Chapter 26: The Ninjala Tournament Preliminary Stage! (Part 1)

Exactly on Monday in the month of April...

"Today, is the start of the tournament." Sensei Tatsu told the class as all were nervous. "And in the afternoon, the first 4 blocks will take place at the arena for battle and here are the participants."

The projector flashed out and everyone gasped at the pictures of the students.

"No way...I'm at the first block with Avitus." Emma thought.

"I'm going solo on the second block." Shane thought.

"Me and Lucia are gonna participate in the third block." Miyumi thought.

"I'm all by myself on the fourth block." Cruz thought.

Kappei looked closely at Block 1 and, "Wait...those 2...I saw them before when they dragged away Draco..."

"Tobias and Kanisuke..." Dedrick pointed out. "They're dangerous in battle. But Tobias is more dangerous."

"Yeah...he has an awakened power that allows him to call some shots. Some gave him the epithet, "Ninja Sniper."

"Sniper? He must have very good aim is it?" Kappei asked.

"Soon you'll see his power in action." said Shane as Kappei made his move. "Emma."

"Yeah?" He grasped onto her hands. "All the best out there later."

"Th-Thank you." She replied as she looked away feeling more flustered as some students snickered at this.

After school...

Emma and Avitus are seen with the other 13 students including Tobias and Kanisuke. All are in their ninja outfits and all have an Iaito each.

"Everyone ready? Here are the rules! You have 5 minutes to eliminate each other out of this battle arena and the only one that remains wins and advances to the next stage! No unfair and dirty fighting allowed! Anyone caught doing so will be disqualified!" Coach Spruce pointed out and he's seen at the audio room located at the top of the bleachers commentating for the tournament. Sensei Tatsu is seen with him along with a female sensei. Now the battle arena is very similar to the one used in the WNA Academies but the difference is that there are obstacles consisting of 5 small rocks, 2 big rocks, 3 logs and a single pile of 6 logs. There are also towering platforms on the corners of the arena.

"Well...all the best." Avitus told Emma.

"You too." She replied as the students entered the arena with a ninja guard assigning them their starting points. Once all are in positions, "Welcome to the first block of the Ninjala Tournament! We got some prominent ninjas here! Like the blonde afro dude known to never miss his target in battle, the Ninja Sniper, Tobias!" Coach Spruce announced.

"Heh. Plenty of targets, plenty of shots." Tobias thought as he sucked on his lollipop.

"We also have the beautiful and sensational Ninja Dancer, Emma!" Coach Spruce announced as she waved to everyone. Some boys got excited upon seeing her and in class, "Hey Kap. Feeling jelly about the other boys gushing over Emma?" Mikelus asked.

"No." He replied.

"He's lying." said Yamikage.

"Dude. Shut up and let me enjoy watching the battle." Kappei replied as back at the arena, "Ninjas! Draw your blades!" Coach Spruce ordered and they drew their Iaitos outs.

"Ready...BATTLE!"

Everyone ran to find an opponent to fight as from the classroom, Class 1-A is watching all this in their classroom for the battle is being recorded live for all the classes to see via video camera recorders aka VCRs.

On the battlefield, Kanisuke morphed his hands into Crab Claws and punted 2 students aside. They got up and one sprouted Hawk Wings taking flight and the other one used Dust Manipulation gathering all the dust around him for an attack. "Take this!" He sent the gathered dust to him as Kanisuke shielded his face with his claws. "Enough to protect myself..." He thought as he made his move.

Meanwhile, Emma clashed with a female student from Class 1-F with their weapons as she jumped back, sheathed her weapon and clapped her hands releasing an Energy Shockwave.

Emma jump up to dodge it and once she touched ground, the female student drew her blade and charged to her. Emma blocked her attacks and danced at the same time. "What is she doing?" She wondered as Emma leap over her and landed behind her. "Gotcha."

"KSH!"

"Francine of Class 1-F is out!" Coach Spruce announced as the student is lying on the field defeated.

At the same time, Kanisuke charged and smashed onto the student negating his dust powers and delivered crab punches. He then threw off the arena eliminating him as the one with the hawk wings flew down to attack him when, "VEEOW!"

"AGH! I'M HIT!" He crashed onto the field thus eliminated.

Meanwhile, "How did he get defeated?!" Avitus wondered as he ignited his blue flames and engaged a male student as they clashed with their weapons. The student then jumped back and fired Aqua Orbs.

Avitus anticipated this as he dodged the orbs even avoiding the splash attack as he channeled the blue flames around his hands and, "Time to test it out! Blue Torch Blaze!" An intensely hot burst of flames was shot out in a straight line like a blue fire beam and, "BOOM!"

His opponent is 'torched' and defeated as he fell on the ground unable to battle. "Yes! My special attack worked!" He cheered as he went to his defeated opponent and passed him to a ninja guard waiting to pick him up as the scene shifts to class as, "Nice move Avitus did!" Nichelle exclaimed.

"Wait, look over there!" Dedrick pointed out and back at the arena, "VEEOW!"

Avitus felt a powerful energy shot hit him on the back and not only he felt the damage but was blasted back and out of the arena. "Avitus of Class 1-A is out!" Coach Spruce announced.

"Oh no! Don't tell me..." Emma's hearing then took effective.

"2 targets eliminated by my hand, some more to go."

She then looked around and found the source. "Tobias..."

The Class 1-B student is seen standing on top of one of the towering platforms. He's armed with a high-tech sniper rifle as he took aim and, "VEEOW!"

A powerful laser was fired and it hit a female student and she's out.

From the classroom of Class 1-B, "The Snipe Summon awakened power allows Tobias to summon his trusty high-tech sniper rifle that only he can wield at his own will. A cunning and dangerous contender to deal with in this battle." Ryotarou explained. "That is why, he's known as the Ninja Sniper."

Back there, 6 students are out so far and 9 more remain as Kanisuke and Emma ran into each other and engaged in battle. He tried to pinch her with his crab claws but she evaded them and did some dancing with her weapon. "Nice...she's dance fighting. A worthy target to take down." Tobias took aim as his scope focused her as she and Kanisuke continued clashing.

However, Emma's hearing also took effect and with that, she leapt over Kanisuke and stood behind him exposed. "NOW! Sniper Shot!" Tobias opened fired and at the right timing, Emma jumped aside and, "VEEOW!"

"AHHHHH! My butt! I got shot on the ass!"

"Kanisuke of Class 1-B is out!" Coach Spruce annouced as, "Impossible! How did she know?!" Tobias wondered and 2 female students caught sight of him. "There he is! Take him down!" One of them called out as she fired a Laser Blast from her hand. The other female student also fired a laser blast as Tobias jumped out of the way running on the walls like a ninja as he snapped his fingers causing the sniper rifle to disappear.

He then touched ground, drew out is Iaito and clashed with the 2 female students in melee combat. "Not only I'm a pro at sniping but also a pro in melee combat!" Fighting is seen among the remaining students as one by one, they are eliminated with Emma and Tobias, the only 2 students left.

"Perfect. Now I can blast you away and this time, I won't miss when it comes to you!" Tobias snapped his fingers and his high-tech sniper rifle appeared before him as he took aim. Emma readied her Iaito as they faced each other.

Once ready, he fired a few shots but Emma dodged them swiftly and danced a bit. He fired more shots but she danced and even ran around the arena jumping over some of the obstacles in which they ended up blasted into pieces.

"Crap! This isn't right!" He then tinkered with his weapon switching his standard shot mode to rapid fire mode. "EAT LASERS!"

The weapon fired bursts of energy at a rapid pace as Emma ran, jumped and danced around the arena. "This is so tense! One is shooting and the other is dancing! Who's gonna win this? One minute left to end the battle!" Coach Spruce commentated excitedly as back there, Emma ran on the walls as Tobias kept firing. She's also near him as he expected it. Drawing out his Iaito, he blocked an attack from Emma as they engaged each other in melee combat.

30 seconds left and Tobias thought of something, "KSH!"

"What a hit! Using his sniper rifle to hit her hard is unexpected!" Coach Spruce commentated as back there, Emma got up, unfazed from the direct hit and, "Gotcha! Sniper Blast!" A powerful and explosive shot was fired and, "IOOM!"

"Mission accomplished." He declared but as the smoke cleared, "Wait...where is she?!"

"Right here!" Looking to his left, Emma kicked a log and, "BAM!"

"How did she dodge every shot I fired?!" He thought as he tried to fire another one but in a swift move, Emma disarmed him off his weapons and, "You're finished!"

"KSH! KSH! KSH!" A triple hit combo was used and as a result, "Tobias of Class 1-B is out!" Coach Spruce announced and on the field, "Mission...failed..." He groaned in defeat.

"And now, we have a WINNER! Emma of Class 1-A wins the first block!" Coach Spruce announced as Sensei Tatsu smiled warmly at her win while in class, everyone cheered for her. Kappei and Gumchi felt both relived and elated for her win as the screen shows her waving to the cameras smiling brightly. "I did it...I did it everyone! I did it Kappei! I won!" She celebrated her win by jumping in the air and posing at the same time before the VCRs.

After that...

The rest of the blocks proceed on as in Block 2, Shane defeated a student from Class 1-J and another engaged him. He then morphed into a Wild Boar to tackle him but Shane countered it by morphing into his crocodile form and they clashed. After a while, Shane defeated his opponent but was picked by the tail by another students and is thrown out of the arena defeated. In the end, a student from Class 1-C won the block.

In Block 3, Miyumi avoided many attacks even phasing through the obstacles causing her opponents to crash easily. Lucia is already fighting a student and her body is already coated with metal as she delivered punches and uppercut a student out of the arena.

And right now, Miyumi phased out and kicked a female student off the arena but suddenly, Wild Vines sprouted out and tied her up as a female student from Class 1-J made her move and used the vines to throw her out of the arena. She did the same to Lucia and as throughout the battle, she easily defeated the rest of the other students and won for this block.

And finally in Block 4, Cruz was able to use his X-ray vision to find his opponents hiding behind the obstacles and swiftly flank them and defeat them. "3 down...and many more to go!"

However, he was unexpectedly shuffled to another location as, "Wait...why am I on a-"

"VEEOW!"

"IOOM!"

Unfortunately, Cruz got hit by a laser blast which exploded and sent him flying out of the arena defeated. Turns out a male student from Class 1-E has the Shuffle awakened power and did his magic and in the end, he won.

Aftermath of the Preliminaries...

In Class 1-A's classroom, all can see the results of the first 4 blocks as, "I knew you'll win this Emma!" Kappei cheered for her.

"Yeah! You were amazing out there! Dancing and fighting!" Vega exclaimed.

"Even Tobias was unable to defeat you easily I can say." From the entrance, Ryotarou showed up.

"What are you doing here?" Archie asked.

"To commend Emma for her win." He replied pointing his ritual fan at her. "Whenever he fires a shot, it charges up and blasts it way out loud and clear. Due to your extreme hearing, you were able to deduce where he will fire his shots right?"

"I also know where he'll be standing to fire his weapon." Emma added.

Closing his ritual fan, "Truly your power is unique, I shall remember this." Ryotarou left the classroom but right before he gave Kappei a sly grin as he left, "I shudder to remember what he told me before." Kappei spoke to Emma.

"You got this Kappei. Everyone believes in you, even I do. You're the first to awaken this ancient power and when it's your turn, you'll show everyone that you're a true ninja!" Emma assured to him.

"Thanks Emma." He replied as the whole class left for their dorms. Day 1 of the Tournament is over so far, much more to come...

Every 4 blocks in each of the 5 chapters, I'll describe only one to feature the major battle for prominent characters.

For Emma, she was able to use her hearing well enough to know where the shots will hit so that she can dance and dodge them all. Even Ryotarou acknowledged that her awakened power is something.

Up next will the next 4 blocks of the Preliminaries and the main focus for the class will be Class 1-B! Yup, time for them to have a chapter for their own.

Character of the Chapter

Name: Avitus

Profile

Born in India, Avitus's life wasn't easy for he lost his parents at a young age and was raised by his uncle and aunt who are gambling addicts and struggling in many debts. Avitus on the other hand, struggles

One day, a gang of loan sharks demanded his uncle and aunt to pay the massive debts when he took action and awakened his powers igniting himself with the fiery blue fire scaring them away easily.

A ninja was nearby when it happened and spoke with him about his powers and a possibility that his parents are ninjas. Even his uncle and aunt believed that this can give him a better life so they allowed the ninja to take him under his wing and guidance. In return, he got the WNA to pay off their debts and they promised to find a job and start afresh.

Avitus was taken to the WNA academy and was trained in the ways of the shinobi and to control the blue fire. He even finds it amazing enough to study it and thus in his free time, he reads science books mostly on Chemistry and through the reading, he mastered control over the blue fire and after 3 years, the ninja was able to get him enrolled into the Advanced WNA High in California, USK.

Awakened Power: Blue Flame

That is hot one can say. For Avitus can ignited himself with the blue flames to engulf his body completely making him immune to heat signatures and release flame attacks.

Interestingly, the blue flames ignited are actually butane which is flammable enough to melt many common metals and has the potential to be unleashed in a fiery explosion.