Chapter 90: Hot Air-Balloon

"You both made it through two rounds! That's surprising, thought your chemistry would be garbage," Rein greeted them.

"Don't jump to conclusions my friend, we've worked together before. I think I earned at least some of her trust that one time," Core responded, recalling the time they fought together in the volcano.

"Yeah, I hate to admit it, but his strategies are flawless. I was honestly more worried about you two, but you seem to be fine," she pointed out.

"Well, I wouldn't say that we're 'fine', there are still things that this guy does that I don't understand," Sho responded, no awkwardness seeming to linger between him and Chloe.

Their conversation was cut short by the voice of the teacher, along with the other students spectating from the roof.

"Right, everyone ready? Don't care if you are or not, the semi-final round is about to start. Get your asses to your spots, whoever wins this goes to the finals," Zophia announced, the two teams getting on their sides before the match began.

The teacher once again counted down to signify the beginning of the match, as soon as her count hit 0, Rein and Sho blasted off for the balls. Rein managed to get 1 ball, while Sho wasn't able to get any, Chloe sucking them in with her wind before he could even reach them.

"Hey, Rein! Why aren't you using your Spring man? Don't think I've seen you use it a single time here, hell I'm not even sure what it is!" Sho asked, frustrated that he wasn't able to retrieve any of the dodgeballs.

"Don't really feel like wasting my energy on this. We'll win anyway, so don't worry," Rein said as he got back to the back wall, Chloe controlling three of the balls at the same time, holding them around her with wind.

"Shit, I just realized. How will we hit the princess? She could use the wind to divert the path of the ball, she's practically un-beatable," Sho surmised, to which Rein slightly scoffed.

"You really think that? Don't you know what your own Spring is? Think about what happens when your Spring meets hers, and our win condition will become obvious to you," Rein advised, which irritated Sho, angry that he was being so cryptic.

"Same strategy as last time. This circular arena is perfect as well, your wind can reach even further. If you can, use the lightning strikes to retrieve loose balls," Core whispered to his teammate, who nodded as she gazed sternly at her opponents.

She suddenly sparked a jolt of lightning behind the balls, sending them flying at Rein and Sho. As the two went to dodge, they saw the ball ricochet in the middle of the air, another spark of lightning appearing as the ball flew mid-air. This time, it was headed straight for Rein.

"Heh, so you're trying to eliminate me first. Fine then," he stopped running then looked at Chloe, suddenly bulleting the ball he held in her direction, surprising her greatly, the incredibly fast ball not giving her enough time to react.

As it accelerated towards her, she had no means of averting it, as she was focusing too much of her energy on controlling the ball up ahead. She thought that it was over for her, Rein's incredible power was not something that they factored in their strategies. However, as the ball was about to hit her, Core jumped in front of it and took it at full force to the face, seeming as though he reacted to Rein's throw before he even threw it.

"Be more careful. He had a ball in his hand, you needed to take that into account. Don't really need me in the game, might as well sac myself off," Core walked to the wall and sat down.

The ball that Chloe was controlling on the other side lost it's power and dropped down on the ground, along with the ball that bounced off of Core, both of them rolling into Rein and Sho's possession.

"Pick them up quickly before she retrieves them!" Rein ordered Sho, who then ran to one of the balls and picked it up, Rein running to the other one, anticipating her using her Spring to retrieve the loose balls.

They now possessed two balls on each side of the arena, Rein telling Sho not to throw for a specific reason.

"What do I do… It's 2 vs 1, and Rein looks like he has everything under control… Should I send the rest of my balls and try to get one of them out? No… They might catch it then. I should wait until they throw theirs… But wait, that looks like it's never gonna happen. Shoot, what do I do!" Her inner turmoil was visible to the rest in the room, suddenly turning her face cold as she calmed herself down.

She glared at her two opponents, both of them raising their guards as she did so.

"Ah, whatever! Here I come!" She yelled as she sent two balls at once, this time, both of them targeting Sho while keeping wary of the balls they wielded.

"Now!" Rein yelled as Sho opened his mouth, releasing a flamethrower of furious flames at the accelerating balls, overloading the lightning that accompanied them, making them lose their power mid-air.

As they both landed on the ground on Rein and Sho's side, Rein swooped in to grab both of them, their team now in control of all 4 balls. Now, it was the difficult part. Hitting the ever-elusive target, who could control the very atmosphere of the room.

"You thought about what I told you? What does your Spring do when it comes in contact with hers?" Rein reiterated.

"When the two Springs meet?" Sho thought in his mind as Rein passed him one of his balls and assumed a throwing stance.

"You'll figure it out. On three, throw one of your balls. Throw yours to the very right of the room, one of mine is going on target, and the other is going to the left side. This will leave her no room to dodge horizontally, so she'll have to go vertical. I think you'll know what to do then," Rein explained as he released the balls out of his hands, giving Sho no room to react.

They threw the three balls at incredible speed, Chloe was not sure that she could stop the immense power behind them with her Spring, and even if she diverts its course, there are still 2 others on either side of her. She decided not to risk getting hit and jump up in the air.

Sho wasn't exactly sure on what to do, so he threw his last ball at the floating Chloe, who dodged even further up, flying up with her Spring as she left gusts of wind in her wake. Even in the air, usually the most vulnerable position one could have, Chloe could still easily dodge the balls that come flying at her.

"Remember what I told you. Think about this," Rein advised one last time, his idea suddenly clicking in Sho's head.

"I see what you're saying," Sho said as he took a deep breath, invoking a fierce fire that excreted through his pores, sending scorch of flaming heat to the mass of air under Chloe's feet, the balls getting caught up in this sparky inferno.

"Just like a hot air balloon," Sho remarked as the balls began floating up into the flaming tornado, the incredibly intense heat, and the pressure that it applied sending the balls flying at extravagant speeds as Chloe tried to quickly dodge.

It was an incredibly close call, but, in the end, Chloe was grazed with one of the balls as she dropped back down to the ground in defeat.