The class had gathered in clumps around the sides, looking up at a huge holographic projection that showed the tournament brackets, though no names yet. I felt Null’s gaze on me as I left the room, mentally marking me off in his mind even as he was busy with the tablet, changing the fight program.

  It’s unnerving how that man always seems to have such amazing awareness of his surroundings. To be fair though, it’s really my fault he’s that good. Gunther only had a ‘sharp eye’ back when we were kids; I was the one to push him far enough to have his current, almost preternatural level of awareness.

  Tearing my eyes away from him, I looked around and saw that some more teachers had shown up. Gunther and Beachwood could observe all the fights by themselves, but it probably puts the children more at ease to see more eyes. Also, the other teachers probably want to get their own look at the class they’d be teaching.

  I didn’t recognize any of these teachers (which was a good thing, though not a guarantee we had never crossed paths before - plenty of them might have been in costume at the time we met). The first was Mrs. Sevrein, the teacher we had seen in our tour of the classrooms previously. She was a rakish, thin woman, dressed in a blouse and dress pants. Her black hair was down to her shoulders, and she seemed to be inspecting the students with a mildly inquisitive look on her face.

  The second was a man in an outfit so garishly bright that at first I was convinced it was his superhero outfit, before realizing he just had terrible taste in fashion. It was bright yellow and blue shorts and a t-shirt, tight enough to reveal a fit body, with a ‘swimmer’s physique.’ His light brown hair was shaved almost bald, and he was grinning widely at everything, waving to the students from across the gym.

  The last was a younger woman, only a few years older than the students, her long auburn hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore a skirt and sweater, looking bored at everything (though there wasn’t anything happening yet). She seemed to be chewing something, maybe bubble gum.

  Going back up the stairs, I met up with Trevor and Alexandra, chatting about heroes. “...That sounds really cool. There weren’t any heroes in my hometown, but it’s a pretty small place. Oh, hey Cam. Ready for the tournament?”

  I nodded. “I think I’m good to go. What about you guys?”

  “Ha, I’m ready to take everyone on,” Trevor boasts, pointing at himself. I could see the slight quiver to his lip, though. He’s a bit worried about this but wants to look tough.

  “Yeah. Oh look, they’ve got the matches up, Alexandra says, pointing at the screen above.

  “Attention,” the Headmaster loudly called out, bringing all talk to a halt. “We have made the... requested adjustments to the matches ahead. Now, I shall state the rules and then direct you to your appropriate arenas. These fights are first and foremost designed to test your skill, not endanger anyone. You are free to forfeit at any time, and if I or any of the other teachers feel it is necessary, we will step in to call your match off. The goal is to incapacitate or get the surrender from your classmates, not for you to kill each other. Any attempts at lethally hurting someone will have the match called off with disciplinary action taken.”

  “Our projectors will light up signals to start and finish matches in the center of each arena, in addition to us calling them out. Pay attention to these. After both participants have taken their places, we will commence the matches. Any attempt to strike before or after a match is called will disqualify you. Interfering in another’s match will disqualify you and could disqualify any classmates as well. If you leave your arena for any reason after the fight has begun, this counts as a forfeit. Beyond that, I expect everyone to fight well and show us if you’re worthy to be a student here at Seltron.”

  “Um, Mister Headmaster, sir,” one short girl asked, waving her hand up in the air. He turned to glare at her, which the girl interpreted as permission to go ahead. “Can we use our powers in these fights?”

  “What,” he said after a long moment's pause. “In the Light's good name, would be the point of doing otherwise? I thought I had made it clear that these tests are for us to judge how fit you are to be here; what would be the point of holding back, Miss Clinton?” He asked rhetorically, not giving the girl, now looking on the verge of tears, a chance to answer before moving on. “Does anyone have any intelligent questions?” No one spoke up (even Beachwood looked a bit uncomfortably at that), and he clapped his hands together.

  “Good, then you shall take your places.” He began calling the students out to the quadrants, my name called out from the beginning. “Camila Einsburgh vs. Angelica O’Neil, fourth quadrant.” The barren arena, no cover. Could be good or bad for me, depending on Angelica’s powers/disposition. Color-wise, it was pretty bland too, with dull grey making up the floors and dark blue for the edges.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  The girl in question had a heavy amount of makeup on her face, with her hair curled into blonde ringlets. She seemed to be uncomfortable in the jumpsuit the school had given her, plucking at it as she walked gracefully down the stairs to stand across from me, and I vaguely recalled her having a somewhat fancy dress to match her doll-like face before we got changed.

  “Not a fan of the gym clothes?” I asked.

  “No, many things here are more... distasteful than I had anticipated,” she said, turning her nose up slightly at me. Well, if that’s how you feel...

  “Are both students ready?” Beachwood asked. We both nodded, facing each other. A green, holographic ‘GO!’ appeared in the center of the arena, and the fight was on!

  I burst forward, legs pumping to push her quickly towards Angelica. The other girl was surprised at my speed, barely managing to dodge out of the way in time, but the large open space gave her plenty of time and warning to deal with it.

  Angelica twirled to the side and said, “That right there is what I dislike about you. All brute force, it’s so... tacky. Superheroes should be cute and elegant. Don’t worry, though; I think I can change tha-” I cut her off, turning and whipping my arm forward, the limb extending forward to over three times its length to lash into Angelica, knocking her down.

  “And you talk too much. Being a superhero is about winning, I taunted back. I at least know to stay on the move when I banter. Angelica reached up from where she was knocked down, managing to brush a finger by my arm as I pulled the lengthened limb back to me, just a fraction of a second too late. I felt a change go through me, not one I had initiated either. My body shrunk rapidly, and I could feel my insides changing along with the rest of me in a way that, even for someone with my power, felt incredibly odd and disconcerting.

  The experience was something entirely novel; the feeling, sensory responses I had so learned from my regular shapeshifting were gone, replaced with a vague sense of... straw. And cloth. And buttons?! I craned my head up to look at Angelica, looming over my now six-inch-tall body. “There, aren’t you better now? A cute little doll - though I don’t know where your clothes have gone, they should have shrunk down with you.” Glancing down, I realized my doll body was indeed blank, giving it a somewhat odd appearance. Because they were flesh to begin with, they just fused back with me. Oh well, not like that matters.

  Reaching down, Angelica hefted me up, almost losing her balance at first. “My, aren’t you the heavy doll,” she muttered before turning to the coach above. “Coach, I believe I’ve-” I interrupted her words as I burst free from her grip, growing rapidly in size and punching the other girl in the throat.

  “Wha- how? I turned you into a doll; you should be helpless right now!” She screamed out after coughing a few times.

  “You turned me into a doll, never took away my shapeshifting powers,” I said, turning the end of my arm back into a regular arm and not an eyeball (which was odd as heck to punch someone with, but a button made a better cap for it). Even ‘maxing out’ my size, I was only able to rise up to two and a half feet tall and still be proportional.

  I capitalized on Angelica’s shock fast, rushing her and attacking the other girl, climbing her body acrobatically to strike all over. She was overwhelmed quickly, the girl obviously having no form of self-defense training. Even then, the sheer size difference was a large advantage that let her hang in there for a bit, but not enough to overcome my experience. Each strike was maximized for pain and weakness, and soon enough Angelica called out surrender, a glowing red ‘STOP’ hologram appearing as the coach quickly called the fight off, though I had already started disengaging at Angelica’s words.

  “Can you turn me back now?” I asked, impatience tinged with a bit of worry. Angelica wasn’t the best fighter by far, but even having some access to my powers, this ‘doll form’ weakens me greatly, far more than I’m letting on. The vast majority of my powers and tricks are useless in it or greatly diminished. My shapeshifting is weaker, and the material I can change is so vastly limited compared to my usual plethora of biological tricks. If I have to fight like this for the rest of my matches...

  “Fine,” Angelica said sullenly, and with a wave of her hand, I felt the power released and myself turning back to my regular size and body structure. Changing back was a little awkward and I made a few adjustments to make sure everything looked normal as I grew in size. The end result would surely look odd to anyone outside, but hopefully no more than someone usually changing from a doll back to a girl, my ‘Seltron uniform’ perfectly in place by the time I finished changing (all of which didn’t take more than two seconds). Much better.

  I gave a little curtsy to Angelica after I was back in my regular state. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to look cute or elegant, there are even styles that try and use that; just don’t let it get in the way of winning a fight,” I offered. I’m too kind, but it’s not like it hurts me to give a bit of advice to these kids. Truthfully, having a ‘style’ or ‘flair’ to her will help her get noticed as a hero, but that’s all secondary to surviving. Angelica looked stunned for a moment before nodding and smiling.

  “Yes, that is... good advice. I may have misjudged you, thank you for helping me.”

  I shook her hand, and we both walked up the stairs to the top section, taking a good look at the other fights going on.