The crowd behind the barriers gasped as one, elated to see a competitor who possessed the highest crystal power reveal himself so early.

"Just our luck!" Daxon yelled over the wind as he stepped up beside Ash.

The two teams' fighting ceased at the powerful boy's performance. His own side realized that he wasn't about to spare them either, so they shifted as they turned their thoughts to survival. The girl, who'd passed out from pain on the ground, was easily whipped up and carried away by one of the twisters.

"What's the plan?" Skyler asked.

Adonis hid behind Ash, eyes glued to the strong opponent who stood there, waiting for them to make the next move. A taunting smile stretched across his face.

The wind howled, tearing at all the youth in the arena.

If his bite is as strong as his bark, he could be a challenge, Callous informed.

Ash agreed. She glanced at her teammates.

Losing here wasn't an option. Her eyes sparked and for a moment, her fingertips crackled with purple light. She tensed, ready to move. Tobias beat her to it.

His eyes filled with excitement. "I've got this!" he yelled as he launched himself forward.

"Wait!" Daxon yelled in warning.

He was ignored.

A twister smashed into the ground next to Tobias who dodged. The boy with a pitchfork tried to intervene to help his teammate, however, the result was him getting swept away by the wind. The opposition was down to two.

This might actually be beneficial, Ash mused.

"Adonis, get the flag!" she called aloud. "Daxon!" She nodded to where the other teammate was trying to sneak past the craziness.

"On it!" The boy turned and went after the danger.

"Skyler, let's help Adonis while Tobias keeps him busy!" Ash yelled before launching herself forward.

Tobias, who'd dodged, raised his own hand. Red seeped around him, behaving like tentacles. One went straight toward the guy with the black crystal.

The attack was easily cut off by a blast of wind, but Tobias wasn't put off. Hyena like laughter escaped him as he rushed closer, avoiding the wind blades and twisters attacking from all around.

Through the attack, the glowing crystal beneath his shirt came to light. The screen showed a zoomed-in image and the crowd was treated to the sight of red.

Behind the barriers, the cheering became almost as deafening as the wind itself. The audience lost their minds at another strong contender coming forward. Though black was considered higher than red, it wasn't unheard of that a lower rank could defeat a higher if done right.

While a few high rankers had revealed themselves in the other team fights, this was the first one where it looked as though two high crystal holders would face each other head-on.

Unaware of the crowd's reactions, Ash, Adonis, and Skyler dodged the relentless twisters while making their way to the flag.

The sky continued to rage, following the command of the boy below.

Tobias and his attacked danced back and forth, one attempting to get close with poison and the other defending again and again with weather. One could say that the two looked to have completely forgotten about the objective and were solely enjoying the fight.

When they reached the whirlpool, Ash found Adonis standing blankly before it. He turned to her, eyes questioning. The reason became apparent: the flag was gone.

Ash tilted her head in thought. She hadn't seen anyone move it, but it wasn't against the rules. Despite this, wherever it was, it had to be somewhat visible, however, if it had been buried or hidden elsewhere, it would take a while to find it.

They'd only searched for what felt like a few moments when Ash felt the presence approaching.

They'll score, Callous informed her lazily.

Ash didn't react to show she'd heard. She continued to search.

A buzzer filled the air.

"1-1" the announcement came.

Skyler and Adonis froze. They turned to find the other survivor of the opponent's team calmly walking over with a flag in his hand.

Though the announcement came, the two crystal fighters didn't cease. Perhaps they would have continued forever had an arbitrator not suddenly blinked into existence.

The woman, who floated in the air, simply flicked a finger. The fighting boys instantly dropped to the ground, from the sudden pressure that weighed on them. The sky cleared and all red disappeared.

The woman gazed at them coldly. "Return to the start position," she warned.

The boys could do nothing but nod as they exchanged glares of death.

Satisfied, the arbitrator let off and watched as the two retreated. Only when they reached their respective sides did she blink back out of existence.

"Things just got fun," Tobias announced as he licked the blood forming at the corner of his lips. No other injury was apparent.

"What happened?" Skyler asked Daxon.

"He slipped past." The boy sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "Used the weather as a cover." A sigh escaped him as he nodded to the other side. "We're not even half-way through," he murmured. For the first time, he seemed somewhat worried.

"There's only two left. Take them out and it's over," Tobias replied gleefully.

Adonis shrank back from him, eyes on the red crystal.

"Yeah, and one of the two is more powerful than all of us put together," Daxon warned. "Unless..." his eyes darted over his team, "if anyone has any cards up their sleeves, now might be a good time to step up."

Silence.

Even if anyone else in the team was a high level, Ash doubted that they would reveal it at this point. Other than Tobias, they would hold on to their trump card as long as possible.

"Just leave it to me," Tobias cracked his knuckles. "I'll keep him busy. You all concentrate on taking care of the other guy and the flag."

"And look how that turned out last round," Daxon replied.

"I wasn't the one that let someone slip by," came the response.

"Ten!" the countdown began.

"Just because he has a black crystal, doesn't necessarily mean he's strong," Ash spoke.

All eyes turned to her.

"How he uses the power will determine his strength." She pointed at the already darkening sky.

"Seven!"

"He's dispersing it all over the place rather than concentrating," she continued.

"It's diluted," Skyler caught on.

Ash nodded.

"So, don't let him concentrate it all in one place," Daxon joined, his eyes lighting up.

"Four!"

"Spread out and he'll be forced to continue the same way." Ash's eyes turned to Tobias. "Take him out, we'll separate and go for the flag to keep the power spread."

The boy's eyes flashed in surprise at her readiness to give him a task.

"Two!"

"What about the other guy?" Adonis asked.

"One!"

The sky rumbled and twisters appeared.

Ash turned her eyes to Adonis. "You've got him, right?"

Tobias was already on the move.

Mouth open, Adonis tried to protest. Ash cut him off with a smile before turning to follow Tobias.

"You can do it," she heard Daxon encourage before he joined the charge.

And thus, poor Adonis was tasked with taking care of the second last remaining teammate. The boy contemplated his situation for a moment before raising his bow.

Look at you being such a team player, Callous mentioned.

You should try it sometime, Ash retorted as she dodged the twisters with ease.

Daxon cut the mini-tornadoes with his scythe, causing enough airflow to counter the attack and break it apart every time it came too close. Skyler's hammer disappeared into thin air as she focused on being lighter to dodge the attacks. She moved nimbly, escaping the attacks so narrowly it left the audience on the edge of their feet.

Every time the boy with the black crystal tried to put his attention toward those who were going for the flag, Tobias attacked and forced his full concentration on him. It soon became very apparent that getting rid of his own teammates so early had been a mistake.

As the three ran for the flag from different paths, they ignored the one member from the other team who ran by to go for theirs.

Ash didn't shoot even a glance back to see if Adonis would succeed. She simply had decided to trust him with the task, and that meant not showing an ounce of doubt.

This time, the flag was right where it should be. It seemed the team hadn't bothered moving it.

Having reached it first, Ash was just about to leap over the whirlpool and pick it up. She twisted at the last moment, aborting her mission as wind blades shot by her. While turning, she caught sight of her attacker who'd found a moment to attack. His attention was drawn away as Tobias sent a wave of red toward him.

Daxon, who'd reached, nodded to Ash before using his scythe to go for the flag. He snagged it only to withdraw, dodging to avoid the whirlwind that appeared from the air and merged with the whirlpool.

"Can he do that?" Skyler asked as she joined. Her eyes, like the others, was on the flag which suddenly had been sucked into the whirlwind.

Boom!

The ground shook as a light flashed from a battle some distance away.

Ash eyed the flag as it remained visible, fluttering wildly in the wind but going further and further up the whirlwind funnel, as though climbing a ladder.

She let out a sigh, meeting Daxon's gaze for a split second. The boy pointed at himself, cocked an eyebrow, and then at her.

"How do we get it now?" Skyler asked.

Ash nodded to the whirlwind, motioning for Daxon to go.

His eyebrows rose and he responded by making a motion and bowing. "Ladies first."

"Wait..." Skyler's eyes widened. "You're not actually..."

Ash didn't hear the rest as she launched herself forward.

One moment she was airborne, the next, violently sucked in by the wind.

Air tore at her and wind screamed in her ears. She tumbled, spinning endlessly out of control. Both the crowd and competitors saw only a glimpse of her disappearing up the funnel. Then, there was nothing.

"Ah..." Daxon sighed. "Guess it didn't work?"

Skyler stared at the twister, mouth agape.

What they didn't see was Ash calmly relaxed with her eyes closed. She felt the tug of the wind ferociously whipping her around, but to her it might as well have been a kitten playfully pawing at her legs. She let the wind carry her further and further up, and at the same time, she gained some control over her own movement, putting a stop to the endless spinning.

Lying on her back, and eyes still closed, she could very well have been sleeping.

Her hand snatched at something. As she withdrew it, a flag was grasped firmly in her fingers.

Eyes shooting open, she flipped to her stomach.

The wind tore hair from her face, angrily trying to rip her limb from limb.

"Annoying," Ash muttered. She reached her free hand out, eyes glittering with the slightest purple.

The moment her fingers formed a fist, a force seemed to explode from within her and the whirlwind disappeared.

To the onlookers, it simply looked as though the attack ceased and there was suddenly a girl freefalling. Only the attacker, who noticed a fluctuation in his attack, turned with narrowed eyes to find the source. He never got a chance as Tobias closed in and he was forced to defend himself once more.

As Ash fell, she eyed the scenery below.

Light flashed from the side where Adonis kept firing arrows. Whirlwinds dotted the once beautiful field – which was now torn up.

Daxon and Skyler were both staring up as Ash drew closer.

Eyeing the whirlpool below, and then the dry ground, the falling girl considered her options. She flipped in the air.

The flag was tossed, with precision, to Skyler. Luckily, she snapped out of her stupor and took off running with the prize the moment she caught it.

Daxon moved, and it looked as though he would offer help. However, he hesitated for a split second. It was enough for Ash to fall straight into the whirlpool.

Great. She was drenched the moment she submerged, getting sucked into the depths.

Water pummeled her from every side.

You've got quite the knack for drowning, Callous yawned. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you enjoyed it.

Ignoring him, Ash kicked her feet to head for the surface. It was useless against the strong current that kept turning and turning.

Clenching her fists, purple cracked around Ash once more. A moment later, the force was nothing as she swam to the surface.

She gasped for air, grasping for the edge of the pool.

"2-1!" she was just in time to hear the announcement.

A hand reached out and she took it.

Daxon pulled her out. "Sorry." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

Ash shrugged it off as she moved a strand of hair plastered to her face out of the way. She glanced at the board to see that they had scored another point.

"One more to go," she spoke.

"One more," Daxon agreed.