Tarragon

Chapter Nineteen: The Finals

-Mantis

-April 25th, 2024

The last game of Tarragon. It was time for the Finals. I would be holding myself back this time. I banned myself from using the EMPeR, from solidifying lightning, or teleporting. This might actually be a challenge with those restrictions.

I sat in front of my computer. It was 12:45. I had to get going now, the game would start in an hour and fifteen minutes. I pushed myself away from my desk, and looked at my phone. I had another few notifications from the group chat. I hesitated, but put my phone in my pocket.

I flew over to the stadium in a few minutes, and landed on the back entrance. I must have left a fireworks show, because they looked at my path. I decided to give them some entertainment. I fired seven low-power, non-arcing lightning bolts, and twisted them around in the air above the crowd. They were each the colors of the rainbow. After a few minutes, I pulled them back, and walked in the back entrance.

I ran to the locker rooms, and I put on my Tarragon gear, and walked out into the main men's locker room. It was sleek, especially built for this game, and this game alone. It was more structurally stable than regular gear, with more shock absorption, and almost instant time from hit to teleportation. 250 thousand people waited in the stadium for the game to begin. I was afraid something would go wrong, and they would die, but regardless I had to fight. I had to play. I had to win.

I had to win, so someone out there would look up to me, so somebody out there would have an idol.

I couldn't rob the next generation of a hero. I had started this, now I had to finish it.

Hermes walked over to me, smiling. He had his helmet off, and was smiling, "You're gonna limit yourself, right?" he asked me. I nodded, "understandable," he told me, "you didn't look like you were really having fun out there last time, and... I get it. It's like an MMA fight against a toddler."

We sat down, and I checked the time. 1:15. We still had about 35 minutes to burn. I decided to give the crowd some entertainment before it began. I walked out, on the side so not as many people would see me, and teleported up to one of the high boxes. I dropped off, flying on wings of lightning over the crowd. Heads turned as I flew over the horde of fans, leaving behind a cyan trail as I flew. I heard them excited behind me. I flew into the center of the stadium, creating a few stretching arcs of lightning around me, which ended in the middle of the air. It was kind of like a plasma globe, as I made the arcs appear and disappear. I started making them kind of "spill out" at the border of where I'd allow them to go, adding a few more. Eventually, I stopped making them vanish, and added more and more until I was completely surrounded, at which point I solidified the sphere, before exploding from the top, making the star disappear like a supernova had occurred. As I reached my peak, I teleported back to the Skytreaders' entrance, and returned to the locker rooms. I had burnt ten minutes, so now we just had 25 minutes left. I estimated I had 95% of my Energy left at this point. I would be fine for the game.

A fear pricked my spine, and I cast a spell of invisibility on myself, before heading up to the main walkways. I couldn't have another explosion like in the quarter-finals. I searched, and searched, and searched for twenty minutes but came up empty-handed. I would have to worry about bombs later, I only had five minutes until the game began. I ran back down to the locker rooms, worried.

We made the final preparations, and I reminded myself of the limitations. No EMPeR, solidified lightning, or teleportation.

We walked out to the field, and a feeling of pride bubbled up, lined with sadness, and guilt.

"I want this to be fair, so I'm going to limit myself for this game." I told them, "I really want this to be fair."

It was Lynn and Kia who spoke first- the brats. Lynn stepped forwards, and taunted me, "Oh, so you're limiting yourself, not that you just signed a deal with the Devil to give yourself power for two or three games, and now it's out? Or that you don't have your steroids?"