The Crystals

"I have heard something from the Lava Gladiator that contradicts with what you say."

"If he said anything other than this, that is a lie!"

"Okay, it seems you are right this time," said Zohaifa, "By the way, the only thing I heard from the lava Gladiator is his t.i.tle. I only made this act to get the information out of you. Checkmate again."

All the old men stared at Zohaifa with shock, unable to believe the awkward measures he took.

"By the way, you said there were warriors the Lava Gladiator could not defeat," said Zohaifa, "Even fighting him myself, I did not find him totally unbeatable. Why did you not take any outside help?"

"We can"t. We need to uphold the pride of Orange Village. The glorious village where the Orange smoke was created can never show necessity of help to the outsiders."

Zohaifa clenched his fist, "You mean to say you could not take any outside help to uphold your pride?"

"Exactly."

The vein on his forehead appeared as Zohaifa frowned, tightening his eyebrows, "You think you need to uphold your pride after your desperate a.s.sa.s.sination attempts or moving to a position of begging?"

"You dare demean us!" stood one of the old man, "You did not face what we did."

"I couldn"t care less about your pride. But innocent people are dying because of it."

"Enough! We tend to remain peaceful but you crossed the line. I am destroying your guest Mr. Sutton."

"I am with you," said Mr. Sutton.

Suddenly cement started to appear from the ground climbing over Zohaifa and paralyzing. Mr. Sutton clasped his palms, "I will show you the power of the "Orange smoke.""

"Woah! Slow down grandpas. Show some tolerance. Let"s talk this out. I didn"t mean any disrespect. I just didn"t build enough camaraderie is all," said Zohaifa with a forced smile as a drop of sweat rolled down from the forehead.

Meanwhile, in the outside Oar was searching all over for Zohaifa. "Excuse me. have you seen Zohaifa? The stranger who used to spar with me from outside the village."

"No, didn"t see him."

"Okay. Thanks for letting me know."

Then, Oar started to slow down his walking speed and stared at the ground. "Did he actually die? Did the sleep haunter get him?"

"Oar! I need a help from you," a voice in front of him. He raised his head.

"Zohaifa! You are alive," said Oar with sparkling eyes.

"Please go to the village"s central whatever. Some old men need you."

"What? Am I in trouble? I don"t recall doing anything this time."

"One more thing. I will be back in two weeks. That is a deadline for you. When I come back, I want to see you stronger than me. Okay?"

"Yes. But why are you jumping from topic to topic."

"Bye for now. I am heading to the mountains I came from. It"s not far from the village as far as I can remember. I will be training too."

Oar stared at him comprehending some peculiarity taking place. But he took off immediately to the building. "I can"t messing with the elders of the village. They are wise and possess the best of the best of the best of the best of the-"

"The absolute best," said Red-1.

"Yes, the absolute best moves. Wait, who are you?" said Oar and turned back to see him. But no one was there anymore. "I can"t waste anymore time. I have to go and visit them."

Oar entered the village central but couldn"t find anyone. That is when he saw the door of that unnoticeable room opened for the first time. He hesitantly went inside and found himself dumbfounded. All the elders are found beaten and semi-conscious.

"How could this happen?" asked Oar, "I should bring some medication first. Thankfully, the injuries don"t look fatal."

Meanwhile, Zohaifa was thinking to himself while walking towards the forest watching the sunset.

"I should take a logical approach to my training like Lazuli always does. The best way to do that would be to a.n.a.lyze. I got to a.n.a.lyze myself and my enemy. I will use the memories that Red-1 brought back for me."