"BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!" the crowd roared in unison as the junior division contestants stepped forth from the underground dugout.

Zack's mouth twisted at their unappreciative shouts submerging his ears. How dare they! After all the training he had done to come and perform for them, they would not even fake interest.

This did not phase him though, as it only gave him more determination to prove himself and make them eat their boos for underestimating him and the others.

Lea turned to him, "Kai wasn't kidding when he said they weren't interested."

"Pfft! Don't even pay them any mind. We'll have them out of their seats in no time," he glared at the crowd with determination in his eyes.

Lea smiled, "You know what, you're right! We WILL have them cheering!" she got herself psyched up, until she suddenly lost motivation and stood still.

While Zack was doing warm-ups and stretches, Lea's eyes glided across the stands with pouted lips. He realized this and turned to her.

"Hey Lea, we'll show them how good we are remember? Is everything okay?"

She sighed, "No one came to watch me . . . Why did I even expect him to come . . ." she sulked to herself.

"Hey Lea? What do you mean? There are thousands of people out there," he pointed to the stands with an assuring smile.

"No Zack, you won't understand."

He looked into her eyes with assurance, "Try me."

She looked straight into his eyes for a few seconds trying to determine if she should tell him or not, and finally, she chose to open her mouth. But before she could speak Kai began to yell again.

"Listen up for the rules of the Battle Royale!" Kai said, then pointed to a wall under the lower deck to one side of the stands.

"Take a good look at that wall! The first sixteen contestants to climb that wall will advance to the round of sixteen! You need to be quick if you intend to beat each other to the chase!" Kai informed them.

Zack spread a confident grin, "Pfft! Just a stupid race? Easy!"

Takeshi turned to him, "Nothing in life is that easy. There is always more beyond the horizon," he spoke with a softly modulated voice.

Zack turned around and his eyes met with the calm soft spoken Takeshi. Who was this guy? Beyond what horizon?

Apart from his accent Zack could not get past the blank expression on his face, which made him a bit uncomfortable. He had a tendency to distrust people whose emotions he could not read, and Takeshi surely made him equally curious and suspicious.

Brock looked around at the group of junior contestants with a smirk, then took off running. Everyone turned around surprised to see him sprinting down the arena.

"Kid where do you think y'ere going! I haven't started the match yet!" Kai yelled at him.

Brock slowed his pace and turned around to jog back, while the crowd began to boo loudly again.

"SENIOR!!!! SENIOR!!!! SENIOR!!!! SENIOR!!!!" the crowd chanted right around the arena, deafening the contestants below on the battlefield made of wood covered in a sea of sand.

Xander gathered some siliva in his mouth and spat at the sand, then looked up to the crowd with a smirk. Jirell who stood a few feet behind frowned at his conduct.

As Brock arrived back to the large group, Harper shooked her head with disgust, "You have no honor. Even before the masses, you have blatantly attempted to cheat and the match has not even commenced. You are no better than your people."

Brock turned to her, "Watch your mouth girl. I thought the match had begun. It is not my fault Altea's proctor is without sense, he did not make the rules clear enough."

"(I swear, if this boy was Altean I'd slap him into the netherworld)" Kai thought to himself as he scowled at Brock arguing with Harper.

He began to speak again, "There are sixteen flags over by the corner there! You are to do whatever you can to get those flags and make it up that wall! If all the flags are taken! Do your best to steal it from whoever you see with one!"

Zack chuckled to himself, "(This is right up my alley)" he thought to himself with a mischievous grin, remembering his past escapades during his days at the orphanage. He looked around at all his competition, feeling confident he could still whip out the old bag of tricks.

Kai continued to speak, "If all the flags end up on the lower deck and there are no more on the arena, then that means you failed to advance to the knockout round and will be eliminated from the competition!"

The crowd then began to chant loudly again, but Zack heard one particular voice sticking out like a sore thumb, "Start the damn match!!!!!!!!! We didn't come to watch this tom hickery!!!!!!!!!!"

Kai frowned, "Damn, I'm never doing this job again," he raised his arm in the air.

"Begin!!!" he lowered his outstretched arm quickly.

All the fifty contestants took off, sending sand flying through the air as they dashed for the flags lined up on the side near the underground dugout.

The crowd went silent as they saw trails of sand and dust being swept up across the arena by the stampeding contestants.

Zack bent down to pick up one of the flags, but just as his fingertips made contact with it, he felt his shirt ride up to his neck and his body being dragged backward.

He plopped onto the sand on his back, causing him to cough. Harper dashed before him and swooped the flag off the ground then began to sprint for the wall with built-in rungs on them.

"Hey! Get back here girly!"

He jumped to his feet and was about to chase her, but saw another flag laid on the ground beside him. He bent down to take it up, but Kenji dive-tackled him across the ground for it.

"Damn! Not again!" yelled Zack as he tried to wrestle the flag from Kenji's hands.

Kenji skinned his teeth trying to make his grip firmer, "I am sorry, I cannot let you have this," he groaned.

"You're getting on my nerves right now," Zack wrapped one arm under Kenji's pelvis and the other around his shoulder, then hoisted him in the air and dropped him onto his back.

"Ahhhhh!" Kenji yelled in pain as he turned to his side holding his back.

Zack took the opportunity to run off with the flag, sidestepping all those who tried to grab him as he sprinted down the arean flanks with the flag flashing back and forth in his hand.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lea a few paces behind him with a flag of her own, and ahead Jirell was at the bottom of the wall about to climb up.

He saw Harper about to climb up the top of the wall, but Xander dragged her down by her foot and kicked her in the face, disarming her of the flag she stole from him.

One boy reached out his arm for Zack's shoulder as he ran, but Zack twisted his shoulder to evade him as his fingers grazed across it.

His neck bent to the side as another Valkyran girl tackled him in his side, sending him flying onto the sand and the flag soaring out of his hand.

"Noooo!!!!!" he reached out his hand to try and catch it, but the wind pushed it farther out of his reach.

He was about to get up but he froze, feeling a swift gush of wind pass over his head. He looked to see Lea had jumped over him to avoid a collision and continued running for the wall.

The Valkyran girl dashed for the flag, but Zack tripped her with his foot.

"Oh no you're not!" he yelled and sprinted to try and catch it.

By this point the crowd began to cheer loudly at the fifty competitors scattered across the arena doing their best to sabotage each other and steal a flag, and with each vicious tackle the crowd roared in excitement.

All who got a flag and climbed up were either dragged off by the others at the bottom, or lost their grip and fell.

As Zack bent down to pick up the flag, he received a knee to the face, knocking him to the ground.

"Worthless Altean," Brock mocked and took up the flag, then ran.

"No!" Zack yelled.

He smashed his fist into the sand enraged, then looked up with a gaped mouth to see a strange figure running through the stands, and watched as the person jumped off of the rails and rolled across the ground.

"Kelly!" he yelled in relief. He finally made it. "Kelly! Get the flag and climb up that wall!" Zack yelled across the arena.

"What!" Kelly looked around baffled by the scattered stampede of young warriors around him.

"Get the flag!!! There he is!!!!" Zack pointed to Brock.

Kelly saw Brock running toward him and tackled him to the ground.

Zack then looked toward the wall, and smiled seeing Lea and Jirell at the top, but it would soon turn to frustration realizing time was running out for him and Kelly.

He realized everyone was now packed together under the wall trying to drag down anyone climbing up with a flag. He ran to the wall and if by some fate of luck, someone fell off the wall and a flag escaped their hand and landed on the ground before him.

He took it up and stuffed it in his trousers while the others were distracted trying to pull down the other opponents. He jumped onto the rungs of the wall and began to climb up.

Beside him he saw Kenji climbing up with a flag in his hand, and to his right was Harper a few feet above him. The sand from off of her boots fell into his eyes causing them to turn red and burn. He blinked uncontrollably trying to power his way up when he felt a firm hand tugging on his foot.

He was dragged off of the wall and plummeted onto the huddle of his opponents sending them to the ground as he fell on top of them.

His eyes were dazed by the sunlight as he laid with sand coating his clothes, and he squinted them to try and see clearly. Now that he was down, the roars of the crowd gave him the feeling of being at the bottom of an ocean made of noise, and the stomping boots around his head sent bits of sand flying onto his face

Feeling a sting in his back from falling on someone's head, he took he time slowy trying to get up in discomfort, but Kelly ran over to him and dragged him up to his feet.

"Quick! Climb up before they get up!" yelled Kelly.

Zack fought the aches and began to climb up with Kelly, feeling the staff of the flag sticking the tender part inside his trousers, but now wasn't the time to stop and adjust anything, he needed to keep climbing.

Kelly made it to the top and Lea helped him climb into the lowers deck, while Zack hung right under trying to keep his feet away from the flurry of wandering hands swerving about like restless flames.

One hand wrapped itself around his boot, and pulled down on it. He felt his hands beginning to slip, "Darn it!" he yelled in frustration. He was just three more rungs away from reaching the top, he couldn't afford to fall again. He needed to advance to the next round no matter what.

Lea knelt by the edge of the lower deck and stretched down her hand for Zack to grab unto, "Zack! Hold my hand!"

He reached out his arm and firmly held hers, but another hand grabbed his other foot, pulling with even more force. They were like mindless zombies set on dragging Zack down into their clutches to steal his flag. There was only one last flag left that hadn't made it up yet, and Zack was the one who had it. He was their last hope to make it to the next round.

He felt his hand slipping out of Lea's grasp, "Argh! Don't let me go!"

"I'm not going to let you go!" she assured.

Kelly turned to Jirell, "You just going to stand there? Let's go help them."

Realizing Jirell stood unshaken, Kelly ran to the edge and wrapped his arm around Lea's waist to secure her from falling over as she used both her hands to try and hold Zack's arm.

Jirell hesitated for a few seconds, but finally went over to Kelly and wrapped an arm around his chest while he hung on to a stone column with the other.

"Pull!" Jirell commanded, as they used every force in their body to help Lea carry Zack's weight up the wall.

Together the three teens pulled Zack up to the lower deck, and Zack came up with a missing boot, laying on the floor in exhaustion breathing out heavy gasps.

"Thanks guys. I owe you," said Zack, inhaling and exhaling through his mouth.

Lea sat on her feet beside him, "Oh hush, you owe us nothing. No matter what, you can always count on us."

Kelly turned to them, "I don't know about Lea, but I'm kind of hungry, so you owe me dinner."

Zack chuckled, "Of course Kelly, I'll spring some change from Sir Caldwell," he then turned to Jirell with a serious stare, "I owe you as well. Thanks."

Jirell gave a light smirk, "Hmph."

Xander who sat on top of the rails with his arms folded looked at them with a fake smile, "You lot are so soft it's jarring. We are tools constructed and groomed for war, not cuddly feelings or this vain ideology of friendship."

Jirell spoke without looking at him, gazing at the remaining contestants making their way back across the arena into the tunnels, "Keep your beliefs to yourself."

Xander rose an eyebrow at Jirell, "Ever since you've arrived you have been very hostile towards me. Tell me? Did you suffer at the hands of my people as well?" he taunted Jirell with a sly smirk.

Jirell's nostrils flared in a scowl, and he began to walk toward Xander with his knuckles cracking as he squeezed his fists at his side.

Takeshi stepped in between them, causing Jirell to halt and look him directly in the eye.

"Get out of my way," Jirell warned coldly, narrowing his eyes fiercely at Takeshi.

"I come not with violence, but with wise counsel. You must not allow your emotions to get the better of you, lest you are drawn out like prey and devoured."

Jirell glared at him irritated by his intervention, yet still thinking about his words.

Xander jumped off the rail he was sitting on, "Come Altean, don't listen to this fool. We can end decades of bad blood here and now. Don't you just wish you could just quench the thirst of revenge, that desire that burns deep within you. This is your chance, come at me," he continued to taunt with a daring smile.

Jirell's wrath could no longer be contained as it began to erupt like a volcano. Zack saw the veins in his neck sticking out and his pale skin slightly burning red.

Uh oh! Zack knew what was going to happen. He could feel it. He saw Jirell push Takeshi out of the way, and was about to lunge for Xander, so he quickly sprang at him from behind and wrapped his hands around Jirell's waist to try and pull him back.

Xander pulled out a dagger from a holster strapped to his leg and held it with a daring smile, glaring at Jirell who bellowed ragefully trying to break from Zack's grip.

Jirell's skin felt slightly hot. Was that normal? Or was he that upset? Zack wondered. He felt his grip loosening, and Jirell pulling away from him gradually.

"Guys help me!" he yelled realizing Jirell was breaking free from his hold.

"Zack! Get off of me!" Jirell yelled as he tugged and pushed.

"Oh no buddy! I can't let you do this."

Kelly knelt and wrapped his arms around Jirell's waist from the side, but Jirell still dragged his body along with them, moving toward an unwavering Xander armed with a dagger.

Seeing this, Lea ran down the stairs and began to yell for the knights and guards.

"LET ME GO! RRHUAAAAAA!!!!!!" Jirell bellowed and screamed with angry groans, grabbing at the air as if it could bring him closer to Xander.

Kenji then dove to the ground and grabbed a leg, Harper knelt and grabbed the other, while Takeshi stood before Xander with his arms apart.

"Put that dagger away. Bloodshed is not necessary," said Takeshi calmly but with a stern glare indicating he was serious.

Brock rested a firm hand on Takeshi's shoulder, "Back off Sagaran."

Takeshi gave him a cold stare from the side of his eyes, "Of course. Macedon and Ylise, vultures of a feather. Unhand me please," he asked calmly.

Brock began to laugh, "Look at this boy, who does he think he is. Argh!!!!!" he moaned in pain.

Takeshi twisted brock's arm and kicked him on his rump, sending him falling face-first on the floor.

Brock sprung back up angrily, "You shall pay for that!"

He was about to spring at Takeshi, but Lea and several knights rushed upstairs, and they began to restrain all the fifteen competitors.

"What is going on up here! No fighting outside of the arena! Save it for the round of sixteen!" a senior knight yelled.

Jirell was not going to let it go thought. He continued to push and tug from the knights, yelling at Xander who was being led away by another knight.

"Come back here! You coward! You have no spine!" he yelled trying to get him to turn around, but Xander had already had his fill as he knew what he was doing to Jirell, and Jirell fell right into his trap.

More guards began to restrain Jirell, as he still would not calm down, making a scene before the crowd and the world leaders who stood from the royal balcony watching the ruckus.

While they were high up, Zack could see King Raul's hand on his cheeks. Surely, the King was not pleased by such behavior, especially in front of the other royals.

Lea stood before Jirell and clasped both her hands on his cheeks, positioning his face to hers so her head would block Xander from his vision," Jirell, please, calm down. It's okay, just calm down before you get in trouble. Don't let him get to you," she tried to console him.

Trapped in tunnel vision he could not understand a word from Lea's mouth, but just the sound of her soothing voice among the roaring crowd alleviated some of his anger, and the fact that Xander was now gone invited his logic to come back.

Zack took a deep breath of relief seeing Jirell submit to the guards, but opened his mouth in surprise when they held him with his arms behind his back and began to walk away with him.

He and Lea followed after them down the stairs, "H-hey where are you taking him?" Zack asked.

"The King would like to speak with him," one knight replied.

Lea walked faster to get ahead of them, "But he did nothing wrong, he was being provoked. Please tell me he isn't in any trouble?"

Zack saw a man grab Lea's arm pulled her back by it. She turned around to argue with him.

"Lea, are you okay? I heard there was an incident. You were not harmed were you?" asked Sir Jeffrey.

She dragged her hand from him, "When I want to see you you're never there! But when I don't want to see you you present yourself anywhere I am. I'm fine! I'm just following my friend, he needs me right now."

He grabbed her hand firmly, "No, you are not young lady. I don't want you anywhere near trouble," he asserted with a stern stare.

"But pa-"

"Silence! Come with me. I knew it was a mistake to let you enter the Tournament, and I knew your generation would get dragged into another war. We're leaving now and that is final. Okay!"

She pouted realizing he was serious, then turned to Zack who stopped to wait on her, "Zack, do me a favor. Please follow Jirell and see to it he's okay."

"Sure Lea. I will," he nodded.

Sir Jeffrey dragged Lea off by her arm while she complained to him, and Zack followed after the knights escorting Jirell up a fleet of stairs leading to the balcony.