Alex Ears perked with the screaming in the courtyard. The teacher looked up, and Alex began to walk near the commotion; birds flew away, and ample water seemed to have fallen from the sky.
Looking around, Alex saw multiple students running toward the commotion. Alex looked at the teacher, who was already walking away from the fight. She looked at Alex and yelled, "I'm not allowed to get involved, Alex." she then walked off and stopped. "You'll make the right decision, and remember, don't fight the flow."
Alex nodded and began running towards the screaming, trying to talk in the formation he heard the students around him talk about. "Hey, two gold ribbons are fighting!" a girl said
"Yeah, one guy is an orphan, and the other one is from the city!" a tall boy said excitedly, running toward the fight.
Alex didn't know why, but he had a bad feeling that something more profound than a regular fight was unfolding. Judging by the conflict in the cafeteria, he felt that he would have to choose sides soon. "I hope Jin and Mathew aren't fighting. This would be a serious conflict if that were the case."
As he approached the fight in the courtyard, Alex was still lost in his thoughts. The screams and the hum of electricity grew louder with each step he took. As was often the case, he had to turn away because he felt a pressure rising from a distance. When he moved aside, the bench behind him was suddenly slashed in half, crumbling into pieces.
"What the heck was that?" Alex's voice was shaky. He looked back at the bench, and it was a giant ball sliced in half. He then felt another wave coming towards him, and he jumped out of the way again. He saw the distortion flowing after it passed him and soon vanished.
"Dammit! How could I even compete with someone fighting right now!" as he appeared closer to the fight. The electricity humming grew loud, and he saw water with sparks of electricity rise like a solid wall and split in half.
The boy formed a solid water blade filled with electricity and ran after the opposing fighter. He dodged strike after strike, charging in with the blade on his,
"That's the purple-haired kid in Mathew's group!" a girl with ruffled hair screamed beside him. "Let's go, Ryder! Use what I taught you!"
Ryder activated his ability, and electrical water spread across the field and headed toward this other boy; his hair stopped down at his shoulder, and his blond hair began to rise as the air hummed around him; he threw his arm out in a slicing position and a great force of wind pushed out and sliced the ground blur him trying to make a crater so the water wouldn't touch him.
"Come on, Mason! Don't let that orphan beat you!" another person screamed from across the courtyard. A wide wind distortion blasted from Mason's hand, aiming for Ryder's body. Ryder formed another wave of water, attacking the distortion. A solid wall that sounded like crackling lightning formed. Ryder then twisted his body, creating what seemed like a water torpedo. He shot through the air and his Mason in the stomach.
"Damn it!" Mason screamed. His legs gave out, and he fell to the ground holding his stomach; Ryder stood before him, readier himself for a counterattack, and swung down. But before he could hit Mason, another person kicked Ryder in the head and sent him flying across the courtyard.
Alex stood frozen. "He was really about to kill Mason? He watched the fighters fight. He couldn't believe how far behind he was. He didn't think he could compete with the fusion ability user. They seemed to be on another level than he was; Ryder finally stopped in front of Alex.
As Ryder jumped up, he spotted Alex. He paused, stared at Alecx for a brief moment, and finally yelled. "Hey, you're a strong fighter. I need a backup because the city boys are bringing in more people to fight. Come in and fight with me!"
Alex looked around and stared at the person who hit Ryder in the face. "That's Zara." Alex was lost; he didn't know what to do. Zara was the first friend he made when he arrived at the academy.
He didn't look like the fighter type. His glasses seemed to never fall off his face no matter what he did, and the freckles on his face didn't match the black hair pulled back in a ponytail. He was slightly shorter than Alex, around 6 feet 2 inches.
Alex knew Zara's fighting style because they had trained together every day since they arrived at the academy.
Before Zara jumped into the fight, he thought the fight was over. After he saw Mason's knees buckle, he fell to the ground. After Ryder stood over him, he saw that he was aiming for Mason's temple on the side of his head.
"This fight is going too far! I can't let these orphans step in and treat us like trash!" Zara readied himself and moved as fast as he could to save his classmate from receiving a fatal blow to the head.
He charged in and hit Ryder in the face as hard as he could, sending him flying across the courtyard. He moved fast and helped Mason off the ground, "are you okay, Mason?"
Mason didn't want the help. He would rather lose if he were going to lose a fight. In all his fights, he used calculated moves and precision; his moves were wild and frantic. He knew Ryder was trying to overwhelm him with flashy attacks, so he saved his energy and was on the defensive.
Mason pushed Zara aside and scolded him for jumping in. "back off, I didn't need your help. I have plenty of reserves left."
Zara pointed in that direction and saw a muscular boy jump onto the battlefield and walk beside him. "It looks like you will need my help anyway, right?" Mason looked over and sighed. Either work with me and follow my lead or stay out of my way."
Before Zara and Mason could react, the ground beneath them lowered and sunk, and large vines and trees formed around them. A large wave of electrical water crashed into the trees the next moment.
Zara held out his hand, and his right eye began to turn a solid red. Zara threw two knives into the air, and before the wave could crash into them, they both appeared in the air, and the knives were then on the ground.
"wait? What happened? How did they get in the air like that?" a girl yelled.
A boy began to yell out. "No way he's cheating! he must've teleported?"
Alex froze in place. His friend was out fighting; he didn't want to fight his friend, nor didn't want to fight with the people he knew from the village. As he watched Zara and Mason appear, Mason was in the air. He wasn't supposed to be because he knew Zara's ability well.
While in mid-air, Zara quickly threw move knives toward Ryder, and the knives flew past him. "what a wasted move!" Ryder screamed. Before he knew it, Mason was standing behind him. "What!" he didn't have time to react.
"Too slow!" Mason yelled. He helped out his hand, and a loud humming noise vibrated over Ryder. A large gust of wind followed, pushing him back to the ground. Zara appeared above Ryder, and he formed a heel kick, aiming for his head.
The kick landed, knocking Ryder out cold. "Next," Mason shouted as he looked at the earth user.
"Hey Alex!" a voice yelled behind him. "are you just going to let your fellow orphan take a hit like that after asking for help?"