Chapter 3: Chapter 3- Lunch Buddies
The creature growled a low grunt-like sound, and turned its massive body to me. It has to be at least twelve foot tall, with twisted horns. It's muscular body was black with hardened scales on its hands, legs, and stomach. It's mouth housed what looked like dozens of razor sharp teeth. On its back we're giant bat wings and a long purple scorpion tail.
The monster exhaled but unexpectedly what came out was a small amount of dark mist. He started walking slowly to me, disregarding the petrified lunch ladies who were retreating into the kitchen. I hopped up and yanked Luna, who was still standing on top of the table.
I looked at her. "What is that thing?"
She shrugged. "New friend?"
"I don't think that's a friend."
"How can you be sure? Have you tried talking to him?"
I frowned. "I'm not going near that thing."
She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll go make friends since you're being a meanie."
Luna hopped and skipped over to the beast and it stopped in its tracks. "Hello friend, do you want to eat with us?"
No I think it just wants to eat us, I thought.
The beast paused for a second before instantaneously bawling both of his fists and smashing down right at Luna. It was over in a flash. I didn't even see it make impact, she just disappeared. The whole ground tumbled and a small crater formed over the area where he smashed.
An alarm went off in my head. I have to get out of here before that thing smashes me as well.
Just as I was about to turn around and run, glitter and stars appeared in front of me, which caused me to sneeze. Then, the queen of the galaxy herself reappeared like nothing happened.
She grabbed my shoulders."Eli, I don't think he wants to be lunch buddies with us."
She gave me a nickname already? Whatever, I'll complain about that later.
"I already told you he wouldn't."
She pointed at him. "But he looks nice enough!"
"...he's a twelve foot behemoth who almost clobbered you."
"Nah, he's just misunderstood. Maybe if we knock him out and calm him down we can add him to the lunch buddies squad."
"Squad? But there's only two of us."
She held up her finger. "So far, you mean."
"I don't think he's willing to comply."
Just as I said that, the behemoth picked up a table and launched it at us. I didn't have time to imprint my magic on anything. Luckily, Luna's reaction timing was a lot better than mine. She grabbed my hand and we teleported a few feet behind the monster.
I looked behind me. We were right by the entrance of the beast, which was now just a pile of rubble.
"Great, we can leave through here."
"What, no. We can't leave. If we leave him, he'll be lonely."
"I think he'll make good friends with the police soon." I turned around and started walking through the hall in the wall when Luna appeared in front of me.
"Ok, I got an idea," she said, grinning.
"I'm not fighting that thing."
She raised her arms up in disagreement. "But why not!?"
"I'll die?"
"But if we beat him, we'll be heroes! Then you can have all the associates you want."
"I care about my life more than fifteen minutes of fame," I said. "Not to mention I never wanted to make friends in the first place."
Luna ran to me and grabbed my hand and we teleported near the table where we were eating before. I looked behind the monster to see the wall we were near collapsing and creating another pile of rubble.
"Heheh close one."
This girl is going to get me killed. I have to get out of here. I reached into my pocket to find one stick of gum left, which meant I had to three spells left. I'll just sprint out of here, I thought. Then I can go to class and have someone else deal with this mess.
Sadly, this annoying girl wouldn't stop bothering me. She grabbed my elbow and jumped off the ground, which resulted in me having to hold her up.
"Pleaseee!"
"What do you want!?" I yelled at her.
"To fight it of course!"
"Do you even know how to beat it?"
"Ahahah, nope. But I figure it shouldn't be too hard. Especially with you."
"Me? What's so special about me?"
"Well from, what I've seen, you have super speed, can create illusions and barriers, and stun magic, right? That's pretty strong."
"You're leaving out that I only have three spells left and even if I could get more I only have half my magic.
"The more challenging the better!"
"You're crazy."
"Ahahah—"
For the third time she grabbed me just before the tail of the beast struck both of us. We appeared under a table. The monster looked around the cafeteria, and when he couldn't find us he roared loudly. He began chunking tables one by one.
"So," I started, "say we fight this monster. How do we knock it out?"
"Well I figured you'd go zoom and whoosh and I'd go zam and kaboom and it'd kathump!"
I facepalmed. "In English?"
"Draw it's attention so I can blast it?"
"No."
"But..."
"If that thing hits me once I'm out."
She cocked her head. "So just don't get hit."
"Easy for you to say. I don't have teleportation magic and unlimited mana."
"Psh, I don't have unlimited mana. I only have about ninety percent left."
Ninety percent!? After all the teleporting she's done?
"Ok," she said clapping her hands.
I could hear the beast still terrorizing the tables. It sounded like he was getting closer to hours but I didn't care enough to look.
"How about, I teleport you out if you're ever really in danger?"
"That involves trusting you."
She made a sad puppy face. "You don't trust me?"
"Not even a little."
I felt around me suddenly get brighter as I looked up to see the behemoth gripping the table we were under. He roared at us and I dug in my pocket and imprinted speed onto the piece of gum. I popped it into my mouth just as the monster slammed down the table at us.
I doubt I have to worry about her getting hit by that, I thought. And even if she did, it's not my problem. It's her fault for being slow.
I looked around for a weapon I could use. Around the floor were spoons, knives, and pieces of wood from the tables and chairs, but nothing that could hurt the monster. Guess I'll have to use my own strength.
I ran around him as he tried to smash me with his fist. I dodged a fist of his only to be met with the Scorpion tail headed right at neck. Miraculously, I evaded it.
I ran around him, trying to find the best place to hurt him. His hands, legs, and stomach were all scaly so they were probably the worst areas to attack. Near his head were his horns, which made the top of his head pretty much off limits. I guess that means all that's left is his mouth.
I grabbed the gum wrapper with super strength, leaped off the ground with said strength, and flew right at the monster. He attempted to grab me but I used the case of gum as my last spell to create a barrier between me and his arm. I charged up my punch and clocked the monster in his jaw. He dropped like a rock and the ground shook as if a mini earthquake occurred. I landed on the ground on all fours.
"Tch." I winced in pain at my wrist. I don't think it was broken, but it was definitely sprained. But from what? Punching the monster? Even with super strength, it's body is that hard? I looked up to see the scorpion tail flying at me full speed.
What? It recovered from that hit that fast?
I tried to move but the pain from my wrist made me fall to the ground.
Fortunately, because I forgot to spit out the speed gum, it shot my body to the right, effectively evading the attack. I landed on the ground and it flew out my mouth and disappeared faster than road runner. In my pocket, it felt like there was a dumbbell weighing me down. I rolled over and let out the gum wrapper, but kept the box since it still had a little more usage.
The behemoth was now towering over me. I didn't see a scratch on it. It was like my punch was little more than an annoyance against it. It inhaled deep for a brief moment and then exhaled a large amount of the same black haze it was showed earlier. I summoned a barrier to block it, but the haze just kept coming without any signs of stopping my and my barrier was going to break soon.
Suddenly, a purple beam of light blasted the monster right in its mouth. Caught off guard, it stopped spitting whatever it was it was shooting, but stood it's ground. It looked over to Luna, who was standing on the only remaining table in the cafeteria, smirking with her arms crossed.
"Hahah, I am Luna, queen of the galaxy!" She pointed around me. "And that there is my lunch buddy! You aren't allowed to hurt him!"
Taking it as a challenge, the behemoth attempted to stomp on me. However, I pulled out my box of gum and it created a large barrier. It looked like it stopped the attack but the monster put its weight into it and the golden barrier started cracking. Not to mention, the barrier was consistently shrinking as time went on. Even if it couldn't break the barrier, I'm pretty sure the barrier would just crush me.
I looked around me. There was nothing for me to use and I was almost out of magic anyway. I had maybe two spells left before I was completely out of mana. I looked at the beast, who had now took its foot off the barrier. Instead, it leapt into the air, nearly touching the tall ceiling, with my area being the landing space.
The impact of the jump broke the barrier immediately. I put my hands up over my face, as if that was going to somehow save me from getting crushed. But as fate would have it, a purple barrier appeared around my body and the monster bounced off and fell to the floor for the second time. Then, three large purple beams shot at the beast, which caused it to roar loud enough to break all the windows in the cafeteria.
Enraged, he flew up into the air and starting spewing the black haze again. Except this time, I had no way to avoid it. But suddenly, Luna appeared right by me and then we both vanished. We teleported right behind the beast and Luna handed me a piece of candy.
"We got this!" she grinned.
Did she figure out how my magic worked just by observing me all this time?
I grabbed it and looked at it.
"How do we beat that thing? It doesn't seem to take damage."
She raised her fingers at me. "Gimme ten seconds uninterrupted."
"That I can do," I said.
By now the monster realized we were under him and changed the direction of the haze.
I gripped the candy before popping it into my mouth. The candy taste good at least. Cherry is always a good choice.
I created an illusion of myself running and the monster changed its trajectory towards where it was running.
Then I added onto the illusion using the candy wrapper that the illusion of me had super speed to keep the monster preoccupied just a bit longer. I spit the candy out and threw the gum ahead of time, as to not forget.
I looked over to Luna, who for the first time was completely still. She was sitting in a meditation pose with her legs folded and her arms resting on her knees. But what was strange was in addition to her already unique star-shaped eyes, dozens of small twinkles surrounded her pupils. A purple aura that radiated pure mana engulfed her entire body.
She took a deep breath and stood up, facing the monster. By now my illusion faded and it's sights were on us. She pointed her right hand out towards the monster and yelled "Ekato Astèri."
Before the behemoth could move a muscle, a seemingly infinite amount of purple lasers came out of nowhere and pierced every part of his body. The barrage lasted at least thirty seconds before ending. When it ended, the behemoth had holes all over its body, and it's tail had been lobbed off. It's wings were now in tatters and it's once red eyes were now permanently closed. It fell to the floor, which shook the whole cafeteria and created a bunch of dust in the air.
When the dust settled, the behemoth has completely vanished. In its place, was the blue haired boy who had been talking to himself in the corner.
I expected Luna to be out after using so much magic, but to my disappointment she was full of energy and was jumping around celebrating our victory.
"Ahahah, yay we did it. We beat the demon-monster thingy! Woohoo!
Again, just how much mana does she have?
Luna looked at the boy on the ground for the first time. "And we got a new lunch buddy!"
"Lunch buddies, eh?" A voice from behind me said.
I turned around to see Principal Reya looking at the mess that was the cafeteria.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone