New: Powers

New: Power (Chapter 20)

Chapter 20: I am a zombie (this time)

This was the last round of the tournament. My plan was our only chance of winning. I watched Rachel walk into the arena with her entourage of ninjas. I spotted the one ninja that was different from the others: the one with the familiar caramel brown eyes. Ellie walked into the arena with Bri and said her lines. "We give up. We surrender."

"That easy? Not so tough are you? So, guess we'll kill you now," Rachel said, as a ninja handed her a knife. That was my cue. I shut down the lights, tapped Connor on the shoulder, and he ran in. I turned them on, then off, then on again. I saw him dangling from the arena ceiling. I was a little scared he would fall, especially considering he was like 300 feet off of the ground. Rachel and the ninjas froze, confused on what had just happened. I did it again: off, on, off, on. Now Connor was right behind Ellie. He grabbed her, and she fell to the ground. Ellie was actually a great actress. Now it was my turn. I zombie walked into the arena. I tried my hardest not to smile at how scared Rachel was now. Her eyes got big, and she was breathing heavily like there wasn't enough air in the world. I swung at Bri. She dodged and swung back. "We have to make this look real," I said under my breath. "It already looks real enough. How's Connor and Clay?" I eyed them as I kicked her (as painlessly as I could) squarely in the chest. Connor was a zombie like me. He looked the same as on Halloween, except the makeup job was slightly better. There was fake blood on his shirt and on his blazer, which dripped from his mouth. The white-ish blue contacts and the black eye shadow completed the look. Clay, as a fake ninja, had somehow managed to pin Connor down. A sexy ninja fighting a sexy zombie. It was like a parody of Twilight. "Looks believable to me. How's Ellie?" I asked as vines grew and wrapped around the lower half of my body. I lit up and burned them away. "Still playing dead," Bri replied. "You make a great zombie."

"Thanks. You made a good one too," I said as I faked the final blow. Bri shot across the arena, and slammed into the wall. Now to take care of the real ninjas. I summoned some fire from my hands and hurled them at the ninjas. All of a sudden, I felt something hit me: fire. "YES!" I heard Rachel say. I looked at Clay. He winked at me. I smiled back and swallowed the fire. "NO!" My body burst into black flames. "You IDIOT! WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?" Rachel screamed at Clay. Clay lowered his bandana so she would see his face. "Because that's my sister," he said simply, as he slapped her straight across the face. She staggered to the floor, but got up again almost immediately. "Nothing is working," I hissed to Bri. "You're damn right it's not," Rachel scoffed. A strong wind picked up and swirled around her. so she had powers too. Sand started to toxicate the winds. A full blown sand storm was spreading. Clay straightened up, and looked at me. He closed his eyes. "Hey, Rachel, I'm going to take a ten second nap."

"A ten second nap. You want to take a nap. While I'm just about to annihilate you?"

"Yeah, so do you mind?"

Rachel stopped her flames and sighed loudly. "COME ON PEOPLE I HAVE OTHER THINGS TO DO, YOU KNOW?" I stared at Clay. What was he thinking? I counted in my head. 10-9-8-7-6-5- Rachel's sand storm raged once more. 3-2-1. Suddenly, Clay bursted into flames. His entire body was engulfed in his own fire. He threw his head back and his mouth opened up. A fountain of fire that reached to the sky shot from his mouth.I closed my eyes and focused, just as he did. When I opened my eyes, there was a spark in my gut, and my biggest flame ignited. Lightning sparked every once in a while. Bri took a deep breath, and soon, the ground started to shake. Large chunks of rock broke through to the surface. Bri suspended them in the air. She flicked her wrist, and the boulders charged at Rachel. She made a skillful dodge, and wasted no time in charging towards Bri. Bri didn't move. Clay aimed a fire attack on Rachel, but she easily deflected it with her spear. She raised her spear and jumped. Bri merely touched the spear, and it instantaneously shattered. "But that's- that's impossible! No one could break Armando!" I held in my laughter. "You name your weapons?"

"SO?"

I turned toward Clay. We let it out at the same time. His fire breath, caused my fire to turn black, as mine did for his. I looked at Bri. "On 3?" She nodded and the countdown started once more. For a split second, the room was silent. But then, the burst of flame and rock collided and attacked Rachel. We had finally won. Rachel was sprawled on the ground, unable to move. "I think you guys went a little over board," a voice from the back of the room said. It was Connor, and Ellie, with him. Ellie had her arm around Connor's neck; she was limping. "Ellie? What happened?" I asked. Although she wasn't a good fighter, she was still one of us. "I got a little roughed up by that ninja. It's fine, though. I can heal myself. Just put me down for a second." Connor obeyed, and gently set her on the ground. "Do any of you have any water?" she asked. Bri gave her her canteen. "Have you had that this whole time?"

"Well yeah. Plants need water too."

Ellie poured a generous amount of water on her wounds. She waved her hand over each spot. The water dispersed, and her wounds were healed. "So let me get this straight," Connor obtruded. "You use your own water to heal other people, but you need another source of waer to heal your own wounds, and you aren't made to fight?" "Well think about it this way. If she had the power to heal herself, others, and attack, wouldn't that make her more powerful than the rest of the petals?"

"Well Allison and Clay can easily regenerate by shooting fire at each other. And they attack really well."

"But we can only heal each other, not other people. Bri has a much better way to attack. But she can't heal anyone. But to make up for it, she can last longer in a fight, and has incredible abilites like what you just saw. When all of her energy is focused, she can break things just by touching them. We all have strong abilities, but they are limited for balance."

"And you figured all of this out just by watching a night of us fighting?"

"Yeah, basically."

Clay ran over to Rachel, and picked her up by the neckline of her shirt. "Alright, Rachel. Open a portal like you said."

Something hit me. "Clay, how did you know that it was a portal? There could've been a ton of different ways to get there."

"Because I've seen her do it before. And only she has the key to open one." Rachel's eyes fluttered open. She reached down her shirt, and revealed a necklace with a key as a pendant. She pointed it to a mirror leaning against the wall if the stadium, and turned it. "There. But let me say this. This world is all about survival of the fittest. Only the most powerful people can walk in unharmed. Only my daddy has returned from the Never World. the rest have gone in, and have never come back."

"We don't care. Diana's one of us. we have to protect her," I declared. Rachel's eyes widened. She took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "Suit yourself. But at least let me warn you about her before you go." Now we were all gathered around Rachel's body. "Diana is the more dangerous prisoner we have. It takes 70% of Never World's guards just to keep her there. She doesn't trust anyone, so approach her with caution."

"Fine. Come on, guys, let's go," Connor beckoned as he waited in front of the mirror. It didn't look much different. I touched the surface of the mirror. It was cold, and made my fingers tingle. Connor went in first. Then Clay, then Bri then Ellie. I was about to go in, when I looked back at Rachel. Something was familiar about her. I was halfway in when I heard her say it: "Four children of earth, one petal glows red. One of them is scarred. The other is dead."