[center][h3]After Match Commentary[/h3]
[b][color=DarkOrange]Word Count:[/color][/b]  2581 (+3) (+3 rapport)
[b][color=DarkOrange]Location:[/color][/b] Forbidden Kingdom - Esaka’s Pools Tier
[b][color=SpringGreen]Bowser Jr: Level 15 [/color][/b] EXP: [color=SpringGreen]//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](296/150)
[b][color=Aqua]Rika: Level 12 [/color][/b] EXP:  [color=Aqua]/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////[/color](132/110)
[color=lightgoldenrodyellow][b]Pit[/b] - [u]Level[/u]: [b]8[/b] - [u]Total EXP[/u]: 311/80[/color][/center]

With one quick leap from the wooden stage to the stone lip that circled the waters of the Pools, Pit and his partner were back on more solid ground. Since the early matches didn't draw many spectators once those that had been curiously lingering around dispersed it left only Bowser Jr., Rika, and Zeus alone to receive the victorious pair. Ashrah nodded to them while Pit grinned at all three, holding his palm up for a high five. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Easy peasy,"[/color] he boasted.

The god raised a gauntlet and and wiggled the fingers on it, electricity sparking between them as he gave an ‘are you sure about that grin’ only to laugh as Rika took Pit up on the offer with her own gauntlet, the oversized metal hand dwarfing the angel’s much daintier one. Jr joined in on the merriment with a laugh of his own, and then gave his sister a thumbs up and a [color=SpringGreen]”you’re fine”[/color] when she got confused about the laughter.

Although after a moment Pit’s smile became sort of sheepish as he turned to Junior. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"I definitely wouldn't mind some healing, though? That gold wind isn't as much of a pick-me-up as it looks."[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]”Wait for real it didn’t fix you up? Yeesh. I mean what if you’d actually been left messed up for the next fight that’d be so lame”[/color] Jr replied as he carefully moved clawed toes under his paint brush that had been resting on the ground, before kicking it up and catching it. Then with a [color=SpringGreen]”Cure!”[/color] the angel was left right as rain once more. He clenched and unclenched his fists a couple of times as though making sure of it before chirping a 'thank you.' To be honest he wasn't sure if the Heavenly Principles had actually healed the little damage he'd taken during the match, just not what he'd gone into it with, or if it had only given him a jolt of stamina.

“Cupid’ll help you out with that if you head back to the Dojo,” Zeus noted, before asking, “so, Pit my boy, who’re your friends?"

Rika, rather than introduce herself, instead echoed [color=Aqua]”Yeah. Who?”[/color] putting all the onus on the angel to do the round of introductions it seemed - which he didn’t mind at all.

He started with the Koopa Kingdom's newest princess, gesturing towards her with a flourish. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"This is Rika! She's not competing this time but she's really tough, especially on the water![/color]

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"And this is her brother Bowser Jr.! He's good at a lot of stuff! We've known each other for a while now."[/color] Besides Captain Falcon, the young Koopa was probably his oldest friend within the group. Despite that, the introduction was still pretty short since there was still more to go.

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Ashrah's my kameo partner,"[/color] he said next, gesturing to the demoness this time who nodded her head in greeting. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"We just met yesterday but she taught me all about how the tournaments work!"[/color]

Finally he flitted over to Zeus himself and presented the big man with both hands for the benefit of the other three. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Aaaand this is Zeus! He's a god, and he recruited me and Amaterasu for his dojo so that we could enter!"[/color]

As an aside Pit whispered to the siblings something about him being 'one of the good Zeus-es' before he smiled at the god again. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Thanks for coming to watch! Don't worry, I'm gonna bring Fight of Gods all the way to the finals! Were you gonna go watch Amaterasu too?"[/color]

“Amaterasu’s got Amaterasu covered,” the god replied, which got a ‘huh?’ from both the kids. The god laughed at that, but didn’t give any explanation, instead going on. “Truth be told though, I don’t think she’ll have much luck. The mugen dojo never get close to winning, we know there’d be a riot if they did given how cheap some of their fighters are considered, but they’re still a killer of the pools.”

In response to this statement, there came a beep in jr’s phone, prompting the prince to check it with a [color=SpringGreen]"Hmmm?"[/color] and for him to then go [color=SpringGreen]"Ha, shows what you know, because her team won!"[/color] after reading the update Seek (a sentient AI personal assistant) had created regarding the current status of the seeker’s wins and losses.

This info he turned around to show the others, prompting Zeus to ask Pit “these all friends of yours?” his tone quietly impressed given that (almost) uninterrupted sea of wins on display.

After making a noise not unlike an old man impressed with his grandson's latest piece of technology, Pit nodded. With a wide smile he declared, [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"basically, yep! I never doubted any of them for a second!"[/color]

...well, maybe a couple of the newest comers, but he wasn't about to admit that out loud.

After peering over his shoulder to look at the small screen Ashrah stood up straight once more. There was a satisfied look on her face, glad that she'd thrown her lot in with this group even in a small way. She'd had a good feeling about Pit from the start, and that extended to his ensemble now. 

"A good shake up is just what this city needs," she said, glancing at Zeus. The god's eyes were still clouded over with reddish light, so trying to speak in depth with him would be moot... though perhaps that could be fixed soon. She'd discuss it with her partner and fellow dojo members later. For now, she turned back to Pit.

"I'll go and find Sareena, I'm sure she's won her match by now. Our next one will be held this afternoon, the location posted the same way the first one was. If you have need of me before then, feel free to call."

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Oh, sure! And same to you!"[/color] the angel replied. Ashrah tipped her head to him and the others, a polite gesture before departing. As she left she donned the wide-brimmed hat and veil she'd been carrying with her, still with a small cut taken out of it. 

With a little time to kill and nothing particularly pressing that needed to get done, Pit peeked at Junior's phone and the incoming tourney results once more. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"That's really handy, you gotta teach me how to see that too."[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]"Seek found it for me"[/color] Jr said, pointing out a little kid in a [url=https://i.imgur.com/SurhW98.png]horned hat[/url] looking figure hanging out in the corner of the screen. Said figure looked Pit dead in the eyes, before smiling and waving up out of the screen while Jr explained [color=SpringGreen]"They’re a ‘NetNavi’ who Rika got over Shinjuku, n can do all kinds of stuff"[/color]

[color=Aqua]”Also they’re people. It's a bit weird but, hey, they’re with us now so it’s fine”[/color] Rika added, before asking the little AI [color=Aqua]”so where’d you find those lists?”[/color] 

The answer turned out to be a fansite of some kind being updated by a diligent team of enthusiasts that Seek had helpfully trimmed down to just the relevant matches. 

Pit waved back at Seek, not totally getting it at first until Rika explained that Navis were people. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Oooh and they live in the phone! That's cool,"[/color] he said. He imagined they could zip around over different electronics like a cartoon, but even just being some kind of seeking assistant seemed really helpful. 

They looked over the site with opinion polls and somewhat heated forum discussion (a familiar green haired avatar among the posters), Pit slower than the rest until they'd had their fill. 
 
[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Makes me kinda want to check out the other fights!"[/color]

[color=SpringGreen]"That could be fun"[/color] Jr agreed, before beginning to say [color=SpringGreen]"Looks like the closest fight coming up is-"[/color] only to be interrupted by Zeus who declared that it was “Right here and right now!”

Indeed, even as the kids looked up from their phones they could see that a fresh set of fighters had arrived to have their turn on the stage. One was a guitar axe wielding, motorcycle wheel footed [url=https://imgur.com/nBcPHbg]metal head[/url], and the other a... Actually, it was really hard to tell what the guy was going for. Like many fighters he was unarmed, but even more than that he was unclothed, sporting no more than a pointed pink face mask and a pair of white [url=http://www.fightabase.com/images/chars/game/c.gomadare_669-1118.png]briefs[/url]!

[color=Aqua]”I think I get why no one else showed up for this”[/color] Rika commented without a hint of concern for the feelings of the two fighters she was loudly judging.

[color=SpringGreen]"Hey come on, the lady is kinda cool"[/color] Jr retorted as he raised his phone up to record the match for the fansite’s incredibly piecemeal database of first round fights. 

[color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Out of the two of them she's definitely the one I'd be rooting for,"[/color] Pit said, joining the peanut gallery. He'd crossed his arms and tilted his head, his brows furrowed. Honestly he felt kind of lucky to get the opponent he had now.

After squaring up the two unusual fighters didn't waste much time getting down to business. For the most part. Neither seemed to be taking the first round very seriously whether because it was their gimmick (in the man's case) or because they weren't the type to take anything serious in the first place (as was the case for the woman). The masked man went at it with fists flailing when he wasn't in a tauntingly casual neutral stance, while the painted lady proved her prosthesis was fully functional, zipping one-legged around the raft as her spiked wheel threatened to chew up her opponent. Despite the silly appearances this fight was a fair bit more brutal than Pit's had been as both competitors preferred melee, and Svet was clearly looking to take some limbs off with her bladed guitar. 

After some back and forth it ended with the masked man getting tossed overboard, though before the briefs-wearer pulled himself back up out of the water completely Zeus wrapped one large arm around the three young spectators with him, spinning them around so their backs were to the stage instead. The god watched on with an appraising look on his face before distracting the group with a grin and a suggestion. "A fine first round, but I believe our very own Sif is in the next section over if you all want to see a really invigorating match!"

Pit nodded. Of course he'd support the dojo that supported him. [color=lightgoldenrodyellow]"Oh yeah, and I wanna go see Hakan too! His family owns a gym in the Mid Tier, I think I saw his name when I was looking at the World Warrior bracket earlier! And if any of the Seekers are still fighting we can go cheer for them!"[/color]

[color=Aqua]"Could be more fun than this, so sure"[/color] Rika replied, having not really been into that fight anyway. It had been both too silly and yet also far closer to an actual battle than Pit’s had been (despite the high caliber weapons that had been thrown around in it) and so she wasn’t really a fan. She was definitely more enthused about combat sports that were more sport than combat, she was finding.

Jr briefly considered complaining about not being able to finish the recording of the match, but really hadn’t been into it either. Besides, he’d now missed the start due to the big man turning them away anyway, so he gave a less enthusiastic [color=SpringGreen]"Yeah alright"[/color] in reply. He still uploaded what he had, but as expected mainly got complaints about not getting the full thing.

They shuffled off, leaving the ludicrous battle behind them and looking very much like the god of thunder was chaperoning the three of them as they walked around the Pools. In the Tekken area they indeed found [url=https://i.ibb.co/1pxRQBb/sif.png]Lady Sif[/url], her kickboxing style of combat made elegant by her poise and the adornments on her outfit. When she noticed Zeus in between rounds she made sure to smile and wave, especially when she noted the koopa's phone camera turned on the stage. 

Given each match was no longer than a couple of minutes each, the tour continued. The Pools matches might be boring for locals, but true fighting enthusiasts and newcomers that were into that sort of thing were sure to find enjoyment even in amateur matches. Of course not all matches in the Pools were fought between amateurs, since even storied fighters had to get through them from time to time. In the World Warrior section the group found that Sakura's match had already concluded (in record time even as one spectator mentioned to them), but they did see the [url=https://i.ibb.co/84d0cq1Y/hakan.png]man[/url] Pit had mentioned. He was boisterous but respectful, and completely covered in oil for some reason. After winning his match he turned to the group across the water and waved with both arms, a broad grin on his face. Pit let out a cheerful whoop and waved back in congratulations while Zeus applauded the wrestler. 

There were duds too, but during the down times the kids could still mess around on their phones so it wasn't like they were bored for long. Contact numbers were finally exchanged, and Pit had been inquiring if Seek could jump to other phones when they entered the King of Fighters section. With six fighters in three matches almost side by side and all taking place at the same time, this area of the Pools was definitely the most exciting even if it had the least amount of people watching, though it seemed like Team Seekers of Fight had already finished up as well.

It was also definitely the hardest to watch given the amount of action going on, which really put Jr’s amature camera-koopaship to the test. With a bit of on the fly tinkering however, they got it linked up to Rika’s scout planes, allowing them to get some of the best (of the worst) recordings of KoF matches on the little fan community he, or rather now they, were now in.

That Rika had come up with the idea, or rather that she’d started watching via planes before the idea of using them to record, was a pretty good indication that she was getting into this, even if the girl herself wasn’t the most expressive of said enjoyment. It had not, she’d admitted when asked, been the worst way to spend the morning.