Chapter 14: Zephyrus the Rival?! Day 2 of the Tournament!

Orion watched as the blue-haired boy defeated the enemy team one-by-one. Pillars of ice formed from the ground and covered the entire arena. His teammates, seemingly used to this, slid across with ease, whereas the enemy slipped around.

“Oh my word! Zephyrus quickly changes the environment to suit him! He truly is the Prince of Ice!” Caelus snorted at Zeph’s nickname, but continued to watch.

Zeph easily defeated two enemies at one time, leaving the enemy team with one person left - their defender and their captain.

“Uh-oh! Trouble for Winifred! The only person left standing is their Captain, Cleo!” Lothar shouted.

“You got this Cleo!” Shouts from the girl’s team aroused.

Zeph slid across the ice and Cleo sent waves of wind at him, slicing the ice pillars in half. She managed to push two of Zeph’s teammates off of the platform.

“Tch,” Zeph clicked his tongue angrily, he would speak to those two later about this.

Cleo sent another wave of wind at him. Zeph covered his forearms with an azure-colored ice and lifted them in front of him, blocking the sharp wind. Cleo looked surprise, but continued her attacks.

Zeph bent down, gaining more speed, until he finally reached the girl.

“Dang it!” she yelled, throwing a punch at him. Zeph jumped up, using a small pillar of ice to propel him above her. He landed behind her and pulled the back of her shirt, causing her to fall off of the platform.

“WINNER IS TEAM ARES!”

Zeph smiled with contempt, “you have legs, you know.”

Cleo blushed at his comment, as she realized, the entire time he was charging at him, she didn’t move from her spot.

“Shut up!” She growled, “I don’t want to be told that by someone like yo- hey, wait! Why are you walking away?!”

Zeph ignored her annoying yells as he walked towards his teammates to be transported. However, before he did, he turned to stare at the red-eyed boy, then pointed at him - a challenging glare in his eyes.

The boy smiled with satisfaction, before giving him an A-OK with his hand.

“Z-Zeph?!” his teammates reacted with surprise.

“Oh?” Lathor said, taking notice of their small interactions, “there seems to be a friendly rivalry already! Between Are’s Captain, Zephyrus, and… Ingenium’s Captain, Orion!”

“Who is that?” asked Mia, with suspicious eyes. She was Zeph’s vice-captain and was very annoying. She thought of herself as the closest person to him and always tried to intrude in his personal life or hang around him.

“None of your business,” he glared, walking towards the two people who fell off of the platform. “Next time, you better not fall to someone like her, got it?”

“Y-yes,” they stuttered.

…

The day passed by eventfully. After Lothar announced that - and pointed him out - their team gained more attention and popularity. Once again, the children were burdened by popularity. The only person happy about this was Kai, Rhett, and Brent - even Dillon disliked it.

At the end of the day, the results came out, it showed who lost and who won. They made sure to mark Ares’s and Clarus’s progress. Also, Ezra’s bracelet notified him of the new rules and who they were up against next.

“The next team you’re up against is Team Rampardos,” Ezra said, checking his bracelet. “First day, they physically pushed everyone off of the platform, rather than defeating them.”

“After that team, you go up against the winner of Team Scyther versus Team Clefairy,” Ezra listed, along with their information. “Three matches in one day. Hm.. a lot of people must’ve signed up this year. Well, no problem, just defeat them as efficiently as possible.”

“As efficiently as possible?” Ley and Lilith turned to Orion, who looked at them with a confused face.

“Oh, no…” Orion tried protesting.

“Yes, it'll be perfect!” Lilith interrupted, her eyes shining. Ley agreed.

“Err…” Orion frowned, unable to reject them.

As for the change in rules, they decided to change the rule and allow people to use their designated strategists in a game. With this, the team member count bumped to 7. However, having a strategist came with a price. If they were to “die” in a match, they will be considered “dead” the next match, as well.

Also, teams that faced other teams who only had 6 members were forced to stay at the maximum of 6 members. This was to keep things even and fair.

The officials explained that they will continue to add more strategic rules and factors to the game, this was made in order to test the participants more. This tournament would test their minds, adaptability, strength, and talent.

“Wow, they’re really trying hard,” Brent sighed, shaking his head. “At least this way it’ll be more entertaining - it gets boring watching a bunch of newbies fight.”

“Shut up,” Atira glared, slapping his arm.

“Ouch!” Brent glared back.

“Wuss.”

…

“Are you ready?!” Lothar shouted, cupping his ear. The crowed erupted in shouts and screams, some even whistled. “I SAID, ARE YOU READY?!”

The booming crowd exploded, passing on their excitement and adrenaline to the participants, who smiled widely at each other. They trembled in excitement, unknown of what the results would be.

“Hello, everyone! I am your host, Lothar,” Lothar greeted, bowing. He received whoops and whistles. “Today we’ll start round 2 with our newest strategist rule!” Lothar stared at a camera, “for those of you watching through your television, we’ll have all of the rules and new ones on our hologram site!”

“For our main platform, we have the mighty Team Clarus against the raging Team Machamp! Remember to vote your favorite teams before you leave today! Now, let’s get this show on the road!”

All of the participants who passed the first round were surrounded by a cool, bright light. They were then transported to their respective platforms, those with 7 members automatically skipped the selection process.

“Here, hold Ley,” Lilith said to Rhett, who obediently put the child on his shoulders. “Protect him, he’s our strategist.”

“YES, MA’AM!” Rhett yelled, saluting her. He moved suddenly, causing Ley to almost fall off. Ley glared and punched Rhett’s head, which made no damage.

[Can you hear me?] A familiar voice echoed in their heads, catching all of them by surprise. However, they quickly regained their composure.

[It’s me, Ley.]

“Ley?!” They shouted in surprise, watching as the small child struggled to hang onto the boisterous Rhett.

[Yes, I am manipulating electromagnetism to communicate with you. I’ve been trying this technique out with Ezra for a while. Ah… just wanted to give you the heads-up.]

Kai laughed, “wow, Ley! That’s so cool!”

[Hm… well, this is how I’ll communicate with you in matches, so get used to it.]

The other team finally appeared on the platform. Ley immediately went to analyzing the group. He couldn’t use his skills on them yet, but the least he could do was observe their body types, facial expressions, and any other small perks that could give away what they were.

He observed how thin and slender each of them were. They could’ve fooled him, as they looked to be around their age, but, in reality, were older than them. Then, something caught Ley’s eyes.

Ley’s eyes widened in surprise as he stared at the conditions of their hands - it looked rough and hard. However, he needed more information to confirm his hypothesis.

[Be wary, their physical appearances are masking their true abilities.

Processing new rules…

OK!

Game start in 3.. 2.. 1…

Go!

Ley quickly released a small burst of seemingly harmless electricity. However, this small electricity could scan a partial amount of information on them - he had yet to train it to its full potential.

Ley’s stared shocked at the other team. [Careful! This group- they’re all earth elementals-]

“What?” Orion asked, frowning.

Then, as if they read Ley’s thoughts, each of them quickly bent down and slammed the ground, causing pillars of earth to rise up against them - they intended to push them all off of the platform in one go.

Eve glared and released her hardest shield, bouncing the pillars away. However, they were continuous.

[The air.]

Eve smacked the ground with her palm and a small shield propelled them in the air, away from the pillars that moved forward like waves. Dillon clapped his hands together and a pillar with a blunt end was created for them to land on.

[Dillon and Caelus, control the earth.]

“Tch,” Caelus glared floating up and away from their range of attacks. He shot a wave of wind at the continuous waves and cut them in half.

Dillon, on the other hand, slammed his palms against the earth - causing a wave of pillars to crash with the other team’s - stopping it.

[If you can get down there, Orion, you can push about half of them off with your shadow skills.]

Orion sighed, they wanted him to do this in the first place. Now, he had no choice but to use this skill. Orion jumped down from the pillar and, on contact with the ground below, disappeared into the shadows.

The earth elementals looked worried, before propelling themselves up in the air.

“Alright, like this, then,” Lilith raised her hand, “I call upon thee - handmaiden, Bell!” A small, white bird who resembled a stuff toy appeared next to her. It attached itself onto her arm and melted into it, forming a dove-shaped tattoo on her right arm, starting from her hand to her forearm.

Lilith raised her arm and pointed at one of the boys on the enemy team. She flicked her finger and he was sent backwards. Unfortunately, he stopped himself by created an earth wall between his back and the edge of the platform.

“That’ll hurt,” Eve muttered, staring at him.

[Kai, distract them.]

Kai instantly disappeared and reappeared next to the boy who stopped himself from falling out. He grabbed his ankle and threw him out of the platform.

“Ah!” The boy yelled, but it was too late for him.

The enemy team saw Kai and immediately went to attack him. However, they were too slow, and Kai reappeared next to Rhett, who tapped his foot impatiently.

“Hm,” Lilith stared at him, while she busied herself with pushing the enemy backwards. “Well… I guess you can go-”

Rhett immediately left Ley behind and quickly went to go attack the enemy. He landed on the rough ground, causing a deep depression.

[While you’re at it, get them down to the ground for Orion. It’s much easier that way.]

“Got it~!” Rhett smiled happily, running and jumping on one of the pillars they created. He touched the pillar and green vines sprouted from the ground below. It took ahold of the pillar and fastened around it, before crushing it to pieces and returning to the ground.

Orion immediately came out from a shadow and grabbed the fallen girl’s shadow, quickly casting it to the side. She was sent flying off of the platform.

“Five more to go!” Orion yelled, materializing his scythe and attacking one person - who was also sent flying. After all, Ezra told them to fight efficiently.

One by one, the pillars collapsed to the might of the vines and the people on it were sent flying by Orion. Meanwhile, Eve, Ley, Kai, Caelus, Dillon, and Lilith sat on the ground - waiting for Rhett and Orion to finish the opponent.

They sighed and wondered whether or not it’ll be like this for the rest of the competition.

Their fight barely lasted ten minutes.

“You’re too overpowered!” Lilith complained, slapping Orion’s shoulder, she might not fight as much as everyone else does, but she liked testing her abilities on others. Also, doing this allowed her rank up Bell.

“Sorry?” Orion said, tilting his head in confusion. He thought she wanted him to get rid of them efficiently. After all, it was her plan to have him throw the enemy off of the platform using his shadow abilities.

“Don’t look innocent!” She pouted, crossing her arms. “At least try to hold back so we can fight, too.”

Orion laughed, “next time, then.”

“And you!” Lilith glared at Rhett. “Idiot, did I allow you to use mana? What if our next opponent is much stronger?!”

“Oh… My bad, my bad!” Rhett laughed it off, transforming to the size of 3 feet.

However, what they didn’t know was that their fights would continue on like this for the rest of the day…

…

After all of their matches ended, they decided to stay behind and watch Clarus’s and, upon Orion’s request, Ares’s, too.

Surprisingly, Everett was not the captain of their team, but rather a 14-year-old who nobody knew of. He wasn’t stronger than Everett either, but was chosen for his leadership skills, despite his lack of talent compared to the two brothers (Michael and Everett).

“Clarus vs. Cresselia!” Lothar shouted. “On our right, we have team Clarus who specializes with teamwork and offense! On our left, we have team Cresselia who are known for their outstanding defense!”

Game start 3.. 2.. 1..

Go!

It started off with Michael, who specialized in speed, charging forward. Unfortunately, he was stopped by a wall of earth, and was later surrounded by a dome. Everett raised his hand and a ball of light encompassed the dome, destroying it.

“Everett!” Their captain yelled, rushing forward after Michael. Everett nodded and ran towards the enemy team, who also charged forward.

They clashed.

Everett created balls of light and threw them at the enemy team, who easily blocked by creating a wave of water.

Their team captain rushed forward, his arms trailing behind him, surrounding him was a large body of water. Once he got mid-way, he stopped and flung his arms forward, causing the water to flow out like a huge flood. This was countered by a wind elemental blocking the water by continuously releasing waves of wind.

“It looks like Cresselia and Clarus are an even match!”

While doing this, however, they seemed to have forgotten Michael who fell long ago. He quickly rose to his feet and released a burst of fire, taking down two enemies and “killing” their strategist - who had the lowest amount of health.

“WOAH! AND IT SEEMS LIKE MICHAEL DOWNED 3 MEMBERS OF CRESSELIA!” Lothar shouted in surprise, the crowd went wild, screaming Michael’s name.

“Michael, come back!” Their captain yelled, Michael scoffed, but obediently left. Moments later a wave off water attacked the spot where Michael used to be.

Dillon scoffed and said, “he’s even rude to his own captain. What a brat.” Concerning Michael, Dillon’s attitude turned a complete 360.

With only half of their members left, the team went down quickly - ending with Everett and a few of their offensive players attacking from both sides.

After Clarus’s match, a few matches later, Ares came up. Ares was the most popular contender to win the tournament. Everyone had high hopes for them, especially for their captain. Many advanced academies were currently waiting for him to graduate so that they could recruit him.

Ares vs. Entei*

Game start.. 3… 2… 1…

Go!

Once again, the floor was covered in ice and a wave of wind knocked the opponents to the ground. This was followed up by a water elementalist pushing the entire team off of the platform.

“AND ARES WINS! THIS IS THEIR THIRD WIN LIKE THIS. THIS TEAM JUST GETS BETTER AND BETTER.”

The crowd yelled in excitement, some even stood up and jumped around. Whistles and whoops further excited the crowd, who watched the team get transported back to their seats. People surrounding them congratulated them and tried hi-fiving them.

Zeph ignored them and glared at those who tried to touch him. Meanwhile, Mia stared at Zeph with happiness and started asking him questions, to which he replied in one-word answers.

Brent sighed, “well, that ends the day for us.”

“That was anticlimactic,” Caelus yawned, floating up from his seat.

Orion watched as Zeph turned to look around, finally meeting his eyes. A small, victorious smirk on his face. Orion smiled, which caused Zeph to look surprise. He turned away and walked towards the exit, his teammates following behind him. Once out of sight, a small scowl appeared on his face.

“Brat,” he muttered, before walking away.

_________

Stellar's Box

*Okay, sorry I got lazy and didn't really want to make a picture. Later in the future, if I remember, I probs will.

THANKS FOR READING - REMEMBER TO COMMENT/GIVE FEEDBACK. :)

Okay, quick announcement:

From now on, I'll probably take my time creating the chapters. Since chapter 1, I've been stressing to write 7-13 pages a day for Spirit. Honestly, it wasn't working out. I felt like it was eating my summer away. Hence, my now-slowing-down on updating/writing. Also, I'm starting my summer classes**, so I'll have even less time writing. However, fret not, it's an online course, meaning it will probably take me a week and a half to complete (if I do 4-5 hours a day).

** Rant:

OKAY. THIS CLASS, LEGIT, PISSES ME OFF. So, since my health class didn't count from middle school, I have to do health again in high school - yaaaay. However, what pisses me off is that it's made for 8th graders, so it's suuuper easy, but each lesson video takes 1 hour. -facepalm-

Also, I ran out of team names, so I used pokemon... MAKE SUGGESTION OF A TEAM NAME BELOW! (I'll let you even create your own captain [of course I'll mod it if he/she is too OP])