War games ch.2 "Welcome to the War" (standard:adventure, 3338 words) [3/4] show all parts
Author: Andrew	Added: Nov 20 2009	Views/Reads: 2720/1872	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
In the search to find ones self a more complex problem comes to light and the fight begins.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

Cinder. Oh yeah and that silhouette behind you is known as Eclipse.” I 
look back but he still just stands there motionless with arms crossed. 

“Doesn't talk much, does he” I inquire. 

“What can I say; he's a man of few words. He'll talk if need be but” he
cracks his knuckles “we all know there's not much need for talking is 
there.” 

“Guess not” a bead of sweat drips down my brow. I push Hummer to the
left and whisper to him “hide now it's not safe here.” He takes off 
quickly for the nearest building but Streamline is quick to notice. 

“Hey the kids not going anywhere” he says running towards him. He flaps
his wings once and glides just a few feet above the ground. I think 
fast changing to steel. Swiftly smash my fingers into the ground and 
scoop up some asphalt. I hurl straight for him and by the time he 
notices the object it strikes his body with deadly accuracy smashing 
him into the building. Hummer makes it safely into a building. 

“Now then I believe were ready” I grin at him knowing he wasn't
expecting me ready to fight. 

“Hmm you seem to have gained control of your powers faster then I
thought. No matter though” he brushes his shoulder “your still no match 
for me.” Our eyes meet fiercely knowing this could be the last for one 
of us. I rush him at top speed as my steps churn the asphalt underneath 
me. He turns to the side and opens is mouth. Black smoke spews out 
burning the bottom of a streetlight. With a slight push he nudges the 
light pole towards me. It falls right on top of me but I knock it to 
the side with one arm and continue running unfazed. Just as I reach him 
the bottom portion of his body turns into pure gas and I pass right 
through running headlong into a building. I smash through the wall 
landing in a pile of rubble realizing the foolishness of my attack.  
Cinder walks with full legs now and takes a deep breath. A stream of 
smoke from his mouth hits the bottom of the building in an arc. The 
foundation incinerates and the entire building collapses in on me. I 
watch helpless as tons of brick and stone bury me alive. I try to stay 
calm as I lie face down under the wreckage. My breathing disrupts the 
dust around me. My mind goes to Hummer on the outside and I know I 
can't just stay here. I set my hands firmly against the ground and push 
my back up hard. For a few precious moments nothing seems to give. 
After a breathless minute it budges little by little and I rise onto my 
hands and knees setting there for a while to regain my strength.  I 
stare at the ground as my vision adjusts to the minimal light in my 
stone tomb. I try to push again but it just won't move and I can't just 
give up they're depending on me. Suddenly I begin to see strange 
shadows forming on the ground. The darkness slowly lifts off the ground 
and I come to an unsettling realization. 

“Oh no” I whisper softly to myself. Eclipse shoots from the ground
crushing into my torso and sending me straight up through the rocks. I 
fly through the air landing hard in the middle of the street with a 
hailstorm of stone showering around me. Eclipse lands next to Cinder 
with a grin on his charcoal face. 

“We were wondering if you were still alive in there. I got so tired of
waiting after killing the kid I had to send Eclipse in to get you. You 
didn't think I was done with you did you? When are they going to start 
teaching you guys how to fight anyways.” He laughs mockingly at me. The 
thought of Hummer's death enrages me and I get up screaming. 

“How could you?! He was just a kid!” I start to step towards him until
Eclipse shifts through the ground to get behind me. Barely in enough 
time for me to process he legs sweeps me to the ground then drifts back 
over to Cinders side not saying a word. 

“Ha ha slippery guy isn't he, doesn't talk much but definitely good to
keep around. So you ready to join our side now or do I have to kill 
you?” 

“Never” I cough out gradually getting off the ground. I arc my arm along
the ground throwing chunks of asphalt at Eclipse but they go right 
through him and bounce off the building behind. 

“Not so easy to kill is he” Cinder says motioning something to Eclipse
who then disappears into the ground. I can see the darkness crawling 
towards me but every rock I throw just bounces off the ground. 

“Well if I can't kill him I'll just take you out” I shout dashing
forward. Hopefully I can run over the shadow before he has time to 
form. Just as I get over him a black hand juts from the ground grabbing 
my ankle. I trip hitting the ground and sliding a few feet. Eclipse 
forms vertical again behind me, his deep sounding laugh coursing 
through me as I get up again. I know I'm outmatched but I have to try 
somehow. Hummer's death will not be in vain. 

“You won't defeat me Eclipse. All you can do is knock me down and I'll
keep getting up every time.” I breathe hard as my steel chest moves in 
and out. Bit by bit a face forms into the blank slate that had been 
Eclipse face. 

“You may not realize it yet kid, but you're already dead.” He takes a
step forward and put my arms up getting ready for the worst. 

“Step away from him” a scream comes from the building on the other side
of the street. Pulse comes flying off the roof; hands raised high in 
the air. As she hits the ground, she slams her drumsticks down. I 
quickly dart to the side as a massive shockwave hurls towards us. 
Cinder turns his legs into gas and drifts upward out of the way. By the 
time Eclipse turns around and notices it though the shockwave crushes 
into his body throwing him threw the air into the rubble of the fallen 
building. A cloud of smoke swirls into the air on impact. 

“Now that's what I'm talking about” I look at Cinder with a new found
confidence. 

Pulse crouches breathing hard “not so tough now is he.”  I start to hear
a chuckle, soft at first. It slowly grows stronger and deeper. I look 
back towards the cloud of dust as it starts to clear and a dark form 
appears. 

“You think you can get rid of me with that pathetic attack” shouts a
booming voice from the powder. A back hand fires from the cloud towards 
the middle of the street grabbing Pulse by the neck. 

“No Pulse” I shout racing towards her till a hot mist hits me in the
face. Through burning eyes I look up to see Cinder floating just above 
me. 

“Where you going kid we still have our fight remember” he says grinning.
I look at Pulse gasping for air and know I don't have time for him. A 
blow to the back of the head sends me a couple steps forward. When I 
look back Streamline is flapping his wings just behind me. 

“Didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily?” A blast from Cinders
acid breath causes me to turn back then Streamline kicks me again. He 
laughs hysterically at the predicament I'm in as he hovers just out of 
my reach. 

“Don't worry I got him boss” a voice comes from nowhere. Out of the blue
Hummer appears just above Streamline kicking him with both feet into 
the ground. I step forward and grab him by the neck. He struggles for 
breath and every part of my body wants to end him right here. 

“Go ahead do it” I look back as Cinder eggs me on. 

“You would just let me kill your own brother. You fight together.” 

“He means nothing to me, come on I can see it in your eyes you want to.”
I sense no remorse or sarcasm at all in his voice. I look back into 
Streamlines eyes as his body starts to go limp and realize...I can't do 
it. 

“No I won't” I throw him hard straight through the path of Eclipse's arm
dissipating it. Pulse drops to the ground on her hands and knees. She 
holds her throat panting. 

I run over to her side and try to help her off the ground. “Are you ok?”


“Thanks I'm fine.” 

“I better go help Hummer.” I look over to see him and Streamline flying
in circles attacking at their opponent's weak moments. 

“He can handle himself besides you have your own problems.” She puts her
hand on my shoulder getting to her feet and pointing towards Eclipse 
who is steadily walking towards us. 

“You think you can fight.” 

“Yeah I'm ready” she stands up straight on slightly unsteady legs. 

“Then I think I have a plan.” I whisper into her ear and look back at
Eclipse. 

“You still going to try and fight me kid?” He smirks and stops walking
forward about twenty feet in front of us. We both take off at a full 
run in a wide arc, me to his left and Pulse to his right. Grinning at 
our attempt both of his hands stretch out after us. Pulse nimbly jumps 
out of its path as it strikes the ground. I let his left hand grab my 
arm and struggle for a moment before breaking free. In that time Pulse 
gets directly on the other side oh him and sends a shockwave blast. 
Before he knows what happened the shockwave crushes into him. He flies 
towards me and I run forward smashing into him with my shoulder. I 
watch as he lands on the floor groaning. 

“Wow that really worked” Pulse says surprised. 

“Hey of course it worked don't act so surprised.” As the words come out
Eclipse melts into the ground. “Ok maybe I spoke to soon.” I look 
around frantically for where he's going to pop out. 

“Steel look out he's right under you” Pulse yells. A dark circle appears
beneath me and slowly grows bigger. Suddenly hands shoot out at 
lightning speed punching me again and again. I try to gain control in a 
forest of hands that pummel me relentlessly. Then in an 
instant...they're gone. I'm in complete darkness as if the sun were 
blotted out. I see nothing, smell nothing, and feel nothing. All I can 
hear is a soft breathing that seems to come from everywhere, 
surrounding me. What's happening to me? Where am I? Panic starts to set 
in but I try to fight it off. 

“Don't worry your not dead...yet” A dark voice comes from everywhere.
“Haunting isn't it? Something subtle you can't feel or explain but it's 
slowly driving you insane. The pressure, pushing you to the brink but 
not over the edge, just watching as you teeter.” His voice resonates 
throughout my entire body as if he's inside me. I can't take it; I 
start to roar throwing punches everywhere but never hitting anything. 

“Where are you?! Show yourself!” I scream into total emptiness. A laugh
from far in the distance grows closer and closer till there's an 
immense face right in front of me. Mouth open wide he laughs hard and 
moves closer as his mouth engulfs me. I drop to a knee and cover my 
head but when I look up ... nothing happened I'm still in the same 
darkness. He's toying with me and I'm giving him just what he wants by 
panicking. I sit down on the floor and close my eyes. 

“You finally cracked boy” he asks scornfully. He continues to laugh and
egg me on all around but I do my best to block it out. I almost feel as 
if I can take no more when a burst of light erupts around me. I go 
blind for a minute but as the darkness fades away I'm back in the 
middle of the street with action all around me. Four men with bow and 
arrows are running around. 

“Nice shot Shine” says a young man with crazy red hair running across
the street. “The bat is mine though.” He fires an arrow from his bow 
that turns into a boxing glove clobbering Streamline in the jaw. 

“Yeah laugh it up Hoax. Well I call the smoker.” Another one of the men
with jet black hair and dark features fire an arrow made of rock that 
explodes into a flurry of stones raining down on Cinder. 

A third male with blue hair run towards me. “Alright well Shine got the
first shot on the dark one but I'm finishing it.” He fires two arrows 
right towards me. In my shock I don't move but they just graze past. I 
look back to see the first strike eclipse turning him into solid ice. 
The second arrow hits smashing him into a thousand pieces. 

“Good job Squidz but don't let it go to your head.” The last man with
blonde hair walks over and helps me to my feet. “You doing alright 
there brother?” 

I look at him half in awe and half bewildered. “Brother?” 

“Were all brothers in this war aren't we chaps?” He looks back and the
others all raise their bows in agreement. “Well it seems the other 
Renegades have run off but we'll get them soon enough.” 

“My friends...where are they?” 

“Don't worry mate there all fine.” He points to where Pulse and Hummer
are sitting up against a building, the other men attending to there 
wounds. “By the way my name is Shine. That group of ruffians over there 
is my brothers. The dark looking one is Legend. He has the power of 
darkness and earth element arrows. The crazy read head is Hoax and he 
likes to play around with trick arrows of all sorts. The calm blue 
haired one is Squidz and has the power of water and ice element arrows. 
My particular power is light and fire arrows. We are the arrow 
brothers. So what the name of your little crew here.” He stares at me 
inquisitively. 

“Well the girl over there is Pulse and she can make concussion blasts
from her drumsticks. The kid is Hummer who can grow extremely small. My 
name is Steel and as you can see” I look around myself “I can turn my 
body into metal. I wouldn't exactly call us a team. Pulse is helping me 
on a mission and we just stumbled upon Hummer who decided to tag along. 
We were going to help him get rid of his Renegade problem but it seems 
you guys handled that a lot better than we could.” 

“Hey don't worry about it” he smacks me on the arm. “After all, were all
fighting on the same side.” We walk to the side of the street to join 
the others. “So we ready to get going guys” he asks the other arrow 
brothers. They all get up and ready themselves to get on the move. 

“You're leaving already” Hummer asks them. “I thought you were going to
help us.” 

Shine walks up and pats him on the head. “We all have our own paths to
follow kid and I know you guys have yours. Don't worry though I'm sure 
we'll see you around soon.” He winks and Hoax shoots an arrow straight 
into the ground. A smokescreen ignites around us and when it clears 
there all gone. 

“Man talk about your quick encounters” Pulse says waving away the smoke.


“Well they helped us, anyways we should probably get going not to long
before more show up” We keep walking towards the lab. 


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