Supersonic Man (Out of You)

John used Advanced Spy on the man standing above him, but his sheet refused to show itself. He wore simple white clothes, a white t-shirt and loose cotton pants. The only hint of color on him was the red belt tied around his waist. Leaping up, he attempted to sweep kick the seemingly human enemy. His foot was met with air, and he felt a rain of blows on his back, reducing his already low health to a sliver. He used Jump forward, getting on top of the Mustang, and The Blur’s eyes widened.

“You just moved faster than me!” he exclaimed, directly in front of John in less than a second. “But you react so much slower than me.” The Blur fell back, moving so quickly in front of John that he seemed to be in two places at once. “You probably can’t even do something like this. Those images of yours are a cheap imitation, no?”

The man stopped, looking back up at John, “But I’m rambling, aren’t I? I expected somebody fast - really fast, like me - when I saw you and that girl enter the race on foot. I was so disappointed to hear that you two had stolen vehicles. Still, in that movement just a moment ago, you moved faster than I could even see.” John decided that the man definitely had some sort of Spanish origin, his accent made that obvious. What he was doing in a barrier, John didn’t know.

“I can tell that you moved though, you didn’t teleport,” The Blur continued, cracking his neck and stretching. “Do it again!”

John Jumped behind the man, attempting to hit him with a fifty mana Fist, but his attack met air. What little mana I managed to regenerate just burned away. I’ve got to think of something - quickly.

“It’s a spell of some kind, I can tell because your magic flares up just before you move. That’s an interesting spell,” The Blur began, but before he could continue, Jenny burst out of the trunk. The Blur backpedaled so that both of his enemies would be in view and ran directly into Robert’s arms.

“Friends. It is too late for me to finish the race,” Robert began, and The Blur squirmed in his grasp. Robert was taller than the man by no small margin and had the sense to lift him off the ground, so he couldn’t get any footing. “Cross the finish line. At least this charlatan isn’t winning.”

Thinking about the skill he had gotten for upping his Strength to fifty, John replied to the good-natured robot, “Knock him out and get in your car Robert, we’ll take you across the finish line.”

“No! No! Nononononononono NO!” The Blur yelled, struggling even harder in the robot’s iron grip. Electricity crackled as Robert’s human hand fell away to reveal his robotic one, and The Blur kicked back to escape just in time. The ball of lighting that would have hit his gut hit nothing but the ground, and he stood with his back to the finish line, looking at all of them. “None of you are going to finish! I’m the fastest. The fastest, you hear me?”

“Faster than sound?” Jenny asked, getting her bass out of its case. John saw clear rope marks against her skin, and he wondered what in the hell happened to her and Robert.

“Well not quite that fast actually, but-” The Blur began, and Jenny started playing. Instantly, all of his movements slowed down. He sprinted toward her, and John realized that with Jenny slowing The Blur down, they were about equally fast.

“You’re a real tough cookie with a long history, of breaking little hearts like the one in me!” Jenny avoided his grasp, leaping just behind John. John cracked his knuckles, simultaneously surrounding his fists with gauntlets made of mana. He just barely had enough to form them. Thank Gaia my regeneration is so good now.

“That’s okay - let’s see how you do it. Put up your dukes let’s get down to it!” The Blur swung at John. He was still slightly slower than the older man, but his combat style was much more refined. He knocked away The Blur’s wild swings easily, Jumping behind him and clocking him on the back of the head.

“Hit me with your best shot - come on! Why don’t you hit me with your best shot?” The Blur tried to do exactly that, and his fist was met with Robert’s robotic torso. He charged his fist with electricity and attempted to punch The Blur in the stomach, but The Blur was still much faster than the robot. He dodged the attack and meant to knock Jenny’s bass out of her hands but didn’t account for John Jumping in front of him, hitting him with a Fist of ten mana. That’s the third time in the last ten minutes my mana has hit zero. Feels weird. Feels like I’m skimming something else.

“Hit me with your best shot! Fire aw-ay~!” The Blur was blown back, and as he recovered John saw that he was getting faster again. A thin red sheen covered his body for just a moment, and he leapt back up. He rushed back toward them, and John noticed that he was almost twice as fast as he had been a second ago. He pulled a switchblade from his sleeve, slicing at John.

Robert intercepted The Blur, taking the slicing damage. A good thing too, because John didn’t have the health to spare. “Come on with it come on, you don’t fight fair. That’s okay - see if I care! Knock me down it’s all in vain, I get right back on my feet again!” Jenny had reached the peak of the song, her debuff magic was at its strongest. If they didn’t finish The Blur off now, they never would. With that in mind, she stopped debuffing him.

A solid wave of concentrated sound slammed into Robert and The Blur, John being unaffected due to them being in a party. The robot and the Spaniard were sent flying into the cars behind them, the former making a sizeable dent in the trunk of his own car and the latter slamming through the back window of the DeLorean, into the flux capacitor. He instantly disappeared.

“Robert,” John said, helping the robot up. His eyes’ glow had dulled, but he functioned nonetheless. “Get in your car. You’re finishing this race.”

“Well, if you say so,” Robert replied, getting behind the wheel. John lifted up the car from the front, slightly sinking into the asphalt. He started backing up, crossing the finish line first. Jenny followed, only finishing after him because she knew of the quest he had. Robert crossed the finish line last, technically still in his vehicle.

“What a nailbiter, folks! Our two mystery racers finished in first and second, followed by the Muscleman! That wraps up the Jorako circuit! Racers, take your places on the podium for a photoshoot and come to the spectator’s VIP room for the meet and greet and for your prizes!”

As the Announcer finished speaking, The Blur reappeared just behind the finish line. He crossed it, but it was too late.

“The Blur has been dethroned! He didn’t even place this time around! How pathetiiiic. Better luck next time.”

In a fit of rage, The Blur zoomed off, and Robert turned to the pair of lovers,