the Mini-Crusher-Tournie - 10. The Tertiary Rounds!

"Well, we all survived." Leaf crashed back onto the sofa and gave a sigh of relief.

Jane sat with one leg bent beneath her, frowning with concern as she pondered their predicament. Marine was seated with her legs crossed, smiling like she didn't have a care in the world.

"I'm so bummed out about not getting to see the other fights!" Marine hit her knees with her fists, light-brown hair falling over her shoulders "You guys have to tell me what I missed!"

The Zorgon crushers had their own living quarters, a series of large living rooms within a three-story building in their elemental's city. It was like a motel, luxurious only in size - filled with drab furniture and uniform materials. The three friends were sitting around and processing their victories.

Leaf turned his head, still moulded to the sofa "Yeah, you dislocated your knee and missed all the other fights even though you won."

"Feels good as new." Marine flexed her leg. "Those medical drones can heal anything."

"All the crushers did survive, didn't they?" Jane murmured, noticeably more pensive than her friends.

"Yeah?" Leaf looked over curiously.

"Don't you think it would've been better if we'd lost? We might've got more hurt, but at least we'd be out of this stupid competition. We all have to fight next round… we might die…"

"Cheer up, Jane." Marine said softly. "Remember that if we win, Blake will give us more attention. We'll get stronger, and then we'll be able to do whatever we want. Retire at thirty and live on some paradise planet filled with beach hotels."

Leaf marvelled at the idea while some of Jane's scepticism remained.

"We just have to make sure we live that long." The black-haired girl replied, her ponytail hanging loosely over her shoulder.

Leaf remained as slack as a deflated balloon, his green eyes moved to the ceiling in thought. All three of them were thoughtful. Marine gazed about dreamily while Jane considered the other victors. The two Godrids, the maybe-nice blonde guy with electric powers – Lyle, the demon psychopath girl who had it in for them – Ophelia. The other Zorgons, the two acrobatically-skilled fighters Evan and swordswoman Claire, and the super-strong guy with impenetrable skin – Dan. These people were her potential opponents.

"So spill it already!" Marine suddenly snapped to. "Tell me about the other fights!"

Leaf sighed and began giving his recounts. Jane joined in and helped describe the fights after Leaf's, including her own. When the teens were tired they said their goodnights and went to sleep in one of the shared rumpus rooms. Despite her worry Jane felt exhausted, she quickly fell into a heavy slumber.

*

"Well, they all survived." Chris, the shadow elemental took a seat in a shared research laboratory.

"Just as well." Blake commented, dumping a stack of folders on the counter and stroking his wispy beard. His elemental staff remained perfectly upright beside the white-robed man as he started combing through the documents.

"So what happens now?" Zac, the youngest elemental observed his seniors.

"Well first of all," the hooded black-robed man sat forward, clutching his own bejewelled staff. "We have a lot of information to process. Camera footage to go over. Progress notes and assessments of the crushers' skills and capabilities. This is for longstanding research, relating to our own crusher-making and potentially for the crushers' own improvement. Not to do with the tournament."

"And then afterwards," Blake mused "we can pair the crushers up for the tertiary rounds."

"How exciting!" Zac grinned. "I should pick which crusher I'm going to root for!"

"As my own elemental apprentice, and seeing as you were once my own crusher Zac, I think you'd be cheering for my crushers." Chris stuck his nose in the air stubbornly.

"Yeah, but when I was a crusher I was friends with Blake's crushers too, remember. And a lot of their powers are in these new crushers. Jane is like John, Marine is like Aqua, Leaf is like Crystine. My old friends might have died a thousand years ago, but seeing these new crushers is like seeing them, sort of… reincarnated, you know?"

"Well their genetics are very similar to their predecessors, so they're technically family." Blake conceded.

"I can't wait to see how they do in the tertiary rounds! Where are they going to be held?" the brown-haired Elemental inquired.

"That, my dear apprentice, shall be revealed in tomorrow's meeting with the remaining contenders." Chris gave an evil smile of anticipation.

*

It was the next day when all eight crushers were gathered in one of the elementals' many technical facilities. This one was close to the border of the Half-World, Jane and the other Zorgon winners were flown out on a roomy jet after breakfast. Uniformed workers helped escort the teens out of the docking bay and through the glass doors and gleaming corridors, to the meeting room where the Elementals were expecting them.

As the metal doors swished open Jane could see a long conference table with rounded spin chairs. The three elementals stood, Chris and Blake looking important with their arms behind their backs, Zac giving a friendly smile and wave. In a separate area Lyle and Ophelia stood together, the grey-tinged girl shot competitive glares at the Zorgons, while the blond guy was grimacing next to her.

"Welcome champions." Chris began. Their escort left with a respectful bow, the sliding doors sealing behind them. The shadow elemental stepped forward "Welcome to the tertiary round!"

"We're fighting already?" Evan Powers remarked. He'd been very talkative throughout the trip, at ease with absolutely everyone. Jane didn't mind him, but didn't consider him a friend. He seemed to lack any real substance to him.

"No." Chris stated curtly, annoyed by the interruption. Leaf visibly relaxed from beside Jane. "The tertiary round itself begins in one week, so you have time to prepare. This meeting is just about explaining what will happen, as well as assigning your new numbers based on the order of your victories."

The creepy figure lowered his head "And so: Marine Finn is number one. Lyle Zappos is number two. Dan is number three. Claire Anvil is number four. Leaf Sprout is number five. Evan Powers is number six. Ophelia Langdon is number seven. Jane Flame is number eight."

"Woo! I'm number one!" Marine raised both arms overhead. "Suck it, Leaf!"

"Marine…" He hissed with embarrassed anger.

"Oh shut it, you two." Blake scolded in his posh accent. He stepped forward with his staff. "Unlike the initial rounds, these fights won't be so private. They also won't be happening immediately after each other. They will be taking place in an intra-city arena, we have charged attendance fees and have a hundred seats all up."

"People are going to be watching us?" Lyle asked from across the room.

"Yes. The semi-finals and finals will have a proper audience. The tertiary rounds is a way for you all to get used to that. The arena we'll be using is in a local, townsy part of the city. So we'll most likely just get a bunch of bored schoolkids and parents watching. Let's be sure to give them a jolly good show."

"Four matches with half-hour intervals." Chris continued. "With the audience enjoying soda and greasy food vendors. If any of you happen to die, for legal reasons we'll have to put out a statement saying you survived and made a full recovery. Can't have any young children in the audience getting traumatised."

"That means we may need to take photos of you all giving the thumbs up while lying in a hospital stretcher. Just to sell it." Blake explained. The teens looked at each other dubiously.

"And so!" Chris clapped his hands importantly. "The main reason we are giving you a week to prepare, not only so that we can get organised, but so you all can too! What I mean by that is: you won't be finding out who your opponent is just before you fight. You're going to find out right now. So you can plan and adjust your fighting style."

Jane felt her eyes widen in surprise. I'm going to find out who my next opponent is… right now? One week before I actually have to fight them? Chris stepped toward the table and picked up a small remote.

"Are you ready?" He scanned the faces in the room. Before anyone could muster a form of reply he turned and pressed a button at the wall. A compartment slid up, revealing a meeting board with the names scrawled upon it. "These matches were also picked at random, while the three of us were present. Good luck."

Jane's opponent was to be… Evan Powers. She turned to the tall boy a few feet from her left with a blank expression. He turned and gave another winning smile. That look in his eyes as he registered her, only lasting a quick moment… did he believe he was going to win? …he believed he stood a good chance at winning.

Evan had been in the audience when Jane fought Victor. He'd seen what she was capable of. And Jane had seen his skill against that fireworks-shooting guy. Samson? That Samson guy could shoot his power much faster than Jane, at greater distances, with greater precision and in rapid succession. Evan had been able to dodge every shot. And then all he'd needed was to get close and his fight was over quickly. Did Jane stand a chance? She didn't know…

Her two friends were equally distraught. Marine was to fight the lethally proficient Claire, who'd severed her opponent's fingers and stabbed them through the shoulder in her last fight. Leaf was to fight Ophelia, the rabid monster who wanted to mutilate. That left Lyle against the invincible Dan.

Ophelia chuckled. Dan looked shrewd. Lyle was disappointed.

The tertiary rounds… they had one week to prepare. Jane couldn't help feeling like her and her friends were all the underdogs.