14: Mari Vs Verrona

"Haha! That's another win for us!" Urmac says as he smirks at all of us.

"Good job Torak!" Alida says, as Torak walks to his crew.

"That was a close one… " Torak admits begrudgingly.

After a couple of minutes and some healing from Master Celine Jack finally awakens and trudges his way towards us.

"Ugh, I can't believe I lost like that." Jack says as I can tell he's really upset.

"Come on, don't let it get to you, you did well!" Mari says.

"Yeah, you definitely did better than I did!" Sachi says, as she gently pats Jack's shoulder.

"You didn't give up when you easily could have, that's gotta count for something right?" I ask.

"Maybe… I still wish I could've won." Jack says as he looks frustrated.

"Chin up, you fought your heart out and still managed to put him on the ropes with barely any training. I hope this loss sticks with you though, Torak is strong, but he's nothing compared to Colossi or some of the top-ranked Frodians. You have some work to do, Jack." Layla says.

"Yeah, I know." Jack says as he leans against a wall.

"Are you good?" I ask.

"I will be, don't worry about me." Jack says as it's obvious he needs some space.

"Okay, who's next?" Master Celine asks.

"I'll be going, mother!" Verrona yells as she walks towards the middle of the arena.

"And who will you be fighting?" Master Celine asks.

"I'll get us a win on the board! I'll fight–" Layla says.

"Actually, I want to go Layla!" Mari says, her voice full of seriousness.

"Mari? But you haven't had any practice yet! You saw how strong Verrona is, even I can admit that I wouldn't be able to beat her easily!" Layla says.

"I don't care, I have to fight! I can't keep running away from people like her!" Mari says, her voice full of passion.

"What do you mean people like her?" Sachi asks.

"Umm, it doesn't matter. Just let me do this Layla, I don't wanna just sit here and do nothing!" Mari says as you can tell this fight is personal for her.

"Let her go, Layla. She's allowed to make her own decisions." I say as I can tell that Mari is still pretty nervous.

"Fine. Remember to watch out for her casting speed, she's the fastest spell caster in the academy!" Layla says.

"Gotcha! I promise I won't lose!" Mari says as she walks to the middle of the arena.

Verrona has a long staredown with Mari as Mari pulls out the brand new combat staff that Master Vokgar made for her.

"Don't think because you have some nice new equipment that you can actually beat me!" Verrona says arrogantly.

"You remind me of someone who always looked down on me in my past life. I took their crap all the time and never fought back, but now that I have a second chance I refuse to be disrespected anymore!" Mari says, her voice full of anger.

"What's going on with her? I've never seen her this angry before." Layla says.

"This isn't just a sparring match for her, something about Verrona must've triggered something from her past. I just hope she doesn't get hurt because of it… " I say, as I remembered how she still hasn't talked about her past.

"Mari… Be careful." Sachi says, her face full of worry.

"I could care less about any of that, keep it to yourself princess! I just wanna put you in your place!" Verrona says as a blue aura starts emanating from her body.

"Great, that means I won't have to hold back!" Mari says, as her blue aura also starts emanating from her body.

"Let the battle begin!" Master Celine yells.

"Mardian Art: Direwolf Summon!" Verrona says as a group of three dire wolves appear in the arena.

"Mari!" I yell as I can't help but feel worried about her.

"What's that look, Crow? Don't you have any faith in me?" Mari says as she smiles.

"She really isn't afraid at all! That's honestly half the battle." Layla says.

The dire wolves all run towards Mari barking and growling. Mari holds her staff out and looks like she is preparing for a spell.

"Here we go! Mardian Art: Staff Extension!" Mari says, as her staff grows way longer.

Mari swings the staff with all of her might as it hits each one of the dire wolves. All of them fall on the ground after taking massive damage and disappear.

"Well, well! I thought for sure you'd back down when you saw my puppies!" Verrona says as she looks surprised.

"Sorry, I've never been that big of a dog person!" Mari says as she runs towards Verrona with her staff.

"Don't get too big of head! Mardian Art: Tundra Blast!" Verrona says as a giant icy wind storm envelops the middle of the arena.

"Mardian Art: Fiery Blaze!" Mari says as she shoots a fiery blast out of her staff.

Both of the attacks collide canceling each other out in the process.

"Unbelievable!" Verrona says, her voice full of anger.

"She's actually not doing too bad. Most people would struggle with doing spontaneous spells, but it's almost like it's natural to her! Her quick thinking might give her a chance." Layla says, her voice full of intrigue.

"She's an artist, it's only natural she'd be good at creating spells on the fly!" I say as I couldn't help but feel proud.

"Come on Mari! You're making her uncomfortable, she doesn't know what to do!" Sachi yells.

"Hmph, try stopping this! Mardian Art: Duplication Stampede!" Verrona says as a huge stampede of clones of herself starts running towards Mari.

"Crap! Mardian Art: Solar Flare!" Mari yells as she shoots a blinding magic ball that stuns the clones.

"Ugh, I can't see!" Verrona says as she grabs her eyes.

"Hehe! It worked! Mardian Art: Windy Rotation!" Mari says as she launches a small tornado at all of the clones.

The tornado sends all of the clones flying as all of them to disappear on impact.

"That's right Mari! That's what I'm talking about!" Jack yells as he startles all of us.

"Glad to see you not moping anymore. But did you have to be that loud?" Layla says as she holds her ears.

"Just showing my support!" Jack says.

"How do you like that!" Mari says as I can tell she's starting to lose steam.

"Haha! You've done alright so far, but let's see how you do after this! Mardian Art: Sorceress Mode!" Verrona says as all of a sudden her eyes roll back and her Taqa grows even larger.

The pressure of Verrona's aura is so strong that the whole arena is now becoming windy.

"Verrona of Azul. The blue witch!" Layla says as she covers her face from the intense winds.

"Mari! Be careful!" I yell.

"Game over Princess! Mardian Art: Ray of Adora!" Verona says, as she launches an enormous blue and white magic beam towards Mari.

"Mardian Art: Shield of Adora!" Mari yells, as her tattoo starts lighting up and a giant blue shield surrounds her.

The blast collides with the shield causing a huge explosion!

"Holy… Is everyone okay?" I ask as I look for my friends.

"Yeah, never better!" Jack says as he flattened out on the ground.

"I teleported just in time!" Layla says as she appears behind me.

"I just got behind you!" Sachi says as she's still clutching my back.

"Anyways, who won?" I say as the smoke from the attack hasn't cleared yet.

As I look deeply in the smoke I see one figure standing and another on the ground. The smoke finally clears and Verrona is still standing while Mari is on the ground knocked out.

"By Adora, you kids are really going all out! Anyways, the winner is Verrona!" Master Celine says as she walks over to check on Mari.