Chapter 38: If You Can Land One Hit

  Mother Phoenix returned to her normal posture, crossing her legs in mid-air. "The training session will end if you manage to land a hit on me. And yes, in here you can touch me. However, your skills are still locked. Good luck!" She smiled.

  Ravine and Roan ran in opposite directions as Mother Phoenix threw down a wave of lava toward them.

  "Hey, isn't that a little unfair that you get to throw us random shit while we get nothing essentially?" Roan yelled. "How are we supposed to survive?"

  Mother Phoenix scoffed. "Make it work."

  Roan turned to Ravine. "Hey, what's the plan?"

  "For now, let's try to guess her attack patterns," Ravine said as she kept running. "Nothing more we can really do until then."

  Roan nodded as Mother Phoenix sent a flurry of fire bullets toward them. Ravine ran faster, then executed a high jump backward, a single bullet grazing her back. Roan, on the other hand, spread his arms and let his armor absorb all the hits, steam rising from the heated metal.

  "Not bad," Mother Phoenix said. She dropped to the ground in a flash of fire. As she landed, a warm shockwave rippled across the terrain, felt by both androids.

  She gestured at them. "Come at me."

  She pulled them toward her using fire circles that wrapped around their bodies. As they got closer, Ravine struggled. What's her plan now? Is she messing with us?

  With a snap of her fingers, the circles vanished instantly. She floated to Roan and punched him in the face, making him stumble. She followed up with a kick to the stomach, then a spinning roundhouse kick to the face.

  Ravine's eyes widened as she rushed forward. When did she learn to do all that?

  As Ravine tried to wrap her arms around Mother Phoenix, she turned around, smiled, and delivered an uppercut. She grabbed Ravine's legs and threw her onto Roan.

  "You showed more tact fighting those bears, Ravine. Do not hold back against me, because I will not hold back against you."

  As they both got up, Roan said, "She's too quick. If we want a chance to do this, one of us is going to have to contain her."

  Ravine smirked. "You're the big guy—you do it. I'm faster than you. It will be easier for me to get her attention."

  Roan sighed. "Just don't get yourself killed. This isn't how I envision myself dying either, got that?"

  Ravine chuckled and nodded.

  She rushed toward Mother Phoenix, who had her hands behind her back, and attempted to punch her. Mother Phoenix blocked it, exhaled smoke, then thrust her fingers into Ravine's throat, making her gag violently. She landed two punches to Ravine's gut, swept her leg, and kicked her, sliding back to Roan.

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  Roan's breathing became heavier. He looked back at Mother Phoenix, who was yawning, her body not even facing them.

  As Ravine got up, he said, "Ravine, I've got a plan. I know you said you're quicker than me and all, but this clearly won't work—she's too fast for you."

  Ravine scoffed. "Think you can do better?"

  Roan nodded with determination. "Yes, actually. I might be slower, but I can take more hits than you, and that's a fact we can't ignore. If you let me do this, I can grab her and give you a chance to hit her by surprise."

  Ravine groaned slightly as Roan added, lifting his hands, "Or you can keep getting your ass beat, and I can stay here and watch as we both end up dying in the end. Your choice."

  She sighed. "Fine, go for it. But if you get manhandled, I'm not saving you."

  Roan smiled. "As if you could."

  He charged at Mother Phoenix. I only need to make her unable to move—just for a moment. That's all I need, really.

  Mother Phoenix turned to him. "So I guess it's your turn then."

  She floated around him, then flew at high speed between his legs, trying to make him fall. He stood with little effort.

  "Is this all you got? Come on, those rhinos did a better job than that."

  She struck back with a barrage of fists to his face. He gave a faint smile.

  She's losing her composure. That's good.

  Mother Phoenix, seeing his smile, said, "What's so funny, Roan? You finally give up?"

  Roan laughed. "I just thought, being our Mother and all, you would be more composed. But it looks like we can use that to our advantage."

  She floated backward, then flew toward him and pushed to make him move. Seeing it had no effect, she placed her hands on his chest. Her hands began flaring up.

  Ravine, observing the exchange, thought, What is she trying to do now? Roan managed in mere seconds to expose her weaknesses. I need to help too.

  As seconds passed, Roan began to groan as his armor started smoking. Soon, he was screaming in pain. "Stop!"

  "How does it feel to burn from the very armor that is supposed to protect you?" Mother Phoenix asked.

  This can't go on. I've got to help him, but she knows I'll try to save him. Ravine looked at Roan, then at Mother Phoenix's grin. "All right, I've got an idea."

  She circled around Mother Phoenix and Roan, faked a punch toward Mother Phoenix, jumped over them both, and grabbed Roan.

  "Sorry, Roan, but this is the only way I could think of right now."

  She took his legs, lifted him up backward, and suplexed him.

  Mother Phoenix thought, What does she think she's doing? I'm the enemy here! As she tried to remove her hands from Roan's armor, they didn't budge. Am I stuck?

  As her body slowly faced Ravine, Ravine sprinted at full speed and, with a scream, punched her so hard she crashed into Roan's armor and bounced back out.

  "This is for all of them!" Ravine gave one kick to Mother Phoenix's face. "And this is for making us fight with nothing, asshole!"

  Roan shook his head slowly and got back up. Mother Phoenix's body cracked like glass, disappeared, and reappeared from broken fire fragments.

  "Well done. As promised, the session is now over. I pulled my punches, but we can go again anytime you want."

  Roan groaned. "Yeah, no, I'm good off of that, really."

  Ravine nodded. "I already got to hit you, and that's all I wanted, really."

  Mother Phoenix nodded. "So are we good now?"

  Ravine looked at her with a smirk. "I haven't decided yet, but if you let us hit you a couple more times, we might get there."

  The surroundings became bright again, and they were back in the training room.

  "Phew, never again," Ravine said.

  They heard someone running. Zhon appeared, looking excited. "You're finally back! Hey, come here—you're going to want to see this!"

  As they all went to the main observation room, Zhon headed straight to the windows and pointed. "We're almost there. This is Mars."

  "Already?" Roan said. "How long have we been in there?"

  "Long enough to be here, clearly," Ravine answered.

  Mother Phoenix stared at the red planet growing larger in the window. "Very well. Looks like things will get interesting very soon."

  The vast darkness of space surrounded them as Mars loomed closer and closer.