Alkalians (19 page)

***

Terrified from the surprise attacks,
along with the crowd backing farther away, he can’t understand how
his armor didn’t absorb the spell. He has no time to think more of
it as Matt is upon him again, the large broadsword of black energy
raised in his left hand. Cain meekly raises his shield to defend
himself, but it fails again as Matt swings his sword low below it,
severing Cain’s arm and leaving an orange stump where his upper arm
and shield used to be.

In growing desperation after gawking
at his severed arm, Cain tries lashing up at Matt with his own
sword, only to have Matt’s deflect it before he rams its point
through Cain’s wrist, pinning him to the floor. Looking at himself,
then to Matt, who has a right-armed gun pointed at him, Cain’s
expression pales with fear. Without a word, his dark violet eyes
glowing fiercely, Matt shoots a bullet into the big, glowing target
on Cain’s chest. A massive splash of red springs out like an
eruption of liquid, and it turns out to be the demorph flash as the
human Cain lies crumpled on his side, beaten to the
ground.

***

Sean and the rest of the
audience are speechless. Matt, turning away from Cain, demorphs and
shouts up to the crowd around the pit, his words coming from a fury
in him he never knew he had. “Let this be a lesson to anyone who
thinks, just because I’m a freshman and different from you all,
that they can bully or torment me. That is
not
going to happen to me. We are
all students at this college, and no one is any better than the
other, no matter what our class, background, or battle morphs are.
No one has the right to tell me I’m inferior to them, to treat me
as such, and I will defend my right to attend this college without
living in fear of my fellow students.”

Pointing a finger at Cain,
Matt adds, “And, to his mistake, the rumors about me are true.
I
am
a Dark
Warrior. However, I don’t believe that makes me any better than the
rest of you. It’s what makes me an individual among you, it’s my
own special ability, and I will live with it. I no longer care what
any of you think about me. I will do whatever I have to at this
college to move on and succeed, and no one is going to make it any
harder for me!”

While the crowd is silenced by his
declaration, the machine by the wall announces, “The prize money
will be rewarded to two individuals, 2,500 marcs each.” Nobody
moves to collect the money, looking around as they wonder who was
the guy that bet for Matt.

Cain snarls toward Matt
while getting back on his feet, “How
dare
you speak like that, you
obnoxious little brat! I am a senior, and you are a freshman, which
means you are anything
but
equal to me! I know more than you, I’m more
mature than you, I’m…”

He is interrupted from a holler within
the crowd, and Sean comes prancing down the pit’s slope. “B.Y.O.B.
Bring your own BOOYAH! You did it, Matt! You beat the pants off
that wretched senior and scored us a jackpot!” Sean’s celebration
ruins the heat of the moment, and everyone stares as he shakes a
startled Matt and continues bouncing around in the pit. “We’re
rich, we’re rich! We’re swimming in sweet moolah…”

“
Shut up when I’m
talking!!” snaps Cain. He grows ever more furious when Sean ignores
him and keeps dancing about, so he growls back at Matt, “You’ll
regret this, you little punk! If you think I’ll let you take over
the school, as I’m sure you’re up to, you are sorely mistaken! I’ll
have my revenge, and when I’m done, you will never cross me again!”
He then stomps out of the pit, shoving past students who cringe
away from him.

Matt looks on after him, his passion
vanishing as quickly as it appeared, and Sean comes over and says
to him, “Ah, don’t worry about that sore loser, for now at least.
Let’s go get our prize money, find Rose, and get out of here. I
think this has been enough excitement for one night!”

***

A few minutes later, Matt, Sean, and
Rose are walking toward the casino entrance, intending to leave and
call it a night. Matt has finished telling Rose what happened at
the pit arena while Sean is hauling the suitcase of prize money
beside him. He mentions, “Well, if we win this much money every
night, I better just keep it in my cooler!”

Rose grimaces as she says, “Wait a
minute. So, if Matt offended such a guy like Cain, won’t he be in
big trouble?”

“
Maybe. But who cares?
Matt knocked Cain off his high horse, which means people will start
asking themselves who should
really
be feared around here. As long as Matt keeps
doing what he’s doing, he will become a student elite in no
time!”

“
And what about Cain, or
the other boss students?” asks Matt.

“
Oh, he’ll probably send
his cronies after you, but that’s nothing to worry about,”
reassures Sean. “As for the others, I don’t know. One of them,
especially Lyn, may come up and shake your hand in congratulations.
But if you could smoke Cain like you did tonight, some thugs of his
will be no problem at all!”

The group of three exit through the
large doors into a night lit only by stars above. Once they are out
of the casino’s light, a voice calls from the darkness nearby,
“Halt.” They turn around, looking in the direction the voice came
from, and see three young men in black tuxedo suits, each one
wearing a dark pair of sunglasses. The strangers march over to
them, and the one in front removes his glasses to reveal big green
eyes upon a lean face with black hair. He speaks with a sense of
authority. “Where are your passes?”

Confused, Matt asks, “Uh, what?
Passes? What passes?”

The stranger explains, “All students
using the casino must have passes for entering and exiting with won
money, as it helps keep tally on money brought out and how often a
student comes to the casino. So, your passes, please.”

“
And who are you to
inquire?” asks Rose with a small growl.

The man glares at her before saying,
“I am Tony, captain of the casino security officers, who help make
sure the casino’s environment stays stable, organized, and without
any trouble, which means we must make sure no one takes money
without a pass.”

Matt and Rose look to each other in
confusion, but Sean speaks up, “It’s okay, guys, I’ll handle this.”
He sets down the suitcase, walks up to Tony, and gets close with a
cool, confident stare. He says, “As I’ve learned from experience,
and from asking the professors about it myself, there are no such
passes required for students coming to the casino. We don’t need
passes.”

Tony tries leering down Sean, saying,
“Are you calling me a liar?”

“
Why, no! But I am
pointing out how silly this whole situation is. If all students are
supposed to have casino passes, then how come I never see anybody
with one, and why do you student officers only ask the freshmen for
them? It’s because we freshmen don’t know any better, so you can
steal our money while making it look more like
confiscating.”

Tony huffs and says, “You must be Sean
Wyseinburg, correct? You have a history of causing trouble in the
casino. Getting wildly drunk, cheating on bets, and harassing the
women. So my guess is you cheated on getting all that money, and
now you were trying to leave before being suspected of…”

Instead of getting angry at Tony’s
accusation, Sean bursts out laughing and says, “Oh, you poor
fellow, what jealous hater told you that? Ask the guys always
playing in the gambling hall, and you’ll find that, even though I
win many of the games, I never cheat. If you were to ask the bar
tenders, you would find I only drink one alcoholic beverage per
night, so I couldn’t possibly get roaring drunk. And you should
know that the women don’t think me a nuisance, but actually enjoy
my company and antics. I’m sorry, ol’ chap, but it seems you have
been greatly misinformed.”

Tony’s nostrils flare as he snorts.
Not giving up on getting the money, he says, “If you’re asking for
a fight, I would warn you I’m strongly considering it. And besides,
rumor has it you aren’t so hot in a battle. Now stop making this
complicated and just…”

“
What’s wrong, Tony?
Getting cranky because I’m not so stupid anymore? This attempt to
take cash off defenseless little freshmen a bit tougher? Are you
really still afraid of Cain, after his humiliating defeat tonight?
I would think you don’t need to do his dirty work anymore. I mean,
if a freshman can beat him, what could he do to you? If you ask me,
I think he’s losing his touch, and this would be the perfect
opportunity to…”

“
Betraying a boss student
is a fool’s idea!” snaps Tony. Catching himself and suppressing his
anger, he then says, “Speaking of that, I should interrogate this
‘freshman’ friend of yours.” He turns his conniving eyes to Matt
and asks, “How do we even know he’s a student here? No freshman
could ever be skilled enough to take down a senior.”

“
Oh, so when I insult your
silly allegiance to a broken boss, you have to shift your wrath on
somebody else? First you’re some wise guy investigator, then a
desperate liar, and now a bypassing coward?” Sean shakes his head,
seeming to pity him. “Tsk tsk, that’s not very sporting of you.
Your argument’s with me, not him, so stop throwing your improvised
accusations and rules around just because I’m telling the truth and
you can’t prove otherwise. After all, it could save you some
breath.”

Tony turns red with frustration.
Whipping back to Sean, he growls, “Are you challenging my
authority? I’m captain of the casino guards, and nobody tells me
that I’m wrong in my work!”

“
Nobody until now. And
besides, your claim of being the captain is also quite silly. You
and your buddies are merely student-elected assistants to
the
real
guards
around here, who don’t appreciate this thuggish behavior of yours.
Anyways, I suggest we just drop the whole subject here and all
depart before someone does something quite regrettable. You could
tell Cain that you just missed us and were unable to get the money
without making a scene, and…”

“
You
dare
suggest I lie to Cain!?” Tony
morphs, and out of the flash comes a pale humanoid with decaying
skin, ragged clothes, and haunting eyes, which startles Matt and
Rose. “We’ve no choice,” the Zombie informs his fellow officers,
“but to use force to get that money and put these freshmen in their
place!”

“
Ah, sir,” responds one of
the officers, “we have company.” He points back at the casino,
where a crowd of interested spectators gathers, including a couple
of actual school officers.

Sean laughs in his victory while Tony
grimaces, before saying, “Well, you’ll never get our money now, but
since you already morphed, how about a battle? You versus me, a
nice clean duel. Think of it as an easy and quick way to relieve
your rage.”

Matt, Rose, and the student officers
are shocked from Sean’s challenge. Tony, however, turns back to
make sure he’s being serious, then grins with rotting teeth and
nods. As Sean follows him into a clear field, Rose calls after
them, “Sean! Are you sure you can fight him?”

Before Sean morphs, he turns to answer
with a thumbs-up and a gleaming grin. When he morphs, the crowd
joins Matt and Rose as an audience for the fight. One of the
students mentions, “Man, of all the guys to pick a fight with, Sean
chose one of the worst.”

“
What do you mean?” asks
Matt.

“
Well, Tony’s not only a
senior, but, you notice his morph? Except for the peeling flesh, he
doesn’t look so bad, right?”

“
Right.”

“
Yeah, but you would make
a big mistake underestimating him. That Zombie morph is more of a
magic user, and his spells can be quite nasty. Especially the one
where, if his opponent has any damage on him, he can literally
drain the health energy out of him!”

“
He could suck out his
health?” asks Rose.

“
Yeah, so, if Sean gets at
least a scratch on him, the battle might as well be
over.”

Exchanging concerned glances, Matt and
Rose can only watch and hope for Sean’s well-being in the nighttime
duel about to begin.

***

As Sean and Tony stare at each other
across the plain, Tony yells to him, “I always thought you dread
fighting, all because you never figured out your powers. As far as
I can tell, you still haven’t discovered them. So, since you’re so
eager to humiliate yourself, you may strike first. Give me your
best shot!”

Sean smiles and replies, “How could I
resist such a generous offer? As you wish!” He starts shifting the
air about him, floats off the ground, and takes off towards Tony
like a rocket.

Tony is not impressed since any
Alkalian should be able to air balance. He keeps his position,
waiting for Sean to screw up in some attempt to attack. Sean
rapidly approaches him, his legs moving like he is rollerblading on
air, until he somehow trips and starts tumbling across the ground.
While Tony sneers at what he expected, Matt, Rose, and the audience
sigh from Sean’s mess-up.