Days were remotely normal as Andalusia counted down until one week had passed until the next round of the tournament, which was the last round. Like everybody else, when the notice was pinned to the board, she crowded with Laurel and Amby to see the matches. As an exception to a normal schedule, today there were to be seven matches, as it was the final day of the Tournament.
The poster was large, hand-written but very eye-catching. Peeking over many heads, they read;
CATALYSTS TOURNAMENT ROSTER
Match I- Felix.E VS Laurel.B
Match II- Amby.E VS Callice.G
Match III: Winner of Match I VS Winner of Match II
Match IV: Winner of Match III VS Capprice.B
Match V: Winner of Match IV VS Jade.G
Match VI : Winner of Match III VS Drew.T
and…
Match VI: Winner of Match IV VS Andalusia.K
Andalusia couldn't believe her eyes, and neither could anybody else. Everybody turned their heads at Andalsuia, who blushed, eyes wide, mouth agape. Stuttering madly, she ran from the crowd, the girls close behind, laughing.
"Yeah!" Laurel shouted, punching the air with her fist.
"It's a mistake," Andaluisa gasped, doubled over.
"It must be!"
"Vince doesn't make mistakes," Amby stated, grinning.
"What? VINCE did this?" Andalusia exclaimed.
"Yeah! He reckons you've got potential he does, but the main thing is… you might fight Callice! You can get her back!"
"No! No way! I'm NOT fighting!"
"Yes you are," Vince walked forward, placing his arm around Amby.
Within the week, she had eaten as much as she could, feeling more strong every single day. She was sure she looked more healthy, she felt normal, finally. She could run without feeling like collapsing in a heap. With constant stress about the tournament, she was madly training to do whatever she could to train.
Callice prowling around the grounds watching her fighting techniques didn't help, so she had private help from Vince., had improved a lot.
Stomach rumbling with nerves, Andalusia sat next to Amby and Laurel near the fire, eating honeycomb for dessert. Sweets like honeycomb was incredible expensive, as no one would dare use their powers to steal, and it was also very rare for adults to travel far away just for supplies they could sometimes make here. But in the shed, there were many sweets that accumulated over time. Jessica had to work overload to earn a small stack. Andalusia, hugging her belly to stop it from rumbling couldn't keep her eyes from creasing with worry.
What if Drew saw her fall over and make a fool of herself?
What if she gets hurt?
But then, she wanted to see Drew, she had been marking off the days on a calendar she had made. She really wanted to see him again.
That night, she climbed into bet, reading the list of notes that would be happening tomorrow that Amby had made.
Laurel had told her that the rest of the camps, unfortunately including Drew had left days before to help set up for the Tournament. She also heard there would be betting stalls.
She scanned the paper.
Start 10:00 AM.Opening CeremonyNO RULES- BE CAREFULFor some reason, there were not many rules for this tournament. Probably because if they were broken havoc could divide people according to whom they had betted on. The only rule known was that if the competitor tried to kill their opponent, they would be stopped by any means necessary and disqualified, but thankfully that had never happened before.
Be strongDon't forget to bet! They give out special stuff from the cities!Beat CalliceFind DrewBeat CalliceDress in uniform and no pressure but… loads of tents are betting on you."Oh great!" Andalusia shouted sarcastically, throwing the paper onto the floor. Head in her hands. All this pressure! She thought. I'm new! Do they expect me to win? What do I do! Argh!
She sighed deeply and sank down into her pillows, visions of her losing and the crowd booing making her want to do nothing but go to sleep.
Morning came quicker than she would have liked it to. She was shaken awake by Laurel, who was dressed in a beautiful green leather outfit. It had sewed animals and she wore a green bandana, and brown boots. She also wore bracelets and necklaces for good luck.
"Ready? It's the big day!" She said, clapping her hands. She pulled Andalusia out of bed.
"Get dressed! Meet you outside!" She bounded out of the room.
Andalusia, sighing, reluctantly dressed in the uniform Jessica had made her. She wore a completely different outfit though. Hers was piled at the end of her bed in a neat pale blue heap.
She had some sort of fighting-dress. It had a belt and rolled sleeves. She had a blue headband and charms for luck. Embroidered on it were golden curved designs.
Dressing quickly, she opened the draw and grabbed her own stash of Catalyst money Jessica gave her to bet on who would win. She hadn't decided yet though.
Outside she was blinded by the brilliant sunlight. Raising her hand to cover her face, she was met by a series of murmurs from the small group huddled.
Jessica, Amby, John, laurel and Callice were waiting and had all turned to look at her.
She noticed Jessica and John wore blue too.
"Mum and Dad bet on you, that's why they're wearing blue. How loyal…" Amby joked.
"We all get assigned colours, you are blue," Laurel explained. Gesturing to herself in green.
Andalusia glanced at Amby, who looked brilliant in her fiery red outfit. She wore charms too but a beautiful red fighting vest and short red skirt. She wore red boots and her hair was tied back in a fishtail plait.
"Yep, we both betted on you!" Jessica said excitedly, running over and dragging Andalusia forward.
"Who are you betting on?" Amby enquired, smiling.
"Um… haven't decided." Andalusia said awkwardly. She didn't want to decide, she had a horrible feeling that if she bet on one of them, the other one would feel left out. Maybe she wouldn't vote at all.
"Ah…" Amby murmured, grinning.
"I know."
"What?" Andalusia asked.
" I just saw you will bet for," she said, giggling.
"Come on girls," John said, pulling them all towards the bus who waited for them.
"The Tournament awaits!"
Climbing off the bus after Callice, Andalusia just realised how different Callice looked.
She wore black, her signature colour, but short sleeves and shorts. Black threads threaded around her arms. She wore a belt, boots and wristbands which held what looked like sharp stones.
She jumped off, walked to the cinema with Amby and Laurel, and was welcomed indoors to a tumultuous cheer. In front of her was a massive room. Huge, writhing with people in stands, in the middle, a large circular red carpet.
Wanting to absorb as much as she could, Andalusia wished she had three more heads. Stalls surrounded the place, selling drinks and food, people cheering rants, flags…
There were seven coloured flags hanging from the ceiling; Green, Blue, Black, Red, Grey, Orange, Pink and Yellow.
"Each child here gets their own colour, like I said, and their own emblem…" Laurel said, hardly audible through all the noise. Andalusia looked up. On the flags, there was a different sewed image.
The Red one, which had AMBY on it in gold lettering had a massive glowing amber stone. The Green flag had a laurel, the Black had a massive grey eye and so on…
Attracting a lot of attention, Andalusia hid her head, but Amby and Laurel seemed to relish it. Callice didn't seem to care and walked straight to the betting stall, muttering grumpily.
As John and Jessica went to save front-row seats were the competitors and friends sat, the three went to the stall.
Voices shouted from every direction:
"Go Amby!"
"Yeah, Laurel!"
"Laurel! Laurel!"
"Come on Amby, you'll win I bet!"
"GO ANDALUSIA!"
Andalusia spun around, and met the eyes of none other than Drew Taylor. He was smiling and waving, cheering at her within a crowd. She waved shyly before being pulled underneath the hangings of the betting stall.
There were five sections, each with an eager person behind the counter.
Amby and Laurel were called off, placing their bets and whispering who they betted on.
Racking her brains to decide who to bet for, she remember Amby seeing who she would bet for. Wondering who it was, she was called off to a stocky woman holding a pack of eight cards.
"Yes, dear? Name or colour? Yellow for Jade Gremsworth, but I say… Red and Green…"
"Who's colours are who?" Andalusia asked, trying to buy time to decide.
The woman lay the cards down one by one, pointing to each one, with her pudgy hands.
"Red-Amby Eve, Green- Laurel Black, Black- Callice Grey, Grey- Drew-"
"Drew," Andalusia blurted out. Placing her bet.
The woman took the money, counted it and wrote down DREW TAYLOR and gave Andalusia a number card that read 28.
"Alright, then, good luck dear."
Andalusia moved away and joined Amby, who was holding a pack of honeycomb and was looking excited.
"You betted then?" Amby asked, grinning.
Andalusia nodded, blushing.
Chewing nervously on honeycomb, Andalusia stared at the red carpet in front of her.
"Shh! It's starting!" Laurel whispered.
Andalusia jerked up, noticing a rather huge man standing in the middle of the carpet, raising his hand for silence.
"That's Roger, he controls sound…"
And sure enough, his voice was amplified to at least ten times its usual loudness.
"Good morning, fellow Catalysts!" He announced, waving his hand and beaming at the crowd, met by a huge roar.
"We are gathered for this momentary occasion to watch the Tournament! Today there will be seven matches, so I hope you have placed your bets, and I assure you- this will be a most wonderful event for all! Today we have eight competitors so put your hands together, and let the Tournament begin!"
The crowd erupted with cheer.
"May I welcome the contestants…"
"AMBY EVE!"
The crowd erupted with a huge roar as Amby stood and walked to the carpet, hands in the air, laughing.
"LAUREL BLACK!"
The crowd too, exploded as she joined Amby.
"JADE GREMSWORTH!"
The crowd didn't respond as hugely to this girl, but she was amazing none the less. In her yellow dress, she walked like a supermodel onto the stage. From what Andalusia could see, she was smothered with make-up and her arms covered with jewellery. She pranced onto the carpet, as if she were a model.
Amby and Laurel exchanged glances and rolled their eyes.
"FELIX EVANS!"
Instead of cheering, the crowd mimicked a huge cat's meow, everybody laughed, even Felix.
"CAPRICE BUNTIN!"
A fairly short girl with purple hair walked to the carpet.
"CALLICE GREY!"
Callice walked up, to the carpet ignoring the few hisses from the crowd and murmurs.
"DREW TAYLOR!"
Andalusia looked up, and there he was. Drew walked up amongst the cheers.
" … and finally… the new… ANDALUSIA KINGSLEY!"
A crowd louder than every other erupted all around her as she stood, and walked shyly to the carpet. People were shouting out her name over and over again. Her ears thundered with the noise. She couldn't help smiling as Drew winked at her.
The eight competitors stood in line, chests puffed up with pride, as they awaited their instructions.
"And now… the competitors await, for the first match will take place…" Roger announced.
"Please welcome… FELIX EVANS AND LAUREL BLACK!"
There were cheers for both child as they stepped forward, the crowd brandishing orange and green flags at them.
The two flags above them lowered, representing the laurel and tiger. They turned to each other, smiling sweetly and shook hands.
"Ready?" Felix asked playfully.
"You bet," Laurel replied.
"Move to positions!" Roger commanded.
The rest of the competitors moved to a separate maroon carpet where Vince stood, to watch the match. Felix and Laurel stood at opposite sides of the carpet and bowed.
The crowd grew dead silent, so silent that Andalusia was sure you could hear a pin drop.
"Ready? Steady? COMMENCE!"
Felix and Laurel circled each other, grinning playfully.
Felix began morphing into all kinds of large cats in front of Laurel, earning him cries of awe.
He circled the carpet as a panther, hunched low to the ground, purring.
Laurel stood forward, and raised an arm high. She closed her eyes and a racket pounded on the door, the crowd gasped and the door flew open. A huge group of birds of all sizes flew in screeching so loudly that everyone had to cover their ears. Eagles soared, pigeons flapped, even seagulls glided over them all. They ascended high up in the sky, Felix watching apprehensively, this time morphing into a tiger, snarling. Crouching low on his hind legs, he began prowl.
Chaning momentarily back into a boy he said, "this ain't games, I won't hold back."
Laurel just raised an eyebrow and brought her hand down.
Like a wave, every single bird dived towards Felix, who morphed into a lion and ran away, being careful to stay within the carpet, which was a rule. Standing up, he clawed and roared at several birds as they clawed and bit him. Roaring, and hissing, the birds flew back. Settling as crowd in a circle around Laurel. Who just laughed.
Puffing, Felix bounded towards Laurel. She lowered her hand, muttered and then something hilarious happened.
Felix, as a lion, started hopping up and down on the spot, back and forwards… rolling over. Walking on hind legs and punching the air.
Hissing and spitting, he tried to fight it but couldn't. Something was making it move. The audience burst into hysterical laughter as a bloody lion pranced about doing somersaults twenty-feet into the air.
Amby and Andalusia doubled over with laughter. Andalusia had no idea laurel could do such a thing. Felix started doing the moonwalk up and down the carpet while he roared so fiercely the crowd faltered.
Deciding she had embarrassed him enough, Laurel pinned him to the ground for ten seconds, until the bell rang, signally the end to Match I.
The crowd cheered and booed at the same time. Those who had betted for Felix had sighed and cursed but the majority shouted in happiness.
"Our winner- LAUREL BLACK!"
Laurel ran to the edge of the carpet and waved her hands, laughing. Felix, exhausted, lay there as a human, puffing on the ground as if he ran a hundred miles.