The group's eyes fell to Hendrix. He had that far-off stare again.
He seemed to be looking in the direction that Vida walked, so maybe he was thinking about her. Or maybe he was thinking about his match since the gymnasium was in the same direction, nobody really knew.
Hendrix silently started his walk towards the gym before something shoved his shoulder forward.
"Let's see what you got, emo boy." Biggie cackled. Slim tried to mouth an apology behind his back.
Instead of balling his fists or gritting his teeth like his friends did, Hendrix stared blankly at Biggie. That reaction only made Hendrix's thoughts more unclear to the group.
The group resumed their walk towards the gymnasium.
"Hendrix, you good?" Chase put his hand on Hendrix's shoulder like a wise master from one of his karate movies.
"Yeah." Hendrix nodded without averting his gaze from the floor.
Chase looked back at the others and shrugged. It seemed as though there was no getting through to him right now.
They entered the gym, where they saw Slim, Molly, and Vida sitting on the bleachers, uncomfortably far from each other.
Biggie was stretching on one side of the circle while Jason wrote on his clipboard in the middle of the mat.
Vida's jealous expression turned into one of worry as she laid her eyes on Hendrix's expression. Just like her other friends, she couldn't make out a single emotion that would lead to such a face.
"What is he thinking?" Vida asked herself. She saw hints of worry and fear in his face, but also anger.
Hendrix stepped onto the other side of the mat, looking straight at his opponent. He adjusted the strap on his guitar.
"Are you sure that thing won't break, Hendrix?" Jason pointed to the guitar.
"Yeah, it's fine." Hendrix nodded while looking at the floor.
"Why… Why won't this gut feeling go away? I thought it would die down after Vida's match, but…" Hendrix took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.
His friends sat down on the bleachers with more worry in their minds than before their own matches.
"Go Hendrix!" Molly exclaimed as she pointed her fingers into the air.
Hendrix looked up and smiled awkwardly as he gave a small thumbs up as a thank you.
"Y'all ready?" Jason threw a thumbs up at the boys on either side of him.
Both of them nodded in return, causing Jason to nod as well.
"Alright. Then, ready, set, go!" Jason jumped off of the mat, leaving both boys staring at each other.
They both abstained from moving for a couple seconds before Hendrix noticed Biggie manifesting something in his left hand.
"If you don't have the balls to start it, then I will!" Biggie manifested a mallet, swinging it backwards as he jumped towards his opponent.
Hendrix stepped back as he realized he had no idea what Biggie's Mode was or how his abilities worked.
Biggie closed in on Hendrix, beginning to swing his metal mallet towards the pink-haired boy.
Steel strings lashed from Hendrix's forearms
"What the-" Hendrix froze at the color of the strings.
The steel ropes were the same matte black as the day he fought the Advisor.
Hendrix quickly locked back in, remembering he was in the middle of a match.
"Woah!" Jason exclaimed as he examined the look of the strings.
"You see it too?" Slim asked.
"Yeah. There's something dark about those things, beyond the color." Jason chuckled at his pun to lighten the mood.
The strings snaked around Biggie. The crowd thought that move might have been the end of the match as Biggie was about to be covered in black steel.
Suddenly, the boy with the mallet swung through one of the gaps left by the strings, using one of the steel ropes to pivot his landing towards the center of the circle.
"Useless ass trick you've got there." Biggie chuckled as he manifested another mallet in his free hand.
Hendrix seemed to be unphased by Biggie's comments, more focused on the color of his strings.
He looked down at his hands, trying to think of a reason for his strings' color change.
Biggie tsk'ed at Hendrix's silence. His refusal to acknowledge Biggie's snarky comments seemed to only frustrate Biggie more.
The boy with the mallets charged at Hendrix, this time with his teeth gritted.
Hendrix quickly reacted, spiraling his strings into a drill shape, pointing straight at Biggie's midsection.
Slim flinched upwards as the drill got closer to Biggie, but Jason put a hand on his shoulder.
Slim looked at Jason, who also had a worried expression on his face.
Biggie was barely able to dodge the spiraling strings, jumping over it just in time.
He then caught his footing atop the strings, running towards Hendrix on his own manifestations.
Hendrix's eyes widened, quickly receding his strings as Biggie lost his balance just to catch it again.
Hendrix's attempt at stopping Biggie from getting nearer just ended up being a panicked attempt that led to the opposite.
Biggie rode the strings towards Hendrix without having to take another step.
As he grew close, Biggie raised his mallets into the air, ready to strike Hendrix over the head.
Hendrix redirected one of his strings towards himself, wrapping it around his upper chest, where he predicted the mallet to hit.
Biggie grinned as he saw Hendrix's string cover the strike area. He swung the mallet down despite the guard.
Clank
The sound of metal hitting metal struck the ears of the bystanders as everyone covered their ears.
"Why did he hit it? He had enough time to stop!" Amora asked the rest of the group as she tried to yell over the ringing in her ears.
Akilah noticed something about Biggie, turning to Vida.
"Do you see that?" Akilah asked. She pointed towards Biggie's mallet.
Hendrix had noticed it as well. The mallet that struck the strings seemed to have a shockwave of yellow run on its black metal surface.
The mallet returned to its base black color after the shockwave ran through the entirety of the weapon.
"So his manifestation isn't so simple after all." Akilah fixed her glasses.
While Biggie was focused on his mallet, Hendrix snuck his left foot up, kicking Biggie back.
The kick only caused Biggie to take one step back, quickly swinging his weapon from the left.
Hendrix ducked.
He shot one string out from his left towards Biggie's head.
Biggie leaned out of the way.
The two continued swinging at each other, whether that be their hands or their manifestations.
"Is this what a real Spirit-user fight looks like?" Vida asked herself. The match reminded her of Hendrix's fight with the Advisor. Just like the infiltration, Vida's eyes couldn't comprehend any blow that Biggie and Hendrix threw in time to examine the state of the fight.
To those kids on the bleachers, it looked like the whole world had slowed down for the two fighters. When the kids took a look away from the fight, it felt like every other object was moving in slow motion.
Biggie got another hit on one of Hendrix's strings.
Clank.
This time, the shockwave that rang through the mallet's head had an orange tint to it, like the mallet had gotten hotter somehow.
"Something's happening. I better not let him hit my strings again." Hendrix thought, jumping back to steady himself. "I'll have to put my all into this."
Hendrix was about to reach for his guitar on his back when he stopped himself. If he used that it could kill somebody. Those soundwaves stop for no one.
"Eyes on the prize, motherfucker!" Biggie had closed the space, swinging his mallet straight towards Hendrix's left shoulder.
Hendrix tried to move out of the way, but he hadn't been aware of the situation in time.
The mallet crashed into Hendrix's shoulder as he grunted in pain.
He flew across the mat, his nails digging into the shiny surface to stop himself from sliding outside of the circle.
"How'd you like that?!" Biggie asked the kneeling Hendrix.
Vida's fists balled up on top of her blue jeans. She tried to calm her breathing so she didn't stand up.
"That was too hard of a hit for a sparring match." Vida yelled out inside her head.
Jason's leg started to bounce up and down as he examined Vida's reaction. He pondered stopping the fight to avoid injury, but he also wanted to have faith in Hendrix's abilities, as he didn't see any blood or dislocated joints yet.
Hendrix took a deep breath in, shaking his head slowly as he looked downwards.
"What're you up to now?" Biggie asked as he chuckled.
Hendrix was barely able to make out Biggie's words through the other voice he was hearing.
"He made fun of your friends. He deserves to die." That familiar voice rang through Hendrix's head. He kept shaking his head, simultaneously trying to quiet the voice and disagree with it.
Hendrix charged towards Biggie for the first time in the fight, catching the mallet-wielder off guard.
Biggie jumped back as Hendrix shot his strings out, coming from the back of his spine this time.
"You think switching it up is gonna save you?" Biggie used two of the strings to elevate himself above the striking path.
Hendrix was surprised that he was able to replicate his ability from the fight with Shezmu. He was excited to keep his hands free while manifesting his guitar strings.
Hendrix caught the sight of Biggie raising his mallet while he descended upon Hendrix.
He tried to manifest another string from his hand so that he wouldn't have to block, but it seemed as though one of the strings had to recede from his back for him to manifest another one.
"So I'm stuck with six strings. Makes sense." Hendrix cursed his limitations. He had never had to manifest more than six strings, as he felt it would be too much to control more. But now that he was stronger, he couldn't escalate his string numbers with his ability.
He had no choice but to use his existing strings defensively, as he didn't have the time or resources to go on the offensive.
He didn't know what Biggie's ability would lead to, but he wasn't excited to find out.
Clank.
Another shockwave ran through the mallet, this time they stayed red instead of returning to their usual black color.
Biggie jumped back as he began to grin.
"Aw, shit, you've done it this time." Biggie cackled as he spun the mallets between his fingers.
"He's charging up for something." Akilah muttered, causing a "What?" to escape Taro's mouth.
"Every time he hits Hendrix's strings, his mallets get hotter somehow." Akilah thought silently for a few more moments.
"Maybe he's charging up kinetic energy. That would explain why he keeps hitting Hendrix's strings, because that would stop his mallet more abruptly. The problem is what happens when it's fully charged." Akilah leaned forward as she tried to ponder what would happen next.
Hendrix stood ready to dodge, waiting for his opponent's next move.
Biggie chuckled one more time before swinging both of his mallets backwards.
After a second of silence, he struck the mallets together, making a fourth clank.
What seemed to be a red mallet head zipped through the air. No one had enough time to examine it, but it didn't seem fully solid, like it was made up entirely of energy.
The mallet head moved too fast, even for Hendrix.
Hendrix's head jerked back as the red mallet smashed into his face. His pink hair flipped backwards. The taste of copper filled his mouth. Blood covered his face as he fell to his knees.
"Woo!" Biggie exclaimed as the crowd went silent. "Damn, I feel bad for you. If I was there in D.C, none of those motherfuckers would've made it out alive."
"Biggie!" Slim exclaimed, trying to catch Biggie before he said anything more hurtful.
"Kill him." The voice returned.