by Leito, Chad
They’re not attacking at all, Asa thought excitedly, if we are able to get five players to score, that’ll be the entire match! We’ll start with a record of one win and zero losses. In an eight game season, each win was crucial.
Asa’s attacking teammates were still gaining speed, and Stan, who was moving fastest, was almost underneath the shadow of the Plaid.
Asa, Roxanne, and Mike Plode (Boom Boom) were standing at the edge of the Starting Platform with their wings out, watching in anticipation. Also on the platform with them were the five Fishies who were the weakest flyers, and had been benched.
The Armadillos Goo Shooters were fast, and appeared as though they would all three reach the Plaid before either Jannice or Bruce. Their fastest was a red-headed male, who had a notably long and slender body. His wavy red hair was shoulder length and held back in a tight ponytail.
Just before reaching the Plaid, this player unexpectedly contracted his wings into his shoulders and began to free-fall. While falling towards the water, he shot all six of his bullets at long range towards Bruce and Janice. Given the movement of the redheaded player, Bruce and Janice’s movement, the distance that separated them, and the relative inaccuracy of the Goo guns, wasting all six bullets in a plan like that was not a smart idea. However, it worked. One of the green balls of goo stuck to Bruce’s neck, sent electricity through his body, and he began to seize in mid air. His wings froze, and Bruce Thurman fell to the steaming water where he made an enormous splash.
After seeing that his shot had hit its mark, this redheaded player dropped his now empty Goo gun, expanded his wings, and flew down over the attacking Sharks. Though he might not have been faster than Stan, he was descending from a higher altitude and had a head start on him. The redheaded player fell at a screaming speed, caught up with Stan, and shoved him into the water below.
Stan was the Sharks’ best attacker.
Stan was moving so fast that instead of plunging beneath the water’s surface, he skipped like a stone off the surface of the water before finally plunging beneath the Moat.
Upon seeing this, Roxanne cursed beside Asa. The match had just begun, and already the Sharks were at a deficit. They had lost their best Goo Shooter, and their best attacker, while the Armadillos remained intact.
After pushing Stan into the water, the redheaded Armadillo player’s momentum was slowed down. Seeing this, Viola Burns of the Sharks sped towards him and attempted to shove him into the water before he could take out more players. She dove straight towards his outstretched wings, and just as she was about to make contact with him, the redheaded player contracted his wings into his back. Viola flew passed him, into the water and the redhead expanded his wings out again.
For the second time, Roxanne cursed.
Meanwhile, all of the remaining in-game Armadillos left their own Starting Platform. The thirteen remaining attacking Sharks had to get passed seventeen Armadillos that were flying down from the Starting platform in addition to the redhead.
As they neared the Armadillos goals, the redheaded Goo Shooter slowed down so that he was level with the Sharks weakest flyers, the Fishies. He tore Jen into the water by her ankle and then flew after others.
As the Armadillo defenders made contact with the Sharks, the impacts were astounding. Bodies flew in every imaginable direction—after initial contact was made, people were flying towards the goals, away from them, and straight into the air. Most, however, fell straight into the water.
A series of splashes and flapping wings temporarily blocked Asa’s view from the action. When the water calmed, all the grappling students had fallen into the water, Asa took a count of what had happened.
The redheaded Goo Shooter had finally been brought into the water, where he waded, watching the remaining match. Surrounding him were three other Sharks, which indicated that he had taken them into the water with him.
Dispersed around these students, bobbing up and down in the Moat’s waves, were other Sharks and Armadillos. The attack had not gone as successfully as Asa would have hoped; all of the attacking Sharks but one had been dragged into the water.
The remaining attacking Shark was, miraculously, a Fishie named Alice Coleman. She was by no means the best flyer on the Sharks, but in the midst of the initial clash, no Armadillo had pursued her. Now, she pumped her wings furiously towards one of the goals as six Armadillos were working hard to change direction and come after her. She sailed through the goal and then was easily shoved into the water by the pursuing pack.
The Sharks had scored one point.
A quick scan of the field revealed that eight Armadillos were still in play, as well as four Sharks (Boom Boom, Roxanne, Asa, and Janice—the Goo Shooter).
On the Plaid, Janice had managed to take out one of the Armadillo players by shooting her in her chest. She fell seizing to the water. But, in the process, Janice used all six of her bullets. The remaining Armadillo Goo Shooter approached her, shot Janice, and then kicked her writhing body off the Plaid so that it also fell to the water far below.
The Sharks had the technical lead in the game, as they were winning one point to zero points, but the Armadillos had far more players still in play. There were seven of them now and there were only three Sharks to defend the goals, including Asa.
“It’s time,” Roxanne said, and she leapt off the Starting Platform. Boom Boom and Asa quickly followed her and soon they were all three whistling through the air, towards the approaching Armadillos.
As Asa gained speed, he reflected on the fact that he had grown accustomed to the sensation of his stomach churning as he jumped off of incredibly large platforms. It hardly bothered him anymore.
Roxanne was much faster than both Asa and Boom Boom, and she quickly outpaced them over the water. From above, the remaining Armadillo Goo Shooter was using her last three bullets in an attempt to take out one of the final three Sharks. The strong wind caught the balls of goo, however, and the projectiles widely missed their marks. Two of the remaining bullets fell to the water. The last of these bullets was blown into one of the Goo Shooter’s fellow Armadillos, who fell to the water, but not before running into another student and taking him with her.
Asa couldn’t believe their luck.
There were now five Armadillos and three Sharks in play.
With the incoming snow and the speed that Asa was traveling, he had to squint in order to see. He welcomed the hot steam rising from the Moat as it hit his face. He looked up at the four oncoming Armadillos.
The Armadillos were traveling much slower than Boom Boom, Roxanne, and Asa were, because they had used up all their speed in falling from the Starting platform in initially defending; they were now having to flap their wings to power their flight, whereas the Sharks were still gliding
At Asa’s speed, the water below him looked as hard as a uniform diamond, and he feared making contact with it. More than that, he did not want to collide heavily with the oncoming Armadillos. I have something to prove, though. I need these people to trust me. Gene Gill’s letter said that I would have to rely on my teammates, and they’ll have to rely on me in order for us to survive in this semester’s lethal Task.
He gritted his teeth, put his head down, and flew right towards the closest Armadillo.
Asa couldn’t see, but he heard a fluttering, whipping noise as Boom Boom and Roxanne made contact with other opponents.
Asa was charging right for a large, blond male Armadillo. He acted as though he was aiming for the wings, but at the last moment, Asa lowered his shoulder and rammed into the Armadillo’s chest. The blonde’s eyes widened almost comically as Asa suddenly changed direction. He heard and felt the opponent’s ribs break, and the wind whistle out of his mouth. The blond player had the awareness to grip onto Asa, and they both went flying into the warm water.
When Asa resurfaced, he saw that Boom Boom had been knocked into the water after submerging a single Armadillo, just as Asa had. Roxanne, on the other hand, had shoved a redheaded female
into the surface and was still flying. She was the last player on the Shark’s team, while Armadillos had two remaining.
The two remaining Armadillos players were the Goo Shooter, a female with long, flailing black braids, and a heavy set male with a military style haircut. This male had a short nose that made him resemble a pig.
While Asa, Boom Boom, and Roxanne had been colliding with Armadillo players on the offensive, the remaining Armadillo Goo Shooter had leapt off of the Plaid and flown through one of the Shark’s goals to score. Now, she had turned around and was heading for a second goal. It appeared as though she would zig zag through the remaining goals, which were each twenty yards apart, until she had flown through all five of them, or she was brought to the water.
The male Armadillo was flying towards the goals as well, and Roxanne was moving quickly behind him, gaining on him.
Asa watched from the water. Beside him, the Armadillo that he had collided with was floating on his back, moaning, and clutching his ribs. Asa wasn’t too concerned with this. Bones were often broken in Winggame. Because of the mutations that all students underwent, their bones healed quickly. Asa suspected that the student he had injured would take the field in the next game.
The Armadillo Goo Shooter flew through the second goal. The Sharks were now officially losing.
Roxanne was flying at an incredible pace. Asa had seen other students fly faster than her, but he didn’t believe that he had ever witnessed such powerful strokes of a student’s wings. She caught up with the Armadillo with the military cut, grabbed his foot and tugged.
Had the Armadillo left his wings expanded, they would have unevenly filled with air from behind, causing him to spin uncontrollably. However, he had the frame of mind to contract his wings into his back when he felt Roxanne tug on him. This wasn’t a natural instinct for most players, and Asa suspected that the Armadillos had been taught this in practice.
This brought the Armadillo even with Roxanne’s torso. He was much larger than her, and as he grasped her wings, Roxanne dropped drastically. She ripped at his arms, got her wings free, and then the Armadillo was on her neck. Roxanne reared up, trying to stay out of the water, and the Armadillo flailed like a rag-doll.
Back at the goal posts, the Goo Shooter had scored her third goal.
Asa’s team captain grappled with her opponent and they tumbled through the air, each trying to wrestle the other into the water. Then, something that Asa could not explain happened. Roxanne’s fist shot forward with a speed that Asa would have thought was impossible. He had seen Multipliers and extremely strong graduates punch before. Many of the mutated people in the Academy could get a strong amount of force behind a blow.
Roxanne’s punch was degrees more forceful than anything he had ever seen a human do. It was frightening to watch.
It was as though her elbow and shoulder joints had stored up a large amount of explosives, and their detonation caused her arm to extend; the punch absolutely crumpled the Armadillos face. His cheekbones were shattered, and his head rocked back with such whiplash that Asa thought he surely must be dead. He fell to the water, limp.
The Goo Shooter had scored the fourth goal, but Roxanne, now free of the blond opponent’s grip, was speeding after her.
The player that Roxanne had delivered the incredible blow to resurfaced, to Asa’s relief. His face was a bloody, bone-ridden mess, and he was crying.
This was the first suspicion Asa had that Roxanne Hurst was anything beyond the usual Academy mutant.
The Goo Shooter soared low over the water towards the final goal. Roxanne was closing the gap, moving quickly. They were both very close to the goal.
The crowd screamed. If Roxanne was able to take out yet another player and push this Goo Shooter into the water, she could then fly unopposed to the other goals and zig zag through them, winning the game for the Sharks.
Asa held his breath as he watched. At first, it appeared as though Roxanne would be much too slow to make it. She picked up speed, though, and in the end Roxanne’s outstretched hand was just inches from the Goo Shooter’s foot as she sailed through the final goal.
The cheering grew louder. Dismayed, Asa looked up on the scoreboard as they replayed the event on the television.
The Sharks had lost their first game, which was a big predictor in how well a team performed for the remainder of the season. On the bright side, they had only been one tackle away from winning. This was one of the closest Winggame matches that Asa had ever seen, let alone played in.
If the redheaded Goo Shooter hadn’t taken out Bruce so early with that very improbable shot, the game would have been completely different.
The Armadillos around him cheered.
As Asa and the other players waded back towards, Town, he felt a vibration on his forearm. He gazed at his armband and found a message.
The Task is now beginning. You must immediately report to Town Hall, with the rest of your Winggame team.
Robert King
15
The Tropics
Asa felt numb as he waded towards the edge of the Moat and pulled his body out of the water. He had known the Task was approaching, and that it could come at any moment, but the suddenness with which the message appeared on his armband had jarred him.
He checked his armband again, and reread the message, hoping that he had imagined it.
I’m not ready. My team doesn’t trust me yet.
The faces of the Sharks and Armadillos around him appeared calm and somber; Asa wondered how panicked they were on the inside.
The bleachers above the Moat were emptying as some students flew off the metal and others descended down the stairs, and then sauntered over the walkway.
The male Armadillo whose ribs Asa had broken was climbing the ladder out of the water very slowly. He sneered at Asa. Asa felt terrible. If he had known that they were about to be put into a lethal, gladiator-style contest immediately after the game, he would have taken great precaution not to hurt anyone.
Asa thought about how he and Roxanne were possibly the only students in the entire Academy to know that this semester’s Task would be completed in Winggame teams. Also, he and Jen were the only students to know that Robert King was using this semester’s Task as a way of cleansing the student population. As he walked, Asa could hear Robert King’s voice echoing in his head; he could see Robert King’s dilated pupils as he explained how he was going to ensure that Asa Palmer and Charlotte Stokes were killed. He felt as though he had just watched The Boss inject that red serum into his foot. It was like he was back on the beam over the aquarium again.
“The solution is so simple. We’re making this semester’s Task much more lethal than ever before. Increase the number of students that die, and you increase your chances of killing Palmer and Stokes. And, if it doesn’t work, there’s always next semester: We’d just have to devise a task harder and more lethal then. And, if they survive to their final semester, we might just put all the students in a situation where they’d all die. Why not? It’d be fair, wouldn’t it? All would have an equal chance!”
“Asa.”
The voice tore Asa from his daydream, startling him. He looked up and was initially glad to see that Teddy was standing beside him. Then after looking at his friend for a moment, he became intensely worried. Teddy’s pupils were still dilated an insane amount, and he twitched his head to the right.
He looks just like Robert King did after he took that drug. What is happening to you, Teddy? What is going on?
Now was no time to ask this, though. There were hundreds of people surrounding them as they walked down the snowy streets towards Town Hall. This would not be the time to explain that he had spied on Robert King during a meeting with Volkner, or that Teddy looked disturbingly similar to how the Boss had looked after he injected himself with that strange drug.
Asa gave Teddy a wary smile.
“I saw the Winggame match; you played great, Asa!”
“Tha…”
&n
bsp; “Listen,” Teddy cut him off, and then gazed around. Teddy was talking fast, just as Robert King had. All of the tired wrinkles that Asa had grown accustomed to seeing on Teddy’s face were gone; it looked as though he had recently undergone Botox. “I’ve figured out why your echolocation doesn’t work in the big barrel in Flying Class. I’ve been thinking about it A LOT, Asa. All you have to do is change your tones while flying.”
“My tones?” Asa asked.
“Yes, tones, like musical notes. It has to do with the Doppler effect. When you cry out in the same tone multiple times in an enclosed area, the echoes get all jumbled and your brain can’t tell them apart. Can you change tones when you make your echolocation cries?”
They were now moving with the crowd into Town Hall. To the left and right were the long, polished hallways that led to the rooms from which captains drafted Winggame players at the beginning of the semesters. Multipliers and graduates were ushering the students not down these hallways, but through doors into the center of Town Hall where they were instructed to descend down massive flights of stairs. The inside structures were filled with marble and stone; there was not much to absorb sound, so the footsteps reverberated loudly as the students moved.
“I’ve never tried,” Asa said.
Teddy nodded, and then, without saying ‘goodbye,’ began to walk at a faster pace than Asa, and was soon lost in the crowd. Teddy had walked away in the middle of their conversation. Asa was worried about him.
The students were ushered lower and lower underground, through large, open doorways with enormous locks on them. The students around Asa kept their distance, as though there was a force field surrounding him. Time had not washed away his reputation as a heartless psychopath.
The Multipliers and graduates hollered at the students like they were a pack of animals. “Keep it movin’! Don’t slow down. Keep steppin’, move forward, that’s right. Keep it goin’!”
The stone hallways were dark and scarcely lit. Asa heard the flap of wings, and then saw a crow fly overhead. This was the first one he had seen in over a month, and he was glad to note that his guardians hadn’t abandoned him completely.
