Siergi slowly got up from his downed position and limped to the victor, holding onto his chest as if his hand was the only thing keeping his heart in place. The rest of his team ran to his aid, propping him up by holding onto his arms.

"I'm good guys, I really am," Siergi said before coughing.

"Doesn't sound like it!" Maluk replied. "That last attack looked like it knocked the wind out of you! Didn't know you were one to get hit by Guard Break attacks so easily!"

"Didn't you lose to a guy with only two Techniques?" Siergi shot his teammate a cold glare that made him promptly silence himself. "Yeah, that's what I figured." He then limped over to the winning team, stretching out his aching limbs as he slowly traversed across the mat. A gentle tug of the arm made Gurk turn around. Siergi stretched out one open hand.

"Good fight," Gurk said. The palm of his hand completely encompassed Siergi's. The two fighters smiled at each other as they shared a firm handshake.

"You too. I'm glad you and your friends could make it on the Broadcast."

"See Itzel?" Arva said, giving the woman a gentle prod in the arm with her elbow. "Was that so bad?"

Itzel snickered. "The fight itself was fine! But what I'm really concerned about is the payment that we agreed upon."

Arva playfully waved one hand towards Itzel. "You know we're good for it! This has been our most profitable Broadcast in a long time. Don't worry, we'll make sure all three of you of compensated well."

As Itzel prepared to say something, the entire audience stood up from their seats. They began to clap and whistle as Siergi raised one arm high above his head while still holding onto the crocodile’s hand. "Give it up for the big guy himself, Gurk!" The audience burst into cheers once more, drowning out the voices of those on the mat. Janus felt a sense of nervousness rush through him as he turned his body to the side to shy away from all the eyes that were on him. He looked towards Itzel and saw her shaking her head, contradicting the grin she had on her face.

"Only I can call Gurk that!" she mouthed to Janus while pointing at herself.

Janus turned on his Implant and turned in to the Broadcast. He could see himself from above. The view count had climbed up to over 300,000, making him raise an eyebrow. Pausing the long string of messages, Janus began to read.

"Best. Broadcast. Ever."

"Is Big Guy going to come on again?"

"Notice me, Siergi!"

Janus deactivated his screen and returned his attention back to Gurk and Siergi. Arva and Maluk were at their sides. Both turned Janus and Itzel, waving at them to come over. Without her smile leaving her face, she rushed over to Gurk's side.

"Come on, Janus! You too!" Arva said. "Go stand with the rest of your team."

There was some hesitation before Janus tiptoed across the mat, making his way to the rest of the Labrisson Slayers. He stood at the very end of the lineup, keeping his head low. The crowd continued their applause as Siergi stepped forward, still holding onto Gurk's arm and bringing the crocodile along.

"Thank you everyone for showing up today to the Broadcast! We'll go ahead and end the program now, but we'll be back again a few days from now. Same time, same place!" Siergi then bowed towards his audience. Gurk followed and did the same. Arva and Maluk headed towards the lower floor. Itzel and Janus followed them down the steps while Gurk and Siergi waved to the crowd one last time. As they left the main area, the sound of chanting leaked through the building's walls.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

"Gurk! Gurk! Gurk!"

Once downstairs Itzel and Janus sat on the lounge's sofa. Janus leaned back against his seat, tilted his head up and closed his eyes. The faint sound of Gurk's name being called still echoed from down the long corridor. Itzel had her projection up and was scrolling through the messages that were sent during her match with Arva. She smiled, nodding as she slowly read through every bit of text!

"People really liked me and Gurk!" Itzel said. "Maybe I should start Broadcasting more often. If I skip out on a meal every now and then I might be able to squeeze in a short Broadcast every other week."

"Wait," Janus said. He turned his head to the said and looked at Itzel's screen. "You said 'me and Gurk.'"

"I did," Itzel replied without taking her focus off the replay of the messages.

"Aren't you forgetting someone?"

"Sorry Janus. Some of the messages you got during the fight... weren't the kindest. Although a legitimate way to win, Time Out victories are pretty much universally frowned upon by audiences. They don't make for exciting Broadcasts."

"Oh. I guess I've got to learn to fight more aggressively then."

"I thought you were too hot on the idea of being a Rumble Circuit fighter?"

"That was a rush!" Janus said enthusiastically. "Once all the soreness is gone, it's not so bad. There's a lot of strategy involved which I've come to appreciate."

"So the Labrisson Slayers are sticking as a team then? We're not going to be just some one-hit wonder of the Rumble Circuit world?"

Janus stroked his chin. "You know, it doesn't like too bad of an idea to end on a one-hundred percent win rate!" Janus joked. "What do you think, Gurk?"

The crocodile stood in front of the other two team members. "Let's stay," he said.

"I guess that's it, then," Itzel said. "Looks like the Labrisson Slayers are going to climb the ranks of the Rumble Circuit ladder!"

"That's so sweet!" All three looked towards the entrance to the hallway and saw Enidri leaning on the corner with her arms folded in front of her chest. "Good thing I was too busy to accept that invite! I could have messed up the whole dynamic you three have got going on here."

"Thanks!" Gurk said.

"Of course." Enidri got up from the wall and put herself in front of the team. "Come on you two, get up." She waved her hands upwards at Janus and Itzel, implying that she wanted them to get up from their seats. The two looked at each other with confusion before silently agreeing to Enidri's request. "Good," she said as all three stood up in a triangle around Enidri.

"Gurk, you're the biggest so you stand right over there." She took hold of the crocodile's arms and led him to an empty spot along the wall. "And turn around... just like that." Enidri slowly turned Gurk around so that he was facing her.

"Eni?" Itzel asked as she rested her hands on her hips.

"Huh?"

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to take a snapshot." Enidri then took hold of Janus' arm and dragged him to Gurk's right side. She slowly positioned him in the same way she did to the crocodile. "Alright, you're next Itzel."

"I think I know how to get in line to take a picture taken, Eni." Itzel walked to the other side of Gurk. With all three lined up, Enidri activated her projection and began adjusting her glowing panel. She squinted her one eye as she made a series of miniscule adjustments to the floating screen.

"Just a bit closer to Gurk, Itzel," Enidri said, waving fingers in the direction that she wanted her to move. "That's good. And you need to move back, Janus. Just a small bit."

"You do this professionally or something?" Itzel asked.

"Just as a hobby."

"When you're not out killing Essencima?" Janus asked.

"Exactly. Donva and I are going to do some catching up since he's going to be stuck here in Labrisson for a while. I'm trying to discover other activities that we can do together that don't involve the very thing that almost made him completely eradicate the city's population of Exterminators."

"Good idea," Janus added.

"Now. All of you. Stop moving. And start smiling."

The entire team smiled at once, with Janus and Itzel making smaller grins with closed mouths while Gurk's smile showed off his rows of long and jagged teeth. Enidri pressed the "Capture" button on her panel. "Perfect!" Enidri said as she stared at the results. The other three scrambled to her side to look at it. The angle was somewhat lopsided. Some of Itzel's side had been cropped and there was a bright glare that came from Gurk's metal mask. "Feel free to use it as your team's profile picture."

"Err... Sure. Thanks, Eni," Itzel said while squinting at the picture.

"Crooked," Gurk said, pointing at the bottom corner of the image.

"What? Looks fine to me!" the swordswoman said with shock.

"Yeah, Enidri," Janus said. "Definitely looks a bit off. It's kind of blurry too."

"How?" Enidri leaned in closer to her projection. "Everything looked just fine when I set it up!"