"So." I said as I slumped back onto the couch. "How long exactly until the next round starts? I know there's going to be a few days between rounds nine and ten, but I didn't bother asking how long until nine actually starts." I was sitting with the others, Jessie, Benny, Abel, Mel, and Callie. We'd decided to have one last team meeting before this whole thing became a mess of conflict.

Callie, who was leaning against me on the couch, gave a groan of despair. "Three days. They only gave us three days off. I'm so tired, and my head is killing me. My damn eyelashes hurt."

I chuckled and pulled her against me. "Well that's what happens when you go ape shit on your opponent without caring what it takes."

She glared at me. "I did that because he hit you so hard I was afraid he killed you for a second. The bond sort of...fizzed out. I couldn't sense anything but pain and fear and I was terrified."

"I..." I stared at her. "I didn't know. I swear. It's a low level bond I guess the feedback from the attack was too much for the empathy portion of it. Or maybe I was in shock and you felt that. Either way I'm sorry. I didn't know how scared you were."

Abel groaned. "Can you please save your soulful staring into each others eyes for later when we AREN'T having a meeting? Because if this is just going to be you mooning over each other like usual I don't think we need to really have this one. So what exactly are we doing here?"

Callie groaned again and sat up. "We're here." She said. "To discuss what happens if we end up fighting each other, and exactly how soon that might be coming. They won't be pitting people against their own teams first round, but after that we could easily run into one of our own at any time after."

"She's right." I said grimly. "Granted, early game it probably won't happen. There are one hundred and sixty fighters left on the final bracket, five rounds will bring us to the top five, and they'll be handling it as a separate issue from the current lineups, a big main tournament competition in front of the whole city. Until then our odds for running into each other are slim to start with, but with each round it becomes more and more likely."

"I hope you two aren't expecting me to take it easy on you." Abel said with a smirk. "Because it would be a disservice to my training not to come at you as hard as I can. If we win you get the slots to distribute like we said, as long as the two of us can come along, but which of us actually gets the win depends on who is stronger."

Callie grinned at him. "Which is what I wanted to confirm. We're a team, and we're friends, but from this point on, we're all competitors. Don't share your new abilities, don't share your plans, don't tell us about your tricks." She looked at Benny and Jessie. "And that means no help from you two for any of us. If we're keeping this confined to the tournament we need to do it fair and square. No outside assistance."

Abel's smile couldn't have been prouder. "Well, well, well. Looks like the kids are finally growing up. Agreed. This is going to be one on one. Anything else?"

Shaking her head, Callie called the meeting to a close, and we all headed off on our own. As I walked, I considered what she'd just done. Some might think that little meeting was pointless, but I knew that doing it that way was not only intentional, it was important.

This tournament wasn't just sparring, this would be our first time up against our friends in a battle with stakes, and because of that all of us had our own ideas about how it would go. By setting the standard now she was confirming that none of us were going to hold it against the others if they won, and set a standard of combat so no one felt like they had been taken advantage of.

That said, now that that was all taken care of, we were well and truly on our own. As a fighter who was used to working with people, and one with a support based ability, I was at a disadvantage here, which meant I needed to take the next step on creating my cohesive combat style.

I stepped into the training room, and considered my options.First up was the skills I'd get on my next rank in DS Mastery, which admittedly wouldn't be before next rank. I'd have three new abilities, one in each of my subclasses, and they were all pretty impressive.

Danger sense was an extremely useful divination ability that did exactly what it said on the tin. For my rogue ability I was getting a finishing move, which I only got every other rank, and this one was called Marked for Death, and gave me a single undodgeable hit that landed with twice the damage. Finally my monk ability was called Mountain Stance, and tripled my defense as long as I was standing still on solid ground.

For now though, I needed something to get me through the NEXT fight until my rank up. With Moonlit Night, I had my concealment and some of my combat taken care of, but within that fog, I still had plenty of things to improve on. So with attack and concealment handled, my next big move was going to be mobility.

My main mobility skill was Leaf on the Wind, and since I'd had so much success with my last attempt to merge in an outside Skill, I decided to do it again. I closed my eyes and crossed my legs, breathing in deeply as I triggered Leaf on the Wind. I felt my body...lighten. like I was soaring through the air despite being landbound. Focusing on that sensation I tried to envision moving with Leaf on the Wind. The unbound motion, the speed.

I held that image in my head, and as I did, I began to resonate my Minor Gymnastics Skill. It was weak, but it was also something I associated with motion, something that would let me move about as I wished. I felt the two skills begin to blur as my head started to ache. Strain, just like last time, though not as bad since I had the practice now, began to pound through my brain.

Pushing through, I ignored the pain focusing on recreating what I did with Moonlit Night, and suddenly, I felt the skills give, and then there was that same click and the skill just...changed. Checking my Skill list to make sure, I confirmed that yes, the Gymnastics Skill was officially gone.

Focusing on my DS Mastery, I searched for the subskills and found the one I was looking for. State of Grace. I grinned widely as I felt what it did, and understood I'd gotten exactly what I needed from this one. State of Grace free me from the bonds of gravity, but it also freed me from my natural limitations. It enhanced my speed to double what it was during the five minutes I spend under the skill, allowing me both weightlessness and enhanced movement speed during that time.

It was perfect. With this I would be able to move around inside the mist perfectly and deliver incredibly fast, incredibly powerful strikes. It also meant I only had three more upgrades until I reached Intermediate, and no one else had a clue. I hadn't been keeping anyone up to date on my alterations to this Skill since it had so many parts, and not one of them would see this coming.

I sighed and slumped to the ground, exhausted and in pain. Again. I maybe should have waited until I recovered from the fight to do this, but I'd gotten so fired up by Callie's proclamation. I wanted to win through the tournament and get to the point where I'd be fighting all of them. I wanted to make myself strong enough to beat them all. To beat Abel.

For the first time since I'd started this I felt like I might actually manage to go all the way. I not only had my new powerful subskills, I had stored attacks and the power to use them alongside my skills. If I could create a synergistic system of powers, I could win this. Or at the very least show everyone that I had what it took to get close.

I hadn't realized how much the assumption that Abel would crush me had colored my perception of this whole tournament, because knowing I might possibly be able to win this made my already decent amount of anticipation explode into a bonfire of excitement and restlessness.

Reaching down for my scan ring, I spun it up and called my cousin. Since we couldn't have outside help, I wanted to check and make sure that she and her team actually got in before this all started. After all, they were supplying part of our forces here, since if they won we'd get to go too.

Natalie picked up with a smile, her face appearing with no hood or mask in the floating screen above my ring. "Shane! Judging by the slight smile I'm guessing you made it, and judging by the wince I'm guessing you already started training for the big show."

I laughed. "Good guesses. I was calling to let you know my team made the cut, and to let you know that we decided on a non interference pact, so I won't be able to be in contact much. Aside from being shady I'm going to need all the time I can get to train if I'm going to make it very far on my own."

"I feel that." She said, blowing out a heavy breath. "I have tricks of my own, but I'm not very confident in myself for this. My teammates however, are definitely going to be strong contenders. You better watch out if you fight any of my people. They don't play around."

I laughed at that, and we spent the next few hours just chatting, relaxing and discussing family business and our histories, and just generally getting to know each other better. Aside from time spent with Callie, it was hands down the most fulfilling time I'd spent in a while. Actually bonding with my family, getting to know one of the few people who could understand me.

All good things must end though, I had to say goodbye, and since the call had been to inform her I wouldn't be in contact, I might not speak to her again anytime soon. My best shot would be during the Moonsong Glade trip if we made it, and I made a note to get to know her better when that happened, and maybe to let Callie get to know her too if there was time. It couldn't hurt.

My head, thankfully, had already stopped pounding because of the down time. I climbed to my feet and headed over to the track on one side of the training room, getting ready to get back to work on this. Moonlit Night might be conspicuous to train, but State of Grace would just look like Leaf on the Wind to an outsider, and I needed to be as prepared as possible.

Using my new skill, I felt my body free itself from the bindings that kept slow and chained to the earth, and I grinned as I blurred forward, beginning a mad dash around the track, bouncing off every possible nearby surface as I tried to acclimate myself to high speed three dimensional movement. This was going to be so much fun.