In the hallway outside of the academy ballroom, Sana, Rey, Krystal, Prince, Neil, and Heer were all following Aiden as quickly as possible. Down the hall, Aiden stopped, opening the door of an old storage room.
“Quick! In here!” Aiden ordered the gang. The others rushed inside the storage room and Aiden shut the door, locking it.
“Why are we hiding?” Sana asked. “We have to go after those two.”
“I know,” Aiden replied. “But I think that those two aren’t the only ones we have to worry about.”
“What do you mean?” Heer asked.
“Let me show you,” Aiden said.
Aiden drew out his wand and waved it around, forming what appeared to be an image of the outside of the school. The image showed Madame Naga, Droh, and Runa entering inside the academy.
“Wow. Neat trick,” Prince said.
“Seriously, this guy keeps drawing out special effects like they’re nothing,” Rey said.
“It’s Droh! And that girl!” Krystal exclaimed. “But who’s that snake lady with them?!”
“That is Madame Naga,” Aiden answered. “She herself is a dark beast. One of the most dangerous ones as well.”
“I’m assuming by her name that she can take on the form of a dark snake,” said Sana.
“Correct. But she’s far more dangerous than Droh and Run,” Aiden replied.
“So, all five of those poorly dressed creeps are working together!” Krystal exclaimed.
“I’m guessing they have more in mind than just ruining Devil’s birthday,” said Prince.
“The key that they got from Headmaster Devil opens the forbidden chamber in the basement of the academy,” Aiden explained. “In that chamber lies a powerful artifact known as the Shakti Orb.”
“What’s the Shakti Orb?” Heer asked.
“I know what it is. I remember Professor Luna briefly mentioned about it in class once,” Sana said. “If I’m correct, the Shakti Orb has the power to increase a ringmaster or human-beast’s power beyond maximum potential.”
“Man. You pay too much attention in that class,” Rey said.
“Sana is correct. For every ringmaster and human-beast, power enhancement should only occur when energy levels are at equilibrium for both partners,” Aiden explained. “But the Shakti Orb’s power exceeds one’s power beyond their limits. This not only gives ultimate power, but can also be destructive if in the wrong hands.”
“So, what do we do now?” Prince asked.
“From what it looks like, Stallion and Angel are going to head to the chamber to retrieve the orb. Droh, Runa, and Madame Naga are probably going to station themselves in parts of the academy to prevent anyone from getting in their way. And that’s where we come in,” Aiden continued. “Listen to me carefully. Whatever I tell you to do, just do it to the best of your ability. Neil and Heer, you two will go after Runa. Krystal and Prince, you both will go after Droh. And Sana and Rey, you two will handle Madame Naga. As for me, I will make sure Stallion and Angel don’t get to the chamber. Are we all clear?”
“Do we actually have to listen to him?” Neil asked Heer.
“We have to, Neil,” Heer said. “If we’re going to stop them, it’s our best chance.”
“Agreed. We’re ready,” Sana said.
“I’m not! No way am I ruining this dress!” Krystal exclaimed.
“Krystal, we don’t have the time to wait for you to change your wardrobe!” Sana exclaimed.
“We have to get going,” Heer added.
“No way! I’m not getting this dress ruined!” Krystal protested.
Sana sighed as she shook her head. She turned to the mop that was sitting in a bucket of water near the door of the storage room. She grabbed the bucket of water and splashed it all over Krystal, drenching her entire dress.
“Sana!” Krystal shrieked. “How dare you soil this dress?! Do you even know how much its worth?! And you just had to soak it in filthy mop water!”
“You said you didn’t want to fight because your dress would get ruined,” Sana said. “I just did that. So, now you have no reason to not go and fight.”
“Are we ready to go then?” Prince asked impatiently.
“Hold up! We don’t even know where we’re supposed to be going!” Rey exclaimed.
“According to the image from my wand, Madame Naga is in the west wing, Droh is in the east wing, and Runa is in the center hallway,” Aiden told the others. “Stallion and Angel are heading towards the basement stairwell. I’ll be heading there.”
“Sounds good to me,” Sana said.
“Good luck to all of you,” Aiden said.
With that, the gang split up, taking off to their respective locations while Aiden headed off towards the basement of the academy.
***
Inside the ballroom, the other students and faculty remained inside, unsure of what was going on. Professor Luna guarded the door along with Professor D’Sena.
“This doesn’t look good,” Professor D’Sena said.
“I know. I feel helpless in this situation. And I’m sure our students feel the same,” Professor Luna agreed.
“Professor Luna…I request me and Tina go after those two,” Aster told Professor Luna as he came up to her with Tina.
“Aster, I’m afraid I can’t allow you to go,” Professor Luna said.
“Why not?” Tina asked. “We can’t just stand here and do nothing.”
“It was Aiden’s order to seal everyone in the ballroom. Something truly dangerous is happening,” Professor Luna explained. “Stallion and Angel are going after-“
“The Shakti Orb,” Headmaster Devil replied as he came towards the four.
“Headmaster Devil!” Professor D’Sena exclaimed. “How did you manage to break free?!”
“Energy straps wear off after some time. Besides, I can’t just stay here and do nothing,” Headmaster Devil said. “I’m going out.”
“You can’t, sir!” Professor Luna exclaimed. “Aiden said-“
“Aiden is still a young boy, about the same age as the students here. He may be intelligent. He may be a highly trained human-beast, who also happened to have trained himself as a ringmaster. But he isn’t aware of one thing,” Headmaster Devil continued. “His ringmaster abilities are still mediocre. He may have been able to use them swiftly against my students in detention. But against these enemies, he won’t stand a chance. As the headmaster of this school and a ringmaster myself, I’ll have to go and help him out.”
“But what about the rest of us?!” Tina asked.
“I know all of you want to help. And you can. This barrier only lasts for a limited amount of time. Hence, you all have to be ready in case anyone comes in,” Headmaster Devil said. “Understood?”
“Yes, Headmaster Devil,” Professor Luna said.
“Good,” Headmaster Devil said. “I’ll be on my way then.”
***
In the hallway leading to the basement of the academy, Stallion and Angel were quickly making their way towards the basement. “That’s it. Soon we’ll open the doors to the chamber,” Stallion said.
But then, they stopped as they saw Aiden jump right before them. “What do you think you’re doing?!” Stallion questioned Aiden. “Get out of our way!”
“You really think I’ll let you get to the chamber? You’re going to have to get through me first,” Aiden stated. Stallion got off of Angel’s back and she transformed back into her human form.
“Look at this one. He seems to be asking for his death,” Angel told Stallion.
“No matter,” Stallion said. “We can finish him quickly.”
“Don’t be so sure about me dying,” Aiden said.
“Oh please! I’ll rip you in two!” Angel cackled as she transformed back into her dark horse form.
Aiden transformed into his beast form, getting ready for battle. Stallion drew out his pistol and fired energy bullets at Aiden. Aiden dodged each one as Stallion continued firing. Angel launched a dark energy beam from her mouth, which hit Aiden directly as he was still dodging the energy bullets. He transformed back into human form and drew out his wand, tapping it to transform it into his sword and plunging it to the ground, which sent a gust of wind at both Angel and Stallion. He transformed back into beast form and attacked Angel directly. While he had pounced on her, Angel kicked him off and then pinned him down with her hoof. This allowed Stallion to go ahead and fire an energy bullet. Instead, Aiden transformed back into human form and kicked off Angel, drawing out his sword again. But before he could attack, Stallion fired an energy bullet at his sword, making it fall onto the ground. He fired an energy bullet at Aiden, injuring him as he slammed into the wall.
They’re too quick. I can’t keep up with them, Aiden thought. And if this goes on, I’ll be a dead man. I need a new strategy.
As Aiden tried to get up, he was startled, hearing footsteps coming towards him. He turned to the side to see Headmaster Devil walking right towards him.
“Devil?” Aiden mumbled as Headmaster Devil finally stopped before him.
“How did he get out?!” Stallion asked. Headmaster Devil looked down upon Aiden, while Aiden didn’t know what to say. He said, “You fool. You really thought you could handle these two on your own?” Aiden didn’t say a word.
“Let’s face it. Trying to be a human-beast and a ringmaster at the same time does nothing but wear you out. You’re wasting your time if you think you could do things all at once and manage on your own against enemies like these buffoons,” Headmaster Devil continued. “Why do you think the jobs are separate? It requires two bonds of energy to get the job done. Now…you can either sit here with no dignity left in you…or you can get up, partner with me, and get this done the right way.”
Aiden was left speechless. But after a moment of processing Headmaster Devil’s words, he himself said, “Wow, old man. You waste your breath to tell me that. I’m not here to waste time. You still think you got it in you?”
“Of course. Why else do you think I’m the headmaster of this academy?”
“Very well. I’m all up for this. After all, it looks like the devil needs revenge against the angel.”
Headmaster Devil turned to both Stallion and Angel. He pointed at Angel and said, “Now I know that’s not your real name! So, quit fighting like a coward and fight like who you really are!”
Angel transformed back into her human form. She said, “Very well. You’re smarter than I thought. Let me introduce myself as Fida then.”
“Fida! Ha! Even that name doesn’t suit you!”
“Aww…is someone still sore from his aching, broken heart?”
“No. But I will say that you’re the first ex that I’ve ever wanted to throw down with.”
“Gee, that makes me feel special. Too bad you’ll be a dead man before you can even lay a hand on me.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Headmaster Devil grabbed hold of the sword, while Aiden transformed into his beast form. Fida transformed back into her dark beast form, while Stallion got his pistol ready. Stallion fired energy bullets from his pistol directly at Headmaster Devil. He countered each one swiftly with his sword. At that same time, Fida launched another dark energy beam attack towards Aiden, which transformed into a series of dark energy shards. Aiden blew a gust of wind that fired the dark shards back at Fida.
Once she was down, Aiden jumped at her directly, biting at her mane, while Fida tried to shake him off. “Aiden! Use the Wind Claw attack!” Headmaster Devil ordered.
Aiden nodded as he lifted his paw and plunged his claws right at Fida’s neck. Fida shook Aiden off of her, but she felt sudden pain in her neck.
“Good. You got her,” Headmaster Devil said.
“What was that?!” Stallion asked, infuriated.
“Wind Claw, one of Aiden’s special attacks,” Headmaster Devil said. “It not only leaves a mark, but it also sends strong wind forces into the central nervous system. Not only does she have trouble getting up, but her brain waves are affected as well.”
“You sneaky bastard!” Stallion shouted as he fired another energy bullet at Headmaster Devil. “
Headmaster Devil knocked the bullet off with his sword. He said, “Is that really all you can do?!”
Stallion lowered his pistol down for a moment, confused, while Fida tried to get up. Aiden turned to Headmaster Devil.
Headmaster Devil looked at Aiden and the two of them nodded at each other. Headmaster Devil spun his sword around while Aiden stood before him.
Headmaster Devil plunged his sword into the ground. Suddenly, the sword emitted a spiraling wind that unraveled as it went upward and then finally tangled together. The force of the winds was so great that even Stallion and Fida were left in a daze, unable to handle the winds’ power. The winds spun around, forming a funnel. The funnel grew bigger and Aiden jumped into the funnel as the winds consumed him while he absorbed the power.
“Tornado Twister!” Headmaster Devil called out his attack. The winds formed a tornado which spun Aiden around inside. As he spun, he finally emerged from the tornado and attacked both Stallion and Fida along with the tornado attack.
Once the winds had died down, Aiden and Headmaster Devil remained standing while Stallion and Fida were completely down as the attack had pounded them with great force. Fida transformed back into human form, seemingly giving up.
“You imbecile,” Fida mumbled. “How dare you attack us with such power?!”
“Consider us even now. And for the record, I’ll make it clear that I dumped you,” Headmaster Devil said. “Aiden, send out the guards immediately to have these two locked up.”
“Will do,” Aiden replied. “What do we do about the others?”
“Well, there’s no harm now. All we have to do is take the key back,” Headmaster Devil stated.
“Go ahead. Take the key back,” Stallion mumbled. “Don’t think we’re stupid. We were able to make replicas, which Madame Naga, Droh, and Runa currently have.”
“What?!” Aiden exclaimed.
“No problem. My students can handle this,” Headmaster Devil assured. “I know they will.
***
On the other hand, Droh was in the east wing of the academy. He held a mirror, which had shown him an image of Stallion and Fida, lying on the floor, defeated. “Those fools. The headmaster and that boy defeated them,” Droh said in frustration. “Looks like I’ll have to go get to the chamber myself.”
Droh made his way down the hall. But he stopped in surprise. Krystal and Prince were standing before him. The two of them looked up, turning towards him.
“If you really think we’d let you get away, you’re more stupid than we thought,” Prince said.
Droh smirked as he looked at both Krystal and Prince. “Well then…I didn’t think I’d have to kill anyone just yet. But since you’re asking for it, why not?!” Droh cackled.
Copyright © 2021 Meryl T
All rights reserved. All illustrations created by Meryl T.
The Ringmasters Society 