Chapter 26: Conquering the Underground Realm
After we received the news from the clown about the second running of the death games that was to come in three months, we took a week's worth of rest to recoup from our injuries. The injuries we sustained, most especially the ones I had sustained, should have taken at the very least a month to heal, but the food that was supplied to us had out of this world medicinal properties. After a few snacks and well-cooked meals, we were up and running like machines in a week's time.
Once we started moving, it was finally time to see what we had under the house. We all gathered at the dining area of the house and placed our hands on the center table. When we did, the whole dinning area began to shake, once it shook for a few good seconds it stopped, then it began to move downward slowly. It seemed as though the dining table was some sort of elevator to take us from the house to the underground training area. We were progressing down pretty slowly and we couldn't see anything but the four walls of the area surrounding the table as we descended but, just then, we passed the walls and all that we could see was darkness. Darkness and small green lights, like fireflies coming and going. Once we reached that point we also temporarily lost control of our limbs and sight. But that didn't last long, we shortly got control of them before we even hit the ground. It also didn't take us long to realize we had entered what seemed to be like a different space from where we were coming from.
The platform finally stopped after a five-minute ride at the point where we couldn't see the light of the dining area above us anymore. That's how dark and how far we had gotten. Without thinking, Ethan, was the first person to step off the platform and step into the darkness. By the time we could say anything, Ethan's leg had contact with something solid. We heard the sounds of lights being turned on and the whole area immediately lit up like fireworks. Once the lights were on we were left in shock, and not just cause the area had pretty lights, but it also had; an arena and low-level demon and chimera in cages for us to battle, a ring for one on one fights, training dummies, a locker with a large supply of outfits, shoes, gloves and other necessities. There was also a dojo, a firing range and weapons, lots, and lots of weapons. It even had furniture and a recreational sight for us in case we chose to spend our three months down there. In the recreational center there was a clock with a lever next to it and on top of it was a sign board imbedded in the walls that had the words three months written on it. underneath the clock was the instruction
"Turn on clock by dragging down on handle next to it once training begins to slow down time. The space here works differently than in the house and the gravity is heavier"
When we saw the messages we all just smiled. We definitely wanted to start our training. After all, that was the whole reason we got down there. Without any thought or hesitation, we immediately flipped the switch. Once we did that the clock started running and our training began.
We went to the ring first to begin working on the most important part of our three-month training, the hand to hand combat. We changed into some exercise gear from the lockers and did a few warm up exercises. Once we did that it was time to sort out who was the most capable hand to hand combatant amongst us. We wanted to sort that out quickly to see those from the best to the worst and work on the person who needed the most attention. It was important this happened so what took place during the first running of the death games did not repeat itself. Everyone needed to know how to hold their own and not be to dependable. First up was Ethan against Isabel.
I know of Ethan's fighting capabilities because of our history together and how many fights we've been in. He's definitely dependable in a fight, and you definitely want him backing you up but all his stats are pretty much average besides his agility which is below average. Isabel on the other hand I knew nothing about besides the fact she had pretty high pain tolerance. We intentionally had boy on girl matches so that the others wouldn't see gender in a life or death battle, whoever they may be fighting in the future might not hold back or show mercy just because one of us is a girl. Isabel would never hold back no matter who she was fighting but Ethan…was a different story.
"Now look" Ethan said while Isabel took her stance "I don't want to hit you, because I swore to my mama id never hit a woman. So, why don't we just-"
Ethan Is quickly rushed before he can finish his sentence. Isabel jumps into the air and gives him a tornado kick to his jaw. Ethan falls flat like a wall to the mat, knocked out instantly in one attack. Isabel takes her hair back and looks down on Ethan and says
"Your mom? You swore to your mom? At least give me a better excuse than that if you don't want your ass handed to you by a woman"
Everyone is pretty much left in shock by the sheer awesomeness of Isabel. With that stunning… No. flawless victory, Isabel, is clearly the winner. Next up we had Cayafaz and Maya. Before the match started, they both took their stances. Cayafaz takes a boxer's stance while Maya just stands there doing nothing, Cayafaz doesn't waste anytime and immediately goes in for the kill. Once he charges straight for her, she puts her arms up and guards her head and chest, then she smiles. Ethan is still knocked out
Cayafaz throws several strong right hands at her head but she's able to block them perfectly. He keeps going at her with straight jabs and solid right hooks hoping to shatter her defense. While doing this he keeps shifting left to right. He just keeps doing the same styles over, and over again, hoping to hit hear head and get a quick knock out to end the game. It's clear he's trying to avoid doing any more damage than necessary.
Cayafaz continues his relentless attacks, Maya on the other hand shows no signs of changing from defense. This keeps up a bit longer before Cayafaz finally looks like he's starting to run out of steam, once Maya catches wind of this, she immediately drops her hands. Her right hand at chest leve, her left hand at stomach level, her right on her toes, and her left leg firmly planted in the mat. Cayafaz can't tell what's going to happen next but for all of us outside the ring its pretty obvious. She runs to his right side, hops off the ropes of the ring and ricochets into Cayafaz. To burned out, he can't raise his arms up to block so he tries to hop out of the way, he trips over his leg causing him to fail at evading. He starts to fall on his left side but while still on his feet, Maya goes for the finishing blow
Cayafaz, with the last of his strength forces his hands to guard his head. Maya hits him with a triple kick, kicking his lap first, the side of his gut second and the hand guarding his head last. The kick knocks his hands out of the way leaving him defenseless as he falls. Maya quickly spins on her left leg and uses the heel of her right leg to kick him one last time in the left cheek. The kick not only forces him to change directions but leaves him disoriented
"Well that's two boys down. Who's next?" Maya says, cleaning the sweat off her brows
I just stare in shock and grin unconsciously. So, Now, we have one knocked out, and one disoriented. Moving on to the next fight is Isabel versus Maya. Though this fight with the two was brief it was interesting, the two of them were really capable fighters but it ended with Maya defeating Isabel with the round house kick she had used earlier on. The kick was so strong that it sent Isabel flying out the ring and caused her to land outside the ring landing on he left elbow.
So, that's one knocked out, one disoriented, and one injured. I would have fought with all of them to get the right to challenge Maya, but since the others are…Unavailable. I'll fight her. I get into the ring, I meet her at the center, we bump fists, and we go back to the corners of the ring. We circle each other, we stop and take our stances. I do a basic stance like a street brawler, she takes the stance she used on Isabel. We rush to the center of the ring to attack when we clash our calves. The first attack fails. So, we back away from each other and go again. We keep on running into each other with hard attacks, over, and over, and over, and over, repeating the cycle of clashing and backing. At some point, our clashes got so loud and intense it had finally woken Ethan up.
This back and forth exchange of blows seemed to draw out until I noticed Maya couldn't move her as fluid as she had been earlier, my attacks where finally starting to take a tole on her muscles. I couldn't waste any more time, I had to end it there. I charge at her with my arm up as though I'm going for a jab cross. So, she guards her head. Her hands cover them in an X position but, that's just a smoke screen for my real attack. Running towards her I jump into the air just a few feet above ground, leaping forward with as much force as my body can muster. She sees through the arms and it becomes clearer to her.
"He's going to kick me!? Damn it!" Maya says unconsciously
Her hands slide off her head and quickly cover her belly, it sucked that she realized this but I'm already in mid-air and can't change my position, doing anything would just leave me open to an attack. So, I dived my foot into her arms, I used enough force to make her fall back, causing her guard to break and my foot to go straight into her belly. She flew off her feet and into the ropes of the ring, and ricochets back towards me. I run toward her again and finish her off with the same move to the same place and this time, send her flying out the ring. With that, I have won the exhibition of best hand to hand combatant. Maya placing in second, Cayafaz third, Isabel fourth, and Ethan fifth.
The exhibition is complete and now we know who needs the most focus and can now share all we know amongst ourselves and teach others who are lacking in areas we specialize. This training takes about a month to do, that takes one out of our three months. Leaving us with two months left. The next thing we had to handle other than combat training was weapon training and weapon control. I was a blades kind of guy and practiced secretly back when I use to stay with my family, Ethan is a gun's man. Strictly guns, he will never pick up a blade unless he has no choice or say in the matter. Considers it to be cheating. Cayafaz is a balanced type, he prefers blades, spears and other hands on weapons but can use a gun. Isabel is strictly gun because she doesn't like the stress of having to stab someone and Maya…doesn't know what she is
We spent just two weeks on weapon control and finding out where Maya is in all of this and it turns out, she's a balanced user. It didn't take long since we didn't use that many weapons, I did learn to use a desert eagle though. Ethan picked it out for me from the weapon storage.
Anyway, after that we moved on to the power of our suits. Yes, the hardest part of the three months and definitely the most time consuming. The first challenge of all of this, was trying to turn the suits on.
"Hey Eddy! You've been in the suits active mode but not only that you've skipped the first form and hopped past into another one" Ethan says
"Yeah" I responded
"So, shouldn't you know a tip or trick for us to at least turn the suits on? Responding to your desires is pretty vague for me"
"Yeah me to" The others say in unity. The pressure is now on me, to give them a way or remember how I was able to activate the power of the suits
"I'm sorry guys, but I was in white hot rage when that transformation took place. I can barely even remember what happened once I put that thing on…or even the events before it"
A concerned Maya steps out to say "Ok, but do you think you could control it? Or at least, call up a little of its power?"
"Well, I had been doing some mental practices and personal training. I couldn't control it before, period. But now I think I have a little way of calling some power like you said…but there's a catch"
"What's that?" everyone steps forward with anticipation, nearly piling on Edward
"Once I activate the power I can only maintain the form for 10 seconds. it's the most incomplete and imperfect state of the suit but it works and might just give us a clue to how to control it"
"Ok…show us!" Isabel yells impatiently
"Alright"
I spread my legs apart a bit, I hold my arms up at my waist, but, before I can do anything
"Wait! Stop!" Ethan says suddenly
"What is it" Isabel asks
"I just thought, we should see how powerful the suit is even if its just for ten seconds. why don't we all got at Edward at the same time"
"What? That's totally not okay! What if he isn't as fast as he was with Cheshire? We might end up killing him and I am not taking that chance, he's the only way we can learn anything about turning on the suits" A frustrated Isabel protests
"Okay. Okay. I hear you, calm down. We won't go at him with weapons or at least not with guns, just blades, sticks and hands. How does that sound"
Isabel inhales deeply and exhales "Fine. But if something happens to Edward, Ethan, I sweat I will kill you"
"Ok then…Anyone else on board?"
Cayafaz raises his hand "I'm good with it, ill use a spear just to be safe"
"Ok, what about you Maya?"
"I'm with Isabel on the whole let's not turn Edward into a test dummy but, ill be cool with it if he is"
They all look to me, waiting for my go ahead. Something could go wrong and I could die, but crazily enough I'm okay with that
"Sure, lets see what power I can muster in 10seconds"
Everyone besides Isabel and Maya, grab a weapon. I take my stance from earlier and then I try to focus. I start grunting and squinting. I start to flex every muscle in my body from my neck to my feet but I'm also working on the visual image of what I want to see in my mind. I keep doing all of this until finally the ground beneath me starts to crack a bit. The equipment in the room start floating, a blue light starts to glow off my body and a blue aura starts to come off my body. Then the whole room starts to glow with blue light coming off of me, and I start to scream as my legs spread even more and I squat even closer to the ground
"Get ready. We don't have time to start talking. Once it looks like he's gotten it, we go in for the attack" Ethan tells the whole team
"Got it!" Everyone says in unity
I continue yelling at the top of my lungs till I raise my head back up and finally. The suits glowing with a mix of light blue, dark blue, ocean blue and star like colors, my hair also gets wavy and when I look at the others to tell them I did it… All of them are in mid-air, lunging at me. Before I know what happens. My finger twitches and my body and sends this chilled wind and color like the bottom of the ocean. But its not thick or heavy, its like, a veil off my body enveloped the whole room.
By the time my mind can caught up with what's happened times so slow its like their standing still…or am I moving to fast. I walk by them but none of their eyes follow me, they're still staring at the spot where I took my form. I turn my head to look at the same spot, I then remember
"Oh, shit! Ten seconds! Gotta work fast"
I walk towards all of them and use my finger to hit their stomachs as hard as I can, I poke everyone's guts and then go back to stand in the spot I was in. my ten seconds run out and I deform. Time starts up and the color retracts back to me. Once time starts up again the others just start flying into the directions where I poked them
"Are you guys all right?"
Ethan who just hit his head against a rack weights gets up "Damn it, what even happened? We barely did anything…we didn't even see anything…"
"Edward did you do this?" Isabel asks
"But it can't be right? …It wasn't even up to ten seconds" Cayafaz says trying to get off the ropes of the ring he got tangled in when he landed
"Yeah…you were in front of us once you had transformed, all of a sudden it got cold around you and…all of a sudden where thrown around the place" Maya adds backing Cayafaz up
"That's because to you it was in an instant, but to me it was ten seconds"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone