Bonjour, my wonderful reader! Ready for more of that (confusing) action?
So am I, so let's get to it. Read on!
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Lloyd
"You want to do what?" I ask the assembly of tributes in front of me. I had been heading to the cafeteria but now my appetite's gone.
"Did you hear about the lightning storm and the earthquake and whatever?" Cole addresses me.
"Um, yeah. Everyone did."
"Well, you'll be pleased to know it was yours truly who caused that earthquake. Jay here was the lightning thing."
I examine Jay with narrowed eyes. "Is it true that you burned your pants off?"
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Jay throws his hands up in frustration.
"Never mind that. Lloyd, I've been studying some ancient scrolls about elemental magic with Clouse –"
"Wasn't he buddies with Borg or something?"
Ming nods sharply. "Yes, but he's sort of tutoring me now. Anyways, there are four elements with their individual branch of magic: fire, ice, lightning, earth."
"Sure, like the elements from home."
"Right. But legend also speaks of a fifth element, comprised of all four elements. The master of this could control all elemental magic and was the most powerful sorcerer of the land."
"Sorcerer?"
"Technically, ninja."
"Excuse me?"
"Yes, the elements were controlled by ninja back in the day, the harbingers of all things good and just. May I continue?"
I realize that I've been interrupting her a lot and lower my head. "Yeah, of course. Sorry."
"It's fine. What we've been meaning to tell you it that we believe that you are this mythical green ninja."
"How do you know?" I wonder aloud. "You guys have all shown affinity to your own elements. How do you know Daphnes wasn't the green ninja or something?"
Cole frowns, as if this never occurred to him before. Jay takes the opportunity to speak up.
"We don't I guess. I'm not an expert, Ming just briefed me on this a little while ago, but I can tell you what I think. Eighteen tributes go in, six come out, you know? Doesn't seem random. And you're good. Do you know how many kids like you could get into Infantry? Not many, that's who."
I would comment that he's still a kid himself, but I keep my mouth shut. If it's true that Jay got his pants fried off I'd hate to be on the receiving end of those lightning bolts. "Thanks, I guess. But how can we know for sure? I sure don't want to end up a char-grilled heap of ashes on the floor."
"There is one way. In all recorded information on this the powers of the green ninja were either unlocked through the golden weapons – long story, don't ask – or through direct contact with the powers themselves."
"Contact?" I ask warily.
"In this case we would see if there's a way to unlock this without physical contact. If not, you might want to bring a pair of extra pants." Ming flashes Jay a grin and his face turns a ruddy red.
"I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?"
I should be surprised, floored to the ground in shock, but I'm not. All of a sudden mythical elemental powers don't seem like a big deal anymore. But to find out that I'm supposed to be the most powerful ninja/sorcerer of all time – that's kind of hard to swallow. My situation right now is fine, do I really need another twist? I think of Zaria and Sabina, how well we all got along. Would they treat me any different if I could shoot ice out of my hands?
All the same, I don't want to keep telling myself I'm strong. I want to be strong.
"Do you guys realize how ridiculous you sound? This is the more harebrained, half-baked plan I've ever heard. So, when do we start?"
Did I just say when do we start?
Apparently, now
The four tributes are assembled in an unused Infantry training room in a circle, with me at the middle. Ming stands off to the side, because she doesn't have a specific element, instead instructing us on how to turn me into the green ninja. She's also conveniently close to the wall port in case Service needs to scrape my remains from the floor at the end of this test. If I wasn't so worried I would crack up laughing. The idea is absolutely ridiculous, but I need hope. I can be strong.
"Okay, listen up! First, you're going to try to use your powers around Lloyd. Be careful not to touch him."
A vivid image flashed past my mind with me lying in the Service hospitals, charred and burned from elemental powers gone wrong, with the tributes clamoring, 'It was an accident, I swear!'
"No offense, Ming, but I can't use my powers too well, or too specifically. I might hit him. Is this a necessary precaution we have to take, or can they touch him?" Zane asks, and his usually blank countenance is tinged with worry.
"It's fine." Ming responds, and panic leaps up in my stomach. Calm down, I urge myself. She's right. It's fine.
It is not fine! This is the opposite of fine!
"Are you ready to begin, Lloyd?" She asks me, and the word no leaps to my tongue first. I force it down and nod.
"Great. Everyone else, standing by? Good. On three. One."
The tributes get into ready position, which actually looks pretty funny. Cole reaches his arms out in front of him and his face is twisted in concentration. Jay does something similar, and Zane closes his eyes, holding his arms out to his sides. Kai just stands where he is, unchanged.
"Two."
I'm tempted to run out of the room screaming, but my feet are glued to the floor with panic and purpose. I've never been strong, and I know that now. I followed Borg, I was never a fighter. I can't invent tanks or hit a target from football-fields away. I can't use magic. I was weak in the Games and I've been weak here. Even though I can't blame myself for it, if I was stronger Finn wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself trying to make me less weak. I don't want to be dead weight anymore. Most powerful sorcerer in the world doesn't sound too bad right now.
"Three."
I'm ready.
I feel Cole's earthquake first, the ground wobbling under my feet like it did in the Games, the raw power of the ground rumbling through the base. Next is the sharp crackling of lightning, spiking through the training room in sharp bolts, electrifying the atoms in my body, setting my hair on edge. A sharp tingling reaches up my spine and I feel the ice creeping up my body, flurries whipping at my face, the pure cold, and then the fire, bright rage and smoke that chokes my lungs, burns away everything else but pain and power.
My eyes close as I take in each element, feeling them war for the portions of me, ice on lightning, fire on earth, and then there is no war going on outside this room, because I am the war, a war larger than any human war could be. Glaciers clash, wildfires roar, the ground splits like it's been cut with a giant knife, and lightning fills the air with liquid heat and the stink of ozone. And I see things, strange and mysterious pictures forming behind my eyelids.
A ship, soaring through the sky. A volcano, belching fire and smoke. The beating of wings as something reaches for the freedom of the open air, diving with incredible speed for the surface of the earth. Shadows, darkness, bones.
And gold.
Everything is gold.
I awaken lying on the training room floor. Ming is crouched over me, eyebrows knitted in concern, and when I try to stand she pushes me back down.
"No, rest for a moment. How do you feel?"
I try to open my mouth and speak, but it feels like I have a wad of cotton stuck there. After a minute I try again.
"Please, let me stand. I want to try something."
Ming helps me up and stumble a step before regaining my balance. Once the head rush fades I look around the training room, which appears to still be intact after the elemental experiment. Something catches my eye in the corner and I turn to it – a single shooting target, left out from training. Raising my hand, I aim for the center of the target. I think of Jay and his energy, the sheer power of lightning, the heat, smoking down from the sky and shattering the target.
The rumble of thunder. My ears pop and I leap back as a bolt of lightning streaks down from the ceiling and explodes against the target, the charge of energy blasting it to a million pieces.
"Did you do that?" Cole asks Jay, and the latter grins wildly.
"Nope."
I look back at the five tributes, and suddenly I'm more. How could I have not noticed it before? That piece of me missing, not complete without this new gift. I'm no longer Lloyd, the weak All-Element tribute who couldn't help anyone. I'm no longer the saved. I can be a savior. This is me.
The wall port buzzes to life and we all jump, then walk closer to hear the incoming transmission.
"Calling all tributes, yes, all. That means you!" The voice is tired and haggard, but the relief in it is clear. An ending. A change of scene, a new act in a play. "Come up to the Command floor immediately. We have a few things to talk about."
I guess elemental hazing now exists...
Thank you all for reading! This new development will bring some much-needed information, trust me :)
I guess that's all I can say here. Until next time!
