Sands of Destiny: Five Lights Appear

Chapter 22: The Last Test Begins

There they stood in the middle of the training field. On one side stood the remains of the last generation of great wranglers, teaming up for the first time in decades. On the other stood the new wave, teaming up for their first time ever. Medikus stood in the middle of his team across from Aux. He smiled confidently.

"Are you ready for this, kid?!"

Medikus drew his sword.

"We are ready, Master Aux!"

And without another word, Aux and Medikus clashed violently, causing sparks to fly. The others froze for a second being cautious to be the first to follow up the ace's attack. Igneous and Glacio inched forward, setting up Ash to put their plan in motion. Black rings appeared underneath everyone except Aux and Medikus.

"Step one: Divide! She set everyone to face their mirror match. Myself to fight Glacio, Kruise to fight master Frixius, and Trista to fight Natura. That leaves Dormia, the smartest of us to debunk Igneous's true power. Meanwhile all we need to do is conserve our awakened trigger abilities."

At the corners of the field Dormia sunk the sand to create triangular prism rooms. As Ash separated them, she covered the top with a ceiling of deadly, downward facing spikes. On que lightning struck, turning all the sand spike roofs into pure glass. Dormia was even smart enough to add air vents to each room, so that Trista could sense how the others were holding up. Ash looked up at Glacio with a smirk.

"Fighting fire with fire kid, I must say, I'm impressed."

—

Frixus smirked.

"So a battle between two rain Triggers, this will be interesting. An unexpected plan indeed. But..."

—

Trista smiled at Natura, anxious to fight her idol. Natura looked worried?

"Whose decision was it to have Dormia fight our other ace?"

—

Igneous stared blankly at Dormia.

"You chose to fight me?"

Dormia stared back with an undying will in her eyes.

"That's a really bad choice!"

"Who were you expecting then?!"

"Ash, the one I believe is your second strongest fighter."

"You underestimate us... we are all worthy to be a second ace on this team. We all are equally important to this team, because we all have something the others don't."

"Well, I do love the confidence, however, I'm afraid I'll be going all out, so you'd better have the something that it takes to beat me!"

Black lightning flared around Igneous instantly, giving off a mysterious light. Dormia smirked.

"You've already fallen into our trap..."

"Now I just have to break you dow..."

Dormia gasped for air. She looked up to the fear inducing site of Igneous the Dark, the man who single handedly freed the Lost Sands. The speed of his attack completely took her by surprise.

"Wanna know something?! I'm just as strong as Medikus was when he almost killed Master Frixus! And Aux is much stronger! Talk isn't gonna get you anywhere kid, you have to show me what you can do!"

Dormia flipped off of the ground, and stood, bracing herself.

"Calm down, first I have to find his power, and then how to exploit it!"

Dormia grabbed at Igneous with a large pink claw of sand. Igneous stood still, and the claw collapsed on contact with his black lightning, as if it were refusing to touch him. Dormia jumped back, making sure to keep her guard up. Igneous stood there, waiting for the next attack. Dormia smirked, then sent a wave of plain sand at Igneous. He stood there without a single worry, not even noticing Dormia's fist as it traveled towards his face was a bone crushing force. Dormia's punch landed, flinging Igneous into a nearby wall. Igneous stood slowly, a bit shaken up from being caught off guard.

"So your power negates my trigger abilities, correct?!"

"So you're the brains of the group, I'd expect nothing less though with your track record. It's hard to believe that idiot Glacio nurtured such a bright wrangler. But will knowing my ability do you any good?!"

Igneous sent black what seemed like infinite black lightning bolts at Dormia all from the aura of black lightning surrounding him, not even bothering to lift a hand. Dormia dodged and ducked for her life, trying to think of a way to go on the offensive.

"This is bad!!! I gotta think of something quick!"

Dormia was flustered, jumping around the room in a frenzy to dodge Igneous's attacks. Igneous snarled, tracking Dormia intently. Dormia began dodging in a pattern, stuck in a loop after being cornered.

"Your finished kid!!!""

Igneous launched a full force attack at Dormia, predicting where she would land next. Dormia, put a wall of sand up with hesitation, bracing herself for a hit anyway. As the attack hit the wall, it shattered immediately, but Dormia however wasn't behind it anymore. Igneous looked around carefully, but before he could react, Dormia burst from the sand underneath him and landed a brutal flurry of punches and kicks. Igneous stumbled back, stunned. Dormia threw up sand walls by the dozens, cornering Igneous. Slowly, Dormia sunk into the sand, while the still dazed Igneous tried to collect himself. Igneous shook his head and put his guard up, ready for anything.

"Come out here, I'm not done with you yet kid!

Suddenly, Dormia began popping out of the walls, launching herself at Igneous and landing nasty blows, then turning back into sand to pick her next wall to attack from. Igneous put his hands up to shield himself as best as possible from the high speed attack, but Dormia's strength still left him beaten up. As Dormia finished her onslaught, Igneous fell to a knee, exhausted. His black lightning flickered, turning into just plain old lightning.

"So, that's your plan, tire us out and hope we quit?!"

Dormia frowned.

"You don't give me enough credit!"

Dormia used her pink sand to form a giant claw under Igneous, holding him down.

"Any time now with that signal, Trista!"

—

Ash looked down at a beaten Glacio, somewhat surprised.

"That was a lot easier than I thought it would be."

—

Kruise breathed in heavily, tired from keeping Frixius at bay.

"That golden rain, what does it do to make you that much stronger?"

Frixus wobbled on his feet, and it was obvious he'd gotten the worst of the fight.

"It makes me ten times stronger, not that it mattered!"

"Easy for you to say, if you were any younger I'd have been done for!"

—

Trista heaved for air. Natura was cratered in a wall, knocked out.

"If she hadn't run out of stamina I'd have died! But it seems like everyone is finished with step two. Looks like it's time to start the next step!"

Trista whistled, using her wind to amplify the sound so everyone could hear it through the air vents.

—

Ash looked up as he heard the whistle.

"Welp, it looks like it's time to end this party!"