Chapter 289 - 289. Lightning Moves

"These years upset in the stamina run has been taken by an already locally renowned student. This young and upcoming star has chosen the nickname echo. We have heard her sneaky and ingenious uses of sound to take down opponents. Her physical prowess is top of the line. And folks, I hope you have been following, but we also have found out that she has registered with the other two winners so far in the tournaments! The survivalist and Gale are her teammates." 

The cheers Cara received increased and she felt that she was going to be stuck there for her whole life. She was too exhausted to stand and walk away. Luckily there were staff members there to attend to her and she stood up to wave her arms at the crowd. She knew she needed to milk the recognition to push herself and the group further. 

Her actions did not go unnoticed by Asher while he watched her act. He had not expected her to realize the benefits of getting recognition so soon. She was the first in the group to intentionally garner more. It was additionally surprising since Asher could tell that she was too tired and really didn't like all the attention. 

The others saw his attention on the screen again and the contestant from earlier looked over and built up the courage to ask, "Should I even guess that you know that girl too?" 

"Oh, that's my sister. She is one of the top students in the school. "I will pass her though so don't worry." Asher was already imagining his rivalry with his sister while the other competitors started t think even more about how they would need to take this kid down. A few quit right on the spot realizing that they may be set for failure. 

"Hell yes! It's time for the elemental super power tournament. last year that kid made sculptures of the entire audience out of stone. They were perfectly to scale. The control was amazing!" Asher heard this and was directed at a television showing some of the previous winners of the tournament that Louis was about to start in. 

"Seriously, how many water super powers are there this year? I can't be the same as you four!"

The girl yelling as the single most annoying person Louis had ever heard. She found out that she had not been the only water typer super power to show up and was losing it immediately. 

"Ya know yellin like that ain't gonna win you nuthin." There was a man with earth covering his arms and legs shaking his head every time the girl spoke. He was obviously from out of town and had shown up just for the tournament. 

"Sayas the guy covered in dirt who can't even speak proper english. What a farce this entire tournament is. It should be about elegance and awes inspiring power usage." The girl manipulated the water around her to twist in to streamers and shine with rainbow light. 

"There is only so much that will get you. And remember that the use of super powers is now allowed in her." Another contestant with fire rolling around his hands constantly stepped up to try and stop the potential fight. 

Louis wasn't sure what was really going on. They had the smallest group out of all the tournaments yet they seemed to be the most dramatic and temperamental. He was a little afraid that he was also like this and decided it was best to just hold back. "Just watch who is the best one here. I will crush any attempt you have to rise." The girl who could make water in to ribbons that refracted light stormed on the stage. 

Chewy all watched as the girl started to dance. It would have been a simple ballet if the ribbons of water did not extend from her. The slow tone of the music was refined and her actions matched it perfectly. Every twist and leap would cause more rainbow light to flash through the stage she was on. In all genuine thought, Louis thought that it was beautiful. He just couldn't ignore how someone capable of all that was so mean to others. 

"She has the elegant part down, but she needs to make everyone remember her performance. Ther's nothing that is really hooking people." The man that had his fire rolling in his hands was next ad it was clear that he was just as showy as his supe power was. He had just been holding back since it was the rules. 

Louis shook his own head this time. He couldn't imagine just why these people were so weird. He decided it was best to just ignore the rest of their performances while he thought about how to best make his own show of super power control the most effective. 

The thing that continued nagging at him was that every single competitor was treating this like it was some show off stage show. They weren't really using their super powers with string manipulation. They were just letting it out and taking advantage of the side effects while moving their bodies. It was much less of a hard earned skill but more of a drama student trying to get attention. 

"Competitor number seventeen is up!" The shout from a staff member brought Louis to the realization that he was the last to go. In the smallest tournament, he had somehow managed to become the last to go. He wasn't sure if this was good or bad but he had come up with a plan. He was sure that he could do something amazing. 

As he stepped on to the stage that had been set up for him he noticed that there was still plenty of water. It was on the ground. In the air. And even dripping from the protective glass around the entire arena that was set up to protect the audience. 

"This all looks perfect...but it's too loud." Louis watched and listened as the crowd cheered. They were too excited from watching everything else and were now shouting for him to start. However, he stubbornly stayed perfectly still waiting for them to silence themselves. He would not start until they were silent. 

While he waited he began to slightly flex his muscles and relax to prepare himself for what was to come. After about five minutes of not starting the crowd had died to just a few voices here and there that died down quickly. 

Once the silence was complete Louis opened his eyes and flexed all his muscles at once bringing his hands together. The move he had developed caused electricity to spread from each finger tip. This sent out ten small lightning bolts accompanied by a massive thunder. The entire arena echoed in the silence shocking everyone. Not a single super power had been close to lighting. 

The audience had seen wind dance, fire stomping, fire art in the form of dragons, water dancing, snow making, and even a returning champion to make more stone sculptures. Now they were seeing multiple controlled bolts of lightning. Yet, this was not enough. Louis had more. He had been trying to prepare for this and learn to direct his lightning the last week more than anything. 

He flexed his muscles and brought out another lightning bolt. However, something strange happened. The water in the room started to react. The lightning eas causing it to warm up and begin to evaporate. The steam rose up from the ground and began to form a white fog. 

Louis did not stop and continued to target the puddles of water around him. This was his plan from the realization that none of the water was being cleaned up after the water based super powers were being used. This would be a disadvantage to some because it would affect how their super power worked. To others, this was an advantage because they would be able to use it to add to their super power. For Louis, it was both a good and bad thing. 

When in reaction to water Louis would lose his lightning faster because the water is very conductive. Yet, he could also super heat a little bit of it and make it evaporate. But the fog had no where to go. It just condensed like it did in nature. It became clouds. 

Louis was hidden in these clouds causing more and more of the water to join it. He used lightning bolts from his body to create a thunderstorm in a glass dome. It was an amazing scene that kept the audience and those watching on television silent. They had no words for how amazing it was to see someone creating a thunderstorm in a battle. 

However, Louis had been saving the biggest move for last. He had wondered what would happen if he flexed every possible muscle at once to release all the pent up lightning he had not released all day. If it all left his body at once what would happen? This was the question he had asked himself and was about to demonstrate now.