Voltiana

Chapter Eight: Let the Battles Begin

Marachii grabbed what appeared to be a rifle and pointed it at Akari, who didn't even flinch. She just sighed. As the crowd went silent, waiting for someone to make the first move, Tomoko exclaimed:

"Yeah! Gun her down, Mariachii!"

He took a deep breath and fired the gun, and lots of plasma rounds came out of the muzzle, heading straight for Akari, who dodged at such unreal speed that Marachii couldn't even see her move. Marachii held down the trigger further, as the crowd cheered for Akari. Up in the stands, Morino slapped his forehead.

"They shouldn't be here! Damn kids, they stand no chance, we have to end this before--"

Akari was on top of Marachii in an instant, breaking his gun. When she grabbed his arm, Marachii reared back and punched her in the face, which hurt his own hand instead of her.

"Get your hands off me, woman!"

"Ugh. Typical human." She tossed him so far, he nearly fell out of the ring. "Just lose."

Dachii raised his voice loud enough for Marachii to hear. "She might be an alien or something, but you got this bro! Throw those hands!"

As soon as Marachii got up, she had him by the collar of his shirt. "Bye now."  As she prepared to throw him over, Marachii thought to himself how dumb of an idea it was to attend the Tryouts, now even more so since he saw firsthand what a Voltian could do. He resigned himself to his fate, but something happened...

Akari hadn't thrown him over yet. Something made her hesitate...

She was looking at his arm. When Marachii looked where she was staring, the sight nearly made him faint.

His ARM was no longer HIS. It had been replaced with what seemed to be a robotic arm, much more muscular than before. It had glowing blue lines on it, and holes that seemed like they were for thrusters. The crowd just stared, not saying a word. Even the judges didn't know what to say. Everyone looked as though they had seen a ghost, Marachii most of all.

"Uh. Lady, what the HELL did you do to me?"

Akari regained her composure and was about to toss him out the ring, but Marachii's arm, seemingly on its own, reared back and PUNCHED her in the face, sending her flying a few feet back. "Oh, sorry! I didn't mean to--"

She just rubbed her jaw for a moment, and then she cracked her neck. "Okay then."

Then she clapped her hands together, and a wave of energy appeared on her body. Her eyes were glowing white. Marachii already knew he messed up.

"Shit."

At the judges panel, Morino stood up.

"Okay, now I must stop this match, if she kills my grandson--"

Toru eyed him. "Your grandson? So, you KNEW about this?" Morino glared back. "Of course not! I don't know what's going on, but Fujii, stop the match, NOW!"

Fujii was just watching the fight, curious. In the crowd, whispers were heard:

"What the hell is that kid?"

"He has one too...? But that's impossible! He's a human!"

"Little freak, that's what he is!"

The other competitors were also stunned into silence, in utter shock. Dachii had to rub his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things again. "Uh, brother? You just punched that girl, REALLY hard." But in all seriousness, Dachii noticed that Marachii's arm was similar to what this entire place was about:

TECH.

Akari fired a blast of white energy at Marachii, whose arm morphed into a mini-rocket and propelled him away. As she held out her hand to summon an even BIGGER blast, Marachii's back sprouted five mechanical tendrils that rapidly attacked Akari. Despite their incredible speed and strength, Akari deflected them all with ease.