Tonko's stance mimicked that of a boxer. His hands were half-open with his right arm leading along with his right side. He threw out a right jab towards Gurk. The crocodile quickly blocked it with his forearm. There was a soft thump as human skin met scaly flesh.

They continued to pace around the ring in a circle, with Tonko testing Gurk's reactions by continually throwing out jab after jab. The attacks caught Janus off guard; for someone of Tonko's size and build, his attacks were surprisingly swift. As the battle commenced, more attacks were thrown out while Gurk remained defensive, blocking all punches as if he were a shield.

"Come on, Gurk!" Tonko said. He gestured for Gurk to attack back waving both of his of open hands towards himself. "Don't be afraid to attack me! It's just a Ranked Challenge! You know no one really gets hurt in these!" The crocodile heard his opponent's words loud and clear. He put one leg forward, giving him enough leverage to swing his tail around.

"Slash!"

Gurk spun his tail around, its grazing the bare chest of Tonko as he bobbed backwards. Gurk turned himself forward and faced his opponent. He took a defensive stance once more as both fighters continued to pace around the ring. Janus watched the match intently until the buzzing on his Implant took him out of the immersion.

"INCOMING CALL FROM: ITZEL DE VUERA"

Better answer this one. Janus accepted the call. Itzel looked at him with the same annoyed look she had from earlier in the day, except now her hair was tidier. "Janus," she said sternly.

"Oh, hey Itzel."

"Why is Gurk in a Ranked Challenge?" Itzel asked, angered.

"It's a long story."

"I've got time."

Janus sighed. "Gurk met a guy at Grub On. Actually, more like some guy stopped by and introduced himself when he heard that Gurk got an invitation to go on Siergi's broadcast."

"Great," Itzel replied as she rolled her eyes to the back of her head. "Another Siergi fanboy."

"You can say that. Anyway, he suggested that Gurk and I to stop by the gym he owns."

"Wait. The guy owns a gym?" Itzel said. "That sounds familiar." From Janus' projection, he could see Itzel bring up a separate screen on her end. She looked at it closely, nodding her head when she recognized the other person in the ring with Gurk.

"That's Tonko, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yes. You familiar with him?"

"I've heard about him. Rumor has it that he..." Through the other side of the screen, she tried to see if there was anyone near Janus. "He rigs Ranked Challenges," she said in a whisper.

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Janus' head jerked back. "What?"

"It's just a rumor," Itzel continued with her low voice, "But I think it's true. He probably gets unsuspecting fighters to go against him and then steals a win that way."

"Any idea how he'd do that?" Janus looked back at the match going on in the center of the gym. Gurk's arms were spread apart, leaving his front open. Tonko seized the opening and slammed his fist into his light blue underbelly. Gurk bobbed, groaning from the attack. "Because it seems to me that Gurk shouldn't have taken that hit."

"I agree, Janus. I've seen Gurk fight in plenty of Ranked Challenges. There’s no reason he shouldn’t have been able to block a standard jab like that!"

"What should we do?" Janus asked. He looked back up towards the match.

"You want to interrupt a Ranked Challenge?" Itzel called out. "You know that will get you banned from competing, right? At least until the next major season about a year from now."

"Rumble Circuit takes their matches that seriously?"

"Janus. Rumble Circuit is a trillion Token business. They take the matches very seriously."

"You'd think rigging Ranked Challenges would be something they'd look into then."

"Not worth it to them. Takes a whole lot of investigation to deal with some mid-tier fighters in the middle of Labrisson. They don't want to send officials out to check into every little dispute. But everyone can just see you run up there and stop the match."

"Icicle Strike!"

There was the loud crunch of water freezing. Janus looked up and saw that Tonko's arm was encased in a layer of solid ice. Gurk's arms remained down at his side, the crocodile trembling as he watched the frozen fist shoot upwards. Tonko’s uppercut connected onto the underside of Gurk's mouth. His entire head was sent back, making him bellow in pain from the Special Technique.

"Something's definitely off with this!" Itzel said. "Gurk's not one to just stand and let an obvious attack like that connect without putting his guard up."

"It has to be something to do with those bands that were wrapped his wrists." Janus squinted at Gurk’s arms. They were dangling towards the ground in an unnatural manner, as if they were attracted to the floor.

"Gurk just put them on?" Itzel asked in shock.

"A couple of the gymgoers came by and just wrapped them around his wrists. He didn't say anything or try to stop them."

Itzel smacked her hand against her forehead, letting it slowly run down the course of his face. "Gurk... why...."

"Maybe I can help. The other people here are in on this rigged match. I might be able to figure out what's the deal with the bands before it's too late."

"Don't bother Janus. Just don't," Itzel groaned. "I'm not there. You don't know what Tonko and the others are capable of. I'd say just let Gurk lose a few spots on the ranking so he can chalk it up as a lesson learned."

Janus laughed weakly. With his hand behind his head, he couldn't help but look away from the projection.

"That's all he's going to lose, right Janus?" she said. There was no response. Itzel leaned in closer, her entire face taking up the area of the frame and as she tried to get Janus to make eye contact with her. "Janus! How much did he put on the line?"

"A decent amount."

"Decent? And you didn't stop him?"

"He's like three times my mass! What am I supposed to do? All Tonko had to do was talk really nice and Gurk was willing to do whatever he said."

"I knew I shouldn't have let you two out alone! I'm coming over there now! Just... try to do something so Gurk doesn't blow all those Tokens. But at the same time, try not to get into too much trouble! I'm getting ready now."

Itzel's screen shut off. Janus scratched his head and looked towards the other two men in the gym. They were focused on a projection instead of the fight going on inside the ring.

"At least I know where to start," Janus whispered to himself.