Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue

(Blue)

“So… Is this where you begin the rant about how we totally humiliated you and made you run crying to your mommy or whatever and so now you’re absolutely positively going to kick our butts and make us pay?” Red asked. “Because you can skip that part. It’s getting a little boring.”

“Boring? What’s boring is how redundant your little insults are,” Kyore shot back, leveling a newly-fixed missile-arm at him. “So why don’t you just die already?”

“Nah, I don’t feel like it right now. Thanks any – “

BANG!!!

Red dived to the side as the missile flew past and blew apart the wall right behind him. “FIREBALL BARRAGE!!!”

Kyore didn’t even bat an eye, firing off missiles at him faster than I could believe. Red was forced to spin and dodge in ways that I wouldn’t have thought possible before meeting him. There was no room for him to attack.

So I stepped in.

“Tornado Barrage!”

Kyore ducked and brought both arms up, bombarding us with missiles. I ran behind him and fired off another spell, then got moving again before he could target and blast me, Red doing the exact same thing on the opposite side. It should’ve been impossible for Kyore to keep up with this for very long.

But then again, should have is something that never counts for very much in a fight like this one.

Kyore deflected my attacks like they were nothing, keeping his attention on Red. He was frantically hurling fire at the man, his expression getting more and more annoyed as each attack slammed harmlessly into the solid, heavy metal. The fiery barrage slowed, then stopped.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Kyore taunted, laughing. “Did you really think those cute little candle-flames of yours would work on me?”

“They worked pretty well in Greene Wood, didn’t they?” Red shot back, breathing hard. He hadn’t refueled in a while, I realized with a jolt. Not good. The enemy was no joke.

I glanced back at Green and Orange, wondering why they hadn’t stepped in, but saw them ripping apart another horde of robots that had come flooding in. Even with Orange’s magic, they were barely managing to keep them back. Red and I were on our own.

“Ah, yes, Greene Wood,” Kyore said darkly, with the air of one remembering a memory he didn’t like being brought up. “That was a mistake on my part. I expected you to be the coward you were three years ago, but I assume losing your best friend has damaged your mind. No matter. You’ll simply be more fun to break.”

Red’s eyes narrowed with barely contained fury. “Why do all you bad guys keep bringing that up? It’s getting a little redundant.”

“Redundant, now, is it? It didn’t seem like such a small matter to you three years ago.”

“What do you know? You weren’t even there.”

“Oh? Wasn’t I?” Kyore sighed theatrically. “So that’s why you were so casual earlier. You didn’t recognize my voice.”

Red folded his arms impatiently. “I think I’d remember a voice as irritating as yours, Keeree. You probably have me mistaken for one of your loser minion robots.”

The robot-man smiled in a way that brought icy cold terror, and somewhere inside, I knew his next words were going to change absolutely everything. And not in a good way.

They did.

“Well, then, if you don’t recognize my voice, you might recognize my face. What you’ve managed to leave of it, anyway, brat.”

I wasn’t facing Kyore, so I couldn’t see his expression when he reached up and ripped off his helmet. But I could see Red’s. And in that moment, every inch of his usual confidence vanished.

Red stepped back, eyes wide with horror.

“You,” he breathed through gritted teeth, and in that single word was a lifetime’s worth of hatred and disgust. Kyore threw back his head and laughed.

“Yes, boy,” he hissed. “Me.”

“You… You…” Red’s hands trembled as he clenched them into fists. His face hardened into a look of uncontrollable rage as he hissed the most terrifying words I’d ever heard him speak.

“I’m going to kill you.”

Kyore smiled back, all confidence. “You can try.”

Red exploded in a blaze of scorching flames, leaping at Kyore as I dived for the ground, the intense heat slamming into everything like a wave. I could hear Green’s startled shout of surprise, see Orange raise his arm to cover his face. The amount of magic power was insane.

Where in the world was this coming from?

“Blue!” Green snapped. “Get out of there!”

Oh. Right.

I stumbled to my feet and scrambled out of the area, running toward Green and Orange as Red slammed Kyore with spells I hadn’t even known were possible. The temperature, even on the edge of the battle, was ridiculously high, which was probably why Green immediately grabbed both Orange and me the second I got within reach and started running, blocking off the corridor with a spell so that the robots couldn’t follow.

“What’s going on?!” I demanded. “He shouldn’t even be able to pull off a Firestorm Explosion right now! How the heck is he doing all that?!”

Green’s face was white. “I don’t know, but we have to get out of here!”

“I’d always suspected it,” Orange murmured as we swerved around a corner, the temperature still unnaturally warm, “but I never thought he could actually…”

“You knew about this?!” Green demanded, flabbergasted. “Well, then, what is the idiot doing?!”

“It appears Red has the – ”

But he never finished his sentence, because right then, someone flew out of nowhere and nailed him with a flying tackle. They both landed in a heap in the middle of the floor, but the other person was up before he was, smashing a foot into his side with a sickening crack.

Orange didn’t even cry out – just scrambled to his feet and pushed up his glasses before drawing back his fist and delivering a punch that the attacker immediately caught – then dropped with a scream with at least one bone fractured. Something appeared on Orange’s face that could possibly pass for a smile as he took the opportunity to slam a foot into his opponent’s shin, then a knee into his chin when he bent over. His attacker howled loudly.

With laughter.

Orange stepped back as the guy hopped to his feet with no problem, actually cracking a grin. “Damn, you’re actually pretty good! And here I was thinking that all you Mask haters were weaklings.”

He put his hands on his hips and studied Orange, frowning. “Aw, and you’re not even bleeding. Geez. That just makes it more complicated. I hate picking on girls.”

And before anyone could react (or ask what exactly that was supposed to mean), he spun around and whipped out a knife, stabbing it into Green before anyone else could move a single muscle.

Both my and Orange’s eyes widened at the exact same time. His expression hardened into a mask of terrifying rage, and I knew he was probably getting ready to give the guy a major tour of Pain City.

But Green was faster.

The guy had been aiming for her heart, but somehow, in the split second it took for him to reach her, she’d twisted. The blade plunged into her arm as she hissed in pain.

“Aw, seriously?” he sighed, sounding almost bored. “Did you have to dodge? Your death would’ve been a lot quicker that way, you know. Less worry and pain and all that stuff.”

Orange’s eyes narrowed in a way that would’ve sent me running for the hills if I’d known where exactly the hills were at the current moment, and he marched forward. He looked ticked off enough to even use his secret magic again, whatever it was.

But then again, Green was just as angry.

Very calmly, she pulled the knife from her arm, then without even batting an eye, slammed it into him faster than I’d ever thought she could move. But he only burst out laughing again, eyes filled with a maniac gleam, not even bleeding.

He’s not human, I realized with a terrifying chill. He’s a monster.

Slowly, he turned to me, not even seeming hurt. His smile widened as he looked me up and down in a way I definitely did not feel comfortable with. “And what about you, cutie? What can you do?”

I hesitated, wondering if it was a trap of some kind – and that split second was all he needed to leap across the room and fling the knife back toward me. I stopped it midair and sent it spinning back, but he only caught it and threw it toward me again, like it was a bizarre game of catch, laughing his high, maniacal laugh like it was the funniest thing in the world.

“You’re a fun one!” he exclaimed as I kept the knife hovering in midair, searching for an opening. “I haven’t had a fight like this in a while. I’d like to make it last, but I don’t think Argot would like that very much. So, sorry for cutting short all the fun, but I think I’ll have to end it here.”

He spun around before the words registered, to Green, who, having healed Orange, was just touching her fingers to her cut. His grin widened.

“A Healer. That makes it even more fun. Sorry, biscuit, but I can’t let you do that.”

“Vacancy Compression!” I shouted, knowing that whatever he was going to do to Green, I had to stop it. His chest constricted as the air was sucked out of his lungs, and I breathed a sigh of relief – too soon.

“Air magic. Adorable,” he purred, his hand whipping out and latching onto Green’s. She immediately chomped down on it, but he didn’t even seem to register the pain. “Sorry, but that’s not going to work. Nice try, though.”

And with that, he sank his own teeth into Green’s arm, right on top of the cut. Her eyes flew wide.

Orange didn’t hesitate – just slammed his fist into the guy’s skull with yet another ringing crack. He raised his head, wiping his mouth, and laughed as Green stumbled back.

“What exactly did you think you were doing?” Orange asked, his tone deadly calm. Emphasis on deadly.

“Refueling, of course,” he replied matter-of-factly, as if it were perfectly normal to go around sucking people’s blood. “What else?”

At these words, my mind was instantly transported back to the hours I’d spent reading back in Sapphire City.

“You’re a vampire?” I asked in disbelief, because vampires weren’t supposed to even exist, for chocolate’s sake. Not in this world.

He sighed theatrically, shaking his head. “No, I am not a vampire. Yeah, okay, so maybe there are some similarities. But I was not bitten by some lame-o Batman-wannabe, I’m perfectly fine with sunlight, and I’m not some tragic emo character. I just happen to run on blood instead of food and am dead, I think. Is that really so hard?”

For some ridiculous reason, the only thing my brain could think of to say was something worthy of Red. “Batman?”

“It’s an Earth culture reference,” he explained, as if I were stupid. “Didn’t you ever pay attention in class?”

“So you’re one of Mask’s experiments,” Orange stated flatly. It wasn’t a question. “Of course. He’s turning people into common Earth television show monsters. Just like him to do.”

“Hey, didn’t I just explain that I’m not a vampire?” the guy asked, sounding exasperated. “The only things I am are an Opposite and extremely good-looking. Not that you know what Opposites are, though.”

My mind flew back to words on the screen of a laptop, printed entirely in capital letters. “The Opposite Plan.”

He looked surprised. “You know? Hmm, you’re better than I thought. I have to give you credit. Argot was pretty clear about keeping that stuff under wraps.”

“Which is why you’re going around throwing the words out there to the enemy?” I pointed out.

He waved it off. “It’s not like you’re going to live any longer than today, anyway. Oh, and I almost forgot. Since I’m being so nice right now and all, and it’s common courtesy to let your victims know who killed them, my name’s Anton. Make sure to scream it really loud when you’re begging for mercy, okay? It makes me feel good about myself.”

Orange was next to him in a flash, slamming a knee into his stomach and a fist into his nose at the exact same time. His expression was perfectly calm, as always, but I could see anger bubbling below the surface, the almost-but-not-quite-hidden dangerous gleam in his eyes that was strangely reminiscent of Red.

“I don’t need your name or your mercy,” he replied coldly. “I just need you to get out of the way or die. Your choice.”

“What if I don’t wanna chose?” Anton asked innocently before smashing his foot into Orange’s leg with an unhealthy snap. His face contorted in pain, sending a wave of shock through me.

I started toward them, but I’d only managed to take a single step before Green grabbed my arm and told me what I’d known for a while now.

“We have to go,” she breathed, her face white. “M-My blood… It enhanced his strength somehow. He’s too strong. We can’t take him down, not like this. We have to find Violet.”

Violet. In the confusion, I’d totally forgotten about her.

“Right.” I nodded, glancing around the hallway. My brow furrowed as I took in all the escape routes and tried to come up with a way to make it out.

I bit my lip as my brain calculated, rejected, and repeated the process over and over again. Confined hallway. Enemy too strong to fight. If we ran, he’d definitely come after us, and there was no way we could get Violet out with him after us. Air, wood, and mechanical magic, two of which were useless in this situation. There was no way…

“I can’t do it,” I murmured, my heart sinking as the fact sunk in. “There’s no way. I need Red.”

“Then we’ll go get him,” Green replied firmly, eyes filled with worry. “But we’ll have to do it fast; Orange is getting his butt kicked out there.”

There was a thud, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Anton slam Orange into a wall, probably fracturing at least one bone. His nose was already dripping blood, and when he dragged himself to his feet, he was unbalanced, relying too much on his right side. His leg was probably broken, and it wasn’t pretty.

My heart sank even further: I’d never seen him so messed up in a fight.

“How’re we gonna get Red?” I asked, hating the weakness and despair in my voice. “He’s gone totally crazy! We’ll end up getting killed either way. There’s no way. It’s just not possible…”

“Never,” said a very familiar voice at that exact moment, “tell me that anything’s not possible.”

I turned around slowly, speechless, but Green, probably because she’d known him for longer, wasn’t even fazed. “Well,” she said, irritated, “nice of you to show up now, of all times.”

“Of course it was, I have amazing timing,” Red replied airily before turning to watch Orange. He looked nearly as bad as our resident computer expert, bruises all over his body and a nasty-looking cut down his face, but I was beyond relieved to see him alive and back to normal. “Man, he’s getting decimated over there. I should go – ”

“No!” I interrupted, wanting desperately to ask him what the heck he’d been doing back there, but knowing we had to move as quickly as possible. “We need to get out of here. I’ll make a distraction. Green, the instant he’s not paying attention, grab Orange and run fast. Red, if you’ve still got a Firestorm Explosion left in you, use it to blow the tunnel behind us apart. Ready?”

Green nodded sharply. Red, caught slightly off-guard, gave me a thumbs-up a second later, and I turned to Anton, took a deep breath, and called out, “Tornado Barrage!”

The rock walls of the tunnel were crumbling, and the fight had managed to smash even more of it down. Which was an amazing twist of fate, because the winds that flew from my hands immediately whipped the stone and dust into the air, creating a dust cloud that would’ve had me coughing on my knees if I hadn’t expected it. Green had already disappeared into the dust to find Orange, and I turned to Red.

“Let’s go.”

We both sprinted farther down the corridor, blasting out of the dust and smoke and spinning around to see Green burst out of it as well, practically dragging Orange behind her. The second they were safe, Red yelled, “FIRESTORM EXPLOSION!!!”

And the crumbling walls blew apart.

I concentrated the rubble into one place so that it was so densely packed, not even Anton should be able to break through, using my winds to wedge the pieces together like a puzzle. Beside me, Red slumped to the ground, wheezing, so I jammed the last piece into place and dropped to my knees beside him.

“D-Damn,” he gasped. “T-Too much magic… Ow…”

Guilt immediately flooded my insides. “Are you okay?”

“If you… c-can call… wanting to p-pass out okay.”

“If you didn’t have enough magic, you didn’t have to do a Firestorm Explosion!” I told him, my heart twisting with guilt. “The walls were weak; you could’ve used a smaller spell…”

“Th-That’s a lie, and y-you know it. The walls wouldn’t… have…” He dissolved into a coughing fit that definitely did not seem healthy.

I bit my lip, staring at my lap. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes cracked open in surprise. “What? Why’re you… Why’re you apologizing?”

I blinked back, slightly thrown off. “Because… It’s my fault, isn’t it? I was the one who suggested the plan, without even asking if you were okay, so…”

Red actually laughed a little before dissolving into a coughing fit and gasping like a beached fish. “What… What even… You’re completely…”

He took a few seconds to catch his breath before flashing me his best attempt at a bright grin. “If anything, I should be thanking you. You… You figured it out again. So… thanks, Blue.”

I blinked and was probably going to stammer something completely random and unintelligible back, only Green appeared next to me, hands on her hips. “Geez,” she sighed. “You’re an idiot.”

Some of the exhaustion faded from his eyes at the insult. “I just saved our lives.”

“You’re still an idiot.”

“You should be thanking me.”

“For being a suicidal moron? No thanks. Can you walk?”

He slumped back against the wall, closing his eyes. “Give me about five more minutes.”

“We don’t have five more minutes,” Orange cut in. Green had healed as many of his injuries as she could, but he looked exhausted, and the bruises weren’t pretty, either. “By now, Argot’s probably headed this way. We need to move.”

I sighed. “Why don’t we ever use the silent, sneaky method?”

“We would, but unfortunately, the silent, sneaky method lives over in Boring, and I’m just too lazy to trek over there and get it to help us,” Red said, which told me he had enough energy now to talk fluently. Which probably meant he had enough energy to walk.

Green appeared to have realized this as well. Mostly because she immediately proceeded to grab Red by the arm and haul him to his feet.

“C’mon, Too-Lazy-To-Trek-Over-To-Boring. We’re going to Violet.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” he yelped. “Cut me some slack! I just took on Kyore alone, not to mention blasting off that spell, and I am way too tired to move right now!”

“Yeah, whatever. Tell it to someone who cares.”

“Excuse me? Blue! Tell Green I need a freaking break!”

We headed off down the hallway as they bickered, hoping against hope that we were ready to face whatever else Mask was willing to throw at us.