**Sorry for the longer wait than normal, I've been busy. This is the last chapter of 'cool down', so the next chapter will be more travel and battles. On with the story!
The Time for Ten - Chapter 8
"Ella told us we are going to train?" Adam says as he and One walk out from the cornfield.
"Yeah, we are just setting up." I respond as I light a stick on fire and place it in the ground.
It's around eleven o'clock, so it is pitch dark besides the area we lit. Sarah, Sam, and Malcolm meander out of the house, followed by Two. After a couple more minutes, Six and Nine come out of the house holding hands. Sarah comes up and wraps her hands around my waist.
"So, tonight we start our first training session. The people who are evenly matched are put up against each other. To start off, we have Eight versus Nine." I say and beckon them forward.
They shake hands and say 'good luck' to each other.
"Begin!" I yell.
xxxxx
Nine lunges at me, but I teleport to the side and he goes crashing to the floor. I pounce on top of him and take a few punches. Nine veers up and I go flying back about ten feet. He dashes to me with super-speed and punches me in the gut. I fold over and then he punches me in the side. As I fall over, I teleport to the other side of the arena. This gives me the two extra seconds I need to re-concentrate. I think of a wild beast in my head, and that's what I change into. A ferocious beast with three heads, seven arms, and five sets of razor sharp teeth. Nine looks like an ant next to me. I roar and charge toward Nine. At the last second, Nine jumps and rolls out of the way. He then stands up and jumps onto my back. After a while of thrashing and rolling, I manage to pin him down. I shrink back to my normal Eight size and hold him down.
"Three...two..." John starts.
Before he can finish, Nine regains his confidence and shoves me upward around twenty feet. I come down fast, but manage to move into rolling position as to not hurt myself. Nine comes flying at me, foot outstretched for a kick to the head, but I stop him midair with my telekinesis and fling him into the ground. I then change into a tiger and pounce on him, using my sharp claws to trap his arms. He struggles and tries to push me off, but even his strength can't lift up a tiger.
"Eight wins!" John says.
I switch back to human and stand up. Nine brushes dirt off of his jeans. "Good game." He says and extends his hand.
I grab and shake it firmly. Nine has changed, I say to myself.
"Next up is... Two versus Ella!" John announces.
"Well, this should be interesting... Two mind Gardes against each other." Mar whispers in my ear.
I put my arm around her waist and pull her closer. It's great to be back.
xxxxx
Nine walks over to me and puts his arm across my shoulders. "Well, I certainly did bad." He says quietly.
"No, you have a weak spot for Eight because of what you did." I whisper back.
We both turn to see Two and Ella fighting, mainly with telekinesis. Two flips Ella upside down, and then Ella does the same causing them to both go crashing back to the Earth. A few giggles were let out for that. Suddenly Two picks up Ella with her mind and flings her straight at Nine and I. We instinctively roll away for cover, but a swirling vortex of purple and black appears just before where we were standing. Ella goes flying into it and Two charges after her, with John on her heels. After John passes through, the portal closes and everything is silent again. Nine and I are on the ground to either side of where the portal was. Eight and Mar are standing a couple feet away from me; Mar's hand is outstretched toward my direction like she had tried to do something. One and Adam are hand-in-hand nearby to Nine, and Five is just to the left of them. Sam, Malcolm, and Sarah are all directly across from where the portal opened up. Once again, a portal opens up, but this time just above the fighting circle. John comes tumbling out and rolls to the side. Two, followed by Ella, fall out next. Two lands on the ground with a hard crack and Ella lands on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
"And Ella wins!" John yells.
The two competitors get a small round of applause for their surprise time-shift.
"Now for Six versus me." John tells us.
John and I step to the center of the ring. I crack my knuckles one by one while John gives me an intimidating glare.
"Bring it." John says with a smirk. I smile in return.
"Begin!" Sam yells from across the arena.
John lunges toward me and I turn invisible. He falls to the ground and I leap after him, but my direction is suddenly changed due to a strong wind gust. I look back at Four.
"You missed some shit while you had your trip to the Everglades." He explains with a grin.
I slash my arm through the air and a moving forcefield flies at Four, hitting him square in the chest. He goes spasming to the ground, but quickly regains his footing.
"And you missed a lot too." I retaliate.
John begins to run toward me, and I turn invisible. He suddenly chucks a fireball to where I am, and my clothes catch on fire. It is hot as hell. It also allows him to see me no matter what. I drop to the ground and roll quickly but efficiently away from John, and the flames go out. I didn't do it in time though, because suddenly Four is on top of me, pinning me down with a strength I've never seen come out of him.
"Stay tuned." He says, flirt-like, because that is what I said to him when he first asked what my legacies were.
"John is the winner!" Sam says excitedly. Sarah runs out and hugs John.
I sulk back over to Nine. "You gave a good fight." He says encouragingly.
I look at him with a jokingly pissed face. He laughs.
I notice Two was healed by Marina. I walk over to them.
"Do you think your ice legacy is developed enough to use tonight?" I ask her.
She shrugs. "I hope so! It's the only master legacy I've developed." She answers.
"Next up, Marina versus One!" John yells, now in control again.
"You rock that stage." I say and slap her on the back as she walks by.
One walks up slowly and nervously to the center of the ring. She has never shown off her fighting skills to anyone but her Cepan and the Mogs that killed her, so of course she's nervous, I think to myself.
"Fight!" John yells.
xxxxx
I leap to One and grab her by the shoulders. We both go tumbling to the ground. I focus with all my strength and think of ice. Thankfully, the ground around us turns into ice and One starts to slip. With my ice legacy came the ability to survive any cold temperature and to not be able to slip. I grab One by the waist and fling her into the air. She does the unexpected and turns my ice into water. She funnels the water up to her and creates a tornado of water, which holds her up and away from me. She then launches a lightning bolt into her water funnel, and it charges up. I stammer backwards and take in what I'm seeing. Number One is on top of an electrically charged water tornado. I bet you never expected to see those words together in a sentence. I see One beginning to point her hands at me, so I duck and roll to the left, and a lightning bolt hits the spot I was just standing in. I focus my attention on One, and use my telekinesis to rip her off the funnel. She goes flying to the ground, as well as the tornado. Thank god that's gone, I think. I charge to One with my super speed and my hands start to tingle with coldness. Not the coldness of healing, but the coldness of ice. I freeze her hands and feet to the ground, and now she can't move them. I jump on top of her and physically hold her arms and legs down, waiting for the win to be called. Suddenly, One screams and I go flying twenty feet away. She stands up and closes her eyes, hands pointing toward me. Loud sounds, like bombs dropping, begin to play in my head. I cover my ears but it doesn't make a difference. I crouch on the ground, screaming in terror of what's happening. Suddenly it stops, but One is leaning over me. My arms are pinned to the ground and I'm not able to move an inch.
"One is the winner!" I hear John yell.
I limp over to Six, my ankle had gotten hurt at some point. I begin to heal myself.
"What happened at the end there? You flew backwards across the arena and it didn't even look like telekinesis. Then you dropped to your knees and started screaming." Six asks and explains.
"You didn't hear anything?" I ask, astonished.
Six shakes her head. I then run over to One.
"That was a new legacy you used against me. You know, the sounds?" I tell her.
"You heard them too? I thought you and I had just gone crazy." One responds.
"You controlled the sound! That was awesome." I tell her.
"I'll check it out later, I kinda want to see Adam fight." She says sheepishly.
I smile and then walk over to Eight. "How'd I do?" I ask him.
"Pretty good considering it's a brand new legacy. Although that ending part was odd." He responds.
"One has some sort of sound legacy." I answer.
"Now it's Adam versus Sarah and Sam." John tells us.
"Why do I have two against one?" Adam complains.
"Because you have one legacy and they don't have any." John says in response.
Adam sighs and walks to the center, as do Sarah and Sam. They are in deep discussion.
"Fight!" John yells.
Sarah and Sam leap and roll to either side of Adam. Adam choses to go after Sam. He grabs Sam's waist and flips over him, causing Sam to go flying out of the arena. Now he only has to worry about Sarah.
I race over to Sam, who's laying on the ground unconscious. I put my hands on his chest and start to heal him. In the meantime, I turn back to watch the fight. Sarah has Adam pinned to the ground, but since Adam is a Mog he has more natural strength. Adam pushes Sarah off and she goes cartwheeling in the air into a bale of hay. She quickly jumps up and charges back toward Adam, where she jumps in time with Adam's stomp so she doesn't fall over from the mini earthquake.
Then I feel hands on my hands, and I turn around to see Sam moving them off.
"I think I'm healed." He says awkwardly.
I quickly take back my hands and smile guiltily. "Sorry, I was watching the fight." I say.
He smiles and walks back to his dad. I stand up and continue watching from where I am. Eight teleports over and puts his arm back around my waist, and I snuggle my head on his shoulder.
Sarah and Adam are still fighting, and Sarah has Adam pinned down for the second time. This time she has a death-tight grip, her fingers dug under the roots of the grass. Adam can't escape.
"Sarah and Sam win!" John yells happily.
Then I notice him. He is standing, mouth agape, a little ways behind Six and Nine in the driveway. He is holding a light blue blanket and looks to be about seven. He has on onesie pajamas with race-car prints all over them. His eyes? Pitch black.
**Hey, guys! So, how did you like the chapter? Please review, it makes me more motivated to write sooner!
-Chase (my real name)