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Scorched Skies "Lydia!" the Dark Fiend of the Inferno shouted in rage as he leapt into the air to attack the Dark Fiend of the Sky, who flew with black feather wings. The fiends clashed, the rising sun a mysterious background. Below them, Stephanie stood on the park trail, among flora, frozen with fear. Vince fell back to the ground and immediately jumped back up for a second assault. This time, he managed to grab Lydia and pull her to the ground. Pinning Lydia to the ground, Vince shouted, "You turned Chrissy against me!" "Yes, I did," Lydia said simply. "Whatever you did, undo it!" Vince yelled in her face. "Change her back!" "I'm afraid I can't do that," Lydia replied. "You see, normally the Soulphage Serum wears off after time, but I overdosed her, so she'll never break free, lest she die." "No," Vince shouted in agony. "No!" "Face it, Vince," Lydia said. "You've lost Chrissy forever." Cursing, Vince ignited his right hand and smashed it upon Lydia. However, with a sudden burst of wind, Lydia knocked Vince away. Still, Vince landed on his feet and sprang back, but Lydia flew into the air, out of Vince's reach. Vince then threw up a volley of fireballs, to which Lydia responded by shooting down cyclonic columns of wind. As they traded firepower, trees caught fire, and massive clouds of soil were thrown around. Suddenly, a burning branch hit the ground beside Stephanie, awakening her from the shock of fear. Giving a sudden cry, she tried to flee, but she could not move. Something held her, holding her in place. "Vince! Help!" Steph forced to yell, despite the difficulty. Vince looked at her and saw that she had been ensnared by threads of wind. "Leave Steph out of this, Lydia," Vince shouted. "She's just insurance," Lydia replied. "I know how you like to run away, Vince, so I thought I'd give you some incentive to stay. That way, I can actually kill you." Vince swore, then jumped up to reach Lydia. Unfortunately, she was much too high for him to reach. Lydia then countered with a cyclone column, slamming Vince to the ground. However, the Inferno Fiend bounced off the grass and landed on his feet, a move he followed up with a series of fireballs. Effortlessly, Lydia simply flew aside to dodge the fireballs and counter-attacked with a pair of swirling columns of wind, one from each hand, throwing up dust, dirt, grass, and debris. As Vince moved continuously to keep away from the cyclone columns, he threw fireball after fireball at Lydia. It was futile. Each fireball he threw only missed as Lydia strafed. Vince even tried jumping to get closer, but she still flew aside and evaded his attacks. Then, as Vince made his final jump and prepared his final fireball, Lydia hit him with a gust of wind, knocking him out of the skies and knocking his fireball out of his hands. As Vince smashed into the ground, the fireball smashed into a tree, knocking it down and setting it on fire. Vince now had an idea. Avoiding the wind columns, he ran over to the burning log, grabbed it, and leapt into the air. Lydia hadn't prepared for such an attack, so she took a painful hit as Vince swung the tree like a giant club. Momentarily stunned, Lydia fell a few yards, but quickly regained her balance. Vince repeated this--he jumped into the air and swung the log at Lydia. This time, the winged fiend dodged the log, but Vince swiftly followed up with a fireball. Before she could react, Lydia, hit by the fireball, was knocked off balance again. Then, she watched Vince leap up again for a third repetition. She dodged the log, then the fireball, but wasn't prepared for the log again, which Vince threw as he descended. The burning log shattered over Lydia's body, shooting flaming debris in all directions. The Sky Fiend plummeted, hitting the ground with a loud crash. The Inferno Fiend quickly took advantage of the grounded Lydia, charging in and pummeling her. Lydia, still disoriented, took a brutal beating. She could do nothing but cover her face with her hands. "Enough!" she suddenly cried. A sudden wind threw Vince off his feet. By the time he stood up again, a sphere of wind had encircled Lydia. Vince threw a fireball, but the protective wind sphere deflected it into a grove of trees. Lydia smiled, then flew up into the air. Putting her hands together, she forced twisted the winds, forming a tall, thin tornado, extending from her hands to the ground, thicker and more violent than the ones before. As Vince dodged this tornado, he threw more fireballs, but the sphere blocked all. Then, Vince tried to gather flames to produce a bigger fireball, but at that point, he was caught by the tornado. Lydia used her winds to press Vince to the ground. A two-fold attack, the pressure of the winds would crush him as the intensity sliced him. The Inferno Fiend wasn't concerned, though. Despite the pressure and the pain, he kept feeding the flames in hand. "There's a weak spot," Vince said to himself. Suddenly, he unleashed his inferno. The blaze shot right up the center of the cyclone, straight up the eye of the tornado, where the winds are calm. Unobstructed, the stream of fire shot up the wind column like a soda up a straw, and before Lydia could react, her bubble of air was flooded with flame. Screaming, the Sky Fiend lost control and crash-landed in a flowerbed. Stephanie fell, no longer held in place by the ensnaring winds. Vince ran over to her and brought her to her feet. "Stephanie, are you okay?" Vince asked with concern in his voice. "Yeah, thanks, Vince," Steph said with a smile. Suddenly, a strong wind blew, tearing flowers from their beds. "And I think so is Lydia." "Go!" Vince said. "Get yourself far away from here. I'll take care of Lydia." Lydia slowly walked over to Vince, her black wings twitching from the beating. "First, you steal Chrissy," Vince began a diatribe. "Then, you pull Steph into our battle. That's just unforgivable. No, I'm going to kill you for this." "Just like you were going to kill Motarius?" Lydia laughed. "Watch it, kid. Without Stephanie here, I can focus my full power on you. I'm not the one to die today." Vince roared in rage and ran in for an assault. Lydia, however, shot up into the air, then flew down at incredible speeds, bashing Vince as she passed. The force of the attack put a dent in Vince's armor and threw him off balance. Before Vince could recover, Lydia shot by and smashed him again and again, adding dents to his armor. Vince stood no chance. She was simply much too fast. "No," Vince forced himself to think. "No, she isn't too fast for me. I can beat this. All I have to do is concentrate. I just--" Suddenly, Vince gave a wild swing of his burning gauntlet. It was a direct hit. Lydia flew back, spiraling out of control, and crash-landed in the dirt. However, the force of the attack also threw off Vince's balance even more, and he fell. Vince climbed to his feet, barely able to pull together his strength. His armor was now full of dents, and his body was aching. Lydia climbed to the air, pushing her strength to the limits. Her wings were twisted grotesquely and they twitched madly, but she still used them. Lydia swore at Vince, then shot in right in front of him. This time, instead of passing him and smashing him, she held her place and bombarded Vince with a series of incredibly fast punches. With one final blow, she knocked the weakened Vince into a tree. Then, she caught up with him and pummeled him again, shattering the tree as he was blown through it. She pummeled him through a flowerbed, then onto the park trail. Then, without warning, a green car tore down the trail and slammed into the Sky Fiend. "Vince, get in the car," Robert shouted as Alice popped open a backseat door. Weakened and out of breath, Vince crawled into the car and closed the door. With his friend safely in the car, Robert quickly drove away. In the meantime, the Sky Fiend lay in the middle of the park trail, her body bruised and bloodied and her wings crumpled. A thick cloud of wind enshrouded her, and she became the human Lydia again. From the trees, a man dressed in dark robes emerged. "You should have asked for help," the Dark Mage said. "You shouldn't have told us to stay away from your fight." Lydia didn't reply. She merely stared at him. "We'll still help you with your recovery, though." No longer listening, Lydia closed her eyes and lost consciousness. It had been nearly a week since they left Kiera. They passed through several cities, through several states, but no matter where they went, the land was scarred by the religious war. Vince, Steph, and Robert took turns driving in 3-hour shifts. At one point, they even let Alice, who was only 14 and had no licensed, drive, but only for an hour because Stephanie quickly lost her nerve. "Was my driving all right?" Alice had asked shortly afterward. "It was pretty good for a first-timer," Vince said. "If you keep practicing, I'm sure you'll pass your driving test on the first try." "Yeah, except there's no longer a DMV for me to take my test," Alice replied. It had been nearly a week since they left Kiera, and now they were out of money, as they discovered when they stopped at a rest stop midway between two cities. "But I'm hungry!" Alice complained. "Isn't there anything?" "No, there's nothing," Stephanie replied. "We're out of money, we're out of food, and we're even almost out of gas in Robert's car." Vince sat with the two girls at a square table, a chair on each side. One chair was unoccupied, for Robert had gone to visit the restrooms. To the left of the Robert's chair sat Vince, who wore the same T-shirt and jeans since the day they fled Trioustan, as none of them had had any sense to pack an extra set of clothes. Across from Vince was Alice, and the clothes situation was much worse for her. It was already December, and Alice had only a blue tank top and shorts. Stephanie, though, to Alice's right, wore thick red warm sweater and a long brown skirt. Stephanie saw Alice shiver, so she took off her sweater and gave it to Alice, who promptly put it on. Now, Stephanie was cold, for she had only a thin blouse under her sweater. Shortly after Robert returned, Alice complained again, "I'm hungry!" Stephanie replied, annoyed, angrily, "We're out of money!" "Excuse me," came a man's voice. "I couldn't help overhearing about your money problems." The four of them looked over to see an older man with an unshaven face standing there, speaking. "I'll treat you to some dinner, and I have a proposition for you, a proposition that will get you some cash." A couple minutes later, the five of them were eating a nice, warm, filling meal, sitting at a larger table that would seat all five of them. Alice, the hungry, ate greedily. "So, what are these Mercenary Camps?" Vince asked. "Basically, with Alliatus and Shadow fighting an all-out war, cities get caught in the cross-fire, and the normal flow of business gets completely disrupted," the man explained. "Without business, people have no jobs. Without jobs, people can't feed themselves or their families. Because of this, people started organizing these Mercenary Camps, willing to contribute their efforts toward the war in exchange for food and shelter. Basically, the Mercenary Camps are organized groups of people who sell their quasi-military services. It's a risky life, but it's better than starving." Vince contemplated for but a moment, then said, "I'm good at fighting. I'm in." "I don't know," Stephanie said. "Vince might be good at fighting, but the rest of us aren't. Is there anything non-violent we could do at the Mercenary Camps?" The man replied, "It's either fight or become a service girl." A look of disgust shot across Stephanie's face. Then, Alice, the naive, putting down her fried chicken, asked, "What's a service girl?" Stephanie looked with disgust at Alice. "A service girl?" Stephanie said. "She's one of those girls who gives service to men who pay her for service?" Alice thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Oh, that? Hell, no! I ain't gonna be no service girl! And geez, why do you have to use such a weird word for it, anyway?" "So it's settled," Robert interjected. "The four of us are going to join your Mercenary Camp, and we're going to fight. We need the money, after all." Stephanie nodded in agreement. "That's good to hear," the man commented. "Some new recruits would be pretty useful." He smiled for a moment. "Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Colonel Peter Strikov of Omicron. Omicron is the name of our Mercenary Camp." "Omicron..." Vince said to himself. "Has a nice ring to it." "Yes, now as soon as you finish your dinner, why don't you follow me to the Omicron Headquarters?" Strikov suggested. "It's actually close by now." They looked to Alice, who was the only one still eating. Now, she was eating some fried rice. Becoming aware that everyone watched her, Alice grew uneasy. "Oh, all right," she said putting down her spoon, "call for a doggie bag, then." A gust of wind shot across a rocky hillside, knocking over a black-skinned demon with long tangled yellow hair. The Dark Fiend of the Sky prepared her next attack, but the Lightning Fiend, quickly leapt out of the way. From above, stones came tumbling down the hillside, bouncing mightily, rolled down by the Earth Fiend. The Water Fiend sat at the bottom of the hill near a river, contemplating her next course of action. Then, the three fiends--Lightning, Earth, and Water--charged in to attack, one from each side in a triangulating attack. Lydia and her clan were training again. Chrissy lay on the grass, resting after a beating taken during the last session. Lydia quickly spread wind in all directions, knocking down the three attacking fiends. Then, she flew over to Steve and, with a gust of wind, pinned him to the rocky hillside. Lydia focused heavily on Steve because she knew he was skilled and hoped to release his hidden strength first. That and the wind element seemed to have an adverse effect on lightning based creatures. Their training was not in vain. Steve fell, and his body gave a sudden, blinding yellow glow. The glow flickered and crackled madly, then faded away as suddenly as it had appeared. The Dark Fiend of Lightning was gone. Instead, a new fiend, yellow streaks all across his black hide, culminating in a yellow lightning bolt on his chest, appeared. He wore spiked bracelets, and a long, thick yellow bandana. No, Steve was no longer the Lightning Fiend. He had become the Dark Fiend of the Blitz. "Good," Lydia said, almost apathetically. "Two down, three to go." "Fuck this!" Gregor shouted. "I'm sick of training all the time." "I agree," Jennie cut in. "I'm tired of you putting us through hell all the time." "No," Lydia replied. "You two owe me. I rescued you from Ragnarok." "I don't care," Gregor retorted. "Life was much better in that prison. At least they didn't try to beat the shit out of us everyday like you do." "Look, Gregor, I'm more powerful than you," Lydia said, "so you can either obey me or I'll just assume you a traitor like Vince and treat you like one." "I'm not afraid of you," Gregor replied defiantly. Lydia was about to make a move, but Steve held her back. "Let them go," Steve said. "The two of us can take Vince by ourselves, I'm sure. We're strong enough." Lydia looked to Steve, hesitated, then turned to Gregor and said bitterly, "Get out of my sight." Gregor and Jennie looked at each other, then walked away. As they left, they walked past Chrissy, who heard them and woke up. "Hmm?" she asked ambiguously. "Did something happen?" "Yeah, this," Steve said, pointing to his new Blitz Fiend body. "Also, Gregor and Jennie left, those quitters!" Lydia said, still bitter. "Oh. Then, I'd better get in some training, too," Chrissy said. "But I'm still tired. Can we wait until tomorrow?" After a brief but thoughtful pause, Lydia said, "Chrissy, I've come to a decision. I think you should go train on your own. Steve and I have better things to do than repeatedly brutalize you. No, we think you're better off training yourself." "Oh," Chrissy said. "Okay." "Now, go," Lydia ordered her away. "Steve and I have things to discuss." "Um, all right," Chrissy agreed nonchalantly. She quickly stood up and left. "So, we're hunting down Vince now?" Steve said, a sadistic grin over his face. "Yes," Lydia replied. "Yes, we are. I think we should split up, though, and whoever finds Vince will send word to the other. That way, we can find him faster." "Sounds good," Steve said. And so, they parted. Lydia's pseudo-clan had disbanded, the member going their separate ways. Jennie and Gregor wished only to return to their criminal lives. Chrissy, ordered by Lydia, left to seek her power alone. Steve and Lydia separated each on a search and destroy mission for Vincent Zeng, the ever so hated Dark Fiend of Fire. |