U4: The Space Wanderers

Chapter 4: Time to Fight

While all the competitors were getting prepared for the tournament, one of the gym employees put up the bracket. Everyone huddled up to see who was going to fight who. The first round matches were Dirken vs Xanny, Goddard vs Grill, Sighlan vs Grit, and Grease vs Vigorin. "Huh, that's weird, Vigorin is usually the host of the tournament. Who's gonna be commentating?" said a confused Dirken. "I'm letting one of my employees host this time. We didn't have enough participants join. Heck, we barely have an audience for this." explained Vigorin, showing the almost empty arena, only speckled with a few onlookers. He then pat Dirken on the back. "Just remember to have fun!"

The new host walked up to the ring to start the tournament. "Alright everybody! I know this year ain't looking too hot, with how little of our population is not imprisoned, or even alive for that matter, but we're all holding on. We are strong! We are Grays, and we won't let those Elastian chumps hamper our fun!" What little audience there was still had enough enthusiasm to make the arena roar with excitement.

"Our first match is between Dirken and Xanthon!" Xanny grumbled to himself when the host mentioned him by that name. The two of them walk onto the ring, facing each other. "Alrighty, kid, I don't wanna rough you up too much so I'm gonna take it easy on you" said Dirken. "... Really?" replied Xanny, raising his eyebrow in a sarcastic manner. The host then blew his whistle, starting the match. Dirken took an open stance, while Xanny charged towards him. Using his electro powers, he slid across the ring with static energy, avoiding Xanny. "Heh, gotta be faster than that kid!" 

Without even turning around, Xanny did a backflip towards Dirken, grabbing him by the shoulders. "Wait, what the heck!?" Somehow, the gray child tossed Dirken over his head, slamming him to the floor. Dirken grabbed the edge of the ring right before he fell off. "Oh jeez, you're stronger than you look!" Though suddenly, Xanny had disappeared from Dirken's sight. "Well duh..." whispered Xanny, who was right behind Dirken. Xanny then bashed an elbow blow right into Dirken's back, knocking him across the ring. Right before Dirken tried grabbing the edge of the ring again, Xanny suddenly appeared above Dirken, dive-kicking him off the stage.

"And the victor of the first match is, Xanthon!" Xanny looked up at the host. "Uh, the name's Xanny." "Oh, right... Xanny!" The crowd was cheering with excitement. Dirken slowly limped towards Sighlan and Goddard. "Eugh... I guess I ain't winning this time." Sighlan patted Dirken's back with an awkward smile. "Hey Goddard, I think you're next," said Sighlan. "Oh, right! I'll be back!"

"Our next match is between Goddard and Grill!" The kid and the gray faced each other on the ring. "Are you ready to feel the burn?" Goddard gulped nervously and took an awkward fighting stance. "I'll try my best..." Right as the host then blew his whistle, Grill slammed his fist onto the ring floor, glowing red with heat. "Whoa!" gasped Goddard. "Catch this heat!" Grill then scapped his knuckles against the ground into an uppercut, causing a wave of fiery energy to fly towards Goddard. "Oh no..." 

Suddenly, Goddard's feet started to glow green. He took notice of it, and remembered what happened a few hours earlier with the Elastians. Just as he was about to be hit, Goddard evaded Grill's attack by bouncing super high above the ring. Sighlan and Dirken was cheering him on from the audience. "You can do it, little guy! Keep it up!" Goddard waved at them, but then he noticed Grill was heading straight towards him. "You can fly!?" Grill then appeared right in front of him, high above the stage. "Nope, the heat I can generate can propel me like a rocket. Now taste this..." With an outstretched hand, Grill shoots a wave of heat at Goddard, slamming him back down to the ring.

"Goddard!!" screamed Sighlan and Dirken. Crossing his arms, Grill was diving straight towards Goddard like a meteor. Luckily Goddard came to right before Grill made contact. At that very moment, Goddard curled his body up, then released a burst of energy that flung Grill across the ring. Catching himself before falling off the stage, Grill commented on Goddard's power. "Man, you got some crazy energy. I guess it's time to get serious!" Grill's body then started glowing red, causing the ground around him to singe with heat. Goddard got back on feet, looking at Grill's insane heat. In retaliation, he started charging his own energy. His side of the ring was shaking from his glowing green energy, with the ground cracking beneath his feet.

Both Goddard and Grill started charging towards each other, clenching the fists for a sucker punch. Grill's fist started to catch fire from the heat his body was generating. Meanwhile, Goddard's fist started glowing an intense green, increasing in size just like before. As their fists were about to collide, Grill had just realized how massive Goddard's fist had became, and stumbled on his feet at the last second. Goddard then punched Grill, sending him flying out of the ring. 

"And the victor of the match is Goddard!" Sighlan and Dirken screamed with excitement. Xanny on the other hand was mildly confused. "This kid... he doesn't realize how powerful he is..." he whispered to himself. Goddard then ran down the stage, giving Sighlan and Dirken a couple of fist bumps. Sighlan then got up and cracked her knuckles. "Alright guys, wish me luck!" Dirken and Goddard gave her a thumbs up. "We got your back!"

Sighlan walked up to the stage to face her opponent. "Our next match is between Sighlan and Grit!" She cracked her neck to ready herself, while Grit was giving her a cocky smile. "Heh, another Ballan, huh? If you're anything like your purple-haired comrade over there, this should be an easy match for me." Sighlan took a heavy sigh, and took a closed stance. "Whatever you say 'Champ'." The host then blew his whistle, starting the match.

Grit rushed up towards Sighlan, planting his foot firmly and pushing her back with a shoulder bash. She lost her balance for a sec, but got back to her feet with ease, flowing straight into a sweeping kick. He evaded Sighlan's attack with a swift jump, going straight into a flip kick, seemingly striking her in the face. Her head tilted backwards from the kick. Goddard gasped while Dirken was grinding his teeth in anger at what Grit had done. Grit landed on his feet, chuckling to himself. Unfortunately for him, he didn't know that Sighlan had actually dodged his kick, and was about to headbutt him. The burly Gray then suddenly spat out some phlegm as Sighlan headbutted his abdomen.

With swift movement, Sighlan then did another sweeping kick. Right before Grit could land on the ground, Sighlan then grabbed him by the leg and tossed him over the edge of the ring. "And the victor of our match is Sighlan!" As the audience cheered, Sighlan walked over to Dirken and Goddard, the former giving her a big hug. "Man, you did great! Had me worried there with that fakeout," said Dirken. Sighlan giggled, saying "You know me, I always like to trick the enemy into thinking they have the upperhand."

"Our final match of the first round is between Grease and Vigorin!" The two grays walked up to the stage, across from each other in the ring. Grease was excited with the match-up. "I've always wanted to see the big guy himself fight, can't believe I get to be your opponent!" Vigorin just smiled and gave him a nod. The host blew his whistle, but within the blink of an eye, Vigorin was already on the other side of the ring with his arm raised to his side. Grease was already rungout, slammed to the wall behind Vigorin.

The audience was stunned. "Uh... what just happened?" said a bewildered Dirken. The host dropped his whistle as his body shook from aftershock of Vigorin's speed. "... And the victor of our match is Vigorin." The audience cheered on, but Goddard, Dirken, Sighlan, and even Xanny were suspicious of him. Dirken then turned to Sighlan and whispered, "... I don't think that's Vigorin..."