Chapter 23
After a couple minutes of sizing each other up, Derrick lunges at Brandon and throws a straight punch that Brandon quickly side steps. Then he quickly spins around and comes at Brandon with a back-fist punch. Brandon blocks the punch and kicks Derrick in the ribs. Derrick rapidly counteracts and does a back thrust kick into Brandon’s mid-section, sending him flying through the air. Brandon maintains his control over himself and flips to land safely. Upon landing he launches himself speedily at Derrick, hitting him with his shoulder and plowing him into the side of the building behind him with tremendous force causing the wall to cave in. Derrick picks up a large piece of the concrete wall and hurls it at Brandon. However, Brandon instantly blasts the concrete with a shot of lightning. After destroying the concrete slab, he is immediately close-lined by Derrick, who continues to charge to another apartment building with his foe still on his arm.
Realizing what Derrick was about to do, Brandon grabs Derrick’s arm and, while still holding his arm, plants his feet firmly into the ground. “Hyah!” he shouts as he launches Derrick through the air with an arm toss. Derrick crashes thunderously into the apartment building he was running towards. Some of the building’s structure crumbles on top of Derrick. All is quiet as Brandon waits to see whether Derrick is alive or not. It begins to rain lightly while he waits. A few moments pass when Brandon hears some of the rubble shift.
Suddenly, Derrick explodes out of the pile of concrete and wood and mows Brandon down with his forearm. He picks up Brandon and knees him in the stomach. He continues to punch and kick Brandon maliciously before upper-cutting him into the air. Brandon comes crashing into the ground creating a crater in the surface. He slowly stands up. In an instant Derrick grabs him in a bear hug and starts squeezing tightly. Brandon grunts as Derrick increases his hold on him. “It’s like I’ve been saying, Brandon. I’m the best,” Derrick said. Brandon struggles to try and get free but it’s no use. Derrick’s father’s compound has made him super strong. Derrick continues, “Don’t worry, Branny-boy, it’ll all be over soon. And you will be buried nice and snug next to mommy…what’s left of her.” He starts cackling evilly as he held Brandon tightly in his grasp. As Brandon continues try and free himself from Derrick, his anger begins to build; increasing more and more as Derrick continued to cackle evilly. Lightning begins surging through his body as his anger turned into fury, but something new began to happen as well. His eyes begin to glow a light blue as his power and fury increased. Derrick stopped laughing when he noticed that Brandon was charging his power. Brandon starts growling as he keeps increasing his power. “What the…!” Derrick said astonished at Brandon’s growing energy. More lightning begins charging through Brandon’s body until he unleashes it upon Derrick.
“HAAH!!” Brandon exploded with fury and rage as he released the awesome power of lightning unto Derrick by electrocuting him. Derrick hollered with intense pain as the lightning tore through his body with incredible force. He shocked Derrick for a couple of minutes before stopping. “What…what the hell was that?” Derrick asked breathing heavily.
“That was an attack I like to call Electro Shock.” Brandon said angrily, “Let me show you again how it goes.” Instantly, he electrocutes Derrick again causing him to loosen his grip. Brandon zaps Derrick two more times until he lets him go.
Derrick staggers a bit in a daze as he tries to pull himself together. Once he has gotten his head straight, Derrick looks over at Brandon, who is walking towards him encased in the shimmering bright glow of lightning. “You…you’re not stronger than me,” he said, “And I’ll prove it!” He then rushes toward Brandon and throws a straight punch, but Brandon catches Derrick’s fist, stopping his attack. Brandon releases Derrick’s fist and Derrick quickly tries to attack him again, this time aiming for his stomach. Brandon blocks the attack and quickly counterattacks with a back-fist to Derrick’s face, spinning him around. Derrick maintains his balance and begins to wonder why his attacks have become ineffective against Brandon. ‘What’s going on? Both of those vials should’ve given me at least a half hour. Why are they wearing off so soon?’ he thought. “I should have at least ten minutes left.”
“Your strength isn’t fading Derrick,” says Brandon.
Derrick looks up at him and says, “What do you mean?”
“It’s something I realized while I was fighting you. My strength comes from the lightning in the sky. At first I didn’t understand it but now I do. It seems that my power is fueled by my emotions. In other words, the more upset I get the more my power will increase.” Brandon said, “So it’s like I said, your strength isn’t fading. It’s just that I’m stronger.”
Derrick takes a moment to wonder if Brandon was telling the truth. ‘Is he stronger than me?’ he thinks. “No. You are not stronger than me. I won’t believe it! I refuse!” he says angrily. Derrick yells and runs at Brandon and throws a punch to his head. But Brandon dodges this and the other two punches aimed at his head. He bends backward to avoid Derrick’s left hook, stands back up and immediately blocks his right hook. He sways side to side to evade Derrick’s uppercuts and body shots; then he ducks twice, dodging two more hook punches from Derrick. After avoiding the second hook punch, Brandon kicks Derrick in the side with a roundhouse. The kick stuns Derrick and Brandon quickly follows up with a spinning roundhouse to Derrick’s jaw. He rushes at Derrick and knees him in the gut, and hits him with an uppercut. He then begins pummeling Derrick in a bevy of karate punches and chops. Derrick is unable to defend himself against Brandon’s barrage of Tae-Kwan-Do kicks and punches. He finishes his onslaught by delivering a powerful double-fisted punch to Derrick’s face sending him flying across the parking lot. In a flash of lightning, Brandon disappears; then he reappears on the other side of the parking lot as Derrick approaches. He flip kicks the airborne Derrick high into the sky and disappears again. After reappearing, Brandon elbows Derrick in the back, sending him back down to the ground at a high rate of speed. After disappearing again, Brandon teleports to the ground and hits Derrick, as he’s falling speedily to the ground, with a crushing overhead crescent kick. Derrick slams into an apartment building with a devastating crash, causing the entire building to crumble on top of him. Again Brandon waits for another possible attack from Derrick.
