21: Seraph Haven Tournament

The arena was based on old images and construction plans from before war broke out on Earth 10,000 years ago in a far-off land in the north hemisphere known as the Italia Peninsula - held the probably now destroyed construction known as the Colosseum. A massive circle arena with 80,000 according to old documents that filtered through the years. Their version was more high-tech, seated 100,000 and wasn't built of just stone.

Everyone was arriving at the arena stands, sitting in the chairs they spent enough on, and Zac decided to head on with Kai and Anne to the front row crowds. Evermore was in the skybox with the other leaders as day 1 began, being led by Mira. Drones floated through the skies as it was streamed - for free - across three nations that partook in the tournament.

Though the presenter for the week was not Mira Hogwood herself but a widely famous...

Ruth. The same Ruth Watson who leads Team Ruth.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 5th year of the Tournament, hosted by Seraph Haven and their lovely Miss Mira Hogwood!" Everyone clapped and Ruth chuckled. Though he was still a team leader, and though he still went on missions, he became sort of a hotshot during the last 5 years. All the ladies swoon for him and well... publicity suited him. Though his team sort of disagrees. Hated how he was always interacting with fans especially since he always insisted on them all hanging out together.

"Honestly he's enjoying this too much." Astra chuckled and Kay rolled his eyes and just remained on guard by the Leaders. Astra leaned over the edge and watched and Evermore caught sight of Zac, Kai, Anne and Jo in the stands with Harper. "We have a new district fighting today," Lord Hellyer revealed, "Sector J."

All turned their heads. "I thought that had level 1-2s," Hogwood asked and Hellyer nodded. "But there's one contestant that fills the criteria. So. We allowed her to join alone." They wondered who she was and why Hellyer was able to be confident in her.

***

"Day 1 entails a race," Mira began, "the map on the watches will show you where you are and where your enemies are. Get to the end."

Everyone wondered why that was all. Normally they were a lot more… horrific and dangerous. As they were all teleported to the zone, the crowd gasped. "This day isn't called the start for a reason!" Ruth yelled as the ground began moving and the weather changed. Zac watched the screen and Harper giggled and clapped. "Where's Dawson?" Kai asked. The flame user wasn't anywhere to be seen despite arriving a day earlier than everyone else.

"Oh. Grunt work." Jo chuckled. "They're using him to create fires."

"What an amazing use of his talent." Anne laughed and they all nodded.

Distantly feeling his hatred of agreeing to help out this year. But he always has his reasons.

***

"You good?" Rocco asked. Looking at his partner's throat, a clicking sound was heard. "God you think they'd make this less harsh," Machi whined and Rocco laughed and noticed he was unchanged. "Where are your nanobots?"

"Ah, well... don't need them."

Seeing his friend be this confident, made Rocco smile. "I have two limiters on my feet and a modified watch Rocco. I don't need nanobots to teleport me away."

"You don't like the fit."

"I hate it. My style nowadays is a lot more comfortable. Apart from the cloak. That though as uses." He firmly justified even though Rocco did not say anything. They began changing into their suits and Machi looked at his watch and it read level 3. Rocco chuckled and they walked out, Machi sporting a new do and a voice changer keeping from anyone recognising him. Well.

"I thought we agreed no Machi." Jo scolded Zac and Kai. "He's too strong." Jo recognised his ki instantly and the boys just looked guilty but justified their reasoning for helping Machi enter the tournament.

"He wanted to go," Kai argued. "He has a reason too. He's trained with the strongest Dragur, he knows what we lack. He's like... the only one who can tell us if we have a fighting chance."

"You got to make him shit." Anne accused.

The boys smiled and Anne sighed, smacking her head at her surprise rather than their childlike minds when it comes to engineering new toys of theirs. "Limiters - better than Ever's," Zac started, "voice changer and a modified watch showing level 3. And we created a new persona for him too. It was fun."

How Evermore married him goes over the girls' heads sometimes. "You know he's like... unstable right?"

"What do you mean?" Anne asked. Jo sighed and explained what happened in the hospital.

"You know, rather than keeping him back, preventing him from going forward... how about you... you know... let him do what he wants?" Zac asked. "He's got that attitude from his father. Believe me. I know."

Zac was rather baffled by the way everyone treated Machi. Not only does he surpass Ever and himself in strength, but also in basic intellect, he is far superior. Zac and Kai beat him out in specifics, but that wasn't the point. Machi back then had knowledge but held no power. Now he has knowledge and power. So why can't he also be given freedom?

***

>Just after Machi met Carbine, 5 years ago<

"Carbine?" Zac asked. "Just like Rylan... you're compatible?"

"It's how I have access to his powers," Machi revealed, "Carbine essentially is an essence of him right? So having that energy in my body allows me to use rifts." Machi did have to lie to Zac about that particular piece of information. In due time, they'd realise that Machi's power was due to a direct transfer between Rylan and himself, but for now, that information didn't need to be made public.

Kai was scribbling all of this down. "A-And when you use his powers, you have the same features. Rips in the world, all of that?"

Machi nodded. "But, apparently, it takes a different level of energy to travel between galaxies."

"I'd believe so. You're not just jumping through time but also space. You're ripping the space-time continuum." Zac laughed. Machi smiled and Kai blinked.

"But theoretically you could say... teleport onto Freed's ship?"

"Depends. If it's the same ship he used here then yeah. If not then... probably not? It's more stable when I've been or see where I want to open a rift too--"

"A DEVICE!"

***

Machi chuckled as he stood with Rocco. "What's funny?" Rocco asked.

"You know how many problems get solved because of two tech-savvy people?" Machi asked as the signal started blaring. "I mean yeah, why's that got you laughing?" He turned on his voice changer but did not activate it.

"Cause. It's funny that they're not recognised much." They walked in leisurely and Machi whistled while Rocco kept an eye on the map.

-

"Team Rocco seems to be calm about this. They have no intention to run in and head to the end." Ruth commented and Mira just looked at the level 3. Wondered who he was for them to be so lacklustre about this. It was the easiest way and fastest way to gain positions in the ranks.

"On the other hand, the solo contestant from Ashmire is raking through the crowds," Ruth yelled, "taking first place! That is a record--"

But the monitor read a second. Flashing a silver medal and '2nd', everyone was confused. After all, they didn't see anyone else cross the finish line yet. "Wait what?" Mira rechecked the footage and she saw Rocco and Caeser walking to the resting area.

Ruth just smiled. "It seems Team Rocco has beaten the record to 9.8 seconds! Second place goes to the solo candidate, with 13.4 seconds!"

-

Evermore went wide eyed. "I swear Rocco couldn't do that," Kay said, "he had no coordinates nor a visual. They were at a disadvantage. Was it just luck?"

Astra smiled and enjoyed this. "Solo Ashmire candidate and Rocco pulling out all of the stops. This year seems to be interesting. Lady Harkness, but why ain't your son participating?" She asked.

She sighed and looked to the screen. "It would be ineffective to have him here." Evermore finally said after a while of silence.

"He's his own person," Dawson said as he reappeared, "something he has made that perfectly clear to you." They all turned their heads to Evermore. "He's the only one that Dragur listens to. She's the only one who controls all of the others we have in a settlement Zac authorised. And can I add, you have treated him like an alien the moment he arrived back." Dawson almost scolded. "You haven't even been motherly to him. Because he opened a book? Because he survived? Or because of something else?"

Evermore controlled her rising anger and Dawson looked to the video playback. "He's stronger than even me Ever," Dawson warned, "you can't keep him under your control for long."

Hellyer and Hogwood looked to Evermore as she let out a deep breath.