Chapter 23: Curtain Call

Peg watched as the dripping madman that was Tezuka stared crazily into the orb, laughing and talking to himself. He was paying no attention to her and was now focused entirely on Josie and putting her down. That wasn’t the only thing Peg noticed. After being pushed by the crazed man she realized that her warm jacket had been cut open causing some of the cotton to flow out onto the floor near Tezuka’s feet. What was most interesting to her was that the cotton was absorbing the ink dripping from Tezuka. She couldn’t explain why but for some reason she could feel the ink being absorbed into it.

Standing where the banquet hall once stood was a giant beast made of a rainbow of swirling colors. It had jaws that dripped globs of color onto the ground and claws like a dragon. Josie leapt forward to strike but as she did the beast opened a hole within itself causing Josie to go flying clean through.

“You are an insect to me child, do you have any idea who I am?” The Ink Monster bellowed from Tezuka’s face in its center. “I have the backing of the entire Ministry because of what I built. You think you can take down everything I built just because I used cattle to build my empire? They should feel so lucky to be part of what I created!”

The beast flailed, continuing to taunt Josie as it knocked down buildings,  leaving behind glistening multicolored rubble. Josie used Kinto the best she could to dodge the attacks but even she had to admit that her limit was approaching. The meal had replenished her strength but for some reason fighting Tezuka had drained her even quicker than expected. It reminded her of when she fought Deaconess Loveless before crossing into the clouds.

“The last punch I gotta really hurt him.” Josie thought to herself as she bounced around. “If I can get one more punch in I think I can end this for good.”

This of course was easier said than done because no matter how Josie approached with her attacks she would pass through Tezuka like running through a waterfall. Then she saw her chance, for a moment during his taunting, Tezuka's face appeared. Josie couldn’t miss this opportunity so she placed all of Kinto’s energy into boosting her feet towards Tezuka to get one last punch in.

But when her fist slammed against Tezuka’s face, something felt wrong. He didn’t scream in pain or reel back at all. Instead Josie felt her fist get stuck and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t pull it back.

“What the Hell?” Josie yelled as she struggled.

“You’re just as dumb as those beasts!” Tezuka laughed as Josie’s arm pulled into his face. “I underestimated how much Ink I needed to squash you but now I have the entire park’s worth at my disposal. You won’t be getting any lucky hits on me, and once I crush you your red blood will blend in with this ink and be part of this park forever.”

Josie called upon Kinto, putting all of it in her arm but the cloud wasn’t strong enough to push away the ink and Josie felt panic build inside of her, realizing she ran out of options.

Back with Peg, Tezuka was slapping the orb and laughing maniacally. He spat and swore about all the things he would do with Josie’s lifeless body but Peg was still focused on what the cotton was doing with the ink. It wasn’t just the ink from Tezuka but the color of the room was being pulled into it. The more Peg focused the quicker the ink was being absorbed and finally it was drawing Tezuka’s attention.

He whipped his head around, feeling his body being pulled by this cotton.

“What is this?” He barked, his eyes crazily darting towards Peg and watching how this happened.

She stood to her feet, and continued to focus. Something inside her was forcing the ink into the cotton and with each second more and more was being pulled. Tezuka swore and shouted insults at Peg demanding her to stop everything she was doing but she did not relent. He clawed at the ground but he continued to be pulled.

“Damn it!” He yelled. “I can’t concentrate on both I’m…I’m…”

Josie was continuing to struggle but realized that Tezuka was no longer taunting her. She opened her eyes and Tezuka was in a trance-like state, unable to focus. The ink monster that he became was melting away, unable to keep its shape and more of Tezuka’s body was once again visible. Josie was down to her last ounce of strength but knew this may also be her last shot at ending this once and for all. With a ‘pop’ she was able to pull out her arm and jump back away from the monster. Kinto formed behind her like a pillow, keeping her in the air momentarily as she reeled back her fists.

“ I don’t care about you or this stupid Ministry.” Josie spoke as she clenched her fists. “All I know is you’re a bad person, and bad people get punched in the face!”

Josie, with Kinto’s assistance, used their last bit of energy to lunge towards Tezuka. She punched over and over, similar to what she did against the Gawain. Tezuka briefly returned to his senses but it was too late, he looked up just in time for Josie’s first punch to land directly in his jaw before the onslaught  of punches continued. The strength of the punches sent Tezuka’s body flying from the monster but Josie followed with her fists punching him down to the ground and with one last punch slammed him into the grayscale concrete, creating an impact crater around Tezuka’s body.

Tezuka twitched for a few moments, babbling nonsense as the ink monster fell apart, creating a wave of ink that splashed onto the ground, melting Tezuka into it. Josie landed, sitting and panting in exhaustion and watched the ink as it lay still.  Josie watched, keeping as much focus as she could before passing out but somehow she knew that the ink wouldn’t move again. She softly smiled as Kinto faded away and she fell back into the ink, unconscious in her victory.

The watching Tezuka however was coughing up blood and screaming in agony. The little bit of strength he had left wasn’t enough and he was quickly pulled into the cotton along with all the other ink in the room.  Peg looked at the multicolored cotton ball that sat as large as a refrigerator before her. She walked over and touched it, causing the colors to change and morph but she knew that whatever she had done kept that ink trapped there and Tezuka wouldn’t be leaving. She looked around, not wanting to waste time celebrating and saw a door behind her, finally away to escape.

As she ran towards it, hands mere centimeters from the knob she heard the sound of another door creak behind her. She turned and saw the last bit of ink drip away to the ground revealing another opened door and within it the coughing of what seemed to be an old man. Peg wanted nothing more than to escape and run to reunite with Josie but her curiosity and concern for whoever that was got the best of her.

She pushed open the door already ajar and when she stepped in the small room was illuminated. There were no windows, no pictures on the wall, just a bed with an old man fitted with tubes and machinery Peg assumed was some type of medical equipment. She approached the man, who wore a mask to help with his breathing and his eyes looked up at her. He slowly lifted his wrinkly hand and pointed to a radio on a desk close to him.

When he pointed the radio flickered to life and began switching randomly between music and different radio stations. It was a cacophony of noise but soon each switch of the station spoke a word which eventually became a sentence she could understand.

“I…am…Wataru…Tezuka…The First.”

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To Be Continued

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