32 A simple reason

Kurt kept his eyes glued to Saramin.

He didn't know why Gaby and Trevor were so tense just because she was finally joining the fight, but if she was scary enough to get them like this, then he knew he needed to keep his guard up as well.

The words of his mother played in his mind again. Always lead! Never let the opponent lead you.

Sara's expression was focused but at the same time relaxed. She was looking at the trio as if she recognized them as a threat, but not one she couldn't overcome.

"I gotta say..." she spoke, "I wasn't sure if you were gonna be able to take down my friends. Guess I underestimated you..."

"That's what happens when you trust in the power of friendship, I guess..." Kurt joked.

Both Gaby and Trevor stared at him with a 'are you serious?' look on their faces.

"Power of friendship... Right..." Saramin repeated, "What does that even mean, by the way?"

"I don't really know, to be honest..." Kurt admitted while shrugging, "I keep seeing it being brought up all the time in stories but I never really got how it is supposed to work..."

He gazed at the two kids by his side and wondered if this could really be called friendship. Gaby was only fighting by his side because she also had a bone to pick with Saramin, but who knows how long that alliance would last?

Trevor as well was a mystery. No matter how much nonsense Kurt requests from him, the boy always seems ready to come to his aid. Too ready in fact. Kurt still wondered if he was being genuine, or if this had something to do with his status as a son of the emperor.

One thing he knew. They had a reason to support him, and he could rely on that fact to trust in them. This was less of a matter of power of friendship and more a power of converging interests.

"I see... I hope your friendship is powerful enough to survive this then!" Saramin laughed while clapping her hands together and slowly backing her palms away from each other.

"What the hell??" Kurt gasped as small piles of rock began to gather in front of her and forming a massive boulder that would keep increasing its size the more her arms moved.

Not only that, the rock was also covered with a cloak of electricity as if Gaby was energizing it, but Kurt glanced at the purple-haired girl by his side and she wasn't moving at all.

"Trevor!!" Kurt shouted, "Trevor! What the hell is her talent??"

"Memory..." Trevor mumbled.

"What...??"

"Sara can memorize any talent that she observes and use it herself. It's not so bad in one-on-on, but in group fights, she becomes a demon!"

Sara's smile became even larger as she was now also glaring at the trio and proceeded to shoot her creation at an absurd speed.

Trevor turned intangible, Gaby jumped out of the way by using the electricity to push her out, and Kurt simply evaded the attack with his superior reflexes while quickly healing any spot that might have gotten caught by accident in the process.

It was a good thing that they all managed to evade that move. The moment the flying rock covered in lightning reached the gym's wall, a gigantic explosion took place that nearly shattered it into pieces.

"Oh... Joy..." Kurt whispered while glancing at the pile of smokes and debris on the wall behind them, "No wonder nobody wanted to join my side..."

Saramin rushed towards him while covering herself in a layer of electric energy and fists made of rock.

Kurt tried to evade the attack but she was coming way too fast, even for him.

The white-haired girl smacked him in the stomach and sent him flying towards Trevor, who was forced to turn off his intangibility to grab him.

"Kurt!! Kurt are you okay!!??"

"Uugh!!! That really, really hurt!!"

"Hurry, heal yourself!! We gotta- Guaaahhh!!" Trevor screamed after having his face suddenly grabbed from above by Sara and having it shoved into the ground once she used Wesley's skin of steel with his increased density.

"Trevor!!!" Kurt screamed.

The impact was so powerful that Trevor ended up completely knocked out.

The prince tried to apply some healing flames on his friend, but Saramin just stood between them and kicked Kurt towards the ceiling as if he was a soccer ball.

"Guaaahhh!!!" he cried as blood started to come out from his mouth.

Kurt finally understood that he had been caught in a trap. Sara had spent all this time watching them like a hawk in order to fully memorize each of their powers.

She was keeping herself in place while her friends did all the work since it would be hard to fight with only the earth and steel powers.

What's worse, she was probably waiting for Gaby to use her electricity, something that she was managing to not do until Kurt forced it by putting her against Wesley.

Saramin began to charge another attack on the boy as he started to fall from the ceiling, but Gaby finally decided to step in and kicked her while she was distracted.

However, Sara reacted in time and turned on the earth ability to create a wall of rocks to block Gaby's kick.

Gaby didn't want to give up and tried to respond by charging her fists with lightning and destroying the wall with her punches.

She tried to smack Sara as well, but she simply used Trevor's ability and went right through her as if she was a ghost.

Sara used this chance to activate Ron's power one more time and lifted Gaby by making a rising platform below her feet and sending her high up to crash against the roof.

Kurt had finally landed back on the ground by that point though, and jumped on her to smack her face with a kick, but Sara became intangible again and managed to evade it.

She then used the steel skin ability and grabbed his face proceeded by headbutting him.

"Guaaahhhhgh!!!" he cried again while rolling on the ground.

If it wasn't for his enhanced strength and healing ability, that impact could have cracked his skull like an egg.

Sara didn't stop and turned off her steel skin in order to increase her speed while using Trevor's power to increase her density, and right after that, launching a series of quick punches on the red-haired boy.

Kurt realized that he was basically fighting Gaby, Trevor, Wesley, and Ron at the same time, as Saramin was basically dancing between the powers by constantly switching between them.

"Go, Sara!!!"

"Take these losers down!!"

"You're the best, Sara!!!"

"Sara, we love you!!!"

Saramin made a small pause at the sound of the kids cheering for her and began to wave and smile at them, "Thank you! Thank you!! You're all very kind! I love you all as well!"

Kurt used this chance to quickly heal each of his injuries while trying to stand up.

"Good grief..." he mumbled, "How is someone with a talent this absurd stuck at number two...??"

"You would think I would be right at the top, right?" she nodded, "But it's like your friend said, this ability is only good against mobs. If Gaby and I were to fight just the two of us, she would have me beaten!"

As if reacting to the sound of her name, Gaby suddenly appeared from above after jumping out of the platform and began to unleash a massive blast of electricity right on top of Saramin, who just responded by activating Trevor's power and avoiding it without a scratch.

"But luckily... It's not just the two of us!" Sara continued after jumping by using electricity to boost herself up and grabbing Gaby by the throat.

Gaby tried to use her lightning to shock her, but Saramin simply put on a layer of rocks around her to keep herself safe, proceeded by increasing her density right after that and smacking Gaby against the ground.

"Kuaaaaghh!!"

"You have my thanks, Kurt!" Saramin whispered while pinning Gaby down and stealing her glasses, "If it wasn't for you, I would never have gotten the chance to get my payback against this stick-in-the Mudd! I owe you one!"

"Ugh..." Kurt groaned after finally finishing his healing process, "You mean this whole thing was just for her? You really hate her that much??"

"Oh... It's not just for her!" Sara continued while placing the glasses on her forehead, "I also did it for you!"

"What?"

Sara giggled at him, "I mean, think about it... Wouldnt you rather hang out with us than stay with this loner? We all saw and heard her saying many times how much she hates you! Why waste your time on someone like her when you could join us?"

Kurt rolled his eyes, "Are you serious? You think I would just become one of you after all this?"

"Well, why not? Just give me a good reason!" Sara requested.

"A reason?"

"Yeah! Is it reputation? If you stick with me you can enjoy the life of a top student way more than if you stuck with her! Are you afraid of her? We can protect you! You need friends? We will always be there to make sure you are never alone! Just say what you want and we will give it to you!"

Gaby tried to release herself from under Saramin, but her electric powers were being canceled by Sara's own electric powers.

"Dream on... You have nothing that I could possibly want..." Kurt replied.

"And she does?" Sara wondered why grabbing Gaby's face and making him look at her, "I mean, for real! Why are you going so far for this thing? Why do you keep trying to gain her favor? Why her and not any other of us?? Just why are you doing all this??"

Kurt looked puzzled as it seemed that the obvious answer was still hard to grasp for everyone in the room. They had spent so much time hating Gaby that the idea of someone fighting for her to this extent just seemed abnormal.

He was reminded of her words from when she asked why he wanted to fight her.

<You just don't like me, right?>

Kurt just sighed while wondering how such a simple concept was so hard to grasp, "Is it really that hard to understand?

I just like her."

Saramin became silent for a second before whispering a word, "What...?"

Gaby herself also went silent and made the same question, "What...?"

Kurt could see that his answer was still unclear so he tried to make it as obvious as possible, "I don't care if Gaby hates me... I. Like. Her!"

The boy then used this chance while Sara was startled and rushed to push her away from Gaby with a kick on the head.

"Kuaaaghh!!" Sara cried as she rolled on the floor.

Kurt then helped Gaby stand up and fixed all of her wounds with his talent.

"And if anyone has a problem with her, then they have a problem with me as well!"