Pete gave a mischievous smile. He looked like a puppet master. His plan had worked to perfection but I was still weary of it. This guy looked like cake but I could feel his power from inside Pete’s biorhythm and it was nothing to sneeze at, and to be honest, outside the Battle of New Angeles I had never seen Pete in an actual fight. I was so nervous I was unconsciously tapping my fingers on the dashboard. Uriah turned to me noticing my anxiousness. I quickly stopped non-verbally apologizing raising my hands in a relenting fashion.
“So, you accept?” Pete replied verifying.
Aeneas didn’t reply he just stared him in the eyes without a word. He hopped down off the fence.
“Could we just skip the formalities, I just want to bounce your head off my boot,” he replied.
BOOM! Pete narrowly dodged a straight ahead attack. He wasn’t overly fast or agile. Pete easily parried his blow causing him to strike a nearby barn.
BLUNT! BUM! BOOM! Pete quickly attacked as the two clashed blows.
The force of the blows were like many earthquakes and destroyed the terrain around them.
Pete leaped backwards as dropping to one knee. I could feel his exhaustion and it was baffling because the battle had lasted all of three minutes.
“Pete, what’s going on?” I replied puzzled.
“It’s this guy,” he replied panting.
BOOM! Pete dodged rolling trying to get distance but he wasn’t fast enough.
“UGH!” he groaned as Aeneas punted him in the rib.
PONG! PUM! BOOM! Pete skipped across the terrain like a rock and slammed hard into the barn crumbling it on contact.
“Stttttrrrrike!” Aeneas mocked.
Aeneas gingerly walked in Pete’s direction stalking him like prey. Pete fought to his feet struggling to stand. His vision was blurry and looking through his eyes via BAU the whole world was spinning.
“What’s going on?” I asked frantically.
“I don’t know,” Uriah replied. “Pete, why did you say ‘it’s this guy’?”
Pete sputtered then fell to his knee yet again.
“This guy, he’s like a nuke,” Pete replied. “Whenever I get near him…he drains me.”
Pete looked terrible. He could barely stand and his BAU was like a pitchy radio broadcast.
“Peek-a-boo, sonny boy, I see you,” Aeneas replied lifting a piece of carnage and tossing it like a crumbled piece of paper.
ZIRP! WHAM! Without a warning he vanished and reappeared pressing Pete against a nearby wall with earth shattering force.
“Isn’t it funny how children have these ideological Fanta-full belief in there self,” he mocked. “It’s one of the many things that separates a child from an adult? An adult doesn’t make rash decisions based on impulse. They have the experience to understand consequences because they faced pitfalls which demands the respect of caution but you children…”
BOOM! UGH! He pulled back and slammed Pete against a wall causing him to wince in pain. Pete’s eyes grew showcasing a look of pure pain. He could barely keep his eyes open as Aeneas seemed to be sucking the life out of him as he continued to batter him.
“We have to do something,” I fired turning to Uriah.
Uriah shook his head sorrowfully.
“No, we can’t, this is not our trial it’s his,” he replied in a regretful tone.
“Forget this stupid trial, Pete’s not going to end up in some hospital for a week,” I shot back angrily.
“Could you please give the guy a chance to fight his own battle,” Uriah replied. “Pete’s a smart resourceful kid, give him a chance to prove it.”
I ignored his words as I stared at the screen. After Sai and Beth my mind just didn’t register the same anymore. I was just finally realizing that we were kids thrust into adult situations. We weren’t kids who trained for this for years, we weren’t even adults who have lived a long enough life to gain that experience. We were just regular kids a month and a half ago, and now here we were fighting some of the nasty beast in existence and the complete absurdity of it was finally sinking in.
URHG! URHG! Pete choked trying to speak as life slowly started to drain from his mouth. I couldn’t take it anymore. I analyzed Luke’s wormhole technique until I had it down but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get it. I need to get to Pete and fast.
“Screw this,” I replied grabbing the medallion around my neck. “This thing is a wormhole jumper, right.”
Uriah shook his head disapprovingly.
“Yeah,” he replied relenting.
I grabbed the medallion. I really didn’t know how to use the thing to get to Pete but I couldn’t watch anymore.
“Tim, wait,” Uriah replied stopping me.
“No, I can’t watch anymore,” I shot back angrily. “I’m not watching another one of my friends end up in a hospital once again because of my decision.”
“No, look!” he replied pointing at the screen.
BLAM! Just as I was about to disappear a light appeared erupting like a fire cracker-like lightning strike sending Pete and Aeneas in opposite directions.
UGH! Pete groaned rolling over in a heap. The explosion seemed to only negatively affect Aeneas. I let go of my medallion and leaned in to get a better look. What had happened?
“Pete, are you okay?” Uriah replied.
Pete nodded scraping himself off the ground.
“Yeah, but that guy, I can’t fight him. His body emits some type of neural toxin. I’m useless when he’s close to me,” he replied. “At least until I can breakdown the subatomic make up of his attack, I got to keep my distance or I’m done.”
I looked at Uriah puzzled in my demeanor.
“Pete, what happened?” I replied in suspense. “How did you get lose?”
Pete banged his palm on the side of his temple in an attempt to clear the cobb-webs.
“I didn’t,” he replied surprising us both. “I thought one of you guys intervened.”
“No, we didn’t do anything,” I replied. “He was holding you then an explosion of lightning separated the two of you. You’re telling me that wasn’t you.”
He surveyed the layout as if to be looking for someone else before responding.
“No, I don’t know what that was but…” he rose and leaped away giving himself some distance as Aeneas started to come through. “I’m not complaining.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his bag of capsule pills. He rummaged through the pouch before pulling out a shiny gold capsule with a red label that read DOVER.
“This should even the odds a little,” he replied tossing the capsule on the ground.
POOF! It exploded revealing a robot with red and black paint. It was the exact bot I saw Pete working on the day before. It was huge almost twice his size. He pulled a chip out of his back pocket walked over and placed it in a slot just behind the bots calf. It sputter then started.
“Let’s see him get through Dover,” he replied.
As he spoke he pulled his hammer from its holster. He gripped and extended it causing it to become larger and smaller at will.
“Now game on,” Pete replied getting ready.
Aeneas shook his head like he was trying to wince through the pain. He grabbed his jaw and moved it back and forth.
“So, there’s a Dom here with you,” he replied. “From the feel of it, a pretty powerful one.”
His words threw me. What was he talking about? Was Sean here? Or was he talking about Pete.
“What are you talking about?” Pete replied taking the words out of my mouth.
“I’ll show you what I’m talking about, whoever it was who appeared to protect you. Therefore, if I smack you around a little while longer they’ll stick their nose out long enough for me to rip it off,” he replied pulling off his jacket and tossing it down angrily.
I had no idea what he was talking about but Aeneas’s demeanor had clearly changed, he seemed less composed. Before he was a little angry, now he was livid, and I also sensed a bit of fear in his disposition. The power had him rattled and he was afraid but why?
“Try it,” Pete replied.
BANG! Dover attacked high but Aeneas blocked him on contact.
“What is this a subatomic bot?” Aeneas groaned holding off. “Thinking outside of the box?”
BANG! BANG! BANG! BOOM! The two changed pace going at each other with mind blowing speed.
“Pete, that won’t be enough. I understand you created the bot to compensate for your lack of speed and close range fighting ability but you’ll never win because the bot isn’t powerful enough,” Uriah replied. “He can’t think as fast as a true living breathing being.”
PING! PING! PANG! BOP! BOOM! The bot was going toe to toe keeping in step with Aeneas but it was obvious Aeneas was simply toying with it. Just as the two were going to collide again Aeneas disappeared and reappeared behind the bot punting it like a football high in the air.
“Close but no….”
BANG! Aeneas head almost detached from his head. Pete swung his hammer like a boomerang smashing the demon with a direct hit.
“Awesome!” I exclaimed raising my hands.
Aeneas flew across the ground and skipped across the yard wrecking through a couple wood fences before landing in a heap in the middle of a grass field. He fought to stand but crumpled still reeling from the blow.
“Bravo, I couldn’t have done it better myself,” Uriah added.
Pete nodded catching his hammer with one hand like a boomerang.
“Like I said, I’m a Virt too,” Pete replied. “I understand the limitations of my bots better than anyone. My plan was never to let my bot fight for me, he is simply an extension of my ability.”
GRRRHH! POOM! Aeneas grunted in anguish punching the ground in anger creating a crater.
“I’m going to destroy you for that” he replied in a calm yet erupting stern manner.
Before I could blink he was gone and heading for Pete.
“Bring it,” Pete replied with a smirk.
POOF! BANG! Aeneas appeared in front of Pete but before he could strike the bot intervened sending him in the opposite direction.
“Watch the birdie,” Pete replied flipping his hammer like a coin with one hand.
WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH! Pete began to spin with his hammer like he was throwing a shot-put building so much momentum that the wind around him took the shape of a tornado.
“Try blocking this one,” Pete replied launching the hammer toward a vulnerable Aeneas.
PUPF! Aeneas let out as the hammer collided with him. His body looked like it was about to snap in half from the impact of the blow.
“Impressive,” Aeneas replied coughing up blood from the blow.
BOOF! BUFF! BOOM! He ricocheted off the ground and flew into the already destroyed remains of the barn with bone shattering force.
“That blow,” I replied recognizing it immediately. “That bot, it fights like Sam, it’s almost identical.”
“Exactly,” Pete replied confidently. “I made him using Sam’s algorithm. You know me, I use every advantage I can. I wanted to make bots that excelled at the abilities that I lacked. Two of those areas are close range reflexes and speed, because of that, I had to rely on Sam. All that sparring we did didn’t go to waste. I uploaded Sam’s practice sessions and created software for Dover based on his algorithms and tendencies, and although Uriah is right about the limitations, with me running point I can work to my strengths using them to take some heat off my weak points.”
“Do you have one for me?” I replied my curiosity peaked.
“There not clones, Tim. They just take small algorithms based on fighting styles. They are extremely generic at this point,” he replied a bit annoyed.
“So, do you have an algorithm based on me?” I pressed.
“Tim, No,” he replied.
“So, what are you saying Sam’s fighting styles better than mine?” I added thrown.
“Tim, this is not the time for that, besides, Sam is the exact opposite of me. I needed someone who’s strength’s where the antithesis of mine and he fit the bill,” he continued.
I shook my head. There was never a wasted experience with Pete he was a pure genius. He was the same in everything he did always deducting, preparing, and putting himself in the best position to succeed. He thought of every scenario and had a plan for the backup of his backup plan. That was just the type of person he was.
“Things just got a little more interesting,” Aeneas replied tossing a large wood column off of him.