Charlisa gave Will a shove, pushing him back towards his group. “Go!”
Will hesitated. He didn’t want to leave her now that he knew. The very thing that they both assumed to be impossible had happened. But as he didn’t move, she stepped forward and pushed him again. “Go! We can talk about this later, alright?”
“But,” Will began, looking towards Edward. “What if-”
“If you tell him, he’ll be pissed,” Charlisa said. “Get a move on, and let’s discuss this at a time when we’re not prepared for battle.”
Edward had noticed that he wasn’t where he was supposed to be and had begun to take a step forward. Will finally took a step away, waving to him and Charlisa. Not the time, he thought. Right. He turned and sprinted towards his group, who were already moving. He caught up easily, then turned them down the first corner, pausing right before Charlisa could be removed from his sight completely. There was a strange feeling in his chest as he looked past her to Edward. It was some kind of chilling premonition.
“Let’s get a move on!” Michael was saying, grabbing his attention. “Who are we going after first?”
“Not sure,” Will said slowly. He was distracted. He couldn’t think of a feasible plan because his brain was too occupied with a new concern. Charlisa was pregnant. There was no other explanation for it. “Let’s just keep going. Take random paths until we spot someone.”
He directed Michael and Joseph back, taking the front himself, with Richard at his side. Angel fell back without needing to be asked, assuming the rear. Will gave them a nod of acknowledgment, then directed the group forward. The empty streets around them echoed with the sounds of their hurried footsteps. Even the sound of their breathing seemed magnified. More than once, either he, Richard, or Angel would whirl around suddenly, facing a random direction, then relax as they realized it was nothing.
They encountered another group quickly. It was Michael that spotted them, glancing up randomly and drawing in a sharp breath. At once, the entire group slid to a halt. Will glanced at Michael, then followed his gaze to see who it was. There were four Air Nexians in the sky above them, flying directly towards them. Their target was obvious. Will couldn’t recognize Kiera or Cornelius among them, so he felt it safe to use Michael.
“Michael,” he said, his voice low and warning. Then, remembering that the Air Nexians could hear from a great distance away, changed his mind at the last second. “Cover me, and I’ll shoot them down.”
He jumped away from the group then, pretending to give himself to fire off a blast. Michael caught on quickly, and after only a second or two of confusion, put his hands behind his back, charging up an explosion. Just for good measure, Will did throw a small blast of fire their way. He knew he had no chance of hitting them from this range, but it was just a distraction. The group of Air Nexians jerked to the left as one, neatly sailing past the fireball. Then, behind the figure at the rear, an explosion formed.
The blast caught two of them, sending them flying into one. The leader of the group managed to avoid a collision at the last second, but the other three were stunned, and fell low, nearly hitting the pavement. But they caught themselves just in time and flew in low for the attack. They were incredibly fast, closing the distance quicker than Will could think to issue an order. But, as slow as his brain was, his body was more than up to the task, and he leaped forward to intercept one of them, lashing out with a sweeping high kick.
He’d timed it perfectly, his foot hitting the chest of the Air Nexian moving toward him. The man grunted in surprise, and corrected his course, pulling up a few feet away. Then he and another, on opposite sides, let two streams of air out. Will dove to the side and avoided them, but then was knocked off his feet by the explosion where the two streams met. Solid Air, so dense that it felt like getting hit with a truck, blew him back several feet.
“I’ll take care of the new guy,” one of the Air Nexians said. “He’s only C-Tier. You take on the rest with the commander.”
Only C-Tier? Will could have laughed as he sprang back to his feet. Neither of the hits, the explosion of air or the impact on the ground, had done much more than wind him. He could see now what Togai had meant. He wasn’t C-Tier at all. He dove at the man who’d challenged him, using his electricity to get in close. Faster than the man could blink, Will hit him in the stomach with a hard left jab, then came up with a searing uppercut to the man’s jaw. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.
The other two Nexians who had swooped down turned quickly as their companion went down. Their faces were astonished. For just a second, they hesitated, torn between continuing to attack the others or turning back and surrounding Will. It was a mistake, one that Michael capitalized on quickly. He created another explosion between them and Will, knocking them closer to the Fire Nexus, just as Richard stepped forward, knocking them out with a powerful blast he released from both hands.
The leader of the group cursed loudly, and rose higher into the air to avoid another explosion from Michael, then darted to the left as Joseph and Emmet both released long jets of flame. The distant figure hesitated for only a moment longer before taking off. Will knew he was trying to judge the risk of retrieving his teammates’ tags. He didn’t think it was worth it. Will yanked the tags off of their unconscious bodies, making sure to tuck them out of sight down his shirt.
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“Nice work,” he told the others. They grinned eagerly at him. Their first contact with competitors couldn’t have gone any better, and they were all pumped at the success. “We keep working like that, and we’ll have the competition in the bag.”
They let out a fierce cry of agreement, and he directed them along the street once more. He expected some time to pass before they encountered the next obstacle. It would give him enough time and space to think about Charlisa, which would help him focus. If he could just sort through these complicated thoughts and feelings now, it would leave him relatively clear-headed for the rest of the event, which could only be good. Unfortunately for him, that would not be the case.
They’d barely made it around the next corner when Will felt the ground under his feet shifting. In the blink of an eye, chunks of the ground were rising, breaking apart from the main section and moving in to crush him and the group. It was only the speed of his reactions, aided by the lightning, that saved him. He dove forward at the last possible instant, diving gracelessly onto the hard tarmac. The others weren’t as fortunate and were quickly trapped.
Will rolled to the side as another chunk of tarmac flew up and smashed down towards him. It smashed into powder with the force of its impact. There was no discernible source for the attack. He looked around frantically, but there was no sign of green or gold in sight. Maybe the Earth Nexus attacker was hiding underground. That wouldn’t help, as Will had no way of reaching him. But then, suddenly, a thought struck him. A building nearby looked abandoned but had large one-sided glass windows that looked like mirrors on the outside.
He pushed off from the ground, letting the flames explode from his feet and propel him straight up. Two smaller explosions correct his trajectory, and he landed cat-like on the roof of the building. He took a deep breath, then focused a powerful jet on the floor below him. The heat and force of the jet punched a wide hole through the structure, and he dropped into it at once, before the dust could even have a chance to settle.
He couldn’t see anything with the swirl of dust, so he relied on his ears. Just barely audible over the sound of the falling rubble was a shout of surprise. Will lunged toward it, just barely seeing the outline of a person there. He struck out with his fist, adding in a small explosion, and the figure dropped like a sack of potatoes. Then, guided by an angry and concerned cry, he pivoted neatly, and let out a powerful blast of heat like Richard had conjured.
He was just able to make out the sound of two bodies hitting the floor in rapid succession, meaning that he’d taken out three. He tensed, his eyes slowly adjusting to the renewed flood of natural light from outside. There were three unconscious bodies, but nothing else. He heaved a sigh of relief, glad his plan had worked. But no sooner had he stooped to retrieve the Earth Nexians tags than he felt that strange rumbling sensation under his feet once more. It was much quieter and more gentle than before, so he almost missed it.
A hard object struck him between his shoulder blades, knocking him down onto one of the others he’d knocked out. One had hidden when he’d dropped in and attacked when he let his guard down! He growled in frustration and lashed out backward with one foot. The Earth Nexian dodged the blast of fire he generated, ducking low and letting one leg swipe out in a flat arc. More stones flew out in the constricted space, peppering Will and knocking him further away from his down opponents. The Earth Nexian simply sank into the ground then, vanishing from sight. A moment later, the bodies of his unconscious comrades sank out of sight as well.
Will let out a curse, realizing that those he’d knocked out were far from finished. They’d regain consciousness, and, with their tags still on them, they could continue fighting. After making sure that the Earth Nexian wasn’t coming back for another attack, Will ran out of the building through the front door. Michael and the others were standing in the middle of a pile of shattered rubble, sporting all kinds of cuts and bruises, but still standing.
“Glad you got out,” Will said. “I almost got them, but they escaped at the last second.”
Michael swore loudly. Out of all of them, he looked the least injured. Will guessed that he’d used an explosion to clear away the earth, which had done minor damage to the rest, on top of what the earth trap had done.
“They’ll be out for a while at least,” Will said reassuringly. “We need to get moving now. Someone could have heard that and decided to come over. We-”
Something hard smashed into his chest, breaking on impact, and causing him to stagger. He clutched at his chest, letting out a cry of pain and surprise. “What the?”
Another of the mysterious objects hit him, in the shoulder this time. The force spun him around and nearly knocked him flat, but he managed to catch himself. Just as he looked up, another projectile whizzed through the air where he’d just been and smashed against the ground. Now Will saw what it was. Ice! He rolled back towards the direction where the ice chunks had come from, taking cover behind a row of bushes.
“Get down!” He shouted. “They can-”
Angel and Emmet were both struck in the chest by fist-sized chunks of ice and went down. A second later, Michael’s head snapped to the side under a similar impact. All three of them landed limply on the streets, leaving just Richard, Joseph, Tamara, and himself. Will cursed again, immediately moving towards them. Was it against the rules to take his own teammate’s tags? Probably. But before he could consider whether it was worth it to consider the action, he heard the sound of rushing water behind him.
Instinctively, he knew who it would be. He didn’t know how he knew, but when he turned in place, activating his electricity and rolling out of the way, he wasn’t at all surprised to see Felix swooping down the street towards him. Will was on his feet seconds before they made contact, his arms raised, ready to strike. But Felix released control of his wave just as Will let out one blast of fire, sailing neatly over him. He conjured another small wave just in time to catch him. He slid between the other Fire Nexians like a snake, one hand reaching out to snag the tags of Emmet and Angel in one go. He spun on the spot, releasing a burst of water that knocked Joseph, Tamara, and Richard away, and stooped to snag Michael’s.
“No!” Will exclaimed. Felix had tricked him with that usual smile that meant he was eager to fight. It hadn’t occurred to him that Felix would try to avoid combat. But even as he rushed forward, he knew he wouldn’t recover the tags. He had to leap back to avoid another flurry of ice chunks, then to the side to avoid Felix’s wave of water. Before he could recover his balance, Felix was already several dozen feet away, leaving a massive wave behind him, surging right at Will, not quite able to drown out the sound of Felix’s laughing voice.