Reason to fight

Gaby continued to hold out her hand and shooting blasts of lightning towards Kurt who was just trying his best to dodge everything mere seconds before he was hit.

Thanks to his long years of training with his mother, he got used to making quick reactions to dangerous situations. His body was basically moving on autopilot by that point anytime Gaby's hand started to charge up with energy.

All the students were stunned while observing the fight as the new kid that challenged one of the academy's top fighters had managed to last for more than five seconds.

Even those that were fighting in the other arenas stopped their fight to watch the show. These two kids had all attention glued at them.

"Ugh!!" Kurt cried while nearly being hit by another blast that tore apart pieces of his white shirt.

A little bit of the residual static paralyzed his arm for e brief moment but nothing he couldn't recover from.

"You're very agile... Have you been taught at home?" Gaby wondered continuing to keep him in her aim.

"Maybe..." Kurt replied, trying to keep in mind his mother's lesson of never giving the opponent too much information, "Or maybe you're just terrible at shooting people..."

"Well, now I just feel offended, especially when I have such a big target like your head..."

Gaby changed her stance and opened her fist, revealing five small spears of lightning on top of each finger and flicking them one by one with her other hand.

The power of the attacks had decreased but now the blasts were coming at a much faster pace as if she had switched from a cannon to bullets.

Kurt knew he couldn't stay still and began to circle around her trying to dodge them all while also closing their distance.

Gaby might be powerful, but in terms of physical strength, he knew he was superior. If he could land one punch, she would be down for good.

"Don't you know it's creepy for a boy to suddenly get so close to a girl without her consent?" Gaby joked while joining her palms and then pulling them away from each other while creating some sort of lighting spear in between.

"What the what!?" Kurt gasped.

Gaby began to spin her new weapon and smacked the boy in his stomach, sending him flying and nearly jumping out of the arena.

"Guaaahhhh!!!" his cry of pain echoing through the gym as he rolled on the ground.

"Oh no!!" Trevor whispered while biting his nails, "How is the teacher not stopping this?"

He turned around to look at the lady in charge of the lesson, only to find out she was still puzzled by Dorothy who was hanging in her arm as the woman tried to put together just what in the world she was looking at.

"Is this some kind of new dragon species...? Maybe a small sky dragon? A baby cloud dragon? A Feather-wing dragon? What are you...?" the lady asked while staring at the owl while holding her chin.

"Hoot! Hoot!" Dorothy replied.

It seemed like the teacher was more interested in the bird in her arm than the actual safety of the students.

Trevor didn't know if he should be worried about the security of the class or jealous that she got to carry Dorothy with her.

Gaby took a moment to look at Kurt and noticed some strange green glow in his palm as he grabbed his stomach.

"Oh... What's this? Your talent?" she asked as she observed the wounds on his skin disappearing.

"Who knows..."

"Man, you're annoying..." she groaned, "You won't leave me alone when I ask you to, you act like I'm some kind of jerk that just messes with people for fun, and now you act all secretive as if your life depended on it... Everything about you just pisses me off!"

Gaby lifted her lightning spear with both hands and began to increase its size in order to slam it down on Kurt.

But the lad used this opportunity to strike while she revealed an opening and began to rush towards her with everything he had.

He raised his fist at the same time Gaby dropped her spear and both of them landed a blow on each other at the same time. Kurt getting slammed by the spear and Gabby getting an uppercut in the stomach, sending her flying.

"UUUghhhh!!!"

"Gaaaahh!!!"

The students gasped seeing her getting injured.

"Holy... That new kid managed to land a hit!!"

"And not only that, he's been dodging most of her attacks for a while now!"

"This guy is pretty good! He might actually do it!!"

Kurt began to stand up and rushed to heal the injuries on his shoulders. He was then distracted by the sound of all the kids chanting his name.

"Go, Kurt!! Show her who's the boss!!"

"Take that bookworm down, new kid!!"

"You can do it red-hair!! Don't give up!!!"

Kurt was stunned, "What the hell...?", all of a sudden people were cheering for his victory as if he was a boxer that just needed to win one more round.

He circled the place with his gaze and everyone acted like they were on his side, making his face turn red for a moment.

It was the first time in his life he ever had people supporting him like this besides his parents. The only other person who was ever on his side was his pet owl, Dorothy.

[Dory!! You seeing this!!?? People are cheering for me! They-]

The boy looked at the owl to see if she was praising him as well, hoping for his victory, but all he could see was the bird staring at him in silence.

[Dory...?]

Even though it was hard to tell due to her animal face, Kurt could still feel that Dorothy was not happy with the situation. Rather, he somehow sensed that she was disappointed with him.

[Dory...? What's wrong...?]

He was suddenly reminded of her words from before the fight started, the strange question she made to him, <Kurt... Do you know how bullies are born?>

"Bullies...?" he whispered.

Gaby began to stand up while hugging her belly. It seemed like she did not expect an attack from him to pack so much power.

"Holy sh*t, that really freaking hurt..." she moaned.

"Hey!" Kurt called her out, "You said that I'm just fighting because I don't like you, right? What's that supposed to mean?"

Gaby stared at him for a few seconds and then started to giggle, "Am I wrong? You not gonna claim you're still doing this for the seat, are you?"

"I told you! I'm doing this because you-"

"Because I deserve this?? Is that it? I'm a bad girl so I deserve to be punished?" she assumed, "Just drop dead, asshole... Who the hell do you think you are to tell me what I deserve??"

Gaby opened her arms and a large sphere of electricity appeared on each hand. She then threw each of them at the lad as if she was a baseball player.

Kurt managed to dodge the first one, but he ended up jumping right into the second and getting hit on the shoulder.

"Kuuaaahh!!"

"You don't know me!! You talk like you see through me but you have no idea who I am or what I've been through!!" she yelled while releasing more spheres.

Kurt healed his injury and started to run around as the balls of energy chased him.

"You were right! This isn't about the seat! But it isn't about justice either!!" she continued, "At the end of the day, you just want to be in the right!"

"That's not-"

"You WANT me to be the bad guy just so you can be the hero!! Just like all these other assholes surrounding us and cheering for you! They all wanna see me fall just because they have some problem with me!! Not because they like you! But because they hate me!"

Gaby stopped the attacks and united her hands to charge a laser at him. Kurt tried to erase his presence by hiding inside the piles of smoke her attacks had created.

"I never did anything to anyone!! I just live my own life and mind my own business!! But people like you keep finding reasons to have a problem with me!! You think you're the first?? You think every year I don't go through this same stupid game and get people to challenge me just to put me in my place??"

Gaby smacked the ground with her fist and sent a shockwave of energy that dissipated the smoke, revealing Kurt.

"You are all the same... You all hate me, because you're jealous of me... Because I'm not pathetic like you... Because I don't waste my time picking on the weak, or stealing people's money, or starting rumors to badmouth people..." she stated as she gazed at the crowd, as if she was thinking about specific people and the things they did.

"That's not who I am!!" Kurt shouted.

"Then why the hell did you called me out here?? Why was it so important to prove you were stronger than me in front of everyone??"

"Because... Because..." the boy flinched. He couldn't even remember why he was so mad at her in the first place. In fact, was he mad at her? Or was he just mad, and he wanted to vent on her?

Gaby clapped her hands and created a bow of lightning, proceeded by pulling a piece of it back with her right hand, forming a string and an arrow.

"You guys are all the same... All jealous of what you don't have and taking out on me because I'm an easy target... Because I'm a reminder of everything you're not! Of everything you wish you could be!"

<Kurt... Do you know how bullies are born?>

"You are the bully!" she stated while releasing her arrow at him.

The projectile began to fly towards him and collided with his stomach, sending an immense amount of pain through his entire being and frying several parts of his clothes while making him twitch and fall.

"GAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

The students watched with their mouths wide open as Gaby was now covered in tears and simply walked out of the arena, giving the official victory to Kurt.

"Congrats... You got your stupid seat... I hope it was worth it..."

She walked towards the exit and every student stepped away from her way as if making a path for her.

Kurt watched from the corner of his eyes as the girl that ended up crying because of him left, only now realizing the true meaning of Dorothy's words.

<I don't want to see my little boy turn into a bully as well...>

"Goddamnit..." he whispered.

And at that moment, he realized that the very fate he was trying to escape from, had managed to reach him one more time.

"I failed again..."