Day Twenty-Five - The Four Champions

SpaceWizards
(Another SpaceWizards Action/Adventure Mystery)

Every year there are thousands of planets that have wizard competitions. On most of those planets, there are several of them a year. Those are the ones that aren’t at a Wizard World. The ones that are there are a lot more of them. Most of them are organized competitions between two individuals. Sometimes they are groups against each other. But most of the time they are both. Most of them are also friendly competitions between rival training centers. They want to see who is the best. But there are a few that are Death Competition where there is only one winner. Whoever the best is. Horrald has come to one of those competitions. Why did he come there? That is what the SpaceWizards want to know. That’s what this story is all about.

“The Four Champions”

A Short Story

Remembered By

Yena

     All the SpaceWizards fired one Fire Ball or electrical string after another as the Tollexian. Four were firing electrical string out of each one of the fingertips. The other three were shooting the Fire Balls. Most of them weren’t getting through to him. But a few of the Fire Balls did.

     The Tollexian easily defended himself against the SpaceWizard's ongoing attack. He used his own Fire Balls and electrical string to take out most of the attacking balls and strings. But most of the time he used slapping and clapping. Most of those slap sent one Fire Ball into the other, causing both of them to explode. And they were only using that on the Fire Balls. But some of those Fire Balls exploded on their own when they hit the ground below them. The clapping only happened to the electrical strings. Several of his Fire Balls took out a lot of the strings too.

     For the next thirty to forty minutes that fierce battle continued. All the SpaceWizards were getting tired. It showed in their appearance and in their fighting. They didn’t slow down their attacks. But they did them in burst more frequently. And that the Tollexian a chance to fight back. He did that mostly with slapping and punching. But he also used clapping and squeezing. Giant hands were all around the SpaceWizards. The SpaceWizards tried to keep moving to avoid the attacks against them. And most of the time they did avoid them. But every minute or two one of them would get slapped, punched, clapped, or squeezed.

     Yena was the latest victim of the Tollexian's counter-attack. A giant hand was squeezing her. It had her completely surrounded from the neck down. Mairon continuously mumbled something as he thought to Yena. They all did whenever they thought something. Yena, protect yourself with the fist.

     A few seconds later Yena ducked her head down into the fist around her. She was completely hidden now. Mairon fired several Fire Balls at that fist. The fist gripped even tighter. Yena screamed each time the fist did it. Each one exploded against it. And every time it did it took a little bit of the fist with it. Within only a few seconds Yena could be seen. And a few seconds after that fist blew up.

     That was a close one, thought Yena a few seconds after she straightened up and shook her whole body for about a minute. Thanks, Mairon.

     This Tollexian is stronger than he looks, thought Pacill as the SpaceWizards started another attack. How are we going to kill him?

     I don’t know, thought Angoria. But we got to do something, and we need to do it now.

     We need to find his weakness, thought Jacci. Everyone has at least one. All we need to do is find his.

     How can we do that? Stavon thought.

     I think I know what his weakness is, thought Borrele. At least one of them, if he has more than one.

     A few seconds later Borrele continued. It’s his back. I don’t know if it’s his head, neck, back, etc. but it’s his back. Haven’t you noticed that he has been twisting and turning to keep his back to us?

     The SpaceWizards smiled at each other. Then they all mumbled the same thing. At least it appeared that's what they did because suddenly they all got a burst of speed and started hovering all around the Tollexian. They continuously fired one Fire Ball after another at him. Some them were aimed at his front. But most of them hit his back. They were going so fast he didn’t have a chance to defend himself or fire back. He also couldn’t twist and turn out of their way. Within a minute the Tollexian stopped trying and started floating in the sky sideways.

     They all just stared at the Tollexian for several minutes without speaking. It was Jacci who broke the silence. I hope the other three champions Horrald has aren’t as powerful as this one. If they are we are in big trouble.

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     The SpaceWizards were walking through a Wooded Area. They were constantly darting their heads all around them as they continued their walking. Sometimes their entire body around to look in another direction. Most of those times it was behind them. But sometimes it was to one of their sides.

     “Be careful everyone,” said Mairon. “Our next champion could be anywhere.”

     “Now we know why Horrald attended this Death Competition,” said Borrele. “In fact, there was find out why on this one. He came right out and told us why.”

     “That’s not exactly true,” Angoria interrupted. “True, we know why he came to the competition. But we don’t know why he selected four champions or why he’s having them challenge us one at a time.”

     “That doesn’t make any sense to me either,” said Pacill. “It would be a lot better if the all attacked us at once.”

     “For whatever his reason is, I’m happy he’s doing it this way. If the other three are like the first one are the only hope we have of killing them all is one at a time,” said Yena.

     “We can ask him all these questions when we get to him,” said Mairon. “He was so kind to tell us where he was. Horrald also told about the four champions.”

     “That’s something else that I don’t understand,” said Pacill. “Why did he do that too?”

     Just then there was fire all around them. But the fire was just around them. It was also in them too. Flames nipped at them, clothing caught on fire. So, did their hair. Within seconds they were living Fire Aliens. Only their faces and hands weren’t on fire.

     All the SpaceWizards started mumbling something. Three then looked up toward the sky. A few seconds later a rain storm began. The other four looked at each other. Their flames slowly started to fade away before the rain began. Then they looked at the other three SpaceWizards, and the same thing happened to them.

     It only took about half a minute, but the fire was gone. So was the Wooded Area they were in. The SpaceWizards were standing in wet ashes. Suddenly there was laughter from above. They looked up and saw a female Cordican. “You look weak. I mean wet.”

     The female Cordican started firing one Fire Ball after another in their direction. But she wasn’t aiming for them directly. No, she aimed that at their feet. To be more precise it was on the ground beside their feet. Each explosion caused the wet ground and ashes to fly up at the SpaceWizards. It caused them to lose their balance, stumble, and fall.

     As they were getting up the Cordican fired twice as many Fire Balls at them. Only these were aimed at them. Each one of them was affected by the explosions. Most of them just knocked the air out of them. And made them fall again. But a few hit them in their heads. They remained standing for a few seconds before they fell to the ground and ashes too.

     This one is just as bad as the last one. Maybe even worse. She’s not going to be an easy one to kill, thought Yena.

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     Seven Water Balls got bigger as the headed for the SpaceWizards. The Water Balls were as big as they were, twice as big for Angoria when they struck them. Those Water Balls went right through them. They pushed them back a little. And it pushed Angoria back a lot. But that’s all she did to them.

     We have been fighting with this Oqueon for almost an hour, thought Jacci. All she has done is fire Water Balls. And most of them have missed us. The ones that didn’t just passed through us.

     I don’t understand it either, thought Mairon. But she is a champion on her home planet and here too. She must have something going for her other than Water Balls.

     It’s true, she has only been shooting Water Balls at us. But she still has an advantage over us, thought Angoria. We can’t fire back at her. At least not with our usual firepower and spells.

     The Oqueon started another round of Water Balls aimed at the SpaceWizards. Only that time there were three times as many. Most of them the SpaceWizards could easily avoid. But there a few that passed right through them. The SpaceWizard fired back with some Water Balls of their own. Almost all of them hit the Oqueon. But like them, it only pushed her back a little. A little bit more than them only because she was getting hit by multiple Water Balls.

     That’s true, we can’t use Fire Balls or electrical strings against her. But we can fight back, thought Borrele. We can fight back with Water Balls just like she’s doing.

     We have been doing that for about an hour, thought Stavon. And all they do is bounce off her. The way things are going we could be doing this forever.

     I don’t think so, thought Yena. Does anyone else feel weak? All the other SpaceWizards looked at her. It was hard for them to see her in that light green water. But she did look weak. I think there is something in those Water Balls that have been hitting us.

     Mairon looked at the other. Then he closed his eyes and mumbled something. When he opened his eyes, he looked at the other SpaceWizards one at a time. He could see within them. And what he saw was flecks of a light green something throughout their bodies. It was the worst in Angoria. Almost her whole body was a light green.

     Yena is right. Look at yourselves and each other. We do have something in us.

     A few seconds later Mairon continued. That’s probably how she became a champion. At least she did on this planet. She weakened them with whatever this is. Once they were too weak to fight back, then she would kill them off with something like a Fire Ball or an electrical string.

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     “Are you feeling okay, Yena?” Angoria asked. “You don’t look too good.”

     “It has been hard on all of us taking out those first three champions, especially the first one. But it seems to be the worse for you,” said Mairon.

     “I will be okay now that we are back on land,” said Yena. “I have never been good in water battles. And I think that’s what made me so much weaker than the rest of you.”

     The SpaceWizards floated above the light green water below them. A light green liquid was pouring out of them back into the water below. After about fifteen minutes the flow of liquid was gone. “Now that it’s all out of our system we should be okay. I’m sure I will be just fine by the time we get to Horrald.”

     “Don’t forget, we still have one more champion that we have to deal with before getting to Horrald. They are on that Island somewhere,” said Mairon. “But they could be anywhere. So, everyone be careful.”

     Mairon looked over at Yena. “Especially, you Yena.”

     The SpaceWizards just hovered there for several minutes looking at the island about a mile from where they were. All they could see was the tops of some very tall trees that covered almost all that small island. There was some Whitish blue sand that surrounded the outer edges of that island. That was where the SpaceWizards were now headed.

     Yena stayed behind the other as they headed for that island. She looked to see if they were looking at her. Then she opened her clothing slightly and looked down into the opened area, and smiled. “I’m going to be just fine for when we catch up to Horrald.”

     Stavon looked back at Yena. “Are you okay?” The others looked back at her too.

     “You worry too much about me. I’m going to be okay.” Yena quickly caught up to the others as they started descending toward the sand below them.

     The SpaceWizards were now spread out on a whitish blue sand the water and the Wooded Area behind it. A couple was partially laying on the sand on their arms. And a couple more were stretched out on it. The other three were sitting on it. All of them were breathing heavy and having trouble breathing. Everyone except for Yena.

     “You seem to be just fine now,” said Mairon. “How did you do that? Only a few minutes ago you looked like you were weaker than a baby.”

     “I told you I would be. Now let’s go find this champion and then Horrald.”

     Yena got up first. The others started getting up a few seconds later. They turned to go into the Wooded Area when they heard something behind them. Yena was the first to turn around. But the other were right behind her. Their jaws dropped when the saw a giant wall of water headed their way. Slightly above that water but behind it was the fourth champion, a male Dovin. “We just got out of the water.”

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     “Did you like The Four Champions I challenged you with? They were my best. I wanted to narrow it down to the best one. But you showed up here before we could have the final three matches.” Horrald smiled.

     Horrald sat in an outdoor chair drinking something as the SpaceWizards came into the opened area of that island. They looked weak and tired. All of them except for Yena. “I think I liked it better this way, anyway. It weakened you just like I wanted it too.” Horrald got up and smiled. “It’s going to be so much easier for me to defeat you this way.”

     A few seconds later Horrald continued. “Why did I send them after you? It was because of you Yena.” Horrald’s smile suddenly turned into a frown. “Why aren’t you as weak as the others.”

     “In fact, you should be weaker than them. After all, you are a Wizard Pretender.”

     Yena smiled. “What makes you think I’m a Pretender. As you can see I’m not.”

     “Neither are we,” said Mairon. The other six SpaceWizards stood straight up next to Yena. None of them looked weak or tired anymore. “We just pretended that we were to find out what you were up to.”

     “I only showed you no weakness because I had a feeling that it was me that you were really after. You wanted me to become weaker than all the others because you thought I was a Wizard Pretender.”

     A few seconds later Yena continued. “Either you heard me incorrectly, or I let you think that I wasn’t a Natural Born Wizard. Which do you think is the truth?”

     “Why did you do that?” Horrald asked.

     Mairon had spoken before Yena did. “It’s because we wanted to know if you could hear our thoughts now.” Horrald didn’t say anything for several minutes. Then suddenly he disappeared.

     The other SpaceWizard looked at Yena. But it was Angoria who spoke first. “That should get Horrald out of your personal life. At least he should be for a while. But he will be back, though. Sooner or later he will be back. Hopefully, it will be a lot later.”

     Jacci spoke next. “We are still mad at you because you didn’t tell us your SpaceGem gave a piece of itself to you to protect you against something like this happened. I didn’t even know a SpaceGem could do that.”

Word Count = 2,607