Surviving the Ordeal

Although Peter ran as fast as he could, the cockroach's flight speed was much greater than its crawling. And to make matters worse, it was also slowly getting faster meaning that it was either not using its full speed or the effects of the fruit were wearing off. Peter stressed either option as it'd mean his chances of surviving were drastically reduced. But by using the trees as cover, he managed to keep it at bay, but no one knew how much longer he could keep it up.

Things got even more hectic when the cockroach increased its speed randomly, almost piercing Peter on more than one occasion. Peter barely survived, whilst also inching his way closer to where the ant man was. But the roach had become faster as well as more aggressive, there were many times it almost stabbed at a vital part, but by luck, it only grazed past or totally missed him.

After a minute of intensely running away, Peter finally saw the half-eaten remains of the ant man. Surprisingly its antennas were still twitching indicating he was still alive. Peter seeing this was ecstatic as he tightened his grip around the spike. He ran towards the half-eaten man and while passing him, vigorously stabbed into one of his exposed organs.

The ant man who was still alive only due to willpower was not breathless as the thin thread of life that remained was now cut, killing him instantly. Peter laughed menacingly as he felt weird energy enter his body. The energy strengthened his body's defenses, making it on par with the exoskeleton of the ant man! But of course, Peter didn't know this yet. After the changes to his body, Peter then felt his headache. Two small peaks appeared on his skull, growing longer by the second.

Due to the intense pain, his balance was slightly off, causing him to stumble. The cockroach took advantage of this moment as it delivered a deadly strike. It closed in the distance and delivered a devastating swipe attack! Peter was defenseless as a deep gash appeared on his back, and this was after his defense was enhanced by the weird energy he gained from killing the ant man. If he hadn't he probably would have died from that attack!

He was hurled to the ground, his head experiencing unbearable pain and his defense at its lowest. He slammed into a nearby tree, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth as he was now pinned between the tree and the cockroach, the same cockroach that was now before Peter! It bared its maws, intending to bite into Peter and devour him.

But before it could do that, a strange power appeared around its body, freezing it in place. It froze still not making a single move! It didn't breathe, it didn't think, it just stood frozen in midair. Peter saw these with confusion but he wasn't going to dwell on the hows or the whys! His body burned with pain, but he managed to stand back up. He took a deep breath as he squizzed the spike in his hand while pulling his arm back.

He started deadly at the cockroach who was still frozen in the air and flexed his arm as hard as he could before he proceeded to thrust forward! The tip of the spike was coincidentally aimed at the one remaining eye of the roach. It penetrated into it causing eye fluid mixed with blood to spill out. But that wasn't the end! The spike lodged itself into the head of the roach but it did not go any further.

Peter having exhausted all his strength, and under the assault of the headache, fell to the ground rapidly losing consciousness, but before he was knocked out, he managed to quietly say,

"Hel-p" That was all he managed to say before darkness claimed his vision and he fell unconscious. The roach having been impaled in the eye with a sharp spike, didn't let out a scream nor did it move, it was simply frozen... that was at least till it wasn't!

The strange power around the cockroach suddenly disappeared, allowing the cockroach to move. But it didn't move towards Peter who was lying on the ground beside it, no, it slammed into the tree in front of it with lightning speed. The reason? You see, the strange power hadn't simply suppressed its movement, no, it had completely stopped the time and space responding to the cockroach. That not only prevented the motion of the cockroach but also halted the thought process as well as any and all other biological processes of the cockroach.

So when the effects of the strange power disappeared, not only had the cockroach not noticed Peter's disappearance but it had been suddenly plunged into darkness as a spike had invaded its other eye socket, making it permanently blind! So for fair say, it couldn't have noticed Peter's disappearance. To add salt to injury, since its time had been frozen, all the kinetic energy it had built up had also been halted. And with the disappearance of the strange power, everything returned as it was only moments ago, making the cockroach continue with its flight trajectory and slamming it into the tree!

The spike that was lodged in its skull was pushed further in, drilling deeper into the cockroach's head and piercing through its brain, coming out the other side of its head!

The roach may have been able to react under normal circumstances, but then again everything had happened too abruptly. From realizing its injury to realizing its permanent blindness, the moment it was released from its restraints, it had essentially killed itself... well, with a small help from yours truly at least.

A second later, a mysterious energy left its body and entered Peter's. The energy seemed to stimulate the hairs found all over Peter's body making them stand on edge before returning them back to normal. That wasn't all though, his skin also underwent changes becoming more resistant to poison. After that, silence permeated the surrounding where an unconscious boy with a bloody back and protrusions from his head and a cockroach monster that was nailed to a tree could be seen.

* * *

A few minutes earlier.

A figure could be seen flying through the forest at high speeds, he twisted and turned flying faster and faster each time. His face looked distressed as he continued flying frantically. A few seconds later his face got even graver as he flew even faster. A few minutes later, the figure landed in a small clearing where a male ant insectoid could be seen laying dead with his limbs chewed off and his innards scattered. Seeing the man, his eyes went red as for the first time in a long time he spoke. Well technically he didn't speak as the only thing that came out of his mouth was angry yet sorrowful cries.

He went closer to the body and took out a small transparent marble, he wiped the tears from his face and dropped the marble onto the dead body. When the marble met the body, it turned into white smoke that encompassed the figure. After completely encompassing the figure, the smoke shrunk in size, with the man still inside. After a few seconds, the white smoke had returned back to its marble form with the figure of a man inside of it.

The man who was also an ant insectoid readied his wings, ready to return back to the city, but before he could do that, he heard a faint and weak voice.

"Hel-p"

The man snapped his head to the side before flying towards the voice. A minute later, he finally saw the source of that voice. It was a twelve-year-old boy with a pair of antennas on his forehead. He had multiple scratches around his body, but they all paled in comparison to the large gash on his back. Behind the boy was a tree where a meter-tall cockroach was pinned to it with a spike through its head. The man looked intently at the boy before picking him up and flying out of the forest and towards the city.