Elementals

Chapter 43-Alex VS Keith: Part 2-Focus

"Alex, is this true? Are your powers not working?" Mr Silva asked. I let out a sigh and nodded. I held out my hand and tried igniting a flame, only to get a few tiny embers in my palm.

"My mind is all over the place." I said, closing my hand. "I can't focus long enough to catch the spark." Mr Silva hummed in thought.

"Interesting..." He turned to me. "Would you still be able to fight?" He asked. I looked down at my hand and let out a long breath, trying to clear my thoughts.

"Yeah, I can still fight." I said.

"Are you sure?" Mr Silva asked. I nodded.

"Very well. Keith, try to go easy on him, at least until his powers are in order." He said before going back to the stands. Keith turned to me with a look of concern.

"Alex, are you sure you want us to continue fighting?" asked. I masked my nervousness with a cocky smile.

"Why so concerned? You scared you're gonna lose?" I said. Keith shot me a confused look, before chuckling to himself.

"If that's what you really want."

His eyes let off a bright glow, and with that, he ran up to me and attempted a punch. I jumped out the way, then found myself evading a flurry of attacks from Keith. He threw another punch, I ducked. He tried a leg sweep, I rolled to the side. He tried to go in for a slash with his claws. I held up my arms in front of my face. I felt his claws digging into my skin, but no pain followed. I looked down at my forearms and remembered the black straps that Damian wrapped around my arms. Keith had torn into those instead.

"Damian was right, I do need these." I chuckled to myself. I jumped out the way of another attack. His punches and kicks seemed to be getting faster as time went on, but I somehow managed to keep up with them, even if I was barely missing blows from him. Between every attack, I tried to catch a spark, making little to no progress. I'd only managed to conjure up a few embers. Keith managed to land a kick to my stomach, sending me back a few feet. But I recovered quickly.

"How you holding up there, Alex?" Keith asked, the glow around his fists fading. I found myself panting. Constantly dodging Keith's attacks was getting tiring, and I found it more and more irritating trying to create a flame. Still, I flashed him a smile.

"I've been better." I smirked. I felt my eyes glow slightly.

"Oh, cocky huh?" Keith replied with a smug grin. He hunched over a bit, taking a step back. With a sudden burst, he flew to me, fists raised and glowing. I jumped out of the way. I then heard a voice in my head, like someone's invaded my mind. My eyes began glowing again.

'Alex.'

Damian.

'What's going on down there?'

I ducked another punch and tried landing one of my own, only to have my fist caught by Keith. He pushed me back and tried to land a kick. I found myself being forced back, but managed to catch myself and get back onto my feet.

"My powers aren't working."

'I know that. Why?'

"I'm still trying to figure that out." I jumped out of the way of an incoming punch. I ran to create some distance between me and Keith.

"What do I do? My mind is still a mess, I still can't form a fire and Keith doesn't seem to be slowing down one bit. Wait, what are you doing in my mind anyway?"

'You look like you could use some help down there.'

I felt the ground rumble. A line of glowing stone spikes started springing up from the ground, heading towards me. I let out a little yelp before jumping out of the way, going into a little roll. I wasn't given much time to think as Keith sprung towards me. I jumped up as he thrust his fist forward, leaping over him and landing gracefully like a game of leap-frog. I looked back at Keith's confused face. I shrugged.