East Bridge was waiting in the halls on the opposite side of the tournament building, having won their first bracket matches with ease. Caitlin sat against one of the empty cushion seats located around the building with Tommy beside her. Daniel was smiling energetically at them, all preparing to display his killer plan for the upcoming matches. With Vincent merely shaking his head in disapproval at him. No sign of Gabby anywhere.

“As you can see with this chart, it can increase our combat effectiveness by… You guessed it! ONE HUNDRED PERCENT?!” Daniel pulled out a tiny slip of paper, showing off a crude drawing of statistics based on their performance. This small data chart only showcased his own, Tommy’s, and Caitlin’s data, but neither Vincent nor Gabby.

“I’ve done what you told me to do in my match. If it continued anymore, it would be exhausting. Lay off, please.” Tommy leaned back a bit.

“Now, now, Tomboy! We’ve got a lot of catching up to do before the finals. Let’s get one thing clear. What we need is SPIRIT!” Daniel raised his fist into the air. “What we need is VALOR!”

“What we need is focus.” Caitlin softly interrupted Daniel.

“Exactly! Oh, Sweet, Cait! Look at you being the sharp-minded one as always!” Daniel gave his thumbs up seal of approval.

“It’s not like we need to focus on these matches anyway. I haven't run into trouble.” Tommy commented, placing both his hands behind his back, taking on a more relaxed position.

“That’s only because you three are steam-rolling,” Vincent responded, preparing to give his case. As he was about to speak again, his body stopped due to a sudden spike of energy. That both he and the rest of his team felt. Tom’s eyes shifted to the left. Caitlin merely had a slight shiver; it reminded her of the encounter earlier in the day. Daniel felt it but was still concerned about his chart, making tiny adjustments to it with a pencil he got from his pockets. Caitlin was put off by this energy when such a person displayed this energy; it was always intimidation tactics to those with keen senses.

All their eyes met on a girl who stood at the height of five foot four. Long yet curly brown hair tied down in twintails that reached her waist, fair skin with scarlet eyes that resembled rubies. This girl wore Saint Mary’s school uniform, the same black, and red variant. The only difference was she wore a white sweater jacket over her outfit. The coat itself was too long in the arms that it hid her hands.

“Yes, I’d agree. It’s only a matter of time before you have to focus on what’s in front of you.” The girl’s voice was soft, sweet, but impactful. “But don’t worry. I’ll gladly take the trophy from you.”

Caitlin finally stood up, looking over at the girl, her eyes moving downward. She was petite, and upon closer inspection, this girl was quite dazzling. “That uniform. You’re from Saint Mary, right? I didn’t know they allowed little kids into this tournament.” Tommy chuckled at that comment of Caitlin’s.

“My apologies, But it would seem they allowed a middle-aged woman into the playpen.” The girl merely smirked before displaying her intimidating energy, which was similar in color to her eyes. A scarlet hue of energy wrapping around her body, it wasn’t wild nor radiating crazily like the one they sensed earlier in the day from Starlight. This one was controlled and doing precisely the job it needed to do. A cold sweat faintly dripped down Caitlin’s face.

“Listen here, Yo-” Before Caitlin could continue, she was interrupted by Daniel’s hand moving past her face.

“I apologize for the team's behavior, little missy.” He wasn’t wrong compared to the rest of the team. They were taller than her excluding Tommy. “But, we applaud your courteous remarks of competition. Perhaps, your intimidation tactics will be more suited to the actual matches, Yes?”

The girl merely stood there, carefully analyzing East Bridge. The aura of energy she emitted no longer casting itself outward. “We will easily see how you fare then. See you in the finals.” The girl scoffed before brushing past East Bridge and out of sight down the hall.

“Can I just say? That felt like the girl from earlier this morning.” Tommy said.

“Yeah, but this was less sporadic. That girl knew what she was doing.” Vincent answered.

“Reminds me of Gabby.” Caitlin finally said before Daniel merely continued to tamper with his crude chart more.

“Yes! Alright, your new stats!” Daniel showed the team the chart. Their mood shifted immediately to disagreeing with it. Perhaps, he did it to soothe their minds quickly from the encounter with Saint Mary’s 1st-year student. Daniel knew who she was but, of course, wasn’t all that shaken up about it.

The girl that had caused a ruckus upon East Bridge made it back to a small room where her team was waiting. A familiar voice coming from nearby once she entered. “Mary!” Angela rang out before rushing up to the girl and hugging her. “Where did you go!?”

“Just got a little lost, is all. I apologize for being late.” She answered.

“Only an idiot gets lost in this place.” A nearby voice of a male cleared through the room. It was Aiken, their team's vanguard player. There wasn’t anything strange about this player; He merely had brownish hair with red highlights and green eyes. A certain someone on the other side of the building sneezed.

“Come now, Ken. Don’t be rude. Have more faith in Maria. She might have gone to eye the competition out.” This female’s voice was more uplifting, for it came from Joan, their team's sergeant wearing her blonde hair in a short ponytail, her piercing blue eyes radiating with energy. She was pretty tall, being almost the same height as Quinn, who resided nearby.

“Oh, Deary. Welcome back, Mary.” Another familiar voice rang across Maria’s ears, glancing over towards Lennox, who took out a small comb and began to stroke the tiny strands of hair on the top of his head. Maria merely waved hello to him.

“So, what did you find?” Quinn asked, already keen on what Maria was up to, just like Joan.

“Just the stars of this tournament. Nothing insane. But, sadly, the main course was missing~!” Maria began to playfully faint, with Angela continuing to hug her.

“So Gabby is nowhere to be found? That’s unexpected. To have that much trust in your team to carry on without you is a hard thing to do.” Quinn proceeded to think for a brief moment.

“No worries, if we run into them on the bracket, we’ll just wipe them out before she has a chance to appear.” Maria, with confidence showcasing her willingness to doubt the opposition.

“That’s the thing. They’re on the other side of the bracket. The only time we’ll get to face them is if either of us makes it to finals.” Quinn informed.

“So it’s simply a matter of time before our showdown with them. Then we can reclaim our status!” Aiken shouted.

“Oh, Deary. It’s not that simple this year, sadly.” Lennox mentioned looking over at a nearby monitor in the room. They were directly in one of the small viewing rooms that Reynolds and Cheveyo surveyed a month prior. Access to such places before the semi-finals and the finals were often seen as privileges.

“What makes ya’ say that?” Aiken asked.

“Oh! You mean Mammoth!” Angelia shouted as Maria merely rubbed her ears from the shouting, becoming more annoyed by the second.

“Mammoth shall be of no issue. We have practiced to the point neither of them will lay a hand on any of us.” Quinn informed, with a smile on his face.

“They lost, though. First-round immediately.” Lennox grabbed a nearby remote and pressed down on it; the monitor that laid up against the wall switched to the 44 school tournament bracket. It showed all that were participating. Primarily the 1st row of matches on both sides being over. Just like he said. Mammoth Institute was knocked out in the very first round.

“Ooh~! Who did it!” Angela asked, trying to move her body in the monitor's direction, still holding onto Maria, who now struggled to break free from Angela’s grasp.

“Starlight, it would seem.” Lennox continued. The room for a brief moment became quiet, but most were dumbstruck, even Quinn.

“S-Starlight?” Maria asked, escaping Angela’s clutches, who simply tried to grab her again. Maria instantaneously avoided her with ease by dodging to the left.

“It’s a new school, but I'm amazed they did so well already. A fluke on Mammoth's part, or we have a dark horse in the brackets.” Quinn approached Lennox looking at the brackets. The semi-finals were tomorrow and Finals the day after.

“What’s this starlight like?” Joan asked.

Angela continued to try and grab hold of Maria to hug her yet to no avail. Maria was always one step ahead of her continuing to avoid her grabs. Angela stopped in place, looking over at Joan.

“When we visited this place a month ago, we ran into one of them. He looked interesting, but that’s about it.” Angela answered.

“Reynolds is a good man, but knowing him - his team, if they weren’t just simply put together, might be much worse. Oh, Deary.” Lennox rubbed his head in frustration before suddenly getting an immediate jolt of fear run down his back. The sensation nearly caused him to leap from his chair. Quinn grinned, turning his attention to the source. Aiken and Joan merely had a cold sweat run down their faces. Angela backed up slowly towards the door as the light in the room began to flicker, an ominous scarlet hue of energy manifesting itself over Maria.

“It matters not what they look like. If they show promise, you better save your matches so I can fight too!” Maria smirked before allowing her energy to subside; Angela took a moment to breathe. It was troubling having such harsh power go wild close by in reality.

“There will be no ‘saving’ matches. You know this.” Quinn exhaustedly sighed before turning back to the brackets.

“No fun. If this keeps up, my only opponent will be that Gabby girl. She doesn’t seem all that special to me.” Maria became more annoyed by the second.

“That’s because you’re stronger~!” Angela complimented Maria, who merely nodded in agreement.

Joan looked off to the side and merely placed a hand to her face. “This team is something else.”

“You’re tellin’ me.” Aiken shrugged.

A brief moment of peace enveloped the tournament building before the second bracket began. There were three more matches for each school that passed the first bracket before the semi-finals would come. But, for now, the organizers prepared for the second round.

The crowd from all the viewing rooms exited for the moment to go check out other areas of the building. Some stayed inside. Alexia gripping her hands, arriving back into the room past a flock of people that just left. Waving her hand against her face, she felt a bit heated after that match despite the machine healing any irregularities about her body. Her black suppressor merely flashes a few colors on its indicator.

“I’ve returned.” Alexia stopped beside her team, who were all still seated. They all turned to face her, each one except for Deveron giving a smile.

“Go, Alexia!!!” Heidi shouted at the top of her lungs, having caused a few looks from those still within the viewing room.

“Easy there. That was well done regardless, Alexia. I’m amazed you didn’t use any of your powers.” Cheveyo continued to drink his soda before glancing over at Deveron, who was next to him relaxing.

“Yeah! How’d you punch that hard?! What was that?” Roy leaned up in his seat seeking answers from Alexia.

“I did use my powers, though.” Alexia now only met with a few dumbstruck faces upon Cheveyo, Heid, and Roy. “I took a page out of Roy and came up with that move. It might not seem like much, but I just combined energy into my fist. It was fun while it lasted.”

“Sheesh. You’re just full of surprises.” Cheveyo glanced over at Reynolds, who simply continued to listen in on the conversation.

“So, what do you call it?!” Roy immediately needed to know this.

“[Stardust Punch] is the name I've decided on. Really original if you ask me.” Alexia smiled, giving off the essence of sarcasm.

“Not this again.” Deveron rose from his seat. “You don’t have to go naming every move you do.”

“What? But that’s the best part!” Roy aimed his finger towards the large screen in front of them as it showed Pearl and Joel talking about the various matches that just finished. “All the pros do it!”

“Relax both of you. I think it’s fine if you come up with your own move names. Adds more flare to you. That and honestly, people love it, you can get popular online with an interesting move name.” Reynolds finally spoke, standing up from his seat, stretching for a moment.

“Hehe… See, even teach likes it.” Alexia smirked at Deveron, who merely rolled his eyes at her before giving in.

“Fine. Do as you wish. Just don’t embarrass us with a silly move name like what Roy does.” Starting to do a mimic of punches in the air. “Mr.Super Fast-paced attack.” Heidi began to chuckle after seeing that.

“No worries, I can come up with a killer move name for you too.” Roy nodded his head thinking of some move names for Deveron. All of them were, however, stopped at that moment by Reynolds.

“Alright, save the move names for later. The day isn’t over yet. Let’s do our best in making it through the rest of the tournament.”

“Yes, Sir.” Cheveyo and Alexia answered back. “Right!” Followed by Heidi and Roy, with Deveron only nodding his head.

A few hours would pass since the start of the tournament, with Starlight making it past the 2nd bracket along with the competition getting more stringent and more robust. But, on the opposite end, Saint Mary was waiting for their 5th player match to end.

“Oh, Deary. Mary isn’t giving them time to breathe.” Lennox watched the screen intensely, feeling sorry for the other school. Riverdale High would be facing them, but their captain would not have touched Maria throughout their match.

“Q-Quinn. Why did you throw your match away?” Sharp eyes from Angela glanced over at Quinn.

“Because She’s yet to fight. Why not let her have some fun too.” Quinn continued watching the one-sided match.

“I get that. But, weren’t you the captain, and she was the vice?”

“We swapped.”

“What?! We can do that?”

“Yes. But, only once. It should be fine. I predict Gabby will most likely be East Bridge’s 5th player. After all, you keep spouting; Mary can win us the tournament. So I’ll trust in your words. So far. It’s proving true.” Just as he finished speaking, the match ended in Maria’s victory.

“Wow! The first perfect game of the tournament, folks!” Joel’s voice echoed across the viewing screens for those viewing the match. Pearl brushed her hand against her face allowing tiny gusts of wind to blow into her face.

“Maria Sutton moves on with her team!” Pearl gave her best effort to say that her voice became tired and toned down as the tournament progressed. Sweat dripped down her face as the wind continued to blow faster from her hand swipes picking up nearby papers from the desk.

Maria walked out of the fighting room, gleefully twirling at the door, humming a little chant to herself. Then she realized no one had come to get her. “What!” Shouting at that moment before sprinting off down the hall.

In a matter of seconds, the door to their room would be kicked open by Maria. “Welcome back, Mary~!” Angela gave a heart-warming smile moving in to once more hug Maria, suddenly being cut off by her.

“No! None of you went to pick me up!” A seething annoyance in her voice.

“Because we knew you’d win.” Quinn moved over to her. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

All Maria could do was keep up a vexed manner at her team for a brief second. Then, her discomforting expression turned into a confident one. “Not really. Don’t go throwing your fight next time if you’re gonna just give me an easy win.”

“Then, don’t go complaining about wanting to fight.” Quinn turned around to the others. “Besides, our main focus is on East Bridge. We already know they’re making it to the finals. Focus on the matches ahead.” This was perhaps the fifth time he’s said this today. Repeating himself to a team that hardly listened to him. When he was a freshman, this team was far more composed and less...Chaotic. They still had dignity as state champions too.

Nevertheless, situations, however, have changed since last year, with East Bridge taking the victory. Quinn could only watch the nationals by the time they aired. It was unbelievable watching it from all sorts of streaming services on the internet. America had awoken to see quite a tournament notable with skilled fighters from almost all fifty states. Missing out on such an opportunity to contest with the best in his junior year would only disappoint him even more. But Angela was right. Their faith leaned with Maria.

As his thoughts wandered off about the future, the day would come to a close. The majority of the brackets were completed without issue. The four remaining schools were now chosen for tomorrow. Starlight managed to hold their own and make it through the rest of the day, moving on to the semi-finals. Their opponent was no stranger to these tournaments. The former ten-year reigning state champs; Saint Mary’s Academy.