Xander vol.1 Transmutation (20 page)

“
Not the colours he was
referring to,” Yang spoke up, pushing off the wall and stepping
forward to line up with Yin. “But we’re getting off
subject.”

“
Ah, yes –“ Yin agreed,
nodding.

“—
your deaths,” Yang
finished.

Xander shook his head,
lowering his hand and glancing over at Nora, who was standing
noticeably still next to Theodore, who looked like he was ready to
put up a fight.

“
Why – What is it with
them and killing? I just fought a big cat, an elephant, a bear, and
some other horned animal to keep that woman –“

“
You’re disrupting the
master’s plans,” Yang interrupted.

“
To make more Chimera?”
Theodore questioned.

“
To give mankind the
revolution it’s been waiting for,” Yin answered.

“
The evolution that will
change everything,” Yang added.

“
Not everyone will make
it, Toji,” Nora pleaded.

“
It’s Yin and Yang, now,”
both Yin and Yang corrected.

“
People die every day.
This is no different,” Yang added.

“
You know that’s not
true!” Nora shouted, taking an unconscious step forward into
Xander’s arm, which he had raised to keep her at bay.

“
You know it is, and
you’re trying so desperately to find a significant difference,”
Yang insisted.

“
It’s
murder
.”

Yang shrugged.

Nora pressed against
Xander’s arm. He moved closer to her, almost surprised at her
sudden aggression.

“
Nora,” Xander
warned,

“
You guys got any other
people coming along to help us?” Theodore asked warily, slowly
making his way closer to them as Yin and Yang drew closer together.
Xander looked in his direction. “We may need it.”

Xander raised a brow,
giving a slight scoff as he glanced back in the twins’
direction.

“
Amazing you still find
the need to underestimate me,” Xander answered, lowering his arm
from Nora’s rising chest. Her eyes still locked on those of
Yin’s.

“
You may be the one
underestimating
us
,” Yang cautioned as he extended his hand out towards Yin,
who did the same.

And as they did, there
were two lines of what looked like coloured winds that flew between
them, sparking Xander’s attention – as well as Nora and Theodore’s.
From Yin’s hand came a stream of an almost silver white – similar
to the snow he had been laying down previously. From Yang’s hand
came a stream with a reddish tint. The conclusion of heat was only
made relevant when the snow at his feet began to melt, while the
snow around Yin’s feet began to thicken.

Theodore scowled as he
took a step back while Nora and Xander stood where they were,
looking on. Nora’s eyes were filled with angst, while Xander’s were
filled with wonder. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of
astonishment at seeing the Chimera in action. Especially these two,
which seemed to have sprouted from the same human, and result with
two completely separate bodies.

It took the wind picking
up around them for Xander to snap back into the mindset of
preparing to fight. He nudged Nora, who blinked rapidly before
looking at him. He nodded to her, before looking over at Theodore
who returned his glance.

“
You guys are joining in
this time.”

Nora sighed with
reluctance as Theodore nodded in understanding, his gaze falling
back to the twins. He raised his arms, which promptly turned into
large barreled guns. Xander’s eyes widened for a moment before he
laughed, giving an exaggerated nod. An excited current sparked his
arms as he pumped his arm in premature victory.

“
Awesome!” he
exclaimed.

“
Xander!” Nora screamed as
she raised her arm, summoning a thick wall of compact dirt in front
of them both, blocking the large spear of ice from hitting its
mark.

Xander’s eyes locked on
the shield of dirt as he bounced from heel to heal, breathing short
breaths as he mentally pumped himself up. Nora grimaced at his
seemingly carefree attitude. And although he did manage to take
down Halyn, she was still wary about Yin and Yang.

“
Xander, be –“

Before Nora could finish
her warning, Xander was climbing up the dirt wall. He dug his foot
into the top of the wall before jumping over it and charging for
the two across the clearing. Nora gasped and lowered the wall,
cracking the ice spear in half as a result as she looked on in
horror, he hand outstretched.

“
Xander!” she shouted
after him.

“
Come on!” Xander shouted
out at he ran closer.

Yin smirked as he
approached, shifting both his hands and aiming them at Xander. Yang
narrowed his eyes at Yin when he broke the connection, scowling
disapprovingly as he built and launched another ice
spear.

“
Bring it,” Yin taunted,
moving closer.

Xander picked up his
speed, ducking forward to doge the incoming spear, which sent it
towards Nora as a result. She gasped, moving to throw her hands up
to cover herself, screaming when the spear was shattered by the
sudden piercing of a bullet from Theodore. She exhaled, gratefully
looking towards Theodore who was coming up beside her, his gun-arms
pointed straight and aimed at the twins.

Yin fired spear after
spear, aiming for the approaching Xander who was closing the
distance between them with every step. He raised his hands,
charging them before firing some electrical attacks of his own
aimed at the both of them. Yin moved to the side, summoning a sheet
of ice to rise in front of him and deflect the voltage. While Yang
rushed to move away from the flying spark.

“
Yin,” he scowled, wanting
to reconnect to enhance their power, only to be ignored.

Yin wanted to show off
against this new enemy. After forcing the sheet of ice back into
the ground, his dug his fingers into it, and let the ice spread
along the surface of the ground, almost covering its entirety –
aside from the immediate area around Yang.

Xander’s eyes widened as
he suddenly felt himself slipping uncontrollably. He frowned,
gritting his teeth as he tried to regain control of his movements.
Yin smirked as he saw the slip in control, and sent another round
of spears hurtling towards him. Xander flailed as he tried to move
out of the way, though unable to do so.

Seeing this, Nora rushed
forward, gearing her hands upwards repeatedly to summon several
walls of compact dirt to stop what spears she could. And those she
could not reach in time were shot down by Theodore, who was rushing
forward for his shot at Yang at the same time.

Yin scowled at the help
provided while Xander smiled, regaining his footing and using the
ice to aid in his speed. He rushed at Yin, who leaned back in
disbelief, his arms coming up to defend himself as they collided
with one another to fight face to face.

“
Cheap trick,” Xander
scoffed as he threw a punch.

Yang took several steps
back as he prepared for the collision with Theodore, who had begun
firing his shots towards him. Yang shot small, but powerful rounds
of fire to meet each bullet, causing them to explode before
reaching him. But Nora called out to Theodore, stopping his
gunfire.

“
Don’t kill them!” she
urged, carefully stepping onto the ice in Theodore’s
direction.

Theodore frowned,
hesitating before complying with Nora’s wish and returning his arms
back to their natural state. Yang smirked, snickering as he slowly
started making his way towards Theodore, the ice beneath him
melting with each step he took.

“
Quite the gentlemen,”
he’d compliment.

Theodore’s eyes narrowed
as his hands gripped into fists. He huffed, looking down at the
ice, trying to think of the most efficient way to reach him. He
glanced over at Xander and Yin, who were brawling amongst
themselves. Both parties under the watch of Nora, who was also
trying to think of a way to rid the ground of the troublesome
ice.

She glanced down at it,
her foot spreading out against it. Concentrating, she pressed her
foot down against the sheet, not hard enough to crack it, but
enough to steady herself for what she was about to try and do. It
took a moment, but soon enough, the grass from beneath the ice
began getting thicker, accompanied by several roots that she had
begun bringing to the surface. Together they started cracking the
ice in various places, and providing at least some areas of travel
for Theodore.

Noticing the opening,
Theodore made his way closer, being egged on by Yang, who had given
up on reconnecting with Yin, and was instead focusing on his own
battle. His hands heated up as he paced forward, his steps being
matched by Theodore’s as his hands shifted into that of two large
mallets.

Meanwhile, Yin was slowly
lacking in his ability to keep up with Xander’s punches. He’d yet
to send another shock, as he was enjoying himself in their hand to
hand. He was admittedly impressed with Yin’s ability to keep up
with the speed he was going. Which, granted, wasn’t his fastest,
but was still faster than a normal fight.

“
I gotta give it to you
guys,” Xander said between shuffles. “You know how to hold your
own.”

“
Did you think we’d go
untrained?”

“
Who trained
you?”

“
Wouldn’t you like to
know?” Yin mused as he swiveled a round-house kick towards Xander’s
chest, coating his foot in a strong sheet of ice as it made
contact, knocking Xander off his feet and onto the ice-coated
ground.

It cracked under his
weight and force, and was further disturbed when he rolled out of
the way of another downwards kick. It was when Yin’s foot made
contact with the chilled ground that Xander rolled back and took
hold of his ankle, sending a round of volts through his
body.

Yin shouted in pain as his
body crumbled to the ground, grabbing Yang’s attention in the
process, who was focusing on dodging Theodore’s attacks. Seeing
Yin’s fall and spazzing body, he scowled as he aimed his hands at
Theodore, who was cocking his hand back for another
attack.

From Yang’s hands came an
immense amount of hot steam. Hot enough for severe burns. Theodore
cringed away from him, immediately feeling the intensity on his
skin. During his retreat, Yang rushed over towards Xander as he got
to his feet, Yin still twitching on the ground.

“
Hope that wasn’t too
much,” Xander mumbled to himself as he watched Yin, who was
beginning to grunt as he tried to gain control over his
nerves.

Seeing Yang charging over,
Nora shouted a warning to Xander, getting him to look up as he bent
down to pick up Yin. Immediately he raised his arms in defense as
Yang blew another pocket of steam, this time funneled into a wind
to knock Xander away.

“
Get up,” Yang scowled,
looking back and down at his other half, who was on his hands and
knees, body twitching as she struggled to get to his
feet.

“
You guys are like
opposites,” Xander commented, getting back to his feet and slowly
approaching the two.

“
My body,” Yin complained,
wincing as he was unable to stop the spazzing in his
nerves.

Yang’s eyes narrowed at
Xander, before glancing around at the other approaching duo, and
then down at Yin. He grimaced, knowing and having seen enough to
know what the outcome of the battle would be. He stepped back
towards Yin, grabbing his arm and yanking him up onto his
feet.

“
I don’t think the doctor
knew how this was going to turn out. This isn’t going to work,”
Yang mumbled to Yin.

“
What? We can’t just
–“

“
Listen. She’s not worth
it. They’ve already got Theodore. This is pointless. We need to get
out of here while we still can.”

“
No, we can do this. Just
cover –“

“
Yin!” Yang hissed, firmly
jerking his arm. “You can
barely
stand. We need to – argh!”

Yang was cut off by the
interjection of his own screaming as he was suddenly dragged to the
ground by multiple thick vines. His arms outstretched towards Yin
in an attempt to pull himself back, but Nora had him. Several more
roots and vines came to join the capture, coiling around him like a
constrictor as he struggled.

Yin reached for him,
almost falling where he stood at the sudden lack of support. He
rushed to freeze the vines and roots that were capturing Yang,
aiding him in breaking those he managed to freeze, but not fast
enough to freeze the amount that Nora was summoning.

Knowing this, Yang waved
Yin off, accepting the outcome and choosing to conserve his
energy.

“
Go!” Yang shouted at
him.

Yin stopped in a moment of
hesitation, unsure of what to do. His body was still recovering
from the shock that Xander had delivered, and without the backing
support from Yang to face the three advisories. He grimaced,
looking around at the three, two of which were beginning to close
in on him.