Chapter 309 - 308. Opponents To Watch

"Asher Ronan, you are checked in and ready for the first match. You will be placed in the first group. Congratulations. The first group is always the most watched." The staff that had been brought in was from a well known agency that was often called in to many tournaments. The woman had worked the school tournaments and knew just how much the students valued them. She did not hesitate to drop hints and tricks for everyone so they may perform better. 

Asher watched the woman help six more students and couldn't help but believe he was watching a genuinely kind human being. Not everyone would go above and beyond what was asked of them. "Excuse me, but before I go, can you point me to the manager here?" Asher wanted to make sure he reported this woman for doing her jobs above and beyond. 

"Actually it is me, is there an issue with your identification bracelet we issued?" Asher's smirk and small laugh confused the staff manager. 

"I was just about to tell them that you needed a raise since you are setting the perfect example for all the other staff members. But I guess you already have it." Asher had felt the need to make sure the kindness was returned. He wanted to see more people who would help everyone just out of general kindness. 

"Well, thank you very much. It has been a long time since someone said something like that to me. I hope that you manage to graduate and become a hero that follows your current actions." Asher was impressed all over again. "Before you go, remember to stretch and conserve energy. You have multiple matches here." The woman winked and watch him head off. 

Asher started to stretch and found that the other staff members nearby heard the entire encounter. They were shocked that their manager had received such a compliment and begun to act the same way. They were hinting and helping the students as well. Asher only had hope that this would become normal for every tournament or group competition. 

"Was your identification broken? You were over there for a while." Att was the first through the line after Asher and was worried that Asher had somehow managed to have the bad luck for the change. 

"No, I was just thanking her. She gave me some advice. Come on, stretch with me too. It will help you relax your nerves." The pair was stretched and by the time half the line was though registering the entire group was back together. 

"So. just a question. Why are we the only group stretching before? Everyone else is warming up and running around." Laura wanted to start to run and warm up to but knew that the group had to be doing something wiser than that. 

"I was chatting with the manager who I was lucky enough to check in with. She told me that stretching and energy conservation was the most important thing in all of this." Asher didn't say anymore. 

"That makes sense. I only have so many snacks before I would run low on energy. Then I would get slow. I don't see any vending machines around here." Laura accepted it as soon as she heard it. This was a good way for her to live life in general but now it was on clear display for everyone to live. 

"I get it too. I see a bunch of people burning away their energy and even practicing their super powers. They know we can see them right?" Sammy already understood that their groups' super powers were easy to look up online after the tournaments. But it was lucky that it was only one interaction in a tournament. People would only expect the one thing from them and relax too much when they fought. 

"It would be the same in the wilderness. People need to budget their energy with the tasks they take on. There is never a promise that someone will be rescued and found instantly." Jackson easily related this to the lessons he had learned based on survival and rescues. 

"So we save energy and stay ready. But the real question we should be asking is, who do we watch out for?" Louis was trying to pick anyone out of their class that could pose a threat of any kind at all. So far he had only seen foolish dreamers and those that were there for fame.

"That tailed girl that I dought in camp. I managed to win since there was the worry that my gaze could actually turn someone to stone. But at the end of the day, I just stop them in place and greatly slow them down. She could shift in to different animals based on her tail and the tails were as strong as the animal even when she was not shifted." Jane remembered the girl that had infuriated her in to shifting for the first time. 

That girl that refuses to respond to her name and goes by nine tails? She knows that the name is used way too much in fantasy and mythology for fox monsters and goddesses right?" Art was rolling his eyes because he remembered the encounter and had thought the name was bad no matter how appropriate. 

"You said four tails, but she had five now. She was showing off that she has the tail of a stegosaurus in the cafeteria the other day. She said that she can even shit her skin in to dinosaur skin like them. If I remember right she also grows spikes out of her back too. Honestly, she just was really loud and it was kinda lame." Laura had been rushing to get a snack and saw this happening. She had written it off as some girl bragging but now it seemed to be a lucky break. 

"Alright, that is one person we will worry about. And there's also those in that mixed martial arts club. They are all over there and have been glaring at us for a while." Asher had noticed the glares since the club got together. They took this test for the respective right to battle Asher again. They didn't want to be heroes and they didn't want to enforce the law. At the moment they wanted to build back the pride they felt that they had lost at camp, jewel. 

"I should have known they would be around." Art was sure that they had made some enemies but to have an entire club against them was too much. 

"That's actually a good thing." Samy and Louis were sharing this opinion and both spoke at the same time. 

"And, I'm lost. I understood that we were scouting people out that would be tough to beat. But now you are saying that having multiple opponents who all only want to beat us is a good thing?" Jackson felt as if he was missing something major. 

Jane slapped her hand in to her palm, Louis and Sammy let her take the lead. "Unlike that tail girl or whatever she likes to be called, if we beat a group it looks better. Even in one on one matches that don't required us to come in first. Not to mention that we already know most of the techniques they will use. Firstly because we saw most of their moves at camp. Secondly, because they think that they can still beat us after training a little. Third, because they are just the kind of people everyone expects to win. We can easily take them down due to that." 

The group continued their conversation as they stood there stretching and using the least amount of energy to plan every thing out. They did not want the lines to end and first matches to start unless they felt that they were perfectly ready. Naturally, Asher decided to wander about after they had spoken because he had the feeling that he was being watched too much. 

Asher found a few familiar cases of students that he had passed ln before. They glared and glanced at him as he walked through the students. The main reason for it was to see if there were any tough opponents that he could take care of before it happened. 

Those that glared were remembering camp where Asger and the group owned the sparring field. The glances were those who watched the tournament and knew their strength. Any other was just some fan or clueless student. 

When Asher noticed a person he had not seen before he walked by slower. The girl was wearing very flashy clothing yet everyone walked by her as if there was nobody there. It was very odd because Asher knew that any bully would target her clothing choices for jokes easily. 

"Are you actually looking at me?" She picked out Asher's gaze in a second. Asher nodded his head slowly. 

"Well, that's a first. Usually, my super power stops anyone from seeing me. It takes a very unique power to see me. Even like this." The girl gave a full spin showing off her handiwork.