Fox took up a position at the far edge of the arena, leaving Lucina alone in the middle against their two foes, Simon and Lucas. Lucas had taken the forefront position so that Simon could use his tools under his protection to wreak havoc on them the same way he had done to Leaf. That wasn't his concern, he could easily get past Lucas to wail on the newcomer. His focus was on his teammate.
"What're you doing?" she called back at him as Lucas approached.
"Just fight like normal!" he replied. She didn't have time to argue because a barrage of psionic attacks had just hit her.
Fox glanced past the fighting duo at Simon, who was getting ready to toss an armory worth of weapons into the fight on Lucas's command. Because of how narrow the field was, fights usually had one upfront fighter and one supporter, with the one upfront calling the shots as needed. For this plan to work, he needed to act as Lucina's support, meaning he had to trust her to hold her own against an equally matched Lucas. It was uncomfortable, leaving his plan's success up to someone else, but it was the only way his bigger objective could be achieved.
Lucina had no idea what was going on, so she couldn't act as any kind of shot caller. Fox would have to determine on his own when to make his moves, meaning he always had to be aware of the state of every champion on the field. Not a problem, he had experience processing much more information in the past. The tricky part was that his plan wasn't concrete, just a strategy that required him to be able to adapt to a slew of scenarios.
Lucina got a few close swings against Lucas, forcing him to stumble back a bit. His much shorter stature prevented him from getting close, forcing him to rely on his psionic abilities, which Lucina knew by heart. He called back for Simon to back him up with a few projectiles.
"Pin him!" Fox called out. Lucina went fully on the offensive, swiping at every exposed inch of Lucas she could find. Simon prepared a heavy axe and tossed it through the air, aiming right at Lucina's head.
Fox took off, jumping over Lucina and Lucas and kicking the axe right out of the air. From here, he had a wide-open shot at Simon. Lucas, realizing his less experienced partner was about to have a member of the Big Eight drop on top of them, tried to break away from Lucina to ward off Fox. Lucina swiped at his head before he could jump, killing his momentum.
Fox landed in front of Simon. A metal whip came shooting out at him. Simon had quickly switched weapons. He sidestepped just as the chain links rattled back and forth past his eyes. He took a step towards him. Simon advanced as well. He slid tackled at Fox. Fox glanced behind himself at Lucas and Lucina. Simon was trying to get behind him to split them apart between himself and Lucas. A smart move, but Fox wasn't about to let some newbie pass by him.
"No, you don't," said Fox. He front-flipped over the slide tackle and grabbed Simon in the process. On the way around, he flipped Simon in a huge circle and slammed him down on the ground back in front. Simon had barely bounced off the arena floor when Fox delivered a follow-up kick that sent him flying off the stage.
He wasn't done. He had watched Simon in his match against Leaf and knew that metal chain could be used to get back onto the stage. He sprinted to the edge of the arena and kicked right at the edge. His foot came into contact with the same chain that had almost hit him in the face earlier and deflected it away, leaving Simon to fall out of bounds.
"Damn, that hurt!" Fox rubbed his toe. That chain had been sent up with so much force that it nearly broke his foot when he kicked it.
Behind him, Lucas was poking holes in Lucina's wild attack.
"Don't let him get behind you!"
There were only a few seconds before Simon would be dropped back onto the arena fully recovered. Lucas would most likely try to get behind Lucina to cover a side of the arena for Simon to land on instead of being pinned between her and Fox with no secure landing zone for Simon.
Lucina swapped to a defensive style, blocking all of Lucas's advances and refusing to give up any ground. Fox sprinted after them. Simon was being lifted back above the stage. Lucas heard his footsteps and spun around mid-combo and threw a bolt of flame at Fox to slow his advance, but Fox was already spinning around the attack before it was even thrown. He tripped Lucas from behind and shouted at Lucina to knock him off.
What he hadn't prepared for, was Lucina hitting Lucas straight into him.
Fox and Lucas both went airborne and off the stage. Lucas was already attempting a recovery, but Fox was two steps ahead and flipped around to crack him right in the head with his heel and send him cratering out of bounds. He used his mid-air jump and just barely reached the edge of the stage.
Lucina ran to help him up, but Fox waved her off. "Get him!" he pointed at Simon, who had just dropped back in. Fox stood up at the ledge. He didn't have much left after getting knocked off with Lucas.
Simon had no intention of trying to fight two-on-one against vastly more experienced opponents, so he dedicated all his effort and resources to stalling them until Lucas arrived. Fox told Lucina to go after Lucas, but Lucas had changed his priorities. He didn't want Fox to be remotely involved with fighting Simon. He jumped well clear of Lucina's advance and made for Fox.
That was fine. Trying to knock off Simon took his focus, but he could avoid him blindfolded. He turned around when Lucas sent a bolt of fire for him and threw up his deflector. He angled the bolt right past him and sent it straight at Simon, who had to dive out of the way. Fox sent a flurry of kicks and punches at Lucas, none of them making clean contact, but pushing him back with every swing. Lucas didn't figure out his plan fast enough, and he got pushed right into another one of Lucina's swings.
Lucas went airborne again, but they knew he would make it back to the arena. Fox sidestepped once more around the clinking of metal that forewarned another metal chain making for his head and grabbed it before Simon could pull it back.
"Get him!" he called out to Lucina. Simon yanked desperately at the chain, lurching Fox forward with each pull. Lucina kicked him in the chest and sent him hurtling off the stage, but he also ripped the chain out of Fox's hands and snarled Lucina in the process, throwing her to her feet and pulling her off the stage with him.
Fox tried to catch her, but she wasn't even looking at him. Instead of trying to hold onto the stage, she willingly fell off and grabbed Lucas's leg as he tried to make it back to the stage and dragged him down with her out of bounds.
With all three out for a few seconds, Fox took a moment to catch his breath. He could hear the crowd distantly. Them winning this match wasn't a surprise, but this was turning into a blowout in their favor.
Simon arrived first, just slightly ahead of Lucina and then Lucas. With Fox now becoming exhausted, he went straight at him. Still, Fox wasn't one to be beaten by a newbie even while drained. He fended off and dodged around Simon's arsenal of attacks until Lucina arrived and he had to back off. Both Simon and Lucas only had one more life left in this game. Lucas switched tactics yet again. He and Simon now explicitly targeted Lucina, leaving a battered Fox to try and support as best as he could.
Lucina started taking a beating, but she kept getting back up to stop either of them from advancing on Fox. Fox didn't like this. His strategy would be no good if Lucina was pulverized and knocked out before they could finish this.
"Get behind me and back me up!" he called out. Lucina dropped back to him.
"What are you talking about?" she shouted, parrying another metal projectile from Simon and kicking him out of the way. Fox grabbed her and threw her behind him. Simon and Lucas tried to follow, but Fox intercepted them both.
Even with his level of experience, fending off two fighters at once was a challenge. Combined with already being tired, he started taking some hard hits within seconds. Still, he was making them pay with every contact. He dealt Lucas a hard knock across the head, disrupting his psionic abilities, and he was able to use his deflector to send Simon's projectiles back at him.
Lucas got tired of Fox's heroics eventually and pulled out a huge stick which he whacked Fox with. Winded, Fox succumbed. Simon grabbed him and chucked him off the stage.
"Go! Now!" he wheezed back at Lucina as he tumbled out of sight.
When the drones lifted him back above the stage, the crowd was roaring as Lucina was dominating the two-on-one matchup. Fox's deliberate hit at Lucas's head had badly damaged his ability to use his psionic abilities, leaving Simon to act as the protector. Simon didn't match up well at all against Lucina, whose quick, close-range attacks were poking holes all through his shoddy defense. Fox hadn't even landed back on the arena stage before she had thrust him off the stage. With Lucas still present, she couldn't follow him to ensure he went out of bounds, but now Simon was dangling from the edge of the stage by his chain.
Fully refreshed, Fox landed in front of a still-dazed Lucas, who didn't put up much of a fight against the two of them. Fox landed another heavy hit to his head and this time it took him into the air for a third time that game and out of bounds.
On the other side, Lucina had casually strolled up to the edge of the arena, where Simon had been clambering up his chain to get back on the stage.
"Oh, great," he grumbled when he saw Lucina appear. She snapped the chain off the ledge and sent him tumbling away.
Fox sat down, the crowd still ringing in his ears. That had gone so well he couldn't believe it. They had only lost two lives combined, one of them being a fluke with Simon's whip grabbing Lucina. If they could refine this strategy and apply it in their other matches…
He looked up, Lucina was standing over him with her hand on her hip. The drones were doing repairs on them before starting the next match. Lucas and Simon had been dropped back on the stage. Lucas was going over tactics with Simon. It didn't matter much what they did, Fox was going to be able to dance in circles around it.
"Are you going to bother telling me what you're up to?" she asked him. "Or am I just your pawn for these matches."
"I would have if there was time, but to be honest, I came up with this yesterday. We can go over it more later if you want."
"And I suppose we have your inexplicable genius to thank for this?"
Fox tilted his head towards the box office in the stands. "You can thank Leaf for this idea."
Lucina glanced over with narrowed eyes. "Didn't realize you were so desperate you were taking advice from newbies," she scoffed.
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in," said Fox. Lucina offered out a hand and picked Fox up.
"Is there anything special I should know about this plan?" she asked. They lined up the same as before to face Simon and Lucas for their second game.
"Just fight like I know you can, and I'll make this feel like a cakewalk."
Bowser pounded his armrest, sending Palutena right next to him airborne from shock.
"What kind of turnaround is this?" he complained loudly. "Less than a week ago he was whining about Lucina not playing nice with him and now they're the strongest-looking duo in the field?"
"No way did you bet on Lucas and Simon," Link said with a cautious laugh. "Fox and Lucina might have been having chemistry problems, but that's a huge mismatch."
"No, of course not, but I did bet on them covering the spread! The books had them winning by way more than I thought possible when their teamwork was two steps into couples therapy!" Link busted out laughing. "But now they just decide to be best friends and roll over the competition? I swear you people do this to mess with me! This is all because I told him I'd bet against them if they couldn't figure it out."
While Link continued to roll and Bowser fumed, higher up in the club seating, Zelda and Hand were looking around the stadium with concern.
"This doesn't add up," muttered Hand.
Zelda was back to nervously chewing on her knuckle like she had while watching Leaf be beaten around, but this time her nerves weren't from what was happening in the fight.
The attendance in the stadium that day was paltry. Compared to previous doubles matches, which had provided them a crucial, albeit small, bump in numbers, this was barely reaching a third of what they had last week.
"Did we mess something up?" asked Zelda.
"No, I truly think something else is going on," said Hand. "There's no reason for the attendance to be this poor."
Someone burst through the doors behind them. It was Ganon. He looked up at Hand and said, "Sir, there's a problem at the gates. No one can get through?"
Hand stood up, Zelda and several others did as well, but he waved them off. "You all stay put. Show me," he told Ganon.
"Wolf and Ridley are already down there. We just happened to be walking by when we saw it," he told them as they walked out the door.
Zelda sat back down and resumed her squirming. Each step of progress they made was so minor and delicate, they simply couldn't afford a huge setback like this. She looked over the stands and to the trees forming the boundary of the training grounds. They were turning a faint tinge of orange and red.
Samus strolled around the stadium underneath the stands, her hoodie up around her head as she listened to the crowd cheer on Fox and the others. With such loose-fitting clothes and her face concealed, people usually didn't recognize her. This let her disappear into the crowd to focus on her upcoming doubles match today.
However, the crowd this time was noticeably sparser than normal. She was concerned there were so few people that she would be recognized and swarmed with fans. Someone passed close by on their way to the stands, and she overheard them say something to their friend.
"Unbelievable, not having their gates working. It took us so long to get in we're missing the first fight. They better give us a refund."
Samus stared after them. The infrastructure here had been battle-tested for years and endured crowd sizes much larger than what was expected for today. There shouldn't be any issue with getting people inside. Still, with the state of the company being what it was, she worried this would cause even more problems. She headed for the entrance to the stadium.
Sure enough, there was a pileup of unhappy fans stuck outside the stadium. The turnstiles that typically allowed people through upon scanning their ticket were vacant, and the entire crowd was being jammed through two chokepoints where stadium employees were trying desperately to get people through as quickly and safely as possible. As opposed to the two dozen automatic entry points, this wasn't going to work remotely fast enough.
Not long after she arrived, Hand and Ganon appeared from another side of the entrance plaza. Hand looked very stern, and Ganon was pointing out the malfunctioning turnstiles. It wasn't like people could jump over or through them either to ease the traffic. They were tall, and not everyone could even make it over, let alone the safety hazards. If no one fixed them soon, though, then thousands of people were going to be kept out of the arena. She imagined the impact that would have on their financials would be catastrophic at this point.
Hand said something to Ganon. At first, Ganon did a few double-takes as he clarified what Hand was saying. After receiving confirmation at least two or three times, he marched over to another part of the plaza where she saw Wolf and-
Her teeth gritted together. Ridley was with them. She instinctively took a few steps back, even though she was across the plaza and well hidden with her outfit. Ganon gave them a few instructions, in which they looked at him with the same look he had given Hand, then they marched to the turnstiles. Ganon grabbed onto the nearest one with Wolf, and with a tremendous heave, they ripped out its innards, leaving an open gap.
The crowd let out a cheer when they saw the metal pieces go flying behind them. Hand ordered the stadium employees to spread out again and start checking tickets at all the turnstiles. One by one, Ganon, Wolf, and Ridley were shredding them.
Shredding. Ripping. Tearing. Ridley smashed through each one like it was made of paper. While Ganon and Wolf used teamwork and heavy lifting to pull each one out, Ridley sliced through them with precision. Gutting their insides. Strewing pieces of them all over the ground. Smashing and breaking everything. The sound of his claws ripping through metal screeching through the air. His motions were wild and furious each time he hacked one apart. Each time he tore one up the crowd cheered him on, and he indulged them with a sick smile.
Samus tripped backward. She didn't even notice she was walking away. Her heart rate was sky high, and she was burning up inside her hoodie. When she tried to get up, she saw her hands shaking.
After destroying about half the turnstiles, Hand called them off. Ridley froze mid-swipe and immediately backed away to let the crowds start pouring through.
"Dammit," Samus breathed. After stumbling some trying to get back up, she turned away from the plaza. They didn't need any help, and the longer she stayed there, the sicker she felt. She ripped off her hoodie and made for the locker rooms before anyone could recognize her.
"Are you sure you don't need anything?"
"Look, I told you, I'm fine."
Kaitlin was back in her boss's office. Over on the TV nearby, Fox and Lucina had just finished crushing Simon and Lucas to seal the blowout, but the only thing Kaitlin's boss had an eye for was the abysmal attendance in the stands. Hardly a third of the place was filled.
"I trust you to not fall for hyperbole, and I respect that, but you have to understand what this looks like," she said, pointing a pen over to the screen. "You say they're having problems, but this is looking like a full-blown collapse."
"And I keep telling you, that's absurd. Things are bad, but announcing the end times for these guys is just ridiculous. They have a solid cash reserve. They're being very frugal with what they have on hand-."
"They just doubled the number of champions! How is that being frugal?"
"There are plenty of ways they can be frugal other than just cutting people!" Kaitlin explained, exasperated. Her boss had been jumping down her throat every time the competition showed weakness in their numbers. "They've made loads of changes, and all of them, in my opinion, have been very well thought out and executed."
Her boss sighed and slid back in her chair. "I just don't want us to be tailing behind Laurissa," she said. "They got ahead of us with that initial report, but you gained some important ground back by being so on top of that statement from Hand. If we say there's nothing to fear and the whole thing blows up tomorrow, we'll look incompetent, and Laurissa will take all the readers."
"You said I don't fall for hyperbole, and I think this is hyperbole. Look, the crowd has been slowly filling up ever since we started having this conversation. Maybe they just had a slow start today. If it becomes a trend, I'll make note of it, but I can't go jumping after every little problem and blowing it out of proportion."
"Alright," her boss conceded. "I trust you. Just understand you're putting our image on your shoulders here. If you pull out of this at the end correct, I'll make sure you're praised and rewarded to the end of the galaxy."
"And if I'm wrong?"
Her boss gave a few nervous clicks of her pen. "I don't know. I might be too busy trying to salvage our reputation at that point."
The next morning, Kaitlin arrived at the office with her usual dress pants, blouse, and a cup of coffee, ready to type up her analysis of the doubles matches the day before. In particular, she wanted to dig into the match with Fox and Lucina. That one had been interesting given how discombobulated they appeared together the first time.
She hadn't taken half a dozen steps into the office, though, when she saw her boss, leaning against a desk with one hand on her hip and another holding a paper from Laurissa.
"What now?" she asked.
"You tell me," her boss replied. She tossed her the paper. On the front page, Adam's article was displayed quite prominently.
BREAKING: Paltry Attendance
Champion's competition sees record low stadium attendance for the first fight of the weekend as they pursue an untested doubles format. - Adam Sellar
"Still think it's hyperbole?" her boss asked, but Kaitlin wasn't paying attention.
"What is he after?" she asked incredulously.
"Maybe he's just reporting," her boss added testily. "And it's working. He's up on you two to one now."
Kaitlin took the paper back to her office and slammed it onto the desk. She gave it a read-through. The further she read, the more annoyed she became. Adam's dissection of the scene was more "paltry" than the attendance numbers he was mocking. Furthermore, there was no mention that people had begun filing into the stands in much greater numbers by the second fight, enough to make it look like a normal day of attendance.
Here she was, trying to be reasonable about the unfolding of events around this company, and this idiot was causing her boss to haunt her office every morning because he kept pushing out junk like this. The fact she was trying to compare herself to him was infuriating.
She checked Laurissa's website. The article was front and center there as well, although the comments on it were very split. Some were convinced the whole thing was going to fold today, others thought Adam was acting like some fringe publication desperate for attention.
"As they should," she mumbled to herself. She closed out the website and sat back in her chair. The planned article on Fox and Lucina's fight had been driven from her mind. She couldn't get rid of the gnawing thought that had taken up residence in its place and that kept asking if she had missed something. Was there some detail she had overlooked that indicated this could be a major issue? Was this Adam's "source" he had been hyping up coming through by letting him know this was the start of something big?
Eventually, she snapped out of her stupor. What was she thinking? If there was an issue at the complex or the stadium she wasn't aware of, she had some of the greatest contacts any reporter could ask for at the send of a text message.
She felt bad doing this before having made any real progress on the issue they had asked her for help on, but for all she knew, this could be just as important.
Kaitlin: Did something happen at the arena yesterday? Attendance looked wrong.
She hardly had time to put her phone down when it lit up with the notification telling her all three of them were typing.
Samus: The turnstiles were broken. No one could get through. They had them coming through two manual checkpoints.
Ganon: Hand had us destroy half the turnstiles to let people through.
Bowser: Hand said he's investigating, but won't tell us what.
Kaitlin's jaw dropped a little. This was more than just a little detail Adam had failed to notice, it completely blew his story apart. Furthermore, how had she missed this? Hand had been keeping her up to date with most things recently, why did he let this of all things slip? Regardless, she had a new article to write today, and before she started, she hopped on over to her boss's office.
"Yes?" she asked cautiously when Kaitlin bounded up to the door.
"So it turns out, your attendance numbers might suffer a little when all your turnstiles leading into the stadium malfunction at the same time and cause thousands to get stuck outside."
Her boss's jaw dropped the same as hers had. She then broke into a smirk and said, "That's my girl."
Kaitlin floated back to her office, ready to punch out this article and ruin Adam's day, but just as her fingers touched the keyboard, a thought occurred to her. Did Adam know about the broken turnstiles as well?