Bindo once again picked up two papers out of the box. "The third match will be between...XIE ZHEN AND MUSTAFA!"
"My turn to play!" The duck happily said.
"Have fun, pal!" Saras encouraged him as he flew down in the fighting zone.
"Good: my blood thirst was getting hard to endure." The armoured hedgehog said with a smirk as he used his "jetpack" to fly down in the fighting zone.
Liang looked curiously at the strange hedgehog before turning to Toka. "Who's this guy? He's from your world, right?"
"Yes." The snow leopard nodded. "He's from a very ancient people of hedgehogs called the Arritochans and is a defender of their historic past as warriors that had once fought against the Kung Fu Order itself. Recognizing the Arritochans' previous culture and what he believes that they should be, Zheng possess a strong desire to return his people to that reality by leading the Hedgehog Clan in its campaign to take control of China."
Saras, who listened to what he said, looked in surprise before turning his attention to the hedgehog in question.
"Any objections before this match?" Bindo asked Xie Zhen and Mustafa, but they both shook their heads. "Alright then, may the third match of the first round BEGIN!"
Xie Zhen took a small handle from his belt and a dark Chi blade formed on it.
"Huh? What's this?" Saras asked.
"This sword is called Jinshu Jian Jiao (Screaming Metal)." Saras looked up and say Neyo (the hedgehog who encouraged Toka and Koji in the crowd) in the crowd answering him. "This weapon has been made by Master Oogway himself, but the Arritochan people have stolen it a long time ago and ever since, many Kung Fu masters have been killed by it."
Back in the fighting zone, Mustafa didn't seemed intimidated by the weapon and lifted his wings. Suddenly, a wall of jade rock formed itself over them both.
"Huh, what's wrong with his wings?" Koji asked.
"He covered them with crystals." Saras answered with a smile as he rested on the bar's steel barricade. "When he first participated, Mustafa could only control earth to a certain level. But he trained a lot, and now, he can control all the minerals in the earth: rock, crystal, gold, heck, he can even control magma. This makes him way stronger than before."
The duck went on the offensive and forced Xie Zhen to dodged his crystaline wings while fighting back with his Chi saber. The close combat lasted many seconds before Xie Zhen kicked Mustafa in the chest and went to strike him with his blade, but the duck surprisingly blocked it with his wing.
"What?!" The hedgehog was surprised that his weapon got stopped.
"Sorry, but looks like crystal is too solid for your weapon." Mustafa said with a smile before slamming his free wing on the ground which caused a small earthquake and made Xie Zhen fall down on his back.
Mustafa jumped, ready to smash him with his two wings, but he quickly activated his jetpack to take off in the sky, letting him smash the ground instead. While in the air, the hedgehog putted his weapon back to his belt and threw small bombs which exploded upon impact and forced the duck and roll away to avoid getting hurt.
"He's well-equiped. And he knows how to swing a sword." Kuai though while scratching his chin.
After dodging another bomb, Mustafa took off in the sky and engaged an aerian fight with Xie Zhen. Despite his jetpack, the hedgehog was not as good as the duck in mid-air fighting and decided to get away from him and used the gadget on his left wrist to shoot needles. Mustafa easily dodged or blocked them with his wings. Suddenly, the gadget shot a trapping cable which wrapped itself around Mustafa's wings, pressing them against his sides, and made him fall to the ground. Lucky for him that he wasn't that high or he would have substained bad injuries.
"Where does that guy gets all those weapons?" Aicha asked.
With his opponent trapped, Xie Zhen charged down at him, ready to strike him down with his sword. However, Mustafa quickly used his strength to break the cable and dodged the attack. He suddenly removed the jade crystals on his wings and instead, covered them with gold. It wasn't stronger, but it would allow him to do quicker movements.
"For the Arritochans!" Xie Zhen screamed before charging with his sword. However, Mustafa used his Chi to create an earth plateform under the hedgehog who got thrown in the air and then charged to hit a strong kick into his back as he was falling, sending to a few feet away.
Both participants seemed tired as they were panting in exhaustion while glaring at each other. The crowd was totally into that match.
"Woah! This is intense!" Koji said in excitation.
"They're on equal levels!" Toka added. "I'm not even sure about who's going to win this!"
"Mustafa will win." Saras insured. "I'm sure he will."
Back in the fighting zone, both opponents charged forward and engaged another close combat. This time, Mustafa actually managed to land a few strikes with his golden wings. He didn't cracked Xie Zhen's armour, but this last one still felt the shock through his body. Seeing he couldn't win in close combat, the hedgehog decided to take off with his jetpack once more and shot buzzsaws with his right wrist gadget.
Mustafa created a rock wall from the ground to block them before kicking it and sending rocks to crash into Xie Zhen who got knocked back to the floor. He slowly walked toward the hedgehog while panting in exhaustion.
"Surrender, Xie Zhen! Your technology is not up to beat Kung Fu!"
Xie Zhen simply spat in disgust. "Never! A real Arritochan warrior never surrenders!"
"So be it..."
The duck turned his right wing into an hammer-shaped rock and ran forward to smash his opponent down. However, this last one rolled out of the way at the last second and kicked the duck in the face before following with a knee strike in his stomach and punches to his face.
"Come on, Mustafa, come on!" Shan Qu nervously said.
"It's not good." Karasu said with scratching his beak. "Mustafa is getting tired from using his Earth Chi so much and it's starting to show."
Xie Zhen finished his combo with a kick that knocked the duck on his back. He then took out his Jinshu Jian Jiao once more and lifted it, ready to deal the finishing blow. However, Mustafa refused to stay down and performed a wing move before a jet of magma jumped out of the ground and forced the hedgehog to step back to avoid getting burn.
"W-Where did that came from?!" He asked in surprise.
Instead of answering him, Mustafa kept creating one jet of magma after the other from all around, forcing Xie Zhen to stay in movement to avoid them which didn't prevented a few drops from leaving marks on his armor. Eventually, the hedgehog got tired and charged with a loud scream at the duck who simply hit him in the face with a spinning kick that knocked him down.
However, he didn't won yet as Xie Zhen performed a leg sweep to make him fall on his back and got on top of him to deliver many punches to his head, leaving him with a black eye. Eventually, the duck grabbed a rock and smashed it on his assaulter's helmet to make him get off before putting some distance between them.
By now, both opponents were standong on their knees and panting in exhaustion, covered of bruises.
"Why they don't simply kill each other already?" Kuai asked, clearly getting impatient. "This match is taking forever."
"They want to give their best. Some participants here have this thing called honnor, you know." Toka remarked.
"In other words, they're just idiots." Kuai simply replied. Toka would have attacked him, had Shen not slapped the back of his head.
"Show some respect, young man." He angrily said.
By the time the two opponents got back on their feet, Xie Zhen charged forward once more with his sword ready to strike. Mustafa swung his golden wing on the ground to shoot a rolling golden ball toward him, but he jumped above it and simply kept running. The duck decided to do the same and ran too, swinging his golden wing at his opponent.
Unfortunately, this last one ducked it and managed to stab his Chi sword through his side before stopping running. Mustafa fell on the ground, groaning in pain as he held his badly damaged side. Xie Zhen smirked as he knew he had won and walked toward the hurt duck.
"It's over. May you all remember this as a proof of the Hedgehog Clan's strength." He said and lifted his weapon, ready to kill off the defenceless duck.
However, before he could strike, Saras quickly jumped in and kicked him away. The hedgehog looked at him in shock.
"Hey! How dare you interfere! I defeated him in singles fight: it's my right to end his life!"
"Shut up!" Saras simply answered. "I don't care that he lost: this guy is my friend and if you want to kill him, you'll have to go through me!"
Xie Zhen would have loved too, but his fight drained too much energy out of him. He could only walk away while mumbling something about hoping to fight Saras at the next round.
"Woah...hum..." Bindo said, but regained his composure. "The winner of the match is XIE ZHEN!"
Nobody cared and watched Shan Qu as he came down and helped Saras carrying Mustafa to the infirmary. The duck barely managed to stay awake.
"I-I lost...didn't I?"
"Yes, I'm sorry." Shan Qu answered.
"Well...another year that I fail to pass the first round..." He mumbled sadly.
"Hey, don't worry." Saras said. "You putted on an amazing performance. If you keep working hard, I'm sure you'll go far in this tournament, eventually."
The duck smiled at his hedgehog friend and simply nodded.