by Simon Archer
“So if we ever came back to your planet…?” I left that hanging because despite wanting to do so, I knew how dangerous her flight from her home planet had to have been. She wouldn’t have done that without a good reason.
Aylin looked even more uncomfortable, but she relented, “I would never let you walk like the others, Starlight. You are to be honored in the highest regard.” We locked eyes, but the moment was ruined when Eric audibly crunched through the rest of his corndog.
I shot him a look, and with his mouth full, he said, “What?”
The rolling drums of the Brand’s anthem began to play, and Inferno’s side of the stands rose up. They cheered loudly, reciting the words that I knew by heart. I refused to participate in it, though. Most of it was about how fantastic my dad was and what a hero he was to his people. Inferno would wash the world in fire, blessed be his name.
As the Brand’s team flooded the field, Eric sat up and squinted to try to get a better look.
“That girl with the ribbons in her hair…” Eric pointed down at the field with his stick, showing the girl in front. Her hair was black and red, tightly braided with ribbons running through them. I recognized her as the same girl from earlier. “She’s their frontman. I think her name is Akemi.” When I glanced over at him, he shrugged. “Kara and I did some research on the team.”
“What’s her power?” It was the logical follow-up question.
“Some kind of weird vampirism,” he said as he shook his head. “She’s not a real vampire, not like Judgment, but she does take the powers of others and leaves them defenseless.”
“So she’s a power mimic?” I’d heard of heroes who could do that, but I’d never met one before.
“Yeah,” he said as he pointed at her again. “Akemi’s wearing gloves, see? Her powers work by touch, from what I understand, but either they have some kind of limiter, or she doesn’t like using them. Most of the time, she goes without.”
“She must be very well trained then,” Aylin murmured as she looked the girl over with her enhanced vision. “She does not burn like the others. She is a black hole instead.”
“Spooky,” I said with a chuckle.
Aylin didn’t seem to understand the joke, because she frowned my way. “I would be careful with this one,” she chided. “She seems very dangerous.”
“And crazy.” Eric nodded. “Our research showed that she’s a reformed criminal. Her rap sheet is absolutely huge. We’re talking assault, second degree, joyriding and grand theft auto, the works.”
I did a double-take and glanced down at Akemi again. “Second degree, as in murder?”
“Yeah.” Eric nodded. “She got off for good behavior a while back, but there’s a mark on her record pointing out her instability. Seriously, she’s nuts.”
“And my dad lets her lead the Brand in the World’s Finest.” I crossed my arms and looked toward my father, who was now surrounded by Infernets pawing at his power suit. He was absolutely enthralled. “Of course he would.”
“Officially, she’s reformed,” Eric reminded me. “That’s what he does, remember? He takes people from dire straits, gives them a new life, and then they become fanatics to his cause. Akemi is probably one of his best students.”
“What about the others?”
“One of them can turn into metal,” he said as he pointed at a taller man at the back of the team. He also pointed towards a girl who looked far too young to compete. Hardly fifteen, judging from her appearance. She was wearing a cute little skirt and glowered at the crowd dangerously. “That one can make knives out of thin air and do whatever she wants with them.”
“Knife control?” I raised an eyebrow at the thought of it. “Weird, I’ve never seen that. How old is she?”
“Oh, she’s actually eighteen. Her name is Minx.” Eric held up his hands in surrender when I gave him a doubtful look. “Seriously. Apparently, she just looks young.”
“What about the rest of them?”
The match started before he could answer, and Krona charged the field. Inferno’s team was playing villain, and they were very good at it. Two people, slender men in identical costumes and masks, plowed into the group with super speed and extreme coordination. They knocked down several of Krona’s students with their initial charge before they snatched one up and flung her high into the air.
“They’ve got their own power-sharing twins, Caster and Cora,” Eric explained. “They can fly and use super speed, but we don’t know which one has which power. Vulnerable to physical assault, but good luck catching them.”
The knife girl, Minx, fell upon the poor Krona kids as they tried to get back to their feet. She cackled evilly as the knives in her bandoliers flew free from their sheaths under her power, a spiraling display of glinting steel and razor-sharp edges. It was almost beautiful, but that beauty ended when Minx thrust her arms out, and the blades rocketed down onto her fallen opponents. The knives at least seemed to be aimed for non-vital spots as they plunged through flesh and pinned most of the Krona competitors down.
I frowned at the bloody display. “Are they all that insane?”
“Pretty much.” Eric shrugged.
Killing your opponent was clearly against the rules in these matches, but that didn’t mean it never happened. Accidents happened, after all, when people with our level of power clashed. I watched the ref as he considered calling a timeout over the wanton bloodshed, but my father distracted him with a curt word or two that we couldn’t hear. He was probably trying to stall things long enough for his team to win.
Fortunately, one of Krona’s students had a healing factor and pulled Minx’s knife free. They ended up in a fight, and Minx proved as well-trained with her knives in hand-to-hand as they were when she actively used her powers.
A huge muscular man wearing the Brand’s colors burst through the few Krona heroes still standing. Akemi flipped over him and took down another Krona student, this one wielding a summoned fiery sword. Even though she knocked the guy flat on his back, the sword user recovered quickly. Akemi fought him and his fiery blade bare-handed, proving too fast to catch.
She moved like water with the grace of a dancer. The sword user was too slow to keep up, and it became obvious that Akemi was toying with him when she taunted him by slapping her bottom and giving him a raspberry.
Eric chuckled at that. “She’s funny.”
“That’s one word for it,” I muttered. “So Minx and the metal guy--”
“Jordas,” Eric interrupted. “His name is Jordas.”
“Right.” I nodded. “Her and Jordas are probably going to be Kristen’s targets. Any theories on how to deal with the twins?”
Caster and Cora were still zipping all around the field, impossible to catch as they repeatedly stopped Krona from seizing the rescue target.
“Maybe Kara can make a net?” Eric suggested as I nodded towards them. “Something to trap them.”
“I could lead them to her.” Aylin nodded. “They will try to fight me in the air, that has been their tactic this match.”
“Good idea. And the muscle man?”
“That’s Abbott. Matt can totally take him.” Eric shrugged, apparently unconcerned. “The dude is pretty devastating if he hits you, and his strength is off the charts, but he’s slow.”
“Matt can take the hits if it comes to that,” I nodded, “and he’s probably faster so he shouldn’t get hit much.”
“Exactly.” Eric nodded. “What about Akemi?”
“I’ll probably end up dueling her,” I said. Akemi knocked the sword out of the Krona student’s hand and kicked him off his feet again. She looked absolutely rabid now.
“Be careful,” Aylin whispered. “As I said, she is a black hole.”
“Yeah.” Eric jabbed a thumb my way. “The last thing we want is her taking your power.”
“She couldn’t handle it if she did,” I shrugged. Admittedly, it would be a shitty situation, but I wasn’t too worried. “She doesn’t have my training
to handle it, so I doubt she will even be able to maintain it for the full ten minutes I can. Trust me, it isn’t as easy as you might think, and it’ll be even worse when she crashes.”
“Assuming we survive,” Eric muttered but relented with a nod.
Krona was completely decimated. Each student was either stabbed, unconscious, or giving up. The ref called for a time, and after marching into the field to find Akemi, raised her hand, and announced the Brand its victory.
Akemi howled like an animal, grinning from ear to ear.
“Well, that’s a thing.” I laughed, unsure if I should be delighted or disturbed by her antics. If and when we inevitably faced them, we’d have a proper match at least. I was hungry for a good fight. “Not that I’m the least bit surprised, but it’s good to know we’ll have some competition.”
“Well, it’s not a sure thing we’ll face them, Nick,” Eric pointed out. “The Brand still has to get through the Carter team, and we still have the Kai-lao team to beat. Anything could happen.”
“I do not think so, Eric Meyer,” Aylin interjected before I could respond. “With the team Lord Inferno has fielded, I doubt they will fall before challenging us.” She nodded. “His reputation is quite fearsome. They will make it to the finals.”
I stood up, stretched, and then waved towards the exit backstage. “Time to head back. We’ve got another match coming up.”
12
Aylin
When I first came to Terra, I thought that the greatest mountain I would have to summit would be to find those to call friends. Back on my homeworld, any who called themselves friend were suspect, most likely only trying to curry favor with my father or seeking personal favors from myself. However, what I found, or better said what was thrust onto me, was a group of people glad to call me friends with no gain to be had at all.
What was becoming my great mountain to fly over was finding my role in this group of friends that took me in. Again, on Sahana, my place as princess, my role in my father’s empire, was clear, if only I wished to take it… and in opposition to him, that role was just as clear. But here, I was just a student, one among many, and even my powers, almost the strongest among my people, were nothing unique, special, or noteworthy, no matter how much Starlight thought otherwise.
This weakness is one I could not share, not now, not as we were on the verge of stepping through the gate for our next match against the Kai-lao Academy. I practiced the meditative techniques the imperial tutors had shown me to hide my nerves as I hovered near the back of our team. Though I was sure I was performing the mantras correctly, Andrea Baker dropped back from her usual place by Starlight’s side to come up to me.
“Hey, Aylin,” she said cheerily as she stretched her body up enough to be shoulder to shoulder with me. “You ready to whip some ass out there?” She winked conspiratorially. “Gonna be a good old fashioned cat fight for us, eh?”
I snapped out of my meditation and turned to look at her. Though she did not shine as brightly as my Starlight, there was a fire inside Andrea Baker that drew others to her. After thinking about her words for a moment, I found that I didn’t quite understand them.
“Cat fight?” I asked simply. “Are the Kai-Lao students felines? I noticed that they were all female, but--”
She giggled at that as she slung an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “It’s a figure of speech, silly. God, you’re adorable when you’re clueless, do you know that?”
“Ah, well, thank you, I think,” I said as my cheeks warmed. “What does it mean?”
Andrea grinned. “I’ll tell you later. We don’t have much time before the match and, well, that’s not actually why I slipped back here.” She leaned closer and fell into a hushed whisper. “How are you doing? And how did Operation: Cheer Up Moody Britches work out?”
That was another thing I hadn’t entirely understood at that time, the name, not the concept, but at least that was something I could be proud of. Thinking of my time with Starlight in the stands brought a smile to my face, which made the small lie, what humans called ‘white,’ more believable. “I am well, simply anxious for what is ahead. As for the mission you and Kara Johnson bid of me, I can report that it went well. Starlight is in a far better mood now, and I think he is ready for the trials that await us.”
“Good.” Andrea focused hard on me for a moment, but what I took to be suspicion passed in a moment as she smirked. “Now, let’s go win this whole thing and remember.” She winked as she relaxed back into her normal shape. “You should celebrate with Nick after this whole rescue tournament thing. Strawberry and I already agreed on this.”
The heat in my cheeks flowed through my body at that thought, even as the treacherous nerves in me wondered if there was even a point. I adored my Starlight, but much as my place on this team, I was unsure of my place in his heart. What did I offer him that Kara or Andrea did not? And more so, what powers could I offer our team that Starlight did not already have?
My worries weren’t allowed to fester though as the intercoms in the ready room blared to life. “Valcav Academy, your match is set to begin. Please head to the starting area on the field.”
With that, Starlight led the way through the opening doors as Gemma gave each of us last minute encouragement. She favored me with a smile and a nod. “Don’t worry, Aylin. You’ll do great, just like you have so far in the tournament.”
I nodded back, unable to come up with an answer that would please her, and then we swept out on the field.
A fast, rolling drumbeat circled the arena, and thousands of people stomped in time to it. The lights flickered in a colorful daze of energetic pulses, and my heart raced in response to them. Having been fed excitement all day long from various other matches, including several of ours, the audience was hungry and desperate for action. The rescue finals were in sight. If our team won this, we only had one more match to victory, almost assuredly against Lord Inferno’s team.
Lord Inferno was so much like my father, it would have frightened me if I hadn’t already been enured to such tyranny.
I floated up and forward to my assigned position, and I caught Matthew Barbur speaking to Starlight. “They’re absolutely rabid. I hope you’re ready for this, Nick.”
Starlight’s fists balled at his sides as the infinite light in him pulsed and surged. He nodded and glanced towards Andrea and Kara, who were flanking Eric and debating defensive positions around the rescue target, then his eyes focused on me.
He wanted me to be strong, so I put on what Kara told me was known as my ‘game face.’ I wasn’t sure what making a scowling glare had to do with the taking of faces, a gruesome ritual among the barbarian tribes of my world, but it was supposed to be appropriate in these situations. As I scowled fiercely, Starlight smiled at me, nodded, then looked to Kristen Barbur, who also had taken her game face, though I wasn’t sure where she had taken hers from.
In my ear, the communication unit came to life. “Second-to-last match.” Andie whistled cheerfully. “If we win, we’re in the finals, boys and girls!”
Before any of us could answer, Lord Inferno screamed when he saw Starlight on the video feed above us. He was on a set of first-row seats on the west end and cheered as he waved a big red flag with ‘GO NICK’ colored in glowing yellow letters. Sycophants all around him raised their own celebratory signs, each either plastered with Starlight’s name, his face, or the bright, fierce symbol of the Brand. The earlier matches had been much the same, but the intensity only grew with each round we were victorious in.
I wasn’t sure what to think of it. While I tried to focus on the far end of the field where the Kai-lao team gathered to prepare to be villains for this round, I found my eyes drifting down to Starlight. He seemed to be turning away from his father, clearly uncomfortable with his attention, and I followed his gaze to the east side and the Alexandrian audience. There, I found Triton, Judgment, Amazoness, and Adelaide Jones. Adelaide was wearing a bright blue bonnet and waved at Eric, who b
ounced and waved back with a bright grin of his own. She produced a chocolate cupcake from seemingly nowhere and gestured with it to possibly indicate treats later. Eric gave her a thumbs up and whispered something to Andie who laughed.
And still, I drifted above them with no place, nothing other than what my friends offered me.
No. I slapped my cheeks, something I had seen Eric do, some Terran rite of self-composure. I would not be distracted, I would not fall into despair. I would find my place here, and I would do it by helping win this battle.
“Aylin,” Starlight’s voice came through the comm, and I snapped my nervous gaze down to see him staring back at me, his smile warm. “I can’t use my powers yet, not until the finals, so I need you to, well, do the stuff I would do. I know you can do it, though.”
There was not a hint of a lie or even an exaggeration of faith for my benefit. I could see the truth in his light, and my fists clenched as I let my own power build inside me. If he could have faith in me, I must have faith in myself as well.
“Of course, Starlight,” I answered. “You can rely upon me.”
With that in mind, I refocused on our opponents… and my eyes widened as I took them in.
The Kai-lao girls were arrayed in a triangular formation, but they did not hold themselves as any warriors I knew. Each young woman was posed in strange, exaggerated ways, some balancing on one foot with arms raised, others crouched low and back with hands scrunched up in imitation of animal claws… I think. More so, they all dressed in identical uniforms save for the color, a literal rainbow. Each uniform… or maybe the girls themselves?... sported ears like a Terran feline with tails to match. Considering they twitched and moved, I could only guess they were natural.
“Andrea Baker,” I said into the comms, “I misunderstand. You said when you spoke of ‘a cat fight,’ that it was a figure of speech? Perhaps you misspoke?”
“Oh my God, Aylin,” Andrea laughed into the comms, “I really thought it was a joke, but I guess I was wrong. It really will be a cat fight!”
