• T W E N T Y • N I N E •

"Respect our existence or expect our resistance."

• • •

"And please welcome to the ring, our first fighter!" The announcer declares.

The crowd roars as my opponent walks out into the ring. Although the fighters are separated from the audience by several feet of some strong, clear material, the audience is able to clearly see all that goes down in the ring.

The fighter is a tall man with a shock of the yellowest blond hair I have ever seen. From the twitchy way he moves and the sparks emitting from his hands, it is clear to see that he has electric powers.

Normally, we would see each other while we waited for the fight, but this time, they wanted to build suspense and make it so we don't meet our opponent until the fight begins.

I frown, somewhat disappointed in my opponent. Surely an electric is not the best fighter of a ring?

"All the way from Axxel Underground, is Tesla!" The announcer calls before yelling, "And here comes his opponent! Our hometown champion, a fighter from right here... Raven!"

I burst into the ring, hovering about six inches above the ground as I harden the air beneath me. My shadow cape swirls behind me. Scowling, I snap my fingers and it vanishes, dissipating into the darkness that surrounds at all times.

My approach gets a huge reaction from the audience, but my opponent doesn't pay me too much heed. Interesting. Perhaps he will be a challenge, after all.

With a few final words, the fight begins. I dissapear into smoke and instantly reappear behind Tesla and shoot a burst of water out at him. His reaction, though, is unexpected to say the least.

He merely spins around raises his hand, and takes control of the discarded water. He redirects it and blasts it with electricity and shoots it straight for me.

Startled, I can only do my best to duck from the blast, but it is too late.

A strangled scream fills the air and the smell of burning hair rises. It takes me a few seconds to realize the scream is my own.

I look down and see that my arms took the worst of the blow and are now red with rising white blisters. The fake tattoos are completely burned off. The ends of the emerald green wig are now singed black.

Huh. I think to myself, disoriented. Now my wig matches Boaz's hair.

The sound of electricity snapping and sparking draws my attention. Quickly, I rise, not wanting to be a sitting duck, an easy target.

I got up just in time and leap out of the way of another burst of electricity.

It is so rare for someone to have both water and electricity, but it is possible. It cancels out the effects of water on the electricity. The person with the electric powers can be around water and come into contact with water and even control and create when they have water powers.

"So you're the one I've heard about so much?" Tesla snarls, launching another blast of lightning my way. "I expected more from the infamous Raven."

My lip curls in annoyance. I hate it when my opponent tries to converse while we fight.

I ignore him and throw up a wall of stone to block the electricity and stop it from getting to me.

This is bad.

I'm on the defense.

I dart around, watching Tesla carefully, looking for weaknesses, indicators, anything that would help me gain the upperhand. With powers like his, it'll be easier if I settle this like it were a non-powers fight.

As I observe, I note that he takes a tep with his left foot every time he goes to throw a bolt of lightning and raises both hands if he wants it to be both water and electricity. This gives me more time to prepare and get ahead of Tesla as he grows more and more frustrated with my evasions.

I leap into the air and hover there, seven feet above the ground and call the sparks to life. I certainly don't control electricity, but the sparks from his lightning are more than enough to ignite several fires.

Huge flames rise up from each spark until the whole ring is engulfed in flames. Tesla quickly tries to counter with water and put the fire out, but I only increase the fire, creating large amounts of steam to fill the room and thicken the air.

I realize my mistake just a moment before Tesla does and quickly manipulate the water to sink and puddle on the floor. Water and steam in the air like that would be an excellent conductor for his electricity.

Tesla roars angrily and tries again, but his lightning is growing weaker and dimmer with each bolt.

With a snap of my fingers, I flip the tables around and the fight is mine. Flames engulf Tesla. The don't burn him, thanks to his water powers, but he can no longer breathe. The smoke in the air is thick and dense.

I can hear Tesla hacking and coughing as he tries desperately to breathe. Using my air powers, I filter the air from the ring except around Tesla so that the audience can watch as he falls to his knees, clutching his throat. Tears stream down his face as body desperately tries to cleanse itself.

After only a few more moments, Tesla falls to the ground, unconscious.

Instantly, I remove all the smoke and a pair of medics rush in and help Tesla out of the ring.

"And the winner of the first match is... Raven!" The announcer yells.

His next words are drowned out by the shouts of the recovering audience. Their stunned silence is now replaced by roaring cheers and jeers.

With a playful bow in the direction of the boys and Victoria, I morph into shadow once more and disappear out of the ring.

I stride over to the group and Victoria starts interrogating about the loss of my cape.

"Well," I say slowly. "The cape was just fucking ridiculous, that's why. And I can't exactly destroy your work when you didn't do a thing to create it."

"Excuse me?! I designed it!" Whines Victoria, but you can tell she recognizes she's beat. "Fine. Whatever. Don't ditch the lava or boots though, at least."

"Sure thing," I agree, but only to appease her.

I honestly find this whole "suit" thing to be ridiculous, but it's a way to make up to Victoria the fact that I lied to her about Raven. Besides, now that I'm here and see the other fighters and that most of them are wearing suits, I'm kinda glad that I'm wearing one too. I don't need to stick out any more than I already do.

"You better get going soon," Gage says with a sigh, looking at his watch.

"Your arms shouldn't scar, at least not too badly," William tells me with a sad look. "I'm sorry you got hurt, Rage."

"Are we really going to let her go back out there and get hurt again?!" Darkon exclaims, speaking up for the first time in a while.

Worry somehow manages to darken his already dark eyes.

I snort, "You really think you could stop me, darling? Think again."

"Relationships take trust," Boaz says simply with a shrug. "I trust Rage to do decently at her slightly dangerous and more or less illegal hobby."

My heart flutters like a stupid little girl's at his words and I can't do a damn thing to stop it.

"I don't want to see you get hurt, but I do want to support you," Asher tells me quietly.

I smile at the boys slightly and have to congratulate Victoria on her good job of dressing them. They look crazy different.

Nekoda looks the most similar to what he would normally wear: a leather jacket, ripped jeans, and a t-shirt. This time, though, there is no superhero symbol on his shirt and none of his clothes are white, silver, or pale blue like he normally wears.

All of them look dark, edgy, dangerous. Oh, and ridiculously handsome. Like, more than normal.

"I'm heading to my fight now," I tell them. "I'll see you all soon."

"Good luck!" William says with a smile, his green eyes glittering.

Boaz looks at him flatly and replies, "Rage don't need luck. Rage just needs to rage."

I laugh lightly at their banter, but I really do need to leave. After double checking the bandaging on my forearms, I head into the room beside the ring and stretch slightly, needing to stay ready. Who knows what this fight will bring?

The announcer begins to speak and I burst into the ring as my fighting name is called. My opponent, Neige, is ready and waiting for me. She is a short, curvy girl with light skin and white hair pulled back into a bun. Her eyes are a dark blue that glimmer with intelligence.

The announcer gives the word and the fight begins. Neige moves first, throwing her arms out and sending a blast of cold air my air. Smirking, I enjoy the cool air and fill the room with heat until it is hot, almost unbearably so to the normal person. To someone with ice powers, the heat would be even worse. I am spared from this affect, however, because of my fire powers. Neige doubles over, sweating and breathing heavily.

She rightens quickly, quicker than I expected. A suit of ice encases her at the snap of her fingers and cools her down. I move to melt her suit, but she moves faster and shoots out a torrent of icicles, pointed right toward me. The shards of ice slam into my chest and cause me to stumble backward. They don't make it past my suit, though.

No, the suit that was once lava is now hardened and has turned completely into obsidian. The dark rock is smooth and somewhat shiny, slightly reflecting the light from above.

Not missing a beat, I leap to my feet, surprising Neige. The obsidian is a bit heavier, but it doesn't slow me down a bit. The rock just hovers on its own with just the slightest amount of space between the obsidian and my skin, allowing it to be lighter and easier to move with it on.

I shoot a burst of flame at Neige and hit her on her head as she ducks to avoid it. With a scream, she clamps her hands to her face and encases it in ice to cool it down, forgetting where she is. Taking advantage of her situation, I stride forward, shooting flame after flame at her until she is no longer writhing and screaming.

"And the winner is... Raven! She advances another round after this fantastic battle!" The announcer cries, immediately ending the fight as Neige falls unconcious.

Medics swarm the ring once more and I look to the crowd to spot the boys, but my eyes are drawn instead to a different figure.

A tall woman with long, red hair.

Kitrina Meade.

And, just like that, my confidence saps. I am reduced to a state of pure nerves and terror just at the sight of her. She has far more control over me than she ever should, more than I would like to admit.

She raises a hand slowly, knowing my eyes are glued to her. She holds up two pale fingers. The message is clear. Two more days. The note I recieved had said three days, but as my eyes dart around in panic, I notice a clock on the far wall that shows it is midnight.

Two days.

Two days and then she's coming for me.

Two days with the boys.

Two days before I become a prisoner like Scintillate warned.

Two days.

• • •

Comment here the results of the rhyming challenge from the last chapter!

AND DON'T FORGET TO VOTE AND SHARE!

• • •

Q: What do you want engraved on your gravestone if you are buried?

A: I'm torn between "I told you I was sick" and "If you can read this, you're too close. Get off me." A new favorite is also, "Ninth time is a charm!"