It was cold and stormy as Neil and Heer hid among the bushes in the forest. It had been pouring for quite some time now. Neil could feel the water seep into his sneakers as he held onto his bow. But he was trying to not let it distract him. He had to keep his cool. He kept a close eye on his target. The catlike dark beast was growling faintly as it prowled among the trees. Neil looked over at Heer and whispered, “You ready?”
“Yes.”
“So, you’re clear on what you have to do?”
“I’ve understood everything.”
“All right. Now’s your chance then.”
Heer transformed into her snow leopard form and leaped from the bushes. It didn’t take long for the dark beast to react. The beast emitted a dark energy wave towards Heer, and she countered it with an ice energy beam. As the two forces collided, Heer pounced onto the dark beast, engaging with it in physical combat. While that was going on, Neil was preparing his bow, building up the energy to form the arrow. He kept his eyes on the dark beast, waiting for the moment that Heer would have it perfectly pinned down for him to strike. Once she got the beast down on the ground with her paws, Neil fired the arrow. Heer jumped out of the way as soon as the arrow hit at the beast, enclosing it in an ice coffin.
With the beast frozen, Neil stepped out from the bushes and Heer transformed back into her human form. Suddenly the atmosphere around them changed. Neil watched as they were both transported back into the white room. It was just a simulation.
Ryan had taken the students of his Power Coordination class to one of the special training rooms for a simulation exercise. With Neil and Heer completing their exercise, they were able to exit the white room. As Neil walked out with Heer from the room, they were welcomed with claps from their fellow students. Among those students were Sana, Rey, Krystal, Prince, Zayn, and Akira. Ryan stepped away from the controls of the simulation generator and said, “Good job, you two.”
“Thank you so much, sir,” Heer said.
“So, how does it feel after experiencing the simulation for the first time?” Ryan asked.
“So real. I can’t believe all of that wasn’t the real thing. And don’t get me started on the weather,” Neil said.
“Well, that is the point of the simulation generator. The atmosphere and situations you’re placed in are meant to look and feel as real as possible once you enter. Devil sure knew how to invest in good equipment,” Ryan said.
“Mr. Malik, can we go in next?” one of the students asked.
Before Ryan could answer, the bell rang. As the students sighed in disappointment, Ryan said, “No worries, guys. These rooms are free to use after school as long as you are done before six. If you can’t do that, we’ll definitely come back here for another session. For now, all of you can leave for the day. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
With class dismissed, students began leaving the room, following Ryan out. Neil and Heer stuck around with the rest of the gang. Rey went up and high-fived Neil and said, “Nice work, man! You and Heer killed it out there.”
“Well, of course we did,” Neil said. “Was there any doubt?”
“Considering how easily me and Zayn mopped the floor with you and Rey, there certainly was,” Akira said.
“Ha! I completely forgot about that!” Krystal exclaimed.
“Listen, I was just messing around that day!” Neil retorted.
“Forget that. Can we leave now?” Prince asked.
“Actually, I was thinking we could stick around and use the simulator for some training,” Sana said.
“Hell yeah! I’m in!” Rey exclaimed.
“I wouldn’t mind some training myself,” Zayn said.
“Seriously? You guys actually want to hang around here more?” Prince asked.
“Oh, come on, Prince. It’s not like you have somewhere to be,” Krystal said.
“Here’s an idea. Why don’t we come back here in half an hour?” Heer asked. “We can recharge and meet up after some time.”
“Sounds good to me!” Rey exclaimed.
***
After some time, the gang returned to the training room. As they were getting situated, Prince was agitated. He wanted to go back to his dorm and take a nap. But Krystal insisted that he show up since she wanted to get in on some training. Zayn got hold of the controls while Neil looked over, sipping from a cup of lemonade he got from the cafeteria.
“Uh Neil, be careful with your drink around these controls,” Zayn said.
“Why did you even bring that here?” Akira asked Neil.
“Hey, I got thirsty!” Neil exclaimed.
“All right. Who wants to go first?” Zayn asked.
“Me!” Sana and Krystal said in unison.
“Oh great. Krystal, let us go first,” Rey said. “We volunteered to before our break anyway.”
“Who cares?! Prince and I need to get some training done! And since he would rather take a nap, we should go first,” Krystal said.
“She’s not wrong,” Prince said.
“You all can go in at the same time,” Zayn said.
“They can?” Heer asked.
“Yeah. One of the features of this thing allows for two teams to go in at the same time. According to the guide my dad showed me, you’ll end up in different simulations,” Zayn said. “Just step into the room and do what I tell you to.”
“All right! Sounds good!” Rey exclaimed.
Sana, Rey, Krystal, and Prince stepped inside the white room. Heer closed the door and stepped back. Once they were inside, Zayn pressed a red button and said, “Okay, guys. You should see four red dots appear in front of you. Step in front of them.”
Sana looked down and saw the four red dots appear. They appeared in pairs with one set on the left and the other on the right. Sana and Rey stood in front of the left one while Krystal and Prince stood in front of the other. With both teams in place, Zayn asked, “Okay, what difficulty level would you guys like?”
“Hmm good question,” Sana said.
“Neil and Heer took level ten. I say we can turn it up to eleven,” Rey said.
“Hey, you want to try and outdo us?!” Neil exclaimed.
“We’re here for a challenge, Neil,” Sana said.
“I’m fine with whatever. I’m sure I can handle it,” Krystal said.
Prince shrugged his shoulders, not really caring about what level they chose. He just wanted to get it over with.
Zayn put the teams in for level eleven. As he pressed the button to start the simulation, Neil accidentally dropped his drink and the lemonade splattered all over the controls. “Oops!” Neil exclaimed.
“Neil, what did you do?!” Zayn shouted as the controls started to spark. Zayn tried to shut down the system, but nothing was working, and the controls continued to act erratic.
“What’s going on out there?” Krystal asked.
“Neil messed up the controls,” Akira said.
“It was an accident!” Neil exclaimed.
As Zayn kept trying to stop the machine, it ended up being too late. Sana, Rey, Krystal, and Prince had disappeared. Zayn looked up at the two computer screens on the wall and he could see the others were just as surprised as he was. Sana, Rey, Krystal, and Prince had been transported into their simulations. But they had been switched. Sana was with Prince and Rey was with Krystal.
“Oh damn,” Akira said.
“How did they end up switching?” Heer asked.
“Neil’s screwup made the simulator malfunction and they must’ve switched,” Zayn said.
“I’m sorry! It was an accident!” Neil cried.
“You must have butter fingers or something,” Akira said.
“What do we do now, Zayn?” Heer asked.
“I’m gonna need to call my dad or Ryan to help us get them out,” Zayn said.
***
Rey rubbed his head as he got up from the hard, rocky ground. He couldn’t even process what had happened in the past few minutes. What did surprise him was seeing Krystal instead of Sana with him.
“Hold up! What are you doing here?!” Rey questioned.
“What am I doing here?! What about you?! Where’s Prince?!”
“Damn it. The simulator must’ve malfunctioned and made us switch. This sucks.”
“Yeah. I can’t believe I have to get stuck with you.”
“What does that mean?!”
“You’re a loose cannon. That’s what it means.”
“Oh yeah?! Well, you’re an airheaded klutz.”
Before Krystal could say anything back, something else preoccupied her mind. She looked around her, taking note of the scorching heat and bright blue sky. As her hands got a feel of the earthy ground, she said, “Where are we exactly?”
Krystal and Rey stood up from the ground. As soon as she stood up, she could feel that the altitude was even higher than before. That was when she looked down and realized she and Rey were standing on the edge of a cliff. She panicked and fell back down on the ground.
“We’re on a cliff! Of all the places to be transported at, it had to be here!” Krystal cried.
“Oh, come on. It’s just a cliff we’re standing on. It’s not like anything bad has happened yet.”
Rey turned around and realized he had spoken too soon. Seeing the change in his expression, Krystal turned around as well and was just as shocked. In front of her eyes, she saw a giant spiderlike dark beast migrating its way out of the cave it came from. It unleashed an eerie roar, flashing long, pointy fangs. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before. As the beast was making its way towards them, Rey said, “We’re gonna need to jump.”
“Jump?! Are you kidding me?! We’ll die!”
“We don’t exactly have a choice. It’s either jump and risk dying or actually die at the hands of this thing!”
“Oh, come on! Surely we can fight it now!”
Before Krystal could even transform her wand to fight the beast, Rey grabbed her hand and pulled her off the cliff. As the two jumped, they both screamed. Rey tried to concentrate his fire energy into his feet to power him up as they kept falling. Once they reached the ground, Rey was able to get him and Krystal down safely as he powered down the fire from his feet. He looked down, seeing his sandals had burned from the intensity of the heat.
“Damn. My shoes are crispy now,” Rey said. He looked over at Krystal, shrieking at the angry look on her face as he let go of her hand. She was beyond upset.
“You damn fool! You wanted to kill us both?!”
“What?! I saved us both! I risked my sandals for it!”
“Oh! So, I’m dramatic when I freak out over my clothes getting ruined, but I should give a damn about your ugly sandals?!”
“Hey! I loved these sandals! They’ve gotten me through a lot of things!”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever! Where are we now?”
Krystal looked around, taking note of the greener terrain they were now on. There were tall trees in what was clearly the entrance to the forest. It definitely seemed safer compared to where they were before. But she wondered how long till the beast would come back. This was a simulation after all.
“I just realized something. I don’t think we can get out of here until we defeat that beast.”
“Huh?!”
“The point of the simulation is to test our skills against the dark beast we encounter. If you had just let me fight right then and there, we’d be back at school by now!”
“Are you seriously calling me stupid?”
“I’m not calling you smart.”
“Oh, shut up! How are you more annoying than an angry Sana?!”
“You shut up! Ugh, now I have to figure out how to get us out of this mess. Prince usually helps me with that.”
“Are you saying I’m not as smart as Prince?!”
“I never called you smart to begin with.”
Damn you, Krystal. You practically get the same grades as me and you’re calling me stupid?! Rey thought.
“So, if you’re as smart as you say you are, what’s our next move?” Rey asked.
“Well, it looks we’ll have to walk in this forest and find a place to recharge. Maybe then I’ll figure it out.”
With that, Krystal went on ahead and started walking inside the forest. Rey shrugged his shoulders and followed her, seeing he had no other option.
***
On the other hand, Sana and Prince hadn’t faced any dark beast, but they had their own share of problems. The simulator placed them in a cold environment where it was snowing heavily. The two were walking for a very long time, trying to find a place to take cover. While Sana was shivering and trying to persevere through the cold, Prince felt nothing and was instead drowned in his own irritation.
“Of all the environments to be put in, we had to be put in the one that’s most suitable for Neil and Heer,” Sana sighed. “This feels so cruel.”
As Sana kept moping, she noticed Prince was rather silent. Ever since they landed in the simulation, he hadn’t spoken more than two words. She turned to him as she kept walking and said, “Are you okay?”
“Me? Oh, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Your tone says otherwise.”
“This is all Krystal’s fault. Go training with me she said. It’ll be a great experience. Oh yeah. It’s perfect. I’m walking in this cold and who knows when we’ll get out.”
“You don’t have to be so negative about it.”
“Oh, please. Our chances of making it through this are low considering we have to defeat the dark beast together to get out.”
“Who says we can’t do that?”
“Our powers don’t complement each other. There’s no way we can work together. And since we’re stronger with our partners, we’re basically screwed since you guys wanted to take on a level eleven dark beast.”
Sheesh. With so much negative energy, I’m surprised he hasn’t turned into a dark beast himself, Sana thought. I really hope Rey is safe. I mean, Krystal is strong. She should be able to manage with him. But how are we going to work together to complete the simulation? That’s the only way out at this point.
Before Sana could ponder further, she beamed at the sight of a cave nearby. “Well, it looks like all hope isn’t lost yet,” Sana said to Prince.
Sana and Prince quickly headed over to the cave. Once they got inside, they sat down on the ground. Seeing as they had no firewood, Sana drew out her wand and transformed it into her trishula. She channeled her fire energy to allow for a flame to rise from the trishula’s head as it rested on the ground before her and Prince. With the fire in place, Sana was finally feeling warm again.
“This feels so good. I don’t know how Neil deals with the cold with such ease,” Sana said.
As Sana continued to warm herself up by the fire, she noticed that Prince was still quiet. She knew he was one to keep to himself, but she found herself to be rather annoyed with his silence. Sometimes she wondered if he really saw her and the others as his friends.
“I’m gonna take a nap,” Prince said.
“Um don’t you think we should stay awake?”
“Why?”
“In case the dark beast shows up here.”
“Please. No beast is going to show up here in this snow. If anything happens, just yell.”
With that, Prince got down on the ground and fell asleep immediately. Seriously? What’s this guy’s deal? Sana thought. We should be coming up with a strategy to defeat this dark beast and get out of here. Though that’s probably difficult considering we don’t know what kind of dark beast we’re dealing with. And Prince doesn’t even believe we could defeat it together.
***
Back in the training room, Zayn had called Ryan down and explained everything that happened. Ryan took a look at the machine and tried to see if there was anything he could do from his end. After some time passed, he said, “Okay, I’ve tried everything. It looks like there’s nothing we can do on our end.”
“Seriously? You can’t get them out?” Zayn asked.
“Normally, I could pull them out of the simulation if it got too drastic. But the controls are pretty much fried. Until we can get someone to properly fix the machine, there’s nothing I can do on my end,” Ryan said.
“Nice work, butter fingers,” Akira said to Neil.
“How many times do I have to say sorry?!” Neil exclaimed.
“It was an accident. The good thing is it seems they’re okay right now,” Heer said as she looked at her friends on the computer screens.
“Yeah, well they’re definitely not getting along smoothly,” Zayn said.
“In a weird way, this might be a good experience for them,” Ryan said.
“How so?” Neil asked.
“Every ringmaster always partners with a human-beast that possesses the same type of power, be it fire, water, sound etc. This provides a challenge for them since they’ve been switched,” Ryan said. “Not only will they have to deal with new power matchups, but new teams as well. So, we’ll see if they’re up to the challenge.”
“You’re not at least worried about Sana?” Zayn asked.
“Normally I would. But she knows how to handle herself,” Ryan said. “She’s a smart girl. She’s got this. They all do.”
I hope he’s right, Zayn thought.
***
In the forest, Krystal and Rey found a safe spot behind the bushes to lay low. As they were taking rest, Krystal was pondering over what their next move was. She even wondered how Prince was doing. She knew he would be fine with Sana but missed his presence. As she continued to think, she noticed Rey was looking at her. She got annoyed and said, “What are you looking at?”
“You make a funny face when you’re thinking.”
“Does Sana find your dumb comments amusing?”
“She’s certainly less annoying than you. She also would have a game plan by now.”
“So, she does all the work, and you just follow. That’s fitting.”
“Look, we can sit here and complain all day. But if Sana were here, she would tell us to cut the nonsense and figure things out.”
“Kinda hard to do that when our powers don’t match. We’re sound and fire. Not exactly an ideal pairing. Plus, it makes it hard for us to synchronize.”
“Geez, since when did you start taking after Zayn and his downer attitude?”
“What are you talking about?!”
“Aww, is this because you two have been spending so much time together?”
“What are you insinuating?!”
“I think you know.”
Before Krystal could say something back, she could hear the faint sound of steps coming near. She had a feeling the dark beast was heading their way.
Krystal peeped through the bushes to see if it was near. She couldn’t see anything aside from the trees and grassy ground.
“That’s strange. I thought I heard something,” Krystal said.
“Uh, Krystal,” Rey said.
Krystal turned around to see what Rey was so worked up about. And it turned out she was right. The dark beast was right behind them.
“How did it find us?!” Rey said.
“Forget that! We gotta save our butts!” Krystal exclaimed as she drew out her wand, transforming it into her sonic bell.
The dark beast let out its roar again. It didn’t waste time crawling its way towards Krystal and Rey.
“Okay, what’s the game plan?” Rey asked.
“Just do your thing and I’ll do mine,” Krystal said.
Krystal went ahead and plunged her sonic bell into the ground, unleashing a sound wave from it towards the beast. But the beast unleashed a dark energy wave to counter it. Krystal tried to hold it off as much as she could, but the beast’s attack felt much more overwhelming. It didn’t take long for her sound wave to die down from the dark energy wave’s power and she got struck by it.
Rey transformed into his tiger form. Before he could even make a move, the dark beast pinned its spider legs down on him. He could feel one of the legs piercing through his skin. The pain made him yelp. The beast was getting close to his face to tear into it. But before that could happen, he emitted a fireball from his mouth towards the beast’s face. This got the beast off him, but he couldn’t move much as he saw blood coming down one of his legs.
Krystal tried to get up, but it didn’t take long for the dark beast to attack with another dark energy wave. This one felt even stronger. Before Krystal could even react, the attack hit her and Rey like a tsunami. The wave sent her and Rey flying past some trees before they landed on the ground hard. At that point, Krystal could hardly get up. She couldn’t even see if the dark beast was still there. What she could see was Rey had transformed back into his human form. His leg was bleeding. And it seemed like he was completely out of it.
Even though she was tired and hurt, she knew she had to help Rey. She crawled her way towards him and quickly ripped off a piece of her top from the end. She wrapped it around the area on his leg that had been cut. She secured it, looking at Rey. She checked his pulse and could tell he was still okay. Krystal let out a deep breath as she decided to wait for Rey to wake up.
***
At the cave, Sana tried to take a nap like Prince, but she couldn’t even close her eyes. As she continued to warm up by the fire, she couldn’t help but think about Rey. It was weird not having him by her side. She was so used to working with him that Prince’s coldness toward her felt jarring. But she was hopeful that him and Krystal were okay.
As she tried to sleep again, she was alarmed by the sound of faint growling. She turned around, feeling like the growling was getting louder and louder. Sana went over to Prince and tried shaking him, saying, “Prince! Prince! Prince, wake up!”
Prince wouldn’t wake up. Sana could hear loud footsteps thumping against the ground along with the growling. She could feel her heartbeat racing. She shook Prince more and shouted, “Prince! Prince, you told me to wake you up if something was coming. There is something coming! Wake up!”
Prince still wouldn’t wake up. At this point, Sana had no other option but to yell loudly, “Prince, wake up!”
Sana’s yelling rattled Prince’s eardrums. He woke up, feeling exhausted and irritated. He said, “What is it?”
Seeing her turn around, Prince looked in her direction. Before them was indeed a dark beast. It was a tall, almost giant bear with razor-sharp claws projecting from its paws. The beast roared, going after Sana and Prince. The two immediately got up and ran out from the cave. As Sana grabbed hold of her trishula, she was quick to notice Prince getting pounded on by the dark beast.
Prince quickly transformed into his lion form to fend off the beast, emitting his Sonic Roar directly at its face. The beast quickly countered with a roar of its own, launching a dark energy beam at Prince’s face. Seeing the struggle, Sana tried to act quickly. She put everything into her trishula and sharply plunged it into the ground. What she didn’t realize was that she had plunged it so hard that the ground was starting to crack. This alarmed Prince as well.
And the ground did indeed crack. A lot. Sana, Prince, and the beast fell as rock had broken down and piles upon piles of snow fell with it. Sana tried to act quickly. She prepared her trishula, pointing it towards the ground with the hope that it would help ease her landing. She braced herself for the impact as she landed with the trishula’s head hitting the ground, allowing her to fall back without getting hurt too bad. Sana noticed Prince had acted quickly by aiming his Sonic Roar to the ground to allow him to bounce safely to it. Sana got up and rushed to him as he transformed back into his human form.
“Are you okay?” Sana asked Prince.
“Forget me. We still have to worry about that thing.”
Sana looked at the dark beast, seeing it was down on the ground, covered with snow and even pieces of rock. It looked like it wasn’t moving at all.
“What’s there to worry about, Prince? It looks down to me.”
“For now, yes. It’ll be up sooner than you think.”
Sana looked ahead, seeing some boulders and rock formations. She quickly made her way there with Prince following. The two hid behind one of the large boulders. Sana panted, feeling dizzy from everything that had just happened.
“That was too close,” Sana said.
“Yeah, you nearly did us in.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re the one that caused the rock formation to crack. We could’ve died if we didn’t think act quick enough. What were you even thinking?”
“I was trying to help you out. You were getting hurt and I tried to act quick, but I guess I just didn’t account for my own strength.”
“No kidding.”
“Look, I genuinely wanted to just help you.”
“And I don’t need your help. You’re not my partner.”
Sana was very frustrated. There was a lot on her mind that she wondered if she should even say. But she decided to say it anyway.
“Look, I know you’re used to working with Krystal, but I’m trying here. We may have ended up here by accident, but that doesn’t mean you have to shut me out. All of us consider you to be a friend…even though you don’t open up to us,” Sana said. “But sometimes I wonder if you see us as friends. You always keep to yourself. And you have the right to. But sometimes it’s important to let people in. You may not act like it, but I know deep down you care about Krystal and the others.”
Prince found himself surprised. He sighed because everything Sana was saying was true. He was so caught up in his own annoyance that he didn’t realize how much it was affecting Sana.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Sana,” Prince said. “I can’t…explain why I’m like this. Like, I know, but I just don’t warm up to people as easily as you, Krystal, or the others do. So, I don’t really know how to say what’s on my mind or how to rely on others.”
“I get it. I think you know better than you give yourself credit for.”
“How so?”
“Well, I’ve seen how you work with Krystal. She can get so in her head. Heck, sometimes she doesn’t pay attention. But you always keep her on track. That’s because you care. Prince, we all care about you. No matter how nonchalant or annoyed you can be, you’ll always be our friend.”
“You’re not trying to make me cry, are you?”
“Ha! Funny. I know it’ll take more than some heartfelt words to make you cry.”
Prince chuckled. He knew Sana’s words were genuine. He looked over beyond the boulder and saw the dark beast had slowly gotten up and was starting to walk again.
“It’s up. I don’t really know how we’re going to defeat it,” Prince said.
“The only way to defeat it is to work together.”
“How though? You’re fire and I’m sound.”
“That’s true, but it doesn’t matter. We’ll just have to get creative.”
“Okay…I’m listening.”
“I have a few ideas in mind.”
***
Krystal was trying really hard to figure out what to do next. She was also trying to not fall asleep considering the dark beast could come back any moment. Suddenly, Rey began to wake up, catching Krystal’s attention.
“How are you feeling?” Krystal asked Rey.
“I feel okay,” Rey said as he sat up. He looked at his leg, seeing part of Krystal’s top was used to stop the bleeding. “Did you do this?”
“Yeah, I did.”
“You hate ruining your clothes.”
“Yeah, but I figured you got your sandals destroyed. I can take a hit for you as well. Besides, this is my combat outfit. I have plenty of these.”
“It’s strange. I felt the pain of the cut. I saw the blood. I thought that wouldn’t happen in a simulation.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure Mr. Malik said that everything in the simulation feels real. Maybe when we get back to school, your cut won’t even be there.”
“Getting back to school. No idea how we’re going to do that.”
“Well, it looks like the way we get back to school is by working together to beat that dark beast.”
“How? You said yourself that our powers don’t match.”
“In a traditional sense yeah. But I’ve always believed in creativity and experimentation.”
“Isn’t that only with your choice of outfits?”
“Okay, but like it applies to this! There are ringmasters and human-beasts that have dual magic. That means like them we can figure out a way to combine our powers.”
“Okay. How do we do that?”
“Well, how do things go when you work with Sana?”
“I mean, Sana always knew what to do and I just trusted her. Even in the toughest situations, I can rely on her leadership.”
“That’s interesting. I always feel more confident as a leader when Prince keeps me in check.”
“Well, we’re gonna have to form our own dynamic.”
“And I think that starts with understanding our powers. Then we can come up with a game plan.”
***
Krystal and Rey took the time to figure out their plan of attack. After much discussing, they had an idea of what to do. Krystal knew the dark beast was still somewhere in the forest. She and Rey hid among the bushes. While they were hiding, Krystal relied on her keen hearing to sense when the beast was coming near. Once she heard the faintest sound of steps, she nodded to Rey. Rey peaked through the bushes, seeing it was indeed the dark beast that was nearby.
“All right. It’s here,” Rey whispered. “You ready for the action.”
“Ugh. I don’t know. I’m actually nervous.”
“You don’t have to be. We can do this. I’m ready when you are.”
Krystal took a deep breath. She had to remain calm. With Rey’s words of support, she felt more at ease.
“Okay, Rey. It’s showtime for you,” Krystal said.
“On it,” Rey said as he transformed into his tiger form.
Rey leaped from the bushes, catching the attention of the dark beast. The dark beast shot spider webs towards Rey. Rey kept dodging them, even though he wasn’t prepared for this kind of attack. But he was keeping the plan on the brain. One of his legs got caught by the spider webs. He tried to burn it with some of his fire, but the beast was quickly making its way towards him.
Before it could attack, Krystal jumped in and shouted, “Sound Beam!”, launching a sound energy beam from her sonic bell that hit the beast from behind. Once it was hit, Krystal got to the ground and saw the beast get up again. The beast launched a dark energy wave towards Krystal.
“Rey! Fireball!” Krystal ordered.
Rey immediately jumped in before Krystal and countered the wave with a fireball attack. As he held it off, Krystal ran behind the beast and launched another sound energy beam from her sonic bell. This started a back-and-forth pattern between Krystal and Rey. Rey would attack with a fireball and Krystal would attack with a sound energy beam. With each new attack, Krystal could see the beast was quickly losing focus with all the distractions.
“Okay! We got it where we want it!” Krystal exclaimed as she landed next to Rey. “Ready for the big finale?”
Rey nodded. Krystal took off and allowed Rey to do his thing. The dark beast looked visibly frustrated. It launched a dark energy beam towards Rey. Rey started to run. The beam hit him, but he took the hit and didn’t let it stop him from running. The beast continued to launch more dark energy beams towards Rey as he kept running. Rey ran in circular motion and as he was running, he was concentrating his fire energy towards his legs. Once the fire energy built up, it began to power from his legs through his whole body. His body became engulfed in an armor of flames. He began to leave a trail of these flames as he kept running. It didn’t take long for the beast to be surrounded in a ring of Rey’s fire. The heat became so overwhelming that the beast stopped launching its own attacks. Even though Rey had taken several hits, his fire armor helped protect him.
With the beast overwhelmed from the heat, Rey launched a fiery roar towards the beast. At the same time, Krystal jumped from the trees where she had been waiting. She held her sonic bell tightly and rang it, launching a powerful sound wave towards the beast as she landed directly on top of it and plunged her bell into its head. The sound waves combined with the fire disintegrated the beast in a combined blow.
Once the flames disappeared and whatever was left of the beast remained, Krystal panted, letting out a deep breath. Rey transformed back into his human form, tired and fatigued. But he smiled at Krystal, happy they pulled if off. He went up to her and the two high-fived each other.
“Nice work, Krystal!”
“Right back at you, Rey!”
Suddenly, Krystal and Rey were transported out from the simulation. They returned to the white room and were welcomed back with Heer opening the door for them.
“We’re back!” Krystal exclaimed. “And my clothes are okay!”
“So is my leg!” Rey exclaimed. “And I have my sandals back.”
“Well, it was just a simulation after all,” Ryan said.
“I have to say…you guys were amazing out there,” Akira said.
“Honestly it was unlike anything I had seen before,” Heer said.
“Yeah! That combination you guys did together was incredible!” Neil exclaimed.
“I like to call it Sonic Ring of Fire,” Krystal smirked.
“Well, Krystal, you certainly handled the leadership role with grace,” Zayn said.
“Aww, you’re blushing,” Rey said to Krystal, seeing her cheeks turn red.
“Shut up,” Krystal said, shoving Rey’s arm with her elbow.
“You guys did well. Now we just have to see how Sana and Prince pull through,” Ryan said as he looked at the computer screen.
Everyone else joined Ryan in watching. Rey looked at Krystal and could tell she was thinking the same thing. They both had faith in Sana and Prince.
***
Sana and Prince were still hiding behind the boulder. It stopped snowing a while ago. Sana kept a close eye on the dark beast as it walked around. After talking through ideas on how to attack, Sana was waiting for the right moment to strike. Eventually, the beast was heading towards their direction. Sana got hold of her trishula and Prince knew that meant it was gametime. She turned to him and said, “Listen, I trust you, okay.”
Prince appreciated Sana’s words. It made him want to do right by her. “I trust you, too,” Prince said.
With that, Sana rose from behind the boulder and Prince went along her side. It didn’t take long for the dark beast to see them and immediately launch a dark energy beam their way. Sana raised her trishula and shouted, “Ember Fury!”
She spun her trishula around as embers began to burst from the trishula’s head. The motion combined with them countered the dark energy beam with precision. She stopped and said, “Let’s do this, Prince.”
“Got it,” Prince said as he transformed into his lion form.
The dark beast unleashed a dark energy wave that combined with ice energy. As it hit Sana and Prince, she could feel the intensity of the ice strike her like needles. She and Prince hadn’t prepared for ice magic, but she wasn’t too surprised that the beast could use it given the terrain they were in.
“Try to bear it as much as you can!” Sana told Prince. “We still need to go with the plan!”
Prince nodded. Sana combatted the ice and dark energy wave with her trishula, igniting a flame to power through it. With the help of it, Prince moved towards the beast despite parts of his fur being covered with patches of dark ice.
The dark beast stopped its attack upon Prince coming towards it. Prince engaged in physical combat with the dark beast, trying to get at it with his paw. The dark beast’s form proved to be quite the challenge since it was much bigger in size. It didn’t take long for it to pin down Prince with its sharp claws. The claws were close to piercing into Prince until Sana came from behind and shouted, “Pyro Strike!”
She plunged her trishula into the ground, launching the fiery path towards the dark beast, striking it, allowing for Prince to get up and out of the way. Sana saw the dark beast was about to get up again. She knew they had to act quickly to bring it down.
“Prince, I’m gonna need a boost,” Sana said.
Prince nodded in response. As Sana got ready to jump, Prince launched a sound energy beam, directing it towards her feet to help her jump higher. She jumped high, hitting the dark beast in the face with her trishula. Once she got down to the ground again, she jumped again, and Prince repeated the same thing as before. As the two kept doing this pattern, the dark beast was getting backed off more and more. When Sana was about to hit again, the dark beast countered with a dark energy wave. She pushed through it even though the attack hurt her and rattled her skin. She struck the beast again with even greater force, forcing it to the ground again.
Before it could get up again, Sana knew she and Prince had to deliver the final blow. She turned to Prince and said, “Okay, now’s the time! Put everything you can in your Sonic Roar, Prince!”
Prince nodded. He braced himself and launched a mighty Sonic Roar that passed through Sana and towards the dark beast. Sana ran through the Sonic Roar, allowing her trishula to catch the power of the roar’s sound waves. The fire that was burning through the head of the trishula grew even bigger with the sound waves powering it up. Sana could see the dark beast was up again. It countered with a dark energy wave. Sana took in the attack and continued to run, still letting the trishula power up through Prince’s Sonic Roar, which he continued with all his might. Even though the dark beast’s dark energy wave was powerful, Sana and Prince didn’t stop once.
Sana could see her trishula was wrapped in fiery power. As she pushed through, she jumped and swung the fiery trishula at the dark beast. The fiery power combined with the Sonic Roar hit the dark beast all at once, slamming it all the way into a rocky wall.
Prince stopped his Sonic Roar, transforming back into his human form. He walked over to Sana, and he could see the dark beast had disintegrated. Sana sighed and said, “Well, it’s done.”
“Thank God. I’m tired.”
“Ha. Same. You did a good job. Thanks for backing me up.”
“We did a good job.”
In seconds, Sana and Prince were transported back into the white room. Heer opened the door for them, and Krystal rushed in and hugged them both.
“Yay! You two made it! You guys were amazing!” Krystal exclaimed.
“You watched us?” Sana asked.
“Of course, we did!” Neil exclaimed. “You guys were awesome out there.”
“Sana always knows how to shake things up,” Rey said.
“Well, it wasn’t all me,” Sana said. “Prince and I managed to work well as a team.”
“Looks like you two worked things out as well,” Prince said to Krystal and Rey.
“We sure did!” Krystal exclaimed as she hugged Rey.
“Damn, I think you hug tighter than Sana does,” Rey said as he could feel him being squeezed tightly by Krystal’s embrace.
The rest of the gang laughed while Ryan smiled, seeing Sana and the others were okay. He cleared his throat and said, “I have to say…the four of you handled yourselves great out there.”
“Though I must say it started off quite rocky,” Akira said.
“Even though you guys had the challenge of different powers, you managed to make it work,” Heer said.
“Heer’s right. Your creativity and ingenuity were present today. I have a feeling you all are going to grow stronger faster than you think,” Ryan said. “Anyway, I’m going to have to call someone to fix the machine. You guys should head out for the rest of today. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
“Bye, Dad,” Sana said as Ryan left the training room.
“So, what are we all up to now?” Neil asked.
“I gotta go work on a report due for Energy Enhancement class,” Akira said.
“Oh, same here,” Heer said.
“Crap! I haven’t started that yet! I’ll join you guys!” Neil exclaimed as he headed out with Akira and Heer.
“Okay, Rey! Let’s celebrate our victory today with a trip to the mall!” Krystal exclaimed as she grabbed hold of Rey by his arm. “I think its time we invest in more pieces for your wardrobe.”
“No way! Are you kidding me?!” Rey cried. “I don’t wanna go shopping!”
“You said that last time and still went along. It won’t kill you,” Krystal said as she walked ahead, taking Rey with her. “Zayn, do you want to tag along?”
“Sure. It’s not like I have anything else to do,” Zayn said as he followed Krystal and Rey.
“Oh, of course you want him to come along,” Rey said.
“Shut up!” Krystal exclaimed.
After Krystal, Rey, and Zayn left, Prince said to Sana, “I hope you don’t plan on dragging me for shopping.”
“How about we just go grab a burger?”
“All right. I’m cool with that.”
Sana and Prince made their way out of the training room. It was the end of an eventful day and a new challenge. And with it came many new possibilities.
Copyright © 2021 Meryl T
All rights reserved. All illustrations created by Meryl T.
The Ringmasters Society 