Alkalians (66 page)

The excitement of the crowd is
radioactive toward most of the six finalists. Sean and Buster are
itching to morph and start fighting, Cynthia taps her foot
anxiously, and both Matt and Rose are as nervous as first-time
riders of a massive roller coaster. Only Dante appears the most
contained, his face lowered as he smokes. As they wait, they can
hear the introductions and formalities to the match from a loud
speaker in the background, which is for the sake of the audience’s
amusement and knowledge of the competitors and their backgrounds.
For a long moment, no one has spoken.

Sean is the one to at last speak out,
exclaiming, “Well, isn’t this all convenient? The six of us, all
buddies, duking it out in a near free-for-all. If there wasn’t a
college championship on the line, one would think we were just
having a friendly sparring!”

“
Heh, friendly, indeed,”
Buster says, slugging Sean’s shoulder. “By the way, I should
probably give you fair warning about this fight.”

“
Eh? Fair warning? Of
what?”

“
Well, Sean, you may be
somewhat aware of how I fight. You know, with my big guns shooting
everything up, my target and all around it. What that means is I’m
not good in separating my target from my ally if they happen to be
near each other.”

“…
So, what are you
saying?”

“
What I’m saying is, if
you happen to be doing your brawling against Cynthia, Dante, Rose,
or Matt, and I happen to aim my guns at them, I’m not waiting for
you to get out of the way.”

Sean gapes at his partner. “You mean,
you’re gonna shoot me, too, if I’m near one of our
foes!?”

“
Well, I’m not going to
purposely aim at you, but yeah, there is that chance. Hence why I’m
just warning you to stay sharp and be aware of where my guns are
aiming. And besides, since you’re apparently so fast, you should be
fine darting out of my gunfire if needed, right?”

“
Oh, yeah, sure, no
problem. I’ll be able to air balance just fine, after you blow my
head off!”

While Sean continues berating Buster,
Cynthia chuckles on her side of the field at their exchange. “It
would be funny, and convenient, if Buster accidentally knocked out
his own ally instead of us. Perhaps we could increase the odds of
that happening, Dante.” When he doesn’t reply, she turns to him,
noticing his gloomy demeanor. “Dante? Are you okay?”

“
I am okay, I suppose.
It’s not this battle that worries me, but my sister.” Dante removes
his cigarette to puff a cloud of smoke as dark as his gaze. “It
seems no one has seen Irene, in school, on the grounds, or at the
casino, since she was let out of the infirmary. And I know she
hasn’t been taken in by the officials yet, as it was from them I
became aware she’s missing when they asked if I had seen or heard
anything of her.”

“
Irene’s gone missing?”
Cynthia ponders the news with a grimace. “That is a shame. The only
logical reason would be that she’s fled the campus, whether it
occurred to her she could be held accountable for her part in
Cain’s plot, or she found out I mentioned her part in it when I
reported Cain to the officials.”

Dante raises his hawk eyes to Cynthia.
“So, it was you. I was unsure if whoever did it would count her in
when exposing Cain or not.”

“
Dante, I’m sorry, but I
had to. Irene’s just as bad, if not worse, than Cain, and surely
you noticed how she was getting close with James. She could have
stirred up more trouble for the community with him if I didn’t take
this opportunity to remove her, as well.”

Dante maintains his piercing stare at
her for a moment, causing her to shy away a little, before he looks
down again. “I don’t blame you. She was out of control, forsaking
all she had been taught, all that was expected of her as a noble
heir, to pursue her own, vile interests. And yet, I can’t help but
fear that I am somehow responsible. I should have done more, I
should have intervened sooner, I…”

Cynthia cuts him off with
a firm grip on his shoulder to shake him. “Stop it, Dante. Don’t do
this to yourself. Irene was your
older
sister, she wouldn’t have
cared for your counsel. All you can do now, at the moment, is focus
on winning this battle, and then presenting yourself to others as a
proper noble heir. She was a senior, she had all the time in the
world to heed others and change, but she didn’t. All that’s become
of her is her own fault. Alright?”

Dante blinks up at Cynthia, his gaze
flickering between her bronze-tanned skin, her great cleavage so
close to him, and her gleaming pink eyes. “Alright. Thank you,
Cynthia.” He nods before shuffling out from her grip, clearing his
throat uneasily, and speaking up for the others to hear him. “Sean,
and Buster. Matt, and Rose.” When he has their attention, he drops
his cigarette and steps forward to rub it out. “If it hasn’t
occurred to you yet, I shall make it clear now.”

The others exchange confused glances
before Sean asks, “Make what clear, bro?”

“
We have accomplished what
we set out to do, when we united at Lyn’s dinner. We have defeated
Cain and his allies, undermining their regime, and have secured the
six spots in the finals of the Royale Project. Therefore, our
fellowship has served its purpose and may no longer need to
persist. Our fellowship is broken.”

Buster snorts, not moved like the
freshmen trio. “Well, yeah, duh. This is a battle royale between
all of us, after all!”

“
Not exactly, Buster. If
you are as wise in tactics as I’m sure you are, you are thinking
the same thing that I am.”

Buster catches the glinting glance
Dante points at the red pair among them, nodding. “Aye, seems we
are thinking the same thing. I was wondering if you, the most
subtle and crafty one here, was thinking of it, but I wasn’t going
to risk forewarning them by openly suggesting it to ya.”

Looking between the blue and green
pairs, Rose says to Matt at her side, “Matt, I think what they’re
getting at is…”

“
Yeah,” Matt agrees. “I
know.”

Even Cynthia catches on, fixing a sly
smirk at them as she strokes back her hair, but Sean, of course,
has not. “Whoa, wait, what? Whatcha two talking about?”

“
We’re talking about a
temporary alliance, Sean,” Dante explains, “against the greatest
threat here. We may all be skilled fighters here, but only one of
us is a Dark Warrior.”

“…
Oh.
Oh
.” Sean looks back to Matt and
Rose, shrugging. “Sorry guys, but he’s got a point. It’s only
logical that we team up against you.”

“
That’s fine, Sean,” Rose
replies, smirking. “Matt and I will be sure to make you pay for it,
later.”

“
He-hey, that’s not fair!”
Sean objects while Cynthia and Buster burst out laughing. “I have
to fight you guys, anyway!”

Matt, smirking as well, gets an idea
and brings it up. “But Sean, don’t you have to make Dante pay for
something, already?”

“…
Oh, yeah.
Yeah
.” He whirls at
Dante, pointing in accusation. “I still have to avenge myself for
being failed by you, last year!”

“
Ah, that may be true,
Sean,” counters Dante, “but who do you think is the greater threat
to your chance at glory here? Me, with just my sword and air
balance? Or Matt, with his sword, rifle, and magic, all empowered
by the Dark Warrior’s ability?”

Sean hesitates, glancing between both
men, before groaning while clutching at his head. “Gah, I don’t
know!”

Buster grins at Sean’s agony before
turning his ear to the loud speaker back by the audience’s stands
beginning a countdown. “Better figure it out fast, because things
are about to get real out here.”

“
And consider this, Sean,”
muses Cynthia. “Not only is Dante the prince of Goros,
my
prince, but I’m also
your girlfriend. Would you really attack your dear girlfriend for
protecting her prince?”

“…
Dammit, I don’t know!
It’s a gamble, either way!” Something suddenly clicks in Sean’s
head, his eyes wide with revelation. “Wait a tick. It’s a gamble.
A
gamble
. And I’m
good at gambling!” No longer unsure of himself, Sean cackles
mischievously, glancing between the green and red pairs while
rubbing his palms together.

Shaking their heads at Sean’s
behavior, Matt and Rose look to each other, sobering up for the
serious event about to happen, and without a word hold hands
tightly. Whatever the other four did, they would fight
together.

***

After the siren sounds at the end of
the countdown, all six of the combatants morph, each flash separate
except for Matt and Rose’s, their black-and-green blending
together. Buster makes the first move, aiming his large cannon
mounts, and fires both at Matt and Rose, who leap away in opposite
directions to avoid the blasts. Sean and Dante sprint after Matt,
and upon seeing them Rose prepares leaf blades to throw at
them.

She flings them, but a sudden
flamethrower from her left burns the leaves in mid-air, and she
whirls to confront Cynthia, who advises her, “I’d be more worried
about becoming firewood out here, if I were you.” Biting her lip,
Rose knows she’s right, as the fire magic would do heavy damage if
it caught her. All she could do for Matt was hope he would be okay
on his own.

Matt has no time to check on Rose as
he meets Dante and Sean’s combined assault. Drawing his sword and
vanishing among clones, he tries to hold off the swift duo, who
dodge the huge swings and thrusts and counter with quick slices,
stabs, jabs, or kicks that delete the clones. After clearing
through the black copies before him, Dante fails to find the real
one and instinctively turns around in time to block a chop from the
actual Matt. They struggle in a deadlock until Sean, to both of
their surprises, dives in beneath them and does an upside-down
split, kicking them through the air in opposite
directions.

After recovering in mid air to flip
backwards and land on his feet, Matt, a green bruise on his
breastplate, glances to Buster, whose gatling mounts commence
firing upon him. Using clone dispersion to escape the bullets, he
becomes hidden within a V-formation of his shadows running towards
the MechWarrior. Buster, cursing to himself because he has no time
to lock onto the real Matt, brings out his shotgun and grenade
launcher and shoots at the incoming V. The lead clones are
obliterated, but the ones to the rear switch sides of the
V.

In their crossing, a sniper bullet
flies out and hits Buster beneath his sternum. When he looks back
up from the impact, the clones use swords to cut through his legs
when they pass by him, and the real Matt comes straight at him as
he staggers, leaps up before him, and thrusts his blade’s edge into
the bullet wound, splashing dark yellow from it.

Meanwhile, Rose and Cynthia are having
their own duel. They circle past the other, waiting for an opening
to attack. Then, following a malicious glimmer from her eyes,
Cynthia launches a wide blaze forward, which Rose back flips high
into the air to avoid. While still in the air, she summons a
sharpened wooden spear and throws it downward. Cynthia side steps
to let the spear land beside her, and then obtains a brilliant idea
as she eyes it.

She pulls the wooden shaft out of the
ground, twirls it above her head where her fiery hair lights it
aflame, and hurls it into the sky. The burning spear sails high
through the air, and splits into multiple flares that rain down
towards Rose. She uses her quick agility to prevent them from
hitting her, and they leave small blotches of fire around her.
Then, while noting their positions, she realizes what Cynthia is
really going to do.

Rose figures it out too late as the
Fire Magician prepares her imaginary violin and strums out notes
that cause the flames to spread into a grassfire. Cornering her in
the converging fire, Cynthia grins as she expects Rose to soon
ignite when a gunshot precedes a black bullet sniping her,
streaking across her chest, and she recoils, ending her music and
conducting of the flames.

Rolling out of a small gap between the
fires, Rose winces at her few burns, smoldering to yellow in color,
and looks across the field to the sight of Matt on a bent Buster,
his right hand anchoring the sword in Buster’s chest and his left
arm the gun that had shot Cynthia. She smiles in appreciation, but
drops it when she sees something else. “Matt, watch
out!”

Alerted by her warning, Matt turns,
raising his rifle in time to catch the chop from Dante’s katana.
Nearly severing his arm with the blow, Dante follows it up with a
quick rising stroke, combined with a gust of wind, to throw Matt
off of Buster, who twists around and fires his shotgun at him,
grazing his side before he falls. Matt stops his fall with air
balance, floating a few feet above the ground, only to get slammed
by Sean crashing into him from his left, the impact finishing the
severing of his arm and bursting dark yellow energy out of his
wounds.

Grinning, Sean clings to him with one
arm around his throat while the other drills punches into his
abdomen, intending to give him further trauma, when he twitches as
something pierces through his own. A dark tendril of wood, bending
like a vine, sprouts from where Matt lost his arm to replace it,
binds Sean in its crushing grasp, and he without realizing it uses
it to hammer him into the ground a few times before flinging him
back towards Buster and Dante.