Spoiler (Click to Show)
Spune Swiftwing, for that was the warrior’s name, slowed as he reached the rundown combat area. Crumbled buildings spread across the landscape. Their cracked windows stared at nothing, glittering slightly in the setting sun. Spune picked his way carefully along through the rubble, eyes alert for any movement. His feet brushed through the ruined concrete foundation of a structure, and he paused, sensing the metal in the stone. Rock, metal, glass. That was a fine selection of elements to use. If he was lucky, he’d probably find a broken water line somewhere. What a bonus that would be!
There was a clink in the gathering dark. Spune’s head snapped in that direction, and his eyes dimmed with focus. He could see a human figure standing there. The figure looked like a young man, and wore a black T-shirt, jeans, and boots. A grey trench coat dangled from his shoulders, sweeping around his legs like a cape. He had an impressive ball of hair on his head, small, black, and woolly-looking, like that of an Earth-sheep. Spune grinned, and kicked a small piece of concrete towards a building. The sound of shattering glass split the silence. The human’s head swung up quickly, and he took on a hesitant battle stance. Spune curled his legs beneath him, and sprang high and far, dashing in bursts until he landed before the man.
He looked up into the human’s face, and cocked his head slightly at the presence of a powerful element. Noting the faint bluish glow behind the human’s eye gear, he guessed it might be lightning or water. Spune felt his skin begin to tingle a little. The air felt charged. Lightning. Spune smiled a little.
“Hi there.” he said. “Are you Danny Lo?”
Now it was Danny’s turn to smile. His body relaxed, and he placed one hand on his hip.
“I don’t see any other Danny Los around here.” he replied. “You’re Spune Swiftwing, right?”
“Right.”
Spune took his hands out from behind his back, revealing a glittering silver spoon. Its handle ended in a paw-like shape, as elegant as that of a feline.
“That your weapon?” Danny asked, trying to hide his laughter.
Spune looked down at it. “Yeah. I’m guessing you’re the Caster type?”
Danny frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Caster classes always use spoken and unspoken spells. Magic is their specialty. I’m guessing it’s yours as well, judging by the appearance of that book tucked under your arm.”
Spune also wanted to add that it had a powerful energy pattern, but he kept that to himself. He wasn’t sure how useful that information could be to a human, even a talented one like Danny.
“Interesting.” Danny muttered, half to himself. That spoon was glowing a lot. What kind of power did it have? Was he going to be able to stand against it? For all he knew, the weapon was almost too ridiculous. He would have to be on guard. As soon as he put on a combat stance, Spune had vanished. Danny hesitated. In that split second of confusion, a blur of color and light burst into view, zipping by alarmingly close to the magician’s face.
Danny stumbled back, reaching for the sky. Spune appeared a few feet away, dust swirling around his body. His glittering wings faded, and suddenly a bolt of lightning sizzled down from the darkening heavens. Spune flickered, and the energy smashed where he had been. The warrior flipped in the air, scooping at the vanishing element in a split second.
He came out of his spin, dashing sideways to avoid another lightning bolt. Time slowed, and he held his spoon out before him like a mini-spear, aiming for the book in Danny’s hands. The item flew free, but Spune decided against destroying it, scooping it up and dashing multiple times.
He landed on a weak roof, the book in one hand and his spoon in the other. Danny looked up from below. Even from that distance, Spune could sense his glare.
“Give me back my book!” Danny yelled.
“Okay!” Spune shouted back.
He tossed it down to him. Time slowed again, and Spune dashed right into the magician, just as he stretched his arms out to catch the book. Danny tumbled head over heels, scratching the back of his head on a rough piece of concrete. He gripped the injured area. It wasn’t too bad, but it hurt worse than it should. Danny quickly scooped up his book, and it flipped open. He found the page in a snap, and the spell’s text ignited with intense blue light. Electricity bloomed from the magician’s body, crackling into the ground beneath him.
Spune whirled, and a large group of wild wolfish beasts sprang from the ground, spraying sparks everywhere. The warrior’s eyes blazed bright in warning, and he whipped his spoon at them. Lightning arced through the air, taking out seven of the attackers. The rest smashed into him, exploding with violent force.
Spune flew through the air, crashing back-first into a stone wall. He crumpled to the ground. Pain shot up and down his spine, but fortunately nothing was broken. The warrior gritted his teeth and turned to face Danny again. Heat intensified near his head, and Spune ducked impossibly out of the way. The lightning bolt smashed into the wall he’d just slammed into, shattering most of it into tiny chunks.
Danny dashed towards Spune. That creature was so fast! He shouldn’t have been able to dodge that!
Spune saw the magician coming, and backed up towards the shattered stone. Just when it looked like the collision was inevitable, Spune leaped up, flipping in the air. His spoon swept down, aiming for Danny’s head. The force would have been strong enough to knock him out cold. Fortunately for the magician, he had been anticipating the attack. A well-aimed lightning bolt flew from his hand, zapping most of the attack’s force away. Spune cried out, and his spoon flew from his fingers.
Danny landed and turned, slight relief washing over him.
Spune clenched his fists. Crouching down, he seized a rock and threw it as hard as he could. Danny watched as the projectile sailed by. There was a dull crack as the rock hit the wall behind him. Spune grinned and dove for his spoon. Danny threw a water spear at him, but the stick figure twisted out of the way again.
A shadow fell over the magician, and with a creaking groan, the structure at his back began to collapse. A huge part of its wall was falling straight towards him. It was so fast; Danny had no time to leap aside. He raised his arms, and with a sizzling snap, a shield of pure energy sprang up around his body. The shield blasted outwards, smashing the wall to bits.
The dust settled, and Spune removed his arm from the front of his face. He nodded at Danny.
“Awesome power!” he commented with a huge grin.
“Thanks…I guess.” the magician responded.
His hands began to crackle and spark with energy. Tendrils of lightning whipped through the air. Spune dashed and twisted gracefully, still managing to avoid every strike.
“I’m serious Danny.” the youngling continued, ducking under another lightning blast. “You have epic skills!”
Danny paused for a moment, and Spune landed; body tensed to dodge.
“Can we fight now?” he asked. His fingers tightened around his spoon, causing it to flash in the moonlight.
The skies were darker now, and filled with stars. Filling the air with lightning laced clouds was going to be difficult now. For all he knew, this stick creature could probably hide well in shadows. Danny ground his toe in the pavement, nervous.
“What have we been doing all this time?” he asked the Stick warrior, unable to keep the confusion from his voice.
Spune smiled again. This time, Danny was close enough to see that the young creature had slight pointed fangs, like a vampire. He didn’t look the type though.
“Those were just warm-ups.” Spune responded, switching his spoon from his left to his right hand, back and forth.
Danny’s blood felt like it had just turned to ice. Those were warm-ups? How many more surprises could this guy dish out?
Spune’s shoulder slumped a little. He cocked his head.
“Look,” he began. “If you’re tired, I’ll try to go easy on you, alright?”
Danny shook his head.
“I’m not tired. You’re the one who has to be worried actually. You haven’t even scratched the surface of my abilities yet.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m sure of it.”
“Oh.”
Spune scratched the back of his head. Then he flickered a little, and when he came back into focus, he had something tucked under one arm. Spune handed the item to Danny. It was his spell book.
“I think you’re going to need this.” he said, tossing it to the man.
Danny caught it, but he couldn’t help wondering how he could hit something that was faster than lightning, with lightning. If anything, he’d have to find a moment when Spune stopped for a split second, not within one.
Spune crouched, perched on a broken bit of foundation. If it was true that Danny had other abilities more powerful than what he had seen, he’d have to be more prepared than ever.
A tense silence fell.
Clouds covered the moon, shrouding the rundown town in twisted shadows. Spune’s eyes flared bright, casting an intense glow before him. Danny bent his knees, and energy sparked to life in his hands. Now would be the real fight.
Spune dashed forwards, a blur of pure power. Danny’s shield sprang up, slamming Spune away, but not before the youngling managed to scratch a bit of metal into his spoon. The Stick dashed high, spun, and sent a massive orb of metal towards Danny. Danny couldn’t spring another shield fast enough, so he leaped to the side, revealing his knives. The ball embedded itself into the ground, exploding into smaller spheres that flew just as fast. Fortunately for Danny, the projectiles didn’t have a homing instinct, and drove themselves into random parts of the environment…kind of like bullets.
The fight got faster.
Spune was almost everywhere at once. He scooped all the stuff he could…glass, metal, stone...anything to distract Danny. The magician fell into a swift combat pattern, shielding for a split second and then sending lightning bolts whenever he saw Spune.
Sweat sprang out on Danny’s forehead. Fearing loss of energy, he used simple lightning bolts and energy strikes from the raging sky above.
Thunder rumbled. Lightning sizzled and cracked all over the place. The air vibrated with power, causing all hairs on Danny’s body to lift in response. Rocks surged at him from almost every side. A blink of light flashed in his vision, and Danny managed to duck just as a large spray of glass shards tore over his head. They smashed behind him, but he barely had time to jump aside before a family of massive metal orbs came close to sealing his defeat. The smell of smoke, melting metal, and burning rock filled the air. Danny took deep breaths, trying to focus, and all of a sudden he let fly with a punch. Spune appeared out of thin air, falling heavily to the ground. He propped himself up with one elbow, wiping the blood from his jaw with his free arm.
Danny sprang on him, and Spune leaped away, throwing his spoon at him. Danny leaned back, just managing to get out of the way. The weapon embedded itself into nearby wall, glowing with intense heat. Spune crossed his arms before him, blocking Danny’s left hook. He blocked another attack, kicked Danny in the knee, and ducked under a heavy swing.
Danny’s foot lashed out at Spune’s legs. The gladiator moved to block, and Danny threw a precise punch at Spune’s head. The Stick stumbled, recovered in a snap, and countered with a heavy blow to Danny’s right wrist. Danny cried out and gripped his injured limb. It wasn’t broken, but it HURT! Spune relaxed, waiting for him to recover. Sudden anger enveloped the magician. How could that thing make it look so easy?! Hand-to-hand was his thing! He swept hard at the stick figure, missing by a mile. Spune backed away, a wary look on his face.
“Danny…relax.” the youngling soothed. “You don’t have to fight too hard. Just focus and you’ll be fine. Trust me.”
Danny placed his hands on his knees, bent over, gasping for breath. The purple stick figure was right. He had to focus. The magician closed his eyes, blocking out the world, thinking of his time and training with the Deltoids. When he was finished, he looked back at Spune and reached up, slowly removing his golden aviators. His pupils almost seemed to glow even brighter than Spune’s.
“Okay.” he said. “I’m ready.”
This time, Spune didn’t turn into a blur. He took on a basic combat stance, waiting for Danny to attack first. Danny leaped, faking a left hook and swinging with his right. Spune narrowly escaped the attack, and blocked the few that came after. He backed up, slamming both hands into Danny’s exposed chest, causing him to back up to catch his breath. Danny recovered, focused, and raised his hands.
“Wait!” Spune suddenly said.
Surprised by the urgent tone of his voice, Danny lowered his arms.
“What?” he asked.
Spune slowly looked down at the ground, allowing Danny to follow his gaze. Twisted metal and buckled concrete chunks spread before them, splitting into all sorts of gaps and holes. Spune tapped near one of the openings with his foot.
“You could step in one and break a foot bone or something.” he explained. “Let’s fight over there.”
The gladiator was pointing to a strip of old road nearby. It wasn’t perfectly smooth, but it definitely didn’t put either fighter at risk like the current terrain did.
Danny smiled a tiny bit. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Spune replied, and both warriors switched to the new battleground.
Spune had barely touched down before Danny’s fist was right in front of him. It crackled with lightning, probably going at the same speed. Darkness appeared for a flash of a second, blotting the environment out. In the next moment, he was flying through the air. Spune smashed through a glass window, tumbling inside the crumbled structure. He lay where he had fallen, gasping for breath. That blackout had been weird. Pain crawled through his shoulder. It had hit the wall first, and felt quite broken. At least it hadn’t been his head.
Danny watched the window intently. At any moment, Spune would come back out, and he would be ready. Minutes dragged by, and soon, Danny’s body relaxed, just slightly. Where was he? He looked up, and suddenly Spune was in his face, his wings blazing with light for a split second. Danny swept his blades, blind, and nicked Spune on the left wrist. Spune narrowed his eyes, bringing his spoon down hard. The clang of metal on metal pulsed through the air. Sparks sprayed over both warriors. Danny thrust Spune’s weapon back with all of his strength. The Stick stumbled a little, and Danny leaped forwards, swiping violently upward with his daggers. Spune’s weapon clinked far away from him, and before he could react, the air around him formed into a fist of massive size.
Spune’s eyes widened. Frozen water! If he had his spoon right now, that would be great. He tensed himself to dash. Time slowed. All of a sudden, everything went dark. Spune blinked, confus