Young Bloods(IC, Reboot Open)

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

The coach dedicated the pair's names into his memory. From what he gauged, both of them looked quite capable. Bael looked as if he took very good care of himself, even if he sounded a little nervous about being here. He'd seen it happen to plenty of people. Sina seemed quite a bit more confident in her ability, even going as far to ask if they were going to be up against legitimate professionals. He didn't know what made her think that she was that good at it, but he had to admit that if nothing else, she had spirit. "You won't be going up against professionals, no. That would be unfair to you and everyone else. If you do well here, you might be selected to go see if you get the chance to become a professional."

Bael looked a little more relieved. He looked to be in good shape, but maybe he's never raced with others before. Sina seemed disappointed, which made him more interested. She clearly had confidence in her skill, but he'd never seen her before. Was she one of those who came to the city after it had erupted? "We'll be starting soon. Since you two seem new, let me go over the rules." He said, leading them outside. Showing the "course" which looked more like an obstacle course that took place mid air rather than a simple race track. Several obstacles included some rings that looked just big enough for two, maybe three to fly through at one time. Some barriers placed in such a way to force you to have to weave between them placed in a oval shape around the arena.

"This isn't not a contact sport. Obviously bumping into each other can and will happen, but don't do it intentionally. You're to try to get through all of obstacles without crashing into them. Don't worry if you smack into one, there's plenty of runes that will keep you from falling to your death. Though it'll put you out of the race. Stay on the course, you're supposed to go through the obstacles, not around them. Three laps. First three win a little bit of money. Any questions? If not, feel free to go stretch or warm up." He motioned.

"Not from me." Bael replied and looked around as he made his way out. There were others who were stretching out their wings and practicing their launching. He had to admit that as fun as it looked, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to do the obstacles that well. He was fast, maybe even a little more so than Sina, but she had so much more control than he did.

Casimir, Sept 12

So far the fight seemed to progress fine. He'd gotten a solid blow or two in and so had Casimir, though he was caught completely off guard when Casimir shot what looked and he hoped to be spider web. Which stuck to his shoulder, the bug hero using that leverage to fling himself and smash his knee into Wyatt's nose. It didn't feel like anything broke, but It definitely hurt.

Wyatt staggered back, hand gripping his snout where a little blood trickled. He was trying to avoid doing anything that would draw blood since they did have several days of fighting pro heroes ahead of them. He could just concede and be done with it. Conserve his strength, but for the first time in a while, he didn't listen to his common sense and his ego had already taken over. He wanted to win this fight.

His hands gained the familiar yellow glow. Several large stones that had surrounded the pair as they fought, all shot towards Casimir, more intending to restrain him by burying him than actually bludgeon him. It took every fiber of his being to avoid making a rock pun.

[New Neros]

The Thraxian Invasion
The Sun, Moon, and Stars

August 25th
Cosmic

An unbridled rage-infused punch knocked Champion Thurmond’s head to the side violently, a red-faced and screaming Darklight hitting him in the temple over and over with her moon-lit infused hands. He slumped to the side as his jaw became dislocated after a significantly harsh blow, but Darklight’s real target was the brilliant bright light the Thraxian was holding. She jutted both of her hands out and grabbed the conduit, prying it from the alien’s hands and breaking a finger or two as she did, unrepentant in her boldness. With the Ultra Force in one hand, Darklight hugged onto Cosmic and pushed forward with as much might as she could muster, flying the pair a significant distance from the Champion.

Stopping in a side-street downtown, Darklight gently rested Cosmic’s bleeding frame against a wall and breathed rapidly, the girl in a panic over the sheer amount of crimson liquid coming from her friend. “It’ll be okay, it’ll be okay, it’ll okay, I promise. Hey, look, look at me!” Darklight said quickly, quietly, placing a gentle hand on her friends’ pale face, his eyes fading in and out of consciousness. “Can I just… Can I just put it in?” She asked, looking at the sparkling ball of energy she was holding, not wanting to wait for an answer as she gently brought the conduit into Mark’s open chest, closing her eyes tightly as the blood spilled around her hands. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please don’t hurt.”

Cosmic groaned in a gutteral manner, liquid filling his lungs and throat, but he was still able to give some direction to Darklight to make the return of his energy conduit successful. “You need to... “ He said, breathing slow and methodically to speak as clearly as possible, “You need to close my chest when you put it in. I can…” He paused, swallowing some of the blood filling his mouth. “I can replace some of my blood with the Ultra Force, but you need to stop…” He did the same once more, before continuing. “Stop the bleeding until I can power up... “ He leaned his head back and closed his eyes, Darklight holding the energy sphere deep in his chest, feeling his organs move and shift next to her fingers and back of her hands. She thought quickly, and began to form a solid white plate over Cosmic’s ribcage, reinforcing his broken ribs and slowly stifling the torrent of blood loss. She slowly turned the conduit loose and slid her hands out from her energy capsule. A bright light burned in Cosmic’s chest for a moment, the young hero taking a deep breath without warning, startling Darklight.

“Holy fuck,” Were the first words from Cosmic, “Everything slowed down and I got really comfortable where I was sitting.” He explained, reaching up and touching the energy plate across his chest, seeing the shining light of the Ultra Force glow bright beneath it, “That’s the closest I ever got to dying, I think.” He continued, looking at his friend Ava, who seemed to be holding back tears. “Oh, oh Darklight, no, it’s okay, you did good, I’m here, I’m safe, you were right, everything is okay, just like you promised.” He said with a laugh, sending the young girl over the edge and into a full sob. “Wha-what’s the matter?” He said, reaching out to touch his friends’ shoulder, but she slapped it away.

“A year ago you told me you wanted to die. Not in some existential dread meme or something, but that your life was worthless and you wanted out.” She yelled and cried at the same time, “And it hurt me so bad because… Because I don’t…” She struggled to get her words out, but they came eventually as Cosmic watched with pained expression. “I don’t want to lose the only friend I have. No one liked me, no one wanted to talk to me, I was a weirdo and I ate alone in the bathroom.” She wiped her tears and whimpered a bit, “Why… Why do you want to die so bad?” She asked, looking deeply at Cosmic, who was also welling with tears.

As the teen began to cry as well, he placed both hands on his head and pressed his temple hard. “I’m just a waste of space,” He began, “I can barely do anything right and it hurts me so bad that I can’t just do the things I set my mind to. I want people to like me and no one even cares that I exist. Before I met you, I.. I wanted to die every day I woke up. I was so lonely, but I saw you, and I saw…” He said, sniffling hard and burying his head in his knees. “I saw someone lonely like me, and I couldn’t stand thinking someone else could feel as bad as me.” He looked up at Darklight, his eyes red and his cheeks dripping with tears, “If I could save one person, that would be enough, and I could be a hero.” He started to break down more, sobbing uncontrollably, “But I can’t do that right, because you’re always the one saving me.”

As the teens shared their emotional connection, Champion Thurmond stirred from his stunned state, pushing himself off of the dirt and stumbling away from the park, heading into the downtown area in search of the interloper girl and the mortally wounded Cosmic, clutching his wounded side and closing one of his eyes as it had swollen up significantly. The soft cries of two teens caught his ears, and the alien invader made his way to where both Cosmic and Darklight had hidden for a moment. “It must pain you to lose.” He yelled, alerting the two of his presence, “To use all of your strength and power and still come up short. To be at the end of your rope and find nothing at that end. You do not know pain like I know it, to have everything ripped away from you, the sheer powerlessness you feel that had you been there, you could have saved everyone. I am the Champion of my people, and I failed them all. The only thing pushing me forward is avenging them, but you have been a worthy opponent, you have earned my respect.”

Darklight stood first and flashed her wild eyes at Champion Thurmond, Cosmic slowly sliding up the wall to face him once more, narrowing his brow at the Thraxian. “Then what?” Cosmic asked, clenching his fist and pushing his body off of the wall. “Kill me, take my Ultra Force, go and fight the Corps, right? They will come down in such impossible ways, neither you nor I could even comprehend it. The Ultra Corps are terrifying monsters that patrol interstellar space and issue out their own brand of justice, they’ve made countless enemies and eradicated every last one of them. What good does it serve you to join that number of slain? What good does it do you to join the rest of your kind?”

Champion Thurmond grunted, and nodded at the questions Cosmic had. “Would you believe me if I told you that I want to see my wife and children again? Whether I perish here or somewhere in the cosmos locked in battle with the ones who took them from me, I know in my deepest soul that I will see them just once more. A single time, that’s all the universe should gift me, it’s the only thing I’ve ever asked for in my existence. I will not stop unless I can no longer move, so long as you bear the name of the Ultra Corps, you will be my enemy, mighty Terran warrior.” To this, Cosmic snapped to attention, and walked forward past Darklight to face Champion Thurmond, standing just a few feet in front of him, staring up at the broken face of a man who had experienced total and complete loss.

Staring each other down for an entirely too long span of time, Cosmic suddenly dropped down to both of his knees, earning a look of surprise from the Champion, and a look of concern from Darklight. “I don’t want to fight you anymore, Champion.” He began, looking down at the pavement and then back up at the warrior. “What you’ve experienced is beyond what I have, I never had anything to lose in the first place, until I was reminded of everything I want to fight for.” He said, looking back at Ava for a moment, returning his gaze. “I cannot atone for whoever massacred your people, it makes me so fucking mad just thinking about it, but I do not want to be your enemy. You have a greater calling and purpose in life than myself.” He placed his hand on his white-energy laced chest, directly over his source of power. “Take my conduit, and annihilate whoever had the nerve to destroy your people. I will help you in any way I can, but I do not want to be your enemy, nor do I want to serve a Corps that readily sentences an entire species to death.”

The action was moving, and Champion Thurmond stirred on his feet, shifting them side to side as emotion welled up in his blue face. “How mighty can one be, Cosmic?” He asked, looking back at the young man, seeing a parallel between his own deceased son and the man willing to give his life away for the sake of others. “Keep your conduit, keep your life, your friends, your world, everything. I do not need them to fulfill my purpose.” He had looked from Cosmic to Darklight a few times, watching as the girls’ face spoke plain as day, stating with no misunderstanding that if Thurmond so much as touched Cosmic, he would be torn limb from limb. The large Thraxian folded his legs down and sat in front of the kneeling Cosmic, still looking over him by a large margin. “But, due to the loss of my subordinates, I will need new allies in tracking down the killer of my people. Are you willing to fight against your own Corps if they are at fault?”

Determined, Cosmic nodded firmly. “Without doubt. I do not want to lose the things I care about most, and to see you lose them, I just…” He began to tear up again, stuffing down his emotions and clenching his teeth fiercely. “I want to eviscerate every single soul responsible. You can count on me to be there when we find the Corpsmen at fault.”

“Count me, too.” Darklight said, Thurmond nodding at her inclusion, “I want to have some space adventures of my own.”

“Then, I must take my time to prepare and rest. I was a fool to charge in at the first Corpsmen I found, I want to gather as much data as possible and plan my next several moves. May I remain in my spaceship in orbit while I do so?” Cosmic agreed, though, informing Thurmond to check in with the authorities on Earth in regards to an extended stay. “Of course, of course, you are welcome to join me on my station whenever you wish. I suppose you would enjoy a visit now, though, in order to fully repair your body?”

Cosmic smiled wide, standing up despite his wobbly knees, reaching out a hand to grasp Thurmond’s own. “Absolutely. Welcome to Earth, Champion.” He said, adding, “Welcome to my homeworld, friend.”

[Galnius]

Fahcelkel
Pre Time Skip

Arin thought about Mika’s proposal for a slumber party. It seemed childish at first but she is reminded of her own loneliness as a kid and took pity on Mika. “Sure,” Arin agreed though she still sounded hesitant.

“When do you want to start the slumber party?” the redhead asks, “I’ll have to tell my dad about it.”

Mikaela
Mika was taken aback slightly by Arin reluctantly agreeing, wondering why this was, once again, going easy. It actually had her a little flustered, as she had only planned on pretending, after all. "We-well...uh...I don't actually have anything for one..." said the dark haired girl. "Give me, like...uh...10 minutes if you actually want to."

Without waiting for a reply, Mika pulled out a photo of her room and quickly fled with her powers. Once back in her safe haven, she took a deep breath. "Alright, don't panic. It's unlikely she's a serial killer, and she seems nice enough. But...what about her dad?" Mika thought for a bit, remembering very little in regards to Arin's dad's job. "Crap. Yeah, maybe not the best idea without a way to fight back. Do I just say no? Or is there another option?"

Mika thought for a few minutes, hoping something would come to mind. Luckily it did, but she had very little hope it would work. Taking out her phone, she sent out a text, whilst putting away her wide array of pictures. Can't get my mom's permission. Could i bring u here? Hitting send, she hoped to no end that she hadn't screwed everything up. People were difficult, and every day she was finding that she was no exception.

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

August 6th

Dan Alpha
Somehow, in moments, the amazingly perfect party fell apart. The Outriders, who somehow showed up to his event were falling apart. It seemed even they thought Vendetta was dead. That...that couldn't actually be true, could it? Wasn't it just a vicious anti-Outrider rumour? And now one was walking away, claiming the team was over before Dan even officially joined. It...it wasn't his fault, right? No...that's just not how things worked.

Pulling up the incredible optimism and denial of both his own worries and those of others, Daniel recovered to address the dragon girl. "Who...who needs that guy anyway, right? We...we'll just make our own team. Yeah! That's what we'll do. And it'll be better than the Outriders. How does that sound kid?"

[North America Inc]

-Renata-

Shihong Smith
“Renata …” Shi uttered as she finally turned her full attention over to her teammate. “What do you want me to say? There’s nothing I can do to end your own victim complex. Your own, little narrative where I have been nothing but a monster to you.” Tightening the grip around her phone and shifting her body over to Renata, who very obviously did not want to hear it, “You’ll always be a saint who somehow is simply...misunderstood by the rest of the team...a gift to the world that has to only deal with me. Until the end of the story where I finally get the punishment I deserve. Presumably you’ll be the one to do it…”

No one said anything for a few seconds as the airplane roared to life and began to lift into the air. “Despite the fact you’re the one to threaten a stranger. Despite your tantrums and schemes with Elle. Despite you trying to kill me that one time and you’re petty anger that I had the gall to stop you, I’m the bad guy here…” Shi enunciated the point with some air quotes, “So I am rather curious what you really want me to say?”

Shi tilted her head and raised her pitch, “I’m sorry Renata for everything.” And just as quickly her head snapped back into place, “Is that it? No of course not. After that last fight you’ll always hate me now. And we both know why…You should of won. You had everything going for you. Yet we both know....” Shi lowered her voice, slithering next to her ear and whispered, “I’m the one girl who beat you.”

[Finland SSR]

Shihong Smith

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

September 12th

---

Any single one of Shi's sentences, taken out from the whole cascade, would have been frustrating enough for Renata to hear - but the creepy lean forward and whisper in her ear was the final straw. It took every single fiber of Renata's being to not slap Shi straight across her smug face or give her eyes the Carter treatment, especially since she could probably get away with it - after all, her teammate was committing some serious invasion of privacy right now. But she managed - and instead, she merely pressed on Shi's nose with her finger and pushed her away.

"Okay, first of all..." Renata began, after she stopped shivering from disgust. "It's really rich of you to speak of what happened between us as if you were in the right, while also doing so with an attitude as attractive as a cactus. I'm sure someone would find getting berated and annoyed from every possible angle endearing rather than completely insufferable."

Renata turned her face away from Shi, with a stiff upper lip. "And second of all..." She released a brief sigh, pausing for a few seconds, then continued with the most sarcastic and patronizing voice she could muster. "Fine, I'm sorry that I almost shot you and left you for dead, mierda, is that gonna leave you happy?"

---

Viviana Couture September 12

Mizuma Ishiwara, the trickstery Selene!

September 12th

---

"Whatcha talking about, I'm right here!"

The confused Mizu at the back of the plane, carrying several bags in her hands and on her shoulders, suddenly turned transparent and vanished entirely, and the purple girl instead appeared on the seat behind Vivi and Ash, having been sitting there for the last minute or so and waiting to activate the prank on her friend. That wasn't all - Mizu was not just sitting, she was taking advantage of Ash being distracted by the 3DS and working on the insect heroine's hair.

She quickly slid one of her hair clips in and secured a flowing ponytail, then peeked in over one of Ash's shoulders and spoke:

"There ya go! Now you can show yourself off to all the boys!" With that out of the way, Mizu turned her head to Viv. "What ideas have you got? My options are pretty limited - we're on a plane and I can't exactly go crazy with all the illusions..."

---

Bael

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

August 8th

---

Alright, so, this wasn't just a race to the finish line - this was a full blown obstacle course. All of the competitors would have to keep not just the time and speed in mind, but to make sure that they don't hit any of the rings or barriers, either. So, it's going to be a lot more difficult than the race she and Bael had earlier, but... at the same time, it was a lot more interesting.

And Sina simply couldn't wait.

"Just let me fly, dammit!" she exclaimed as soon as the shortie coach asked if they have any questions, then made her way out in leaps and strides. "Come on, Bael! Maybe they'll give us a headstart if we make our way there before everyone else!"

It was going to be interesting to see how he does in the race, actually. His innate abilities granted him some impressive speed, but this was going to be a match of skill and reflexes more than it would be one of speed. Is he going to do just as well there?

---

Dan Alpha

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

August 6th

---

Sina continued staring towards the stairs, a solemn, bitter expression on her face. She could tell that Isaac was struggling to remain in the team ever since all of them lost Vendetta - but she didn't think it could culminate in something this dramatic. He started working alone more often and got into conflicts with Nick, but for it all to end up in him choosing to leave... Dan continued talking about this being merely a setback, and even offered the two of them to form a new team together. Better than the Outriders.

Better than the Outriders?.. But she liked that team. Even though all of them were just scaleless, even though she only knew them for a few weeks... they were the first people she got to know more closely outside of her family and Bael. So, they were her friends. And as impressive as Dan and his abilities were, he didn't fall to that category, he was just some random outsider who just so happened to be here when their team imploded.

"I'm just... gonna go..." the Dra'Quinni vigilante muttered, stepping away and making her way up the stairs. Nick was still on her shoulder, right? That's good at least. But he's going to wake up to quite a bombshell.

[Bentus]

The Young Bloods
Wonder Tower, September 1

---

“And it wasn’t until yesterday that Red, Lech, Casimir and Tadeo managed to defeat the Scarab.” Naja finished, allowing silence to fall upon the room.

Standing where she was, she gave the gathered teenagers a chance to take in her words. She’d taken her time, doing her best to carefully and patiently explain what had been happening to Yoshiro over the past few weeks while answering the occasional question along the way. Some of the team - the leaders of the squads - had already been aware of the Scarab, or at least they had been since the creature had nearly killed Jan. But for the rest, it must have all come as a bit of a shock. It had been a tough story for some of the team to hear, she was sure, but they had all deserved to finally know the truth.

Running her eyes over the young heroes, Naja looked at the myriad of emotions that seemed to be displayed in their expressions. It had to have been a lot to process, for some more than others. As her gaze panned across the room, the reptilian heroine paused on Yoshiro. The girl was sitting slightly separate from the others, having been there early with Naja as they waited for the rest of the team to gather. She fiddled with her hands, her eyes turned downwards as she seemed to shy away from the attention that was being directed towards her. Naja felt a knot tie in her stomach as she looked at the girl.

“I’m sorry guys.” Yoshiro said, breaking the silence as she offered the team a weak smile. She felt terrible for having put them in danger like this. Sure, she knew that it hadn’t really been her fault - but to think that she had allowed the Scarab to threaten her friends filled her chest with dread. “I didn’t mean for people to get hurt, and I just don’t know how I could thank you enough. The Scarab, she - it - was not like anything else I’ve experienced, and I wasn’t prepared at all to fight it. If you guys hadn’t come and saved me, I don’t think I would be here today.” Yoshiro tried not to dwell on the thought, with the events already feeling some kind of surreal memory. And yet, the relief that it was all over caused her to just want to curl up and rest. “Thank you, really. I’m lucky to be part of a team with friends like you.”

As Yoshiro finished, Naja wore an uncomfortable frown. Silently, she turned to meet the gaze of the other woman standing unobtrusively at the back of the room. Voice’s expression was impassive, and her mouth was a straight line as she gave no indication of having softened her position. Naja had argued against it at first, but deep down she knew that she was fighting a losing battle. Even before the Scarab, she’d had doubts and concerns - but she’d always assumed that the team’s telepath would have risen to the challenge. But now? Now she wasn’t so sure.

Clearing her throat, Naja drew the team’s attention as she continued. “Now that you’ve all been filled in, I need to tell you about the next steps.” A look of surprise flashed across Yoshiro’s features. Naja hadn’t told her about anything else, though she assumed that it might make sense to talk about the tournament when all the team was gathered in one place. “Yoshiro, after considering everything that’s happened, I think it’s best that you take a break from the team.”

“Wh-what?” Yoshiro’s jaw dropped, her smile evaporating as the words seemed to strike her. “Wait, Naja are you being serious? I mean, I can take some time off to heal if you want but I’m ready for the tournament. And Voice checked my thoughts - the Scarab’s really gone this time, I’m sure of it.”

Ignoring the guilt in her chest, Naja tried to speak in a conciliatory tone. “Yoshi, you know what I mean. Every mission the team has gone on, you’ve been placed into danger. It’s clear that you need to slow down a bit, and while I’m responsible for your wellbeing I’m going to have to pull you from missions.”

Struggling to react to what was happening, Yoshiro began to feel a sense of panic. “That’s what heroes do, right? We put ourselves in danger - come on, we all do.” Looking around the room, Yoshiro tried to find some sign of support. “Naja, I know I can do better but I’ve really helped people. You can’t expect me to just stop.”

“Yoshi, it’s not just that. I’ve spoken to Voice about this. You’re talented, but you’re untrained and as a telepath that makes you vulnerable - with these past few weeks just going to prove it.” Oh God Yoshi, I’m sorry. Naja didn’t want to make it harder than it already was, but she wasn’t being left with many options. “Plus, we have to consider that you kept the Scarab’s presence a secret from the team. From your friends. We could’ve helped you and all of this could’ve been avoided, but you instead tried to deal with it all on your own. You’ve shown to me that you still have to learn how to rely on your teammates, and you put your friends in danger because of it.”

The words hurt, and Yoshiro was feeling a whirlwind of emotions as she tried to come up with some kind of response. Naja was right, she should’ve told them. But the whole reason she hadn’t told them about the Scarab was because she thought that she’d be taken off the team. To now, after all that, be told that she was being sidelined anyway was a raw punch to the gut. Yoshiro turned towards the other Young Bloods, offering her teammates a pleading look.

“Guys, you don’t think this is a good idea, do you? You know what it’s like doing this, you can’t expect me to just give up.”

Wendy was the first one to stand up. While she might not have liked how close Red’s plan came to falling apart, especially the part where her boyfriend was brainwashed, she knew all too well what it was like being at the mercy of someone else’s whims. “Naja… I don’t know what your friend back there is doing to force you to say what you just said, but it’s the biggest load of garbage I’ve heard in my entire life. Every accusation you just made could fit just about half the team at any given moment, heck you could cut out the part about being a telepath and it would fit me to a tee. We’ve all made mistakes over the last few months and you’ve always forgiven us, what’s so different now?”

“Wendy is right.” Mars said to Naja. “You told that reporter that this job is about learning from mistakes. Was that just talk? Yoshi deserves a chance to improve, how is she supposed to get better if you ask her to leave.” The boy genius turned his head to Roy.

“You agree with us right?”

Roy was silent for a few moments.

“Yoshi’s powers are dangerous. We can’t deny that. But that’s why we have to let her stay. There’s no reason she’s better off alone then she is with us. All of us could be dangerous if we’re isolated and not taught to train our abilities. Yoshi deserves that chance. And if she goes… Then I go too.”

‘And there it was’ Mike thought ‘the patented “if they go I go!” manoeuvre’. Mike knew exactly where he stood in the matter, and he hated it. Everyone seemed to know there were dangers yet for some reason no one cared enough to do anything about it. So here he was again, about to play the bad guy and say what needed to be said. “She didn’t tell us Roy.” He said as he breathed out, resigning himself to his fate and trying not to meet Yoshi’s eyes.

“Maybe if she told us, then I could agree. But she chose not to. I mean, we just fought a literal army. We could’ve died out there and that whole time we had no idea that Yoshi, or whatever that thing is, was just playing around with us. I’m sorry, I really am, but I…We can’t trust her.” It hurt, and Mike could feel the guilt settling into the base of his stomach. Why did he always have to be the villain at these things? A part of him wanted to ignore his better judgement and side with Wendy, Roy and Mars. He wanted to just give in and be on the same side as the others, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not when it could get Yoshi and the team hurt, or worse.

Viviana sat near the door as she had come in as one of the latest and the entire explanation for what had been happening was just disturbing to say the least. One of her very own squadmates was possessed by some psychic creature no wonder Yoshi seemed so gruff and rude most of the time Viviana had known her. The brunette grasped at her hoodie’s strings as she heard people start taking sides but once there was a lull in the debate she coughed into her hand.

“If she’s willing to work for getting better I don’t see why we have to kick her out and all,” offered Viviana to the group, “As long as we check on her and support her I’m sure it’ll turn all right. She still has a lot to offer us too like linking our minds and all that in missions.”

“That’s not going to be enough, Viv,” said Casimir across from her with an unsettled expression cloud his face. He was sitting the closest to Yoshi as he along with Red had been the ones to explain last night’s rescue but he just had enough of it. Casimir turned to face Yoshi and the conflict in his head over what he was about to say was as clear as a burning sun in his eyes, “Listen Yoshi. It’s because your my friend that I’m saying this but it’s for the best you take a break. Hell, we can have Naja force Voice to train you in the meantime but right now I just don’t want to see you get hurt. The Scarab wasn’t some shady criminal past it was an evil bastard that could’ve tried to kill anyone of us like it did with Lech. You could’ve said something while it was still weak and fresh in your head but it snowballed to a whole catastrophe...Listen all I’m saying if you don’t have the strength for it right now then slowing down wouldn’t be a bad idea for you.”

When the team immediately came to her aid, Yoshiro felt her heart nearly skip. Wendy, Mars and Roy all stepped forward to defend her and argued that she was just as worthy of being a hero as the rest of them. She couldn’t hide the smile that spread across her face, and Yoshiro offered them a thankful expression - although even she was surprised when Roy threatened to quit if she were kicked from the team. It was an amazing feeling, and after the past few weeks being welcomed so quickly back by her friends made Yoshiro feel a wave of guilt for not being willing to trust them to support her earlier. But then the direction of the conversation took a sudden turn as Mike intervened.

He was the first one to take Naja’s side, and his words caused the telepath to flinch. They clearly weren’t easy for him to say either, but there was no avoiding the hurt that gripped at Yoshiro’s chest as he criticised her actions. Viviana - who Yoshi hadn’t really met before the Scarab had taken over - seemed to try and offer some sort of compromise, but then Casimir of all people spoke up to side with his squad leader. Feeling the weight of their gazes upon her, Yoshiro began to feel a sense of panic as it seemed like the tide was turning.

“I know I messed up, everyone. Big time. But you have to believe me when I say that I didn’t mean to keep it all a secret.” Fiddling with her hands, Yoshiro bit her lip before she continued. “The reason I didn’t tell anyone was because I thought that you’d remove me from missions. I know that was selfish, and I promise that I won’t do something so stupid again - but you have to understand that this is really important for me. I got unlucky, but isn’t that what we all agreed to when we formed the team? We managed to beat those prisoners despite making mistakes, but we chose to learn from each other together.” Silently, Yoshiro could feel the threat of tears welling up in her eyes - although she refused to allow them to fall. “Please guys, you can’t just take this away from me.”

“Yoshi, get a grip on yourself.”

The voice that chastised the young telepath from across the room belonged to none other than Yoshiro’s own squad leader, Alexis, who had been silently listening to the story and the input offered by her teammates. She’d already been told to keep an eye on her friend and had begun to suspect something was amiss, especially after the Mayor’s rescue, so the scarab’s tale was not as shocking to her as it was to her fellow teens. That, however, did not make the matter of what to do with Yoshiro any less tricky, and she had been pondering it while her teammates laid their opinions - and their emotions - bare in front of their trainer.

“Honestly, everything that’s been said so far has some merit. Yes, we’ve all messed up in the past and had to learn from our mistakes, and yes, this team is fundamentally a, what’d you call it Naja? A learning experience.” The blonde girl said, referring to the interview released earlier that month. “But trust is a key part of said experience, and the fact remains that you didn’t tell us about this before it was too late - for a selfish reason, by your own admission. So clearly something’s not working right there and it would be irresponsible if Naja let us continue as usual without making sure that’s taken care of first.”

There was a short pause as the tech wizard stood up and walked - skipped, almost - up to Yoshiro. “But you know? That’s enough rambling about what the team is and isn’t supposed to be. You know that keeping quiet about your issue put a lot of people in danger and nearly got that Polish kid killed. We know you know. Shouldn’t you be the one asking to be on leave until you can learn to fight back in that sort of situation? But you’re awfully insistent in staying on the team just like before - why? You said this is very important to you, but give me a reason.”

By now Alexis was sitting next to the telepath, having forced Red and Casimir to make some space for her. “Honestly, that’s all I need. You’re my friend, and being on the team with you has been a blast - I’d be perfectly happy if Naja let you stay. But you need to give us one.”

Alexis’ initially stern response was probably the worst yet, with Yoshiro falling silent immediately. One of her closest friends on the team soon turned more sympathetic, however, as she approached and took a seat closer to the telepath. As Alexis criticised her actions, Yoshiro found herself unable to even look her friend in the eye. She wasn’t wrong, but it still hurt to hear her reveal her feeling like this. Ending by asking - perhaps pleading - for Yoshiro to give them a better reason to keep her on the team, a few seconds of silence emerged as the telepath struggled to take in the scene that was evolving around her. She glanced towards Red, her eyes falling on the boy who had remained silent throughout the whole ordeal. She really had put them all in danger, and they’d willing placed themselves in even more risk to come and rescue her from her own mistakes. Alexis was right, and yet…she had to convince them to let her stay.

“Lexi, this is a way for me to actually make a difference.” Yoshiro stated, trying to force herself to sound determined as she returned her attention to her friend. “I’ve helped people, even if it’s been dangerous. And if I’m not out there helping, I’ll be thinking about who might be suffering because I was just too afraid to do something about it.”

Renata had remained silent during the story and the debate which followed, mostly because, outside of the explanation Naja and Yoshi gave about what happened with the Scarab, she really didn’t know anything about the intricacies of the whole ordeal. What she did know and understand, however, was the conflict going on between Yoshi and the rest of the team.

Much like Alexis had said, Renata recognized that both sides had their merits. However…

“You’re being too… let’s say, melodramatic, Yoshi.” the pink-haired heroine spoke up from her seat. “You’re speaking like Naja and others are about to kick you out the window and leave you in the mud - and that’s not the case. Hell, nobody’s even saying that you should leave the team permanently! Naja just said that you should take a break, get used to your powers, make sure that… thing doesn’t come back, and then maybe you can rejoin.”

Renata folded her arms. “And, honestly, I’m in favor of that.”

Tadeo, who had been meekly avoiding speaking until now, suddenly looked up from his corner. “Possession isn’t something anyone asks for. Getting rid of one is an incredibly difficult task for anybody, especially if you’re the one being possessed. I don’t think we should punish someone for falling victim to something that is clearly beyond them. I’d even offer to teach her a bit about possessions and avoiding them if it made everyone calm down a bit.” Tad rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the floor. Tension wasn’t one of his strong suits apparently.

“That’s fine and all Tad, but this isn’t really a matter of punishment, this is a matter of precaution, and I have to agree with Renata here.” The blonde techie spoke up again.

“Yeah, because throwing her out onto the street is so going to solve the problem.” Wendy replied. “And you guys can dress it up with any words you want, but at the end of the day that's what we’re doing to her.”

She took a moment to compose herself, making sure to look the rest of her teammates. “You all keep talking about trust, yet almost every single member of the team has had some sort of dark secret in their closet exposed at some point in the last two months. Red’s moonlight vigilante work, Renata’s accused murderer of a boyfriend, Angelica’s and my messed up family histories… and yet we were always let back in. And while I can’t speak for the others on that list, I can guess at least part of the reason why Yoshi kept her mouth shut. It’s the same reason it took me a month to tell Naja and Roy about my parents, never mind the rest of you. We were both scared this was going to be the response, that you were going to pull out the pitchforks and torches and throw us out the front door… and what do you know, you’re proving her right.”

Alexis let out a sigh at Wendy’s passionate speech. “I can see where you’re coming from, but this isn’t the witch hunt you’re making it look like. We’re not locking her up or burning her on the cross - I’m not agreeing with Naja and Renata because I never want to see Yoshi again, you know?” The blonde girl said, rubbing her temples before turning to Yoshiro. “Look, Yoshi, you said you felt terrible over what happened, right? And that you don’t want people to suffer because you weren’t out there doing your part? Well, what about the people who might suffer if something like this happens again?”

There was a brief pause before the tech wizard spoke again. “You wouldn’t even be the first person in this team who takes a break to try and become a better hero, you know? And I don’t think anyone would think less of you for it.”

Jason had only just barged in when he saw the collection of the team talking about something called a Scarab and Yoshi being possessed. After listening for the full context, he pretty much understood what was going on. “Alright, Alright. I might only have most of a high school education, but I actually probably have the most experience with possession other than Yoshi, obviously. Maybe” Jason spoke.

“First of all, yes. Communication is absolutely crucial and Yoshi should have done a better job at letting us know about this. On the other hand, this isn’t the first time someone’s had a dangerous secret they kept to themselves. You guys already went over the whole learning experience thing, which is good. Cause we’re young and stupid. We’ll be stupid tomorrow, and probably for most if not all of our lives. Mistakes happen, but I’m of the opinion that if we didn’t kick anyone else out for keeping their secrets we shouldn’t in this case.” He started his long winded rant.

“I do think that Yoshi should be getting some more tutoring for her powers, but honestly her powers aren’t the biggest issue here, it was her lack of communication that was the issue. Well, and the crazy scarab thing, but that’s dealt with. Which I think she’s learned she needs to work on.” He shot a sympathetic glance to her. “Besides, aren’t we supposed to be all about second chances? This is probably the time Yoshi needs us the most and I’m not really that willing to just tell her to ‘get lost and come back later’ because she made a mistake. If we kicked everyone out for that, this team would be pretty small. Maybe I’m biased or whatever because of my position, but that’s what I think. Sorry for torturing your ears with my voice for that long, but… Come on.”

As the arguments continued, Yoshiro offered Jason a thankful smile for his support. Despite everything, people were still speaking up to defend her and the telepath felt a surge of confidence as she felt like the tide was actually turning in her favour. They were a team, and they wouldn’t leave her behind - not when they’d all started this together. She knew that she’d made mistakes, but it was just like Jason had said: they’d all made mistakes. They were all human - sort of - and it was only by helping each other learn from the past that they could improve. “Thanks, Jason.” Yoshiro replied, feeling her heart swell. “I promise that I’ll -”

“Yoshiro, that is enough.” Naja’s firm voice suddenly cut her off. The woman had stood up and was wearing a stern expression as she scanned the room. “That is enough from all of you. Contrary to what you all seem to think, this is not a matter that is up for debate. I promised to help you all grow as heroes, and to give you the freedom to pursue you own goals - but the one thing that I will not compromise on is your safety.” She narrowed her eyes as the room fell silent at her words.

“There is a far bigger picture here, and like it or not this team has come to represent something more than the sum of its parts. There are people out there who are watching, waiting for you to fail. What do you think would happen if one of you got seriously hurt, or died? Hm?” Turning to look at each of the young heroes in turn, Naja allowed her words to hang in the air for a moment. Her gaze rested on Roy for a second, her anger and disappointment at his impulsive reaction clearly visible - although it would be something to grill him about another time.

Eventually, her eyes fell on Yoshiro and her expression softened. The girl looked as if a dagger had been twisted in her back. “I’m not kicking you from the team, Yoshiro.”

Still standing at the back of the room, Voice’s brow furrowed at those words, although she remained silent.

Ignoring the reaction, Naja continued. “But you will not be allowed on missions until further notice. You can still train with the rest of the team and hone your skills, learn how to defend yourself and how to trust your friends. Yoshi, you have the potential to really help people if you focus and practice.” The woman paused for a moment. “Just, not today. Not yet.”

As the words settled across the room, their finality clear to everyone, Yoshiro sat in place. Frozen, she felt cold as the implications settled in. Despite Naja’s attempts to soften the blow, the rejection and the failure still stung worse than she’d ever expected. Suddenly, the telepath shot to her feet. The swift movement sent her chair scraping backwards across the floor and for a moment it looked like she was about to yell at Naja, but then she stopped.

Looking around the room, Yoshiro saw the gathered faces and her shoulders fell. When she finally spoke, it was not with aggression or defiance, but with a meek acceptance.

“Fine. I’ll be in my room.” She immediately made for the door, making sure that she kept her eyes low in case anyone saw the tears that had begun streaming down her cheeks. Biting her lip, Yoshiro focused on holding back her sobs, refusing to embarrass herself anymore than she already had, anymore than she had from the moment she’d first tried to fight the prisoners back at that stupid party.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

September 12th

---

---

---

Alexis made her way onto the plane along with the rest of her teammates, eager to finally head to the tournament that she and her team had been preparing for over the better part of a month. Since she had sent Oberon to store itself on the plane earlier along with her gadgets, she only had a backpack on her, with various toiletries and a few changes of clothing inside. The blonde girl looked around, noticing that most people had already grouped together, though his girlfriend seemed to have reserved a seat for her towards the back of the plane. Smiling, she walked over, placing her backpack inside the compartment above the seat and then plopped down next to Angelica, who pulled out her laptop and suggested they could watch a movie.

"Sure thing! Whatcha got in there, hmm?" The tech wizard spoke, wondering about the taller girl's movie catalogue.

As she waited for Angelica's reply, Alexis noticed Yoshiro walking by and smiling at them. Returning the gesture, she followed the telepath with her gaze for a moment. Then, a bit after Yoshiro had sat down, a lively blonde suddenly sprung up from the seat in front of her with a smile on her face. "Hey there, Yoshi! Excited for the tournament?" She asked. Despite the fact that they hadn't been able to talk until recently, and the fact that she'd been less than supportive during a certain meeting towards the end of the previous month, Alexis was still fond of Yoshiro and was hoping they could start hanging out like before.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

-Wendy-

Shihong Smith
The last month or so the accompanying media backlash had caused no amount of headache for the hacker and the team; allegations of outstanding warrants too, conspiracy theories had dominated the news cycle. Search results for the team always seemed to have WiFi as one of the first search results, with this entire controversy seemingly harming the good will that the team built up during the WarWolf situation. Personally Shi didn't really care, she had been trained with people who had been assigned as super-villains after all, so what was one family of has-been thieves. But that also meant Shi didn't care enough to help Wendy with this headache; with but a phone call she could of ended this for Wendy. They even asked her about it, but she decided not. Why? Because it leads to moments just like this.

Shi plopped right next to her squad leader and began sipping her drink, hearing her plea. As she thought it over, she wondered how she should play this. Maybe it would be for the best if she developed a friendship with Wendy, just for now; besides, she was a leader with no direction. Would it be so wrong for her to help her? "Well, technically you can ride this out in a bunker until everyone forgets, but I'm guessing you don't want that..." Shi gestured toward the girl and asked, "When people think about you, what should come up? If you know that, well, than creating the right narrative for it won't be difficult at all."

"What I want is for people to remember I was victim in this too. People keep thinking I was some criminal mastermind in training, gleefully following my parents every move as the loving daughter. The truth is that I spent a decade of my life living in fear of them, being tortured, abused and manipulated. I still have nightmares from the stuff I saw them do, and if it weren't for the fact that It would make me useless to the team, I would have asked Yoshi to wipe my memory by now."

"I'm sorry." She said composing herself. "I shouldn't be dropping all my problems on you guys, especially the day of the tournament. I'm just so far out of my league with this PR stuff I don't know where else to turn too."
------
Later that day.

Wendy gave a small sigh before boarding the private jet to New York. The talk with her squad had helped her a little, but she was still worried about the trip. This was the NASL equivalent of the Superbowl, with the media frenzy to match. Wendy knew she was the easiest target to go after on the team, and no doubt some of the other heroes would look to go after her to score points with the crowd.

All that seemed to fade though as she noticed Yoshiro hiding out in the back of the cabin. To say Wendy hadn't agreed with Naja's decision would have been putting it lightly, and the treatment some of the other had given the telepath had set her blood boiling. Glancing over to Roy, she motioned back to where Yoshiro was, letting him know she was going to sit with her for the flight in.

"Hey Yoshiro." She said, sitting down across the isle from her and Alexis. "You're looking a lot better today."

[Aidannadia]

Tadeo Baltasar

Tad awoke from his morning meditation, then realized the time. Oh. I'm late. Hm. The magician grabbed a few things from his night stand, watered the garden with a small spell that filled a trough and spread the hydration around to the plants, and teleported to the door of the plane before it took off, gently wiping his brow from hurrying over. Truth be told, he could just teleport for New York and meet up with the team on the other side, but this provided ample opportunity to interact with the few friends he still had in this world, so despite his reservations of climbing into this contraption of death, he would be riding in the plane with the others.

He grabbed the first free seat he could, across the aisle from Yoshiro and Wendy, with Mike in the window seat. "Hello, Michael. How was your morning?"

[The Republic of Atria]

Sina

The coach nodded with a half smile. "If nothing else, you've got the drive. The race starts in just a few minutes." He finished and trotted off to go get a better view of the race. Better to make sure everyone had a good fair race. He wasn't expecting too much from everyone there. There were a handful of people who looked like they actually spent the time to get prepared for it, some seem like they just showed up in some attempt to show off skills they didn't have. It would at least be fun to watch those who had actual practice and skill beat them out.

Bael snickered when Sina suggested that if they were at the starting line before everyone else, that they would get a head start. "That kind of defeats the purpose of a race if we get to start before everyone else." He was already pretty much good to go since they had flown there to begin with. Sina just seemed more than hot blooded enough to charge in head first and not stop until she had won.

Not long after, the loud voice from the now unseen coach echoed across the track. "Race starts in thirty seconds. Starting positions."

Said starting positions were about a dozen springboards, which the other racers all quickly gathered on. Bael didn't really know the proper stance, but he took the one he always took when he was getting ready to fly. It just dawned on him that he actually had no idea what the signal was for the race starting.

Meanwhile, near the top of the arena, the coach had grabbed a hammer and was approaching a large metal gong-like piece. He checked the time and with practiced timing, smacked the hammer into the starting gong, signalling the start of the race.

Bael hesitated and flinched for a split second as everyone around him took off like a swarm of scaly bats.

[North America Inc]

-Renata-

Shihong Smith

Shi hated when people touched her, even more so that it was her, but she held her tongue. As she recoiled back to her seat, Shi thought this through; this wasn’t sustainable. Despite how much she loathed her, she might need her later; and burning that bridge wasn’t something that she wanted to do. Not yet anyways. However, at the same time, Renata was a liability; not just to her, but for the entire team. She may not care for some of the people here, but she did care about the team itself. This was something she had trained for her entire life, yet here this literal princess was attacking her own teammates. This had to stop.

Leaning into the cushion of the seat, Shi listened to Renata’s own complaints and faux apology; and despite how much she did not want to admit it, she had a partial point. She had mishandled this the first time Renata had threatened her, she should of ended this rivalry now before it blew up into this. She almost failed because of that fact. As Renata finished her sarcastic rant, Shi laid there and let out a snort, laughing at the joke. Then for the first that she arrived, Shi told the whole truth. “If that’s the best you can do, then why not?” Her voice wasn’t overly preppy and nice, nor was it conniving and patronising, it was genuine, “So I’ll ask again. What else is there to say?”

She let that question linger in the air, as both thought about what next to say to the other. “I never wanted your apology, I never asked for it.”....both paused again as the plane reached its appropriate altitude, “I know I have been...less that kind to you.” Shi rolled her eyes and looked over to the side, as if it pained her to admit it, “I’ve been a bitch. I’ve mocked you, annoyed you, and everything in between. I went too far…” Reconnecting and staring directly into her line of sight, “I’m sorry. I honestly want us to actually like each other, there’s no reason for us to continue doing this. Or at the very least, tolerate the other. If you want this tournament, this talk, to be where we bury the hatchet. Just tell me right now. ”

“However…” her tone shifted, “that doesn’t matter right now. This is where your little tantrums end... I don’t care if you try to fight me again, I don’t care. I can take it. But if you attack another young blood, another squad member, another teammate like that... I will end you.” Shi furrowed her brow, “I don’t care if Mike said something, or Ash attacked you, or that I pissed you off. If you try to threaten or even pull anything resembling a stunt like that, that will be the last time. Do I make myself clear? You can go complain about me, you can hate me, you can say anything about me.. But...do I make myself clear?”

[Bentus]

Voice
Midtown, San Diego

---

Beverly had been about to leave, certain that her trip had been for nothing, when Steven’s voice called out after her. Pausing, she listened as his tone seemed to have changed. He sounded sympathetic, the emotion in both his words and aura revealing that he shared her sense of helplessness at their situation. When he finished, the heroine stood for a few seconds on the precipice, holding the door open as she seemed to be lost in thought. Initially she didn’t even turn to glance back towards her old friend, instead recalling when they had all been kids, together in that place. They’d known that their chances of getting out were pretty much non existent, but they never once stopped trying and hoping until - eventually - they escaped together.

Turning to look over her shoulder, Beverly met Steven’s gaze. Thanks, Steven. She offered, really meaning it. Hesitating for a few moments more, it looked like she was thinking of saying more, but eventually decided against it as she stepped outside. I’ll see you round.

And then the door closed shut behind her.

---

The Amazing Ashen Moth!
Wonder Tower, San Diego

---

Happy to see Viviana welcome her so readily, Ash wasted no time in plopping herself down next to her newest friend. It took her a few moments to shift into a comfortable position, with the aircraft’s seats not exactly having been designed for someone with her figure, but she’d learned to make things work. Leaning forward slightly so that she didn’t put any weight on her wings, Ash continued to grin excitedly as she waited for the plane to take off. When her seatmate began to strike up a conversation, the girl blushed slightly as her efforts to train got mentioned. It had definitely been a hectic few weeks, but Ash hadn’t realised that anyone had noticed her training sessions.

“I do not know if I am ready, really. But I am very fortunate that Kabuto and Cosmic both offered to help me.”

Smiling sheepishly, Ash remembered more than a few nights that she had collapsed on her bed from exhaustion - not even having had the energy to turn on her night light or lamps. She had appreciated both of the boys’ instructions, but running from exercise to exercise and spar to spar had still pushed her to her limits. Initially, she had been a bit worried that her time with Cosmic would have meant she’d have less time with Casimir, but she’d found herself enjoying her time training with the newer team member more and more.

Ash’s thoughts were distracted as Viviana revealed what she called a ‘3DS’. Blinking in surprise at the machine’s appearance, the mutant studied it curiously as she listened carefully to the other girl’s explanation of the game’s rules. Frowning in concentration, she gingerly moved her hands over the controls: holding the console with two pairs and using her other two to press the buttons.

“Poke. Ih. Mon.” She repeated, trying out the strange-sounding word as the screen came to life. Recalling Viv’s instructions, Ash proceeded to tap each of the arrow keys in turn, and initially she was ecstatic to see her character proceed to walk around repeatedly in a square. Deciding that this meant she was paying correctly, she continued to press the same sequence of buttons, her character repeating its circle on the sidewalk in the middle of town again and again - much to its player’s delight.

Riveted to her game and focusing intensely on her character as she got the hang of the controls, Ash was entirely unprepared for the feeling of something being slid into her hair.

"There ya go! Now you can show yourself off to all the boys!"

Immediately, the girl let out a surprised yelp and launched herself up into the air. With her wings offering a few instinctive flaps to add to her height, Ash nevertheless landed once again into her seat as she turned her head frantically to find the source of the voice. When she saw Mizu grinning at her mischief, Ash realised what must have happened and looked around to see that she had once again fallen to what she had been told was a “practical joke”.

Furrowing her brow, the mutant considered their conundrum. There were three of them and they all needed to figure out something to do together during the trip, but it did seem that entertainment was scarcer than she had expected. Suddenly, Ash’s features lit up as she snapped two of her fingers together. Excitedly, she waved the 3DS in the air as she turned to share her idea.

“I know! There are three of us, yes? Well Viviana showed me this very fun game called Poke-ey-mon. To play you need to use more than three buttons, so if we share then we can each use one button and play together.” Smiling, Ash eagerly waited for her friends’ responses, proud of her foolproof idea to ameliorate their shared boredom.

---

Yoshiro Namaka
Wonder Tower, San Diego

---

Lost in her own thoughts as she gazed out of the airplane’s window, Yoshiro was entirely unprepared for the short blonde girl who burst up from the seat in front of her. Jumping in surprise at Alexis’ sudden greeting, the telepath was visibly startled until she realised that her friend was waiting for a response. Smiling sheepishly, Yoshiro turned to find that Wendy had also approached and was offering her a warm look from across the aisle.

“Hi guys, and thanks Wendy.” Yoshi replied, fidgeting with her hands slightly as she became uncomfortable at the mention of the earlier meeting. She knew that Wendy had the best intentions, and she was still thankful for the girl’s support. But it still wasn’t something that she wanted to think about so she quickly tried to steer the conversation away. “And how could I not be excited?”

It was the truth. Even if she was barred from going out on actual missions, Naja had said that Yoshiro could still take part in the relative safety of the NASL tournament and that meant that she had to make the most of it. Plus, she had to admit that she was giddy at the thought of meeting so many of her heroes while there - although Yoshiro couldn’t help but feel nervous of what they’d think of her if they found out that she’d been sidelined. Would they look down on her? Would they be disappointed?

Looking up at Alexis, Yoshiro tried to forget about how the girl had grilled her during the meeting. Instead she tried to remember all the times they’d hung out as friends. She figured that it was unfair to hold the prodigy’s words against her, it was part of her job as a squad leader after all. She did what she thought she had to, you can’t blame her for that. And yet the thought still sounded hollow. “I’m really looking forward to meeting the Flying Squirrels - they’ve always been underrated, you know? And the Vixens are just awesome. Do you think they’d be willing to give us any tips, or would they not want to help the competition?”

[Solisian Union]

The Filipino American agent never thought that her director, her boss, would ever forgive her for going off like that, on that night, just because of an angel’s request. Was it really a request —— or was it an order? Was she sure? Did she really make sure?

She was wrong about thinking of punishment because the director just came to her, spoke to her for a few minutes, stood up, gave her a pat on the shoulder, and told her to follow. And she did, bringing one foot after the other, body covered in bandages, legs shuffling, arms close to her body, embracing herself.

But Yasha still feared that the director was going to fire her —— or at least, in a privately but still humiliating manner, deport her to her homeland. Homeland. Was it her homeland still? She thought of America, of the United States she meant, as her new home. This was the land that she was going to serve as she was ordered to by her President, her Pangulo, but would her new home ever welcome her?

She was so sure of the mistakes she committed when it came to Catarina that she was sure that the director would do away with her. She hoped that, if it came to that, it would be quick. Not drawn out, not publicly.

And as she shuffled after her, staring at her back, clothed by the dark jacket she usually wore, full of worries centered around just that.

It went on until she found herself standing in front of her desk, the director sitting down and telling her,

“I am not going to fire you.”

“Wh-what?” the agent was stunned and she continued, “Why not?”

“You ask me why not?” the director asked her angrily. The agent silenced herself, casting her eyes to the floor. The director sighed and told her, “Sit down; I’m not angry at you. Not personally. But I am your boss, Agent Zarate, and you went off on your own, you did not consult me, and you did not inform anyone on your level or above your level.” She then sharpened her tone and said, “I’m putting quite a lot of my own on the line for you and right now, I hope you are grateful that I am telling you that I am not going to fire you. In fact, off the record, your ass is safe as long as you stick close to me and recognize that it’s POTUS and your own president that encouraged me and the rest on the top to keep you. You’re apparently, not only a great soldier, but a hero to your country and a competent agent to me.” She then paused to place her arms on the desk, leaning towards Yasha as she looked up, shyly, at her boss. She told her agent, “I’d also like to think that if you didn’t help out the San Diego cops, you might not have gotten some good news in on your behalf. You are lucky, Agent Zarate, and you are quite an object to look at.”

Yasha stared at her boss in confusion. Who spoke for her? Did that female cop speak for her? And why and how did her president and the American one know about her? Had someone told them? Had this leaked? She opened her mouth to try and ask but the director answered her, saying, “My brother admitted that he admired you. Says that you remind him of the old days and of agents from his own side.” She chuckled at that and whispered, “Fucking spook.” She then sighed and looked at her agent more softly. She told her, “You’re fine. Just don’t piss me off again by going off the hook and doing all the things I just told you.”

She stood up and told her agent, firmly so, “From now on, you make a daily report to me; you see me before you do anything; you refer to me at all times; you inform me, any way you can, just get me on your case, behind you, and I will help you do your job. Is that clear, Agent Zarate?”

Yasha thought about it. She gave it a few seconds and then told her, “Yes, Director Mary, I see it clearly. I apologize.”

“You’re good.” Mary then returned to her seat, looked to the window, and said, “First thing I want you to do right now is to rest. You need to recover and you need to make sure you are fit for the job after the doctors see you and make sure you really are fit.” She then nodded to her and told her, “Also, I want you to tell your friend in the San Diego PD that you’re injured. Maybe invite her to see you. Go home and do nothing for now. But if I were you, I’d suggest that you read about the agency and that you do your best to update yourself on what’s going on here in the States. Things are different here, Yasha, and you cannot always do the things that you did in your country here; you can’t apply the same solutions there in this country.”

A reminder, Yasha realized. She nodded at this and said, “So, if I were to say it in my own terms, in an American style, you’re keeping me on a short leash, right?”

“Right. But you’re not a dog. You’re an agent. You’re important to the federal government, and although you answer to me, you also answer to POTUS. Their condition was that you do your best under me. I sure hope you will do just that. Oh,” she said, a little softly, “by the way, after you get well, I want you to take care of Catarina. Orders from the top say that I’m going to have to let Catarina go and return to her friends. Your job is to observe her. For now, we’re going to transfer her to a public hospital, but we’ll make sure that she’s safe until she’s as good as you are going to be. Keep an eye on her, keep her alive, and if the Outriders turn up or not, then you tell me. I suggest that you also talk to Catarina about this, too.”

A pause. The agent sat more straightly, confident in herself, but not so much, as she felt her chin up, ready to serve her director and her new home once more. She looked like she was going to redeem herself. And the director relaxed in her chair, turning back to her agent as she told her, “You’re dismissed, Agent Zarate. I’ll see you again some day. My brother will bring you home after you get your things. You’re staying with us.”

——————————————————————————————————————————

Catarina was able to sit up but the pain still came to all parts of her body. She wondered if her back was hurt. It wasn’t, the doctors told her, but she would need to be careful. She frowned at the news. When they left her, she looked around her room in a much more comfortable position for the first time. She realized that they gave her something decent. It was, indeed, much more comfortable than living with the Outriders at their hideout, or in the jungles of Colombia, or in the camps of the forces loyal or related to the Colombian government. The pillows, the blankets, the bed itself, and the air. She looked up, around the ceiling, and found an air conditioner. And she could not understand why they treated her so well. She was a criminal, she realized, but they did not chain her to the bed; there was only one guard outside. Was it because they were confident in their ability to keep her in their custody? Or was it that they were people with powers like herself? Were they agents of hell or of heaven? She did not know; she did not want to know.

She gingerly let her body lie down on the linen sheets again. She groaned as she looked at the television half-heartedly. But when she realized that what she was watching was a news channel, one for San Diego, she anxiously pushed herself to sit up again and to pay attention to the details playing out on the screen. But there was no news, not a single detail, about the Outriders. Have they vanished? Have they disbanded? She worried that her friends, with the loss of Vendetta, have split up. How could she find them? How would she act on the destiny that her vision promoted? What could she do to survive in this country? She wasn’t a citizen. She didn’t share the same hope of becoming one as Yasha did. But what she did have was the choice to do something about it.

Catarina returned yet again to the question of working for the DMI. Would they let her? Her eyes dropped to the bed as she gave thought after thought to the question; she really thought that they would not. They might deport her. They might arrest her. They might question her. What if they tried the same things that the communists, the bastards of humanity, did to her when she was just a girl? She would fight back, she told herself, turning her hands into fists, feeling the bones within her body becoming tougher at the memories.

But right now, trapped as she was in this room, injured, too injured to even stand on her own feet, having to rely on nurses to bring her to the comfort room or for her to walk around inside her room, Catarina the former cannibal really believed that, for a long time, she will have to be here, wait here, and see what fate had for her.

——————————————————————————————————————————————

People used to call him Renato; he preferred to be called Andre. Andre was a cool name, and he really liked to hear it come rolling off the tongues of people around him. It also drew him to study people who shared the same name as his. People like Andre the Giant, Andre Braugher, and so on —— it made him feel better about himself. It also allowed him to distract himself from what people thought of him.

While his skin color was not really something people cared about too much nowadays in the States, Andre could really feel that they were looking at his…well, tail. He wasn’t human. Not completely —— he was a Marindaga. A sort of people that came from the island of Mindanao, from the Philippines. They saw him as if he was an alien, like the people of that famous girl, Kiris. She was a Young Blood. And that drew his attention and his day dreaming too. Ever since he first heard about them from their first battles at the zoo or at Wonder Island, he just obsessed over them like his old friends in Cagayan de Oro once obsessed over Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew or even Harry Potter or Hunger Games.

And right now, while his parents were busy working and his sister was somewhere with the Marines —— Semper fucking Fi! , she’d say at the top of her lungs. She had just shipped out of the States, said that she might be going to Okinawa or Guam. She didn’t really say. Said that she’d get smoked by her old drill instructor for talking too much —— Andre was noticed at once; he going to meet Naja. She was a snake person —— just like him and his family. And he wondered if Naja knew about his people. Well, not really that important. But he knew that Naja would be more comfortable talking to him —— well, that was his guess. Just because they were snake people doesn’t mean they’d get along instantly.

And when they spoke, at her office, it wasn’t something prolonged. Naja was cordial and welcomed him to the Young Bloods. She gave him some pretty tough questions and he answered them as best as he could. He thought he failed but Naja told him, “Relax, kid, I’m not a principal. Anyway, come see me here again this week, say, see me at Friday, 10 AM. Let’s see what you’re made of.”

And on that day, he came. Naja made him go through a bit of an obstacle course; a bit of combat training; a lecture on a few important things; and then that was it. There were other things that he could not remember all that well but Naja did say to him: “You made it. I think you’ll be great if you’ll go along with Mike’s team. If you don’t have anything more to raise with me, I’ll see you later at…”

[The Republic of Atria]

Sept, Wyatt

After the sparring match with Casimir, it was just about time to get rolling to New York. He did a double check and made sure that he packed everything he wanted to bring. Mostly a spare set of clothes, his phone and it's charger, some running around money, and the books Onu got him awhile ago. If nothing else, he could finally finish at least one of them off on the way. He did make sure to tell both his parents as well as Kaban and Onu that he'd be participating and to watch if they could. He was sure he could snag a recording of the fight and that there'd be plenty of uploads online. Though they could be of dubious quality.

Plus he liked owning a physical copy of things. And this could be something he could actually show off when he eventually decided to settle down in N'toak. Maybe Sina would like to watch it? Probably, she really liked action. He blinked a few times when he caught himself thinking about her again. When he first met her, he couldn't possibly have imagined himself as being anything more than a loose acquaintance, but here he was wanting to spend more time with her...

He immediately snapped back into denial, she was just a friend and nothing more. However, after reading the same page in his book about three times and still not having actually read the page, he decided that maybe he should just chat with someone. Renata didn't look to be in too talkative mood. Arin had a habit of just ignoring him, much to his annoyance. He wasn't even sure if Red was on the jet, so that left Mars.

"Hey Mars. I know you've been working on rebuilding Rocket. I meant to ask what did you put in him that's new?" He asked. Mars missed out on a lot of the team training, and he completely understood, and it was important that he knew the new limitations of his new armor for teamwork purposes.

[New Neros]

September 12th
Darklight and Cosmic

After Shi had helped boost Wendy at breakfast, Cosmic and Darklight returned to their rooms and grabbed their bags as the plane began to load up. Tossing in his backpack with the luggage, Cosmic hastily retrieved his phone, knowing he'd need some social media browsing to make the three hours dwindle away. Darklight brought a Switch, and began to blackmail Cosmic into playing video games with her on the flight. "C'mon, you big pussy, I have the NASL Fight Night No-Bars-Held Battle Brawlers Limited Edition, it'll be like we're studying for the tournament. Play with me, damnit!" She demanded, Cosmic sighing and rolling his eyes.

"I hate playing games with you." Mark stated clearly, almost pouting. "You're the kind of person who focuses on one thing until you're really good at it just to piss off other people. You probably played most of the night to get toasty on that shit just to smack my ass on the screen for three hours. What did you even go to sleep?"

"Sleep? What's that?" Darklight asked with a wild grin, "My bad for wanting to get good at something instead of remaining mediocre at best."

"Whatever, I want to cyberbully on my phone."

"Does wifi work at that altitude?"

The question stumped Cosmic, who shrugged his shoulders and fell in line with the rest of the team, boarding one by one and finding himself in the front as the back and middle filled up pretty quickly. "Everyone wants the cool seats!" Ava yelled as she walked past them, "Where the cool people sit and do cool shit with their cool friends while the nerds and turbo-loser perma-virgins sit at the front and get stared at by the chaperones and teacher lady." Cosmic stopped for a moment and looked back at the loud, foulmouthed friend he would have to spend the next three hours with. "Sorry! I'm just really excited, and when I get excited I just start blabbering with no filter." Cosmic nodded, and continued on to an empty pair of seats at the front, Ava squeezing past him quickly to steal the window seat.

"Move." He commanded.

"No." She responded.

"Okay." And sat next to her, extending his legs out into the walkway a bit and stretching, "At least it's roomy and comfortable."

As the rest of the team all boarded, Naja made her announcement, and the plane slowly took off from the runway. Cosmic then removed his phone and began to surf through some websites and memes, smirking at some here and there while Ava peered over his body and looked at his phone, too, but her attention quickly went to looking around the plane a bit. They were seated a little bit ahead of Yoshi, the girl who had been possessed and relieved from the team for a bit, Ava looking at her for a moment before being drawn back to Mark, watching him scroll through his sites in search of more memes to laugh at.

[Absolon-7]

Bael

Casimir Herman September 12th
Casimir huffed as his knee successfully landed on Wyatt's nose but due to it being a knee attack he didn't have the power to jump behind Wyatt. Instead he only barely manage to careen back at least an arm's length in front of Wyatt. A certain glowing light around his hand's puzzled Casimir but the sudden onset of rocks set on piling on top of him convinced him it wasn't some flashy bluff. Okay what could he do? Could he breath fast enough for his fly power to kick in? Could he somehow punch them away? Apparently a sort of combination of the two would be the solution as within a single breath his fly sense kicked in letting him dodge and bend at blur like speed at several rocks that were within his field of vision. One stone came to the side of his head and before it made impact Casimir reared back his fist and punched downwards at the stone messing up its trajectory enough to only barely miss him. He was about to leap towards Wyatt but a sudden stone striking his back quelled the plan. A pained exhalation afterwards he then turned off his fly skill to prepare an offensive.

Instead of resisting Casimir let himself fall in the stone's direction making him begin somewhat of a roll as the stone skidded off his back and jettisoned itself into the ground. Within a single revolution Casimir got back on his feet and dashed at Wyatt while keeping his body low to the ground. Once he was right and close to Wyatt he squatted down and with his superstrength in his legs he vaulted vertically with his fist extended upwards intending to deliver an uppercut. A truly excellent maneuver on his part but one that needed to give a result if he was going to win. Meanwhile a small portion of his swarm and begun to arrive and Casimir directed them to fly around close to Wyatt's face with the intent of distracting his peer.

Mizuma Ishiwara, the trickstery Selene!

The Amazing Ashen Moth!

Viviana Couture September 12th
VIviana grinned with curiosity as the girl discovered the joys of her handheld game and was quite amused at the unique way she held the device. Granted she was just moving around in a circle but it was a good starting point! Viviana yelped like a startled puppy as Mizu appeared from thin air right behind her and Ash flapping a few inches into the air. She sighed in relief as Mizu nonchalantly began brushing Ash's hair. Viviana brooded on the question her space friend asked what their options where and it was true they were limited in scope.

"With that pony tail you'll make any guy swoon Ashy," commented Viviana.

It seemed her quest for finding something fun for them to do was saved right on time by Ash offering a really silly solution. The idea of sharing three buttons was enticing for some chaotic fun. Plus wasn't there some famous Twitch stream or something that was basically that? Although with their sitting arrangement it would have some difficulties.

"Good idea Ash. The town the current save's at pretty fun place too," offered Viviana to the mothgirl. Afterwards she shoved her hand into her purse and took out a sharpie and several sticky notes. Viviana excitedly said, "I got an ideeaa too! We each write a word onto these and stick em on each other's foreheads but you cant write your own. The other two girls then gotta keep answering questions until its guessed right. Whoever answers right with the least questions wins." On the note meant for Ash she'd write rhinoceros and on Mizu's she wrote chainsaw, "So which game do you two want to do first?"

[Finland SSR]

Shihong Smith

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

September 12th

---

Once Shi completed her cross between an apology and a rant, the air between the two girls stayed silent for a few seconds, Renata staring at her with the same sort of glare one would give to a person about to jump off a bridge. On one hand, Shi's apology seemed as sincere as you can get with a person like her... but, on the other hand.

"...really now." Renata muttered, blinking in confusion. "Following up an apology with a threat." What the hell is it even about, anyway? Who does Shi think she is, ordering Renata how to act and what to do? She didn't even do anything egregious... Mike deserved it, Ash deserved it, and Shi definitely deserved it. If anything, it only makes her previous apology seem more half-hearted than it actually was. "You know - honestly, I'm not too enthused with the way everything has been going between us either, not when I have a million better things to do with my time. But, the way you've been acting so far is the opposite of reconciling."

The pink-haired heroine folded her arms and turned to the opposite direction. "Besides, it's not like you could break me if you wanted. Not without all the luck from last time."

---

The Amazing Ashen Moth!
Wonder Tower, San Diego

---

Viviana Couture September 12

Mizuma Ishiwara, the trickstery Selene!

September 12th

---

The two fellow girls immediately started brainstorming ideas on what the three of them would be able to do while the plane is flying. Ash's idea was related to the game at hand - apparently, Vivi had handed the moth girl a 3DS with a booted up game of Pokemon, and she figured that since there were several buttons to press while playing, the three of them could play the game together, each one with a button to press and cooperating together to try to beat the game.

"Oh, so, like Twitch Plays Pokemon!" Mizu called out, remembering the phenomenon from a few years ago which took the Internet by storm. "I tried it a little when it was still going, but my ping was really terrible, so I only ended up screwing everyone else up..." Vivi's idea, on the other hand, was to play a game of guessing - one person sticks a paper on their forehead with a word written on it and the others try to guess it. A pretty common children's game, isn't it? Town Luna has had its share of guessing games among their children community, too.

"...but don't you think this wouldn't be fair for Ash?" Mizu pointed out. "Maybe we should play Pokemon first, then we can figure something out about tha-"

The purple-haired girl turned her eyes towards the screen of the 3DS for a second, where Ash was currently busy doing laps in the middle of a town. Her eyes immediately recognized which part of the game this town could be visited at, however.

"Vivi, is Ash... gonna have to fight the Elite Four?"

---

Bael

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

August 8th

---

"Hey, that would still make it a race. Just a race which starts before the starting line," Sina joked in response as the two Dra'Quinni made their way to the racing track and assumed their positions. There were about a dozen springboards lined up, all of which had their occupants - and every single one of them was one of their kind! It was still difficult to comprehend for the girl - some were large, some were small, some sneered towards her, others didn't even notice her and Bael step on their springboards, but all of them looked just like her.

It only helped fuel Sina's excitement. Looking from left to right, she took note of one of her fellow Dra'Quinni's stance, a low duck with his hands clenching onto the edge of the springboard, and chose to copy it. The coach, holding a giant hammer in his hand, was approaching a massive gong - that must be the signal for the beginning of the race.

Come on... Come on... Come on... The anticipation was unbearable, until finally...

"YES!" Sina yelled out, throwing herself off the board as soon as the sound of the gong reached her ears, and shot forward, laughing uncontrollably while rapidly accelerating across the air. Even when her fit stopped, a smile remained on her face.

The first of the obstacles on the way already appeared in the view - a series of hoops, large enough to fit a few Dra'Quinni through. Any normal person would probably start to slow down in order to not hit the edges of the obstacle - but that wouldn't be fun, would it?

[North America Inc]

-Renata-

Shihong Smith

Not making it obvious, Shi was reaching the end of her patience. Who does Renata think she is? As Renata turned the other way to face the aisle, Shi sat there with a slightly dumbfounded face. She wasn't saying that she couldn't hate her, but that she couldn't go hurting her others. Apparently that was too restricting for the likes of her. The most basic rule for any team and she was openly defining it; don't attack, much less kill, the people you work with. Her eyes snapped around the plane, focusing on Roy seated a few rows away. Should she mention this with him? Shi wrestled with the possibility, she had kept the incident to herself; maybe that was a mistake on her part, Renata might make this habit.

No, she can still salvage this whole exchange somehow. Staring at the top of the ceiling, Shi was alone in her thoughts, replaying everything. From that first interaction in that hallway to now, she had to be missing something, there had to be someway to connect with Renata without condoning her victimhood complex. Tilting her head to stare at the back of Renata, Shi finally spook up, a beleaguered sigh escaping her mouth. "That's fine. Maybe I am going to far when I ask you not to hurt your teammates...But..." Shi paused for a second and collected her thoughts, "I need to know. Why did you keep firing? Why didn't you stop? I was done, the whole fight was over. You were the one who wanted the fight in the first place, the one who asked...." Shi recoiled at her sudden realization, "Was that your plan? To come down and...maim me. Do you really hate me that much?"

[Tomia]

Mars
Mars smiled when Casimir came to sit down next to him, raising an eyebrow at his odd question. "You have something you need to tell me Cas?" He asked with a smile. "Well, I guess first I'd wondering why someone framed me for stealing a shopping cart. But let's say it really did matter. First I would get access to the store's security cameras, see if they have any info on who came in and out those days. Then, I would get my hands on the shopping cart, try to figure out how exactly someone got my finger prints. After that I would start looking for motives, not only who would want to steal a shopping cart, but who would be interested in framing me. Cross reference that with shopping patterns, and residency and then investigate whoever remains on that list one by one." Mars said, before realizing he was rambling a bit. "I promise I'm not that big of a nerd. I just like crime shows a lot." He said with a bit of an embarrassed smile.

Just then Wyatt came by, asking about Rocket 2.0. Mars' eyes lit up. "Well, I've totally reworked his offensive capabilities. I've added an energy canon and a rocket launcher. But the really cool trick is what I've been able to do with Nano tech. Rocket's armor is completely compartmentalizing and self regulating. I can shift his limbs to take dozen of different forms, or I can take away his legs or arms entirely and shift that armor to a different part. Also it will prevent what happened at city hall from happening again. I won't get caught flying a dead stick anymore." Mars said, talking faster than normal in a clearly excited tone.

Angelica
"Well I downloaded a bunch of different ones so we have some choices. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Good Will Hunting, Die Hard, Jumanji, Mean Girls, How to Train Your Dragon..." She said, scrolling through her choices of movies. Meanwhile Yoshi had came up in the seat behind them. It had been awkward since she was freed from Scarab's influence. Alexis hadn't exactly supported Yoshi returning to the team and because of that they weren't as close as they used to be. Still, the frost hero was hoping they'd be willing to rebuild the close friendship that had existed between the three of them.

"Hey Yoshi, Wendy." She said with a wave before hearing Yoshi's question about the Vixens. It was a good question. Publicly the Vixen's were all about empowering women, particularly younger women, but who knows how they would react when those same people were competition.

"Well, I would hope they'd be willing to offer mentorship. I know I've always looked up to the Vixen, which is impressive for me considering they are superheroes. You have to hand it to them after all. They're really pushing their way into an old boys club."

[The Republic of Atria]

Casimir

All he needed was for Casimir to get tangled with the rocks for a few seconds, enough to take a breath and work through the shooting pain in his snout. One thing he didn't expect was just how fast Casimir was. He was quick, but it looked as if the bug hero was a near blur. As a result, it didn't take him long for him to get out of the attempt of a rocky prison having only been marginally annoyed by the barrage.

However, Wyatt had mostly figured him out. Casimir relied on using his speed to get in close and lay into his opponent. He was more than ready with a counter in mind, unfortunately he neglected the secondary Casimir possessed: the ability to control insects. They weren't a physical threat, but by targeting his eyes it made it quite difficult to see. He squinted to maintain as much of his eyesight as possible. He was just barely make out the charging Polack, just as he predicted. He was acting before he had the chance to think about what he was actually doing.

He thrust his right hand forward, reaching for Casimir's head with the intent of smashing his head into the ground.

Sina

Though a split second later than everyone else, Bael jumped into the air, the benefit of his Elder strength and the springboard made up for the little bit of hesitation at the start. He wanted to try and pass and get out of last place, but with the first obstacle was coming up quick. It was the rings. Three rings, alternating left and right about fifty feet apart requiring one to fly and make two relatively difficult turns while surrounded by others also doing the same thing. The first test of his finesse, but there was a silver lining to being last: he could see how the others handled it and try to copy it.

Easier said than done, but it was better than trying to muscle everyone else, though the two closest to him had no qualms about trying to force him outside of the circumference of the upcoming ring. Sina would never let him hear the end of it if he got knocked out of the race at the first obstacle.

It was important to take note of his strengths and weaknesses. He had speed, but far less finesse. Rather than let the two bully him into the ring, he pulled back slightly, securing a place in dead last, but also giving him space. With that taken care of he quickly started to flap his wings harder and harder, his speed picking up considerably as he cleared the first ring and came back to the two who tried to push him out earlier, this time, he was above them and lowered his altitude to pressure them right back. Both of them were forced to slow down and give Bael his space just in time to clear the second ring.

There was a nice little straight away before the next challenge: Large flat "walls" positioned in such a way that you had to go under and over them to avoid plastering into one and dropping to the ground.

Well, at least tenth isn't the absolute worst position...

Mars

He blinked a few times as Mars gushed about how many changes he made with his armor. Something about nanotechnology, laser cannons, and some kind of limited shapeshifting. He definitely hadn't been slacking on his work. "Wow. That's great." He nodded. "I don't really know what to ask about it since I don't understand the tech, but it sounds like it's a significant improvement over the first Rocket. I do want to spar with you so see what's new with it, and we can definitely do that after the tournament. I've been making sure everyone else keeps up with combat practice, and while I am very happy to hear that we won't be having a repeat of what happened with Warwolf, I do want to make sure you at least kept up with the basics."

"That suit sounds awesome, don't get me wrong. I just want to make sure you can throw a proper punch and know how to bob and weave." He turned his attention to the movies that Angelica was offering and thought about it for a moment. "I'm partial to Die Hard, can't go wrong with one of the best Christmas movies ever. Even though it's September." He thought about other movies to watch and remembered a few of his favorites. "I'm under the impression you don't have The Princess Bride on there do you? They aired that movie so many times on TV. What about Spirited Away?"

[Finland SSR]

Shihong Smith

Renata Martinez, the heroic Stella!

September 12th

---

'Maybe I am going to far when I ask you not to hurt your teammates'? What the hell does Shi mean by that? When have I even raised a hand against a fellow teammate? Outside of sparring, obviously... Even while apologizing, she keeps trying to bite the other side in some way or another - if this is how she gets her kicks, then... The girl followed it up by speaking about their sparring session a month ago, a rather open wound in their relationship. She inquired on why Renata pushed herself this far - why, even after Shi went down, she threatened to keep firing and maim her, even to the point of possibly murdering her.

And it was a rather gaping and open wound indeed... she even mentioned it to her father some time ago.

"Well, uh..." Renata muttered, looking down to the floor. Out of all the things she had to address, Shi's sudden belief that Renata hates her to the point of wishing her to die had to go first. "I don't hate- I mean, I don't want to maim you, or kill you..." That didn't come out as collected as it probably should have. The pink-haired girl scratched the back of her head, turning away. "I don't know what got into my head back there, to be honest... That's not what a hero is supposed to do, you know? And yet, I went straight down the darkest possible path back there."

And yet... "And yet, in the heat of the moment, I even felt a little happy about it..."

---

Bael

The Mad Lass, Sina As'tari!

August 8th

---

Faces with several hoops before her, Sina struck a faint grin, then hastened the pace of her wings, flying towards the obstacles at breakneck speed. As soon as they were close enough, the vigilante suddenly yanked herself to the side, starting to roll across the air, and flew straight through one of the hoops without as much as a scratch left. With her trademark sharp rolling turns, the woman flew through the second and third one as well, her speed only slightly dropping throughout. Bael was now somewhere far in the distance behind her, the young mad lass was solidly among the upper half of the competitors and her speed was still increasing.

The second obstacle unfolded before her eyes - flat walls hanging before the competitors, requiring them to fly either over or underneath them. The logical choice of action would be to start ascending or descending now so there is no chance of you colliding with one of the walls - and, in fact, all of the competitors around her were starting to do just that. But where's the fun in that? It's too easy! So, instead, Sina opted to ignore all the reasonable advice and charge straight at the wall.

Before the coach or his team could start looking up on whether punching through an obstacle counts as passing, however, Sina suddenly yanked herself upwards, avoiding splattering on the wall on the last possible second and flying out of the gap above, a few places lower in the standings than she had been before her stunt, but with a fresh adrenaline rush to rejuvenate her.

Accepting Bael's invitation was so worth it!

The third obstacle soon unfolded before the accelerating vigilante - it was two massive blocks with a rather narrow gap in between them, one which a flyer would only be able to cross if they turn themselves vertically. For those less experienced at flight and thus reliant on constant wing flapping to stay up, this would be a nightmare.

[Absolon-7]

Wyatt

Casimir Herman, Earlier
If there was one thing Wyatt had him beat him, no matter how much Casimir hated to admit anyone having him beat at something, it was reach. The much taller dra'qunni was momentarily blinded by the swarm and it looked just about time for the uppercut to connect but to his misfortune Wyatt reached out grasping onto Casimir's face. His fist was so close too! Just a few more seconds where all he needed. And it would be only a few more seconds until Casimir was smashed onto the ground breaking the topsoil and embedding him an inch or three into it. The force and weight of the attack was tremendous, impressive even, as well as the pain. Underneath the scaly hand Casimir bared his teeth huffing and puffing trying to move around. He grabbed Wyatt's wrist and pressed down hard on it to get a good anchor.

Casimir raised his legs to his waist and tried to wrap one around Wyatt's extended arm to get at least some better reach by raising his lower body a few inches of the ground. Meanwhile with his other leg he wildly proceeded to kick upwards with the leg moving up and down like a jackhammer hoping to eventually strike something. Wyatt's head or neck couldn't be that far off could they? Whether his foot found its target ro not Casimir would proceed to twist Wyatt's arm and simultaneously shove it forward hoping his forehead would act as a slide of sorts so he'd free himself.

Mizuma Ishiwara, the trickstery Selene!

Viviana Couture September 12th
Viviana blinked once and then twice as Mizu pointed out the advantage they'd have over Ash considering how she's like. What was she thinking being so unfair to Ash of all people? Darn it! Of course the first choice she thought of would have a downside that she hadn't though of. Last thing she wanted was to unwittingly hurt Ash's feelings. But at least playing her game in a weird three person way would be memorable. Mizu pointing out that they'd be able to get to the Elite Four from the current town was made her raise an eyebrow at what their prospects where especially since she wasn't sure how their supplies fared.

"Oh shucks...looks like it, Mizu," an astonished Viv said as she reached for the device to take control of her button. She twisted around in her seat so her side rested on the seat and one arm was hooked over the headrest, "But first we gotta get past Victory Road. Or as I like to call it: Getting Hit with Sledgehammers Road."

Unwittingly before their three person game could start Ash had gotten their avatar to the start of the dungeon and had started a fight with a rogue trainer. Viviana couldn't help but look on in shock as somehow the first Pokemon kept getting crit after crit on the enemy trainer. As the enemy trainer was defeated Viviana reached around to pat Ash's back.

"Good job there but maaaybe take yer hand off the buttons so we can start," offered Viviana. As her hand secured its place on the gaming device she turned to Ash and then to Mizu, "Alright, everyone ready? Three...two..one!"

Mars

Casimir Herman September 12
If he had to be honest with himself Casimir had no clue what sort of answer he expected from his out of the blue question. He really just organized random thoughts to a coherent question to take Mars' mind of being all sad and mopey like a soggy sandwich dropped onto a puddle. The answer he got however was actually more then he'd expect. If anything it was enthusiastic and thoughtful. Casimir scrunched his eyes as Mars continued on. It appeared the techie's resolve would burn up like an engine as long as he got something that peaked his interests. His last statement almost made Casimir laugh but he leaned back into his chair instead.

"Eh don't sweat it. We all got something to nerd rage out about. Just ask be about insect ecology in South America to see yourself," said Casimir opening a pack of cashews he had sneaked on board.

Wyatt had come over by now and inquired about Rocket to Mars which he himself was curious about as he still remembered it giving a respectable performance back in the second team training session. Still naturally it wasn't a match for him back then of course. Apparently it had a whole armada worth of upgrades as Mars kept listing high tech stuff like being able reassemble itself, laser cannons, and a whole lot more thanks to it utilizing nanotech. It definitely sounded a lot more fun to mess around with now.

"And just imagine everyone's face when they see a brand spankin new Rocket debut at the tourney. They literally won't know what hit em," snickered Casimir, "You know I got some new tricks too that I'm dying to try out too. Past few weeks I've been trying to figure out how make whip swords with ants. Has it been successful? Of course it has. Just need to iron out a few things..."

[Union Princes]

Fahcelkel
As quickly as it started, the practice match was over. Arin look up at the buzzing alarm wondering where all the time went. Frustrated that she didn't catch Renata yet pleased that she could relax, Arin stepped out of the ring so she could go back to her room. Renata’s question though stopped her in her tracks. The redhead had completely forgotten about the competition.

“I don’t think I’m ready.” Arin responded with a painful smile before exiting towards her room. Good thing most of her clothes is still in the suitcases.

---

It’s been a long time since she has been on an airplane. Arin doesn’t sure if she had gone on one but her dad would assure that she was on a plane when she was just a baby. Really sure that doesn’t count. she thought as she put her suitcase in the compartment overhead before she sat down in her seat next to the window.

Once that was done, Arin took out some headphones, her phone, a lead pencil, and a notebook. She opened her playlist and began to draft a song as the music started playing in her ears.

[North America Inc]

-Renata-

Shihong Smith

Shi heard it all: the reservation in her voice, her confusion, even the slight tint of joy at the thought of her death. Leaning over to the open window, the light of the sun shining through, she stared into vast blue sky as she thought about what to say. As Renata stared into the aisle, noticeably uncomfortable, Shi held back and asked, "So you don't hate me, but it felt good pulling the trigger...." Shi rubbed her neck in confusion as she reiterated, "I think, deep down, it felt good because you hate me. It's as simple as that."

"Think about it from my perspective...." Shi's emotional facade held true, "We have had issues and insults before but nothing too major. At least I didn't think so at the time. Then, last month, you come down to challenge me, with the gauntlet. You win the spar and try to finish me off...permanently. I obviously don't like that so I stop you. You run off mad at me for doing that, and avoid me for the entire month. And finally we meet again, you're confused why I don't want to talk with you? Is that right?"

"Look..." Getting comfortable, Shi placed a pillow behind her neck, "Renata. I'm not sure how to handle your hatr... feelings toward me. But what can I...no, what can we do to fix it? As I said before, I want to end this rivalry today. Do you?"

[Finland SSR]

The Scarab & Team Exorcist
August 31st
Beneath the city of San Diego

---

As Red’s eyes shot open, he found himself lying in the sand. He felt the heat of the Sun beating down upon his skin from a cloudless sky, with a faint wind causing his shirt to catch slightly in the breeze. Pushing himself up off of the ground, he made to brush the grains of sand off of his clothes, face and arms. Looking around, he tried to get a sense of where he was as he kept his focus on his reasons for being here. It was hard, at first, with the cavern suddenly seeming more distant in his mind. He still knew that it was real, but the details felt foggy, obscured by what felt like doubts and uncertainties in his memory unless he concentrated.

The ruins of a Shinto-styled archway protruded from the sand nearby. Worn down by what must have been years of ceaseless erosion by the desert sands, the structure’s paint was all but gone and pieces of its broken facade were flaking in the wind. A mountain range rose up closer to the horizon, but the peaks were brown and barren, with the sand having begun to creep up in massive dunes that threatened to eventually cover the peaks entirely. Frowning, Red would have seen that the landscape was largely devoid of vegetation - although the tops of a few dying trees still poked desperately above the surface of the sandy ocean.

Completing his turn, Red froze at the sight that awaited behind him.

A trio of pyramids rose to dominate the landscape in the distance. The structures were pristine, with gold and glass shining on their tops under the Sun’s rays while a flawless marble coating rose up their sides. Monuments and statues praising some Egyptian God or historical figure or other completed the palace complex.

“You never fully explained what your plan was, did you?” a voice spoke from behind the red-haired teenager. Covered with his cloak, Jan stood there, his hair faintly flowing with the wind. Just the voice alone was enough to deduce that this was a reality different from their own. The telepath’s heavy Slavic accent had vanished and he did not stumble with any one of his words - after all, in the world of the metaphysical and the extrasensory, the concept of language barriers stops to make sense.

“I panicked and went after you as soon as I felt your psyche slip away, I feared that the Scarab was trying to do the same thing to you as it did to Nightshade… it’s the first time I’ve accomplished such a feat, so I suppose I should be proud, but I’d rather celebrate when we actually win.” Unlike Red, Jan’s manifestation into Yoshi’s mind was imperfect and hasty, and thus the telepath’s voice and frame flickered, his words sounding like they came from a low quality broadcast.

“What’s the plan now?”

Red glanced over at the horizon, staring at the trio of pyramids that shone brightly in the glaring sun. “About that…” Red turned around to face Jan once more, giving him what could best be described as an apologetic shrug. “...I really don’t know for sure.”

“You… don’t know.”

Seeing the reaction on Jan’s face, Red was quick to wave his hands in front of him in an attempt to calm him down. “Just wait a second, before you say anything more. I’m not a complete idiot. I have a general idea of what I- I mean, we need to do. I’m just not for sure exactly what it is.”

Jan blinked a few times - he wasn’t planning to berate Red just yet, not when he himself was guilty of jumping into action without a plan - but the redhead’s words piqued his interest. “What do you mean?”

“Well, this isn’t the first time I’ve been in a situation like this...I think.” Red’s eyebrows scrunched together as he tried to piece together the memories from the past. “Not long ago, when this whole thing started, I was actually the original one to go under the influence of the Scarab. At least, a form of it. This girl, who calls herself Marionette, had used the Scarab to brainwash me into her bidding, pretty much what’s happening to Roy right now.”

Red’s face became more concentrated as he tried to recall the memories of what had occurred. “I can’t really remember everything clearly, but I remember feeling as if I was in some kind of dream the whole time. I could see what I was doing in that church, but it was like I was watching it through a television screen. No matter what I did, I couldn’t stop myself from damn near killing the people trying to save me.” Red’s face seemed to turn even paler as he continued to fill in the details to Jan. “I felt as if I was slipping away, almost like I was about to fall down into some pit of nothingness.

And then a change in expression, one much softer, appeared on his face. “And then I remember Yoshi being there, pulling me back onto my feet. I don’t recall what she said, but all I could tell was that I began to feel as if I could fight off the influence of the Scarab, until eventually I was free.”

“So my plan,” Red said, looking back with a searching gaze back towards the pyramids once more, “is to find wherever the hell the real Yoshi is, and dragging her back out of wherever this damn monster has hidden her.” Glancing back at Jan, a look that was filled with confidence stared right back at Jan’s eyes.

“Sound good enough to you?”

“That’s not a plan, that’s a goal.” the Polish vigilante stated calmly, but nodded in approval regardless. “Though… If that’s what your goal is...”

Jan closed his eyes, remaining silent for a few seconds, focusing onto the psionic energies he could feel across the mindscape. The wind picking up across the desert did not seem to bother him at all. Suddenly, however, with his eyes still closed, the vigilante turned straight towards the pyramids and started walking forward.

“Let’s go, we don’t have much time. Her signature is still lingering there, but it’s getting weaker with each passing second.”

---

Jan and Red trudged through the sand, finding that the sea of dunes became thicker and the further into the desert they travelled. A strong breeze began kicking up the dust around them not long after they’d first set off, and it was all they could do to try and protect their eyes from the irritating grains flying through the air. Keeping their gaze low to the ground, having to pull their feet from the sand’s embrace with each plodding step, the pair of heroes didn’t exchange many words as they focused on making it to their destination. Concentrating on each step, their footfalls adopted a cadence of their own. They could’ve measured the passage of time in the number of steps they’d taken, with each movement taking the place of the ticking hand of an invisible clock. Except their steps weren’t uniform. On flat ground they made comparatively good time, or when they strode along dunes’ crests. But at other times, their progress was slow as they pushed themselves step by step up the side of a towering mountain of sand.

Gritting his teeth, Red had given up trying to keep track of how much time had passed since they’d entered the desert. It didn’t matter, not as long as he kept getting closer to the monster that was holding Yoshiro captive. Jan had no problem matching the determined hero’s pace, leveraging his abilities to hold his presence together. But he could feel the tenuous link between his mind and this place being chipped away at piece by piece, as if the sandstorm was cutting at his thoughts. And yet neither of the two boys complained or slowed, until suddenly the soft ground beneath their feet gave way to the solid feeling of marbe.

Blinking in surprise, the sandstorm that had moments before limited their visibility to scarcely more than a few meters had vanished. Instead, the clear blue sky opened up above them to frame the awe-inspiring pyramids that towered above them. Up close, they could see the hieroglyphs and patterns that had been painstakingly carved into the smooth and pristine walls of the structures, while the golden caps at the pyramids’ tips reflected the Sun’s rays as if they contained their own captive stars. It all must have taken years to build, the result of an entire Empire’s efforts dedicated to their Gods and their rulers, with enough devotion poured into their construction that the eroded remains of the grand tombs would survive long after their builders had been forgotten.

“Like what I’ve done with the place?”

The feminine voice drew the attention of both heroes. Reclining on a flat couch, an olive-skinned woman watched the pair. Propping herself up with an elbow, she seemed to be perfectly relaxed as pair of servants stood on either side of her. One fanned her with a large leaf while the other held a bowl of fruit at the ready. They were all dressed in white robes, but while the servants’ clothes appeared simple and functional, the Scarab was dressed in the same prestigious dress that Yoshiro had been wearing in the cavern.

She was waiting patiently at the end of the marble path that Red and Jan had emerged on, with a canvas roof held up by carved pillars offering her location refuge from the unyielding Sun. If she had any issue with the heat, however, the Scarab made no indication of it. Grinning, she extended an arm out to gesture towards the palace complex that surrounded her.

“Welcome to my mindscape. Figured it was only right to make things feel more like home, seeing as I’m going to be moving in.” With a dismissive wave, she beckoned for the fan-wielding servant to pause in his duties as she swung herself up into a seated position. From there, she studied the two heroes, her gaze pausing on Jan. “Although I wasn’t expecting to have two guests.” Narrowing her eyes, she studied the telepath’s semi-ethereal form with interest. “Piggybacking off of the ritual? Clever, but foolish.”

The Polish vigilante said nothing in response, merely glaring straight at the unwelcome intruder in Yoshi’s mindscape - and nothing in response to her question on what she had done with the place either. Instead, his hand reached out from within his cloak, summoning the psionic construct of a rapier in his grasp.

Red, on the other hand, did not attempt to reach for his own weapons. Instead, he glanced past where the Scarab sat, seeing the entrance to the largest of the structures behind her. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he felt as if...something was there, waiting for him. Something that the Scarab was doing all it could to make sure they didn’t reach.

“So you know how I didn’t really have a plan earlier?” Red said in a low tone over to Jan, who raised an eyebrow as he glanced over. Red continued to stare past the Scarab, who looked down at the two with a look at them as if they were nothing more than annoying bugs standing at her doorstep. “Well, I have one now. But I’m going to have to be a selfish asshole and ask you something pretty demanding.

“It’s not selfish if it’s for the good of someone else.” Jan replied calmly, then offered his ally a glance. “What is it?”

“Yoshi’s in there, somewhere. I guarantee you can tell the same. There’s no telling how long she’s going to be able to hang on, though, which means that we don’t have the time to kick this Scarab’s ass and then go looking for her. So,” Red paused, glaring at the Scarab as he balled in fists, “we’re going to have to split up the workload a bit here. I find Yoshi while you do the ass kicking. Sound doable to you?” Red asked, waiting anxiously for a response.

As Jan’s steely glare refused to flinch, the Scarab glanced at his summoned blade. Her mouth twitched into an amused smirk at the sight, and she chuckled at the pointless display. Folding her arms across her chest, the young woman raised an eyebrow. “Is that your plan, then? To fight me here, in a mind that I control?” It would have been hilarious if it didn’t reek of pathetic desperation. “I’m a telepath, idiot - and a far more experienced one than you. And yet you are blind enough to charge into my home and fight me at my own game? You’re funeral, I suppose.” As if willed into existence, two curved blades appeared in the Scarab’s hands, her confident smirk not even wavering as she waited for the two heroes to make their move.

Jan’s eyes remained fixated on the Scarab for the duration of her speech, at which point he briefly turned towards Red and offered him a nod. Immediately after, the young telepath stepped forward, spinning the rapier in his hand and moving to an offensive fighting stance, his weapon raised above his head. The worst part about all of this was… the demon was right, down to every single word of hers.

This wasn’t a plan, this was a suicidal mission. What stood before them was a telepath with thousands of years of experience, in her own mindscape. Jan couldn’t manage to do anything against her the first two times, so how could the third one possibly be different?

And yet…

“We’ve fought enough times for you to have figured it out already. You can’t scare me with the threat of death.” When you’re forced to live a life like him, death is just an unfortunate finish line rather than something to dread. Without any further words exchanged, the young telepath suddenly leapt forward, running across the empty floor of the pyramid and lashing out at the Scarab with a series of ferocious rapier strikes.

The sound of metal-striking-metal rang out across the desert as the blades clashed, with the Scarab’s arm moving swiftly to block her opponent’s sudden offensive. Within arm’s reach of one another, she met Jan’s determined glare with a smug grin, already relishing the anger that she could feel emanating from his aura. As the hero let out a roar to continue his attack, she calmly allowed herself to backpedal with each of his wild swings, parrying and side-stepping as she went. She could feel the energy and emotion behind each blow, but with Jan’s attention divided between maintaining his form and trying to wield his weapon, she could see his movements coming from a mile away.

As the young hero made to swing his rapier around to catch her in the side, the Scarab’s smirk widened. Oh come on, a feint that obvious is hardly worth taking advantage of. Instead of blocking the attack, the Scarab stepped aside and away from it, allowing for Jan to stumble as he tried to follow through with a plunging attack directed towards where she had been moments before. Watching as the hero tripped over himself as he failed to meet the resistance he had expected, the Scarab was about to chide him for his carelessness when her eyes widened at a sudden movement out of the corner of her eye.

“No!” She called out as she saw Red dart past the duel, the boy’s arms pumping madly as he raced towards the entrance to her temple. Acting immediately, she reached out towards him but had to pull back as Jan’s weapon threatened to cut off her hand. Shooting the hero a scowl, the Scarab realised that she had been misdirected by the young fool. Grimacing, she could only watch as Red disappeared into the entrance of her tomb. Glaring at Jan, she snarled at the hero. “He’ll never make it.”

Seeing the Scarab visibly thrown by the team’s plan, Jan allowed a smile to creep onto his features. Instead of responding verbally, he let out another cry of determination and raced once more into the fray.