NOVEL FROG Chapter 5: Clocked in the Dome
Chapter 5: Clocked in the Dome
Daxston sauntered up the stairs. I stepped in front of Kaede, putting a protective arm in front of her. “We’re not looking for trouble,” I warned.
Daxston sneered. “So it was you. And here I thought I messed up my attack or something.” He was now within touching distance. “Relax, I ain’t gon’ hurt you. For now.”
I kept my guard up. “How can we be sure you aren’t lying?”
Daxston’s smirk faded. “The school… they got some weird people man. Anyway, if you aren’t a coward, duel me after school. Don’t think I’ll just let you off like this.”
I tried not to show my excitement at his challenge. I was raring to face off against strong opponents, to prove to myself that I shouldn’t even be in this district. However, fighting Daxston was sure to draw a lot of unwanted attention.
“Let’s meet at night. As you can probably tell, I try not to stick out,” I offered.
“Whatever. Colosso Dome. At midnight. There shouldn’t be anyone there at that time.”
This was the second time Colosso Dome was mentioned. Zoey and Kazen were also going to duel there this evening. It referred to a massive stadium-like structure near the center of the school. Inside it were numerous arenas of different sizes designed for sparring and practicing against other fellow students. It was the only place within the school premises where combat against other students was officially allowed.
It was a tad late, but I didn’t particularly mind. “See you later then.” With a grunt, Daxston shuffled past us.
Kaede stared at me in disbelief. “Are you sure? You know you don’t have to do this right?”
I shrugged. “Just a bit of friendly sparring. Anyway, we should head back to class now.” I left the stairwell, with Kaede tagging along beside me.
“Can I come along?” she asked suddenly.
“It’s really late,” I replied.
“I don’t mind. I… I feel responsible for this, so the least I could do is to see it over, I guess,” she muttered bashfully.
“Sure.” Kaede being there wouldn’t change much. If anything, I was surprised Daxston completely ignored her during our earlier encounter, even though she was the one who injured him. “Just try not to draw too much attention to yourself.” Kaede eagerly nodded.
The day continued with Ms Reina giving a more detailed breakdown of the curriculum in the Combat Division, how our grades would be tallied, and various other miscellaneous technicalities. Where our Division differed from the other Divisions were, you guessed it, the combat classes. We would be having physical training sessions, battle simulations, sparring and rigorous exercises designed to draw the best out of our Abilities.
Further on in the year, there would be an inter-school tournament. District 4 only consisted of two schools, Waning Crescent Institute and Horizon High, so we would be facing off against them. Soon after there would be an inter-District competition, where the students from all four districts could face off against each other. Of course, there was going to be prize money. My eyes lit up upon hearing how much the reward would be. I wouldn’t be able to cover my current outstanding debt, but there was enough in the pool to fully cover for a life in District 1.
I also noticed that Kazen had failed to show up again. I wondered where he was at this moment.
“And that concludes our Orientation. You may now use your Abilities freely within the school premises, as long as you don’t hurt or inconvenience other people with it. Though I know some of you have been using your Abilities already,” she snapped.
With that, the day was finally over. As I stood up from my desk, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Colleen.
“Made any friends yet?” she asked.
“Yeah, you?” I replied.
“Yup! We’ll be heading off for dinner soon. Wanna join us?” she asked eagerly.
I pursed my lips. For one, I disliked eating with a group of strangers. Also, I had a fight to spectate.
“Sorry, there’s a fight at the Colosso Dome that I wanna watch.”
“Wait there’s a fight?! When? I wanna watch as well!”
I paused. Wasn’t she going for dinner? “In about 20 minutes. Can you make it?”
“Ahh, I don’t think so. But I’ll rush over as soon as I can! Maybe the fight would still be ongoing?”
“Good luck,” I put my phone back in my pocket. Kaede and Jonah were already waiting for me by the classroom entrance. “I wonder if they sell popcorn by the venue,” Jonah quipped. “Who do you guys think will win?”
I waited for Kaede to answer. She seemed conflicted. “I don’t know. I know we should be supporting our classmate, but…”
I understood where she was coming from. If I were her, I probably wouldn’t like being shown how inferior I am, especially since that someone was using a similar Ability. It was like being taunted “We’re similar, except I’m powerful and you’re not!"
“Maybe watching him will inspire you in some way,” I suggested.
Kaede smiled ruefully. “Hopefully.”
We finally reached the massive stadium. Colosso Dome comprised of multiple floors, with private training rooms in the basement and lower floors, a large gym area in the middle, and public arenas in the top half. Most of the building was made of Abizium, a special grade alloy that was resistant to esper damage. The Dome also has something called the “self-repair feature”, though I was clueless about what that entailed.
I noticed a crowd of about two hundred students gathering on the top floor. Seems word had already spread its way around the school. Off to the sides, I spotted a bunch of security guards, each armed with Esper Nullifiers. They patrol the Dome every day, keeping a close eye on the area.
The top floor consisted of three open-air arenas, each twice the size of a basketball court. A giant, transparent force field surrounded the outer perimeter of the arenas, protecting the audience from any collateral damage. The arenas themselves looked unscathed, which I found odd due to the numerous amounts of battles that had happened here. Zoey and Kazen had yet to appear.
We made our way to the crowd and found a good spot. After a while, the two participants arrived. They made their way to one of the arenas. A teacher accompanied them, presumably to oversee the fight. One of the things Ms Reina mentioned earlier was that public fights had to have at least one teacher present.
“And here I thought you would back out!” Zoey laughed. Kazen muttered something in return but we were too far away to hear.
Without any warning, Zoey’s fist once again swelled to the size of a boulder, and she threw a punch at him.
“PING!” her fist glanced off a black barrier, which morphed itself into a scythe, swiping at her. Zoey jumped. By jumped I mean about 10 meters into the air, her legs now the size of tree trunks.
“You’re gonna have to do better than that boy!” Zoey yelled as she bounced off the force field. She dived down, spiralling like a missile towards her target.
A bolt of plasma blasted out of Kazen’s hands, enveloping Zoey and shocking her. With a flick of his wrist, he swung Zoey crashing into the side of the arena, into a wall that was a mix of both the Abizium and concrete, throwing up a cloud of dust. He looked almost bored.
A giant shadow loomed out of the smoke. Zoey’s body was now 7 times its original size, brimming with muscle. Her eyes glowed. The only thing holding her back, I noted, was the size of the arena. I figured if she grew any larger it would make it hard for her to move.
Bolts of plasma came showering down on Zoey, who shielded herself with her massive arms. With a roar, she pounced on Kazen, smashing a kick at him. Kazen quickly threw up a shield. This time however, the shield cracked and shattered. Kazen barely had time to conjure up a second shield as Zoey made contact with him.
Kazen flew into the other end of the arena. He barely had any time to stand up before Zoey once again collided into him, delivering a devastating uppercut. He flew into the force field roof, gasping as he did so.
As Zoey catapulted towards him for the third time, she grabbed him and slammed him into the floor, landing directly on him. It was all Kazen could do to shield himself as she continuously pummeled him into the ground.
It was an intense fight, worthy of a 5-Star duel. I thought of Scarlette. We hadn’t spoken since our river encounter, but I was sure that she would enjoy it.
Suddenly, with a yell, Kazen released an immense amount of plasma, deflecting Zoey into the air. He fired a solid beam of plasma directly at her. However, she twisted in the air, instantly shrinking herself into the size of a child. The plasma beam harmlessly passed over her. Before Kazen could get up, she landed on him again, back in giant mode, and continued her assault.
After a few more seconds, the teacher officiating the match blew her whistle. She signalled a victory for Zoey, deeming she could not guarantee Kazen’s safety if Zoey’s relentless attacks went on. Zoey shrieked in delight. “You’re a whole year too early to challenge your senior!” she taunted Kazen, as the crowd roared in excitement.
Kazen scowled. “You would have died if killing was allowed here. Meet me in the woods outside the school tomorrow. I’ll show you then,” he declared coldly.
Zoey laughed. “You do realise I’m constrained in this small-ass arena right? So no thanks, you’ll just get whooped again!” With that, she turned around and left.
Kazen, his face twisted in anger, stormed in the other direction, taking a separate exit.
The crowd ceased their cheering and started dispersing. It was a close fight. Watching them fight made adrenaline course through my body. I was contemplating how fast I could beat both of them at the same time when I noticed Kaede straightening up. “That was awesome…” she marvelled.
“Darn right!” Jonah exclaimed. He pumped his fist into the air. “I wish we had more!”
I stood up as well. “Maybe you’ll be out there one day,” I teased.
“Uh, if my opponent is afraid of rainbows, maybe I stand a chance.”
I focused my attention on Kaede. “Any other thoughts?”
She paused. “It’s a lot to process. Kazen’s so powerful, but he still lost. It’s a bit discouraging knowing he’s so much better than me, but there are still people out there stronger than him.”
“Don’t compare yourself to him. You still have lots of potential for growth. You might develop something unique which only you can do in the future,” I encouraged her.
“Mhmm, yeah… thanks.” She smiled faintly, but I sensed a spark of determination in her eyes.
“BEEEEP!” The arena started rumbling.
“What’s going on?” Jonah blurted.
Rocks and metal parts started flying all over the place, settling back to their original positions. The cracks on the arena vanished. After a few seconds, the arena looked brand new. We stared in disbelief.
“Is this real?” Kaede wondered.
I furrowed my brow in contemplation. This was the first time that I felt genuinely uneasy in this school. So this was the “self-repair” feature of the stadium. But there was no way technology could be this advanced, can it? It was as if time itself had been reversed. I looked around. I had heard rumours of time manipulation Abilities, but such skills would surpass a 5-Star rank. I could only think of one thing:
6-Stars.
It was a popular urban myth that 6-Stars existed, but there was never any proof of one. Besides, even if someone could reverse time, they couldn’t be here at the Dome every time a fight occurred.
As I was still mulling over the possibilities, Jonah clapped his hands. “There’s that I suppose! Dinner, anyone?”
As he said that, I only just recalled Colleen’s message. It seemed the fight went by so fast Colleen had missed the entire thing. I quickly sent her an update via text, as I prepared to head back to the cafeteria with my friends. I had a duel of my own tonight, and I would hate to fight on an empty stomach.
Administration Notes
School: Waning Crescent Institute
Name: Zoey Leomane
Gender: Female
Year: Second-year
Rank: 5-Star
Division: Combat
Ability: Can manipulate her body proportions, up to or down to 10 times their original size. Strength scales with size.