Chereads / PRISM / Chapter 2 - 2: First Day of School

Chapter 2 - 2: First Day of School

Monty's eyes narrowed and his expression dropped. He gave a "Geh."

"Geh?" Clara repeated with a questioning look.

"What were you thinking? Bumping into me like that," Monty asked.

"I was going to be late for a supermarket sale that was going on. Sorry," Clara giggled, embarrassed.

"And that gives you justification for pushing me off a bridge?" Monty asked just as irritably.

The rest of the class looked on in confusion as the confrontation grew more heated.

I can't believe it! Dalton gasped. Monty knows a girl I don't?! Dalton's ego took a tiny dink, but it was easily repaired after he thought about it further. Ah, it must be because he learned from me! He's grown up so fast! Dalton sniffled, switching from the mindset of a rival to a proud master.

"N-no! But I apologized, didn't I?" Clara retorted.

"Saying 'walk it off' doesn't count. I can't walk off falling off a bridge," Monty stressed.

"Fine, fine! I'm sorry, sorry!" Clara shouted.

Monty grumbled and turned away from her. "Frickin' made me lose all my groceries! Frickin' monkey woman!"

A vein appeared on Clara's forehead. "Who're you calling a monkey?!" She weaved a bolt of lightning around her wrist and between her fingers and flicked it at Monty.

"Ow!" Monty exclaimed. His aura shield shimmered crimson, having absorbed most of the damage, but not so much the pain. "The person who just shocked me idiot~" he taunted and snapped his fingers.

An ember leapt to Clara's hair and set it ablaze. She began to panic and ran in circles in an attempt to put out the fire.

"Aight, that's enough!" the teacher boomed and the class quieted down.

Clara halted and Monty sucked the fire back into his belly. She patted her head in order to check if her hair had been burned.

"Don't worry," Monty assured. "I only lit one strand of your hair on fire. Not your entire head."

Clara puffed her cheeks and went to sit down next to the blonde girl. "Frickin' Lava Brain," she grumbled under her breath.

"Pfft, Thunderhead…" Monty grumbled.

Are they twelve? Paige thought to himself.

"Welcome to Prestige class!" the teacher exclaimed. "Here, we have selected only the most elite out of all applicants who we think deserve a shot at the Prestige License. You guys must think you some special people, huh?"

Monty crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair while Clara shifted uncomfortably in hers.

I haven't seen Monty lose his cool like that in a while, Dalton thought with a grin full of amusement.

"I'll tell you right now, the Crucible is no joke! If you go in there as you are now, ain't no way y'all are gettin' that License! But where are my manners? I am Sagittarius, the Zodiac Guardian of the Northwest Sector of Puakai. Although I am not a Prestige, I can whoop yo ass in a fight! As you all know, a Prestige is a mage who has proven worthy to the Magistracy through the Crucible, and has been awarded the Prestige License which allows the holder to pretty much anything. I will be your homeroom teacher.

"Now with that out of the way, we can get started. This will be a very challenging class, but it's only the first day so we'll get to know each other first… through a little game of capture the flag!" He clapped his hands together and rubbed them with a smile.

Dalton immediately looked over to Monty and their eyes met. Dalton gave a grin and leaned even further back in his chair. "Will today be the day I smash Monty into the ground~?"

"Pfft," Monty scoffed. "As if I'd lose to someone who refuses to train."

Sagittarius continued his explanation. "I am going to put this class into a randomizer. The rules are simple. Combat is allowed. If your aura shield is shattered you are out! You cannot join back in once it has been restored. The entire Northern District is your battlefield. Destruction of any building will result in an instant disqualification! You may place your flag anywhere you like so long as there is no roof above it! After teams are chosen, you will have an hour grace period to plan everything out. Best of luck. The Dean and I will be watching!"

****

Gods, this sucks, Paige thought to himself. Why did Monty and Dalton have to be put on the same team?

"Hi! My name's Amethyst Violet! People call me Amy though!" she beamed and shook hands with Clara.

"Hi, I'm Clara Bernardino. It's nice to meet you!" Clara smiled.

"I'm Paige Tovera. Bernardino? As in the Bernardino Asterium Company?"

Clara's expression dropped a little bit, but she chuckled it off. "Yeah, and your last name is pretty famous too isn't it? The Toveras are a line of expert exorcists no?"

It was Paige's turn to sadden his expression a little, "Yeah, that's right."

Amy saw the tension between the two and quickly did something to liven up the situation. "Hey Clara, sorry about my brother. He usually isn't like that."

"What's he usually like then?"

Amy giggled, "Sometimes it's kinda like talking to a brick wall…"

"Oh…"

"Alright, let's focus up," Paige said with a clap of his hands. "First off. Let's take inventory. Amy can use shadow magic."

Amy demonstrated by taking the shadow at her feet and moving it up her body and to her shoulder. She then detached it and rolled it into a ball before sending it back to her feet.

"Cool! You can use light magic too then right?" Clara exclaimed.

Amy reverted the ball back to its original form and scratched the back of her head. "Um, no. I-I haven't quite figured that out yet."

"Oh, well what about you Paige?"

"I ain't got anything but aura manipulation," Paige continued.

"But you're really smart!" Amy defended. But Paige couldn't find the compliment in that statement.

"Well, I can use lightning magic as you probably saw," Clara said, and weaved lightning between her fingertips.

"Cool. Next is what we know about the enemy. Clara, what's Elizabeth capable of?" Paige asked. "We know everything about the other two."

"Elizabeth specializes in pistols. She can use Chrono Magic," Clara explained.

"As in time magic?" Paige asked.

"Yeah, she can stop time for up to four seconds. Her weak spot would be her cooldowns. For instance, if she stops time for four seconds, she can't stop time again for sixteen seconds."

"Okay, we'll use that to our advantage then," Paige nodded his head a couple of times. "Okay, I say we divide and conquer. It is a better situation for us to lure them to locations that increase our chances using the environment in one-on-one's rather than to fight them as a group," Paige proposed.

"Why?" Clara asked.

"They may not seem like it, but Monty and Dalton are a force to be reckoned with when working together," Amy chuckled.

Paige pulled up a map of the Northern District of Atlas on his Omnicard and placed it on the table in between them. It projected a 3D hologram of the map showing their location.

"We have an hour. Let's get to work."

****

"Ugh! Why are we always on the same team?!" Dalton whined.

"It can't be helped," Monty sighed. "Our first priority is taking down Paige."

"Why?" Elizabeth asked.

"Because Lizzy. Can I call ya Lizzy?" Dalton asked.

"No please," Elizabeth replied with a polite smile.

"Because Liz, Paige is the mastermind of the group. I don't care how smart you say that Clara person is," Dalton urged.

"Paige doesn't want me and Dalton working together," Monty figured.

"Which I don't get because we don't click that well," Dalton added.

"So he'll try to split us up, which works to our advantage anyway. The problem is who we face. Paige isn't that powerful combat wise, but Amy is at least capable, and Clara is too I reckon. Dalton, try to pair up with Clara. Everything else is fine. We can take them," Monty planned.

"Who will guard our flag?" Elizabeth asked.

"You will," Monty said. "We keep our flag mobile by capturing it ourselves. I asked if we can score points for the other team, and he asked if I was stupid but didn't mention anything about it being against the rules. Their flag will be on the western half of the district. So long as we have our flag on that side, we can use that loophole. Once we have their flag, we'll take both back to our base."

"Isn't that kind of risky?" Elizabeth asked. "I don't mean to be rude."

"Don't worry 'bout it! I can sweep all three of 'em!" Dalton assured.

****

Paige sat atop the tallest building in the Northern District with his head plunged in his book. The city looked very small from his perch, except for the Space Tower at the center of the city, which loomed over all the other districts and reached past the clouds. It would have been a beautiful view if fog didn't cover the Croconoa Mountains nearly twenty-four hours of the day, and the clouds and wind didn't threaten to drench him. His team's green flag flapped in the wind beside him. The holographic map of the Northern District was being projected from his Omnicard. It showed three dots: Amy's purple dot, Clara's yellow dot, and Paige's green dot, showing their locations.

"How we doin' Clara?" Paige asked into his earbuds.

"I've been looking all over their half and haven't found their flag yet. I'll keep you posted," Clara reported through fast breaths.

"Remember, your focus is Monty. That match up is most ideal for you."

"I'll gladly pound that Lava Brain's face in when I find him!"

"Sounds good. Amy how you doin?" Paige asked.

"Nothing here. I don't know where they're going to attack from," Amy reported.

Too much area has been searched to not have found their flag yet. Monty should have realized that I was going for isolated attacks and planned accordingly. Dalton will no doubt try to fight every person, so that leaves several options still left on the table, Paige analyzed.

"Clara, is Elizabeth a more conservative person or an aggressive person when fighting?" Paige asked.

"She's very reserved most of the time and waits for an opening rather than barging in," Clara replied. "Why?"

"Thanks, I got all that I need," Paige said.

He took all of his shock runestones from his belt, filled them with his aura to their critical point, and placed them in an empty bucket. He cracked the door leading to the roof slightly and placed it on top.

Dumbest trick I learned from Dalton, Paige smirked. Buuut that's why he'll never expect me to do it.

He also took his tie and stuck it to the wall beside the door and the door itself with six talismans, and marked them accordingly from inside the building with three on each side. He placed the talismans so that the three were touching each other.

Okay, if this door is opened further, the bucket will spill and the runestones will discharge upon hitting the ground. The tie will rip apart the talismans which will cause an electric current to flow between the bottom pair, causing it to flow upward into the other two pairs, creating a temporary door of electricity.

The door having been cracked open will bait her into sprinting for our flag. Everything looks like it is in order. Now, before I go…

Paige called Dalton.

"Yello?"

"Dalton, I have a deal for you."

"What?"

"I tell you the location of my teammates and my flag, and you tell me where your flag is," Paige bargained.

Dalton laughed. "Haha, you won't get me this time Paige. No way, we'll find you anyway."

"Oh really? Well, I'm sure you'd want to wrap this up soon, because my teammates are honestly not that great and you could probably wipe the floor with them. Besides, Dad is making lasagna tonight."

"Lasagna?"

"Yup. And don't you want to show off your strength to the new girls and impress them? Imagine, you getting the flag and defeating all three of us by yourself. I'm sure it would leave a good impression on the others."

"But you don't care about my pride and accomplishments," Dalton retorted.

"You're exaggerating a little bit, but not the point. I'm talking about Elizabeth. She seems like your type no?"

"...You know, I know you're playing me, but you're right. Alright, Liz has our flag. Something about a loophole of us being in your turf or something. I know you are a man of your word."

"Indeed brother, talk to you soon."

"See ya."

Paige sent the coordinates and turned to his flag. "Yeah, you're coming with me in that case. But first…" Paige took a video of the flag from atop the roof of the entrance. He gave a nod of satisfaction before calling his teammates. "Amy expect to fight Monty. Clara, expect to fight Dalton. They will still be one-on-one scenarios. I'll stay and guard the flag."

"What's this all of a sudden?" Clara asked.

"I told them your coordinates and they are currently tracking you two. I also told them where our flag is," Paige informed.

"What?!" Amy exclaimed.

"Have no fear. Amy go to someplace that catches fire easily. Monty will be forced to suppress his aura there. Clara, go to an open space. Dalton fights best in alleys."

"Got it," they both said.

"I'm not gonna have my Omnicard with me no more. Good luck," Paige warned and hung up the call after sending them the info.

Paige projected the video and put it on loop. He positioned it atop the door to make it appear that their flag was still there. Their real flag would be behind the roof access out of sight.

"And why not add some tunes to make it seem like I'm distracted?" Paige figured, and turned on his playlist before leaving his Omnicard on the roof.

And with this, I call check.

****

"Hey Sis," Monty greeted. "You dancing or something?"

"This is a gym moron, not a studio," Amy giggled.

Monty opened his hands and cracked his neck. His palms flickered and crackled like firecrackers as he warmed up his joints. He slammed a fist into his palm and made a small explosion causing a waft of smoke.

"We going to fight or what?"

"You know I'm not that fond of sparring," Amy sighed.

She quickly used her shadow to form wings on her back and shot feathers of shadow in rapid succession. Monty held out his palm and created a flurry of explosions, blowing up the projectiles before they reached him. He then rolled out of the way of the remaining feathers and threw a fireball. She batted it out of the way with a wing, and quickly turned her shadow into a large shuriken and hurled it at Monty. He ducked in time, the blades of shadow cutting a few strands of his hair as they passed overhead. Monty ran toward his opponent and heard the whirling wind behind him.

It's coming back huh? he thought.

Monty slid on his knees, his aura shield protecting them from scraping. He limboed underneath the returning shuriken and simultaneously sucked in a large breath. His eyes followed the shuriken back to its owner who, upon catching it, turned it into a massive scythe.

"Why hello there," Amy teased as she held the blade against Monty's neck.

Monty smiled and some of the vermillion flame leaked through his teeth. Amy's eyes widened and she tried to jump away, but the blast hit directly and she was blown backward. She turned her shadow into spider legs and stabilized herself in midair.

Monty spared no time and engaged in close quarters combat. He swung with his right arm, coated in flame, only to be blocked by a shield of shadow which spiraled around Amy's left arm. She thrust the shield, its point like a drill, but missed her target. Monty sweep kicked, but Amy jumped over it and formed her shadow into four tentacles, two of which grabbed Monty's ankles, and the other two she used to grab his neck. She threw him upward and used her tentacles like extra legs, springing her higher. She threw her arms up and clasped her fists.

The tentacles followed suit and grouped together over her head before swinging downward with her hands upon Monty. He put up a cross block and was smacked into the ground. He bounced back up slightly, letting out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of him. His aura shield glimmered red and cracks began to appear on the back of it.

Amy followed up by coating her leg in shadow and extending a talon, which clasped Monty's throat when she landed, pinning him to the ground. After grasping it, the shadow was quickly dispersed by a flurry of explosions from Monty's palms. He let out another breath attack and Amy was barely able to limbo underneath it. Monty sweep kicked and threw Amy off balance. He bolted back up to his feet and clawed the air in around him creating a spiral of flame. Amy was blown backwards by the attack, but Monty was able to grasp her by her ankle.

Amidst the inferno, he spun around and around, creating explosions along the way before hurling Amy across the gym. She slammed against the gym wall with an "oof" and slid to the ground.

She began to rub the back of her head, which had taken a large portion of the impact.

"Sorry, your head okay?" Monty asked as he crouched beside her.

"Yeah, don't worry about it."

"Ah, good." He bonked her on her head with a karate chop to finish off her aura shield. "You almost had me there. It was hard not to burn everything to the ground."

He looked behind him and saw he had only done an okay job at not setting things on fire, having left a couple of puddles of flame here and there across the floor. Those puddles soon became puddles of water as the fire alarm rang out and the sprinkler system kicked on.

Over the loudspeaker they could hear their teacher say, "Amy is out, and Monty is disqualified for destruction of property."

"Good grief," Monty sighed.

****

"Yo! What was your name again?" Dalton asked with a smile.

Clara wasted no time at all upon seeing Dalton and channeled a bolt of lightning at him.

He reached his hand to the ground and created a pillar of ice which he back flipped onto. Clara's attack scorched the ground where he once stood.

"Woah, a little overkill don't ya think?" Dalton taunted.

Dalton jumped down and did two spin kicks in the air. Two spears of ice launched from his legs.

Clara's expression simply grew irritated and she discharged another current to shatter the projectiles.

"This is your only chance to give up!" Dalton warned.

"Why would I do that?! You haven't landed a single hit on me!" Clara scoffed.

Dalton put his hands in his pockets and with a long breath, relaxed his entire body. He closed his eyes and cleared his mind of everything.

"Tranquil Snow," he murmured as he summoned the spell.

Snow whipped up in a cyclone. The flurry howled and swirled until it enveloped almost the entirety of the ring in a blizzard in the shape of a dome.

Clara shielded her eyes as she was swallowed by the storm. The howling faded and she opened her eyes to an empty plane of snow. Not a sound could be heard but her own breathing. Snowflakes twinkled and floated to the ground. The sky was dark and no moon or stars were in sight, yet there was a luminescent glow like a deep blue sunset.

Clara stood up and was submerged knee deep in the soft blanket of pure white. As she began to walk, the snow sloshed and mist came from her mouth as she breathed. The sloshing noise of the snow and the ruffling of her clothes seemed to faintly echo and bounce among the falling snowflakes.

What the hell? She thought, looking for her opponent.

She at first searched for footsteps, relying on her hearing to locate his movements in the quiet plane, but she found no sign of him. A sharp pain was felt on the back of her neck and she stumbled forward.

Is he invisible? And he makes no footsteps or sound? she analyzed. She ran over to the howling wall of wind and touched it. Her fingertips stung and felt as though they were being ripped apart by the fragments of ice. They were instantly turned pink and stung even more as the blood ran back into them.

"It's useless!" Dalton's voice echoed across the plane, seeming to bounce off each individual snowflake. "The walls will freeze you if you try to go through 'em. No one has ever escaped albeit one, and he was a professional. You're gonna have to push me out of here or wait until I decide to let you out."

"Thanks for the lesson!" Clara mocked. "What next? You're gonna tell me your master plan to defeat me?"

Lying in the snow about a meter away from her, Dalton fell silent as he looked upon his prey. He pondered the idea before he gave his answer, "Mmmm… Sure, why not? My plan is as follows: hit you really hard."

He got up and kicked her in the stomach. Clara fell back into the snow with an "oof" and coughed. Her aura shield shimmered a faint yellow. She searched frantically and was interrupted by a kick to the back. She faceplanted into the snow, feeling like she had been shoved into a pile of cotton balls.

"Ya know, I don't like hittin' chicks. So if you could surrender, that'd be great," Dalton smiled.

"The way you keep talking while you fight really pisses me off!" Clara snapped.

Clara focused her aura and spread it across her entire body. She felt her aura surge and let it loose. Electricity discharged from her body in every direction and violently plowed throw the snow.

Dalton was shocked, and he was forced outside Tranquil Snow's radius causing the spell to dissipate.

This girl… Just who does she think she is? Dalton thought as he skidded to a halt.

"That spell not only takes a lot of aura to produce, but also to maintain," Dalton explained. "So you breaking out of there was kinda annoying."

Clara put her hands on her hips. "Where is the source of this pride coming from? I've broken through every one of your moves, yet you still insist that you're better?"

Dalton began to laugh in disbelief. "Well, if you wanna know so badly, I'll show you." He put his hands in his pockets and smirked. "You, me, hard as we can."

Clara looked at Dalton in disbelief at first, but then she too had a smile on her face. "Alright then, you're on."

Clara took out a coin from her pocket and rested it on her thumb, which she had cocked by her index finger.

Dalton did the same, and Clara gave a confused look.

"What're you doing?"

"You'll see."

"One," Dalton said.

"Two," Clara continued. She flicked her coin up into the air.

Dalton couldn't hide his excitement and he did the same. Aaaaand that's a wrap.

"Three!" they both shouted.

That's when Clara noticed that the pillar Dalton made earlier was about to crash onto her. Not only that, she saw Dalton had ditched whatever he was going to do with the coin and had clawed the air. On the ground, she could see a giant wave of ice rapidly growing in size and barreling towards her.

Crap! What do I do? she thought, frantically weighing her options.

She turned and quickly destroyed the pillar with an electric shock. She turned back around just in time to fire her coin. Using her control of electric currents to create a railgun with her hand. Lightning could be seen flowing in her arm and hand. It sparked between her fingertips and with a flash of yellow, she fired the coin at the speed of mach three.

Dalton felt the shockwave from the shot and put up a cross block as the coin zoomed past and up into the sky before it vaporized. He saw the result of the duel and began to laugh, mist floating from his mouth. Clara was frozen from the waist down, and was breathing heavily.

"You were a lot more entertaining than I thought you'd be! I didn't know you could fire lasers!" He ran over before she could react any further. And with a bat of ice, and a little bit of aura concentrated into his torso, swung at her head, shattering the weapon upon impact and denting her aura shield in the process.

Clara became disoriented and dizzy and slumped over the ice which imprisoned her.

"You cheated," Clara growled. "And it wasn't a laser idiot."

"Whatever—and you're wrong. I didn't cheat. You just didn't pay enough attention to your surroundings," Dalton corrected with a smile. "Misdirection. It works more than it should. It worked especially well this time thanks to your little coin stunt. I lured you into a false sense of security after you broke out of my Tranquil Snow, I got you pissed by taunting you, and I got you confused by copying what you were doing. Even if these effects were slight, they all piled up. All I was looking for was a slight misstep, and you missed, didn't you? You even fell for my bluff about going all out and used a lot of aura didn't you?" Dalton couldn't help but bask in her ferocious expression.

Clara growled and suddenly broke free from her bonds with an electric discharge. She lunged at Dalton and readied a fist full of lightning, but Dalton sidestepped it and did a spinning back kick, sending her to the ground and finally destroying her aura shield. Not only did the impact from Dalton's strikes cause damage, but her aura shield was also protecting her from the cold ice which had also taken a toll.

Dalton knelt and enjoyed looking down at his new classmate. "I'll give it to you, you are strong." Dalton gave a heavy sigh, full of… not boredom, but disappointment that the fight was over. "It was fun—definitely fun, but I still would've preferred to fight Monty. Mostly out of personal reasons, not that he's better than you or anything," he assured. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to beat up Paige before Monty or Elizabeth do. He's my brother after all. Also, I want to impress Elizabeth."

He got up and walked away with a swagger in his step.

"Anyone tell you that you're an asshole?!" Clara shouted.

"Music to my ears!" Dalton shouted back, and continued on his way with a smile.

Clara walked over to a bench, plopped down and threw her head back. She put her Omnicard to her ear, her eyes still looking up at the cloudy sky. "He got me Paige, sorry…"

"It's fine. I'll take care of the rest," Paige said before he hung up the call. "I guess the most important factor to take into account when working with humans is the human one." Paige paused and looked up at the same sky as Clara for a second before smiling and shaking his head with a facepalm. "Seems obvious now that I say it out loud."

****

Elizabeth had set their flag in a dumpster before ascending the stairs where Paige's flag was located. She approached with caution and saw their flag flapping in the wind through the crack. Music and wind drowned out all noise. She pulled out her pistols and slowly crept through the door.

She easily stepped over the tie, but heard a clunk above her and immediately stopped time. She turned and looked above to see the falling runestones suspended in air. Out of the corner of her eye, she also realized the tie was attached to the door, and saw the electric spark from the talismans. She poured her ammunition into the stones and quickly rolled onto the roof, barely escaping the trap. The sound of a stone clacking across the ground made her tense up and she saw a runestone with red veins and the character for "fire" roll in front of her.

Crap! She tried to run back, but it was too late.

The runestone exploded and she was blown back into Paige's static door. Elizabeth found herself paralyzed on the ground, winded.

Paige dropped down from the roof of the entryway and walked around her. In his left hand was Elizabeth's flag, and with the other he picked up the pistol she dropped.

"Clara told me about your ability and the cooldown that comes with it. I knew you were careful, so I made it so that if you did make it out of the trap, you would have to react quickly and would panic at least slightly. And where do humans tend to go in a state of panic? The direction they're looking, which would most likely be right in front of you. So that's where I preemptively tossed the runestone. I also figured you had two pistols with a standard runestone, so I made it so that there's one charge left…" Paige explained. He fired one, but it was empty. He tossed it aside and picked up the other pistol.

"For me," Paige gave a gentle smile and fired the last bolt, breaking her aura shield.

"Honestly, how did you plan this?" Elizabeth smiled.

"Honestly, I got kinda lucky. Had I not known your ability, had I not known Monty and Dalton for so long, this probably wouldn't have worked out so well."

Now, to loop around and put my flag back in its original position to win this thing.

"Lookiiiing for this?" Dalton's voice asked.

He was standing atop the roof of the entryway where Paige's Omnicard was. He breathed heavily and waved Paige's flag in the air mockingly.

"Dalton?! How did you get up here? You shouldn't have had enough aura to make a stairway that high."

"Hehe, you underestimate me. Why did you think I needed some stupid stairs to get up here?"

****

Dalton skidded to a halt and looked at the skyscraper looming over him.

"All the way up there?"

Paige probably trapped the roof access with runestones or something. Which is why I sent Liz there since she can stop time and get out of it… Probably. Whatever, the stairs are the boring way anyway.

Dalton went around to a side alley and placed a hand on the wall. He froze it in place and repeated the process over and over, higher and higher.

"Holy moly I'm Spider-Man!"

****

"You climbed up the wall?!" Paige exclaimed.

"Yeah! It was really fun. Got the blood flowin' pretty good!" Dalton smiled. Blood still boomed in his ears, and his body was quivering from the euphoric adrenaline flowing through it.

"But now you have barely any aura left," Paige smiled.

"I don't need magic to beat you."

Dalton jumped down and began bouncing on his toes. He beckoned Paige with a flick of his fingers.

Paige kicked and Dalton responded with a spinning back kick. Paige threw a punch, but Dalton blocked, and in an overly dramatic fashion, spun and back-fisted Paige in the face.

"Waatah!" Dalton shrieked.

Paige stumbled back and wiped his throbbing nose. Dalton beckoned him again. Paige rushed forward and dodged a roundhouse kick from Dalton. He went for his other leg, intending to grab it, tackle, and pin Dalton to the ground whilst he completed the large movement.

You fell for it~, Dalton smirked.

He brought his elbow down on Paige's back while also bringing his other leg up. Paige ended up sliding under his intended target and Dalton landed on his back.

"So uh, you giving up?"

Paige gave a sigh. "Yeah, I concede. No point in fighting you in a one-on-one."

Over the loudspeakers Sagittarius proclaimed Monty, Dalton and Elizabeth the winners.

"You six are excused for the day! Come well rested for tomorrow!"