***
“Get up, Matt. It’s dawn. The armies are lining up for combat,” the Scavenger shouted, shaking Matt out of a deep slumber. Matt rubbed his eyes and woke up. He found that, as usual, he was the last one to get up.
As the two suns climbed higher up in the sky, the armies waited for the mayhem to begin.
“FIRE CANNONS!” the Scavenger roared.
With a loud blast, several cannons fired concurrently, cannonballs hurling towards the enemy. Soon the battlefield was covered with burned and littered bodies.
“CHAAAARRRRGGGGEEE!” the Scavenger yelled.
Roaring, the warriors darted into the battle, the Scavenger and the children leading the army on a chariot.
They had the element of surprise on their side. Before the enemy could recover and form another vanguard, the warriors attacked from all sides, scattering the creatures and demolishing any chance of their formation again.
Matt summoned the Power of Wind, throwing the enemy creatures all around the battleground. The others summoned their powers too, wreaking havoc on the enemy.
The Scavenger unsheathed his sword. “James, you man the chariot… um… child, the chariot? Never mind! I will fight on the ground.”
The children took control of the wheel as the Scavenger leapt off the chariot.
“How does this work?” Matt exclaimed, examining the control panel. He unknowingly pressed a button.
“NOOO, what you have done?” James shouted.
The chariot shot forward almost at once. Before Matt could understand what he had done, he found the chariot in the middle of bloodthirsty demons.
James shot a horror-ridden look at him.
“What have you done?” Archer shrieked, looking at the enemy, gawking at them with bloodthirsty eyes.
“I have just made this more interesting,” Matt replied as the chariot shook hard, throwing all of them to the ground.
“If this is interesting!” James said, hauling himself up and pulling out his sword, “I don’t want to know what is exciting!”
“I will tell you what is exciting!” an enemy demon growled. He glared at Archer. “You burned my pants yesterday! I will torture you alive!”
Archer gulped.
The demons encircled the children.
“Do something, someone, or we are toast,” Archer bellowed.
Daniel sprang into action and summoned hundreds of creepers from the ground. The demons got tangled and tripped and began falling instantly upon one another.
Matt seized the opportunity and lifted the group to the air. Simultaneously, he used a gust of wind and hoisted the chariot up. The children immediately climbed into the chariot and sped away.
Matt rubbed the sweat from his forehead. “Whew! That was a close call!”
“Yeah,” Daniel agreed, and looked at Archer, “Now, don’t go around burning everyone’s pants!”
Archer grinned. “I can’t make any promises.” And all of them hooted and cackled.
“Hey, look at that!” Matt exclaimed, pointing at the distance.
Far away in the battlefield, as the thunder crackled, monsters had circled a lone warrior.
The lone warrior was summoning sparks of electricity. The skies were darkening and the ground was shrouded with smoke.
There was only one warrior who could fight against an entire army by himself, hold his ground and summon his power at the same time – and that was the Scavenger.
They had to help him. Without any further delay, James hit hard on a switch to propel the chariot forward.
Matt clutched the pole with both hands for support. “Slow down!” he yelled.
James fiddled with the controls, but accidentally pushed the ‘Rocket Motion’ button.
Matt fell to the floor as the chariot dashed ahead like a bullet. They were nearing the spot where the Scavenger was somehow holding on.
They were almost there now. James pulled a lever and brought the chariot to a jerky halt. The impact tossed the children and they went flying forward. They landed on the ground. Matt got up quickly and found himself right beside the Scavenger.
The Scavenger threw a glance at Matt. His expression changed from surprise to shock to relief.
“What took you so long?” the Scavenger shouted. “These backstabbers surrounded me. They know that they cannot kill me, but they aim to weaken me beyond any chance of recovery.”
Matt began to summon a tornado, only to realize that it couldn’t sustain the black magic of the sorcerers.
He had no choice but to tackle them face to face, so he pulled out his sword.
From the corner of his eyes, he could see Archer, a fire figure dancing amongst the warriors with a big lance that was blazing in flames. Swinging it around, he roared and cut them down quickly.
Daniel was busy shooting roots at the Black Sorcerers. With the Sorcerers distracted, Matt was free to use wind to throw them everywhere.
James held an icy bow, which shot arrow after arrow coated with deadly snow. They pierced the enemies’ bodies and their agonizing cries filling the sky.
The Scavenger turned to ask Matt, “Go and get the Ninja and the Samurai. Immediately.”
Matt scowled. He wanted to fight, not run errands. “Why me?”
“You have the power of the wind at your call. You can reach the Ninja and Samurai faster than anyone else.”
Matt hesitated, but summoned his power and lifted himself above the ground. Soon, he was shooting through the skies as he scanned the war from above.
Matt saw a black figure leaping swiftly, wielding a sword and sometimes throwing smoke bombs. A red figure accompanied him, wielding a red sword, slashing at opponents.
Swooping down, he landed in front of them. The Ninja and the Samurai stopped and bowed.
Matt bowed back and said hurriedly, “Help! The Scavenger and my friends are trapped.”
“Lead the way, warrior,” the Ninja said.
Matt lifted all three of them up and quickly flew back, landing beside the Scavenger.
The Ninja and the Samurai leapt into the battle, throwing grenades and slashing at the enemy with lightning speed.
The seven of them fought hard, but for every enemy soldier they killed, two more sprung up.
Over-exerting himself, Matt realized that he had no strength left to fight any longer. Using his last surge of energy, he summoned a rippling tornado and sent it flying towards the enemy, and then he collapsed.
Matt slowly opened his eyes when someone shook him.
“What
