Short Story Team Savant: Tiger Tale {Chapter 4 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe. To catch up, read the arc of Team Savant Story click Here for the two previous chapter of the Short Story Egg-napped!


You can read the origin story of Team Savant {Ultimate Savant: Origins} @ Go Savant!

Deragon felt the extra power surge in him. It wasn’t something that he enjoyed. It was his power and Nathaniel’s power added to his own. And in addition to the discomfort, there was the fact that the power came from a loss of a single diamond on his collar. How annoying. With only a fraction of Savant’s power, Deragon's power increased exponentially.

With a telepathic thought—a command really—the Bullyons fell asleep. Savant would appreciate that, after all, he could easily kill them. But he decided that it would please Nathaniel if he didn’t hurt the ones who hurt him.

Yet, the idea of letting Dr. Green live, didn’t sit well with him. He charged the scientist who faster than expected pulled out rocket launching pistol from his holster. It was a weapon that the Garnians used for maximal effect, to kill a single individual. He fired the weapon in rapid succession. He caught the mini-rockets and crushed them with his telepathic power.

Green slammed something on the wall and the entire room began to shake. “What will you do?” Green yelled. “Capture me or save the Bullyons and the egg?”

“I am going to eat you, of course.” Deragon lunged forward but a greater force held him back. He turned to the source of the force. Nathaniel Devereaux.

Nathaniel ran passed him and engaged Dr. Green in combat. A single kick in the chest and Nathaniel paused. Dr. Green grabbed his chest and scurried away. Nathaniel turned to Deragon. “Deragon, you know what you must do,” Nathaniel said.

“Of course, Savant.”

A panel in the wall opened, and Dr. Green slipped in. Deragon grimaced as the good doctor got away. He encompassed everyone in their own shield and soared upward; follow closely behind by the spheres he created.  Hopefully, Dr. Green would be buried along with the rest of his lab.

Soon they were floating above a huge crater.

“Can you get back to the Mayor?” Nathaniel asked Angela.

“Sure, what are you going to do?”

“I am going after Green.”

She cursed. “I want a piece of him too.”

“But we can’t put the child in danger and we can’t waste time.”

“I understand. Kick him in the head for me.”

The bubbles pop. Angela landed gracefully, while Nathaniel landed awkwardly on Deragon. “Let’s ride Deragon.”

“I am not a horse and which way?’

“The panel was on the west side, so we are going to travel due west. He is probably traveling along some underground system. Can’t go nearly as fast as us.”

“So basically, we are just going in some random direction based on your subjective probabilities.”

“My any probability is pretty good.”

They travelled west. Deragon telepathically searched for the fiend. With his luck, Green was using a telepathic shield. And this chasing after him was a waste of time. He should have ground his bones to dust when he had a chance.

“Stop,” Nathaniel said.

Deragon regarded Nathaniel “Realized that this is a waste of time?”

Nathaniel ran his hair through his braided hair. He was in deep thought. In his hand he held his phone. “Stay alert; the vibrations are coming from here?”

“Vibrations? I don’t feel any vibrations.”

“They are subtle, my program suggest that there is a class one sub preparing for takeoff. When it does, I want you to stop it.”

“You and your stupid phone—”

The ground began to vibrate and a port opened a hundred meters away. “Go!”

The shuttle shot upward and Deragon followed. He had difficulty catching the shuttle blasts from the ship propelled it faster. Once it hit escape velocity, there would be no way to catch it. Not without more power. And more power was the last thing he wanted. He roared as he gave it his all and jumped past the shuttle’s engine and swiping at the cockpit. A mighty blow split the ship in half. The explosion jolted Deragon slightly. He caught the cockpit in a bubble.

“Set him down below, so we can get some answers.”

“Right.” Deragon floated down the ship in his control. About twenty feet up, he dropped the shuttle.

“Gently,” Nathaniel said.

“Oops,” Deragon said. But his mistake exposed a ruse. In the cockpit, Dr. Green sat a panel on his chest open, exposing circuits. “What is this?”

“I felt it when I kicked him. The kick was supposed to incapacitate. But against a robot, it did only minimal damage.”

“So where is the real Dr. Green?”

“That is what we need to find out.”

 

The End

Next Story Arc: The search for Dr. Green

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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Short Story Team Savant: Tiger Tale {Chapter 3 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe. To catch up, read the arc of Team Savant Story click Here for the two previous chapter of the Short Story Egg-napped! 


You can read the origin story of Team Savant {Ultimate Savant: Origins} @ Go Savant!

 

“Children, you stare at me with dark eyes and a darkened heart. Savant or do you prefer Cadet Captain Nathaniel Devereaux? Whatever. You practically look down on me and yet, you are wrong. I am the hero here.”

Nathaniel pressed furiously on his Uphone. “Explain.” Behind him, he stabbed the heel of his foot into the shield that caged Deragon.

“You are attempting to distract me, while you hope to find a means of escape… You are wasting your time.”

“You are wasting our time. What the Haliquock are you doing?” Angela asked.

“Dear sweet Angela Roberts. You are content to follow the cadet that housed the body of the creature that inadvertently orchestrated your near death accident?”

“This cadet has saved me multiple times.”

“She has saved me just as much,” Nathaniel said.

“We have saved each other. And aren’t you trying to kill us too? How are you any better than Deragon?”

“Why are you trying to reason with this madman?” Deragon said weakly. “Get me out of here, so I can tear him apart.”

Green gestured to the dozens of Bullyons behind him. “They have orders to injure, but if I must kill you for the greater good—I will.”

“Yeah—you are a real hero,” Angela said.

“But clearly you see the fault in him being the wool for a wolf.”

“So you deem Deragon a danger to Union,” Nathaniel said. “Is this a covert mission? Who sanctioned this?”  

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“When this is over and they disavow you,” Nathaniel said, “what will you do?”

Dr. Green laughed. “You are assuming that you will come out of this with at least your memory intact. If you survive, your memory will be the first to go.”

“Yeah, that is not going to happen.” He pressed submit on his phone.

“I invented half of those apps on your phone. The shield strength should only be bullet proof.”

“Were you the author? I had no idea. You are right, the shield strength was as weak as the signal strength, so I modified both.”

Dr. Green’s face contorted, anger painted on his stone face, he turned to the Bullyons. “We have no choice. Kill them.”

The Bullyons fired their crude weapons threatening to burst the shield.

“Let’s see how strong your signal is now,” Dr. Green said.

“Strong enough,” Nathaniel said as he pulled Angela backwards. Their bodies phased through the shield holding Deragon. “Strong enough to match frequencies with the shield you made to hold Deragon.”

“And now you are trapped in there with him. Making it easier to kill you and solving my problem with a simple gesture of my hand.” He motioned and blue and gold electrical energy danced back and forth in the cage, but Angela and Nathaniel remained unharmed. “How?”

“Cutting Deragon off from me was smart. After all, his energy is housed in my body, but now that we are no longer separated, he can return to his full health and strength.”

“Yes,” Deragon said, “and it is clawing time.” He protracted his claws.”

“His full power has been calculated. There is no way you can break out of that shield.”

“You calculated his full power,” Nathaniel said. “But no one has calculated mine—I don’t even know my full strength.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I will let you see something that very few had ever seen.” Nathaniel signed the words, “Level four release.” A diamond on Deragon’s collar disappeared. His size increased momentarily but he reverted back to his normal size but his energy aura increased nearly two-hundred percent. “Can you handle it?”

“Of course I can,” Deragon said through gritted saber tooth teeth.

“Then quit dilly dallying and get us out of here,” Angela said.

Deragon surround them with a psionic energy bubble. In a blink of eye, the bubble tripled in size, obliterating the shield and the mechanism that controlled it. He jumped in front of Nathaniel and Angela and eyed Dr. Green and the frightened Bullyons. “Please run…” 

The End

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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Short Story Team Savant: Tiger Tale {Chapter 2 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe. To catch up, read the arc of Team Savant Story click Here for the two previous chapter of the Short Story Egg-napped! 


You can read the origin story of Team Savant {Ultimate Savant: Origins} @ Go Savant!

A bright light emanated from the bottom of the stair well. Otherwise, Angela and Nate were surrounded by darkness. A small human part of her wanted Jon to be there. Jon made her feel safe even if he lacked any combat abilities worth bragging about.

It was true that Nathaniel was an excellent hand to hand combatant, and a genius strategist. But as much as she hated Deragon, Nathaniel was more powerful with access to the tiger’s power. Angela tripped mid-thought and fell into the arms of Nathaniel—as if he knew she would fall.

“Hey, you okay?” he whispered.

“Yeah.” She straightened, thankful that it was dark. Why was she blushing like a little school girl? She was a warrior and Nathaniel was only her friend.

Only her friend.

They stepped to the bottom of the stairs. In a corner, trapped in some type of energy jail, Deragon was pounded by red lightning attacks. Every once in a while, Nathaniel flinched suggesting he was still experiencing the pain.

“What took you so long?” Deragon mouthed.

The Bullyons noticed Deragon’s distraction and turned toward Nathaniel and Angela. Unlike the Cutations, they were as tall as nine feet, with super small hands and feet. They ran toward the duo—no doubt to attack.

Nathaniel threw the rocks in their path. The first two tumbled over one another. Nathaniel ran to them, twirling the staff in one hand. “Get to the egg!”

Angela watched as he used moves that Bruce Leroy would have been proud of to take out the Bullyons that converged on him. She quickly turned and located the egg in the center of the room. She admittedly took the direct route and charged like a fullback toward her goal. One Bullyon got in her way and she used the cricket bat to slap him out of the way. Another attempted to intercept, but she slid under him, taking out his knee in the process. Had she not rolled in time, the behemoth would have landed on her. She flew forward, nearly reaching the egg, when laser fire caught her in the shoulder.

Several Bullyons elected to shoot at her with ancient laser guns. They were the kind that would leave a considerable amount of damage. Angela however healed moments after the attack. Nathaniel however…

Angela found Nathaniel, moving, somersaulting, dodging the laser fire. He ran directly to one of the Bullyons, snatched the weapon from him and shot a laser blast next to his head. The big guy grabbed his head and ran for safety. Nathaniel didn’t bother shooting him, turned and shot more warning shots at the Bullyons. He then cleared the way for Angela, who jumped over the table and grabbed the egg as she passed.

Angela tucked the egg like a football and ran for dear life.

“Over here—“ Nate pressed the trigger on the gun and nothing happened. He dropped it and ran toward Deragon’s tank. “On second thought, follow me!”

It was clear that he was going to free Deragon. Not the move Angela would have made. She would have taken the egg and escaped but he was her leader. With a series of Olympic level moves she made it to the tank in front of Deragon. “Now what?”

“Get me out of here!” Deragon said.

“They don’t want him free, so they are less likely to shoot.”

“Well, shouldn’t we be behind his tank?”

“Maybe.” He took his heel and pushed it flush against the energy field and reached into his pocket.

Two of the Bullyons moved closer and took careful aim. “I don’t think they got the memo.”

Nathaniel whipped out his phone, grabbed Angel and held his phone up as if he was taking a selfie with a friend.

“What are you doing?”

He activated an app, moments before the two Bullyons fired. The laser blasts bounced off an invisible energy field.

Angela turned toward Nathaniel. “You have a force field app on your phone?”

“Don’t you?”

The Bullyons continued firing.

“If your phone can do all that, why are we fighting like cave dwellers?”

“Perhaps Savant likes to see you sweat,” Deragon said.

“Deragon, be useful and tell us who did this to you,” Nathaniel said.

“STOP FIRING YOU IDIOTS!” The tall, painfully human figure walked out of the shadows. “Can’t you see that it is useless?”

“No way,” Angela said. It was rare for a human being to be part of Union or the Academy. In many ways she looked up to the man who she admired at a distance.”

The Bullyons moved backward and the man came forward, clapping his hand slowly. “As impressive as always.”

Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed. “Dr. Green.”

“I am surprised that you would need to ask this abomination who was behind his capture,” Green said.

“You are our instructor,” Angela said. “Why are you trying to kill us?”

He frowned as if the answer was obvious. “Why? For your own good.”

The End

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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Short Story Team Savant: Tiger Tale {Chapter 1 of 4}

A shy stutterer became friends with a narcoleptic girl, a telepath that looks surprisingly like the Roswell alien, a guy with three eyes, a water breathing princess with blue skin and a girl who can split herself into three people. From that day forward, he became Savant, the boy with a saber tooth tiger in his head. He along with his friends are Team Savant, the greatest cadet action team in the known universe. To catch up, read the two previous chapters of the Team Savant Story click Here for the two previous chapter of the Short Story Egg-napped! 


You can read the origin story of Team Savant {Ultimate Savant: Origins} @ Go Savant!

 

Nathaniel heard an echo in the psychic regions of his mind. He tested it again with similar results. It was true that his connection to Deragon was wire thin. However, his connection was still there and in an instant, the connection had become muffled as if Deragon was underwater.

Angela sat with the mayor, reassuring him that the terrorist group that held his child was no match for Team Savant, but of course, this was of little assurance to him. That was his child. Naturally, he was worried.  In Nathaniel’s mind, it was still a necessity. One best left to Angela who had greater skill in the area.

He stared out the window at the metal dome. Beyond the dome were the red dunes of mars. By his calculations, Deragon should have found the egg by now. The mayor walked back and forth, barely the size of Nathaniel’s three-year old niece. His bare feet almost as long as Nathaniel.

Nathaniel could no longer watch him suffer. He stood up to join the mayor and his number one. A sharp pain struck from the empty space and sent him to his knees. Angela was by his side before the second wave hit.

“Nate! What’s wrong?”

He ran one-thousand scenarios in his head. How long did it take him? His mind was fast but this was dizzying. He gathered himself. “Something is wrong with Deragon.”

“Is he dead?”

“What about my egg?”

Nathaniel straightened. “I think when I find Deragon; I will find your egg.”

“So he is still alive?”

“Yes,” he said detecting a hint of regret in Angela’s body language. It was understandable. The same individual who tried to end her and everyone she cared about was literally a figment of Nathaniel’s imagination come to life.

The mayor dropped to his hands and knees. “Savant, please just tell me where he is and I will send our militia.”

“No. Not yet. I am going to search for Deragon—“

“You are not going alone.”

“I am not going to be alone. I need your astral form as back—“

“No.”

“I am given you an order.” He grabbed his head.

“And I am completely ignoring your orders based on the fact that you are not fit for duty.”

“I—I am managing the pain.”

“Forget it, Nathaniel. We don’t have time to fight. You want to save Deragon, right? Either you stay and argue with me or you save the big cat.”

He was lucid enough to argue but realized that more important than saving Deragon was—

“Plus there is an egg that is scared right now. We have a better chance of saving it together.”

Nathaniel nodded and commanded his mind to manage the pain. “You are right.” He turned to the mayor. “We need transportation.”

“We have hovercrafts but they could be on the other side of the planet.”

“They are not on the other side of the planet. The distance isn’t far from here at all. The pain serves to help me pinpoint the location. We just need a ride.”

“Please let me—“

Nathaniel placed his hand on the Mayor’s shoulder. “Place a tracer on vehicle. Let us find the place first. I don’t think that this was ever about your child, and that increases the odds of your child being just fine.”

“If you say so.”

***

The two adventures placed on their harnesses and sped west of the city. More pain came in crashing waves.

“You said that this wasn’t about the Mayor’s kid,” Angela said. “Is this a trap?”

“Yes.”

“For whom? Us or Deragon?”

“That I don’t know.” Another sharp pain. He grabbed his head with his left and pointed with his right. “That way.”

She turned sharply. “So, we are going into this trap without a weapon. I take it that you have an amazing plan?”

“Not enough information to go on—stop!”

She slammed the air brakes and the two of them jerked forward.

Nathaniel released his harness and surveyed the area. “There is supposed to be a settlement here.” He continued walking.

“Cloaking device?”

“Yes.” He reached his hand in the air and it rippled like water. “Come on.” He stepped through. Before them was an abandoned town.”

“Security kind of lax around here,” Angela said.

“This is bad,” Nathaniel said. “They are expecting us.”

“So, we are the target?”

“Yep.”

“Why haven’t they jumped out and captured us.”

“Probably assessing our weaponry.”

She laughed. “That will be one short assessment.”

“Don’t forget your IMA training. Our bodies and our environment are weapons.” They walked down the center of the town. Quietly taking in the situation, Nathaniel found what could pass for a bamboo staff, six feet in length. He found pebbles of varying size and stuck them in his pocket. “You want the rocks are the staff?”

“Neither.” She grabbed an aluminum object shaped like a cricket bat. “This will do sooo much damage.”

He stepped into an opened building. A library of sorts. In the center was a winding staircase that descended into darkness. “He is down there.”

“You think that this is enough?” She held up her bat.  

 “Yeah, this and my U-phone.”

The End

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

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Short Story One Shot: The Magic of Knowledge

Team Savant is on hiatus for a few weeks. Here is an adventure of a young adventure submerged in the world of magic. To read the previous Team Savant story click Team Savant Short Story Egg-napped. If you want to read the origins of Team Savant click Here for Ultimate Savant: Origins 
Here is the link to the video. Click Here for the Book Trailer


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When Nagazi, the headmaster of the Nubian school of Wizardry, told him that he had zero talent for magic and he would never amount to anything, something broke inside of Scion. An invisible energy forced his head upward; his eyes squarely on the visage of the elder man, Scion silently spoke, “You are wrong. I will surpass you.”

The old man obviously sensed the arrogance behind Scion’s eyes and sent the boy flying with a flick of his finger. Scion was bruised and broken that day, but he held on to his solemn vow.

It was true. He lacked any real magical talent. A shame, but Scion would not live shamefully. Unfortunately, he had no reason to believe he could keep his vow until he heard non-magical children speak of a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly…something they saw while in a faraway land. There was no magical energy involved, yet magic took place. He decided that he would learn about this magic.

He spent the next twenty years traveling the world, strengthening his body and his mind—learning from others, reading parchment both old and new.

Eventually, Scion returned to his village, with only his cloak on his back and pouch on his side. He registered for the Wizardry skills challenge. The competition had grown boring as of late, but people still respected the winners. The skills challenge carried so much respect that even the famed Druids attended.

The contest had three parts; healing, destruction and wonderment. He had no desire to place in all three, but he knew the healing and wonderment were both obtainable. At the contest, he obscured his features with a hood. He would reveal himself when the time was right.

Many of the magicians that came before him failed the first tier of the competition. An elderly man on a small bed was the subject of the healing skill. He moaned and pulled his knees to his chest… Spell after spell, he continued to groan.

The problem lay in the fact that no one diagnosed the problem. They simply went to their clans default healing spell. When Scion’s turn came, he asked questions of the elderly man. Questions about his habits, both good and bad. Scion rubbed the man’s stomach. This drew murmurs from the crowd.

“Number eleven!” The headmaster stood up and gazed down upon Scion. “There is a time-limit!”

Scion nodded, reached into his bag and gave the man a small vial. “Drink this.”

“Is this a potion?” The man asked.

Scion shrugged. “It is a solution to your problem.”

The man drunk the potion, squinted one eye and rolled into a child-like position. Scion stepped back quickly. The man burped and then released an inhuman amount of gas out the other end. Scion held his breath as he slid out of range of the foul smelling results. The old man stood up, let another round out and smiled. “I feel better!”

The crowd cheered.

He had done it, the first person to win the healing challenge in five years. He had etched his family’s name in competition history.

For the wonderment skill, Scion simply dipped a judge’s cloak in a solution of water and alcohol, hung the cloak on a thin wire and set it on fire. When the fire died, he gave the cloak back to the judge for inspection. She seemed genuinely surprised that her cloak was still intact.

Scion didn’t bother to take part in the destruction. His magic was capable of such feats, but he was a man of peace.  The people still rewarded him for his healing ability with the first place prize and honorable mention in the wonderment. He stood on the platform of winners, seven other accomplished wizards stood beside him. Each gave thanks and acknowledged their tribe. Scion’s heart nearly burst as he removed his hood. “I am Scion of the Darazi clan and I thank you for the opportunity to display my magic.”

The crowds whisper became a loud rumble as his name brought recognition. The Darazi clan had no talent for magic—they were born magically blind. The Nubian headmaster stood up. “How dare you! You have no right to be in this competition.”

Scion cocked his head sideways. “This competition is a chance to display different styles of magic. I am displaying mine—a style I am willing to teach to anyone.”

“You are not a magician.” Nagazi flipped his wrist and a strong wind pushed Scion.

Scion stayed on his feet. “I am not a child anymore.”

Nagazi pointed his staff at Scion—a challenge. Scion stepped down and walked toward the wizard, just as others walked away—quickly. Nagazi fired blasts of fire from his staff, but Scion’s cloak was treated with a protectant of his own making.

Scion continued to walk forward. He reached into his pouch and pressed the special cap on a vial. He dodged more blasts and danced around, seemingly summoning some great power. Truth be told, the only power Scion was summoning was the power of misdirection. He spun and pulled a fan from the land of one people out of his sleeve. When he was certain that everyone focused on the fan, he rolled the vial near Nagazi’s feet. He stopped at a safe distance and pointed the fan at Nagazi. “Protect yourself.” The vial exploded, knocking Nagazi to the far wall.

It wasn’t until well after Scion was ruled the victor, that Nagazi came to. He looked up to Scion who stood over him, arms folded. “What happened?” Nagazi asked.

“I just surpassed you,” Scion said.

The End

NOTE:

You can buy my adult scifi novel Hearteless: A Journey to Second Earth @amazon or here.

For the Book Trailer for Heartless click  Here for the Heartless Book Trailer. For email updates, please click HERE and feel free to leave a message.

Also, feel free to comment below and follow me on Google and Twitter @ Frank_D_Rogers