The Redemption(unOrdinary fanfiction)

Chapter 16: Chess

Ella squinted. Why were the authorities here? Everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing.

The authorities didn't pick up their pace. As they came closer, Ella could see a few papers in their hands.

When they were in reach, a man spoke, reading off his paper. "Vallord has recently withdrew their challenge. The Substantial Turf Wars has been legally canceled, blah blah blah..."

Ella didn't listen. She hated it when adults gave long speeches when they only needed to speak one sentence.

"...due to injuries on their top student, blah blah blah..."

"...so will the Wellston team kindly return to Wellston Private High School."

Ella turned her back and began to head back to the train station, and so did the others. Great, we'll have to wait for another train. Hope someone has cash on them.

But before they could be completely out of sight, a red-haired man with ice blue eyes reached out his hand and grabbed John's sleeve. John suddenly began to sweat.

"Doing okay, I hope?" he asked.

John forced himself to meet the man's eyes. He swallowed. "Y-yes."

His mouth formed a smile, but his eyes stayed cold. "Good." He let go.

John turned his face away, and picked up his pace, speedwalking across the dusty terrain. Ella thought that was weird. Usually he seemed to be not scared of anything, but for some reason, just looking at the red-haired man made him shudder.

At that moment, Ella saw a streak of magenta hair whoosh from across the hard, cracked ground. Ella squinted, but the magenta hair was no longer in sight. Ella shrugged it off. Probably she was just imagining things.

She once again began to walk, but this time, a blue light passed in front of her. Ella's first thought was, Unusual weather. After all, it seemed like the most logical thinking.

She continued, but this time, a hand grasped on her sleeve.

"Psst," a voice said. Ella turned.

She was hit by surprise. Sera stood there, with a finger to her lips. "Shhhh."

"What are you doing here!?" Ella hissed.

"Keeping an eye on John," she said.

"Dude, are you stalking him or something!?"

"No! I'm just here to... keep an eye on him," she told Ella.

"Why?"

"Umm... I... I mean, someone's got to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't do anything crazy, right??" Sera said that last part really quickly, and she wasn't exactly the type of person to talk really fast.

"Okaaay?" Ella said tentatively. At that moment, a sudden realization hit her. "Wait... you got your ability back?" A grin spread across Ella's face. "You're back to an 8.0 god tier?"

Sera shrugged. "One out of two correct. Yeah, I got my ability back through Claire. But apparently, the full effects haven't worn off yet. It'll be around a few weeks before I'm back to an 8.0. Now, my level is around 3.0 - 3.5. Meaning, if I was 8.0, I could move faster than Zeke's Phase Shift. Waaaay faster."

"Wow!! 3.5 is better than 1.0, right?" Ella smiled. "Next time those mid-tiers pick on you..."

Sera shrugged. "Maybe. The bullying's pretty much stopped now."

"Hey, Ella?" Remi turned around. "What's taking so long?"

"Damn it, gotta go," Sera said. She sped away in a blur.

Ella looked at the spot where Sera stood, and then turned back around again to see Remi waiting for an answer.

"Uhm, I was tying my sneaker?" Ella called lamely back to Remi, because her shoes had no laces.

"Hurry up! The train is going to leave soon!"

***

Ella plopped back in her bed. Damn it, I had to miss a class! I hope I still get A's on my report card... But then again, Wellston wasn't all about learning. It was all about abilities.

Ella thought, I'll walk around the school. She changed back into her uniform, and sat up.

***

Ella heard some angry voices down the hall as she walked. It sounded like two or more people in a room, but this time, it was a two-sided argument. Despite that, Ella walked down the hall anyways.

"You took away my queen when I wasn't looking!"

"No I didn't! I took it with my bishop on the last move, don't you remember!?"

"Oh no you didn't! When I was talking to my friend-"

Ella opened the door, and stepped in. "Hey hey guys, what's going on?"

Ella looked around the room first. Tables scattered the area of the room. There were two seats on each sides, and on the tables were chess boards, with chess pieces. About a dozen people sat on the benches playing chess.

A boy with windswept lime colored hair sneered at Ella. "Well, seeing that she sneakily plucked my queen off the board-"

"No I didn't!" a girl with dark violet hair retorted. Her red-orange eyes burned.

"Hmm, let me check." Ella was an expert at chess, and she could tell what was what by just looking at the board.

If someone had actually blundered their queen, then they would most likely be trying to form a defensive position. Ella studied the board. The boy seemed to be playing black, and the girl was playing white.

The boy's bishop pinpointed a certain pawn, in front of the opponent's king who had castled. Obviously, he was trying for a checkmate where the queen pinned down the king.

Ella raised her eyebrows at the girl. "Give his queen back."

The girl looked like she was about to yell, but she looked down, took her opponent's queen out, and set it back on the board.

Ella wandered around the chess room. It looked like people were getting ready for a tournament. She walked up to a random kid. "Hey, can I join the tournament?"

The kid shrugged. "Sure. All you need to do is to-" he pointed to a paper- "put your name on there." Ella nodded, went over to the paper, took a pen, and scrawled her name down. At that moment, a teacher called out, "The tournament will be starting soon. I will put you with a partner based on your rating."

The teacher put Ella with a boy who looked like he was going to try to crush Ella underfoot in one move.

When the teacher was done, she announced, "The tournament will start in three, two, one!"

The chess tournament started.

A/N: come on sera, give us the real reason you were watching over john pls??? 

Sera: no.

Me: u just killed about every reader reading this u know.

Sera: i have no regrets.

Me: F IN THE CHAT FOR ALL READERS WHO DIED