The black smoke continued to pool against the stormy sky far away into the distance like a spirit uprising from the jagged cracks of the earth. Dylan and I watched with a hint of fear and wonder to what it was. I saw Dylan's eyes sparkle in confidence, ready just in case if it involved the Minor.

In the distance, strangely, we saw two figures, two tiny little dots far away fighting each other and dodging each other's physical attacks while leaping away like frogs. One of them, that was more to the left wasn't dodging them very well, though. He dodged a few attacks but got hit multiple times as well. At the sight, Dylan shifted his feet. I could see he was ready to do something about it. But what could he do? He wasn't that experienced at using his powers yet. I was sure he knew that, but confidence and bravery shone in his eyes anyway. He had that something I was missing. Guts.

PoVS

I coughed out another pool of blood into the black smoke. This guy was killing me. His red spiky hair with a hanging streak coming from the front swung wildly as he took me out, blow after blow. Why was he hurting me so much? I thought as he punched me again in the stomach. I knelt down now, clutching my midsection as pain was searing through it. My eyes crinkled in pain and my mouth gave an exasperated groan. I tried to get away from his punches and kicks with all my effort, but I failed all of them. Just who is this guy and what's the big idea for beating me up so suddenly?

I've been trying to get away from him ever since back in Jagrock. I've tried to run away from him and out to the plains but he still caught up with me. I'm not going to die just yet, I thought, opening one eye in pain, still clutching my midsection. I felt lines of sweat coming down from my black spiky hair as the person who claimed himself "Eruption" gave me a kick to the chest, knocking me three feet away.

I landed in the dust, my back sore and blood streaking from the corners of my lips. Fight marks were covered all of my body and I desperately tried to lift myself back up. But my limbs were too sore. My skin was all fried and burnt from those damned lava attacks he keeps making.

"Give up yet? You stupid asshole," he went up to me, staring at me with his evil, green eyes, picking me up by my white shirt underneath my open black one. I could do nothing but be controlled by his grip, no matter how much I resisted.

I didn't feel like talking to him, either, I just gave him a hard stare. He became angry and scowled at the look I was giving him. He took me by my shirt tighter and threw me to about five feet until I began rolling wildly in the dust of rocks. I tried to breathe and catch my breath desperately but all I could take in during my short breathers was volcanic ash. That was a hell of a throw back there, I thought, shifting my right leg from my position on the floor. Where does he get all this strength from?

I felt his presence close in on me, the sight from the corners of my eyes blurring. Damn it, what was wrong with this day?

"Die all ready, damn it!" he came up to me and yelled crazily standing up while I was down. I saw his right hand tightly locked into a fist, volcanic energy pouring from it. This is going to hurt a hell lot, I thought as I gave him the same old cold stare. He pulled the fist into the air and presented it above my body, and pummeled it right into my ribs. I heard a cracking of bones in my body as the ground beneath me made a huge hole due to the pressure put on by the fist. Rocks arose, popping up from beneath my body, breaking under pressure. I felt the skin on my chest burning and tried to hold my screams inside, biting my bottom lip. Dust arose from the huge dent in the ground, and I was soon thrust out of the cloud of dust by another kick from that volcanic pain.

My body went spinning in the air as I felt like suffocating in the ash being put in the air. The clouds above roared with lightning, ready to downpour on us any moment as I struggled to my feet helplessly, breathing hard, my ribs hurting every time I did so. "Why?" I asked him with an open mouth and choked voice, the sound barely escaping my broken ribcage.

"Why?" he said, walking out from the smoke and coming towards me again. "Don't joke around, I'm only following orders," he said, giving me a cold look with his cat-like green eyes.

"Your orders? What the hell?" I yelled at him furiously, struggling the words out of my broken bones. I held my chest tightly now, tilting and almost falling on my back. I still tried to take deep breaths, but no air seemed to come in.

He laughed in my face. "There's nothing to say anymore," he told me in a smirking manner. "Just die and get it over with." He was two feet away from me when he stuck his arm out to my direction as it turned from a normal human arm to a huge, lava-type limb. He threw his molten arm at me, the attack stretching the whole two yards between us, taking me by my chest which still seared with pain all over and crashed with me about ten yards away into the solid ground. With more pressure applied to my body, I felt more bones cracking. I couldn't move now. I yelled in pain as I coughed blood into the air, which landed back to the floor beside my head, making a pool of red beside me. I felt like I couldn't breathe anymore. It was too hard. I couldn't move anymore. I was too weak. I couldn't try running anymore. I was too dead.

PoVS

More smoke was applied to the air as the cloud of volcanic ash from far away before was creeping closer into our direction. I couldn't see much of the two figures anymore, just smoke. But the last thing I saw was one of the two guys being pummeled into the ground twice, and the second time was by something totally not normal. I looked to Jeremy to see his reaction. He was in total shock, his eyes wide with horror. It's my turn, I thought, getting my confidence and mind ready for battle.

I fixed my headband, pulling on the knot from the back, tapping the sun icon on it for good luck. I leaned forward, and took off. I left Jeremy behind, but it was better off that way. I didn't want him getting hurt. As I ran, my heart continued to pump my confidence through my blood, the happiness of having the chance to prove myself worthy a Minor finally come. I left dust behind me, making Jeremy cough a little.

"Where are you going?" he yelled to me in surprise.

"Just stay back there! It'll be safer that way!" I told him, turning my glance back but not my running pace.

"But what about you?" he asked me with a worried look.

"I'll be fine! Just stay there!" I yelled back, turning over to my direction again. I headed for the cloud of dust that was still settling upon the ground. It'll take me too long to reach it just by running, I thought. I'll need a faster way there.

I hoped Jeremy was watching as I put on a battle face and poured as much energy as I could into my feet which were running wildly as fast as they could. I heard the hum of the green energy that outlined them and felt some sticking to the ground after each step like a footprint. I jumped in the air as high as I could; attempting something I never thought I would ever do in my lifetime.

I felt like my body was hovering in the air about five feet up. That's the highest I've ever jumped! I felt free in the air, but waited for what I had been trying to do all along. The glowing in my feet stopped, and I heard rumbling in the ground beneath me. In a matter of seconds, a thick vine emerged from the floor, cracking a hole in the ground at its presence. Yes! It worked!

The vine took me by my right ankle, and I prepared to endure myself. Okay, here we go, I thought. I closed my eyes slowly and focused in midair, the vine's hold tight and steady. Then I controlled the vine's position, forcing it to swing me around.

The vine changed its direction obediently, the one vine beginning to swing wildly in a clockwise manner. I was being spun like pizza dough at a dangerously high velocity. Only being kept up in the air by a vine tied to my ankle, my body swinging like a tornado, my clothes fluttering wildly in midair, I felt like I was about to throw up. But something was more important than that. The vine continued to swing me around for about ten more seconds and threw me towards the direction I had been running towards.

The vines let go of their hold, and I was flying in the air like a missile, the dust and air rushing past me like a hurricane all together. I felt the stomach acids in my body begin to churn as I held it back in my mouth. Time to make a change, I thought as I dove into the large cloud of dust, my eyes dirty and tinted with the unclean particles.

I entered the cloud of dust headfirst, my body flying wildly. I landed on the floor with forceful energy, and gaining more energy in my body, I took off again, jumping from the surface and towards a figure standing straight up silhouetted against the smoke like he had no injuries. That would obviously be the attacker, I thought. He barely noticed my presence. Perfect timing, I thought, still in midair. Gravity began to pull me back down and I got into position. I was going to spin drop kick him.

Just as I was about to crash into the person's silhouette, I twisted my body, turning it around and putting my right leg out to make a hard kick against the person standing. My attack made impact successfully, hitting the guy right in the bottom right part of his ribs, blowing the dust away from us because of the huge blow it made. I began to clearly see his face, and he began to clearly see mine.

His eyes green and his hair spiky with a streak of it coming from the front, just like Hanabikai's, the figure widened his stare in surprise. Direct hit, I thought. The contact of my attack was so hard it blew him away about five yards. I landed back down to the floor on my feet as I watched him fly straight back, closer to the source of that cloud of ash. I took in a deep breath despite the rock dust and ash around me, preparing myself for whatever he might do as a counter attack.

The dust clouds began to clear, giving way for the real dangerous clouds in the sky, thundering and shattering the air with its violent clashes. The person I had hit began to stand up again, fixing himself from the sudden attack I had given him. He stumbled forward, and repaired his stance back up, straight forward.

"You're dead…" I heard him whisper in a scratchy voice. He gave me a cold look with his green emerald eyes as he threw some kind of lava looking fist at me. I was surprised at first to see such an attack, but I ducked out of the way as it flew past me, colliding with the solid ground a few feet behind me. It created a huge dust cloud behind my position while he was running towards me, only a few feet away with as fast of a footwork as I have.

I let the confidence pour out into my arms and let the green energy take over my hands. I called upon more raging vines this time, about four. They raced out from beneath the ground like wild tentacles, whipping around the air, preparing to attack. "Here!" I grunted, swinging my left arm to the up-right, the vines following that direction.

The wild ropes began to come after this guy one after another, ducking to his height. The first one tried to attack him head on, and he moved out of the way, continuing his run as the vine made friction with the ground, creating more dust. I made another two strike him head on with a cross motion, trying to confuse him. I thought it was actually going to hit him but he just jumped in the air, letting the vines glide beneath his feet by just a few inches. In midair, he "chopped" the vines underneath his feet with his palm, and succeeded as you saw them melting with lava from the cuts. Both of them fell limp to the ground, leaving me with only one shot left.

"Try better than that. You suck at this," he told me, closing in on me.

"Oh yeah?" I told him, giving him a showy smirk. I swung my arm in his direction, making the last, and final vine swing wildly in front of me like the longest whip in the world. It was about ten feet long, and circled in the air crazily like a hula hoop. The long, lengthy, rope-like vine stretched in the air, its racing body pure green. I made it circle in the air like a drill would, and soon it became a thick, raw, spiral shield in front of me. As more of the vine came out like a tape measure from the ground, it thrust itself forward, making a drill-like plant tornado at the confident guy who was still running.

"That's nothing!" he said, getting his fist ready for a punch. But as I saw him pull back his fist, I saw that it became something more than skin. It wasn't even lava. It was made of black, charcoal like rock with tiny streams of magma coming from it. This rock covered his whole right forearm which he used to thrust right in the middle of my spinning vine defense.

As I applied more of my energy, focusing it all to my hands, he seemed to apply more as well, pushing his attack more forward. Both of our attacks cancelled out, my spiral vines melting and his volcanic arm cooling.

His still remained at its form, and he had stopped coming at me. "Who the hell are you? Another one of those damned Half-Councils?" he asked me, tilting his head upward, and his freezing stare looking down on me.

"It's Minors, and what's it to you, you freak?" I asked him in a ready position, looking at his huge hand covered with black rock and lava compared to his other arm, still normal by his side.

"I'm the freak?" he laughed, as if it were some big joke. "Look who's talking. Just die all ready," he said, still with a slight chuckle.

"You die first," I told him, clenching my fist tightly. Green energy surrounded my fist like fire again, raging like a hell's fire. He gave me the coldest most put-down look I've ever seen. I gave him a cold look back; just like one he always seemed to give me. I had just met the guy and didn't even know his name, but I immediately didn't like him one bit.

"You talk big for a weakling," he told me, tightening the expression on his face, the rocky arm heating up. He pulled back his arm again, and opened his wide hands as big as he could. Heat energy and lava became focused into his cragged rock palm, the flames coming from it like a miniature sun.

"Says you," I told him, getting more plants ready underground.

He didn't shoot another comment back. He just gave me a dirty look and shot the fireball in my direction. It made a flaming streak as he hurled it. As soon as I saw it coming, I pulled out as many vines as it could and "sewed" them together, creating another great spiral defense with them. They spun wildly into each other in unison, getting as many vines as it could to participate. While the plant wheel was spinning, I ran back into the clouds of smoke behind me. I had to think about what to do next.

In the cloud of ash, smoke, and dust, I saw someone lying on the floor. His eyes were half open, tired and weak. Blood was streaking from his bottom lip and other various body parts including his arms and chest. He wore a black shirt over a white one, his hair spiked up and black like a raven's proud chest. He was about my age and got seriously beat up. Dust circled him but I saw him as clearly as I needed to. That's the Minor, I realized. His arms, only covered by short sleeves from his black open shirt were releasing white smoke into the air, heat cooling off of him. He probably got attacked by lava a lot, I thought, thinking of the burn marks that could be all over his body.

He stared at me blankly, his mouth shaped in a way of despair, as if beckoning me to help him from his current state. But what could I do? I picked him up, putting his arms around my shoulders like I did with Jeremy before, but unlike Jeremy, he groaned in pain. "What's wrong?" I asked him, examining his body for any marks or scars. His ribs are broken, I realized, seeing a really dent on his chest that didn't look the least bit normal. And a few bones on his spine are pretty messed up too. He could barely stand up by himself. Amazing. That's what the lava guy could do? No way… how would I last against him?

PoVS

The stranger picked me up and put my arm around his shoulders, my body still sore and broken from the fight I so desperately tried to put up. I guess I was never much of a fighter. I was more of a smart person, and more serious. I wouldn't hurt anyone for revenge or anything like that. Plus I wouldn't know how to hurt anyone anyway. But who was this guy, right by my side, with these caring eyes trying to help me, with that look in his eyes wondering what to do? And those vines he created back there. Was he just like me? With weird powers he just discovered and could barely use, or was he just like that other guy back there, Eruption, who was after my life for no reason I know of?

I couldn't talk to him, since my body was too weak to even make much of a voice, but had so many questions to ask him. He was obviously on my side. But what now? Eruption would come back for us. And he'll be as angry as ever.

Just as I finished my thoughts, I saw ash clear and saw him coming straight at us. The stranger had a concerned look in his eyes, worrying for me. Why did he care about me so much? I didn't even know him. Most people I knew would just leave me here to rot and die.

"So I see you've found your fellow 'Minor'," he said, brushing the streak of hair away from his face. Minor? What's a Minor? What the hell was this guy talking about?

"So he is a Minor, too, after all. This isn't just some random fight," the stranger told him, still holding my broken body up. I watched weakly as both of them gave cold, hard stares at each other, ready to kill one another at any moment.

Just what was going to happen? I thought, trying the best I could to look back and forth, seeing their hard stares given to each other.

This guy helping me out was obviously way stronger than I was. I could barely protect myself from a few of his moves, and couldn't fight back, but he did what I wanted to do. Really knock Eruption out like Eruption had done to me before.

"Of course it's a fight that involved a Minor. I told you. It's my job to kill people like him. People like you," Eruption said with a mean glare. He had half of his body covered in a cloud of smoke, but when he came out, I saw that both his arms were covered in charcoal and streams of lava. Even up to his bicep and his shoulders, they were cragged and uneven. Oh, god. What was going to happen now?