Galileo (Battle of the Species) (34 page)

Two Baytons ran to the base of the swamp, but stopped at the water’s edge. Pacus and Ulrich just stood there, waiting it out until the five minutes were over.

Ah crap, was that all we had to do?
Renn thought while his Bayton stopped moving. He threw the lifeless beast into the swamp and turned back for Desh, but found him leaning against a tree, watching.

His legs were covered with bloody scrapes and gashes and the look on his face told Renn that he blamed him for it. They had the choice to keep looking for more threats or to wait out the remaining minute and fifteen seconds till the level was over, choosing the latter to conserve energy for the next level.

Renn looked up to the scoreboard and saw that they were up to 2,250 points against Pacus and Ulrich’s 500
. 
His eyebrows rose at the small amount of points the other team received for running away as opposed to fighting.

The players found themselves back in the empty arena when the swamp disappeared along with their scrapes and bruises.

“Players have advanced to level two,” Ava announced, causing the crowd to cheer and stamp their feet.

Desh was still sulking when level two began, no longer willing to acknowledge Renn’s presence.

Renn still felt like walking up to him and apologizing, but didn’t want his brother to misunderstand what he was apologizing for. There was still so much Renn was angry and confused about. If Renn’s prophecies were to be trusted, Desh was still going to kill him.

Ava announced the planet as Clyness.

Renn and Desh tried to remember the story Professor Zaneer had told Remi about which species to kill on Clyness. “Don’t kill the one that growls,” was all either could remember.

A village in a forest ascended with huts and little hairy men frozen in animation. They looked rather ape-like, except their facial features were shaped more like toads than apes.

Renn looked around and realized Desh had walked off, fully prepared to fight each battle alone.

“They're not working together,” Lux said, watching from the stands.

“Oh gawd, they're gonna die,” Leo said, throwing up his arms in defeat.

“No, they've got this,” Dylan said, focusing on the game.

“Fighters, choose your weapons,” Ava beckoned.

Renn didn’t need to ask Desh which he wanted to use, since Mindeerians always chose the electricity blasts as their primary weapon. The Zeanup and the Janiun chose laser guns, wherever they were, but at the last minute chose a snake antidote as an accessory. Renn tried to request it as well, assuming they knew something he didn’t, but they had waited till the last second for good reason
.
Once Ava started the countdown, it was too late to add.
Be on the lookout for poisonous snakes
, Renn noted.

“The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one.” 

The hairy men walked around the village as Renn kept an eye out for Tolx, Picrognas, and Zekrians. He walked towards the forest, thinking the dangerous species would be deeper in, but the bustling village fell silent. Renn slowly turned around, looking at the ape-like men staring at him.

Oh gawd,
Renn thought, realizing why he was the only one there. The little hairy men took out large knives and charged him. Renn put up his hands, showering them with lightning blasts, then ran towards the trees as fast as he could.

He could have sworn he caught a glimpse of Desh hiding behind a bush near the village, but didn’t have time to check. He continued running through the forest, with the sound of angry voices following close behind.

Renn ran for four minutes and fifty seconds until the level was over, making it to the third level alive, but out of breath and energy. When the level descended into the floor, Renn could see that Desh had indeed hidden near the village and forest border.

“Seriously?” Renn said to Desh.

“Hey, don’t snap at me if I tell you what to do and then snap at me if I don’t,” Desh replied. “Make a decision. You’re driving me crazy.”

All right
, Renn thought.
I might have deserved that
.

The brothers looked up at their score and saw that they were now 2,000 points behind Pacus and Ulrich who had climbed up into the trees and slaughtered dozens of the mean, hairy men. They then received extra points for giving themselves antidotes when Othaler tree snakes bit them.

“Okay, I’ll give,” Renn said. “I’ll follow your lead.”

“Really?” Desh asked,
with a distrustful glance.

“Yeah. Really.”

“This’ll be interesting,” Desh mumbled.

“Players have advanced to level three,” Ava said.

Renn stood closer to Desh, ready to trust him and see where it took him.

“The planet is Pathalion,” Ava announced. 

Slabs of gray stone rose high into the air from every direction and the fighters found themselves in a large maze of chiseled rock formations, which went on as far as the eye could see. The sky was a beautiful blue-gray, with a massive moon that filled half the sky.

“Fighters, prepare.”

The fighters looked at the board, which displayed a variety of beetles, millipedes, and slugs.

“We’re fighting insects?” Renn asked.

“Insects can be just as deadly as anything else.”

“Still seems kind of easy.”

“Does it?” Desh replied. “Look at the gravity.”

Renn looked back up to read the gravity as 4.30771 m / s2. “Oh gawd. We can’t walk on the planet,” he said.

“Fighters, choose your weapons,” Ava announced.

Desh chose an Albright Sap gun and told Renn to choose a Splevites gun.

Renn obliged despite having no clue what either gun was, but comforted in the thought that he still had his lightning blasts to fall back on. “Can you tell me what we're doing?” he asked.

“When I shoot something, you shoot it again after I'm done,” Desh replied.

“Okay...” Renn said, taking a deep breath and trying for once to take a leap of faith.

“The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one.”

On “one,” they began floating, and grabbed onto the slabs of stone with their free hands.

Renn almost dropped the gun when he got the feeling that something alive was moving inside of it.

“You can move by kicking the stone,” Desh said, jumping up high into the air. He landed between two tall structures and spread his legs, bracing himself.

It took Renn a little while to get used to the low gravity, but he got off the ground when he saw large black millipedes the size of his leg running their way. The millipedes’ small feet grasped the stones’ splintered and cracked surfaces, allowing them to run faster than a human.

Renn watched Desh shower them with a sticky yellow sap. The sap wasn’t slowing them down at all, Renn thought, just making them stick to the ground even better. He fired on the yellow sap with the Splevites gun and saw that Splevites were spiders that would eat the sap and anything that touched it, regardless of whether it was sap or insect. Millipedes ran up the slabs towards them, causing Renn and Desh to keep jumping in the air to another slab.

The millipedes crawled back down and then up another, closer to the fighters.

Renn looked up when Pacus screamed and saw that Ava had written, “Terminated” across her picture.

“Pay attention!” Desh yelled when a millipede bit Renn’s leg.

Renn felt a searing pain, as if stabbed by hundreds of tiny knives. He fired with an electricity blast, blowing the millipede off. To Renn’s horror, the smoking corpse floated nearby, causing him to see the creature’s face and the hundreds of needle-thin teeth bulging from its mouth.

The fighters rested a moment in the empty arena, once Pathalion was gone, to the cheers of the crowd when Ava announced, “Players have advanced to level four.”

           “The planet is Thainteen,” Ava announced.

The ground changed to orange sand and they stood in a vast desert against a bright blue sky.

“Fighters, prepare.”

Desh chose a hunting knife as his weapon and a cold water gun, headlamp, and oxygen as his accessories, having Renn choose the same.

“Do you know what happens to sand when lightning hits it?” Desh asked.

“Yeah, it melts it, then when it cools, it’s glass,” Renn replied.

“Exactly,” Desh said. “Just keep that in mind.” He looked up at the scoreboard. “Two hundred more points and we’re back in the lead. We won’t need him for this level, so if you find yourself close enough to take Ulrich out, do it.”

“Okay,” Renn replied, still wondering why he would be hitting the sand with lightning blasts and wondered whether Desh was making a crack at his aim or not.

“The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one,” Ava said.

Renn walked towards Desh, who put up his hand to stop him. “I should warn you,” Desh said, “the sand is…” but before Desh could finish his sentence, Renn fell through the sand, sliding down the desert floor, deeper and deeper into the ground.

He now understood the oxygen, he thought, though still needed Desh to explain the water gun. Renn felt himself falling into an open pocket and then hit solid ground.

           “Lamp on,” he commanded, prompting the headlamp to illuminate
.
He was in an open room with walls made of solid sand. There were tunnels all over, reminding him of an ant farm he once had. He saw white slugs in the walls starting to glow, making their way to the wall surface, getting brighter and brighter.

Renn heard the whoosh of sand in the distance.

Renn
? Desh projected.
Are you still alive?

Yeah,
Renn replied.
Where are you
?

Desh froze, trying to bite his tongue.
Well, I’m in a sandy room
.

Renn cringed.
Yeah, okay, stupid question
.

Do you see white lights
? Desh asked.

Yeah,
Renn replied, looking at the slugs.

How bright are they
?

Bright enough to turn my headlamp off,
Renn thought.

Run!
Those slugs are showing the Thackers where to find you,
Desh projected.

Renn looked around. There were nine tunnels to choose from, each with loose sand trickling from the ceilings.

“Uh…” Renn said, pointing the water gun at each tunnel exit. The tunnels, however, were dark, so he couldn’t see anything further than the lamp would illuminate. He listened for thoughts and heard clicking coming from all over. He heard sand rush one of the tunnels and pointed the gun, firing before he could see what it was.

           “Really?” Desh said, wiping his wet face after Renn stopped soaking him with water.

           “Oh. Sorry,” Renn said, before getting tackled by a dark brown creature
with black eyes, and six hairy legs.

Desh stabbed it in the stomach and then dragged the blade up to its neck. He pulled the knife out, allowing the Thacker to drop to the ground.

More Thackers ran through all nine tunnels, charging them.

Desh stabbed furiously at the creatures, pushing a couple through one of the tunnels, as Renn fired electricity blasts from behind.

When they got through to another room, Renn’s blasts had caused the sand in the tunnel to concave, blocking that entrance.

Desh finished stabbing the remaining Thackers he had pushed through the tunnel while the glow slugs illuminated their room.

           “Blast the tunnels,” Desh said, firing a blast into one entrance. It melted the sand as more sand fell, and he sprayed it with water, cooling it off, and turning it to glass. He then fired again, while more sand fell, closing off the passageway.

Renn did the same as the room illuminated with white light. By the time they were down to four tunnels, the Thackers were on them, running through each of the tunnels.

Renn and Desh stood back-to-back, firing at the Thackers, able to keep up with the amount — each fighter having to only deal with two tunnels apiece. They continued for another minute, until the Thackers disappeared, and the desert receded into the white arena floor.

The crowd stood up, screaming their cheers, excited that three players had made it to level five.

“Three?” Renn said, surprised that Ulrich had made it through that level. Renn didn’t think anyone could have survived that alone, even a strong Zeanup. He would stay impressed until he would later find out from Dylan that Ulrich had frozen when he saw Renn and Desh fall through the ground. He had requested oxygen, following Desh’s lead, but still didn’t think he would survive it, so he waited out the five minutes, unmoving in the hot desert sun.

Renn looked up to the scoreboard and saw they were now ahead by 1050 points.

“Players have advanced to level five,” Ava said.

Renn and Desh looked at each other, grinning. It didn’t matter if they only lasted a second; they were the first team of First Years to make it to the final level.

           “The planet is Agrona,” Ava announced.

The crowd oohed and ahhed when black lava mountains surrounded the fighters. Dark gray mounds of wax-like hives rose from the ground and the sky filled with thick black smoke.

“Fighters, prepare.”

“Agrona,” Desh mumbled to himself, then looked at Renn. “We're going to have to fight Tix. Ava, eliminate pain.”

“Pain eliminated,” Ava complied.

Renn looked up to see the points deducted. They were now only 50 points ahead of the other team. He looked over at Ulrich, who smirked at throwing away 1,000 points.

“Really?” Renn said, looking at Desh.

“Yeah, really,” Desh replied.

It was a rather pessimistic command, Renn thought. They could have always turned the pain off later.

Desh sighed. “Renn, there’s no way to prepare you for what’s about to come at us. When the boogeyman goes to sleep at night, he looks under his bed for Tix. Agrona is always dark and Tix are covered in black scales, so they blend in with their background, whether coming from the sky or walking on the ground. They have flesh-covered wings, webbed hands, and webbed feet, tipped with sharp claws. They have yellow jagged teeth and will come at us in a swarm. When they catch us, they’ll rip us to pieces because they’re going to fight over the meat. Just try to stay alive as long as you can and remind yourself this will be over soon,” Desh said.