Respyn picked himself up, and turned towards Lura. The two of them were the only ones in this abandoned store. Once again, Respyn had blood leaking from his head, but this time he wouldn't have such an easy time running away. Behind him, through the front door, was a battle between two large beasts. Running out that way was a no go. The only path for escape was through the back entrance, which is where Lura had entered from. The only way for Respyn to get through the back exit was to get past Lura.

  Usually, this wouldn't have even been an issue for Respyn. With his abilities he can easily read how the person he is fighting plans to attack, and avoid them. His escape would normally have been simple and quick. However, Respyn's current struggles were because they had found a way to block his mind reading. Respyn was a competent fighter in his own right, but without his ability taking on a properly trained military soldier was too much for him. His only options were to somehow get the tinfoil hat off of Lura's head, which would give him the upper hand, or find a way around her to escape again.

  While Respyn was thinking up a plan, Lura charged forward. She knew now she had him at a disadvantage and she didn't want to waste this moment. Respyn narrowly avoided the swing of her baton, and rolled over a check out counter to put something between him and Lura.

  Looking behind the counter, Respyn found a piece of two by four that was around two feet long. It had been something Respyn was eating during his stay here. He grabbed the piece of wood, and tossed it towards Lura. As Lura swung her baton to knock the wood away, Respyn took a chance to run. Lura had moved, so she was no longer in his path to the back exit.

  Respyn peeked over his shoulder as he made his way toward the exit, and Lura was hot on his heels. Respyn stopped quickly beside an old dusty shelf that once had been home to an assortment of products. He tipped the shelf in Lura's direction and then began running again. Once again looking behind him, he no longer saw Lura. As the crash of the falling shelf rang out, Respyn turned his attention back in front of himself. When he looked forward he was greeted by the sight of Lura staring back at him.

  He tried to slow himself down, but it was too late. Lura prepared to do a baseball swing with her baton, and Respyn could do nothing to dodge. The baton struck Respyn in the chest, knocking him down flat on his back.

  Respyn gasped for breath as the wind had been knocked out of him. Lura wasn't giving him time to recover though. As he laid on the ground in pain, Respyn tossed a kick toward Lura as she stepped towards him. When it came to pure strength, Respyn had far more than Lura. That kick sent Lura launching backwards, rolling across the ground ten feet.

  Respyn quickly hopped to his feet and Lura did the same. He was now cut off once again, but he had already made up his mind to escape through the back. He charged Lura, but with a more cautious, defensive stance.

  Lura, seeing his stance change, also got defensive. She knew what his target was, he had made it pretty clear from his actions he was trying to escape out the back. Before entering, Lura had thought he might try to escape that way, which is why her plan was to keep herself between him and the door.

  Slowly inching closer, Respyn took a light jab at Lura. She responded with a swing of her baton, which made a loud sound as it collided with Respyn's fist. Whether he was playing it off like it didn't hurt or just pushing through pain to not make an opening, Respyn didn't react to the strike.

  As a roar erupted outside the store's front doors, Lura briefly glanced outside. Not missing a perfect opportunity, Respyn lunged at Lura. The arm with her baton had been slightly outstretched, so Respyn moved his body close to Lura's, put Lura's outstretched arm under his own arm, and held it tight so she could not free it.

  For a brief moment, realizing her mistake, Lura began to panic. She tried to pull her arm free to no avail. As she struggled, Respyn prepared a simple and straightforward attack Lura would have easily been able to avoid if she hadn't been caught. Respyn pulled back his arm, and punched Lura straight in the jaw.

  Lura's sight faded as she fell backwards. Respyn loosened his grip on her arm and let her drop to the floor. Her body laid flat atop the dusty vinyl floor, and the baton escaped her grip and rolled away.

  Seeing Lura on the ground, Respyn's lost confidence returned. Instead of charging for the exit like he was trying up until now, he started moving at a more casual pace. He sauntered over to Lura's baton and picked it up. Turning back to face Lura, making sure she didn't move, Respyn took a few practice swings with the baton. In between crashes from the fight outside, you could hear the whish of the air as Respyn playfully swung the baton. After feeling like he had a good understanding of the weapon's weight and how best to wield it, he began strutting towards Lura.

  As Lura's vision began to come back, she had seen Respyn walking towards her baton. She wasn't thrilled about him now having her weapon, but she saw his slow conceited movements and knew she would get time to rest if she just stayed still. When Respyn looked her way, she stayed still, facing the ceiling. From the corner of her eye she watched as he took practice swings with the baton, and when he finally made his way in her direction she had recuperated a bit.

  Respyn stood to the side of Lura, his feet near her head. He readied himself, and prepared to swing the baton on her head. In his mind it was in retaliation for the blows she had dealt to his head. As he lifted his hand over his head and prepared to swing, Lura rolled out of the way. She rolled backwards to change to a face down position, and used the momentum of the roll and a push from her arms to toss herself onto her feet.

  Respyn stopped himself mid-swing, as Lura began to roll. He twisted his body to follow her, and as she stood up Respyn swung the baton horizontally towards Lura's ribs. Lura hopped backwards avoiding the blow, but still feeling it graze against her.

  With Respyn at an odd angle after his swing, Lura stepped in to attack. She had taken a stance like a boxer. Her fists were clenched and she was moving on the balls of her feet. She got in close, and unleashed a flurry of punches to Respyn's stomach and side. Respyn took a back handed swing at Lura, but she again jumped back out of the way of the club.

  As the two stood their ground, they were both suddenly thrown to the floor. The ground had shaken so hard it wouldn't be strange if people had mistaken it for an earthquake. The remaining shelving that had stood in the store crashed to the ground, and the air was filled with dust and dirt.

  Lura, now once again laying on her back, lifted her head to see what had happened. Through the dust that filled the air she could see a lot of moonlight shining into the building from a massive hole where a wall once stood. As Lura focused to try and make out what she was seeing through the smoke, she started to get a glimpse of outside.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  The building that had been standing next door had completely collapsed, and the wall to this building had been knocked in because of it the rubble from the wall and the collapsed building had fallen into the store, so the left side of the building had tons of debris on the ground.

  Lura clambered to her feet and looked towards the rubble. She didn't know exactly what had happened, but she obviously suspected it was a result of Cosmo's fight. The rubble had fallen into the building quite a ways, reaching where Respyn had been standing a moment ago. Lura tried looking around for Respyn, but the dirty air made it hard to see.

  As Lura looked her attention was grabbed by the rubble as it began to move. She watched on as Cosmo pulled himself out from under the pile of debris. As the footsteps from the large lizard shook the store, Lura got back to her search. She was walking the length of the store, seeing if there was any sign of Respyn under the rubble.

  When Lura reached the front of the store she glimpsed out the window to see the battle between Cosmo and the frog. She didn't get caught up in it, she knew that could be bad, and she was right. It only takes one small mistake to put an end to a battle, and this mistake was it.

  Before Lura had a chance to turn around, she felt something slap down on the top of her head. As she felt her tinfoil hat being ripped off her head, a feeling of unease sunk in. Lura turned around quickly and saw a dirty, bloody, smiling Respyn looking back at her. As he crumpled up the tinfoil hat with his hands and tossed it outside into the pile of rubble his smile grew bigger.

  “Now, let's see how you do without that little toy of yours.” Respyn said menacingly.

  Lura tried to make space by stepping back, but Respyn lunged towards her. He threw a quick left jab, which Lura avoided. Then, she felt an impact in her gut. Respyn had landed a massive kick to her stomach.

  Lura collapsed to her knees, nearly about to vomit. Not giving her any chance to recover, Respyn placed his foot on her shoulder then pushed her backwards. She flopped down onto her back.

  As Lura laid on the ground, Respyn kneeled on top of her. Quickly moving her hands, looking for any kind of weapon, Lura finally found a piece of glass. Respyn pulled back his fist and landed a solid blow to Lura's face. Dizzied, Lura took the glass in her hand, gripped it like a knife, and plunged it into Respyn's side.

  Respyn quickly shot to his feet after feeling the pain. When Respyn stood, the glass slid out of Lura's hand, slicing it. Looking down at his stomach, Respyn saw the large blade of glass. He gripped it and pulled it out of his stomach. He put his hand on it and began to look for something to stop the bleeding with.

  As he looked, Respyn noticed that Lura had gotten up. His panic subsided and he was able to hear Lura's thoughts.

  “Run. Run. Run.” Was what Respyn heard coming from Lura's mind.

  Reapyn turned his attention toward the back exit, and saw Lura moving towards it. Her movement was shaky and slow, so even with his wound Respyn easily caught up to her. Grabbing her shoulder, Respyn spun Lura around to face him. Both were injured, so their movements were hampered significantly.

  Lura sent a punch to Respyn's side to shake off his grasp. The punch was weak and slow. So slow Respyn would have been able to easily read it without his ability. However, fatigue was starting to set in for him. He tried to leap back out of the way, but his body couldn't keep up. The blow struck his hand he was using to put pressure on his wound.

  With that, Respyn loosened his grip on Lura and she went back to fleeing.

  “I have to get outside. I'll be fine if I can just get outside.” Resyn heard from Lura's internal thoughts.

  “She is confident she'll get away if she gets outside. She must have brought her ship with her.” Respyn said and clicked his tongue.

  As Lura successfully made her way outside through the back door, Respyn followed. He rushed out haphazardly because he knew if Lura got in her ship he would be unable to catch her. Plus if he stopped her it would be a good opportunity to take her ship for himself.

  He could sense Lura running down the street, so he barreled out the back door at full speed. As he stepped through the door something snagged his foot, and he began tipping forward. With the speed he was moving it was impossible for him to catch his footing, so he extended his arms out to break his fall.

  A jolt of pain shocked Respyn's body from his wound as he hit the floor. Then, as he worried about putting pressure back on it, a loud metallic ringing rung out and Respyn felt a shock hit his head. His body collapsed to the ground, he looked up to his right. He saw Rosalie standing there, tinfoil hat on her head, and a metal pipe in her hands. His vision blurred, and his consciousness faded. Respyn had finally been defeated.

  Will and Cosmo circled around the back of the stores to see if there was anything Lura and Rosalie had needed help with. Not long after picking up the egg, Will and Cosmo had seen Lura running down the street, so they ran toward the back to see what was happening.

  Turning the corner they saw Rosalie using wires she had bought to fix Lura's to tie up an unconscious Respyn. The two began walking towards Will's mother, and before long Lura had made it to their side. After turning back and seeing Respyn on the ground she turned around to come back.

  The group reunited at the back entrance to the store Lura had fought. Now helping Rosalie tie up Respyn, Lura spoke, “So that was your plan? Just trip him? When you said you couldn't tell me I thought it would be something with a bit more spectacle.”

  “Ha ha! I couldn't tell you because if you knew what it was there was a chance he might be able to read it from your thoughts. It all worked out, so it's fine.” Rosalie responded.

  “Plan?” Will asked.

  “Before we entered, Rosalie told me she had a plan to help if things got too much for me to handle on my own. She just told me to run out the back entrance, to run in that direction, and don't stop until the thief is outside.” Lura explained.

  “Then when she had run out, that was my cue to pull a rope I had set up while they were fighting, so he would trip. Then I gave him a little bonk on the head, and we are all finished.” Rosalie said, finishing the explanation Lura had started.

  “Great thinking, mom.” Will said, praising his mother.

  “I was in there fighting for my life, and he got finished off by a rope…” Lura trailed off, learning how the man she had struggled to fight was finally defeated.

  “It looks like everything went well with you two as well.” Rosalie said to Will, pointing at the egg in his hands.

  “It was a tough fight for Cosmo, but he pulled through.” Will said, stroking the egg in his hands.

  Cosmo stepped up, shaking his head, and corrected Will. “Not just me. Us.”

  “Unh. A tough fight for us.” Will said.

  Rosalie stood up, and brushed her hands together. “All done,” she said, having finished tying up Respyn.

  Rosalie grabbed Respyn by his feet, Lura grabbed him by his arms, and Cosmo was supporting him from the middle. Will led the way back with the egg in his hands, as the group slowly made their way back to where the Gray's house had once been.

  10 minutes after they left, police and firemen arrived at the scene after getting a phone call from someone claiming they heard explosions. Police officers and firefighters were left scratching their heads at what had happened, but eventually choked it up to an old decapitated building falling down from age and damage.