Panthora Warriors

Chapter 9: Trial by Fire

The next day we got an emergency call from the fire department saying that an outrageous fire had burst out in an apartment home downtown. As soon as I heard the word 'fire' I knew something wasn't right. We got there immediately, and the fire was certainly a blaze, I switched to the water element and got Blake to go inside to rescue any remaining survivors. I extinguished the roaring flames using my hands like fire hoses. The firefighters and the family of the apartment thanked us and we wished them the very best of luck in finding a new home. I asked the family if they had any idea on how the fire started, the mother said that her husband was at work and she was in bed when her daughter said that she had seen a monster igniting the apartment with his hands. I thanked her and we headed back to the den. On the journey back I had an instinctive feeling that that fire wasn't started by accident. In my opinion someone or something had set fire to that apartment.

I went down to the lab to see if I could make something to help us with our investigation. I made a modification to my crystal, I added the ability to track in thermal. If the creature we're trying to find can generate fire, then the amount of heat generated from it should be hot enough to see in thermal imaging. Thermal imaging works a bit differently than our normal eyesight. Many animals like pit vipers and vampire bats use it to seek out prey. It works by a colour scale, black being the coldest and white being the hottest. If my science is correct the creature we're tracking emits fire which should show yellow, orange or red on the thermal scale.

I told the guys the plan and that I would alert them if anything happens. I set out on my own to where the building was burnt down. I scanned the scene for any signs of remaining heat signatures. Eventually I found a trail of oddly shaped footprints. After following them for half an hour the trail ended at a lit cave. "Guys! Get over here now, I'll send you my coordinates!", we armed ourselves and entered the cave. The entire cave floor was covered in scorch marks and along the walls were lit torches, which was peculiar as there weren't any trees to light a fire or torches with. Suddenly my senses felt something approaching the cave, we entered camouflage mode and stood as still as possible. A creature made of lava rock and covered in flames entered the cave, glowing an aluminous orange everywhere he went, his head was a flaming skull and looked like something from a book.

While I was wondering how to fight an enemy that controls fire I saw him step into a puddle in the centre of the cave. Blaze cried out in pain as water to him was like acid to us. Then an idea sprung to mind, I mentally communicated the idea to my team and once we were assured that everyone was on board we exited camouflage mode, making our presence known. We led Blaze deeper into the cave where there were no flammable objects, then we entered camouflage mode again and hid amongst the darkness. Whilst in camouflage mode I switched to the water element (I'd managed to download all the previous elements into my crystal so I could simultaneously switch between elements) and lay in wait for Blaze to come thundering after us. The trap was now set!

We lay in wait until we could see the faint orange glow of Blaze's appearance. He slowly walked through the cave scanning each and every detail of his surroundings. Just as he was about to give up and turn away I blasted him with a jet of water which made him cry out in pain. With every fireball he launched at us I was able to distinguish it. Over and over I blasted him with jets of water weakening and disabling his fire ability. Once he was too weak to regenerate it was more than easy enough to fight him. I activated the elemental circle and finished him. In his place lay a small orange crystal with a flame symbol in its centre. Knowing that it was unfair that I had most of the previous elements I gave the crystal to Shaun knowing that he would use it wisely.