The Fire Inside

40. I Can Do That Too

"C'mon guys. It's showtime."

They found themselves to be in the room that resembled an amphitheater. The stone steps meeting at the bottom to a structure that was similar to an arena. There, enveloped in red, black, and mahogany brown, stood the keeper of the red flame.

Casper.

"Well, well. Look who took their time showing up," he smirked with his arms crossed.

"Not our fault..." Emmalynn huffed under her breath roughing rubbing at her eyes to get rid of the tears.

"What was that little girl?"

Emmalynn was seething when he called her little. Heiwa, noticing this, put her hand on Emmalynn's back.

"Ignore him. Don't get affected by his words. It's just not worth it."

Lynn huffed again before being content with glaring at Casper.

"So. How're we going about this? All of you at once? Or should I send my shadows? They're not as weak as they were when you were attacked at the rundown hut you know."

"Or, you could attack us and let us beat your ass since we're kids and you're old," Maria suggested.

"Yeah! Come at us asshole!" Varun screamed pulling out his nunchucks.

Jimin noticed how everyone was itching to fight and willed the flames in her hands. Before, they had been  unprepared and outnumbered. This time, they were ready. Casper wasn't gonna go anywhere.

What they weren't expecting was the whole wave of shadow creatures Casper sent. Not only were there hunter-like men, there were wolves, bears, and other vicious creatures. The only one they knew that wasn't there was a dragon.

"Give Jimin a clear path!" Julien yelled.

Jimin stood frozen as Julien threw his boomerang. It hit three hunters and returned to his hand where he lodged it into a wolves' head. The wolf died with a painful hiss.

Varun was next, he ran into the shadows with his nunchucks, hitting each and every shadow anywhere he could reach to break skin sending them back to where they came from.

Maria supported her unofficial boyfriend with her bow and arrows, spotting him from afar as well as her best friend.

Heiwa swept through the crowd faster than all of them combined. Her katana was pulsing and the shadows around her moved like waves and collided into each other. Upon closer observation, Jimin noticed that Heiwa was using water from a little pouch to bring them closer to each other and was slicing through them like it was nothing.

Emmalynn was on Heiwa's other side with her scythe. She swung it around two to three times and wiped out hundreds of shadows, few of which survived disappeared in fear of the purple weapon that radiated death far worse than anyone could ever imagine.

Isadora ran around trying her best to dodge the shadows, but soon realized that herself being a product of Casper's "well-wishing," the shadows couldn't lay a hand or paw on her. She used that to her advantage and bit every shadow she could get her mouth on.

Jimin thought about Riley and how she'd be wishing them good luck if she was with them.

Remembering her friend, Jimin screamed. Louder than ever before. Everyone stopped where they stood and looked at her. She walked down the stone steps, all attention on her. She grabbed a wolf's muzzle and closed her eyes. Willing the flames, the wolf's face burned, dissolving the shadow creature immediately.

"That, was for Riley."

She summoned fiery whips and knocked off a hunter's neck.

"That, was for my sister, Shima."

She dissolved two bears simultaneously.

"And that, was for my mom and dad."

A whistle sounded through the room.

"There she is! There's our Jiminie!" Julien hooted.

Jimin smiled as she ran into the now moving war. Her friends moved closer as they continued to slash at the shadows.

"Keep clearing the path guys!" Maria said as she shot an arrow from farther away.

Jimin dashed towards Casper and raised a fiery fist. She slammed it down into his head before pulling back.

"Bullseye."

Jimin turned back triumphantly holding her fists in the air.

"You bet it was."

Jimin was flung to the stairs. She hit her back against the stone and gasped in pain.

"Jimin!" Heiwa screamed.

The rest turned their heads to where Jimin had hit Casper. There, in malicious red flames, Casper awoke from the ground.

"You guys thought a simple hit would be enough?" Casper chuckled darkly.

All the shadows disappeared at once.

"The challenge seemed to be too much for you little pests. Come at me at once!"

Julien let out a low growl. He charged, flinging his boomerang towards the laughing man. Maria shot a volley of arrows behind him just in case Casper dodged the boomerang.

To their horror, the monster disappeared and showed up right behind Emmalynn.

"Hello there little girl~" he slurred.

She swung her scythe harder than a bat. Disappearing from there, Casper stopped face to face with Varun.

"Gah!" Varun took a few steps back in shock.

"Ha! This is fun! This is great!" Casper skipped around as he appeared and disappeared in front of them all and waltzed around the arena.

Jimin was fuming.

"You have the power to teleport and have teleported before."

Jimin's eyes shot towards Casper and focused on where he jumped each time. He was making his pattern randomized, but could easily be distinguished. Not only was he going in the opposite direction each time, he made a point to make it a star shaped pattern, starting at the next person each time.

Jimin closed her eyes and thought of the next target. Isadora. She forced herself to appear in front of Izzy and punched Casper as he appeared in front of her simultaneously.

"Gotcha!" Jimin cheered.

Casper blew flames into Jimin's face. Before they could hit her, she was pulled back by her shirt, tumbling to the ground. Turning around she saw that Julien had grabbed her, saving her life.

"Go get him. But please be careful."

"I'll try," Jimin responded.