A Hero's Tale

Chapter Seven: Hard Fought Battles

To the group's surprise, people with ribbons actually seemed hard to find. Wayne offered to warp around, but Shane and Robyn declined that offer, as they could warp into the middle of one of the several battles that raged on outside, and they were insistent on staying out of that. However, after wandering several halls of the building they were in and finding no one, they began to wonder what was going on.

"Well, now I'm just confused. I had no problem running into before I bumped into you guys. Now there's no one to be seen! Well, apart from those that were knocked out, but they had their ribbons taken already," Katie said as she stepped over one of said unconscious Entrants. Shane hummed in agreement.

"I'm with you. Even if we're reaching the end of the Exam, there should still be plenty of people fighting. But we haven't found even one," he commented. Robyn nodded.

"Which most likely means-" As Robyn spoke, everything grew dark around the group. "That we've walked into a trap," she finished. Katie groaned as the other three looked around at the shadows that boxed the group in.

"Ugh, these guys again. I'll save you the time, there are five of them. One creates an boundary of shadows that traps you, and another one of them has super strength and tries to knock you unconscious. If he can touch you, that is. I don't know about the other three, though, I didn't get to see what they can do," she explained. A chuckle sounded throughout the darkness.

"Man, you run us one time and you already have two of us pegged. Guess we'll have to make sure we properly knock you out this time before you go blabbing anymore of our secrets," a gruff voice echoed. Then a boy faded into existence and punched Shane in the face. Shane flew back and smashed into one of the walls of darkness with a grunt.

"Shane!" Robyn yelled before the guy ran at her and then she was also flung into one of the walls. Wayne tried to warp, but was stopped short at the shadow wall. The boy who had hit the two tried to hit Katie, but she managed to merge in with the shadows that surrounded them before she popped up next to Shane, who slowly stood back up.

"Katie, can you do anything about these shadows?" Shane asked as he kep. She shook her head.

"No, I can blend into them, but manipulation is not one of my strong suits," she said. Shane clicked his tongue as the boy in front of them cracked his knuckles with a grin.

"So, you guys gonna hand over your ribbons, or are we gonna do this the hard way?" he asked. Shane looked at his friends before he nodded to himself.

"Katie, give me your hand," he said. Katie looked over at Shane with a confused look but stuck her hand out. Shane grabbed onto it and focused, and immediately felt warmth. He opened his eyes and glanced around the shadow room.

"How does your Trait work? How do you move around the shadows I mean," he asked. Katie continued to look confused.

"Uh, are you sure it's a good idea to talk about this in the middle of a fight?" she asked. Shane sighed.

"Just tell me, alright?" he asked. Katie slowly nodded.

"Okay, um, let's see... I kind of just... feel my way through the shadows? I've done it practically all of my life, so it's kind of just second nature to me now. Why do you need to know?" Shane closed his eyes and concentrated on the warmth inside of himself.

Alright, time to try something completely new. Let's hope this works, he thought as he spread the warmth around his entire body before he pushed it into the ground. He felt his body almost dissolve into the ground below, and heard Katie gasp. It took Shane a moment to gain his bearings and figure out how to tell where everyone was in the room, but once he did, he moved over the strong boy and rose up behind him. Shane grabbed the boy's shoulder and spun him around. Before the main could blink, Shane punched him straight into the shadow wall. Shane turned back to the wall behind him.