The Losers cheered as the announcer declared their victory. They may not have been able to hold onto all of their flags, but they'd stolen the most, and that was what mattered. It also meant they got a break while the last teams competed.

At least, some of them got a break. While the Losers drank water and got their wounds healed up—Amalia had gotten beat up pretty badly by the speedster, and was already itching to go after them again—Pip went to look at what all the individual events would be and sign members of her team up for them.

With options for all types of powers, from control demonstrations to speed races to sparring and other forms of fighting, there was something for everyone on the team. And they almost had enough people and variety in their club to sign up for every event, except for the official Summoner's Ring.

Khione was supposed to have competed in that event.

Pip jotted down her own name. She wasn't sure how an official event would stack up to the illegal Summoner's Ring she'd taken part in over the years, but she thought she'd be good enough to score well. And of course, she signed up for an armed fight, because she couldn't very well let everyone see her fight like that below and then not compete in the category.

Once the final round of admissions finished, they didn't have long before individual rounds began.

With multiple events going on at once, Pip couldn't be everywhere and watch everyone, though she wished each member luck as they took off. Lilly went to participate in a control match, something she'd gotten especially good at over the past few months training with Amalia, while August set out to play some sort of super tag game. Still waiting for either of her events to start, Pip followed Amalia to watch her sister battle it out against the speedster.

"I hate puzzles," Amalia grumbled, pulling dark locks of hair away from her face.

"It's not really a puzzle, to be fair," Theo said. He stared up into the arena, lifting off the ground like a boxing ring, with a set of puzzles throughout the ring in each corner and one in the middle. "It really is a speed race."

"A brain speed race." Amalia finished pulling her hair into a ponytail, then tugging matching pieces free to frame her face before taking out her phone.

"Are you checking your hair?" Pip demanded. She'd always known Amalia didn't take this as seriously as she did, but checking her hair?

"Oh come on." Amalia lowered her phone and rolled her eyes. "Don't pretend you don't care what you look like when you fight. You always put on an outfit and do your hair and make up."

"I mean… not seconds before a fight."

She handed her phone over, letting Pip tuck it into her pocket. "I'm just worried about the prospect of having a brain race with a speedster. I can be fast, but speedsters are different."

"Not all of them."

"No, most of them," Amalia said, shaking her head. It was true. Speedsters, to function, had to have fast brains to keep up with the fast reflexes of their bodies. Otherwise, there was a risk of damage caused by their own speed. "My brain isn't like that."

"You're quick," Theo said.

"Sure." Amalia crossed her arms over her chest, staring up into the arena. "But not that quick…"

"Give it a shot," Pip said. "You don't know how fast the speedster can actually go, or how their brain works. Have you actually seen them?"

"Yeah." She nodded across the room, indicating a tall brown girl with a hijab wrapped around her head. "That's the one who stole your ribbon. She stopped to taunt me while I was chasing after her."

Pip looked at her for a few more moments. She didn't seem to be much older than them; in fact, Pip would have guessed she was still in highschool. That would at least put them at semi-even odds, in terms of experience. Maybe Amalia would be higher, with her training.

"How fast was she?"

"I mean, I could keep up with her in there, but I get the feeling she was going slow." Amalia shrugged and let the matter drop as the judge called their names. "Guess we'll find out."

She hopped up onto the arena and dipped between the ropes into it, walking to the middle and shaking the girl's hand. They then stepped into their starting spots as the judge went through a quick run down of the rules.

Athena and Mai walked over, joining their little group by the edge of the arena. They all cheered as the two girls took their spots, Amalia rising up on her toes in anticipation.

The judge blew their whistle, and the speedster took off, darting to the corner of the ring in a blur. Half a second later, Amalia transformed into her whirlwind form and took off with an angry shout.

She raced across the ring as a tiny tornado, grabbing the pieces of the puzzle and immediately beginning to sort them. Eyes darting between the proper speedster and her sister, Pip tried to make out who was going faster, and entirely lost track. Both were moving faster than her eyes could keep up with, hands nothing but blurs as they each sorted out their first puzzles.

The speedster darted to the second as Amalia finished the first. She sped across the ring, winds tearing at Pip's hair and clothes, the dust leaving her eyes stinging. Blinking rapidly, she cheered with the rest of her family even as she summoned a set of glasses to shield her eyes.

She still had her own competitions she couldn't be half blind for.

The world now tinted purple, Pip watched Amalia complete the second puzzle ahead of the speedster before racing for the third, swapping places with the other girl as she finished her puzzle and took off.

"Come on, Amalia!" Pip shouted so loudly her voice cracked, jumping up and down as her sister completed the third puzzle. Amalia never lost focus, going immediately to the fourth.

They both went for the final puzzle at the same time. Pip screamed. Athena thundered her support, clapping her hands and shouting encouragement. Theo grabbed Pip by the shoulders, shaking her as they waited for Amalia to finish.

The speedster darted off, coming to a standstill with hands up. The judge called the match even as Amalia put in her final piece.

"Aw, fuck," Pip muttered. She fell silent as Amalia froze, her hands empty and eyes wide, staring at the judge like she wanted to shove them away from the ring. Instead, she stiffly drew her arms down to her sides and took a step back, nodding to the girl before darting away.

She grabbed the ropes around the ring, her face cracking.

Pip tapped her on the foot, flashing the widest smile she could. "Good job." She wasn't lying; it really was good work against a proper speedster. Only a second apart? "You're damn fast."

"Not fast enough."

"Faster than I can keep up with," Athena said, reaching up for Amalia's hand to help her down. "You did good."

"But I lost."

"Mom once told me it was a bad thing I won," Pip said with a shrug. "Something about building character?"

"Something about perspective." Amalia hopped down to the floor with a frustrated huff, quickly undoing her ponytail.

"I probably ruined our chances at winning."

"Nah," Theo said. "We've still got seven more people participating. And you can always sign up for a different category…"

"I'm going to do that," Amalia said. "I need to kick someone's ass."

Mai let out a small laugh before falling silent, eyes trailing after her. "Was she serious? She's serious, isn't she?"

"Definitely."

"Great." Mai took off at a barely restrained sprint, dodging through the crowd to catch up with Amalia.

"I hope she doesn't try and talk her out of it," Pip said.

"Yeah, we need the points."

"No, she might actually turn into a dust devil."

"Ah. Yeah, that would be bad."

Despite the early loss, they quickly made up ground. August narrowly won his match, Frog won theirs out of sheer confusion—nobody was quite sure how to deal with someone so stretchy—and the twins swept the floor in their doubles match.

And then it was Pip's turn.

She tied her hair back, grin widely as she stared into the ring. Her opponent was a large, beefy woman with muscles the size of Pip's face. Whether it was genetic or a part of her power, it was impressive.

The woman cracked her knuckles, then her neck in a dazzling display of poppiness. Her gaze stayed locked on Pip in probably what was meant to be an unsettling way. Pip continued grinning at the woman, bouncing up and down on her toes outside the ring as they waited.

If it was a hand to hand match, she might be a bit worried, but she'd signed up to do armed combat instead. With Theo, Galen, and to everyone's surprise, Amalia, competing in hand to hand, adding Pip would have been overkill. It still felt a bit unfair, but it wasn't Pip's fault her family was just that good.

"What's the plan?" Theo asked. He stepped up beside her, crossing his arms over his chest. "Sword? Spear? Knives?"

"Might be knives," Pip said, evaluating the woman. She carried a long black sword with her, with length that matched her height and obvious strength. Pip might have been intimidated, except she'd grown up fighting against worse. Pip wouldn't reasonably be able to match that sword size, not without giving away more about her power than she really wanted to, so combining her smaller size and better speed with her ability to create weapons at will was probably her best choice.

"Good plan," Theo said. "I don't think you should summon your armor for this one."

"No?"

"Not refined enough," he said. "You want the speed and mobility more than you want the bulk."

"You've been talking to Florence too much," she grumbled.

"Hey, am I right, or what?"

She didn't get a chance to answer as the judge finally called their names. Ducking low, she stepped into the ring, energy coursing through her body. There was nothing that compared to a good fight. This had better be a good fight.

Her opponent stepped into the ring, carrying her long black sword with her. She inclined her head to Pip. "Good luck."

"Good luck," Pip said. She settled down, placing herself in the corner, hands balled loosely into fists as she planned her attack.

The judge looked at both of them, getting confirmation from both before pressing a small button in front of them. Energy shimmered around the ring, the familiar soothing blue light of a protection shield forming around them. It appeared to be the gym's only one.

The moment the barrier was up, Pip attacked. It was as good a cue as any. She sprung off the floor, leaping toward the woman and summoning a throwing dagger in one hand.

The woman stepped out, sweeping her blade in a wide arc. Pip sent her dagger flying at the same time, ducking low and springing out of the way, landing in time to watch the dagger land and shatter against her arm.

One point of contact down. Now she only needed two more, and she'd win the match.

This really was too easy.

Back on her feet in an instant, Pip danced around from the woman, hands loose. Faint outlines of blades pressed against her palms, invisible to anyone's reality but hers.

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She waited, side stepping around the ring as the woman came after her. The blade seemed to stretch, growing in length and darkness as her opponent moved cautiously in mirror.

The woman lunged suddenly, striking across the distance in a burst of speed, extending the blade to the tip of her reach. Pip yelped and dove out of the way, left with only one opening: toward her opponent.

Her feet struck against solid metal as she landed briefly on the blade, shoving it downward with the force of her momentum as she sprung off it and over the woman's outstretched arm. Landing on the soft foam mat, Pip rolled, summoning a blade and stabbing it into the woman's ankle.

The glass shattered and faded into crystals, crumbling in her grip. Pip smiled even as she summoned another blade; time to end this.

Metal struck against her shoulder. Pip let out a yelp, more out of shock than pain as she spun away from the impact. The woman shifted as Pip moved away, guarding herself once again as she moved her blade into position across her body.

Two-one. If Pip could land another hit, the fight would be over. She wouldn't let her opponent strike her again.

She shouldn't have allowed it the first time. She needed to pay better attention.

Rising to her full, unimpressive height, Pip decided against using the daggers. She brought both hands to her chest, summoning a glass blade that glittered in the light, reflecting a beam of sunshine off into the gym. It really wasn't fair to fight dagger versus sword, especially not when Pip also knew how to use a sword.

"You're versatile," the woman said, giving her an appraising look.

"I try." Pip darted forward, a surge of movement that made her muscles burn as she struck once at the woman's left, then her shoulder, then down toward her right knee. On her next strike, the woman caught her blade and pushed back against her, sneakers squeaking on the rubber floor as the weight of her pressed against Pip.

Well, fuck. That wasn't going to work.

Her feet hit against the edge of the ring, tickling against the meta shield. At the same moment as the woman began to let up, Pip dropped her shoulder, letting the blade roll over her own as she brought it down into her opponent's foot.

The woman leapt back with a howl, the injury almost immediately vanishing as Pip rid herself of the blade and stepped back. That was three points of contact.

The meta shield dropped. "Victory goes to Phillipa Carter," the judge declared without enthusiasm. Her lack of excitement didn't matter, Pip had more than enough for both of them.

She let out a whoop that echoed around the gym, throwing her arms up as she raced over to the side of the ring. She leapt up, grabbing Theo's shoulder and jumping up in excitement.

"Aight, that's enough," Theo said, pushing her off of his arm. "Don't act like you did something awesome."

"Spoil sport," Pip said, sticking out her tongue. "That was the fastest match of the day."

"Yeah, yeah, come on." Theo grabbed her wrist as she swung through the ropes, not giving her the time to settle or even go talk to her opponent. "We're currently one point down and I swear to god, if you lose this match, I'm disowning you."

"You're disowning me?" Pip scoffed. "You can't do that."

"I've worked too hard—"

"Hold on, you?" Pip stopped, forcing Theo to stop with her as she stared up into her little brother's face. He seemed to have forgotten just why they were here. "This whole thing was my idea?"

"And yet, who spent the time training everyone while you fooled around with your girlfriend and that suit of armor?" Theo gave her a pointed look and started moving again. "Everyone's waiting on you. If you win this, we all win."

"Right."

With the elation of victory still ringing in her bones like a bell's toll, forcing herself to focus once more took a tremendous effort. The last event was by far the most popular: The Summoner's Ring. It wasn't as exciting as the one Pip had attended, where it was a fight just to be allowed to compete, but everyone surrounding the stage appeared to be in high spirits. Voices coasted over one another, raising the volume of the entire gym, leaving Pip's ears ringing as she made her way up the short flight of stairs to check in with the event judge.

"Name?" The judge asked, raising her voice to be heard over the crowd.

"Phillipa Carter," Pip said, shouting her own name into the woman's face.

"Ah yes." The judge marked something on her clipboard and then nodded at the stage. "We've been waiting for you."

"Ahh." Pip sucked on her teeth. She hadn't meant to be late. It wasn't her fault they'd scheduled the events at the same time. "Well, I'm here now."

"You are." The judge clicked her pen, then nodded to the ring. "Are you ready?"

"Oh, for sure."

Pip stepped up to the ring, walking around the outside as she took it all in. It was set up differently than what she was used to. No metal fencing around the outside, just a circle painted on the floor in chalk and two markings on either side. Her opponent was already sitting there, cross legged on the mat, eyes closed.

He seems focused.

The judge cleared her throat and Pip hurried over to her place, quickly getting down on the mat and crossing her legs beneath herself. This wasn't nearly as exciting as the Summoner's Ring she knew of.

"Competitors." It wasn't the judge's voice, rather the announcer's, blasting over the loudspeaker. "We're down to the wire. Everyone has tried their hardest today and put it all out there, and now we have one point left to determine the winner of the open Let's Get Meta gym slot!"

The crowd cheered.

Pip drew in a deep breath, stretching out the sticky palms of her hands against her knees. It had been months since she'd made a summon or competed in any summoning fight. Why couldn't Khione just be here to compete?

Opening her eyes, Pip twisted around, straining to find Khione in the crowd despite knowing she wouldn't find her. For months, she'd been slipping away, moving further and further out of reach and away from Pip, like winter in the face of spring.

God, she wasn't good at metaphors. Or romance. If she was, she'd probably have figured out what to do about Khione and how to fix things months ago. But she was only good at fighting.

Grounding herself in her power, she allowed the energy of her core to wash across her like a warm bath. Her skin tingled, aches and pains, bruises from the earlier fights washing away.

Power seemed to pulse from her opponent, a wave that washed up against Pip's awareness of power. Then heat, a pinprick at first, like a beam of sunlight. Growing and rising until Pip sat face to face with a furnace.

She opened her eyes, finding herself staring at a summon made of flames.

Oh shit.

That wasn't good.

Fredrick wasn't cut out for this, or any of his brothers. She needed something new, something she hadn't made before. Otherwise, she'd melt in the face of this. Literally.

"Summon your fighter," the judge ordered, walking around the outside of the ring with impatient steps. Each fall of her heels struck against Pip's nerves. She needed to ignore it.

I wish Khione was here, Pip thought. Her ice summons were strong, and she could freeze as fast as this thing could melt.

But Khione had taught her to do the same thing, hadn't she?

A smile on her face, Pip cracked her knuckles and began her work. Khione had helped her so much over the past few months when it came to her armor, and even if she wasn't here, Pip could put that knowledge to use.

On the mark inside the ring, Pip summoned a tiny version of her armor. The pieces of glass fit together like puzzle pieces even without a body inside it, Khione's advice rising to the front of her mind as she formed joints within the glass. Then came time for her expertise: a blade.

The summon stretched out its hand, glass clinking as a blade formed in its grasp. A longsword to match the size of her little glass knight, held parallel to his face, staring at the life-sized chicken made of fire in front of it.

"Let's go."

The fire chicken leapt forward, springing into the air and flapping wings made of fire.

Pip's knight pivoted on its feet, her power pulling at it like ventriloquist strings. It spun, slicing toward the chicken as white hot claws dug down at her summon.

Digging deep, Pip found the piece of herself Khione had left in her core, attaching it to the summon. Glass crackled and grew frosty, going from opaque to solid in a blink. The claws scraped against the knight's helmet, but nothing melted.

Pip's grin widened. She could win this.

The chicken landed, scraping against the mat and melting the rubber beneath it as the knight advanced. It swung the blade in a wide arc, forcing the fire summon up into the air to escape its reach.

Pip forced her knight forward even as the chicken flew directly at it, slamming into her knight's body. With its free hand, it grabbed the chicken, chopping at it with its sword in the other.

It squawked, a disturbingly life-like sound, as the blade pierced its fiery flesh.

The chicken's wings burst open, slamming into the knight's arms with such force it broke its grip and sent her summon stumbling back. Gritting her teeth, she caught it once more and forced it to stop moving, refusing to allow the momentum of the chicken's blow to affect her summon.

It was a little bit like cheating, considering proper summons still mostly had to obey the laws of physics, but physics were a lie anyway.

Steady on its feet once more, the knight lifted its sword and ran at the chicken. The chicken let out a loud bawk and charged, flames flaring along its wings.

For a moment, Pip became the knight, envisioning each movement as her own, the tiny creation an extension of her own body. She stood on the mat, eye to eye with the flaming chicken, staring into its ruby red eyes as she fought against beak and claw to end its life.

With a roar she barely recognized as her own, Pip ram the sword up and through the chicken's chest, flame bleeding down as droplets of blood around the hilt. The landed against the knight's glass armor, turning it molten, but Pip held.

In a puff of smoke, the summoned chicken vanished, leaving its summoner red face and white knuckled as he stared at the ground in defeat.

With a cry of excitement, Pip leapt to her feet, the cheers finally reaching her ears. All around the stage, the crowd cheered, and she spotted her family among them, loudest of all.

The ground shook, trembling from the force of Athena's approval. Across the room, Pip watched Mai catch her arm and give her a look, then let out a short laugh and continue cheering for Pip.

Sweeping down, Pip grabbed her little knight and shot back up, thrusting it over head in triumph.

The loudspeakers popped, the announcer speaking too fast at first for Pip to catch the words over the volume of the crowd.

"...victor Phillipa Carter earning the final point for her group, The Losers! Welcome to Let's Get Meta! Thank you to everyone for joining us today. Now how about we get the winning team up here?"

Bodies scrambled through the crowd, the group Pip had been so reluctant to join shoving their way through and clambering onto the stage. Frog threw their long, abnormally limber arms around Pip's neck, capturing her in a squishy hug before Theo grabbed her and lifted her up to his shoulder, cheering with the rest of them.

The next hour passed in a blur as the gym gave out prizes to everyone who attended, then brought the group together with Mai to confirm their spot at the gym. Pip followed them around in a daze, a smile on her face, wishing she hadn't left her phone at home. She needed to let Florence and Viv know she'd won.

Their victory followed them to a nearby ice cream shop, where Athena had decided to bring everyone after the event. They piled into the restaurant, disturbing customers and talking loudly over one another as they approached the front counter.

Pip settled into the back of the line, straining to read the menu and listening to Mai list out the different flavors, when the door behind her jangled. She didn't turn around, expecting it to be just another customer, until a finger tapped against her shoulder.

Pip spun around, smile faltering as she found herself face to face with her girlfriend. What was Khione doing here?

"I heard you won," Khione said. She leaned in close, pressing her lips against Pip's.

She pulled back, stunned. "You did?"

"Didn't you?" Khione raised an eyebrow. It struck a nerve like a match, and all the energy Pip had been carrying around all day ignited into anger. How dare Khione just show up to this like she hadn't just blown them off after months of training? Acting like everything was fine, like Pip was just going to kiss her and be quiet.

"No thanks to you," Pip said, the words leaving her mouth before she could think better of it.

Khione stepped back, hand sliding off Pip's back and landing heavily against her side. "I told you why I couldn't."

"Yeah." She forced herself to take a deep breath, stemming off the rising tide of anger. She was being irrational. Khione's family was superphobic, and she'd done what she thought she had to in order to stay safe. She opened her eyes again, looking her girlfriend in the eye. "Yeah, we did win. The whole team did great."

Khione settled in beside Pip in the line, listening as the others began to tell her about their day. Pip struggled to pay attention, ordering her ice cream numbly and sitting down. Khione squeezed into the booth beside her, arm pressed up against Pip. Pip shifted away, struggling with the feelings in her body as they shouted at her, battling against them with her mind.

Khione had every reason not to come. She'd said as much. Pip couldn't be mad at her for that.

So why was she so upset?

Athena cleared her throat, body casting a shadow across the booth as she stepped into the aisle between the booth and the table their party occupied. She hit the plastic spoon against the side of her paper bowl, then frowned, putting both down on the table.

"I know some of you don't know me," Athena said. "But today, you have all made me exceedingly proud and excited for the future of supers. Your skills and abilities but most of all your attitude is exactly what this world needs, and I know each of you will go on to do great things. And on that note…"

She reached into the pocket of her hoodie, pulling out a large folded, crinkled envelope.

Pip's stomach flipped and she froze, spoonful of ice cream melting in her mouth. That couldn't be…

Athena reached out, holding the envelope across the table. "Artemis said she wanted to give it to you herself, but, well, you know how crazy things can get. Congrats kid. Did you ever really think you wouldn't make it in?"

Pip ripped the envelope open, nearly tearing the letter inside as she struggled to get it out. She needed to see it with her own eyes.

Opening it up, Pip read over the paper. Even with letters flipping and words twisting in her brain, the intent of the letter was unmistakable. She'd made it into the hero program.

"Oh my god," Pip gasped, slamming the paper onto the table. "I was terrified they wouldn't let me in."

"We're proud of you, baby girl," Mai said, pride beaming from her smile as she looked at Pip.

"I told you not to worry," Theo added. "They knew you'd come knocking down doors if they didn't admit you, and you know where they live."

Pip laughed, shaking her head as relief flooded through her body. She'd waited so long for that letter, sitting in limbo as she waited to know if the future she'd spent all her life preparing for her could be hers, and now that the answer sat in front of her, it was like everything was crystal clear.

"Can I see that?" Khione slid the letter from Pip's grasp as she asked the question, reading it over with heavy lidded eyes.

Watching her read the letter, Pip realized she felt nothing. No more anger. No twisted hope, waiting for Khione to congratulate her. Not even a fluttering in her stomach that Khione was touching her. Nothing.

This wasn't what love was supposed to be.

She glanced up at her moms, their arms around each other as they watched over the group, then back at her girlfriend. She knew what she had to do, the answer presented so easily in front of her even as a pit formed in her stomach.

Why couldn't she just fall in love and spend the rest of her life with the first person she dated like the rest of the family? She didn't even know how breakups worked.

Pip pulled the paper back, folding it and tucking it into her pocket. Then, she took a deep breath and rose to her feet. She had to do this now. "Khione, can I talk to you outside?"

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