The next day went by surprisingly quickly. It was far more relaxing, being able to watch matches knowing you could rest that day. Jude did have something to do though; responding to messages from his friends who had seen the broadcast. It felt good at first, a small taste of stardom, but that quickly faded when it became a bit repetitive.

In the evening he called his parents to talk to them about it. They kept telling him how proud they were, however his mother was not impressed that he managed to hospital himself. No matter how brief the stay was. His dad did find quite amusing, until he was told off for laughing.

After the call he was able to reflect on the days. The first two days had made him do things he thought impossible for himself. He was no leader. He was a strategist at best. He was no fighter. He was a supporter at best.

But now he had not only led a team successfully, he had also won a fist fight.

Today was the weirdest, though. His hand seemed to be fully healed even after having to be bandaged by doctors. The small burns and scratches had all disappeared through the day. But he had been sat watching the second half of the first round of the tournament.

Although it was mainly for enjoyment he had also been watching to see who he could be fighting again in the future. Both immediate and long-term. If he beat all other opponents then he would face the winner of this side of the bracket. But if it’s true all the teams who had made it this far would be competing in a league then surely these would be beneficial to know what their strongest are like beforehand.

Lying in bed, the rush of information flooded his brain. Three days all coming back in a landslide. Not to mention the contemplation o the next day.

There was that woman who is to fight Nerissa. Her powers were weird. He would need to see them again to check but he had a working theory that whatever she said happens.

It was his next opponent that concerned him more though. Archie.

His first match was nothing memorable. It was not so close that it was nail biting entertainment. But it also was not a complete domination like Nerissa performed.

He was smart. His alteration made him so. The glasses were the problem. The better he could see the smarter he became, unfortunately he needed varifocal lenses. But how to get them off? Not only can he calculate your moves, he can analyse your movements mid fight.

Jude just laid there, thinking. Coming up with a strategy.

There was one thing to try. Jude’s alteration allowed him to change element every five minutes. It was supposedly a hard and fast rule. Alterations are like muscles. They need to be trained and pushed to strengthen. So after training these past few months Jude was confident he could force himself to change element just before the five minutes mark and surprise him. A quick thing like that would be too fast to be stopped and would at least damage the glasses

Damaged glasses was equal to a win.

He spent so much time thinking it over of which elements he would switch between, which two had the best chance of confusing him, that he heard the familiar song of his alarm. He had been lost in his own mind so long that he had fallen asleep and woken up ten hours later. It was 8 a.m.

He scrambled to shower, get dressed, and prepare himself for the day. He ran downstairs to the breakfast awaiting him and spent time with his friends before they all headed to the arena. He was the first up. Whilst waiting in his seats he looked around Archie.

He was nowhere to be seen, probably a waste of time to be this early. But his friends weren’t there either. The whole group was missing. Probably just following Archie’s lead.

It was nearly time so Jude went to the ring.

He was lead on, he was racked with nerves. He had to have this go perfectly. The plan had to be perfect. But after five minutes there was no show of his opponent he began to become confused.

After ten a time limit was placed and Jude sat down in the sand.

After fifteen he was declared the winner by default.

It was only a few weeks later that he learnt Archie was being dragged around the town by his friends when one of them took his glasses and accidentally broke them. So they tried to get them fixed or a new pair but they were an hour late.

From then on each member of the group would carry a spare pair for Archie.

Jude advanced, by default, onto the next round.