"You seem deep in thought," Naem told Lexie when they returned to the Orcish caves that evening.

"Yeah," Lexie responded. "I'm wondering how to befriend someone who loathes me. And who I also loathe in part."

"In that case, why do you want to befriend them?"

"For selfish reasons. They have something I want." A glint from the rocks skipped over their path. "You know the Shadowsbanes?"

"Yes. Elementals descended from a line of necromancers, who forged deals with the Dark Fae."

"Oh?" Lexie hadn't known about this bit of lore. "Is that where they get their special powers from?"

"Yes. Their ancestor previously served the Guardian of the Underworld, who taught them traditional necromancy until the Fae arrived. Then their ancestor worked with the Fae so that his descendants would get remarkable powers."

"Makes sense." It was similar enough to the Firebringers' story that it made Lexie wonder if every elemental had initially been working with a Guardian before the Fae arrived. Was that how they got their soul magic, which enabled them to become Elementals? It seemed so.

Lexie wondered about something else as well. "Hang on. Is there an Underworld in this dimension? As in does it actually exist, like in the afterlife?"

Naem lifted his shoulders. "Who knows? That is not my wheelhouse."

Huh. Lexie just realized that, though Naem and other Eldritch were referred to as demons, there was very little spirituality attached to them. Sure, they dealt with souls, but they didn't have a concept of an underworld. They also didn't partake in the idea that good souls went to paradise while bad souls went to hell.

Although she guessed that in their world, existence was hell.

Lexie often wondered how much influence the Fae had on the religion of Earth 9. Most people she knew in District 9 didn't seem to have a religion, but it might be different in other districts. Was it different in the past when the Guardians had been in charge? Did most people truly worship them or simply see them as a means to an end?

It was also interesting to learn that the Fae had essentially hijacked the relationship the Shadowsbanes had with Earth 9's Hades, just like they'd done to the Firebringers and their Hestia. So did that mean that the darkness from the Shadowsbane soul impacted their pathways and how their powers presented? Is that why they could manipulate darkness and void and shadow and death?

How deep did the powers go? Could they kill things with a snap of the finger, the way they could remove things from existence with a void?

It was a bone-chilling but fascinating thought.

Lexie truly wished that Zakhar Shadowbane wasn't such an ass, because she found Shadowbanes to be one of the more mysterious and interesting of the elementals.

"Have you thought of offering him a bribe?"

That snapped Lexie back into the present. "Huh?"

"Your enemy. You should offer him something he wants. That might help him overcome his dislike of you."

"But I don't know anything about him, so I don't know what he wants."

"Then you should find out. Alternatively, you could also offer him his life."

Lexie rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to threaten him. Not just because I'm a good person, but also because the last fight we had didn't go my way. He might be stronger than me."

"He's not."

"Or at least he's more skilled for now."

Naem gave her a disbelieving stare but said nothing.

They finally reached the Orc's throne, and this time Ganor was wide awake. She grinned toothily when Lexie approached.

"Come back for more, little terror?"

Lexie gulped. "Yeah?"

Her grin widened just a smidge before she attacked.

Another screaming match later, and Lexie was woken up for the day. Her alarm dragged her up bright and early, because she had something very important to do before breakfast.

She got dressed and ran to Theo's door, knocking politely at first, then more insistently when that didn't work.

Theo opened the door in pajama pants, with hair stuck up in tufts and a sleepy gaze.

"Morning," Lexie greeted cheerily. "You said we would train every morning before you go to work. And it's morning."

Theo closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded. He didn't bother putting on more clothes, just scratched his butt, and grumbled all the way to the summer hut.

They could train out in the open for now, because technically all they were doing so far was meditation, and Theo was telling his parent that he was teaching Lexie relaxation and maybe some light combat skills.

Once they started working with actual fire, though, they would have to move it to his or her room.

Today, they did more breath control, and now that Lexie had learned to identify and grow that internal heat, Theo taught her how to move the heat inside her through her pathways. She first of all had to attach the heat to her pathways, similar to how fire was attached to her pathways, then she had to shift it as far as it would go.

She didn't get very far. Though she had good mana affinity, it was nowhere close to what a Firebringer would have with their intrinsic soul magic affecting their pathways. Their race had trained for many years for that skill, and it would be delusional for Lexie to think she could get it in a few days.

But Theo let her know she was doing well for a beginner. The goal, after all, wasn't to make her all the way flexible, since she wouldn't be generating and using fire on her own. The training was simply to make her more aware of that connection between her pathways and the flames, so that they would be primed better to sever the connection whenever she wanted.

Once Theo was satisfied that her pathways were primed enough, then he would let her practice pathway control with a small flame, within a silver-surrounded area for safety. He'd teach her how to turn it off, increase gradually, and decrease the intensity of the flame with her mana. Finally, he would teach her how to direct the flame toward another object.

Lexie was looking forward to that the most.

After their session, they went to shower and then headed to breakfast, where Tamsin was already wearing a lilac tennis skirt and spandex top, with stars on it. She also had her hair in pigtails.

It took Lexie a second to realize that Tamsin was wearing an outfit similar to what Lexie had worn in her first fight against Tank.

"H-Hi Lexie," Tamsin announced loudly when Lexie arrived, gripping her fork tight to show just how much bravery it had taken for her to do so.

"Aww," Lexie said as she sat beside Tamsin, who swung her feet more aggressively, beaming. "You look so cute."

"No, she doesn't," Thor said. "She looks silly."

Theo reached under the table and grabbed Thor's leg, hanging him upside down in the air.

"Who looks silly now?" he asked as the little boy squealed, although Thor sounded like he was having more fun than feeling regret for his actions.

As breakfast got brought out, Lexie asked Thor, "Hey, are you friends with any of the Shadowsbanes?"

Theo shook his head. "Friend isn't the word I would use to describe it, but I guess we have an alright relationship. We're Elementals after all. Why do you ask?"

"Because there's a card I wanna make that might help us with our investigation, but I need to talk to a Shadowsbane first to understand how their powers work."

Theo's eyes flickered to the air, and Lexie got the sense that one of the bodyguards was standing there.

"There's a Shadowsbane in Torin's year," Theo said.

"Are they friends?" Could she use Torin to get closer to Zakhar?

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"No clue, but I'm not personally close with any of the Shadowbanes. I don't know if you've heard, but our families had beef a few decades ago, and we're only just civil now."

Lexie released a breath. "Alright." She'd have to figure out some other way to learn what the Shadowbane wanted.

Lexie sat by Tamsin, and they ate breakfast together. Once they were done, they went out to the garage, where Theo said goodbye and got on his hoverbike.

When he'd zoomed off, the bodyguards finally manifested, and Lexie jumped back, startled. She'd known they were there subconsciously and from checking on her SI, but going from empty space to four people standing around them was still disconcerting to say the least.

"Hi hi!" Tamsin greeted, skipping as Aoife opened the back door for them.

"Hey, Tami," Aoife greeted. "Hey Lexie. Big day today, huh?"

"Yeah." Lexie greeted and waved at all of them before she climbed into the backseat with Tamsin.

As they drove off, Lexie called Xena and let her know they were on their way and they would be there in about four hours. Xena and Dewie were arriving together in Dewie's mom's Road Rocket, and they would probably all get there around the same time.

"I'm super excited for the preliminary matches today," Xena said. "I heard it's going to be Tank versus Arachnid, and I may not have known much about Tank before, but I think I'm a fan now."

"Yeah, he's a good guy. And Urmas is also fighting today against Kane the Mundane of all people. That's gonna be a tough match-up. Urmas is on Conrad's team, and he has a problem with balance. I made him a card before I left. Hopefully it helps."

"Hopefully. Are you still gonna try and talk to the Shadowsbane today?"

"Yeah, 'try' being the operative word."

Xena snorted. "Good luck with that."

They chatted for a bit, then Lexie hung up. She leaned back against the seat and noticed that Aoife was giving her an odd look in the rearview mirror.

"What?" Lexie asked.

Ainsle glanced at Ralph, who pointedly did not look in her direction, and then she asked, "Do you tend to have a lot of nightmares, Lexie?"

"Oh, um, yeah." Lexie blushed. "Sorry. Was I screaming a lot last night?"

"Not a lot," she said. "But it was noticeable."

"Yeah. I have a problem with nightmares. Saintess Dee and I are dealing with it. We're supposed to be meeting again soon so that she can help me."

"Oh, that's good."

"Yeah," Leixe said, feeling awkward. She should probably start wearing a mouth gag to sleep, or she could ask Naem if there was a way he could muffle her screams somehow. She was tired of being a disturbance to the community.

Lexie then proceeded to watch a game with Tamsin on her black pad. While doing so, she got Tamsin to talk about all her favorite fighters, including Ink Witch, DustBunny, Jane Phoenix, and of course, Lexie herself. Oh, and her brother, Torin. Tamsin was sad she didn't get to watch Torin's fight, but was looking forward to attending the next one.

One of the preliminary fights today was Dust Bunny versus Code Zero, and Tamsin was super happy she didn't have to miss it.

Tamsin's excitement was infectious, and Lexie found herself excited to watch the fights in a way she hadn't been before.

Today had previously just been about spending time with her friends. Lexie had long since fallen out of the devoted love she'd had for the AFC, but there was still affection there, and watching Tamsin reminded her of herself when she was younger and how excited she was.

Is this how I was before I lost my memory? Lexie wondered as she watched Tamsin. Did I use to talk my mom's ear off about all the fighters I loved?

Well, she definitely used to talk about it with Abernathy, Doyle, and Chris at school.

Speaking of which...

She texted them, just to catch up. During the trip, Lexie also texted Conrad to ask if they'd gotten there. The entire team was attending, minus Jan, who'd gone back to work and was no longer training, Ken, who was taking care of his Grandma, and Shadow, who had to travel.

Jan was apparently considering retiring from the AFC entirely. With the flashy new Heroes League, he was concerned that the regular league would become deprioritized and mid-rate fighters wouldn't earn as much as they did now. Since Jan's goal was making money and nothing else, it simply wasn't worth it to him.

But he would be there to support everyone in spirit, he texted.

Lexie was excited to see all her dojo friends again. She would introduce Tamsin to a few of them, even though she knew Cara had probably already met Tamsin before.

"We're almost there," Nathan said when they were five minutes out, and Lexie could already see the crowd of people outside the forcefield-protected arena, as their vehicle hovered over the roads.

It was a lot of people, well into the thousands. The traffic was also crazy.

It was to be expected given that this was the first AFC match in almost three months. It was highly anticipated, too, and it was going to be the launch of Hero's League, and everyone was probably curious as to how that would go and which hero or hero students would be participating.

It would have been a nightmare to stand in line.

Luckily, thanks to Firebringer's privileges and the VVIP ticket Dewie got them, they got to park in a special parking area that had a special road and a special entrance.

When Lexie arrived, Dewie and Xena were already at the parking area, leaning against the vehicle and talking with Dewie's driver, Lars.

"Hey!" Lexie rolled down her windows and called out, "Hey, Lars!"

He smiled and saluted silently.

When their Road Rocket came to a stop, Lexie hopped out with Tamsin.

She took Tamsin's hand as she introduced her. "This is Tamsin, Torin's little sister. And these are our bodyguards, Aiofe, Nathan, Ralph, and Mide. They are our companions for the day.

"Hello," Dewie and Xena chorused.

The little girl ducked behind Lexie's legs and eyed Xena and Dewie.

"She's shy," Lexie said.

"We can tell," Xena smirked. "Alright, let's go. Dewie got us amazing seats by the way."

"Yeah, I know, seeing as how they were technically my birthday present." The group started towards the doors that led them through the back of the stadium, down to their VIP booths. Lexie's bodyguards must have gone invisible again, because at one point she glanced behind her and they were no longer there.

Their VVIP booth was nicer than the one Dewie had gotten for Lexie's last birthday. It was elevated above the field and had very comfortable leather seats with an inbuilt massager, and also a server whom they could summon with a button.

"You really outdid yourself, Dewie," Lexie said.

"Yeah, this is amazing," Xena said.

Dewie blushed. "It's no problem."

Even though Tamsin didn't technically have a seat in their booth, there was enough space for her to fit, and since she had a VIP pass anyway, it was okay for her to stay.

Lexie thought they were better off all sitting together than splitting up anyway, for safety reasons.

Lexie looked down at the field at everyone streaming in. This stadium was bigger than Hartville and looked more advanced with sections floating in mid-air. There was also more security at checkpoints, about twenty of them.

They certainly weren't taking any chances here.

After some time, Lexie opened up her system screen to let her dojo friends know that she was here.

Boris was the first to text back.

Boris: We're in the fighters' room. Come in. I already gave the security your name.

"Oh, nice." Lexie turned to her friends. "Do you guys want to meet some fighters? Conrad and co. are there?"

Tamsin nodded frantically.

Xena reddened and cleared her throat. "Maybe after. I need to do something with my hair first."

Her hair looked fine, but Lexie didn't argue. She carried Tamsin, and along with the bodyguards, they went down the steps and toward the door at the far right of the stadium that was guarded by security.

Lexie gave them her name, and they let her in after IDing her. She walked down the hallways, putting the hood of her hoodie up so she wouldn't get recognized. She doubted she would be, given there were a lot more fighters here now, and there was even a special room for Heroes that had the doors closed.

Favoritism much.

Lexie went toward the first general fighter's room and was instantly inundated with people. It was teeming with fighters of all ages and backgrounds, and there was so much tension in the air that barely anyone noticed her walking in.

Everyone was muttering to themselves in a low tone, or doing push-ups, or kicking the hell out of the punching bags hung in the corner. Through the crowd, Lexie finally spotted Conrad talking to Urmas, and when she walked over there, she heard him saying, "Are you feeling better now?"

"I don't know," Urmas responded. "I felt alright last night, but now it's like all the nerves are in my stomach at the same time. I feel like I'm going to throw up out there."

"No, you won't. I always felt like that, and I never threw up once. We've been through this. You're facing up against Kane. We know all his weaknesses, and we know yours. You've gotten your activation time on your card down to a science. You got this."

Urmas was still pale.

"You want me to pull you?" Conrad asked, and Urmas shook his head.

"No. I can do this. You spent a lot of money to get us here. I don't want to waste that."

"It's not about the money. It's about you. Your sister is gonna kick my ass if you go out there and get hurt for no reason. Kane plays dirty, so if you're gonna fight him, you need to have your head a hundred percent in the game. So what do you want me to do?"

Urmas swallowed. "I don't know. The issue is my leg. I just wish the card Lexie gave me was easier to activate, you know."

"Maybe I can do something about that," Lexie mentioned, and both guys jerked around to stare at her.

"Lexie!" They said simultaneously, and Conrad came over and gave her a big bear hug. He stared down at Tamsin. "Is that a mini-you?"

"No. She's Torin's sister."

"Yeah, I know. I was kidding. We've met. Hey Tam Tam."

"Hey, Connie," Tam greeted.

"Connie?" Urmas sounded amused.

"Shut up," Conrad shot back.

Lexie turned to Urmas. "You want help with making your card easier. I think I can do something. But it's experimental."

They shared a look. "How experimental?"

"You'd be the first person I try it on."

Another shared look.

Before Lexie could explain further, she got an alert on her SI that she'd received a text.

It was from Tate, and it read simply, I'm outside.

Surprise, surprise. Except she wasn't really surprised. She wouldn't even bother to ask how he knew she was here, or whether he was stalking her.

She'd accepted there was a lot she didn't know about Tate, a lot he was keeping from her.

She frowned and responded.

Lexie: I'm busy.

Tate: Please. It's important.

Lexie: If it was so important, you wouldn't have ghosted me for weeks.

Tate: I didn't have a choice.

Lexie sighed. She wondered what to do now. She still didn't trust Tate, but she also wanted to know what he wanted. Was he desperate, or was this a trap?

Lexie: I'm helping Urmas right now. I'll be out later.

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