A kick from the opponent unexpectedly connected.

Sone quickly collected himself as he recovered from the kick that had toppled him. Jumping to his feet, he activated his throat tatau as he invoked his Le’o. “Hey!”

Both opponents looked at him, unable to resist his invocation. This gave Mai enough time to scramble to her feet. Both siblings were slightly beaten and bruised after a rough start to their semifinal match.

Their opponents were two natives who both appeared to be from the Deep. Both were fairly short and covered in various tatau. One had a full face tatau while the other had various defensive markings covering his arms and upper torso. Their thick, leathery skin showed the signs of master seafarers.

As Mai moved to capitalize on their momentary lapse in attention, the one with the full mask activated all of his facial tatau and invoked his own Le’o. “End.”

With his simple command both of them were released and the other was able to react to Mai’s attack by activating his arm tatau and defending himself. Sone activated his right arm, materializing his shield as he dashed forward while tucking his arm and shield close in front of him. The man activated another set of tatau and invoked his Le’o as Sone started his dash. “Stumble.”

He was suddenly struck with a wave of vertigo, his legs losing all coordination as he tripped over himself. As he stumbled Sone cupped his left ear with his left hand and activated his healing tatau.

The waves of vertigo subsided as he hit the ground, allowing him to roll over quickly and pop back up on his feet.

After getting her attack parried, Mai had followed up by attempting to grapple her opponent. She had noticed that the other opponent was too busy paying attention to Sone. As she made contact he had attempted to sweep her feet out from under her. She had quickly activated her leg tatau, fortifying them against the sweep attempt when she was suddenly hit by the invocation of the other opponent. Her fortified legs helped keep her up momentarily but the sudden sensation of being upside down threw off her coordination and caused her to stumble backwards.

Sone noticed his sister stumbling as he popped back up on his feet and quickly activated his throat tatau to invoke something that could help her up as he closed distance with his opponent. As he was about to invoke, his opponent, face tatau completely activated, yelled “Longo!”

His words were suddenly caught in his throat as his Le’o was countered, momentarily winding him as he felt a shock of panic spike throughout his body. With his shield still materialized he lunged forward, swinging the shield in a wide, looping motion at his opponents face. Using the momentum of his swing Sone propelled himself forward, diving at the man’s feet. The man hadn’t expected the dive so he had been in the middle of shuffling backwards just out of the area of Sone’s reach. He caught his opponent mid-shuffle, feet still slightly airborne, and was able to tangle their legs.

The man toppled over as Sone scrambled on top of him.

Mai, after falling over from the sudden vertigo, found herself furiously defending against her opponents attempts to choke her out. Being on the ground helped slow down the swimming sensation in her head but she was starting to get nauseous. On top of that she was seeing black from the man’s repeated choking attempts and her furious attempts to defend herself.

Struggling, Mai was able to flip him over and found herself on top. She lay forward, trying to stop him from flipping her over but he was able to leverage himself and abruptly overturned her, taking control of the top position again. The sudden motion combined with the vertigo and dizziness culminated in her vomiting all over her opponent and herself. The man attempted to stem the vomit by shoving his hand into her mouth, trying to choke her using the ejected fluids.

In desperation Mai bit down on the man’s hand, drawing blood as she applied all the pressure she could with her teeth. The man screamed and immediately punched her, cracking some teeth. Before he could connect another punch a mana shield was suddenly embedded in the side of his head as he slumped over and fell off of Mai.

Mai turned to her side, spitting out vomit and blood, as her brother laid his left hand on her and began healing her..

“That was fuckin’ rough!” Sone huffed, trying to catch his breath as he healed his sister. He tenderly wiped some of the blood and vomit off of her matted hair. “You feeling good enough to stand up? I’m sure the trainee can patch you up better.”

Mai blew out her nose and wiped her face off as she attempted to stand, holding on to her brother in case she fell over again. “I’m good. Let’s go, I needa shower. You think they can heal my teeth?” She grinned and showed her brother the damage.

___________________________________

Wha let out a sigh of relief as the siblings stood and collected themselves. “Damned kids, scarin’ me like that!”

She leaned back onto the comfortable couch she had pulled out of the shadow, laying her head back as she cupped her hands over her face. The steady climb in the quality of opponents was expected but she hadn’t expected them to struggle that much in the semifinals. Sitting next to her in his huge, tatau covered form ‘Ekolu also let out a small sigh of relief, trying to hide it from Wha.

“They showed some good fight.” he said quietly as he continued to intently study the two as they exited the arena.

Around them the rest of the Tu’i were still in attendance, all showing various degrees of interest.

Nima, in his usual unflappable manner, gave no clue as to who he favored. His cold, calculating gaze evaluated and weighed, nothing more.

Rua, still standing behind Nima, was leaning towards a lone native from Group 5. She had always been impartial to lone combatants who relied only on their own power. His semifinal match was now coming to a close with him handily dispatching a group of 5. “What do you think of him, Tamai?” she asked Nima, hoping for a favorable opinion.

In his usual way, Nima let the question sit for a little before answering. “Ok.” was all he said as he rubbed his chin.

That was enough to assuage Rua for the time being. As her gaze returned to the candidate she favored, Wanu spoke up. “He won’t make it past the finals.”

“Why is that?”

“He just won’t. There’s one better than him.” As Wanu said this, the next Group 5 semifinal began with the candidate she was talking about. “Watch her closely.”

Taha had lost all interest when he realized that the intruders wouldn’t be involved until the finals. Even the prospect of getting to play with a female candidate wasn’t enough to catch his attention. Instead he was sitting cross-legged in front of Nima, arms folded as he attempted to appear deep in thought. He felt that if he was in Nima’s line of sight when the finals started he would be the one chosen to accept the intruders.

______________________________________

The candidate that Wanu had chosen from Group 5 stepped out of the waiting room and into the arena.

Her appearance shocked the group of 4 that she would be facing for this round. They had seen her from previous rounds but this was the first, and only, time they would meet her in person. The woman was tall, sinewy, and covered in scars. She wore clothes that allowed her ease of movement while showing the hints of ancient tatau that covered her whole upper body and most of her lower body. All of her tatau were weather marked and seemed to glow without being activated. All 4 were aware that she was called Hiku by the other candidates and had witnessed her raw power during the first round of the tournament.

As she walked towards the middle of the arena, they all felt the vast difference between her and themselves.

The familiar chimes rang out, signalling the beginning of the match. All 4 candidates moved to spread out and suddenly found themselves frozen in place.

Hiku nonchalantly walked towards them, looking them over impassively. She gave off no enmity, just an air of someone who knew they were the superior in any situation.

“Fall.”

At her word all 4 were suddenly and violently crushed where they stood. They didn’t have time to feel the sudden increase in gravity as Hiku’s command unceremoniously flattened them. All that was left in the wake of her invocation was a hole filled with the remains of the former candidates.

Without a hint of haughtiness Hiku turned around and walked back to her waiting room.

_________________________________

In the waiting room Sone sat watching the last semifinal round of their group come to a wrap. Mai had gone back to their suite to wash up after their match and had been escorted by the Faifekau. The trainee had been left behind with Sone.

“So, how long you been with them?” Sone asked, trying to spark up a conversation with the trainee. He didn’t even bother looking as he didn’t expect an answer. The trainee had kept quiet the whole time Sone had known him, all of 1 and a half days.

“Not long.” was the quiet answer he received after a short delay, which surprised him. He turned and gave the trainee his full attention, eyebrows raised.

“How’d you become a member?” He asked, leaning over the back of the couch with his hands propped under his chin.

“I was a candidate.” the foreign trainee answered, again after another delay. Sone studied him for a bit before turning back and continuing to watch the match.

“How far did you get?”

“I fought the Tu’i.”

Sone whistled at the trainee’s surprising answer. He hadn’t expected to talk to anyone who had actually fought the Tu’i.

“What was it like?”

Sone waited for an answer but was met with an uncomfortable silence. “Hey, no worries. I did-” Sone was in the middle of apologizing when he finally turned and was met with a shocking sight. The trainee had backed away from Sone, crying soundlessly as he held his throat as if he were being choked.