Accessory Wars

Chapter 63-Felisa

            A lot happened in the span of the morning. When we first arrived, a lot less people were milling about so it made it easier to get inside. In the competitor area, people looked over brackets, whispered strategies or huddled in groups deciding which Accessory would best fit the upcoming fights. Kami and I knew we would be dealing with a storm elemental who used hail so we came up with a strategy the night before. We would be using traps while the umbrella kept the hail from bashing my skull in.

We took a moment to walk around to get my nerves calmed down before we dropped off our belongings for the day. That was the start. As I handed over my belongings, the man next to me sneered, "Disgusting." Then he took a large step to the right to put space between us. Kami scowled at him while I pretended it didn't happen.

When we headed into our queue room, something hit me in the back of the head. Kami looked ready to impale someone with pins as she glared at the group of girls giggling behind us. I looked down at the donut on the floor. I ran my hand over my hair, brushing off the powdered sugar. At least it wasn't frosted. I took Kami's wrist and led her away, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles started to turn a ghostly grey.

"Don't let them get to you," I muttered.

"That's harassment," Kami shot back.

"It's not worth the fight. If we start a fight, we'll get kicked out of the competition." Kami let out a huff but did as I asked. It didn't stop her from shooting murderous glares at the girls.

Soon, our fight arrived and we struggled to keep going through the literal storm. A few times I almost had the umbrella ripped out of my grasp. Some of the hail was the size of grapefruit, leaving plenty of dents in the protective layer on the platforms. We scraped out a victory and I felt good going into the next round.

After several hours of planning, we headed to our next fight. When we got to the queue room, we found it uncharacteristically quiet. A lot of the people glared at me. I pretended not to notice but Kami glared right back at them. It came to a point where a trio shoved their way through the group towards me, two guys and a girl. Kami put her fists on her hips and I took a deep breath to keep myself calm.

"May I help you?" I asked.

"You don't deserve to be here," the first man sneered.

"You're a shame to this community," the girl spat. "No one wants you here."

"You're giving us real fighters a bad name," the second man said. He turned to Kami. "And you can take your goth ass somewhere else!"

Kami opened her mouth to protest but she stopped as I stepped up to the trio. I glared up at them. "If you want to fight, then face me in the arena," I growled.

The girl stepped forward and slapped me. The sound echoed in the room and all eyes turned towards me. The staff in charge of the queue started making their way over. I slowly turned my eyes back to her, not even the slightest bit of pain showing on my face. She took a hesitant step back.

"If anyone's a disgrace to the community, it's you," I spat.

I turned on my heel and moved to the front of the room, telling the staff they didn't need to intervene on my way. I could see Kami following me in the corner of my eye. No one else tried to talk to me. I don't think I would have talked to them even if they wanted a civil conversation. When our round finally arrived, I equipped Kami and felt a surge of energy. My entire body vibrated. It was like someone plucked me like a guitar string.