Chapter Text
Sword fell back from a heavy blow, his shield gone and most of his health, too. Medkit quickly shot a few healing bullets at him, hitting perfect headshots. He then turned to shoot some regular bullets at Banhammer, who was approaching them steadily from the other side.
“Med! I need healing!” shouted Sword, running towards him.
Medkit turned around. “I just healed you…”
All his injuries looked exactly the same as before. It was like the crystals hadn’t even touched him.
“Sword, I don’t know how you expect me to keep you alive if you’re constantly taking damage.” He quickly loaded up his revolver.
“But I didn’t even-” His eyes widened. “LOOK OUT!”
Medkit jumped out of the way just in time as a giant hammer swung down towards him, the impact cracking the floor.
“Aw, you should’ve kept looking away!” Banhammer smiled, brandishing his hammer for another hit.
“Sorry, Sword. Good luck,” he said as he readied a crystal.
Paying little attention to Sword’s frustrated sigh, he braced himself and teleported to Skateboard, who was running around far outside from the point, and was gone from where he teleported a moment later.
Thank goodness that had worked. But he was starting to think he might not make it through the end of this match without respawning, as he realized he was getting targeted again. This time by…
Subspace.
His stomach sank. Of course. He should have expected this. It seemed the loathsome scientist had been at every battle of his this month, probably for some kind of petty revenge attempt.
Subspace laughed (well, it was more like a raspy, wheezing attempt at one) as he threw a tripmine directly at Medkit. Without enough time to dodge, it struck his arm and exploded. He stumbled and coughed uncontrollably as the searing pain began spreading, and the sharp bleach-like, yet flowery smell whirled around in his head.
“Feel it in your veins!!” Subspace jeered, preparing another.
He had to move faster this time; and get back to the center, too. Another hit would most likely be his doom, but either way he certainly wasn’t going to escape this without his team. Defending as best he could despite the poison, he gradually backed up to the raised center of the bowling alley.
But Subspace only kept getting closer, and Medkit’s shots were less than half effective. Then suddenly slowing his approach, Subspace threw a crystal and turned into mist, fleeing the scene. Finally.
Medkit relaxed slightly–though still tense as always–and returned his focus back to the rest of the battle. He hadn’t actually been paying attention to whether they were winning or not until now. It seemed they were, thankfully, but just about everyone on his team was at low health. A silent prayer in his head, he activated his Phinisher, throwing his best crystal up in the air.
But then he felt a pull from above him, tugging his whole self away. As his feet left the ground, he realized Subspace hadn't retreated after all. Caught in his vile trap, more poison began jabbing into him, and with it came the gut-wrenching realization that he was going to die if his Phinisher didn’t work.
“You didn’t forget about me, did you??” Subspace’s faint mocking voice echoed behind the overwhelming noise.
But just as soon as it began, the gravity bending, suffocating vortex relinquished its grip as it shuddered and broke apart. His knee collided with the floor first, and then the rest of him. Doing his best to ignore the further pain, he scrambled to his feet.
As he did, a horn blew, marking the end of the battle. The day had ended with a victory! Sword pumped his fist in the air, cheering, and his teammates joined him as the other team grumbled their excuses.
Relieved, but his face set with a scowl, Medkit trudged over to the break room, slightly limping. It was time to go see why he couldn’t fight properly.
- ◇ -
Medkit sat on a bench, staring at his revolver. He sighed, running his fingers over the harlequin patterning.
After a minute, he decisively opened up the cartridge and shook out the ammo that was left.
Seemed fine. But why were his shots so ineffective..?
He listlessly dropped them one by one into his other hand. And then he noticed it.
Dust. All over his gloves. What was this!?
He held up a bullet closer to his eye. The edges of the crystals were chalky and crumbling. One of them had even begun to split in two. And with a closer look, their color and glow were fading as well.
Every worry began piling up at once. In all the years he’d been using the crystals, nothing had ever gone wrong like this. In fact, they were basically perfect. Anything that could go wrong about them would have to be the fault of the user. Had someone sabotaged him? Subspace? How would he- no, he couldn’t have. There was something wrong with his crystals too, judging by the not-so-noxious void. But that must mean they were still more connected than he had hoped… and the thought of that was almost more worrying.
Approaching footsteps snapped him out of his spiral of thought. He quickly shoved the crystals into his pocket and looked up.
“Hello, Sword.”
“Hey, Medkit!” Sword plopped himself down casually beside him. Beginning to bounce his leg, he winced and stopped. “Uh… you didn’t do as good of a job as usual. You alright?”
“Sorry about that. I’m fine, but…” He hesitated. Should he tell him? Especially when he himself didn’t even quite know what was happening yet? He stopped himself. No, he could trust Sword. He didn’t need to keep another secret from him.
“Well- just look. I have a problem on my hands.” He took the broken crystals out of his pocket.
Sword’s eyes widened as he leaned over. “Yeah, literally. What happened to them?” he said, lightly touching one with his finger.
“I wish I knew. I need to figure it out soon, or I’m going to have more than a few problems.” He closed his fist and put them away again, though they were starting to crumble even more, getting shiny dust all over him. His suit would definitely need washing soon.