Spirit Warriors: Protectors of Freedom

What a hero is to most, is a normal people to Spirit Warriors. Spirit Warriors are people who have skill and control the elements. They fight for good and protect peace upon the lands everywhere. After they leave the academy they are on their own and work in groups of two, taking on missions and destroying the hell raising enemies who dedicate their lives to making chaos and hatred align across the universe. The battle shall never be settled until they appear on a truce, which has never seemed a possibility. Though there are always people who make miracles happen...

**
Sitting in the back of the classroom was Avian. His eyes stared at the clock in hate. Five minutes.. five freaking minutes until he was allowed out of the classroom to get his element check. He wanted to know so badly. This was the last day he would have to learn anything. Tomorrow he and his partner would start missions and fight enemies to protect peace in the world. He smiled and raised his hand. "Hey, you never told us who we're pared with.. you might want to make it fast," he said, nodding to the clock.

The teacher of the room smiled. "I was actually supposed to tell you as you left.. but I guess I'll tell you early. Only if everyone wants to know, that is," the teacher added, looking around the room for signals of approval.

Ardigan was slouched in his chair, gazing vaguely at the front of the classroom. His stature straightened and his eyes focused, however, upon hearing that the pairings were about to be announced. Ardigan's actions were mimicked across the room, as fifty kids all began paying attention at once. The teacher smiled, and went on: "I think I'll take that as a yes. So, anyway, pairings." Ardigan watched the teacher ramble on about how your partner will become your best friend, that your life will depend on them all too frequently, that it is vital that you trust them, some of the dangers you can expect to face together, and let his attention wander once more, waiting for the teacher to just get on with it.

Ardigan wondered who he would get. He smirked, imagining the reactions of various classmates. They all thought him stupid, but really he was just lazy. Why write a ten-page report detailing a blow-by-blow account of the Second Battle of Windfall when you can correct errors in tactics made by the full-grown Spirit Warriors already graduated from Academy who fought it? Why prove that you can disable a man in two minutes when you can do it in thirty seconds? Ardigan was more content to be a mediocre student than one of the best; you get far less attention that way, and people tend to expect less of you.

The teacher's monologue was coming to a close. "...And with that, I bid you and your partner good luck. Now, I will list the partnerships in reverse alphabetical order...." He began to read the names. They flowed past Ardigan, his impatience growing with every syllable. He wanted to know who his partner was, and after that he wanted to know his element. Name after name was read, until, finally, at the very bottom of the list: "Avian, Ardigan."

Avian merely read the names with a small smile. He had a lot of enemies in this class, but luckily he got with someone he barely knew, so every chance to make a new best friend was in his grasp. Of course, right now he didn't care about any of that, he was thinking of all the possibilities with every element. If he had fire he could burn his opponents and concur the land.. yeah.. he'd love that, but then he thought of how easily he could lose control. He could barely control his temper under a tough argument, so perhaps controlling and creating fire wasn't the best idea. Then there was water, if he got it.. no.. he hated water. He had cat blood in him (or was his excuse whenever he had to take a bath) so he never wanted to get wet, let alone control water. Earth he didn't care much about but it could be useful when he had to reach something higher up, yet it was still pointless to him. Electricity.. now that was cool. Sending sparks at enemies... he could use it to start someone's heart again, but the chance was slim.. still! There was also air, but he didn't knew much about it's properties, he guessed it could be used at force and stuff.

Now, there were also much more powerful, and only a few actually used them from sheer luck of obtaining. Shadow was a darker element but had properties of air and fire. Psychic let it's controller use their mind and lift things and project them, stuff of the sort. Also, yin-yang, a sort of newer breed of element was based on the person who used it. It was very strong, almost elite, but it has been obtained a total of six times, the users never discovering too much about it.

Now, there were a few elements that have to be earned through the person's heart during the check. The ability to control the blood in their opponent, and one to distort time.

These thoughts swirled around Avian's head until.. BRRRRRINNNG! A lot of students immediately left, but Avian stood and walked to his new partner.

Ardigan continued to sit slouched in his chair as everyone else left, waiting for his new partner. Avian walked over, and Ardigan looked up without standing. He hardly had to raise his head. "So you're my partner. Hi." Without waiting for a reply, he went on. "I think five years of waiting to discover your element is enough, don't you? C'mon, let's go." He got up, and walked to the door. He wondered, not for the first time, what his element would be. Or maybe he'd be a multielementalist...

He thought about some of the things he was guaranteed to learn, like time manipulation. The thing about time manipulation, he remembered from a book he'd read on physics, was speed. The faster you go, the slower time goes. The slower you age. Of course, this doesn't help much in everyday life; Spirit Warriors didn't actually manipulate time, just time as it was perceived by them. They learned to trick their bodies into believing they were going at the required speed. The world didn't slow down for everyone, just them, heightening their reflexes and allowing them to notice patterns in battle more easily. It was a valuable skill, and very few actually mastered it to the point of perfection, but every Spirit Warrior was required to at least have a rudimentary grasp of it.

The other, blood manipulation, was mostly only useful against Spirit Warriors, though with enough practice you could use it on regular humans and with more practice, other animals. It was a very basic form of the physic powers possessed by some Spirit Warriors, controlling the body instead of the mind.

Ardigan walked up to the arena, where kids were already being tested for elements. He glanced behind him, checking to see if Avian had followed.

As Ardigan stood, Avian cursed his height. "I hate being short," he complained. Quickly he left and followed after his new teammate. Once again he thought of more elements to control. Sound was an option.. heh, controlling sound waves to make his favorite music playing when there was no media player sounded like a champ idea to him. He smiled slightly at his idea. There was also the slight chance he's gain two. Okay, it wasn't exactly small. Almost everyone gained two or more (usually just two) and those with only one normally learned to control even more. He stopped his ideas and decided to immediately quit thinking as they neared the arena, noticing how far behind he was.

Running up to Ardigan, he quickly started getting angry. "Your footsteps are so much bigger than mine! You're only like, four inches taller than me at most?" he complained, then sighed. He looked up, the arena was used as a gym to them, and normally announcements displayed on the screen. This time, the sign read "All graduates can have their team fight in a "last-man standing" competition today. Time left, two hours. At this, Avian grabbed Ardigan's arm and started running, "Come on, we have to get to the line before we don't have enough time to get checked and enter the last man standing!" he said, pointing to the sign.

They ran to the line, Ardigan behind Avian. He wondered what the check procedure was. Academy alumni usually liked to distance themselves from the wretched school, and the subject was never discussed in class. The theory went that the more nervous, scared, or angry you were the netter you could control your element, but Ardigan personally disagreed. How were the kids supposed to focus when they've been having nightmares about strange surgeries performed by hooded doctors since they were brought into Academy at ten? By now, most people were merely excited, but they all remembered the dread they had felt upon hearing about the tests.

The line was moving slowly; they took two at a time, spending about fifteen minutes with each pair. Apprehension and excitement filled Ardigan. Again, he wondered what he would get. He hoped for sound...the possible applications were enormous. Finally, it was their turn. Ardigan looked at Avian, and walked forward.

Avian ran forward. "Only thirty minutes left, let's get this over with," he said, until a nurse looked at him and pulled out a needle. "Oh dear God," he said meekly, his eyes getting wide. "Just stay still," he was told, the needle getting closer and closer to his stomach, until finally, his shirt was lifted and it was ejected and he sighed, as he felt no pain. "Now keep still, the fluid must travel the body." Avian kept still until finally, he was allowed to leave. "Wait, your element," the nurse said. "You're..." she put a hand against where he needle had gone. "Shadow and Air."

The nurse turned to Ardigan now. Judging by Avian's expression, it was painless, but Ardigan still didn't trust anyone with sharp objects near his stomach. The needle was long and thin; you could only see it because it shone in the light. He automatically tensed his muscles as the needle came close, but as the nurse injected the liquid he relaxed. He felt no pain. He wondered how they made a needle so fine-tipped that you didn't notice it puncture your skin. It was a little worrying that such things existed. The nurse stood up and told him, "Psychic and fire."

Ardigan was a little disappointed. Fire was just a destructive power, and he had no idea what to do with psychic abilities. He had no time to worry though; the nurse looked at him pointedly and asked, "Why are you still here? Your tournament starts in less than two minutes." Ardigan was out of the small room by the time she had finished, and out in the arena. All the kids were milling around, wondering what to do now, none of them daring to try their newly-found powers.

Avian was now too hyper to just sit and wait. "Two minutes!" he said, holding his hands and pacing around. "Two minutes until we get to use these powers.." He looked at the sign. "Now.. NOWWWW!" he roared, and soon everyone stood up and got with their teammate. Avian dragged Ardigan away from the whole group.

"Attention graduates. You're on your own to figure out how to use any power you now hold. Please begin. When you fall on the ground, it's over and you fight no more. Any cheaters shall be punished," the voice called. As soon as it was done, people began fighting everywhere. "This is why I dragged you away," he smiled, a the crowd slowly made their way towards them. "I know what I'm gonna do.."

He ran in the battle and started sweeping people's legs, dodging every hit until he ran out of the crowd. "Ten more down. Like.." he looked around. "Two hundred... dang other classes are here too..." he sighed and began to think. Th crowd was getting closer and he still didn't know how to use his power.

Ardigan watched the group come closer. Fire? Okay...let's try it... Ardigan focused on...something. He focused. And then his arm caught fire. He stared at it. It tingled. He pointed a finger at the crowd, and willed the fire to shoot towards it. A line of fire raced form his index finger, surprising two kids so much that they fell over. That was fun. He tried it again. And again. Every time it got at least two or three people, but soon they were swallowed by the crowd. Ardigan longed for his sword, but lighting his fist and punching out at random seemed to work. But there were too many, he was going to be tripped soon. But what to do? What to do? WHAT TO DO? He was only using one of his powers. Fire. But what about the other?

Ardigan focused again. Again, he didn't exactly focus on anything, just focusing helped. And then...it was like a wall suddenly coming down, like floodgates suddenly opening...and now...came...the flood...Ardigan was suddenly aware of everything around him. He felt the consciousness of every person in the room. He was aware of their thoughts, their intentions. The kid behind him, kicking out to trip Ardigan. The guy just about to knock him over with a slab of earth. Everything. Ardigan grabbed the first kid's foot; he gave a surprised yelp as Ardigan threw him at the second kid, knocking them and five other people down. He went on like this, until he began to wonder...Can i control them? He focused again, focused on every mind he could. it was harder. He could only reach a few. But then he projected a single thought: Fall.

Everyone except Avian withing a ten-foot radius stopped fighting all at once. At first, only one fell, but soon they all followed. Ardigan took the chance, and charged the wall of people encircling his small clearing, trying all three tactics at once. Nobody could come close. Fireballs were hurled at him. He absorbed them, an interesting feeling. Whips of water came at him. He evaporated them with jets of white-hot flame. He was tiring quickly, he couldn't keep this up...

Avian's eyes widened after he watched Ardigan. Someone shot back, and soon more people were using their power against him. He could do it forever. Avian ran and jumped in front of Ardigan, and started to back him up against a wall. "Wait here so you don't get tripped from behind," he said, cracking his knuckles as he ran into the crowd. He started punching people, dodging fire and water, even a bit of electricity. He started to think of everything he had read. He realized everything he was doing wrong. He was trying too hard for his elements. It had to balance.

He breathed slowly again let his energy flow. Then he shot with his hands towards someone and a black flame seemed to shoot, knocking them on the ground as they clutched where it hit. "Oww.." Now everyone had their attentions turned to Avian. "He has shadow!? No freaking way! Lucky, and his friend over there has psychic. Take them down before they win!" Someone made a high pitched screeching noise, and Avian quickly sent another flame as he clutched his head, almost dropping to his knees. He guessed he got it right when the noise ceased and he saw the crowd get closer and closer. "Stay back.." He opened his eyes wider as they got nearer. "I said... STAY BACK!" he yelled, making a slashing movement with his hand, and a gap of black flame rushed. He knew what happened as a bunch were flown back, or fell on the ground. An element mix. Somewhere in his unblock, his air element infused with his shadow, so now he had an even stronger element.

Avian ran at the crowd, sending more and more slashes, but none quite as strong.

Ardigan stood against the wall, away from the thicker fighting. He tried to break into more minds, making the inhabitants fall down. He saw someone stepping towards Avian, holding a sword made of stone. Ardigan's jet of fire caught him in the face before he could attack. He wondered if they could actually do this. Ardigan started throwing fireballs at random, aiming at anything that wasn't Avian. His mental attacks were getting easier too. Soon he could clear fifteen feet, then twenty. How many kids are there?

Eventually the crowd thinned to at most 50 people. The fighting grew less intense and more calculated. Ardigan hurled fire at anyone who came too close. He started combining attacks; people became too absorbed in deflecting a physical assault to deflect a mental one. Now there was thirty. The fighters spread out, an unspoken ceasefire giving them a short time to talk to their partners. A few kids' partners had already gone down, and they took the opportunity to rest momentarily. Ardigan found Avian. "Okay, I have an idea. If combining our individual powers makes us each more powerful than we would be otherwise, what would happen if we combined all of our powers? We'd be unstoppable. I don't think any of them can do it, not without a psychic. Wanna try it?"

"I would love to," Avian said. "But, if you weren't so lazy you would realize only people who have actual rep are taught how to do that. It's dangerous, plus, there isn't too many.." He knew they could probably do it and get away with just a little attack, but he also knew that if they didn't perfectly before the attack, it could backfire and they could lose. But more and more were getting close, and now the both got to reaaaally see how many there were. "What happened to the two hundred...?" He closed his eyes. He could do a slash with the air.. but what else could he do... He jumped towards the crowd at an instant and started breathing slower. A few stopped and started moving back, afraid it would slash again, and they could be out. Others wanted to be fast enough.

"Hey kid, you might want to attack soon, I have Yin-Yang!" the person called, ten feet. Avian concentrated harder, he hands outstretched and the palms facing him. Three...two.. two feet..." The person was calling some attack up, and then, a burst of black fire spewed, and chased after the now retreating crowd. Many fell, including the kid with yin-yang.

Ardigan watched Avian decimate the remaining kids. Twenty left. They might actually do this.... Ardigan launched himself at the remaining kids, remembering his lessons: if you have to fight, do it on your grounds. Strike first. He once again combined attacks, and between him and Avian there were only ten left within minutes. Five. Three. Two. The last pair was water and sound. Or at least, that was all they were using.

Ardigan moved in closer, wondering who was going to start fighting first. He began trying to break into the sound kid's mind, but it wouldn't work. He tried again, and this time he used so much force that the kid visibly cringed. He seemed to take this as an attack, and launched himself at Ardigan. Ardigan tried to summon a wall of flame to shield him, but the kid blasted it away with a burst of sound. Every time Ardigan tried to use flame, the kid prevented it. Ardigan was actively trying to break into the kid's mind too, but it was somehow shielded. Had they learned that in class? Ardigan would remember if they had...maybe he learned it from somewhere else...or maybe he's psychic too? Ardigan retreated back into his own mind, and instantly felt something brush against his conscious. So he was psychic. Ardigan responded by mentally attacking, but the shields went up instantly.

The fight went on like that for what seemed forever, with neither gaining ground or advantage over the other. Finally, Ardigan realized that it would go on forever unless he did something to end it before the other kid did. He racked his brain for anything he'd learned that might help. He had fire. Okay. So what could he do with fire, other than the obvious?
He could blow things up...but how? How would he do that with no explosives anywhere near him? Did he need explosives? Maybe not...fire is made up of matter...everything is. And all matter is made up of atoms...what happened when atoms were split? Or better yet, fused?
Ardigan focused. He summoned a small flame. It was enough. He raised his hand. The kid was obviously puzzled. His mistake. If he had any brains, he would attack right now. Ardigan focused harder, concentrating on individual molecules...now atoms...he tried pushing two together...there was resistance at first but then...
There was an explosion.
There was sound. Sound so loud you couldn't hear it as much as feel it.
There was chaos, as Ardigan found himself at the center of a universe suddenly filled with heat and light and sound, all swirling around him in a beautifully deadly display. Ardigan had to control the explosion to avoid killing Avian or any of the other competitors, disabled or active. It's expansion slowed, and the explosion turned into an implosion suddenly. Ardigan began absorbing all the energy he had released with his nuclear fusion. The whole thing had lasted about a second. Ardigan vented all the energy into the ground, melting a section of arena floor. He looked up to see his opponent, sprawled on the other side of the room. He smiled. He liked his new powers.

Avian looked around. "Is this it?" he called. But no sooner did he yell than someone jump out behind him and kick him in the back. He would have lost balance and fell, but the kick wasn't hard enough. Quickly, he turned and sent a punch, the the person who struck and duck underneath, and came back with an uppercut. Avian flung his head back to narrowly avoid, then sent one of his legs into the side of his attacker. The kick connected but didn't have enough force to do much more than make the girl who he was fighting move a few inches. They broke away and both had their arms ready to fight. "Eh, you're not nearly as bad as anyone else," he said, sending a slash of darkness at her. "What's your name?" His attack was destroyed by the girl using some water, and then she followed by sending a bolt of electricity at him. She was already so good with her powers.. how could that be? Avian knew everyone in the room seemed strong, but with the unlimited power gained, they were really quite weak. To make something like a bolt that was fluent enough, that he sidestepped and felt the heat, was remarkable.

"I'm Suki," she said, sending another bolt, but Avian slashed through it. "And yes I'm good, us three are all standing for a reason." She didn't seem like an overconfident annoyance. She was actually quite beautiful, and seemingly polite and nice. She sent move water and electricity at Avian, who jumped out of the way from the lightning, but was struck with water and fell. Luckily, his hands his, and he sprung, as if to do a back-flip. "Suki.. nice name. I'm Avian," he said, instead of attacking with shadow again though, he moved back. "I wonder.. how do you make water when there's none here?" he asked, a bit confused, mainly as a distraction so he could go after her. Ardigan was busy fighting with someone else, no need to interrupt.

"Well, how do you make shadow? That's not even found in nature," she said, running up to him, not letting him escape. She sent another punch, he caught it and tried to throw her behind him, but she turned herself and caught hold of his other arm, trying to throw him over his back. Avian let him, and landed on his feet in front of her, attempting to sweep the legs. Both of them were now breathing heavily, as they broke away once more. Suki tried a snap kick, but was caught. "Sorry, but this is it. I know if I try anything dumb or cocky, we'll be fighting even longer. He looked over to Ardigan, who seemed to finish his battle. "Looks like we're going down together. He grabbed her other arm, and swept her leg, pushing all his weight, bringing them both down on the ground.

Ardigan looked around. There was no one left. He walked up to this opponent. The kid had sat up now, rubbing his face. He looked at Ardigan and said, "Ow." Ardigan replied, "Sorry. Didn't realize it was going to do that. Well, not exactly. I knew it was going to do something along those lines, but not exactly that." He could tell the kid had stopped paying attention. "Anyway. I'm Ardigan. You fought pretty well. Who are you?"

The kid grunted. "I'm Sven. Can I get a hand up?" Ardigan helped him up. He glanced over at where Avian was. "C'mon, let's go see what happened to them." He and Sven walked over to Avian. "Need some help?" asked Ardigan, grinning.

"Nah," Avian smirked, helping Suki and himself up. "I had a conversation while fighting. It was pretty simple actually. She's really skilled." He looked at Suki and nodded a bit. He looked around the room. There were hundreds of students on the ground. "I think we might be the best of this year," he said happily. "I wonder what happens since we win this tournament." He looked up to the announcement board, thinking something important would be up now. Though there was nothing, just the same things as before.

"Hello, you must be Avian's teammate?" Suki asked. "I'm Suki. Avian is clever, he was able to take me down. Though he lost the free for all in the process." She looked at Sven and stood by him. "So, Sven, did this guy take you down?" she asked, pointing at Ardigan. "Looks like this team might be the b-" her sentence was cut off by a loud boom!

As they turned their heads, a couple figures appeared. One being the headmaster, and five other people behind him. "Hello you four," their headmaster said. "I see you have all exceeded in this test. Normally I would tell this to just the team who lasted the longest, but the performance of you all was exceptional, especially for first time users." As he finished the sentence, the group of four were surrounded by a black fire that gulped them up, and they appeared in the headmaster's office. "You four are entitled to a few things for your skill. One, you get first rights on any missions you want to take. Two, you can take difficult missions already, but if anything is too hard, you must all four leave for it. In fact, I have one missions you're all going on, just to prove your skill wasn't dumb luck. Third, your training level in the arenas are bumped up. I'm proud that you all graduated. Even prouder that you four were able to beat everyone. You'll all make fine warriors. I said this speech to the five people behind me. Each took a bow. "These are the five aces. I hope you know about them? They're known for being the best fighters alive, and they do the missions harder than any other. Some are so hard, six go in and..." he stopped his sentence, remembering the hate from when only five came back.

He handed Avian a scroll. "Good-bye. Don't forget to visit. You all know your way around this town, so take missions often." Another fire engulfed them, and they appeared outside of the school. Avian opened the scroll and four swords fell out. "One for each," he assumed, picking one up and unsheathing. The blade was beautiful, and the sword as perfect weight. The distance wasn't perfectly reachable, but he knew it was better than enough." He picked up a note he spied under all of them.

My gift to you. Now read the scroll, it contained your first mission as a group.

Avian read the note aloud.

"Outside of this town, in the forests, lurks a dangerous beast. He is known for his power, and his giant army. Defeat them, kill the beast, and bring back the skull. The reward is currently debated. Please go as soon as possible."

"That was really fast for all those things.." he said quietly, looking at everyone. He knew they all felt like they were just talking. He watched them all pick up their blades. "Let's go now," he said. "Get it done quickly. With that, he ran off, to the gate of the town. Now waiting for anyone.

Ardigan picked up his sword. He gave it an experimental twirl. It was perfectly balanced. He wondered who had made it. The smithing was obviously beyond any local craftsman. The blade was tinged red, with an ornate flame pattern etched into the metal, ending halfway up the blade's length. It was perfectly sharpened; he ran his thumb across the edge, noticing the way it caught the individual ridges in his thumbprint. The hilt was made of what seemed to be gold, but when Ardigan tested it he discovered it was as hard as steel. The handle was wrapped in red leather, and the pommel was a simple sphere if the same golden metal. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He attached the scabbard to his belt and replaced the sword.
"Okay. Fearsome beast with army hiding out in the woods. Sounds fun. Who's ready?" Ardigan asked.
Sven was the first to reply, laughing as he sheathed his sword. It was of similar design, except that the blade was a sharp gray and the pommel and hilt black. The blade had what seemed to be a sine wave etched along its entire length. "Ready? I've been ready since I was ten."
They ran off, following Avian.

Avian watched as the others met up. He proceeded to leave, but remembered something and turned around. "When we leave, this probably will take us a few days," he started. "We can only get in during the day, so don't get scared and leave." He turned once more and led them all on. He pulled out his blade and carried it. He loved the way it felt, and started to swing it for practice. He turned and started walking backwards. For a while no one said anything until Avian noticed the darkness. "Must be.. maybe six or seven," he commented. "Not too dark, but not too bright." The second he said that, a rustle in the bushes was heard, and indescribable creatures appeared. There was ten of them. "Oh, dang," Avian said, preparing for battle. He ran at one, and slashed with his sword. The creature though, looked like a normal human now that he could see it. It's skin dark, and it held a sword of it's own. It clashed with Avian, and soon the two were in a battle, Avian losing badly. He attacked with his black fire, and the creature backed up, but not for more than a second before it became enraged and got closer. "Help!"

Ardigan reached out with his mind. There was no shielding there, so he attacked ruthlessly, assuming control of the monster and making it drop its sword. He quickly probed it's memories, learning all that was useful. he withdrew before somebody stabbed it. He had a feeling it would be a bad idea to be in control of something's mind while it died.
"All yours, Avian. But I doubt the same thing will work twice. We should fight them together, one at a time; maybe that way we cam overwhelm them." Sven nodded; he had tried to control another, only to find it heavily shielded.

Avian nodded and directly his attack to the one closest to them. His hand glowed black, like he was controlling the shadow around his arm and he ran, punching it, knocking it up in the air. Then a streak of lightning hit. When it fell back on the ground, the monster got right back off, as if nothing hit it. Avian jumped behind it, ignoring the other nine. One was hitting him in his back continuously. Avian turned, and hit it so hard it went flying into a tree a couple yards away. He grabbed the arms of the one in front of him. "Sven.. Ardigan.. ONE OF YOU FIND OUT IT'S WEAKNESS," he yelled. The sky was getting darker, and in the darkness, these monsters would be even worse to try to see.

Ardigan looked through the memories and thoughts he had stolen from the monster. They didn't seem to have any elemental weaknesses. You would have to kill one the normal way, with a normal weapon. Ardigan started looking through anatomical information about the monsters. They had their heart positioned in the dead center of the chest, instead of slightly to the left (of the person), where it was on a human. This caused the lungs and other organs to be displace-the lungs. They had to breathe. And since none of them could fight them easily with just a sword, maybe Avian could suffocate them one at a time while the others defended him from attack. He told this to Sven with his mind, and when he agreed, he voiced the idea to Avian and Suki.

The monsters were still standing around in a circle, surrounding them. Ardigan wondered why they hadn't attacked yet. Maybe they were still deciding what tactic to use, like them. Whatever they were doing, Ardigan thought they needed to act quickly, before they did.

Avian released the grip on the creature, but quickly grabbed it's neck and wouldn't let it go. He put his other hand on and tightened his hold. There was a disturbance, but it would take a while. He cam to a better idea and let go, then got into a fist fight. Two punches to the monster's face, then one on it's chin for an uppercut, then took a roundhouse kick into his opponent's chest. He added a flare with his shadow into the hit, and he could hear ribs shatter. "These things are human.. they're possessed," Avian said quickly, thinking on his own. "Probably fallen Spirit Warriors." He unsheathed his blade and drove it into the enemies chest, blood pouring onto his weapon. As he removed it, it's victim fell. Dead.

"Use your air!" Ardigan told Avian. "Create a vacuum around their heads or something!" Ardigan and Sven formed up around Avian, who had just killed his second shade. They drew their swords. The surrounding monsters attacked all at once, and Ardigan had to fight two or three at once, as did Sven. Ardigan blasted the head off of one with fire, which showed that although the shades had no dramatic weaknesses, they were still human. Or close to being human.

Sven blasted back the monsters with sound as he slashed with his sword, but it had little effect. Together they were able to kill one more, but the shades had learned how to protect themselves from the Spirit Warriors.

Two down, eight to go. Avian wished he could follow Ardigan's idea. "I can't, my element's mixed when I first used them, I found this out the hard way. It could be weeks before they separate, and I-" he was cut off as he was kicked in the back and knocked to the ground. As soon as he was, a bolt of lightning slashed the air, hitting the shade behind him. Suki ran over Avian and got into a fight with it. They were hand to hand, just like Avian and she had first been in the first fight. She seemed to handle well, and Avian went towards another, but two more surrounded him and he was defending against three at once. One caught his arms, but he covered them in his black fire and burned them, and grabbed their neck, but they was kicked in the back of his calf and knocked to the ground. He used his blade to stab the foot of someone about to hit him int he face, but it became pointless as the other two followed and soon he was being kicked. Not too hard but it hurt badly.

As Suki finally killed the shade she fought, she turned and sent a water line snapping, knocking one of them in the face and directing the attention of the other. Avian used that time to finish off the one his sword was in, and trip the other on the ground before running away. "This is hard.."