32ND FINALS: MS. MARVEL VS. MOONSTONE

The fighting this time took place in Arizona, more specifically, the vast and wide Grand Canyon! A site that usually had tourists all year round, but this time, had more people than usual thanks to the CoC tournament, for it now had hundreds of spectators, young and old, all gathered against the laser ropes which this time were stationed around the edge of the canyon, all to cheer for the two participants. Sure enough, the fighters themselves, Ms. Marvel and Moonstone, all appeared deep within the canyon itself, causing the crowd to go wild once they saw them, either by looking down or watching via the large, football field-sized holoscreen floating right above them.

Moonstone herself embraced the cheering and looked up at the crowd above her with a pleased smirk. "Well now," said the female Thunderbolt, then looked at Ms. Marvel with a cocky expression. "Glad that I've got an audience to see me beat your bony butt into next week."

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard a villain tell me that, I'd be as rich as Tony," Ms. Marvel retorted, utterly unphased by her opponent's bravado.

Little did both Ms. Marvel and Moonstone know, the Ref Bot was floating down towards them when Ms. Marvel made that remark, and thus broadcasted it throughout the world. Including to the audience in Madison Square Garden. And while the Thunderbolts fans booed the Warbird, the Avengers fans all laughed and cheered in approval.

Also hearing Ms. Marvel's words were that of her teammates, the Avengers, and it is Hawkeye, with his arms crossed and smirk present, is the first to speak. "Well, that's one thing Carol, and I can agree on.

Not far from the archer were Spidey and Wasp, with Wasp herself giving Hawkeye a somewhat displeased look. "Good to know," she told him coldly, then looked back up on the screen and smiled when she saw Ms. Marvel. "Still, I know Carol's got this in the bag."

Spidey is quick to turn to answer the Wasp, hoping to help boost morale for the team. "Hey, no argument here," he said in a light-hearted tone, then looked back up at the screen to watch the upcoming match. However, despite knowing that Ms. Marvel could hold her own, he still couldn't help but be worried. "But given the fact that Norman hasn't exactly been playing fair, I just hope Ms. Marvel can handle whatever tricks he's got set up this time."

Meanwhile, back in the Canyon, the Ref Bot had just floated in between both Ms. Marvel and Moonstone. "now then," said the announcer via the small screen. "I'm sure you ladies are familiar with the rules?"

Moonstone is the first to reply; his cocky smile still present. "Of course," she told the announcer. "You, as well as the rest of the world, will have the pleasure of seeing me give Ms. Has-Been over here a fair and square beat down!"

Ms. Marvel just stared Moonstone down, offender by her arrogance. "Just keep talking, princess."

Sensing the tension, the announcer decided to get things started. "A-All right then, let's not waste any more time," he said in a sheepish and uncomfortable tone, then mentally commanded the Ref-Bot to float up back up high into the air. "BEGIN!"

Upon hearing this, Moonstone is the first to start things off by holding out her right open palm and firing an energy blast, aiming for Ms. Marvel's belt buckle.

Luckily for the Warbird though, she saw this attack coming, then jumped up to avoid the blast and hovered into the air. She then responded by pointing both of her hands down at Moonstone and fired an energy blast of her own.

However, Moonstone avoided this in the most unusual of ways, in that she just casually stood there and waited for the blast to come her way and once it did so, it did not hit her but instead passed right through her.

A sight in which caused Ms. Marvel's eyes to grow wide with shock. "What the...?"

The speechless expression of the usually emotionally reserved Avenger brought out a laugh in Moonstone. "Didn't see that coming, did you?" she asked the dumbfounded Ms. Marvel, then flew straight towards her at full speed.

Seeing the Thunderbolt coming her way, Ms. Marvel held her arms in front of her in an 'X' fashion to block Moonstone's incoming, instead of receiving a powerful blow, she is once again surprised when Moonstone phased right through her. Though shocked, Ms. Marvel knew she couldn't afford to be taken from behind and thus spun around to face Moonstone, only for the Thunderbolt to act fast by solidifying herself and giving the blonde haired Avenger a hard jab to the face.

With Ms. Marvel now disoriented, Moonstone tried to end this match early by throwing a right legged front kick, aiming for her enemy's belt buckle.

Miraculously, Ms. Marvel snapped out of her dazed just in the nick of time to see Moonstone throwing her kick and acted by grabbing her foot with both hands. Afterward, she spun Moonstone around in a circle at high speeds, until finally released her foot, sending the Thunderbolt flying and crashing into a rocky wall, causing stones to tumble on top of her.

Mere seconds later, a massive explosion of energy occurs, and Moonstone is seen bursting out of the rubble, screaming in pure rage. For her, taking a punch was one thing, but being embarrassed and humiliated in front of a large number of people was, in her mind, crossing the line. And so, once she arrived high into the air, Moonstone once again charged towards Ms. Marvel, and along the way, charged up her fist and cocking it back.

As for Ms. Marvel herself, she saw Moonstone coming her way and thus charged her right fist with Kree energy, then flew straight towards her enraged opponent. It wasn't long before the two flying ladies finally approach one another and both threw their energy charged right hooks, and with their fists collided, it produced a loud shockwave which echoed throughout the entire canyon.

Luckily for the spectators watching above, the laser ropes are able to protect them from the shockwave, but they nevertheless cheer for such a show of power from both females fighters.

Back in the canyon, Ms. Marvel and Moonstone find themselves trading powerful blows, with an impact so loud, it made thunderous echoed throughout the canyon itself. After holding up her left arm to block Moonstone's left legged round kick to her head, Ms. Marvel made her move by throwing a right uppercut.

Moonstone, however, saw this and backed away to avoid the punch. The Thunderbolt later spotted the Warbird throwing a left legged spinning back heel kick, forcing her to bring up her left arm to block it.

Not wanting to give Moonstone a chance to counter attack, Ms. Marvel quickly pulled her left leg back, then spun around and threw a right back fist.

However, Moonstone saw this and not only held up both of her arms on the right side to block the blow, but she also fought back by using her right hand to grab Ms. Marvel's wrist, then used her left fist to give the Warbird a quick back-fist of her own, hitting her in the face. Wit the battle-hardened Avenger dazed, Moonstone capitalized by taking hold of the Avenger's arm with both of her hands, then spun her around with speed comparable to that of an F-5 tornado, then threw her down towards the ground.

Luckily for Ms. Marvel, however, she controlled her fall by flipping forward and landing on her feet with an impact so strong, she made a crack into the rocky surface beneath her. After recovering, Ms. Marvel looked up to see Moonstone coming down towards her with her right fist cocked back, no doubt with the intent of smashing the Warbird into the rocky ground. As such, she attempted to fight back by charging her fists, then throwing them up and firing a Kree blast at her incoming opponent.

However, despite being further frustrated, Moonstone managed to be level headed enough to make her body intangible and allow the Kree blast to pass right through her. Moments later, the Thunderbolt solidified herself once again, and upon seeing Ms. Marvel now flying straight towards her, she waited for her to get close then threw a fierce right hook.

Ms. Marvel, however, held up her right arm and successfully blocked the punch then responded by throwing a left jab to the face. An attack which only angered the Thunderbolt, who quickly blocked it with her left and pushed the Avenger's fist outward. But thanks to her training in the Air Force, as well as additional training from Captain America since joining the Avengers, Ms. Marvel did not let her blocked attack keep her down, as she proved by spotting and blocking Moonstone's incoming two jabs, then held up her left arm to block an incoming left hook and fought back by successfully landing a right cross to Moonstone's jaw, followed by a left round kick to the head, which was powerful enough to send the Thunderbolt flying down to the right side and crashing into the ground, causing a large cloud of upon impact. As she flew down to look for Moonstone, Ms. Marvel saw the dirt cloud fade away, only to see that the Thunderbolt herself was nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, the Warbird received quite the surprise when Moonstone phased through the ground and fired an energy blast from both of her hands, aiming for the Avenger herself. Though this did shock her at first, Ms. Marvel managed to save herself just in time by instinctively firing a Kree blast from out of her hands, which turned, collided with Moonstone's blast and the two engaged in an energy 'tug of war.'

Meanwhile, back in the Garden, where the stadium was now filled the cheers of the pumped-up audience, the Iron Patriot took this moment to secretly use the intercom system in his helmet. "Osborn to Grand Canyon operative," he said confidently, knowing that while he can be heard in his helmet, the people around him, including his teammates, could not due to the cheering. "Now would be a good time to move in."

Back in the Grand Canyon, hidden amid the rocks and hills, was a man dressed in brown camouflage watching the fight out of sight. "Acknowledged," he replied, then pulled out a small mirror and used it to reflect the light from the sun...and into Ms. Marvel's eyes.

With her eyes hurting from the flashes, Ms. Marvel inadvertently allowed herself to be distracted and stopped focusing her blast, causing it to get weaker.

For Moonstone, she knew that this was the result of the 'insurance policy' that was the agents that Osborn had sent down before the match, and wasted no time in taking advantage of this opportunity by increasing the power to the blast, hitting Ms. Marvel head on and sending her flying into the canyon wall, causing tons of solid rock to fall on top of her.

It was a sight that did not sit well with the Avengers and their fans back in the Garden, namely that of the Wasp, who is horrified to see her friend underneath all that rock. "CAROL!"

Another person shocked by this is that of Spidey, who looked upon the image of the rubble covering the fallen Ms. Marvel, something that made his eyes grow wide. "No...!"

Back in the Grand Canyon, a smiling and seemingly triumphant Moonstone came floating to the also caused the Ref Bot to float down with the announcer's troubled face on the screen. "Oh, boy..."

"Relax," Moonstone told the announcer, sounding somewhat irritable. "She's survived worst tumbles than that. But let's go ahead and get this over with!" With that said, Moonstone flew in and phased through the rubble to try and find Ms. Marvel. However, after a few seconds, what followed next was a huge explosion of power, revealing a screaming Moonstone, and most surprising of all, Ms. Marvel herself was nowhere to be found. "Where is she?!" she yelled in frustration, then looked around and frantically, she looked down and saw a large hole in the ground as if someone with great strength and burrowed or blasted through there. A sight which worried, and even frightened the Thunderbolt. "No...NO!" she screamed and looked around for the Warbird in a panic.

And while Moonstone was too busy frantically searching for her opponent, Ms. Marvel herself literally burst out of the ground underneath Moonstone and nailed the unsuspecting Thunderbolt with a left uppercut to her chin, sending her up high in the air. "You're not the only one who can be sneaky!" said the Warbird as she flew along with the dazed Moonstone, then took her right fist and delivered a stiff middle punch into the Thunderbolt's belt buckle, destroying it. As expected, this caused yellow energy to engulf Moonstone, who by the time she came to, she was already frozen in a panicked postured and soon fell to the ground.

In the Garden, both the Avengers and their fans in the crowd all cheered at seeing Ms. Marvel's victory, especially that of Wasp and Spidey, who seemed to be more enthusiastic than that of their teammates. "YES!" yelled both Wasp and Spidey in unison, sound just as happy as the team's fans in the audience.

Back in the Canyon, Ms. Marvel flew down and landed right next to the defeated Moonstone, with the Ref Bot wasting no time in floating towards the victorious Warbird, with the announcer's smiling face on the screen. "Here is your winner, Ms. Marvel!"

The crowd high above the canyon all roared with applause, and while Ms. Marvel herself appreciated the crowd's support and admiration, the soldier in her helped keep her emotions in check, for she knew that winning this match was just one battle. And one battle wasn't going to win this war that was in the form of a tournament.

WINNER: MS. MARVEL