the Mini-Crusher-Tournie - 1. The Contenders!

Jane gazed around the enormous room as she entered. It was blaringly white and cube-shaped, about one-hundred metres in length. She shielded her eyes and blinked as they adjusted to the brightness. Behind Jane her two friends looked around in similar astonishment. The three of them were following their Elemental, Blake, and leading his group of eight Crushers. Up ahead they could see two other Elementals, Chris and Zac, already waiting with the other eight contenders.

"Keep up, Jane." Blake said in his posh accent. "There's no time for dilly-dallying."

"This place is huge!" Marine pushed her friend Jane aside as they walked, full of bubbly excitement.

"Snap out of it, Marine!" Jane frowned. "We have to look serious or the Godrid Crushers will think we're pushovers."

"She is a push-over." Leaf scowled and crossed his arms.

"Careful Leaf…" Marine said dreamily, her eyes still studying the far sides and ceiling of the room. "The matches are picked randomly. We might end up fighting, then you'll have to eat those words…"

Leaf snorted derisively. Then he stepped up to poke Jane in the shoulder.

"Hey… some of those guys look seriously strong…"

"Yeah… well, we've got some scary-looking guys as well." Jane conceded. "We're not going to know who we're up against until our number's picked. Nothing we can do about it."

Blake spread his arms magnanimously as he approached the other two elementals. He came to a stop and his eight Crushers halted in a nervous line, staring at the other half of the contenders who either blinked or glared back.

"Alright!" Blake lowered a box he'd been carrying to the ground by his feet. They were standing beside the grassy fighting area that looked to be a square twenty metres in length. "Look over there, children!" He pointed to the screen on the far wall. "That is where your number will be called. Before we begin it has been agreed that you will all briefly introduce yourselves before we begin. In order of your number. There is also a prize for those of you who win the initial round!"

"What prize?" Chris looked confused.

Blake crouched down and fished through the contents of a box.

"Dadadada~!" He straightened and held something over his head. "A can of coke!"

"We get soft-drink if we win?" Leaf muttered to Jane, not at all impressed.

"Awesome!" Marine threw her arms into the air, unknowingly embarrassing her two friends.

"On top of winning a feisty beverage, you also advance to the tertiary round which will be much more extravagant." Chris said with his nose in the air and arms behind his back. "The more fights you have the more chances to impress us."

"Let's get to the introductions then." Blake clapped his hands twice. "Starting from number one, all of you state your name and your clan, if you have one. That way the powers of the experimental crushers will stay a secret until their fight."

"I believe numbers one to four are your Crushers, Blake." Chris nudged importantly.

"Yes! Take it away Leaf."

"Ah… I'm number one. Leaf Sprout, from the Zorgon plant clan…" He ducked his head and cursed himself. He wasn't good at being threatening when put on the spot.

"I'm number two! Marine Finn! From the Zorgon water clan!" The girl smiled at the onlookers.

There was a long pause before the shortest girl spoke. The other teenagers all looked sixteen while she seemed no older than ten. Her brown hair was shaggy and dirty, she didn't look up as she spoke.

"Number three… Joy. From the Soul-Holder clan."

"The Soul-Holder clan?" Zac spoke up in surprise.

"Mm-hm." Blake nodded, smug.

"You named her 'Joy'?" Chris studied the depressing figure from the opposite side.

Jane frowned at the small girl who stood at the end of their line. She had a bad feeling about that girl… When Marine nudged her with an elbow she snapped to.

"I'm number four. Jane Flame. I can use Zorgon Fire."

"Is there a difference between Zorgon Fire and regular fire?" Scoffed a tall boy with black hair. Jane found herself glaring at his ignorant smirk.

"Yes there is," Chris chastised him. "Now quiet! My four clan-based Crushers are next."

"Number five: Zane Quixon. I can make weapons out of liquid metal." A serious-looking boy with spiky white hair began.

"Number six… Shiro Honeshi…" He tilted his head and seemed to give everyone else chills. His skin and lank hair was as white as paper, eyes blood-red. "I'm from the monster bone clan."

"I'm number seven, Lyle Zappos." A blonde boy spoke up, he looked much less threatening than the pale, red-eyed freak standing at the end of the Godrid line. "I'm from the Godrid electric clan."

"Number eight: Victor Magma." The tall, black-haired boy who pissed off Jane spoke up. "I'm from the Godrid lava clan."

"Interesting Chris…" Blake stepped forward to study the last four youths who spoke up. "Liquid metal… he inherited Quixon's power. The monster bone clan is of course one of your stronger clans… as well as being exceptionally dangerous. Godrid Lighting has a unique power-ranking based on colour, like Zorgon Fire. And that last boy, you gave him Volkan's power."

"So you do study." Chris commented. "I'm surprised."

"Right, well, let's get through the last of these quickly." Blake eyed his remaining crushers.

"Number nine, Lorac Belle." A purple-haired boy pointed to himself. "My power's a surprise."

"Number ten, Claire Anvil. Pleased to make your acquaintance." A tall girl with her hair in a wheat-blonde ponytail bowed in a showy way.

"Number eleven. My name's Dan." His answer was simple but the guy stole looks from his unusual appearance. He was wearing thick gloves and a trench-coat, instead of regular shirts and trousers like everyone else. His dark hair was long, tucked back into his collar.

Zac studied him, could it have something to do with his power?

"Number twelve, Evan Powers." A tall guy smiled winningly at everyone. He seemed cool, like one of those laid-back guys that nobody ever has an issue with.

"Number thirteen." A tall girl with wavy hair spoke up from the Godrid side. "Helias Caldrofis."

"Number fourteen, Ophelia Langdon. I look forward to mutilating whoever I go up against!" A mean-looking girl spoke up. She had pale skin tinged with grey, lank black hair and bright yellow eyes. She grinned in a way that showed her teeth.

She looks crazy, Jane thought with a frown. I hope I don't have to go up against her.

"Number fifteen, Shaddi Ganymede." A dark-skinned boy with silver eyes swept his gaze across everyone.

"And lucky last is me." Another tall, dark-haired boy spoke up. "I'm number sixteen. Samson Sanders."

"Excellent!" Chris clapped his hands together. "If you will all look down the left side of the fighting area you will see a bunch of plastic chairs. Go and take a seat, and when the screen starts calculating numbers walk to the centre if your number's called. Understood? Good."

The teens started walking off. Some of them were in groups of two or three while others stayed by themselves. Jane frowned, it was impossible to tell who was strong just from that. A lot of them looked confident, and some of them seemed downright scary: The little girl from the Soul-Holder clan, the albino from the monster bone clan, and the weird girl who said she was going to mutilate whoever she fought.

Jane could see Leaf scowling at the ground as he walked, on her other side Marine was almost skipping toward the chairs. Alright… what's this first match going to be like?