The Anthem Force Chronicles

Rally

This chapter is dedicated to lallaLauren because she is another person who is always awesome and takes the time to comment. Thanks to all my readers!

We trained every day after school the next week, setting up Liberty Park as our new training ground. I brought out cones and weights and pretty much went the whole nine yards.

My team seemed to be getting better and actually listening to me when we did drills. They were still rough around the edges but the improvement was visible already. I trained too, slowly at first, but it was almost too easy to get back in the swing of things.

David was always present, cockily running through the drills like an old pro. He made sure I wouldn’t let in, always making me get back up when I wanted to take breaks or quit. The few times my leg collapsed on me he was the first to offer me a hand up.

Maybe, just maybe this would all work out.

“All right Andy, maneuver seven,” I call out to my team.  We’re all in the center of Liberty Park, surrounded by grass on all sides and not another soul in sight, and practicing fighting maneuvers.

David stands next to me, arms crossed, and a pair of dark glasses concealing his eyes. He nods every so often and offers corrective techniques, which is good because he probably knows more then I do.

Andy nods in my direction before getting down on one knee and cupping her hands in front of her. She looks innocent enough with blond, braided pigtails and sweatpants. You would never be able to tell she was capable of bench-pressing a semi truck.

With Andy in position Radley begins to run at her full speed. He’s still in his normal form with all his red hair and glasses glory. When he reaches Andy he jumps on her hand and she catapults him up in the sky.

Radley soars to an unbelievable height and mid flight he transforms into his shape-shifted monster form. Black scales erupt from his chest, he quadruples in size, and black spikes pop out all over his body. I’ve been around him long enough so it no longer affects me but I can hear David utter a “whoa” as he takes in the new Radley.

Radley falls back to earth with his fist extended forward. He lands on a dummy we placed in the middle of the field and punches it upon impact. The dummy’s head flies clear off and Radley crashes to the ground with an earth quaking boom.

“Keith, now!” I command. Keith comes out from the opposite direction and his hands began to glow with power. He unleashes the energy bolt straight at the headless dummy and it erupts into flames on contact.

The dummy, our stand in villain, is left in a pile of ash. Not bad, not bad at all.

“Booyah!” Keith yells out as he pumps his fist in the air, “And the winner’s are Anthem Force!”

Andy rolls her eyes, “Did you really just say booyah?”

“What if I did?” Keith says as he gives her a challenging smirk. Andy’s face crumples up as she gives Keith the stare down.

“Enough!” I shout. Part of the “reinvent Anthem Force” thing was no more bickering between Keith and Andy. We were a team and they were going to act like it. If they wanted to argue they could do it on their own time, “Let’s go again this time trying maneuver nineteen.”

David drags another dummy into the center of the field and props it upright. We've drawn out a whole set of drills for my team to practice. The goal is for them to finally start working together and so far it's been an all day effort. Hence the ample supply of dummies to pummel into ash.

“They look better,” David says to me as he walks back over, “They flow more together, you know?”

“They’re getting there,” I say with a nod as I watch the scene in front of me unfold.

Radley is coming at the dummy from the left, back in monster form, and Keith from the right. Keith is actually listening for once but part of me knows it’s only because of David’s presence. Despite the fact Keith can shoot lightning from his forearms he’s terrified of David.

The last component is Andy, flying high in the sky and ready to take an aerial attack. The whole formation is about to come together when Andy suddenly loses her path and starts sputtering around. She flails out her arms as she plummets to the earth. When she lands the whole ground shakes and even from where I’m standing I stumble to the side.

“On no,” I mumble as I sprint to the giant crater her fall created, David and the rest of the team right behind me. Andy is crumpled in the center and as she sits up she begins to hold her head.

“Wh- what-,” she asks when she notices us all standing around her. Her face suddenly grows dark as the realization sets in. She floats out of the crater and lands next to us, her shoulders slumped. “My powers shorted out again, didn’t they?”

We all look to one another. She just looks so defeated.

“Don’t feel too bad, it happens to Keith all the time,” Radley says.

“Hey!” Keith shouts back, but even he doesn’t have the nerve to say anything more.

“Why don’t you guys go work on some fighting techniques with David,” I offer, “Andy and I are going to talk.”

The boys shrug and go off while Andy slumps to the ground.

“I’m so sick of this!” she grits, “Why can’t I ever control my powers? I’m always floating around when I shouldn’t be or they suddenly give out on me for no reason. I hate it.”

I sit down next to her. “Look your still new to the whole ‘power’ thing you shouldn’t feel bad about not being able to control them yet. Like Radley said,  Keith can’t control his powers either.”

“But I’m not Keith. I’m a powerhouse and a lame one at that. All people with my set of powers are the best of the best and I’m just a failure. I should be this teams greatest strength and yet I can’t even fly in a straight line without crashing down.”

“Look,” I tell her, “You’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself and I think that’s the problem. Your powers don’t always work because you get nervous and second guess yourself and honestly you shouldn’t.”

“Yah right,” she mumbles.

“Okay I’m going to be straight up with you,” I say, “You are nervous and lack confidence which is silly since you’re practically indestructible. But that doesn’t even matter because that’s not what makes a hero. You have a good heart Andy and that’s what’s going to get you to the next level. All you have to do is believe in yourself and trust it will all come with time.”

Andy is silent for a moment before she looks back at me with a grin. “So I’m really indestructible?”

I lean back on the grass, my hands behind my head. “Pretty much. It’s usually the same for all powerhouse types like you. Come to think of it you probably only have one weakness.”

“And that is?”

“Merlonium. It’s a special element that for some reason cancels out powers in certain heroes.” I pull the rock from my utility belt and hold it up to Andy. She cringes back and holds her hand in front of her face to shield herself.

“Ah, get it away,” she says as I put it back in my belt, “I guess you were right, that stuff is nasty. Where’d you even get if from?”

I hesitate for a moment. Might as well tell her. “Luke gave it to me before he left. He figured if anything ever happened where he turned evil he wanted me to have it. You know, to stop him.”

Andy is silent and keeps looking from my pocket back at me. I can see the wheels turning in that head of hers.

“Hey,” I say as I sit up, “Let’s get back in there and practice some more drills. You ready?”

Andy floats to her feet and then offers me a hand. “Ready,” she grins, “And thanks Dante by the ways.”

“No problem,” I smile as she flies off to join her team.

“Alright Anthem Force,” I call out at the top of my lungs, “Maneuver ten!”