Fate of the World Ch 7

Fate of the World Ch 7

Chapter Seven
Teacher?!

Almost immediately, muffled roars of annoyance rose from the circle of orphans, even though they were not heard clearly. Mei laughed, and smirked down. The orphans tried to look innocent and harmless, but Mei didn’t fall for it. “I already know of your power, little ones, so don’t try to look innocent. I saw every move you made. Take a look at these.” Mei pulled a few folders from a nearby shelf, which were labeled with a folder for each of the orphans. Ekioshia gasped at seeing her name on one, but coughed violently as her permanent injuries from childhood started to thrash against her body. She forced herself to calm down when Mei began to continue. “Inside these folders are beneath information on all of you, including pictures, graphs, and various sections on all sections from your life, starting from age four and continuing to your current age. I know more about you than your comrades do.” Ekioshia felt anger boil from deep down. She knew that from the age of four, children knew what their specialty was, and could work to train it. “I’d bet you’re wondering how I know all of this. Well, children, I’m not who I appear to be. I’m a lot more threatening than I look. I can easily hack into each and every one of your minds and learn things you thought would be secret forever. Ekioshia.” She gasped as her name was called. “I know of your childhood injuries when you were hiding from enemies in the forest and a branch broke from an overhead tree and landed on you, causing fatal, and permanent injuries to your lungs, left arm and shoulder, and heart, not including three other bodily defection. I also know you used to be a wolf, but you changed into a human.” Ekioshia felt the anger rise and bubble, even more when Mei called out Kiki’s name. “Kiki. I know you are more violent than you look, in your harmless form, you actually know more about practically every person in this room more than they do. I know of your every masterful move, working to straighten people’s personalities and every flaw, using your advanced, slightly evil mind. Miyuki.” Mei turned to the half cat, and continued, “I know you were transformed from a cat to a half cat, half human because of your undying greed and hate for humans, and sent to guard and assist Ekioshia. I also know you have grown to love humans more than your other feline, ignorant friends. I think you get the point, so I’ll stop embarrassing you. Instead of continuing, I’ll only give you a small tutorial of how much I’ve followed your lives.” She pulled open the folders, and showed close up photos of each orphans, which was slightly unsettling by how detailed everything was. “Down to the main point. I, your new teacher, will educate you about each one of your skills and traits, and then train you to strengthen them. Now the part you’ll object. After training and readying you, I will make you fight each other, sometimes in groups, sometimes one on one.” Growls surfaced from them, but Mei ignored them and went on, “If you refuse to fight, I’ll merely possess you and force you to fight. I hope that’s clear to everyone. Time for information of your battles. I’ll put the few of you together and let you decide which arena you fight in; water, forest, ocean side, prairie, mountain, or a plain arena with two suspended platforms and one main platform. Each arena will be on a large, circular platform suspended high into the air. If you fall off the platform, you’ll land on soft ground, so don’t worry about safety. Oh, and, the loser must fake death. The losing point is when one person falls down five times. You have three weeks to master your specialty. We start immediately.”

The place where Mei kept the orphans in was rectangular and one storied, with an empty space in the middle that had trees, plants, and grass. The surrounding walls were expertly painted to look like nature. It was almost impossible to tell that you were in a cruel, evil building that trained young children for money and made it impossible to escape by making an impassable force field around the building. The orphans had three square meals a day, slept at night if they chose not to train themselves, and normally trained from morning to afternoon. Ekioshia usually trained with Kiki and Miyuki, making fun of Mei and their imprisonment. The three weeks passed quickly, and everyone had at most a week’s spare time. Mei had summoned everyone to the main room at the back of the building. “You have all mastered your attacks, and now it is finally time for the first battle. All of you will be present for each battle, no exceptions unless you have a sickness. The first battle will be with…” Mei pulled a paper from a pocket in her black skirt, and read from it, “Mayonaka teamed with Haru, versus Ekioshia teamed with Miyuki.” Ekioshia and Miyuki nodded to each other, sadness and pain swirling in their eyes, while Mayonaka and Haru only glared at each other, but softened their eyes as they realized they were going against their best of friends. “You will prepare immediately.” The four walked to a separate room where they decided their arena, which turned out to be the prairie. They walked off to the arena, taking a long, silent elevator ride, holding tightly gripped hands. They gave one final hug and went to separate sides of the platform, standing on tall rocks. The prairie had tall grass with a stream running down the middle. Perfect for hiding, Ekioshia thought. People streamed into the surrounding stands, high off the ground, circling the platform. Below them was pure blackness. Ekioshia saw her friends walk with a sad haze over them, and nodded when Kiki waved. Mei’s face appeared on the gigantic screen to the left of the arena, and she stood up, holding a microphone. “Welcome, everyone. I’m so glad all of you could make it. This is the first spar of the season, we’re so happy you’re here.” Yeah, some of us, Ekioshia growled in her head. Mei continued her speech, and finally ended. “Are you ready, you four?” They nodded, and Mei said, “Good. Now, time for your uniforms.” Ekioshia raised her eyebrows in confusion, when they were enclosed in a metal box. They were thrown around, and finally the box split, revealing their ‘uniforms’. It was a full body suit, shields on the shoulders and knees. It looked very high-tech. Ekioshia admired her jet black gloves, when Mei yelled, “Start!” Ekioshia was stunned for a few minutes, but made a few hand signals and thought, Transform: Ocelot. Ekioshia opened her eyes, and felt the camera zoom on her face, showing the thinning of her pupils and widening of her iris, growing of ears, fur, and all other ocelot body parts until she was like a small Jaguar. She sprinted away quickly, hitting blows to Mayonaka and Haru until Mayonaka grabbed her by her arm and threw her away. Ekioshia remembered that they lost if they fell five times, so she twisted skillfully to land on her paws. Transform: Human. Ekioshia thought, and changed back to her original form. Mayonaka caught Ekioshia off guard from transforming, her only vulnerable time. “World of Nightmares.” Mayonaka said, mouthing I’m sorry after saying her technique. Ekioshia tried her best to shut her eyes, but her fears caught her off guard. Mayonaka’s World of Nightmares technique was one of her eviler ones. It doesn’t cause damage, but it weakens anyone’s defense by a lot. In her World of Nightmares, the victim’s worst fears come to life to haunt them, ending only when the victim is practically too stunned to move. Once again, the camera zoomed on Ekioshia, focused on her face. A ring of fire lit the grass around Ekioshia. In it showed her parent’s and her friends faces, screaming in pain. Mayonaka wiped away a small tear from her cheek, trying her best not to cry when Ekioshia began to scream out in pain. She clutched her head and shut her eyes, trying to avoid the fire and the faces of the people she loved. Meanwhile, Mayonaka and Haru were trying their best to ward off Miyuki, but she kept coming back to slash at the opposing team. Ekioshia stopped her violent screaming, and lifted her hand to face the stream in the middle of the arena. Water: Follow. She thought, and lifted her hand slowly above her head. Water: Fall. She commanded, and the water fell from the sky and put out the fires encasing Ekioshia. She took deep breaths, and finally directed her eyes to the screen, which said, Team White: -2 Team Black: -1. She looked to the opposing team and her teammate. Miyuki had fallen once, and Mayonaka and Haru had fallen twice. Miyuki jumped high into the air, and slashed to the ground, screaming, “Claws of Shadows!” Black rays shot to the ground, pulling at Mayonaka and Haru, and tearing apart the ground. They fell, and two added to team white’s score. One more point, and Ekioshia and Miyuki would win. Ekioshia summoned her courage and strength, and ran to the others. She jumped from the ground, and threw senbon towards Mayonaka and Haru. They dodged out from the way, and Mayonaka asked, “How are you able to move?” Ekioshia smirked, “It was never completed, right?” Her face fell, and she yelled, “Fire Beam!” Mayonaka yelled, “Shadow Beam!” The two clashed, and pushed back in forth in a game of deadly tug-of-war, and finally ended in an explosion that threw Ekioshia to the ground, but Mayonaka jumped back just in time. A point added to her team’s score, and Ekioshia growled. A second later, Miyuki landed next to her. They now had three falls. Ekioshia stood up, and did a few back flips for distance. Miyuki and Haru were clashing together with throwing knives, and Ekioshia started to run to Mayonaka. Mayonaka put her hands together with her index and middle fingers together, making a circle, with her other fingers sticking straight up, and said, “Silent tears.” A blue ray shot from her fingers, and hit Ekioshia where her heart was. Ekioshia was sent back to her child hood. She was sitting on the top branch of a tree, when she saw some girls her age walking down the pathway. She transformed into a bird and flew down to them. She changed back and greeted them. “Hi! Can I walk with you?” She smiled warmly, but the other girls frowned down at her. “No way, animal girl. You’re a freak; we wouldn’t be caught dead with you.” They walked away, laughing. A few drops of rain fell from the forbidding sky above, hitting the ground under her. She ran into the woods, as far as she could, until she reached Kiki. She flew into her arms, and Kiki patted her head, saying, “There, there… What’s the matter…?” It was pouring now, and Ekioshia hadn’t noticed she was crying until Kiki wiped away her tears. She buried her head into Kiki’s shoulder, and Kiki put her chin on her head. Everything faded away until Ekioshia was back into the present. She fell to her knees, hit with the depression of her childhood. Another point added to their score. It was tied, four to four. Miyuki turned around, startled when Mayonaka started running to Ekioshia’s side. Miyuki turned back to hit Haru, but Haru was already swinging to her. Haru’s fist connected first. And Miyuki hit the ground before her friend did. A drop of rain fell on the top of Ekioshia’s head, and then on the prairie ground below her. Ekioshia had been crying, but only noticed when her tears joined the first drops of rain. She fell back, feeling herself engulfed in blackness.