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Chapter 14: Dive bomb (2)

Mouth agape, Katie’s head was turned to Lawrence, eyes wide, as he and Jacque stood there looking smug.  Ariel, about 10 meters away, crashed into the earth, sending dirt and grass everywhere, a dozen feathers thrown all around her, some still falling from the air.
“H-how…?”  stuttered Katie.
“Like I said, didja actually think that getting us out of the river would prevent us from being able to use our strikes?” Lawrence repeated, annoyed.  “Our strikes, while they do revolve around a principal in water, don’t revolve around being in it.  We can use strikes in and out; being in the water is just a little more convenient for us.”
Scowling at having not foreseen the possibility, Katie turned her head to Ariel and yelled.
“Ariel, you alright?”
Getting up shakily, Ariel nodded and took flight, wincing at a bloody wound on her back where the shot had hit her.

(Shift to the gang)
“Hey, Ken?  Since both me, Silver, Toshiro and Niko now know about Katie and Ariel’s strike type, you mind filling us in?”
“Sure.  For starters, their position on the team can be summed up in two words:  Air. Raid.”
“Air raid?”  Inquired Toshiro.
“Yep.  You see, Ariel strikes revolve around those ‘stars’ that she launches at her opponent. In many senses, she’s like a fighter jet; launches weapons, and uses them to intercept attacks.  The explosions themselves have, roughly, the power of three hand grenades in them, packing quite a punch in the opponent’s defenses.  Of course, it’s not without risks; getting too close to her opponents can cause the attacks to recoil on her, so she can only be a mid-range to long-range fighter.  It’s even riskier with those star interceptors; they’re frighteningly close, so she has to fly at a high speed so she won’t be caught in the explosion when it intercepts an attack.”
“Whew!”  Lance whistled.  Then he grinned with a familiar glint in his eyes that Niko, Toshiro, and Silver knew all too well.  “Talk about-“
“If you dare-!”  “Don’t even think about it!”  “For the love of all that is good and decent, don’t say it!”, exclaimed Niko, Silver, and Toshiro at once.
“ ‘Explosive’ results!” finished Lance, still grinning.
“…..”
WHAP!
Alice, a few vein marks on her head and knuckle, had smacked Lance to the floor.  She pulled back her fist, which had hit Lance upside the head.
“You EVER, say that bad a pun again and next time, it’ll be lot more than just your head I thrash.  Capeesh?”  She added, cracking her knuckles threateningly.
Scared for his life, Lance hurriedly got up and exclaimed “Yes, mam!”
(Back to the fight at hand)

Ariel, back in the air, flew high above everyone, keeping her eyes focused on Jacque.
“Enough games, luv!  Spirit Strike 4: Narrow Gunner-5!”
Jacque immediately began to vibrate, shifting from minor to major 5 times.  Ariel, knowing what was coming, flew as fast as she could forward, hoping that the shots would miss if she went too fast for him to keep up.
“Don’t lose sight of the bugger for a minute!”
Jacque began scuffling at a fast pace on the grass-covered earth, eyes trying to keep track of Ariel’s flight.

(Back with the gang, briefly)
Scratching his head, Lance inquired “ Wait, how come he didn’t move when he was in the river?  He’s moving just fine right now!”
“Lance, the river he was in looked like it could barely fit him.  Now that he’s on dry land, he’s got a lot more room to move around.”
“Ohhhhhh…” replied Lance.

(Back to the fight)
Jacque launched 3 shots at Ariel, made a quick nose-dive, going under and evading the shots.  30 feet away, a section of trees were demolished, splinters and leaf remains flying everywhere.  Ariel zoomed in on Jacque, ready to pierce him with her sharp talons.
“Spirit Strike 3:  Crushing-pincer!”
Jacque crossed his arms in front of him, the insignia on his back glowing, and the veins branching rapidly to his pincers.  The familiar vibration occurred on his enormous chelas now.  Only the vibrating didn’t stop, and Jacque unfolded is pincers and swung at Ariel with one of them.  Ariel swerved to the right and clawed at Jacques legs with her sharp talons.  Shouting out in pain and stumbling, Jacque’s pincer slammed in to the ground.
The vibrating seemed to dissipate after the pincer hit the ground.  Then, Katie and Ariels eyes widened when the spot under the pincer suddenly collapsed on itself, creating a deep hole in the ground.
Then, sighing and fixing a glare on Jacque and Larry, Katie stated, “Figures that that strike uses the same principle as the others, the only difference being that this one is direct instead of long range.”
Merely smirking, Larry shouted to Jacque “Let’s show these buggers a thing or two about boxing, huh?”
Nodding, Jacque bent slightly, grimacing as the sore spot where Ariel had pecked stung, putting his chelae in front of him, one of them still vibrating.
“Bring it, birdie!  Krsh” exclaimed Jacque, one of his chelae making the ‘bring it on’ gesture.  Ariel happily obliged and dove at him, eyes locked on target.
“Ariel, technique 3!  Strike 1:  Star Barrage!”
Spreading her wings out as far as she could, Ariel turned on her side and swooped around Jacque like a tornado, flapping her wings all the while.  The stars, in turn, were launched solely at Jacque from all directions.
“Strike 2:”, Larry called out “Pressure dome!!”
The insignia on Jacques back glowed and branched out, this time barely covering more than  dome-shaped (duh) area around Jacque vibrated almost instantly.  As the stars hit it, explosions ripped through the air and the area was quickly filled with smoke.
‘D*** it!  We almost had him!’, though Katie, irritated by the inconvenient shield.
A few seconds went by, when, suddenly, Jacque burst from the smoke and grabbed Ariel from the air using a pincer, and slammed her to the ground.
“ARIEL!”  exclaimed Katie, her eyes wide with concern and fear for her partners life.
A pincer clamped around her neck and two legs standing on her wings, Ariel was struggling to get out of the crustaceans grasp, on her front no less.
“HeheheHEHEHE!  That was a nice trick you pulled!  Attacking from all sides like that, Krsh!  Good, but not good enough, featha`-brain!”, chortled Jacque, his grip on Ariels neck tightening, causing her to start coughing and gasping for air.
“I’d say this was a tough one, but that’d be lying now, wouldn’t it, luv?”  said Larry smirking at his apparent victory.  “Time to end this!  Spirit Strike 3:  Crushing-pincer!”
The chelas vibrating again, Jacque raised one pincer, preparing to end the battle.
Then, the pincer started to descend.
“Spirit Strike 2:  Dwarf-star!” shouted Katie, as the pincer was about to hit Ariel.  The insignia on Ariel immediately branched out like veins, this time covering her entire body ad causing her to glow.
“THAT’S NOT GONNA SAVE YOUR PARTNER----now??” stated Jacque, confusion and shock on his face.
Ariel was no longer in his claws.  The pincer still hit the spot and destroyed it, making a great gapping hole.
Rapidl, Jacque turned around and swung one chela, expecting Ariel o be behind him.
Instead, he hit air.
“…What the-?!”  Exclaimed Jacque as he rapidly looked around, not seeing Ariel anywhere.
“What-?!  How the-!?  Where-?!  What just happened, Krsh?!”
Katie sighed with relief and said “Ariel, Strike 1:  Star barrage!”
“Wha-?” asked Jacque, just before explosions suddenly riddled his underside, and he was sent flying into the air.
“AAAAUUGH!”  Jacque shouted as he landed 10 yards away, crashing into the earth and making a small crater.  Struggling to climb out, with smoke coming from him due to the attack, Jacque got up onto land and panted, weak knees indicating just how much of an assault he had taken.
“H-how…how di-did you (gasp) do that, Krsh?”  He managed, between pants.
Smiling, Katie jerked her thumb to the right.  “Take a wild guess, bubbles.  I’ll give you a hint:  it’s sparkling.”
Turning, Jacques eyes soon settled on what looked to be one of Ariels stars, floating in mid-air, not to far away.
Squinting a little at it, Jacques eyes soon widened.
“…WHAT THE-?!”  he exclaimed.
Ariel was, literally, the star, flapping her wings.
“ ‘Dwarf-star’ shrinks Ariel down to the size of an ant, or at least around that size.”  Katie explained.  “Not only does it make finding and hitting her exceedingly hard, it also let’s her sneak up on her opponents virtually unseen.  Of course” Katie said with some hesitation, “It DOES have some effects on her other strikes.  Nothing I’m gonna tell you about, though!”
Shaking with rage, Jacque let out a roar and charged Ariel.  Ariel, still ant sized, soared into the sky and overhead.
“This has gone on long enough, luv!  Spirit Strike 4:  Narrow gunner-8!”
Finally reverting back to normal size, Ariel locked her eyes on Jacque, prepared for whatever he threw her way.  Then, she grimaced and took a sharp intake of breath, her left wing limping slightly in the air.
‘Man, Ariel’s not looking too good!  That smash into the earth after getting grabbed out of the air must have taken a good toll on her.  She looks like she won’t last too much longer if things keep going the way they do.  Gotta end this fast…”
“I’m sick and tired of play cat and mouse, birdie, krsh!  I’m ending this now!”
That said, Jacque rapidly moved around and fired 3 shots at Ariel, his eyes locked on her.  Immediately taking off, Ariel dodged the first two, one of the grazing her head feathers.  The third one slammed into Ariel’s hip, causing her to gasp in pain and plummet a few feet, before righting herself.  Jacque raced after her, firing four more shots in the process.  Whipping around, Ariel faced her opponent and the incoming shots.
“Strike 1:  Star barrage!”
Grunting with the strain on her already damaged wings, Ariel flapped them as best as she could, sending the stars directly in Jacques direction, also heading right for his projectiles.
BOOM!
The stars intercepted the shots, causing massive explosions and filling the spot with smoke.  Jacque, not wanting to take any risks on whether that had canceled out all the stars or not, decided to fire his last remaining shot at the smoke-covered area, only a few feet in front of him.
The shot was halfway out of his mouth when three stars emerged from the smoke, only a foot or two away from him.  Eyes widened in shock and fear, Jacque was too late to stop the shot from exiting his mouth and colliding with one of the stars, when all five were only an inch away from him.  And it was too close for him to use the barrier.
Katie, seeing this, uttered one word.
“Kaboom.”
BOOOOOOOOM!
Larry, watching in horror, gazed at the smoke-filled spot with anxiety, hoping that his partner was still standing.
“J-Jacque?  You alright in there?”
As if in response, Jacque fell out of the smoke, onto the ground.
He had reverted back to his hermit crab form, and was clearly unconscious, his front completely scorched.
“W-we lost…TO A GAL?!”
WHAM!
Larry collapsed to the ground, a large lump on his head.  Alice was standing over him, her fist where his head had previously been.
“Be lucky I held back a little, bub.” she stated, her fist already retracted.  Feeling the gangs gaze, she turned to her right. They were all looking at her, Kaite included, with ‘wtf was that all about?’ looks on their faces.
“What?...The guy had it coming!  Besides, you were all thinking of doin’ the same!”
Deciding to tend to more important matter, Katie turned and rushed over to Ariel, who had collapsed on the ground nearby, and was struggling to lift up her right wing.
Putting her hand on Ariel’s shoulder, Katie said, “Come on, we gotta get that wing fixed.”
Nodding, Ariel reverted back to dove form and allowed herself to be carried in Katie’s hands back to the gang.
“Man, that was AWESOME, Katie!  Those stars you and Ariel used were practically super-grenades!”
Sighing, Katie said “Thanks, Lance.  But, in case you haven’t noticed, Ariel’s in need of immediate attention.  And I hardly think ‘super-grenades’ is the appropriate term for the stars.”
Feeling a hand on her shoulder, Katie turned and saw Ken, who said “Don’t worry, a broken wings nothing Ariel hasn’t faced before.  You two managed to pull through for the match and the team. That’s what matters right now.”
Gesturing to everyone, Ken said “Listen, I’m going over to the British team to talk about a few things with their leader.  You guys just chill out there for a sec.  You too, Jack.”  Turning around, Ken began walking over to the opposing team.
“Well, I don’t now bout the rest of ya’ll, but I’m going back to the bus!  Got some stuff to work on!” stated Roy, folding his arms behind his head and walking back to the bus, Warren close behind him.
Katie, Alice, and Laura soon followed, with Katie still holding a resting Ariel in her hands.
Niko, however, was in deep thought, something about the battle troubling him.
“Say, Silver?”
“Yeah, Niko?”
“Did you happen to notice something off about Ariel’s battle just now?  There was something about it that didn’t seem quite right.”
“Hmmm…Can’t say I did.  Well, unless you count that one little thing.”
Silver almost immediately had Niko’s attention.
“What ‘little thing’?”
“You didn’t notice it?!  Ohhh, man.”, Silver exclaimed, closing his eyes.
“What are you-.”
“Sh!  I’m savoring the moment!  (Quietly)  Finally, Niko’s the one who is clueless!  This…I must remember this momeEEEEIIII!”
Niko had swiped Silver’s tail with his claws, a vein appearing no his head.
“Yes, yes, you got one on me!  ONE only, Scrappy!  ONLY ONE!  Now, what were you going to tell me?”
Still whimpering over his tail, Silver said “Katie talked when it wasn’t necessary, alright?!  Geez, right in the middle of it!”
“Elaborate, or I claw the entire thing, McDrooler!”
“Fine!  Look, you remember when Katie told Ariel to get as far away as possible?”
“Yes, what about it?”
“Well, it was kinda ridiculous of her to do that, seeing as how they she should have just told her mentally!”
A look of realization dawning on his face, Niko exclaimed, “…That’s it!  Thanks, Silver!  Perhaps your senses are more advanced than I originally thought they were, which, isn’t saying much.”
Walking away, Niko smiled with satisfaction as a moment passed, and the subtle insult he had said to Silver finally sunk in on him, and Silver began shouting insults at him.
The smile quickly turned into a frown after a moment, and Niko pondered what he had just learned.
‘..But, it is still puzzling.  Why shout something like that aloud when she could have mentally communicated it?  Doing it that once would have counted as a mere slip up, but…shouting her commands a SECOND time??  When she said ‘technique 5’, she automatically gave the opponent a split seconds heads up, giving them some time to prepare a technique.”
He relayed the information to Toshiro, who, in turn, told Lance about it.
“…But why?” asked Lance, having understood the situation after 5 attempts from Toshiro to explain it.  “Why didn’t she tell her mentally?”
Their heads turning, they looked into one of the buses windows, and saw Katie and Alice tending to Ariel, using a computer for instructions.

One thought echoed all four’s heads a once.

‘Why?’

To be continued