Chapter 95
[126]
“Bad Lizard! Bad!” Ren swiped at the creature with a fire extinguisher, attempting to keep it at bay. Originally, his plan was to spray the Lizard down with the extinguisher, but in order to do that he would need two functioning arms, which was a problem at the moment. So instead, he was forced to use it as a makeshift bat against the creature.
‘Geez Maruki, I get why you were so desperate to get your arm back now!’ He thought as the doctor in question began to swipe at him with his claws.
As Ren attempted to swing the extinguisher down on the monster’s head, he was caught off guard when a slash from the creature tore into his chest and sent him onto the gym floor. Now on his back, the Lizard lunged down to bite his head off, only for his jaws to clamp down on the extinguisher as it was shoved into his mouth.
The mist of fire repellant exploded out of the pressurized tank, blasting cold air and metal shrapnel at the both of them. The Lizard was little more than inconvenienced by the metal shards in its skin as the wounds quickly healed themselves. Ren, on the other hand, nearly died as a large shard flew next to his face, narrowly cutting his cheek and damaging his mask.
When the reptilian scientist spat out the now spent extinguisher, he turned back to his prey with a furious expression, seemingly even more intent on killing him than before.
“Maruki!” Ren addressed the doctor, trying to appeal to the man inside. “Please, don’t do this! I know you! You’re a good person! If you’re in there, fight this! Fight it!”
The creature blinked at him, confused by the words and hesitating for just a moment. It was short lived however, as the creature let out a roar and raised its claw to finish him off. Ren shut his eyes in anticipation for the end, thoughts of his friends going through his mind as he awaited death.
‘Sorry guys, I wasn’t strong enough. Ann, Makoto, I’m sorry I never got to respond to you both with how I felt. I loved you both so much…”
As he awaited his death, he was surprised when no pain ever came. Carefully opening one of his eyes, he witnessed the Lizard struggling to strike him. Not because it was hesitating but because someone was restraining his arm. As the figure pulled the Lizard back and off of Ren, he was shocked by who it was and baffled as to how they did it.
“H-How did you-!?”
5 Minutes earlier:
“I won’t let anyone else here take the risk!” Makoto yelled. “I’m your senior and I say it should be me.”
“You don’t have any say over what I get to do with my life!” Ann argued. “We’re wasting too much time arguing! Ren is dying down there and needs our help!”
“Fuck this!” Ryuji pushed past the two of them, going for the syringe containing the serum. “I’m not gonna let my best bro die because two girls were fighting over him!” As he reached out for the syringe, he was suddenly pinned against the wall by an angry Ann.
“You wanna try saying that again?” She asked as she twisted his arm behind his back.
“Sorry! I’m sorry!” He pleaded as his arm bent in a way it shouldn’t be able to.
“Good, now back to-” She turned her gaze back to the others just in time to see Makoto jam the needle into her arm.
“You were right Ann.” Makoto looked over to the girl. “We are wasting time.” She pushed the plunger down and injected the serum into herself. When the syringe emptied, the girl turned to Takemi and asked how long it would take for it to take effect.
“Not long. This will spread a lot faster than a spider-bite so I’d estimate it will only take mere minutes for the changes to begin.” The doctor explained.
“Makoto!” Ann yelled angrily. “I can’t believe you just did that!”
“Is it going to hurt?” Makoto turned back to Tae looking somewhat worried, now grasping the weight of what she’d just done.
“Well, if it works like it should, your body is about to be torn apart and reconstructed on a cellular level. Your very DNA is in the midst of altering as we speak, the process that took days for Ren is about to happen inside of you in mere minutes. If I had to compare it to anything I’d say it’d be like undergoing surgery while still conscious. So in short, yes it is going to hurt very much.” Takemi said bluntly.
“But with the strength it gives me, I can save Ren. Right?” Makoto replied, already looking sickly.
“If you can stay conscious that is.” Takemi added, looking at the girl in concern.
“That won’t be a problem!” Makoto shuffled toward the stairs clutching at her gut. “I need to get to the gym!”
Now:
“Makoto!?” Ren asked in astonishment, watching the girl restrain the giant lizard. “H-How are you doing that!?”
“Nevermind that!” Makoto responded, struggling against the Lizard’s strength. “Use this opening! Knock him out!”
Tae hadn’t lied, Makoto’s body felt like it was on fire! Her reforming muscles ached, feeling like needles across her skin, her body begged her to stop. But she couldn’t. If she stopped now, that would be it for Ren and for her. The Lizard would eat them both and all of this would be for nothing.
“I won’t let you hurt him!” She cried, using all the strength she could muster to hold the monster back.
Ren didn’t waste this opportunity, charging up his hands with all the bioelectricity he could muster. Struggling to lift his broken and bloody left arm, he placed both hands on the Lizard’s face, unleashing the largest venom blast he could manage.
“AHH!” He screamed as he unleashed all he could on the creature.
The blast took effect, frying the Lizard and causing him to cease his struggling. Luckily, Makoto was unharmed by the blast, having released her grip just before Ren struck. Now lying on the floor, she’d taken all the pain she could before finally losing consciousness.
Ren wasn’t in much better shape himself, no longer able to stand after using the last of his energy in that attack. His left arm was in shambles, his right leg was bleeding profusely, and the gash on his chest was pretty deep. Despite all of this, Ren wasn’t in pain at all which definitely wasn’t a good sign. As he looked up at the Lizard standing unmoving above him, Ren began to worry that he’d killed the monster and thus the doctor within it.
That fear wouldn’t last long however, they would instead be replaced with a different fear when the beast took a step forward.
“No…” Ren murmured in horror. How could that not be enough? How could it still be conscious after that?
The Lizard took another step forward, and another, before finally collapsing to the ground. A wave of relief rushed across Ren when it finally fell, signifying the end of the fight. As it lay on the ground, the creature began to shrink, slowly morphing back into the doctor it once was.
“Dr. Maruki…” Ren let out a sigh of relief, glad to see the man alive, even if he’d just tried to eat him.
“R-Ren…?” The doctor looked up, weak but conscious.
“How-” Ren’s eyes widened, but he couldn’t find the strength to check if his mask was on.
“Your voice.” Maruki explained. “I heard it while I was in that...thing.” He let out a sigh. “Did...Did I hurt anyone?” He asked, fearing the answer.
“Just me.” Ren let out a small laugh before immediately regretting it. “Everyone got out. I made sure.”
“...I’m sorry Ren.” Maruki said as he began to tear up. “I’m so sorry that I did this. My formula...I was too impatient and people nearly died because of it.”
“It’s not your fault Doc…” He reassured the man. “You wanted to change the world.”
“That’s...That wasn’t why I did it Ren. I’m more selfish than you think I am. I-I just wanted to save her.” He wiped his tears with his left arm, the other one having faded with his transformation. “All of this, it was all to save Rumi…”
By now Ren could hear the voices of his friends as they ran to his aid, but they were muddled and fading. Before he knew it, his vision had faded to black and he quickly slipped into unconsciousness.
When he finally woke up, Ren found himself in the nurse’s office with bandages across his stomach and his arm in a cast. When he turned his head to the right, he spotted Makoto lying in the bed next to his, still unconscious and being fed with an IV drip. To his left, Dr. Maruki was awake and explaining himself to the rest of the group who looked rightfully pissed.
“As a fellow doctor,” Tae stated. “I can’t condone your actions. Though…” She turned her head over to Makoto’s unconscious form. “I can’t say I’m not guilty of something similar.” As her gaze fell on Ren, she noticed that the boy’s eyes were open. “Ren!”
The others gathered around the hero’s bedside, glad to see him awake.
“Dude!” Ryuji cried, wrapping his arms around his best friend. “I thought we lost you bro!”
“I’m fine.” Ren managed to get out. “But not for long if you keep squeezing me.” Ryuji realized his mistake and quickly released him. “So...Does anyone want to explain to me what happened?”
The group gave him the rundown, explaining Dr. Maruki’s side of the story. About how BARF transformed him into that giant creature and how he lost control from there, having hazy memories up until the end of the fight. From there, they explained the situation with Makoto, the serum containing his cells and how it gave her the strength to join the fight in time to save his life.
“So…” Ren looked over to the unconscious girl. “She’s like me now?”
“We can’t know for sure.” Tae explained. “After all, you have abilities different from Yu Narukami. It’s possible that her abilities could differ from yours too. We won’t know until she wakes up.” The doctor then turned her attention back to Ren. “You should be more worried about yourself though. You’ve got shattered bones in your arm and leg, not to mention severe lacerations across your whole body thanks to this guy.” She pointed her thumb at Maruki.
“Sorry...again.” The doctor rubbed his neck sheepishly.
“Speaking of the good doctor.” Ann spoke up. “What are we gonna do with him?”
Maruki seemed confused by the question. “You’re turning me into the police aren’t you? I nearly killed several students!”
“You weren’t the one in control.” Futaba stated, looking at the floor shyly. “I...I don’t think you should be punished for what someone else did in your body.”
“Futaba…” Ren muttered, memories of his encounters with Wakaba playing in his head.
“But what can we do?” Yusuke asked. “The police are already outside. It’s only a matter of time before they find us in here. What do we tell them?”
The group was silent, contemplating their next move. What would they say to the police? What would they do with Maruki? They didn’t have long to decide. Finally, Ren spoke up.
“Dr. Maruki.” He turned to the man. “You said you were creating BARF to help someone in particular. Rumi?”
A sad look crossing the man’s face, he nodded his head. “My fiance. She’s in the hospital. The accident that took my arm,” He held up his stub. “Caused her severe damage to her brain and nervous system, irreparable damage by the limits of modern medicine. She’s in a coma now.” He said sadly. “That’s why I began work on BARF, to try to repair the damage that’d been done to her. It was meant to do more than just repair limbs, if it worked correctly, it could repair any injury and reset the body to a healthy state.”
The others looked down, ashamed of their earlier criticism toward the scientist. He was doing all of this to save the woman he loved.
“But I guess, yet again, I was too careless. Too impatient.” He looked down. “And I only ended up doing more harm than good.”
“...”
“...”
“What if…” Ren spoke up. “What if you had more time? Do you think you could perfect it? Could you make BARF work the way it was intended?”
“Wha-” Maruki looked up in surprise. “I-I suppose? I...I could look over my notes and-”
“Yes or no?” Ren asked impatiently.
“...Yes.” Maruki nodded confidently, a serious look in his eyes.
“Then I say we let him continue his research.” Ren suggested to the group.
“Huh? But Ren-” Tae began to protest.
“Tonight already cost us one world changing medicine.” He looked over to Makoto. “It shouldn’t cost us two.”
“Even so, what about the attack?” Morgana asked. “What are we supposed to tell the police?”
“We don’t know what happened. Simple as that.” Ren stated. “A giant lizard attacked, we don’t know why or from where.” He looked over at Futaba. “Can you delete the security footage?”
“Already on it.” The girl responded, pulling out her phone.
“You guys!” Maruki looked at the others. “I-I don’t deserve this. I endangered lives! I should be punished!”
“Perfect your formula.” Haru interjected. “Save millions of lives. Commit yourself to that. That’s your punishment.” She turned to the others who nodded in support.
“I...I…” Maruki choked up, astounded by the people in front of him.
“I’ll do it. I’ll save them all.”
[Bonus]
A week after the Halloween dance, Makoto and Ren sat in Yusuke’s tiny apartment, both sitting in wooden chairs, clad in just their underwear. Makoto had awakened the day after the party, only having a vague recollection of events, she had to have the situation reexplained to her. She was certainly stronger now, and was working on sticking to surfaces, but no other powers had been discovered as of yet.
“R-Remind me why we need to be undressed?” Makoto asked, blushing as she tried to cover herself.
“So that I can get the most accurate measurements possible. Your costumes must conform to your bodies perfectly!” Yusuke responded, holding a measuring tape around her arm. “Hold still! Your squirming only lengthens the process!”
“Aaaand why am I here?” Ren asked. “You’ve already got my measurements. Can’t you just repair my costume?”
“No.” Yusuke responded simply, not looking up from his work. “Since you insist on consistently destroying the costume I’ve made for you, Futaba and I have decided you are in need of a new and improved suit. And for that, I must retake your measurements.”
“Oh, sweet!” Ren responded with a grin.
“Yes, yes it’s very nice.” Yusuke put his measuring tape away. “Excuse me for a moment, I need to grab my fabrics.”
With that, he got up and exited the room, closing the door to his design studio behind him. Entering his bedroom, he began to search through his drawers to find the fabric he was looking for.
“Hmm. Maybe white with black and pink highlights?” He contemplated the design of Makoto’s new costume. “It must be light and breathable yet durable and protective. Ugh, the demands they make of me. I miss painting.”
As he continued to search for the right fabric to use, he was surprised when he heard a crash sound in the other room. Running back quickly, he slammed open the door to the design studio.
“Are you both alright!? I heard a-” He looked at the chairs to see they were both empty. Turning his gaze upward he saw two figures on the ceiling in the middle of what appeared to be an impromptu session of love making. “Marvelous…” He muttered.
“I must paint this!”