The first of my overdue requests. This one was from Sundiel. I had an earlier version of this on my device long ago, but I doubt you'll ever see that one. I hated that version so much. This is the version I'm happiest with.
Also, happy holidays.
Chapter Fifteen: First Battle
"Night Shift, are you sure you want to train the kid this way?" Rubble Rouser asked, hesitation in his voice.
"There's more that I can show him than the rest of you can," Night Shift insisted. "Besides, I'm sure he can handle it."
Freeze Blade hardly paid attention to their banter as he stood in the wooded clearing nearest Woodburrow. He was fired up for this training exercise. This one must've been really difficult and challenging. Why else would they be out here instead of the yard of their base? It was exciting to Freeze Blade- he was ready for anything!
Night Shift directed Freeze Blade's attention to the turrets set up around the clearing. "This exercise will test your speed, endurance, and instincts," he began. "Turrets have been set up around the area that will shoot bean bags at you. While the blue ones are harmless if they hit your sides, should you be hit by a red bean bag, you will have fifteen seconds to retreat to us or the exercise is over. If any kind of bean bag hits you on the face, the back of the head, or the chest area, the exercise will end that way. This is meant to reflect the stakes of an actual battle."
"So if a red one hits me, it's like a wound that I'm bleeding out from?" Freeze Blade asked.
"Yes."
"And getting hit anywhere except the sides is like getting stabbed, right?"
Nod.
"Jeez, what's wrong with you two?" Rubble Rouser wondered. "If a red one hits you, you return to us to 'get medical treatment' so you can head out and continue the exercize. Got all of that?"
Freeze Blade nodded.
Night Shift and Rubble Rouser fell back. Grabbing the controls to the turrets, Rubble Rouser shouted, "Then let the exercise commence."
Freeze Blade got in his fighting stance. "Hey, how fast are these things going to fly anyway?" he suddenly asked.
He ducked his head as a blue bean bag sped toward him.
"These machines came from the tennis court, so about as fast as tennis balls would shoot out from them," Rubble Rouser explained. "Sorry, should've let you know that."
Freeze Blade swerved away from incoming bean bags. Ducked to avoid a red one, swerved from a blue one. He used his ice vision to shoot some of them away. A blue bean bag hit his back- he ignored that one to knock away a red one with his chakram. A red bean bag hit him on the side of his leg- he sped back toward the elder Skylanders before being given clearance to head back out. It was nothing to him.
More ducking and swerving occurred in this time. That was mostly what he did. The exercise ended when Freeze Blade misjudged his next few moves, swerving to avoid a red bean bag and moving in a way that a blue one hit him on the front of his shoulder.
"Naw, it's only a flesh wound," Freeze Blade sighed, disappointed with himself. He knew he could've done better than that. Had he planned it out better, he could've dragged the exercise out until the turrets were empty.
"It hit you nearest the jugular vein," Night Shift explained. "Nothing we can do to save you from that."
"'Jugular'? Man you scare me sometimes," Rubble Rouser grimaced. His calm demeanor returning, he told Freeze Blade. "Don't beat yourself up about it, kid. You went at this for three minutes. That's longer than the two of us made it on our first time through."
"Yeah, but the exercise was fairly new then," Night Shift reminded him. "Spy Rise created it only two months back."
Freeze Blade smirked. "So I got hit in an area that is fatal to get hit in?" he repeated. "In that case- owww, ohhhh the pain, the pain!"
He said this as he slowly knelt to the ground, clutching the shoulder that got hit. Freeze Blade lay on the ground in an exaggerated way, all the while muttering dramatic ramblings as if he had been hurt.
"That's enough of that," Night Shift said, trying his hardest to keep from smiling. "This isn't something to be taken lightly."
Freeze Blade stood back up. "I know, I know. And I promise, any bandits we fight will not get the drop on me," he insisted.
Night Shift's demeanor changed, this time more serious with a hint of worry. "That's not the point of these tests," he explained. "Of course you won't let them get the drop on you. But we need to see how you'll handle yourself out there. It's fine for you to joke around for a small while, but you need to take these things seriously. How are you supposed to learn if we don't beat it into your skull?"
"I get it, you want me to be the best that I can be," Freeze Blade said with his heart plummeting slowly. "You want to make sure I can keep my balance in a real battle. You want to make sure I'm safe."
"Don't say 'I get it'- when you say that, it sounds like you're not listening," Rubble Rouser added. "This is no joke. It might be hard to take this seriously because you haven't been in an actual battle before, but the stakes are much higher than what can be simulated in this exercize. Do you understand?"
Freeze Blade only nodded. How else could he convince them that he was indeed listening to them?
Night Shift let out a sigh. "Don't take this fully to heart," he decided. "We just worry for you. You have proven yourself capable of many things, but it's easy for us to worry until you're as powerful as the rest of us. When the time comes, you'll be ready."
Freeze Blade believed him. The Skylanders knew what they were talking about. Every one of them said similar words of encouragement. "You'll know what to do when your first battle comes." "You'll be ready when you have to kick Greeble-butt." "You'll be just fine out there." He believed every word they said- at least he tried to.
Everyone else might've been worried about him entering his first battle- but Freeze Blade was certain that he was most worried of all.
It wasn't like his first true battle had been scheduled. The Skylanders didn't plan for which of them should be sent to take care of what situations needed handling. But whenever he thought of it, Freeze Blade felt dread fill the pit of his stomach. What would happen out there? What if he killed a bandit by mistake? What if he hurt one of his allies by mistake? What if one of them hurt him by mistake? The thought had been on the back of his mind, until lectures from his teammates brought it up front.
And it had stayed there since yesterday. Freeze Blade could hardly sleep thinking about it. He had walked back out to their training spot this morning, the thought looming in his mind. Rubble Rouser was waiting for him out here- maybe he should tell him his woes? Freeze Blade knew he could come to the Skylanders at any time. Oh, but how should he say what needed to be said?
"Where's Night Shift?" Freeze Blade asked, which was the opposite of what he wanted to say, but had said in the hopes of starting a conversation.
"He said he wanted to have you fight an actual creature. Get you some practice in fighting things that aren't sparring partners or bean bags," Rubble Rouser explained. "He'll be here in a few minutes, and then we'll start training."
Freeze Blade sat on the ground next to Rubble Rouser. "Were you worried about your first battle?" he asked.
Rubble Rouser touched his chin in contemplation. "I'm not sure," he replied. "I don't think I was worried. If you're referring to my first battle as a Skylander, then no, I wasn't worried."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I suppose my first battle as a Skylander wasn't my very first battle overall. I had fought the deadly Rock Lords at my home, protecting my people. Yeah, that was the first."
"Were you worried?"
"I had no time to worry. It happened so fast."
"Were you scared?"
"Maybe for a second, but I couldn't dwell on that."
No comment.
"Are you worried?"
Nod.
"But I thought you'd already been in conflict. Yeah, you fought those Spell Punks off of Blast Zone's back."
"I don't count that one. He pretty much took them out seconds I came in to help him."
"So your first battle as a Skylander will be your first true conflict?"
Nod.
"Well I promise you this, Freeze Blade; once you get into the thick of battle, you won't be focused on worry or fear. You'll be too caught up in the fighting to even think about it."
"What if I'm bad at fighting?"
"You're not bad at fighting. Trust me, you'll be great."
Trust me, you'll be great. It didn't ease Freeze Blade's mind one bit. He was confident that Rubble Rouser knew what he was talking about. Even so, his words of encouragement sounded the same as everyone else's. He was now convinced that nothing they said would make him feel better about this.
A bush on their right moved slightly. Freeze Blade noticed Rubble Rouser stand up slightly, squinting at the bush. Freeze Blade looked in the same direction, catching a hint of two pointy green things behind a tree trunk.
Rubble Rouser sat back down. "There's a Drow right there," he whispered. "He's watching us."
"A Drow?" Freeze Blade whispered back, sensing the urgency. "Didn't he get the memo? Cloudbreak belongs to nobody. The Drow have no business here."
"I wouldn't know what he wants. Stay here, and be quiet. I'm going to look for Night Shift."
Rubble Rouser stood up and walked through the entrance to Woodburrow. He walked slowly, as if enjoying the summer sun that shone that day- making sure not to alarm their "guest." Freeze Blade looked down at the grass, pretending not to notice the Drow behind the tree. It now seemed glaringly obvious to him that a Drow was in the area. His hand itched to form the ice chakram in his hand, but he resisted that urge- there was no need to antagonize him.
More rustling drew his attention back to the tree. The Drow jumped out, lunging toward him. Freeze Blade jumped up, quickly moving out of the way as the Drow attacked. The chakram was formed, though mainly used to deflect attacks from the enemy. The fight didn't go on too terribly long, as the Drow was hit in the head by a flying hammer. Freeze Blade turned around, seeing Rubble Rouser and Night Shift run onto the scene.
"I swear, I didn't do anything!" Freeze Blade promised. "He attacked me!"
Rubble Rouser ran to the unconscious Drow, lifting his head and observing the details of his face. "He's a younger one," he announced. "New to this. Probably panicked and decided he had to do something to keep safe."
"Attacked first, the coward," Night Shift muttered, taking Rubble Rouser's side to observe the Drow. They talked amongst themselves for a few moments, their voices hushed. Freeze Blade stood idly by, trying to listen to them. They stood back up, their faces looking grim.
"What is it?" Freeze Blade wondered.
"That Drow is just a scout," Night Shift said. "There's no heavy armor on him, not even true weapons. I bet there are bigger forces accumulated in the woods."
"And Rubble hit him with a hammer!" Freeze Blade cried. "We could've asked him where they were!"
"Okay okay, let's just keep our heads," Rubble Rouser insisted. "The worst part about this situation is not knowing what the Drow are doing here. Sure I hit the scout with a hammer. But at least he's here with us and not returning to his subordinates to tell them what he found. We can clear them out before this becomes a bigger issue."
"Give or take the amount of scouts that were sent out," Night Shift reminded him. "Where did the scout come from?"
Freeze Blade pointed to the tree where he had seen the Drow's ears.
"That's a good place to start," Night Shift decided. "Rubble, stay with the scout in case he comes to and tells you where to find them. Freeze Blade and I are fast enough to catch the Drow before they do some real damage to the area."
Freeze Blade's throat went dry at the thought. They were doing this now? There was hardly anything to say in the matter, as Night Shift was already heading off into the woods. Freeze Blade followed after him, passing by the brown branches that scratched at his arms. The trees thinned out somewhat as they came across some damage in the woods- trees had been cut down, branches and leaves littered on the ground.
"Drow are trying to move in, the scum," Night Shift spat, observing the damage.
Freeze Blade touched a hand to a stump in the ground. "How long do you think they've been here?"
"Can't say. This is the first we've seen of their presence."
"You'd think the Portal Masters would've informed us of a Drow situation in the area."
"That's the short end of the stick for us in Cloudbreak. We're pretty much on our own when protecting the people here. These islands aren't important unless an enchanted volcano is erupting."
Freeze Blade said nothing.
"Good news right now is that the Drow have to be nearby. We can chase them out, send them flying back to where they came from. C'mon, let's keep going."
They started up again. Freeze Blade's heart thudded in his chest. "So if we find the Drow, this will be my first battle?" he muttered.
"Hopefully," came the reply.
Freeze Blade was heading into battle, he realized.
He was heading into battle.
Oh man, he was heading into battle!
Freeze Blade stopped, pressing himself against a tree. He hugged his arms to his chest, his body trembling uncontrollably. He felt his pulse in every muscle in his body, and he found that he could hardly breathe. Freeze Blade wasn't prepared for this. Despite all of the time spent preparing for this moment, he wasn't prepared at all.
"Night Shift, I can't do this! There's no way I can do this!" Freeze Blade managed to shout, his throat dry and his voice cracking from it.
Night Shift paused in his quest, turning slightly to see him. "What's the matter?! We have to go!" he yelled, impatient about finding the Drow.
"I just can't! What if I kill one of them by mistake?" Freeze Blade whined.
"So what? It was an accident- the Portal Masters will forgive that. Now c'mon, we have to go!"
The trembling only continued, and now tears flowed down with the stress as well. "You don't get it!" he continued. "He might have a family, and I will have taken him away from them! I won't be able to live with myself if I knew I'd done something so evil! And you guys just keep telling me 'Oh, you'll be fine, you'll be fine' like you're so sure of what the future holds for me! But you don't know! Nobody can be sure of the future, not even me! And don't say I didn't expect to get into a battle- I knew that coming into the Skylanders that I'd have to fight! It's just that I'm here now, and it's a bigger deal than I'd ever thought it to be, and I'm just standing here...I just can't, I can't, I just..."
Night Shift let out a sigh, coming back and leaning on the tree beside Freeze Blade. They stood like this for several minutes, though time didn't seem to move for Freeze Blade. The trembling went away slowly, and he only continued crying after that. Normally he liked to do things quickly- but this event came by way too fast for him.
"I'm sorry for rushing you like this," Night Shift began, finally breaking the silence. "You're feeling this way, and all I'm worrying about is what those Drow are doing here."
"...Maybe even a little scared?" Freeze Blade sniffed.
"Fear of the unknown is something that we face all the time. It does us no good to think about what could happen. Sometimes you just have to jump into the problem before you can do anything about it."
Freeze Blade didn't reply.
"About your worries of accidentally killing a Drow, think about this- if they do have families, why are they out here, serving the Darkness, than being with them? Every enemy that the Skylanders face, whether they be bandits, trolls, or stupid Drow, they gave up their souls to serve the Darkness. There isn't an inch of good left in them. It's up to us to protect the people who are still good, who don't deserve this misfortune placed upon them."
Freeze Blade wiped a few tears away.
"We've done nothing but worry you, haven't we?"
Nod.
Night Shift let out a coughing sound, somewhere between an uneasy laugh and a scoff- perhaps a scloff. "Here I am, trying to do and say what I thought would help you, and I manage to make things worse," he realized. "And it wasn't just me, but everyone else piling onto you until you snapped like this. Of course we don't know what's going to happen to you. But if we can ease your mind, then it'll ease our minds."
Freeze Blade peeled himself away from the tree. "So you're scared for me?" he asked.
Nod.
"It's really hard to get into a good frame of mind for battle when you have absolutely no idea what to do."
"Like I said, sometimes you just have to jump in."
Freeze Blade sighed, a calm running through his body. Fear was still in the back of his mind, but his resolve had changed. "We should keep going," he decided.
Night Shift moved up next to him. "You're going to be okay?" he asked.
"I think so. This is something I have to do."
The Drow forces were found on a hill in a natural forest clearing, camps set up around the area. The spearmen were set up on watch duty, the goliaths dotted everywhere else. The sheer numbers were immense, with more Drow collected in this area than Freeze Blade had ever heard of. This couldn't quite be an army, but maybe they were looking for something? At least, that was what Night Shift had proposed as the two of them watched from behind the trees.
"They came from an airship, right?" Freeze Blade whispered. "Where is that?"
"Farther away from here," Night Shift insisted. "When you travel farther from your means of travel, you set up camps. I can imagine there being several more camps in the rest of the forest than what we've found here."
"This isn't right. There's too many of them- we need backup."
"We're counting on Rubble Rouser for that. Hopefully he has half a brain to let the others know where we are so they can come assist us."
"We're betting on hope to get us through this?"
"What else do we have?"
Freeze Blade couldn't argue that.
"I want you to divert the spearmen away from the camps and make way for me to attack the goliaths. Keep your distance away from them so they don't overwhelm you. We'll both have to keep our distance and hold out until help arrives."
"You want me to attack that many spearmen all by myself?"
"You have your fancy ice powers- you can slow them down. There's nothing I can do in that area."
Freeze Blade nodded. "I'll make my way around," he decided. "When the spearmen clear out, you head in."
"What are you planning?" Night Shift asked.
"Probably something stupid."
"Better than nothing."
Freeze Blade ducked down, turning left away from Night Shift. He walked around the camp, stepping on the western side of the clearing. A tall structure was in this part- a watchtower, maybe? Freeze Blade planned on doing something stupid indeed. His ice vision was utilized, the frost touching the tower and encasing it in a crystalline sheen. A few spearmen, the ones who had been paying attention to see this happening, went to investigate. That wasn't the number he was hoping to come by. Something bigger needed to happen.
Freeze Blade breathed out, forming an ice chakram in his hand. Touching his other hand to the side of a tree, he coated it in ice, touching a few trees near it. The breeze picked up, sending the nip of the ice into the air through the camp. The Drow were alerted to a true situation, prepared for battle. The goliaths got into battle stance as the rest of the spearmen chased after the ice formations. Freeze Blade started up and skated away, a chase commencing as the first few spearmen caught him in the act.
He fled quite a distance, the spearmen catching up to him. At one point he decided that he ought to do something to fight back. Freeze Blade turned around, sending his ice vision toward the spearmen. Ice formed around them, and they were quickly shoved away by incoming foes. He tossed his chakram at them, knocking them a few feet away onto the sides of trees. Several more spearmen advanced on him before he could move away- but much like the bean bag exercise, he ducked and swerved to avoid their attacks. At one point Freeze Blade misjudged his next movements- as he swerved back from one attack, someone got him from behind. Luckily he was able to sense the next attack coming, able to move so the spear cut him on the side of his shoulder instead of his neck.
Just a flesh wound.
It was at this point when help arrived. A hammer flew through the air, knocking a few spearmen to the ground. Rubble Rouser had come in, panting from the run here. Fatigue didn't seem to bother him at all, however, as he picked up his hammer and kept knocking the heads of the spearmen together. Freeze Blade assisted, freezing enemies into place so Rubble Rouser could slam into them.
"It's nice to see you," Freeze Blade panted.
"Same here," Rubble Rouser replied meekly. "Hey, maybe you should hang back for a bit. You're bleeding."
"Did you bring backup?"
Rubble Rouser looked on sheepishly.
"You didn't bring backup!?"
"I didn't know how many there were!"
"Night Shift's on his own out there. Did you see him?"
"Yeah I saw him. He's doing pretty good, but he's way in over his head- I doubt he'll last much longer on his own. I was going to help him out, but I thought I should find you first."
Freeze Blade's heart thudded in his chest. He looked in the direction he came from, thinking of the camp. "There's no way I'm hanging back in this case," he decided. "Take care of the spearmen. I'm going in to help Night Shift."
"That's not a good idea! You're bleeding!" Rubble Rouser tried to warn him.
But Freeze Blade was already on the move, racing back to the camp. He halted near the tree line, watching the battle that took place there. He could see Night Shift teleporting back and forth, landing blows on the goliaths before they could stampede toward him. But the vampire was looking winded, overwhelmed by the numbers. Freeze Blade jumped out, encasing a few of the brutes in ice before they could attack. Night Shift halted for a moment, as if searching for something, before attacking the ice-covered goliaths. Freeze Blade touched a few more goliaths with ice, halting them and hitting them with his chakram.
The battle lasted for only a few more moments. Freeze Blade and Night Shift attacked a few more goliaths head on before the ice melted. The spearmen ran back through the camp, running off into the woods. Rubble Rouser followed behind them, chasing them out with his hammer raised. The goliaths saw this sight in worriment- if their fearless meat shields were fleeing, what was it that they needed to flee from? So the goliaths ran away as well. The Skylanders watched them run, waiting to see if they weren't simply making a tactical retreat before coming in with reinforcements. Freeze Blade looked at his shoulder, noticing blood trickling down his arm.
"Night Shift...," he panted, prepared to touch his fingers to his wound. So that was why Night Shift had paused when Freeze Blade came in. He was aware that vampires healed using blood, and he thought that Night Shift might need some more aid. Maybe it might help-
"Get that away from me!" Night Shift quickly yelled. "Just let me know that you're alright."
"I'm fine. It only stings a little. How about you?"
"Still alive. That's as good as anything."
Rubble Rouser looked at the two of them. "So you're both okay?" he asked.
They nodded.
"I think it's safe for us to return home, then."
"You're going to have a problem listening to orders, aren't you?" Rubble Rouser asked as he decorated Freeze Blade's wound.
Freeze Blade merely shrugged.
"Hey, stay still for me, will you? Your constant fidgeting is making it hard for me to put the bandage on."
"It's really uncomfortable sitting in this one spot for so long."
They had returned to the base after their fight with the Drow. The rest of the Skylanders had been informed of this situation, and subsequently warned to look out for more signs of the hateful beings. Night Shift seemed convinced that this wasn't the end to the Drow situation, but Freeze Blade found that he wasn't worried by the thought. He almost looked forward to seeing more of them.
"It's called being impetuous," Rubble Rouser continued. "You just jump in without thinking of the danger. Good way to get hurt."
"You can ease up now, Rubble," Night Shift insisted, patting a damp washcloth on his face. "I'm sure he gets it by now."
"Yeah," Freeze Blade muttered.
Night Shift moved over to their spot in the foyer. "Besides, it's fine to be impetuous in battle," he decided. "Good to think on your feet. You can quickly figure out exactly what you want to do in that way."
"Besides, it's like you told me," Freeze Blade added. "Sometimes you just have to jump in."
"There is something seriously wrong with you two. There just has to be," Rubble Rouser mumbled to himself. Tying off the bandaging on Freeze Blade's shoulder, he changed his train of thought and said, "So this was your first battle, kid. Told you there was nothing to worry about, didn't I?"
Freeze Blade grew a grin on his face. "Yeah. And it wasn't so bad," he realized. "When I was deep into it, I somehow knew what I wanted to do. I believed you guys before, but I think I just had to see it for myself."
"I'm simply amazed by our skills today. The three of us managed to chase out that horde of Drow," Night Shift wondered. "Was it sheer will that gained us the victory? Luck? Maybe even-"
"Now why don't you ease up, grandpa?" Rubble Rouser sighed. "At least for today. The situation's been handled."
"We're all okay," Freeze Blade promised. "And don't worry about me. I'll be absolutely fine in my next battle."
Night Shift sighed, a slight smile creeping onto his face. "I guess you're right," he said. "For now."