"Congrats, Colin!" Rita waved, jumping up and down. "You beat him! You actually won!!"
"Uh…"
"I'll get you next time!" Benny said, but he offered Colin his hand and a small smile. "Let's battle again!"
Colin shook Benny's hand.
"Colin, get up here! We're giving you your prizes now." The announcer said.
Colin scratched his head and went to the center of the arena to where the announcer waited.
Shiro loped alongside him. Fireheart, though, gave him one amused look and shook her head. She loped away to where Rall and the others were resting.
The announcer handed him a little pouch. "Your prize, Colin. A thousand Clira and a hundred points at the Sunshine Town Comrade Home!"
The audience clapped.
"And now, the second round of the Green Badge ranking!"
Colin shook his head as he left the battle grounds. Rita came by and beamed at him. "You did it!"
Colin passed her the pouch. "I owe you a thousand Clira. This is yours."
"Oh…" Rita said, staring at the pouch as if wondering what to do with it. "That's the second time you won an event and gave me the prize."
"Not really." Colin told her. "I'm keeping the Comrade Home points. I'm saving up until I can exchange them for something really good."
He found Satrox waiting for him at the end of the hallway.
"That was like watching a fight between a Breeder and a Commander." Satrox shook his head. "Having good Comrades isn't enough. His tactics were sorely lacking. Oh, and congratulations. You just beat creatures several levels above your Comrades."
"What?!"
"Didn't you know? Benny only has two Comrades and he focused all his attention on them. He'd come here expecting an easy win. You and Shiro, though, definitely surprised him."
"Shiro, more than me. I didn't even think of using his Comrades' powers against him." Colin admitted. "I was going to use Fireheart against his Reddy and keep his Beetle busy with Shiro."
"That would work." Satrox agreed. "It would take a longer time, but it would have worked. You're not too bad with tactics, yourself."
"But Shiro's better." Colin sighed. "It feels odd, having a Comrade that's smarter than me."
Satrox laughed. Shiro looked up and laughed too. "Yip!"
But then, that was exactly why Michi gave Shiro to Colin. {To the Kat, I gave a cat. To the lost, I gave one to help him find his way.}
"Good job, Shiro." Colin petted his wolfcat.
"Yip." Shiro wagged his tail.
"Now…" Satrox said. "Let's look for Scarlet."
***
They sniffed around as the Green Badge contests were ending. "Anything?" Colin asked Shiro.
Shiro shook his head. He glanced at Meek, sniffing halfway down the audience seats. Meek shook her head.
Shiro looked up at Warc, hovering over the audience, searching. Warc shook her head too.
Colin called Satrox. "We've gone through the whole east block, and there's no trace or scent of her."
"Nothing from the west block either. I'll go through the south block, you take the north."
They searched. They sniffed. They squinted and looked around over and over again.
Nothing.
The Blue Badge contests were over and the Purple Badge fights were ongoing. The crowd was wild, jumping and cheering and screaming, but Colin didn't really care.
{Scarlet. Where is Scarlet…?}
They found no sign of her.
"I'm going to check the entrances. If she's here, she's GOT to have left a trace somewhere." Satrox said.
But the Purple Badge fights ended, won by Chief Gym Trainer Dylan. He might have lost to Larissa in the Solo Tournament, but the announcer said that he was the reigning champion for the Duos.
"Come back, Colin." Satrox said at last. "We'll just have to watch her battle and follow her afterwards. As much as I'd like to know have followed her trail back to her hideout while she was fighting, it doesn't seem like we're going to find anything."
"Coming." Colin sighed.
***
"Ladies and gentlemen, the final round of the Sunshine Town Duos Tournament!"
Colin had seen it all before yesterday and he saw it again now. The announcer raised his left hand. "The defending champion, Chief Gym Trainer Dylan has defeated every challenger for a year, including our very own Chief Breeder Larissa last quarter!"
Dylan entered the Arena riding on a Red Panther ten times bigger than Fireheart, with a green Dragonfly as big as himself flying overhead.
"He had the right to come in only for this battle rather than fighting his way up, but as always, he's fought every contestant tonight as well!"
"Dylan! Dylan! Dylan!" the crowd chanted.
Dylan waved and the crowd cheered.
The announcer raised his right hand. "His challenger, however, has not. Reserving the right to challenge the Duos Champion directly, we have for the second night in a row, from the deserts of the north, the new Champion of our Solos Tournament, the lady Scarlet!"
The audience roared as Scarlet walked out with Nettles and a small, plain, orange/red bird on her shoulder.
"That's…!" Satrox stared. "It COULDN'T be!"
"What?!" Colin asked.
Dylan saw that little bird too. His eyes went wide.
"The time has come!" The announcer shouted. "Let the battle… BEGIN!"
***
What happened next took place so fast, Colin wasn't sure what he was seeing.
Dylan opened with Fire Storm and Sea of Sound, which basically flooded an entire area with screeching noise. Scarlet raised her hand and said something…
The world exploded in fire.
Colin heard screams as Satrox pulled him down. Shiro and Raiki were side by side, their paws over their eyes and Satrox was saying something, but all Colin could hear was the roar of fire. Satrox, too, had his eyes covered, so Colin thought it was to do the same.
It seemed to last forever – the roaring flames, the terrible heat, and the shaking of the entire Arena under him, but Colin kept his eyes closed, kept his head down and hoped they'd all get out of this alive.
All of a sudden, it quieted. Slowly, Colin raised his head.
His ears were ringing. Satrox was saying something, but Colin could barely hear his voice, let alone figure out what he said.
The fight, if that was what it could be called, was clearly already over. Scarlet and Nettles were standing right where they were, but as for the little bird and their opponents…
Well… they weren't there any more.
The entire area in front of Scarlet, all the way to the end of the Arena's battle zone, was black, completely burnt to ash. Nothing remained of Dylan and his Comrades except a pair of smoking boots.
Dylan and his Comrades, Colin knew, would be respawning right about now, but even so, he winced. {That} couldn't have been pleasant, Dreaming or not.
"Um…" the announcer said. "Testing… is our sound system working? Okay… can you all hear me? Is anyone deaf?"
"Maybe." Daniel admitted from Colin's left.
"Idiot. If you could hear that, you're obviously not deaf." Benny said.
"Okay. Well… uh… it seems we have a winner. Lady Scarlet's just become our Duos Champion too… and God have mercy on anyone challenging her for it."
Polite applause sounded, but everyone seemed stunned.
The ashes rising from the burnt soil floated into the sky.
***
"What just happened?" Colin asked Satrox.
"Let's see…" Satrox thought about that, as nervous reporters started asking Scarlet their usual questions. "Scarlet brought a baby Phoenix to the contest, and Awakened its powers right here. The Phoenix is probably somewhere far away by now – it's supposed to go around the whole world before coming back to her hand, but really… whew!"
"A Phoenix?" Colin scratched his head. "You mean that little bird…"
"Was a baby one. It's a Juvenile now, after being Awakened. Next time we see it, it will be on fire all the time." Satrox said. "I had no idea that Scarlet actually managed to bond one."
"We're in trouble, aren't we?" Colin said. "Not even the chief breeders and trainers can match that kind of power."
"True." Satrox admitted. "We're doomed if we fight her head on. I'm not sure how long Larissa and her Breeders can possibly last if Scarlet throws her full power at them. But come. That's not our concern right now."
"It's not?" Colin shook his head. "How long will the Phoenix take to get back?"
"Usually a whole day. It could go faster if it wants, but it's traditional to take a full 24 hours." Satrox explained. "I wouldn't worry about that. I'd be more worried about what else she's got lying in wait."
Scarlet was leaving now, ignoring the reporters. For once, the reporters were relieved to be ignored.
"So that's why we found no scent." Satrox said grimly. Nettles was carrying Scarlet out. Scarlet's feet never touched the ground. "Let's follow her."
***
When Satrox spoke of Scarlet's Hideout, Colin had imagined back alleys, underground tunnels and maybe even invisible buildings, but the place Scarlet led them to had absolutely none of that.
"The Grand Sunshine Hotel?!" Colin spluttered. "She wasn't even hiding!"
"Come to think of it, I don't think she really needs to." Satrox mused. "Not many knights would dare come after her, and they wouldn't be able to make it here so quickly after she surfaced. Even so, they'd try to question her before they tried to fight her. Except for you as an eyewitness, we don't really have proof that she's the one who destroyed Hot Sands. She doesn't have reason to hide."
"Except that she's kidnapped May." Colin said.
"There's that." Satrox agreed. "Getting into the hotel would be trickier than some abandoned warehouse. We'll have to play it safe."
He brought them to the hotel's café first, and ordered food, not only for himself and Colin, but for their Comrades.
"Isn't this going to be expensive?" Colin winced.
"I'm paying. It's mission expenses. Don't worry about it." Satrox said, keeping a sharp eye on the elevator.
Scarlet went up with Nettles. The elevator was a big one, enough for them both and more, but nobody else wanted to go up at the same time she did.
Colin and Satrox kept their eyes on the elevator light as it went all the way to the top and stopped there a while before coming back down.
"Top floor." Satrox mused. "She's not hiding a thing."
"Yip." Shiro nudged Raiki, trying to get her to eat a bit more than half a tuna sandwich.
Raiki offered it right back.
"Yip." Shiro growled, shaking his head.
"Riao." Fireheart sat down next to Raiki. "Riao?"
"Mew." Raiki said softly.
"Yip. Yip." Shiro explained.
"Riao?" Fireheart sounded surprised.
Satrox turned to Colin. "You know, the way they act around each other…"
"What about it?" Colin asked. "Shiro's telling Fireheart about what happened to Raiki."
"But…" Satrox scratched his head. "That's never happened to my Comrades before."
"You're the one who usually gives them away." Colin reminded him. "Maybe now that they're with Henry..."
"That's not what I meant." Satrox said.
Colin frowned. "Then what do you mean?"
Satrox noticed something and said, "Never mind. Scarlet's coming back down."
***
Satrox had paid the bill and was hiding out at the toilets when Scarlet came back down.
Colin stared. Next to Scarlet was May.
The two of them walked out of the elevator chatting in a friendly manner.
May had changed her hair color to red, and wore a red tracksuit, so that she looked a lot more like Scarlet herself. She looked… happy.
Not quite what Colin expected from a kidnapped girl.
"May…?" he blurted, staring openly.
May turned and noticed him.
Satrox hissed, but didn't show himself.
"Colin!" May waved. "What are you doing here?"
Scarlet turned to him and her eyes narrowed. "Who is this?"
"This is Colin." May said. "A friend of mine. He was looking for someone at Hot Sands and dropped in to ask help from dad. He's also the one who spotted the plant."
Colin saw Scarlet's eyes gleam and gulped. I'm dead…
"Not many people would have noticed something so well hidden." Scarlet mentioned. "The Gardener did his work well."
"The Gardener…?" Colin echoed. "Wait… Scarlet wasn't the one who planted that Creeper?"
Scarlet barked a laugh. "I don't need a Creeper to destroy Hot Sands."
"True." Colin conceded. "You can just call that Phoenix and burn everything to ash."
"Exactly." Scarlet nodded. "You're the one who won the Yellow Badge ranking, aren't you?"
{So much for sneaking about…} "That's right." Colin admitted.
"You won the championship?!" May beamed. "Colin, that's great!"
"Lady Scarlet won the overall Championship." He replied.
"Well, yeah, but that's no surprise, is it?" May grinned.
Colin frowned. "May… can I talk to you for a second…? In private?"
It seemed incredibly audacious to ask such a thing in front of her kidnapper, and Colin himself didn't expect to be obliged, but May just glanced at Scarlet, who nodded and said, "I'll be at our usual table. What would you like?"
"Ice cream!" May grinned.
"{After} your food." Scarlet said firmly, but allowed a small smile as she went off.
Colin found himself staring at May as May gave him a good lookover.
"You might have changed your clothes," May said, "But you still look the same."
"You changed your hair color." Colin said.
"Yep. I like red, now." May smiled.
"Uh… May…" Colin wasn't sure how to say it, but he said it anyway. "You seem kind of happy for someone who has been kidnapped."
"Kidnapped…?" May blinked. "What are you talking about?"
Colin remembered what happened last night.
{"What will it be, Henry?" Scarlet asked softly. "Hand over the girl, or I will destroy this village right now."}
"Scarlet told your dad to hand you over, or she'd destroy the whole village." Colin said. "And she destroyed it anyway."
"Not her, although she could have stopped it." May paused. "Colin, does everyone think I've been kidnapped?"
"She grabbed you and ran off when the dam broke and the river flooded the village…" Colin said. "Your dad and everyone went looking for you…"
"Well… yeah…" May sighed. "I guess it could look that way."
"So… well… don't you want to run away?" Colin asked.
May stared at him, realized what he meant and laughed. "Oh Colin, are you here to rescue me?!"
"Uh… yeah." Colin admitted.
May laughed. She laughed until she had to hold her sides. She laughed until tears dripped down her cheeks.
"Oh, Colin… I don't need rescuing." May said. "You see…
"Scarlet is my {mother}."