Elementalists

7) ...Ends With a Bang

 I eventually found my way to the arena on floor level where I saw about twenty older, fit looking kids. The oldest being around eighteen, and the youngest maybe fourteen. As I walked through the tunnel that led out onto the field I saw for the first time just how truly massive this arena actually was. There was a bridge that went across the decent sized river that coursed around the field, and made it onto the light green grass. As I looked around I noticed boulders and trees that I had seen yesterday with Amaris up near the top of the bleachers. But what I hadn't noticed was the one big hill that was located in the middle of the field. The class was grouped at the bottom, and were talking to each other eagerly. Hopefully they were talking about how bad the food was at lunch and not how the new kid will get picked on in the advanced superpower class. Hopefully. I thought, and gathered the courage to walk towards my lunch group. They were all there, Calvin with his witty grin, Grace with the same intellectual presence as her brother, Toro the behemoth of a teenager, Garrett with his smug expression, and Amaris who was giving me a reassuring grin. I started towards the group and everyone turned to look at the new kid. I could tell they were all gaging how much of a chump I was with the too big white Natura shirt, and baggy black combat pants.

As I neared my new friends Grace gave me a fist bump, and Calvin gave me a handshake while Toro gave me a head nod and Garrett completely ignored me. He was unnecessarily close to Amaris, with her facing me and him behind her. She was looking at me though, and for a second I thought I saw a flash of sadness on her her face. No, that wasn't the word, it was almost like she had an expression of loneliness.

"Alright class, get on that warm up lap and meet back here in four minutes or you'll do another one!" I heard Harkens deep voice boom from somewhere behind me. The class started to run, and I followed in with the rest of the kids. Might I add here how out of shape I was? I was athletic but I certainly haven't been doing much cardio recently. I was in the back of the group when Grace fell back to give me her pep talk about halfway around the arena's field.

"The first lap is always the longest you know" she said, glancing at me out of the corner of her eye.

"You making me talk is making this lap so much harder to complete" I said breathlessly. She gave a lighthearted chuckle that once again reminded me of her brother, and sped up once again, leaving me at the back of the group.

When we finally got around the longest warm up lap in recorded history I realized that I probably should have stretched before hand, and made a mental note for next time.

"All right everyone, give me two even lines on opposite ends of the sidelines" Harken's voice echoed. I went to stand at the back of the line near the other end of the tunnel I had come out of. We were about a good sixty meters away from the other line, and Harken was standing in the middle.

"Today, we will have one on one's. The best two out of three to the first to either force a surrender or knockout their opponent using only their manipulation. The losers will have to give me ten laps around the field, while the others may leave for dinner early" He thundered. Everyone in line looked around in both nervousness and eagerness. But I had neither of those feelings. I felt pure distress at the thought of being humiliated in front of more peers, even if I didn't even know most of their names.

The first set of kids was Grace verses a short thick kid that I heard be called Grant by the cheering kids in my line. Grace started to walk, then it evolved into a dead sprint with her hands at her right side. While she was running towards her opponent, Grant had his knees bent, and arms out with his palms up and fingers bent like he was picking up a large heavy object. When Grace got within about twenty meters of him, Grant had lifted a pillar of hardened earth from what seemed like the ground, and it rose from directly where Grace was running to. I thought she would be sent flying from the force in had risen from the ground when she used the momentum of the attack to leap off the boulder and soar through the air. While in flight she flung her hands at Grant with a snap of her wrists, and water shot out from between her palms. The water hit him directly in the face, and the force of it sent him tumbling backwards. Grace landed on top of him with a hand hovering over his face. I was so stunned at the power displayed that I couldn't take my eyes off the pillar of dark stone that still stood in the middle of the field. Another round went on, and Grace used the same tactic to win once again. She was really fast, and Calvin was right. She was very controlled. I thought as the next pair of kids I didn't know faced off. The winner beat his opponent by bombarding her with fire bolts. Though he displayed a lot of power, after the battle was over he could barely walk back to his line to watch the rest.