Chapter 22: Attack Of The Sixteenth Century Monster

"Cornelia, heads up!"

She did just that and her eyes widen with fear. A greenish-grey beast, standing higher than the auditorium beside the volleyball court, had only one eye like a Cyclops. Though it has two arms, only one had fingers that brawled into fists. The other was shaped like a baseball bat. Its legs were rather shorter than its arms but the wide red mouth showed many sharp rows of teeth. Cornelia took a good look around her to find the court empty. She need not worry about the creature as its intention was on the auditorium, banging onto the glass ceiling. Should I be finding for Tiadora? Cornelia thought. Is this a sacred animal? Why does it look so ugly? And before she could run off in another direction, a voice was booming in her head.
Cornelia! It's me, Jason. Listen. I've got no time to explain. Get into the auditorium quick.

"Are you crazy?!" Cornelia shouted out verbally at the voice, but she didn't hear any reply. "Bloody half-kid."

With that she looked around to check that no one was in sight and closed her eyes. Let the air carry me, Cornelia whispered in her head, and when she opened her eyes, her feet was off the ground, at half the level of the auditorium. She gave a little shrill and leaped from nothing towards the beast. The air followed her body posture and brought her behind the beast's head. This time, the creature began to dig its hands into the broken glass and tore open the cement ceiling, roaring at the empty seats of the auditorium. "Hey ugly!" Cornelia shouted out to the monster as it turned away from the auditorium towards the floating girl, "Get away from my school!"

Cornelia then flinged her left hand towards the monster and a huge white beam fired through the beast. With the powerful impact, the monster fell forward and lost its footing. It tumbled into the auditorium, crushing the blue chairs and the big stage. Cornelia didn't know why, but she began to laugh at the monster. Amused by her work, she threw a fist into the air with excitement and glory, until she heard a more devilish laugh behind hers. Cornelia turned behind and saw a blue-haired girl folding her arms, laughing at her.

"Who...who are you?" Cornelia realised that it was neither her friends.

"I'm your worst nightmare!" the girl laughed some more and pointed her index finger towards Cornelia, "Remember my name, descendant of the great Sir Thomas. I am Marabonta. Tell Jason that."

Jason? Cornelia wondered. Shouldn't she have said Tiadora? What does she have against my bro? "You're one of Xana's?" Cornelia managed to ask, but Marabonta smiled and hissed at Cornelia, "I'm not the only one in this school who is."

This time, Marabonta clapped her hands once and a green sphere formed from her palms. In a nanosecond, the sphere grew in size and Marabonta threw the sphere at Cornelia who wasn't as fast as the formation of the attack. The green sphere pricked Cornelia's body as it went through her without a sweat. The pain was unbearable and Cornelia clutched onto her tummy, concentrating on the pain. Cornelia couldn't take it and let go of all resistance of her power as she lost grip on the air and fell.

♥

"Tia, I can't get out," Jason struggled with the damaged door once, "It's stuck!”

David heard Jason saying that the second time. The place was a mess, with all the debris and dirt getting in the auditorium. Tiadora ran to him, panting to say something but David couldn't hear them as he was attending to Sally's scratches with Kiara. He noticed that she looked weird with the dwarf, Grumpy, mask because it made her nose look ten times bigger than her original size. He had laughed at her before the rehearsal, and seeing her like that again made him wanted to laughed out loud, but in this situation, it's better not to. Tiadora came back to their aid along with Jason as Tiadora swept over Sally's minor bruises. "Jason," David wondered as he thought Jason wanted to get his sister, "Where's the Enchantress of Sports?"

"Jason has sent a telepathic message to her," Tiadora said quickly, trying to lift Sally up with Kiara. But both David and Kiara gave that 'huh' look. Tiadora snapped her fingers, "There's a Balistia over there. Let's get a move on unless you want to get squashed."

True enough, the Balistia began to wail in agony, Tiadora noticed, and it looked like it was falling towards them. The building cracked and more debris fell into the auditorium. David caught sight of a chunk of rock falling behind Tiadora, concentrated with his right hand and sent the rock crashing at the door. And on queue, the Balistia fell, tumbling over the many rows of seats. After the mist was cleared, the monster never moved and just laid there motionless. Tiadora dropped Sally on the ground and ordered, "Jason, Kiara combined both of your elements and seal the Balistia's arms and legs. David, you come with me."

"But how are we supposed to get on that thing? It's enormous," Kiara argued.

"Use your imagination. Come along, David!" Tiadora commanded for David to hurry up. He rushed to tag along Tiadora and almost tripped over a broken chair. "Hurry up, David," Tiadora's voice urged him to quicken his pace as she took his hand, ran without turning and eventually stopped at the baseball-shaped hand.

"So, what's the plan, Einstein?" David asked under his breath.

"Who's Einstein?"

"Oh. I had almost forgotten that you're from outer space."

Tiadora rolled her eyes and stared at the Balistia's big hand, "We're going to bury it."

"What?!" David shouted in disbelief, "We don't even know if it's dead."

"It's obviously not dead, so I suggest we put it to sleep."

"It's going to sleep in the soil? What happens when it wakes up?"

"We'll worry when it's time. Right now, once Jason and Kiara have finished securing the beast, I'll need you to visualise something difficult. I need you to erase the whole of the auditorium floor so that the..."

"Are you mad!? You want to bury this thing in the auditorium!?"

"So that when it wakes up, we'll be ready. Trust me," Tiadora pleaded. The same plea David recognised when she had given before jumping off the clock tower. At that time, he couldn't trust her yet. Everything was happening too fast to understand the whole picture and because of him not trusting, he had tried to release her grip from his. But if he had let go, he would have fallen like someone who wanted to commit suicide. He looked back into her blue and green eyes once more and nodded, "Very well, my princess."

David faced back to the monster and looked cunningly back at Tiadora, "Though, you're not my type."

One of Tiadora's eyebrows went up, "What does that mean?"

David chuckled and stared at the teamwork that Kiara and Jason were demonstrating, "Sometimes it's good that you're not from our time."

"And why is that so?" Tiadora asked curiously.

"Cause what I'm going to say next, you won't understand."

"And what would that be?"

"I think, Jason has got the hots for you."

Tiadora definitely didn't understand with that blur face she put on, David thought, and continued staring at Jason and Kiara who were standing on top of the slimy beast. Holding hands with one another and releasing a weird silver beam from their hands. David noticed that the silver beam that came in contact harden, so the arms of the Balistia were literally stuck to its own body. What is that? David pondered for a while till Tiadora pulled his sleeve. "David," Tiadora was looking around in all directions while talking to David, "Where's Cornelia? The plan can't work without her."

"Didn't you say Jason sent her some kind of message?"

"Yes, and so she should have been here few moments ago.”

That's right, David began to realise, where's Cornelia? But his question was soon answered when Jason looked out into the sky and shouted her name. Falling from the skies into the auditorium, Cornelia looked unconscious. David acted fast and the ground below him cracks a circle around him. Soon, the circle spot loosen from the ground and lifted David up. The thin granite disc pushed him forward to the ceiling and managed to catch the damsel in distress.

David knew Cornelia was having volleyball just now as she was still wearing her sleeveless pink jersey and shorts that David thought was too short. He smiled at her flawless face and caught a glimpse of another girl in the air. He instantly recognised her, the girl from the academy's beach. The girl who gave him the icy stare.
Once she saw him, she'd disappear from the scene. David continued to wonder why Xana's troops were trotting around the area as he came down to Tiadora's side. So," David put Cornelia on the ground and faced back to Tiadora, "how deep do you want to bury this thing?"

"So long as there's at least one level of soil apart from the auditorium floor to the Balistia."

"Jason!" David called out to him, "You done?"

"Yep," Jason gave a thumbs-up.

"Then hurry down. We're got to bury it quickly before the principal gets through," Tiadora yelled. And on queue, the police sirens were heard from afar, even the ambulance were noticeable. Once Jason and Kiara reached their side, David clamped his hands together, closed his eyes and concentrated on erasing the auditorium floor. Halfway through his concentration someone took his right hand and gripped it. Then, he felt more power flowing through his veins, tempting him to release it all. Without opening his eyes, he raised both of his hands, ignoring if the one holding his hand disapproved. He felt the energy forcing though his palms and the next thing he knew, a rumble took him off balanced.

David fell on his back and finally opened his eyes. True enough the Balistia was in some kind of a deep pitch black bowl. David had to bend down to look at the Balistia's back. "David, stop daydreaming. We've got to cover this...this...thing," Kiara pulled him back away from the hole.

"It's okay. I'll do it," Tiadora then just slowly waved her right hand and the auditorium was back to normal. With its thousand-blue-seats and clear clean walls, the ceilings was back into one piece like as if it was a jigsaw puzzle. The glass panels were back in place and the stage didn't have anymore fist-shaped holes. Tiadora then bend down to Cornelia and touched her forehead. Automatically, Cornelia's ruffled jersey turned into just-ironed fabric and the dirt on Cornelia's face faded away. When the healing was done, Cornelia shot right up and stared at the auditorium, "Is it me or did a monster actually attack us?"

"It's you," Jason joked and patted her on the back as he brought her up to her feet. "Tia, how did you do that?"

"Yeah, I mean," David interrupted her answer before she could say anything, "if you could have disappear this thing with a dance of your hand, then why ask me to do it?"

"Talk later. Now, we've got to deal with the principal outside," Tiadora said as she took Sally's arm around her shoulder.

"Don't forget policemen," David reminded.

"What's a policeman?"

Without explanation, they got out of the auditorium at the main doors, which they were greeted by the many policemen. The police stopped them in their escape and allowed the chief through the uniformed sergeants, into the auditorium. As the chief entered, Jason tried to squeeze through the men but they just threw him banging on the door. "Think you're some tough guy, sport," the police who bashed him to the wall shouted in his face.

"Oh yeah," Jason answered back rudely, "I'm a way tougher guy than you, and that's more than a fact. Want me to show it to you in your face?"

With that, Tiadora worried that Jason would just lose control and tell them everything. So she came in front of Jason and tried pulling the police's hand away from Jason's jacket, "Stop it please. Can we get help? A girl is unconscious here."

The policeman just pushed her back to her and glared back at Jason, "Who are you, boy? Looks like someone's father gonna get a crime report about his son."

"Who've got no idea who my father is."

The policeman laughed and made a pretend-sacred sound, "Ooo. I'm scared. Tell me the name and I make sure he gets it."

"It's Kingston, you hotshot," Jason hissed in his face with a evil smug on Jason's face, "I'm Jason Theodore Kingston! And the one receiving the crime report ain't me, but you, buddy. And I won't be surprised seeing you in jail for injuring me."

Instantly, the policeman let go of his grip on Jason and walked away, hiding among the other policemen. Jason, though, wasn't done with him yet, "Remember that crime report, we talking about? Well, don't worry about it cause I've memorised your name from your badge.”

Tiadora quickly covered his mouth with her hand and gave a shut-up look. Jason obeyed like a puppy. By then, the chief came out angry and stormed to the guardians, "What happened to the monster and the auditorium?"

"What are you talking about?" Kiara tried to act clueless but was very not convincing.

"When my men came to the school, the auditorium was in pieces and the principal was able to take a few pictures of the beast," the chief then grew angry, "We got here, saw the damn thing and when we enter the crime scene, you all came out and there's no hard evidence that it was there in the first place!! Explain it to me, boy!! I don't care if you're the Kingston's son or whatever. I wanna know what the hell you did back there."

Cornelia came up with an idea and was about to tell the chief but Tiadora stopped her, giving her an assuring nod. Tiadora stepped forward and took a deep breath, "We were rehearsing an act before it came. I mean, look at me and my nose. And him and her." Tiadora pointed to both David and Kiara before continuing, "Don't we look like some people performing? Anyway, after about thirty minutes, a monster was punching through the ceiling. And after a while it just fell and tumbled over the whole auditorium. At that time, most of the students have already gone. We were about to leave when we found out that our friend," Tiadora pointed at Sally who was being carried by David now. "Our friend was stuck inbetween the fallen rocks, and all of a sudden, the monster disappeared and the auditorium became normal again. The end."

"Then you lot look like a bunch of brave souls," the chief couldn't believe what he heard from them.

"Look!" Tiadora's rage finally flared, "Sally's injured! Now are you going to stand there and let her bleed or help us?!"

Like robots, the policemen acted on like as if they were remote controlled, taking Sally in their hands and dashing out of the scene. David guessed that they've given up asking them about the Balistia as they were ushered down outside where he finally saw again the school. The new principal looked like she'd wanted to cry, seeing that the first day of her job turns into a monstrous disaster. But when she saw the guardians coming out of the auditorium, her smile was up and running as she came to hug everyone of them. David detested the fragrant smell from Mdm. Marinda's perfume and was relieved that his turn was over. He was about to turn to the crowd when someone had punched on his back, hearing a familiar voice, "David! What a surprise."

David dreaded to look as he’s got no alternative as the new student was grinning from side-to-side. It was one of the new pupils and David couldn't recognise the guy as how he'd known him. And when realisation struck him, David backed away for a few steps and gasped, "Austin?"

"That's me! And, man, have you grown," Austin gave a friendly patt on the back but David didn't acknowledge it. Austin looked taken aback but flashed a smile, "What's the matter? Afraid that I'll shoot someone again?"

"What...what are you doing here?"

"To settle a score. Someone here needs to be taken down. You up for it? For old time's sake."

"No. I'm not that person anymore," David grew tense and scared.

"What do you mean, pal? I thought we made that pledge together."

"Well, good news," David started to walk away from him. "Haven't you heard that I quit?"

And when David finally managed to get back to Tiadora and the others, Austin chuckled and hissed quietly, "But, Vincent, once a killer, always a killer.”