[On the main Wahkanian camp grounds]

Wanikiya kept going around and around in circles around the extinguished fire pit.

"Can you stop that? You're making me more nervous than I already am!" I snapped.

"If you want, I can whack him on the head," Ayawamat said, walking over to our prince.

"Please don't do that, Aya," Orion said, grabbing his arm.

He sighed. "Fine, now let go of me," he said, slapping his hand away. "Honestly, did that pesky guy had me pair up with you wimps to annoy me?"

"I doubt that was Lei's intention. He isn't that petty," I said.

Orion smiled at Ayawamat. "I bet it's because Lei acknowledges your strength. The three of us are weak while you're incredibly strong. We balance each other out."

Ayawamat smiled. "Well, when you put it that way, I can see his reasoning."

Wanikiya and I narrowed our eyes at him. Lei likely had an idea when he paired us up with him despite our mutual dislike, but I doubted it was that simple.

Orion turned around. He gasped.

I turned my eyes to what he was looking at. It was Nyima and Yuzuki. They had fallen through a portal and were bleeding. The portal suddenly closed as a young man clad in white armor stuck his sword through it. The sword was sliced in half by the closing portal.

"Sis!" I yelled, staring at the blood pooling around my sister.

She smiled at me despite the pain. "Hika... it's up to you now. We managed to defeat Sarah and Vermeil. Sarah said he...r group has... a white marble."

"G-give us some time," Nyima said as she healed herself. "And someone, please heal Yuzu...ki..." She pressed her chin against the ground as she struggled to stay awake.

"I'll do it!" Orion said, taking out a potion. "Yuzu, this is going to sting a little."

"Thanks," I said, rubbing my forehead. The guy who did this, he was sure to come here in due time. Our schedules opponents were also yet to arrive...

"At least you managed to take two of them out," Ayawamat said. "If what the princess of Sera said is true then we need to hunt down her remaining teammates."

"Same for Harun," Wanikiya said, walking over. "If I remember correctly, Vermeil's group had a yellow stone. Though she might've traded it like Sarah's team did."

"Seems that jerk did quite the number on them," a voice called out from the trees.

I turned around, and just in time too as a needle nearly struck me. Luckily, Orion slowed down time enough for me to dodge it.

"Tsk."

"I-I'll handle them, brother!" a brown haired boy with golden eyes yelled.

Orion gasped. "W-why isn't he being affected by my time magic?"

I narrowed my eyes at the guy. "I... sense something off about him. Something... that reminds me of those creatures we fought not too long ago."

"Indeed," Nyima said, staring at the boy. She gasped. "Wait... I... think... I've seen you before..."

"Huh?" he said, looking at Nyima.

"Back... in Kyuu Seishin... years... ago..." Nyima's eyes closed fully.

"W-wait, d-don't pass out! T-tell me, w-who am I? H-how do you know me?" he yelled.

"D-Dan... p..ay... attention!" Hal yelled as Orion's spell continued to affect him.

"I'll finish him off! You three take care of this strange guy!" Ayawamat yelled as he sent webbing at Hal's direction.

Dan turned his golden eyes at Ayawamat and sliced the sticky string with a chakram. "You won't hurt my little brother!"
"Little?" we four guys exclaimed.

"You aren't the younger one?"

The guy's face reddened. "I-I know I look y-young a—and am short, but I am twenty-one at l-least!"

"At least? You're unsure about your age?" I asked.

"Ask him that later," Ayawamat said as he unleashed several rounds of webbing from his fingers.

Dan sliced through all of them with relative ease and threw one at the dark haired, blue-eyed, mage.

Ayawamat jumped back and ducked. He watched as the chakram sliced through a tree behind him.

"Hmph, you're stronger than you look, that's for sure," he said, raising to his full height. He moved his hands forward and blocked a bullet of wind to his stomach. "Though I have plenty of experience against wind mages!"

He threw the sphere of wind back at Dan, knocking him to the ground.

"D..a...n!" Hal yelled.

I glanced at Orion. "Orion, stop using your magic on him. You're going to tire out. How is my sister doing?"

Orion nodded and things around us moved once more.

"She's... fine," he said, wincing.

"Orion, here, have some tea," Wanikiya said as he grabbed a cup of tea from the pot hanging over the unlit fire-pit.

"Oh no, you don't!" Hal yelled, throwing a needle at him.

I halted the needle with my metal magic but the alloy it was made out of made it hard for me to hold on to.

Wanikiya waved his hand, blowing the spinning needle back at Hal.

Hal grinned as he dodged his own weapon. "Not bad, Hika, Wani."

"Don't call me that!" the prince grumbled.

The gray eyed teen chuckled. He threw his remaining needles upward. They continued and continued until they were no longer visible even to my own eyes.

Ayawamat meanwhile continued to dodge Dan's chakrams. It was strange to see him on the defensive like this against a single opponent. Only other time I had seen him like this was in his battle against Xue during the First-year initiation tournament. That battle he had lost...

"Gah!" the raven haired teen yelled as he slammed his sword against one of the spinning disks. His sword let out a sharp screeching sound. The chakram was cutting through the blade.

His blue eyes widened. "No way!"

"Lux Draco!" I yelled.

Dan screamed as my spell's bright light filled the forest.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ayawamat yelled as he too kept his eyes closed.

I chuckled as my golden gauntlet appeared on my right arm. "I'm saving you, what else?"

"By blinding me?" he snapped.

"Yeah!" I said as I punched Dan in the gut, sending him flying.

"Ugh," Dan said, blinking. "My eyes..."

That wasn't enough to knock him out? I knew that I wasn't strong, but still. Getting hit directly in the gut should've stunned him more than it did.

Dan smiled and began spinning his chakrams in front of his spread out hands, creating two vortices of wind. He moved his hands closer to one another, merging the ranging wind.

"Glacies Murum!" Wanikiya yelled, forming a seven-foot tall, one-foot thick, five-feet across, wall of ice in front of Ayawamat and me.

The two of us jumped back and watched as Dan's wind easily shredding the wall, unleashing a cold wind around the camp. A one-inch layer of ice covered all of our surroundings, including ourselves.

Wanikiya smiled at the sight of bits of ice on Dan's hands. The ice quickly expanded outward.

Dan's eyes widened at the sight of the spreading ice.

He began to take heavy breaths. "No... NO!" he screamed. A wave of wind tore through the camp and surrounding forest. The lake it was built near lost its waters as they were sent downhill in the form of a fierce, churning waterfall.

"What's wrong with him? Does he have an ice phobia?" Ayawamat screamed over the sound of the blaring wind.

He tried to stop himself from falling, but it was to no avail.

Wanikiya focused his attention on Dan and continued to encase him in ice.

"Pluvia Acida!" Hal yelled as he jumped into the air.

Suddenly, it began to pour, but we instantly knew it wasn't normal rain. Our skin became red and itchy. It felt as it were melting.

Dan blinked as the ice around him dissolves. "Brother... please... save me..." He collapsed to the floor and the wind died down.

The three of us yelled as gravity pulled us down the mountainside.

"Wh..ere are Ori..on and... the girls?" I asked as I covered myself in a golden aura to heal my aching skin.

"You..." Hal yelled as he rushed at us. In his arms was the unconscious boy he called 'brother'. "I was planning on going easy on you, but after what you did to my brother, I'm not holding back!" Multiple needles appeared behind him. "Release!"

I extended my pain-ridden arms outward to halt the needles, but it didn't help. I closed my eyes and covered my face with my gauntlet as a shield.

"Time!" Orion yelled. He was inside a descending floating bubble with my sister and Nyima, both still unconscious.

Hal's needles slowed down greatly. I took a deep breath and slowed them down enough for the three of us to avoid them completely.

"Aya, do it!" he yelled.

Ayawamat caught himself on some trees as we reached the ground. "Don't need you to tell me twice!"

My eyes widened as there was a shine in Hal's eyes. I turned leftward and saw a wayward needle going toward Aya. I had no idea how it managed to get around our time magic, but it did...

I tried to move, but my knees buckled. I was reaching my limits.

Suddenly the semi-stopped needles began to move more. Ayawamat wouldn't make it in time!

"Aya, move out of the way!" Wanikiya yelled. He tried to form an ice wall in front of the needles but it quickly dissolves as soon as they touched it.

Ayawamat dug his heels into the ground in an attempt to stop himself but he the wet ground caused him to fall back. He looked and gritted his teeth.

"Not going to let you hurt my friend!" Orion yelled as he stood in front of the needles with a water barrier.

"Move! Your barrier won't last!" Ayawamat yelled as he tried to stand up.

Orion chuckled. "I'm buying you time. Now, finish Hal... while Hika and I are still holding him off..."

Ayawamat nodded and went around the needles. He raised his partially broken sword and struck Hal on the back with the side of it.

Hal gritted his teeth and glared at us. He watched as his needles dissolves Orion's barrier. Ayawamat struck Hal again, this time causing the gray-eyed mage to fall to his knees. Several of the needles began to turn their points downward.

Orion released a primordial scream as some lingering needles were driven into his skin.

Ayawamat's eyes widened as Orion collapsed backward. My fellow time mage tried to stabilize his footing, but he slid back thanks to the moist ground.

I tried to move, but my legs wouldn't budge. Watching Orion fall was as if time had slowed down for all our us.

Wanikiya rushed forward to catch him, but the ground was littered with venomous needles. He formed a wall of ice, but that only made things worse as the now unconscious Orion slammed against it, shattering it.

Orion fell over the cliff that Yen and Lei had stood on when Kun and I arrived back at the camp in what felt like an eternity ago.

"No, Ori!" Ayawamat screamed, jumping forward as needles littered the ground in front of him.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter :3. Thoughts? Predictions?**