Let the Qualifier Round for the tournament begin!


Aurora vs. Fenghuang

"Looks like you're going first," Anubis said as Aurora took to the field. The jackal was wearing a blue tank top and black boxer shorts, as well as a domino mask. "Let's just hope I can win," Aurora replied. "I've heard Fenghuang is one of the strongest students going here."

"A jackal? Let's hope she can keep up with me," Fenghuang said. She was wearing purple robes with a gold trim.

"Ready? FIGHT!" Kai announced.

Fenghuang immediately rushed forward to strike, only for Aurora to barely block with an energy staff she created. The jackal then retaliated by doing a spinning kick, which Fenghuang dodged and counted by grabbing Aurora's foot.

"Hah, this'll be too easy," the owl scoffed, twisting her wing and sending Aurora to the ground.

The jackal grunted, then did a breakdance spin to get back up on her feet. "Time to stop messing around," she said, creating another energy staff and thrusting forward.

Fenghuang dodged the attack, but was caught off-guard by a sudden orb of energy being flung at her face. She wiped her beak and looked to see Aurora holding a blue ball of energy in her hands. "That's… not Chi."

"You're right, it's Aura, the very essence of the Earth," Aurora explained.

She then started to throw more aura spheres at the owl, Fenghuang countering with a few knives and dodging until her opponent stopped. The owl went in to strike, this time landing a fit and knocking Aurora to the edge of the arena. The jackal got back up and jumped over Fenghuang, but the owl saw this coming and threw a knife at her opponent, cutting Aurora across the stomach.

"Damnit," Aurora cursed. "If she keeps this up, I'm done for."

"Then maybe I should take over," Anubis said.

"Wait, don't-" But it was too late. Aurora's eyes glowed with a golden light as Anubis poured his power into her body, causing a radical shift in appearance. Her blue-grey fur turned solid black as her clothes turned into a white crop top with white short shorts, her body becoming covered in golden tattoos and her eyes glowing gold. "Oh yes, now we can have some fun," Aurora said, her demeanor changing into one of confidence.

"What the hell just happened?" Fenghuang asked.

"This is my Underworld Form, which is where you'll be when I'm done with you," Aurora said.

The jackal quickly created a dozen aura spheres, throwing them too fast for Fenghuang to dodge. The owl was pushed back, but she recovered and decided to take to the skies to get away from her opponent. Aurora threw more aura spheres, but Fenghuang was ready this time and dodged to the side, flying low to catch the jackal in the side with a kick. Aurora was sent flying, her body hitting the wall and powering down back to normal.

"Ugh, my head," the jackal said, getting up slowly from the floor.

"Aurora has been knocked out of the ring. The winner is Fenghuang!" Kai announced.

'As interesting as that was, I have to wonder what that form change was about,' Fenghuang thought as she went to take her seat in the stands.

Shifu vs. Xing

"Be careful out there, Xing," Shen said to his wolf friend.

Xing nodded, adjusting his navy-blue jumpsuit as he faced down Shifu, whom was wearing orange-brown robes.

"I wish you the best of luck," Shifu said with a bow.

"Ready? FIGHT!" Kai announced.

Xing started by charging with his hammer, but instead of aiming for Shifu, he aimed instead for right in front of the red panda. As predicted, Shifu jumped backwards, which gave Xing a moment to lunge forward and catch the red panda out of the air.

"Gotcha!" the wolf shouted, throwing Shifu down and giving him a kick to the face.

Shifu recovered quickly, bouncing back like a spring and nerve striking Xing's right arm, disabling it. The wolf growled, using his left hand to grab his hammer and block the red panda from disabling his other arm. Shifu was too fast, though, and managed to knock Xing to his knees and grabbing his finger.

There was an audible gasp from the crowd. "Now way, it's the Wuxi Finger Hold!" Po said in amazement. "If you can pull it off, you can defeat anyone!"

"Surrender now, this fight is over," Shifu stated.

In response to that, Xing smiled. "Oh, it is. For you!" With that said, the wolf pulled out his trump card: Lightning Chi. Sending it up his arm, he gave Shifu a full force shock, which was enough to knock Shifu out and end the match.

"Good job out there," Shen complemented as Xing returned to his seat.

"That win was just luck. If he hadn't used that move, I would have lost," Xing admitted.

Kiera vs Saras

"Good luck roomie," Karasu said as Saras took to the arena. The fox was wearing a sleeveless yellow jumper with blue pants and a green cloak, though he kept his goggles.

"A fox versus a tiger," Kiera stated as she took her fighting stance. She was wearing grey pants and a blue top that revealed her stomach.

"Ready? BEGIN!" Kai announced.

As soon as Kiera started charging with her sword, Saras panicked and in a puff of smoke transformed into a mole and dug into the ground.

"Hey, get up here and fight!" Kiera yelled.

In response, Saras came up right underneath the tiger, knocking her off her feet. The fox then turned back to normal, summoning a rice hat and throwing it at Kiera. The tiger recovered, slicing the hat in half with her sword and charging forward. Saras transformed into an armadillo to counter, his hide blocking the sword and rolling out of the way.

"Why don't you just hit me already!" Kiera shouted.

"O-o-oh okay," Saras stuttered.

The fox jumped forward, going in to kick with the talons on his feet. Kiera dodged, then delivered a punch right into Saras' face, knocking him to the floor. As the fox fell to the ground, he felt his nose bleed, the blood dripping down into his mouth. It was then that something unusual happened; Saras fell down on all fours, his eyes turning to slits as he growled like a feral animal.

Without warning, the fox lunged at Kiera, the tiger stepping back in surprise at her opponent turning feral. She blocked with her sword, then pulled out a Wakazashi, a Japanese short sword, and stabbed it into Saras' stomach. The fox gasped, falling off of the blade and laying on the ground defeated.

As Hikari ran forward to heal Saras of his wound, Kai announced the verdict. "Saras has been knocked out, which means Kiera is the winner."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to go that far," Kiera said.

"He's still breathing, and you didn't hit any vital organs, so he'll be fine," Hikari said.

'I didn't know Saras had a feral side,' Karasu thought. 'I might ask him about it after the tournament.'

Wan Wu vs. Byakko

"I've heard about you. You're one of the Wu Sisters," Byakko stated. The Pallas Cat was wearing a black sleeveless karate gi with a four-pint grey star on the back and grey sweatbands on her wrists. She got into a fighting stance. "As a descendant of the White Tiger of the West, I will bring my judgement onto you!"

"Okay then!" Wan said in a cheery demeanor. The leopard was wearing simple black robes with a hood. "I'll have fun as a rip you to pieces!"

"Ready? FIGHT!" Kai announced.

Wan started out by rushing her opponent, using a series of quick hits before sending Byakko flying. The Pallas Cat landed on her feet, orange fur bristling as she blocked the next hit from Wan, countering by giving a Chi-infused kick right into the leopard's stomach.

"OW! I think that bruised a rib," Wan whined. She then pulled out a fire-and-ice wheel, spinning it on her tail. "Now I'll really destroy you."

Byakko jumped up high using her Chi, barely dodging Wan's weapon as it was thrown at her. The Pallas Cat pulled out her own weapon, a whip, and used it to grab the fire-and-ice wheel before it could return to Wan.

"Hey! That's my weapon," the leopard complained.

"You and your sister might be strong, but you're weak without each other," Byakko said. "Now it's time for my ultimate attack: Imperial Judgement!"

The Pallas Cat threw her whip out to grab Wan, whom was still to miffed over her weapon to dodge. Immobilized, the leopard was pulled in by Byakko, whom delivered a series of Chi-infused hits before ending in a kick to Wan's gut, knocking the leopard away and out of the arena.

"Wan has been knocked out of the arena, so Byakko is the winner!" Kai announced.

As she got up, Wan saw her sisters standing over her. "Oh, hi big sisters. I… did my best?"

Su picked her sister up roughly by the collar of her robes. "When the tournament is over, I'll be teaching you the price of failure."


Author's Note

And here's part one of the Qualifier Rounds! What did you think of the fights?