Chapter 39

Ray

I formed a fireball the size of a love sac, the biggest I’d ever formed. I held it above my head and tossed it at New Girl and Stoner. It smashed into her glass-looking wings with a loud pop, knocking them back a few hundred yards. A moment later, after the flames died out, her wings reappeared looking completely unscathed. I flew toward them.

“Yo! Ray!” It was Invisiguy, somewhere to my right. “That’s obviously not working!”

“Well, do you have any better ideas?” I asked, annoyed.

He didn’t answer. I wasn’t surprised.

“I’ve got one,” I said. “How about you go head-butt it about fifty times with your thick invisi-skull and see if it’ll make a dent.”

I couldn’t see him, but I could feel his glare on me, shooting daggers at me with his eyes.

“If we don’t keep attacking her force field,” I continued, “then they’ll just fly away, and we’ll have to chase them across the state. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to do that.”

“Keep throwing your stupid fireballs then!” Invisiguy said, now somewhere above me.

I already had one between my hands the size of a beach ball, ready to try something different. I threw the fireball above my head like I would a volleyball. I flew up to it during its ascent and clawed out a small baseball-sized fireball in my left hand and clawed out another one in my right. I spun, throwing the small fireballs side-armed, one after the other. Before they reached her shield, I clawed out two more fireballs and threw those as well. I kept spinning, throwing as many small fireballs as I could at once.

The effect was awesome. It sounded and looked like the grand finale of a fireworks show. Each fireball exploded like a grenade when they collided with her wings. My hope was that the sheer volume of fireballs would frighten New Girl into dropping her wings, but what she did instead was unexpected.

New Girl and Stoner began flying directly toward me, still within the protection of her wings, flying against the barrage of fireballs I kept throwing at them. I threw the fireballs harder, hoping to knock them backwards, but they kept charging toward me.

Just as the last fireball got deflected off the side of her shield, New Girl opened her wings just a tad, forming a small slit in her force field. Out of the slit flew Stoner with his arms extended like Superman. I swung a fist, trying to punch him mid-flight, but he got me first, right in the jaw.

The force of the punch knocked me downwards, but I caught myself before hitting the ground. I flew back up toward Stoner, but he wasn’t there. He’d flown back inside the protection of New Girl’s wings. That twerp scurried off like a little coward!

“You wimp!” I yelled. “You don’t get any free punches, Stoner! Stop acting like a wuss and come out of there and fight me like a man!”

I could see stoner through New Girl’s force field, standing there with his hands on his hips and a smirk on his face. “Come get me!” he said, though I mostly read his lips because his voice was muffled through her wings.

“Fine!” I flew right up to the force field, a few feet away, and extended both of my red-hot palms toward it. With a shout, I summoned fire to shoot out of my hands, like two flamethrowers at point-blank. The force of the flames pushed me backward, so I had to redirect my flying powers behind me to push me forward, cancelling out my movement. The fire, red, orange and yellow, completely surrounded New Girl’s ball of protection. Her wings didn’t get knocked back, which meant that she was pushing against me. I focused on the part of her wings directly in front of me, trying to cut my way through her force field.

“Yo! Ray!”

I turned to the voice to my left, thinking it was Invisiguy, but was shocked to see Stoner hovering above me, his shoes level with my face. How in the…

He kicked me. Right in the nose! As if my head were a soccer ball!

My head whipped backwards, my body following close behind. The fire on my hands died out completely as I brought them up to cup my face. The pain was excruciating! I think he broke my nose!

I dropped out of the sky and broke through something made out of metal and then landed on asphalt on my back with a crunch.

I didn’t move. My whole body hurt, but mostly my nose. I just held it, trying to stifle the pain.

I lay somewhere in the city. Bright lights were above me. A gas station? I’d broken through the overhead metal canopy above the gas pumps. I heard several people nearby scream and run. I hadn’t noticed that our fight had moved so far from Trotting Park.

I realized what’d happened. While I was shooting flames at the front of New Girl’s wings, she must’ve opened a slit in the back, and that’s how Stoner got out and kicked me while I was distracted.

I felt blood oozing out my nose and into my mouth. Gross! I sat up and tried wiping the blood off of me, but it just kept coming.

Whoosh!

The sound made me look up. Stoner hovered a foot above me, looking down at me with his glowing eyes.

I opened my mouth to say something like “Lucky shot!” but got cut off as he bent down and stuffed his hands down my pockets.

“WHOA!” was the only word that came out of me. I wasn’t expecting him to suddenly get all frisky! I kindled my powers in the First Degree and shoved him away from me.

When he pulled back, my eyes widened. He held my red Star Stone in his hand!

He turned away from me and leaned back as if he were about to throw it to the next state.

“NO!” I shouted as I pushed myself to my feet. I wasn’t going to stop him in time!

Suddenly, Stoner got knocked backwards, my stone falling from his grip and dropping onto the gasoline-stained concrete at my feet.

I couldn’t believe it! It was Invisiguy! Er… Scorpio. He’d tackled Stoner just before he threw my stone away. Way to go, Scorpio! I thanked him mentally as I snatched up my stone and put it back in my pocket, feeling so relieved with it there!

I turned toward Scorpio and Stoner. Stoner lay on his back on the corner of the gas station, looking half conscious. The station’s price sign—outrageous prices by the way—teetered and came crashing into the street, causing cars to swerve and stop. Scorpio must’ve pushed Stoner right through the metal sign.

I couldn’t see Scorpio, of course, but he spoke up in front of me, causing me to start. “I’ve got his Star Stone,” he said. “Be right back.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but he flew off with a whooshing sound. Okay….

I looked up at the hole in the gas station canopy, guessing that Scorpio flew through it. I noticed a crowd of people surrounding the gas station, keeping their distance, but daring to get close enough to see what was going on. I could hear police sirens and helicopters in the distance, unsure if they were approaching or not.

I lowered my gaze to Stoner. He sat up, dazed and hurt. He looked weak, powerless. I wiped some blood off of my nose and strode toward him.