Teacher vs students (part 4)

The students continued to shiver as their teacher began speaking. "Does anyone want to take a guess? What do you all think my ability is?"

Aibuto guessed first, "Shockwaves? You create shockwaves from your body, which is why our attacks were getting repelled"

Yahara smiled, "Not quite, but that was a good guess"

Sando who looked quite annoyed guessed next. "Some sort of air manipulation. I think you compress the air around you, which creates a barrier that you use for movement, offence and defence."

"not quite, Sando but close again "

"at first, I assumed it was the ability to counter certain attacks, but that went out of the window after I saw you jumping through the air. So, now I'm out of ideas" Shihata said.

"How very observant, Shihata. That's the closest guess so far. Dota, how about you?"

"My guess would be barriers. You use barriers to stop our attacks from landing but only where you can see, which is why when Sando's flames hindered your vision, Aibuto was able to land an attack and the wind I conjured was able to hit you also. It will also explain why you were able to "jump on air". My guess is you create barriers beneath your feet to jump off."

Yahara chuckled softly, "The four of you are some of the most impressive students I've tutored. All of your guesses were fairly close to the answer." He laughed once more. "In five minutes, you all nearly figured me out. However, my ability is deflection."

The students looked confused. So, Yahara began explaining. "I can deflect...well, anything. From the flames young Sando threw at me, to the air around me. Which is where those shockwaves came from. Dota was right, Aibuto was able to land that attack because I couldn't see him, and therefore could not deflect the punch"

Suddenly, Yahara sprung to his feet.

"Sando, fire that flame ball at me. Don't hold back"

Sando smiled, telling his friends to stand back as he charged the fireball even more in one hand.

"Don't die, old man" Sando excitedly said, before throwing the fireball at Yahara with full force.

Yahara smiled at the fireball hurtling towards him, and simply stretched out his hand. Once again, right before the fireball made contact, it was met with Yahara's deflection ability that was activated on his palm. Which caused the fireball to change direction, instead of dissipating.

It flew past the students, slightly faster than Sando threw it and into a tree, subsequently igniting it.

"If I had done that from the start, it would've been obvious what my ability was and there's no fun in that. Now, let's leave this zone. It's getting cold"

[getting cold?] the students thought, while they shivered continuously.

Group D

The wasteland was a vast space that was completely desolate. There were no plants or trees, only dry and cracked soil as far as the eye could see.

"This place is perfect for me " Koda said, slamming his fists together.

Hayasato asked a question, "Fukuma, our environment doesn't suit your ability at all. Are you going to be okay?"

He smiled, "don't worry about me, Hayasato. I'm well aware of my disadvantages but this time I came prepared"

He removed his backpack from his shoulders, and unzipped it.

Seconds later, two robotic gauntlets with little thrusters at the bottom flew out of the back and slid into Fukuma's hands like gloves.

The gauntlets were made of tungsten and had a flashy silver shine to them.

There was a hexagonal hole where his belt buckle should've been, he reached into his backpack and grabbed the fitting piece, which glowed with a blue light as he placed it in the hole. He began a monologue, "several incidents, and training sessions have made me realise I was falling behind everyone. At one point, I contemplated leaving the academy, but Mr Tokiho talked me out of it and voluntarily became my mentor. Because of that, I was able to grow, I was able to enhance my knowledge of robotics and because he's worked closely with me since, I can now stand on equal footing. Wherever I am" As he finished his last sentence, he pressed the hexagonal shape of his belt and a carbon nanotube suit began to form in both his legs, and his torso, up to his neck.

The suit had a simple silver design with light blue glowing stripes on the side of the arm and legs and part of the chest section.

Koda laughed, "you look so cool".

"thank you, Koda" Fukuma responded, with a smile on his face

"why didn't you tell anyone you were feeling left out?" Rani asked

"I didn't want anyone walking on eggshells around me. Besides, if I told some of you I felt inadequate, it might have affected your progress."

"That's true I guess. I'm glad you're okay Fukuma" Rani responded.

Hirowa's voice rang through the speakers, "begin"

The students prepared themselves and got into offensive stances.

A few moments later, Zuno Shisuki entered the wasteland zone.

[Let's see how good you guys are] he thought to himself, before raising his arm.

A blue circular lightning right formed above his head and gradually increased in size and thickness.

"Well, here we go" he said to himself, "lightning dance". With that, he threw the ring towards the students.

Due to its size, it moved slower than a lightning bolt so the students were able to see it coming.

"something is coming towards us" Hayasato said.

Adressing the whole group, Rani asked, "What is that?"

As the ring drew nearer, it became clear to the students that it was made of lightning.

"Shit, our teacher is Mr Zuno" Fukuma exclaimed, starting to retreat.

"Still doesn't help us understand what the fuck that thing is " Koda added

Gathered together, the students watched the ring slow down, and hover slightly above their heads and begin to spin in a clock wise direction.

Shortly after, lightning bolts began intermittently shooting outwards from the ring. The first three bolts hit Fukuma and Hayasato, grounding both of them. Koda quickly put up a rock dome to protect himself and his friends. The bolts continued to strike the rocks and with each bolt released, the thickness of the ring reduced.

Inside the dome, Koda asked, "you guys okay?"

The two who were struck nodded before Hayasato spoke.

"Nice improvisation, Koda. However, knowing who our opponent is, he's probably behind us, waiting for this dome to come down. So, we need to relocate"

Immediately he finished speaking, he created a portal that led them to the entrance of the wasteland zone. Even after they passed through the portal, the rock dome remained intact.

"we need a plan" Rani said, "mr Zuno is too fast to deal with directly

"this wasteland is perfect for his power, but also perfect for mine". Koda smiled while saying that. "I'll be able to create numerous obstructions that'll prevent him from just charging at us, and that ring of lightning is slow, so we'd be able to see it coming"

Hayasato scratched his head, "what do we do about the crystal?"

Rani was first to answer, as she was the one currently holding it. "Koda if possible, could you bury it where we make our stand? Without breaking it?"

Koda smiled, realising she just proposed a good plan, "I think so. I might be able to"

"Also, regarding the lightning ring, I have been training a lot, trying new things and I think I might have something that'll help" Hayasato added.

Fukuma had been silent the whole time observing his environment. So, Rani asked what was bothering him.

"I realised something interesting. We aren't violating any rules right now, otherwise we'd have been been disqualified already.

Mr Zuno doesn't know where we are so technically we do not necessarily have to make a stand. Avoiding unnecessary conflict can also be a suitable tactic especially if ones opponent is as powerful as our teacher"

The group went silent as they listened to their friends words. They knew he was right but they felt it was the easy way out. Fukuma continued.

"However, winning this way isn't something I'd enjoy so shall we take a vote on what we'll do?"

He paused briefly. "Those who want to stay here till the time runs out, raise your hands" after a few seconds, he smiled. "Well, that settles it then"

Meanwhile, just as Hayasato had predicted, when the rock dome went up, Zuno immediately dashed behind the students and was currently waiting for them to come out. However, he grew more impatient with each second that passed. He raised his hand once more, causing the lightning ring to spin even faster. It continued to rise while spinning and when he brought his hand down, the ring turned into a singular bolt and struck the dome with immense force, completely shattering it.

As it broke down, he was slightly surprised to see that the kids weren't there anymore but realised immediately what had happened.

[Hayasato, what a troublesome ability you have. Searching for them will be a pain] he thought.

[well, I guess I'll start at the entrance and work my way up]

He bolted towards the entrance of the wasteland zone, leaving a trail of lightning behind him, and arriving there in a matter of seconds.

He looked in front of him and to his sides, but there was no one in front of him. [Not here then]

He bolted forward once more, in search of the students but was stopped in his tracks about 3 seconds into his dash by the sight of several rock pillars erected in random positions.

[Now, what's all this?]

Each of the 4 students spread out and were hidden behind one pillar each. This was so Zuno wouldn't know their exact locations.

He smiled, thinking to himself, [good plan. I guess I'll have to make you guys come out]

He created a much larger lightning ring this time, and made it rise above the pillars. This time, 4 bolts were released simultaneously in 4 different directions, striking a different pillar each time.

He saw three of the students sprinting to a singular pillar and he laughed, directing the bolts at said pillar. However, nothing connected but before he could think about the reason, Fukuma's gauntlet smacked into the back of his head, Koda trapped him in a much smaller rock dome with a hole in the middle.

While this was happening, Zuno was thinking, [When did they get behind me?] his initial thought process was interrupted when he realised what the hole in the dome meant and he held his breath as pink gas flowed into the dome.

"Did we get him?" Fukuma asked, as he recalled the gauntlet onto his hand.

"I mean, that place should be flooded with sleeping gas. So it should work."

Hayasato started walking towards the group

"By the way, Hayasato, brilliant plan getting us behind him with the portal"

Hayasato smiled, "did it work?"

"Guys...why is the lightning ring spinning faster?" Rani said, causing the group to turn around.

In the same manner as before, the ring spun faster, turned into a singular bolt and destroyed the dome.

Zuno acted immediately the dome crumbled. He darted at the kids, moving at a speed none of them could comprehend nor anticipate.

He hit all four of them in the stomach in about 0.5 seconds, sending bolts of lightning into their body as he did so.That was a really good plan. However, I'm not going to fall for the same thing twice, Rani. Now then, where's the crystal?"

The kids groaned in response.

Zuno looked behind at the numerous pillars and smiled. "You kids are really intelligent you know. You're really going to make me work for this aren't you?Very well"

He turned to face the pillars one more. There were about 10 different ones. Zuno sighed and took a deep breath and raised his arms. Bolts coming from his fingers converged at stomach level, creating a lightning ball.

The ball rose above his head as more bolts converged. In a few seconds, it was the size of a wrecking ball.

When it was above the height of the pillars, Zuno spoke and swung his arm downwards, "destructive lightning arrows". The ball of lightning split into numerous large bolts, matching the number of pillars and as Zuno brought him arm down, they struck and destroyed every single pillar.

Zuno waited for the announcement saying the crystal had been destroyed, but it didn't come. He was getting annoyed.

When he turned around, the kids were already on their feet again, with their fists clenched.

Zuno sighed again.

"You guys ready?" Hayasato asked, knowing their teacher was about to attack them again. His friends nodded in response.

Zuno fired four bolts from his fingers at his students but much to his his surprise, Hayasato created four portals in front of himself and his friends, and 4 more behind Zuno.

The bolts passed through the portals and struck Zuno's back, causing him to grimace. Fukuma then launched both at him gauntlets at full speed, they slammed hard into his chest and carried him a few metres backwards before they were recalled. At the same time, Koda had lifted all the rubble created from the destruction of the pillars and dropped them all at once on Zuno, not giving him a chance to counter attack.

Hayasato created another portal and looked at Rani. "Get him"

She jumped through, and appeared in front Zuno, immediately releasing gas into his face.

She jumped back into the portal so she'd be back with her friends.

"He definitely inhaled it this time" she said, with a smile on her face. The boys laughed and threw high fives at each other.

The laughs and cheers stopped when they saw him slowly getting to his feet. A lightning ring formed above his head, then another, and another, until there were about 20 lightning rings in the air moving towards the kids.

Their jaws dropped. There was no way they would be able to avoid the bolts that were about to strike them, and they knew this. They still had the 20 metre penalty to think about so they couldn't portal out, neither could they erect another rock dome because that would easily be destroyed.

To everyone's surprise, Hayasato stretched out his hand and a portal opened up beneath Zuno's feet, he fell in, and was transported back to the entrance of the wasteland zone, which was about 300 metres away.

His sudden disappearance also caused the lightning rings to disappear, making the kids breathe an enormous sigh of relief.

As he landed at the entrance, he looked at how long he had left, smiled, and sat on the floor. A few seconds later, an announcement rang out. "After 5 minutes, the crystal is still intact. Winner: Group D"

[complete defeat] Zuno thought, as his vision became blurry.