Deadly Frenzy: Looking for an Answer Chapter 12: Advance of the Finalists, a legend of zelda fanfic

Chapter 12: Advance of the Finalists; Survival of the Fittest

Pathos of the Palashian Premier Arc

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.

Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst The World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.

"Rocky Field (Noon)" - Dragonball Fighter Z OST. Scene 1 (Second Half) and 2 (First Half).

"Undercover 'Agent' Team" - The King of Fighters 2002 (Ultimate Match Edition) OST. Scene 3 (First Half).

"High Score Results ~{Taito Type X²}" - Ultra Street Fighter IV OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).

The heroes, led by their trusty Sheikah leader Impa, at last make their marks within the neighbouring kingdom of Palashia. Said to be a metropolitan with only the finest of merchants, buildings and culture, it has long reputed to have been an enviable location for retirees and the elderly of Aurelia. While arriving and arranging himself for a new karate gi uniform, as his previous had burned within his explosive confrontation with Raynard, the group are approached by a locally-living miner by the name of Paul.

He explains quite quickly and frantically that, somehow, the nearby Greymont Mines had been invaded and infested by some kind of nest-fiend; indeed, as the heroes perhaps inevitably agree to assist the poor people in need, they soon discover the man's words' rung true. Not only were numerous miners found missing or even dead, the whole regiment of soldiers that was sent by Palashia's military to rescue them was wiped out by the infestation.

Not one to let a daunting challenge hold him back, the former Hero of Time himself fronts the charge with his mentor Impa leading and guiding his hand. It is once within, however, that the two manage to discover that the creature terrorising the poor miners is a Wolfos of all fiends although this particular monster is much larger than any other even the ever-grinning Link himself has come face-to-face with.

Teaming up with the recently-arrived Alwyn, Barkner and Raynard the group focus their efforts successfully and manage to put an end to the big, bad Wolfos and save any remaining lives, including that of the nearby Palashian mayor himself; a man by the name of Lavrentius Marino. He extols the group for their world-class fighting skills in fighting off the fearsome beast and rewards the non-combatants with places and seats at the upcoming Palashian Premier; a gesture that does not go unnoticed by the grateful group.

Once inside Link, Alwyn and Barkner all easily breeze through the preliminaries of the Palashian Premier perhaps even easier than the last only to discover even stronger opponents waiting for them on the other side of the qualifiers; some returning and some not.

Lyna Greene, Amaliya Valentinovna, Katina Agarista and, of course, the last winner of the Hylian national championships; Raynard Van Garrick.

In the inevitable round pairings Link gets faced off with the mysterious Stralanavian woman herself; former military and demanding respect, she goes by the name of Amaliya Valentinovna. Said to be an accomplished general in her time following the far-off northern country, she comes from a similar standoffish personality as Link's former companion and current rival Raynard; something the Hero of Time feels he can work with.

The two stare one another down and, surrounded by the hundreds of Aurelians and Hylians watching them, begin the Palashian Premier itself...

Scene 1

"We hope you're ready ladies and gentlemen... because the Pathos of Palashia's Premier's top eight finals is finally here!"

The excited Mr. Marshall's call made the listening crowd in the audience stands surrounding them all light up in similarly passionate cheers.

"Hell yeah Marsh; we got the country's best all lined up here for all you guys to watch!" The ever-grinning Tasty Seth exclaimed eagerly, speaking into the small Gossip Stone he held with his right hand as he thrust forward his free left, index finger pointed at one of the audience stands.

YEAAAAAAAAAAHHH

"In round one we have a famous face fresh from the Hylian Hyrax!" Marshall began again, smiling as he turned his brown-haired head to eye the tournament's bright-white walls stationed around the competitor's box entrance. "They call him a 'firework'... they call him a 'rocket'... they call him Link Firbrand!"

The listening Aurelians, Gorons, Zorans and Hylians in the audience all let loose an echoing roar of approval as the grinning-faced Hero of Time's face himself, obviously a pictograph, displayed up on the walls before them along with his updated statistics.

Link Firbrand

Aggressiveness: A

Agility: A

Tenacity: S

"Yooo already?!" Seth called out, grinning in a similarly excited manner. "We got his match in round four last time!"

"What can we say Seth?" Marshall chuckled back, snapping his fingers in response. "The Prima World Tour certainly delivers in a fair way!"

"I can't wait to see him burn that white field up!" The youth exclaimed before soon regaining his curious-faced frown and blinking. "Wait... is his opponent...?"

Seemingly reading his younger companion's mind, Marshall gained a knowing grin of his own before he waved his right index finger up at the young man in disinclination. "Not quite my young friend!"

Almost as if planned for the man's words, the blonde boy's pictograph fairly quickly changed to match his upcoming opponent; an older fighter by the looks and a foreign one at that. She glared back at the watcher in her pictograph with her hot-pink eyes narrowed, her long black hair pulled neatly into a bun, leaving only two strands of silky ebony to hover down at her small chin.

Amaliya Valentinovna

Agility: S

Aggressiveness: A

Punishment Proficiency: S+

"Yo I heard about this chick...!" Seth whispered out, eyes widened as if surprised. "She's a Stralanavian regular!"

"That's correct Seth!" Marshall smiled lightly, eyes shut as he nodded briefly in response. "Colonel Amaliya was said to be one of the country's very greatest martial artist of her generation!" The man elucidated on, drawing a wide-eyed gasp from the listening Seth next to him. "She's got battle experience and tactics to match it!" He finished in his lightly-amused chortle.

"Our boy's got his work cut out for him then!" Seth exclaimed eagerly, grinning on in exuberance as he pumped a confident fist.

Marshall smirked back as he nodded in response. "I guess we'll find out!"

As the frowning-faced Amaliya herself began to slowly march into the white-tiled arena the audience's cheers grew to match the fans that also cheered when the grinning Link sauntered in after her to stand on the opposite end, waving toward them all shamelessly.

"Urgh," the watching Malon wrinkled her frown as she beheld the Hylian's lack of self-awareness. "I wish he wasn't so full of himself all the time."

"I quite like it personally," the smiling Zelda countered, ever in her soft and demure tone. The frowning Malon's annoyed look twitched as she turned to face the Hylian princess. "I find it quite endearing."

Finding little to say in response, the annoyed farm girl merely rolled her sky-blue eyes in further display of her frustration, folding her small arms as she did. The watching Impa gained a light grin of her own before she turned her silver-shaded head down to cast her disapproving frown on the grinning Link.

"I hear what you're saying...," the Sheikah murmured out. "He could stand to learn a little humility..."

"All right! Red side, ready!"

The nodding Link turned his smirk back on the far-off referee to his immediate left, hands clenched into fists at his sides, the wind blowing through his neatly-kept ponytail and karate gi.

"Blue side, ready!"

The frowning-faced Amaliya at last re-opened her eyes to wander over toward the similarly frowning referee before she gave only the slightest of nods in response, her stance largely remaining unchanged.

Just as in the last national championship tournament, a tournament staff member frowned as the referee smiled in his direction; he reached up with a drum to smash one of the tournament's many giant gongs.

DRRRROOOOOOOONG...

"Then begin!"

The confident Link wasted little to no time in launching an offensive; he leapt forward and vanished from common eyesight. The watching audience looked around for him desperately, leaving the ever-frowning Amaliya merely folded-armed and glaring. When the air around her form began to shimmer she widened her eyes opened and back-dashed into the air, presumably to safety; sure enough, the shimmering air revealed itself as the smirking-faced Link re-appearing directly within the air to swing a roundhouse kick at her.

The former military professional ducked and the pair were soon engaged in and offensive and defensive exchanging; numerous haymakers into roundhouses were thrown the woman's way but she merely moved her slim form out of the way expertly, seemingly having seen them all coming. As the grinning Link swung a vertical punch this time, Amaliya merely quickstepped to evade it before leaping directly skyward, leaving the young Hylian little option other than to immediately pursue.

At last Amaliya unfolded her arms; a gesture of respect between warriors. As the pair closed the distance between one another, the ever-grinning Link slammed his right elbow into the woman's own risen shield of arms, drawing a powerful-sounding clash between them. The former Hero of Time's expression remained unchanged, even as he hung in the air to stare back at the glaring-faced Amaliya. Perhaps amused by his excitement on the field, she shut her eyes and gained a low grin of her own.

"Hmph."

It was then, when she re-opened her eyes in a sudden snap, that the hot-pink within her irises glowed a bold deep-red. Link's grin at last dissolved from his face and he held back a gasp; unable to bring up his arms with which to defend himself, he suffered the first surprising counter-attack the woman had planned for him.

WHINE

FRRRR-DROOOOM

"Gurgh...!"

As the grunting and wincing Link was sent careering back the way he came from the abrupt eye technique, he narrowed his own eyes as they re-opened and he somersaulted backward in a recovery. As his bare feet skid noisily and in resonation within the bright-white tiles beneath him, he shot his body off to his sharp-left presumably with which to begin another offensive. The firmly-frowning Amaliya gave in to gravity and dropped down to land on the very spot with which she first stood.

Even as the super-fast form of the white-clothed Link darted in from her seemingly undefended left side, she merely shot up her left arm to block the inevitable string of aggression. Although she found herself back-stepping in her defensive manoeuvres toward the north-east edge of the ring, she fairly quickly managed to turn the tables on the eager blonde youth. As they began to approach the edge, the grinning Link grunted as he shot forward his right foot in a donkey-like kick designed to knock the enemy far and wide.

Unfortunately for him, however, it left him extraordinarily open.

As the frowning Amaliya merely side-stepped the kick, with little to no space to execute it, the watching Link could only widen his oceanic eyes in a shocked and horrified gasp.

Here comes the counter-attack, he thought.

"Incredible!" The watching Marshall yelled out in excitement, clenching a similarly hyped fist as he did. "With almost no room to work with, Amaliya somehow finds space with which to evade the debilitating Joudan Sokotugeri technique; a kick that would have surely sent her flying out of the ring!"

"This chick got some skills!" The similarly grinning Seth called out in excitable agreement. "Just when you think she out, she in!"

The audience cheered on as the wide-eyed Link was caught directly within a string of particularly painful-looking strikes; the ebony-haired woman's firm frown remained unchanged even as she dashed forward to keep up with his stumbling form. It was only when they began to reach the tournament wall behind them however that the glaring Hero of Time had at last had enough; with merely a millisecond of space to work with he side-stepped swiftly as the coat-wearing woman shot her knee into the wall, perhaps expecting to hit him instead.

CRASSSHHH...

Wasting no time, the bruised and battered youth regained his confident grin as he spun a second roundhouse kick with his left leg; this one at last made its mark in gold and Amaliya widened her hot-pink eyes as she swung her black-haired head to face it.

SMASH

She grunted in agony as she rebounded off of the wall roughly, sending her stumbling back to land face-up on the ground. Link grinned on through the small drops of blood that gathered on the side of his mouth as he shot forward a sudden right fist in pursuit; she widened her eyes again and managed to evade the strike by darting her night-haired head to the side, the assault smashing apart the white-tiled floor beneath them. As the blonde-haired boy followed up with a second she saw it coming and narrowed her eyes expectantly as she reached up with her hands to grapple with him.

Link's eyes widened again and his grin dropped in favour of a shocked and open-mouthed frown. "W-Woah!"

With surprising strength indeed she managed to pull him over her own form before swiftly rolling with him across the floor. The audience all cheered on in approval for their challengers as she ended up straddled across his hips; he grunted as he attempted to push at her thighs to release him but it was all, sadly, in vain.

"Oh my...," the watching Zelda murmured out, chuckling in half-amusement and embarrassment as she watched her companion in a suggestive position with the much older woman beneath them. "That looks fairly intimidating..."

"I'll say." The snorting Malon quipped back, none too amused by the display.

Amaliya reached up to launch a counter-attack and the boy shut his eyes; thinking quickly he brought up his small arms to opposite sides and crossed them, fingers risen up presumably to channel Aegir with. The black-haired woman halted her counter-attack out of sheer curiosity and furrowed her brow in confusion as she watched.

"What's he... doing...?" The frowning Impa murmured out, fire-red eyes narrowing down at them.

Perhaps appropriately a small ignition of fire lit up on his fingers and he re-opened his eyes with renewed zest this time, glaring back at his enemy. Amaliya rose an eyebrow down at him, unsure on how to react before, finally she got her answer; as the small sparks of flame lit up so too did they give birth to the light aura of fire that encapsulated his slim body. The Stralanavian woman gasped and cursed something in her native language before swiftly releasing her thigh's hold on the boy, rolling to her immediate sharp-left in evasion to get away from the flame.

As the bruised and battered Hero of Time rose himself up to re-face the woman, a newly confident smirk graced the complexion of his youthful expression; a look of confidence that, though overtly-expressed, suited him fairly well. The frowning-faced Amaliya cursed a second time in an annoyed whisper as she slapped at the small ignition that Link managed to cause on her long military coat. Finding it more of a burden now than when she first wore it, she frowned in further disapproval as she tossed it aside to slowly drop into the ring-out portion of the field. One of the many staff members scrambled to grab at it, presumably for safe-keeping.

"Impressive...," the woman spoke back in response, this time in classic Aurelian and modern Hylian speech, presumably to speak with the boy. She rolled her long neck around, perhaps to gain some feeling back in an shut-eyed frown, before soon re-opening her eyes and revealing her simple military uniform fit for male Stralanavian officers. "How do you say... there is certainly more to you... than what seems to eye." She offered forward in her thick, deep accent, smiling lightly as she did.

Link grinned back at her, single eye shut as he folded his slim arms back at her, leaning his blonde-haired head to the side as he did. "You ain't so bad yourself!"

The listening and watching audience all let out approving cheers and roars in response, their morale reaching the heavens themselves.

"How about that folks?" The smiling-faced Marshall spoke into his Gossip Stone. "Enemies by rules of our tournament and far-off foreigners by nations but friends nevertheless!" The brown-haired man smiled on. "Truly an excellent show of sportsmanship!"

"It's beautiful Marsh; really is." The grinning Seth leaned his head to the side in a light nod of agreement.

–

The seasoned soldier quickstepped to her right side and pulled back her right arm to hover its slim and callous hand over her raised left; as her fingers opened up into inviting palms she narrowed her hot-pink eyes forward, the ground shaking lightly from the energy she was calling. The far-off Link gave out a surprised exclamation as he stumbled lightly before re-asserting himself and glaring forward at his opponent.

"I don't think so!" He called forward, pointing his left finger forward as he leant his body to the side. "I ain't givin' you the time you need to make that work!"

With little else dotting his introduction, the young Hylian leapt forward to charge toward her; Amaliya widened her eyes as the pulsating Aegir within her palm, also a flushing rose colour, lit up the very field in a powerful tint that left the audience cheering and the rushing Link wide-eyed.

"Steel-feather WAVE!"

WHOOSH-FRRRRR-KRRRRRASSSSHHH

The audience all let out distressed yells and screams as the very ground itself was rent from the woman's incredible discharge of power; a huge and meaty-looking wave of Aegir and Quintessence shot forward in the wide-eyed Link's way, essentially barring and preventing him from advancing any further. The blonde boy dropped his surprised frown into a hardened one and he set his legs aside from one another, arms rose up in a defensive cross as if to block the incoming blast.

"There's no way he's gonna block that!" Barkner called out from the competitor's box, his own muscled arms similarly risen up to block the intense shaking and wind that Amaliya's fearsome technique kicked up. "It's just too much!"

"For once I agree!" Alwyn nodded, talking above the din of the screaming Steel-feather Wave as well as the shouting audience out in the stands. "I don't see this turning out-"

"Give him time!"

The Goron and Zora, both legitimately surprised by the source of optimism and by extension a disagreement, swung their heads 'round, only to find the ever folded-armed Raynard staring back in an eye-narrowed frown.

"He'll find a way!"

Honestly surprised that the words of positivity and encouragement came from Raynard of all people and the boy's very rival himself, the pair of companions couldn't help but exchange surprised looks together before returning their attention to the battlefield.

As the ground rumbled threateningly from the powerfully-pink ball of fire and wind, it fairly quickly found its quick advance halted; the watching crowd of Aurelians and Hylians all gasped out as it crashed directly with the narrow-eyed Link's small form. It was a sight to behold; as small as he was in stature it did little to tip the scales in the large sphere's favour for even as the blonde boy was slowly pushed backward, tiles scraping up as he did, he channelled his own Aegir into his raised fists with which to help him reflect the technique. Sure enough, as he quickly approached the edge, he widened his ocean-blue eyes and yelled with effort as he deflected his conjoined arms diagonally toward the sky as if he were swinging his trusty Gilded Sword.

In response, the huge hot-pink Steel-feather Wave was sent careering into the air high above the wide-eyed and yelling audience. As it began to leave the radius of the tournament arena itself, it eventually triggered; almost like a Powder Keg itself it blew up in an incredible show of sparks and explosions, gifting the newly-entertained audience with a fireworks display. Link watched on in grinning satisfaction, clapping his small and calloused hands together as if pleased with the effort.

"I've never seen a wave that huge! God-damn!" The watching Seth yelled out, excited as always as he took a step up on the desk he and his older companion utilised.

"Yes, it's certainly been one of the larger ones the Prima World Tour's seen in a long time!" The ever-smiling Marshall nodded along in modest agreement. "Not since the Hylian Hyrax at any rate!"

Realising he was referencing the last-ditch effort the finalists made at the last national championships, Seth laughed and smacked the front of his forehead as he shook it as if in self-disappointment. "Oh yeah; of course!"

"My turn!"

The shocked woman could only widen her eyes in response to her younger opponent's declaration; she pulled her arms and legs apart from her earlier stance to adopt a more defensive one, only to gasp as the grinning Link's form shimmered in and out of itself as it leapt toward her.

An obvious feint attack into an after-image.

Amaliya shot her hot-pink eyes in swift search to her immediate left but quickly found her frontal face struck by a blinding haymaker, issued on the opposite side she looked on.

SMACK

"Hngh...!"

Time slowed down for the pair; as the re-appeared Link hovered directly over the grunting Amaliya, he managed to send the poor woman into a painful-looking tailspin before he at last followed up with his counter-attack with one last strike. He grinned on in exuberance as he spun his body 'round as he landed into a twisting back-hand blow that struck the gasping military officer a second time, sending her tumbling and rolling across the tiled floor beneath them.

Even while she rolled across the ground, Amaliya used a mixture of her brainpower and her muscles to somersault off the tiles in quick recovery, thereby eliciting the smirking Hero of Time to give chase almost immediately. As he leapt to deliver a deft but fairly telegraphed dive-kick her way, she widened her hot-pink eyes and shot up her slim arms in a wide and curious angle, presumably in preparation. Only the watching Impa and Link himself recognised the pose.

And lose their cheer they did.

"Impossible...!" The Sheikah gasped out, brow rising up to match her shock and surprise. The frowning-faced Malon rose a fire-haired eyebrow as she exchanged her looks with the two before shrugging back at the likewise curious Zelda across from her.

"Impa... what is it?" The Hylian princess pressed her attendant inquisitively, her small and soft hands ever joined in her pink-dressed lap.

"That stance...," Impa began in reply, her ruby-red eyes narrowing again in suspicious concern. "It's one you and the boy should know well..."

Zelda could only furrow her brow in unsure scrutinisation before she turned her examination on the battle below.

Sure enough, as the wide-eyed Hero of Time's dive-kick eventually collided with the similarly-faced form of his opponent, she turned her hardened frown into a satisfied smirk and grappled at his legs boldly.

"Predictabo!"

The audience all let out screams and cheers of approval as the similarly shouting Link was essentially parried and dragged across the air like a projectile.

CRASSSSHHHH

As she swung him 'round screaming, his light-voiced tenor eventually cut itself short as he crashed upon the tiled floor beneath him agonisingly, wincing as he did. In the savage collision that followed, the bright-white tiles of the tournament's floor flew skyward and broke apart another section of it completely, leaving yet more destruction in the challengers' wake.

Amaliya turned to cast her glare down on the wide-eyed Link and, as she did, she rose up her right fist and drove it down; the gasping young Hylian darted his body out of her initial wind-up before using a mixture of his channelled Aegir and legs to boost off the floor with, sending him up into a high-flying retreat. The Stralanavian wasted no time in pursuit. She grunted with effort as she essentially imitated his art by vaulting off the ground in immediate chase, hot-fuchsia eyes narrowed as she did.

As she fast-approached his retreating form he shot forward a desperately-launched straight punch that she expertly wove her form out of before following up with her own counter; he turned his shocked gasp and wide-eyed frown to face her hardened one as she swung a debilitating haymaker under and into his lower stomach.

CRACCCKKK

Unable to even gasp and scream from the abrupt source of pain that she delivered, his very form itself hovered in mid-air, also unable to move from the sheer force with which she hit him. Amaliya utilised the inevitable effect that gravity had on them, however, and grunted as she swung her body upside down; Link's oceanic eyes widened on in growing alarm as she wrapped her slim but strong arms 'round his own likewise small form.

As they began to descend down, and rather rapidly at that, Link realised quite suddenly that their faces were within kissing distance; something that the lightly-smiling Amaliya took some twisted sense of pleasure in. She rose her black-haired head up at him briefly as they rocketed down toward the ring, kissing at the air that lay between them as if to tease him before re-opening her mouth presumably to speak to him one last time before at last dropping him.

"Potselui."

The poor young Hylian barely had a second with which to listen to the mezzo-soprano she gifted him with and the foreign language in which she spoke it in, before he found himself barrelling down at high speed into the ground beneath him.

CRRRRAAASSSSHHHHHH...

The audience all let out a mixture of surprised calls and yells as the former Kokiri's form disappeared completely within the display of ruthless destruction; a huge smoke cloud erected around the point of impact, leaving many unsure in the results of it as any remaining tiles and wreckage rained up and down from the brutal crash.

"Unheard of!" The gasping Marshall called out in a wince of his own, speaking his baritone on into the small Gossip Stone he gripped with his right hand. "In an impressively acrobatic manoeuvre indeed, Valentinovna has somehow managed to draw her young opponent into a seismic descent fit only for the greatest of soldiers!"

"Down, down, down!" Seth exclaimed out excitedly, clenching a fist in display of his high-raised morale as he did.

As the smoke cloud from the initial explosion of rock and debris at last dissipated, the frowning-faced Amaliya marched toward her well-chosen point-of-destruction, folding her slim arms as she did. She rose a curious raven-shaded eyebrow as she looked down to find her opponent on the ground, seemingly defeated and unable to move in a face-up position.

"Hmph..."

Unwilling to believe it, she brought her right boot's heel up and stomped down on the boy's centre, drawing shocked reactions not only from the watching audience but from the wide-eyed and gasping Link himself; his mouth hung open and his body jerked up from the abrupt assault she deigned to visit on his sensitive area, eliciting winces and cringes of sympathy from the male side in the public.

"Damn baby...," Link chuckled lowly back as his body reverted to its original position. He shut one sky-blue eye in his defying grin, drawing a surprised look from the former soldier above him. "At least buy me dinner first." He quipped up toward her, drawing a quiet-voiced laugh from her high above him.

"That's gotta hurt!" Seth exclaimed out, wincing similarly to the audience around him. "We all been there at least once!"

"It's certainly a sticky situation!" The grinning Marshall joked alongside his younger comrade, drawing a hearty laugh from him in response as well as the audience by extension.

"Oh my..."

Zelda's half-smirking words of social shyness were spoken to match the embarrassed female side of the audience; her hand resting softly across her mouth almost as if to dissuade herself from speaking any further on it. While the watching Impa merely rolled her eyes in light annoyance, the watching Malon furrowed her brow down at them, placing her hands on her white-dressed hips.

"Hey! That's not legal!" She called out, double-taking in the Sheikah's direction to her immediate left, her brow soon returning to its normal position. "I-Is it...?"

"Yes I'm afraid so," Impa answered, frowning as she always did in her folded-armed expression. "So long as their lives aren't endangered and she isn't attacking when she's already won the engagement."

Perhaps frustrated by the answer she received, Malon folded her own arms in response and returned her annoyed frown down on the battle below. "Hmph! Sure hope he enjoys it then(!)" She finished in a sarcastic huff, glaring down at the two.

As the grinning Amaliya brought her heel up, arms folded for a second descent, Link widened his ocean-blue eyes and shot up his arms to catch it. The woman widened her own hot-fuchsia eyes in surprise, dropping her grin to convey it successfully, before swiftly finding herself being counter-attacked; Link grinned on in satisfaction as he rose himself to his bare feet and pulled the woman's taller form over him in a swift somersault. She yelled out in a mixture of a surprise and shock, her mezzo-soprano voice quickly silenced by the inevitable crash her body made on the concrete.

SLAMMM...

A shock-wave of the sheer strength that the young Hero of Time put into his grapple travelled out from the sudden wreckage beneath them and was added even further; as Amaliya coughed out a small couple drops of blood she grunted and growled as she reached up with one of her free hands to grasp at the surprised youth's karate gi torso. With no words passing between them she easily tossed him overhead in a similarly-looking assault that saw the young Link screaming as he hit the tournament's floor.

SLAMMM...

In a pair of powerful quakes the sheer earth itself shook from the challengers' strength; something that resonated well within the widely-cheering audience.

Link's bright-cerulean eyes, having been scrunched shut in agony from the previous altercation, snapped wide-open and as they did, he used the short space between them to grapple at the woman's free arm. Amaliya gasped but couldn't act in time to successfully tech the grapple; the blonde boy acted on his momentum and began a low-toned yell of effort as he swung the raven-haired woman's body 'round and 'round, like a spinning Blade Trap from many of the dungeons he navigated.

She grunted as he let go, presumably to send her careering off the edge of the ring, before swiftly engaging her Aegir-control to stop herself mid-flight. The effort of which, however, managed to skid through the tournament floor beneath her and create even more wreckage and debris from their blazing engagement. The audience remained fixed on the fight as the low-grinning Link set his legs and arms apart into what looked like some kind of offensive stance; an aura of dull red-shaded Quintessence quilted his bruised, battered and bloody body as he clenched his fists, presumably powering himself up.

The recovered Amaliya narrowed her fuchsia eyes forward at the boy's intentions suspiciously before she widened them all of a sudden, as an intense and abrupt source of physical agony shot through her lower stomach. The audience, similarly perplexed, all let out surprised calls as they watched the results and sure enough the young Hylian boy had somehow suddenly re-appeared directly in front of her, his right fist resting within her lower stomach so deep it was pushing her body back from within.

"Woah...!" The watching Barkner whispered out, eyes widened. "So fast...!"

"You got that right," Alwyn nodded along in agreement, frowning as he folded his arms in his usual expression. "I couldn't even follow him in that little scuffle."

The listening Raynard, similarly folded-armed and glaring, opted not to speak as he glared into the battlefield with his own examination.

KRSHHHHH...

The watching congregation of Aurelians all let out wincing exclamations as they watched the growling Amaliya somehow recover within the fresh wound she received, only to dish one out of her own; a simple-enough haymaker reversal that found its worth weight in gold, sending the yelling Link hovering briefly up into the air from the sheer strength with which she commanded. Although the blonde boy's palms shook from the agony he suffered, they quickly recovered into a clenched fist of his own, veins pulsating with a fiery eagerness to counter-attack; he slugged forward another less-than-subtle punch directly into the woman's gasping lower stomach a second time, sending her gasping and stumbling back a step.

Amaliya, angered from the exchange, shot her scowling head up to reveal her previously meticulously-crafted bun of hair having spilled out from the savage exchange they shared together; the Stralanavian officer. She widened her hot-pink eyes before grunting again as she fired another punch into the former Kokiri's small body.

SLAM

In a super-fast savage series of smashing strikes the two essentially turned their match in a slug-fest; something that the watching audience all let out excited yells and chants with, rotating between Amaliya and Link's names as if in honour for them.

Eventually, perhaps sick of the even-handed exchanges they gifted one another with, Link grunted as he slammed a bare-footed roundhouse into the woman's chin; a gesture she responded in kind with.

KRSHHH...

The super-fast pair of fighters found themselves tailspinning in sheer agony from the sudden kicks they visited upon one another. As they landed, however, they fairly quickly took to the sky together, both bloodied and battered from their ruthless trades together. Wasting no time, Amaliya narrowed her eyes as she dove-kick toward the boy's hovering form, her long black hair spilling out behind her as she did.

CRACCCK

"Ngh...!"

As the grunting Hero of Time was sent a few more yards skyward, drops of blood falling from his shut mouth, he somersaulted backward in mid-air before re-opening his eyes and widening them as he swung his free right opened palm in a diagonal motion as if to toss something forward. Amaliya's eyes widened when she realised it was a pulsating orb of fire-shaded Aegir and, having already committed herself to a sky dive-kick, was unable to react in time.

FRRRR-CRASSSHHH...

Her body coated in the same bright-light fire that filled Link's projectile, the scrunching-eyed shut Amaliya found herself descending down in a rapid tailspin marked only by a wide angle of smoke from the inevitable crash-landing that followed. Although still conscious, and barely at that, the gasping Link dropped down after her in a similar plunge; his Aegir and physical energy having seemingly been near completely exhausted.

"Damn it Link!" The annoyed Impa exclaimed abruptly, eyes narrowed and brow furrowed in her folded-armed frown. The sudden raise of her hard and firm contralto caused the sitting Malon to near jump from the abrupt scare, drawing a similarly surprised reaction from the Hylian princess on the Sheikah's left. "Using all your Aegir so quickly like that...," she muttered out, shaking her silver-shaded head in disapproval. "It's a rookie's mistake!"

FWEEE...

CRASSSSHHHH...

Just as the Sheikah finished her sentence, the shut-eyed blonde at last collapsed to the wrecked arena and ring below him, drawing up a second smoke cloud riddled with wreckage and debris around his small form.

"What an awesome opening round...!" The excited Seth called out from his table clenching his fists in display of his hype. "It could go either way here!"

"As always, my young friend... let's wait until the smoke clears!" Marshall advised his youthful companion in a well-intended chuckling smile.

Sure enough, as the two clouds of differing size dissipated away, allowing all to gaze upon the remnants of the battle's savage aftermath. Rather amazingly the two contenders stood alive and well in likewise positions; Amaliya gasping for air as she gripped at her seemingly injured left arm and the similarly bloody Link, one eye shut presumably from the sheer agony he suffered. Although the pair had unsure injuries one thing was for certain.

This was to be the end of the ruthless engagement.

"It's just as you say Seth; truly an incredible show of skill and sheer stubbornness!" Marshall grinned on in satisfaction as he nodded toward the two warriors. "Although this match began fairly simply it just devolved into a damn slug-fest!"

"Can't go wrong with a slug-fest though Marsh!" Seth countered in a friendly swinging smile, drawing a laugh from the older man.

"Right you are!"

"In-"

Link's eyebrows rose up in surprise, his pained frown transforming into a curious one as he beheld the coughing woman before him; she grunted mid-speech, wincing from the seeming agony her body suffered.

"Incredible...," she began again, this time in a well-meaning grin of her own. "I... how you say... underestimated you... for your age..."

Link chuckled back good-naturedly, shrugging lightly as he did. "Ain't the first time," he answered, seemingly feeling in slightly better shape to his older opponent. "It's how I win a lot of these, to be honest."

"I'll bet," the Stralanavian woman smirked back knowingly and flirtatiously, drawing a similarly satisfied grin in response. At last, however, she chose to rise up her left arm. "I... give up!"

–

The woman's words, not only surprising for her wide-eyed blonde opponent to hear, but also for the shocked audience and co-commentators; everyone all exchanged unsure looks, doubtful on how to handle such a reaction. Amaliya let her grin precede her as she chose to follow-up on her carefully picked words.

"They weren't lying when they said you were stronger than even your country gave you credit for...," Amaliya grinned on knowingly in her thick accent, drawing a surprised frown from the listening Link. "I am... how you say...," she began again, licking her lips hungrily as she did. "Vklyuchennyy..."

The listening Link could only tilt his straw-haired head to the side in unsure curiousness, drawing similar blanks that the watching audience did.

"What the hell does that mean Marsh?" Seth pressed his co-commentator with, rising a brown-haired eyebrow in his rude line of questioning as he did.

"It's, um...," the older man began in a similar doubtful-faced grin, embarrassed by the woman's words. "They're not family-friendly words... let's leave it at that." Marshall finished in a light tilt of his own brown-haired head, chuckling awkwardly as he did, drawing laughs from the listening congregation in the stands surrounding them.

"Oh it's one of those words is it?!" Seth called out excitably, turning his grin on the pair.

Although he couldn't quite translate the Stralanavian in which the woman spoke, he got a fairly decent idea that the origin of her words wasn't quite so pure as he had suspected; the results of which left him red in the face to match the bloody bruises she gifted him with.

"Amaliya Valentinovna surrenders! This game's winner is Link Firbrand!" The young woman referee called out behind the pair, smiling as she entered the wrecked ring to announce the end of the match.

The audience all cheered on in expectant approval for the victory of their first round winner, drawing a simple smile from the listening Amaliya; she merely used her free right hand to wipe off the remaining dust that had gathered on her near-torn clothes before beginning to march toward the surprised Link. He frowned in her direction, one eye still shut from the agony she visited upon it earlier and could only gasp in further consternation as she reached down her tall form to close the distance between them.

The audience all watched on in curiosity as she leaned down, presumably to whisper something in the blonde boy's small and pointed ear, soon eliciting what appeared to be an even deeper shade of red adorning his cheeks.

Whatever she had said had seemingly made its mark.

"Hey! What does she think she's doing?!" Malon exclaimed out from her seat, high in the stands, annoyed. She cast her similarly frustrated frown down on the close pair below, brow furrowed and all. "The match is over!"

Impa rolled her fire-red eyes in response, sighing lightly in display of her own frustration. "So long as they aren't tearing one another open I don't think they're in breach of their match." The Sheikah spoke in her sigh. Malon double-took in the wiser woman's direction, her frown twitching in knowing annoyance.

"Even if they look fairly suspicious in ending it..." The grinning Zelda finished it, not without some form of mirth and amusement to her expression as she rose up her right fingers to rest under her nose.

As the grinning-faced Amaliya walked off toward the competitor's box, presumably for a medic, she left her red-faced opponent with a knowing silent smirk over her shoulder as she marched along. The standing Link could barely respond with a gesture, let alone words; in his great embarrassment, in spite to his normal cavalier-like attitude, he found himself in a zig-zag frown unable to find the words with which to reply to her thought-provoking words.

"Another well-fought match! Well done lad!"

The young Hylian gasped in his throat as he swung his small and battered form 'round only to find the ever-smiling Marshall joining him on the wreckage that was once the tournament arena, linked as always by his younger comrade; the grinning Seth. The older man smiled on as he spoke into his small Gossip Stone, his baritone echoing out along the audience's stands.

"A slug-fest if I ever saw one! How did you manage to keep up with her?!" He called out, legitimately curious as he lowered the Gossip Stone for the boy to speak into. Link blinked down at it doubtfully before he realised the entire arena was watching him; sure enough, his usual moxie and attitude returned to him and he regained the ever-constantly overconfident grin upon his face as he even snagged the small stone from Marshall's surprised hands.

"Well when you as fast as me I guess all that's left to do is throw in the towel!" The young Hylian shot back as he began to pace forward, right arm and opened-palm both rose up half-way as he spoke. The audience reacted in a way that suited them; a resounding cheer of laughs and bellows of approvals almost as if to agree with the charismatic boy.

Mildly annoyed by his decision to snag his Gossip Stone from him, Marshall walked forward and reached to grab it from the boy's grip; a small humorous tug-of-war began between the pair, drawing entertained laughs from the watching crowd and even the grinning Seth. Eventually, however, the well-dressed Marshall revelled in the control he attained over his voice-amplifier.

"A bold statement for so young a boy!" Marshall smiled on, rising an eyebrow upward. "Can we say we saw all of your new techniques here today?"

Link grinned back sheepishly, chuckling well-naturedly as he rubbed the back of his pony-tailed head, oceanic eyes shut as he did. "Nah, I'm kiddin'; I nearly lost that fight in all seriousness," he answered before re-opening his eyes in a surprised frowning blink. "Oh... uh, no. Obviously." He re-answered, this time regaining his happy-go-lucky grin.

"Yo, little man!"

The grinning Link dropped his expression in favour of another curious-faced frown, blinking in the direction of the smirking-faced Seth. He drove down his own Gossip Stone for the boy to speak through, as if to get his opinion on something else.

"So what'd Amaliya tell you?" The young man pressed, eyebrow risen up as the audience all let out whoops and yells in response. Realising the commentator's intention, Link's bashful side returned and in full-flow with a red-faced wince; he turned his eyes away from Seth's, unwilling to answer so easily. "We're all dyin' to know!"

The zig-zag-faced Link quickly realised that the disapproving Malon and amused Zelda were both watching him in the audience somewhere and not knowing how they were taking this news impacted his ability to deliver it.

"U-Um... n-nothin' really... just a 'good games' and, y'know..."

"Now I wish I knew what she said; you know it's juicy!" Seth called out, drawing his form back up to laugh with the similarly amused crowd around him. "What a gyp!"

"An excellent showing, to be sure," Marshall chuckled lightly, nodding his head in the frowning boy's direction almost as if to approve his decision to leave. Sure enough, the young Hylian gratefully took the Aurelian man's offer and turned to scamper off toward the competitor's box. "And what a first round!" He called out again, drawing another morale-filled cheer from the audience. "Don't go away folks; round two is coming right up!"