My spirit animal is a F–Rank gecko-Chapter 10: Drama on a train (7)

Jaster POV

"No one can know anything about the boss. That’s rule number one."

Hanjon raised the tentacle-shaped scythe and struck it toward Janster.

Jaster closed his eyes, preparing for the worst until—

"CHAAA!!!"

Purple leaped toward Hanjon. His brows knotted, and he stopped the strike against Janster.

"What...?"

Purpleberry landed on Hanjon’s face and let out a huge fart.

"THE FUCK!"

He instinctively let go of Jaster and tried to get Purple away from his face.

Purple latched on with its tiny hands, licking and farting simultaneously.

Jaster dropped onto the train roof, his breath racing, not just from exertion, but also from cuteness aggression.

"PURPLE... I WAS SO WORRIED!"

"Enough!"

Hanjon’s back began to glow purple, and particles started to piece together, forming a shape.

"Shit, he’s summoning his animal."

Jaster ran toward Hanjon and pulled Purple off his face.

"Krrk?!"

Purple made a complaining noise, but Jaster just tucked him away in his pocket.

The particle glow started forming and took on the shape of a salamander.

"As expected... All Nightroot Clan spirit animals are salamanders."

Hanjon’s salamander had a brown color with black spots all around it. Its eyes were glowing red.

The salamander was huge. It was roughly the same size as Hanjon as the amphibian crawled all around him, reaching his shoulder.

The salamander lifted its head, seeing Purple peeking out of Jaster’s pocket, and let out a soft—

"Frrssk."

"CHAA!!"

Jaster had no idea what those two were talking about.

He saw Hanjon rubbing his face. After he was done, his eyes glared directly at Jaster.

"Did you know..." He began walking slowly toward Jaster.

"That some salamanders likes to eat geckos?"

What Hanjon said triggered something in Jaster. He gripped his pocket where Purple was tucked away.

"Don’t you dare... If you HURT my spirit animal, I’ll hunt your whole clan to EXTINCTION!"

Hanjon stopped for a moment, then let out a faint scoff.

"Seriously? I do love to see people who love their spirit animals to death."

Jaster clenched his fists. He was brainstorming on how to beat Hanjon.

There’s no way I could beat Hanjon, especially when I only have Quick Escape and Wall Climb. Unless—

An idea clicked inside his head.

Jaster took a running pose, and on the count of three, he was going to jump.

"One..."

Hanjon, meanwhile, shaped his tentacles like scythes again, but this time, there was more than one.

"Two..."

His salamander’s bloody eyes looked directly at Purple. It licked its lips, thinking about devouring it.

"Three..."

Hanjon extended his tentacle scythe toward Jaster. Instead of backing away, he kept running head-on toward it.

Only when they were face to face did Jaster dodge by sliding down along the tentacle, also going past Hanjon’s legs, putting Jaster behind him.

He then proceeded to keep running until he reached the back of the train.

"What? What is this kid planning?"

Jaster took a deep breath and looked at his palm.

"Now let’s see if we’re able to use Wall Climb!"

Jaster’s chest glowed again, and it spread throughout his hands and onto his palms.

[ Skill Activated ]

Wall Climb — Lv. 1

He tested it first by touching the ground, and it was sticky.

"Nice! So this ability makes my hands sticky."

Jaster then put his hands on the side of the train. He took a leap of fate and jumped.

Sure enough, his hands stuck onto the train wall, keeping him from falling.

He proceeded to keep climbing along the side of the train until, through a window, he saw Amanda punching the weakened Annie.

"Don’t worry, Annie," he whispered.

"I got you!"

Jaster swung for a little bit in the air. Then, at the right moment, he used his legs for

pressure and crashed himself toward the window.

"Huh?"

Seeing the flying Jaster, Amanda couldn’t react in time and got slammed by his feet.

Her head hit the train wall, making her bleed.

He got up and saw the injured Annie.

"ANNIE, are you OK?" He held her with both hands.

"What do you think, doofus?"

Despite her major stomach injury, Annie got up and used a cloth she found on the ground to wrap around the hole in her stomach to stop the bleeding.

"Thank you..." She smiled weakly at Jaster. He smiled back, but that smile quickly faded as he realized what he came here for.

"Annie!" He held both her hands and stared seriously at her.

"We’ll need to cooperate if we want to win this, so will you do as I say?"

Annie was dumbfounded. She tilted her head.

"Do what?"

Jaster leaned in to whisper.

And Annie’s eyes shot up.

She smiled.

"Of course, you don’t even need to ask!"

"So you’re OK with it?" he asked, but Annie just laughed at him.

"Obviously, dude." Annie playfully punched his shoulder, which Jaster responded with an awkward laugh.

"Now go, beat up your predator, girl!" Jaster got up and invited her with his hands.

"Do I need to say more?"

She gladly accepted, and the both of them stick with the plan Jaster made.

---

"What was that kid doing?" Hanjon rubbed his temple.

He looked down, thinking that Jaster might have fallen off the train.

"Do you think he’s dead, jiji?" He looked at his salamander and the amphibian gave a shrug.

He sighed deeply while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I should’ve just killed him on the spot. "If the boss finds out a random student knows him, he’ll kill me for sure."

THUD

He heard a loud bang on the train roof. He looked behind him and saw Annie standing far away.

Her shirt was messy and bloody from the fight with Amanda, but her intense glare made Hanjon understood what she was after.

"Oh... What do I owe you the pleasure, princess?" He bowed playfully, mocking the girl.

"Just shut up. I’m here to take you down!"

Annie took a running stance and immediately sprinted toward Hanjon.

Every step she took created a loud sound against the metal roof.

"UGH, whatever. I’ll just rip out one of your arms." The tentacle formed into a mud machete.

He moved his finger, and the tentacle followed his direction, heading straight toward Annie.

Annie looked around. She saw Hanjon’s tentacle coming toward her. Then Annie remembered Jaster plan.

---

(Before Annie confronted Hanjon)

"Do you mind telling me what all the skills you have are?" Jaster asked Annie seriously.

Annie thought for a while, trying to remember.

"Well, the one I often use is called Earthbreaker Fist. It’s an extremely powerful strength-based skill. But I have one more... which I forgot."

Annie rubbed her head, trying her best to remember.

"Is it an Agility type?"

"No. All of my active skills are strength type. OH YEAH..." Her eyes lit up.

"It’s called Seismic Stomp. It’s basically the same as Earthbreaker Fist, but instead of powering up the arm, it powers up my leg."

Jaster rubbed his chin, his eyes wandering.

"Hmm... ok, so here’s the plan."

Annie listened carefully to Janster.

"I clearly don’t have an ability that’ll counter Hanjon. Since he plays by keeping his distance, but with an overwhelming pressure, it can potentially make him stressed out and eventually he’ll fumble!"

Jaster grabbed Annie’s hands.

"Your immense skills can do that... That’s why... Don’t you want to get rid of your predator?"

Annie’s eyes widened. She smiled back at Janster.

She leaped toward him and hugged him.

"Woah... What’s with the sudden hug?"

"Thank you so much, Jaster. You’re a lifesaver. Really, a lifesaver...."

Annie rubbed the happy tears from her eyes.

"Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. If you didn’t intervene, I would’ve fallen into the Nightroot trap, and it would’ve been hard for my father too. I’m so happy I met you!"

Annie grabbed both of Jaster’s hands and pulled them toward her face.

"I... Annie Jefferson... show the utmost loyalty to Jaster. If there’s anything you need, just ask anyone from the Jeffersons, and we’ll accommodate that."

Jaster’s eyes shot up. He was so flabbergasted that his mouth was wide open.

"No way... that’s the exact line every character says after Troy helps them in the game. Well, excluding the jefferson part."

He was so dumbfounded that he didn’t realize Annie had been awkwardly waiting for his reply.

She looked around, then gave a small cough, snapping Janster from his thoughts.

"Oh yeah... Yeah, no problem, Annie. Thank you for the kind offer!"

He searched for a way to wrap things up.

"Now go, beat up your predator, girl!" Janster got up and invited her with his hands.

"Do I need to say more?"

--- 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

(Back to present)

"Janster believed in me. I won’t let him down."

Annie saw the tentacle machete coming toward her, and then she—

---

Special character stat:

ANNIE

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Spirit animal: Turtle

◇ Power: ■■■■□□□

◇ Regeneration: ■□□□□□□

◇ Intelligence: ■■■□□□□

◇ Agility: ■■■□□□□

◇ Defense: ■■□□□□□

◇ Power stat: 13

◇ Rank: E

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