The Duelists of Solstice

Chapter 4: Hammers, Puppets, and a Pleasant Lunch

The arena was surprisingly impressive despite the village being small. There was a dirt path that led out of Cirrus Village and to the large stadium—it was surreal, seeing something so big in the middle of nowhere.

Going to their reserved seat, Ocha withdrew their notebook as Boba hopped into their lap.

An old mobian with a grey beard walked into the center of the stadium, which seemed to imitate a rocky terrain with patches of green around small scattered pools and cleared his throat.

"Welcome, everyone," He said into a microphone, to this year's Solstice Tournament and Festival! My name is Uemura the Mouse, and, as longtime fans will remember, I won this tournament after growing into a fine young man from the beautiful Cirrus Village, this tournament's host town."

He explained that the first matches were all randomized, that the matches would follow a bracket, concluding on the day of the Solstice, and he also reminded everyone that the duelists had all been carefully reviewed, and were all deemed strong enough to compete. It was sure to be a tournament to remember.

And so, the matches began! The first four seemed to pass quickly, and soon, it was Amy's turn at duel number five. There was loud cheering from various parts of the stadium, as Amy Rose was a well-respected hero--even if she did have a history of being easily distracted by a certain blue hedgehog.

Ocha watched, brimming with pride in their boss, as Amy summoned her signature hammer with her personal spell, Piko Piko Hammer. Her opponent's hands caught fire as he dodged and tried to land a punch, only to be blocked by the hammer's handle, as Amy then quickly stepped back and swung, launching him back.

"A fire spell, eh? Not anywhere nearly as impressive as Blaze's special spell," Ocha mumbled.

Boba turned to look at them.

"What is it?"

Boba put her hand on her mouth and giggled smugly.

"What are you implying?" Ocha poked Boba's cheek, annoyed at whatever Boba was trying to insinuate.

By the time they were paying attention to the match again, Amy had launched her opponent against one of the big rocks sticking out of the battlefield. Ocha glanced at the large screens that were in the middle of two sides of the stadium walls. It displayed both of their HP, and her opponent's was depleted. It looked like he had only been able to land a few hits on the valiant Rose of the Restoration in the end. Amy looked up at Ocha and Boba and waved as they cheered with the crowd.

Amy left to get cleaned up, as she wouldn't have any more rounds until the following day, but Ocha was far from ready to leave.

They took notes diligently as the rounds passed and kept eagerly waiting for Blaze to appear. But every time they realized how eager they were, they tried to ignore it, reminding themself that they were here for research purposes. Although Blaze had said they could have lunch together, so her first duel must not be too late in the day...

Eventually, Blaze walked out to greet her opponent, a blue mobian who immediately summoned water all around herself. Ocha found themself too distracted by the fight to take notes. It was mesmerizing. Blaze had learned some new tricks. As she raised her hands, two serpent-like flames appeared behind her. Blaze herself kept at a safe distance, while attacking with the two fire-puppets. Ocha noticed that she seemed to linger over one particular area for a while, though.

The opponent looked smug, flinging water magic at the two fire-puppets. They were strong, but they couldn't withstand water forever. As they began to weaken, the opponent saw an opening and leapt towards Blaze, whose serious expression melted into a smirk. The area in between them was where Blaze had been lingering before.

As the opponent's foot touched the soil, she realized that she had missed something. A massive blast of fire burst upwards from the ground with a wave of Blaze's hand. And before the opponent could recover, the fire puppets had closed in again. Her HP hit zero, and Blaze won the match.

Ocha stared in amazement, as they began to feel themself blush just a little bit, although they didn't understand why. Frantically, they turned back to their notes and began writing Blaze's new techniques down. "I can't wait to ask her about those..."

Ocha ran down to meet Blaze as she exited the arena.

"That was an incredible match! Could we talk about some of those new moves you used over lunch?"

About 30 minutes later, after Blaze had gotten cleaned up and Ocha had called Amy (who was excited to take a nap) to congratulate her, the two were sitting in a cozy café between Cirrus Village and the Stadium. Ocha was excitedly raving about Blaze's match while the two waited for their food.

"So you sealed magical heat in the ground, and amplified it when the time was right, and—"

"It's funny..." Blaze said as she took a sip of green tea, cutting Ocha off.

"What? Ocha cocked their head to the side.

"You're babbling excitedly to me as though I didn't threaten you last night, as though we're friends again."

"You threatened me and then patted my head," Ocha laughed. "And I don't think we ever truly stopped being friends."

"How many times do I have to warn you? I really don't want to hurt you, but you can't interfere with..." Blaze sighed, shook her head, and leaned back in her chair. "Who am I kidding? I don't think I could hurt you, even if you do keep interfering. I mean, just look at you!"

"What do you mean?" Ocha asked, confused.

"I mean, anyone else would have been terrified when I threatened you last night, but you just looked at me with that silly sincere face. Threatening you is too hard, I give up! Your squishy cheeks, the friendly demeanor you have with me, even when I'm telling you that I'll set you on fire... I just can't do it anymore," Blaze looked frustrated as she set her tea back onto the table and met Ocha's eyes.

"Well, to be honest, what you did to the tree frightened me a little bit, and sometimes you make this one face... Never mind. What's important is this: I will always see you as a friend. We went through too much together in the Sol Kingdom for me to ever see you as anything else. And the reason your threats can never be genuine is because you feel the same way, even if I did take a certain magical artifact."

"Then I suppose I have no choice." Blaze looked down and smiled just a little bit.