4.22

Hunter picked himself up off the ground and joined his teammates. His body ached all over.

“So who’s going to fight next? No pressure or anything, but it’s one all,” Hunter chuckled.

“I don’t know if I want to,” said Silas.

“I’ll do it,” said Freja.

“Are you sure?” Hunter asked.

“May as well. We’re in this together and I don’t want to see us get knocked out just yet. I’ll give it my best.” The all-pink woman stepped up onto the slate. The crowd cheered.

Over on the other side, it looked like the robot was going to approach the slate, but the woman with the tabard pushed past and stepped up onto the stage instead.

“This is the deciding match between Justice Punch and Loose Change. Who will win? It comes down to Freja and Lena. Ready?”

Freja shifted into a fighter’s stance as did Lena.

“Go!” roared the announcer. The crowd cheered and drowned out the voice of the announcer.

“Do you think she could win?” Silas asked Hunter.

“There’s no reason she can’t,” said Hunter.

“Last time we came across her, she fought us. We’ve fought against her, what, three times? Can we trust her?” There was trepidation in Silas’s voice.

“I don’t see why not. Jimena said we could, so I think we can. She’s wouldn’t want to lose on purpose in front of all these people. Just watch and see.”

Neither of the fighters had moved from their stances yet. So Freja decided to extend one of her arms and wrap it around her opponent’s legs.

She ripped the legs out from underneath her opponent, who crashed onto the slate, her head slammed into the slate.

Freja unwrapped her arm and ran at her opponent. Her opponent was still laying on the ground.

Freja stretched both of her arms and wrapped them around her opponent’s arms. She leapt up and extended her arms and she looked like a slingshot. Freja retracted her arms, pulling herself toward her opponent with her knees jutting out.

Freja felt confident she was going to land the attack when her opponent suddenly burned bright as the sun.

It was so intense that Freja had to look away. Her arms went slack, and she lost all her momentum.

Still blinded by the light, Freja felt a burning impact snap into her body. Lena had closed the gap and headbutted Freja. Freja wasn’t ready and so the hit connected. Freja was surprised by how much it hurt.

Freja’s body smacked into the slate and her opponent landed with grace. Lena’s glow subsided and she looked like herself again.

“That was a little sneaky of you,” said Freja.

“No it wasn’t, it was calculated. That attack would’ve been too dangerous if you hit me with it.”

“This looks like its going to be an interesting fight.” Hunter looked to his left and saw Tatsuta had joined him and Silas at the ring.

“Yeah, I reckon so. Good fight before,” Hunter held out his hand and Tatsuta took it.

“You still have much to learn. But I could sense in you, you finally overcame your doubt and let yourself fight. You should always be like that.”

“Thanks, I’ll try.” The three of them turned their attention back to the ring.

Freja had raised her arm and morphed it to look like a large mallet. She swung it down just as Lena’s body started to glow again.

As the mallet came down, Lena’s body dispersed and came back together a few feet closer to Freja.

“What can she do?” Silas asked.

“Exactly what you can see. She can turn herself into living light and burn extremely hot. Its hard to keep hitting her, as the burns hurt too much. Even in my water form, I can barely land a hit against her. My strikes lose all their power.”

Lera’s body returned to her normal state. Freja retracted her arm and brought it back.

“I don’t know how to fight her,” Freja said to herself. Frustration rose because she had no idea how to overcome her opponent. Frustration grew because she didn’t want to lose her first fight. Her first fight for Justice Punch.

“What do I do?” Freja yelled in frustration. She let her body dissipate. Her body morphed into the large cloud she had been when Justice Punch first encountered her. A thick, pink mist filled the arena.

“Wow folks, I can’t say I saw that coming. What’s going to happen I wonder? Who will win this exciting fight?”

“That’s interesting. I wonder what Lena will do in response,” Tatsuta said more to himself than to the others.

“It comes down to this,” Silas said.

“It comes down to this,” said Freja. “Now what are you going to do?” Freja could feel Lena was within her body. Freja concentrated her efforts on trapping her opponent.

“This is interesting,” said Lena. Her body glowed white hot once again and Freja could feel it burn her body.

The mist around Lena cleared and the glowing woman stood there, growing brighter.

Freja retreated from her opponent. Lena continued to grow brighter and brighter.

The whole audience had to turn away or risk being blinded. Freja spread her cloud form as thin as she could.

Within moments, the glow started to fade, and Lena returned back to her normal state. She looked tired but confident because the pink mist was nowhere to be seen.

“Well folks, it looks like Freja has disappeared and Lena is the only one standing. I believe Lena will be the winner.” The announcer started to count to ten but stopped when he reached seven.

The audience gasped as they watched pink mist come out from behind the stadium lights that hung above the slate. The mist flowed down and solidified back into the shape of Freja.

“Y’all miss me?” Freja morphed her arm once again into a mallet and slammed it into Lena. Lena’s body sailed through the air, and she landed outside the ring.

The crowd cheered and whooped and Freja got down from the slate after the announcer counted to ten.

“Justice Punch wins. Loose Change has been eliminated. Justice Punch are through to the next round. What an exciting fight folks. That was incredible.”