This tunnel was still rock, but lined with gems that sparkled in colors of green, red, blue, and purple. We all knew these were precious gems, but we didn’t try to pry any lose. We were still thinking about what had just happened. I could not get the voice of the dragon out of my head.
Eventually we came to a place where we saw a brighter light. This time the light was not red, but looked more natural. We walked faster.
The dim light got brighter and it looked like there was fog at the end of the tunnel ahead. A minute later we could see out the mouth of the cave and there was sky and ocean and a warm breeze rushed up to meet us. We were at the edge of the island; the very place we wanted to go. We were free!
We came out upon a rocky slope. “What do we do now?” asked Tracy.
I laughed. “I don’t know,” I said. Then I sat down with my feet hanging out over the rocks below, confused and tired. I sat looking at the beauty of the ocean and took a deep breath. An evening fog was coming off the ocean and sunlight was beaming down in patches. We had spent all day on the run. As I admired the view, the others sat down and rested with me.
Chapter 19: The great battle
Guido was the first one to break the silence, “What’s that down there?”
Out in the ocean I saw something long and black under the surface. At first glance I imagined it must be a whale because of its size, but it didn’t look quite right. There was no tail and it was not moving as I would expect. Then I realized I was looking at the top of a submarine. It must have been bigger than a football field. It surfaced and through a hatch in the top came Brock. He was alive! He waved to us and I could tell he was smiling.
“He made it!” said Guido.
“They got our message!” yelled Tracy.
We began to rapidly climb down the slope. There were large tan boulders for a little while which ended in white sand. When we finally did get to the bottom, Brock came out to meet us. He stood on the shore in a tight green shirt that looked like he could rip it if he just flexed, and he was still smiling.
“Hey kids,” he said as we got closer. “You didn’t think I’d leave you, did you?”
“Thanks Brock,” I said.
“But how did you get help?” asked Tracy.
“You called for a rescue, didn’t you?” he said.
Speaking into an almost invisible headset he was wearing, he yelled, “Okay, men. Set it up!” Men prepared equipment all up and down the beach, getting it from the sub and putting it together quickly and efficiently.
“I hate to break it to you,” said Brock “but we’re not home yet. We brought the war to you.”
“War?” asked Guido, who must have been somewhere behind me.
“The description in your message made it clear we needed to take action soon. I’d say get in, but I’m not sure it’s any safer in there than out here. And who wants to be trapped in a metal tube under water?”
I was bone tired and just wanted to lay down and take a nap.
“Okay, what can I do?” said Guido.
“Glad you asked, Guido,” said Brock. “The thing is, you are our secret weapon.”
“How’s that?” he asked.
“You are virtually invisible,” said Brock. “That means no one will see you if you sneak up on them. If you see a problem, you take it out. Kind of like a sniper, but without the high powered gun.”
“Any chance I can get a gun?”
“That would take away your advantage,” said Brock. “They’d see you for sure.”
“Okay, big guy,” said Guido. “Secret weapon, that’s me.”
“Tracy,” said Brock. “Do you have that whole fire thing mastered?”
“Better,” she said. “What do you. . .”
And that was when the planes came. “Incoming!” yelled Brock into his headset. So much for our reunion.
Three explosions happened almost immediately on my left and machine gun fire whizzed by also on my left. Brock was shouting orders, which I couldn’t hear because of the noise of the bombs and fire. I found that I had dropped to my knees with the first explosions, but Brock grabbed me by the arm and lifted me up.
He tried to yell something to me as he pointed to a long black metal tube, but I couldn’t hear. There was a loud ringing in my ears, punctuated by more explosions.
Brock put a meter long rocket in my hands and pointed to a box of them behind him. It was a bazooka and ammo. I’d seen them in old movies. More explosions, two, just in front of us. It scared me to death! At first I closed my eyes, but then felt Brock shake me. He pointed again to the rockets. The one in my hand had fallen to the ground.
I looked up just in time to see that there were already dozens of robots, scurrying like giant spiders with heads suspended above their legs, running down the slope and they were firing guns. Bullets hit all around me. How could I still be alive?
Then one exploded in front of us. I had barely seen the streak of the rocket that must have come from Brock. He was already reaching back and grabbing another out of the box, and I did nothing.
A plane buzzed lower over our heads and more machine gun fire, but much of it seemed aimed at the sub and those just getting out.
Two men fell off the sub, hit, and splashed into the water which turned red where they landed.
Behind the robots, enemy soldiers were charging down the bank. Then more and more until there were probably well over a hundred. They fired and ran like mad men.
How could I still be alive?
Three soldiers who charged us had their pants instantly combust and they dropped to the ground and rolled in any sand or dirt they could find. I didn’t even know where Tracy was.
Another explosion behind me too close to the box, and now I couldn’t close my eyes. Now I had to see what was going to happen!
Brock launched another rocket that blew up one spider robot, which in turn blew up the one next to it. Soldiers ran on past it and now an enormous explosion to our right erupted and sand and water sprayed down on us.
How am I alive in all this? I thought.
Looking to my right I could see two men down, probably dead, while another was moving slowly, rocking back and forth. Then even closer to me than those men (how could I have missed it?) Han was kneeling and making paper airplanes, with four or five already circling overhead on their own, and as he looked up, his face wore an expression of perfect calm. Like he does this every day.
He finished making another plane and sent it up with the rest and then pointed his finger, like a wizard in old books, and the planes all zoomed off in the sky.
In front of me again Brock was firing another rocket. This one hit one robot that was almost directly in front of us, and smashed it back to hit another before both exploded. Now there were fewer robots on the beach, but they were upon us, and I knew I was dead.
I could see Brock shouting orders through his headset and reloading, but I still couldn’t hear anything except ringing in my ears and explosions. And I thought more of Han and his perfect calm.
A robot came toward us from the right and towered over me. This was it.
I prepared myself to die and realized I didn’t know how. Something slammed into the top section of the robot, knocking its head sideways. It tried to correct itself but as it did, it was hit again and again. Finally its spindly neck was permanently bent. As I watched, its head bent toward me and I could see a paper airplane repeatedly smashing into its head. But how could that be? It was only paper.
As the robot crashed to the ground a few feet away from me I heard more shots high above and I looked up and saw the jets in some sort of dogfight, but what they were fighting seemed invisible. A jet had fire coming out from one engine and then it just exploded. A parachute was falling from the plane.
Now there were only two more robots further down the beach on my right, and soldiers were peppering them with machine gun fire.
Enemy soldiers were now fighting many of our men hand to hand or with gun
s at close range. One ran up to us from my left, but Brock was too busy reloading the bazooka. I prepared to defend myself or die and as I finally stood to my feet, the man just crumpled to the ground in front of me. Something touched me on my shoulder and I jerked around to fight, but it was Guido. In his right hand was a bloody big rock. He smiled and then ran on.
I looked ahead at Brock who was sweating and breathing hard. He was grabbing his right shoulder and his shirt had a bloody patch running down his back.
Then I heard two explosions above me and saw two more planes in flames going down. One crashed into the hill in front of us, but when I saw this I was amazed at how few soldiers were left on the enemy’s side. There were no robots, and no planes overhead.
Three more soldiers who were fighting with our men had their pants catch on fire and they dropped to the ground.
Further to my left an enemy soldier just fell to the ground for no apparent reason, and then another and then another. Guido.
And then it was over. We were the only ones left, a lot fewer than we’d hoped, but we won. And I had done nothing. I looked over and there was Han, still on his knees, smiling.
Chapter 20: I completely lose control
Brock gave orders on his radio while the men got their gear together and were already marching out and up to the top of the hill. As I was climbing up a rock, Brock came up behind me and put his hand on my shoulder, “Hey, don’t let the past push you. Ignore what happened and start over.” I could barely hear him above the ringing in my ears.
We crested the hill with the sun before us on the horizon. I was thinking about what Brock said when I saw in front of us a large army of animals and students who were waiting at the top. I looked up at Han and he looked at me, “These must be the animals we saw earlier,” I said. “Where’s Hayasa?”
Before I realized what I was seeing, a streak of barking fur raced past me. He yelped and in general disturbed many of the animals faced against us. Animals tend to get scared easily, and these were no different. Hayasa caused such a disturbance that many of those controlling the animals were trying desperately to calm them down. Hayasa raced around and around them, kicking up dust and dirt as he ran.
A loud roar went up from their army. At the center, a boy with dark hair and a stern expression was riding on the back of the tiger that had entered my training room earlier. It was Derek. The tiger had no fear of Hayasa and had no fear of us. I wondered if he had the kind of gift Hayasa had. If so, we were in trouble.
But now I figured out Derek’s gift; he was able to control animals. That’s why Derek was never concerned with having a tiger in our practice room.
Derek yelled and those who had control of their animals ran toward us screaming. A boy was riding an Elephant. The elephant ran right through our soldiers and our weapons like running through a grass field, men falling left and right. Then it disappeared for a few seconds and reappeared. An invisible elephant? Two eagles flying close together lifted up a man next to me and carried him off. I ducked and ran for cover.
Our men opened fire. Animals fell wounded or dead all around me. It was a slaughter! They might have been fast or invisible at times or have other strange gifts, but they were not bulletproof. It was kind of sad in a way, but if we didn’t fight them they were out to kill us, and some of our men were still dead before the end.
There were two who were not such an easy target: Derek and the tiger. Together they seemed bulletproof. Nothing we threw at them made a difference. Anyone who got near them were trampled or run over. Derek was riding on some kind of saddle. Then I thought of something. If we could unlatch the saddle so it fell off, then he would fall off. We could do this. I knew we could.
I found Tracy. I told her of my idea and she nodded. Most of the battlefield was quieting down except Derek and the tiger. As the tiger came near us to pounce again, I saw Tracy close her eyes. But before she could finish, the tiger charged her, knocking her down. It stood over her with its teeth near her throat. Without a thought in my head, I screamed and ran at the tiger. Not my friends! I felt the anger I had felt earlier and it was unleashed.
Derek and the tiger turned toward me, surprised. I knew I didn’t have any weapon, I had no combat experience, and now I was going up against a bulletproof tiger, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care about any of it because I was mad. I ran screaming like a crazy person. As I did so, the tiger got off of Tracy and turned toward me.
“Noooo!” I was clearly out of control. “I’m gonna feed you to my dog!” I screamed. The anger had built up and now I couldn’t control it and I was going to get myself killed. I was just a few steps away when I realized something, I was about to die. And I remembered Han. I wished I felt the same calm. At least I will have saved one person.
Tracy was starting to sit up. I took the last two running leaps and then something weird happened. Derek, who had been on top of the tiger just fell off the other side. I crashed into the side of the tiger, who ignored me. I bounced off, but not like you would bounce off a soft animal. Because of this animal’s gift, he did not feel soft but like iron. When I hit the side of the tiger it was like hitting a tank. It seemed to happen in slow motion. First my arm crumpled beneath me, then my right knee hit it and bounced back, but because of my momentum I kept going. My shoulder and chest hit at the same time as the side of my face. I was lucky that I had been turning sideways with my head or I would have broken my nose. When my face hit the side, the pain finally registered.
I actually heard a crack as I hit. I hoped this was not my skull. I remember something odd here, I was falling back to the ground and I was probably already going unconscious. I could see the blue of the sky with some wisps of fog and I could tell I was falling. I thought I might hit my head again on the ground but I could not do anything to stop it. The odd thing I noticed was that the tiger came over to me and I could feel his breath on my face. He did not roar, but he smiled, if a tiger can smile. Then he just panted and as he looked at my face, he drooled on me. It was really quite gross, but it was better than being eaten.
A moment later he began to lick my face.
Soon after, I could see Tracy’s shoe and her jeans. She said, “There, there,” but she was not saying it to me. I think she was petting the tiger. With a tiger licking my face and Tracy petting the tiger and saying “there, there,” I lost consciousness.
Chapter 21: The end of the battle
I was out for a few minutes. I don’t even know what happened. One moment I was hitting the side of the tiger with my body and the next I was sitting down on a rock drinking tea and mumbling something about SpongeBob while Tracy was standing next to me. She didn’t say anything but just looked at me like I was some rare fish, and then she grabbed me in a bear hug. For a minute I couldn’t breathe. I wondered if I was going to pass out. I thought, oh great, I survive a fight with a tiger just long enough to be killed by my friend.
Then she let go and walked away like it didn’t happen. I do not understand girls.
I looked around and saw the battlefield. Dead and wounded animals and people scattered all over the plain. But no one was fighting anymore. I asked about this and the man nearest to me said, “For some, once the trainers were dead or at least wounded, the animals just went back to being animals. They lost any desire to attack.”
“What about the tiger?” I asked.
“He’s still around, but no longer dangerous.”
“But how did Derek just fall off?” I asked. “I don’t get it. What happened?”
“You mean the guy on the tiger?” he asked. I nodded.
“Didn’t you see the smoke?” said Han. He was walking up to me. “The saddle strap just burned away and the saddle with the boy fell off.” Then I understood. While I was distracting the tiger, Tracy had used her gift to burn away the saddle strap.
“But what about Derek?” I said.
“I saw him hit the ground and get up,” said Han. “He ran toward the empty cages and two eagles flew
by. He reached up his hands and they carried him off.”
“He can do that?” I said. I didn’t have long to contemplate this, because I heard Brock yell out somewhere in the field, “Okay men, it’s show time!” He talked into his radio again, giving more orders.
Show time? I thought we were done here.
Across the field we saw the students coming out, almost in a kind of “V” formation. It’s strange to say now, but I was almost excited. Even knowing I might be about to die, I wanted to see what they could do. Like I said earlier, I’m curious.
Guido whispered from somewhere to my left, “It’s the Mixed Arts group.” Then the students all took hands and I heard a sound like the roar of a raging wind. “Uh oh,” said Guido.
“We’re in so much trouble,” said Tracy. There was a slight breeze from the ocean at first. It was playful, like on a nice visit to the beach. But then it grew. Small rocks started to roll and sand was cast into the air. Then I could see the gun of the man next to me fly out of his hand and over the heads of the others. I put both my arms around the nearest tree. I felt something small hit me and something cold was on my neck. Then I realized there was snow or ice in the wind. But it must have been 85 degrees out here!
A minute later and all the men were down on their faces trying to keep from being blown away. I was concerned for Guido since he was the lightest of us all. “Guido,” I said. “Where are you?”
But I didn’t have time to get an answer and he probably wouldn’t have heard me anyway. The ice was freezing along with the heavy arctic wind. I was shivering and holding on as tight as I could. I knew I couldn’t hold on too long like this.
I turned to see the students responsible for this, but they were not affected at all. It was the strangest thing, but even their hair was not messed up by the wind, as if the wind had no affect on them.
Finally, the wind died down and we all breathed heavily.
***
We stood up, not sure what would happen next. The kids who had been holding hands collapsed, tired out by the effort of creating the blizzard. Behind them something else was stirring.
More fog had arisen now, hiding the sun, and it was hard to see anything distant. There appeared faint outlines of a group of men coming toward us. I figured it must be an army, but as they got nearer something didn’t look right. Finally, I noticed, they were not adults at all, they were more kids. These were the kids we had trained with. They were the Focused Arts kids.