Orso Fiction 030

Orso Fiction 030-Rescue? (Part 3 of 3)
“Here I come!”, Miss Perouty called, charging at Charlie Steiger with her fist back, crackling with Thunder Flames. The Thunder Guardian braced for impact, forming an “X” with his arms, running Thunder Flames through them. When the biology teacher collided with him, a huge eruption of green flames burst from the point of impact. When the light had died down, Charlie opened his eyes, and saw the Thunder Arcobaleno smiling at him.

“About time.”, Miss Perouty said. “That’s the first time one hit didn’t knock you on your face.”

“Phew…Iiiii’m gonna sit.”, Charlie said with a smile, falling backward. “Do you always hit that hard?”

“Only when I need to.”, Miss Perouty said. “Or when my students are slacking.”

Charlie hurriedly got back on his feet.

“A body of earth, to both fortify and invade…”, he murmured.

“Are you talking to yourself? I didn’t think I hit you that hard…”, the Thunder Arcobaleno said with a smile.

“No…I was just thinking out loud…”, Charlie replied, looking around. She had brought him to a tall mountain, where thunderstorms were a constant factor. Something seemed unsafe about standing on the top of a mountain with lightning all around him, but he wasn’t going to complain. He didn’t want to see how she treated students that complained.

---

“More of you?”, Isaac asked, looking at James LaDow, Adam Ellerbrock, and Jake Federkeil. “Pain in the ass…”

“Isaac…You’re lucky…that I was ready to switch out with you…”, Micaiah said, getting up. “I’m already back to normal. Even a punch like that couldn’t keep me down for long.”

“What a monster.”, James remarked. “She takes a hit like that from Nate, and she can stand again…Maggie has her work cut out for her.”

“It’s arguable that Maggie’s even more of a monster.”, Jake quipped. “Have you ever seen her angry? I’ve seen her hit Zach, it’s not a pretty thing.”

“You’re not really paying attention to the one that’s staring at us.”, Adam sighed. “That one is the clone of Charlie Steiger, right?”

“That’s me.”, Isaac said. “I’m Isaac. Same rules as when Micaiah fought these three. I won’t kill ya, but I’ll go out of my way to make this painful. You fight until you’ve fixed our boredom. If you win, you can go visit the traitor. If you lose, we take you all prisoner.”

“No one mentioned that…”, Adam murmured.

“I just made it up.”, Isaac said with a malicious grin. “I don’t have the same anal habits about rules as Zeke. I’ll change them as I please.”

“Whew…So you’re an even worse scumbag than Zeke?”, Jake asked, chuckling. “That’s talent.”

“You looking to die, kid?”, Isaac asked. “You never know, if my hand’s going to slip or not, when I’ve got a grip on your spine. I’d hate to…yank your brain out…”

“Let’s try it.”, James challenged him. “Bendy, Milton, Nate…Don’t worry. From here on, we’ll handle things.”

---

“Fun!”, Hannah chirped. “I’m so glad they came! Do you think any more are coming?”

“Who knows?”, Sarah asked. “But hush. We will enjoy what we can from watching.”

“Can I go next?”, Hannah asked. “Isaac pushed me out of the way when the big one punched Micky. I wanted to go now…”

“Alright.”, Sarah sighed. “You’re such a child, Hannah. But I have to wonder…will Isaac even let them pass him? He’s notoriously insatiable…”

---

Matt stared intently at the…the word was hologram?...of Zach’s face. Tatsu, sitting on his bed, was happily and excitedly eating popcorn.

“Pst…Tatsu…what is this?”, Matt hissed. Tatsu, in an obvious lie, shrugged.

“You JUST told me you knew!”, Matt hissed again. Tatsu now pointed to his open mouth, as if to say, he couldn’t tell, because he couldn’t speak.

“You little snake-gobbling freak! You’ve been writing all day, to play Guess Who!”, Matt groaned. Tatsu shrugged, and put a paw to his lips, to silence him.

“Alright, Matt, this is a Dying Will Video. They’re something I made up myself, and they’re really easy to put into the gem of a ranked animal. So…don’t freak out about that. Now, you’ve probably got some questions. To start, I should apologize from holding your powers back from you. We only wanted the best for you, but if this seal is broken, I suppose it didn’t work out. So, Sabra and Nicole have probably told you the basics. You’ve been a Sky-type all along, and I’ve been planning on you being the Head Agent for the Second Generation ever since I met you, to be honest. You have exactly the qualities I was looking for, to balance those two, Conner Warrell and Zach Jacobs. Now, look to your Box Animal. I believe you’ve been calling her Muffins?”, Zach’s voice rambled.

“Her?”, Matt gasped. “You’re kidding me…”

“That owl is hardly ordinary.”, Zach said. “I used part of Minerva’s, my Sky Bear’s, coding to make her. Her name…is Pallas.”

“Pallas…”, Matt murmured. Pallas hooted once, happily.

“Pallas has known about our plan ever since I created her. She’s a great bird. I’m glad I had someone like you to make her for.”

“Wow…”, Matt said aloud thoughtlessly. Tatsu threw a piece of popcorn at him.

---

“Cody…”, James said. The little armadillo looked up at him cheerfully. “We’re three men short. We can’t do…the big one.”

“What a shame…”, Jake murmured. “But, Alex Simms was comforting Julie, Olivia Webb was keeping the kids in line, and Thomas Haden is in charge of security today…I’d have liked to see…what the big one could do to an Apostle.”

“All this chatter won’t get you any closer to the traitor.”, Isaac said. “So what if you left your best trick at home? Everything you throw at me will be the same. Nothing. Defensively, I’m the strongest Apostle. Totally unlike Micaiah, who just can’t take a punch to save her life.”

“Don’t test me…”, Micaiah warned, leaning against a tree. “Just finish up.”

“Fine…”, Isaac grumbled. “Come at me. I’ll give you one shot, before I rip you all apart.”

“Fifty percent is better than nothing.”, James said. “Cody!”

“Ken!”, Jake shouted. The little worm squeaked happily, and jumped to Cody, who rolled himself into a ball. Ken bit Cody, digging his fangs into the armadillo’s shell, securing attaching himself.

“TK!”, Adam called. The bizarrely-cute bat flew to Ken, and picked him up by his rear end. “Let’s go!”

The bat flew straight up, carrying the other two with him. He began to fly in loops, ever-increasing, speeding up as each one was completed. The worm and armadillo behind him were flung along behind him. Had one been watching closely, they would have seen TK’s Thunder Flames being passed along to Ken, who mixed them with his Cloud Flames, passing them to Cody and his Storm Flames. Soon, the armored beast was burning with red, green, and purple flames.

“Launch!”, all three shouted. Ken released his fangs, and Cody flew at Isaac. At the point of impact, there was a massive explosion of the three types of flames. When the smoke cleared, they saw Isaac holding Cody, having caught him in his hand, as though he had been a gently tossed softball.

“That…that’s impossible…”, Ben Diaz, sitting against a tree, thought. “He didn’t even flinch.”

Isaac began to squeeze, and Cody yelped in pain. James’ eyes widened.

“Let him go!”, he shouted, leaping at the Apostle.

“You want him?”, Isaac sneered, and hurled him back. Cody collided with James’ stomach, sending him flying back. James hit the ground rolling, shielding Cody from damage. “Weak. So weak. Where’s a power like that big one used on Micaiah?”

“Damn…If we had just one more of the techies…”, Jake thought aloud. “We’d be able to break his guard if there were four of us.”

“Three, four, a million…”, Isaac gloated. “It’s all the same. Nothing! Accept that you, as the one facing God’s chosen, are nothing. Your attacks, your defense, they’re all equal to zero. The fact that you are not one with oblivion right now, is because God hasn’t deemed you worthy to eliminate you himself.”

“You’ve got a thing for that word, nothing, don’t you?”, Jake quipped.

“Isaac…Do you remember how to fight that one?”, Micaiah asked.

“Of course.”, Isaac said. “He’s the one who laid the traps that humiliated you and Sarah. No matter. I don’t have to worry about that. He doesn’t have the time to lay a trap here.”

“That’s right…”, Adam thought. “That’s all they think Jake and Ken can do…The two of them are amazing at traps, it’s true, but if Jake used Ken’s Devil Worm Mode…we might have a chance…”

“The question is…will he use it?”, James thought, making sure Cody was unharmed. “Every time he does it, you can tell Ken’s in pain…”

“Jake…”, Adam began.

“No.”, Jake refused. “I’m sorry, guys. We can find another way. I can’t put the little guy through that.”

“Thought you’d say that.”, James said with a smile. “It wouldn’t be right, if you wanted to win that way.”

“Win?”, Isaac asked. “What could you three be talking about…Are you saying you have an ace left?”

“Something like that.”, Jake said with a smile. “I don’t think you’re worth it, though.”

Isaac raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t get cocky, because you beat Micaiah in Choice. We had to lose those fights, to arrange for The Attack. Your fate was sealed from the moment you stepped on this battlefield. All that remains for you is torture at our hands until your surrender.”, he sneered.

“Well, no point in arguing.”, James said, setting Cody down, patting him on the head. “We have other formations we haven’t tried yet…Shall we?”

---

“So I don’t have any fear you won’t be able to work with the other six Agents of the Second Generation.”, Zach’s hologram finished. Tatsu’s little mongoose eyes widened. He knew things, now. Things no one else did. “Now, if you’re seeing this, it means something made you release your power without Sabra releasing it intentionally. Of course, that’s a little bit concerning. So, as a last precaution I can manage, without coming back myself, I’m giving you the instructions on how to perform a Cambio Forma with Pallas…”

---

“Strange…”, Adelina said, dragging a tied up Narciso behind her. She looked over to the woods, and back to Ernesta and Malvolia. “Did any of you just see a big flash of red?”

“I wasn’t really looking…”, Ernesta confessed.

“I thought I saw something that looked like Storm Flames.”, Malvolia said. “Think the Orso are in a fight?”

“I hope so.”, Adelina said darkly. “And I hope they lose it.”

---

Thomas Haden yawned. He didn’t like that the three of them ran off to keep Bendy from getting hurt, and made him stay, but someone did have to watch the monitors. One never knew when something interesting would-

-Hell-o. You’re new.

Thomas zoomed the display onto the image of the three girls, and the man they were dragging behind them.

“That’s curious…”, he murmured. “I suppose they would be the Roses Taylor told us to watch for…and they brought a present…”

Adelina, on the display, threw the Ferraro by the rope she held him with, and, after seeming to glare at Thomas, walked off, followed by her sisters. Thomas took a moment to write down: “Note to self-Maybe move the cameras? Seems like everyone knows where they are.”, and then contacted Taylor about the “delivery”.

---

“So, are we going to go watch?”, Malvolia asked with a little smile.

“No.”, Adelina said. “There’s no point to watching something like that. All we need to focus on is the fight with the Agents.”

---

“Ken, do us the honor?”, Jake asked. Ken squeaked and nodded, then turned to Isaac. After puffing himself up to make up for the ridiculous size difference, he spat a thin thread at the Apostle. Isaac caught it, and ran Thunder Flames through it. The electricity reached Ken, and shocked the surprised animal. He curled up, whimpering. Jake, shocked, reached down to comfort him.

“The difference between you and I, Micaiah…”, Isaac said. “…is that while an ultimate offense can make an opponent nothing…an ultimate defense will reduce everything’s worth to nothing. From there, it’s a matter of wearing them down. Chip, by chip, cutting them apart.”

“This again?”, Micaiah groaned. “If you have time to lecture me about your preferences, you have time to finish these three.”

“If I exert myself too much, I’ll only weaken my defense. Maybe not enough to let these three hurt me, but I still prefer a slow, methodical approach. Unlike your frivolous strategy. Just what are you going to do, if Maggie can survive your attack, and counter it?”

“I just won’t let her survive the first one. Simple as that.”, Micaiah sneered. “Now, shut up and finish.”

“You’re a pain in the ass…”, Isaac growled. “Fine. How about I start with…the tall one?”

The three looked at each other, Adam Ellerbrock notably looking down to meet all of their eyes.

“Well…”, he said. “Shit.”

Isaac lunged at Adam, who quickly dodged his reach.

“Guys?”, he called. “Little help?”

“Ken’s not doing too good!”, Jake called.

“And Cody’s still in pain from that guy’s grip!”, James added.

“So I’m on my own?”, Adam realized. “Awesome. TOTALLY what I planned to be doing this afternoon, fighting an evil superclone by myself.”

“Curse your fate.”, Isaac said, catching him my the arm, and bringing his other arm back, covering it with Thunder Flames. “Curse that you were born into this world absolutely unprepared to fight. That you were destined to meet God’s chosen, and you were destined to become nothing by my hand, less than dust in the wind.”

“Don’t lecture.”, Adam said, smirking. “You’ll gather flies, in a mouth like that.”

Isaac’s eyes opened as he realized what had happened to him.

“This was your plan?”, Isaac asked. “It’s not bad…I really, by my own, physical power…cannot move my arm.”

Adam smiled up at his arm, which was now connected, via Ken’s elongated body, to TK, pumping Thunder Flames through the little worm, which wrapped around its target, restricting Isaac’s movement.

“Do it, James.”, Adam shouted. “And next time, I’m NOT THE BAIT.”

Cody, covered in Storm Flames, launched at Isaac, who had no choice but to take the hit to his face. There was a small explosion, and when the smoke cleared, Isaac was rubbing the point of impact.

“How obnoxious…”, he grumbled. “After all that, you defy me to the extent of one small scratch…Pathetic.”

“We just had to prove we could do it.”, James said. “You’re the one that let down your guard when you thought only one of us could fight you.”

“How pathetic.”, Micaiah laughed. “All that talk, and the one thing you’ve proven is your own inability to live up to your boasting.”

“It’s only one scratch…”, Isaac protested. “My point remains.”

“What point?”, Jake laughed. “Something you should remember…oh, I’m no good at one-liners like this. Take it, Adam.”

“What? Why me? I’m not prepared!”, Adam shouted.

“I’ll take it.”, James said, stepping up confidently. “You said all of us were nothing, zero, to you. Zero, plus zero, plus zero, is still zero. And if our zero could damage you, then our strategy increased our power by…”

James paused, to put on a set of Kamina glasses.

“…infinity percent.”

“That logic…”, Ben thought. “…that doesn’t even begin to make sense…”

“Not bad, guys.”, Milton croaked with a smile. “Nice hit.”

“Oh, please.”, James said. “We just used an armadillo as a cannonball. Honestly not even the coolest thing we’ve done all day. You should see it the other three get involved…but, ah well. Should we finish this up, guys?”

“Let’s do it.”, Adam called. “TK! Thunder Echolocation, full power!”

“Ken!”, Jake said. The little worm squeaked attentively. “We’re doing the Perfect Chain, alright?”

Ken squeaked in agreement.

“And Cody…Operation Napalmadillo.”, James said.

“You think…”, Isaac laughed evilly. “That I’ll let that happen? You’ve made me very, very angry…And it’s time I let loose!”

Isaac dashed at James, the Thunder Flames crashing around his entire body far more intense than they had been.

“YOU! ARE! NOTHING!”, Isaac screamed, thrusting both of his fists forward. James, unable to move in time, watched as the fists shot at his heart. He closed his eyes, putting his arms up, trying to brace for impact. There was a crash, and he slowly opened them. He tried to make out the identity of the figure in front of him, blocking Isaac’s attack with a greatsword infused with Thunder Flames.

The figure turned his head, and his eyes, through his mask, met James’.

“You alright?”, Cody Cooley asked. “We’ll take it from here.”

At each of Cody’s sides were Sam Brooks and Ryan Atwell.

“The Second Generation’s Triple Threat…against the Apostles…”, Sam mused.

“Calm yourself, Sam. We won’t be here long.”, Ryan reminded him. “Thomas didn’t send us here to make the fight last longer.”

“Hooray!”, Hannah shouted, running into the clearing. “My turn, my turn!”

“I never said I was done, brat.”, Isaac growled.

“But you got hurt.”, Hannah chirped. “And if YOU got hurt, they’re really good! Pleeeeease let me fight!”

“…Punk-ass kid.”, Isaac said, stepping back from Cody and his sword. “I’m done. Do what you want.”

“Actually…, Cody said. “We were just leaving.”

Hannah looked to both sides, and saw Ra, Sam’s Sun Elephant, loaded with Nate, Milton, and Ben, and Set, Ryan’s Mist Bull, carrying Jake, James, and Adam.

“Oh! No fun!”, she shouted. “I want to play!”

She lunged at Cody, but Ryan blocked her strike by catching her arm.

“You should turn around, kid.”, Ryan warned her. “You might be Katie’s clone, but we’re not like those six. Having us fight you might be too much for you.”

“You’re warning the kid, politely.”, Sam laughed. “You’re a weird guy, Ryan.”

“I have to be fair.”, he said. “Apostles! We’re leaving. Please, don’t follow us.”

Ra and Set began to walk away, leaving the woods behind. Hannah glared at the Second Generation Mist Guardian.

“You’re making me angry.”, she said, stone-faced. Sarah, who had been hiding in the woods until now, appeared, grabbing her by the shoulder.

“Hannah, don’t be rude.”, Sarah said. “We said we’d let them quit, from the start.”

“I didn’t think they’d do it NOW…”, Hannah whined. “Fine. Go….stupid-heads.”

“Now, that really hurts.”, Ryan obviously lied. “I’m going to go cry now.”

“Maybe you won’t…”, Hannah said. “But the one we have…oh, never mind.”

“Alex?!”, Ryan asked, his interest renewed. “What about Alex?”

“You should go.”, Isaac said firmly, also holding Hannah back. “You said you were a Second Generation Guardian?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s cute. Real cute. That says to me, that you think there will be anything after the first generation of the Orso. No. I’m going to break the back of that coward you call a Primo, and that will be the end of it.”

“I think you’re underestimating Charlie.”, Cody said, as Osiris returned from his mask for to his ram form. “But I won’t argue with you. We’re leaving.”

“Whew…So that’s Maggie’s clone…”, Sam thought. “She’s not wearing very much, is she…I think Maggie would be blushing just looking at her…”

---

When the nine had reached the door, Cody turned to address them all.

“I’m only going to say this once. Alex Carroll is gone.”, he began. “ And no matter what, the Apostles need to disappear before we can try to persuade him back here. We on our own can’t fight them. We need to wait for the Primo Guardians to come back. So I don’t want you to think about coming back out here looking for Alex, any of you. No more. We can’t risk anything, at this point. From now on, no one goes near those woods. These are dangerous times, and we’re going to trust Alex to survive out there on his own. Especially…well, with what’s coming this week, we can’t allow any kind of disaster.”

---

“So that’s how you do it…”, Matt murmured. Tatsu, a little impressed, began to clap, in his little mongoose way.

---

Rachel Larkin struck down the one hundredth practice robot.

“Careful you don’t bust those up too badly.”, Matt Carney said to her over the practice chamber’s intercom. “Other people have to use those things. Like me.”

“Just had to make sure I’m at my best…”, she said. “There are three days until we fight the Skulls.”

---

“I see…”, Taylor Houston said, reading. At her side was Narciso. “So, now, the sixth one reveals himself…”

“It’s lucky that you were already going to arrange your battle with the Roses this time.”, Narciso said softly. “My brother Edmondo…he does not take well to people like the Roses…I feared he might have…gotten us all into trouble with our father, by resorting to force.”

“Interesting…”, Taylor said. “My Agents are to meet them at noon tomorrow. From there, we will decide the terms for the battle for the seven Arcoferro…”

“It won’t be long…”, Narciso murmured. “Father wouldn’t keep you waiting long, after the sixth. The seventh Arcoferro will be upon us soon. I would imagine…in three days.”

---

Scott Deisher leaned against the gate to Century’s football field, and looked at the sky as it began to turn to night.

“It’s coming…”, he thought aloud. “I feel a wave coming, a wave that will change everything…”

---

“Well, that went over well.”, Zeke said cheerfully. “God seemed quite pleased with our work so far…”

“Of course, we aren’t doing much until The Attack.”, Malachi reminded him.

“Yes, but it’s the thought that counts, I suppose.”, Zeke said with a smile.

“From what I felt…the other four had fun while we were gone.”, Miriam said.

“Yes…Which means our plan is working just perfectly.”, Zeke laughed. “Without their little Alex…their organization is beginning to fall apart…Won’t be long now…”

---

The man with dark purple hair looked over the letter from his father, and the package that had arrived with it. He smirked.

“The Orso, huh?”, Edmondo Ferraro thought aloud. “But what makes you think I’ll do just what you tell me to do? I’ll see with my own eyes…if the Orso Family is worth my skills…”

-

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