“Soul Fire”

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Mallory grumbled as she worked her black jacket off her shoulders, revealing her short tank-top that barely stopped before her jeans.

Nosedive snorted. “I can’t believe you said ‘yes.’ ”

“You really could’ve asked Canard.” She tied the jacket about her waist and accepted the slip handed to her. “He might have enjoyed this, too.”

“Yeah, I guess, but you are so much better at shooting Shadow Cult Ninjas than he is,” Nosedive replied with a broad smile that lit his face, and Mallory again discovered why the boy was voted the NHL sexiest player since he turned eighteen.

As she filled out the registration paper, she wondered the same sediment as Nosedive. Why did she say yes? She cringed at every fake blaster noise and scowled when a nerdy boy with long hair and thick glasses banged into her back. He smiled and apologized, but part of her thought he did it on purpose. After all, how many attractive females—of any species— entered the Anaheim Arcade?

Mallory knew why she agreed, of course, and that was probably what scared her into denial. She didn’t know when it happened really, but sometime during the last five years, Nosedive changed in her eyes. When she first met the boy when he was sixteen, she thought nothing of him. Okay, that was a little harsh. She thought he was a punk kid who had no skills to add to the team or the cause and perhaps, if he was lucky, was a P.O.W. exchange candidate.

But now, at the age of twenty-one, Nosedive had grown. He stood just about as tall as Duke, though it became apparent he would never meet his brother’s height. His muscles had evened and filled out his chest, but his body slimmed at his waist. His jeans held him in all the right places, and more than once she took the pleasure of cocking her head to the side and watching him walk in front of her. Even his hair he cut, so it was more manageable.

And if that wasn’t enough to grab her attention, she marveled at his commitments. When the group realized they wouldn’t return home in the foreseeable future, Wildwing forced his brother to achieve his GED and then apply to colleges, so when they finally did return to Puckworld, Nosedive wouldn’t have to go to school with students so much younger than he. Though Nosedive protested to no end, eventually the boy applied to ULCA, which took the superstar hockey player without hesitation. Within the next year, the boy would graduate with degrees in both music and graphic art, and she couldn’t say she wasn’t impressed. Of the team, Tanya was the only other person to graduate a secondary school.

Still, she couldn’t say the boy—no, the drake—had matured when she looked about the arcade.

“All done?” the attendant behind the table asked, then took both her and Nosedive’s papers. “Awesome! Then, grab a set of blasters and helmets and head into the chamber.”

“Helmets?” Mallory echoed, pinching Nosedive in the forearm. “You never said anything about helmets!”

“If I would’ve, would you have come?”

“No! It’s going to mess up my hair!”

“Exactly why I didn’t tell you.”

At that moment, Mallory McMallard, captain in the Puckworld Legion, channeled death enough to kill Dragaunus, yet Nosedive Flashblade did nothing but smirk and wrap his hair into a tiny ponytail. He then handed her the contraption, which wore like a bike helmet with a thin screen across the eyes that reached from one temple to the other. Mallory then strapped on the side-holster with blaster and followed her partner into the chamber. The game area was bigger than she thought, dark with only the purple overhead lights along with a platform that looked like the dance floor on Dick Clark’s Rocking New Year’s Eve. Even a banister curled about it to keep people from falling off the edge.

Mallory growled under her breath as she pushed her hair back as best she could and heard Nosedive’s snickering. She retaliated with a slap across the back of his head, and despite wearing the helmet, he still yelled, “Ow!”

“Ah, so you bought a new one, eh, Flashblade?” a snide gamer hissed from behind, and when Mallory turned, she almost laughed at the prepubescent challenger. “And here I had already laminated your and Thrash’s names in second place on the winner’s list.”

“Are you kidding? This year, I had to bring out the big guns.” Nosedive clasped a hand about Mallory’s shoulders and pressed her against his muscular chest, causing her breath to speed. “No doubt. You and your trigger-happy little sister are going down, Nathan.”

“We’ll see, Flashblade…we’ll see.” The teen narrowed his eyes, then pointed two fingers at his own eyes, then at Mallory, before taking out his inhaler and taking a few wheezes. He beckoned the pig-tailed girl next to him to follow, and they left with a hiss.

Nosedive waved his hand and led Mallory away. “Don’t worry about them. We are so going to teach them how to kill ninja scum, right?”

Still, Mallory wasn’t convinced. “So, you and Thrash normally do this? Why choose me this year?”

Nosedive shrugged. “Honestly? Thrash went away with Mookie skiing, so I needed a wingman.”

Wingman? That’s all this was? And not just a wingman but a replacement wingman? She grabbed her blaster, pointed it directly at his chest, then pulled the trigger furiously. Only lights flittered about his chest from green to red.

“Oh! What I wouldn’t give for my puck launcher right now!”

“You do know we’re not actually going to shoot Nathan and his sister, right?” Nosedive laughed, and Mallory was thankful the helmet covered most of her face, so he couldn’t see her frustration.

Wait, what was she thinking? Of course he thought of her as a wingman. They were teammates, linemates on the ice, and he was three years her junior. And it was Nosedive, Wildwing’s kid brother. They were only wingmen, and that was the way it was. Period.

They only had a few moments to wait before registration ended, in which Mallory pushed away any thoughts of her teammate, and the announcer came upward. “Welcome everyone to the Seventh Annual Shadow Cult Ninja Tournament, and let’s meet your opponents! On the right, we have a veteran tournament competitor and last year’s NHL MVP—Nosedive Flashblade with his girlfriend, Mallory McMallard!”

“Girlfriend?” Mallory shrieked. She stormed forward, only for Nosedive to catch her by her shoulders. “I’m not his girlfriend! All I am is his wingman! That’s it! That’s all!”

“Down, girl! He was just joking,” Nosedive strained to say.

Mallory whirled out of his grip and pointed her gun at him. “Hold me back one more time, and it will be the last time. Got me, Flashblade?”

Gulping, Nosedive put up his hands in a mock-surrender motion. “Whoa. How many cups of coffee did you have this morning, huh? Cut it by half.”

“Don’t patronize me. I know where you live.” For emphasis, Mallory stomped her boot heel down upon his sneaker, causing him to yelp, and she took a little joy in his pain.

Once the announcer read through the rules—No fighting physically, no touching, no making out in the battle area—the lights dimmed until they were out completely, and the screen in front of Mallory flickered to life. For a moment, Nosedive stood there looking like himself, and then his clothes shifted until he wore a black battle suit and armor with a policeman’s shield on the left breast. He looked rather handsome, and she wanted nothing more than to kick herself for the thought. Seriously, when would she get it through her head they were teammates?

If not then, soon was a better assessment when a girl dressed in the similar outfit with long, curly raven hair came over and wrapped an arm about Nosedive, giving him a tight squeeze about the shoulders. “Hey, Dive. Good to see you here again,” she whispered, then motioned to Mallory. “What happened to Thrash?”

“Va-kay,” he said with a wink toward Mallory.

The girl raised an eyebrow. “But I just saw him at the store!” Her hand trickled down his arm until it brushed against the drake’s waist.

“And let the game begin!” the announcer shouted, and Mallory simply raised her head and shot. A thick purple stain coated the girl’s chest, and five thousand points flickered in the corner of Mallory’s visor screen.

“Hey! I’m on your side!” the girl shouted.

But the announcer proclaimed two second later, “And already, Amber Campbell is out of the game!”

Mallory shrugged with smirk. “Oops! I guess you were on my team.”

The girl narrowed her eyes, then kissed Nosedive on the cheek and left. Mallory rolled her eyes and moved back-to-back with Nosedive as the ninjas, clad in black with red sashes, rose onto the docking area of the cyber city. “Ready?”

“Ready? That’s all you can say? She was with us, y’know, trying to get Nathan out of the top spot.”

“And she obviously can’t do that without hanging off you, huh?—Left side, ninja!”

Nosedive fired, then shot off the screen to get a full magazine in his blaster. “What? She’s being—Wait for him to get closer before shooting; he can’t duck then—friendly.”

“Ha! Yeah, right—No, left!”

“Will you get it right, huh?—No, I actually mean right!” Nosedive ducked, then pressed his hand flat on Mallory’s back to push her down and let the ninja fly overhead. “Stars, what is your prob?”

Mallory’s eyes went wide at the lunging Nathan, his gun out to shoot. “‘Prob’? I don’t have any—JUMP!—‘prob’!” She rolled forward then, distancing herself from Nosedive, and shot. She missed Nathan by less than a second.

“Well, if you don’t have any probs, then I really don’t want to see you when you do.” Nosedive came to her back, and they continued the rest of the game in relative silence other than directives until a blast almost scratched her shoulder.

“Stars, this kid is good!” Mallory complained as she back flipped and attempted to catch Nathan off guard.

The fight hardened as other competitors were knocked out. She had to not only shoot the ninjas, watch Nosedive’s back and her own, but also watch out for Nathan and his sister—whatever her name was.

“I know! And he’s what? Twelve?” Nosedive snickered, especially when Nathan screamed, “I’m fifteen! Get it right!”

“Well.” Mallory landed directly behind the kid and smirked. “Consider yourself a los—”

Nosedive and her comm. units blared simultaneously, dragging their attentions to their wrists. Nathan and his sister turned at just the same time and shot, hitting both ducks.

“And we have our winners!” the announcer’s voice relayed, accented by Nosedive’s shrill.
“Damn those Saurians!” He threw his blaster and helmet to the ground before hitting his unit. “Wildwing, this better be the world ending, or else you are so—”

“Sorry, baby bro. Duty calls.”

Mallory glanced over the dancing twelve and fifteen year olds and shook her head. “Where?”

Wildwing’s eyebrow furled. “Mallory? What are you doing there—never mind. Maybe I don’t want to know. Orbital Industries, break-in. We’ll meet you there.”

Nosedive closed his unit rather hastily and hurried to grab her wrist. “Come on! We have to go the save the world—for real,” he emphasized for Nathan, who just stuck at his tongue.

Nosedive’s statement was actually true, Mallory realized as she dove behind a table five minutes later, and the blaster shots flew overhead.

“How long until Wing and the team get here?” Nosedive gasped next to her, then jumped up, shot twice and fell back onto his knees.

Firing two shots, Mallory reserved enough time to glare. “I listen to your brother, not you.”

“That makes one of us.”

Mallory let herself chuckle—That was all too true—and glanced at her comm. unit. “Still about ten blocks away. Could take them longer if rush hour traffic is bad.”

A surge of heat drew her attention, and Mallory’s eyes grew frighteningly wide at the fireball soaring toward Nosedive. She smacked her shoulder into his side, sending the younger drake to the ground before covering her body with his. The burning ball of flames barely missed the two and instead slammed into the equipment behind them. Less than a second later, an explosion wracked the floor and shot burning debris overhead.

Only once it subsided did Mallory crawl off of Nosedive, but she stopped with a jerk at the blaster pointed at her forehead. “Move, duck, and you’ll be the main course tonight.”

Mallory didn’t doubt Siege’s prerogative in the least. She should’ve known the Saurians would come for them when they were vulnerable, and right after an explosion would categorize as such.

Chameleon shifted into a WWE player, then reached down, tossing away all of Mallory’s weapons before wrapping his arms about her waist and holding her tightly. Nosedive, however, Siege simply motioned to sit up. Wraith, off to the side, smirked darkly, the malevolent grin sending shivers up her spin.

“How about that one we take back to Lord Dragaunus—” Siege gestured toward Mallory. “—and this one we roast?”

Nosedive, to his credit, attempted to appear neutral. He gazed up calmly at Wraith as the mage conjured a fireball in his hand, its flames growing in intensity until they were a bright blue.

“Soul fire, flame burn…”

“No!” Mallory struggled, kicked, punched, but nothing she did eased Chameleon’s hold. “You can’t!”

“Kill the pest without any to yearn—”

“You can’t kill him! He’s too valuable!”

“Oh.” Wraith paused for only a moment, though he looked genuinely disinterested. “And why is that?”

Mallory couldn’t tell him the real reason.“Because he’s your bargaining chip.”

Nosedive whirled. “Mal, don’t—”
“Shut up, Dive!” Mallory gulped and found the strength to finish, “Wildwing won’t want me dead. That’s true, but let’s be honest. Dive’s his life force. He’ll do anything you want to get him back. Me? He’ll simply want to avenge.”

And that was true, and the Saurians realized it, too.

Then, as if the Saurians forgot about his strengths, Nosedive lifted up the puck launcher still in his hand—

—and Mallory realized what he was doing a moment after he did.

Committing suicide.

The shot with poised focus, hitting Chameleon in the head and releasing Mallory, but even rolling upon the ground and grabbing her launcher, she never would be fast enough to fire, and neither would he be to turn.

The fire connected with the back of his armor, and with a macabre howl, Nosedive hunched over, trembling and screaming as the fire began to spread. It left the scourged black armor, but as it climbed his hair and skin, a shimmer of gold faded into the blue fire with every touch upon immaculate skin. What once was blonde and peach burned to black. Even his azure eyes were devoid of color, though his body remained intact.

Somehow, though, the fire was killing him. It burned something she couldn’t see—or something she only saw a glance of brilliance—his golden soul.

Tears stained tear tracks down Mallory’s face as she changed into her street clothes and tried to smother the flames with her jacket, but nothing stopped them. And all Nosedive could shriek as he slowly burned any shred of his true beauty—his kindness, his light—from his flesh.

“Nosedive…” She fell to her knees in front of him, covering her beak with her hands. She wanted to look away, didn’t want to see what would be left or what was there now, but Nosedive gave his life for her, as she wanted to do for him. This was her fault, but more importantly, he was her—

Now was no time to deny.

She opened her beak to at least tell him, but he muttered first, “The ‘pell…”

“…What?” She leaned forward. “Nosedive, what—”

“The s—s’ell…spell…”

Why didn’t she think of it first? The fire was no ordinary one made from carbon dioxide and oxygen. It was magical, which meant she had to figure it out the clue before it finished and stole Nosedive with it.

“Soul fire, flame burn…” Mallory tried to remember. “Kill the pest without any to yearn—”

Yearn? Who yearns another? And what did have to do a soul and a flame?

Oh, Stars. How dense could she be? Soul, flame—love. The spell was about love, and only Nosedive’s soul partner could save him.

Mallory didn’t know how Nosedive felt about her, what with all the pranks he used to play when he was younger and his attitude—but she knew how she felt about him.

Mallory lunged, wrapping her arms about his neck, and the fire, not for her, only tingled her feathers as she cocked her head to the side. Without delay, she leaned forward and what once was a hope became reality.

Slowly, the black hair shimmered blonde once more in a burst of golden light, while his black skin brightened to peach. His body, which had trembled, still shook, but his arms, previously clutching his mid-section, smothered her in their strength as he curled them about her slender body and held her to him.

All time seemed to stop, and the only thing Mallory could concentrate on was the burning evidence. It wasn’t that Thrash couldn’t make it; Nosedive wanted her at the tournament, just like she wanted to be there. She wanted to enjoy the things he did, even if they were a little—well, she couldn’t say it wasn’t fun.

As the air finally gave out, Nosedive pulled away and smiled, not that goofy grin but a genuine affectionate smile. “I—I…don’t really know what to say.”

Mallory grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close again. “Nosedive Flashblade, speechless? I never thought I’d see the day.”

As they once more joined, Mallory swore she heard Wildwing’s voice out in a distance. “Be careful, team. We don’t know what we’ll find in there.”

The door behind them bust open a moment later, and the next thing she felt was the floor.

The End