The Desert is Cold in the Dark [Dark Data]

[Dr. McNinja]

“Think I might have a plan after all,” Jim muttered.

Ogong heard him, cartwheeling to dodge a column of sand shooting from nowhere.

“Heat makes glass?” the monkey wondered out aloud.

Somerled smirked from across the arena. “Good thinking, kid! Jim, tell Ogong to make his fireballs!”

Jim nodded, but the gesture was lost within the skull-painted visor. He slashed again, keeping Desertman’s other hand at bay. “Kid! Fireball time! Heat the monster up as much as you can.”

Ogong stabbed the back of Desertman’s left hand with Yeo-Ee-Pil to buy some space. The glassy stumps shattered, making the Desertman growl in horror. He tried to summon sand to repair the fingers, but despite the lack of interfering glass, it seemed that his fingers were permanently separated.

“Oh, that’s cool. Gimme a second.” The monkey stuck out his hand. Arcane light glowed from a ring of energy that hovered in front of the monkey’s palm.

“Alright, heat, heat,” Ogong said, leap-frogging to heft himself over the other pillar-like arm of sand, “I can make heat. Tae-wuh-rah! HWA!”

The arcane circle set aflame, mysteriously igniting. Ogong threw his hand forward, and another fireball blasted forward at point-blank range. It landed in the general bulky body of Desertman. Unfortunately, it wasn’t generating enough heat. Ogong groaned. Focusing again, he summoned the arcane circle again.

“HWA!”

This time, he aimed at the approaching blow from Desertman’s other, unsevered hand. The heat blast made the monster flinch, slowing its swing.

“HWA! HWA! HWA!”

Ogong fired a barrage of fireballs, as quickly as he could. He felt something burning in his head, and he knew that the concept of fire was nearly taking over his spirit. Thankfully, the Sandman finally slowed its movement, its face starting to crystallize under the sustained heat.

“Hwwaaaaagh” Ogong grumbled, stumbling from exhaustion. He just pulled off an incredibly difficult Word Magic, and now he was firing maybe six or seven fireballs in a row. Leaning on Yeo-Ee-Pil, the monkey tried to right himself. The fight wasn’t over.

The Sandman was furious now. Suddenly, its remaining arm stretched and shifted, sand spilling to the ground and reaching up to try and cover Sandman’s face. Ignoring the movement, Ogong left forward, swinging Yeo-Ee-Pil and aiming for the Desertman’s face.

“Monkey! To your left!”

Ogong barely had time to notice the giant sandy club swinging at his face. The collision was teeth-shatteringly powerful and sent Ogong flying to the other end of the arena within half a second and left an Ogong-shaped dent in the wall.

“Owwwwwwww,” Ogong whined.

“Let’s go, boy,” Yeo-Ee-Pil groaned, also recovering from the pain of being slammed into a wall, “We still have a sand monster- FIREBALL”

Ogong dared to open his eyes, despite the comfort in keeping them closed. Noticing the giant column of flames approaching him, Ogong reached up for a handhold. Just in time, Ogong lifted himself above where he was seconds ago, and kicked off the wall to leap over the fireball. It landed in the wall, exploding in a surge of heat. It blew Ogong forward, making him skid across the sandy floor.

Painfully, Ogong managed to lift himself up.

“...HHHWWAA,” the sandy monster muttered.

“Holy shit,” Ogong heard Jim mutter.

Ogong’s eyes widened. Yeo-Ee-Pil made a clicking noise.

“Dammit, I think it knows magic.”

“Yeo-Ee-Pil,” Ogong whimpered, “I think it learned it from me.”

“Bullshit. You couldn’t teach a boy to tie his shoes-”

“That’s ‘cause I don’t know how to,” Ogong replied, “And look.”

Desertman, who was now half stubbornly unmoving glass and half furious billowing waves of sand, held a giant rod in one hand, with two small bulbous cylinders at each end.

“That’s like a sand-version of you,” Ogong groaned.

“Shit,” Yeo-Ee-Pil muttered, “it’s copying you.”

Desertman formed another fireball in his hand and flung it at Ogong. The monkey rolled forward and narrowly dodged the fireball as it whistled past him.

“HHHWWAAA,” the monster repeated.

“Great,” Ogong muttered, “Now what?”

“Try using Poong,” Yeo-Ee-Pil suggested.

“Eh?” Ogong grunted, rolling to the side to dodge another fireball, “That spell doesn’t work here.”

“Exactly,” Yeo-Ee-Pil shouted over the roaring flames, “Just do it! Have I been wrong before?”

“Yeah, like tons of times-”

“OH MY GOD JUST DO IT”

Ogong jumped forward, using Yeo-Ee-Pil as a vaulting pole to boost himself over the next fireball.

“Boo-ruh-rah! POONG!”

He reached out his hand, but nothing happened, as they expected. Desertman similarly raised his own hand.

“POOOOONNNGGG” the monster copied.

Try as Desertman did, nothing happened. Ogong used this opportunity to slip under Desertman’s arm and whip Yeo-Ee-Pil into Desertman’s side, making Desertman crumple beneath the impact. Noticing Desertman’s face was closer, Ogong swung his staff at the glassed face, sending cracks everywhere.

Desertman responded by literally flicking him across the room again.

“Alright, someone else is gonna need to do something,” Ogong muttered.

832 words. Sorry, running on fumes here.