As tensions rose in the colosseum as both Steven and Pearl watched on, worry and pride rising in each Gem respectfully at what they were watching.

"Lift it up and put it down

Run real fast, jump off the ground"

As both humans stood facing a group of holo-Pearls down, six holograms divvied up for each of them leaving three for Connie and three for Matthew.

As both humans were left in a momentary stand off with their groups of Pearl's neither of them showed any signs of worry, Connie wielding her pink and rather large sword towards her enemies with Matthew to her left staring down his own group, he though wielded a more plain straight sword, the same that each Holo-Pearl wielded.

As each group stood waiting for the other to take the first move, trying to take the earliest step of advantage it was surprisingly Matthew who took the first quick step forward.

"Worked it hard because you deserve nothing but the best

(The best)"

Taking a sluggish step forward all Pearl's reacted immediately as in one unified move the Pearl's pressed forward to try attack both humans.

This however gave the humans the advantage, as just as quickly as Matthew stepped forward he immediately began to take careful steps backwards angling himself to the left away from Connie causing the Pearl's to awkwardly move around each other.

Connie mirrored Matthew allowing the Holograms to become befuddled, then as both groups of Holograms stood back to back both Connie and Matthew pushed forward causing the first Pearl in each group to helplessly try and defend themselves.

"Nine to five, then overtime

Weekday comes, it's your time to shine

Come so far and now you're gonna put it all on the line"

After a short trade of parry's and thrusts the lead Pearl's in each group were bested by the humans, Connie lifting her sword up from below the Pearl and trailing up its body causing it to vanish, Matthew however lagging behind Connie by just a few key seconds finally pushed his straight sword forward and pierced the hologram causing it to seize up and to drop it's sword and disappear into digital like confetti.

As Connie stood there handling her opponents rhythmically, always making sure to not leave herself open for any counter attacks she danced confidently in her battlefield.

This wasn't the case for Matthew however, he did well against the first Pearl, making sure to keep up his initial advantage as well as he possibly could, being able to push his last two opponents back several feet, but even as he did so he knew that he made a great mistake

Those vital seconds he spent trying to defeat the first hologram made sure he lost whatever advantage he had gained early in the fight, now both Pearl's had found their footing leaving Matthew struggling to keep up with their simultaneous attacks.

A well fought back and forth took place leaving Matthew to slowly lose tempo, and slowly losing his ground he took several steps back knowing full well he couldn't keep this up forever.

As each step he took away from the Holo-Pearl's left him more exhausted he began to try think up some possible way to take back the advantage, a way to jump back into the tempo of the fight he noticed that he had kicked something with the back of his foot.

Taking a glancing look back he noticed the sword of the Holo-Pearl he had beaten earlier, as a last ditch plan rose in his mind he began to quicken his retreat causing the twin unrelenting Pearl's to try and catch up to him.

"Unlock your hidden potential

(Unlock it)

You can do anything"

As both Pearl's descended on him Matthew spun and made a large sweeping slash with his blade, this caused the two Pearl's to take a step back. Knowing that this was his chance, as he spun he reached down to the ground, completing his spin Matthew stood up against the twin Pearl's that were now barreling down upon him ready for their dual thrusts.

As his own sword raised up to parry the sword thrust thrown to him by the Pearl to his right, the Pearl to his left who was still lunging forward with her sword and was met immediately by a second blade, as Matthew stood facing off both Pearl's wielding his second blade he let out a quick sigh of relief as just for a moment both of his opponents stood there trying to process what had just happened.

Then just as quickly before any kind of realization could settle in for both Holograms, Matthew took in a quick breath before seizing this opportunity to start his own counter-attack, applying a flurry of swings with both swords his stance became less precise as he hadn't practiced wielding two swords simultaneously yet, but he knew that as long as could keep some menial form of control he could win this.

"Unleash the beast the lies within

(Unleash it)"

Pushing both Pearl's back Matthew knew that as long as he kept up the tempo of the fight his plan would work out perfectly.

"Unlock your hidden potential

(Unlock it)"

As he pushed onwards, the distance between both groups of Pearl's lessening, Matthew stole a glance past his opponents and saw that Connie was also dealing with two Pearl's, sometime during his tussle with his own Pearl's she had cleaved her first hologram in half leaving her last two Pearl's to step up and increase their difficulty level in this fight.

"Trust in yourself and you will set the bar

You will set the bar, reach the stars!"

A feeling of pride swelled up in Matthew, knowing that his sessions training with Pearl and Connie were not wasted, as he felt adrenaline pumping through his body he realized how much he had grown.

"Under dog

You'll show em all"

Pushing forward with confidence, his sluggish stance with his two swords was slowly becoming more and more refined.

"Overcome

Against all odds"

With the weight of his second blade being adjusted to with his left hand, his motions showing more intention and control showed that he knew that he could do this.

"No holds barred

Because you know it doesn't end at the finish line"

Forcefully sending both Holograms backwards, both of which nearly tripping at the sudden flurry of slashes, he and Connie had caused both groups of Pearl's to push into each other's back, leaving both Connie and himself to push their advantage.

"Whistle blows

Your training kicks in

Blood runs high

And you're ready to win

Don't stop now

You can almost taste sweet victory"

As both groups of Pearl's were pushed into one another they began to work in unison to fend off the humans, and to a further extent, try and overwhelm them. As both Connie and Matthew were facing off against two Holograms each the two facing off against Connie suddenly shifted as one of hers changed focus and turned around, facing off against Matthew he was suddenly facing off with three Pearl's once more as the one pearl facing Connie tried to keep her busy for as long as it could.

"Unlock your hidden potential

(unlock it)"

Suddenly facing off against a line of three consecutive attacks Matthew was quickly overwhelmed, having to go on the sudden defensive once more Matthew was forced to parry every stab sent his way.

"You can do anythin'

Ignite the fire deep inside

(Ignite it)"

Feeling the weight of the situation, and knowing that one mistake could mean serious trouble, Matthew kept complete focus on every minute detail of his defence, trying to hold his own, trying to keep his opponents at bay until Connie could come and save him from this endeavour.

"Oooh oooh ooooh

Unlock your hidden potential

(Unlock it)"

Feeling his arms beginning to burn from the constant need to parry and block the trio of Holograms Matthew's defences began to waiver, every move he made to protect himself began to become slower, his stamina running dry.

"Believe in your strength and you can reach the stars

And you will go far, set the bar, reach the stars!"

But as soon as he began to notice his sluggishness he grew aggravated, not against his opponents, but instead for himself, as the barrage of attacks came his way he began to grit his teeth as a flame began to burn inside of him.

"Unlock your hidden potential"

Growling ferociously Matthew ran entirely on pure adrenaline, not wanting to disappoint himself, or more importantly his teacher, he pushed on as he drew in his breath, meeting the blades of the Pearl's with his own with new found vigour he took the slightest piece of control back and left the back and forth he held with the Pearl's in a stalemate.

"You've got to let it out"

Reaching forward and grasping victory Matthew held off the trio of blades, doing so his stance tightened up and became more methodical, learning as he went on Matthew kept his tempo as he fell into a rhythm of narrowly blocking each attack that came his way.

Going on for as well as he could, this constant trade of blows that felt like it went on for what felt like forever instead took place in a mere ten seconds, those ten seconds though were enough for a relieving sight. As Matthew slid his blade across the blade of the Pearl that stood to his left, causing its attack to harmlessly move away from him it tensely jerked up straight as a pink blade rode down its back.

The remaining Pearl's froze and turned around to see their fallen comrade fade into thin air as Connie stood reeling back her blade preparing to cleave her next victim in two.

As time stood still for all participants involved in this training exercise each of them knowing what their next move would be, the stillness of the moment instantly vanished as both Pearl's took their targets and plunged forward taking the first move.

"Unleash the beast that lies within

Come on baby, you can do it now"

Seeing the attacks coming both Connie and Matthew reacted in kind, Connie slapping the blade away with the flat of her blade causing her opponent to stagger to its side causing them to lose its footing, Matthew however narrowly slid his blade along the blade of his Pearl causing its own momentum to carry itself forward, nearly tripping over its own feet both Holograms were now staggered, ready for the now oncoming onslaught of both exhausted humans.

"Unlock your hidden potential"

Finally able to go the offensive Matthew took his chance and twirled his blade around his opponents nearly swinging it out of the Pearl's grasp, Matthew sneered as the grasp of the Pearl was tight enough for it to keep a hold of it, Connie however swung her sword forward causing her Pearl to narrowly jump back causing Connie's attack to miss.

"Yeah

You can do anything!"

Not letting one single setback get in their way both Matthew and Connie pushed onward, causing both Holograms to retreat backwards as both were now fully outmatched. Matthew stood outpacing his opponent and leaving the hologram to know how he had felt just moments prior, lunging and parrying with two blades against the Pearl's one.

With a grin forming on his face Matthew went ahead and began to end the fight, continuing on with his repeated attacks Matthew left his pattern unchanging, noticing that the Pearl was now learning this pattern and predicting each follow up attack Matthew knew that the fight was done.

Similarly several feet away from himself Connie was furiously swinging and breaking the guard of her Pearl, as the Pearl was stuck under the brutal heavy swings of the young human, a final downward swing caused the Pearl's sword to be knocked out of its hand and clatter away from its owner leaving them defenceless.

Matthew now expecting the counter attack that the Pearl was preparing he left his guard open waiting to be stabbed, then just as he expected the Pearl took the bait, lunging forward the Pearl fell for Matthew's trap. Reacting in kind Matthew leaned downwards leaving the blade to harmlessly travel over his back, seeing this was his chance to end this skirmish Matthew acted on this moment.

As both Pearl's stood defenceless both Connie and Matthew acted together, Connie took hold of her blade and positioned it for her finishing move as she drew it back and darted forward cleanly swinging her sword in unison with her body. Slicing her blade across the midriff of the hologram she stopped as she stood behind the hologram, blade pointing directly ahead of her as the momentum that carried it left it in place.

Then, as Connie stood there the Pearl that still stood behind her erupted into the same confetti as before, vanishing into the winds as several feet away Matthew stood kneeling downwards.

Standing still as if surprised the Pearl, who slowly began to look down and saw the fruition of Matthew's plan, had a blade ran through its stomach as Matthew's arm had extended in his bent over position, then just as with Connie's Pearl his blew into the wind as it disappeared leaving both Matthew and Connie the victors.