A/N: Hello again and thank you for the reviews! This chapter will be about Crystal's fight with Evan. For more details read the chapter ^_^ In advance, I know some of my descriptions aren't very good, but please bare with me and don't criticize me about it (Maybe it's just me . . .) Anywayz, Read, Savor, Enjoy!
Ten – Battle of the Best
When Crystal arrived in her room, she yawned and sat on the bed, waiting for the others to follow her back. She didn't have to wait long, for just a few seconds later, everyone else appeared in front of her. Kollina sat on the bed beside her and asked, "So you're going to fight him in the arena?"
Crystal slightly frowned before answering in a sarcastic tone, "Well, yeah. I wouldn't have invited him if I wasn't, right?"
Mazolina put her hands on her hips and glared at Crystal. "You know that's not what she meant. Anyways, do you want just us to watch you or do you want a large crowd? We can fix it no problem, just say the word and we'll do it."
Crystal grinned. "Yeah, a big crowd, if you please. Since I get the feeling that he's a pretty good fighter and that nearly the whole town knows it, it would be great if I could humiliate him by beating him tomorrow. Oh, Kollina, do you mind acting as the referee? Mazolina, if you like, you can be the announcer/commenter, too."
They both nodded and said, "Sure."
Angelina said, "What about Gourry and I? What do you think we should do?"
Crystal thought a moment before she replied, "Angelina, I think you should be in charge of healing and keeping any spells from going into the crowds or out of the stadium. Gourry, you can act as head bodyguard, well, just guard to make sure that the wrong people don't get in or he tries to leave in the middle of the match. Got it?"
Everyone nodded so Crystal added, "Alright then. If you don't mind, could you please all leave so I can get some sleep? I have to be ready for tomorrow, you know."
They all said their good nights and left. While everybody else was asleep, Crystal stayed up in bed thinking of the perfect strategy to use against her opponent. Around half past midnight, she was finally satisfied and slipped into a peaceful slumber.
The next morning, Kollina, Mazolina, Angelina, and Gourry woke up and set out without Crystal so that they could bring in spectators. This wasn't at all very hard considering that Gourry was well known in town and the people who had seen Crystal last night had told their friends about it who told /their/ friends to come. By nine o'clock, the stadium was filled with anxious viewers and some were even watching from nearby roofs. In the middle of the arena, to the side, was a narrow and tall tower for Mazolina to comment from. Kollina would also watch from there, unless there was a problem down below. Angelina stood by Gourry at the gate with an easy view of the arena, in case someone got terribly injured or a spell went wrong.
At exactly 9 sharp, Kollina walked to the center of the field and held up her hands for silence. The crowds suddenly went deathly silent as Kollina started to speak in a magically amplified voice.
"Welcome, citizens of Barbados! We are gathered here today, as you well know, to witness the battle between Evan Gredowski, current reigning Anything Goes Battle Arena Tournament in Elmekia, and Crystal Cascata, a newcomer to both Barbados and Elmekia with an amazingly promising skill. Ladies and gentlemen, in the west side, we have Evan! Evan, please come forward." On cue, Evan walked into the arena from the opening on the left side of the stadium. He raised his hands and smiled confidently at the crowd, who cheered in response.
Once Evan stopped at the edge of the platform arena, Kollina continued. "And in the east corner, we have Crystal! Crystal, please come forward."
The crowd waited in awed suspense as they waited for Crystal to appear. As half a minute went by without any results, Kollina started to get worried. Both telepathically and out loud, she called out, "Crystal Cascata, please report to the arena immediately. If you are not on this arena in five minutes, you will be forced to forfeit this battle to Evan."
Back in the mansion, Crystal woke up with a start at the sound of Kollina's voice saying something about forfeiting the match. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was already 9 o'clock. She jumped out of bed and with a snap of her fingers cleaned herself up, brushed her hair, brushed her teeth, washed her face, ironed her clothes, dressed appropriately, and assembled all of her belongings that she would need. With a happy grin, Crystal teleported to the east side entrance. Kollina was now counting down, one minute left. With an air as if she could care less, Crystal strode casually onto the platform. She winked and made a peace sign at the crowd and they erupted in cheers.
When Crystal stopped at the edge of the arena, Kollina talked in her normal voice, both aloud and telepathically. "You're late. Crystal, where were you? Do you realize that you almost forfeited this match without even beginning to fight?"
Crystal looked over at Kollina and smiled. She shrugged and answered, "No problem. Don't worry about it. I'm here aren't I?"
Hearing this, Evan sneered. "What happened? Did you try to run out of town so that you wouldn't have to be humiliated by me? Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."
Giving him a sideways glare, Crystal quietly bit back, "I wasn't running away – I was just /fashionably/ late. And I don't want you to go easy on me. After all, I don't want to beat you up /too/ badly."
Kollina cleared her throat and said in her magically amplified voice, "This will be an anything-goes fight. No time limit, first fighter to knock out their opponent wins! Any killing will result in an automatic forfeit. All right, let the battle begin. Ready? Start!"
At Kollina's 'Ready', both fighters stood in their own stance. As they circled each other, Evan smirked and said, "Ladies first."
Crystal returned the smirk and with a nod and a "Can't kill, huh? You're very lucky, but I'll find my way around it," Crystal started.
She stopped and put one hand in front of her face, as if praying. She closed her eyes and a dozen perfect duplicate images of her circled Evan. The figures, including her, quickly flew around him in a semi-blurry circle (Imagine a Pokemon's Double Team attack). Evan looked left and right at the seemingly small army of opponents that he suddenly found himself against.
"Ooh, it looks like the challenger has started the match with a little original spell," Mazolina commented. "How will Battle Champion Evan deal with this?"
Half to himself, Evan smirked and muttered, "Like this. DISFANG!" His shadow immediately shot out and accurately bit all of the images' ankles. The images disappeared, revealing Crystal in a bent knee position. She was clasping her bitten ankle and had to try hard not to scream out in pain. In a slightly ragged voice, she whispered, "Lighting." Her shadow disappeared and so did most of the pain. "You'll pay for that. 'To start off…' Burst Rondo!" Several small fireballs shot out of her open palm and pummeled Evan as he tried to cover his face for protection. Unfortunately for Crystal, it appeared that her training in non-water based magic was practically fruitless. The normally scorching spell merely scathed him slightly and gave him a few minor burns. Everybody in the whole arena sweatdropped. A random wind blew a single tumbleweed through one opening and out the other.
Crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, Evan asked, "Was that supposed to hurt?"
Crystal smirked and said, "Just try your luck."
At the entrance, Gourry asked Angelina, "Hey, is it Crystal's 'time of the month'?" Lina bonked him on the head and hissed, "No you idiot! She's only five-years-old. Besides, any magic other than water-based ones, aren't exactly her specialty. In fact, they're so bad, you might as well call them her weakness. *Sigh* I hope she knows what she's doing."
Meanwhile, Evan casually brushed off a few ashes before going into a spell-casting stance. Before long, he shouted out, "Fireball!"
Before she could get burned, Crystal countered with, "Balus Wall!" The shield immediately went up and blocked the offensive spell.
While Crystal had been casting the wall, she was also casting a silent Recovery spell. When the Fireball had been completely deflected, Crystal stood up, full of energy. With a bemused grin, Crystal declared, "This will get us nowhere. Let's see how well you can spar."
Evan raised both of his eyebrows and stepped back in surprise. "I can't. I didn't bring a sword." With a wave of her hand, Angelina summoned Evan's sword and let it levitate to him. With a smile, Kollina said, "There you go, Evan. Let the battle continue."
Evan shrugged. He was pretty certain that a beautiful girl who could sing very well and hung out in a night club, couldn't possibly even hold up a sword properly. Boy was he in for it. During their spare time, Gourry had taught her how to use a sword expertly, as Xellos did the same with staffs. Crystal easily mastered these, and if at maximum power, could most likely defeat an easy-going Gourry in a sword fight and or a distracted Xellos.
As Evan unsheathed his sword, Crystal quickly mumbled a spell before doing the same. Everyone, except Crystal, couldn't believe what they saw. In Crystal's hands was what appeared to be the Sword of Light!
"What's this? The Sword of Light was taken from this world long ago. How could Crystal have gotten her hands on it?" Mazolina commented. Kollina whispered something in her ear and she squinted to look closer at the sword. "Oh, I see. A very clever contraption on Crystal's part."
Evan didn't hear the last sentence Mazolina had said, and he actually believed that Crystal's sword was the Legendary Sword of Light.
Again, Gourry leaned over at Angelina and asked, "Hey, how'd she get that? I thought I gave it away to that pink guy. (^_^)"
With a sigh, Angelina answered, "His name is Eurolugos, Gourry dear. You should learn to call people by their respected names. Anyways, you did give it away." "Then how-" "Because that is just an imitation sword. Crystal combined a Lighting spell and an Icicle Lance to make her sword look like that. Quite ingenious actually. I suppose she's just trying to intimidate her opponent."
Crystal charged at Evan at full force. Evan frantically blocked it with his sword, fearing for his life, but he was still pushed back quite a ways. Keeping his eyes on Crystal's, Evan thought a chant and suddenly yelled out, "Digger Bolt!" Unfortunately, Crystal was taken by surprise and wasn't able to get away before the spell was sent through the linked swords and into her. For someone who had charged first, and was as strong as Crystal, she had dropped her guard by a considerable amount. You could literally see her skeleton for the brief seconds before she regained control and jumped away before she could take even more damage. She stood up and this time visibly cast a Recovery spell. But just to be safe, Crystal also cast a Windy Shield at the same time. Her cape and hair went flying up over her head as she prepared for her next attack.
Crystal swung her sword once in the direction of her opponent. When she did, several small icicles went flying from the sword, towards Evan. They were extremely powerful, each feeling like an Icicle Lance by themselves. They nicked Evan nearly anywhere that he didn't block, mainly his face. However, a stray ice arrow cut him on his left cheek. When the sudden ice barrage stopped, Crystal threw her sword to the side and cast a Visfarank spell.
She slowly started to walk towards Evan as she audibly cracked her knuckles. With a sly smile, Crystal said. "Playtime's over. Switching to hand-to-hand combat. Get ready to get pummeled."
Using her demonic speed, she surprised Evan and punched him in the stomach. He immediately keeled over, clutching his stomach in pain. But Crystal's eyes had turned ice cold, and it showed in her actions. She relentlessly beat him up, making special care not to hit hard enough to kill him. Finally, after about five minutes of pounding him, Crystal stopped and turned away. Evan had blood trailing from a bloody nose, lip, and several cuts. Yet, he was still barely conscious. Crystal took care of this by blasting him in the back of the head with a variation of an ocean spray. Without even waiting to see if her opponent was conscious (which he wasn't), she walked away silently.
" And Crystal is the winner!" Mazolina announced. As if on cue, the crowd erupted in cheers once more. As she was walking out, Crystal heard this and smiled. Without looking back, she casually waved her hand at the crowds. When she passed Angelina, she whispered, "When everyone is gone, go heal Evan. I don't want him to die. I want him to live in humiliation and shame.
A/N: Um . . . I hope the ending wasn't too brutal. I just wanted to show how much Crystal changed and how much she dislike Evan. Reviews are always appreciated. Oh, and if you've just read both of my stories, please review them separately. If you enjoyed my story/chapter thus far, please review. It'll make me very happy. The next chapter will probably come out next week, so just be patient and find some time to review. Thank you, have a nice day (or good night)!