This was it. The final championships for the freedom of three teams had finally arrived and the two teams could have hated that day more than their own owners. Yes, their day of freedom was at hand, but only one team would receive it and in order to gain that freedom, they have to defeat each other. The thought blackened their world, even though normally they had expected to all be exuberant and ready to fight. That was far from what it seemed like to them. The championships would take as long as they needed in order to determine the final victors and all the other teams were excited and bustling in anticipation of the games to come.

The games were to be held in huge warehouses, whose owner had been apart of the black market of Lost Children for decades. He had contributed the use of several warehouses and the slaves were all packed into a smaller warehouse than where the actual games were to be held. There was little light to see by and what didn't help the situation, was that it was storming wildly outside. Lightening occasionally flashed across the sky and startled the slaves and owners. That did not help the concentration level though. The rumor had increased in its intensity now and the slaves were restless and the owners were fidgeting as well. Lucrezia seemed to be a wreck. Everything disturbed her and Dorothy seemed to be on high alert as well. Something was definitely out of sort.

The girl's team huddled down in a corner and lay strewed about waiting for their number to be called out for the second time. So far, they had not seen the boys at all. Cathy had been returned to the team at the gates of the warehouse and was reunited as a whole once again. The boys had already been sent inside at that point though and strangely, they had not made the effort to find the girls, which made their spirits falter if not for a moment.

"We didn't need them anyway," grumbled Hilde, breaking through their strange silence. Lucrezia's gaze swept over the girls in front of her and then quickly averted her eyes at one of the windows, watching as the rain poured down hard and fast. These were terrible conditions and it would make things much harder to control. More people would manage to get away.

"Who could you possibly be talking about?" growled Cathy cynically, despising that Trowa had disappeared on her and hadn't even glanced at her as he had walked into the makeshift Cage.

"Come on girls," interrupted Natria. "We knew this was going to happen. If you have to be bitter about it, at least do it somewhere else, you're giving me a headache." Cathy sniffed and looked out the window.

"You know, both of our teams deserve freedom," stated Relena. Everyone froze and looked at Relena, waiting to see what she would say next. She didn't say anything and it seemed as if she wasn't intending to, but then she spoke. "We all worked for this goal for years and why give up what we've worked for, for so long, for something that began a month ago?" The others saw her meaning and decided silently that the subject would remain closed until further notice. Why push everything further when it would only upset them?

Game after game went by and finally there had been several teams eliminated and the few remaining teams were left to battle with one another. What was different about this battle was that the five remaining teams would all be put into a single court without baskets. They were simply to eliminate three teams through this massacre of a method and the remaining teams would be pitted against each other. The other teams looked tough enough. One team was nothing but enormity in muscle and size. Another team was made up of a mixture of girls and guys, and Relena decided she would have to keep an eye out on that team. A mixture of genders meant they normally had something up their sleeves, which deserved severe caution. The third team was a group of boys that were small in comparison to the first team, but they were mean-looking. The slit eyes, the jagged way they walked, the predatorial stare, it all wound up into a picture that sent shivers down some people's spines. Of course, the other two teams that were there as well were Relena and Heero's teams.

The shouts of the crowd were drowned out from the players on the court as they positioned themselves all over the makeshift court. Their stances were tense and the crackling in air could only describe the intensity of the moment as the players looked over each other. Natria stared across and focused in on a young woman that was focused on one of her own team mates, Cathy. Natria smiled slightly, but as she turned a little she saw out of the corner of her eye that Wufei was positioned to strike at her. She felt her heart drop a full inch before she stiffened up against the traitorous feelings filling her mind. Dorothy looked up and down the court and found him. He was standing beside Heero and had his gaze set on a young man near by, who was part of the girl-boy team. Quatre looked up for a moment, feeling the eyes upon his face and spotted Dorothy. She smiled slightly and turned once again on her opponent just a few feet away. Hilde felt as if she was going to pass out from the pure energy flowing through the air. She didn't even notice the crowds anymore, only the people in front of her. If she eliminated them all, her team would surely win their freedom. The thought made her even more edgy.

A long moment passed where everyone held their breath as a red handkerchief was thrown up into the air, signaling the beginning of a slaughter. Everything happened quickly. The all around large team was taken out within a matter of moments because their agility was low in comparison to the other players. The bigger they are, the harder they fall, was the saying and that's exactly what happened. They were new and were not prepared for the swiftness of the other teams. That brought them down. Only one teammate was left standing and therefore that automatically disqualified that team. There were the four teams now. Hilde took a flying leap at a young woman right in front of her and let loose a flurry of blows that could have broken a brick. Unfortunately, the young woman was fast and able to get away without a scratch. The young man that Quatre had set in on had expected the onslaught and dodged away, flying towards Relena's head, intending on breaking her neck. Relena turned just in time to catch it on the side of her head instead. She fell, but her reflexes kicked in and she flipped away from the ground and landed right behind a young woman. She let loose a foot, lodging it into the young woman's leg. A dull crack resounded through the court and the crowd went wild. One of the young men turned at the sound and saw the victim crumpling. He gasped and flew towards the young woman. He held her in his arms for a moment before Relena came crashing down on the back of his head with an elbow. He fell with a thud, passing out before he even hit the ground. The young woman had passed out as well from the pain. Two members of the girl-boy team were out, that left three more. Relena was right about one thing, they had something up their sleeves. They all broke away at the same time and huddled together in a barrier that came flying forward, mowing down several other opponents. It was so quick that Natria didn't see it coming. At that moment, she had been dodging Wufei's blows. He had seen the attack coming, but Natria did not. She flew back several feet before she even hit the ground. The other team members came running, still running on their rampage, right towards her. Gritting her teeth, she waited for the impact. Wufei stared on with narrowed eyes as Natria was thrown once again another ten feet. The attack continued for a few more moments before Cathy, Hilde, and another member of the other boys team jumped in and tore apart the barrier. Natria was a bloody mess. The red liquid ran down her temple and blinding her for a moment. As she stood back up, trying to get the blood out of her eyes, one of the boys from the other team ran forward and kneed her high in the stomach. The air left her lungs as she crumpled down on the ground. Relena shot in and slammed the player back and out of the court. He was disqualified. The barrier was no more as well as the girl-boy team. They were completely eliminated. That left the two boys team and the one girl's team. So far, Relena and Heero had managed to keep all of their players. Natria was in pretty bad shape at this point though.

The fighting was intense and Hilde didn't see the foot coming towards her head until it was too late. She braced herself for the impact, but a blur of brown and black ran by and deflected the foot, giving Hilde enough time to react. She sent a fist right into the lower area of the young man's body. He crumpled, twitching as he went down. Hilde smiled slightly before she turned and looked at that blur that went by. It was Duo. He was busy attacking a young man from the other team. Suddenly, the teams were all against the foreign group of boys and they were immediately destroyed. Two teams remained and a yellow handkerchief was thrown up into the air, signaling the final competition. The roar of cheers that filled the court was deafening, but the players on the court didn't seem to notice at all. In fact, they merely stood there staring at one another. They were all a bloody mess. Two teams were left. Heero's team versus Relena's team; it was all winding down and now the only thing left was for one of the teams to beat the other.

It was the moment they all dreaded.