Immediately Alius turned and ran, leaving the spluttering of Ditus behind him, followed by the man’s sounds of intense choking and several thumps on the chest.

Alius vaulted over a box in his path, hearing a fading voice in the background.

“Well, my hat’s okay. I’m okay.”

Followed by quick footsteps that resounded in sync with Alius’s skyrocketing heart rate. Alius gave himself a nervous chuckle, and continued to sprint ahead.

Space to maneuver became scarcer the further Alius ran. Tarps, barrels, wayward weapons, and even sections of a brick wall popped out from behind people, placing themselves in front of his feet, trying to trip Alius every time his foot touched the ground.

What a mess. It’s so bad that I’m sure nobody would notice if it got a little worse…right?

____

Ditus made sure to run slightly faster than Alius, keeping a pace close to the boy. But, while he was limited to the speed of an average human who hadn’t touched any type of energy in their lives, he kept his monstrous flexibility. He looked more like a shadow than a human being, and anyone who looked at him would see multiple copies of him.

Instead of forming because of their inability to comprehend his speed, their eyes actually saw too much. To any observer, Ditus would be at the very back of the trail. His movements followed such a natural curve that the observer's minds would unconsciously trace his movements into the future, seeing copies of him running ahead, all of them drawing graceful arcs as they ran.

Think of a tree that made a sharp breakaway from its trunk. Only looking at that one moment in time, most people would say, “Yes, that tree is going to fall down.” Looking at Ditus created the same effect, his entire stance oozing the feeling of, “Yes, he is going to run along this perfect line.”

It was incredibly mentally taxing to maintain, but Ditus could see the massive advantage it would give him in combat. His training was interrupted by an innocent voice in front of him. Unknowingly, he was only a few feet away from Alius now.

“Yeah…besides, this whole venue was probably built for me and this game. It’ll be fine.”

Ditus heard the voice through a muffled haze, feeling almost as sick as the last time he had been drunk (god that time was awful), and tried to blink away the tiredness, his blurred vision catching Alius stoop over while still running.

“Eh?”

He barely registered the boy planting his foot on the ground, then twisting his hips to heave the object he was dragging behind him around, sending a shovel blade twisting towards his face.

“Wha-”

The flat side of the shovel impacted his face, throwing Ditus’s head to the right and causing his foot to slide off a rolling pin hidden under a pile of tissues. Ditus hit the ground hard, groaning, and a mere second later the shovel slammed down in front of his face, effortlessly sinking down to the handle, the tool still vibrating from the vicious face slapping.

“Owww. Remind me never to mess with Frank. Or his shovel. Or his garden spade. That thing is so much sharper.”

The shovel’s impact only made the ringing in his head worse, causing Ditus to stumble and trip over the shovel’s edge as he tried to stand up. As he lay on the ground again, Ditus heard a peculiar whistling sound. Looking up, he saw a wooden disk curving straight for his face, and Alius booking it from almost 150 feet away.

“Damn kid. Nice ai-”

____

Alius thought about the state of the current mess, trying to envision the extra damage he would cause. Ultimately, he determined that would take too much time, and the end result would likely be indistinguishable from the start.

“Yeah…besides, this whole venue was probably built for me and this game. It’ll be fine.”

Alius stooped down, maintaining his speed, and stretched out his hand to grab a very scratched shovel. Almost immediately, Alius realized it was too heavy to carry anywhere, so instead of throwing it, he slammed his left foot into the ground, kicking with his right foot, hefting the shovel off the ground. Once it gained enough height to stay in the air, Alius twisted his hips, building the majority of his swinging speed with that motion. From there, he let the shovel carry his shoulders into a more comfortable position, from which he powered the flat of the blade towards Ditus’s face with his arms.

When the flat of the metal blade was only a foot away from Ditus’s face, Alius realized it was going too slow for a direct impact with the flat of the blade. Gritting his teeth, Alius swung faster, but knew he wouldn’t make it. Hoping that the impact with the wooden handle would stun Ditus long enough that Alius would be able to slip out of his reach, Alius saw the side of the dark red wood connect with his face.

The handle traveled just the barest bit into Ditus’s face before Ditus’s whole body disappeared. Alius felt a massive shock travel through the shovel, making him lose grip on the tool and leave it to tumble into the air.

Just as Alius was wondering how Ditus disappeared, the man in question was thrown onto the ground, groaning. Alius winced as the wayward gardening tool fell from the air, barely missing Ditus’s neck and biting into the ground right in front of him.

“Sorry!” Alius gave a quick wave before turning and running, but before he could take a second step, Alius saw something beautiful.

An empty barrel, with its top leaned against its rounded planks. The barrel cover had been polished and waxed to a luxurious shine, sporting ever-so-slightly rounded edges that would grant perfect flight. The bottom of the lid was slightly hollowed, giving Alius a unparalleled gripping surface.

When he ran over to pick it up, Alius was almost brought to tears. It was beautiful. But alas, it wasn’t for him. This work of art had a very special name on it.

“Sorry, again. Nothing I can do about it.” Alius bounced his hand, keeping his arm parallel to the ground. Sighting along his arm for a brief second, Alius snapped his entire right arm forward, allowing the motion to continue to his elbow, then his wrist, watching the disk arc for the head of the prone Ditus.

“Oh, is it beautiful. I take back everything. Sorry Ditus, not sorry.”

Alius didn’t stay long enough to watch the impact, but as he ran, he heard a crisp, clean crack, followed by a string of slurred curses. The sound brought out tears of pure joy.