When Saris left the beach, Kain and I woke everyone up and encouraged them to eat something. Before we split into our three groups, I looked for Demi, eager to talk to her before the battle. I was nervous for a lot of reasons, but I kept coming back to the thought that one, or both of us, might not make it out of this. It seemed like she was also looking for me because when I found her, she was looking around too. Then she turned and saw me, relaxed and smiled.

"Hey," she said. I got lost in her smile. She was beautiful and it seemed like I rediscovered that fact every time I looked at her. "You nervous?"

"A bit," I admitted. "You?"

She nodded, "But it's not just the fight. I don't really like being around this many people. I think it's the scavenger in me."

"I get it. A lot of these allies have tried to kill us in the past. You've dealt with that more than me."

"They don't make you nervous though, do they?" She shrugged, "I can tell. You just...don't seem on edge, I guess."

"You're right. I'm not sure why, but it's like my brain accepted that they're going to help us, so I trust them to help us through this. Well, maybe not the crazy old guy on my team."

"The one Saris wanted you to have?" I nodded. "Why him?"

"He was the first person that had attacked me last cycle. Saris saved me from him. The guy was going after newbies on purpose."

She cringed slightly, "Not a fan of that. But try not to hold it against him for now. He's here, like the rest of us."

I sighed, "That's...forgiving."

"I'm not saying it's okay. And I'm not saying you should trust him. It's just...Everybody has reasons for how they act in this thing. Some are more justified than others, but when it comes down to it, we're all in this together." She flashed me another smile and I couldn't help but smile back. "We should get into our teams. Saris will be back soon." My smile faded but I nodded. She came close and hugged me, "Be careful."

I closed my arms around her. I knew she was strong, but I was nervous that she wouldn't make it. "You too."

She released her hold on me and stepped back. Our eyes met and a kaleidoscope of butterflies swarmed inside my stomach. I was either nervous for her, or just infatuated; probably both. I wanted to embrace her again but I was too late. She left, meeting with Kain and then started to gather her team to ready them. I watched her till she disappeared into the crowd, hoping that she'd be safe for her part of the fight and that we'd meet again after the battle was over.

I shook myself out of my daze and started gathering my own team, noticing Ruffus doing the same. The first person I came across was, of course, the same person I had just been talking about; the crazy old guy who tried to kill me last cycle. Demi's advice was still fresh in my mind and I decided to trust her instinct. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy and just didn't know what to do.

"Hey," I said, getting his attention. "We're gathering up. Umm...I don't think I got your name before. I'm Xander."

He smiled and I thought it looked less senile than I had remembered. "Nice to officially meet you, Xander, I'm Jack. I'll help you find everyone."

I thanked him and, noticing some of the ranged group already heading to the cliff, asked him to help me get everyone else in place. Soon the three teams had gathered in their positions. Kain and Demi's stealth squad headed down the beach, then turned towards the town so they would be able to get behind our enemy without running into them. Ruffus's combat group was at the edge of the water, next to the cliff, where I stood with the ranged team scattered amidst the cliff's various platforms like I had discussed with them the day before. The area I was on, had enough room for two people and I had taken Jack as my cliffside-buddy. It was a bit tight, but I thought we could use this spot effectively together. I could extend my sword, but the range wasn't unlimited and at this height, I would only be able to fend off attackers trying to climb the cliff or strike at enemies that got too close. Jack wouldn't be using his sword much, unless we had to defend the cliff from people trying to scale it. Instead, he'd be using his powers to stop people in time, one by one, to make the fight easier for the combat group.

Ruffus was encouraging his group, telling them to "Stand tall" and "Work together" and to "Believe in yourself!" It made me think I should be doing the same, but I didn't know what to say. I'm not usually the best with words. Maybe I should do the Lord of the Ring's speech that Aragorn does at the end of Return of the King....how did that go? Oh yeah!

"I see-"

"It's Saris!" Ruffus shouted and I stopped to look. It was probably for the best. I doubt that my version of Aragorn's speech would've been very uplifting anyway.

Saris ran to the beach, getting my attention so I could summon my shield back. He had done it! He was alive! But I didn't get to linger on his success for long. The army was approaching the beach. They ran towards us, only to be surprised when the tourist shops boomed and came crashing downward. When the explosion sounded, I jumped and nearly fell backward, into Jack.

"Don't worry, kid. I've seen it before. That's what that big mustached feller...Rupert? Can do." He pointed to Ruffus, who was smiling at the dust billowing.

"I think his name's Ronald," I stated flatly.

"It's Ruffus!" Ruffus shouted, swearing at us. Apparently, he had heard our private conversation.

The explosion didn't seem to hurt the enemy much, but it did limit their mobility more and it looked like we might have bought ourselves some time by splitting the army in two.

The portion of the army that was storming the beach was still larger than the amount of people we had, so we had to rely on our stronger members and our strategy to try and combat the brute force of the enemy. They came at us in a rage and I wondered if Saris had anything to do with it. I glanced his way but he was focused on the fight and when I turned back, they were in range.

Arrows, daggers and axes rained down from above. Fire, stones and waves of energy were cast down at the hoard we faced, raining down in fury onto our enemies. I saw many of them vanish, death taking them, but their sheer number still overwhelmed the front lines. Some were wounded, but most either dodged or blocked the oncoming assault. The ranged team continued their attack, summoning back their weapons to release them again, or summoning powers to rain an onslaught of danger from the skies.

This battle was different from fighting a small team or an individual. In those fights, there was something to focus on that kept your mind at ease about the situation. You could always react because everything was in view, but this was chaos and I had a hard time looking at it all. My mind got confused with what to take in and I had to force myself to just focus on the small task I had been given. My job was to keep the cliff clear of enemies and try to take some of them out if I could reach them. I swung my sword downward, striking against an unexpecting victim down below. My shield also came in handy since the enemy was shooting weapons and powers at us.

Jack was behind me, looking at the fight and occasionally twitching his hand. Sometimes, I would notice someone freeze before getting stabbed and disappearing in death, but most of the time, I was too preoccupied with what I was doing. My powered shield protected us perfectly against our opponent's ranged attacks. Every so often, I threw my sword at a cluster of approaching enemies, but it rarely killed anyone off. My aim wasn't great. It usually just hit the ground near someone else, but at least I wasn't hitting anyone on our side.

If a particular threat began taking members of our team out, I'd have Jack freeze them next. Apparently, there was a cooldown for Jack's ability because he often took a few minutes to talk to me after he froze someone.

"Hey, so..." Jack said, cautiously, "I just want to make sure there's no hard feelings about me trying to kill you last time."

I grunted after blocking a strong attack with my shield. I wasn't hurt but the attack had nearly forced me to fall over. "About that, why do you target newbies?"

"It's a long story."

"Well, I think we have time. This doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon."

I heard him sigh, then he peeked over my shoulder and froze another person, throwing his sword at them to take them out but the weapon missed. "Well, think of it this way. My power isn't all that great."

"You can stop time for someone," I said flatly.

"When you say it like that, it's great! But I can only do it for one person and then I have to wait a couple minutes before I can do it again."

"I'm not seeing your point."

"I need a team to be effective. That or I need to find people that are alone."

I glanced back. This was a mistake because another strong attack hit the top of my shield and it resulted in me hitting myself in the face. "Ow!" Embarrassment aside, I was alright. "What about your sword skills?"

"I'm not very good. There's not much I can do to win at this game, so I try to make it harder for others to adapt by killing them off before they know what's going on."

I sighed, trying to keep my temper down, "That's not right."

"I know. I just want to see my daughter again. It seemed like the only way I might be able to do it."

"You have a kid?"

"Yes. She's growing up though. And I'm missing her live her life. She probably thinks I ran off and abandoned her and her mom."

"But do you really want to go back to your family by cheating people out of getting a fair start? Look, I know that this game isn't fair or fun or easy or whatever, but you've got to give people a fair chance. Just work hard. You can take newbies under your wing instead of killing them. That way, you'd get teammates and you can improve your skill while you help develop theirs. Use your ability in new and interesting ways. Experiment a little. "

He considered what I had said for a moment, then asked, "How?"

"I dunno. Umm... Try to stop the next attack, rather than the person attacking."

He looked over my shoulder again. Soon, a visible ball of blue, white energy was coming towards us. He twitched his hand and...we got hit. My shield successfully blocked the attack but Jack seemed frustrated.

"I just don't know if I'm going to be able to learn new things like this."

"Stop being so stubborn," I said, surprising myself with my bluntness. "Even if the only thing you can stop is people, that doesn't mean you can't be a force on the battlefield. Work on your sword skills."

Jack didn't say anything at first. I wondered if I had been too harsh; it's not like I knew him very well. But after a while, he spoke, "That's good advice."

I had Jack freeze a man who was electrocuting multiple people at once. He had only been at it a short time but had taken out six members of our army. Once he was still, I threw my sword at him and got a direct hit! My first one so far. Looking around, I summoned my sword back, extended it and slashed at a few people trying to climb the wall of the cliff.

"So, you're going to stop seeking out newbies?" I pressed, hoping that I might have changed Jack's mind.

"I think so. To be honest, I've been telling myself to stop doing that for four cycles now, but I didn't really know what to do. Now that you've said it, it seems obvious."

"Just stick with it. It'll take a lot of work and practice, but if you stick with it, it'll pay off."

My own progress came to mind. I had started fairly good with a weapon, in part, I think because Tommy and I used to spar with wooden swords as kids. Sure, we didn't have technique and we didn't intend to hurt each other, but it gave us some amount of understanding of that type of combat. Then, when I arrived here, Saris had taken me under his wing and trained me. He made me improve quickly thanks to his intensive lessons. There were several times that I had doubted my skill because it was hard for me to believe that someone like me could improve so much in such a short time; but here I was, not only a part of this massive fight, but leading one of the teams.

Suddenly, I was falling, but not towards the ground. It was a strange sensation that confused my brain. The ground was supposed to be below me but I seemed to be falling at an angle and before I realized what to do, I had fallen off the cliff's edge and continued falling in the same odd angle. I looked where I was headed and realized who I was about to collide with; Goliath, and he was in full form, huge and foreboding. There was nothing I could do to prevent running into him and he seemed ready to catch me; probably to rip me apart. I thrust my sword at him but he blocked with his axe so I put my shield between us and braced for impact.

I never collided with the large man. Instead, I dropped to the ground and noticed Saris attacking the blue haired girl standing next to the giant. Together, Goliath and Blue Hair managed to fend off Saris' attack and I stood up to help him. The battle all around us made me nervous, but there was nothing to do about it. I had to focus on the fight in front of me. It took me a moment, but I realized that there was a third person with them. A thin, short man was practically hiding behind the giant. The big man nudged him gently and the man fell over, holding his stance as if...he was frozen in time. Jack rushed up to step beside me, his long, thin sword out and aimed at the trio in front of us.

Saris didn't wait and Jack and I were only a moment behind him. We had the advantage while their third was down and we all knew it wouldn't stay that way for long. Saris went straight for the man on the ground but the girl had done something strange with her hand. Saris plunged his sword into the sand and grabbed the handle, dangling from it, but not towards the ground; he was horizontal. Grunting, he pulled himself up to stand on his sword. He was standing straight on the blade, as if the ground was no longer...the ground.

Jack and I ran past Saris, intending to finish the downed man but the giant stood in our path and swung his greataxe, forcing us to back off. He pressured us more, forcing us further back as he stepped forward. We were losing ground too quickly but every time we tried to split up, the giant man's range was able to keep us contained. We'd have to deal with him first.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Saris, slowly making his way to the time-stopped man. He would stand on his sword, jump, then resummon his sword to his hand so he could plunge it into the sand again, then climb back up. It looked exhausting and I wondered how much strength it took to keep the sword from just falling out. It was sand, not dirt. Saris must have used his ability to take the giant man's strength, otherwise, he could probably have taken the girl's ability and gotten himself back to normal. When he finally reached the man and went to attack, the man could move again and he blocked Saris' blow, pushing him upwards slightly. Saris fell, not to the ground, but to the cliff. He seemed alright, just stuck and while he was only a few feet behind us we didn't have much time to help him. Jack and I had to deal with the giant in front of us.

So far, we had managed to avoid any blows from Goliath. He seemed more interested in keeping us away from the others while the smaller guy was frozen, but now he was ready to attack and we were the ones down one fighter, since it would take Saris a few moments to get back; if he managed to get back at all since there were still enemies all around. I didn't dare look back to see if Saris was alright, but I knew we had to do something about the girl. She had some sort of gravity power. We were in a dangerous enough situation without having to deal with not knowing which way was up.

"Jack! Blue!" I hoped he'd understand and freeze the girl. After seeing him freeze people since the battle started, I knew he'd be able to use his power again. If we stopped her in time, we'd have a better chance against the other two.

He did as I asked and even though Blue tried to dodge out of the way, Jack's power didn't work like that. She stopped in mid-air and I wondered why she didn't fall as her smaller ally had. With no time to reflect on the oddity, I turned my attention to my most immediate threat; the giant man.

I had been nervous about this fight ever since I saw him tear someone apart with his bare hands. The same fear gripped me when I hid, instead of trying to fight against Fire King, at the graveyard. My fear, and the disappointment I had in myself, lingered in the back of my mind and even now, a large part of me wanted to run. But I had made up my mind; I was going to stand my ground and face the fear that had previously gripped me.

Readying my weapons, I took a deep breath and charged the giant, shouting as I ran. He went to strike me down with his greataxe but I sidestepped the powerful blow and used my power to lengthen my sword, striking at the man's left arm. My blade cut deep and my opponent reared back, cursing loudly. I didn't stop. Allowing my weapons to vanish, I leaped at the man and resummoned my sword in mid-air, heaving it sideways at the man's injured arm. With all of my strength, I pressed as hard as I could and the large limb fell without its owner, who released a scream that I didn't think was humanly possible.

Just for a moment, I felt eyes on me. This fight was no longer private. The sounds of battle quieted slightly. There were still clangs of metal and roars of fighting, but they were more distant. There was no time to stop to dwell on the unnerving silence. The blue-haired girl that could alter gravity would be free soon and the previously frozen man was up and...what was he doing? I chanced a glance his way and saw Jack fighting him. Thanks to him, I would hopefully be able to finish my fight with the big guy.

The giant's screams had stopped and he raged towards me in a fury. Blood oozed out from his new stump and he swung his axe wildly at me, but the blows were easy to dodge. Maybe it was due to blood loss, or maybe it was his anger, but his strikes were obvious and I managed to avoid them without difficulty. While dodging, I struck again, cutting deep into his leg. The big man was limping badly and nearly fell over as he tried to distance himself from me. Now was the time to finish this. Rushing forward, I dodged his awkward swing and jumped, plunging my blade deep into his chest. As he disappeared, I fell back to the ground, landing softly on the sand.

Saris arrived at my side, "Good work. Let's finish them off."

We ran towards the frozen girl and the man, locked in combat with Jack. Saris went to strike down Blue Hair, but she moved and dodged his strike at the last moment. Before Saris could press his advantage, several specs of sand arose from our feet and swirled around, creating a sort of sand-cloud. It was difficult to see anything and I wondered if this was from the blue-haired girl or someone else.

"Shield yourself," Saris shouted and I did, using my power to energize the shield, protecting me from a wider angle. Sand was no longer flying at my face, but I still couldn't see past the sandstorm.

I heard a short grunt, then another. The sand fell to the ground and I realized that the man that had been with Goliath and Blue Hair had been doing this somehow. Saris' large blade pierced him through his chest, but I also saw Jack, impaled by the dying man's blade. Both of them vanished, headed for the next game.

I felt bad for Jack. In the short time we were together, my opinion of him had changed dramatically. He wasn't really a bad guy and I wished I could have done more for him. He just wanted to get back to his family. I made a mental note to let Jack use my phone the next time I saw him.

Saris squared off against Blue Hair and I rushed in to back him up, but he waved me off, "I got this."

"You sure?" I asked, eyeing the girl.

"Find Demi and her team. I have a bad feeling and I just want to check it out."

"Then shouldn't you go? Besides, what about the ranged team?"

"You'd have a tough time here. The team will be fine. Go!"

"Alright," I turned to leave and I heard a clang of metal behind me, Saris blocking an attack. I didn't look back. With my sword and shield out, I slashed at the enemies in my path, not entirely sure they were all enemies, but I had to keep moving towards where Demi's group had gone. Maybe Saris was just being paranoid, but his 'feelings' often turned out right. What would I run into when I reached the stealth team? Hopefully, things would be alright and Saris' feeling would be wrong, but my gut told me it wasn't.