MIKEY

He couldn't believe it. Leo had tried to warn him, but still. Nu huh. No way was this gonna stand.

Intentional attacks meant to maim or cause permanent injury were against the rules. But no one, no judge or official, had even batted an eye when that total jerkface had purposefully clapped Scout's ears, a move that could cause permanent hearing loss and vertigo. Sure, Scout was already deaf, but her poor ears had gone through enough recently.

And now they were going to make a fuss about a few missing teeth. Whoop-de-doo. Those grew back. Casey's had grown back removable, which was super-nifty. So, what was the big deal?

Even though headgear was optional, if you didn't mind having your vision a bit obstructed, mouth guards and groin protectors were mandatory. The guy was totes in the wrong for not gearing up properly.

Furious, he stomped towards the loser and his coach, furtively examining the guy's mouth. Neither saw him coming. He was almost there, ready to demonstrate a little ear boxing on Gap tooth, when something snagged his arm.

He looked back and saw Scout clutching his wrist. She earnestly shook her head and his anger fizzled away. She'd worked too hard for him to throw it all away by Raphing it up right now.

Letting out a long, slow breath, he signed, "sorry, Cubs. Good call." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leading her back to where mom stood, wearing an expression of consternation.

Disguising it in a show of examination, Mikey could feel the air charge with power as mom set Scout to rights. They hadn't been planning on using healing mojo till the end as it wasn't quite fair, though Leo scoffed whenever anyone brought fairness up. But this had been an illegal hit, so erasing it felt right.

Donnie and Leo approached and Mikey signed to Scout for them while mom worked on her.

"They've generously agreed not to disqualify Scout for the guy's lost teeth." Leo bit out sarcastically.

"Considering they told another competitor to suck it up for the same thing barely fifteen minutes ago, there's a precedent. Why aren't people wearing their mouthguards?" Donnie muttered.

"How?" Scout signed.

Donnie ran a hand over his head and signed. "In any sporting event, players and referees have a legal duty of care that can cost the organizations employing them a great deal of money for negligence. They agreed to let it go if we did the same concerning the intentional and uncalled hit to Scout's ears. It helped that I was recording the whole thing in slow-motion-capable high definition." Donnie added with a wink.

Scout looked around, signing, "so, what now?"

"You finish the match or one of you forfeits." Leo answered looking across the arena at her opponent.

Scout's face screwed up in determination as she signed. "I'm not going to be the one who backs down."

SCOUT

Back on the mat, Scout bowed in respect to the floor, the judges, and the now gap-toothed, swollen faced human, she was pretty sure wanted to kill her.

His mouth was so messed up he couldn't even smack talk. So, when the referee gave the go, he was all over Scout with the ferocity of an assailant. She blocked, blocked, blocked and blocked some more, until his strikes were beginning to leave bruises on her forearms and shins. But all that speed and aggression commanded energy that he didn't have to spend. She just had to wait him out, find her in.

The fist flying past her nose didn't have the force it had early on. Her hand flew up, caught his follow up. When he kept executing the same three attacks in repetition it was only a matter of time. Swiping his fist away she stepped in, opting for a pressure point attack to his torso. Rather than his face, the poor thing had, had enough.

Dragging her knuckles down the center of his sternum, she forced him back with one hand, stepped in then drove a knuckle just under his nose while swiping the inside of his arm with her other hand. The poor dude's mouth fell open in a scream she felt in her chest as he staggered back... out of bounds.

Fight won, Scout bowed in respect of her opponent despite his lack of sportsmanship. He didn't return the gesture. Looking to her dad, he gave her a cheery thumbs-up then signed her next opponent was coming to the ring.

She was a child the last time she competed, a few katas, a weapons demonstration, and a single sparring match, which were nothing compared to this. It just kept coming. As she stepped to the mat for her fifth fight she was glad for her endurance training. The competitors were getting better with every fight, and she was getting tired.

Everything she saw in the movies about serious competition, the part where the winner fights the winner until there are only two and the last one is the winner, that part, at least in this competition was actually true. As she tricked another competitor out of bounds, rather than seriously hurt them, she found herself sweat-coated and panting.

As she approached him, her dad was peppy as ever though. He held out her water bottle in one hand and a small waste-bin in the other.

She scowled at him as he held the bottle back, signing one handed for her to swish and spit. When she tried to swallow he tugged the bottle away and tapped her hard on the back, making her cough it out. Frustrated she swatted him away and went back to the mat.

How many more rounds would there be? She looked around, realizing the crowd had gathered around four sets of mats. Four matches either taking place or getting ready to. Just four more, she had this.

A massive beaver mutant waddled onto the mat, dragging his paddle tail behind him. He lifted it up then slapped it down so hard everyone around them covered their ears. Glad she couldn't hear it, Scout still felt the recoil and got the message. Beware the tail. Yeah. She totally had this.

By the second tail slap that sent her sprawling across the floor, Scout wasn't so sure she had this. She was sure a crisscross pattern of welts covered the backs of her legs and part of her back, though a spectator couldn't see it for her gi, which was probably why the beaver hadn't been disqualified yet. Rolling to her feet, she lunged into a combination that would've put one of her uncles in their shells. Problem was, none of them had that much body fat covering their pressure points and vulnerable areas. A third slap, this one across her back knocked her across the floor, stole her breath and as she got to her feet, the telltale trickle down her back told her he'd broke skin. There was chaotic movement in her periphery, flashes of green, but she didn't dare take her eyes off the damn beaver. How was she going to take this beady-eyed sucker down?

LEO

Leo watched the fight, doing his best to disguise his inner tension under a calm facade. It was hard to watch Scout just trying to stay on her feet. Sore and exhausted, she'd hadn't had even a moment to catch her breath between fights and was thus not in the best state of mind for tactical thinking. A problem, considering she needed to be smart if she wanted to win this.

It didn't help that any competition frowned on her skill set. Ninjutsu, it's tools, techniques and methods, favored practicality and did not lend itself to rules. So much of her arsenal was banned for not being sporting, because it wasn't a sport, not to them, that no one would know what she was truly capable of. But Scout was clever, a problem solver, and he believed in her ability to figure this out.

Mikey clamped a hand down on his arm. "She's bleeding. I see blood. Blood. Why isn't anyone calling anything?" He squawked hysterically.

"This tournament prides itself on being no holds barred. Other than legal prohibitions against intentionally lethal or maiming injuries, anything goes." Leo responded through clenched teeth. "There hasn't been a foul yet according to this tournament's rules." And, with two nonhumans, the judges wouldn't intervene for or against Scout no matter what happened, likely hoping they'd put each other down and out of the competition.

Mikey scowled, a disturbingly unfamiliar expression on him. "Then why are we in this crappy tournament?"

Sure, now he was concerned about it.

"Because it's the only one that would admit her. Hopefully, if she places highly, fighting with skill and honor, more doors will open in the future." Her present opponent certainly wasn't doing their cause any favors.

"I gotta help her." Mikey insisted, frantically signing a slew of unhelpful and contradictory advice.

Leo shook his head. Even if his panicked brother could produce a useful strategy, not his strength when outside the flow of battle, Scout was in no position to pay attention to anything beyond the fight in front of her.

Leo's hands curled into fists. He hated that this was their only option, that Scout had to endure this in pursuit of her goals. But she was a trailblazer and wouldn't be the first required to go to great lengths to achieve her dreams. Knowing that didn't make watching her opponent pummel her any easier.

The tail. Disable the tail. The ligaments and tendons controlling it are vulnerable enough to injure. Disable his tail. Then you can use his size and strength against him.

Leo willed her to see it, helpless as he was to assist. He really, really hated this.