The Problem with Power

Chapter 5: Field Trips

Rumours that Solomon had to spend a week in the hospital due to a cracked sternum and ruptured ling went wildfire around the school the day after Kathy and he fought. All the chatter around seemed to praise the slender girl but she seemed to find it all distasteful.
"It wasn't even a proper fight" she insisted "nothing to be proud of, just putting down a bully">
The Special Cases lot were all full of praise for their sword loving companion. Val cooked them a dinner of creamy Russian borsht, redolent with beetroot, the sweet, earth notes were a fitting end to the hectic week. They even got through the meal with only one incident, where Sabrina actually sent Dwight and Simon both flying across the room after a rather rude critique of her latest drawing.

The weekend in contrast started in the usual way for Dylan. He spent most of it up in his room, enraptured by his latest reading conquest, a fascinating series of novels involving the adventures of a skeleton detective and his raven haired, Irish assistant as they solved mysteries and fought monsters using guns and magic. He smiled to himself slightly, that fantasy seemed very close to reality given the way the world was today. He was interrupted by the arrival of a corned beef sandwich and a packet of Mc-Coy's crisps courtesy of Heather. She also told him that she had received a strange phone call from a Scottish gentleman, telling her that Dylan needed to be at Northland college in about an hour. Dylan inwardly groaned. He hadn't told Heather about the fact that he got a zero on the machine, or the fact he was part of the Special Cases unit. Resigning himself to awkward questions, he put down his book, wolfed down his sandwich and got dressed. He picked out a pair of cargo shorts and a red t-shirt, branded with a large green crocodile (or alligator, he wasn't really sure, he just thought it looked cool. Dylan liked reptiles).

"So" Heather said, in a trying not to be nosey kind of fashion, "Why does a Scottish bloke want to see you on a Saturday?" Dylan shifted nervously, not sure what to say. He didn't want to lie, but then again he didn't want to feel ashamed of getting a zero.
Heather sighed.
"Look numb-nuts, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I know it was Mr Henderson and what he does and you shouldn't be ashamed of it!" she added, handing him a TESCO carrier bag, full of cereal bars, juice boxes and packets of crisps.
"B-but I thought you'd be mad" Dylan muttered, looking sullenly at the floor.
Heather looked puzzled.
"Why would I be mad at you, ya nutter?" she exclaimed "I know you got a zero, most of the lads your age are late bloomers, they start off as ones and twos but by the time they reach my age they end being around sevens or eight's! I started off as a three, but I'm an eight now." She beamed at Dylan.
"Practice makes perfect, just train up and read up. Do well at school you hear?" she ruffled the black mess of his hair. "Run along you" she added, guiding a slightly stunned Dylan out the door.
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Dylan found a few of the special cases lot loitering outside the main gate to the college. Apperently he wasn't the last to arrive either, as the twins were no-where to be seen. Mr Henderson was also there, wearing a star wars t-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, looking more like a middle-aged dad than a teacher. Sam and Sabrina had chosen slightly more sensible outdoor wear, with Sam wearing a pair of rather thick soled walking boots and Sabrina with a backpack which seemed to be full of drawing stuff. Kathy wore a dark blue trench coat under which Dylan suspected she had a sword, black jeans and combat boots. Val was also there, wearing the same t-shirt that he had when Dylan first met him.

"So, where exactly are we going this time?" Kathy asked, leaning back against the college's outer fence nonchalantly.
"I thought we could go see a combat show, in the local arena centre in Greater Hamlet, think of it as a field trip" Henderson said "Also, you'll get fed and backstage access, but as your old enough there are certain categories of fights I can't take you to, so we're going to watch the third head of European Combat Championship, as it doesn't just involve fighting, it involves wit and intelligence, some that you two!" he added, raising his voice and Dwight and Simon ran into view, clearly out of breath "don't seem to have, I said be here half an hour ago, luckily the fight doesn't start till later!"

After the twins muttered a hasty apology, they all climbed into the college marked minivan which was parked nearby, it was a comfy fit for all them, especially as Val's bulk took up two seats while Dwight and Simon lounged across another pair of double seats. Dylan sat himself next to Kathy as they made the hour long journey.

"So, what does the championship involved then?" Dylan asked Kathy, opening a bag of crisps.
"Every question equals a crisp dork" she said, fishing one out of packet and swiftly devouring it. "It's basically a competition between different teams representing their countries, split into different heat groups. For example England's heat group contains Russia, Poland, Iceland, Lithuania and Wales. The country that's top of each table gets entered into the world championship. Every continent does this each year. It's mainly to stop a lot of violent crime and keeps the masses happy, plus there's a big cash prize for the winner."

Dylan sat there slightly open mouthed while Kathy nicked another crisp from the packet. "Oh and there's no deaths allowed either, but people have been known to lose limbs, organs etc, so you don't need to worry about it" she added, leaning back in her seat. "Personally I support Ireland, but they are set to be knocked out of their heat along with Hungary" she sighed. "Oh, the tourney is not just straight up fights either, there's a lot more to it but the announcers are better at explaining it then I am, plus" she took another crisp " I'm tired as hell, training since the early hours really takes it out of you."

Behind them meanwhile, there was a small amount of panic when a bird Sabrina drew, came to life and started flapping erratically around the interior of the vehicle. It's life ending when Val crushed it into his large fist, but not before it had made a rather large mess on Dwight's head, much to Sabrina's amusement, even drawing a slight smile from Simon.

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They finally arrived in Greater hamlet. It was the nearest city with an arena complex large enough to house the tournament games and as a result there was plenty of space for parking around the arena, which sat in the middle of the city centre, surrounded by shops and other amenities that a city would have. The arena was also the location of the local parish council as well as the police force. This was due to the arenas being a place of lawful combat, so it made sense to have the law enforcement and a local government presence as close as possible to where the fighting was taking place.

They parked up in the underground car park, Dwight and Simon rushing off to find a bathroom to clean up the mess that Sabrina's bird had made on the white dressed teen's head.
"We'll be up in the food court!" Mr Henderson shouted after them, as the rest of them boarded the elevator and ascended up into the complex itself, arriving in what seemed to be a large atrium with a map in the middle.
"For those of you who don't know the complexes are also shopping centres as well as areas for combat, it gives people something to do while we wait" Henderson said "although we really don't have time to stop" he added to Kathy, who had to painfully tear her eyes away from a suit of blue combat gear mounted in the front window of a shop called CQC Emporium.

They moved up an escalator which lead to the second level of the complex, this part contained a bunch of viewing bays for the smaller combat arenas which the locals were able to use. A few were even in operation, Dylan swore he saw a black hole being generated in one of them, whereas in another, the glass cracked as something as something burned with a terrible heat.

The one good thing about the complex was that due to the amount of professional athletes present during the day, there was no shortage in food. There were at least twenty different restaurants and food vendors in the food court, selling a large variety of different food. Chinese, American, Africa, Japanese, Mexican. It was all there and all of it was delicious.
They sat down in Wagamama's and began deciding on what to eat, the twins joined them just as they began ordering and after twenty minutes they began tucking into steaming bowls and ramen and rice. The meal itself took about forty minutes which gave them enough time to pick up their tickets and find their seats. Just in time for starting klaxon.

Then the games began.