Jasper breathed heavily as he stood over the dead spirit. His chest rose and fell as he surveyed the battlefield. He didn't see any immediate threats, so he kneeled next to it's corpse. He pulled a hunting knife out of his bag and quickly found the core. He picked up the golf ball sized orb and tucked it into his bag.
Jasper looked back at the fight between the light spirit and Weston's spirits. They were still locked in an intense battle. The bird looked significantly injured, and the two grounded spirits sported a few injuries. Jasper doubted this fight had reached its climax yet. It seemed Weston's spirits would win this battle with time. Jasper didn't want to run too far from them in case an Ethereal or Core spirit tried to attack him.
He noticed a spirit tamer being overrun by 4 Pygmy spirits. The man seemed slightly older than Jasper and had two spirits fighting for their life next to him. Jasper ran toward them as he analyzed the enemy spirits. If he could occupy two of them, he could give the man a chance to make some ground.
He decided he'd section off the two who were launching ranged attacks at the man and his spirits. One was a mole-like spirit that had its upper body poking through the dirt. The second was a teal seal that bounced around on its stomach. Jasper didn't think either of these spirits would be very fast.
As he approached from the side, the mole looked over. It flung its small hands in the air, which caused the earth around it to roll forward. A wave of earth went through the ground and threatened to crash into Jasper. He bent his knees and launched himself over the 4-foot wave of earth. His feet slammed back into the dirt as he ran forward.
The seal barked and clapped its flippers. In front of it, a double helix of water shot forward. Jasper slid under the attack and thrusted his spear forward. His shoulder shook with the effort as he was able to break through the seal's skin on the first strike. He was a little surprised. He didn't realize, but he'd gotten stronger. The spearhead dug an inch into the creature's chest before it wriggled backwards.
A wave of dirt began beneath his feet and carried him backwards. As it grew, he was thrown off it. His arms waved in the air as he rolled on the ground. Jasper somersaulted to his feet and watched as the seal clapped its flippers into the air. A small storm cloud was created over Jasper. He looked up at it with furrowed brows. Suddenly, water drops the size of baseballs fell to the dirt.
They sped toward the ground like gravity was acting twice as hard on it. Jasper weaved in between the large raindrops and leaped over another wave of earth. As he landed, he was struck by a raindrop on the shoulder. His stride faltered slightly as he grunted in pain. He gripped his spear tightly and clenched his jaw. His feet moved quickly across the floor as he slashed the mole.
It was thrown out of the dirt and tumbled to the side. Jasper's spirit leaped off his shoulder and landed on the prone mole. Its mandibles began tearing at its weak skin. Its eyes were squeezed tightly together. The mole had poor eyesight. Jasper stepped to the side, avoiding another double helix projectile. He charged forward, his spear supported by his shield. His shield blocked a projectile that pushed him back slightly.
He drove the spear into the seal's midsection and pushed it back. He dropped the spear and reached toward his back. His shield arm reached the seal and knocked it over its head with its steel edge. It barked and tried to hop away from Jasper. "You're not escaping me." He smiled as he pulled his sword from his back.
In a second, it'd been brought down on the spirit's chest. A long slash appeared as it grunted in pain. His shield hand shot forward, grabbing the seal's face with intensity. Colors flashed in his spirit as he tried to tame the beast. Blue flashed in his spirit as it fought back. His eyes opened suddenly as his sword was driven through the seal. "Dammit. I need more spirits." He muttered. He'd failed to tame the seal.
His spirit was battling with the mole now. It had been bruised slightly as one of the mole's waves had thrown it. But the mole had two festering wounds on it. Jasper dashed toward his spirit and had it leap on his shoulder. As he stepped forward, a hole of sand and earth appeared beneath his foot. He sunk up to his calf. The earth quickly hardened around it.
Jasper's eyes widened as he looked at the mole. It used the wave ability, which would do damage to Jasper's leg. He wasn't sure what the wave of earth would do to his leg, but he imagined the spirit's abilities complemented each other. His spirit leaped from his shoulder and tackled the spirit to the ground. Its mandibles clicked furiously as it began to chew on the mole.
Jasper looked down at his foot and poised his sword. His focus was intense as he thought of his years of sword practice. He slashed into the dirt around his leg. If he could break it up enough, he could pull his leg out. Three long gashes created a foot deep triangle around his foot. As the wave reached him, he jumped and pulled his foot out.
The wave threw him higher in the air than he was expecting. He tucked his legs and flipped before landing on his feet. He gasped, a little shocked himself. Quickly, he refocused and reached his spirit, who had nearly won against the mole. The caterpillar jumped and avoided a wave of earth. Jasper appeared behind the mole and smashed his shin into the side of it. It screeched as it lay on the ground, stunned.
Jasper's hand closed over its face. His spirit flared with energy as he sent out a probe toward the earth spirit. He winced as he felt a torrent of earth energy lash at his spirit. He felt a small bit of blood drip from his nose. "Fuck." His sword slid across the weakened creature's throat. Jasper looked to the other person who'd been occupied with two other spirits. It seemed like they were holding their own and were close to knocking one of the spirits out. The other would follow soon, with two spirits attacking it at the same time.
Jasper quickly carved the two spirit cores out of their corpses and tucked one away. The other he held up to his spirit. It'd take a minute or two for it to eat it, but that's how much time it'd take for Jasper to help out the other spirit tamer. It'd speed up its healing from the bruises it sustained and increase its overall strength. Jasper was certain that if the caterpillar consumed every core he had, he'd increase in energy density level. It would go from Steady to Compact.
A minute later, Jasper had assisted the tamer in finishing off the spirits. He ignored their cores and spoke to the spirit tamer who seemed a year older than Jasper. "Are you good?" He asked. "Yeah, thanks for the cover. I still have two more spirits I can deploy. The problem is, I can only have two out at a time. But I'm not out of this tear yet!" The man said. Jasper watched the two spirits who were heavily damaged fade into the man. Two more appeared in front of him, fresh and ready to go.
Jasper looked back at the Core spirits. He saw the bird's ragged wings flapping away. Jasper watched as what looked like flaming bombs were launched in its direction from the scorpion. It had lost some of its glistening light and was looking quite rough. It screeched as 4 flashes surrounded it and fried it in a series of explosions. Jasper's mouth hung open as orange repeatedly illuminated his face.
A few seconds later, a large smoking body dropped through the air. It smashed against the ground and lay there twitching slightly. Suddenly, a figure flew in and smashed into the ground next to the twitching body. A human of smaller stature was seen through the smoke. Jasper ran over to see who it was. It could've been a random tamer who was trying to get the valuable spirit core.
That spirit core was earned by Weston's spirits. As the smoke cleared, Jasper was relieved to see it was Weston himself. He examined the bird and kneeled next to it. His hand was placed lightly on its forehead. The bird suddenly disappeared from under him.
A wide smile appeared on his face as he looked at his spirits. "Where's Jasper?" He threw his hands up as if disappointed. He glanced to the side and saw Jasper. "All good!" He shouted to the boy with a thumbs up.
Jasper ran up to him. "All good. You tamed that spirit? What affinity are you?" He asked.
Weston smiled. His clothes were burned on the ends. He'd clearly gotten into a battle with a fire spirit. "I have a dark affinity, but I think I can tame anything. Everyone who thinks they can only tame their affinity limits themselves. Of course, it's a skill I've trained up. Once you become more experienced, you'll learn how to attack a spirit's spirit directly. Makes the taming process more possible, but more complex. I've believed it's what separates good spirit tamers from great spirit tamers. Anyway, how's that injury? Are you still good to fight?" Weston asked.
Jasper appreciated the spirit taming lesson. He looked down at his burned leg. The skin was red and would likely bubble up. "Yeah, I'm good for more. Just got a few cores but I'm trying to find better spirits to try and tame." He said.
Weston nodded, "I just saw an interesting Pygmy spirit when I was flying here. I can take you to it." He suggested.
"That'd be cool. But why aren't you at the frontlines?" Jasper asked.
"The boss spirit hasn't come through the tear yet. I felt my spirits about to defeat a powerful opponent, and came to check it out. They both deserve some spirit cores later. Otherwise, I've been flying around the battlefield helping where it's needed. I'm more flexible than the others and can move quickly across the battlefield. There's a couple groups of core tamers that are helping out. Arya and this other dude are leading the tamers. Here, take my hand." Weston held out his hand.
Jasper took it and was surprised to be pulled into the air. His legs kicked as he looked down at the shrinking ground. His caterpillar clung to his shoulder as he swung around. "Oh shit!" He shouted as he could see the battle from above. From where they were, he could see a hundred tamers and many more spirits.
Weston could fly with impressive speed and skill. He seemed comfortable in the air. His hand tightly gripped Weston's as he watched his guardian spirits shrink. "What about your spirits?" Jasper shouted up.
"Don't worry about them. They'll find you soon. There it is." Weston pointed toward the ground. All Jasper could make out from there was a red dot. Weston's eyes were much stronger, probably because he was able to manipulate spirit energy inside his body.
"Set me down." Jasper shouted up. Weston went into a dive and soared over the battlefield. "Behind you!" Jasper shouted suddenly. A long air serpent rapidly wriggled its body through the air. It's mouth opened, exposing sharp fangs. It shot into the air after Weston, who glanced back with a smirk.