The Elementalists

27.

Semi-finals. If I win this, I have the finals to look forward to. Yay.

"Good luck." The stagehand stage whispered to me, snapping me out of my thoughts. I didn't feel ready for this. After Chester, I had somehow felt... less motivated to continue. "I'm rooting for you!" She held out two thumbs up. How sweet.

I glanced at her grin and forced out a warm smile. "Thanks. It means a lot." She blushed in the dark as I turned away from her and walked down the corridor on my own. When the commentators announced my name, the door automatically swung open to the roar of the audience.

I hadn't been severely hurt during my fight with Chester but my Fire reserves felt a bit drained. Especially after that last shot that knocked him out. There was reluctance in every step of mine as I made my way to the entrance. My face visibly sour at having to go through another fight.

I was blasted with sound as I walked onto the stadium grounds. My heart pounded in my chest and my stomach was doing flips again. I don't want to puke in front of all of these people. At the same time, someone walked out from the opposite end of the stadium. He was Earth, I'd seen him on the TV in the waiting room.

I carefully searched him for any signs of weakness and injury. He was quite cute. Chestnut brown hair, green eyes, good body. No bruises, no limping, no specific indications of him guarding one side over the other.

There were no rings to step onto this time, just open ground. The entire stadium for us to wreck each other in.

We walked confidently to the centre of the stadium. Faces carefully blank as we clasped each other's hand. We'd been told that the inbuilt microphones in our suits would be remotely activated so the audience could hear all the trash talking we would be doing.

"Nice to see you cleaned up." The guy smiled at me politely. "You were probably watching me fight so I guess you know who I am."

I smiled back coldly, his haughtiness annoying me. "So you know my name?"

"Fiera."

"Amazing powers of observation. And, what’s your name?"

There was a surge in the crowd's noise as I said that. Visible anger passed through his face. He pulled away, taking his hand with him.

"Sean. Remember it... because this is where your fight ends."

"I'm quaking in my boots." Was my dry reply as my heart stuttered. This was going to be painful.

We were told where to stand before the referee ran off the ground and began the countdown. No sooner did the count reach zero that I let loose a huge fire projectile. Sean barely managed to defend in time but he didn't expect my next attack.

I hid right behind the projectile launching an aerial attack once it dissipated on his shield. I jumped high and as the fire cleared, he saw me coming down with a punch aimed right at his face. It hit hard— slammed right into his jaw, and made him stumble a few feet back. My foot slid behind his ankle and pulled. His arms flailing wildly as his already compromised balance vanished.

He smacked against the ground with an 'oof', smart enough to raise his guard as he went down. But he'd left his gut bare and I began with a crushing punch in that. Spittle flew out of his mouth as his guard parted and I drilled into his side with my other fist. When his guard finally fell, I placed a hand on his collar to hold him down as I began punching him.

Within the first three punches his nose broke and lip split, but as I pulled my arm back for the fourth one he managed to wriggle an arm between us and heave a cry of effort as he pushed me off of him. I landed on my butt and slid a bit. Sean took that moment to get on his feet and stumble away. I growled in anger and pushed myself off the ground, but there was a harsh tug which pulled me back as I tried to move towards him.