“I couldn’t care less,” she replied smugly. A perfect lie. The server came by and dropped an iced coffee in front of her. The girl picked it up at once, lit the metal mug ablaze, then dumped another cup of ice cubes into it. She sipped slowly on the refreshing drink for a while, ignoring the boys conversation.
“The ‘Demon Rodeo’ could be entertaining,” said Aura.
“To watch,” replied Ash. “I don’t think I’d like to take part in it though.”
“The ‘Hoop Course Relay’ might be fun too.”
“We should probably decide on our remaining two teammates first,” said Ash. “Any ideas?”
“If we get super desperate I could ask Sars and the guys,” said Aura.
“Pass,” said Shiva.
Aura shrugged defensively. “Okay then Miss Satan, let’s hear your pick.”
“I could ask Killian,” she said.
“No,” Ash and Aura replied simultaneously.
“I thought you’d feel that way,” Shiva said with a satisfied smirk. “I actually agree. I don’t think Kill understands the concept of teamwork.”
Neither do you though, Ash and Aura both thought.
“What about Gio or Yazma?” Aura asked. The tailor and the teacher were always eager to help in a pinch and came to every party the team had thrown.
“I talked to Gio about the games yesterday when I went to pick up the shorts,” Ash replied looking glum. “He said he was going to be way too busy working on team uniforms for people to actually play any games.”
“Uniforms,” Shiva scoffed. “What kind of dorks like to get dressed up for this stuff?”
“Everyone, apparently,” replied Ash. “It says here team uniforms are mandatory.”
Shiva answered with an annoyed groan. It was becoming her favorite method of communication.
“And what about the lovely miss Yazma?” Aura asked. Being a beautiful lady, Aura was in love with her.
“She’s on a team with some people from the school she works at,” Ash replied. “It looks like our options are limited.”
“I could ask gramps,” Shiva offered. She was referring to her grandfather Wilhelm Satan, the previous King of Hell. The old coot had been nice to the team during his time as their teacher, but Ash still hadn’t quite forgiven him for the whole ‘using his granddaughter to take control of the kingdom’ plot yet.
“You don’t have to bother him,” Ash said, dismissing the idea. Wilhelm had gone back to work in the development of West Hell since the rebel coup failed. Ash thought it had something to do with how he couldn’t stand to be around Shiva anymore knowing he’d caused her so much pain by putting her through the failed wedding with Phoenix.
Shiva shrugged. “Okay, then I guess we either make some new ‘friends’ right now, or we take our chances with that desperate people board.”
Ash’s giant egg showed up, and he was surprised to see it was exactly what he’d ordered: a huge egg, shell and all! The big white egg took up the entirety of Ash’s plate, at least twice the size of Ash’s head. It came with a small mallet to break the shell open. Inside, there was a fully formed demon bird the size of a crow, cooked to a crisp right in the shell.
Breakfast food is a little unsettling in Hell, he thought. It tasted good though, as he wolfed it down and listened to Shiva and Aura try to hash things out.
Aura was confident his pals from the southside gang could provide two more teammates, but Shiva was having none of it. She thought his former friends were “too weak” and “too stupid” to be of any use.
After way too long listening to them bicker, Ash finished his meal and stood up. “It’s settled then,” he said. “Let’s just try the wanted board. Maybe we’ll meet someone cool.”
Both Shiva and Aura turned to face Ash and laughed. “You have demon grease all over your face,” Aura told him.
Without a napkin in sight, Ash grabbed the festival flier he’d been carrying around and wiped off his mouth with it. He didn’t stop there though, and continued wiping the sweat off his forehead and arms as well. As they exited the restaurant they passed by a man collecting the garbage. Ash tossed the balled up flier into the man’s garbage bag as he passed, nodding respectively to him.
When Shiva, Ash, and Aura left the restaurant they planned to head straight back to the info booth to start looking for teammates. They made it almost a block before an unwanted pest spotted them from afar and decided to play a nasty little prank.
As they walked down the moderately busy street Ash felt something small collide with the back of his head. It didn’t hurt at all, but there was a loud POP that startled the group. Ash spun around quickly to confront his attacker. Shiva and Aura checked the surrounding area as well.
No one could find the source of the attack. As they twisted their heads in every direction looking for anyone threatening, another loud POP went off. This time Aura jumped forward rubbing his butt.
“That little…!” the death toucher cursed.
“You know our attacker?” Shiva asked, keeping her guard up and sweating profusely.
“I haven’t spotted him yet,” said Ash. “But yeah, it’s probably just that little sneaker from the day of the tournament.”
“Disrespectful brat!” Shiva said. “The one who stole my deck!”
“Whose deck?” asked Aura.
“Vashi Tansa’s deck,” Shiva replied. “That’s what I said. You know, you got a real listening problem Draxler-”
Shiva screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped forward. Ash and Aura were at her side in a second. Shiva looked terrified, her arms flailing to reach her back. Then POP POP POP POP! The girl cried and cursed and fell to the ground in terror. Ash and Aura felt powerless to help her. They didn’t dare try to remove her armor, not without Shiva’s written consent.
A few seconds of silence went by after the loud pops. Shiva realized she wasn’t in any pain, and instead of making a big deal about it quietly stood up and pulled away from Ash and Aura’s helping hands.
“Kid,” she said, gritting her teeth together so hard she thought they might break. “Get out here now!”
“You better listen to her kid,” said Ash. “You don’t want to mess with her when she’s mad.”
Laughter. Coming from somewhere close by. Ash and Aura looked all over the street, but Shiva stared upward. On top of a nearby building a small person stepped out from behind the decorative gargoyle statue. He wore a baggy hoodie with his pant legs rolled up into makeshift shorts. The hood hung over his eyes, and of course he cut eyeholes to see through. The demon-fanged bandana still concealed most of his lower face, and tucked between an arm was his primitive skateboard.
The sneaker.
“Yo!” the kid said. “How’d you like my pop-bang technique?” he asked, his bandana hiding a gigantic smirk.
“That’s the kid?” Shiva asked, her face showing no emotion. Which was of course the scariest of all her emotions.
“That’s him,” Ash replied. “That’s the little sneaker.”
“My Pop-Bang technique shouldn’t hurt at all,” said the sneaker. “Or are you guys just major sissies?”
“You stole a friend of mine’s cards,” Ash replied. “I’d like them back now. You see this?” Ash pointed to his flame-wing badge pinned to his shirt. “This mean’s I work for the royal family. My captain here, Shiva Satan, isn’t as nice as I am. So let’s not make her get involved, okay?”
“I don’t have any cards,” the sneaker said, sticking his fingers between his nostrils and plucking a nose hair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, yo.”
“Listen, kid-”
Shiva cut Ash off, her voice low and scary. “That’s enough Ash,” she said. She raised a palm and started collecting flames, forming a rough sphere of fire. “The brat needs to learn some respect.”
“Ohhh! Ohhh!” the sneaker cried, clapping his hands in a sudden burst of excitement. “A fireball! How original!”
“Surrender the card
s or I’ll shoot,” Shiva said, dangerously monotone. Her fireball was already the size of a basketball and pointed straight at the kid.
“Let me help you out by giving you a nice target to aim for!” the sneaker shouted. He jumped and turned 180 degrees, thrust forward his little bum and wiggled it in jest. “Can’t hit me! Can’t hit me!”
“That’s it!” Shiva said. Her anger boiled over and she released her flames. The fireball shot forward straight at the sneaker still shaking his bottom at her.
The bratty boy jumped another 180 degrees, pressed his hands together with his pointer fingers extended like a gun, and shot his own tiny flame.
A marble-sized fireball blasted forth from his fingertips and collided with Shiva’s fireball in midair. It happened so fast no one could see it coming. Shiva’s fireball suddenly imploded, dissolving in an instant. The flames were totally gone, vanished, poof.
“What the…” Ash said, staring at the air in disbelief as the sneaker giggled maniacally. “Did he just cancel out your flames?”
Shiva grit her teeth harder still, her rage building. Not only was the kid disrespectful, but he also knew flame techniques she was not familiar with? That she could not stand for. This situation was about to be handled Shiva style.
“You guys keep an eye on him from the air,” Shiva ordered. “I’m pursuing on foot.”
“Yes! I was hoping for a chase!” the sneaker exclaimed excitedly. He tossed his skateboard to the ground and stepped on. “This is going to be so fun! Don’t make it too easy for me, yo!”
“Sorry, but screw that,” said Aura, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll go back to the festival kiosk and start looking for potential teammates. If I have to deal with that kid, I just might actually kill him.” With that Aura simply walked away. Shiva was in too foul a mood to try and convince him to stay.
“Ready?” she asked, preparing two more fireballs in each hand. Bigger this time. She wouldn’t let them be destroyed again, not unless they were colliding with the little sneaker’s body.
“Ready,” Ash said, bringing out his wings. They slid right through the holes in the back of his t-shirt and formed instantly, spreading wide prepared to take to the air.
“Go.” Shiva dashed forward towards the building the kid stood on. With a single jump and a little help from her own wings she was airborne and sailing straight at the kid. She pointed her two fireballs and released them.
Again the sneaker aimed his pointer fingers like guns and shot his tiny flame marbles. They struck Shiva’s fireballs dead on, and once again the flames imploded and disappeared within seconds. The sneaker didn’t stick around to watch and laugh this time. The chase was on. The sneaker kicked off on his board, rolling right over the side of the building and dropping into the alleyway below. Shiva had been expecting this, and as soon as she set foot on the edge of the building she redirected herself and hopped down after him.
Ash was doing his part soaring above the building and trying not to lose track of the small child as he rolled through the connected alleys. It was no easy task.
The sneaker moved too fast to follow as he rolled across crowded streets and through narrow alleys. After a while Ash lost sight of him altogether and focused on following Shiva instead. She was much easier to spot since every couple of seconds she would release another blast of flames. Sometimes the fireballs struck things: buildings, signs, the occasional innocent civilian. Other times the sneaker used his flame-canceling technique again and the fireballs just seemed to vanish.
Shiva wasn’t doing so well. The continuous fast pace of running combined with the exertion of so many flames was making her real tired real quick. The heat didn’t help either. She lost sight of the sneaker as he turned a corner into an area under development. Workers there were setting up for some festival event.
The kid disappeared.
Shiva paused for just a second to collect her breath and look around. She looked to the sky and saw Ash circling above. He locked eyes with her and shrugged. She was about to continue moving when another loud POP went off behind her. She spun around hoping to see the boy, but there was only a brick wall.
“You’re not very skilled at tag, are you?” he called from his hiding place. “Maybe we should play hide and seek instead?”
Shiva spun around again, just in time to see the sneaker roll by. She gave chase once more, but as she watched the sneaker get further and further away she realized she could not catch him in her current state. Something had to change.
Shiva started stripping off her armor in the street. She started with the easiest pieces to remove, the parts strapped to her arms. After that she ditched her body armor, reveling in the relief that came from the breeze hitting her skin. When she slowed down enough to remove her leg armor, she turned to a random old man she was passing and issued an order.
“You there! I hereby charge you with the task of collecting and watching over my armor!”
The old man nodded in shocked disbelief as the Royal Princess, in a pair of black spandex shorts and a small tanktop, continued her chase. “Failure to comply will be treated as treason against the royal family!” she called as she ran. The old man watched her go, still in shock. He sprang to life and went about gathering up the pieces of armor, desperate to complete the assigned job.
Ditching her armor, Shiva quickly realized, was the way to go. She felt weightless and even a little cooler. The breeze definitely refreshed her as she ran. Even her fireballs had a bit more girth to them as she blasted away at the kid. The little sneaker knocked over trashcans, startled more people with his pop-bang flames, and hurled insults back at Shiva as he went.
“That the best you got? Funny, I thought the Satan’s were supposed to be powerful!”
Shiva had gained ground on him, but she was still nowhere near catching him. She tried to close the gap but she was quickly losing steam. The sneaker left little balls of flame in his path that would roll at Shiva as if they were attracted to her. She could easily jump over them all, but doing so drained her stamina even faster. She was ten seconds behind him as she turned into the next alleyway she saw him disappear down.
Shiva breathed a huge sigh of relief as she saw Ash drop down from the building top, blocking the sneaker’s path. He turned around quickly but Shiva stood firmly blocking his only escape route. Instead of dealing with her the boy turned to face Ash.
“It’s over kid,” Ash said. “We’ve got you trapped. Give up the cards and apologize.”
“I’ll… deal… with…” Shiva wheezed, partially leaning against the building.
“Take it easy Shiva, I got this,” Ash said. Surprisingly, Shiva backed off to catch her breath.
“You got nothing,” the sneaker said. “You’re a bum! You should have never won your first match in the Devil’s Duel tournament!”
“Is that why you’re out to get me? Because I won a card game. That’s a little ridiculous, don’t you think?”
“I think you’re ridiculous, stupid buttface human!”
Ash shrugged. He then lifted his hands above his head and started collecting a huge amount of fire. “Have it your way kid. Since you like flame tricks so much, it would be rude of me if I didn’t share mine,” said Ash. The fireball expanded rapidly, growing so large it scraped both the buildings they stood between.
The sneaker smirked and put his hands together, concentrating a small amount of flames into another little ball. “Ain’t nothin’ my latest technique can’t handle, yo!”
“Hopefully a night in a jail cell will teach you a lesson,” said Ash. “I’m sorry it had to come to this.” He prepared to bring his hands down in front of him, to launch the giant fireball forward at the rude kid. He knew the sneaker would either try to cancel out his flames again with another shot, or escape the only direction he could go: up. Ash was prepared for either of the two options, but he did not count on a hidden third.
The sneaker extended his arms and pointed his little fireball at Ash. Ash was con
fident believing his enormous ball of flames could easily swallow the child’s flames. He could always turn up the juice and make it larger if need be. But the sneaker did something incredible: the little boy shot his flames forward, but not as a single ball of fire.
His flames blasted forth as a solid cylindrical blast of fire.
Ash reacted quickly, launching his own fireball in retaliation. The sneaker’s flame beam shot straight though Ash’s ball of flames without resistance. Ash could feel the heat advancing through his own flames, working its way toward his hands. He could feel his flames dying, drained away by some phantom force.
Ash increased his flame output, mentally willing his ball of fire to expand even more. He tried to use the flame thief technique he learned from Wilhelm long ago to smother the enemy’s flames and convert them into his own.
But the technique did not work. The sneaker’s flame beam seemed to be sucking up Ash’s flames somehow. Ash struggled in confusion as the beam of enemy fire collided with his hands, knocking him back.
He lost all control of his flames and they died away, clearing the alley. Shiva called out to her teammate and charged in. Ash sat on his butt staring at his scorched hands still smoking from the exchange of flames.
“That was my Inferno Beam technique,” the sneaker said, beaming proudly. “Told you you couldn’t beat it! I bet you don’t even know how I did it.”
“Now I got you!” Shiva moved in fast; the sneaker’s cue to leave.
Hopping back on his skateboard, the sneaker shouted, “Until we meet again, losers!” He rode straight for Shiva. She went for the tackle, but the tricky kid kicked off the ground and rolled sideways across the wall, avoiding the enraged princess. He skated on to the opening of the alley and disappeared into the midday sun.
When Shiva finally checked on Ash he was still sitting on his rear examining the damage. He stared at his hands, wide eyed in disbelief.
“What happened there? We nearly had him!”
“I think this kid is going to be more of a pain than we first anticipated,” Ash said, holding up his charred black hands for her to see.
Devil Ash Disarray (Devil Ash Saga Book 3) Page 11
