《The Crystals》 1 Will I get an interesting life? "Nothing interesting like this happens in my life," said Zohaifa, a fifteen years old boy, to himself while reading a comic, "The world of the comics is so awesome where so many people have such diversity of powers. The heroes of those worlds are so cool." "Zohaifa!" scolded his father, "Why are you reading comics? If you have to read something, read your textbook." Zohaifa closed his comic. "Nah. It''s time to sleep anyway. I have already done my studies." Next day, Zohaifa woke up early in the morning, had his breakfast, got ready for school with his uniform on. He was walking while engulfed in his thoughts. Only the one ruling above the heavens knew what he was thinking. Suddenly, a voice came to him, "Hey, Zohaifa. Wait for me. Let us go to school together." Zohaifa looked back and his eyes glimmered seeing his best friend. "Mahir! How are you?" "Cool and rolling." Zohaifa stopped walking for Mahir to catch up and then, they continued with their usual chatters. Suddenly, Zohaifa saw an old blind man crossing the street. Zohaifa, suddenly withdrawing from the conversation, went on to help the blind man cross the streets. Mahir assisted Zohaifa like he always does. "Hey, Zohaifa. Why do you go out of your way to help people whom you don''t know or has less probability of benefitting you in anyway?," Mahir asked in the tiffin period sitting on their favourite bench. They always do. "You know, how much I like superheroes, don''t you?" "And you think helping people like this makes you a hero?" "Well, superheroes live in a different world where the laws of universe are different, where villains and sidekicks have powers. But we live in a regular world and the ones with the best resemblance with them are the ones who help people." "Nice logic." "May I ask you why you are so interested in technology?" "Well, I am like you a superhero fan and I like Iron man the most. Being immersed in technology is just a rope of hope that if the world were to take a turn, I would be something like Iron man cause my behavior is similar." "Hmm¡­ That''s actually the exact reason for me to practice martial arts. If the world were to take a turn, maybe I will be a powerful warrior." "We are birds of a feather I guess." Then, Zohaifa looked into the sky. "I am just too bored with how things are going. I pray that something better happens today. I can''t stand it anymore." 2 Lab exploration After the school broke up, Zohaifa was roaming the streets like a stray dog when he came across a guy whose wallet suddenly fell by accident. So, he helped him out by returning the wallet to him instead of indulging himself in any kind of inappropriate job. Plus, the dumbness in the guy''s face made him think that there would not be anything precious to steal from him. "Thank you. You have proven yourself to be a good little boy. You made my heart melt. Tell you what, I am going to give you a reward for your deed." "I actually did not do it for reward but since you are offering," said Zohaifa while rubbing his palm. "I am a scientist. I am offering you to visit my lab. You can bring as many members as you want." "Okay!" said Zohaifa without a second thought and headed towards home with excitement. "Wait, I did not even tell you the address of my lab." Zohaifa somehow managed to convince his parents to visit the lab, telling them such a rare trip would help him in his academic life(though he never had such intention). It was hard since he could not even tell the name of the scientist even. So, the parents were a bit hesitant about going. But they did it for the sake of education. "Welcome, Mr and Mrs Whoever-you-are." Zohaifa''s father and mother stared at each other in awkwardness. "We are pleased to be here." "Please, take a look at my inventions. I hope you find it marvelous." All of them started to wander around the lab with inquiry mind. Zohaifa found out that the scientist''s lab was mostly filled with a different varieties of robots. "How Cool!" said his 14-year-old brother Zabir. His10-year-old sister, Zaziba was in a dilemma about whether to touch the bots or not. "A Jumper bot!" exclaimed Zohaifa. "It jumps so high," added Zabir. But it failed to land properly. "Aww," said Zaziba. "A Runner bot!" exclaimed Zohaifa. "It runs so fast," added Zabir. But it tripped off. "Aww," said Zaziba. Zohaifa noticed that all of the robots created by the scientist had some kinds of defects. "I should ask the scientist about this," said Zohaifa. "Good idea," added Zabir. "Yay!" exclaimed Zaziba. But then Zohaifa realized, they lost track of the scientist. It seems the family was busy wandering around the lab so much that they forgot about the one to whom the lab belongs to. "Where could the scientist be!" exclaimed Zohaifa. 3 Zohaifa, the human sample Zohaifa started searching for him. After a little toilsome search, he found the scientist sitting in an unnoticeable corner, mumbling all by himself and following it with an evil laugh. Zohaifa asked, "Excuse me, is everything okay?" "Yes, everything is okay. Its going just according to plan," said the scientist as he tries to hold back his laughter. Zohaifa was confused and filled with suspicion. He yells to his assistant bot, "Start the project!" Zabir asked being excited, "What is the project about?" The scientist replied with a happy, yet an evil face, "As you see, most of the robots I invented have some kinds of defect. It is because I have poor knowledge about human body. Books aren''t enough to give me the perfect idea of how it works, especially the nervous system...," The scientist continues... "Thus, in this project, I decided to use live human sample to gain understanding of the human body. Thanks to fill me in!" That speech was enough to get Zabir''s heart racing in fear. "You think we will let you!," yelled Zohaifa''s father, "We are unlike those people you find around the world just being tortured with no protests." The scientist replied, "Let''s see if the robots hear your protest." A group of wrestler bots came to the scene. Thus the robots started to attack the scientist''s living sample. Zohiafa''s father started brawling with them. Zohaifa used all the martial arts experience he had to dodge through the robots and reached his way to the scientist. BAM!!! An uppercut to the jaw. "You really thought you could defeat any family with defected robots? Their movements glitch so much that dodging as never been easier." The scientist laughed while in his sitting positon. "I might have not found any human sample but I had a lot of animal sample. Behold!" A robocheeta in a thick glass showcase was pointed at. Then the scientist shouted, "Robo1657, Activate!" The robo-cheetah woke up and came out easily breaking the glass. "Robo1657 is my special A.I. Come on, bot. Knock them unconscious. But don''t use your claws. I don''t want to spoil my samples." The robo-cheetah crushed on the family members one by one, knocking them unconscious. The first experiment was to examine the response of a human body in accordance with electric shock. Thus, Zohaifa was tied in a fancy wire. The scientist began the experiment with a very small voltage and gradually increased the voltage. All Zohaifa could think for that moment was that this might be the end of his life. "Is this how it all ends for me?" 4 Zohaifa vs The robo-cheetah. But then he thought, "Wait...what am I thinking? How can I let myself be killed by such a dumb scientist? I should resist and never give up!", though all he could do is mentally resist. "Hahahaha! Haaaahahahaha Muahaahahaha...," the scientist''s annoying laughter echoed in the room. The heartbeat of his mother increased with the increasing sound of electricity buzzing. "Buzz Buzz" the sound increased horribly with every ticking of a second. Boooom!!! Black clouds of smoke spread to every corner of the lab. "Hmm¡­ He should have died far earlier. But he must have died by now." Panic stricken, everyone tried to see through their narrowed eyes- his mother almost dying out of blood pressure. The smoke began to disappear..... "Buzz....buzz..." The scientist''s eyeball seemed to be popping out of astonishment, "What! Impossible..." Amazingly and miraculously, Zohaifa was standing with electricity running all through his body! His face was covered with his hair as he let loose of his neck muscles and his arm was kept swinging. He then looked up to see the scientist with his vengeful eyes. "I ain''t finished yet," he spoke with a cold voice. As he dashed forward with full acceleration the robo-cheetah blocked his way. It seems that Zohaifa still didn''t have what it takes to defeat it as he is slammed down on the floor by the cheetah''s attacks. He tried to get up and fight the cheetah but was crushed down again. "Even after surviving a miracle, I am being crushed? I won''t let it end this way!" thought Zohaifa. Then he stood up with all his might, enraged, which caused a sudden burst of lightning. This surprised everyone along with Zohaifa himself. Nevertheless, all he did was create lightning burst near the robot while increasing the charge of the robot. The scientist laughed as he spoke, "What are you trying to do exactly? Fight me or Help me?" But Zohiafa had nothing to do other than that. After he continues the process of charging the robot and then getting charged by it, the robot suddenly collapsed due to overcharge. Everyone is in shock thinking that how could such a strategy come to his mind in such a pressure. But the truth is that Zohaifa just did the only thing that could be done. And thus he beat the robo-cheetah. 2 months had passed. It was a wonderful day. Zohaifa and Zabir were out there training in the woods. Both of them were tired as they have been at it for half an hour. 5 Heroism "Wanna head home now?" asked Zabir with a tired voice. Zohaifa affirmatively nodded his head. "I am wondering, why didn''t the scientist make use of google instead of capturing human samples?" asked Zabir. His brother replied while breathing heavily, "That just proves how dumb the scientist was." Zohaifa continued to progress on the ability he used in the lab, which he named as the lightning burst. Every time he practiced the move, Zabir stared at the wild lightning which spread keeping Zohaifa at its center. Of course, he needs to stay in a distance every time. As Zohaifa continued his training, Zabir moved away from him stealthily. After ensuring that Zohaifa was too busy to notice him, Zabir stood straight, took a deep breath while closing his eyes, and then suddenly tried to burst out all the energy he had, expecting to create a burst of electricity like his brother. Getting frustrated, he screamed like hell in order to make a miraculous achievement- too concentrated to notice that Zohaifa was staring at him from the back. "Are you okay?" "Umm... well.... I just... you know, got stung by a bug," stuttered Zabir. "I know what you were actually trying to do. Its too obvious." "I just thought that I could do something like you, since we have the same genetics and..." As Zabir was trying to extend his excuse, Zohaifa burst into laughter embarrassing Zabir even more. As Zohaifa and Zabir were returning home from the wood, they encountered two people dancing in the streets. "That''s an odd way to dance," said Zabir. "Lets check it out." Thus, Zohaifa and Zabir went closer. It was not a dance but rather a robbery. "Let him go," said Zabir heroically, "If you don''t do it, I will probably be able to do nothing. So I will just hand to my brother." Zohaifa stared at Zabir and said, "You will do anything to make scene, won''t you?" Zohaifa wanted to help the man but the only ability he had was Lightning burst. If he creates this burst of electricity, then the victim would die too along with the robbers. Zohaifa can''t kill anyone just for doing a robbery. So, he went for physical attacks. But by the time he reached the robber, he was shot by a pistol. But what the robber did not know was, by this time Zohaifa is above human. Lightning is not the only power he earned from the miracle. His rate of improvement in all aspects from each training session increased inhumanely as well. So, the bullet was not fatal to Zohaifa though it still hurts like hell. "Impossible," said all of them together. 6 Another Scientist?! He stood up while the bullet was pierced through the skin but yet not the skull. He took it out and dropped it. The robber and the victim stared at Zohaifa with their eyes popping out. Zohaifa could easily beat the robber and let the guy free. Luckily, the incident happened in an unnoticeable place where there was no possibility to be spotted by spectators. "Thank you for saving me. I want to give you an offer as a token of gratitude." "Something feels familiar," said Zohaifa to himself. "I am a scientist and I will be happy to take you to my lab." Zohaifa stared at him like a statue. "What?" asked the scientist. "I will just decline and go away," said Zohaifa and instantly got headed to the opposite direction. "Brother, you should not judge someone with their profession," said Zabir. "Come on. I have learned enough from one incident." "Brother, you learned the wrong lesson. You learned that all scientists are evil. That''s the wrong lesson. The real moral is that if you trust someone blindly, he might come back at you biting." "You are right. I shall not trust him blindly. So, I decline." "You are overlooking something." "What?" "You can''t be harmed that easily anymore. You have powers now!" Zohaifa stayed silent for a moment and then said, "You are right." Thus he turned to the scientist and said, "I guess I will accept your proposal. But I have an exam next week. I will visit you in one month." "Okay. But take the address," replied the scientist. The scientist was confused about why would someone having an exam roam around the streets. They finally agreed to meet after one month. Within that month, Zohaifa spent enough time training instead of studying where he learns to shoot lightning in a straight direction. He named this move ''lightning shooter.'' He went to the lab with Zabir only. He thought it would be too dangerous for his family to come (or even asking his family to come would be too dangerous). But he and his brother were well equipped with martial arts. So it should be safe. "Come inside! I am happy you finally came." The name of the scientist was Giasuddin. They had brief moments of lab exploration. It seemed that this scientist was interested in space exploration. The lab was filled with spaceships and space suits. After a while of sightseeing, the scientist asked Zohaifa for a favor. "Damn, this is not happening again," said Zohaifa to himself. 7 Outer space! The whole lab was a private lab belonging to this rich scientist. The scientist struggled to make a fast enough space ship to explore outer space for a long time. When he finally succeeded he had to search for a planet worth exploring. Thus he found a planet similar to earth which he named planet X. But after all that, the only problem was that this fast-tracked ship needed to be controlled by two persons. One from the inside and other from the lab. The only problem is even after searching and seducing people with money, nobody was brave enough to risk himself going to outer space. Furthermore, the scientist can''t go by himself as the one controlling from the lab needs to be highly genius. Not to mention he also needs to be someone trustworthy as the one in the lab has greater control over the ship. Explaining all this, he only has one proposal to Zohaifa, "Would you like to explore space, the universe and planet X if I give you enough money?" Thus, Zohaifa faced the harsh proposal of going to planet X from the scientist. But is it really going to be safe or is it going to be dangerous? Is it gonna kill him or will he make it out alive? How much are the chances of success is in this mission? Should he accept the offer? These are the questions that didn''t come to Zohaifa''s mind. But rather he asked, "Is it gonna be boring?" "I don''t think so. You are going to outer space. Not everybody gets the chance to do that." However, Zohaifa was bored in fact as he had nothing to do in the spaceship. Giasuddin controlled almost everything from there. There wasn''t any rush even in the asteroid belt. On top of that Zohaifa had to wait for days to reach Planet X. "This is not how you described it," yelled Zohiafa to the communication device on the spaceship. "Come on, it is a little bit of fun. Isn''t it?" "Not the very least." "Why did you go there in the first place? How did you even manage to make Mom accept this?" interrupts Zabir. "I told her the truth: I am going on a picnic to outer space since my exam is over." "And she agreed?" "She probably thought outer space is a carnival on earth or something." Zabir could not talk about how dangerous this is in front of the scientist and he was disappointed deep inside about how Zohaifa could not learn his lesson. "Well, I cannot redo it now," sighed Zabir to himself. 8 Planet-X After a moment of silence, Giasuddin asked, "So, how do you control lightning?" "I don''t actually know. I just could do it after a strange miraculous accident took place." "Please add more," requests Giasuddin with an intrigued voice. "It so happened that....." Thus Zohaifa explained the situation. "Such a wonderful event," said Giasuddin referring to this same event which trembled the heart of both the brothers, "But what happened to the scientist?" "He thought he would get lightning power like me if he gets shocked too. Thus he shocked himself to death, trying to achieve the power I did, to save himself from me, where I wasn''t gonna kill him in the first place," answered Zohaifa. "Scientists can be stupid sometimes, can''t they?" said Giasuddin as he burst out of laughter completely forgetting that he is a scientist too. After a few boring days of outer space, Zohaifa got his space suit on as he got ready to land on planet X. Fortunately he had a safe landing. He got out of the space and astonished he is. That was nothing like earth. NAY! The sky was red, the grass was orange and the water was yellow. Zohaifa walked down the staircase of the spaceship as he stared in awe of the planet. He was then waiting for the scientist to do some research using the space ship from his lab. Several devices came out from the spaceship. After few moments of complicated examinations using the technical sensors of the ship, the scientist declared that the air was breathable. "You can open the helmet now," informed the scientist. Then Zohaifa opened his helmet in excitement to breath the new fresh air. Unfortunately, it so happened that due to the screen of the helmet the planet seemed more unique than it actually was. In reality, the planet is just as normal as planet earth. So what? Just because the environment looked like earth doesn''t mean the animal would do so too, right? So, Zohaifa started wandering around the planet. He never felt such a thrill before. It was a mixture of fear and curiosity. The scientist did not say anything as Zohaifa was unconsciously helping him with his research anyway. He wanted to know what would an alien planet be like. Would it be something like earth? Does every life in the universe look the same way? The best way to know is to explore and that was what Zohaifa was doing. Zabir turned to a corner and started praying, "Ya Allah, let there be no more trouble." 9 Battle of Yes and No He could communicate with Zohaifa as long as he wears the suit and also see anything using the camera that he attached to the suit. Zabir was in the lab today as the scientist already told him that he calculated Zohaifa to reach the planet that day. After roaming around from the starting position a grass plain to a forest, Zohaifa could see a creature. He moved close to him slowly and carefully. Is this a joke? He looks just like a shirtless human (fortunately male) from Planet Earth would. "Did I actually go to space or did you just send me to another side of planet earth?" shouted Zohaifa making the shirtless ''guy'' conscious of his presence. He quickly dashed towards Zohaifa with tremendous speed and tried to punched him. But Zohaifa have not been sitting around all this time. His extremely strenuous training was enough for him to dodge this easily. "What are you doing on my planet?" said the guy which confirms that Zohaifa is indeed on another planet. "So I really am in Planet X?" "Planet X my butt. If you don''t go back to wherever you came from I will rip your head off." "After such a risky journey through outer space, this is how I get my accolade?" "The only award you can get is safe return. Don''t let me snatch it away from you," said the shirtless guy while blades emerged from his knuckles. Zohaifa started the fierce battle with the new X-men like human-looking alien creature with a heavy punch. But he wildly dodged it and came back with a sharp claw. The fight continuesd with a ferocious exchange of punches and claws of which most of them went to waste due to their brilliant portrayal of dodging and slipping. Zohaifa had a few small cuts all over his body. The X-men like human looking alien creature''s face is colorful with a mixture of skin color and black wound. "That''s what you get for intruding my planet." said the X-men like human-looking alien creature as he managed to wound Zohaifa again with a claw. "You can''t call a planet yours," replied Zohaifa. "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "No, you can''t." "Yes, I can." "Yes, you can." "No, I can''t." "Yes, you can." "No, I can''t." "Yes, you can." "No, I can''t." "Yes, you can." "No, I can''t." "Yes, you can." "No, I can''t." "Yes, you can." "No, I can''t." "Yes, you can." "No, I can''t. Wait why am I saying I can''t?" "Its a trick from my planet. Works well." 10 Unexpected interference "Just shut up and fight like a warrior," said the X-men like human-looking alien creature as he intended to make a finishing move. But he swang too much in his last slash trying to make it epic. So Zohaifa took advantage of it and threw a short compact uppercut to the chin. The X-men like human-looking alien creature gritted his teeth and tried to throw another slash with his claws open. Zohaifa shifted his head to the opposite side and the claw got stuck to a tree. Zohaifa threw a punch hard enough to get his claws out of the tree and also throwing him on air. Then Zohaifa jumped and threw him down with a inward crescent kick. Planting his feet on the X-men like human-looking alien creature''s chest he said, "Do I look like a warrior now?" X-men like human-looking alien creature ignored the question and said, "Wait! Something is wrong." "Everyone says that when they lose." "No, seriously. Why was there wind just a few moments ago?" " Seriously, never saw wind before? Find a better excuse to cover your defeat." "Haven''t you noticed? This planet doesn''t have wind. Something is wrong" And that is when Zohaifa lost his consciousness Zohaifa just woke up from his sudden concussion. All he saw was the grassy environment moving away from him and all he felt was friction in his flashy butt. He felt very hazy. That is when he realized he was being dragged. Is it the alien? Did he win? He then saw right next to him was the alien guy being dragged with him. He was more wounded than after the previous fight. What happened? He then realized that a bigger and beastlier alien was carrying both of them. Just at that moment the first alien guy slowly opened his eyes and noticed Zohaifa. He whispered, "Get ready to attack." Then he started a countdown with his fingers. Just as he was about to move to one "Stop!" shouted Zohaifa which made the beast conscious of their attack. The alien guy dug his blades through the beast''s arm, creating an opportunity for them to escape his clinch. But they can''t run. The beast will probably catch them. "Why did you warn him?" annoyingly asked the alien guy. "I get nervous when someone does a countdown." Hearing this the alien made a face as if he just met the dumbest person on the universe. "Whatever, get ready to rumble." Then began an intense collaboration of Zohaifa and the alien who consistently kept attacking the alien from opposite dimensions. "Will we actually be able to do it?" Zohaifa fought with hesitation. 11 Space-napped "No worries. We can still track them down. I can control the spaceship from here." "Then why did you send him in the first place?" said Zabir as he loses his common sense because of anger. "The spaceship is not enough to investigate. I need a living human''s help." "Your living human is about to be dead." "Calm down. Let''s look at the solution instead of looking at the fault." Then launched the spaceship burdened with great hope, trying to follow the spaceship of those beasts. But as the beasts'' spaceship noticed their spaceship, immediately they shot a plasma blast at the spaceship and destroyed it. "What are we supposed to do this time?" yelled Zabir again. Zohaifa just woke up; His muscles still hurting. The other human-looking alien was just as bloody as he was. They were in a fancy cell which had beams of projecting light as a door. It seemed like it was trying to represent a sci-fi prison. He noticed that the alien was also waking up. Zohaifa asked, "Can you give me the details of what happened after I fell senseless?" "I am as clueless as you are," he replied. After a few moments of silence, Zohaifa asked, "Why do you call the planet yours?" "Why won''t I?" "Come on! Don''t be like that. We are stuck here anyway. So, why don''t we use the time?" "If you really want to use the time, the logical approach is to find an exit or come up with a plan to escape." "Why are we captured, anyway?" "Since they did not kill us, I guess they are going to sell us as slaves, turn us into their army, or turn us into their puppets and make us fight like how boxers are made to fight." "Good, cause all the options you give calls for only one strategy: escape when they get us out of the cell." The alien fell silent as if he agreed with Zohaifa''s plan. "So why don''t you tell me your story? I feel like it''s going to be an interesting one. What is your name anyway?" spoke Zohaifa after a moment of silence. The alien replied, "It almost seems to me you are more interested in hearing my story than escaping the prison." As a response, Zohaifa stared back with sparkling eyes as a sign of excitement. The alien sighed and continued, "Okay. I will tell you my story. But I will not sit to finish it if I find any opening from this prison." 12 Flirtics story part-2: A crazy plan. Though I did not have any plan in my mind, I always trained and studied so that when I have a plan, I have all the resources I need: both physical and mental. In the meantime, I acted like a friendly, non-carnivorous person. As I grew up, I made many friends. Two of them was unique. The people of our planet don''t have much interest in any martial activities. But my friend Amaruka was very passionate about it. He had extreme wind powers. It was almost impossible to believe that someone like him became my friend. From a tournament on our planet, he got the title "Strongest on the planet." Another of my friend Sirius is a serious guy in astronomy. These two friends gave me the perfect plan. The other friends were useless, and I behave with them with acrimony. I learned at higher studies that we live in a super minor planet of the Cant world. It is a weird astronomical structure not found in any other place of the universe. The Cant world comprises one gigantic sun which is also considered the biggest star of the universe and 50 planets orbiting it in the same radius from the sun. The diameter of each of the planet is 1.39 million km (same as our sun). Orbiting each planet is minor planets, each having a diameter of 143000 km (almost the same as Jupiter). There are some super minor planets, moving around the minor planets, of 12000km diameter (almost the same as earth.) Unfortunately, we don''t know how such a structure formed or how it''s gravitationally possible. Another information I had is that the people of our planet is very much interested and developed in astronomy. That I why we keep visiting other planets and also does the aliens visits us. With the two friends and the two pieces of information, I built up the ultimate plan. When all my plans were put into place I gathered Sirius and Amaruka. First I needed to confirm one thing. "Amaruka, is it true that you once used your wind power to lift up a continent?" I asked with all seriousness. "Yes, it was an easy task I did in my childhood." answered chilled Amaruka. But Sirius is serious about this. He angsty asked, "Why to ask such a question?" But ignoring the question I asked again, "Sirius, is it true that you won the astronomy Olympics in the consecutive four years which took place internationally?" With little hesitation, Sirius stumblingly answered, "Yeah. But why?" 13 Flirtics Story part 3: Amaruka I finally answered, "I want to move the planet." Hearing my strange answer both of them naturally became shocked. "If Sirius can pinpoint a proper location and Amaruka can use his wind power then it might be possible to move the planet," I continued, "Will the two of you help for the sake of our friendship?" Sirius became as confused as a student receiving his question paper in the maths exam. But Amaruka answered without delay, "Why not? But I need time to train myself. I was practicing a move I named as the ''tornado mammoth.'' Once I master it, the task will be very plausible. It might take a month or so." "Are you sure about that?" interrupted Sirius, "For moving a continent all you needed to do was push the wind below the continent and pull all the wind from above the continent." "Don''t worry. Let me do my work while you concentrate on yours." "But can you be sure if it would work? Why don''t you share the concept of the tornado mammoth? What does it do and why the word mammoth comes after the tornado than being placed before?" "You heard me. Don''t worry. I might not win any Olympics but it doesn''t mean I don''t have any knowledge about science. I obtained A+ in every of my science examinations." "There isn''t any harm in letting us know by the way." "All I can say is that I want to surprise you guys." The glorious day came in which my job was supposed to be done. Amaruka was ready, waiting to show off his moves he had been training for. He was a na?ve friend which caused him to overlook my intentions. Though Sirius could feel the anomaly inside me, he could not find a perfect reason to dismiss my suspicous request. "So, which direction?" asked Amaruka in a deep tone trying to show off as I continued to supervise both of them. "We need to move 54 km perpendicularly away from the minor planet we are rotating at 12''o clock in the noon. Gravity will take care of the rest," answered Sirius while sweating abnormally probably thinking of Flirtic''s intention and the risk they are taking. "Then we shall wait," I ordered. The look in my eyes was new to my friends. They never saw me being so serious. But they couldn''t ask anything. The required time finally came. Amaruka prepared himself both physically and mentally for the move. Question remains: would someone actually be beastly enough to actually move a planet? 14 Flirtics story part 4: Finale He raised his hands towards the sky and as soon as he got ready to start the move, the wind around the sky started to go crazy. Unlike natural phenomenons, the wind is not moving in one direction. It''s rushing aimlessly towards every point from every direction. Amaruka still seemed calm then. But as he got himself to be serious, a second phase started. The winds started to rotate around him. "TORNADO MAMMOTH," shouted Amaruka. A gigantic enormous broad wide mammoth huge tornado was shot in the sky. We were unharmed as the base of the tornado was above the sky What actually his real plan was- was to throw a tornado against the major planet our one was rotating. The reaction force would take our minor planet away from that major planet. I was startled by his unimaginable move. We knew how strong Amaruka was but to throw a tornado that could lift a planet was absolutely insane. After a few minutes, the tornado started to stop. We could see its intensity come down. "Don''t stop," shouted Sirius. "Just a minute and 43.9 seconds more. We still haven''t reached where we need to." "Amaruka pushed his soul out to keep the planet moving, sweating through every sweat gland in his body. His heart was beating faster than ever. Our heartbeat also increased so much that we thought it would jump out through our mouth. From then on it was just a matter of 11 minutes journey through space for the planet to reach its destination. "I have to say your plan was great Amaruka. I assumed that you would mess up by thinking you can just use the move you used in childhood in greater magnitude. That wouldn''t work since there is no air in space. But you threw air on your own and pushed the planet," Sirius said to Amaruka, admiring his plan. Amaruka couldn''t comment on anything back as he was too busy breathing hard. ''Tornado Mammoth'' certainly took a toll on his body and mind. But unfortunately for them and fortunately for me, their performance in the operation was over. All these years of training, though haven''t made me as robust as Amaruka, it still has strengthened me up. Amaruka was too tired for what was gonna happen then and Sirius never stood a chance. I killed all of them. Later I got rid of every cant people there were. All that lived on the planet was me and the innocent animals. That is until you arrived. 15 Hologram door?! As Flirtic finished the story, he turned towards Zohaifa expecting a stunning reaction. But all he received from the face was skepticism. "So you want me to believe that you exterminate your entire species just because you were not a meat lover?" "Yes. And you are implying yourself to be a meat lover too?" asked Flirtic with a fire of hatred in his eyes. Normally Zohaifa would be scared by such a look, but this was a time he wasn''t sure of his survival, anyway. "Look I love both the animals and their meat. There is nothing wrong with it. They are going to die anyway someday," answered Zohaifa, trying to be logical. "You love your mom, don''t you? Can you eat her?" Zohaifa could not answer this one. He is confused philosophically about Flirtic''s actions. Being baffled by Flirtic''s actions, Zohaifa was then bothered about his ideology. Was the action of Flirtic just? In that case, what would the adjudication be for humans? So, he use the tactic Earthlings use when they sense defeat in a conversation: Change the topic, of course! "So, you also want me to believe that your friend Amaruka threw such an enormous tornado that the whole planet shifted its position?" "If you don''t wanna believe then don''t. I never wanted to share this with you, anyway. You are the one who asked for my story." "Also, why did you kill your friends?" "They were among the carnivores too." "What kind of friend were they who could not even change their diet because of a friend''s request?" "Shut up. I consider them as a sacrifice for my struggle for justice." With this atypical response from Flirtic, Zohaifa threw a sentence which threw an arrow to Flirtic''s heart, "Are you saying that you killed them without even trying to change them?" Flirtic must have been confused about asking his friend to shift as it would give them a hint to unveil the cloak he kept outside him. Or maybe it just did not come to his mind that he had an opportunity to change them and realizing this so late consternated him. Nevertheless, his response was a contentious sentence, "Shut up! You were not there. You have no right to throw a comment on my situation nor my actions." "I am right. Aren''t I?" agonizingly replied Zohaifa with a smirk which only doubled the annoyance. Flirtic, out of pure animosity, punched Zohaifa throwing him towards the door of the cell. Surprisingly, it seems that that door was just a hologram. Zohaifa stood up with swollen cheek as he stared at those beasts, expecting an answer to this nonsense. A moment of silence continued. "We didn''t have enough budget," answered one of them awkwardly breaking the silence. 16 Strange choice Surprisingly, it seems that that door was just a hologram. Zohaifa stood up with swollen cheek as he stared at those beasts, expecting an answer to this nonsense. A moment of silence continued. "We didn''t have enough budget," answered one of them awkwardly breaking the silence. Apprehending the holography, Zohaifa and Flirtic felt nothing but the appetite for freedom. They started their climactic breakout operation with no method other than freestyle running. Zohaifa dashed, trying to dodge every aggression that would come in his course. Will I survive? Will I make it? These controversies were pushing Zohaifa forward despite all the adversities and the attacks that Zohaifa couldn''t dodge. However, after all the legendary deftly dodging were done and Zohaifa found himself near the exit, he took a small glimpse at the beasts he was escaping from. But he fortuitously saw Flirtic being caught by the monsters. The parachute was lying just beside the exit and on the other hand, Flirtic was all the way there inside the spaceship fighting the freaks. Which one should he favor: the parachute which would guarantee him freedom or the person he spent quarreling with inside the prison? It was easy, right? Of course, freedom seems to be the best interpretation. But for some reason he found himself hastening toward Flirtic. He battered every monster in the way. Their defeat was not his purpose. They are just demanded by him to be out of the way so he could accompany in Flirtic''s battle. The enemies Flirtic was facing were too focused on him, which enabled Zohaifa to attack them with full power and also in full accuracy. "I didn''t ask for help," shouted Flirtic ungratefully. "I was just fulfilling my grudge against these monsters," answered Zohaifa trying to hide his soft side. "Forget it. Where do you think is the exit?" asked Flirtic. "I''ve left it far away. Come to the control room. I will raise their heartbeat," answered Zohaifa. Flirtic concealing his curiosity towards Zohaifa''s intention followed him through this war of two against two thousand, forgetting how miraculous it is that they survived. Flirtic aided Zohaifa trying to fight all the beasts which tried to charge him. Of course, he failed in deflecting all of them. But at least it felt easier to Zohaifa to run to the control room than the escape he attended earlier. He reached the control room to see what would Zohaifa do to raise the heartbeat made Flirtic excited. 17 Scar! It was a doddle, actually. All he did was slam the controls with his fist malfunctioning the ship in the process. Now, the ship was sought to be escaped by not only Zohaifa and Flirtic but also all the beasts. Their heartbeat was raised after all. They left them no more parachutes. But Zohaifa seemed harmonious. "What now? Zohiafa?" asked Flirtic. "We jump," answered Zohaifa. "From this height?" asked Flirtic. "No. We will jump when the ship moves closer to that mountain," said Zohaifa with his eyes fixated on the mountain he is talking about. Bidding goodbye inside their mind, they made a jump at a suitable time. Zohaifa after descending on to a mountain started running downhill. How appealing it was! He didn''t know where to go, what to do next. But running in the mountains was definitely better than sitting in prison. The joy that Zohaifa felt caused him to forget all his injuries. But Alas! No joy lasts forever. Suddenly an explosive noise pierced through the air, after which Zohaifa left his consciousness. A young man rushed towards him and pushed his ear into his chest. "Oh no! I shot at the wrong target. His Heartbeat is gone" Zohiafa woke up from the concussion. "Again? I swear it''s just one thing after the other," said Zohaifa to himself. Then he slowly observed the environment. He was in a camping tent. Sunlight outside only proved how dark the inside was. He also took notice of his condition. All the blood from his body has been cleaned. He is bandaged all over. "What am I doing here?" asked Zohaifa to himself in confusion, "How did I get here?" He knew he had to get up and explore for safety. But after all that he had been through, he naturally felt lazy. Suddenly he heard someone coming this way. "Should I hide or should I pretend to sleep? Nah, I will just stay put," Zohaifa mumbled to himself. Then, a young, handsome man and a little girl in a red dress came inside the tent. "Hello there. How are you feeling? Did you just wake up?" asked the young man while the girl hid behind his legs. "Yes. What happened?" asked Zohaifa showing no interest whatsoever. "You mean you don''t remember!" "All I remembered is running downhill and suddenly hearing an explosive sound along with a sudden pain in my chest." "Nothing after that?" "No." "Does this ring any bell?" Saying which, the young man opened up his shirt and showed him a huge scar in his muscular chest. 18 I am in Cant World?! "No," said Zohaifa. The young man stared at Zohaifa in confusion for a few moments, but then he continued with a smile, "Forget it. My name is Lapis and this girl right here is my nephew. What is your name?" "I am Zohaifa and I don''t know what the hell is happening with my life." "Come on. At least smile at us. You look like you have no soul inside." Lapis heard all the stories from Zohaifa starting from Planet X. Hearing the story, sympathy filled up his heart and he tried to console him. It was then his turn to fill up information. "I am the coach of a gym, you can say. But I used to be a competitive martial artist. This girl right here is Marium, my sister''s daughter. My sister is training her to be a well rounded martial artist and also teaches her general school stuff. To sum things up, she wants her daughter to be great in all aspects of life. She is the government of a city after all." "Government of a city?" "Yeah." "We don''t have a government of cities on our planet. Country sounds to be a more appropriate term." "From which planet do you come from?" "Planet Earth." "Never heard of it. Whatever, you need to keep in mind that the Cant world is not the same as your planet. There are many types of people, systems, and administration." "Did you say Cant World?" "Yeah. I thought your friend Flirtic told you about it." "He did. But I find it hard to believe I accidentally went to that very place." "You shouldn''t. Most of the life in the universe are congested in Cant World. If you find yourself being taken somewhere in outer space, there is a 50% chance it''s gonna be in Cant World." "That sounds incredible. But something doesn''t make sense." "What?" "If the Cant World is as large as Flirtic said, why am I not crushed by gravity?" "I don''t know. I am not a science type. You can ask my sister." "So, what should I do now?" "I was getting to that part. My sister sent Marium because she seemed to lack in raw strength. So I am currently training her. Alongside that I thought since I need to train someone I am not getting paid for, why don''t I close my gym and do some traveling? Its two birds in one stone, don''t you agree?" 19 New life in cant world "I don''t know. You are now not getting paid for anything this way. You could have been paid at the gym for coaching if you continued it alongside Marium''s training." "Ahem... Back to my point. Would you like to train with us until you decide what to do next?" Getting the offer of training with Lapis, Zohaifa started his new life. It had been a month since then. Zohaifa trained only raw strength with Lapis and also developed friendly connections with Marium. She used to be a shy little girl when they first met, but now she treats Zohaifa like his big brother. Zohaifa enjoyed his time traveling and training though some nights he stares at the sky filled with stars, wondering which star could be the sun of his solar system, what could his family be doing now, what could they be cooking for dinner tonight. The days comprised hard training, which snatched away Zohaifa''s time to miss anyone. Marium, however, liked racing more than strength training. She seemed to have a tremendous running speed. Surprisingly, it seemed that Zohaifa was not the only one with abnormal power. Marium knew a move of her own which she named ''Light velocity.'' She did not move at light speed though. She only moves faster than normal while her entire body glows as if it traps her in a huge beam of light. Though Marium could defeat Zohaifa in a race without it, she still liked to show off her light velocity again and again. This allowed Zohaifa to plan his own move named, you guessed it, ''Lightning velocity.'' Here Zohaifa runs while keeping his two hands swinging on both sides like a ninja and simultaneously shooting lightning from his fingers behind him. On the contrary, Zohaifa always liked to spar with Marium. Just like Marium dominated Zohaifa in a race, Zohaifa dominated Marium in sparring. Probably all the rough experiences toughened him up. Today is the last day of the training. Lapis will test Marium whether her strength increased to decide if she can go back to Yellow City. "Are you two ready?" asked Lapis in a commanding voice. "Yes, Sir," answered both of them like soldiers. Lapis tested them with 6 exercises covering the major movements and muscles of the body: Pushups, Handstand pushups, Squats, Bridges, Pull-ups and Leg raises. Of course, they had to do it with being loaded with heavy stones. The test was: how many repetitions can they do? 20 To the president of yellow city Lapis showed the results of Zohaifa and Marium''s tremendous training. The result did not count how many reps they can do, but rather how much they improved. The result was: Zohaifa: Pushups: 9 times Handstand pushups: 8 times Pull-ups: 3 times Leg raises: 7 times Squats: 5 times Bridges: 4 times Marium: Pushups: 4 times Handstand pushups: 2 times Pull-ups: 3 times Leg raises: 8 times Squats: 10 times Bridges: 9 times Lapis thought the progress was acceptable. Furthermore, this is not the real progression of Marium. This is the progression from when she met Zohaifa. The progression that was recorded from the training with Lapis and ended here would be shown off to his Sister. The progression shown here is the one that started when Zohaifa joined and ended at the same time. It was meant to put Zohaifa in the same ground as Marium. But now the training is over, and it is time for Marium to go back to Yellow City. The journey to Yellow City began, and it wasn''t a pleasure. Nature was beautiful, but that could not delight the kids. They walked in the sunset while recalling many memories here in the camp. They had a lot of fun, a lot of mistakes and a lot more fun that originated from the mistakes. But all these will set with the sun now. Marium is happy as she is going back home after 3 months and at the same time sad because Lapis will have to go back to his home then. After spending months with her uncle, she naturally doesn''t want to leave him. She knows that she will meet him again. He is her uncle, after all. But perhaps Zohaifa was in a lot more frustration than Marium, for his nostalgia is accompanied by confusion. With whom will he continue his journey forward: Marium or Lapis? Zohiafa accompanied by Lapis and Marium finally reached Yellow city by midnight. The city is hidden inside a forest. The city was fairly normal and similar to the cities of Earth. Thus Zohaifa felt nostalgic walking down the street. He was taken finally to the gate of Lapis''s sister. There were guards ensuring security. However, they could finely recognize Lapis. The house of his sister was five floored, which wasn''t much considering her being the president. But that lacking was covered up by the width of the house. The area it covered was astonishing. 21 Tournament of Yellow City It took a fair bit of time for them to find Lazuli''s room. The house was filled up by well-behaved polite maids and servants. No pictures were hanging on the wall strangely. Neither were any decorations present. It was plain and simple like the rest of the city. When Lapis finally met his sister, he gave a report of Marium''s training. "As expected, you designed a good training. I like the results," said his sister in gratitude. Lapis only laughed politely. Then she asked, indicating Zohiafa, "Who is this kid?" "His name is Zohaifa. He had a tough going. So I thought I would give him company." "And how would that benefit us?" "Come on. Don''t be like that. Be a little more Cant. Where is your Cantinity?" She then spoke to Zohaifa without a smile, "I am Lazuli. I''ve already heard your name. How do you wish to repay what my brother has done to you?" "Lazuli!" scolded Lapis, "I helped him by my own wish. You need not interfere!" "Fine then," said Lazuli with a sigh. "Have you heard about the martial arts tournament that will be held at Yellow City this year?" Lazuli asked while taking a sip from the teacup. They are sitting in a living room among many in Lazuli''s luxurious palace. Zohaifa and Marium are sitting together on a sofa just beside them. Both of them were talking to each other about where will Zohaifa go now. Zohaifa doesn''t want to stay anymore after the humiliation, but he also wants to prove himself. "No," answered Lapis but with a bit of curiosity "Winning it will be of huge profit. I didn''t know there was someone so rich and martial arts-loving in Yellow City that he would arrange a tournament with such a prize," continued Lazuli. "And how much might it be?" "The prize money is close to 15% of my total money. The news likely hasn''t spread out of Yellow City. Thus we have a marvellous opportunity to win this." "Won''t it be harder for you to win if I take part there?" "Yeah, but it doesn''t bother me if you win the prize. We are members of the same family after all." "You already know me very well and can bet your life on the fact that I will easily give the money to you if you want it." Lazuli only smiled, implying that that''s exactly what she will do. 23 The tournament in yellow city "Have you heard about the martial arts tournament that will be held at Yellow City this year?" Lazuli asked while taking a sip from the teacup. They are sitting in a living room among many in Lazuli''s luxurious palace. Zohaifa and Marium are sitting together on a sofa just beside them. Both of them were talking to each other about where will Zohaifa go now. Zohaifa doesn''t want to stay anymore after the humiliation, but he also wants to prove himself. "No," answered Lapis but with a bit of curiosity "Winning it will be of huge profit. I didn''t know there was someone so rich and martial arts-loving in Yellow City that he would arrange a tournament with such a prize," continued Lazuli. "And how much might it be?" "The prize money is close to 15% of my total money. The news likely hasn''t spread out of Yellow City. Thus we have a marvellous opportunity to win this." "Won''t it be harder for you to win if I take part there?" "Yeah, but it doesn''t bother me if you win the prize. We are members of the same family after all." "You already know me very well and can bet your life on the fact that I will easily give the money to you if you want it." Lazuli only smiled, implying that that''s exactly what she will do. "Sorry but I am not into martial arts anymore. Try me again if there is a fitness contest. I will happily join then." "But¡­." "No buts. My word is final." "I will join," said Zohaifa breaking the shell of silence he was in ever since the humiliation. "I will give you all the money if I win. This will be how I repay you." Lazuli mockingly grinned at him and replied, "You think you can win! I only asked Lapis because his strength is similar to mine." "Actually, my strength surpasses yours. Only our martial arts are similar. Though you have more fight IQ," interfered Lapis but did not get attention from anyone. So Zohaifa continued, "I can understand that. He has trained me, after all. But won''t our chance of victory rise by at least 1% if I compete? Luck is also a matter, right?" Lazuli remained silent for a second and thought about it. "Your point is logical. But I will need to test your skills to see if your chance of winning is 0.05% or 0.0001%. At the end of the day, there is still the small money we have to spend on behalf of you for the ticket." "Not that again. You are heavily underestimating me. Is the enemy that strong?" "No. In fact, the problem is that there might be none in the tournament who can compete with me. So, the insignificant amount of increase in luck might not be worth the money from the ticket. Now, are you ready to take the test?" "The hell I am!" exclaimed Zohaifa. He then thought to himself, "I will prove to her that she is underestimating me." 24 Lazulis test began "Sorry but I am not into martial arts anymore. Try me again if there is a fitness contest. I will happily join then." "But¡­." "No buts. My word is final." "I will join," said Zohaifa breaking the shell of silence he was in ever since the humiliation. "I will give you all the money if I win. This will be how I repay you." Lazuli mockingly grinned at him and replied, "You think you can win! I only asked Lapis because his strength is similar to mine." "Actually, my strength surpasses yours. Only our martial arts are similar. Though you have more fight IQ," interfered Lapis but did not get attention from anyone. So Zohaifa continued, "I can understand that. He has trained me, after all. But won''t our chance of victory rise by at least 1% if I compete? Luck is also a matter, right?" Lazuli remained silent for a second and thought about it. "Your point is logical. But I will need to test your skills to see if your chance of winning is 0.05% or 0.0001%. At the end of the day, there is still the small money we have to spend on behalf of you for the ticket." "Not that again. You are heavily underestimating me. Is the enemy that strong?" "No. In fact, the problem is that there might be none in the tournament who can compete with me. So, the insignificant amount of increase in luck might not be worth the money from the ticket. Now, are you ready to take the test?" "The hell I am!" exclaimed Zohaifa. He then thought to himself, "I will prove to her that she is underestimating me." Zohaifa was taken outside to be tested by the ignorant Lazuli in the garden-like field she addresses as her backyard. "So, show me what you think might help you win this tournament," ordered Lazuli. Zohaifa warmed up first with confidence while intending to crush that arrogance of her. "Are you ready?" asked Zohaifa. "Show me already!" exclaimed Lazuli. Lapis and Marium both wished well for Zohaifa in the sidelines. It started. Zohaifa proceeded with ''Lightning Velocity,'' the move he learned taking ideas from Marium. He started revolving fast around Lazuli. "Seems nothing special. All you are doing is running and wasting energy by producing lightning simultaneously," noted Lazuli. Suddenly Zohaifa stopped and changed direction towards Lazuli. When he came close, he tried landing a punch, but Lazuli easily caught it. 25 Result of the tes "Your movements are too telegraphic. You can''t even change angles while using that move. Your ''Lightning Velocity '' seems to have a lot of weaknesses," further noted Lazuli annoying Zohaifa a bit. Marium became more nervous than Zohaifa should be. But in the meantime, Zohaifa was gathering lightning into the palm of the other hand not caught by Lazuli. ''Lightning ball,'' another move Zohaifa created, was attacked. But at the same time, what Zohaifa did not notice was that Lazuli was using her other hand to create a flashy glowing yellow energy ball which she used to repel Zohaifa''s ''Lightning Ball.'' A short blast took place. Zohaifa and Lazuli swiftly hopped backward from the blast to avoid probable impact. "You waste too much energy in every move. That is why I could tell you were creating the ''lightning ball.'' But you couldn''t even sense me created the ''Yellow ball'' of the same energy." Zohaifa became furious and started shooting ''Lightning shooter''s. Lazuli dodged each of them. "Again, too telegraphic," further noted Lazuli. Zohaifa couldn''t think right anymore. The condition seemed grim for Zohaifa. "Keep some hope in him," Lapis consoled Marium in this impossible to win situation. What will the impression of Lazuli be by the end of the test? Zohaifa woke up from his unexpected concussion. What happened? He discovered himself lying on a sofa at Lazuli'' house. The light of the room is off, probably to give him rest. He went out of the darkroom walking like a drunken guy and found a servant passing by. "Where are Lazuli and the others?" asked Zohaifa in a tired voice. Thus he was given the directions by the servant. Thus, he droopingly walked there. He knocked at the room where he was directed as soon as he reached there. "Come in," said Lazuli. She is working on a desktop with glasses on. This seems to be a working place. There are documents is different bookshelves. There are two sofas on one side of the room. But it doesn''t seem like it was used much. "Where are Lapis and Marium?" asked Zohaifa in a drained voice. "Lapis went back to his home. Marium is warming up in the backyard. I will be going there to train her in a few moments," Lazuli answered while still working on the desktop. "Lapis went back! I didn''t even tell him my decision of staying here." "If you leave with him, how else would I train you?" 26 Yellow Splash "What! You mean to say I passed! But I was using inefficient moves. Furthermore, I even lost my containment and almost attempted the explosive move, ''Lightning burst.''" "Yes, I remember all of that. That is when I knocked you out. You could have hurt Marium." "But then why did you accept me?" "Yes, indeed, all the moves you showed me were just boondoggled, yet you showed me a lot of potential. You proved to me that if I train you for just a few months, you can improve very fast. Faster than any of my students, I hope. You only need slight adjustments to your moves. The logical approach would be to accept you as my student." "Really!" Zohaifa asked, losing all his exhaustion. "Don''t get excited. Now your chance of winning is 0.05%. After the training, your chance of winning will be 1%" "What? What kind of improvement is that?" "If you calculate, that''s 20 times improvement. Now get ready to train!" By then all the tiredness of Zohaifa was replaced by excitement. He ran towards the backyard with sparkly eyes. He and Marium were sitting and chattering with each other. Both of them were waiting for lazuli to finish her work and show up. Marium was happy that Zohaifa stayed. When the arrival of Lazuli finally occurred, they stood up intending to start their training. "Now, don''t get too excited. The logical approach to this training would be to plan a formulation. And I plan to pass on to you a move called ''Yellow Splash!'' Let me show it to you first," said lazuli formally. Then, she stood facing backyards, keeping Zohaifa and Marium behind her to avert danger while both of them tried to observe it with maximum concentration. "I will use a minuscule amount of energy to show you the move since I don''t want to destroy the backyard." Thus she created a ball between her hands which glowed very brightly. She then clasped the ball in between her palm and when she opened it yellow-glowing water splashed out immediately penetrating the ground and thus creating holes in it alongside creating mild steam implying its hot nature. "It''s a plasma-type move I invented. Flashy huh?" asked Lazuli proudly. "I don''t know about flashy but it does seem splashy," said Marium. "But I don''t think I can learn any move that is not originated from Lightning," complained Zohaifa "We won''t know until we try. But Marium will surely be able to do it. Don''t worry. I made a backup plan for you as it was a logical approach to do so," answered Lazuli. "Wait. I thought Marium''s element was light," objected Zohaifa "Let me explain the situation here. Every Cant can''t use all the elements equally. One always has a single element as his core element. But he or she will also be able to wield the power of the other elements if he or she trains themselves to do so. But none can ever learn any element so much that it surpasses his core element. But you are not a Cant. We don''t know why you have lightning power. That is why I am not sure whether this training plan would work for you." "But then why are we even trying to increase my might-not-even-exist power? Won''t it be best if you just train my Lightning power so I can do what I do better?" "Valid point. But you see, no one can surpass themselves in an element other than his core one. Thus if you try to increase your capacity to perform other elements, then your core element will also be strengthened." "Acceptable idea. But it still doesn''t answer my question." "To approach it simply, it is a risk I am willing to take. Because firstly, this ''Yellow Splash'' is a powerful move. Secondly, it is a complex move. Where else would you see liquid plasma or any two states of matter at once? So it will clear out the basics. Thirdly, you master your aura better. We Cant people control our elements though manipulating aura. You might control lightning differently since you are not Cant. Lastly, plasma is a special element out of the 16. It is the easiest element to master other than your core element." "Wait, I think I feel like I control something else to control lightning. Could that be aura?" Lazuli smiled and said, "You just gave me a glimmer of hope." 27 Aura and Elements "So, it seems that you actually might have some level of control over your Aura. It now makes the job easier than previously expected. All I need to do is make you realize the existence of Aura," said Lazuli. "So, what is this aura exactly?" asked Zohaifa "You can say it is what connects us and physics. It can simply be described as our cheat code to break the laws of the universe. By controlling aura we can do the seemingly impossible. For example, how you create lighting and how I create plasma." "This doesn''t make sense. If Aura can do all these, we could just summon a planet by breaking the law of conservation of mass and throw it to our opponent and boom, they are gone. We win the tournament." "It is theoretically not impossible to summon a planet using aura. Like you objected, aura could be used to do anything. But we are not gods. We don''t have such control over aura nor do we possess such amount of aura. If you have sufficient aura and if you have enough control over them, then certainly, you can summon a planet. " "Wait, I also need a specific amount of Aura?" "Yes. Just like you are born with a certain amount of strength which grows over time, you also have a certain amount of aura which grows over time. But unlike strength, it does not have a limit to its growth and if you connect your strength to your aura, you can make its growth unlimited too. And just like with strength, when you train your aura, its amount increases." "That is incredible." "Do you have any more questions? I don''t want to start the training with confusion within you." "I don''t have any confusion but I am curious about something. You told me about Plasma being the easiest to control among the sixteen elements." "Yes, the easiest to control after your core element that is," corrected Lazuli. "What are the other elements?" asked Zohaifa Lazuli then turned her eyes towards Marium and ordered, "Marium, It''s time to check if you did your homework. Answer him" "Air Water Fire Earth Plant Ice Lava Metal Lightning Thunder Light Darkness Star particles Plasma Magic Others," smoothly answered Marium. "I was just curious in the beginning. But now I am really confused. What is the difference between thunder and lightning? What are star particles? What are the others? Isn''t it all like magic, anyway? Then why is magic a separate element?" Lazuli slapped her forehead and said, "I shouldn''t have answered that." "Actually I answered that," interrupted little Marium. "Zohaifa, how about we ignore the confusion and start our training?" "You are the one who insisted that we shouldn''t keep any confusion." "Never mind that." 28 The training began After those annoying sessions of questions and answers, Lazuli finally started their training. What Marium is supposed to do is try to create plasma. Lazuli showed the creation of Plasma a few times by herself to Marium but it was very confusing of a task as she never used her aura to make plasma. On top of that, Lazuli couldn''t even describe how to use the aura to create plasma because it is not a particular movement to be described. One has to feel it for himself. So she was just left guessing. On the other hand, Zohaifa was instructed to create lightning as slowly as possible, so he could observe and feel it by himself: How is it he creates lightning? But out of misfortune, lightning had to be the element that Zohaifa had. If it were water or air, he could''ve just observed how he controlled it by manipulating it slowly. But Lightning is extremely fast by nature. Thus it became an incredibly hard task. After giving them their instructions, Lazuli told them, "It''s time for me to go. I have a lot of work to do. Do not slack off." "Aren''t you going to train?" asked Zohaifa. "Maybe I will warm up a bit before the tournament," answered Lazuli arrogantly. Thus, Zohaifa and Marium continued their days of hard work. A day in their training life looked like this: They woke up in the morning and hit the road for some roadwork. But they did not go too hard, just slight jogging alongside some small gossips. Then they would have their breakfast and walk around to digest it. After a few minutes of rest, they would be onto their training as instructed by Lazuli. They would continue it until noon. After taking a bath and launch, they were sent to their room to sleep. Zohaifa, by that time, always became exhausted and gassed out as he had to create lightning again and again since morning. Marium did not feel nearly enough tired as she could not even do what she was supposed to. So, she inquired Zohaifa to play video games with her, which Zohaifa could not refuse despite the exhaustion he felt. In the evening, Lazuli conducts a sparring session where she spars with the two of them where Zohaifa did worse than Marium. Lazuli often motivated him by saying, "Where is the fighting spirit you showed me on the first day?" While sparring Lazuli would observe their weakness and tell them to be conscious of it. "Marium, your guard is low." "Zohaifa, don''t stop. What are you doing?" "Marium, you are too focused on speed. Stop telegraphing." "Zohaifa, what are you doing? Sleeping? When are you going to get up from my attack? You need to learn how to absorb it." Zohaifa could only rest peacefully in the night after supper. 29 The next phrase of lazulis training After two weeks, Zohaifa called Lazuli to the backyard. Lazuli went there and asked, "What happened? Didn''t I tell you to keep trying until you felt your aura?" Suddenly, she felt a small amount of aura being dripped and mixed with hers. She noticed Zohaifa smiling at her after that. It must''ve been shot at her by him. "So, you pulled it off," she said. ''Yellow splash!'' threw Marium at the backyard. But it wasn''t yellow splash at all. It was merely a plasma shot. But at least she got the feeling of how the aura is manipulated to create plasma. "Good job Marium," she proudly told staring her and added, "Just as expected of my daughter." "What now?" asked Zohaifa. "Now, you need to rush to reach Marium''s level. She has already got a taste of how plasma feels within two weeks. But you need a different treatment," said Marium "What?" asked Zohaifa "You need to be exposed to plasma every day," said Lazuli. "And how do I do that? Go to the sun?" asked Zohaifa. She pointed at Marium. "She will stop training for the yellow splash for a bit. For now, she will concentrate on strengthening her plasma skills. Basically, she will shoot plasma at you." "What? This is nonsense. I will die!" exclaimed Zohiafa "Do you take me to be that stupid? Plasma created from aura won''t necessarily resemble real plasma. With Marium, it seems weaker. With other people, it might even get stronger. Besides, one reason I could create liquid Plasma is that it is not 100% similar to real plasma. It applies to every other element too." "But why do I need this special treatment? Marium could do it as a child. Couldn''t she?" "Don''t be stupid? Marium has my genes. She is an extraordinary genius. There is no way you could topple her. Think about it. She created plasma only through guessing. To be honest, I also thought I would need to give her the extra treatment as she wouldn''t be able to do it." "Didn''t she say just a minute ago that she expected this from her daughter?" Zohaifa thought to himself "Besides plasma has a close connection to light if you ever read science," added Lazuli annoyingly. "I am a student of science," protested Zohaifa Thus the new training program began. Every morning they would do what they usually do. But instead of the previously prescribed training, Marium throws plasma at Zohaifa. Needless to say it is impossible that the morning training this time would last less because of Marium''s sympathy and the demanding, risky nature of this training. Zohaifa no more felt hesitant to refuse to play with Marium after launch. His body is sore all over. He also remained defensive in the sparring session. If by chance, he was hit, he would scream out in pain which annoyed Lazuli a lot. On the 6th day of this new regimen, Zohaifa approached Lazuli looking like a Zombie and told Lazuli that he needed a break and he would not spar this afternoon. Lazuli agreed and felt hesitation inside: ''Is this the logical approach?'' 30 To the Mountains Zohaifa came back in training after one day of break. His soreness was all gone. He popped his neck bone and went out with Marium in style. The morning and noon training remained the same as it used to be. Just like all other days, in the evening they were sparring with Lazuli. Zohaifa became active as he used to again. This time Zohiafa is harder than ever. One or two punches were not enough to exhaust him anymore. He came back, rejuvenating himself after each punch. But that''s not all. In the middle of the sparring, Zohaifa planted his feet on the ground and prepared himself for a surprise. "Did Zohiafa learn a new lightning move? But I already told him that using lightning is forbidden in the sparring match. This was supposed to be a martial art sparring," thought Lazuli. Then all of a sudden, a plasma blast went right beside Lazuli''s face. It''s a pleasurable thing she could dodge it. When she looked back at Zohaifa, he found him smiling. Has this become his habit? To surprise and smile? Lazuli said, "Well done. You have learned it way faster than I expected you to. We will move to another phase of the training." "So can we learn the ''Yellow Splash'' now?" asked Zohaifa in excitement. "Don''t be so hasty. You have just learned to create Plasma. Now you need to know how to control it. I will remind you once again that it requires intense control over Plasma to create ''Yellow Splash'', where two states of matter mixes," said Lazuli. "Right. So, what now?" asked Zohaifa. "Enjoy the rest of the day. I will inform you later," said Lazuli. Zohiafa and Marium had fun playing video games for the entire day and Zohiafa taught Marium pillow fight, which was the game they chose for the night. The next day, early in the morning, Lazuli woke Zohaifa and Marium up. "I don''t want to go to school. I haven''t done my homework," mumbled Zohaifa. "Wake up!" Lazuli shouted, "stop bringing memories of the Earth here." Zohaifa got up with a shock. He looked here and there and gradually got aware of his position. "Darn, I miss my home now," said Zohaifa to himself. Then Lazuli took two gigantic bags, which was already packed. She handed the smaller one over to Zohaifa and the larger one to Marium. "That''s a surprise. She usually makes me do harder jobs," told Zohaifa to himself. "Let''s go," said Lazuli. "We are going on a journey again! It was such fun traveling by foot with Lapis. I wonder how will it be this time," thought Zohaifa. But lazuli took a car. It was a jeep to be exact, which was used by them to travel through the forest. The wild wind messed up their hair. But they enjoyed it rather than closing the windows. Their journey gradually led to a rocky land and ended up before a rocky hill. It wasn''t too big, by the way. "This is your training ground," said Lazuli. "You bought us all the way here to climb a mountain? You could have at least choose a bigger one," replied Zohiafa. "No. Your training is crushing the hill. But you can only use plasma blasts. I''ll give a 1-month time limit, though you won''t need it. You will get no support from me. I have to go back and start working as the governor. I have also given you two some food supplies in the bags. Since it is an isolated place, be cautious about how much you are eating." Then she looked at Marium and said, "That is also the reason you can go all out in this training." "Now I get why she gave me the smaller bag," thought Zohaifa to himself 31 What was your life like? Few days passed by since Zohaifa and Marium were destroying the hill. They felt a little guilty that they had to destroy the habitats of the animals. But things are going fine for now. All the animals left the hill when they sensed the explosions at the beginning of the training. The hill was close to being destroyed. Chew Chappow Chappow. Plasma blasts are being shot by Zohaifa and Marium. A little bit of sweat moistened their skin. That is when some ants the size of an average person''s feet started appearing. Zohaifa looked at these gigantic ants and said, "Where are they coming from?" "Look it is coming from a hole in the hill," pointed Marium. Then she took the finger and started biting on the nails moving onto deep thinking, "Wait a minute. Red foot sized ants, create holes deep in the hill... They are the Siezegor Ants! But I thought they were extinct from this forest." "So, what are these Siezegor ants?" "They were a species of ant thought to be extinct from this forest. They have a really venomous paralyzing bite. They are strong due to their size. So, they form their base inside a hill instead of an ant pit." "Okay. That was interesting. Now, let us continue training." But then Marium''s lips shook like they are almost about to cry. "What now?" "I don''t want them to be destroyed." "How are we going to continue the training then?" She looked at Zohaifa''s face with sparkly eyes vibrating slowly and harmoniously. Zohaifa sighed, "Okay, we will clear them out first." "Yay!" Zohaifa tried poking the holes with a stick, but the ants got mad and attempted to bite him. He tried provoking the ants and running away to lead to another direction, but the ants didn''t understand that he was provoking. In short, from morning to mid-noon, they were busy with the ants. But then the clouds covered the sky and the wind started to blow fast. "A storm is coming!" exclaimed Zohaifa. "Quick! We need to find a cave," proclaimed Marium. The storm actually gathered an opportunity for them to rest. They were down and out working the whole day. They sat inside a cave faintly illuminated. A few moments of silence prevailed. Zohaifa enjoyed the view. He always liked storms even back when he was on Earth. He loved the feeling when the strong wind lifted his hair and the water mixed with it refreshed his face. The lightning felt like fireworks. But Marium could not just sit still. She marched here and there in the cave, roamed around, joined Zohaifa in sight-seeing, and at last could not hold her boredom any longer. "Zohaifa don''t you know of anything fun to do?" "I don''t know nothing''s coming to my mind now." "How about you tell me a story?" "Story? But I only know boring old grandpa stories." "What was your life like on Earth?" she asked "Strange question. What kind of answer do you expect?" "Like how was your family like? What sort of interaction did you have with others? You know, things like that." "I always considered myself to be a normal guy. But if you ask anyone who knows me would tell that I was a strange guy." "Please tell me more." 32 Ready for more exploration "Tell me more! What did you do differently from them?" asked Marium with excitement. "Maybe the hugest difference from me and others is that my family was exceptionally pious. I wasn''t as pious as them, or maybe not at all. I didn''t like the way people treated me just because I was more God-conscious. So, I started to avoid my identity as a Muslim. I didn''t even like myself as who I was then before." "What do you think about that life now?" "I would like to say that life on Earth was pleasant now. But back then, I thought my life was full of hustle and bustle. There were annoying home works, I needed to wake up every day for school. I did not like it. But now that look back at it, it feels like that was the best life ever. I even miss my traditional Muslim life." "Basically, you think if you can get back to the life you hated you would be as happy as a clam?" "How do you know if clams are happy?" "I don''t know. People say that. So, when you lived that life you hated, what life did you seek?" But such a simple question flustered Zohaifa. "What sort of life did I seek?" Zohaifa knew for sure that there is something under his nose. "I can''t remember." Gradually, the rain stopped. The nature woke up. The light shined bright and it feels like someone clicked the refresh button on nature. "Let us go now and continue training." As they reached the hill, they noticed that the ants were missing. They must''ve escaped to survive the rain. Good for them. At last, they finished training and finally headed home. "That was fast!" said Lazuli to the two of them. "What training comes next?" asked Zohaifa "The yellow splash" "Finally!" equivocally exclaimed Zohaifa and Marium Thus, they were taught the ins and outs of the technique of yellow splash. But after all those training from before, it only took one day. Things keep getting better and better. The next day, Lazuli told Zohaifa, "The training is over. We still have three weeks before the tournament. Zohaifa, you can come back after two weeks. I will teach you the basics." Zohaifa asked in shock and confusion, "What? You will not strengthen our Yellow Splash? Where am I supposed to go? And wait. Basics? I am supposed to learn the basics after so long." "You can strengthen it. But that''s not needed. Trust me. And about where you need to go. I don''t really care. But the logical approach would be to go to the forest. You won''t find food in the city without money. You should remain in the forest. The monsters in this forest are easily beatable. The berries are also harmless." "OK." But both of them knew that Zohaifa won''t be staying in the forest. Zohaifa forgetting how Lazuli kicked him out became excited to explore the forest. 33 An orange tornado. "It has been a few days since I have been in the forest. How many days has it been?" Then Zohaifa wiggled his finger ready for calculations. But he realized he had been there for only one day. "Oh. But nothing new is happening. I think I should move past the forest. The only things in the forest are Green goats with red eyes, Short blue bears, bees, ants, and various plants." Thus, Zohaifa started to head outside of the forest to explore the vast Cant World. "I am going to see something new if I am headed in this direction. I just know it," said Zohaifa with excitement. That is when he met Flirtic. "It''s you again," said Flirtic keeping his cool. "In this vast world where there is an endless possibility of what I can stumble upon, I meet you again." "Ready for a rematch? I am unsatisfied with the last fight and also still boiling in anger for the comments you threw." "I guess people won''t remember what I did, they will just remember what I made them feel," thought Zohaifa to himself. With all nervousness, Zohaifa spoke trying to avoid a fight, "Hey, did you know there is a tournament coming up in Yellow City? I am going to participate." "So what?" cold-heartedly said Flirtic. "Why don''t we make our rematch memorable?" "You sure you wanna get pounded in front of a crowd?" "I am Okay," said Zohaifa after gulping a mouthful. "Fine then," saying which Flirtic headed to Yellow City. Zohaifa exhaled a big breath after Flirtic left the scene. "What was that presence I just felt? Flirtic must have been training too. I never sensed anything like it. I feel like I am at the short end of the stick." "Maybe I should just stay in the forest and train hard," said Zohaifa clenching his fist. But the thought of adventure got in the way, "Eh¡­ Flirtic won''t be joining the tournament anyway. He can''t get the tickets without money, right?" So, he continued his journey until he found a desert. Normally it would make sense to avoid going to a desert. But there was something he couldn''t but check out. A Huge Orange Tornado. "It''s not a normal tornado for sure." The tornado was more gigantic than Zohaifa ever saw in his planet. But that''s not the odd fact. There are cacti nearby. One of them is even half emerged in it. That must mean it doesn''t have strong enough pull. "This is going to be interesting," Zohaifa fearlessly walked towards the tornado. He got closer and closer and yet he experienced no pull. He then realized it is not a tornado but rather just smoke moving in a circular motion. He stood in front the this harmless beast and took a chest filling breath. with no hesitation, he entered. 34 The history of Orange Village As Zohaifa entered the tornado, he discovered a hidden village. There was a field at the location through which Zohaifa entered. He found some kids playing on one side of the field whereas on the other side people were training. But a few of them took notice of him. A group of them approached Zohaifa. "Who are you and where did you come from?" asked one of them. "My name is Zohaifa. I literally came from the sky," said Zohaifa. But looking that they were knuckled down on this. He changed his sentence, "I came from a different planet." "Were you in your mind? Why would you enter a tornado?" said the villager, slightly excited. "Because it didn''t have any pull," answered Zohaifa. "So you figured it out." "How did you create this tornado, anyway?" "It''s a long story. You interested?" "I am." Then, Zohaifa along with the rest of them took a seat in a corner of the field. "It was long ago, a demon named Oranton took over our village. The best of the best of the best of the best of the be-" "Okay, okay, I get it. You mean the absolute best," interrupted Zohaifa. "Yeah, the absolute best of our warriors tried resisting but could not defeat him. Then came forth a guy named Smomb. The villagers knew him as a harmless person. Even his name sounds innocent. But for the sake of his village, he prepared to fight. And that preparation was no ordinary preparation. It was the best of the-" "The absolute best," interrupted Zohaifa again before it went out of control. "Yeah. He created a move named the ''orange smoke''. It''s a complete masterpiece. It is the combination of plasma and gas using which he could defeat the demon Oranton. But this battle was so intense that he had to use the ''Orange Smoke'' several times. This created the tornado around the orange village. This also became the reason of this village to be named Orange Village." "Wow! That was amazing. It reminds of a move I know called ''Yellow Splash.''" "What? You know the ''Yellow Splash?'' Did you come from Yellow city?" asked another Villager. His presence was slightly stronger than the others. "Yes. After coming from that planet, I found my way to Yellow city and trained under Lazuli," Zohaifa explained. "What? You came to this planet, got access to Yellow city and trained under The Great Teacher Lazuli? You are the luckiest guy alive, man" "The Great Teacher Lazuli?" "Don''t you know? She is known as the Great Teacher because of her unique way of training. The students of her school learn a lot within few months." "Hmm¡­ Her training was unique," thought Zohaifa to himself, "Maybe I need not worry about the tournament after all." "What is your name?" asked that strong guy. "Zohaifa" "Spar with me." 35 Yellow vs Orange Zohaifa and the guy from Orange village proceeded to the field. Both of them are ready to go head on. Both of them are standing face to face as slight chilling blows. Zohaifa felt the need for warming up his body first, but he was too nervous to say anything. "Will I be able to fight this guy? Though Flirtic''s one was stronger, I can detect a strong presence from him too. I guess I can expect this guy to be friendlier than Flirtic. He even asked a sparring match instead of a death battle," Zohaifa reasoned with himself, "I only hope it doesn''t turn out to be a mountain out of a molehill. Let me try socializing a bit." "So, what is your name?" asked Zohaifa to the strong guy after taking a big breath. "It''s Oar!" he said confidently. "Nice name," said Zohaifa, though not agreeing with it. "Lets start!," saying which Oar instantly charged towards Zohaifa with an overhand right. But Zohaifa easily dodged it. Oar almost fell off balance but forcibly regained his composure. He understood he can''t over commit to any attacks. "This is significantly slower than the sparring with Lazuli!" Zohaifa thought to himself. But Oar was persistent. Oar started by throwing jabs. But Zohaifa could dodge it fluently. Suddenly a heavy right came in. But Zohaifa dodged it by the width of a hair. Oar realized Jabs and crosses won''t be enough to defeat this guy. So, he took a squared up. He started throwing jabs from both hands. Zohaifa his speed to the next gear. Eventually, one of the punch got to him. Oar smiled at his first success, forgetting that Zohaifa is yet to attack. Zohaifa shifted to the offense. He threw a jab. Oar tried to block it, but the punch already entered through his guard. Oar held a tight grip on Zohaifa''s arm with both his hands ignoring the effect of the punch. "That''s one desperate attempt to delay a fight," Zohaifa introspected. Thus, Zohaifa casually swung hooks to his body and the left side of his head. When Oar was unable to handle it anymore, he used ''Reverse Rocket'' to dash backward. ''Lightning Velocity,'' used Zohaifa to catch up. But there were more lightning than expected and it burst out of Zohaifa''s fingers. He crashed with Oar and both of them fell down. "What the? My lightning powers are stronger now. But I didn''t even train Lightning!" That is when Zohaifa remembered the first days where he constantly created lightning. That must have toughened him up. But by the time he was reflecting, Oar flew to midair to attack from above. "He can fly, huh?" Zohaifa threw a plasma blast and Oar fell down. "Okay then, we are at equal ground now," said Oar. Oar started charging himself up for the Orange smoke. Zohaifa is ready to counter it with the Yellow Splash. "This is it. We will see which legend is more legendary. Lazuli or Smomb?" ''Yellow Splash'' a bright yellow Liquid splashed out of Zohaifa''s hand. ''Orange Smoke'' a dark orange gas burst out of Oar''s hand 36 Continuing the journey. As soon as Zohaifa''s Yellow Splash and Oar''s Orange bomb touched each other, a dark reddish smoke covered the area with a scorching sound. Everyone was in anticipation of what will happen next. But when the smoke cleared, Zohaifa stood out on top. Oar''s dress is torn at the chest where the Yellow splash had hit. "What? This can''t be. The Yellow Splash is greater than Orange Smoke?" said a flustered villager. "No, we must''ve chosen a bad representative," "Oar would have won if he was serious. He always gets stronger when the rubber hits the road" Oar punch the ground in desperation with an angry, frowned face. Zohaifa went on to Oar and lend out his hands. He immediately changed his expression and smilingly accepted it to stand up. "I should''ve expected this from Lazuli''s student. But remember, you are the student of Lazuli herself while I never even met Smomb. So, don''t think Yellow Splash was better." "I won''t," said Zohaifa, thinking Yellow Splash was indeed better than the Orange Smoke. In fact, he considered it is an evolution. "Hey Oar, can you find me a place to stay for the night?" "You can just stay at my home. I would be happy to shelter a warrior like you in my home." "Thank you." Zohaifa chuckled being addressed as a warrior. Zohaifa stayed there for the night, had a nice dinner, and departed the next day early in the morning. "Leaving already? I wanted to train with you." "Sorry I am off to exploring Cant World." "Exploring Cant World? That will never end. Plus, you will get lost." "I won''t. I have been going in one direction from Yellow city." "Ok, take care." Then Zohaifa got out of the village again through the tornado. He smiled at the fact that he could defeat someone with letting out that strong of a presence. "That must mean I can defeat Flirtic too. I wonder if the others also feel a presence like that when they encounter me." He then moved on through the desert. It took him a day. He thought he would die starving. At last, he resorted to eating spiders and other bugs. "Eww! This is so disgusting. But I will probably die if I eat nothing. I can already perceive myself as a Zombie. I should have stayed in the forest." He could see greeneries in front at a fair distance. That motivated him to move forward, to see another day filled with adventures. He had to crawl over to get there. "Finally!" he exclaimed finding a river. The chilly water moistened his tongue and quenched his thirst as it splashed the walls of his throat. "So, relaxing!" saying which Zohaifa splattered the water drowning his face. "I will have to be more conservative now." He crossed the river. collected fishes and conserved them this time.. The journey led him to a forest. It was easier to survive there. He ate fishes and birds. He at last came across a town. At the top, it is written: ''Crazy town.'' 37 Cliche or not? Zohaifa entered Crazy town with great enthusiasm. "How is this town going to be? Of course, it will be crazy," Zohaifa happily thought to himself. But to his least expectation, the town was silent. All the houses were made of wood, each of them having a similar structure. Minor residences with a small balcony covered by a small shed. Everywhere. But most of the structures are broken. It looks like a haunted city. Zohaifa, confused, started searching around for people. It''s not as if he did not find anyone, but rather the ones he found were peeping at him from the inside. He could see them. But he has learned to give individuals their privacy back on Earth. So, he did not bother them. "Is this going to be a clich¨¦ ghost story? Are they going to mistake me as a ghost too?" Zohaifa wondered. After hovering around a bit, he finally discovered someone. But as soon as he caught sight of Zohaifa, he started running in the opposite direction. "That''s so cliche," complained Zohaifa. He ran to catch up with him. "Why are you fleeing?" "I don''t know!" "What? Stop joking! What''s up with this ghostly town?" scolded Zohaifa. He stopped, and so did Zohaifa. "It used to be very noisy, hasty, and on top of all crazy. But the whole situation has changed," he answered with a frightened expression. "I knew all along. Another cliche story will take place." "No. A horrifying tale took place. A monster in the disguise of a Cant comes here. Though actually the beast is just a different species of Cant. I still like to call her a monster." "Her? You could not defeat a girl?" "Literally the species has no gender, but she is more appropriate. The trademark of the species is that they can reproduce and create a far stronger child." Zohaifa got serious, "Tell me more." "A member of the species only eat Aura. They eat them from nature, from animals, and birds. But they never get enough aura unless they eat the aura of a person. Whenever their bellies are filled, the rest of the auras are stored in the womb. And that''s why I want to call the species as She. When they have enough in their womb, they vomit out their baby. But instead of looking disgusting, it actually looks cool. Therefore they are known as the absorpians" "You are weird." "I am just crazy. But since this species is so violent, most of the nations of the Cant world kill them at first sight. But there is a last surviving one. And a powerful one. She has chosen the people of Cant World to be its lunch. I mean, literally. She always comes at noon." "It''s not a cliche story, after all." "It is almost time for her arrival. So, I will escape this place and head home," saying which he ran away. Zohaifa sat in the middle of a dusty street in Crazy town waiting for her arrival. 38 Two enemies? "It is right for me to stop her? She needs this to guarantee her species'' survival... Then again..... What about those who are being killed in the process?" Zohaifa thought philosophically. "I don''t know what to do anymore," said Zohiafa as he scratched his head annoyingly. Then he lied down and calmly stared at the moving clouds with a slight smile, "Isn''t it funny that this story is prevalent in the wild and I am acting like- this is such a rare situation? Maybe Flirtic messed my way of thinking." A sudden forceful presence appeared, coming from the two sides of the village. "Two of ''em? I thought there were only one. Did she already multiply?" He kicked up and clashed his knuckles together. "I guess the predator will do what it needs as a predator and I got to do what I need as a prey. No hard feelings." Swish. Wind blew hard as both the presence was moving towards Zohaifa. "Saves me some effort," said Zohiafa. Their presence is a lot stronger than both Oar and Flirtic''s. But after defeating Oar so easily, he guessed that he would be on par with both of them. Swish. A figure, thin and tall, appeared from the left wearing a cape floating with the wind. His complexion was slightly dark. But his black dressing made him look brighter. Swish. Another figure appeared from the right. It''s a blonde girl with the body of youth. Yet, maturity was expressed by her eyes. The wind tried to lift her already messed heavy hair. Her dressing was quite wild. "It must be the girl. But then who''s the boy," Zohaifa introspected. Both the figure stopped and took an athletic stance. Zohaifa dropped to horse stance and pointed both arms to each of the figure. Swish! Another blow of the wind dictated the start of the fight. Zohaifa started the fight by shooting rapid Plasma blasts from both his hands. Both the figures ran through it, trying to show off their toughness. They both threw a punch when reaching near Zohaifa. Zohaifa ducked. They hit each other by accident. Composure regained. Another punch thrown, intending to hit each other. Zohaifa back up and caught the punches. He threw them swirling in different directions. "Hmm¡­ They are fighting each other too. What does that mean?" Both of them ran back towards Zohaifa for a payback. The boy kicked the girl while running. She fell vigorously because of their dashing speed. Zohaifa and the guy collapsed their fist together while the girl rolled past Zohaifa. She got up and threw a big Plasma beam towards the two of them. Pfoom!!! Both Zohaifa and the boy are still standing but slightly hurt. Both of them ran towards the girl for a payback. Zohaifa block the boy''s sudden kick. "I already saw that," said Zohaifa. He used ''Lightning velocity'' to close the distance in an instant which only helped in increasing the force of her punch. WHAM!!! Zohaifa was hit violently, causing bleeding from the nose. The boy was charging a move meanwhile in the air. "I won''t let you harm my town anymore! Eat this. ''Heaven''s redness!''" "What? He''s fighting for Crazy town?" 39 Teaming up by force! The entire sky became red because of the boy''s attack. One cannot see a trace of the sun anymore. "This guy has to be an epic power house. To cover the entire sky like that!" said Zohaifa in wonder of the move. But another thought sneaked in, "But he doesn''t know I am on his side. I can''t tell him. He''s too far above." Then the sky turned back to its original colour. The boy landed on the ground. "So, where is the attack?" asked Zohaifa. "Didn''t you see the entire sky turned blood red? That is the attack." "How is that supposed to help?" "It''s supposed to make you panic," saying which the boy threw a kick at Zohaifa. Zohaifa barely dodged it, "Wait! We don''t have to fight like this. Let me expla-" Suddenly another plasma blast by the women hit both of them. The boy protected himself by creating a shield, but Zohaifa took the whole shot and fell on the ground. Cough Cough. "Damn, I can''t fight like this," said Zohaifa to himself. The boy kicked him up. "Wai¡­" He grabbed Zohaifa''s bloody face and threw him to her. "Red bomb!" threw the boy. She held Zohaifa like a shield and protected herself from impact. As soon as the bomb touched Zohaifa, a tremendous burst took place. The smoke was glowing bright red. She then threw her shield, Zohaifa, aside and continue her dual with the boy. Zohaifa scratched the ground. Huff Huff. "Things look hazy. I think I will rest a little." He then shook his head and got up. "No time! We should join before one of us collapse." He then headed to the battleground. POW! Both of their punches connected to his face from opposite sides. He barely kept himself from falling down. "Hey boy, listen to m¡­" Pow! The boy punched him, throwing his face to the woman. Pow! Sent back to the boy. Pow! Back to women. Pow! Back to the boy. Block! Zohaifa caught his punch. His bloody face is dead serious now. The woman threw a punch too. He caught it too. "I have had enough of this!" said Zohaifa furiously, "Lightning Burst!" "I am done being the sympathetic guy," continued Zohaifa. He took a few dashing steps towards the boy. The boy threw a few plasma blasts, expecting which Zohaifa shifted to a zigzag motion. No blast touched him. As he reached, he welcomed the boy with the hardest punch he could muster, throwing him to the ground. He then put all his body weight to pound him into the ground. Getting him up by his collar, Zohaifa faced him with his bleeding face and said, "Do you want torture or do you want to talk?" "About what? My avant-garde moves?" "What''s avant-garde?" "I have been using the thesaurus, you see. It means something completely unique and innovative." "Shut up. I just wanted to tell you I am fighting for the Crazy town here. I attacked you because I didn''t know you were fighting for it too. So, now we are in the same team. Did you get it?" "Okay. But you should''ve told this beforehand." Zohaifa sighed and slapped his own face, "No matter where I go in the universe, there are idiots." 40 The fight becomes solo! As the boy seemed to understand the situation, Zohiafa slowly let him down and unclenched the collar. The boy smiled and said, "Sorry. I should''ve be.." A plasma beam went through the left side of his chest. Blood came out like a fountain. He fell down to the ground. "No!" Zohaifa shouted while attempting to catch him. But another plasma beam was shot. With an evil face, the girl started laughing, "Sorry, was I too unfair? You shouldn''t have dropped your guard in the first place." Zohaifa looked back at her with a murderous eyes. "How dare you?" he said. Cough Cough. The boy brought the attention back to himself. Zohaifa looked at him while sweating. He dropped back to the ground. Chappow! Another plasma beam shot. But Zohaifa expected that and already jumped taking the boy with him. ''Lightning Velocity.'' Zohaifa swiftly changed his location before the Absorpian can catch up "Brother, hear out my last words." "Please don''t die," said Zohaifa weeping. "Please continue my legacy and keep your moves baroque." "Huh?" "I have been hitting the thesaurus, you see." The boy closed his eyes after saying this. "He was a rather strange guy. But in the end, he was someone who fought for justice. I will not let this sacrifice go in vain," Zohaifa got up as his veins became visible due to the clenching of his fist, "So much for teaming up. But I am confident if there is only one opponent, I can win. All my training until now was solo." Then Zohaifa noticed something strange. "Where is she going?" He felt her presence not coming this way but rather to the forest-covered hills. Zohaifa used ''Lightning velocity'' to go their fast. In a minute, the absorpian found Zohaifa standing in front of her. Ready for a pay back. He noticed something strange. The absorpian is glowing faintly from time to time. As if resembling a kind of pulse. She grinned, "Injured body. Bloody face. You intend to finish me in that condition." Zohaifa made a plasma ball in his hands ignoring her taunt. He clapped keeping it in between the hands. ''Yellow splash.'' Zohaifa threw. She tried to dodge it. But due to the liquid nature, it was impossible to avoid it completely. A scarce amount of liquid splashed on her body and created a burning sensation. She hid the pain with another grin while smoke came out from the location she was splashed. She threw an overhand right only to be blocked and returned with a punch in the gut. Saliva came out of her mouth. She roared accompanied by a sudden rush of air from her. But Zohaifa ignored it and threw a hard punch to her throat. She was thrown 3 meters back and fell on the ground. She coughed with pain. Zohaifa slowly approached her. She came back with a Plasma ball in her hand. Unfortunately, Zohaifa caught the hand and changed the projection angle of the plasma ball. Then he continued with a liver shot followed by a spinning throw with the hand she held her with. Zohaifa walked towards her as she trembled with fear looking at Zohaifa. Each step felt like a pound in the heart. 41 Result of the Pulsating glow Zohaifa attempted to finish this dual. His eyes showed determination and savagery. The absorpian got up quickly and picked up her stance, ready to face Zohaifa. But all on a sudden, the pulsating glow from her pulsated faster and brighter. She held her stomach tight and produced a slight moan. Zohaifa stopped his procession, slightly confused. She struggled to gather strength for standing up but suddely another series of pulsation occured. The vibration of her body showed her pain. Her legs could not support her anymore. She started moaning. But she still tried to crawl up. Another series of pulsation yet again. She began to screaming now. The way she scratched the dirts and twist her feet showed the unbearable pain she must be in. Tears continued to flow through her eyeballs. She pounded the ground while crying and shouting. Even the man with the toughest heart would feel pity for her. And Zohaifa was certainly not the toughest. "What should I do?" Zohaifa lost in thinking, "I came here to defeat her but now I feel sympathy. I even wish I could do something to stop this. What''s causing all these pains?" Zohaifa thought, he can leave her for now and think about his actions later. That is when she stood erect unnaturally with her mouth wide and faced towards the sky. Bwah! She made a sound as if she wants to vomit. The contraction of her gut was visible. Her eyes were half open with no pupil showing semi-consciousness. Yet another sign of pain. The mouth opened abnormally wide. A figure appeared from it. Its parts weren''t distinct as it was covered by light. "Dammit. She was giving birth!" When the figure finally crawled out, the angelic radiance disappeared. She observed the environemnt, quite annoyed, trying to read the situation. Zohaifa stared at her in awe of this delivering process. She looked exactly like a duplicate of her parent. It seems more like cloning than a reproduction. Every part of the child looks the same as the parent, inch by inch. The only difference was in their eyes. However, fortunately and unfortunately, she even has all the injuries that her mother had, in the same places too. "What happened to me?" she demanded to know. "That boy, over there, tortured your mother. That caused you to be born with damage," her mom answered as she stood up. She shifted her gaze towards Zohaifa, which brought him back to senses. He noticed the frightening presence the baby absorpian exerted. "Go! Take vengeance on behalf of your mom," the mother absorpian commanded proudly. "Why?" She asked "Why do I care what happens to you? I will take revenge because of my injury." "Oh, dear!" her mom spoke while sweating, "You just took birth so it''s hard for you to understand how the world works. Don''t you love me?" Saying that, she sought to extend her hands to caress her cheek. But the child slapped her hands and threw an unbelievably powerful uppercut, throwing her mother far off from the battlefield. "You can''t tell me what to do." She again turned her gaze towards Zohaifa with hostility. 42 Same Miracle? Zohaifa felt intimidation the moment she gazed upon Zohaifa, wishing that she might ignore him considering she is still literally a newborn. "So, you are the one who injured me," she noted. Zohaifa understood that a a battle cannot be avoided. Thus, he picked up his fighting stance, hoping for the best. By the moment Zohaifa noticed her attempt to attack was the moment she covered up all the distance between her and Zohaifa. Pow! Zohaifa was sent rolling on sky. Before he realized it, she gripped his foot mid-air. "Such speed! I don''t have any possibility of running." She threw Zohaifa crushing to the ground. Zohaifa could feel his spine being broken. He tried to arise. "I can''t stand straight anymore!" Zohaifa''s eyes showed frustration on the notion of living a crippled life. The absorpian is in front of him before he could even detect. In a single flash, an uncountable number of punches hit his stomach. His eyes extended wide. He fell on his knees, unable to breathe properly, a gush of blood was vomited out. She held Zohaifa up by his hair and looked into his pitiful eyes. He can''t think about the injuries anymore since his existence is now at stake. She punched Zohaifa''s already bleeding face, throwing him 20 meters away to a mountain. Zohaifa gradually closed his eyes with his back dug into the mountains. "If there is an almighty guarding this universe, please help me. Cause I am in a position where nothing I do matters." He could see the absorpian walking towards him. He gradually drifted to unconsciousness. Zohiafa woke up from the concussion. "Something feels familiar," thought Zohaifa. Then he slowly observed the environment. He was in a camping tent. Sunlight outside only proved how dark the interior was. He also took notice of his condition. All the blood from his body has been cleaned. He is bandaged all over. "What am I doing here?" asked Zohaifa to himself in confusion, "How am I here?" He knew he had to get up and explore for safety. But after all that he had been through, he naturally felt lazy. Suddenly he heard someone coming this way. "Why is this happening again? Am I in a never-ending cycle," Zohaifa mumbled to himself, "In that case, I will just do something different this time." The boy who was considered to be killed by the absorpian, came inside. "You are alive!" exclaimed Zohaifa. "You thought I would die so easily? Lo-and-behold, I am a gag character," he smiled. "What is that supposed to mean?" "I contacted the author. We agreed that I can become a gag character. The bright side is that I am unkillable and I will stand a chance no matter whom I fight with. Its like being a bourgeois in a fantasy. But the downside being I cannot have any major influence in the story." "That makes no sense, but you seem to be a cool guy. What is your name?" "I am Red-1" 43 What happens when I get concussion "Red-1? That''s a funny name," said Zohaifa, "But does that mean there are more of the Reds." "I wanted more of my brothers so I chose this name. But the author didn''t agree." "Can you drop the author stuff? We weren''t supposed to talk about those." "Okay. So, let''s go out, the people of the town wants to see you." "No wait. I have two questions." "Shoot." "First, how are you alive again? Weren''t you shot in the heart?" "The heart of the Cants are made in the right side of their chest." "But you still lost a lot of blood." "Gag character, remember." "Oh yeah." "Next question, please." "What happened when I turned unconscious?" "I don''t know completely. Let me just tell you what happened after you left." "Yes, please." "I got up and started healing myself." "Why did you not tell me you had that power?" "I knew you had the torch to defeat her. All I had to do is ignite the flame." "Continue then." "At near the end, I sensed a powerful aura from your fight." "Wait! So the presence I feel is actually aura?" "I guess. I don''t know what you feel. But one can sense aura if he is a skilled user." "How can I sense my own aura? It is hard to guess how powerful I am compared to others. I have a rival." "Charge up." "What?" "Hey, I am not your teacher. Do you want to hear the story or not?" "Sorry. Please continue." "No more questions. Okay?" "Okay" "When I felt the powerful aura, I stopped healing and rushed towards the scene showing bravado. As soon as I reached there, I saw you emerging from a mountain. Your aura was completely different. It was something I never sensed before. Your aura was so huge I could not see the ceiling." "That''s got to be a simile, right?" "Actually, that''s a metaphor. You created a fire and water gloves in two hands. You used it to batter her." "But I can only use lightning." "It''s the truth. I saw you using it and finishing with a gigantic plasma blast which ran straight through the town and melted the ground into a streaming long pit along it path. Any sign of her existence was wiped out. If you don''t believe me go out and check what you did to the town." "Damn, they will kill me. I am scared!" "Anyway, I am curious to know your story after this wonderful incidence. Who are you? Why did you come to come to the Crazy town? And more." Thus, Zohaifa told him about his previous boring life, how he got his lightning powers, how he came here and about the tournament of Yellow city. Red-1 scratched his chin and said, "If I analyze properly, with all my wisdom and experience, I can say that you may as well be the MC." Zohaifa''s eyes popped in amazement. "You mean to say I am the main character?" "What? No, you are the manner-less child." "Oh." "By the way, you said you hated the previous life. What life did you seek then?" Zohaifa felt it again. "I must''ve forgotten something important," thought Zohaifa, "Something is being overlooked here." 44 A little bit of rest. "I am sorry but I should escape this town before they come for me." Immediately, Red-1 raised one of his arms with his palm facing the roof of the tent. ''Rusty wind.'' He shot a reddish gas which blew the tent away, exposing Zohaifa to the public. "Um¡­ I am sorry about the incident; I didn''t mean to destroy half the town." A moment of silence prevailed along with commoners'' stare at Zohaifa. A sudden burst of laughter erupted from the crowd. "We are just happy that we are saved from the absorpian." "It''s just a small sacrifice compared to what the absorpian did to us." Zohaifa stared with disbelief at the crowd, "Are you saying there was no death due to my attack?" "No, our population already became tiny because of the absorpian. So, most of the town is empty. As a result, it missed every townies." With a smile, Zohaifa replied, "At least we could all see a happy ending." Then, Zohaifa inspected his body, "I don''t have any injuries. Why did you bandage me all over?" Red-1 answered, "Yeah, we noticed you had no injuries. But it didn''t make any sense. After all, I witnessed firsthand all the injuries you had. So, we were just confused about what to do. So I bandaged you all over." Zohaifa giggled and said, "That was so dumb of you." Changing his mood, he said, "But I still feel tired though. I feel like I have got my life sucked out." "In that case, you shall rest," advised Red-1, "Move out, move out. Let him rest. He had to work hard. He is tired. Shoo, shoo." The townspeople went back to their home, while Red-1 took Zohaifa to one of the abandoned home to sleep. Zohaifa peacefully went to sleep. It started raining. A thunder woke Zohaifa up. He sat in the gloomy room, the darkness of the outside rain enhanced whose darkness. "I should bid the townies goodbye now," he said. But as he intended to get up, suddenly a hand came out of from underneath the bed and grabbed Zohaifa''s leg. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Zohaifa screamed. Zohaifa tried to pull his legs away. But when he did, it seems like the hand was not attached to a body. "Did I rip the person''s arm off? Is he still under the bed? I don''t wanna check." Zohaifa slowly went towards the exit while facing the bed, "There is no way it can reach me all the way out here." Zohaifa opened the door and instead of getting out, he found himself in another room. "Did the house changed its structure? Is that even possible?" He noticed a girl staring at her from a room. Her eyes seemed familiar. As soon as Zohaifa got aware of her, she quickly hid under the room. "Wait. Tell me what''s happening. Damn, it''s a clich¨¦ ghost story after all." Zohaifa slowly entered the room as he thought the girl looked similar. But when he did, it was the absorpian staring at him. Red-1 dead body is lying on the floor. "No, this can''t be," Zohaifa told himself in frustration. With the speed of a snake''s bite, Zohaifa was choked by her suddenly. Zohaifa woke up with shock. The sky is brighter than ever. "Come on, Author. Don''t get the reader''s excited like that because of a nightmare? I was so damn scared." 45 The name Crazy town Zohaifa walked outside and saw a few children playing around. Some were sitting down, scratching the ground and making drawings on it. When they saw Zohaifa, everybody started shouting and ran towards him. "Wow! I am being viewed as a Hero!" Zohaifa said proudly. The townspeople noticed Zohaifa''s awakening. So, all of them gathered as well. "Savior, please would you like to have dinner in my home?" "No. I would like you to come visit my home." "I have a shirt to give you. Can I?" "I want to give you this brogue shoe." The people of the town started to fight for the position of being his host. Red-1 stomped on the ground harshly. "Everyone come here. We will take a lottery. The one who wins will host Zohaifa, the savior." Zohaifa scratched on the back of his head while desperately trying to hold a smile, "Guys, you need not to go that far. I would head home anyway." Red-1 told one of them, "Hey, manage the lottery and make sure nobody gives their name twice." Then, he approached to Zohaifa and said, "Brother, how would it feel if a hero you admired went to your house?" "I see where this is going but¡­" "Good. You understood me," said Red-1 and went off to the lottery section. "I guess they are not the people of Crazy town for nothing," said Zohaifa with a sigh. Thus a person won the lottery and was chosen to host Zohaifa. He stood in front of Zohaifa and with an air of confidence, he spoke, "Hello there, savior. My name is Mr. Fearless Fish. Nice to meet you." "What? Is that your actual name? And why is leg shaking so violently?" "Forgive me, savior. It''s just that I am too nervous at this unbelievable incident. And yes, that''s my actual name." Zohaifa still kept that forced smile and finding no proper response, he just said, "Thank you for having me." Later on, he was taken to the person''s home. Like most other it is a wrecked house. Yet, the children had a smile as a welcome for their father. The father embraced his running children and said, "I brought the savior." The eyes of the two siblings glimmered. "Is that the savior everyone is talking about?" said the boy, "My name is little table." "What?" Zohaifa said, dumbfounded. "I am little chair," said the girl, "What''s your name savior?" "Umm¡­ I am Zohaifa." "That''s an odd name," replied the boy. Zohaifa forced a strange smile and said, "I know. My parents kept it. I wish I had a normal name like you guys." "Come on, dear. Let Zohaifa in. He must be tired after fighting the monster." Thus, he took Zohaifa inside the house. "I swear, you return home later and later with each passing day," said the person''s wife as she gently rotated her neck towards him, "Oh my! Who is this kid?" "My name is Zohaifa. Nice to meet you." The husband said, "It''s the savior everyone keeps talking about." Suddenly the wife''s mood changed, and she jumped to another room and got pen and paper. "Can I get an autograph from you?" she asked. "I don''t have any signatures yet." "Just write your name, please." "Okay." Thus, she took the paper with Zohaifa''s signature and opened the door. "I am gonna show off this to the neighbours. They are will be so jealous. Please give the savior a proper dinner." Zohaifa sighed and thought, "I can now clearly understand how they named the town." 46 Bored of the concussions "The last night sleep was so good. I feel so refreshed," said Zohaifa as he is riding a horse, "Though I should not call it a night''s sleep. I played pillow fight with those cute kids until morning and then went to sleep. I hope their family doesn''t think odd of me." The animal looked like a blue horse with ice-made wings. "Of course they won''t. They are so nice people," said Zohaifa. Then he caressed the horse''s hair with a smile and continued, "They even gave me this horse thingy." "They said this horse doesn''t eat. It absorbs the heat energy from environment. But it''s hard to believe given how cold it is," Zohaifa thought, "Actually if I think about it, when I sit on the horse or touch it, it absorbs the heat of my body and thus I feel cold." "You are damn right!" said the horse. Zohaifa woke up. "Where am I? And why is this happening all over again?" An old man with a long white beard and red kimono came in. "So, you are awake. Huh?" "What happened? Am I still in Crazy town? Or did I wake up after the bullet shot by Lapis? Or is it the concussion from Planet X?" The old man stared at Zohaifa with narrow eyes. "Oh, I know! I just woke up from the lightning shock, didn''t I?" Red-1 came in right at that moment. "It''s time I step in and explain everything." "For my sake?" asked Zohaifa. "No. For the readers," he replied, "You spent a night in the ''Crazy town'' in the lottery''s winner''s house. Yes, I am talking about Mr. Fearless buddy. Then, they gave you the Islet horse which you rode up to the Orange Village. Then, you let the horse go back to his master and visited Oar again. All on a sudden, there was a Siren and everybody went to sleep. You wanted to know the reason, and they replied that the sleep haunter will kill you if you don''t. Thus, you decided to gain a sight of this superstitious monster. And though he didn''t kill you, we can all see how extremely beat up you are. You can''t even remember." "Excuse me. Thanks for the information, but who are you?" asked the old man. "I am an epic character of the novel and a friend of Zohaifa." "What novel?" Zohaifa interrupted, "Can you stop with that? I am having a hard time believing what happened. This conversation on top of it makes it more annoying." "In that case, I shall use my ''Memory Resurrection'' spell on you," said Red-1. "No need for that!" brusquely said the old man, "He needs not to know this." Zohaifa looked back at the old man with narrow eyes, "I smell something fishy from you grandpa." "Ew. That is why I hate people who doesn''t bath every day," said Red-1. "That is not what I meant," said Zohaifa. "I will not let you," said the old man. "Don''t interrupt. I don''t feel any presence from you. You don''t stand a chance," coldly said Zohaifa. The old man stepped back, sensing that it''s futile to try. "Ready Zohaifa?" Red-1 asked. 47 Old peoples meeting Zohaifa got outside of the sand house, ready for the move. Red-1 raised his hands to the sky, and the cloud started to rotate. "This move feels easier here since the tornado is already rotating. It''s aiding my clouds rotation," remarked Red-1. After a certain period of the cloud rotation, when Red-1 thought the time was right, he slammed his hands to the ground and a red pillar of light fell upon Zohaifa from the center of the cloud''s rotational center. Zohaifa heard a sudden cacophony of words but couldn''t understand any of them. "Will this work? I can''t understand anything," thought Zohaifa. Then he could see something hazy. It''s not clear either. "I don''t think this will work. Nothing is understandable." But then a gush of memories entered Zohaifa. It was painful. But the process was over. Zohaifa fell to his knees and breathed heavily. "Remember anything?" asked Red-1. "Yeah," said Zohaifa. "But it wasn''t for free," said Red-1, "You need to establish justice." "Why do you care what happens to the village?" "All I can say is that I am a righteous guy but can''t do anything because I am gag." Zohaifa let out a sigh and said, "I would have done it, anyway." Then, Zohaifa approached the old man and asked, "Explain these to me. It doesn''t make sense." "What doesn''t make sense?" said the old man with a drop of seat falling down from his forehead. "Why is it that that monster attacks the village and the village just goes to sleep?" "It''s the sleep haunter. That''s why. He attacks you if you don''t sleep." "Don''t tell me childish stories tell me what happened." "It seems unbelievable, but it is the truth." "Checkmate gramps. I have already talked to the monster, and he said otherwise." The old man sensed worthlessness of dragging the conversation any further. So, he said, "Follow me then. This is a highly classified secret information that cannot be leaked out." "I will leave the rest to you then," said Red-1 before leaving the village. Zohaifa only reacted with thumbs up. He was taken to a building with royal design. Just like all other houses of Orange village, it was made mostly of sandstone. There were even more old men inside the building. The old man leading Zohaifa waved to the others, indicating to follow him. Zohaifa was taken to an unnoticeable room. Inside the room, there was a trapdoor which led to a basement. All the old men sat with Zohaifa. "So why did you call us, Sutton?" asked an old man. "Our top secret information is under threat. This boy has a clue to what is happening. I think we would rather tell him about this monster and convince him to keep it a secret. Otherwise, he would try to know by force and if he is to share his half-baked knowledge, it will only bring terror among the villagers," replied the old man who invited Zohaifa. "Well then, we seem to have no choice." 48 Lava Gladiator "It was like 150 years ago," started Mr. Sutton, "A monstrous person whose name is unknown came to our village. He called himself the Lava Gladiator. He killed us indiscriminately. All the magnificent warriors of Orange village died fighting him. Many of them escaped for the sake of avoiding death. We realized we had no hope of winning by force. I wouldn''t say he is stronger than Oranton or Smomb. But we were already dried up of warriors because of the demon Oranton and his army. Plus, he is more vicious than Oranton. Oranton only took our freedom and did nothing as long as we were under his rules. But Lava Gladiator just comes and carries on massacre. So, we decided to negotiate. But how? He just comes, kills and goes away. No room left to talk. So, we chose two brave warriors to assassinate him. They followed the Lava Gladiator and found out that that beast has no home. He just sleeps in the jungle. This was the perfect chance for the assassins to start their actions. One of them dug his dagger into his neck. But it was as if he had lava instead of blood. After the dagger went through the skin, the lava melted the dagger''s blade and woke the Lava Gladiator. He woke up and killed the assassin. The other one escaped and reported us to the situation. Then a nobleman named Hamilton had enough of it. He was no warrior, but nothing short of it either. When Lava Gladiator came to massacre like they always do, he just went in front of him face to face. He looked him into the eyes and asked, ''Why are you massacring us? What did we ever do to you?'' ''What did you ever do? I am not that evil. I am not the type to hold grudges. I just love the feeling that comes with it, the feeling that I am so powerful and an entire village is powerless against me, a single person. I feel so godly.'' ''Please, I beg of you. Stop this. We have seen the extent of your power. We want no more death.'' The Lava Gladiator let out an evil echoing laugh and said, ''Yes. Everybody should be like you. You enhanced the feeling. Its more entertaining to kill someone like you.'' The evil freak was about to hammer him with his fists. But the fearless person spoke again, ''If you truly consider yourself powerful, why do you come and slay weaklings like us? Nobody from anywhere will consider you a threat except the weaklings only. People will only deem you powerful if you destroy powerful foe.'' The Lava Gladiator stopped and thought. He left without saying a word. The villagers didn''t see him for a month or two. But he came back. He searched for Hamilton and killed those who failed to answer. He was the one who wanted to negotiate, sitting with Hamilton. He told that he visited other cities and challenged warriors. He could defeat some of them. But he was defeated by many. This frustrated him. He had not the power to kill anymore and if he tried, the warriors of the big cities will kill him. So, he missed the feeling that he got from killing. He said, he will come from time to time to kill in our village. The reason he was negotiating was that after battling powerful warriors he doesn''t have the motivation to fight us. But he still wants to kill us. And we cannot take advantage of the fact that he was drained when he comes here because he is just mentally drained to fight us. But if we fight back, he has the power to exterminate the village. Thus, we adopted a policy. One that will not lead us to extinction and neither will it force us to live in terror. We told him we will accept only if he kills one person every time he comes. And we told the villagers to tell their children about a sleep haunter. Whenever he comes, we sound a siren. And if people do not sleep at the sound of the siren, the sleep haunter would kill them. Thus, this generation doesn''t have the tension we had. They think they will not die if they sleep and the ones who died, died because they didn''t sleep and it is their fault." Zohaifa sensing the story is finished said, "This isn''t everything. You are still hiding something." 49 Oar called by the Village Elders?! "What? What do you mean? I told you everything!"said the old man slamming the table. "I have heard something from the Lava Gladiator that contradicts with what you say." "If he said anything other than this, that is a lie!" "Okay, it seems you are right this time," said Zohaifa, "By the way, the only thing I heard from the lava Gladiator is his title. I only made this act to get the information out of you. Checkmate again." All the old men stared at Zohaifa with shock, unable to believe the awkward measures he took. "By the way, you said there were warriors the Lava Gladiator could not defeat," said Zohaifa, "Even fighting him myself, I did not find him totally unbeatable. Why did you not take any outside help?" "We can''t. We need to uphold the pride of Orange Village. The glorious village where the Orange smoke was created can never show necessity of help to the outsiders." Zohaifa clenched his fist, "You mean to say you could not take any outside help to uphold your pride?" "Exactly." The vein on his forehead appeared as Zohaifa frowned, tightening his eyebrows, "You think you need to uphold your pride after your desperate assassination attempts or moving to a position of begging?" "You dare demean us!" stood one of the old man, "You did not face what we did." "I couldn''t care less about your pride. But innocent people are dying because of it." "Enough! We tend to remain peaceful but you crossed the line. I am destroying your guest Mr. Sutton." "I am with you," said Mr. Sutton. Suddenly cement started to appear from the ground climbing over Zohaifa and paralyzing. Mr. Sutton clasped his palms, "I will show you the power of the ''Orange smoke.''" "Woah! Slow down grandpas. Show some tolerance. Let''s talk this out. I didn''t mean any disrespect. I just didn''t build enough camaraderie is all," said Zohaifa with a forced smile as a drop of sweat rolled down from the forehead. Meanwhile, in the outside Oar was searching all over for Zohaifa. "Excuse me. have you seen Zohaifa? The stranger who used to spar with me from outside the village." "No, didn''t see him." "Okay. Thanks for letting me know." Then, Oar started to slow down his walking speed and stared at the ground. "Did he actually die? Did the sleep haunter get him?" "Oar! I need a help from you," a voice in front of him. He raised his head. "Zohaifa! You are alive," said Oar with sparkling eyes. "Please go to the village''s central whatever. Some old men need you." "What? Am I in trouble? I don''t recall doing anything this time." "One more thing. I will be back in two weeks. That is a deadline for you. When I come back, I want to see you stronger than me. Okay?" "Yes. But why are you jumping from topic to topic." "Bye for now. I am heading to the mountains I came from. It''s not far from the village as far as I can remember. I will be training too." Oar stared at him comprehending some peculiarity taking place. But he took off immediately to the building. "I can''t messing with the elders of the village. They are wise and possess the best of the best of the best of the best of the-" "The absolute best," said Red-1. "Yes, the absolute best moves. Wait, who are you?" said Oar and turned back to see him. But no one was there anymore. "I can''t waste anymore time. I have to go and visit them." Oar entered the village central but couldn''t find anyone. That is when he saw the door of that unnoticeable room opened for the first time. He hesitantly went inside and found himself dumbfounded. All the elders are found beaten and semi-conscious. "How could this happen?" asked Oar, "I should bring some medication first. Thankfully, the injuries don''t look fatal." Meanwhile, Zohaifa was thinking to himself while walking towards the forest watching the sunset. "I should take a logical approach to my training like Lazuli always does. The best way to do that would be to analyze. I got to analyze myself and my enemy. I will use the memories that Red-1 brought back for me." 50 Evolving the best moves "First, let me concentrate on myself. I only have offensive moves. I use ''Lightning Velocity'' as a defense sometimes, but I have no real defensive move. On top of that, among the offensive moves that I have, none of them are heavy move. I don''t like ''Yellow splash'' since it''s not my owm move. Maybe, I will need to evolve it. Now, let''s see what the enemy has got. He is strong. I could tell from his presence and fighting him proved it further. He is stronger than the absorpian mother, Oar and Flirtic all combined. However, he is not invincible. He is not even close to that absorpian daughter." Thinking of the absorpian daughter again made him shiver. "No way is he anywhere close to that monster. Plus, the fight would have gone differently if I had maximum focus. I would have lost nevertheless but I would have been able to do more damage. My mind was distracted with that question again: What kind of life did I seek? That''s his position in terms of power, however. If I analyze his fighting style, it''s depended more on raw strength than speed. His skin is durable. The only one move I faced against him is the ''Lava spit''. With all these in mind, I have to formulate my training schedule." He threw a capricious punch at the tree he found next to him. His eyes glowed with sparks of motivation in the evening''s darkness. On the other hand, Oar thought to himself, "Why did Zohaifa told me to train hard? And why 10 days? Maybe he wants a rematch." He clenched his fist and said, "I will defeat him this time." Wham! Oar punched a pad held by his friend. Wham! His friends seem to be sweating more than he is. Wham! "Hey, do you think if I evolve the Orange smoke will it be disrespectful?" asked Oar. Wham! "Hey, why don''t you do some pushups?" Wham! "Why?" Wham! "Nothing serious." Wham! "Do you find some kind of weakness in me?" Wham! "No." Wham! "Then?" Wham! "It''s just that my shoulder is paining from holding the pads." "Oh", Oar stopped and then said, "I am sorry." "About that move, I think you can take it to next level. I don''t think it will be disrespectful." "Right." Oar started doing pushups and said, "I will do that. I will go to the next level. Next level!" By the ninth day, the news of Oar''s excitement towards training had spread throughout the village. Mr. Sutton approached Oar as he was squatting with a heavy rock on his back. The old man''s face didn''t look friendly. "Oar, words spread that you are trying to change the best move of this village." "Change? No, I am trying to evolve it. Look!" Oar prepared himself like he does with the ''Orange smoke.'' But this time, he put a lot of energy. His face showed traces of the pressure. ''Orange stream.'' He threw his move. It was like Orange smoke. Except this time, it moved like a cannon more than smoke. Mr. Sutton kept his face unsurprised and told Oar, "The term evolution only applies for something that lacks. You know better that the ''Orange smoke'' has no lacks." Oar bent his head towards the ground and said in a gloomy voice, "I understand." Mr. Sutton smiled and said, "Good." Zohaifa came back after the two weeks. Oar was ready for it. A gush of adrenaline flushed throughout his body with the thought of a rematch with Zohaifa. Zohaifa stood in front of him, face to face. Oar was ready for anything. Will he throw a punch without prior alarm? Will he take to a battlefield? Will he tell him to prepare? "If you don''t mind, can I have lunch in your home? The dinner too, probably." "Okay," said Oar with a bit of disappointment. "So, aren''t we going to have a rematch?" said Oar to Zohaifa who was busy munching on his food. "What rematch?" said Zohaifa unclearly with his mouthful. "Why did you tell me to train so hard then?" Zohaifa paused for a second. He then swallowed all that he had in his mouth and with an empty mouth he spoke. 51 Zohaifas disrespec "I want to defeat the sleep haunter for good," said Zohaifa. "What!" exclaimed Oar as his eyes almost popped out of his face. "I know, you deem it as something untouchable. But I have fought him myself. I can feel that he is pretty beatable." "Are you sure?" asked Oar with a little bit of confusion. "I am. I came from the Crazy town fighting someone stronger than he is." "Really?" "Though there was some mystical interference." "Oh," said Oar with a deadpan manner. "Just think about it. What if everybody fights together against the Sleep Haunter? Can he defeat us?" "We have already tried that," interrupted Mr. Sutton. "Mr. Sutton!" exclaimed Oar, "What are you doing here in my house? Err¡­ I mean¡­ It''s an honor that you came to visit my home." "I came here hearing the news of Zohaifa''s arrival. So, Zohaifa, I thought you knew that we already tried that," replied Mr. Sutton. "No, you didn''t. You only tried using the best soldiers of that time. But what about every fighter? No, what if every villager takes part? I am sure he wouldn''t be able to defeat all of us," said Zohaifa. "You think mere villagers can do what our best warriors couldn''t?" said Mr. Sutton with a bit of threatening voice. Zohaifa sighed and said, "I am sorry I was trying to be respectful but I need to tell you the truth." Both Oar and Mr. Sutton made minuscule movements to face Zohaifa better showing some interest in his speech. "I know, Smomb must be a great warrior. But after the Oranton''s reign, I suspect there were any powerful warriors in Orange Village. I am sorry to say this but I don''t see any powerful warriors in the village." "How dare you!" said Mr. Sutton, "Such disrespect towards our village!" "Honestly tell me. Who is the strongest in Orange village?" Mr. Sutton kept quiet. "Wouldn''t that be the elders?" answered Oar "No, the elders are just equipped with special moves," said Mr. Sutton. "Then, who is?" asked Zohaifa. Mr. Sutton shut up again. "I have officially beaten all of the greatest warriors, haven''t I?" asked Zohaifa. Mr. Sutton said in a choked voice, "Yes, you did." But he got his seriousness back and said, "But what about it? What can we do now?" "We can reveal the truth to the villagers and try one last time. Even if the whole village faces mass murder, it''s better to die on your feet than live on your knees," said Zohaifa in a monologue. "That would bring back the terror we were saving our village from!" said Mr. Sutton. "You used lies for that. How many more years do you expect to save a lie? It will be exposed, and when that happens in the future, they will question your reasons for the lie. Just like I am questioning your ancestors now," Zohaifa continued his monologue. "What lies? What happened? Can someone explain?" said stunned Oar as he grabbed attention after a long time. "Stay out of this Oar!" said Mr. Sutton. Oar didn''t get anything about what is happening. But from looking at the agitation in Mr. Sutton''s face, he knew Zohaifa has access to some secret of the village. "I am going to raise some awareness," said Zohaifa. "No, you mustn''t!" "He has the carte blanche to do whatever he wants," said Red-1 from the window beside them. Everyone noticed him and stared at him with confusion. "I have been learning some terminologies, you see," he answered their eyes. "Red-1! What are you doing here?" asked Zohaifa. "My pawn will be having a special fight today. How can I miss?" answered Red-1. "Excuse me, did I hear pawn?" asked flustered Zohaifa. "Well, I revived your memories so that you can fight this beast. This might be the last day of your life. But I am here for backup in case the fight gets offhand," said Red-1. "Whatever," said Zohaifa. Suddenly, the group heard the siren. "Its time," said Zohaifa, "Come on, Oar." "I am not sure about my decision," said Oar, "I will just stay safe and lead the life I have always led." "What!" exclaimed Zohaifa. But then he sighed and said, "You don''t know the truth. The sleep haunter actually-" "Silence!" interrupted Mr. Sutton. Both Zohaifa and Mr. Sutton glared at each other in the eye. 52 My instinct told me "Let''s see you stop me," said Zohaifa and got outside immediately. Mr. Sutton wanted to stop him but he was well aware of how powerful Zohaifa was. So, he did not bother. But as Zohaifa got out, to his surprise he found a crowd of people surrounding Oar''s house. "Express gratitude later," said Red-1 while smiling, "I informed them." "Thanks, bro," said Zohaifa while smiling back. Then, he shifted his attention to the audience. "What do you think? Should we all strive together? Should we strive to make a new history? You have my and Oar''s support this time." The crowd responded in the following way. "We are not sure about this." "No, there will be mass murder." "I don''t think this is justice but since the elders agreed to this then I will agree. They are wiser than us after all." Getting pissed off, Zohaifa shouted, "To hell with you guys! You are all just overly obedient uncourageous superstitious nonsense believing people, for whom I will just do everything myself and guess what, if I die, years later, you guys are gonna be telling your children about how noble I was, hoping that there will be no one sensible enough to ask what you guys were doing then. Forget you all! I will just disrespectfully show you my caustic love. Come on Oar." "I already told you. I am not sure about this," said Oar as he started to sense Lava Gladiator coming. Zohaifa turned his face towards that direction too sensing the presence. Without facing Oar, he said, "How disgusting!" He then went off to face the Lava Gladiator alone. "I hope I can do this alone," said Zohaifa as he gulped in nervousness. Zohaifa stood in the ground where he had his first fight with Oar. "He is coming from this way I suppose," said Zohaifa. "Those were some long lines you threw at the villagers," said chilled Red-1 to stressed Zohaifa. "Let me concentrate on this," replied Zohaifa in a serious tone. "Why are you doing this for people who don''t even care about you?" "I remember a story from my father that there was a prophet named Muhammad. He faced a situation where people were throwing stones at him. But he did not hate them. He felt pity that they did not understand and prayed that our God, Allah, guides them. I am trying to bring that ideal in my life." "What a good emotional response! But can you defeat him though?" "I guess I will try." "I can sense some confidence in your tone. But such unevidenced confidence will bring you doom someday. " Zohaifa kept quiet as he sensed the Lava Gladiator coming. A sweat arising from Zohaifa''s forehead rolled down through his cheeks as he concentrated on Lava Gladiator''s presence entering the orange tornado. Lava Gladiator entered the village as Zohaifa clenched his fist and slowly widened his legs to take his stance. "So, you are alive?" asked the Lava Gladiator with a bit of surprise. "You are a careless fighter. You should have made sure of your opponent''s condition after defeating them." With a wide evil teeth-showing smile he spoke, "Guess my instinct told me it would be interesting or simply I never needed it. And talking about a careless fighter, wasn''t it careless for you to face me head-on again? You should''ve taken cover and made secret attacks." Zohaifa gave a wide smile too. "Guess my instinct told me it would be interesting or I simply never needed it." With a frown, Lava gladiator started the fight trying to run towards Zohaifa. Zohaifa simply walked towards him. He threw a heavy punch at Zohaifa but Zohaifa twisted his hips to move himself to the outside of his punch. Zohaifa punched him in the ribs. Though it did not damage him, Zohaifa grinned at him with an annoying vibe. "How dare you?" shouted Lava Gladiator as he swung his hands backward to Zohaifa. Zohaifa used ''Lightning Velocity'' to go to the other side of his enemy. Lava Gladiator tried to faced Zohaifa swiftly to not let him out of sight, but only to be welcomed with a punch from the same direction. Zohaifa dashed in front of him again. Lava Gladiator no longer has any idea about where Zohaifa''s position. He randomly swung his punches and got countered almost every time. "How are you winning against me?" shouted Lava Gladiator in frustration. 53 Zohaifa vs Lava Gladiator "How is this possible? What kind of intense training did you do to improve so fast? Is it even possible to improve this fast?" questioned Lava Gladiator in frustration. Zohaifa said with a laugh, "No, there is no way training in such a limited time can get me above you. Your martial art was never better than mine. A question distracted me last time." But unfortunately, that reminded Zohaifa of the question again. "What kind of life did I seek actually?" Zohaifa caught in surprise by a damaging punch to the jaw that threw Zohaifa to the air. Zohaifa fell to the ground with confusion by both the question and the punch. Lava Gladiator dashed for another punch while Zohaifa just stared at him. "So, are you just gonna wait for your friend demise like this?" said Red-1 to hiding Oar. "But there is nothing I can do," replied shocked Oar. "I am seriously disturbed by the way you and Zohaifa acts. You are too nervous about what your abilities. Meanwhile, Zohaifa is overconfident about his powers. Can''t yo¡­" Suddenly a violent crashing sound echoed accompanied with a little buzzing sound. A lightning shield was created around Zohaifa. Lava Gladiator''s punch bounced back. Zohaifa threw a smile at him trying to hide the distraction he is in. "Don''t get cocky!" he snarled at Zohaifa. Oar heaved a sigh of relief after he was sure Zohaifa is safe while lava gladiator kept on pounding. The shield was invisible unless it''s touched and upon touch, lightning is created on that position of the sphere "Interesting!" exclaimed Red-1, "I never thought lightning can behave like that. Lightning as a shield? It''s almost like the lightning is something solid. I need to ask how he created it after the fight." Meanwhile, Lava Gladiator was tired of throwing punches and retreated with a backward dash, only to come back with ''Lava spits.'' But as the lava came close, due to the influence of the invisible lightning shield, it was accumulated in a manner as if it were blocked by a spherical wall. The lava gradually solidified and more lava spit was futile. But the lava gladiator was persistent He dashed around Zohaifa while throwing ''lava spit.'' As Zohaifa got fully covered by rock by the solidification of lava, Lava gladiator change his course and headed to attack the newly created rocky sphere, exposing Zohaifa inside. Zohaifa created another lightning shield. But Zohaifa still doesn''t seem focused. He is distracted by the question. Lava gladiator gave a teeth-exposing smile. "You can''t hit me, can you?" he said. "Tsk, so you figured it out," replied Zohaifa. "And you cannot keep this shield forever either," the lava gladiator added. Zohaifa answered back with a frown of annoyance as he was already out of it. Lava Gladiator tried punching the shield again only to notice that there was none. His smile became wider and crazier. Zohaifa sighed while closing his eyes. Lava gladiator violently choked Zohaifa??s throat with one arm and threw him towards the end of the field facing the village. Zohaifa forced himself up but by that time Lava Gladiator dashed towards him and punched him harshly, throwing him to a small house, breaking it in the process. The people inside the house pretending to be asleep woke up horrified and ran away screaming. "You still going to stare at all this?" asked Red-1 to Oar. Oar stayed silent while drops of sweat covered arose from his forehead. Lava Gladiator walked towards Zohaifa slowly, enjoying the moments of overpowering others. As he was about to pick up worn out Zohaifa from the ground, suddenly Oar jumped in the scene with his hands clasped together. ''Orange smoke'' Lava gladiator stepped back a few steps by the effect while his torso inclined backward. Red-1 threw a downward punch due to which the Lava Gladiator fell on the ground. "What kind of life did I seek?" Zohaifa said to himself as he was drifting to unconsciousness. "I can''t!" Zohaifa opened his eyes and shook his head. He stood up staring at Oar and Red-1 being beaten by the Lava Gladiator. He continued, "not when someone is still fighting on my side." 54 The life that I sough Zohaifa spread his legs out and moved his right hand near his hips while making a fist. He covered the knuckles of the right hand with his left palm. "It''s time to use my heavy move," Zohaifa said to himself. A golden glow started to appear from the palms and received by the knuckles. The light slowly engulfed the fist, then the wrist, and gradually the whole hand up to the elbow. By then, so much Aura emitted from Zohaifa that all of them stopped fighting and stared at Zohaifa preparing his move. "So, that''s Zohaifa''s chosen evolution," remarked Red-1, "Orange smoke was a mixture of plasma and gas, two sibling states of matter. Yellow splash mixed liquid and gaseous state, two separate and distant states where the gaseous state in the middle. And now he evolved it. The most distant states possible: Solid and Plasma combined. I wonder what he will name it." "Have a taste of my ''Golden Punch''," Zohaifa threatened Lava Gladiator. "Oh, even the evolution is seen in the naming and color," further remarked Red-1. But after a few minutes, a great weakness became visible. "Come on. Aren''t you up for a blow to blow fight?" shouted Zohaifa again. It became clear that Zohaifa can''t move while charging the attack. ''Red push!'' A burst of red gas went out from Red-1''s palm to push Lava Gladiator towards Zohaifa. But the Lava Gladiator resisted trying to dig his toes to the ground. He turned towards Red-1 and Oar only to be pushed back with a dropkick from both. It was enough to push himself to Zohaifa. Unfortunately, Zohaifa was already exhausted. Lava Gladiator laughed with a little bit of relief and kicked Zohaifa out of the scene again. Zohaifa fell on the wall of another house with his head first. The back of his head banged to the wall causing him to drift to unconsciousness. Meanwhile, Oar tried Orange smoke several times on the Lava Gladiator. But it was ineffective. Red-1''s attacks were not useful anymore. "Dang it!" exclaimed Red-1 and Oar in unison with almost no energy left to fight. Lava Gladiator slowly walked towards them with a wide smile. A small insignificant rock hit his chin. "Who are you?" asked Lava Gladiator to a kid, probably of 7 years. "I am a member of the village you carried massacre upon," she said with confidence. A heavier stone was throne to the back of his head; an adult standing with anger-filled eyes. Another man arrived with a staff; another with an axe. Lava Gladiator breathed in and came out with ''Lava Spit.'' But suddenly cement jumped from the ground and sealed his mouth. It was Mr. Sutton''s friend. "We cannot sleep with all this ruckus. Might as well join our grandchildren," said Mr. Sutton. Lava Gladiator broke the cement with a slap and charged towards Mr. Sutton. "Where am I?" asked Zohaifa to himself, "On Earth?" He slid his vision around the environment. "I know this street. I go to school every day this way." His attention was caught by a boy with a school bag, walking with his chin tucked. "That''s me. It was when I first learned about avoiding shots in the chin. I tucked my chin the whole day." Zohiafa rushed to his younger self. "Excuse me," Zohaifa said. "Wow! You have good muscles." "What way to start a conversation! Now, I am sure you are me." "What?" "Nothing. Just answer me one thing. What kind of life did I seek?" "How would I know?" "Sorry, I mean, what kind of life do you seek?" "Don''t ask that. I am pretending to be grateful for my life. Dad told me to always be grateful because it is written in the Quran or something. What kind of life do you seek Mister?" "Right now, I am seeking your life." "What? What is going on with your life that you are seeking this boring life?" "What can I say? So many stressful events. Starting from Planet X to Flirtic trying to beat me up to the trial of proving myself to Lazuli to this crazy form I do not understand in Crazy town to Lava Gladiator about to kill me and so much more in between." "Hey, do you really want to know what life I seek?" "Yes." "Promise me you won''t tell dad." 55 Hope in golden light. "Aaaargh!" Lava Gladiator shouted as he tried fending off some villagers. Five of them were grabbing each of his legs, three of them even trying to hammer his quadriceps. But those were just puny villagers trying to slow him down as he battered the eight village elders. "Damn you, pesky little villagers," he said while shaking his legs which threw everyone off easily. ''Full powered fire fist,'' threw an elder at the Lava Gladiator''s cheek. But to him, it was like a normal punch. He returned with an ordinary punch which was enough to incapacitate the elder. Mr. Sutton came from behind with an ''Orange smoke.'' It did not affect him except by a little. He glared back at Mr. Sutton and inhaling his lungs to the fullest, he came back with the ''Lava Spit.'' Mr. Sutton was covered with Lava as he rolled around the ground with affliction. "Damn! This is why I was against this. Now, the whole village can be burned to ashes altogether," said Mr. Sutton. The words entered Oar''s ears. Losing all hope, he tilted his head downward. Suddenly, a huge burst of aura caught attention of all the warriors on the battlefield. It was from Zohaifa. His pounded body somehow managed to create yet another ''Golden Punch.'' Its glow spelled trouble to the lava gladiator and hope for the villagers. "I get it now," said Zohaifa to himself, "The life that I wanted is the one that I am living. I cannot waste it. I have to enjoy every moment with it." Zohaifa''s smile widened as he continued, "Getting a power as this has always been my dream. Now that I have got it I can''t but see the full limit of it. I must see how far I can take this." Zohaifa forcefully dragged himself to take one step towards the Lava Gladiator as if he was carrying a heavy load in his hand: the Golden Punch! Lava Gladiator forced laughter and said, "Not that lame immobile move again." He took a deep breath and threw a ''lava spit'' at Zohaifa. But a fallen elder jumped and protected Zohaifa from the ''Lava spit'' with his body. "We still have hope, people!" shouted Red-1, "It''s glowing golden. Push him to Zohaifa!" A sudden motivation filled up the heart of the people. The ordinary villagers could sense the power behind Zohaifa''s aura by the look of the other warrior''s face. The villagers ran towards the Lava Gladiator with every battle cry that came to their mind and pushed him like a mass tsunami. The Lava Gladiator inhaled again and spitted lava. The fear of death pushed the villagers aside and let the Lava Gladiator free. But suddenly a fast gush of orange smoke pushed him towards Zohiafa. It was the ''Orange stream.'' Oar''s friend directed his vision to Oar, shocked, thinking how Oar could disobey the elders like that. But to even greater surprise, it was not Oar, it was Mr. Sutton. But the Lava Gladiator planted his feet firm to the ground with every resistance he could muster. He stopped the push. "I can''t hold the punch forever, you know?" said Zohaifa 56 Treatment from the Orange village "Come on! Lend me a hand," shouted Mr. Sutton as he was starting to exhaust his aura. Suddenly, another ''Orange stream'' from another village elder pushed Lava Gladiator. The Lava Gladiator resisted further. But the other elders followed him. Oar stood up and managed to throw an ''Orange stream'' too. All the other warriors who could perform the ''Orange smoke'' attempted the ''Orange stream.'' Though it wasn''t perfect, at that moment anything helped. "How charismatic you are!" complimented Red-1 to Mr. Sutton as he saw the Lava Gladiator scraping through the ground. He was taken to his golden nightmare. "Never come back!" said Zohaifa. ''Golden Punch!'' Zohaifa''s punch was thrown in the form of an uppercut at the Lava Gladiator''s gut throwing him off ground. The pain was readable on his face. His eyes widened while his pupils began to lose the liveliness. A little bit of lava fell from his mouth. As soon as Lava Gladiator''s body was on air everyone shot the ''Orange stream'' sending him far away from the village and high above the ground. The villagers screamed out of joy while Zohaifa collapsed on the ground. Oar ran towards Zohaifa but midway few villagers held him and started to celebrate throwing him above. "Wait, Zohaifa. We need to-" Oar stopped when he noticed big thumbs up from Mr. Sutton as he appointed some villagers to take care of Zohaifa. "Phew! That''s a relief," said Oar as he slowly fell asleep due to tiredness. After a few swings, the crowd noticed him. "When did that happen? We were swinging a sleeping Oar," said the crowd. The village elders went to the village hospital themselves. "I guess I will wait for my gag traits to slowly heal me," said Red-1 to himself as he was walking away with staggering steps. "Where do you think you are going Mister?" said a villager while stopping him, "You deserve treatment too." "Nah, it''s okay. I will be healed automatically. It just takes time." "You contributed enough in this fight. If you don''t take the treatment it will be a shame for our village." Red-1 blushed a little and replied, "Thank you." Later that day when Zohaifa gained back his consciousness, he sat up and said to himself, "I remember the last thing that happened was digging a punch inside the Lava Gladiator''s gut. It felt good." The sun was about to set through the window. The sunset cannot be seen due to the tornado surrounding the village. But the redness of the sun was visible in the tornado. He examined his own body and said, "So, I don''t automatically heal myself unless I use that form." A nurse came in and gently asked, "Are you okay Mr. Zohaifa?" "It feels weird to be called Mister by someone older than me. Can you please drop the Mister?" "Umm¡­Okay." "Anyway, I am fine and I need to go." "5 days! I was supposed to be in Yellow City yesterday. I am already a day late. The tournament will start in 5 days. Lazuli was supposed to teach me the basics beforehand." 57 The Mythos form It had been 5 days after the hospitalization. Zohaifa could then move properly. He was undoing his bandages while Red-1 sat beside him. "How did you create such a solid shield out of lightning? That doesn''t sound possible," asked Red-1. "I didn''t make the shield out of lightning. I made a shield out of aura. But there is something abnormal about me. Unlike you Cant people, I learned to use lightning before even knowing about the existence of aura. So, when I tried to create an aura shield, the lightning naturally came out. I didn''t see any reason to stop the lightning from getting out. Rather it was amplifying the strength of the aura shield. Lightning shield sounds cooler than aura shield anyway." "I see," said Red-1 shaking his head. "Anyway, I should hurry back to Yellow City. I have a tournament," said Zohaifa as he was done unbandaging. "Are you sure about participating? You only healed enough to move. Should you start a tournament right away?" Red-1 continued as he followed Zohaifa out of the house. Their conversation continued while they were walking out of the village. "I have no other choice. It might seem like just a tournament to you but it is something important to me." "Why? Is the trophy so valuable?" "Yes," said Zohaifa as both of them were about to separate, "It''s my worth." Then, he set off to Yellow city. He didn''t bid goodbye to Oar knowing it will be a hustle since Oar still demands a rematch. Standing outside the Orange tornado he gazed his sight upon it once more and said, "See you again Cant World. You are still unexplored. Orange village was bitter and Crazy town was cloying. I return to discover the rest of you soon." Later that day, almost at noon, "Hi! Remember me?" Zohaifa asked the security guard of Lazuli''s palace. "Yes. But I need to ask Lazuli''s permission before letting you enter," he answered with no emotions. Later, after the internal administration processes, Zohaifa finally got the permission to meet Lazuli. "I am sorry I am a week late," Zohaifa said to Lazuli while staring at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact as she smoothly drove her hands over the keyboard. "Yes, you are," Lazuli answered with no sign of astonishment, "Just as I predicted. I knew you wouldn''t stay in the forest and neither would you come back in time. So, the logical approach was to give you an early date. The actual tournament begins in three weeks from now." Zohaifa stood in shock and amazement and a bit of gratefulness. "You are dismissed now," Lazuli continued. "Wait. I have a few questions." "End this quick." "You see, when I entered this place named Crazy town...." Thus, Zohaifa narrated the story in Crazy town, mostly focusing on that uncontrolled form. "Just as I suspected," said Lazuli. Zohaifa lifted up his head and made a direct eye contact . His eyes showed ocean of interest. "The form you are talking about was also mentioned by Lapis. After the bullet hit you in the chest, that form was activated and you fought him. You even managed to put a scar in his chest." "I call it the mythos form because I found it in the mythologies written in books of nearby nations and also in the mouth of the people. According to the myths, there was a person whose eyes glowed white whenever he faced a near-death situation." "What happened when he tapped into that form?" 58 Sparring with Lazuli "His power would increase by many folds when he was in that form. But he claimed to have no control over himself in that form," said Lazuli. "Did he have sustain memories of the incidences in that form?" asked Zohaifa. "Sometimes he did, sometimes he didn''t." "I never do." "He also tapped into that form whenever he was affected by strong emotions." "I never faced that though." "Anyways, there is one more characteristic the mythologies mentioned which is that he could control all the elements in that form. But you need to consider that the form is beatable. So, don''t think you can pick a fight with anyone and wait for the form to do the rest." "Did someone defeat him?" "Yes. He only tapped into that form when he was strongly affected by emotions or faced a near-death situation. But what if he was killed before he noticed? He would be killed before he would know it. He wouldn''t face any strong emotions. His body would face death immediately i.e. he would not face near-death but rather death itself. Thus the form could not help him. So, he was killed by a not-so-powerful assassin. Now, ask if you have any query." "How did I get this form then?" "Who knows? I don''t know the cause of this form. Plus, it''s not a form that appears once in a thousand years or something. There were few reports from persons claiming to use this form. But it is rare considering how big Cant World is. Anything else you want to know?" "No. Thanks for these pieces of information." "Go to Marium''s room for now. I will train the two of you after she is done studying and I am done with my works. I will send a servant to provide food for you." "Okay." Later, that day, "Umm¡­ Excuse me. Please wake up, Mister," said a servant to sleeping Zohaifa. "Excuse me," she asked again only to be returned with snores, "I did not want to do this but I can''t defy Lazuli''s order." A bucket of cold water splashed upon Zohaifa causing him to jump out of bed. "So cold," Zohaifa said while shivering. "I am sorry, Lazuli instructed me to throw a bucket of cold water if you don''t wake up after I call you," the maid apologized as she scratched the back of her head. "Nah, it''s okay. I feel fresh now. Do you have a towel?" "Here you go," she said while handing over a towel to Zohaifa, "Master Lazuli commanded you to get to the backyard within five minutes." "I will. Don''t worry." Zohaifa arrived in the backyard. Marium stood by Lazuli with a sparkle in her eyes, excited to meet Zohaifa. A smile emerged on Zohaifa''s face seeing Marium. "You have a different presence with you. You have improved, Marium!" Zohaifa complimented. "I was about to say that to you," Marium replied. "We gotta spar, right?" asked Zohaifa with a confident smile. "Yes." Both of them took their stance in the backyard while Marium sat in the sidelines. "Why does it feel like it has happened before?" Zohaifa asked. "D¨¦j¨¤ vu maybe?" Marium replied. "Maybe you are getting flashbacks of the first test." Zohaifa dashed to Lazuli with full speed and threw a full-powered roundhouse kick to the head. Lazuli blocked it with the elbow. Zohaifa retracted his leg to the initial position and was about to trip a little. He threw a punch. Lazuli blocked it too. Again, Zohaifa showed a sign of pain in his face. "Stop!" said Lazuli. 59 Zohaifas philosophies "What? I am not done. I haven''t shown anything yet," Zohaifa complained. Lazuli made an energy ball and let it float in the air. "Try to shoot it," Lazuli instructed. Chew! Zohaifa shot a plasma blast and shot down the ball. "I did it. So what?" "I expected you to hit the center which seemed to be your target as well. But it hit through the edge. " "I did it nevertheless." "You over trained, didn''t you?" "Huh? I only trained once." "How many fights did you fight during the pause?" "Hmm¡­ let me count. 1¡­2¡­5, I fought five fights." "Were all the fights damaging to you?" "Only one of them was easy. Others were hard." "Few overtrain isn''t too harmful. But pushing yourself to the limits repeatedly can cause permanent problems." "But I healed in most of them with the mythos form. Except for the last one." "I need to hear the details." Zohaifa slid his vision across the environment searching for something. "Red-1 is not here? He always comes when it''s time to explain. I guess I will have to do it myself then," Zohaifa said to himself. Thus, Zohaifa told all the incidences since he left the forest. After the narration was finished, Lazuli huffed and said, "You waste a lot of time. You should stop describing every part of the fight. What would I do knowing how heroic you are? You are giving me info not making a composition of heroism." "Sorry, I was just being honest." "Anyway, it seems that you indeed overstressed yourself at the last. You received a beat down from the Lava Gladiator, fought the village elders, trained intensely, and fought the Lava Gladiator again with nothing but normal medications in between. The battering from the Crazy town is forgivable since you were healed by the Mythos form." "So, what now?" "I don''t think you can heal by just resting. You might be healthy by the time the tournament comes but nobody can fight at their best after such a long break." "Isn''t there anything to do?" "Wait here." Lazuli went inside while Zohaifa was left to sit with Marium. "Wow! You are so amazing, Zohaifa," exclaimed Marium. "Thanks." "You defeated those evil monsters like a hero," praised Marium even more. But Zohaifa looked a little disappointed. "Marium, Lava Gladiator was truly evil. But I can''t agree about the absorpian." Marium, being startled, asked Zohaifa, "But she was killing the people. And if she was not evil, why did you destroy her?" "Zohaifa, what does this tournament mean to you?" she asked. "It is important to me. It is my way of showing that it was worth saving me. That they did not save just a random kid." "And if you lose?" asked Marium while biting her nails. Zohaifa understood then the reason for Marium''s gloominess. She was worried about how Zohaifa would feel after losing because she knows very well that I can''t defeat Lazuli or anyone who can defeat Lazuli. Thus, Zohaifa answered with a smile, "I don''t hope to win anyway. I am just intending to prove my worth. If I can surprise everyone, she will see the potential in me. She might think I was worth it. Anyway, even if she doesn''t, I would have proved my worth in the universe by then." 60 Aura Basics "What is this?" asked Zohaifa staring at a glass clear hexagonal bipyramidal structure in Lazuli''s hand. "This is a healing Crystal. You haven''t heard of these?" "No." "I suppose you don''t know that. Let me enlighten you. You can find structures like these throughout the universe. They spawn at random times at random places. That is why I expected you to know." "Hmm, I saw a similar structure. It looks like diamonds. But what of it?" "Maybe you didn''t since Crystals spawn more in Cant World than any other places for some unknown reason. But its function is interesting. They store aura and when you break the Crystal and absorb the aura, you get a temporary power boost. Let us use the healing Crystal as an example. When you break it you get the power to heal which you can use only once," saying which Lazuli broke the crystal and absorbed its aura. A few moments after Lazuli rested her hands on Zohaifa''s shoulder, his soreness vanished. His body felt fresh. "Thanks, I feel a lot better now." "You are fighting for me anyway, so I thought I should do this much. Now, should we start the basics?" "Yes," Zohaifa and Marium answered in unison. This time the training was less intense than before which took 2 weeks. She taught basics regarding aura. Lazuli taught them 3 things. First, she taught them how to detect an aura. Turned out that the presence Zohaifa always felt was just other people''s aura. But this training brought Zohaifa to notice the fact that despite Lazuli being stronger than any other he knew, he never felt any tremendous presence. When he asked about it, he came to know that Lazuli keeps her aura hidden on purpose so that enemies cannot detect her presence or guess how strong she might be. It is a habit of the experts according to her. Second, she taught them how to charge aura. Aura charging creates an external and internal effect. For internal, it increases the aura flow throughout the body which makes it faster to charge an attack. On top of it boosts strength, speed, and other aspects of fighting. Even hearing and vision sharpens up. For external, it creates an effect on the environment depending on the intensity of the charging. It creates waves of air, vibration on earth and glow of light whose intensity also depends on the intensity of the charge. Third, she taught image training. It has advantages and disadvantages in comparison with the usual training. The advantage is that it can train aura much better and it can help create, improve, or tweak aura moves without moving an inch. The disadvantage is that one cannot expect any physical improvement from this. "My part ends here," said Lazuli, "there is one more thing I would add like to the basics which is flight. But it will be a time-taking lesson. So, the logical approach is to use the time to train martial arts instead." "I will be sparring with the two of you every evening. You can choose your actions for the rest of the time," Lazuli said before she left for her work again. Zohaifa and Marium stared at each other as an awkward moment of silence prevailed. "What now?" both asked. "Let us try image training now," said Zohaifa, "I don''t want to spar. It will make one of us anxious before the tournament." "I agree," said Marium with a smile. Then Zohaifa sat down to meditate. In a few moments, he found himself in an empty world with no boundaries anywhere. The only things are darkness and the solid floor made out of nothing. "The image world is surprising no matter how many times I am here," Zohaifa said to himself. "But I did not plan anything. What should I train?" Zohaifa thought while rubbing his chin, "I got a good enough result by analyzing my weakness and enemy''s imperfection for the last time. I don''t know much about my enemy or who my enemy might be. So, I will concentrate on my lacking." "Let''s see," Zohaifa said as he sat down in the emptiness of the image world, "Firstly, I need an attack faster than ''Golden punch'' or maybe find a way to get the ''Golden punch'' land. Secondly, I need to figure out a way to improve my ''Lightning shield.'' All I can do is stand inside." With a smile, Zohaifa continued, "No physical stress is going to hold me back now." 61 Lack of participants?! "Hurry up, Zohaifa. We have to reach beforehand. You are perhaps the only one who is yet to obtain a ticket," Lazuli said waiting at the gate while Zohaifa was struggling to tie his shoe laces hopping on one leg. "Why didn''t you purchase one for me yet?" "We don''t have sufficient knowledge about you to stuff up the form. I wished to write that randomly but Lapis will possibly become furious if he happens to learn that." "Thank you for this suit by the way," said Zohaifa. It was a white suit which is so smooth and solid that it looked plastic. But in fact it was elastic and springly. It faintly reflected light like an old glass bottle. Its fashion was like an unvented sleeveless tail coat having mandarian collar with a red sash belt around his waistline. The whole suit was decorated with red lining. He was also provided a full sleeve jumper to wear inside composed of the same substances but less thicker. "It is flexible and shock absorbing. It won''t provide you too much defense but something is better than nothing. Plus it will hand over more opportunity of movement," Lazuli explained. "Yes, I can understand that. But why did you gift me a white colored suit? My favorite color is blue." "How do you expect me to have the knowledge regarding your favourite color? I gave you a white dress since it was cheap¡­err... I mean because your lightning is white." They reached the tournament arena as they walked and talked. There was an elevated tiled platform in the middle of a field for the participants to fight. It was surrounded by seats for the audience. But they needed to go to the participant''s place to buy tickets first. "Why do we possess only six members here? Wasn''t 64 forms bought for the tournament," echoed an angry voice across the room. A person in formal dress, looking like some sort of assistant, nervously answered, "Sir, after people got to know that Lazuli would enter the tournament, they took back their form." "What? So coward of them. They consider themselves warriors?" "Excuse me. I would like to join too," interrupted Zohaifa. "See? Even a kid dares to do so. We need to show something to the audience," said that angry organizer. "umm¡­Boss, he is Lazuli''s student, so he can enter without fear of injury," the assistant added. "Whatever. I just need more members. Go fill out the form boy." Zohaifa went to the assistant. "What is your name?" "Zohaifa" "Age?" "Can''t you guess?" "No." "Come on, give it a try." "Please be serious." "Okay, okay, I am 15." "Profession?" "Do I look like professional?" "Student then. Can you prove that you are a martial artist?" "I trained under Lazuli herself." "Sir, where is your referral person?" "Wait, let me ask Lazuli." "Sure, Sir." "But we still need one more!" the organizer shouted, "We are embarrassing ourselves in front of Hagan." 62 Rivals reunite! After Zohaifa got Lazuli''s signature, he asked, "Who is this Hagan?" "He is a renowned warrior. People admire him because of his ''fight for justice'' vibe. He roams around and establishes justice wherever he can. Kind of what you did a few days ago. People consider him to be among the legends. Except that he is still alive." "Why didn''t he fight Lava Gladiator then? Was he not strong enough?" Lazuli held back her chuckle and said, "You think Hagan can''t defeat what you could? He is on a different level. Not someone you can hope to even faze. He might have never got to meet the Lava Gladiator." "How strong is he?" "I don''t know precisely but you know Smomb, right? He is on that level." "The inventor of Orange smoke! The one who defeated Oranton and his soldiers by himself? He is on that level! Amazing!" "We still need one more member to start this!" the organizer shouted, "Assistant, can''t you pretend to be a fighter?" "But Sir, I have no experience in martial arts." "I will join," interrupted Hagan. Everybody stared at him in shock. The whole crowded room suddenly dropped to absolute silence. "Sir, are you sure you will participate? This was just to entertain you as you were taking a break from your toilsome voluntary works," said the organizer, whose voice suddenly softened. "Yes, I am sure. But being a hero is in my nature. To save people is in my nature. Whether it''s their life or their special occassion," said Hagan heroically while ignoring the girls who were shouting for him simultaneously. He moved forward with stylish steps to fill out the form as the assistant tried to calm herself and look impressive. "Quite a braggart I see," said Lazuli, "Don''t you think Zohiafa?..... Zohaifa?" Zohaifa just stared in front, with his eyes fixated on nothing, mumbled to himself, "I have no chance to win anymore." "Did you think you had a chance to win even when he did not take part?" asked Lazuli. "No," Zohaifa said but his expression portrayed otherwise. "How brave of the Great Master Lazuli to take part in the same tournament as her disciples," a voice came from behind. Lazuli, Marium, and Zohaifa faced back and saw a woman past her middle age. Some of her hair has turned silver. Standing with her is a lad about the same age as Zohaifa and a girl with similar age as Marium. The boy had red hair and was wearing green cloths. But the clothes looked odd as if it was made of a different material. Its thickness was not uniform. Maybe it was indirectly an armor similar to how Zohaifa''s suit is. This tournament thus portrayed everyone''s tendency of going around the rules. The girl with pink hair, on the other hand, wore a fairly regular cloth identical to what Marium wears. "Luna, you aren''t going to participate?" asked Lazuli. "Or maybe too old." "Do you feel honored to say that your rival is an old lady?" "Well, you didn''t feel humiliated to establish this rivalry when I was a little kid." "You want to have a piece of me?" saying which she created lightning in her hand. "No fighting outside the tournament area please," one of the assistants interrupted. Luna stopped. "Whoa! Your lightning is blue?" exclaimed Zohaifa in amazement. "What do you expect brat?" asked Luna. "My one is white. I thought that was the norm." "Hmm. I only saw blue lightning users. Maybe you are not the default," then she shifted her gaze towards her disciple and said, "Those two are your rivals, teach them a proper lesson." "Same to you," Lazuli told Zohiafa and Marium. "I see you already found a new rival," a voice came from behind. Everybody faced at that direction. It was none other than Flirtic. "Flirtic? How did you get money for the form?" asked Zohaifa. "Everybody treasures their life," answered Flirtic coldly, "Don''t you forget that I am still after you. If we miss our fight here, we will finish this business somewhere else." But this time Zohaifa did not have any fears. Rather he answered back with confidence, "I am looking forward to it." "Come on, Warriors. It''s about to start. We need to show you the system," the manager shouted. All 8 participants gathered around. 63 Zohaifa vs Girijima "Okay, we are going to do it like the standard tournament fashion of Cant World. You win, you get to the later fight and fight the next winner. The number of participants will keep getting half until there is only one left," the organizer shouted. "What an explanation? Did you understand that Lazuli?" Zohaifa asked. "People already have this knowledge, so it became a norm to try to either skip it or make it shorter," Lazuli answered. "Wow! Such bravery in front of the Government," said Zohaifa. "They already know that their government won''t bother unless there is economical influence," replied Luna. Lazuli pretended she did not hear that and told Zohaifa, "You don''t need to know. Just fight whoever they require you to fight. But do observe the system. All the tournament of Cant World takes place the same way." "Okay," said Zohaifa, "And Lazuli, what are the names of Luna''s students? I want to know who they will be fighting." "The boy is IV and the girl is Khadija." "Ivy? Isn''t that a girl''s name?" "It''s the letter I and V." "You can see the fighters and their position in the chart," the organizer declared. The chart says as follows: Zohaifa vs Gijima Marium vs Khadija Lazuli vs Hagan IV vs Flirtic "Cool," Marium exclaimed, "My mom will fight Hagan and both of your rivals will be clashing each other. Isn''t that great Zohaifa?" Zohaifa''s gaze went blank as his knees started to shake. "Why am I the first fighter?" he said in a nervous tone. "You are not anxious of fighting Flirtic anytime he wants but afraid of being the first one to fight in this tournament?" asked Marium. "It''s different. How am I going to know what we are supposed to do? We don''t have to say anything, right? Which way is the entrance to the arena?" said Zohaifa. "Just follow him," said Lazuli indicating Gijima. Zohaifa followed him while he walks in confident steps while trying to avoid a conversation. He was successful in avoiding them. But a conversation might have relieved him a bit. Avoiding it made him even tenser. When he entered the arena with the audience shouting from all sides, a gush of nervousness invaded his heart as his body started playing with his biochemistry. Zohaifa hid every emotion inside him and took steps as confident as Girijima while both of them were walking side by side. Zohaifa started to sweat badly while his temperature was rising. But amidst that heat, he sensed a sprinkle of coldness on his right arm. Is it drizzling? No, it was sweat from his opponent Girijima. "He''s just as nervous as I am!" Zohaifa thought to himself. Both of them stood in the middle of the arena on the elevated platform, face to face with each other, but Girijima tried to avoid eye contact while trying to still look tough with his eyebrows frowned. Hearing this Girijima''s eyebrows relaxed and he could manage a smile. "Sure," he said. They were distanced by the referee, both of them on two different sides of the platform. The bell rang! Both Zohaifa and Girijima rushed at each other to make the first move. Girijima threw a punch with his full bodyweight thrown at Zohaifa. But Zohiafa dodge to the side and threw his knee at Girijima, intending to use the motion of Girijima''s punch against himself. Zohaifa smiled at his clever trick. But Girijima used the force of Zohaifa''s knee to bounce himself back and dash towards the opposite direction. He used the dashing speed to circle Zohaifa and throw random punches. "That Girijima must have trained his abs well. It looks like he used Zohiafa''s trick against him. But physically speaking, if he just took Zohiafa''s hit and then started dashing with his own power, it would have hurt at least half as much as this one. But he thinks using Zohaifa''s force was worth it," a person from the crowd remarked. The person next to him exclaimed, "Wow! You seem to know a lot about this. Who are you? A fighter?" "I am just a fellow named Red-1." Zohaifa started to adapt to Girijima. He managed to throw a few poor punches of his own. "Your punches are so annoying! But so was Lazuli''s", Zohaifa said. "Don''t get too used to it. There is a surprise left." "Huh?" said Zohaifa. "Full Gear!" Girijima said. Suddenly he started to move faster than he did and jumped around inside the platform to show off his speed. "Can you keep up with me?" Girijima taunted. 64 Marium vs Khadija Girijima paused his hazardous dash to check the anxiety on Zohaifa''s face. But he only detected excitement. In a blink, Zohaifa changed his location via ''Lightning velocity'' and stood in front of Girijima, facing him directly in the eyes. Girijima, flustered, started to move around the platform but only to be followed by Zohaifa all around. "I can''t just be moving around. It''s time to throw in some punches," Girijima thought to himself. He, while moving, threw a barrage of punches, knocking Zohaifa off, letting him roll around the ground. Due to the fast movement they were in, it became hard for Zohaifa to stop the violent rolling. "Zohaifa! If you fall out of the platform, you lose!" Marium shouted from the audience seat. As Marium''s words entered Zohaifa''s ears, he buried his fingers on to the platform and somehow stopped the rolling. "I got it. You are not physically as fast as I am, are you? You just used lightning to make yourself faster," Girijima remarked, "So, you cannot punch or kick while running with that move. I have the upper hand." He started to circle Zohaifa again and threw punches from random directions. Zohaifa tried his best to block and dodge but none of his attempts were successful. He thought to himself, "Its time. I was thinking the golden punch was too slow, seems my new move will turn out to be useful." ''Lightning Punch!'' In a blink, Zohaifa, with the speed of his ''Lightning velocity'' threw himself along with his punch and landed at Girijima''s gut. Girijima''s eyes swole up in surprise and his lungs were unable to breathe. He slowly fell holding his gut. "The match is over!" the referee declared. The audience applauded at the brilliant performance of the two while Hagan just smiled. Could be of confidence arising from the fact that those two were weaker than him or could be of appreciation arising from the sight of their courage. The workers, who led Zohaifa and Girijima to the arena, brought a stretcher to pick Girijima and took Zohiafa back to the building. "Nice, a healing crystal!" Zohaifa exclaimed. "Yes, if we don''t give this facility how will the participants fight in the next round," one of the attendants spoke. "Great!" said Zohaifa. He absorbed the aura, healed himself, and quickly rushed to the audience seats. Its Marium''s fight after all. "I heard it is Lazuli''s daughter!" some of the audience we''re speaking. "Yes, we can expect a good show." "I bet she is going to win this. The other one''s name is unheard of." "The winner of the previous match was Lazuli''s student as well." "That must be why he won." The audience kept chattering. Marium and Khadija stood on two sides of the platform, ready to give it their all. The bell rang! Khadija jumped at Marium the same way and attempted another punch. Marium repeated the same way also. Another jump. Another jab. Another jump. Thus, the fight continued with the same pattern. "What are they doing? It is getting boring." an audience complained. "Keep in mind that they are children. The fact they participated in this tournament is praiseworthy enough. They have trained their body to the level of warriors. But their mind is the same as that of children," Red-1 remarked. "Don''t they realize that it''s the same thing repeating?" "I am quite certain they do. But every punch of Khadija radiates her hope that this time must be different while every repetition of Marium covers her fear that if she chooses a different move, the outcome might be different. Dichotomous fighters with dichotomous minds and dichotomous styles." "Are you a fighter or a poet?" "I am just a gag character." Marium and Khadija glared face to face at the center. Khadija shouted, "This is enough! ''Earth Crusher.''" She punched at the center of the platform causing the center to sink down and the corners to go up. "You can''t move smoothly with this terrain. Can you?" taunted Khadija. 65 Lazuli vs Hagan! "Thanks! It actually will help me," Marium replied. ''Light velocity.'' Marium used the corners to bounce and moved from corner to corner. Her speed increased with every bounce as Khadija remained in the middle with no idea of her next move. She couldn''t even keep track of Marium''s movement. At last, after building up tremendous speed, she bounced off again but this time towards Khadija. One shot from her was all it took to threw Khadija off the platform. "Yay! Marium won!" exclaimed Zohaifa while jumping out of the seat. He immediately ran towards the participants'' building to receive Marium. As soon as Marium entered, Zohaifa jumped at her and picked her up with a hug. "You won Marium!" exclaimed Zohaifa with joy. But Marium looked gloomy with no response. "Come on, Marium, where is the smile?" he asked. Marium somehow forced a smile. Zohaifa was confused but he didn''t know what to say and neither had the time as the next fight is a clash between two titans. Lazuli and Hagan! "Get the healing Crystal, Marium," said Zohaifa in a rush, "I am going to the audience seat." Lazuli and Hagan''s entrance instantly got the crowd hyped up. The whole audience section was on fire with the cheering and shouting and whistling. Never had they thought that a chance will come to see those two fighting. "Where are we going to take them to fight?" the organizer shouted, "That pink-haired brat literally destroyed the platform!" "No fear! Put your trust in me," said Hagan. He stomped the ground and moved his arms in an artistic way to control the tiles. All the broken stones, all the tiles, everything moved by the command of Hagan and positioned themselves into a clean smooth platform like it used to be. Finishing the job, Hagan gave a smile showing his sparkling teeth while the girls almost had a heart attack. "Everything is ok now, Mr. Organizer." "Umm¡­I don''t know how to¡­" "No need. This is what I do as a Hero," said Hagan and moved to the platform. Lazuli did too ignoring all this what she deemed as a useless showoff. They stood on two opposite sides. People suddenly dropped to pin-drop silence and were anxiously waiting for the bell. The bell rang like a time bomb causing Hagan and Lazuli to explode upon each other. In a blink, both of them reached the middle of the platform and started exchanging punches. Their arms almost became invisible like the arms of the fan. But it was nowhere as slow as a fan. The explosive arms continued to move and it was impossible to say when they are punching or blocking. "Dammit, how can I enjoy a fight like this?" Zohaifa thought to himself but couldn''t scream out in the midst of this noisy silence. But then he noticed Luna. She watched as if she can see everything. "I got to know what is happening from her," Zohaifa thought. But as he was moving that way, suddenly a change in that constant sound was heard. He looked towards the platform. Lazuli''s forehead seems to be scratched. Another sound! Hagan''s cloth was torn in the chest. "They are beginning to touch each other," Zohaifa realized. Suddenly, Lazuli moved back and gathered some space and swiftly took position behind Hagan moving in a ''V'' shape path and tried throwing a jab before Hagan can face back. But Hagan already predicted the punch and dodged it. He then repeated Lazuli''s movement. But Lazuli did not stop moving. At first their arms, then their legs, but now, it''s hard to keep track of their body even. The fiery clash continued. Their punches started to sound like explosion and the force on the ground to dash created sparks. "Let''s take this seriously now, government," said Hagan surprising everybody. "What? They are not serious yet?" Zohaifa yelled breaking the long silence. The crowd shifted their attention to Zohaifa. "Shush!" most of them said together. "Sorry," Zohaifa whispered. "But fights were supposed to be noisy anyway," he thought. "Haven''t you noticed that none have used their elements yet?" asked Red-1. 66 Lazulis true power "Red-1! You are here too! But now that you mentioned it, I wonder what''s left for us to see," replied Zohaifa. Hagan and Lazuli stood face to face, ready to shift the battle to its climax! Hagan started controlling the tiles of the stage, thus deforming the stage again and trying to hit Lazuli from all sides. Lazuli proficiently dodged all of them. Suddenly, the platform beneath Lazuli moved out. But instead of falling, Lazuli was found floating in the air with no ground beneath her. "Clever move!" said Lazuli, "Trying to win this by a cheap trick like that, huh? It will take more to defeat me." "I was trying to win using the tournament rules to win this without injuring someone. But it seems we will have sort it out the hard way," Hagan replied with a smirk. Again, the tiles from the platform and the rocks from the ground started to hit Lazuli. She flew around to dodge it. Bam! A punch from Hagan threw her down. But she stopped herself mid-air before falling. "Hmm¡­ You can fight independently while using those rocks? That must take a lot of concentration. I don''t think people stronger than you can perform that," said Lazuli. "People stronger than me? Are there any?" he asked. "It seems you didn''t play the hero in too many places. The Cant World is big. There are a lot stronger than you. By the end of this battle, you will find one." "Huh?" "Let''s continue for now" Hagan again used his powers to let all the tiles and rocks hover around Lazuli. Then, along with the rocks, Hagan jumped at Lazuli. "Let''s see you dodge that!" Hagan shouted. "Do I need to?" replied Lazuli. Realizing something, Hagan instantly stopped midway. ''Yellow outburst!'' Yellow liquid-plasma generated around Lazuli like a shield and uniformly scattered at all directions, destroying all the rocks and tiles. "Phew, good thing I noticed," said Hagan, "Let''s finish this now." Hagan stood on solid ground. He let out a beastly scream standing in an athletic stance. His already tone muscles became a little buffer. A red aura surrounded him. The ground started shaking. Many of the fighters who could sense aura were astonished by Hagan''s aura. "So, this is how aura charging looks like when done by a pro," said Zohaifa who is still calm, "It is yet to catch up with what I felt. The absorpian daughter!" Hagan slowly moved to a neutral stance indicating the termination of his charging though his aura was still flowing just as much. He stared at Lazuli waiting for her to charge up. Lazuli, apprehending Hagan''s indirect indication, widened her feet to charge began charging as well. Zohaifa''s concentration spiked up. And he was certainly not the only one interested. Every fighter felt immense pressure. Luna''s folded hands fell from her chest and her mouth almost did too. But the one closest to Lazuli was Hagan whose knees started to shake. "This is equivalent to the absorpian daughter!" Zohaifa screamed out, his eyes widened with excitement. Hagan slapped himself on both cheeks to get his focus back and pushed himself to throw a punch at Lazuli. But she continued to charge heeding no attention to Hagan''s existence. She shifted her voice to a scream and put her aura charging to the end, the side effect of which made the ground of the whole arena crack. "Holy hell! She surpassed the daughter," said Zohaifa. Hagan fell on his knees and with a soft voice hiding from everyone except Lazuli, he spoke, "I surrender!" Lazuli let her aura vanish and come back to a normal state. "Good! A hero needs to know when to give up," she said. Lazuli left the platform. The workers came and took Hagan to the participants'' building too. The audience started to talk again but softly. Amidst that murmur, someone called Zohaifa from behind. "Hey, Zohaifa. I need to ask something." Zohaifa looked back. It was IV. "IV! I am excited to fight you. But it''s clear that the one I will be fighting is Lazuli." "Yeah. I guess that is how far I will go too. But I need to ask something." "Hmm¡­ You seem to be a friendly person. Asking questions to your rival. I like it. Go ahead." 67 Flirtic vs IV "Is Flirtic a real deal or just a dilettante? He''s been blabbering about how he will obliterate me in the tournament," said IV. Zohaifa laughed and said, "How typical of him. But its hard to say how much he has improved. The first time I fought him, he was close to my level," said Zohaifa. "Can you tell at least me what his element is?" asked IV. "That would be unfair. How about you tell him your element and ask about his element from him?" said Zohaifa. "Sigh. I will just figure it out in the tournament," said IV and left for the participation building. "Umm¡­Mr. Hagan. Can you fix the platform again?" asked the organizer to Hagan who already used the healing Crystal. "Sure," he said but with no richness in his voice. IV took pieces of advice from Luna. Flirtic warmed up his muscles inside the building. The sun shined upon their well-determined eyes as they got in through the entrance. IV''s eyes look calm while Flirtic''s one looks wild. Both of them walked side by side to the platform fixed by Hagan and ready to show what they have inside them. "This time both the people are unknown," said one audience. "Will it be any fun this time?" asked another. Zohaifa set between Lazuli and Luna''s seat, all off them curious about the fighters'' skills. The bell rang as they took their position on the platform. IV took an open-palmed stance. Flirtic got his claws out, ready to fight it out. Flirtic dashed towards IV but fell. "What happened?" Flirtic thought. Then he noticed vines arising from the tiles and twisting his legs. Slash! But he cut it and tried to move on. Another vine. Slash! Flirtic started to move in a swift and hazardous motion to make it harder for IV to create vine in the right place. But Alas! A clever strategy mostly works on winning against an opponent of the same skill level. IV, with his intense concentration, pinpointed the exact place where Flirtic will be. Vines emerged from nearby tiles and twisted around his leg, making him stumble and fall. Slash! Flirtic cut it wildly. "Vines vs Blade, huh? Logically Flirtic should have the upper hand," said Zohaifa to himself. Aaaaaaarrrrrrghhhhhh! With a shout, Flirtic tried to recklessly dash towards IV only to be stopped by another vine. He fell down on his chin. He cut the vines again with his blades. He took a deep breath. "Enough of this," he said. He calmly started to walk towards IV. When the vine twisted around his feet, he cut it and then continued patiently. But IV took his offense to the next level. Vines came from every side and whipped Flirtic. ''Slashing Storm!'' used Flirtic where he wildly slashed his claws towards every direction and cut all the vines. He then jumped on IV and landed with a slash. Slash! Despite the blood flowing from the wound on his forehead, his eyes still portrayed his determination as he stood up from the ground. He came to IV for another round. "You are a persistent one, I will give you that," said IV. ''Slashing storm!'' Flirtic used again but this time at close range. IV could not dodge any of it. But he still avoided any fatal shot. Flirtic smirked at IV whose body is now covered with a little blood flowing from different parts of his body. "Wait a minute! With so many shots at once, he should be completely covered with blood. How is this even possible?" "Oh my! Didn''t the Great Master Lazuli teach you ''aura armor''?" taunted Luna. "If any of my students were fighting there, he would not need the aura armor. They would just defeat him before the fight drags this long," replied Lazuli. "We will see how good your fighter really is when our fighters collide with each other." IV dashed backward to make a distance from Flirtic. Flirtic tried to dash forward but was stopped again by vines. "I can''t fight at close range with this guy," IV thought to himself, "It''s time to end this battle." 68 Zohaifa vs Marium Flirtic somehow managed to cut all the vines and started to dash again. "Suffocating Vine Lump!" IV used. Vines, thicker than average humans, grew from different parts of the ground and covered Flirtic from all directions. He tried to slash his way out of it but there were too many vines. "Damn, it''s so suffocating in here," said Flirtic to himself, "The squeezing pressure is increasing every second. I guess he is adding more vines by each second. I have to escape before it becomes impossible." ''Slashing storm!'' Flirtic used, but this time he moved unidirectionally while applying the move which let him free from all the vines. But that counteracted only half of IV''s strategy. True that he found himself outside of the lump but also outside the stage. The bell rang! "Wow! What a clever strategy! He trapped Flirtic in that lump and moved the lump outside the platform," Zohaifa complimented "He is my student after all," said Luna. Lazuli glared at Zohaifa, "Can''t you keep your mouth shut?" "Sorry," said Zohaifa as he sheepishly grinned and bit his lips. "Now, go! Both of you!" said Lazuli. "Oh yeah," said Zohaifa, "My next fight is with Marium." Zohaifa got up with excitement and rushed to the participants'' building. Flirtic and IV were using the healing Crystal. Flirtic seemed disappointed and IV had no change in expression before, during, or after the fight. But perhaps the gloomiest of them all was Marium. Zohaifa wanted to congratulate IV but his concern for Marium made him forget that. Zohaifa and Marium walked side by side to the platform. Zohaifa said to her, "Are you okay Marium?" "Yes," answered Marium emotionlessly. "Are you sick or something? You look gloomy. You can share it. We are not real enemies or anything," said Zohaifa. "No, I am fine," replied Marium. Zohaifa raised one of his eyebrows in confusion and said, "So, you sure you will be able to fight with your all?" ???Yes," said Marium. They both stood face to face on both sides of the platform. "Wow! Lazuli''s daughter will be fighting her student? I wonder which one will win," said an audience. "Marium is a seven-year-old kid. Zohaifa is 15 years old. You can''t expect her to give much of a challenge to Zohaifa," replied another. "Yeah, you are right," said another. The bell rang! Marium rushed towards Zohaifa in a zig-zag pattern and tried to hit him from the side. But she telegraphed too much and thus Zohaifa could counter her easily. He returned with a right cross and slammed her to the ground. But she managed to hold her footing. "Ouch! So hard," said Marium. She kept repeating the same pattern and got battered by Zohiafa, who was frowning the whole time. But his eyes showed disappointment. Lazuli and Luna watched the match with shock. Was Zohaifa this skilled all along or was Marium not that good to begin with? After a while, Marium''s face was bruised but Zohaifa still doesn''t have a scratch on his body. "Come on, Marium," said Zohiafa, "How much longer do I need to wait till you show me the ''Light Velocity?''" "O-oh, okay," replied Marium with a little stutter. Her body radiated yellow light and her zig-zag motion continued but this time with ''Light Velocity''. She suddenly attacked Zohaifa with from behind. But Zohaifa endured it and came back with a harder punch which slammed Marium to the ground. Marium tried to stand up while shaking. "Enough of this!" Zohaifa threatened, "You think I can''t notice it. How dare you hold back against me! You think you are doing me a favor?" "Sorry," Marium said in a choked voice, "This tournament was something important to you. I wanted to let you go as far as possible." "Yes, this tournament is important to me. Because I want to prove my worth to Lazuli," answered Zohaifa, "You think you are helping me by holding back? How can I show her my full worth if I am not pushed to my highest limit." "He''s still on with that?" Lazuli asked to herself. "What is he talking about?" asked Luna. "Nothing important. Not to me at least," answered Lazuli. 69 Unexpected turn of events "Marium, this is a win-win situation for me as long as you give it your all. If I win, then I can show more of my performance. If I lose, that means I have shown my all which was my goal all along. Plus, I don''t mind seeing you go higher. So, come at me with everything, Marium," said Zohaifa. "Okay," said Marium, and got up. She took a deep breath. As he exhaled, her body glowed again. ''Light Velocity!'' she used. At an instant, she traveled from one corner of the platform to other. She dashed swiftly throughout the whole platform, letting Zohaifa lose track of her. "Dammit, I can''t target her to use the ''Lightning Punch,'' she''s too fast," said Zohaifa to himself. Marium started to jab Zohaifa from all sides. Zohaifa didn''t even know what hit him. All he could see was yellow light, which was traces left by Marium, dancing all around him while he got battered at different parts of his body. But before he could figure out where the trace leads to, it kept getting bigger. "Woah! Are you sure that''s just a seven years old kid? Look at her go," exclaimed an audience. "What else do you expect from Lazuli''s daughter?" replied another. ''Lightning shield!'' used Zohaifa. Now all of Marium''s attack was raining on the shield. "Phew! That was painful," said Zohaifa. "Hmm¡­ It''s the ''Lightning Shield'' again," remarked Red-1, "But last time, you had friends, you can''t count on them in the tournament. Will you just sit around to see whose stamina is drained first?" Zohaifa started charging inside the ''Lightning Shield.'' The lightning on the surface of the shield started to conduct upon it wildly causing Marium to stop her barrage. An annoying yet dangerous buzzing sound covered the arena. The shield glowed white cause of the lightning on it. A little bit of lightning crept along the floor of the platform which was supposed to be non-conductive. It wasn''t enough to cause any shock. "Wait a minute, what is he up to??? asked Lazuli to herself with a bit of nervousness, "No way!" "Lightning Pillars!" shouted Zohaifa. Lightning emerged from the ground of the whole platform towards the sky like a volcanic eruption. The disuniformity in the amount of lightning throughout the platform made it look like there were several pillars of lightning. The arena reverberated with an extreme buzzing sound. After a while when the move was over, people stared at the platform, waiting eagerly to know the consequence. The smoke that covered the platform was starting to clear. But Marium was not in the disheveled platform but rather in Lazuli''s arms outside the platform. "You fool! Marium could have died if she was hit by that move," shouted Lazuli. "I-I am sorry. I didn''t know that the move would be this dangerous. I only practiced it in the image world," Zohaifa replied with astonishment. The organizer declared, "Since help from outside is forbidden, both Lazuli and Marium has been disqualified." A smile emerged on IV''s face. "Guess I will be able to fight my rival after all." Zohaifa and Marium were taken to the participants'' building to get healing Crystals while Hagan fixed the platform as usual. "Zohaifa, make sure you don''t fall into that lump. Once you get trapped, even if you get out, you find yourself outside the platform. So, try not to get caught. But I will still tell you what to do if you are trapped," Lazuli advised Zohaifa in the paticipants'' building. "Be careful of Zohaifa''s ''Lightning Punch.'' Here is what you will do if he uses it. I will tell you what to do when he uses the ''Lightning Shield'' too," Luna advised IV. "It''s time for the next participants to go. IV and Zohaifa, please come forward," said one of the workers. Zohaifa stood up with courage. IV had the same look in his eyes when he fought Flirtic. Both of them walked side by side towards the platform. But the battle inside has already started. They felt the pressure of their enemy walking beside them. They were taken to the two sides of the platform, ready to blast upon each other. Only waiting for the bell. The sky turned dark. 70 Zohaifa vs IV Zohaifa approached IV in a blink with the help of ''Lightning Velocity'' and started pouring some combos on him. Zohaifa''s elan movements indicated his eagerness for this fight. But IV blocked each of his punches with his palm. A ferocious exchange took place. A furious exchange of blows between Zohaifa and IV, with the latter barely escaping from an uppercut by a swift back step. Zohaifa sensed the opportunity for a follow-through, fully intended to capitalize on his enemy''s loss of momentum. But he failed as vine walls sprouted from the earth, just in time to block a thrust to his opponent''s neck. He deftly turned his feet and make a dash to outrun the vine''s edge, hoping to caught IV but alas, he was too late. IV had conjured up a shield of vines ready to meet his blows. The vine shield had gaps which caused him to track Zohaifa. Then all IV needed to do is stay safely in there and trouble Zohaifa with his vines spouting outside. Zohaifa, much like Flirtic dashed around to save himself from the vines. But unlike Flirtic, he suddenly jumped high with a plasma ball in between his hand. ''Yellow Splash!'' Zohaifa used It, being liquid, entered IV''s cage through the holes. IV used a cross-arm block to avoid the ''Yellow Splash'' to get to his face. Other than that, ''Aura Armor'' gave him extra protection. But the ''Yellow Splash'' burnt the vines which tore off when Zohaifa jump through it. He landed with a downward punch on IV. But IV threw an uppercut at the same time. IV crushed on the ground but threw Zohaifa at a distance simultaneously. Both got up again for more. "That kid has a good fight IQ. He predicted that Zohaifa would come back with a punch. Not only that, even after taking the ''Yellow Splash,'' he managed to maintain his composure and successfully landed a counter," Lazuli remarked. "That kid is so dangerous. How many moves does he have in his arsenal? I thought all he could do is create lightning. Now plasma too?" Luna remarked. Zohaifa began to circle IV throwing ''Lightning Shooters.'' But IV created a thick vine that blocked Zohaifa''s attacks. But Zohaifa suddenly fell. It was those legs trapping vines again. Zohaifa destroyed it with a plasma blast and rolled forward before getting up to avoid the other vines trying to trap him. ''Lighting punch!'' At a glance, Zohaifa covered all the distance between him and IV with his fist pushing in IV''s gut. He got his hands out and followed with an uppercut. IV''s knees started to buckle. But he forced himself to retreat backward. Zohaifa tried to follow through with a punch but vines emerged behind and pulled him backward. "Hey, Luna. Since when were you training IV? How does he have such intense control over his vines? How can he control them so efficiently even when he is hurt? As if the vines are controlling themselves," Lazuli asked. "Actually, I didn''t train him for long. Just a year maybe. I never needed to teach him to use his elements. He always controlled vines as if it were a part of his body," Luna replied, "Talking about that, how long have you been training Zohaifa?" "Hmm¡­ for like 2 months," Lazuli replied. "Only? He shouldn''t even be able to surpass Marium!" Luna said. "Well, he is my student after all. Plus he seemed to have suffered from rough experiences before he started training with me. On that note, he didn''t surpass Marium. If there wasn''t any tournament rule, Marium would have used her ''Light Velocity'' to get to a distance and avoided the attack. But at the rate, he is improving, he might actually surpass her sooner or later." 71 Return of Golden Punch ''Lightning burst!'' Zohaifa turned the vines into ashes. IV regained his composure and recreated the vine shield. "I will have to be careful of that attack. I will finish this for good." ''Suffocating Vine Lump!'' Vines arose around Zohaifa from all sides. ''Lightning Velocity.'' Zohaifa easily escaped through a gap. ''Lightning Punch'' Another hit at IV''s gut through the shield. IV could neither dodge nor block it. But he could contract his abs in time due to the delay created by the shield. Zohaifa followed with an uppercut the same way. Then shot plasma blasts behind him expecting vines to arise. But there weren''t any vines behind but rather front. When he turned back towards IV, ''Suffocating Vine Lump.'' "Yes!" Luna shouted as she jumped up in excitement. "Ahem," she sat down again politely. IV extended the vine lump above ground and was driving it towards the end of the platform. That is when a part of the vine lump began to glow. A rain of Plasma blasts got out penetrating the vines and towards the direction where IV stood. IV tried to dodge as much as he could but still got hit about 20 times. Zohaifa got out of the vine lump like a butterfly out of a cocoon. He charged towards IV but was whipped by a vine. He stopped in his tracks, bleeding from the cheek, where the vine hit. Vines arose circling him. ''Vine whips!'' All the vine started to whip Zohaifa at once. ''Lightning Shield.'' The vine whips were useless but bought time for IV to recover. His body is a mess now. Zohaifa started to charge up to shift the Lightning Shield into Lightning Pillars. "Yes!" Lazuli exclaimed. "Ahem," she changed to a polite tone again. But IV created vines like the vines of ''Suffocating Vine Lump.'' But this time all it did was cover Zohiafa''s shield and also on the ground like a carpet. The layer of Vine was huge. After a few moments, the vines on the ground turned to ashes. But the vine lump was still intact. Multiple plasma blasts penetrated through it. Zohaifa jumped out and landed with a downward kick but IV dodged it and returned with a straight palm strike. Zohaifa was pushed backward. "It seems you are have used too much aura using all these moves," said IV, "I created enough vine that the Lightning Pillar will eliminate it and get nullified. But it seems u had to depend on Plasma." "I can say the same to you," said Zohaifa, "You are physically drained taking all those hits, aren''t you? I thought I will be done for if I took that Palm strike. But it didn''t hurt much." Suddenly it started raining with thunder. "It seems the weather favors me. My vines will be more stimulated with all this water," said IV Zohaifa widened his stance, his arms beside his waist. Golden light glowed from it. "It''s the golden punch!" exclaimed Red-1, "But will it be effective in a fight with no support from a team." IV whipped Zohaifa with his vines again. Zohaifa endured it. "Wait a minute," he thought. He whipped Zohaifa three more times. "He can''t move while using this!" A wide smirk appeared on his face. 72 Sweet meat? A vine emerging around Zohaifa''s feet tried to pull him upward but unsuccessfully tore off. "What is this move? He became so heavy all on a sudden!" IV exclaimed. This time several vines emerged. IV used all the force he could muster. He could somehow slide Zohaifa towards the end. "This is the first time IV is showing his control over the vines. All this time, it looked like the vine was created on their own," Red-1 remarked. But Zohaifa planted his feet into the ground. "So, he still can move a little," IV said to himself, "Fine then." IV created more vines and gritted his teeth to pull Zohaifa. His muscle toned up and veins popped out from the skin of his forearm. The force was enough to pull Zohaifa up and throw him to out of the arena. "Behold! The result of my training. ''Golden Punch!''" He shouted. The punch extended from Zohaifa''s hand like extendable goldenrod with a fist on top and traveled all the way to IV. He created a mass of vines in between him and the punch. But the punch pushed through the vines and hit IV throwing him off ground. They landed at the same time. "It''s a draw!" the organizer shouted. "Aww," the audience shouted in disappointment. "But that was one of the craziest fights we have seen," said one of them. "You are right!" said the other. A huge applaud filled the arena. But it didn''t cheer Zohaifa who punched the ground in anger as he starts to get drenched in rain. "Someone give him a table to flip," said Red-1. IV approached him and said, "That was a great fight. You are a warrior indeed." He extended his hands towards Zohiafa. Zohaifa calmed down and got up taking his hand. But IV suddenly fell unconscious. Zohaifa caught him. "Are you okay, IV?" he asked. "It''s a punch made to destroy the Lava Gladiator. What can you expect?" Red-1 said. Lazuli walked to the scene too carrying Marium in her umbrella. "You have paid me back in half. Are you satisfied?" she asked. "No," replied Zohaifa. "Then stick with me. I will make you do more work for me. But let us celebrate now!" Zohaifa smiled but with a little guilt. "Should I celebrate for a draw?" he asked "Celebrating a draw? I am celebrating for Marium''s first-ever tournament. She will probably be happier if you come along," she replied "Oh!" replied Zohaifa and said to himself, "Some things never change." Zohaifa went towards the participants'' building while waving at Red-1. He waved back. After using the healing Crystal and taking the prizes from the organizer, Zohaifa and IV were called for an interview. "Interview? Nobody said anything about the interview!" "Isn''t it expectable?" asked an assistant of the organizer. "Uh¡­ can I go to the toilet?" Zohaifa asked. After 15 minutes, Lazuli got a call from one of her servants. "That''s odd. My servants never call me. Let me check," she said to herself. "Hello, this is Zohaifa speaking. I am currently in your house. You can come back now. I am not going back there," said Zohaifa and immediately cut off the call. "Sigh¡­ doesn''t he feel a little embarrassed? Well, doesn''t matter to me," said Lazuli After IV was done with his interview and the function was over, Lazuli and Marium went back home. Later, all of them went to a fancy looking restaurant. It seemed mostly empty and the people who were present wore aristocratic clothes. "I guess, it''s an expensive restaurant," Zohaifa thought to himself. Lazuli let Marium choose the dish. Marium chose her favorite one with a smile. "It just looks like a dish containing rice and meat and a few veggies," said Zohaifa when the dish was served. "Perhaps the only specialty of rice and veggies is that they were cooked by the expert chefs here. But as for the meat, have you ever heard of sugar deer?" replied Lazuli. "There is a deer made of sugar?" asked Zohaifa. "No. But it is named so because of its meat containing a sweet flavor," Lazuli replied. "Meat? Sweet?" asked Zohaifa. "Um. Not the kind of sweet in sugar. Just have a bite and you will realize," Marium and Lazuli gently pick up the fork and knife and started eating. But people do not usually use spoons and forks for eating in Zohaifa''s country. They use the hand. Thus Zohaifa had little experience with it. But he could not express it in front of such aristocratic figures or embarrass himself in front of Lazuli. A drop of sweat rolled down his chin, glittering with the brilliant rays of light in the restaurant. He took the knife and fork and tried his best to get the food to his mouth by any means. But the meat slipped and hit Lazuli''s face. What happened next is too violent to be described in the story.