Blair and Sydney walk towards the center of the arena.

Kevin: This one is gonna be tough for Blair.

Angel: Huh? Do you know something about this girl’s quirk?

Kevin: No, and neither does Blair. That’s the problem.

Aaron: Yeah, those 1-B assholes just got a front-row seat to see all of our abilities in action, and we know nothing about their quirks.

Hayze: (I’d like to say that I think Blair can win, but I have no clue what this girl is capable of. Although, I do know that Blair needs to remember the lesson she learned from her fight against Tara: don’t get flustered. If she can do that, it’ll go a long way towards her winning.)

Killian has a sinister smile on his face.

Killian: (If this chick knew what she was up against, she’d forfeit right now. Alec, Tobias, Sydney, and I teamed up in the second round for one simple reason: we’re the strongest members of the hero course. I may be confident, but I’ll willingly admit that I might be the weakest among us four. But either way, lava girl, muscle head, and gun guy don’t realize their next opponents will be their last.)

The two girls reach the center.

Blair: You’re going down, bitch.

Sydney scoffs.

Sydney: You can’t beat me.

Blair: What did you say?

Sydney: I watched your pathetic first-round match. I saw everything you’re capable of, and I know that you don’t stand a chance.

Blair: Is that so? Well, you’re wrong.

Sydney laughs.

Sydney: The girl who smells like week-old fish actually thinks she can beat me? How cute.

Blair: Just shut up.

Sydney: Did I hit a nerve?

Blair: I’m not letting you get in my head; I know I said that last time, but this time I mean it!

Sydney: I’m not trying to get in your head.

Blair: Huh? Then what are you doing?

Sydney: I’m stating facts. There’s no need for me to play mind games when I know I can trounce you.

Blair: Man, you sure are full of yourself.

Sydney: Call me narcissistic if you wish, you’ll find out why I’m acting like this shortly. In fact, let me explain to you exactly how this fight will go.

Blair: *frustrated grunt*

Sydney holds up three fingers.

Sydney: You get three chances to defeat me, then if you waste those chances, I’ll beat you with just a single attack.

Blair: You’re giving me three free shots? That’s fine, I only need one.

Sydney, Killian, and Alec all smile.

Sydney: Sure.

Madame Mummy raises her hand.

Madame Mummy: Begin.

Blair forms a magma gauntlet and attempts to punch Sydney, but right before her strike connects, a wall of water appears between them and blocks it.

Blair: What the!

The crowd is shocked.

Hayze: (Water…)

Angel: She stopped Blair right in her tracks.

Kevin: That water rose so fast; I can’t believe it was strong enough to block a punch like that.

Aaron: Yeah, and Blair’s got a mean right hook. If she can block that, what else can she stop?

Blair struggles to rip her arm from the water wall, but she’s stuck.

Blair: *frustrated grunt*

Sydney: That’s one.

The water wall falls on Blair like an ocean wave, washing her away. Blair is left soaking wet; she shakes herself off and stands up.

Sydney: Oops, it looks like you didn’t beat me with one move; you only have two left. Think wisely.

Blair starts backing up.

Sydney: Retreating already?

Blair: No.

Blair draws her lava pistols.

Blair: (Okay, so, she can create water. That’s her quirk; now I just need to do the same thing Hayze did against Silver. Figure out her weakness.)

Blair starts rapid-firing lava bullets at Sydney. However, the water wall appears again, blocking her shots. Each lava shot creates a layer of steam.

Blair: (Hm, so it looks like the water wall is being continuously created, not all at once. Otherwise, that’s way too much steam; if my shots were evaporating that much water, then there’s no way they all could have been blocked.)

Sydney: That’s two.

Blair smiles.

Sydney: Hm?)

Blair: (That was easy; I’ve got her weakness figured out already. She needs to keep replacing water to stop my attacks, but what happens when the blast is big enough to take out all of her water at once!)

Blair forms her magma cannon and points it directly at Sydney.

Blair: There’s no way you can create enough water to stop this.

Sydney: *nasal grunt* Interesting theory.

Blair charges up a lava blast. Madame Mummy readies her bandages.

Madame Mummy: (A point-blank attack? I’m not sure Sydney can stop this. I might have to step in if she doesn’t dodge it in time.)

Blair’s classmates look worried.

Kevin: Uh… did she not learn from last time?

Angel: Yeah, firing off an ultimate attack without thinking didn’t work before. I’m sure it won’t now.

Hayze: She did think. That’s why she fired that barrage.

Kevin: Huh? What do you mean?

Hayze: Those blasts were to see how Sydney’s water wall works. After seeing how it responded to those small attacks, she’s gonna see what happens with a big one.

Aaron: That’s my style of fighting.

Angel: But… will it work?

Hayze: I hope so… (Because otherwise, Blair is gonna be in big trouble.)

Sydney hasn’t moved a muscle while staring down Blair’s cannon.

Blair: This is the end! MOLTEN CORE MELTDOWN!

Blair fires the massive lava blast at Sydney.

Sydney: That’s three, my move.

Sydney snaps her fingers.

Sydney: It’s time to open the floodgates!

Suddenly, water begins rapidly filling the arena.

Blair: What the hell!

The water swallows up Blair’s attack, and it slowly disintegrates as the waves slosh and knock Blair around, slamming her into the forest trees.

Blair: *pained grunts*

Madame Mummy leaps into the competitor’s stands while Sydney activates flotation devices in her shoes, allowing her to stand on top of the water.

Killian: (That’s right, Sydney! Drown the competition! Literally.)

The water eventually reaches the top of the arena’s 100-foot walls, giving it the appearance of a pool.

Sydney: I thought it was time we gave stinky a bath.

Everyone in the crowd, the competitors, the other students, and even the teachers, are shocked.

Kevin: Holy shit!

Angel: What was that!

Aaron: Goddamn!

Hayze: (Blair!)

Blair is floating near the bottom.

Blair: (What the hell! That was so fast, I couldn’t do anything to stop it!)

Blair attempts to swim to the top, but her left arm is broken.

Blair: (AHHH! I can’t… I can’t… swim…)

Blair starts to lose consciousness.

Sydney: She’ll be running out of air soon enough. Just wait for the bubbles to stop.

Madame Mummy stares at the bubbles coming up.

Madame Mummy: (Should I stop the match now? I don’t want to end it prematurely, but this could be Blair’s life in my hands.)

Aaron: Why isn’t she surfacing?

Kevin: Maybe she got hurt during the flood?

Angel: Yeah, if she broke an arm or a leg, then there’s no way she can swim to safety.

Hayze: Madame Mummy, you’ve gotta save her!

Madame Mummy continues watching the bubbles.

Hayze: Hey! Are you listening to me!

Madame Mummy ignores Hayze.

Aaron: Hayze, she’ll save Blair if she has to, but right now-

Hayze: Those bubbles haven’t moved, which means she hasn’t either. She could be stuck or unconscious!

Hayze begins climbing on the railing.

Aaron: Woah, Hayze, stop!

Kevin: You’ll be disqualified!

Hayze: I don’t care! We’ve gotta help her-

The bubbles stop.

Madame Mummy: The winner is Sydney Bowers. Now get rid of this water immediately!

Sydney: Fine.

Sydney snaps her fingers, and the water starts training slowly.

Madame Mummy: That’s not fast enough!

Sydney: That’s as fast as it goes.

Madame Mummy: Fine, I’ll do it myself.

Madame Mummy sends her bandages into the water, grabs Blair’s unconscious body, and brings her into the stands.

Madame Mummy: Don’t worry, you’ll be alright.

Madame Mummy begins administering CPR. Everyone looks worried; eventually, Blair wakes up and coughs up a ton of water.

Blair: *groans*

The crowd breathes a universal sigh of relief. The medics come and take Blair to the infirmary. Killian watches as she is taken away.

Killian: (Like I said earlier, if she knew what she was up against, she would have forfeited.)

The water has completely drained, Sydney starts walking towards the tunnel to a cascade of both cheers and boos.

Angel: She nearly killed Blair.

Kevin: She isn’t even batting an eye about it.

Aaron: Man, what a fucking bitch.

Hayze looks at the bracket as it updates, showing his next match is against Sydney. Hayze clenches his fist.

Hayze: (Looks like I have my work cut out for me.)

Suddenly Justus comes running down the stairs and leaps down into the center of the arena.

Justus: (I’m ready.)

Tobias stands up and leaves.

Kevin: That guy sure is determined.

Angel: He thinks this whole tournament is his now that Silver is gone.

Aaron: Yeah, I hate to say it, but I’m kind of rooting for this 1-B guy to put him in his place.

Hayze: (See, Justus? These guys used to respect you, and now they’re rooting against you. But hey, I’m just the know-it-all.)

Ash returns.

Ash: Hey, I just passed by Blair; what happened?

Aaron: She lost… badly.

Ash: Oh jeez, that Sydney girl must be powerful.

Kevin: Yeah… she is...

Back in the eliminated 1-A students section.

Eve: I hope Blair is okay after that...

Silver: That’s a tough loss; hopefully, her ego isn’t too badly bruised.

Zach and Wes enter.

Karma: Oh, hey guys, welcome back.

Zach: Hey! It’s good to be back; I’m looking forward to seeing some matches. I can’t believe I missed so many.

Lilith: Yeah, a lot of them just rattled off very quickly.

Wes: Oh yeah? They must have been a bunch of blowouts.

Karma: Yeah… they were.

Everyone goes quiet.

Wes: What, was it something I said?

Tobias approaches the center of the arena.

Justus: (He’s blind, but his other senses are enhanced. By how much, I don’t know, but either way, I shouldn’t have much trouble taking care of him.)

Up in the teacher’s section...

Fatal: I hope Blair is okay.

Walker: She should be; Madame Mummy saved her life.

Colossus: Yes, she did the right thing allowing the match to end naturally.

Fatal: Yeah, but it didn’t make me comfortable seeing that happen.

Walker: That’s understandable. I didn’t enjoy watching it either.

Fatal: *sighs* Anyway, what’s the 411 on this match?

Walker: Two of the top students in the hero course are going head to head, and we could see some fireworks.

Fatal: Hm? What do you mean?

Walker: Tobias was let into the hero course by recommendation, just like Justus.

Fatal: Oh, so he must be one of the stronger members of Class 1-B?

Walker: Yes, but I’m referring to something else.

Fatal: What?

Walker: The recommendation process is much different than what other students experience. There are only four spots and two in each class. Recommended students are referred to the school by a pro hero. Justus, for example, had a letter of recommendation written by Colossus. Typically letters written by family members don’t carry much weight, but Colossus was an obvious exception. However, the school still needs to see these students in action before making selections. So, there’s a special entrance exam for them.

Fatal: Not to be rude, but is this going somewhere?

Walker: It is because I proctored that exam, and afterward, something peculiar happened.

Fatal: Hm? What?

Walker: Tobias came up to me and said, “If I’m accepted into this school, please don’t put me in the same class as him.” And he pointed at Justus.

Colossus: What?

Fatal: Did he say why?

Walker: He just said it would be bad for their education.

Fatal: Were there any other details?

Walker: No, we granted his request without much resistance. We like to place 1 male and 1 female recommendation student in each class anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal.

Fatal: I guess these two have bad blood then, huh?

Walker: You could say that, but there was just one thing I couldn’t figure out: Tobias and Justus didn’t go to the same high school, so the entrance exam was the first time they met.

Fatal: Wait, really?

Walker: Yeah… I don’t know what turned Tobias off from Justus, but it was enough to make him not want anything to do with him.

Colossus: (Justus… what did you do?)

Tobias and Justus face off at the arena’s center.

Justus: Are you ready to go?

Tobias: May I ask you a question?

Justus hesitates.

Justus: Yeah... go ahead.

Tobias: Do you remember me?

Justus gets a confused look on his face.

Justus: Uh… no?

Tobias: I thought so.

Justus: Where would I know you from?

Tobias: That’s unimportant. But now I have a follow-up question.

Justus: And what would that be?

Tobias: Are you the son of Colossus?

Justus is taken aback.

Kevin: What did he just say?

Angel: There’s no way that’s right, right?

Aaron: Well, now that he mentions it…

Colossus has a worried look on his face. The crowd is buzzing.

Justus: Why does that matter?

Tobias: It explains why you gallivant around like you’re a god.

Justus: What did you just say to me!

Tobias: The truth.

Justus: *frustrated growl*

Madame Mummy: Begin.

Justus leaps in the air and winds back a punch.

Justus: (If he can’t hear me moving towards him, he’ll never know to dodge!)

Tobias moves slightly to the left, avoiding Justus’ strike.

Justus: (Huh? How did he…)

Tobias: Did you really believe it would be that easy?

Justus charges at Tobias. Tobias leaps into the air and jumps right over him.

Justus: So… you think you can win by avoiding my attacks?

Tobias: No, you’ll defeat yourself for me.

Justus: Alright, you cocky bastard! I’m gonna take you down!

Justus charges him again.

Justus: (This time, when he dodges, I’ll grab his ankle with my free hand!)

Tobias doesn’t dodge; instead, he throws his walking stick at Justus’ legs, causing him to drip and fall into the dirt.

Justus: *pained grunt*

Tobias walks over to his stick and picks it up. Justus gets to his feet, visibly frustrated.

Justus: That was a cheap shot!

Tobias: Maybe you should figure out how my quirk works instead of believing that your punches are an excuse not to strategize.

Justus: I beat Karma through strategy! Don’t give me that crap!

Tobias: You already knew the full parameters of her quirk, so you exploited that knowledge. You don’t know anything about me, which is sad considering we’ve met before.

Justus: (I don’t know what this guy is talking about.)

Tobias: Just so you know, I hate people like you.

Justus: Yeah, and I hate you too.

Tobias laughs.

Tobias: You don’t even know me.

Justus: And you think you know me?

Tobias: I know enough.

Justus: Great, now I know you’re a hypocrite.

Tobias: I hate you because you think your bloodline makes you better than everyone else.

Justus: I don’t think that!

Tobias: From my experience, you do.

Justus: Alright, that’s it! Tell me where I’m supposed to know you from!

Tobias: During the recommended students’ entrance exam, one person blew every other examinee out of the water. The rest of us didn’t matter to him. He competed with such arrogance that he didn’t even remember the person who came second. Of course, I needed to confirm that, so I asked you my question initially.

Justus: So, you finished second, huh?

Tobias: Yes, I did.

Justus: Then what does that have to do with my father?

Tobias: Figuring out who your father is was simple; your quirk is nothing but a cheap hand me down of his.

Justus: Watch your tone!

Tobias: People like you make me sick; you’re no hero, you’re a cocky little bastard that believes he’s the greatest because he is himself. You sit by yourself in between your battles because you don’t value friends enough to try and have any, then when someone calls you out on your shit, you get in a huff and try to turn it around on them. You act like you deserve the same regard and respect as Colossus, but you’ve done nothing to earn that, and more importantly, you’re not even half the man he is. All your anger, lack of respect, and unearned entitlement, it’s all covering the fact that you won’t accept you’re nothing but a bootleg version of your father.

The whole stadium is silent.

Aaron: Damn…

Kevin: That was ice cold.

Hayze: Absolute zero...

Justus begins walking to the forest; he rips a tree out of the ground.

Justus: I’m gonna kill you now.

Tobias smiles.

Tobias: You’re going to try.

Justus chucks the tree at Tobias, who jumps over it cleanly. But Justus leaps at him with a blood-curdling yell.

Justus: DIE!

Tobias smacks him upside the head with his walking stick.

Justus: (What the fuck? What is this thing made out of!)

Justus goes crashing down into the dirt. Tobias lands on the ground safely.

Tobias: Titanium Walking Stick, a helpful weapon.

Justus starts to get back up.

Tobias: None of your attacks are working, and you’re getting frustrated. Perhaps it’s time to rethink your plan?

Justus: I’m gonna hit you… and I’m gonna kill you, that’s my plan. I refuse to let you win this!

Tobias: I don’t plan on winning.

Justus: What?

Tobias: My goal was to make you feel powerless, something that I’m sure you’re not accustomed to, which is why you’re almost foaming at the mouth in frustration and anger.

Justus: And how are you gonna accomplish that? I’m gonna get my hands on you eventually, and when I do, I’ll show you how powerful I really am!

Tobias: Exactly.

Tobias puts his hand up in the air.

Tobias: I forfeit.

The whole stadium is silent; Justus is stunned.

Madame Mummy: The winner is Justus Grey?

The crowd boos Tobias.

Angel: Why did he just forfeit! He had Justus on the ropes!

Aaron: You heard what he said. He wanted Justus to feel powerless… this is how he could do it. He wanted to make Justus look like an immature fool and then forfeit, so he can’t do anything about it.

Kevin: He did what he set out to do.

Hayze watches as Tobias starts heading toward the tunnel.

Hayze: (He heard what Justus and I talked about, and I guess that was the final straw. He dedicated this match and his place in the tournament to putting Justus in his place. Just has been a jerk lately, but I don’t think any of us understand him fully. He didn’t deserve this.)

Justus stands up.

Justus: Don’t you walk away from me.

Tobias keeps walking, ignoring Justus.

Justus: I SAID DON’T YOU WALK AWAY FROM ME!

Justus starts to charge at Tobias, but Madame Mummy restrains him.

Justus: Let me go!

Madame Mummy: The battle is over. If you wanted to fight him, you should have used your time in the match more wisely. Now, are you going to stop, or am I going to have to get further restraints? Keep in mind, Justus, there is a crowd and millions of people watching you on TV right now.

Justus thinks for a moment.

Justus: Fine… I’ll stop.

Madame Mummy releases Justus as Tobias exits the arena. Justus saunters towards the tunnel.

Colossus: (I’m sorry, son… the quirk you inherited from me is powerful, but it also is your curse… I know you’ll never forgive me, nor should you.)