Wilson walked and walked in a straight line until it finally dawned on him that it was completely dark and completely stupid to keep walking in a straight line. Why did he not just go to the noisy areas. He was sure to see people and he could find someone nice enough to give him directions. Why was he so stupid? What did he eat to become this slow anyway? Did someone put something in his food at Forest city? No wait, his thought process slowed down after 'the abyss'. Did he lose too much brain juice from all the head banging he received? That must be it. That place did something to him. There was just no way this slowness is natural. He was still too young to start having these kinds of problems.
"This kind of slowness. It is reserved for old people." Wilson mumbled to himself and began to run towards a group of buildings. He could hear loud voices coming from that direction and he could see a bright red-orange light. There seemed to be a campfire as well. It had to be a huge one. He could sense the heat from so far away.
"Hey, watch it!" a voice yelled.
Wilson looked around. He saw nothing so he kept running. He was almost at the building area. As he got close to the first building, he hit something and bounced off, sending him two meters back.
"Oof! Didn't I tell you to watch it?" a guy appeared out of midair, dusted his shoulder and said with a frown. Normally, Wilson would have thought; 'Invisibility powers? Cool!', but right now, he was fuming and could not care any less than he already did.
"How am I supposed to watch it if I am unable to see you?" Wilson asked as he moved towards the guy before the building.
"And what are you insinuating?" the guy moved towards Wilson as well.
"I am saying that you intentionally stayed invisible so I would hit you. Are you looking for a fight? Do you want me to beat you up?" Wilson asked as he stood face to face with this guy with the amazing superpower, who seemed to be about the same age as him. His opponent chuckled and raised his voice a couple pitches.
"You are going to beat me up? Do you know who I am?"
"I know that you are unnecessarily loud." Wilson said in his cool tone.
"I am unnecessarily loud? Oh you ain't seen nothing yet. This voice can go as high as the birds can fly." The guy shouted, his voice had raised another couple notches. By now people, most of them looked youthful, the rest were middle aged.
"Maybe I should hit you as high as your voice and the birds." Wilson said matter-of-factly.
"I would just love to see you try!"
"No problem!" Wilson said but did nothing. He just kept glaring at him. His opponent scoffed and took a step closer till they were nose to nose. But since they were both six feet and a couple inches tall, the intimidation effect he was looking for was lessened by a lot.
Wilson was going to ask him if he was trying to kiss him. With the unusual closeness, it did seem like it but his opponent spoke first.
"Why don't you put your mouth where you money is?"
He officially lost Wilson.
"What money?" Wilson asked and looked around at the people who had gathered round them at a distance and even more were still gathering. They all looked as confused as Wilson. Except that, it was for a whole different reason. They began to mumble among themselves.
"Did he just ask 'what money?'"
"I don't think he understands figures of speech!"
"Hehe, I never knew I would ever meet someone stupider than my brother."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Is there going to be a fight?"
"I sure hope so!"
"Maybe?"
"I don't think so. The argument was getting heated but then everything cooled down the second that idiot asked such a ridiculous question."
"I hope they don't."
The latter speaker immediately received all sorts of expletives. How could he not want them to fight?
"What, don't you know? Todd's invisibility power has a special effect. His invisibility power is the kind that emits no heat when activated."
"No heat?"
"wow! Doesn't that mean that there is no official way to sense him?"
"Oh my God! Todd is suddenly so handsome. Does he have a girlfriend?"
"Shut up! Who would want an ugly hag like you?"
"I dare you to say that again."
"Also, that is a newbie…."
"Right. I saw him arrive."
"I knew I had not seen that face before."
"He is quite handsome."
"…And I heard from an elder that he has no powers."
"What!!"
"And he dares to challenge someone with such unique abilities? He is toast!"
"Meh! He is not all that good looking."
"He is a newbie. He can't have known anyone yet and Todd was probably the one who came itching for a fight."
"yes! Todd is always looking for trouble."
"Poor new guy. His fine face will be ruined in seconds."
****************
"There were too many people talking at the same time but Wilson grabbed the handsome part. Handsome? He looked at his opponent. The one called Todd. Okay, he really is not that bad looking. But compared to him, he was only average.
"Alright! Listen, both of you! If you want to fight, just fight! If not, walk away. I am here to see a fight, not two guys being romantic with each other." Someone said from the crowd.
"Yeah! Fight! Fight!! Fight!!!....." the whole crowd chanted. Why would Todd raise his voice that high if he was not going to entertain them? How annoying.
Todd took a couple steps backwards.
"Do you dare?" He taunted. Wilson had other plans, he was not that easy to taunt into doing something he did not have much interest in. he would rather just go to bed and think things through. He still had not understood whatever happened last time. Was it a dream? Was it real life? Maybe his past life's memories coming back to him? Does that mean that Ruthless is his nemesis for all of eternity? That is ridiculous! Right! That does not make any sense. Does it? So, what was all that about? Was it just his imagination going incredibly wild? Was it an unconscious mode of escape from all the chaos he had been through recently? Or perhaps...…..
"Hahahahahahaha. What did I expect? Of course, you are too pussy-ish to face me. You are such a coward!"
The word 'coward' woke Wilson up from his daydream. He looked at Todd and realized he had unconsciously walked quite the distance away. He really needed to find a quiet place to think things through. But right now, his fists were itching to plant themselves in Todd's face. He began to walk back.
Somebody stood beside and whispered so that only him could hear.
"You don't have to do this!"
"I know!" Wilson stopped and answered in a similar tone.
"That guy will destroy you. Literally!"
"That is impossible. And even if it is, I am okay with being beaten up as long as I am able to plant my fist in his annoying face." Wilson said and continued walking towards Todd. His advisor looked at him and shook her head.
"Masochist!" She said.
As soon as Wilson stopped half a meter away from Todd, somebody ran to their middle and said out loud for everyone to hear.
"Alright, everyone. Take thirteen steps backwards."
The crowd synonymously took thirteen steps back. He self-appointed referee brought a small device out of an even smaller device. Wilson immediately thought; 'Sorcery!'. The ref tampered with it for a few seconds and dropped it on the ground. Two seconds later, a big transparent dome appeared, covering the two opponents and the ref. Wilson looked around and realized that it stopped right in front of the spectators. This ref was really accurate. If he had told them to move back any less steps than he did, some others would be enclosed in the dome as well.
"Okay, good! Here are the rules…"