Hiro's Fall

by G L Rathweg

  One moment the beach was idyllic and peaceful, the serene vision of what a tropical paradise should look like, and the next it was chaos, pure unadulterated chaos. Thousands of the chitinous murderous little bastards exploded from the sand, throwing the glass like particles around and creating a giant sand cloud. The sound of their chittering was like thunder coming from the sky there were so many of them. The entirety of the beach was now a carpet of the snapping and clacking bugs. I pulled up their information on my AR-2.

  SCOURGE BEETLE – Monsters of Battle – Level – 3

  CLASS – Uncommon

  WEAPON – Pincers x 1, Feet x 12

  ARMOR – Chitinous Plate, Extra defense from Earth Affinity and Water Affinity.

  AFFINITIES – Water, Earth, Death, Spirit

  More commonly referred to as the plague or biting locusts, scourge beetles are pure unadulterated evil. All they do is breed and eat. When a colony of scourge beetles is located all resources in a community is spent on eradicating it. Otherwise, all the surrounding flora and fauna will be consumed and worst of all, a scourge beetle queen will appear.

  “Kill them all!” Anna yelled, her aura flaring a white brighter than the sand as she leaped forward, translucent Affinity powered wings sprouting from her back.

  She slammed down into the morass of insects with an explosion of Affinity Power. I didn’t stop to see the result as I was already attacking along with the rest of the group. A special type of glee, different than the satisfaction I got from taking the pixies out, came to me as I smashed beetle after beetle. These were the last things that had hurt me when I left the island before, they had also given me catharsis and helped me deal with the death of my Master.

  That was why by the time I crushed the last insect beneath my foot with a manically satisfied grin on my face I didn’t notice everyone staring at me. As I looked around for more beetles, I noticed the concern and raised eyebrows pointed my way.

  “What?” I said, looking around a little bewildered.

  “You ok dude?” Bron asked, gesturing up and down at my body.

  Even Maggie was giving me a concerned gaze. I looked at myself and realized I looked like a painter’s palette. There was so much blood and gore covering me I must have seemed a disgusting mess. The others had fought and were dirty but nothing like me, they also weren’t as manic as I had been. I coughed and then tried in vain to brush the gunk off, but it just had the effect of spreading it around more.

  “We should get going, times a wasting.” I said, embarrassed.

  “Crazy is right, my timer is still clicking down.” Justin chimed in, with a roll of his eyes and circling his ear with his finger in the time old motion, while pointing at me.

  “Let’s go!” Anna called, giving me a raised eyebrow to which I nodded I’m fine and then she turned leading everyone off once again.

  Maggie came up to my side and after a concerned look then a nod from me we followed the group and entered the water.

  TRACK 14 – NANDEMO NEDARI – KANA-BOON

  We splashed through the surf with ease, the waves being so small, and made it to water that was deep enough to swim in. Soon, we were all swimming all out in the salty water which cleaned all the grime and sweat from our bodies. It was invigorating and even a little refreshing considering we were all extremely exhausted and low on Affinity Power. However, besides those benefits it had the added effect of burning like a son of a biatch!

  Every single cut and scratch felt like someone was drawing a mini little line of fire and pain on my body. After a while, it became numb but at first, wow, it hurt, and no one was exempt. Right after the pain from the saltwater went away, we hit the reef in the lagoon and the first of the water MOBs.

  It was beautiful for a moment, all the different colored corals and fish in the reef. I saw schools of multicolored fish and graceful rays, then I saw the fish from hell. If it hadn’t been for our tangle with the shark-men we’d have been a fish’s dinner. Huge barracuda like monsters, except more massive, came at us in a huge school, water churning in their wakes. My AR-2 dinged.

  ISLAND REEF BARRACUDA – Monsters of Battle – Level 5

  CLASS – Common

  WEAPON – Bite x 1, Tail x 1

  ARMOR – Natural Scale Mail – Extra defense from Water Affinity when in water.

  AFFINITIES – Water, Spirit, Death

  The wolves of the sea, at least they hunt like it. These MOBs are attracted to anything with Affinity Power and chase after it with abandon. They also like the taste of raw meat so that helps as well. Island Reef Barracudas are fast, strong, aggressive, and extremely one-dimensional. They always attack the same way, in a large group and from whatever direction they notice you from. While it is annoying having them attack and they can kill you, their tactics leave something to be desired making them easy to kill if you are strong enough.

  I closed the window with a thought and looked ahead. Anna was in the lead and made a gesture I recognized as an A-Ball attack play. My eyes widened in surprise and I nodded to myself as I treaded water. Then the first of the MOBs were upon us and I burst into action along with my fellows. The play she had called was Overwhelm Assault Six, which was basically an all-out attack and breakthrough play.

  Fire, ice, lightning, and even water Affinities shot out and crashed into the oncoming monsters from across our front line as we swam forward. The ocean churned and turned bloody but when we swam into the morass all the same. All the monsters had been killed or maimed enough not to be a problem. Anna gestured and we continued swimming forward at full speed, timer still ticking away.

  2:14:28… 2:14:27… 2:14:26…

  We hit the point on our mini map that indicated where the ocean and lagoon met and turned around swimming back to the lagoon’s beach. Once back at the beach, the sand erupted again but this time it wasn’t the same type of scourge beetle, it was there freaking mom. My AR-2 sent me the MOB’s information once again.

  SCOURGE BEETLE QUEEN – Monsters of Battle – Level 6

  CLASS – Ultra Rare

  WEAPON – Bite x 1, Limbs x 12, Breath Weapon (Poison) x 1

  ARMOR – Natural Chitinous Mail – Extra defense from Earth Affinity when in ground, doubled when in sand.

  AFFINITIES – Earth, Spirit, Death, Life

  The Scourge Beetle Queen is one of the more deadly hive monsters. The queen can make up to one thousand scourge beetles in a single twenty-four-hour time span and given enough time can breed enough beetle soldiers to overwhelm almost any ecosystem. Their breath weapon is a poisonous miasma that can melt the bark of even a steel wood tree and turn human bones to nothing but air.

  After I closed the window, I had a brief flashback to a movie my Sensei and I had both loved called Starship Troopers. There was a scene where a giant monster bug broke through the ground and surprised the defenders while proceeding to maul half of them before they could escape its wrath. Well, that wasn’t going to happen with us, we weren’t pansy starship troopers, we were Warrior Academy warriors, with a smattering of the other school’s bad ass students.

  The monster was massive, it was all sharp angles and deadly snapping pincers and sword like limbs. To add icing on the cake it had a breath weapon it chose to fire at that moment.

  Affinity Powers flared and all the colors of the rainbow flashed on around me like a Christmas tree. The MOB roared and so did we, our tired and exhausted minds and bodies raging at the unfairness that we’d had to deal with so far. Not only today, but since we’d had to leave Warrior Academy. Everything since then was contained in our shouts. They were guttural primal things that released all the pent-up rage and other emotions we’d been hoarding since then. The Scourge Beetle Queen didn’t stand a chance.

  The queen’s breath weapon was a glowing green acid that burned where it touched and left a cloud of poisonous gas. It dissipated in a few seconds but if it hit you, you’d be toast. This was demonstrated by the small palm tree it hit that had shriveled up and melted in on itsel
f when the cloud cleared. It’s desiccated husk a stark reminder of the repercussions of a misstep.

  These were worries of another band of fighters. These were worries for those who weren’t exhausted, those not, mind numbingly spent. My fellows and I weren’t thinking of anything but destroying this monster. There was no hesitation and no holding back for fear of dying or death. It was a full-on rage attack and we all let loose as one, unleashing the meager remaining amounts of Affinity Power that we all had.

  Reds, blues, greens, yellows, oranges, whites, blacks, and other colors struck all together in a spiraling Affinity Power attack containing all the different Affinities we all could us. It was beautiful, almost ethereal in nature, and quite spectacular. Our separate attacks had created a cacophony of interactions of differing powers and elements that combined in a way that was almost unimaginable to behold.

  Behold it the giant beetle queen biatch did, every color and combination in the rainbow hit her from every angle. Giant beetle parts flew across the sky as they exploded from our barrage and rained over us and the surrounding areas.

  “Move! No rest, go!” Anna yelled, as a particularly gory piece of beetle smashed down on her and made her look like my Sensei’s favorite horror prom flick, Carrie. To her credit she didn’t bat an eye, well she batted an eye but continued moving without stopping as if the blood and offal were nonexistent. She just wiped the gunk away spit to the side and took off sprinting as if she was fresh as a daisy. Gosh! Why was she so freaking beautiful, sexy, hot, and all those other monikers?

  An elbow hit me in the ribs, and I glanced down to the left seeing Ari next to me looking around nonchalantly. Then a split second later another blow hit me on the other side, and I turned my head seeing Maggie with a glare and raised eyebrow. I coughed and sprang into action. I’d have done anything to get out of that awkward situation and joined the fighters in attacking the queen.

  Right then I saw Justin streaking down from behind the monster’s blind spot, using the sun to hide in.

  “Black Hole Sun!” He screamed.

  A scythe made of raw Affinity Power appeared in his hands, jet black like his aura, and his skill activated striking the queen beetle in the back of the head. He had leaped high into the air and came down hard on the MOB, his black miasma covered its head like a shroud.

  SCREE! SCREE! SCREE!

  The giant insect screamed in pain and rage from Justin’s attack. It flailed around like one of those wacky waving inflatable tube men and smacked into the young Belmont. Justin focused his aura and a black disc appeared in front of him blocking the attack, but the force of the blow still launched him back like a bullet and he crashed a couple dozen feet away into the sand like a meteor.

  “Justin!” Blake called, then activated his skill and glowing black plate armor encased his body.

  He charged at the monster, followed by Lancelot and Mordred who had also encased themselves in armor with their Affinity skills, then they attacked with a trio of haymaker punches. The three big boy’s attacks connected, and a blinding flash of power erupted into and from the MOB, then it exploded. I blinked my eyes open and a rain consisting of the Scourge Beetle Queen’s bodily fluids, innards, and parts came down covering all of us in effluvia and nastiness.

  Even though gore and blood rained on us no one screamed or acted squeamish. We just plastered resolve across our faces and took off again on our jog back to our home base. Our course took us from the beach and back into the jungle where we ran into pixies again. There was much cursing, shouting, and death but we persevered and made it out of the jungle and up the mountain through the forest. Brownies greeted our return and we killed more of those bastards as well.

  That was why a grimier, more exhausted, cut up, bloodied, gore encrusted, but triumphant group of students than have ever existed tromped back to camp with our heads held high before the timer counted down to zero. When we made it to the center of camp, we all collapsed as one on the emerald green grass completely spent with no energy remaining.

  “Wonderful job everyone. I’m extremely pleased with how you performed the first two tasks. Now it is time…” Robyn started to say, but Anna cut him off with a quickness.

  “Listen you, if you don’t let us rest for a little bit, cleanup, and change I’m going to figure out a way to kick your ass if it’s the last thing I ever do. If it means making myself an Affinity Intelligence and going into your stupid Affinity powered brain, I will do it!” Anna growled.

  “Ah, well, I was just about to say why don’t you all head to the barracks and cleanup and rest till dinner.” Robyn said, his voice squeaking slightly in response to the fuming Sophomore class leader.

  “You don’t need to tell me twice.” Peter said, hopping up and groaning in pain from his tortured muscles and body as he headed to the boy’s barracks.

  His actions were emulated by the rest of us, I had never heard so many groans and swears of pain, our bodies were really jacked up. Everyone headed to their proper barracks to clean off the blood and guts. No one talked, the act required too much energy. Once inside the barracks, I went to the showers and stripped out of my torn and tattered clothing along with the others. It was a bit weird to be in a group shower, but I was too tired to care. Besides, the hot water and soap felt amazing.

  An almost collective sigh of relief came from everyone who took a shower. I may have spent an eternity under the hot water washing my body clean, but I lost track of time. Never had I been so tired, I was exhausted on a visceral level, to the point where even my bones were tired, even the hair follicles on my skin hurt. After the shower, I headed back to my bunk and grabbed a fresh set of clothing and new shoes. All the things I had been wearing earlier were pretty much garbage now.

  '“Man, even the nails on my fingers hurt.” Cayden complained.

  “You’re telling me and it’s only the first day.” Peter said, walking up and toweling his platinum blonde hair off, which was still spiky somehow even after being wet. Hair gel much?

  “Dude, I’ve never been so tired and hungry.” Dwayne whined, then crashed down on his bed and grabbed his stomach theatrically.

  KLANG! KLANG! KLANG!

  The klaxon alarm sounded, and we all groaned when it stopped.

  “Let’s go guys.” I said, with a sigh and then tromped out of the barracks and back into the center of the camp.

  I smiled though when I saw that the teachers were there waiting for us. They had healed up and were awake now.

  “All three of you are awake now. Good, we were worried.” Anna said, walking up with the rest of the girls.

  TRACK 15 – THANK YOU, MY TWILIGHT – THE PILLOWS

  The last ten minutes had been an exercise in patience the likes of which I had never experienced before and as all the gods in heaven and demons in hell as my witness, I swear to never have to experience again. It was like listening to the teachers from Charlie Brown in real life. I looked around and saw the same face as my own mirrored on all my fellow students.

  Our emotions were pretty much plastered all across our beings, the trails of the day had exhausted us past the point of politeness. Anna cleared her throat loudly interrupting the bickering faculty members. Ms. Smith held a hand up to the Sophomore, in a wait a minute gesture and continued the bickering with the other teachers. This move served to piss Anna off even more and it was like I could almost see the steam coming from her ears. Her gaze hardened and her eyes narrowed, and she cleared her throat again, this time adding Affinity Power as she did.

  AHEM!

  The sound was like a cannon blast and this time all three of the teachers stopped talking and turned as one to look at the young Belmont girl.

  “If you three would shut the hell up and listen. We might be able to explain some things to you.” Anna scolded.

  All three of the teachers faces fell in shock and surprise. I laughed out loud despite of my exhaustion, along with Bron and Peter. That earned us a glare from Anna but luckily for us she had bigger fi
sh to fry. Professor Strange was the first to recover and thought to admonish her.

  “Anna Belmont, why I have never heard you speak to a…” He began, but Anna silenced him with a glare and a chopping motion.

  “That’s because we’ve never been in a situation like this, with all of our homes either taken over or under siege. That’s because we’ve never had all our Headmasters and Faculty members defeated by an invading nation. That’s because we’ve never had to flee for our lives against overwhelming odds while our friends and family are caught and taken prisoner.” Anna said, loss and anger radiating from her with every word.

  The teachers listened and their faces fell as they were chastised. All of them had already known the seriousness of the situation but hearing it again brought everything back into context. Anna took their silence as permission to continue and kept going, this time though she changed her tone and spoke with her A-Ball Captain voice.

  “I know you all have just woken up and the strain of being knocked unconscious along with the events that transpired before and after, it’s no wonder that you’d all be so upset. You need to understand that we haven’t been idle while you were unconscious. As a matter of fact, we have already formulated plans on how to retake our homes and get our revenge against the Neo Rus.” She finished.

  The last thing she said caused all three teachers to raise an eyebrow and then look at each other in surprise.