Link Floyd
ᵒⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ʳᵘⁿ
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2014
Chapter 4 ~ It’s On Like Donkey Kong
“Hey Ari!” a voice shouted as squad one made their way through the village market. Ari turned around and happily noticed Snow running towards them to catch up.
“Ari!” she repeated. “Mases-sensai was looking for you guys. He says he has a last minute assignment for us today.”
“Ah, man...” Terminus started. “I was really hoping we would be able to chill today.”
“Not sure what it’s about, but follow me! He wants us to gather at the training grounds again.” Snow explained, running in the opposite direction.
Ari looked at Pendio and Terminus and shrugged her shoulders.
“Guess we oughta go,” she said.
***
“Thank you for coming, guys. I apologize for this being on such short notice.” he spoke.
“Yeah, yeah, get to the point,” Ayano *****ed.
“Now, today will test your strength and ability,” Mases explained.
“Just like every other assignment?” Canary commented to herself.
“But today we will be focusing on our abilities. Today’s assignment is simply this: You will be having a duel with someone who has a similar ability to you. For example, an elemental magic user will be dueling against someone who uses elemental magic. Another example would be a weapon user fighting against another squad member who uses weapons.”
“Ah, sounds pretty neat,” King said.
“I will not tolerate any foul language during the duels, especially from the audience,” Mases explained.
“Audience?” Azure Sage spoke up.
“Yes, we will do each duel one at a time, and the rest of us will watch it. I’ll judge who wins. And remember, this isn’t about competition, it’s about improving and honing our strengths.”
Everyone nodded.
“I already have the first two who will be dueling written on my note card,” Mases said, pulling a square piece of paper out of his pocket. “The first two will be King versus Azure Sage. Everyone follow me to the dueling ground!”
The dueling ground was close to the meeting house. It was only about a few feet behind it. There were tall lights in a circle around the grounds, similar to a football stadium.
Azure Sage prepared himself for the fight, focusing his energy on the bleachers before Mases called him down. King was already standing on the field, jumping up and down.
“This will be an excellent opportunity to show her what I can do!” he exclaimed.
“Azure! Are you ready?” Mases asked, motioning him to come down to the field. Azure nodded and floated down to the field gracefully.
“On three, the duel will begin,” Mases began. “One...two...three!”
King jumped straight up into the air, disappearing without a trace. Azure stood calmly. Suddenly, King appeared from behind him in the air, aiming his leg and kicking swiftly. Azure immediately released a force field. King’s leg bounced off of it.
“Not fair! How am I supposed to get him if he has a force field around him all the time?” King hollered, looking at Mases. Mases calmly sipped a cup of coffee and watched the action. The students paid close attention, with only a few lollygagging when Mases wasn’t looking.
“Ohmergard doesn’t Pendio look so handsome?” Ari sighed, staring at Pendio across the bleachers, sitting next to Terminus.
“Barf,” he commented. “That’s adorably gross.”
King bit his lip and disappeared again. Azure closed his eyes, focusing. King suddenly appeared in front and swung his frustrated fist. Azure knocked it away, releasing his force field once again. King was tossed onto the ground fiercely.
“Canary isn’t going to love me after this...” he sighed, turning away. Meanwhile, Canary was painting her nails black and listening to some goth rock band nobody’s ever heard of.
Azure took a deep breath before running towards King. Swiftly, he darted from side to side randomly so King wouldn’t know where to aim. Azure jumped into the air, kicking the top of King’s head with his foot.
“Geesh!” King shouted, rubbing the top of his head.
Azure landed on the ground without breaking a sweat.
“That’s it!” King shouted furiously.
He disappeared once again, appearing more quickly now, but right behind Azure, charging at his backside.
“No one gets between me and Canary!” he screamed, going for Azure with all his strength.
Azure released his force field, when suddenly, the sound of shattering glass rang throughout the dueling grounds. It was so loud, everyone covered their ears.
“What the hell is that?” Snow cried.
“Everybody just stay calm!” Mases hollered, looking back at Azure and King. He has broken through Azure’s force field. “So that’s what it is...”
Azure closed up the force field, with just him and King inside.
“How did I...” King began, trailing off, glancing at his hands.
“I don’t know, but things are gonna be a lot harder for you in here!” Azure warned, preparing to strike King. The round force field lifted up into the air as Azure and King fought with their bare fists. Everyone watched in excitement.
“It’s impossible to break through any kind of force field, unless one wields some sort of special strength from a higher power.” Sagitarius observed, jotting down notes.
“Here I come!” King yelled, going invisible. He appeared next to Azure and took a swing. He dodged it, kicking King and making him trip.
“Oof!” he shouted as he landed on the ground.
“It’s over,” Azure stated, knocking him out of the force field from up in the air.
King landed with a thud. Mases ran over to him to check his status.
“He’s fine, everyone,” he said. “Azure Sage is the winner!”
Everyone in the bleachers applauded as Azure returned to the ground. King struggled to get back up but made his way to the bleachers.
“Good job, you were so close!” Ari told him. King made a half smile, and sat down next to her and Terminus.
Meanwhile, at the top of the bleachers, Snow and Ayano were discussing rare ‘Selda’ games.
“I’m not really into that fan-made bull****,” Ayano explained. “I like ‘em to be somewhat official. Like Zelda Ura, for example.”
“I’m gonna let you in on a little secret,” Snow began. “I have one of the only copies of Zelda Ura in existence! For the Nintendo 64 disc drive, of course.”
“Really? Can I play it?” Ayano asked.
“**** no, you’d break it.” Snow replied.
“**** you, can I at least see it?” Ayano insisted.
“I don’t trust you,” Snow said blatantly.
“GIVE ME THE GAME NOW!” Ayano screeched, his eyes turning a fiery red color.
“Hey hey hey hey hey!” Mases called them out. “You kids behave until I get the next round going.”
“I...am...an...ADULT!!!” Ayano screamed, flames shooting up into the sky, causing them to make fire works of various anime girls with red hair. “AND I DESERVE TO PLAY RARE SELDA BOOTLEG GAMES!”
“Okay, okay, fine, I’ll let you look at it but don’t TOUCH IT. Okay?” Snow sighed.
She reached into her pastel pink purse, searching around for a moment. After a few seconds, she began to panic.
“WHERE IS IT?” she screeched, searching more anxiously now. “YOU TOOK IT, DIDN’T YOU?”
“No...WHY WOULD YOU ASSUME THAT?” Ayano yelled.
“BECAUSE YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS ABOUT IT!” Snow hollered.
“That’s IT! I’m done being talked to like a CHILD!” Ayano yelled. “I WANT A DUEL. RIGHT NOW!”
“OH IT’S ON,” Snow said. “LIKE DONKEY KONG!”
Snow and Ayano swooped down to the field and prepared themselves. Snow covered the field in ice, which made it difficult to stand for Ayano, until he melted it away with his fiery breath.
“You ass hair,” Snow mumbled, closing her eyes. She opened them shortly after as ice beams shot out of them toward Ayano. He using his fire against them, so they became puddles in front of his feet.
“Don’t you know that fire is strong against ice?” Ayano asked.
“I play Pokemon, duh,” Snow replied, rolling her eyes.
She leaped into the air and shot more ice beams out of her eyes. Ayano turned it all into water.
“There’s nothing you can do, babe,” Ayano said.
“W-WHAT DID YOU CALL ME???” Snow yelled, her face getting red and puffy.
“Kids, kids, please, it’s not your time to duel yet!” Mases began, standing in front of the bleachers.
“ADULT! I AM AN ADULT!” Ayano said, leaping into the air.
Snow and Ayano floated, face to face. Ayano’s fists became a deep red while Snow’s became a pale blue.
Snow let out an ear splitting scream as she released a powerful blow at Ayano. Ayano tried to defend himself by using a similar attack. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of yellow light. Everyone covered their eyes, as the screams of Snow and Ayano were still heard.
“What is even happening?” Mases shouted, trying to see what was going on without going blind.
The light died down shortly after. Snow and Ayano both fell to the ground, out of breath. Beauts and Rep ran to catch them as they were to closest to the field. Snow landed in Rep’s arms, as Beauts caught Ayano.
“Zelda Ura...it’s real right...?...maybe I’m just dreaming....” Ayano panted, seemingly half asleep.
Snow was unconscious.
Mases approached them with a heavy sigh.
“Is everyone okay?” he asked.
“Snow needs a doctor, and fast,” Rep explained.
Mases picked her up and laid her on one of the bleachers.
“Ayano seems fine, he’s just exhausted.” Beauts said.
Mases laid him on one of the bleachers as well before an ambulance came to take Snow to the hospital.
***
“I’m sorry about today everyone. It seems like we just can’t get anything done.” Mases explained to everyone in the meeting house.
Ayano was able to walk home with Azure Sage to get some rest. No word on Snow yet.
“At least Azure and King were able to work today,” Ari reminded.
“True, but it’s not enough. We need to do more intense training. This won’t do.”
Meanwhile, deep within the woods outside the Village of Friends, a light from a tiny candle shimmered against the walls of a hidden cave.
“Lord Darkness, I have some new information about our subject,” a man with thick glasses and a ponytail began, taking a bow in front of a mysterious man surrounded by darkness.
“No need to explain, Mitchell. I’ve already seen and felt what’s happened today.” the dark one said with a snicker. “I can feel his power getting stronger...”
“I think this is exactly what we need to do; one by one, take away everyone who’s close to him. Then his true power will be revealed.” Mitchell replied.
Lord Darkness cackled intensely, chocking a little bit.
“Once we do that, I’ll know for sure that he’s the one I’ve been waiting for for all these years!”
Lord Darkness continued to laugh, clutching a copy of Zelda Ura in his hands that had the name, ‘Snow’, scrawled on the back.
(Half of the time, I'm expecting Dan's character to go full-on Might Guy somewhere along the line!)
