by R. J. Batla
He had all the powers and four Quantums, yet he wanted to fight with swords only? More than a little strange.
“Okay, announcer, whenever you can spare the time,” Snake Eyes said.
I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Urm, er... FIGHT!”
He came at me quick. Not fast, quick. His strikes were perfect. Perfect. Even better than when I fought Pecos.
I blocked high, low, middle, holding my own only because I was faster and able to get in front of the attacks. We dueled back and forth, giving and retaking ground. The clang of steel on steel rang out through the stadium, the only sound as the crowd fell into an intense silence.
That had to be the Agility working — it felt like fighting Pecos again in that respect. And skill! Good Lord, there were moves in there I’d never seen or heard of, but he pulled them off flawlessly. The only thing saving me was my Strength Quantum and being able to flash the Ignis to help defend.
After another thirty seconds of sword play, he jumped back suddenly, putting ten yards between us. Standing up straight, he sheathed his sword and stared at me.
I waited for a second, looking around while not moving my head, waiting for a trap.
Nothing happened.
Okay.
So I too stood up, which elicited a grin from Snake Eyes and a cheer from the crowd.
“Good show, old boy. Very impressive. It seems the crowd enjoyed it as well. Let’s continue to entertain them. Fire next, shall we?” he said, a ball of fire erupting in his hand as he dropped into a ready stance.
So it was all about the performance? Was that his game? Checking myself, I had used almost zero energy, other than the Ignis, and thanks to my friends, my bracelet was full.
I could play this game. “Why not?” I said again.
The arena turned red with fire attacks and deflections going every which way. I was stronger, my attacks bigger and more powerful, but his skill outmatched mine, which meant we were at a dead heat. Pardon the pun. The temperature in the stadium grew intense as blast after blast of fire was sent either way, the walls of the arena turning black with soot.
Just as suddenly, after about three minutes, he stopped and stood. All right – apparently, we were going to do this every time, so I copied him, and the crowd cheered again.
“Water then, old boy?”
I nodded and we commenced to get it on again, but instead of red fire, blue water and white ice erupted around the arena. Again, I was more powerful, but he was better skilled.
The crowd ate. It. Up. They cheered and yelled, always on the edge of their seats.
Snake Eyes stopped. Again. “Let me guess,” I said. “Earth?”
He grinned. “Good show, old boy, now you’ve got it.” Then he threw a boulder at me.
After three minutes, he stopped. I didn’t even ask this time; I bowed and threw energy blasts as soon as he indicated what element he wanted to use.
He stopped. Air. We turned the arena into a veritable whirlwind, so much dust and debris flying around, I could barely see.
Once again, Snake Eyes stopped and stood up straight. I followed suit as he walked to within an arm’s length.
This is the weirdest fight I’ve ever been in.
“Well met!” he said and extended his hand. I took it again. “I must say, you’ve performed admirably, ol’ boy. This is the semifinals, and I do believe we’ve given the crowd a worthy show. But alas, I fear all things must come to an end. It’s been a real pleasure, ol’ boy. Are you ready for the finale?”
“Uh, I guess. What’s the game this time?”
“No games,” Snake Eyes said, becoming very serious. “We’ve been battling up to this point, and if either of us had won, it would have been fine. But the time for showmanship is over. The final battle is about to begin. May the best man win.”
He backed up and bowed. I bowed.
He dropped into a fighting stance, so did I.
He ran at me. I...didn’t move. Couldn’t move. Feet stuck to the ground. What the hell?
Gravity. He increased my gravity! That son of a –
I wasn’t strong enough to break his hold, and he was already closing in on me with that sword. I flashed the Ignis again for help. “Pulse Up!” I said, reversing the pull and launching me upward as a blast of fire and energy scorched the air where I had been.
Snake Eyes watched me flip end over end and land on my feet. “How did you do that? I know you have Strength, but you’re not that strong. That was a Gravity power. You can’t do that...you can’t...”
I threw a blast of water at him, which he deflected. “I’m full of surprises,” I said with a grin. Which was promptly wiped off as I dodged a boulder-sized fireball. Snake Eyes growled. I retaliated with an energy blast, which he didn’t dodge. It just...disappeared.
And he grew a foot taller.
Snake Eyes grinned maniacally. “Copy that power, Dragon.” He advanced on me, moving quickly. Flashing the Ignis again, I saw a new Quantum power had appeared – “Strength Due to Size – 5.” Absorb and Growth Quantums combined.
Going to have to do better, Jayton. Time to block and dodge.
I threw up an earth wall between us and said, “Earth Torpedoes!”
Two paths of dirt made by a cylinder of stone burrowed their way toward the center of the wall. Snake Eyes burst through the wall and I raised my hands, the stone projectiles flying out of the ground and hitting him square in the chest.
He stumbled backwards but grew another foot.
Oh damn. That impact would have bowled over a troll! That Absorb Quantum was more powerful than I thought.
“Shield!” I said, the now much larger man closing on me. With a backhand strike, he hit my shield. And I promptly flew through the air toward the far wall. “Air Jets!” I said, using the blast from my hands and feet to stabilize and stop my flight just before impact.
So he could absorb the energies of all the different powers? That was a problem – how the hell was I supposed to attack him now? He was still growing, topping out at ten feet, far exceeding my reach and now even equaling me in strength.
With a sneer, he closed in on me again.
“Shield!” I said, and poured all the energy I could into it, flashing the Ignis as he pummeled at my shield. Using the Fire Eyes, I balanced perfectly with each punch he threw, using Strength to my advantage. Each strike glanced off my shield. With each blow, he absorbed a portion of the energy in my shield, and he grew each time, the punches growing harder. I had to work harder myself, using the Fire Eyes almost continuously. There was an odd heat around my face.
“How.” Punch. “Are.” Kick. “You.” Punch. “Doing.” Kick. “This!” Snake Eyes screamed.
Moving as fast as I could, I dodged each strike as he advanced, never getting myself hemmed in and trying not to take so many hits until I figured out what to do. This wasn’t going to plan at all. I had no openings, and any attack I threw would just be absorbed by Snake Eyes.
“Earth Wall! Ice Wall! Air Cushion!” Throwing up defenses, I ran around and tried to come up beside him. The Ignis hadn’t shown me any way to attack him yet, and believe me, I was asking. Delaying was my best option, but now I was running low on energy from using the Ignis so much. I was slowing down, so much so that a punch slipped inside my guard and glanced off my goggles as I dodged.
I just so happened to have the Fire Eyes on at the time.
Glass and leather disintegrated – his punch must have been laced with something – the goggles taking the full force of the hit. Snake Eyes kept on coming, closing the distance and throwing punches and kicks. Without the Ignis, I was done, and it was already exposed, so I flipped it on and dodged or deflected the blows that rained down on me, trying desperately to develop a plan. Suddenly, Snake Eyes glanced at my face and did a double take – then he froze.
Naturally, I thought something was amiss, so I stood there and watched him.
He shrunk down to normal size and cocked his head
at me as I turned off the Ignis Oculus.
Calmly he walked up to me, pulling his goggles off his head, revealing snake-like scales around his eyes. I tensed, but he stopped out of my reach and bowed, his face almost touching the ground.
Oooookay.
“Forgive me,” Snake Eyes said as he stood. “I had no idea an Ignis Oculus Senturian had been Awakened. Out of respect for the Fire Eyes, and all that the power entails, I humbly resign.” He stuck out his hand and I shook it. “Good luck.”
The crowd lost their freaking minds.
I looked over at Royn. He was losing his mind. It took me a second to figure out why.
Now everyone knew my secret weapon.
Including the Uland.
Chapter 53 – Jayton Baird
SO I’D MADE THE FINALS and managed to piss off my commanding officer.
Back in my room, oh, the ass chewing I was getting after revealing the Fire Eyes...you’d have thought I killed someone. Apparently there were tons of rumors already flying around the Bowl, including one that I was actually from the East Side. Others were that I faked the power, one that I was an angel, and one that I was actually a dragon, and that’s why I wore the emblem on my armor.
People were crazy.
I countered Royn’s argument with, “At least people are talking about me,” but that didn’t seem to help Royn’s mood. He stormed off into a spare room to do who knew what.
Oh well. Couldn’t be helped.
And I stank.
After a quick healing session with Josey, I jumped in the shower, letting the hot water sooth my muscles. I was tired – the fight had taken a lot out of me. But I was also energized. Since Leona first kissed me, I’d had match after match after match, with only time to strategize with the team, sleep, be healed, or eat.
My time with Leona had been short to say the least – at least alone time, which was what I really wanted. But very soon, I would be facing the Uland in the finals, and things would change.
One way or another.
I was just pulling my shirt over my head when I heard a knock at the door. Ugh, who could it be now? I turned around to see Leona’s outline in the open doorway. She had on a black dress I had never seen on her before – although I wish I had. She was stunning. I froze mid-stride. “Leona...you...you look amazing!”
She blushed, grinning, and closed the door behind her, locking it. She slowly walked toward me. “So you like it?” she asked, adding a twirl.
I nodded stupidly. “Yes, ma’am.”
This time she didn’t roll her eyes, she just smiled bigger, and ran and jumped into my arms. Her lips were on mine, and I was in heaven. I didn’t know how I ever got along before without this feeling.
Both of us were breathing heavy as she pulled back and asked, “So I take it you like me?”
She kissed me again, so I was barely able to get out, “I’ve always thought you were the prettiest girl in the world, and it was pure luck you were assigned to my squad!” More kisses. “Can’t be a coincidence.”
She pushed me down on the bed. “What about my cousin?”
“I didn’t know how you felt then. I never would have even thought of her if I knew you were interested. You’re the one I want,” I said.
She pounced on me and kissed me deeper. She grinned. “Good thing. You’re gonna be stuck with me,” she said, pulling me close again.
“Leona?” I asked when I could gasp a breath.
“Yeah?”
“I know this may be sudden...”
I kissed her more.
“Yeah?” she said, arching her back as I kissed her neck.
“If I’m...about to...you know...” I shook my head. “What I mean to say is, Leona Orchard, I love you. I have for a long time.”
She pulled my face to hers and our lips met again. She pressed her whole self into me so hard it almost hurt. Almost.
She pulled back for only a second, tears of joy – I hoped – were in her eyes, and the most beautiful smile I had ever seen crossed her face as she whispered back, “I love you too, Jayton Baird.” Then she was kissing me again.
She didn’t go back to her room that night.
Chapter 54 – Royn Crowell
“DAMNIT. DAMNIT. DAMNIT, damnit, damnit!” Royn flung a chair across the room so hard it shattered against the wall. “None of this will work!
“Calm down, Royn,” Hank said. “It’s eleven o’clock. We need to call it a night.”
“Hank, we don’t have time to calm down. Jay’s done his part – he’s beat everyone up to this point. He’s made the finals. But for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to beat the Uland! He’s too strong, too powerful...there’s just no way to get around it.”
“Royn, there has to be a way. There’s always a way...”
“I know, I know. But if we can’t figure it out...”
“Jayton won’t back down, will he?”
Royn hung his head. “No. If it was just for his own gain, he’d pass. But for the weight that’s been put on his shoulders...he’ll fight even if we don’t have a plan. And he’ll die for nothing.” He offered Hank a pleading look. “And that would be on my shoulders. I don’t want that to happen.”
“Give yourself a break Royn,” Hank said. “We’re all in this together, remember.”
Not fully convinced, Royn nodded his head none the less. “Have you had any luck finding out if there is a traitor in the group?”
Hank shook his head. “Negative. All of my sources have come up dry. You?”
“Same. Jayton hasn’t found anything either.”
“Do you think that scumbag was lying to us? Trying to throw us off?” Hank said.
“I don’t know,” Royn said. “It’s not something we can ignore, but is it worth wasting the resources on it since we’ve found nothing so far to indicate —”
Suddenly the telestone in his ear buzzed, and Royn placed a hand on it. He listened intently. “Message received.” He sighed deeply.
“You’re going to make me ask?” Hank said.
“That was Heath Goodrich. Our handler. The second and third rings have been breached at the Wall. There’s only one defensive ring left. And my presence has been requested with the Elves.”
“Go on, boss. I’ll keep working on the Uland problem. Maybe if I come at it from a different angle...” Hank said, pulling down a book from one of the shelves that had appeared during one of the room expansions and sitting down to read.
Royn left him there and went into the living room of Jayton’s quarters. Troup was the only one there, making several stones fly through the air. “Where’s Leona?”
He shrugged. “Saw her walk by a little while ago in a knockout black dress, but I haven’t seen her since. What’s up, boss?”
“Got to head to the Elves to fight. Since you’re here, you’ll be coming with me.”
“On it.” Troup grabbed a double-headed axe that was leaning on the wall and stood next to Royn. “Ready.”
Their world turned blue and they were back in the canyon, stepping out of the jump point.
Except the canyon was a mass of fighting, bloody bodies and an ungodly noise.
“Thank God you’re here,” General Falenlief said, blood running from a gash on his forehead, “we’re about to be overrun.”
Royn looked to the wall and watched in horror as a glorious mix of terrors stormed up and over the wall, the Senturians being driven back, all fighting for their lives. Flashes of all different colors of energy lit the whole canyon so bright it almost resembled daylight.
“General, you are overrun,” Royn said. “We need to retreat.”
“But we’re running out of room to give,” Falenlief said.
“No choice,” Royn said. “We have to —” He put his hand to his ear, hearing the transmission from Heath Goodrich.
“General Falenlief, Royn and Troup, aeros inbound with bombs to drop,” Heath said. “T-minus seven minutes until they’re in the drop zone.”
&nb
sp; “You have things that can do what?” Royn asked.
“Flying machine that can drop large explosive devices. Our people, headed your way.
“Okay, this will work! How many did you say we had?” Royn said.
“Twenty.”
“What’s the blast radius of each bomb?”
“Several dozen yards. They’re armed with explosive and fireball ordinance.”
“All right — Heath, radio up a mile and a half up the canyon and have them start on a new wall. Now. It needs to be big enough to take a full assault as the enemy will have plenty of time to plan a new attack. General, direct all your forces into a full retreat, including those on the upper levels.”
“What are you gonna do?” the general asked.
“I’m gonna hold the line. Troup, help the general and keep them off my back.”
They both looked like they were about to protest, even opened their mouths, then shut it again as Heath said, “Coming in hot in five minutes.”
“Move it!” Royn said. “Troup, I’ll get you out just before impact.”
Troup shook his hand. “Stay alive till then, Royn. I’ll help with the retreat.” And the Ranger was gone in a flash of blue.
General Falenlief nodded, then turned and started barking orders all over the place, Senturians organizing themselves in a strategic retreat.
Emerging on the enemy’s side of the movable wall, Royn gathered himself. Using his Mimic Quantum, Royn increased his use of energy. Sending it into his sword, he used it like a cannon, firing shot after shot as fast as he could, the intense bursts of power exploding heads and torsos off creatures at a high rate of speed. It didn’t slow the wave, but it took out some of the heavy hitters.
Royn put his hand to his ear, activating the telestone while continuing to fire at the oncoming enemy. “Troup, disrupt their movement in three, two, one...”
