The Statusin beeped and an announcer spoke, "Congratulations, Daniela and Dania! You have won the battle!" it said in a cheery voice.

Somehow I was forced back into consciousness. I could feel it. This wasn't natural.

The room digitized into the familiar grid lines, leaving it empty. I could see the branch in my chest digitize as well. It left a gaping hole in my abdomen and it was spewing blood.

"Carlos!" both of them shouted, running to my side.

"Are you okay?" Dania asked

"I had a fucking branch stuck in my chest!! Read my mind! Look at me! Do I look okay?!" I shouted.

"No..." she said.

"I'm so sorry," Daniela murmured.

"Aura stabilizers engaged," the Statusin announced, "Please excuse the slight delay. The Battle Royal preparations have reduced the amount of energy available for certain commodities."

Immediately, my wound began to close and heal, leaving only a tingling sensation behind. My clothes were cleaned magically.

"Thank you for playing!" it said, "Winners will receive fifty points, enjoy!"

Then my vision blurred again and refocused when we were on the exit platform.

Dania helped me up and I saw Grady and another guy waiting for us.

"You didn't last very long," she looked disappointed.

"Yeah, well, you have to try it," I retorted, "It's not like I had anyone helping me."

"And who is this?" Dania asked.

"Um..."

"You didn't even bother to get his name?" Dania scolded.

"I'm Noah Hayfields," the guy answered. He wasn't much taller than me. He was light-skinned and blond and had lavender-colored eyes. A small five-point star rested on the corner of his right eye, "Can we go sit in the café?"

"Sure, we need to watch the other guys' battles anyways."

So we walked not to far through the crowd and I noticed that Noah covered his face while we waded through the people.

We made it to the quiet café and we sat down at our booth.

"Turn it on, come on," I urged Grady.

A double-sided Statusin opened on a battle between Jozeey and Sabine. I allowed the screen to expand to fifty inches and then move to the side of the table.

"Narration, please," Grady requested.

When the battle began, they both had the fiercest looks on their faces, it was almost funny.

They stood in a savannah where Jozeey used the earth to his advantage. He stomped his feet and made clumps of earth shoot at Sabine, who deflected them with a blob of darkness.

Jozeey must've realized he was achieving nothing, so he raised a tall and long wall of earth and sent it towards Sabine, sending her reeling.

Jozeey took this opportunity to launch more chunks of ground at her, but this time, they all impacted.

As if she were receiving an exorcism, Sabine floated into the air, now limp. She was about fifty meters in the air when she opened her eyes.

They were pure black.

"An unexpected turn of events!" The Statusin narrated. "Sabine has an ability that's specific to fire and dark elementals! You guessed it, Rage Boost. She'll pack a good punch until it wears off."

She made a circular motion above her head with her hands, forming a vortex of darkness. The artificial sky was blocked out, leaving the arena with minimal lighting. With frightening grace, she manipulated the darkness so that it crashed to the ground, moving like a sandstorm.

Jozeey ran in the opposite direction, jumped once, and then began skating on the ground as if he were on ice. As he went along he put up walls of rock that were effortlessly demolished by the oncoming wave.

He saw that his work was pointless, so he stopped and prepared to meet his doom. Facing the darkness, he put up his hands to protect himself.

A radiant yellow cloud sprang from his hands, forming a dome around him. He seemed as surprised as we were.

"Another astounding twist! Jozeey has the ability of cosmobending, and that's starstuff you're seeing there. The essential material that makes up the universe and stars themselves. A very rare talent, indeed," said the Statusin.

From an aerial shot we could see the darkness that Sabine was producing when the starstuff dome abruptly expanded, repelling the darkness.

From the dome, Jozeey flew to the same height as Sabine, completely encasing the arena in the cosmic element. From then, the battle was just who could blast each other the most. It was a spectacular show of darkness and cosmos, but in the end, the brightest won. Jozeey was the victor as Sabine fell from an impact to the chest.

Back in the cafe, I ordered a mango smoothie to calm my nerves.

What I was missing was a couple of fireballs crashing through the window.

From outside the window, in the court, Marco and some other kid in a superhero-type powersuit were fighting.

"She's mine!" shouted Marco.

"Calm the fuck down, dude!" replied the mystery kid, "She obviously doesn't like you more than she likes me!"

God, I thought with an eyeroll, They're fighting over Stacey. Wait until she hears about this.

Before Marco could ruin any more people's lunches, a reflective steel ball came down on Marco gobbled up his body and took him elsewhere.

"He had it coming," I said, sipping at my smoothie in contempt.