United: New Haven

XXV. Threats

The event carried through all the remaining contestants, with the last five being evicted from the tournament. It went without saying, that Lena had the highest amount of kills. She continued to receive praise throughout the duration of the event, and was most humbled.

Once the twenty minute break commenced, Lena made her way to the pier once again, this time accompanied by Jace and Aria. They reached one of the stands and ordered drinks.

"I'm not over the big ass wave you made!!" Aria said excitedly, "It was so powerful!"
"While that was... pretty epic," Jace said, "I loved the katana stuff."
Lena blushed, incredibly flattered, "Look, the sword stuff was mostly Dai's guidance..."
"When training with Dai, you never had to take out, like, thirty monsters!" Aria exclaimed, "Take some credit for yourself, girl!"
Lena smiled, "Yeah... I guess you're right."

The three were interrupted when their drinks were given, as well as by a man in a suit bearing a flame pin on his tie coming up to place an order as well.
All three young Gifted stepped back, surprised, to see the fire Symbol of the Gifted Council standing right next to them.

Feu Fray seemed to have caught their stare, and he turned to them.
"A fine performance today, Miss Lena," he smiled.
Lena gulped before finding her words.
"Um... thank you, uh... sir?" she said awkwardly.
Feu chuckled, "That's some power and skill you demonstrated for us."
"Yeah... I guess so," Lena replied, unprepared to converse with a government official.
"Tell me, who trained you? Or did you train yourself?" Feu asked, "Either way, you executed their teachings very impressively."

Lena, Aria, and Jace all exchanged an awkward look.
"Uh... my parents, kind of..." Lena said, "And-"
"And Dai," Aria cut in, Jace and Lena looking at her with puzzled expressions, "He has really helped a lot of us come a long way... you should be proud!"
Feu blinked, taken aback.

"Dai... I, erm, I see," he stammered slightly.
The stand owner then provided a bottle of water for the councilor.
"It was a pleasure speaking with you," Feu said, and he grabbed the bottle before hurriedly flouncing away.

The three watched him go, bewildered.
"What was that about?" Lena asked.
"I figured it would help things!" Aria exclaimed, "Luke told me about how Dai has a rocky relationship with his father. Kai and Raina, too. I hoped telling him that would... I don't know..."
"Oh..." Jace said, "Dang..."
Lena sighed, "Let's get back."

The three hurried back to rejoin their friends in their dugout, just before the announcement was to be made about the first battle of the day.
"Hey, hey, hey!!" Luke greeted excitedly, "You're back in time."
"Yeah," Jace said, "We just had an interesting encounter..."
"Really?" Raina asked, "With who?"
Lena, Aria, and Jace exchanged a look.

"With... your dad," Aria shrugged, smiling nervously.
Dai scoffed, "So he had time to go to the pier, but not time to see us."
An awkward silence followed.

"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen!" Frederick Thompson announced over the microphone, "Now, we get on to today's battles! First up, we have... air Gifted Peter Oscan up against... ice Gifted Dai Fray!"

The group looked to Dai, who just bowed his head and groaned.
"You got this!" Luke ventured encouragingly.
"I'm sure I do," Dai muttered uncaringly, and he set out onto the arena.

"Maybe mentioning we spoke to your dad wasn't the greatest of ideas," Aria sighed.
"Don't blame yourself," Kai reassured, "Dai just finds it... especially irritating... out of the three of us that he never seems to make time for us."
They all proceeded to sit on the benches provided in the dugout to watch, silently.

Dai, meanwhile, looked at his opponent. He had heavily styled orange hair that was obviously dyed, and dressed in a button up and vest.

"Hello, Fray," he grinned.
Dai arched an eyebrow, "'Sup."
"You did pretty good in the event today," Peter continued.
"Thanks," Dai replied, already done with the conversation.