——— Cynthia ———
I bolted out the door in an act of pure irrationality. I knew I could do nothing to help my pops, but I knew I needed to help somehow. Hearing my mother tell me that I needed to stay home with her while my father was out getting himself killed was something I couldn't sit idly by for. I ran with all my might around corners and jumped over fences to try to find my father. That was when I saw a man parading down the street with a young girl under his arm. The young girl was kicking and screaming while other men in suits were yelling and fighting the man as he easily avoided and countered every hit they threw at him.
I quickly hid behind the wooden fence that obstructed the man's view of me and peered through the small gaps in the wall. The man promptly took care of his attackers, leaving traces of blood on his clothes. The man wore a combat-ready mercenary outfit. He had a blade at his hip that he quickly put away after cleaning the blood off of it with the forearm he was using to hold the girl. I could hear the girl's small whimper as the blade approached her.
Those men in suits seemed like capable individuals, but they lasted mere seconds against this man. Would I even be able to help this girl? My thoughts wandered to ways to help the girl or sneak away from the man. In almost all instances, I would wind up fighting the man in some way. It seems fate has locked me into this death match of sorts.
I waited till after the man finished looking around. I tried to move behind him quietly, but as I was doing so, I stepped on a branch from a tree nearby. The man heard it. I could listen to his footsteps get closer as I quickly hid behind the fence in desperation. A confrontation with the man was now inevitable. I explore possible ways to escape this encounter. I couldn't think anymore; I had to act. Maybe I could help the girl, too.
Once the man reached the wooden fence, I leaped up and punched him square in the nose. The man recoiled and covered his face with both hands. The girl dropped from under the man's arm and picked up her teddy bear before hurrying towards the corner.
"No! Come back here, you brat!" He turned ferociously towards me. It was a face he didn't put on when fighting the men who had been laid waste below him. This guy was now indeed ticked off, and I pulled the pin.
"You! This is your fault! Because of that, I would get a pay raise, and now you ruined it!"
"It's you who shouldn't be kidnapping people! Especially young girls, you weirdo!"
The man scoffs. "She wasn't just some 'young girl!' She's— you know what? I don't need to explain myself. I'll end you as I did to these men."
The man lunges towards me and goes for a swing at my face. I steel myself as I evade this first punch. The man smiled, knowing I would avoid the attack, and used his other arm to grab me and throw me to the ground. The ground was hard and wet. Which could have easily given me a concussion, but thanks to my aura, I didn't take any lasting damage. Concussions are the least of my problems right now, though, as the man quickly goes in for another punch, which he lands. As far as I can see, the man is not using any elements; he is using his raw strength.
Is he underestimating me because I'm a kid? He didn't use his powers either when fighting the men in suits. Elementalless? He could be, but I highly doubted that. As soon as he was going to take another swing, a bolt of purple fire hit the man, letting me go. I only knew of one person with those wicked, dark flames. I got up and saw Danny next to the corner. I called his name joyfully after seeing him, but my mood returned as I heard the man get up from the surprise attack.
"Another one, huh? Welp, prepare to die as well, kid."
I ran to Danny and shielded him with my aura. The man drew the sheathed sword at his hip and licked it. There, I felt a sense of dread. This man is pure sadistic.
"Danny. I'm unsure of this guy's Elements, but he's wicked strong. He took down all those guys there."
"I can see that. We need to come up with something fast."
"Oh, don't worry, kids. This will be over soon."
The man walks closer, leaving himself open to any attacks. Danny fires off another firebolt, which the man easily parries. The man then took the initiative and swung at us, but the dome created by my aura warded off his attacks. The man takes a few more swings, which the shield easily deflects.
The man grows frustrated. "Ugh. Damn, your stupid aura. Turn off your ability so I can kill you!" The man goes for one more strike; this time, a flare of green surrounds his blade as he strikes my dome.
This green residue stays on the edge of my dome. After a moment, my shield begins to crack. In that instant, I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder. I examined the green substance. It was Acid, that's the man's element. I yelled at Danny. "His element is Acid! Watch out!"
He looked at me, understanding what to do next. My shield broke with one final slash. I couldn't send it out for a couple of minutes. Danny stepped forward and went for a kick, which connected. The man reeled before retaliating with a punch to the gut and a slash to Danny's arm.
Danny stepped back in pain. "Dang, that hurts!"
Feelings of anxiety and stress surged, and I could only watch on as it all unfolded.
Danny and I were both injured, while the man seemed bruised. This situation was getting worse by the second. The man began to chuckle. We could only stand there, curious about why he was laughing.
"Oh, man... you, kids, put up more than I thought you would."
This fight had only lasted no longer than two minutes, and he had already seemed impressed. "We're not giving up anytime soon, right, Danny!"
Danny looks towards me and smiles. "Yeah."He turns to the man. "We are still fighting!"
The man chuckles once more. "Okay, okay, let us continue this dance."
The man walks forward, and then he disappears. I quickly looked around to see where he had gone. He vanished faster than we could blink. All around me, I could see nothing but a destroyed neighborhood, dozens of men on the floor with their blood splattered across the pavement, but not the perpetrator. I got nervous, and it spiraled out of control once I heard Danny yell. "Cynthia, behind you!" I turned around to see him behind me.
"Surprise!" I tried to put up my aura, but couldn't summon it.
I then braced myself for the inevitable, and just as suddenly, a stone pillar sprang out from the ground and hit the man right under the chin. The man yelled out in pain. I looked behind him to see Adrien, his left arm extended, the other shielding the girl. Now that I had taken a closer look, I noticed that the girl we were protecting was Lia. This girl has been through so much trouble with those bullies, and now this man. But what did this man want with Lia? Why is he trying to take her away? Those thoughts lingered in my mind as the man began to recover, but Danny went in for a combination of blows before he could thoroughly do so. All of which landed at home.
Danny hit him twice in the face, then kicked him in the gut. The man stumbled down and lost his balance. He dropped to the floor, taking a knee. I knew we had to finish him off and leave now. This is our best chance. My mother told me that every man has a weakness that works on all of them. I took those words to heart as I bet on this final gamble. I ran in and used all my strength to kick the man between his legs. The man drops to the floor, agonizing. We did it, we won. I let out a sigh of relief. The fight was over, but we still had problems to address.
I looked at Danny, who was cringing over what I assumed I had just done. I chuckled at him before telling him to be careful around me now. He sprang up and nodded at me rapidly. It was almost like he was scared of me. I looked towards Adrien; he beckoned us both. Danny and I obliged.
—— Daniel ——
A cold shiver went down my spine when I saw Cynthia put the final hit toward our current enemy. Even if the man was trying to kill us, I still felt pity for the man who was currently on the floor, crying in pain. Cynthia turned to me and told me to be careful, and another shiver was sent down my spine. I could only nod repeatedly. As I replied, I began to sweat. Adrien broke my fear when he signaled us with his hand to come close. I looked back at Cynthia, and we proceeded back.
The man behind us follows us with his eyes and extends one arm. "Wait... come back here... you brats..."
We looked back at him and stuck our tongues out at him before leaving him to his mess.
As we left around the corner, he screamed to come back again before he was interrupted by a brick breaking. I could only assume it hit his head, and he conked out. I looked at my hands, which were hot from my flames, and squeezed them hard. That was our first real battle. I could scarcely control my flames. My body can barely handle them, so the fire flickers out. Then I get a weird burning sensation in both of my palms. The irritation leaves after a few minutes, but it's still tiresome.
I looked at Lia, who was trying to process everything that had transpired. She was wearing a worried expression. I tried to calm her down by giving her a thumbs-up and smiling, which helped slightly. She gave me a half smile back. She must be scared of where her parents might be. We need to find her family quickly. My mind began to wander to other subjects as we continued jogging.
I think of my family and if they are safe. I think about Adrien's family and whether they are secure. Adrien's family is very dependable and resourceful, so I believe that all of them are doing well. I like to believe that Adrien thinks the same, seeing how much more collected he's been from this situation. I know what's going on with Cynthia's family. We need to find her father. If we can locate him, we could probably find Lia's family, too.
As we continued to jog by every road we saw. People's homes continue to be ravaged and burned. People were fleeing their homes into the wilderness, seeking shelter. Men and women in similar outfits to that man we fought earlier, going into people's homes and plundering whatever they could find. We searched and hid when we needed to. We continued this repetition until the sun began to set. At last, it was near the outskirts of the village, where we saw Cynthia's dad.
He was helping people flee the village on horseback to another village. I've heard that in cities, the technology is more advanced than ours, since they don't need horses for transportation. I've always wanted to ride one of those machine transports. After a moment's pause, I returned to reality as I saw Cynthia run forward. She screamed out for her father, and he reacted sharply as he saw her run towards him. He screamed out her name before getting on one knee to hug her.