Hayze places Aaron’s headband on Tara’s head.
Tara: I like your style; why let them advance too if we can take them out now.
Blair: I don’t know what just happened.
Hayze: (Well, there goes step 1, now to deal with the aftermath…)
Boom stands up excited.
Boom: Well, it seems like the ice has been broken on the alliance between Class 1-A! What are your thoughts, Multi?
Multi: It was a gutsy move; let’s see how Team Aaron responds, and more importantly, if this changes the strategy of Teams Silver and Justus.
Boom: Meanwhile, the battle over the Golden Headband is still raging on.
Charlotte, Hailey, Ester, and Whitney are surrounded by Filip and Seth on the ground and Talon flying in the air.
Filip: Sorry girls, but that headband is ours!
Filip starts freezing the ground, slowly encroaching on Team Whitney.
Charlotte: He’s gonna try and freeze us in place!
Whitney: Hailey, watch out for Talon! He’ll try and swoop in for the headband at any given moment.
Haleigh: *nods*
Charlotte shoots an Energy Beam at Filip and Seth.
Filip: Seth now!
Seth: On it!
Seth blocks the attack by casting a bubble shield around him and Filip.
Charlotte: Damn, I forgot he could do that.
Seth: But… we’re in the same class…
Boom: Seth Waller, his quirk is Bubble Shield; he can cast a bubble shield around himself that is resistant to all attacks on the outside, but people inside the protection can fire things out of it; he cannot move, or else the shield will retract.
Talon dives down to attack Haleigh, but she uses Ester to wave fend him off; however, Filip's sheet of ice reaches team Whitney's position, and their feet are frozen to the ground.
Charlotte: We’re trapped now!
Whitney: Dangit, and we were doing so well too!
Talon starts to swoop down again; Filip shoots a barrage of icicles at the team. Haleigh takes off the headband and wraps it around the blade of Ester, then chucks her as hard as she can.
Whitney and Charlotte: WHAT ARE YOU DOING!
Ester returns to her human form.
Ester: Um… what is happening…
Charlotte: You forgot she was blinded, right?
Haleigh: *nods*
Talon changes course and goes for Ester. However, he gets blasted by a laser and falls to the ground.
Talon: AHHHHH!
Filip: What the heck? Where did that come from?
Filip looks up to see a red drone flying above them.
Filip: Oh crap, Reed got him!
Reed and Fabio run over and grab the golden headband from Ester’s hand. Reed puts it on his head.
Reed: *muffled laughter*
Boom: Reed Grier, his quirk is Drones; he has three ports on his back that contain drones that he can control with his mind; red means attack, blue means defense, and green means healing. He can’t fly the drones too far away, or else they’ll lose control.
Fabio: Let’s head back to Verity and Bruno now that we have the headband!
Reed: *nods*
Tobias comes running at them.
Fabio: Oh no! It’s Tobias!
Fabio sends some of his flowing blonde hair in the shape of a fist at Tobias.
Boom: Fabio Flores, Quirk: Hair, He can use his hair as if it was an extra limb.
Tobias jumps over the attack and kicks Fabio right in the chest, knocking him to the ground. Reed sends his attack drone in firing lasers at Tobias, but he dodges each one. Tobias then spin kicks Reed directly to the head, knocking him out.
Sydney: *yelling* Tobias, Reed has the headband!
Tobias nods, grabs the headband and starts running toward Sydney and Alec. Over by 1-A, Silver is staring at Hayze in shock.
Silver: (If that’s how they’re gonna play, then I can’t trust that Justus’ team won’t attack us while we’re distracted.) Jace! You and Angel, go try and get Justus’ headband! I’ll only need Kevin for my protection.
Kevin: You sure about that, dude? It’s not necessary to get a 2nd headband; we could put ourselves at a significant disadvantage to leave the headband we already have with little protection.
Silver: *groans* You’re right but knocking out more of the competition seems so appetizing.
Angel: What?
Over by Team Aaron.
Wes: So, what exactly just happened?
Aaron: Ash took over Karma’s body, and Hayze just ran in and grabbed the headband because nobody could stop him.
Wes: Oh… WAIT, SO WE DON’T HAVE A HEADBAND! WE’VE GOTTA DO SOMETHING, NOW!
Aaron: Wes, calm down. I’m gonna fix this. (Only half the time left, Silver and Justus aren’t moving, but their guard is gonna be up. We have to try and get that headband back, or the festival ends here for us!)
Alexis: I’m gonna attack them now, okay?
Aaron: *Nods*
Alexis zips down her shirt and reveals her undershirt is made out of paper.
Aaron: Huh, so you’re just gonna…
Alexis: What, it's just a little skin, not gonna hurt anyone.
Wes: (Damn it, why do I have to be blind right now!)
She uses the bottom part of her shirt to form a set of 3 shuriken and throws them in Team Tara's direction.
Hayze: (I haven’t seen that move yet! We don’t know if they’re explosive or not, but I have experience dealing with Alexis’ paper.)
Hayze’s eyes turn yellow. He fires a lightning bolt at the shuriken, but it misses by a long shot.
Hayze: (Oh yeah, I was aiming for Lilith last time I did that...)
The Shuriken impact with the ground in front of team Tara, exploding and sending them flying backward. A smokescreen breaks the sightline between the two groups.
Tara: (Hayze, you meany! Use the gear I gave you right now!)
Hayze: (I guess now’s as good a time as any.)
Hayze presses the yellow button on the gauntlet. Two black rectangular objects similar to the one for the fire button pop out; Hayze grabs them and waves down, unsheathing two swords.
Hayze: Don’t you think this is a little overkill?
Tara: Just use them, and you’ll understand!
Blair forms magma armor on her fists. Karma comes running through the smoke, looking for Tara. Blair tries to punch Karma, but she reverses backward. Blair’s punch collides with the ground leaving a full indent of her fist.
Blair: (Damn, that time quirk is fast.)
Karma is now back with her team.
Aaron: You didn’t get it?
Karma: *nods no*
Alexis: Alright, I guess I'll have to go for round two.
Alexis prepares another shuriken set; she throws them at the smokescreen, but this time a lightning blast hits the shuriken, burning them to shreds.
Alexis: What the?
Aaron: Since when did he learn how to aim his lightning blasts?
Wes: Wait, Hayze can do what?
The smokescreen clears, and Hayze is standing with both swords streaming lightning through them.
Tara: Okay, Okay, you got to be cool, but now it's time for Tara's glory! You see, while reviewing tapes of Hayze's battles with his lightning quirk, I noticed the lightning he would fire off would go in random directions, which is like how actual lightning works. So, those swords are made out of pure silver and an even better electrical conductor than copper. So, they basically act as lightning rods for Hayze's electricity allowing him to aim it when attacking!
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Aaron: Okay... well… great…
Tara: All the tools inside the EMILY have been created to supplement his many elemental abilities. He can control that element, so the tool helps him do that.
Wes: Wait, it’s called the EMILY?
Aaron: That’s dumb.
Tara: WELL, IT’S KICKING YOUR ASS SO FUCK YOU!
Aaron: Whatever, we’re still getting our headband back!
Hayze slashes the sword sending a lightning strike zooming towards Aaron’s team.
Aaron: Wes! Mirror yourself and move to your left!
Wes: Uh, okay… but what’s happening?
Wes moves left and turns his whole body into a mirror; the lightning strike reflects back at Team Tara.
Hayze: (I probably shouldn’t have gotten caught up in the moment...)
Hayze drops his swords, grabs Tara and Ash, and throws them to the ground. He and Blair duck as the strike goes over their heads and into the wall behind them; The blast leaves a black scar and indent in the wall.
Hayze: (Note to self, never get struck by lightning.)
Hayze stands up and helps Ash up.
Ash: So, what just happened? This whole blind thing is really annoying.
Hayze: (Wish I could answer but-)
Suddenly, Jace extends his spring fist and punches Hayze square in the face.
Silver: Good, Jace! Now grab the headbands! We can knock two teams out right here!
Jace attempts to grab the headbands off Tara’s head, but Blair punches his arm into the ground, tangling the springs.
Jace: *muffled screaming*
Silver: Okay, well, hopefully Angel doesn’t fuck up!
Blair looks up to see Angel flying at her, he sucker punches her in the stomach, but the punch does nothing.
Blair: What do you know? These shock-absorbing chest plates really do work!
Angel: What?
Blair: What?
Tara: Oh, this is just comical!
Blair punches Angel in the face with her magma fist, sending him crashing to the ground.
Silver: Okay, never mind! You’re all incompetent!
While everyone is distracted, Karma comes running in and grabs a headband off Tara’s head.
Tara: Hey! Flatty, why didn’t you stop her!
Blair doesn’t respond.
Tara: Oh… dammit.
Hayze stands back and sees Karma dashing off with the headband.
Hayze: (He used my own plan against me… but he left one of the headbands. Why would they do that?)
“ Aaron: I know you’ll get into U.A. based on how we did in our exam, but if I make it in, I look forward to the day we fight each other; it will be a good battle, but trust me, I’ll win. “ - Chapter 5
Hayze: (I guess he is a man of his word. But I’m still gonna try and get that headband back, and then we’ll go for Silver’s and Justus’ and then-)
A loud buzzer goes off.
Hayze: (Probably a good thing, I was getting a little too ambitious.)
Madame Mummy: Alright, everyone, stop. This competition is over.
Most of the 1-B students are disappointed, knowing they have been defeated. Eve snaps out of her blind rage and rips off the duct tape on her face.
Eve: WE LOST!
Isaiah takes off his eye patches.
Isaiah: Oh boy, well, I guess we're all about to get pummeled right, Jake-
Jake is nowhere to be found.
Isaiah: Where did he go!
Eve slowly approaches Isaiah with rage coursing through every vein in her body.
Isaiah: Help… me...
Everyone else begins taking off their props, the faint sound of Isaiah screaming can be heard in the background.
Madame Mummy: Alright, will the 5 groups that ended with advancement headbands gather before me. As for the other five groups, head to your class’ designated viewing area.
Everyone does as they are told. The 20 remaining students are now gathered before Madame Mummy. Eve, Jake, and Alden are sitting in Class 1-A’s stands as Demetri and Isaiah are carted to the infirmary. Almost all of 1-B is watching from their stands. The remaining students are:
Ryne Verdugo Justus Grey Angel Northcroft Zach Crawford Kevin Bohm Gus Riggs Jace Neil Lilith Weber Tara Blackwell Aaron Zamora Blair Maddox Alexis Meadows Ash Wright Wes Zunino Adam Hayze Karma Montgomery Tobias Ingram Killian Calhoun Alec Vyxon Sydney Bowers
Madame Mummy: Alright, welcome to the final round of the Sports Festival; this will be a bracket-style tournament, a series of 1 on 1 matchups that will result in eliminations until there is only one person left standing. You'll fight in a set environment. I’ll spectate the matches and call the winner when I deem that one participant is incapacitated; I will intervene if deadly force is about to be administered and stop the match; Any questions?
Wes: Uh… deadly force?
Madame Mummy: We encourage all participants to hold nothing back, Recovery Girl will heal all eliminated contestants, and I will have a quick hook to end a match if it looks to be heading that direction.
Karma: There are 20 of us; typically 16 people would be the target for a tournament like this; how will the bracket be formed?
Madame Mummy: Good question. Here is the empty bracket:
image [https://i.ibb.co/jMPzpjr/Untitled-Diagram-Page-1-drawio.png]
Most of the contestants looked surprised.
Killian: Wait a second, so a bunch of us are gonna have to fight an extra match? How is that fair lady?
Madame Mummy: It’s entirely fair; it’s advantageous for both parties, if you fight an extra match, then you get better exposure to the scouts in the audience, and more screen time on TV, if you get to skip a round and fight a tired opponent, your chances of winning the Sports Festival are much higher, it’s a win-win.
Killian: Well, I guess when you put it that way...
Blair: So, who gets those spots?
Madame Mummy: Isn’t it obvious? The team that ended the second round with the golden headband.
The four members of 1-B rejoice.
Justus: (I can’t believe it, they made us think only the wearer of the headband would get the reward, we played ourselves.)
Silver: *sighs* (You win some, you lose some, I guess, I just want to see who my opponent is.)
Wes: *whispering to Aaron* Why didn’t we go for that!
Aaron: We barely kept our own headband, like we could have gotten that one!
Wes: Ok, that’s fair….
Madame Mummy: Now, here are the matchups.
The bracket slots are randomizing with different names; everyone is tense, waiting to see who their opponent will be.
Wes: (PLEASE NO AARON, PLEASE NO JUSTUS, PLEASE NO SILVER!)
Justus: (Only one person I want to face.)
Silver: (Show me Justus.)
Aaron: (Just give me someone strong.)
Kevin: (It doesn’t matter who it is, I’ll win.)
Karma: (I need the matchup to be in my favor, it will be tough to get past a really physically strong opponent.)
Alexis: (I’ll take the pipsqueak.)
Blair: (I want to beat up a guy, that’s all I’ll ask for.)
Gus: (Don’t make me fight a girl… it will be so dull.)
Hayze: (Let’s see what happens.)
The bracket finalizes:
image [https://i.ibb.co/zZyrZmn/Untitled-Diagram-drawio-2.png]
Alexis: (Jackpot.)
Wes: (NO! SHE’S JUST AS BAD!)
Silver: (Not exactly what I wanted, but at least Justus is on the same side of the bracket as me. I won’t have to fight an extra match, so if I get past Hayze quickly, I’ll only have one serious battle before I fight Justus.)
Justus: (Just don’t lose Silver.)
Aaron: (I’ll take Zach, it should be entertaining.)
Zach: (Alright! Aaron is a good challenge for me in the first round!)
Blair: (OH GOD NOT HER!)
Karma: (Justus… in the first round… I guess luck is a big part of winning the Festival, and this time it wasn’t in my favor.)
Lilith: (Angel’s tough, but I’m tougher!)
Angel: (An avian battle, cool.)
Kevin: (Cya Jace, it was nice knowing you.)
Jace: (DAMMIT!)
Gus: (A female… of course.)
Ash: (1 on 1 isn’t my specialty, and Gus can be dangerous… I have to be careful.)
Hayze: (Silver huh… he’s probably already thinking about the next round, not like I blame him, I’d probably be doing the same if the tables were turned, but just because he is stronger than me doesn’t mean I’ll go down easy.)