"you guys aren't worried. of course we are but our parents always said worrying about things don't help whatever situation you are in because it doesn't change your circumstances. they practically preached that to us along with many other things so we just fight the urge to worry and focus on the present." steel says responding to Jolly.
After eating they all put their dishes back in the kitchen and piled up in the living room. they insisted for bay to take the sofa while the rest of them grabbed sheets and pillows and picked an area on the floor. the house had two bedrooms but they decided to rest in the living room together to be near eachother in case of trouble.
Jolly waved his hands as ash colored vines stretched across the floor going to all exits and entry ways in the house including the windows. vines twisted and wrapped around the doorknobs while others followed the shape of each window attaching on the side of them.
"the second someone touches or even breathes on the doors or windows I will know instantly. think of it as a tripwire." jolly says.
"good idea is better to be safe than sorry." steel twisted his fingers as liquid steel left his body flowing to the door creating a wall. he then made steel bars on the windows.
Damon shrugged his shoulders a bit as he summoned Javaline. "I have no fancy tricks to add a layer of protection to the house but Javaline's keen senses will be enough to know if a threat is near. "well shoot I might as well give Javaline some company. " says bay as a black tiger beast with red stripes and eyes walked from around the couch he was on.
"sheesh your soul beast looks pretty scary if I do say so myself. Her name is fade and she's not scary at all isn't that right girl isn't that right bay says as the tiger pushed its head against bay's torso as he leaned her way.
fade was at least five feet tall and that was on all four legs. her red eyes were very unsettling especially since the room was now dimly lit in certain areas. her stripes were pulsating red with every breath she took. " conceal." Bay whispers loud enough for everyone to hear and within seconds fades entire presence vanished as well as her figure.
"anybody wanna guess where she is. like a game copper shouts in excitement. I'm in, me too, I as well they all responded.
Damon smiled while activating oculus. a faint electric charge surged in his eyes as he looked around the room. "there she never moved he said pointing next to the sofa. "one point for Damon let's go to ten."
"That electric charge in your eyes must be how you can still see her, ok then let's see how powerful that skill is my friend." Bay said to Damon.
everyone else focused on movement and trying to sense fades presence. A few minutes passed and Damon had accumulated 6 points while Copper had two, steel had one and jolly marked up three. Jolly was using his vines that stretched across the floor in areas and could gradually sense fades movement in the room.
copper had his fingers pressed to the floor while searching for natural copper within the earth which took a lot of focus. he was sweating heavily. it was something he wasn't good at because his ability solely relied on copper within a life but every now and then he would try to expand his powers to the earth. the natural copper sent signals to him as to where fade was hiding but most times it was not accurate.
Steel had no for sure way to locate fade and just watched Damon's eyes and would try to point wherever he was looking at before he could call it which wasn't going so well. each time fades hiding ability increased in difficulty to the point even Damon couldn't feel or see her body heat and vibration with oculus. he even added more ki to increase it but the only thing that was enhanced was his zoom in feature which didn't help much.
Javaline on the other hand who was curled up beside Damon followed fades every move any time fades moved her eyes shifted in the same direction as if she knew exactly where she was. this didn't go unnoticed. Bay saw her actions but no one else noticed. not even Damon who was more focused on finding fade himself.
Ten minutes passed and they all ended up forfeiting one by one. Damon eyes had began to hurt and under them became a little swollen. coppers fingers and head began hurting while jolly became exhausted. steel was fine and just in deep thought about how he could use his ability in some way that would tell him the type of information the rest of them were searching for.
"want to play another game, how about arm wrestling steel says with a wide smile. You would pick a game you're good at." copper retorts.
"I'll be the score keeper again I'm not really the strong type. Bay said. ok, well copper and jolly are first up."
they both got into position and locked hands. "one, two, three, go. both of their arms bulged up as they pushed Jolly's face turned serious within seconds after realizing copper wasn't weak in strength. " this little sucker is stronger than I thought." he says to himself watching his arm getting pushed back and down.
get him cooper, let's go jolly your ass better not lose come on. Damon and steel was rooting in the background. Damon had Jolly's back while steel was backing his brother.
vines wrapped around Jolly's arm and hand while engulfing copper's hand as well. they turned ash colored and began to glow red. copper felt his energy being sucked away as jolly began pushing back up and now had copper on the ropes.
"so that's how you wanna play this huh. copper says gritting his teeth.
suddenly blood began dripping from the vines and their entangled fists. multiple small needles made of copper poked into Jolly's palm and retracted back into cooper's hand. like when he cut Damon earlier jolly didn't feel a thing untill seconds later. A stinging sensation erupted within the small puncture wounds and kept increasing. discomfort and pain could be seen on Jolly's face as he tried to ignore the pain and speed up the energy stealing process.
Damon and steel had gotten up and began jumping around them in circles hyping them up. copper had gained momentum once again as he pushed upwards and over.
Arrrrrrrg! jolly yells in pain trying to withstand the stinging sensation and the pressure copper was dishing out. more vines came out and began to sap more energy from copper but it was at a slow rate.
"he's taking the pain better than I expected but it doesn't matter I've won this one jolly." copper thought to himself as he increased the pain and pushing pressure forcing jollys arm and back side of his fist to hit table that was in the middle of the living room.
"winnnerrrrrrrrrr." bay screams getting off the couch moving to them as Jolly's vines faded. he then grabbed coppers arm and held it up like he had just won a boxing or UFC match. copper pumped his arms up slapping his muscles with a huge smile on his face while nodding his head back and forth as if saying yea that's right I won.
Jolly on the other hand was punching the air. Damn it, Damn it. I almost had you. as soon as Jolly's fist hit the table copper stopped the pain jolly was feeling and forced the small pin size holes in his palm to close.
Damon reached in his pocket and flicked a silver coin at steel who caught it with a cheesy smile plastered on his face. "thank you for your business my good sir steel says playfully giving Damon a nod.
"A bet is a bet." Damon responded.
"alright next match Damon vs steel."
they got into position and the countdown began.
Damon immediately gained the upper hand at the start which surprised copper and steel. steel arm immediately became solid steel with a slight white glow and his strength increased to the point where their arms were now centered and evenly matched.
"much stronger than I expected but not strong enough." steel says while the white glow moved to Damon's arm and fist. he felt his arm get heavy and was being pulled back somehow while steel continued to push forward.
arrrrrrrg! "don't get cocky just yet." Damon shouts back as his arm erupts with electricity. static sparked and jumped off his fist wildly. he then pushed more ki into his arm boosting his strength. their arms were now centered as both battled for more leverage.
Damon was surprised but didn't show it on his face. he expected his electricity to shock steel but instead the white aura clashed with Damon's ki. it looked as if steels aura was acting as a barrier of some kind keeping Damon's electricity from actually touching him.
"I'm not completely sure how far you can go but you better not hold back or you'll lose. " steel shouts
whoooomshhhhhh! steels aura exploded with power almost completely smothering Damon's aura of electricity as he forced Damon's head down inches away from table.
Damon's eyes crackled as he gritted his teeth and pushed more power into it.
woosh! a vibrating blue electric current flared up matching steels aura.
"They are literally just using their aura to battle morphing it into pressure and pushing it against each other. yea I see it, it's basically a battle of pure power not just strength anymore." jolly responded to copper.
"I haven't seen steel this serious in a long time." copper adds as him and jolly watched in awe.
Damon's and steel auras were dead center along with their fists. their power reached up to three feet above their clasped hands fighting for control. A blue sparky electric arua clashing against a satin white energy that seemed to fluctuate.
Bay was standing near them until both of their auras spiked which made him take a few steps back but he was still watching closely.
they both had a firm grip while starring daggers at each other. both of their arms bulged more and more. "I think it's time I end this. not on my life." Damon says back to steel.
Ahhhhhhhhhh! steel starts to chanel more power.
Ahhhhhhhhhh! Damon starts to channel more as well.
"ah yes, young talent can be very refreshing to witness." Shield thinks to himself observing their battle.
Both of their energy spiked again and was now reaching upwards around five feet. the intensity of Damons ki increased as shades of purple could be seen. steels power changed slightly as well as silver blobs of liquid could be seen floating within his white aura looking like liquid mercury. looking at steels power and how it flowed resembled a lava lamp.
The small building they were in began to tremble and shake.
They both looked at eachother surprised at one another being able to match once again in power. Damon was sure adding a little demonic ki would give him the edge and the win. Steel was sure using a bit of his true powers would give him the edge.
they never expected to match eachother once again in power.
Jolly was fascinated looking at steels power and the way it changed. copper was the same while looking at Damon's power. the purple current surfed around within the blue electric arua crackling and exploding inside itself like small firecrackers going off.
Bay was currently speechless while sweating bullets. "these two are complete monsters." he whispered to himself.
the house began to shake more and more.
"uhhhh guys I think that's enough, you're going to bring the house down." Bay shouted.
Damon and steel were too focused and didn't hear a word Bay said.
"copper,jolly stop them the fucking house is going to collapse if they don't stop now."
Bay words snapped them out of their fascination and they each tried to get them to decide on a draw because it looked as if neither was willing to give up. it took another thirty to forty seconds before steel and Damon nodded at eachother agreeing mentally to their match as a tie.
gradually their powers lessened and eventually dispersed leaving both of them breathing a little heavy.
After a while they all settled down and talked about the games but mostly about steel and Damons power show. they joked around a bit about the type of disgruntled faces eachother made while arm wrestling. Bay, jolly and copper eventually drifted off to sleep while Damon and steel stayed up.
They had worked up an appetite expanding so much energy and grabbed another plate of food, bay had cooked enough to go back for seconds but it was so many different dishes all of them were full the first go around. they sat up, ate and talked about each other's strength with admiration until they too went to bed.
six buildings down on the opposite side of the street A huge figure could be seen standing at a window looking at the house Damon and company were in. his armour shined slightly reflecting from the streetlights in the area as he twisted his orange long beard a bit.
"Kids their age displaying that much power isn't rare at all. I was twice as powerful as them at the age of seventeen, however those kids in particular have something I never did and with that I'm sure one day they will surpass my limits with ease." sir hughes thinks to himself walking away from the window.