The lower floor of the mysterious gem facility was illuminated by a group of faint and ethereal crystal lamps. Even though seeing gem technology and structures had become a common occurrence in her life, Connie couldn't help but feel like the explorers from old, walking into uncharted lands for the first time.

"Pearl look!" Connie pointed to a few tall crystalline cylinders filled with a clear liquid embedded vertically along the wall.

"Hmmm," the slender gem looked closer, "This looks, familiar..." Pearl brought her fingers close to the leftmost container, this one had cracks running all along the structure, though no leaks whatsoever.

"Seen this before?"

"I need to take a closer look," Pearl jumped in a single impulse, stabbing her spear in the wall to use as a support and popped the upper container's cap. "Now let's see what this is," with utmost care, she scratched a bit of the dried residue with her fingernails and brought it to her face "It… can't be!" The residue started sparkling before her eyes before disappearing into thin air.

"Pearl!?" Connie ran towards the gem as she climbed down the wall

"Why, why were they using that?"

"Pearl, what is it? What were they using?"

"This is Diamond essence," she pointed to the canisters, "Pure, undiluted Diamond essence, and not any Diamond either."

"You mean?"

"Pink…"

On the upper floor of the mysterious facility, Peridot kept fiddling with the control panel, Steven could only see line after line of gem glyph data moving too fast for him to read.

"Peridot, what is this, what did you find?" Steven asked as the frantic small alien kept looking at the screens.

"This facility, whatever it is, is the cause for the "Warp Hiccup" of a few days ago, but that's not all"

"What do you… Oh no!" Garnet anticipated the answer

"This same event has happened before! Several times!" Peridot said the exact same thing Garnet predicted.

Steven gasped. The "Warp Hiccup" as Amethyst had named the event, was the complete shutdown of the warp network of planet Earth for a few minutes. Any gems in the process of using the warp pads would be ejected into the cold dark warp subspace. It took the Crystal gems hours rescuing the trapped dozens of gems after the last occurrence! "How come we didn't notice!? The warp network has been on Earth for thousands of years!"

"There were only 5 of us for most of that time," Garnet interjected.

"This place didn't turn on for thousands of years either," Peridot continued the explanation. "This terminal has one record of this going off once during the rebellion, and then, nothing, until about 200 years ago!" As Peridot pointed her finger to the screen Steven noticed something on the side of the terminal.

"Ehh, Peridot, Look!" Steven pulled out a loose panel on the side of the terminal making a small device fall to the floor. "What's this?" Steven saw the object, a small black box, filled with wires and leds, making contact and even bypassing some of the alien connections.

"That, that thing looks!" Peridot raised her eyebrows at the weird black box.

"Human Made!" Garnet completed the thought

Alarms started blaring off, every possible exit of the facility got sealed in front of the shocked eyes of the group.

#

Steven entered the waiting room. Connie, now back in her regular sports uniform, was getting ready for the event.

"Nervous?"

"Um, no! O-of course not Steven!" Connie said, stammering, "Why would I be nervous, hahaha!"

"If… If you're not…"

"I'm not gonna quit Steven," Connie answered, her expression became firm, erasing all traces of her nervousness. "I do have a bit of stage fright, but I'm not afraid of the event."

"I have," Steven said with a bleak sense of honesty, "We have seen that they're capable of doing. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit worried."

"And we were just as worried as when we went against Jasper, or the Diamonds, we knew things could get ugly, and yet we powered through!"

Steven looked at Connie's determination. "I guess all this peace got to me again..." with a smile the young man approached his best friend, "I could tell you about your opponent if you need."

"Thanks Steven, but I think I will try to get this one on my own!" Connie clenched the handle of her baton.

"I'll be cheering for you!"

"Same!"

#

After the recreational games finished, the Sports festival stadium lit up with renewed fanfare. Now there was a concrete ring decorating the middle and lit by 4 umongous torches on each corner.

"Aaaaand we're BACK for our final event!" Present Mic announced to the public, "The 16 best students will face each other in one on one duels in an effort to reach the top! Thanks to Recovery Girl, you can go all out on this battle, so give it your all!" the crowd roared with excitement. "If your opponent can't move, is out of the ring, or simply gives up, you'll go to the next round, However, do not use any lethal techniques, remember Heroes use their fists to stop and capture the villains, never to kill!"

The hero Cementoss sat close to the ring in a self made concrete seat while waving to the audience, "I will stop the fight if I think there's any danger."

"And In our first combat," The screen displaced the names and pictures of the students to face each other. "On this corner, from class 1-A, having faced real villains recently, and giving an astounding performance in the event so far, Ashido Mina!" Mina waved while approaching the ring, showing everybody her cheery self "And on the other corner, coming from the General Education course, one of our newest exchange students, having displayed amazing skill in the first event, and one of the only student from a different class to make it this far, Connie Maheswaran!" Connie walked slowly towards the ring looking at the pink girl on the other Side.

"Come on Mina!" Izuku saw from his bench how almost all of his class cheered for the pink girl, however, Steven could not stop cheering for Connie himself.

"Go Connie!" Steven's screams were almost drowned by the competition until a certain someone started cheering for the exchange student as well.

"Come on Connie, Come on!" behind a small megaphone, Mei Hatsume yelled in favor of Connie, not stopping even after getting a few weird looks from her classmates all around her.

"Oh, I guess I'm not the only student cheering for Conn-"

"Show everyone here what my baby can do!" Mei immediately added to her constant cheering.

"Well, I guess she still cheers for Connie, in her own way..." Steven scratched his cheek with an awkward smile.

"Ready?!" Midnight, working as the referee, raised her hand as both girls got in position, "BEGIN!"

"And Connie goes straight to the offensive!" Present Mic commented as indeed Connie immediately swung her baton as Mina can only dodge the swift attack.

"She seems to be going for a quick ring out, the baton does give her a slight advantage over Ashido's range," Aizawa said to present Mic, "many other students would have been hit by now, but she did turned out to be one of the most agile in my class, besides, trying to zone her might not end well for her opponent."

"That's quite an attack." Mina smiled, trying to keep the rhythm of Connie's barrage was not easy, but she had seen enough so far, "But now is my turn!" Mina waved her hand in front of Connie throwing a glob of acid slime in her direction.

"Woah!" Even though the attack was telegraphed, Connie's instincts kicked in and she jumped back to avoid the attack. The floor sizzled as the slime started dissolving the concrete, "Well, I need a change of plans," Connie said to herself, not taking her eyes away from her opponent, the girl however prepared a second volley.

"And the Tables have turned! With her acid, Miss Ashido is starting to regain the lost space at the beginning of the gduel, can Maheswaran overcome this new problem?" Present Mic narrated. Connie had started retreating, everytime she tried pushing forward, Mina simply countered by a spread of acid centimeters before her, followed by a strong kick or punch to make her back down.

"HYAAH!" Connie swung her baton only to quickly be evaded by the pink girl with a smile.

"You're good!" Mina said, waving her hand towards Connie, making the girl back away further.

'No acid?' she flinched by the sudden movement, 'Damn, I got too concentrated in avoiding her acid that-' another swing by Connie was met by a quick dodge, just enough to miss the hit without giving her any space forward.

"I-I'm not giving up here!" A new glob of acid shot out of Mina's hand, Connie retracted her arm as she saw the liquid miss her, melting the concrete on her right.

"No..." her grip tightened around her weapon. 'She wants to disarm me!' a quick turn backwards made her notice how close she was to the edge. 'But she didn't- Oh!' the sudden realization hit her head.

"Connie and Mina seem to be pretty even physically," Izuku said as he wrote on his notebook.

"Izuku?"

"Steven? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking out loud."

"Nevermind… What do you think about the fight?" Steven asked, Izuku could see his tension, however he decided to give him an honest answer.

"I don- I don't know..." the young man answered "I am pretty sure that is not hopeless, but she's gonna have to surpass Mina's acid"

"COME ON!" the yell of the contiguous set of seats called both their attention "I gave you the manual, you can't lose just like that?!" Hatsume was yelling her heart out as she saw Connie backing away closer to the corner.

"Mei?" both asked.

"Ahhh! If you don't do anything more than use it like a stick, what kind of message are you sending to the support companies?! I- I heard even Prometheus was here!" the engineer practically ignored both boys, however Steven smiled after hearing that.

"Steven?"

"I think… I think I might have worried myself more than I had to," Izuku saw his smile, and turned his head back to the fight.

Connie was in a tight spot, Mina had done her best to keep the exchange student with as little space to move, however Connie had also been able to keep her at bay with her baton.

"I'm sorry," Connie said to Mina.

"Why?" the girl kept her eyes locked into Connie. The girl had caught up to her plans to disarm her, and she was good enough to move her weapon away from her acid. She recognized that determination, this next move would be her last.

"I- I think" her breath started to calm "I think, I think it is time to finish this!" the girl swung her baton, making Mina back away slightly, while preparing a couple globs of acid for her final assaul-*click*

"Huh?" the small click was followed by a powerful blow to her stomach, strong enough to take the wind out of her "Wha-!" Connie's baton had extended! Doubled its length with such force that it almost lifted her off the ground, before she could do anything she felt Connie's hands pulling on her right arm.

"Hyaaa!" Connie pulled the pink girl over her head and threw her out of the platform.

"Ashido is out of the ring!" Midnight yelled. The screens all over read *WINNER* displaying her face for the world to see.

"And our first winner is Connie Maheswaran!" Present Mic announced as the crowd went wild.

"Ouch…" Mina touched her stomach as she opened her eyes to find Connie extending her hand to help her "Y-You knew?"

"I noticed you were aiming to disarm me, and well, you also weren't directly pointing your acid at me." The pink girl got back on her feet with Connie's help.

"Yeah…. ouch!" she winced a bit, "I don't normally use it against people directly, I need more control."

"You are good, I didn't think I'd have to use the extended mode to win!" Both girls walked out of the stadium as the platform prepared for the next combat. On his seat, Steven looked at the platform with determination. His turn would come soon enough.

#

Connie made it to her class seat a little into the second fight. Getting a few cheers from her classmates as well as Steven from the contiguous area.

"You did so great Connie!"

"Thank you Steven!" the moment was interrupted by a loud explosion. The fight below, and the person she would have to challenge on the next round were facing each other.

"RRRAGH!" Sato looked imposing with his Quirk in full effect, swinging his fists with such force that she could almost feel them.

*BOOM!* Bakugo's blast made the huge teenager stager momentarily, only to restart his mad assault with a primal roar "Hehehe, those are some really strong punches," the blond smiled.

"Yeah?" The teenager momentarily stopped to see Bakugo's smile, none of his hits had connected..

"But they're telegraphed, clumsy, and altogether useless!" The mocking tone on Bakugo did nothing but enrage his opponent, who launched himself into another chaotic barrage.

"SHUT!" Sato slammed both fists forward making the ring tremble, but missing Bakugo by a lot, "UP!" he wound up another powerful punch aimed directly to Bakugo's new location and

released it with all his might, and it only hit air!

"Ish" Steven couldn't help but cringe as Sato trashed uselessly against Katsuki, he really wanted to see his old teammate win, even if that would mean he'd face Connie in the next round. But that disparity of skill, that hopelessness… *"Has it sinked in yet?"* Steven remembered Jasper's imposing figure against Amethyst years ago…

"See? Useless!" By the time Sato released that powerful punch, Bakugo was already beside him, both arms outstretched and pointed towards him. *BOOM!* an even bigger blast pushed Sato away, dropping him outside the ring.

"Sato is out of the ring!, the Winner is Katsuki Bakugo!" Midnight announced .

Connie tightened her grip after witnessing Bakugo's display of skill and strength. Mina had been a good opponent, but Bakugo no doubt blew her out of the water. A small chill went through her spine, "Not gonna run..." she whispered to herself, if this was gonna be her last combat in this festival, she would make it count!

#

"AAAGH!" Eijiro Kirishima staggered as sparks ran through his body.

"And Denki takes the lead with another great hit!" Present Mic narration intervened. "his rock hard skin protected him against the initial assault, but as the fight gets longer he's starting to falter!"

Izuku, avid note taker, paid attention at the current combat "Kirishima's quirk is based on his stamina?" he jotted on his notebook, trying to think what kind of strategies would he put up were he faced against either of them. Taking a quick look around, he caught a small glimpse of someone leaving their seat. "Uraraka?"

Quickly pursuing his friend, Midoriya followed her to one of the stadium's many corridors.

"Midoriya!"

"A-are you okay?"

"Yes," she answered quickly, "I was just trying to think..." the girl lowered her voice. Izuku approached her as the young woman "I, I guess I'm a bit nervous about my fight..."

"Oh…" that was right, she was fighting Steven, the mysterious young man who proved to be unpredictable given the nature of his quirk, "I think I can help you, I don't know everything about his Quirk but…"

Uraraka shook her head, "Thank you Midoriya, I think I need to do this on my own." the girl averted her gaze from Izuku. "I think," her mind went back to Iida on the previous event "I think I agree with Iida, I need to do this on my own," Izuku could see the smile slowly coming back into Ochako's face "I said I'm gonna do my best, and I mean It!"

Izuku smiled, he could feel Uraraka's determination, and respected her decision, he knew however that her fight was not gonna be easy…

Back in the ring, Present Mic Cheered as the confrontation reached its climax "WOOOOH! The battle has taken a turn once more!" Kirishima protected himself from another one of Denki's discharges by simply hardening his body for a quick moment, meeting his assailant with a smile.

"Hehehe!" Kirishima walked forward as his opponent took a step back. "I-I knew, I had to pace- Myself..." he said panting. The brief advantage Kaminari gained had been slowly chipped away by the red head. While Denki's attack had been vicious, he discovered that just shielding for a couple seconds was enough to neutralize his attack altogether.

"Ookay," a bit insecure, Denki made a few arcs of electricity run through his palms, "Then let's try one last time!" The young man clashed with Kirishima and yelled, "INDISCRIMINATE SHOCK 1.3 MILLION VOLTS!"

Kirishima hardened his whole body as the electricity lit up the ring, even in his hardened state, he could feel the current coursing through his skin, not daring to move a muscle, Eijiro needed to concentrate! 'PLUS ULTRA!' were the only words moving in his mind while enduring the assault, just a little more…

"Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaa-!" Kaminari's powerful attack stopped, as his brain short circuited due to the enormous voltage he produced. Eijiro could feel smoke rising from his body as it slowly dropped his hardened state. Kaminari then began to babble random noises while doing some thumbs up like a huge idiot.

"I.. Win…" Kirishima said and with a small push, he made Kaminari drop to the floor with no resistance.

"Kaminari, can you continue?" Midnight asked the teenager, still giving a thumbs up, but unaware of everything going around him. "The opponent cannot continue! The winner of this combat is Eijiro Kirishima!" she raised her hand signaling the end of the combat, under the cheers of everyone around.

#

The next combat was a bit more unorthodox, especially for the fact that Iida was used by Mei as a walking advertisement of every single support item she developed, finishing with the young technician simply giving up after displaying every single gadget at her disposal.

"And this concludes my presentation," Announced Mei through her megaphone, to every support company in the audience and those watching, "if any of my inventions caught your interest, please don't hesitate to contact me!" And with a smile, Mei left the ring, along with a really angry Iida. "Sorry IIda, but I gotta find someway to be a famous Support Mechanic one way or another," she added very quietly to herself.

Steven and Connie were actually waiting for Mei close to the ring entrance. Steven's first combat was gonna happen right after Mei's, and Connie wanted to congratulate the technician, not expecting the results of the combat though.

"Well, that was... something…" Steven scratched his head as the pink haired girl made their way to the exit.

"Yeah," Connie could only nod in agreement, "I suppose an engineer would like their creations to be known, besides them."

"Connie!" Mei ran to the exit after recognizing her in the doorway "I'm so happy that you won with my Baby!"

"Um, thank-"

"Of course, I knew you were smart! I bet even Prometheus got a good look at it in your fight!"

"Ehm? Prometheus?" Steven asked, remembering Mei had mentioned earlier.

"You don't know about Prometheus!?" Mei suddenly had the look of a crazed fangirl, "They're ONLY one of the biggest support companies around! Ohh, I can only dream what I could do if I could get access to their resources!" the girl's eyes glimmered at the prospect of working with them. "The amount of Babies I could create…!"

"Hehehe," an awkward laugh escaped Steven and Connie's mouth.

"I mean, you're in the hero course, right, Steven?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"You should look into them, they are known for sponsoring promising heroes..." The girl smiled, scratched her chin looking at the exchange student couple "In fact, I think you two just gave me an idea, SEE YOU!" and just like that, the girl ran inside like there was no tomorrow.

"Hey, Mei, where are you going!?" Connie asked the young engineer.

"To my workbench of course!" Mei yelled from the distance "I need to work on this A.S.A.P.!"

"Well, that's Mei." said Connie.

"She's … quirky?" Steven smiled back towards Connie, then turned his sight back into the arena. "I think it's my turn now."

Connie turned serious "I will be here, cheering for you" Connie put her hand on Steven's shoulder "Give it your all! Let's make people talk about this!" Steven nodded as he slowly left the doorway towards the Arena.