Chapter 4 - The Game

  My heart raced, beating more frantically than before.

  Why was he the instructor!?

  We were never close. It was always me and Luka. Aiden was always the perfect child. He couldn’t even bat an eye towards Luka and I.

  He also manifested his eye color from a young age. Teal eyes could have meant anything, from talking to animals to time reversal. Aiden happens to have the power to absorb and transfer kinetic energy or momentum. The moment he discovered this, he trained relentlessly. Unlike me, the Organization was his dream.

  Kat, Kat, stop thinking about what he’s going to put me through. Kat.

  “Kat, KAT! Hello? Are you here?” Phoebe asked while waving a hand in front of my face.

  “Oh yeah, sorry. I zoned out for a second,” I replied, snapping back to reality.

  “Everyone listen up! Today we are going to have a practice battle to further test your skills,” Aiden said.

  “Wasn’t the ‘entrance exam’ already enough to test our abilities?!” Roxanne countered.

  “That was an overall evaluation. This is for a closer level and more detailed examination of each one of your skills,” Aiden said.

  The moment I heard that, my heart dropped, my chest tightened, and the air around me grew heavy. Aiden was always a terribly strict grader and was a rule follower. The worst part was that he was evaluating our gifts and skills, and I don’t even know what my skill is, much less even how to use it.

  “Today’s activity is to capture the flag. Before anyone complains, I changed some of the rules to make this harder and examine your skills better. To start off, let me make this clear. We are going to do this as a 2v2, and no person can go more than twice and each person must go once. This will also take place outside in the forest. Each team will have a pedestal with their flags on it. The opposing team’s motive is to steal your flag and place it on their pedestal. We will have a total of three matches. Whichever team wins two of the three matches will automatically receive five points. In there, you are the weapon," he explained. “Any questions?”

  Silence.

  “Alright, please follow me to the testing grounds. I will watch from above and monitor. If the situation escalates, I will step in. Anything short of killing your opponents is permitted. When we reach the destination, I will give each team ten minutes to discuss plans,” he continued as he walked towards the door.

  “Hey, we have to win this so we can get those points,” Phoebe whispered, “got any ideas on how?”

  “Don’t ask me, moron. Like I would know,” Kane said

  “I don’t know,” Riven said expressionlessly.

  “Well I don’t have any idea what to do. You, Kat?” Phoebe

  asked.

  “Well, I do have an idea…”

  ***

  “Everyone line up now; for those who are not going this round please stand next to me!” Aiden said.

  Riven and I proceeded to our starting point. The other team’s flag is about four-hundred meters away. We had to steal their flag, defend our own, and make it back to base in one piece. Noah and Roxanne are going first for the other team. Noah would likely take the offensive role, while Roxanne stayed behind to defend the base, using her ability to temporarily stun opponents until Noah returned.

  “Do your best Riven, and try to evade Roxanne’s flashes,” I said.

  He nodded his head. Aiden and the others were standing on this floating platform in the air to observe us.

  “Ready, begin!” Aiden shouted.

  As soon as he gave the signal, Riven rushed off towards the opponents’ base. A few moments later, he was out of my sight. Now it was just me, the trees, and our flag.

  Before long I started to hear rustling among the bushes. I saw a flash of red and immediately knew that it was Noah; looks like I was right about him going on offense. The red light was going in zigzags. He suddenly jumped up and was in the air. His fists were clenched up ready to attack.

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  I dashed to the right to avoid his punch. He punched the ground, sending debris flying everywhere. Creating a small crater.

  That was one heck of a punch.

  But the strange thing was that any normal Spectral wouldn’t have time to react. No Spectral should be fast enough to alter a punch mid-swing to track their opponent. It was like

  he predicted my movement.

  He lunged at me again, but instead of an uncontrolled punch, it was more restrained. It was clear that his intention was not to knock me out. I barely had any time to settle before he started attacking again.

  This time he was aiming for my chest; I twisted just in time to avoid impact. I could feel the air rushing past me; I immediately backed up. This time it was my turn: I darted forward aiming for right in the middle of his chest. My fists made contact…or it should have.

  Noah shifted at the last second and sent a punch straight into my ribs. My heart started pounding.

  I swear he just fractured one of my ribs.

  I haven’t struggled this much against someone since junior high.

  He charged at me again, aiming for my head this time. I ducked in the nick of time, but his fists still grazed me. I drove my heel into the dirt and spun, knocking him off balance. He jumped and swung his fists down toward where my head would have been if I hadn't rolled over.

  There laid another crater. I stood up and raised my hands up into a defensive stance. I was just about to strike when a blinding white light exploded, followed by a boom. It was a flash bang.

  Wait, how could there be a flashbang?! Shouldn’t Roxanne be defending their base!?

  My vision was still blurry, but I saw two figures snatching the flag and running in the opposite direction. When I came to, Riven was already placing the opponent’s flag onto our pedestal.

  “In that direction; they both ran off,” I said, pointing

  He darted toward the direction I was pointing. Since both of our opponents ran back to get the flag to their pedestal, there was no one to attack ours. So instead of guarding the pedestal, I chased towards Riven in an attempt to help seize back the flag. When I catched up, I saw Riven standing there, Roxanne grinning, and our flag on their pedestal. But Noah wasn’t there.

  Shoot, that means he must’ve gone to get their flag back.

  I was just about to turn back before I heard Riven say, “Don’t, you won’t be able to find him in the forest. Just wait until he comes back.”

  I nodded. Now it was Riven and I v.s. Roxanne. Riven lunged forward with blades from his hands aiming for her chest. Roxanne clapped her hands together and made another huge flashbang. Riven froze in place, probably trying to regain his senses, but she just kept making more flashbangs.

  My eardrums felt as if they were about to explode, my heart was racing, and I could only see white.

  I have to find her, fast. Or else I’m going to go deaf.

  I ran forward blindly and started throwing punches into the air, hoping to hit something. I felt something against my fists. The flashbangs stopped for a second.

  Bingo.

  With all my might I punched as fast as I could. After about ten hits, the flashbangs stopped. Roxanne was on the floor unconscious. Riven was holding his head and muffling his ears with his hands. My vision was still blurry, but I could see a person run past me and placed the flag on the pedestal. There was a loud buzzer sound.

  Great, just what I needed, more loud noise.

  It signaled that the mock battle was over. We had lost, though I wasn’t expecting to win anyways.

  I shook my head and walked back to where Aiden and the others were standing. I plopped down next to Phoebe and placed my hands over my face.

  I know that it was a test of our skills but she didn’t have to make so many flash bangs to make me blind and deaf. My ears still hurt. I’m so sick of this.

  “Next!” Aiden said.

  But so far everything was going just as planned. I knew we weren’t going to be able to win the first one. We just have to win the second and third one. Phoebe and Riven walked into place. Earlier I told Riven to not go all out the first round, only on the second. And it seems like he actually listened. Following them was Roxanne and Axel. Just as I thought, Axel is going in. Now it's just up to Riven to see if he carries out his part correctly or not.

  “Ready, set, GO!” Aiden said.

  Phoebe raced forward, just like we discussed. Since Roxanne would be more suited for defense, Axel would instead charge at the opponent's flag. We need Riven to go against Axel, so instead of Riven charging forward, he is playing defense this time. Phoebe is pretty skilled at hand to hand combat. She would be a perfect fit to go up against Roxanne. Just before the mock battle when we were discussing lineups, she revealed that she also had the power to take other people’s mana in a ten-feet radius. Which also meant that she could temporarily prevent someone from using their skill. Without her gift, Roxanne is nothing more than a decent hand-to-hand combatant. Phoebe came from a harsh upbringing, yet became remarkably gentle. She has a lot of experience in fighting, and I doubt that Roxanne would have as much experience in combat without her special skill. Making it the perfect match up for Phoebe.

  Phoebe raced through the forest and onto the opponents turf. Roxanne was ready for her. She raised her hands and clapped, but nothing happened. The color drained from her face, there was the look of terror in her eyes. Phoebe landed a square and powerful punch right in the center of her face sending her flying backwards. Phoebe snatched the flag and started to run back to their base before Roxanne had the time to crawl back to her feet.

  Back at Riven’s side, Axel had already arrived and they were in a fierce close-combat battle. They both seemed evenly matched, every attack was parried and every feint countered. Then Riven slipped through Axel’s guard and struck down across Axel’s chest. It left a big red gash across his chest. Axel choked up blood but he refused to fall back. Once again Axel aimed for Riven’s nerve spot. Riven’s blade slashed down. Axel barely had time to react, and only came to his senses when he heard a loud thud. He turned his head and froze. His right arm lay on the ground, gushing out a thick dark red stream of blood.