by Weiqi Wang
At this same moment, the rest of the crew was urgently in search of their friends.
‘They are not here anymore. They were taken by the Vice Dean.’ When the rest of the group arrived at the library, Rodka had already come out of it. ‘I’m going to pay a visit. You guys wait in the dorm, okay?’
‘I’m going too!’ Soarame said at once. ‘We did this for my magimal!’
‘I’m not staying behind like a coward.’ Halgon spoke up too. ‘So I’m going too.’
‘Same with us!’ The girls said together, unwilling to be left behind.
‘No way! You all go back…now!’ Rodka thundered, but his heart was warmed.
‘Snower is my magimal. You think you can leave me out of this?’ Soarame looked at Rodka.
‘Okay, you can go with me.’ Rodka couldn’t beat that. ‘But the rest of you must stay out of this.’
‘In case you forgot, I’m the one in the same dorm with Kardy, Omi and Soar — not you.’ Halgon didn’t buy that at all. ‘So why don’t you stay out of this and let me take care of it? Or do you want my friends to think I’m a traitor?’
‘Damn it… okay, you are in too.’ Rodka was choked up. ‘But you girls don’t…’
‘Shut up, boy!’ Vivarin jumped over to Rodka and covered his mouth with her palm. ‘I say I go, so I go!’
‘We did it together, so I’m not going to pretend that I wasn’t a part of it.’ Dileys looked into Rodka’s eyes.
‘I won’t leave my friends.’ Jemario glanced at Soarame.
‘I’m just too bored, so let’s go!’ Catheray pushed Rodka towards the Vice Dean’s office.
‘Sir, as I said, I did it.’ Back in Dean Akex’s office, Omifo was not going to turn in his friends. ‘And as I said, there’s no one else. I was just playing around and having fun.’
‘Okay Omifo, show me how you did it then.’ Dean Akex gave Omifo a book. ‘Show me how to break an Expert seal with your mind power of Grade 2.’
‘Are you sure it’s broken?’ Omifo couldn’t get over this. ‘If it’s broken, why would the alarm sound?’
‘Ahh, this is your problem?’ Dean Akex crossed his legs, lying in the chair. ‘Boy, it’s called magic.’
Omifo was speechless; it was magic indeed.
‘Okay, do me a favour please.’ Watching Omifo, Dean Akex shook his head. ‘Why don’t you call Rodka in, to save us some time? He must be looking for you two.’
‘What? Rodka?’ Omifo was in shock, but he still tried to cover it. ‘I don’t know what you talking about…’
‘It’s okay, Omi.’ Rodka, along with the others, walked into Dean Akex’s office. ‘Mr. Vice Dean, we are all here!’
FLEDGLINGS TOURNAMENT
‘Her name is Snower?’ After Rodka told Dean Akex the entire story, Dean Akex was totally surprised. Looking at the white kitten in front of him, he immediately recalled this part in the biography. ‘You think this is the Giantail Cat baby? But the Dean disagreed?’
‘Yes, we all believe so.’ Rodka took a deep breath. ‘And we have to do this to protect her.’
‘Hmm…’ Dean Akex stood up and walked around, pondering. The crew was watching the Vice Dean nervously until he finally spoke again. ‘Okay, regardless of you being right or wrong on your belief, I forgive you for this.’
‘Really!’ Everyone instantly cheered up. Rodka tried to suggest. ‘Sir, about the Dean…’
‘Alas. Dean Romboton has a cold face, but he has a warm heart. He meant well for you and he did have a point.’ Dean Akex sighed. ‘Never mind, I’ll keep this little secret for you, but I can’t tell if Snower is a particularly rare breed right now.’
The friends had to agree. Snower did look like a normal kitten at this point; nothing unique or special had happened after she was born. If not for the extraordinary scene during Snower’s birth and the trouble she made with beetalbulls, even the friends wouldn’t believe she was unusual.
‘Sir, if I may…’ Soarame stepped forward. ‘Do you know who put this biography into the library?’
‘I’m sorry, Soarame, I don’t.’ Dean Akex shook his head. ‘It was probably myself, if not a random librarian. I have been in charge of the library for years. That said, I didn’t pay attention to this biography, so I’m not sure if it was really me; and it’s impossible to find out who exactly was responsible. So I think you are actually risking everything without getting anything in return.’
‘I see.’ Soarame and Rodka looked at each other. ‘Thank you sir, so much.’
‘You are welcome. But I can’t let you take the book out if I’m going to keep the secret for you. I don’t want you to make more trouble out of it.’ Dean Akex gave Snower back to Soarame. ‘So, what’s your next plan?’
‘We don’t know yet.’ Soarame looked around at his friends. ‘We will see how it goes.’
‘Okay, good luck then. You are dismissed… except for Rodka.’ Dean Akex gestured the crew to leave. ‘Don’t worry, Rodka will be fine and he will join you soon enough.’
‘Yes sir, what’s the matter?’ Rodka asked after the group had left.
‘The same question as Dean Romboton’s.’ Dean Akex closed the door. ‘When are you graduating?’
‘Err… I don’t know yet.’ Rodka shrugged his shoulders. ‘After I level up to Grade 6, why?’
‘Come on, boy.’ Dean Akex looked at Rodka. ‘If there’s a second person likely to know your real power has reached Grade 6 already, that person is me.’
‘Well, I’m sorry but there’s already a second person.’ Dean Akex was Rodka’s primary teacher and they were pretty familiar with one another, so Rodka could have casual conversation with this Vice Dean in private.
‘Okay, the third person, then.’ Dean Akex sat back into the chair. ‘Happy now?’
‘No sir, there’s already a third person too.’ Rodka chuckled. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Okay, you tell me a number!’ Dean Akex was amused.
‘Err… including me, there have been nine.’ Rodka scratched the back of his head. ‘You’ve just seen them.’
‘So, I’ll be the tenth…’ Dean Akex paused and stared at Rodka. ‘What? Ten? Double digits? I’m the one that taught you everything and I’m the tenth person to know your secret?’
‘Well…’ Rodka was embarrassed, although he knew that Dean Akex was teasing him.
‘Hmm. As a punishment, you must graduate tomorrow.’ Dean Akex knocked the table with his index finger.
‘I promise you, once Snower’s story made any progress, I will graduate right away.’ Rodka chuckled. ‘How about that, sir?’
‘Okay, so be it. Let’s make it formal, okay?’ Dean Akex also chuckled. ‘Rodka, the Dean was actually right on this — the school is just the beginning of the story. You should go explore the outer world, the earlier the better.’
‘Yes sir, I totally agree.’ Rodka nodded. ‘I was planning to graduate soon anyway, but thank you very much for the offer.’
‘You kid…’ Dean Akex was amused. ‘So you actually took advantage of our deal?’
‘No, I’m trying to pursue the truth and help people; not to mention that these people are actually my friends.’ Rodka became a bit serious. ‘As a wizard, this is more important than graduation, don’t you think?’
‘Yes it is. Wizards help people and protect lives.’ Dean Akex certainly appreciated this. ‘Okay, you are free to go, but again the biography stays with me. I’m sorry, but I’m worried that if I let you take it, things would become even worse. And I suggest you guys stop talking about this at all.’
‘We will.’ Rodka saluted. ‘And I promise you, I will graduate once we move any further about Snower.’
‘The Vice Dean is really nice!’ Back in Soarame’s dorm, the girls were chatting. ‘I only wish he’d let us have the book.’
‘He’s nice? Humph, you guys didn’t see his face when only Omi and I were there!’ Kardiac curled his lips. ‘He can be tough, even scary!’
‘The beetalbulls and
the Vice Dean, you choose.’ Catheray teased Kardiac; for some reason she found teasing this boy fun. ‘Kidding. You and Omi did really great this time!’
‘Only that we still failed the task. Stealing is out, so what are we going to do next?’ Omifo asked, glancing at Vivarin. ‘Kidnapping?’
‘Are you looking at me?’ Vivarin jumped up from the couch and walked towards Omifo.
‘I suggest we take a little break for now.’ Rodka was amused to see Vivarin trying to kidnap Omifo. ‘What do you guys usually do for fun?’
‘We watch Soarame do mind-painting for Snower.’ Dileys always got there first to answer Rodka’s questions. ‘And sometimes we watch Dragon&Empires games.’
‘You guys like the game too?’ Rodka was pleased. ‘My team is practising today. Do you guys wanna come and watch?’
‘Sure.’ The crew had nothing to do anyway. ‘Soarame wanted to form a team himself later, right Soarame?’
‘Err… yes but I need to improve first.’ Soarame blushed and tried to stop the girls from volunteering him for something really difficult. He had been playing friendly games with his roommates and other friends, but only to find that it was truly difficult to do much with Novice Water spells, even though the games were not competitive.
‘Nice! Why don’t you practice with us today?’ Rodka was surprised to hear Soarame’s ambition. ‘It’s good to have some real hands-on experience with the Grade-4s.’
Soarame certainly appreciated the opportunity, so the crew went together with Rodka to their practice field. Rodka quickly introduced Soarame to his teammates, and a boy called Brian was nice enough to offer his position to Soarame for this practice.
‘Let’s have a bit of Water tasting!’ The team was interested to see Soarame’s performance. Soarame took out his wand and walked onto the playground, among the encouraging cheers from his friends.
‘Wait, the Water Boy?’ Right then, a boy looked over with surprise in his voice.
Soarame and his friends were puzzled to hear the voice. The girls frowned and thought hard for the boy’s name. ‘It’s Robert!’
Soarame certainly had recognised Robert, the one who he had a pending duel with. This day, the team that Robert was in happened to be practising against Rodka’s.
‘Stop calling him that, I warn you.’ Rodka stepped forward. ‘This is discriminating. You know the rules here.’
‘Come on Rodka, it’s not that bad.’ The captain of the other team, named Ben, came over to reconcile them. ‘He’s just saying hello to his old friend, right, Robert?’
‘Of course.’ Robert smiled obsequiously. ‘How’s it going, Soarame?’
‘Don’t worry Robert, I didn’t forget our duel.’ Soarame didn’t want to pretend to be a friend of Robert at all. ‘When I grade up to Adept in Water, I’ll come and find you.’
‘Duel?’ Most were puzzled to hear this, including Soarame’s roommates, as they never heard of it. ‘Fire vs. Water?’
The girls explained what had happened. Of course, everyone was mad at Robert, whose attempt at taking advantage was obvious. Rodka’s teammates were also annoyed because of this; they looked at Robert with questioning eyes. But Ben’s team was on the other side, and it seemed that some of them already knew about this and were supportive to Robert.
The air was thus thick with tension. If not for the strict rules of the school, they would have ended up fighting. Rodka had to quickly lead his friends away from the other team to avoid the potential conflict, although he knew that Ben’s teammates were all giggling and mocking them right behind their backs.
‘Just ignore them, Soarame.’ Rodka took a deep breath and suppressed his temper. ‘Ben’s team always loses to ours, so they had problem with us in the first place. My bad — I forgot about this and shouldn’t have invited you. Brian, come back in and let’s teach them a lesson.’
‘Hold on.’ Soarame stopped Rodka. ‘I never said I wanted to be out?’
‘I know, but they are all in Grade 4 or above.’ Rodka suddenly understood Soarame’s strength of will. ‘This game will be aggressive, and you don’t have any real experience. I don’t want you to get hurt.’
‘It’s ok, I won’t.’ Soarame looked towards Robert, who was making provocative gestures at him. ‘Trust me, I made it away from the beetalbulls, remember?’
That’s right! Rodka’s eyes brightened up. He’d almost forgotten about that, as he was not there in person. ‘Okay then, you can play, but promise me you’ll call for help if anything bad happens.’
‘Deal.’ Soarame took a deep breath. He actually had no plan, because his previous experiences had told him that Novice Water spells were indeed weaker in practice — Water had to wait till Expert level or at least late-Adept level to exhibit its real power. However, he wouldn’t quit like that just because he had encountered Robert. If I can’t even deal with this small potato, how can I form a team later?
Although his friends were strongly against it, Soarame still made it into the team and started to play. On the other side, Robert was in an overjoy to see this happen, and his teammates were all considerate enough to decide to leave the Water Boy to him.
The game started with cheering from the supporters of both sides — many of them were just passing by, and they scattered over the field. Ever since the beginning, Robert had been sparing no effort to spell firebolts at Soarame and the entire rival team. Fortunately, Soarame was well trained so he always managed to dodge the attack, and spell water arrows back from time to time — although it almost did zero damage.
‘Thanks for washing my hands. How much should I tip you?’ Robert laughed at Soarame, so did his teammates. Soarame’s friends was upset and yelling at Robert, but there wasn’t much else they could do. On the other hand, Soarame was gritting his teeth hard; he was so mad at this clamouring pest before his face, and many times he almost chanted Wind incantations — yet swallowed them all in the end.
Right then, Rodka’s team got the ball and they were passing it to each other and pushing their way forwards, but Soarame noticed soon enough that his teammates wouldn’t really pass it to him — due to either protection or disbelief. This offered a chance to Ben’s team; they caught a window of opportunity and besieged the ball holder with two players, leaving Soarame unguarded. The ball holder realised this but he still hesitated to pass it to Soarame, so the ball was taken by his rivals in the next second.
With the screaming from the audience, the transition between attack and defence had been made in a blink. At the same time, the dragon student was fast enough to have pounced towards Rodka’s base as soon as the ball holders were besieged. Rodka’s team had to instantly fall back into defence, leaving Ben’s team free to push forward. Strangely, the dragon wouldn’t leave even after encountering Rodka’s whole team at their base, instead he was engaging in a dogfight and keeping them busy. Meanwhile, Ben’s team didn’t make any attempt to backdoor the dragon’s base, but spared no effort in pushing on towards Rodka’s base.
‘Cheats!’ Kardiac roared instantly. All Soarame’s friends had realised that the dragon was working together with Ben’s team, although they couldn’t prove it.
‘Damn it!’ Rodka’s team managed to hold their base from the dragon, but wasn’t able to keep it from Ben’s team — the ball was easily put on top of Rodka’s base chest by a Wind player; he snickered at Rodka and walked away.
‘Cheats!’ Rodka’s teammates were all mad. The dragon and Ben’s team wouldn’t accept the accusation, so the arguing started right away. Rodka had to stop his teammates, simply because they couldn’t provide evidence. So the next round started, and Rodka’s team managed to push steadily on to Ben’s base, yet the dragon started to strike Rodka’s base at the critical moment. Rodka’s team was well prepared for this so the dragon didn’t make it, but due to this interruption, they didn’t manage to score either, and the ball was again in Ben’s hand.
‘What now, Rodka?’ Ben laughed. ‘Who’s the cheat this time? You can’t blame
the dragon, can you?’ Ben’s team all giggled. Rodka turned around and walked away — the dragon was supposed to do what he just did, so no one could complain about it.
‘I’m sorry, Rodka.’ Soarame felt bad, but he didn’t have chance to do much because his teammates wouldn’t pass the ball to him.
‘Oh come on man, you did great!’ Before Rodka said anything, another teammate cut in. ‘We stopped the dragon together just now!’ This made Soarame feel a little better, but he knew that if he couldn’t do something more to impress his teammates, they still wouldn’t count him in as much although he’d been doing a good job in defence.
‘How could you fail like that?’ At the same time, Ben was not happy with the Darkness player. He deliberately sent him to sneak-attack while the dragon was distracting Rodka’s defence, but that negligible Water Boy had somehow managed to discover the Darkness player and tackle him. Everyone was convinced this was a coincidence, but when Rodka recalled Soarame’s adventure in the beetalbull nest, he suddenly realised something —
‘Soarame, tell me you have a way to expose their Darkness player.’ Rodka whispered in Soarame’s ear. ‘If so, I’ll put you as a designated defence player.’
‘Sure, I got him.’ Soarame hesitated a bit but nodded. ‘Also, the dragon and Ben were collaborating, I’m sure.’
‘I know.’ Thankfully Rodka didn’t pursue this, so Soarame didn’t have to make up a lie for the fact that he saw Darkness elements moving so that he knew where the player was. For the same reason he saw a beam of Darkness elements going from Ben to the dragon before their joint attack — it must be some kind of signalling method and Ben must have gifts in Darkness.
Rodka used the captain’s right for a time-out. After a quick round of re-arrangement, Soarame was assigned to be a designated defender, so that an original defender was released to the attacking team. Half of the game time had already passed, everyone was worried about this assignment, but they couldn’t do much more than trust their captain.
The game continued and everyone found soon enough that Robert became the one holding the ball most of the time, charging against Soarame. All Soarame’s teammates were well tackled by Robert’s teammates, so that they could only watch a Grade-2 Water student getting pushed further and further back by a Grade-4 Fire. Soarame thus had suffered from a lot more pressure than in the previous game; although he wasn’t caught by the firebolts, he couldn’t stop Robert from pushing forward.