I already had an idea of what Naomi was planning to do, and it brought a smile to my face. Unlike some of us, Saruna’s meta couldn’t be turned on or off. According to her file, she had to wear gloves to prevent skin on skin contact, a trigger to her superpowers.
I rushed to the area where I last heard Grad, and as expected, he was with his buddy, Thiago, terrorizing Reina. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!” he taunted, Grad almost as big as Elissa the Hammer. He looked like an unnatural bodybuilder, with a haircut that I couldn’t stop associating with Guile from Street Fighters. Come to think of it, he had the entire military aesthetics to him too with that outfit on, and a pair of aviators to complete the look.
Must have been a happy Total Immersion coincidence.
His teammate, Thiago, was just a glorified Elastaboy, and a pretty lanky one at that. But for someone with such a basic ability like near infinite stretching, he made a name for himself back in his parent’s homeland.
“Grad, look out!” Saruna cried as Naomi drew her closer to her team down in the street.
The both of them paid her no mind, Grad even fanning Saruna down and retorting, “Pipe down, Sar! I want to get my last kill before the timer goes off!”
“You idiot! Run!” Saruna cried, but it was too late. As Thiago searched for Reina behind one of the parked cars along the road, he turned over his shoulder at Saruna’s warning, then ate a hearty breakfast of asphalt served with a side of instant regret. Naomi made Saruna clap, sending both Grad and Thiago flying.
“Let go of me!” Saruna cried, but Naomi tuned her out, unleashing another wave of destruction. This time, Grad and Thiago crashed right into the café shop, debris raining down on them as Naomi readied up another serving.
“Sarunaaaaa!” Grad cried from the rubble, mad as shit. “What are you doing?!”
“You have two eyes, don’t you, bimbo?!” Saruna shouted. “Get this creepy chic off of me!”
Saruna was helpless as Naomi stood behind her with her arm out, her purple aura melting over Saruna. I could tell that Naomi’s stamina was waning as Saruna’s steps down the street got slower. She was having a hard time controlling her, Saruna’s resistance pushing against Naomi’s powers.
It wouldn’t matter unless we got that egg, so as Grad crouched there with his fingers embedded in the ground, ready to charge up his electricity powers, I strategized.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw Reina hiding in the top of the tree, which was high enough to work with the plan I had. It wasn’t the perfect plan, but a workable one only if Reina was thinking what I was thinking when I ordered Naomi to point Saruna at her. “Naomi, attack Reina, now!”
“Oh no you don’t!” Grad charged his energy through the ground, the branches of electricity popping off in front of him. “Whatever the hell you fuckers are planning, it isn’t going to work!”
I warded Naomi from the trail of electrical current. Grad was seriously willing to share some friendly fire to stop what I was planning. Even so, I used my flame tail to redirect his meta off the ground just in time for Naomi to target Reina. If my calculations were correct, then that explosion shouldn’t eliminate Reina. Reina was far enough to catch the tail end of Saruna’s powers, leaving Reina with enough HP to do what I hoped she’d do.
We only had mere seconds left… everything fell on Reina now….
From the looks of it, she got the memo, and understood what I wanted her to do. As soon as she leaped from the tree branch, my chest went tight, Reina getting a boost of air from Saruna’s explosion. It pushed her closer to the nest. She then turned around and summoned a grappling hook gun, piercing the rooftop the egg was on.
“They are trying to capture the egg!” Thiago said, stretching his body to cut off Reina’s trajectory. I wouldn’t let him. As soon as I saw his torso elongate, I moved my flame tail smothered in Grad’s electricity at him, shutting him down immediately.
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I created enough of a distraction to allow Reina her space. She reeled her wire in and tumble rolled on cement, then she rushed to the egg and placed her hand on it.
Initiating steal…
I heard a female voice in the arena call out, the crowd suddenly counting down the last five seconds Reina had on the clock.
5…4…
“THIAGO, GET HER!” Grad cried, his teammate closing in on Reina Thiago had his feet on the ground as his body stretched upward toward her.
“Shit!” I hissed under my breath. There was no way I was going to get up there in time, especially with Saruna suddenly free. I felt a wave of pressure strike me from the back, killing my flames. The strike brought me to my knees, and when I pivoted my head over my shoulder, I saw Naomi gone, and Saruna free.
“That was some cute trick, there! But sorry, tiger. It’s not enough…”
3…2…
“Thiago!” Grad shouted, and I froze as Saruna readied to blow me into the next dimension at the snap of a finger, but when something came flying over our heads, she stopped.
Was… was that a giant plunger?
With Thiago’s balled up body inside of it?
Round Complete.
Team Hawk and Team Owl Advance.
“Wait….”
Magpie: Holy smokes, Flamingo! Team Owl made the steal!
Flamingo: When crunch time comes, Team Owl sure knows how to put us at the edge of our seats! Another close victory for our underdogs! A job well done!
What a big upset…. The crowd went nuts….
People lost money this round, and it showed. I heard a mix of boos and hurrahs, though the boos drowned all of the cheering from the crowd.
I was beyond myself. I couldn’t move as the buzzer went off, and confetti coins rained down on us.
Saruna sucked her teeth and dropped her hand to her side before she growled, “Lucky.”
Grad was fuming from the ears as he charged at the plunger, and then he tried to yank Thiago out to no avail. “What is this?!” He continued to tug as veins bulged from his arms. Finally, Thiago was free, his comrade covered in sticky goo-looking tacky liquid.
“What kind of weapon is this?!”
“Clearly, the effective kind,” I said snarkingly with Grad glaring at me. “Good game! You and your team were one hell of a monster to beat!”
Grad tossed Thiago the ball and the plunger as he stormed to me. I, however, didn’t move a muscle as I realized we were dematerializing out of the arena.
Reina, Naomi and I re-materialized on Melody’s hovering platform underneath the spotlight, the bat girl herself congratulating us again for another win. We came in second, but it didn’t matter. We were given the first post-game interview because of how popular we were, a bunch of year ones making waves in this season’s tournament. “Another victory for the new hunters of Utoro!” she beamed. “How does it feel to make it this far?”
“I feel….” My mind blanked. I couldn’t find the words to describe how I felt. All of this felt like a dream, and my brain just couldn’t accept that I was actually living it….
The booming crowd, the high-end stage…. Someone like me, a reg who lived all of 17 years without a meta, under the Hunter Game spotlight… A rookie hunter, catching two wins, making it to round 3 in my first attended season….
My speechlessness was valid….
Reina stepped in, taking the microphone Melody was offering me and said, “It feels amazing! It’s everything we could have hoped for and more.” She snuck a wink and nudged my arm, Reina’s smile snapping me out of it.
I came back to my senses and took the microphone she gave me. “It feels great! And… we couldn’t have done it without our sponsors out there cheering us on!” The camera shifted to the audience, and in that audience, a bunch of people started to wave banners with Team Owl on them.
‘Go Team Owl’
‘Look Hooo Did it Again?’
The arena started chanting our names, and I was getting goosebumps.
“I can’t believe we got this far. I owe it all to my team! If it weren’t for Reina’s smarts and Naomi’s determination, we’d never have made it through this round. Team Tiger had us against a corner, but you know what they say about cornered animals—they fight the hardest. And we aren’t going to stop fighting until we are this season’s champions!” I said, revving up the crowd.
Melody chuckled. “It’s all about teamwork, right? So, tell me, what’s your secret? How did you manage to defeat such experienced hunters?”
“Well, we had a really tough time in round one, but thankfully, we were able to figure out a strategy together. We worked really hard to get to this point, and I’m glad it paid off.”
“The crowd can’t get enough of you guys!” Melody tweeted, turning now to Reina. “Reina was clearly the star of the show! We need to know, what went through your head when you stuffed Mr. Elastic inside that plunger?!”
Melody leaned the microphone to Reina, who suddenly broke out in a light blush. “It wasn’t my proudest weapon, however, it got the job done. I had to think of a way to keep him away from me, and when he balled up, I knew what came next. My team was counting on me not to let my hand go from the egg, so I thought of a way to keep him caged up long enough for me to steal.”
“Well, a sticky plunger concoction did the trick! And because of your smart thinking, your team is one step closer to cashing in the grand prize! Naomi, do you have any last words for your fans?”
Naomi pumped her fist up, her renowned stoic face making the simple gesture look funnier than it was supposed to be. “Let’s go, Team Owl.”