40: A Show of Mercy

Nathan Roble and Reina Usami stand side by side at the edge of a grove in the middle of a battle zone as two fierce foes enter their line of sight. Billiam Blakely and Daisy Banks, the harbingers of their defeat, the grim reapers in the flesh, trace their steps to this forested encampment on the edge of the northern borders.

"Now's your last chance to run." Nathan knows she won't; Reina wasn't a coward. Despite this, he still wanted a chance to look cool.

Reina grips Cottonee's capsule in her hands while Purrsalot rests on her shoulders. "I wouldn't get far, and a good soldier doesn't die with a bullet to the back, right?"

Nathan just tips his hat to her, showing off his father's hat he lent his son to inspire him for his unknown future. "Private Usami, you're many things, but a coward is not a word I'd ever think to use! Stand at attention!"

"Yes, sir!" She salutes back to him and smiles, her cheeks a slight red as she tries to ignore the way she might look to him.

The military kid coughs after accidentally inhaling spit on account of truly seeing the girl with unfiltered eyes; her light brown hair and stark green eyes resemble the photo of her mother she carries with her. "We're going to go out in a blaze of glory or we're going to buck the odds. At arms!"

…

"They're not even running. I guess they know their fate is to fall here." Daisy Banks smiles sinisterly. Her prey was foolish enough to believe they could stand to her. Whatever; the easier they made it for her, the less she'd have to try.

Billiam senses that it's something else. His intuition is how he qualified to be a dragon tamer, an esteemed title that very few ever hoped to achieve. Those that tamed dragons were of high blood and renown.

Despite his lineage and his previous accomplishments, nothing was set in stone. Jackson Banks, once said to be the next Champion of Unova, never made it that far.

Unlike that poor soul, Billiam refused to be another body in the forest.

"If you underestimate even a D rank student, you'll never get far." Billiam's words carry no animosity, though he could have and she would have understood why.

Daisy clicks her tongue and sticks it out at him. "What do you know that I wouldn't blue blood? If rankings and power systems didn't work, why would we use them?"

Billiam slowly marches toward what he expects to be his first true match in the tournament. "People like to assume things about each other. It's just another form of segregating each other into groups."

"The weak should fear the strong. That's how it goes in nature." Daisy responds in kind as she remembers everything her mother ever was.

"I believe in nurture myself. It's why I have anything that I do." Unlike his normally stoic demeanor, a sense of humility and tenderness escapes his lips. For a single moment Daisy feels moved by his words. They sound like what her father used to say. Once that connection is made, her anger boils over.

Daisy throws caution to the wind and stands her ground in the center of the challenge zone covering the northern border. "The only things they'll be nurturing are their bruised egos for daring take a tone with me. I'm sick of people thinking they ever understood me."

"You're quite the bitter one, aren't you?" Daisy's glares fail to evoke a meaningful response from the Blakeley heir. "I'm merely stating my observations."

"Well, shut up with those 'observations'." She bends her fingers at the last word to amplify her displeasure and speaks softly to herself. "Even my own team doesn't understand. I have to win this dumb competition at any cost. Friends only make the sacrifices you make hurt."

Billiam closes his eyes, taking in the feel of the evening breeze and exhaling slowly to calm his frantically beating heart. "It sounds to me like you need human connection more than you need a victory."

Daisy's abrupt change of speaking habits catches the man unaware. "Don't you understand, Billiam? When villains win, many of them usually do. Villains win by number, by control, by using others. Heroes, all the greatest heroes we idolize and endure, they're always alone when they succeed."

"I doubt that is true." Billiam opens up a discourse with her, keeping an eye on their prey. One of them, likely Nathan, begins sprinting in their direction while Reina veers off to the side. "Heroes have families and friends by their side.

"Only one hero wins." Daisy counters him by listing off a few. "When you look at any shonen or any television show, it's the hero that saves the day and his friends are usually useless. How often do groups actually pull together? And even when they do, only one, only one ever gets any recognition for it."

Billiam raises an eyebrow at that. "Heroes do not act in regards to recognition, Daisy. They act because it is right."

Daisy grabs her right arm's sleeve and pulls up, revealing scars of flesh from a bone being torn at a bad angle. "Then no one in this world is a hero. No one acted because it was right."

"Is that why you loathe everyone and everything?"

"Society doesn't allow me to just… destroy the monster." Facing the communicator, she notes where Reina has stopped and scowls at Nathan as he's finally visible. "Society won't intervene unless it has to; it's slow and ill-equipped to process actual suffering."

Billiam starts to glean some of her ideals and pushes those ideas. "If society reacted too quickly based on emotive speculations it would be chaos and anarchy."

Daisy stares into the soul of that young man and chills him to the bone. "People who talk of pacifism and understanding often don't pay for what their morals cost." With her not-scarred arm she unleashes her Venipede and starts moving towards Nathan with ill intent. "Never once do they consider what it costs other people. And never once did a single one of them apologize or try to make it right. By me or by Tyson."

"So you do still care for him?" Billiam tries to soften her edges but she says nothing in response, leaving him to turn to the forest. "Shall I hunt the rabbit?"

"Do as you wish. That pompous dickhead war boy is getting an asskicking. He'll pay for even thinking of loving a country like ours." No more words are needed to be said as the next two battles of the test come ever closer.

…

Raya's Dartrix is all that remains on the field as Ariel returns her last Pokémon to her collection of capsules. An announcement declares to the world the results. "In a stunning show of power, Raya Arces has defeated Ariel Ryder, defeating all of her team with just one Pokémon! Raya Arces has achieved her first of many victories while Ariel Ryder is one loss away from elimination!"

"You were not kidding about your strength, Raya." Ariel fights back tears from forming, refusing to look even weaker in front of her new rival. "We're not even close to challenging your kind of power."

"I could have told you that." A bitter dismissal is all the girl can stomach to say. "I'm just knocking you X ranks down a peg. I can't have you thinking you can look down on people with how little you've actually achieved."

Ariel's eyes widen as her misguided nature misinterprets the meanings and intentions of the overtly edgy girl's attitude. "Humbling us so we can achieve true strength!? You're no villain; you're a mentor!"

Raya tilts her head; the sound of gears could be heard for miles as her brain rushes to match Ariel's words to a meaning that makes sense and short circuits in the process. "I'm going to leave now."

"Wait! Before you go, I want to know!" Ariel reaches out for her self-decided rival and holds her last PokéBall tightly in her hand. "If you're already this strong, why are you participating?"

"I like to hunt." That's all Raya says when she turns to meet Ariel's excitement and energy. "You're just some easy prey I can cut my teeth on."

Ariel places her capsules back into their proper spots and pumps her fist into the air. "Just you wait, Raya! Next time we battle, this prey will be hunting you!"

There won't be a next time, girl. It's very likely I'll never see any of you again. Raya keeps her thoughts silent and opens up her communicator before quickly tracking down the names of the other high-ranking students. Jaycen and Aria near each other, while Violet and Skyla both move inwards to the center of the testing grounds.

Settling on Skyla's name, Raya disappears into nothing and stalks the girl who would be Gym Leader with a hunter's gleam in her transparent irises.

…

"So you've turned to hunting us down with other teams now?" Nathan holds Flyby on his arm while Gulag floats to the side of him as Daisy Banks appears before him with Billiam trailing beside her. "You're really a terrible person."

Daisy tosses her Venipede's capsule into the air, catching it every time it falls within range of her delicate hand with painted lavender nails to match her lipstick. "I need two people to defeat you to ensure you're eliminated. Billiam, would you kindly hunt that runner down?"

Billiam avoids the private's piercing gaze and nods with a hollow look in his eye. "I'm merely doing this for her cooperation in keeping an eye on your team. Nothing personal in this business from me."

"Stop acting like you need to justify stomping out the competition." Daisy chides him as she summons her Venipede, whose angry glaze and piercing hatred send chills down Nathan's spine. "Nathan Roble, I challenge you to a match. Will you indulge me?"

Nathan observes the girl's face as he takes in the fact they're in a challenge zone. "My condition is you can only use one Pokémon against me. You sure you want to battle with a handicap like that!?" This is only the first of Nathan's stopgaps to dissuade Daisy from hunting them down.

Reina, if she had been the one found by Daisy, and Kelsie as well, all had this condition in mind.

"No can do, I'm afraid." Daisy grins like a madman. "According to the rules, every time a condition is applied, it can't be reused. Vance Holmes initiated this self-handicap against Darren in the first round. You can't do the same." With the rule book in her free hand, she slams it shut and sets it aside in her bag. "You underestimate someone with actual intelligence. Good soldiers should follow orders and leave tactics to the ones in power."

Taken aback, Nathan bites his lip. "Mark was right; I should have read the damn thing!" He pauses, realizing that their one full-proof plan had fallen through. In fact this mistake might just cost Reina and him the game.

Damn it! How am I going to see this through if I go down here!? Think! What's some bullshit I can use!?

"Don't strain your brain; you'll never outwit me." Daisy motions to Billiam. "Go take that girl down and make sure she doesn't escape. We'll switch fights once we've won and eliminate these losers permanently."

Billiam hesitates in following her request. "What will I do for Jamal if we wipe out the only people he can fight with fairly?"

Daisy turns to him with anger burning within her. "Are you stupid!? Jamal doesn't HAVE to win two fights! He can just hide like the pathetic loser he is and run out the clock! Just like his shitty basketball team does when they get one point ahead."

"If he heard you say that he'd pick a fight with you." Billiam begins tracking down the marker Reina has over her head.

"Who cares about that dumb idiot!?" Daisy's attitude shifts fully into revenger mode as she eyes Nathan warily. "Make your pathetic attempt at cheating me out of my guaranteed win already!"

Sighing once more at her indignities, Billiam exits the scene and focuses on the now unmoving Reina Usami in the brush nearby.

As he leaves, Nathan formulates a new plan to mess with the heiress. "If you think I only have one way to limit what you can do, you're in for some disappointment."

"I was in for disappointment when that woman had a pathetic worm slither out of her that I'd have to call my brother." Daisy's grip on Venipede's capsule tightens. "I've never forgiven you for the way you act; interrupting the one night I had to be a normal girl so you can FUCK around!" Gripping the whip at her side, she swings it at Nathan, knocking the hat from his head. "Now make your choice before I decide to finish what I started!"

"Daisy… I… I didn't… We weren't trying to…" Nathan sees her seething and for the first time since that moment they let her go first so she could try to keep her life from being uprooted entirely, he can see who she used to be or was pretending to be dance across her features.

Daisy raises her hand and her loyal bug jumps onto her arm, ready to send toxins at the indecisive gentleman facing her. "Nobody who ever bothered me or hurt me 'knew'. You're all oblivious and lying bastards on top!"

"Fine. You want to act like the villain? Then you can be defeated like one." Nathan points at her Venipede. "My condition is you can only use one move per Pokémon for the entire fight!"

"That's… not terrible, actually." As Venipede jumps down and Nathan's Emolga flaps its wings into the now building arena, she offers a backhanded compliment. "You might have been a C-rank student if you weren't ten years too early!"

"Daisy Banks and Nathan Roble are engaging in the first same-team battle! With such a strict condition, can the Banks heiress truly overcome this debilitating handicap?"

Daisy answers the Rotom announcer with another cruel remark. "His name is Nathan. You can do him that much."

"Bitch…" Nathan takes both the metaphorical gloves off and the military-use standard gloves he's using to cover his palms. He rubs them together to generate some static and cries to the sky. "Flyby, Operation Toxic Date is ago!"

…

Jonas and Becca inch ever closer to Luke's encampment as the day's sun passes its zenith and begins the slow crawl to the end of their first day in this dreadful experience. Every attempt at breaking the silence with any amount of conversation is met with a wall. Jonas lacks the knowledge to communicate clearly with her and she lacks the will to listen to anyone who aids and abets a murderer.

"Perhaps I should expect this of a man descending from that Alterra man." Becca's snide and rude remarks carry on and Jonas sighs every time she starts up.

Turning to her, Jonas stops the walk. "Does it make you feel better to talk poorly about others?"

Becca folds her arms and does her best to block out his words. "If your father is really in that ugly organization that means your entire fortune was built on others dying and suffering. Just because I'm not a hypocrite like you doesn't make me wrong."

"So even if it is, how the hell is that my fault?" Jonas replies in kind. "Last I checked you're rich and have opportunities a lot of people don't have, but I don't see you condemning that."

"My father didn't hurt people to reach where he is." Her defiant tone remains strong and unwavering."

Jonas grimaces, getting tired of her broken record ideas. "Okay, but he made that money in a country that lets Team Rocket run around, that abuses Pokémon and doesn't do more, and has poverty, homelessness, drug use, and more rampant in our streets. Excuse me if I understand that even you were given something at the expense of another. It's how life works."

Becca starts to take a battle stance as she decides perhaps eliminating Jonas as well would benefit her. "It's not the same and you know it, Alterra."

"Does it matter if it is? If you actually gave a shit you wouldn't be chasing Luke and Tyson down to knock them out of a little game. You'd be calling that dad of yours to push the law to make it right." Jonas turns his back on her. "But I bet you don't even trust them to do that much. They let Halloran do his thing, didn't they?"

"What's your point!?"

Jonas shakes his head in defeat. "Maybe my point is that you shouldn't take your anger at a failing system out on people who got hurt because of its failings! Do you really think Luke WANTED his dog to be killed so he could bloody his hands!?"

Becca snarls at him. "You can't go around killing people because they hurt you!"

"You'd rather that guy just beat him at his own friend's grave?" The imagery puts a halt to Becca's anger for just a moment. "Laurence could have killed him, and even if he didn't… If the law did nothing to Laurence after all the things he did, then what's the point in believing in justice at all?"

"It's not just about justice." Becca remains headstrong despite his words placing doubts within her. "If we allow individuals to do what they think is right, it… it just causes pain for others."

Jonas returns her cold gaze with warmth and understanding at the back of his tortured childhood years. "I know. I lost my brother to selfish people, don't you know?" He lowers his head. "It's possible the same blade that made Tyson attack my best friend and killed him… it's possible that same blade motivated his mother to kill my brother."

Becca's heart stops mid-beat as her mind processes the hurt in the last few words the scion uttered. "Jonas, you really think that it's the same weapon?"

"The running theory the cops have according to Officer Magenta is that Madeline found the blade on a plane and it crashed; then she went on a rampage. Daisy's older brother Jackson, a young man beloved by his teachers and friends, and Ryker Alterra, my brother, his greatest rival, were both reported to be victims, though their bodies remained undiscovered due to the corpses we DID find being inconclusive." Jonas didn't often ponder what happened that fateful night but ever since the Tyson attack he had been thinking it over during his training nights. He even asked his father outright and Alistair just slumped into a chair with a horrified look about his features.

What Jonas didn't know was how his father put the pieces together and learned the same blade he asked to be made his had truly been why his eldest had had to die.

Jonas didn't see the blood on his father's hands as he collapsed into his chair.

Jonas saw pain and wondered if he looked that way to others too.

"I don't know for certain what Tyson did or did not do. But I do know that I was terrible to Luke, I… I harassed him, threatened him, sicked my hound on him." Shame fills him as he considers how the two had grown since those days. "He forgave me, and he spared Tyson. Even if you hate that Banks kid, Luke has never once shown me anything that resembles the monster you believe him to be."

"Monsters can hide it." Becca's solemn response triggers in Jonas a suspicion at some underlying drive. "If they couldn't hide it, we'd never be surprised when they show themselves, would we?"

Jonas lets out a long breath and smiles at her. "Guess you're right. Maybe he's playing me and he's got a knife ready to gut us, huh?"

Becca's unfeeling glare kills the mood Jonas was trying to make.

"Sheesh, you have no sense of humour." Jonas teases her and earns more ire. "Even if Luke deep down was bad… I trust his partners. They're good people."

"People? You mean his Pokémon?"

Jonas answers her without looking at her. "Yeah, good people."

…

Billiam takes note of Reina staring him down as he walks calmly into what he suspects will be some form of trap. It was a pointless distraction; he was multitude times stronger as a trainer, and a tactician doubly so.

But unlike Daisy, his heart did move as Reina stares him down with indignant spirit; enough to light the fire of combat inside of him. "Reina Usami, my pleasure."

Purrsalot the Purrloin and Cottonee stand by her feet, both ready to enter the fray. "I wanted to ask you a few things before our fight begins. Would you entertain me?" Her cautious wording leaves Billiam amused at her attempt at appearing meek when her body indicates nothing but a desire to stomp out his light.

"Reina, I bear you no ill will. Were it not for the young lady's ability to track down our main threat, I wouldn't be engaging with her thusly." Billiam makes his intentions clear. "She seeks nothing from my alliance but to use it, and I can abide by that to a degree."

"I don't understand why you'd risk your alliance and go crusading on the weaker players for her petty grudges." Reina's words stir Billiam's emotions as her voice rises to a higher pitch. "If passing just means surviving, why do this!?"

Billiam folds his arms and speaks candidly. "I do not think the test is so simple. Making it to the end of this tournament with minimal risk just means avoiding combat zones. Would the Elites truly admit a student who AVOIDS such conflict? No, I believe winning two matches is secretly mandatory, or we're being graded on more than just winning or losing."

"I suppose that makes sense." A bit of hope in Reina suggests maybe surviving wasn't the only path for her. "Half of my team won't make it in by winning, but if it's judging character, only that woman won't make it."

The Blakely heir ponders that and keeps his own thoughts quiet. "Regardless, I've been tasked with battling you to ensure her cooperation in hunting the killers."

Reina posits a measured response. "I was nearly a victim of that whole mess. Tyson and Luke are nothing alike."

"I apologize, but I make judgments based on personal experience." Billiam adjusts his stature. "I formally challenge you. Make your restriction known to me if you must."

"You're not willing to listen?" She asks in anger.

Billiam looks back out across the forest and toward Nathan and Daisy. "If this fight concludes quickly and you escape before she arrives, you can tell me next our alliance crosses swords with you Rejects."

Reina understands his loose implication and readies herself. "No restrictions. I want to fight you at your full power." Reina motions for her Purrloin to enter the arena.

"Very well, then." Billiam allows his Deino to take the field. "I can respect a foe that plays by the book."

"Purrsalot, it's time for you to become Scratches-a-lot!" Reina's determination burns within her. "We'll take this blue blood down!"

"Reina Usami and Billiam Blakely are now beginning a match! The tournament is heating up as the sixth match begins in earnest! Who knew day one would be so frenetic!?" The announcer, sounding like a younger woman not much older than the teens, begins a play-by-play as the newest conflict begins.

…

"Billiam will trounce that little brat, and then…" Daisy pauses midsentence. Her mind stops and then starts winding up once more. "-and then… we'll switch and you'll both be eliminated…"

Nathan watches Flyby prepare for a Thundershock as Daisy's Venipede eyes them. The small bug exhibits predatory tendencies as it prepares for a proper counter attack to their high-flying adventures. "I think it'll be harder than that."

"Hehehe…" Daisy emits a small glow that Nathan sees for but a moment. "Venipede, do what you do best and leave that vermin rodent of his in the same condition that brother of mine left the ones he found."

Toxic spikes are fired from Venipede's body like mini missiles as they strike Emolga in the cheek. The little bit of purple poison leaking in causes the Emolga to flap more slowly as its nervous system is assaulted from the inside out.

"Flyby, what happened!?" Nathan wouldn't have seen the small attack with his eyes; he was not yet trained for that level of speed from common low level wild fights. His little friend begins to wither from the intense poison as resistance is built up over fighting and for Nathan; he had never battled wild Poison types before.

"I don't think the rat can handle the taste of my poison…" Daisy continues speaking in a way that left Nathan uncomfortable. Was she really this unhinged? Her eyes were wild and lacked that human spark that he would witness, even if she was furious with him like mere moments ago. "I only need one attack… to take down… anyone who stands… in my path."

Nathan scratches his head as Emolga chomps down on the Pecha Berry he had given it before the fight and regains its fighting fit nature. "That's not good. I hoped to save that for her second or third Pokémon at least."

Fully refreshed, Flyby charges up a mighty spark and blasts the carapace of the skittering bug as it tries to zigzag between the bolts. The frying of the bug leaves an awful smell in the air as it burns from the fire inflicted due to the intensity of the voltage.

In the lightning comes more needles, and in the needles comes a scream of agony as Flyby collapses to the dirt, poisoned to the point of paralysis.

Nathan has no recourse but to recall his friend and glare at the wickedly grinning demon as Gulag enters the arena. "That steel body of yours is my only hope. Let's show this brat we're immune to her toxic bullshit!" He pumps himself up with his arms raised high and then brought to his sides with the elbows bent to pose like a fighter powering up.

"Even in a hollow cold metal body like that dwells a spirit… a spirit I can snuff out…" Daisy laughs again in that same empty tone and the glow he witnessed before arises from her body, from her side perhaps, as she mocks him with mirthful laughter devoid of any semblance of a person behind the noise.

…

"Purrsalot, use Tackle!" The fiendish feline sprints through the grass and lands a direct hit on the small dragon as the force of the hit knocks it back several feet.

Purrloin repeats the maneuver, leaping to and fro and slamming its small body into the beast at all directions. Though Deino takes clear damage from the attacks, one swift Headbutt from it leaves the Purrloin dazed and flinching from the recoil of the direct attack.

Billiam claps for a moment, breaking the silence. "I'm proud of you, you know. Despite the difference in where we started and how we've both trained, you've proven to me you wasted no time."

"What do you mean?" Reina asks ambivalently, trying to gauge the man hunting her friend down.

"I was acutely aware of what becoming Champion would entail." His thoughts return to his empty childhood filled with naught but research and hardcore workouts. "I studied everyone in our class, trying to find souls who could grasp the kind of self-betterment representing humanity takes. Being Champion means exemplifying why this path is even righteous."

Reina wonders where the philosophical aspects of the idea come from. "I don't think they're entwined."

Billiam's smile falls and he repositions himself mentally. "Can you name a Champion we have had that lacks love for his team or exhibits base cruelty or evil?"

"Well… no, I don't think of any."

"Champions have to create bonds with their partners that we can't just make with anyone else; even people's relationships don't reach the attunement Champions have." Billiam's admiration touches Reina's heart. "Becoming one means my partners and I have reached the kind of understanding I never found with my family."

Reina hesitates in calling out her next move. "Do you really mean that? What about your parents or Becca?"

"My father is a decent man and a businessman alike, but he spends most of his time building a world we strive for." Billiam pauses and sighs. "Mother is a practiced Doctor who saves lives with experimental treatments. Both of them are heroes in their own way, but heroes like them don't get to meet the people they've created a reason to live for. All a Champion does in every waking moment is spent on trying to encourage the new younger generations to fight for that better life."

"…Are you lonely?"

Billiam is taken aback and stutters at that. "W-what? No, I'm not lonely. I have my team and…" He hesitates to say her name. "My sister and I want different things. I want to pursue this dream and even my alliance is a part of that." He notices Reina's disapproving glare and adds an explanation. "I chose the people I did by basing their inclusion on who they are, what they need, and what I can inspire in them."

Reina notices he avoids the Becca question but lets him speak.

"Jamal, Raymundo, Kent, and Finneas all have dreams they're dedicated to and I respect that. All they need is a push in the direction they're already heading for and they can make it." Billiam takes the time to call out to Deino. "Right, my friend? Even you have a story."

The Deino calls back to its master with a joyful chirp, sounding similar to a bird, which amuses Reina despite having to fight the thing.

Billiam wonders just why he's bothering to touch on this at all. "Becca believes in using the power for good. She wants to play an active role in shaping the world, but I fear that pursuit of justice and moral goodness would be corrupted with the sensation shaping the world gives a person in power."

"You must admire Alder deeply." Reina's reply stuns Billiam into silence. "Of all the Champions he's the least involved. He fights well, laughs well, and presents an air of lovability to his land but he never uses his position for more."

"And he inspired all of us on some level, I think." Billiam rethinks his position with Daisy and formulates a new stratagem for moving forward. "Watching him speak to someone like Luke, someone many consider to be a low brow trash Reject, someone who is hated by strangers for what he may have done, and even acknowledging him as a person despite all that does more than roughly handling anyone who treats others like refuse could do."

Reina decides that maybe Billiam really isn't the horrible final boss she expected in this encounter and her resolve strengthens. "It's a shame the alliance he'll be building will have to defeat yours, then."

"If you say it with such confidence, I'll have to prove that theory of yours wrong." Billiam calls to his partner. "No more holding back by even an inch, Deino! End this bout with Dragonbreath!"

Purrsalot is stricken head on from the almost instant blast of dragon energy and her little body is flung aside to Reina's horror.

As her loyal friend is returned to her capsule home, Billiam gives her a comforting smile. "I'll do my best not to hurt them. Your friends, they… they are worthy of the best I can muster."

"You're not pulling any punches. You'll be fun to take down someday soon." Reina calls for Cottonee to enter the field and as Deino prepares fire within itself, she winces from the impending defeat.

"So long as Becca Blakely fights for my cause, I'll know no true defeat." Billiam responds with brimming confidence.

Reina decides to unsettle the man the best way she knows how. "Then you shouldn't have pitted her against Luke. You've gone and unraveled your own defeat already."

"Au contraire." Billiam wags his finger. "She won't fall for tricks from some bleeding heart fighter. Now let us finish this exhibition match."

Reina just smiles, knowing a seed of doubt would soon grow within him. Either Luke or Jonas could talk her down, or they would bring her down. In either case, Billiam would rue sparing her.

The Rejects were only beginning to formulate a true plan for winning this whole tournament. Whether any of them would live to see that ending by their own hands only time would tell; she would play her part until it was no longer needed on that world stage.

…

"You're in trouble with Trubble now…" Daisy unleashes her Trubbish on the field as Nathan's Klink floats in the air with its magnetic force keeping it afloat. "Technical Machines… are fantastic… for tearing apart weaklings who oppose me…"

Nathan grins at her despite her changed demeanor. "Klink's a Steel type; you won't be whipping out moves that could hurt my boy so easily."

Daisy tilts her head at him and the inhuman look in her eyes chills his blood.

"Gulag, use Charge Beam!" Nathan calls out to his ally to launch the newest attack he had learned in combat and his Klink obliges, blasting electrical power out towards the trash bag as the gears wind up an electrical current using the dispersed static in the air.

Trubbish flattens its body against the ground and the beam overshoots, leaving Nathan fuming. "Trub, trub!" The bag jumps for joy as it finally manages to dodge an attack.

Nathan loses his composure for a brief moment and underestimates Daisy as he shouts to his partner. "That's it! Bind the sucker and then blast it at close range! Your pathetic poison won't ever break through his steel!"

Daisy watches the Klink charge at her partner as it charges itself and a horrible doll-like blank smile rises across her deathly visage as she raises one finger. As the Klink latches onto the top of the Trubbish she announces the one attack her partner can use. "Oh, Truuuuuubbbble…." She sings aloud as her manic aura crescendos. "Drain Punch."

A fighting type move delivered point blank with no hesitation is how Klink ends the match, collapsing to the earth and spinning fruitlessly as Trubble stumbles back to its master's side as an announcement rings out.

"Daisy Banks has defeated Nathan Roble in their match! The cold-hearted Banks scion has received first blood against her own team! How will the Rejects fare going forward with this new development?"

Nathan shakes his head and recalls Trubble before healing them with his pack given to him by his father they used to use back in the war.

Daisy just watches him and makes her demand clear. "You are to remain here until Billiam releases you, understood?"

"Oh, fuck…" Nathan grasps the plan now. Daisy would have Billiam challenge and eliminate him. He never stood a chance.

…

Reina is silent as Cottonee faints from a Fire Fang tearing through its small body from the ecstatic Deino that jumps into its master's arms and licks his face in joy. Frustrated tears form but remain long enough for her to discreetly wipe them away as she levels a glare at her opponent.

"You certainly are braver than most, young woman." Billiam recalls Deino and then bows to her as the announcement plays.

"Billiam Blakely has defeated Reina Usami in their match; an excellent first showing from the Blakely twins!" The young girl commentating on the fights fades into the background as another fight ends and Daisy is proclaimed the winner.

"Now what will you ask of me?" Reina asks her foe as she awaits her impending elimination.

Billiam thinks for a moment and settles on something. "If you truly believe in that Reject friend of yours, prove it to me." Reina's confused expression enables a moment of stoicism for the man. "Go to him and formulate a plan even I can't counter. If you're so confident in their abilities, I'd like to see it, too."

Reina doesn't move immediately. Her heart tells her to wait. "Isn't this betraying Daisy? Wouldn't she want you to hold me here?"

"Well, I would but…" Billiam offers a sly grin. "I can't use a stipulation she has, so I can't order you to wait for her, now can I?"

"Oh, I see…" Reina quickly gathers her two partners into their capsules and as she grips her bag, she goes to leave. She stops herself and looks back. "If you eliminate him for her, I won't forgive you!"

With that, Reina sprints into the dark, tracking Luke, Mark, Kelsie, and Jonas. Rushing off into the brush she notices Tyson is closer and debates whether running into him again would be worse than his sister.

Billiam turns back to the path leading to where Nathan and Daisy are battling and steadies himself as he expects an earful as he walks back, knowing naught of how his day was going to go.

He wouldn't regret it, or so he believes. A show of mercy is the path of the righteous, after all.