Episode 57: Halted Momentum

Arson and the others walked down the street as a group with the exception of Lane and Jasmine. Troy and Arson in the front, with Rob and Khalif at their flanks.

Rob and Khalif dragged a thrashing figure behind their party. Their previous target Oscar who was inside the bag, constantly cursed at them through the air holes the basic black-op tool offered, and moved around enough to annoy Khalif and Rob thoroughly when the straps were yanked free of their grips.

“You sure I can’t kick him,” asked Khalif.

“No, you kicked him enough already before we got him into the bag, Khal, and I think it’s a crime to do any further damage to a cultivator once they’re inside one of those,” said Troy.

“Think I read that somewhere too,” added Rob.

The group walked into the bounty office and the woman behind the desk waved at Khalif and Arson, before greeting Troy and Rob, more familiar with the former than the latter.

“You two are going to get in trouble if you keep this up, soon we will be sending mandatory bounties for meetings for you two,” said one of the attendees to Arson and Khalif.

“That’s the plan,” said Arson, which caused the second attendant to elbow her coworker.

“I told you they are trying to get access to the sky resort like the high nobles,” whispered the woman conspiratorially. Arson winked at the woman and Troy rolled her eyes.

She had made note that his looks had only gotten better now that he was older. His other friends told him that he looked like a cross between the king and Jade somehow, which Arson thought was funny as only Troy knew who his birth mother was.

“Well we only have one other high paying abduction meeting contract currently and that is for someone on the top floor, the job would come with temporary access to the floor, and would even grant a free day time slot for your group’s own tickets,” said the first attendant. Arson didn’t even ask the details before he nodded and extended his watch over the woman’s workstation.

Then he saw the face of his target; the details for the job; as well as the true extent of the rewards, and felt he’d just walked into a trap.

“You gotta be sparking kidding me…”

…

Feed the World!” The chant was repeated over and over. The massive stadium held seats around large plantations with empty, unworked fields.

Weaved in-between the fields were paths that connected each field to one another. An intricate design that looked like a maze from the stands above was made with every completion of this event, and many of the fans were simply there for the art and skill displayed by the farmers of the cultivation realms.

“Welcome cultivators from far and wide, to another round of Feed the World!”

The cheering boomed throughout the area for miles, as even though the event was new, it now had one of the largest followings, and some of the highest attending rates throughout all of Coliseum.

Ash and the rest of her siblings waited for Autumn to arrive, and couldn’t help but smile when she did and the roar of the crowd increased.

Autumn was a fan favorite, and had been given the most dry and barren of all the paths and field options available.

Where Ash had once thought this to be a slight, it was instead seen as an honor. No one could claim to be better than someone who develops a higher grade of product with lesser ingredients or tools. Talent and skill or the lack thereof were all seen as normal in the cultivation world, so in the end no one held Autumn’s power against her.

“So what’s the move this time, sister, same as usual or what?” Autumn looked at Ash, Aura, and Auto and shook her head, “No, this time I want to try Auto’s water path idea.”

The group smiled and took their places at the center of the field and waited for the round to begin.

“Hey, did you see that?” asked Auto. A flash of metal in the corner of his vision shaped oddly like a metallic hand moved rapidly across the ground, but when he looked, all that was there was a mix of sand and dirt.

No way I imagined that, right? Maybe all those days of studying the BHC drones from satellite imagery is starting to get to me?

Auto tried to focus on what he needed to do. He hadn’t thought he’d actually be helping when he originally came with his sister, his intention to be a strong moral support from the stands.

Instead, he ended up designing mobile watering drones for Autumn to use during her competition. Being forced to rush the designs and construction, led to his involvement being more direct than he wanted at first.

After a few rounds of victories alongside his siblings, he felt proud of himself. Ash no longer frowned constantly, and Auto felt better, not realizing how his sister’s sour mood had been affecting him.

The countdown started and Auto prepared his drones. The bodies of the equipment were shaped like bowls the size of small closets, that floated above mana rings, forged from mana stones inscribed to support their team’s needs.

The mana rings directed movement, how large the holes were for watering, and even water temperatures. A feature they figured out the first time they used Ash’s ability to form an artificial sun.

Ash raised her hands above her head as the crowd’s chant of the countdown finally reached its completion,“Let’s get this party started!”

A few moments prior, 1000 meters away underground…

“Let’s get this started,” said Arson. He and the others were in a tunnel being dug by Xani’s Propeller Palm Drones. The blades at the center of the devices’ hand-shaped bodies, had been adapted to be able to dig. Dig at a speed that had made both Arson and Xani wonder if they were overlooking the potential of her newest designs.

“Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t normal,” said Khalif in a daze. Rob nodded in agreement.

“No, you’re right, I keep trying to ignore it, but this sparking situation ain’t got a thing simple about it,” added Rob with a chuckle.

“Aww, it isn’t that bad, we are currently in a high grade tunnel, literally being made as we walk through it,” said Xani. Dozens of hands moved around their group in synchronized motions. Some compacted dirt, others built pillars, and the rest dug the tunnel worthy of a subway train by the breath.

“And we are going to abduct our boss’s sister to get points for our team building vaca— Xani began to feel absurd about how casually she described their goings on and ended up nodding to herself instead of finishing.

“Look guys, I’m sorry to tell you this, but Arson didn’t pick people to work with at the orphanage for our discipline and strong decision making skills, he chose based on kindness, personal ability and our acknowledgement for the potential of something larger than ourselves, if you wanted simple and safe, you already had that,” said Troy with a glance toward the others and then up at Arson. He smiled and nodded at her words, appreciative that she was able to understand his own process, even without fully having to describe where and why his thoughts led him to certain decisions.

Troy lit their path with light orbs as they walked, without a single touch of pressure about what was to come. She was still trying not to blush when Arson took her by the hand casually wherever they went. Then realized that there may be some legitimacy in what her friends were saying if handholding took up more space in her mind as a hurdle than her next abduction event.

Hmmm, maybe we are a little off… should we consider counseling or something, thought Troy to herself momentarily. Then felt an immediate revulsion to the thought, with the absolute sense that she was happier than she’d ever been and didn’t want much to change in her life beside her ability to defend her loved ones improving.

“Hey, I hear you, but we are about to abduct a princess, that don’t seem a little crazy to you,” asked Rob.

“Not really, honestly lost count of how many important people I have had to abduct over the last few season cycles,” said Arson, who’d long ago lost any reservation against doing the hard thing.

He was there to rebalance his team. With the exception of Arson not knowing their full capabilities, and them consistently referring to him as small around others, all team work levels had increased which made Arson excited for what they would be able to do with more time. Time he wished he had to take things slowly.

“How long Xani?”

We… should be underneath center stage in no time flat. Are you sure you want to snatch her up here? She is providing us with most of the materials we need for Rob’s potions,” said Xani, apprehension clear in her tone. Her finger sat over a button on her flatscreen tablet, while she waited for Arson’s response.

“Yeah, if anything we may have to abduct her a second time, and work out a way for her to make us an excess of ingredients for what we need next.”

Xani nodded. Pressed the button her finger hovered over and spoke through the explosion at the end of the tunnel that opened up the roof and let in natural sunlight, “Noted…”

…

Ash couldn’t help but smile. Autumn stood atop a literal walking tree, its head a platform that gave her a vantage of all nearby fields; its arms made of branches that held Ash even higher above her eldest sister.

“You good up there?” yelled Autumn up to Ash. She nodded back at her sister and laughed as she pumped more power into her skill.

“Now this is farming,” exclaimed Ash in joy. The giant ball of flames above the walking tree was an odd purple that seemed to feed the vegetation below at an unparalleled rate. Ash was only capable of this feat due to Autumn burning an odd crystal she formed from her own mana into Ash’s flames.

Auto sat below Autumn, surrounded by branches in a protective cage. He only needed to be able to see far enough to direct the watering drones, but Autumn decided to protect him at Ash’s direction.

Ash quickly realized her eldest sister’s walking tree seemed to be far more dextrous and regenerated far more quickly when it had access to water, which made her brother’s safety their group’s highest priority.

“Incoming!” roared Aura. She was the only one of their group not linked to the body of the walking tree, Autumn wanted to name Titan.

A group of cultivators from another team rushed to block their path, as another team flew toward them through the sky. Aura charged the group on the ground while Autumn shifted her focus.

The group's objective was to plant their given crop on as many fields as possible. Paths were worth a small amount of points while a team’s main field was worth all the points used to enter the competition.

Autumn’s only job, beside guiding her walking tree, was to consistently fill the drones Auto directed with water. The massive torrent of twisted liquid and air friction she held spawned small clouds of water in the air all around their group while they pushed toward their third enemy field.

“Autumn’s clouds served multiple purposes as they grew denser, rather than larger. The small pressurized containers would burst with gushes of water when filled, rather than offering normal sized rain drops. This both filled their team’s watering drones, as well as provided a constant flooding of all the enemy fields they walked by.

Regardless of how much extra water there was though, Auto was still forced to move drones in front of the tree to maintain a water filled path for it to regenerate and move, as well as provide optimal water for the seeds Aura scattered everywhere to grow.

Aura quickly managed to take down the group of defenders in front of her to Ash’s amazement. She occasionally twisted the flames above herself to decimate enemy fields, and defend against aerial targets, all in addition to creating a perfect ecosystem for plant growth.

In their group’s minds, nothing could stop them. Some teams consisted of 25 cultivators and some even brought 100 or more, but were still overwhelmed by their combined might.

“Hey guys, does this seem even easier than normal,” yelled Autumn in question to Ash and the others. Ash looked around and didn’t notice anything wrong, but still felt her stomach momentarily twist at the words.

“Last time I felt like this…”

“Did you guys see that, seriously, I could have sworn I just saw a metallic hand— Auto’s warning was cut off and mini explosions could be heard all around them. Entire fields crumpled inward, cultivators and crops alike swallowed whole by the earth below themselves.

The crowd exploded with excitement and the announcer began to turn the action into a crowd turning frenzy.

“By the Maiden!” The crowd was on their feet and more explosions went off, one even timed perfectly to open a hole underneath the walking trees next step.

“Son of a sparking forest fire,” cursed Ash as the only thing that held her aloft began to topple. The level of intensity grew, and Ash had a feeling that what was occurring was not a planned piece of the event the moment she saw a young beautiful man climb free of one of the many holes made nearby, a scythe in hand.

“Oh Sparks!” yelled Aura.

“My boss is here!”

…

Arson jumped free of the hole and took in the area. He wasn’t mana locked, but decided that his mana usage was probably too dangerous for an environment. He didn’t want anyone to die, he just needed to snatch his eldest sister and leave…

No big deal, just a snatch and grab. What could go wrong?

Arson felt he’d just jinxed himself, but hoped that maybe not speaking the words aloud would keep away the manifestation of trouble.

“Yeah right, Arson,” he mumbled under his breath while he ducked an incoming wave of flames. To Arson he wasn’t an entity to change the flow of combat. He wanted to embody potential, and kept that thought alive in his mind at all times.

Though he had great effect on what occurred at any point in any battle he’d been a part of since his childhood, Arson had a skewed view of power. His siblings all were threats of their own, but Arson didn’t compare himself to them, but their parents and their peers.

Not that he held the same level of significance as those figures, but comparably the same mindset, or unyielding willpower.

Arson sliced through a wave of flames and snickered to himself as he felt his scythe drink in the energy of the odd white and purple tinted fire. He didn’t know where the flames came from, but decided not to press forward into the battle while his new weapon ate the incoming attacks.

A cultivator was confused when Arson extended his blade in their direction with a slice that blocked a large flaming projectile from hitting them; only to spin the weapon back toward them in the very next instant.

Arson launched the young woman in the air, using her body to stop the large cloud of explosive water that shot toward him. With a screaming slap against a cloud larger than the woman’s entire person, a hydronic explosion occurred.

The young woman struck against the cloud that had been as dense as sandstone or even marble, which had caused the explosion initially. Arson moved underneath her body while she hurtled through the air and crash-landed behind him in a trench made by another cultivator’s attack.

Arson glanced back and worried if the girl was okay. The trench was large and may have led into one of his team’s pre-built tunnels. Then Troy rose from the hole with the woman over her shoulder and Arson sighed.

“Glad I put them on damage control, the publicity would be bad if I gathered a whole bunch of carnage on the footage I pass on to Lane,” said Arson to Anastasia. A horizontal swipe of his weapon caused a charging foe to tuck their head in an attempt to duck, which Arson used.

He grabbed the man by the shoulder and with a jerk, pushed the man further down, all while he jumped forward and rolled off the man’s back.

The spartan kick he delivered once he landed on a completely separate enemy, ended the first part of his attack. With the full power of his hips as if he was about to perform a conductive waters enhanced spin kick, Arson spun on a dime and hooked the man he’d rolled over, and launched the man at some sort of giant tree monster in the distance..

Next, with a burst of speed, he appeared before the man he’d spartan-kicked and grabbed him by the throat, “Sorry about this…!”

“Aah!” The man screamed when Arson raised him like a shield and used his body to block another explosive water cloud he now knew came from the tree.

“I know I haven’t said this before, guys, but my older sister might be a problem here,” said Arson over his group’s Overlay Com-Link.

“Ya think?” blurted Khalif. Arson chuckled to himself. He’d given Khalif the hardest part of the abduction plan, and when Arson saw the humanoid shaped bodies begin to form from the tree in the distance and defend the large creature, he knew that difficulty was only going to grow.

“Figure it out buddy we are running out of time.”

…

“Figure it out buddy, we are running out of time,” Ash yelled down toward Auto. Her younger brother was being swarmed by panicked cultivators who attempted to flee from the giant tree’s branches they’d been literally flung into, twirling through the air like tossed boulders.

“Figure it out, are you sparking kidding me right now, I brought none of my gear, this was supposed to be a bloody simple farming exercise, that’s what you told me,” screamed Auto as he smashed cultivators with his tablet. By that point, all of his drones had been set for defensive patterns that allowed for his sister’s plants, her primary weapon, to flourish regardless of his attention.

“Get these idiots off of me!”

Aura fought on the side of the tree. Sky blue energies flowed free of her pores while she battled and climbed toward her elder brother’s panicked screams.

“Calm down Auto. I’m coming, dude!”

Ash tried not to get dizzy, but the struggled lurches that now came with the trees every movement made her head spin. She was glad when the tree finally stopped and Autumn began to spawn plant-bodied defenders against the enemy teams that battled all around them, and the duo of enemies that had emerged from underground.

She focused and tried to push back all who rushed them with massive flame-based attacks, but even that didn’t last long.

Ash was forced to watch a scythe wielding young man that Aura said to be her boss, throw a glowing brown haired girl into the air, directly at her. At first she’d mistook the cultivator as another flung distraction, but the image of what had been done replayed again in her mind.

Did he just give her a boost?… She looked again at the young woman that had been thrown and realized a moment too late that the Queen of Troy was a breath away from entering the battle.

“We got a problem!”