x
~Chapter 5~
The Finalist's stage was several times larger then any of the individual preliminary stages. It was made to provide the finalists ample room to show off their abilities. Based on how bouts on this stage fared in previous tournaments, it could be argued it still wasn't large enough. The circular stone stage had marks on it to indicate the appropriate starting positions of the combatants. A giant drum sat near the stage.
Wooden bleacher's surrounded the periphery, and as noon drew near they began to fill to capacity. The finalist’s tournaments were always seen as the highlight of the festival. The Finalist's lobby sat underground, beneath one of the bleachers. From it the stage and crowd could be seen in all its splendor.
In the Finalist's lobby, Jirro waited with Aero, Emer and Cmar. The Fighting Academy students who beat Corri and Ruben waited as well, a young woman and a muscular man wearing white, loose fitting garbs. Emil wore similar, but more dirtied clothing.
Cho met with the the finalists to explain how things would proceed. Just like in the preliminaries, they would be called when it was time for their match. The only difference was that to win, they would have to score three points rather than just one.
Cho ran through the brackets, but all Jirro could pay attention to was the fact that he was placed in the first match, against a rather muscular Mecarne named Pumps. He had a lime tint to his reflective-flesh. He eyed Jirro and smirked, revealing sharpened teeth.
The boys stretched while they waited for the finals to begin, staying close to Emer and Cmar. Jirro peered out of the waiting room at the stage and the immense crowd. He's able to spot his dad, Uncle Razan, Nout, Corri, and Ruben.
At noon Cho steps out to address the crowd. "The 16 greatest fighters of this tournament are waiting to entertain all of you!" Cho speaks through a giant horn so all can hear.
As he enraptured the crowd, Jirro began to grow anxious. Was he nervous? No, no he couldn't be.
"The first match is between the young Ralosian, Jirro of 12 years! He will be facing the Mecarne, Pumps of 37 years!" Cho announced out to the crowd.
Aero gave an affirmative nod and Jirro left the finalists lobby towards the stage alongside Pumps in the view of hundreds. Jirro felt his heartbeat quicken as he stepped on stage.
Jirro felt unsure of himself. He'd never been around so many people at once. Before he could mentally prepare himself, the match began and the Pumps charged at him. Jirro barely managed to block his first few strikes, but Pumps landed a knee into his stomach and he fell over.
The judge beat the drum. "Point to Pumps! 1-0! Return to your starting position."
There was some light applause at the scored point. But it was as if it was an obligation. No one was happy to see a kid get beat on.
Jirro felt himself heat up. The only thing that was wounded was his pride. He felt like an idiot for taking a hit so easily. He told himself it wouldn't happen again. He forgot about all of the people watching him, all he saw was his opponent.
Jirro kicked up to his feet and readied himself. Pumps remarked, "I didn't expect you to get back up kid."
The drum was beat again and Pumps didn't hesitate to attack. Jirro was patient, and carefully parried and evaded each of his blows.
Jirro noticed he shifted a lot of his weight forward. He ducked under his punch and swept Pumps legs, using his own imbalance against him. Pumps fell to ground, and Jirro landed a quick strike to his side while he was down. The drum signaled his success.
"Point to Jirro! 1-1! Return to your starting positions."
The crowd cheered enthusiastically. Pumps writhed on the ground through gritted teeth, grabbing at his ribs.
"Contestant Pumps, can you continue?" Cho asked from off stage.
Pumps slammed the ground with his fist, cracking the stage beneath it. He stood with vigor and took his starting position, anger in his eyes, "I'm not going to go as easy on you anymore kid."
Jirro took a defensive stance and readied himself. With a drum beat, they resumed their bout.
Pumps charged forward, striking more ferociously than before. Jirro blocked a blow with his arm, and it stung pretty harshly. He couldn't afford to simply defend.
Jirro returned his own strikes to the Mecarne warrior, and the two attempted to batter each other vigorously, beating against each other's defenses. Several times they managed to graze each other's torso's and faces, but the strikes were never substantial enough to earn a point.
As they ebbed and flowed with one another, Jirro felt that he was starting to understand his opponent's movements.
Pumps jutted his leg forward and tripped up Jirro, and the boy tumbled to the ground. The Mecarne went to stomp on him while he was down, but Jirro rolled out of his path. Pumps stomped on the ground after the boy, and with each step he cracked the stage beneath him.
Jirro rolled into a handstand and pushed up off the ground, jumping meters back out of Pumps' way, inadvertently skidding to the very edge of the ring. He stopped himself just before falling out.
Pumps came forward... and left himself embarrassingly open. Jirro waited until he was close before delivering a powerful high kick to his chin, sending the Mecarne warrior reeling to the ground.
"Point to Jirro! 2-1! Return to your starting positions!"
The crowd cheered, they were no doubt impressed by the boy's performance. Meanwhile, Pumps was furious, grabbing at his pained jaw while beating the ground with his fist, damaging the stage further.
Pumps was angry, which Jirro hoped for. When people were angry, they made mistakes. When their match resumed, Jirro waited for him to attack.
Pumps came at the boy wildly, but this time he was able to manage him quite well, parrying and evading each blow with skillfully. Jirro blocked another blow from, and felt his opponent's strength. As strong as Pumps was, Jirro was even stronger.
Jirro allowed the Mecarne warrior to keep coming at him, he was wasting his energy. He waited until Pumps was exhausted to land a quick blow to his chest, forcing him to stagger back.
"Point to Jirro! 3-1! Jirro takes the match!"
Pumps' eyes were laced with rage as the crowd cheered. He stormed off the stage without a word. Jirro muttered to himself, "Poor sport."
With his match over, Jirro could relax and enjoy the tournament as it continued on. The Densius Cuartz beat his opponent through sheer aggression and offense, just as he did with Nout. Jirro eyed Cuartz as he returned to the waiting room, the four armed Densius would be his next opponent.
The vibrantly colored Densius Jewel won their match 3-2.
Emer and the Ralosian Eksy were called out next. Eksy was apparently from the skylands, and he made his way through the preliminaries by staying light on his feet.
Emer took a sturdy stance and the drum beat signified the beginning of their bout. They carefully approached each other. Eksy was fast but, despite it's rocky form, Emer was just as agile. The green eyed Densius landed the first point and knocked Eksy across the stage.
They returned to their starting positions and began again. Emer landed another hard strike on Eksy knocking him off stage. Eksy's legs were unstable and Emer wasted no time in landing the final point to end their bout. 3-0.
After inspecting his tusks and ensuring they were properly blunted, Cmar headed towards the stage with a Ralosian named Liam. His opponent.
Cmar used his arms and trunk to incapacitate his opponent and his blunted tusks as a secondary way to strike. Using these together he was able to overwhelm Liam and take the match.
The two fighters known as Ginn and Tyro took the stage, each wearing differing martial arts robes. Cho explained that the two were from rival fighting academies. This seemed to hype up the crowd. The winner of the match would be Cmar's opponent in the second round.
Tyro and Ginn's match was highly technical and prolonged, with each maintaining their defenses and never allowing their opponent to have a clear shot. Tyro feigned an attack which Ginn fell for, allowing for a follow up strike to Ginn's abdomen. He was so hurt by the single punch that he was unable to continue. Tyro took match.360Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGo2cpy5Dag
