Chapter 4

Jai lay on her back in the middle of the schoolyard, Wenara and team FLWR around her. "When will the guys be here?" Wenara sighed. They had been in classes for two weeks now, and Jai and her team had gotten closer with Laura and the rest of her team. That day, the two teams had decided to spend their self-directed spar together.

The guys of the team were late, which was against Lior's nature, but just like Ivex's. "Lior said he would wait on Ivex, so that's probably why they're late," Jai folded her arms under her head and shut her eyes. "Be patient, they'll be here soon."

Lior frowned at his watch. His plan had been to wait on Ivex, but he was taking a long time in his class with Ms. Midori. Lior exhaled and shifted his bag. Ivex knows the way, I'll tell him I'm just heading out.

Lior took out his Scroll and sent the message. He began walking down the hall, scanning through his music playlist to see if he had anything he was interested in hearing. A hand entered his vision and snatched the Scroll. Lior's gaze jerked up. "What the hell?"

Canceler Lanchester, a boy that Lior went to Chonos academy with, held the Scroll above his head. Their history went back a little farther than just the junior academy, though. "Canceler," Lior glared at the taller boy. "Could I have my Scroll back? I'm meeting some people."

Canceler smirked. "Oh no, little Lior has a place to be! I'd better give him his Scroll back, right guys?" he glanced backwards at his little entourage. They grinned evilly and nodded at Canceler.

"Oh yes, absolutely!" "Better wrap it up in a bow, too!" "Maybe he should get down on his knees and beg for it!"

Lior gritted his teeth. He had one fight with this bastard, and he held it against Lior their whole life? "Just give it."

"I like the idea of you begging for it, shorty."

Lior turned on his heel and went off down the hall. "Just keep it! Whatever! I have some place to be!"

One of the entourage skidded in front of Lior. "Not so fast, little man. We didn't say you could leave yet."

Lior groaned and spun back around. "What did I ever do to you, Canceler? We had one fight!"

"More than you know," Canceler scowled. "If you really think the fight is why I hate you, you are misinterpreting everything."

Lior rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. "Leave me alone. I'm too busy for a NPC nemesis, okay?" He turned to leave again, but ran into the goon from before. The taller boy grabbed onto Lior's arm. Lior yanked against him, a flutter of panic cutting through his annoyance. "I said, leave me alone."

The boy grinned. "And I said we didn't say you could leave yet."

"'NPC nemesis'?" Canceler walked over to where Lior was trapped. "Now that wasn't very nice, little boy. Didn't your mommy ever tell you to use your manners?"

I should have waited on Ivex. "Just let me go. You can practice ignoring me from now on."

One more of Canceler's followers grabbed onto Lior's other arm. The two boys lifted Lior off his feet and Canceler looked him in the eye. Lior kicked his feet. Why couldn't I have gotten a growth spurt before now? Ugh.

"This is for being so perfect," Canceler grabbed Lior around the throat and slammed him against the wall. Lior tried to pull away, kicking his feet at Canceler with all his might. Canceler's fingers tightened, and Lior began to get dizzy. He gritted his teeth and struggled against the hands that held him.

"Why do you always have to be so good at everything, huh Caste?" the edges of Lior's vision started to darken. Lior shut his eyes, waiting for the lack of oxygen to knock him out. His attempts at struggling had begun to weaken, but the hands that gripped his arms and throat didn't let up their pressure.

Lior heard cries of surprise and the hands holding him were jerked away. He fell to the floor, coughing and trying to regain his breath. He glanced up, trying to see what had happened.

Ivex stood there, his arms crossed, looking pissed. "I'm only going to tell you this once; I don't like bullies. How are you liking your strangulation by the way? Purple faces suit you guys nicely."

Ivex sighed and snapped his fingers. Rings flew back toward him, and slipped onto the staff he held. The boys who had been bothering Lior all fell to the ground in a heap, choking on air in a similar way Lior had just been doing. "Run along now ladies, we have business to attend to."

Canceler's entourage got to their feet as quickly as they could, and scampered off, leaving Canceler on the ground, still trying to regain his breath. "One more thing," Canceler muttered through his coughs. "To add to the list of things I hold against you. Good teammates," he stood shakily to his feet and glared at Ivex. "I'll see you around," his eyes narrowed further, and a flash of something like familiarity appeared in them. "Keep that shirt on, buddy. Wouldn't want the girls to get hot and bothered," Canceler nodded sharply at Lior as he started to leave. "They won't be able to protect you forever, Little Li," Canceler whispered to Lior as he passed.

Ivex watched the other boy go, and then held a hand out to Lior. "I knew I should have spent less time talking with Ms. Midori. You still want to spar with your girlfriend and her team? Or do you want me to make up an excuse for you?"

Lior shook his head. "I'll go to the spar, and she's not my girlfriend. I need to do something active before I decide to take a swan dive off the roof."

Ivex raised a concerned eyebrow at Lior. Lior held up his hands. "Kidding. But I do need a nice dose of violence right now," he shot Ivex a curious glance. "What was all that about keeping your shirt on?"

Ivex ignored the question and asked one of his own."Is he got a mental illness of some kind?" he nodded in the direction Canceler went. "He seemed to have two completely different personalities."

Lior shook his head again. "No, he's just good at faking it around adults or authority figures. Done it ever since we were little. Puts on a face, you know the type."

Ivex hummed a noncommittal noise. "Anyway, we should head out to the girls. We only have half an hour left of free sparring."

Jai's eyes shot open, and she sat up. "Guys, you might want to move away from the door." Wenara and Reana looked up from their game of cards at Jai.

"Huh?"

Jai sighed, leaping up. She grabbed the two girls and yanked them out of the way as the door slammed open. Lior and Ivex tumbled out, laughing and shoving each other.

"You guys are late," Laura called to the boys, her eyes twinkling with amusement.

The two of them shared a look then shrugged simultaneously. "We got caught up," Lior explained.

"Lior, is there a problem I should know about?" Jai raised an eyebrow at him. She could clearly see the bruises that were beginning to appear around his neck, despite the effort he and Ivex had made to cover it up.

"Nope! Not at all!"

"Why so serious, Happy-go-lucky?" Ivex slung an arm over her shoulder. "We sincerely apologize for being late, but we should really start soon if we want to finish before our last class!"

Jai gave the two boys a look that said, we'll talk about it later, shrugged Ivex off, and turned to the girls. She clapped her hands. "Okay! Huddle up with your team and go over last minute things! We'll begin very shortly!"

Quincy was Haven's top student. He had bested older students for as long as he had been enrolled at the school, his team had done phenomenally at the Vytal tournament two years before, and he was in position to get an award when he graduated. He had a hot girlfriend, and a boy who did everything Quincy asked.

He had made it his quest to be on the lookout for the student that would take his place for a couple weeks now. His servant-*ahem*- teammate had informed him about a girl named Jai Olos.

"She seems pretty much your average first-year," Quincy yawned. He and his team had gone to the courtyard to watch the fight in between team JWIL and team FLWR. Right now, the two teams had just broken up and were about to begin the spar. "An okay leader, but nothing special. Why did you want us to watch her, Tir?"

Tir scraped his cleaver against the stone wall where they all sat. "She nearly beat all of team DRGN on her first day.Alone.Plus the rumors that have been circulating around the first-year ranks. All of them claim she's a prodigy or something. Very observant and knows your thoughts before you do."

Quincy scoffed. "If she's a prodigy, I'm a demigod. I mean, look at her!" the two teams they were watching had begun fighting in one-on-one pairs. "That one-on-one thing is obviously the flighty, weird one's plan, so why does the prodigy go along with it?"

"It's called camping with the enemies army," Ruth, one of Quincy's teammates, said from the ground. She had opted against sitting on the wall with the other three. "If you walk into all the enemy's traps on purpose, then they'll have nothing left to fire at you."

"I didn't ask you, Ruth," Quincy rolled his eyes. The girl at his arm, Zoe, giggled. "It was a theoretical question."

Zoe giggled some more. "Oh Quin-Quin, I'm sure dear Ruth was only showing off. Pay no attention to the nerd in the room!"

"We aren't even in a room," Ruth mumbled, slumping against the wall, a frown creasing her whole face.

Quincy found he got along with Zoe and Tir, but Ruth was a nut he couldn't crack. She had always been stand-offish and more rebellious than the other two. Quincy liked a team that followed his every order and didn't question anything.

Zoe squealed. "Ooh, check that out!"

Quincy returned his eyes to the fight that was happening. Jai had one of the girls on the ground, and was watching her team lazily. Her signature smirk spread across her face as she held up her thumb and first finger. Her teammates took a glance back at her, checking out what she was holding up. Two of them weren't having any trouble fighting their opponents, but Lior was struggling a little, fighting the girl with the braid.

Jai disappeared and Quincy sat up a little. Lior had disappeared as well, and the other two had slowly brought their targets closer together. Ivex threw a couple rings in braid-girl's direction, and Wenara pointed at them.

The next thing the spectators knew, Jai had reappeared behind braid-girl and kicked her in the back, sending her flying across the yard. One of Ivex's rings dipped, and then the two rings spun all around the remaining two opponents.

The flighty leader was struck by some invisible force and was thrown backwards. The butch looking girl popped a piece of gum into her mouth and spun her blowgun up to her mouth. Ivex and Wenara flicked their wrists at the same time, the rings colliding with each other. The rings exploded just as butch-girl blew fire up at them. Sparking crystals of ice rained down on her, the fire engulfing most of them.

Jai came up from behind her, holding butch-girl fast with her weapon. She nodded at her teammates and Ivex shot out three more rings.

"Self destruction isn't a smart plan," Quincy scowled. "Again, why are we…"

The butch-girl collapsed to the ground, her aura flickering and fading. Jai stood next to her team, grinning at the girls scattered across the yard.

"She went along with their plan so that she could show them how much stronger she was," Ruth murmured. "How did she even do that fake-out thing at the end?"

Quincy felt his bad mood worsen. For a girl who had never wanted to give him the time of day, Ruth sure was good at complementing others. "You said one of the rumors about her was that she was observant?" Quincy questioned Tir. "How could that be if she didn't notice us watching her match?"

"Because you're in denial," Ruth smirked, pointing at the figure approaching them.

Jai walked up to them, smiling wide. When she reached them, she took a bow. "Well my fourth-year companions? How did you like the show?"

"We are not companions," Quincy said darkly. "You are just a childish excuse for a team captain."

Jai's eyes flashed, but her smile stayed in place. "I didn't ask that. I asked if you liked the show."

"If you were just fighting for the show, then you will make a terrible huntress," Quincy sneered at her.

Her smile slipped. "Well, the first step to being a good huntress would be to be a good leader. Too bad you missed that class, hmm Quincy?"

Quincy stood up and grabbed her by the collar. Jai raised her hand, a silent signal to her team. "My team is willing to fight and die for me. Is your team willing to do the same for you?" she hissed. "And even if they were, would they do it willingly, or would they be forced into it? I've kept my mouth shut because I had no reason to interact with you, but now? Here's what I think. You're a sucky leader, and you treat your team like they're nothing more than dust balls that you brush aside. You may be strong, but it takes more than that to become a huntsman."

A low growl rose in Quincy's throat. "You have no right to say those things to an upperclassman."

Jai tightened her lips, a spark of rebellion in her eye. "Says you," she put up her hand again and Quincy glanced behind her.

All of her team had stopped congratulating themselves and had their attention laser focused on Quincy. Especially the tall boy, Ivex. He looked like if Jai wasn't holing him back, he would murder Quincy.

Quincy let go of the girl and took a step back. "You'd better tame that smartass mouth of yours, Olos. You'll make enemies that way."

He turned on his heel and stormed off, Zoe and Tir quickly following suit. Ruth sat on the ground and just stared up at Jai. "Aren't you going to go with them?" Jai asked her.

Ruth cocked her head. "How did you do that? Stand up to him I mean. No one else ever has. They've been too afraid of him. Here you come up, some random first year, and you can take it while he holds you in a death grip."

Jai laughed. "It's all about confidence. He wouldn't dare do anything to me, a lowly first-year, because the teachers might hear about it. If he had taken the risk anyway, my teammates would have gone rage-insane, and killed him on the spot."

Ruth just shook her head. "You realize you just made the most powerful boy at the school mad at you, correct? If he wanted to, he could wipe you and your team off the planet."

Jai rolled her eyes. "Someone is only as powerful as they show. Real strength is for the ones who earn it."

Ruth stood up and held her hand out to Jai. "I'm Ruth. I think you're pretty awesome. Don't ever lose that spunk, m'kay?"

Jai shook her hand. "Absolutely!"

Ruth nodded behind Jai's shoulder. "You might want to get back to your team now. Good luck with everything, Jai."

Jai smiled at her. "You need a much higher dosage of luck than I do. You remember to keep yourself, and not let him change you!" Jai waved back at her as she jogged off to her team.

Ruth watched her go. A feeling of strength like she had never felt before rushed over her. That girl is going to do some insane stuff in the future, she thought, a grin stretching across her face.

Jai sat at their regular table that night at dinner. She poked at her food, listening silently to the chatter of the teams around her. Sometime in the past two weeks, team DRGN had decided to join JWIL and FLWR at the table. They made things hilarious, and all of them were down with just about anything.

Guy nudged her. "You're quiet tonight, Olos. What's up?"

Jai raised one shoulder, feeling the attention of everyone at the table fall on her. "Enh, nothing much. I think I may have made an enemy today, though."

Ivex snorted. "That's an understatement. I'm pretty sure you just started a war, from the way that he stormed off like that."

Dale looked up from his food. "With who? There aren't too many disagreeable people who go to school here."

"Quin something, I don't know. Some random fourth-year."

Dale dropped his fork and stared at Jai. Risha raised her eyebrows up to her hairline. Norse choked on his food. Guy swallowed. "Out of all th' people 'ere, you had to make an enemy of Quincy?"

"You guys know him?" Jai cocked her head at the team.
"More like he's been our chief tormentor since we were first-years," Norse said, taking a swig of his water. His ears twitched and he set the glass down. "Not a person whose bad side you want to be on."

"What were you thinking walking up to a fourth-year and arguing with them?" Dale placed his palms on the table. "Are you clinically insane?"

"I'm just a certified younger sister, that's all," Jai sighed, setting her fork down on the table. "My older brother complains all the time about me being too confrontational," she raised her eyes and glanced around the table. "We got any other younger siblings here?"

Flora raised her hand, along with Wenara, Guy, Norse, and Risha.

"Fun," Jai leaned back. "You guys get what I mean when I say that I have younger sibling disorder?"

"I wouldn't know, really," Guy said, shrugging. "I left 'ome when I was eight or so. I was the best out of my siblings, I think."

"Absolutely, and I'm sure my brother hates me for it." Wenara chuckled.

"Not at all, since my sister lives in a different Kingdom than I do," Risha frowned. "I wish she would come back for a visit sometime. She left with my parents when I was six, and I've lived with my uncle ever since."

"I have a perfect relationship with my older sister," Flora chirped.

"I wish I could throw my sisters all out and force them to live on the street," Norse grumbled. "Always up in my business, and making me dance with them, stuff like that. I feel more like an older sibling most of the time, since my older sisters left as soon as they could."

"How many siblings do you have?" Wenara flicked the straw in her drink. "It sounds like a lot."

"I don't have siblings, I have sisters," Norse rubbed his forehead. "And I'm the sixth child out of ten."

"TEN?" Wenara choked out.

Reana coughed into her fist. "Restraining myself from saying an inappropriate joke right now."

"If it's somethin' about how his family multiplied like rabbits, don't say it," Guy warned her. "We've already heard all of 'em."

"Not to mention that those kind of jokes are racist," Risha pointed out.

Reana held up her hands in surrender. "Not what I was going to say. My comment was going to be how they probably always needed a separate room at the hospital."

Wenara snorted. "Okay, that's funny."

Jai chewed on her food, retreating back into her thoughtful mindset. She had successfully changed the subject. No longer had to worry about their concern, no matter how kind they were trying to be. Jai felt one pair of eyes remaining on her, and she glanced up at Ivex. Jai shot him a thumbs up. "It'll all be fine," she mouthed to him.

A couple days later, Mrs. Swarven asked Jai to stay after class. "Ms. Olos, there has been a request for you and your team to engage in a spar. It is with an older team, and you will have one week to prepare for the spar. Your class with me will be extended, and you'll be excused from your next class. What is your feeling on the matter?"

Jai blinked. "Um, I guess that would be a good learning experience. I'll talk to my team about it later," Jai hiked her bag higher on her shoulder and turned to leave. She stopped and half turned back. "What team happened to want us to spar with them?"

"Team QRTZ, lead by Quincy Lyst," Mrs. Swarven tapped papers together on her desk. "I will be directing the fight and grading you on how you do."

"Oh," Jai turned back around. "Well, see you later, Mrs. Swarven."

Jai exited the room and slumped against the wall outside the classroom. "Holy flaming monkeys, Batman. Let's hope my teammates don't kill me over this. Because there is no way I'm backing down from that son of a bitch."

A/N: Next chapter will feature a fight in between teams QRTZ and JWIL. Be prepared for the rivalry between these two! Sorry for any grammatical errors I may have missed!

/Kronos\\