The Ranch

Newcomers Tournament p.II (4)

In the end, Sherlock manages to turn the situation around, by swapping positions with his opponent and pushing him off the stage, securing his ticket into the third round.

In the next batch, Kai and Lucien are not as lucky and lose their second rounds. Going into the third round, Kai and Tih went to their individual stages. Kai quickly finds himself in the losing position and admits defeat before he's injured.

It should be mention, although it's not too bad, there are always injuries and a few deaths during tournaments, mainly caused by the more violent soldiers that don't know when to call it quits.

To the luck of the other recruits still in the running, Tih is matched with Theodore and Victor is matched with Basile. This means there will be two less strong individuals during the next raffle. The couple people still fighting sigh in relief, happy that they can survive one more round. From the beginning, everyone expected one of the aces to win. For the other participants, it's more of a game of luck to see how far they could stay in the game. They would always cross their fingers before the raffle, hoping not to get stuck with one of those powerhouses. In this case, Tih was kind of like their saving grace, somehow managing to fight with three of the five aces.

With the confidence of a mountain, Theodore smiles like a happy puppy. He faces Tih across the stage," Lets have fun!"

His smile morphs into a serious expression as his muscles run taut. He watches Tih intently, looking for any mistakes in his defense, which is hard considering Tih isn't in a fighting stance. The act of standing normal is full of holes and theoretically should be easy to take advantage of.

Theodore wonders if its on purpose, to cause him to let down his guard and take him lightly. Well, he won't make the same mistake as the others.

Theodore rushes straight at Tih, planning to use his size and weight to his advantage and pin the small Tih to the ground. Tih was able to throw a child that was slightly larger than him, but Theodore doesn't believe he'll be able to do the same to him. He probably weight over three times the amount the boy weighs and is double his height. This thought  runs through everyone watching the match.

Their jaws drop when their assumptions are once again broken. In a comical show that should be possible, Tih picks up the hulking figure, swings it around, and throws it off stage.

Without an ounce of fatigue, Tih once again nonchalantly walks backstage to stand next to Kai. The dizzy Theodore, who is heavier than the past two challengers, flew further than them as well, slamming against the side of a nearby stage. Helped up, the audience looks at the place Theodore landed to see a dent.

Unlike the surrounding colosseum that's made out of marble, the stages are made out of some type of metal. These metals were created about a decade ago by some scientist instructors. The metal was made specifically for the arena stages, with the purpose of being able to withstand any damage and last multiple decades without having to be replaced.

Some of those inventors that worked on the creation of the metal are actually in the audience, utterly flabbergasted. They stare at the dent in befuddlement and confusion. For a decade, no one has managed to create a single mark on the stages. Now, their pride as the investors are flushed down the drain.

The take pictures of the dent and send it to their fellow scientists, determined to find out why it dented and find a solution. That's the kind of people the scientist on this island are. Instead of drowning in embarrassment, the first thing they think about is improving their invention's imperfections.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Receiving a message on my electronic ring, I open up the holographic display to see a picture sent by a former colleague. The picture is of the metal me and my team created and used to make the stages for the colosseum tournaments.

"It...dented." My voice is drowned out by another one of their arguments. This time, it's a back and forth between whether the next one should be a group trial or another individual one.

I slip out of the meeting room, not bothering with the rest of the conference. I never wanted to join this job and they don't need me to come to a conclusion on their own. It's just about next month's trials for the newbies, there's no need for so many people to work on it. I still don't understand why so many people are stuffed into this department, it only creates more unnecessary arguments.

Outside the meeting room, I text the colleague back to gain more information on what happened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still dizzy, Theodore is checked on by the on-sight doctor and finds out he sustained a minor concussion and is told to rest.

Kai stares at the child that's returned to his side. He rubs Tih's fluffy brown hair, murmuring," scary..."

Major Jax listens to the crowd around him as he waits for the next round.

"Ahh, so that's what a real dark horse looks like."

"Dark horse?! I think you mean absolute monster. Did you see him throw that other child twice his size like a bag of flour?!"

"With strength like that, is be willing to call him the devil incarnate. I'm still confused to how that small body swing all that weight around without losing his balance."

"Sigh...I'm starting to regret who I bet on."

"In the first place, that chi...monster was unlucky enough to be paired with three of the aces, meaning three different fighting styles. It should have been impossible to beat all of them."

"I thought I was smart, betting a little on each of the five aces, thinking that no matter what, I would win."

Major Jax and Instructor Kane, who's hearing similar discussions, look at their devices and the money they bet on Tih.