Pearl was ready to get going standing there on top of the staging panel. It was a bit daunting getting challenged by a professional. There were tons of professionals worldwide, yet in terms of America, she was quite a famous fighter even among nations like Japan. Perhaps it was due to her exciting fashion choice. In all honesty, Pearl was a newcomer in the professional world, appearing out of nowhere three years prior and raking up quite the score. The fact that Reynolds had any sort of connection to a professional fighter was odd in itself, which was a thought that had rummaged through the students' heads.

Another thud of thunder was heard in the distance from inside the school. The machine used to project the fighters into a virtual playing field had a backup generator somewhere in the event of lights going out. The older models warned against using the machine during storms; however, the newer models would automatically eject players in a power surge or outage event. Pearl looked at the model that she was standing on and nodded to herself confidently.

"Yes, yes. This will do nicely. Now, who's first. Chop chop. I know we have all day, but let's get things rolling." Pearl proceeded to clap her hands, informing one of the students to hurry up.

"We've never used the machine during a storm. Won't something bad happen?" Roy questioned the motive of using such a thing at the moment.

"Nonsense. Although this unit's model is a tad outdated by a few years, it can still operate during storms. Or at least it should. Don't worry, and it will kick us out regardless if the power cuts off. Now chop-chop."

Deveron wasn't budging an inch. He wasn't interested in fighting this professional. Roy was a bit intimidated merely by the presence of Pearl and was thinking about it. Alexia, on the other hand, was getting a bit excited about this. The chance to test herself against a pro already was a big enough event. However, this excitement seemed to stem more from the thought of checking the professional's power. Not everyone watched singularity matches, despite millions upon millions tuning in to the fights. Even more so during the professional scenes, it just wasn't her thing to watch before, nor was it her intention to keep track of every person in the background.

Alexia was about to step forth to take the challenge when a confident interjection came from Heidi.

"I'll do it. It will be a good learning experience." Just as quickly as Heidi said that, she marched up to the staging panel before Alexia.

"Huh? Oh. I was going t-" A hand was placed on Alexia's shoulder as she turned around to see Reynolds.

"Just watch, for now, okay? You can learn a lot from watching a match. Plus, there will be plenty of chances to test her later." He informed.

"Quite right, Rey is. We are amidst the pinnacle of greatness." Pearl adjusted her parasol and proceeded to release her power bracelet, although it was more like a collar since it was positioned on her neck. Her parasol had a symbol embedded within the rose. Hard to see, but the pattern resembled a spiral galaxy with a small indication that pointed towards the center of it. The singularity machine also had a similar symbol on it.

"Now, if you don't mind. I'll be using my parasol for my weapon, and you?"

"None." Heidi replied.

"Weapon?" Alexia looked to Reynolds, hoping he would answer her.

"Ah. Right, you can use weapons in your fights. Most fights only recommend melee weapons. Obviously, for reasons, guns aren't allowed. But, some special crafters can design you a weapon if you so choose. That symbol on Pearl's umbrella is what helps the machine verify it's a product for singularity. If it doesn't have the symbol on the weapon, it gets rejected by the system and remains." Reynolds took the chance to at least explain the weapons aspect. But, he was going to help catch Alexia up later on with more information if need be.

"Very well… Then let us dance~. Milton be a dear and set the stage." Her eyes darted to the man she walked in with.

"Of course." He'd move over to the control panel of the machine and adjust the modifications. "This is a rather old machine, isn't it?" Milton was getting used to the machine settings.

"Hey. It was all the school could afford. So no complaints from me." Reynolds added. The school could only afford the cheapest system without it costing a ton to maintain after all. The club's funding was set to a minimum as well since before they acquired the machine, their club room was similar to an old janitor's room. Due to the size of the device, the school had to adjust. Regardless, Milton finished tampering with the settings on the machine and looked to Pearl.

"It is ready."

"Marvelous. Now then, my dear. Let us dance." Pearl turned to Heidi.

Heidi had her eyes closed and hands clasped together, doing a little prayer; words being mumbled and muffled underneath her soft voice. When Heidi was done doing the prayer, she lifted her head and mustered up the courage to fight.

"Let's." Heidi replied. Milton would press a button on the machine as it began to shake and light up. Its engine rattled away inside while the panels proceeded to light up a giant circular orb forming in the center, revealing the battlefield — a ruined city with the sun shining brightly down upon it.

"Stage set!" The machine blurted out in a monotone voice. "Fighters at the ready! Preparing transfer!" The staging panels the two were standing on proceeded to light up as blue particles began to emit upwards. Their bodies began to respond to these particles, and piece by piece, it broke them apart until they were no longer visible on the panel. Their bodies began to materialize within the ruined city, with Heidi standing in the middle of a ruined street, the grass growing from the broken concrete around her. As for Pearl, she was situated on top of a nearby building. Both of their health bars were green, and the timer was set to 20 minutes.

"My my… What an interesting sight." Pearl opened up her parasol as it began to block out the sun from hitting her face. Immediately she began to fan herself with her free hand, looking down at Heidi. The temperature was starting to heat up inside the virtual field that Pearl could begin seeing the heat itself move by in tiny waves.

Heidi immediately began to run away, hiding inside of a nearby run-downed shopping center. Pearl began to jump down from the building and ease her way to the streets. Once making it down, her eyes darted towards the shopping center, yet Pearl looked up towards the sun for a bit before entering. It was beating down rather harshly; the heat accumulating more was what she noticed. In such a short time, it was starting to feel like a furnace. Was this simply the work of the stage Milton set or something else? Those thoughts made their way into her head but quickly began to shake off upon stepping foot inside the shopping center.

Standing at the entrance, Pearl would no longer continue walking further inside. The same purple aura that Alexia and Deveron could see was present once more as it began to scatter from her body and morph into wave-like energy spreading throughout the battlefield. The 'Pulse' had been unleashed. Heidi could feel it rapidly approaching her. She was hiding in one of the run-down clothing areas when the 'pulse' abruptly hit her body. It brought her tumbling down to the floor. Whatever this pulse was had just caused her entire body to start shaking; her nervous system started to act up. Feeling a sharp pain in her left arm before it became numb, and her legs were having difficulty moving.

"Ah, crap!" Her voice rose for a brief moment in a bit of frustration. Mustering the energy to stand, Heidi began to run through the shopping center as she felt a rumbling approaching. Another pulse was approaching this time; it was much slower than before. Heidi quickly dropped to the floor, allowing the pulse to pass through once more as it caused her body to stop responding. The vibrations were doing damage quite well—Heidi's health bar in the yellow at this moment.

Pearl continued to hold her parasol up above her head as if the sun was still shining down upon her. Things were going smoothly; for the most part, only one thing was going astray. This bloody heat. It was getting hotter the longer this match continued; two minutes had just passed at this point, but something was going wrong, and she knew it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Heidi move through a nearby area.

"Running won't get you anywhere." Pearl quickly began to chase after her. Heidi turned to the nearest corner with Pearl still giving chase. The moment Pearl turned the corner, however, Heidi was nowhere to be seen. It was also a dead-end with the sun beating down on a single spot from a hole in the ceiling. A hallucination, perhaps? Or was the heat getting to Pearl? It wasn't unusual to see singularities that altered the mind for Pearl, but this heat made it almost unbearable.

"Hallucinations and I'm starting to sweat already. Yeah...No more after this." Pearl turned around only to be met by Heidi's fist approaching her. A swift motion from her parasol quickly repelling the fist. "W-What!" Heidi didn't expect such a quick reflex, but this was a professional she was facing.

"Nice try, but this fight is mine." Another steady pulse flung from Pearl's body as it caused Heidi's entire body to collapse to the ground paralyzed. Raising the end of her parasol above Heidi's head, she lowered the sharp end downward onto Heidi.

"C'est fini." This was all Pearl said before stabbing Heidi resulting in her health being completely wiped out.

"Game Set!" The same monotone voice as before could be heard through the field. The timer didn't even get a chance to hit the 15-minute mark.

The virtual field would destabilize and kick both fighters back into reality. Upon returning, any injuries done to them would have been nulled and canceled out as if nothing had hurt them before. Despite the pain still lingering and Pearl's body still sweating, it began to cool off.

"My my… That was worrying. But, the rose didn't wilt amongst the scorching heat. What do you call that singularity anyway?" Pearl looked to Heidi, who was lying on the floor.

"S-Summer… Haze." Her body was sadly still reacting to Pearl's singularity. Whatever that one was, it nearly caused her body to shut down. Heidi proceeded to stand up, but at an alarming pace.

"Not bad of a name... Yes, it fits perfectly. Don't worry, by the way, your body should be back to normal momentarily. Just keep moving around for a bit."

"Y-Yes, Ma'am." Heidi walked off the stage, proceeding to pace around in a circle to get the blood flowing again.

"Alright! My turn!" Alexia, finally rearing to go, stepped up onto the machine but stopped by Pearl.

"No, No! After that, I need a break."

"What? But, you clearly can keep going."

"Now, Now. It would be quite rude if I don't rest myself. I need to cool off first."

"Don't give me an answer like tha-" Reynold placed his hand on Alexia's shoulder to stop her.

"Alexia, Like I said, you have plenty of time to challenge her later on, but for now. I need to go over a few things with you, if that's alright. That and the rest of the team needs to hear this also." Reynolds proceeded to look back down at his clipboard, flipping to a page underneath it.

Alexia stepped back down and looked at the clipboard. "Tournament stuff, right."
"Correct."

"Let me guess. Our positions on the team?" Deveron perked up and began to walk over to Reynolds, trying to see his position.

"That too... Even if Cheveyo isn't here. I'll inform him soon. But, with the regionals approaching fast, I devised quite the setup."

"So long as I'm up first, we won't need to worry." His confidence was showing, but there seemed to be some truth behind those words. Even Reynolds wanted a part of him to agree to it, but overall it would be wrong if he agreed.

"You'll see." Reynolds brushed his hand through his hair and began to call off the team positions. Pearl, in the meantime, sat down on the machine. The rain was starting to tap against the nearby window as she took her moment of rest.

"In the Vanguard position. Roy Brooks."

"What?! No way!" Deveron was shocked to hear that Roy was the first to go up in the tournaments.

"Yeah, baby! Take that!" Roy was ecstatic about getting his position.

"Hold, I'm not done. Just relax, Mosely." Reynolds looked at him and began to continue.

"In the Sergeant position. Cheveyo Hunt." His eyes looked back at Deveron, who didn't seem to argue this position.

"Lieutenant position is Heidi Graham." Reynolds continued.

"Middle position. Not bad, but also not great." Heidi was still pacing around her body and beginning to return to its senses.

"Vice-Captain is Deveron Mosely." His eyes turned up to Deveron, expecting him to be quite salty over the position. To his amazement, he seemed fine.

"Vice-Captain, huh… I see what you're getting at. But, having the newbie after me is a disaster." Deveron began to ponder at the team setup. It wasn't bad, but he thought it could be better.

"Finally, In the Captain's position. Alexandria Winchester." Reynolds lowered his clipboard glancing over at Alexia.

"So wait, I'm the last to go?" Alexia asked, wondering why she was going last but thought of it as being new to the club.

"Correct. You're our anchor. Well, both you and Mosely here."

"So much for your fame and fortune. The Captain's match gets the least amount of views regarding showcasing in both regional and nationals." Deveron crossed his arms.

"Why is that the case? I thought all the sections would get a good amount."

"The captains match either are a rarity that happens or when it does happen, it's usually close to midnight when it occurs. Not the ideal time slot, all things considered. Man, This sucks." Deveron confirmed that he wasn't keen on his position on the team.

"You're telling me!" Alexia wasn't happy either.

"Hey, Calm down, both of you. As I said, it's like this for two reasons. One. You two will at least work together in holding the remaining points for the other. Teamwork is still key. Two." He stopped himself and merely smiled.

"Well, I'll keep the second reason for myself."

Alexia and Deveron weren't thrilled at all, but beneath their disgruntled voices, they still had to go with the setup, it seemed. To Deveron, he at least knew once Reynolds had his mindset on something to not try and argue against it.

"Now, with that out the way. The training camp can resume." Reynolds placed his clipboard down onto the floor, glancing over at Pearl.

"It's raining, but I can keep going. So who's next?" Pearl stood back up, waiting on top of the machine.

"Finally! I'm ne-" Once more, Alexia was stopped yet again by Reynolds.

"Actually, I'm not finished yet. But, come with me, Alexia. We still have things to talk about. Continue without us for the moment." Reynolds motioned for Alexia to follow him out of the room and to his office down the hall.

"Damn it…" Alexia muttered underneath her teeth before following Reynolds.

Deveron looked on before turning his attention to Pearl. He smiled at the gothic woman before stepping up onto the machine.

"Alright, let's show off." He began to rub his left wrist unlocking his bracelet and dropping both to the ground.

"Let's." Pearl replied as both of them prepared to faceoff. Milton set up the settings of the machine, and both of them prepared to face off.

Reynolds led Alexia to his off and closed the door after she entered. "Take a seat," Pointing to his desk, there was a chair behind it and one in front. He sat at his desk while Alexia sat in front.
The air inside the office was a bit tense since she wasn't quite sure what he was about to do.

"So, I have a request."

"What request would that be?" Alexia sat up straight in the chair.

"Make a star. Right here, right now."

"Excuse me?"

"I need to confirm if your powers are what you say. I'm doing this to help you at the end of the day...But, if you can make a star. I need to confirm the radiation. Since it is lethal."

"There's no need."

"Hm?" Reynolds was perplexed by what she had just said.

"Why is that? If I may ask?" He continued.

"Because the radiation from my stars will go away." Alexia lifted her index finger; A tiny star no more significant than the size of a penny began to form. It was clear; she was concentrating on trying to maintain this star. Her breathing had slowed down, and her face was becoming red. Reynolds was taken back by the penny-sized sun. It was giving off the right amount of heat, but barely any to last. Suddenly, he blew onto the star, causing it to vanish as if it was a lit candle in the wind.

"Thank you. Now I know what we need to work on." Reynolds was quite intrigued by Alexia, and the concept of her singularity was quite the discovery. Her singularity had so much untapped potential, yet she barely used it since joining. He even pondered if she ever used it more than once. A singularity that can create stars and more could even give the devil a run for his money. He had been hearing reports of singularities similar to her own for a few months now.

"Alexandria...No. Forgive, but your name is such a mesh of words. Alexia."

"Yeah, I know. You're free to call me, Alexia, teach."

"Good, cause I was going to do so regardless. We're going to begin your training. I hope you're ready."

"I am."

Alexia smiled, preparing to fortify her courage to take on the training. It seemed her fellow teammates had to tackle a far more pressing opponent, though.