by Samuel Small
The whirling was at its maximum, sending Jake’s blazer and hair flapping. He placed his forearm in front of his face to shield his eyes from the frantic storm, and narrowed them so that he could make out the scene before him. Any second now they would—
BOOM!
In complete synchronization, all of the women shot their arms forward. The next thing Jake knew he was knocked clean off his feet and crashed into a wall. He coughed as he landed on his feet, looking at his comrades to confirm that indeed just happened. Sara was sliding up the wall, shaking her head as Elizabeth batted her hair into a less unkempt mess. The blast that knocked them back, it wasn’t even the attack – it was just the shockwave. He turned to the woman, who was still sitting with her arm outstretched. She looked directly ahead and he followed her line of sight with wide eyes.
The area was foggy, but through the thick murk Jake could still make out the silhouettes and already knew what had happened. Four were stretched out on the floor: one stood still, in the exact same spot they were before the attack. That meant Lennon blocked such a massive assault and took the four warriors out before Jake was able to recover from being knocked back. It couldn’t have been more than a second.
The fog cleared and the four women slowly stood up, grunting and gritting their teeth. Not only had Lennon tanked such a massive attack, he had also managed to deal with all of his opponents non-lethally. Hell, as far as Jake could tell none were even injured, just a little beaten up. Lennon looked at them each in turn, seeming to assess whether or not they were a threat despite his stern gaze, then his eyes rested on Jake.
For a moment Jake felt it cut right through him, then the eyes softened, Lennon smiled, and raised his hand. “Oh Jake, hey!” he called and walked across the field. Jake took a few steps to meet him halfway, Sara and Elizabeth following at either side. When they reached him, Lennon surveyed each of them in turn, then placed a hand to the back of his head. “Sorry, I must’ve knocked you all for a loop, huh?”
“Don’t be,” Jake said, shaking his head, “that defense was simply incredible. If taking a few bumps is the cost of admission to witness such a spectacle, then I’ll gladly pay it.”
“Right, anyway, did you come here for something?”
“Yes, in regards to Dante…?”
“You’re thinking about negotiating an early release for him?”
“Yes, if possible.”
“Unfortunately I have no control over the prison system directly, and I doubt if my opinion would carry any weight. Besides,” he narrowed his eyes at the ground, “he attacked the Sisters, and that’s something I have to oppose. Sorry.”
“You’ll never get on their good side, you know, regardless of your behavior,” Elizabeth said. When Jake turned, shocked that she figured it out too, she gave him a tight and perfunctory smile, as if it was no big deal.
“I have to at least try,” Lennon said.
“They’ll treat you poorly regardless, so—”
“That may be true, but I don’t want to make my situation any worse – it’s bad enough as it is,” he said, then turned his back on them. He was about to walk away, but Sara called out to him.
“It’s bad already. Your government is allowing its citizens to die without raising a hand to defend them. At any time that monster could—” Her fists were clenched and shaking, her eyes raking into Lennon’s back, who turned his head to look over his shoulder.
“That ‘monster’ is an important part of our history. Dealing with it may be difficult, but legend says that killing it will lead to something far worse.” He finished and walked away. His final words had a palpable effect on Jake, and he could almost feel the air chill as Lennon’s words dashed their last hope.
Jake and his comrades watched Lennon walk into the building, his robe blowing in the breeze that likewise flapped at Jake’s clothes and bedraggled hair. He became increasingly aware of the dirty looks the Sisters gave him. Whether it was because he was an associate of Dante, or that they didn’t want Jake to see their secret combative arts, Jake didn’t know. Probably both.
He wasn’t going to stick around with those eyes burning into him, it was almost as bad as the Purist village. He turned and headed for the tunnel, his comrades following close behind.
The three wandered around the island for the rest of the day in silence. Jake didn’t even think and just allowed his body to carry him. He imagined the same feeling of defeat hung over the girls, as neither uttered a word the entire time. Before Jake knew it, the sun began to dip and they had to return to their rooms for curfew.
As they entered the space between their two dorm rooms, Jake’s crappy and now lonely lodging on the left and the pristine one of the girls on the right, Elizabeth suggested that they go over things one last time, just in case there was something they had missed. Jake and Sara agreed, and they sat at their usual bench. Elizabeth recounted the relevant events and the strange things that stuck out to her, such as the gender-based discrimination facing Lennon and the odd fascination with the holy monuments.
“Still, if that’s the case,” Elizabeth said, “then why were they so concerned when you two were looking around there?”
“I don’t know,” Sara said, sinking her chin into her chest.
“I know this is a long shot, but are you sure Dante didn’t mention anything important before he was captured?” Jake asked.
“Like what? Do you suppose that idiot managed to figure something out that the three of us couldn’t?” Elizabeth challenged.
“I’m not saying ‘figured out,’ but he does seem to have some kind of instinct about this stuff. Like with the Voids, or even you—”
“Like I said, he only mentioned the fruit…” Sara mumbled, so low that Jake almost continued defending himself to Elizabeth, but it just soft enough for his ear to register, and both he and Elizabeth jerked their heads toward her.
“He mentioned something about fruit but Lennon attacked him before he could explain what he meant.”
“Fruit?” Jake said, placing a hand under his chin. What the hell is that supposed to mean?
“Maybe he was just hungry,” Elizabeth offered.
“No,” Jake said, “this is Dante. He could have yelled anything at her, but he chose ‘fruit’.”
“So? He yells things all the time.”
“Yeah, but he didn’t yell ‘fuck you’ or ‘these ninja bitches are a pain in the ass,’ did he? If this fruit thing wasn’t important, he would’ve opted for something like that.”
Elizabeth leaned back and crossed her arms. “I suppose I can’t contest that. It must have been terribly important for him to decline an opportunity to be obscene.”
Crunch
Just then, there was a slight noise in the darkness. Jake swiftly turned his head, trying to focus on anything, but he could see nothing in the haze. He focused on the spot where he thought he heard the noise come from, watching for any sense of movement. He supposed it was possible that they were being tailed by the Sisters, but it seemed odd to him. They’d just seen them training, so they couldn’t do both, unless they only worked at night. That too would be odd however, as they were awake by midday, and pulling all-night duty would—
Crunch
Jake jumped up and off the bench along with his companions. He was sure he’d seen movement that time, and his eyes remained locked on the spot where it stopped as he slowly rounded the bench and approached. He could tell that the figure was humanoid, sporting some sort of cloak, but it had to be black as night as he could barely make it out. The figured turned toward him swiftly, then faced forward and took a creeping posture but moved far too quickly for it to be anything but conspicuous. Jake called to them, and they stopped abruptly, slowly turning their head toward him. When they were sure he was staring straight at them, they bolted away at a frightening speed that let out a burst of air, leaving Jake dumbfounded and blinking at the black figure that was now lost in the night.
Sara was not as confused as Jake
, as she shouted, “Not that easy,” then slammed her foot into the ground. Several meters ahead, a large wall of ice erupted directly in the path of the figure, who slammed right into with loud smack. It fell straight onto its back, and Jake and company rushed to catch up to it.
When he was standing over them, Jake could hardly believe his eyes. It was a member of the cloaked group, just then sitting up and rubbing their head. “Another assassination attempt then?” Elizabeth said as she pulled out her sword, jabbing it toward the figured on the ground, who ducked and reeled back on their hands and knees, again at a pace that seemed almost inhumanly pathetic. Sara used her Sol once again, however, and the man smacked clear into ice once again, jumping to his feet and turning to take in the wall that had suddenly sprouted behind him. Elizabeth ran toward him and placed her rapier to his throat. He turned, almost slicing his neck open on the blade, then relaxed his shoulders.
“Awwww man, it wasn’t supposed to go down like this.”
That voice. It was speed Sol user Jake had encountered several times before. “Thanos…?” he mumbled.
He sprung back up at the mention of his name, turning the folds of his hood toward Jake. “How did you…?”
“One of the members called you that back when…”
“When you allowed my country to die!” Sara shouted. She held a hand up and gathered a massive amount of Sol there, the tiny crystals swirling and shifting under immense pressure. She knocked Elizabeth’s sword away from his throat, and grabbed the man’s coat, slamming him well into the ice wall behind him. “You knew about it… you knew it was going to happen. And yet!” Her right arm, with the energy swirling within, pulsed, and Jake was sure that she was considering unleashing the attack point blank at the man, which would certainly kill him. Jake was ready to tell her to stop, but Elizabeth placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder before he could do anything.
Sara jumped back and saw the conviction in Elizabeth’s features, furrowed her brow, nodded, then allowed the swirling energy in her hand to dissipate. She let go of the man’s cloak, taking a step back and folding her arms. He rubbed the spot that she had gripped.
“Geez, it wasn’t as if I didn’t want to tell you… but I had my orders.”
“Are you here to kill me? Kill us all?” Elizabeth asked.
“Nah, and I don’t think Raph is gonna do anything until after you take out this one,” he said, then slowly walked to the other end of the ice wall, peeked behind it, then looked around. “Actually, you weren’t supposed to see me so,” he clasped his hands over his head and bowed.
“Please forget we ever saw you, right,” Jake finished for him, then glanced at each of his comrades. “I don’t think he’s here to cause us any trouble, at least not right now.”
“Well then, what is this about?” Elizabeth said.
“Another warning. Tomorrow that thing’s coming back and I’d prefer it if you got that Pure Sol friend of yours out of prison before then,” he looked down, grasped his hood, and shook his head. “If not I’m gonna be tasked with getting him out of there, and that kid is scaaaaaaaaary crazy.”
“You mean your group wants to defeat the Malice?” Jake asked. The hood turned toward him and paused.
“Of course we do.”
“Then why don’t you stop them yourselves? You seem more than capable,” Elizabeth said.
“I can’t tell you that.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Sara said, her voice choked with anger. At Jake’s side, Sara glared at Thanos, her fists clenched and frantically shaking. “You have the ability to stop those things, to stop all of this, but you won’t. It’s—” She broke off, lost for words. Up ahead, Thanos was looking at his feet, taking the scolding earnestly and without his usual playful demeanor.
“It’s necessary, that’s all I can tell you. Once this is all over we’ll have a better world.” He took a single, firm step forward, and Jake had to take a step back. The conviction behind his words, and that single step was enough to make him fearful. He saw it in his comrades as well, and when the man’s hood turned to Elizabeth, she jumped slightly.
“Be careful once that monster’s taken care of. He’ll be after you,” he said, then walked forward. Jake took a step to the side so he could pass. As he watched the man’s coat flutter with each firm step he took, Jake wondered what exactly the intention of this group was, and what their plan for this world could be. They were against the Voids and Malice, as far as Jake could tell, yet rarely did they lend a helping hand. When they did, it seemed that it was because this Thanos person was disobeying orders.
“We need more information before we can do anything,” Sara said firmly. Thanos stopped abruptly at her voice, then turned while giving a playful salute. “I was told to watch over and monitor, and only intervene when necessary, so I can’t go handing out solutions to problems like that. Besides, it seems like you’re on the right track anyway,” he said. Jake knew he intended to wink, but didn’t know how they were supposed to see it. His figure blurred and he was soon out of sight, leaving the three standing in the darkness against the large ice wall. Sara extended her hand out to it, melted it, then let her hand drop to her side, taking a few steps forward. Jake and Elizabeth followed her, seeming to process the information Thanos had given more by the second.
“He said we were on the right track,” Sara mumbled, “but about what?”
“What was the last thing we were talking about?” Jake asked, turning to each of them.
“That ridiculous fruit,” Elizabeth said, “I think we all agreed that it meant something.”
“Then we should go to where they captured Dante and—”
“But we’ll be monitored by the Sisters if that happens.”
“We’ll have to find a way,” Jake began before his eyes locked on something in the distance walking toward them. There was Thanos once again, waving at them with both hands, his arms well over his head.
“Yoo-hoo. I took care of those Sisters for you, so you’re free to investigate,” he said, then brought a hand to the back of his head. “I hope this still counts as monitoring.”
Jake exchanged wide-eyed glances with Sara and Elizabeth. He definitely just knocked them out, and they’d probably wake up soon. Without much time to lose, the three of them ran past the hooded figure, whose arms were folded across his chest as if he’d achieved some kind of great moral victory.
The three ran through the empty grass streets in the middle of the night. Everything was silent, and they were lucky not to encounter any members of the military on their trip. Jake quickly hopped over each floating platform and arrived at the main island where the monument stood, two trees at its side, and frantically looked around. No sooner did his eyes lock onto the fruit hanging at the top of some trees than Sara pointed at them, indicating that it had to be it. They exchanged looks then nodded, walked to the base, and looked up.
It was a strange fruit to be sure. It was dark skinned, but Jake could still make out bright and vibrant colors. It was large too, probably half the size of Jake with little spikes poking out. He figured he should waste no time and grab it, and shimmied up the tree. When he reach the top, he wrapped one arm around a branch and fiddled with his back, grabbing his sword and cutting one of the mysterious fruits down. It fell, and Elizabeth tried to catch it, but must have noticed the spikes at the last second and stepped back, pulling her hands away. It fell to the ground and splattered, some kind of steam rising up from the little chunks of pulverized flesh.
He let go and fell to the ground to inspect it, and was sure there was smoke wafting up from the neon pink liquid. Jake took a step back, covering his nose and placing an arm out so that Sara could not advance. He stared in fear at the strange mist as it rose upward in a snaking path, then his eyes bulged open as he saw it enter directly into Elizabeth’s nostrils. She had to have noticed it too, she was as smart as Jake if not smarter, so he couldn’t understand why she just stood there, leaning in with some kind of euphoric express
ion on her face.
“Elizabeth,” he called, “step back, we don’t know what’s in that thing.” Her head slowly turned to him, the goofy expression never leaving her face. Her eyes rested on him yet seemed not to see him. He was about to ask again when her voice oozed out of her barely parted mouth.
“Waaaaaaaaaaht?”
Jake had to suppress the urge to laugh.
Sara didn’t seem to get it, peeking over Jake’s shoulder as he covered his mouth, trying hard not to let the laughter bellow out. Sara looked at him, then to Elizabeth’s impossibly goofy expression, confused about all of it. Her eyes then dropped down to the pile of bright liquid at Elizabeth’s feet, and something seemed to click.
“It can’t be…”
But it was difficult to deny, looking at Elizabeth, and considering what caused her odd, lethargic behavior. Dante’s voice came into Jake’s mind, uttering one of his odd predictions that couldn’t have been true, yet somehow was. There’s someone at the top creating hippies.
Chapter 9
Jake could contain himself no longer and he fell to his side, removing his hand from his mouth and allowing the laughter to burst forth. He was aware that time was of the essence, and that at any moment the Sisters could come, but it was too hard to resist. The proper and refined Elizabeth reduced to, as Dante would say, a lazy hippy!
The girl leaned in for a moment, drool running from the corner of her mouth. She asked Jake what was so funny, man, before her senses came back. Her eyes bulged open and she became aware of the slobber running down her chin, which she quickly wiped with her sleeve. She scowled, her face ablaze, then yelled at Jake to stop laughing, which only set him off again.
