"But Chard, we aren't actually the Knights," the shy boy says, still hiding behind the one with the sword. "We're just trainees."
"It doesn't matter! We will soon take their place, so we must fight like them! With honor!" The big guy hits his shield, an echo ringing from it.
I hold my newly found staff in front of me in a defensive position, planning on holding my ground. No one moves, only watching and waiting for someone else to move. In that case…
I take the opportunity and dash to my right. Knights or not, these guys are still dangerous, I think. As I take my second step, I stop myself and bring my staff up, deflecting the arrow sent flying into my face. The guy with the sword closes the distance between us, taking an upward swing at me. I dodge backwards, but a wave of energy gets emitted from the slash he previously took. I block it with my staff, the impact sliding me back further. Immediately after, the other guy with the spear follows up from behind me, jabbing at my back with precision to aim for my spine. I barely dodge to my left, the tip of his spear grazing my hip. I jump away from them, hoping to catch my bearings, but the one wielding gauntlets appears right in front of me, too quick for me to react.
Dammit the guy with the-
A blunt metal fist connects to my chest, sending me flying a good distance away. I tumble and roll as I hit the snow beneath me. The power from my legs got knocked out from that devastating blow, making my legs shake as I tried to get up. I steadily got up, coughing up some blood from underneath my mask as it stains the snow near my feet.
"Honor" my ass. You're fighting one guy with five people! I angrily think.
Windborne stirrs, seeming to be slowly waking up from his slumber atop my head. I stab my staff into the snow and gently grab Windborne from my head and put him in front of my face, staring into my eyes.
"You ready buddy? Time to shine." I put the little guy down on the snow as a puff of smoke appeared around him. He bolts straight up into the air, showcasing his second largest form, about three and a half meters long. Windborne hovers at his position, flapping his wings and scanning the area.
"He holds a tamed dragon! A mighty warrior indeed!" The boy with the shield approaches, his feet crunching the snow beneath him loudly.
"About time things got interesting. If he kept up what he was doing back there, he would've been killed within a minute," the guy wielding the spear says, spinning it behind him.
They all group up and maintain their previous position: The large guy with the shield stays back to protect the girl with the bow, and the other three guys tag team me. I hear a loud roar ring throughout the vicinity from above me. Windborne has spotted them. He crashes straight down behind, the snow from the impact flies up. It scatters as electricity crackles and reveals Windborne's new form as he coils his body around mine, his head on my right and tail on my left. His white scales that looked like clouds now turn a dark blue, changing into those resembling a storm. The group of Knight trainees also seems to be ready as they all get into an offensive stance. I can maintain Stormwing Tempest while Windborne is in his second form the longest. The third puts too much strain on me, and I'm only able to maintain it for about 30 seconds. Info nexus appears in front of me.
"Stormwing Tempest successfully activated. Time remaining: 3 minutes."
I dash straight into the guy with the sword, putting all my strength into my legs as I catch him off guard with the sudden burst of speed. I channel electricity into my foot as I kick his side with all my might. He barely manages to put his sword in the way which takes the brunt of the kick, but he gets sent flying to the left from the force, hitting the guy with the spear and knocking him down too. I then go for the guy with the gauntlets, speeding straight towards him. I wind up my staff from above my head, but he manages to land both of his fists on my chest, using the force of my own speed against me. For a moment, I get knocked out of Stormwing Tempest, and all of the energy in my body dissipates as I fall backwards onto the powdery snow, dropping my staff, too.
"His powers are disabled," the guy shouts at his colleagues that have now recovered and are making their way towards me. "Now's our chance!"
I get up slowly, clutching my chest in pain. Windy intervenes, landing behind the guy with the gauntlets and swiping at him with his tail, sending him straight towards me. Without a second thought, I grab my staff and swing it downwards, slamming him straight down into the floor. I look back up at Windborne, seeing him still in Stormwing form. I'm the only one out right now. He's blocked my powers, at least temporarily, I assume. Windborne is keeping the other 2 busy, so I take the opportunity to go after the girl with the bow. I sprint toward her, noticeably slower than before. She shoots her arrows, and I dodge by a hairs breadth. I go to sweep to her hip, but a big shield suddenly slams down and blocks the path. My staff hits the shield with a loud clang. I try jumping back to put some distance between myself and the tall guy with the shield. He clangs his shield with his hand, and a big wave of energy pulses out from the shield, pushing me back a great distance. It absorbs impact and returns it twofold.
Running back towards Windy, I feel my abilities slowly coming back and the electricity flowing through my body again. I use Windy as a cover and change the form of the staff, making it now Quicksilver. I jump and land straight in front of the guy with the sword, swinging at him with quick slashes to keep him distracted. Windy takes notice and uses his tail to sweep the other guy in a different direction. Me and the sword guy begin clashing our blades, sparks flying as one swing gets blocked after the other in fluid motion. We're evenly matched.
I take a risk and suddenly drop my blade to grab his blade with both hands. I channel any electricity in my body straight through the sword. By the time's realized, it's already too late. He falls to the floor as a few thousand volts get sent straight into him, essentially frying his brain, hopefully temporarily. Just as I pick up my sword, a large fist connects to my side, sending me flying into the air. A flurry of arrows get sent at me, and every single one connects. One on my right leg, one on my left arm, two on my right shoulder, and one on my upper back. I fall to the ground with a thud, blood seeping into the snow and giving it a red tint. I quickly examine my wounds, coughing up blood as I do so. The arrows aren't purely made out of the magical blue energy. They use metal rods as bases, and the girl tips them with her energy. I pull the ones from my leg and arms out, counting three that I'm holding and two still in me, but pulling them out isn't possible because I might pass out from blood loss. Suddenly, something crashes into the girl as snow flies up. It's the dude with the spear! A roar can be heard from above as Windy fires up a blast. A little gust of wind isn't gonna-
A bolt of lightning shoots out of his mouth, connecting immediately into the guy with the shield. He didn't expect it to come straight at him so fast. I look at Windy and he looks back. I swear I could almost see him smirking at me, like he knew what I was thinking. A spear flies out from the cloud of smoke and strikes Windy straight in the side, piercing his scales. He spirals downward with a painful screech and lands in the snow with a thud. The spear then flies back to its owner with a whistling sound. I slowly limp my way over to my injured companion. He's still breathing and alive, and still able to fight, but just barely. We both get up, prepared to fight again, and the other group prepares to do the same. All of us are injured, but not ready to give up. I change the sword back into a staff and get in a defensive stance. The spear guy rushes at me and jabs at my stomach. I dodge his attacks, and grab his spear with my arm, pulling him towards me and landing a devastating kick to his chest.
He lets go of the spear and rolls backwards. Windy takes the opportunity to come in from his right and swipe at him with his talons. A shield blocks his claws and sends the force back even stronger, sending Windy backwards. Looking at the dragon, I can see electricity crackling near his mouth. Taking the signal, I rush towards the guy with the shield and raise my staff, charging a swing. He puts his shield up, blocking his vision of me. I seize the moment and drop my staff to place the palm of my hand on the shield. He screams as multiple thousand volts of electricity flood his body, and he falls to his knees. I'm almost out of charge.
Windborne completes charging his attack and sends another blast of lightning straight into the hip of the guy with the shield, knocking him over and rolling him a great distance.
Yea, he isn't getting up for a while. Probably anytime this week, if he's lucky. Two direct shots to the body, even the armor won't help him with that. An arrow grazes my mask immediately after, leaving a small scratch on it. Windborne gets behind me and swings his tail to my back. I do a little hop and use my only good leg to use the force of his tail to send me into the air. I drew an electric bow, the same as the one I first drew all those months ago, and fired three quick shots using the bloody metal rods from before. All of them miss her, each landing a short distance away.
"You missed, dimwit," she says while winding up another shot. "And you can't dodge in the air either."
"I don't need to," I say while pointing my hand at her. "You've already lost."
I clench my fist, and electricity from the three rods begins conducting. The shape I shot them in formed a triangle, and she was standing right in the middle of it. By the time she realized, it was too late. She gets shocked by the voltage, dropping her bow and arrow on the ground. I fall towards her, and punch her in the face, my momentum slamming her into the ground. I hit the ground with a thud, face planting into the snow. Luckily, I don't feel it due to the mask taking the freezing cold. I look around and see Windborne fainted and in his tiny form, probably from the previous shots he took. Looking around further and I see the guy with the spear, still standing and limping his way towards me. His body is covered in bruises and wounds. The logical thing to do now is to give up, so why is he still fighting? I crawl my way towards my staff and use it to get up, preparing to fight again, before I suddenly collapse like gravity has been multiplied by a thousand.
"Stormwing Tempest deactivated. Drawbacks are now being applied."
A sharp pain shoots through my body as I groan slightly. The adrenaline has dissipated and I can now feel all the wounds in my body, to the minor bruises to the wounds from the arrows. My eyes slowly start to close as the fatigue takes over.
No! Not like this, godammit! Get up! I internally scream to myself, but it's inevitable. As my eyes close, the last thing I feel before losing consciousness is a foot stepping against my back before leaping off, then, the sound of water splashing following after.