Three out of the four first round matches passed. Everybody present in the coliseum knew what this meant. "It is time for the final match of the first round! For this, I call participants Master Tigress and Master Siax!"
The two felines jumped and landed almost at the same time in the fighting zone. The atmosphere around them became heavy and intense. Both of them were known for being very strong and, by some twist of fate, they also happened to be the final representative of their respective Kung Fu Dojo: the Jade Palace for Master Tigres and the Magic Kung Fu School for Master Siax. This meant that the winner would get to eliminate the other's Dojo from the competition.
"I made it just in time," Kodok said as he came back to sit down on his seat with a bag of popcorn in his lap.
"Can you feel this intensity too?" Shining Eagle asked.
"Yup," Yukan said with a nod. "This is gonna be a very hard match." The sun bird then mumbled something about wishing for Master Tigress to lose.
"The legendary leader of the Furious Five," the black panther said with putting a paw on her hip. "It is quite the honor of having the chance to face and eliminate you from the Legendary Tournament."
"Don't let your victory in the previous phase get to your head," the feline replied. "I'm gonna be a LOT harder to defeat. Probably even impossible."
"Master Tigress, Master Siax, are you ready for your match?" Nunzio asked.
"Always have been," Tigress said with cracking her neck and knuckles.
"Same here," Siax growled as her muscles tensed, ready to strike at any moment.
"In this case, let the fourth and final match of the third phase's first round... BEGIN!"
The two felines turned their eyes into slits as they took their respective fighting stance and blocked the sounds around them. They focused their senses to their maximum and waited for the other to make the first move. Eager to get things started, Tigress decided to be the one to do just that, launching herself at the black panther with unrelenting ferocity without lowering her guard for more as she had no idea what her opponent was capable of.
She threw an onslaught of fast and powerful punches and kicks, hoping to end this fight quickly. However, to her surprise, the black panther managed to avoid all of them with graceful and agile movements that left her attacks barely touching her fur. In fact, the way she rhythmically moved through her opponent's attacks made it look more like she was dancing rather than fighting.
"What's this Kung Fu style?" Yukan asked in the audience.
"I can answer that," a voice said from behind him. Yukan turned around to see a familiar white-furred animal.
"Snow Kid?!"
The yeti nodded with a smile before looking back at the ongoing match. "Siax has a special Kung Fu style that she herself created. She calls it the Thousand Veils Dance. As the name implies, this fighting style is more akin to a dance more so than a form of physical combat, relying more on graceful movement and agility rather than brute force. The style itself is more passive and relaxed rather than outright aggressive as Siax will rhythmically move through the enemy's attacks, exploiting even the smallest opening to strike."
"Dancing can be a fighting style now?" Kodok asked after swallowing some popcorn. "We learn a bit more every day."
Getting tired of missing all her attacks, Tigress slapped her paws around Siax's head to stun her for a moment. The striped feline then jumped upward and looked to hit a devastating flip kick to her opponent and end this match. However, the black panther recovered just in time to avoid the attack with a cartwheel. Tigress' foot still created a small crater in the floor, just like in the previous matches.
"COME ON, TIGRESS! KICK HER TAIL!" Po cheered.
"Can they just get this done so that we can move on? I'm bored," Daito yawned.
"You're the only one who's bored here, pal; I think this match is very interesting," Kivuli remarked.
Having had enough of being on the defensive for so long, Siax started fighting back with a barrage of punches and kicks of her own. Not a single one of them touched the striped feline, but this last one could not deny she was having a hard time keeping up with her opponent's agility and unpredictability. "You're gonna have to do better than that if you wanna beat me!"
"Oh, don't worry about that!" With a swift swing of her paw, Siax sent a small jet of sand into Tigress' face, hitting her eyes. Tigress flinched and rubbed her blinded eyes, giving her opponent a chance to deliver a strong kick into her chest. Not only did she feel like her torso's bones were breaking, but the striped feline was also sent flying into the arena's wall, crashing brutally and causing cracks to form in the surface.
"W-Where did that sand come from?" Shining Eagle asked in surprise. "She has sand powers?"
"Exactly," Snow Kid confirmed. "It's her elemental power. Very rare, but Siax is a blessed girl."
Tigress rose to her feet and stumbled a bit as she felt staggered, her vision being blurry and her head spinning. "Looks like I'll have to go harder on this," she thought with rubbing some blood off of her head.
She then charged on all four toward the black panther, roaring, and making her paws glow with a strange red light. Siax widened her eyes as she started moving in a dance-like fashion to avoid the glowing paws. "This technique, is that...?!"
"Wow! I didn't know she could use this technique!" Shining exclaimed.
"What technique is that?" Yukan asked with a confused look.
"It's the Nerve Strike Technique: if she hits a certain point of the body, this part can become paralyzed. It's even worse if she hits an important nerve."
Realizing she couldn't dodge forever, Siax ducked one last attack before launching her paw forward for a palm strike at her opponent. Little did she know, this was EXACTLY the opening Tigress was waiting for. Grabbing her wrist with her paw, the striped feline planted a pressure-point attack into her shoulder, paralyzing her arm entirely. She followed by also hitting her other arm and her back bones to neutralize her legs as well.
"It's over," Tigress declared with pointing a paw toward the black panther. "You will not be able to move for a few hours. I recommend you surrender if you don't want me to knock you out.
"... Fine, I surrender," Siax said after sighing.
"Participant Master Siax has surrendered the match! Therefore, the winner and final one to qualify for the next round is Master Tigress!"
The audience erupted into a wave of cheers as Tigress panted a bit from such a strong fight. The medical team came to escort Siax to the infirmary and give her the appropriate treatment before her paralysis would become too lethal. Looking around, the striped feline saw her friends cheering for her - Po the most.
"THAT WAS AWESOME, TIGRESS! THE GREATEST FIGHT IN THE STORY OF AWESOMENESS!" She rolled her eyes at her friend's enthusiasm.
"And so ends the first round of the final phase," Shining Eagle said. "We're getting close to the end."
"Yeah." Yukan started counting his feathers. "Now, the remaining participants are Kivuli, Daito, Kira Lee, and Master Tigress. The strongest ones of this tournament." The sun parrot gulped a bit; he didn't have anything against Kira Lee, but he didn't want to see either Daito or Master Tigress winning the tournament.
"You must win at all cost, Kivuli..."
Author's note: Honestly, that wasn't my best match. I wasn't sure on how to write a feline fight between two opponents we barely know anything about. But now, it looks like the Magic Kung Fu School got eliminated from the tournament.
Kivuli, Daito Shun, Kira Lee, and Tigress are the last participants in the tournament. This means there are only three fights left. Who do you think is gonna win? Let me know in the reviews and, as always, may the gods watch over you all.
