Mia quickly found Old man Scrappy at the outskirts of the Scrapyards, making sure no beasts slipped in.
"It's not time for lunch yet, so what are you doing here little Mia" the old man asked with a bit of a frown while looking at the old watch on his wrist.
He was sure his watch was correct so why was the kid here.
"R-Reid.... scrap hunting..... caves" she was panting due to the run and couldn't form a complete sentence.
"Calm down kid. Here, have some water first" Old man Scrappy handed his water bottle to her.
Mia took large gulps of water before handing the bottle back to Old man Scrappy.
"Now, tell me what happened?" He asked seeing that she was panting less now.
"R-Reid went scrap hunting earlier and ended up venturing into the caves" she explained without missing a beat.
"Are you sure?" Old man Scrappy asked.
"Y-yeah, I know because I f-followed him" she answered as tears welled from her eyes "I'm sorry I didn't stop him".
"It's okay, Reid is a lot stronger than he looks" he comforted her, patting her head.
'what the hell is that kid thinking?' he thought.
"I'll head there immediately" Old man Scrappy said when he was sure Mia was calm enough.
He summoned his forged beast from within his inventory. It was a large white wolf, almost entirely similar to the real beasts except for the blue glowing lines passing under its fur.
This was old man Scrappy's lightning forged beast, Raio.
Old man Scrappy placed Mia on its back and also hopped on.
"C'mon buddy, head to the scrap yard as fast as you can" he said and tapped its side a bit.
Leaving a trail of lightning behind, Raio sped off in the direction of the scrap yard.
It took only 5 minutes to get there unlike the 20 minutes Mia took.
"Which cave did he enter?" Old man Scrappy asked when they were close to the scrap yard's walls.
"That one" Mia pointed to the one she saw Reid walk in.
"Good job Mia, now stay here while I retrieve your boyfriend" old man Scrappy teased, causing Mia to furiously blush.
He did that mostly to calm her down since she looked like she still blamed herself for not stopping Reid.
He walked into the cave praying the kid was still alive, but still prepared for the worst.
------
Inside the cave.
[Beast identified]
[
[beast type: The time rat]
Rank: Bronze tier
Abilities: limited pause, skip and rewind
Useful parts: Time core and hide
]
The beast looked nothing like a rat, unlike what Evo was showing Reid. It looked more like a really big hound.
Luckily or maybe unluckily, the beast hadn't attacked Reid again after the first one. It allowed him to stand up, using the wall as support.
'I'm not confident in winning a fight against it, especially not with a broken hand. My only other option is to run but with its skills, I'd be lucky to even take two steps' He thought to himself, trying to come up with a plan before laughing in self mockery 'I'm totally f*cked, aren't I?'
But as if a ray of sunshine in the darkness, Evo popped up with another option for him.
[Due to the host's situation, a skill will be temporarily unlocked to ensure your survival.
Skill [copy] has been unlocked temporarily, it will be locked again after host is out of danger.
[Copy]: this skill allows you to copy a skill from one of your tamed beasts to use for a certain amount of time.
]
[ Skills available to copy:
[Flicker]: a skill which allows it to teleportation within a small range.
[Delayed Reaction]: Slows down opponents within a short radius for five seconds, making them appear sluggish or delayed in their actions. (Skill time depends on the rank of the opponent).
[Void]: The moth can momentarily disappear and reappear in a different location a meter around it.
[Smoke screen]: Creates a smoke cloud that it can use to hide
Which would you like to copy?] Evo presented the options available to him.
Reid knew that he had to select fast because the beast looked ready to attack again any minute now.
'it's skills make every option here useless' he thought, weighing his options.
[Void] Reid selected the skill after thinking for a while. The moment he did, a strange sensation coursed through his body, almost as if he had turned weightless.
[Skill [Void] has been copied and activated. Duration: 5 minutes.]
The beast growled lowly, its glowing red eyes narrowing as it recognized the shift in Reid's aura. It crouched preparing to pounce at him.
'Focus, Timing is everything' Reid told himself, calming his pounding heart and waiting for the beast to make its move.
The beast lunged forward, its massive claws gleaming under the faint light of the cave. Reid reacted instinctively, activating [Void].
For a split second, the world turned black. It was as though he ceased to exist. Then, just as quickly, he reappeared a meter to his left, the beast's claws swiping through empty air where he had been.
The creature snarled in frustration, skidding to a halt as it whipped its head around to locate him.
It works, Reid thought, feeling a flicker of hope for the first time. But his broken hand throbbed in pain, reminding him not to get cocky.
The beast didn't give him time to recover. With a roar, it activated its own ability.
[Skip.]
The air shimmered around the beast, and it vanished, reappearing just inches from Reid, its jaws snapping toward his neck.
Reid barely managed to activate [Void] again, blinking out of existence just as the beast's teeth closed on thin air.
He reappeared behind it, stumbling slightly as the strain of using the skill started to set in.
'This isn't sustainable' His breaths came in short gasps, his body screaming at him to stop. But stopping now meant death.
He glanced around the cave, searching for anything he could use. He spotted the metal bat he had dropped after the first attack laying a few meters ahead of him.
The beast growled again, its eyes glowing ominously as it prepared to attack. Reid dove toward the bat, ignoring the searing pain in his broken hand as he almost reached it with his good one.
The beast didn't hesitate this time. It activated [Pause], freezing Reid mid-dive.
The world around him seemed to grind to a halt. His body was locked in place, his fingers inches away from the bat.
The beast stalked toward him slowly, it seemed to be enjoying Reid's struggle to break out of its time lock.
Reid's mind raced even though his body was immobilized. 'Think, think!'
[Warning: Host's vitals are critical. Remaining skill duration: 3 minutes.]
Suddenly, an idea struck him. [Void] If— from the feeling he gets everytime he uses this skill—moves him entirely out of this plane for a while, maybe it could break the hold of Pause.
With every ounce of mental effort, Reid activated the skill again. For a moment, it felt like nothing happened.
Then, with a sudden rush of freedom, he blinked out of the beast's time-locked grip, reappearing several feet away, crouched next to his metal bat.
The beast froze, its glowing eyes narrowing in confusion.
"Gotcha," Reid muttered under his breath.
He didn't wait for the creature to recover. Gripping his metal bat tightly with his good hand, he lunged forward, aiming for the beast's exposed side.
He slammed the metal bat at the beast's side, though it wasn't enough to cause any real damage only causing the rat to howl in pain.
Angered by the attack, It swiped its paw at Reid, throwing him back against the cave wall. He groaned in pain, his vision blurring as he tried to get up.
'F*cking hell, why did I try to fight it?' Reid thought in self mockery 'with void, I could have escaped but no, I was too f*cking cocky for my own good'.
Before the beast could attack again, the sound of footsteps echoed through the cave. A moment later, Old Man Scrappy appeared, his lightning-forged beast by his side.
"Reid!" he called out, his voice carrying a mix of relief and anger. His sharp eyes quickly assessed the situation, locking onto the injured beast.
"Stay down, kid," Old Man Scrappy ordered, stepping forward. "Let me handle this."
Reid didn't need to be told twice. He slumped against the wall, clutching his broken hand as he watched the old man and his beast move to finish the fight.
----
What'd you think of the fight between Reid and the beast? Did I cook or not? Leave your thoughts in the comment section so I'd know where to improve.. Also, drop them power stones.. pwetty pwease.