127 Phase 111: Zoe’s Tournament

About the time Colin had been reading the cult posters oblivious to the cultists about to pounce on him, Katrin was reading a J-Knight poster about Colin's trial taking place tonight. Right next to it was Zoe's Tournament challenge to the J-Knight girls. Katrin's name was listed in 'Green Badge and Under', as one of three challengers.

"Just two others." Katrin drew a deep breath. "No matter what, I'm guaranteed to get at least third prize."

The other two were likely to stomp all over her, Katrin figured. One of them was Alicia, who had competed in the Lamico Tournaments in their style; by squeezing as much power into as low a ranking as possible. Alicia was probably the strongest Green Badge girl in the J-Knights right now.

The third girl was Maggie, who had been a J-Knight far longer than Katrin, her old colleague from their Sunshine Town days. She, too, was a Green Badge.

{Two Greens and a Yellow. I don't stand a chance.} Katrin figured.

Katrin looked for familiar names, expecting to see Rita or Aoi or Sandy somewhere, but then realized they wouldn't qualify for the Tournament. They had too many Comrades.

So with a sigh, Katrin entered the Maro City arena, resigned to getting third place in the lowest ranking, but determined to put up as good a fight as she could.

Maggie, seeing her there in the challengers waiting area, flashed her quick grin and then looked up at the spectators. There were a lot more than Katrin expected; half the arena seats were filled, and it seemed the vast majority of them were J-Knight guys. There was Hari and Kancil and Daud… and Jonah and Larry were with them. Katrin glanced around and found Henry and Rita… there was Sandy, looking half-bored…

{Wait. Hari, Kancil and Daud… where's Amina…?} Katrin looked about the challengers' waiting area and found her there in the Purple Badge group, relaxing over a cup of tea with three other girls. They were talking quite amicably.

{But of course. We're all J-Knights here. This is friendly competition… I hope.}

Katrin glanced at Alicia, far and away obviously the most powerful of the three Greens… only to see her agitated. Despite her overwhelming advantage, Alicia seemed… tense. Nervous. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to get out of there as fast as she could.

{Maybe she has reason to be.} Katrin paused. {The last time one of the Eight of us won a Tournament, they broadcast Rita's name to the entire arena, and the Green Men nabbed her on the spot…}

But wait… Alicia had already {been} nabbed. Katrin herself wasn't likely to get first place, and even if she did, the Green Men couldn't nab her out of a crowd like {this}. There must be near two hundred J-Knights out there, and all of them were on Katrin's side, with the Green Men on their KOS list.

Yet even as Katrin watched, Alicia bounded to her feet and dashed over to Zoe, who was about to announce the start of the Tournament.

Zoe gave Alicia an unreadable look as Alicia spoke in rapid, hushed tones. She gave Alicia a nod, and Alicia ran off.

{Hey… what just happened…? Is Alicia really leaving?!}

"Well, let's get started." Zoe announced, as if Alicia's leaving was what she was waiting for. "Green and below ranking, Katrin versus Maggie, come forward, you two."

Maggie bounded up to the stage, Katrin following more slowly. They had their Comrades with them; two bears and a cloudysaur on Katrin's side, nine on Maggie's; a Snow Tomato, a Noodle Monster, three Pancake Ponies, a Pepper Plantar, a Pizzaroni, and two Ginger Breadmen. {So that's what Satrox meant when he said something about Maggie being eaten for supper. They're all food-types.}

"These are the rules; stay on the stage, go all-out, use everything you got at once." Zoe said. "Begin."

{Already?!} Katrin gasped. "Gera, Rall! Earth barriers!"

Just in time. Katrin and Bubba ducked behind the bears and their walls as whips of noodles started lashing out at them. A stream of what appeared to be seeds pinned them down for another few seconds while Maggie's other Comrades began to flank them from both sides.

At that moment, Katrin's watch began to beep. It flashed red. {Incoming Call.}

{Not NOW!} Katrin gritted her teeth, and said, "Gera on the left, Rall, on the right, charge! Close range attacks on anything in your way! Bubba, long-range fire support! Or ice, or whatever it is…"

Katrin's watch flashed red again. {Incoming Message.}

"NOT NOW!" Katrin barked at her watch, then drew her baton. She charged out behind Rall while Bubba covered Gera, slamming it into the head of a Ginger Breadman as Rall clawed its partner down.

Katrin's watch flashed. {Incoming Call.}

She ignored it.

Maggie's Noodle Monster had Bubba by the neck as the Ginger Breadmen dropped and declared themselves out. Gera had the Pizzaroni over her head as a shield as she charged the three Pancake Ponies, letting it take the brunt of their attacks. It dropped off and declared itself out just as she reached the first Pony. Claws and hooves lashed out, and all four of them went down all at once.

Bubba, hanging in the air in the Noodle Monster's grasp, was nailed by the Snow Tomato's Seed Stream, fired at high velocities and definitely strong enough to do serious damage at close range. He raised a white flag after a few seconds.

By then, Rall had reached the Snow Tomato and bowled it over. The Noodle Monster dropped Bubba for Rall as Katrin herself charged in swinging. She mashed the Snow Tomato first, then tackled the Noodle Monster, freeing Rall to come in clawing.

That left only Maggie, holding up a saucepan in one hand and a rolling pin in the other. She backed away slowly, all her Comrades out, and both Rall and Katrin advancing on her.

"Forfeit!" she dropped her 'weapons' and raised both hands. "You win!"

{I… won?} Katrin blinked. "Really?"

"Really." Maggie grimaced. "I'm not good with Adventura Import Links."

"Green Badge and Under; Katrin wins." Zoe said.

There was a roar of approval from the crowd, and Katrin's face and name was flashed over the arena monitors, including the big one outside…

Zoe added with uncanny calm. "Defensive positions. Hostiles Incoming."

There was a moment of stunned realization and then J-Knights all over the arena started warping in Comrades.

And not a moment too soon. There appeared overhead a flying saucer, and a beam of light shone down to deposit a large group of men in green armor led by a man in green-and-yellow. He said, "We are only here for the girl named Katrin… give her to us, and we will go in peace."

"Fire at will." Zoe ordered.

Two hundred J-Knights rose up to do battle. Zoe dashed down, grabbed Katrin, and tugged her to safety with the aid of the other 'competitors' as the tournament grounds turned into a war zone.

"Stay here." Zoe said, as soon as Katrin was under shelter, and went to join the fight. Most of the other girls went with her, leaving only Amina to guard Katrin.

"Kat!" Rita was there, and Henry, and Jonah and Larry. All four of them had been taken by the Green Men before. Not a single one would let the same thing happen to her now.

Rita's watch was flashing red, then Henry's, and then Katrin's again, but they all ignored it. Whoever it was, he or she could wait. There was a battle going on here, and a single slip, a single distracted moment, could be fatal.

"I will join the battle." Amina told Katrin. "Your friends are here. I will leave you with them."

Katrin nodded, too choked up to speak. She wasn't sure if there were tears in her eyes, but she wouldn't be surprised if there weren't.

{Those Green Men! Why wouldn't they just leave us alone?!}

But at the same time, if there were tears, there were other, stronger reasons for them.

{They're here. They're all here for me. My friends, the J-Knights, the others of the Eight. They're all protecting me.}

Katrin was touched. Deeply, deeply touched.

Larry's watch was flashing now. He glanced at it, frowning, but didn't touch it, still wary of attacks from the side. Jonah's watch flashed; without even taking the call, he drew up Caller ID, yelled, "Don't call me, Clumsy!" and ended it with that, deleting his contact link from the phone book of whoever had called him.

A second saucer descended, and a third. Beams of light shone down, depositing more and more Green Men. And then the lasers started firing.

"Pull back!" Zoe's order rang out. "We need more room! Scatter by seating divisions!"

A fourth saucer appeared, and this one looked twice as big as the ones who came before.

"Geoffrey!" Zoe called. "NOW!"

A stream of Comrades came in from the south… from J-Knight HQ, Katrin realized. Flying ones, all of them. Katrin thought she recognized Satrox among those riding Comrades in front, right beside Knight Lord Geoffrey himself.

A fifth saucer appeared, just as big as the fourth. These two larger ones turned on the incoming reinforcements and let out a veritable storm of smaller energy bolts.

The reinforcements disappeared before they could get close enough to strike.

Katrin's watch beeped again, and flashed red.

A sixth saucer appeared, again as large as the fourth and fifth. These larger ones didn't seem interested in beaming down any number of Green Men. They just blasted away at everything.

The J-Knights were scattering. The Green Men advanced on Katrin's position.

"We have to get out of here." Rita said. "Henry…"

"This way." Henry said, darting down the corridors.

"HEY! Who made you leader?" Jonah demanded.

"Highest ranking." Henry pointed to his badge. It was Purple. Rita's and Larry's were Blue, Jonah's Green, Katrin still at Yellow.

"Fine." Jonah grouched, but he went along with it.

They found themselves slowed by Rita's army of plants and insects. There were a lot of them and having them around was a comfort, but they were… slow.

"You guys go ahead! I'll slow them down!" Rita announced, turning around to face their pursuers.

"No! We can't leave you…" Henry began.

"GO! You're not leaving me! I'm leaving you!" Rita barked.

Henry paled. "You're breaking up with me?"

Rita groaned. "No, I'm just going to take rearguard position, okay? I'll die my way back to Hot Springs."

Henry winced. "Still…"

"Go, Henry! I'll try to buy you guys some time!" Rita turned her back resolutely on them. "If you wanna make it up to me, buy me an expensive dinner!"

"You got it!" Henry said, and darted back to the front. "Let's move!"

Their words echoed in Katrin's mind as they ran. {Breaking up with… breaking up with… does that mean… they're already… together?!}

Colin! What was the {matter} with him?! And why wasn't he here, at a time like this, when she needed someone to rescue her? Someone with the power to wipe out the Lamico Continent…?

Katrin glanced at her watch, which now registered seven missed calls and two messages unread. {Wait… you don't think… Colin was trying to warn me? Or find me?}

She tapped her watch and found that every call and message had indeed, been from Colin. She tried to return the call. "Colin?"

But there was only a monotonous beeping sound in return.

Colin was no longer reachable by comms.

"Watch out!" Larry said, as Green Men appeared from the side. He charged in, surrounded by Warbunnies, warping in more and more of his Comrades…

Larry died. There was a powerful pulse and a shockwave swept down the corridor, wiping out two entire squads of Warbunnies before hitting Larry himself. All of them vanished together.

{Yikes! What kind of weapon is that?! They never had anything that powerful before!}

They burst through the exit and into the open air. Henry exulted. "We're out!"

"Get down!" Jonah grabbed them both and pulled them down before a stream of laser fire shot overhead.

Henry warped in two squads of Lynxmice. Jonah warped in his Night Mare.

The Saucer above fired an energy beam at them.

"RUN!" Jonah grabbed Katrin as he rode off on his Night Mare. Katrin was half flying through the air, barely able to get her feet on the ground, much less join Jonah on the 'horse', and he didn't seem very inclined to help her up.

It didn't matter anyway. Six laser beams from four different sides took out horse and Jonah both in a flash.

Katrin stumbled into the grass, in a scene of nightmares, Green Men and Saucers everywhere, J-Knights and Comrades vanishing left and right. Henry didn't last much longer than Jonah had. Another shockwave blast like the one that wiped out Larry took him down too.

She glanced about. {Where are my Comrades, anyway…? Gera… Rall… Bubba…}

Probably respawned back at the Home Base already.

Katrin clenched her teeth as she saw the Green Men coming for her. {I'm not going to let them take me. No way.}

She drew her baton again, took a deep breath hoping she wasn't about to do something really stupid…

And killed herself.

***

She appeared back at Edward's Farm feeling sick. "Ugh."

A moment of panic surfaced as she remembered what happened the last time she'd been attacked by Green Men and died her way back to base. She had reappeared at Port Frichi only to find the Port itself under attack…

There. In the distance. A saucer.

"Kat!" Edward was there. "What happened?"

"Green Men." Katrin said, and coughed. Gera and Rall let out twin growls. Bubba groaned. "They're… coming."

Edward glanced up at the sky in a hurry and found the saucer almost at once. "Not here. It's attacking Riverside Ruins. The place is still being rebuilt…"

The saucer didn't stop. It kept moving even while bombarding Riverside.

"Uhoh." Edward gulped. "It's coming straight here. Hot Springs is the nearest inhabited settlement to Riverside… in fact, since most of the towns were destroyed… it's likely…"

"We gotta go!" Katrin tried to move, and almost fell over. Only a quick save from Gera kept her from sprawling over the floor. Gera herself wasn't too steady.

"I'll get the truck." Edward said. "Call the Knights!"

She called Abby. "Abby…"

The first thing that Katrin heard over the comms was an explosion. Abby shouted in reply. "J-Knight HQ is under attack! I say again, we're under attack!"

There was another explosion and the line went dead.

Katrin sat back with a moan. {Hey, Zoe, since I won the Tournament, can I have a cowboy hat?}

For some reason, Katrin didn't think there would be any prizes coming from {this} Tournament. Especially not for the girl responsible for this new wave of assaults.

{Where do I go? What do I do?} Katrin called Satrox.

"Kat?!" Satrox sounded wild, and there were the sounds of battle behind him. "Where are you?"

"Hot Springs." Katrin gulped.

"Run! They're headed your way!"

"I know!" Katrin gasped. "Where to?"

"Anywhere! Just run and keep running!" he cut the link.

Edward was bringing up the truck. The people of Hot Springs village were preparing for battle. Rita and Henry would be down there, still in recovery…

But it wasn't them the Green Men were after. They were after her. Why didn't matter any more. Only that they were.

Satrox was right. She had to run. Hot Springs didn't stand a chance and everyone had to know it.

Neither, Katrin realized, did Edward's truck. It was faster than running on foot, but it wouldn't be able to get away from the saucers.

Katrin made another call. "Shinji…"

"Katrin?" there was the sound of wind over at his end of the line, but no battle, no shooting, no shouting.

"I need a lift." Katrin told him. "They're after me."

"The Green Men?" Shinji's voice grew serious. "I heard from the J-Knights. They're calling for help from the other Knight Orders. The Wind Knights, the Chalice Knights, even the Helms are joining up. We're headed your way with more firepower between us than Nakama World has ever seen in one place since the closed Beta."

"They're… coming for me." Katrin said again. "I'm at Hot Springs. There's a Saucer coming right now. It's passed Riverside."

Shinji was silent for a bit. "I'll hurry."

The link was cut. Katrin gulped, feeling just a bit more hopeful, but not much more so. It was going to be a race between Shinji and the Saucer. Shinji's Rain was fast, Katrin knew, but how far away was he? He hadn't said.

The Hot Springs defenders were readying long-range combined attacks now, divided by elements. Whole squads of Dreamers and Comrades were combining powers to strike at the Saucer from extreme range. The saucer sped up and began to reply them in kind.

Katrin saw Rita and Henry jump into the back of Edward's truck. Edward spun around to see them panting there, sickly and weak, and didn't say a word, simply trundling on towards his farm…

{At this rate, the Saucer will be in firing range of me before Edward even gets here.}

Katrin fought to get on her feet. Rita and Henry had somehow mustered the strength to jump into the back of a (slowly) moving vehicle. Surely, she, too…

A blue bunny popped up in front of her.

"Huh?" Katrin found herself staring at it in a daze. "Where did you come from?"

It twitched its ears at her a little. Then it ducked back underground. There was a rabbit hole there now, Katrin noticed. The thing had burrowed its way here…

{A rabbit on the farm. Ed is going to be seriously upset. First mice, now rabbits. The carrots are in trouble.}

Not that it would matter if the Saucer started firing on the farm. Never mind the carrots, the whole place was going to be wiped out.

Brilliant beams were lancing through the homes and resorts of Hot Springs now. The Saucer was close enough to use its heavier weapons on the town. People were dying and re-dying everywhere. Some of them started running before their Comrades started to go Frenzied. Many of them who died simply didn't respawn back at Hot Springs. They must have respawned elsewhere. {What was it Hari did? Emergency Redirect? I wish I knew how to do that.}

Her Traveler Watch gave her a hint. [Emergency Homing Beacon required. Secondary Respawn Location not found.]

"Great. I need a special item and I need to say where it should be first…" Katrin groaned. "Now you tell me."

[Please read the instructions…] the Traveler watch began, but Katrin shut it off. "Nobody reads the Instructions."

Sprays of smaller bolts began to rain down across Hot Springs, followed by a single energy bomb. {There goes Mayor Henry's hard work.}

The blue bunny popped up again. This time, it held out a little bag in its paws.

"For me?" Katrin laughed, wondering what this blue bunny was trying to do. Inside the little bag was a pill of some sort, half blue and half white. "What…"

The blue bunny lunged, knocking the pill out of Katrin's hand into her mouth.

Katrin didn't need to swallow. The moment it entered her mouth, all the sickness of dying disappeared.

"WOW!" Katrin jumped. "What WAS that?!"

There was a ragged cheer coming up from the remaining survivors of the Hot Springs defense force. Katrin turned to see the saucer under attack from all sides by large flying Comrades. Shinji, it seemed, had arrived.

{But he's not coming to rescue me. He's come to attack the saucer. Can he really…}

The saucer lashed out, and half the flying Comrades vanished along with several airborne Dreamers. More and more Dreamers and flying Comrades were coming...

The Saucer dropped another energy bomb on the ruins of Hot Springs, wiping out the rest of the defenders, not even slowing down.

{It's coming for me.} Katrin realized in a daze. {It's not even slowing for Hot Springs. It's coming right for the farm.}

Shinji was fighting the saucer, and Edward was still on the road up to the farm. Katrin gulped and looked around for a place to hide.

"Katrin!" the voice that called her name sounded familiar, incredibly familiar. "What are you waiting for?"

"Who…?" Katrin spun and stared.

That boy. She {knew} that boy. Gray eyes. Dark hair. Yellow Scarf. Clear, colorless visor. But his face…

He was the delivery boy who had sent her the habitats at Crabby Island.

And there next to him was the blue bunny.

{That bunny…!} Katrin gasped, eyes widening. {I THOUGHT I had seen it before! The guy in the ostritch costume who sent me the Perfect Habitat for Meek's kids! The figure who left a roof over my head at Eternal Snows to protect me from the blizzard! The guy who offered me Bruth! The bunny… and the yellow scarf!}

{And his voice! I KNOW that voice! It's the stranger who saved me at Port Frichi…!!}

"YOU!" Katrin jumped. "It was {you} all along!"

And then she realized she knew his name.

"Oh. My. God." Katrin's jaw dropped.

"I'm not God." He told her, and grabbed her hand. "Run!"

"Wait…" Katrin blurted, even as she ran with him. "Where are we going?"

He didn't reply. Feeling even less safe now that she began to guess what was really at stake, Katrin ran with him.