The next morning was uneventful. Nil awoke, wrapped in a mat of leaves under a bush. He jumped up ready to fight. All that met him was sunlight and the soft sounds of leaves rustling in the wind. With a quick peek he looked over at where he was standing last night to see the water returned to its smooth surface.
In the encampment where everyone else was slowly getting up, he saw Rose inspecting where they would be having a battle today. He had to admit, this was a lot better training than he had in mind. Nil didn’t want to spend another day tearing through various Thaeons. Once everyone was awake, groggy and complaining about the hard ground, she stood up on a dilapidated crate and brought everyone to attention.
“We will begin shortly. Pull up your pants and wipe off your chins, you bunch of babies.” She looked over at Nil with a smirk then hopped down from her box.
“Where were you last night, huh?” she said to him. At her back, Rager glared at Phantom with a swinging tail.
“I’m not one for partying, Rose.”
“Hmmph, you’re a stick in the mud, Nil. Look around you! No parents, no lab, no school–we’re free to do whatever we want before challenging the ranking leader. Let loose a little.”
He remembered the eye rising from the dark water, following him around, tracking him like a predator. Letting loose and dropping his guard was the last thing he wanted to do.
“Let’s just get on with the fighting. It’s the only reason I’m here.”
She scoffed again. “Everyone is talking about your fight with Rylie, and there are rumors about your time in the cave. People want a piece of you, but I get first dibs.”
“You? Brute is aching to fight,” Max grumbled from behind her. “Dave said you’re weak and I think Rylie let you win.”
“I said the same thing!” Rose laughed hard and flipped her red hair to the side.
“And I think–”
“Nil!” It was Poc, his rolling [Cold] Thaeon leaving trails of frosted sand behind it. “Where were you last night?”
“Sulking. Scared, probably,” Rose added. “Listen up! We will decide who is fighting who first thing! Gather round.”
“Did you really beat that giant Thaeon in the cave, Nil?” Pic whispered. “Our attacks did barely anything to it. It must have been [Iron] aspect, or something. It nearly killed Poc in there. Was there really a man holding the guide and Dave hostage?”
Rose pointed at Nil. “First round is between us. Max and Poc after that. Pic you’ll be fighting…”
“Yeah, he said he was investigating some powerful Thaeon below the mountains. I don’t know, he sounded crazy. His own Thaeon was strong, though, at least Evo3,” Nil said.
“Wow, and where’s that girl you were with? Your girlfriend?”
Nil’s face turned red again. “No, Pic, just someone who I was helping.”
She pushed him and grinned. “If it wasn’t true, you wouldn’t blush so hard.”
“Everyone understand?” Rose jumped back off her crate and pointed at Nil. “You’re up first with me. Let’s go.”
She took to the other side of the field with Rager pawing at the ground with his spiked feet. Since Nil last saw her Thaeon, its arms had grown longer and the spikes along the forearms were longer than before, flattening out like flexible blades. Its teeth and claws glowed a light green, dripping onto the ground. Nil checked his watch for any information after a quick scan: Evo1, [Acid] aspect. No techniques yet–he assumed they only appeared if they were used against you. Good. This would be his chance for some research against his fellow Trainers from Fan Town.
Pic stepped up with her hands in the air. “Ready, you two? Fight!”
Rager spread out his arms, roared, then charged at Phantom. It was much faster than Nil anticipated, its mace-like tail swinging in tandem with its large head.
She’s direct with no ranged attacks that I’ve seen, he thought, there should be no need to strategize too hard. She’s always been simple-minded in her approach to literally everything.
Phantom met Rager head-on, but Rose did indeed have another plan: Rager twisted around to strike the ground with its tail, throwing sand up at Phantom. A slow distraction. Too slow, in fact. Through the spray of sand, Rager lunged with open, glowing-green jaws.
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“Yeah, Acid Crunch!” Rose yelled. He wasn’t sure if she was aware that screaming out a move’s name was unnecessary. Either way, still too slow. Phantom leapt to the side and jabbed Rager’s head a few times. It shook it off and swung around for another tail strike. Instead of running, Nil instructed him to form a small shield, just the size of the tail’s end, and deflect the blow back into Rager’s stomach. A black circle appeared on his left hand and he swung outward.
Rose’s Thaeon folded forward just for a second in unexpected pain, but long enough for Phantom to land a kick to the head. It was over, Nil knew. Or not. Rose was laughing.
“Your attacks are too weak, Nil. Like I said, Rylie definitely let you win. Rager, Pinion Rush!”
The Thaeon bounded backwards, using its heavy tail to spin around before stretching out his arms and letting out a flurry of tiny, green spikes that flew at Phantom like a wall of pain. Fast though he was, a few nicked his body with a burning hiss. Ah, there’s the [Acid] aspect shining. She does have a ranged attack, then. Interesting.
“Not only weak, but expected, Nil. Punch, kick, raise that stupid little shield of yours.”
The crowd chuckled along with her. In these battles, Nil realized, the Thaeons fight, leaving the Trainers to battle each other. Sure, he could charge her and actually fist fight, but that would be a disqualification. Making the opponent lose control of their emotions was much more effective. Luckily for him, he had spent his entire childhood listening to her chiding. Now, it didn’t matter what she said. Only strength would win him this battle.
Phantom jumped into the air and landed a kick into the sand. Rager fell to the side with the blow landing in his jaw. Then another. Finally, he punched the air a few times to land Void Strikes into its gut. Phantom had improved his ability to change the directions of each strike. It could come from anywhere. This gave Nil an idea. If he could make punches appear anywhere, why not the shield? So far he had only theorized it. Now, he wanted to try it.
Phantom beamed in agreement.
Rager, thrashing about and beginning to charge, slammed into a wall of black, only to have Phantom appear behind and grab its tail, swing around and slam the Thaeon into the sand using its own momentum. Rager bounced up using the mace-like tail to spring up. In a twirl more green spikes flew towards Phantom; too slow this time. Phantom didn’t need to phase anymore–not that he wanted to given how drained he was becoming already–and instead bounded over the spikes to land a fierce jump kick to Rager’s head. Rose’s Thaeon slammed into the sand with a low hiss.
Pic ran over to inspect then over to Nil, raising his arm.
“Winner, Nil!”
“What, did you let me win?” he told Rose. Her pale face burned red almost to the color of her hair. She grabbed Rager and joined the crowd, ignoring all the stares as she grabbed a few salves from her pack. Pic resumed her spot at the side of the field and called Max and Poc next.
Nil had fought Poc only once when he had evolved his Thaeon. He looked at his watch to see Rose’s techniques appearing underneath a spinning image of Rager. That, and thirty silver coins digitally filtering into his account that would reimburse him on the canoe with some to spare. Now, with a smile, he turned his attention to the next battle to see firsthand what his peers had developed since they made it here.
“Ready? Begin!”
Brute stepped out scurrying about on six legs. Nil had seen a glimpse of his battling before, but it still didn’t prepare him for what followed. One moment he was looking at the gray lizard, its triangular head watching Toc roll around, then it was gone. Not really gone, but Nil had lost track of it. Almost like a veil had fallen over the Thaeon that allowed it to slip from view unless you were really looking for it. This must be some [Shadow] technique, like that TEA agent used with his Thaeon when it rose out of the shadows. Not quite as effective as [Void] phasing, it seems.
Toc stopped rolling and was shaking violently with the sudden realization that there was something clamped on its arm. The other arm, glowing a light blue, swung around and connected, as Poc yelled, a Frosty Punch, leaving ice crystals on impact with Brute’s head. With its two back legs, Brute caught his body, using his tail to roll backwards and land on all six legs. In the next instant, through an open mouth lined with teeth, shadow daggers shot out in a barrage towards Toc who, in response, raised its arms with a giant icicle following out of the ground. It reminded Nil of those myriad of stalagmites in the cave. The shadow daggers caught in the ice in hollow thunks; the icicle then collapsed into a wave of smaller icicles that fanned out in a semi circle towards Brute.
The gray Thaeon responded with a twisting tail slam to break the ice, then faded out of sight–this time Nil followed its movements a bit better, but it took all of his focus to see Brute fade into the environment–and reappeared right in Toc’s face with a claw strike that left jagged gray cuts across the pale blue body.
Brute didn’t move this time when Toc landed another Frosty Punch into his stomach. Instead, he took it and lashed out with another bite that left similar gray puncture wounds on Toc’s arms and torso. They oozed with a faint, gray light like bleeding shadows. The rolling Thaeon wobbled for a second then collapsed to the side. Pic, her voice breaking a bit, yelled out, “Winner, Max!” She rushed over to her twin with concern.
Max, grinning stupidly as he did, walked into the crowd, looking at Nil from across the way with eyes that gleamed with violence. He was next, they said. Except, they would soon learn, no one was next. It was then that the island began shaking, the trees swaying back and forth with their leaves rattling. The sound of rushing water and that same rumbling from the night before made Nil’s stomach drop. Then, the sound of wood cracking, splintering under an immense weight; a roar, more of a screech, rocked the air and the group was crouching and covering their ears. Nil looked over and paled.
He may have pissed off the wrong Thaeon the night before.