Darrel, Jake's dad, and Gerri both screamed as they watched blood spray free from Jake's back as shrapnel from the point blank blast erupted from his body. They had watched in a mix of awe and horror. Both found themselves holding their breath at times and barely able to believe what they were seeing. Jake, the Jake they knew was in an all out brawl with a huge monstrous brute. Flames were erupting, he was disappearing randomly, the monster's head had been blown off then grew right back! None of this made any sense to them, but that didn't keep them from worrying about him.
Jake's dad again rushed to the door and flung it open only to find the impossible reality of it leading back into the living room of their house. "Please do calm down Mr. Nessan. Your son isn't as completely as insane as he appears. This is his strategy."
Darrel spun around in frustration, his eyes darting around for the source of the strange voice. "Strategy? He just got himself killed!"
"Exactly." Came the calm response.
Darrel just gaped at the nearest wall in shock at the madness his life had become. "Mr. Nessan. Something is happening with Jake!" Gerri took her hand away from her mouth as she cried out, she had been chewing on a fingernail out of stress. Together they turned back to the television.
**********
The five eyed brute stepped over to the corpse, blood pooling around it. It lifted its giant foot and started stomping down on its chest while barking out that excited laughter.
The first stomp crushed the chest, caving it in slightly. The second seemed to have no effect. The third stomp felt the shattered ribs popping back out. Before it could lift its leg for a fourth stomp two armored and clawed hands gripped it around the ankle. Flames exploded in a sudden blast incinerating the Grim's ankle. It hopped back, a new foot already growing free.
Jake scrambled up in a wild frenzy half running half crawling towards the still laughing Grim. The Grim pointed its flak cannon arm at him and fired. A blast of molten steel sprayed from the multiple barrels and peppered Jake. Even as Jake continued rushing forward the Grim just laughed and blasted away seeming unworried. Only when Jake had fully closed the distance did its smile begin to fade. Point blank it shot Jake in the chest and the attack peeled back the living metal of his armor. But it did little more than knick his flesh. The wound from the previous attack was already healed.
His entire body took on a flushed crimson tint as blood roared in his veins. His fist smashed forward right into the Grim's chest. Flames erupted forth as it was sent like a smoldering rocket flying backwards. Jake again vanished and appeared above it before it even came to a stop. Doubled up fists smashed into it, rocketing it down to the ground with an explosion of flames. Already healing the Grim bounced only once before Jake crashed down. Both clawed feet smashing into its chest and grinding it into the ground. It thrust its arm up, pointing the multitude of barrels at Jake again. Only this time Jake gripped the barrels, his gauntlet smoldered heating the steel of the barrels as he compressed them. Metal groaned as the barrels warped and crushed before exploding when it fired the next blast.
Jake was thrown off the chest of the monster and sailed through the air, tumbling head over heels. He landed on his feet and kicked off flying towards the still prone Grim. His oversized hands grabbed the Grim by the ankle and spun with it, building up momentum before flinging it upwards with all his might.
The street beneath his feet shattered as he jumped up after the Grim. His fist burst into flames building up power before he smashed into its back. The explosion sending him back to the ground and the Grim rocketing skyward. Jake never hit the ground, Instead vanishing to reappear in the air. Only to vanish again and again as he followed the vapor trail of the Grim sent flying. Just as the Grim's momentum slowed and he came to hover for a brief moment in mid air. Jake appeared above it. Both arms raised over his head were roaring with flames that rose up from them like twenty foot long swaying serpents of flame. As he channeled all his might into his fist, the vortex web symbol on the back of both began spinning.
Jake had never tried using both abilities at once. It wasn't simply a gentle breeze the second ability was conjuring but a flow of highly combustible gasses. The orange red flames engulfing his fist suddenly expanded, the trail of them rising into the air growing longer. The flame turned blue white as they grew hotter. With a primal scream that split his shattered mask leaving him looking like he was howling from a massive jagged mouth his arms swelled. Muscles expanded explosively to the point the metal covering his arms split and broke apart unable to keep up with the sudden expansion. Within his chest, there was a cracking sound followed by an almost glass shattering sound, and the flames on his gauntlets swelled in intensity.
Both fists roaring with blue white flames smashed downward, blasting right into the Grim. The explosion of that blow blasted the Grim down while flames rolled from the point of impact blotting out the blue sky and replacing it with a sea of fire.
Blown upwards Jake turned and smashed his fist together causing another explosion that rocketed him after the Grim. More flames jetted from his fist pushing him to even greater speeds as he chased after them. Several blinks helped close the distance just as the Grim was about to hit the ground. Instead of impacting the ground, it tore open, revealing a hole in the world that opened up high over a red tinted wasteland. Jake passed through that same hole before it could close a split second later.
Back on Earth the Grim smashed into the ground, the land compressing into an ever growing crater. An instant later Jake smashed into them again. His fists trailing twin streams of blue white flames came down with an explosion of flame that filled the crater and rose to roar into the sky forming a towering pillar that threatened to pierce the heavens.
**********
Warning alarms blared and crimson lights flashed adding to the sudden chaos. With a groan, they slapped the console silencing the audible alarm, and checked their Strider's status. Several of the sensors were rebooting the only info they received was their twenty foot tall mech was on its back. They could have told the machine that based on the angle they lay at.
"Sanctuary. This is Patrol one. Do you read me? Sanctuary. This is Patrol One reporting in." The Strider Pilot punched the ancient mech's console and several flashing lights stopped flashing as monitors flickered back on. Grabbing onto the controls they forced their mech to right itself as they continued shouting into the comms.
"This is Sanctuary. We read you Patrol one. What happened out there? Our sensors went nuts." The static filled response was ignored as they stared at the main external monitor. An enormous pillar of flame was rising into the sky.
"Sanctuary. Are you getting my feed?" Their previous panicked tone was now flat with shock.
"Patrol one. We see… whatever that is." The responding voice held a similar tone. "Command has been notified. Hold position."
"Wait. I see something." They scrambled with the controls zooming in the view. A figure started to come into view emerging from the raging pillar of flame. It was a dark outline against that backdrop of orange flame. It wavered and danced before solidifying as it emerged from the flames. A humanoid figure stood against that glowing hellscape. Two writhing streams of blue white fire rose up to dance like serpents on either side of it.
"Sanctuary. Do you see what I see?" They swallowed, their throat suddenly dry. There was no way a human had done something like that. It had to be a monster. That enormous pillar of fire fizzled and withered. As it did the pilot of Patrol One watched the figure simply vanish.
"Where did it go!" The crackling cry came over the comms.
"I don't know!" The pilot scrambled attempting to finish rebooting their mech's systems, most importantly their sensors.
"For now retreat. We can't risk a Strider. Not against an enemy like that." A new voice came over the comms, it was calm and confident.
"Yes Sir." The Strider Piolet didn't hesitate to follow her commander's order.
**********
"Why did you pull me back?" Jake growled the moment he logged out back to the pocket dimension. "What if it is still alive?"
"If it was still alive, that is all the more reason to pull you back." Captain Greger snapped back. He wore a military dress uniform despite the fact there was no military left. His dark hair was buzzed into a proper flat top. Captain Greger was the military representative for the pocket dimension Jake lived in. A relic of when the town was formed. After all, Jake was the closest thing to a military unit they had. The good Captian wasn't even able to return to Earth. Not without a heavy protective suit. Without the altered bioenergy of one resistant to the radiation blanketing Earth, his armor or weapons would be useless. Even the weakest monster was tougher than any standard weapon could handle.
"You should be grateful. Do you know how much power it costs to use a recall like that? Especially at that distance? You were right at the farthest edge of the region. Much farther and you would have been beyond our reach." The Captian stepped forward, he was a few inches taller than Jake and tried to use that height to further intimidate the teen. Jake's eyes narrowed and he didn't flinch. Everyone present knew he could pull the man apart like a child with a bug. For a long tense moment, they stared off.
"Enough chest thumping." An elderly Asian woman, her hair mostly grey and pulled up rested a hand on both of the male's shoulders. "It was my call, Jake, to recall you. You were at your limit. In your weakened state, you couldn't have done anything. And as the Captian so inelegantly put it. Should that thing have survived that level of destruction. I am not sure you have anything else that could handle it." Engineer Leru spoke calmly, her tone carrying a concerned motherly tone that always pacified Jake.
"How did that thing even get in here? That shouldn't be possible right?" Jake finally turned his glare from the Captian.
"It seemed to hitch a ride as we started forming the dimensional tunnel between here and Clover Hills. Everything is in place for the mass evacuation." Leru answered.
"Is that even possible? How can a Grim do that? Even if it was a five eyed one it didn't seem that smart." He started to tell Leru his theory that somehow that monster was once human, but held back. Captain Greger was still watching him and Jake just didn't trust the hostile man.
"We don't know. But our best guess is they had someone helping them. Jon believes the destroyed console you found at the dimensional anchor was brought there for someone to try and study how it worked. They obviously figured out enough to breach the dimensional gap." Jake blanched at Leru's explanation.
"Then they could attack again, anytime?"