Silver walks up the steps into the eliminated Class 1-A students section. He sees Jake, Isaiah, Demetri, Alden, Lilith, and Eve.

Silver: (Didn’t expect to end up here so soon.)

Silver looks at the bracket.

Silver: (Wes vs. Alexis already, so I missed three matches. I’m not surprised to see who won, I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get to see Zach vs. Aaron, but at least I can watch the rest.)

Silver takes a seat next to Eve.

Eve: Oh, hey, you’re back now.

Silver: Did I miss anything good?

Eve: Not really; the last fight was pretty good, but the others were ones to miss. Of course, this next one should be a slaughter.

Silver: Yeah, I like Wes, but in any tournament, there’s always one person everyone wants to face.

Eve: It doesn’t help that he got a tough customer like Alexis.

Silver: Unfortunately for Wes, I can’t figure out a single way he can win this battle. I hope he at least puts on a show for the scouts.

Eve stares at Silver, inquisitive.

Eve: You seem calm...

Silver: What do you mean?

Eve: I sat here sulking through the first three fights, and you’re here completely fine; what’s your secret?

Silver: Learn to accept when you lose and aim to get better because of it. You’ve gotta fail a little to be appreciative of your success.

Eve: Yeah… I guess you’re right about that.

Wes approaches the center of the arena.

Alexis: You still have time to forfeit, you know.

Wes: I do? I mean… no, I’m here to fight!

Alexis cracks a smile.

Wes: That wasn’t convincing at all, was it?

Alexis: It was precious.

Wes: *sighs*

Members of the crowd begin leaving their seats.

Alexis: I guess now is a good time for a bathroom break.

Wes: OH, COME ON!

Alexis: (Well, his strategy should be simple; he wants to reflect my attacks back at me… I can work around that. The only part of his quirk I’ve never gotten to see is his ability to turn objects into mirrors, so I’ll have to watch out for that.)

Wes: (Okay, Wes, she may be stronger than you… and smarter… and probably cooler, but… yeah, I don’t know where I was going with this… the game plan is to try and reflect her attacks!)

Madame Mummy raises her hand.

Madame Mummy: Begin.

Alexis leaps back, forms three paper shuriken in her hand, and throws them at Wes.

Wes: (Ha! Dumb bitch! I’ll just reflect those!)

Wes turns his left arm into a mirror and prepares for impact. However, just before the shuriken connect with Wes’ arm, Alexis puts her hands together.

Alexis: Detonate!

Wes: Wait, what?

The shuriken explode in Wes’ face, sending him flying back.

Wes: FUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

Wes smacks into a tree; his left arm is shattered.

Wes: AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Alexis: That hurts like hell, doesn’t it?

Wes: Remote detonation? Come on! How is that fair!

Wes’ classmates are dumbfounded.

Jace: How… did he not see that coming?

Gus: Yeah… did he actually think Alexis forgot how his quirk worked?

Kevin: Well, if she can detonate her explosives without them making contact. Then Wes can’t reflect them… he might as well forfeit before he takes more of a beating.

Hayze: (Kevin is half-right, while this development makes everything seem hopeless, it also gives Wes a way to win.)

Wes gets to his feet, working through the pain in his arm. The smoke from the explosion starts to clear. Alexis readies six more paper shuriken and starts running at Wes.

Wes: (Oh god, three of those nearly wiped me out, six more, and I’m done!)

Wes runs into the forest.

Alexis: Running already?

Alexis throws the shuriken at Wes. Wes looks over his shoulder and sees the shuriken coming at him.

Wes: (Well, I guess this is as good a time as any to launch a counter-attack.)

Wes touches a tree and creates a small mirror spot on it. The shuriken hit various trees, with one of them hitting the mirror and reflecting back at Alexis.

Alexis: *nasal grunt* You’re not beating me like that.

She dodges with no issue as the shuriken flies past and destroys a tree behind her. The smoke from the other five explosions blocks her view of Wes as he runs deeper into the forest.

Wes: (Okay… I successfully lasted longer than Karma, at least I have that.)

Wes reaches the wall of the arena and sits behind a tree.

Wes: (Alright… time to start thinking of a way to at least damage her… if I can turn this into a battle of attrition, I can maybe win. Even though my arm is shattered, it heals much faster than in standard form.)

Wes looks down at his left arm as some of the cracks are starting to heal already.

Wes: (The only issue is it hurts like a bitch.) *winces in pain* (The other thing I can bank on if I drag this out is that she will run out of paper sooner than later, as far as I can tell she only has her undershirt to work with… and she’s used just about a fourth of that already. Hell, maybe that’s why she hasn’t been using her bird squadron to rain death upon me. The only thing I have to work with is what Aaron said to me:)

“ Aaron: You can’t predict what someone new to the game is gonna do, and they might do illogical things because they don’t understand. That’s your edge against Alexis. “ - Chapter 19

Wes: (Do something Illogical? It is true that she’ll see through any plan I come up with, but how do you plan to do something illogical? That’s like planning improv; it goes against the concept… so what do I do? Just run at her and see what happens?)

Above Wes, a single Origami bird lands on a tree branch and looks down at Wes. It then flies above the tree line and starts circling above his location. Alexis spots the bird.

Alexis: (You can’t hide from me…)

Alexis amazes a swarm of 49 origami birds using about a third of her remaining shirt. They then join the other bird and circle over Wes.

Alexis: (Let’s see if he falls for it.) Ceremonious Dance: Swan Formation!

The birds start diving straight down towards Wes.

Wes: Huh? OH SHIT!

Wes immediately transforms his entire body into a mirror and reflects each bird. They go straight back into the air, glowing from being magnified.

Alexis: Thanks, Wes!

Wes: OH, COME ON!

Alexis recalls her swarm.

Eve: Alexis supercharged her attack… damn, she’s good.

Silver: Wes’ best asset is his ability to increase the power of his teammate’s attacks. Alexis took advantage of that and made him do it by accident.

Wes sits in the forest and wonders what the hell just happened.

Wes: (I just handed her an arsenal of paper bombs that will explode with multiplied damage… COME ON WES… eh, there’s no point… if I didn’t reflect it, the match would be over. Hell, Madame Mummy didn’t even try to stop the attack because she knew I’d reflect it.)

Aaron returns to the competitors’ stands.

Aaron: Nice Wes’ hiding like a little bitch.

Jace: Not much else he can do.

Aaron: It’s good he hasn’t given up yet… he tends to do that when the going gets tough.

Kevin: Unfortunately, this might be a good time to do that.

Aaron: Nah, Wes will be fine.

Kevin: You think he can win this?

Aaron: No.

Kevin: Then why will he be okay?

Aaron: Look, the important thing for Wes here isn’t that he wins; it’s proving to himself that he belongs in that arena and not in the losers bench.

Kevin: He got this far in the tournament. Of course, he belongs to be down there.

Aaron: Look, I’ve known Wes for a long time, and his biggest enemy is himself. He spends too much time thinking about what he can’t do. He compares himself to me and what I can do on the battlefield, which isn’t fair because we’re different people with different abilities. It shouldn't be about winning for him, it should be about putting up a good fight, and that applies to anyone; if your best isn’t good enough, it's not the end of the world.

Gus: What if your best isn’t good enough?

Aaron: It always is, so don’t think about it.

Gus: But-

Aaron: Don’t. Think. About it.

Kevin: Well, what you said makes sense. Wes just needs to give it his best, and he’s not doing that currently, but… yeah, we’ll see what happens.

Aaron: That’s the spirit!

Hayze: (I’m starting to get why they’ve been friends for so long, their relationship has seemed weird, but it’s starting to make sense.)

Aaron: (I can guarantee that Wes is sitting in that forest shitting himself about what to do next… asking himself what I would do, or hey maybe what Hayze would do. Either way, he needs to stop asking himself that and start doing what Wes would do, and maybe just maybe he can pull a rabbit out of his hat and win this.)

Alexis has been patiently staring in Wes’ direction.

Alexis: (Alright, this is starting to get boring, it’s time I spice things up a bit.)

Half of the supercharged Birds leave the flock and separate, heading to different parts of the forest.

Alexis: (Maybe I’ll regret this later, maybe not, either way, it’s gonna be more fun than waiting for Wes to do something.) Ceremonious Dance: Kamikaze Formation!

The twenty-five birds each dive down and explode in a different part of the forest.

Wes: (What is she doing?)

A bird detonates right above Wes. His ears ring after the explosion; he looks up and sees a tree falling towards him. He rolls out of the way. Fires start throughout the forest.

Wes: HOW MANY TIMES IS SOMEBODY GONNA DESTROY THIS FOREST!

Another tree collapses near Wes.

Wes: (Shit! Those supercharged paper bombs have completely torched this forest. It’s not safe for me to stay here. Even though the alternative isn’t much better…)

Wes runs out into the clearing.

Alexis: I knew that would draw you out.

Wes: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re tough shit, we get it.

Alexis: Did I hit a nerve?

Wes: No, you hit my arm and shattered it!

Alexis: I did do that.

Wes: (God, women like her piss me off.) Anywho, now that I’m out here, what’s next?

Alexis: Well, I have 25 birds left… so I guess I have twenty-five chances to knock you out.

Wes: Alright.

Wes bends down and touches the ground, slowly during it into a mirror surface. He covers about 5 meters around him in all directions.

Wes: Give it your best shot!

Alexis: Okay then.

The birds get ready.

Alexis: Ceremonious Dance: Kamikaze Formation!

The twenty-five birds launch at Wes.

Wes: Ha! I got you!

Wes lifts up his pant leg to reveal a stick he brought with him from the forest. He turns it into a mirror and throws it at the flock. It hits a bird reflecting it into another bird, creating a chain reaction that causes all the birds to blow up midair.

Alexis: Clever.

Wes: (Well, there was my one plan.)

Alexis looks down at her shirt and sees there isn’t much paper left for her to work with.

Alexis: (Well, good thing I’m not modest.)

She uses a little more of her paper to make two shuriken, one in each hand. In the loser stands, Eve looks up at Isaiah and Demetri and gives them a death stare.

Demetri: (Don’t react… it’s just a bra… nothing to get yourself concussed over.)

Isaiah: (It’s okay… we can control ourselves… everything is fine…)

Alden: NICE TITS!

Alexis: Thank you!

Eve punches Alden, Isaiah, and Demetri in the head, leaving cartoonish bruises on their heads.

Isaiah and Demetri: (Damn you, Alden!)

Alexis examines her two shuriken.

Alexis: (Alright, time to end this. I’ll use the first shuriken to knock him back and the second one to knock him out. He’ll probably try to use his mirrors to block the first one, so I’ll remotely detonate it. That way, the second shuriken will knock him out no matter what. I’ve got this match locked up.)

Alexis starts running at Wes and leaps into the air.

Alexis: It’s time for this dance to end, Wes!

Wes: (This is my chance!)

Alexis throws her two shuriken sequentially. Wes doesn’t transform any of his body into a mirror.

Alexis: (Looks like he’s accepted his fate.)

The first shuriken collides with Wes, blasting him and surrounding him in a cloud of smoke; the second shuriken then enters the smoke.

Alexis: (Madame Mummy should stop that one, it could kill him.)

Suddenly the second shuriken comes out of the smoke, supercharged and flying at Alexis, still midair. She smiles.

Alexis: (Well, what do you know.)

The second shuriken collides with Alexis and blows up, sending her careening into the dirt, unconscious.

Jace: Did Wes just win!

Gus: Holy shit!

The crowd gasps as the smoke clears, revealing Wes in his complete mirror form also unconscious.

Jace: Wh- What just happened?

Gus: Yeah... what he said.

Aaron: He outdumbed her.

Kevin: He did what?

Gus: Don’t you mean outsmart?

Aaron: Nope!

Hayze: I see… clever.

Jace: Please explain what Wes did? I’m really confused...

Aaron: Alexis threw two shuriken; she knew she needed a direct hit to take out Wes. She also knew he would counter the first shuriken, so she detonated it early to break his defenses and knock him back. Once that happened, the second shuriken would go in and finish him off.

Jace: And Wes figured that all out?

Aaron: No. You see, Wes decided that if he couldn’t win, he was taking her down with him. So when he saw the two shuriken, he decided no matter what, he would let the first one hit him, so the second one would nail Alexis.

Kevin: I get it; he did something she would never predict. Her strategy was built around the idea that Wes would try his hardest to win, so she didn’t account for him intentionally allowing her to knock him out.

Madame Mummy examines Alexis and Wes.

Madame Mummy: We have a double knockout; both contestants are eliminated.

The crowd starts booing.

Crowd Member: We want a winner! I didn’t pay my hard-earned money to watch a tie!

The medics come out with stretchers for Alexis and Wes.

Madame Mummy: (Given what I had heard about this crop of students, I didn’t think I’d see a tie happen this year. It’s alright, though.) Alright, everyone, there will be a shift in the bracket to accommodate no one advancing from this match; the match between Aaron Zamora and Alec Vyxon that was set to occur in the intermittent round will be moved to the second round.

Aaron: So, I fight later, huh?

Hayze: I guess that’s why they have the middle round, to be prepared for stuff like this happening.

Alec kicks the back of the chair in front of him.

Alec: Damn! I have to wait even longer! My thirst for blood needs to be quenched sooner rather than later.

Killian laughs.

Killian: Sorry, buddy, don’t worry, I’ll put on a good show; I’m only four matches away now.

Sydney: Yeah, just two more matches, and Class 1-B will start taking over this tournament. We’re getting a preview of all of their quirks and weaknesses; we’re taking them by storm.

Kevin and Jace get up and head their separate ways towards the tunnels.

Colossus: I didn’t see that one coming.

Fatal: Good thing Alexis is pretty level-headed, or she’d be embarrassed by that loss.

Walker: She thought everything out, but there are some things you can’t prepare for. (Nice work Wes, it may not get you an internship offer, but you’re proving you belong. Unlike others.)

Karma arrives at the losers section.

Karma: Did I miss Alexis’ fight?

Lilith: Yeah, she and Wes tied.

Karma: Wow, really?

Lilith: Yeah, Alexis was doing a good job, but Wes managed to take her down with him.

Karma: Dang, well, I guess we’re down to rooting for Ash and Blair now.

Demetri and Isaiah look distraught.

Demetri: Even Wes is proving himself...

Isaiah: I’ve never felt so low…

Jake wakes up from his nap and sits up in front of Isaiah and Demetri, startling them.

Jake: Did Blair win yet?

Isaiah: Uh… Jake Alexis vs. Wes just finished…

Jake: Huh. Alright, wake me up when Kevin wins the tournament.

Demetri: Wait, Jake!

Jake: What is it?

Demetri: How do you cope with being considered one of the weakest people in the class? It sucks.

Jake: Easy, don’t worry about who’s stronger than you, just worry about when your next meal is.

Jake goes back to napping.

Demetri: That… doesn’t help.