Hunter Academy

Chapter 9

"All right. Now that everyone is in gear, I'll explain the rules of the game. Oh, there's something I forgot to mention about the gear. When you're hit, the pain won't go away until the game is over. Now, the rules of the game are simple. You divide up into two teams. You will face off against each other. You are not allowed to take off the gear. This is a precaution since you have not been through the necessary training like Sophia, Zander, and Iris have. You're allowed to go anywhere in this gym. You can hide anywhere. The winner will be decided by the last ones standing. You each have communicators in your gear. Once the teams are decided, they'll connect you with your team. All right. Time to choose teams. Sophia."

"All right. My team will consist of Zander and Iris. Everyone else can be on the other team," said Sophia.

"Wait a second that would make it twenty-two against three. That would be unfair to you three," said coach Silva. "Is that even allowed?"

"Yes. Please, step back. This doesn't concern you. All right. Go find your hiding places. In one minute the game will begin," said coach Collins and Iris, Zander, and Sophia disappeared. Sophia pulled up her hood.

"Zander, Iris, did Carter go home early today?" asked Sophia confused as to why he wasn't in the gym.

"Yeah. He had an appointment. We got lucky," Iris said.

"Well, get ready guys. Let's take them out," Zander said.

"Yeah."

"Begin!" coach Collins shouted and Sophia took off through the rafters. She looked around until she spotted a team of three. She grabbed a dagger off the rafter and jumped down at them. She appeared in front of them and stabbed one male in the stomach. He fell to the ground and let out a pained whimper. She let the dagger go and appeared behind the second boy and kicked him forward. The girl in the group held up a gun and pointed it at Sophia. Sophia ran at her and the girl began shooting. Sophia moved from side to side, easily dodging all of the bullets. She stopped in front of the girl and kicked the gun out of her hand. Sophia jumped and caught hold of the gun's handle.

The boy she kicked stood up and threw a dagger at her while she was in midair. She aimed the gun and shot the dagger and it went off course and hit the rafters. She softly landed on the ground and aimed the gun at the girl's stomach. She pulled the trigger three times and got the girl in the stomach, the arm, and the leg. She turned to the boy already on the ground and shot his leg to make sure he couldn't stand back up. She turned to the last boy and he charged at her.

"Come on. Is that all you got?" Sophia asked as she shot him in both legs. He fell face first into the ground and she took off. She ran across the gym and Iris and Zander joined up with her. "How many teams did you take out?"

"One," they both replied.

"They split up in teams of three, so we've taken out nine of them. That leaves thirteen of them." A bazooka shot their way and Sophia grabbed a sword as she jumped up a pole to dodge it. She pushed off the side of the pole and lunged toward the team of four. "Zander, Iris, go find the other teams." Sophia cut through two of them and they fell to the ground in pain. She began approaching the last two with a smirk. "Just throw the grenade already." The girl's eyes widened.

"How did you-"

"I'm not an idiot. I can smell the gunpowder," Sophia replied and the boy threw the grenade. She quickly grabbed a dagger and threw it at the grenade. It sent the grenade back and embedded it in the pole they were near. Sophia jumped up into the rafters just as it exploded. The two that were hit started screaming in pain and then passed out. "Zander, Iris, have you guys taken out Blaze's team yet?"

"No. It looks like Blaze, Logan, and one of the fighter wolves have joined together on a team," Iris replied. "I took down another team of three."

"So did I. That just leaves Blaze's team," Zander informed. Sophia leaned back against the wall and looked down at the ground.

"Zander, Iris, we need to regroup," Sophia said as uneasiness washed over her.

"Got it," they replied as Sophia stood up and took off. She jumped down to the ground, but before she could touch the ground, she was tackled by Logan. They hit the ground and slid back. Logan pulled out a dagger and Sophia quickly grabbed his arms and kicked him off of her. She stood up but quickly dropped back down to the ground as a dagger cut over her head. She reached up and grabbed the guy's arm and flipped him. His brown eyes had a mischievous glint in them as he hit the ground. Sophia quickly grabbed his dagger and stopped Blaze's sword.

"I see. I was your target from the get go," Sophia said. She shoved his sword back and threw the dagger. Blaze moved his head to the side at the last second, the dagger cutting off a small piece of his hair. The guy she flipped, jumped up and grabbed her in a head lock. She grabbed his arm and growled.

"It's over!" Blaze shouted and Sophia smirked. She pulled the guy's arm away from her throat and she back flipped over him. Blaze's sword hit the guy in the stomach and Sophia landed on the ground behind him.

"Chris!" Logan shouted in shock. Blaze's eyes widened when he realized he hurt his own man. "Damn it! I'll get you!" Logan lunged at her and was hit in the chest by an arrow. He fell onto the ground in pain.

"You okay, Sophia?" Iris asked and Sophia nodded with a small smile.

"How the hell can you call this a game?" Blaze growled.

"They aren't dead, you idiot," Sophia replied. "You kept asking what we were doing here. You have no right to know if you can't even get through this." Blaze ran at her and she ducked under his swing. She began backing up as he continued swinging the sword.

"Why are you here? What is so important at this school? What point are you trying to make here?" he growled. "The pain you're putting them through, do you know what it feels like to be stabbed?" Sophia stopped dodging and the sword sliced across her chest. She winced and his eyes widened as she grabbed the blade and guided it down to her stomach.

"The pain of being stabbed? Have you ever even been in a battle?" Sophia angrily asked as she stabbed the blade into herself. His eyes widened. "This doesn't bother me as much as it used to. Yeah, it hurts like a bitch, but the pain is what made me grow stronger. I wanted to be able to protect my friends. If you wanted to protect them that badly, you would have become stronger. You didn't take this seriously because you thought it was just a game. The pain they're going through isn't a game. This was a real battle. And you've lost." Sophia grabbed the dagger she was holding onto and stabbed him in the stomach. Blaze fell to the ground and held onto his stomach.

"Damn it. If you really wanna know, I have been in battle before. But I was in my wolf form," he replied.

"Instead of practicing fighting in your wolf form, fight using your bare hands. This game is over," Sophia replied. The lights flickered back on and the pain in Sophia's stomach disappeared.

"The winner is Sophia's team!"