Ancient Forces (2018 Reboot)

Chapter 46 - Meteor

Zayne marched down the halls alone, passing by Mystic and MRaCD guards left and right as he did. He was alone in thought, as he normally had been these last few days while training. Multiple things were on his mind, all of them swirling and meshing, forming new ideas or merging badly to create thoughts he didn't want to have. One such thought that continued to linger was the dream. The dream had changed slightly, only by a little bit, but it scared him now. That dream. As if it hadn't before, Zayne scoffed to himself, now it did even more.
I can't let that happen.
    It was the same in that there was rubble everywhere. Fire, destruction, all of it scattered around him. In the center of it all, the focus of the dream, there he rested in a pile of debris, his arm mangled and bleeding, reaching out for the Dragon's Heart as it gave off it's final pulse and died out, crumbling into dust right before his eyes. But this was where the dream had changed. Rather than crumble, the Dragon's Heart gave off its final pulse, and then stopped. Reaching from above was a hand, a single person grabbing the Dragon's Heart and taking it from his grasp, out of his view into the fire beyond. Then he would wake up. This had happened four times now, once per week. He'd refused to tell anyone. He didn't want them to worry even more so than they did already. That was, in fact, why he was bringing everyone to Room Four.
    The secret training room was actually not a training room, but a sparring room. The room looked exactly like Room Three, until you changed up the commands on the console. Unlike Room Three, Room Four was just one big holographic projector. You could change the entire scenery in an instant from a blank white slate to a city or a jungle or whatever you wanted. In fact Room Two was the experiment for such technology. After giving it the all clear Mag ordered Miller and his team to make such a room as this for people who wanted to spar against each other rather than fight A.I. computers. Zayne appreciated the move, especially since now he didn't just have to face holographic projections of his enemies and friends for information and talent, he could fight real people without the threat of death. He could learn and improve in a controlled environment to prevent too much injury.
    As for the worry of others, Zayne sighed to himself, this single match would either make or break him. If he won, Mag said, he could go out alone in the world whenever he wanted rather than staying cooped up in here all day or constantly surrounded by MRaCD operatives outside. If he lost, the protection remained. His opponents? All four of his friends in a single one versus four battle. Mag prepared the rules while Zayne prepared the map.
    If any one of the four members of the enemy team were able to escape, they won. If they defeated him in an actual battle, they won. But if Zayne was able to take all four of them down alone he would prove himself worthy of being alone and could then leave when he wanted to. It was far from balanced or easy, but Zayne agreed to the terms anyway. It was a good challenge and an ample test for him. Four of his closest friends and hardest foes all against him now. There was a fifty fifty shot he would win or lose. Zayne knew he had to win no matter what. He had to prove to everyone that he was ready to fight on his own. He didn't want anyone else to have to get hurt because of him. Never again did he want that reality to come to pass.

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"We're supposed to what?" Eli asked in disbelief.
"The four of you versus me. You win by beating me or escaping the battle field. I win by defeating all four of you. No time limit," Zayne responded arms folded.
"And just how exactly are we supposed to do that? You're the strongest freaking guy we know other than Death Blade!" Austin exclaimed.
"Well, sounds like the winner is already decided then," Zayne indifferently replied as he turned and engaged the holographic device to create the map.
    Zayne honestly didn't know what map he'd picked, he just saw it and thought it looked cool. As the projectors activated, small pieces began forming over the white tiled room. In the distance was the city, a sprawling sight over the fields of crops and grass spanning the distance. A single two way road stretched from the city to about twenty feet from the entrance door, which was soon hidden as the sky blotted it out. Almost right next to them was an old, run down warehouse with grass and trees growing in and around it. It looked like it had been abandoned for years now, several parts of the walls and support beams missing. Scorch marks masked the sides here and there, which Zayne assumed was some sort of cosmetic add on. The map was titled: 'First Meeting.'
"Okay so, how do we escape the battlefield?" Damien asked as Zayne moved away from the terminal, stepping right in front of the warehouse and his friends.
    Zayne lifted both hands and slowly brought them down, pressing the tips of his fingers to the ground. Instantly the sky turned dark, stars and the moon shaping and appearing above. Darkness engulfed them all for only a moment as a ring of fire surrounded them, created by Zayne's touch. He stood up, the fire illuminating his crisp features and his glowing orange eyes.
"Get outside the fire."
Austin snorted, "Sounds easy enough."
    Suddenly a glowing orange fist, scales and fire covering every inch of its curled up knuckles, sent Austin flying and into an upturned rock in the ground knocking the wind from his chest and almost instantly knocking him out. Everyone else was even more startled by the move and quickly jumped back as Zayne's body fully changed to his half dragon form. Massive wings and a tail erupted as his clothes hid most of his now scaley body from sight. He turned to face Eli and Damien, who stood side by side in shock at their friend's sudden aggression and lack of patience for the battle to begin. Zayne let out a breath, the exhale venting smoke from his nostrils as he smiled, gleaning his bright white teeth the sharpness of which rivaled the cleanest of blades in the world.
"There's no friendship in this room," Zayne growled, "You either win or you lose here. I'd suggest you get playing."
    Several spines tipped with green paste flew from behind Zayne, piercing the wind and creating an almost unhearable whizz as they flew. Zayne flapped his wings in an updraft and created a small shield of wind that knocked the narcotic darts away, his attention shifting to Aries. His friend had created several ninja star looking things from his pocket of Mythanium he'd brought, although now they were gone and he only had a small dose of Mythanium left. He turned to the ground and morphed a dozen rocks into a solid shield with which he charged forward. Zayne looked behind him to check on Eli and Damien, who were just as he'd predicted running for the edge of the fire. Zayne looked to Austin, who was still recovering on the ground from the first impact. Zayne smiled as the plan wrote itself in his mind. He turned back to Aries just as his charging enemy arrived.
    Zayne swiftly kicked Aries' legs out from under him, then grabbed the shield in the air and launched it at Damien. Just as quickly as he'd done that he kicked Aries in the chest launching him backwards and right on top of Austin who had just gotten back up from earlier. Zayne dug his right foot into the ground and launched forward, swiftly sinking his left foot into Austin's gut knocking him away and then keeping him grounded. Once Zayne landed on both feet once again he turned to face the running foes who had no doubt been at least distracted by the shield.
"I think you dropped something!" Damien exclaimed as he body rammed into Zayne with the shield up front, knocking him off his feet and to the floor.
    As soon as he was on the ground ice began forming, trapping his body down. Zayne flashed his teeth again as his chest began glowing, fire suddenly erupting from his body melting the ice and blinding Damien for several moments as he got up, punching the shield and shattering it instantly. Damien recovered his sight just in time to see Zayne's fist flying right at his face, the timing too fast for him to react.
"Keep on your feet! He can't hit you if you keep moving!" someone exclaimed from behind Zayne.
    Just before Zayne's fist connected with Damien's jaw another scaley knee crashed into Zayne's face, launching him from the position of attack and through the warehouse wall. Just as quickly as Eli was there he was gone again, charging for the exit once more. Damien helped Aries and Austin back up, and by the time Zayne had gotten back on his feet they were all ready this time, forming a wall to protect Eli from Zayne's charge. This was more difficult than he was first thinking. But that wasn't the concern anymore. He was here, in the now. Nothing else mattered except one thing. Winning. For their own good whether they knew it or not.
    A massive gust of frosty wind and ice skipped across the ground towards him from Damien's foot. Zayne charged head first into it, burning a hole right through the attack with his palms of fire as he continued advancing. Next up came hundreds of rock shards, all being shot from yet another minigun Aries had made out of rocks and dirt shooting hundreds of ground up rock chips. They didn't get far as Zayne melted them midair with a single blast of fire that carried him all the way up to them. He dug a fist into Aries' minigun, the impact sending him flying back and crashing into Eli who was just seconds from escaping. A portal opened in front of Zayne to prevent him from moving, but he'd anticipated it. Instead Zayne extended both wings rapidly, socking both Damien and Austin across the jaw with them knocking them off balance. In the moment of opportunity Zayne charged forward, grabbing Aries by the foot and throwing him back. Panic set in when Eli wasn't underneath him as Zayne thought he was.
"You think I would've gotten stopped by that?" Eli shouted as he seemingly appeared out of thin air, throwing a fist at Zayne's side that almost caught him off guard.
    Zayne's reaction speed saved him however as he grabbed Eli's fist, the green reptilian scales forming over his body now. His eyes turned into glowing green slits as he morphed into a sort of half human half reptile form. The two caught each other in a rapid fist to fist fight of dizzying speeds and unwatchable movements. The resulting fist fight ended as Zayne changed tactics, swiping Eli's gut with his foot to launch him back at the other three in the open. With all of them corralled once more Zayne was ready to end this game here and now.
"Forget escaping. He'll find some way of stopping us," Eli stated as he got up and wiped his nose, which had given way to a single red droplet from Zayne's last gut impact.
"We can't just straight up fight him! He's been pummeling us this entire time!" Aries exclaimed as he rubbed his shoulder and rested a hand on a boulder nearby that he prepared for transformation.
"We've been doing this all wrong. We're not being a team. We need to team up, work together. Combine skills and form combos, don't just rely on your own training as a whole," Damien said as if from experience, which probably was true since he'd been doing this long before anyone else in the room.
    Zayne paused for a moment as Damien's words sank in. He reflected on his motivation here. He was doing this, he was going all out on his friends, his teammates, because he wanted to do things alone. He wanted to keep them from sacrificing themselves but, in the end was that really something he had control over? Maybe winning this wasn't the best idea...
"Let's go!" Eli shouted as they all began charging forward.
    All other thoughts left the mind. It was time to finish this. Zayne slammed a foot into the ground and began roaring as his body grew, expanded, split into new territories. He nearly tripled in size as his wings grew forth new appendages, his tail expanding by another foot, the top of it running along the bone and the tip of it becoming totally engulfed in fire. His human features were replaced by the new body of a dragon, fired up and ready for a fight. None of the approaching enemies flinched. They were determined, just as he was now, to win. To prove themselves and everything they'd gone through up to now, former villains and rising heroes.
    Eli moved in first. He jumped into the air and came down on Zayne, his leg extending out straight as he did. Zayne remembered the move from their sparring match before the cave attack. He reeled back a fist and shot it up to connect with Eli's chin as he came down, but just before the punch landed Eli's arms grew massive Pterodactyl wings and boosted him out of the way, allowing Zayne's attack to miss and throw him off balance. Confused and distorted by the change Zayne didn't notice the huge fist of ice that drilled itself right into his chest until it was too late, Damien adding more and more to it as the seconds passed by to inflict more damage. With the pain flaring in his mind Zayne felt adrenaline pump through his veins as he brought both arms down on the ice and shattered it in an instant, then shot out his tail and knocked Damien away like a baseball, his now battered body lying on the floor as he groaned and struggled to stand back up.
    Suddenly a pressure became apparent on Zayne's back as he came back to his senses. He turned to see what it was and saw Eli on him, his fist reeled back for a punch. The balled up fist went across Zayne's jaw but didn't fully connect as Eli had hoped, which gave Zayne a moment of retaliation to both shake him off and then slap him away with his wing. As Zayne watched Eli skid across the ground he saw a flash to his left. He turned to face the light and was met by another dragon. An exact replica of him in every way. Behind the clone stood Austin, manipulating the warped reality that brought the image to existence. Zayne gut punched the mirror and then slammed his own head into its head, forcing it to stumble back several steps. As Zayne moved in for another round he tripped over a wire set out on the floor by Aries, who then dropped an entire boulder in the shape of a weight on his back, the stone cracking and shattering into hundreds of pieces over Zayne's body. His wings were stuck, and he couldn't move his left foot.
    In a fit of rage Zayne spewed fire forth and totally melted the clone of himself into nothing, leaving Austin exposed for another attack, a massive fireball erupting from Zayne's throat that exploded and sent Austin flying away towards Damien. Aries quickly transformed the rocks around him into heavy weight nets that he tossed over Zayne's entire body, trapping him to the ground. But just before Aries could strap them down Zayne lifted the rocks from his wings and foot and snapped the net in half, then slammed his tail into the running foe and sweeped him up next to Damien and Austin, who were both just now getting back on their feet. All three of them stood together, weak and injured, yet still willing to go nevertheless. Zayne loomed above them all with his eyes piercing their souls and his nostrils emitting smoke and flames here and there. He had beaten them all, just as he'd done before.
"We're not... done yet," Damien exhaled a long breath as he surrounded around his body, slowly and weakly, a snowy aura.
"You will be soon enough," Zayne replied as he pulled back his Mythanium gauntlet fist and began charging up his final attack.
"Well crap," Aries sighed as he went limp in the growing light of Zayne's fist.
"It was nice knowing you all," Austin joked as he dropped to a knee and waited for the final strike to land.
    Zayne wasn't going to hit them directly. That was overkill, even for this. He was, however, going to hit the ground in front of them to knock them away and assure his victory. With the idea in mind Zayne set up his body into the right position. He shifted his foot forward, his wings and tail shifting out of the way as his fist came all the way back to his elbow, then stopped and allowed the final hints of orange glow to pierce the night. After this he would finally be allowed to work alone. Finally no one else would have to fight and die, or fight and get injured, because of him.
"Dragon's Heart..." Zayne began to chant as he always did, his fist beginning to sweep forward, "...Infernal Overdrive..."
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!"
    Suddenly, glowing from his right, Zayne saw the one person he'd forgotten about. He thought he'd easily swiped him aside for good after watching him skid across the ground. Perhaps the training did more than just make him look tougher and move faster. Eli was in the air, his body a half morph, his eyes glazed over in a mirror of Zayne's fiery intentions. But Zayne wasn't focused on that. He was staring directly at Eli's fist, which was balled up, pulled back, and glowing with enough green Dino's Heart energy to rival his own orange energy glow from his own fist at this very moment. Zayne shifted directions and aimed his attack at Eli. If there was anyone he could hit with a full powered Meteor, it was him.
"DINO'S HEART..." Eli chanted.
"DRAGON'S HEART..." Zayne repeated.
"PRIMAL INSTINCTS..." Eli's sweaty fist shot forward like a missile.
"INFERNAL OVERDRIVE..." Zayne's balled up fist shot forward with mirroring speed and aim.
"MMMMMMEEEEEETTTTTTEEEEEEOOOOOORRRRRR!!!!!!" They both screamed in unison.
    Their fists collided in the air, fire and raw brute strength of ancient origins merging and struggling for dominance as the orange and green clashed and fought in a brilliant display of energy and power. The other three were enthralled, shocked, absorbed in the bright lights and gritting teeth of both combatants as they met, fist to fist, Meteor to Meteor, Infernal Overdrive to Primal Instincts, Dragon's Heart versus Dino's Heart. Then all in an instant, the color stopped, the struggle ended, and a silence took its place for what seemed like an eternity, but ended in only a matter of milliseconds. The surrounding ring of fire was whisked away silently as if someone had blown out a candle. The splitting explosion of bright white lights and the jolt of raw, unbridled force went out in all directions shooting every single one of them in different directions faster than the speed of bullets. Damien slammed into the warehouse, Aries snapped an entire boulder in half, Austin created multiple impact craters in the ground as he skipped across the floor. Eli went flying into the air and, if it had been real life, would have been launched all the way to the city had it not been for the roof which was left with a huge indenture and destroyed hologram technology. Zayne was sent backwards with wind splitting around him, his ears ringing and his eyes blinded just before he slammed into the wall and rested on the ground, his back feeling as if it were snapped like a twig and his arm feeling as if it had just been broken and then snapped back into place twice.
    The dust settled around the room, and left where they'd clashed was a crater in the ground the size of the warehouse itself, nearly fifty feet deep Zayne would've guessed from this point of view, but it looked like it could've gone deeper. The field suddenly vanished, replaced by broken white tiles and damaged machinery everywhere from each combatant's impact. No one said a word. There wasn't even so much as a small whimper of pain out of any of them. There was only the room, themselves, and the silence. Then a chuckle. A snort that came over the guise of pain from Eli, who rested on the floor a few dozen feet away from Zayne. He began laughing, although Zayne could hear the infliction of pain in his trembling voice. Then Damien started laughing too. Then Aries, then Austin, and soon Zayne found himself laughing too. It was painful. They were hurting, bleeding maybe even, but they were laughing. Not a sort of psychotic laugh that one might associate with a crazy person, but laughing of a more genuine sort. They were laughing together, as if they'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"That was awesome," Eli mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear as he slowly shifted off the ground, his right arm which he'd used for his Meteor looking twisted and battered.
"You okay?" Zayne asked as he sat up, getting a good look at his friend from across the room.
"Yeah, oh no man, dude, I'm perfect," Eli laughed a little more, "That could not have gone any better than I'd imagined in my head."
"How long have you been waiting to show us that?" Damien stopped laughing but continued giggling under his breath as he sat up.
"I've known about this since last week. Just couldn't find the right time to tell anyone, you know? Anyone except Mag. He was the one who wanted me to use it on you at some point. A desperate point he said, just to give you a taste of your own medicine for Damien and me," Eli explained as he cradled the now obviously broken arm while he stood up.
"Yeah," Zayne said as his body returned to a normal human form, "Now I know how you guys felt."
    Everyone continued laughing and helping each other up, all of them knowing very well that they would get in a lot of trouble for destroying the room on their first run. Still, they enjoyed this moment as much as possible. Zayne especially realized now that doing things alone, with this much power saved up in his friends to use against enemies together? Going alone was possibly the worst idea he'd ever had in his life.

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    The street was covered in papers, rubble, chunks of concrete, bent and shattered lamp posts, and flattened or overturned cars. Lying under a pile of rocks, barely breathing and almost dead was a young child's body, a red cape shredded and lying at his side. Smashed into a car a few feet over was a man in a full metal suit with a sheer glass mask with lightning dancing between his fingers. His mask was cracked, several tendrils of splitting glass going off in multiple directions as he twitched slightly, his body still reacting to the last remaining bits of electrical energy in him. Several other people, common bystanders and unfortunate passersby laid on the floor injured, dead, or dying. Some cried out, others whimpered in pain and fear, several remained silent. The looming figure of red, blue, yellow, and purple stood above them all with his piercing blue and red eyes looking them over, observing the damage he'd done on this glorious evening, the full moon shining brightly above him.
    He turned his attention away from the destructive path he'd left and held up the almost lifeless body in his hand, a younger looking woman with a white fur and metal suit in the pattern of an arctic tiger. Blood trickled from her forehead, her nose, and her trembling lips in his hand as he lifted her up to his face, his breath wafting over her body as she struggled to move, her battered and broken bones unable to even flinch in the face of the beast. In the distance sirens rang out, police and reinforcement Mystic no doubt on their way. Dragon Hunter scoffed. He could deal with them just as easily. But he preferred not to waste any more time here. His plan was almost in place, and any other delay in time would put him back too far. He growled in Ver's face, then smiled.
"How long has he had the Dragon's Heart?" Tiberius demanded.
"I'll... never... tell you..." Ver was barely able to cough out as Dragon Hunter's hand wrapped around her body more tightly, squeezing her already broken bones even more, jumbling them up even further.
"Whether it's from you, or him, or even him," Tiberius pointed to Keith and Speed Zone lying in their corners, "I will find out. That cannot be changed. The battle is fast approaching, and there will be nothing you can do to stop it."
    The sirens were close, and Dragon Hunter saw the illumination of his enemies approaching. He snarled aggressively and threw Ver to the side, her body skipping off the ground and crashing into a car nearby. With a single swipe from his wings he was gone, blinking out of view faster than anything anyone had ever seen before. No one knew how to react. The people who arrived after to help were stunned speechless at the destructive power that laid before them. Three of the best Mystic the MRaCD had to offer, casted aside like they were nothing just like that. Everyone knew this was only the beginning. There was still much to come. The huge piece of paper, a poster for a school dance that happened months ago with acid marks resting on its fringes, resting on the street floor where Dragon Hunter once stood, reminded them of that.