Chapter 18

{{ Alexis' POV 🌌 }}
She was in the air, lunging toward the pair of contestants. Then she wasn't in the air. She could smell the faint scent of smoke and see the royal blue, iridescent flecks of ash as she appeared behind the two teenagers. She chuckled to herself, this would be fun.
The girl spun around first, sky blue flames exploding from her hands and the corners of her eyes. Her ice-blue irises glinted as she sprang forward with impressive agility. She swung her fist towards Alexis' stomach but she teleported a split second before the punch would have connected. This time she appeared in front of the boy, who looked to be around her age. She was getting better at this teleporting thing.
The boy extended both arms and tendrils of lighting flew off his fingers and toward her left shoulder. She spun around, dodging the lightning, and kicked the boy in the side. He grunted and stumbled backward but didn't fall over.
Then the girl was on top of her. She had one arm wrapped around her neck and the other arm holding her head still. Gagging, Alexis swung the knife behind her, trying to hit anything, and felt it plunge into flesh. The girl gasped and released her. Alexis turned around and attempted to kick the girl in the side that was now oozing blood but the girl rolled, narrowly missing the blow. With what looked like the rest of her strength, the girl kicked out, connecting with Alexis' legs. The hit was hard, but not hard enough to knock her off her feet.
Now it was time to take care of lightning fingers. She spun to face the boy but he was a couple of yards away bent over by a fallen log. How stupid could he be? His ally was lying on the forest floor bleeding out and he had run away? Man, she really had overestimated them.
She started toward him as he stood up, apparently done with whatever he had been doing. But that was all he did. He just stood there, his back to Alexis. She kept walking towards him, twirling the knife between her fingers.
She stopped a few feet behind him, waiting to see if he would actually move or not. But the boy didn't move an inch, even his breathing was hardly noticeable.
"Buddy, didn't anyone ever tell you never to turn your back on your opponent? Because that's rule number one in a fight," Alexis said, trying to keep down the laughter that was crawling up her throat. Oh well, she had tried to warn him.
She took one step forward, and the boy was on her instantly. He was probably an inch taller than her and just as strong. He pinned her shoulders to the ground but she brought her knee up and it collided with his chin. He reeled backward and only then did she realize that he now held a long sword.
She took a deep breath and teleported to the space directly above the boy. She landed on his shoulders and raised the knife but she quickly realized her mistake. She crumpled off of him and onto the ground, the electric shock numbing her entire body. All she could do was lie there on the ground helplessly waiting for the boy to strike.
"Xander," the girl coughed out the boy's name and he turned his attention from Alexis to where the girl lay on the ground. He inhaled sharply, before running around her and over to the girl, who had started to cough aggressively.
A few seconds later, Alexis felt the numbness melting off her body and she pushed herself up onto her knees. She turned to look back at the pair of contestants and was met with an unearthly scream.

{{ Ash's POV 💀 }}
The only thing Ash was certain of was Carrie's arm wrapped around his back. All he could do was lay there, crumpled and paralyzed. The voices had finally disappeared but the utter silence that surrounded him was almost just as bad.
Come on, pull yourself together. Ash sprang up, knocking Carrie to the ground.
"No, no, no, no, go away, please. Pleeease, just go away," he cried, clamping his hands back over his ears. The voices had disappeared, but apparently not for good. He stood there, his hands over his ears for what felt like an hour, making sure he wouldn't hear anyone else.
He almost yelled as Carrie placed her hand gently on his shoulder, "Ash what's wrong, who do you want to go away?" Her voice was gentle but worried.
"You can't hear them?" he turned to face her, uncovering his ears.
"Hear who? The only person that's talking right now is you," she answered, the worry in her voice spreading to her face as well.
"B-but they were so loud, you had to have heard them."
"Ash, who are you talking about?"
"The voices. There were so many, I can't believe you couldn't hear them."
"Ash I think you should sit back down, you just experienced something really traumatic," Carrie gestured to the ground beside her.
"You don't believe me, do you," Ash responded, looking her dead in the eye.
"No, I do believe you, I just moved boxes with my mind for god’s sake, but I think you should rest for a few minutes."
Ash pulled away from Carrie's hand, sighed, and sank down onto the grass. He looked around for the first time since he had been broken out of his stupor. Mackenzie was drenched, leaning up against a stack of plastic boxes and K.C. was kneeling next to Andrew.
The small group stayed in the same position for five minutes, their breathing the only audible thing, until Mackenzie screamed.