Just as Marcella screams, Kaci extends both of her hands in front of her, and slightly turns them inward. She buckles from the scream, but moves towards Marcella, her hands, still frozen in their position. Marcella punches the air, and it’s clear that she’s boxed in with only a foot or so of space on all sides. “She trapped her,” Summer says. “Whatever happens from here determines the match.”
Marcella takes a deep breath and screams again, but rather than a short shout, it’s more of a continued shriek. Even with the sound somewhat muffled, it’s clear that Marcella is giving it everything she’s got.
“If Kaci’s already at this point, it means that she lost,” Tristen responds.
“Hey! Don’t say that!” Summer barks.
“Hmph. You’ll see.”
Marcella continues to scream while Kaci continues to focus her energy on keeping her imprisoned. Eventually, Marcella’s soundwave bursts through, full force, and Kaci’s thrown out of the arena.
“That’s the match!” Mr. Hoover announces. “Marcella is the winner!”
“Told you...so now you can call me a jerk or whatever, or you can learn from her mistake and do better.”
“...Whatever.”
After Mr. Hoover heals Kaci, she makes her way upstairs to rejoin the rest of us. She takes her time sitting down, and with her cowl removed, it’s easy to see how exhausted she is from her battle.
“Are you okay?” Clarissa asks.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Getting blasted out of bounds wasn’t too fun, but the suit took most of the impact.” She smiles. “Oh, and my ears are still kind of bugging me, but Mr. Hoover said it’d go away in a bit. Same with this headache I have.” Kaci points to forehead. “It’s fine though. This is nothing, During the match, I had a migraine. It was worse than when my powers were coming in. Those shrieks really hurt. It was like I was going against a banshee or something.”
“Well, if you take a look at some history books...”
“Ugh. You know what I mean, Clarissa. Anyway, I’m happy with my performance. I did my best, and that’s the best I can do. If I hadn’t been training as hard as I have, I wouldn’t have had a shot.”
“Yeah, you were super close. You almost had it, but that’s not the point. We’re proud of you,” Clarissa says. “These guys have a lot more experience at Crown, so just hanging with them is a milestone.”
“Yeah, you did good,” I tell her.
“Thanks. I learned a lot from this fight, so I know what I have to improve on in the future.”
“Okay, students. We’ll be starting the next match soon. Can Summer and Andre report to the stage? Summer and Andre, please make your way to the stage as soon as possible. Thank you.”
“Finally. It’s about time. I would have been so annoyed if they saved me for last, but I guess that means it’s you then, huh, Aiden?”
“Yeah, but don’t worry about me. You got this.”
“Yeah, I know. That Andre guy does look kinda swole though,” she says while looking at the jumbotron above. “Either he’s really fit because of his powers, or he likes to workout. Meh. Doesn’t matter anyway. You know what they say, right? The bigger they are, the easier they are for me to freeze.”
“Good luck.”
“Don’t need it, but thanks anyway. See you on the other side.”
“Knock ’em dead, girlie!”
“Heh. You already know, Rissa. I’m bringing in another W for sure.”
Summer makes her way to the stage, and we all look on as they square up, waiting for the buzzer to sound.
“She’s way too easygoing. It’s going to cost her one of these days,” Tristen says.
“Trust me, there’s no way that she’ll lose,” I reply.
“...Right. Like your word’s supposed to hold any weight.” The buzzer sounds, and the match starts by Summer running to her right while Andre stands still. Summer hurls a dagger of ice towards him, but Andre fires a red blast of energy from his palm that completely absorbs it and collides with the bordering wall below the stands, rocking the stadium. “Hmph. Concussive energy. That’s a strong ability to have. This should be interesting,” Tristen comments and leans slightly forward. “Let’s see how she does.” Andre shoots another blast, and Summer narrowly dodges it and immediately rushes in to capitalize on his mistake, ice beginning to aggregate in her palm. Andre flicks his wrist, and that same ball of energy circles back to blindside her. Summer catches on right before the blast connects, and she quickly inverts her hand and forms a shield of ice just in time to buffer the explosion. “Yeah, this Andre guy is definitely strong. That level of manipulation isn’t exactly common.”
Even though she blocked the explosion, the impact is enough to leave her vulnerable. Summer stumbles back, emerging from the cloud of smoke, her shield, completely destroyed. Summer slings her hand forward and launches a set of twin spires towards Andre. They only make it about halfway towards him before he pierces through her ice with a barrage of beams he launches from his fingertips. Summer quickly swings her hands up towards the sky and erects a sheet of ice, causing Andre’s energy to clash against the surface, chipping away chunks of her ice with every explosion.
Summer pivots from behind cover and returns fire, but just like before, her efforts are neutralized by Andre’s offensive capability. She quickly ducks back behind cover, grabbing the side that took the brunt of Andre’s first attack. “Summer’s ice is pretty dense, so if this guy is able to destroy it like that, those blasts must pack a punch. Summer has a particular way of doing things, but she’s not that reckless,” Kaci says.
“Right. She’s testing his abilities,” Clarissa says. “But she’s doing it as carefully as she can while still applying pressure because she’s still recovering from taking that hit from before. She blocked most of it, but it still her hurt...a lot. I can tell.”
“Yeah, it was a nasty surprise attack,” I say, realizing I’d been clenching my jaw the whole time, “but she’ll be fine.”
Andre continues his assault against Summer’s barricade until she finally sprints from cover and begins to fire a volley of her own. While on the move, she hops into the air and shoots a stream of ice below her feet, forming a board, and uses her momentum in hopes of outpacing her opponent. Andre reads her strategy and fires a beam on her projected path. Summer pivots, and jumps from her ice, kicking the slab she rode on towards her opponent.
Andre quickly adapts and shoots another beam, and they both collide. The resulting explosion clouds the area where they were and a wintery haze spreads throughout the stands, no doubt, fabricated by Summer.
There’s a series of blasts and consecutive explosions in various parts of the arena from Andre’s energy, but it’s impossible to pinpoint what’s going on below where the fog is the thickest.
We all watch in speculation until the fog finally clears and we see the end result of their battle—Summer with her hands pressed to the ground and a trail of jagged ice snaking along the ground until it bonds with Andre’s body, freezing him completely from the neck down.
“That’s the match!” Mr. Hoover announces. “Summer is the winner!”
“Woah, that was crazy!” Clarissa says. “Using his powers against him like that was amazing! Way to go, Summer!” she yells from the stands.
“Hmph.” Tristen leans back and folds his arms. “She did all right, I guess. A win’s a win.”
“It’s not a competition, Tristen,” Kaci reminds him. “Everyone out here is doing their best.”
While it’s true that Summer won, it wasn’t as seamless as she made it out to be. Parts of her suit are noticeably damaged, and some pieces are even missing. Freezing him like that didn’t come without a challenge.
Summer stands up and whips her hand in front of her while her other hand rests over her injury. The ice covering Andre’s body dissipates, and Mr. Hoover immediately makes his way over to heal him.
Once he treats them, Summer and Andre have a brief conversation before going their se
parate ways.
“See? What did I tell you? Easy-peasy,” she proclaims after making it back to our section.
“Easy? How’re those ribs treating you?” Tristen comments.
“Better than your face, for starters.” Summer snickers.
“I’ve never seen you make fog like that before, Summer. That was pretty cool.”
“Yeah, it was pretty neat, wasn’t it?” She sighs and reclaims her seat. “But I can’t do it like that unless the conditions are right. Plus, it takes a lot of energy to pull it off and maintain it. Andre’s powers were a big help in making it happen.”
“You used heat, right? His energy was hot?” I ask.
“Yup. It wasn’t as bad as dealing with a pyro, but it definitely had a little zest to it. Hehe. You’re not the only one putting in work in the library, Aiden. I’ve been studying, too.” Summer taps her forehead and smiles.
“You were totally amazing out there, Summer!” Clarissa beams.
“Thanks, Rissa! I wish I didn’t have to freeze the guy, but I was running out of options. He was super good and took away my mobility from the start. I kind of want to fight him again, but later. I’m beat. I think I used too much juice.” She lays back, rests her head against the wall and closes her eyes.
“By later, you don’t mean right after all of this is done, right?” I ask. “He’s back in the stands.”
“Nah, he just wants to watch what’s next. I told him it’d be a good match.”
“Ha. Of course, you did.”
Summer chuckles, tilts her head towards me, and opens up one eye. “Well, am I wrong?”
“No...”
“Okay then. See, I was just doing him a favor. Wait...what are the chances that I can take a quick powernap before your match?”
“The final match of the day will be starting shortly. Can Aiden and Abel report to the stage? Aiden and Abel, please make your way down to the stage so we can begin. Thank you.”
“After hearing that, I’d say slim to none.”
“Well, if that’s the case, do us all a favor and make it quick so we can go home.”
“I’ll try my best to make it happen.” I stand from the bench and begin to walk towards the stairs. Everyone wishes me good luck in their own way, except for Tristen. When I passed him, he murmured his demand, and it stuck with me well after I made it to the center battlegrounds.
Show me what you got, Cross.
I stare down my opponent, Abel, as the timer begins to countdown, relinquishing all of my thoughts about my inadequacies. I’ve been through too much to be afraid of an exhibition...and even if he is stronger than me, I’ll somehow find a way.
“Good luck,” he says.
“Yeah, same to you.” We both activate our cowls and sink into our battle stances. I can hear Summer and the others cheering me on in the distance, but I can’t focus on that. Not now.
As soon as the buzzer sounds, I charge him, looking to immediately take control of the fight. Before I close in, Abel hops back while simultaneously firing a volley of jagged, crystal-like projectiles my way. I halt my progress and quickly whip my hand forward, releasing a wave of my energy, but traces of Abel’s projectiles fly through. I barely have enough time to raise my arms in front of me, to protect my vitals before it slices into my suit. I wince in pain and pull back, furthering the distance between us. He fires again, and I run to avoid his offensive while simultaneously aggregating my energy into my palm. What is he projecting? Diamonds? It’s dense... Some of the strays penetrated right into the ground.
I hurl my energy towards him at top speed, hoping to catch him by surprise. My dark sphere engulfs Abel’s projectiles, but stops when it connects with his outstretched hand, now fully encrusted in a coat of diamond. My energy explodes, and Abel rushes through the remnants of my flames. His appearance has changed, he’s slightly bigger, and his body is completely covered in diamonds. He throws a punch, and I’m able to evade it by stepping back. He throws another, lunging forward with his weight, and I sidestep it with ease. Is he slower in this form? That’d make sense. Trading speed for durability and power wou— His fist cracks me in the jaw, and I stumble back, shaking off the impact. Gah...I guess he didn’t lose that much speed after all. I need to focus.
Abel goes to strike me again, and I narrowly avoid it by parrying his attack.
With an enflamed fist, I punch him in the face. His jaw’s forced to move from the impact, but I can tell that I barely did any damage. A dull wave of pain shoots through my hand and I pull it back and weave just as he throws a punch of his own. I follow up by harnessing more of my energy and pressing it against his side, but he bats me away before I can fully make contact.
The impact behind his forehand sends me flying, but I make sure to land on my feet, the length of my arm pulsing with pain from preventing a direct hit. An influx of diamonds race my way, and I shield my body by crossing my hands in front of my head while simultaneously igniting my flames.
Fragments of diamond chip across my armor and cut into my extremities, giving me flashes of intense pain whenever they run across the woven layers of my suit. Once the onslaught ends, I drop my hands, but only to see that Abel is back in striking range. He launches his foot forward, and I drop to the ground and use my momentum to sweep his foot off the ground. My kick lands, but I don’t have enough force to take him down. “Why don’t you stay still?!”
He grabs me by the leg, and I feel his diamonds clamp down on my armor, sinking into them like barbs. He lifts me up and swings me overhead, causing me to crash into the ground with no way to defend myself. He lifts me up again, and I quickly release my energy at his bicep, momentarily loosening his grip at the top of his swing. From there, I manage to do a flip, and convert it into a dropkick against his chest. The kick doesn’t do much, but the force was enough to put a bit of distance between us after rolling and landing on one knee. I try to stand, but my right leg retracts the second I shift my weight—the impact from my energy combusting gave his barbs the push they needed to penetrate my flesh, and I can tell that it’s deep. Abel races towards me, to capitalize on my injury, and I immediate begin to channel my energy for my next move.
Should I use flux form? No...it’s too risky, plus I can’t move how I want to with this injury and without a way to counter. He’ll just whittle me down until I can’t fight back. He’s already damaged me enough as it is.
I’ll just have to end it with this next attack.
I force myself to my feet, ignoring my injury and charge Abel, my energy trailing behind my hand as I rush to meet him. “Flash Touch!” Abel’s spiked fist comes for my jaw, but I twist my head right before it connects and press my palm into his chest. Abel’s body shifts, but I realize that it won’t be enough to phase through his crystal. My hand trembles and I roar as a pulse of energy flares up from my hand and lashes against his chest. I push beyond that and release even more, increasing the density and intensity of my energy until it finally combusts at the end of my thrust. Abel flies into the wall behind him, causing a crater not far from the one where Tristen launched his opponent during the first fight. Interestingly enough, they’re practically the same size.
I bet he realized it, too.
My energy dissipates from my hands and I fall to one knee to catch my breath as I watch Abel, climb out of the crater, his diamond covering intact, but damaged. Thankfully, he’s okay, and so am I. In the heat of battle, I pushed myself to the brink of going flux, and honestly, if ring-out wasn’t a thing, I wouldn’t have had a choice... He doesn’t look hurt at all. I was definitely on the losing side of things. Putting that much energy into my flash touch would have left me in a bad spot if the fight continued to go on. That diamond coating along with his suit’s protection is a wicked combo... He has enhanced strength and can shoot projectiles, so he’s a threat at any range.
Maybe combat isn’t necessarily the reason why he’s here.
“That’s the match!” Mr. Hoover announces on the intercom. “Ai
den is the winner! This concludes today’s scheduled events regarding testing. As mentioned prior to the start of the examination period, please allow forty-eight hours for your scores to be processed. An email will be sent to you all later today with more details.”
Chapter 18
I remove my cowl and slowly rise before twisting to look back into the stands, catching Summer and the other girls cheer on my victory. Mr. Ferris, who’s farther back, flicks his thumb into the air, and I do the same, smiling that the battle is over. I turn my sights back on Abel, but he’s already on the move towards the exit, noticeably upset with his loss. Andre’s not far behind.
I consider going after him to chat, but Mr. Hoover approaches me before I have a chance. It’s not like I can move much on this leg, anyway.
“Well, done, Aiden.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m going to heal you now. Is that okay?”
“Sure,” I rasp. “That’d be great.” He places his hand on my forehead, and I feel the warmth of his energy begin to course through my body. “How did everyone do? Did they pass?” I ask after a few moments in an attempt to make it less awkward.
“Confidentiality isn’t a one-way street, Aiden. You have your secrets, and so do they. You all did your part, and as far as you’re concerned, that’s all that matters.” He smiles. “I do appreciate your participation though. Your class thoroughly exceeded my expectations. I can tell that you’ve all trained hard... Okay...all done.”
“Yeah.” I nod. “We did, and thanks.”
“Wooooo that was crazy, Aiden! Way to go!” Summer says with cupped hands as she and the others approach the stage.
“Oh?” Mr. Hoover turns over his shoulder and chuckles. “Looks like your classmates are looking for you. I’ll leave you guys to it while I transfer these files,” he says before walking off. “I don’t want to intrude.” Clarissa and everyone else greet Mr. Hoover in passing, but he keeps it brief, congratulations and all. After they finish up with him, they make it over to me.
The Prodigy Page 18