Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue

(Blue)

If I’d had time to laugh before freezing up the barrel of his missile-launcher, I would have.

As it was, I barely had enough time to cast the spell and tackle everyone to the ground before the laws of physics came into effect. “GET DOWN!!!”

KA-BOOM!!!

The resulting explosion blew the entire mechanical arm off, sending smoke and pieces of metal everywhere. Everyone except Red, who was apparently immune to smoke, started coughing.

"That was the coolest thing ever!” he yelled.

“Is… Is everyone all right?!” Green gasped.

“We’re all fine, Green,” Orange coughed. “Give us a little warning next time, okay, Blue?”

“Sorry about that,” I apologized. “But I kinda didn’t want him to shoot me dead right then and there.”

“Where is he?” Red wondered. “Keeree’s a pretty big guy. But I don’t see him – WHOA!!!”

Iron Man, whose name was apparently Keeree, lifted Red right off the ground with his other hand, a not-very-happy look on his face.

“The name,” he hissed before smashing him face-first into the ground, “is Kyore, brat! Are you deaf? Or just stupid? Actually, it’s probably the latter. Do you have any idea what you did to me?!”

Red gagged, spiting out blood. His nose was bleeding hard. “And I told you my name’s Red! I thought I blew you up already, Keeree!”

“Well, apparently, you were wrong!” He lifted his foot to stomp on Red, but I took the advantage while he was off-balance and landed a flying kick onto his side, making him topple over. He landed so hard, he made the ground shake.

“Thanks, Blue!” Red wiped away some of the blood on his face (it just came back a few seconds later) and took something from his pocket. He flung it at Kyore and dropped to the ground, yelling,

“GET DOWN!!!”

And then the second explosion of the night happened.

“Oh, not again!” Green coughed. “Red!”

“What? At least it got rid of him! Hurry up and get the data, Orange!”

Orange was already at the miraculously undamaged computers. “Shut up and let me concentrate!”

“THE SAME TRICK WON’T WORK ON ME TWICE, BRAT!!!”

Kyore appeared out of nowhere and punched Red so hard, he went flying. There was a sickening crack as his fist connected, Red’s ribs breaking yet again.

“Crayik!” he wheezed. “Ow…”

Green dashed toward him, but skidded to a stop as Kyore blocked her path. “Uh-uh-uh, little missy. That would be way too easy, now, wouldn’t it?”

“ICICLE BARRAGE!!!” I shouted.

Kyore was forced to duck to avoid the icicles, and Green took the opportunity to dash right past him to get to Red.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” he screamed, but I slid in front of him, yelling,

“FREEZE!!!”

His entire body was immediately encased in ice. I hit the ground, gasping for breath. The full-body freeze spell was one of the most advanced ice magic techniques, so it took almost all of my magic to use it. But it wouldn’t hold him forever. The spell was designed for humans, and this guy was more robot than human.

My head spun from magic overuse, the room blurring before me. No! I couldn’t pass out now, I had to get away! I was about two feet from the bad guy, he’d kill me the instant he got free!

I managed to push myself up on my elbows and knees, but instantly collapsed. Magic ran on normal energy, so using a spell that was too big for you would feel like running five miles when you barely had the capability to run one. Meaning that until I regained that energy, I wouldn’t even be able to move. Which would probably have catastrophic results, seeing as Kyore’s ice shell had just cracked. Was I going to die?

“Hold on, Blue, I got you!”

Red shoved me across the floor just as Kyore exploded out of the ice. Green was instantly at my side, magic spilling from her fingertips into me.

“Th…Thanks, Gr-Green…” I gasped. “I’m okay. I’m fine.”

“You are not fine. That was the largest amount of magic overuse I’ve ever seen in my life. What was that spell, anyway?”

“High-ranking freeze spell.” I forced myself onto my knees, wobbling. “I have to go…help Red…”

“No, you’re staying right here until you regain your energy. I don’t care if I have to knock you out myself; you’re staying here. Got that?”

“But… Red!”

“No, Blue. He can hold Kyore for five minutes.”

“I… But…”

“Look.” Green’s eyes were hard. “When I was with Red and Orange alone, I had no one to tell me to stop. You know how they are, they think they can go on forever without hurting. I did too. Until one day, when we all almost got killed because we didn’t know when to quit. So listen to me and stop protesting already!”

I bit my lip, but nodded. Red smacked into the wall beside me, but instantly leapt to his feet again, spitting flames.

“Crayik! When did he get so freaking strong?!”

He leaped at Kyore again, but was smacked aside like a fly. The robot-man had just noticed Orange, sitting at the computer, his fingers flying almost faster than humanely possible.

“Trying to retrieve the data, huh? Like I’m going to let you!” Kyore took a swing at Orange, who ducked. The huge metal fist slammed into the computer instead, instantly reducing it to a pile of smoldering junk. Orange cursed, leaping out of the seat and ducking under Kyore’s arm. But he was too slow. The mechanical fingers managed to snag his arm at the very last minute.

“Orange! He’s a robot! A machine! Can’t you blow him up?!” I screamed.

Orange didn’t reply, just twisted, trying to get out of Kyore’s grasp. The robot-man threw back his head and laughed, lifting him into the air.

“Dude! RT!!! Just blow the idiot up!!!” Red yelled, running to help him.

“If I could do that, I would’ve done it in the first place!” Orange snapped. “He’s partly human, just enough so that I can’t – ”

He was cut off by Kyore smashing him face-first into the wall, then tossing him onto the floor like a rag doll. Red launched a flying kick at him, his entire body on fire, but the robot-man simply stepped aside, letting him fly past. Red skidded to a stop, then whirled around, sending more flames at Kyore, who just closed his eyes and laughed, letting the fire wash over him.

“Metal doesn’t burn, silly boy,” he jeered. “And my armor is made of a special magic-reinforced metal that doesn’t melt, either. I think it’s about time that one of you were finally taken care of, don’t you think?”

His hand vanished into a hole in his mechanical arm, to be replaced with a long blade. Laughing, he raised it over Orange, who was struggling and failing to get up.

And then Red hurled a cup of coffee from wherever into his face.

Kyore screeched as the searing liquid, kept hot by the thermos it was in, burned him. “YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!!”

“I knew barely drinkable toxic waste would come in handy sometime!” Red yelled.

“Where the heck did you…?!” Green stammered, looking dumbfounded.

Using the moment of distraction, I scrambled to my feet. I knew I’d only get one chance at this.

“BLIZZARD!!!”

The entire room was instantly obscured in a whirling maelstrom of wind and snow. I coughed, dropping to my knees.

“Blue, no!” Green screamed over the sound of the storm.

“Use…storm…get out…” was the last thing I managed to choke out before the world started flickering.

And then…everything went black.