The Emerging Part I: Dream

Struggling to dodge all of Vaiqon’s attacks, Hawk is struck numerous times. He tries to spin out of the way of some of the attacks, but gets slapped with the tail winds and is knocked to the ground. When he gets up, he only has a moment to think before he is smacked again.

Becoming furious, Santhemum is tired of being singed by the embers Firose is launching at her. Santhemum does all she can to block, dodge, counter, or evade Firose’s attacks, but ends up getting scorched with the smallest embers. She hears Firose’s voice always yelling, but she only hears gibberish.

Together, Desert and Pork are becoming irritated by the fact that Oukton is thrashing them with ease with various techniques of okit. Seeing some of the techniques for the first time, Desert and Pork do not know much to defend against them. Even combining some of their own attacks does not help to block the incoming attacks, and Desert and Pork are slammed to the ground on multiple occasions.

Fox, normally the calm one of the Pentad, has become berserk. He is thrashing all of his water streams about in the hopes of blocking Jtoon’s attacks. Jtoon merely waits for Fox to leave himself open, then shoots a water cannon directly at Fox. Instantly Fox is drenched with water. Time and time again Fox is leaving himself wide open, and time and time again, Jtoon drenches Fox.

Taking what he feels like is enough punishment, Hawk sends out an air sphere so he can regain his thoughts. But Vaiqon does not let him have a moment’s rest. The air sphere is cracked and another round of beating comes. Hawk sees an incoming air wave, jumps to the side, just to be struck with another air wave. Becoming furious, Hawk cannot concentrate on what he is doing, and starts attacking blindly. Vaiqon easily deflects Hawk’s air waves and continues to blow wind faster than Hawk can move.

Firose sees that Santhemum is entirely furious now, and decides to ramp up her attacks to fully ignited fire balls. She rockets her fire balls at speeds Santhemum cannot fathom. Constantly, Santhemum is thudded with fireballs, and fortunately for her, she is wearing leather armor. However, the armor is becoming blackened with soot and soon Santhemum fears it will completely deteriorate. Santhemum, wishing that her attacks will be effective, begins to eject her own fire balls from her fists, but none of them collide with Firose’s attacks as they are released far too slow.

Seeing Pork on the ground and struggling to get up, Desert decides to go on a rampage. He launches stone discs, walls, throws, even a boulder at Oukton, but Oukton, moving faster than Desert can believe possible, dodges every single one of Desert’s attacks. Oukton continues to thrash Desert and Pork around as if they are rag dolls. Slamming, thudding, grunting, is all that exists of Desert and Pork’s life for the next few minutes.

Tiring from his berserk state, Fox is seething with rage. He sees smoke rising and thinks there is a fire in the distance. But he sees that it is too close and knows there is no fire in the open first ring. He continues to see smoke when he realizes it is coming from him. Somehow Fox is converting the water in his clothes to vapor. He feels his armor and finds it completely dry. Instantly, Fox awakens from his tiredness, and the next few attacks from Jtoon do not come close to hitting him.

Hawk is able to use his frustration to his advantage. When he uses an attack, he uses the fire inside of him to continue through the attack and start another. Just as the next attack leaves his hand, he uses the momentum to power through for another attack. He repeats the pattern until his frustration his set aside. To his surprise, Vaiqon is still standing, and even more surprising, smiling. Hawk, perplexed, again goes through momentum cycles and realizes that he is moving at speeds he once thought were impossible. When Vaiqon is able to have a turn to attack, Hawk swears the air is moving much slower than before. Hawk observes the air around the attack and can see all the vectors and disturbed rays emanating from it. Hawk merely steps aside and the gale bomb slips right past him.

Feeling her body temperature rise, Santhemum decides to let it escape, but she forgets to stick out her hands. She feels a cold sensation coming from in front of her, but when she looks she sees another of Firose’s fire balls. Puzzled, Santhemum steps away from the spiraling attack and looks behind it at Firose to see if there is any kind of ice or cold water around. Seeing nothing, Santhemum immediately knows what it was. She raised her body temperature so high, that she was making the particles in the air move faster, allowing her to move faster and able to move away from the fire ball. The fire ball, being less than her body temperature, felt like a cold water rushing towards her.

Completely engulfed in bruises and on the brink of giving up, Desert and Pork are standing limp across from Oukton. Oukton is relentless in his attacks though, and Desert and Pork do all they can just to weaken the attacks. Desert and Pork become numb to the pain after another wave of earth rushes into them. Had enough, Desert stands up, resolute on the fact that he will not move and will not let another rock hit him. He stands in an open position, but tense and rigid, like an immovable boulder. Pork takes a hint from Desert and follows suit. Oukton sees that the two boys are standing wide open and fires two earth walls at both of them. As soon as the walls are released, Desert and Pork feel a rush of energy flow into them from the direction of the attack. They each see their respective walls edging their way to them, but something makes them believe the walls are moving at a snail’s pace. All of a sudden, they feel the solid earth become as arid as air and slide over it as easily as liquid. The walls pass without touching either of them.

Just as he can make ice, Fox is making vapor from the smallest increments of water in the air. As Jtoon sends water streams, gushes, and cannons at Fox, Fox is able to evade every attack. Using the vapor as a lubricant, Fox is able to slide through the air as the now incredibly slow attacks pass by him harmlessly.

Vaiqon sends a last air bomb out, but not at Hawk, directly into the air above him. It explodes with a loud screeching whistle and Firose, Oukton, and Jtoon stop their attacks.

Vaiqon yells, “Everyone, please move to Hawk and me. All of the Pentad have learned the first step of the speed podium.”