Choices (2)

***

The audience was in uproar as the Mountain's Tournament of Ascension reached its climax. Sora, Mountaineer of Lamico, was facing Ian, Mountaineer of North Hour. Nestled in the gargantuan reserve box on Sora's side were squads of eagles, condors and several variants of hawk. On Ian's, a dragon, a drake, three wyverns, several squads of differing variants of Pteros.

"It's too bad the J-Knights called you to battle, or you'd still be in the Tournament." Katrin said to Satrox as the Younger Sage waited for the J-Knights at the Tournament to assemble.

"I wasn't planning to win it anyway. I just entered for fun. If anyone asks, I'm betting on Sora." Satrox said.

"For what it's worth, I agree." Phillip told him. Katrin nodded in agreement. They were leaving the Tournament to join the battle, as were a third of the audience.

"I'm still with the guy who's got the dragon." Rita said stoutly. She completely ignored Lucy's dangerous glare. "I don't think any bird that can match that thing."

Henry was in tears. "Why? Soft Snows Mountaineer!! Why did you resign?!"

"Probably saw the dragon coming." Rita guessed.

The bell rang. The duel began. Ian went straight for the win; he warped in his dragon, and his drake.

Red and breathing fire, the dragon was about the size of a terrace housing block. Each claw matched the size of a truck, and when it spread its wings, the entire arena could feel the wind of their opening. The drake was smaller, purple rather than red, but of similar shape and form. This one breathed a cloud of vapor.

"Fire and poison, and spread so wide, it's near-impossible to dodge. This arena just isn't that big." Shinji grunted as knights and volunteer fighters gathered around them. "Both of them have lasting effects; get hit even once, and you're going to suffer burning or poisoned effects for the rest of the battle. Both effects slow you down so dodging the next attack is even harder. On top of that, the effects stack; the more you get hit, the worse it gets."

"I'm going to bet on Sora." Henry decided even so. "Just so that Lucy doesn't get mad at me."

"What exactly are you guys betting?" Shinji asked, still looking somewhat fried.

"Just drinks." Henry said.

Sora warped in a single bird; a metallic Razorhawk.

"That might work." Satrox mused. "It's immune to poison. But how is a Razorhawk going to take down those two?"

"Attrition?" Phillip guessed softly. "Dodge fire until the dragon tires, then warp everything else in."

"That sounds logical." Satrox agreed. "But I don't think it's going to be so easy."

They were both right. Sora did seem to be testing the limits of the dragon's and drake's MP. Their breath attacks were powerful, but such power surely came at a cost. How long could they really keep up the assault?

At least two minutes. That was how long Sora's Razorhawk managed to dodge fire and ignore poison. But then Ian's dragon redoubled its efforts and spread its fire wider, farther, and stronger. The Razorhawk, being metallic, was immune to long-term burning effects, but it still took damage and didn't last very long.

Sora warped in a Firehawk and sent it after the purple drake.

"That's not going to work." Satrox noted at once. "Sending in one Comrade at a time like this isn't going to…"

Ian responded before Satrox could finish his sentence. He warped in everything. All four different squads of Pteros, a green Wyvern, a blue Wyvern, and a metallic Wyvern. All of them went charging for Sora himself, ignoring the Firehawk and Razorhawk completely.

Sora had no choice. He warped in everything he had and full battle was joined.

Ian had been waiting for that. The dragon and drake went all-out just as the Pteros and Wyverns suddenly changed course and scurried out of the way. Fire and poison caught Sora's entire airforce before Sora could do more than call for evasive action.

"It's over." Rita said. "You're all buying me drinks."

"It's not over!" Lucy barked. "Sora! Don't give up!"

He wasn't about to. Almost all his Comrades were poisoned or burning and weren't going to last very long in this fight. Sora threw them all and himself into an all-out desperation attack on the dragon and drake.

"What is he doing?" Katrin had to ask. "Even if he took those down…"

"He should have gone for Ian himself." Satrox agreed. "That's what I would have done."

"Maybe it's a feint." Shinji guessed. "Pretend to aim for the Comrades then change and target the Traveler at the last moment…"

Ian obviously thought so as well. He drew in the dragon and drake to shield himself. Sora's all-out assault hammered the purple drake mercilessly. Eagle claws infused with elemental power tore into its face. The drake, charged with protecting Ian, kept its wings sheltering Ian rather than itself; it stood there, taking the hits until at last it vanished to respawn back at whatever Home Base Ian held.

Meanwhile, Ian's other Comrades pounced on the attackers from behind. Taking down the purple Drake proved costly as Sora lost most of his airforce before any of them could reach Ian. Ian ordered his wyverns to fill in the gap the purple Drake left. None of Sora's attacks reached Ian himself.

Ian began to laugh. "What are you doing, Sora? Wasting everything you've got on a whim…"

"What's a swamp drake doing on Skycrown Mountain, Ian?" Sora asked right back. "It didn't belong here. At least your red dragon has some claim to a volcanic home."

"Strength is strength, no matter where it comes from." Ian said. "You've tasted it yourself, so you should understand the power of fire and poison breath combined. Nothing has been able to stand up to that combination!"

"My Razorhawk lasted quite a while." Sora pointed out. "And so did my Firehawk."

"Both of which are dead now." Ian scowled. "Your petty toying around was nothing more than an annoyance."

"What's wrong, Ian? Losing patience already?" Sora paused as Ian's Pteros and his Eagles engaged in a whirling mid-air melee. "How did you ever get a swamp drake anyway? Didn't Cass tell us all Mountaineers to give away Comrades who didn't belong to the Mountain?"

"It's just temporary. I only needed it to win this Tournament. Think about it. An arena like this, with so little space to maneuver… you've seen the damage the dragons' breath attacks could do here. It was worthwhile."

"And you think you can get away with it?"

"I'll be the Mountain Prince. I won't need to 'get away' with anything. I'll set down my own rules!"

"And that rule says the ends justify the means? It's okay to bond foreign creatures just to win a Tournament? Even knowing it doesn't belong on the Mountain?"

"The heights respect {strength}! In the end, it all comes down to power! Power beyond anything any of you have been able to face!"

Pteros were raining down from the sky. Ian stared in astonishment as Sora's Eagles swooped down on the Wyverns. "How…?"

"It seems that you've neglected your Pteros." Sora said. "You trained your dragon and drake so hard, you neglected the Comrades you have which do belong on the Mountain."

"But there's no way!" Ian protested. "They're all above level 70! Your eagles are poisoned and burning and…"

The wyverns vanished. The dragon roared, breathed fire, and the eagles vanished too. Sora and Ian were left in the field with just a red Dragon and a Firehawk.

"Well. This could take a while." Sora noted as Ian's dragon breathed fire on the Firehawk, who didn't mind at all. The gigantic thing tried to claw and bite at the nimble bird, but could never quite hit it. The bird couldn't really harm the dragon very much either.

"Forget that! I'm not going to sit around here twiddling my thumbs!" Ian seethed. "I'm so close… so close!"

Sora drew a rapier and fell into a duelist's pose, clearly expecting Ian to charge into the fray himself. But instead, Ian did something completely different. "Srakesh!"

The purple drake appeared again, warped in from the Home Base with barely more than five minutes to recover.

"No way…" Lucy gasped.

"Ian, what are you doing?!" Sora demanded. "Even if you never intended to keep that Drake, summoning it like this…"

Ian wasn't listening. He warped in his Wyverns, and his Pteros. His entire force of sickly and recently killed flying reptiles, all in bad shape, appeared on the field once again.

"KILL him!" Ian pointed directly at Sora.

"NO!" Lucy leapt. The action was so sudden, so utterly unexpected, it caught all of them by surprise. She was halfway to the ground by the time any of them even thought of stopping her. She summoned her Comrades. "Quadra-wing squad!"

Six four-winged gulls appeared. She grabbed the feet of one, and ordered. "Protect Sora!"

The audience was in uproar, the seated and those preparing to leave alike. Katrin was on her feet and she wasn't the only one. "Wait! Is that even allowed?!"

She turned to Casiphia, wide-eyed, and expecting the Mountain Princess to step in and disqualify Sora on the spot.

But the Mountain Princess did not rise. She did not say anything. She just sat there and watched. Katrin remembered then, what she'd said. {There are no restrictions.}

"We can help them!" Katrin realized. "The audience is allowed to help the competitors! Casiphia isn't going to stop us!"

But someone else did. "HOLD!"

The audience paused. Lucy and her Comrades halted. Ian and Sora and all their Comrades froze.

Big Tim, Mountaineer of Soft Snows, had appeared in the field. With him were the other five Mountaineers who had taken part in the Tournament.

"This is the business of the Mountain." Big Tim said gruffly. "Stay out of it."

"Go easy, Tim, that's Lucy. She's... {with} me." Sora told him. "Lucy, it's all right. Please leave this to the Mountaineers."

Lucy hesitated, but Sora gave her a reassuring nod. She withdrew. Reluctantly, but she withdrew.

"{Now}, can we finish this?" Ian snarled. "My crown awaits!"

Tim glanced at the other Mountaineers, who nodded in turn. "Yes. Let's finish this."

Ian waited. Sora waited. But the Mountaineers did not leave the field.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ian demanded.

Big Tim touched his badge. "Rory."

In warped a Stonataurus, a smaller, Soft Snows version of Skycrown's Rockatauri.

The other Mountaineers likewise tapped their badges and warped in Comrades. "Sliver." "Biku." "Muffy." "Choice." "Emo."

"I don't believe it." Satrox said, staring. He turned to look at Casiphia.

Casiphia hadn't moved or said anything. At all.

Ian's jaw dropped. He, too, looked at Casiphia, and then at Sora. Sora, and the six Mountaineers who now stood with him. "What IS this?! You can't interfere…"

Casiphia spoke at last. "Actually, they can. It is as Tim said. This is the business of the Mountains."

"This is {cheating}!" Ian howled, completely forgetting who it was who first re-summoned Comrades who died. "This…"

"This is the Tournament of Ascension. The Mountain Prince will be decided here." Casiphia said in a cold voice. "A Prince does not require the power to win all by himself. He does, however, require the support of his people. And it is clear to me who the Mountaineers support."

"KILL THEM!" Ian screamed. "Srakesh…"

There was a flicker, and Srakesh vanished. Ian's red Dragon vanished. It happened so fast, so instantly, Katrin almost missed seeing it. And even after seeing it, she couldn't believe what she'd just seen.

Where the purple Drake and red Dragon had been, Casiphia herself stood, a blue sword seemingly made of pure energy in her hand.

"Casiphia herself has sided with Sora." Katrin breathed.

"The title of the Mountain Prince," Casiphia said, "Is to be won by a person, not by a power. And you are not the person whom I want as the Mountain Prince. You have no respect for the Mountain. I have seen and I have decided. Sora is the Mountain Prince."

"What?!" Ian choked. "But the Tournament isn't even over yet! I can still…"

"The Tournament was for my benefit, not yours." Cass said, outright. "The law says my Prince must be challenged in combat and prove himself, but nothing says he must win. In the end, it was neither the schemes of competitors nor the powers of your Comrades who decided it, but Mountaineers and I who chose the next Mountain Prince."

"You can't! The Mountain is mine…!" Ian tapped his badge. "Srakesh! Vulcan!"

Again the purple Drake and red Dragon appeared.

Casiphia touched her badge and in a moment, the entire throng of super-Wilds appeared once more, the very same ones that the competitors had had to face in the preliminaries.

Ian saw them and began to laugh. "Support me! I am the strongest! I am the rightful Mountain Prince! Come to me!"

The super-wilds stayed silent. They stood right where they were.

On Sora's side.

Casiphia turned around and walked away. "Sora, come with me…"

But she never finished her sentence. There was a flash of brilliant green, and a huge explosion rocked the arena.

"The Green Men are attacking!" someone shouted. "They're attacking us {here}! Right NOW!"

"Break and attack!" Satrox ordered the almost-gathered knights and volunteer forces. It was barely out of his mouth before another green beam blasted him back to his Temporary Respawn Point.

Chaos erupted.

***

{We were distracted by the finals…} Katrin had to admit as she coughed weakly. She was with Satrox at the Arena reception area, having set it as their Temporary Respawn Point when they arrived here earlier. {We weren't thinking, didn't anticipate how quickly the Saucers would reach the top of the mountain. But of course they would. They can fly in space. The high winds around this mountain might be impassable for us, but those saucers obviously made it through.}

{We're definitely in trouble now. We were all at one place when they attacked. In just a few seconds, most of our gathered forces were wiped out. Everyone's disorganized, confused, completely uninformed as to what's going on, much less contributing to a strategy or plan. What do we do? What can we do?}

"Mountaineers, deploy!" Casiphia's voice came in over the broadcast. "Sora, take command of the peak! Big Tim to Icegate! Little Tim to Icegard! Makoto to Icewind! Benny to Skygate! Ezri, organize an evacuation! Malcolm, I need info on the attackers, and I need it yesterday! Ian, do something about your Frenzied! Everybody else, if you want out, go to Ezri, otherwise, pick a fort and {fight}!"

"Get out of the way!" Satrox managed to yell to everyone in the reception area before the rest of the audience flooded out towards the mountain trail, all headed to whichever fort they wanted to defend.

"Evacuees, please wait until the defenders have gone on ahead…" Ezri requested over the broadcast. "I'll be here in the third row of the east section… patience, patience, I beg you, all good things come with time…"

The broadcasts went on. "Benny here. I'm in command of Skygate defense! I need heavy artillery, Comrades heavy enough not to get blown off the walls with the wind! We'll need to shoot down flying saucers; the winds here are too strong for flyers or light Comrades…"

"This is Makoto, defense commander of Icewind. I need light artillery and support-types. We must buff the artillery attack strength until we can effectively shoot down saucers."

"Hi, everyone! It's Timmy! Little Tim! We're gonna defend Icegard! We need heavy flyers, the ones big enough and strong enough to handle the wind out there! We're going to be chasing the saucers around by the tail!"

"Everyone else, with me to Icegate." Big Tim said, shortly. "Expect ground forces. Lots of them."

Ezri cut in. "Dear honorable fellow Mountaineers, once your forces have been safely ferried down the mountain, could you be so kind as to send back the transportation? We have many who need help getting down…"

Casiphia's voice cut in sharply again. "Ian! Ian, what are you doing! Where are you going?! Your Frenzied drake is…"

"Forget him, Princess. He's abandoned us." Sora said, his soft voice somehow cutting through all the bustle going around. "He's leaving us with a Frenzied Drake and enemies at our doorstep."

Katrin gasped. "Satrox! The Drake has gone Frenzied! We have to…"

"Calm down." Satrox told her. "We're still in recovery. We're in no shape to do anything. Sora will handle it."

"How?" Katrin asked. "As far as I can tell, everybody's gone down the mountain to defend the other Forts. I don't think even he can defend Skycrown Peak alone! Not against the Green Men on one side and a Frenzied Drake on the other!"

"He's not alone." Satrox pointed out. "Casiphia is here… and she's got all those super-Wilds at her command."

"Oh. Yeah." Katrin conceded.

Just then, Ezri and what was probably the whole host of evacuees all appeared in the reception area together, all of them looking sick. Evidently, they'd just all been killed at the same time.

Katrin shook her head. "Right. I'm {sure} Sora's got everything under control."