Koki chased behind Master Fann as they navigated through the thick woods. In all the years at the academy and all the tournaments and contests, Koki had never seen anyone move as fast as Master Fann.

His figure was merely a flash, dashing around and even over the tall trees. 

“Master Fann!” Koki yelled “Slow down, will you?!”

“Aren't you supposed to be number one in the academy kid?” responded Master Fann, zipping past a bush so fast its leaves flew off.

Koki put his head down and sprinted to Master Faan with all his might. Despite his efforts, Master Faan was still barely in Koki’s range of sight.

 Suddenly, he saw Master Faan come to a halt. When Koki had caught up to him, he stopped as well.

He was greeted by the sight of hundreds of Ardora warriors, all standing at attention before the gate of the city. The gate stretched hundreds of meters tall, towering before the soldiers and casting a shadow over them

“Go take your place,” said Master Fann. “You're late already.”

Koki scoffed and headed over to his platoon. They were the only ones wearing just the black two piece uniforms and no silk robe.

Koki stood next to a girl with dazzling blue eyes and brown hair tied up in a bun.

“Hey Sandra” he said to her slyly. “How's your day been goin’?”

She remained standing at attention, ignoring Koki.

“Ignoring me now?” he whispered “I just wanted to know how you been doi-”

“The city is being invaded, Koki” she interrupted. Koki froze.

Wait…we're getting Invaded?! He thought. No wonder mom was getting all teary eyed! I thought this was all a drill! 

He turned shakily over to Sandra, breaking his position of attention. 

“Um Sandra,” he smiled nervously, “You're playing some kinda joke, right?”

Sandra turned to Koki. “You're not nervous, are you number one rookie?” she kicked his ankle, standing him back to attention. 

He faced forward again and swallowed the lump in his throat. 

It was unusually cold that day. Ardora was typically humid and even during winters had the sun for the majority of the day.

Today the sun was covered by grey clouds and the leaves were dark brown rather than green. Koki was expecting to feel raindrops on his skin at any second.

He looked at the soldiers around him.  “These guys would shred whoever dares come through these walls,” Koki thought reassuringly. “Plus, I've never lost a fight in all my years of living!”

He looked down at his boots. There were a few droplets on them. Koki looked up at the sky to feel the rain against his face. Nothing came down.

He looked back at Sandra with a confident smile.“You know me Sandra, i'm not scared of anything!” 

Her blue eyes were gleaming with tears. They rolled down her red cheeks and onto Koki’s boot. 

“Koki,” she murmured. “We’re all going to di-”

A huge blast of fire shot through the wall and onto soldiers. Many were able to jump out of the way but others were hit with the blast and immediately fried.

From the hole in the gate, enemy soldiers crawled out like insects from a tree. The Ardora warriors ran up the tall gate and faced the enemy soldiers coming down.

Koki looked over to Sandra. Her eyes were wide  in terror and she was frozen in fear. He rushed over and grabbed her by the soldiers.

“Sandra we gotta get out!” he yelled, shaking her.

Her eyes briefly drifted to meet Koki’s gaze, then returned to being still.

“Damn it” he yelled, running off with her by the hand.

They reached a large rock and sheltered behind it. “Sandra, snap out of it!” he yelled to her.

She was limp in Koki’s arms. He reached into his pockets and pulled out a bottle of water.

He poured some on Sandras face.

Her eyes lit up again and she stood up. “Koki I-”

“No time, the perimeter defense was breached, we gotta go now!”

He ran out from behind the rocks and ran up the tall city walls. He reached the top and saw the hundreds of enemy soldiers trying to get in. 

“These guys aren't wearing any uniform,” he thought, “What city are they from?”

An arrow flew just beside Koki, grazing his face lightly.

He jumped down the city wall. The Ardora soldiers were climbing to the top of the gate, shooting balls of fire down at the people below.

Master Faan was running up the gate, his silk uniform trailing behind him. When he reached the top, he pushed off the wall, causing a dent in the gate's metal.

He puffed up his cheeks, closed his eyes and blew out an enormous cloud of fire. The enemies coming out from the hole in the gate screamed in agony.

Master Faan landed on one knee. “Soldiers!” he yelled, “Barricade the gate!”

Koki and many other soldiers rushed to the gate and leaned against it with all their strength. Master Faan and the other Platoon masters blew fire at the soldiers crawling through the hole in the gate.

Koki pressed his shoulder onto the gate as hard as he could. He closed his eyes and tried to focus his mana into his feet, giving him more strength to hold the gate shut.

On the other side, hundreds of enemy soldiers pounded on the gates using fists, hammers and even large battering rams.

“Keep holding it men!” yelled Master Faan between breaths. “They’re not gonna get it down with us here!”

Koki’s face contorted in strain.  His feet were shifting away in the dirt as the gate pried open slightly.

A fist broke through the metal gate and grabbed Koki. It tugged him into the gate, slamming his head against the metal.

His hands reached up to cover his head and he felt something warm. He looked at his hands to see them covered in blood.

The soldier holding the gate beside Koki raised his leg and brought it down onto the arm in a thunderous kick. A voice could be heard from the other side screaming in agony as the arm snapped at the elbow.

“You alright kid?!” the soldier asked. 

Koki eyes struggled to focus on the man. His vision was blurred and blood was running down from the left side of his head.

Another huge impact hit the wall, causing it to open almost completely. 

“Steady men!” shouted Master Faan.

Another bang hit the gate, swinging the doors wide open and sending the Ardora warriors flying.

 Koki covered his head and went into a fetal position. The force sent him flying back- first into a tree. He fell to the ground, tensed up in pain.

Through the city gates entered an enormous machine. Its head nearly reached the top of the gate and it had arms and legs like a human. Various gears and cylinders shifted along with its movement. On the head of the machine was a large glass window. It was curved around the head of the machine like a face.

Through the glass Koki could see a man. He was controlling the movement of the machine through a device before him.

Koki tried to stand, but the stinging pain in his back crippled him back down. Master Faan rushed over to him

“Stand up now Koki” he lifted Koki’s arm around his shoulders and dragged him away from the machine.

“Faan, what the hell is that thing?” he asked. “Don't worry Koki, just stay awake, you hear me?!” yelled Master Faan.

His voice was hardly audible through the sound of the machine crushing houses, trees and any person or thing that stood in its path.

Two enormous turrets emerged from the machine's shoulders. It shot into the sky, making it rain bullets upon the warriors.

Behind the machine, hundreds of enemy soldiers advanced, taking cover behind the machine's large legs.

“Faan” Koki painted “throw me at it”

Faan started at Koki blanky. “Kid you’d die, don't you see the bullets?”
“Faan I said throw me goddamn it” he said. He tossed off Faans arm and limped to the machine.

“If you don't throw me then I'll go myself” he said drowsily 

“Koki you might be concussed,” he said grabbing his arm. “Go near it and you'll d-”

“That's why you need to throw me fast!”

Koki pointed to the machine. “It's killing everyone cause nobody can get near it!” he yelled.

“If you throw me at it, I can shatter the class and get the guy inside!”

Master Faan pursed his lips. He looked both ways as though searching for another answer, but shook his head in disapproval.

“Alright Koki,” he said, “just watch the guns, I'll throw you on its back so you're not in its line of fire.”

Koki nodded. Master Faan grabbed him by the shirt and trousers and lifted him up

“One...two...three!” he yelled, heaving him forward.

Koki felt the wind gushing against his face and could see the people below him shrink as passed over the machine.

No, I missed the jump!

He spread his arms and legs wide and rotated his body 180 degrees around. He stretched his arm as far out as he could and just barely scraped the cold metal of the machine.

The contact was just enough for Koki to focus all the mana in his body to the tip of his finger.

His finger tip glowed bright orange and clung to the left shoulder of the machine. The rest of his body swung down and up like a pendulum.

He did it! thought Master Faan, watching from behind the trees. He used the Mana Magnet to cling onto the machine with just the tip of his finger!

Koki let out a deep sigh of relief. He looked up at his little finger and smiled ecstatically.

Slowly, the orange glow spreaded to his entire hand and both his feet and he readjusted his position on the machine's back. 

“There's a guy on the mech!” yelled one of the enemy soldiers

Koki crawelled all the way up to the top of the machine. His arms were clinging to the back of the turret. He pulled himself up and was standing on the mech’s shoulder.

He focused all of his Mana into his foot and kicked the left turret. The turret let out an electrical discharge, then powered down.

The driver inside the machine looked down at his control panel, wide-eyed. He tried pressing the left trigger but to no success. He looked to his left to see Koki clinging onto the damaged turret.

The mech stopped shooting and reached behind its back, padding around to swat away Koki. 

“Faan, he sees me! He sees me Faan, back me up!”

The mech’s fist went crashing down onto its own shoulder causing a dent in the metal.

 Just before the fist could crush him, Koki swung from the left turret to the right, like a monkey swinging through trees.

“Atta boy” yelled Master Faan, shooting his fist into the air, “ just take out the right one!” 

The driver of the mech pulled on his hair in anger. Smoked shot from various corners of the mechs control room. The man desperately commanded the Mech to rotate its hips and shoulders. 

Time after time, Koki desperately tried to pull himself up onto the Mechs shoulder to smash the right turret, but the pilot inside was not keen to have his weapon destroyed. He jerked and twisted, flailing Koki around like a flag in the wind

A red aura surrounded Koki’s hands as he dug his fingers into the metal, clinging on with all his strength

The other Arodra rushed out from behind the rocks.

“Now men! Charge!!!” yelled a commander 

Dozens rushed to the machine, shouting out in unison. 

They leaped onto the mech and landed thunderous punches on the metal. Scraps and hunks of the machine fell to the ground.

While the mech was busy ripping Ardora soldiers off its body, Koki finally leaped onto the torrent and stomped on it repeatedly with all his might.

Beads of sweat fell down from Koki’s face. He looked down at the turret, gasping for air. It had sustained no damage from any of Koki’s hits. He kicked it some more but to no success.

“Why wont it break!” yelled Koki. Suddenly, a high pitched hum came from the turret. It spun around to face Koki. 

“That hum...It's charging up for something,” he thought

He looked around desperately for a place to jump off. Enemies were spread all across the field, battling it out with the Ardora warriors. The landing would certainly damage his legs, making him unable to flee. The hum of the turret kept going higher and higher in pitch and the gun began to shake, as though eager to fire.

“The chances of surviving the fall are low, but surviving the shot would be impossible”

 

Koki tried bending his legs to jump off, but he felt them tense and harden. His teeth were in a painful grimace and he could feel his pulse accelerating.

“There's... no... time...left-”

He shut his eyes and looked away from the gun. He pictured his brother Samuka and his mother Seshiria, still waiting for him at home. A tear fell from his bright brown eyes.

“I'm sorry I couldn't make it back, little brother”

Bang....