Elementals

Chapter 5

As the match begins Ro and Alisa signal the others and dart into the forest end of the arena. The leader of the opposing team quickly takes two of his squad and follows them, leaving the remaining two members with Rico, Jerome and Bruce.

Alisa and Ro make it a good distance into the forest before turning around to face the fast approaching leader and his unfortunate companions.

Ro jumps towards them with his magic wrapped around him. "Nice of you to join us." he calls out to them as he lands on a branch close to the nearest lackey. The man attempts to jump back as Ro traps him within a ball made of darkness and drops him to the ground knocking him unconscious. Alisa jumps and lands next to the unconscious enemy and looks up into the trees before flexing her hand.

Meanwhile in the plain, Rico watches as Bruce and Jerome fight the remaining two members of the enemy squad. Jerome attempts to charge in to strike one of the tendons their tendons only to be halted by fire from the other.

"You seemed to be strong at first but it seems you are weak after all." One of them says as he pulls a black box from his right leg pocket and opens it. "This is my power." He says as he throws a large amount of tiny black things towards them and they fall uselessly to the ground in front of them. "Well then." He smiles bashfully as he starts to run away with his teammate. Jerome and Bruce move to follow but just as they step on the little black stuff they shoot up into the soles of both of their feet as the other squads members turn around.

"My power is magnetism." the man says as the remaining black specs begin to float in the air and combine to form a spear that points right at Jerome's heart. The other member runs at Bruce just as Jerome and Bruce simultaneously give up leaving Rico alone with them. "You could've at least let me see the second guy's power." Rico mumbles to no one in particular. "You ready to lose kid? Why don't you just give up now?" says the magnet user. "Save me the trouble of skewering you." Rico backs up a step and scratches his head. "I'd rather not give up before fighting. You did stab my new friends through their feet after all. Maybe I should stab you." Rico smiles as the magnet user raises his eyebrow and looks to his partner. "Go, I'll cover you."

In the forest a certain smell begins to permeate the noses of all who are inside. The second member stops on a high branch and sniffs the air. "Smoke? What's burning?" "You are."Alisa says shooting fire at him that he blocks with water. "Ah a fire user." He observes suddenly full of confidence. "It seems I'm a bad match for you." Alisa gets closer and smiles. "You would think so right? But let's say my magic or power is stronger than yours. Would your water still be at an advantage against my fire?" The water user stares her down "Yes." He says defiantly. "No." Ro says from behind fixing the man's feet to the branch with his darkness magic.

"Switch!" Ro calls to Alisa. "I just realized I can only use one form with my darkness at a time. Kind of like a shadow that can become tangible." "Is it really smart to say that right in front of me?" asks the trapped water user. "Oh no, you're done for." Ro says pointing below. "I'd give up if I were you. And don't worry they already took your knocked out teammate from the danger zone." The water user looks down and sees the fire quickly approaching from below. "Damn her." He mumbles under his breath. "Feel free to cut the branch." Ro offers. "Maybe the fire won't swallow you." Why set the whole forest on fire?" Ro smiles."Why not? It looks cool." Ro turns and heads in the direction he sent Alisa while the water user promptly and reluctantly gives up.

Rico runs away as fire is hurled at him in combination with the fast black pieces of metal trying to take his head off. "You're quite good at running away kid." The fire user taunts. "You get used to it." Rico responds as he turns around. "But I was just warming up my legs. Now...Freeze." The world stops around him as he runs in close to the magnet user. "5 left. Unfreeze." "How did you?" The magnet user says as Rico lets go of a knife that's embedded in his stomach. "I told you I'd stab you." Rico says. "Give up or next time I'll aim higher." "Never." "Ah fine. I'll stab you again. Freeze." Rico pulls the knife out and stabs the man's wrists. "1 left. Unfreeze." "Again." The man gasps while looking at his wrists. "Are you going to help?" He yells at the fire user. "I'm trying to figure out his power." He yells back.

"At least try to fight him."

"I can't. It's like he's teleporting."

"Are you finished?" Rico asks. "You'll bleed out and die if you don't give up soon." "Stupid kid." The magnet man flashes Rico a pained smile. "You got me. I give up." Rico stands distracted as the man is escorted from the field when the fire user attacks him from behind. Luckily he felt the heat first. "Freeze." Rico whispers as he slides behind the frozen fire user. "Shit, my ten seconds is up. Unfreeze."

Alisa is firing and going back and forth with the leader of the opposing squad almost evenly. "Did you think this would be easy?" he asks her. "It would have to be if I'm going to avenge my father." She responds. "Oh you're one of those." The man comments as Ro comes down from above "Yeah she is. What of it?" "I see you're both fools then." The man says with a smile as a huge dome of earth begins to close over them. "In more ways than one." The dome closes as Rome and Alisa are encased in darkness.

"I can't believe they fell for that." Bruce says from the sideline. "Well this fight is a learning experience after all." Jerome agrees. "And who are we to talk we were out first." "True."

Rico dodges as the fire user swings his arm backwards and lights the whole area aflame. "My dodging skills come in handy huh?" Rico taunts while holding his hands out. "Shut it. I'm going to catch you sooner or later and when I do you're finished." "Nah." Rico shrugs as the fire ser comes in for another attack. "In about 4 seconds you're the one who's finished." He says drawing his knife. "Yeah, well dodge this." The man yells as he leaps into the air and creates a tsunami of fire that heads straight for Rico. "3...2...1...Freeze." The wave stops inches from Rico face as he hustles to the spot just behind where his opponent will land and watch the fire from behind. "2... Unfreeze."

The flames engulf the area where he was standing as the fire user stands shocked that there is no charred body. "Where?!" "I'm right here." Rico says as he stabs him from behind. "I'm taking you with me then." He whispers as his body explodes in flames. "Freeze. Just in time." Rico says to himself. "You really shouldn't say stuff like that out loud." He escapes the blast zone just as he turns around to see the leader coming straight for him just as his time runs out. "Crap."

The world begins to move again as Rico appears out of the blast zone but is immediately hit by the rock enforced punch coming from the opposing leader that launches twenty feet across the plain where he slides to a stop. "Well that should be all of them." The leader smiles as the stadium workers quickly take the two bodies in front of him. "Not exactly" Ro says as he chops blocks and cuts off the leader at the knees while Alisa swing around and punches him in the temple with her fist encased in flames. "I guess he'd normally ask how we got out so quickly. But I don't think he can talk at the moment." Ro says looking at the now motionless body and his disconnected legs. "Maybe that was overkill." "No he deserved it for his comments earlier." Alisa says in a cold tone.

"And that's the match!!" The announcer yells to the crowd. "The winners are the Shady squad! They move on to the next round in the tournament."

"Two more rounds till we're in the city." Alisa says. "We got this." Ro says squeezing her shoulder. "Yeah." They walk to the sidelines and the rest of the squad and their opponents walk up to them fully healed. "Good match." The other team members all offer their hands in respect. "Yeah, you guys did well too. That guy never loses." Jerome says pointing his thumb at Ro. "Yeah I had fun too and now we finally got to see Rico fight." Ro says. "You never did tell us you're power did you?" "I can freeze time for a short period." Rico tells them. "Man that's so OP." Ro says. "OP?" "Overpowered." "Oh. Can't be worse than your 'I can do anything with darkness' power." "Maybe." Ro says with a smile.

"Let's go watch the matches while we wait for round two." Jerome suggests. "We have somewhere to be since we lost but we'll be rooting for you to win. You beat us after all." The opposing leader declines politely. "Let's go." They walk away and wave as they turn the corner. "Well they aren't so bad after all." Ro says. "Let's check out our next opponents. "I think they already fought." Bruce says. "They're called the Cross or something." "Oh even this world has fanatics it seems." Ro says to himself. "The last match of this round is going to start." Alisa says in a strangely good mood.

By the time they reach the second field the match was already over. "They're called Eco right?" Jerome asks as they survey the field that is filled with trees that are bent and contorted at weird angles. "That doesn't look good."