At the utterance of those words the room went silent.
Rematch? This kid fought Mr. Jahad and won? Was what was on their minds. Jahad took notice to all this attention as a small crowd was forming, with a single wave he dispersed the crowd. "Get back to training, this isn't some show!". He cleared his throat and refocused on Matthew. "So, whaddya say kid? Wanna brawl with an old man?"
From a young age, Matthew had learned that refusing a challenge meant showing that you were weak, and if you were weak, you would get trampled on. A horrible lesson, sure, but thanks to it those who messed with him knew to be careful the next time, if they even had a next time.
Almost automatically and in a heartbeat, Matthew nodded.
A great big smile overtook Jahad's face as he stood to his full height. "Then it is settled! Polly, go prepare the battle dome right this instant!"
With a sigh, Polly, deflated, stood up and lumbered to a large octagonal object. He punched a few numbers on the sides of it and clicked a big red button. The machine whirred to life and lights of all colors coated the room.
"What map?" Polly yawned.
"The terrestrial one. Galaxia!"
Polly swiped across a large canvas of pictures, seemingly landscape portraits and picked the one with a flat, earthy ground and beautiful night sky that showed distant stars and planets. "Done"
"Marvelous!" Jahad grabbed Matthew by the hand and jumped into the front entrance to the dome.
It had happened so quickly that Demitri, Zayne and Lauren didn't have the time to register what exactly had just happened. Heck, nobody in the gym --which is around one hundred people-- had the time to react. It was not until a small girl that was no older than Matthew rushed in after the two that the spell was broken.
"Wait! Don't start yet!" June dashed in with glee after the two.
Then all hell broke loose.
Polly was quickly run over by the stampede of students that followed suit.
. . .
Inside the dome, Matthew was once again in awe at the lengths that technology could go. He was awed by the glowing cerulean expanse up above. The countless amounts of stars, the unique arrays of distant planets and the flowing river of lights that he could not explain.
Matthew had never seen such a beautiful sky.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" He was knocked out of his stupor by Jahad's voice. Matthew refocused on his reason on being here. "Her name is Emily Worcia, the creator of the battle dome. She's my nephew. A real bright mind she is, I am constantly awed by her." Jahad stood before Matthew, about sixty feet away with his hands behind his back.
Suddenly, a deep bloop sound resounded from behind Matthew.
He heard what it was before he saw.
"Wait! Don't start yet!" A familiar voice pleaded from behind.
Turning around, Matthew saw June run to the side. 'Right, she did say she would be around the gym...'
"All good now!" June grinned, sitting cross legged as a barrage of low bloops banged against Matthew's ear drums. A stampede of people followed suite, with Demitri and Zayne wrestling with each other at the front.
"I said don't push me!" Demitri held Zayne by the neck while Zayne had his arm around Demitri's.
"Ease off man, stop touching me!"
The sheer amount of people simultaneously pushing through the entrance was like an impending disaster. On the other side, Polly was trying to control the crowd with minimal effort.
"Careful, slow down, you'll trip." He yawned, stretching and rubbing his eyes.
And like an oracle foretelling the future, what he said came true. Eventually, one person tripped, and then another, and another, and another. It was like an avalanche, only instead of snow, it was people. Demitri and Zayne had barely avoided being crushed.
Then, leisurely, a final bloop sounded and a girl with aqua colored hair entered, stepping around the mound of bodies until she got to were June sat and followed in her example.
Jahad burst out in laughter, hands on his side and vibrating viscerally with each "HA".
"Shall we give the crowd what they came for, my dear student?" Jahad wiped away some tears and got into a different stance than his boxing one. "I'll use a bit more strength than I did last time. Sorry kid, can't afford to lose! Sun is killing me with his constant reminders."
Matthew nodded once, and just like that, the fight began.
This time, Jahad was the one to start the flow of battle. From beneath the ground, a stream of water erupted, tearing everything it touched. Matthew had little time to react, he couldn't block the attack so he opted to avoid it. Conjuring a small, sideways foot hold, he jumped horizontally and rolled out of the way of the torrent. Jahad gave him no time, as he was already upon Matthew by the time he could recover his footing.
Matthew sensed a powerful blow about to collide with him. No, it wasn't a blow, it was a finishing move.
Twisting his body in an almost impossible way, Matthew sacrificed his clavicle over his face.
But, the blow never came.
Jahad stood above him, grinning."That's one point for me!"
Matthew was starting to understand what was going on. Jahad went back to his beginning position and jumped up and down.
"You ready?"
Matthew nodded, his heart beat growing gradually. His body stung, the effect of the orb was draining his strength the more he used it, but the usual pain wasn't so bad this time. For some unexplainable reason, he wanted to feel more of it.
Matthew did the same as he did last time, surfing on the earth. He picked up his speed, zig zagging left and right, trying to confused Jahad. But that was not his real intention. Slowly, the ground Matthew zig zagged across picked up dust, and slowly, the dust rose. Eventually, a wall of thick dust separated the two.
Jahad nodded his head in respect of Matthew's plan. He felt kind of bad that he had to destroy it. He clapped his hands together and from the molecules in the air, a pulse of water formed and shot outwards. Jahad focused on it and felt it land against something. Immediately, he sprang towards the location and reached forward, only to touch earth that roughly resembled a small child. He pulsed again, but this time, felt overwhelmed as he felt it hit a dozen things.
From outside, Demitri, Zayne, Lauren and June watched in awe at the battle. June was taking mental notes, 'Use environment to advantage...'
Jahad wasn't falling for this again. He stomped his foot into the ground and blasted it, expecting Matthew to try the same thing he did, but nothing happened. Suddenly, he felt a change in the air around him...no, it wasn't the air, it was the dust! Like a malignant force, the dust came alive and reached out to attack Jahad.
An endless volley of blows barrraged Jahad. One moment, a fist came at him, the next a leg sweep, then they hands tried to grab him, finally a weapon was swung at him from someplace unexpected. He was growing more frustrated by the second. 'This is what, the fifth time I said this? But god damn it, this kid!'
Jahad's face went pale as he was hit with a literal battering ram in the gut, sending him flying.
As the dust settled, Matthew's sweating figure hobbled out from it.
"That's my point." Matthew grinned as he held out his hand to help Jahad up.
Jahad smiled, taking Matthew's arm. "That was impressive, really!" He quickly jumped back, returning to the start again. "Glad that you're having as much fun as I am!"
Finally, something clicked in Matthew's mind.
'Oh...this is fun.'
Whenever he had to fight in the past, it was always to defend, always with something on the line. Matthew had never fought for the sake of it.
A rush of exhileration ran down his spine as he got back to his starting position, there was a low pain in his chest, but he chose to ignore it for now. He didn't want this to end.
Round after round, exchange after exchange, Matthew and Jahad danced their warrior's waltz, sweating with happiness and satisfaction as their audience awed at their battle.
Matthew dropped, narrowly avoiding a beam of high powered water. He could tell that Jahad wasn't trying, but that didn't matter. He wanted to make him try, he wanted to surprise him even more.
A pang of pain reverberated from his chest as he pushed past it and tried to conjure an earthen spike, unfortunately he only got to half way before he fell to his knees. Sweating profusely, Matthew clutched his chest and fell to the floor.