66. Thunderdome (II)

The instant Zane stepped out of the stairwell, they were on him.

𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕠𝕟 (𝕄𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕥𝕖𝕣)

𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟝𝟚

𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤:

𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕜 (𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕪)

𝕂𝕖𝕪 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕤:

𝕎𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕠𝕗 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 (𝔸𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕖) [𝕌𝕟𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕠𝕟]

𝔼𝕒𝕔𝕙 𝕓𝕖𝕒𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕨𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕤𝕡𝕒𝕨𝕟𝕤 𝕒 𝕝𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕓𝕠𝕝𝕥, 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕞𝕪.

They swooped in low, cawing, whipping out their wings. Spears of light stabbed him so fast he couldn't even block. It was like getting a flashlight shone in his eyes, but much more painful. He hissed as the shocks rippled through him.

He slashed, slashed again, tried shooting out an Axe. He knew it was useless. The stupid things just flickered away, cawing loudly. He sighed.

Grunting, he kept making his way down the gorge. They swooped back around, started stinging him again from behind. He threw up a few Slashes. He didn't know why he even bothered. He was just too slow.

Fuck it.

He started up a Cyclone. He'd do it brute-force if he had to. One revolution, two—

He hissed. A glut of lightning struck him all at once, and for just half a second he went still, spasming. He lost the Cyclone. A herd of Stormtalons drifted overhead, laughing at him.

They couldn't hurt him, or even paralyze him for long. Just pester him. What kind of dumb fight was this?

God, he hated birds.

It wasn't even that they pestered him, though that certainly didn't help. They kept teasing him with a real fight. Then not engaging! They got him all hyped up for nothing.

Fine. He'd just ignored them, then. He resigned himself to getting pot-shotted. It wasn't like they could do much. They were like the Ravens and Lightning Spirits mixed in one very annoying package.

He felt them swooping overhead, zapping at him, flitting away. They kept screwing with him as he marched.

He couldn't wait to get this over with. He'd been here hardly five minutes and he was already done with his floor.

There was a Treasure Area up ahead, sticking out this side of the wall. As he drew closer, he saw it was a cave mouth—

ℂ𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕀𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 (ℂ)

𝕊𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕥𝕦𝕞 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕆𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕝𝕖

𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕆𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕝𝕖, 𝕒 𝕞𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕟𝕚𝕒-𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕠𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕜, 𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 ℂ𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕀𝕟𝕤𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥. 𝕀𝕥 𝕔𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕤 𝕒 𝕗𝕚𝕖𝕝𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔 𝕃𝕒𝕨, 𝕖𝕟𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕙𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕚𝕥𝕤 𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖. 𝔸 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕟 𝕗𝕠𝕣 𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕤𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕠 𝕤𝕖𝕖𝕜 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕤𝕖𝕔𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘.

Zane peered in, scratching his head. Its steel walls ran with pulsing electric-yellow veins.

He looked back at those stupid birds, then at the Cavern again.

Hmm.

He strode on in. Eventually the tunnel it opened up into a Chamber. There was a monument at the center of it—a rod of steel scribed over with glowing runes. This must be the 'obelisk.' You could see the density of the Electric Laws running off it before you felt it—it trembled the air around it.

Interestingly, there was some kind of Steel Law at work too, twining with the Electric Law. He felt an overlap. It made sense. One conducted the other, right?

Now that he thought about it... lightning strikes released energy. Same with fire. Lightning caused fires, right? There was some kind of natural connection between all three of them, he felt. He scratched his chin. Making that connection was a little beyond him right now, though. Right now he could only feel the vague shape of it.

He let the thought sit for now.

He had two choices. He could go out there and take his chances with the Thunder Roc. He had a sinking feeling it'd be even more annoying than that Raven, which was saying something.

Or.

He pulled the Thunderfoot Scroll from his Bag of Holding.

Hmm.

Originally, he'd thought he'd get a movement Skill like that demon Azeroth's. Made from Fire—some kind of rocket-launcher type Skill.

But this would do just fine.

He was going to save all his Law stuff for one big binge, too. But maybe he could make an exception.

Let's even the odds.

He took out the two Lightning Law Fruit he'd got and downed them in four big bites. A cozy warmth washed through him…

He checked out the Scroll.

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕊𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕝𝕝 𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℝ𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 '𝕍𝕠𝕝𝕥 𝔹𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕫,' 𝕒𝕟 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕤𝕥𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕋𝕖𝕔𝕙𝕟𝕚𝕢𝕦𝕖. ℂ𝕣𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕕 𝕓𝕪 𝔼𝕝𝕕𝕖𝕣 𝕐𝕦 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕝𝕒𝕔𝕜 𝔹𝕠𝕝𝕥 𝔽𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟, 𝕒𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕒 𝕞𝕖𝕥𝕚𝕔𝕦𝕝𝕠𝕦𝕤 𝕕𝕖𝕔𝕒𝕕𝕖-𝕝𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕥𝕦𝕕𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕞𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕤𝕥𝕪𝕝𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣𝕗𝕠𝕠𝕥 ℤ𝕖𝕓𝕣𝕒.

ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕢𝕦𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕥𝕖: 𝟚 𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕝 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝔼𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕥𝕪.

Time to get to work. I'll show you. Stupid birds.

…If Avery were here, she'd be dying laughing.

He'd need Minor Laws first, and he had something to go off of. He was thinking about the Thunderous Beast. The way it charged. That was the Major Law of Discharge, wasn't it?

He closed his eyes. His head tingled with the rush of the Law Fruit. His head felt dreamy but not sleepy, perfectly clear.

When he thought back on how that Thunderous Beast had charged, the move came fully-formed into his head. As clear as if he was seeing it for the first time.

He saw the way the Beast pawed, the way it tensed, the way the essence flowed down its body, made shockingly vigorous by the Laws flowing through it. It was a sudden thing—taking it in all at once, holding it there, under immense pressure, down to the feet—and kicking off instantly. In a massive burst of power.

…He already knew this, kind of. It was pretty similar to Eruption, wasn't it?

He watched it through again, paying careful attention. It really was similar. He felt he got the gist of it after just a few watch-throughs.

The more you put the two of them together, the more a strange sparking happened in his mind. They connected in so many ways—he wondered if it was like this other Laws. It felt like it should be…

He went through it again, and again, and the picture filled out in his mind. It was about weaving in the Laws, concentrating the power. Then letting it suddenly loose. An explosion. But the way it expressed that explosion was different from fire. Eruption was a continuous thing. This was instantaneous, but it wasn't directionless. The rest he knew. He honed in on the difference. That point, the point of contact.

He watched back the moment the Thunderous Beast kicked off, searching for the crack there. It didn't take long to find it. He peered into the beyond, trying to make sense of it…

It wasn't long before—

𝕃𝕒𝕨 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕!

𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕜

Neat.

He had some more Fruit left in him, and his head was still buzzing with the thrill of the learning. He dove straight into the next one. It was so close to the Spark Law he felt he already knew half of it. If there was a Spark, there had to be a buildup, right? A charging. And it came in the way the Thunderous Beast crouched down, the way it commanded all that essence to flow through, to hold still, to ready for the moment of impact…

𝕃𝕒𝕨 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕡𝕣𝕖𝕙𝕖𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕!

𝕄𝕚𝕟𝕠𝕣 𝕃𝕒𝕨 𝕠𝕗 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕘𝕖 𝔸𝕔𝕔𝕦𝕞𝕦𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

How long was that? Time was tricky in Law traces, but there was no way that took longer than half a day. That was the fastest he'd ever learned a Law.

He was starting to wear thin, but he had all he needed. Just one last thing to learn.

He pulled out the Thunderfoot Scroll and sat down with it beside the obelisk. Right in its charged embrace.

He closed his eyes, crossed his legs, and let his body dissolve. He breathed in, out, in…

It didn't take long before he was gone. He wasn't in some gorge in Portland anymore, but in some unknown space, floating outside his body, a pure space of the mind.

Colors flooded that space. Shapes. The scene shifted…

He stood there, crouched in the middle of a vast plain. Not him—he was seeing through the eyes of Elder Yu, he guessed. It was dark. Thick thunderclouds rolled above, low to the ground. It seemed about to rain. The straw yellow grasses went up to his waist. Huge shadowy beasts lurked in the distance; deep howls carried on the winds. But those were all blurs. Elder Yu had eyes for just one creature.

And it was magnificent.

A zebra, but like none Zane had ever seen. This thing's coat had an understated gleam to it, like expensive metal. And it was huge, well-muscled, with its head held proudly high, a stallion with stripes. It snorted and a little thundercloud blasted out of its nose, crackling with tiny bolts of lightning.

It fired at the ground, and its stripes began to glow. It was starting the Skill. Zane tracked the way its powers coiled down its legs, coming to a simmering rest on its massive hooves. It wasn't the same Skill as what the Thunderous Beast used, but so much of the mechanics seemed similar…

It didn't leap. It blasted off. The force was immense—you didn't even see it go, just saw the blur of it, the bright afterimage left as it streaked into the distance. There was a crack as it broke the sound barrier. Then it was one white line fading into the horizon.

The instant it moved the savannah flattened. Grasses were mowed down as though they were bowing in awe. And all the Zebra left behind were its hoofprints shining in the dirt.

The scene faded, but the hoofprints lingered. Zane blinked.

𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕝𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕕!

𝕍𝕠𝕝𝕥 𝔹𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕫 [ℝ𝕒𝕣𝕖]

Zane breathed out. To his surprise, he saw his breath crackling a little with electricity—sparking with it, just like the Thunderfoot Zebra's.

He grinned. Oh, yes. This will do just fine.

Standing, he stretched out his arms, his legs. Then he left the Cavern.

He had hardly gotten out before the Stormtalons found him again. They started circling, cawing, floating around him.

Damned birds. Round two.

He had a plan. No Chain this time, no Axe—too heavy. He needed pure speed. He'd take them down one by one if he had to.

He started charging up for the Stomp. The Minor Law of Charge Accumulation poured through his body, his essence pooled into his feet, crackling fast. The birds saw he was up to something. They started shocking him with those Lightning Wings. He'd planned on just tanking these—it wasn't like he needed to be in motion to charge up, like with his Cyclone. But this time the charge poured straight through him, down to his feet.

…He'd just absorbed it. Huh.

Maybe it was because it was an Electricity Skill? It was already charging up, so it just took the new energy?

The transfer was weirdly smooth. Before, it'd gone straight into his internal organs, or his brain, or his muscles. But now his body just caught it and used it.

Something about the way Steel Laws wove into his body, working with Charge Accumulation… there really was a synergy. Maybe the universe was made to work together. He had that weird feeling again. Maybe at some very, very high level, it all came together.

Anyway. Back to the matter at hand.

The Stomp. His essence was well and truly loaded now. His feet had so much electricity they physically hurt. His skin was straining to hold it all. Go time.

He coated his body with Fire Laws.

Volt Blitz!

He would later realize charging his Volt Blitz for ten seconds straight, and pouring so much energy into it, was way overkill. He didn't realize it in that moment. In that moment he was just hyped.

Then he stomped.

One moment he was on the ground.

The next moment he hit the side of the gorge so hard he gave it a new crater.

…Ow.

As he slid to the ground, massaging his face, he tried looking on the bright side. At least he knew the thing worked. He was still clumsier than he would have liked, but he could move now. He could really move now. In spurts, at least.

He looked up at the birds. They seemed to be laughing twice as hard.

…Okay, so he deserved that one.

But they wouldn't be laughing for long.

He had a feel for it now. He just needed to get the essence just right.

He crouched down, and aimed for a bird perched right above him.

Volt Blitz!

One moment he was on the ground. The next air whooshed past him, the cliffs streamed by. Zane caught the briefest glimpse of the bird—the sheer disbelief in its face as it clocked the giant clunky human hurtling toward it at mach speed. There was a squeal, a splattering, and he was spitting out feathers. He looked down.

Below him where a Stormtalon had been a second before, there was now a fireball. Its buddies went flickering away, screeching in fright.

He'd made himself a human flaming cannonball. And he'd slide-tackled it out of existence.

As he fell, he had the biggest stupid grin on his face.

That had no right being so satisfying.