“Okay, first and foremost,” said Spyro, glancing around his men, “where’s ShadowNinja?”
“I’m not sure,” one of the players replied. Leonidas recognized the distinct, high-pitched squeaky voice as Commander Squid, an old private of his. “He must still be out searching.”
“Hmm . . . he can’t be far . . . this is a pretty small island . . . ,” Spyro said to himself. “Anyway, not important, we’ll find him in a minute. For now, let’s set up camp.”
Leonidas’s heart dropped out of his stomach. They were staying the night? He watched in horror as the Noctem soldiers pulled beds, furnaces, and anvils from their inventories, setting them up all around the spot where Stan would no doubt be reentering Elementia soon.
I have to kill them all, Leonidas thought desperately, or at least severely weaken them. There’s no way that Stan’ll be able to handle that many guys if he comes back . . . he’ll be totally blindsided! What should I do . . .
Leonidas knew that he had no time whatsoever to think his plan out further; he would simply have to go for broke. Leonidas poked his head out from around the wall of the cave and drew his bow. He notched an arrow in the string, pulled it back, took aim, and, after he had a clear shot, he let it fly, ducking back into the cave immediately after he did so.
Leonidas heard the cry of anguish that accompanied his arrow and knew that he had hit the mark. He heard the shouts of surprise and terror from the ring of Noctem troops, and Spyro’s voice bellowed out, “WHO’S THERE? SHOW YOURSELF!”
Heart pounding out of his chest, Leonidas readied another arrow, and took another shot at the circle, this time aiming for the closest soldier. Again, the shout of pain, and the renewed round of terrified confusion.
“What’s going on here?”
“Who’s shooting at us?”
“Look, over there! I saw someone in the mine!”
“Argh,” Leonidas grunted to himself as he sprinted out into the open. He saw the three remaining soldiers glare at him, but he sprinted away before they could catch his eye.
“It’s ShadowNinja! He betrayed us!” bellowed Spyro in fury.
For a moment, Leonidas was confused, but then he realized what had happened. The player he had killed in the mine—ShadowNinja, apparently—had also been an archer. They must have assumed that, with his black leather armor, he was their comrade gone renegade. In any case, thought Leonidas to himself, none of them would live to realize the truth.
Leonidas sprinted his way up to the top of the dirt mound that was the island, and when he was at the peak, he glanced down. Commander Squid was making his way up the island, eyes blazing in fury and iron axe in hand. Another figure who Leonidas didn’t recognize was taking aim at him with a bow from the beach below. Leonidas had no idea where Spyro was, but he had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.
Leonidas sidestepped the arrow fired his way from the beach, and stood back up to find that Commander Squid was upon him. He launched a powerful axe strike at Leonidas’s head, which he simply ducked under, sending Squid tumbling back down the slope with a body check.
Having dealt with that problem for the time being, Leonidas then focused his attention on the archer on the beach. He had to duck two back-to-back arrows before he finally managed to get a clear shot on the archer. As fast as possible, Leonidas fired an arrow to the left of the archer, then directly at him, and then a ways to the right. The plan worked; the archer hopped right to avoid the first two arrows, directly into the path of the third. Leonidas sent another well-placed arrow down to finish him, and the ring of items bursting from the beached archer indicated Leonidas’s victory.
Leonidas hardly had time to celebrate, however, as Commander Squid was nearly back upon him. Almost effortlessly, Leonidas managed to stay out of the range of Squid’s frantic axe swipes, and sunk three arrows into him in a matter of seconds. Leonidas took a deep breath and glanced around the island below him, hoping to locate where Spyro went.
Then, without warning, Leonidas sensed something behind him. He lunged as hard as he could out of the way of the diamond sword that had stabbed at him from behind. Leonidas fell off the top of the hill and landed on the ground with a crash, tumbling painfully down the hill until he landed with a thud on the beach below.
Aching but not badly hurt, Leonidas kicked up onto his feet, loading his bow and standing perfectly still, trying to control his breathing, in the hopes that he might feel the invisible player moving around him.
Before long, Leonidas sensed a presence coming directly toward him. He shot his arrow forward to no avail, and was about to fire another when an invisible fist sunk hard into Leonidas’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him. This was quickly followed by an uppercut under his chin that sent him flying backward, leaving him sprawled out on the ground. Dazed, Leonidas focused hard on staying conscious. When a sword appeared from nowhere above him, Leonidas suddenly felt wide awake as he rolled to the side. The sword drove deep into the ground, and Leonidas sent another arrow flying toward the weapon.
There was a grunt of agony as the arrow found its mark, and Leonidas saw the pained body of General Spyro flash into view for a moment before it disappeared again. However, the arrow in his arm remained, revealing where he was. Then, Leonidas watched in horror as a Potion of Healing poured onto the wound. The arrow popped out of the invisible arm and onto the sand.
“Well, well, well,” the invisible Spyro laughed to himself as he picked up the arrow from the ground and snapped it in half. “If it isn’t Leonidas . . . the once-great general of the Noctem Alliance.”
Leonidas was too exhausted to answer. He chose to devote his energy to coming up with an attack plan during this moment of rest rather than responding.
“I’m gonna get another promotion for this kill,” Spyro laughed to himself. “They’ll have to invent a rank above general!” And with that, the levitating diamond sword barreled forward, straight toward Leonidas.
Having not established a surefire plan yet, Leonidas raised his bow to fire again, but Spyro’s sword cleaved it in half, the tension of the weapon sending the two halves flying into the distance. In the following instant, Leonidas considered drawing the bow he had gotten from ShadowNinja, but instead chose to draw his iron sword and engage Spyro in combat.
The effort, however, was futile. Spyro outclassed Leonidas in sword fighting by a remarkable degree, and it wasn’t long before Leonidas’s sword spiraled high in the air, landing with a splash in the nearby ocean. Leonidas took off sprinting, though from what, he did not know. He now realized that his efforts were futile and, eventually, Spyro was going to catch him.
Suddenly, Leonidas came across a block-high drop on the sand beach and, not expecting it, he tripped and tumbled across the sand. He landed face-up, and he became aware that Spyro’s diamond sword was just blocks away from him.
This is it, thought Leonidas as the diamond sword rose above him. He closed his eyes.
Then, Leonidas heard a clash of two blades, and a grunt of pain. A moment later, he heard the sound of a player landing on the dirt, and Spyro’s voice yelling out, “What the . . .”
Leonidas opened his eyes, and painfully propped himself up on his arm before glancing up. Standing there, his back to Leonidas, was a player. In the faint moonlight, Leonidas could just make out dark-colored pants and shoes. A black cloak obscured the top half of his body, blowing faintly in the ocean breeze. In his pale left hand he held a diamond sword, pointed at the ground.
Leonidas saw Spyro a distance away. He was sitting on the sand and flashing in and out of sight as his Potion of Invisibility began to wear off. Spyro glanced up at the mysterious hooded figure standing between him and Leonidas and looked shocked, infuriated, and scared.
“Who are you? Where did you come from?” Spyro demanded.
The figure didn’t answer. He simply stood there, not moving a muscle.
“That player is a wanted criminal. In the name of the Noctem Alliance and Lord Tenebr
is, I order you to stand down!” bellowed Spyro, raising his diamond sword into an attack stance.
Again, the figure didn’t respond. But he did raise his right arm, crossing his sword over the front of his body in what was clearly a defensive stance.
“All right, if that’s the way it is!” hissed Spyro as he charged the hooded figure. The Noctem general launched countless high-power sword strikes at the figure. The speed and technique was very impressive, yet the figure was able to block every attack without moving a muscle except for his right hand.
After a minute of fighting, the figure executed a twist-block maneuver, sending Spyro’s sword flying, and he sunk his left fist hard into Spyro’s stomach. Spyro fell to the ground with a thud, cringing in pain. The figure didn’t continue the attack; rather, he simply moved his sword back into a defensive stance.
Grimacing, Spyro looked back up at the figure, tears in his eyes.
“Who . . . what . . . are you?” he managed to get out, fear manifested in his voice.
The figure, once again, said nothing. Spyro gazed into the face of the figure for a full minute. And then . . .
“You’re gonna get it,” Spyro spat, and he whipped a boat out of his inventory and hopped in the water, moving as fast as possible back in the general direction of the Mushroom Islands.
Leonidas looked up at the figure, wondering what to say. He had no idea who this player was, or where he came from, but he had just saved Leonidas’s life.
The robed figure turned to face Leonidas. As Leonidas glanced up, he realized that he could not see the figure’s face. The black cloak covered the upper body, and the hood obscured the upper half of the player’s face, revealing only a pale mouth. And although the figure still said nothing, Leonidas somehow knew the figure’s name, despite having no idea who he was.
“Thank you, Black Hood,” Leonidas whispered.
The Black Hood turned to face the ocean. Then, in an instant, he dived into the water and disappeared into the murky depths. Leonidas forced his aching body to stand up and glance down, hoping to catch any indication of where the player had gone. And yet there was nothing. When the ripples of the splash finally disappeared, it was as if nobody had ever been there.
Leonidas was perplexed, and was about to start pondering what had just happened when he heard a noise across the island. Quietly, Leonidas crept back to the top of the island and glanced over the peak. The view of the ocean expanded forever up here, and Leonidas could see Spyro’s ship going farther and farther into the distance. And on the bottom beach of the island, Leonidas could see Stan, pulling a bed from his inventory and walking over to the cave.
Leonidas realized just how tired he was. Stan had the right idea; it was late. Leonidas was far too exhausted to think about Spyro, now delivering his whereabouts to Lord Tenebris, or to figure out just who it was who had just saved his life. All Leonidas wanted to do was find the softest pile of dirt he could and go to sleep.
CHAPTER 8 BREAKOUT
As G and Jayden walked down the hallway toward the Training Center Gymnasium, neither of them spoke. They both knew that, to keep their cover, they should have been chatting like the other trainees around them, eager to partake in the sparring tournament that was only moments away. However, they had given themselves a pass, as they had both been plagued with nightmares last night after yesterday’s tour.
Not that the tour hadn’t been extremely helpful, because it had. The walk around the Capitol Building had been crucial to figuring out where the Adorian hostages might be held. There had been areas where the tour wasn’t allowed to go, and they had pegged those as various places where the hostages might be. The tour of the training facility had been equally helpful, as the layout would have to be memorized if they wanted to be able to make an impromptu escape.
However, toward the end of the tour, the two boys had seen a sight that would haunt them forever. From a glass room overlooking a dark, stone pen, they had finally gotten a glimpse of Stull and Mella. The two Zombie villagers were disgusting, letting out moaning noises and occasionally garbled rambles that resembled speech. Jayden and G had watched in horror as unconscious Elementia soldiers had been dropped into the pen, immobile prey to the Zombie villagers.
It was all that the boys could do to stop from getting sick, and they weren’t the only ones. While a few of the recruits either watched in amazement or cheered for the Zombies, the majority of the players just looked really uncomfortable. None could feel the effects more profoundly than Jayden and G, though. Those villagers had visited them in Elementia a good few times, and the sight of them eating Elementia soldiers haunted them even the next day as they went into the area.
“Welcome,” said Tess as the recruits filed into rows, the early-morning sunlight blinding them from the glass roof above. “Today is your Aptitude Tournament. You will be called up by me, and two players will fight each other until one is unable to continue. Killing and permanent crippling is not allowed, but all else is. The winner will advance to the next round, and so on. Based on your performance during your fights, I will determine your base rankings during your training. Now, everyone stand at the sidelines. The first fight will be between MasterBronze and LemonKipper.”
G took a deep breath and stood up; MasterBronze was his cover name. He stood in the center of the ring, and another player stepped into the arena across from him. Although he was now covered in black leather armor, G recognized this player. He had the skin of a merman, and was cocky to a fault.
A black foot soldier stepped forward from behind Tess and walked over to the two of them. “What is your weapon of choice?” he asked G.
“Pickaxe,” G grunted in response, and the soldier reached into his inventory, pulled out a stone pickaxe, and handed it to G. Well, he thought, turning it over in his hand, it’s not diamond, but it’ll have to do.
“What is your weapon of choice?” the soldier asked, turning to face Kipper.
“Sword,” Kipper replied in a Welsh accent, snatching the stone sword that the soldier had pulled from his inventory.
“Okay,” Tess announced as the soldier backed away. “Ready? And . . . Fight!”
G raised his pickaxe in a defensive stance, allowing Kipper to make the first move. He gladly obliged, holding his sword in an attack stance and bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“You’re going down, kid,” Kipper hissed as he tried for an overhand strike at G’s head. In one motion, G sidestepped the attack, caught the sword in his pickaxe, and twisted the weapon out of Kipper’s grip. Then G dropped to the floor and swept Kipper’s leg, sending him tumbling to the ground. While his foe was dazed, G grabbed the stone point of his pickaxe and clubbed Kipper over the head with the wooden end, knocking him out.
“We have a winner!” Tess announced, and all the recruits clapped. G didn’t feel like it was much of an accomplishment. Kipper obviously wasn’t a very skilled fighter. He took his place back in line, and received an encouraging nod from Jayden.
A series of fights followed the first one, ranging from two totally equally matched fighters, to two cowards running away from each other, to one player totally dominating the other. G found the fights to be rather tedious, and only really paid attention when it was Jayden’s turn.
Jayden’s fight was against an archer, and he initially played defensive, blocking every arrow shot with his stone axe. Eventually, though, he found an opening, and managed to use a carefully placed axe throw to deliver a leg wound, causing him to win so the wound could be healed with potion.
The next round of the top eight fighters wasn’t very interesting either. Both Jayden and G outmatched their opponents by a considerable degree, and managed to take them out without much effort. The other matches were slightly more interesting to watch at least, ranging from an intense sword fight to two archers sniping at each other.
After the top eight were narrowed to the top four, a series of matches ensued that were a bit more interesting.
Jayden locked s
words with an impressive pickaxe fighter, who used the weapon more as a projectile than a melee weapon, dodging Jayden’s axe swipes while trying to hit him from afar. Eventually, though, Jayden was able to land a solid blow on her, and he won.
G went into combat with one of the archers, who actually gave him a rough time. The pickaxe was much harder to block arrows with than the axe, and the archer actually managed to land a couple of shots. It wasn’t long, though, before G managed to force an approach, and he won his battle with a blow to the stomach not long afterward.
“Okay,” announced Tess as the last cringing recruit pulled himself off the field. “We’re down to the final round. It’s MasterBronze versus Drayden!”
Taking a deep breath, G walked back into the ring. As he looked Jayden in the eye, it occurred to him that he really didn’t know who would win this match. Although he and Jayden were both easily better than the rest of the recruits, mostly upper-level players who had lived their whole lives in luxury, he and Jayden were both a bit out of practice. They hadn’t sparred at all since before King Kev had fallen, when they were still working in the Adorian Village together. And even back then, they were very evenly matched.
“Ready . . . and . . . FIGHT!” announced Tess.
G caught Jayden’s eye, and he knew they were both thinking the same thing. The two of them had the same fighting style, where they played defensive until they found an opening, and then broke into a ruthless, all-out attack. But if both of them played off counterattacking, then how were either of them going to win?
G sunk into an offensive stance. It doesn’t really matter who wins, he thought to himself, as long as we both get high scores so we can work our way into the higher ranks of the army faster. So I guess I’ll give Jayden an opening.
G rushed in, pickaxe blazing, as Jayden sunk back, ready to counter. Just as he was about to strike, though, he cut left, dodging Jayden’s axe jab and knocking the axe out of his hand with a stray strike. G lunged in to follow up with a pickaxe blow, but Jayden rolled out of the way, landing by his axe. Jayden snatched his weapon off the ground and sent it spiraling through the air toward his opponent. G feinted out of the way, but the handle of the flying axe caught his hand, sending his pickaxe into the air. Jayden and G watched as their weapons clattered to the ground beside each other.
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