Rising Shards

"Alright, who hasn't gone yet? I think everyone has gone? Someone hasn't gone yet? Or has everyone gone?"

Kitty kept asking who was left over and over and over. If I wasn't so worried about going, I would've been thinking about how Kitty Kilander is one of the most annoying people on the planet.

Chickadee made a huge stink after losing, and got into a scuffle with Ovie, so Caya and Kara took the two away, leaving us stuck with just Kitty and Corinani as teachers.

"Ugh, Corinani!" Kitty shouted.

"What?" Corinani said.

"Look at the clipboard, who's left?" Kitty said.

"What clipboard?" Corinani said.

"The one in your stupid little hands, idiot!" Kitty said.

"You shouldn't call a fellow teacher an idiot," Corinani said.

"You're not a fellow teacher, you're a subordinate!" Kitty said.

"Then you shouldn't call a subordinate an idiot!" Corinani said.

"I don't tolerate you because you have a spine, where is this coming from? Go back to your regular spinelessness!" Kitty said.

"I'm just regular me, I just don't want to be called an idiot," Corinani said.

As the two kept their boring schtick going, I tapped Aira's shoulder.

"This might be a good time..." I said.

"For what?" Aira asked.

"What do you mean for what? We could go." I said. "They probably wouldn't notice."

"I thought we were just gonna throw it," Aira said.

"We can, but we could also go," I said.

"Fine!" Kitty shouted. "Alix Corinani, you are not an idiot, you have a very big brain which is soooo smart and cool! There, happy? Now read the damn thing!"

"Was that so hard?" Corinani said.

"Yes!" Kitty said.

Corinani tapped on her clipboard. "OK, it's Aira Orbis, Kalei Koridia, Marmalade Whitton!"

Crap, Marms hasn't gone yet?

What would she think if Aira and I just stood there and lost? She might think it's funny, actually. But she might also think we were leaving her out to dry if she had to keep going after we were done.

I tried to think of any last minute things I could do to get out of this. Maybe I could learn to puke on command like Aira? Or pretend I slipped in something then fell in the water? Then what?

Marmalade was already getting into the ring, and looked right at me. I'd feel like a real jackass if I just tumbled backwards into the water now with her looking at me with that same look she had when we practiced beam chasers. That damn, "Glad you're here, I dunno if I could do this without you," smile.

We were against Caeda, P.D., and Chickadee. The latter was very pissed she lost to Oka and Lillia and was in rage mode once she dried off, demanding another go. Could I just let her win? I knew I could beat her, as evidenced by the time I put her in a mini ice prison for messing with the love trio's table.

Maybe I can just use my regular powers. And not tap into that other state. That could work, right?

I hoped so, at least. I didn't feel like I lost control when I was in that state, but I was pretty much alone against a monster in a wide open street. Here, I was in a much smaller battleground, with lots of people I cared about near me. What if I went totally berserk and ended up like Ovie and 09, going full unthinking mutant monster?

I couldn't deny that my legs were shaking as I stood by Marmalade. Aira joined us as well.

"What are you thinking?" Aira whispered to me.

"I dunno," I said. "Just follow my lead, I guess."

Aira nodded. I nodded at Marms too.

I guess we're doing this. I can do this, right? I only tapped into that power once. Maybe it really was just a one time thing. And I'll use my powers normally. And everything will be alright.

Chickadee pouted as she got ready to strike the second the bell rang. She went right for Marms, letting out like a hundred sharp bolts of energy at once. I responded with a shield of ice. At least, that's what I planned to do.

Instead of a usual block of ice, something I'd done enough to be able to do with muscle memory, shadowy energy came out of my hand, the same kind of power that the devils were using. And not just that, my hand had changed completely in a second, looking like the clawed hand of a beast. But within a blink of an eye, it was back to normal. The power I let out was ice by the time it launched forward, making a much wider block than I expected, landing with impact that shook the ring. It was a good me-length above my own height. 

There were actually some ooh's and ahh's at that, which would have been a nice morale booster if I wasn't in the middle of freaking out about my hand. Did anyone see? Marmalade didn't react like she had. Though I only had a split second to see her face before I noticed Chickadee charging ahead. She rammed her shoulder into the ice block, then P.D. and Caeda did the same. The wall of ice tilted from their hits, which didn't seem possible with how big it was, but by the time I thought that the thing crashed down onto me. 

The shields protected us from getting hurt, but we lost from the damage we would have sustained. I saw red from the energy shield's health indicator. A loss was better than getting found out, though. 

"Alright, that's it for that!" Kitty said. "Told you those devils are tough cookies, didn't I? I'm probably the smartest principal you ever had. Not a high bar to clear with Penty being the one you had before, but I bet nobody's been as smart and as pretty as I, Kitty Kilander. Which is why my next statement is to officially declare myself the smartest and prettiest—" 

"Wrap it up," Caya said. 

 "Thank you," I muttered, my teeth firmly gritted. 

 Zeta, Oka, and Lillia talked to me a bit after, but I barely heard a word they said. I just tried to see if they noticed. Including them, nobody seemed to have noticed my brief power change, or the whole monster hand thing. I wasn't sure if that was luck or not. I watched my reflection, following me as I walked back from the dock. I still looked like me, even though I kept expecting that hazy self I saw in the window at Litus Empirica again. Maybe I was just tired and was seeing things, but I knew it was stupid to deny it. That Dose 8 was still in me, and while I wasn't completely sure, my gut now said that it was growing stronger the longer I let it.

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