Gradually
he descended to get a closer look at the townsfolk, but everyone was the same
and they all just kept pointing at him. He understood. Seeing a world renowned
super-hero circling the town was definitely not a good sign.
Kyle began
his fourth rotation, crossing his arms as he did so. Were they still even in
the town? Was it worth even looking for them at this point? If they’d gone onto
East City, Kyle would sadly not know about it unless he flew there. And if he
flew there, he left this town wide open.
Mentally he
tried to contact Eclipse but kept getting no responses. Where the heck was
Brenda when you need her?
Disappointed,
he stopped over the main grocery store and ascended so not to hear the shouts
of the townsfolk below. The temperature dropped as he rose but he didn’t mind
it too much. It was still summer, or that strange August-summer, so being in
cooler air was a welcomed prospect.
Kyle
drummed his fingers on his arm, holding out for a miracle or at least some
burst of inspiration on his part. If they were hiding they were going to try
and keep it conspicuous. Nobody in the town knew what they looked like—first of
all because they appeared in total darkness, and second because nobody cared
about low-rate super villains. Plus, when they fought, they seemed to just be
humans with super abilities. Maybe a few distortions here and there, but
nothing to make them stand out in a crowd.
He drummed
his fingers quicker.
Below he
watched as the patrons of the town shared a parting glance at him before going about
their business. Was it normal, nowadays, for them to just see a man floating in
the air with unnaturally blue eyes? Was it normal to think that humanity’s
stronger savior was an alien? Was it really
normal for there to be two very dangerous super villains prowling around a town
without anyone think—except maybe the police—thinking twice about it?
Kyle froze
at the thought, getting lost in it. He was in the super hero business for,
what, seven months? There were heroes like the Sentinel and Riko who’d been
doing it before he was even in high school, back when there was big shock over
the criminal underworld rising up, back when a strange asteroid landed on Earth
and out came Earth’s mightiest warrior. And now, it seemed there were so many
that rose and fell by the minute. He saw it as something like playing a professional
sport: there were so many prospects, and it came down to a mix of skill and
luck that one either got popular or lived on. The Zanderia wasn’t the only
super hero group, but they were some of the longest lasting and strongest of the
bunch. The Nox Verillum, Knights of the Rising Sun, and Zenogages were others
but were only given regard when they worked with one of the higher profile
heroes such as the Sentinel, Phoenix, etc.
It amazed
him that at such a fragile age he was so widely regarded as a super hero and
was looked up to by people twice his age. But, was he really better than them?
He knew he was a horrible detective, not the greatest of fighters, and tended
to leave destruction in his wake despite a conscious effort of avoiding that.
His teachers would probably know how to find the two Tigers. Several boxers or—though
a stretch—some wrestlers would wrangle with the baddies better, and someone who
was experienced in combat would know how to maintain the damage.
Kyle folded
his legs, just suspending himself in the air. He felt like a genie.
He took a
deep breath in, then exhaled. Stupid Nexus didn’t give him the ability to sense
out higher power levels. Mind over matter, pft. Whatever.
Trying to
think like them was of no help, because he had no idea how they thought or what
they could possibly be thinking about. They were polar opposites. Thunder Tiger
was calm and collected while Lightning Tiger was…jolty.
His eyes
flicked open. Wait a second…
If those
two were anything like their attitudes, then that meant they would probably
want some sort of a rematch. Thunder Tiger promised to fight them again, and
Lightning Tiger would just go along with anything. Given that the only place they
knew Blue Nexus to arrive at was the school…
He shot
forward immediately, ripping across the sky like a plane, startling those below
him. When he arrived at the school he broke off the flight, maintaining his
speed until he caught himself and rolled on the ground, into the main courtyard
of the campus.
“Where have
you been?” Thunder Tiger asked. He emerged from behind one of the pillars, his
arms crossed and his face bearing an impatient look.
Zap-zap. Lightning Tiger landed mere
yards before Kyle.
“We waited all day for you, too,” Lightning said. “I was ready to keep going last night,
but we were forced to retreat or something stupid like that.”
“There’ll
be no interruptions today,” Thunder said. “Unless Blue Nexus has brought more
friends?”
“No, I came
alone,” Kyle said confidently. “It’s all I really need.”
“Oh, do you
think that you lowered yourself to us because you were caught off-guard? I don’t
believe that, seeing as you had more than enough time to collect yourself
during the fight. There’ll be no excuses now.”
Kyle
nodded. “Whatever you say. I’ve only got one request.”
“What’s
that?” asked Thunder.
“Let’s move
this away from the school. I have no intention of bringing this place down with
you two.”
Lightning
howled with laughter. “No way! I’d like to see this thing come down as quickly as
possible! Watch!”
Still
roaring with insane laughter, he threw a large ball of lighting toward the wall.
Instantly it exploded, brick flying everywhere. As if a switch flipped inside
Kyle, he lurched toward Lightning Tiger, launching a fist at him which the
villain was easily able to dodge and stand next to Thunder Tiger, leaning
against the pillar on the opposite side.
“Too slow,
Blue Nexus,” he said.
“Shut up,”
muttered Kyle.
“Alright,
brother, looks like you’ve incited the fight,” Thunder Tiger said. He pushed
himself off of the pillar. “This will please the Chief immensely before he
arrives in this pathetic town.”
“Fire Tiger’s
coming? Alright, bring him on, too,” Kyle said, putting up fisticuffs. “I’m game for a little challenge.”
“You’ll be
dead!” shouted Thunder Tiger, taking hold of Lightning Tiger and throwing him
toward Kyle.
Blue Nexus braced
himself before Lightning vanished from right in front of him. He flicked his
gaze around looking for Lightning but found that Thunder was barreling down on
him. He jumped back, straight into the arms of Lightning Tiger, who laughed and
lit himself up with electricity. Kyle screamed in pain.
When he was
released from the grip, he fell back, his mouth foaming and smoke rising off of
his body.
“Too easy,”
Thunder Tiger said. “I don’t know why we didn’t just do that last night.”
Kyle’s hand
twitched, and he realized just before it happened that he wasn’t in control of
his massive amounts of energy. He tensed just before the blue explosion erupted
in the courtyard, shattering windows from the shockwave of the blast and
damaging several of the walls. Lightning Tiger blasted back and landed on the
canopy of one of the walkways. Kyle was in a small crater, but after that
surge, felt he was back in control.
He picked
himself up, hiding by the smoke. A blue aura protected him from its toxins, and
he had opportunity to regroup his thoughts. So, they were going to be a little
craftier this time around, eh? Just fine.
Kyle
blasted out of the smoke, suspending himself in the air. He waited to hear the
crackles in the air, then turned around after a second and just barely dodged
Lightning Tiger’s attack. Kyle was barely quick enough to deliver a knee into
his gut, then grabbed him back the back and the neck and threw him toward the
ground. Lightning bounced twice off of the pavement before rolling.
Thunder
Tiger bounded into the air toward Kyle, who dropped down to his level. Their
fists collided, Kyle’s adrenaline blocking any sort of pain, and the momentary
pause prompted Kyle to grab Thunder Tiger by the neck and throw him into the
crater, followed by a swift blast of energy to really add insult to injury.
Lightning
zipped through the air, pushing Kyle back as he started to overwhelm him with
quick bolts of lightning and rapid punches. Kyle dodged all of them—though the
lightning charred his outfit a bit more—yet couldn’t find an opening to attack
from. Lightning also left Kyle very little time to dodge Thunder’s sonic attack,
which knocked him even further back into the air. Lightning suddenly appeared
over him. Kyle kicked him, kicking Lightning in the nose, then flipped and
crossed his arms, once again being pushed back into a building. His body made
an indent but nothing significant.
He dropped
to the ground, then dove forward to dodge a lightning bolt. Coming out of the
roll, he punched forward, blasting at Thunder who swatted it aside with a heavy
swing of his arm. Kyle once again rolled, dodging yet another sonic attack,
before shooting forward. The force was strong enough to have Kyle barrel
through the sonic wave—though it did jar him—and shoulder Thunder Tiger back
underneath the building.
Instinctively,
Kyle jumped up, and a lightning bolt hit the ground beneath him. He whirled
around, shooting rapid fire energy blasts in the direction of the constantly
moving Lightning Tiger, who easily dodged all of them. He whirled around again,
realizing he was in the worst possible position, as he had to dodge Thunder Tiger,
but once more nearly fell into the arms of Lightning Tiger. He was ready this
time, as he elbowed Lightning, forcing them both to the ground.
He hit the
ground rolling, but his legs were blasted back by Thunder Tiger. They were now
in the more open parts of the courtyard, at right about the area where Kyle
normally had lunch. It was odd being there fighting two super villains. Not
typically what happened.
Aware of
Lightning Tiger behind him, Kyle flipped back as Lightning Tiger jumped out at
him. Using two energy blasts, he did another back-flip to get behind Lightning,
then blasted him more toward his brother. Lightning bounced once, then slid on
his knee to come to a halt. Kyle dropped to the ground, taking a knee to regain
his focus before getting back up.
“Your
recovery in the fight was extremely quick,” Thunder said. “I’ll admit, I’m
impressed. You’re not as big of a fluke as I thought you were, Blue Nexus.”
“Oh, but I’m
still a fluke, thanks a bunch,” Kyle said.
Lightning
looked back to his brother. “You thinking what I’m thinking, bro?”
“I am, but
not yet,” Thunder said. “I don’t think that would be enough quite yet.”
“Whoa. You really
think he’s that strong?” asked
Lightning.
“I do,
honestly. Speaking from the head, I’ll give him that if we were to fight
one-on-one, he’d probably defeat us both. But, as is, he won’t win.”
Lightning
smirked and stood up, swiping some blood that was coming from his mouth. “Damn
straight.”
Kyle noted
the differences in their appearance. Just as he felt in their last fight,
Thunder Tiger was the bulkier of the two, with large biceps and quadriceps, as
well as a rounder face. Lightning Tiger had a much leaner build. He did have muscles,
but compared to Thunder Tiger it was like a stick to a trunk. He also had a
longer nose compared to Thunder’s more compressed nose. They both, though,
seemed to have the same exact eyes, as well as the same stripes running down
their arms.
“You got
some secret technique or something?” asked Kyle.
“Indeed,
but we’re not quite ready for that yet,” Lightning said.
Kyle laughed.
“Alright, then how’s about I give you my secret technique?”
“Go on,”
Thunder said.
“Don’t
forget, you asked for it,” Kyle said, before clenching two fists.
His aura
intensified, and he felt his power rising. He was digging deeper and deeper
into the powers of the Nexus, going further than he had in a while. Not since
his training with Hood Nexus. His aura continued to expand and wind swirled
around him. He felt its strain taking its toll on him as his heart rate
increased to dangerous levels and his head started to throb.
He breathed
out, and his aura calmed down, as did the wind. Much unlike the battle against
Black Nexus, the transformation wasn’t as notable. He looked almost the same,
except that the blue coloring on his outfit shone better as did the blue lines
on his body. His voice would also be a little deeper. In the full
transformation, his voice would be deeper and his muscles would also be larger.
This was enough, he figured.
“Great, you
flexed a little,” Lightning said. “What a load. Let’s kill this guy.”
“Agreed,”
Thunder said. He clapped his hands, almost lazily, and Kyle took the hit straight
on.
He hardly
budged, moving back maybe a couple of centimeters. Lightning Tiger was about to
jolt, then stopped.
“Hmm, maybe
I should try flexing,” he noted, and then followed through with his attack.
Kyle’s
increased senses allowed him to follow exactly where Lightning Tiger, almost as
if time slowed for both of them. Kyle clenched his fists, then took a step back,
avoiding the jab of Lightning Tiger, and elbowing him in the back, rutting him
into the ground. He then blasted at Thunder Tiger, hitting him square in the
chest, knocking him into a classroom window.
“You’ll have
to try better,” Kyle said. “No more games. Let’s go.”
He ascended
into the air, getting ready for them to go all out. Lightning Tiger shouted—or laughed,
he really couldn’t tell—and came at Kyle with greater speed than before. Kyle was
still able to keep up with it, but Lightning Tiger was pulling out all the
stops.
A lightning
bolt sent Kyle onto the roof. He rolled away from a second one, then met
Lightning Tiger head on, literally, as he rammed his forehead into Lightning’s.
Lightning stood jarred, allowing Kyle to kick him away and away from the main
buildings. He jumped off in pursuit, holding back a sonic wave coming from
Thunder.
Thunder
took two steps and was then upon Kyle. Their fists collided, making their own
gust of wind. Kyle dodged an attack from Thunder, and punched him square in the
face. Thunder’s head cocked back, but he immediately retaliated by busting Kyle’s
nose and then kicking him in the chest.
Kyle
flipped back, hearing the crackling of Lightning. He dodged, kicking aside a
lightning bolt, though could not avoid another sonic attack.
He crashed
into the home run post of the baseball stadium, knocking it over. Lightning Tiger
zapped in front of him. Grabbing him by the head and was about to send a surge
of electricity when Kyle took hold of Lightning’s arm and blasted him with
energy. Lightning dropped onto the field, as did Kyle.
They got up
simultaneously, and ran quickly at each other, trying to fake each other out.
Lightning jumped all of a sudden, allowing for only Kyle to receive a shock
wave to the ribs by Thunder, who broke right through the stadium’s fence. He
was able to remain standing, and even dodge the initial ten strikes of Lightning
at top speed, only breaking away from him by expanding his aura in a powerful
way.
Thunder
began a sprint, though it was slow. Lightning took the lead, trying to keep
Kyle in his place by surrounding him in a ring of lightning. Kyle took the
risk, but found it to be a stupid one, as Lightning immediately overloaded it
when Kyle was going through it. Thunder jumped up and spiked him back down like
a volleyball anyway.
Momentarily,
Kyle lost his breath when he crashed onto the orange dirt. Without any time,
Kyle flew back, away from a lightning bolt, sending two blasts of energy. Both
of which, just his luck, missed completely.
Lightning
appeared in front of him as Thunder barreled forward. Kyle took hold of
Lightning from behind, and cast him toward Thunder. The speedster, zapped away
before he could be trucked by his brother. Kyle lowered his shoulder and met
Thunder head on, gaining the upper hand and pushing him back. He dug his
shoulder into Thunder, tackling him. For good measure, he blasted Thunder in
the chest to push himself further away, sliding on one knee on the orange dirt.
The two
brothers reconvened at second base, Kyle at the shortstop position still on one
knee. All three of them panted nearly in unison, as the battle took its toll.
Kyle didn’t have very much practice with this kind of power for a long period
time, and needed a way to end this quickly.
He held out
his hand, and his lance materialized beneath it. He gripped the lance, using it
as a crutch as he got back up. Kyle pointed it toward the brothers.
“We’re done
here,” he said. “I’m getting real tired of you guys.”
“You’re fun
and all,” Lightning said. “But annoying as hell. Bro, let’s kill him.”
“Understood,”
Thunder said. “Get in position.”
Kyle braced
as Lightning zapped away, then reappeared as Thunder turned toward the
outfield. Lightning began rubbing his hands at dangerously high speeds while
Thunder flexed his arms, then pulled them back way behind his head. Kyle had no
idea what was going on, and really did not wish to find out. He shot toward
Thunder, the closer of the two.
“Lightning crack,
Thunder clap!” they shouted.
In the same
instant, Lightning separated his hands, and the biggest lightning bolt Kyle’d
ever seen shot from his hands while Thunder nearly slammed his hands together,
leaving them just centimeters apart. The result was catastrophic.
The
combined force of the lightning and the thunder created a loud BOOM, sending hundreds of lightning
bolts swirling in the air while a big cloud of dust sprung up from the ground
as the shock wave attacked it.
Kyle fell
right into the trap, getting caught right in the middle of it. He screamed in
pain, for that was all he could feel. He couldn’t hear, he couldn’t see, he was
completely cut off from all of his senses—except the horrifying sensation of
being completely overpowered.
Somehow, he
must’ve blacked out. Perhaps from the shockwave that could’ve stopped his
heart, perhaps from the overwhelming amount of pain. Either way, Kyle felt
weary, though he found the strength to get back up again.
Thunder and
Lightning Tiger were also standing, but their faces were extremely pale and
their arms sagged at their sides, their knees ready to buckle. The three of
them stood in a triangle of what was once a baseball stadium, and was now a
large crater of broken pieces of metal, glass, and dirt. Kyle breathed heavily.
The crater wasn’t too deep, maybe about a foot or so, but engulfed the entire
stadium, and ten yards in either direction. The shockwave and lightning bolts
also damaged the school, as the outside walls were charred and every window
shattered.
The two
brothers started laughing, though Lightning Tiger’s was more audible.
“Damn, you’re
still standing,” he said. He coughed out blood. “Haven’t faced someone in a
real long time who was able to keep standing after that.”
“Not enough
practice,” Kyle said, somehow still in the mood for jokes.
“I’ll still
kill you,” Thunder Tiger said. “Come on, let’s finish him.”
Both of
them jogged toward Kyle, though the hero assumed they were trying to sprint.
They attacked simultaneously, Kyle stepping and bending his back to dodge the
attacks. He swatted them both away with the spear, forcing blood from Thunder
Tiger as he cracked it against his jaw. They were powerless, they had to be!
Kyle
pressed on. He wasn’t entirely drained of energy, since he was still in his
Blue Nexus form, but he was running dangerously low.
Lightning
Tiger pressed on again, putting up fisticuffs, then tried faking out Kyle by
kicking at him several times. Kyle had seen these moves before…by Phoenix!
He smirked
as he countered all of Lightning’s attacks. Now that they were all on the same
playing field, it was only a matter of fighting prowess to keep on going. Kyle
kicked down Lightning’s leg, then hit him upside the head with the back of the
spear, finishing him with a strong right cross. Thunder Tiger bounded at him
once again, trying to tackle Kyle.
Kyle
planted the spear in the ground, then used it to jump up and over Thunder
Tiger, kicking him in the back of the head. Weakened, Kyle also fell to the
ground, where Thunder Tiger tried to pounce him. Kyle, though knew better, and
grappled his way out of the pathetic hold and into a proper stance, getting
atop Thunder Tiger and elbowing him across the temple, knocking him out
instantly.
Using his
body as a springboard, Kyle got up, plucking the spear out of the ground as he
did so.
“Finally,”
he breathed. “Damn. Finally.”
The spear
dematerialized as he turned to leave the crater. His senses now returned, he
sniffed something that smelled odd in the air. Smoke? A fire?
Dread
overcoming him, Kyle looked up and saw a very large man standing at the top of
the crater, his arms crossed looking down with a frown at Kyle. He too had
stripes running down his arms, but he had a scar that ran from the top of his
head down to the bottom of his jaw, and his muscles were much more pronounced
than either of the brothers. Little flames kindled off of his finger tips. When
he sneered, he showed off his pointed teeth, like that of a real tiger.
“I’m
impressed a young hero like yourself survived that attack,” Fire Tiger said. “Personally
I don’t have much of a problem with it, but then again I overheard you weren’t going
full power.”
“Nah, not
really,” Kyle said lazily.
“Care to
show me your real power, then, Blue Nexus?” asked Fire Tiger. He uncrossed his
arms.
Kyle opened
his palm, but before he could say anything, a large ball of fire hit him in the
chest like a wrecking ball. Kyle blacked out the second he hit the opposite
wall of the crater.
Phoenix
continued to scan the area for the explosion. Oddly, there wasn’t any smoke,
and whatever had caused it was throwing his devices off. Like there were some
electrical interference.
He landed
on top of a building to let his equipment charge up, kneeling down to stay
hidden. While the equipment charged itself up, Phoenix noticed the droves of
people moving eastward. Hmm, what was to the east?
When he
realized it, he smacked himself in the head. Great, something was happening at
the school again. Sighing, he stood back up, extended his arms to grip his
talons, and blasted off, folding his arms in before extending them again to get
to a suitable height.
Before he
knew it, he entered into a dust cloud. Using one arm, he reached up and touched
the top of his uniform, a mask coming over his nose and mouth to protect him
while his mask over his eyes did the rest of the work.
The cloud
wasn’t too big, and actually didn’t last very long. Phoenix landed on top of
the roof of one of the buildings toward the back of the school, where the cloud
proably originated from. He groaned at what he saw. A completely destroyed
baseball field as well as a ruined field all around it. Standing in the middle
of it all was, of course, Blue Nexus.
He swore
when he noticed who was at the top of the crater, though. Fire Tiger blasted
Blue Nexus back, probably monologuing about something. Phoenix took action.
Just before
Fire Tiger could launch another fire ball, Phoenix swooped in from the side and
kicked him in the ribs. Fire Tiger sprawled out, away from the crater. Phoenix
hit the ground running, folding up his wings into his ground battle armor, with
his two Eskrima sticks at the ready in his hands, along with the sharpened
edges of his wings on his forearms pointed readily toward Fire Tiger.
His
opponent laughed. “So, now I get to fight the blue version of the Phoenix?”
“I’m sure
you were sick of seeing the red one the past three times I beat the hell outta
you,” Phoenix said, twirling his weapons with practiced ease.
“Your
confidence is amusing, Phoenix. I won’t glorify you by saving I’ve longed for
this day, because I’ve actually longed for a much better opponent.”
“Any of us
in the Zanderia, at full strength, would quite easily cream you.”
“Oh? Is it
the alien telling you that? How would he know how much stronger I’ve gotten
over the last eight months?”
“Has it
really been eight months since we last met? Dang. Time flies when you’re
fighting super villains.”
“And I’ve
spent the last eight months training to kill all of the Zanderia!” shouted Fire Tiger, unleashing a large pool
of fire all around him, with a wall of it slowly rising behind him. Amidst the
loud roar of the fire, his laughter could be heard. “So challenge me, Phoenix,
and truly become one with the ashes!”
Phoenix
gulped, twirling his Eskrima sticks. “Not gonna lie, kinda hoping Blue Nexus
wakes up sometime.”
Fire Tiger
didn’t hear him, and Phoenix hardly cared. Completely surrounded by his own
fire, his own power, Fire Tiger charged toward Phoenix, who took one step back,
then ran forward to meet his foe.Next time: Phoenix and Fire Tiger continue their battle, secretly watched by a pair of scientists, before a new challenger approaches in "Blue Nexus #18--The Fire Rises"
No comments:
Post a Comment