by R. J. Batla
“Yes, you are. Now let’s go.”
The pair made their way up several flights of stairs to get to the stands to watch the fight. As guests of the fighter in the final round, they had prime seats – four rows up from the actual arena. All around him were the VIPs of the West Side, many of whom Royn would consider enemies, but that was not his concern right now.
Right now, he was worried about his soldier — his friend — and wondered if their plan would actually work. Royn and Leona made their way to down another set of stairs and worked their way to their seats and sat down.
All right, where is that —
“We-he-eeelll, look at the luck of the Corbman!”
Royn turned around to see Corbman at the end of their row, throwing his hands in the air and gesticulating like a crazy man.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think this group was following me!” he said loudly, then politely made his way through the other patrons to sit beside Leona. “I’m not sure how you got this lucky, little lady, but since you did, it’s my honor to be sitting next to you! Don’t worry, I don’t bite too hard. Ha ha!”
Royn rolled his eyes while Leona chuckled a little. In his head, using mind speak, Royn reached out to Corbman. “Attracting quite a bit of attention, aren’t you?”
“If I hadn’t, people would think I was acting weird. They’d know something was up. I’m always trying to be the center of attention.”
Royn had to agree there – the young Halfte did nothing but attract attention, something which, at this exact moment, he and his group were trying to avoid. Since their fighter was the one in the final, they had their fair share of spectators looking and pointing at them. “True. But can you keep to a minimum now?”
“Aye aye, chief,” Corbman said, throwing one leg over the other and kicking back while dropping his arms down beside him.
Leona dropped her hands as well, and Royn dropped his right hand. With Leona in the middle, all three were easily able to hold hands out of view because of the tightly packed stadium seats. Royn felt his hand grow warm and soft as a golden glow between them came from underneath the seats. Not bright enough to notice unless you were right there.
“All right, Leona and Corbman, we’re linked up. Leona, try to establish a connection.”
“I’m working on it. Give me a couple minutes. I’m having to press through the shield. I can feel the energy through my arm guard pressing back, like it wants to connect to the energy from Jay’s arm guard, where my stones are, but I’m having a hard time.”
“Keep at it. This is our only real way to help Jay. If he can’t use Corbman’s Suppress and your Amplify, it’ll be much harder for him. Our whole plan hinges on that.”
“Don’t pressure her too much Royn,” Corbman said. “She’s t as hard as she can. I can feel it. She’ll figure it out. She’s smart.”
“I wasn’t saying that, I was just saying — ”
“Boys can you keep it down? I’m trying to work here.”
A few seconds later, Royn felt the shift in the energies flowing between the three Senturians, and Leona nodded. The connection was established.
“All right, here we go. Start giving me energy,” Leona said.
Again, through their connection, Royn fed her energy and felt Corbman feeding his Suppress power to her. She funneled the power down each arm and out her chest. Royn couldn’t see it, but he felt it go through the shield, and into Jay, who was just entering the arena.
I hope this works, Royn thought to himself. The silence in his own head was the only response.
Chapter 62 – Scout Team Seven
“EAST GATE, THIS IS Scout Team Seven reporting from Portland down in the Southland, do you copy?”
“Scout Team Seven, this is the East Gate. Requesting code confirmation as you’re using an old frequency, over.”
“Alpha Niner Zulu Romeo, over.”
The line went silent for a while except for the sound of keys being punched. “This is East Gate. Code confirmed. Scout Team Seven, our records indicate you were sent from Harlingon to the Southland to investigate the lack of communication in the last few weeks. As stated, this is the East Gate – why are you contacting us and not your home base, and why are you using radio frequencies that have been obsolete for years?”
“Because we’ve got no answer from Harlingon. Plus, those are the only towers that are receiving a signal anywhere down here. We’ve been trying all the normal lines through our telestone communicators, but the signals are out for some reason.”
“Okay, Scout Team Seven, what do you need? Harlingon has been taken by the enemy.”
“Sir?”
“Sorry, Scout Team Seven – I repeat – Harlingon has fallen. Do you have a report?”
“Yes, sir, we have a pretty big problem. We’re down here in Portland and finally got a signal.”
“So what is the problem?”
“It’s Portland, sir. The city itself. It’s been destroyed. The majority of the town has been slaughtered. No survivors were found, in or out of the rubble. Hopefully someone managed to make it out, but by the looks of the town....”
The East Gate operator’s mouth almost hit the floor. “The...the whole town, Scout Team Seven?”
“Yes sir. It looks like it’s been a couple weeks, judging by the decay of the few bodies we found, as well as the general state of the destruction. I would advise we send an alert up the chain so everyone knows there are enemy operatives on the East Side already, and not just that the enemy is in route to attack the East.”
The operator regained his composure. “Affirmative and agree, Scout Team Seven. I will relay your message and –”
“Yes, East Gate?”
A red light started blinking on the operator’s console. And then another. And then another. In less than thirty seconds, every alert or hazard in his view had been triggered. He looked around at his fellow operators and saw the same thing – a veritable forest of red lights.
“East Gate, do I have confirmation that you have received the message and will send it on?”
The yelling scout field operative brought the operator back to himself. “Yeah. Yes, I will send it,” he said reaching to open a communication line to the commanders at the West Gate. But the line wouldn’t connect. He tried again. It still wouldn’t connect. “Oh crap.”
“Come again?”
“Scout Team Seven, I advise you take immediate and drastic measures. As of right now, the East Side is now at Emergency Protocol Charlie. I need you to communicate this to any and all operatives, groups, or units you come in contact with and have the ability to communicate with. Please confirm.”
“Affirmative, East Gate. Emergency Protocol Charlie now activated and will communicate.” The scout leader paused. “Good luck, East Gate. I hope we’ll see each other alive and well. Scout Team Seven, out.”
“Same to you, Scout Team Seven. East Gate, out.”
The operator stood up and stretched his muscles, warming himself up. He strapped on his sword and grabbed one of the sets of armor that was always kept hanging in the operator room for emergencies.
And this was an emergency.
Emergency Protocol Charlie was reserved for one thing: attack in progress on one of the heavily fortified facilities on the East Side. In this case, the East Gate. And if no communication was able to be sent warning others, it meant the enemy was already in motion there.
He must have gotten lucky that he was already in communication with Scout Team Seven when the communications were cut. None of the other operators were at their desks either; they were all strapping on armor.
The first rumbles of explosions and tremors rocked East Gate.
“Johnson, I need you to slip out the side exit and get word to the West Gate. I’m not sure if they’ll know or not, but give them the report that Portland has been destroyed.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And tell them we’re under attack.”
Chapter 63 – J
ayton Baird
OKAY. THIS WAS IT. The final round. The whole enchilada. For all the marbles.
For now, anyway. Now all I’d need to do was make sure we won the war.
And beat another unbeatable foe in Malstrak.
Yeah, no prob.
Oh well. First things first.
I shook out my left hand, the one with my arm guard. This had better work. I popped my neck, my fingers. Looking up, I found Leona and the rest of my crew. If I didn’t win, would they even make it out of town?
I nodded to her and she nodded back, and I saw a faint glow between her and Royn, and her and Corbman down below the seat line where they were holding hands.
Come on. Come on. Come on.
After a few seconds, my own arm guard started to glow, and I felt an odd sensation – power running through me like I’d never felt before. I flashed the Ignis and got a readout: Leona’s Amplify power was coming through our connection, boosting all of my powers. I could also feel Suppress coming through, the contribution from Corbman, and Royn’s Mindspeak. Our whole plan hinged on this – with a combination of the two powers and my outside eyes and ears able to communicate with me, I stood a chance to beat this thing.
The crowd couldn’t contain themselves; the noise pulsed in my eardrums as it grew louder and louder. Sweat ran down the middle of my back, my hands shook, and I was nauseous.
Hey, you face down a two-ton killing machine, then judge me.
My eyes met Leona’s again, and through our Mindspeak link I said, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Jayton Baird,” she said.
“And I love sandwiches!” Corban said, laughing like an idiot. Leona and Royn stared daggers at him, but he was unaffected, giggling at his own joke.
“Here it is, folks,” the announcer said, quieting the crowd only slightly. “The final round of this year’s tournament. On the south side, you have the newcomer, the wielder of the Ignis Oculus, The Dragon of the East, Jayton Baird!”
Never had the crowd cheered this loud for me. I smiled and waved at them, glad they hadn’t turned on me. At least not yet.
“And on the north side,” the announcer said, “the returning champion, the undefeated king of the ring, the Uland!”
The crowd erupted again, but they weren’t any louder for him than they were for me. I guessed they wanted to see a fight.
“Fighters, to your marks!”
The Uland stepped out and pointed at me, his voice booming. “Puny human – still using his scale armor!” he said, pawing at the ground with his enormous feet, making ruts.
I figured this was a good time to get the Uland a little overconfident. “Nah, I don’t need it to fight you, you big overgrown ape.” Pulling a small knife from my belt, I nicked the back of my hand, drawing blood, then quickly healed it using a tiny amount of power. “See? No scale armor. I don’t need it to fight you. I’m so not worried about you that I took it off.”
“Then you’re even stupider than you look,” the Uland said, with a sly grin on his face.
“Get set!”
Calm down. Eyes closed, I drew my sword, balanced my weight, extended my left arm, and exhaled. I opened my eyes.
The Uland grinned.
“Fight!”
BOOM!
Keeping my feet, but sliding back, I maintained my balance. The Uland had slammed into me the instant the announcer had said go – thankfully I’d already had my shields up. Pulling from my connection to Leona through the switched stones of our armguards, our love for each other allowing them to transfer their power to me – Royn’s mimic and my Ignis Oculus enabling me to use them. I engaged Corbman’s Suppress power – sending it all over the arena floor, enveloping the Uland in its grip. I didn’t know how much it was going to help, but hopefully it would allow me to stay one step ahead of this monster.
Launching at me again, I noticed the Uland was slow enough that I could actually see him – he didn’t blur out like he had before. He slammed into my shield again, knocking me further back, but he stayed the same place. Damn, he hit like a ton of bricks! It was a function of speed and mass, but the physics didn’t really make me feel any better. I was lucky I’d trained with Katy. The Uland wasn’t quite as fast as her.
The Uland shook his head, like he was dazed. I could only be so lucky. I got ready for another attack. Which came just as fast, just as hard, and with the same result. Son of a —
He shook his head a little harder this time, and he glared at me and growled, stomping his feet and beating his oversized gorilla hands on the ground, then his chest. Apparently he was an overgrown ape.
“So this meat is stronger than the others, it is. Heh heh. He decides to make it interesting.” The Uland smiled. Urgh, I hope you never see such a grotesque thing in all your life.
“How we doing, guys?” I asked.
“So far so good,” Royn said. “Your connection to Leona is strong. No one suspects a thing. We’re getting no alerts on the outside, and unless I miss my guess, the Uland is being affected by Corbman’s Suppress?”
“You’re right. Keep me up to speed.”
The Uland began circling me like a leopard would its prey. Only a little disconcerting. I looked down at my wrist guard, eyeing the adaptions. I hoped this worked.
Reaching down, I transitioned a swatch of earth around me into water.
Earth, air, water...check. The Uland walked slowly toward me. Damn, he’d figured out my tactic – the shield I’d thrown up allowed slow things to pass through, but anything moving fast, and it solidified.
Oh well, next trick.
As soon as he stepped into my moat, I raised my hands. The water erupted from the ground, fully surrounding him. With a flick of my wrist, I transitioned the water to fire, then using Telekinesis, I picked him up and held him in the air, feeding the fire I’d just transitioned and letting it burn as hot as possible.
The Uland was surprised, and he twisted and turned, trying to put out the flames. The Uland didn’t seem in pain, more like it was a small discomfort. But this gave me time. For what that was worth. I held him aloft with one hand, keeping the fire going, and with the other, I set traps all around the arena floor.
Air here, fire there, water, earth, energy. When I was ready, I dropped the Uland, and took a deep breath. I was breathing harder than I thought I would be, but I had thrown a lot of energy around.
The flames licked around the Uland for a couple seconds, but they’d done little damage. I sheathed my sword; I needed both hands for what I was about to do. “Come on, you big bastard, you know you want to.”
The thing shook its head again, and scowled at me, then disappeared in a blur of speed.
My first trap went off – water tentacles that sprang up and held him firm, twenty yards to my left. I put all I had into an uppercut of raw energy, sending the shot over the small distance between us. The blow knocked the Uland back against the wall of the arena. The crowd roared, as the Uland seemed dazed for a second, then roared and seemed to disappear again, only to get sunk in quicksand to my right. I threw a fireball at his face, but he was already moving again. Two huge rocks slammed together, with the Uland in between. A pocket of air froze, intending to disrupt his breathing. A mist sprang up, turning to acid. Ten energy blasts exploded.
All that barely fazed the Uland. He kept coming.
All right, that didn’t work. Time to initiate phase two.
Closing my eyes and raising my hands I said, “Flashbulbs!”
While flashbulbs caused no physical damage, the insanely bright light momentarily blinded the creature, giving me the second I needed to mentally say, “Earth Drill” and slide into the ground a few feet. With a “cover-up and clone” – a trick I’d picked up watching my round five opponent – the ground above me sealed itself, leaving only a small pocket of air that allowed me to breathe. Above, an exact replica of myself, including my signature dragon emblem, rose up into a fighting stance, my mind linked to it as if it were my own body.
Thank you Rotan Vitor for showing me how to use the Copy Quantum.
The flashbulbs took the crowd by surprise too, so no one saw me go underground. I hadn’t even told my team about this part of my plan, so when the big reveal happened, reactions would be genuine. So now my eyes looked through my clone’s eyes and I saw the Uland recover.
I drew my sword in my right hand and raised my left. “Earth Rumble!”
The entire fighting ring inside the arena shook, stones and debris flying in all directions. I directed most of the shaking at the Uland. He staggered back and forth a bit, but not much else.
With a roar, the Uland reached his massive forearms into the air and slammed them down, knocking my clone from its feet. The ground stopped shaking as my clone got up as fast as it could.
The Uland shook its head and stared directly at me. “Nice show, human. But that will not save you!”
Each hand pulled out a boulder-sized rock and hurled them at me. He did it again and again, continuing to bombard my clone. Managing to dodge left and right out of the path of the incoming missiles, I caught movement off to left. It was the Uland using his speed to try to ambush me from behind. Dodging the last boulder, I took off to the right, my clone much faster than the real me.
A great chase ensued, during which my clone laid down bombs as it ran. The next second, explosions erupted, throwing up clouds of dust and debris as the Uland stepped on them. Damn. The Iron Hide protected even the soles of his feet. The crowd gasped and cheered as we ran. Round and round the ring, up and over obstacles, through the river and over the trees we raced, while the Uland slowly gained ground on my clone.
Okay, it’s time.
I brought the clone almost directly over where I was hiding and raised his hand, throwing up a barrier in front, trying to trip the Uland, and one behind the clone for the next part of my plan. The Uland jumped over it and landed heavily in front of my clone, grabbing it before I could even think to move. Damn he was fast!
