</a> ~ Episode Twenty-Eight ~


    Grandar, the Monster of Flight


    “


    Eri squinted up at him from where she sat against the school’s utility garage, directly across the airlock where he’d come from. She’d been half-paying attention to a sixth-grade soccer game when Shinji accidently startled her. “Don’t you do recycling at lunch recess?”


    “Yeah. I—Oof!” he grunted, sitting down with an awkward plunk. “I was. Saw you out here through Mr. Hughes’ window. Your father called me last night.”


    “…I know.” Eri squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m sorry my dad went after you. I’m really embarrassed.”


    Shinji frowned. “Please, don’t be…”


    “Well, I am,” she countered. “No matter what I do, it feels like I keep messing everything up for people. Macks and me worked really hard on that history project and we ended up getting a bad mark anyway! Everyone got hurt fighting Zorfus because of me. Isa probably hates my guts, even though I just wanna be nice to her. I’m grounded because my stupid brother caught me sneaking around during Monster stuff. And like, just two seconds ago, I hurt Macks’ feelings – and I—I don’t even know what I did to…”


    Eri trailed off, face buried in her hands. Her shoulders began to tremble.


    “Seruma…” Shinji’s heart broke for Eri. He reached to gently squeeze her shoulder. “Hey…”


    But Eri flinched from him. “No, don’t.”


    “Wh—” He froze, alarmed by her reaction.


    “Please, don’t touch me there,” she whispered.


    Shinji blinked at her cowering, his jaw hanging with confusion. And then in that moment, the cold truth settled in the pit of his stomach where all other calloused, rotten, things resided.


    She was afraid of him.


    “Do your parents know that you’ve been sneaking into girls’ bedrooms at night?!”


    Shinji was the reason Eri was grounded. And now she was afraid of him.


    This, like all other revelations, was nothing new. This was rejection. This was honesty. This was but a fresh reminder for Shinji, and he knew it right away. All of his failures and shame. All his of dishonor. Both, to the Izuma-Reinholdt name and to Eri’s integrity.


    He was no leader.


    He was an embarrassment.


    To his parents. To his grandfather. To the boy he was falling love with, the best friend who’d stood by him since the beginning, who hated him now.


    To the girl he’d sworn an ancient family oath to protect. The girl he loved for as long as he could remember. The girl who owned his life.


    The girl who was afraid of him now.


    You’re the monster. You are.


    “I did this,” Shinji murmured, rising to a stand. “I caused this to happen. This is all my fault.”


    Eri blinked, looked up at him from between her hands. “What? Shinji, no—”


    “—Hey, what’s that?” The nearby sixth-graders playing soccer stopped their game with eyes raised to observe a wave of shadow that suddenly overcast the schoolyard in large patches.


    The darkened sky nabbed Shinji’s attention, too. But what at first appeared to be clouds revealed themselves as mourning doves, crows, cardinals, grouse, gold finches—seemingly every species of bird in the vicinity. Some landed among the sod, daring to peck and waddle furiously after anyone who dared near.


    Within the eye of the feathered storm hovered a winged creature, a cross between an eagle and an angelic monstrosity. It looped above the school, a vulture awaiting its chance to scavenge.


    “We need to get inside. Now.” Shinji tore free the Earth Pendant from around his throat.


    “Is—is that a Monster? What’s it doing here?!” Eri climbed to a stand beside him, massaging her forehead with a grimace. She froze with a sharp gasp. “Oh, no … The Child of Destiny—Isa!”


    “Hey—you guys!!” Evan appeared with Mackenzie amidst the students and yard monitors alike who scattered in mass panic. The pair were running towards Shinji and Eri from the nearest school airlock. “You good?!”


    The sight of Mackenzie made Eri’s heart hurt.


    Shinji nodded to Evan, hesitating to meet his gaze. “Looks like we’re up against a Grandar. Get Seruma out of here. I’ll deal with this.”


    “Me?” This startled Eri. “Why me? We have to find Isa!”


    The sound of Isa’s name made Mackenzie flinch. But evidently she agreed with Eri’s confusion. “What are you talking about, ‘Get Eri outta here’?”


    Evan frowned. “Shin, you’re not gonna try to fight that thing on your own, are you, man?”


    “I’m right behind you,” Shinji assured him. “It’s imperative you find Keitel now. Go on, I got this.”


    But Eri protested. “Shinji—Why can’t we—”


    “Don’t argue with me, just go!”


    “Come on, girl.” Evan urged her. “Let’s make tracks.”


    But Eri hesitated, eyes glistening worry at Shinji.


    “Everything will be okay, Seruma,” he promised. “I’ll fix this mess.”


    “…Mess?” Uncertainty flexed across Eri’s features. “What do you…?”


    But Evan gently pulled her away, back towards the school. “C’mon. We gotta go!”


    “I’ll be fine. Promise.” Shinji watched the trio leave, then turned to face what was obviously a feathered distraction for the Monster’s true purpose here at the school. He squinted up at Grandar as its aviary smog cast the sky into further darkness.


    He brought the Earth Sword up in a readied stance.


    “Come on, you bastard. I’m right here...”


    “Shinji!!” she screamed.


    baka’s gonna get pecked to death!”


    “I—Shinji knows what he’s doing,” Evan assured her. But the worry in his tone indicated different. “Come on, we gotta—”


    “


    “so many!”


    “


    “Eddi-chan?” Mackenzie touched her friend on the wrist. “Hon, are you okay?”


    Shinji, in danger … Hurting Mackenzie in the bathroom … Stupid Noah … “I can’t breathe. I can’t buh—oh, gosh, I need—”


    “stupid plan of his!” Mackenzie wrapped Eri in a secure hug and shouldered through the crowd to gain access within the school. “I have to get Eddi-chan outta here. Something’s wrong!”


    “


    “


    Eddi-chan! Breath, hon, talk to me.”


    “everything…”


    “


    “


    “


    “


    “brought them?!” Evan clapped, overjoyed.


    “


    “on the roof?!” Mackenzie’s jaw hit the center of the Earth.


    “


    “Eddi-chan…”


    “


    “not stupid. I really hurt your feelings over something, and I wanna talk about it later. Okay?”Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    “after we Seal the Monster?” said Evan. “Shinji kinda needs us right now??”


    “


    thought of uttering what pounded in her heart. What needed to be said. “So, before you go—in case anything happens…”


    “…


    “


    “guys!” Evan begged.


    “…love you,” Mackenzie told her. She froze, hearing the admission out loud, face-to-face, for the first time, though she had thought it—had felt it in her heart—every single day since the very moment their eyes met the first day of grade seven.


    “I love you, Eddi-chan…”


    so much…”


    “


    “


    Eddi-chan. I know you will. You’re Eri, the Monster Sealer, after all. The best Monster Sealer.”


    “


    “…


    Evan eventually caught up to her, panting for dear life. “So—what’s this—plan?”


    “That Guardian Beast you Sealed—Shinji taught you the incantation to release Monsters, right?” Eri clicked the pouch into place around her narrow hips. “If Eldrom can fly like Shiara can, maybe we can lure Grandar half way. Get up high enough to Seal it somehow.”


    “That’s a good idea.” Evan wiped his brow on the back of a sleeve. “I’unno what Shin’s thinking. He does this, you know? Puts on a big ol’ brave act, like he’s gotta save the world all by himself. Thinking that way’s gonna get himself killed.”


    “You’re right.” Graveness befell Eri. “And I’m not gonna let that happen.”


    They found a roof access further up the hall by the bathrooms, beside Mrs. Dupont’s grade four classroom. The door was locked.


    “What are we gonna do now?” Evan wailed.


    “I got this.” Eri snapped the chain of her Fire Pendant from around her neck. “Element Fire--R E L E A S E ! !”


    The warm gusts air that consumed Eri erupted into fiery winds that did not burn her skin or sear her clothes. A long grey rod, tipped with a golden spike, stretched into existence out one side of the Pendant. An orange dual-faced hammerhead took form on the opposite end. With it came another, longer, golden spike that surfaced from between the hammerhead’s bell-shaped curves.


    “Here goes—!!” Eri swung the Fire Hammer hard into the access door. The impact left a perfectly rounded dent that caused her to grimace at the sight. “I really hope this fixes itself when the Monster is Sealed…”


    With a few more strikes, the door broke off its hinges and fell forward into the darkened room. Eri and Evan now faced a ladder bolted to the far wall that led straight up.


    “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go.”


    “Hold up a sec.” Evan stopped her with a heaviness that gleamed behind his glasses frames. “ ‘Ree—before we go back out there. Girl, there’s something you gotta know.”


    Eri shook her head. “Can—can it wait until—”


    “No. It can’t,” Evan cut her off. “It’s about the Child of Destiny.”


    Eri blinked. “Wha—? What about her—”


    “Listen. Real talk here.” He paused with lips tight between his teeth, struggling to find the right words. “The, uh—the Child of Destiny—Girlie, the truth is that—”


    “Red-eye, what the hell are you doing?”


    Eri froze. Slowly, the Fire Hammer lowered in her arms so its spike touched the linoleum. She turned at the hip to find Isa peering out at her and the Fire Hammer from the safety of the girls’ washroom.


    Eri went beet-red. “Uh—Isa! Hi!”


    “Um, hi. What’s with the sledge hammer, kid?” Isa nudged back one of her walkman headphones, releasing the faint noise of punk rock out into the hallway. “Getting called a vampire all the time finally push you over the edge?”


    “It’s true!” squeaked Eri. “It’s good we ran into you, because—”


    “Huh?” Isa let a wary expression linger at the both of them, then edged the rest of the way out into the hall over to a nearby window that saw out the side of the school. “What birds? The hell are you nerds talking ab—”


    everywhere. The sky was almost black, they were everywhere. And tearing into everything. Everyone.


    Her headphones clattered to the floor.


    “…What the hell…?”


    Up the hall, Mackenzie stumbled into view from the first floor stairwell.


    “You g-u-u-u-u-u-ys!!” She huffed and wheezed towards Eri and Evan, Air Staff in tow. “Wait—oof—wait up!!—Oh, God, I gotta stop smoking—urghh—”


    “Macks!!” Eri cried out, relieved by the sight of her.


    Evan gave Eri a double thumbs-up and jogged backwards down the hall to meet Mackenzie. “I’ll tell you about the Child of Destiny thing later. You go ahead, man. We’ll catch up. Take Isabella with you!”


    “Right.” Eri turned to the new girl and said, “Come on, Isa—”


    “What?” Isa blinked at her. “Why?”


    “There’s no time to explain—”


    “But there’s plenty of time to smash down doors? Where’d you get the hammer, anyway? That thing’s gotta weight a ton.”


    “I—can you—just—” Eri shook her head, flustered. “Please, just listen! You gotta come with me. I can protect you! There’s a Monster that wants to kidnap you and bring you back to its world so your dad can—”


    “My dad?” Isa stared at her. And then burst out laughing. "Kid, what the hell are you talking about?"


    “I’m being serious…” Eri’s shoulders wilted. “…You’re the Child of Destiny…”


    “Child of what? Red-eye, what does that even mean?” Whatever horror had been on Isa''s face had been quickly covered up by an unreadable aloofness. She pushed off the windowsill and stooped to grab her headphones. "I''m not going anywhere."


    "But Isa--!"


    "Whatever drugs you''re on, leave me out of it." Isa shouldered past Eri, giving the Fire Hammer a snort of indignation in passing, and headed down the hall towards their classroom. She didn''t notice the glare Mackenzie shot her in passing with Evan. “Good luck bashing birds, or whatever.”


    Eri sighed.


    “Eddi-chan, forget her!” Mackenzie snapped. “That orokana na gaijin is safer here inside the school than anywhere else right now!”


    “ ‘Kenzie’s right, man,” Evan said. “Anyway, don’t worry about us! We’re right behind you!”


    “O—okay.” Eri nodded at them.


    With a shake of her head, she pushed away all thoughts of Isa and vanished up the ladder with the greater issue of Shinji''s wellbeing at the forefront of her priorities.


    "What the hell? ... Did she Seal it already?" Mackenzie blinked confusion at the clear sky overhead. Just then, a hollow bang in the distance led her across the roof until she had a clear view of the school’s utility garage where all the recycling bins and dumpsters were located. “Eddi-chan?!”


    The lid of a nearby dumpster raised and collapsed to the side. Shinji hoisted into view with a massive intake of fresh air. He looked up at Mackenzie and frowned, folding his arms over the edge of the bin. “Well? Did you Seal it?”


    Mackenzie shook her head. “Have you seen Eri? She came up here to help you!”


    Shinji’s eyes hardened. “No. I was in here.”


    “Damn it! Where’d she go?” Mackenzie threw a look back to Evan, who was stumbling over grates and ventilation tubes on his way towards her, when a whistle cut through the air.


    Evan fell backwards with a yelp when something hit the roof with explosive impact. The cloud of debris wavered to reveal Eri’s Fire Hammer between both kids. Its rod pointed skyward, the hammerhead leaving a shattered web-like pattern embedded in the roof.


    “Oh, hell!!” Evan shot to a stand, staring up into the clouds.


    High above the school soared a winged monstrosity, fleeing from the scene. Eri was clutched in its talons—limp and unconscious.


    “Eddi-chan!!” Mackenzie shrieked. She started to straddle the Air Staff when Evan grabbed her by the arm.


    “‘Kenzie, what are you doing? Aren’t you’re afraid of heights? How do you know that thing can even fly?!”


    “What else am I supposed to do?!” she demanded, pulling away from him. “That thing’s got my best friend!”


    Shinji shouted, “If you’re gonna do something, hurry up and do it!” He flew past on Shiara’s back, in hot pursuit of Grandar.


    The Monster of Flight realized Shinji’s presence at once. A string of winged torpedoes shot out from the trees between him and the fleeing Monster. But with a deep snarl, Shiara exhaled upon the birds, leaving ice sculptures to drop out of the air like bricks.


    “It must be heading back to Grover’s Mill,” Shinji realized. “Seruma, I’m coming!!”


    He charged off of the Guardian Beast, leaping across the open sky to tackle Grandar from behind in mid-flight. It made a sharp dip from the added weight and threw itself into a barrel roll. Shinji grabbed around the Monster’s neck for dear life.


    Another onslaught of birds, this time a murder of crows, swooped up from the parking lot like shotgun spray at Shinji. A sudden Hurricane Roar sent them all scattering.


    “Huh?!” Shinji found Eldrom galloping through the sky, behind them. Mackenzie glared ahead from the safety of the Monster’s air-kissed mane, with Evan clinging around her cardigan for dear life.


    “Let go of my Eddi-chan, orokana kaibutsu!!”


    Shinji grunted, surprised. “You guys are nuts, you know that?!”


    “We’re nuts?!” Evan snapped. “What are you doing?! Who’s gonna be the standing ovation at my recital if you splatter all over the schoolyard?!”


    “Izuma-san, just frigging Seal it, already! We’ll catch you!” Mackenzie cried. “The Monster’s getting weak from how heavy you are!”


    She was right. Grandar was encumbered by the combined weight of both Shinji and Eri. It weaved with struggle to remain airborne.


    Without a second’s hesitation, he shouted the incantation: “Grandar, Monster of Flight! By the oath of the Original Five, I command you! Surrender your power to me—now!!”


    Grandar let out a final screeching caw before its grip around Eri slacked.


    Evan made a desperate dive to catch her in outstretched arms. She stirred awake in his embrace, groaning.


    “…Evan? …Wha…?”


    He grinned at her. “Heh. Nice of you to, uh, drop in!”


    Behind them, Mackenzie started to gag. “Ugh, gross. Leave the dad jokes at home!”


    Above, strong gusts encapsulated both Grandar and Shinji. The Monster dissolved into wavering liquid strands, bringing forth the outline of a Mon-Orb. It filled with Grandar’s essence and solidified. Shinji caught the prize in his arms—then immediately realized what he had just done. “Oh, crap…”


    “Shinji, no!!” Evan shrieked.


    Shinji plummeted to the schoolyard and fell face-first into icy-warmth. He grunted, grasping gingerly at jagged fur, and lifted his head to realize what had just happened.


    “…Shiara? Thank you…”


    The Guardian Beast of Water growled in reply, carrying him between her shoulders.


    Together with Eri, Mackenzie, and Evan on Eldrom’s back, Shinji soared on Shiara through a magenta sky amidst the smog of dazed birds now released from the Monster of Flight’s influence.


    He caught sight of Isa Keitel, staring slack-jawed out the window of Class 208-B as the Star Warriors rode the elemental Guardian Beasts to the safety of the basketball court. She was leaned so far against the pane to take in the sight of them, that Shinji wondered if she’d break right through the glass.


    For a moment, their gazes locked.


    Isa’s irises were smoky gray, for sure. Shinji saw them clear as day through her wide-eyed confusion.


    Isa Keitel—The Warrior of Spirit.


    The final Star Warrior was none other than the transfer student, after all.


    Through the realization came Eri’s voice, a faint echo on the air: “Hey, Evan—remember when you thought all those tree branches looked like spaghetti?”


    “Huh? Oh, yeah!” Evan laughed. “Spaghetti!!”


    “Spaghetti!!” cried Eri with glee.


    Shinji watched as Mackenzie disengaged from steering Eldrom to throw herself around them both. She nuzzled a rosy cheek against Eri’s hair, relieved. “Eddi-chan…”


    “Macks…” Eri grasped for her hand. “I’m okay…”


    A small smile crept across his lips.


    Evan then waved for Shinji’s attention. “Wait ‘til we get back to class! Man, you should’a seen it, Mrs. Murphy was barking orders at people through a megaphone! It was nuts!”


    Shinji pondered this. “You know, she’s probably worse off now, wondering what everyone’s suddenly all doing inside during recess! No one’s gonna remember a thing since we Sealed that Monster!”


    The thought made him laugh. A sound that totally caught him off-guard.


    Shinji had forgotten what his own laughter sounded like—what a real smile felt like. Evan nodded at him, encouraging.


    All three felt so good.