<em>The next morning...</em><br/><br/>It was 8 A.M. sharp when the Core Landers from each nation arrived at the space station to start picking up their respective Fighters; the champions had been allowed a chance to rest and rejuvenate the day before, but now they would hardly be allowed to eat breakfast before they were thrust down onto the planet's surface for the year-long war ahead of them. The Fighters all gathered in the massive, empty hanger and were lined up in the order of their nations' rankings the previous year, each country having a moment to proudly display the colors of its flag on its Core Lander before the small jet took off and went down to Mars.<br/><br/>Above the landing area, a large holographic screen displayed a list of those that had already departed the Flame of Unity and gone to the surface. Normally, when the process started as it had the previous two Fights, the previous Fight's Champion would be the only name on the list, and the runner-up of the previous round would be the first to depart the station. Curiously, this year, there were already two names on the list when everyone arrived, though that didn't cause as much murmuring as what the name actually was:<br/><br/>"<strong>DEPARTED:</strong><br/><em>Neo China</em><br/><em>Mars Independent Territory</em>"