BXBX NOVEL Chapter 160 - 160. Stone Skinned
"Why did you do that!" Jackson was the one afraid of all the attention they were getting. Laura\'s yell had even echoed a little making even more nearby campers move towards the sparring field to take a look.
The campers that saw the group standing around Asher who had been shown as the person to beat were filled with greed. They knew that if they managed to beat Asher\'s friends and get the matches and points they could then take advantage of the rotation and steal away Asher\'s position.
Seeing that many campers were walking toward them Asher felt his energy spike, "I might jump in to the rotation when I see something interesting. I am, low on points anyways."
"First up we have Jackson, beginner sparring only!" Asher stepped forward while raising Jacksons\' hand. Jackson of course was terrified.
"Why me? I have no idea what I am doing. They will chew me up and spit me out." His voice was shaky but everyone else looked confident.
"Dude, you need to go first. The people that jump in right away will be the less experienced people who rush head on in to a match. You can get experience and we can give you critique afterward." Art was a little jealous but let Jackso head in to the ring that the campers had formed around the sparring area.
"I will record it, Go Jackson!" Laura was very excited for this idea to form. Jackson was still inside but he was happy to hear encouragement. He began to stretch while a grey skinned boy stepped up.
"You\'re big, that\'s all." The boy with grey skill slammed his fist in to the palm of his hand. The cracking sound of stones reached everyone\'s ears.
"Ooo, stone skin super power. That is a common one, but tough to hit. Jackson is going t have to trip the kid or get him pinned." Jane had heard of this power and knew of it pretty well. Since she was a speedier person she wanted to make sure she was well researched on the defensive super powers that could make things harder for her.
"Won\'t he struggle though? He is going to need to break through someone with stone skin?\' Sammy was a blank slate when it came to defensive super powers. She had understandably focused on elemental super powers like hers.
"He could try and use blunt force. But think of this, how heavy is stone skin? What would happen if you recently got a super power this year and needed to quickly adapt to a heavier body? Would your muscles magically catch up?" Louis had seen the answer instantly.
"He\'ll be too heavy to get up if he falls and is held down." Sammy\'s jaw dropped as she looked at Jackson, "But does he know?"
"We will have to find out." Jane pointed at the match which had begun. A staff member had come over since many of the matches had ended and been drawn toward Asher\'s group. Even Garnet had found a spot to stand and watch.
Jackson had been given good advice and easily stepped out of the way of the grey skinned boy. He had charged right at Jackson without even a second thought. The boy didn\'t even stop when he missed Jackson, instead, he turned and kept charging. Jackson used this chance to throw a poorly places punch and received some scraped knuckles.
"I\'m too tough, nothing can break me!" The grey skinned boy charged again. This time Jackson dodged and looked for a better strategy. The boy continued his relentless charging but had already started to lose speed. He was tiring out due to the weight of his skin wearing on his stamina.
Jackson finally seemed to reach an understanding while watching this phenomenon. He dodged a few more times then waited for the next charge. At the last second, he stepped back and left his foot out. The grey skinned boy tripped and fell face first.
Jackson didn\'t even touch him after that. The boy was too tired and couldn\'t stand up. The staff member was quick to announce that Jackson was the winner. There wasn\'t any need for healing and there wasn\'t any need for explanation. It had been a plain batter of attrition.
"Umm, how did I do?" Jackson was a little worried that he had not done well enough to earn the respect of his friends.
"Perfect ten out of ten." Louis only said this but everyone felt this too.
The only thing I think you should have recognized was that you couldn\'t punch him because of his stone skin, but you aren\'t as versed in powers as Jane. so you still acted perfectly after you learned you couldn\'t damage him." Asher explained what Louis meant and why he had said perfect. Jackson was happy and smiled like a goofy idiot.
"Hey Louis, have you charged enough to zap someone without hurting them?" Art wanted t see the strategy that Louis had been working on.
"Sure, I went to the river this morning and let off some of the lighting. I coincidentally caught some half cooked fish…" Louis admitted this making everyone burst out in laughter.
"You mean you accidentally electrocuted and half cooked some fish?" Sammy hadn\'t known this and was already teasing him.
"No, it was completely intentional and I gave them to some of the staff for points." Louis got defensive quick and everyone laughed even more.
"Smart move to get points for them, but maybe we shouldn\'t decimate the fish population in the river every day?" Jane was the first to become spurious which received a thankful glance from Louis.
"We can help you find a good way to burn off the lightning later, but for now… Louis is up next. Anyone with a ground oriented super power would be appreciated!" Asher yelled out making Louis frown under the rubber bandages.
"Why did you throw away my trump card like that?" He wasn\'t sure why Asher would try to make things harder for him. He was going to use the logical strategy and zap his opponent so that he could easily finish him off.