Nate awakened and disconnected from the bed that connected his consciousness to a virtual body in the arena. He looked around to find Lindy waking up but Dee was already gone. He climbed out of the bed and walked over to help Lindy up. Once she was on her feet, they shared a long intimate hug and made for the locker room.

  "Team Arcane, you have a one-hour break period before your semi-final fight." the referee said before departing the locker room.

  Dalma entered with a smile and cleared her throat to get the attention of the four aspiring contractors. "If you’ll follow me, they have prepared lunch for us in the VIP dining hall. Jax, your family will be present as well."

  Jax smiled and was the first out the door. Lindy was close behind, as they were eager to see their families that had come to support them.

  Dee was sitting in front of her locker, head in her hands, when she looked up to see Nate walking over.

  "Hey Dee, good job with the rocks out there. You kept them distracted while we could figure out their abilities." Nate said, wrapping an arm around her.

  "I literally did nothing. I didn't land a single shot, and when I finally got close enough, I got knocked off balance by a hose spraying me with water. That damn spike through my leg hurt like hell too."

  "You smashed a guy's face in, what’re you talking about?"

  "I just… I don't know. I feel like I can't move around like you, so I'm vulnerable. I have my rock hand, but your whole body is a shield. If we went one-on-one, you'd crush me in a second. I'm just bringing the team down."

  "You're right." Nate said, causing Dee to snap a look of surprise and anger at him. "I would kick your ass." he finished.

  Dee punched Nate in the ribs with enough force to be on the line of it being playful or intending harm. Nate grunted, holding his side.

  "C’mon, let's go see how rich people eat during a day at the arena."

  Dee reluctantly followed Nate and Dalma out of the locker room and to the VIP dining hall.

  Nate didn’t know what to expect when he walked into the dining hall, but it wasn’t this. Nate looked around and saw polished metal tables with white linen tablecloths draped over them, bowls of odd-looking produce like he had seen when he walked the street from Slop to Kalazan’s the first time sat in the middle of each table. Even for Earth standards, the lack of adornments, decorations, and finer details in the VIP dining hall didn’t match how he thought the rich might like to dine when spending so much money at a sporting event. Then again, Nate had never experienced this kind of treatment back at home so he shrugged it off.

  As Nate had acclimated to his new life, he had picked up on the fashion of the different classes that existed in The Union. Some people still tended to break those molds, however, so it wasn’t always an exact tell of how well-off someone was. Nate was seeing a perfect example of this play out right in front of him now. Lindy’s uncle, a prince of a human world called Mara, was dressed in a finely made and adorned black suit that had lapels that were rigid and jutted out instead of folding on the jacket breast. The jacket itself was embroidered with black thread in a beautiful design that resembled a vine taking over an old building. His pants were perfectly tailored, and his shoes were polished.

  Nate then looked over to Jax and his family who were not royalty, but in the still-capitalistic society of The Union, they were as close as it got. While Jax wore the fancy tracksuit he and Kalazan had made for the team’s appearance in the tournament, his family wore what looked like normal street clothes. Some had shoes on, some didn’t, muscle shirts, T-shirts, sweatpants, they were all athleisure and casually focused.

  Looking past the surface of what his friends’ families were wearing, he could see they were happy. Lindy’s uncle was the youngest rebellious prince of the Maran royal family and had gone off on adventures of his own rather than stay and tend to royal duties. He had helped people, saved lives, and fought in the arena a couple of times. When Lindy expressed she wanted to go down a similar path, he was eager to help her make it a reality. Her family disapproved but couldn’t do much to stop her as she was too far from the throne for it to truly matter.

  Jax’s family was similar. They didn’t want him to get hurt, but instead to stay home and innovate in the research and development department for the family business. When Jax interned in the contractor gear division at Stock Industries, Hix, the VP in charge and also an old family friend, sneakily allowed Jax to train and then apply for the ACC. Jax’s Dad was furious at first and nearly fired Hix, but seeing Jax’s talent in the lab making new products for contractors and now seeing his son’s work firsthand in the arena he had come to accept Jax’s choices.

  Everyone was happy, except for Dee. Dee entered the dining hall still wrapped up in her head about not being a real contributor to the fight, even though she did a third of the work in taking down Team ShellShock and provided the rest of the team an opportunity to finish the job. Looking around, she saw Lindy and Jax enjoying time with their family, eating the upscale version of sports venue food. She walked up to the buffet line and was overwhelmed by the choices and the abundance of food that was available. Dee was an orphan raised by an abusive uncle; pain and living without were normal to her, this was not. She was hoping with all of her heart that this, becoming a contractor and getting a good deal in the draft would be the big break in her life she was looking for. Luckily, she had hitched her horse to the right wagon full of gold and riches, and she had made friends along the way.

  Dee finished filling her plate before sitting alone at one of the metal tables close to the exit, a habit from her youth: eat fast, leave fast before anyone can catch you. As Dee was scarfing down her food, Lindy sat down next to her, along with her uncle next to her. Then Jax, his sponsor, Father, Mother, and a couple of siblings joined. Nate sat across from her, Yoli, Dalma, and Kalazan all joining as well. Dee slowed down her pace of eating and enjoyed the company. Not only was she maybe going to pull herself out of poverty, she had won the lottery with some of the best friends one could ask for.

  Team Arcane finished their meals with their supporters and walked to check out the fancy box seats The Arcane Operators had acquired. Nate noticed that the VIP box was lined with a sound-dampening wall covering to block noise from box to box. The seats were all armchairs with ample cushions, arranged stadium style to allow for multiple rows of seating while taking up the least amount of space. There was a link on the wall pre-programmed to contact only the bar and the kitchen to order drinks, food, and snacks, all of which were included in the ticket.

  "I'm sure you can guess that it was Mr. Kalazan that paid for the booth, he likes to live a little more extravagantly." Dalma said, smirking while holding Kalazan’s hand.

  "What’s funny is that he wasn’t even the biggest spender of the group. That was always Iggy." Hal chimed in.

  "I like to enjoy my hard-earned money just as each of you do!" Kalazan said with an audible harrumph sound.

  "It’s about time you get back. I’ll walk you guys there." Jarris said, getting back to business as usual.

  Team Arcane walked with Jarris out of the door as the two other Cattan guests of his walked in.

  "Hey Jarris, who are those two?" Nate asked.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "One is my nephew, Dane, the other is his girlfriend, Donna. Just my guests. I’ll have you meet them soon." Jarris replied.

  Nate brushed it off as nothing other than a rare family outing for Jarris. Even though he was a hermit, he still visited and did things with family, right?

  Back at the locker room, Jax went over Team Lightning in great detail. The team, as one would guess, had a majority of lightning-based attacks and abilities, except for the healer who could buff the other two with hardened skin and generate a shield. One of the team members was Harper Glen, whom Nate had fought before, and the other was Veronica. Veronica was a Quallen female with a super-fast movement ability that left a trail of electrical current when she ran around. The team settled in and listened to Jax’s regular strategy presentation.

  "Here’s the bottom line guys, this is going to be a seriously tough fight. They have a sniper for a ranged attacker and an extremely fast melee skirmisher. Their healer is honestly pretty mediocre, but his key contribution is his skin-hardening ability that he can pass on to his teammates. All this means is that it’s going to take a few more hits to take the other two down."

  "Harper Glen… that name sounds familiar." Nate said.

  "Yeah, you beat her in your first solo. She’s certainly leveled up since that first fight. Their Q seems fairly competent and made her a rifle that channels her lightning strike ability. From what I can tell though, she relies on it pretty hard, and she has about a ten-second delay between shots. Those shots are more powerful than when you fought her so watch out."

  Nate nodded. "So, what’s the plan, Jax?" Lindy asked.

  "Harper and the healer are going to hunker down in this shield of light that their healer can make. It’s really small and doesn’t allow projectiles to travel from the inside out. So, Lindy and Dee will need to move up incrementally between shots and get within range for Dee to start pelting them. The shield can take damage and will eventually go down, so just keep at it once you get in range. Nate, you’re going to need to protect these two as the melee fighter will be bouncing around a lot. She’ll come in for fast engagements and try to catch you two off guard so be on the lookout the best you can. Once you take down the healer and Harper, you can focus on the melee girl."

  "Does she have a name, Jax? Or are you intentionally just referring to her as ‘girl’?” Lindy said.

  "Sorry, the melee fighter is Veronica, and the healer is Hakkie."

  "Team Arcane, you are due in the Arena. Please load in." the ref interrupted.

  "Good luck, you got this!" Jax shouted after them as the team laid down on the virtual connection beds.

  Lindy awoke in the arena and looked around to find Nate and Dee by her side. The announcer went through his normal spiel before the countdown started and the horn blared for the match to begin. Lindy slammed down on the ground, and her mixed-material barrier of rock and wood popped up in a semi-circle encompassing Nate, Dee, and herself. Lindy popped her head over the barrier to see a light shining off of Harper Glen’s rifle.

  “She’s charged!” Nate yelled.

  The next thing they all heard was the equivalent of a bomb going off as a bright ray of lightning struck a wooden part of Lindy’s barrier, causing it to catch on fire and turn into a blaze in seconds. Lindy started panicking as the heat of the fire reached her cheek. Dee pulled her into focus when she called out the command to move forward.

  Lindy hopped over her barrier and sprinted about 20 feet forward before sliding and slapping the ground, causing another barrier to appear. Lindy hadn’t noticed, but Veronica, the girl who was supposed to be harassing them, was picking herself up off the ground 30 feet away. She had just had her first face-to-face encounter with Nate’s upgraded shield. Lindy was sure she wouldn’t try that again, which meant she would be coming for Dee or her next.

  BOOM! Another bomb went off and the barrier was on fire again. Lindy hopped the barrier and sprinted another 10 feet before a flash of lightning whizzed in front of her face. She hit the deck and slapped the ground for another barrier to appear. They were about 20 feet away from Harper and Hakkie now, which meant Dee was in range.

  Nate was hunkered down next to Lindy, but when she looked to her other side, Dee wasn’t there. Looking around, she saw Dee on the ground, bleeding out from a wound in her abdomen.

  “Dee!” Lindy screamed, causing Nate to turn and see their fallen teammate as well..

  “It’s a trap, don’t move, Lindy." Nate whispered.

  Lindy listened to Nate, but everything in her was telling her to get up and help her friend. Then she remembered she could heal her friend from afar, so she did. She aimed her cannon, activated the mechanism to steady her aim, and fired a load of goo at Dee. Dee lathered her wound, allowing it to do its work for a bit.

  BOOM! Another crack of lightning hit their barrier.

  “We can’t move any closer or we are going to put Dee at risk.” Nate said.

  “I have an idea.” Lindy charged her cannon and shot her goo at the barrier, causing the fire to go out. Before Lindy dropped back down again though, she realized something was happening to her barrier that she didn’t ever think to try before, it was healing. Since part of it was wood, an organic material, Lindy’s goo caused chucks of branches and thick roots to regrow and weave in with the rest of the barrier again. Then it dawned on her, if it worked on her barrier, then that meant she could heal other plants too.

  The whizz of electricity raced by her again, this time the wind from Veronica’s speed caused her hair to fly up. Lindy felt wetness on her side where her kidney was. She sat down and reached behind with her hand, and when she pulled it back, there was blood, a lot of blood, then the pain came rushing in.

  “Nate!” she screeched worriedly, causing Nate to quickly look at her.

  “It’s fine, just heal yourself, Linds.”

  Lindy nodded and started producing goo in her hand that wasn’t inside her cannon. Before Lindy could start applying it, Dee scooped it out of her hand and started rubbing her back. Dee had recovered and crawled her way over to the barrier without Lindy noticing. The pain subsided, and she started feeling normal again.

  Lindy looked up to see Dee was throwing fist-sized rocks with enhanced speed due to her mechanical arms Jax had made for her. The shield of light was already producing cracks from the onslaught.

  BOOM! Another shot on the barrier rang out.

  Lindy got up and shot goo at the barrier again but much faster this time since she had proved her previous theory correct. The fire stopped, and the barrier started to heal as a result.

  “We are sitting ducks here, we gotta come up with something!” Dee yelled as she continued to pelt the enemy’s shield with rocks. She was making a dent, but it was taking longer than she realized it would.

  Electricity whizzed by again, and a long gash appeared on Dee’s back. She screamed from the pain and fell to her knees, Lindy immediately started rubbing her healing balm on it to bring relief to her friend..

  “I’m going to knock that shield down. Dee, once it’s down you take out Hakkie, and I’ll take Harper.”

  Dee nodded, still wincing from the pain in her back. Lindy watched as Nate warped behind the shield and focused his shield into his spear. He swung his spear like a baseball bat and shattered the shield as shards of it cracked and exploded like it was made of glass. Lindy watched in horror as she heard a familiar whizzing sound and saw an electric current pass behind Nate before shooting off again.

  Nate paused before lifting his hand to his neck to stop the flow of blood, but it was useless. Lindy started firing her goo at him despite seeing stab wounds all over his body, not to mention any that might be on his back that she couldn’t reach. While the goo healed the stabs in the front of him, he still fell to the ground, struggling to move or breathe.

  “Nate! Warp!” Lindy screamed.

  Nate regained a sliver of focus and warped to the front of Lindy’s barrier, but before they could pull him over the top, a loud boom rang out and a beam of lightning burst through his chest, causing his whole body to go limp. Nate’s body disappeared without Lindy getting the chance to heal him.

  Dee pumped herself up with the courage she’d gained over the last year and rose up from behind the barrier, clocking both Hakkie and Harper with fast rocks right to their heads, knocking them down. The electric current whizzed by again like a shark stalking its prey.

  Lindy watched as Dee fell down, holding onto the barrier to keep herself up. Lindy drenched her in healing ointment, but again, it was too late. Veronica shot past Lindy again, causing her hair to fly around. Blood started dripping from multiple points this time. Lindy was panicking, producing goo and rubbing it all over herself.

  Veronica appeared in a flash of lightning before Lindy, holding a bloody short sword in her hand. She had never actually met Veronica before this match, but she was a beautiful Quallen woman with head to toe tattoos that looked tribal or cultural in nature. She was a walking piece of art that was now walking toward her to end the fight. Veronica drove her blade into Dee before she had a chance to recover, causing her body to fade away. Lindy teared up, knowing the odds were too stacked against her now, but before she could surrender, Veronica’s short sword found its way through the middle of her chest, piercing her heart.

  Lindy looked up to see the Quallen woman staring back into her eyes, smiling. The boos and cheers from the crowd faded away as her virtual body left the arena. School was now over for Team Arcane, and Team Lightning was moving on.