Note to the reader: *.......* means he's saying that in his head.

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Chapter 10

This week of school was special. Today the tournament would start to decide which student from Crehon High went on to compete for the position of the new supreme. There are three schools in Atlantis, but Crehon is the most prestigious and produces the strongest omegas. All students will fight one on one battles until the best is found. This person will fight the best students chosen from the two other schools to determine the best student in Atlantis then the real fights begin.

While the best student in the city is being found there will be a tournament open to the public. This tournament is open to anyone, but it's divided into groups. The people still in the military all fight each other first then they fight the winner of the civilian devision. The winner of this match will fight the students winner. The omega that wins in the military division usually ends up becoming the next supreme. A civilian has become the supreme a few times, but a student has only won once.

Our current supreme was the first student to ever win the tournament. It makes sense considering he gets stronger every time he sees a new ability. He has to actually see the ability being used in order to mimic it so memory manipulation along with others can't be mimicked. Crehon High has a principal that doesn't even show up to work. I heard that he's just a figure head so he doesn't need to actually do the work of a normal principal, but he will have to make an appearance during the tournament. I have never seen him, but his powers are something I've wanted ever since I first heard about them.

All the students were gathered in what the school likes to call the cultivation room which is really just an arena. We always have mock battles in here, but today it would be used for the tournament. We were all lined up according to our pair ranks. A group of teachers lined up in front of us and one man stepped forward.

Teache:"Ok. So starting today you will no longer be fighting with your pair. The tournament is a solo battle. First we would like volunteers to battle with our new students. They currently don't have ranks so we would like to know if they stand a chance in the tournament. You need to be at least rank C to volunteer."

Most of the students are below C rank and the ones that are above it are usually to stuck up to help so only one person volunteered.

Teacher:"If no one else volunteers then I'll choose."

The teacher flipped through the papers he had on a clip board which was probably a roster and started calling names. I could hear students start booing which angered some of the teachers.

Teacher:"And last is Cyrus Adkins. All of the people who's names I just called will have a match with the unranked students. If any of you lose then you're out of the tournament and the student that beat you is in."

I was a little annoyed that I got picked, but I could only complain to myself as a teacher led all the 'volunteers' to where we were going to fight the unranked students. It was a smaller arena that was usually only used for sparring matches at school. The unranked students were all waiting inside.

Teacher:"I'll decide who's fighting who."

The teacher started calling out our names then the unranked student who we would be fighting. The teacher assigned to us was one of the omegas with healing abilities. The students tournament keeps omegas with healing abilities around which is an ability that shows up quite often. The most common form of it uses the omegas blood to heal wounds. One drop of blood can heal small injuries, but reattaching limbs costs a lot of blood. The school has ten working for them, but the ability to bring a person back from the dead does exist. They usually have a few minutes after death to bring them back.

Only 1 out of every 250,000,000 gets the resurrection ability. The population of the world is currently 5 billion so there are about 20 people on the planet who can bring the dead back, but the best one can't resurrect someone who's been dead for more than a day. No matter the condition of the body if you can get a piece of the dead person to the omega within a day they can be resurrected. The supreme paid a lot of money to get eight of them here for this city wide tournament.

One was assigned to each school, three were assigned to the military's tournament and two were assigned to the civilian tournament. The school planned to have the lower ranked students fight each other while the higher ranked fought. The omega with resurrection abilities will watch over the higher ranked fights since those will be more intense. Death is very likely to occur during this tournament, but they try to limit it. The teacher finally made it to my name.

Teacher:"Cyrus Adkins I'll let you fight April Adkins."

I was surprised by what he said and in the next second a red haired girl started walking over to me.

Cyrus:"Are you April?"

April:"Yes. So your last name is Adkins?"

Cyrus:"Yeah. Where are you from?"

April:"I'd rather not talk about that."

Cyrus:"Sure. I won't pry into your background."

*I wonder if she's related to him.*

The thought crossed my mind of asking about her family, but she didn't seem to be a very open person. We didn't have the resurrection omega watching us so if someone died then it's possible they might stay dead. Any injury can be healed by the omegas with healing abilities so as long as we don't kill each other we'll be fine. If some one does die then they will need to be rushed to the resurrector who's watching the battles in the main arena.

April:"Sir."

April raised her hand.

Teacher:"What?"

April:"How far can I go in my fight."

Teacher:"Anything is fine as long as you can avoid killing."

April:"Thanks."

*She's quite confident.*

April:"Sorry Cyrus, but I'm gonna hurt you during our fight."

Cyrus:"You can try."

April:"I'm trying to warn you since it's gonna hurt. No one ever listens."

We were waiting for our turn to fight now. The current match had just come to an end with the unranked losing.

Teacher:"Ok you two it's your turn. Remember try to avoid killing."

April:"Got it."

Cyrus:"Sure."

We went to the center of the arena with all the other students watching us except for the unranked that just lost since he was currently getting healed. The was a distance of about 5 meters between us.

Teacher:"The match will begin in 3...2.....1.........Go!"

April dashed towards me while I stood still. Her jaw unhinged and I could see a lot of sharp teeth. She was a beautiful before, but now she looked a little scary. When she was close enough she snapped at me. I easily dodged it and kicked her feet out from under her. She landed on her back, but jumped up immediately. I could tell this wasn't her first fight. Those teeth could probably tear me apart, but I was to fast for her to catch.

She suddenly put some distance between us. I wanted to see what her plan was so I just stared at her. Her knees started bending backwards and she started standing on her toes. Her legs now looked like the hind legs of a dog minus the fur. She started moving and I noticed her speed and agility increased. The weird looking legs added to her monstrous appearance, but it did increase her battle prowess.

I was having a much harder time keeping up with her, but she still couldn't catch me. She wouldn't be a problem if I could use the suit which further increases my speed, strength and other abilities, but obviously I couldn't use it. Every time I caught her she somehow slipped out. She was constantly moving from one place to another so I couldn't get a good look at her current appearance. She couldn't land a good hit on me, but she was leaving cuts all over me so I wondered if she had a blade.

It was interesting to watch her use this power, but I was now tired of it so I decided to end the fight. She was jumping around and attacking me every now and then. She had a very obvious pattern so I waited for her next attack. She dashed towards me so I smacked my foot down on the ground causing it to break. She stumbled because of the shaking which I took advantage of and closed the distance between us. It took one strong punch to the solar plexus to knock her to her knees. I then smacked her in the back of the neck causing damage to the spine. I only put enough force into it to cripple her, but the healers will fix that later.

She fell to the ground screaming. The pain she was feeling was obvious on her face. I noticed all ten of her fingers had changed into claws.

*So that's what was cutting me.*

I looked at her entire appearance again and she was really quite monstrous looking. The claws started changing back, the mouth and legs reverted to normal and she was a beautiful girl again except for the fact that she was now a cripple, but that's only until she's healed. I left the stage with half of the students staring at me and the other half at April. They were mixed on what to think. The ones staring at me thought about how brutal that was to do to a girl while the ones staring at April thought about the frightening monster she had turned into.

It was easy to guess who was thinking what since the unranked new students were the only ones who would look at an opponent with sympathy. The ones who were already students here know never to hold back just because you're fighting a woman.

April had passed out so the healer was working on her. The teacher told me to return to the other arena and see if I'll be fighting again today. After entering the arena I found a teacher and was told that I wouldn't be fighting today. I had a fight planned for tomorrow against a student named Gerald. I found a seat and watched the other matches.

******************April POV******************

When I woke up I could still feel a surge of pain running through my body. The healer told me that my spine was broken and that I should take it easy for a few days. I was completely healed, but I had phantom pain. The day was already over when I woke up so I decided to head home. I was feeling a little depressed since I lost during my first fight. I was told that omegas from Atlantis would be strong, but that guy was more than I expected. I was confident at first, but now I realize he could have beat me whenever he wanted to.

I made my way to the front gate with my head held low. Right after I passed through the gate I was pulled into a hug.

Grace:"It's so good to see my baby girl!"

I was surprised by the sudden appearance of my mom so I didn't respond. She kept hugging me and it even started to hurt.

April:"Mom stop!"

She let go and stepped back.

Grace:"I'm sorry. I was just happy to see you."

April:"What are you doing here!"

Grace:"I'll tell you once we get back to your place. We can't talk out here."

We stayed relatively quiet while we made our way to my apartment. Once inside my mom went snooping around.

April:"Are you going to tell me why you're here or just keep going through my stuff.

Grace:"Why is some of it packed up? Are you moving?"

April:"I'll be moving into student housing in about a week. Now tell me why you're here."

Grace:"Ok."

She took a seat in my living room.

Grace:"The rebels are planning a major offensive on Atlantis."

April:"What do they have planned?"

Grace:"Sorry but you're not part of the mission so I can't tell you."

April:"Fine."

I knew she wouldn't tell me so I didn't even try to make her.

Grace:"So how was school?"

April:"Terrible. I had my spine broken."

Grace:"What! Who did that to my baby! I'll kill them!"

April:"Settle down. It was a fair match between the two of us. He was just stronger then me."

Grace:"I don't care. I'll still kill him."

April:"I was surprised to hear his last name."

Grace:"What was it?"

Grace was flipping through some of the papers I had sitting around.

April:"Adkins."

Grace stopped what she was doing and looked at me.

Grace:"What was his first name?"

April:"Cyrus."

I could see a dejected look in her eyes.

Grace:"Oh."

She went back to looking through the papers.

Grace:"That reminds me. Why did you pick Adkins as your last name?"

April:"Because of all the stories you told me about Tony Adkins."

Grace:"Well my new last name is Adkins now too. I also registered as your mother so we don't need to hide it. Your mission here will be coming to an end once we complete out mission. If shadow isn't found before we start our attack then the rebels have decided to give up on him."

April:"When's the attack!"

Grace:"I can't tell you."

April:"Damn it! I'll find him!"

I stormed out of the apartment to check on the camera I left at the park. I came home feeling even more depressed when I found the camera destroyed. The one thing I knew was that shadow had to live close to this park.

April:"I will definitely find him!"

I yelled at the too of my lungs in order to let out everything I was feeling. When I got home my depression only worsened when mom told me what happened to dad. I locked myself in my room and cried all night long. I had always been around death, but this time was different. I knew I'd have to leave this room tomorrow for school so I dried up my tears and forced myself to sleep.Back to Main Page