"Come on Gurk! You've gotta be more defensive!" Itzel leaned forward in her chair, clenching her fist as Gurk took a lightning bolt to the chest after taking a step forward. "Just be more patient!"

"At least he's got a little bit of EV to work with," Janus said as he looked at the Challenge Display. There was one single glow bar at the bottom of Gurk's side of the screen. "Any ideas if there are any Enhanced Techniques he could use to get an advantage in the fight?"

"Tail Spike might be effective. If Gurk can find a good time to use it. Siergi's mobile, so it would be a big risk using his only bit of EV to try and get in closer, only to have it not even work."

"It's better than getting blasted from across the mat," Enidri said.

"Let's just hope he makes use of that Armored Run. If he can time it right and corner Siergi, he'll be in a good spot to keep him check."

In the middle of fighting area, Siergi began dancing around Gurk. He bounced up and down, shifting his arms from side to side in a rhythmic manner. Gurk followed his opponent's movement slowly, taking a step forward only to have Siergi take two steps further away with each advancement the crocodile made. The audience began to cheer, shouting Siergi's name as he continued to weave in and out of Gurk's attack range.

"Knock him out, Siergi!"

"You got this, Siergi!"

"The streak can't end here!"

Siergi attacked with a high roundhouse kick. Gurk kept his guard up, blocking Siergi's heel with both hands. Sparks flew and scattered on the ground. With the attack blocked, Siergi quickly jumped back and left the crocodile's fighting range.

Janus glanced to the side. Itzel was heavily invested in the fight; both of her fists were clenched as she remained completely still. Her head poked forward with wide eyes. Enidri by contrast was more placid, still leaning back against her folding chair. Her head bobbed up and down and her one eye squinting at the match.

This is too much, Janus thought. He pressed one hand against his chest. The palpitations made his entire body shake. The possibility of Gurk winning became more distant with each hit he took, making it difficult for Janus to stay focused. He activated his projection and began watching the feed of the messages that were rolling. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the numbers of viewers.

"Hey Itzel. Is 290,000 viewers a lot for a Rumble Circuit match?" Janus asked.

"What!?" Itzel exclaimed. Her head snapped towards Janus' direction. "How many thousand?"

"Two-hundred and ninety, give or take a few hundred. The exact number keeps fluctuating."

"That's insane! What do the messages say?"

Janus paused the stream of messages with a quick press of the screen. "Let's see here," he said as gave his glasses a quick adjustment. "I've never seen anything like that before! Is that some kind of monst—" Janus cut the sentence short and looked up only to see Itzel's face turn sour. "That was someone else's words, not mine."

"I know,” she said with a stern expression.

"Let me read another one." He scrolled through the list, skipping past all the silly faces and monetary contributions to find a message about Gurk. "Anybody else think that giant alligator guy is cute in a pet kind of way?"

Itzel closed her eyes and took in a calming breath. "Janus."

Stolen story; please report.

"Yeah?"

"Please. Don't read anymore." She placed her palm on her forehead and shook it slowly.

"Fair enough."

In the arena, Gurk continued his methodical advance. His eyes stayed focused on Siergi's leg. He watched as he performed a forwards spinning kick, on the verge of launching another Blitz Bolt. As his foot angled forward, Gurk dashed forward with his arms open and spread apart. The lightning strike stuck the crocodile in the chest but didn't impede his dash. With claws high, he shrugged off the projectile. Siergi's face of confidence shifted to worry as Gurk's hand loomed high over him. The slash hit Siergi in his exposed chest, forcing him down to the ground. The tone of the audience shifted. Their cheers turned into exasperated gasps of worry while Gurk stood over the downed Broadcaster.

"Now this is exactly what Gurk needs!" Itzel shouted. "He can win this if he can manage to stay close!"

Siergi didn't stay down for long. He rolled backwards, shifting his legs over his head and standing up in a fluid motion and getting back into his fighting stance as if he had never been hit. The distance between him and Gurk was narrower as well as his proximity towards the edge of the fighting area. Siergi took one look behind him, taking note of how his rear ankle was only a few feet away from being out of bounds. Gurk was even closer when he turned around. The crocodile met him with an ice-cold blast of frost breath that engulfed his face.

The audience ‘oohed’ as Siergi's arms slowed to a crawl, unable to properly block the following Tail Slash. The attack travelled towards Siergi's arm. With some swift movement, the Broadcaster positioned his forearm just enough to mitigate the damage. Despite the attempt to block, Siergi’s upper body turned to the side as the ice frozen to the end of his tail shattered to bits. With his opponent dazed, Gurk opened his jaw and ensnared Siergi's shoulder. With the other fighter wedged in between his teeth, the crocodile turned his body around, winding up before twisting in the opposite direction. He released Siergi, tossing the fighter in behind him and hurling through the air.

Siergi landed on the ground with splat, his body bouncing off the mat. The viewers all gasped. Janus and Itzel both jumped up from their seats, shouting and jumping with glee. Enidri remained seated, only letting a slight series of nods show off her approval.

"That's how you do it!" Itzel shouted. A look at Siergi's stamina showed that he was at just over one third of his Stamina Gauge.

Back in the fighting area, Siergi scrambled to stand up straight. The distance between and Gurk was large again, requiring the crocodile to dash again to make up the missing the space. With his balance quickly regained, Siergi leapt forward and targeted his opponent with Thunder Wire. Unable to come to a full stop, Gurk was hit in the front by the electric kick. Siergi continued the Special Technique, sending the crocodile higher into the air with each successive blow.

The viewers in the room all began to chant. "Siergi! Siergi! Siergi!" they all shouted rhythmically, stomping their feet as the watched both combatants fall to the ground, with only Siergi landing on his feet. Gurk landed sideways, shaking his from side to side as he staggered away to get far enough so that Siergi couldn't attack again while he was grounded. The audience continued to rally for their favored fighter, building his confidence, evident by how he grinned and slowly strutted towards his defensive opponent.

"That's a huge lead Siergi has now!" Janus said with a shaky voice. Gurk's stamina had been dropped to about twenty percent. Itzel took a glance at the audience's screen as well.

"Yeah, and Siergi's been saving his EV too. A successful hit from his Signature Technique would be more than enough to take out Gurk!" she said.

"And the timer isn't on his side,” Janus said as he eyed the projection in front of the audience. “Can Gurk even do enough damage with only forty-eight seconds left?"

"Gurk can deal damage. I'm more than sure of it. It's just a matter of whether or not he can get close to Siergi again."

"Or if Siergi gets close to him," Enidri said, still focused on the battle. Janus and Itzel turned returned to the fight and saw Siergi advance towards Gurk with another Thunder Wire. Gurk blocked the first hit, making Siergi land on the ground in front of him. The Broadcaster attacked with a series of kicks, forcing the crocodile to remain defensive with his hands and arms blocking as many of the strikes as he could.

Despite the rush of attacks lasting only a few seconds, it was as if every strike happened in slow motion. Gurk expertly maneuvered his body and his arms to come up with an answer to every element of Siergi's assault. A quick swing of his left arm blocked a side kick. Then both hands covered his front and cut a roundhouse short. With a bob back, Gurk narrowly avoided an axe kick to the head.

As Siergi looked to the projection containing the Challenge Display, his frustration became visible to all the viewers. In a fraction of a second, he shook his head and pursed his lips before looking at Gurk again. "Time to end this," he said with confidence to his opponent.