Triton Prism - 4. Reburn

CHAPTER FIVE: REBURN

From atop the tall barrier Reburn weaved his arms and a black chain extended, he snagged the end of it. Waving his other hand over his face he sprouted his black helmet. Then clutching the chain in both hands he descended the wall in jumps until he could fling himself atop the train. The black armored figure rose, standing on the front carriage. Douglas wasted no time in jumping upon his own carriage, scimitar in hand. He raced the length of the train while his siblings called out after him.

Douglas jumped the gaps between carriages and pressed toward his target in a straight line. Down the end Reburn raised his hands and spawned a machine gun. Aiming and rapid-firing bullets, Douglas only just managed to skid and slide down a carriage gap as the gunfire pelted overhead. When it stopped Douglas climbed up and peeked over, Reburn had dropped the weight of his gun and covered three carriages worth of distance. He landed on Douglas's carriage, his metal feet denting the metal. He sprinted and jumped, a huge black scythe built itself as he readied to swing.

Douglas flipped himself up and slid forward, the tip of the scythe carved into the carriage as Reburn landed, causing the passengers to scream in distress. Douglas lashed with his sword and his bigger enemy turned, blocking with the handle. Spinning the scythe over his shoulder and causing Douglas to jump back once, twice. Standing his ground he raised his scimitar and put his other hand on the flat of the blade. The impact of the strike he blocked made his feet slide, almost causing him to fall from the train. Up close Douglas could see no gaps in that armor except for his eye holes.

The two separated and Douglas backed up, jumping to the next carriage. Reburn lifted his scythe and the handle extended. He brought his weapon down from three metres away and Douglas jumped off the train and rolled amongst the grass, getting up into a crouch.

Reburn stood watching, prizing his weapon free and making the handle of his weapon shrink back to normal size. Then he tossed it behind him like he was tired of using it. The other crushers ran to join Douglas; Kanra had already sprouted his wings, now without his cloak or top.

As Douglas glared up at his enemy, now that they were up close and in broad daylight he could see something he'd not noticed before. In the middle of Reburn's armored chest-plate was a glimmering purple crystal. It almost looked like ornamentation. Did he make it along with his armor? Back at that warehouse Douglas remembered seeing something glimmering from Reburn's chest before he'd armored himself, but it'd been too dark to see.

The villain jumped from the train and landed a few metres before them, straightening up from his crouch. Douglas stood up as well.

"What are you doing here?" Zao shouted.

"Titania has members all over the city, one of my spies saw you at the station and followed you all to Edgar's city. He waited for you to leave and followed you onto the train back, reporting to me so I could catch you." He pointed a long black finger, being encased in metal made his baritone voice all the more threatening. "As for why I'm here… it's for you, Douglas."

The black-haired teen's eyes widened and the man raised both hands "As a first generation crusher you are more skilled and have more potential than any of my subordinates. As the strongest Triton clan member on this planet I'd like to offer you… an apprenticeship. Work for me and I can offer you more power than your elemental ever could!"

"You want Douglas to join your gang?!" Shari exclaimed.

Douglas lowered his head, speechless at the unexpected proposition. From beside them the train started to move, reversing along its tracks and retreating to avoid their dangerous battle. No one moved as it zipped back along the tracks and disappeared. When it was gone Douglas raised his head to study the armored figure.

"You never answered me before… one of us was a blonde girl by the name of Elise, she was shot and killed on our last mission. It was you, wasn't it? You killed her."

The figure was silent as he regarded the teen's expression. His helmet dipped and echoed a sigh.

"I see… I'll have to just kill you all then. A shame."

Dropping down to one knee Reburn thrusted his palm into the ground. Sharp black blades pierced upward from the ground before him, more and more pierced outward and they got bigger and bigger. The spearing blades became as wide as people and much longer, still getting bigger as the teens darted back and tried to retreat. It was no use, in no time they were consumed by a forest of upward-shooting pillars of sharp metal.

Douglas sprouted a hexagonal shield and stood on top of it, a long blade hit the bottom and instead of cutting through he was launched up with it and into the air. Shari weaved her arms and two vines whipped around one of the colossal blades as it raised up, she wrapped her arms around Yura and the two girls were carried up and away from the deadly ground. Zao had created a podium of marble that was also raised up into the air, tilting as he ran the length of it. When the pikes stopped growing they were an easy thirty-feet tall.

Kanra, who was impervious anyway, glided with his wings between the pillars of black metal. He angled around then tackled Reburn. The two of them flew through the air, Reburn grunting as the long-haired boy grabbed his helmet and tore it off with his super-strength. The bald man's eyes were wide, blood flowing down the side of his face. Now exposed all Kanra needed to do was crush his skull. Wind was whipping past the struggling pair. Before he could strike again, Reburn sprouted a huge blade from his chest and although it couldn't pierce Kanra it forced them to separate. Suddenly there was metres between them, Kanra hit the ground with a grunt. Reburn fell on his side and skidded, panting heavily. Lifting an arm he chopped off the long blade, then he waved his hand over his head and his helmet regrew.

Before falling and breaking bones, Shari's vines had snagged both Douglas and Zao. Their landing was still rough, but after hitting and tumbling they were able to push themselves back up after catching their breath. Shari and Yura dropped from the vine and fell forward into the grass, the two girls leaning up and looking around at the towering black blades that littered the landscape, as wide as vehicles.

"Thanks Shari…" Zao murmured as they all stood.

"Look at all this." Yura spoke as they all turned and gazed "Reburn is probably Mark Five. We need to get out of here before he kills us."

"Where's Kanra?" Shari looked around.

Douglas sprinted off and grew another trusty scimitar, the hilt stretching to the handle and spikes poking outward. He wasn't sure how much it could do against someone like Reburn. The others raced after him. Beyond the tall forest of black blades they could see Kanra crouching in the grass. A few metres ahead of him Reburn was only just getting to his feet.

"Kanra!" Douglas yelled.

"Stay back!" the winged teen called over his shoulder "His black metal can't pierce my skin, I need to fight him!"

Black pieces of metal formed in the air as Reburn raised his arms. The pieces assembled and clicked together, Douglas recognized it as his machine gun and took an automatic step back. Out here in the grassy plains there was nowhere to hide and nowhere to run, even retreating wasn't an option. The cannon-end was already whirring as he caught it with two hands. Luckily Zao pressed his hands together and a long, two-feet thick wall of marble rose up to separate them. Bullets sprayed and the wall shook. The four teens stood nervously until the gunfire stopped. Kanra gave an "oomph!" from the other side as he was thrown into the wall from the force of the bullets.

Zao got on one knee and raised both hands. His wall split evenly in two places, the centre part falling forward with a crash so they could see their enemy. Then Zao brought his hands down.

"Marble Catapult!" The elephant-sized boulder of rough marble launched from the earth, leaving a crater. It hurled toward the armored man who let his gun fall and thrust an arm forward.

From behind him another gigantic blade pierced out of the ground and met the boulder, breaking it apart. Dust spewed as chunks fell and the teens shielded their faces. From around the wall Shari leapt, she'd sprouted a new plant weapon: a light-green throwing star the size of her torso. With a grunt she threw the weapon and it blurred, hitting Reburn in the shoulder. It cut through his armor but not enough to injure him, spinning off and into the air. Shari twisted her arm and a vine sprouted up in the distance, whipping through the centre of the airborne weapon and catching it. A black handgun built itself in Reburn's grip and before he could shoot her another slab of marble shot up, chipping and cracking under the force of his bullets.

The vine flung the giant throwing star back and Reburn turned, a thick blade of metal sprouted from this arm and he deflected it into the earth. It speared the ground away from him and stopped spinning. With a click Reburn's handgun reloaded itself but Zao already summoned another slab of marble to hide behind. Angrily the armored man fired bullets at it anyway. The four teens ran together while panting fearfully.

"He's really strong, but for some reason I get the feeling he's lacking in experience." Douglas commented.

"We need to knock him off-guard again so Kanra can get close and finish him." Shari added "When he thinks to use another strong attack like before we might not be able to save ourselves again."

Zao glanced at Yura who was silent and frightened "…your life bomb power. We should try it out!"

The lavender-eyed girl resolved herself and nodded. They faced the wall while she cupped her hands, white light glowing with a pulsating black mass in the middle. It wasn't as big as she'd made it in training, perhaps it was nerves getting to her. The white-haired girl stepped back and straightened her arms to the sky, the energy-form blasted off and arced over, landing somewhere between them.

There was an explosion of green, grass suddenly growing taller than their defensive barrier. Moss growing amongst the chips in the marble. Fungus of all kinds and colours spreading and the teens cupped their mouths as spores of green filled the air like a cloud. The black-armored man jumped back, dropping his gun while swatting the green stuff away. Moss started growing between the joints of his armor.

"This isn't a gas… what the hell is this?"

Suddenly Kanra flew through the cloud and tackled him again. His armored feet dug lines in the earth as he held off the teen's strength. Reburn growled before pushing Kanra off and slicing with the blade on his arm. The long-haired boy blocked with his bare forearm, jumping and punching. Dents formed whenever Reburn blocked but then his metal would flatten and fix itself. They circled each other, swiping and striking. Kanra would block with his arms or wings as they turned and fought.

Douglas angled his blade down, sprouting a gauntlet and hexagonal shield on his other arm before running out to join his sibling. Running at Reburn's back he swung the scimitar into his neck, the enemy turned and lashed back. Douglas side-stepped and Kanra made for his back but Reburn quickly turned and knocked those sharp nails away. The fought like that, on either side of Reburn as he stepped, deflected and swung his arm-blade at the two of them.

Reburn and Kanra are both fighters that are used to relying on physical strength, the most direct approach. Douglas ran at Reburn and he stabbed down with the arm-blade, Douglas flipped backward and then ran up the blade, put his hands behind Reburn's head and built a chain, jumping back and twisting, Reburn gasped as he was pulled by his neck to his knees. Kanra ran forward and punched upward with all his might, Douglas let go of the chain and they watched their slack enemy fly several metres up into the air.

Kanra crouched and his wings flexed. Jumping and boosting himself with a wingbeat, soaring up and grabbing Reburn just as he started to slow. Then wing-beating downwards and throwing the guy into the earth with as much strength as he could muster. There was an explosion of rock and dust. Douglas lowered his sword and heard the others running to his side.

As the dust cleared Kanra was crouching on top of Reburn whose armor was bent and dinged all over. Unexpectedly Reburn raised his arm and pointed a gun into Kanra's mouth. He fired several times and the big guy jolted, blood pouring out from his nose and lips as he fell aside.

The other four crushers froze. Kanra lay unmoving, hair and wings strewn wild, and although his skin was impenetrable blood was leaking from every orifice. The bullets couldn't go in or out, but they'd done their damage to his internal organs. Reburn's arm fell and he groaned, his armor worked to repair itself, bending back into shape while his own blood leaked out in several places. Even so he managed to throw the dead boy off him and get slowly back to his feet. The purple jewel on his chest remained undamaged, glimmering in the sun.

"K-Kanra…" Shari's voice betrayed their ache.

Reburn raised his arm at the stunned group but they all turned at the distant roar. Lysander's black dragon flew without a rider, its metal arm gleaming in the sun. Rearing its head back as yellow lightning filled its mouth. A bolt fired from the sky, zigzagging downward and Reburn jumped aside, barely avoiding being swallowed by the smoking crator left behind. The blinding yellow lingered in Douglas's eyes, making his vision go funny.

"Lucifer!" Yura cried out in relief.

The elephant-sized black dragon weaved in the air and fired a few more devastating bolts of lightning, their enemy retreating from the new threat. The others ran to Kanra while Douglas could only take a small step forward. No one else had been there when he'd seen Elise die and had to carry her body. Zao and Shari had been too weak to go on missions at the time and Kanra had been chasing another getaway car full of gangsters. This time they'd all seen it, and it was the second time for Douglas to see an ally gunned down. They turned Kanra over, a line of red like spittle oozed between his mouth and the puddle of blood he'd been lying in. Zao's hands were shaking and Shari was crying. Yura stood and watched, but was closer than Douglas.

The sound of lightning boomed in the distance for a while and then silence. Soon their dragon guardian soared down, landing between them and urgently snapping its jaws.

"We can't all fit on Lucifer." Zao mumbled.

"We can if we tie ourselves on." Shari stood and wiped her snotty nose. Splaying her hand over Kanra as a series of vines wrapped around his unmoving torso. More vines rose up and wound themselves around the dragon's stout body. "Come on, let's go."

When they were all strapped in the dragon took off. Kanra's body was tied to the side, slouching as his hair billowed in the wind. Even with Douglas's face set and forward there were tears blowing off in the passing air. Below them were the rolling hills of the relatively flat grassland, the train-tracks that divided the scenery. The craters of destruction to the left from the lightning bolts as well as giant walls and pillars of black metal. Nowhere could Douglas see a body.

"Reburn got away…" he murmured.

They were flown back to the main city, back to Lysander's base.