The arena erupts into chaos the moment the starting signal sounds. Nova's team executes a practiced formation, her luminescent patterns flaring in complex sequences that coordinate their movements without verbal communication. Prism, her crystalline enhancer, immediately creates a reflective barrier that multiplies Nova's light signals while Shift begins phasing into a translucent state, becoming difficult to track visually. Their fourth member, Rebound, moves with surprising speed for his bulky frame, positioning himself as their front-line fighter.

  "Desta, start the lighting disruption," I order, my voice steady despite the adrenaline surge. "Eli, gravity fields between us and Nova. Ember, prepare concentrated fire but hold for my signal."

  We advance in our own formation, one we hastily developed in the preparation chamber. I take point position, enhanced strength and telekinesis making me our best option to absorb initial attacks. Eli stays slightly behind me to my right, focusing on creating gravitational distortions in the space between our teams. Ember positions herself to my left, flames dancing around her hands but not yet unleashed. Desta remains further back, eyes already showing the code-like patterns that indicate active system interface.

  The arena lighting begins to flicker subtly, irregular patterns that most observers would attribute to normal fluctuation but that I know is Desta's work. Nova's luminescent signals visibly distort as they pass through Eli's gravitational fields, but the distortion is inconsistent, some signals bend dramatically while others pass through nearly unchanged, creating only partial disruption to their coordination.

  "It's kind of working," Eli mutters, strain evident in his voice as he struggles to maintain control over his gravitational fields. "But I can't keep it stable."

  But it's enough.

  Nova assesses our approach quickly, her tactical experience evident as she adjusts to disrupted communications. "Switch to audible commands!" she yells. "Shift, engage their rear support!"

  The phase-shifter immediately responds, her body becoming translucent as she curves around our flank, bypassing our front line entirely.

  Shit! I try to stop her but my telekinesis is useless when she's phase-shifted.

  Desta, focused on maintaining system interface with the arena controls, doesn't notice the threat until Shift materializes directly beside her.

  “Desta!”

  "Contact!" Desta calls out, but it's too late. Shift delivers a precise strike that breaks Desta's concentration, disrupting her system connection. The arena lighting immediately stabilizes, returning Nova's team advantage in coordinated light signals.

  "Desta's down!" I shout, torn between maintaining our advance and protecting our tactical support. "Ember, cover!"

  Ember pivots to send a wall of flame toward Shift, but Nova's perfectly timed light flash momentarily blinds her, causing the flames to go wide. Shift phases through the edge of the fire, delivering another calculated strike that sends Desta to her knees.

  "I can't maintain system access," Desta reports, her usually calm voice tight with pain. "Connection severed."

  Our carefully planned strategy collapses in seconds. With Desta unable to manipulate arena systems and Eli's gravitational control unstable, we've lost our primary advantages before the fight has truly begun.

  Nova presses the advantage, her luminescent patterns shifting to offensive configurations. Prism captures her light signals and amplifies them through his crystalline structure, creating multiple attack vectors simultaneously. Beams of concentrated light energy slice toward us from unexpected angles, forcing us into defensive positions.

  "Scatter and regroup!" I order, using telekinesis to deflect a light beam aimed at Eli. "Point formation compromised."

  Rebound charges directly into our disrupted formation, his massive frame moving with surprising speed. I intercept him with a telekinetic push, attempting to create distance without physical contact that would fuel his kinetic conversion ability. The force slows him but doesn't stop his advance.

  "Kinetic charging!" he announces with a grim smile, his body absorbing the telekinetic energy despite the non-physical nature of the attack. Something about his enhancement allows him to convert even indirect force applications.

  Eli attempts to create a gravity well to trap Rebound, but his control slips at the critical moment. Instead of focusing on our opponent, the gravitational distortion expands chaotically, affecting friends and foes alike. I feel my body suddenly lighten as gravity decreases around me, throwing off my balance and timing.

  "Shit! Sorry!" Eli shouts, frantically trying to dissipate the uncontrolled field. "I can't, it's not—"

  His apology is cut short as Prism lands a precisely aimed crystalline projectile that catches him in the shoulder, sending him spinning awkwardly in the reduced gravity. With Eli down and Desta neutralized, we're effectively fighting two against four.

  "Fall back to position three!" I call to Ember, who's maintaining a defensive fire perimeter against Shift's continued phasing attacks. "Concentrated defense!"

  We manage to retreat to a defensible position near one of the arena's environmental features, a raised platform that provides minimal cover. Ember creates a ring of fire around the position while I use telekinesis to lift Desta and Eli to relative safety.

  "Status?" I demand, quickly assessing their conditions.

  "Functional but system access compromised," Desta reports, already trying to reestablish her connection. "Shift's attack disrupted neural interface pathways. Attempting recalibration."

  Eli looks worse, his face pale with exertion and pain, the gravitational distortions around him fluctuating wildly as he struggles to maintain even basic control. "Shoulder's fucked up," he admits. "And I can't stabilize the gravity fields. They're just... slipping away from me."

  Nova's team regroups with practiced efficiency, their formation tightening as they prepare for a coordinated assault on our position. They have us pinned down, outnumbered, and outmaneuvered.

  "Options?" Ember asks tersely, flames intensifying around her hands as she prepares for their attack.

  I assess the situation with brutal honesty. Two fighters combat-effective, two compromised. Opponents with superior coordination and undamaged capabilities. Arena advantages neutralized with Desta's system access disrupted.

  "New approach," I decide, mind racing through possibilities. "Ember, smoke screen on my mark. Full arena coverage, minimal thermal signature."

  She nods, understanding immediately. Her pyrokinetic abilities include smoke generation with precise control over density and composition.

  "Desta, any system access at all?" I ask our tactical specialist.

  "Minimal functionality restored," she responds, eyes showing faint code patterns. "Approximately 27% of previous capability. Arena ventilation systems still accessible."

  "When Ember creates the smoke, reverse the ventilation flow in sectors six through nine," I instruct. "Create air pressure differentials we can exploit."

  I turn to Eli, who's still struggling with his unstable gravitational fields. "Can you create any gravity distortion, even uncontrolled?"

  He grimaces in pain but nods. "Yeah, but I can't guarantee where it'll go or how strong it'll be."

  "That's exactly what we need," I tell him. "When I give the signal, create the biggest, most chaotic gravity distortion you can manage. Don't try to control it, just let it go wild."

  Nova's team begins their advance, moving with the synchronized precision of experienced fighters. Prism's crystalline structures catch and amplify Nova's light signals, creating a mesmerizing pattern designed to disrupt opponents' concentration and coordination.

  "Mark!" I shout when they reach the optimal distance.

  Ember sweeps both arms outward, generating not flames but dense, rolling smoke that rapidly fills the arena. Unlike normal smoke, this has minimal heat signature, making it difficult to track with thermal detection. I amplify the effect with telekinesis, creating swirling patterns that disrupt visibility completely.

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  Nova immediately counters with intensified light, but the smoke's density absorbs and diffuses the illumination, creating eerie, disorienting patterns rather than clear visibility. Their primary coordination method compromised, Team Nova's advance falters slightly.

  "Ventilation reversed," Desta reports, the strain of maintaining even limited system access evident in her voice. "Pressure differentials established in designated sectors."

  The smoke begins flowing in unnatural patterns, following air currents invisible to normal perception but creating tactical opportunities for those who understand the flow.

  "Now, Eli!" I order. "Full release!"

  Despite his injury and exhaustion, Eli channels everything he has into one massive gravitational distortion. As predicted, it's completely uncontrolled, a chaotic warping of space that affects random sectors of the arena. Objects float upward in some areas while crashing downward with increased weight in others. The already disorienting smoke patterns become truly bizarre as gravity itself becomes unreliable.

  "Perfect chaos," I tell the team as I help Eli to his feet. "Now we use it."

  Unlike Team Nova, we're expecting the chaotic conditions. I've trained my telekinetic awareness extensively, allowing me to function effectively even in rapidly changing environmental conditions. Ember's pyrokinetic abilities remain under her control regardless of gravity fluctuations. Even Desta and Eli, despite their compromised states, understand our strategy.

  "Ember, quadrant movement pattern through smoke," I instruct. "Thirty-second intervals, fire signatures only at transition points."

  She disappears into the smoke, navigating by sensing air pressure differentials. At precise intervals, she creates brief, intense flame bursts that appear in different locations, making it impossible to track her continuous movement.

  The confusion is taking its toll on Team Nova. Their coordinated approach relies on clear visibility and consistent environmental conditions. Through the swirling smoke, I catch glimpses of Nova trying to reestablish communication patterns, Prism attempting to amplify light signals that the smoke simply absorbs, Shift partially materializing and then phasing again when unable to identify targets.

  "Beginning counter-offensive," I tell Desta and Eli. "Hold position and continue current effects as long as possible."

  I plunge into the smoke, using telekinetic awareness rather than visual tracking to navigate the chaotic arena. Rebound is my first target, his kinetic conversion abilities make him dangerous, but I think I've figured out his weakness. I locate him trying to maintain formation with Prism, both disoriented by the combination of smoke, inconsistent gravity, and unpredictable air currents.

  Instead of going at him head-on, I tap into the debris scattered across the arena, chunks of broken stone, metal fragments, loose plates from earlier impacts. With my telekinesis, I whip them into the air, drawing them into orbit around Rebound like satellites caught in sudden gravity wells.

  Then I let them loose.

  They launch toward him from random angles and at uneven speeds. Some drop from above, others arc in wide loops, a few ricochet off the environment first to throw off his timing. It's messy, unpredictable, and exactly what I need.

  Rebound deflects a few of the faster projectiles, absorbing the momentum and trying to redirect it, but there are too many. One slams into his side, another clips his knee. A chunk of rebar catches him across the back. The swirling, off-kilter gravity fields only make things worse, yanking some objects downward and slingshotting others from strange angles.

  It's as I expected! Rebound’s conversion ability only works if he sees the hit coming. He needs a clear line of sight to redirect force. But I’m not giving him one.

  He stumbles, trying to recalibrate, but there's no rhythm to find, no pattern to latch onto. He collapses under the weight of the chaos, not from any single blow, but because the battlefield itself has turned against him.

  Rebound is down, not out cold but dazed and disoriented, pinned beneath a mountain of debris. One opponent neutralized.

  Ember has engaged Shift, using timed fire bursts to force the phase-shifter to materialize at predictable intervals. The smoke prevents Shift from identifying safe materialization points, creating moments of vulnerability that Ember exploits with precisely targeted flame jets.

  "Shift neutralized," Ember's voice comes through the smoke as her second fire burst catches the phase-shifter during materialization, the precisely controlled flames hot enough to disrupt ability function without causing serious injury.

  Two down, two to go, but our advantages are fading. Eli's uncontrolled gravitational field is weakening as his exhaustion grows, the chaotic effects becoming less pronounced. Desta's limited system access is being systematically countered by facility administrators, the ventilation manipulation gradually normalizing.

  I locate Prism through the thinning smoke, his crystalline structure still attempting to capture and amplify Nova's light signals. Without the coordinated team around him, his defensive capabilities are his primary focus. I gather telekinetic force, not at molecular level but concentrated pressure applied to specific points in his crystalline structure.

  Crystalline forms have natural resonance frequencies, strike the right tone and they shatter regardless of strength. I don't aim to break him, just destabilize his enhancement enough to neutralize him as a threat. The telekinetic pressure finds those resonance points, creating micro-fractures that disrupt his ability to properly refract and amplify light.

  Prism collapses to one knee, his enhancement temporarily compromised. "Structural integrity failing," he calls out to Nova. "Pattern disruption at 67%."

  Three down, but victory isn't certain yet. Nova remains fully combat-effective, and our team is running on fumes. The smoke is dissipating as Desta loses her remaining system access, her body slumping against the platform as exhaustion finally overwhelms her. Eli's gravitational field collapses entirely, leaving him barely conscious from the effort of maintaining it even that long.

  It's down to Ember and me against Nova, with our teammates effectively neutralized. As the arena gradually clears, Nova stands in a defensive position, her luminescent patterns shifted to maximum intensity. She's not beaten yet, and she knows we're vulnerable.

  "Two on one," she observes, her patterns pulsing with calculated assessment. "But your team is exhausted, and I'm still at full capability."

  She's right. Even with two of us, we're both showing signs of fatigue. Ember's flames have diminished in intensity, her precise control wavering slightly. My own telekinetic output is reduced after the sustained environmental manipulation.

  "One final push," I tell Ember quietly. "Combined attack, everything we've got left."

  Nova doesn't wait for us to coordinate. She unleashes a brilliant light display, concentrated beams slicing toward us from multiple angles simultaneously. I manage to deflect most with telekinetic shields, but one gets through, catching me across the shoulder with burning intensity.

  Ember retaliates with a fire vortex, but Nova counters with light frequencies that disrupt the flame's oxygen consumption patterns. For every attack we launch, she has a precisely calculated defense.

  Soon we’re reduced to hiding behind cover to avoid Nova’s attacks.

  "We can't get close!" Enber growls.

  "We need synchronization she can't predict." I realize, adjusting strategy mid-fight.

  Ember and I have barely trained together, but there's a fundamental understanding between us that transcends formal practice. I catch her eye and make a subtle gesture toward the arena ceiling. She nods almost imperceptibly, flames intensifying around her hands.

  "On three," I murmur. "One... two... three!"

  Instead of attacking Nova directly, we direct our abilities upward. My telekinesis creates a powerful vortex above the arena while Ember feeds intense flames into it. The combination creates a superheated cyclone that disrupts the entire arena environment. Nova's light manipulation, precise and calculated, suddenly faces atmospheric distortion that no amount of skill can fully compensate for.

  The thermal updraft pulls remaining smoke into the vortex, creating a swirling maelstrom of heat, light, and disrupted air currents. Nova attempts to counter with concentrated light beams, but the atmospheric distortion refracts and redirects her attacks unpredictably.

  For a few crucial seconds, her perfect control falters, and that's all the opening we need. I gather my remaining telekinetic strength for one final, precisely targeted push. Not overwhelming force, but perfect placement against her center of balance while she's distracted by the environmental chaos.

  Nova staggers backward, momentarily disoriented by the combined effects of atmospheric disruption and telekinetic impact. Ember seizes the opportunity, creating not a damaging flame but a brilliant flash of fire that temporarily overloads Nova's luminescent receptors.

  The combination of physical imbalance and sensory disruption is enough. Nova falls, her luminescent patterns flickering and fading as her concentration breaks.

  "Team combat conclusion," announces the facility voice. "Victory by incapacitation: Team Exodus."

  The arena falls silent for a moment before erupting into shocked conversations. No one expected Team Exodus filled with newbies to defeat Nova's established fighters, especially not after losing half our team early in the match.

  I help Eli to his feet while Ember checks on Desta. We're all exhausted, battered, and in Eli's case, injured, but victorious. We gather together in the center of the arena, more stunned than triumphant.

  "How the fuck did we pull that off?" Eli asks, wincing as he favors his injured shoulder.

  "Adaptation to unpredictable variables," Desta observes, her voice weak but analytical as ever. "Team Nova relies on predictable patterns and controlled environments. Our forced chaos created conditions that favored improvisation over established protocols."

  "In other words, we're better at working with mess," Ember translates, her flames subdued with exhaustion.

  Nova approaches, her luminescent patterns subdued but dignified in defeat. "Unorthodox strategy," she acknowledges, genuine respect in her voice. "Turning your weaknesses into tactical advantages. Wouldn't have expected that from an inexperienced team."

  "Freedom's a strong motivator," I reply simply.

  She nods, something like understanding in her expression. "Good luck with the remaining nine victories. You'll need it." Her gaze sweeps over our exhausted, battered team. "They'll study this match, prepare countermeasures against your chaos strategy. And your team needs significant healing before your next fight."

  As Team Nova exits the arena, I look at my teammates with a mixture of pride and concern. We won, but barely, and with two members effectively knocked out of the fight early. The victory exposed both our potential and our vulnerabilities.

  "We need to get Eli's shoulder checked," I tell the others as we limp toward the exit. "And Desta needs neural recovery time."

  "One down, nine to go," Ember says, her tone both triumphant and sobered by the difficulty of our victory.

  Nine more victories to freedom. Today proved it's possible, but also demonstrated just how difficult the road ahead will be. We still have a lot of room for improvement, this fight has taught us many valuable lessons that will only make us more capable in the future.

  But for now, we've earned the right to call ourselves a real team, not because we're perfect, but because we found a way to win despite our flaws.