4.26

The three fights were over in a flash. It was a clean sweep. The team that had won used the same fighter both times. The third match wasn’t even needed but the teams agreed on letting it happen and the crowd cheered on just the same.

“All right folks. What a thrilling bunch of fights that was. One sided, but fun all the same. We’re moving onto the second round now. Justice Punch versus Guul’s Team. Justice Punch just made it through yesterday with a great display of powers. Guul’s team easily made it through. They too had a third match that wasn’t needed, but they wanted to entertain the fans. Can the first two fighters please enter the ring?”

“I’ll go,” said Silas. “I didn’t get a chance to yesterday, and I want to show everyone, including myself, that I can fight.” Puffed up with pride, Silas stepped up onto the slate.

“I’ll take care of this one, Guul,” said Kyson. The kid had on him a cowboy hat and a satchel bag. He stepped up onto the slate with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, show them what you’re made of.” Guul chuckled and gave Kyson a pat on the shoulder.

“The first match is between Balloon Boy and Kyson. Ready? Go!” the crowd answered with their usual response and Silas felt a small surge of energy he had never felt before.

“You’re just a kid. I don’t want to hurt you. You should just give up,” said Silas. He couldn’t believe how short his opponent was.

“Heh, I’ll just have to show you why I’m in this tournament to begin with.” He tipped his cowboy hat and opened his satchel.

Silas ran at Kyson. He inflated himself and kicked off as hard as he could. He wanted to finish this as fast as he could and not give his opponent any time to react.

Kyson fished around in his satchel and when he looked up, he was shocked to see his opponent was already flying for him. Kyson rolled out of the way just in time and watched in awe as the teen passed him. He was close to losing by ring out already. He had to be more careful.

“That was sneaky of you. Now let me show you what I can do.” Kyson grabbed a few things from his bag and threw them out onto the slate. Silas deflated himself to stop and whirled around to see what the kid had done.

Rapidly spinning on the ground were eight spinning tops. They looked like ordinary toys and Silas was unsure of what to make of them.

“Cool, you’ve got some toys,” said Silas.

“It’s what I can do with them, that’s the cool part.” The eight spinning tops started to move and weave around each other. Drawing intricate patterns. The tops didn’t lose any speed.

“So you can control them?” Silas clenched his fists and readied to inflate himself again.

“That’s not all. You’re about to take me seriously. I’ll show why.” Kyson extended both of his arms out and the spinning tops each shot forward like bullets.

They spun along the ground. Speeding toward Silas. Unsure of what to do and a little curious, Silas stood there and waited.

One of the tops leapt up and crashed into his stomach. It was like being punched in the gut with a steel beam. Silas almost fell back but was able to catch himself just in time.

“What’s going on with that?” Silas asked. More of the spinning tops collided with him. Each one a heavy hit.

“As you can see, I can control these tops.”

“That much is obvious.” Silas steadied himself. Kyson had stopped attacking him with the tops whilst he talked. The eight tops surrounded Silas, still spinning.

“Well, let me explain.”

“Please do.”

“I come from an orphanage, and I’ve been picked on almost all of my life. I don’t know why, I just have. I’ve always liked spinning tops. I’ve played with them; I’ve battled with them. Just silly little things.”

“This kid didn’t fight yesterday, but I have to say I’m intrigued folks. What do you think?” said the announcer. The crowd roared and stamped their feet.

“One day, I guess I was pushed just a little too far. I snapped; I think. One night, a glowing beast came to me. It had eight heads and the body of a dragon. It was mighty scary, but it talked to me. It said that it was the power that lay dormant within me, and it wanted to come out. It said it would help me and we thought it could live within my spinning tops. Now we fight assholes to bring them down a notch.”

“Sounds like a Projector to me,” said Hunter.

“Yeah, Razor Queen was pretty dangerous. This one sounds a little twisted, in a way,” said Jimena.

“I’m sorry those things happened to you. I was bullied a lot when I was younger too, for being different. My brain doesn’t always work the way I want it to, and I struggle to communicate with people and read their emotions. How about today, we show to everyone they need to take us seriously.”

“Yeah. But I won’t lose.” Kyson shot out one of his hands and the spinning tops leapt up and slammed into Silas.

Each time he was hit, Silas thought he was going to go down. But he braced himself. He knew if he collapsed, it was game over.

Silas ran toward Kyson and leapt with all his might. The spinning tops followed after him and continued to hail down on him.

Silas inflated himself mid-flight and noticed the attacks from the spinning tops didn’t hurt as much.

He sailed through the air toward Kyson. The kid put his arms up and Silas slammed into something that hurt. It was the spinning tops. They had formed a circle and jumped up from the slate to protect Kyson.

Silas dropped to the slate and kicked off again. He flew into Kyson again, but the spinning tops leapt up and stopped the attack again.

“You’ll have to do better than that,” laughed Kyson. Silas jumped back and kicked himself off the slate, sending himself rocketing away.

The spinning tops shot forth and chased down Silas. They flew across the ground with incredible speed.

Silas hit the wall that protected the front rows of the crowd. He bent his legs and kicked off as hard as he could. Silas flew through the air like a javelin.

He passed the spinning tops, which then pivoted on the ground and came after him yet again.

Just as Silas was about to hit Kyson, he kicked off the slate, to add to his momentum. He needed to break through the spinning tops if they blocked his attack again.

The spinning tops did just that. They leapt up in the air and hoped to block the attack. However, Silas had a lot more momentum this time.

His body smashed the circle apart and collided with Kyson. The kid arced up and crashed back down on the slate. The spinning tops all toppled over.

“What an amazing fight!” The announcer counted to ten and Silas was declared the victor. Silas stepped down from the slate with a smile on his face.