Fl

Nike cleared the field for Flame, casually demonstrating his strength. He easily picked up 3 or 4 pigs at a time in his left hand and took whole boulders in his right.

Now these boulders were kind of small, only about double the size of the imps, but that was still impressive to Rhodney. If Nike ever decided to simply turn his strength to pressing everyone into the ground, he would be able to literally flatten them with supreme ease.

How big was he going to get when he evolved?

He didn’t know, because he could not deny that evolution, such a strange thing as a human, became increasingly more desirable.

The giant Minotaur cleared the rest of the targets out of the way, then just lazily waved the imp in.

Flame stood on the plate, his fire he held in his hands glowing red in the cold autumn air, illuminating his vicious grin. He stared down the now lone scarecrow that sat alone in the field, the target in a T-pose due to its crucifixion.

Its head was one of the lime-green gourds that Rhodney had seen before in his meals at the Cradle. Scrawled on the weird-looking veggie head was a minimalist drawing of a smile, with no eyes.

It had that eerie mannequin look that just set off ‘Uncanny Valley’ vibes in his brain.

Flame’s ball of fire flickered as he readied his body in a pitcher’s stance, leaning back forwards in dynamic motion. Flame glanced over to see Nike picking at his teeth, looking bored at the whole ordeal.

Rhodney watched the boy’s teeth grit slightly, but surprisingly, he simmered down, making the mature realization that performance was more important than his feelings right now.

His eyes turned to yellow slits as a predatory look fell into his gaze. His ball of flame was suspended above his hand, ready to be lobbed at any moment.

It flickered as energy was pumped into it and its natural red transformed into the glow of an unstable-looking yellow, flecks of red swelling and receding within the hazardous spell.

It bent into an even more unstable-looking shape, an ellipsoid that couldn’t stay restrained for much longer.

He forced and compressed it into a spherical shape, at which point it almost gained a life of its own, desperately clawing at the boundaries of his will to be released. It pulsated and stretched, appearing as if it wanted to blow his damn hand off.

The arrogant child grit his teeth as his hand burnt from the pain. All of those witness to the spectacle could hear the boy scream as he pulled back and threw the ball with an unholy force.

The tips of his fingers cracked in the air with the sound of a whip.

The flick of his wrist sent the ball shooting towards the scarecrow like a shooting star, a clear trail of fire trailing under the small ball.

Simultaneously, Rhodney heard the sound of wind as it was sucked to Torrent with a wave of her hands, who reflexively shielded their party when she predicted an oncoming shock wave.

She was affirmed in her decision when the explosion rocked the courtyard, an impressive display of artillery.

As the few people picked themselves up, including Rhodney, who had just proved that he literally could not stand up against a stiff breeze, they silently thanked their stars that his blast didn’t create a forest fire.

Rhodney knew he was slightly fireproof, but he didn't know if he was that fire proof.

The smoke cleared, and the scarecrow fell into view, not that anyone would have recognized it as such, because it was an absolutely destroyed smear of what it once was.

The unfortunate target was a black, charred, mess that almost looked like it was screaming, its “head” melted in all the wrong places and twisted in ways that reminded Rhodney of the burnt bodies in war photos.

Further accentuating the uncomfortable comparison, its impression of a mouth was trapped in the photograph of a scream.

Its body was bent as though it was trying to run away.

“Jesus…” Rhodney unconsciously mutters.

Cheers erupt from the camp. Flame holds his left hand up in the air in a victor's pose, basking in the praise. Loving the attention. The fire crackled in front of him as he turned to the instructor with his arms out.

Holding a pose that demanded more and asked Nike: ‘Are you not entertained?’

Nike looked at him for a second, then smirked slightly, some light of interest coming into his eye as he gave the boy a small golf clap.

The sheer destructive power of the attack was something Rhodney had to at least the boy kudos for. It was impressive, even if his attitude sucked.

One of the bigger boys in Flames group yells to the instructor that he also wanted a scarecrow….

His fire magic had a similar effect, though it didn't destroy with nearly the same gravitas as Flame’s opening act. Just a ball of fire lobbed toward the scarecrow and caused it to alight. Definitely a let down when they were compared.

Rhodney noticed that besides his own magic that one night, most of them lacked much of that… weight that Flame had. He wondered if that was a blessing thing or a skill thing. He’d ask the Navy later.

Another scarecrow fell to the ground after being blasted with three fireballs. Rhodney felt a slight twinge in his heart as he watched the scarecrow fall. Not ‘cause he felt sorry for the scarecrow, it wasn't alive or anything, but because of the fact that there wouldn’t be that many to go around.

“We were supposed to go first…” Misty complained.

“...Tail can at least pick a boulder. He’s an earth mage so it’ll be okay,” Rhodney said reassuringly, attempting to make her feel better.

“I want a scarecrow Nike.” Tail declared, walking up pointing to scarecrow number four.

Damn.

He looked over to his group. There was a penalty for not participating in the last one. He was lucky that he and the group behind him met that criteria, but what was the point?

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Six scarecrows.

Ten boulders.

Five pigs.

Teams of five.

What was the point of getting the advantage if the first team was just going to take the entire advantage? What was the point of tests in the first place?

He looked over to Nike who absentmindedly clapped as the boys mowed through scarecrow after scarecrow. His eyes were almost cloudy after he saw Flame go.

His mind appeared to be somewhere else as he numbly watched the scarecrows be burned. Like this was something that he expected.

Mundane.

Crossing off.

Unimpressive.

The first test was to impress the giant. How would picking a bunch of straw dolls in advance that goal? It wouldn’t, right?

It didn’t.

He was bored. Rhodney saw the hogs tied by his feet, How they wiggled and squirmed. They were the only thing he was specific in giving rules for when talking about the test…

“Rhodney, we're up next, we have to talk strategy,” Navy said again, coming out of his watching.

“Ye-Yeah,” Rhodney snapped out of his thoughts and turned back to his team. Their grim faces slightly influencing his decision. He almost didn’t want to say his plan.

“I, uh… I think I got something…”

Mi

Rhodney was crazy.

No, he was stupid!

And so was Navy!

“You can’t be serious!” Misty yelled. She was usually quiet as Rhodney and Navy concocted their brain-dead scheme. She would usually stay in the back, watching all her friends dialogue passively. Maybe tossing the stuff in when she built up the slight courage.

But that did not make her the kind of person to just stay quiet when she watched something bad happening.

These jokers wanted to lose.

“Rhodney, you’re usually pretty smart but… I don’t know.” Smokey came to her aid, sharing a similar stance. Misty sighed.

Thank the stars. Smokey was strong, they’d listen if he joined her. No one wanted to be alone in a group argument. But even with Smokey, Rhodney wasn’t budging.

In the background, Tail dipped his tail into earth, plucking out a ball, impressively of a similar size to the boulders they had the option of picking.

The size difference was almost comical. With the ball firmly in his prehensile tail’s grasp, he spun in a circle, whipping the ball like a flail.

He used his entire body to build momentum, building up speed as he hit the perfect rotation, turning into a living top.

After about thirty seconds of doing this, as much a display of endurance as it was of his strength, he released it, letting it fly with all his force and power.

A bit too much force and power.

The ball barreled into the woods as he heaved the ground. Nike had mentioned his reserves were bad but holy stars!

She couldn’t talk though.

“ONE!” Nike yelled for the first time, reminding the imp that they only had three attempts to destroy their objective.

Navy hopped to Rhodney’s side, “Look, he’s right, at best, only me or rhodney could destroy the scarecrow anyway. Not acting is not an option.”

Misty hated how Navy talked like he knew everything. Not acting was totally an option. They weren’t forced to. She’d done nothing in the first test and it’d all worked out. And besides, what did Navy know?

Not everyone had his mana… or his fire… or his…

She felt the jealousy well slightly, but tried her best not to show it. They didn’t have enough time.

WhooshWhoooshWhooshWhoosh!

The rocky imp had gotten up to attempt another, sweat building up on his body as spun his boulder again. Slower, learning from attempt one. He swung, letting it fly over again… then,

It missed the scarecrow ever-so slightly. Tail slightly swore under his breath. “TWO!”

“Do you have another plan? You can sit here and stare all you want, but I won’t have dead weight on my team.” Navy said.

“Your team? Who made you the leader?” She said, sizzling with rage on par with flame on one of his good days. She wasn’t liking his tone.

“Guys, it doesn't matter who’s the leader.” Rhodney said, looking over to the Flame’s group. He tried to be diplomatic but she stared at Navy with a slight look of rage.

‘How dare he?!’ she thought furiously, blinking back tears.

“Guys, it doesn't matter who’s the leader,” Rhodney said, brooking no argument. He glanced over to Flame’s group.

He had tried to be diplomatic with the group, but as she stared at Navy with a look of rage, he realized he would need to just steamroll through their disagreements if they wanted to rally in time for their turn.

"Misty," Rhodney said.

Her head turned on a dime to look at him, her restrained tears starting to form again, and anger in her eyes.

Flame yelled about how he’d “drop Rumble like a clump of meat” if he didn’t get it by the third shot. Misty realized that that was Tail’s name.

She wouldn’t want to be talked to like that, but apparently, those words were the inspiration that the boy needed. He swung his third boulder in an even faster rotation.

bRRRRR!

His feet became obscured in the smoky haze of the dirt he was kicking up. If she had known the comparison, she would have likened his feat of agility to that of a ballerina, spinning on the tips of his hooves flawlessly.

Misty realized that he was using his magic to spin like that, compensating for the lack of practice such a feat would normally require, a circle of dirt turning rapidly under himself to build up speed.

Why was he… he was fine before, why..?

Rumble didn’t arc the boulder this time. He swung his tail dust kicking off the ground as the boulder spun against the floor. The scarecrows exploded into splinters and a dust of orange-colored pulp and juice . The boulder rolled into the darkness of the forest and he stood there on his circle, swaying back and forth, clearly dizzy.

Rhodney says, “Nike told me a story about his life and told me about how this inaction ruined his life. We could fail, we could totally fall on our faces… but…”

“Would you rather lose? Or not try?”

Misty watched rumble break into a cheer that she’d never seen before. Wobbling back and forth in a mix of exhaustion and dizziness. A euphoria that was intensified as the other boys in his team ran up to him. Lifting the boy up together and chanting his name. Celebrating his victory.

“FANTASTIC JOB TAIL!” Nike yelled from the side, smiling widely.

“It’s Rumble..!” The boy yelled back with indignity. He was sweating bullets, but forced out the yell.

Misty wasn’t sure if it was the unique use of earth magic, or the spin, or the way he was using his tail. But all she knew was that he’d evoked real emotion in the minotaur.

Not because it was cool.

But because it was hard.

And no, not because of the tail.

It’d evoked emotions in the minotaur for the same reason it did for her. The reason anything is satisfying.

It was hard.

And thus it was glorious in its success.

But in comparison to what she’d have to do, it was also easy. She imagined it, imagined the idea of her doing this test without a lick of magic, as a dud, and as a lesser…

Her mouth seemed to almost water at the thought.

…Almost unconsciously, her body seemed to repeat that movement of accuracy that his body did. That flick as the rock left his tail. She spun in place a little, in an attempt to mimic it. After the third spin and an odd look from her teammates, Misty made up her mind.

“...Go over the plan again?”