Chapter 20 - Thawing (1)

“Teek?” asked Quin, “Why are you down here? Did you get approval from the higher-ups already?”

Looking into the stands, people were finally able to evacuate properly. It seemed like Teek had managed to break down the makeshift walls that had previously been blocking the exits without a problem.

Teek brushed the dust off of his face and sat on the ground. “I got here only a couple of minutes ago. I radioed for Chugol to see if he needed help, but he told me to come down here after finding someone who could give me the go-ahead on fighting back against the terrorists. It turns out that the owners of this place are just battle-enthusiasts. I found one of them right up there.”

He pointed above his head to a Veetan woman frantically shouting into the arena from the edge of the stands.

“Go get ‘em Ranger!” she said, “You’re so cool!”

“That’s strange,” said Lasia, “I figured you would be too scared to come down here.”

“I was,” said Teek, “The owner up there pushed me down.”

“Weren’t you and the rest of the squad supposed to be on some sort of special assignment right now?” asked Lasia.

“About that… we lied.”

“You did? How hurtful. Don’t you trust me?”

“Should we?” asked Teek.

“Doesn’t really matter. We suspected something like that in the first place. We are still more than prepared to fight your entire group..”

“It doesn’t look like it, honestly.” Teek closed his eyes and stood up. “The way I see it, this will be over pretty soon.”

Lasia said nothing in retort. Her face twisted into a grimace.

“I guess I’ll get involved,” Teek started walking forward, “Quin, do you mi-”

“Don’t!” yelled Quin as he stood up from the ground.

“Oh?”

“Please… I need to do this myself.”

“Alright then. Then don’t ask me for help later. I won’t get involved until you're down for the count, do you understand?”

“I understand.” Quin nodded.

“No problem! If you say so. Don’t get killed out there.” Teek turned his head and yelled at Ashur, “Ashur! You need any help?”

“Nope!” said Ashur.

The petals from Ashur’s Manifest collided again with Patipay’s wall, and this time it crumbled completely. Patipay quickly threw his fist into the ground to erect a new one, and it barely came up in time to block the next barrage of petals. A spike made of dirt launched itself out at Ashur from near the wall, but Ashur avoided it effortlessly. It seemed as though Patipay was barely able to fight back at all.

“Damn, I guess I’m just useless then. Fine. I wanted to be down at a more reasonable level, anyhow.” said Teek as he sat back down against the edge of the arena.

“C’mon Ranger!” said the owner, “Don’t just sit there!”

“Stay out of this!” yelled Teek.

The owner quieted herself.

“Are you really that brave or are you just that stupid?” asked Lasia.

“I actually noticed something,” said Quin. “Every time you attack me with that ice, the air gets a little bit drier.”

“How attentive of you.”

“I had figured that your Study was creating ice, but it’s not. Your Study is Freezing, isn’t it? Meaning every time you attack me with ice, you’re actually just freezing the moisture in the air and manipulating whatever it is that you’ve frozen. It probably takes a lot of effort.”

“What’s your point?”

“The air has been consistently getting drier, and the ice that you’ve thrown at me hasn’t dissipated. The moisture in the air is finite, so why are you wasting that precious moisture on anything but a finishing blow?”

Lasia furrowed her brow and swung her fan downwards. There was a cold gust, and a massive icicle formed in the air and immediately launched down at Quin.

Quin didn’t attempt to dodge, and instead concentrated everything into his right fist. When the icicle got close, Quin threw his fist right into the sharp point on the end of it. It shattered into hundreds of pieces upon making contact, making an ear-piercing sound like a hundred glass bottles hitting the ground.

“I was right. You won’t kill me. In fact, I don’t think you even want to hurt me,” said Quin. “There’s no way that I should have been able to avoid your attacks for this long, and there’s no way that that flimsy piece of wood should have been able to divert the only attack that actually hit me.”

Quin began walking toward Lasia. He stepped calmly on the large sheet of ice on the ground, and did not falter or slip. Every time he lifted his foot up, little holes forming the rough shape of his foot were left behind.

The principle of it wasn’t that different from the time that he forced Arima radiation out of his body to go into the Maelsteel that Botats had prepared for him. It was a little difficult, but it was  definitely possible for him to externalize his aura. The meditation that he had been doing throughout the week served a purpose in the end. The aura at the bottom of his feet was shaped into little spikes that gently gripped into the ice. It was like he was wearing invisible cleats.

“Is that how you’re gonna do it, Quin?” Teek said to himself, “Cool.”

Lasia flicked her fan once more, but instead of ice crystals forming, a cold and powerful gust of wind blew in Quin’s direction. He attempted to resist, but the wind carried him off the ground, and he flew backward.

If Lasia was able to control anything that she made cold, the air would be no exception.

Quin landed on all fours and began to pick himself up.

“You know, Quin,” Lasia spoke, “of all the Rangers present in Tebin that day, the squad made up of Humans was by far the most brutal. All four of the Humans that survived the incident were court-martialed not long after.”

Quin stood up and walked across the ice in the same way as before, and in the same way as before, Lasia blew him away with another gust just as he got in close.

“My father!” she shouted.

She launched off a chunk of ice. Quin rolled out of the way and stepped back onto the ice.

Quin gave Lasia a look of pity as he approached.

She grimaced, and launched off another chunk of ice.

Quin batted the ice away.

“My mother!” she cried, launching a larger icicle this time.

Quin continued to approach. He shattered the icicle with a simple headbut.

“Half of everyone I knew!” she yelled as she again blew Quin away with a gust of wind.

Quin furrowed his brows and concentrated aura into his right arm. He began running at her.

“The Coalition killed them all!” 

Quin carried on his path with determined eyes. 

“Stop looking at me like that!” she shrieked.

She formed over a dozen icicles in the air, but they all dropped to the ground the moment that Quin’s fist made contact with Lasia’s face.

She flew back, and hit the ground.

She brushed against where her face had been hit, and looked up at Quin.

He was looking down upon her, holding the same pitying look as before.

“You’re just like the rest of them!” said Lasia.

Quin tensed his body and inhaled deeply.

“Why do you all-” Lasia was cut off mid sentence.

“WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME ALL OF THIS?” Quin’s voice echoed through the whole arena. 

“Huh?”

“I’m over here giving my all in making sure that you don’t go too far! What are you doing, huh? Telling me how hard it’s been for you?”

Lasia’s eyes widened. She wasn’t sure if what she was feeling was shock or anger. “Are you serious? It’s obvious that I’m trying to convince you!”

“So what? What do you want me to do then? Tell you that what you’re doing is right? That it was a good thing that you attacked this place?” Quin placed his palm on his chest in earnest. “I can’t do that for you!”

Lasia was dumbfounded. “I was just-”

“You were just nothing! You haven’t done a single thing yet! Are you gonna get serious about this or not?”

Lasia stared down at the ground.

“Ha…” the corners of her mouth turned upward slightly. “Hahahaha!”

Her slight giggles turned into maniacal laughter. Quin stood there perplexed.

“You really are funny, Quin.” She slowly stood up. “You’re right… I’ve been rude.”

Her expression darkened.

“It’s about time,” Quin smirked.

“Sorry about that. I kept you waiting, didn’t I?” She slowly waved her fan across the air. A torrent of wind started slowly building up. “I’ll put everything I can into this next one. Good luck.”

Ice crystals formed within the swirling, chilly winds, and spun around Lasia.

The wind intensified with each rotation, and chill was felt on all ends of the Arena.

The air dried up to the point that Quin’s lower lip cracked. It took everything he had to keep from shivering.

Quin nervously grinned as he got into stance to take the attack.

He wasn’t sure if he would be able to survive this one.