"I'd like to keep helping you with coming up with a battle plan for Maluk, but time isn't something that we have a lot of," Itzel said. She turned the screen back towards her and with the swipe of her hand and then brought up Arva's Rumble Circuit profile. "We need to get moving on to deciding who will go next. If there's one thing I know about Siergi, it's that he loves attention. There's no way he'd go second in the match when the last fight is what generates the most excitement."

"What you're saying is that Arva will be the one to go in after Maluk."

"Exactly. Her ranking isn't too shabby, not to mention that she's got herself a natural Affinity, too."

"What would that be?"

"Same as Siergi. Electricity. And she’s fast. Really fast. Her techniques make her hard to hit because of the mobility they give her. Arva doesn't do as much damage as the others, but she can bombard you with some fierce combos in a short period of time if you don't know what you're doing."

"And that's why you didn't want me to go up against her I assume?" Janus asked. He got up from his seat to look at Itzel's screen. She had brought up a replay that highlighted her special techniques, showing of brief snippets of her electricity-based Techniques in action. Janus watched as she vanished from point to another, leaving small clouds of static behind.

"You'd be right. She's going to be moving all over the place. It’ll be difficult to keep track of her. And her combos are devasting. If she catches you off guard, you're going to be losing a lot of your stamina. At least with Maluk, you can tell when he's trying to go for big damage. But with Arva, she'll end up behind you and the next thing you know you're getting hit with a few Levin Currents from behind."

"That's the teleporting attack she just did?"

"Uh-huh."

"That looks like it's a hassle to defend against.” On the screen, Arva dashed around a hapless opponent multiple times. The fighter swung around wildly, only to have each of his strikes miss as Arva danced around with ease.

"It can be for a rookie fighter. The teleport itself doesn't do anything, but she can summon a long bolt of lightning between any two points that she had just teleported from. Fortunately, there's a small cloud of electricity that lingers for a moment from wherever she teleports. Just keep track of those and try not to stand between two of them and you should be fine."

"Who fights next?" Gurk asked.

"Probably me," Itzel replied.

"But you've reached the highest rank in Rumble Circuit!" Janus interrupted. "I thought the best fighter was supposed to go last."

"That's usually the case, but my gut tells me Gurk wouldn’t fare much better than you would in regard to dealing with Arva's speed."

"She's fast!" the crocodile stated.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Exactly. And Gurk's big. That makes him an easy target for that Levin Current Technique of hers. I don't think he'd be able to avoid all of those streams of lightning considering his size."

"So if you're going to face Arva, that leaves Gurk to take on Siergi," Janus said. He turned towards the crocodile. Gurk's face looked as calm as ever.

"He's the reason why we're even doing this Team Battle in the first. Makes sense for him to go up against their team leader," Itzel said. "And you better use everything we taught you! We spent good money on that session with BRUTE, and don't remind me about how I had to sit through all of those replays of Siergi's past Broadcasts."

"Got it," Gurk replied, giving Itzel a short nod of his head.

"So that settles it then. Janus goes up against Maluk in the first round. Then depending on who wins, it'll be me fighting Arva."

"Leaving Gurk and Siergi to duke it out for the grand finale," Janus said.

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Itzel deactivated her projection and stood up. She stretched one arm across her chest and twisted her hip in the other direction in preparation for the upcoming challenge. "I guess there isn't anything left to do here now that we've got our order figured out. Who wants to go and tell the others that we're ready to start?"

"Wait a sec, Itzel," Janus said as he got off his stool. "Don't you think we should do a little bit more discussing? Maybe get a little more research in our rivals."

"I just looked at the time on my screen. We've only got a couple of minutes left before the first match starts. No point in trying to cram in Maluk and Arva's past matches in that time frame. It'd be better spent getting ready physically. Loosen up your muscles. Get your blood flowing. Relax your mind." Itzel closed her eyes as she stretched her arms behind her back and roll her neck. "Match-up knowledge is important. But it's not the sole factor in winning. You saw Maluk's Techniques, right?"

"Yeah," Janus replied with a hint of hesitation.

"They all involve swinging that flail of his. Just try not to get hit by it. If you can do that you should do relatively fine."

Janus took off his glasses and buried his eyes into the palms of his hands. "Right. Just don't get hit."

"It's not the end of the world if you lose, Janus." Itzel continued her stretching. "I know I've been hard on you in the past, but that was before you helped to rescue most of Labrisson's Exterminators. I don't expect you to win your first Rumble Circuit match. Just do your best. Even if you lose, that just means I get the pleasure of putting Maluk down for the count."

"Thanks Itzel. You have a way with words. If I had to guess, I'd say your Affinity would be Insult Complimenting," Janus remarked with a low chuckle.

"I try."

"Ready?" Gurk asked, standing by the corridor that led out of the lobby with one hand propping him up against the wall.

"Yeah, big guy. Go ahead and tell Siergi and the others that we're ready to start whenever they are."

"Alright." Gurk vanished down the hallway, leaving Itzel and Janus alone in the lobby. Itzel continued her stretches while Janus tried his best to mimic her motions. Like Itzel, he bent his leg at the knee and held onto his ankle with his hand. He wobbled a bit as he tried to keep his balance.

"You're pulling too tight," she said. She then lowered her leg and repeated the stretch on the other side.

"I know, I know," Janus said. He dropped his foot back on the ground with a stomp. "I just can't concentrate. My heartrate is through the roof. Haven't been this stressed since my last exam. Even when I was going up against that Ogre in the Refinery, I was calmer." He hopped back on the seat and lowered his head as he ran his fingers along the back of his head.

"I get it. I was the same way during my first Ranked Challenge."

"How did it go?"

"I won. Easy."

"Of course you did."

"Even before officially registering Rumble Circuit, I had been getting into brawls ever since I was really little. But that doesn't mean I was fully prepared for my first Ranked Challenge. I still remember it clearly."

"Give me the short and sweet version if you don't mind,” Janus said as she shook his hands, trying to get his excess of nerves out. “I could use the boost in confidence right now."