Two hours had passed since the starting match of the finals only for the 2nd match to end in a victory for Starlight. Tommy, who had been careless in his speed, wasn’t gifted in adapting to the many pantheons of Cheveyo. This surprised many within the stadium. Having been a fan-favorite, the fight that produced between the two warriors equated to a one-sided struggle. With the 3rd match soon underway within the next hour, the time had arrived for the lunch period as people filtered out of the stadium.

As for the teams, Starlight, in particular, couldn’t be in a celebratory mood since the next match would end their little tie-breaker with East Bridge. However, for lunch, Reynolds was cooking, having served up burgers for the team during Cheveyo’s match.

“I present to you all, The Reynold’s Burger!” He acclaimed while revealing a spectacle of six burgers. The only downside was he used up most of the ingredients provided for the entire day with this whole set.

“Whoa! No way, we get to eat this?! I didn’t know you were such a chef, Teach.” Roy, still sore from his match, looked in awe at the food in front of them. Without even a moment of hesitation, he grabbed one and took a bite.

“Oh, come now. I’m a grown man. I know what I'm doing to take care of myself.” Reynolds didn’t seem to like that thought that his students didn’t expect him to pull something off like this.

“He does have a point though, Teach.” Deveron took one bite. To say the least, he was pleased with it, similarly to Roy.

“I wasn’t expecting you to use all the reserve ingredients, though.” Heidi looked over at Roy to see he was almost finished with his already. Fast eater, though her worries weren’t primarily on Roy, mainly herself for the next match.

Alexia had made it back to the room prior to getting lost again for about 30 minutes wandering around in the crowd. Surprisingly, no one stopped to ask her about the next match. It seemed people were too busy focusing on Cheveyo’s match to care. Or simply, she was still an unknown factor in the eyes of the public. It made sense, but this would be more common if they made it to the nationals with only a few eyes watching closely. The burgers in front of her were terrific, having taken a bite out of one as well.

After Roy finished his, Heidi immediately broke off a part of her’s and gave it to him. She didn’t seem to mind much. Alexia looked at the two curiously; they were already close, not only that they seemed to have a stellar bond. She was amazed they weren’t dating or, in reality, they didn’t seem to.

“You aren’t going to eat it all?” Alexia asked Heidi.

“I’m not entirely hungry, so I’ll be fine.”

“Isn’t going into a match on an empty stomach bad?” Though Alexia was a bit confused at Heidi’s reasoning, she didn’t feel the need to keep prying. She had gone through half her burger already feeling full herself.

“Actually, I see what you mean. Teach made these burgers big enough to fill us up.” Alexia leaned back in her seat, peering over at the T.V. as it began to showcase advertisements from around America. Nothing struck out to her as impressive until one commercial showcased one of the pro-fighters in the professional league. Specifically, Pearl is still in gothic attire, but more appropriate for a dance or ball party. Next to her was another woman around Pearl’s age. She was a bit shorter in height with short brunette hair and emerald green eyes with glasses in similar attire to Pearl. Throughout the commercial, she never spoke, only gesturing her hands as they promoted a drink from the looks.

“Urgh… Pretty sure that’s sign language.” Alexia muttered before Cheveyo peaked at the T.V. also.

“It is. That’s Paige Braun if I recall. Pearl’s partner in duo matches. She can’t speak apparently, or so I heard, but uses sign language to communicate.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there were double matches.” Alexia turned to Cheveyo quickly, excited at the idea of fighting with a partner instead of alone. However, this team-based tournament was already good enough for the partner setting.

“It’s rare, but it can happen.” Reynolds entered into the conversation. “Paige is a nice woman when you get to know her, just don’t expect her to do much in an actual fight.”

“What do you mean by that?” Alexia looked back at Reynolds.

“If you guys put in more effort and win the tournament, maybe I’ll introduce her to you all.”

“There he goes again with his connections.” Deveron finished his food, listening in to the conversation. He had heard about this Paige before also, but similar to Pearl, there wasn’t a ton of info on them since they only recently appeared in the public's eye. Took it by storm too, though in Paige’s case, Pearl overshadowed them in popularity. Deveron wanted a chance to fight them too similar to Pearl, but it might end up the same way as his first encounter with the pro-fighter.

A sound defeat. Something Reynolds took into account when contacting Pearl with her singularity being a counter to the majority of the team. His real mistake was not allowing Alexia to fight her, but this would be resolved in due time. For now, The team needed to focus on the finals — with time moving on, the lunch period ended, and the lieutenant’s match was finally starting.

Heidi adjusted her uniform correctly, making sure no specs or marks were on it. Along with a full stomach and motivation through the roof. She lightly tapped her face, looking at the doors exiting the room.

“Go get ‘em, Heidi!” Roy cheered on despite losing his match, he had to make up for it by at least rooting for his teammates. Cheveyo gave his approval and Deveron along with Alexia gave her a thumbs up.

“Righto~. I’m off!” Making her way through the door, Heidi marched down to the stadium. Along the way, cameras filled the halls, all aiming directly at her. She put on a show for them, a generous smile that brightened the camera crew's day.

“Welcome back, everyone! To the finals between East Bridge and Starlight! The lieutenant's match is just underway, but let’s introduce our fighters this time around!” Joel’s voice echoed from the speakers around the stadium.

“Hailing from the high hills of Idaho! Her bright and sunny smile will melt anyone away, Heidi Graham once more will show us what makes her a lethal opponent!” Immediately, Joel’s spotlight of introducing the fighters was interrupted by Pearl.

“Alas, Her opponent is someone of a more refined taste. Known as the ‘Sharpshooter,’ Caitlin Dean once more graces us with their skill and accuracy. With this match, we shall see who shall finally come out against this tie-breaker.”

Heidi reached the double doors hearing the crowd outside; she was nervous still even after their greeting early this morning. Mustering up the courage, the doors opened up, and she began to walk down the red carpet to the massive machine. Upon further inspection, Caitlin was already there with the same suitcase only this time it was being inspected by Lyn.

Within the case was a compound bow, no sign of arrows, just a simple bow. Lyn gave it back to Caitlin, who moved the suitcase over towards foundation members that managed to catch it. Now only with her bow in hand, her attention turned towards Heidi on the opposite side. She tightened her bandage around her waist then waited for the machine to start.

Heidi felt a bit intimidated, but as the machine proceeded to kick into action and their suppressors dropped to the floor, the intimidation factor became less of a worry. Her vision became blinded by the particles of light emitting from the machine and when it cleared. There Heidi stood in front of the city’s town hall, parts of it ruined likely from Cheveyo’s fight with Tommy. Pieces of rubble scattered in front of her leading towards a park not far from her location.

Heidi looked upward towards the sun; it was in the 2 O’Clock position relating to the exact time when they entered. The heat in the area intensified, though she was unaffected by it as a light heat wave swept the city. In the distance, seeing one of the skyscrapers collapsed against another, likely the location of where Roy fought. Before she could figure out where her opponent was, she decided to play the waiting game and rushed towards the park.

From the window of a nearby building, Caitlin poked her head out, aiming her fingers in Heidi’s direction. Bow in hand, She adjusted it without any arrows or a quiver insight. Nothing occurred. After a few seconds the heat from outside slowly increased.

Then, her hair proceeded to lift upward slightly as an electric force tugged on the area. On the bow, a yellow arrow manifested itself sparking electricity each passing second. The width of it slowly expanded the longer she held the shot.

Then, release!

Breaking through the window, the arrow of light whirled its way through the city street, past the tree line only for the shot to miss Heidi impacting the town hall behind her. Having now spooked Heidi, she hid behind a tree, turning to see what was left of the town hall. The entire building was eradicated, nothing more than rubble thrown about into the buildings behind it.

Caitlin stepped out into the street, continuing to look in the direction of Heidi. Once more, she readied their bow, only this time aiming it upward gauging the wind speed. Another arrow of light manifested onto the bow this time, radiating electricity as it bounced off Caitlin’s body.

This time launching the arrow up into the sky, Caitlin knew her opponent got stronger the longer the match was drawn out. The heat increasing rapidly around the city had been a constant complaint from Heidi’s previous opponents. While it wasn’t in Caitlin’s best interest to research her opponent, they did so last night having gone through a few matches involving Heidi. The wind picked up the pace, blowing the heated breeze past Caitlin, Heidi’s eyes fixated on what had just been launched into the sky.

“[Heaven’s Javelin!]” Caitlin shouted, reaching her hand into the air and balling it. The sky split in two with an extremely bright light. The light of heaven graced the city with Heidi covering her eyes. As if an army of angels descended upon the battlefield, hundreds of arrows rained down upon the city, each bolt striking the ground forming craters and collapsing buildings.

In a single move, Caitlin decimated a part of the city they were in, all of the arrows avoiding her location. They formed an outer circle outside her presence while buildings crumbled nearby. With all that out of the way and dust being swept up by the wind, Caitlin took a moment to breathe.

She waited — Having exhausted a good amount of energy from that attack standing there motionless only to realize the match wasn’t ending.

“Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy… “ Caitlin looked at her hand, having counted to five only to lower one of her fingers to show three. “Thirty...Twenty-Nine… Twenty-Eight.” The countdown began.

The searing heat intensified, from the ruined park Heidi managed to avoid the barrage only thanks to how inaccurate they were. The tree she hid underneath almost collapsed on top of her. On the bright side, she now knew which direction Caitlin was in — steam began to emit from her hands quickly. Heidi jumped over the tree and hurried out of the park charging at Caitlin.

Closing the distance, Heidi’s hands heated up more steam coming out in the process.

“Ten…. Nine.” With the countdown nearing its end, Heidi ignored it.

Her hand cracked across Caitlin’s face, heat searing into the side of her mouth, then another one on the next side, the sound echoing across. “Five… Four.” Heidi gave it her all continually slapping ruthlessly at her opponent, she wasn’t confident in actually punching them. The technique she used with the heat on the palm of her hand, forming a steamy fog around their heads. Caitlin’s face turned bright red from the heating impact, even beginning to bleed from the side of her mouth. “Come… On!” Heidi desperately attempted to make Caitlin budge, their body still in the same place taking the hits until finally.

“One…” Caitlin reached for Heidi effortlessly, picking the girl up only to toss her into the nearest shop. Heidi caught herself from completely collapsing only to be hit in the shoulder by one of the arrows that were just sent out after being thrown. It didn’t leave a mark fading away upon impact only to give her a jolt of electricity paralyzing her.

Viewers around the stadium, even from their homes far away, watched an overview of the battle viewing the battered city. Such devastation, at least from the continued fighting from six fighters thus far. Regardless of who would win this match, it set a note for those watching that the matches leading up could potentially feature the fan-favorite Gabriel Harper.

“That was risky of Caitlin.” Tommy laid across the sofa once more, still feeling sore from his matchup against a ton of spirits. It didn’t help that his singularity didn’t quite make the cut against it.

“Not risky enough, Had she done it with a little more power, her enemy would be out immediately.” Vincent once more getting into specifics.

“And have her be on cooldown for even longer? I’m pretty sure those slaps hurt.”

“Resilience comes a long wa-” Vincent immediately interrupted by Gabby wrapping her arms around his shoulder.

“Now, Vince. What did we say about your technical talk? Tell you what, after her match, you can show them we’re the rightful champions, right?”

“If you mean, go out there and wow the crowd, then you know me well.”

“I’m pretty sure Daniel already did that, though I’m sure someone of your caliber can excite them. So instead of you raining down on us about what we should and shouldn’t do. Go win your match, and I’ll see to it the school funds your little project.” Gabby looked a bit mischievous when speaking about Vincent’s little project. It wasn’t anything significant; instead, it was for future employment into the foundation through data collection.

“Don’t flatter me, you know it won’t even be a challenge.” Vincent continued to watch the match between Caitlin and Heidi. The match started to take place through an office complex, arrows occasionally wheezing past Heidi. The entirety of her left arm was numb while control over it didn’t completely vanish. Her plans for a more ample defense seemed to have shattered because of it.

Once more, the heat around the city intensified. Sweat became more apparent on Caitlin’s face, and as for Heidi, her body started to energize itself from the intensity.

“I’m running out of time… If this keeps up, I’ll faint.” Caitlin made a mental note, after seeing Heidi run out of the building. Instead of chasing her like anyone else would, Caitlin decided to climb up a flight of stairs in the building heading to the roof.

Kicking down the door to the roof, Caitlin felt the harsh heating wind brush against their face only to see the visible heat wave move through. Worsening by the second, the match needed to end fast and for the better.

Caitlin shut her eyes, focusing on her opponent's energy signature, this technique of finding someone wasn’t easy. It required patience and time, along with nothing to disrupt your concentration. Useful in a team match with more than one person on each side fighting. Readying her bow, She aimed it upward towards the sky once more. Taking the wind speed into consideration once more, an arrow of light formed against the bow pulled back with strength as it charged up.

While the arrow charged up electricity bounced off, it began to wrap around the building discharging currents of electrical power onto the streets below. Caitlin’s eyes still closed, moved her head and body in the direction of Heidi’s energy signature. Complete concentration while the temperature finally reaches heat stroking levels.

“[Scatter.]” Gently muttering a single word only for the tension in the air to reach a critical point. Heat wrapped around the arrow of light upon its release warping the space between Caitlin and Heidi. It was swift and only lasted two seconds from the moment of release to impact. Without even a hint of hesitation nor warning, the arrow struck Heidi through the chest. The system reacted rapidly, forcing Heidi out first. Her body materialized back into reality collapsed against the panels of the machine with foundation medics rushing over to her.

“Looks like… I.. hit?”Caitlin let out a sigh of relief before her vision became a blur due to the heat only for her to faint upon exiting back into reality.

“Unbelievable! A double knockout!” Joel’s voice echoed throughout the stadium with the crowd going wild at the results of this match, sadly due to the rules of elimination, Heidi struck out first, thus resulting in Starlights loss.

“An unfortunate result for Starlight, the victory goes to East Bridge!” Joel commented, glancing over to Pearl, seeing how she fared. Pearl didn’t have much to discuss at this point, having fought Heidi herself before the tournaments. A nasty ability that can control heat.

“Seems she refined it a bit.” Pearl muttered. Pearl imagined that with a bit more training, Heidi would go on to be one of the more dangerous people to fight. The fact that the heat accumulated quickly piqued her interest. “Maybe it's more than just the heat?” This time Pearl questioned it out loud before realizing Joel was next to her.

“Ahem, I apologize, but this was a marvelous match. We saw a singularity that warps the environment and one that confounds it go toe to toe. But, alas, it seems destructive power came out on top once more.” Pearl grimaced the thought of the next match because of that. Her attention turned towards the two fighters knocked out, Heidi, due to shock from the arrow which no longer impaled her, and Caitlin fainted due to intense heat. Wounds gone, and the foundation medics tending their quick recovery, the next match only accelerated the audience's anticipation.

“Hmph. She’s lucky that shot landed. If not, we’d be down one point. And it would be up to me to take it back.” Vincent rose from his seat, preparing himself for the match ahead. Gabby seemed concerned, however, about Vincent's stance for the next match.

“Now...Vinny. I know you’re confident, and all, but Caity did struggle. Win or lose, just go have fun, yeah?”

“Fun? Listen, we’re here to express ourselves before the crowd. That and the prize for this year's nationals I heard it's gonna be bigger than ever. Even more reason to win.”

“Yeah~! So like I said, time to have fun, right?” Gabby’s smug expression only confused Vincent the more he looked at her. This tomboy of a captain that always trains in her off-time expresses the notion of ‘fun.’ Though, the sport of singularity stopped being fun a long time ago, at least to him.

“To each their own, I’ll have fun, alright! Next time you see me. It’ll be through this door with a WIN!” Vincent opened the door and proceeded out of the room. Daniel and Tommy were glued to the monitor showcasing Deveron approaching the ring who, like always, was a crowd favorite garnering plenty of people to watch his match.

Gabby, on the other hand, wasn’t interested in Deveron, but her expression altered to that of pained boredom. It didn’t seem anyone on her team understood her definition of ‘fun’ after all, none of them could compete on her level. Though Daniel came the closest.

All that could be said coming out of her mouth were the simple words of “Idiot.”