"Welcome back to Northwind Stadium for the first match of the Vytal Tournament's doubles' round!" Between the audience's surge of excitement, and the announcer's voice bouncing off of them three times over before reaching Lazula, the words were hardly intelligible. "To recap, the first pair to both fall beneath the fifteen percent safety parameter, or be knocked out of bounds, will be eliminated! The victorious team will then choose one of two combatants to move on to our singles gauntlet."

"That's right, Blanche. And it looks like our first match of the doubles round will be an exciting one! The stadium has filled to the brim to see Lazula Skye and Snow Hudson of Sentinel Academy take on Olivia DuBois and Viola Rosewood of Haven!"

A roar of applause rattled the ground.

Olivia didn't look particularly mobile in her flared, sage-and-ivory gown and armored leather corset, but the thick bronze spear strapped to her back would have about two feet of range on Impetus. She noticed also the vine-like markings that left her collar to curl up behind her ears and short green hair. She wondered for a second if they had any use– conduits for dust, maybe. Maybe just tattoos.

Olivia made a series of hand gestures to her partner, who in her long violet blazer and slacks, looked like an orchestra conductor. She ran her fingers through purple locks falling past her eyebrows in rings, glanced at Lazula, and returned a few gestures before Lazula recognized it as sign language. The arena settled on four stages: ragged basalt flats rising to a forty foot tall volcano. A rolling desert, its sandstorm fading out toward the volcano and re-starting at its border with a broken city. A swamp Lazula would prefer to avoid.

Olivia signed again to Viola. Her partner tried to stifle a smile and nodded. The green-haired huntress turned her attention to the countdown projected before her. As it reached zero she clutched her partner's hand, and in an instant they transported halfway into the basalt flats. Viola continued up to the caldera's edge. The tip of Olivia's spear separated and pulled back as two wings, a handle sprung from within, and she held a massive crossbow.

"I'll take their leader," Lazula decided. "You take Viola."

Snow complied. But as the android's boots pounded stone, Viola held steady. She exposed the string tattoo running the length of her forearm, and ran two fingers across it. Lazula blocked four oversized crossbow bolts on her approach, each knocking against her shield and clattering across the ground behind her. Then Olivia's weapon transformed back, and Lazula blocked her thrust as easily. But as she felt the energy well in her chest, turned her sword to strike, a high-pitched squeal pierced her– stabbing into her ears, rattling her skull and her spine. She felt weak, weak enough Olivia blocked Impetus with the haft of her spear, and twirled its tip beneath her chestplate.

The stone Lazula fell onto was oddly comforting. And warm. Her vision greyed, and the world faded away.

Snow kept running.

Viola looked at her, violet eyes flashing with desperate confusion."Go to sleep, damn it!" she protested. But Snow's only reply was a spear heaved into her stomach. She took half Viola's aura on impact, and a couple more chunks as she tumbled down the far side of the mountain.

Olivia winced as the spear hit her partner, and she turned to Snow with fury etched deep between her eyes. Lazula was all but forgotten. As Olivia lunged at the unarmed android, Snow flicked the hard-light cord that bound Absolute Zero to her wrist to loop it around the huntress's spear and wrangle it to her side. Absolute Zero's hilt returned to Snow, the cord vanished, and she backhanded Olivia with the edge of her axe. Another strike landed before she could recover, blocking Snow and forcing her back with a strike of her own.

Snow fell, flipped onto her shoulders, hands, then back to her feet, and settled next to Lazula. She knelt down, and shook her shoulder.

Lazula walked along a cliff by the sea, Lilly by her side. She heard the rush of waves upon rocks, and looked out to the sunset. Her world shook, the sky wavered, and she mumbled her disapproval.

A clash of metal, and the tip of a spear burying three inches past the tip of her nose shattered the cliff, vaporized the ocean. Its roar became the audience's. She pushed Olivia back as she stood, and planted her boot in her gut. She picked up Impetus and nodded to the top of the mountain.

"Get her partner. Don't let her do it again."

Snow and Viola crested the dark stone in unison. Before the huntress had a chance to hypnotize again, before she had a chance to catch her breath, she met Absolute Zero. The axe crashed into her hip, left her at the shoulder, and she fell again. At the bottom of the hill, her buzzer sounded. Olivia's spear had reach on Lazula, but that was it. Aegis knocked each thrust aside, Impetus took a fifth of the spear-wielder's aura, repeat to the buzzer.

But as Lazula looked to her opponents, instead of the vitriol she had come to expect, Olivia was at her partner's side, looking her over and signing fervently. Viola put a hand on her shoulder and nodded, before a reply of her own which looked calm in comparison. They hugged, kissed, and after a sign Lazula hoped meant "well fought," walked off to their locker room in each other's arms.

Lazula almost felt bad for eliminating them.

The roar of the crowd fell to a murmur as the gate closed behind them. "Do you think I was obvious?" Snow asked. "Her semblance affected you, because you're a human. But I don't sleep, so it had no effect on me."

"There could be a lot of reasons it didn't affect you," Lazula returned. She pressed her wrist to the locker room door, and they proceeded inside. "I don't think you being an android would be anyone's first guess."

"I suppose. But people doubted you, as well. It should be obvious you're a human."

A huff of laughter escaped as Lazula set down her bag. "What, I'm not perfect enough to be an android?"

"Your personality doesn't align with any of Frontline's approved emotional simulation modules."

Another chuckle. "I choose to take that as a compliment." She opened her locker next. An empty slot for Impetus and Aegis. Her hoodie and leggings. A bouquet of flowers that made her heart skip and returned the image of Olivia and Viola to her mind. "We make a good team, though. Been wondering, there are a couple doubles tournaments coming up this Summer. Want to join me?"

Snow paused, finger still and pinching her combat outfit's zipper. "...Maybe. Yes, let's do it."

Lazula only nodded, knowing she didn't seem thrilled by the idea, not knowing why. She shrugged it off because her request for additional time in the locker room had been denied, and it wouldn't be anything short of a miracle if she was able to change on time. She considered walking out half-dressed, just to make a point. But cameras and creeps killed the thought quickly. She ended up staying another five minutes over their time, despite Snow's warnings. Because it was a rare day she cared to put effort into her looks. She pulled her bun apart and combed it, brushed away ash that clung to her neck, and left with her bag in one hand, bouquet in the other. She smelled blue and gold roses. White lilies.

Down the hall, she hiked the bag to her shoulder and offered Snow the flowers. "Hey. Can you take these?"

Snow nodded, and a slight smile passed over the melancholy. "Thank you," she said. "But if you're making a romantic advance, I'm sorry. I'm not attracted to women."

Lazula's exhausted sigh lifted into laughter. "...They're for Lilly."

"I see. I think she'll appreciate these."

Lazula lifted the bag across her body and took the flowers back. "Sure hope so. Otherwise, I'm going to look pretty stupid."

They used the back exit to avoid the cameras and forced interviews. A few spectators threw looks Lazula's way as she slipped into the flood draining from the stadium, but it was inevitable. They posted up outside the South Gate, she told Snow to keep another eye out for Lilly, and waited in excruciating anticipation.

Snow nodded toward the gate. "There she is."

The faunus, alone, lowered her head against the breeze and tucked a curl behind her ear. She stepped to the side of the crowd and began to poke at her Holoband. Lazula took a breath, tucked the flowers behind her back, and stepped forward.

"Lilly?"

"Ah– there you are! Was just about to ask. Congrats on the win, even though I didn't doubt you for a second."

Lazula chuckled, maybe out of nerves. "Thanks. Uh, I wanted to ask…" she revealed the bouquet, and offered it. "Do you want to dance with me? Not here, I mean. At the dance."

Lilly's surprise settled into a smile. It was measured, like everything she did. But bursting at the seams and ready to spread all the way across flushed cheeks. "...I bought a dress hoping you'd ask. Yes. Absolutely, yes."

Team CRLN met for a team lunch, a small, casual-but-chic spot on the fringe of Downtown known for perfecting Atlesian favorites. Caspian, Rowan, and Noxis sat at a booth next to the window and beneath the screen that showed a doubles match between teams from Atlas and Shade. Past the window, ten minutes after her teammates, Lilly approached with a bouquet in hand and a smile still on her face. She came in, set the flowers on the table, and settled next to Noxis.

"You've got a spring in your step," Rowan noted. "What's up? And where'd you get those?"

Lilly turned her eyes to the flowers too. "Lazula asked me to the dance. I accepted, of course."

"Oh hell yeah! Congrats!" Rowan cheered.

Noxis pulled back. "Hold up. You're into her?"

"Yes. And I hope you don't have an issue with that?"

Noxis shook his head. "Not inherently, no." He sipped black coffee. "I just think you're nuts."

"She's actually a very kind, gentle person once you get to know her."

Noxis didn't look convinced. "...Sure."

A waiter came to take their orders, and they continued to trade small-talk while they waited. Caspian got a notification. He hoped it was Moka, letting him know she was released. But instead his Holoband only read "Event Notification (1)." He opened the message. Closed it, and took a sip of water.

"It's been a good run."

Rowan lowered his own glass. "Whaddya mean?"

"Tomorrow's bracket came out. Wanna guess who we're up against?"

"Sterling?"

"Second worst case scenario, actually." He opened his Holoband again, and flipped it around to Rowan. "Team CNMN."

"Well, you won't know who wins until the match is over," Lilly offered. "Who are you choosing?"

"I'll go. I mean, I want to, if that's okay with everyone." And there was no protest. "And… Noxis. Mazin Hadley was Vacuo's rep, and they're favored over us seven to one. I know we probably won't win, but I think we'll have the best chance with you. Are you in?"

"Depends," he grumbled. "Are you gonna half-ass it, because he's some big name? If you are, no thanks." His metal arm clanked on the table as he leaned in. "But if you're going into this fighting like your life depends on it, I'm in."

"Alright," Caspian decided. Noxis stared him down until he cleared his throat, nodded, and spoke without doubt. "Alright. We can do this."

"...And from Sentinel Academy, hungry for an upset victory tonight, it's Caspian Skye and Noxis Ezokami, from Sentinel!"

The door from the tunnel to the arena opened, and cheer flooded in like a river through a failing dam. Caspian's breath shook as it left him, and Noxis cracked his neck.

"Right. Let's do this." His gaze shifted to Caspian. "At least pretend you're not about to shit yourself."

"I went before this. It's a panic attack I'm worried about."

He'd seen Mazin Hadley onstage with his sister during the opening ceremony. The only difference now was the massive two-headed glaive slung across his back. Caspian had watched an hour or so of tournament footage– more than enough to know the weapon both amplified Mazin's wind manipulation, and coursed with lightning and ice. He was CNMN's power. But their strategy came from Carmine, the slender and sun-kissed woman whispering to him and casting a sidelong glance at Noxis. Thin red braids knotted into a bun atop her head, a spare few falling out over an armored jacket that matched their color. The jacket's sleeves only reached her elbows, as strapped to each of her forearms was a disk Caspian knew could take the shape of a blade, bow, or shield.

"Remember," Caspian mumbled, balancing his voice above the crowd, below Team CNMN's ears. "I want Mazin's semblance, if I can take it without too much hassle. But after that, we're all in on Carmine until she's out."

"Good luck with that." Noxis pulled Renegade from his back, and lightning sparked between the two-dozen spikes jutting from its shaft. "I'll hold off Carmine to start."

The countdown began, and the stadium transformed around them. To the West, a lighthouse sat upon brine-soaked rocks. The North looked like a cross-section of a factory or powerstation. The metal floors, stairs and walkways would too easily conduct Mazin's electricity, so he'd avoid it. The East was pulled from Vacuo– red stone first forming a canyon twenty feet deep, then rising to a plateau toward the outer edge. And to the South, behind Caspian and Noxis, the Forest of Forever Fall.

The starting tone, and shattered peace.

Carmine sprinted off into the badlands, slinging arrows of explosive fire dust at the faunus that pursued her. Caspian read his options. Carmine had probably opted for the home field advantage. The metal deathtrap was out. If he and Noxis could bait Carmine and her fire to the lighthouse that would be ideal, but challenging Mazin's ice and electricity on soaked and jagged stones was another ticket out of the tournament. The forest was his best bet– fortunate, because Mazin swirled his glaive and a hurricane-force deluge of wind carried Caspian off his feet, across the ground a few seconds as he fought for footing, then into the air and flat against the trunk of a red maple.

The winds grew colder, colder still, until his eyes stung and the tears drawn from them froze upon his face. He felt a dagger stab him in the back, then another, and one in his shoulder. He snapped the icicle off his overcoat and rose to see the outline his body left on flash-frozen grass. He aimed Undertow, held its trigger down before firing, but even a beam of concentrated dust was lost to the wind. Riding a frigid tailwind, Mazin closed in on Caspian.

Mazin's glaive sliced crackling air, crashing into Undertow and forcing the blade an inch from Caspian's nose. Hot pins and needles seized his arm, but they were nothing compared to the frigid steel that slashed his side, shoulder, and neck. He stumbled back, barely had time to shield himself from the next strike, but his follow-up met armor before being knocked away. Between shield, blade, and shield again Caspian fought against Mazin's onslaught, until a blade in his shoulder poured molten steel into his veins and froze him in place. Two more slashes and a gust of wind pulled Caspian's breath from his chest, and forced him into tree bark.

It took more strength than he knew he possessed to lurch beneath Mazin's two-handed swing. A spray of wooden shards rained across the back of his neck. Mazin pulled back, but found his glaive stuck eight inches deep. He grit his teeth, hoisted and pulled, but the weapon only began to wiggle. Caspian gripped Undertow with both hands, drove it into his stomach, then pulled back to slash three more times. Caspian glanced at Mazin's blade, saw it nearly free, and clutched its wielder's arm. Their near-twin auras mixed melded, and the two forced each other back on a burst of wind.

Caspian's shield became a single makeshift wing as he rode the gust, then aimed it ahead. His dagger shot forward on its steel cord and lodged in the canopy toward the forest's edge. It pulled him away from Mazin. He smashed through a few branches, lost a bit of aura, before he broke out over the canopy, over the canyon, and onto the ledge where Carmine stood. He held both hands out, forged a headwind to slow his descent, and landed blade-first in Carmine's shield as Noxis heaved himself onto the platform. His semblance spread to seal three smoking pits left in his armor.

Carmine pushed Caspian back with surprising force, and he flipped on an updraft to land back on his feet. He looked where the huntress turned– at Noxis, whose semblance had grown past his throat to cradle his chin. Carmine's blades couldn't scratch it. The faunus planted his boots in the stone. He crossed his arms and held steady for a second, then a pitch black shockwave thrust her into a swipe of Caspian's blade. She shrieked in both pain and surprise, knocked Caspian away with a blade and a shield, and turned them both back to Noxis. Her blade caught him beneath the throat, shield knocked his head aside. But he clutched her arm, and with his other backhanded her with Renegade.

"Mazin!" she called. Her body became a flash of red. Grew a few inches taller, and several wider.

Mazin took her place, and with a sweep of his glaive and a gust of static-prickled wind knocked a stunned Caspian down the canyon wall. He hit his shoulder first. Flipped onto his back, then flat on his stomach when he finally landed on the canyon floor. As he pushed himself to his knees, an arrow forged of flame glanced off his shoulder and washed his face in its heat.

His head snapped toward the forest. Undertow transformed, and he took cover behind red stone.

"CRLN's leader getting bounced around out there!"

"But this is a surprise– Noxis Ezokami is going toe-to-toe with Mazin Hadley!"

As Noxis swatted Mazin's glaive aside with Renegade, clutched it and fired before lightning dust coursed through his arm and a backward slash forced him to the ledge, Caspian watched the underbrush. A flash of red between trees. Far too fast to hit. Carmine skipped out of cover again. Caspian's bullet splintered bark, Carmine's arrow exploded upon stone. He watched, waited with his finger nagging the trigger, until he saw her again. Lead the target, fire. His shot struck a bit low, catching her below the knee and forcing her to stumble into a second bullet. He pulled himself back into hiding as Carmine's bow appeared from behind a trunk, but felt flame lick at his aura. He popped back out, fired three more times, chasing her until she stood upon the storm-tossed stone. Two hits.

"Again!" she shouted, and as his target became a red glow, Caspiane realized why she abandoned cover. Mazin took her place, and his glaive sparked in the surf. Before she had a chance to orient herself, Renegade crashed into her temple, and a buzzer sounded.

"Carmine Obesouro, out by aura level! Can Mazin Hadley take the pair from Sentinel alone?"

Caspian looked up to Noxis, who slung Renegade back over his shoulder and skipped stone-to-stone down the cliff. Caspian heard surging winds, a rush of waves upon stone. And a rumble of excitement from the audience, building slowly like the breeze that spat mist in his face. He chanced a peek out from cover.

Mazin swirled his glaive above his head. Before him, a pillar of swirling grey wind and brine, lightning crackling between shards of ice.

Noxis looked at the hurricane, to the wicked bolt it threw and the tree that ignited. Then back to Caspian. "Right. So now what's the plan?"

Mazin released the storm and it tore off a section of the lighthouse as it proceeded. Caspian backed up a step. "We stay here– get as far back as we can. It should dissipate over the desert." He raised a hand, felt the warm breeze on his fingertips. "At least enough for me to stop it."

He channeled his all down his arm, felt his aura break through his palm. He only had a minute or two of experience with Mazin's semblance– not the years its wielder had to perfect it. He stumbled, lost concentration for a second, before plunging Undertow into its sheath and clutching his wrist with his other hand. A gale burst from within, rotating slowly to oppose the swirling mass that pulled a funnel of sand from the desert floor. He felt a sharp pain, like icy needles beneath each fingernail. His hand started to numb.

"You're losing aura!"

Caspian renewed the grip on his arm. "You're our win condition!" A final burst from his palm, and he pulled back shaking his wind-bitten hand. His aura held, even if just barely. The swirling mass twitched and pulled, then tore apart to cast sand, ice, and stone across the desert. "All in. Avoid the water," he panted. "I'll back you up."

Noxis's boots scraped up a cloud of sand with each pounding step. Mazin whipped a stream of brine on his winds, which froze in midair and crashed down on Noxis like frigid spears. He blocked the first with his arm, but it split on his semblance to stab his face and neck. The second, Renegade shattered. Noxis blinked frost from his eyes. He pressed ahead, and as Caspian's beam sunk in Mazin's side the winds died down.

He corrected himself in time to block Renegade above his head, then turn to swipe steel and ice across Noxis's chest. Winds guided him up and over the faunus, striking him with a bolt of lightning before landing on the center platform. Another beam, and Caspian took another chunk of his aura. Mazin spun around Renegade, and launched a volley of icicles into Caspian's hiding place. He rolled aside one, blocked another. A third and a fourth lodged in tree bark, but the fifth caught his side and he stumbled. A buzzer marked his unceremonious exit.

"Mazin Hadley, taking out Caspian Skye! We're down to one-on-one!"

Noxis cursed under his breath. His head flicked from the forest to Mazin, and he ducked one strike, then a second. He locked the third between Renegade's spikes, wrenched the glaive aside, and took two chunks of aura with his next couple of swings. Mazin grunted. Stumbled back, and drew brine from the waves to soak Noxis. The faunus flipped backward in the wind, bounced, and shredded the concrete with a clawed hand to slow to a stop. Lightning struck, almost doubled him over. Vacuo's student section rumbled with anticipation. Until Noxis whipped upright, Renegade supercharged by Mazin's dust.

He charged. His semblance grew across his chest and his arms, protected his throat. His face. A black cloud trailed him, and in a burst of shadow, he leapt. The light sparking off Renegade met that which sparked from Mazin's glaive. A flash of light, a burst of noise, and the hard-light screen protecting the audience glowed with the shockwave born from two great forces colliding.

And when all went dark, Noxis still stood.

"Unbelievable– Noxis Ezokami is still standing! Mazin's down– CRLN wins!"

"We won…" Caspian marveled. "Noxis. We won!"

Noxis pushed labored breaths through a satisfied smirk.

"Yeah, we did. You sound surprised."