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Chapter Five: Save The Citizen

‘Learn to anticipate your opponent,’ the gruff, masculine voice of Stick echoed through her head, ‘in order to anticipate; allow not focus to take control but the clear flow of life energy. Forcing it will only result in the consequence of failure.’

Exhaling audibly, Evelyn cleared her mind, allowing sense to take over rather than impulse. Brief images flittered in and out of her mind’s eye, flashes of eminent warning. In that moment, however, she chose to overlook them.

Not intimated in the least, Evelyn stood her ground and stared impassively over at the duo standing across from her. Lash’s mouth quirked as his eyes met hers, the corners of his lips twisting up into a malevolent leer of anticipation.

‘You’re mine,’ he mouthed, winking at her.

Cheeky son of a bitch, isn’t he? She thought, her stance turning defensive as her eyes narrowed. If looks could kill, elastic boy would’ve been dead by now.

Next to her, Will shifted nervously. He awaited the signal of the clock in silence, his eyes moving to glance upward toward Coach Boomer expectantly.

The board overhead switched and locked loudly above them. Seemingly on impulse, Will’s hands curled themselves into balled fists.

“READY!” Boomer shouted, “GO!”

Evelyn barely flinched, nor batted an eyelash as a blurred form circled around her and hurtled itself towards Stronghold.

A hand shot towards her and she dodged widely to her right, only to pivot around just as Speed crashed Will roughly onto the floor.

‘Shit,’ She swore silently.

A glimpsed vision of Speed filtered through her mind and, almost impulsively, Evelyn crouched and shot her leg out into a clear-cut spin kick, valiantly ignoring the searing pain that burned and coursed through her.

The defensive movement had been perfectly timed and angled for as her foot kicked out at the blurred form crossing her, Speed flew and collided forcefully into his partner.

Finding his bearings, Will shot himself up from the floor, suddenly moving to make a quick beeline in the direction of the dummy. The villain duo, taking immediate notice, scrambled swiftly to their feet from their tangled mass of limbs.

Seeing her moment of opportunity, Evelyn turned her hand upward and blew onto the flat surface of her palm, her fingers curling to cup and expand the unseen element of air into a thick ball of wind.

She hurtled it toward Lash and Speed’s direction, a frown creasing itself across her lips as Lash, expecting the onslaughter, reached out his arms to sustain him.

He smirked slyly at her.

Speed, however, was sent flying into an adjacent wall, the impact of his body echoing loudly throughout the gymnasium.

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His jaw twitched in noticeable anger and his fingers singed and burned at his sides as he clinched furiously at the thick material of his jeans. The leer and mouthed words given hadn’t escaped Warren Peace’s notice and it merely served to fuel the pyrokinetic’s anger and intense loathing toward the villain participants.

Layla visibly winced, her eyes shifting upward as she saw Will get the air knocked out of him. “Oh God,” she whispered pleadingly, “please let him be okay…”

Warren sat rigid and in silence next to Majenta, his eyes glued keenly upon the girl fighting and fending off her opposing team fluidly and with an eerie, calm detachment.

“Eh, don’t worry so much, Lay,” Zack assured, “Will’s beat these guys before, it’s no sweat. I’m sure Elektra’s got his back.”

“Yeah,” Ethan agreed, watching gleefully as Speed was smashed loudly against the gym wall. “She’s doing a good job so far.”

Lash reached out an extended arm, smacking Will resonatingly through the air for a second time.

This elicited another wince from Layla.

“Not too sure about Will though,” Ethan muttered, his eyes sympathetic.

Evelyn was dodging Lash’s movements, seemingly with an unnatural grace and speed not normally given to one of her age.

Ethan’s eyes widened. “It’s almost as if she knows what he’s going to do next,” he whispered in awe.

“Kimagure,” Zack leaned over with a whisper, his expression holding nothing except envy.

“What is it?” Majenta asked dully, “It sounds like something from some stupid anime…”

“A skill known only by the greatest masters in the world,” Zack answered in a conspiring whisper, “It’s the ability to foresee, to move through time. Also, its rumored that Kimagure masters can bring the dead back to life.”

Majenta snorted skeptically at the last bit of information. “Yeah, right…”

In the middle of the arena, Will was getting angry and everyone watched in pure awe as his fist pounded madly against the floor. A tidal wave of boards erupted against the center focal point; sending Lash into a flailing blur and Speed, back into a barrier of concrete.

Evelyn merely jumped from the force, surprisingly with grace and ease, almost as if it were planned. There was one minute left on the clock as she made her way toward the helpless, dummified citizen.

It was a moment of victory, however, that was short lived.

Lash’s arms warped and shot out, one coiling and gripping itself tightly ten fold along Evelyn, squeezing her like a predatorial python.

Her limbs were pinned and it didn’t escape the notice of the gym’s audience that Lash’s vengeful grip around her torso was also beginning to constrict her breathing.

“Oh god,” Layla cringed, her gaze straying away from the sight. “He’s strangling her…”

From Warren’s side, even Majenta shifted uncomfortably, “I can’t watch,” she bluntly stated with a toneless voice, her eyes squeezing themselves shut to block out the image in front of her.

In the center of the bleachers between his friends, Warren sat rigid, his hands clinching into fists.

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It was a strange feeling being near detached from your own body, Evelyn concluded.

Black spots were beginning to form from the back of her eyes and everything around her seemed to become heightened; lights were becoming blinding, sounds more intensified to roaring waves, and images were soon becoming nothing but a mass of rippling shapes and colors.

‘Creation and life are made of elements, all of which are apart and around us. They can be sensed and they can be harnessed. Your gift is essential and you will learn to test the power of its limits wisely…’

‘Never… give up.’

Searing heat suddenly coursed through her, drawing in an unknown source of energy alien and unidentified to the limbs of her body… what was happening…?

The energy blazed, warming and igniting her from head to toe in a mass of blistering fury. She felt outside of her own body, as if her brain was shut off and only her energy was working itself within her.

Conscious thought escaped the mind and subconscious instinct seemed to dominate and overlap above it.

She scarcely felt the arms wrapped tightly around her recoil, nor did she acknowledge anything else except the crackling, sizzling heat that exploded in searing waves around her.

She saw an image of Stronghold within her mind’s eye, a mere glimpse. But, along with it, came others…

A form outlined by shadows.

Her mother’s broken body.

‘The past will always have to be dealt with, for it is apart of who one truly is as well as their destiny…’

Heat engulfed her and as the images followed suit, so did the darkness…

‘Life and health appear where once was dread death…’

Blackness.