the Mini-Crusher-Tournie - 18. First Match

Jane darted out and into the crowd of people. Countless people moving to find their seats or line up for a meat pie at the food windows. She raced between audience members who barely gave her a second look, not noticing that she was one of the contestants they'd come here to see. She was at the top of the stands, shadowed from overhead concrete, the fancy viewer boxes.

Jane skidded to a stop when she saw her friends. Marine elated, her blue eyes sparkling. Leaf gave a weak smile – he looked pale, purplish bruises around his eyes, but he was alive. She rushed over and Marine stood.

"I'm so glad to see you guys." Jane said sincerely as she hugged the Finn girl.

"Break a leg Jane! Well, not literally… I'm one to talk after my first fight."

"How're you holding up, Leaf?" She'd went to hug him, but Jane stopped when she noticed the way he was clenching his side and the grimace on his face.

"I've been better. I only woke up a few hours ago. Bit of pain, but alright."

"So long as you're here. That's what counts." she smiled.

"…how're you, Jane?" Leaf asked seriously and it made her smile waver.

"I'm okay."

"Do you think you're ready for her?" he asked, just as serious. Marine suddenly looked worried.

"I am. I can take her."

"Even the elementals said that if it were any of the other crushers in my situation, they probably wouldn't have made it."

"I know… but I'm not going to let Ophelia kill me. Or beat me, for that matter. I'm going to win, don't worry about it." She smiled encouragingly.

"Didn't happen to learn any blue fire this past fortnight, did ya?" Marine chanced.

"Nope. But I'm still going to beat her."

"We'll be cheering for you." Leaf grinned.

At that moment Chris's voice could be heard through the announcer. A few of the surrounding people raised their heads to listen. It was call-time. Jane and the other three semi-finalists would need to head to the underground lodges in preparation for their fight. Jane took a deep breath. Out toward the field she could see hovering drones sporting cameras, whizzing around and up-down to film the audience and action.

This fight had been advertised. Jane had seen herself on TV – she couldn't believe it! And there on a big screen were the four fighters. Jane saw flashes of her previous fights amongst the others. She saw her profile panned out beside the other three. Ophelia's black hair, greyish skin and the malice in her amber eyes. She stood out when compared to Claire's lank light-brown ponytail and Lyle's spiky blonde hair. Jane's black ponytail and dark eyes, she was the shortest and seemed most plain.

"Okay, I have to go. See you guys!" Jane darted away.

After a while she slowed, the nerves in her stomach wriggling. Each step felt so significant. It was one step closer to the end of this tournament, and her fate.

*

"The first match is going to be Lyle versus Claire." The black-hooded Chris explained.

"No random selection?" Lyle asked. The four teens stood side-by-side in a locker room. The bearded Blake stood at the doorway while the shadow elemental addressed them.

"No. I want the viewers to have a good first impression, and due to our analysis the battle between Lyle and Claire will be the most exciting."

Ophelia narrowed her eyes and sneered. Jane was too angry about Leaf to be intimidated, she glared right back.

"I'll step up and address the audience." Blake began. "Jane and Ophelia, you two can watch from the sponsor boxes upstairs. Chris will take you there."

"Yes, chop chop." Chris straightened. "Claire and Lyle, follow the corridor to the arena. Ophelia and Jane, come with me."

The audience was a cascading rhythm of cheers as the first combatants entered the ring. Camera drones whizzed around in circles. Claire's superior yet hateful gaze was displayed on the big screen monitors before flashing to Lyle's resigned yet determined look. They took their marks on circular podiums.

"Without further ado let us begin with the first fight!" Blake's voice echoed about the crowded colosseum. All those screaming people were making Jane nervous. There was such an atmosphere of exuberance. "Lyle Zappos versus Claire Anvil! Begin at the siren!"

The screen flashed with nifty red effects – flickering down from three, two, one…

The siren sounded and Lyle was engulfed in yellow electricity. His blonde hair spiked, he put one foot forward and two fingers ready. Claire swished her arms and took a stance of her own, the air around her rippling green. Lyle fired a bolt of electricity that zapped across the field and struck in an instant.

"Wow." Jane murmured from beside Chris. She had a great view from up here, and she could see how much Lyle had improved from even last round. That bolt looked bigger and his aim was on point.

Dust cleared to reveal Claire standing in a full-body suit of ghostly green armour. Everyone was shocked. Claire swished and pointed her sword, smirking. She resembled a knight.

"So that's how you beat Marine." Lyle said as random sparks went off around his body.

"You may not have noticed," Claire began pompously. "But I'm quite the competitive person. Since the beginning of this contest I was playing with strategy. Using a portion of this armour to save myself from the Finn girl, but making sure nobody saw me do it. I've hidden my full power… until today." She angled her katana. "Today the finals will be played and I'll win that too."

"We don't even know if there's gonna be a prize for winning this contest." Lyle retorted "You were that focused for what, another can of coke?"

"I'm a winner, Lyle. I train to win."

She sprang and blurred to meet him. Lyle jumped and shot another bolt of lightning. It hit with a zig-zagging flash of yellow and Claire stumbled but kept pace.

"That spirit armour keeps her safe from physical attacks… and lightning too." Chris murmured.

"You're going down, you Godrid loser!" Claire sprang far and sliced.

The armour was making her stronger and faster, but Lyle was sparking all over with electricity that sped up his reflexes too. The way his body twitched in response to every shift made him look like he was in fast-forward, even when he was standing still.

Lyle dodged in a flash, appearing behind her and aiming a kick at her head. Claire's armour cracked like glass against his lightning, but didn't break. It repaired itself quickly. She stabbed back and Lyle moved away. She swept the blade and he flashed several metres back. Claire sprung that distance easily and a chase began. The two of them moved like flying insects, covering distances easily, flashes of yellow and green as they moved about the space.

The zap of lightning and plink whenever Claire's armour was chipped and began fixing itself. The audience was in amazement and so were the witnessing crushers.

"Yellow lightning has no effect on her. She's made herself immune." Jane couldn't help blurting. "He'll have to use… blue lightning."

Lyle ducked back from several mad sword-swipes. Then jumped by and took several bounds so he'd be far enough away, skidding in the dirt. His eyes widened and he looked down to see Claire's ghostly chain wrapped around his leg. She pulled and he was yanked toward her, skidding along the ground.

Claire dived up and fell from the sky, slashing her sword in a lethal attack. Lyle barely rolled away, the earth cracking as green light beamed out from within. Claire prized her weapon out and Lyle zig-zagged to her back before grabbing her in a bear hug.

His whole body lit up with yellow lightning. The same move he used against Dan! Both of them vanished in the glare of yellow. Claire grit her teeth from inside, the electricity burning her as the armour became riddled with cracks, even breaking apart in several places. After several seconds the current died down; she forced his arms apart and leapt away, skidding and panting. Lyle looked similarly exhausted.

"…you're a master at yellow lightning." Claire admitted. "At point-blank range, holding onto me like that, you almost had enough power to destroy my armour. Almost." She raised her semi-transparent sword, which was broken in half. Her energy was drained, evident by how slowly her armour was working to repair itself. A snail's pace.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Claire." Lyle answered coolly. "But if yellow lightning won't work… I'll have to use blue."

Her eyes widened in urgency before narrowing. Immediately she sprang into action, diving and covering the distance between them. Slicing the broken blade through air. Lyle ducked and pranced back. He dodged all of her ninja strikes, holding his right arm back in preparation.

"Lyle didn't try to get away, so he still can't shoot blue lightning can he Chris?" Jane asked.

"No." His red-tinted eyes were on the battle.

"Lyle must be the only one of us with the speed to match Claire." Jane's eyes zeroed back on the fight.

"These are the semi-finals after all. They're bound to be more impressive than the fights we've seen thus far."

Lyle's foot skidded him to a halt, he was done retreating. His hand was all charged up with sky-blue electricity. Claire's eyes bugged while she was in mid-swing. Lyle's palm met her damaged weapon and it shattered into pieces. Claire fell into a roll, she pushed off with both feet to dodge Lyle's blue-lightning swipe. She turned and leapt back further, this time being the one to take evasive measures.

She stood clutching the handle of her weapon. With a grimace, she let it and her armour mist away and vanish.

"It takes too much energy to maintain the armour." Lyle observed. "It wouldn't shield you from this anyway, you already know that."

The madness was settling in on Claire's features. She was furious and trapped, but nothing about her posture made anyone think she wanted to run away. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she struggled to manifest another sword.

"Let this be our final parry!" She roared heroically before charging, angling the blade gracefully behind her. Lank ponytail flowing back as she ran. Lyle flashed out to meet her, they both whipped their arms and skidded through.

Blood spurted. Claire fell.

There was a gaping wound in her side, away from a vital point but still a serious injury. Claire turned and rolled on her back, bleeding freely but managing a sneery grin.

"Good… you were willing to risk killing me just to win… that's the win-at-all-costs attitude I can accept defeat against…"

The blue-lightning went out. Lyle straightened and his knees buckled, drained of power.

"I would've run out of energy completely if I'd kept that up for a few seconds longer." He turned his head. "Claire… your final gamble… was to use my mercy against me. You thought I'd switch back to yellow lightning for your own safety, but you rebuilt the torso-section of your armour at the last moment… If I had switched back to yellow lightning you would've counter-attacked and probably killed me. That was your gamble."

She twitched and gagged in her blood. That grin slipping as she lost consciousness, head falling back. Lyle lowered his face and spoke bitterly "…win-at-all-costs…"

"The winner is Lyle Zappos." Blake's megaphoned voice didn't hide his chagrin. Chris smiled beside Jane as the audience cheered and applauded.

"Wow," Jane said again, honestly amazed. I take back everything I thought before. It wasn't a fluke that Lyle beat Shiro and Dan. It certainly wasn't a fluke that he beat Claire. Now if I defeat Ophelia I'll be in the finals against him. She clenched her fists, it's time to do this.