There was a THUUM! as I released the latch and the pressure inside the cannon blew off the front cover, spaying wax and a cabbage flew out of the cannon.

The cabbage itself had partially disintegrated, it being soggy and slimy from sitting outside for a few days, and pieces of it and wax covered the boys nearest to me. The core of the cabbage stayed true in its course and exploded on Leader Boy's left shoulder and judging from Dorito's actions some of it had gotten on him and a few other boys.

I ignored the muffled giggles coming from the communication stone, turned it off and stuffed it into my pouch. I then picked up the cannon and jumped out of the tree.

"It came from that tree!" I heard a boy shouting, "I saw it!"

"Is it those idiot girls?" Another said.

"Does not matter!" An enraged Leader Boy shouted. "Whoever it is will be…"

I had already begun running as hard as I could but was being slowed down by the cannon. I had gotten much faster over the last year but I knew I was no match for the older boys, especially with the extra weight, and would waste no time getting as far ahead of them as I could before they began to come after me.

It didn't take them long, and I began to hear more shouts and the sounds of bushes being disturbed but by this time I had exited the grove and was only moments away from entering the sea of grass.

It was here I would be in the most danger. Not only would they easily be able to see me but no bushes were obstructing their path and they could sprint at their best. I only hoped that I had gotten far enough away that they tired themselves out before catching up to me. It was probably more likely for me to tire before they did.

"Over there!" A boy's voice yelled behind me.

"Is that the Terran?" I heard another say.

"It is!"

"You will not get away!" Leader Boy yelled, "No way those short legs of yours will carry you fast enough!"

I finally took the chance to look behind me and saw that I had not gained as big a lead as I had hoped with maybe twenty meters between me and the nearest boy and that gap was closing quickly.

"Where are your friends?" Leader Boy shouted, "Wherever they are hiding, we will get them too!"

I veered to the right.

Moments later I looked back just in time to see the two closest boys trip and fall over the large rocks Helnion and I had hidden in the grass.

"Get up, you bumblers!" Leader Boy shouted as he came up behind them.

"Watch out for rocks!" One boy shouted back.

"This one of your tricks?" Leader Boy shouted to me.

Leader Boy slowed as he approached the rocks and then jumped over them before picking up speed again. The rest of the boys either went around them or jumped over them.

It was unfortunate that it wasn't Leader Boy that had tripped over the rocks but I had slowed him and the others down.

I dropped the cannon and veered towards the left. I hoped the grass hid it well enough so they would not find it, but even if they did, I could now run to my full ability.

"She dropped something in the grass!" The nearest boy shouted.

"Ignore it! It is probably another trick!" Leader Boy replied.

I looked back and saw that Leader Boy had turned with me but was keeping the two boys that had tripped over the rocks in front of him. This had slowed him down a little but the two boys were almost as fast as runners as he was and it would only be a matter of seconds before they caught up to me.

It didn't matter. My heart was now beating so quickly now that it felt like my ribs would get pushed out of my chest and my lungs were burning so much that I could have inhaled hot coals.

I skidded to a stop, turned around and jumped into the closest of the two boys, ramming my shoulder into his legs, causing both of us to fall to the ground.

"Finally realized you had no chance?" Leader Boy said between breaths as he came to a stop and stood over me.

I rolled away from him and then stood up as quickly as I could.

The boy I had rammed into had hit me in the face and I held my left hand over my nose in hopes to stop the bleeding.

"So Terrans do bleed red." He said when he saw the blood.

Leader Boy took a step towards me. I stepped back.

"Surround her!" Leader Boy shouted to the other boys that had caught up to us.

I watched as a circle grew around me, caging me in. Several of them were holding long, thin branches, and a few held buckets.

Except for the buckets, all was going according to plan. Now all I needed was to get him to challenge me one on one.

I reached into my pouch as discreetly as I could with my right hand and pulled out a crystal. There was no way I could ever beat Leader Boy in a fair fight so I had devised a way to skew the odds into my favor.

I took my left hand from my face and readied myself in a fighting stance.

"I thought Terrans were supposed to be smart," He grinned. "But girls never were smart."

We looked at each other, neither making a move.

"I have an idea!" Leader Boy said. "You land a good punch and I let you go."

I pushed the small crystal between two of my fingers, exposing the surface so it would touch whoever I punched.

I walked towards Leader Boy.

He watched me, still grinning.

I studied him. During my training I had learned to watch my opponent's body and their movements. What I saw from Leader Boy was that, despite looking angry, he was relaxed, showing he didn't expect much from me, as well he should under normal circumstances.

"I see another girl!" A boy shouted.

That would be Helnion, and thankfully right when she needed to be.

I punched just when Leader Boy looked away, but even then he easily blocked me. As expected.

My so-called lightning crystal contacted his arm.

I activated the lightning crystal.

Leader Boy immediately tensed and fell to his knees.

"What did you…” my next punch cut him off.

I had wasted no time and took advantage of Leader Boy's temporary paralysis from the electrical shock. To his misfortune the weak spot of all men was at the perfect height to punch one with my small stature.

I punched him in the groin as hard as I could and then activated the lightning crystal once more.

Leader Boy fell over, his hands covering his crotch.

"What did you do?" A familiar male voice said.

I looked up and saw Dorito.

His voice had a touch of pain in it as he watched Leader Boy writhing on the ground. I noticed some other boys were covering their crotches as well and most had pained expressions.

I raised my fists at him and he backed off.

"What should we do Dario?" One boy asked.

"We get revenge for the Yyth. That is what!" Another older boy shouted.

"Yeah!" Several other boys added in approval.

"We should wait for Yyth to get back up…" Dorito said, but was ignored.

"You will regret this!" One of the bigger boys said and broke from the circle.

The other boys, Dorito included, began closing in on me. They had forgotten about Helnion.

It was at this point things were out of my hands and my hopes now laid on Helnion and, if I was lucky, Ferret and her friends. Even if I didn't get out of this I had humiliated Leader Boy not once but twice and would be satisfied even if I got buckets tossed on me.

"She is using magic!" One boy yelled, pointing to Helnion, as a ball of fire sizzled over our heads.

I felt a hand clamp on my ankle and was then pulled to the ground.

I looked behind me and saw Leader Boy had partially recovered.

"Go get the other girl and watch for others!" He shouted through teeth clenched from pain.

Leader Boy had glared at five boys that were closest to the direction Helnion was coming from and they began running towards Helnion.

"What are we going to do with Salis?" Dorito asked Leader Boy.

"Make her so she fears us."

Dorito looked at me with uncertainty.

"You have a problem with that?" Leader Boy said when he saw Dorito's reaction.

"I do not think she CAN get scared," Dorito said.

Leader Boy grinned and stood up and at the same let go of my ankle and then grabbed my arm before picking me up and holding me in front of him.

"Give me a stick!" He yelled to no one in particular.

The nearest boy that had a stick hurriedly ran to Leader Boy and handed him his stick.

"Hope you do not bruise easily." Leader Boy said and began striking me with the stick.

"Salis!" I heard Helnion shout in terror.

What happened next surprised me and increased my opinion of Helnion threefold.

It was as if a switch had flipped on inside her head. Up to that point, Helnion had only been flinging bolts of fire or pelting the oncoming boys with rocks. Now she was holding three boys in the air and had formed what looked like a wolf.

Helnion flung the three boys she was holding behind her and charged the wolf at the remaining two boys.

"That girl is crazy!" A nearby boy said.

"She wants to kill us?" Another said.

I noticed a boy nearby turn towards Helnion and just before he ran off an opaque fox formed at his feet.

I looked back to Helnion and saw that the two boys had fled from the wolf as it charged towards me, Helnion herself close behind.

I could not see the fox through the tall grass, but I could tell when it and the wolf met. Animals conjured by magic made no noise and it was difficult to tell what exactly was going on.

Whatever the two magic animals had been doing was soon over and the wolf continued on its way but stopped by a something else just in front of the boy.

Instead of confronting what I assumed was another magic fox, the wolf disappeared. There was a large burst of wind, blowing the grass around in a large circle and it pushed Helnion into the air and over the boy.

"Why are you still standing there! Go get her!" Leader Boy yelled.

Several more boys, including Caldren, left the circle began charging Helnion.

One boy charged up a fireball and shot it at Helnion. The fireball narrowly missed her as it suddenly veered off course just before it impacted and flew up into the air.

"What are you doing!" I heard a familiar voice yell. It was Caldren. "You could have killed her!"

Caldren then jumped at the boy and punched him.

My attention went back to Helnion. The other boys had reached her and had surrounded her.

Helnion stopped.

There was a loud ripping noise as the grass around Helnion tore out of the ground. Moments later it began to whirl around her as a strong wind formed.

The boys jumped back as blades of grass spun around Helnion like some strange tornado. Most of the boys ran away in fear.

Leader Boy dropped me onto my feet, "Accursed magic users." The veins in his head were now bulging "Hold her!" He said to the remaining boys and then stomped off towards the grass tornado.

Dorito approached me, but before he could the other remaining boy kicked me to the ground and put his foot on my back so I could not get back up.

"Careful!" Dorito said.

"Be quiet, softie!" The other boy said.

Dorito started to complain but stopped and turned to watch Helnion.

"Stupid girls," I heard him mutter.

Leader Boy had stopped in front of the tornado and looked at it.

"You must be getting weaker," He yelled over the rushing wind, "All that fancy magic tiring you out."

Leader Boy stuck his arm inside the tornado but was pushed back. He did not fall over and skidded backward a meter or two before coming to a stop.

"You!" He said to one boy that had not run away. "Grab her!"

"But, boss!" The boy complained.

"Now!" Leader Boy yelled back angrily.

The boy nodded and nervously approached the tornado, his arm reaching out.

I heard a noise behind me.

The boy standing on my back had heard it too and was looking towards the school.

Moments later several figures lept out of the grass. Two of them tackled the boy standing on me and another tackled Dorito.

"Salis!" It was Ferret. "Are you fine?"

Ferret walked stood up out of the grass and stood next to me, offering her hand to help me up.

I accepted it and was pulled to my feet.

"Is that…" Ferret said pointing towards the tornado with her chin, "Helnion?"

"Yep.”

"Did you know she could do that?"

"I had no idea."

"Should we not help her?" Another girl appeared from the grass with the last of the girls.

"Oh, right!" Ferret hit herself on the head.

The girls all nodded to each other and charged at the few remaining boys, none of which had noticed Ferret and her group, that is until the girls started screaming.

Leader Boy looked back and as soon as he saw the girls he screamed as loud as he could and charged at the tornado.

By now the winds of the tornado had noticeably become weaker since I had last seen it and Leader Boy easily broke through them, tackling Helnion. He then punched her in the stomach before standing up to face Ferret and the other girls.

"Come on, boys!" He yelled.

I looked around and saw that most of the other boys gone now. Those that had not run from Helnion had run when they saw Ferret and co.

"Bunch of cowards!" Leader Boy yelled and charged at the girls, only three of the older boys joining him.

The boys put up a tough fight. It took five of the nine girls to take him down and three to hold him down, while the other four barely held off the other three boys until they were joined by two of the girls that had gone after Leader Boy.

Ferret stood triumphantly over Leader Boy, her foot placed firmly on his back.

I looked around and saw that one bucket had not been overturned. I picked it up and took it to Ferret.

Ferret took the bucket from me hesitantly.

"I DARE you to!" Leader Boy yelled.

Ferret pursed her lips but then raised the bucket.

"For my friends." She poured the contents of the bucket onto Leader Boy's head. She then covered his head with the empty bucket and walked away.

Helnion joined me, "I am tired Salis.”

"After what you did? I bet you are. I've never seen you like that before. Was that some sort of Concentration Mode?”

"Concentration Mode?" Helnion looked at me curiously.

One of Ferret's friend walked passed us, "We better hurry. Do not want to get caught after all this noise." She then slapped me on the back and added, "Thanks for doing this for us. I haven't seen Ferra like this since last time."

I nodded and made my way to the area I had dropped the cannon, glad that things had gone well and the night was over.