September passed by, bringing October into the fold. Within one of New York cities most prestigious schools known as Millennium High, there were two females situated with each other in a garden. Seated at a table underneath a gazebo drinking soda while one of them scrolled through the schools that won their respective state championships on a tablet. The one holding it was an Indian-American female looking to be around 18 years old adorned in jewelry around the neck and ears. Wearing an orange-red Salwaar Kameez, a long, dress-like tunic that blended well with their natural brown hair and hazel eyes.

As for the other girl looking to be around a similar age, she was dressed in overalls, a decent-sized bust with crimson hair tied into a ponytail. Her emerald green eyes complement their fair skin as she gazed at her peer. Watching them scroll through the list of schools that showed up on a floating transparent screen nearby.

“Looks to be the same teams as last year, only this time. No signs of Clark, so we have this in the bag.”

“Clark went away, very far...Oh… No, they required celebration for moving!”

“Uh...Mahdri. It’s called graduation. But, I thought they were our age, didn’t think it occurred.”

“Oh! I am sorrys. Rough happenings occur when Clark is around. Last year, I was useless stopping them.”

“It’s fine. Still, 2nd place against a foe like that is insane. Do you think you can use the more demanding ones?”

“Ariella forgoes...I mean, forgets they do not mind.” Mahdri continued swiping through the list of schools that all made it to the nationals. About 90% of them were from last year. The rest new ones ready to try their hands on a national level.

Footsteps approached the two females conversing, only for their attention to turn to the sound. Their eyes gazed upon a relatively robust male. Similar hair color to Mahdri only with green highlights around it, the look on his face was that of interest, brown eyes gazing at the list. He was adorned in typical high school attire compared to his peers.

“Whoa. Is this going to be a repeat of last year? If so, we have this in the bag now that Georgia doesn’t have its ace.”

“Hailo, Captain.” Mahdri stood up in his presence, doing nothing more for a few seconds only to sit once more. Ariella always wondered why she did that, but merely assumed it was a form of respect.

“Yo, Valdo! Take a look, Holly’s school made it in!” Ariella aimed a finger towards one of the states — Texas — their excitement for this school, in particular, seemed to be very high. So much so that her body movement seemed to naturally sway from left to right in the chair, thinking about facing one of the legendary schools.

“Of course they made it in. I’d be shocked if they didn’t. But, check these out.” Valdo pointed towards two new schools, one from Hawaii and another from California.

“A new one from California and Hawaii? Talk about rough...California might be scary. Tons of schools there and a new one made it out.”

“Ha..waii? Ah! Family from home always hear strong words from them.” Mahdri smiled; their speech was odd despite them living in America for a couple of years now. But, the other two didn’t mind this clearly there to help correct her if she got something wrong.

“You mean your family in India? Do they partake in the pacific showdowns?” Valdo turned to Mahdri. This had been the first time hearing Mahdri even mention family, so he took the opportunity to dig further.

“Yes, they’re quite responsive to tournaments there!”

“Fond…” Ariella replied by fixing Mahdri’s mistake.

“Sorrys. But, compared to those we met last year. Pacific showdown is easy pickings!” Mahdri gave a little cheer towards Valdo only to immediately stop and think. “Uh… Hawaii will likely be stronger.”

“Huh. Well, compared to Clark, we should be fine. Anyone else new?” Valdo continued looking up and down at the list.

“Idaho, it seems… Who was last year's school for them?” Ariella thought about it for a moment, but couldn’t think. “I know one of them was an MVP with Holly. I’m amazed they tied the score...Uurgh… Fuck. I don’t remember!”

“Gabby!” Mahdri reminded Ariella.

“Yeah!”

“Oh, right, East Bridge, I think...They never made it to the finals, but they did leave a mark. So who’s the new school that beat them? Was it Saint Mary? I know they wanted their spot back.” Valdo was glancing at the other states too occupied on returning schools.

“Says, Starlight Academy… Never heard of it.” Ariella checked, but only had a puzzled look at it. Only to then shrug the school off.

“Star...light?” Mahdri began to think for a moment, only recalling a rumor last year of a prominent teacher moving to Idaho and Gabby informing her that they were going to participate in a french exhibition match over the summer.

“Starlight…?” Truthfully the three of them were stumped at this new school. There was no information on it thus far compared to the other schools. It seems this winters national began to look like last year’s a momentous one at that. For now, the three of them tended to other matters. Information regarding all of these new schools could come later. After all, they had two more months to prepare for the nationals.

As for Starlight themselves, the team would be off in various parts of the school with club activities occurring in the middle of the day. The only ones within the club room would be Alexia, Cheveyo, Reynolds, and Roy. The other two would be off elsewhere tending to other business.

“Ahem, thanks for coming…. Or at least most of you. Where’s Heidi, Roy?” Reynolds held up a clipboard glancing at all of them. In truth, he only wanted to know where Heidi was and didn’t quite mind Deveron being absent.

“Hm? Oh, she’s taking a test. Still hasn’t finished it yet.”

“Right.” Reynolds simply checks off Heidi’s name, for now, in the meantime, he’d lower the clipboard. “In any case, It’s time to begin our new training program. However, this time as opposed to the weights, I gave you guys the first time around. Those won’t be required. Instead, I've acquired a bit of help for you on this next training.”

Reynolds moved to the entrance of the room, opening the door, revealing Pearl, who merely gave a gentle bow with a smile on her face.

“Good Eve. We meet again.”

Only this time, there was another behind her. It wasn’t her ‘servant’ but someone else entirely—a girl looking to be a bit younger, appearing around the same age as Alexia. Adorned in a similar dressing pattern to Pearl only instead of Pearl’s more gothic approach to their outfits, this one was sweet in appearance. As if an assortment of colorful candy were arranged around this individual, emerald green eyes accompanied by bubble gum-colored pigtailed hair.

This girl even had a similar parasol to Pearl; they’d enter the room, giving a courteous bow. Cheveyo looked a bit dazed when seeing this girl. The spirits within him didn’t seem to like this one. Alexia, on the other hand, seemed to be infatuated by this one's clothing and outfit.

“Whoa! She’s like a mini-pearl!”

“No kidding, But wait, Alexia, she’s clearly not as depressed!” Roy chimed in.

“How vulgaire! Do not insult, Madam Pearl! She is clearly leagues above any of you! The same as I!” The new girl started to become annoyed at the disrespect these two were giving Pearl.

“Tis fine, Adelle. Anyway, we came all this way to help the champions. I have a bit of a wager going on, so my money is on you guys. I brought my disciple with me. I give you, Adelle Desjardins. She shall be your opponent.” Pearl’s eyes shifted to Reynolds.

“You owe me, but my dear has traveled a long way from Bordeaux, France, to fight a state champion. This will help her garner some experience since she’ll be participating in foreign tournaments soon.”

“Well! I say nice to meet you, Adelle. Just call me, Alexia!” Alexia approached them, offering a handshake only for it to be slapped away in the process.

“I shall only shake hands with you, Mon Amie. When you have bested me in battle.” With that, Adelle approached the club's singularity machine motioning all three of them to fight her at once.

Reynolds didn’t quite like this one’s attitude, but she seemed familiar to him. This girl wasn’t the french national champion; no, they were still across the ocean. So Pearl also has ace’s up her sleeve as well?

“Don’t be shy, guys. You all may participate against her at the same time.” Reynolds pushed the others to fight. Cheveyo let out a simple sigh before adjusting himself approaching the machine. Which spirit shall he use to take on this troubling foe? Roy was hyped up to fight someone new, similarly to Alexia. He followed behind Cheveyo. Alexia didn’t mind her hand being slapped away. This foreigner was rude from the get-go, but she wasn’t upset about it approaching the machine.

She just wanted to have a bit of chit-chat before they all dropped into another fight, but as they say, actions speak louder than words. Adelle stood at the opposite end of the three. It was all of them versus her? Cheveyo couldn’t quite believe it, though; this would be one of the few times they’d be working together properly instead of against.

He glanced towards Roy, worried that he’d just lunged in first, then looked to Alexia. Cheveyo noticed something a bit off about her this time around. The front part of her bangs, which she had turned white, was now a turquoise color.

“Did you dye your hair, Lexi?”

“Hm? N-No. Uuh, it sorta turned this color last night.” The singularity machine kicked into gear, beginning the transfer.

“Only turned last night?” Cheveyo grinned a bit, beginning to take a more in-depth glance into Alexia’s spirit. The glimmer in his eye shining a mosaic green. He could see that Alexia's aura had gotten stronger since the tournament. In truth, the aura itself was turquoise in color and almost reached his body; it practically made it to the ceiling. Then, he looked towards Adelle. Her aura was similar if not larger than Alexia’s, extruding a sickly purple mixed in pink.

Then, the transfer happened before he could dig deep into both of their auras. When he came to his senses, the area around him was a garden behind a house in a prairie. Alexia stood next to him and Roy a few inches away.

“Hehe, This reminds me of the first area I fought Alexia in!” Roy took a look around with the sun beating down on them. Only for a few clouds to move ahead covering it, Roy took notice of a few flowers in this garden, ranging from various colors. However, one took his interest in a purple flower that was birthed between the pavement cracks.

Cheveyo watched as Roy approached the flower carelessly, almost in a manner that shocked him. “Hey! Don’t touch that flower!”

“Huh? It’s not a ha-” Just as Roy was about to lean in to look at it, the flower secreted an ink colored powder that latched onto Roy’s face. Just as it did, he began to take damage, his body succumbing to paralysis in less than five seconds.

Alexia quickly aimed her finger at the flower only to force the ground to uplift itself, covering the flower in concrete and dirt, which hardened fast. At the same time, Cheveyo moved in to help Roy up.

“Roy! That was a stage haz-” A gust of wind moved in from his right, sending Cheveyo tossed up over the garden fence.

“Stage hazard...Is only partly right.” Standing to Alexia's right at a distance, Adelle stood with their parasol open, covering them from the sunlight. “My flowers are delicately toxic, as one would say.”

Adelle closed her parasol, gripping the handle tight only to swing it in Alexia and Roy's direction. A large gust of wind sent Roy flying. “H-Hold oooooon! I still can’t move!” Paralyze and plummeting to the ground, Roy couldn’t feel a single muscle. Something then caught hold of his shirt, gently lowering him to the ground.

Wings of an eagle sprouted from the back of Cheveyo, he managed to catch Roy in time. “Give me a moment, I can get rid of the paralysis.” When the two of them landed, Cheveyo once more switched to another spirit. Only this time, nothing changed him body-wise. Placing a hand onto Roy, the healing process began.

“Hey, Chev. I’m not crazy, right?”

“I wouldn’t push it too far. Why ask now?”

“We were above a field...But..”

Cheveyo glanced up to see what Roy had been talking about. The two of them landed in the middle of a peaceful european town, vines hanging off each ledge of a building with purple flowers layered on top.

“This is bad! Hurry up with the healing!” Roy started to move his hands, the cure for paralysis slowly fading.

“I’m going as fast as I can, Roy. I don’t think the flowers can reach us in the middle of the streets.” Cheveyo took a moment to compose himself; hopefully, Alexia was doing better. At least he could trust her with this.

A strong gust of wind broke apart a nearby house from the inside. Alexia came flying out of it damaged and laying in the debris. Cheveyo shook his head. Clearly, his trust was placed wrongly at this moment. Adelle gracefully stepped out of the damaged home, turning her attention away from Alexia and onto Cheveyo and Roy.

“My, My. And here I thought Americans were stronger than this.”

Roy finally rose, slamming his fists together and bulking up! “Just you wait, I'll show you the might of the future champion~!” Foolishly, Roy charged at Adelle, who instead of using their parasol to create strong winds. Merely waved her hand to the left, forcing a strong current to knock Roy into a building.

Alexia sat up, seeing Roy get tossed like a ragdoll. A concentration of considerable energy began to gather into her right hand, balling it up into a fist. Adelle instinctively looked at Alexia due to this, only to get a fist thrown into her face knocking the girl far down the street.

“Yeah! LET'S GO!” Roy managed to retaliate. Already sending out victory cheers. Adelle rose from her spot, clenching their Parasol. Blood dripping from the side of their mouth, it seemed they managed to indeed deal damage, but something was off to her about that last attack. She would have heard the boy approaching, but didn’t. As if time had stopped for her, but not for him. Then, her eyes glanced at the one behind Roy.

“Perhaps, I was wrong.” Elegantly dusting herself off, Roy charged, beginning to throw a flurry of punches at Adelle. Her movement similar to a waltz — gracefully avoiding Roy with ease. “You all are just hiding.” Grasping hold of Roy’s arm, Adelle vaulted over him, rushing towards Cheveyo.

Reynolds looked at the fight progressing with a bit of intrigue, watching both Cheveyo and Adelle go at it. Indeed, Cheveyo kept up nicely with her, but likely due to his abundant selection of spirits.

“So, what do you think of my pupil? A marvelous dancer, hm?” Pearl couldn’t help but smile at this situation, but she came here at the end of the day to help Reynolds as he did her.

“Are you sure you didn’t just give us the national champion of France?”

“Just because her skill is on par, doesn’t mean she is. Ahem, why doth thou doubt me?”

“No reason for doubt, just impressed. I can tell she admires you...even down to your looks. Although, not as depressed. Hehe!” Reynolds chuckled to himself, while Pearl didn’t quite enjoy such a comment.

“It’s the gothic attire, while she’s the opposite...Sweet. Candy, the gist. Besides, are you glad there is a 2nd generation of me coming along?”

“Yes, yes. I’m happy for you. I’m also thankful you’re wasting your time for my selfish actions.” After Reynolds said this, Pearl peaked in anger.

“Nonsense! You were the one that saved me, remember? Don’t even speak about selfish actions when I'm the one being selfish this very moment!” Pearl let out a sigh realizing her mannerism went away a while ago from interacting with Reynolds.

“Right, right. I apologize. I shouldn’t have said that. Either way… You’re preparing Adelle for something else? Well, whatever it is, I hope my students can give her a run… Eventually.” Reynolds watched the team he prepared for regional threats get beaten up quickly by a national one. This was the first step in helping them out.

Cheveyo slid across the ground up to Roy and Alexia. “Urgh...Any bright ideas on how to stop her attacks? Some of my spirits won’t heed my call.” Roy wasn’t quite sure how to approach Adelle himself. Every time he even tried moving, windswept him off his feet.

“Well...I have one idea.” Alexia smirked, still clenching her right fist.

“Fine, do it! Just make sure it hits.” Cheveyo felt the intense concentration of energy; honestly, this would likely win them the match if Alexia landed it.

“[Cosmic Lance!]” Alexia flung out the energy from her right hand, immediately knocking back all three of them together, the collection of energy gathering together to form a miniature sun-like object. Bolts of lighting ripping from it, bouncing off the ground and buildings tearing apart tiles.

A stellar grin made its way to Adelle’s face, such an intriguing ability that one had, she thought. Due to the sheer speed of the attack coming her way, she only had around a few seconds to think. Lifting up her leg, she prepared to kick the sun-like object.

“...[Cogitatio]...” A silvery aura formed around Adelle’s body; when she made impact with the object on her leg. The energy began to push itself off her only to ping slightly up into the air and arch its way down towards the others.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s not supposed to happen right, Lexi?!” This wouldn’t be the first time Roy’s burned by one of Alexia’s stars. They packed a lot of power, even if the majority of them were tiny.

“N-No!” Alexia replied, but before Cheveyo and the others could even flee, it made impact in front of them. An explosion erupted in the city as the smoke clouds reached high up. Adelle unfolded her parasol, moving it in front of her body as it covered the debris and dust.

Then, a familiar voice rang out in its monotone demeanor. “Winner!”

Adelle materialized back into reality, glancing down at Alexia, Roy, and Cheveyo piled up onto each other hurting. Their wounds were gone, just their bodies sore from the experience of basically being nuked by their own teammate.

Alexia couldn’t quite believe all three of them lost that easily, the shock from it accumulating doubt for their roles in taking the nationals by storm. “So, what just happened?” Cheveyo asked.

“You fought, A rather unique singularity user. My darling, Adelle doesn’t have one, nor two singularities. But, three.” Pearl chimed in.

“Three?!” Roy couldn’t believe it, such an unfair advantage yet again.

“Yes… My flowers that can alter the playing field… The gusts of wind… And lastly, the singularity I like to call ‘Mirror.’” Adelle was a bit embarrassed at explaining the powers she had. Still, two of them were relatively weak compared to the things she’s seen people pull off with merely one.

“For the next few days, while Pearl and Adelle are here. You’ll be fighting each of them. Of course, we’ll need to grab Heidi and Deveron for this also.” Reynolds moved over to the nearby bulletin board. Taking out a marker, he’d begin to write down the team's next major training. Slamming his hand onto the board, the words ‘Evolution!’ written on it.

“Next up on our list. To truly make you all reach the top. It’s time to get in touch with your abilities and evolve them to the next level! And what better way than to use two national monsters to guide you on your journey!”

Roy, Cheveyo, and even Alexia couldn’t quite wrap their head around this one. At least in Alexia’s case, her powers kept getting stronger unconsciously as time went by and the tougher her opponents got. Cheveyo had the many pantheon of spirits at his arsenal, the more dangerous ones and vile he’d have never used before. As for Roy, he didn’t quite know how he’d evolve...But, acquiring a second singularity would allow him to do better even if it was something minuscule.

“National monster is a bit harsh.”Alexia said.

“Well, what else would you call us? Honestly, you’d be considered in that class as well. Albeit, if we fought one on one, you’d have the advantage, but your team doesn’t excel in actual team combat. Not like it matters for the style of tournament, you Americans have.”

Alexia let out an exhausting breath of air; she didn’t quite feel up to par with fighting national monsters. But, if it meant evolving her powers even more, deep within herself, she felt that would be a terrifying experience if unleashed in reality.

Starlight Academy prepared for their inevitable venture towards the Nationals.