Fifty-seven

I was surrounded by two strangers who looked like they were ready to attack me. They had captured two of my teammates and threatened to hurt him if I didn't cooperate.

"First let us introduce ourselves before we answer your question," one of them said.

"I'm Nana," the girl said.

"And I'm Kenji, we're both from Haruto High School," the boy said.

"We don't appreciate what you did to our teammate earlier," Nana said.

"He was the one who went after us first, we just defended ourselves," I said.

"We understand what you're saying but don't forget that we still have your teammate as a hostage," Kenji said.

"Tell me what you want in exchange for our teammate," Naoka, my other teammate, said.

"You've just managed to find the orange crystal so if you give it to us nothing will happen to your friend," Nana said.

"Fine," Naoka said.

"No Naoka don't give it to them, we've been struggling to get it," Yugo, the hostage, said.

Kenji kicked him in the stomach to shut him up.

"I asked you to be quiet but you don't listen to me," Kenji said.

"Well, here's the crystal but I want to make the exchange at the same time, I don't want you to rip us off," I said.

"Well then, we'll accept," Nana said.

Nana approached with Naoto and Yugo then I did the same with the crystal and the exchange went smoothly. Then Nana and Kenji left.

"Sorry, it's our fault we don't have the crystal anymore," Yugo said.

"No, don't worry, it's not your fault, you couldn't have known this was going to happen," Naoka said.

"We only have 30 minutes left, we have to hurry up and find a crystal," Naoka said.

"Oh look over there it's Maria's team maybe we could follow them," Yugo said.

"Why not? They must be looking for a crystal too," Naoto said.

"Yes let's go," I said.

We went towards Maria's team.

"Hey, so how's the challenge going for you guys?" I asked.

(What are they doing here), Jade thought.

"We didn't find a crystal and you?" Maria asked.

"We're in the same situation but you who is the one you're looking for?" Naoka asked.

"Why should we tell you first?" Amber asked.

"Maybe we could help you, you know," I said.

"I don't think we can trust you, I'm sure you have a plan in mind," Amber said.

"What! Me betraying you? Don't forget we are from the same school, Amber," I said.

"Yes, but I know you well," she said as she approached me and grabbed me by the shirt and then punched me in the face.

"But what's wrong with you, Amber, why do you..." I didn't even have the time to finish my sentence when Amber hit me again. I felt a sharp pain in my face as Amber punched me again. I tried to fight back but she was too strong for me. Jade tried to stop the fight but it was useless.

"Stop this fight is not going to get you anywhere so please stop," Jade said.

Suddenly, another girl came in and punched Amber so hard that Amber spat blood.

"You were the one who ran away earlier, weren't you?" the girl said.

She had long black hair and piercing blue eyes. She looked familiar but I couldn't remember where I had seen her before.

Jade rushed towards Amber to help her up and the girl noticed me.

"What do you want from us? We don't even have a crystal," Maria said.

"It's just that earlier there was one of you watching me, I just wanted to teach her a lesson but I'm not interested in her, I'm interested in you," the girl said as she pointed at me.

"Why do you want me? I didn't do anything to you," I said.

"The rest of you can leave like I said, you won't be any use to me, so if you leave I'll be fine with it," the girl said.

Maria's team ran away without any hesitation. They didn't care about me at all. They only cared about themselves.

"Are you going to stay here?" the girl asked.

"Of course we'll never leave our friend behind, right Yugo and Naoto?" Naoka said.

"Yes, we'll all fight you," Yugo and Naoto said.

"You're getting unnecessarily tired," the girl said as she used her magic and Naoka, Yugo and Naoto got paralyzed.

"It's like before, I can't move," Naoka said.

"That's normal, it's the effect of my magic, it consists in controlling the people who are in my field of vision. Well, now that no one can disturb us, I can finally talk to you, Eloise," the girl said.

"What do you want from us in the end?" I asked.

"I wanted to apologize for my team because they didn't take the crystal in a fair way so I wanted to give you this one so you wouldn't be eliminated," the girl said as she handed me the brown crystal and I took it.

"Oh well thank you, after all you seem rather nice," I said.

The girl approached me and whispered to me: "Meet me after the ordeal behind the infirmary."

Then she left and the others were no longer paralyzed.

"Well, the good thing is that now we have a crystal and we don't have to worry about one of us getting eliminated," Naoka said.

The headmaster's voice echoed in our ears.

"The ordeal is now over and you will all be teleported to us," he said.