The team needed a rest for few days after Tisane’s team building exercise fiasco. Then two days later was their second match. So, they did not have time for further team building exercises. However, they did finalize their 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3 team members. The 2 vs 2 team members would be the same as they were during the training session. That means it was Brock and Forum, Alpha and Emma, and Marcus and Lara. For 3 vs 3 the team consisted of Lara, Alpha and Emma, and Forum, Brock and Marcus.
The day of the match arrived. Everybody was nervous. They knew that Team Oneforce was going to push for team matches. They hoped it did not happen. Team Incognito went to the stadium. They took their seats in the stands besides the fighting field. Tisane went to the fighting field for the coin toss. Todd was also there along with the referee.
As the two managers and the referee gathered, the referee said, “Team Oneforce has requested team matches for this fight.”
“Line up?” asked Tisane.
“Three matches”, replied the referee, “1 vs 1, 2 vs 2 and 3 vs 3.”
“Declined”, said Tisane.
The referee turned to Todd, “We stick to our request.”
The referee said, “First coin toss shall decide the format of the fight. Second coin toss to decide who goes first.”
Tisane lost both the coin tosses. Team Oneforce’s format for fighting was on. Also, they were supposed to go first. Today was not her day.
***
The first was the 2 vs 2 fight. Brock and Forum were up. They got to the fighting arena. They did look nervous. Team Oneforce sent Courtney and Jennifer. Brock nodded to both the fighters of the opponent team as they stepped up. The referee told them the rules and the shield around the fighting field was put up. The referee told the fighters to start the match.
Brock and Forum immediately fell into defensive positions, gauging their opponents. Courtney was standing in front of Jennifer who had a hand placed on Courtney’s back. The next moment Courtney shot towards Brock and Forum. Both Brock and Forum dodged Courtney’s attack but the next moment Forum was hit by a fiery blast sent by Jennifer. Forum managed to block some part of the attack but was hit hard. She was blasted back.
Meanwhile Courtney had taken a quick turn and was now upon Brock, attacking him with water attacks. This was interesting. Brock dodged most of Courtney’s attack and kicked her which connected. It was not that powerful, but it gave Brock the time to reduce the distance between him and Jennifer. He knew he would be the best fighting against Jennifer and Forum would be good fighting against Courtney.
Courtney tried to block him but was thrown back with an earthen attack from Forum. Forum charged towards Courtney while Brock attacked Jennifer. Brock was right. Brock was a stronger fire power fighter than Jennifer and he soon had Jennifer on the backfoot. Meanwhile Forum was attacking Courtney, keeping her away from Jennifer.
However, things did not go as Brock had hoped. Courtney and Jennifer soon managed to escape from Brock and Forum got together. They then attacked together. Brock and Forum were easily pushed back.
Brock gritted his teeth as he blocked an attack from the attacking duo. He knew that even though Brock and Forum had practiced fighting together, they were long way away from achieving the level of synchronization Courtney and Jennifer were showing. Brock and Forum needed to separate the two again, and fast.
It was Forum who found the opening. She put a wall between Courtney and Jennifer who were forced to jump away from each other. Before they could even think of getting back together, Forum launched an aggressive attack on Jennifer. Brock had no option but to face Courtney with her water attacks.
Forum and Jennifer were evenly matched, still Forum became victorious, knocking Jennifer out. However, a stray attack from Brock and Courtney’s fight hit her and she was knocked out. Brock swore and looked at Courtney. Courtney was looking concerned now. Brock realized something than. This was now a one on one fight. He grinned.
Brock said, “Fire Body”, and flames enveloped him completely. He launched a fireball at Courtney which she deflected only to find Brock in front of her. Brock launched a series of attacks.
He could see Courtney weakening. He said, “Fire Meteor Shower”.
The next moment, huge fireballs rained from above, hitting Courtney hard. She tried to defend herself from the attack and failed. The fight was over. Brock and Forum had won.
***
The next fight was 3 vs 3. With Brock and Forum in the 2 vs 2 fight, Tisane knew who she had to send for the 3 vs 3 fight. It was turn of Alpha, Lara and Emma. Alpha, Lara and Emma stepped onto the field. There was some delay on Oneforce’s side. They finally sent Matt, Matthey and David. This was interesting. Tisane had used her spare fighter in team matches. However, Oneforce was using their spare fighter for 1 vs 1. Was Lisa not a team player.
However, her concern was not Lisa right now. It was her three fighters who had climbed on the arena. She was concerned about Alpha. For some reason he was in a rut and was not able to break. Initially, Tisane had thought that she would use Alpha in a 1 vs 1 fight but had discarded that idea. If the winning of their match hinged on 1 vs 1 fight, then Alpha would have been poor choice.
The referee was now done explaining the rules and had gone out. The shield came up around the arena. The fight began.
***
Alpha stayed back as Lara and Emma charged ahead. The three of them had devised on a strategy. Alpha would be defending while Lara and Emma would be attacking. However, Matt, Matthew and David had a different strategy. They avoided the charging Lara and Emma and attacked Alpha.
Alpha knew this was not good, but he held his ground. He did not have to wait long. Emma and Lara had now backtracked and had separated Matt from the attacking trio. Matthey and David did turn a bit when Emma and Lara physical lifted Matt and with a power punch from each, shot him into the shield surrounding the arena.
Alpha took this opportunity and attacked David while Emma attacked Matthew. Lara went after Matt. This was good. Incognito had separated Oneforce’s team. They knew from Brock and Forum’s match that Matt, Matthew and David would try to get together once again. However, Alpha, Lara and Emma did not give them the opportunity.
Emma had tackled Matthew and was raining power punches. Matthew was weak at defending and he was also surprised by the attack. Emma finished her fight with Water Prison. Matthew was enveloped into a bubble of water and he tapped out. Mostly he waved his hand in the water bubble as he was not able to tap out in the normal sense. He was removed from the arena immediately.
However, Emma had not waited while this was going on. She ran towards Alpha who was taking a beating from David. Alpha was moments away from defeat when Matt crashed into David. Together Alpha, Lara and Emma now pushed Matt and David back. Alpha did not do much as he was exhausted.
The fight was soon over. Team Incognito had won. Alpha collapsed as they were declared winners. Emma shook her head as Lara crouched to check her husband. They needed to do something about Alpha, and fast.
***
There was no need for a third match as Incognito had won the two out of the three planned matches. They were declared the winner. Marcus looked a bit down. Brock knew that his friend wanted to fight, even though he showed that he was not interested.
The team was celebrating minus Alpha and Lara. Alpha seemed to be sad about something and Brock knew what. They were a team and they needed to get Alpha back on track. Alpha had stopped officially power fighting after the Elements had won the championship and had devoted his time entirely to archeology. His wife had never been much of a power fighter, but she was still doing better than him.
Brock knew that as a team, they would have to help Alpha. However, that was a matter for tomorrow. Tonight, they would party.
***
Two days had passed after Incognito’s victory against Oneforce. Alpha woke up with his alarm blaring. He turned it off. He glanced to his right to see that Lara was already gone. He frowned and looked at the time on his mobile. It was 7 a.m. Where the heck was Lara?
Alpha got up, got dressed and went down to find Jensen ready with Alpha’s breakfast.
“Where is Lara, Jensen?” asked Alpha.
“Lady Lara has gone to the training ground already. She asked you to come there once you have finished your breakfast”, said Jensen.
Alpha, for some reason had a feeling of foreboding as he heard this. Still, he finished his breakfast and went to the training ground to find his whole team there. He knew why they were present.
He looked resigned as he walked up to the fighting field where all were standing.
“Welcome”, said Tisane as Alpha reached them, “I believe you can guess what this is about.”
Alpha nodded and started to say something when Marcus interrupted, “We are here to get your fighting mojo back.”
That earned him a whack on the head from various team members.
Alpha gave Marcus a bemused expression and said, “No one says it like that Marcus.”
Then Alpha turned to Tisane and said, “I thought considering my poor performances in the fights, I would be placed as the spare and Lara would be taking my place.”
As he said this, Lara walked up to him and twined her hand around his. Then Lara spoke, “Do not speak nonsense love. We are here to help you, not demean you. We are your team. We are going to find out what it is that is hampering your performance and find a solution for that.”
“As I said”, started Marcus but he was interrupted by Brock who whacked him on the head saying, “Shut up Marcus.”
Alpha smiled at his team and said, “All right then. And how are we going to go about it.”
Tisane said, “Let us sit first.”
The team sat down on the stools that were present in the fighting ground. Selena remained standing, looking at something on her tab and Emma was standing beside her looking at what Selena was looking. The others were focused on Alpha though.
Tisane said, “So Alpha. Will you be able to describe us your problem?”
Alpha looked at his wife, Lara, who smiled encouragingly at him. He took a deep breath and said, “I do not understand exactly myself what the problem is. I have tested my power. It has not reduced but increased over the years. My fighting skills were initially rusty but through training, I am up to the mark. However, during a fight, my body for some reason is not able to cope up with my brain. I mean I know what I have to do in a fight, but something just doesn’t feel right when I do it and for some reason my energy gets expended a lot because of that. Does that make sense?”
There was a moment of silence after what Alpha said. The team members looked at each other and then at Selena.
Tisane said, “Can you search online for the gist of Alpha’s problem?”
Selena said, “You do realize what Alpha just said falls in line with what Marcus had said earlier.”
“That is what I have been trying to say”, said Marcus but everyone ignored him.
Tisane said, “Just search for it Selena.”
Selena did but she found nothing. Then they all turned to Marcus. Tisane said, “All right Marcus. Your fighting mojo theory. Out with it.”
Marcus looked excited. He leaned forward and said, “Selena could you show us all Alpha’s statistics?”
Selena did as was told and they all looked at it.
Mastery
Alpha’s Level
Water
3 of 7
Fire
1 of 7
Earth
1 of 7
Air
7 of 7
Shadow
2 of 7
Healing
2 of 3
Cosmos
2 of 7
Defense
2 of 5
Martial
7 of 10
Energy
6 of 10
Virtual
2 of 3
Angel form
Yes
It did not look impressive to Marcus, but he knew Alpha was a strong fighter. The others were waiting for Marcus to say something. Marcus looked at Alpha’s stats again and turned to Alpha, “So, how is your Angel form these days, Alpha?”
Alpha frowned at Marcus’ question. Marcus said, “Try to go into Angel form. People give him space.”
The others stepped back. Alpha powered up. He focused on his Angel form, willing to reach that state but he failed. After some time, he stopped, confused.
Marcus nodded and said, “You are not in harmony with your Angel form. That is affecting your performance. We have not practiced with Angel forms and I have a feeling you have not switched to your Angel form for a long time.”
Alpha thought for a moment to what Marcus had said and then said, “Yes. I don’t even remember when I last switched to Angel form.”
Marcus nodded. Every power fighter had an Angel form. The Angel form was a mass source of power residing inside a power fighter. Some believed it was the source of a power fighter’s power, but it was not so. It was like a spare battery in a power fighter’s body. When a power fighter fought, they would lose energy as the fight extended. However, once he loses the normal fighting energy, he had an option of using that separate battery. It was the Angel form.
However, to use the Angel form, you had to be in harmony with it. Experts claimed that being in harmony with your Angel form was simply synchronizing your energy with it’s energy. Marcus did not believe that because he knew better. But, he did not want to preach his theory right now. Right now, he had to help Alpha reharmonize with his Angel form.
Marcus said, “You need to get back in harmony with your Angel form. Should not be too difficult as you are an Angel yourself.”
Alpha rolled his eyes as Lara whacked Marcus on the head. Alpha Angel. Idiotic play of words.
Alpha said, “I do not know why I need to get back in harmony with my Angel form. There are many power fighters who do not do that for their entire lives, but they still fight well.”
Marcus looked at Alpha as if he had said the dumbest thing ever in the world. Then he looked at others with an expression saying, this guy, am I right?
However, the others were looking the same as Alpha. Marcus threw up his hands and said, “You guys are useless. Everyone harmonizes with their Angel forms, consciously or sub-consciously. If you do not harmonize with your Angel form, you cannot fight effectively. Those who claim that they are fighting without harmonizing with their Angel forms are either lying or are completely unaware that they have done so.”
“What!” some of them exclaimed.
Tisane said, “How can you harmonize with your Angel form without you even knowing?”
Marcus said, “There is a long explanation for that. I would not like to go into that. I thought your father would have taught you and Forum all about Angel forms. Master Kami taught Chen and me quite a lot about it. Makes logical sense that he would taught his sons as well who should have taught their children.”
From the looks on Tisane and Forum’s faces it seemed that Jian had not taught them about Angel forms. He however did not focus on their plight. He was here to help Alpha.
Marcus said, “You do know how to harmonize with your Angel form, right?”
Alpha nodded and said, “Yes, I had done it once earlier after all.”
Marcus nodded but did not say anything. If he was correct, then Alpha would find it difficult this time around to harmonize with his Angel form.
Alpha sat down to meditate. He knew what he had to do. First of all, he needed to relax. Then he needed to focus inside, find where the energy from the Angel form was present. Then he needed to send his personal energy to the Angel form energy and then he knew that the next part was no specific science. It was based on feeling whether the Angel form energy accepted the personal energy or not. Once it was accepted, the Angel form was harmonized.
Alpha did what he had to do. However, he did not harmonize immediately. It took him four hours approximately before he opened his eyes, coming out of the meditative state.
Alpha said, “I am harmonized.”
Tisane clapped and said, “Excellent. Let us test it.”
“Right now?”
“No good time like the present, right?”
Marcus said, “Let him rest Tisane. We can test the harmonization tomorrow. Currently, just go into your Angel form Alpha.”
Alpha focused and energized. This time he was successful. He transformed into his angel form. The normal form and Angel form of a power fighter had only one difference. Angel form power fighters had wings. Alpha’s primary fighting attribute was air. So, his wings were cream colored. The wings were magnificent, spreading about six feet on either side. It also gave Alpha an ethereal look.
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He managed to maintain the Angel form for a few moments before he returned to normal. He was panting now, tired.
Marcus said, “Harmonization does take a lot out of you. And going into an Angel form, right out of harmonization; I must say I am impressed. Rest for now Alpha. We can continue training tomorrow.”
The team then dispersed. Lara led Alpha back to their room and lay him on the bed. Alpha simply passed out. He was spent. Tomorrow, it was going to be a good day.
***
The next few matches went well for team Incognito. After winning against Carma and Oneforce, Incognito faced teams Red, Charles’ Fellows, Tweens, SHIELD and Prometheus. They won against them easily. The return of Alpha’s fighting form and confidence or as Marcus described, his mojo, helped instill great confidence in the team. Tisane was proud of their progress.
They faced teams Red and Charles’ Fellows in New York. They faced teams Tweens and SHIELD in San Francisco. Marcus pointed out to Brock that SHIELD was not a bad name and sometimes it was better to follow Superhero stuff. He said all that while making air quotations. They had faced team Prometheus in Boston and had one week break before their last fight.
The last fight of the qualifying tournament. If team Incognito won, they would be eligible to participate in the World Tournament which was organized in China the upcoming year. Tisane was a bit worried about their next match. They had won against Prometheus, but they would be fighting either team Shadow or team Warlords. She was not that worried about team Shadow. But team Warlords. She knew team Warlords. It was Pikes Harrow’s team and on that team was Daniel Redd.
Tisane knew of Daniel Redd. Brock and Forum were friends with him. Will they be okay with this fight? It was okay to fight them normally. But this was a proper competitive environment. Tisane was concerned whether they would be okay or not. Tisane was also a bit disappointed. She had hoped that the Warlords would also be qualified for the World Tournament. They were strong fighters after all.
Tisane had considered the blocks where Juran’s and Wizard’s team were present in, but she had not considered other strong fighting teams. That is why this came as a bit of shock for her when she found out that Warlords were in the same block as them. She had found out when Marcus had pointed it out, after they had won four matches. She had been so focused on immediate competition and her team’s performance that she had not considered long term competition.
One week later was 25th of September. That is when the final for her block would be. They were the 5th block. The matches were from 21st to 30th September, one final match from each block on one day. It will soon all be over on 25th, for the Qualifying Tournament at least.
***
Pikes grinned at Carla when Daniel won their fight. Three fights won. They had won the match. Carla simply rolled her eyes at Pikes. Pikes ignored her. He was happy. His team had won again. Now only one match remained and then they would be participating in the World Tournament. He was excited.
Pikes had watched yesterday’s match between Incognito and Prometheus. He had expected Prometheus to win. After all Prometheus had seasoned fighters some of whom Pikes knew personally. However, Incognito had won. Pikes had been surprised. Pikes knew Tisane. He had doubted Tisane had come up with a good team. However, her team had been winning non-stop in the Qualifying Tournament.
However, this would all end in a week’s time. In a week it would be Incognito versus Warlords and Pikes was sure Warlords would win. Tisane would come up with her little team, but she was new. Pikes was a seasoned manager. This was not his first team. However, this was his best team so far. And he was going to take them to the World Tournament.
He smiled again as he shook the opposing team manager’s hand, now focused on the final match. Tisane would never know what hit her.
***
Team Incognito did not practice much during the week. They knew they would be fighting 1 vs 1 matches against Warlords. Daniel’s team. Tisane knew Pikes was the manager but amongst her team, Warlords was known as Daniel’s team. The team consisted of Daniel Redd, Scott Denver, Alex Sullivan, Troy Baker and Amit Patel. They were all friends. They had no spare fighter. However, they were all strong fighters.
Tisane was initially concerned about Brock and Forum. They would be fighting their friend’s team. But she should not have been that concerned. Her team was charged up for the final match. Win or lose, they had decided to make this match unforgettable.
She smiled as she watched Brock and Emma discuss strategy against Warlords’ players. The final match of the Qualifying Tournament was going to be good one.
***
The day of the final match dawned. Brock woke up and got ready. He went downstairs to see Marcus making breakfast. Marcus must have gotten up late. Usually, Marcus had breakfast ready by the time Brock came downstairs from his room.
Brock was nervous. Marcus looked calm but he was always calm. Brock knew that it was tough to get Marcus nervous considering Marcus’ proficiency and power. However, Brock had hoped that Marcus would be a bit serious. Although, Marcus was making breakfast and Brock had observed that his friend was always relaxed, always enjoying when he was cooking. Seriously, Marcus should not have been a power fighter. Brock could see Marcus was happier when he was writing or cooking. Marcus had always wanted to be a writer.
And Marcus had fulfilled his dream partially. Marcus’ book had been published. However, it had not been as much of a hit as Marcus had hoped to be. That did not stop him though. He was already writing another one, in between the time he got from training and power fighting. Brock also believed that Marcus could be a professional chef if he wanted to.
Brock put all these thoughts away from his mind as he greeted his friend. Then he sat down and said, “Are you excited for today?”
Marcus smiled and said, “Today is going to be fun. I want to fight Daniel. See what he is made of.”
“Daniel is strong. Do not bite more than you can chew Marcus.”
Marcus scoffed and said, “Dude, you know I am definitely more powerful than Daniel.”
“Marcus, your arrogance is now turning into your ego. You need to calm down.”
Marcus frowned at that and said, “Am I sounding too pompous?”
Brock gave a short laugh, “Pompous! Yes, that is the perfect word for it. You are sounding like a brat who has grown up with all the privileges.”
Marcus was thoughtful for a second. Then he said, “I had not realized I had been sounding so bad. I must think.”
Marcus continued to cook in silence. Both the friends finished their breakfast and started for the arena. The final match was in their hometown as both the teams were from Los Angeles. As they proceeded towards the stadium, Brock felt his excitement and nervousness growing. Daniel, here we come.
***
Arya looked at the betting rates Big D had provided her. She was sitting again with Chris in the special enclosed room reserved for Big D in the stadium. She was here to watch the final between Incognito and Warlords. Shane was also with her today. Tensions were running high. Arya knew what it meant for Tisane that her team would participate in the World Tournament.
Arya looked right. Shane was excited. He had already bet on some of the matches and Arya had scolded him a bit. Chris was currently sitting up in his carrycot, but Arya knew he would be asleep soon. Chris slept a lot and on time and Arya was happy about that.
Big D came up to Arya and said, “Do you want to bet on the match?”
Arya looked at the rates again. She bet on only one match, Marcus’ match. She knew Marcus would win. It was easy money. Big D took her bet but did not say anything. The announcer then announced the teams. All focus turned on the fighting field. The final match of Group 5 for Qualifying Tournament was now starting.
***
Tisane watched the coin flip upwards and fall down. It had been Pikes’ call. He had called heads. The coin landed on tails. Tisane had won the toss. She chose to go second. Their team had decided on that. They tossed the coin again. This time it was Tisane’s call. She called heads. The coin landed on tails. Pikes won the toss. He chose 1 vs 1 fights format for the match. Tisane nodded to that. She had expected that and would have selected the same format.
She got down from the fighting field and went back to the team. They knew what they had to do. They were waiting for Warlords to make their play first. Tisane wondered who Pikes would send first. Pikes was talking to his team, gesturing very much. Some time later the referee announced, “Team Warlords, select your first fighter. You have thirty seconds.”
Pikes nodded to one of the team members, but Tisane could not figure out who. There was no need to think that much as Troy Baker stepped forwards.
Tisane knew who would be fighting Troy. They had pre-decided that fight match-up as they had done with their earlier fights. Tisane looked at Emma. Emma nodded and started towards the ring. Troy stepped up on the field. Emma stepped up almost immediately afterwards. The first match was about to start.
***
Emma and Troy sized up each other. The referee was explaining to them the rules. He then went out and the shield came up around the fighting field. The referee told them to begin. Troy did not waste time. He attacked Emma with a fireball. Emma dodged it but Troy had followed that attack with another fireball. That hit Emma. However, it was not as strong as Emma had expected.
She put up a water shield and advanced forwards. Troy was using ranged attacks. Emma was more of a melee fighter. She closed up the distance between them, either dodging Troy’s attacks or using her water shield to block them. As she neared, Troy used body of flame, and he was enveloped by fire. He punched her and Emma sidestepped the attack. She hit him but the fire around Troy’s body hurt her hand.
Emma stepped back, wishing to reevaluate her strategy but Troy did not give her time. With his flame enveloped body, he pressed his attack against her. Emma was forced to defend herself. She would have to strategize on the fly.
As she ducked one of Troy’s punches, she saw an opening and took it. She focused on her water shield and tackled Troy. This reduced the impact of Troy’s flames. Troy went down and Emma jumped up, away from him. They were not allowed to attack downed opponents. Troy was not technically down but he was flat on his back, although only for a few seconds.
That was all the time Emma needed. She activated her Water Domain. The area five square meters around her was now flooded with water. Water swirled around her.
She started attacking Troy with jet streams of water, extinguishing his flames. Troy did not seem much bothered by that. He grinned and activated his Fire Domain. The entire fighting field heated up. The area of Emma’s water domain remained unaffected though.
They both now attacked each other, Troy’s attacks more severe than before. However, Emma’s Water Domain was absolute. It was the strongest of any of the elemental domains she had fought against. And Troy’s Fire Domain was no different. It was weaker than her Water Domain.
She blocked Troy’s attacks and attacked back more fiercely. Punches, kicks, jet streams of water and she also brought ice attacks now. Ice spikes for attack, ice wall for defense and ice poles for movement were used. The grin on Troy’s face had disappeared and was replaced by intense focus. However, Emma knew it was too late now. She was going to win.
Troy took a hit of her attack directly and punched her back with a fire strike. The punch was hard, and Emma was thrown back.
She regained her footing and balance, but it took her some time. It was all the time Troy needed. He said, “Fire domain final attack, meteorite of fire.”
Damn. Troy was going to hit her with his ultimate attack. This was not good. Emma could see the energy getting collected in front of Troy. A huge ball of flame was forming. This was not good. Emma was not sure if she could defend or dodge this. However, taking it head on… No, that was a bad idea. But it was the only idea she had.
She started running towards Troy. As she neared him, she jumped, horizontal and covered herself with a block of ice just as Troy released his attack. The attack hit Emma dead on, and all her ice melted in an instant, but her momentum carried her forward. Free from the ice and slightly burned, Emma put all her power in a final punch and punched Troy hard.
Troy flew back and hit the shield and he fell down. He was knocked out. Emma knew. However, she also fell down and rolled like a rag doll for some time. She stopped and people could see she was singed. Emma fought to hold back the darkness but was unsuccessful. She passed out too.
The referee examined both the fighters and declared the fight a draw. The first fight was over. The fighters were taken in stretchers to the recovery room. It was a draw.
***
Tisane was a bit shocked about the outcome of the first match, but she recovered quickly. It was time for the second match. The referee instructed Pikes to send their fighter. Tisane could see Pikes was shaken too. Tisane believed that Pikes would have been more shocked than her and he did not seem to have recovered.
Team Warlords took some time and sent Amit Patel next. He was their second strongest fighter. Tisane looked at Alpha. Alpha stood up and everybody wished him luck. Lara gave him a fierce kiss. Grinning, Alpha went up to the fighting field.
Tisane saw the pre-fight formalities being completed and the shield came up. The second fight was starting.
***
“I have seen your fights old man”, said Amit, “You do not seem to be in top form these days. I wonder why they still ask you to fight. No matter. This will be easy for me.”
Alpha raised his eyebrows at that but did not reply for some time. Then he took his stance and said, “I am here to fight, not talk.”
“That was cheesy.”
“I know.”
“I mean that was a bit like those action movies with cheesy dialogues.”
“Look, can we just fight now?”
Amit nodded and took his stance. Both the fighters circled each other, waiting for the other to make a move. Alpha attacked. Amit simply flowed through Alpha’s attack and punched him. The next moment Alpha was attacked with what he could only describe as a whip of water.
Alpha was thrown back. He stabilized himself to see water swirling around Amit in form of tendrils. This was interesting. Alpha did not let Amit’s attack discourage him. This was good. For the first time, in a long time, he was feeling right. The harmonization with his Angel form had done wonders for his power fighting. His attack felt right even though it had been easily defended by Amit. Him being attacked like this also felt right. He was back. He knew it, and he was going to take Amit down.
Amit now attacked Alpha with more whips of water. Alpha used wind strikes to divert them. It was easy. No whip landed on him. He then threw a wind blast at Amit. A gust of wind hit Amit like a huge punch, and he was thrown back.
Amit stabilized himself the next second and attacked Alpha with ice fall. Spikes of ice rained on Alpha. Alpha dodged them as Amit closed the distance between them. Alpha was expecting that. As Amit got closer, ready for his attack, Alpha quickly sidestepped Amit, and attacked him with an air slash. Amit was thrown forward, a gash appearing on his back.
The gash healed quickly as it did with all power fighters, expending Amit’s energy. Alpha did not give Amit time to stabilize. As Amit was thrown forward, Alpha was already following him. Right before Amit fell, Alpha caught Amit by his cuff and threw him into the shield which was now close by. Amit crashed hard into the shield and Alpha used air acceleration strike. This accelerated him right into Amit who had hit the shield with a flying kick of both the legs. Amit felt the impact of the kick, the impact of the shield and he fell down.
Alpha stepped back. The referee started the count. At the count of five Amit got up but fell down again. He did not get up again. The referee counted to ten. The fight was over. Alpha had won.
Alpha was smiling. He had done it. He was back. He was happy. As the medical team led both the fighters away, Amit on a stretcher and Alpha walking, he looked at his team. They were cheering him madly. Alpha grinned widely at them and waved. They had now the lead in the final match and it was because of Alpha.
***
Tisane watched Alpha fight and she held her breath. She saw the form, the technique, the energy, everything. It was the old Alpha, the Alpha she knew. He was back and he was fighting well. Amit had no chance. And she was right. Alpha won the match. Team Incognito had the lead. They now had to win two more fights.
It was time for the next fight. Team Warlords sent their next fighter. It was Alex Sullivan. Tisane looked at her sister. Forum stepped up. The next fight would be Forum vs Alex.
***
Forum was nervous when she stepped up. She took a deep breath and faced Alex. Forum could not see any hint of nervousness on Alex’s face. Or he was a very good actor. He was jumping on his feet, warming up.
The referee declared the fight to start. Alex attacked Forum. Forum had not been paying attention. She got hit, bad and was thrown back. She quickly regained her composure and attacked back.
She threw some earthen spikes at Alex which he dodged them effectively. He retaliated with wind slices which Forum defended with earthen walls and attacked back with earth slabs.
The two fighters threw ranged attacks at each other, using different attacks, different techniques. However, both of them were not getting anywhere. They were sort of fighting each other to a status quo.
Forum knew she had to do something. Alex seemed to have had the same thought. Forum activated her Earth Domain the same time Alex activated his Air Domain. The fighting field shook for a moment as the floor shifted beneath her feet. Air started swirling around Alex.
They both looked at each other and grinned. Then they attacked. Slabs of earth and gusts of wind crashed against each other. The attacks of both the fighters increased in intensity but they were still fighting themselves to a status quo.
Forum was a bit irritated now. Both she and Alex seemed to be fighting similarly. She decided to use her ultimate attack.
Forum said, “Field of destruction.”
At once the fighting field started to shake as if it was struck by a strong earthquake. Large spikes rose out of the field trying to impale Alex. Large slabs rose out of the field trying to crush Alex. Boulders tossed out of the field, rising up in the air for few meters and then crashing straight towards Alex.
Alex was hit with all these attacks and dust was rising making it hard to see what was happening to him. Soon the attack finished, and the dust cleared. Forum saw that the fighting field around Alex was wrecked. However, Alex was still standing, bruised, but still standing. Both the fighters were panting heavily.
Forum saw that Alex was readying himself for his ultimate attack. Forum did not waste time as Alex said, “Air Dance.”
She covered herself with a dome of earth as fierce cutting winds surrounded her. The winds pierced her shield, but they were not many which managed to get through her dome. She gritted her teeth and held her ground as Alex poured more energy into his attack. Soon the attack was over, and Forum cancelled her dome.
Both the fighters were now panting heavily. They were both standing. They both took a step forwards and fell face down. The referee counted to ten. The fight was over. It was a draw.
***
Pikes was now worried. Three fights were over. Two had been draw and they had lost one. Tisane’s team was far stronger than he had anticipated. He needed to win the next two fights in order to win the match. Daniel and Scott were the two fighters remaining.
Pikes had to decide who to send next. He had not thought of sending Daniel and Scott. He had expected that the others would win their fights. It would be tough, but he had not expected the loss nor the draws. He was now not sure. He needed the next win. He knew he had to send Daniel.
Pikes turned towards Daniel, “Daniel, you need to go. You need to win.”
Daniel nodded and said, “They are stronger than expected. If I go, they will send Brock. I believe I can win against Brock. He has not defeated me yet and I have gotten stronger. However, this would mean Scott would have to fight Marcus. And Marcus here is an unknown.”
“What do you mean?” asked Scott.
“From what I have gathered from Brock and what I had discussed in the team meeting, Marcus is strong. We do not know how strong, but we know that he has not lost a single fight in this tournament. Do we wish to take such a risk?”
Pikes said, “Do we have an option? We need the next win. Otherwise it is all over. The last fight will be a formality. And you know that.”
The referee called team Warlord to hurry up as the time was almost over. Daniel started walking towards the fighting field. Daniel could see the referee breathing a sigh of relief and turning towards team Incognito.
Tisane Brock and Marcus were now discussing something. There was something wrong, Daniel could feel it. He did not know what.
Daniel stepped into the field. He was confident Brock would come to fight. However, Marcus started to walk towards the field. It seemed that team Incognito wanted to finish this. Daniel wished that the organizers would allow Angel form in the matches. However, this was the Qualifying tournament and Angel forms were not allowed.
Marcus stepped into the ring. The referee explained the rules and went out. The shield was set up. The match was starting. Daniel focused on gathering his energy. This was it. It was time to win this.
***
The referee signaled the fight to begin. Marcus could see the shadows swirling around Daniel. Daniel was a Shadow master. This fight was going to be interesting. Daniel would be taking this fight seriously. Incognito had to win only one match. However, Warlords had to win the next two matches to proceed further.
Marcus was now debating. Should he let Daniel win the match or should he win it. He looked at the crowd. It looked excited. This was the finals after all. And the fighters were giving a fabulous display.
Daniel said, “No hard feelings Marcus. But I am going to destroy you.”
Marcus said, “Are you taking a page from Alpha’s book? Because this was too cliché.”
“I don’t care. I am going to win this. You may be strong. But you are not stronger than my shadows.”
Marcus blinked at Daniel. Then he looked back at Brock and mouthed, This guy! Seriously!
Then he turned back to Daniel who had already started his attack. Shadows shot outwards from Daniel towards Marcus. Marcus already had his divine shield up. The shadows hit the shield and dissipated. Daniel started attacking more and more with increasing strength to test Marcus’ shield. However, Marcus’ divine shield held, as he knew it would.
“You have a strong defense”, said Daniel, “But it seems it is all you know. How is you attack Marcus McKnight?”
“You used my full name”, said Marcus, “Ooh, I am trembling.”
“Your sarcasm is weaker than your attacks.”
“Definitely”, said Marcus and attacked. He closed the distance between him and Daniel, blocking the attacks with his divine shield and attacked. He punched Daniel and Daniel sidestepped. Daniel grabbed Marcus’ punching arm and with the other hand threw a punch at Marcus’ gut. Marcus stopped the punch with his other hand and heated up his hands. Daniel kicked Marcus, letting go of his grip and breaking Marcus’ grip and jumped back.
Daniel said, “Fire Mastery!”
Marcus grinned and attacked Brock with an earthen spike, followed by an ice spike and finally a fire ball. Then he shot a pure energy ball and used his martial mastery quickstep. Through that technique, he hit Daniel considerably hoping he had done sufficient damage. However, Daniel recovered quickly. It seemed that Daniel had lots of energy. This fight was going to take a while.
Daniel now activated his Shadow Domain. The fighting field was momentarily swathed in darkness which then shrunk to enter Daniel. Shadows danced around him now and he was covered in a dark cloak. Daniel’s eyes looked fires burning from the pits of hell.
Marcus muttered, “Nice Shadow Domain”, as Daniel attacked.
Marcus blocked all of Daniel’s attacks. Marcus could see Daniel was getting desperate. Here Daniel was, with his domain activated and here was Marcus, blocking each of Daniel’s attacks without even activating his domain.
Daniel gritted his teeth as Marcus blocked one more of his attack. He jumped back and said, “Your defense is pissing me off. Is that all you can do? Why don’t you attack?”
Marcus looked at Daniel with a furrow on his face and said, “You do make it difficult to attack you, with all the prancing around that you are doing.”
“You are tiring me out. I know that. But it won’t work. I won’t let it work.” Daniel started to gather energy. Marcus realized what Daniel was doing and tried to charge but the level of energy Daniel was gathering resulted in Marcus spending more energy than he wished to get up to Daniel. So, he went back, farther from Daniel.
It seemed that Daniel was gearing up for his ultimate attack. It seemed to be a big one. Marcus debated whether to defend the attack, dodge it or take it head on. He rejected the head on idea as it was stupid. He was strong but he should not take such risks. He decided that based on the attack he would either dodge it or defend it.
Daniel had now gathered a lot of energy in front of his extended hand. It was dark and shadowy with shadows swirling around the big ball of shadow energy. This was huge.
Daniel said, “Shadowpocalypse.”
He shot the huge shadow energy sphere at Marcus with a speed Marcus did not anticipate. Marcus used his quickstep technique to dodge the attack and appeared behind Daniel who was panting now as he had expended a lot of energy behind the attack.
Marcus could feel Daniel panicking as he whispered in Daniel’s ear, “Martial Mastery level 10 technique, shadow fist.”
The next moment Marcus hit Daniel with a shadow fist. It was not the normal shadow fist technique which Shadow Mastery had but Marcus’ own technique which he had developed during his tenth level of Martial Mastery. It was at least a hundred times stronger than the normal shadow fist and it focused its power on a highly specific area.
Marcus’ attack hit Daniel hard and he was thrown forwards at a great speed, straight into his own attack. Daniel’s Shadowpocalypse hit Daniel hard and he was thrown right into the shield. There was a crunch and Marcus expected Daniel was down.
The referee started the countdown. At the count of seven, Daniel suddenly stood up.
“This is not over, Marcus”, said Daniel, “My friends and I have worked hard over the years. We have fought together, won together and formed a great team together. I will not see our efforts wasted against a team who was not even a team before this and is made up of fighters who have just recently registered. I shall not allow a team that is so new, so raw into the World Tournament. We are going to win Marcus and I shall defeat you.”
“You know Daniel”, said Marcus, “You are sounding like an anime villain with a tragic background story. But you know what your problem is. You are weaker than me. This is not an anime. This is a power fight. The strong, the fast and the cunning win against the weak, the slow and the dumb. You are strong. You are fast. And you are cunning. However, against me, you are none of the three.”
Marcus closed the distance between them and whispered in Daniel’s ear, “And that is why, you will lose this fight.”
Marcus punched hard, putting a majority of his energy behind it. It was a pure energy punch and he clocked Daniel right across the jaw. Daniel was thrown from one end of the fighting field to the other end, right into the shield. He fell down, out cold. This time he did not get up. The referee counted to ten. The fight was over. Marcus had won.
***
Tisane and Brock were jumping up and down. Arya was jumping up and down in Big D’s special viewing room with Shane looking at her with concern and also taking care of Chris who had suddenly woken up crying. Alpha, Emma and Forum were also cheering in the recovery room.
It was over. There was no need for the final fight. It was decided. Two wins to Incognito and two draws. There was no need for the fifth fight. Team Incognito had won. They were going forward to the World Tournament.
There were tears in Tisane’s eyes as he stepped on to the ring to hug Marcus before he was taken to the recovery room. She was happy. She had done it. They had done it. They had won. A new team, with new players. And they had won the Qualifying Tournament.
In four days, the names of the final teams shall be announced and team Incognito will be one of them. As she shook hands with Pikes, she could not contain her excitement. Team Incognito had done it. World Tournament, here they come.