After an hour of fights, Ruby and I were up and in the waiting room. The double’s fights were intense, especially when I had money riding on it. But despite my hopes and dreams, Jax and Xiao lost their fight. Their opponents just had too much skill and coordination. While on the bright side, Scarlet and Cami won their match. Which means I’ve lost a quarter of my money because of Jax and Xiao. But Scarlet and Cami won it back for me.

Wait? Am I becoming a gambling addict? I probably am. But if it makes me money, then why stop? Then again, I also lost money. Then again, I did win that money back. So I should be fine to– oh my god, two bets, and I’m already addicted. While having my existential crisis, we got the announcement to get ready and enter the field.

Snapping out of my revelations, Ruby and I stood and left the waiting room with the other doubles teams. We were directed to the far right of the arena as we walked down the corridor side-by-side.

“And here we have the duo, Rezurrection! With Zeana and Ruby!” the announcer man exclaimed, eliciting a chorus of cheers from the crowd. “Now, Guru Shi’en, Zeana showed us some impressive moves during the team battles, but now she’s with Ruby from team Ruby, who got a definitive loss from their team battle. How do you think their fight will go?”

“Well, it’s hard to say,” Guru Shi’en hedged, “Even during the team battle, Zeana fought one-on-one, while Ruby always fights as a team. I think they might have trouble in their fight.”

“Thank you for the input, Guru Shi’en. And last but not least, we have the duo, Bumblebee. Consisting of Yang and Blake from team Ruby, how will their match go?”

“Yang and Blake, I have seen work very well together and alone. Though Yang tends to be a bit hot-headed. So, I think there’s a good chance they’ll win.”

Ruby and I stopped on our spot and watched Yang and Blake enter the arena from the opposite side as the announcer and Guru Shi’en talked. Then the arena began to move, and we rose into the sky. “So, what’s the plan?” I asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know.”

I blinked at Ruby’s response, “You don’t know?”

“Yeah, I was just going to follow your lead.”

I turned to her incredulously, “That’s probably a bad idea.”

“Yeah, but I need to try something new. So, you’re in charge.”

I sighed as the platform attached to its rectangular counterpart, “Well, mayhaps one of us can keep the other team occupied while the other casts spells and such.”

“What was the plan? Sorry, I didn’t hear it,” a female voice said from the opposite side of the platform.

I slowly turned toward the source of the voice and saw Yang and Blake. I should’ve seen this coming. Yang looked as usual, with her red gi, black belt, and long flaxen, messy hair. Blake, who I had never met before, wore the same outfit, but she had black cat ears, long black hair, and two black cat tails swishing behind her. Her golden cat eyes stared at Ruby and I consideringly.

Leaning over to whisper to Ruby, I said, “Will my plan work?”

“Nope.”

“Fuck it. Which one do you want to fight?”

“Blake.”

“I’ll take Yang.”

“Oh, one-on-one fights are the way you’re going. I see,” Yang said tauntingly, “Blake go easy on my sister. Okay?”

“No, promises,” Blake answered, her voice monotone and emotionless.

“And for the Rezurrection and Bumblebee fight, we have Ocean and Blizzard!” the announcer exclaimed as two more platforms connected to ours. The one behind us was a large body of nothing but water, while the one behind Blake and Yang was a raging blizzard that swirled and howled in an invisible wind.

“TEN! NINE! EIGHT!” the announcer began, and I dropped into a fighting stance while growing my nine tails. Ruby got ready for the fight and took several deep breaths to calm her nerves. “THREE! TWO! ONE! FIGHT!”

My tails burst out from my back as I cycled my Storm core and charged forward with a boom of motion and power. I closed the distance between Yang and I in an instant and through a wide haymaker at her. Yang didn’t react. She couldn’t react. I was too fast. And as my fist made contact with her abs, nothing happened. Just a small thud as I punched her with no force behind my hit, and she didn’t even flinch.

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She looked down at me, and I looked up at her. “Y-you know. I imagined that differently.”

“Well, that makes one of us,” Yang said and uppercut me in a flash, sending me flying high into the air and the ocean stage. Once I landed, I righted myself in the water and tried to swim up, but I felt too heavy. I felt like I had a couple hundred kilograms strapped to my— oh, I have nine tails with massive amounts of muscle on them, that would be why.

I cycled my Ice-claymore core and created a long sharp blade of ice. While I did that, I also cycled my storm chakra into my tails. I cut them off by sawing through my tails, as I couldn’t move fast enough in the water. Good thing I have a very high pain tolerance and a really sharp blade, otherwise this would take forever.

Once I finished cutting them off, my lungs began to burn, and I quickly began to swim frantically up to the water’s surface. My vision got blurry, and my lungs burned as I couldn’t breathe. Then I broke the water’s surface and gasped for air. I saw Ruby dodging attacks from Yang and Blake, left and right. She was struggling, only her superior speed keeping her alive.

I cast a level-one ice spell on the water before me, creating a frozen platform that I climbed onto. I lay there momentarily as I caught my breath and stood. I then created a level-three support spell. The first circle had haste. The second had the runes for force, strength, speed, and body. The third circle had atmospheric protection. And the last one had health, and I placed the spell on Ruby.

The second circle of the spell temporarily increased Ruby’s strength and speed, while the last circle rejuvenated her, healing injuries and replenishing her stamina. The results were immediate as she began to move faster. She took advantage of this and got close to Blake, grabbing her and throwing her into the ocean.

“Blake!” Yang exclaimed, and I cycled my storm chakra and jumped back to the central platform instantly. Yang stumbled back in surprise, and I swept my leg under her, making her fall to the ground.

I continued my spin and brought my leg back around for an ax kick. Yang rolled out of the way and got back to her feet instantly. She came at me, swinging a flaming fist down at my leg. I pulled my leg back and spun for a kick at her face. It struck, and she was sent flying back into the blizzard biome.

“What now?” Ruby asked, starting at the water, waiting for Blake to break the surface.

Turning to the water, I created four circles the same size as me, with the rune for ice in the center. As soon as the spell was completed, Blake broke the water’s surface, and I fired the spell. As it hit the water’s surface and began freezing it, Blake blasted out of it and landed on the newly formed ice.

At that moment, my vision split nine different ways, and I shook my head to focus on what was happening now. “You fight her. I’ll go find Yang,” I said as eighteen tails grew from where my tails once were.

“You got it.”

I ran into the blizzard biome and was immediately assaulted by the cold and ice. I could hardly see anything before me as I walked forward, my surroundings slowly getting darker and darker. My tails sniffed at the air as I searched for Yang. Then a bright fiery light sprang up a dozen meters before me.

It was Yang. Fire writhed around her as though it was alive, and her eyes glowed red with murderous hatred. I felt my storm chakra cycle and charged forward, closing the distance quickly. I swung at Yang, who dodged the attack and uppercut me with a flaming fist, followed by a quick strike to my lower jaw. I hit the ground hard, my head slightly dazed.

“Stay down, monster. I don’t want my sister to lose, but I definitely don’t want you to win. Now die,” Yang said over the howling winds. She picked me up by my collar and proceeded to puch my face in. I raised my fists to protect myself, to no avail, and each punch made it harder to think. It made it harder to move.

Yang never stopped punching me before eventually punching me hard enough to get thrown from her hand and land a couple of meters away. Yang calmly walked over, got on top of me, and began punching me again. I needed to get out of here, but I’m too weak. I can’t see. I can’t think. I can’t—

Remember that you have ten brains that can help with the processing. Yeah, we got you. My nine clones burst from the water, shocking Blake and Ruby, who were in a heated battle. We all landed on the slippery ice and charged. Blake ran away into the darkness of the blizzard. “Don’t let her escape!” we all said and ran after her.

“Ruby!” one of me yelled, “We need you to provide light in there. We can’t see anything in there.”

“R-right,” Ruby agreed and covered her body in purple electricity and ran into the blizzard after her.

“All right, let’s finish this,” Yang said and got off me. I forced my eyes to open and saw her collecting a massive amount of chakra in her fist and preparing to strike. I wasted no time cycling my healing chakra and sending it straight to my head. My mind cleared, and I rolled out of the way as Yang’s fist hit the ground where my head used to be, and I was sent sliding across the ground from the force of the blow.

“Oh, ho! Still got some fight in you, I see. Okay, okay, bring it on!” Yang yelled, the fire around her body glowing brighter.

I felt my face relocate itself with dozens of loud snaps and cracks. I got to my feet and said, “Right back at you.”

Yang readied herself, and so did I. Then we heard, “Yang!” it was Blake. She ran up to Yang and got back to back, “We have a problem?”

“What kind of problem?” Yang asked.

“It’s—”

“It’s me!” I bellowed, interrupting Blake, my voice coming from ten different directions.

Yang looked around and saw my clones. She saw every one of me. We all formed level-three spells with lightning in each circle. The glow of our spell turned purple as it charged, turning the blizzard violet. Yang and Blake looked shocked at the amount of power I was building up, and resignation formed on their faces.

Ruby’s purple form came into view a second later, and Yang turned to her and smiled, “Well, sis, it looks like you won.” And I released the spell. A torrent of electricity shot at Yang and Blake, creating a pillar of purple light that shot into the sky. Once the spell ended, both Yang and Blake were gone. Leaving nothing behind.

The blizzard disappeared, and it instantly felt warmer, and I heard the announcer commentating again, “And with that final spell, team Rezurrection won! Though I got to ask, why are there nine naked Zeanas?”

“I don’t know,” Guru Shi’en said.

Embariced, all nine of me turned to purple dust and cycled back into my body. The ending of the fight could’ve done without people seeing my naked clones, but I don’t have any clothes for them, unfortunately. At least I get to collect a massive reward for gambling.