The day continued on with a remarkable play from Starlight and various other schools. Steamrolling through the first official match would be a new school to the fold. From Hawaii, Leilani Academy matched 3 - 0, rapidly throwing their competitor in the hole and out of the tournament. A dark horse many commentators already began discussing.
“REINING IN THE COMPETITION AGAINST NORTH DAKOTA! LEILANI ACADEMY MOVES ON!” One of the commentators shouted out. A native Hawaiian girl dressed in a modest school uniform gently stepped out of the fighting room. Cameras directed onto her from all angles.
“Ms. Onakea! How does your first national victory feel?” A reporter called out. The girl turned her head to them and immediately started relaying the message of “Easy, Clap.” In the Hawai'i Sign Language, none of them understood the relatively rare form of language. They seemed dumbfounded, still awaiting an answer. The girl merely shrugged with a smile and continued back to her room.
Upon arriving, a towel was thrown onto her as the voice of a male teammate reached her. “Kalena. Stop embarrassing us. When you use that form of language, do it properly without being rude.”
“Sorry, It’s just when a match only lasts five minutes. It can be hard to work up a sweat~.”
“That may be the case; think of what our teacher would think if he saw.”
“Right… I never thought of it that way. Speaking of which, Paulo.”
“Hm?”
“Where is the teacher anyway?”
“Francis? He said he was going to meet with other advisors from a few states. Told us to stay put here.”
“Huh, That or they asked him to comment on our victory~.”
“Unlikely, but let’s keep it up. Soon we’ll be facing Texas, and you’ll have all the time undermining Holly.” Paulo merely let out an exhausted breath of air. Getting to Texas and beating them was one thing, but getting past the other seeded schools, let alone taking on New York, would be far worse. But, such a task will be for later when they get there. For now, his attention turned to the TV as the commentators in the block not far from then announced the winner of a second round.
“And Starlight moves on! What a splendid match we saw, isn’t that right, Madam Paige!?” Livia’s continued excitement beamed onto Paige, who started to draw REVEALING!!! A rather cute deer, an eagle, and a clock next to each other with the words written ‘Spiritual Victory!’.
“My lady has spoken! Starlight is now 2 - 0!”
As Cheveyo walked back to the room, he couldn’t help but hear that single announcer go on and on. Why were the commentators this excited in the first place? Nothing significant even happened. Brushing a few bits of hair to the side, revealing a small deer antler retreating back into his skull. All Cheveyo could do was be relieved he didn’t need to conjure up more vital spirits.
“Excellent work, Chevy~!” Heidi seemed to have conjured up herself next to him.
“Wha-! Oh, it's just you. Don’t do that.” In his mind, he was wondering how she did that.
“I just got here, don’t worry. I see you didn’t beat Roy’s challenge.”
“Yes, a delay by two minutes.” A smile sewed across Cheveyo’s face. “He can have his record-keeping score. I’m not aiming for MVP anyway. Good luck out there.”
“Yeah~!” The two high-fived each other and went their separate ways. As the 3rd match and potentially final match of the 1st wave of fights started to proceed, a few news outlets recording the tourney spotted Heidi. However, one of them began to comment.
“Come on, we’re moving.”
“Huh? But, what about Idaho.”
“Change of plans, we’re going to record the Texas match. Not many people are watching from this side anyway. They’ll be eliminated soon.”
A nerve was struck, it seemed for Heidi upon hearing this quietly continuing to the fighting room. They were mocking everyone from that state by saying that even without realizing it. For them to doubt each school's efforts, such as East Bridge and Saint Mary — everyone there! It labeled them ‘Weak.’ Something Heidi prepared to prove the entire nation wrong!
Entering into the room, a flicker of flame projected itself behind her, then all but vanished the moment her eyes locked onto her opponent. A rather chiseled young man boasting quite the physique stepped forth in a similar uniform to Ruby’s.
“And stepping up for the Lieutenants match, we have Bradley Dawson from Springfield Technical~! His opponent is a rather adorable ginger! Wh-” Livia stopped as Paige jabbed her in the side. “AHEM! I mean… From Starlight Academy! Heidi Graham! Will Starlight move on with no losses, or can Springfield bring it back!”
Bradley observed Heidi intensely, then his mood loosened up upon stepping on the machine. “Tell you what… Heidi, was it? I’ll go easy on you just so I’ll save your school the embarrassment of losing after we’re done~.” When taking off his suppressor, two tiny orbs of light whimsically floated around him.
To Heidi, these tiny lights were hardly comparable to Alexia’s star power. Until she realized the lights had small wings. Fairies? No way! Heidi almost wanted to laugh when finally stepping on her end of the machine.
“No response, huh? Fine, say I didn’t warn you. Maybe when I’m done, I’ll have your number after this. We can even go on a date. You and me~.” Bradley started to flex for Heidi as the system started up.
Taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes. Heidi waited for the transfer to be complete — by the time she opened them again. It was the same arena stage Roy fought in. Only this time, half the audience missing and parts of the scene were broken from Cheveyo’s round. In front of her — Bradley.
“Heh. Alright, since you’re quite the good-looker, I'll let you have the first hit.” With that, Bradley oozing with confidence allowed his fairies to enter his body. Then, his body started to harden from the energy, skin turning into a hard substance that resembled carbon that Alexia used. “Go on~. I’ll wait patiently.” Mockingly smacking his own hardened chest.
Heidi, without saying much, slowly walked towards him, heat in the area starting to increase at a rapid pace. The match already started, and Bradley felt sweat dripping — But, he continued to stand there.
“You’re quite the gentleman, but sorry. I refuse all of your OFFERS!!!” Heidi, now only a few inches from him, lifted up her right leg as an enormous amount of heat diverted to her foot. A kick that held the high temperatures of an oven sent itself into the gut of Bradley. Who at the last second realized his foolish mistake.
A loud crunch echoed through the arena. As spit and blood seeped from Bradley’s mouth. His breathing halted while trying to reach out for Heidi. His own pain gave in, and Bradley collapsed to the floor unconscious, and with that the system kicking him out.
“W-Wha?!” Livia couldn’t believe it! The quickest match by far just occurred!
Paige was briefly halted in her drawing. A half-finished Heidi with heat symbols emitting off her. Paige finally understood why Pearl was a bit obsessed with this team. It seems she’s found a favorite for this tournament.
“Victory! Starlight!” The machine emitted — Transferring Heidi out, realizing she broke someone's spine. “O-Oh?! I’m so sorry! I thought you were prepared for it!” Quickly rushing to aid the poor boy with his injury. Luckily, the Medics were on stand-by and started to assist in repairing his damaged spine.
“YEAH!!!!” Roy shouted out.
“...Well, so much for the challenge. Looks like she beat us.” Cheveyo pointed out. Deveron merely scoffed a bit in annoyance. This will be a long tournament for him and Alexia if the others keep winning so much.
“OH! She did the kick!” Alexia started to mimic the kick herself, only instead of heat coming off — tiny particles of stardust emitted only to fade into thin air after a few seconds.
“Did you teach her that trick?” Deveron turned to Alexia.
“No, I just know she was practicing with Roy and Teach.”
“Yeah, it seems she finally got the hang of transferring that heat.” Reynolds finally commented. “All her hard work is finally paying off. But, maybe she picked up too much influence from all of you.”
Roy knew precisely what Reynolds meant, nodding his head in agreement. Starlight as a whole moved on to the 2nd round within an hour. With the 1st rounds of the tournament coming to an end, it was now time for the seeded schools to shine.
