The next three days flew by. Neither Parker nor Alexis acknowledged the kiss from the other night; however, they could be seen holding hands when others weren’t looking.

Everyone was sitting at breakfast that morning ready for Master Sora to announce the beginning of the duel tournament. They decided to change things a little and focus on getting through as much as possible on day one so that it didn’t drag out.

“Sure is going to be tough this year for those that win,” Ana said.

“Why’s that?” Hailee asked.

Ana raised an eyebrow, confused that she wasn’t connecting the dots. “The more you win, the more tired you get.” Hailee nodded her head making sense of what Ana had said.

After everyone had finished their Element Bars, Master Sora took a stand at the front of the hall. “Is everyone ready?” Cheering erupted around The Regale. It was almost as loud as the House of Erion common room from the Aether win.

Everyone rushed to the Aether field where the tournament would begin. Parker was feeling nervous about who he would end up against for the first round. All forty third year contestants lined up on the field waiting to hear who they would compete against while everyone else took their seats a floor above.

Alexis squeezed Parker’s hand. He turned and looked at her with a smile on his face. “Parker Gray from the House of Erion will compete against Raelyn Foster from the House of Gia in ring three. Alexis Ayers from the House of Erion will compete against Zoey Hearth from the House of Gia in ring four.” The room went silent and no sound came from above. No one could believe that two students from last year’s final had to face off in the first round.

Alexis’s heart pounded furiously. She couldn’t believe they were going head to head right away. The rest of the third years made their way to the bench after the last names were called. Alexis was taking deep breaths trying to prep herself for the duel. Still holding Parker’s hand, she let out a deep sigh.

“You’re going to do great!” Parker said with enthusiasm.

“She’s the defending champ!”

“So, that means you have nothing to lose here. She has to defend her title. So just go all out and you’ll do great.” He squeezed her hand and made his way to his ring.

Master Keegan was standing as referee when Parker made it to his starting position. Raelyn was staring at him from across the ring and asked Master Keegan if Parker could use all of his Imperials in the duel. He couldn’t believe that his opponents wanted him to use everything. It felt like he had a severe advantage.

Parker looked at Master Keegan to see what his reaction was going to be. “Parker, you may if you choose to do so.” He gestured for both of them to be ready and then blew his whistle.

Raelyn immediately made a suit of stone just like Zoey had in the finals the previous year. Parker acted quickly and whipped his hands like he was shaking out a blanket. The stone suit fell to the ground and left Raelyn standing in a daze of confusion. With that moment, Parker blasted her with a stream of water in the chest sending her spiraling out of the ring.

“Parker Gray is the winner! Congratulations.” Master Keegan walked quickly to help Raelyn to her feet and then to the center of the castle for her to take a seat. “Next up is Yuko Miyagi from the House of Gia and Eliott Chou from the House of Leith.” They made their way to the ring as Parker took a seat to catch the end of Alexis’s duel.

She soared into the air above the ring to the point where her head almost bumped into the ceiling. Like a bullet she crashed to the ground and the ring erupted from around her sending Zoey flying through the air unable to control herself. She crashed into the sidewall of the castle and landed in the mote of water. Master Kingston rushed to Zoey’s side to make sure that she was okay.

Once Zoey had returned from the moat, Alexis asked if she was all right. The only thing on Zoey that was injured was her pride. Alexis took her seat next Parker on the bench and waited for their next duel. Other students went in and out of the ring until the first round was done.

The masters pulled the remaining twenty, third years to ring one to reveal the match ups. Master Sora stepped forward with a big smile on his face like he’d just heard the newest and greatest joke. “The current standings are as follows; the House of Leith with four contestants, the House of Kenna with six contestants, the House of Gia with three contestants and the House of Erion with seven contestants.” The current standings explained the giant grin on Master Sora’s face to Parker.

Parker, Alexis and Emma were standing near each other waiting to hear what ring they would be sent to. Parker couldn’t believe that their house had so many contestants still in the tournament. He wished that Caleb and Ana were in it with them but they would have to keep fighting on their own.

“Well, good luck!” Alexis said and she made her way to ring one to duel someone Parker had never even noticed before. He made his way to ring three to face Levi. Thinking back to the previous year, Parker couldn’t remember how Emma had beaten him.

“Good luck,” Emma said as Parker made his way to the ring. He was hoping that he’d be able to ask Emma how she took him out. As he stood across the ring from his new opponent he wasn’t surprised when Levi said that he didn’t want Parker to use all of his Imperials.

The whistle blew and Parker sent a burst of air across the ground sweeping Levi’s feet out from under him. He hit the ground hard and Parker used the air to pick Levi up into the air until he crashed into the ceiling. Levi didn’t even have a chance to think because of everything happening to him. As he fell from the ceiling, Parker sent a final blast of air at him sending him to the ground outside of the ring with a hard thud.

“The winner is Parker Gray! Congratulations.” Levi sat up and looked at Parker with a hint of wonder mixed with anger.

“Nice match,” Parker said holding out his hand. Levi took it and gave a hardy shake. By the time Parker made it back to the bench Alexis was already sitting there with a big smile on her face. “I take it you won?”

Alexis gave a big, exaggerated nod of her head. “I won it with one swift hit to the stomach. She didn’t stand a chance!” Parker loved the enthusiasm in her voice as she described her victory.

“Proud of you,” Parker said with a delighted grin on his face. “When does Emma go on?”

“She’s in ring two right now,” Alexis answered.

“Why aren’t we watching then?”

“She asked me not to. Said that I made her nervous but I don’t really understand how.”

“Interesting…” After another minute or so, Emma took a seat next to Alexis.

“That was exhausting. Rory is really strong. He created these like fire swords and started attacking me. Not gonna lie, they were really cool. You should ask him how he did that.” Parker found it really relaxing to be able to talk openly with Emma about the fact that they could use any Imperial. Others still were not too keen on the fact that they were Omnis while others found it as a good challenge.

“I’m sad I missed it,” Parker said after Emma finished her description of the duel.

“That’s okay. I’m not a huge fan of being watched in general.”

Parker looked at her confused. “But you’re on the Aether team. Literally the whole school watches you then and you never have any issues with that.”

Emma gave a sheepish smile. “They’re not just staring at me though. They’ve got fifteen other people to look at. Here, it’s just me and my opponent.”

“Fair enough,” Parker laughed.

A loud whistle blew signaling the end of the second round. Everyone was sent off to get lunch as the masters started to fix up the rings. Each round caused quite a bit of destruction.

“I wish they would’ve told us who we were facing in the next round so we could come up with a plan of attack.” Parker walked quickly down to The Regale with Alexis, Caleb, Hailee and Ana close behind. He couldn’t help but want to eat quickly and get right back to his duels. The momentum was working for him and he didn’t want to lose that during a lunch break.

Lunch dragged by as they ate their Element Bars. Parker was nervous to eat too many and make himself feel sick before the third round. The masters had arrived at the head table not too long after everyone had taken their seats. Master Sora stood up and his voice boomed around the hall. “We have made it so that for the third round, no house will face itself. The finals will be the same as years previous.” He took a breath before continuing. “The standings for the third years are as follows; The House of Leith with two contestants, the House of Gia with two contestants, the House of Kenna with three contestants and the House of Erion with three contestants.” After each house was announced their tables erupted in cheers. “We’ll make our way back to the field in just a few moments so please finish up as we will drop the tables before we leave.”

“Ah! I can’t wait for this to start!” Caleb said. Parker was slightly surprised. He figured if he were in Caleb’s shoes that he would just want this to be over so he wouldn’t have to miss out. “These duels have been phenomenal!” His smile grew every second and his eye glowed with excitement. “I didn’t get a chance to enjoy them last year since I was so focused on making it to the finals and I didn’t even make it!”

“So you’re having a good time?” Parker asked.

“It’s fantastic! I can’t wait to see round three where there’s so much more action in it!”

Everyone's’ chairs scooted backwards, and the tables dropped into the floor signaling the end of lunch and for everyone to make their way back up to the field and stands. Hailee took everyone into her separate space so they could walk in private back upstairs. They found it much more peaceful to travel around like this so they would take turns being the one to control the space. It was also good practice on building their stamina. Parker wanted nothing more than to master this to the point where he could do what Lara had done and just teleport them from one place to another.

The remaining ten contestants stood in a circle on the field around the four masters. They glanced around at the other contestants wondering who their next opponent would be.

“Are you ready to begin round three?” Master Sora asked rhetorically. Everyone nodded their heads with serious expressions on their faces. “In ring one, Eliott Chou and Gregory Targett will duel. In ring two, Jonas Knight and Lorena Witmer will duel.” Master Sora took a breath and Master Kingston continued where he left off.

“In ring three, Emma Blackwell and Cesily Erudite will duel and in ring four, Alexis Ayers and Tiffany Hayes will duel.” She turned her gaze to Parker. “Which leaves Parker Gray and Vaughnn Richards to begin in the first open ring.” Everyone moved around and shook hands with their opponent before making their way to their designated rings. Parker and Vaughnn made their way to the bench to watch what they could.

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Parker took a seat at ring three so that he could still see ring four without putting the pressure on Alexis of him sitting right there. The whistle rang and a blaze of heat washed over the room as Tiffany gave Alexis everything she had. Parker couldn’t believe the amount of heat he could feel from a ring away. He couldn’t imagine how Alexis must’ve felt.

Within a second, the fire went out, Tiffany grabbed at her throat and then Alexis used her Imperial to fling her body as hard as she could at Tiffany. The impact sent her to the ground outside of the ring. “One point to Alexis.” Master Terra sounded completely unenthused when he spoke. Parker heard his voice, and his heart began to race slightly. How could he act so nonchalantly through everything when his daughter had been right here the whole time? Even at that moment, she was sitting just over their heads. Why hadn’t he made a move for her yet?

Alexis and Tiffany took their positions again across from each other. Tiffany looked at Alexis with fearful eyes. Parker wasn’t sure what she had done that would cause a look filled with so much fear. What could Alexis have done that no one else seemed to have an issue with?

The whistle blew and Tiffany immediately stepped outside of the ring on her own, ending the duel. “Match to Alexis Ayers,” Master Terra bellowed. Alexis looked confused beyond belief.

“Why did you do that?” Alexis asked. Tiffany just glared at her and walked away. “I don’t get it…” she mumbled to herself as she walked back to the bench.

“Good job in the first round!” Parker said giving her a high five as she sat down.

“Thanks,” she responded still trying to figure out what had just happened. “Are you ready?”

“I think…”

Master Terra’s voiced boomed from across the field. “Parker Gray and Vaughnn Richards, please head to ring four.”

“Well, I guess we’ll find out,” Parker said as he made his way to ring four.

The whistle blew and Parker threw his body with as much force as he could at Vaughnn. Vaughnn whipped a stream of water up and used it to deflect Parker’s hit. Not hitting his mark like he expected almost sent him out of the ring. He caught himself by changing the direction that the air was moving him.

Regaining his equilibrium, Parker was able to stop at the edge of the ring of water. But before he could do anything a ball of water collided with his chest knocking him off his feet and into the water. “Point to Vaughnn Richards.”

The whistle blew again and this time Parker waited a moment. He and Vaughnn began walking in unison in opposite directions keeping their eyes on each other. Parker noticed that the other rings were all done, which meant that everyone in the school was watching. He glanced up and saw that students were even sitting on the floor so that they could see. Then he noticed a face that shouldn’t have been in the crowd. Lara was standing there like she was meant to be there. No one noticed her as they watched Parker and Vaughnn dance around the outside of the ring doing nothing. His heart raced even more than it already was.

At the last second before a stream of water hit Parker in the face, he disappeared and reappeared next to Vaughnn in the blink of an eye. The whistle blew. “Penalty! You are only allowed to use your house’s Imperial. One more infraction and you will be disqualified.”

Parker stood stunned trying to wrap his head around what had just happened. He hadn’t used his Space Imperial to move. It just happened. One moment he was across from Vaughnn and the next he was standing right beside him. “Sorry… I don’t know… what happened…”

They took their positions again and the whistle blew. Parker made sure to keep his eye on Vaughnn this time but he couldn’t help but want to look up and see if Lara was still standing there.

A stream of water snaked its way into the air and Vaughnn grabbed onto both ends of it like he was holding a jump rope. The middle separated and then he was holding to water whips in his hands swinging them around. Parker had never seen this before or even thought to try something like that. He quickly sliced his hands through the air to try and break the whips apart but Vaughnn spun his body around to dodge.

He lashed one arm out and the water whip lashed around Parker’s ankle and pulled him off balance as the other whip came across his chest sending him to the ground harder than any Aether match had. Vaughnn then began going back and forth using each whip to repeatedly hit Parker across the body.

Parker could barely handle what was happening. It knocked the breath right out of him with each hit. He needed to do something before he couldn’t move anymore. Panic and fear began to rise in him as a dome of lashing air began to form around him. The water broke apart as Vaughnn swung at him. Before he knew it, Vaughnn was lying on the ground outside of the ring.

“Point to Parker Gray.” Master Terra had a look on his face that made Parker think he’d wanted him to lose that round. Parker wondered if he somehow knew what Parker found out about him. But how could he have? He hadn’t told anyone what he’d found out. And besides, Master Sora already knew. Master Sora could just as easily tell Hailee as he could so he shouldn’t worry about it.

“Focus. You’ve got this.” Parker kept trying to reassure himself that he had the match. “One. More. Round.”

The whistle blew and Vaughnn sprinted at him pulling water from all around him. It looked like a tidal wave was moving its way across the ring. Parker clapped his hands in front of him sending a blast of air forward knocking the wave down and sending Vaughnn skidding backwards several feet.

Kick after kick, Parker sent waves of air across the ground that Vaughnn was jumping over. Parker knew that he couldn’t keep it up forever so he kept kicking. Changing the pace of each kick made it difficult for Vaughnn to perform any type of counter attack. After a minute or two of this, Vaughnn landed wrong on his ankle and before he could jump again Parker sent a wave higher than the others that blasted into his chest sending him out of the ring.

“Match to Parker Gray.” Master Terra’s voice was monotone, showing little to no emotion. Alexis was cheering and running onto the field. When she got to Parker he turned around and got knocked over by the force of her running hug.

“That was amazing!” Alexis screamed. Normally it would’ve made Parker happy but she had knocked the wind out of him when they hit the ground and then yelled in his ear. The exhaustion of the matches started to hit him as they made their way back to the bench.

“How long do I get to rest before the finals?” Parker asked.

Master Sora stepped forward. “The finals will take place tomorrow to give everyone an ample amount of time to prepare and rest up.”

“Hallelujah!” Parker shouted with his arms raised in the air. Everyone laughed a little before breaking away to go rest.

“Wait a moment,” the master shouted to everyone. “The finals will begin tomorrow morning just after breakfast so make sure to get plenty of sleep and eat a good breakfast.”

Everyone left the field and went their different way. Parker and Alexis split off using their Space Imperial to get away from the crowd quicker. Before they knew it, they were sitting out by the waterfall. They figured the others would think to come there eventually but it would give them some time alone to talk.

“So what happened in your match? Why’d you use your Space Imperial?”

Parker’s heart started to race again thinking about it and the fact that Lara had appeared in the stands. “I didn’t use it… that’s the thing…” his voice trailed off.

“Yeah you did, I saw it. One moment you were across the ring from him and the next you were right next to him.”

Parker shook his head vigorously. “No, that’s the thing. I didn’t use it. Just like you said, one moment I was across from him and the next I was next to him. I don’t understand how it happened.”

Alexis thought for a moment without speaking. “Wait, are you learning to teleport?”

“Do you really think that’s it?” She shrugged her shoulders, not really sure what it could’ve been if he hadn’t done it on purpose.

Parker hesitated a moment before speaking and Alexis could see there was something else he wanted to say. “There’s one more thing on top of that…”

“What is it?”

“Well…” Parker gulped. “I looked up at one point and Lara was in the stands…”

“What?” Alexis shouted. The air grew very quiet for the next few moments. The waterfall roared under them as students made their way out of the castle and spreading around the surrounding grounds. “What do you mean? She was just there?”

“Yeah. I looked up and saw her in the stands.”

Alexis shook her head. “You were probably just seeing things in the stress of the moment.”

“I know what I saw,” he spat back at her. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment. “I’m sorry. I’m just sick and tired of her appearing to me. Remember just this last time that I told you about?” She nodded her head. “Lara told me she felt like we had some connection or something.”

“A connection?” Alexis said repulsed.

“Yeah…” Parker said, almost sounding depressed. “I don’t see it but that’s why she’s only coming to me.”

“What’d you say back?”

“That I disagreed, and I made it sound like it was the most disgusting thing in the world to even suggest.” Alexis laughed at that, happy to know that Parker felt the same way about it that she did. “I just want this to be over with.”

Alexis grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Everything’s going to be fine. Like she said, it’s more Hailee’s dad that’s the issue here. Right?”

Parker could tell that she was fishing to see if that’s how he felt too so he did his absolute best to convey that he did agree, even though his opinions were far from decided.

“Let’s change the subject,” Parker said. “How’d you feel in your last match?”

“It was good I suppose.”

He couldn’t tell exactly but it sounded like she didn’t really want to talk about it, but that wasn’t going to stop him from asking what had caused the fear he saw on her face. “Why’d she step out of the ring in the second round?”

Alexis shrugged her shoulders and dropped her gaze to the ground. “I don’t know…”

Parker couldn’t tell that she did know but didn’t want to say it. “You can tell me. You know I won’t judge you or get mad at you.”

She sat staring at the ground for a bit before finally saying anything. “She created that big fire and it scared me to be honest. So I tried to suck the oxygen out of it to make it disappear and based on what she was doing, I was taking her oxygen as well…” He could see a tear run down her cheek and drip off onto the ground. “But I promise, I didn’t mean to!” She jumped into Parker, wrapping him in a tight hug and then began crying.

“Shh… shh…” He rubbed her back with his hand. “It’s okay. I know you would never do something like that on purpose.”

They sat in silence for a while, even after the others arrived. The rest of the night dragged by. Parker was lucky if he managed to get a solid five minutes of sleep.

When the sun rose, he jumped out of bed and made his way to the dining hall before anyone else arrived. He really wanted to eat his breakfast before others arrived so he could prepare himself for the finals. However, when he walked through the large doorway of The Regale, Alexis was sitting at their usual table. The rest of the room was vacant and deathly quiet.

“Guess you had the same idea, huh?” They both chuckled and ate their breakfasts before the majority of the school had made it down. Parker led the way to the arena and they both sat down on the bench on the center column.

“Think we’ll get to use all of our Imperials like we did last year?” Alexis asked.

Parker laughed, “I doubt it. I know Eliott would be okay with it but I doubt either Cesily or Lorena would be okay with it.” Alexis laughed and agreed. Parker felt his face get warm when he saw Alexis smile and laugh. He’d thought about the other night hundreds of times since but wasn’t able to say anything about it. There hadn’t been much of an opportunity to talk about it since it happened. Caleb, Hailee or Ana were always around or they were near other students in the school.

“I want to talk to you…” Parker started to say but stopped midsentence as the school started to file in above them, filling in all of the seats.

“About what?” Alexis asked intrigued.

“Never mind, let’s focus on the finals first and we can talk later,” he said backtracking. “Besides, the school can see us talking.”

“So?” Alexis asked. “They can’t hear us.”

Parker thought for a moment but finally said, “It’s nothing pressing. I promise.” Alexis eyed him suspiciously and after a minute of trying to figure out what he wanted when the room turned a soft gray color. “What just… happened?” Parker asked as he noticed that everyone had disappeared but him and Alexis.

“Spit it out. What’s on your mind?”

His face exploded with heat. He could hear his blood pumping through his ears. “I told you it was nothing. And won’t everyone notice that we just disappeared?”

“Well, if you just spit it out, we won’t be gone for very long now, will we?”

Parker broke eye contact and looked at his shoes. He could see the outside edges of his shoes were wearing away from working with his Earth Imperial. Before he could look back up he felt a soft flick on his forehead.

“Hey… is everything okay? You seem bothered by something.”

Parker could hear the worry in her voice. “No. I’m fine. I promise. I was just thinking about the other night…” he blushed furiously as he said it.

Parker saw Alexis’s face brighten as he made eye contact with her. “Oh… you’ve been thinking about that?” Now she broke eye contact and began inspecting her own shoes.

“I mean… just a little. Not like a lot or anything.” Neither of them were looking up at this point. Fire rose in their cheeks as they realized that they’d been gone for a little while now. “We should probably…” he felt her lips press against his before he could finish his sentence and then they were back on the field with the loud roar of cheering. His face grew hotter.

“We need to team up for this final. We have the advantage here and we need to use it.”

“You’re right. Should we combine domes and push the others out?”

“I like it!” Alexis said with a big smile on her face. Parker couldn’t decide if the smile was because of the plan for the finals or because of the kiss she’d just laid on him. He didn’t care either way because they both made him happier than ever.

The five finalists took their positions around the ring looking back and forth to one another. The masters took turns informing the contestants of the rules to the finals. After they finished, each took their position around the ring as well and Master Sora put the whistle to his lips. A shrill piercing sound broke the air and the finals began.