After the Mage Dance, Radolfo called for the lunch intermission of the Parade. People cheered almost as loud for that as they had for the events themselves; it wasn't long before the stands were empty and McMoney, along with all its branching alleys, were drowned in Ocalans hounding for a meal. If the smells drifting through the air were any indication, the street merchants were more than willing to provide.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on if you asked Samuel, we'd brought food from the Embassy. Daniela had prepared it, so I didn't feel like we were missing out, but the aroma was tantalizing. Billy, as usual, inhaled his food while the rest of us ate at a more sedate pace. The next event, even after removing the pressure from myself, was heavy on my mind. The Tug of Brawn. With it being a 5-member event, and also the only team event in the whole competition, it meant we were pitted against the total Strength arrayed against us. I was thankful our squad had enough members. While the others that had joined the exchange program weren't anything to sneeze at, I didn't have the trust with them that I did with my squad if we'd needed a sixth person.

From what we understood, it was literally just tug of war, but with the capability of using our Skills and Gifts to buff ourselves. We couldn't directly interfere with the opposing team, but it was written clear as day that as long as the magic wasn't aimed it wouldn't be against the rules. I briefly wondered what the hell the rope was going to be made of to endure the strains it was going to be subject to, but ultimately it was irrelevant. This wasn't their first Parade, and if a rope broke during use they had dozens of replacements to use until one of the teams was too tired to snap it and lose.

"So, order on the rope?" I asked, shoving an entire baked potato in my mouth. The thing was scalding, courtesy of our portable stove Daniela, but it barely bothered my Limestone Skin.

"You obviously have to be anchor at the back," Sam said. "I'll be somewhere in the middle so I can reach everyone with ."

"Jolene can put on some water armor to add weight to the back," Danny suggested. "Which means the twerp and I will be front stage. If it doesn't bother you, Billy, I'll take front so I can glare at the other team."

"No argument from me," the young elf said, dropping his own meal and throwing his hands in the air like she was ready to mug him. She gave him a vicious smile, chuckling as she handed him a new well-seasoned corn cob to replace the one covered in dirt. He took it gingerly, blowing Air mana on it to cool it faster before turning into a cartoon beaver just to strip the kernels in a second. I wasn't sure if it was a result of his partial elementization, or the blunt stick of puberty, but Billy could put down some food and he was not shy about it.

With the order confirmed, we spent the rest of the time talking about things of little consequence. Daniela bragged about the entire cabinet of spices she'd won off a bet with one of the Cloth Muscles, Samuel talked about the garden he was growing on the roof of the Embassy and Billy talked about what the other Crystal Wards had looked like. Each had a few bits of design that differed, which made me curious to meet the various builders in Ocala at some point. There was always something to learn from others, especially considering the people of the city only had Gifts which meant their innate flexibility was leagues beyond mine.

Just as Billy was digging into his fourth cob and third potato, Radolfo called everyone back for the Tug of Brawn. The various groups emerged from their customized platforms and formed up at the foot of the announcing platform. In expected unison, five members from each Faction stepped forward to await... something. In our case we all just took a step forward while Blobby waved from where he'd remained at my makeshift hut. The Clansmen and the Breakers sneered at our 'lack of support' but no comments were thrown our way. I was sure if they had access to the comm-plant, they would have been mudslinging as hard as Daniela was doing to them while the rest of us tried to focus on the Zebelos Leader.

"-- with six total rounds! While we normally have two pass rounds for those who scored the lowest on the previous year, with the seventh group present only the Spring Hoppers will be receiving a bye. These are the brackets for the Tug of Brawn!"

With a flourish, two large banners unrolled on either side of the tower so the audience and contestants could clearly see. Our group was pitted against the Huntington Faction, with the winner between the Nash and Zebelos being our second opponent. On the opposing side were the Spring Hoppers without an opponent and the Clansmen against the Breakers. While I didn't want to potentially go against the Zebelos after all the cooperation we'd done, I sure as hell didn't mind going against either the Clansmen or the Breakers. Karmic payback was incoming.

A general overview of the actual event was given, but I tuned most of it out as I zeroed in on the Huntington team. The leader was a Q5 orc with the other four being some combination of Q4 fae or satyr. One of the satyrs had a flower refinement, but the others were merely Life Attuned. I wasn't trying to underestimate them, but I felt the combined Attributes of our group simply exceeded theirs by a mile. Their chance at success would hedge on whatever magic shenanigans were involved.

I didn't have to contemplate long, because our pair were the first called to the reconstructed center stage. The assistants for the judges had cleared an area roughly fifty feet wide, with three stone markers low to the ground. A rope was already stretched out, and the slight markers indicating where we were to position ourselves clearly visible in the strange black fiber. It vaguely reminded me of the robes the Cloth Muscles wore.

The judges repeated the rules, indicating no fowl play against the contenders and that the winner would be the one to move the flag in the middle past the marker on their side. Without much fanfare, they let us position ourselves and I felt Samuel's Skill speed up the flow of even my lethargic Slurry Ichor as he placed an unassuming acorn on my shoulder. Fievil sent me a claws-up as I set him down a little ways from the rope. As the one at the very back, I wrapped the last two feet of rope left over around my wrist and tucked it under my armpit.

"Don't try to pull until they get tension on the rope," I sent through the comm-plant, giving the other team a vicious grin. It was unnecessary, because Daniela was already unnerving them as her fire gills flapped to reveal the fire lurking within her. The leader orc met my eyes and gave a sort of resigned nod, which I returned firmly. Even if they didn't think they could win-- and neither did I-- I would be disappointed if they didn't try their best.

One of the judges stepped to the middle, holding the flagged marker high. When he started counting down, I used to lock my hands around the rope and drop into a half-crouch. The others took similar postures, with Billy being the exception. The elf instead let his legs go more ephemeral like when he took one of his long leaps. I didn't have time to consider that as the count ended and the Huntington team heaved on the rope.

Surprisingly, I felt us start to slide before I leaned all the way back on the rope. With our inexperienced start out of the way, we started to leverage our advantages. For me, that was mainly being a large individual. For the rest of the squad... it was wildly entertaining to say the least. Daniela lit up with her , which wasn't a direct attack against the other team had Billy not been in the mix. His Djinn legs flickered between a torrent and a singular leg that kept him from falling. So, the heat and a small spray of pebbles showered the Huntington team. Samuel and Jolene were steady rocks, starting the inexorable tug backwards that I was sure to follow the moment there was slack on the line.

As for the Huntington Team, well, they were all on fire not too dissimilar to Daniela. Clearly an effect of the yellow-blushing orc in the back. Each of the members was hugging the rope and leaning back as far as they could, which confused me for a moment until I noticed roots starting to grow out of the earth to encase fae and satyr alike in a harness directly connected to the earth. The more of those that wrapped around, the more I felt our progress slow.

They want to tire us out. Clever. I connected again to the comm-plant. "Danny, turn up the heat. Billy, think you can get the air flowing closer to the ground to dry out those roots?"

"Heat rises, sir, but maybe..." Billy drifted off even as Daniela's cloak flared hot enough to warm my view of the other team. The elf drew out a complex series of spell chains around his abdomen before the current of air coming from it turned into a localized gale that seemed to twist in on itself. As it stood, the two of them turned the air around us into a bastardized version of a heat gun and convection oven. Cold air blasted back behind Billy while he pushed as much of the heat into the ground as he could manage.

The effect was immediate. The orc was forced to dismiss his Gift as it further fed the heat gun, but it was already too late. Of the roots wrapped around the life attuned there were only quickly withering husks.

"Pull!" I wasn't rightly sure who yelled in the comm-plant, but I wasn't about to argue. Sam hit us with again and the last tethers holding the Huntington team tore away. Channeling every bit of my 2.28 Strength, I jerked and tugged until the judge called 'Winner!'. With a sigh, I released and breathed heavily. Thanks to Sam's buffs I hardly even felt worn out, but I knew this competition was going to be almost back to back so I didn't burn too much energy celebrating.

The judges nudged us off the space, but I made sure to guide our group over to shake hands with the Huntington Faction representatives. They had tried their hardest, and I could see the merit of their strategy against a less varied team. Compliments given and manly shoulder pats exchanged, I didn't feel there was too many hurt feelings about the engagement. As we walked back to where we'd lined up earlier, Daniela shook the life out of Billy. The brunette congratulated him on his quick thinking and made him promise that they would practice targeted heat funnels in the future.

"Man, where's my positive reinforcement when I do something right?" I said, crossing my arms and huffing.

"She's like our little sister, Ron," Sam said, dodging a casual jab from said 'little sis'. "While Billy is kind of the little brother. Somewhat expected."

"If you two don't keep your mouth's shut I--"

"No, no. They are right," Jolene said, tapping Sam and I gently on the shoulders. Her face was split in a smile as both Daniela-- completely unrelated to her use of magic-- and Billy blushed fiercely. The young elf sputtered through a response in a comically similar fashion to Danny, but it was cut off when 'Winner!' was shouted behind us.

We all pivoted in surprise, seeing the Nash-Zebelos competition had already been determined. Ponzio was giving us a somewhat meek smile as he led the team to shake hands with the various Nash Life Attuned. The team didn't look surprised, the dark-skinned elf at the head of the Nash shaking his head as he discussed something with Ponzio.

"Did anyone see what exactly happened?" I asked, frowning.

"Not totally sure," Billy said, drawing out his words and sniffing the air. "Something electric for certain, but I wouldn't imagine they would brush off a direct attack with the rules."

"Smells fishy," Daniela drawled.

"No, no, that's ozone," Billy said, helpfully. Obviously Daniela knew she'd been speaking metaphorically, but when she turned and saw that the young elf was trying to be honestly helpful and he’d missed her meaning by a mile all she could do was sigh. Samuel chuckled, but Jolene turned to face me when I didn't join in.

"Worried?"

"Enough unknowns with everything as is," I said, shaking my head. "It's already too late to consider how many of our capabilities we are giving away in the competitions, so I should have been doing my best to learn what the others are willing to advertise."

"True, but if you stress too much you are liable to miss something anyhow." The mermaid took my hand and gave me a gentle tug in her direction. "Deep breaths, Ronan. You'll figure it out."

"Awful lot of confidence in me," I said, doing my best to hide a blush with an awkward chuckle.

"Well, worst case scenario you can get us out of here. I mean, you managed to slip by me for almost a month and we lived in the same town! A small town, mind," the mermaid said, shaking her head as if baffled by such a development. I couldn't help but hack out a laugh... and take note of the fact the woman hadn't let go of my hand. Thankfully, the Breakers and the Clansmen were walking up to the rope and our entire squad zeroed in on the engagement without a need for a word.

What followed... well, it showed we had stiff competition to say the least. The ice Appendage had taken to the field, using its morphic body to anchor itself at the back while a burly team of Partial Orcs grunted for victory. Their ephemeral limbs acted in similar fashion to what Billy had done with Daniela, but instead of trying to turn their Traits into an attack it was like series of rockets going off at once. Based on the amount of steam escaping with each breath, I would have been astounded if they weren't burning through mana prodigiously. Though, I couldn't blame them considering their opponent.

The Clansmen didn't do anything complex or astounding, but they used their magic to turn the five giants into one massive block of stone with legs. If they ever lost their backward motion, spikes of stone would sprout from the back to anchor them before they repositioned themselves and started to heave backwards. It was a similar approach to what the Huntington team had used and it was exquisitely effective against the Breakers. The most concerning thing was that I didn't see Horace use his force-refined earth magic through the whole engagement.

"Winner!" The crowd went wild as the mega block of giants crumbled and they all started to chest bump each other and flex for the audience. The Breakers sweated their way over to their platform, since they were eliminated, without Clayton providing a modicum of relief with his powers. It either didn't have magic, didn't care for its subordinates or both. A frown creased my face as I tried to drill into the fire dome of the Breaker Faction with my eyeballs to little success.

"We're up," Jolene said, drawing me out of my thoughts.

Our group faced off against the Zebelos, Ponzio taking the lead and Cash positioned as the anchor while a bunch of other elves filled the rest of the team. It was somewhat surprising, considering none of them were more than Q5 and the Air Attuned weren't known for their Strength, but I knew their group was up to some kind of shenanigans. Ponzio smiled at us, shrugged and clasped the rope without further comment so our group settled back into our formation. I bent my considerable Perception to the task of catching any of the aforementioned shenanigans.

As hit me and Billy started to rev up his windy legs, I spotted the first peculiarity. The second-to-last elf nudged Cash on the knee and a live bolt of electricity started to arc from the tug rope into the ground. That elf then started to pant, clearly suffering from the after effects of using his mana. A scream of ripples dizzied my mind from vibrosense, but not before I shouted 'Brace!' along with the final count of the judge observing our rope.

Human tesla coils one and all, the elves on the other team channeled their lightning into the Tug of Brawn rope. It wasn't direct, the bulk of the energy arced from one perfect-hair specimen to the other, but enough flowed through the rope that our group was in trouble. As one would expect from an electrical attack, the response was immediate.

Daniela's hair uncurled with the static force and she yelped while letting go of the rope. Billy was able to maintain a hold of the rope, but his legs went wild. His torso dropped roughly to the ground even as Sam tried to catch him. Similarly to Daniela, but magnitudes more unnerving, was the filament nerves that started to flex all over Samuel's arms like uncoordinated dancers. I saw more than one blacken and fizzle straight to ash until he too was forced to release his grip.

Jolene held on the longest, as she coated herself in water to insulate herself, but I could see her struggling to keep hold of the rope while also maintaining her magic in place. As for me, my hands quickly started to burn but most of the discharge dissipated over my skin and . After the first few seconds, seeing as our team was still barely in the fight, Cash yelled 'Heave!' and the team tugged on the rope.

Unfortunately, Jolene's very same attempt to isolate her hands from the electricity left her with a less than optimal grip on the rope and the moment it jerked her hands were off. If my hands hadn't been locked around the rope with my Skill, I was sure the same would have happened to me. Instead, I started to slide inch by inch as the five people on the other team pulled despite each of my attempts to grip the earth with my toes.

I need more to push against! I was frantic for time, so I channeled through the flat of my feet for a beat before cutting off the Skill. The tug lost me almost half a foot, but it left the other team reeling. The elf that had grounded Cash lost his grip and was out of the contest, which still left me with four others to contest and less leeway to win but it was something.

"You can't beat all of us, Ronan," Ponzio called, struggling with the rope as I leaned further back thanks to my partially submerged feet. My shoulder and lower back were screaming in protest. "Maybe if this was an actual fight, but you can't pull five grown men that easily."

"Maybe I can't," I ground out, gulping air and channeling across my chest in preparation. "But nothing says my magic can't carry the slack!"

flared from my earthen chestplate. I hadn't tried to get cute with it. An eight foot cone sprouted from my chest. The tip drove itself into the ground with enough force to break my feet out of their self imposed grave and then some. My Harmonic Sinews groaned in protest as both of my arms dislocated. I was sure my ribs were bruised, if not broken, when the blaring warning that I'd lost 44% of my health all in one fell swoop flashed before my eyes.

Despite the fact that I struggled taking a full breath, I had managed to land on my feet. The same could not be said for the Zebelos team. The only one still holding the rope was Cash, but the orc was sprawled out on his chest having almost run head first into their victory marker on their side.

"W-Winner!" The judge said after a moment of stunned disbelief, arm raised towards our side of the rope. The crowd lost absolutely every marble they and their neighbors had to give.