Chapter 158: Chapter 158: The Baby Crew vs. The Dark Millennium (2)
The students of Mega Academy this year are weird, especially him."
It has been a while. A while since someone looked at me, and it felt like they saw right through me. Analyzing me. I do not like that, I do not like that at all.
Riley stared at the woman who suddenly joined the fray, December. She was pale, incredibly so. And her black eye mask and jet-black hair that reached only to her slightly chubby cheek made it even more noticeable.
And unlike Warslugger, who was wearing his usual outfit, December was wearing a black suit with a split cape flowing on her back like an oversized scarf; unidentifiable to the current villains out in the public right now.
She pointed at him, and yet her eyes were not really looking at him, not exactly. Not in the usual way.
In a... special way.
Like me.
"Stop analyzing me," December said, the tone of her voice carrying a slight hum in it. She didn’t let her gaze stay too long on Riley, however, as she soon turned her focus back on Warslugger. As for Riley, he focused on December’s palm, which was still slightly smoking from receiving Gracey’s energy beam. But other than the smoke, there were no wounds or even a small hint of burn on her hand.
Gracey noticed that too, and she carefully flew back toward the rest of the crew. Hannah also dragged Riley away, and as soon as they joined the others...
"Run! They might have more friends with them!"
Hannah didn’t even hesitate to issue a command; she didn’t stop running and even slightly shoved Pauline so that she would start moving. Pauline quickly snapped out of her stupor, and she ran toward her bike. And without even talking to each other, Bella joined her on the same motorcycle. Pauline quickly moved back, letting her take the throttle as they rode away, with Bella using her abilities to lift the chassis and propel it forward along with the engine, practically turning the bike five times faster.
As for Tomoe, Gracey grabbed her by the waist and carried her away from there, while Tomoe created a thorny ball of crystal at the same time, which Gracey kicked and sent straight toward Warslugger and December before flying away.
"Ho?" Warslugger smiled in amusement, clasping his hands together as if holding a bat as he got into position—and with a breath, he swung his empty hands toward the crystal ball.
The loud bang caused Gracey to look back, only to see the crystal ball she had kicked shooting straight back toward them.
"Tch!" Gracey was about to kick it away again, but Tomoe quickly pointed her palm at the ball, and it turned into a mist of crystal dust. Dust crystals which stopped and floated right in front of them. Gracey gazed down, and Riley had his hand up—but not for long, as he casually lowered his arm and pointed it at the Dark Millennium duo.
The movement of the crystal dust, however, was anything but casual. Everyone heard it, grinding and it even popping in the air with how fast they shot toward their opponents.
And as if that wasn’t enough, V, who had been assessing the situation quietly since the start, released a bolt of electricity toward the crystal cloud of dust. The cliff that was bathing in the rays of the setting sun flickered; the light crackling from the crystals made it seem like everything else was dark.
But once again, December moved in front of Warslugger to protect him. This time, however, December didn’t even bother to raise her palm to block the attack and just stood there. The cloud of crystal dust exploded as soon as it made contact with her skin, and yet the most it did to her was cause her flesh to ripple.
Even her clothes were fine for some reason.
December glanced at V at first, but then placed her attention on Riley and smirked. Her smirk, however, quickly faded away when she saw that Riley had the same exact expression as her.
He also had a smirk on his face.
It didn’t take long at all for December to realize why, as she heard a whistle whisper around her. She looked ot the side, only to see a small group of crystal dust form into a spear—no, into a large needle that shot straight toward Warslugger behind her.
She threw her hand to block it, but it was already too late. Even Warslugger couldn’t react at all and only clenched his teeth as the needle went for his neck.
"Sh–!" He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes, ready for death. But it didn’t arrive. He slowly opened his eyes and gazed down, and there, the large crystal needle hovered just a millimeter away from piercing his neck.
"Wh..."
His breath trembled, and he quickly stepped to the side as December grabbed the large needle. She tried flinging it away... only to realize she couldn’t budge it at all. It was stuck there, as if pierced through the very veil of existence and space itself.
She quickly looked back toward Riley, and he was no longer smirking, no.
Instead, he was smiling at them as his sister dragged him away.
A smile that simply told the two of them,
I could if I wanted to.
But he didn’t. The only thing he did was smile at them as he disappeared into the woods with the others.
"Shit! They’re gonna get away!" Warslugger adjusted his cap. He rushed to follow the Baby Crew, but December pushed him back and blocked his path. He quickly glanced at her, confused at first, but then a smile slowly crept onto his face.
"Right... where are they even gonna go?" he said with a small chuckle. "Your friends are already waiting for them. It—"
"No," December cut him off. "I am calling this operation off."
"Huh?" Warslugger tipped his cap up with his finger. "What are you saying? We went all the way to this stupid 3rd world country for this."
"I am calling it off because we are outclassed, Tommy."
"What do you—" Before Warslugger could finish his words, he realized that December’s hand was still raised and holding the crystal needle. He looked at her, and she slowly let go of the needle, only for it to still remain in the air.
"What in the..." Warslugger blinked a couple of times, leaning his head closer to the needle as he heard it making noise. He squinted, staring at it until he found out what was making that noise.
It was spinning. The crystal needle was spinning incredibly fast, the dust particles slicing and shredding the air.
"I would not stick my face that close to it if I were you, Tommy."
Warslugger glanced at December, and she raised her palm to show him that it had scratch marks on it."
"It did this to my palm, I believe I do not need to tell you what it would do to your face."
"It..." Warslugger held his breath, quickly backing away from the large needle. "...It was able to scratch you?!"
Warslugger clasped his hands together and quickly swung toward the direction of the needle in instinct, releasing a shockwave that caused all the grass beneath their feet to be shaved away. December also took a step back, watching as the blast tore through the air...
...but not the crystal needle, no. It was still completely intact.
"What... the hell is even that?" Warslugger gulped. "Did Tomoe Reynolds make that? That wasn’t in the report given to me!"
"Because it’s not Tomoe Reynolds," December shook her head. "It is Riley Ross doing that. As I told you, we are outclassed. V and Hannah are also dangerous variables—I am calling off this operation."
"S-shit... you should’ve probably brought more Months with you," Warslugger said, his eyes still stuck on the hovering needle. December didn’t really respond to him and instead pressed the receiver in her ear to talk to her team.
Her eyes slowly narrowed, however, and she started tapping the inside of her ear several times. But no matter which way she tapped it, she could no longer feel the radio.
She hooked it with her finger, only for her to poke the inside of her ear.
"It’s gone. My radio," she whispered, glancing at Warslugger. "Where’s yours?"
"It—" Warslugger touched his ear. "It’s... gone?"
"Are you looking for these?"
The two quickly put up their guard as they heard a voice coming from the woods. And there, they saw a figure slowly walking out from the shadows.
A figure holding what was obviously their earpieces.
Riley Ross. Casually walking out like he wasn’t just running away with the rest of the Baby Crew earlier.
"Well..." he whispered, smiling at them as he destroyed one of the earpieces and then wore the other.
"...Shall we hear how many Months you brought with you? But Mr. Warslugger was right, December."
"Hm?"
"However many you brought with you, you should have brought more. But I suppose it does not matter...
...There are only twelve months, and that is not enough."