6:30 PM — Idaho, Private Cafe

With the sun settling down onto the State of Idaho and as darkness crept across the hills and mountains, within a private location, two clubs gathered to watch the finals. A few of the individuals inside had been there for quite some time, yet when the door opened up their eyes turned to lay witness to both Marie and Gabriel walking in.

“Sorry, we’re late. This one just didn’t want to stop fighting.” Gabby informed, only to gently grab hold of Marie and move them to the front.

“You just wanted to settle the score by trying to tie it up after I kept winning!”

“Don’t flatter yourself too much now just because you counter me. But, overall, it was a very fun match. But, we lost track of time. Remember, we were meant to watch Lexi’s fight, after all.”

“Oh! You’re right?! I completely forgot.”

Another girl stood up from a nearby table, stomping over towards Marie.

“M-A-R-I-A!”

It was none other than Angela who grabbed hold of Marie, moving them towards a table where Quinn sat. Gabby’s own team scattered about in the building, all of them watching the match unfold.

“So. What did we miss?” Gabriel asked.

Quinn looked a bit stunned at what he had witnessed, having watched the entire finals since the morning. But he’d offer a reply in honesty.

“It’s all tied up for the finals. I’m shocked it even came down to it. But Starlight is as resilient as ever… Especially their captain. There is no way I’d want to fight wholeheartedly against millennium.”

“Against, Ol’ Mahdri? Never got a chance to fight them, but I’d likely not fair any better myself. Doubt, me phasing through the ground will make much of an impact.”

Gabriels on instinct turned to Marie Sutton, who, as expected, was ready to boast.

“That may be for you! But, for one such as myself, I’m capable of keeping up with Alexia, thus, that makes me strong enough to take on this Mahdri!”

Quinn shook his head, ready to shatter Marie's prideful comment.

“Well, I wouldn’t call anything Starlight is doing as… 'keeping up'. It’s very one-sided, even with three people from the looks.”

Angela continued to cling to Marie and, out of habit, started messing with the girl's hair, only to begin commenting herself.

“Y-Yeah… No offense Marie, but I don’t think we would be able to tie it up if we ever made it to the finals… Especially with the destruction going on. I’d hate to be up against any of those final teams in reality. I think I’d die!”

“Pah! That’s not what you’re supposed to say, Angie! How destructive did it even get?”

“F-For all teams?”

“Yeah!”

A burst of hearty laughter emitted from the corner of the room. Gabriel's eyes sat upon her comrade and brother-in-arms, Daniel Moore. The muscular fighter took a stand and walked over.

“WELL, I HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO SAY THAN TO REJOICE AT THE GROWTH OF MY RIVAL HAYDEN. AND THE RISING PRODIGY ROY!”

“Oi, Quiet down, would you? We’re not hyping up a crowd.” Gabby responded swiftly.

“Ahem! What I meant to say was. The damage done by all these final teams is… well. Quite rare. Even for us. Personally, I’d not be shocked when this settles where we get stronger suppressors.” Daniel adjusted himself as he spoke, taking a seat at the table.

“Is it really that destructive? How strong did Starlight get?”

“That’s the thing, Gabby. It’s not just Starlight. Hayden seems to have gotten himself quite the monster himself.”

Daniel aimed his finger at the monitor ahead, the finger aimed at Lei.

Angela stopped tampering with Marie’s hair, looking away momentarily.

“Yeah, when we say all the teams, we really mean it. But, if you’re looking for Starlight's destructiveness. I’d argue if I fought that ginger aga- Ahem, I mean Heidi. I hate to admit it, but I'm pretty sure I'm dead if RNG screws me over with a daytime stage. And it just gets worse as it goes with their vice-captain and captain.”

“Pah! I only expect the best from my rival! I’m sure I can also cause quite the destruction if I wanted.” Marie once more boasted.

“Sure. All you have to do is throw a weapon and break apart several or more skyscrapers miles away without even moving, perhaps causing a rainstorm that can put you to sleep in a heartbeat. Or conjure up your own gear like a video game. Hell, let’s hear it, Mary, can you throw an energy attack that can destroy a good chunk of a living… breathable city as if it was just normal to do so?” Quinn finally arose to dethrone Marie's pride.

“W-Well… I got better at seeing the… future.”

“Alright, no need to shatter her pride even further. It’s a charm that I like about them. But, thanks for the catchup.” Gabby finally responded, sitting down to watch.

To Gabriel, while there was no surprise at Starlight making it to the finals. Her eyes loomed upon Alexia on the screen. Just how strong did they get in such a short time? Thinking back on it now, there were a few schools back in the state tournament with advisors, and Starlight had one. A Reynolds…

Gabriel looked around to see East Bridge students conversing with Saint Mary students. An odd gathering if there was one. The two teams were practically rivals for the past year or two and now befriending each other. Yet, the name Reynolds continued to linger in her head. It was a name Lyn informed her about, even long before the tournaments. Lyn herself had regarded the one with the name in high regard. Very rare for a person like Lyn to praise someone out of whim in conversations.

“Guess I’ll give Lyn a call.”

Gabriel pulled out their phone, beginning to scroll through. The two teams continued to converse and party in the cafe. Perhaps this was out of pride for their state or to see how Starlight progressed at the end of the day, this rare gathering between two titan schools certainly sparked some questions in Gabby.

_______

As East Bridge and Saint Mary had their affair hours away, the nation's favorite gothic lolita had now blown through 10 drinks in total. Their eyes looked sunken, and the smell of alcohol was strong around them. Seated next to them, of course, their student and future successor, Adele. And standing beside the drunken lolita, was the woman with a halo above them. This halo started to change colors going from pink to red, and finally to green upon sniffing the air around Pearl.

“P-Perhaps you should lessen the booze…” Adele advised.

Pearl sat up finally from the table, taking a turn to look towards the one standing beside them.

“Hm? I’ll be fine… Not like I can feel anything from this… So you gonna tell me why you’re here, Polita?”

The halo woman remained silent, their halo beginning to shift from green to yellow. Polita moved their hands in a way to imply nothing for now, but clearly, the woman was in no rush to leave just yet.

“Eh… Well, pull up a chair and drink. The fruits of my labor are hopefully going to kick it to the nation and break the boundaries. I heard you had a little run-in with my two favorites… What do you think of them?”

Polita remained silent, but their halo initiated a shift from yellow to purple. Pearl looked at the halo and shrugged their shoulders.

“I’ll take that as a good sign then…”

Pearl gently tapped her finger against an empty cup, their eyes still on Polita.

“We can leave in a moment… Though, I’d rather we wait to see until the match is over. Ah… To run amok the flowers of the stars and lay witness to thy sacred tome.”

Pearl turned back to the glass she held. Her thoughts shrouded like an enigma, but the one thought she did have in her mind focused entirely on Polita. The two knew of each other, and the fact that she had now acquired a message from the halo-bound Vatican girl only proved something was up. Something that she didn’t really want a part of, but with Reynolds involved, the lolita could only grimace at the thought of why she was being summoned. Especially with Abbey lingering around.

But, before she handled that business, Pearl wanted to see the match at hand to see how far the remaining puzzle in Reynold's scheme would fare. If all things worked out nicely, then even she would lay witness to America's own butterfly. Butterflies… The word rang in her mind easily, but not for the insect itself. But for what the east had discovered. Either way, Pearl reached her hand over to grab another bottle of booze, only for Adele to stop them.

“No more.”

_______

Walking down the cold street of New York City, Teagan took note of the billboards playing the match and even the daily lives of others passing through on their early holiday shopping could not avoid such a match occurring. Following behind him would be his guard Blight, the two moving towards a less obstructed part of the city. Only for them to arrive at a laboratory. Not even the lab could avoid showcasing the match, as Teagan and Blight saw a few workers inside watching on their computer screens and monitors.

Inserting a keycard in the entrance to the building opened up for the two of them as they walked in.

“Sheesh… What’s going on with everyone? Why are they so fixated on this tournament?” Blight asked.

“... It’s not that strange when you think about it, but even I'm amazed. Just everyone’s eyes were glued to it. It’s hard for even me to stop laying eyes on it.”

“They do know those kids are practically destroying a whole metropolitan, right?”

“In the eyes of those not of the foundation and even our government sect. Not many people think much about it. You know how the young are these days and even those older than us, seeing things as editing flare.”

Teagan walked down the hallway, passing by each room. Some rooms were closed off and dark, others were open, with a few workers inside. Until he made it to an open office door with the tag name ‘Rhea Harrison’ beside it. With a gentle knock, Teagan announced himself to the room.

Inside, was Rhea watching the match at hand on a tiny computer screen, but the rest of the room happened to be quite the mess, stacks of paper piled up on the floors, pictures of mass droughts, rivers dried up, plants dying all over the wall. And other disasters that correlated to global warming and Singularity users. The woman even had pictures of various people, some children, and others adults, coupled with images of tornadoes, hurricanes, extreme wildfires, and random disappearances.

If Teagan didn’t know the woman he worked with, he’d call this entire place a conspiracy. Blight, on the other hand, didn't quite get it though. Even if he had been working to guard the woman on his last assignment, he forgot how cynical the woman could be when it came to her work. Rhea turned to look in the direction of Blight and Teagan, yet she was not the only one in the room. Seated nearby, watching the match, would be Dr. Denley Frost, who immediately stood up, clipboard in hand and ready to show his progress.

“Ah! Teagan! Good to see you again! Look here, we’re finally getting it. With this match, we’ll have enough proof!”

Rhea waved at the two men, only to pull Denley back into his seat.

“Calm down and don’t get your hopes up too much.” She said, with Teagan a bit confused, until it clicked with him.

“Ah. The government funding, honestly I’m not interested in being seated with those politicians. Drives my blood pressure up. So what you’re using this match as evidence?”

Rhea moved a few stacks of papers onto her desk. “Why not? I’ve already gotten the evidence I need for my report. So we’ll use this to submit an excellent case to the Senate. Or if the president gets a hold of it, that’ll secure us too.”

“Yeah! These girls are crazy strong! My money is on the one with the toy roller!” Denley continued to mark things down on his clipboard.

“It’s called a Diabolo. Also, my money on the Hindi girl.” Rhea opened up a few of her cabinets revealing a pistol with ammo by the side and a pack of cigarettes. Swiftly the woman closed it checking the rest.

Teagan looked at the match, watching the four girls go at it still. In this one-sided affair, he wasn’t much into watching Singularity Humans fight it out, more so his specialty lay in their ancient history and physical nature. Yet, his eyes locked onto Alexia, a vague sense of déjà vu overtaking him as if he saw that face before.

“Hm… Guess I’ll bet on the Star Girl.”

Rhea and Denley both stopped what they were doing looking at Teagan. Rhea considered it for a moment, while Denley didn’t even consider them.

“Seriously? Hm… Not a bad pick.”

“Ah, it’s just a little bet. So anyway, figure anything else out?”

Teagan moved to pick up a few stacks of paper, setting them down on the desk only to rummage through them. There were a few reports that caught his eye, some of these like headlines out of newspaper. But in his eyes he knew who made these fancy and weird titles, taking a few glances at Rhea.

‘Singularity Killer in Japanese Countryside.’

‘Europe’s Vampiric Phantasmagoria’

‘Dragons In The Shadows’

‘Ten proven historical events that signify singularity as the next evolution’

To him, some of these titles, especially the last one is what gave their group a dirty look. The first one, he’s never even heard of a serial killer when they visited Japan earlier in the year. And the second? They had no evidence, just hearsay from the locals in various places.

“So, you two are almost done, I take it?”

“Yes. We’re just waiting for this match to conclude… Oddly enough, I can’t seem to take my eyes off it.” Rhea expressed.

Even Denley happened to be hard-focused on it, a strange phenomenon Teagan himself picked up on as well. Upon closer inspection of him walking here, normal humans were just fixated on the match without any pause. The moment they saw the powers flinging off the four girls, it caught everyone in a trance at the fight.

“Right, guess I'll be here with you then… Blight, mind securing the entrance for us?”

“Sure thing, Boss. I’m not as interested in watching kids beat each other up for ‘entertainment’. Not after last time.”

Blight exited the office, heading towards the front of the building. Teagan reared his head back onto the papers, continuing to look at the ‘Singularity Killer’ topic, and then his eyes turned to the match at hand. One thing was for certain, something major was going to occur after this finale… Only time will tell if his group will make it in time to convince congress and the senate.