Battle for 9.18 The Fan - Chapter 6: Volunteers

((I'm going to apologize now for two things. One, for the delay. I kinda got sidetracked making this chapter. Two, because this chapter doesn't feel as lengthy as the other chapters. So if you think the same thing, then I'm sorry. I'll try for a longer chapter next.

Months have passed since Kana returned to Euphanthene, and repairs of the town have begun after many buildings sustained serious damage from one of Xanitrius' strongest fighters, Remy. After the attempt at finding and capturing Kana during the time she was missing, the forces of Euphanthene have began to returned to their normal routine. In the command center where he spent most of his time working, Henry crawled around on his newest work of art.

"Now to just connect the Fire Stone into it's chest..." said Henry as he pulled a basketball sized crystal from the pouch on his back, and connected it to the robot, the crystal glowing brightly as he finished. Crawling out and back to the ground, he looked over the robot one last time, and walked over to a nearby console.

"Tray. Begin flooding all crystals with energy. When enough energy has been supplied, active the robot." ordered Henry, walking back over to the robot, moving to monitor the crystals that were exposed enough to actually see. Tray nodded as he activated the console in front of him, and huge amounts of magical energy began to flood from Henry's personal supplies into the robot, making the crystals glow extremely bright.

"We have a problem. The crystals are absorbing too much energy. It's reaching the levels of that other robots were at when they went out of control." warned Tray, lowering and eventually closing the flow of magic into the robot. Beginning to move, the robot began to stand up, it's head smashing through the roof. Lowering itself, it started to move, breaking down walls as it traveled.

"Stop you incompetent piece of scrap!" yelled Henry after the robot.

Raising her arms, a massive ball of water burst and splashed to the ground at Kate's feet. Crouching down, Kate touched the water gently with her fingers, and as she stood back up, the water followed her fingers. Sending a jolt of electrical energy through the water, Kate swiped at the air and launched several bursts of the electrified water at Jinn, who was presently clinging to a nearby wall with Marc underneath him, looking up at Jinn with his sword unsheathed.

"She's not gonna learn much if you keep running away!" said Marc loudly as he swung his sword towards Jinn, the wall exploding behind him from their combined attacks, Jinn's body bursting into water from the attack. Reforming just his head from a large puddle of water on the ground, Jinn grinned,

"This feels more like training for me then her." said Jinn. "Well. We can't expect her to do well if you and me attack her, so I figured helping her would be better." Marc responded. The wall behind Jinn began to shake violently as Marc noticed the feeling in the ground as well. Bursting away from the spot through the air just as the wall exploded behind him, Jinn reformed rather sloppily and fell over onto his back, looking up at the giant machine standing where the wall used to be.

"What is that thing?" said Kate, keeping her distance. Showing up behind it, Henry saw the three just ahead and his eyes focused on Marc. "Marc, it's gone rogue!" yelled Henry. Marc didn't waste any time after that, and rushed forward, his sword gripped tightly in his hand.

"Jinn. Kate. Back me up!" yelled Marc, jumping at the robot and slashing, a wave of magical energy reinforcing his blade, allowing it to put a small gash in it's side. Landing behind it, Marc stepped backwards quickly towards Henry. Bouncing to his feet, Jinn launched himself forward towards the machine. Taking notice to Jinn, the machine raised and launched it's fist towards him, the fist connecting by a long metallic cord. Hitting him with almost perfect accuracy, Jinn's body again exploded into water. Jinn countered instantly this time, the water becoming extremely cold and freezing the hand, the ice travelling up it's arm. Kate appeared soon after, and swiped at the now frozen arm with a blade of wind, severing the arm from it's main body. The robot quickly attacked against with it's other arm, leaving Kate with barely any time to react or counter. Jinn came out of the ground just below her, and with him a massive wall of ice which easily deflected the second attack. As Jinn and Kate continued to combat the rogue robot, Marc looked over at Henry.

"Where are the robot's crystals?" asked Marc quickly, already knowing what he was after. "Can you not subdue it without destroying it?" questioned Henry, adamant against it's destruction, wondering if he could potentially save the machine. "We don't have time to be subduing it." said Marc. "Now where are it's crystals!" This time demanding an answer.

"Have it your way. There are two crystals in it's shoulders, and one large one in it's chest. Be warned, the chest is well protected." said Henry. Marc nodded, and headed to join Jinn and Kate, who were not focusing on dodging it's attacks, the robot adapting to everything they did. Jumping at it, Marc kicked it in the back of the head, knocking it off balance temporarily, and landed, heading over to Jinn and Kate.

"We have to get at the crystals on it's body." said Marc, looking back at the robot, as he quickly explained the locations. The robot stood up, and before it could charge forward, Jinn slammed his hands into the ground, freezing it's feet to the ground. Looking back at them, he nodded.

"We should just throw everything we have at it." said Jinn. Marc thought about it for a sec. "If we used skills strong enough, a combination attack may be enough to get through it's armor." said Marc. Jinn shook his head. "Kate. It's time you use one of those attacks I spoke to you about." said Jinn. Kate looked worried when he spoke about it. "I've never put it into practical use though." said Kate.

"Well. No time like the present. Myself and Marc will set it up to take the full blunt of the attack. You just be ready to hit it when it is." said Jinn. "Let's go Marc. Give it your best attack." said Jinn, moving to a better spot to attack. Marc nodded and rushed at the robot. Seeing Marc coming like it did Jinn, the robot launched it's arm at Marc, which easily dodged over it, and gracefully began to run along the metallic cord. Holding his hands out, Jinn formed a massive circular piece of ice, with plenty of sharp teeth. The attack began to spin like a saw, and launched at the robot, taking off a chunk of metal out of it's chest. At the exact moment Jinn's attack hit, Marc wrapped his sword in energy, giving it one hit of powerful damage, and struck it's shoulder, revealing another of the crystals. Landing behind it, Marc looked up.

"Kate, now!" Kate hovered in the air with the help of wind wrapped around her feet.

"Alright. Fire in one hand..." Kate whispered to herself as a fireball appeared in her right hand, "Wind in the other hand..." This time a spiral of wind appearing around her left hand, "Bring them together and..." Kate raised both of her hands above her head, the two attacks forming together, the fire being fueled by the wind, burning stronger and brighter. Pumping more magic in, the attack got bigger as she looked down at the robot.

"Take this!" yelled Kate, throwing the powerful ball of fire at the robot, engulfing it in flames. The flames began to superheat the metal that was supposed to protect it, damaging the crystals. The crystals reached their limits, and exploded, sending shards of metal in every direction. Marc grabbed Henry and pushed him behind at wall for cover, as Jinn covered Kate in a ball of Ice, both of them dropping to the ground and slowly rolling away from the explosion due to the shockwave. As the smoke cleared, Jinn partially reformed yet again, completely drained from the constant changes his body was taking over a short time. Marc and Henry entered the large room and began to access the damage, Henry heading over to the crippled robot, while Marc looked around the room at the large cracks that now covered the walls due to the explosion.

"Kana is gonna beat the crap out of us for this one." said Marc, shaking his head.

"Look at it this way. No one got hurt." said Kate, appearing near him, also looking around the room.

"Well. Let's go inform her of what happened." said Marc, and looked over at Henry. "You coming along, or is there something salvageable in there?" said Marc. Henry didn't even hear Marc has he fiddled with the remains of the robot curiously. "Guess that answers that." said Marc, and looked at Jinn.

"I'll catch up. I'm gonna rest for a few minutes. " said Jinn slowly, his body still partially in the form of water. "Don't go dying on us." grinned Marc, and looked at Kate. "Let's go." said Marc and they headed out to find and report what happened to Kana.

At the garden of the building, which was positioned safely on the roof, Kana stood looking out over the town. As usual, Angus was close at hand, standing on the stone railing at the edge of the building, walking forward slowly.

"Why so quiet?" said Angus, moving towards her slowly. "There have been reports that a dragon was found." said Kana calmly. "So the people who reported this, survived an encounter with a dragon?" said Angus, going over just that thought in his head. "What were they, invincible?" said Angus. Kana shook her head.

"According to the report, the dragon was asleep, and never moved an inch regardless of what they did. They did not risk touching the dragon though." explained Kana. "Do they have any idea what kind of dragon it was?" asked Angus. "They say it's a High Dragon." said Kana. Angus stopped momentarily when she said this.

"You mean, one of those big elemental dragons talked about alot in fairy tales to children? The so-called 'Dragon Rulers'?" asked Angus, and began walking again. "Yeah. We're going to send out some people to investigate the creature. No one has ever gotten a chance to research a dragon of it's calibre before, so it should be quite the interesting find." said Kana. "You mean if the dragon doesn't wake up and realize it's hungry." grinned Angus. "They'll just have to be cautious." said Kana, turning around and walking over to him.

"Who do you think we should send?" said Kana. At this time, Marc and Kate found their way onto the roof and walked over to Kana and Angus. "You didn't happen to hear an explosion earlier, did you?" said Marc. Kana looked over at Angus, who shook his head. "No. Why, what's happened?" said Kana.

"One of Henry's experiments got loose and charged through the building until it ran into myself, and Jinn who were training with Kate." said Marc. Kana sighed. "We really need to find a safer place for him to build those things." said Kana. "That's not the end of it." said Marc. "While trying to subdue it. We kinda blew it up. The entire training room is scrapped." said Marc. Kana shook her head, but Angus crouched down and tapped her shoulder.

"I think you just found your volunteers." said Angus, a grin on his face. Kana agreed. After explaining what they were talking about to Kate and Marc, Kate and Marc headed inside to tell Jinn and Henry. "They should be fine. Marc is fairly powerful, and Jinn is there if someone gets hurt." said Angus. "And what will we do if someone here gets hurt?" said Kana, looking up at him.

"Suck it up?" said Angus, hopping off the wall and landing on the roof. Kana smiled at his remark and started to walk towards the staircase heading inside.

you get my stamp of approval once again jinn

[EagleEyes]

Needs moar meeeeeee!

Great read as always, Mr. Jinn!

[Kate]

FIELD TRIP! *packs stuff up*

I finally found a stable internet connection and read through this. I love having my Henry cause so much trouble. The crystals remind me of the power source in the series Secrets of Cerulean Sand. Anyway, fantastic job!!!!!

[yugiboy360]

It's good as always but I still am waiting for more of the mercenaries.