Part One: Chapter Two: Summertown Serpents

Chapter Two

Malachi

The Summertown Serpents

Malachi was not an average Inferno at all. He was only seven, but he could do math equations his dad couldn't. He had been called a genius, but nobody ever accused him of being a wimp. Usually, if someone is over the top smart, they're either average or not very good at sports, but Malachi loved to play sports and he was great at them. He could run long distances, quickly, without stopping, he could hit just about any target with an arrow, he could throw and catch anything flawlessly from long distances away, and he could do one hundred push-ups at a time. 

Other than his intellect and strength, Malachi was just like every other kid on his planet. Orange skin, black hair, matching eyes, a liking for the heat, a set of retractable claws, a long, thin lizard tail, and the ability to change his appearance at will. Okay, maybe changing you appearance at will was a little different too. Everything on his planet was a Igneous Lacerta, meaning they were heat loving reptile-ish people or animals, except for the plants, which were heat loving Igneous Viridi. Malachi, however, was not just an Igneous Lacerta, he was a Variabilis, meaning he could look like anything that had his basic form,  and just usually took the form of a Lacerta. 

He chose the orange skinned  appearance so he could look like his friends and parents. Malachi's brother, Mordecai, did not have the Variabilis gene, but he had something almost as cool. He had the Mutatio ability, meaning he was really a giant chameleon that walked on two legs. He could change any part of his body into any color at any time. It was a great skill to have in hide and seek. Malachi didn't like little kid games like that, he'd rather spend his time playing Ropes and Chains. That was a popular sport that was highly dangerous. Only skilled players were allowed to take part in the competitions.

Ropes and Chains was pretty straight forward. The seats in the arena are perched atop very tall walls. Thirty long, strong chains are suspended across the field, strung halfway up the walls, about twenty feet off the ground. Seven feet above them is an intricate series of rope, woven together like a spider's web. Two teams, each comprised of five members, make their way out into the chains, the objective of the game: Make the other team fall off into the twelve feet of water underneath them by pushing them, shaking the chains and ropes, or dodging their push so they fall into the water by themselves. Malachi was too young to play in the competitions and tournaments, but there were other ways of playing 

He and his friends had created a miniscule version of the arena. Still with thirty chains, a web of rope, and water, but they had hung the chains and rope between trees surrounding a small lake. The chains were only about four feet from the surface of the water, which was five feet deep. Malachi was really good at the game, and enough kids his age across other towns wanted to play to make eight teams. Malachi only really knew his team well, they were all his friends, after all, and the other teams were from other towns. There was only one girl on his team, and she was feisty and competitive. She was harmless looking, but, if properly provoked, she could get a magma devilfish, a kind of red octopus with extremely powerful tentacles and the ability to swim in lava, off the chains.

Her name was Vincula, but they called her Everblaze. An Everblaze is an animal native to Inferno and other planets like it. They're cute, fuzzy, and friendly, but when they get mad, they burst into flames, and attack anything moving within reach, lashing out with the heat of their blaze, their claws, and sharp teeth. Aiden, Xander, and Sebastian were Malachi's other team members, and he was on his way to the lake to meet them and get a good game in. The game started in a few minutes, and he was the captain, so being late for the game would not look good. He skidded to a stop at the edge of the water, jumped up on top of a rock, then onto the chains. His team was already there, everyone wearing bright green jerseys, which clashed greatly with everyone's orange skin and Vincula's red hair, with the silver words "Summertown Serpents" and a coiled snake on the back.

In a matter of seconds people dressed in black were on the chains too. The red words on their backs spelled out, "Calamity Cats" and it depicted the silhouette of a cat pouncing on a rodent. Those kids had chosen a cat as their animal for their remarkable balance and cleverness. All of them could easily play with the adults and win, they were the only team the Serpents had never beaten.  That team was made up of all girls, and they were mean girls. They made Vincula look as harmless as a gecko. All of them had stupid, smug little smirks on their faces, that made Malachi want to punch  them. Nobody would blame him if he did, he was sure, they needed to be knocked around a bit, but, the problem was, not even he could beat up a girl from Calamity. 

All little girls there had to be really tough, practically ninjas, because something bad would happen to them if they didn't, and their mayor didn't do much about it. To be honest, he was scared of the girls from Calamity, but he'd never admit that in front of all of his friends. Vincula met their smirks with a sneer of her own. If looks could kill, one of the Cats would have dropped dead. They all assumed their places at the very back edge of the chains. Mordecai, who liked the game, but was very bad at playing, was acting as referee. A loud BANG told Malachi that Mordecai had shot off the popgun, and that it was time to begin. He immediately took off running, one foot directly in front of the other, his arms out like bird wings to keep his balance. There was no one on his chain, so he stopped, turned, spread his legs farther apart, so that his feet were more than shoulder width apart, and braced for the hit he knew was coming. 

Something rammed hard into his side, he had expected it to come from behind; they'd changed their style. He looked down in time to see Lilith, the black haired captain of the Cats, had crouched down and dug her shoulder into Malachi's ribs. He let out a sharp gasp of pain. He was falling backward, but he wasn't going to let himself be knocked out of the game first. He focused on making his thin, whip-like tail a bit thicker, and lashed it out, wrapping it around one of the many ropes above him, and used that anchor to pull himself up to them. The chain Malachi's feet had just vacated, swung wildly, making Lilith jump to the next chain. She stumbled a bit, looking like she was about to loose her balance, but she regained it. The rest of Malachi's team took this movement as a cue to latch on to the web above them. 

Winding their feet up in the ropes, all five of them, made like bats, hanging upside down, grabbing one of the chains, and swung back and forward, making the people on them to abandon their positions. Lilith ended up right underneath Vincula, and Malachi knew instantly that this was going to lead to something ugly. Sure enough, Vincula jumped down on Lilith, and they went down in a mass of green, red, orange, and black. Malachi, held his breath, watching them for a second, before realizing that remaining upside down left him open. He dropped down onto a chain, which swayed, dangerously beneath his feet. He'd never heard a splash, which meant that the two girls had somehow kept from falling into the water. The red haired Cat in front of Malachi was not so lucky. He gave her a good Spartan kick to the back and sent her flying into the lake.

His foot slipped over the chain. He wrapped his wrist in the ropes, and his foot into the chain he'd almost slipped from, then the rope snapped, and Malachi was falling forward. His chin hit one of the chains, hard. He lost sense of direction for a second, until his face had plunged into the water. He tried to swim upward, but he only succeeded in getting himself more tangled in the rope twisting around him. Lights were coming up in front of his eyes, even though they were closed. His lungs were burning, but he knew better then to try to take a breath. He was pulling against the ropes, but he wasn't getting anywhere and soon his strength had left him. He opened his eyes, the warm, clear water stinging them. He saw a burst of flame break the surface of the lake. The ropes were falling slowly away, two pairs of hands tearing them off of him. Hot fall air rushed over his face, and, as he was blacking out, he realized that it was Lilith and Mordecai that had pulled him out of the water. It was odd that when Lilith wasn't wearing her team jersey, she almost looked like an Inferno.