Season 1, Episode 5 - The Boxtops XXI - "Castlewars"

Coleridge the Mighty. Coleridge the Magnificent. Coleridge the-

Lionel! His mother’s shrill voice cut in. Pay attention!

Coleridge sighed aloud. Yes, Mum.

But Coleridge supposed that the mental image of his mother berating him had a point. He did need to pay attention. He was in a Combat Simulation after all, which had an endgame of simulating combat. That meant fighting.

But it also meant money (assuming the bet he made with Class 2-D on Team Red through Oksana paid off) and glory (assuming he won, either as an individual or as part of the team) and power (well, probably not).

But, perhaps more importantly, it would be a conversation starter! Why yes, Coleridge could tell the girls down at the Voc, I did happen to fight in the Combat Simulation. Or perhaps he could even talk to girls at the Academy!

He closed his eyes, hiding in his ambush spot, thinking about the possibilities. Assuming we beat Team Blue...I could give Mackenzie a helping hand, let her know that this is just a learning experience and that I’ll always be there for her.

For Babs, once we beat her team, that’ll force her to remember me. Any sort of physical contact between me and her will be full of mutual hatred, but that could be kind of nice...

Lynn...well, Lynn’s the nicest girl I know, I couldn’t just use my natural charisma to manipulate her feelings like that.

And as for his own team...

Reed’s just Reed. We’re kinda friends but she also kinda sucks.

Audrey...Audrey’s so nice, too.

Coleridge found himself missing his friend. He was currently hiding in a bush, ready to ambush the shit out of any Team Blue member that dared cross his territory. When that flare gun went off and the simulation started, Coleridge sprinted off, deeper and deeper into the woodland. When he reached the limits of keeping contact with both Audrey and Reed through the Rddhi, he came to a stop and took a minute or two to hyperventilate until the aftermath of a full sprint wore off. Inspired by Hanai, Coleridge tried to climb up a tree, but found himself unable to make it up more than a few branches.

But defeats just mean new opportunities. Coleridge found a lovely little bush at the base of a tree that fit him nicely. He hid inside of it, feeling much like a tiger waiting for his zebra prey in the savannah (Coleridge didn’t really know how tigers hunted).

But, much like the king of the jungle, it felt lonely at the top.

Being alone in that bush just made Coleridge think of Audrey’s hair, the way it fell across her face sometimes. But more than that, he missed hearing her voice.

That April, May, June riddle was a classic!

Hoping he and Audrey were on the same wavelength, Coleridge plucked a blade of grass out from the dirt below him and held it between his thumbs. He brought it to his mouth and blew on it.

What sounded like the call of a duck drifted off through the trees. Coleridge waited, wondering if Audrey received his message across time and space.

Calls that sounded like a duck came back to him.

Coleridge laughed quietly to himself, then blew another message.

HOW GOES IT OVER THERE!

A few moments later, the answer came back.

Coleridge frowned, because it just sounded like duck noises. It’s not like they had a communications code for grass whistles.

If this was a movie, I’d have that innate sort of bond with her. But, oh well. I probably should be keeping radio silence as it is.

And so, Coleridge went back to being the king of the jungle, listening closely for any signs of approaching predators.

Hmm...I guess I have to work on that. The king of the jungle doesn’t have any predators-

Lionel, pay attention!

Coleridge sighed once more, but his mother was right. His teammates were relying on his towering intellect and physique to win the day. It wouldn’t be right of him to let them down.

And, most importantly of all, if Team Red won today – he could let his mother know, and that might help brunt the verbal ass-whupping he would receive for the grades on his progress report.

Thinking about that made Coleridge meditate deeper, feeling his way through the black Rddhi grid. Ahead of him, to his left, he felt the heartbeat of the New Yorker, calm and composed. Coleridge knew Alfie wasn’t all that bad of a guy, but Coleridge’s father got trenchfoot against his people! A feeling like that is hard to overcome.

To his right, Coleridge felt Audrey’s heart, excited green waves with each beat, so calming and warm. He could listen to Audrey's waves all day-

Goddamnit!

The king of the jungle had a duty and that duty was approaching! Coleridge felt it, felt the herd of gazelles coming closer and closer.

Multiple heartbeats...all of them excited...there’s so many, I’m having trouble separating them. I can’t even tell how many people there are!

Ahead of him, tree tops and branches and bushes and grass rustled, as if being hit by a gust of wind. When that metaphoric wind hit him, Coleridge suddenly coughed and keeled over, clutching his stomach.

What the hell was that? It felt like I just whacked! Wait, not quite. It’s more like something bounced off of me...

Think, Coleridge! Think about Team Blue’s powers. An invisible force just bounced off of you, what does that remind you of?

“A radar,” he realized. His eyes widened.

Mackenzie! We thought she would stay with the flag!

The approaching heartbeats only escalated in intensity, getting closer and closer, as if they were targeting him directly.

Coleridge blinked.

Shit, they are targeting me directly!

The heartbeats were originally located to the north, their path taking them directly between Coleridge and Audrey, but now they veered his way, bearing down on him.

Mackenzie must’ve felt both me and Audrey in the Rddhi and decided I was the weaker one!

She doesn’t deserve to be seduced by me!

Coleridge’s hands shook. Mackenzie and her teammates versus just me? That’s not fair! They’ll just run right over me on their way to the flag. The rest of the team might rally behind my demise and win the day, sure, but I’d still get run over! The first person to lose! That’s not fair-

Coleridge steeled himself.

No. I’m going to stop them here. This ends now.

Mustering all his bravado, Coleridge rolled out of his bush, resting on a single knee on a patch of grass in between a row of trees. He could hear someone singing ancient Macedonian war songs – that could only mean Demetrius.

“Then come,” Coleridge declared, planting his hands on the ground, ready to raise a wall of earth using the Rddhi. “Then come!”

Several heartbeats stopped. Only one continued.

Coleridge smirked. Never a doubt. I scared them off! Now let’s make quick work of this asshat-

Mackenzie emerged out of the darkness of the forest, running at a full-sprint. She moved closer and closer, so Coleridge charged up Rddhi in his palms, feeling adrenaline course through his body alongside the Rddhi, but then she slid to a halt across a patch of dirt right as he could see the whites in her eyes.

She gave him a smirk as wide as his own, then activated her powers.

To put it bluntly, it felt like a nuclear bomb just like exploded in Coleridge’s face.

Coleridge tried to raise a wall, but the blast moved that much faster. The area in front of him burned brighter than the sun, forcing Coleridge to cover his arms with his eyes. But the blast itself felt so powerful that it swept Coleridge off his feet.

Blinded and now flying through the air, Coleridge could do little but curse Mackenzie until he felt his back slam into a tree. Feeling the wind knocked out of him, Coleridge expected to slide to the ground, but the intensity of the continuing blast kept him pinned to the tree.

This is a blast of pure Rddhi, running right through me. It’s not showing any signs of stopping. It...doesn’t really hurt, actually. Yeah, it's pinning me here, and hitting the tree hurt like hell, but this pure Rddhi...it feels tingly. A little uncomfortable, but all it really does it make me feel like...I’m falling. The kind of falling feeling you get before drifting off to sleep...

Yeah, sleep could be nice...

Coleridge felt something wrap around his leg. Shrugging off the sudden drowsiness, he glanced down and saw a green vine wrapped around his leg, someone on the other end pulling it taut. Red Rddhi ran through it, strengthening it, otherwise the blast would've blown it away already, but Coleridge could tell Mackenzie’s waves were chipping away at it.

Audrey! This is great! Now, just pull me down-

Audrey must’ve figured it out too, because slowly, slowly, struggling to overcome the force of the continuing blast, the vine retracted, taking Coleridge with it. That, unfortunately, meant he scraped his way down the bark of the tree trunk, taking a good deal of his coat and some skin with it. Coleridge gritted his teeth, but the vine pulled him at last to the back of the trunk, which shielded him from the blast.

Coleridge dropped to the ground, finally able to gather his bearings and catch his breath.

I’ll need some ointment for my back later. Preferably jasmine. But that’s a later issue! Right now, I should meet up with Audrey.

He tried to feel through the Rddhi, but the yellow, blinding flash of Mackenzie’s blast covered the entirety black Rddhi grid, preventing Coleridge from detecting anything.

He looked down at the vine. If I just follow this, that should lead me to her.

Coleridge managed to peak around the trunk. Mackenzie's blast was still going, but the intensity gradually dropped off. Making his move, Coleridge planted his palms on the ground, erecting a thin wall to crouch-run behind. When the blast chipped away parts of the wall, he ran more Rddhi through the ground, extending the wall, then crouch-runned like all hell to Audrey’s location. When he reached a solid tree, he stopped, caught his breath, then repeated the process.

Finally, he reached the vine’s end and almost crashed into Audrey, who was also hiding in a bush, except her bush was behind a tree trunk, saving her from the initial blast.

“Audrey!” Coleridge exclaimed upon seeing his friend. “I thought I was a goner!”

Audrey no looked worse for the wear, but she was already peeking her head around the tree trunk, trying to make a plan. “We still might be. We need to do something!”

Coleridge saw the way her eyes slightly narrowed, the way her mouth moved from its usual smile to something flatter, yet determined.

“You look serious,” Coleridge found himself saying.

Audrey looked back and grinned. “I’ve been in a few nasty fights before. And fights are serious! When you’re doing something serious, you need to get serious!”

“...that’s a good point.”

“Now, think!” Audrey proclaimed. “Mackenzie just gave off a huge wave blast like some sort of atomic-based explosive device! We thought Mackenzie would stay at their flag and use her powers to defend, but instead, she moved up to our side of the arena and used her powers to offend!”

“For offense?”

“Exactly! Now, let’s use our collective brainpower and figure out why she did that!”

Audrey and Coleridge both brought their hands to their chins and elevator music played inside their craniums.

“To blow us away!” they exclaimed in unison. “To distract us! They attacked right down the center, since that’s the most direct route to the flag! Not only are we more or less pinned down by the blast, we can’t see through the Rddhi grid field since it’s covered by Mackenzie’s exploding thing! It’s covering anyone on Team Blue who might be charging through right now!”

Audrey peered out from behind the tree again. “I can see a little more ahead of me now. It looks like the blast is getting weaker. I don't think anyone could get through at full blast, but now that’s it’s starting to wear off, I bet that’s when Team Blue will pour in! Let’s use the Rddhi grid again!”

Coleridge tried to meditate, but between his heart racing and adrenaline and the fact that his grid was still covered by the blast, he groaned. “No use, it’s still covered.”

“I can see a little through mine,” Audrey answered. She closed her eyes and looked deep in thought.

“How?”

Audrey raised her hand, and Coleridge saw several vines wrapped around her palm. He followed their paths and realized that they extended into the ground.

“I set up vines below ground when I got here,” Audrey explained. “I planned on raising them out of the ground all sneaky-like when Team Blue came by. But the vines...when I put more Rddhi through them, it’s like I can feel more. The area in which I can scan through the Rddhi grid is greater. And I believe in myself! I BELIEEEEEEEEVE!”

A nearby flock of birds that weathered the blast now scattered away in fear from a nearby treetop.

“I believe in myself, and my vines!” Audrey exclaimed. “And the Rddhi’s all about believing in yourself!”

“You sound more and more like Hanai,” Coleridge supposed, scratching his head, feeling self-reflective.

I put on a lot of bravado. But it’s like she’s genuinely believes.

Coleridge had to ask. “Do...do you think we can win?”

Audrey grinned. “To quote a friend of mine in a somewhat similar situation – you bet your ass I do.”

One of the vines snaked itself further around Audrey’s palm. “I can sense where Mackenzie is, right in the center of that blast. And...the blast is getting weaker and weaker...and there! Two heartbeats just moved past her, and moving fast! But if they can move around in the blast without getting blown away, that means we can too!”

Audrey used her other hand to grip a vine in particular. “I’m going in for the catch, Coleridge!” With that, red Rddhi flared in her palm, then ran itself down into the vine she chose, following it into the ground. Coleridge imagined it traveling through the ground, until it finally reached its target-

“I got him!” Audrey cheered. “It’s Demetrius! When I wrapped my vine around him, I could tell that chiseled physique from anywhere!”

Coleridge tried to look for the big man, and while he could the waning glow of the blast, he still couldn’t see through it. “Where is he?”

“Deeper inside the blast!” Audrey grimaced and sent Rddhi down several other vines. “Don’t worry, I’ll trap him-”

Audrey blinked. “Oh, that’s not good.”

“What’s not good?”

“He cocked his biceps and got his arms free! He’s grabbing onto my vine, pulling it out of the dirt-”

Audrey’s hand slammed into the dirt hole where her vine went through, followed by the rest of her upper body.

“Audrey!” Coleridge stood up. “I’ll believe in myself and go find him inside the blast, not with my eyes, but with my heart. You see, you’ve inspired me. Earlier, I doubted my own feelings, but now I know that if I trust myself, I’ll be able to find him and win! And it’s all thanks to you-”

Coleridge heard a rumbling noise, then saw Audrey's vine suddenly explode out of the dirt and whip into the air, followed by Audrey herself. The other vines in her palm that could’ve anchored her to the ground all snapped, and now Audrey flew away into the sky.

“Coleridge!” Audrey called out. “Demetrius decided to swing the vine and fling me away! But it’s still wrapped around him tight! I’ll deal with him, you deal with Lynn!”

“Lynn?” Coleridge repeated, but Audrey was now out of sight, yanked away through the air, slowly falling back to the earth. From the way the vine pulled her, Coleridge realized Demetrius was heading directly for the flag, dragging Audrey behind him.

I want to help her...but she needs me to stop Lynn. Reed and Audrey should be able to handle Demetrius, but I need to make sure nobody else comes to help him. Now, let’s see...

Coleridge planted his palms into the ground, then sent off tiny walls of earth in a northward direction, towards the center of the blast. If I put through Rddhi through these bad boys, use them like Audrey did with her vines, and if I believe hard enough...

When Coleridge opened the Rddhi grid, sure, the blast still felt intense, but he could see just a little more clearly now. Through the vast expanse of yellow covering the black grid, Coleridge picked up Mackenzie’s heartbeat in the center of it all, pumping to almost dangerous levels from the exertion.

And there it was. A second heartbeat passing by Mackenzie. And this heartbeat moved fast, incredibly fast – not crazy fast, but still dangerously fast.

Coleridge cracked his neck.

Alright, Lynn. Let’s play.