The training room was silent as Ashylene and I watched Dwayne and Sandra prepare for their battle. Dwayne seemed unusually confident, maybe because he thought he could easily defeat Sandra, who was ranked ninth.

 "Hey, bro," I called out, "Give it your best shot, okay?" Dwayne glanced at me and nodded. Ashylene smiled and then shouted as well. 

"Hey Sandra, show him who's boss," Ashylene said cheerfully. "Hey, what are you doing?" I asked, surprised and annoyed by her support for Sandra. 

"We're supposed to be on the same team," I said, squinting my eyes at her and leaning closer to her face.

 "Oh, come on, he doesn't need both of us to cheer for him. Why not root for her instead?" she replied, looking away from me and lifting her chin as if she was superior.

"Come on, Dwayne is our friend, not that girl," I said, giving her a bored look with one eyebrow raised and my head slightly tilted down. 

"Nah, that's too predictable," Ashylene said, watching Dwayne and Sandra get ready to fight.

 I stared at her for a moment with a dull expression, then I had an idea. A brilliant idea that would guarantee me a free lunch tomorrow in the cafeteria.

"Hey, how about we make a bet?" I said, smiling slyly and closing my eyes as I chuckled softly.

 "A bet? About what?" she asked, raising one eyebrow at me. 

"If Dwayne wins, you buy me lunch tomorrow," I said, grinning wickedly. 

She giggled back at me and said, "Okay, and if I win, you'll spar with me tomorrow," she said, smiling evilly and laughing. 

"O-okay, deal," I agreed hesitantly. "Please win, Dwayne," I thought as I watched them begin.

Sandra lunged at Dwayne with incredible speed, making us all gasp. "So that's the unparalleled speed of the Terylin family," Ashylene said as Sandra reached Dwayne and swung her sword swiftly.

Dwayne blocked it by materializing some metallic rods and then he blasted her away with three more rods.

 Dwayne then summoned two more rods and changed their shape to form a star-like weapon, the same one he had used against Ashylene in their second battle. Sandra landed on the ground and then she circled around Dwayne, moving faster and faster. 

She took a step and Ashylene said, "She's going to get serious now." Sandra vanished from our sight for a second.

"Shit, she's fast," Dwayne thought as he enveloped himself with his armor. He barely finished covering himself when Sandra's sword struck him hard. 

Sandra jumped back and looked at Dwayne in surprise. She didn't expect him to be that strong.

"Mmm- so is it possible that the top five are actually a big deal because I've fought the last number nine and he wasn't a problem at all and I've seen number six in action so I wasn't expecting this much from him," she thought as she leaned again for another attack.

"Maybe I'll have to get serious this time," she said, launching another attack at him. 

She came straight at him, then disappeared in the next second, creating a mirage of herself and confusing Dwayne. Dwayne concentrated all his energy and created many needle-like projections.

He directed them at every direction she was moving, but he didn't care if he hit us too. 

"Hey, bro, watch it! You'll end up hitting me and Ashylene!" I yelled, feeling scared and worried. 

Dwayne was too focused to hear us. He shot his needles everywhere, forcing Sandra to back off and retreat. She blocked the needles with her sword, slicing them as they came near her.

The other needles were heading towards us. "Shit, we're dead," I screamed in fear and panic.

 But then I heard a metallic sound from Ashylene. She was calm, folding her arms and watching the fight. I looked back at the needles and shielded myself with my hands.

But nothing hit me. I wondered why and slowly looked back at where the needles came from. 

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe what I saw. The needles had stopped in mid-air and they were sparking with electricity. I looked at Ashylene again. She was still standing there, focused on the fight.

 I hesitated to ask her what she had done to the needles, when I heard a loud clanging noise. I looked back at the battlefield and saw Dwayne holding a massive sword. He swung it at Sandra with great force.

 How did he manage to turn the tables on someone faster than him? I wondered. He swung his sword at her, but it was too heavy and brittle. Sandra's blade broke and pieces of it fell to the ground. Dwayne stopped his attack.

"Wow, how did he do that? He didn't use that move in our last fight. Has he improved so much in just a few days?" Ashylene thought, looking at Dwayne with shock and admiration in her eyes. 

"Bro, how did you do that?" I exclaimed, running to Dwayne and hugging him. I was happy that I won the bet with Ashylene.

 I shook him and said, "You're awesome, man!" Ashylene walked towards us and clapped her hands for Dwayne. Dwayne looked at us with pride and smiled.

Sandra got up and looked at her broken sword. She said, "I can't believe you beat me. You're strong, Dwayne." Dwayne and I looked at each other. 

Ashylene walked to Sandra and patted her on the back. She said, "I told you so." We looked at them, confused. They explained that they had been friends for a long time.

They met when they were both ten years old, at a summer camp for gifted children. 

They discovered that they had a lot in common, such as their love for music, books, and martial arts. They also shared a similar sense of humor and adventure.

They became inseparable and supported each other through thick and thin. They enrolled in the same school , where they honed their skills and abilities.

Apparently, Sandra was Ashylene's only friend and I was the same for Dwayne. Dwayne and I were surprised by this revelation.

We thought they had more friends than us, since Ashylene seemed always cheerful and outgoing. We realized that we had misjudged her and felt a connection with her and her friend Sandra. We decided to join them and train together.

"So, are you going to make me a new sword? The tournament is next week," Sandra said, looking at Dwayne as we walked out of the campus.

 Dwayne looked at her sheepishly and apologized. "Sorry, Sandra. I'll make you another one tomorrow," he said, avoiding her eyes.

"I didn't mean to break it, but it was just too weak," he added. 

"Hey, don't insult my family's treasure," Sandra said, getting angry at his remark.

Ashylene and I noticed this and slowed down to give them some space to argue. We watched them from a distance as they bickered. "Whatever, I'll just make you a better one than the one you had," Dwayne said, walking calmly.

"No, you have to make it for me now. If my family finds out it's broken, they'll come here to see who did it," Sandra said, calming down a bit.

Dwayne sighed and stretched his hand. He opened his palm and metallic particles appeared. He began to forge her a new weapon. It took him about a minute to finish it. He gripped it, swung it, and handed it to Sandra.

 "Here, this one is stronger, sharper, and lighter," he said, giving her the sword. Sandra took the new sword and examined it closely.

She swung it and felt that it was perfect. It felt more comfortable than her old one. 

"Okay, this one feels better. Thanks," she said. They resumed walking normally.

"Yeah, that's because I changed the structure of the blade's particles and rearranged them perfectly.Now it will be stronger and lighter than normal blades." Dwayne said.

We arrived at the gate and saw Ashylene's car waiting for her. There was another nice car waiting behind it.

 "Goodbye, guys," the girls said in unison as they walked to their cars.

They waved at us. Dwayne and I could only watch them walk away. We waved back at them and felt left out. 

"Damn, man, we need some money," we both said in unison.

We walked home as usual and then parted ways. "See you, bro," we said to each other as we split up.