Wish upon the Stars chapter 365

Nat was grinning at me as I entered the barrier, but I ignored that  and yanked her into a tight hug. She eeped in surprise before tapping on  my back. "Ribs." She wheezed. "Breaking." I flinched and pulled back,  grabbing her by the shoulders to look her over for any injuries I hadn't  apparently just caused.

"Are  you ok?" I said frantically. Natalie just grinned at me, rubbing her  ribs slightly as she chuckled at my panic. I flushed. "I mean  like...other than possible rib fractures from me being an enthusiastic  hugger."

She  rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, Shane. I appreciate the backup by the way.  Perit and Valk wouldn't have been near enough to handle this many  F-rankers. They definitely came prepared for me." She shook my hands off  her shoulders. "I appreciate the worry though cuz' it's sweet that you  care so much. I kind of assumed we were just allies of convenience." Her  smile became warmer. "You came to bail me out when you didn't have to. I  won't forget it."

"Speaking  of which." I said clearing my throat and looking around uncomfortably.  "How the hell did they get this many people on world without being  noticed? This wasn't the only attack, they jumped all the other factions  too. How are they fielding these kinds of numbers and why didn't anyone  know about it?" I had no real idea how to deal with being thanked like  that by a family member, best to just move on.

Seemingly  aware of how out of my depth I was, Nat chuckled and turned to look at  the subdued F-rankers. "Neighboring system. I'm guessing they've been  slipping people into the planet since the tournament was announced.  Traffic among F and G-rankers is much less likely to be monitored than  E-rank entry. Getting foot soldiers in would prove far less of a  challenge. Not to mention alternate routes like smuggling. Still, this  couldn't have been easy."

I  growled with frustration. "But what's the point? I get wanting to win  the tournament but this ridiculous shadow war between the factions seems  like a huge overreaction. Why do any of this? It can't JUST be about  the damn dungeon."

Nat  laughed a bit louder, reaching over to pat me on the shoulder as she  stared unblinkingly at the enemy. "Politics, little cousin. Politics.  Don't think to much about it, if you understood it you wouldn't be sane  enough to ask questions like that." She shot a side eye slyly at the  rest of my team. "No offense to future cousin-in-law, of course." I  heard a coughing sputter from Callie, and felt a surge of embarrassed  shock through the bond.

Deciding  to take pity on my girlfriend, I gestured to her backup. "So. You never  did introduce me to your guards. I assume they're the beneficiaries of  most of your wishes. Being able to hold off a crowd of F-rankers, even  with that barrier to help, is no small feat. They must be boosted pretty  hard."

That  got a wide grin. "Yup. That's my crew. Perit and Valk. Most of us try to  confine our direct subordinates to between two and five people. Single  guardians work better if they're dramatically higher ranked, and  anything past five means less than a wish a day at our rank. Two is  considered a pretty safe amount. They can watch each other's backs.  Though three is popular too, because it gives you the possibility of  ranged support."

I  considered my own mess of backup and grinned wryly behind my mask. I  could see how that could get complicated. "So...what do they do? If it's  cool to ask? Because I get that...Perit? If that's her name, uses an  axe, and based on the cloud of green mist around it probably some kind  of acid? But I'm drawing a blank about the blue stuff that guy is  whipping around, other than some kind of power trap."

She  paused for a second, thinking over the pros and cons, before nodding.  "Yeah. Ok I'll tell you. As a sign of trust. Valk's ability is called  Vector Gel. It's a sort spatiotemporal thickening. Think of it like  suspending something in amber, but less rigid and more weird. When  energy comes into contact with the gel it becomes stuck in it, only raw  energy mind you, nothing with physical mass. It's an odd power, but he's  managed to make it work for him."

I  could see that. The whips were a brilliant use of a power like that. He  could create a chain of effects and slam them into something over and  over until the energy dissipated. Since the gel suspended energy, most  of the attacks seemed to be stuck halfway, so there was some sticking  out, though I wasn't sure what would happen if you just brought a  completely ensconced attack down on a person. I knew they wouldn't  stick, but did the gel just pass through them?

Abel  seemed intrigued. I hadn't realized he was listening, probably because  he was giving me space for me reunion, but he had no problem butting in  to comment. "That's interesting. It's the closest power to my own I've  seen in ages." He narrowed his eyes at Nat. "But you're all still in the  tournament. Aren't you worried about Shane using that information  against you in the arena?"

Natalie  snickered. "No offense little cousin, but Valk is a monster. Just  because you know what he can do doesn't mean you can stop it. I trust my  guy to be able to take you on." She shot Abel a challenging smirk. "You  or any of your little buddies. You've got a knack for this kind of  thing, but you're still from a backwater. Valk has traveled the cluster  with me. He can take anything you have to throw at him."

I  wasn't offended. i had just as much faith in my own crew. It sounded  like Valk was her version of Abel, though probably not as scary. That  said I didn't want to fight him. Like at all. The big burly red bearded  man had that same feeling of barely suppressed gleeful violence that my  silver masked teammate gave off when he was excited and I wanted no part  of it.

That  wasn't important now though. What was important was my cousin's safety.  "Ok, well you should come stay with us until you find a place."  Admittedly I hadn't brought this up with anyone, but seeing Nat in so  much danger worried me. The safest place around was my place. I wasn't  sure why her guardian hadn't stepped in, but if they got attacked at my  place I knew mine would.

Natalie,  however, had no such understanding. "Shane. No." She said firmly. "I  appreciate the worry, like I said, but I have my own guardian. She's a  C-ranker. If she can't take care of me then neither can you and yours.  This incident proves that guardians aren't there to protect us from  threats at our own level. I'll take more precautions with my living  arrangements next time."

"But  my guardian is B-rank." I wheedled. I wasn't willing to sell Zeke out  for helping, since if he wasn't supposed to then telling Nat was a bad  idea, but claiming that the extra rank made him scary enough not to mess  with would work fine. And it would give her a reason to stay somewhere  safe.

To my  surprise, Natalie's head snapped up. "See, I feel like I might have  heard you say that before and brushed it off, because it's not possible.  B-rankers are real powerhouses. They aren't at the level of branch clan  founders obviously, but you can start a family of you own within a  branch at B-rank. Having a Legendary ability is no small thing. No way a  B-ranker agrees to play babysitter. Especially not for Elijah. He's not  exactly popular."

I  shrugged. "Couldn't say, but Zeke has known my dad since they were  kids. They're best friends. From back in the day when dad was a  candidate himself."

"Janus?"  She said incredulously. "Your guardian is Janus? Fucking HOW? How do  you get someone at that level to agree to vanish for decades and raise a  kid. Because that's what happened based on what you're saying. No way  he could reach A-rank in hiding like that. If he ever was at all. B to A  is a qualitative leap. At that level the sheer number of stats you need  becomes nearly unmanageable. Plus the...other requirements."

I  wanted to ask about that, but it didn't seem like the time. "He asked  nicely." I said flatly. "The point is my uncle is a scary guy, and you'd  be safe staying with us. So will you please do it? With so few rounds  left no way they aren't going to be getting desperate. It'll get worse  before it gets better and you know it. I want to make sure everyone is  safe, but especially you."

She  just shook her head. "I'm sorry Shane. I get the intent, I do, and I  appreciate it. I'd be more than happy to hang out sometime after the  tournament, have some family time and just try to bond. But I'm not  going to hole up in your place like a coward. Being a candidate requires  a decent amount of discretion and sneakiness, but you need a backbone.  If I hide behind you no one would respect me, and honestly I wouldn't  respect myself."

I  groaned in frustration, rubbing my temples. "This isn't about self  respect Natalie, it's about your safety. You can't just-" I was cut off  by a hand on my arm, and I turned to see Callie smiling up at me softly.

"It's  her call Shane." She said quietly. "I know it sucks, but you can't  force her." Her soft smile turned wry. "In my experience Wyndham family  members are insufferable stubborn oxen who don't know what's good for  them, so changing her mind seems like a long shot to me."

I  heard the unspoken commentary. That since she wouldn't recant I should  accept it. That trying to force her to do something she didn't want to  do was just going to alienate my only nearby family member. I wanted to  punch something. A tree, a wall, my dad for getting me involved in all  this. Dealer's choice.

Finally  I just sighed. "Alright." I said, my shoulders slumping. "It's your  choice. But can we at least keep in contact? I was doing the whole  training maniac thing up to now, but I don't want to leave you hanging.  Can we do like...nightly check in calls?"

Nat  burst into giggles. "Oh, my god. How are you such a mom? My actual  mother isn't half this neurotic. But fine, little cousin. If it'll make  you feel better." She glanced over at the F-rankers on the ground again.  "You proved you have my best interests at heart...for some reason. I'll  make time to call and check in." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Now,  since I'm not crashing with you, you ought to get home. After all, you  have a fight tomorrow, as do we. Gotta be rested up."

I  wasn't likely to have a problem with that, given my vitality, not to  mention heal bursts, but I wasn't going to argue. We'd helped, and I  imagined her guardian would be coming to pick them up now that things  were over. "Alright." I said grudgingly. Leaning down to hug her again,  this time less tightly, I murmured. "Stay safe ok. I'll call when I get  home to check in."

She  rolled her eyes again, but was still smiling, hugging me back and then  stepping away. "You too. Can't have you getting crushed by cultists  before you face us." With that, she turned and gestured for her guards  to follow, vanishing into the darkness of the forest around us. I turned  back to my friends, drained, and gestured toward the car. It was  finally time to go home. Just a shame I had another fight in the  morning.