"May the best fighter win!"

Nya dashed out of her room. She hadn't expected to start so soon, but she wasn't about to let herself be caught off guard, either.

Many of the Elemental Masters were in the hall already. She spotted a Jadeblade in a sword display on the furthest end of the hall, but some of the others had already seen it and were pushing and shoving to be the first to get it. She decided that it was too popular to waste her time on.

Another visual search revealed one nestled in a vase at the bottom of a nearby staircase. At the same time, the Master of Earth had come out of his room next to hers and saw the same blade. Nya raced past, shoving him aside. "Hey!"

She didn't make it much farther before the ground started shaking and she lost her balance. "Nice try!" he said as he ran past with that stupid scythe in hand.

But Nya reached out and caught him by the foot, making him trip. They got to their feet at the same time and Nya swung her fist. He prepared to use his scythe again – Nya had half a mind to try and take it from him – when a blur zipped past them. It was the Master of Speed, and he was the first to make it to the Jadeblade. He nipped it out of the vase and dashed away again.

"Agh! See what you did!" Cole complained.

"What I did?" Nya repeated, incredulous. But she didn't have time to argue, so she left him and went to look out over the floors below.

When she didn't see anything below, she looked up and found another blade attached to the wooden beams above. Nya climbed onto the railing and then leapt off, catching one of the hanging lights's wires in her hand. It swung forward and she gasped as she slid a few inches, tightening her grip. Then she began to pull herself up, hand over hand.

Nya finally heaved herself onto a beam at the top and balanced there. She inched along the beam to where the Jadeblade hung. But as she reached out to grab it, a man with dark hair and grey skin materialized in front of her. She only had just enough time to step backwards before he could kick her off the beam. He snatched the Jadeblade and then faded back into the shadows with a dark chuckle.

"No!" Nya shouted, but he was already gone.

She desperately scanned the action below her. She had to get a blade, she had to!

It looked like everyone was busy brawling for a blade. She couldn't see Skylor or Seliel, but she glimpsed Pixal running outside with one in her hand.

That's it!

Nya carefully made her way down from the rafters to the floor below, then made a mad dash for the bottom floor. Everyone was so busy fighting for blades inside the building, but Chen had said that there were Jadeblades hidden all over the island. So there must be some outside, as well. She sure hoped so, or else she was condemning herself to failure.

Nya burst out the front doors and turned in circles searching for a blade. A glimmer of light revealed one atop the wall next to the sleeping quarters. She climbed the outside of the building and then hopped onto the wall, but just as she landed, the Jadeblade began floating away of its own accord. For a brief moment she stared, confused. Then she realized. It must be a master of invisibility.

Not again! Nya thought with determination.

She ran after the floating blade and punched at the air. She heard a cry and the Jadeblade flew out of the master's hands, clattering to the ground far below. Nya did a sweeping kick where she imagined the fighter was and hit him so hard that his clothes became visible as he stumbled to the edge of the roof. She gasped as he teetered over the edge and leapt forward to catch his hand just as he fell.

Nya clung to the invisible fighter's wrist and tried to heave him up. But he was scrambling too much and she wasn't strong enough to lift a grown man. Looking down, she could see that the fall wouldn't be enough to hurt him now that he could land on his feet. But the Jadeblade was down there. She tried to pull him up again, but she just couldn't do it. With no other option, Nya let go.

The Master of Invisibility landed on his feet, then dived toward the blade and snagged it off the ground before she could follow him down. "Thanks for the Jadeblade," he called teasingly, waving it in the air. Then he ran off.

Nya sat there on the wall and put her head in her hands. It was useless. There wouldn't be any time left to find another blade, and now she would be kicked out of the tournament already. She might as well run away now, or else Chen would take her element away. She felt like a total failure.

"Nya? You okay?"

Nya raised her head to see Seliel standing next to her. "Where did you come from?" she asked, as she hadn't heard the tell-tale pop of Seliel's element.

"Up there," she pointed. "I was checking the rooftops. I came outside for a blade at the start, since everybody was going crazy inside. Is something wrong? You seem pretty upset."

Nya couldn't meet her gaze. "I couldn't get a Jadeblade in time. They must all be gone by now. The tournament's only just started and I've already lost."

"Is that all? That's not a problem, look." Nya looked up as Seliel lifted a Jadeblade in one hand, then a second blade in the other. "I got two."

Nya gaped at her in surprise.

"Like I said, I was wandering around up here when I found the first one. I saw the second hidden in plain sight, and I thought I just had to get it in case one of you guys needed it. Guess I was right." She held it out for Nya to take.

Nya hesitated. "Isn't that cheating?"

Seliel huffed and gave her a half-smile. "Can you really cheat a cheater? From what Skylor's told us about her father, it won't be weighing on my conscience at all."

Nya supposed that she was right, and accepted the blade.

"Let's go," Seliel said and she began to make her way to the ground. Nya followed, and they raced for the palace arena.

. . .

Zane found a Jadeblade almost as soon as he stepped out of his room. He could see it just a little ways down the hall, sitting in a sword display. He made a run for it, but had to dodge as the Master of Smoke tried to trip him up and instead froze the master's feet to the carpet.

Some of the other fighters had spotted the same blade and made it there before him, but they had fallen into a struggling pile. Zane moved to step around them, but was suddenly whipped backwards and rammed into the wall.

It was the purple ninja who approached him, the pretty android from the docks. Pixal, if he remembered correctly. Her hand was extended, holding him in place with some invisible force. Zane was growing very tired of her using the same old trick. 

"I would appreciate it if you could stop tossing me around like this," he said with restrained frustration.

"Perhaps you should stop wearing so much metal," she replied.

"Metal?" The only metal he had were the shurikens in his hand.

Before he could ask more, she was whacked on the back of the head and fell to one knee. Zane's feet hit the ground and he charged at her attacker, the Master of Gravity. But Zane was quickly outnumbered as the Master of Sound joined in.

He ducked and then hit Sound square in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. Then he roundhouse kicked Gravity in the head, putting him out for a good few seconds. When he turned back to the blade, Pixal was already wrapping her fingers around the handle.

"Thank you," she said. "And I'm sorry."

Zane might have let her take it anyway, but he didn't get a choice before she again used her element to throw him backwards.

Irritated, Zane lay there for a moment, trying to gather himself. This could not keep happening. Perhaps they were enemies, but couldn't she at least have the decency not to keep doing the same thing over and over again? Zane sighed to himself and pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he got to his feet. Right now he needed to focus on finding another blade.

He wasn't having much luck upstairs, so he looked to the floors below. Sure enough, a handful of fighters were battling for another blade on the ground. But across the room, on the second floor, Zane saw the glint of a green blade that was stuck to the side of the banister overlooking the room. No one else appeared to have noticed it yet.

He created a ramp of ice to slide across the room to the blade. But when he reached the other side, he was met by a short, cloaked figure, who seemed equally surprised to see him. Zane froze the fighter's feet to the ground before he had a chance to move. The cloaked figure waved his arms as he almost lost balance. 

When Zane returned his attention to the blade, a cloud of smoke wreathed in front of him. The smoke gathered and solidified to reveal that it was the Master of Smoke again, standing between Zane and his Jadeblade. 

Zane took a defensive stance. He would have to think of something clever to defeat this fighter. A direct attack wouldn't work, or he would simply disappear. Zane needed to come up with something he wouldn't expect.

"Move, or I will move you," Zane said.

"Ha, I'd like to see you try!"

"You won't last long in the tournament," Zane taunted him. "Even if you win this round, you won't make it through the next." The Master of Smoke growled in warning, but Zane continued as if he didn't notice or didn't care. "And what humiliating defeat it will be. Smoke is weak and dissipates against the slightest opposition, just as you will."

That did it. He charged, fist raised, and Zane didn't flinch. The Smoke Master hit him square on the cheek, and Zane stumbled backwards. But, right at the moment of contact, he reached up and grabbed the Smoke Master's wrist. Zane tugged him forward, driving his knee into the master's stomach before he had time to disappear. The Master of Smoke collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain.

Zane dashed to the Jadeblade, reaching down to remove it from its perch on the banister. Finally! All he had to do was hand it in, and he would be allowed to move on to the next round. He just hoped that it wouldn't be such a hassle next time.