The fabric of spacetime flexed at his beck and call. The exact spot where Cole stood was the center of his attention. Despite whatever Claire thought, this fight was going to be over very quickly. There was no way Aaron was going to lose to Cole.
Especially since Cole was staring into space, watching a ball bounce higher and higher out of his hand.
"Cole, stop messing around. I'm supposed to fight you now," Aaron called. "Claire, can you make him shape up?"
Cole stared in fear. "I… can't fight you."
"Why not?" Aaron asked. "You scared, force bender?" He tossed a coin at Cole and accelerated it with a spacetime groove.
"Ow," Cole said, even though the penny bounced right off his face. "He's hitting me."
"Then I suggest you hit him back!" Claire cheered with that stupid, unjustified smile on her face. "As I see it, the fight has already begun."
"I agree!" Aaron said. He warped the spacetime under Cole's feet and increased gravity to 1.5x Earth gravity. "What are you, a loser?"
Col tried to jump away, but the increased gravity dragged him down. Aaron followed his steps, moving the distortion with Cole's position.
"Use his strengths against him!" Claire shouted. 826Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBFhnLMhX0l
Suddenly, Aaron remembered Claire using his spacetime vortex against him and smashing the flaming baseball bat into his face. "Hey, that's cheating!" Aaron yelled, causing a ripple around Claire to pull everything toward her. "Stop interfering with my battle."
"Whatever," Claire said, sitting down in her increased gravity zone. Aaron released that ripple, knowing he needed to focus on Cole.
Cole ran toward Aaron, hopping feebly to gain speed. Aaron increased the strength of the moving gravity distortion, only to realize Cole was close enough to affect Aaron.
"Darn your strategy!" Aaron shouted. He picked up a screwdriver and threw it like a knife at Cole. "Take that!"
The spin on the projectile was not sufficient to keep its accuracy. The screwdriver spun out and flopped onto the floor. The increased gravity pulled it to Cole's feet.
"Thanks for the weapon, buddy," Cole said, gaining confidence. He started running around Aaron, the third law of physics propelling Cole faster and faster. Cole swiped at Aaron feebly with the screwdriver. Aaron dodged out of the way, looking more and more concerned.
Forming a gravityless pocket, Aaron leaped away. He grabbed a beaker off the table and chucked it at Cole as hard as he could. Cole didn't duck in time, but that didn't seem to matter. The glass shattered against his arm into a beautiful splatter of light, but sadly, all of it bounced back with equal and opposite force. Aaron shielded his face as the shards shot back at him.
"Darn it," Aaron cursed.
"That was actually cool," Cole quipped. "Try to beat that, nerd."
Stupid Claire. Always making everything so hard for him. Why did she hate him so much?
"I'm going to get you anyway!" Aaron yelled. It was true that Cole's force redirection was way more useful than Aaron's gravity manipulation, but he wasn't going to let this spin anymore out of control than it already had.
Aaron removed gravity from under his own feet and soared into Cole, knocking him over before bouncing off. Aaron punched Cole with as much force he could muster, but that mostly just made Aaron's hands hurt. "Why. Won't. You. Just. DIE!" Aaron screamed.
Cole snatched Aaron out of the air, throwing his weightless body across the room. He hit the floor hard, and his spacetime control faltered.
Weight returned to Aaron's body and in the corner of his fuzzing vision, he saw Claire smile. She knew how this was going to end, Aaron realized. She planned it all along. But he was going to prove her wrong.
Aaron got back up and created a spacetime vortex at Cole's feet. Aiming at Cole, Aaron confidently jumped onto Cole.
His victory. His honor. It was so close he could taste it. He clenched his fist and saw Cole flinch. Scaredy cat, Aaron scoffed.
Before Aaron could blink, Cole raised his arm and stabbed Aaron in the face with the screwdriver. There was a flash of pain, and then nothing.
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