Carl didn’t waste any time,
unleashing more needles of flame in my direction. I copied his move in my own
way, unleashing a tornado-force blast of wind around me. By circulating it
around me, I was able to take it back in, otherwise I would’ve emptied my tank.
But Carl was already jetting
towards me, more fiery blasts on their way, but much bigger. The needles had
been extinguished quickly by the gale, but larger flames would only increase
due to the extra oxygen, so I used my board to dodge them. I kept the war of
attrition up, circling the geyser and gathering more cloud from the steam.
Almost too late, I realized that
was a dumbass move.
The geyser erupted when Carl sent
fiery blasts down into it. The already building pressure flashed to steam and
fountained into a jet of steam. It was a cloud, but I couldn’t gather it nearly
quick enough, and it blasted me and my board. The board protected me from the
scalding water inside the steam, but I fell back to the ground.
Carl pounced, sword coming down to
go Voltron on me.
I lost my shoes.
They blew off as I used jets of
wind from hands and feet to rocket out of the way. I even managed a stylish
Iron Man-style backflip, coming up ready to fight, lightning crackling in my
fists. I had blown out most of my wind with that stunt.
Carl faced me, grinning evilly.
“That one was my point.”