A tight smile tugged from the corner of Ash's lip. He neared me, lowering his lips and whispering. "I hate you."

"Me too..." I whispered, awkwardly grinning. "Me too..."

Jogging towards us, both the twins stood a few feet away.

Elmon gritted his teeth, scratching his arm while Cailu stood calm, whistling and playing with her hair.

Ash was silent, struggling to break his tight smile. He squinted his eye out of irritation, and his frustration was universal as no one else was initiating conversation.

I let out a sigh, lowering my gaze and holding up three fingers. "Before we start. Let's set three rules." I paused, waiting for everyone to look at me. "Firstly, if an individual says, done, everyone has to stop." I lowered one finger, continuing. "Secondly, the goal isn't to hurt anyone. It's to practice, so if anyone on any team deems the match over, just say done, and there won't be any fuss." I lowered my last finger. "Lastly, try not to break anything here."

Laughing, Cailu winked. "We'll abide by your rules, but, It's not that deep." She looked around, her eyes focusing on me. "Unless you want it to."

Gaping at Ash and me, Elmon breathed heavily. "Can we start already?"

"Are you all ready?" I asked, taking out both my dull daggers.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, waiting for me to countdown.

I put one dagger away, putting that free hand up in the air. I held all my fingers up, counting down. "Five, four, three, two, one, GO!"

"Come out," I fastly took out my other dagger, getting on the defensive.

Ash realized which formation I was aiming for, so he advanced, nearing the front lines.

Elmon let out a roar, augmenting his hands with some type of fire magic. Large fiery lines surrounded his hands as he began exchanging blows with Ash.

Ash dodged to his left, augmenting his broad sword. But the attacks were too heavy. He was entirely on the defensive, trying to parry the blows.

The formation we opted for was one of me in the midline while Ash remained at the frontline, but could Ash handle Elmon? It didn't help that Cailu remained positioned in the same area she started.

I bit my inner cheek, shifting my eyes back and forth at the twins. Letting out a sigh, I neared Ash. "Damn it."

'Damn it, this didn't work how I wanted it to,' I augmented my daggers while keeping an eye out for Cailu. I gripped my daggers, running towards Ash. 'Why isn't Cailu moving?'

I wanted to create a link when the twins were busy with Ash. I would grab one of them with my hand and choke them, forcing them to quit. But Cailu was ruining my plan.

"Behind you," I yelled, jumping towards Elmon.

Ash pivoted to the right, allowing me space.

My blade met Elmon's right hand, causing me to jerk backward and let go of my dagger.

Elmon's other hand approached me, forcing me to block with my left dagger.

Ash jumped in, blocking Elmon's fist with his sword.

I quickly hopped backward, creating space between myself and the others.

Conjuring a lightning orb, I got ready to throw my magic flashbang.

Ash looked back at me as he blocked Elmon's attacks. "BEHIND YOU!"

Something hit my hand, causing my lightning sphere to burst. The lightning exploded in front of me, leaving me in a daze.

My surroundings were blurry, but I could make out a distinct figure. A fiery red fist approached my face.

"LINK," I shrieked, linking to the closest ambient sphere I could make out.

*BUZZZ*

A chilling sensation ached my muscles as I stood on my two feet.

Still, I could force my stiff body forward. Looking around in a frenzy, I tried figuring out what had occurred, but I wasn't sure. I wasn't sure!

'Damn it, what's happening,' I thought, clinging to my dagger. Nothing was going to plan.

I looked to my left, where I previously resided.

Like a raging bull, Elmon rushed toward me. And behind him, Cailu plummeted air attacks on Ash.

Cailu continued to conjure air without moving. Ash remained on the floor, blocking the attacks with his earth shield, but it wasn't looking like he could keep up.

'Why isn't he moving,' I thought but quickly was forced to stop worrying when Elmon arrived inches away.

"Fire!" He wickedly smiled, licking his lips with his tongue. Elmon's fist connected with my face, thrusting me back.

I dropped my remaining dagger in the air, hitting the wall.

I quickly jumped up, eyes wide open, gaping at the man approaching me.

Elmon ran at an increasing speed, possessing tight lips with raging eyes.

"Lightning," I mumbled, embodying myself with more lightning. "I'm not giving up."

"I'll run if I have to," I groaned, sprinting away from Elmon. I allocated most of my mana towards my legs, allowing me faster movement.

"Stay still," Elmon exclaimed, his chest puffing out.

I ran to my left, a few feet away from Elmon, but the more I ran, the closer I got to Cailu.

In front of me, Cailu was still bombarding her wind magic against Ash's shield.

Everything was going wrong, and I couldn't do anything about it.

That's why I wanted to practice formations more... I knew Allura could handle situations, but what about me? I knew I was going to let her and everyone down. Damn it, I was going to let myself down!

I shook my head. 'Focus!'

Now wasn't the time to think about what-ifs. I needed to focus!

I couldn't move forward or backward... There was only one thing I could do: stand my ground!

Maintaining my speed, I continued running. Closing my eyes, I slowed down. 'Now,' I opened my eyes, turning my body towards Elmon.

I raised my hand in the air as I slid against the floor. My hand penetrated an ambient magic sphere as I fell to the ground. "Link!" Thinking of a shield, I yelled. "Lightning."

Elmon pounced up in the air, his fist nearing my face.

'Work! Please work!' I closed my eyes, pointing both my hands at his fist. "LINK!"

I was pushed onto the floor, but I remained unharmed.

The lunatic punched my translucent shield, yelling as his sweat dripped onto the shield. His fist slammed onto the shield, slowly dissipating my magic.

His white hair swayed in the air every time he punched, causing his hair to slightly cover his face.

Elmon Increased his speed, causing my shield to dissipate even faster.

The fire emitting from his fists began affecting the temperature around. The fire was either going to burn me to a crisp, or Elmon would smash me to death.

I poured more mana into the shield, and the once translucent shield turned opaque.

He continued punching like a mad maniac.

Rotating on the ground, I moved to the left, hoping for a few seconds of breath.

'Stand up!' I screamed in my head.

Elmon slammed all his might into a punch, breaking the shield, but he noticed he had been done.

Shifting his gaze at me, he clapped his hands, creating a fireball. "Give up," he cocked back his arm, launching the fireball at my head.

"Link," I pursed my lips, inhaling from my nose and moving my leg forward.

Another chilling sensation ached my body, but it wasn't as bad as the multiple sphere link I did.

It didn't matter because I didn't get far enough; one ambient sphere wasn't far enough.

Turning my body further, I ran near Ash, noticing his legs tied with wood. The other maniac twin was focused on attacking Ash, but still, Ash was managing to block the air magic.

I set my feet on the ground, halting myself from moving forward.

My lips lifted upwards, shifting into a smile. "Why didn't I think of this earlier."

"If I'm going to lose, I want it to hurt you more than it will hurt me," I whispered, trying not to laugh.

I gaped at Elmon, running at me. I linked to four spheres, waiting for him to get closer. I linked to the last sphere as soon as he was to go through it.

I walked forward, pouring all my reserves into augmentation. "LINK!!!"

*BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZ*

Being pulled by the lightning linked to the five spheres, I slammed into Elmon, but I couldn't view anything as my vision blurred. I couldn't register anything because of the speed.

Who I thought was Elmon grunted. "Get... Off me."

His voice created a buzz in my ear, which ached the living hell out of me.

All my muscles seemed to be non-existent. What felt like seconds turned into hours as I waited for another noise other than the damn buzz radiating in my ears.

"Yooooo, are you alive," a feminine voice whispered. "Hey, hey, wake up now."

"That won't help!" A somewhat manlier voice yelled.

Another voice interjected, manlier than the last. "We should leave! Let them take care of their own mess."

"No! We need to take Wryn to the medics!" The somewhat manly voice shouted, hurting my ear.

Blinking, I forced my eyes to open and close. "Can you idiots shut the fuck up?"

"See, I told you he'd be fine," Elmon sweated, scratching his hand.

Ash helped me sit up, but it was a little odd. I expected to be more. More hurt.

The sensation that ached me was similar to when I tried linking to two spheres.

I winced, standing up. "Forget this ever happened."

"Look at your suit!" Ash gaped at me with anger in his eyes.

My suit was riddled with tarnishes, but that was expected. What wasn't expected was my gear being red and not the typical blue.

"It seems you completely used up the resistance magic installed into the gear," Cailu said, very close to me. She touched my shoulder, whispering into my ear. "It's best to forget this ever happened. As you said, we'll forget this ever happened." Letting go, she waved at us, entering the changing room with her brother. "Bye-bye, good luck on the tournament."

Ash seemed more worried than angry, but perhaps his anger was granted. His eyes rested, demonstrating more worry than anger.

Could I blame him for being angry? After all, I acted like a child trying to win. All because I didn't want to appear like a child in front of another child...

Scratching my head, I smiled. 'I really am a child at heart.' Trying not to laugh, I stood up and tapped Ash on his shoulder. "Are you up for some food?"

Blinking at me, Ash looked up and down. "Are you crazy?"

"Oh shoot, you're right! We should change first," I chuckled, examining my worn-down gear.

'Hopefully, Thela can save the day...' I cringed with my mouth and eyes wide open.

Both the twins came out of the changing room, avoiding eye contact.

Ash and I walked towards the room, passing the twins.

My eyes met with Cailu as she turned her head, smiling and waving.

Ignoring her, we entered the room where we went into different stalls, quickly changing.

"I'm ready."

"Almost done," Ash informed, opening the stall and walking out.

He tilted his head, staring at me but suddenly stopped. Ash looked away, facing the door.

Shrugging, I thought nothing of it. We both walked to the reliable geezer's shop: Albread.

After a short walk to Albread, we ordered our regulars and sat down on the nearest seats we found. The aroma from the food was breathtaking as usual, and it tasted the way it looked, spectacular!

Ash finished a spoon full of soup, biting on it. He stopped, directing his gaze towards me. "So... How did you do it?"

"Do what?" I raised my eyebrow.

Maintaining a tepid face, he sighed. "Oh, I wonder what." Placing his spoon by his bowl, he wrinkled his nose. "The magic that made you go really fast!"

I shrugged my shoulders, staring at my food. "Honestly, I'm not too sure how it works."

Blinking at me, he placed his palm on the table. "Don't be a bum! Spill the beans."

I shrugged, looking at my food. "I'm telling the truth, but if I were to guess, there's a good theory I have." Creating eye contact, I continued. "I form a lightning link wherever I want to travel or allow my magic to go. For some reason, it makes my magic more accurate and faster."

Of course, I didn't mention the part where I needed ambient spheres. After all, I didn't want to explain any more than I needed to. However, it made me realize the idea of ambient spheres dictated if I could even use linkage, which utterly demonstrated how advantageous or impracticable it could be.

"So. that's why you were resting on the ground when I first came," he laughed.

Smiling, I placed one hand on my head, acknowledging how stupid I must have looked.

He continued eating and laughing while doing so. He really was innocent, and perhaps I yearned more for such attributes.

I wanted to be oblivious to all my responsibilities, but I couldn't. I couldn't because if I did, that would be suicide. I needed to accomplish results, or I'd be terminated. Not only would I be affected, but so would my parents. I wanted to be oblivious to all my responsibilities, but I couldn't...

Trying not to ruin my mood, I stopped thinking about such nuisances. I instead quickly ate my food.

We both finished, stuffed from the large portions Alfred provided us.

Ash rubbed his stomach, letting out a burp. "We should at least discuss formations now, so the whole day isn't wasted."

Nodding, I began the conversation. "Well, I'd just like to say. My bad for changing formations during-"

Waving his hand in the air, he showed his teeth as he grew a smile. "I would have done the same. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks," I responded, fiddling with my spoon. "Next time, I'll stay in position unless we have confirmation of all the opponents."

Scratching his head, he squinted his face demonstrating regret yet an aptitude for concern. "I'm a little confused on one aspect." He paused, staring at me.

"Go on," I replied, moving my spoon in a circular manner inside my finished bowl of soup.

"How was I supposed to inform you about when Cailu conjured a sneak attack on you," he asked.

Tilting my head, I smiled. "Let's create some call-outs!"

"Call-outs?" Ash asked, his eyebrow furrowed and his lip tugged to the left.

Tapping the spoon onto the bowl, I nodded. "Call-outs are signals for situations. Say the opponent is behind you, then I'd yell something beforehand. Consequently, informing you about the opponent." I continued, letting the spoon fall into the bowl. "Bertin expects us to be a flawless machine, but I don't think we can operate that." I paused, shrugging. "Call-outs would help us a lot, especially if we made a ton of them for different scenarios."

Nodding his head vigorously up and down, Ash aligned his glasses. "I'll come up with some today!" He stood up, holding his dishes. "I'll have the call-outs ready for tomorrow!"

I likewise stood up, taking the dishes from Ash. "I'll take them."

"Thanks," he said, speedily marching out of the cafeteria.

Holding all the dishes, I walked near Alfred's shop. The stall was as friendly as the first time I came.

Alfred waited, sitting on a chair behind the register area. I placed the dishes, waving my hand. "Thank you for the Albread!"

The relatively old man's eyes lit up. He dropped the newspaper he was reading. "You actually called the dish, Albread!" Alfred came closer to the register, asking. "What's your name?"

"Wryn," I replied, waving at him.

Smiling, he sat down, picking up his newspaper. "Have a good day!"

"You too," I waved at Alfred, walking towards the exit.

Reaching the portal, I rubbed my temple. 'Hopefully, Tehla can bail me out...' I covered my face with my hand. 'Hopefully...'