Autumn Infernos 4, page 35
part #4 of Space Seasons Series
I felt her laugh. “I know, teasing. I feel so different. Like…”
“Family,” I said for her. “Closer than family. No one else will feel part of something like this. This is a unique skill.”
“Think you could teach it?” Tyto asked.
“Maybe,” I replied. “Maybe I can. If we could do all this, lead teams like this…”
“With the right mechs…” Dylan said.
“The wolf-mech,” Rei added. “It’s perfect. This is…I have no words.”
I knew it, they knew it. We were also out of time. We were, however, ready for when the announcer made that call.
“Fighters, to the ring!”
And nice and steady, I moved us in our first ever kenosi merge, towards the awaiting opposition.
Death’s Demise were waiting for us when we arrived. Their merged mech was slightly larger and heavier, their species itself a remnant of orcs. They had been true to their nature, heavy handed and strong with their hits in the previous bout.
“Fighters! Round two timing is reduced to five minutes! Once again, this is to reduce damage to your mechs!” the voice above us announced. “On my mark, ready!”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
“Fight!”
Death’s Demise pulled their halberd from behind their back, sparking it with kenosi, I knew each of the teams would have it, and not to the extent they’d use it first. Giving away at least one extra card they had to throw at us.
I could only presume they wanted us out of the fight in the first minute, let alone five. How could we even get any strikes in?
They lunged towards us, much faster than I imagined. Much faster than last time.
“Tyto, you got this?”
“Damn right, I have!”
“Naylar, arm out!” I ordered. She didn’t know what I was doing, but yes, she didn’t hesitate.
With my focus at full, I dodged to the left, pulling my sword out as fast as I could for Tyto. Then, with my kenosi forming, I created a whirling shield.
Careful! Hiroto said. That’s gonna use a lot of energy!
We only have to last five minutes, but with their extra speed, we have no choice!
The next set of thrust attempts towards us were much better thwarted, and although we were into the fastest play of duck and dodge ever, we also managed to sneak in under their strike with a counter. Their hits had much more power than yesterday, almost knocking me to my knees.
Rei pushed us up and off with one swift move, and we turned to face them before the one minute counter started to tick off.
This fight was more than fast; I was surprised to find we were at 6-6, a draw.
Crap, we needed more.
I pushed the mech towards them as they made one last lunge for me, overarching and catching Naylar’s shoulder on the return. Tyto struck down towards their leg, and then as we passed even as I was falling, he made a backward slice, cutting deep into their back.
Two hits to their one. We made it. 7-8.
“METAL TITANS WIN!”
I wasn’t so sure we’d won. Our mech was screaming at me… red lights all over.
MECH MERGE HOLDING!
YOU’RE LUCKY --- SO FAR!
I watched as Death’s Demise left the area. It seemed our next fight was here.
We had a little time till the next one. This time there was room to disengage and recharge.
I let the merge go and then opened my cockpit, breathing in the stink of my own sweat. Sheesh.
I hopped down. I met the team at the end of the arena where a couple of people moved in with drinks.
Hiroto spoke clearly through the comms in the arena. “Engineers are coming in. They might have a few quick fixes for the outer hulls.”
We all watched then as they did just that. Scooting in, they welded and fixed up what they could.
“That was much closer than I thought it would be,” Naylar said.
“Yeah.” I drank in deep, pushing as much into me as I could. Feeling my kenosi moving and changing with the energy.
“That merge,” Tyto said. “That was the only thing that saved us there. The shield, damned genius.”
“I couldn’t have done it without all of you,” I said, nodding to each of them.
Naylar smiled. “Rei and Rahan make those legs move so fast. I didn’t think with our weight we’d be able to.”
“Kenosi!” Rahan said. “I felt like it was just a part of me. There was no clunk, no grinding against the floor.”
“Yeah,” Rei said. “As much as we are separate entities, this time everything flowed much better.”
Results of the other fights going on flashed above us.
Any idea how it’s going? I asked Hiroto.
Honestly, I have no idea.
We were against the Allied Elements next, then Water Skulls, both of which we won. Though each time we came out of it, we were more exhausted, and the merge was becoming harder and harder for me to keep together.
Once again, we drank, looking over the leaderboard and discussing what and how we were doing compared to the others. It looked tight, so tight.
We were against the Chaos Guards next, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. They were fast, strong, and super powerful. It was going to be more than a possibility that they were heading to the next round.
We lost. Spectacularly. And now, with even more damage and our energies almost depleted, we were going against the Swift Beards.
I swallowed, watching the numbers flash up once more.
So far, they’d had three wins and two draws. We’d had four wins and one loss. But we had the top spot…for now. I didn’t for the life of me think we’d keep it.
The next fight for us was going to be tough. The Swift Beards had not only gotten a good score so far, but they’d been one of the ones Naylar had told us all to watch out for, one of last year’s finalists. They were set to win, according to some others. But I thought that was before Motaki decided he wanted this event for us to duke it out.
Recharged and ready for this one fight, I squeezed my hands together and stood when the announcer started the call.
“Mount up,” I said to my team.
When the others had left to climb in their mechs, Tyto held my gaze and said, “This one’s the one, you know this. We lose this one, we’re at risk.”
I nodded. “We can only do our best, all of us.”
“You can do this,” Tyto said.
“Honestly, I thought about asking you to?”
He grinned. “I trust you, Kyle.” And he turned and moved to his mech. A moment later and he was inside and ready.
I climbed in mine, and within a moment called for the merge. We connected, and I felt empowered. All the changes we’d been through, all the slight differences, I hoped this time they’d give us an edge against the Swift Beards.
But of course, they’d also gained. I saw their stats flash up before me as we watched one another waiting for the announcer to call the fight.
That’s when I felt something, Kenosi? But it wasn’t coming from inside the arena.
“Fighters!” the voice announced. “Ready!”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
“Fight!”
The Swift Beards didn’t hesitate this time, bringing out their huge great axe. It had been hard to even get away from it last time, my sword sparking energy as I drew it in retaliation. Hoped I’d at least be able to counter it.
Of course, as it swung my way, I tried to move out of the way, but I failed. The axe landed a blow to my left shoulder.
0 – 1
I felt the pain and knew Dylan had taken serious damage. We weren’t, however, going down. Not yet, no way.
Then as he swung the deadly thing around once more, I heard something. I craned my neck to try and hear it better and took a hit to the other arm. Fuck! He was on the ball.
0 - 2
What’s wrong? Hiroto asked.
I had never been so distracted. Then I felt it too.
Yun!
Hiroto! I said You have to—
What? he asked. I can’t do anything!
Fuck.
The pain spread through me, and I could see and hear what was going on with Yun.
The Swift Beards got in two more strikes.
0-4
Yun was dying.
As I tried my best to dodge and get out of the way of that deadly axe, I got in two strikes, one to the back of his leg, and the other to his arm. He wasn’t badly damaged, but he pulled back a little while I tried to figure out what I could do.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I didn’t have time to waste here.
MECH MERGE – FAILING
The Swift Beards were winning. As I tried my best to focus on where their axe was going to land, waves of nausea wafted over me. I struggled.
I forced myself upright, dodging out of the way in time. When one strike was missed, they got another one in.
Tyto, I said into his mind. You’re going to have to take this.
What?
I was losing it, the merge. I need to funnel energy to Yun. He’s dying. You have to take the merge. Pain ripped through me.
2-5
Fuck, Kyle, I can’t do this.
You can, and you will, I replied. Just like I did back on Tolsa when you couldn’t, you need to do this for me.
I felt the shift as I started to relinquish the merge.
MECH MERGE – FAIL – PAUSED
SWAPPING MERGE COMMAND IS AN ILLEGAL MOVE
THEY MIGHT NOT NOTICE
TAKE THE RISK
Y/N
I had no choice but to hit the Y.
Energy around me shifted, and I swapped out with Tyto, leaving him in the worst position I could think of. He was now fighting for our lives.
Hiroto, do what you can to help. I need to focus away from here.
We’ll all do our best. Do what you can for Yun.
I had their permission, and it was the hardest decision I had to make. We couldn’t lose him. This was everything we were here for. To win this, of course to stop them breaking him. They couldn’t.
The Swift Beards got one more strike in as my view of the world around me and the arena started to vanish with it.
I could see ahead of me, corridor after corridor, metal stretched before me. I was being led deeper and deeper into the underground of the station.
Then I could hear screaming. It was coming from Yun. I didn’t want to go forward, to see what they were doing to him. I breathed in and pushed on.
Ahead lay a doorway, double doors. They were dark, and there was red adorning the glass panels that adorned them. I knew the red was his blood. I could smell it.
I moved to the door so I could peer through. He was hanging via chains with his form fully in this world. His hair was matted around his form; I could actually see a tail here, well more than one. They hung with the same limpness. Blood dripped from several wounds I could see.
Above his head was his health.
YUN - HEALTH = 3%
Fuck. I had to get him energy. I didn’t know if I had anything to spare. The merge around me needed everything. So did my familiar.
I made the decision to take what he needed, and stepping through the doors, even as I was in this not corporeal form, he looked towards me and begged.
I could see he’d had more than enough. “Let me go,” his weary voice came to me. I stepped towards him. No one else was here now. The wounds ran so deep. “You need to let me go. You don’t have the energy to give to me and to keep your merge. Don’t let them down…not now.”
“This isn’t the end for us,” I said, placing my hand near him so he could see I was so close. “There’s energy here,” I said. “Much more than you might know.”
“You can’t,” he said.
“Darkness!” I called out. “I know you are here. Watching, you’re always watching!”
“You can’t!” Yun begged. “No!”
There he was, appearing at the edge of my vision.
“You call for me once again, Kyle. Why?”
His eyes sought me out as the foggy cloud that was his started to invade the room.
“Because you can stop this, this here right now.”
Darkness looked towards Yun, his hands reaching out. “The Prince of the Sitha is mine without me doing anything here. He’s almost mine for the taking. Once they have broken him they will revive him and cause wonderous destruction to the world that you know.”
I shivered. I was no match for him, no way could I fight him. Do anything here to get him on my side. I needed something, anything.
“You still owe me, Kyle.” He came in closer, surrounding me. I could feel the pull. I wanted, I needed his energy. It was the only way I could save Yun.
No, Kyle! I heard Tyto. “You have other people on this station with kenosi. USE THEM!”
I hadn’t thought about it, but he was right, there were tons of people all over the station…mine and possibly many others.
“If you pull from them, you’re taking energy that isn’t yours, or freely given. You are using dark kenosi, which is mine…”
“It doesn’t belong to our side,” Yun cried. “The energy is with the darkness.”
“No, Yun. I have permission of my team. You have no say in this.” And so I did. Reaching out to the M-Wolves I knew were in the crowds and my engineers, my crew, anyone who was in the vicinity. As I pulled from them, I also then found I could reach out towards those on the Razor.
“You tried to trick me once. More than once. With Dylan.” I felt the energy not only as I pushed it towards Yun, to raise his health. But forming in anger. Nothing but anger, and I wasn’t going to listen to him anymore. “Your words have no power here, and neither do you.”
I struck out with kenosi, and when it struck him, he vanished in an explosion of dust. I coughed.
I felt need from Tyto as the mech body we resided in was doing as he wanted, ducking and diving. I felt the Swift Beards get in another strike.
2-6
But as they did, Tyto made an amazing comeback, and whirling around, he struck the side of their mech hard. I really felt it. They were hurting because of that blow.
It wasn’t enough though, and they lunged at us. Tyto couldn’t get out of the way.
3-7
I focussed back on Yun. “You need this,” I said to him, stepping forward.
I felt that darkness was still there, surrounding me, begging me to do what it wanted me to, to take more from the other people on the station. It wanted me more than anything else in this world. And that pull was very tempting, so tempting. I wanted it, too. I felt the draw so badly. It was exciting as the energy then started to flow through me, and I reached out to Yun.
“You know they’ll just come back,” he gasped. “Do this all over again.”
YUN - HEALTH = 56%
His health started to fill back up properly now, and I watched it, feeding him as I felt Tyto working our mech merge as best he could. There was a dip in energy for them, and then the kenosi inside our mech got a burst of energy too.
“What the hell, Kyle!” came his concern, “We’ve got less than a minute left!”
There was no way we were going to win this fight; we weren’t even going to draw. Tyto managed to dip and slice; we got one more strike in, but then as the timer was less than ten seconds on the clock, the Swift Beards took hold of one of my arms, and their axe came down on Dylan’s side. The blow brought our mech to its knees. I felt the pull back to them.
I placed my hand on Yun’s shoulder. “Hang in there, please. We’re here for you. So is your aunt. They’re just waiting for the right time. Now I know where you are, I can tell them.”
He sucked in a breath, his body trembling beneath me. “I can’t, Kyle. I have nothing left to give.”
His words almost broke me. I knew he didn’t.
The pull back to my body and the mech was too much, and his form started to fade.
“Don’t go, Kyle,” he cried.
I didn’t have a choice. I was wrenched backwards.
Back into the merge.
The pain then as I did so hit me hard.
MECH MERGE – FAILED
WINNERS – SWIFT BEARDS – 4-8
The merge failed around me, and I forced open my cockpit, slipping out as I gasped with pain. Pain from Yun and the darkness inside me.
That one loss, and we were knocked off the top spot. Fuck.
Tyto was by my side in seconds. “What can I do?” he asked.
But the world around me spun. I couldn’t answer. I heard voices, other voices. “Get a med team in here, now!”
“They can’t!” Rei said. “This is on us. They can’t interfere.”
All I could see was the board as it flashed up with the winners of that bout.
I vomited blood. It sprayed everywhere.
KYLE RANZ – HEALTH = 4%
“He’s haemorrhaging inside,” Naylar said. “We need a med team, now!”
I saw her panic. Rei took hold of her, pulled her to him. My health fell more as the others rushed about. No one could do anything.
Hiroto, I said. I’m sorry.
You did everything you could. You’re amazing, Kyle.
Tyto tried, and his kenosi sparked for a brief second before me. I felt nothing. He had nothing left to give me, none of my team did. I was in real trouble.
As the world twisted around me, I saw someone before me. It was a small person. A dwarf?
“Ack, sonny. Wha hav ye done.”
He kneeled before me, placed his hand to my forehead. I felt the energy from him, pure kenosi, healing.
I swallowed. Almost about to reject it. Don’t you dare! Hiroto spat.
