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Chapter 46: Whips and Chains!

Once Ashley was back on her feet, she stared at Nathan, a look of slight confusion on her face. “You didn’t finish me off right then?” she asked.

“No. Normally I would, but I have more respect for you than that. I wanted us to end this on even ground, Ashley. We’re friends after all,” he explained. Nathan was ruthless in a fight, that much was true, but there were very few people he would do that for. Apparently Ashley had been added to that small list.

After saying this, Nathan began to rummage around in his sleeve. What was he looking for? He found it and I laughed, “Leave it to him to pull something like that out of his a**!” Meanwhile, Star was squeezing my hand, making small whimpering sounds. She hated this. Why two friends? Really, there was no stopping it, the way it was set up.

Curstan seemed just as confused as the rest us. Then she realized what he was looking for! Her realization was right on time as we all witnessed Nathan pull a second chain out! “I knew he had that!” she exclaimed. “Then he lied and said he didn’t know what I was talking about!”

This is the endgame, Ash! Go all out!!” I shouted. She nodded and raised her fists in the air. Her rings glowed with a brilliant radiance, the energy within them building. She threw her fists down by her sides creating magic whips! They shined like sunlight and were composed of the many colors of magic. It was mostly fire, but you could still see the other elements fused within them.

With his chains, Nathan did the same. Again, he spun the chains creating colorful disks. This truly was the final round. Without warning, they attacked at lightning speed! Bright flashes of light exploded from their constant clashes like a million cameras focused in one spot. Each of them was giving it their all, dealing brutal and vicious blows to one another. The meaning of terms ‘give up’ or ‘back down’ probably held no meaning to them whatsoever at this point.

This fight was going to be well worth the win. Whoever won truly deserved this. Nathan came at Ashley with no remorse. He spun in a whirlwind of wild circles flailing his arms as he did so. It was as if he was protected by a dome of magic!

Ashley was not able to evade, but she could match him, which she did. My partner has a good eye. She’s a master at finding an opening at times such as this. So she waited…. she waited…and finally she struck! She lashed out and let loose a bolt of lightning that hit Nathan in the shoulder and gave him strong jolt.

Nathan shouted and found that his right arm was now useless. He swung with his left, and Ashley barely had to move to avoid it. She snatched his wrist and prepared to shock him into unconsciousness. Before she had the chance to, Nathan opened his mouth and said, “I give!” Hearing those words was a way bigger shock than the one Ashley would’ve given him.

She let him go and let him fall, in a state of complete surprise. She turned back and looked at me. I was just as surprised as her and the rest of us. I rushed her and bear hugged her, picking her and spinning her around. She squealed and laughed with joy as I did so. Once I put her down, we both helped Nathan up and helped him walk over to the others.

Sara smiled, stepped forward, and raised Ashley’s arm. “Winner!! Ashley…of…Neeeravieeeen!!!” she announced. There was kudos all around. Not only to Ashley, but to Nathan as well.

“Thanks guys! Ah, s**t!” he winced clutching his sleeve. He lifted it to reveal the huge burn mark that Ashley had inflicted.

“Hey, let me fix that for you. I know your healing skills aren’t as good as mine,” Star offered. Nathan agreed and thanked her. Melissa let us borrow some burn ointment as well. After it was applied, Star remembered to use her channeling rod and waved it over the wound. It’s been proven that to treat a burn, it’s best to apply the burn ointment instead of just healing it raw. It leaves less of a scar depending on the severity burn. There was a faint scar left on Nathan’s arm. It was a pretty moderate burn.

Once we finished, Sara made another announcement, “Everyone will now gather their belongings and meet Tom and myself up trail!”

None thought it odd at the moment. We did so and met at another fork in the road. This had three paths just like the mountain did.

Tom was the speaker at this area. “Hello all! It’s so nice to see that all of you have made it this far! We’ve decided to make one final tweak to the race,” he told us. Tweak? What could that be? We all listened intently. “You will all start off on the same foot in the final stretch! You will start at the same time!”