The Great

Lila Fairheart: I gave Aurora an extra big smile as we walked out of the hall. Cheers and groans emitted from the stands at immense volumes as hundreds of people had to be blocked from reaching out and grabbing us. As we walked further and further away from the spectators and press the world suddenly became much quieter. The sounds of birds and crickets replaced the murmurs of the crowd, and an evening gentle breeze wisped away the intense heat from our faces.

“Well thanks for the save, Ms.Genius,” Evay smiled at Aurora and she gave him a soft grin.

“Yeah so are you just not going to tell us that you were an actual genius inventor all along or?”

Aurora looked at him and laughed a little. “Well I’ve always had a good understanding of electricity but I think I’ve also recently found a way to make it do things other than blow stuff up. It can actually be used to power some very useful things and even though I’m not going to be an engineer, I guess my side-hobby was of some use after all.” She tossed her device in the air and fiddled with it.

I looked at Lila with a grin, “Just so you know, you’re probably going to be the most wanted girl on the planet with a device like that. People will be lining up at your feet to get whatever that thing is called.” Aurora blushed.

“Well……that was the original plan. I wanted some extra money to……uh……buy some stuff. And who doesn’t want money! But anyway, it saved Evay’s case so I guess it was for a noble cause.” Aurora’s face had a more forced upbeatness to it as she spoke. She spoke quickly and it seemed like she was trying more to convince herself than to tell us anything.

“Yeah….right.” We all laughed and Aurora smacked Geon on the arm.

I checked my pockets and they were empty. I had a couple gold coins in my pocket for change and I needed them to buy some food for the dorm this week. I must’ve forgotten them at the house we were stationed at yesterday.

“Guys go ahead. I forgot some money at the shack we were at last night. I’ll be back.” I gave them a wave before running back to the hall. I reached the shack that was just big enough to be called a house and opened the door. The coins were on the table and I quickly grabbed them and ran out. I took a couple steps when I saw Ren behind a large oak tree. My heart quickened and my blood started to rush. I felt my heart turn cold and my hate grow larger as his face came into my vision. But then I saw another man in front of him. This situation was different.

Ren was alone. Not alone in a literal way, but in a sense that he wasn’t with his friends. He also looked troubled. The usual psychotic smile wasn’t visible as he looked more like an angry-defiant child. I hid out of their sight and listened. “Father, I told you already that I didn’t mean to reveal anything. No one heard anything and her weird device or whatever wasn’t anything that I could have considered.”

“Stop yelling, child. Your insolence annoys me.” Ren looked taken aback and hurt by his father’s comment. “You were already informed that you should not come into direct contact with the boy, yes?” Ren looked down at his feet.

“Yes.”

“But you did.”

“Yes.”

“Now what if you have just cost us an already valuable subject and prospect, and have lost us an incredible amount of potential talent that is lacking in this family.” Ren visibly slumped and looked even more defeated.

“My apologies, sir.”

“Your lack of awareness is shocking. Never mind…just keep close eyes on the boy and the other targets. You're not of any use to me otherwise understand?”

The figure started to walk away. “Keep your messes small scale. Just go back to things like that girl for example. Something easy to cover up. Stop giving the house more work to do. Useless, fucking child,” I clenched my fists. He meant my sister….My eyes narrowed and my rage made my blood boil. Ren walked away and I finally started to run back to the dorms. My anger continued to seeth and my heart continued to beat rapidly. Calm down Lila, don’t let them see you like this….

I forced myself to cool off and I made my way back to the dorm.

I entered through the door and Geon was showing Evay and Aurora some papers which had the statistics of class A-5’s championship team. It didn’t really help in a physical way, since we had never seen them fight before. But it was better than nothing. These numbers were a bit daunting though…..

If a team could win in an average margin of a couple seconds, then how were we supposed to hold out for an entire match?

I sat down and joined them at the table. Aurora took a look at the numbers and spoke while still looking at the paper. “Okay, well they’ll probably use the Savian-Akasa combo right? Make us unable to use our skills then rush us with speed. So I have a plan.” We all looked at her with a hopeful stare.

“I don’t really know how your barrier thing works yet Evay, but you told me that it can block skills right.” Evay nodded and Aurora pondered some more.

“Okay well we won’t all be able to dodge Akasa’s attack but I think we should prioritize one person.” She looked towards Geon. “You’re the only one that can possibly stop Savain’s rush. Evay won’t be able to cast a barrier around all of us, but if he gets you two then you guys can do some counter play.”

“But what about you?” Geon looked at her skeptically. “What about Lila, we can’t lose two people off the start.”

“That is where you come in.” She pointed to Evay.

“Once you catch the timing, Akasa and Savian won’t expect Geon and you to still be able to use your skills. Geon can catch Savain off guard and you need to throw us a barrier right away. If you miss, then well…”

“You guys are out.” Evay looked at us with a serious expression and we knew that this was going to be risky. If Geon missed, Evay missed, someone wasn’t fast enough…this all goes out the window.

I guess we’re kind of winging it….

Why are we winging it?