“Both beasts are fired up now! Will this next exchange of fists determine the winner?!”
Predictably, Tyger was the first to race back into the fray. Even if Cain somehow hadn’t been ready for it, with how much the Metal Install slowed Tyger’s movement speed, he would have had all the time in the world to react to it.
Dodging Tyger’s swings became much easier than the initial exchange, especially with Cain’s setting of the Supercharge Install. He could practically see the muscles and bones in Tyger’s body as they prepared each attack, and thus, he had no problems whatsoever evading each move.
As Tyger’s fists hit nothing but air, Cain felt compelled to physically spit in his opponent’s face in sheer disgust. Was Tyger that much of an idiot that he thought slowing himself down would actually improve his chances in the fight?
Easily sidestepping the incoming right cross, Cain unleashed a flurry of two jabs followed by a hook. All were solid strikes landed in the blink of an eye, and they would have dazed any opponent.
Of course, with the Metal install active, Tyger was much more durable than normal, and he didn’t reel back. He’d certainly felt the stings of the punches, but the pain was easy enough to ignore.
With his opponent now up close, Tyger swung around in a Hail Mary of a backfist. The blow did not land, but it was dangerous enough to force Cain to retreat several feet back. Tyger’s punches were slow, but if they ever did land, they’d do some serious damage. Avoiding them was crucial.
“Two years later, and absolutely nothing has changed,” Cain said, dusting off his sleeves. They weren’t distractingly dirty or anything, he just thought the motion made him look cool, as though he were so above his opponent that any incoming attacks were nothing more than small nuisances. Crumbs. “How pathetic.”
“Yer right about that,” Tyger growled back. “You still won’t shut the fuck up.”
“The same untrained punches, the same over-emotional mindset, the same worthless Metal Install.”
Tyger rushed in and started swinging, to no avail. Cain ducked beneath a wide swing, stepped to the side, and threw a heavy kick to Tyger’s ribs. He felt pain flare up in his own leg at the point of contact, but it was a solid shot that threw Tyger off balance.
Before his senses could become overloaded, Cain quietly shut off the Supercharge Install. “Well, if nothing’s changed in two years, then the outcome will be the same. Why even waste my time with this farce of a fight?”
The sudden speed at which Tyger approached caught Cain completely off guard. As the incoming uppercut slammed into his gut, Cain realized Tyger must have also shut off his Metal Install — there was no way he’d be able to move so quickly otherwise.
“Tyger lands a mighty shot! Has the momentum swayed in his favor?!”
The shock of the punch stunned Cain long enough for Tyger to land a left hook, but after that, Cain recovered in time to slip away from the remaining strikes.
The boys glared at one another, lungs expanding and contracting rhythmically. The crowd was in a frenzy; though none in the audience could hear what the two fighters were saying to one another, the power behind each strike told them exactly how each of them felt towards the other. There was venom in each punch; this wasn’t a spar between friends or an ordinary match between competitive strangers.
This was a grudge match between rivals.
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
Even Reina felt a sense of unease start to sir within her. While she’d begun the match excited to watch her friends show off their stuff, dread had begun to take over.
Tyger and Cain had always butted heads with each other, even ten years prior in elementary school. It had never been anything serious; they never stopped hanging out with the group or each other. Most of the time, the other four members of Class G, along with their teacher, saw it as a brotherly friendship with some natural competitiveness and teasing. It could be fun to watch them bicker sometimes.
But this felt….different. Uncomfortable. It was beyond two boys letting off some steam. Watching them, Reina had the disconcerting feeling that maybe the two actually hated each other….
“Wow, Reina, you see that punch?! I think your boy might be winning!”
“H-huh?” She couldn’t even properly register where that voice had come from, and when she looked around to locate the source, it was halfheartedly. She didn’t even find her answer. “Uh, yeah….Go, Tyger….”
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
Cain threw his knee into Tyger’ stomach.
Tyger threw his elbow into Cain’s nose.
Cain landed a precision backflip kick to Tyger’s jaw.
Tyger aggressively suplexed Cain into the floor.
The two met at the center of the arena once again, each landing a powerful right cross to the other’s face. They both flew backward in unison, matching trails of blood and spit flinging from their mouths and nostrils.
Thunder borne from the stomping feet of the crowd drowned out the curses both fighters spat as they wiped the blood from their faces and recaptured their breaths. And when the audience amped up the volume of their cheers and boos, not even the announcer’s voice could reach the boys’ ears.
Tyger’s face reddened as he clenched his fists tight over and over again. Cain was right — nothing had changed. Just like two years ago, they were at a standstill, exchanging punches but neither claiming an advantage for long.
He thought that this time might have been different — or hoped, rather. No, he hadn’t developed any new Installs in that timeframe, nor had he taken up formal training to improve his fighting technique. He’d gotten a little more ripped, but that was about it.
But this time, he had a goal. A noble goal. A heroic goal. He was going to win this tournament and claim the cash prize, which would allow him and the other members of Class G to pay for that airship ride to take down Mistral. Having a goal was supposed to be the difference-maker. Two years ago, all he had cared about was beating Cain; punching his teeth down his pompous throat and launching him off of his high horse.
He’d lost that fight.
It’d been close, in all fairness to himself. The two were exhausted and staring one another down, unable to hold their arms up in their proper fighting stances due to fatigue. They advanced closer to one another, but then, Tyger’s body gave out. He collapsed face-first into the floor, and was declared unfit to continue.
He thought that the reason he’d failed to win that fight was because he’d lacked a proper goal. A real, worthwhile cause that gave him the drive to win. After all, heroes didn’t defeat villains because they were stronger; they won because they fought for the people and for justice. They fought to save innocent lives, and that gave them strength. Strength to overcome the mightiest adversaries. He had that now, and yet….
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Why was the fight playing out the same way?!
He caught Cain’s stomach-aimed kick, but couldn’t do anything about the two follow-up jabs. Gritting his teeth through the pain, he reached around Cain’s extended leg and spun around in a dragon screw, sending his opponent flopping onto the ground.
Before he could fully get to his feet, however, Cain came charging back in, landing a nasty boot to the face.
Tyger’s body bent over backwards from the force of the blow, blood exploding from his nose. In that moment, he lost control of his own body with only raw anger left to autopilot.
Cain rushed in for his next attack, but he hadn’t counted on Tyger suddenly throwing his head forward with ferocity.
The boys’ skulls collided, and Tyger’s seemed to have the edge. On contact, Cain similarly lost awareness, although no deadly headbutt came through on his end. He simply flew backward, collapsing onto his back.
When his senses returned, he jumped back to his feet as quickly as he could. It hadn’t been necessary, as Tyger hadn’t pursued further. Both boys were hunched over, faces predominantly aimed at the ground to shake the dizziness from their brains and realign themselves.
Cain scowled as he brought his hand up to his forehead. There was a tear in the flesh, and it was leaking blood. If Tyger had had the Metal Install set when he landed that headbutt, there was no doubt that would have been the end of the match.
He spat out a glob of blood onto the floor, straightening his back. He had to look in control. Composed. He had to look ready to continue fighting, no matter how much his body ached. He had to look like Tyger was nothing to him; to showcase the widened gap that had grown in these past two years.
In those two years, he’d studied every fighting manual he could get his hands on. He’d developed a strict training, exercise, and dieting regimen to maximize his physical faculties. He’d gained access to several new Installs, and furthered his mastery over the ones he’d already possessed.
He had to show how much higher he had climbed than Tyger. Because if he couldn’t….
What the hell had all that work been for?!
Cain strained his face muscles enough to form an arrogant smirk. “Exhausted already, are you?”
Tyger didn’t seem physically able to respond; he was still gasping for air to stuff back into his lungs.
“How pitiful,” Cain continued. “All you ever had going for you was your physical strength, but it seems I’ve far surpassed you in that regard as well. Now you have nothing to offer.”
Tyger’s head slowly angled upward. Violet eyes like brandished swords signalled the killer intent of their wielder. His fingers curled into a closed fist, and his jaw tightened.
The smirk on Cain’s face soon became real. Tyger had taken the bait, as Cain knew he would; he’d always been overly emotional and easy to get a rise out of, which is exactly what Cain wanted.
“The Thunder City Tyger pounces across the arena! Is Cain fated to be his prey, or has the hunter lured the beast into a trap!”
It was the latter, of course. He needed to shorten the distance between the two, and Tyger rushing in saved Cain the physical exertion in doing it himself.
SUPERCHARGE!
The instant Tyger had halved the gap between them, Cain readied his stance: one foot far out front and one behind, hands directly above each foot. He focused his gaze on Tyger’s right arm; the one that would be firing off the first punch.
Cain’s eyes painted translucent purple lights around Tyger’s body as his mind calculated the exact distribution of his weight, as well as the flow of ULTRA FORCE particles moving through him.
The particles merged into an erratic, jumpy stream within his right arm — like a bursting bubble of magma. That’s where the power was being built up, ready to be unloaded into his fist once he was close enough to throw the punch.
« ART! »
〚 REFLECTING RIVER! 〛
As Tyger’s fist tore its way to Cain, the latter threw out of his hands in smooth, disciplined motions. His left hand led the way, flattened into a sharp blade that sliced along the inside of Tyger’s forearm. The motion incited the bubbling stream of ULTRA FORCE particles within Tyger’s arm to instead flow into Cain’s own hand.
The river of power coursed its way through Cain’s arm, over his upper back, and into his right arm, just as it led his open palm directly into the side of Tyger’s face.
A blast of purple light exploded out from Cain’s palm, robbing Tyger’s body of the forward momentum it had amassed in his blitz, just as Cain’s technique had robbed Tyger’s fist of its power.
Tyger went soaring backward, his body thudding against the floor two, three, then finally four times before it came to a stop in a cloud of dust.
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
“Unbelievable! Cain downs Tyger with the mightiest strike we’ve seen yet! Hope you weren’t blinking, folks, because you just missed out on a certified knock-out!”
Reina buried her face in her hands. The sound that had exploded out from Cain’s attack on Tyger had been a bit too much. The ensuing “Oooooh” from the crowd, along with the heavy thuds of Tyger’s limp body bouncing along the ground didn’t help, either.
It took a few moments for her to drum up the nerve to peel her fingers away from her eyes. Cain remained standing, while Tyger was on the floor, not moving. “T-Tyger….?”
She felt a hand slap against her knee. “That was one helluva punch, huh?! That kid’s done. Good match, eh?”
Reina’s eyes remained locked on Tyger’s body. Internally, she was praying for him to get back up. He’d always gotten up, even back in elementary school when he was frail and timid, he’d always dust himself off, cry it out, and try again.
But….why wasn’t he moving?
* * * *
ULTRA PULSE
* * * *
A chuckle escaped Cain’s lips in between bouts of trying to regain his energy, satisfied that his plan had gone through without a hitch.
Ultranians’ bodies naturally manipulated ULTRA FORCE particles as they fought, harnessing the particles to amplify their strikes, withstand incoming damage, and push them through fatigue. The Reflecting River art was a technique that temporarily redirected a mass of the opponent’s ULTRA FORCE particles into the user’s own body before expelling it in their own strike.
It was an ideal art to use against opponents who relied on singular, powerful strikes. It was a difficult technique to learn and master, let alone make proper use of in the heat of battle. After their previous match, Cain had made it a priority to add the art to his arsenal, as it would prove highly effective against Tyger, particularly when he went mad and threw out one of his deadly haymakers.
Cain’s execution of the move was still underdeveloped, however. While the technique normally did not fatigue the body much at all, his arms were burning up, and hanging almost limply at his sides. The particles had been a bit too strong for him at his current skill level at using the technique, and were now taking their toll. He had also had to rely on the Supercharge Install to see the particles flow through Tyger’s body, whereas a more skilled user would have been able to intuit it. Further, his Mind Slot was strained from the use it had seen in both of Cain’s tournament matches, which had begun to instill dizziness in him, throwing off his aim and perception.
But still, the plan had been a success. Cain remained standing, while Tyger was laid out on the floor, face down and unmoving. The match was-
“Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t believe it! Is Tyger getting back to his feet?!”
“What?!” Cain muttered with the little energy his vocal cords could muster.
It shouldn’t have been true, but it was; Tyger was slowly pushing himself back up off the floor. His muscles were twitching in exhaustion, and the left half of his face was caked in blood from where his punch had been directed back into him, but still he began to rise.
Panic and disbelief swirled together in Cain’s heart; one half questioning how Tyger could possibly be able to continue, and the other questioning, in light of this revelation, how Cain himself could possibly be able to continue. He had damn near nothing left in the tank; he could manage a few punches, but only for a few moments, and that was before factoring in getting worn down by any more of Tyger’s own strikes.
His mind began to formulate possible plans of attack, eliminating maneuvers that would require more energy than he had left to burn. But in the midst of this, Tyger finished standing. Cain’s eyes moved to his face to glean what information he could from Tyger’s expression, but when he saw that Tyger’s eyes were all white, his mind came to a screeching halt.
Tyger was on his feet, but he wasn’t standing properly, whether it be a standard neutral posture, or any kind of fighting stance. He was hunched forward, and his arms were hanging low beneath him. His mouth was agape. Blood leaking from his open facial wounds trickled down his face, and a waterfall of it had formed from the inside of his mouth, spilling out through his teeth.
His all-white eyes cut through the mask of crimson, aimed directly at Cain. This was something Cain hadn’t seen before….Was he even conscious?
He took one slow, heavy step forward….and then another.
Cain held steady, still unsure of what to do given the strange behavior Tyger was displaying. The current leading plan was to allow Tyger to approach first once again, and go for a knockout punch. Even though he’d shown incredible resilience withstanding the Reflecting River, one more solid strike would surely be enough.
After another pair of steps, Tyger suddenly stopped. He threw his arms out wide, and craned his head forward. An unholy, monstrous roar escaped from his throat, blaring out around the arena.
Cain initially was unfazed by the display, thinking it nothing more than another of Tyger’s obnoxious battle cries. However, when the true nature of the roar became clear, Cain became very much fazed by it.
His entire body froze in place, paralyzed in absolute fear. He was unable to move a muscle, and couldn’t even manage to shift his eyes around.
His gaze remained locked onto Tyger, forced to watch as the wild beast began to charge towards him at a hurried pace.