the Mini-Crusher-Tournie - 4. Third Match

"Well damn." Leaf spoke up in surprise. "He was better than I gave him credit for."

"Yeah… wow." Jane blinked. Chatter started up again amongst the teens. "He wasn't quite as gutsy as Marine, but when it came down to it Lyle was level enough to weigh his options and come out with a win. I hope…" Jane didn't finish the sentence. She hoped when it was her turn to test her metal… she wouldn't choke.

"And thankfully, that absolute monster was knocked out of the contest in these initial rounds." Leaf gave a laugh "It's funny. Marine would have never won against either of them. That bone guy was too wild and fast, he'd have ripped her apart quickly if he ever landed a single hit. And since she can't liquify completely, that lightning guy would've been her worst nightmare…"

"What a loser!" Came a loud voice. Jane turned with a frown to see the grey, yellow-eyed girl. Ophelia, the one who said she wanted to mutilate her opponent. "That's the most pathetic victory I've ever seen! I would've liked to see him get ripped apart! But oh well, Shiro being out of the contest just makes it easier for me!"

Victor, the black-haired crusher that'd mocked Jane earlier, had a smug grin on his face. She didn't like either of them. She faced back around.

"What is up with some of the Godrid crushers, they really are messed up." She commented.

"You're surprised? Chris is a shadow elemental. Plenty of his crushers are bound to be… not right." Leaf answered.

Jane eyed them again. Victor's power was lava, or something. That's what he'd said. Jane wondered what Ophelia's deal was. She wasn't a clan crusher like them, she was an experimental. The experimental crushers had an advantage that way, no one would know their power until they revealed it.

"You want to be careful with that cockiness," spoke up Claire. The Zorgon crusher who'd bowed in a showy way when she introduced herself. "Too much will get you killed." She was sitting beside Samson who was purposely looking away. Claire brushed her wheat-coloured ponytail over her shoulder and enjoyed the fury on Ophelia's face, sitting comfortable with her legs crossed.

"I'll rip you apart in a few seconds!" She growled.

"We'll see." Claire retorted calmly, still confident.

Some of the Godrid crushers were worrying, but they had their own strange ones too. Jane looked at the little girl Joy who was hauntingly quiet. Her matted hair covering her face as she slumped, unmoving.

"Moving right along then!" Blake spoke up after another intense, quiet discussion with the other elementals. "Let's see who the next lucky duckies are!"

All eyes turned to the screen as the selection process went underway. The first screen landed on number 11, the strangely dressed long-haired guy known only as Dan. No surname, an experimental crusher. He stood up without hesitation and stomped toward the field. Jane studied his bizarre clothing again as he walked away from them. Those thick gloves, that long trench-coat, and those heavy boots. He was definitely the most oddly dressed of them all.

He was to fight number 3. The tiny unkept girl slinked out of her seat and made her way over. It was impossible for Jane not to feel concern for her. Joy was half the size of the boy she'd be fighting.

"From what I've seen of the other soul-holder clan members, Joy is almost certain to win." Chris murmured.

"You sure?" Zac asked.

"Just watch, you'll see what I mean."

Dan narrowed his eyes while the tiny Jane cracked her neck and flexed her limbs, staring up at him through her fringe.

"Alright my Zorgon crushers, no pressure!" Blake raised his arm. "For me I mean. Since either way one of mine will win. You guys could still die, of course. Begin!"

Dan remained untensed. Joy convulsed her body forward and from the audience, Jane thought she saw a ripple in the air. Two seconds later Dan was swatted off his feet, as if by something invisible. He flew several metres and landed with a heavy thud. Jane eyed him from where she stood, on her tiptoes, chest out as if she were held up by an invisible rope.

Dan's coat was shredded. He got to his feet easily enough, uninjured, and pulled off the ragged jacket, freeing his long brown hair. It swayed past his waist, longer than any of the girls. He pulled off his bulky gloves to reveal long fingernails. Yellowed but human-looking.

"I don't understand…" Leaf murmured. None of them did. Then Jane noticed the glowing circle of light shining through Joy's shirt.

The light connected to a funnel that stretched to a ghostly tiger of some kind. A monstrous transparent creature that growled as it became visible, stalking back to put itself between Joy and her opponent. Its edges were wispy like a haze.

"Soul holders…" Chris spoke up. "The power is more magic that hereditary, but the ritual only works for those with their bloodline."

"Ritual?" Zac glanced over. They were talking loud enough for several of the teens in the audience to glance over as well.

"An intricate circle is tattooed on their torso, and inside resides the soul of a slain creature. They share the same body, the loyal soul only emerging to defend its host." He eyed his elemental rival. "Some can have as many as three circles, one within the other. Each circle holding a different soul. The first circle is small, about the size of a fist, and the soul within is limited in travel to only a few feet away from its host's body. In the larger circles the souls can travel further… for that feline to be able to move much further away from Joy, it means she has more than that soul contained in her body."

"Good observation!" Blake announced.

"Of course, each soul implanted halves the host's lifespan. I wondered why Joy seemed younger than the other children. She could have multiple circles, and might only live another few years as a result." Chris glared while Zac stared in shock.

"Pish posh." Blake waved a hand. "What would be the point in making her if she was going to be dead in a few years anyway? No, Joy only has the two circles, two extra souls inside her. For the moment."

The small girl crept closer and the tiger hissed into a crouch before racing toward Dan. This time he braced and wrapped his arms around the tiger's neck after the loud collision, skidding back a few feet but holding firm. Zac blinked at the guy's feet, which had been forced into the earth from impact. The tiger tried mauling his head, but those sabre fangs couldn't pierce Dan's flesh. It was like he was made of stone. He held on and grimaced as the tiger turned its head, worked at ineffectively chewing through his skull. Joy's face was still dipped, emotionless eyes on her opponent.

"That's it!" Zac lifted his head suddenly. "I know Dan's power! I've seen it before, it's based off one of Lysander's crushers!"

Chris balked and then shot a dark glare.

"Taking a leaf out of another elemental's book, aye? That's practically cheating."

Blake said nothing and Zac continued "Infused from Cloud Dragon DNA. His body is impenetrable. That's why his hair and nails are so long, he can't cut them. Nothing can. He wears all those clothes to keep himself from constantly breaking things."

Dan managed to throw the tiger aside, slipping past and racing toward Joy with nails outstretched, his footfalls loud and stomping. Her eyes widened a fraction. A second circle glowing from within the first on her tiny torso. A giant snake hissed and wormed around her. It wrapped her completely, leaving no openings. Dan's nails sparked against the ghostly serpent's scales when they met. From inside the transparent animal-shield Joy smirked.

Dan grit his teeth, slipping his hands in and pushing apart its body with his strength. Joy's eyes widened in alarm when she was exposed. Suddenly the snake whipped itself loose, flinging Dan into the air where he was tackled by the lunging tiger.

"Both of these guys are in leagues above Shiro!" Leaf gasped from beside Jane, not even worried about keeping his voice down anymore. "If I fought either of them I'd be dead, easily!"

The fight took longer than the others. It was punctuated by loud thuds, the ground shaking as Dan was thrown across the field. He left dents in the earth, uprooting the grass, but each time he shook his head and got up again. Joy stepped around him nervously, providing her ghost tiger the range it needed to attack. Although her serpent ghost couldn't travel far it had a long body, so when Jane stepped nervously closer it unravelled and started striking him, working together with the tiger to keep him subdued.

His body must have a weak point, Joy was thinking. Now bug-eyed after five minutes of fray proved ineffective. His eyes, or mouth… the inside of his body. Her spirits couldn't force open his eyelids or jaw with just their teeth however. Maybe I can make him dizzy and pass out that way…?

Her lips were pulled back, teeth-barred as Dan was swatted and struck by the monstrous apparitions before her. His bizarre clothes were ruined but not so much as a scratch appeared on his impervious body. Dan was patient. He waited until Joy had finally crept close enough before darting past the snake, barging her with his shoulder. The little girl's ragdoll body flew metres through the air before crumpling in the grass. Her monsters hissed and retracted, returning to their circles which faded.

Joy didn't get up.