Evolution (Book 1 of POE chronicles)

The Secret Origin of Tom Triole - Part 4

"Well, who do we have here?" I said, and hide the surprise at seeing Abigail. She was a newbie, it was completely out of character for any section to put a new girl in an offense team.

The new girl herself did not seem to be surprised at everything that had happened; but she wasn't important right now. Turning back to Diego, I wondered if there was something that I didn't know. Something that made her being here essential.

"Hello Tom." Just as I focused back on my biggest competitor, she surprised me again by speaking to me. And the mocking smile on her face didn't help either. I watched Diego looked at her questioningly, but the two seemed to reach some kind of agreement. I didn't like that.

"Beckett." I replied curtly. No one ever dared address me like this. I expected myself to feel angry, but as a matter of fact I did not.

"I can't say I am glad to see you." She smiled smugly, so there was no mistake that she meant for the collapsing of the ceiling to disqualify me. And that blond boy behind her had the audacity to laugh.

"You two know each other?" Diego asked, and it was obvious to me that he didn't anticipate this nor like it. There was no way he didn't know that we were in the same tutor group.

"We are in the same tutor group." I answered quickly, and a short silence followed.

"Hello, can we please move on, we are not in a chat room here." Fumi's voice behind me ended the conversation, and I was both glad and annoyed by that. The blond boy was still trying to wake up another girl, but it was useless.

"You don't need to wake her up." Billy teased, "You can do that after all of you get disqualified."

Abigail stepped forward and blocked our views, her face usually serious and devoid of all hint of a smile.

"Oh yeah?" She glared at Billy with startling intensity, her voice so challenging that the fearless Billy actually looked at me for back up. A smile tugged at the corner of my lips, but I resisted it. I should root for my own team.

Nodding slightly, I let Billy challenge Abigail, watching as the two of them continue their verbal fight. It certainly didn't surprise me when Billy made a move first.

Billy's power was one of the most destructive of Earth Elementalist, with the power to create dry tornadoes that suck up all material to use as a weapon. Aside from me, he was the main force of attack that remained in the base this time, and it seemed that the plan for both of us to remain was a good one. No one was a match for the force of nature.

The earth tornado hit an invisible barrier held by one of the Mental section, and as Abigail slid back a few feet, it was clear that she was the one.

A shift in atmospheric pressure around me, letting me know that Billy had ramped up his power, and the other team didn't miss it either. A piece of concrete flew towards us, and I let Fumi and Will handled it. Anne-Marie took the chance to reach Billy, helping him brew the biggest earth tornado I had ever seen.

The visibility began to dwindle, and I was quickly losing sight of the Mental Section. Before the sense of victory set in, a huge piece of concrete flew straight to my right and the resulting thud and poof let me know that they had taken out half my crew.

"Get out now." Billy suddenly shouted, as one of his own creations swell up and almost swallow him whole. Fumi quickly stepped forward and send it to the correct direction, and none of us needed anymore words to understand that Billy had lost control.

"You are destroying our base!" Anne-Marie stated the obvious, and a guilty expression appeared on Billy's face. We managed to escape out just before the door was blocked by the rapidly descending ceiling.