Iridescent: Chapter Thirty

Iridescent

Chapter Thirty

~Leavin’~

After the Fall

Chaud sat by himself on the roof. He gazed out on the tourist city as the sands of the desert started to reclaim what was its own. The desert winds pushed the sand into the streets of the city. Chaud was quiet, his hands folded under his chin as he thought to himself. He waited patiently for something but in the meantime he was alone with his thoughts.

The door to the roof opened and Zara walked out. She spotted Chaud on the edge of the roof and walked up to him. Zara lowered herself and sat down beside him. For a moment, they didn’t say anything. She simply watched Chaud for a moment. Zara smiled and shook her head.

“I can hear the gears grinding from here,” she said. Zara leaned back, “Trying to figure out the answers to the universe?”

Chaud looked over at her and smiled, “Ah, yes, the age old question: Just how angry are my folks going to be when I tell them what has happened?”

Zara looked at him, “I think they’d just be happy to see you and Amber alive.”

Chaud raised an eyebrow, “You don’t know my mother.”

“She can’t be that bad,” Zara said.

Chaud stared at her with disbelief. He just could believe what came out of Zara’s mouth. His mother was probably the most frightening person he knew. Granted she was nice when she wanted to be but if she found out you ate the last piece of cake…well…let’s just say you’d have to buy her a wedding cake if you ever wanted be on her good side again.

Zara narrowed her eyes at Chaud, “What the heck are you looking at me like that for?”

Chaud shook his head, “Sorry, its nothing.”

“How’s Amber?” Zara asked.

“She’s doing better than I thought she would,” Chaud answered.

Zara nodded, “You doing okay?”

Chaud smiled, “Doing a lot better than I thought I would.”

“Good,” Zara said and looked out over the view.

There was a moment of silence between them as they sat quietly. Chaud sat and watched Zara. He opened his mouth and was about to say something when the rooftop door opened.

 Tempi walked out and crossed her arms, “There you idiots are! Come on you two! Fang and his tagalong found the way out of here. Let’s go!”

“I want to kill her,” Zara muttered to Chaud.

Chaud whispered back, “Come on now; don’t be like that.”

Together they walked down to the lobby. They passed by a room where they kept Dante and his crew. There were a few men keeping guard to make sure that they didn’t try anything. After the battle went down the people who were sent away for their safety returned and made themselves at home at the resort.

Chaud and Zara followed Tempi outside. Fang stood off to one side with Shadow nearby.  Crow and Crane sat on a ledge while Puppetmaster sat in the sand with Shuppet in his lap. Amber sat close to him and talked to Shuppet as if she could understand. Miwa and Jekyll sat off by themselves separately.

Zara walked up to Fang, “You found the sub?”

“Surprisingly, right where he said it’d be,” Fang looked at Chaud.

Chaud smiled and shrugged, “And you ever doubted me?”

Fang glared at Chaud, “You’d be surprised on how much I don’t trust you.”

“Who’s coming?” Zara asked.

Tempi looked over, “Most of you guys. Crow and Crane are staying along with my crew. Someone needs to keep an eye on these civilians and keep them safe.”

Zara looked at her. She sensed that there was a deeper reason to why Tempi wanted to stay. “I hope you find them.”

Tempi looked at her, “You worry about your own business. Get the Tower back. I’ll worry about my own team.”

“Alright,” Zara backed off.

Chaud walked off toward his sister. She looked up at him, “Are we going soon?”

Chaud smiled and crouched down, “Soon.”

“Will we get to see mom and dad again?” Amber asked.

“We’ll see,” Chaud said, “We’ll just have to see on that one.”

“Can you teach me how to shoot a gun?” Amber smiled.

Chaud laughed nervously, “No.”

“But Chaud!” Amber cried, “Why?”

“Anyone who’s going, pack your bag and let’s get on the road!” Fang called.

Zara walked back into the resort to get the rest of her team. She listened as Chaud and Amber had another argument about why he wouldn’t teach her how to use a gun. Puppetmaster to took his leave. He walked beside Zara with a smile on his face. Zara looked at him with curiosity.

“What are you smiling about?” she asked.

Puppetmaster smiled and waved a hand, “Nothing, just something Shuppet said.”

Zara sighed, “You do realize they don’t say anything right?”

“That’s not what they say,” Puppetmaster laughed.

Zara rolled her eyes, “Are you coming with us to the mainland?”

“Well, someone needs to keep an eye on you,” Puppetmaster looked down at her.

Zara crossed her arms, “I can take care of myself.”

Puppetmaster leaned into her, “Without blowing buildings up?”

Zara looked at Puppetmaster with shock, “Did Chaud tell you!? I’m going to kill him! He said he wouldn’t tell anyone!”

Puppetmaster held her with one firm hand, “It wasn’t Chaud.”

“Then who?” Zara stopped, “Miwa!! That little—!”

“Come on now,” Puppetmaster pushed her along, “We need to get your things so we can get off the Island.”

“But he—”

“Come on,” Puppetmaster said, “Let’s go get ready.”

<<<>>> 

The ocean breeze blew in Zara’s face. They stood where the desert met with the ocean. She stood on the beach and breathed in the salty sandy air. A set of cliffs rose to the left of the beach. The rock eroded by the salt water to crate caves and caverns. She heard the crunch of footsteps behind her. Amber ran past her and ran to the water.

Amber splashed in the water. The white wolf, Wini, stood nearby and watched with a stoic expression. Chaud walked up behind Zara.

“We’re one step closer to getting off the Island,” Chaud said.

Zara jumped slightly. He was in her blind spot and hadn’t noticed him come up behind her. She turned and glared at him.

“Unfortunately, you might not be able to get off because I’ll shoot you,” Zara threatened.

“Do you really not hear me coming?” Chaud asked. Zara was about to answer but Chaud looked out at his sister, “Come on, Amber! Let’s get going!”

Zara looked behind her at the top of the rise. The bus was currently empty as all who were going were on their way down the hill to the beach. Crow and Crane stood by the bus waiting for everyone to leave. Tempi and the rest of her gang were back at the resort guarding it from anyone who thought it a good idea to attack. Dante and his crew were chained together by the ankles. The idea was that they could go free only after the submarine left the Island. Since their target would be out of their reach, they wouldn’t be a threat. They stood together in front of the two birds, Crow threatening them with a shotgun.

Zara waved at them and Crane waved back. Crow simply nodded. Amber ran up to her brother. She waved one last time to the wolf that had been with her. the wolf turned to her before turning around and walking away into the desert. Chaud took her by the hand and started walking to the network of caves. Miwa led the way, creating light for the others to see where they were walking. Fang brought up the rear. They followed the water as it flowed in and out of the caves. It reached an open cavern where there was a large pool of water.

“Wait here,” Chaud said to his followers.

He dove into the water with Miwa close on his heels. The others sat around the edge and waited. Zara sat on the ground and joined Amber in getting her feet wet. Several minutes passed and nothing happened. Amber leaned out to look into the reasonably clear water. Lights turned on in the water. Amber jumped up and stood by the edge. Zara remained sitting.

The submarine rose slowly to the surface, taking up the entire length of the cavern. It looked like a giant black stingray with its shape and without the tail. The hatch slid open and Chaud popped out.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Chaud smiled, “It’s my first time driving one of these.”

Zara smiled and rolled her eyes. To hide her smile, she stood up and walked on one of the wings to the hatch. Chaud offered his hand in assistance but he waved it away and dropped down into the sub. It was a lot larger than she thought. Though the top was reasonably flat there was defiantly more under the surface. Miwa met her when she landed.

“This way to the women’s cabins!” Miwa’s tail waved as he walked off.

Zara followed him. The rooms were small. It was expected in a submarine. There were two bunk beds on either side. Zara turned and saw that there were a few more rooms as well. There were four girls so they could have a room to themselves. The boys on the other hand might have to share. Zara threw her bag on the bed and walked out to explore.

There was a gym and a cafeteria, a medical bay where Dr. Jekyll would probably spend most of his time as the only doctor. The intercom crackled to life and Chaud’s voice came on.

“Hello, everyone. It’s a balmy 97°F today with a light brease. The ocean temperature 62.6°F but that will drop real fast as we descend into the depths of the ocean. Please turn off all electronic devises and return your tray tables to their original upright position. Thanks, this is your—oww!”

“This is you’re captain speaking,” Fang’s voice said, “It’s about time we get the heck out of here. Let’s get this thing running.”

“I was going to say that,” Chaud could be heard saying quietly.

“But you’re not the captain,” Fang stated.

“I led you here, I swam for it, I got the engine started and I’m driving it! I think I deserve to be captain,” Chaud argued.

“Not in a million years,” Fang said. Fang talked into the mike again, “Either way, you all might want to hold on to something.”

The sub started moving forward through the caves and out to the ocean. The initial start caused Zara to loose balance. She nearly knocked Amber over. They stood against the far wall and smiled. Amber looked up at Zara.

“Sorry I didn’t see you there,” Zara apologized.

“It’s alright,” Amber smiled, “I can’t wait to see mom and dad.”

Zara smiled, “I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you.”

Amber looked up at her, “Do you think we can come back one day?”

Zara thought a moment, “We have to. No matter what, we have to make things right again.”

“Good,” Amber walked down the hallway, “because I would love to pass 6^th grade. I had my project ready and everything!”

Zara smiled and walked after her, “We’ll get right on that.”

Amber ran off to try to find her brother. Zara walked a few paces behind her watching her carefree attitude. They had to fix everything. Even if it was only to make the little girl happy again.

Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Nine

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Nine

~Match~

After the Fall

Dante kicked open the door of the overturned truck that he had been driving before Shuppet had knocked it over. He crawled out and looked around. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. Dante looked into the truck and helped Ai crawl out.

“You okay. Princess?” Dante asked with a slight smile.

Ai looked as serious as ever, “I’m fine. Let’s go.”

“Right,” Dante nodded, “You get inside. I’ll cover you.”

Ai ran off to the resort building. Hiding behind anything she could to avoid being seen. Dante watched her for a little bit before looking for his own target.  Ren stood in the center of the chaos, a small grin on his face. He watched with interest at the goings on.

“Now I thought you were dead,” Jekyll said behind Ren.

Ren turned and smiled, “Depends on your version of reality.”

Jekyll tugged on his hat and closed his eyes, “I don’t have time for mind games.”

With a simple flick of his wrist, Jekyll drew three surgical knives from his sleeve and threw them at the boy. Ren vanished, as he wasn’t ever really there and multiplied himself several times in a ring around the doctor in a suit. The ring of Rens’ all drew their scimitars and charged at the doctor. A clear shot rang out causing one of the visions to disappear. Jekyll easily took care of the rest. He opened his eyes and looked over at Fang and sighed.

“I was doing fine you know,” Jekyll stated.

Fang looked at him, “I know.”

Ren appeared suddenly. Fang acted quickly and grabbed him by the wrist. He twisted the boy around and placed the gun to Ren’s head.

“I just needed to get to him before you killed him or something,” Fang muttered.

Jekyll crossed his arms, “I don’t kill kids. I probably would have maimed him close to death but I wouldn’t have killed him.”

“Right,” Fang looked down at Ren who struggled against his captor, “Now talk. What are you up to? You know the girl isn’t here, right?”

Ren turned his head and smiled, “I’m not answering. You’ll have to catch the real me first.” He vanished out of Fang’s grasp.

Fang looked to Jekyll, “Find him, don’t kill him.”

Jekyll tipped his hat in acknowledgement. He turned to more Rens’ running around causing trouble. With a sigh, he got to work. Fang grabbed a handheld two-way radio on his belt.

“Crow,” Fang said.

“What?” Crow sounded annoyed as usual.

“Where is Amber?” he waited for a reply but before he could get one there was a commotion that drew his attention.

Dante finally found who he was looking for. He ran forward through the crowd and the chaos. He ran passed Zara as she got to her feet after being blown by an explosion. She turned as Dante passed wondering what the hunter was up to. Fang only vaguely heard the response on the radio.

Ren appeared suddenly beside Chaud, catching the boy off guard. Chaud’s hand crackled with electricity and he tried striking Ren. The evasive boy simply smiled and vanished on impact only to appear again moments later. Chaud was too distracted to notice that Dante was running straight for him. Zara felt her entire body go numb, watching her teammate get attacked and unable to do anything quick enough.

She opened her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs, “Look out!”

Chaud turned in time to see Dante running for him but he was too late to do anything about it. He couldn’t move fast enough. Dante struck him in the stomach. As Chaud doubled over, Dante grabbed his neck and pushed Chaud back into one of the windows of the resort. Dante threw him through the window before jumping in after him.

Before Chaud could get up, Dante grabbed him by his shirt and threw him into a table and again into a wall. Dante grabbed his sword and pressed the point against Chaud’s neck.

Chaud laughed uneasily as he tried to steer away from the sharp point. His nose was bleeding and there was a gash on his cheek. He backed up closer to the wall as he tried to recover from his blurry vision.

“Look,” Chaud started to say, “I understand you’re upset—”

“Shut up!” Dante shouted, “You could talk the ears off a stone statue! I don’t want to hear a dang thing that comes out of your mouth! Say another word and I’ll slit your throat! Go on, give me a reason!”

“I’ll give you fifteen reasons not to!” Zara entered the room, gun raised. “I swear I’ll empty this gun on you if you so much as sneeze,” she muttered.

Dante looked over at Zara for a moment. He looked back at Chaud, “Who is that? Your girlfriend?”

“What?” Zara asked.

Chaud groaned, “Why does everyone think that she is my girlfriend?”

Dante shrugged, “Just asking, jeez.”

“Well, she’s not,” Chaud said.

“You want her to be?” Dante shook his head.

“I…” for the first time, Chaud was speechless.

Dante smiled, “Well, wont this be interesting.” He shot out his hand throwing a fire ball at Zara.

Zara was blown back because of the impact. With Dante’s attention on Zara, Chaud pushed away the sword. The tip only lightly scratched his neck. He shot up in an attempt to hit Dante but Dante’s reaction was faster. Dante took a step to one side. As Chaud lost balance, Dante struck the back of Chaud’s neck. Chaud fell forward but lunged to one side just before Dante’s sword fell on him. The sword struck the ground and Chaud got to his feet.

A gunshot cut through the air silencing the fighting. Dante looked up to see if the girl had gotten back on her feet. He was slightly surprised to see a man with a gun instead. The girl had indeed stood up but stood off to one side, her gun raised as well.

“And who the hell might you be?” Dante asked the new comer.

“Where is Amber?” Fang asked.

Vicky placed the box upstairs on a table with a collection of some of their supplies. The table was long, like the typical conference tables. She felt the building shake and heard the windows quiver. The fighting had already started and she was on her way to join the battle. She picked up the keys to the conference room and headed out. A water bottle on the table toppled over. Vicky turned back and looked closely.

“Kew?” the little creature on her shoulder looked up with interest.

She pulled one of her axes from her belt and went to take a closer look. Normally she would pass up the fact to a shake in the building. However, she was already suspicious with the missing Blue Gold vial. She walked around the table quietly.

“Ha!” Vicky exclaimed when she viewed the other side of the table.

She heard something and looked under the table. Her query had crawled underneath the table and Vicky had only managed to get a glimpse of where they were as they ran off. Vicky looked up again just in time to see someone’s hand on the sill of the door as they ran away.

“Wait!” Vicky called as she ran after the runaway.

She ran down the hallway. Being a little taller and having longer legs, she quickly caught up with the little runaway. She grabbed the runaway’s arms. The runaway struggled against her grip but Vicky held on firmly.

“Amber!? What are you doing here!?” Vicky exclaimed.

Amber looked up to at her as she tried to twist out of Vicky’s grasp, “Let go!”

“What is she doing here?” a voice stated factually, “She snuck off the bus after her and her brother disagreed. Apparently she was able to sneak out of the back of the bus and sneak in without being spotted by the others. I can only assume that she snuck around until now, wanting to help or something useless like that. She can barely take care of herself.”

Amber stopped moving suddenly and tried to locate the voice. Vicky turned and looked down the hallway. Kew growled at the newcomer.

“Who are you?” Vicky asked.

Ai ignored her and looked at Amber, “What do you say, Amber? Do you want to play a game? Why don’t you just give up? I’m only going to win again.”

“No!” Amber shouted.

Ai raised one of her guns at Vicky, “Don’t be a nuisance.”

She fired the gun and Vicky pushed Amber away and ducked. The bullet struck a window. Vicky injected herself. She pulled wind in from the outside and pulled it in and sent it toward Ai. Ai formed a force field around her and protected herself. While Ai was busy, Vicky grabbed Amber’s hand and ran.

“Who is that!?” Vicky asked as they ran down another hallway.

“An ex-friend,” Amber answered.

“Ex?”

“She tried to kill me.”

Vicky nodded, “Yeah, ‘ex’ is a good way to put it after that.”

They ducked down another hall just as bullets sailed down the hallway and struck the corner as they ran. Vicky pushed Amber into a doorway. She turned and ran back down the previous hall. Kew leaped off of Vicky’s shoulder and started charging at the aggressor.

He ran in an unexpected pattern. Ai tried shooting at him but the path he was running was unpredictable. Kew leaped up and bit Ai on the hand. While she was distracted, Vicky pulled out her shuriken and spun it in her hand. She held it out in front of her, creating a tunnel of wind headed towards Ai. The girl was knocked to the ground. She flung her hand out, tossing Kew into the wall. Ai created a force field around herself. She grabbed her gun and shot at Vicky.

Vicky closed her eyes expecting the worst. The bullet struck a force a few feet in front of her and smashed into pieces. When nothing happened, Vicky opened her eyes again. She looked from Ai to Amber. Amber’s eyes were different colors. Amber had seen Ai use her power enough to duplicate it. Vicky looked at the half empty vial in one of her hands.

The shield dropped and Vicky whistled for Kew to follow. She grabbed Amber and started running. Vicky led them down another hallway and stopped suddenly. It was a dead end except for a single room. They didn’t have enough time to look for another place so Vicky ran to the door, opened it, and let Amber in. She closed the door behind them.

Ai made it to the hallway and saw the door. She shot at the lock and the door slid open. Ai walked into a large dimly lit room. It looked like cubicle office room for the employees of the resort. There were many inlets and hiding places including many places to get jumped.

Ai made her way slowly down one row of cubicles. She would clear each cubicle before continuing on to the next. It was slow work but it was the only way she knew that she could progress safely. Besides, she would snuff them out soon anyways. When that would happen, she would kill the older girl if necessary and take Amber to the meeting place.

Something scurried on the floor just in front of her. Ai shot at it but it was already gone by that time. She stopped and steadied her breathing.

“Come on, Amber,” Ai said, “I’m tired of this game.”

Some on ran across from one cubicle to another. Ai turned and shot at the figure. She missed. Ai looked around carefully.

“We both know you can’t throw those darts,” Ai said, “Your aim is horrible.”

Amber appeared at the end of the isle, “We’ll see!”

Ai turned and raised her gun at Amber. Amber threw one of her darts and it struck Ai in the leg. She pushed the gun away from her and backhanded Ai in the face.

“That was for nearly killing me!” Amber yelled.

Ai reached of her other gun. Amber stepped on her hand and elbowed her in the jaw.

“For nearly killing my brother!” Amber shouted.

Ai pushed Amber to one side. She got to her feet and punched her in the face. She pivoted around Amber and kicked her in the back. Amber stumbled forward and turned quickly. Ai ran at Amber. Amber took a step back in her stance and retracted her fist. One of her eyes turned gold in color.

“And this—” she screamed, “Is for every other reason I can’t think of!”

Ai could stop in time. Amber punched her in the face. And electric surge jumped from Amber to Ai throwing her back. She crashed through a few cubicles. Before she could get up Vicky pinned her to the ground by holding one of her hands against her back.

The door barged open and Amber jumped. Fang came in followed by Zara and a very worried looking Chaud. When his eyes fell on his sister, he walked directly towards her.

“I’m sorry,” Amber started, “I just—”

Chaud scooped her up in to his arms, “We can talk about it later.”

She wrapped her arms around her brother. With the adrenalin starting to wear off she started crying into his shoulder. Chaud held her, not wanting to let her go. Fang looked over at Vicky with the captured Ai and shook his head.

“I’m getting too old for this,” Fang muttered to himself.

“Yeah,” Zara overheard, “At this rate you won’t have any black hair left. You should retire.”

Fang glared at her, “What did you say?”

Zara looked at him, “Just saying we young’uns have everything sorted out. You can have fun at bingo night now, that’s all I’m saying.”

Zara walked towards Vicky to help her with Ai. Fang felt the overwhelming urge to shoot her in the back.

“Kids these days really have no respect,” Fang muttered.

Iridescent: Chapter Twenty-Eight

Iridescent

Chapter Twenty-Eight

~Set~

After the Fall

It was just before dawn as Vicky ran through the resort. She carried a metallic box. She ran down some stairs to the main lobby of the resort. Vicky ran up to Fang with the box. She waited patiently as Fang finished talking with Jekyll. Fang took notice of her and motioned her over.

Vicky looked at the box, “You said that I should hand out two to every person that wants one. Puppetmaster didn’t want any and Miwa can’t use any. So supposedly there should be four vials in here but there are only three.”

Fang shrugged, “So someone snuck a third vial. It isn’t that big of a deal. Probably someone being a little over cautious or ambitious.”

“Oh,” Vicky looked down at the box, “I guess that makes sense.”

“There is movement on the eastern horizon!” someone reported.

Jekyll sighed, “They’re up bright an early.”

Fang started walking to the front of the building, “The sooner we can get this over with.”

Vicky looked down and the box and shrugged. She ran back upstairs and returned the box to its location. Fang was right. Someone could have just grabbed another one when she wasn’t looking. It wasn’t that big of a deal, right?

Outside Tempi stood at the edge of the desert. The rectangular box like shape she usually carried with her was stuck half way into the sand. She rested an elbow on the box. The sun rose hiding the enemy in its shining glow. Tempi reached into her pocket for a vial. She injected the Blue Gold into her arm and threw the empty vial in the sand. Tempi took off the brown covering on her package revealing the collapsed version of an enormous fan.

As the several different vehicles approached, Tempi took the fan and brought it back with an amazing strength. The fan opened it revealing a scorpion pattern on a white background. She yelled against the strain as swung the giant fan around. An enormous gust of wind picked up blowing sand up like a giant wave. Tempi brought the fan around again creating another wave.

Dante looked on through the windshield of the car. He held Ai in her seat with one arm, “Hold on!”

The first wave hit them. They could feel the impact of the strong gust of wind. Dante did his best to control the car they were in. The speed they had been going dropped drastically against the opposing wind. On top of that, the sand reduced visibility so it was unsure of how much farther they had to drive.

“Keep going straight,” Ai said. “Break, the second wave is coming.”

Sure enough the second wave hit them, pushing their progress back and blinding them some more. Dante hit the roof of his truck.

“Hey!” he yelled, “You care to help anytime soon, Sanya!?”

Sanya was outside in the back behind her sniper. She propped it up onto the cabin of the truck. As usual she had a smile on her face.

“Dead ahead,” Ai said.

“Aye!” she fired the sniper rifle.

Tempi brought the fan down into the sand, open end first, creating a wave in the sand itself. She used the fan as a shield as Sanya fired at her.

The wave of sand struck the three vehicles. Dante hit it like a speed bump. Sanya grabbed on to the side of the truck bed. She hit the metal bed hard when the truck landed again. She also cringed when she heard the truck being riddled with bullets.

Miwa stood a balcony firing a barrage of bullets at the coming threat. Yin covered her face as bullets struck the windshield of her car. As more and more struck the windshield she swore and opened the driver’s side door. The window broke as Yin baled. She rolled in the sand as the car swerved out of control without a driver. Yin covered her eyes in the brief sandstorm until she could see. The ground started to rumble below the sand. Yin jumped to her feet and looked around.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she whispered to herself.

Puppetmaster sat casually on top of a high ledge of the resort. He had his hand folded underneath his chin as he watched the scene below unfold. An amused smile crossed his face. He snapped his fingers casually then waited to see what would happen.

Shuppet broke through the sand in his monstrous form. Yin took a few uneasy steps before falling. She watched the monster sail over her and disappeared again into the sand.

Zathura looked in her rear view mirror, “What the—! Did you see that!?”

Ren smiled, “Cool. They’ve got themselves a sand kraken.”

Zathura glared at him, “And who’s side do you think you’re on!?”

Ren shrugged, “I’m just saying.”

Shuppet appeared again, throwing the swerving empty car that Yin had been in earlier. A bladed leg landed just in front of Zathura’s car. She swerved, only the left side mirror was torn off the vehicle. The car that was thrown headed for the resort. Zara looked up at the balcony where Miwa was stationed.

“Miwa! Shoot it down!” Zara shouted.

Miwa’s attention turned to the flying car. All of his weaponry focused on to the car. Seconds seemed to go by slowly. After a stream of bullets aimed at the car, it exploded blowing several people to the ground. Zara’s ears rang as she lay on the ground.

Shuppet burrowed into the sand again. The ground shifted as he traveled under the sands. Zathura and Dante looked around their vehicles.

“Where is it!?” Zathura asked Ren.

Ren looked around as well, “I don’t know!”

“Ragh!” Zathura groaned, “Here! Take the wheel!” Zathura let go of the steering wheel and opened the driver side window.

“What!?” Ren dove for the wheel, “What are you doing!?”

Zathura didn’t answer. She pulled herself onto the cars roof through the driver’s side window. Ren moved over into the driver’s seat. Zathura untied her two handed axe from the roof of the car and slid down to the hood. The ground shook and the sand started shifting. Shuppet emerged from the ground underneath the car, throwing it into the air. Zathura jumped off the hood, axe in hand, and into the air. She landed on the concrete and slammed her axe onto the ground. Shadow creatures leaped up from the point of impact as the car burst into flames behind her. Flying metal parts flew by her. Shuppet dove into the sand again.

Dante swerved the truck. He looked down at Ai. She looked calm for all that was going on but he could see that she was nervous.

Shuppet shot out of the sand. Sanya turned with her gun and shot at him. Shuppet used one of its bladed legs to defend itself before knocking the truck onto its side. The truck barrel rolled, throwing Sanya off. The truck came to a stop against a low wall.

Zathura noticed something in the corner of her eye. She moved suddenly, dodging and arrow. Zathura picked up her axe and spun, creating momentum. The axe cut a black scar in the air sending shadow shards at her attacker. Naru jumped out of the way and hid behind a block of the concrete. A shadow shard truck the block knocking a chunk off.

Shadow ran past Naru’s hiding spot. He out three daggers and threw them at Zathura. She ducked and dodged as Shadow ran at her. Zathura avoided the daggers and as Shadow ran at her she bent backwards avoiding a knife in his hand. She gripped her axe and swung it around. Shadow disappeared into the ground as the axe sailed at him.

Naru darted out of hiding. Zathura saw him and used her axe in an overhead attack. Naru avoided the attack by stepping to one side. When the axe struck the ground Naru brushed the handle. Ice coated the ice fusing the head of the axe to the ground. Zathura let go of her weapon and stepped back. Shadow jumped out of the ground and slashed at her back. Zathura screamed at the pain but then she gripped her axe and swung it around, breaking the ice that held it before.

Yin ran out of the sea of sand. She watched briefly as Naru was struck with the hammer end of Zathura. Yin turned suddenly. Chou jumped in from a large statue. Yin stepped to one side, Chou’s bladed fans whizzed by her face. She spun around, her fans catching the sunlight as she did. Vines shot up from the ground behind her. They arced up and curved down at Yin.

Yin grabbed her glaive and cut at one of the vines. She jumped to one side and slashed at another one. Yin darted forward, zigzagging through the vines and slashing any that she could. She felt something cut her cheek and her wrist. Yin caught a glimpse of the nearly invisible string. The vines were more for setting up the web of strings than really attacking her. She looked around quickly for the string user.

Kumo hid behind a thick vine. Yin raised her glaive to attack with it but it got tangled in the strings above her. She abandoned her weapon and threw out her hand.  Kumo was lifted off the ground and with a push of Yin’s hand Kumo was pushed back in midair and crashed into a column. To come to her brother’s aid, Chou’s fans glistened as she spun raising more vines. Yin’s weapon was released from its bind. Yin caught it and slashed as a vine. She raised her hand raising Chou into the air and threw her out into the desert.

Sanya dusted herself off. Chou crashed into the sand nearby. A shard of rock shot up from the ground, narrowly missing Sanya as she stepped back. She jumped to one side dodging a chain that was thrown in her direction. The sand exploded in a purplish glow. Deontay shot out his hand. A block of earth rose underneath Sanya’s feet. Caught off guard, Sanya swayed unsteadily. Hina threw a chain around Sanya. She pulled in the chain pulling the girl through the air and sending her crashing in to the sand.

Hina started to run up to her when suddenly the chains on her arms felt heavy. She fell to her knees. No matter what she did she couldn’t get up from her knees to stand. It felt like gravity itself was against her. She turned to see Deontay struggling too. Sanya rose from the sand, dusting off her gun. She aimed it at Hina, who was the closest. Hina strained against the downward pull, trying to move or do anything to save herself but there wasn’t anything she could do.

“See ya!” Sanya said just before she pulled the trigger.

Just before she did, a vine shot up from the ground behind her. It swung down at her, knocking her to one side. The gravitational force that held Hina and Deontay down was lifted. Hina looked around for who might have rescued them. Chou stood up from the sand. She smiled and waved at Hina before turning back to help her brother. Hina smiled back then looked at Deontay.

“We got this!” she said.

Deontay nodded, “If we don’t let her do that gravity bind thing again.”