Poison Ball

The next morning during Ovala Tactics, the teacher had said something that surprised Junko. "Today, we'll be playing Poison Ball!"

Junko raised his hand and asked, "What's Poison Ball?"

"Follow me over to the gym and I'll show you," Mr. Abel said as he walked out of the classroom.

Junko gently shook Riley's shoulders, "Come on, we're going to the gym."

"We're going to swim? But I'm a Fire User," Riley mumbled in his sleep.

Junko crossed his arms and thought for a second. Then his eyes flickered with light, "Sorry, I meant we're going to a buffet!"

Riley sat up straight in his seat, "A buffet?! Where?!"

"In the gym," Junko said with a smirk.

"You can be evil sometimes, Junko..."

"Well, let's get going," Junko said before walking out of the classroom with a moping Riley.

Once the two made it to the gym, they were surprised to see the other two first year classes waiting for them. "Hey Ashley! We're over here," Junko waved to the girl who was avoiding eye contact with him.

"Please don't bring her over here," Riley begged. "I just woke up, so I'm crank enough as it is."

"Aw, come on Riley," Junko pouted.

"Not to worry," Mr. Abel said patting Junko's head. "We need to have two teams for this game so she'll join you in a second. But we have to get everything set up first," The teacher informed him. "So until then, please talk among yourselves."

"Yo Junko," Gilles greeted him as he walked up to the brown haired boy with Ren and an unfamiliar blue haired girl at his side. "Did you get everything settled with your friend?"

Junko nodded, "Yeah, thanks ."

"No need to thank me. I just pushed you in the right direction," He said with a wink. "Oh is this another one of your friends?" The green haired boy asked taking note of Riley.

"Yeah, his name is Riley Narahara."

Riley scowled at Gilles, "I don't like you."

Gilles raised his eyebrows high, "Why not? Did I step on a crack and break your Mama's back?" Gilles chuckled at his joke.

"I don't know, I just don't, okay?!" Riley irrationally shouted. "Are you a Water User?!"

Gilles shook his head, "Nuh-uh, I'm a Nature User."

"Close enough!"

"No it's not..." The blue haired girl muttered.

"Shut up!" Riley yelled with his ever increasing voice. "No one asked you, random girl!"

"You're too loud," Ren said with his back turned to the energetic boy."

"Hey pal, if you got somethin' to say, say it to my face!"

"Okay," The calm boy responded before turning around. He slowly walked closer to Riley and glared at him in the eyes, "You're too loud." The angered S-Rank placed a hand on his iron ring prepared to pull it off.

The blue haired girl went up to Ren and rested her hand on his shoulder, "Don't do anything crazy, okay Ren?"

"Don't worry, Fiore. I won't," Ren assured her. As he took his hand away from his ring. "As if this idiot would even be worth it anyway."

Smoke erupted from Riley's ears, "Oh yeah?! Why don't you fight me and find out?"

Ren shook his head, "What part of you're not worth it don't you understand?"

"Okay everyone, we're ready to begin the game now," Mr. Abel announced. "Please go to the side, I told you to and we'll start it up."

"See ya, Junko and Riley," Gilles waved his hand before walking away.

Ren turned around but then quickly glanced at Junko, "You're not worth it either, by the way." And with that he was off as well.

Fiore bowed her head politely, "I'm sorry if this caused you any trouble."

"You bet it did!" Riley said smoke still pouring from his ears.

"No, don't worry about it," Junko counteracted Riley's response. "We're fine."

Fiore looked unsure at first but eventually said, "Alright, if you say so." She then noticed the smoke was now pouring out of Riley's nose as well as his ears. "How is he doing that ?" She asked with confusion.

I...don't know..." Junko replied now confused himself. "Aren't you gonna go with Ren and Gilles?" He asked Fiore noticing the two were already on the other side of the gym.

"Nope, Mr. Abel told me I'm supposed to be on this side."

Ashley reluctantly walked over to Junko, "Don't talk to me."

Junko frowned, "But..."

"What did I just say?" Ashley growled at Junko.

More and more students came over to Junko's side of the gym until it was nearly crowded. The only two people on the other side were Ren and Gilles. "What's going on?" Junko asked as he looked around at all the students who had suddenly gathered around him.

"This is how the game works," Mr. Abel started. "There is only one team and two throwers. The throwers as the name obviously implies will be throwing balls at you. Once you're hit, you will join the throwers and this will continue until there is only one Ovala left standing. And then we'll start using a timer to see if that one Ovala can survive on their own! If not there will be no victor."

"Oh, I've played this before," Riley grinned as he realized this. "I'll win for sure and then I'll become an S-Rank!"

Ashley rolled her eyes, "You're not going to rise in Rank just by winning a game, idiot."

"Now begin!" Mr. Abel shouted as he raised his hand up.

Immediately afterwards, Ren and Gilles hurled their balls at the walls of the gym. They rapidly bounced from wall to person to wall and quickly decreased the team by half.

"Whoa, they're really good," Junko marveled at the two S-Ranked Ovala's.

"We can beat 'em, Junko! Let's win this together!" Riley pumped his fist with excitement.

"There's only one winner," Ashley reminded him.

"Oh right," Riley realized while slumping his shoulders down. "Sorry Junko. I can't be on your side anymore."

"It's fine," Junko said with an awkward smile. "It's just a game after all..."

Riley quickly dodged a ball that whooshed past him. "No, this is my way...of showing him just what I can do," Riley glared at Ren with intensity. "This...is personal." And then a ball struck him in the knee. "Darn it!" Riley started grumbling as he walked over to the other side of the gym with the pace of a snail.

Cody and Xiong suddenly came into the gym while more and more students joined the thrower's side. Xiong looked around the area, "What's going on here?"

"A game of poison ball," Mr. Abel replied simply. "It's going a hell of a lot faster than I thought it would."

"Because you have those S-Rank first years," Cody stated observing the power of Ren, Gilles. "It shouldn't take a genius to figure out putting those two on the same side would make any game go quick."

Xiong nodded, "Yes, my students are very impressive, aren't they. But don't forget about my Fiore. At least she's on the other side. If she weren't this game would already be over."

Cody studied the girl as she swiftly dodged every ball that came her way, "Fiore Kimura, the girl who graduated Pre-Ovala Academy at the top of her class. Not many people can say they even got accepted into that school."

"Exactly," Xiong said with pride. "It is basically a Prep School for this one after all. The classes are longer, the teacher stricter, and the Quests tougher. Fiore is probably just as strong, if not stronger than those two combined."

Mr. Abel cocked an eyebrow, "Really? But Ren won his fight with one hit."

"And what Rank did his opponent end up in?" Xiong tested the teacher.

"Rank...D...oh."

"Right, there are many things that we judged during the Rank Exams aside from the actual fight. Ashley failed every one of those." Xiong grinned, "Meanwhile Fiore's opponent ended up in Rank A."

"I see," Mr. Abel turned his attention back to Fiore who was still in the game and hadn't broken a sweat. "Incredible..."

"I guess we all know who the winner of this game will be then," Cody said watching Fiore.

And then Fiore suddenly turned around and waved to Xiong, "Hey, Mentor Xiong! What are you doing here?" And a bunch of balls immediately hit her in the back. "Oops."

"Or not..." Cody retracted his statement.

"She's also a bit of an airhead," Xiong admitted followed up with a whistle.

"Love how you say that after you get us to praise her," Cody said rolling his eyes.

"Well looks like it's just your two D-Rank students now," Xiong said to Cody noticing the dodgers side had been nearly wiped out during the course of the conversation.

Ashley walked up to the borderline and was quickly pelted with a multitude of balls. "I lost. Oh no," She said with a rather unenthusiastic voice.

"Make that your one D-Rank student," Xiong snickered.

"Hey Xiong, you've got something on your face," Cody said.

"What? Where?" Xiong asked sliding his hands all over his face.

"Blood, all over it," Cody responded.

"No I don't," Xiong looked at his spotless hands for confirmation.

"Not yet." Xiong suddenly became silent and Cody grinned in response, "That's better."

Junko stared down the other side of the gym, "It's just me now, huh?" He was the only one left on the dodgers side. No one would be distracted by anyone else. The probability of him not being targeted had now been reduced to zero percent. He would have to dodge every single ball. Everyone was now his opponent.

"Okay, I can do this," Junko said as he bent his knees and spread his left leg as far as he could in front of the other. He finished by locking both his hands behind his back. "I'll win this!"

Cody's eyes shot wide open is surprise, "That stance...there's only one person who uses it and would be capable of teaching it to someone."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Xiong asked notching his head towards Cody.

Cody nodded, "I doubt we could be thinking anything different right now."

Mr. Abel looked back and forth between the two, "Um, what are you guys talking about?"

"I'll tell you later," Cody said with his eyes focused in on Junko. "I wanna watch this."

Multiple balls came hurling for Junko at once. Noticing the slight space in between them, Junko swiftly dodged them all with a quick sidestep and then a low spin. Another ball appeared just before his face and he ducked rapidly underneath only to find another round projectile being launched. Junko put as much weight on his legs as possible and back flipped avoiding the old and new balls.

"Those legs..." Xiong watched in astonishment.

"Dat ass..." Cody said with his jaw dropped.

Xiong then proceeded to slap the heavy man, "Never do that again."

"Sorry, couldn't resist," Cody said rubbing his cheek.

More and more balls came his way, but Junko dodged them with grace as if he was dancing. And then Ren launched a ball with a rapid spin to it, Junko quickly leaped back and then swung his leg with force just before the ball made contact. The ball's rotation increased further as it was lodged into the wall on the other side in the blink of an eye. A gaping hole formed in said wall with the ball stuck dead in the middle. And then the timer went off.

Everyone in the entire gym, Ren included, stared at Junko with completely shocked expressions. But then Riley pumped his fist in the air and shouted, "Yeah, way to go, Junko!"

"So what were you two talking about?" Mr. Abel asked again remembering his question from earlier.

"That stance Junko was using, he could've only learned it from Ninju Gersko," Cody whispered into his ear.

Mr. Abel gasped, "Ninju Gerkso, as in the Elite Ovala Ninju Gerkso?!"

Cody just nodded with a grave look covering his face, "I want to know what the hell he thinks he's doing training a kid like Junko and then sending him here."

"I look into it for you," Mr. Abel offered. "You two were both on the same team back in your Academy days correct? It'll probably be best if I go find him."

"Thanks Gary," Cody said with relief. "I'm counting on you."

"Don't worry, I won't let you down. I'll even have a chat with the Fire Sage," The teacher said as he walked out of the gym.

"Our fate is in good hands," Cody nodded with assurance.

"He knows he literally can't come in contact with the Sages without an invitation, right?" Xiong asked.

"Good hands I say!" Cody shouted firmly.

"Anyway, I have to get going as well," Xiong stated as he started walking off. "My S-Rank kids and I have an S-Rank Quest in the Water Realm."

"Discrimination gives you pimples!" Cody shouted as Xiong was walking out the door.

"Mentor Cody," Ashley said as she walked up to the black haired man. "Ready to go on the Quest?"

"Uh...yeah," Cody said after recovering from being briefly taken aback by Ashley's sudden change of heart. "But why are you so eager to go all of a sudden?"

"Oh, no reason," Ashley gave a suspicious grin before giving a quick glance towards Junko who was being swarmed by most of the other students.

Junko then made his way over to Cody and Ashley with Riley at his side. "Mentor Cody, when did you get here?" Junko asked with curiosity.

"Just now," Cody said with a convincing face.

"Junko, here carry my weapon pouch for me," Ashley commanded him as she dropped the small bag of weapons into the boy's hands.

"You got it," Junko tied the pouch around his waist decreasing the room for his own pouch.

Cody raised an eyebrow, "Why are you carrying her stuff for her?"

"Because she asked me to," Junko simply said.

"If someone asked you to jump off a bridge, would you do it?" The Ovala King asked.

The brown haired boy cocked his head to the side, "Why wouldn't I?"

"I see," Cody said as he turned around. Then he thought to himself, "Ninju, just what the hell were you thinking. You've created a monster."