CARNIVAL (The Spark Form Chronicles Book 2) (23 page)

              Carnival charges straight towards the faceless mannequin and connects with a right hook that sends it stumbling back, knocking it off balance. Seeing a potential advantage, she steps in close and fires off a hard punch to the gut, lifting her foe off the floor and dropping it onto its knees. She follows up with an axe kick, but the mannequin brings its arms up and crosses them above its head to trap her incoming foot and halt the attack. With a roar, Carnival tries to force her foot down, but as she does so her opponent forces its way to its feet and pushes her back.

              The moment her foot hits the floor again, Carnival starts to fall to the side, her face in shock. Before she can trip however, Number One roundhouse kicks her in the face, pushing her back the other way and straight into an enziguri from the opposite foot. The mannequin scoots its body around, rising to its feet and throwing itself forward with a jumping knee strike, cracking Carnival's jaw back with a loud thud.

              The Lopine falls slowly, her eyes closing just before she hits the floor, leaving her prone as Number One darts in for the kill. It proceeds to start firing off stomps, rocking her body repeatedly against the floor.

              "I think that's enough," calls Lana De La Cruz, raising her voice over the sound of Carnival's howls of pain and John Forrester's muffled whimpers. "Hong Chan! Call off ..."

              A loud roar of rage builds quickly in Carnival's throat, cutting Lana off. She rolls to the side with frightening speed, rises to her feet and brings one hand to Number One's shoulder, the other to its waist. She steps in, lifts and twists, throwing the mannequin back towards Hong Chan. The mannequin skids across the floor with a screech as the Data Wick within the hologram scrapes the floor. It soon kips back up again though, and assumes a ready stance. Carnival meanwhile drops to one knee, panting heavily. Number One takes a step towards its exhausted foe, but stops dead in its tracks.

              "You'll kill him if you worry him much more," Lana says, her hand raised to halt Hong Chan.

              Carnival turns her head to glare in response but spots John shivering in Finn's grip. She drops her head with a sigh, pushes her way to her feet and clicks her fingers. The damage and tiredness quickly leave her body, the animations playing backwards as her body heals back to full strength. She stretches her shoulder out, clicks again, and her costume swirls and reverts to her more commonly seen first edition form.

              "You're stubborn," Lana smiles. "I get wanting to test your limits, but you have to know when to pull back."

              Carnival turns back towards her and raises a middle finger, blowing a raspberry as she does so, then switches her attention back to Number One. She points to Number Two and beckons it forward with a wave of her hand. Hong Chan looks to Lana, who nods, and he sends the second mannequin forward. Carnival smiles and steps out towards the two Spark Forms.

              Sean Carlston could hear the sounds of the television before he opened the door to his office. He couldn't recall leaving it running before he left for the Observation Area, which meant that someone had likely come to see him and had taken it upon themselves to watch the finals while they waited. Most people would have called him to see when he would return, but he could think of at least person that would make themselves at home instead, if for no other reason than that it was damn rude.

              Sean sighs and opens the door. "Connor," he says, keeping his voice calm rather than give his tormentor the satisfaction of a reaction, but his voice fades off into a surprised 'Oh' when he realises that there is in fact no one else there. "Guess I
must've
left it on," he mumbles as he grabs the remote from his desk and clicks the screen onto standby.

              He drops the controller back into place and notices a folded sheet of paper in the middle of the desk, the word 'Carlston' scrawled along the visible side in thick, shaky letters. Sean's forehead scrunches involuntarily as he picks the note up and starts to unfold it, sitting heavily into his chair as he does so.

              "I win you bloody arse," he reads aloud.

              Sean looks up and recoils back, falling out of his chair as it slides noisily against the back wall. "Shit," he says once, then again but louder. He honestly hadn't noticed the smell until he'd seen Connor Ford slumped in the spare chair by the main door. Connor had obviously moved it so that he wouldn't be visible when Sean came back.

              Without thinking, Sean dashes around the desk and over to the aged competitor, checking for a pulse or any sign on breathing. Realising quickly that none can be found, he tilts Connor's head back, opens his mouth and exhales two deep breathes into his mouth.

              Connor's chest rises, and Sean tries to force the air back out but can't get enough force into the chest compressions to have an effect. "Damn it," he growls, and drags Connor from the chair, laying him flat on the floor. Dropping to his knees, Sean tries again and this time manages to force the air back out as he counts out loud.

              "Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen." Tilting Connor's head back and pinching his nose, Sean breathes in two more deep breathes and goes straight back to the chest compressions.

              "Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen." Two more breathes. Press, press, press.

              "Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen." Another two breathes. Press, press, press ...

              Lurching to the side, Connor Ford starts to cough violently, his body instinctually attempting to suck in air as Sean sits back onto his knees, pulls his phone from his pocket and hits speed dial. "Med team, my office, now," he orders.

              "You ... you absolute ... fucking ... bastard," Connor grunts, then vomits.

              Number One and Number Two advance again. This time, Number Two moves in close and draws Carnival in with a relentless barrage of kicks while Number One darts around the side. Having fallen for several variations of the same trick already, Carnival swings a wild backfist into Number One's featureless head and sends it sprawling. As she does so, Number Two places a foot on her bent support leg, leaps and catches her with a knee to the jaw.

              Growling in frustration, Carnival whips herself back around and charges the mannequin, barging it off its feet. She then turns, spotting her other opponent's incoming hook just in time to duck under and position her foot before using her body to force Number One into the air.  Undeterred, it rolls back over its shoulder, coming back up into a ready stance just as Number Two front kicks Carnival in the back and then catches her with an uppercut. Refusing to go down, Carnival roars and swipes at both SF's, her claws ripping into one then the other, shredding their image as they fall back.

              Hong Chan looks to Lana then hits the keys on his screen and both Number One and Number Two get to their feet, their damage healing instantly. Carnival gives a dissatisfied grunt and clicks her fingers, but the two mannequins are on her before her own damage can be undone and she is flung hard against the wall. John cries out and Finn tightens his grip on the former champion. Lana steps calmly to the side and squats down so that she can get a better look at Carnival as she forces herself up onto all fours. The Lopine snarls at her and darts back towards her opponents.

              A hard kick knocks Number One back and Carnival clicks her fingers, healing some light damage before elbowing Number Two in the ribs and clicking her fingers again. Number One steps back in and strikes the back of Carnival's head, but she shrugs it off and nips at its hip. She turns, slams her jaws down on Number Two's shoulder and tries to ragdoll it into its partner.

              "Do you see what she's doing?" Lana asks Finn and John. "It took three run throughs, but she's realised that they aren't going to let her heal fully, so she's switched to knocking them back and healing small amounts at a time. Smart girl, isn't she?"

              "In comparison to?" responds Finn.

              "Hmm?"

              "With all due respect Miss De La Cruz, the most recent SSF's would have likely taken this approach far sooner, certainly if they were designed for combat."

              "Perhaps," Lana smiles. "This isn't about when she learns though, it's about
what
she learns."

              Carnival ducks a backfist from Number Two and Number One catches her with a kneelift, forcing her up off the floor and dropping her flat on her stomach. "Her HP is below zero again," calls Hong Chan.

              "Keep pushing," Lana responds. "She's already adapted her style multiple times, so let's see how far she can go."

              Hong Chan nods, never taking his eyes off the Sky Control Screens in front of him. Switching between tapping both at once and moving quickly from one to the other, he sends his two SF's through multiple joined up attacks, each designed to minimise the time that Carnival can spend healing. Finally, he forces her to her limit.

              Number Two hits a hard roundhouse kick that spins Carnival straight into a hook punch from Number One. She drops slowly to her knees, her eyes glazing over and tongue lolling. Both mannequins lift their legs and drop axe kicks across the top of her head, slamming her face into the floor. They both move to continue the assault but freeze. Laying face down on the floor, Carnival has started glitching.

              With a terrified scream, John forces himself free of Finn and moves to dash towards his fallen SF, but Lana steps in the way and tries to hold him back, causing him to trip. He starts to run again before getting to his feet, stumbles, and Finn grabs him, pulling him back and wrapping his arms around his waist while Lana struggles to calm him verbally.

              A loud click cuts through the chaos and the room goes silent.

              Another click.

              Another.

              Panting loudly, Carnival forces herself onto all fours, her image still glitching and the damage still visible. She coughs, spits blood and clicks her fingers again.

              Nothing happens.

              Carnival's hands tense and her claws scrape loudly across the floor. Her eyes madden and a growl builds in her throat. She scrambles to her feet and clicks her fingers mid-charge, this time switching back to her third edition costume, albeit with the damage still intact. Number Two throws a high kick in her direction but she slides underneath, turning before she comes to a halt, and grabbing the mannequin in a waistlock. Carnival grunts as she deadlifts her opponent, then drops it onto the back of its head with a vicious German Suplex. She releases the hold and rolls to the side, coming up just in time grab Number One's arm as it drops a hammer fist. Carnival twists the wrist, letting a satisfying crack echo through the room before forcing the arm upward and ripping it outward, dragging a cracked and sparking metal tentacle with it.

              Hong Chan's twinned SF's quickly recover and move in on either side, Number Two aiming a low kick at the back of Carnival's knees while Number One throws a spinning backfist at her face. In response, Carnival bridges back under the swinging fist and kicks her legs up just before the kick can connect, sending herself into a backflip on the spot. Just as she reaches the height of the flip, she clicks her fingers and her costume warps back into her first edition outfit, this time with her teeth emitting the blue flames that we saw Connor Ford's Jariah use in the semi-finals. The moment her feet hit the floor, Carnival sinks into her knees and springs forward, forcing her teeth through the projection of Number One's chest and pulling out a clump of twisted metal, instantly extinguishing the image of its body. With a loud roar, the still glitching Lopine snatches the broken parts from her mouth and launches them at Number Two, embedding them in its Data Wick with a loud crack.

              With both her opponents now defeated, Carnival drops onto all fours again, panting and retching. She tries to click and heal again, but the glitches refuse to cease and she lets out a frustrated whine. Before she can try again, John Forrester barrels into her, forcing her up onto her knees as he latches onto her with a big hug. She looks to Lana, who shrugs, then reciprocates the hug with one arm.

              "It's OK," John whispers. "You just need to concentrate. Focus on each bit, rewind it in your mind."

              Carnival drops her chin on John's shoulder and sighs. She closes her eyes, and clicks her fingers again. Nothing. She tries a second time, then a third. Still nothing.

              John relaxes his grip and says, "Maybe you just need a beer."

              Carnival opens her mouth to respond, but stops herself and starts laughing instead, her shoulders and ears shaking rapidly with each yarf. Finally, she pushes John back and playfully shoves him in the shoulder. She clicks her fingers one more time and her image slowly cleans itself up. Flashing a big toothy grin, she blows a raspberry at John and looks back to Lana and Finn.

              "Finn," Lana says with a smile, "send the cleaners in and get the transport ready."

              "As you wish Miss De La Cruz," he replies and walks calmly back to the main door.