//------------------------------// // Drekzone Part 7 // Story: Other Wanderings // by ed2481 //------------------------------// “And that Ash is why it pays to be careful when you’re working with runes,” Twilight scolded the boy whose fingers and forearms were covered with soot. Ash blushed and looked down at the floor, his ears turning red. “Sorry Aunt Twilight,” he mumbled in a low tone. “What was that?” Twilight inquired. “I’m sorry Aunt Twilight,” Ash said, his tone clearer. Twilight smiled and nodded approvingly. “Good,” she told him. “Honestly Ash, you really need to be much more careful with magic. You’re not your father and you can’t regrow any of your fingers if you lose them,” the mare told the boy. “I know,” Ash muttered. “I still don’t know what went wrong... I did everything that the book told me,” he said, frowning a little. “You drew a line wrong,” Twilight replied. “Magic is like that Ash, I’ve told you this before. Everything has to be just right or else it blows up.” Ash frowned for a moment and then looked at Twilight, a scandalized look on his face. “Did I really?” he asked her. “I’m afraid so,” Twilight answered with a soft look. “You just need practice, and you need to practice on runes that aren’t designed to make things catch on fire.” “But fire is supposed to be the easiest one!” Ash protested. Twilight looked over at the boy. “That’s true I suppose, but weapon runes are hardly the easiest ones, you should practice your technique on the easier defensive type ones. That way the worst you can do is create a faulty shield,” she told him. “Fine, I guess,” Ash said, looking down once more. “Is my dad okay?” he suddenly asked her, looking at Twilight with his large green eyes. Twilight let out a small sigh and leaned over to gently nuzzle the boy on the cheek. “I’m sure your father is fine Ash. You know how strong Ethan is.” “Yeah, I know,” he said with a small sigh. “Auntie Tia’s mom is helping look for him too right?” “Yep, Faust will find him, trust me,” Twilight said. “And then we’ll bring your dad home.” “Thanks Aunt Twilight,” Ash said with a smile, leaning over and hugging Twilight. The mare wrapped a wing around the boy and pulled him close to her chest, putting her chin on his head. “You’re welcome Ash,” she said softly. The boy held onto her for another few seconds before letting go of Twilight and blushing slightly. “Thanks,” Ash said, looking away and striding forwards. “Anytime,” Twilight replied while suppressing a chuckle at the boy’s pink ear tips. Sometimes it was hard to believe that the quiet researching boy was Ethan’s son at all. Then she frowned slightly. “Don’t worry Ethan... we’ll find you,” she murmured. Ethan stood alone in the armory, checking over his weapons. He’d decided to forego his Blackhawk yet again in favor of his Novasurge, he’d found that it just worked better in an arena environment. The Terrible Shotgun rested across his back and his red bladed bastard sword was sharp as ever as it lay in its sheath beside it. He nodded to himself as he did a final equipment check, making sure that all of his ammo was in place along with his explosives. Then, he walked towards the lift and began to rise up into the arena. A fake smile appeared on his face. I wonder if it’s odd that this whole situation is already boring me, he mused idly as he waved towards the crowd of spectators, winking to the occasional hot babe who caught his eye. You know me; sometimes I wonder why the hell people would come to something like this place, and then I remember that the majority of people are bastards, he added sourly. Wonder how long till Sparky shows up, he mentally added, still feeding the audience what they wanted to see. When she gets here, we’ll shove Drek’s dick down his throat... and put an end to this bullshit. “CITIZENS DO WE HAVE A MATCH FOR YOU TODAY?” the announcer roared. “THE CRAZY SON OF A BITCH HAS HAD TO FIGHT MANY ROBOTS IN HIS DAYS, BUT NONE LIKE THIS!” The lift on the other end of the arena rose a tall seven foot humanoid robot, its parts an odd color pattern of red and orange. Two large swords, which were oddly wide, rested across his back as he flexed his mechanical fingers around. Two glowing orange eyes stared through a red helmet that bent up and around the face, almost like a mask. “THIS BEING HAS FOUGHT AND LED HIS TEAM OF HEROES AGAINST THE GREATEST EVIL IN HIS WORLD AND EMERGED VICTORIOUS TIME AND TIME AGAIN!” The announcer for lack of a better word announced. “HE IS AN EXPERT SWORDSMAN AND LAVA SUFFER AND HOLDS POWER OVER THE ELEMENT OF FIRE; HE IS TAHU THE EX-TOA OF FIRE!” Tahu smiled as he reached behind his back and pulled out his two swords, their edges instantly igniting up to a cherry red color. “I’m getting a definite fire motif here,” Ethan said aloud with a raised eyebrow. “That won’t be all you’re getting,” Tahu said with a sneer. “Oh right; I forgot, I’ll be getting my next victory too and some more food to boot. Thanks for the reminder,” Ethan replied as he unsheathed his sword. Tahu chuckled darkly. “That’s what you think, little man. You’re going to be the main course for some dogs soon...but not before I cook you first.” “OOOH, scary and unoriginal,” Ethan mocked. “I’m quaking in my boots over here.” “Then let me help ease your nerves,” the toa said, flipping his swords downward and stabbing them into the arena floor. Flame spurted up and rushed towards Ethan, the man sidestepped them, apparently unphased by the heat. “Hmm, good try,” Ethan said. “Think ya missed though.” “I’m just getting warmed up first,” Tahu said as he pulled his swords out of the ground with ease and slashed at the air. A wave of fire soared out at a wide angle and growing larger with each passing second as it flew towards Ethan. Ethan frowned at the incoming waves of of fire and broke into a sprint directly at Tahu, the first wave reached him and the man fell forward, rolling beneath it and coming out on the other side unphased yet again. The man closed the distance between himself and the ex-toa and made a lightning quick slash at his armpit. However, as the blade was about to make contact, it bounced off a shield that spontaneously erected itself around Tahu. The toa smiled and returned a slash at the small opening Ethan made, nicking the man in the stomach. The blade bounced harmlessly off of it, though Ethan did grunt at the blunt damage. The man recovered in half a second and brought his blade slicing down at Tahu’s legs. Again, a shield popped up to prevent the man’s swing from making contact. Ethan’s blade bounced off and Tahu took the opportunity to give a double whack with both his blade in a smooth flow of motion. To the Toa’s slight surprise, Ethan parried away the blades with ease and the man’s foot lashed out and slapped against Tahu’s ankle. Tahu stumbled back, caught off guard by the unexpected attack and Ethan followed through with a powerful overhead slash. Unfortunately that was blocked by the invisible force field, causing the blade to bounce off and over Ethan’s head. Tahu retaliated by bashing the hilt of his blade into man’s gut and followed it up with a heavy sideways slash of his own. Ethan recovered from the bash and ducked beneath the slash before jumping back and retreating slightly. “So, you shoot fire, have really heavy blades, and I can’t get you with anything you see coming,” Ethan said almost conversationally to the ex-toa. “So what? I’m still going to finish you off,” Tahu said with grin. “All you’re doing is prolonging your fate.” “Hmm... I think I remember a proverb about bright flames,” Ethan replied. “Something about you dying early the more you bragged or something of that nature.” “It’s a good thing it’s not bragging, but more of stating the fact!” Tahu rushed forwards, his two heated blades swinging in a flurry at Ethan. The man weaved like a willow branch around the attacks, ducking here, dodging there. Then, his Novasurge appeared in his hand mid dodge and he fired off a shot into Tahu’s face. Annoyingly, Tahu’s shield popped up, causing the plasma shot to bounce back and into Ethan’s face. The man face burned with pain as the plasma seeped down it, but he ignored it. “Thought you might try that with your primitive weapon,” Tahu said with a small chuckle. “You’re not the first to try that you know?” "Don’t really care actually,” Ethan replied, shrugging his shoulders through the pain. “I mean, does it really matter what my ‘primitive’ weapons can and can’t do to you? I’m obviously better then you.” “It should matter when you won’t be able to lay a single attack on me,” the ex-toa said with a dark smile. “Already did that actually,” Ethan replied. “You’re not too bright are you?” “I’m brighter than you think,” Tahu replied. The the arena floor suddenly shook as metal panels started to move away from each other all across the arena to reveal boiling lava beneath. The lava pits were scattered around the arena at random intervals and the heat coming from them was intense. “TIME TO TURN UP THE HEAT ON THIS BBQ!” the announcer spoke out to the two gladiators and to the cheering crowd. “For instance, you’re out of your playing field,” Tahu said with a dark smile. “Eh, the playing field is what you make of it,” the man replied as he danced back from an enthusiastic swing of Tahu’s blades. “You just have to know how to play on it.” Ethan darted away from Tahu and into the center of a formation of lava pits. Tahu closed with him and delivered a powerful slash to Ethan’s chest before he could get his guard back up. This time the large sword tore through the leather and the chainmail underneath and still had enough momentum to crash into Ethan’s flesh, sending him stumbling backwards, the place where the sword had slashed reducing the skin of his chest to the texture of molten plastic. Tahu followed through with another swing, aimed at the man’s leg, the toa’s large blade slicing through the combat pants deeply into the leg below, the flesh boiling away down to the bone. Ethan ignored the pain, but Tahu continued his flowing assault, this time the slash catching him across the cheek and shearing away the skin. The molten flesh dripped down Ethan’s face and his eyes narrowed with pain. Tahu ended his assault with an overhand slash... however he suddenly found he couldn’t move his wrist any further. He stared at Ethan who was holding onto his wrist with his opposite hand, the man’s muscles bulging as he kept the blade at bay. Then he caught sight of Ethan fishing in his duster pocket for something and before he could react there was a loud flash, blinding him. Tahu suddenly found himself yanked off of his feet and slammed face first into the arena floor. The ex-Toa rolled onto his back, blinking out and distantly saw Ethan’s silhouette, it was a face of nightmares as the skin boiled and reformed. The man’s eyes appeared to be closed, protecting them from the flashbangs. Before Tahu could act, another flash went off in his face and he was blinded once more. Ethan let out an angry roar and fell upon the Toa, slamming his fists into the synthetic’s face with enough power to slam his head back into the ground each time he tried to rise. With each punch blinding spots danced over his eyes. “I AM-FUCKING DONE-WITH YOUR-FUCKING FIRE!” Ethan shouted at him in-between punches, the still healing flesh giving him a truly menacing appearance. “YOU THINK-YOU’RE-HOT-SHIT?” The man demanded, his fists working like pistons. “HOT? I WITHSTOOD-DRAGON’S FIRE YOU-STUPID FUCKING-ROBOT! YOU DON’T-KNOW THE DEFINITION-OF THE-WORD HOT!” Ethan punctuated the final word with a strong punch to the bottom of the ex-Toa’s chin and a final flashbang to the face. Tahu blindly threw a hard punch upwards and connected with Ethan’s chest, sending him off of the ex-toa. Ethan rolled to his feet as Tahu sluggishly did the same. The man quickly darted and retrieved his sword from where it had fallen, while Tahu quickly blinked his eyes and shook his head to shrug off the dazed state of mind. “You want hot? I’ll give you HOT!” Tahu shouted at the man as his vision quickly returned to him. He twirled his swords around and snapped the two ends together, creating what look like a surfboard. The ex-toa then ran to the edge of the arena, tossing the surfboard into the large pool of lava and jumped onto the board, gliding across the molten earth. Ethan just cracked his neck and readied himself for whatever was about to happen. Tahu surfed across the lava, causing a large wake to tail him, then without warning the toa banked and jumped over the edge near Ethan. The wake followed, splashing over and towards the man, bringing with it searing heat and one pissed off ex-toa. The man stared down the ex-toa as he neared him and a thin smile appeared on his face. Ethan leapt backwards, away from the oncoming wave of lava and as it crashed down on where he’d been standing. As Tahu’s body flashed by him, Ethan’s sword swept out and there was a chink. The lava splashed down on the arena floor, stopping inches away from Ethan’s toes, the boiling heat alone almost eating through the man’s boots, enchantment or not. Tahu’s head landed in the lava and Ethan sheathed his sword, turning his back on the boiling lava and fallen ex-toa. Tahu’s body fell into the small pool of lava, his body slowly beginning to melt. Ethan turned to the crowd and gave them a small smile. “Well, I guess he wasn’t that good of a surfer after all,” the man stated. The crowd went crazy and Ethan mechanically waved and smiled. “AND THAT SPELLS AN END FOR EX-TOA TAHU! HOISTED BY HIS OWN PETARD!” The announcer roared over the noise as Ethan walked back to his lift and began to descend, injecting a stimpack from his pocket for good measure. If Glen is still pissy with me I’m going to be annoyed, Ethan mentally grumbled to himself as he rubbed his perfectly reformed face, it was still rather hot, but not intolerably so. He glanced down at his leg and chest, and found that both his skin and his clothing had repaired themselves. That guy was a bloody amateur... he added to himself with a shake of his head. Someone needs to tell these kids that one fucking gimmick doesn’t make you invincible. It just makes you exploitable. The lift reached the armoury and Ethan deposited his weapons and armour in the right place, not before quickly injecting himself with another two stimpacks to be safe, and then stepped onto the lift to bring him down to the main level.