The Star Warriors

by C. S. Cooper

  “The biggest,” said Maka, letting out a brief chortle.

  Soul breathed back the last of his laughter and said, “Well, if we’re thinkin’ team names, Eriol did call us ‘six teenagers with attitude.’ Why not call ourselves the Pow–”

  “NO!” screamed everyone in the cabin, to which Soul chuckled gleefully.

  Xiaolang, still pink in the face from laughter, and said, “You know what? I think a theme song is better than a name.” He turned to Soul. “Soul Eater, I hear you’re good with music. Why don’t you come up with something?”

  “Sorry, Bruce, I left my fifty-piece orchestra in my other pants,” exclaimed Soul sardonically.

  The group laughed a little longer. Even Maka joined in.

  “But Lee’s right, we should have a haka,” said Nathan.

  “What’s a haka?” asked Sakura.

  “The New Zealand footy team has this dance they do before every game,” explained Nathan. “It’s a traditional Maori dance meant to scare the enemy into surrender, and they call it a ‘haka.’ Maybe we should have one.”

  “Well, Soul, get on it,” said Maka with a grin.

  Soul grew nervous, and quickly retorted, “Only if I can draw Maori tattoos on your face.”

  “I’ll die first,” snapped Maka.

  Sakura snapped her fingers and exclaimed, “I know!” She stood and proclaimed, “This should be our haka!”

  She stomped the floor twice and clapped. She did it again. Everyone recognised it, and joined in. Before long, Sakura and Nathan were singing Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You.’ The rest quickly joined in.

  The group was so caught up in the song that they didn’t notice the beeps from the radar. Astrid heard it first, and interrupted the song. She ignored the protests from her teammates and pointed to starboard.

  “We got incoming,” she announced. The others found viewports and glanced to the right of the plane. Three dots on the horizon quickly turned to metallic birds.

  “Homunculi,” exclaimed Soul.

  “Strap yourselves in!” yelled Astrid. She didn’t wait for them, however, and pitched the plane left. The others tumbled inside the cabin as Astrid dove downward then upward in an effort to shake the pursuing monsters. Yet they persisted as irritating beeps on her radar, fixed upon their prey like starving eagles in the Andes. A klaxon sounded, signalling a lock-on alert. “We’ve been targeted,” Astrid announced.

  “Sakura, can you shield us?” asked Maka.

  Sakura nodded and cast out the Guard Card. She held her wand out to the aft, where Astrid said the enemy missiles were certain to hit. The incoming assault struck Sakura’s force field, protecting the jet from harm, but draining her. Her legs shuddered with fear.

  “They’re flanking us,” exclaimed Astrid.

  “Oi, Bruce, don’t you have any shield magic?” asked Soul.

  Xiaolang shook his head. “Only very short range. Maybe I can use some fire or lightning, but I’d need a clear line of sight.”

  Maka shouldered Sakura and whispered to her, “You’re fine, Sakura. You just need to focus more. Don’t be afraid.”

  “They’re too powerful,” exclaimed Sakura.

  Astrid glanced back and saw Sakura come up empty. She looked at the radar and saw the enemy homunculi fire from three directions. She quickly unstrapped herself and marched to the back of the plane.

  “Astrid, who’s driving?” asked Nathan.

  Astrid looked at Xiaolang and said, “You need a clear line of sight, I’m going to give you one.” With a grunt, she wrenched a lever at the rear of the ship, and the aft hatch blew open. The sudden blast of air sucked them out of the jet just as the homunculi’s missiles hit, ripping the plane apart in a cloud of fire and smoke.

  Xiaolang acted quickly, and summoned a bolt of lightning from his sword. He cleaved two of the homunculi apart. Sakura sent out a blast of fire from the Flare Card, which disintegrated the third. Then she looked down, and saw the eastern coast of Australia rushing up to meet her.

  “Sakura, use the Flight Card,” yelled Xiaolang over the wind.

  Sakura caught his meaning in an adrenaline-fuelled stupor, and procured the Flight Card.

  “Become a majestic bird to carry us, Flight,” she proclaimed, touching her wand to it. The Card morphed in a flash of light into a four-winged leviathan of the skies. Sakura caught onto the down behind its crest, and grabbed Xiaolang before soaring downward to catch Nathan and Soul.

  Astrid and Maka were closer to the ground, and looked up to see the otherworldly bird incoming. Astrid glanced at Maka and yelled, “Having fun yet?”

  “Do you have to ask?” retorted Maka.

  Soul and Nathan caught them and pulled them safely onto the bird’s back. Sakura then held out her wand and resonated with the Flight Card. At her will, the bird pulled out of its nosedive, seemingly without inertia. Then Sakura summoned the Gale Card, which gave Flight a good boost southward.

  Nathan pointed ahead, just off from Flight’s course, and yelled, “That’s Centrepoint!”

  Sakura willed Flight toward the spindly tower just on the horizon, and the bird obediently thrust forward. It gained altitude over the houses and high-rises that pockmarked the northern reaches of Sydney. It crossed the vast gap of Sydney Harbour, and encircled the needle-like Centrepoint Tower. The six of them gazed at the central turret, and spotted a lone figure in a spiffy overcoat, looking right back at them.

  “Let’s go,” said Astrid.

  Flight vectored toward the tower. When they were near enough, the group leapt off the bird and landed on top of the central turret. Moonface held his arms out wide and exclaimed, “Welcome to the grand opening of the Ultimate Gate!” The broach on his collar and the gibbous shape of his head told them he was a copy.

  Nathan looked past him to the strange device at the base of the spire. It was cylindrical, with a mass of wires and cables emerging from it. The cables snaked their way up the spire like technicoloured moss.

  “Where’s the Silver Key, Slenderman?” he asked. Moonface just shrugged.

  “Where’s Shaula?” barked Maka.

  “Making meals of this metropolis,” replied Moonface. “All for the opening to a new world order.”

  “That ain’t gonna happen,” snarled Soul as he transformed into a scythe in Maka’s hand. Nathan and Astrid activated their Arms Alchemies, and stood at the ready. Sakura raised her wand, and Xiaolang cocked his sword.

  “Moon!” chortled Moonface. He subsequently split into twenty copies, each of which drew swords from the sheaths on their hips. They chirped in unison, and then charged forward.

  The group raced to meet them.

  “Get past them and get the key!” yelled Astrid. She leapt into the air, and spun to cut two airborne Moonfaces to ribbon. She landed, but had to defend herself from three others that came after her from behind.

  Nathan blocked the blows of two clones with his gauntlet and countered. He then deflected blows from another to his right and ran the Moonface through with his lance.

  Maka swung Soul’s scythe form around her body, knocking one Moonface off balance while swatting another off the edge of the roof. She brought the scythe blade down through another, completely bisecting the monster.

  Xiaolang blew a trio of Moonfaces off the roof with a windblast, and lopped the sword-wielding hand off another. He unleashed a volley of punches at the homunculus copy before slicing it with an uppercut.

  Sakura unleashed a flamethrower from her wand, incinerating a quartet of Moonfaces. She summoned the Gaia Card into her body, imbuing herself with strength to break the kneecap of one Moonface with a single kick. She delivered a few more roundhouse kicks, before finishing the creature off with the Blade Card.

  Moonface kept replicating. Yet, with each round of fighting and replication, the group drew nearer to the spire. Moonface appeared to grow nervous and fatigued. Sakura took the chance and summoned a forest of vines to ensnare his copies. She then leapt over the mass of vines
and approached the device at the base of the spire.

  “Sakura, is the key there?” asked Maka.

  Sakura activated the Blade Card and slashed the device’s housing open. She peered inside, and her heart skipped a beat. There was no Silver Key, but a timer three seconds from zero, attached to a dozen bars of plastic explosive.

  “It’s a bomb!” she screeched. She activated the Guard Card without a second thought. The bomb detonated, the sonic boom impacting against Sakura’s force field. The tower shook violently, throwing the others off balance. The spire tilted suddenly under the force of the blast.

  Sakura flew backward into Xiaolang’s arms. Her head spun and her ears rung. With help from Maka and Xiaolang, she managed to regain her footing.

  The crumbling spire pitched backwards. Like a felled tree, it toppled, crashing against the upper roof of the turret on its way down into the shopping mall below. They heard a deafening crash, followed by explosions below. Their hearts skipped beats at the thought of all the civilians who had just died.

  The remaining Moonface clones, still enthralled in Sakura’s vines, laughed hysterically.

  “How delightfully devilish of me,” the copies chanted in unison.

  Astrid dismembered one of the copies, which didn’t even flinch, and looked straight into its face.

  “Where’s Shaula and the Silver Key?” she snarled.

  “Blondie there is the one with the soul perception,” retorted Moonface. “Ask her.” The copy pursed its lip, as if remembering something at the last minute. Behind them, another crashing sound echoed from the ground below. A voracious roar followed it.

  Nathan and Maka moved to the edge of the turret and looked down. The six-limbed behemoth left them speechless. It stood at least seven stories tall, armoured in shimmering gold scales. Eight black eyes with luminescent blue irises crowned a maw bearing many rows of sharp teeth.

  “What the Hell is that?” exclaimed Soul.

  “The perfection of Doctor Butterfly’s homunculus engineering technology, combined with Shaula’s soul harvesting device,” explained Moonface giddily. “I mean, seriously, suggest a superior soul-stockpiling system!”

  Enraged, Astrid cartwheeled around the immobile Moonface copies, slicing their heads off as she moved. When they were all gone, she turned to the others.

  “He’s still here somewhere,” she said. “Nathan, Sakura, you two find him. We’ll take care of that thing!”

  The rest of the group nodded, and Soul bellowed, “Let’s kick some ass.”

  Maka, Xiaolang, and Astrid leapt off the turret and headed straight down. Gravity accelerated them, and their blades, toward the monster’s head.

  We have to end this quick, thought Astrid.

  Chapter 20: Moonface’s Army

  The four warriors plummeted from the top of Centrepoint Tower, and sunk their blades straight into the behemoth. The creature crashed to the ground under the force of their superhuman inertia, unleashing a shockwave of air and heat that upended cars and sent bystanders flying. It let out a grunt before falling still.

  The group moved away and glanced around.

  “No way it’s that easy,” said Soul.

  As if he’d jinxed their luck, the behemoth struck the ground with a clenched fist. It pushed itself to its feet and roared.

  “Spoke too soon,” said Xiaolang. He drew a paper charm and unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts, which dinged harmlessly off the behemoth. It paid them no notice, and took a bite out of the corner of a nearby building. It’s mouth lit up with small purple flashes, and Maka gripped her chest.

  “Maka, what’s the matter?” exclaimed Soul.

  “It’s devouring the souls of the people!” cried Maka.

  “Coyote!” bellowed Astrid, who raced toward the creature. Xiaolang drew another paper charm and summoned a gale to Astrid’s feet. She soared toward the behemoth and cleaved across its shoulder blades. The beast roared with dismay and swatted at her. She landed on the other side and ran away. Maka got the same idea and charged forward. She used Soul’s scythe form to pole vault into the air. She somersaulted, bringing Soul’s scythe blade through the creature’s calf.

  Atop the toer, Nathan marvelled at their teammates, while Sakura shuddered at the behemoth.

  “That kind of coolness should be illegal,” said Nathan. He tapped Sakura. “Let’s find Moonface!”

  They found an entrance hatch in the floor nearby, and passed through it into the viewing level.

  Moonface stood in the midst of a cacophony of tubing and humming devices. The sweat pouring down his brow told them he was concentrating very hard. His malicious grin announced that he loved every second of it. Nathan wasted no time and charged forward. With a raucous yawp, he brought his lance down on Moonface. He struck something harder than diamond, and the recoil sent him head-over-heels.

  “Tsk-tsk-tsk, I expected more from a larval Victor,” muttered Moonface. “But it’s good that Shaula’s magic holds against you. Nothing can stop me from harvesting the souls in this city!”

  “Stop it!” screamed Sakura.

  “Never!” Moonface gleefully chirped. He pressed his hands to the pedestal, into which his Arms Alchemy broach had been inserted. He focused all his mental energy into the device.

  Suddenly, dozens of energetic bolts blew from cannons linked to the pedestal. They took shapes similar to that of the behemoth. Yet they were much smaller, ranging between half and twice the size of a grown man. They sprawled across the rooftops below. The screams and wails of civilians reached Sakura’s ears and she began to pant with terror and panic.

  “My minions are reaping, and the Silver Key is charging,” muttered Moonface. “When these etheric capacitors are filled, Shaula will activate the key, and the new world shall begin!”

  “No!” screamed Sakura. She ignored Nathan’s warnings, and unleashed the Flare Card. The air between her and the force field ignited, but the invisible shield did not budge.

  The blast launched Nathan and Sakura faster than a bullet from a gun. Dazed, Nathan glanced at Sakura and saw she was unconscious. He grabbed her quickly, and held her above him, just in time to take the brunt of the impact. His back seared with tremendous pain, much like when he had his heart ripped out by his homunculus English teacher.

  He finally came to a stop and lay back with a long growl.

  “Ouch,” he groaned. His Kakugane-induced healing factor sealed his wounds quickly. He was relieved to find his special shirt hadn’t torn that much. Then he turned to Sakura, who still lay on top of him. “Sakura, wake up,” he urged.

  The girl woke with a start and scrambled off him. She staggered around, unable to get her bearings. She blurted things in Japanese, which Nathan couldn’t understand. She fell against a wall, covered in disintegrated plasterboard and mortar, and breathed heavily.

  “Sakura, calm down, you’re alright,” said Nathan.

  “I can’t breathe!” she gasped.

  “Slowly,” said Nathan, guiding her through an exercise to calm her. She came down from her anxiety attack, only to break down into tears. Nathan moaned, “Sakura, I need you to focus. We’ve still got a job to do.”

  “No! I can’t do this!” she wailed. “I didn’t want this. I didn’t ask for this! I’m not a warrior. I do gymnastics at school. I’m bad at math and like music. I didn’t want the Clow Cards so that I could fight life-sucking monsters!”

  Nathan grabbed her shoulders and held her tightly, but struggled to contain her thrashing. “Sakura, that doesn’t matter. You’re here, so you have to do it.”

  “No! I want to go home! Let me go home!” screamed the girl.

  Nathan rolled his eyes.

  Don’t hate me for this, he silently begged any goddesses that might be watching. He then slapped Sakura over the head, and she fell silent.

  “Look, I get it,” said Nathan slowly, looking right in her eyes. “Two years ago, I was just a regular kid with recurring nightmares about cricket balls. I didn’t as
k to be brought back to life with powers. And I certainly didn’t want to be a soul-sucking zombie boy. But that happened to me, whether I like it or not.” He pointed to what assumed was south. “About an hour’s drive that way is my home town,” he went on. “I have to use my powers to protect my friends there. My friends are probably watching this now, and counting on me to win. So I’m damn well gonna. And it’ll be hard, but if I have to, I’ll do it without you. You wanna run home, I’ll get your boyfriend to come and get you, and he’ll take you outta here.” Then he picked up the Star Wand that had clattered nearby, and thrust it in her hands.

  Sakura looked between the wand and him, flummoxed and overwhelmed.

  “If you want to do what’s right,” Nathan went on, “You’ll get your arse out there and kill these things. And you’ll goddamn win.”

  Sakura panted with dismay, “I didn’t want the Clow Cards to kill things. I can’t believe I killed those homunculi. They’re people.”

  “Were people,” said Nathan. He stood up and sighed solemnly. “You can protect the people still alive. And that’s all you can do.”

  He neared to the front of the empty shop into which they’d fallen. A sheet of corrugated steel obscured a view of the outside, but they could hear growls of monsters and wails of victims. He looked over his shoulder at the trembling girl huddled in the corner.

  “Run if you want,” he said. “I won’t blame you, but you’ll blame yourself, trust me.”

  “How do you do it?” exclaimed the girl. “How do you fight without being scared?”

  Nathan scoffed with amazement and held out his gloved hand to the girl.

  “Feel my hand,” he ordered.

  She grabbed it, and felt his trembling within the magical gauntlet.

  “I’m scared shitless,” he said. “I'd just rather be scared than guilty. Some things we mustn’t ever do, even if it means death; and some things we have to do, even if it kills us.” He pointed at her fixedly. “Fight or flight. You tell me which is which.”

  Then he sliced through the steel sheet and burst into the street. The sounds of the monsters’ growls gave way to their screeches. With every grunt and yell from Nathan, the monsters’ howled more and with greater agony. Their wails grew fainter as did Nathan’s yawps, until all Sakura could hear was distant crashing.