Chapter 11 : The Ones Who Remain

Instantly, all of the students went at it. Dodgeballs with different color auras surrounding them flew everywhere. Some bounced off the wall, some hit other students into the walls, and some completely missed their targets.

"Haha! Take this!"

"Don't run from me!"

"That was close!"

"Yeeeehaw!"

"You suck!"

Duri stood off to the side, reading everyone's movements, watching them control the dodgeballs how they wanted, watching them attack each other, and watching them evade the dodgeballs that were coming towards them.

'They're damn fast. And most of these nerds' awareness is spot on. I might not need to go easy.'

Coming up behind Duri, was two boys ready to launch their dodgeballs at him, yelling, "Die! New kid!"

Duri turned around to them, "Die? Do you two nerds wanna die?"

In the blink of an eye, Duri controlled his dodgeball, throwing one of them against the wall at a fast speed. The ball bounced off the wall, and it smacked both of the boys across the face, slamming them far back against the other wall.

Duri sensed something else, another dodgeball was coming to his left.

Duri caught the ball with one hand, but he didn't throw it.

A group of five students in the corner holding dodgeballs said:

"That new kid…Duri…is in our way of victory!"

"I agree. He's a nuisance. Let's make a temporary truce to take him down together first."

"Deal!"

"Deal!"

"He has a good eye, we should time our throws at different times. If one of us throws with our full power, then the next one should throw to wherever he jumps, slides, or rolls."

"Good thinking!"

"Go!"

Leaning against the wall, Haruto had heard their plans, thinking, 'Teaming to take Duri down? I'll allow it here, but there won't be any teaming in the exams. I like their use of strategy, knowing Duri is an offensive player with good speed. They're planning to predict his movements and catch him off guard, cutting down his air mobility so they can eliminate him. Let's see how this plays out. Do not disappoint me…Duri.'

Duri was knocking away all the dodgeballs that were heading towards him, he was smacking them away with his dodgeball, knowing that if he used his bare hands to knock them away, he would be eliminated.

Duri was running left and right, and he did a 360 kickflip in the air, kicking a dodgeball away from him, and allowing it to hit a nearby student.

The five teaming students ran up towards Duri, and one of them allowed their power to enter the ball, and threw it over near Duri's head.

'He'll dodge it. As expected. But we'll cut him off!' The student thinks.

The ball was zooming towards Duri, and Duri flipped over it.

"Now!" The student yelled.

One student threw two dodgeballs at Duri this time with all his power, and there was a yellow power trail lingering behind it.

'We got him!'

Duri saw the two dodgeballs, and he smirked. He had one dodgeball in his hand, but the same dodgeball he threw against the wall earlier came right back to him off the wall, and Duri caught it.

Duri faced towards the dodgeballs, and slammed his fists together, causing a loud wind to smack off his body, and the force of that wind knocked the dodgeballs back to its senders, hitting the students in the chests, knocking them to the ground.

Duri landed on the floor, and smirked, "Idiots! Haha! You really thought you could beat me?! Trying to cut off my movements?! Well, good try. I'll give yer asses that. But unfortunately, I always have a plan. Sometimes."

Haruto chucked, thinking again, 'He's not arrogant, but he's not really the encouraging type. Besides that, the fact that he knew he had a spare ball out in the open was do or die; anyone could've picked it up or caught it while it was in motion. But Duri's confidence showed him something different. This is Marshy's pupil alright..'

Back into the game, Kazuma was laughing and having fun as he sprinted past multiple students, and a trail of red and orange fire was behind him, his dodgeballs, and his hands.

"Don't worry! These flames won't hurt you unless I make them hurt you! Haha!"

Kazuma was avoiding multiple dodgeballs being thrown at him, and he was slamming and throwing his against multiple students, eliminating them.

Kazuma turned around, and launched his dodgeball like a baseball, and the fire from behind it stuck to it like blue.

The dodgeball knocked multiple students into the air.

Behind Kazuma, approached Ren-Ren. Ren hit Kazuma in the back with his dodgeball at light speed, and laughed, "Hehe..hehe…ahha..HAHAHAH! I'M THE BEST!"

Kazuma fell on the ground, and said to Ren-Ren, "Ow, you didn't have to hit me so hard."

"SHUSH, FOOL! HEHEHAHA! RAMPAGE!" Ren-Ren ran off to eliminate more students.

He was laughing, throwing his dodgeballs everywhere, until Nine came out of nowhere, trying to kick Ren-Ren in the face.

Ren-Ren leaned back to avoid it, and Nine was over his head, holding two dodgeballs, trying to ram them on his head.

Ren-Ren darted through the floor to get away from Nine, and he turned towards her.

Nine turned to look at Ren-Ren, and she laughed, "More mobile than I thought, psycho."

Ren-Ren replied, "I believe the term is super VILLIAN. Haha! You tried to throw a false kick to throw off my balance, hoping I wasn't mobile enough to counter your elimination attempt while I was in a dodging motion. I'M THE BEST! BETTER THAN EVERYONE!"

"Hoh? You're smarter than I thought-!"

Interrupting herself, Nine launched a dodgeball at Ren-Ren. Ren-Ren ran to it, jumped over it, and threw his own ball at Nine's position, but Nine wasn't there.

'Where did she go?!' Ren-Ren thinks.

He turned around, and Nine was approaching him with two dodgeballs this time.

Nine thought, 'Too slow, psycho boy.'

Immediately, a dodgeball bounced off the wall, then the ceiling, and fell down, almost hitting Nine in the head, making her move to the right.

'This is his?!'

She looked forward, and Ren-Ren was up close, ready to hit her in the stomach with his dodgeball.

"I win! Hahaha! I'm sooooo better than you!"

Nine responded, "Ya sure about that ya damn psycho nerd?!"

"Hm?"

Nine did a split while running, and she slammed her dodgeball into Ren-Ren's stomach.

But at the same time, Ren-Ren had slammed his dodgeball across Nine's face, knocking her into the wall. 

Ren-Ren had blasted up to the ceiling, with his back slamming against it hard, then falling into the floor.

Ren-Ren said, "Curses! I can't be on equal ground with anyone! Haha! I'm superior!"

Nine looked at Ren-Ren, "Shut up, crybaby."

"Hehh? Damn you, side character!"

"You're the damn side character!"

Jumping over Ren-Ren, Duri said to him and Nine, "Both of you be quiet. You both are side characters."

Nine said, "Oi..Duri."

Duri looked at Nine, "Mm?"

"I'm gonna kill you. No man has told me to be quiet and lived."

"Not if I kill you first."

At a distance, Tek was still reading his small book, evading the massive storm of dodgeballs that were coming his way.

The students that were trying to eliminate him were saying;

"I can't hit him!"

"Me neither!"

"He's mocking us by avoiding our attacks while reading a book!"

"Everyone pounce on him all at once! Get close!"

"Yokai!"

All of those students ran at Tek, applying their energy into their dodgeball, and aiming to hit Tek instead of trying to aimlessly throw the dodgeballs directly at him.

Tek sighed, "Tch. Fools."

Tek vanished, and all the students panicked, "What the-?!"

"Where did he go?!" Another student yelled.

Tek was behind them all, spinning 11 dodgeballs above his head, and they were all glowing red.

"What children you guys are."

Everyone looked at Tek, and said:

"Whoa!"

"Amazing…"

"He's insane!"

"He's still reading the book too!"

Haruto saw and thought, 'Hoh? He managed to control multiple dodgeballs without even touching them? Impressive. Now let's see what he does with it.'

The students said, "Get him!"

All of them ran fast with their powers, and they all had two dodgeballs in both hands.

"Go! Go! Go!"

Tek smirked, and then, all the dodgeballs around his head dashed forward, smacking all of the students into the floor and wall.

Tek turned the page of his book, and Duri was standing beside him, with his arms folded.

Duri said, "Nice trick."

Tek gasped silently, thinking, 'I couldn't sense his presence until now?!'

Tek turned to him to hit him with a dodgeball, but Duri caught Tek's wrist, and Tek said, "Idiot!"

Tek and Duri jumped away from each other, and they both slid back, as most of the students walked to the side.

On the side, Seven was destroying kids left and right, jumping over them, sliding through the floor, and beaming them down while throwing dodgeballs at the students face, chest, and stomach, smacking them all over the place.

Seven, Tek, and Duri were the last remaining students in the dodgeball battle royale, all the other students were on the sides watching, some were secretly recording.

Duri, Tek, and Seven stood in a triangle position, looking at each other. The students were clapping, cheering:

"This is gonna be good!"

"Who do you think will win?"

"I got my money on Seven!"

"Duh, because you think she's hot and perfect."

"Of course. And don't forget her speed and strength, she wiped out half the class along with Duri and Tek."

"Duri is a good player too, great movement also. And he seems like he's done this before too."

"True. Tek is the same way. He's got a grasp on this assignment real quick. Just like he's pretty much good at everything, even though I heard he was a gangbanger."

"A gangbanger?"

Duri looked at Seven and Tek, and thought, 'These two bastards are formidable. Especially Tek. Getting close will make me vulnerable to the others based on their calibur.'

Tek stretched both of his arms out, thinking, 'Easy.'

All of the dodgeballs in the gym started to glow red, and they began to bounce around the room at fast speeds.

Duri and Seven were jumping to dodge them, rolling on the floor, flipping and twisting on the floor in mid air to avoid getting hit by the dodgeballs.

Seven thinks, 'A plan is what I need. Tek is controlling all of the dodgeballs at once, impressive. I'm not surprised Duri is dodging with such skill with no expression on his face.'

Duri jumped on the wall, and sunk his hands into it, sticking to the wall, thinking, 'No chance to stop and rest. I gotta think. If I approach him straightforwardly, he'll obviously see that shit coming. If I try to blow the dodgeballs away like I did earlier, I still gotta worry about Seven behind me trying to eliminate me in the process.'

Duri kept running along the walls, as a hail of dodgeballs kept aiming at him.

'Haruto didn't say we couldn't use our other powers. I only got a grasp on allowing my power energy to circulate on my body, making my attacks stronger and my movement faster. Marshy taught me how to make an invisible force field like her, but I can't do that yet. That would be really helpful. He did say these walls were unbreakable, but…are the floors unbreakable?!'

Seven saw the look on Duri's face as she avoided more dodgeballs, and she thought to herself, 'He's coming up with something. What a fucking chad. I'll stay out of the way, let him eliminate Tek, then strike. But there is something I can do.'

Seven stopped moving, and she started walking forward peacefully, and all of the dodgeballs were hitting her.

Tek saw her, saying, "What are you doing?! You fool! You're eliminated!"

Seven replied, "You asked me what I'm doing? Being a fool. Like I've always been."

"Get out! You're eliminated!"

"Let me walk to my personal spot in this gym on the side. I know I'm outta the game."

'Is she…helping Duri?!'

Tek looked around, and he saw Duri running to the other wall.

Tek asked, "You two working together?!'

Seven answered, "Nope." Still walking towards him.

Tek continued, "Why are you coming close? Stay back away from her."

Tek was focusing on Seven and Duri, keeping an eye on both of them.

'No…they aren't working together, this wasn't pre-planned. She's sacrificing herself so Duri can get me..why though?'

Seven smirked, "If you think I'm sacrificing myself to let Duri beat you, you're dead wrong. I just wanna see what he can do. Anything wrong with that?"

"In the dumbest ways.."

"Then shut the fuck up.."

"You.."

"I noticed when you get distracted, you tend to let the dodgeballs ease to the one you're looking at. It was easier for you to hit all of those students, but the fact that you're wondering why I'm walking towards you is distracting you, keeping you from focusing."

Duri jumped on the floor, still dodging the dodgeballs, saying to himself, "Seven's out…but still walking towards him?"

Duri looked down at the floor title quickly, and put his hands on it, sinking his fingers into it hard.

"Here goes nothing I guess."

Duri lifted upwards, and the entire floor tile came out of the floor, rising up high in front of him, knocking some of the dodgeballs away.

Duri was running forward, letting the giant floor tile knock away the incoming dodgeballs.

Tek said, "No way he's doing this…"

Haruto said, "Hm? Damaging school property to win huh? I'll allow it. This is interesting."

Duri kept running, and Tek started backing up as Seven backed up a few steps.

Tek gritted his teeth, and thought, 'If I apply all of the dodgeballs on Duri with all of my power, then the tile should break, knocking Duri out of here.'

Duri jumped up, let the tile go, and said, "Eat this."

Duri punched the floor tile, and it shattered into big chunks and wind, falling towards Tek.

"Dammit!"

Tek was knocking the tile pieces away, and a pound of dust was surrounding him.

'Where is Duri?!'

Tek kept knocking away the pieces, trying to see through the tiles.

Seconds later, Duri came out of nowhere, and hit Tek in the back with a dodgeball, slamming it against him.

Tek coughed, and he slid across the floor without falling as the dust was clearing up.

Duri and Tek breathed heavily, and Haruto said, "Tek. You are eliminated."

Duri asked Haruto, "So…I fucking won or what? I know I broke the floor but who cares, heh?"

"Haha. Are you sure you've won?"

"Huh?"

Behind Duri, Seven came behind him, and tapped Duri in the head with a dodgeball.

Haruto said, "Duri, you are eliminated. Seven is the winner!"

"What?! I saw her get hit."

"Are you sure?"

Seven said, "I used a thin forcefield around my skin. I can only use it for a few seconds though until the next day."

Haruto added, "I saw her thin shield. The dodgeballs never touched her skin at all."

Duri stared at everyone, and laughed, "...Hahahaha! Good fucking play I guess. Marshy can do that shield thing, I'm still trying to master it though."

Seven slightly punched Duri in the shoulder, and informed him, "I could help you sometimes if you want. Peace out."

Seven walked away, and threw the dodgeball on the floor.

The students said:

"She's so cool…"

"So badass!"

"This was fun!"

"Maybe this match was a little too extreme?"

"Nah, it was amazing."

Kazuma, Ren-Ren, Jiyu, and Nine were standing together on the side, watching everything.

Kazuma: "Duri is so cool!"

Ren-Ren: "Hehe…I'll be the one shining next time! I swear it!"

Jiyu : "The-they are both good..all the-three of them actually."

Nine: "Meh. It was alright. Expected that Duri, Tek, and Seven would be the last ones to remain. And Ren-Ren, FUCK you still!"

Ren-Ren said to Nine, "Hehh? You're mad I'm BETTER THAN YOU?! AS A MATTER OF FACT, I'M BETTER THAN EVERYONE!"

"KEEP TELLING YOURSELF THAT YOU PSYCHO LITTLE SHIT!"

Duri heard all the chatter, and Tek walked past him, saying, "Tsk."

Duri and Tek looked at each other with malice, they both knew who their rival was….each other.