Orso Fiction 009

Orso Fiction 009-A Friendly Competition (Part 3 of 3)
The four teams that had made it through Round 2 stood in the gym, in front of Zach and the other Primos, who had set up a large tournament bracket.

“So…Round 3’s a tournament, huh?”, Cody asked no one in particular.

“But there are eight slots. And eight of us, total. Are we not in teams, anymore?”, Alex asked. He had dropped the façade of “The Mysterious Man”, and was a little upset that no one seemed to care.

“That’s right.”, Zach said. “From here on, your teams are broken up, and you all fight as individuals. The third round is a tournament, winner moves to the next round.”

“That’s so completely unoriginal…”, Brittney muttered.

“I heard that, and shut up.”, Zach responded. “Now, let’s get this over with. The first round will be…Adam Podskalny vs Adam Ellerbrock!”

“YES!”, Adam Podskalny shouted. “I can’t believe it’s finally my turn to shine! No one even looked at me in Round 1, and Mike didn’t do shit to hold us up in Round 2! It was like no one cared about Jake and I! But now, now, Adam, you can’t ignore me! I finally get a turn to prove myself!”

“Actually, Zach, I’d like to resign.”, Adam Ellerbrock said. “I mean, this has been fun, but I know I don’t have any chance in hell of winning this. I only joined because Ben asked. But if I’m not going to be helping him anymore, well, I’d prefer to just watch.”

“Alright. Adam Podskalny, you move onto the second round of the tournament.”, Zach said.

“GODAMMIT!”, Adam screamed, and sat down on the bleachers, fuming.

“Ellerbrock, you should probably not go near him for like, a year.”, Zach noted quietly. “He’s probably going to hurt you. Okay, guys. Round 2 is…Brittney Drummey vs Matt Iannone!”

“I quit!”, Matt said quickly.

“This is turning out to be an exciting round…”, Zach muttered. “Okay, Brittney, welcome to the second round. Next round is…Ben Diaz vs Jake Federkeil! Who wants to quit there?”

“Not me.”, Ben said with a smile. “Are you in, Jake?”

“I’ve got a one in six chance of winning this thing…Well, not really, but it’s still pretty good odds. Sure, I’ll keep going.”

“Alright! You two, go at it! Then, we’ll see who’s up for the fourth round of the tournament!”

“It’s Cody Cooley and I.”, Alex said. “Process of elimination.”

“Right.”, Zach said, a little hurt that no one was letting him add suspense. “Right. That is who you will be fighting. Now, Ben, Jake, go ahead and rip each other a new one.”

“I sometimes question your sanity, Zach.”, Ben said, releasing Lucy.

“You question it?”, Jake asked kiddingly, releasing Ken. “I’m pretty much convinced it’s not there.”

“Alright, Lucy! He didn’t have any time to prepare a defense, so the win is ours!”, Ben called. The Tasmanian Devil growled and leapt at the worm, who spat back a thread that only grazed Lucy. The worm dashed away from the beast as fast as its worm feet would take it.

“Ken…He’s right.”, Jake said quietly, scooping the worm into his arms. “We’re better at defense…But…do you want to try…the other move?”

Ken hesitated, but nodded, and Jake smiled.

“Alright. Don’t worry, Ken. I’ll be here to keep you from hurting anyone else.”

“What are you talking about?”, Ben asked.

“See…Ken has…problems…”, Jake said, pulling a purple Battery Box from his pocket. “He’s usually the sweetest little guy in the world…but that’s in his weakest form. When he gets serious…he gets a little bit…dangerous.”

“What?”

“You’ll see. Just don’t be afraid. I’ll keep Ken from killing you.”, Jake said, opening the box. The Cloud Flames that emerged wrapped around Ken, who angrily growled. Slowly, the worm began to grow, until it was the size of three school buses end to end. Spikes grew from every portion of its body, and its once cute face was now a visage of absolute horror. Ben would never be able to look at Jake the same way again after this moment. Except for how he eventually would.

Ken roared once, and dove at Lucy. The Tasmanian Devil was strong, but one bite from the animal left it hurt badly, and Ben had to return it to its box.

“I quit!”, Ben shouted, and Jake instantly leapt on Ken, using all his strength to keep the worm from attacking Ben. He eventually got him back in his box. “What the hell was that?”

“Ken’s dark side, you could call it. We discovered it while training. I wanted to give him a little more power, so I tried a Battery Box…and then that happened. We totally trashed the room. I don’t like doing that, but Ken doesn’t want me to lose because I’m afraid of him. But, you know what…Zach, I want out of the next round. Whoever wins, Alex or Cody, Ken’s dark side won’t be able to beat easily. We haven’t perfected it yet, and I want to make sure he’s totally comfortable doing it, before I do it too often.”

“Alright. So, no one passed to the second round out of you two.”, Zach said. “Next is…drum roll, please…”

Cody and Alex walked to the center of the gym.

“Screw you guys.”, Zach said. “Not a single one of you is any fun. Okay, fight.”

“Alright, Alex…Let’s see what these illusions of yours can do to me.”, Cody said with a smile.

“I’ve often said that out of all the second generation Guardians, you’re the strongest. Prove me right.”, Alex replied.

“Osiris, come on out!”, Cody said, releasing the Thunder Ram. “We’re going serious from the start, so Cambio Forma!”

The ram took on its mask form, and Cody put it on his face.

“Shun. Let’s go.”, Alex said, releasing his wolverine. “Cambio Forma.”

The animal assumed its scattergun form, falling into Alex’s hand.

“Cody.”, Cody heard Alex say in his mind. “I need a favor. I’m going to fake a loss, so we can both be at 100%. I think something big is about to happen. Do exactly what I tell you and you’ll win. We might be in for a serious fight as soon as tonight. I know I’m not making any sense right now, but you need to trust me. Adjust your mask if you believe me.”

Cody slowly moved his hand up to his mask, adjusting it slightly.

“Perfect. Now, let me tell you how you can break my illusions. I’ll trust you to keep it a secret, and plus, not many of the Thunders in the family can pull it off like you can.”

Cody listened for a moment, and nodded. He leapt at Alex, who pulled his sword from his cloak and swung at Cody. Cody dodged, listening to his instructions, and found himself facing three Alexs.

“Here we are…an illusion.”, Cody thought. He began, as Alex had told him, covering his palms with Thunder Flames. The property of Thunder Flames was “Solidification”. The flames would solidify his illusions in place, and then be easily broken by his palm. Cody snapped his palms at two of the Alexs, and chopped at the third’s hand, before the first two could shatter. Alex assumed his best surprised face as he dropped his sword, which Cody grabbed and held to his face. Alex jumped away, shooting a few rounds with Shun. The bullets of Mist flame all fell harmlessly away from Cody. With surprising grace, Cody swung the flat side of his blade to hit Alex, who blocked with his gun. They exchanged a few more blows like this, but eventually, Cody’s strength allowed him to knock Shun out of Alex’s hands. The Officer raised his hands in surrender.

“I’m done, I’m done!”, Alex shouted. He shook Cody’s hand, and, as he passed him on his way off the gym floor, murmured, “We’re lucky you’re so good at stage fighting. Hold onto the sword, you may need it.”

“Alright…Then I guess it’s one more round until the finals, huh? Adam Podskalny vs Brittney Drummey!”,Zach said, only seconds before they were already in the gym’s center.

“Brittney’s got this.”, Matt said quietly to Jake. “She’s an Officer. What could Adam do to her?”

“You think so?”, Jake asked, smiling. “Adam is…Adam is pretty awesome. Keep your eyes open.”

“Alright…Here we go.”, Adam said. “It’s a little weird, actually fighting someone.”

“Don’t let your guard down!”, Brittney called, teasingly.

“I won’t, I won’t…”, Adam said quietly.

“Jeez, Adam! Show some life!”, Brittney called, opening her box. “Anubis! Come on out!”

The baby jackal emerged, and took his place on Brittney’s head. He barked once.

“Oh…I guess I should let them out, too…”, Adam said, igniting his ring, and opening two Rain Boxes, releasing two Rain Tilapia, swimming within their own flames. “The one on the right is General Tso, and the one on the left is Force of Nature.”

“Two fish?”, Ben asked, stunned. “That’s such a joke.”

“Back in Science Research, we used to deal with tilapia a lot, Zach and I. He modified these boxes especially for me.”, Adam said. “They’re…pretty cool, I guess.”

“Anubis! Cambio Forma! Let’s show this guy what a real Box Animal can do!”, Brittney called, and Pennello di Pace fell into her hands. She brandished it menacingly. “Get ready!”

---

“Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!”, James shouted. “Who designed this place? Why is the security outpost so far from everything else!?”

“You know, it’s actually close to a lot of things. Just, none that we’ve found Zach in so far.”, Thomas pointed out. James squinted at him for a moment, and continued running.

“Bad enough the phones go out, we never heard where the third round is!”

“It’s probably in one of the gyms.”, Thomas noted. “But THOSE are a long way away.”

“Which is why we’re RUNNING!”, James shouted. “Now shut up, we need to tell Zach what’s coming!”

---

“Brittney…That’s a pretty cool weapon.”, Adam said quietly. “What’s it do?”

“It…um…”, Brittney began, not sure if she should tell Adam this, or even why he was asking. “It lets me hit things with Rain Flames from a long distance, and really accurately.”

“Oh. Cool.”, Adam said with a smile. “Can you show me? Can you hit The General with it? Just a little bit, don’t hurt him.”

“I…I guess so…”, Brittney said, launching a small burst of the blue flames at the fish. The General splashed a bit when he was hit, sending small Rain Flames all over the gym. Force of Nature splashed a bit when he was hit, and then swam up beside General Tso, rubbing against him. Brittney raised an eyebrow.

“What are they doing?”, she asked.

“Oh. Funny you ask. See, in Science Research, we used this stuff called clove oil. It knocks fish out. It’s pretty cool. Except, when we didn’t use enough, we just made the fish angry at us. My fish kiiind of work the same way. You know how Rain Flames are supposed to tranquilize things? Well, Zach told me that when he was experimenting with these two, he stumbled on something he said he’d never be able to repeat again, since it was absolute luck. These fish act weird around Rain Flames, once they have enough in their system…Which is weird, since I use Rain Flames. You could say that small doses of Rain Flames…piss them off. Right now? They’re sharing flames.. .”

Suddenly, the fish growled, and began to grow in size. Their sharp scales began to glint in the light, and their teeth became large and curved. Soon, they were the size of buses, growling and splashing dangerously, scattering Rain Flames over everything in great quantities. Ben was reminded of Ken, in Devil Worm mode, and had an incredibly terrifying flashback. If you want to know what he saw, go reread his fight. It was basically that. Even Alex opened his eyes wide at what he was seeing.

These fish are really goddamn scary, is what I’m trying to convey, here.

“What…what’s making them so ANGRY!?”, Brittney shouted.

“I don’t know.”, Adam said simply. “They’re just kind of pissed at everything, I think. For just being there. You shouldn’t let your guard down around them…”

The two fish lunged at Brittney, who tried to respond with her weapon, but found the tip extinguished, from the flames the two had splashed all over the area. She raised her arms in surrender.

“I give, I give!”, she shouted. Adam quickly returned the two to their boxes.

“That weapon…it’s so broken…”, Adam Ellerbrock said. “I’m glad I didn’t fight him. Those fish are way too strong. That can’t be fair.”

“All our boxes have some secret trick or two like that, Zach said.”, Jake told him. “And they aren’t easy to master. Didn’t you see how calm Adam was that whole time? If he had panicked, those fish would have turned on him in a second, and then rampaged all over this base. It’s because Adam’s always so cool and collected that he can use the General and Force of Nature.”

“Wow…I didn’t think he’s be so awesome, looking at him…”, Matt said.

“Yeah…He’s pretty much a tank at life.”, Jake agreed.

Well, I guess it’s time for the final round…”, Zach began, glaring at Cody and Adam, daring them to set foot on the battlefield. “Adam Podskalny vs Cody Cooley!”

“Hey, I forget. What was the prize for winning, anyway?”, Jake asked.

The entire Primo generation began laughing hysterically. Wiping tears from his eyes, Zach struggled to speak.

“It’s funny because there is no prize…”, he eventually got out. “Alright, I guess it’s time to-“

Suddenly, the door slammed open, and James and Thomas ran through.

“Boss! There’s a problem!”, James shouted.

“It’s an emergency! We just checked the surveillance, and-“

Suddenly, all the TVs in the base, including the Jumbotron in the gym switched onto an image of Zeke smiling at the camera sinisterly.

“Hello, friends. We’re right at your front door. Can you come out and play?”

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