*9 DAYS AGO (TRAINING DAY 14)*
"Today is the last day of training and honestly, I'm not sure you dunderheads remember any part of our lessons. I know you buffoons might not remember but on our seventh day of training, I had all of you teamed up against me. Today would be a similar exercise; try to land a blow this time, okay?"
...
"You're nothing against me!" Zoe smiled as she slaps an energy beam away before hitting Yui with a jab that throws the scarlet-haired girl to the ground.
[Request a rematch]
'Huh?! Are you trying to get me killed?'
[Zoe loves showing off her superiority when in a battle]
'So?'
[That's when she gets distracted. She brags a lot when she feels she has the upper hand and her focus subsides; you can land a punch at that moment, if you do that, she would be too stunned to do anything and that would give your side at least a minute advantage]
"Guys," Hunter called the Sprites. They formed a circle to listen to what he had to say. "Let's challenge her to another match," he stated.
Petra frowns, "The first beating isn't enough for you?" She said.
"Of course not, but I think I've found a way we can beat her," Hunter claimed. "You have?" Thomas asked.
"Yeah, I have a plan. What do you say?"
"I'm in!" Alex said excitedly and everyone frowns at his enthusiasm. "What? We've trained for two weeks now and have had our ass kicked by her every single time, you can't blame me for wanting to return the favor," he explained.
"We're in too," Oliver, Meghan, and John said. "Us too," said Yui and Tom. They all turned to Petra who sighs before speaking, "fine," she said.
"Let's go again!" Hunter shouted. Zoe turn back with raised eyebrows, "you're kidding right?" She asked but there was no sign of playfulness in the Sprites' faces. "Very well."
"So what exactly is the plan?" Petra asked.
"We're going to attack normally and at some point, I'm going to land a punch, and that would give you guys time to attack," he explained.
"So let me get this straight, you want to do something we've been struggling to do for the past hour or so?"
"Well --"
"Are we doing this or not?" Zoe said.
"Let's go!" Thomas said as he stepped forward gradually before racing towards her, he throws a right hook but Zoe catches his hand and returns a right of her own that lands cleanly on his face, knocking him off his feet before she kicks him away.
Runes appear beneath her feet, cast by Yui to hold Zoe steady while Hunter picks up some boulders and launches them at her. The Sprites watch on as the dust disperses. "I don't think that would do you any good," Zoe said from behind Hunter. He turns swiftly, picking up a boulder and throwing it at her. The boulder hits her before breaking into many pieces, one of which John grabs to attack her with, jumping as high as he could, but the fiend simply steps aside and John misses entirely.
"Take this!" Oliver shouted as he throws a fist surrounded with blue energy at her. A shield seems to form around her as Oliver felt himself being pushed back by some invisible wave.
Runes appear at both Zoe's sides while Meghan and Petra charge at her. A tentacle-like energy emerges from the runes, dancing in the air towards the black-haired girl who easily kicks Petra aside before grabbing Meghan and throwing her at Yui.
Alex sneaks up behind her, he raises his hand but Zoe turns a quick 180 degrees with her arms raised knocking him to the ground. "We simply are not on the same level," Zoe stated.
Hunter charges forward, throwing a quick right cross coupled with an uppercut but the fiend was moving at an unnatural that she was already behind him by the time his hands began moving. Zoe grabbed him by his shirt before flinging him away. Hunter turns in the air, landing on his feet but he suddenly sees Zoe in front of him. "Huh?!"
She hits him with an uppercut that sends him flying into the air before appearing behind him in the air and leveling her hand on his back. Hunter felt a wave go through him, more painful than anything he had ever felt before. Even the ground below them destroys.
As Hunter falls, she appears next to him again and throws a right cross, before appearing where he was supposed to land and kicking him.
She disappears again, appearing next to him and hitting him in the gut, back, and face like she was playing a sport.
"I believe it's time to end this. What made you think you had a chance, I'll never know," she laughed hysterically, "I am a fiend!" She stated before raising her hand to throw the final punch.
Right when the punch is about to catch Hunter in the face, he catches her hand and Zoe's eyes widen at the move, "how in the --"
He hits her with an uppercut of his own, sending her flying upwards. "He did it!" Thomas smiled before jumping as high as he could and snapping his fingers, switching positions with Hunter who appeared ahead of Zoe with both his hands intertwined and hitting her as hard as he could, sending her more than six feet deep into the ground.
Zoe crawls out of the hole to be greeted with more punches from Alex while Yui shoots an energy beam at her. Thomas snaps his fingers and swaps places with Alex. He grabs Zoe by the arm and rotates before tossing her away.
<•> <•>
Hunter felt as though time had frozen for just a moment before feeling someone punch him. The same someone punched the other Sprites too and all of them were lying on the ground while Zoe was standing tall with not even a scratch on her body, her grey eyes now glowing bright green.
*PRESENT DAY*
INTER-ORDER COMPETITION FINAL
The Sprites starting lineup was Thomas, Yui, Hunter, and Alexander. "What's the plan?" Hunter said and they all turn to Alex.
"Why are you looking at me?" He said
"Because you're the captain," Yui pointed out. "Am I? Alex said raising an eyebrow drawing some stares from the others. "Alright, here's what we're going to do: Hunter and Tom, you two draw Diana away, that's their captain, she's the girl with the snow-white hair, you have the best chemistry in the team so I believe you two can pull it off. Yui and I would keep the other three engaged, so you two would have to defeat her quickly and return to offer us support. If anything goes wrong on our side, Yui would signal you guys with an orange energy beam to the sky." He stated.
They walked into the large forest in search of the Elementals who they found lined up and waiting, with their captain standing in front of them.
Hunter and Thomas looked at one another before nodding gently. The duo charged forward and so does the S Grade elemental. She throws a punch when they got close but Thomas grabs her hand while Hunter places his hand on Thomas' shoulder. The year 4 sprite snapped his fingers and all three of them disappeared and appeared in a different location.
"I see, you plan on isolating me from my teammates. You better make this worth my while," she said.
'Is it just me or does she sound a lot like her?'
Diana raises both her arms to the sky, roots and vines burst out of the ground moving towards and around them. Thomas quickly began twisting his body to avoid them while punching the ones he can't. Hunter turns as a vine chases after him, running towards Thomas who kneels quickly for him to jump on his back and perform a back flip, the vine passes between them both before Thomas rises back to his feet and punches it away.
The two rush towards the elemental but she smartly makes the root they were standing on become bigger and wide, furthering the distance between them.
Diana goes into the root she's standing on and emerges behind them but the two sprites felt her behind them and quickly began spinning and twisting, avoiding some leaf-like object that she hurls at them. The duo carefully dance their way towards her, avoiding her long-range attacks and her ever-turning roots until they close the distance, simultaneously hitting her with an emphatic punch.
The S-Grade student staggers backward while the two sprites thrust forward quickly. She quickly forms thorns beneath their feet forcing them to jump before sending a vine toward them both. They both notice the vine and quickly turn midair, joining their feet and pushing each other away from the attack.
"Interesting," Diana noted after seeing them dodge the attack. As they fall back to the ground, she makes a giant tree emerge from the ground and twists the branches to capture them both but Thomas swiftly hit his teammate away while the branches trap him within them.
Hunter lands safely and steps towards his opponent, 'it's just like Zoe said: the more you use your powers, the quicker you'll tire,' Hunter thought. 'She just expended so much energy, now is the best time to attack!'
Hunter throws a right, a left, and another left which the elemental blocks with her forearm. She throws a punch of her own but Hunter ducks before spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick, the impact pushing her some feet backward.
The Elementals' captain felt someone appear behind her, she quickly raised her hand to her head, blocking a kick from Thomas who jumps from her hand, flipping in the air before landing next to Hunter.
Diana throws her left hand upwards and a large vine emerges between them forcing them to move away. Hunter dashes forward quickly, 'how has she replenished that much energy in a short time?' Hunter thought as he zips past his opponent leaving her a bit confused before turning around, jumping in the air, spinning, and throwing a kick. The elemental raises both her hands to block the attack but Thomas who was behind her snaps his fingers, swapping places with Hunter.
Hunter's kick land on Diana's back while Thomas punches her unguarded spot. He snaps his fingers again and Hunter appears in front of her. Thomas hits her with his elbow, pushing her towards Hunter who fakes a right and throws a left.
Hunter shifts his weight backward and the elemental swiftly turns expecting Thomas to swap their places; he does, and just as she clenches her fist to counter with a punch of her own, Thomas swaps their places again and Hunter appears behind her, hitting her with some thunderous punches to the back while Thomas made sure to not leave her face unattended.
Thomas snaps his fingers again, appearing behind her and kicking her knee pit, forcing her to go down to her knees. Hunter takes one step backward and the elemental could already tell what was about to happen, everyone watching could tell.
The surroundings glow purple as Hunter's hook connects throwing the elemental to the ground.
Diana rises to her knees before starting to laugh hysterically while the Sprites looked on confused.
"You sprites came up with such a great plan, but you weren't the only one who planned beforehand," said Diana. "I was counting on you two to take me away from my teammates and in doing so, I was able to delay you two until my team had everything under control. You lost the moment you brought me here," the S Grade elemental boasted.
The two sprites look up to the sky to catch an orange energy beamed up to the sky. Thomas turned to Hunter, "we're too far from them, I can't port there," he said.
Diana laughs some more before going into the ground beneath her and reappearing in the same spot sometime later.
"Throw me," Hunter stated. Thomas nodded, he grabs Hunter's arm and spins before hurling him towards the light.
On the other side of the battleground, the sprites did not fare very well. Alexander, and their substitute, John, were already eliminated and Yui was up next.
One of the elementals, a water elemental stepped forward, a smug look on his face as he tucks the hair covering her left eye behind her eye before speaking. "I like to take something from all defeated opponents as a trophy for every battle won ..." His eyes dart down to the necklace around her neck, it had a very beautiful gem for a pendant. He takes the necklace from her and controls the water from a puddle close by to surround his fist before turning it to ice. He raised his hand upwards before hitting her with a strong punch that knocks her out.
Hunter lands next to them just as the water elemental was wrapping the necklace's string around his wrist. Hunter eyes the necklace, instantly recognizing that the elemental had taken it from Yui.
"You have something I want," Hunter stated.
"Then come and take it," the elemental said with a wide smile while his teammates quickly step up to his sides. "Your teammates managed to eliminate one of us but now there's four of us and only two of you or should I say there's just you, I know Diana is already teaching your friend a good lesson, after all, she no longer has any reason to hold back," he stated.
---------------