A booming right hook connected with her opponent's jaw, and Codi felt the fire in her veins as she flattened her adversary, generating an explosion of noise from the onlookers in the stands. The other fighter, a boy from Cobalt Storm, had been capable enough – average she might have said – but for an opening round fight with her it had been like pitting a badger against a grizzly bear.
He hit the ground, and not for the first time in the past few minutes. She'd felt a certain level of apprehension going into this opening fight – her first real Gauntlet match in anger for months – but as soon as she stepped out into the arena everything came flooding back to her and her body roared into gear.
To his credit, the kid from Cobalt Storm wasn't giving up. He rolled away and scrambled unsteadily back to his feet to await the next onslaught. She obliged, taking three massive leaping strides forward under the power of the exoskeleton. He lashed out; she ducked and lowered a shoulder into his stomach with thunderous force.
Keeping her legs pumping, she moved her body in an upward arc, lifting the unfortunate fighter clean off his feet. She gave one final upward jerk that left her opponent airborne, and before he could come back down to earth she whirled and delivered a spinning kick to his mid-section. The sheer force of the blow hurled the boy clean across the arena until he slammed into the boundary wall and crashed to the ground. This time he didn't get up and the klaxon blared out above the roaring of the fans to declare Codi's first competitive victory of the Gauntlet season.
She grinned, happy to have a comparatively easy reintroduction to the competition. With Battlecast's reputation, as well as her own, this was a fight she'd been expected to win and win well – Bronagh Llewellyn had made that abundantly clear.
Still, she found that the pressure didn't seem so bad now. Just that brief encounter with Kye had been enough to blunt the nerves she'd been feeling and, although they had to keep a low profile around under the watching eyes of their team mates, knowing he was there, and knowing that they hadn't lost their spark, made her feel a hundred times better than she had a few days ago. Right now she knew he had his hands full trying to introduce Zulu Forge's new-bloods to full frontal Gauntlet combat. Most of their better performers from last year had been snapped up or transferred to the three larger academies on the planet, leaving Kye and his coaching staff with an awful lot of work to do. For the moment, she would leave him to it.
More roars split the air, accompanying the other matches that were currently underway with the arena. Unlike the main contest, the preliminary tournament ran several bouts simultaneously to cram in as much Gauntlet action as they could in the time available. It benefited the viewers, giving them more bang for their buck, but also helped the academies give their new recruits as much experience and exposure as possible.
Codi was not blind to the media vultures stalking her every move and she knew she wouldn't be the only one being watched. The other veterans like Ripple and Chris probably had their own private detectives by now, but the scouts would be keeping a sharp eye out for any new surprises from the crop of rookies.
It was while pondering this that Codi rather belatedly remembered she had another match that was starting in ten minutes time, halfway across the arena, and she let out a frustrated curse. She loped out to the arena entrance and found Thradd Winters waiting for her, the grizzled old veteran lounging against the entrance frame.
"That was neatly done," he said, giving her a nod of approval.
"Glad you enjoyed it."
"Don't get cocky kid – knocking off one rookie from Luna is just a start."
Codi gave him a withering look. "Don't patronise me, coach. I've done this before."
"Yeah, yeah." Thradd jerked a thumb down the hall. "Well we've got a capture-the-flag match with Atlantic in eight minutes so let's get a move on."
Glaring at her brusque instructor, she followed him nonetheless as he strode off down the hallway. A little spark of unease ignited in the back of her mind as they went, though. This was the first time she'd ever taken part in a competitive capture-the-flag event, and this time the instructors had made it clear they expected improvements on last year's lacklustre performances in this team discipline.
Training with the other Battlecast recruits seemed to be going well enough, but she knew it was difficult to gauge without real opposition. Right now the instructors had divvied up the available recruits into six teams; not everyone needed to bother. The cumbersome powerhouses like Chris O'Leary and, thankfully, Dustin Morto, only needed to worry about the single bouts. Codi quietly cursed her own versatility as she and Thradd approached the entrance of the next arena.
The other four fighters were already waiting expectantly for her. Codi cast her eyes over them, still trying to make up her mind about the composition of the group. It consisted of herself, Ripple, Gareth, a third year girl named Prissa Alder and a sturdily built boy – Joshua Bayden – who she remembered vaguely from last year's competition. Within the academy they were level pegging with another collection of recruits for top spot. Where they stood against other academies...well it was time to find out.
"Everybody clear on the game plan?" Thradd barked.
Codi nodded and agreed with the rest. In her mind there could only really be one plan: get the other team's flag and bring it home, before they do the same with yours. She'd seen nothing in the films of previous competitions to dissuade her from that notion, whatever Bronagh Llewellyn wanted her students to believe. She caught Gareth's eye. His face betrayed his unease, and so did the way he bounced from foot to foot as though it was involuntary. Ripple, as ever, looked as cold and unemotional as a window pane.
"Alright then," their coach continued. "Go out there and crack some heads. And most importantly, get that damned flag."
Dragging down a long breath, Codi brought up the rear as the Battlecast contingent jogged out into the venue for the capture-the-flag matches, and the crowd's roar that was becoming customary washed over them. Her eyes roved around the simple tiered seating of the Shetland Isles arena, picking out the pockets of colour that marked out the academies supporters.
There were also plenty of people just watching for the spectacle. Briefly, she found herself wondering what it would be like to just sit and enjoy the savagery for what it was, without being in the thick it; without being the one under the floodlights being expected to perform. A small part of her envied them. A much larger part scorned the idea and turned to face their opposition.
Lined up at the opposite end of the arena were the five blue-clad fighters from the Atlantic team – four boys and a willowy girl who sported a shocking blaze of bright pink hair. Codi cocked a quizzical eyebrow at the garish display and let her eyes drop, examining the space between them. The arena sloped down into a kind of canyon shape, a hundred yards across and maybe a third of that across, and the base was dotted with a dozen square platforms of varying heights.
"Keep an eye on Pinkie," Codi advised. "I'll bet she's their runner."
"Then you better make sure you bury her," Gareth grunted back.
She nodded. "Follow my lead." Striding out into her position to the left of their flag platform in front of the others, she sank down into a ready stance, knees slightly bent and arms swinging loosely by her sides. While not the fastest person on the team, Codi was undeniably quick, and her speed coupled with the savagery she brought to the game landed her the role of enforcer. The job? Get out into the arena as fast as possible and derail the other team's game plan, by any means necessary.
The announcer's voice boomed out the academy names to corresponding roars from the crowd. She could see the Atlantic and Battlecast supporters trading jeers in the stands – in some cases more animatedly than others. Even here, in this practice round the rivalry was real, and intense.
Then the time for thought and examination came to an abrupt end as the klaxon sounded to begin the match. Codi exploded into motion, flying down the ramp while the other members of the team spread out behind her. Straight ahead of her the Atlantic enforcer angled himself to intercept her and she allowed herself a feral grin. In this game size didn't help, and her opponent didn't have much of an advantage in that regard. She swung to meet him.
His initial swipe was clumsy and she ducked low and whirled, keying up the gravity field in her legs and lashing out as he barrelled past. She whacked his legs out from under him, sending him flying face first down the slope. Straightening up, she glanced back over her shoulder, only to see that the rest of the team hadn't fully committed to her headlong charge. She seethed inwardly, turning to find another target.
A flash of pink told her where to go and she leapt up onto one of the platforms that loomed a dozen feet in height. As soon as her feet hit the ground she changed trajectory and jumped again, flinging out an arm to its full extent and clipping the ankle of the pink-haired runner from Atlantic in mid-air.
It was a glancing hit, but it did enough to nudge the girl out of her flight path whereupon she slammed into one of the platform edged and toppled to the ground with a stream of curses so colourful that even Codi found the language extreme. Then something cannoned into her from behind and sent her flying.
Biting back a torrent of abuse, she released the gravity fields on her lower body and neatly caught the edge of the nearest platform, flipping herself back into a standing position and looking towards the culprit. The other team's enforcer had recovered quickly to exact a measure of revenge.
Then a slender, fast-moving form shot between them as Ripple took advantage of the melee to make a run at the enemy flag, with two Battlecast team mates hot on her heels to provide support. Codi cursed and spun in the opposite direction where the pink-haired runner from the other team had already clambered back onto the platforms and set off. The other team's enforcer went with her, leaving a two on one at the Battlecast flag.
Codi sprinted, leaping from platform to platform in single bounds in pursuit of her quarry, not sparing a glance to see how her companions were getting on. Anger still burned though, as the others in the team had already ruined the game plan by hanging back until she'd become embroiled in a ping pong match in the centre. Worse than that, someone should have been following right on her heels to give the opposition runner a proper clout to keep her out of the equation. As it was, they'd abandoned that in favour of a mad gamble to try and get the other team's flag.
But she had spent life making the best of a bad decision, and now would be no different. She piled on speed, watching as the two fighters from Atlantic closed in on Gareth who'd been abandoned to fend for himself. In this situation there wouldn't be too much he could do as the Atlantic enforcer went straight for him, giving the runner a clear line to the flag.
And giving Codi a clear target.
With a final surge of energy she jumped and angled both feet in a flying tackle as Pinkie uprooted the six foot metal rod of the Battlecast flag. She'd timed it beautifully and was on course to kick the unfortunate fighter through the arena wall, except something got in her way.
The Atlantic enforcer, having spotted her, disengaged from Gareth and hurled himself into her flight path in the nick of time. Airborne as she was, Codi had no way to adjust her trajectory and could only brace for the crushing impact. The soles of both feet smashed straight into the boy's chest plate and his face screwed up with pain, but he managed to take an awkward grip of her legs as they hit, and twist to one side.
He barely slowed her tremendous momentum, but the bold move knocked Codi off target and she crashed to the ground with a snarl of frustration. The Atlantic boy lay a few meters away, doubled over in pain and coughing for breath, but that gave her little solace when she turned over to see the pink-haired runner streaming down the left side of the arena with Gareth trying frantically to give chase. A lump settled in the base of her stomach as she watched. There was no way he would catch her. Gareth could put on a turn of speed when called upon, but runners were chosen specifically for sheer velocity.
Part of her wanted to start chasing too but she stopped herself, simply gazing on with a sense of inevitability. The other members of the team were still engaged and while Ripple had gotten hold of their flag, she was much further away that Pinkie from the return point. Seconds ticked down.
And just like that it was over.
She winced as the Atlantic fans erupted into rapturous cheers as their team pulled off a win against their arch rivals. Swallowing her anger, Codi turned away from the scene at the far end of the court, instead walking back over to the boy she'd wiped out just moments before. He had uncurled now and sat smiling breathlessly. His smile wavered for an instant when he saw her approaching, but she extended a hand to help him up.
"Gutsy move," Codi said. She was furious, but not with this boy. He'd taken one for his team and probably won the match for them. "Nicely played."
"Thanks – lucky I spotted ya in time." He gave her a nod of thanks. "You Codi James, right?"
"Seems everybody knows my face."
"You got quite a rep," he agreed, then tapped a finger to his chest plate. "Kelton Murno. Be seein' you 'round."
With that he jogged off down to the other end of the arena to join his team mates. Codi sighed heavily and turned to look at the forlorn figures of her companions making their way back across to her. Now it was time to be angry. They reached her and just stood in silence. They all looked at each other, but nobody wanted to fire the opening salvo. That suited her.
"Alright, whose damn idea was that rush for the flag?" Codi demanded eventually. "We had a plan, didn't we? I go in, take their enforcer out of the game and all of you get in straight away, right behind me, and double up the hits. What the hell happened? I look back and you're all still creeping around on the start ramp."
The others exchanged sheepish looks. Gareth frowned at her outburst but kept his comments to himself.
"We were slow off the mark," Ripple conceded.
"You're the one that took off so damn fast we couldn't follow you!" Prissa said making a dismissive gesture with one hand. "A little warning would have been nice."
Codi bristled at the remark and stepped close to the other girl, speaking through gritted teeth. "Let's get something straight, princess, I've got one level: mine! Try and keep up next time." With that she stomped away towards the exit of the arena to the sound of cheering Atlantic Academy supporters.
Their coach was waiting when they slunk out of the arena, and the annoyance was clearly etched on his face.
"Well, that was one hell of a mess," Thradd rumbled dangerously as the Battlecast team trudged past him.
Codi shot him a disgusted look, not in the mood for his rhetorical jibes. "Yeah, thanks, I'll log that little gem away in the mental junk drawer."
"Watch it-,"
"No you watch it!" she shouted, feeling every muscle in her body snap tight as she rounded on him, unable to contain her anger any longer. "You're a coach, so why don't you coach? We all know it was a mess, so you repeating that lovely little fact is not going to change it. Or is making asinine comments just your way of inspiring people?"
And she didn't wait for his reply. Leaving Thradd and the stunned members of her team behind, she stalked off down the corridor.