unOrdinary: An Old Friend Returns

A Scrimmage, A Distraction, And A Win

As soon as the whistle was blown, four students from each team faced off at the line of scrimmage. Cecile began shouting commands like a general.

"Roger, on your left. Alan and Tim go help Janus!"

Within a few moments there had already been bloodshed, as students punched, kicked, and used their powers against each other. Dr. Darren was going to have his hands full today.

I turned back towards the flapping coral flag that Cecile had left me to protect. I focused my ability and drew up a hedge to protect our flank. Now we could be sure that if someone was to get at our flag they would have to go through the rest of my team.

The defense of Team Coral was pretty weak, given that most of the strategy had forgotten that we even existed. Some of the lower tiers were an anxious mess, bouncing on their feet and flinching at every loud noise. Some were bored out of their minds, glancing every once in a while at the fighting and then going back to lean against my hedge and exchange a couple of words.

I gave a long whistle gaining the attention of the people closest to me. I waved them over and reluctantly, with an eye roll or two, three of them came over.

"I'm new to this version of the game but from what I can see it does not look like we are winning"

I said this just as a Team Amethyst member broke through the line of scrimmage before being tackled about ten meters from our flag by three of the low tiers than that not joined my group. I quickly drew some vines and wrapped up the adversary so they could get off him.

"I think Cecile and everyone else underestimated what we, no ..., what you can do."
"What do you mean?" A strawberry red-haired girl asked.
"I mean we can get the Amethyst flag ourselves."
"How? We are just low-tiers," a copper-haired boy declared.
"So what? That does not mean we cannot outsmart Arlo's team. If they think like Cecile and underestimate us, then I think we have more than a fair shot of winning."

Three heads nod simultaneously back at me.
"Good. Then, we are in agreement. Now let's brainstorm. Please tell me your names and abilities."

The third member of our small huddle spoke up first.
"My name is Cameron and my ability allows me to blend in with my surroundings. As long as no one looks straight at me I am almost invisible."

He spoke so softly that I caught only some of the words and his eyes never looked up from the grass. Next came the strawberry red hair girl who introduced herself as Sarah with the ability to create blind spots in people's vision, but which only worked for a couple of seconds at a time. Lastly came the copper-haired boy.

"And I'm Anderson. My power allows me to simulate sounds that I've heard. Unfortunately, I can only do sounds between twenty-five and one hundred decibels so nothing ear-shattering."
"It's so nice to meet everyone! I think I have a plan."
I bent down and whispered my plan so that no one else could hear and then we put it to the test.

Sarah and Anderson were placed on bodyguard duty. Using blind spots and appropriately released sound effects they would enable Cameron to sneak past the line of scrimmage, get behind enemy lines, and plant my daisy seeds.

Everything up until then had been met with minimal protests but Cameron, Sarah, and Anderson has looked at me with shock when I said that the goal was to plant seeds.

I looked at Cameron and said, "I know you'll be able to reach the amethyst flag but distraction and camouflage will not be enough to bring it back to our team and in Cecile's hands."

They had nodded and accepted my plan since it required minimal danger. After releasing the seeds next to the flag, Cameron would sneak back to our side and meet us at the hedge.

I ran up the hedge and took my seat at the very top, legs dangling over the side as I surveyed the scene. Alto had thrown up a barrier around the flag, but Cecile was slowly but steadily approaching. She still had three high tiers behind her, mostly uninjured. On our side, our mid-tiers had done a good job holding the line.

I gave the signal for Cameron to begin. Moving along the edges of the field he slowly inches his way across. When he came to the new line of scrimmage, he had to dodge flying debris as well as avoid kicks and punches from friends and foes. Sarah and Anderson were busy providing cover. Sarah would momentarily blind anyone from looking directly at Cameron and Anderson would create sound distractions that would cause them to look away before Cameron ever made it into their line of sight. Finally, Cameron made it to Arlo's barrier.

This was the tricky part. Arlo needed to be distracted just enough to lower his barrier around the flag and direct his barrier abilities somewhere else for a minute or two so that Cameron could sneak in and release the seed.

Luckily, I had been watching the progression of Cecile and Meili. Though it seemed as if Arlo had been only annoyed when Cecile had picked Meili before he had been able to select both Meili and Ventus for his team, now Arlo looked downright pissed that Meili and Cecile had made it so close.

Three, two, one... now! I signaled to Cameron to begin sprinting for the flag, just as Arlo, his back to Cameron, proceeded to drop the barrier on the flag to redirect his strength towards pushing Cecile and Meili back. His attention taken by Meili's demon claws and the Energy Ropes that Cecile had extended to incapacitate him, Arlo's inattention would lead to our win.

Cameron dropped the seeds and dropped back. Keeping his camouflage up, he met up with Sarah and Anderson. Due to exhaustion, Sarah and Anderson were basically carrying Cameron who lay like a vegetable between them. Dropping him at the base of the hedge, Sarah and Anderson looked up at me.

By this point, Cecile and Meili had been successfully pushed back and were now trying to recover enough to mount another attack. Ventus, unfortunately, was mounting a much more successful endeavor and was using his Whirlwind ability to try to yank our flag from the ground. My vines were still keeping it in place, but every gust of wind caused another vine to rip. Soon none would remain and the flag pole would be ripped away with the wind and land behind enemy lines.

Worried, Sarah and Anderson, looked at me.

"So, did it work?"

I smiled and took out a bouquet of daisies from behind my back. Then I called out, "Cecile!" and with a burst of strength threw the bouquet at Cecile who caught them.

Murderous eyes glared at me, but then a gust of wind blew away the daisy petals leaving behind an amethyst-colored flag, unfurled in the wind.

Mr. Bowman blew the whistle hard for at least a minute and then yelled, "The winners are Cecile and Team Coral!"