Galileo (Battle of the Species) (15 page)

Two Mathi joined the hunt, reaching Kia, who ran for Desh the moment the animals appeared.

Renn’s jaw dropped, watching Kia spread his wings and fly up into the air. Renn guessed that his wingspan must have been at least fifteen feet across, easily carrying the weight of the Toran’s muscular body. The wings were ink black with a healthy shine to them.
It was beautiful and intimidating at the same time.

With Kia up in the air, Desh started running, but saw Remi heading towards him with two Mathi close behind. Desh turned down another street and ran past Sargus, who was busy fighting off his own tormentor with a brick.

Desh and Remi ran side by side until they heard a squawk and looked up to see Kia pointing where to go. Both Remi and Desh turned down the next street, with Kia flying above them. He looked around as he flew, trying to find something to fight with, but found nothing but small shards of metal in the old buildings, and didn’t seem too enthused about having to get close enough to the animals to use them.

Desh and Remi headed towards a dead end, with half a dozen Mathi closing in on them. The fighters ran closer and closer to the wall, nonetheless, not having anywhere else to go.

“We can scale it,” Desh shouted.

“We won’t make it,” Remi yelled back.

Desh and Remi got to the wall and jumped up twenty feet, two feet short of the top.

Kia flew up behind them, grabbing onto their shoulder pads, and used their momentum to pull them over the brick wall, before flying away.

Remi and Desh fell into an ocean on the other side, plunging into the dark surf. The fighters resurfaced after a few moments and looked up to see Ava’s scoreboard count down from five, four, three, two, one.

On “one,” the buildings and ocean receded back into the white arena floor and their water-soaked clothes dried instantly.

The crowd cheered when Ava announced, “Players have advanced to level two.”

“That was amazing, but I don’t get why they helped the other team,” Renn said. “Kia took Remi over the wall too; I thought they were supposed to kill each other.”

“The game isn’t about killing,” Dylan explained. “It’s about surviving. It gets harder and harder to stay alive the further you advance. So, when you get to level three or four and find yourself against a horde or a swarm, you’ll have to fight twice as many creatures if you’ve already taken out the other team. You have to be strategic about it. Kill your opponent too soon, and you may win the battle, but won’t have enough points to win the game. Get it?”

“Yeah, that’s cool,” Renn said.

After a one (Federation) minute break, Ava announced, “The planet is Litralle,” and orange glass structures rose from the ground with the fighters standing in a market place. When the city finished rising, iridescent aliens, with elongated bodies,
rose from the ground, frozen in time.

“Fighters, prepare,” Ava forewarned.

Renn watched wide-eyed, never having seen anything like it. The fighters walked around while Renn studied the simulation, noticing that it was centered in the middle of the arena, creating a bowl out of the image. Inside the bowl, it appeared to be a complete encompassing image, where the fighters could only see the long stretch of the orange city past the marketplace, blocking any sign of the audience. From Renn’s perspective, he could see the stretch of city past the marketplace, but only to the other side of the arena, otherwise seeing the stands until they disappeared behind the other side of the bowl.

“Fighters, choose your weapons,” Ava said.

The teams whispered and Renn looked up to the scoreboard, noting which weapons the fighters chose vs. their advantages.

Weapon

Desh                            None

Kia                              Toran bow/Arrows dipped in Baylorblood

Remi                            I-30 laser machine gun

Sargus 29                    I-30 laser machine gun

Desh, though not choosing a weapon, had all of his advantages enabled including Mindeerian fire (his electricity blasts), telekinesis, and telepathy.

“The game will begin in five, four, three, two, one,” Ava said.

On “one,” the hundreds of opalescent aliens walked around through the market place, causing the fighters to hop this way and that in an attempt to get out of the way.

“Are they going to have to fight all of them?” Renn asked.

“No, the white aliens are Trinidations, which are an incredibly passive species. See, not all of the species are bad. It’s part of the game. If you kill a dangerous species, you gain points, kill a good one, you lose points, save a good one from a bad one and you gain
a lot
of points,” Dylan explained.

Renn watched Desh and Kia wave to the passerby, prompting Ava to award them 200 points for acknowledging the Trinidations as a friendly species. Remi and Sargus walked around; looking for the dangerous aliens, while Desh and Kia gave the impression they were browsing, using the other team as bait.

Once Remi and Sargus disappeared around the corner, Desh and Kia ventured out a little further. Desh saw a family of Trinidations freeze and scatter from where they stood.

They’re coming,
Renn heard Desh project to Kia.

Kia followed Desh’s gaze and took out an arrow, as Desh walked to the other side of the street.

What do you hear?
Kia thought.

There are a lot of them. I don’t recognize the language,
Desh replied.

Renn heard Remi scream in pain and glanced up to the scoreboard to see that he had been terminated behind one of the buildings. The crowd booed, annoyed they weren’t able to see the first death of the school year.

Trinidations scattered, running from the marketplace in search of places to hide. Desh held his palms forward, when the sound of galloping could be heard approaching.

Kia pulled back on his bow, aiming for the street.

I didn’t hear any blasts when Remi died. You think they have guns?
Kia asked.

Doubt it. Go up and take a look,
Desh projected.

With that, Kia jumped into the air, spreading his large wings, and hovered above the city.
I see them
, he thought and looked up at the scoreboard.
They’re Ottens.

Renn looked up to the board and curled his lip at the picture of an ugly brown beast with horns that protruded out of its forehead, curving below its pointy ears. It was the five eyes that made the shape of a “W” in the middle of its face though, that made the animal look so bizarre to Renn.

They’ve only got machetes, but there are a lot of them,
Kia thought, firing arrows into the enemy.
Desh, get out of there! They’re coming straight for you!

Desh took off, sprinting in the opposite direction, when dozens of brown humanoid figures turned the corner. The Ottens rode towards them on
another species with matted black hair, flaming red eyes, and four massive legs. The Ottens grunted as they rode, whipping their machetes around and slicing any Trinidation that had yet to hide. They caught a glimpse of Desh and all took off in a gallop after him with Kia following from the air, taking them out, one by one.

They’re almost on you, turn around!
Kia thought.

Desh stopped in his tracks, turned around, and created a large wall of energy, causing the Ottens to collide with it. The enemy fell, disoriented.

Kia and Desh took advantage of their disorientation and discharged a hail of arrows and lightning, lowering the numbers by a third.

More are coming. Keep moving,
Kia instructed, looking around the city. When Kia looked back to Desh, Desh was no longer in sight. Kia looked up at the scoreboard to see that Desh was still alive, and flew down to take a closer look.

Renn considered projecting to Kia that Desh had run inside a building, but thought that might be cheating, and left Kia searching for his friend, as Renn sat on the edge of his seat.

Where are you?
Kia thought, hesitating to land.

The enemy stopped under Kia, looking around.

Kia, get in here!
Desh projected from a building.

Kia flew down, crashing into a second floor window, and disappeared.

The students around Renn groaned.

“Don’t tell me they’re gonna hide for the rest of the level,” Rudy whined.

“What kind of building did they run into?” Renn asked, noticing an insignia above the doorway.

“I think it’s a police station,” Dylan replied. “There won’t be any police in BOTS, but there should be weapons and equipment they can take.”

After a few seconds, the crowd became antsy and yelled, “Fight, fight, fight, fight…”

At that moment, Desh and Kia shot out of the building riding separate Trinidation hover-monocrafts, and flew past the angry riders, kicking a couple of them in the head and knocking them off their steed, in defiance.

The crowd screamed and cheered at the players’ feistiness, while the horned creatures galloped after the fighters, along the city streets, in hot pursuit.

Renn watched, dying for the chance to ride a Trinidation monocraft, which rode like the hover-bikes on Earth, but were designed for the rider to lie forward, so a Toran like Kia could ride it without bending any feathers.

Desh and Kia carried large shotguns that created green balls of explosions. The boom from the shotguns was earsplitting, but no one could take their eyes off the lime green spheres zooming through the air.

 “Awww,” Renn said, watching Desh pass Sargus, thereby leading the enemy right to him.

Desh and Kia slammed on their brakes and turned the monocrafts around. “Come on!” Desh yelled, putting his hand out for Sargus.

Sargus ran for Desh, but two Ottens, swinging their machetes, overtook him. The blade went high into the air and came down, taking Sargus’ arm with it before Kia was able to fire off a shot, killing one of the riders.

Desh fired a bolt of lightning, hitting the second Otten in the chest. The rider, and the beast beneath it, shuddered as the light crackled around them and they fell to the ground, dead.

Sargus’ stub healed in seconds, but not in time for him to avoid the pain. Sargus screamed in agony, “Ava, eliminate the pain!”

“Pain eliminated,” Ava complied, deducting 1,000 points from his score.

“Why didn’t Desh or Kia ask for the pain to be eliminated? What’s the point of letting Sargus suffer?” Renn asked.

“They couldn’t,” Dylan replied. “You can only eliminate pain for yourself and your teammate, because you lose points if you turn the pain off. It’s best to try and bear it, but if you lose a limb, you’ve got no choice. You either lose the points or hope to die to make the pain stop. It won’t always hurt though. If someone strikes a fatal blow, Ava will eliminate the pain without penalty.”

Sargus stopped yelling and visibly relaxed. He stood up, grabbed his large laser gun with the other arm, and turned around towards the pack running towards them. Kia, Desh, and Sargus fired together, but the enemy finally reached Sargus once again, and aimed for his neck.

Renn cringed when Sargus went down and watched as the fighters and the predators took off, leaving Sargus’ body in the dirt. “What happens when a fighter dies?” Renn asked, disturbed by the sight of the Zeanup’s headless body.

“Well, from the fighter’s perspective, every hologram in the room disappears and they’re just standing in a plain white simulation room full of people. For that moment, you see everything as it really is. It snaps you back to reality really fast, which is cool if you just experienced a brutal death,” Dylan explained. “See, there he is,” he said, pointing to the holding tank.

Renn looked over and saw Sargus step out into the fighter’s tank, limbs intact, and grab a drink of water, as if being decapitated were a normal occurrence. Renn laughed and shook his head.
This is so much better than baseball
, he thought.

Renn turned back to the fighters, watching Desh speed up and turn a corner, out of view.

Kia slowed down and continued straight ahead.

The beasts followed Kia, gaining on their enemy, and followed the Toran to the edge of a cliff, where he rode until he was no longer above solid ground.

Kia flew up into the air as the monocraft tumbled to the rocky gully far below, exploding when it hit the rocks. He turned around, watching the enemy stop at the edge of the cliff.

The Ottens cursed and spit at the flying boy they were unable to reach. They heard a whistle and turned around to see Desh grin and display his palms.

The Ottens charged, but were met by another force field that pushed them back off the cliff, one by one.

Kia looked up to the sky, where the scoreboard hovered in the clouds, and watched Ava add hundreds of points at a steady pace.

Ava ended the level after the five minutes were up, and Desh and Kia advanced to the next level alone.

They had a difficult time surviving level three though, not having the other team to help them take on the horde of six armed and four legged beasts that attacked them. The enemy threw hundreds of thin shards of rocks in the shape of daggers at an alarming pace.

Desh’s electricity and force fields were already in use when another dagger was thrown — aimed for Desh’s chest. Kia, however, jumped in front of him, blocking the dagger with his own body.

Kia looked down at the shard buried deep inside his chest and pulled it out. Crimson blood slowly trickled from his mouth before he fell to his knees, and then to the ground, dead.

Desh froze in horror when Kia went down and the crowd fell silent, watching torment and rage streaked across the remaining player’s face.

“Oh my gawd,” Renn said, watching Desh’s eyes turn black. Waves of energy surrounded the Mindeerian while crackling streams of light emitted with ferocious vengeance. He massacred another flood of attackers, proving to be the most formidable player that day.