New Kids On The Block

Two days into a new city and Jake was just sitting on the couch, watching tv at Aunt Mari's house. As he looked deeper and deeper into the screen, he began hearing drum beats again, just like when he found his locket in the Anasazi cave. He felt his neck stiffen and his eyes widened. He felt completely immobilized as he focused all of his energy into trying to just blink. Something was controlling him, or binding him, or something. He really didn't like it.

With all of the strength he could summon from the pit of his will, he closed his eyes. His muscles relaxed; he was free again. He could feel air blow on his face. He wasn't inside anymore. As he opened his eyes, he saw an abandoned city. As he looked closer, it reminded him of downtown Jump; the area that he saw when he first arrived. He also noticed that he didn't have his jacket on anymore. He was wearing the suit his uncle got him. He was very confused, but he knew one thing: he wasn't going to take this lying down.

As he heard someone yelling at him from behind, he turned around and, by instinct, threw a strong, concentrated gust of wind toward the figure. He would then yell angrily, "You just messed with the wrong guy." he said frankly as he lifted off into the air.

He prepared another strong gust of wind to defend himself from anything that the figure might throw at him. At about a hundred yards in the air, he could have a good view of the figure yet still have plenty of room to dodge into or between the old buildings.

Before Cloud had much time to revel in his fine control of flight that he'd been working on, seven icy disks were plunging through the air and straight for him! He let a gust of wind maneuver three of them out to his side, with glittery fragments of snow gently wafting to the ground as they burst on the brick apartment buildings. With a quick dive and an imitation of an eagle, Cloud swooped under the next few, barely avoiding an unpleasant collision.

He held out his hands strongly and pushed out the strongest gust of wind he could muster to slow the next wave up icy pucks down to weaken their impact. So, now I've got some Jack Frost wannabe to deal with, huh? Jake folded his arms as he looked down at the hockey dude, swiftly drifting down to ground floor.

Alright, now insert a demeaning ice themed pun to dampen his spirits... Cloud thought to himself. "Haven't you ever heard that ice guys finish last!?" he exclaimed, shaking his fist.

He stood there for a moment in silence. "I...I'm really sorry. I'm new to the catch phrase biz and...I'll come up with something better in the future, I promise." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as he tried to avoid further embarrassment but actually accidently causing it.

He shrugged and quickly charged directly at the boy, amping it up to full speed and leading with a strong, confident right hook. He would then, regardless of whether he'd hit or not, continue with a leg sweep that he thought he saw on tv once, powering the sweep up with some wind energy.

His gust powered punches and kicks did little apart from cracking the kids ice shields of Frosty's defense. Fear almost consumed him as it seemed that the boy had him right where he wanted him...then he grabbed his suit. As the boy reared back for a punch, Jake took off, with the icy interloper hanging on just by his suit. Any stabilizers on the ground, holding Powerplay would have cracked and, although they weren't going at Cloud's max speed since he was supporting twice as many people as usual, they were certainly still moving at considerable speeds.

Much to Jake's chagrin, however, the force of the boy's first strike still hit him in the shoulder quite roughly, which caused him to veer off to the side slightly, nearly running head on into a building before he straightened their course. He'd then continue to attempt to do wild turns and flips at about two hundred yards off the ground and running far too close to the abandoned buildings, trying to get Powerplay to slip from his grip and take a horrendous comet to the ground.

"This a little too breezy for you?" he asked with a small grin. Land might be his advantage, but the skies were certainly in Cloud's domain.

Much to Cloud's dismay, Powerplay just seemed to hang on like a leech no matter how hard Jake would twist and flail him around. Suddenly, he felt a chill spreading around his chest, but, he knew he wasn't fast enough to cause that kind of chill. He briefly looked down and saw the ice that was connecting the two like super glue. Power Play was right, he'd never tried to fly as an ice cube before, but, so far, he wasn't liking it very much.

He tried to keep his flight upward but, between the cold and the extra weight, he couldn't hold it anymore. The gusts of wind weren't cooperating with him and a tunnel broke overhead, causing them to dive straight down. "Well, if I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" he yelled as he clenched his fingers onto the non-icy parts of the boy's arms so that he wouldn't have an easy way of escaping even if he let the ice go. He also had enough control of their flight pattern to have Power Play land underneath him, so that he'd at least have a body to break his fall.

"I'm sorry it has to end like this...but no one just kidnaps me!" he added honestly.

"Is this how it's gonna end?" 

A few moments before the aerial wrestling match would have created a teen sized crater in the ground, Power Play kneed Cloud right in the lower intestines, freeing the ice wielder but also giving Cloud a chance to curl up and weave a path to safety as his flight pattern fixed itself. He landed himself safely on a patch of sidewalk, knelt on one knee, and spat a considerable amount of blood onto the ground. 

"Note to self: fighting a guy built like a truck up close...probably not the best idea..." he said to himself quietly. Perhaps long range would suit him best.

As the boy slid on his own homemade ice rink in the sky, Jake watched for a moment when he'd slide near enough to the decrepit buildings and Cloud forced a huge gust of wind to nail the old bricks, causing it to topple the whole skyscraper in the direction of Powerplay. Although a new building would never fall like this, the building in front of them was in lousy enough strength that he could exploit its flaws and hopefully end this with a huge, loud bang.

With a deafening crunch, the building toppled right on top of Jake's adversary. As a cloud of dust flew at him, he brought up an arm to protect his face, although his glasses would have already block his eyes, instinct took over. He waited a moment and brushed the dust off of his shoulders. He turned away and thought for a moment how to get back home. He sighed as a sensation of guilt overcame him. He didn't intend to kill the guy. He actually didn't even know much about him and he just ended his life...plus Jake was still in this place even though he defeated the guy he thought was in control. He was stuck...

As he had his back turned to the building though, scratching the back of his head, he suddenly heard what sounded like roller blade wheels, spinning at considerable speeds. He flipped around quickly as he heard the resurrected Power Play yell. An icicle met his gaze though and struck him in the left shoulder. He fell to the ground, avoiding the rest of them, luckily. He screamed in agony, staring at the new spike jutting out of her shoulder.

He quickly took off heading away from the guy and to the top of a more sturdy nearby building. He knelt behind a pipe that was probably connected to the building's ventilation system and poked at his new icicle. He winced in pain as it was stuck in there pretty good. Just do it quick...like a bandaid.

He let out a deep breath and just yanked it out all at once. "GAHH!!! MOTHEROFHOLYPOOPGRADATUGHGHGHHGHGHGH!!!" He jumped to his feet and hopped around as he stared at the gigantic gash in his arm. 

Once he calmed down, his left arm hung limp. He looked up and waited for the kid to show up again. He'd be ready...he wasn't holding back anymore. Once he'd come in sight, he prepared his strongest gust possible to knock him off or away from the building. He didn't want to have to move around too much since his shoulder wound was feeling tender and his fighting style was based on mobility...not the best situation, but rage was amping up his powers to max strength. He was ready.

After a few minutes of loud breathing and attempting to somehow recoup from the stab wound, Jake suddenly heard the door to the roof crash open. Power Play offered him 'the easy way out', or at least that's how it sounded to Jake. He silenced his breath and listened to the boy's footsteps originating from behind the barrier he was now ducking behind. He knew he could take him if he really took him off of his feet. He had the advantage in strength, but Jake knew speed...that's how they'd have to play it.

Once the boy sounded close enough, Jake jumped out of his hiding place and threw both of his hands forward, sending a huge wave of wind directly at the boy. Hoping that it would send him flying, Cloud would then use a powerful burst to propel him into the air with a long leap, him back-flipping as he sailed. He'd land quickly on the back side of his adversary and continue with a wind empowered side kick towards his head and then another leg sweep to attempt to bring him down to the ground. All of these strikes would be super strengthened as they were reinforced by gusts of wind, making them stronger and quicker than the average fighter.

Cloud would then propel himself backwards and onto a slightly higher level, just out of regular reach. "I'm not going down that easily." Jake said with confidence, still slightly wincing from the pain in his shoulder, hid his anguish, covering it up with a tone of arrogance.