The next day came with a quiet night over the state championship or, at the very least, the calm before the storm. Only two matches for today with all sorts of animals roaming the building. Yes, animals. To Cheveyo, all kinds of people were animals, from wolves to sheep and eagles to bears. There were all kinds to him. His skin merely taking in the sunlight of the bright and partly cloudy day, his thoughts for the moment were foggy with nonsensical words passing through. He’d feel the tapping of a finger on his shoulder, his foggy mind clearing up quickly. Deveron was seated next to him, for they were located at an outside patio next to a restaurant. It was approximately noon, and the team was there getting lunch. The semi-finals weren’t going to start until later in the afternoon.

“Hey, Chev. Come with me before the matches and get our suppressors updated.” Deveron tapped his fingers against the table, waiting for their orders to come in. It was mainly him, Cheveyo, and Reynolds, on the opposite end at their table. The other three would be seated at a table behind them.

“I thought you already had yours upped?” Cheveyo glanced over at Deveron’s suppressor. It was rusting away with parts of it breaking off. “You know you need to maintain better maintenance.”

“Yeah, but check this out.” Deveron started tampering with his suppressor until a map was shown on its interface. It was amazing such a device was still operational. “We can easily head to this shop after we eat. Come with me.” He pointed to a red dot on the map, which was blinking. The shop in question was only a few blocks down the road.

Cheveyo closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath then exhaling it. Upon opening his eyes again, he was only met with a sly smile from Deveron. This one was a vulture. Just as he was about to speak up, their food arrived. A servant entered with their food laid out from hickory burgers to turkey sandwiches—all of it which was coming out of Reynold's pocket. As for Cheveyo, he had ordered a pulled pork sandwich.

“Fine, I’ll join you. But we don’t have long.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll buy you something when we’re there.” Giving a cheeky smile, Deveron proceeded to eat his meal. On the opposite end, Reynolds was merely disgruntled at the thought of the payment price; luckily, he had alternative means to pay for it.

“Yes, buying him something when I'm helping you all out. The semi-finals start in three hours, so you have enough time to go looking around the city. As I said, just be back by the time the tournament starts.” A seal of approval from Reynolds. A fox that cunningly watches its cubs. It would be a quick trip anyway and shouldn't even take more than three hours. Cheveyo nodded and began to eat along with them. The city streets bustled with people walking and cars driving along their way. With a chill breeze brushing over the capital city, lunchtime was passing. After Reynolds paid for the meal ungrudgingly with his foundation's card, they all set off on separate paths for the moment with three hours until the semi-finals would start.

Roaming down Boise's streets, Idaho, it was a growing capital city. At the same time, it did not boast an enormous amount of people, only recently approaching half a million people. It was a peaceful city and a fast-growing one at that. Each year, people would come to the town to partake in an annual technology showcase in the early spring. Indeed, it was no New York nor San Francisco, but it had its charm like them all. Its mountain ranges boasted in the state made for beautiful scenery around the city, becoming one of the more visited states in recent times. The community was also growing as Cheveyo and Deveron were heading into a shopping plaza. They’d come across one of the many repair shops for suppressors all across the globe.

“Here we go.” Deveron walked into the shop with Cheveyo following after. Inside, there would be all sorts of gadgets and devices for the average person, ranging from watches, backpacks, and even bikes. However, the main accessory all around the shop would come in the form of the suppressors; all sorts resembled necklaces to the average wrist suppressors. Both of them made their way over to the shop's right side close to the counter, where an employer would be speaking to a customer. In his late forties, there stood an older gentleman with short brown hair that straightened down to the ends of his neck hazel eyes that brimmed with curiosity and vigor only for his tall frame to be complemented with a black trench coat worn around him.

“I apologize, Mr.Campbell, but we have not received the package for you. It is still in transfer.” The clerk at the counter tapping on their laptop glanced up at the tall man known as Campbell. A name which rang a bell in both Cheveyo and Deveron, yet neither could pin-point remembering where. To Deveron, it was only a second thought to him continuing to look at all the suppressors in the shop. Most of them being purely for display while the real ones were in storage.

“Aw… That’s unfortunate. I was told it would arrive here today.” Mr.Campbell’s voice was soothing and calm. “I even have the receipt and all.” He took a moment to process his thoughts before continuing on. “Fine. I’ll be back tomorrow. Contact me when it gets here.” Campbell looked to his left, eyeing Deveron and Cheveyo. A shivering gaze when their eyes met with each other before a gentle smile made its way to his face. Campbell wore no hat, but that did not stop him from tipping the air above his head and departing from the store.

“Gonna pretend he just didn’t look at us like that.” Deveron moved over to the counter, beginning to order a new make and model suppressor. Cheveyo stood off to the side. Having watched Campbell leave, such a man reminded him of teach; Sadly, only the more schemeful parts. Brushing up close to Deveron, Cheveyo began to speak once more.

“Wasn’t that the tech guy?”

“Tech guy?” Deveron took off his bracelet, handing it over to the clerk, allowing them to go into a back room closeby. Deveron stood there leaned against the counter without much care in the world. “What, that weird old man?”

“Yeah. Saw him hosting a convention one time earlier this year. Pretty sure that’s the host. Same hair and all.” Cheveyo peaked out the nearest window to see if he could spot the man, only to no avail. Gone like the wind.

“The only thing I was impressed by him was his height.” Deveron used his hand, raising it up to the height that Campbell was suspected to be at a glance. “Taller than me… But, enough about that guy. He’s the least of my concerns and should be the least of yours.” Deveron was right in his words, only looking ahead to finishing this tournament with a win and heading into the nationals. Talks about other folks in the way of life did not concern him; Always, his mind was on the tournament prize. Cheveyo was not concerned about the prize money like Alexia and Deveron nor seeking what seemed to be redemption for Reynolds.

His actions weren’t without thought or tacts like Heidi and Roy; He was in it to find himself. Each match was a struggle after the next, with spirits of all kinds tugging away at him on the next decision. These spirits are always threading on the line between good and evil. Their presence still around him; it’s thanks to his own suppressor that he could not see them as the clerk moved out from the backroom with a new bracelet for Deveron. He could see the outline of a woodpecker on the clerk's shoulder. Upon blinking, it vanished into thin air; this was always the case with his singularity.

Deveron reached into his pocket, taking out an old card handing it to the clerk to pay for the newer make and model. Paying for an entirely new device in the past was like building a computer; some parts came cheap while others were expensive. It wasn't uncommon to find certain aspects of a suppressor sold on popular market sites nowadays. Some individuals even custom-built theirs from scratch if they had the right skills and parts to tamper with. Taking the device, he’d tighten it to his wrist. A crimson hue of energy embracing itself around his body for a moment before fading away once a robotic voice emitted from the device.

“Setup starting. Syncing vital signs.” The suppressor began to adjust itself to Deveron's body, his breathing becoming more cumbersome as the setup commenced. “Vital signs: Green. Re-calibrating energy signature.” The clerk gave Deveron his old card back. Luckily it went through, for the expiration date was a few months away. He took a deep breath and patted Cheveyo on the shoulder.

“A-Alright. Let’s go. I always hate the first-time setup.”

“It’s not even that strong.”

“I know, but it makes me want to fall asleep.”

“That’s a blessing for most people.” Cheveyo began to lead Deveron out of the shop, only to their surprise, they'd run into the rival school, Saint Mary’s Academy. Just, there were two of them. Quinn and Angela.

“Oh! It’s Starlight! Look, Quinn!”

“Obviously.” Quinn flicked her forehead only to have his eyes on Cheveyo and Deveron. “Did we finally run into one of the stars of the tournament? Mr.MVP. I hope to see your skills in our match.”

“You make it seem like we’re gonna lo-” Once more, Angela was flicked on her forehead, only this time it was the worst, for people could hear Angela whimper from down the street.

Cheveyo let go of Deveron, awkwardly standing there for a moment before turning to Deveron. Frankly, he couldn’t witness staring at his opponents at the moment anyway. Their aura was blending into each other very well, in his view. Clearly, these two had a close bond of some kind.

“Yeah, That’s me. Glad to see someone finally recognizing me.” Deveron picked himself up. Still a bit dazed from his new suppressor affecting him. “Well, I should probably stop myself before I get ahead.”

“No, No. By all means, continue. It makes no difference to us. We’ll leave all the hostilities and remarks of betterment on the fighting field.” Quinn turned to Angela and began to rub her forehead. “Sorry, didn’t mean to hit you too hard.”

“What brings you guys out here?” Cheveyo finally spoke up. Angela, who had just been flicked hard in the forehead, looked up at the three of the boys. They were rather tall, far more than her, but that did not alter her heart in the lightest.

“We’re touring the city. Well, at least me and Quinn are - the others didn’t want to come with. It’s changed so much in the past few years, apparently.”

“Not too much, but it has changed.” Quinn took his hand off Angela. “More skyscrapers than before better transportation systems. I can keep going. It’s honestly not a bad place to live now. But, before we get ahead of ourselves, getting your gear fixed up?” His eyes moved to the repair shop next to them.

“Yeah, just getting my equipment up to date. You know I have to stay in good condition to win.” Deveron proceeded to stretch his arms out, the drowsiness no longer being present. A hearty chuckle came forth from Quinn, his bald head shining in the sunlight beamed down against his head.

“That’s some spirit you have, Starlight! Or should I say, Mosley? I can’t tell how things will go in our match later today, but underestimating someone like you will put one of us in the hospital.”

“My bluntness is what makes me the best. If my chance comes, then I’ll show you just what I mean.”

“Hm. Very well, then I do hope if it comes, you’ll show us all that a valued player such as yourself has to offer. Overall, if you’ll excuse us. We have some shopping to do.” Quinn gave a respectful nod to Deveron then hurried off past him.

“Good to see ya, Starlight! Best of luck.” Angela scurried after Quinn waved goodbye on the way past.

“That ego of yours is gonna give us bad luck.” Cheveyo looked on at Quinn and Angela walking away, then to Deveron. “I mean, I’m honestly happy you’re the one getting the most attention out of us.”

“You say that like it's a blessing.”

“Well, it’s not a curse. That’s for sure.”

“Say what you want. But, you guys need me.” Deveron smirked before finally beginning to walk off, heading back to the stadium. Followed behind by Cheveyo, who closed his eyes for a moment, only to have them open up, his entire perspective now shifted into a room of absence, nothing but an endless white void all around him. Just for it to be filled in by spirits and entities of all kinds; Some with a humanoid figure, the only common point was that they had animalistic features.

“They need me~! They need me~!” The eagle spirit scoffed before its wings spread out, opening up, revealing a muscular human body with only the head of an eagle on top. A low growl emitted from one of the spirits, this one more animal than man. A jaguar sat across from Cheveyo, observing him carefully, continuing to growl at a lower pitch.

“Why not just show him ‘our’ power. That will ruin his tongue to speak any further.” A darker entity manifested itself inches away from the animal spirits. The only visible distinction of this spirit was its harsh energy covering any physical appearance. More entities began to appear around Cheveyo, all of them like before with animalistic features.

“This power will not be used against those close to me. I have made that point clear - hundreds of times.” Cheveyo peered over at the dark entity before the spirits all began to bicker. Voices echoing across the empty room in disagreements before one voice piqued Cheveyo’s interest looking down to his right side. A small raccoon was standing up on its hind legs, its white eyes peering into Cheveyo; The trickster spirit, Azeban. It did not carry any dark energy nor malevolent intent; the trickster only began to speak.

“Take this trinket.” The trickster dug deep into its fur before pulling out a tiny ornament of jewels shaped in a wide range of objects from a star to a totem. Another spirit from close by levitated the trinkets over towards them, a spark of lightning flashing over this entity with the appearance of clouds rushing around it—the essence of Juracán, a deity of storms.

“Enough prattling. You are blessed with many of our gifts. To have you participating in your worldly sportsmanship is of waste to us.”

“It is not a waste. You all keep summoning me here to this place. I never asked to have you all in my life!” Quickly his voice had risen, alerting all the spirits in the vicinity. A moment of silence took place before a few entities started to laugh at his comment.

“A foolish child playing with the works of his gods. To think we cherished you when you were but an infant.”

“No! He has been using our gifts for good!” Yammered another spirit.

“He is useless - the boy can only look on while others move past him.”

“Use our powers for more than your selfish intent.”

The spirits continued to grow restless; each passing second felt eternal as Cheveyo lingered with them all. Their insults grow more and more with him merely standing there, allowing his temper to fuel.

“Come. The time is now. Release us into this world once more.” One spirit suggestion that caught wind among the rest.

“Yes! Release us! If you will not use us! You WILL release us!”

“To have us locked up against our will! Your ancestors would look on to you in shame!”

“ENOUGH!” Cheveyo’s voice boomed. His eyes now closed with silence present in the area. Upon opening them up again, he noticed he was back at the tournament, and he was right at the entrance to the fighting room. The same woman that examined the equipment and took note of the fighters was alarmed. Even his opponent, Joan of Saint Mary Academy, was startled at his voice.

Cheveyo took a moment to catch his senses. Last time something like this occurred, he did not recall three days' worth of events. What his body did leading up to this moment was hard to say. One of the many spirits in him would randomly take control when he was summoned.

“I…I apologize for the outburst. It was just motivation to cheer me on…” Adjusting himself properly for the fight to come, he stepped forward onto the singularity machine.

“... Are you well? You may take a moment to relax.” The inspecting woman gazed upon Cheveyo to make sure he was prepared for the fight ahead.

“I am fine. I apologize once more.” Now standing on the staging platform, Cheveyo glanced over at a monitor noticing the score was once more 0-1. Make it or break it time. Joan, standing across from Cheveyo, equipped a single combat glove on her right hand. Cheveyo’s sudden scream was off-putting; then again, him merely standing in front of the door for a good minute or two doing nothing creeped her out even more.

“Let's have a good match…..No creepy stuff, please.”

“Creepy? Ha… I’ll try my best.” He gave a smile to the female fighter noticing the single glove. Before he could get another thought out, the machine began to light up.

“Fighters at the ready!” Joan and Cheveyo braced themselves, their suppressors coming off when the particles emitted from the machine-made contact. “Stage set!” A discharge of electricity sparked around Joan’s head, both of them now beginning to fade away and into the fighting realm.

From the dusty hills to the dune of sand that laid across an ancient Roman city's ruins, the sun was setting. The stage was set with Joan spawning atop a half-broken pillar that was half-buried in the sand. A clear sky overhead with stars beginning to make themselves known; a soft wind blows across the sandy ruins.

“Match Start!” Just as quickly as the robotic voice came, it left fading away as it echoed across the field. Joan lifted her right hand up into the air, lightning rupturing from it and shooting up into the sky. It arched, shattering into several pieces before landing all across the ruins, damaging ruined structures or hitting the sand. This repeated two more times with a constant bombardment of lightning across the field. Each strike slowly concentrated on a single location to the northeast part of the ruins close to a heavily damaged colosseum Cheveyo hid behind a half-broken pillar outside the arena with a lightning strike shooting past him into the colosseum.

“Found you!” Joan proceeded to concentrate energy into her right-hand electricity, beginning to gather and spark rapidly around her arm. Wincing in pain, she used her left hand to stabilize her right, the energy gathering causing her entire body to shake.

“Azeban!” Cheveyo’s body began to glow with a grey aura before the aura quickly separated itself from his body, creating three duplicates. The duplicates immediately charged towards Joan their intent: To knock down the pillar she stood on. The sound of lightning rippling through the sky unleashed itself as dozens of lightning bolts went up into the air, then all of them scattered in an instant, shooting towards the duplicates. Lightning ripped through a clone, causing it to stumble and go crashing into a pillar with it collapsing, formulating sand and dust. The other two dodged the lightning bolts while jumping over downed pillars in the sand.

 

“Pamola!” One of the duplicates shouted as the eagle tattoo on Cheveyo’s body began to burn glowing crimson red. The clone quickly sprouted eagle wings along its back, flying up into the air towards Joan. Mustering up another bolt of lightning, Joan threw it at the flying duplicate upon impact; it did nothing to scratch it, only getting absorbed in the process. The clone returned the favor by harnessing the absorbed lightning bolt into its right hand and flinging it through the pillar, causing it to break in half and collapse.

Joan, caught off guard by the attack, fell down with the pillar but landed safely on the ground; however, as soon as she looked up, she was tackled into the sands by the other duplicate. Back in the press box, Pearl and Joel were spectating the match.

“What a wide range of attacks! This is a spectacle! It seems we have a pantheon on our hands!” Joel was quite surprised to see a pantheon singularity in this tournament. While they weren’t prevalent, they weren’t a rarity.

“So that’s his specialty. Pantheon singularities are quite the spectacle. I have a friend in the leagues who has one. Nasty powers, but they’re not invincible.” Pearl crossed her arms, continuing to watch the match. “Their granted powers can only bring them so far.”

Starlight would be situated in a private viewing room, a luxury to those that make it to semi-finals and finals in any team-based tournament. On the screen of the large monitor showcasing the match, sand dust would be filling the screen with a ton of lightning discharges going off.

“See… Told you his singularity is unfair.” Heidi, situated next to Alexia on the couch watching the match continue to play out. Alexia was a bit surprised; it's not often you see singularities like that in person.

“Sheesh. I’d hate to fight one of those.” Heidi looked at Alexia in a bit of shock. In fact, Alexia was someone she’d rather not face nor Cheveyo in a fight. But, then again, she knew her singularity was at a disadvantage with a lot of things.

“Please don’t say that around me, Alexia.”

“Haha~. Sorry.”

“Either case. I’m amazed you two never fought each other.” Deveron turned to Alexia. He was correct in the fact that Alexia and Cheveyo never fought each other. It primarily came down to neither of them having time to do so with Cheveyo off tending to family matters. Alexia's training for this specific tournament time was short for both of them to train together.

“You two haven’t fought each other either. So no point in asking now. I thought you guys were just trying not to show off that much.” Reynolds held up a clipboard in his hand, occasionally glancing up and down between the monitor and it.

“Yeah, well, maybe it's for the best, Teach. At least it gives some unknown flavor to it.”

“Last I checked, Deveron. You weren’t one for surprises.”

“Now, Now, Teach. Don’t do me like that. I’m just trying to spin a good flavor to it.” Deveron had his suppressor off, merely twirling it in on a single finger. The others didn’t seem surprised by it, though Alexia was. She wasn’t allowed to take off her suppressor mainly due to it constantly adapting to her, being better for her to keep it on at all times as instructed by Reynolds. His power obviously wasn’t active, but it was still bizarre to see it.

“Totally not fair.” Her thoughts mumbling together while glancing at her experimental suppressor. Each time she put it back on during a match, it made her body numb the feeling of it weakening at each turn. Though, it wasn’t so bad. She had gotten used to it for two whole months now. Sadly it was still painful to deal with. Alexia’s eyes glanced back to the fight on the monitor, with Joan struggling to contend with Cheveyo.

A streak of lightning flashed across the starry sky, with the sun finally moving past the horizon. The last duplicate of Cheveyo was tossed into the colosseum, causing a part of it to collapse. Joan took a moment to catch her breath before noticing a large amount of sand dust still picked up in the air. It was making visibility rather harsh.

“Argh! Give me a break.” Joan marched through the sand, trying to find clear space. It was unfortunate she cursed herself for not developing a wind alteration singularity. It had been a while since she spotted her opponent's main body fighting clones wasn’t what she expected. Even if one did surprise her, the rest was relatively easy. A win here would secure them to the finals.

The wind began to pick up with nighttime finally arriving at the ruins. It was already hard to see. Joan leaned up against a broken pillar, swatting away the sand in the air from her face to no avail; two tunnels underneath the sand began to move slowly towards her. A whispering voice made itself known in her ear.

“Juracán.” The familiar voice whispered into her ear as two hands uprooted from the sand beneath her, grabbing hold of her feet. From the Pillar, two more hands grabbed hold of her arms. The winds blew fiercely, causing a sandstorm in the middle of the ruins.

“I can’t see a thing.” Roy looked to the monitor, which was being obstructed by sand. Only the health bars were visible, with Joans going down rapidly. “Heh...Come on, that’s no good for the viewers, Chev.”

“So long as he wins, it’s fine.” Reynold tapped his clipboard with a smile seeing Joan’s health reach the red then empty out. Only the shouting screams from Joel renouncing the match were over ringing from the monitor. “That’s 1-1.”

“Nice. Looks like you’re up next, Sunshine.” Deveron glanced over at Heidi, who finally stood up, dusting her uniform off.

“Righto~! I’m off to go get Chevy. He was acting strange earlier and gave me the cold shoulder.” Heidi moved to exit the room.

“Yeah, he does that sometimes. It’s a bit unnerving.” Roy, at the very least, was happy they got a win. His match against Saint Mary didn’t end well.

“Do your best.” Alexia nodded to Heidi, who returned with a smile before exiting the room. Walking down the hall towards the fighting room, she’d notice Cheveyo approaching. “Yo~! Chev. Congratulations.”

Cheveyo rubbed the side of his head, glancing towards Heidi with a nod. He wouldn’t say much but merely patted her shoulders. “Thank you… And good luck.” At the moment, he was having constant headaches from using more than one of his gifts—the gifts of his gods.

“Get better soon.” Heidi mustered up what courage she had in her and stepped towards the fighting room with him moving past her. To her, it was pretty disheartening that they were still using the small chambers to fight in and not the big singularity machine located directly in the center of the building. Finals reserved as usual. Before she made it to the room, cameras were situated alongside the walls with people handling them. The media was active and well during the semi-finals.

“And! Here comes Starlight Academy’s 3rd player! Their lieutenant! Heidi Graham!” Joel shouted at the top of his lungs.

“I look forward to this match. Best of luck to Starlight.” Pearl commented before being interrupted by Joel.

“But! That’s not all! Her opponent! From the nearly decade-long champions of Idaho! Angela Woolery makes her second debut at the tournaments! Let’s see if she can bring her team back from the ashes this year!”

Heidi entered the room, the same inspecting woman still present. But, on the opposite end would be Angela, who merely waved at Heidi. The lieutenant's match of the semi-finals was about to begin.