It's Time To Begin (Ash/Carter- Match 3)

[Camila Reyes]

To say that Camila Reyes was hesitant about the whole situation was like the Queen saying she was British. That is to say, it was blatantly obvious. She had hardly slept the night before, even moreso than usual. She did not understand why guilt had been tearing at her stomach while she watched her best friend, self-proclaimed older sister, and roommate sleep. And yet, despite these feelings, she felt a small thrill of something else: excitement. Sure, she had not really wanted the last bloody battle to happen, but she had to admit that there was something about the adrenaline rush that caused her brain to look forward to what was to come. Yes, she would probably get beaten horribly; she had already resigned herself to that fate. However, a fight against someone who was clearly stronger than herself would be the perfect test to see just how much her abilities had grown from her time training with the Battle Front.

Many hours later, the time for the match finally arrived and, needless to say, she could feel the adrenaline starting to take effect. She nearly tripped as two well-clothed people extracted her from the crowd of students in the cell made just for the tournament. She slapped their hands away, grumbling about ‘not wanting to be man-handled’. She took a deep breath and headed out from the darkness of the school building into the sunlight. She winced slightly as the bright sunlight reached her eyes. The nameless organizers of the tournament had woken the students up very early that morning and locked them inside the basement until things were ready to get started. They had not wanted any tacticians to get a head-start, even though they would just figure out a way to use the ring to their advantage anyway. She felt self-conscious walking out toward the area, because she could feel eyes lingering on her from all sides. Strange, nameless faces seemed to be eyeing her. She hated it, and she wanted every single one of them to piss off and leave her the hell alone. She knew better than that, though. They were here for one reason, and one reason only; to see who was the best buy. Of course, no one had told her this, but it was almost like she could sense it coming off of them. She brushed the thought aside and went to slip into the ring, only to bump into someone who looked rather familiar.

“Oh, hey, Ash,” she said, her voice tinged with surprise. Sure, she had known he was participating in the tournament, but she knew that he was not her opponent. “Guess you’re here to wish us luck, eh?” she teased, glancing at Carter out of the corner of her eye. The other young woman had already beat her to the ring, but she was not surprised in the slightest. The storm manipulator wanted to know what was going on, and maybe, she had snuck out early to figure it out. Or, at least, the brunette hoped so. She looked at both of her best friends with a small grin and sighed before saying, “Welp, all I can say is may the odds be ever in our favor.” She figured that at least one of them would catch the reference, more likely Carter, since she read a wide variety of books. She felt a strange tug in her heart and she huffed through her nose; that moment was not a good one to get emotional, but she had things that needed to be said, just in case they did not make it. She hated to think of that possibility, but she had learned the hard way that danger could strike at any minute. She knew that the Battle Front were not going to allow one of their members to “be free” without a fight, because they knew the person really would not be free, no matter what the organizers said.

Thankfully, she was able to keep herself from crying as she gently brushed past Ashton and hugged Carter tightly. “I just want you to know that you’re one of the best friends I could ever ask for. You’re the older sibling I wish I had when I was growing up and I want you to do your best, okay?” She grinned at the young woman before stepping back over to the young man who was still waiting on the side. Her cheeks dusted pink and she cleared her throat, trying to find the words she wanted to use to tell him what she was thinking and feeling. “Sorry about that,” she managed a moment later, a small, teasing smile stretching across her face, “You’ve probably been waiting long enough, so I won’t keep you.” She looked down at her sneakers, grateful that they had allowed them to wear casual attire. Fighting in a skirt was one of the weirdest things in the world. She mentally slapped herself; she needed to focus on what she was going to say. How could she possibly find the words, though? She had tried and failed so many other times, and how different was this time going to be? Maybe, she should try something else instead. Camila looked up at Ash with a gentle smile, finally managing to spit out some words that were oddly sincere, given their teasing friendship, “And I want you to know that I care about you a lot, and I…” She struggled for a few moments to articulate what she was thinking and instead, let out an irritated huff. After muttering a ‘f*** it’ under her breath she all but yanked him down by the collar and planted a firm kiss on his lips. Normally, she would not have been so bold, but she did not want to regret anything, in case she did meet her end that day. After a moment, she let him go, her face flushing even more as she did so, but she grinned at him anyway. “Sorry, but Carter and I should probably start the match now. Otherwise, they might start throwing rotten tomatoes at us.” The playful grin softened to a gentle smile once more as she whispered, “Good luck,” before nodding to Carter and turning to head toward the ring.

Camila did not have a clue what was going to happen, but if she knew anything, it was that she would have absolutely no regrets. Sure, she was going into a tunnel of darkness, and the end would seem far away, but she was confident that she, and the rest of the Battle Front, would come back into the light somehow.

[Ashton Kay]

Days ago it was announced that there was going to be a tournament. A government approved way to get off the island. Ashton hardly believed it when he first read the blurb on the event, and now as he stood on the brink of arena he still couldn’t believe they were putting on this show. A show, because obviously they weren’t going to let prime students leave the island without some kind of catch. It was that catch that he was here for, to find out what was up before anymore of his friends ended up getting hurt. Or worse, expelled. Expelled casually being the equivalent to dying or disappearing for an unknown amount of time.

The ginger stood off to the side his green eyes scoping out the crowd and trying to register the unfamiliar faces in some way. While his body seemed relaxed with his shoulders slightly slouched in his position against a wall and his arms loosely tucked over his chest, he was really anything but. However, only the people closest to him would pick up on the subtle way he had his jaw clenched and his eyes moved constantly, almost restlessly. It wasn’t until he noticed Jin in the crowd that he made a move to start weaving throw the mob of students, but he didn’t get far until a familiar force knocked into his side.

If it hadn’t been for the hundreds of times that they had rammed into each other, Ashton might have lashed out but he instantly knew it was Camila. He looked down at the girl, a smirk sliding into place as nodded to her in greeting, “Don’t look so surprised to see me, you might hurt my feelings.” He said teasingly, relaxing slightly at the sudden appearance of his friend. “Luck is probably better than to break a leg in this situation, huh?” He questioned as his eyes left the girl for a moment and flashed a grin at Carter. It was a terrible situation over all but this particular bracket was rough for him.

After all, he trained and worked with half of these kids. He knew them inside out when it came to fighting. Personality wise he adored most of them like family. Which included those family members you can’t stand at times but they still managed to make you laugh at others. Over all, they were his battle front babies. Ashton couldn’t stand the thought of them fighting one another and now he’d get to verse them all. This time, it wouldn’t be a simple spar. This time, it was serious and that unnerved him a little bit. ‘At least it’s not to the death,’ He thought idly, smiling a bit at Camila’s attempted of a joke but as she expected, the reference went over his head.

Snapping back to reality he watched as Camila rushed to hug Carter. He knew how close the two were, and in a way it made his stomach twist into a knot thinking about how hard this match had to be on them. Would one of them throw it? Or would they honestly play to their very best? He supposed only time would tell. He remained silent for a moment, slinging his hands into his basketball shorts. Once they were done their touching moment he reached over and ruffled Carter’s hair, “Give ‘em a show, kid. It’ll be great.” He smiled warmly at her, before his attention was called away.

Watching Camila’s gentle smile his own grew, a soft grin with one side a little high than the other giving him a slightly mischievously look. He tilted his head to the side, a little confused to where she was going with this. He knew that Cami cared about him, that day on the beach and how close they had gotten after that proved it beyond a doubt. So when he heard her cursing under her breath, it was safe to say that confusion crossed his features until he was yanked down to her level and giving him something that he’d been craving for a long time.

Pulling back after the kiss, surprise was the only thing on his face as he watched her begin to walk away. Even being the lady’s man that he could be, he hadn’t been expecting her to return those kind of feelings. Yet, he was wasting the opportunity as he snagged her wrist and twirled her around, planting another kiss on her lips, this one a tad deeper yet somehow managing to stay just as sweet. “One for good luck,” He said was he pulled back and rested his forehead against her’s for a moment. “Don’t do anything stupid like trip and kill yourself alright?” He said teasingly before letting her go, “Don’t worry about the tomatoes, they’ll just give me a little extra target practice.”

Watching her go was a mix of emotions. He felt a release, finally having done something that was long over do. At the same time, he felt a new sense of worry begin to brim in his stomach. The fact that she was facing Carter gave him some comfort, but not much. Trying to shake it off and keep his head clear he made his way over to a spot that gave a fairly clear view of the fight. Sitting down he took a load off of his mechanical leg, hoping to rest it so it wouldn’t bust in the middle of a fight. “Be careful,” He said quietly, resting his elbows on his knees as his hands dangled between his legs. “the both of you.”

[Camila Reyes]

Camila had not expected to Ash to be so tense, but then again, she probably should have. She could see the subtle way his jaw was clenched, and she could not really blame him. This tournament was a stressor on them all, mainly because they would all be fighting each other to discover the true motive. After all, with the government, there was always an ulterior motive. She chuckled a little at his words, lightly punching him in the arm, “Aww, c’mon. You know I’m always happy to see you. so no need to get upset. She chuckled, nodding a little bit, “While this does feel like a performance with all of these eyes around, luck is much better. The only twirls I’ll be doing are to avoid attacks, and that will only be if I find enough balance to pull that off.” She snickered, shaking her head. If there was anyone on Battle Front who was clumsy, it was Camila Reyes. She had broken several things by falling, tripping, or something related to losing her balance. Some people called her a bull in a china shop, and she supposed it was accurate except for one thing: they forgot the unbalanced part. It would certainly explain her propensity for tripping, slipping, and landing on her butt most of the time. She saw the grin that he flashed to the other young woman and she smiled sadly. Whether he said it or not, she could almost tell that the bracket was really getting to him, and she hardly blamed him. He had seen a lot of these people through training, even herself, and there was a chance that he would have to fight them. The thought of having to fight another one of her best friends made her feel queasy, but she quickly brushed the feeling aside; there was not time to be sick before what she was about to do or the match itself. She was just grateful it was only a knock-out battle, and she hoped that Carter would give it her all, even if it meant having to rough Camila up a little bit. Of course, Camila would forgive Carter in a heartbeat, because she hated holding grudges against people she held close to her heart.

Getting Ash’s attention was the easy part for Camila. What was harder was trying to express her emotions in words. Her thoughts were already racing a thousand miles per minute thanks to adrenaline, and it did not help that her habit of putting her thoughts into ill-fitting words was at an all time high when she was nervous. To replace the idiotic words that she knew were going to come spewing out of her mouth, she instead let her instincts (at least, that’s what she thought they were) take over. The confusion on his face only cemented her determination to express herself without words. She was not a telepath, so she could not share her thoughts. But, there was something else she could do that could communicate what she was trying to say nearly perfectly. The kiss was little more than her crushing her lips against his for a few seconds. To say that it was hardly a proper kiss to communicate affection for someone so close to one’s heart would be the grandest understatement of the year. And yet, that simple contact had made her as pink as that one shirt that she possessed that she absolutely despised. She tried to make the situation less awkward for herself by giving an excuse of starting the battle and heading toward the ring. What she was not expecting was a force to pull her back and whip her back around to face him. The startled look on Camila’s face did not last long as Ash pulled her into an admittedly much better kiss. Her eyes widened for a moment before fluttering shut, and then opening again when he addressed her. Several emotions at once floated in her sapphire eyes, but the small smile on her lips brought clarity to those emotions. She was relieved and happy, but nervous all the same. She had not expected her feelings to be returned in any kind of way, but maybe she had been wrong. “I can’t promise not to be clumsy, but you know I’m not going down without a fight,” she said reassuringly, nudging her forehead lightly against his. She laughed a little, “Please, as if you of all people need target practice,” she teased with a grin.

Watching Ash walk away was bittersweet. She had finally done something about the two of them, but there were still so many questions that needed to be answered. All of that would have to wait, though. For that moment, she would be content knowing that, if she did end up dying, that everyone she cared about knew that she had. She grinned at her other best friend, who had been waiting patiently the entire time. She nodded toward the ring and climbed in, breathing out and cracking her neck. If those rats wanted to treat this like a show, she would surely give them one. She waited until the other young woman climbed in the ring as well before shouting out to her. “For the record, I already forgive you for knocking me out. I know you feel bad about this whole thing, but hit me with your best shot. If they want a show, we’ll give ‘em one!” A triumphant grin crossed her face as a golden yellow color started to swirl around her fingertips. She knew for sure she was going to lose, but that did not stop her from being at least a little bit excited. She did not really want to fight Carter, Ash, Jin, or any of her other Battle Front friends/family members, but she knew that, in order to stop what was going to happen, they needed to give it their all. They would crack the governments’ secret in no time.

[Carter Roth]

Carter was sick. She was actually surprised that she had gotten any sleep the night before. When they had announced the tournament and the “prize” she’d been suspicious and excited. Suspicious, because there was no way in any blue hell that the government would let any students just walk off. Excited, because she might get slotted against someone she didn’t like or a kind of gifted she had never fought before. Challenging herself and all that. What she hadn’t counted on was getting pitted against her own roommate, best friend and for as she was concerned, her little sister. Someone either had a sick sense of humor or she got on the universe’s bad side. And here she was thinking her and Karma were friends. Nevertheless, she eventually got to sleep, thinking that the only thing worse than fighting her sister as fighting her tired. Her powers didn’t exactly like listening to her if she was unfocused and she needed to be precise that day; she couldn’t risk actually hurting Camila long term. A few nicks, sure, those were expected. They got those practically every day during training and regularly gave them to each other when they spared. But actual injuries? Please no.

Like she her friend had suspected, she gotten up early and snuck out, trying to sniff out what was really going on in this tournament, but she had come up empty handed and eventually got penned in the cells with the rest of the competing students. And when they came to get her out for her turn, she wasn’t any nicer than she was the first time. Carter didn’t exactly like people she didn’t know touching her, and the fact that she was going to have to fight someone near and dear made her grumpy to boot. She shook them off rather easily, growling at them, and stomped off to the ring. She kept her head held high and tried to keep her face a stone mask, looking out at the crowd with squared shoulders and a bit of malice in her eyes as she walked.

However that melted when she saw Camila and Ash of all people in the ring. Ash was fighting? Cue her stomach dropping completely out of her. It was bad enough that Camila was fighting at all, but how many more of her friends were in this thing? She knew Aura and Jin were, but she hadn’t heard about the others. A little bit of the tension in her shoulders melted when she snorted at the joke. “Really, Mila? A Hunger Games reference?” She teased, a small smile on her lips. Humor was usually her coping mechanism as well but so far she had been uncharacteristically brooding and just...gloomy. She had to be. The night before she had to pretty much put her emotions on lock down to just get any meaningful rest. And today was the same, more or less.

She closed her eyes and hugged Camila back just as tightly, breathing a bit shakily. She had really thought about throwing the fight. But then that would mean subjecting her to whatever the government had planned. The last thing she wanted to do was knock her out, but she figured it was better than handing her over to them if she got that far, and it saved her from having to potentially fight more friends. She knew Camila wanted to see how far she’d come with her training, but the thought of fighting her for real...Oh lord, here comes the nausea again...Carter swallowed harshly and didn’t say a word, instead just nodding. She stepped back when she was let go, instead watching her and Ash. They were cute, she had to give them that. And being the big sister she was, instead of pretending to look away, she just blatantly watched them, trying not to snort a little or coo or tease them. She would save that for after. Because oooh they were going to get it.

She rolled her shoulders as she climbed into the ring, electricity already starting to crackle across her skin, signalling that the storm manipulator was simply in no mood. Despite that, she grinned widely when she heard her friend’s word and shouted back, “Hell yeah!” She still felt horrible at the thought of hurting her, but hey, a show’s a show...And she knew if she didn’t give it her all, as soon as Camila saw her again she was going to chew her out. Carter took a deep breath, hearing thunder begin to rumble through the ring, figuring she would at least make it dramatic. She didn’t know of any other storm manipulators on the island and she wanted to make their first impression of little ol’ her memorable. She waited for Camila to make the first strike, unable to do such a thing herself.

[Camila Reyes]

Whether Carter knew it or not, Camila could tell that her best friend was in distress. No matter what kind of stony-faced act the blue-haired young woman tried to pull, the brunette could see past it. They had been friends for a while now, and they had lived with each other for that same amount of time. Camila knew a lot more about Carter than she probably even knew about herself. She could read her expressions and body language like it was second nature. Sure, she may miss the mark a couple times here or there, but she knew when Carter was trying to lock down her emotions. Clearly, this was one of those times. Still, she at least managed to catch the humor that she tried to inject into the situation. The brunette also used humor as her coping mechanism, even if it was not necessarily appropriate. She saw the tension leave her roommate’s shoulders for a little bit, and that brought a sigh from her, though one could not tell if it was from relief or nerves. “Yes, Carter, a Hunger Games reference. I felt that we needed a little bit of a laugh considering this atmosphere of doom and gloom,” she joked, finding that the words rolled easily off her tongue, despite the dreadful churning in her guy and the tiny voice in her head that was screaming at her to flee. She shook her head in determination; she could not back down now. She had wanted to know what was going on, and she was going to find out, regardless of who she had to take down (or be taken down by) along the way.

Camila had planned to say some kind words to her two closest friends before she ventured into the unknown, but the hug for Carter was really a last-minute decision. She could see how badly that she needed it; she could almost feel the raw emotions coming off of her older sister in waves and she tried to make herself immune to them by distracting herself. The last thing she needed was to get upset, or worse, angry, and break down before they even had a chance to start. At least, mid-battle, it would lead to an easier knock-out. Sure, the brunette was going to give it all she had, but she knew that she was no match for the blue-haired young woman who had trained with the great Calista Rosa. The memory of the former Battle Front leader stung in her mind and she had to assure herself that Calista would want them to do what they were: doing everything they could to stop the government from enslaving some and killing the rest. When she separated from Carter to have a word with Ash, she could feel her friend’s eyes on her the entire time. She had completely forgotten the two of them (them being Ash and herself) had an audience. She could almost guarantee that the other would rag on her for it later, but she could care less. Expressing her feelings was better than hiding them, dammit!

Camila saw the electricity crackle across Carter’s skin and an image flashed in her mind’s eye for a brief second. Little bolts of energy danced around fingers that had a face, but she could not see said face. She wondered idly if any of the prefects had been dragged into this nonsense for one reason or another. It did not really matter, because she had seen the lineup; the only person who was not Battle Front in the bracket was someone by the name of Issac. She did not know who this person was, though the name was familiar, almost like she had heard it somewhere. Then again, there were a lot of students at the school, so there was a possibility of there being 3 different Issacs. She brushed the thought aside to focus on the loud noise that rumbled through. Involuntarily, her shoulders tensed. She hated loud noises, thunder included. This idea was dead on arrival, she thought bitterly, before pasting a grin on her face. She did not want all of the spectators to see that inside, she was absolutely terrified. She was not afraid of getting hurt; that was the easy part. The hard part would be dealing with the guilt that she would be feeling soon enough. Of course, this was not being helped by the fact that Carter was clearly letting Camila have the first move. She huffed slightly, closing her eyes and picturing a throwing knife that she could use for a quick, long-range attack. It formed in her hand, buzzing and crackling at her side and she drew her arm back, launching it toward the other young woman. Inside, she hoped that it missed, but she could not be sure because she had shifted slightly when she had stepped forward to launch it. She waited for a dodge or counter, hoping that this match would be over sooner rather than later. The guilt was starting to get to her already, but she steeled her nerves. She needed to save the half-act, half-serious emotional breakdown for the end of the match, so she could get the other young woman to knock her out. Clearly, Carter was going to fight with everything she had, and it made Camila worry, but she knew she was not strong enough to take on the government by herself.

[Carter Roth]

She hated using the thunder on Camila, knowing she had a thing against loud noises, but it was part of her usual battle tactics. Whip up a storm, let it rage and create the water and wind and lightning for her so she wouldn’t have to constantly pull it out of thin air. That way she conserved energy and could concentrate on putting more juice into attacks rather than on making the mediums. She almost faltered, nearly turned the storm on the audience, but she took a deep breath and focused. She needed to be on autopilot during the fight, needing to make it quick and painless as possible for her sister so she could be dropped from the tournament and therefor be safe from whatever plot and scheme the government had cooked up. From what she heard floating in the grapevine most of the bracket one people were fellow Battle Front. She knew already that two of them were the main ones who trained her, excluding her mentor, Cali. Seems like she would nauseous in all her fights, it looked like. She stopped thinking about Cali before her mind could fixate on those thoughts, and tried to go back to the task at hand; analyzing the fight and possible future outcomes. Sure, she didn’t think she’d actually win against Jin or Ash, she was well trained but she wasn’t that well trained, but she was would still fight as hard as she could. They actually would be a hell of a challenge and put what she learned to the test, and she was overprotective. Even when she knew her friends could do more than take care of themselves, she didn’t want anyone laying a hand on them or she’d be one angry storm manipulator. Plus, she didn't want to lose and it ending up being Camila versus the snowball.

Carter flicked a hand, a gust of wind blowing the throwing knife off course, the storm above going off script since she wasn’t even trying to control it, creating more wind for her to direct the knife back at Camila. It was slowed considerably down of course, thanks to the turn sapping momentum, and that was exactly what she wanted. Slow, easy to dodge, but it looked like she was trying. Hopefully. It better look like she was doing something, she was fighting her sister, dammit. She was just happy that she was actually able to counter attack.

Thunder rumbled again, louder this time as the storm took advantage of the weather patterns the island had been experiencing lately, whipping up into a nice little roof shaker of a storm. She would probably be doing Camila’s laundry for a month for payment for all the thunder but she would gladly do it if meant they were fine after this. She didn’t get any closer, wanting to avoid hand to hand at all costs and just planned to use her classic attacks. Some lightning, a bit of hail, maybe a minor grade tornado. Enough to spin her and make her dizzy, but nothing to send Dorothy to Oz.

She swallowed again and called down the lightning, striking the ground near Camila, trying to tire her out quickly by making her sprint like hell to dodge the bolts. She just hoped the brunette actually ran for once instead of tripping. If she tripped then her whole plan went up in a puff of cold smoke and Carter would be forced to take advantage of her mistake. She better not freaking trip...!

[Camila Reyes]

Camila inhaled sharply when she noticed the storm clouds shifting toward the audience, and she almost wanted to snap at Carter to get it together. She knew this had to be hard for her; hell, it was hard for herself, but the faster they started, the faster it would be over with. Thankfully, it seemed that her best friend had gotten her bearings back and kindly sent the knife back in her direction. She was able to dodge it just in time and some more yellow swirled around her hand. They were still at a far distance, and clearly, the storm could send any projectile she sent at Carter back in her own direction. She guessed her best choice would be to trip her up, but that would require her to close the distance between them. She huffed in frustration and created a whip-like construct that was longer than normal. She slashed it outward, aiming for Carter’s feet and ankles. She hoped the force would unbalance her long enough to create something she could not send back with a gust of wind. Then again, the wind might send the construct back anyway, but, hell, it was worth a shot.

Camila had stayed pretty calm through the beginning of the battle. That was, until lightning bolts started coming down around her. Externally, she was able to keep an even mask as she jumped from side to side, dodging the bolts pretty well, though she did manage to get clipped by one. She did not let the pain show on her face, though. She was grateful that she had decided to do some training the day before. She had mainly focused on being light on her feet, because, well, she was a goddamn klutz. No matter who she was with or what she did, she always found herself on the ground at some point. Usually, it was because she had tripped and thankfully, she avoided that fate this time. She brushed the thoughts aside as she started to close the gap between them. An apologetic glance shimmered in her sapphire eyes as she created another knife, waiting until the wind pattern shifted slightly before throwing it. The storm swirled around in a circle, she knew that much for sure. So, as soon as she could feel the wind against her back, she let the knife sail in Carter’s direction. She had aimed it at her shoulder, but she knew that most likely, it would circle back around to herself again.

At the last second, Camila also created a stapler construct and threw it as well, this time aiming for Carter’s head. She figured this would come back to bite her in the a**, but at least it looked like she was trying. All that she knew was that she was going to feel like a horrible friend after all of this s*** was over. She hoped that, if the construct hit her, it would make her slightly dizzy because it, ya know, hit her in the head. If not, she would have to duck when it came back around, because she remembered what Ash had told her the time he had gotten hit by one. “That s*** hurts” She could not help but smile just a little bit. All she could hope was that they survived whatever was coming. Well, that, and the fact that nobody would notice she was trembling just the slightest bit. She was not being hesitant, but it was hard to hold back strong, raw emotions and not have some kind of reaction. Camila clenched her fists tighter by her sides and waited for Carter’s counter. All she could really do was fight to the best of her ability while throwing the match so that the other would win. Of course, she would feel really guilty about it, because she knew the government was up to no good and if her friend got mixed up in it. She would likely never forgive herself if something happened to the other young woman, or any of her friends, really. However, that would not stop her from stabbing b****es to make sure such a thing never happened.

[Carter Roth]

That’s my girl...Carter watched as her friend dodged the lightning rather well. Seems like her training was doing it’s job and making her more agile and less apt to be her clumsy self in a fight. That made her proud, even as she gritted her teeth when she saw a bolt strike a little too close. Sure, it wasn’t showing on her face, and she couldn’t see very well from this distance, but she just....knew. Carter grit her teeth, a muscle ticking her jaw. At this point she didn’t care how banged up she got, right now, she kind of just wanted a drink. A nice, strong drink would be good. Whiskey was always a good choice, and it was actually pretty easy to come by if you knew the right person. She wouldn’t drink herself into a hangover or anything, but she figured she’d earned a shot or two.

She managed to dodge the whip, not really thinking about, just moving instinctively to avoid the thing coming at her feet. By the time she stopped and looked up again Camila was much closer than before and sending a knife for her shoulder. She tried to twist out of the way and duck out of it’s way but she was a few seconds too late. The blade sliced across her shoulder but didn’t stab her. Carter hissed nonetheless, feeling blood start to drip out of the wound and down her arm, but other than that she didn’t react. As for the stapler, she had managed to pull water from the rapidly humidifying air, thanks to the storm, in time and coalesce it around her arms , flash freezing it as she brought her arms in front of her head. The stapler hit the ice with a thud instead of her face and went bouncing off into the wind. As for the ice, well...Carter was going to hate herself for this. Carter threw her arms out in front of her, sending the ice flying off of her arms and towards her sister, fracturing as it did into small shards.

She looked away, not wanting to see the aftermath if any of those shards hit. She had tried to move them slightly to avoid hitting her in any major places, only wanting to cut her at most. The last thing that either of them needed was Camila being stabbed. If that happened then she would never forgive herself, not even begin to. How could she? She had tried to see this whole fight as a necessary evil, so Camila wouldn’t have to go through more fights and possibly catch the government’s eye. It had looked like  the only way to keep her sister safe was knocking her out and most likely sending her to the infirmary. She had accepted it, of course, after a few hours of having a minor anxiety attack over the whole thing, but she had. She just hoped she could actually do it.

[Camila Reyes]

Camila was grateful that she had not screwed up and tripped. If she would, she certainly would have gotten a worse electrical burn than the small one she had managed to get. She did not have too much time to examine it at that moment, so she made a mental note to do it later. Another thing she would be sure to do later was to split a bottle of something amongst the Battle Front. One thing was for sure, they were all going to need it after having to fight each other and, probably, the government as well. She made a mental note to see if Ash still had of that whiskey left over from that one event that he spiked the punch at. The thought of him made her a little nervous, but she brushed it aside. She could deal with her emotions later. She needed to focus on getting the match over with. She was not sure how much longer she could keep fighting until she just outright sabotaged herself. No, she needed to keep going. She wanted to make it seem like she was putting forth her best effort, even if she was only doing a subpar job.

A slight wince crossed Camila’s face when the knife sliced open Carter’s shoulder. She was going to make sure she healed that later as well as buy her a new shirt. She hoped the one that the other young woman was wearing was not her favorite. Sorry about that, she thought apologetically, waiting for Carter to send another attack her way. She was really trying her hardest to keep it together, but it was hard. Sure, she had fought with her brother before, but she never really felt bad about it because, a lot of the time, he was mean to her. Carter had not done anything to deserve Camila attacking her. As a matter of fact, the other young woman was someone she looked up to, whether she realized it or not. Older sister indeed, she thought idly, watching the stapler bounce off of the ice. The construct disappeared as soon as it hit the ground outside the ring. Camila watched carefully as Carter stretched out her arms and she shifted into a defensive stance, covering her face with her arms. She had a feeling what was coming next, and she wanted to make sure she was not permanently blinded by it.

Camila felt icy sharpness assault her arms and bit back the hiss that wanted to slip off of her tongue. Each piece of ice that hit sliced through the skin of her arms. Thankfully, the wounds were only superficial, so she would not have to worry too much about them. After the bombardment ceased, Camila decided to switch back to an old tactic. She started spamming small spheres at Carter’s feet, hoping at least one would catch her off balance. Even if they did not, she released a large sphere at the end, hoping that it would not knock her completely over. The last thing she wanted to do was knock her over, because she would have to take advantage of that. C’mon, don’t take pages from my book. Keep your balance, she thought frantically, ending the combination with another knife construct just to make it look like she was trying. One thing was for sure; she was going to drink after this was all over.

[Carter Roth]

The storm manipulator, who had seen many things during her time at Ashford, almost had to look away as the frozen, little...spears -because that’s basically what they were; teeny little sharp projectiles that could stab people- flew towards who was probably her closest friend in this awful place. Honestly, what had she done to karma to get matched up against Camila? Did she mess up in training too many times and that was suddenly a cosmic indiscretion, or had she jokingly made fun of the “new meat” to the island and the Battle Front too much? Hell, some people probably thought she was part of the queen bitch brigade or something if they didn’t have the same sense of humor as her or just thought she was mean. And hey, maybe she was mean. In this place she kinda had to be or else someone else would step all over her and those she considered hers. Yes, hers. Sometimes she was surprised she wasn’t some sort of pack animal mimicker, how much of a pack mentality she had. Camila was hers. Jin? Yup, hers too. Ash? Yeup, especially now that it looked like Ashila was going to be a thing. Cali was still hers in spirit, and if she heard anyone badmouthing her, even through the grapevine, then they would get punched. Aura? No question about it. Basically she considered most of the Battle Front hers, and would protect them with all she had, especially during this tournament and she knew it was going to get so much worse.

Carter forced herself to watch as the ice flew around her sister, commending her a little for not showing what had to be pain as it cut up her arms. Good girl, don’t give them anything. These people didn’t just want to see souped up teenagers fight like 'roided out jocks in a science fiction flick, they wanted to see them get hurt, too. She was honestly surprised at first, that the tournament wasn’t to the death, but then the government would lose it’s best moneymaker. Knowing them, and how this rock in the ocean ran, they were probably window shopping. “See the Gifted in action! Pick your favorites, bid on the winners! Forget these are actually kids with feelings and thoughts and not just mindless weapons and toys to use as you see fit!” That had to be one hell of an advertising team. She knew there were probably a literal metric ton of sick freaks in the world, some of them being fellow students in she was being honest, but still. She had to give the PR people props for finding enough of them to fill the stands of this thing.

She knew the tactic that Camila was using, she used it when they were sparring and she saw it in action when she was fighting others, but still. She was kind of thankful for those ballet lessons she took as a little kid, and the fact that the whole “gracefulness” thing wasn’t complete loss on the tomboy. She leaped and spun and twirled around the spheres, almost looking like she was dancing instead of avoiding the little balls of maybe death. She tried not to think anymore, because thinking at this point in the battle would be the end of her. She would start to think of what she was doing, what she already had done, and then she would lose it. She would start to slip up and then she’d go down, and she’d force Camila’s hand. She might not be able to handle the thought of knocking out her sister very well, but she figured she could at least fake like she was. Camila wasn’t able to fake as well as her, at least in her eyes, and she didn’t want to find out what would happen if someone refused to make the “killing blow” as it were. Oh god that was such a bad choice of words….

She let the knife cut her leg, above the lip of her boot or whatever the top of the footwear was called, and again didn’t show any reaction again. She had reached that point where she didn’t really consciously register pain anymore. It was a handy trait in actual fights, because she could ignore wounds and not really be hindered by them psychologically because her brain wasn’t receiving pain signals or something. She didn’t really care about the science, as long as it helped her distance herself from what she was going.

Thunder roared now, the storm having whipped itself up into a fair frenzy thanks to the weather conditions and the initial juice she had pumped into it. She flicked her wrist, making a sort of half spin motion with it and the wind started to pull itself in, spinning tighter and tighter around the brunette. It wasn’t a tornado, not yet, and even then it would be a low grade one. She just needed enough to spin her around a few times to make her dizzy. When she fell she could use a small chunk of ice, not a rock, a rock would be too much, and could hurl it at her temple. If she hit right then her friend would go down with minimal physical injuries. She would go down and Carter would try to get into the infirmary to be with her -if they actually allowed medical care during this whole event- so she could plant herself by her sister’s bedside and not move until she woke up.

[Camila Reyes]

Being pelted by tiny ice spears was not as painful as she had imagined. Then again, she was the same girl who basically punched the crap out of lockers until her knuckles bled, so anything was probably better than metal tearing away at her skin. The thought caused a wince to cross her face; though she tried to make it seem like it was because of barrage of ice that was coming directly at her. She wondered why she had even entered the tournament, honestly. She was not really that great of a fighter, and she knew it. She had not been training as long as Carter, Ash, or any of her other friends had. She had no hope of winning, so why did she even bother? She had asked herself that question over and over again, and only one true answer came to her mind: to protect them. Sure, fighting her friends and associates would not protect them in the traditional sense, but, if she knew what the circumstances were, she could better guard the people she cared about, and even those who were fooled into thinking they were going home. The thought caused her to swallow thickly, but she made it a point to show no more emotion on her face. She would not let the greedy buyers who watched them see that she was being worn down. She was almost sure that her friends who were forced to watch would see it in her eyes, but strangers did not know her as well as those close to her heart did. God, let this be over, she thought, hoping that the end of this emotionally painful battle was somewhere in sight. She was just thankful that the fight did not have to be to the death; she could not live with the guilt of killing the one person who had always acted like her surrogate sister, without even needing to be asked. Carter was a giving person, and cared about others a lot; Camila could see that plainly. In a way, she kind of wished she could be more like her; maybe a little more kind and even, gasp, a little more tactful.

The spheres would never be strong enough to cause any damage; they had merely been to trip her up. However, Carter seemed to pick up all of the grace that Camila lacked, and then some. She could not help as a small, breathless chuckle escaped her lips. Dance was not really her thing anyway; she was too clumsy for all of that. She would gladly stumble her way through life if she was able to having amazing friends like Carter, and Jin, and Ash, and everyone else on the Battle Front. She stayed in a defensive stance, stopping the barrage of yellow spheres once she determined they were ineffective. To compliment it, she had thrown a knife, which seemed to make impact, but the pain did not register on her best friend’s face and she nodded imperceptibly. Good. Don’t let them see you weak, she thought encouragingly, even though she knew that the other young woman could not hear her. It was not her other teammates seeing them the way they were; no, it was about those damn people who thought they were trophies. Nothing more than mere hunks of metal to be bought, sold, won, and passed around. Of course, she did not know the fate of those who had disappeared for good, but she had a sneaking suspicion that they were not at home with their parents.

The near-deafening sound of thunder made her want to cringe, but she steeled her nerves. Don’t let them see your weakness. They’ll exploit it, Camila thought, turning the words she had been thinking to Carter on herself. She was going to need all the encouragement she could get, considering that she was starting to feel drained. She could not even begin to tell anyone how long they had been fighting, though, if asked, she would have uttered something akin to a f****** eternity. She did not have much time to think about it, though, because she felt that she was being trapped by something and twirled around in a circle. She snapped her eyes shut, still trying to keep her facial expression neutral. She had never really been one for rides that went in a circular motion repeatedly, and she covered her mouth with her hand. Let’s hope I don’t puke, she thought idly, using her other hand to try and make something to break through the winds, but it was no use. Sure, she could try to use her hand, but she was not interested in breaking a wrist; not when she was almost sure there would be more fighting to do on the horizon. She was starting to feel dizzy already and she stumbled backwards, waving her arms around wildly as she started to fall toward the ground. She noticed a pole out of the corner of her eye and came up with an idea. Camila turned her sapphire eyes to Carter’s, nodding toward the pole as if to say: ‘Knock me into that’. She knew that it would make the other feel a little less guilty. To make it look like she was trying, the brunette made a knife in each hand and threw them both at the blue-haired young lady. Put on a good show, she thought, her fists curling in determination.

[Carter Roth]

Carter knew she was a better fighter, if only because she had more time logged on Ashford and had been lucky enough to be trained by what were probably the two best fighters in the Battle Front, if not some of the best on the island; Jin and Cali. Those two were part of her “inner circle” of friends, and hell, Jin was practically the first person she met when she got off the boat way back when. Meeting Cali wasn’t soon after that. Being the rather sociable creature that Carter was, she probably met most of her friends that she had now that first month or so. She trained as much a she could, wanting to get more control over her powers so she wouldn’t be seen as that chick who you couldn’t really count on in a fight since she was all over the place with her powers. She didn’t want to be a liability. She had continued that trend of using up the majority of her free time to train up till even now, wanting become one of the best. She was competitive, she’ll readily admit it, and that was part of it. But she also saw what some of the kids here could do, and if she ever found herself in a bind -which she would and had and will continue to keep doing because let’s face it, Ashford is not a school full of hippies- she wanted to be able to handle herself and not accidentally take out somebody standing on the sidelines because something went haywire.

All that being said, Carter wasn’t one of the top yet, at least not as far as she was concerned. There was always room for improvement and things she could hone and tighten up on. If Camila thought she was a weaker fighter, Carter thought she wasn’t much better than her. But like her, her sister could only improve. She had seen how she fought when they first met and how she fought now, and she was much better. She wouldn’t be surprised if her sister become one of the best too. She certainly had the makings for it. She could control freakin’ auras or whatever they were! How awesome was that? As for her being nice....Carter didn’t think she was. Well, she was, but not to any great extent. Catch her on a bad day? She’ll be snappy. Catch her around someone she doesn’t like? Snappy. She knew she was sarcastic, snarky, and could be quite the bitch, but she would do anything for her friends. If she didn’t like someone, she would make no effort to be kind. She gave as good as she got, after all.

She watched the brunette like a hawk as she started to spin, feeling sick herself knowing that she was the one doing this to her. She saw her start to stumble back and almost made a gust of wind push her upright to stabilize her out of habit and reflex but she stopped herself, knowing that would just prolong the inevitable. Necessary evil, necessary evil, necessary evil….She bit down on the inside of her cheek, seeing the nod and knowing exactly what she was thinking. She had intended to use ice as the “big finale” because it wouldn’t hurt as much. At least she hoped it wouldn’t. Even a pebble can knock someone out if thrown hard enough and hits the right place, right? She figured she could do the same with a hailstone. But a pole…? A pole was metal. It would surely knock her out and then some. Carter might accidentally give one of the closest friends she’d ever had, outside of Ashford included, a concussion. A concussion. Not to mention that when Mila woke up it would probably be accompanied by the headache from hell. Carter had knocked her head into metals before, not nearly as hard as Mila was about to, and she had ended up with a migraine that had lasted a week straight. The thought of subjecting her sister to that...

She didn’t even react to the knives as they were thrown, the wind ripping them away and hurling them towards the edge of the ring before they could even come close to her. Just as well, because Carter was pretty much numb at this point. Rain started falling, the storm clouds above finally releasing all the build up they had, mirroring the storm manipulator’s emotions right now. She gave another flick of her hand, a gust of wind spinning off of the bigger whirlwind and aiming to hit her sister square in the chest. That caused her to be knocked even further off balance and careen towards the pole, hitting her head with a loud, metallic clang. Carter fisted her hands but kept watching, forcing herself to as she watched it all happen in what seemed like slow motion. She had to watch. Even though Camila was the one to suggest the pole, it didn’t help her guilt at all. At this point she just hoped she didn’t knock the wind out of her too.

[Camila Reyes]

Camila had arrived at Ashford only a month or so after Carter did. She had not started training immediately, but, when she had, she had done her very best, just like Ash had asked her to. She occasionally had trained with Jin, too, but that did not last long, because he had to step in for Bridget after she went missing. Still, she had tried her best and it seemed she had improved considerably. She was still no match for her storm-manipulating best friend, though, and she knew it. As much as she wanted to protect her from the government, she knew that she was not strong enough yet. She was going to keep working on her powers until she could contribute properly to a takedown of the Ashford Project, and boy, would she feel good when that day came. Sure, things might never go back to being as they were, but she was sure that they could at least try and blend back into society, as if nothing had ever happened. She was thinking too far ahead though. She needed to keep her attention on winding down the match. It was not as much of a show as other matches in the bracket probably were, but she was almost sure that her fellow Battle Front members and other students were watching it with some level of interest and disgust. She could only hope that this farce, this “show” would be over soon and they would once again be left alone to be metaphorically fattened and deal with their own problems without anyone trying to “check on them”. Despite her feelings on the whole issue, she had to admit that she now had a solid idea of where she stood with her powers. She could hold her own, but there was no way she was anywhere near the older Battle Front member’s level of fighting. She was not very competitive in the physical arena, so not being the strongest did not really bother her too much, but she would still work to improve. Give them what they want, then show them up, she thought. It would be the perfect revenge, after all.

Camila had never really been fond spinning unless she started it herself, like a turn in ballet class or something. Oh, you mean the thing was supposed to help me have balance, but actually taught me nothing? she thought wryly as she covered her mouth with her hand. She wanted to shout “Hey, I don’t like this ride, lemme off!”, but she figured that it would only prolong the end, and good god, did she want this f****** thing to end. She was too tired and burnt out to put up a facade of confidence or anything, really. She was just going to exist how she was, and maybe put up a mask of stoicism or maybe even desperation, just to amuse the viewers. Or, at least, the viewers who were excited at the prospect of superpowered teenagers nearly tearing each other limb from limb. The brunette prayed the blue-haired young woman knew what she was talking about, but not actually talking about. She knew the pole would hurt more, but it would give a bit of a dramatic flair. Besides, Camila had fallen on her face and head more times than she ever cared to count. She highly doubted that she would get a severe skull fracture from hitting her head against a metal pole. She saw the guilt in her sister’s eyes, and she managed to shake her head. ‘Just do it’ she mouthed, looking at her with stern, sapphire eyes. She knew it was going to hurt like hell, and she would probably have a migraine later, but it was going to be worth it because, technically, her roommate and one of her best friends could not blame herself for hurting her.

Rain started falling from the clouds above her and for a moment, Camila wondered if it was some kind of symbolism of Carter’s feelings. Was she really that upset about having to hurt her? Of course she was. How could she even consider that question? Carter saw Camila as a little sister, and this match was probably hurting the blue-haired young woman as much as it was hurting the brunette. It’ll be over soon, I promise, she thought, shooting her roommate a small, sympathetic smile. She waited expectantly for the wind to hit her and braced herself to fall. Her breath was knocked from her first, and then her head made contact with the pole, letting out an awful sound. She started to see spots in her vision and, before she knew it, the world had faded into darkness. Just before she went under, though, she gave Carter a weak thumbs up before completely passing out.

A noise came from somewhere, and Carter was declared the winner of the match. Camila was carted off back to the holding area, where she was required to stay until the end of the tournament.