As Jamal was running into the middle of the clearing while setting his arms on fire, he watched Hops run towards his direction. Of course, he knew, he's going to finish me first. Let's see what 5 months of training looks like. No one knew, but on some nights, Jamal would go deep into the woods behind the Academy and practice fighting and creating new moves. That practice would come into effect right then and there. Remembering the shape of a blade, he felt his arms condense into a more recognizable form of a blade from a sword. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. He ran towards Hops and began slashing at him. Most of his attacks barely missed, as Hops wasn't going to let his guard down. Beginning to sweat, Jamal jumped back and quickly threw some fireballs at him in rapid succession, almost automatically and much faster than what he was doing 5 months ago. Hops weaved through them with ease and began rushing at him.
"Here's a trick I got for you too!" Hops determinedly exclaimed.
Jamal tensed himself, and watch Hops front flip towards Jamal as he was right in front of him. But Jamal noticed that his attack wasn't even going to touch him, until he realized that he wasn't aiming for him directly. Hops used that momentum to kick straight into the ground, cause it to crack around them and began to shake.
"Enjoy my miniature earthquake." Hops gladly stated to him.
Taking advantage of this, Hops used the distraction and swept Jamal off his feet. Jamal fell on the ground with a thud and began scrambling across the floor as Hops tried to kick him out the arena. Jamal was struggling to dodge, as each attack got closer and closer to him, until Hops landed a kick to his stomach. He grasped it in pain, and watched as Hops was prepared to kick him completely out of the arena, until they were covered in darkness.
Ula must be going for him now, he was thinking, as he crawled out of it, right towards Brat. He barely got up, before getting clawed at by Brat's hands, which were temporarily claws from a bird. He ran back inside the darkness to avoid getting injured anymore until he barely noticed he was behind Ula. She was facing the opposite way and Jamal could have easily finished her. But something inside him told him not to. He felt that it would be fair to face her head on if needed and so he walked away, in the opposite direction from her. Not many steps later was there more light and Jamal could see he was near the edge of the clearing. He could see all the trainers and the Major watching the action happening in the middle, not noticing him at all and eager for more to occur. He smiled, convincing himself that this would be enough to please them, especially the Major. That's was until he saw a blur at the corner of his eye.
Fonda snuck up on him and was prepared to knock him out of the clearing. He was able to get right above her by propelling him with his fire, before she could even attack him.
"Hey, no fair! I don't have a cool power like that." she cried out.
"Well, I need to look good somehow!" he yelled from above. He moved a bit closer into the dirt patch and slowly landed back down.
Jamal was watching both ways. He knew he couldn't think or else she could predict her every actions and somehow take him on. He would have to either think unpredictably or avoid thinking at all, which would be hard. Fonda watched him cautiously, waiting for him to make a move. Neither of them moved and watched the other, until they heard a trumpet noise behind them. That's when Jamal eyes widened. An elephant was charging full speed at them, aiming for him and Fonda. Jamal didn't have time to completely dodge, so he began to run towards Fonda. Shocked, Fonda tried to move out of the way, but there wasn't any space left to run to. Then, by using his powers, Jamal skirted to the side and watched both Brat and Fonda run out of the clearing from the charge.
"And that leaves us with only two fighters left!" Tilden yelled out.
Wait, who is left, Jamal asked until he saw. He watched the darkness dissipate and saw Ula turned the other way. So, it's come down between you and me. Jamal lit up his arms and began walking towards her. But something was off. Did she not hear that it was her and another person? Or maybe she was creating a powerful move to finish him off right there. He stop moving and fired a fireball at her. When it was just about to hit her, she faced him with a big ball of darkness between her hands.
"Take this!" she yelled with might.
It was as if she created a blast between her hands as the fireball he fired instantly disappeared. Jamal quickly began firing rapidly at it, barely slowing it down. Crap, I don't know what to do, he thought as his efforts were dwindling. But her move gave him an idea as well. It won't be as strong as I want it, but hopefully it will do or give me time.
Concentrating deeply with a few moments remaining, he created a large fireball between his hands. Just when he was about to get hit with her blast, he quickly retaliated with it. For a moment, it appeared that his fireball was beginning to gain traction and began going through the blast. He moved around his creation and began to charge towards Ula.
Ula stop the attack and crouched down, just as the large fireball barely singed her hair from above. She quickly pat it down and surrounded her fists with whatever darkness she had left saved up and began to rush towards him. Jamal too had his fists lit up and wasn't slowing down either. With neither backing down, it would come down to which one knocked the other back the farthest. They both punched each others fist and a large explosion occurred from the collusion.
The wind from it breezed over the trainers and the Major's head as it occurred. They were running towards the scene as quickly as possible. Boom aimed towards the smoke still in the air and clapped his hands towards it, removing it in an instant. But what was there surprised everyone. Ula was still standing, her training outfit barely intact and her hands still up. But they also noticed Jamal was on the ground, appeared to be knocked out, his body laying on a tree and was clearly nowhere in the clearing.
Tilden cleared his throat and announced, "Our winner of the tournament is Ula! Congratulations!"
Jamal opened one of his eyes and coughed out some blood. Dang, I really just lost, did I underestimate everyone or am I not as good as I thought I was, he pondered as he faded out of consciousness. And so the school tournament concluded with Ula taking victory.