Yang Xiao Long's POV:
Like the days before, me and my teammates get up, get cleaned up and head down to breakfast.
We didn't see our friends until we got to the Mess Hall, sitting at our usual spots. After a filling breakfast, we spend all day surviving classes, hanging out together with our friends during our homework in the library together. Out of everyone in the group, I easily preferred Sander's company, along with Ruby's. It wasn't hard to tell they liked it as well.
But now, it's time for the finals of the Vytal Festival. As the sun begins setting, the Bullheads come once again and we board them so we can fly to the Coliseum. Once we arrive, the main bulk of our friends went off to get seated for the main event, Penny, Pyrrha and me went off to the locker room to get geared up for the climatic match.
By the time I finish getting my gear together, the buzzer goes off in the locker room and a bunch of arrows light up, pointing towards the entrances. 'It's show time.' I think with determination while I straighten up and make by way towards the entrances to the field. Around me are the other finalists: Pyrrha, Penny, Penny Goodwitch, Sun Wukong, and a few others.
Soon, we make our way out onto the field to meet the roaring crowds all around us. "Here we have the finalists for the Vytal Festival Tournament! They are the representatives of the best teams to fight in the tournament. They have fought long and hard, and now they are ready to see who among you is the toughest. Are we excited?" Port said, shouting the last sentence.
The crowd roared loudly in response. "Well, then, let's not waste another moment. Time to give the roulettes a spin." Oobleck shouted, then the holographic screens appeared and the pictures kept spinning, spinning, spinning until the contestant's profiles appeared.
"An interesting start. Yang Xiao Long of Vale is about to face Mercury Black of Haven." Oobleck shouted. Several people cheered loudly for me, the loudest and most encouraging being Sander, but while I'm happy he's cheering for me, deep down I'm confused. Why was Mercury Black chosen to represent his team?
I mean, I saw his team fights and was impressed by their skill, especially Cinder, and Sander warned me, for if I fought Emerald at all, that she has a hallucination semblance. That's how she got the jump on Coco while her back was turned. Compared to those 2, Mercury doesn't really have anything that stands out.
While I am having those thoughts, I realize the rest of the finalists are walking off the field. I break out of my thoughts, and face Mercury. He is looking at me with a blank look, already getting into a fighting stance. I follow suite. "Now, remember. Once your Aura falls below 10%, you are out. May the best fighter win. Fight!"
Without wasting another second, me and Mercury clash. It is a fight between my fists and his feet. Surprisingly, we are tied evenly before he punches me in the face and kicks me in the stomach. I go flying backwards, but immediately get up. That kick was a lot harder than it should have been, even if it was enhanced by Aura. Subtly, I checked his legs with the Force. To my surprise, I discover that both of his legs are cybernetic and have guns built into them. An interesting combination. But now, I can't toy around anymore. I subtly sink into the Force's embrace, then run at Mercury. I duck under his kick and uppercut him. He has on a look of surprise at the power behind my attack, but like me, he does a back flip in the air, causing him to land right back onto his feet and charge right at me, faster than before.
I need to end this soon, because not only are we evenly matched, but I am not that great with fighting people specializing in kicks. Then I realize something. Mercury, when he kicks, extends his leg out and it stays extended. 'Time to put that break to good use.' I think as a final thought. A second later, Mercury throws a punch at me, to which I dodge. But when he kicks, I grab his leg and swing it past me. While he is flying right by me, I give him another punch to the stomach. The shotgun blast went off and Mercury went sailing away, then crashed to the ground on his back. On the screen above the arena, it showed Mercury's aura dropping into the yellow, borderline orange zone. He groaned slightly, but got up real fast. Changing his tactics up, he shot several dust bullets then ran right at me. I try to dodge the bullets, with a few hitting me, making my aura drop to the yellow zone as well, then Mercury gives a series of punches and kicks that actually hurt a lot. The final kick sends me crashing away. But before Mercury could walk towards me and start again, my semblance kicked in, giving me tons of strength and creating an explosion of fire and making my hair light up like a torch. With it, I run at Mercury, sweep his feet out from under him with a slide technique I've been practicing, then gave him the biggest punch I could muster to his side.
Mercury went crashing down harder than before, but got back onto 1 knee. But before we could continue fighting, the buzzer rang out. "What a fight! But in the end, Yang Xiao Long is victorious and will be fighting again in the finals." Port shouted. The people cheered for me loudly. Apparently, I fought a match that made a lot of people impressed, because the foreign students are also cheering for my victory.
I give a crowd a smile, feeling my blazing hair go out, but then I realize something's wrong. Someone is trying to get into my head. 'Well, I don't think so.' I thought, and use the Force to push the unknown presence out. Mercury got up and began walking towards me. But for some reason, I saw the hint of a smirk on his face. Now I know something's up, so I quickly brushed his mind to see what he's up to, and what I found horrified me.
He wants me to attack him and have me take the fall for him! Also, he, Mercury and Cinder have other plans for the Tournament, and the White Fang is involved. I pull away and walk towards Mercury. I need to warn my friends about this change, but first, I need to completely ruin his plans. When we come up, I take his hand and shake it. "That wasn't a bad fight, Mercury. You're pretty good." I tell him, then let go and turn around and begin to walk away. Mercury has a look of shock, then rage.
"You're not going anywhere, Blondie." Mercury growled, and attacked me from behind. I must say, I didn't expect him to pull that move, but if done correctly, I can really disrupt their end goals. I put on a shocked face, but before I turn around, Mercury kicks me in the back a lot harder than he did in the fight. I go flying and crash onto the ground out of the arena. That attack really strained my lower back, so to add the final touch, I put a little more strain into it, which was just enough to crack my back. I try to get up, but fall back.
"Oh, my back!" I said, then collapse.
Meanwhile, people are booing Mercury and telling him to get lost or calling him scum for attacking me. Knowing that I need some rest, I close my eyes and get a quick rest, knowing that I will be better when I wake up.
AN: Yes! Mercury took the fall, not Yang. To be perfectly honest, without the Force of course, I believe this is how that setup should have gone on the canon show. But not the fight. That was cool.
Next time, the invasion shall take its first steps. I can't wait to get to that part of the story, since the coming material is detrimental to the future and this story's prequel.
Anyway, thank you all for the favorites and follows that you have given me. I truly appreciate them.
Please post your thoughts and I will continue doing my best, as well as putting up more stories. One of them I am looking forward to working on is a Harry Potter story based off of Tom Hanks' most famous movies.
I will be seeing you all next time.