The Seeker and the Annihilation of the Underland: A Gregor the Overlander Fanfic

Chapter 1

Standing straight, Stella raised her sword in a vertical position with the guard at her face level. From in front of her, Blake saluted back, raising his sword and mirroring her. Both the contestants lowered their weapons.

"En garde!" Called the referee.

Just before putting his mask on, Blake gave her a quick look that seemed to add "Game on!"

Stella smirked back and put her mask on without delay. She moved into the fencing stance, positioning her front foot behind the en-garde line with the blade in the sixte line. She gripped the lightweight sword tightly; it had a flexible blade of rectangular cross-section narrowing to a blunt point. She could feel herself buzzing in the Seeker mode as her pupils became slits and her surroundings took on the familiar colours.

"Ready?" Their referee called. "Fence!"

Blake lunged at Stella who parried his oncoming attack and swung her weapon towards Blake who effectively deflected the attack and stepped back. Stella could see Blake's heart beating a dark red in contrast to the other colours in her vision; her target. The next series of moves were a mere blur as Stella and Blake fought. Stella relied entirely on the colours in her infrared vision. All the while, she could feel the body cord that was hooked to her uniform, tugging on her. Then, Stella had it coming. She tapped her front foot in an appel where Blake could see as a distraction, and lunged towards him, her blade touching his heart.

At that moment, the box that was on the floor a few feet away from their sides beeped, registering Stella's score with a '1.'

"Halt!" Called the referee.

Stella snapped herself out of the Seeker mode, feeling her pupils dilate back to their normal form, watching the world invert back to its usual colours. She pulled back from her lunge and pushed her helmet back so that it rested on the top of her head. Blake had done the same. They both raised their swords in salute to conclude the match. Stella smiled at Blake in triumph, who just rolled his eyes and pouted like a six-year-old; he still looked surprised.

"Excellent!" The referee clapped. It was followed by a round of applause from their club-mates. Stella caught a glimpse of Leo as he smiled and gave her a disapproving shake of his head. Stella looked away, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. She felt guilty for using her infrared vision. And Leo knew that she had been using it to defeat Blake. But she had to use it. Or there would be no point in having it. Would she have won against him even if she hadn't used it? Blake didn't know about Stella's infrared vision anyway; it was a secret.

Both the contestants uncoupled their body cord from their uniform as their referee and trainer, Mr Green, approached them.

"That was great stuff there, Stella," Mr Green patted her shoulder. "Keep it up!" Then he turned to the rest of the members of the club. "That concludes today's class. Keep practicing and I'll see you all next week."

There were numerous "Bye Sir" and "See ya next week" from the members of the club as they headed out of the gymnasium and towards the locker room.

As Stella neared the gym doors, Leo approached her, raising an eyebrow. "You cheated, didn't you?" He had whispered it so no one else could hear.

"No," Stella whispered back. "Well, it's not entirely cheating. I have to practise my vision anyway. It'd be a waste if I didn't."

Her brother sighed, then patted her shoulder, "Still, can't believe you defeated the King of our club though." He had said that a little louder for Blake to hear. Leo quickly walked away to the locker room.

Blake approached Stella as she walked out of the gym, "You're good." He crossed his arms across his chest like a six-year-old, again. "But you learn too fast!"