36. Sportsmanship
Di Ram opened the sealed letter, delivered by a swift runner from an unknown sect to the south. The letter was sealed with Pi Phon’s Qi, however, which Di Ram recognized immediately. He read the contents and his eyebrows rose in surprise at the words.
So that was why his father had placed so much faith in the future of Little Bug. He began drafting his response. It would still take a long time for his people to travel south, and he could not leave them without a leader for the week or two that it would take him to make the round trip himself. As he wrote down questions and requests for ‘Master Little Bug,” he contemplated that his instincts regarding the boy had always been spot on.
He was the future patriarch of the Six Mountain – no – the Seven Mountain Sect.
While he wrote, the messenger in the camp gossiped with the mortal guards. When the response was delivered to his hands, he vanished leaving behind only the knowledge that he had shared.
That night, the guards told their spouses, and the next day their spouses gossiped, and soon the entire camp knew that an awakened soul would guide them to salvation.
And so did the spies in the camp.
~~~~~~
Hien Ro’s ring tapped against the wooden table, making a small pip pip pip sound as he waited at the restaurant outside the hotel where the Dao Avatar was posing as his best friend and master. It had been an hour since he had made his presence known, and he had still not heard back from inside.
Feigning exasperation, he stood and left, an outraged expression on his face. He did not know whether the spies had relayed his request to meet with Little Bug or not, but the response had never come either way.
Whether the spies were attempting to drive the wedge between Ro and Little Bug, or they were simply observing as the two friends fell apart, Hien Ro did not know. He didn’t really care either.
It was all just an act, after all.
His friend was as close by as ever. Hien Ro was just following the instructions he found in his pocket this morning.
He thought he saw what Little Bug was doing, but in the end decided that such games weren’t really worth spending any more thought on than required.
Time had passed, and the tournament was entering its final stages. Today was the last rest day, he reflected. Tomorrow, he’d face Lukal Lukal. He was eagerly looking forward to the challenge.
And the day after that, Thaseus.
~~~~~~
Polkluk stood in the section where he had promised to meet his friends, looking around nervously as he wasn’t entirely certain that they would have arrived before him and he didn’t wish to block the passage for very long when--
“Polkluk! Over here!” came Yara’s call. He sighed in relief and jogged over.
He had long since withdrawn from the tournament. In the aftermath of Po Guah coming forward to announce himself to the world, Polkluk’s fight had largely been forgotten by the masses, but Farun had tracked him down to question him on what it was like to fight all of Po Guah at once. From there, the friendship had grown, and he had spent every tournament day since in the stands with Farun, Arjun, Lahri, and Yara.
The former contestants were without regrets, having participated and withdrawn back in the early days. Presently, they were planning on cheering on Yara’s boyfriend, who was to face off against the highest ranked fighter today.
He took a seat nearby and took a proffered kebab from Yara, who had two of her own. “Thank you,” he said.
“It’s nothing. You bought me sweetcakes yesterday,” she pointed out.
“Friends don’t measure their friendship by keeping track of how many treats they buy each other,” Farun said.
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“You say that because you’ve been mooching off of me since the expedition south!” Arjun complained. “I’ve lost count of how many of my snacks have ended up in your belly.”
“Oh crap, does that mean we’re friends, Arjun?” Farun asked, sounding scandalized.
Pokluk smiled and bit into the kebab, relaxing and watching the match. This late in the tournament the entire arena was dedicated to just one fight. Twenty remained, but the placements were more or less firmly decided by points. Lukal Lukal was so far ahead that only Thaseus had a hope of overtaking him, but ironically it was entirely down to Hien Ro, Yara’s boyfriend.
While Hien Ro was placed ninth, and no amount of trickery or last minute effort would change that, he had to fight both of the top ranked contestants yet. Against Lukan Lukan, that meant a chance to secure a greater lead against his only competition. Against Thaseus, that meant a final chance to overcome the point gap, which presently sat at fifteen, and take first place.
Or he could simply bow out and the tournament would end, but nobody wanted that. When Hien Ro entered the coliseum, the audience burst into cheers and encouragement. He was ninth on the lists, but first in their hearts as his lucky placement in the list had put his name on everyone’s tongue.
Only the challenge fights did the audience scream louder, when Po Guah showed up and took on so many opponents at once that it was hard to track all of the action.
Pokluk cheered right along with everyone else, but not louder than Yara.
Then Lukal Lukal stepped onto the coliseum sands, and the cacophony grew ever louder.
~~~~~~~
Lukal Lukal stepped to the center of the coliseum, sidestepping where the Rising Star had fallen and shaking hands with his opponent. “They are loud today, are they not?”
“They’re cheering because they know you’ve won. I’m just dragging things out by refusing to concede,” Hien Ro said nervously.
“No, do you not hear? They cheer for you because you do not give up. And everyone can do the math. If I do poorly in our fight and Thaseus does well, then you have changed the course of the tournament simply by being stubborn. Still, I ask you to give this your all. Do not feed me points simply because the alternative gives us all a bad taste in our mouths,” Lukal Lukal said.
“I wasn’t planning to,” Hien Ro said.
They separated, and the judge – Tornolai of course because he would allow nobody else to judge the important matches – called out for the bout to begin.
While weapons were allowed while fighting Little Bug – everything was allowed when fighting Little Bug – they were strictly forbidden the rest of the time. Techniques were free game, however, Giving Hien Ro an advantage as he conjured a wall of flame between them.
Lukal Lukal leapt over the flames, but that was Hien Ro’s goal, forcing him to obey the laws of physics for the duration of the leap. He spun the energy in his left hand and thrust it forward, and a miniature Rising Star fired upon Lukal Lukal. It was not so hot nor deadly as the attack that Little Bug had used on the coliseum floor, and it lacked the lightning element, but it --
Lukal Lukal was surrounded by dust, and the dust ablated the strike. He pulled back a hand and a spear formed if sand. It was technically a technique and not a weapon, so none cried foul when he let fly and--
A buckler of sand formed on Hien Ro’s left hand and he took the blow upon the shield. The impact was as much spiritual as physical as Lukal Lukal’s attacking spirit met Hien Ro’s defensive morale, and his morale held.
“No points,” called the judge, signifying that none of the participants had landed a telling blow. They were within fisticuffs range now, however, and they proceeded with a rapid exchange of blows, striking with fist, elbow, knee and foot.
Before long, Hien Ro was on the back foot, pressured by the older and more experienced fighter. He fought defensively, but he had nowhere to escape to, and finally Lukal Lukal landed a solid blow to his sternum that sent Hien Ro flying.
He landed badly, rolled, and turned to face the older teen.
“One point!” the judge called.
Hien Ro grinned. Lukal Lukal grinned.
They were both having fun.
They charged each other as the crowd cheered on.
Twenty minutes later, the score was six to three, with Lukal Lukal winning on points. Technically the points that Hien Ro had scored were meaningless, as he was twenty points ahead of tenth place--who had no fights remaining--and ninety points behind eighth place, which nobody expected him to achieve when the only combatants left were elites.
But Hien Ro walked out of the coliseum feeling like a champion as the crowd shouted his name.