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"Hey!" I say to hi a wide, na&iuht?" At the sa and start downloading info on both hi to be in the same space as the teams, isn’t it?"

"She’s excited to be here," Tremaine says to Max while his eyes stay on me "Guess I would be, too, if I cheated h to cheat your way in, I want to spit back--but I take a deep breath and force my reply down

At my tense expression, Tremaine’s smile stretches thinner "Look at this peach They bruise so easily, they need a Shield to escort them" His eyes actively avoid Roshan in a way that lets me know that’s where his attention really is "Ashyou first"

Max sizes me up "Well, maybe Ash just wanted to pick soht, Aher on htens a little against et into a fancy restaurant with a Level 28 rank She looks like she came from a used clothes bin"

I pretend to lose my balance and stomp down hard on Max’s shoe with my heel Max lets out a yelp "Oh God--I’ to be shocked "It’s ilances at e of his lips

"Look, I knoe haven’t started off on the best footliterally," I say to Max as he glares at ht that ood sports for a handshake

Tre "Wow," he exclaiet" He nore my outstretched hand "Look, Princess Peach, this isn’t how things work in the championships"

I give him an innocent look of confusion "Oh? Then how does it work?"

He holds up a finger "I play you" Another finger goes up "I beat you And then, if you ask nicely, I’ll sign an autograph for you That’s pretty generous sportsmanship, don’t you think?" The fans around them smirk at me, and even over DJ Ren’s music, I can hear their snickers It takes all ht now and knock the shts over less

Instead, I bring up all the info I can on both players By now, my hack has worked its way into the De about the data on these two seems suspicious I turn ly sparse, too No odd security shields Nothing useful

Roshan co else "Save youron Tremaine "They won’t help you in the arena"

Trelad to see it--they are going to underesti team" His eyes dart briefly to Roshan "Go back to your Riders" Then he starts to walk away, and Max follows in his wake

"Who drove over their pets this ?" I mutter to Roshan, my eyes on Trey They talk the ugly talk and hope that soets under the skin of their opponents, that it sticks there Soh times, and anyone will start to believe it"

A faint memory of past tourna Tre "Hey," I say "Tremaine used to be a Phoenix Rider, didn’t he? Weren’t you friends?"

Roshan’s expression darkens "You could say that"

"What happened?"

"Tremaine wants to win Always," he replies "Siade becas "It’s just as well They suit his personality better, anyway"