Tales of An Nam

chapter 9: Qi fighters (2)

Thugs recovered fast with some given Overdox, preying once more on the boys. The boys felt heavy footsteps getting closer to their hiding spot. With the wounds, Thần failed to perform accurate movement. His friend, as well, lost stamina from the previous fight. As desperate time came, the boys suddenly sensed a Qi followed into them, healed their minds. The eyes could see the blue Qi flowing around the body, refreshing and calming as the wind.

"Stop this madness-" Thanh Thuận stepped in with men from afar. "What the hell do you think you are doing?"

"You don't understand!" The Fervent Master cried, pointing his arms to the men. "I can fix this, just give me time!"

"Brother, you're insane!" Tân Thành commented, step forward to the confronted man. "You are supposed to be the best of us."

The Fervent Master hesitated for a moment, then forced his arms to whoever dared to confront him. Thugs quickly created a formation, prepared to execute any obstacles on the way.

Khải Minh exhaled; loaded his arms and aimed at the target. Looking at the new commander, the Pokemen waited for a response. Thuận expressed a deep sadness in his eyes, as if he had known the story and carried it far too long. As Thuận turned down his mouth's corner in a deep frown, he held back his dried lips to say words which gave unspeakable pain. Thus, Thuận stood in silence; observed the man who used to be the best of the Pokemen currently pointing his arms at them.

"You point your arms at us, brother-" Thuận pointed his finger to the confronted men. "Charge!"

The air thickened with tension as two parties skirmished with each other in the heart of the District 1. Fists flew, and weapons were fired as the two groups clashed. Men screamed in the air, as bystanders fled everywhere, seeking for safety. The two sides evenly matched in power.

Commanders of the parties clashed, retaliated fists and counters among the men.

Thần and Lâm recovered from their hiding spots, fighting side by side with the Pokemen. Youngster Phong, especially, commanded a man in a yellow costume to use thunderbolts on the opponents.

"You were supposed to be the chosen one-" Thuận parried a jab from the opponent; retaliated with a kick to make distance in between. Thuận remembered the days when the Fervent Master first introduced him to the Pokemen. At that time, the man helped Thuận a lot in many ways. Thuận thought that the Pokemen would become a new step in his life as he devoted to the big corpus. When he heard the news, Thuận refused to think that his trusty man would ever do such a deed. "Is money making you mad?"

"You understand nothing!" The opponent struck back, hitting Thuận a few steps back. "We are not the same!"

The Fervent Master never was a chosen one, he claimed, since the man had tried his best to devote to the big corpus. The man looked up to Master Phong, an upper-man who introduced him to the Pokemen, and guided men as the Master would conduct such deeds. Yet, perhaps the man's deeds failed to please the big corpus as Master Phong always shook his head with the result.

"What does the big corpus want from me?" The Fervent Master implored at a coffee shop one day. "It has been years since I served in the group."

"You show prominent results-" Master Phong presented a speech, nodding in agreement. However, a moment of hesitation occurred between the speech, giving doubt to the other. "Yet, the corpus needs more time to evaluate the deeds."

The Fervent Master gazed beyond the horizon, seeking a proper explanation for the response. Yet, the more the man thought of it, the more the mind lost its patience. In fact, the Fervent Master had never done such a deed that would deter the growth of his men. Moreover, the man had nurtured some best candidates for the big corpus. Master Phong looked at the one in front who rubbed his hands endlessly in a slow motion, exhaled deeply.