Natural Born

I picked up the radio on my hip, changing it to frequency 66.7, and heard a lot of chatter on the line.

"Everybody, Sky reporting in. I have some updates about Quake. Do I have Groups A, B, and C listening?" I asked into the radio, peering from behind a tree.

Using Golden Strands as a barricade for the forest, I purposefully put them in the trees, leaves, and bushes to disguise my presence to Quake.

"Group A here," Dani replied. In her group stood Illya and herself.

"Group B, reporting," Mandi replied. In her group stood Rin, Ren, and Ellios.

"Group C, right here," Lia set down the radio. In her group stood Alatus and Fudo.

"Group D, still with you Sky," Alexia said. In her group stood Carl and herself.

"Group Orion on standby," Ellie jumped in as well. In her group stood the most, including Tavian, Dante, Amera, Noboki, and Moon.

"Great, you're all here," I started. The radio went silent, and I continued.

"I just fought all of Quake, getting out their abilities and secrets as quickly as possible. Group A, Zeka seems to put Strands into the ground to heal his teammates, take careful notice of that," I told Group A.

"Roger," They shortly replied.

"Group B, Austin can spawn blades anywhere, and that means anywhere. My most effective strategy is speed. If something foreign is on you, assume it will turn into a blade that will kill you. Use Essence Strands to block the blades," I told them.

Six projectiles were launched into the forest, knocking over trees and decimating bushes. The golden strands I had up were going away, and I picked up the radio again.

"Group C, Kire can shoot red-hot strands with his eyes, but they take longer to come up than they do when he is putting them somewhere. Use speed as well. Careful, he's the smartest they got," I told them.

"Group D, keep an eye out for Fico and the Masked Girl. I was able to find out that the Masked Girl can take body parts and add them to her body. She has a mask, and it's made of ceramic or something, not strands. It's destructible, but be careful," I told them next, dodging another projectile.

Now, it was lighting the forest on fire. Kire was involved.

"Group Orion, Fico has claws. There is some gelatinous substance on them, and I saw it before while fighting Providence. Neither Avie or I know what it is, so take extra care with that. Does everybody have the information they need?" I asked into the radio.

"Roger,"

"Roger,"

"Roger,"

"Roger,"

"Roger," I heard from all groups simultaneously.

"Wait, Sky, what about Cole?" Carl asked me through the radio.

"Leave him, he won't do anything. I got him," I told him.

"Be careful, that goes for everybody. No casualties here either, we got this," Carl mentioned. The radio went silent as the projectiles stopped and I peeked through the bushes.

I switched the frequency one more notch and spoke into it again.

"Ruby. All teams have been informed of everything I could gather with Quake, how is evacuation going?" I asked her.

"Good, almost everybody is safe and away in the bunker... how did you know they would attack today?" Ruby asked. I could hear the chatter of hundreds of citizens and the train moving on the rails we constructed during the month of downtime.

"Today is my birthday. They're looking to catch me off-guard. If it wasn't before today, then it would be today. Look, I thought about what you said... about using everything I have. I will preserve Zealous as much as possible, but if everybody is out of their homes and you're absolutely sure of that, you let me know through this radio. I will level this city to take out Quake here and now. They will not escape. I'll help rebuild, and take the hate from everybody if I must... but I am indifferent about what happens to your city if I can keep my Arkians alive," I told her, putting the radio down and finally opening my eyes all the way from a squint.

"I'll give you permission when I know it's safe. Otherwise, you better keep my damn city standing," Ruby told me. I lightly smiled and put the radio close to my mouth again.

"I know you're on this channel, Fico," I said through the radio.

Ruby started to speak over it, but then I heard Fico's voice. She hadn't discovered the voice channel with all of the groups on it because she thought this one would be more important. The one with the city's leader. I perfectly manipulated Fico into staying on this channel.

"Of course I am. I'm surprised it's only Ruby and you that have radios. How are you going to communicate with that cannon fodder on the other side of this gate I'm about to tear down?" Fico asked me.

"Property damage is kind of frowned upon in civilization. I know that's hard for a savage such as yourself to understand, but don't worry, I have no problem teaching you that lesson," I said, coming out from the forest in the distance.

"Avie, use your ability one more time to put me at Cole's throat. I'll handle the rest from there, make it a good launch, I have to take down that wall," I looked while talking to Avie, observing the wall with stripes through it, marked for takedown through my plan.

"Got it, ready?" She asked. I nodded, and we swapped, quickly placing ourselves in front of Cole.

He only barely dodged to the left, which I planned for, and I grabbed his arm, launching him through the marked wall. Troy, another one of the lookouts, hit a lever and closed him in the city with me in the middle of a courtyard.

The Retriever and his mace head followed, meaning this would now be a rematch on our time, rather than everybody else's.

"Well well well… look who's back?" I asked him.