusion as Sensei opened his cigarette box.

“Launching an all-out one-shot attack would end successfully if you actually completed the attack without issue. The problem is, most of your enemies will be expecting that type of attack, which would mean that your attack will more than likely fail. Since your typical enemy won’t be expecting you to hold back and wait for them to move, the enemy would be more likely to launch a chaotic attack, giving you an opportunity to then end the fight with a counter. Do you understand, Tamashi?”

Tamashi placed his hand on his chin for a brief moment. He then used the same hand to form a fist, which was used to slam down into his other hand.

“Ah, so, what you’re saying is, the true heroes in this world normally wait for the villains to approach them with crazy, low-thought moves.”

Sensei lit his freshly-withdrawn cigarette

“Yes, well, I suppose you could use that conclusion to understand what I mean.”

Tamashi turned away from Sensei and extended his arm to the sky.

“I didn’t ask for these powers, but since I have access to them, I’m going to use them to clear my name and do some good in this world. In order to begin that journey, I’ll start by training my ass off here in the world of the endless horizon. I’ll become the next Riyosha of Lightning and I will use the powers to become a hero for my friends, and maybe even for myself. It all starts now.”

Tamashi returned to his initial position to once again converse with Sensei.

“Jiji-sensei, teach me your ways!”

Sensei smiled through the plume of smoke that emitted from his cigarette.

“If you’re done giving a speech to yourself, then we will begin training. Watch carefully and observe what I do, Tamashi.”

The characteristic orange sunlight filled the Void as Sensei and Tamashi began their training session, and later as Tamashi remained sprawled on the ground, searching for a plan buried within his mind to counter Rai and avoid an early loss.

‘Alright, I have a plan. No more mistakes. I’ll win this.’

Rai stopped just short of running over Tamashi and speedily raised his right leg.

“THIS ENDS NOW! GOOD GAME, TAMAYO!”

Tamashi raised his head and watched in slow motion as Rai’s electrified foot began its trajectory down towards his face.

‘Wow, so that’s the power of lightning?’

Time seemed to nearly freeze as Rai’s foot neared Tamashi. The shoe wrapped in highly-concentrated lightning reflected off of Tamashi’s eyes as it neared within inches of contact.

‘It’s so…’

Tamashi lashed out his left arm at Rai’s leg, wrapping his hand around the shoe of lightning. As Tamashi screamed in agony and concentration, he tucked his knees and pushed himself off the ground, with his right fist clenched and aimed at Rai’s head.

‘Awesome.’

At the flip of a switch, Tamashi had reversed positions with Rai, with his fist now within inches of ending the fight.

“You’re right, Rai. This does ends now.”

“YOU BET IT DOES.”

Rai charged his left knee with lightning and drove it into Tamashi’s gut, forcing him to cough up a pool of blood. As Rai began to fall back from losing his balance, he quickly followed up the knee with a charged blast from his right fist to the same area, sending Tamashi into the sky.

As Tamashi crashed into the reflective ground of the Void on his back, Rai checked the ring of lightning in the sky and began a slow walk to his black-haired doppelganger. His entire body radiated with lighting as he took each step.

“20 seconds left. You’re damn near out of time, Tamayo.”

Rai’s lightning-charged eyes were filled with rage.