Deon finally managed to catch up to Skrili. She walked silently with her arms crossed, paying no attention to him as she led him down the dirt path of No Man’s Land.
“Where exactly are you taking me?” Deon asked her.
“To a place to spar,” she answered plainly.
“Right…” Deon watched Skrili as they walked. She just stared ahead. It was impossible to determine what she could possibly be thinking.
“Stop watching me like that.”
“Oh—sorry,” said Deon as his cheeks flushed.
Something was wrong about this girl. In Tailpiece, he could say as little as a single word to most girls and they would be in awe, gazing back at him with a shy smile. Savannah was the only girl he ever had to actually try and impress, but other than that, he had complete control.
With Skrili, Deon felt like he had absolutely no control. Talking to her was like juggling knives, and her responses were like ghosts backing him into a corner. Deon was determined to make that change.
“So how long have you been travelling like this?” he asked her.
“A year.”
“Oh, cool. You must be what, nineteen?”
“Seventeen.”
“Really? And your parents were cool with you going off on your own?”
“Why are you asking so many questions about me?”
“I was just…” Deon sighed. “Sorry.” Man, this girl refuses to be the least bit friendly! he thought. They continued to walk, and Deon gave up on trying to hold a conversation.
A short while into their stroll, Deon started to regret being so hasty by asking Skrili to train, as the pain made itself known once more in his back and ribs. I’ll have to use a lot more imagining this time around, he decided.
“Don’t step on that rock,” Skrili advised casually.
“What rock?”
The ground vanished beneath them, and Deon let out an exclamation as he felt himself begin to fall.
~
Deon saw the orange sky high above, which was encompassed by a circle of dirt. Then his eyes refocused, and he realized that he was looking up from the bottom of a deep hole in the ground. His arms and legs were sprawled out and his head was indented into the dirt beneath him. Deon felt a strange weight on his body and something soft was brushed against the bottom of his neck.
In an uncomfortable effort, he lifted his head from the dirt to see dark blue hair. It took him a moment to realize Skrili was lying on top of him. He tilted his head slightly to see her dirt-smudged face and found that her eyes were closed.
“Hey!” he called to her, but there came no reaction. He could feel her breathing, so at least he knew she was alive. “Hey! Wake up!” he yelled again, but she was unresponsive. Deon tried to move, but the combination of his pain and her weight held him down.
Great—I’m stuck in a hole in the middle of the woods, he thought hopelessly. And I have no idea how the heck we got here!
“Hey boss, look! We caught something over here!” a man said in the distance. He had a very peculiar accent, as if he were trying to replace every ‘o’ with ‘awe’ and remove every ‘r.’
“Well, well, well…whadya know?” came another man’s voice, this one higher but with the exact same accent.
“If it’s a bunny, can I cook it?” the first man asked excitedly.
“Fine, but you gotta remember to take the fur off first this time.”
“Right, right…”
Who are these nutcases? wondered Deon. A second later, a chubby man in a round hat poked his face into the hole eagerly. His eyes widened, and his head disappeared again.
“It’s a couple of kids, boss!” He heard the man exclaim.
“Hmm…even better.”
Then the apparent boss’s head appeared in Deon’s view, looking down at him and Skrili. He was smaller and had a round, shaven face, and wore rectangular sunglasses along with a hat similar to the other man’s. A smug half-smile was on his face, which made Deon realize he wasn’t in the safest of situations.
“Hello there,” the boss said to Deon.
Deon didn’t answer.
“Your little friend seems to have nodded off on you…literally,” he observed with his evil smile. “Allow me to take care of her.”
Suddenly Deon felt Skrili’s weight lessening—then he realized she was beginning to levitate off of the ground.
Huh?? What’s he doing to her? Deon thought as his heartbeat increased. Skrili slowly ascended upward, her limbs and head dangling in the air. Soon she was out of the hole, floating in place.
“Let’s see what we have here,” said the boss. Then an invisible force turned Skrili upright, facing the two men. “Too bad; it doesn’t look like she’s got anything on her.”
“Boss, this girl is dressed like the girl from yesterday!” declared the energetic stout man from out of Deon’s view. “Except she’s in all blue instead a’ red!”
“That’s why she seems familiar,” the boss remembered, shaking his finger at her.
“You think she’s, eh…just as tough, boss?” He sounded rather worried.
“Doesn’t matter when she’s trapped, does it?”
Deon saw Skrili slowly lift her head, and his hopes increased slightly.
“Good afternoon, Purple-Eyes,” greeted the boss with a sneer. “How was your nap?”
Skrili looked around and noticed she was floating above a hole. To Deon’s surprise, she didn’t seem fazed. “Put me down so I can kill you,” she ordered him.
The boss broke out into laughter, and his sidekick quickly joined in. “Okay, I’ll put you down,” he agreed. “But the only person you’ll be killing is your boyfriend when you land on him.”
Instantly Skrili started falling out of the air, but she managed to grab onto the edge. With a single pull-up, she launched herself out of the hole and onto the solid ground, right in front of the boss.
“You lucky little—” the boss started, but Skrili flashed forward and nailed him in the stomach with her elbow and he toppled backward, away from Deon’s sight.
That’s right, Deon recalled. She said she’s that “Power Rebound” type! When she gets injured she gets stronger, so she must have a huge power boost right now!
“Don’t just stand there, you dope!” the boss shouted furiously to his sidekick. “Get her!”
“Oh! Um…right!”
Skrili zipped away from the hole, and immediately Deon heard the man howl in pain. Dangit…I wish I could see what was happening! he thought.
Meanwhile outside the dirt hole, Skrili stood over the portly sidekick, who lay on his back clutching his nose. Blood was dripping onto his black suit and leather shoes.
“Why’d you have to go for my face?!” the man squealed.
“I can think of a more painful spot if you want,” Skrili taunted monotonously.
“N-No, please! I wanna have kids someday!” he pleaded. “I’m sorry we stole your bag! I’d give it back if that little red-haired girl didn’t take it from us, I swear!”
“So it was you who stole my bag,” Skrili confirmed. “This red-haired girl—where is she now?” When he stammered to respond, she kicked his shin.
“Owww!”
“Don’t get so cocky, girl,” warned the boss from behind. Skrili looked over to see he was standing up, brushing dirt off his gray suit. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.” The smirk returned to his face, and he began to laugh slowly.
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Suddenly, a tall man in a white button-up shirt, red tie, and sunglasses faded into appearance beside the boss. The man was bald, very muscular, and had a constantly blank look on his face.
So he’s an Imaginer, thought Skrili.
“I’d like you to meet my friend Boris,” the boss said. “Say hello to the girl, Boris.”
The man firmly punched his fist into his palm.
“That’s it, huh?” asked Skrili. “This will be quick.”
“Don’t speak so soon,” the boss advised her as the sunlight glistened on his sunglasses. “You see: Boris comes from a big family.”
At that moment, a second man completely identical to Boris appeared beside him, followed by another…and another…and in a moment there were six, total.
“And I would watch my back if I were you,” said the boss. Skrili turned around to find six more Boris’ standing a short distance from her. “Any more remarks?” the boss asked her.
Skrili was silent.
“Didn’t think so. Boys, beat ‘er to a pulp.”
The men charged from both sides, and Skrili cautiously waited. Then she whirled around and pounced at one of them. She kicked the burly man and he fell back expressionlessly, then disappeared. But right when Skrili landed, one of the men nailed her in the back with his fist. She let out a cry and fell to her hands and knees as the rest of the men surrounded her.
The boss laughed loudly.
Back inside the hole, Deon lay listening with unease. He could hear the boss’s cruel laughter and what seemed to be the sound of numerous people hitting something, or someone.
What the heck is happening up there?! he wondered. When did all these other people show up? That’s it—I need to do something. He started to sit up, but then a line of pain shot through his back and he fell down. Ow…back…he moaned in his thoughts.
Up on the pathway, the eleven men completely caged Skrili in as they all punched at her. She was curled up on the ground, unable to move. Then, with a great deal of effort, she managed to plant her feet. Covering her head with her arms, she jumped upward, prying through the many large arms and shooting out of the top of the crowd like a bullet. Skrili flipped once through the air, and landed gracefully a safe distance from them.
“WHAT?!” the boss exclaimed in disbelief.
Good, my Power Rebound is in effect, Skrili noticed. She reached for her hair and pulled out the black elastic that kept it up. Her hair flowed down to her mid-back as she pulled back the elastic like a slingshot and aimed at the boss. If I can blind him with this, he won’t be able to control his fake thugs, she planned.
Skrili released the elastic and it whizzed at the boss like an arrow—but at that instant, one of the Boris’ dove in front and took the elastic in the chest. He vanished from existence.
“That’s a mighty strong rubber band you got there,” the boss observed. “But I saw it coming once you aimed it.”
Skrili cursed under her breath. The ten remaining thugs charged at her, so she took a breath and sprinted at them, running low.
In the hole, Deon made another attempt to sit up, and this time was successful. “Finally!” he gasped. “Time to get out of here.” First he considered his bug wing technique, but he knew it would make too much noise and give him away. Instead, he looked at the dirt wall of the hole and imagined a wooden ladder built into it, running up to the top. The ladder appeared. Deon slowly stood up, grunting from the soreness, and began climbing. Before long, he reached the top and peaked above the hole.
What?! he thought.
There were ten huge men fighting Skrili, and she was doing pretty well for fighting ten-on-one. It seemed as though all the large thugs knew how to do was punch, but when they did, Deon could almost feel the amount of force they were putting into it. Unfortunately for them, Skrili was too fast to be brutally hit. She jumped from person to person as they surrounded her, dodging with leaps, ducks, and flips, and throwing her own punches or kicks when she got the chance.
Not too far away from Deon, the boss stood facing outward, watching the fight closely. A little farther down, the other man sat covering his bleeding nose. Wow, thought Deon. Skrili seemed to be handling this pretty well. Despite the situation, he found himself excited to have found a training partner this skilled.
Skrili flipped away from the ten men, with her back to Deon. She appeared confident and energized—but all of the sudden she seemed to lose balance as she fell to one knee, breathing heavily. It was as if all of the energy had been sucked out of her.
Skrili weakly lifted her head to see her enemies running at her once more. Great, my Power-Rebound energy is out, she realized. I don’t stand a chance now.
Soon the closest man was in front of her, and with his massive fist he punched her square in the stomach. All of Skrili’s breath shot out at once, and she fell forward, practically unable to inhale. The other men joined the first and continued to crowd up and punch her like before.
Huh?! Deon thought. She was just doing fine a second ago—well whatever it is, I have to get these guys off her back!
Deon rapidly searched his mind for an idea, and then he conjured up the quickest thing that came to him. Behind one of the thugs appeared a thick wooden stick. On Deon’s silent command, the stick swung and collided with the man’s head. Once it made contact, the man vanished from existence. Deon was confused by the disappearance, but then he connected the dots: the men were imagined.
“What on earth?!” the boss exclaimed. He swung himself around to see Deon there, but kept glancing back at the fight.
Deon speedily climbed out of the hole and to his feet. “I get it now; you’re like me: an Imaginer,” he said. Though he still wasn’t sure how this guy managed to make Skrili float earlier, or how he imagined fake people into existence. Deon had never witnessed techniques that complicated—it turned out there was a lot more to these powers than he realized.
The boss tried to keep his eyes focused on the fight while facing Deon. “You’re darn right I’m an Imaginer, kid,” he said.
“In that case,” began Deon, “I know how to handle this.”
He stared the boss down, unblinking and unmoving. The boss struggled to look between the fight and Deon, clearly unsure of what he was about to do. Deon’s cold stare continued for a few more seconds, and he noticed his opponent was getting nervous.
He grinned.
Deon took a deep breath and screamed, “PINEAPPLES!!!!!!” At that same moment, he imagined an oversized pineapple into existence in front of the boss. The boss pounced with surprise as he shifted his full attention to the enlarged colorful fruit before him.
Deon smiled. “Got you,” he said.
Over where the fight was, the eight men abruptly stopped attacking Skrili. They all looked forward with confused expressions, and with a simultaneous POOF! they all turned into six-foot-tall pineapples.
Pleased, Deon quickly returned his attention to the boss. “You lose,” he said.
“Ha! It’ll take more than that!”
Deon imagined a plank of wood behind the boss, just like what he did against Skrili. “I know,” he agreed. The plank materialized, and Deon made it punch the boss in the back of his head. The boss plopped onto the ground, his hat rolling off into the dirt.
The plank disappeared, and Deon started to make his way over to Skrili, who lay on her stomach breathing heavily. The boss’s sidekick still sat clutching his nose, watching Deon with fearful eyes. He won’t be an issue, Deon decided.
He made his way through the circular fence of pineapples, smelling their fresh aroma. To his surprise, they were real: while Deon’s distraction was just the image of the fruit, the boss was so advanced he accidentally turned his puppet minions into actual food. Again, Deon was impressed—there was clearly so much more to learn.
He walked up to where Skrili lay. Her straight hair was spread out around her head, and she was covered in dirt smudges and bruises.
“It’s over now,” Deon told her.
“I told you not to step on that rock, you idiot,” Skrili said, shooting him an irate look. “And it was nice of you to finally show up at the last second. Is that supposed to make you the hero?”
“But—” Deon began, but then he gave it a second thought. “…Sorry.” He may have saved her life, but come to think of it he was the one who sprung the trap in the first place. Also, he did leave it all to her for a good while. “Are you gonna be okay?”
She proceeded to stand up, showing no signs of pain or trouble—almost as if the fight had never happened. Deon was bewildered.
Skrili seemed just as confused. “I’m fine, obviously,” she said.
“So…do your powers heal you or make your energy come back or something?” Deon tried to theorize.
“No. I just got sick of lying on the ground.”
Deon was both impressed and annoyed. While he could barely get himself to sit up earlier, Skrili had taken the worse beating and still seemed unaffected. Deon had always been the toughest kid in Tailpiece, but the first person he met outside of his village immediately made him feel like a wimp.
“You’re one weird fighter,” Deon said.
“At least my technique doesn’t include shouting about fruits,” mocked Skrili.
“Hey! That was a clever technique!” Deon defended. “You see, I—”
“Distracted him by making him think of pineapples,” Skrili finished. “He lost focus on his imagined men, so they turned into whatever he was thinking about.”
Deon stood silently, impressed that Skrili was able to figure him out that easily. “Well,” he said, “I bet our apples are bruised from that fall…but on the bright side, now we have plenty of fresh pineapple to stock up on.”
Then something he thought to be impossible occurred: Skrili smiled. It was a small, subtle smile that she tried hard to push back, but he saw it. And it made her finally seem like a real person. “True,” she agreed. “I hope you’re good at imagining giant knives.”
“Of course I am,” Deon told her. He proceeded to demonstrate, imagining an extra shiny, oversized kitchen knife. It appeared before him, but when Deon looked back at Skrili to show off his skill, she was already walking away towards a black elastic band on the ground. Deon shrugged and had his knife start slicing one of the pineapples. Its sugary scent filled the air as he chopped it up.
After a few minutes, the pineapple was halfway sliced, which was more than enough to share between Deon and Skrili. Deon imagined bags for each of them to carry their slices in as Skrili viewed silently, crossing her arms once she finished tying her hair back up.
“Since your old bag got stolen, I can just imagine up a new one for you,” offered Deon while handing Skrili her pineapple bag.
Skrili shook her head. “That bag has something very important,” she said. Then she looked over to the boss’s plump sidekick, who still sat watching with blood all over his hands. “Which is why I need it back,” she added firmly, eyeballing the man. She stormed over to him as he started to recoil.
“You already beat us, don’t be like that!” the man begged.
“Then answer me this time—where did that girl go?” she demanded.
“How am I supposed to know? They were heading in the same direction as you guys were before we trapped ya, I guess…but that was yesterday. She was with a skinny, creepy fella with pale skin. That’s all I got.”
Skrili tensed, but then eased up and walked back over to Deon.
“So…” Deon began awkwardly. “Are we still gonna have that training session?”
“I need to find the girl who has my bag,” Skrili sternly told him. “I know who she is. I can’t waste time.”
“I understand,” sighed Deon, disappointed. “Well maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”
Skrili stared at him for a moment expressionlessly. “Maybe,” she said. Without another word, she turned her back to him and started walking away.
“Well…good luck,” added Deon.
Strangely, Skrili stopped walking. “I hope you realize you’re too clueless to be out here. You’re going to get your butt kicked every day if you travel around No Man’s Land alone,” she said without looking at him. “If you prefer for that not to happen, I suppose you could come with me for a while…”
That caught Deon off guard. He knew it would be lonely out here alone, but at the same time he took her suggestion as an insult: she thought he wasn’t skilled enough to survive. “Thanks,” said Deon, “but I’m pretty sure I can take care of myself.”
Skrili stood still for a few seconds, but then carried on walking away with her light steps and inevitably crossed arms. The sun was on the verge of setting, casting an orange blanket over the path ahead of her.
Deon let out a sigh. Before he knew it, he was running after her. “Wait,” he called.
“You say that a lot,” Skrili said blankly. Deon smiled as he caught up and followed her down the smooth road.
“…But I truly swear,” she added, “if you step on any more rocks or objects I tell you not to step on, I will kill you slowly and painfully.”
Deon gulped. “Understood.”