Fruit Fighters: Book 1

Chapter 14: Invitation for Disaster

"Dirt Blast!" Yelled Sahara as she shot a blast towards Print from her outstretched staff.

He copied the action she did and shot a similar, though smaller and pathetic in comparison, Dirt Blast.

The two attacks collided with each other, canceling each other. Though it seemed like Sahara's had eaten the one Print shot.

"Dirt Blast!" chanted the Dirt Magician again.

Print followed suit with another Dirt Blast, this time a little more on par with Sahara's. Both attacks canceled each other out.

"You are making progress, especially with getting quick reflexes and even quicker concentration," said Sahara reassuringly. "Normally making you copy my attacks would be stupid, but because you have no actual magic, this works."

Print gave a smile, hiding his self-defeating thoughts. He wanted to get stronger, but he was still too weak. With Power Fruits, he can have a chance to come close to the rest of the world, so he has, no, he must get good enough with them. He himself isn't enough to fight.

Endi watched from afar, working on her Power Fruit Flashdrive project. Following Print's wishes, she has yet to tell anyone about what happened while the rest of the team was gone 2 days ago. He wants to be prepared before sharing that. Luckily, Endi has helped Print avoid any panic attacks, which are only triggered by anything that reminds him of the event. She's used different coping mechanisms that have worked, according to the internet, like the 5-4-3-2-1 method, coming up with a mantra, and anything else that could work. Endi isn't an expert, and there really aren;t any around these days.

She also didn't delete the photos of Yui, but didn't leave them in Print's visor. It sometimes hurts Endi to see Print live with all that baggage all on his own, but that's why she promised to help Print, to share both their loads together. Not that she wanted to share hers with him, yet he insisted as it being "only fair to do so."

"If the war hadn't happened, maybe we would still have therapists..." said Endi out loud, getting back to work.

"Dirt Blast!!" Yelled Sahara as she shot another blast.

Print got caught and shot a less powerful Dirt Blast that was only but she's off by Sahara's. Her attack hit Print sending him staggering back.

"Take five. You need energy for practice," said Sahara. Print stood back up, nodded at his teacher, and went to sit next to Endi.

"Hey, Print," said Tae. "Why does your shirt read 'Punk Hazard', instead of 'Fruity'?" She pointed at his left sleeve, which did read "Punk Hazard."

He wrote, "Some people used to call me that, and I found it to be very cool. I thought it would be fun if people started calling me that here, so I asked Endi to change it for me. I want it to be a nickname of sorts." 

It may be true, yet in reality, he had Endi change it for him because it felt like a small step to be free from his trauma. So that he would forget and never do something like that. At least that's his logic. 

Even if it came from a place of hate, Print wanted to not forget his shortcomings to improve further.

"Punk Hazard Print... sounds kinda cool!" Said Tae with excitement. Everyone else nodded in excitement, making Print smile meekly.

"That said," said Tae. "I say we should go on an adventure! Find some strong opponents! Maybe raid a Purity Monarchy base or Dark Armada stronghold..." 

Oh look at that, she's drooling now.

"We shouldn't seek trouble, only when they ask for it, though it wouldn't hurt to fight some stronger opponents. I do wanna make my magic better," said Sahara.