Rushing through the bushes and downed logs, Cheveyo found himself struggling against the machinations of Taylor. Not only that but the spirits inside him toiled away on how things should play out, who should be in control, which of the many spirits within him would seize victory!

As he made his way through the woods, a thick fog coated the area ahead of him; someone was waiting. The drones chasing him started to malfunction, energy being sapped away in an instant only to spark electricity, causing them to crash into the ground.

Halting his movements, Cheveyo glanced back to see Drogo dusting himself off against a tree. His body looked bruised, with a few indications of shoe marks planted on his shirt.

“Urgh..Pain. That speed demon…” His eyes slowly turned to see Cheveyo. “Oh. If it isn’t the spirits. Out to play with me now?” A sickening smell emitted from Drogo, the stench of the dead. “Oh, hehe..Ha...I see the spirits within you grow restless. Difficult to control, huh?”

Drogo watched Cheveyo’s body twitch, primarily his eyes and feet. Something inside him wanted to lash out and attack without a plan. The grass nearby started to grow, the ground let out a low rumble. Something in the distance was going on. The other two fighters potentially clashed, yet the rumbling continued until the Wendigo smashed through various trees tackling Cheveyo into the ground again. Saliva flooded from the mouth as it attempted to bite at him.

Drogo found a nearby rock and decided to take a seat. “That’s more like it…Ah~!” This was California’s Sargent, an oddball if there was one, and an indolent one at that. His eyes glanced upward, noticing a flock of birds circling them. It was a variety of birds, ranging from crows, ravens, eagles, and even an owl.

Drogo dug into his ear for a moment while watching the birds fly around, waiting for his summon to devour his enemy knocking him out of the fight. He’d have liked it if this was the techno girl instead. No matter, this one will do nicely. It was harder to catch the speed demon anyway, he thought to himself before the sudden tone of knocking caught his attention.

Yes, the steady knocking of wood somewhere nearby, his mist, however, blocked anything he could see. Begrudgingly, Drogo arose from the rock to look around. The Wendigo kept biting at Cheveyo, the two starting to sink into the ground due to increased pressure.

“Huh…Where’s that sound comin’ from. I bet its that speed demon.” Drogo looked around, squinting his eyes to see until he stumbled across a totem pole. On the pole facing him directly was the face of a bear.

His eyes darted back to see Cheveyo. “Ha…Clever fellow, you are. But, this totem’s not gonna stop me.” Upon turning back to the totem, he realized it was, in fact, a giant bear standing tall on its hind legs. It immediately swiped him to the ground while the birds above flew down and pecked away at the Wendigo. Each strike from the birds released green energy that started to wrap around the creature. Striking a fist through the missing chest of the Wendigo, Cheveyo harnessed the energy wrapping around — The energy tightened and tightened. Before long, the monster was being crushed.

Drogo held his face, blood dripping from his right side. “Gaaah! F-Fine, i’ll get ser-” The bear bite down on his shirt, proceeding to sling him into a nearby tree. “Us..” Drogo didn’t have a good game. It only became more apparent with the sound buzzing in his ear. Yes, a buzz drew closer with the rapid sound of feet pressed against the ground.

“MAKE WAY~!” Jumon elbow slammed into the bear, knocking it over, next sending a solid kick into the wendigo, forcing the tightened energy to collapse. This time he kicked off the creature's head, causing it to collapse onto Cheveyo before it dispersed into black smoke. His sheer speed knocked away the mist in the area, only for beams of light emitted from nearby attempting to strike him.

Jumon dodged upwards to take a stand on a tree branch. From the direction of the beams arrived Taylor. Upon further inspection, all four fighters were here in one area, the perfect place to settle things.

Rising from the sunken ground, Cheveyo was immediately kicked to the side by Jumon. The birds quickly rushed in to try and attack him, but to no avail. Taylor observed the scene before turning to Drogo, who was summoning what appeared to be a phantom behind him.

In her mind, this fight was a pain, to her, a wild goose chase around the forest and back. Perhaps it's best to end it now before they run off again. With the barrier around her still kicking, Taylor expressly set loose her remaining drones to target Jumon and Drogo. She still had her railgun only to decompose the weapon into a black box. This black box was coated with neon red energy dangerous to the touch, so much so that Taylor hurt herself simply grasping the object in question.

The energy continued to accelerate as she forced more and more of her energy into it. Only to toss it out of her barrier and taking off into a sprint. Cheveyo noticed, yet the spirits within him were barking about to attack Drogo immediately, his body struggling to move before forcing control and sprinting off.

Taylor activated her jet boots and continued to keep running. Whatever she did was clearly fatal for even her. Most of her energy being expelled and consumed from conjuring the box.

“Totems, Speed Demons, Phantoms, and Spirits alike. Troublesome… That'll make sure they don’t awaken for a good while!” Frantically pushing up her glasses, Taylor was rushing it beyond the norm, her body in a state of panic as she fumbled through the tree branches with poor flying.

Drogo looked at the strange black box, deciding to move towards it and pick it up. Upon picking it up, the device shocked him — Sapping some of his energy to boot as well! Jumon still occupied with the birds attacking, watched Drogo pick up the box.

“The hell?” His curiosity about the black box got the best of him, then he remembered the tournament from last year. “...That girl… HEY YOU IDIOT! GET AWAY FROM THAT BOX?!”

“Huh?” Drogo lazily stood up before turning to Jumon, yet, he was too late, and the trigger activated. From the black box spewed forth chaotic energy that sparked and flashed throughout the forest, anything coming into contact was instantly burned to a crisp, trees set on fire, the birds giving chase to Jumon all burned down to a skeleton. The two fighters were immediately tossed out of the system.

Cheveyo watched as the energy grew closer, yet it seemed a few stubborn spirits were still tampering with his movements. Many of them buzzing in his head, saying to go this way! No, that way! We must give flight! DIG INTO THE GROUND! The yammerings of these spirits gave him a bad migraine, but even he was too late in reacting. He was caught by the chaotic energy the mere touch nearly burned off his skin before the system kicked him out.

Even Taylor, the one that drew the trigger, was almost caught by her own weapon. If the others had not been tossed out a second too late, she’d be the one out in a self-destruct.

“Winner! Millennium High!” The system called out as all four fighters appeared back onto the machine. Drogo immediately started convulsing as medics rushed over. Jumon kept blinking his eyes; it seemed he was temporarily blinded by the attack.

“Phew…” Sweat dripped off Taylors face only to push up her glasses, green hair fading back into brown. With that, she walked off the machine and back to their team's room.

Heidi, Roy, and Deveron watched a defeated Cheveyo slowly move his legs off the machine. All of them were in disbelief that he lost like that.

“Wow...This is tough… One of those spirits within him must have been too confident.” Roy said.

“Or it was all of ‘em. They like to argue a lot, from what he told me. But to blunder at this stage, something must have got them in a frenzy.” Deveron let out a sigh before looking at Heidi. “You better win this one.”

Heidi arose from her seat, now way more worried than before. It was always Cheveyo that brought home a victory before she stepped up. She always carried the slack from time to time, but things were crumbling fast in her head with no pillar supporting the foundation. The situation of the finals was becoming a nightmare in her eyes. If she lost now, they’d be betraying Reynold’s dream of securing a national victory.

Along with dashing Deveron’s and Alexia’s hope. If either of the two teams with points wins this next one...It was over.

She had to win to prevent this… No, she needed to win!

“Right! I-I’ll give it my best! No, my full power from the get-go!” Heidi clenched her fists as her suppressor started to beep at the activation of her power. Her hands were burning red, only for her to exhaust the heat into the air.

The Sargents match was over and now loomed over the finals was the Lieutenants! The audience started to grow more and more, with the score racking in at 1-1-0-0. A win each for two teams and 0 for the rest.

Jumon made his way back to the room only to intercept Georgia’s Lieutenant, Tate Kingsley!

“Yo, Tate! Sorry about that display, Ha Ha~! But you know how it goes, buddy.” Jumon gave Tate a pat on the back. Still, the man before him adjusted his glasses reached into his pocket, taking out a glove similar to Alexia’s, only it was white in coloration with a silver circle in the center with tiny patterns drawn on it. His school uniform, hidden chiefly by the lab coat, fitted nicely.

“This is why the old captain said you always rushed in with no plan. You were too caught up in enjoying the fight instead of securing a victory.”

“Hey, you can’t blame a guy for havin’ fun. Not like we need to win anyway.”

“No, for we MUST win! If we didn’t, our gracious angel would look down upon us!”

“They were more of a devil if you ask me. But, good luck, buddy!” Jumon waved Tate off.

Tate paid Jumon no mind upon walking out into the entrance. His ears ringed a bit, the announcers were already calling out all the teams, and he was the first to arrive, taking a step onto the machine panel.

From California’s direction, Tate took note of Elsie; the girl had bunny ears trying to poke out from the top of her head, likely a tough fighter that will be dealt with. Then his eyes steered towards starlight’s direction, Heidi… A girl with a very passive singularity. Heat, was it? An easy victory in his eyes. And lastly, his eyes locked onto the most difficult one, Osvaldo, Millennium High’s Lieutenant and captain of the club.

“It’s been a while, Tate. Glad to see you’re still kicking!”

“Indeed. Let’s have a good match.” Ha! A good match? The thought couldn’t be farther from the truth. Tate, filled with conviction, would not enjoy this match. His spirit demanded him to win!

“Fighters at the ready!” The machine called out. Soon the four of them were transferred into the fighting zone.

The sound of waves brushing against a bridge, the beating heat from the sun pounding against Tates skin, when his vision properly kicked in, the bridge he was situated on was made out of marble, with two gates at the ends miles apart. He was stationed in the center, but in front of him, standing near the bridge's gate, was Heidi.

“Let’s get to work then.” Tate tightened his gloves — Yet, this couldn’t have been a bad matchup. Not even a minute into the fight, the heat was already getting unbearable.