[center][url=https://i.imgur.com/L5hmJYW.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/QOnZmhb.png[/img][/url] VS [url=https://i.imgur.com/cvXOTLu.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/8zS8DOg.png[/img][/url][/center] Backstage, an order had been given. Should two Champions of Asengav face one another in the tournament, the less likely to win should forfeit. This command had been given by Mariette with the intention that they should try to hide their abilities from potential opponents down the line. In Mariette’s mind, there had been a clear order of least to most likely to win, and there was no reason for any sort of complication. Which meant that the following scene was happening. [hider=Taihei’s appearance][img]https://i.imgur.com/L5hmJYW.jpg[/img][/hider] [hider=Victoria’s appearance][img]https://i.imgur.com/cvXOTLu.png[/img][/hider] [color=c0b2eb]‘Are you claiming yourself more likely to win than me?’[/color] Taihei asked, looking incredulously at Victoria. [color=f79ceb]‘Is that a question?’[/color] Victoria asked, then laughed out loud where they stood on a single, huge floating platform in the water in front of the audience. [color=f79ceb]‘Of course I am! You don’t stand a fly’s chance in hell of winning!’[/color] [color=c0b2eb]‘Hmpf. You are overconfident. There are many strong opponents in this tournament, and you will not be strong enough to face them. I have the tools to make even the strongest foe fall…’[/color] Taihei stated, frowning somewhat at Victoria. [color=f79ceb]‘Yeah, maybe,’[/color] Victoria shrugged. [color=f79ceb]‘But it’s less that I think I’LL win and more that I KNOW you’d lose…!’[/color] she retorted, pointing aggressively at Taihei. At that moment, a cheesy show tune began to play on the speakers, followed by Dan's voice. "Welcome to Keijo Live, with your hosts Dan The Dolphin and Pac-a-fist. And now, a match between two of Mariette's friends, Victoria and Taihei!" The camera made panning shots of the girls and the arena for the broadcast. "While a newbie to the Keijo scene, Victoria is experienced in close quarters combat, giving her a cool head for the heat! However, Taihei possesses the kind of endurance and staying power to outmatch even heavyweights." [color=orange]”All the same, Dan, it’s not uncommon for Taihei’s misfortune to turn on her.”[/color] Pac-A-Fist adjusted her microphone. [color=orange]”This is going to be a match decided by the competitor’s ability to overcome adversity. If you ask me, Taihei looks more comfortable in the water. Ice floats, after all.”[/color] “You’re right about that, Pac!” Dan answered. “Still, this is one fish that for once likes to stay out of water!” Now, on paper, Taihei’s superior to Victoria. The first is a powered-up Monster Girl with two specialities and ridiculous stats. The second is an [i]only[/i] relatively strong ice-magic girl with Duplication. On paper, Taihei should win. However, as all members of Asengav’s troop knew… [color=f79ceb]‘Tell you what, I’ll prove it. I’m going to win against you. I’m going to win against you [i]without ever touching you[/i],’[/color] Victoria boasted confidently. Dan began a countdown. "3, 2, 1...Rumble!" [color=c0b2eb]‘Hmpf. Very well. Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you…’[/color] Taihei said, preparing herself… and then blasting off! … Or, not so much blasting off, as suddenly she started falling towards her opponent! Because, while Taihei’s agility is pathetic, she could use powerful Gravity-magic to attract herself to her opponent! Victoria [i]easily[/i] slipped out of the way. This because Taihei is primarily a distance-fighter, attacking an opponent with her rear or chest did not come naturally to her. Victoria, on the other hand, is a close-combat brawler, used to fighting through the experiences of a myriad of duplicates. Victoria looked like she had the perfect opportunity to make a counter-attack at Taihei. She did nothing, just let Taihei slip right by, and Victoria vaulted elsewhere onto the platform. This was partly because she’d promised to win without touching Taihei. It was also partly because both of them knew an unarmed attack from Victoria [i]wouldn’t do a darn thing to Taihei[/i], she’s far too sturdy. "Taihei starts off with a forward charge...And misses!" Dan commented. "Victoria dodged, showing off her superior speed!" [color=orange]”I recognize that spectral float from anywhere, it’s the dead man’s drop.”[/color] Pac-A-Fist pointed at the fighters. [color=orange]”Gravity girls have been causing ring outs with that for ages. Victoria was wise not to counterattack so suddenly. A sudden shift in mass could see her struck by Taihei’s… Butt!”[/color] Taihei, of course, only needed to refocus her gravity constantly to be directed directly towards Victoria… but then she had to stop right in front of Victoria, because agile Victoria had just slipped sideways so the part of Taihei that’d hit Victoria wouldn’t have been her chest or butt. Taihei took the arduous task of needing to turn herself in the air, but Victoria was far faster than Taihei’s abysmal agility could track. Of course, had this been a regular battle Taihei would just have grabbed Victoria with gravity-magic, but she couldn’t do that here. "Taihei can't keep up with the frosty fille, but it seems Victoria's not countering either! It's a game of cat and mouse, but the feline has left the table!" [color=orange]”Or is it a game of dog and cat, and they’re both chasing their tails?”[/color] A minute or two of ridiculous chase later, and an annoyed Taihei was floating in the air on one side of a platform and a smirking Victoria stood on the other, her arms crossed. [color=c0b2eb]‘… You’re… not going to win like this,’[/color] Taihei told her, as time went on. [color=f79ceb]‘Won’t I? If the competitors don’t touch one another even once in the fight, who will they declare the winner? I think it’s pretty clear that I’m the one in control, here,’[/color] Victoria said, giving Taihei a nasty little smirk. "Unbelievable! Victoria is going for the stalling tactic!" Dan's commentary blared from the speakers. "This reminds me of Grulovian Keijo championships of '86, when Olga Baralikov and Tatyana Svenechie were locked in a bust-to-bust standoff for 23 minutes! That was the year the first revision to the rules regarding the five-minute limit was added!" [color=c0b2eb]‘… Hmpf. We won’t need to find out,’[/color] Taihei said, looking down. The platform was just floating on the water, it wasn’t secured. Victoria was standing on the opposite end. A plan took shape. She’d slam down on this end, using gravity-magic to prevent water from touching her. The platform would act as a giant flipper, launching Victoria into the air. Victoria had no magic to help her while air-born, so then Taihei would easily fly up and intercept her in mid-air and strike her out of the stage. Yes. That would do. Taihei started suddenly accelerating rapidly down towards the side of the platform! [color=f79ceb]‘Ah-’[/color] Victoria blinked and her expression got a slightest tinge of worry as she calculated the result of Taihei striking down into that side of the platform, and-! A giant geyser of water suddenly erupted, blasting water straight up and raining down on the sides. The platform shook somewhat, and Victoria had momentarily frozen her feet into the platform with ice-magic as she struggled to retain balance for a bit, but balance was eventually regained. She stared wide-eyed at what had just transpired. She took a deep breath, hit her esophagus twice with a gentle fist, then held her hands up to her mouth to make a tunnel to shout through. [color=f79ceb]‘[i]I TOLD YOU SO![/i]’[/color] She shouted at the Taihei-shaped miss in constructional engineering that normally definitely wouldn’t have happened but Taihei was just so unlucky it happened to be exactly where she hit down and she struck straight through it directly down into the water below. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" Dan screamed. "Taihei has broken the very platform itself! Her butt smashed right through it like a wrecking ball! She's out! She's done! Oh, how unfortunate! But sometimes that’s the way the waves crash!" Pac-A-Fist shrugged her shoulders. [color=orange]”Arctic anchor is a staple of ice girls, but I haven’t seen it since the ice cap melt in ‘07. Regardless, Taihei just needs to understand the game better. Breaking the island is a valid tactic, but not if you sink into the drink in the process.”[/color] “Well, only one thing lefto to do, Dan added, and annlunced: "The winner is Victoria!" [color=orange]”Called it, BTW.”[/color] [hr] [center][url=https://i.imgur.com/DiEh1Eg.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/kBqIcFn.png[/img][/url] VS [url=https://i.imgur.com/MqQSqwI.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/mGU2xUG.png[/img][/url][/center] [i][b]UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES CAN THE AUDIENCE FIND OUT.[/b][/i] [color=b6bccc]‘Er…’[/color] Tullia looked awkwardly at where Freya stood. On two legs. Hands on her hips. Tail swinging ominously. Looking exceedingly displeased with all of this. [hider=Tullia’s appearance][img]https://i.imgur.com/DiEh1Eg.png[/img][/hider] [hider=Freya’s Appearance][img]https://i.imgur.com/MqQSqwI.jpg[/img][/hider] [color=d9c689]‘… So? Are you going to, or no?’[/color] Freya asked, frowning. After all, Mariette had ordered the least likely to win future battles to forfeit. [color=b6bccc]‘I mean, I know, but…’[/color] Tullia muttered. They were standing on just two of multiple rows of floating circular balls that were tied together to form a bit of a maze of a stage. Still, there wasn’t much action right now as both combatants were inspecting one another. [color=d9c689]‘But what?’[/color] Freya asked, less than impressed. [color=b6bccc]‘It’s just… I really kinda want to try myself out, kind of? I was excited. But… I didn’t think I’d…’[/color] That she’d be facing Freya, specifically. Dan’s voice came out of the speakers. “We’re back at Keijo Live, continuing the match with Mariette’s posse: Tullia the Impeccable Ace of Ice, and Freya the Ferocious Fighter! Much like Penny, Freya is also considered one of the crowd favorites to win the tournament. But how will she fare when pitted against her fellow comrade Tullia in the Sphere Street!” The camera panned over the arena. “One of the more advanced Keijo environments, the Sphere Street demands expert balance, agility and foresight in the players’ movements. Can they keep the ball rolling, or will they tuck and tumble?” Tullia heard Dan’s announcement and got nervous. She had the agility to easily manouver the stage, but Freya, and her orders… She closed her eyes momentarily. On one hand, she didn’t want to disappoint the crowd. She also wanted to try herself out a bit more. Yet, there were her orders, and also what she’d risk if she were to actually try to battle Fre- The side of Freya’s rear slammed mercilessly into Tullia’s stomach, the poor girl not even having realized she’d made a mistake by closing her eyes. Freya had transported herself between her standing position all the way to Tullia’s would-be safe distance away in the almost literal blink of an eye. No magic had been used, it was just Freya’s sheer speed and physical prowess that had completely overwhelmed her opponent. Tullia’s eyes had time to open in shock before she was launched off the platforms at breakneck speeds directly for the water. “And Freya slams hard!” Dan commented with high energy. “What an amazing play! The Fighter struck like a snake from ambush! It was so fast we need a replay of that later!” [color=orange]”That one’s sure to please the fans.”[/color] Pac-A-Fist added. [color=orange]”Unless they were hoping for an evenly matched opponent. We’ll just have to see how the match develops!”[/color] [color=d9c689]‘Don’t take your eyes off an enemy during combat,’[/color] Freya told, like a lesson for someone less experienced than her, her face partly turned to keep one eye locked on Tullia’s trajectory. [color=d9c689]‘Right, that should be it…’[/color] Freya was about to say, then grunted as the scent of magic filled the air. Tullia slid to a halt, a hand on her stomach. She felt it, Freya had held back. Of bloody course she had, or she’d have taken a chunk out of Tullia’s stomach. Tullia gasped where she was kneeling, before slowly standing up straight, on her island of ice in the midst of the watery pool. [color=d9c689]‘Geh. Is that allowed in the rules?’[/color] Freya asked. “Of course it is!” Dan answered! “Tullia has managed to recover with the “Frozen Platform” technique, a classic move for Ice specialists. She is still in the game!” Freya grunted in reply. [color=b6bccc]‘I… I won’t fall that easily, Freya,’[/color] Tullia gasped, still feeling like she had to keep fighting, even against the most physically powerful of them. [color=b6bccc]‘I will keep fighting. Even if I have to-’[/color] Freya gripped the ball she was standing on, kicked it into a ridiculous spin, leapt to another ball and then leapt back to strike her butt against it and send it spiraling through the water towards Tullia, creating a small tidal-wave as it went. Dan gasped audibly. “And here it comes! The secret of the Sphere Street!” [color=b6bccc]‘… Eh?’[/color] The still recovering Tullia looked up with dead-looking eyes as the huge, loud, watery wave created by the butt-blasted ball completely overtook her island of ice and took both her and the island down beneath the surface without any form of attempt at countering. “AHHHH! And there she goes! Freya has managed to use the arena itself as a weapon, using her incredible Keijo skills to finish the fight!” Freya, meanwhile, had used the force of the impact to ricochet herself back to one of the other, safe balls that she could stand on, putting her hands back on her hips and sighing. [color=d9c689]‘Are we done now?’[/color] she asked the judges. “And that attitude! Now I’m starting to worry about betting everything on Penny!” Dan joked, before he announced: “The winner is Freya!” Pac-A-Fist scrunched her brow. [color=orange]”Of course it is.”[/color] __________ [color=b6bccc]‘Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh…’[/color] A decently disappointed Tullia sat grunting in the stands some time later, wrapped in a blanket. She looked so down. Having seen that, and the thoughts of a certain boy coming to her mind… [color=d9c689]‘… Hey,’[/color] Freya said, approaching her. [color=b6bccc]‘Uh… Hi, Freya…’[/color] Tullia muttered, tightening her blanket, assuming she was about to be scolded. [color=d9c689]‘That was incredibly foolish. Not only did you go against direct orders, it was for something so incredibly foolish, too. You risked revealing something that could not be taken back. It was very inappropriate,’[/color] Freya stated, confirming Tullia’s fears and making her crawl down into her blanket. [color=d9c689]‘… But it was brave. I saw the fear in your eyes, yet you still decided to face against them. That’s not a bad quality for one of our frontline fighters. If I were to just teach you some tricks, maybe we could make something really special out of you. Would you mind?’[/color] Tullia’s head flew out of her blanket, staring wide-eyed at a not-entirely-comfortable-looking Freya. Freya’s eyebrows twitched at suddenly being looked at, but… [color=b6bccc]‘Y-you’d…?’[/color] Tullia stumbled on her words. Then, she smiled once again. [color=b6bccc]‘Y-yes, ma’am! I’d love it if you would, ma’am!’[/color] [color=d9c689]‘Uuuh, perhaps, I’ll think it over,’[/color] Freya automatically replied. Tullia blinked a little in surprise, but smiled once again. [color=b6bccc]‘Okay, ma’am! I’ll be here…!’[/color] Freya shook her head and turned around to walk… but she found she was subjected to a weird feeling in the fact she’d just made Tullia turn from super-depressed to smiling, somehow. What… what an odd feeling.