Chapter 318 - 318. Jane Vs. Art

Jane no longer just let Art move about as he wanted. She made an effort to kick at the metal he had warped to avoid looking at her eyes. This led to Art missing a few hits and dodging slightly off. It was nothing serious but after a minutes Jane had managed t land enough hits t put Art at a disadvantage. 

Unfortunately for Jane, Art had been slowly manipulating metal behind him and was forming a pair of handcuffs to move at her. The resulting attack was a quick counter of jabs and punches. On punch managed to catch Jane off guard and she bare;y saw the silver shone of metal leave his hand and latch to her wrist.

Jane reacted fast enough o keep the other writs from being latch on to and bound but having one under Art's control was not the ideal situation. She could already feel him pulling at the metal to throw off her attacks and even slow her speed down. Luckily, she was stronger than him in her shifted form. 

Jane was still managing to outspeed Art and dodge most of his attacks. This left him only able to give hard tugs on the metal to let her hang back and take the grazing blows here and there.. Not all of them were able to do much damage but one of them was in a place her sales did not guard as well; her side. 

The attack threw her off balance and Jane fell. In the split second that she fell and tried to boost up from her position she felt the other wrist become clamped in to position. She had her arms complete bound leaving only her legs to attack. "You don't think this is stopping me? Do you?" 

Jane was not so weak to give up and Art knew it. "If you gave up that easily I wouldn't train with you every day." Art pushed in taking advantage of the advantage he had. However, he was not expecting Jane to arch her back and use an upwards kick to his chin. It was a move he had not seen her use before and she knew it. 

"I was holding on to that one to catch Asher by surprise in the finals but I can't use it then if I don't make it there." Jane felt prideful in her attack and was rewarded seeing Art stumbling and confused. He had not expected a strong kick that was so fast but he was sure that the body position Jane was in was not the best. It left her open to attack to her single standing leg and he would take advantage of it if the chance arose. 

Jane attempted to head in for another attack but readjusting her position back to a partial stance took too long and Art had already recovered. She was about to move forward when Art pushed off the ground copying her burst of speed. He ended up right in front of her with a straight punch. 

Throwing her linked arms up in the air, Jane managed to block the punch but was left shocked by the strength it held. She was pushed back and nearly fell off balance. Art felt a slight numbness in his gloved fist but pushed on. He had used the remaining wrist weight to speed his punch and hit harder. The metal inside had been condensed to a near solid ring which made it easier for Art to control and add or subtract momentum from. 

Asher watched as Jane finally became annoyed enough with Art and pushed forward again. This time though, she left everything out of control. Her full powered kick made the wind whistle as it sailed towards Art's head. Yet, when it was going to hit him there was only the vibrating sound of metal. "I have to have something left up my sleeves for when I was going to face Asher." This was the same thing that Jane had been doing. 

In this case, Art had been hiding a small chunk of metal to use as an emergency blocking method. The movement was fast and precise but once the hit landed he had to use a major amount of his mental strength to keep the metal in place. This left him weakened with the metal falling to the ground. 

Jane felt the bruise already forming on her leg and she could feel her exhaustion coming in waves. The adrenalin was wearing off and she was starting to shift back. The two used the last of their energy to rush forward and kick out at each other. 

With the kicks heading true they would have hit each other in their heads possibly claiming a real winner. But they were too exhausted from their previous matches and their own match. The two lost their energy halfway through this kick and fell to the floor panting and exhausted. 

"In the event of a tie, the evaluation will be determined by the judges." The robotic voice rang out and the two had to hope that either of them had a point ahead of the other. 

"The points are an exact tie. The judges have decided that both will claim the third ranked position for the tournament. You will both be asked to leave the gym." 

The announcement crushed their dreams of facing Asher in the finals and taking the first spot. However, this also left them confused and wondering just who else was left to face Asher in the first place. Neither of them had even been able to notice that the gym had cleared out from the students losing constantly. 

"Looks like those two went a little too far huh?" Laura was suddenly behind Asher surprising him a little. 

"It was a great match though. They had tricks that would have thrown me off hardcore if I had faced them. I can't believe I miss all these cool moves that everyone is learning on their own time. I'm so jealous." Asher couldn't help but speak honestly. His friends kept getting better and even though he was still there right beside them he felt that they were getting ahead of him. Unknown to him, they felt the same about him. 

"It was, I think the best match today. I think they should get some reward but I doubt there will be anything. This is just a test at the end of the day. We don't even get an audience like the juniors and seniors do for their college scouting tournaments." Laura was definitely jealous of the older students but this made sense. The older students were showing off for scouts and parents while the younger students were showing their potential for future class placement. 

"It's just how it all works. We will get videos and it will be passed on to those who need to see them. I want to hear what coach Winters has to say after watching. I doubt it will be good but she is experienced." Asher was still fairly afraid of coach Winters but knew that she could analyze the matches the best out of everyone and point the group in the right direction. 

"Garnet is up there too. I bet she will come down to talk after I beat you." Laura was bouncing playfully side to side.

"You? Beat me? That's a nice dream to have. But you do remember what happened the other day when you tried to use speed to confuse me, right?" Asher was still trading Laura and bringing up the fact that she had run right in to a wall. 

"There aren't any walls here. You are the only thing I will tackle." Laura stomped her foot and drew his attention. The ring had been widened for the last match and a stranger barrier set up. It was done due to other participants cracking the barriers before in previous final matches. The students tended to go all out with the last of their energy to truly show off what they could do. 

"Looks like Art and Jane are pretending they can't get up and walk to watch the match. We should hurry up before the nurses get angry and force them to move on." Asher could see the pair at the corner of his eye and knew exactly what his friends were playing at. 

"At this point, I don't see why they wouldn't be allowed to watch. They need to come back down here to have their scores announced anyways. I wish they would hide the scores but I get that it gives people a rival to chase." Laura rolled her eyes. She had always had good grades and been the target for rivalry in academics. 

"That will just motivate the group to do better. The more people trying to catch us the farther ahead we will get." Asher fell in to his stance and smiled wickedly. He wanted the pressure of everyone trying to catch his group. The more people that tried the better. It would shape them in to better and stronger heroes in the future. 

"It will motivate me to kick your butt." Laura fell in to her own stance while waiting for the robotic voice to tell them to begin.