Chapter 70. I challenge you

“I challenge you, Michael!” Julie stretched out her arm and pointed at Michael in a dramatic fashion. Michael, who was already dejectedly standing on stage beside her nodded his head and sighed. They both waved at the audience cheering for them while waiting for Gran to make his way over.

Gran walked up and glanced at the two contestants that were standing off against each other. He looked at Michael who didn’t seem all that excited standing on stage alongside Julie.

“Goodluck Michael” Gran calmly stated before letting the two get to their positions.

“Remember, this is a stage to demonstrate what you’ve learned, not bully others…Julie.”

“H-hey! What is that supposed to mean?” Julie exclaimed.

“3. 2. 1. Start” Gran quickly started the match and left the stage leaving behind Julie and Michael who was just as quick readjusting themselves waiting for the other to make their first move.

The two circled the stage looking for an opportunity to attack. Julie was serious and smiling at Michael who could only warily look back at her.

Training with Cobble, Pebble and Gran made them learn to always gauge their opponent and their surrounding before they attacked. This was especially important when they had to confront Gran who used both of his powers on them, they had to heighten their senses to dodge anything around them.

“Are you ready Michael? I’m attacking.” Julie stated calmly.

“I’m read—”

Julie didn’t let Michael finish and ran up throwing out the first punch towards Michael’s face. Michael narrowly dodged it and shuffled to the side. Michael was surprised that Julie didn’t even let him finish before attacking but quickly realized that in a real match there was no way the other person would’ve even informed him, that they were attacking. He was careless.

The two continued their battle with Julie on the offensive and Michael on the defensive; narrowly avoiding every attack thrown at him. They were like two dancers as they stepped from one side of the stage to the other, quickly becoming accustomed to the other’s movements.

The audience was amazed at how quick both were. Every attack Julie threw out was quick and sharp aiming purely at vital points of the others. It was amazing to their eyes that Michael was just as quick avoiding every vital attack by a hair’s breadth. The audience were completely engrossed at the display before them.

As the battle progress a smile was sprawled on both of their faces as Michael started not just avoiding attacks but even parrying some of Julie’s. Michael started to feel more and more confident as the battle went on switching from purely dodging in the beginning to going on the offensive.

Bam bam

Their two-fist collided against each other for the first time instantly sending both of them stumbling back a step. Michael shook his hand out, he was extremely surprised that Julie’s fist was so freaking hard. Julie blew on her fist and smirked, she ran right back up on Michael as they continued to dance around the stage, both were swiftly switching back and forth from attacking and defending parrying and dodging any attack the other threw at them.

“What’s the matter Michael, tired already?” Julie teased as they were exchanging blows.

Michael smiled in response and said “Not ye—”

Before Michael could finish, Julie sent a leg sweep at Michael who quickly hopped in the air as if he had already predicted that was going to happen. He wanted to say “not this time.” But quickly realized something was wrong. His eyes went wide as he stared at Julie smiling at him.

He was still in the air!

Julie raised her fist and directed her eyes at the spot between his legs.

“I give, I give!” Michael shouted causing Julie to let out a satisfied smile releasing her power as Michael softly landed on his feet.

Most of the people in the audience did not know what happened or wondered why the fight ended in such a way. All they saw was that the moment Michael jumped up he shouted I give up before landing back down. However, to those who knew of Julie’s power instantly noticed that Michael was up in the air a second longer than he should have been.

“The winner is Julie Chartreuse.” Gran raised an eyebrow at Julie and announced.

The first time Julie ever used her power was when he and his two sons tried to scare them. Back then, she had to use all her effort to just keep the broken back of the carriage afloat as a barricade. The second time she used her power only managed to stop Cobble for less than a second before Cobble broke free of it. He hadn’t expected that her power would progress so much within this month to keep Michael frozen for a full second and still be able to throw out punch at him in doing so.

“I did it~” Julie energetically jumped for joy and hugged Michael in front of her. “Thank you, Michael, you did great!”

Michael couldn’t say anything, it was him who should be thanking her for this match. Going into this fight he wasn’t confident he could display anything against her. He knew if Julie wanted to, she could’ve stopped him from the very start and quickly finished the match. He looked down at the girl who was hugging him happily and smiled. He whispered, “Thank you.”

Julie froze momentarily and smiled at him. “Let’s get something to eat, I’m hungry.”

Grumble grumble

Michael embarrassingly scratched his head. “Me too.”

“Let’s go~” Julie pulled Michael off stage to the cheering applause of the audiences.

“Who wants to demonstrate what they’ve learned next?” Gran asked the audience.

No one moved, the fight between Julie and Michael replayed in their minds, the kids who hadn’t even learned how to fight yet were unwilling to follow up after what they had seen. There were already too many kids who had went up and practiced their meditation or repeated an important phrase that they learned in Lumiere and Naturelle. Those who wanted to stand out more in front of their parents were unwilling to do something as boring as meditation after this fight.

It won’t be wrong to say that the fight between Michael and Julie set the bar too high for most of those who wanted to fight against their friends or rivals. Most of the kids were waiting for a better time to walk onstage.

Gran instantly noticed this conundrum and scanned the crowd. He noticed Boulder and Cobble talking to each other. “He’ll work.” Gran thought to himself.

“How about my son? Come up here Boulder.” Gran motioned at Boulder who was caught off guard, he was still talking to Cobble about the fight between Michael and Julie before he noticed a tug on the collar of his outfit. Before he even had time to realize what was going on, he was being dragged on his feet all the way towards the stage.

“Who wants to fight my son?” Gran patted Boulder in the shoulders and scanned the crowd.

Many of the kids who were planning on defeating Boulder were interested, but they all knew if they went onstage right now, Boulder would outright defeat them. They wanted to win, not be Boulder’s first, second or third punching bag.

“Heh heh, they’re all too scared of me dad.” Boulder’s smug face irked many of the kids there, but they remain seated and glared at the boy on stage.

“What about you Poe? Do you want to fight Boulder?” Gran asked.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Poe who was talking to some students they knew at Naturelle alongside Carson and Krystal.

“I’ll pass, there’s someone else I want to fight.” Poe calmly rejected Gran’s question. His eyes directed towards Mason who was smiling back at him.

Gran turned his attention to Mason and Riley who were besides each other. Sampson Gerald and Seth were walking back from the stalls with food in their hand when everyone’s eyes turned towards their friends. They too looked towards Riley and Mason.

“Fine, fine. I’ll go fight Boulder first and then I’ll let you two fight afterwards.” Riley got up and stretched his arms and legs. Boulder was excited to see the person he wanted to fight get up.

“Fight me, Riley!” Boulder exclaimed onstage.

“Alright, alright. I’m coming.” Riley calmly stated as he started to walk.

“Don’t lose.” Mason calmly stated to Riley who was a short distance away.

“Hm, I might.” Riley answered after scanning the crowd of kids and parents looking at him. He continued to quietly walk onstage standing before Boulder who was only up to his chest in height.

“Are you ready to lose?” Boulder asked.

“Hm… we’ll see how it goes.” Riley smiled and replied.

“Alright, you two get to your positions.” Gran stated calmly.

The two made their way over to the center of the stage and walked back a couple of meters. Once they were done, they looked towards Gran. Gran nodded his head once they made it to their spot, he quickly walked off and stood off to the side. He looked at the two individuals onstage, one was casually smiling at the boy before him, whereas the boy was excitedly ready to charge at the young man in front of him.

“Begin.”

Boulder immediately darted towards Riley the moment he heard his dad start the fight. He was looking to attack Riley straight away. Riley continued to smile as Boulder charged up to him and reacted with a palm of his own.

Bam!

A fist and a palm collided causing a small gust of wind to spread out in all directions from the power of the two individuals. Both Riley and Boulder’s hands were still connected pushing back and forth against the other.

Boulder knew that his punch would not be able to budge Riley. He immediately threw out his left fist towards Riley’s right shoulder. Riley countered grabbing onto the hand of Boulder.

Every parent and child were amazed at the battle between two Power users, they knew the moment a child obtained red hair they’d be strong, but they hadn’t expected them to be strong enough to send out a small gust of wind with each blow.

Boulder tugged his hands away and jumped a step back. He looked at the calm expression on Riley’s smiling face and was getting more irritated.

“Fight back!” Boulder exclaimed.

“Make me.” Riley replied.

Irritated, Boulder ran up at the young man before him and threw out another fist, the same situation happened again. Riley held both hands of Boulder causing the boy to break free and hop back.

Poe sighed in the audience. “He’s too straightforward with his attacks.”

“He can’t help it~ It’s part of his personality~” Carson replied.

“It seems his opponent knows that too.” Krystal commented.

“Mhm~”

I wonder how he’ll deal with this…”

Bam bam!

Bam bam!

Boulder continued to aggressively charge at Riley who consistently replied with his own palms.

“Hey Boulder, you have legs, why don’t you use it?” Riley asked.

“S-shut up!” Boulder exclaimed and charged again at Riley throwing the same two punches. He was slowly tiring himself out.

“It’d be a good opportunity for you to throw a kick, once both of my hands are occupied, you do know Power isn’t just from punches, right?” Riley asked.

“I know!” Boulder exclaimed and backed off. He glared at Riley; he knew his attacks were going nowhere against those with red hair, especially against Riley who had more experience in the same stage as him. He calmed himself down decided to do to what Riley told him to do.

Bam bam!

He charged again his fists struck both palms. He looked at Riley’s waist, his leg raised, he threw out a kick. Riley immediately tossed the fist in his palm to the side and reacted, blocking the leg with both of his arms.

“Woah, you actually listened. Well, now what? I’ve caught your leg.” Riley answered and slowly lifted Boulder up in the air. Boulder was now upside down; both of his legs were held in Riley’s hands.

“Let me go!” Boulder furiously shouted, he continued to struggle back and forth, pulling himself up and swinging at Riley who was holding him up by the legs.

“Haha, no.” Riley replied.

Boulder tried to use his own legs to break free from Riley’s grasp, but Riley’s hands remained clenched onto the leg, there was no way he’d easily let go.

“Let me go!” Boulder exclaimed again; he was feeling completely helpless in Riley’s hands. He couldn’t kick, he couldn’t punch, he was upside down and everyone was watching him.

“Now, what’re you going to do?” Riley continued to smile and ask. He was taunting him, looking down at the boy who was struggling.

“Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!” Boulder roared, shaking incessantly until he pulled himself up midway, his knees bent, his face locking gaze with the smiling Riley before him. He instantly swung his forehead forward with the momentum of his entire body.

Bang!

Another gust of wind ensued as Riley’s grasp of Boulder faltered, releasing the boy as both of his hands instinctively reached for his forehead, crying out in pain. “Ow, ow, ow you headbutted me!?” Riley rubbed his forehead and turned around to look at the boy who rolled a short distance away from him.

Boulder fell to the ground and rolled off to the side and pushed himself up locking gaze at Riley who was rubbing his forehead in surprise by Boulder’s attack. It seemed that the headbutt had some effect on Riley. Boulder’s nostrils flared as he blew out hot air from his nose.

He bent down, tucked his head and charged forward at Riley. Riley’s eyes went wide as he saw the attack coming at him, he quickly removed the palm rubbing his forehead and blocked the head of the boy charging at him. The boy however, continued to aggressively push at Riley with his head who was slowly being pushed back.

Boulder didn’t stop there, he wildly swung at Riley arms with his own trying to weaken it in order to break through.

“Ah, shit.” Riley calmly stated before his arm gave way, Boulder’s entire body rammed the young man in the stomach. With a furious roar Boulder lifted Riley up with his head and grabbed onto both of Riley’s arm. He threw him overhead behind him.

Bam!

Riley landed outside of the stage. Boulder stood there, panting as he looked at the young man slowly getting up.

Riley dusted his clothes off and got back on stage. He walked up to Boulder who was warily looking back at him. “Ahaha, I guess I lost.” Riley smiled and reached his hands out to shake Boulder’s hand.

“Huh?” Boulder was confused and could only reply by shaking Riley’s hand.

“You tossed me off the stage, I think that disqualifies me, right?” Riley asked.

“Yep, you lost.” Gran walked up and looked at Riley who didn’t seem mad at all that he had lost.

“I-I won?” Boulder looked up at Riley and Gran who was standing before them. Riley nodded his head and congratulated Boulder.

“The winner is, Boulder!” Gran exclaimed. He patted the boy on the head “well done my son.”

The audience were in an uproar and clapped excitedly. They had not expected the match to end the way it did, in fact no one did.

“I… guess that’s one way to win?” Poe looked at Krystal and Carson who couldn’t hold in their laughter.

“He-he’s really a mad bull~!” Carson laughed.

Poe eyed Mason who shook his head at the result of the match. Mason smiled back at Poe and got up.

“Go Poe~” Carson exclaimed.

“I guess, it’s my turn…” Poe got up and walked past by Boulder onto the stage.

“Good luck, they’re pretty good.” Riley stated to Mason on his way onstage.

Mason left out a smile. “You let him win, now I’ll show you what happens if you don’t go easy.”

“Hey, hey, don’t bully him.”

“I won’t, he’s not like Boulder, I can’t go easy…”

“I see…well good luck.”

Riley walked over to Seth, Sampson and Gerald and sat down. He sighed and shook his head, he looked down. “Oh? What’s this?”

“Hm? I didn’t even notice that at all.” Seth replied.

“Me either”

“same here.”

Gerald and Sampson replied in unison.

“I wonder what this tally is for…? P and M? Poe? Mason? P has more tallies does that mean…?” Riley’s eyes widen and looked up onstage at the two who got to position.

“Begin.”