Since hatching from his egg, Nil had noticed certain minor changes in Phantom: he hit harder, he moved a bit faster, his moves were more fluid. All what one would expect from learning how to properly fight. As he looked over at Pic and Poc, though, he noticed something…different. They looked the same, but their Thaeons weren’t quite as he remembered them when they left. Their colors were a bit more pronounced–Pic’s being pink, Poc’s light blue–and their limbs were thicker; their round bodies more solid looking as they rolled around.
“How’s training going, Nil?” Poc asked. He tried to detect some hint of sarcasm, but they both seemed genuine. And calm. Confident.
“Great. You?”
The twins looked at each other. Pic said, “I’m glad we found you. Our Thaeons are taking on aspects. We think Evo1 is around the corner, but we need to test it out with a person first.”
“Enough chatter. Get ready,” Lyn said. Haven and Phantom had taken spots in front of their Trainers with Tic and Toc waiting about twenty feet to the other side. Mirror images of one another save for the different colors. A breathless moment. The next moment Tic and Toc were rolling in wide arcs towards the other side. Their colors were brightening as they did.
“Lyn,” Nil began, “they’ve had experience in fighting together. We need a strategy.”
No time. Phantom leapt to where Tic was picking up speed, Haven doing the same on the other side. The two rolling balls missed and instead collided with each other–the same tactic as when they fought that [Acid] Thaeon before… Or maybe not. Once collided they linked arms and started spinning in a violent circle that swirled pink and blue. Along the grass were streaks of frost forming and streaks of black with the smell of smoke rising up. Poc yelled something unintelligible and the spinning mass bounded into the air and headed straight for Phantom at a speed they weren’t anticipating. He dodged barely, just in time for a beam of gold to smash into them and break them apart. Tic and Toc flew outward, momentarily stunned.
Now was Phantom’s chance. He dashed up and landed a kick into what would’ve been Tic’s pink stomach. The black leg sank into the body, sending it back to bounce against the ground.
“We need to keep them separate,” Nil whispered to Lyn. “They have a strategy and looks like some aspects bleeding through.”
“Nil. I don’t think it’s ‘some’ aspect. Look.”
Pic and Poc were smiling wide, cheering on whatever the hell was starting to happen to their Thaeons.
“It worked, Pic! Raven was right.” Poc was ecstatic.
Both of their Thaeons were glowing bright pink and blue.
“What did Raven say exactly?” Nil was yelling.
“What, he didn’t call you on the watch?” Pic said.
Nil glanced at his watch and noticed, for the first time, a tiny notification at the top left. Once clicked it said “One missed call.” I must’ve been passed out when he did.
The lights died down and Tic and Toc had changed. Toc’s body, still basically a ball, was now bigger. Only one eye but it had moved to the center of its bulbous head and was a hollow hole; there were no legs and its arms were longer and more dense and ended in what Nil thought were icicles. As it moved around its body rolled smoothly like a wheel.
“He was calling to inform us about Evo1,” Poc said, his voice trembling with excitement. “He said that from starter to Evo1 can happen as fast as a day or two depending on how determined we are to settle into an aspect and certain style of fighting. We were hoping this would happen.”
Tic’s change, though, left Nil taken aback. Far from being a ball, its body had grown six legs; its head, still a single eye, now growing a tiny mouth with two fangs sticking out. Almost like a giant spider. He had seen countless evolutions. Once Evo1 hit, that form usually stuck around in some capacity. Raven had said these forms will change based on aspect and fighting style. Nil began to think about how these new forms would change their current battle which was still on a timeout as far as he was concerned.
“Ready to resume?” the twins said together.
“Lyn, I’m not–”
“Not what? Certain we can win now? This is even better!” Lyn’s eyes were bright, her body tense. “You don’t get stronger by fighting Trainers with weak starters. This is better than expected. Let’s go!”
Tic kicked off with its six legs leaving scorch marks on the ground as it scurried towards Phantom. Its tiny mouth glowed bright pink and Pic screamed, “Flame Web!”
A line of fire shot out–Phantom dodged–and stuck to the ground behind him. It used that web anchor to swing its body in a wide arc to kick its partner forward with a boost, who was rolling towards Haven, its hand spikes glowing. Nil, trying not to get distracted, was curious how a fresh Evo1 and its Trainer could automatically start using techniques like that. He probably should return Raven’s call–Poc collided with Haven who, glowing a bright gold color, unleashed another beam of gold towards Tic.
This was absolute chaos. Nil’s heart was pounding from his chest, his face burned from the nearby Flame Web still ignited, with the giant spider Thaeon completing a full circle. Phantom, feeling the same growing anxiety, leapt off towards Haven to fend off from the flurry of attacks that Toc was unleashing with each jab. In typical fashion, Phantom spun into the air to deliver a kick to the side of its round head. The hollow eye blazed with a pale blue and groaned from the blow. It obviously didn’t do much damage, but it gave Haven a chance to recollect herself and return with front kicks from its own tipped limbs, each strike leaving a pale golden afterglow.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Before Pic could sling around to help its partner, gold and black pounded into the rolling Thaeon until, finally immobile, it fell over.
“Nooo!” Poc ran around to stand next to his Thaeon.
“Only that one left,” Nil said through heavy breaths and sweat pouring off his forehead. Tic had withdrawn the flaming web, puffed up, and unleashed another in the shape of a net to cover half the area in flaming cords. It was a last-ditch effort to pin them down and deplete their will to keep fighting–not to mention, much to Nil and Lyn’s dismay, they weren’t fast enough to get around to the sides and bypass it.
Nil sighed and, in a blink, both Phantom and Haven vanished from the field before the smoking net spread over the ground. They were behind Tic unleashing blow after blow into the fat body.
“Aw man!” Pic pouted. “We lost, Poc. Hey there, Nil, are you…okay?”
He was very far from okay. As a matter of fact, the entire world blinked to a narrow point then went black as if someone had shut off a T.V.
A buzz on his wrist woke him up. His body felt like someone had run him through a meat grinder even with the healing pulses that Haven had undoubtedly administered whenever–what time was it?–he hit the ground. Everything was quiet, thankfully; his pounding head couldn’t take any sound right now.
Another buzz.
“That was close, Nil.” The voice was fuzzy. Distant. “Trainer battles are a bit different from the wild, huh?”
Buzz.
“Um, gonna answer that?”
He raised his hand up, unsure of where he was, and pressed the button on screen. Raven’s jovial face appeared.
“Nil! I thought you were ignoring me this entire time.”
“Ngh. Eh.”
“What happened? Whoa there Dagger, hold still. Sorry. Up in the air currently. You’re seeing me through my helmet visor.”
“Pic and…Poc came to battle. We won, but eh,” Nil winced, “it was close at the end.
“We who? Did you and Rose or Max team up?”
He pointed the watch to show Lyn who was sitting quite content munching on another bar with Haven lurking around in the back. She waved.
“I see. Yes, there are some Trainers who lurk around the Wilds outside of Fan Town. Is..is that her Thaeon there in the back?”
“Yes,” Lyn said with a full mouth.
“Interesting. Young lady, would you mind telling me its aspect?”
“First, my name is Lyn and second, Haven’s aspect is [Ether].”
Raven’s face scrunched in thought for a moment, looking off to the side.
“What did…you want, professor?” Nil said.
“Ah, well… I had called everyone before because of some information that had slipped my mind. It’s about your upcoming evolutions.” He jostled a bit then cleared his throat. “Starters are not starters for long, hence why you rarely, if ever, find them in the wild. You will notice that all the wild encounters thus far have been Evo1–or what we call “low” Evo1.”
“Low…?”
Lyn had stopped chewing and scooted closer to eavesdrop.
“Yes, low Evo1. This is merely a signifier that the wild Thaeons here are freshly evolved, typically. You may have seen some that were stronger than average”–Nil thought back to that boar that tried to kill him–”but otherwise everything is not much higher than a starter. That being said, you should all be Evo1 before reaching the cave to Pol City… That’s where you’re headed, right?”
“Yes,” Lyn and Nil said together. Her face blushed red and she slid away again.
“Lyn and I are teaming up to make it through the cave together. She says it’s been kicking her tail.” He laughed at this and she kicked his foot, still blushed.
Raven’s face looked perpetually confused these days, a fact that made Nil chuckle again at the expense of his hurt chest that throbbed every time.
“That’s impossible. Another detail I purposely left out was that there is a resource center near the cave and an experienced escort to aid new Trainers through. It’s part of the training process to help teach what Demiurge calls “Adventuring 101.”
Lyn grabbed his wrist and stared into the watch’s screen.
“Raven, was it? I’ve been back through there a handful of times since coming here and there’s no one there.”
“When did you arrive? And from where?”
She blushed again and brushed hair behind her ear.
“I came through the cave about a month ago looking for training opportunities.”
“Training opportunities in an area where new Trainers congregate?”
She didn’t respond to this; her lips pursed and her hands were gripped tight into fists.
“This needs to be investigated. Nil, head there and report back to me what you find. I will inform the others as well. Remember: you should be Evo1 before then. Keep training!”
Beep.
There was silence between them. Nil cringed and sat up to look at the girl whose face was still red. He had never expected full disclosure though a bit more backstory was required now.
“Lyn, I need honesty from you; why did you come here?”
“That’s…That’s none of your business, Nil. You heard the professor, yeah? Let’s head to the cave like we were going to in the first place and find out what’s going on so you can help me through and I’ll leave.” Another huff to move her hair and she was calling Haven over to give him another pulse of healing.
“Besides, you need to focus on Phantom getting to Evo1 so we don’t die. That battle back there really showed your inexperience.”
Feeling the pain ebb away he stood and said, “Without me we would’ve been coughing up twenty percent of our money! Speaking of, did they pay us?”
“Tch, yeah and every time he disappears you pass out. You don’t think that’s inexperience? If not for me you’d be a broken sack of crap in the woods from those injuries not healing.”
This was getting nowhere fast. There was a time for fighting and a time for peace, his mother always said. He found that funny because she had chosen a life of complete peace all the time with her only hobby nowadays being watering flowers with Chuck.
“Okay, Lyn, I’m sorry. You’re right, I need more experience and without you I would be struggling badly. Better now? Can you tell me if they paid us?”
Her twisted face of anger faded and she reached into her pocket to pull out a stack of small silver coins. “They were broke. Go figure, right? They gave these to me,” she held up a handful of silver coins,” and sent yours to that watch. Check your account, or whatever.”
He knew they wouldn’t cheat him. For now, it was time to get a move on. He didn’t know what was going on with her or this cave situation, but he was about to find out and hopefully, he thought as he looked back over to Phantom, get this guy stronger.