Dawson Bright sneered smugly down below where Nate and the others were standing still, grasping his bag full of bacon bits as saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth. His tongue attempted to capture the pieces stuck in his cheek.
"Dawson! That's you, isn't it?" Nate asked. "I totally remember someone with something blindingly green with that hair."
Aliana rubbed her eyes as she tried to look harder. "Wait, that's true, it's definitely you, Dawson, the meanie who tries to bully the weak because he thinks he's so strong!"
Brandin put on his sunglasses and crossed his arms.
"Yo, who invited you, bro? Huh? No one, absolutely no one invited you at all. Pack it up and get out of here since you're wasting my time here."
"Nobody cares about you, Brandin!" Dawson snapped back. "All you do is just yell out stuff like it's no big deal, and you look so dumb while doing it.
"Why! No way you just said that!"
Dawson violently stomped on one of Aliana's motorbikes that used to be acting as the throne, causing the parts of the engine to completely disassemble from the sheer force of the foot coming down.
When seeing this, Aliana immediately pulled her sleeves up and charged up her arm, possibly in preparation for an intense beating to the green-haired delinquent.
"Hey! Stop it! I've worked hard on that! Kylee would be super sad if she finds the whole place in ruins thanks to you!"
"So that is what you three losers are doing here?" Dawson looked around, his mouth full of chips. "Not gonna lie, this place is kinda stupid; I don't like it one bit. I think Kylee is gonna hate it here, super hate it really."
"Well, she is not gonna like this party because you were here to mess it all up!" Aliana snapped back.
When both Aliana and Brandin rushed through with intense speed, their fists curled up to strike Dawson, Nate ran in front of them and reflexively had to hold them away to prevent them from committing outright murder. Although he was aware of how his power was actively making him stronger than these two, surprisingly.
I don't like this Dawson Bright guy myself, but I have to prevent these two from getting into any more trouble. There might be other people watching, and that would be a total embarrassment if it happens right now.
"Are you going to be a jerk just like how you were a jerk to Sheila when you almost broke that window at the antique shop? 'Cause that was totally a jerk move, by the way!" Aliana said angrily, still going on, while Nate struggled to hold her back.
Oh, right, Sheila's visits to the antique shop. I can't believe someone like Dawson was nearby there.
"Shut up, I'm still pissed about that! Now I need to do something that would cool me off!"
Dawson stepped down from the stage and speedily blitzed past the three of them, staggering them as they tried to understand where he went. He then raised his fists and brought it down in one of the plastic support beams of the birthday umbrella that was blocking the sun, causing the crumple down to the ground.
"NO! Stop! You're gonna ruin it!" Aliana shouted to Dawson.
"Make me!"
The green-haired dude then went to Brandin's side of the party and slammed his whole body down on one of the tables, then immediately crushed the chairs with the heel of his shoe. Dawson mockingly laughed, absorbing the destruction that he was causing into his ego.
"Dawson, dude! Not cool! That's my stuff you're wrecking!"
"Whatever! I should have beaten you more in Honoway Mall, but then something interesting happened, like with the Jed guy stabbing someone or something like that; I don't remember."
With a skip towards the black case next to Dawson, he knocked it off with a forceful shove of the foot, causing the contents inside to pour out and land on the hard cement floor. A clang of noises rang out through the birthday party perimeter.
However, when Nate squinted his eyes for a closer look, he saw that they were thin green cylinders that made a whistle-like noise coming from one end. His mind instantly traveled to the gas canisters in the laboratory in Standart High, which were very similar to ones here in Kelter Park that were brought by Brandin, since he must have a lot of party items to spare.
In fact, Nate was not certain that they were the same gas canisters, now looking like just a second away from bursting and the odd odor that tickled his nose.
He yelled out to the others who were still looking at what was in the metal case.
"Hey, get away, it's gonna explo—"
A deafening explosion interrupted his shouted warning, causing him and Brandin to fly backwards into the ground.
When Nate got up, he could see Aliana facing the fiery inferno blazing in front of them, a pure contrast to the serene background of the park.
The fire immediately caught the fabric on both sides of the party area and spread alarmingly fast.
"Oh crap! I gotta get out of here, or else I'm gonna get dead from burning!" Dawson cried out, then rushed out of the scene, leaving behind the fiery mess he created for the three people that were still there.
The heat of the fire physically glowed on Nate's skin, suffocating the oxygen that he needed to breathe around him as he also struggled to open his eyes, only making a peep with his eyelids.
Aliana moved quickly and shuffled towards the nearest chair that was engulfed in flames, unbothered by the crackles of flames physically contacting her body.
Nate went up to her but stood back in case the fire snapped back at him.
"Aliana! Don't! It's too dangerous—you might get hurt or worse; it's just not worth it!"
"No, I can't leave yet! This is all for Kylee, the birthday girl who needs support! Everyone in our group should have a good birthday, regardless of who!"
"Aliana...!"
Nate was sweating profusely as the heat continued to burst through the air. Brandin shielded his face from the hot winds whipping him.
It was such a waste of energy to go through the scorched stuff. Someone could get seriously hurt if they tried to go through the flames. Just like having to fight the Fadens that were too dangerous for Nate even with his sword, Rupture, this is all just meaningless; the ordinary life for everyone shouldn't be this dangerous.
If Nate was the one who was planning a birthday party for Kylee, with the choice to return to the safety of the ordinary by hanging back, or to be burned and risk having burns that would make you seem not ordinary.
In that instance, he would choose the former, even though this would get rid of all things and decorations for the party. Kylee would have to look forward to seeing a burnt mess of what could have been.
Aliana Augero should leave all this meaningless and dangerously outward stuff away, commit only to the safe and the ordinary without any interruptions.
Seriously, though, someone who would do this had to be insane to save something from the rubble destroyed by the fire.
Brandin stepped up on the other side of his party area, looking through the burning contents to pull away from the tables and chairs that weren't affected yet.
"Don't think that I don't care about the birthday party for Kylee too, Aliana! I'll definitely smother the flames with my party power and coolness!"
"Not... not you too... Brandin," Nate meekly said.
"We can't just abandon this party that I worked so hard on. I gave it my best, so Kylee would have the best birthday party! I feel like she was one who deserves the best; I feel like she wanted this party out of this world!" Aliana roared with determination.
"The fire may be burning hot, but the party power inside me burns even hotter! After a few minutes, this attack won't feel like it's worth a damn at all. Come on fire, come at me; you're no match for my best!" Brandin howled over the fire.
"So what?! You think we'd just stop saving the things that we hold dear? Hell no, I would rather die than do that! And I would definitely not let Brandin have all the glory of getting more of his party things out of the party than me. Even when things are tough, it's still the right thing, along with the chance of making everything okay for everyone! I will definitely make this party the greatest for Kylee even if it kills me!"
They dug through, and miraculously they appeared to be hindered by the thick smoke that clouded their views.
Nate paused for a moment to look at the Volanten River in the distance, and then at the vase of flowers Aliana had been saving for as decorations. He picked it up and ran straight for the water of the river.
"Fine! Just don't get third-degree burns or whatever!" he said to the two. "I'm gonna get something to quench the flames from going further."
When he finally reached the waters of the river, Nate scooped up the clear liquid with a movement of the vase and rushed back towards the party stage area, with the water sloshing around inside the priceless-looking container.
When they saw he was back with splashing water, Brandin and Aliana stopped what they were doing and stepped back as Nate poured the contents out to the source.
Fortunately, upon contact, the water cleared away portions of the flame, but not enough for the other portions of the fire that were still wilding out.
"Come on, Aliana!" Brandin screeched. "Let's use your vases to put out the fire with the river water, hurry!"
Aliana quickly nodded. "Right!"
The three of them took turns reaching the river to get the water and returning to the burning party area. They continued to do so as it carved away the flames' attacks, successfully pushing back the spread before it was too late.
Nate, Aliana, and Brandin returned with their vases full of water as they carefully approached the stage area, most of the items being charred black. But on the bright side, the outer decorations successfully escaped the fire's grasp.
The three of them poured their contents directly above the fire, causing it to shriek from the liquid's contact.
The final fire shrank and sizzled, marking the last end of its life to only a baby flicker surrounded by the dying embers.