Chapter 59. POE

“POE!” Boulder shouted and charged at Poe like a mad bull causing the magenta eyed boy to hop away from his father towards an empty space near the river.

“What?”

“COME BACK HERE!” Boulder was enraged, he hopped off the bridge down to the bank of the river and continued his chase. The two eventually slowed down and stood before each other with only a couple of meters separating them.

Small rocks of various shapes and sizes continued to twirl around Poe as the two were locked in a standoff.

“Shouldn’t you stop them?” Arthur asked the adults who were watching the display down below with their arms crossed.

“It’ll be fine~ they are always like this.” The little girl with yellow eyes teleported beside Arthur and replied. Carson continued “Even when we were training with the Chief those two would always be fighting.”

The girl with cyan eyes walked up and looked at the display down below. “Don’t worry it’ll end soon.” She looked at the boy who was curiously looking at her. “My name is Krystal by the way.”

“Carson~”

“I’m Arthur.” Arthur replied and turned his attention to the boys below the bridge.

Everyone stood at where they were and watched as the two who were locked in a standoff. Only the sound of flowing river water could be heard as the two continued to stare down each other. The two boys were waiting, waiting for a sign, a change in the environment, something that’ll signal the start of their fight.

Plop A fish’s tail splattered the river water as it dove down deeper.

Whish whish Two rocks circling around Poe instantly broke apart from the rest and flew directly at Boulder who wasn’t any less slow in his movements.

Boulder rolled off to the side dodging the rocks that flew at him, picking a rock in the process. He threw the rock in return aiming straight for Poe’s face.

The remaining rocks circling around Poe formed a miniature shield around his face blocking the impact of the rock thrown by Boulder causing it to fall flatly on the floor.

Bang bang Boulder threw another rock using his pure physical strength at the same shield breaking it completely.

Poe stood there unfazed by Boulder’s action as more rocks off the riverbank were lifted and returned to continue to circle around him.

Boulder revealed a smirk as he held two more rocks, one in each hand. He threw both at the same time directly Poe who matched the attack with his own groups of rocks creating another collision.

Boulder didn’t stop after tossing the two rocks in his palm, he immediately ran directly at Poe who was a couple meters away hoping to engage him in close combat. As a red hair power user, they were one of the best in close combat, all it takes is one good hit.

Poe wasn’t stupid enough to let Boulder succeed with such a straightforward attack ran away flinging rocks with his telekinetic powers at Boulder who had to dodge away from them.

The gap Boulder tried to close returned back to normal with Poe’s flurry of rocks.

“POE! FIGHT ME!”

“Only if you can catch me first”

“AGHHH!” Boulder in his anger grabbed everything he could on the ground and flung it Poe with all of his might.

Rocks, dirt and gravel all flew at Poe who shielded the entirety of the attack. However, the dust cloud formed from what Boulder threw remained in the air obscuring Poe’s vision momentarily.

Arthur believed this was it, Boulder charged at Poe narrowing the gap even more so directly throwing a fist at the magenta eyed boy.

“It’s over.”

“Yep~.”

Bang BAM

Arthur and people from the audience released an audible gasp the moment the two collided. The dust cloud faded creating another audible gasp from everyone who didn’t know about the rivalry between these two.

“Gah!” Boulder was face first on the ground with the arm he threw at Poe completely wrapped behind him with Poe sitting on top.

“Poe wins again.”

“Yep~”

“POE!” Boulder used his entire physical strength and lifted himself up one leg at a time forcing Poe who was sitting above to hop away.

The two remained locked in another standoff.

Boulder who was once enraged calmed down and dusted off the mess on his clothes and sighed. “Damn it, I lost again!

“You’re too straightforward with your attacks, you idiot.” Poe also dusted off his clothes and replied. He continued, “You may have gotten a lot stronger, but you’re still the same.”

“Wh-what happened? I thought Boulder was going to win.” Arthur asked.

“You’d think that—”

“But~ Poe always wins.” Carson interrupted Krystal and replied.

Krystal didn’t mind Carson’s interruption and continued. “The last second when Boulder went for his punch, Poe caught his arm and used the momentum from the punch to pull Boulder onto the ground ending the fight.”

“Yep~”

“Oh…” Arthur nodded his head in understanding. A little more excitement could be seen on his face, this was the first time he had witnessed kids his own age fighting each other with powers. He turned his attention over to Shelly, “Boulder and Poe is so cool!”

Shelly remained indifferent at the battle between the two kids and just slightly nodded her head to Arthur’s response. She then turned her attention to Carson and Krystal who was looking at her.

Carson had a bubbly smile on her face as she waved at Shelly. “Hi~ I’m Carson. She’s Krystal~ What’s your name~?”

“Shelly.” Shelly returned her greetings at the two girls two years older than her.

Krystal walked up and looked at Shelly’s crystal-clear sapphire eyes. A perplexed look can be seen on her face as she furrowed her brows. She then sighed and spoke. “That’s right, I’m Krystal, how come I can’t read you at all?” She asked.

“I don’t know.” Shelly replied causing Krystal to raise an eyebrow and back off. Shelly then turned her attention to the two boys who made their way back up to the bridge with a smile on their faces as if the incident prior never happened.

Boulder smiled at them and coughed embarrassingly. “Ahaha, I lost again.” He then pushed the guy beside him forward before the rest of the kids. “This is Poe, he’s my rival.”

“I’m not your rival, you have to beat me once to be a rival.” Poe remarked and looked at those he’s never met before. “Hello, nice to meet you all, I’m Poe.” The kids finally got a better look at the winner of the fight against Boulder. He had fair skin, clean cut hair and was slightly taller and skinnier than Boulder standing beside him. Both boys closely resembled their father in appearance.

The group of five introduced themselves to the three little kids before them. Arthur couldn’t help but exclaim “That was so cool! You both were amazing!”

The village kids and students who knew of Boulder and Poe’s ‘rivalry’ remained in the audience making bets with those who didn’t know anything about the two. Some of the students who were going home early alongside Boulderville villagers wanted to run up and congratulate their own classmate for beating Boulder. However, before they could they were warned by those who knew that it would be unwise to do so.

They wanted to ask why but was only pointed to one woman whose face transitioned in a scowl the longer the fight went on. Her piercing yellow eyes and dark green hair was scary to behold as she glared at anyone who wanted to run up.

To Orchid who believe she was going to be with Gran one day, Boulder was like a son to her. To see a child that closely resembled Gran in terms of appearance and for him to lose to another child was fine. However, if those outside students wanted to walk up and congratulate Poe for winning, pfft over her dead body.

“Let’s go.” Orchid only said two words and took the lead walking ahead of everyone else. No one in the audience could see the annoyed expression on her face as she gave Poe a death stare.

Poe shuddered when he saw her face but remained collected, it wasn’t the first time she’s given him this look after beating Boulder and it wouldn’t be the last.

Elroy smiled and patted his son on the head for beating Boulder again. He hurried up to Orchid’s side and tried to appease her. Harmick and Karns left their daughters alone to chat with the group as they too rushed up to help Elroy in his predicament.

“So, you four were training with Gran before us?” Arthur asked them on the way back.

“Yes, the Chief trained us four the year before we wanted to go to school.” Poe replied.

“Does he train everyone?” Arthur turned around and looked behind him, there was no other students who had different colored eyes or hair walking from behind.

“No, only those who could beat Boulder.” Poe replied.

His words made Arthur’s eyes turned wide, he looked at both Carson and Krystal who was smiling at Poe’s response. “You mean you both beat Boulder too?”

“Yep~” Carson grinned widely and continued “Boulder was too easy.”

Krystal agreed, “It doesn’t take much to beat Boulder.” She then turned her attention to the red-haired boy who was too embarrassed to even look up at the three of them. “How did we beat you again?”

“Don’t you remember~? Poe defeated him and you were laughing at him for losing.” Carson answered.

“It wasn’t me; it was you.” Krystal rebuked.

“Well~ Boulder challenged both of us right after and we just did what Poe did. Hehe” Carson laughed at Boulder who was red in the face.

The new trainees shook their head at Boulder who was completely embarrassed. It was one thing to lose, but it was something else to lose three times for the same reason.

“How come the others didn’t beat Boulder too?” Arthur asked.

“Oh, they tried to, but he’s not that easy to beat.” Krystal replied. Her response caused the boy who was too embarrassed to even look up to lift his head. A smile sprawled on his face.

“That’s right! I only lost three times. I won many more that day.” Boulder eyed the rest of the village kids who were slightly ticked at his remark. “Everyone else was a loser~ Ahaha”

Poe immediately smacked Boulder on the back of the head for antagonizing his own friends and neighbors. “They’ve learned a lot at Naturelle, you shouldn’t say such words. Especially not when there’s a festival for us the day after tomorrow.”

“That’s right~ they might just all choose to challenge you. Hehe” Carson’s voice could be heard by everyone behind them.

Boulder felt a chill crawl up his spine as he slowly turned his head around only to see death stares from every kid returning from Naturelle. The fire in their eyes as they stared down Boulder made him pale in fright.

“They, wouldn’t all choose me at the festival, right?” Boulder turned and looked at the people around him.

They completely ignored his question and picked up the pace following behind the adults up ahead.

It wasn’t until later into the afternoon that they finally arrive back at Boulderville. The first thing all the kids do was rush into the loving embrace of their father and mother, aunts and uncles, anyone who was waiting at the front of the village for their return.

Orchid excused herself and brought the families who were looking for an Inn to stay back with her and settled them down into their rooms.

The trainees returned back to their own rooms to rest up and prepare for meditation. They looked at the time on the wall and made their way to Gran’s estate after a short break. Arthur and the rest of the group entered the gate and noticed that the two gatekeepers were playing against each other. Both were contemplating hard as they didn’t utter much of a greeting to the kids below.

Barkie and Silver could be heard barking and meowing in the back followed by orderly footsteps of the animals raised within the place. They were curious to see what was going on but was greeted by Gran who was waiting for them at the front entrance.

“You didn’t bring Poe, Carson and Krystal with you?” Gran looked at his youngest son and asked.

“They wanted to be with their family for tonight.”

“Did you win this time?”

“Poe beat me again.”

“The girls?”

“We didn’t fight.”

“Alright, let’s go meditate.”

“Even me?”

“Yes”