Max: What just... happened?

Ken: He clapped his hands with super strength.

Luke went on to check on Rose.

Luke: Are you ok?

Rose: (weakly smiling) Yeah.... yeah.... I'm fine.

She was sad that she lost, and sad that Max had seen her lose.

Luke: You sure?

Rose: Yeah....

The thunder clap shocked her so much that she'd failed to protect herself while falling.

Luke, on the other hand, was simply worried that he'd gone to far.

Max: Woah! Luke is....

Ken: Yes. Not to be underestimated.

Max: Hmph. (thinking: If I have to fight him, then.....)

But those thoughts didn't fill Max with feelings of fear or anxiety, but rather with feelings of excitement.

Luke could be seen from a distance helping Rose to her feet.

Ken: That being said, this match goes to Luke.

Max: Yeah...

Tiffany suddenly returned.

Tiffany: Are they done?

Max: Yea... hey, where've you been?

Tiffany simply showed him her katana.

Tiffany: Busy.

Max: Huh?

Ken could only smirk knowingly at that remark.

Max: O.... K?

Her eyes then turned to Luke and Rose.

Tiffany: I take it Luke won.

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Ken: Affrimative.

Tiffany: How did it end?

Ken: He clapped his hands at close range.

Tiffany: I see....

She seemed only slightly bothered by that.

Max: Yeah, it was all so fast.

Ken: True. To top it all off, Rose can't deal with loud sounds.

Max: Huh?

Ken: It's one of her bigger weaknesses.

Max: Oh.....

At that point, Luke and Rose returned.

Tiffany: Great work everyone.

Luke: Thanks.

Rose: Thanks, Tiff.

Ken: Much obliged, my good woman.

Tiffany: You can all take it easy now.

Ken: Phew.... Great.

Max: Huh?

Luke lay Rose on the ground.

Rose: Yeah, I was really tired

And then, an incredibly surprised Max suddenly interjected.

Max: Wait a minute! Who's gonna spar with me?

What he expected was an answer, but what he'd gotten was a look of surprise from Luke, Ken and Rose.

They all glanced at each other right after.

Max: Huh? Wh... whats wrong?

Rose: Max. Didn't Tiff tell you?

Max: Tell me? Tell me what?

He heard the sound of the unsheathing of a sword behind him and turned to see Tiffany.

Tiffany: Of course, as team leader, it makes sense that I'll be the first to fight you.

For a whole second, Max paused.

Max: WHAT!?

Ken and Luke chuckled from behind him.

Ken: Guess our gracious leader found it fit to give our newest member a little surprise.

Max: But... but....

It wasn't so much that Max was scared of fighting Tiffany, it was a lot more that Max had not considered doing it at all.

In his mind, he'd only thought of fighting Luke, Ken and Rose. But Tiffany....

Tiffany: (expectantly) Well?

Max was still too shocked to reply.

Tiffany: Are you ready?

Max: Mmmmm... tch... Yeah! I'm ready.

He pumped his fist to get over his nervousness.

Max: (thinking: Yeah, yeah, so I'm fighting Tiff. It's no big deal.) Hmph.

Tiffany: Good.

She turned to the distance.

Tiffany: Meet me on the battlefield.

Max: Sure....

There were many things that would come into the mind of one fighting someone weaker, at least in terms of perspective.

For one thing, Max had been made aware of Tiffany's lack of powers. He knew she was a normal human.

And, as a result, he couldn't think straight about what to do about his situation.

She was just a human. If he shocked her hard enough, she would die.

And so, .... what then?

How would this fight go?

He suddenly remebered Tiffany's words. She'd said not to go hard enough to kill or dangerously harm. So he knew what to do.

After thinking all that through, he took a deep breath.

These were the thoughts that ran through his mind as he walked to the other side of the battlefield to face Tiffany Chang.

There is a saying that people can emit a certain aura. And that everybody has some kind of aura.

To Max, Tiffany was a completely different person on the opposite side of the battlefield.

Her eyes were sharp, searching and focused. And her aura, it was far more fierce than Max had earlier imagined.

At that point, it occured to him that he'd never actually faced her in battle.

That very thought only served to make him even more nervous.

However, he wasnt the only one having bothersome thoughts.

On the other side of the battlefield, a serious looking Tiffany Chang looked directly into Max's eyes.

But said eyes failed to betray what was going on in her mind.