Gift of the Goddess

Chapter 76 - Challenge accepted!

"Good question book nerd, it's definitely not Arthur. However, I can't confirm if it's just the technomancer."

"Wait, are you implying there's more than one person!?" Leo snapped.

"Who knows, guess you'll just have to find out huh?"

....

"Dude look! We ranked up to A class!" Zack cheered down the empty school halls.

I wiped the sweat from my face that was still raining from basketball practice.

"Can you explain to me why that's a good thing? It just means we gotta deal with more people wanting to fight us..." I huffed.

"Bro, have you seen our message board!? We're totally popular." He held out his phone and showed me his page.

It was an image of him holding out a green flame in the alley. Which brought into question how they got that photo in the first place. His mask was on in the photo thankfully, and it looked like it was taken without him knowing. The only information below that was his alias name WIZARD, and his win-loss record with other gifted. Which was surprisingly huge. I don't remember fighting that many people...

"Zack, why is your fight history so big?"

However, he just ignored the question and clicked the message tab that was attached to his image. Which I admit, had a huge number of messages.

He scrolled down and clicked on one particular one. It was a girl with chocolate skin and purple hair. Her face was hidden behind what looked like a bridal shroud. Her message was simply.

"Message me some time ;)"

Then he scrolled down to another and another. Showing he had fans in all shapes and sizes.

"You're not stupid enough to actually message them, right?" I asked with a raised brow.

"What!? Of course not. Think I'd risk Annual or Alexis like that?"

"If you're thirsty enough, maybe."

"Hey! What do you take me for!? A common perv?"

"Don't pretend like I didn't cut up secret photos you took of girls. You creep."

"Why are you so mean to me...?"

"I'm just being honest."

We stopped at the soda machine in the hall and I started putting quarters in it. I definitely needed water after all that practice. As I put the third quarter in the machine, it started to shake. I stopped and took a step back, then looked back toward Zack.

"Hey cut it out!" I snapped at him.

I looked back to the machine and I saw purple sparks coming from the little display glass.

"Don't you think I would've pranked somebody by now if I could do that!"

I turned back to the machine and a red blur shot out from the slot. Then slammed into my face! The soda exploded all over me and I stumbled back. Before I could even register what was going on, another soda crashed in my stomach, then another and another! I stumbled back and slipped on the soda, then dropped onto the floor.

Then the halls were filled with Zacks laughter.

"OH MY GOSH THAT WAS GREAT!" He cackled out while holding his sides.

"Shut up," I grumbled and forced myself back up.

"That's what you get for making fun of me! Karma! Ha!"

"Shut up!"

...

"I feel so gross.." I sighed and pressed the crosswalk button.