John twitched and jerked in his sleep. Flashes of old memories flew across his closed eyes. He saw the trio of kids that used to pick on him when he was crippled. Then he saw Claire's outstretched hand.
"H̶̥̾́͐e̴͙̬͓̿̽r̵̨̃́ĕ̴̞̦,̸̭̭̱̐̎̏ ̴̰̼͑l̷̬̹̦̂ë̶̜́̋t̶̥͊̒̈́ ̸̨̼͚̀̍̏m̷̡̻͈͒͊ë̵̡̬́͒͝ ̶̪̕h̴̺̩̹̍̏ĕ̷͎̈́͘l̵̤͋̈́̎p̴̱͓̿ ̴̡̤̄͋y̴̳̒̂̑o̶̠̍͛u̷̗̇̋̒."
He jolted upright in the sleeping bag and panted heavily. He took his phone on the floor next to him and looked at the time.
5:23 AM.
He was awake, there was no going back to sleep now. So, he got up out of the bag, took a quick look at Seraphina, and then walked out.
As he walked out of the room, he felt the scars on his forearm.
Damn things. Starting to hurt again.
He rubbed his forearm a bit while he slipped on his hoodie and opened the door.
He walked out of the house, and cautiously walked towards the nearby market where he got food for the house and bought a couple of breakfast sandwiches.
He sat down on the curb and took a bite. But, he was so depressed, he couldn't handle it, so he put the sandwich back in the bag and made his way back to the house.
When he opened the door, he saw Seraphina walk out of the bedroom, wiping her eyes and adjusting her sweater.
"You're up early," she said. "Couldn't sleep?"
"N-no," John said, rubbing his forearm. "I've had a lot on my mind recently."
"Well, I won't pry," she said, shrugging. "What's for breakfast? Whatever's in that bag smells good."
"Breakfast sandwich," he said, reaching into the bag and handing her the sandwich. "We should, uh, think about getting ready soon."
Seraphina took a bite of the sandwich and nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I should get back to the dorms so I can change. I'll see you at school."
He nodded and rubbed his arm again. "Yeah, see you later."
- - -
Blyke took a deep breath. It had been a while since he and Isen had a match like this. The trick to Isen was avoiding his punches and keeping distance away from him, which was easy for Blyke.
Isen dashed toward him with a punch reeled back. He launched his fist directly at Blyke's face.
Just under a second was all Blyke needed. He dodged out of the way quickly and charged up a small beam. He shot the beam, which he aimed at Isen's leg.
The shot connected and Isen winced as his leg gave out. Blyke charged up another beam and aimed for Isen's side.
Isen noticed the movement and focused all of his energy on his good leg and jumped out of the way, just as Blyke shot the beam.
The shot landed on the ground below as Isen shot backwards into the air, directing enough energy into his leg to absorb the impact of landing from that height.
His other leg was still basically useless and he had no choice once Blyke began charging a massive beam from both hands.
He raised his hands. "I yield," he said.
Blyke stopped charging and lowered his hands. "Come on, can't handle a big beam like that?" he said, chuckling.
"Shut up!" Isen chided. "You never know how to hold back with those things, you can't blame me for being a bit scared of what could happen."
"Fair point," Blyke said. "Well, anyway, you did a pretty good job."
Suddenly, the two of them heard footsteps. "Blyke," a familiar voice called out. "We're ready to go. Livinson just confirmed the Turf War." Arlo stepped into Blyke's view.
"Oh yeah," Blyke said. "See you later, Isen!" He waved as he jogged up to Arlo.
"Did you win?" Arlo asked.
"Just barely, but yeah."
"Good. Keep that focus and you should be able to at least make it past their Jack."
"Right."
. . .
Seraphina gazed out of the window of the subway, her sky blue eyes darting across the forest as they passed by.
"Don't stare too hard," Arlo said. "You'll burn a hole through the window."
She sighed and turned to face him. "Whatever," she said.
"Hey," he said, getting up and sitting next to her. "What happened to you? If you don't mind me asking."
"I mind," she shut him down.
"You used to be so focused," he said, ignoring the remark. "Now, though, it feels like you can't concentrate."
"Look, Arlo, I have no obligation to tell you anything," she replied. "Leave this alone. Leave me alone."
"Fine," he conceded. "If you won't say anything, I won't ask anymore."
"Good."
Seraphina turned back around and looked out of the window. Arlo got up and shifted back over to his seat, eyeing her suspiciously.
A few minutes later and they had arrived at Wellston's Turf War location. As they walked up to the group of Royals up in the distance. One was clearly the King, he was tall, and had deep purple hair and deep blue eyes.
"So, you must be Wellston's roster," the boy said. "I'm Norrin." He pointed a thumb at the girl with dark green hair and golden eyes and the other boy with blue hair and red eyes standing behind him. "Over there is Misty and Alix."
Arlo studied them for a moment, before reaching out to shake Norrin's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you all," he said. "I'm interested to see what you three can do."
"Funny," Norrin snorted. "I was thinking the exact same thing."
"Well, enough pleasantries," Arlo said, taking his hand back cautiously. "You've got the pick: one-on-one or three-on-three."
"One-on-one," Norrin said, crossing his arms. "I wanna see what you can do separately."
"Funny," Arlo echoed. "I was thinking the same thing."
Norrin chuckled. "Great minds, I suppose," he said, turning back to his team. "See you on the field, Wellston."
Arlo's eyes locked onto Norrin in an angry glare. He already grew to dislike his counterpart.
Livinson's healer stepped forward. "Jacks! Take your places!" he called.
Blyke and Alix stood across from each other, about five yards away from the other. Blyke glared at Alix and activated his ability. The other Jack also activated his ability and waited for the signal to begin.
"Begin!"
Instantly, Alix charged up a powerful beam from his chest and shot it towards Blyke. Caught off guard, Blyke relied on his reflexes alone to dodge out of the way.
Chest beams? Not too different from my ability. Fortunately he takes a long time to charge and it doesn't seem like he can do smaller ones. He has a lot less versatility than me.
Blyke threw two balls of energy at Alix. He managed to absorb the blasts, but so much dust had been kicked up that he could hardly see anything.
Blyke began his attack run and propelled himself forward with two beams and managed to sneak up behind Alix.
He charged up a huge beam in his hands and sent the blast barreling towards Alix's back.
Alix hardly had any time to react before he was blasted forward by Blyke's beam. He fell down flat on his face and Blyke landed on top of him.
"Yield, or the next beam will hurt even more," Blyke said, charging a tiny beam at his finger and aiming for Alix's head.
Alix opened his mouth to say something. "Enough," Norrin said. Alix closed his mouth. "Wellston's taken the win. This time."
Blyke got off of Alix and helped him back up. "Good fight," he said.
"Yeah, good job!" Alix said, shaking Blyke's hand before going back to Norrin and Misty.
"Now, Wellston's Jack will face off against Livinson's Queen! Begin!"
Misty stepped forward with her ability already active. Blyke had kept his own ability powered up in case she tried to catch him off guard.
How inconvenient! She already saw pretty much everything I can do and I don't know sh*t about her ability! I need to be careful.
Blyke stared Misty down for a few seconds before charging up a huge beam and sending it hurtling towards.
She stood her ground as the beam connected and hit her.
Blyke wasted no time and propelled himself upwards to follow up with another beam.
However, just as he was a few feet away from her, the dust cleared and revealed a completely untouched Misty.
She stood ready and just as Blyke was about to land, she punched him square across the face and sent him flying fifty yards back.
He slid hard into the ground, kicking up dust and rocks with his landing.
"You win, Livinson," Arlo said, holding out a hand towards Misty to make her stop. "It's my turn, now."
Elaine ran out to Blyke and started healing him.
"Be careful, Arlo," Seraphina said. "That punch was pretty powerful."
"Oh please, I can top that," he replied. "Notice how out of breath she is. She clearly used a lot of energy to pull off that punch. I've punched harder than that without trying that hard."
"Point taken, but she can clearly handle a lot of damage," Seraphina pointed out. "Blyke's been able to take out two foot thick walls with his beams and she walked away from his strongest attack like it was nothing."
"I know," he said. "But remember, I can handle that attack too, with my passive alone. She's not that powerful, either. I'd guess she's not even a high-tier. She's close, but not quite there yet."
"Fine," Seraphina conceded. "I won't stop you from going head-on. But just keep in mind that she could be faking it to dupe you."
"Noted," Arlo said, walking towards the battlefield and powering up his ability.
The Queen of Livinson and the King of Wellston stood face to face across the field. The signal was given that they could begin the fight, but surprisingly, no one moved.
Deciding to take the first move, Misty rushed towards Arlo with he hand in a fist, ready to punch.
With decent speed, Arlo dodged out of the way and allows Misty to slide past him.
She shuffled to move again, but was suddenly stopped by the raising of a golden barrier above and around her.
"What the—?" she said, confusedly. "What the hell is this?"
She lunged forward and punched the barrier, surprised to see that her punch did no damage to the barrier.
"I'll give you two options," Arlo said, stepping forward slightly. "You can either yield now, so I can get to Norrin, or I can beat you up to prove a point. Either way, you'll lose this battle."
Misty looked at Norrin, who gave her an affirming nod, and then back at Arlo. Reluctantly, she powered down, raising her hands in surrender.
Arlo lowered his barrier and walked back towards Seraphina.
"Nice work out there," she complimented him. "But this Norrin guy seems a lot stronger than any of them. Should be careful."
"I will, don't worry," Arlo shrugged it off. "I'm not worried."
"But maybe you should be," Seraphina countered. "If you see me activate my ability, make sure I can get through your barrier if it's up."
Arlo sighed, but nodded hesitantly. "Got it."
Norrin and Arlo stepped forward into the battlefield and faced off towards each other. Their abilities were active, Norrin's royal blue eyes contrasting Arlo's sky blue eyes slightly.
"Good luck," Norrin said confidently. "You're gonna need it."
Arlo replied with a dissatisfied grunt, and got into a battle ready position.
As soon as they got the signal, Norrin disappeared—
—and then reappeared directly behind Arlo. With speeds that broke his own record, Arlo raised his barrier.
Norrin's hand was cut and bruised as it crashed into the barrier.
However, the damage was not what Arlo had expected.
He'd expected that Norrin would punch with full force, likely cracking the barrier, but shattering his entire hand and some of his arm in the process.
Instead, Norrin backed away with some mere cuts and bruises.
He had a cocky smirk on his face that Arlo despised. "That was impressive," Norrin said. "I figured your barrier would have some kind of offensive capabilities. Otherwise, you'd just have to wait until your opponent tired out to win the fight. So, I thought I'd let you think you'd get the upper hand on me. What I'm trying to say is that I pulled my punch."
Arlo scoffed. "I'll admit, that was pretty smart," he said. "You've certainly done your research, haven't you?"
"Some," Norrin replied, nonchalantly. "I spoke to Broven about you, and he told me a few things."
"Good for you," Arlo retorted sarcastically. "What's your game, anyway?"
"Well if I told you that, it'd spoil the fun, right?"
"I hate you so much."
Norrin chuckled and disappeared once again. Arlo kept his barrier raised and his eyes darted across the field.
Suddenly, Norrin reappeared on his left and he jerked to face him.
"How are you so fast?" Arlo asked.
"Pretty simple actually," Norrin said. "The way my ability works, I'm actually connected to the cosmos itself. I can access hyperspeed, as well as access a pocket dimension that I can teleport to with ease."
"Pretty powerful," Arlo said. "I'm quite intrigued."
"Glad to hear it."
All of a sudden, Norrin's entire body turned translucent. He reached out his ghostly hand...
...and put his hand through Arlo's barrier, completely unharmed.
A shocked Arlo backed away into the corner of his barrier, expanding it slightly to increase the distance between them.
It was futile, however, as Norrin phased through the barrier and his body returned to its natural opaqueness.
Arlo opened his mouth to say something, but grunted as a powerful fist slammed into his chest, knocking him into his own barrier.
Norrin raised his fist again, ready to take him out of the fight, until Arlo saw a glint of blue as Seraphina activated her ability.
Arlo changed the tangibility of his barrier as Seraphina disappeared from her spot and instantly appeared inside the barrier, arm and fist outstretched as Norrin was sent flying into the barrier with a crash.
"And that is why Livinson will not be taking the number one spot today," Arlo said, wiping his mouth of blood.
"H-how can someone be so powerful? You didn't even move! You're way faster that even me!" Norrin scrambled to find the words as he looked at Seraphina with a fear she'd seen so many times.
She hated it.
And loved it.
She hated that she loved it.
"You fought well, Norrin," Seraphina said coolly. "But unfortunately, Arlo's right. Unless you'd like to try and fight me, Wellston is keeping our rank."
Norrin reluctantly nodded. "Understood," he said, getting to his feet. "But, I can assure you, I will be back. And then next time I see you, I'll be a lot stronger than I am now. We'll all be."
"I look forward to the challenge," Seraphina replied. She turned around and walked back towards the subway station, not bothering to check up on her team, just wanting to get the hell out of there as quickly as she could.
. . .
Arlo glared at Seraphina from across the aisle. He was doing his best to read her, but as usual, her true thoughts were completely hidden behind her face.
"Those guys were stronger than any Turf War team we've faced so far," Seraphina said after a few moments. "We should look out for them in the future."
"You're not wrong about that," Arlo replied. "But in all honesty, it'll likely not be my problem at all."
She looked at him slightly puzzled at first, but quickly putting the pieces together. "Right, you're gone in a few months anyway."
He nodded. "Looks like John will have to deal with it," he said.
"Who says it'll be John's problem?"
"Well, he's the natural successor, isn't he? Once I'm gone, he's the only one who'd be strong enough to take my place."
"He has no intention of becoming King. Now, or in the future."
He sighed. "I know. But one of these days he'll have to face his demons and take the lead. It's his duty, not just as a high-tier, but as the strongest student Wellston has."
"You know he won't do it," she replied. "Why can't Blyke succeed you?"
"He's not a leader," he said simply. "Nor does he have the strength to back himself up."
"He has plenty of strength, Arlo. It's just that our standards are way higher."
"Yeah, yeah, most Kings are at his strength, I know. But for a school like Wellston? Elite won't cut it. As Jack, it's fine, but as King, he needs some more strength and power to back him up."
"I suppose you have a point," Seraphina admitted. "But you can't say that he won't get better in the future."
"Maybe, but I doubt it'll be enough for Wellston."
"What about Remi? She's already incredibly powerful and she still has plenty of training left."
"She could potentially surpass me in strength, I suppose."
"She doesn't have to," Seraphina said, shaking her head in disapproval. "She just needs to be strong, which she already is."
"Tsk," Arlo scoffed, crossing his arms and looking out the window. "Whatever."
Seraphina sighed and looked out her own window.
- - -
For some reason, John couldn't get that invisible kid out of his head. His aura was so similar to the person following him and Seraphina the night before.
He had decided early that morning that he was going to meet with Isen to talk about this kid. He found the press room and was greeted by various students backing away from him in fear.
It made sense. After the whole fiasco with Zeke and Seraphina a year prior, everyone was afraid of him.
"Cecile," he greeted the girl sitting at the editorial table. "I need to find Isen. Could you point me in his direction?"
"Sure," Cecile replied, not even looking up from the draft she was reading. "Last I heard he was over in Wallick Hall."
"That narrows it down, thanks," John said, turning back around to leave. However, she finally looked up at him.
"By the way, John, how have you been doing?" she asked, somewhat abruptly.
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"I heard about that little run-in you had last night at the mall."
"Oh?" he asked. How could she have known about that? "How'd you hear about that?"
"It was all over the news this morning," she said. "The security had identified you and Seraphina. Nice job showing that woman who's in charge."
He saw now. She was talking about the situation with the woman at the Ability Gauger, not the invisible assailant.
"Yeah, thanks," he said, turning back towards the door. "Now if you don't mind, I've got some things to do before the Period ends."
"Good luck with that," Cecile called as he walked out of the room.
John started heading toward Wallick Hall, looking around each intersection for Isen. As he walked, he began thinking about the invisible assailant from yesterday.
What had his deal been? What did he want? Was he just some random mugger? Or was there something bigger to this?
Questions for Isen, he supposed. A few moments passed and his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the notification.
Sera: hey, just finished up
got a lot to tell you when i get back
He texted back a reply.
Me: yeah jo worries
omw to talk to isen about whatbhappened last bight
He decided to leave it at that and get back to her once he wrapped up his discussion with Isen.
Suddenly, however, he felt an aura creep up behind him. He whirled around to face the possible attacker, but all he saw what the faint outline of an invisible aura.
Could it be?
The invisible person shifted their foot backwards as if to begin running. John activated his ability and ran quickly towards his would-be attacker.
The invisible person, with speeds beyond that of an average person, especially faster than John, bolted away from him.
John ran after them and nearly caught up with them before slamming hard into someone. He and the other person both tumbled down onto the ground with a hard slam.
When John's vision cleared, it just so happened that the one he'd bumped into was Isen.
"God damn!" Isen exclaimed, holding his shoulder in pain. "Oh, John! Uh, sorry about that!"
"It's fine," John said. "Actually, I was trying to find you."
"Uh okay, but what were you running around for?" Isen asked. "You looked pretty distressed."
"Well, that's exactly what I needed to talk to you about," John replied.
He led Isen into a private room so the conversation wouldn't be listened to.
"Isen, I need you to investigate someone for me," John said.
"Well, that is my specialty," Isen said cheerfully. "Just give me a name or a description and I'll do my best."
"Right. I don't know the kid's name, but he's got dark blond hair, uh, green eyes and he wears a sweater vest under his jacket like I do."
"Oh, I know exactly who that is!" Isen exclaimed. "Yeah, he's a mid-tier who's part of the press team. His name is Terrence."
"'Terrence'," John repeated. "Well, I have a sneaking suspicion that Terrence isn't quite who we think he is."
"Oh? What do you mean?" Isen asked.
"I've seen him use his ability once," John said. "In that time, my passive ability detected his aura. It was stronger than a mid-tier. More akin to you or Blyke."
"I see," Isen said. "Why would he hide his level like that?"
"I'm not sure," John agreed. "It's suspicious as hell. That's not all, either. Last night, Sera and I ran into someone who also happened to turn invisible just like Terrence, and their aura was almost an exact match."
"Jeez," Isen muttered. "Someone like that at our school? Anything else?"
"Yeah. I just confirmed that this invisible guy is after me specifically."
"You were chasing after him before, weren't you?" The pieces were finally coming together.
"Exactly. No matter which way you look at it, this Terrence guy is suspicious."
"Yeah, for sure. I'll look into it."
"Good," John sighed. "Thanks Isen. Keep me posted with anything you find."
"Got it," Isen replied, giving him a cheeky thumbs up.
- - -
Le bonus
Alix
Ability: Chest Beam
Level: 4.2
Power (8)
Speed (2)
Trick (3)
Recovery (2)
Defense (4)
Blyke
Ability: Energy Beam
Level: 4.5
Power (8)
Speed (3)
Trick (3)
Recovery (2)
Defense (3)
Misty
Ability: Invulnerability
Level: 4.9
Power (5)
Speed (2)
Trick (4)
Recovery (3)
Defense (8)
Arlo
Ability: Barrier
Level: 6.3
Power (6)
Speed (1)
Trick (5)
Recovery (3)
Defense (9)
Norrin
Ability: Space Manipulation
Level: 6.6
Power (9)
Speed (6)
Trick (5)
Recovery (1)
Defense (7)
Seraphina
Ability: Time Manipulation
Level: 8.0
Power (10)
Speed (10)
Trick (10)
Recovery (9)
Defense (2)