by Justin Parks
Chapter 26
New Hope
The group continued to discuss their plans. After a time, they decided to go to sleep and search for the kami in the morning. Everyone went to their rooms, except Nate. He went outside and attempted to sleep on the porch. After a bit, Jin walked outside and sat down next to him.
“Okay, so what’s up?” Jin asked.
“What do you mean?” Nate asked back.
“You’re not doing so well, but I have the feeling you’re not as dumb as you act,” Jin said.
“Oh, really. Maybe I am just as dumb as I seem,” Nate responded.
“So what is it then?” Jin asked.
“What is what?” Nate responded.
“What are you so scared of?” Jin asked. Nate didn’t respond. “Are you afraid to lead people; afraid you’ll let them down?” Jin questioned.
Nate’s head sunk down. “Maybe,” he said.
“Well, you’re not helping anyone like this. You are an ayos, which means you were chosen. It’s your destiny to be a hero, a leader with hope. Don’t let the weight of that crush you. Rise to meet it. I believe in you, now you just have to believe in yourself,” Jin said as he stood, patting Nate on the shoulder. He then went back inside, leaving Nate to his thoughts.
Finally, morning came. The group gathered and set out to the orchards. The orchard was lined with various trees bearing different types of fruit. “Okay, quiz time. You’re most likely dealing with a very mobile enemy. What tactics should you use?” Sky asked.
“We’ll probably have to form a triangular perimeter to trap it,” Elaina said.
“Okay, we’ll have to organize with the fastest in the front,” Dante said.
“Yes, but we’ll have to flush it out of the trees first, or else it can just use them to bypass us,” Nate added. Everybody looked at him surprised for a moment.
“Yes,” Sky said hesitantly. “Good observation,” he complimented.
Jin smiled to himself when, at that moment, he was smacked in the face with a fruit. Everyone turned to him then to the trees. There it was. A small blue monkey-like creature sat upon one of the tree branches. It began giggling or what sounded like giggling. Elaina raised her hand and a small lavender beam shot out, hitting the kami in the head.
A lavender “X” appeared on its head. It got angry and began trying to wipe it off, but it couldn’t. “I see, you’re a tracker,” Sky said to Elaina.
“What does a tracker do?” Dante asked.
“We can mark just about anything. Once we’ve done that, we can track its location within a certain range, even when it goes out of our line sight,” Elaina explained. The monkey gave up its tantrum and began to run, jumping from tree to tree.
The three apprentices looked at their seniors. “What? Go get it,” Sky said, waving them on.
The tree gave chase into the woods. “You think they’ll be all right?” Jin asked.
“Yes, they’ll be fine,” Sky responded.
The three apprentices began to chase the kami. It was quick, but they were keeping up with it. “So what’s the plan here?” Elaina asked.
“Well we need to get in front of it so we can lead it where we want it to go,” Dante suggested.
“Leave that to me,” Nate said, in a deeper voice. The other two looked back to see that he’d partially transformed. His hair had become spiked up. Nate also grew patches of green hair on his face and hands. His eyes changed as he grew fangs and long claws on his hands.
“A shape shifter . . . nice,” Dante said
“I’ll cut it off. You two help me lead it to that field over there,” Nate said, pointing at a clearing beyond the trees. He began to speed past the others. Nate gained on the kami. It looked back in surprise and panicked as it began to try to scurry away, but to no avail. Nate got within striking range and jumped up, swiping at it. It jumped to the ground, dodging him. Nate grabbed onto the tree branch and turned facing it. The kami pinched a handful of dirt and threw it at Nate, temporarily blinding him.
The kami turned and took off in the opposite direction. Nate wiped the mud from his eyes and continued following it. The kami was running from Nate when it met up with Elaina and Dante. The kami came to a halt when it saw the others. Shuffling back and forth, it turned and began to run to its left. The kami was stopped as three blades hit the ground in front of it. Then it turned and ran the other way, dodging blades being tossed at it by Dante.
The blades faded away and now the kami was running toward the clearing. The three apprentices regrouped and continued following it. “Weapon conjurer, huh?” Nate said to Dante.
Finally, they made their way out of the trees and into the clearing. Nate sped up, stopping the kami while they formed a triangular perimeter around it. “All right, good job everyone,” Elaina said. “Now let’s get it!” she said. Nate and Elaina jumped at it, while Dante threw blades at it. The kami jumped aside, causing Nate and Elaina to run into each other. After that, they quickly stumbled back, dodging the blades Dante had thrown. The kami began to laugh at them once again. The three apprentices regained their bearings and surrounded the kami once again.
“Okay, we need to take turns,” Dante suggested.
“Elaina will go first, then me, and if it gets by us, you take it out, Dante,” Nate suggested. The three nodded. Elaina dashed in and kicked it. Nate jumped up and smacked it to the ground. The kami panicked and dug down into the ground. Nate ran to the hole and began digging into it, but he couldn’t get to it.
“Where’d it go?” Dante asked, looking around the ground.
Elaina pointed. “It’s there! It’s coming up . . . now!” she said. A small mound formed as the kami sprung out of the ground. Dante attacked it with his blades. The attack hit and the kami burst into magick, as the three absorbed its power.
“We did it,” Nate said with shock. The three looked to each other. They all smiled and congratulated each other as they began to head back toward Jin and Sky.
Jin and Sky spotted the three walking up with pleased looks on their faces. “Well, I’m assuming everything went well,” Jin said as they approached. He was answered by a flurry of excited voices.
“Okay, one at a time,” Sky said, trying to calm them down. The five walked along as each of the apprentices told their side of the story.
“Well, it seems like you all did pretty good for your first time out,” Jin complimented them as he looked to the sky. “I guess we should be heading back to the academy then,” Jin suggested.
Sky cocked his head in thought. “Ahh, there’s no rush. I say we celebrate a bit and then we can head back tomorrow,” Sky suggested.
“Sounds good,” Jin replied, as he dramatically pointed toward the village. “Back to town! Food and drinks are on Sky!” he said as they all began to speed off back to town.
Sky stood for a moment. “Hey wait a min . . .” he began, but everyone had already rushed ahead of him. The group returned to town and celebrated the rest of the night.
ToC
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