Mark and Jackson ended up doing extremely well in the competition, better than even themselves expected. It seemed with their newfound closure that they were finally able to focus on the task at hand. Plus, having someone who you connected on emotional, physical, and mental levels was helpful. They were the team that everyone was talking about. Their fast paced fighting style and irrefutable strategy and teamwork landed them on the headlines of local and international newspapers, though Mark never let the fame get too far in Jackson’s head. They surged through the ranks like none other, but it was about time for a good break.

The two boys fought their way through the tiers of the tournament now finding them in the middle of the battle. Unfortunately, BamBam and Yugyeom had already been knocked out of the competition, but it was one less team that Mark and Jackson had to worry about. And since their friends and many others had been eliminated, the stages were cut down to two in the stadium.

Mark and Jackson’s waiting room routine had changed significantly from that first battle. Instead of being that nervous Jackson, the blonde boy was practically hopping in his seat, excited for the upcoming battle. Mark just watched his boyfriend (he really loved the sound of that) and casually placed placed a placed a hand on Jackson’s knee to cease the jittering.

 “Do you remember the battle plan?” Jackson asked Mark, excited smile flashing across his lips.

“Yes, avoid direct hits and disable the Analytic,” Mark repeated Jackson’s words from the previous night.

“Good,” Jackson nodded, “If we have any luck we might get the desert stage. It's not ideal, but it will hurt them more than us.”

Mark nodded in agreement and s his hand from Jackson’s knee to his shoulders, pulling him close.

They sat in silence (if you don't count the tapping of Jackson’s foot) as they waited for the green light. When the light flashed green, Jackson jumped up, pulling Mark by the hand. They walked to the door and squeezed their entwined hands.

“We got this. Semifinals are just around the corner,” Jackson reminded himself.

“We got this,” Mark repeated before briefly kissing Jackson on the cheek, “Let's go.”

They walked to the stage and met their competition in the middle. After completing their bows, the boys readied themselves for the fight. The hologrammed di blinked above the stage. On Jackson and Mark's side, the northern end, fell on forest.

‘Sweet,’ Jackson though, making a low-key fist pump.

Jackson looked to the other side and the di fell on dessert. Jackson smiled wildly and not-so-subtly bumped shoulders with mark while chanting ‘We got ‘em, we got ‘em we got ‘em,’ in his head. Their two competitors looked very dismayed by the results and Jackson’s excited body language. Then, the bell rang. Mark immediately made a run for the Analytic, swinging a punch towards the girl. She easily dodged the punch, dropping underneath Mark’s arms and aiming a sweeping kick to Mark’s legs. Markk barely had enough time to jump before the female hero decided to join the fight.

“Mark! In the sand!” Jackson reminded, quickly running there himself.

Mark nodded, although he doubted Jackson could see it. He ducked under a punch from the Hero and vaulted himself backwards, back flipping away from the center stage. Mark sprinted to the sand dune. He reached Jackson and look back to see if they were followed.

“Why aren't they following us?” Mark turned to Jackson in confusion.

“The sand pretty much neutralizes their quirks,” Jackson answered with a smirk, “Analytic Chick is a human seismograph. She feels vibrations in the ground. The sand doesn't transmit vibrations like hard ground. And blondy over there is a Golem. She hasn't done it yet but she can morph into a rock monster. Thing is a though,  her weight stays the same no mater what. Every punch around kick is like it's coming from around brick wall, but she can't step into the sand.”

“Because she's too heavy,” Mark quickly picked up quickly.

“Yup,” Jackson nodded.

The boy’s stood in place, bodies tense as they waited for their opponents’ next move. However, the were a little surprised when he two girls simply stayed put.

“So, are they going to follow us?” Mark asked, brow furrowing as he whispered the question to Jackson.

Jackson bit his lip and shrugged helplessly, “You know, I don’t really think I thought of what would happen after we go in the sand…”

Mark gave Jackson an incredulous look, hands coming up in a ‘what’ gesture. Jackson shrugged it off and looked back up to the centerstage.

“Hey, my job is difficult ok?” Jackson stressed.

“Jackson, they’re gone.” Mark interrupted, still looking towards the other side.

“What?” Jackson whipped his head to the forest end of the field.

Suddenly they heard a loud crackling noise and a loud thud. Trees swayed within the forest on the other side of the field.

Jackson turned to Mark with panic in his eyes,“That’s not good.”

Just as the words left his mouth, a dark object flew over the field going straight for them. Jackson’s eyes widened and he scrambled away from the object’s trajectory.

“MOVE!” Jackson shouted as he dove away from the tree that had been thrown at them.

Mark sprinted towards the center stage but had to double back to avoid another tree missile.

“How the hell are they doing this!?” MArk shouted as he slid past a sand dune.

“Golem has super strength!” JAckson replied, dodging another piece of tree, “We’ve only got a few options to counter!”

“Spit it out then!” Mark growled, flinching when a tree hit the sand a few feet from them.

“They don’t know where we are, so we either wait for them to run out of trees or attack while they’re blind, but as soon as we step on solid ground, the Analytic will know where we are.” Jackson explained as he brushed sand from his side.

“Unless we mask ourselves,” MArk offered.

“Know any flying quirks?” Jackson asked as he took off his shoe and shook sand out of it.

“Really? You do realize that you’re just going to get more sand in them?” Mark deadpanned.

“It’s uncomfortable. Sue m-” Jackson was unable to finish his statement because MArk suddenly tackled him, their momentum rolling them a few feet.

“You know, you’re going to get yourself killed because you have an inability to pay attention,” Mark huffed.

Mark hovered over Jackson in the sand. Jackson turned his head to where he was once standing to see an upended tree now poking out of the sand. Jackson turned back to  look up at Mark and smiled.

“I freaking love you,” Jackson sighed sincerely.

“Not the time, Jackson.” MArk shook his head and got up, brushing sand off of himself (which landed on a sputtering Jackson), “Our ‘safe zone’ is quickly becoming an ‘unsafe zone,’” Mark continued.

“That’s it!” Jackson jumped up from the sand with a shout, “Please tell me you at least have some sort of wind or telekinesis quirk copied in that beautiful head of yours!”

“Galestorm from Fei in Class D,” Mark nodded.

“Sweet,” Jackson fist pumped, “I need you to use it to blow this sand to the other side of the stage.”

“What?” Mark gave Jackson a concerned look.

“It’s simple--where’s my shoe?” Jackson interrupted himself and looked around in the sand, “Oh there. Anyways! It’s pretty simple. You blow sand onto the solid stage. The sand will absorb most of the vibrations from our feet and we get in while the enemy is blind.”

“Ok, I see now…” Mark nodded, “You might want to get behind me. I don’t really know what’s going to happen.”

Jackson gave Mark a wary look but obeyed. Standing behind MArk, he watched as sand began to lift from the ground, billowing up as more sand slowly filtered into the vortex. The wind got harsher and began ripping at their hair and clothes. Mark’s body tense in front of him and he shifted his body to a more balanced position.

“I just want you to know this is extremely difficult,” Mark growled over the wind, “I can’t hold much longer.”

“Then let it go. Can you do it multiple times?” Jackson shoute back.

“We’ll see!” Mark replied as he let go of the galestorm.

The vortex of sand and wind spun wildly out of control, zigzagging across the ground and picking up sand. It swirled over the metal center stage before exploding on the other side, sending sand raining down.

Jackson peaked over Mark’s shoulder and nodded once, “Impressive.”

Mark turned his head to glare at Jackson.

“Do it again,” Jackson smiled, sending an air kiss to the redhead.

Mark rolled his eyes and turned back to his task. He tried again, this time gaining much more control over the galestorm. He released the vortex and sent it flying to the other side. This time the storm hit its Mark. Sand washed over the trees in a wave of tan.

“Woo!” Jackson cheered behind Mark, “One more time babe!”

“Ugh, I don’t know if I can,” Mark panted.

“Come on, just one more,” Jackson pleaded, “It’ll be just enough to mask us, plus they’re probably figuring out what’s happening as we speak.”

Just as Jackson said, a tree came flying over the stage. Mark sighed and grabbed Jackson by the shirt, pulling him closer to the center stage.

“She’s got terrible aim,” Mark grumbled as he got back into his stance, “Last time Jackson, I swear if this doesn't work I’m going to murder you.”

“Duly noted,” Jackson laughed.

Mark focused once more, calling forth a larger galestorm. The vortex whipped up sand into its body as it grew bigger and bigger until it reached the side of the center stage itself. Visibility was decreasing more and more as sand floated into the air.

“Here we go!” Mark shouted over the wind and pushed the storm towards the forest stage.

The vortex hit its mark perfectly. Sand broke from the wind as it snapped against trees. The miniscule grains fell in a cloud of tan, blanketing the stage.

“Better go now!” Jackson shouted, grabbing Mark’s hand and pulling him into the sand cloud.

The boys raced through the sparse forest to find their opponents. Their only beacon was a large shadow that Jackson could only assume was the Golem Quirk. It was too short and wide to be a tree, and if the fact that it was moving provided any evidence, then yes, he would say it was the Golem.

Jackson slowed down when they got close enough to identify the duo, “Mark, the rest is up to you.”

“Got it,” Mark nodded, “Wind won’t work on her will it?”

“Nope, too heavy. You’d need some super strength to move her,” Jackson informed his partner.

“Mind becoming a distraction?” Mark spoke after a pause in the conversation.

Jackson turned to the other and smirked, “Isn’t that what I do best?”

Mark quickly relayed his plan to Jackson. the blonde fine tuned it a bit before setting off to do his job. Jackson ran in a wide arc around their competition. He weaved his way to situate himself in front of them, in clear sight. The lack of trees due to the Golem’s angry rampage aided in that matter. It wasn’t long until they spotted him. The first one to see him was the Analytic. The thin, brunette gasped and pointed him out to her companion. The Golem swooped her partner up and placed the girl upon her massive shoulder. The Golem herself must have been at least twelve feet tall, if not more. She was wide and looked to be made of boulders stacked atop each other; one for a calf, another for a thigh, two for her torso, two to make up her upper arm and forearm, and one for her head. The Golem made no sound except for the thundering of her stone feet hitting the ground as she ran for Jackson. Luckily for Jackson, with all that weight came slow speed. Jackson easily dodged around the girl, never coming close enough for her to touch him. Jackson laughed giddily and taunted the girl every time she missed him. he kept an eye out for Mark, who was supposed to sneak up onto the distracted Golem and Copy her strength. Jackson ended up leading the girl and her partner closer to the edge of the stage where the trees were less scarce. He dodged around on of her granite hands, causing her to crash against a tree instead. The Golem tipped to the side before catching herself on another tree, however, the sharp movement had caused her charge to topple off her shoulder.

“MARK!” Jackson shouted, “NOW WOULD BE GREAT!”

Mark swooped out of the trees and closed in on the Golem, who was heaving herself up, oblivious to the fact that she lost her partner. All it took for Mark to Copy her quirk was a quick tap to the back of her leg before he retreated back to a safe distance. Mark wasted no time, however, in activating the newly acquired quirk. Jackson could tell when he activated it by how his stick-figured boyfriend began to sink a little into the layer of sand on the ground.

“Alright!” Jackson cheered animatedly from several feet away, “Go get ‘em!”

“Not helpful!” Mark shouted as he took a slow step towards the Golem, who had righted herself.

The image of the two heros was rather frightening to Jackson. He could only imagine what the audience saw. A large rock monster over twice the size of her opponent locked into battle with a skinny, red haired kid. The odds seemed exponentially stacked against them, but Jackson knew better.

Mark’s speed was extremely crippled by the heavyweight quirk. He could not dodge as easily as before, but with the weight of the quirk he was able to withstand a majority of the attacks. All he had to do was find a way to get the Golem off the stage. The two exchanged a few blows before MArk decided to  go for broke. The redhead stepped underneath the Golem’s arms and into her immediate space. Mark utilized his added strength and placed a flying kick on her stomach (or where it should have been). The girl went flying back as she crashed against the remaining trees, still not off the stage. Mark trudged over to the fallen girl and summoned all of his strength to push the girl once more, sending her skidding off the sand and over over the edge of the stage.

Mark panted and fell down,completely drained of energy. Jackson cheered and sprinted over to Mark as the canon fire rang.

“ But...hah...the...Analytic?” Mark gasped through choked breaths.

“ I tossed her off while you were fighting the mountain,” Jackson smirked, “See. I can do work too.”

Mark huffed and leaned into Jackson’s chest, “I am not walking off this stage, so you better carry me.”