*Nyima*

I grunted as Adela's flames struck the bubble. I could barely keep the interior from boiling.

"Tsk. I'll take care of her, you run away!" Ayawamat said as he reached his hands out.

"No, you're injured still," Nyima said.

"But let's work together!" he said, shooting web out of the bubble, though it quickly caught on fire. "Gah, why is she using her flames so much? Isn't she afraid of them?"

"Fire is a powerful element, though it does come with its drawbacks." I gasped. That was it, I needed to get her to use up her energy,  like how Iah did in his battles with Lei and me. But how... I was already running low myself.

Suddenly space began to warp around us. I smiled. Seems that Yuzuki came back.

Ayawamat and I were warped out of the bubble and into the shore of a sizable blue lake.

"Hey!" Lei said, waving. Next to him was a stone bucket with several tiny fish flopping within. "Catching us some food like I said I would."

"That was before we were attacked by your crazy girlfriend!" Ayawamat said.

"She's not his girlfriend," Yuzuki said, glaring at him.

"Right," I said, leering at Ayawamat.

Aya rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah," he said as he walked over to one of the makeshift beds spread throughout the floor. He laid down and sighed. "Wake me up if someone attacks."

"Okay," Lei said as he caught another fish.

I assumed that Hikaru had made the fishing rod as it seemed to be all metal.

I crouched down next to Lei and stared at the water. It made me wish that I could take a bath, but it wasn't safe to do so right now. Someone could attack me while my guard is down, or the others while I'm away.

"You want to take a bath?" Lei asked, his turquoise eyes directed at me.

I gasped. "How did you know?"

Lei chuckled. "Well, I know how much you love bathing." He stood up from his rock chair. "There's actually a spot not too far where you can bathe. Yuzu, Zel, Kun, can you accompany Nyima to the lake of clear water we found? If you heat it up, you can even make it into a hot spring."

"A hot spring?" I asked, jumping to my feet.

Lei chuckled. "I knew you would be excited. There's a lake of crystalline water a little further up."

"How about we all go?" Kun asked as he walked over to us. "The water seems like it could have healing properties. I can make us a wall to the lake in half."

I stared at the boys. "Well, I guess, but who will watch over the injured?"

"I will," Hota said as he picked up the stone basket. "I am the only adult around right now. You kids go relax."

"I'll stay here with my brother," Ayawamat said, waving from his bed.

"Oh no you don't. Those injuries need to be healed. If the water does having restorative properties then it'll suit you."

Ayawamat pushed himself up and grumbled. "Alright, alright. I'll do it. But you better not lose while we're away."

Hota chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll fend them off until you've returned or until Sirius and the others wake up. Plus you got two of our gems on you."

"We're trusting in you!" Lei said, waving.

Ayawamat's big brother snickered. "Way to lay on the pressure, kid. I promise to do my best."

"Let's hope your best is enough, big brother," Ayawamat said as he walked over to us.

***

*An*

[Meanwhile in another part of the vast forest]

"Damn," Xing said as we travelled across the forest. The lean young man was dressed in white leather armor which was decorated with the bones of various beasts he had hunted down.

"We have yet to run into anyone," he continued, pushing his orange-brown hair back. "At this rate we'll end up being one of the two team that survives yet doesn't have more than one or two jewels." He glared at me. "Have you found anyone yet?"

I had sensed Nyima's team, but they seemed exhausted. Nyima along with Ayawamat didn't appear to be with them right now either. Were they trying to buy them time to rest?

"No," I said. I shifted my eyes towards the south. "Actually there is a team over there, or rather two."

"Great," Guang said as she turned towards the south. "We can take both their jewels."

"We shall wait until they tire each other out," Xing said, grinning.

I scoffed. To think he has the gall to call himself more of a warrior than me.

"That's not very brave, but it might be the wise course of action," our fourth member said. Her name was Yanyu. She wore a jade bird-like mask along with her yellow armor.

Before we knew it, we came upon a girl with a scythe. She slashed down her enemies with ease and stole a yellow jewel from them. The Fuangians vanished after some time.

"Sis." She ran over to a girl with brown hair who was barely conscious. "Damn those Fuang jerks. How dare they hurt you?"

The brown haired girl smiled bitterly at her sister. "It's no different than what you did with Ulissis, now is it?"

"No, that's different. He was our enemy, and you're my sister."

The girl scoffed. "Well he was the friend of his teammates." She turned to look at us. "Seems we have visitors."

The girl with the scythe got up and pointed it at us. "You want to fight?" she snapped, scowling at us.

"It depends on what jewels you got," Xing said, grinning. He showed off our black jewel.

The girl lowered her scythe.

"Hey, why did you lower your scythe? You might already have a black one, but you have at least another two by the looks and sound of it."

"That's wrong," she said as she picked up her sister. "We got another three, the one we just got from Fuang, one I got late last night from Majan, and the one I had gotten earlier that night from Sefa. Fighting you will be a waste of time, even if you did have another jewel. Especially considering that Hal, Danmall, and my sister's puppet are getting our last jewel."

"Hal? So you're from Hoin," I said, gasping.

She nodded and pointed her scythe at me. "Hmm, I sense a strong power within you." A smug grin covered her face. "Catriona, I hope you don't mind, but I'll like to battle this boy."

Catriona nodded and walked to the other side of the meadow to watch. "It'll be a one on one, right? If so then the best of luck to your opponent, Sloane."

Best of luck to me? She was confident that her sister would win. Or was she mad at her? What had Sloane done to Ulissis anyway?

"Wait, you only seek to battle him?" Xing said. "I'm stronger than he is"

Sloane glared at him. "Are you really? On the surface you might be, but this boy here is hiding a special power. If he defeats me then I'll give him the jewel we got from Fuang just now. If he loses then that's it. In other words, it won't risk your participation in this event, even if he is the weakest among you."

"Fair enough," Guang said, smirking. She leaned her back against one of the trees. "Good luck out there, An. We're counting on you."

Xing walked over to her and crossed his arms. "You better win."

"Good luck," our fourth teammate said said.

The girl with the scythe smiled at her. "Woah, it seems that you're also holding something back. How about we battle after? I'll give you a jewel."

"Sister, stop betting them as if they're nothing," Catriona said, grumbling.

"Come on sis, we entered this event to test out our skills, not just to win medals."

Xing grinned. "Indeed, this event is merely a stage to show our strength."

Sloane nodded. "See the annoying boy gets it."

Xing stepped forward. "Who are you calling annoying?"

Next thing we knew, the blade of her scythe touched his neck. Her red eyes were cold, as cold as Shiori's, and that guy wanted to kill us.

"Stand back. If I'm pleased by what I see in your teammates then perhaps I'll allow you to battle my sister over there...not that she's much of a fighter when apart from her puppet."

Xing looked like he was about to boil over. I stepped into the center of the meadow and unsheathed my sword. She had seen through me, so the least I could do was show her my true power. Chains appeared in my arms and legs.

"Stop!" Yanyu said. "An, please don't go this far!"

I glanced over at her. She had never seen me fight, so how did she figure that I was pushing myself to my limits?

"An, let me battle her."

Sloane scratched her head. "Whatever, I was going to battle you anyways."

Yanyu stepped forward and pulled out a golden axe. The blades became covered in a purple aura similar to that of mine and my sister's.

Sloane grinned and said, "Let us begin!"

Yanyu crossed axe and scythe, sending out a powerful shockwave which nearly pushed away all of us spectating way. Caws filled the air as sending several colorful birds flying in search of safety.

"Impressive," Sloane said. She broke free from the deadlock and attempted a swipe at Yanyu's legs. Our teammate lowered her axe, shielding herself from the scythe. Sloane laughed as she tried to hit her from multiple angles. "Your power is beyond my expectations!" She vanished into thin air.

"A space mage?" Yanyu said, looking behind her. "No, she's not a Hoshi... must be some other kind of teleportation magic."

"Ahh, so you can already guess from where I'll come at you," Sloane said as she appeared behind her. "This is difficult, your defenses are nearly impossible to break through."

Yanyu swung her heavy axe around as if it were the lightest thing ever. She struck the black haired girl's side with the side of her axe, sending her flying into a tree.

Sloan quickly got up. She spat out blood over her scythe, causing the blade's color to change into a crimson red. She kicked her feet against the ground and swung around her scythe, cutting down the grass under her feet.

The land where she had slashed the grass changed color into a light-red while the grass itself turned a corn yellow.

"Is her blood poisonous?" Guang said, taking a step back.

"Possibly, it could also be draining life energy," I said, watching the scythe closely. "Yanyu, be careful! Her weapon will drain your energy or worse!"

Sloan ran at her opponent slashed down, only to be intercepted by the golden axe once again. If it weren't magical gold it likely would've corroded away. She swung repeatedly once more, weakening Yanyu's ability to defend herself at all times.

"Heavenly Barrier," Yanyu chanted. A purple spherical barrier protected her as the scythe went past the axe. The barrier though wasn't enough as it lost its power due to the strange blood.

Sloane brought the scythe crashing down into the ground as Yanyu moved aside. The axe slammed the pole of the scythe, sending it and its owner rolling on the ground.

Sloane stood back up and charged once more like a wild beast with a matching crazy grin.

Yanyu swung her axe and threw it with all her strength at Sloane. The axe cut down the scythe. I pulled out my sword and ran over as the broken scythe blade fell back down.

"Move," I said, deflecting the falling curved blade. "Don't stand shell-shocked!"

Sloane snapped out her shock. Her red eyes shifted to the broken purple wooden wand on the floor that had dropped close to my feet. She glanced over at Yanyu and threw her a yellow jewel. She then got up and tapped my shoulder.

"Open your hand." I did as she said and she dropped a blue-green jewel into my hand. "Those are the jewels we got from Mejan and Fuang. They were easy to obtain so don't hesitate to take them."

I reached out for her. "Wait, why are you giving one to me?"

She knelt down and pressed the halves of her scythe together.

"It'll take some time to fix...," she mumbled to herself. "Come, let's go Catriona. We have to check on the boys and tell them that we need another two jewels."

"Wait," I said again. "Answer me or I won't accept this jewel!"

She looked over her shoulder and glared at me. "You shouldn't have stepped in if you didn't want it." She put her hands on her hips. "I always repay my debts, even those unasked for favors. Now leave, or I'll take back those jewels with my full team."

Needles came falling down from the sky. Yanyu raised her hand, shielding all our team. Hal stood on top of the tree Catriona was sitting next to.

"That was impressive," Hal said, jumping down. He summoned more needles. "Too bad I can't allow you to keep those jewels."

"Stop it Hal," Sloane said. "You watched my match against that girl, didn't you? It's time to retreat with two loses while we can."

The needles vanished. "Fine, but you shouldn't be giving away jewels to repay your debts, give your hero a kiss the next time," he said, winking.

Sloane transformed the upper tip of her wand into the scythe's blade and pointed it at Hal's neck. Her face was bright red.

"Don't make such stupid comments, Hal!"

Hal grinned and pushed the scythe away. "This is the first time you blush in reaction to my teasing. It's quite cute."

Sloane warped and appeared behind him. "Shut it, I said!"

"Stop it you two," Catriona said. She looked around. "Where's Danmall and D?"

"Ah, I sent them to get us another jewel as soon as I saw the scythe go flying into the air." He took out a red jewel. "We got this from Jeuan."

Xing walked over to Hal. "On second thought, hand over the other jewels you have."

"It's enough," I said, sighing. "We're lucky to finally have three."

He nearly slashed my head off with a razor wind. "Shut it weakling, I'm talking here."

Hal summoned his needles. "Allow me to take care of this one. You, what's your name?"

"Xing Dong."

"I see, well Mr. Dong, I want you to know that that person you just called weakling was the semi-finalist of our little tournament on the road to Kyuu Seishin."

Xing snickered. "I'm well aware of that, as I told him before, that means little. The guy couldn't even be number one, and the team of that number one has already been eliminated by you."

Hal threw needles at him but he dodged. Xing moved quickly. Hal spat out blood while Xing stood behind him. "What was that?" Hal asked, eyes wide. He stared at his hands and noticed that the red jewel was gone.

"Xing might be a big mouth, but he can back up his words," Guang said, grinning. "Come on Xing, get the jewel and let's go. We entered this event to fight strong people and so far we've only encounter weaklings."

"Hand over the red jewel, loser," Xing said, grinning

Hal raised his hand, revealing the jewel.

"Thanks for the third jewel, loser!" Xing said as he snatched the red marble from him.

Hal grinned and stabbed him with poisonous needles. Wires appeared around Xing.

"I might not be as strong as An or Arima, but I do have brains!" Hal said, grinning.

Xing's face became as snow pale as he staggered back. "Damn, how could I have..."

Hal took back the red jewel and turned around. "Let's go you two!" The three Hoinians jumped into the trees and ran for it.

"No, come back!" Xing yelled. He moved causing the wires to cut him and injecting him with more poison.

"Stop it!" I yelled. I cut down the wires with my sword and removed them completely from him.

"Follow them you three," he said, grunting.

I took out a potion from my pocket. "Here, drink this."

"What the heck is this? Stop delaying and get me that antidote!"

"This is the antidote. Hal is my teammate, and roommate at school. These past few months he taught me a lot about poisons and venom. The venom he injected you with is simple."

Xing raised an eyebrow. "Y-you can tell by just looking?"

My eyes glowed bright purple. "My psychic powers tell me so."

"Nymphaea Nouchali!" I heard a familiar voice yell from deeper in the forest.

I put away my sword and ran toward the direction of the scream. "Guang, Yanyu, take care of Xing! He should be fine in an hour or so! I'm going to go find us the red and white jewels we need," I yelled.

"Take care," Yanyu said as she picked up Xing into her arms.

"I will!"

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