The Gauntlet was a world of highs and lows.

Codi didn't have long to dwell on the disaster of the paired contest, as it was time for Battlecast's flag team to fight it out for a place in the final. The team that stood in their way: the number two seeds from Orion, led by none other than Chalyze Bamber herself. There was no doubt in Codi's mind that her wily opponent would be desperate for revenge after her exit from the knockout rounds.

But the odds had been tipped back into Battlecast's favour by the return of their most potent weapon on the flag field. Leela had at last been cleared for full contact in the competition, and they'd wasted no time in skirmishing fast and hard in the run up to this pivotal moment. While Mica Samper had done just enough to get them through, no one in the entire tournament could hold a candle to Leela's blistering speed.

With her back the Battlecast game plan once again became a simple challenge to the other teams: protect Leela, get her the flag, and dare anyone to stop them doing it.

Codi shook the bitter feeling of disappointment from her mind, trying to remind herself that she was only human. She'd lost matches in the practice tournaments. No-one was unbeatable. All she needed to do now was put that loss out of her mind and focus on the task at hand. Unlike the paired matches, she felt that with Leela in the line-up, Battlecast were more than capable of going the distance.

She wasn't the only one that shared that faith. The supporters were making themselves heard in spectacular fashion as they strode through the Western entrance tunnel. She walked in line with Gareth at the back of the group, their interactions still frosty after the loss in the pairs. Part of her wanted to blame him, but she couldn't fail to acknowledge that they'd been beaten by a singularly strange tactic that would probably never be seen again. So far nothing had come of it, and if they could get through this match, hopefully they could just forgive and forget.

Ripple and Cardle formed another pair in front of them, but the honour of leading the team out had been reserved for their youngest, most crucial member. Leela strode at the head of the column, giddy excitement rolling off her in waves like hard radiation. She was their talisman and their most potent weapon, and it seemed only fair to give her the limelight on her return from injury.

The huge doors cracked open, light and noise spilling through them as though a dam had broken. Leela didn't falter, striding confidently out onto the galactic stage.

"And their opponents, from just across the water, please welcome your team from Battlecast Academy!"

The announcer had to work hard to be heard above the eruption of cheers. He reeled off the names of the team, but the spotlight remained on Leela. If she was nervous, the young fighter wasn't letting it show, waving happily to the crowds and beaming a smile in all directions. Codi gave her a reassuring clap on the back as she walked past, taking up her position to the right of the line up. It was refreshing to have the crowds keying on someone else for a change.

The arena for this match was very different to previous rounds, however. It looked like a sea of metal sand dunes, their surfaces a burnished cobalt colour laced with pulsing lines of bright red. Dark pathways snaked between them, but unlike the other open designs, the arrangement of dunes was such that Codi couldn't actually see their opponents. All they knew was that the enemy flag would be placed opposite them. Their own flag sat on a low circular plateau, ringed with half a dozen ramp-like grav-launchers that could be used for a quick insertion into the centre of the arena.

So their tactics would need a slight modification. The blindness of your opponents opening move added an extra dimension to the game plan whether they wanted it or not.

"Ripple, you and Gareth sit on our flag," Codi said, still examining the contours of the arena floor. "Cardle, you do some sweeping say... a fifty yard arc. Get onto the top of the dunes and call out some direction."

"What about you?" Gareth asked.

Codi smiled wolfishly and looked at Leela. "I'll be playing bodyguard. We'll stay low, work our way to the flag and get it away. I can make enough of a distraction by myself."

"If you say so."

"Got a better idea?"

"Sounds good to me," Ripple interjected flatly. "But you'll need to move fast. Skirt around to the right. That's where the concentration of the dunes is highest."

Codi nodded, glancing at the others. Gareth didn't look convinced, but he held his tongue, no doubt still stinging from his recommendation of sitting back and reacting in their last fight together. The indecision between them may well have cost them the fight. Leela bounced from foot to foot, rolling her neck and shoulders to loosen up. Cardle exhaled a long breath, nodding his understanding, while Ripple remained as unreadable as ever.

So they dispersed into their positions, and it occurred to Codi that she'd turned into the team's unofficial shot-caller without really meaning to. Her mind just seemed to click when faced with the challenges of the Gauntlet – she could take one look at the arena and formulate an instant plan to maximise its use.

She leaned over to Leela as the other girl took up position beside her. "Okay, nothing different from anything we've done before. Get behind me and I'll clear you a path."

"I'll stick close," she answered. "You give me a window and I'll win this for us."

"And Leela?"

"Mhm?"

"Good to have you back."

The young fighter grinned at that, bending her knees with her arms hanging loose by her sides, ready to spring. A moment later the klaxon rent the air, and the semi-final of the flag discipline began in earnest.

As Ripple had suggested, Codi peeled to the right with Leela close on her heels, plunging into the maze of metal dunes through a narrow gully. Fans roared and she could hear the faint buzz of a nearby camera drone tracking their movements to be broadcast onto the jumbo screens.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she could just see Cardle's lean frame atop one of the highest dunes near the Battlecast flag position, a good vantage point to spot any incoming aggression from the Orion side.

She led the way, jinking and twisting along the lowest path she could, the pounding of her exoskeleton's boots on the metal floors reverberating around her. Then she heard a call from Cardle. Two right.

Her eyes rose, scanning the tops of the dunes for any sign of the Orion team moving to stop them.

"Just wait for your window," she hissed urgently to Leela. "I'll make you gap and you need to hit it hard and fast."

"I'm ready."

A moment later Codi launched herself abruptly into action when a pair of yellow-armoured fighters came thundering around the next bend. She flattened the first with a lowered shoulder before hurling herself into a grapple with the next. The boy was bigger than her and heavily built, and he shoved back hard.

Driven back several steps, Codi changed tactic. Instead of trying to outmuscle this bruiser she used his own weight and momentum against him, dragging him backwards and rolling, wrapping all her limbs around him and bundling him out of Leela's path.

The burly kid dislodged her at length, sending her flying backwards with a solid push from both legs, but the damage was done. Codi rolled with the impact, coming smoothly to one knee in time to see Leela fly between the two Orion fighters. The first one she'd knocked over tried to block the young runner's path, but Leela nimbly jinked around his clumsy grab and kicked him in the face for his trouble.

"Get after her," the bigger Orion fighter snarled at his team-mate, now upright and barring Codi's path. The thinner boy scrambled to his feet and took off in pursuit of Leela, leaving them to their showdown.

But Codi had no intention of standing around and trading punches with this guy.

She darted forward, winding up a swing at his head. As he moved to block she suddenly dropped and slid beneath him, cracking and elbow into his left knee as she went by. A foul curse burst from his mouth and he threw out a hand to grab her an instant too late. Codi spun her body like a break-dancer and an instant later was off and running, leaving the frustrated Orion fighter in her dust.

Although she'd lost sight of Leela, she still had her bearings on where the other team's flag was, so she put her head down and ran for it, shutting out the thunder of the crowds as they reacted to events that were out of her control. The way the arena had been constructed imposed degrees of isolation on those out in the gullies and pathways that snaked between the dunes.

Briefly, Codi detoured up one of the nearby metal hills and cast a frantic glance around the Arena to gain some semblance of the bigger picture. She couldn't see Cardle – presumably he'd ended up down in one of the many ditches, but she caught a flash of yellow moving fast, not far from the Battlecast flag. She saw Ripple and Gareth though, and they were aware of the incoming danger, moving to cover the side of the approaching Orion fighters.

Looking back the other way, Codi spotted Leela hurtling along on an upward sloping path, the last stretch before reaching the Orion flag. The fighter who'd been tasked with chasing her down was lagging well behind, but Codi was more concerned with what lay in front of her.

Chalyze Bamber was ready and waiting in front of her team's flag.

In a straight fight, she didn't fancy Leela's chances. Launching herself into a sprint, Codi raced down the slope to get back into the fray. It wasn't long before she caught up to Leela's pursuer and took his legs out from under him as she barrelled past, driven on by adrenaline surging through her veins. They were winning this match, no matter what she had to do.

Leaving the boy swearing in her wake, she blazed up the ramp that Leela had traversed just moments ago and burst into the open plateau that held the Orion flag. Instantly her eyes were drawn to the pair of battling figures just in front of the gleaming spire of the flagpole itself.

It wasn't a fight in the conventional sense, as Leela tried to squirm and twist around the other fighter, but Chalyze Bamber was too experienced to be wrong-footed easily. Every time Leela tried to get past, Orion's leader managed to shift position to get a hold of her, yanking her back, shoving her away and swinging murderous arcs to deter her approach. Leela blocked and disengaged each time, resetting and trying to get some kind of positional advantage, but the stalemate continued.

Until Codi joined in.

She timed it to perfection, waiting for Bamber's attention to be diverted. As the other girl turned side on to rebuff another attempt on her flag, Codi thundered into her with a lowered shoulder. Caught off-guard, Bamber didn't have a chance to set and ride the impact, instead being sent flying several meters away.

"Get the flag and run!" Codi snarled, back-peddling the way they'd come with her eyes still locked on Bamber. The window had been enough for Leela to do her job, but even as she pulled the flag from its housing, Bamber was back on her feet and sprinting back towards them.

"Get behind me," she told her companion as they fell into a familiar formation, spurred on by the screaming of the Battlecast supporters. She knew that there were still two more Orion fighters on the path they'd have to take to return the flag.

"Split on me," Leela hissed as the first boy came into view at the base of the ramp.

Codi nodded, focusing and listening intently for the call. She aimed herself straight at the boy, using her body to keep her team-mate obscured. He tensed, knees bent and arms raised slightly in front of him, ready to strike out and catch someone in an instant.

Less than five meters away, Leela snapped, "NOW!"

Codi banked hard to the left, knowing that Leela was peeling in the opposite direction. They were both moving so fast that the boy in front of them didn't have time to react. A split-second of indecision was enough. By the time he made his dive at Leela she was already past him, moving with eye-blurring speed.

And just like that, they fell into line again, Codi leading the way, a bodyguard with one goal: the shepherd Leela home.

It wasn't long before they came across the next obstacle. The other bulky male fighter was trundling towards them at an easy lope. Bigger and slower than his predecessor, Codi assumed this would be an easier dodge.

She was wrong.

Instead of waiting to see which way Leela was going, the guy ignored her completely and flung himself at Codi, tackling her around the waist and sending them both crashing to the ground.

"Keep running!" she yelled, even though she'd lost sight of her team-mate. Whatever this guy was doing, as long as Leela made it home it didn't matter.

She wriggled loose and rolled away from him, but he followed, slinging a series of questing jabs in her direction. Her mind raced as she blocked and ducked out of his path, trying to figure out what he was doing. Then something in the air behind him caught her eye. When she actually looked at it, her heart jolted in surprise.

Chalyze Bamber was hurtling through the air. She must've used one of the grav-launchers, hitting it at a precise angle that hurled her in a shallow arc over the bulk of the dunes, on course to land right in Leela's path. With the yellow streak closing in rapidly, Codi made a quick decision. Snarling with exertion, she took two strides forward and booted the boy from Orion hard in his chest plate, sending him skidding away from her. Then she sprinted up the side of the nearest metallic hill and jumped.

Codi didn't have time to aim or set herself properly. All she could do was kick off the side of the metal dune and fling her body into Bamber's trajectory. She did just enough, clattering into the Orion fighter side on and knocking her out of her flight path. They crashed into a dune on the opposite side of the gully and both went skidding and tumbling down the slope. Codi rolled over enough to catch a glimpse of Leela sprinting away from them before disappearing from sight around a nearby corner.

Then something landed hard on her back, driving her back to the floor with a gasp of surprise. A yellow armoured foot descended in front of her an instant later, and despite being winded she reacted instinctively. As Bamber tried to take another stop she reached out and caught her by the ankle, stopping her pursuit.

A hiss of frustration escaped from her opponent. Bamber reversed, aiming a back-heeled kick at Codi's face. She angled her head to the side to avoid the blow and used Bamber's bodyweight to drag herself to her knees. Then she surged upright and wrapped her arms around the Orion fighter's thighs, shoving with all her might. She felt Bamber's body lift under the pressure and with a howl of effort, she coiled her body and a downward arc to slam her opponent into the ground.

Bamber wriggled wildly to free herself, raining blows on Codi's torso, but she clung on, knowing the longer she kept Orion's top competitor out of the fight the better Leela's chances of bringing the flag home were.

Seconds roared by as they fought in an ungainly scrabble of limbs, slithering across the slope of the dunes. Then Codi felt a pair of strong hands clamp down around her shoulders and yank her backwards with a savageness that sent a lash of pain through her neck. There was enough power behind that single tug to fling her backwards as though she'd been spat out of a catapult.

She hit the opposite ramp with a resounding bong, as though she were being used to ring a bell, accompanied by a concerted intake of breath from the spectators. The exoskeleton bore the brunt of the impact, however, and she pushed herself back to her feet a moment later, trying to take stock of the state of play.

Bamber and her team-mate were now moving at a flat sprint away from her, trying to rejoin the chaos of whatever was happening in the rest of the match. Owing to the design of the arena and how things had unfolded, the only thing Codi knew for sure was that the Orion team hadn't won yet.

There was only one way to get a handle on what was happening. She pelted for the tallest nearby mound of metal to gain some height and actually get a look at the rest of the arena. Legs pumping and muscles aching from the strain of the match, she powered up the steep incline and emerged into an island of light. The coloured masses of the audience loomed from all sides and in one small section of the disc of the arena, a collection of figures were doing battle.

She was too far away to help now, but Codi started running anyway, making as straight a shot as she could for the Battlecast flag base. In the distance she could see the flag itself had been removed from its housing, but only made it a dozen meters from the starting point. Around the fallen standard four figures were locked in a vicious brawl for control.

About fifty meters further back Leela was visible as a rapid blur of blue and cyan, the shining yellow of the Orion flag streaming out above her as she raced for the finish. Other figures closed from all sides – her team-mates moving to protect her, the Orion group desperately trying to get into her path and halt the inevitable.

They'd have had better luck stopping the sun from rising.

The Battlecast fans roared her on as she blazed a trail across the arena as unstoppable as a wildfire. Ripple intercepted Bamber with surgical precision, removing Orion's top competitor from the race. Gareth found himself a target too, leaving only one of the opposing team with a realistic chance of halting Leela's charge.

The boy ran diagonally to block her run, pivoting to face her. Codi held her breath, waiting expectantly for one of her friend's trademark twists or dodges, but it never came. Instead, Leela barrelled forward and lowered the flagpole like a lance.

The crack of impact reverberated through the air and the unsuspecting Orion fighter was flattened as the top of the flagpole rammed into his chest plate. Leela tripped, unbalanced by the collision, but she managed to stay upright, stumbling her way past her winded opponent. She eventually lost her footing and tumbled to the ground just meters from her destination, but it didn't matter. No-one was close enough to stop her. Codi watched, wide-eyed, as Leela scrambled upright and plunged the captured flag into place.

Codi pumped both fists in the air with a shriek of triumph, lost in the explosion of noise from the fans and the howl of the klaxon. Breathless joy blazed inside her. After the disappointment of the paired contest this was something she and her academy had desperately needed. And for a change, it hadn't solely hinged on her.

Leela Crockett had just booked Battlecast a place in the final.