Oversight

Chapter 6 The Tournament

Weeks passed like days to Noah. Mark would train him once or twice a week, and he'd practice secretly at home. He suspected that none of the others did the same. But Mark said there was a surprise for them today. Noah was excited. He had learned just the other day that he could take energy directly from the sun by laying outside where it could reach him. It was slower of course, but this was how he prepared for the training today. 

Wade flew down and landed beside him. "Dude, you ready for today?" The thing with Derek was long since forgotten, but Noah knew it still hung in the back of Wade's mind like an anchor holding him back every once in a while. But today had enough of a distraction to make Wade forget about it, for now. 

Today, Mark wanted everyone in the woods today. Some kind of combined training to help us work together or something, he didn't tell them very much. Noah sat up and looked at Wade. "Yeah, bud, you know it." Noah jumped up. 

"You got enough energy, uh, stored up?"

"I think so, but just in case..." Noah stretched his arms out in both directions, making a cross with his body. Yellow energy flowed from the trees that stood on either side of him and into his hands. He stopped a moment before the withered. "All good, lets go."

They flew together, joking as they entered the woods. They saw everyone else waiting in a circle around Mark who was floating above the ground, looking impatient. The two landed and looked around.

"You are late. Don't be so in the future. So, now that you all are here, welcome. Most of you have not seen each other since we first stood here months ago. But now we are here again to test who is the strongest of you all, to see who is ready to take control. I have discovered what all of you can do, but it will be a surprise to the rest of you. I was thinking of holding a tournament like those that your ancestors may have competed in." 

Everybody looked around, doubting Mark's last statement, but they had all learned better than to argue with him.

"I will put you against who I deem fit and the strongest will be given a...surprise of sorts." They all looked at each other excitedly. "You will be given a moment to talk to each other and try to discover each other's powers. Then, the tournament will begin." 

Most of them talked to each other with weird squints or wide stares, trying to find the slightest hint as to what the others power could be. It wasn't long before Mark announced who would face who in round one. Noah was going against Will with no knowledge as to what Will could do.

Placed in a small section of woods, Mark announced the fight to begin. He was the only spectator to their match, and Noah wanted to make it a quick one. He stood twenty feet away, staring directly at Will, waiting for him to make a move. The trees around him swayed in the wind, faster and faster. Could he be a wind controller? No. That was Wade. But there was definitely something unnatural about how the trees were moving. 

He realized it a moment to late. Roots had wrapped around his ankles and branches lashed out to restrict his wrists. He was lifted into the air and felt his limbs being pulled tightly. "So...when do you declare me the winner?" Will was saying, confidence in his voice.

"Well," Noah yelled in response. "You have to actually achieve victory first." He tried twisting his wrist to grab the branch, but it held tightly. 

"Do you think you can win? What do you even control? Can you even access it out here?" 

"Well, as a matter of fact..." He managed to get three fingers around the branch on his right arm and felt the energy surge into him. The branch wrinkled and died and he broke out quickly. He formed a ball of energy and threw it out at Will. It wrapped around him and pinned him to a tree. Noah took the energy from the branch to his left and broke his way easily out of the roots. 

Will looked surprised at Noah as he approached, his body still engulfed in a ball of blue energy. A look of fear in his eyes, Will glanced up, only for a moment, but Noah didn't miss it. He turned just in time to see a tree grow tall behind him, it's branches reaching out like hundreds of arms through prison cells. Noah didn't have time to block the attack, but he didn't have too. The branches reached for him, but they hit a field of energy that formed around Noah's body. Noah turned back toward Will and reached his hand toward him.

The energy flowed from Will to Noah until Will looked exhausted. The giant tree stopped moving, and Noah dropped the energy field. Turning towards Mark, he knew he had earned his victory. But he didn't see the impressed look he was hoping from Mark. 

"We have two victors, and two losers. One more battle must go on. Noah and Steven will move on. Next battle will be Wade and Andrew."

Noah really wanted to see this one, and with a little sneaking around, he was able to. It wasn't much of a fight though. Andrew had some kind of healing power. Later on, Noah would discover that this was some kind of human body control. It was gross to watch. When Wade figured out he could do anything with this guy, he destroyed him until he couldn't continue, which was difficult because he couldn't feel pain and he regenerated quickly. 

Through talk, Noah discovered that Steven had fought Richard, who had some kind of temperature control. Steven, on the other hand, had some kind of light manipulation which seemed easily beatable to Noah, but he knew how to use it. Mark told him that he would fight Steven next, and he was ready. 

He touched a large tree nearby for some energy, and then began his walk to his fight.