Last time on ExtraOrdinary, Team Esper had found themselves facing seven opposing teams who sought to eliminate them. However, having learned from their past mistakes, Garrett and his friends had prevailed over their foes and managed to remain the last team standing. Intrigued by the human's unusual power level, Freya sent the twins out to challenge Team Esper as a means to determine how strong Garrett truly is. Now, five members of Team Esper have been bested by the twins in the blink of an eye, and Garrett and Night-Tail remain to face them. Which duo will emerge the victor?

Find out now!

ExtraOrdinary: A Psychic's Tail

Chapter 3: Clash of the Duos - Garrett and Night-Tail vs Jikan and Kukan!

Time: 12:17 PM

Date: August 10, Age 257

Garrett and Night-Tail are in their fighting stances, ready to square off against the Fairy twins Jikan and Kukan as the twins stare down at them.

Jikan turns her attention to Garrett, eager to know more about him. "You in the pink." she says.

Garrett looks at his surroundings before figuring that Jikan was talking to him. "Yeah, what is it you want?" he asks. "As you can see, I'm getting ready to kick your butt."

"I wanna know something; what is a human, of all races, doing on this planet?" Jikan asks.

Garrett is clearly confused by Jikan's question. "A human?" he asks. "What the heck is a human supposed to be? I'm an Ivalorian just like everybody else here, so you might wanna get that head checked."

"..." Night-Tail says nothing. The fact that Garrett is different from everyone else was blatantly obvious for not just him, but all of the denizens of Ivalor.

"Aw, the poor baby." Kukan chimes in. "If anyone needs to get their head checked, it's you, my dear."

"Say what?!" Garrett snaps. "Are you trying to start something?!" He is slowly beginning to lose his cool.

Moko is clearly confused. He has no idea why the four combatants haven't simply started their battle yet. "Aunt Arachne? What's going on down there?" he asks.

"I'm not sure, my dear." Aunt Arachne replies. "Let's keep watching and see where this goes."

The audience is slowly beginning to grow impatient.

"Clearly, whoever raised you must've been quite good at keeping your true nature a secret from you, dear Garrett Grayson." Jikan says as she walks closer to Garrett and places her hand on his cheek.

"Hey, woman!" Night-Tail exclaims. "What do you think you're doing?! I'm the one you're going to-!" Before he can finish talking, Kukan teleports in front of the fox, stopping him in his tracks. "So you intend to be my opponent, huh? In that case, I'm happy to oblige." He takes a fighting stance. "However, don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're a woman."

"You don't need to." Kukan replies. With their brief conversation ended, Night-Tail and Kukan proceed to engage each other in the heat of combat.

Jikan looks at the intense fight for a moment then looks back at Garrett, still fondling his cheek. "Since I'm feeling awful generous today, I'm willing to strike a deal with you, Garrett." she says.

"And what would that be?" Garrett asks.

"It's a simple thing, really." Jikan replies. "If you surrender right here and now, I'll pull my sister back here and both you and your friend will walk out of here unharmed." She brings herself closer to Garrett, reaching his ear. "What do you say?"

Garrett closes his eyes and smiles as Jikan pulls back. "Are you done?" he asks.

Jikan tilts her head, clearly confused by Garrett's question. Suddenly, Garrett lands a powerful punch to her cheek, sending her crashing to the stadium wall.

"Holy beefcakes!" the announcer yells as the audience screams wildly. "The Esper Rosé has actually landed a blow on the Temporal Twin Jikan!"

Night-Tail is pushed back as he bears witness to such a scene. Good work there, Freckles. he thought. Jikan is not gonna go down that easily, but as your rival, I have faith that you'll get the job done.

Kukan flies over to and punches the black fox in the face. "Eyes on me, Ivalorian." she says. "I'm your opponent, remember?"

Night-Tail turns his attention back to Kukan as the latter attempts to land a roundhouse kick. He catches the Fairy's foot and throws her a good few feet away. Upon gaining the space he needs, Night-Tail creates a ki claw with his right hand. "Umbra Claw!" he yells as he runs towards Kukan.

Garrett simply stands where he is, waiting for his opponent to get back on her feet. Jikan emerges from the dust, but her hair is down and she is infuriated that someone would have the gall to attack her like that.

"Oh, me! Oh, my!" the announcer says. "Jikan is back on her feet and she is not pleased!"

"Telling me, the great Garrett Grayson, to call it quits?" Garrett asks. "That's a big mistake. I'll have you know that I am a very stubborn guy. I won't give up until my opponent gives up. That is my life philosophy."

"That's quite an interesting philosophy to be sure," Jikan replies. "But that stubbornness will get you nowhere, especially when you're under the whims of fate itself."

"Fate, huh?" Garrett remarks. "Sounds like a pretty raw deal."

"Fate is a force that binds every living individual in this Universe and Universes beyond it." Jikan adds. "You are not exempt from this force. I can tell that you've been dealt a bad hand in life by fate. Why even bother trying to resist it? It would only result in further suffering."

Garrett gives only a small growl, clearly getting fed up with what he was hearing.

"Those who have been dealt a good hand in life will live long and prosper." Jikan continues. "However, those who have been dealt a bad hand in life has no choice but to suck it up and accept it. Fate is truth. Fate is something that cannot and must not be changed. It is an absolute truth that must be embraced without question, and..."

Before Jikan can finish up her speech, Garrett interrupts. "Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!" he groans. "All this talk about fate and people being unable to change their fate is boring me out of my mind!" He flares up a pink aura. "Listen, lady. I may have not had the best beginning in my life, but I'm not about to let that define my life. If I've been dealt a bad hand in life by fate, I'll just shove it up its butt and repeat the process until I've been given a good hand!"

Jikan gives Garrett a cold, menacing glare. "You cannot possibly hope to defy fate itself." she says as she flares up an indigo aura. "It's absurd! RIDICULOUS! Attempting to defy fate will only cause more suffering!"

"Is that right?" Garrett asks with a sly grin. "In that case, I'll just have to display the power of my determination just to prove you wrong!"

Garrett charges at Jikan and the two fighters collide fists! A battle between duos has officially begun!

Night-Tail is exchanging blows with Kukan, clearly struggling when it comes to trying to emerge the victor. It appears that the Spatial Twin is a lot tougher than meets the eye. Kukan gives a smug smile.

"What could you possibly find so amusing, woman?" Night-Tail asks. "I don't exactly have the patience for that cocky attitude, you know."

"Do you know why people call me the Spatial Twin?" Kukan asks as she spreads her wings. "You're about to see why right here and right now!" What appears to be a vortex surrounds Kukan. Seconds later, she suddenly vanishes.

"Where did-?!" Night-Tail exclaims, investigating his surroundings. He looks down and sees that the ground below him has suddenly shattered like glass. He jumps to a safe spot, but the shards fly toward him like missiles, forcing him to run and try to deflect them with Umbra Claw.

"I see now..." Night-Tail pieces together. "Kukan has the ability to manipulate space itself, hence her nickname!" As he deflects the pursuing spatial shards, more suddenly appear behind him. The fox detects this and gets out of the way.

Night-Tail finds himself at the center of the stadium. He closes his eyes and attempts to pinpoint Kukan's exact location. Wait for it... he thought. Wait for it...

At that moment, a vortex appears beside the black-clad fox. He opens his eyes and slashes at the vortex, knocking back the Fairy trying to attack him and defeating her.

"You... lousy... asinine..." Kukan says as she loses consciousness.

Night-Tail could only chuckle in amusement as the audience roars out at his victory over Kukan.

Garrett and Jikan are exchanging blows, seemingly on equal footing.

"I must say," Jikan says. "For a mere human, you match me step for step." She throws a few ki blasts at Garrett, only for the latter to deflect them with kicks.

"That's because your heart is more focused on proving yourself right than in the fight itself!" Garrett replies.

Jikan growls a bit and spreads her wings. The wings begin to glow and Jikan flares up a blue aura. Garrett runs towards the Fairy in an attempt to stop her, but he somehow slows down, as does everything else around Jikan. Then everything is brought to a halt. Time has been frozen.

Wha-What in the...?! Garrett thinks. For some reason, I can't move! Wait a second...! If her sister can bend space and dimensions, that must mean that Jikan here can...!

Jikan walks towards Garrett and creates a ki blade. "This is why they call me the Temporal Twin." she says. "I have the ability to manipulate time itself as if it were my toy."

Well, this isn't good! Garrett thinks. If I can't find a way to break through this, I'm done for!

Jikan raises her ki blade, preparing to administer the finishing blow. "As fun as our fight has been," she says. "It's time for you to take the plunge with the rest of your color-coded friends, Garrett. Time Slicer!"

Before Jikan can strike, Garrett somehow manages to move his right arm in the realm of frozen time. "WHAT?!" she exclaims.

Garrett lands a powerful punch to Jikan's gut, sending her flying across the stadium and forcing time to resume.

Jikan could only look on in shock. Who-? she thought. Who is this freak of nature?! First, I'm picking up a ki signature similar to mine and Kukan's from him, and now he is suddenly able to move in frozen time?! NO human should be able to do something like that!

"You better come at me with everything you have." Garrett replies.

Jikan growls in anger and charges at her pink-clad foe.

Hua is the first to recover from getting knocked out. She proceeds to heal the other members of Team Esper, starting with Phoebe. The group then watches Night-Tail and Garrett's battles against Kukan and Jikan respectively, amazed not just by their power levels, but also their battle chemistry.

"This is incredible!" Phoebe exclaims. "Garrett and Night-Tail make quite a pair when they're not taking jabs at each other."

"The reason is obvious, Phoebe." Pip replies. "Garrett and Night-Tail are boon companions, yes, but they are also rivals. Light and Dark, two sides of the same coin. Night-Tail often likes to act as though he is a lone wolf, but underneath that stoic facade lies a heart of gold that drives him to protect those he holds dear. Garrett is happy-go-lucky and has a spirit of a fighter who refuses to give up to negativity and adversity. This fact is what makes those two the strongest members of Team Esper."

"Pip," Gobbles says. "I don't think I've heard you talk that much in a long time. It's almost scary."

"..." Pip says nothing.

"Wait! What is that?!" one person in the audience says, prompting Team Esper to look up at the sky. They discover what appears to be a dimensional tear, and one that is not of Kukan's creation.

"What is that thing?!" Dodge demands.

Garrett and Jikan notice that the audience is panicking. They turn to spot the dimensional rift as well.

"Whoa! The sky suddenly opened up!" Garrett exclaims. "What's going on?"

Jikan, however, says nothing as a lightning bolt strikes the ground and a person emerges from the depths of the widening rift. The individual arriving has casual Fairy clothing, is light-skinned, and has a dirty blonde faux hawk.

Night-Tail takes notice of the dimensional rift and the individual who appeared from it. "W-Who is that?!" he asks.

Freya and Mithra are shocked by this turn of events as well.

Night-Tail had prevailed against Kukan, and just when Garrett and Jikan's showdown was about to reach its rousing finale, a third unexpected fighter has entered the ring! Who could this mysterious stranger be, and what is his intent in Ivalor? Find out next time on ExtraOrdinary!