The night was drawing in. The light of the moon shined down on the square of dirt the two men found themselves in. There were floodlights that had yet to be turned on around them, and in the distance was a large building.

“Welcome Sam. This is Mana-Script’s training ground. There’s a bubble around us so you should feel rested and you don’t have to go easy on me. Neither of us can die inside the bubble.” Jude was in the middle of slipping on a pair of gauntlets that he had left here.

Sam was taking in his surroundings. It was just a square of ground surrounded by a wooden fence. It couldn’t have been more than 300 metres square.

“Why do you want to be strong?” Jude said biting down on a leather strap as he pulled the gauntlet tight.

“Huh?”

“You said you wanted to be stronger. But why?”

“The thrill of the fight. If you fight people weaker than you it’s no fun. You fight someone stronger and win it’s euphoric. There’s no greater feeling in this world.”

Jude looked up for a second, befuddled, then kept going and muttered “I don’t know, sex is pretty good.”

“I get stronger to face those who are even stronger. The strength to win every fight. The strength to overcome a challenge.”

“What happens when you reach the apex? You’ll be alone at the top right.” Jude began retying his shoelaces.

“Then I can rest. I’ll have done it.” He looked up at the Moon as the gentle night’s breeze washed over him, caressing his wavy hair and sitting on his skin for a brief moment before disappearing into the night. “Why is it you want to create the strongest guild?”

Jude stood up and dusted himself down. “I made a promise to a late friend and I’m going to carry it out. I’ll do it with or without your help but I’d appreciate it. So how about a bet? If I win a sparring match you’ll join my guild and if I lose I leave you alone?”

“What do I get out of joining your guild?”

“Well you’d be benefitted financially. We’d pay you to live so you didn’t have to do those underground fights anymore. Plus you could enter the guild only tournaments. The more you win the better ones you can enter and the more points you earn our guild. The better the ones you enter the stronger the opponents you’ll face. So do you have a bet?” Jude gets into a basic fighting stance; dominant foot forward, right hand outright, left guarding himself.

“Yeah.” Sam said before charging right at him.

Jude immediately turned around and ran to the edge of the square to the fence. Sam was faster but the initial distance between the two allowed Jude to get there first.

His right foot collided with the fence as an explosion of fire erupted from his left foot. Propelling him backwards and into the air, he was over Sam already.

Repositioning his body and fire he did a spinning Axe kick. Sam immediately threw his arms up and blocked but the speed broke the overhead guard. Giving Jude the chance to spin himself round to strike his opponent.

Sam twigged what was going on and using the moment giving to him by the guard being broken he grew himself to the ground.

Hands pressed on the ground. Elbows bending. A handspring into a kangaroo kick.

Jude had no way block the kick whilst floating in mid-air so he had to dodge. His entire right side was covered in small flames that plumed out in a moment sending his body to the left. It was not enough to completely dodge though and Sam managed to smash into Jude’s right arm.

Jude went spinning on the ground. However, he knew Sam would be up and after him so he quickly clawed his way back to his feet and sprinted to his opponent.

It was time for Sam to use his own powers.

With a sideway leap he tossed a bolt of lightning at Jude. Who stopped in his tracks to bend backwards allowing the plasma to fly right over him.

Smashing his foot on the floor created a sheet of ice to immediately appear that covered the makeshift arena. However it never even made it to Jude. The temperature has dropped but all that did was cause Jude to start steaming.

The human body has an internal temperature of 37°C however when using his fire Jude’s body can raise to up to 100°C however he also becomes heat resistant when doing this.

He raised his left hand up and clicked and with another four simultaneous clicking sounds the field was illuminated by the floodlights.

Looking back at Sam was a man covered in steam and heat lines that made his form warp to the vision. “Come in Sam. I thought you were the strongest.”

Jude shot towards him at incredible speeds and punched him in the gut. Sam lurched.

He felt his ribs creak as he was flung back. It wasn’t until he has stopped skidding that the mild burns his abs had suffered began to make an impression on him.

But it was not the time to be focusing on pain it was time to give back what he’d been given. Jude was already in front of him, winding up a punch. It was easy to see what he would be doing.

Jude had a signature move called Spitfire Punch, to most people it was a fairly simple move, he uses fire on his elbows to shoot his arm forward and increase the power behind his punch. However, it was a fairly complex move to pull off for the standard fire user; it utilised compressing your flames in a single point and releasing that pressure at the exact moment you needed. An incredible fast punch and since he had practiced for the best part of a decade the compression and release were pretty much automatic to him.

Although, if there was someone would could find a flaw, an opening, in this move it would be a well decorated martial artist with an extraordinary ability to copy others.

It was not that the move did not land it was that before it could Jude was on the ground. A double roundhouse kick shut down his momentum. The first kick hit his shoulder, flicking his arm back and causing the fire to explode out early. The second kick embedded itself in chest, winding him. Struggling to breathe and comprehend the situation he found out how his opponent felt as a fist propelled by fire connected with his cheek.

A Spitfire Punch.

Jude was on his back. It was the first time he’d been hit by a technique that was a one-for-one copy of his own, not to mention by someone far stronger.

He couldn’t waste time. He limply got to his feet just in time for his opponent to attack.

It was a matter of defending. Blocking a punch. Blocking a kick.

Each blow was swiftly followed by another. Sam did not leave openings.

Sam had turned this bout into a dance. Moving Jude to a rhythm of his choosing. Three kicks with the right foot at different points of Jude’s torso. Then an inward crescent kick from the left foot aiming for Jude’s head.

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Then Sam’s body immediately dropped to the floor to complete a sweeping kick. As if it were a game Jude jumped over. However he left himself stranded in the air as his opponent rose up for a 720 tornado kick. He spun around twice as he rose as his heel went straight for his punching bag’s face.

Taking a page out of a Catherine Wheel’s book Jude attempted to avoid the attack by turning himself into a spinning wheel of flame. He did create enough momentum to avoid the attack but he was left to crash into the floor.

By the time he was stood up Sam was in his face. Now it was hand-to-hand combat they participated in. Every stroke Jude tried would be blocked by one hand whilst he was struck by the other.

Once he got a feel of what was going on he did the same. The two men constantly blocking an attack from the other then throwing out their own only to be blocked went back and forth for about half a minute.

They were both focused on each other, this moment. A concentration that would not be broken by anything else.

Jude went back to using his enhanced techniques. Kicks using the same principle as the Spitfire Punch. Yet he found each one to blocked by a perfect copy from Sam. So he retreated slightly.

Now that there was distance between the two fighters they started to walk in a circle. Locking their eyes on each other.

Jude caught his breath and let his thoughts flow. “I knew he took Taekwondo and Karate, but the Wing Chun was a surprise. He seems to be able to copy my abilities as soon as I show them. I’ll have to move to the third stage.”

Sam had emptied his mind of superfluous chatter. “He’s not a martial artist. The moves he does know are unrefined. He is weak.”

Two things had almost assured Sam’s victory if this kept being a hand-to-hand fight.

Dynamic vision: The ability to take in all pieces of information your eye can perceive at once. Knowing your opponent’s move from the way their muscles move, the stance they have, the sounds their body produces.

Flow: Primarily known as being in The Zone, a state of flow is when a person is fully immersed in a task. For sportsmen this can result in near perfect performances. There had yet to be many studies on how the state of flow effected alterations but what was known was that it allowed people to tap into things they hadn’t thought possible yet.

Palms flat, arms outstretched. One hand at his face, the other down by his waist. Moving his hands as if drawing a circle he created a trail of fire.

Jude created.

Sam copied.

It was a perfect copy as if he knew what was happening beforehand.

Before long both men had created giant wheels of fire.

They both jumped into the air and threw them.

The wheels collided, combined and disappeared. Neither flame was expecting to meet another moving with equal yet opposite force. This they both transformed from wheels of fire to plumes of smoke.

The smoke quickly dissipated leaving both opponents staring at each other. Jude was the first to make a move. He threw his hands out, finger spread.

As if his fingers were candles flames appeared from the end of them.

Sam tried to copy him but his first attempt only yielded seven flames, this he repeated the motion to create ten.

The flames flew out from each men’s hands towards the other. Then they burst.

Firework Field – A move Jude invented where ten flames split into a hundred smaller flames and surround the opponent.

Sam immediately realised what had happened. He could no longer move to the best of his ability. The flames were hot, sure they wouldn’t seriously harm him because of how small the embers were, but it would break his concentration.

Jude commanded the flames to move out of his way, he was flame resistant yet he did not want to lose any embers if possible.

He fast approached Sam, expecting him to still be copying everything he did, Jude encased his knuckles in flames.

To his surprise before his arm reached he felt something in his chest.

Sam had ducked under the punch and uppercut him. Embedding his fist into Jude’s straining rib cage.

In the instant he pulled his arm out Jude’s body had begun to rotate backwards. Leaving him perfectly vertical at one point.

That’s when Sam used an ability he had copied the previous hour and a steel fist found a lovely place to nest in Jude’s stomach.

Jude spat out blood, this was a hard blow. He felt things rupture and move.

But his mouth stayed wide and aimed at Sam.

With the inspiration of a dragon fire came from his mouth in a flamethrower style fashion.

Sam tried to move out of the way but his shoulder still got burnt from the breath attack.

The right arm was nearly unusable now. But it got in one final attack before Sam retired it for this fight. A Spitfire Punch straight into Jude.

As he was already airborne the impact sent him flying backwards.

He bounced off the ground multiple times before coming to a stop.

Sam was still surrounded by embers. He would have to burn himself to get to Jude. But he had damaged his opponent enough that within the next few minutes he wouldn’t be able to get up anyways.

Made even more apparent when Jude did try to raise his head blood spurted from his mouth again.

Yet he stood.

He was wobbly but he had done it.

Each movement stung.

Each breath burnt.

It was time to change.

He held his hand up in a finger gun style point. The air began to swirl and create a ball of concentrated air at his finger.

He fired his hand as if it were a gun recoiling and the air bullet fired, finding a perfect line between the embers before slamming into the already burning shoulder of Sam.

Back to holding the gun but now both men were doing it. Left handed standoff.

For Jude this was his dominant hand so he was relying on it in his time of need.

For Sam this was the only attempt he had left in a ranged battle.

Both fired.

Sam’s bullet was slightly inaccurate causing both to skim each other and divert their courses. Both men ended up with a cut on their cheeks. Yet they remained unflinching.

His hands were shaking, his body collapsing; Jude had to finish this quickly.

Air swirled in his palms. Within a moment they swirled in Sam’s too. Both men moved like reflections of each other. It didn’t appear as Sam was copying Jude and more they were completely in sync.

They lowered their hands down to their feet. And concentrated the air at the base of their shoes.

For Sam this ended up shooting him into the air and landing on his stomach. For Jude this unlocked his rollerblade like gyro shoes. Sending him flying at his opponent.

Whilst charging on his wind powered skates he threw out his right arm. The gantlet began to spark with electricity. Sam saw this as he scrambled to his feet and also threw out his right arm, though it hurt. Nothing. No electricity. He was confused even he should be able to copy a couple sparks.

Then the gauntlet contacted him and sent the energy pulsing through his body. Shaking. Burning. Nerves spasming. It all happened so quickly and instantly that his body was confused. But his mind wasn’t .

He grabbed hold of Jude’s arm and began kicking him. Blood seeped out of his mouth and yet Jude held on.

To Sam strength is something to gain. To overcome others. An ideal that can be completed. To become the strongest is an achievement.

Then something magical happened. All the embers, the ones Jude and Sam both created began to run

They dashed towards Jude’s left arm which had been held back this whole time. Once they made it to the arm they danced and spun around the fist. Coming together and condensing.

A brilliant red light shone in the night.

To Jude strength was a necessity. He could go his whole life without it. But if he wanted to achieve his goals he had to be strong. To protect his life and his loved ones he needed strength.

“Red Dwarf” Jude muttered before thrusting his fist towards Sam.

The bubble disappeared and both men were left exhausted. Their bodies were intact however they felt wiped out.

Jude walked over to Sam who had promptly collapsed to a sitting position. He held a hand out, “Welcome to the guild.” He said through pants and with a grin on his face.

“What makes you think I’ll still accept? That was a very dishonourable victory.”

“And that’s why you’ll join, you have way more honour than me so your word means more.”

Sam took his hand and shook.

“Would you like to hear your weaknesses?” Jude asked before Sam let go of his hand and laid down.

“Are you some kind of satisfaction survey?” there was an awkward silence in the air. It hung there for a moment. Neither spoke. They just let the silence lie. “Okay fine!”

“Okay so you have a few so please bear with me. It’s not an attack just some advice.

Okay so first you’re a great martial artist, if we had fought without powers I would have lost in a minute or so. So, why was I allowed to lead the fight?

Second; you can copy the power but not the resistance so don’t go copying big attacks Willy nilly like my fireworks one.

Third; you seem to copy the ability. I don’t know if it’s just see it and copy it or if you have to know how it works. But either way it seems like if you combined some moves they’d be really effective. Take my punch with the flames for boost, put that with the steel arm and that’s most people out for the count.

Fourth; Anything using gadgets seems to be an issue. Any move that is artificially created from a gadget such as my gauntlet or a move that utilises gadgets like my gyro skates aren’t great to copy.

Finally; Your too good at sticking to your principles. You’re strong because of them. But I took every chance I could to throw you off guard and chest you. And it worked. It just shows the paths we’re on.”

“I get my ass tenderised and then I have to have a lecture by someone my own age.”

“Whoa! I’m two years younger.”

“Please. Don’t rub it in.” Jude helped Sam up.

“I’ll send you the details on how to get back here. Tomorrow we’ll get you a costume.”

“Costume? Why do I need one of those to fight?”

“Believe me, we found out Marketing is a big part of this job.”